13 JANUARY 1877

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After all the national agitation concerning the Fugitive-Slave Circular, it

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would not appear that the real wishes of the nation are likely to be carried out. The Times' correspondent at Jeddah reports on Wednesday the escape of a Nubian slave from...

Is there any connection between the German activity in Con-

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stantinople and the result of the elections to the German Parlia- ment? The final result of these elections will not be known till noon to-morrow (Sunday), but it is ascertained...

It would appear to be certain that the famine in

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Southern India is assuming grave proportions. It is stated that it extends from sea to sea, right across the Deccan ; that a million of persona are employed on the relief works...

The Roumanian incident seems to have terminated. As we mentioned

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last week, the Government of Prince Charles under- stood certain clauses of the Turkish " Constitution " to interfere with the virtual independence of Roumania, and demanded an...

NEWS OF THE WEEK

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Tril RE is still no answer from Constantinople. The meeting f the diplomatists on Wednesday, which was to have been final, was postponed to Thursday, and when it came off,...

A curious rumour is afloat, for which we do not

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vouch, that the Porte, in its eagerness for money, has offered to sell the Hereditary Pashalic of the Holy Land to any candidate accepted by the Jews, in return for a loan. The...

The proceedings of the diplomatists at Constantinople have been enlivened

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by a new incident. Prince Bismarck is weary alike of the delays and the concessions to Turkey, and has instructed Baron Werther to inform the Conference that in the opinion of...

The Thames has been spreading disaster and distress through- out

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his course by overflowing his banks, under the influence of these protracted and heavy rains. At Lambeth the distress is general, and at Kingston, Shepperton, Staines, Datchet,...

** The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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A very dangerous incident is occurring in New Orleans. The

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Republicans claim the State, and their Governor, Mr. Packard, has occupied the State House, and garrisoned it with the negro militia. The Democrats, on the other hand, say their...

Mr. Lowther, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, made on Wed- nesday

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a speech which he no doubt considered a model of dis- cretion. He declared that at no time had her Majesty's Govern- ment thought of an alliance with Turkey, and that its...

Mr. Darwin, in a letter to the Gardeners' Chronicle, expresses

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his belief that the proximate reason why there is so little holly- berry this year is the same as the proximate reason why there is so little seed of the red clover,—and this...

If Lord Beaconsfield really emulates the repute of Lord Palmerston,

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he should see to it that Lord Derby does not leave British subjects who have suffered grievous injustice from foreign Governments without any redress. We have before drawn...

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, M.P., made a very amusing speeeh at

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Carlisle on Wednesday night, in which he declared that though there was said to be but one man in Europe who under- stood the Schleswig-Holstein question, and he was a Professor...

The Attorney-General, Sir John Holker, in speaking at a meeting

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for the enlargement of a Conservative Club this day week at Preston, was exceedingly severe on those " ill-disposed and deceiving" people, as he called them,who represented that...

Sir Charles Dilke has changed his tone about the Eastern

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Question. In addressing his constituents at Chelsea on Monday, he was as anti-Turkish in tone as Mr. Gladstone himself, though of course much more anti-Russian. Indeed, he...

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e Arlsey railway accident is sufficiently accounted for by

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ptain Tyler's report upon it. At 2.40 on December 23, the hey signalman had given the signal, "line clear" to Cad- 11, the next station up the line, so that any down train was...

Console were on Friday 94 for money and account.

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The Americans are puzzled to know what to do with

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the money paid under the Geneva Award. They have paid up all claims, and the ' Alabama' Commission ceased to exist at the end of the year, but there is a surplus of /1,800,000...

The Times publishes a very flattering account of the pro-

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gress of recruiting. Owing to the expiration of the ser- vice of the men enlisted for long terms during the Crimean war, the operation of the Short-Service Rule, the increase of...

The Temps and the Cologne Gazette, two well-informed- papers, give

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temperate accounts of the Russian army in Bessarabia. It consists of about 140,000 men, 12,000 of them cavalry, well clad, well armed, and well mounted, and deficient only in...

At a meeting held at Newbury on Tuesday, to take'

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steps for the erection of a monument to Lord Falkland, —one of the most constitutional of the Royalists in 1641-43, who fell at the battle of Newbury on the 20th of September,...

M. Leon Say has presented to the Chamber his Budget

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for 1877. He expects a total revenue of £109,000,000, and an ex- penditure fractionally in excess of that sum. This enormous sum represents a taxation of £3 a head, or £15 a...

Lord Granville, in distributing the prizes to the Dover School

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of Art, on Wednesday, expressed his strong disagreement with the Rev. Mark Pattison's views as to the degeneration of English taste in relation to Art. He admitted that there...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE FAMINE IN SOUTHERN INDIA. T HE famine which is now certain in Southern India is a very grave misfortune for the Empress's Government there, but it is not as yet one which...

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LORD SALISBURY AND HIS MISSION.

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his position of calm and irresponsible neutrality. Yet neither could Lord Salisbury take up the only true policy in the fitting and appropriate manner. It is clear enough that...

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SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT AT OXFORD.

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I T is a great pity that Sir William Harcourt ever writes, He talks so very much better. His written arguments on questions of international law, though often valuable, are...

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PRINCE BISMARCK IN THE CONFERENCE.

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T HE Conference drags on wearily, making no real step in advance, until one-half the world believes its proceedings to be a comedy, played to gain time, and the other half re-...

THE RITUALISTS AND THE STATUTE-BOOK.

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rpHE correspondence columns of the Guardian newspaper I furnish us with a sort of ecclesiastical barometer,.from which we can always tell whether storms are brewing in the...

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THE WORKING OF THE SANITARY ACT.

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W ITHIN the last six years, a great deal has been done in the way of sanitary legislation. Parliament began by creating what was in effect a new department of the public...

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LORD CARNARVON ON MODERATION.

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L ORD CARNARVON'S eloquent speech at Newbury on Tues- day was certainly better in its positive doctrine than in its applicability to the subject which served him as a text. Lord...

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1111LE-TATTLE IN TYPE.

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IlENIMORE COOPER, the American novelist, a man who of all the successful writers that ever lived had perhaps least sense of humour, became possessed in his later years of a...

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CORRESPONDENCE.

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PUBLICANS OR CORPORATIONS? [FBOIt A CORRESPONDENT.] THE agitation, now going on in Birmingham, to introduce into this country an adaptation of what is known as " The Gothenburg...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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CHINA AND GREAT BRITAIN. (TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."1 Sin,—The Standard informs us :— " The year has seen the settlement of the very serious difficulty with China...

THE RITUALISTS AND THE LAW.

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(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR"] SIR,—Difficult as it is for we at present to give much attention to the question of Ritualism, I am tempted to make one more attempt to get...

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Neither Dr. Littledale nor

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Mr. MacColl is a moderate High Churchman, and in your article of this week you do not fairly re- present the position held by at least a large number of the mode- rate...

VIVISECTION AND CRUELTY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPEOTATOR.1 Szn,—Whilst agreeing with the general purport of Mrs. Darwin's letter in your paper of yesterday on the trapping of vermin, I demur—having...

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ARISTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY LN INDIA.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sta,—In your issue of January 6 you draw attention to the change which has since the Mutiny been effected in our action towards the...

ORIENTAL CONJURORS.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—In your issue of October 28—received hereon November 29 —an allusion is made to a letter by "Ignoramus," in which he describes a...

PROFESSOR CLIFFORD ON CREDULITY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—May I ask what is the difference betwe en credulity and incredulity, in the typical case of the shipowner adduced by Pro- fessor...

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POETRY.

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A CLOSED BOOK. I READ it long ago, and as I read, A world of wonder rose before my eyes And widened into vastness, dimly spread 'Neath solemn skies. Beyond the page my...

ART.

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THE OLD MASTERS AT BURLINGTON HOUSE. Tars is the eighth exhibition of this kind that has been held at. Burlington House, and there seems to be no lack of interesting works, nor...

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BOOKS.

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LIFE OF CHARLES KINGSLEY.s' [FIRST NOTICE.] ON the question concerning the interval which should elapse between a man's death and his biography, as upon most other questions...

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THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY.*

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Tins is a provokingly unequal novel, and had very nearly remained unnoticed by us. Following his invariable rule in such cases, the present reviewer dipped into the second...

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ART IN ALSACE-LORRAINE.*'

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You, Phillis, who have never learned to read, are the mistress of MOST people (at least in England) will read this large and fully- your own mind,—keep it clear,—get...

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NEW LANDS WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.*

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A GOOD story bears repeating, and though some of the main incidents of Lieutenant Payer's work are already known to the public, no one who has had the pleasure of hearing him...

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GRIMM'S LAW : A STUDY.* No facts in the comparative

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study of languages are of more im- portance or of greater interest than those which were first observed on any large scale by the Dane Rasmus Bask, and which are grouped...

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We always find it difficult to criticise Good Words and

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the Sunday Magazine, and the January numbers present the ordinary obstacles. The contents of both are perfectly unexceptionable, " always good alike," in fact, and the...

The Gentleman's Magazine for January reaches us from fresh pub-

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lishers (Chatto and Winans), and the new number is an improvement upon its predecessors, but it hardly now rivals many of its competitors, still less does it fill the place of...

The Port folio begins the year with its usual spirit.

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Professor Colvin commences a series of articles upon " Albert Diirer," illustrated by a new process. There is a portrait (etching) by M. Legros of Mr. Poynter, which is perhaps...

We presume that Lippincott's Magazine is going to be published

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in London as well as in " Philid'a " (which seems to be the correct abridg- ment of "Philadelphia)," but we have looked in vain for the announce- ment of it on the " prospectus...

The editor of The Congregationalist (Mr. R. W. Dale) contributes

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to its pages a striking address upon "Theological Thought among Congre- gationalists,' to which we may take another opportunity of referring. The papers, speaking generally, are...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Victoria Magazine suffers from the faults of all magazines with a purpose. It seems "like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side." It has a curious paper by "Maria Mitchell,...

The Sunday Review is the organ of the new "Sunday

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Society," and has, therefore, the same radical defect as the Victoria. We all know what Professor Amos, Mr. P. A. Taylor, Mr. Holyoake, and "the Hono- rary Secretary " have to...

The London Magazine, if a new one (we do not

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remember it before), comes unheralded and undefined. The little story, "The Artist of Piccadilly Pavement," is quaint, and reads like truth. An article from the Daily Telegraph...

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Rowland Hill; His Life, Anecdotes, and Pulpit Sayings. By Vernon

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J. Charlesworth. With an Introduction, by C. H. Spurgeon. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—We are sorry to say that this volume has disappointed us. It seems that the best stories,...

The St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review is of

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a still less definite sort than ever. The new story here, " Prometha," is highly extravagant, and has passages of very questionable taste. We find nothing else to remark upon.

Popular History of France. By Elizabeth M. Sewell. (Longmans.) —A

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work which takes in the large range of subjects described in the words " from the earliest period to the death of Louis XIV." necessarily shows to a certain disadvantage by the...

The Picture - Gallery appeals to a different public, and we should

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have thought., an obsolete one. It must be one which is easily satisfied, at all events.

Golden Hours for January is received. It will, no doubt,

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be satis- factory to its subscribers, but we find nothing to recommend very specially to outsiders.

The Savage Life. A Second Series of " Camp Notes."

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By Frederick Boyle. (Chapman and Hall.)—Mr. Boyle is an indefatigable wanderer. The Diamond-Fields of South Africa, Nicaragua, the Gold Coast, Sarawak, are among the scenes of...

Anne Warwick. By GeQrgiana M. Craik. 2 vols. (H urst

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and Blackett).—There is something in Anne Warwick which reminds one of Mrs. Oliphant's " Rose in June." Not that Anne at all resembles the Rose. She is a young woman with a...

Storm - Driven. By Mary Healy. 3 vols. (Sampson Low and Co.)

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—Miss Healy's latest novel is a very good one of its kind. It presents a sketch of manners rather than a study of character, and its personages are therefore somewhat...

Beliefs of the Unbelievers, and other Discourses. By 0. B.

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Frothing- ham. (Putnam, New York.)—We have in this little volume a repro- duction of the views of Mr. Theodore Parker, of whom, no doubt, the author is a hearty admirer. He...

The Argonaut for January is nicely printed, wholly unobjectionable, colourless,

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and cheap ; we lately noticed favourably the yearly volume, but this number is hardly up to the mark. Its aim, however, to be "literary, religions, and scientific," is beyond...

Notes of Travel in Egypt and Nubia. Revised and Enlarged.

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With an Account of the Suez Canal. By J. L. Stephens. (Marcus Ward.)— These "Notes of Travel," are, in fact, a portion of a work that was very popular some five-and-thirty...

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The Moonrise. Schottische. By Carlo Minasi. (Simpson and Co.)— This

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piece is below the average of the author's previous compositions of dance-music, many of which are deservedly well known. Thire is a want of originality in this schottische.

NEW MUSIC.

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Fleur de Lys. By E. Renville. (Simpson and Co.)—We can find nothing to admire in this piece, for it is devoid of anything likely to advance music in its purest form. There...

CHILDREN'S Boosts.—A few " Children's Books " remain to be

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noticed. The Daisy Root, by Mrs. Herbert Martin (Sunday-School Association), is a simple, pathetic little story of how two children were rescued from the misery and want of...

Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of Edward Feild, D.D.,

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Bishop of Newfoundland. By the Rev. H. W. Tucker. (W. Wells Gardner.)— Edward Feild, after a successful career at Oxford, where he united the duties of a college lecturer (he...

Cradle Song, for the pianoforte. By Walter Macfarren. (Novelle, Ewer,

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and Co.)—Mr. Macfarren's piece is extremely elegant in style, and will prove to be very useful as a lesson to players of moderate ability. We cannot account for his...

Meeting and Parting. Canzonet. By Herbert Baines. (Cramer and Co.)—This

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is a laboured and unsatisfactory effort. There is an absence of melody in it. The symphony is meaningless; it suggests a spirited march, rather than the sentiment of the words...

Marks on the Door. By Mark May. (Sampson Low and

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Co.)—The only thing in this novel distinguishing it from countless others which describe love-making, successful or unsuccessful, is the alarming sug- gestion of a society in...

A Wooing of Ate: By John Olive. 3 vols. (Chapman

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and Hall.) —Here we have the old problem of whether a man should marry into a family where there is a taint of hereditary insanity. We are introduced in the first chapter to...

Hymn for the Night. Sacred song. By H. W. A.

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Beale. (Simpson and Co.)—This is a well-written though simple song, and is within the limits of voices of ordinary compass. There is, perhaps, a little too much...

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Thinking and Dreaming. New Edition. By Berthold Tours. (Cramer, Wood,

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and Co.)—This song should find favour with vocalists, as it is pleasing and well written. We think that the continual F sharps and Ws will be found trying to singers who do...

As a Flower of the Field. C. Pinetuti. (R. Mills

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and Sons.)—If not a very effective song we observe a great improvement in the absence of chromatic , intervals, which the author used so frequently in many of his vocal...

Queen Mab Waltz. By Herbert Baines. (Potts and Co., Brighton.)

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—With the exception of No.1, only one strain is allotted to each waltz. The transition of key from C to D (Nos. 3 and 4) is unusual, and con- trary to rule. There is a lack of...

Coralline. Par Louis Diehl. (Ashdown and Parry.)—This is one of

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the ordinary type of pianoforte pieces, containing sixteen bars of fairly pleasing melody, followed by an arpeggio variation, and an intermezzo of two or three lines in the...