17 JULY 1880

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Even the Irish Relief of Distress Bill has not yet

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struggled quite through the House of Commons. All the latter part of Monday's sitting was taken up till after five on Tuesday morning in a struggle between Mr. Parnell's party...

The Compensation for Evictions (Ireland) Bill has been strug- gling

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painfully through Committee all the week, Mr. Gibson, Lord Randolph Churchill, Lord George Hamilton, and Mr. Gorst having displayed as much resource as Mr. Parnell himself in...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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F RANCE was in festival on Wednesday. The Republicans have thought it well to establish an annual national Republican holiday, to bring home to all men, even the lowest, the...

All intelligence from Constantinople points to continued hesitation on the

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part of the Sultan. He has received the Col- lective Note inviting him to obey the award of Europe, but as yet it is uncertain whether he will yield or resist. On the one hand,...

The latest news from Afghanistan, a Viceroy's telegram of the

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14th, reports that on the 11th General Burrows with his brigade was at Girishk, on the Helmand, all well, and with supplies abundant. The Wali, with his force, was about twenty-...

The Government has announced that it intends this country to

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bear part of the cost of the Afghan war. Lord Hartington was questioned on Thursday, and stated that although the accounts were still not clear, it was certain that the...

*** The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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Baroness Burdett-Coutts has again been paraded (not now for the

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first time) on the Tory side of the political struggle. This time her authority is quoted for the insecurity of Irish property, under the present Government's proposed...

General Garfield, in his letter accepting his nomination as candidate

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for the Presidency, strongly approves the Republican programme. He believes in the supremacy of the nation over the States, and would have the National Government secure the...

Lord Lansdowne's resignation of the Under-Secretaryship for India, in consequence

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of his dislike for Mr. Forster's tem- porary Compensation for Ejectments Bill, may, perhaps, be not entirely unconnected with the very despotic traditions of his Kerry estate....

Is there not a tendency just now to forget the

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proportions of things P We quite agree with those who think that the Dean of Westminster made a mistake in admitting Prince Louis Napoleon into the Pantheon under his charge;...

Mr. Roundell and Mr. Story Maskelyne proposed to the House

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of Commons yesterday week a resolution pledging the House to the principle of abolishing the clerical restrictions on the College fellowships and headships of Oxford and Cam-...

The Amnesty difficulty in France is over. The Senate passed

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without a division the compromise Bill granting an Amnesty to all whom Government might pardon, unless condemned for incendiarism or murder ; and the President pardoned all the...

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Mr. Dillwyn has carried through the House of Commons his

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very useful Wild Birds' Protection Law Amendment Bill, which repeals and incorporates in itself the previous Seabirds and Wild Birds Acts, and extends protection during the...

The Victoria University opened on Wednesday, when the Duke of

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Devonshire, the Chancellor, laid its charter on the table, and a grand banquet was afterwards held to celebrate its birthday. The University begins with Owens College,—which...

A romantic incident at Constantinople, of which the Opposi- tion

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were inclined to make much, was explained in the House of Commons on Thursday. It had been reported that a female slave had fled for protection to the British Embassy, had been...

A memorial for the absolute abolition of Vivisection has been

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presented to Mr. Gladstone, with a great many most influential signatures attached; nor are we surprised that the permission very improperly given under the recent Act to Dr....

The three elections of this week have left the balance

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of parties unaltered. At Tewkesbury, on Saturday, Mr. Martin (Liberal) was elected by 380 votes against 298 ; majority, 82. At the General Election, the Liberal majority was...

The Duke of Cambridge has issued a General Order con-

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veying to the Volunteers her Majesty's congratulations on their attaining their majority, twenty-one years. The order was pro- bably intended in part as a compensation for the...

The week has been marked, especially in the north and

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west, by thunderstorms of unusual violence, and it is probable that one of them caused a terrible colliery accident. Early on Thursday morning, 119 men and boys were in the...

Consols were on Friday 981 tc 981.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY

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THE STATE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. T HE House of Commons is in a condition even more threatening than the weather. The perpetual thunder- storms are trying enough, but the...

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THE BILL FOR THE AFGHAN WAR.

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I T is difficult to read the papers just presented to Parliament on the expenses of the Afghan War without a feeling for the late Administration of India which nearly approaches...

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MR. PARNELL.

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M R. PARNELL'S figure is but too likely to become historical. No one questions that there is in him not a little of the mind of the fanatic. Yet, as often with fanatics, nothing...

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THE FRENCH NATIONAL FETE.

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I T is wise of the French to celebrate the Fall of the Bastille, for precisely the same reason that it is wise of the Eng- lish to celebrate the Queen's Birthday. The...

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THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON NEWSPAPER LIBEL.

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T HE Select Committee on the Law of Libel appointed last year, and renewed with certain modifications this Session, has recommended two distinct and very wide changes in the...

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PATRONS AND CONGREGATIONS.

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WE print to-day a letter from Sir Henry Taylor which 1r puts in a very striking way the inconvenience, if not oppression, to which congregations are occasionally subjected by...

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THECITY PAROCHIAL CHARITIES COMMISSION.

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T WO very interesting maps have been recently published with the Parliamentary papers. One accompanies Mr. Firth's Bill for the creation of a Municipality of London, and shows...

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TOM TAYLOR.

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L ONDON literary society may justly regret Mr. Tom Taylor. He was not, it is true, a great artist, even in the lines that he had chosen, and very little, if any, of his work can...

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"U MR. PAGE ROBERTS ON GOD AS A DOMINANT IDEA. R.

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PAGE ROBERTS, in a thoughtful sermon preached last month before the University of Cambridge, and since published in the Church of England Pulpit for June 19th, dwells with much...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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LAY PATRONAGE. [The following letter, from Sir Henry Taylor to Lord Blachford, is sent to us, as dealing with a subject likely to interest the readers of the Spectator. We have...

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WOMEN INSPECTORS.

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(TO • THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." SIR,—More than once the question has been mooted, and again passed by,—why should her Majesty's Inspectorships of Schools remain...

CRUEL RABBIT TRAPS.

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(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent of last week has rightly drawn atten- tion to the cruelty of the common " gin " rabbit-trap. The needful matter,...

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")

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SIR,—Having seen a letter in your last issue, from Mr. Astley, on the subject of " The Gin,' or Steel Trap with Teeth," I ven- ture, as a member of the Committee of the Humane...

THE BURIALS BILL RELIEF CLAUSES.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] Maskell errs in speaking of the " objection to the indiscriminate use of the Burial Service " as specially a " Dis- senting" objection. A...

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ART.

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"THE CORNHILL " ON COAL-SCUTTLES. Dna readers may remember that a clever writer in the Cornhill published a paper therein called "The Philosophy of Drawing- rooms," on which I...

THE TAY BRIDGE REPORT.

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[To THE Eprroa or THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR, —Your well-known fairness will, I am sure, induce you to let me point out that your article on the Tay-Bridge Reports was written...

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AMATEUR POTTERY PAINTING AT MESSRS. HOWELL AND JAMES'S GALLERIES.* Two

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occupations which have become fashionable for young ladies during the past three or four years, certainly deserve to be set a little above the usual level of elegant trifling,...

BOOKS.

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MR. QUILTER'S " GIOTTO." * THE introductory chapter of this volume states that it is to form one of Messrs. Low and Co.'s series of " Illustrated Bio- graphies of the Great...

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MR. LESLIE STEPHEN'S " POPE."*

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IT is probable that as long as men care for poetry and for litera- ture there will exist a Pope controversy. Pope's works and life abound with topics calling for discussion, and...

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THE FUR COUNTRY AND ITS FAUNA.*

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THE extraordinary quantity of peltry which yearly reaches us from America cannot but excite curiosity as to the districts which furnish such enormous and ever increasing...

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MASSON'S LIFE OF MILTON.*

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Ma. MASSON'S stupendous work is complete at last. He has inseparably associated his name with that of Milton, and all students of the poet and of his age will be compelled to...

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WACE'S BAMPTON LECTURES.*

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QUITE a number of books with titles closely resembling that chosen by Professor Wace for his Bampton Lectures have been published in recent years. We have The Scientific Bases...

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Angelo : a Tragedy. By Victor Hugo. Translated into English

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blank verse by Ernest Oswald Coe. (D. Stott.)—Angelo is not one of M. Victor Hugo's finest efforts. It does not reach the height of dramatic power which he has elsewhere...

The London Quarterly Review. July. (Wesleyan Conference Office.)—The most striking

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article in this number is "A Liberal- Conservative Chinaman on Western Countries." This is an analysis, with copious extracts, of a very striking pamphlet, published a few years...

The Expositor. Volume XI. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—The most striking paper

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in this volume is an essay by Professor Plumptrc on the " Author of Ecclesiastes,' " an essay which the writer describes as an " ideal biography." According to the theory here...

The Ancient Use of Liturgical Colours. By C. C. Rolfe.

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(Parker.) —The author's purpose is to show that the use of liturgical colours is primitive. This theory is opposed to the conclusions of the learned author of the Vestiarium...

The New Parliament, 1880. By William Saunders. (Cassell and Co.)—Mr.

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Saunders discusses, from the Liberal point of view, what may be called the " ante-natal " history of the new Parliament. He begins with the Water Bill of the late Government,...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The British Quarterly Review. July. (Hodder and Stoughton.)— This number is remarkably deficient in literary interest. Not one of the eight articles deals with any topic of...

The Count Agenor de Gasparin. Translated from the French of

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Th. Borel. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—The Comte de Gasparin was well known in France as a writer on religious subjects, and on politics, especially on their ethical side. His own...

Thoughts on Eschatology. By the Rev. Henry Wynne Jones. (Llanrwst.)—This

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interesting sermon, written at the request and with the counsel of a very good man who has since passed "to the majority," and printed in memory of him, reviews the subject of...

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The Actor's Wife. By Edmund Leathes. 3 vols. (S. Tinsley.)—

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Whatever is lacking to this novel, there is certainly no lack of inci- Aleut. Gertrude Totter has the misfortune to make the acquaintance of two stepbrothers, between whom, for...

The Fathers, for English Readers. St. Basil the Great. By

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Richard Travers Smith, B.D. (S.P.C.K.)—The date of St. Basil is A.D. 329- 379. His life, therefore, fell upon an unhappy time for a great orthodox teacher, for he had to fight...