1 - 1VERYBODY is in a fuss. Parliament was dissolved on 4 Monday. The earliest polls in the boroughs will take place next Tuesday (February 3),' and the lateit probably on...

alesclibed by his political rival as a " prolix " document. It is no .doubt long, but,—in this respect unlike the Wednesday address at Blackheath,—it is very stately, and...

where, but he seems inclined to make the Dutch treaty, ceding our right to prevent Holland from making, conquests in Sumatra, the basis of a formidable attack. We think it will...

have not been very remarkable, except Mr. Lowe's to the electors of the University of London, which was really a brilliant and epigrammatic reply to Mr. Disraeli's ; and as such...

he merely - refers to his representation the borough for thirteen years, but on Monday he made his electors a long speech, in which he explained that the Dissolution was really...

as " un- happy," and as warning us not to enter without the greatest care into " equivocal and entangling engagements ;" and Mr. Gladstone expresses a hope that after the war is...

case.

anticipate the changes which the Ballot and the supposed Con- servative reaction may produce. Mr. Ayrton's seat for the Tower Hamlets is seriously endangered, a result which, iu...

successful, many split-votes, even of Tories, being thrown for the Premier, merely because he is Premier and a credit to the- borough. The Tories, however, are running two...

almost without loss. It has, we presume, been betrayed to them, but that makes little difference. An Oriental State usually falls with its capital, and the Dutch will either...

of India will remember, that thus far during the present Elections not one Minister, whether in power or opposition, has mentioned the Bengal famine; that not one election will...

is the absence of new candidates with ability as their only distinction, a fact due in great measure to the excessive rapidity with which all election arrangements had to be...

in the Tichborne case,—a wonderfully condensed piece of reasoning, which seems to have elicited the applause of the whole Bar, though with the exception of the burst of...

Mayors, in which he informs them of the new law, states " that sad experience has irrevocably condemned the election of Mayors by the Coun- cils," as they thereby become too...

to the labourers has been received with delight by the farmers, as fatal to the system of manufacturing votes now so common, and as likely to strengthen them against the...

Droitwich, and is very querulous and uneasy. Well, he is a bit of a goose certainly, and he did once try, and very nearly succeeded, too, in making Droitwich rich beyond the...

Election petition case, declaring Sir Henry James guiltless for himself and his agents, and the borough free from corruption of a • kind so extensive as to void the election, or...

of a column describing a ball at the Elyse°, which, how- ever, has a certain significance of its own. The invitations, though strict, were numerous, and so stern were the police...

feat for a statesman of sixty-five who had quite recently been confined to his bed with bronchitis. The day was• damp and drizzly ; numbers, which are variously estimated at...

Monday, appears to be now credited even by his son. It came from the Acting Consul-General at Zanzibar, and was sent to him by Lieutenant Cameron, of the relief expedition, from...

his battle with the Pope were held on Tuesday at St. James's Hall and Exeter Hall, Sir John Murray being in the chair on both occasions. The speaking was rather ignorant and...

confirm the expectations we hazarded in August and September of last sear, that Home Rule will find no substantial support at all in Ulster, and that the total number of Home...

brother's Beat, on Thursday, a thorough party speech, bristling with points and, a most unusual thing for Mr. Hardy, with epigrams. His notion that Mr. Lowe was " so fond of the...

THE POLICY OF THE DISSOLUTION. T HE sudden axe has fallen. Parliament was dissolved on Monday, within sixty hours of the first rumour of the Government's purpose reaching the...

far fewer Protestant neighbours ? There may be those who franchise." That may be true, though we should like to hear Mr. Freeman on the point; but Mr. Disraeli has not always...

T HE meetings at St. James's and Exeter Halls were, on the whole, clearly failures. The former was well filled, and the latter tolerably filled ; but the orator of the day was...

N EB. GLADSTONE at Blackheath supplied a great illustra- 1 tion of his own saying of the natural orator, that what he absorbs from his audience in vapour he pours back upon it...

President in Council. Long before he was included in the Government, not to speak of the Cabinet, Mr. Forster performed an immense, though unknown service to the country, by...

Z vi R. CARLYLE has mended his religious faith since he last described the damnable condition of the world in which he is compelled to live, and in his letter to Sir Joseph...

W HEN, after an absence of two years, Captain Butler returned to the Red River of the North, he found that those pre- liminary processes of American civilisation which his soul...

M R. FURNIVALL seems likely to contest with William of Wykeham the title of "The Founder." There are already existing, and flourishing, three Societies of whose being he is the...

EVANGELICALISM AND CALVINISM. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It is not for me to defend Dean Close ; Dean Close should snake sure of his facts, before he advises...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Though the wish of your correspondent who signs himself " Semipaganus" for further information respecting the various ways in which that...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR...) SIR,—Will the advocates of vivisection take a lesson on a closely allied subject from the master-mind of Shakespeare, whose per- sonal...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—If indeed " our last great Englishman is low," and if his remains have been preserved to us by the love and faithfulness of his...

A NEW "LEGEND OF THE FORGET-ME-NOT." WHEN Psyche lost her Lord, the Lord of Love, Weeping alone she wandered, Listless by every well-known field and grove, And on her lost Love...

MARY SOMERVILLE.* is scarcely possible to exaggerate the interest of this delightful volume. Mrs. Somerville's acquirements have made her name familiar to all her countrymen,...

Lord Denman died. Many far less distinguished men have not waited so long before the story of their lives has been told. But though the work has been done late, it has been done...

THERE are two points of view from which a volume like Mr. Russell's may be regarded ; one as material for history, the other as a record of personal adventure in an exciting...

THERE is properly no history, only biography, says Emerson, adding, " All inquiry into antiquity—all curiosity respecting the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge, the...

• The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland. By James A. H. Murray. London: Asher and Co. AFTER the many years' work of Dr. Richard Morris and the Early English Text...

A VERY lively and pleasant little tale, vivid in its interest, and the harrowing part of it not too prolonged for endurance, nor too artfully shaded to leave a loophole for the...

Iceland By S. E. Waller. (Macmillan and Co.)—Mr. Walter's bright little book, which is admirably illustrated, opens with a whimsical account of the motives of his journey....

I. (Cassell and Co.)—Mr. Grant has found here a subject to his heart, and has made what is not only an interesting, but also a valuable book. This first volume begins with the...

Church and State in the United States. By Joseph B. Thompson. (Trilbner.)—Mr. Thompson wrote this essay for the especial benefit of the German nation. "From being prepared for a...

King and Co.)-Mr. Davies' sketches are for the most part of angling experience; and these not of tho remote and impossible kind with which such writers as "lJbique " tantalise...

and Hall.) — Annie's Story is just the sort of novelette for a young lady or a young gentleman with the toothache. It is harmless and lively and sufficiently interesting,...

in the North Island of New Zealand. By J. Ernest Tinne, M.A. (Sampson Low and Co.)--This is a pleasant little volume, which tells us all about the North Island of New Zealand,...

the ordinary sensational kind, written in indifferent English. The hero, or one of the heroes, falls in love with a married woman, and we are left for a time in doubt whether...

book is a good one, but the author has not been able to work it out. In fact, the necessary materials are not at his command. A few observations, more or less true to fact, are...

Uni- versity Press by the Rev. F. H. Scrivener. (Cambridge University Press.)—The object proposed to themselves by,the promoters and the editor of this work has been to supply "...

and Blackett.) —" Only a woman should write a woman's life. Who else can touch in the delicate lights and shades that compose such a picture ? Who else can tell what unseen...

and the Holy Land. By William Charles Maughan. (Henry S. King and Co.)—This is one of those, unfortunately numerous, records of travel for which it is not possible to say a good...

Vol. L (Cassell.)—We desire on the present occasion to call attention to rather than to review this work, which is being published in numbers, and of which the first volume lies...

the Writings of T. De Witt Talmage, D.D. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—We are not quite sure that the friend and admirer who has picked out these "Points" for public notice has done a...

Manual of Dates, edited by William W. Croft (Warne). Our tests have found the information supplied by the volume, which has been com- pleted up to a very recent date, perfectly...