T HE world is in suspense, for the sword of war hangs over it by a thread. Till President McKinley has sent his Message to Congress on Monday no one can say whether there will...

With the " SPECTATOR " of Saturday, April 30th, Will be issued, gratis, a SPECIAL LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, the outside pages of which will be devoted to Advertisements. To secure...

THE NEW POLICY IN THE FAR EAST. M R. BA LFOUR'S speech of Tuesday was not, as the ignorant outside world perhaps expected, a sensa- tional deliverance, but was a grave...

W E see that Mr. Balfour is sneered at for his " philosophical " remarks upon the spectacle presented by China ; but surely that spectacle is of the highest interest to every...

of the unexpected and the dramatic,—the land where strange things happen instead of being merely talked about. Think what is the actual result of President McKinley's sudden...

W HAT America wants most is a highly-trained per- manent Civil Service,—a band of expert servants of the State whose knowledge and experience shall always be at the call of the...

of the Pope as arbitrator between the United States and Spain, unfounded as they are, have much more than a passing interest. They show that the world is beginning to wish that...

E VERYTHING that Archdeacon Wilson says deserves attention. You may not agree with him—on the contrary, you may be poles asunder as regards conclusions —but the lines on which...

O UR readers will probably be somewhat surprised at our selecting Mr. Laurence Binyon's accomplished and, in the best sense, classic verse to illustrate the quality of pomp in...

T HE question of the right of a Christian community to punish criminals is one beset with difficulties, but it ought not to produce the confusion of thought betrayed in some of...

T HE last few years have seen a marked disappearance from the leather industry of a form of supply which should never have reached the dimensions it attained,—the hides of...

THE CUBAN DIFFICULT Y.—A SUGGESTION. [TO THR EDITOR OF TEl "SPECTATOR."] Szn,—Among the proposed solutions of the Cuban difficulty I have not noticed one which appears to me...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOB.1 . SIR,—Does it ever strike the United States Senators who are -clamouring for war that in their present unprepared state a war with Spain may...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—In thanking you for your article on "English and Scottish Education" in the Spectator of March 26th, may I invoke the continuance of...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "Sricr•roa."1 SIR,—In your article on "Secret Commissions" in the Spectator of April 2nd you rightly say that the nineteenth century might not unfairly be...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOZ."1 &s,—You have given us a very interesting summary of the difficulties of India in the Spectator of April 2nd. Allow me to mention another very...

[TO THE EDATOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.$'l SIR,—In an article headed "Do Animals Talk F" in the Spectator of March 5th, the writer says that certain shore birds, including wild...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sru,—On behalf of the authorities of the University of Pennsylvania I beg to express the gratification felt by them, and doubtless by those...

THE SECRET. HE who would sing of what is beautiful, Of secrets that can reconcile the soul, Should frame his incantation with choice words, With rich-embroidered words, though...

RURAL NEW ENGLAND.* How difficult it is to convey a living impression of another country to one who has never seen it ! The writer may tell all about its towns, its buildings,...

IT would be impossible to have a better statement of the results which the higher criticism of the Bible has actually or approximately reached than is to be found in this...

Tun little book before us—yet another addition to the Shakespearean literature of which we have been reviewing so much of late—may fairly be quoted as supplying a want, and...

LIEUTENANT VANDELBUR'S book is one of the best of its kind that we have ever read, and should be studied by any one who wishes to understand fully the history of recent events...

sequel to his L'Orme du Mail, and not only is it interesting for its own sake, but it throws an unexpected light upon the earlier experiment. It is now quite clear that M....

THE Contemporary Review for April presents one unusual feature. The first article is a direct contradiction of the last. In the first the author, who prefers to dispense with a...

THE MINOR MAGAZINES. The Wide World Magazine is a new and most promising addition to the already formidable list of sixpenny magazines and the publications with which the name...

2 vols. (T. Fisher Unwin. 32s.)—Few men living can have written so much as Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. He became a journalist in 1836, and for these sixty-two years his pen has...

Jane Stuart, Willie W. Munro, Andrew Gunn, Henri J. MacLean, and Minnie Sutherland (when Pupils of Golspie School). Collected and edited, with a Chapter on "The Place and its...

Macedonia, Mitylene, 4-c. By M. A. Walker. (Bentley and Son. 14s.) — This series of "wayside sketches," illustrated by a drawing here and there, will best please persons who...

Morris was engaged in collecting words and phrases peculiar to Australasia for the "Oxford English Dictionary," it occurred to hiin that he might use the same and similar...

(George Newnes.)—This compact little book of two hundred and twelve pages forms a volume of the shilling "Library of Useful Stories," in which various authors are endeavouring...

Plentiful as ornithological books are, the demand for them seems constant and the supply plentiful. Miss Fulcher shows once again how the same subject acquires, under each...

Co.)—Besides reflections on the longest reign and the records of the reign in general, this book contains a very excel- lent account, with illustrations, of the flags of...

the North American shore-birds, to which the present volume is by no means inferior. He writes with great knowledge and accuracy, yet without making the book too technical ; it...

historical sketches of Uppington and its neighbourhood will possess much interest for those who know The Wrekin and Uppington. Other names that provide the author with in-...

Co.)—This is an Australian story, and brings a refreshing odour of the bush in its pages. The heroine is one of those won- derful Australian girls that we hear so much about....

in suspended animation possesses real fascination, and nothing could be better than the description of his recovery and the anxiety with which his friends await the return of...

6d.)—To choose some thirty of our British birds, on ' account of their song, and to write a book about them, seems to us as senseless as to write biographies of "The Bachelor...

(Librairie Hachette et Cie., Paris. 30 francs.)— This is a pleasantly written account of a holiday in Scotland. We say holiday, for the writer never overburdens herself with...

—The author of these countryside sketches has much insight into the peasant's mind, and sympathy with his views of life. He takes a circumscribed bit of country, a few hundred...

F.Z.B. (Imperial Press.)—We trust that this book is not to be taken as a specimen of the other volumes of the forthcoming "Imperial Library," which, the publishers declare, are...

From Mr. J. Williams we have received the following publica- tions :—Four Action Songs. Words by C. Gillington. Music by Lionel Elliott —The first of these, "The Mermaid," has a...

see but little plot or point in Allanson's Little Woman. None of the characters possess any vitality, nor the scenes any interest. The tedious and disproportionate length of the...

Anderson (I.), Yellow Fever in the West Indies, or 8vo Lewis) 3/6 Astrnp (E.), Wiffi Peary Near the North Pole, 8v 0 (Pearson) 10/6 Bailey (L. H.), First Lessons with Plants, cr...

:.—The Century, Pall Mall Magazine, St. Nicholas, Macmillan's Magazine, the Review of Reviews, Blackwood's Magasine, the Cornhill Magazine, the North American Review, the...

UN:Lines, 283 Washington Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.; THE INTERNATIONAL NEws CompAyr, 83 and 85 Duane Street, New York, U.S.A.; MESSRS. BEENTAwo's, Union Square, New York,...

later than the first post on Friday. [*** All books reviewed have the published price attached, so far as can be ascertained by us. This applies only to books issued above 6s....

January to June, and from July to December, on the third Saturday in January and July. Cloth Cases for the Half- yearly Volumes may be obtained through any Bookseller Or...