the construction of our educational machinery. The article on the Education Act of 1902 and the London Education Bill, in the April number of the Quarterly Review, was the last of a long series of contributions to leading magazines and other periodicals in which he formed and guided public opinion. By experience, knowledge and culture Sir Joshua Fitch was exceptionally well qualified to speak with authority on edu. cational questions, and all who are concerned in national welfare will regret that his activities are at an end.

IN spite of the increased interest taken in modern languages during the last few years, it is curious to note the persistency with which errors are made in French sentences printed in many newspapers. In connection with M. Loubet's recent visit the King was reported to have telegraphed the following words: "Les bonnes paroles dans votre dépêche que je viens de recevoir m'ont vivement touchées." This was not a mere misprint of one paper, as it occurred in many, if not all, the London dailies. We cannot believe that His Majesty is a less capable linguist than he was as Prince of Wales. English journalists are by no means behindhand in laughing at their French colleagues for referring to "Sir Chamberlain' or "sportman," but they frequently provide readers on the other side of the Channel with similar amusing mistakes.

REPRESENTATIVES of all the British and most of the Colonial Universities met in London on July 9th to consider the questions of co-ordination of University education throughout the Empire, the development of post-graduate courses in applied science, and the formation of an Imperial council to deal permanently with these and other matters of special interest to Colonial and British University students. The meeting was of an enthusiastic character, and the two following resolutions were carried unanimously: (1) “That in the opinion of this conference it is desirable that such relations should be established between the principal teaching Universities of the Empire as will secure that special or local advantages for study, and in particular for postgraduate study and research, be made as accessible as possible to students from all parts of the King's dominions"; (2) "That a Council, consisting in part of representatives of British and Colonial Universities, be appointed to promote the objects set out in the previous resolution; and that the following persons be appointed a committee to arrange for the constitution of the council: Lord Kelvin, Lord Strathcona, Mr. Bryce, M.P., Mr. Haldane, M. P., Sir William Huggins, Sir Michael Foster, M.P., Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir A. Rücker, the Rev. Dr. Mahaffy, the President of Magdalen College, Oxford, the President of Queen's College, Cambridge, the Hon. W. P. Reeves, and Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P."

AT the recent annual Conference of the Association of Headmistresses, held at the Perse School for Girls, Cambridge, Miss Connolly delivered her presidential address, and in it she dealt with the Order in Council for the Registration of Teachers and with the Education Act, 1902. Speaking of the Order in Council, Miss Connolly said certain modifications, affecting present conditions but not touching the future, were still desirable, such as the registration of teachers a year late in training, and of those excellent existing teachers who ought not to be asked to qualify for registration. Several resolutions, including the following, were adopted after discussion. (i.) That the Executive appoint a small committee to consider the relative value of subjects in the Oxford and Cambridge higher certificate and higher local examinations, with a view to the preparation of a memorial to the Board of Education that the higher certificate be accepted as an equivalent for some part of the higher local examinations. (i.) That this Conference welcomes the London University scheme for a leaving certificate as a step

in the right direction, but regrets that a double standard of leaving certificate has been instituted, as the existence of the lower leaving certificate encourages pupils to leave school while still immature. (iii.) That this Conference approves the decision of the Executive (a) to approach the Senate of the University of London, with a view to their establishing an examination with the ultimate aim of obtaining registration for junior and preparatory teachers in a supplemental register annexed to the register of teachers; (b) petition the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board to add geography to the list of subjects in Group III., higher certificate examination syllabus. Mrs. Bryant, D.Sc., of the North London Collegiate School, was elected president for the years 1903-5.

THE Marquis of Londonderry, in replying to a recent deputation representing the Private Schools' Association, who urged the claims of that association to direct representation on the Consultative Committee and a seat on the Teachers' Registration Council, said that particular interests were not sought to be represented, the idea of the Board of Education being to collect a body of experts able to deal with education as a whole. On the matter of registration he was inclined to agree with the deputation that some provision should be made under proper conditions for permitting teachers of long experience to register in column B as secondary teachers, and a modification of the Order in Council would be made shortly.

LORD ROSEBERY, in a letter to the Chairman of the London County Council, outlines a scheme for a great Institute of Applied Science in London. Messrs. Wernher, Beit and Co. are willing to provide a large sum of money towards the initial cost of such an institution, and the Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition are prepared to grant a site of four acres at South Kensington. The institution will represent, when complete, a sum of half a million. There will remain an annual charge for maintenance of £20,000. For this sum Lord Rosebery appeals to the London County Council. The details of the organisation of the proposed institute have not yet been settled, and they will be considered in consultation with the Senate of the University of London and other bodies concerned. It is proposed, Lord Rosebery says in another part of his letter, that the institution, whilst working in close co-operation with the Royal College of Science, the Central Technical College, and other branches of the University, should be organised as a distinct "school" of the University under the management of its own committee. Should the active co-operation of the London County Council be secured, there seems no reason why London should not, in a few years' time, possess an institution rivalling the great college of applied science at Charlottenburg, from which proceed every year some 1,200 young men of twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, equipped with the most perfect training that science can give as experts in chemical technology, electrical engineering, metallurgy, shipbuilding, and other branches of applied science. If our manufacturers attached any regard to scientific education they would make far better use of the men already available. At present, for instance, our chemical manufacturers seem to think they are doing their duty to the country if they pay a chemist £80 a year, and keep him hard at work with routine analyses. It is very doubtful, however, whether the manufacturers of Great Britain are sufficiently alive to the value of science to industry, to provide posts for men trained in such institutions as that proposed. There are already plenty of men with practical knowledge and scientific training awaiting openings for their energies, but they find that their qualifications count for little in the British commercial market.

DR. H. J. SPENSER, rector of the High School, Glasgow, since January, 1901, has been appointed headmaster of University

College School, London, in succession to Mr. Lewis Paton. Mr. II. J. J. Watson, assistant-master at Tonbridge School, has been elected headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School, Great Crosby, Liverpool, in succession to Canon Armour. The Rev. Marchant Pearson, second master and chaplain, Bridlington Grammar School, and honorary curate of the Priory Church, has been appointed headmaster of King Alfred's School, Wantage. Mr. Pearson was formerly an assistant sciencemaster at Bradford Grammar School. Mr. C. D. Chambers, of St. John's Training College, Battersea, and Miss Amy Bramwell, of the Maria Grey Training College, have been appointed additional normal master and mistress respectively at the London Day Training College.

The University of London for the first time has conferred honorary degrees. At the recent presentation day His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales that of Doctor of Music, and Lord Kelvin and Lord Lister that of Doctor of Science.

TIE Senate of the University of Ottawa, Canada, has conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Mr. James Cusack, founder and principal of the Day Training College, Moorfields, London, E.C., in recognition of the services he has rendered to the teaching profession and to the cause of education generally, but more especially to the voluntary schools of this kingdom, during the past twenty-five years.

THIS year's list of birthday honours shows that the claims of education have not been forgotten. A knighthood is conferred upon Alderman H. F. Hibbert, chairman of the Education Committee of the Lancashire County Council, and the late Senior Inspector of the Board of Education, Mr. Thomas King, becomes a C.B. Messrs. E. Harris and A. H. Reid (Board of Education), Mr. G. L. Apperson (Scotch Education Department), Mr. R. Calder, H.M. Inspector of Schools (Scotland), and Mr. P. E. Lemass (Secretary, Board of National Education, Ireland), are created Companions of the new Imperial Service Order.

A GENERAL meeting of the Association of Directors and Secretaries for Secondary Education was held at Oxford on June 26th. The rules of the Association were altered so as to meet the new conditions which have arisen under last year's Education Act. Important discussions took place on the financing and grouping of schools, and on school attendance. On the previous day honorary M. A. degrees were conferred by the University of Oxford on the chairman of the Association, Mr. C. Courtenay Hodgson, and on the honorary secretary, Mr. J. H. Nicholas.

THE Board of Education, having reason to believe that a misunderstanding exists as to the effect of recognition by them of schools in connection with the registration of teachers, wish it to be known that such recognition does not qualify a school to receive student-teachers, and that no school had, up to June 15th, been recognised for that purpose. The Board propose to publish from time to time lists of schools to which they accord this recognition. The Board have issued also "regulations modifying and altering the regulations for the formation and keeping of a register of teachers." Under this new scheme the registration authority may place on column B of the register any person who does not fulfil all the conditions of the registration, but who has had ten years' experience of teaching (other than elementary) and has shown ability to teach.

ONE of the results of the conference of headmasters and headmistresses of secondary schools in Surrey is that the

Surrey Education Committee has guaranteed for three years a grant of £200 a year each to the following schools: County School, Richmond; Grammar School, Guildford; Grammar School, Reigate, on condition that they develop a Commercial Department in connection with the courses of study and examinations of the London Chamber of Commerce. This will no doubt lead other county and borough education committees to give a similar recognition and support to commercial education by providing commercial departments in their secondary schools.

THE formal opening of Clayesmore School, Pangbourne, by Lord Reay, took place on June 27th. The school is the development of a smaller one at Enfield which was a private attempt to educate boys on more practical lines than is common in English schools. The methods adopted at Clayesmore were described in THE SCHOOL WORLD for June, 1900, when the objects the headmaster, Mr. Alex. Devine, has in view were stated at some length. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Lord Reay said he considered Clayesmore School would be of vast importance in the field of English education. Though it had been hitherto a private school, it would be very difficult to give any definition of a real public school into which Clayesmore could not be put. It seemed to realise all the best features of a public school. One of its most important aims was that every individual boy should be carefully looked after. No English boy, if he found his level at school and was well looked after, was incapable of rising above the level of impotence. At Clayesmore the object was to obtain out of every boy the maximum work of which he was capable, and to proceed upon lines which made the development of his faculties possible.

AN excellent attempt is being made to raise a fund to establish free circulating libraries in each of the educational districts in the Transvaal. A circular has been issued by the committee of the Transvaal Education Department Libraries Fund, of Cannon Street House, London, E.C., describing the scheme. An account has been opened with the Standard Bank of South Africa, and the bank has agreed to receive subscriptions. A thousand pounds is required to establish the libraries, and it is expected that an annual income of £250 would be enough to keep the libraries "refreshed with new supplies." Mr. Fabian Ware, of the Education Department, Pretoria, in writing of the scheme, says: "There is no way in which private effort would help us so much at present as in supplying a number of English books (good works of fiction and other interesting literature) suitable for circulation among the Boer children and young men and women. One of the results of the camp schools has been to create a desire for English books among the Boers, and everything should be done to encourage this. Now that our town and farm-school system is spreading all over the country, the Education Department have an organisation by which these books could be easily distributed." The idea is a good one, and we trust it will meet with the success its merits deserve.

MESSRS. BECKER AND CO. send us a description of their Electric Switch Board for use in School Laboratories supplied with continuous current from the town mains, or their own dynamos and secondary cells. The essential feature is that it is impossible for the students to short-circuit the mains, as only one wire is carried round the room. The switching arrangement allows any one student to switch the current on or off for his own experiments, quite independently of the other students. All students must use the same current at the same time, though it can be varied at will by the demonstrator. The board is provided with instruments for reading current and pressure, and a large variation in resistances by the use of lamps and wire frame. It is an excellent thing for boys to learn the precautions

to be taken and the arrangements necessary in using electric currents from high-voltage mains.

THE current (June) number of The Geographical Teacher contains several useful articles, e.g., one by Dr. A. Morgan on the scope and methods of geography teaching, and one by Miss Keynolds giving a bibliography of official material available for studying the colonies. Perhaps the most important announcement is that contained in the letter from the Board of Agriculture, referring to the facilities they are prepared to give for the purchase of ordnance maps-200 copies of the 1-inch map for £1.55.

AN open competition is announced for a Clerkship on the Geological Survey under the Board of Education. The limits of age are 22 and 35 on the first day of the examination which is to be held in London commencing on August 28th. The subjects for examination are handwriting and orthography, English composition, catalogue and index making, comparison of copies with originals, arithmetic, geology and physical geography, translation from French or German. There is an entrance fee of 12s. 6d. and application forms must be returned to the Secretary, Civil Service Commission, S. W., by August 13th. The salary of the situation is £120-£5-£200.

SCOTTISH.

He

ONE of the most interesting educational debates of recent years took place in the House of Commons when the Scottish estimates for national education came up for consideration. The Lord Advocate in a prefatory speech marked by great lucidity reviewed the outstanding features in the work of the year. referred with special satisfaction to the increase in the average attendance of the pupils and in the number of certificated teachers. The report of the Commission on Physical Training received high praise, and the startling nature of some of the statistics in regard to the physical condition of town children opened up, he said, new vistas of the duties and responsibilities of both central and local authorities in regard to such pupils. But possibly no part of an exceedingly interesting speech was received with more general approval than that in which he announced that the Museum in Edinburgh was to be the headquarters of the Department in Scotland and that the Secretary or some of his assistants would be in frequent attendance there. The Government have been well advised to make this concession to the almost universal demand for a closer connection between the Department and the country it is meant to control. It is very questionable if this sop will satisfy Professor Laurie and other ardent nationalists, but they may fairly contend that it pastifies their criticisms, and accept it as a better vantage ground for renewing their attacks.

IN the discussion which followed the Lord Advocate's speech, the utmost satisfaction was expressed at the record of progress in almost every direction which he had disclosed. Many members, however, took occasion to protest emphatically against the circulars which issued in ever-increasing volume from the Education Department, and they expressed the hope that their tireless energy in this direction might be diverted to some more useful object. The regulations governing the issue of Leaving Certificates also came in for general disappoval, and it is all but certain that, if the Lord Advocate had not taken the unusual course of "talking out" the debate, the motion condemning the Government for their policy in this connection would have been carried.

UNDER the auspices of the various Educational Associations of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire, a public educational con

ference was held in the Marischal College, Aberdeen. The meeting was very largely attended, and representatives were present from nearly all the northern counties. The Chairman, Professor Davidson, Aberdeen University, explained that the object of the conference was to focus the opinion of all interested in the cause of education, and thus seek to mould the character of the forthcoming Education Bill for Scotland. After an exceptionally interesting discussion, the following resolutions were passed almost unanimously:-(1) That education in Scotland shall be controlled by one central authority for the whole country, and a single local authority for each educational district. (2) That this central authority shall be a Government Department located in Edinburgh, responsible to Parliament alone, and acting with the advice of representatives from local authorities, universities and the teaching profession. (3) That the area of the local authority be sufficiently large to contain within itself provision for education of all grades— primary, secondary, and technical. (4) That the local authority shall be a Board consisting of members chosen by popular election for educational purposes, to which shall be added representatives of the various educational interests, the elected members to form a majority.

A CONFERENCE on educational questions, in view of contemplated legislation, was held in Glasgow on the 3rd inst., under the auspices of the Scottish School Boards' Association.. Dr. Smith, Chairman of Govan School Board, presided, and among others present were Mr. M. Shaw-Stewart, M. P., and Dr. Douglas, M.P. After a long discussion the following resolutions were carried by a large majority:-(1) That in Scotland the local education authority in each district should be elected directly by the ratepayers, and solely for educational purposes. (2) That for the more efficient administration of education the enlargement of school board areas is desirable. (3) That a Consultation Committee, or Board of Education, should be appointed in Scotland for the purpose of considering proposed departmental circulars and changes in the Code.

IRISH.

A COMMITTEE has been formed representing Trinity College, Dublin, which has issued a public appeal for funds to erect buildings and further to endow the teaching of the experimental sciences. It is pointed out that the University of Dublin has to meet demands made upon her resources never contemplated by her past benefactors. Facilities must be provided for research available both to student and teacher, "for in no way is greater vitality imparted to the teaching, and the teacher more truly initiated into the scientific methods, than by the association of teacher and student in original investigation." Within recent years Trinity College has out of her own resources built the Schools of Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine, the Zoological Museum, and the School of Pathology, and has considerably enlarged and equipped the Chemical Laboratory of Trinity College. Further, a Lectureship in Pathology has been established, and a teacher in practical electrical engineering has been appointed, as well as additional assistants in physics, botany, chemistry, and pathology. The appeal is now made for external aid to build and equip laboratories and lecture rooms for physical science, electrical and mechanical engineering, botany and zoology.

It is gratifying to state that this appeal has met with an immediate and most generous response from Lord Iveagh, who has offered to contribute the £34,000 necessary for the buildings, if within three years a sufficient sum is contributed to produce the annual outlay of £2,730 deemed necessary by the Committee

for the endowment of the teaching; or, if within that time the requisite amount is not contributed for all the departments, he will give whatever capital expenditure is necessary for the equipment of any one of the particular departments, as soon as a sufficient annual income for it is assured. The Committee are therefore appealing for £100,000, in order that they may be able to take full advantage of Lord Iveagh's offer.

At last, owing to the kindly and harmonious spirit induced by the Land Bill, the Nationalist members have allowed the money to be voted by the House of Commons for the acquisition of certain land in Dublin, and for the erection and equipment of a new Royal College of Science. The sum to be provided out of the Consolidated Fund is not to exceed £225,000, and it is to be repayable within thirty years. The site has long since been fixed upon in Merrion Road, near the museums.

AT the Maynooth College Union this year, much attention was paid to the recent report on University Education. The feeling was favourable to the report, and it was generally accepted that the solution there proposed for relieving the grievances of Roman Catholics in the matter of higher education would afford a satisfactory basis for a settlement of the question. One great difficulty was, however, brought forward, and that is the position of Maynooth College in reference to the scheme. The Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Healy, one of the signatories of the report, vigorously maintained that Maynooth should have been included in the scheme on equal terms with the Queen's Colleges, and that in no circumstances could the bishops allow Maynooth to be broken up, even for the benefit of a Roman Catholic University College in Dublin. Dr. Sheehan said there were three alternatives before Maynooth in relation to the proposed new college. The first was that there should be University courses in classics and mathematics at Maynooth, and that the majority should stay there, only a few honour students being sent to a house of residence in Dublin, which, however, would be intended chiefly for post-graduates needing a higher grade in theology. This scheme would keep Maynooth autonomous, but would be expensive as duplicating the new institution in Dublin. The second scheme was to transfer the honour students to Dublin, and to keep the pass students at Maynooth. This would be very hurtful to the pass men. The third, and educationally the soundest scheme, was to transfer all the Arts students from Maynooth to Dublin. But this would be very expensive, and would practically ruin Maynooth. Dr. Sheehan was, on the whole, in favour of the first alternative.

THE new Intermediate programme, while containing a few improvements-such as the introduction of one foreign language as compulsory into the mathematical courses, the introduction of music as a subject, the awarding of composition prizes to candidates in the Junior Grade, the publication of the results of the examinations, and the permission granted to students to take the science course of any year a second time--is essentially the same as last year, and imposes a cast iron system on Irish schools. The Teachers' Guild has forwarded to the Intermediate Education Board a series of criticisms upon it. The most important is the suggestion, repeatedly made from all quarters, that a student should be allowed to enter for more than one course. Most students are eligible by the subjects they take for more than one, and, in case of pass pupils especially, it is often very difficult to know which course should be taken. If the Commissioners were sympathetic with Intermediate schools they would see this point at once. The Guild further suggests that a wider latitude should be given to Honours students in experimental science, that a student eligible by age should be allowed to compete a second time for an exhibition in the same grade unless he has

previously won an exhibition of the highest value, that Greek be allowed as an alternative to experimental science in the Preparatory Grade, and that the courses for girls should not be made easier than for boys. They also add some notes on the subjects set in the programme. It should be added here that the papers set at the recent examinations were easier and fairer than last year.

WELSH.

THE interesting experiment of a Summer School of Welsh, at the University College of Wales, bids fair to be a decided success. The Welsh Language Society have secured the services of Professors Anwyl and Morris Jones, and Mr. T. Hudson Williams. It is intended to give three hours instruction in Welsh grammar and literature, and what is, perhaps, quite as significant, instruction will be offered as to the best methods of teaching Welsh to beginners. Carnarvon School Board has given £4 to enable two teachers to attend the course, and efforts are being made to get other local authorities to follow this example.

THE number of distinguished Welshmen who received their early education in the elementary schools is increasing. In the recent Honours Schools at Oxford, a first-class in natural science was obtained by two Welshmen, one who had been taught in an elementary school and a higher grade school at Blaenau Festiniog, in North Wales, and another, to make the balance even, from Carmarthenshire, in South Wales.

MR. R. M. HUGH-JONES recently gave an address to the Colwyn Bay Branch of the Teachers' Guild. He pointed out the value of private schools, even in a country like Wales, with its newly-organised system of county schools. At present only the preparation of boys and girls for the county schools was provided for by the elementary schools by the educational authorities. But surely the close individual attention which many children require cannot be given in the large classes of the elementary schools. There is good reason, therefore, why the more careful attention which is possible in the smaller classes of preparatory schools should not be discouraged. The question arises, how can such schools be brought into relation with County authorities? Surely there is nothing in the new Act to prevent scholarships from the County Council being held in efficient private schools, if the holders prefer them.

THE following resolutions have been unanimously passed at a conference of the Principals of the University Colleges of Wales and the professors of education:-(1) That it is educationally desirable that any proposals formulated by the County Councils for the training of teachers to supply the needs of the schools in their respective districts, should take into account not only the provision for such training already existing in their districts, but also the training institutions throughout the principality. (2) That it should be regarded as a necessary qualification for the entrance into the day training departments of the University Colleges that a candidate should have passed the matricula. tion examination, or some equivalent examination. (3) That it is desirable that all King's scholars admitted to the day training department of a University College should, in addition to any primary school training they may have had, have received a substantial part of their general education, in some recognised secondary school (including under this term properly constituted pupil teachers' schools).

THE above resolutions refer to the training of elementary teachers. But attention has been given to the training of secondary teachers. At Cardiff, meetings were held on February 7th and June 6th. The Conference decided in favour of a period of continuous practice in which the school to which the student is attached would be responsible; that during the period the control of the student should rest with the school subject to a plan of study agreed upon beforehand between the school and the college; but that during this period the college lecturer should pay occasional visits to the school in order to test the progress of the student at times, to be arranged with the head of the school. The Conference was of opinion that the total fee for the year's course of training should be £30, and that a substantial portion of this should be paid to the school where the period of continuous practice is undertaken. How far this scheme is practicable remains to be seen. It has thus far been discussed by South Wales. But it is a step forward to find a scheme approved by a college and the schoolmasters of the district.

CURRENT HISTORY.

THE Stationers' Company have been celebrating their five hundredth anniversary by entertaining at dinner their patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The occasion lent itself to much historical reminiscence. The age of manuscript books, the introduction of printing, and the various limitations on reproduction of books imposed by authority were naturally referred to. We are reminded that the “censorship" of books began practically with printing, and lasted in England till nearly the end of the seventeenth century. It was in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities, whether these were semi-independent, as they were before the Reformation, or largely under the control of the State, as they were after that event. We remember the stories of the early translations of the Bible, of the ecclesiastical controversies under Elizabeth, when the Established Church held her own by means partly of the "censorship" against Roman and Puritan foes. We recall, too, Milton's "Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing," and the curious, illogical way in which that liberty was gained in 1695. The law of libel and its history during the last two hundred years forms an interesting appendix to the earlier heroics.

to come.

OF Preferential Tariffs and of Zollvereins we have recently heard much, and shall constantly hear more for some time The subject is too large for these columns, but we note some side issues. Some months ago we drew attention to the possible formation of a new Imperial Parliament, viz., the meeting of the Colonial Premiers. The new power has made strides more rapidly than we then thought probable. We are told now that preferential tariffs were approved of at the last meeting of this body, and what will happen if the British Isles do not adopt the policy of which the Colonies have approved, or will approve, is hinted at in terms the vagueness of which only increases their threatening nature. The British Empire, consisting, as no other empire has consisted, or does consist, of "self-governing" parts, has evolved a fiscal system (or shall we call it want of system) which, in connection with international treaties, has caused a position which it would tax the wit of any man clearly to explain, and the consequences of which tend to be world-wide. Will the British Isles, if they are in a minority in this "federation," yield to the others? and if so, why?

WE note also that the "preferential tariffs" discussion has made the question of Cabinet unanimity and responsibility quite

keen again. Are Mr. Chamberlain's opinions those of the "Government"? does the Prime Minister agree with them? and to what extent? are questions as much discussed as the merits of the new fiscal policy. This uncertainty illustrates the nature of the British constitution, and the gradual, unconscious way in which it has been shaped. The Cabinet itself and all its characteristics are the result of many forces; it is a growth, not an artificial or conscious creation. It has always been unknown to the law; it detached itself from the Kingship suddenly and accidentally in 1714; it evolved unanimity and a new head during the eighteenth century; it became more dependent on the House of Commons than on the King in 1832. And even so, its progress has not been uniform; we have had "coalition" ministries to balance the "sole" ministry of Walpole. There was a period of some years during which “Catholic Emancipation was an open question, and now Mr. Balfour tells us that "absolute uniformity of opinions cannot be expected among the members of a Government; it is sufficient if there is common action and common responsibility."

S. PETERSBURG celebrates this year its two-hundredth anniversary, and there are ceremonies connected therewith. But illuminations were forbidden, and the police took measures to prevent people from flocking too thickly into the centre of the city. We have used the word "but " as if there were a contrast between the two sentences we have written. We should certainly speak so if referring to similar celebrations in an English town. But we think we should in the case of Russia and its modern capital have more correctly used the word "and." It would accord more with the policy of Peter the Great and almost all his successors since. The civilisation of the Russians, so far as that process has progressed, and its movement westward both geographically and morally, has been a movement from above, in which the people have had but little share, and have not been expected to appreciate. S. Petersburg was the work of a man beyond his time, and the breach between Tzar and people typified by that advance to the Baltic has never been healed. In Russia it is "everything for the people, nothing by the people," and the Government is not far ahead of its people.

RECENT SCHOOL BOOKS AND APPARATUS.

Modern Languages.

Heine, Die Harzreise, with some of Heine's best-known short poems. Edited by L. R. Gregor. xxx.+ 183 pp. (Ginn.) 2s. -Among the numerous editions of the Harzreise, Mr. Gregor's will occupy a respectable place. It is not only "well gotten up" (as they say in his country); the editorial work has also been done very carefully. Very full, indeed, are the notes on German life and ways; they afford some insight into the quaint customs of the German student. The introduction briefly states the main facts of Heine's life. The text is conveniently, but not excessively, expurgated; and a few representative poems form a welcome addition. Mr. Gregor rightly attaches considerable importance to the intellectual exercise of translating Heine's prose into good English; and he gives his own renderings of numerous difficult passages. As a rule he is successful, but we must confess that we do not like "that look of hoary precociousness, as well as a complete outfit of 'cops,' nor "my enravished eyes," nor Banged up again, Johnny! all the