The Fellah has been much the same from the remotest ages; you see his face in the Sphinx. Read Brugsch Bey's report how the Fellah women ran dishevelled along the Nile banks, "keening" the death cry, when they heard that the mummies of their olden Pharaohs were being boated down stream by the abominable Frank. warlike" Fellah's fighting qualities; and, when 66 Asia as well as Africa. The old doddering men-o'-war which rot in Alexandria and Suez harbours, melancholy remnants of past power, Compared with our Nilotes, the "finest may be broken up and carted away as soon as pisantry" are a weak and violent race which possible. With respect to the harbour on the never produces, like the Fellahin, typical and Red Sea proposed for cession to the "King of remarkable men. Take only two specimens of Kings, Johannes," I may say that the measure the latter. One is Ismail Sadik (El-Mufattish), is theoretically good and practically evil. The The 66 'poor down-trodden Fellah," senti- a son of the soil who could hold his own against port would serve only for the importation of mentally contrasted with his oppressors, the the ablest financiers of Europe. The other is arms and ammunition, and would make the Pashas and Beys, a bit of cant begun for a Arábi, who has graved his name upon the troublesome Highlanders of Ethiopia" more political purpose during the Napoleonic days, memorial tablets of his native valley, and who, dangerous than at any period of their turbid was perpetuated by Lane and Gardner Wilkin- unless we are wise, will go down to posterity as history. As it is, the Egyptians cannot fight in son, and is repeated by the latest writers, a patriot-hero and a martyr to his faith. the mountains, and the Abyssinians fear the Malortié and Dicey. Ask Europeans who have We would willingly have seen something plains, a consideration which tends to keeping lived in the villages, and they will confirm my more about the Suez Canal than is given us in the peace. But the breech-loader and the statement that there is nowhere a more dogged | pp. 306, 509 et seq. The author rightly terms magazine-gun, when provided with cartridges, and determined, turbulent and refractory, M. de Lesseps a "projector," not, after the would change every condition. It is to be furiously fanatical, and, when excited, cruel fashion of our scribes, the " great engineer," a hoped that the Egyptian army of the future and bloodthirsty race than these clowns of retired consul ignorant of all engineering but will be built on the lines of the old East India Kemi, the Black Land. The home Press, which the amateur's. It was not his eloquence that Company's force, a return to which is one of has read about the theoretical or ideal Fellah, prevailed with Said Pasha: it was the strong the crying wants of India. A correspondent asked with wonder, when commenting upon the support of the Tuileries. Had he been an informs me that all officers have been ordered bloodshed and arson of June 11,82, how Englishman he would have been ignored by to study 'classical Arabic," and that, when such "lambs had suddenly turned wolves.' his own Government, opposed by his fellow-they try it on the Fellahs, the latter are cursed Lambs, indeed! why, no fighting ram is more countrymen, and left to fight single-handed for not " knowing Arabic," and make tracks, persistent and pugnacious, or less open to pity against a foreign host, and to fail. However, wondering the while what new manner of and mercy, than an Egyptian peasant. And, if during the "sixty days' war" he unconsciously language has been got up for their benefit by the men are brutal, the women are, if possible, and right unwillingly did us the best of good the English. Our authorities ought to have worse. As Mr. Lane and "The Thousand turns. His emphatic patronising of Arábi, his heard of the late Spitta Bey's admirable GramNights and One Night" show, their morals are phrasing, his posing, and his promises of immu- mar of Egyptian; but I am not aware that of the vilest, and their modes of murdering are nity from attack kept the Canal open, although any Englishman who knows the language or unutterably horrible. At Tantah the "poor arrangements had been made for closing it. the people is officially employed by England in Fellah" and his meek wife tied the limbs of This is not to be done by shovelling in earth and Egypt. slaughtered Franks to dogs' tails, poured petro-sand, which can be shovelled out almost as fast : leum upon the unfortunate brutes, and set it the true way is to lash together two or three on fire. At Alexandria these bestial beings ships or dredges and to scuttle them; the promenaded the streets with the remnants of obstruction would require dynamite, and this slaughtered Europeans borne like flags on long wastes valuable time. The real want is a second water-way, and Mr. Wallace is right in objecting to an Alexandria-Suez line. The affair has been complicated by a preposterous request for eight millions sterling at three and a quarter per cent. interest, and by a pompous claim to the monopoly of the Isthmus, while the clarion note of the Gallic chanticleer has been followed by a loud gobbling from the bubblyjock of Stamboul. All we have to do is to possess our souls in patience. M. de Lesseps has so mismanaged matters during his last "progress" that already some twenty thousand shares, sold at a depreciated figure, have been added to the 176,602 before held by England; the bear is fated to beat the bull; and a "financial-political operation" will presently transfer all the stock to perfide Albion. Have patience, and be deaf to la blague! staves. 66 Per contra, the Fellah is remarkable for his independence (sui generis), his persistence, his bravery, and his talents-a fact which will not be found in Mr. Wallace's pages. The villagers act as their own police and ministers of high justice," trying and punishing all criminal cases within their mud walls. If man or Woman break the law, especially of Rasm or immemorial custom, the offence is carefully kept from the "guardians" of society-magistrates and policemen. If certain "Commandments are violated, he, she, or it is incontinently tied and trussed up, gagged, and cast into the River of Egypt. Father Nilus could tell marvellous tales. The persistence of the Fellah is as exceptional. A drive to the Pyramids will show you troops of half-naked urchins running a mile in the forlorn hope of a copper; and in this point the boy is the father of the man. The adult will be bastinado'd within an inch of his life before he pays his lawful rent, and his wife will praise him as she dresses his wounds. Under Sesostris, the Fellah-soldier, who invented the Phalanx, overran the nearer East. Under Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim, he beat the Arabs at Bissel and the Turks at Nezib. Even a Moltke could not save the Ottoman; and the late Gen. Jochmus told me that, when commanding the Tartar cavalry, he escaped defeat only by systematically declining battle. The dogged pluck of the gunners at the Alexandrian forts and at Tel-el-Kebir proves that the stock has not degenerated. The easy final defeat is readily explained. There was treachery in the air: foreigners say the Cavallerie de SaintGeorge (gold sovereign) was battling for England; and the best and bravest will not stand firm when they suspect that their nearest neighbours have been bought to leave them in the lurch. Had the "Rebs " been disciplined, and led by English or French officers, there would have been a very different tale. As a rule, the sight of blood does not terrify an Egyptian soldier; it makes him only an "uglier customer." Mr. Wallace has not done justice to the " un A second water-way is the more required as the days of the Euphrates Valley Railway are either done or have not yet dawned. With the Russian at Kars, ready to march 10,000 men down south, we should be building a road for the especial benefit of the invader. Ten years ago it would have served to check his progress; now it would only facilitate his attack. Not that we have any fear in the final struggle, whatever the Russophobe may say. Chinese armies led by British officers will occupy Moscow before the Muscovite reaches Calcutta. Chap. xii., describing the army reform, will interest military readers. Egypt no longer wants the large forces and fleets with which she once conquered her neighbours. But she must have a considerable body of regulars; and I would rather see 15,000 than 5,650 men: all of them will be required to defend her against Abyssinian raids and to protect the Equatorial provinces, even after peace shall have been reestablished. The Egyptian fleet is a mere show, an article of luxury-costly, moreover, as it is useless. The country wants only a few heavily armed gun-boats to guard the African shores, to put down the slave export, and to prevent Arab piracy. Subsidised lines of steamers, the more the better, suffice to connect her with Mr. Mackenzie (p. 417) lays down as follows the main factors of the great problem-how to reform Egypt: - 1. To create a military and police force of such a kind as to ensure public tranquillity; 2. To introduce certain urgently required reforms, judicial and administrative; 3. To ameliorate the economic position of the peasantry; and 4. To endow the Egyptian people with certain political institutions-not immediately wanted. 66 And now let us see what the last twelve months odd have done towards the desirable work of giving Egypt a new and a fair start." Englishmen who have experience in such matters deprecated England occupying Egypt, and would have preferred to see strong garrisons at Port Said and Suez, leaving the Nile Valley "to stew in its own broth." The individual John Bull is masterful and overbearing enough, but his Governments cringe rather than command; and, while the French rule a trifle too much, the English rule far too little. You cannot manage Moslems unless you take the master tone. Then the circumstances of our occupation, the Joint Control, Egyptian and English, placed us in a false, or rather in an impossible, position. It was the story of the two stools. For instance, when the cholera broke out at Damietta we should have isolated the town as we did the last plague village in Gujarát; we left the duty to native authorities, and the results were some 29,000 deaths. And then we offended the common-sense of Europe by decrying quarantine: because England in the high Temperates does not require such measures, ergo the subtropical Mediterranean must find them useless. Hence our unfriends declared that with us the shop is now all-powerful, and that the lives of men are light weight compared with £ s. d. The "economic condition " of the peasants is worse than ever; they have a debt of some twelve millions sterling; and the deficiency of receipts" now figures, they say, £2,800,000. It will be years before the Fellah learns the value of, and is able to effect, deepploughing-the only remedy for a surface-soil exhausted by cane and cotton. Manuring has at 2 been on the tapis for years, but nothing has been done. The villagers become more and more turbulent, and only martial law can gain us, or rather re-gain us, respect. "Egypt for the Egyptians" as much as you please; but at present Egyptians must be trained for Egypt. Meanwhile, the supervision of imperial questions, matters of finance, transactions involving income and outcome, the magistracy and the police, cannot but remain under English surveillance; and the "village Hampdens a race quickened by Arábi-here find a grievance, and ventilate it. We are evidently between the horns of a dilemma, evacuation or annexation; and we must apply the usual British panacea-a compromise. Nothing can be worse than those "extra-Parliamentary utterances," those periodical pledges of withdrawal volunteered by high authorities. They have kept the Nile Valley in a chronic excitement; they have paralysed commerce and industry; and they cannot fail, if persisted in, to ruin the country, and to make English mis-rule or no-rule a byword among the nations. The only compromise is a bona fide protectorate established for a term of years. For the benefit of those who propose evacuation I am tempted to repeat the words which I wrote after a last visit to Egypt in 1882:"Many will consider the following statement sensational and exaggerated, whereas it is plain and notorious fact. There is no second opinion upon the subject among foreigners in Egypt. When the last English soldier leaves Alexandria the last Enropean had better embark with him. The final exodus of our redcoats and our bluejackets will be followed by a human hurricane such as the lively annals of the Nile Valley have not yet witnessed. As we are here, so here we must perforce rest. It is our second conquest of the goodly land which all know-was offered in gift to England some years before its final fall. We honestly declined it then, but now the tyranny of Circumstance forces, nay, has forced, it upon us." = Mr. Mackenzie, like Mr. Broadley, is seldom found tripping; yet there are passages which we would see changed. He must not talk of the "unexplored region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba" (p. 51): every inch of ground is well known. In his note on Kurbash P. 39), he might have told readers that it originated the French "cravache." Evkai p. 71) misrepresents Aukáf-mortmain property bequeathed to mosques, &c. "Dura" durrah holcus, millet) should not be rendered "native maize." The legitimacy of the slave-girl's son is at the bottom of the antique quarrel between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael (p. 301). To old Mohammed Pasha is die the cultivation of cotton in Egypt, not to Said Pasha in 1854 (p. 269). And will Mr. Wallace bear with us if we object to his phrase "all were so jealous of each other" (p. 107)? Love each other!" is by no means equivalent to "love one another!" And this disregard of the delicacies of our English threatens it with conversion to Ay-mericanism. RICHARD F. BURTON. HISTORY. GESCHICHTSQUELLEN der Prov. Sachsen u. angrenzender supersunt. Ed. O. Stark. 15 M. norum medii aevi tomi II pars prior. 12 M. Berlin: Weidmann. PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. NEHRING, A. Fossile Pferde aus deutschen DiluvialAblagerungen u. ihre Beziehungen zu den lebenden Pferden. Berlin: Parey. 4 M. RICHET, Ch. L'Homme et l'Intelligence. Paris: Alcan. 10 fr. VOLKELT, J. Ueb. die Möglichkeit der Metaphysik. Hamburg: Voss. 1 M. WEISSENBORN, H. Die irrationalen Quadratwurzeln bei Archimedes u. Heron. Berlin: Calvary. 3 M. 60 Pr. MYSTICS AND THE SACRAMENT. Lansdowne, Edgbaston: Jan. 13, 1884. Will you permit me to point out, with reference to Mr. Webster's very interesting article on Valdés and Molinos (ACADEMY, January 12, 1884), that the accusation brought against the followers of the latter of neglecting Mass can only refer to the perfunctory attendance at High Mass? It was a grave accusation against them, as is proved by a letter from Cardinal Caraccioli, printed in full in the Appendix to Mr. Bigelow's admirable monograph, that they "frequented the Holy Communion daily," which appears to have shocked the Cardinal very much, when they happened to be married people. It was said that they took the Sacrament "as though it were a cake," but this meant no more than that they took it without confession. It was part of the judgment upon Molinos that he should make sacramental confession only four times a year, and receive the Sacrament. Through the whole course of history few figures seem to me more calm, gracious, and beneficent than that of this Spanish priest. His temperament was wrought to such fine issues that it appealed instinctively to the lofty and the pure; he went about doing good; he vanishes from our sight into his living tomb, without striving and without cry, and his voice is no longer heard in the streets. So, always, is it with the finest natures: apparent failure is the unalterable seal of their mission, and the inmortal influence they exert comes invariably from beyond the grave. J. HENRY SHORTHOUSE. THE TOMB OF MARGARET COUNTESS OF York: Jan. 15, 1884. Anyone knows that the chief person to whom Appleby, in Westmoreland, ought to look back with pride and gratitude is Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery. Throughout the course of the chequered and somewhat melancholy life of that great and religious lady, there was one person, above all others, to whom her thoughts reverted and her affections clung; and that was her mother, Margaret Russell, a daughter of the Bedfords, widow of George Earl of Cumberland, the great sea-captain and courtier. love, and reverence, who was one of the most vertuousse and religiousse ladies that lived in for the last time, at Brougham, on April 2, her time." The mother and the daughter met 1616; and there the daughter erected a pillar to commemorate the event, and provided a liberal dole for distribution to the poor on the same day, and at the same place, every year, for ever. The memory of her mother was the one sentiment in the daughter's life. Throughout her diary, which was kept with unfailing regularity to a great old age, she counts time by incidents in her mother's life, in many of which they had a common interest, which the child whom she had served so well never ceased to remember. This Lady Margaret Countess of Cumberland died in 1616, and was interred beneath a stately altar-tomb, which still remains, on the south side of the altar in St. Lawrence church, Appleby, rich with all the heraldry of the Cliffords, and invested, as most persons will admit, with the very strongest associations and claims. Will it be believed that the vicar and churchwardens of Appleby are applying at this very time for a faculty to remove this tomb to a different position in the church; and, not content with this, have actually opened the vault before the faculty has been granted, and have suffered numbers of people to inspect it? by; and is the leaden shroud which conceals Is all sentiment, all gratitude, extinct at Applethe remains of the great lady to be made, as it has been, the subject of newspaper paragraphs, idle gossip, and worse? I trust, for the credit of Appleby, that the application for the faculty will be withdrawn; or, if it be unhappily persevered with, that the accordant voice of the English public will approve of the action of a few of the descendants of the illustrious Countess, who Chancellor of Carlisle to say that the faculty are asking the shall not issue. If the tomb needs strengthening, then let it be strengthened; but by all means let it stay where it is. It is a fortunate thing for the people of Appleby that the Lady Anne cannot come back among them. J. RAINE. THE MYTH OF CRONUS. Mr. Taylor says that I think it "scientific and necessary to go to Australian savages "for the interpretation of the poetical literature of Periclean Greece." If Mr. Taylor regards the myth of Cronus-old in Hesiod's time (Grote, ed. 1869, i. 15)—as a production of Periclean Greece, it seems needless to argue further on the question. Mr. Taylor calls the method which seeks to explain certain anomalies found among civilised people as survivals from savagery "a nostrum "which" has hitherto proved to be no method at all." The method is that of Mr. Tylor and of Darwin. Whether it has been fruitless of results readers of Tylor, Darwin, Lubbock, and McLennan may judge for themselves. In his explanation of the myth of Cronus Mr. Taylor says nothing of what may be called the Maori "variant," though, indeed, the story of Papa and Rangi varies very little from that of Gaca and Uranus. Now, why are savage myths to be left out, especially when the theory which explains the Greek myths explains the savage myths as well? Mr. Taylor's own explanation is the sixth or seventh given on what he calls "the old orthodox lines." It is very ingenious, and exactly as convincing, "easy," and "reasonable" (especially easy) as the which Mr. Taylor calls unsatisfactory. If the myths be " transparent," why do so many learned critics see wholly different meanings in each of them? others In the Lady Anne's will she expresses her deep gratitude to her mother, and says, as I doe myselfe, soe I desire my succeeding posteritye to have her in memory, Ι also ventured to explain the myth of the mutilation of Cronus as a "nature myth "myth setting forth how Heaven and Earth were originally thrust apart, as in China, and by Indra in India. To support this theory, I advanced the unmistakably transparent Maori version of the same event; nor can I see, even after reading Mr. Taylor's letter, why this comparison should not be made. The most scholarly mythologists do not disdain to go to the Hottentots when they can show that a dead chief named "Lame Knee" is really the Dawn, and the Dawn really the Infinite. I do not know, or have forgotten, who is the authority for Mr. Taylor's statement that the His Delphian fetich stone fell from heaven. theory of the connexion of sidus and didnpos is far from being generally accepted. His notion that a crescent-shaped aerolite, or the crescent moon (or both), gave rise to the sickle of Cronus in the story is almost too ingenious. One explanation would be enough; but the double suggestion of a crescent-shaped acrolite or a crescent moon "mutilating the centre of the sky," when added to Schwartz's sickle, which is the rainbow, and to Preller's sickle as the natural weapon of the Harvest-god, demonstrates that theories of this sort are really too numerous and easy. A. LANG. ENGLISH PUBLISHERS AND AMERICAN BOOKS. We regret that Messrs. Field & Tuer should " but we "We have just received yours of the 6th ulto., We based our edition-which was the first announced in England, as a reference to the ACADEMY will show-on the American work, and we paid an editor to prepare it for English readers. It is therefore copyright. GRIFFITH & FARRAN. Ye Leadenhalle Presse, E.C.: Jan. 12, 1884. APPOINTMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK. MONDAY, Jan. 21, 4 p.m. Asiatic: "The Origin of the 8 p.m. Royal Academy: "Art as influenced by 8 p.m. Victoria Institute: Design in Crea- 8 p.m. Anthropological: Annual Meeting, Presi- 8 p.m. Colonial Institute: The Education of the South African Tribes," by Mr. W. Gresswell. Geometrical Teaching: Annual Meeting. 8 p.m. Civil Engineers: "The Adoption of WEDNESDAY, Jan. 23,6p.m. Society of Arts: "Science Carpenter. 8 p.m. Geological: "The Serpentine and A830- Doughty; "A Delta in Miniature-Twenty-seven THURSDAY, Jan. 24, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Music for the Pianoforte," II.. by Prof. Ernst Pauer. 7 p.m. London Institution: " Mozart's Operatic Works," by Mr. W. A Barrett. 8 p.m. Royal Academy: "Art as influenced by 8 p.m. Society of Arts: "The Manufacture of 8 p.m. Browning: "Paracelsus," by Miss 9 p.m. Royal Institution: "Kilima-njaro, the 3 p.m. SCIENCE. The Elements of Plane Geometry. Part I. The principal feature, accordingly, wherein the present work differs from Euclid's first two books, to which it corresponds, is the arrangement of the propositions. It must not, however, be understood either that all of Euclid's propositions are given or that his methods of proof are retained. As a matter of fact, there are some omissions and some additions, the former being less numerous than the latter. Some idea of the contents of the work may be gained from the statement that book i., entitled "The Straight Line," is divided into five sections-(1) Angles at a Point, (2) Triangles, (3) Parallels and Parallelograms, (4) Problems, (5) Loci; book ii., entitled "Equality of Areas," is divided into two sections (1) Theorems, (2) Problems. The whole is prefaced by a Logical Introduction, and a Syllabus of Geometrical Constructions which it is recommended that beginners should be exercised in prior to, or concurrently with, the study of theoretical geometry. As regards the methods of proof, they are, must be made of the demonstration of the Exception in general, simple and clear. Very first theorem in book i., which is needlessly difficult. The same objection may be alleged in a less degree respecting the second theorem. It would be too much to say that perfect consistency has been attained (it may be that perfect consistency is undesirable in a text-book for beginners) in the treatment of general and special cases of theorems. In illustration of what is meant, reference may be made to book ii., theorems 1, 2, 11, to which one, two, three figures respectively are given. Would it not be preferable to give two figures to each of these theorems, and to omit the special case when two particular points of the figure coincide? his recent edition of the first two books of Mr. C. L. Dodgson (in the Introduction to Euclid) recalls attention to the principle that when a theorem has been proved for one case it may be taken as proved for all similar cases, and he modifies accordingly the concluding part of the sixteenth proposition. But the principle applies to many more propositions than the one signalised by Mr. Dodgson; in 23, 31, 32, 35, 53, where it would be advisable the present work one may specify pp. 19, 22, to change the phrase "Similarly it may be shown " into "Hence also it has been shown." Ir would perhaps be out of place to give here a full statement of the objects aimed at by the association on whose authority the present work is issued; one of them, however, may be briefly mentioned-namely, the substitution, in the place of Euclid, of a manual of elementary state of mathematical science. The defects of geometry more in harmony with the present Euclid's Elements as a text-book for beginners have long been known to be numerous, and in the various editions which have been published since 1482 many attempts have been made Both sets of Problems and the examples either to remove them or at least to point of Loci have been judiciously chosen and them out. The most serious defect, since it arranged; and it is therefore with some hesiis the one least capable of remedy, is the im- tation that one suggests, in view of book ii., Mr. the insertion of the problem "To construct a perfect classification of the propositions. Todhunter (see his Conflict of Studies, p. 187) square on a given straight line," the alterathinks that it is to the influence of the classi- tion (a very slight one) of the order of the ficatory sciences that we owe the notion that problems in book ii. to 1, 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, and it is desirable to have all the properties of the addition to book ii. of a section on Loci, triangles thrown together, then all the proper- which might consist of two problems-To ties of rectangles, and all the properties of find the locus of a point the sum, and the circles; and he quotes a statement from De difference, of the squares of whose distances Morgan that " Euclid, fortunately for us, from two fixed points is constant. [That residence on British territory (in addi- never dreamed of a geometry of triangles as further suggestions may be tolerated, I should tion to prior publication) is necessary in order distinguished from a geometry of circles, but propose a verbal change-and one not even to obtain copyright in the United Kingdom is made one help out the other as he best could." verbal, for it concerns only a letter. The a proposition usually laid down in the books, Surely it is a sufficient answer to this to say first is to omit the word " only" in the though it has never yet been so decided. Pub- that Euclid has to a considerable extent given definition of a trapezium; the second, to spell lishers, we have observed, are often content to call their books "copyright," and then sit us a geometry of triangles as distinguished the word "shown" always in the same way. quiet under what would be a manifest infringe- from a geometry of circles, and that classificament, in preference to incurring the cost and tion is one of the main objects of every risk of legal proceedings.-ED. ACADEMY.] science. Your foot-note to our letter in to-day's ACADEMY may be misunderstood, as, in the instance referred to, the American author is not in the game. An American publisher buys a book from an author outright, and thereby becomes sole owner of the copyright. He then offers it at a certain price to us, at the same time mailing advance sheets. We approve the book, accept the terms, and publish simultaneously with him, or perhaps a day or two earlier, which certainly, according to the best legal opinion we can get, secures the copyright here. FIELD & TUER. If two It is a matter of some importance, though it is one which is easily overlooked, that in the description of identically equal figures the letters which denote corr sponding points should be written in the corresponding order. In few manuals of elementary geometry is this the case, but it is so here. I have not been so solicitous to indicate the merits of this text-book (for it has great and substantial merits) as to point out one or two trifling particulars where improvement seemed possible. Anyone who has attempted to write an elementary mathematical text-book will appreciate the difficulty of the task imposed on the committee, and will welcome with gratitude this result of their labours. J. S. MACKAY. SCIENCE NOTES. THE Zoological Society of London has appointed a committee, consisting of Prof. Flower, Prof. Jeffrey Bell, Mr. H. H. Johnston, Mr. Mivart, and Mr. Sclater, to prepare a memorial volume of the scientific papers of the late William Alexander Forbes, prosector of the society. It is purposed to publish these in a form similar to that which was adopted in the memorial volume of Forbes's predecessor, Garrod. Mr. Sclater will edit the volume, Mr. Johnston will prepare a biographical notice, with portrait, and Prof. Bell will act as secretary and treasurer. papers THE last part of the Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society opens with an interesting paper by Mr. Ralph Richardson, on "Agassiz and Glacial Geology," being the anniversary address delivered before the society at the beginning of last session. In this discourse, which displays great appreciation of Agassiz's work, Mr. Richardson gives a faithful sketch of the history of opinion on glacial questions during the last half-century. The same number contains, among other communications, some original suggestions on petrological nomenclature, by Mr. Kinahan, of the Geological Survey of Ireland. PHILOLOGY NOTES. THE Philological Society's annual "Dic- money FIRDAUSI's second epic, Yusuf and Zalîkhâ, a poem of about six thousand verses, which he composed after the completion of his Shahnama, and the value of which is enhanced by the fact that it is the earliest poetical version of the Biblical story of Joseph, has never yet been published. The Bodleian possesses two MSS. of this important work; and there is also one the British Museum, one in India, and a fragment in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. The late distinguished Persian scholar, M. H. Morley, long cherished the idea of publishing it, but was prevented from carrying "Anecdota Oxoniensia." out his intention. Prof. H. Ethé is, we under- Mothe, the French ambassador, left England only THE new volume in Messrs. Trübner's series 66 MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. NEW SHAKSPERE SOCIETY (Friday, Jan. 11.) FINE ART. ALBERT MOORE'S PICTURE, COMPANIONS." A Photo-engraving. "A new and exquisite picture.”—Stanlard. "Mr. Moore's graceful Companions' forms an excellent bonne bouche to an attractive exhibition."-Daily News. "The gem of this varied and delightful exhibition."-Academy. Particulars on application to the Publishers, Messrs. DOWDESWELL & DOWDESWELLS, 133, New Bond-street. The Ornamental Arts of Japan. By G. A. It would nevertheless be premature to criticise it as a complete work. So fragmentary a method of publication is more in favour in France than in England. We have all things begun and nothing ended: a bit of Preface; so many pages of letterpress belonging to one section, so many belonging to another; and of the illustrations a miscellaneous assortment which promises some trouble of arrangement to the binder when all is done. of issue does not stimulate curiosity and We are not sure that such a tantalising method ensure a greater amount of attention than if it were quite straightforward. Especially is 50 this likely to be so with regard to the letterpress, for, in volumes of the portentous size of these folios, looking at the pictures is apt to suffice, and some twenty or more of the gigantic pages to be read consecutively appears a task more formidable than it really is. If we mistake not, the articles on each of the subjects dealt with will extend to something like this length; and they will be too short, rather than too long, for the student, who, unless he possess the fine volume on Japan by M. Gonze, recently published in France, will be glad to study a work upon which evident care has been taken to make the information given as exhaustive and accurate as possible. Of the services which photography is able to render to art the illustrations to this sumptuous publication are even a more striking instance than those to The Keramic Art of Japan, and do great credit to Messrs. Lechertier, the chromo-lithographers. We doubt whether in truth of colour they are all quite equal to some of Mr. William Griggs's performances for instance, his plates to Mr. Vincent Robinson's book on Oriental Carpetsand we think that in some cases the texture of the ground (crape, silk, paper, &c.) might have been indicated more clearly; but there is far more to praise than to blame in these exquisite and elaborate facsimiles. So far as can be judged at present, the examples are well chosen. Of the well-known skill of the Japanese in drawing birds none could be much better than the swimming duck on crape-silk, the embroidered geese, and the crane painted on silk. This last, though we understand from the accompanying description that it is not by an artist of the very highest reputation, is singularly characteristic of the quaint gestures of the bird, and forms, with the cleverly treated jungle of tall seeded grass in which it stalks, a design of a very ingenious and attractive kind. As facsimiles none, perhaps, of the plates are better than the fine specimens of incrusted work, with the natural colours of trees and flowers, birds and insects, imitated in ivory, mother-o'-pearl, and various stones and metals. By the side of such delicate fictions the "hardstone" incrustations of the Italians seem clumsy and vulgar. Among the more beautiful decorated fabrics may be mentioned one of the curious tissues of silk and gilt paper, and a beautiful brown and buff butterfly design in silk and velvet. It is to be regretted that the author has been unable to unravel the historical or mythological mysteries involved in a series of delicately executed miniatures (sect. i., plate xi.), but it is not often that Mr. Audsley is at a loss. Of a series of pictures of the Japanese Inferno he gives a very clear and full account. These pictures, due to the imagination of a Japanese Dante or Swedenborg, have more than an artistic interest, showing, as they do, how similar are the natural notions of many peoples with regard to final judgment and punishment. In the first we see miserable souls shivering on the bank of a river; some have crossed, not by Charon's boat, but apparently by wading, to the opposite shore, where they fall on their knees before a terrible female monster with a white woolly pate. In the next scene they are in the judgment-hall undergoing a terrible examination before a blood-red judge of THE ACADEMY. truculent aspect. It is no use to attempt THE ITALIAN PICTURES AT BURLING TON HOUSE. [JAN. 19, 1884.-No. 611. The The Virgin and Child" (272-lent by A. Casella, Esq.) is one of those which, from this point of view, call for special notice. authorship is, we believe, disputed. Some have Pollaiuolo, others to Filippo Lippi. Here it is ascribed it to Lorenzo di Credi, others to exhibited under the modest title of "Florentine school." The Virgin is seated in front, with the Infant Christ in her lap; on her right are two angels standing. Perhaps few pictures by Old Masters have come down to us so free from obliteration as the present one. We have thus little difficulty in "analysing " in which the forms of the figures in different the style of this most impressive composition, aspects stand out very clearly. The peculiar oval shape of the angels' heads, with the hair falling down in quiet lines, the articulation in the fingers, and the shape of the ear are so many characteristic features to be met with in all the genuine works of Raffaelino del Garbo, a master by whom there are numerous drawings in the British Museum. In taking a more general view, we may say that the figures remind one Raffaellino owed his artistic education. of Filippino Lippi, the master to whom The Child, who is laughing or smiling, has a somewhat strange look. Apparently the artist did not succeed well in overcoming the difficulties of expressing gaiety, nor, may we add, did Pontormo in some of his pictures at Florence, nor perhaps Raphael in one of his pictures at Panshanger, exhibited some time ago at his hand). Burlington House (a work not entirely by That ineffable smile to which 66 Leonardo da Vinci gave expression in the Do AMONG the numerous Italian pictures, especially are so slightly defined that they are, in a fects, the figures being partly lost and indistinct manner, obliterated, thereby concealing many deon the ground of the picture, yet, his colouring being very beautiful, and the heads having an exquisite expression, the works of this artist give very great pleasure." Among the North Italian pictures there is a series of portraits (234-236, 240-242, 248-250, |