refreshment is short; they cannot afford light wines; and beer gets into their heads a little. It may be only a very little indeed, but they cannot spare from their duties the drowsy ten minutes that even that little brings with it. It is not then to teetotallers only that the new refreshment-houses have to look for custom; far from it. Many a man who will take the "liquor called punch" or something like it at bed-time, will be glad enough to get a solid luncheon in town at mid-day, with no drink after it but a cup of coffee. These might, if they could get it, prefer the luncheon with two or three glasses of light wine, followed by a cup of coffee, but that would be too expensive; and you cannot get the two things together, as a rule, except at a club or some dear house. Those, then, who (like the present writer) are not teetotallers, and who oppose all attempts to make men sober by compulsion, may be heartily glad to see these new refreshment-houses springing up here and there, and may also wonder how it is that they are so late in arriving. But the obvious things nearly always are. Thousands of men, by the mere accident of "trying "-of going in "to see what the place is like, you know"-have found out how much better for them at mid-day is a cup of chocolate or coffee than a "drain 66 or a quencher"-better for the wits, better for the temper, and not worse for the pocket. If the spirit of good taste, as well as the spirit of temperance, should enter thoroughly into the scheme, a fresh point would be gained. Of course, in places like the "Edinburgh Castle" the get-up and the appointments must be loud, and sentiments of delicacy and privacy need not be largely cared for. Nor can they be much waited upon in the very busiest places. But two things should certainly be attended to as the movement spreads-absolute excellence in the tea and coffee, and quietness, coolness, and refinement in the arrangements and ornaments of the buildings.

The

MISS SKENE'S LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP LYCURGUS.*-This book may be regarded as both a manifesto of the Anglo-Continental Society and an expression of sorrow for the untimely death of a man who knew how to win the affection and respect of all who came under his influence. In this latter aspect, the little book is well done, and Miss Skene deserves our thanks for a simple unaffected narrative of a good man's life. On the other side, as a manifesto, the work is perhaps not so successful; for it is the record of the disappointment of great hopes. We see in it the apparently brightening prospect of a reunion of Christendom; the gratification of Anglicans at the friendly recognition vouchsafed them by a great prelate of the Greek Church, and their unfeigned sorrow when "the English-loving Alexander," as the Greeks called him, fell a victim to his many labours, and died in 1875. A preface by the Bishop of Lincoln, and a valedictory Requiescat in Pace, at the end of the book, in a letter from Mr. Gladstone, indicate clearly with what warmth of feeling those who yearn for the union of Churches lamented the good archbishop's death. There is something touching in the position taken up by the Anglicans face to face with foreign Churches. Here is what we may call, on the whole, a decidedly Tory party in Church-politics, opposed to the ambitious and changeful Church of Rome, and attracted, with infinite longings, towards "the changeless East.' Old Catholics in England and abroad are the extreme opposite of those Jesuit-led Romanists of our day, who combine continual change with ever-new claims and assumptions of authority: they " stand on the old ways," from which Rome has wandered; all theories of development are equally odious to them; the Greek Fathers represent to them the whole of Theology; they arouse in our ears astonished echoes of controversies long passed away, and questions unfamiliar to modern thought; the discussions at Bonn might have been held by a new party of Seven Sleepers, just reawakening into life, and blinking in the strange light of our century; even in politics they take side according to their special point of view, and regard the momentous Russo-Turkish war as but a means towards the fulfilment of their aspirations for union. In many an enthusiastic breast the hope is cherished that Anglican and Greek may yet, and ere long, worship in harmony, and that, all points of difference smoothed over, or conceded on this side, a new era of orthodox resistance to Rome may begin. Miss Skene quotes with delight the saying of her hero that "the Pope was the first Protestant," a saying which, to her mind, is two-edged, and smites alike Dissenter and Papist. This yearning after union, which has ever marked the more orthodox section of the Anglican Church, shows tendencies of thought not unlike those of exiled princes and their dependents. There are the same splendid dreams of future reconciliations, the same eagerness for recognition, the same unconsciousness as to the vast breadths of hostile popular opinion which lie between them and the fruition of their desires. It is with this view that Miss Skene wishes to familiarize English minds with the Greek Church. She feels that the interest aroused here by the visit of Archbishop Lycurgus, and the friendly feelings shown by him towards the Anglicans, should be preserved and refreshed: the two Churches are cousins who have long lived far apart; and their renewed interchange of friendly greetings must not be forgotten. And the record is not without considerable interest. *The Life of Alexander Lycurgus, Archbishop of the Cyclades. By F. M. F. Skene. With an Introduction by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. Rivingtons.

Here is a man, very ignorant as to this outlying island of ours, so narrow in his early training, and in the " changeless orthodoxy" of his position, that he was unable to enter at all into the many-sided problems of his time; a man whose theology struggled hard with his personal sympathies and warmth of heart. This man is brought into close connection and communication with "barbarians" in speech and thought; and his impressions must have been unusual and striking. Yet it is just here that the biography seems to fall below our expectations. While we are told, rather in the manner of ladies' novels, that the hero is a man of unusual parts, highly-educated and learned, we feel that his actual doings and utterances leave no such impression on us. He is good, zealous, warm-hearted; his letters are affectionate and not without interest, yet in all essential points they are entirely commonplace; we discern in them a certain self-consciousness; the honours paid him by the good Churchmen and zealous lion-hunters of Britain are evidently very grateful to him; he was exceedingly sensitive as to his reception wherever he went. He contrasts with no little show of feeling the rudeness of the Cambridge men in the Senate House, when his degree was conferred on him there, with the cordial warmth of his reception by the Oxford undergraduates, a greeting which, Miss Skene tells us, he characterized as λαμπός (? λαμπρός); a circumstance perhaps more wonderful than the good archbishop knew, and certainly strange to those who remember the vulgarities of the Oxford Theatre at Commemoration time. We miss, too, anything like a view of England or English life; and we feel that, as in his own life and training, so in his visit to this country, Archbishop Lycurgus moved in a narrow circle, and saw little or nothing of those larger interests and characteristics which mark the England of our days.

The most interesting portion of the book is the Appendix, which contains a series of letters from the Archbishop to Mr. Gladstone. Here we find a natural expression of the strong jealousy with which the Greek clergy regard the Russian StateChurch; we obtain insight into that Bulgarian Church question, which had so much to do with the late outbreak of war. The Christians north of the Balkans were not unreasonably aggrieved by being obliged to receive as their priests Greeks who administered all the offices of religion in a tongue to them unknown; and claimed the right to be ministered to by Bulgarian clergy. They were supported in this by Russia, and opposed by the heads of the Greek Church, whose antagonism was brought out still more clearly when the Bulgarians, inspired no doubt by Russian favour, demanded that there should be set over them a separate head, under the Patriarch of Constantinople, and that this new Patriarch or spiritual chief should have authority over the faithful wherever the Bulgarian tongue was spoken. It was felt by the Greeks that this would be a step towards the severance of ties, and would throw the Bulgarians more and more into Russian hands. Hereupon the Patriarch sent for Archbishop Lycurgus, who supported his views, and in so doing appears to have elicited the approval of Mr. Gladstone in his opposition to Russia, a fact which may be commended to the notice of those politicians who accuse the English statesman of a mean subservience to Panslavic or Russian influences.

On the whole we fear that we cannot pronounce Miss Skene successful in her attempt to excite our admiration for the Greek Church. The married clergy, cut off from all hopes of rising, ignorant peasants, never allowed to preach, devoid of all stimulus to mental exertion, and enjoying no intellectual life, do not commend themselves as types of working clergy; nor are Miss Skene's descriptions of the life and habits of the "religious" in their nunneries likely to be attractive outside a very limited circle of English readers. Nor can we quite sympathize with the evident tenderness for Eastern superstitious feelings which pervades the book, a remarkable specimen of which is to be found in her account of what she calls the "facts" as to the burial of the martyred Patriarch Gregory, in 1821. It is curious to see so complete an example of the myth-making process, the Eastern thaumaturgic spirit, going on in our own times, and narrated for the benefit of Anglican admirers.

Still, for all these lesser blemishes, this Life of Archbishop Lycurgus is attractive, and, in days in which Eastern questions are prominent, sets before us in a new light matters which are only too obscure to us. The relations between Greek and Russian, especially in ecclesiastical affairs, may before long become very important, and new sources of difference and difficulty may spring up, at the very moment when the close of the present Eastern struggle would seem likely to settle all outstanding disputes, and to give freedom to oppressed and faithful Churches.

THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE IN QUEEN ANNE'S TIME.*-We are going to show some of the merits of a curious book by drawing from it a few notes illustrative of the condition of the diocese of Carlisle between 1703 and 1707. The author of it was William Nicolson, whose " English Historical Library was for some time the best book of its class, but in this volume we are introduced to him in his episcopal character, and see him going over his wild diocese and taking notes of what he heard and saw.

It may easily be imagined that Bishop Nicolson set before him no very high standard of excellence for his churches and clergy. In some cases, undoubtedly, his wishes were more than satisfied, but the shortcomings were very general and serious. He visited ninety-two churches and chapels. Two of these he found in ruins. In eighteen there was either little or no glass in the windows. Twelve were without plaister, a fault which he especially reprehended, as, next to having the Queen's arms, he wished to have the internal walls ornamented with texts of Scripture.

The most neglected places that the Bishop visited are the following:

"KIRKBRIDE. The parson, Mr. Hall, and his son (one of the tabarders of Queen's College in Oxford), were gone abroad, and the key of the church could not be found. However, I easily put back the lock of the great door with my finger, and quickly found why I was, in a manner, deny'd entrance. I never yet saw a church and chancel (out of Scotland) in so scandalous and nasty a condition. Every thing, to the highest degree imaginable, out of order. The roof of the quire comeing down, the Communion-table rotten, the reading-desk so inconvenient that 'twas impossible to kneel in it, the pulpit inaccessible, no seat, nor pavement in the quire, etc. So ill an example in a rich parson (who is, in effect, the lord of the mannor as well as the rector of the parish), cannot but beget a proportionable slovenlyness in the parishioners; who have their seats tatter'd, the floor all in holes, no surplice, no Common Prayer-book, a very few fragments of an old Bible, etc. The font has been a beautiful one, but to bring it to a resemblance with the rest, one of its square sides is half broken off. In short, the whole look'd more like a pigsty than the house of God."

"STAPLETON. The quire is most intolerably scandalous. No glass in the windows; no ascent to anything that looks like an altar; no flooring; no seats. The parishioners follow the example of their parson, and have the body of the church in as nasty a pickle as the quire. The roof is so miserably shatter'd and broken that it cannot be safe sitting under it in stormy weather. Not one pane of glass in any of the windows; no readingdesk; nor did they ever hear that they had a bell. The font is abominable; the seats scurvily low. They happened to bring a corpse to be buried (according to the custom of the place), without any service, whilst we were there. I desired Mr. Benson, my chaplain, to officiate; but he could find onely some few scraps of a Common Prayer-Book, and an insufferably torn Bible of the old translation. There was no surplice to be found, nor did ever any such thing (as far as any present could remember), belong to this church. One of 'em told us that sometimes, on an Easter-day the parson had brought a surplice with him and had administer'd the Sacrament in it; but even that ordinance (amongst the rest), was most commonly celebrated without one."

"SKELTON. I had hopes of mighty alterations for the better from Mr. Brougham and the parson, but I found nothing at last, tanto dignum hiatu. The outside of the quire (which I had observ'd in the beginning of the winter to be almost half cover'd with turff) was now patch'd up with slate and lime, hang'd on (as the man's own upper garments usually are) in a very loose and slovenly manner; for the timber and lathes being faulty within, the slates lie all in hills and dales, and cannot possibly hang on to the year's end. The three east windows are half wall'd up; and the six on the sides so shatter'd and open, that the pigeons come in as freely as into a cote. Here they breed all the summer on the tops of the walls," etc.

In as many as forty-two churches, including the principal church in Carlisle next to the cathedral, there were no altar-rails. Three retained their old stone altars. In many the tables were neglected or in decay. At St. Michael's, Appleby, and other churches in the neighbourhood, they were placed east and west, instead of north and south. At Ravenstonedale the altar was at some distance from the east window. In three churches there were seats against the east wall, behind it. In one church the pulpit was so placed that the preacher held forth with his face towards the east. In nineteen churches the seats had no backs; one church had no Bible; two no Common Prayer-book; in a third it existed only "in scraps;' in a fourth there were only a few leaves. In three churches there was no font; and when there, it was not always used. In three churches there was no surplice. * Miscellany Accounts of the Diocese of Carlisle. By William Nicolson, late Bishop of Carlisle. Edited by R. S. Ferguson.

We should have thought that it would have been absent in a far greater number. In sixteen cases the churchyard-wall was either broken down or insufficient. In three places the church was practically turned into a dovecote.

There are fewer complaints against clergymen than we should have expected. Wretchedly poor, for the most part, it is difficult to imagine how they managed to live. The stipend of a curate seems to have been only £5 per annum, or something less. The glebe houses were often in great decay. The vicar of Ainstable had a vicarage so bad that he took up his abode in an ale-house by the roadside, which was kept by his wife or daughter. Many of the clergy eked out their scanty pittance by teaching a school; indeed, there were but few parishes without that boon. The school was very frequently held in the chancel of the church, which the children defiled and desecrated. This evokes a frequent complaint from the bishop. At Westward he found the lads writing their copies upon a large altar-tomb, but he recovered his equanimity when they passed a fair examination before him in Virgil and Horace. In another church the holy table itself was used for the same purpose as the tomb.

Many other singular facts may be observed. At Greystock there was a particular fee when a child was buried without a coffin. At Threlkeld a curious custom obtained in regard to marriages, which may be recommended to the consideration of those who are now agitating for the abolition of breach-of-promise actions. Formal contracts were regularly entered in the parish register, and bondsmen were required to secure the payment of a fine of 5s. to the poor "by the party that draws back." The rector of Asby told his diocesan that he had been without a funeral for seventeen months, and then the void was filled up by an old man who dropped down dead, not at the taste, but "at the smell of too much meat," at the dinner of the mayor at Appleby. At Ravenstonedale there were two benches between the altar and the east wall, and the tradition was, that the manorial officers formerly sat there and adjudged criminals, if need were, to death a vault on the north side was pointed out as their prison. In the same church, the old sanctus bell had been retained, but it was put to a novel use, being rung at the end of the Nicene Creed, "to call in the Dissenters to sermon!"

LIFE AND LETTERS OF LUIGI ORNATO.*-The name of Ornato is little known except in connection with the band of Piedmontese patriots who in the early part of this century devoted themselves to the moral and intellectual improvement of their country, and so prepared the way for its glorious future. Some of theseBalbo, Gioberti, and Azeglio—afterwards played a part in public life, but others, and among them Ornato, never emerged from obscurity, and yet none the less contributed to the development of the national spirit by the invigorating influence of the atmosphere they created around them, and the inspiring example of the life they led.

Ornato was born in 1787. During his youth, his country was subject to France; after 1814, Austrian influence was dominant throughout the peninsula. One field of work alone was open to young men like Ornato-that of self-cultivation. They could be scholars and thinkers; they could by a life of virtue and labour do something to remove the reproach which then attached to the very name of Italian. Their love for their country was true and strong enough to make them recognize the fact that she was despised, and that, before she could claim the regard of other nations, a change must take place in her. Let Italians but rouse themselves and think again, for there is power and life in thought! "Ideas generate events," wrote he, more necessarily, more irresistibly than events ideas. If it is a slower process, it is a surer and, in fact, a more direct one." He believed in the power of will, in the power of work. "The people and each individual have more in their power than they think, if only they have the will. But to will is to work. In a great man, we are tempted to regard chiefly his genius, to attribute to it his greatness; we should take account also of the hard work, which, placed in the balances, weighs as much as the genius."

The memoir, which forms the first part of this volume, is entitled "Ornato e i suoi Amici." He is brought before us in connection, first of all, with the three chosen companions of his youth, his dearest friends through life-Provana, Balbo, and Santa Rosa-and later, with those of a younger generation, who looked up to him as their revered master, their "Socratic friend." Apart from these, his society was highly valued by such men as V. Cousin, Gioberti, P. Rossi, T. Mamiani, Vita e Lettere di Luigi Ornato. Prof. Leone Ottolenghi. Roma, Torino, Firenze: Ermanno Loescher,