have rendered him almost immune to most ills, and a stranger to fatigue of any kind. In conversation, General

Diaz has confessed that, without the blessing of sound health and bodily strength which he has so singularly enjoyed, he would never have been able to carry out the public services with which his name will long be associated. Living, as he did for the first fifty strenuous years of his life, in an atmosphere of almost continual strife and warfare, either external or internal, and often with both raging at the same time, but for his great physical superiority and mental coolness he must inevitably have failed in his efforts to regenerate his country.

He pos

General Diaz strikes the observer as being a man of ardor and eagerness to learn all that passes in the outside world, and to be well informed as to the impressions created in the minds of foreigners regarding the position and the progress of Mexico. sesses a certain faculty for eliciting this information in conversation, and can generally use it in such a way as to learn all that he wants to know without betraying undue curiosity or falling into dispute with his visitors. His knowledge of men and their motives likewise enables him to discern quickly the genuine from the meretricious, the true from the false; while he has that exceptional gift of being able to say "no" gracefully but firmly whenever the nature of a request strikes him as being either inopportune or impolitic from a national point of view. He has the outward composure of a slow but careful thinker, and yet of a strong man of action, while he can be both a patient listener and a courteous debater. Advancing age has done but little to dull his powers of reasoning; while, when occasion demands, he can still prove himself possessed of a furnace of ac

tion, ready to blaze up and even to destroy his opponents.

Except when a refugee in the United States from the persecution of Santa Anna, General Diaz has visited no foreign soil-a matter of great regret to him, as he has assured me, since his one unsatisfied desire has been to see some of the European countries, and especially England. In spite of his deprivation in this respect. the President is apparently well informed upon European affairs, and the readiness and recentness of some of his information is surprising. longing to see Europe is not destined to be satisfied, since the President, both from the reason of his advanced age and his determination to watch over, by his actual presence in the country, the destinies of his nation, is not likely to leave Mexico even for a time.

The

Although President Diaz does not speak English, he never professed not to understand it. A rather amusing instance of this was afforded upon one occasion when a "tough" American concession-hunter from "out West" was received by the President, in company with a United States Embassy official, who undertook to act as interpreter. Believing the President to be entirely ignorant of the English language, the would-be concessionaire allowed himself unrestrained freedom in his remarks. Addressing the official interpreter, he referred to the apparent hesitation of the "old fool" in granting him his terms, and requested that he might be reassured upon certain points in question. At the termination of the interview, General Diaz, who had given no indication that the American's frank remark had been understood, quietly turned to the interpreter and said, "Tell this gentleman that the old fool' will carefully consider his application, and will let him know his decision later on." With a merry twinkle in his eye, the President

then bowed-out his embarrassed visitors; and it is eloquent of his broadmindedness and absence of personal pique that, in due course, he passed the coveted concession, although he granted the applicant no further interviews.

Porfirio Diaz, in spite of his humble birth and lack of training in any recognized school of diplomacy, answers remarkably to Burke's conception of a statesman, possessing a keen disposition to preserve and an undoubted ability to improve. Moreover, he has upon several notable occasions shown himself to be possessed of some of those qualities deemed indispensable for the successful occupation of any exalted position-good temper, tact, and patience; an absence of bitter partisanship in his earlier career; the possession of innate, generous sentiments, which involuntarily command respect and deference; and a personal dignity in both voice and manner which are at once attractive and impressive. While he has shone, perhaps, more as 21 worker than as an orator, his qualities as an administrator are not less remarkable than his statesmanship. No man of his age has been better able to feel the pulse of popular sentiment as it rises and falls almost from day to day, and especially so at times when his country has been confronted by issues of the gravest consequence, necessitating prompt and even drastic action.

Many recognitions of President Diaz' statesmanship have been bestowed upon him by foreign potentates; and it is generally admitted that Mexico, under his government, has made a great advance in international consideration. The numerous foreign decorations which have been conferred upon the President may be regarded, not only as personal honors to the man, but also as tributes to the orderliness and progress of his nation,

whose reputation for solvency, tranquility, and dignity has now, it may be hoped, been firmly and solidly established. The act of our own King in conferring the Grand Cross of the Bath upon General Diaz, in July 1906, was greatly appreciated by the Mexican nation, more especially as it was the first occasion on which Great Britain had conferred so highly-prized a distinction upon the head of any LatinAmerican Republic. So recently as April 1909, General Diaz was also the recipient of the highest honor which the Tsar of Russia can confer upon a foreigner, namely, the Grand Cross of the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

One of the clearest proofs of the high position which the Mexican Republic has taken in international affairs under the Presidency of General Diaz is afforded by the twice-tendered invitation from the United States to join with that Power in controlling the smaller Republics of Central America. Having established an enviable repu tation in regard to the stability of its own government, and to the protection that it has given within its borders to life and property, Mexico is apparently deemed worthy of entering within the sacred circle of the Congress of Nations which control, either by moral or physical force, the peace of the world. Although it is. comparatively speaking, but a few years since Mexico was itself classified generally among barbarian nations, she to-day has demonstrated that at least one Latin-American Power can become really civilized; and, this being admitted, it follows that Mexico hereafter will be expected to employ her weighty influence in support of those forces which make for civilization throughout the turbu lent lesser Republics of South and Central America. Within the past few months the moral influence of the Mexican Government has been brought to bear with marked success upon the

have rendered him almost immune to most ills, and a stranger to fatigue of any kind. In conversation, General Diaz has confessed that, without the blessing of sound health and bodily strength which he has so singularly enjoyed, he would never have been able to carry out the public services with which his name will long be associated. Living, as he did for the first fifty strenuous years of his life, in an atmosphere of almost continual strife and warfare, either external or internal, and often with both raging at the same time, but for his great physical superiority and mental coolness he must inevitably have failed in his efforts to regenerate his country.

He pos

General Diaz strikes the observer as being a man of ardor and eagerness to learn all that passes in the outside world, and to be well informed as to the impressions created in the minds of foreigners regarding the position and the progress of Mexico. sesses a certain faculty for eliciting this information in conversation, and can generally use it in such a way as to learn all that he wants to know without betraying undue curiosity or falling into dispute with his visitors. His knowledge of men and their motives likewise enables him to discern quickly the genuine from the meretricious, the true from the false; while he has that exceptional gift of being able to say "no" gracefully but firmly whenever the nature of a request strikes him as being either inopportune or impolitic from a national point of view. He has the outward composure of a slow but careful thinker, and yet of a strong man of action, while he can be both a patient listener and a courteous debater. Advancing age has done but little to dull his powers of reasoning; while, when occasion demands, he can still prove himself possessed of a furnace of ac

tion, ready to blaze up and even to destroy his opponents.

In

Except when a refugee in the United States from the persecution of Santa Anna, General Diaz has visited no foreign soil-a matter of great regret to him, as he has assured me, since his one unsatisfied desire has been to see some of the European countries, and especially England. spite of his deprivation in this respect. the President is apparently well informed upon European affairs, and the readiness and recentness of some of his information is surprising. longing to see Europe is not destined to be satisfied, since the President, both from the reason of his advanced age and his determination to watch over, by his actual presence in the country, the destinies of his nation, is not likely to leave Mexico even for a time.

The

Although President Diaz does not speak English, he never professed not to understand it. A rather amusing instance of this was afforded upon one occasion when a "tough" American concession-hunter from "out West" was received by the President, in company with a United States Embassy official, who undertook to act as interpreter. Believing the President to be entirely ignorant of the English language, the would-be concessionaire allowed himself unrestrained freedom in his remarks. Addressing the official interpreter, he referred to the apparent hesitation of the "old fool" in granting him his terms, and requested that he might be reassured upon certain points in question. At the termination of the interview, General Diaz, who had given no indication that the American's frank remark had been understood, quietly turned to the interpreter and said, "Tell this gentleman that the old fool' will carefully consider his application, and will let him know his decision later on." With a merry twinkle in his eye, the President

time he found it necessary to increase his own authority and, incidentally, that of his successors, and to secure at his disposal everywhere powerful means of enforcing his will. If PorThe Quarterly Review.

firio Diaz has been for long a dictator, he has perhaps proved himself one of the mildest and least selfish autocrats whom the world has ever known. Percy F. Martin.

The imposing ceremony wherewith in June last their Majesties opened the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the magnificence of the buildings which now form the home of our national art collections, could hardly fail to inspire in the minds of those who were present reflections on the changes which have taken place in museums generally during the past generation.

Time was, and not so many years ago, when any museum was merely a receptacle for any and every article which might be considered a curiosity. Who does not remember the singular medley of exhibits which made up the collection in the museum of a county town that boasted such an establishment? An ill-stuffed crocodile, depending from the ceiling; a handful of flint arrow heads, found in the neighborhood, shared a glass-covered case with bead ornaments from Central Africa, a box of undescribed shells, some bone trifles carved by French prisoners in England during the Napoleonic wars, and other strangely assorted miscellany. On the shelves an array of stuffed birds unrecognizable under the dust and decay of years; gods from the Fiji Islands, ancient cannon balls, weapons from various regions of the earth, made picturesque variety against the walls. Method and ar rangement were totally lacking; unless the museum possessed a collection of coins, in which case, it is fair to say. an attempt was made to display them in order. Some of the exhibits were labelled; but not a few bore nothing to

enlighten the visitor as to their identity, origin, or use.

Such displays as these might stimulate curiosity, but their educative value was literally nil. The impression a county-town museum left upon the mind of the visitor who had strayed into the place to while away an hour of waiting for his train, or to escape the passing shower, was much the same as that left by the storehouse of a dealer in curios. The place was generally empty save for occasional invasion by small and idle boys; amusement-of a somewhat dismal kind— might be afforded by the miscellany. That it could, or should, provide instruction was an idea that was wholly wanting.

The same absence of idea that a museum might be, or ought to be, instructive was not peculiar to the museum of a provincial town. It obtained in London equally: some of the officials connected with the British Museum in pre-Victorian days possessed more advanced views on this point; but the public, generally, regarded it merely as a storehouse where curiosities were kept for the amusement of those who had spare time to go back and look at them. It was a resort for the idle to gaze and wonder. In the popular esteem it had no other aim or purpose.

It is interesting to turn for a moment to the voluminous mass of evidence taken by the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the management and affairs of the British Mu

seum in 1835. The views held by most museum officials of those days were as yet undeveloped. Mr. J. G. Children, the curator in charge of the Natural History Department, was asked (Qs. 3364-6):

Q. "While you were employed in arranging the collection in scientific order, did you keep distinctly in view at the same time the making of it attractive to the general public?"

Ans. "Not further than distinctly exhibiting the specimens; there has been no particularly ornamental way of exhibiting them; that has not been considered, nor do I well know how it could be done."

Q. "Do you think it would be consistent with science to arrange the specimens in such a way as to give a slight notion of the habits of a family?"

Ans. "Does the Committee mean by putting them in natural positions? It might be done, though it is not in general done. The effect would depend on the skill of the artist."

In this department, of course, the museum official was dependent upon the skill of the taxidermist: he was not free to give effect to any plans of his own if his ideas had progressed beyond "distinctly exhibiting the specimens." It is not necessary to labor the point: one need only walk through the splendid bird-galleries of the Natural History Museum to see how far we have progressed, and to discover how interesting and instructive the museum curator of our own time, aided by modern taxidermy, makes a case of stuffed birds. The "specimen" of an earlier day told the visitor nothing: that of our own, mounted in a natural pose with its nest and eggs amid artistically preserved natural surroundings, tells him more than he can learn from descriptions in books; more than he can learn in any way short of observing for himself birds in their woodland, meadow, or sea-cliff haunts.

"Tra

The truth is that until the 'sixties, and perhaps later, we had not progressed beyond the seventeenth-century conception of a museum. descant's Ark," the earliest museum of which record remains, could not have been very dissimilar from the English provincial museum of forty years ago. John Tradescant, the reader may be reminded, was a gardener of eminence, who is believed to have died in the year 1637: he had a passion for collecting curiosities of all descriptions, and these he exhibited in his house in South Lambeth. A son, also named John, inherited his father's taste, in, apparently, an intensified form: he enlarged the collection and travelled widely in his search for additions to it.

A few quotations from the catalogue of this "Collection of Rarities presently at South Lambeth near London," which was published by John Tradescant junior in 1657, will show its character: "Some kindes of Birds, their Egges, Beaks, Clawes, Feathers and Spurres," "Divers sorts of Egges from Turkie one given for a Dragon's Egge," "Easter Egges of the Patriarch of Jerusalem," "Two feathers of the Phoenix Tayle," "Cherrystone, on one side S. George and Dragon perfectly cut and on the other 88 Emperours' Faces."

This collection eventually came into the possession of Elias Ashmole: he presented it, together with curiosities of his own, in 1683, to Oxford University, which erected the old Ashmolean buildings to accommodate the gift. A museum which contained, among other curiosities, feathers from the tail of the Phoenix and the egg of a dragon, no doubt embraced a great deal else that was false and spurious; but for at least one item posterity owes gratitude to this seventeenth-century museum maker. Tradescant's collection included a stuffed bird of which relics