statement, for instance, that Irish boatmen "consider it a circumstance happy beyond their hopes, should a priest or religious person sail with them in their barks"; and the following recipe may be new to many, and perhaps be turned to account among us in these days of premature baldness: "It was, and still is, a popular idea in Ireland, that to have the hair cut in the wane of the moon injures it very much, by causing it to grow thinly, and to fall away; and this should only be done when the hair becomes too thick. To make the hair grow thicker, its cutting should take place, it was thought, just after the new moon.' Before taking leave of this pleasant little volume, we ought to call attention to the kindly tone which pervades its pages. When so many authors are in the habit of hewing away at their brother writers as ferociously as if they were ancient Israelites smiting Amalekites, it is pleasant to find one of the irritable race who dispenses kind words around as lavishly as "Lageniensis." Especially on Irish authors does he bestow his praise, their merits rousing him to an enthusiasm which at times appears somewhat undiscriminating. As a general rule, he is, doubtless, right in assuming that all tales written by Irishmen must be "interesting," and all their ballads must be "beautiful," but it seems to be going a little too far to say that Mr. Denis Florence M'Carthy's 'Voyage of St. Brendan' is "a poem which, for felicity of expression and ideality of subject, has nothing superior to it in our own, or perhaps in any other language."

moments when they would express what lies - is deepest and most secret in their heart, entering into the Holy Temple not made with hands, which the Maker of Men has prepared for His own dwelling in that noble and precious thing, the Soul of Man. The Evenings with the Sacred Poets' ought to have been a linked and golden chain from the beginning of time until now; for in all climes and ages there have been men who have sung hymns to God. If Mr. Saunders has felt the influence of true poetry, he has not the gift of expressing himself; neither has he the much smaller gift of being able to provide bountifully and hospitably for his readers out of the abundance of the materials which he has found under his hands. He gives scraps and dislocated morsels: for instance, there is nothing ample or entire in his selections from the noble songs of the Early Church. As to the specimens from the Scriptures, he would have done better to have let them alone altogether. We feel it an impertinence that is nearly an irreverence to be afflicted with commonplace critical phraseology about the poetical beauties of the Bible,-to be told that "David's lamentation over Jonathan is a beautiful illustration of the rhetoric of grief," or to hear that "of the sublime and grand, the following burst from Isaiah is a beautiful example," or to have "an exquisite passage from Habakkuk" pointed out. It is exasperating to have the Psalms spoken of with affable commendation, in a style that the Morning Post might apply to a fashionable novel :-"The divine sentiments embalmed in these deathless songs of the minstrel monarch of Israel have been ever cherished by the Christian as an invaluable repository of consolation and counsel in all times of affliction, and a divine guide and auxiliary to devout aspirations in seasons of hope and rejoicing." This is the opinion of Mr. Saunders himself, and he goes on to give it emphasis by many quotations from other writers, which he cuts up into little bits to intermingle with his own. Mr. Saunders never gets into the heart of his subject, he is never moved by it; and, consequently, his book is superficial from beginning to end. He means well, no doubt, when he talks placidly of "the wondrous apocalyptic vision of Patmos,"-where he tells us that "metaphor, symbol and trope revel in richest exuberance and prodigality of beauty and grandeur." St. John might have forgiven him; but we do not think Exeter Hall will be patient with him for turning the signs of the times into "tropes" and "metaphors": to their tender mercies we commit him. They will do the anathematizing for us.

up

With all-prevailing charm,
Peril and curse and harm.

O path where Christ hath trod!
O way that leads to God!
O word abiding aye!

O endless light on high!
Mercy's fresh-springing flood;
Maker of all things good.
O glorious life of all
That on their Maker call!
Christ Jesus, hear!

But little is known of Clement, to whom this hymn is attributed, and Mr. Saunders knows less.

St. Ephraem of Syria, the great doctor of the Syrian Church and the disciple of St. James of Nisibis, A.D. 379, is the next poet of the Church. Mr. Saunders seems to have no idea that he wrote in Syriac, and that it is doubtful if he understood Greek at all. A certain "heretic who denied the Resurrection" put his ideas into popular songs, set them to music, and propagated them in this way. This gave St. Ephraem the idea, in his turn, of spreading the true faith by means of hymns and poems. He wrote them on the life of our Lord and the chief mysteries of the faith; and he is one of those sometimes called "Doctors of Our Lady," on account of his extraordinary devotion to her. A funeral hymn sung at the graves of children brings tears into one's eyes, even in the paraphrase, of which we will give a few lines, omitting Mr. Saunders :

And I fear that my lamentings, as I speak thy

cherished name,

Desecrate the royal dwelling,-fear to meet deserved

sing.

Those who have not at hand the work from which Mr. Saunders has taken this hymn (Christian Life in Song') will thank us for giving them even a few lines. When Julian forbade all Christians to study in the public schools or use the Pagan poets, with the idea of cutting off all sources of learning, St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote a number of hymns and poems to supply the Christians with a literature of their own. We give a few lines as a specimen of the Christian poetry St. Gregory gave to the Christian :

Where are the winged words? Lost in the air! Where the fresh flowers of youth and glory? Gone! The strength of well-knit limbs Brought low by

as St. Gregory, who speaks of the love of Jesus Christ communicating to the loving heart a reflection of that divine beauty which is the object of its love. Synesius talks more about the ancient glories of Cyrene and Sparta. Mr. Saunders next takes "St." Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople. The Roman Catholic Church calls him anything but a "Saint"; and he was certainly not canonized. The late Rev. J. M. Neale has given translations of some of his hymns; one of them, beginning

Fierce was the wild billow, dark was the night, is set to music.

which is one of the hymns of the Passion, by Mamertus; the other on the Blessed Sacrament

Pange Lingua gloriosi Corporis mysterium,

which was written by St. Thomas Aquinas, and is sung on Corpus Christi day.

We have neither time nor space to go on supplying, ever so briefly, the information which Mr. Saunders does not afford; his mode of characterizing the great Saints and Fathers of the Church is very trying to the patience of the reader who has been accustomed to think of them and their works with reverence. He calls Thomas à Kempis, whose name is loved by all denominations of Christian men, and whose book, by its deep knowledge of human nature, of the hidden life of the heart, has transcended all the divisions and sects of Christianity, and become a typical book, which may be known and read by all men, "that pious recluse" and "this worthy ascetic." When he speaks of the 'Dies Ira' he makes a medley of all the names he knows who have spoken on the subject; and he attributes this hymn, without any misgivings, to Thomas of Celano, early in the thirteenth century. If Mr. Saunders would take a word of advice from us, we would recommend him to learn what an "authority" means. Let him forsake Mrs. Charles and Prof. Schaff; let him study Mone, or, better still, let him study the original writers of the hymns themselves.

Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, the hymnologist, is not to be confounded with St. Andrew of Crete, who was a monk and a martyr, having been scourged to death by Constantine in the bloody and noisy conflicts about relics and images, and he died in their defence about 761. The archbishop died before these troubles began. His poems are collected and published in Paris, 1644. Mr. Saunders talks of the Poets of the Studium, but tells us nothing about it. It was, as Mr. Saunders surely knows, a famous monastery in one of the suburbs of Constantinople, called after its founder, Studius; it produced many learned men; the most celebrated of them is St. Theodore, of the Studium. We have no space to quote from the specimens given by Mr. Saunders of the poets of the Studium, nor yet those of St. John of Damascus, but we recommend our readers The utter and extreme ignorance displayed to go to the originals. They are not difficult by Mr. Saunders of religious life and thought to procure, and the deliverance from Mr. Saunders and his observations will be great.

When he comes to the medieval Latin

hymns Mr. Saunders is more provoking than ever. He has no feeling or sympathy with the spirit of the age in which they were produced. He gives the most meagre and baldest scraps from noble old hymns, which were the comfort and strength of the Church in the days of darkness, because, to use his own words, we have had to omit many notable and beautiful pieces on account of the erroneous doctrine they teach, and even of those

66

we have indicated to the reader our extracts

have been necessarily brief on that account."

This shows that Mr. Saunders is not more enlightened than Archbishop Trench, who has also adopted this curious principle. Mr. Saunders speaks of the "natural desire to know what the Church was doing during her thousand years eclipse." It is very evident that he

himself is profoundly ignorant of the works

of faith and labours of love which were carried by the Church and spread abroad among all the nations of Europe. Venantius Fortunatus certainly wrote the processional hymn beginning

Vexilla regis prodeunt, Fulget crucis mysterium, Quæ vita mortem pertulit, Et morte vitam protulit, sung on Good Friday in the Roman Church, after the candles are lighted on the altar and the priest goes in procession to fetch the Blessed Sacrament from the place where it had been deposited the preceding day. But Venantius did not write the "Pange Lingua Gloriosi"; it was written in the fifth century by Claudianus Mamertus, younger brother of Saint Mamertus.

There are two hymns, one beginning
Pange Lingua gloriosi
Prælium certaminis,

from the fifth century to the period of the Reformation, makes his book entirely worthless except for casual and superficial readers; and even they, we imagine, will find it unsatisfactory, except so far as it may send them

to other and fuller sources of information about what manner of men are those who have said or sung the Christian doctrines in times of affliction and distress, and who have carried down the songs of faith and hope in the "voice of joy and melody " to the present day. We could gladly write a great deal about the sacred poetry of the Reformation era,-of the German Thirty Years' War,-of our own early English and of our more modern poets; but we have no more space. When he comes to betterknown authors, Mr. Saunders either copies with servility, or else he persists in the affable air of superiority with which he gives his own criticisms on men and poets. The following may be taken as specimen-bricks of his edifice: Coleridge, 1772-1834, - one of the finest minds England has produced, has been compared to an unfinished cathedral-grand in its proportions, but defective because incomplete. His scholarship, like his conversation, was great. scholarship, like his conversation, was great. But for his sad proclivity to the baneful drug which had well-nigh been his ruin, he would have been the greatest of England's scholars."

66

"Goethe, who has been styled the 'Shakspeare of Germany,' has written in almost every department and in many of the sciences. His works have exerted a great influence over the national mind of Germany, and indeed of the world at large. He received many distinguished honours from the Emperor of Russia, the great Napoleon, and other notabilities. His famous life closed upon earth in

1832."

301

fills pages with the platitudes of modern hymnwriters. Everybody named or unnamed in this work may comfort themselves and take patience.

The History of Scotland, from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution of 1688. By John Hill Burton. Vols. V., VI., VII. (Blackwood & Sons.)

THE great work undertaken by Mr. Burton has been brought to a deservedly successful conclusion. It closes with as much freshness, vigour, and picturesqueness as marked its opening chapters. The author seemed indeed to find strength from his labour; there is no

sign of weakness in any part of his work, and it is equally free from dullness. The Dryasdust element is not to be traced in any single line, from preface to index; and the index itself is creditable to whomsoever compiled it. This History of Scotland is as easy reading as any of the Scotch novels-as any of the romances of any nationality. It is, we should say, much easier reading than nine-tenths of our modern novels, and much more profitable to the reader. There are other histories of Scotland that are not without merit, but some of these must be content henceforth to be superseded. They may remain as books of reference; some may be studied as books of authority; but we suspect Mr. Burton's history will be, at least till some still abler writer arise, the "popular" history of Scotland.

This consummation may be easily accounted for. The author is no partisan; he does not write as a witness, or as one who delivers hearsay testimony, and is glad to deliver it; he does not speak as an advocate, with this or that person for a client; he has no client. Mary and Elizabeth, Presbyterian and Episcopalian, Sharp and his murderers, come before him with cases to which Mr. Burton listens as a judge might listen, after which he delivers a clear, rapid, lucid, and brilliant résumé of the conflicting parties, and finally leads his readers to form a judgment, in much the way that a judge leads a jury to come to a verdict. They may not invariably agree with the summingup, but in most instances they cannot avoid agreeing with the logic of facts intelligibly laid before them. Mr. Burton has the highest qualifications for the task. In no other history of Scotland with which we are acquainted are there the especial attractive graces which dis

tinguish these volumes of national history.

There is a character in Scottish history which renders it attractive to some persons, and repulsive to others. The story of the kings and of the nation is gloomy, turbulent, sanguinary. The chronicle from Kenneth Mac Alpine to Mary Stuart is one of crimes, sorrows and misfortunes. Few of the Scottish kings died on their thrones or in their beds. Crownless monarchs yield their last breath in captivity, or are killed in battle, or they are thrust from greatness into a monastery. From the successor of Kenneth down to Donald Bane

and Duncan the Second,—a period of nearly a century and a half,-1 -no one king of Scotland came to a peaceful end. Of the dozen and a half of succeeding monarchs, the roll of whose names closes with that of Mary Stuart, a few passed away in peace and regretted by their people. But destiny seemed to pursue the later of those sovereigns with insatiable severity.

The name of James is of singularly ill omen on this roll. James the First, after a captivity of a score of years in England, was murdered in his own country. A cannon-ball carried off James the Second, at the siege of Roxburgh. The third of the name was slain flying from battle, where his son was his adversary. The fourth fell at Flodden. The fifth died of grief at the failure of his attempts against England. This last was the prophet-king, who said so mournfully, when he heard of the birth of his sole child, Mary, "The kingdom cam' wi' a lass, an' it wull gae wi' a lass!"

The treatment of a History of Scotland, a country which was often in bloody antagonism with England, requires the utmost discretion. on the part of the writer, to whichever country he may himself belong. There are not only questions of race, of old feuds, of old prejudices, questions between victors and vanquished the latter denying the victories; but also questions of faith, religion, doctrine and discipline. The greatest care is required in discussing the details connected with such matters;

and he is the most meritorious historian who discusses the details with the most impartiality. It is precisely here that Mr. Burton's merit is most conspicuous; and moreover, he is not merely always impartial, he is always interesting. The interest of his book should win for it readers who are, for the most part, wide away from historical studies generally. Our young people, we fear, know little more of the history of Scotland than that Mary Stuart was Queen thereof, and that James, her son, united the two crowns. Important as these facts are, there are others in Scottish history, both before and after the period of Mary Stuart, which are equally important. If a passport into Scotland were given only to those who possess, what they ought to possess, a fair general knowledge of the history of the crown, church, and people of Scotland, how many or how few would be the young ladies and gentlemen who would be allowed to carry their bonnets over the border! Historical

knowledge is not cared for by the frivolous and brainless young people who read not at all, or, if they read, wearily peruse a wearisome tale of fiction. To the young, who foolishly fancy that life is all pleasure, with no duties to fulfil, it may be useless to recommend a work which would really make them quainted with a new pleasure. To the wise, whether young or old, the recommendation is hardly necessary. Among them this book must make its way; and they will not be slow to discover that the latest history of Scotland is, unquestionably, the best.

ас

Among the many merits of the author of this eventful story may be reckoned his powerful grasp of all the details of his subject. His "characters" are pre-eminently well executed. They range from elaborate and vigorous fulllength down to the minutest sketches. Nothing escapes him which he thinks may be for the profit of the reader. When he speaks of "David Hamilton, son to the gudeman of Bothwellhaugh," he properly adds, for southern edification, that the term "gudeman" is not a testimony of his virtues, but indicates that he held his estate, not in freehold from the crown, but as the vassal of a subject-superior. When the author deals with Mary Stuart as a captive, he does his office with the utmost impartiality. Of her residence in the luxurious and

magnificent prison at Sheffield, where she was gently kept for fourteen years-twice the time she lived as Queen in Scotland-Mr. Burton, recognizing the fact that a duel for life and death was being fought by Mary against Elizadeath was being fought by Mary against Elizabeth, says There cannot be much doubt that had she composed her mind to reside here in peace, her rival would have gladly compounded to let her have comfort, enjoy ment, and state. But Mary accepted the fortunes of war in preference to a life of dull repose. All the romance that has grown over the reality of the story of the alleged unbounded sympathy for her sufferings and ultimate fate-a fate so nobly endured, however, as to win for the victim universal respect-is thus deliberately torn away :

What

be taken generally for granted, that the execution "It has been so often repeated in history as to of Queen Mary excited universal indignation throughout Scotland. There is no evidence for this, nor is there any for another often-repeated assertion which naturally leads to it as cause to effect-the assertion that there had been during Queen Mary's ill-usage a general reaction in her favour. ever change of sentiment there may have been was strange escapade of Grange- and Lethington was undoubtedly in the other direction. Only in the there any indication that those who were against her when she signed her abdication had gone over to her side. Her partisans, a feeble minority, had been dropping into the grave, and their cause was not of the kind that gains recruits. No doubt, of her old, faithful, and assured partisans, many there were to whom her death was an event full of bitterness and grief. But for the bulk of the nation to demand that she should be succoured, or, when that had become impossible, avenged, would have been to quarrel with Elizabeth for doing in her own quarrel what they would have done in theirs had her fate, if it might not even be called approval, the opportunity fallen to them. Indifference to was shown by one portion of the community in a shape that seemed indecorous and ungenerous. Those concerned give this version of the affair: The king commanded the ministers to pray publicly in the kirks after sermon for his mother. They refused to do it in the manner he would have it to be done that is, by condemning directly or inand their Estate against her, or as for one innocent directly the proceedings of the Queen of England of the crime laid to their charge.' No doubt they could plead the stern rules of their Church against the commands of man; but had their hearts been with the victim, they would have found a method of so expressing themselves. Their zeal showed itself entirely in the other direction. The king arranged that Archbishop Adamson should fill the pulpit of St. Giles's Church to perform the desired devotions. When the king himself went to attend on the service, he found that his opponents had been too nimble for him, and had placed Mr. John Cowper, a stern member of their own order, in the place of ministerial power. The king ordered him to descend and give place to the bishop. Mr. John gave place, but uttered his miscontent in these words, That he would make an accompt one day to the great Judge of the world for such dealing.' This act, indeed, in the eyes of Mr. John's party, was a far more serious outrage than the death of the modern Jezebel. The king afterwards made a floundering apology for the act: That he was sorry for that which had fallen some few days before touching the discharge of their preacher, protesting he did it of no evil mind, and that he would always favour the ministry and the religion presently professed. He said he was of that mind that none of his subjects would blame him for his affection which he carried to his mother, which moved him to do that which he did. But the charge he had given to the ministers was to pray to God to enlighten her with the knowledge of the truth, but also that the sentence pronounced against her might not take place, Always the people were satisfied with this excuse.'

Some members of the Estates held a meeting to encourage and instruct the ambassadors sent to intercede with the Queen of England; but it was not counted a Parliament, and there is no reference to their proceedings in the public Acts of the day. This was the only public movement in her favour; and after the tragedy was completed, it may be said that the only vengeance taken for it was against the Master of Gray, who was said to have been punished on certain ostensible charges, because he was secretly believed to have furthered instead of endeavouring to stay her execution. The Borderers, expecting a possible dispute between the two countries, were on the alert to catch any oppor tunity for pursuing their old trade; and as they had collected in bodies here and there, they did not separate without mischief. Such were all the political portents that in the poor victim's own country attended a tragedy that was to appal the civilized world in its own day, and live in perpetual memory in literature."

Among the "portraits" or "characters" with which this work abounds, there is none more striking than that of Archbishop Sharp. The popular idea that much of the interest. that attaches to the history of Scotland ended with the accession of James to the English throne, is one founded on the grossest error. The story, whether regarding Church, State, or society generally, is never more exciting than it is after the union of the two crowns. The most stirring pages of Mr. Burton's volumes are those which narrate the history of the nation from the period of James down to that of the Revolution of 1688. Within this period rises the figure of Archbishop Sharp. He was a guilty man, who was most basely, and cruelly, and cowardly murdered by a band of Presbyterians. For this crime we regret to find Mr. Burton in some sort the apologist; he takes tion he looks upon in another aspect. The murder to be a very great crime, but assassinalatter is only the act by which a public man is put to death as a punishment for his political creed, and the means of stopping his political career, the act being done without any form of trial or judicial procedure! In this sense, the death of Sharp is the one act of assassination that can be charged against the Presbyterian cause in Scotland! This is merely a distinction without a difference. The attempt to show that assassination is a sort of killing which is no murder reminds one of the punctilious Nicholas St. Antlings will not steal his master's rascal in the old comedy of 'The Puritan.' chain, because of the prohibitory eighth commandment; but when the casuist scholar Pyeboord says, "Wilt thou nim it from him?" "Aye," replies the Puritanical thief, "that I will."

Sharp, on whom the Presbyterians committed assassination, but not murder, was a Banffshire professor and divine, who, as is well known, promoted that famous measure, under Charles the Second-the abolition of Presbyterianism. For this traitor's work he was nominated to the archbishopric of St. he had been a simple professor. Andrews, the city in the university of which Sharp be

came a persecuting tyrant, and the Presbyterians determined to get rid of him, and the members looked with pious confidence to God becoming their confederate. When the dozen assassins, or murderers, were firmly convinced that the Lord was with them, they had a strong feeling of the good sense of Providence, and they lay in wait till their divine ally should deliver their enemy into their hands. This was

how it was done, one May morning of 1679, as the Archbishop was riding in a carriage with his daughter, a few miles from St. Andrews.

"The moor at that time stretched over a wide district now planted or under the plough. It had no scenery or culture to vary the desolate gloom of a flat Scotch moor. Some gloomy thoughts seem to have arisen in the hunted man's mind as he crossed the moor, and they seem to have turned more on his child's prospects than his own. As he passed the house of one whom he knew to be hostile, he said, 'There lives an ill-natured man-God preserve us, my child!' There was good reason for alarm when presently a horseman was seen galloping furiously towards the carriage. When he reached it and looked in, his signal brought the rest of the group after him. He then fired into the carriage. There was consternation in those borne by it outside and in, and the obvious alternative was to drive for life. The horsemen came up, firing volley after volley into the carriage. They struck down the attendants, stopped the horses, and still fired. They then turned to depart, in the belief that they had riddled the body of their victim and extinguished life. Some remark made by his daughter, however, brought them back. They found him alive, and, as they convinced themselves, untouched. The case was clear. The Evil One was notoriously known to have power of contracting with the lost souls he dealt in for exemption from the leaden bullet; but his power did not extend to 'the edge of the sword,' sanctified of old as the avenger of wickedness. They tried to strike him in the carriage, but without deadly effect; and in their clumsy hacking they hurt his daughter. They demanded that he should come out Judas, come forth!'—but he naturally remained with such protection as the heavy intricate coach afforded him, and they found it no easy task to drag him from it. It is odd that among his possessions in that coach were a hanger and a pair of pistols of fine workmanship. It is difficult to account for his possession of such weapons without an intention to use them, and equally difficult to say why he did not use them in his awful peril. Against assailants so clumsy, excited by superstition, and disturbed in nerve by a bloody work they were unaccustomed to, it seems likely that a resolute man well armed might have held the coach as a sort of fortress for some time. Partly he was dragged and partly he came forth, observing that Hackston was not active among the murderers. He was sitting at some distance, calm and erect, on his horse, with his cloak about his mouth, when the wounded wretch crept to him, saying, 'You are a gentleman-you will save my life.' Hackston only said, 'I will not lay a hand on you.' It was said that he pleaded frantically for mercy, making promises of all kinds--he would reward them-he would plead for their lives, forfeited by what they had already done. But if their hearts were open to mercy, the fate of Mitchell was in their remembrance. Some things were said by the assailants in their justification; and though perhaps they be not accurately reported, they are of interest as expressing the spirit by which they felt themselves driven to the deed. James Russel, the teller of the story, says, that on Sharp declaring that he had never wronged man,' he himself' declared before the Lord that it was no particular interest, nor yet for any wrong that he had done to him, but because he had betrayed the Church as Judas, and had wrung his hand these eighteen or nineteen years in the blood of the saints, but especially at Pentland; and Mr. Guthrie, and Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. James Learmonth; and they were sent by God to exercise His vengeance on him this day.' And John Balfour on horseback said: "Sir, God is our witness that it is not for any wrong thou hast done to me, nor yet for any fear of what thou could do to me, but because thou hast been a murderer of many a poor soul in the Kirk of Scotland, and a betrayer of the Church, and an open enemy and persecutor of Jesus Christ and His members, whose blood thou hast shed like

water on the earth, and therefore thou shalt die." Even when they had him on the bare heath, it was some time ere life was extinguished by their clumsy, cruel hacking. They said they were three-quarters of an hour at work on the deed, and they notice the length of time as peculiarly significant when taken along with other concomitants. The long protraction of the trouble was due to the efforts made by his master Satan to preserve a life so valuable to his cause. On the other hand, a higher power had removed external sources of interference. The group afterwards remarked, with pious awe, that although they were all that time at work on the highroad between the civil and ecclesiastical capital of Scotland-though there were people coming all day long, and there were many soldiers parading the district on account of the disorders of the time-though there was noise and confusion among them, and many shots were fired-and all on an elevated open plain,-yet they could not have been more absolutely free of intrusion had they been in the centre of the Great Desert."

The assassins scattered and fled. There was

no want of ability in the method of their escape:

"Before beginning the journey, which would bring them, fresh upon the rumours of the deed, into the hostile district round Perth, they prayed, that seeing He had been pleased to honour them to act for Him, and to execute His justice upon that wretch-whom all that loved the welfare of Zion ought to have striven who might have had their hand first on him-He might let it be known by keeping them out of their enemies' hands and straight in His way.' Accordingly it was put in the minds of those with whom they mingled that they were troopers on their way from some loyal district to join the musters called on account of threatening rumours from the west. When it came to a closer examination of their destination and object, it was brought in upon the minds of the people that they were one of the armed parties out in pursuit of the murderers. So it was disposed for them, and they had only to humour the metamorphosis. Hackston, a gentleman and a soldier, who had been one of the worldly, was able to play the Cavalier leader and jolly fellow with good effect. Some perilous jesting thus extracted from him showed that the evils of the times had lost to his country a ready wit as well as a brave heart. When they came to Dunblane they called for the clerk and for a double gill of brandy. A mob gathered

to see the men in pursuit of the murderers; and there was much talk, taking a light jovial turn, as became Cavalier troopers. The question of the personal appearance of the murderers coming up, the clerk in his merriment said, 'You are all of them;' and said to John Balfour, 'You shot first at him.' Rathillet, laughing, said, 'If all Dunblane had been here they could not have judged so right.' The clerk found them such excellent company that they must needs take another gill with him. He whispered to them, also, that if he could meet them in private-he did not know who might be in the crowd he could give them an account of some Whigs that lived thereabout.' When they got as far west as Kippen, in Stirlingshire, they found themselves among the 'honest folk.' On Sunday the 18th of May they attended an armed conventicle on a hill called Fintry Craigs. Shots were exchanged. and they did some damage to the assailants; but as to themselves, the Lord brought them off without the least wrong,' 'not so much as one in all the meeting were hurt-only one man was shot through the coat, but did not touch his skin.' Such was the good fortune of the conventicle sanctified by the presence of these chosen instruments. One was so close on seizure that as he lay in a hollow of a bank some troopers had come within four or five feet of the hollow, 'but were so restrained of the Lord that they got not leave to look in; for the commander cried to him that was going up and down searching, "Are you seeking hens?" So in the end the Lord wonderfully carried them through' until they joined those who were rising in arms in the west.'"

After samples of such length we have no space left for comment. We need none to recommend these interesting and able volumes to the notice of the reading public generally.

By

(New

The American System of Government. Ezra Seaman, Counsellor-at-Law. York, Scribner & Co.; London, Low & Co.) MOST English readers will be astonished at the Conservative character of Mr. Seaman's work on the American system of government. On this side of the Atlantic we are accustomed to think that Conservatism is a purely European product. Though we are aware of the existence in America of two great political parties corresponding in some measure to the Liberals and Conservatives here, yet the great fact that these two parties are respectively denominated Republican and Democratic seems to banish the idea that there can be in either

of them any affinity to the real old-fashioned Conservatism of England. In many respects, however, Mr. Seaman is not merely a Conservative, but a high and dry Tory. An alleged specimen of an American Tory will doubtless be regarded by many Englishmen with as much astonishment and incredulity, as a statement that the philosopher's stone had been discovered, or that Hyde Park was infested by boa constrictors; we must therefore proceed to quote chapter and verse in proof of Mr. Seaman's Toryism, and demonstrate from his own work his views on the nature of government, the basis of the suffrage, the superiority of law to liberty, and the impossibility of the existence of political or social equality.

In Chapter III., Section 1, on the basis of political power and of government, the inquiry is made, Whence do governments derive their just power and authority? Mr. Seaman denies that it is from the consent of the governed, and he says that "the government of a community or state must have the same source and basis as the government of a family. No one will pretend that the right of the parent to exercise power over and to govern the child is derived from the consent of the child. From whence is such right and power derived? The answer must be, the power of the parent is derived from the nature and constitution of man, the helpless condition of the child, and its dependence on the parent. It is derived from the laws of nature, and the necessity of government, to maintain order and to promote the welfare of the child. The government of states and nations has the same basis.'

We in England have at least got over this stage of Toryism. The advocates of paternal government would now hardly find a spokesman even in the House of Lords: one was beginning to think the creed had died out among English-speaking peoples, when it is suddenly revived in the works of an American writer. Perhaps before fifty years have elapsed it will be the turn of the Radicals in the House

of Commons to denounce the wicked attempts of the Tory party to Americanize our institutions. On the basis of the suffrage, as may be imagined, Mr. Seaman's views are equally conservative. After the passage just given on the nature of government, it is hardly necessary to adduce further quotations in proof that he is extremely adverse to universal and to manhood suffrage. We have been unable to

gather what test he would apply as a qualification for the suffrage. In some passages he advocates a property and in some an educational test; but in his chapter on women's suffrage, to which he is as a whole opposed, he seems to remember that in America neither an educational nor a property qualification would exclude women from the franchise; he therefore affirms that heads of families ought to vote, and that "the husband is the legal representative of the wife." The impossibility of fixing upon any logical basis for the political franchise, which would exclude women, seems to be as great in America as it is in this country.

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Let us now turn to the extraordinary doctrine advocated by Mr. Seaman, that law is superior to liberty. On page 47 we find him saying that even arbitrary, unjust, and oppressive laws . . . . . are better than no laws at all." "Liberty without law has very little value; but on the contrary, law, without political liberty or the elective franchise, is of immense importance to a people." We, in our ignorance, have been accustomed to look upon law not as antagonistic to liberty, but as a means for the attainment of liberty. The restrictions imposed by law upon individual liberty are justifiable only in so far as they protect the liberty of others. "The equal freedom of each, limited only by the like freedom of all," should be the end of all social and political laws. If men and women would observe this rule without the intervention of authority, the written law would be superfluous; nine-tenths of the duties of government would come to an end; every one would live in obedience to the perfect law of liberty. This state of things is not likely to exist for several thousand years to come, and in Mr. Seaman's opinion it would be decidedly inferior to our present condition; for he regards law not as a means to an end, but as the end-good in and for itself. Any advance in moral and social conduct which tends to prevent the necessity of new laws and legal restrictions, we suppose Mr. Seaman would regard as an unqualified misfortune, for then there would be less law and more liberty.

In passages relating to social and political equality, we find that Mr. Seaman considers them not only as undesirable, but as impossible. He says that men are born unequal in natural endowments, in wealth, and in surrounding circumstances, and it is useless for man to attempt to equalize what "the providences of God have made unequal." His argument, as it thus appears, is quite undeniable. No devices of man could have made Alcibiades the equal of Socrates, or Andrew Johnson the equal of Washington. In this sense it may be said that no two human beings are equal, because none possess exactly similar characters, acquirements, talents, physical endowments, and surrounding circumstances. But this reduces Mr. Seaman's argument to the assertion of a truism, which is neither overlooked nor denied by the warmest advocates of political equality. Political equality simply means that one man has equal rights with another an equal right to his own property, whether he possess a shilling or a thousand pounds; an equal right to exist, whether he be strong or weak; an equal right to exercise his faculties, whether those faculties be mean or splendid. To inflict legal and artificial inequalities on those

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who already labour under physical and mental inequalities is to violate the spirit of justice, and to put burdens heavy to be borne on the shoulders of those who are least able to bear them. Superiority of all kinds is in no danger of not being able to make its legitimate influence felt. Strong minds have always led, and will always lead, weak ones; strong bodies will always give to their possessors an increased chance of success in the race of life. It is a sort of impertinence to imply, by making artificial inequalities among mankind, that the good gifts of nature are not worth much ungood gifts of nature are not worth much unless they are supplemented by a little assistance from the lawyers. Let us now pass from the consideration of Mr. Seaman's Conservative proclivities to his very interesting description of the theory and practice of the constitution of the United States. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the dual allegiance of an American citizen, one to the federal and national govern ment, the other to the internal and municipal government of his particular State. We, therefore, go on to the theory of the United States' constitution as described by Mr. Seaman. "The theory of the government is, that it is a representative government, in which all the adult male citizens (with few exceptions) are equally and fairly represented by men of their own choice, and through their representatives have a voice in legislation, and in the government of the country, making it in some measure a self-government-a government of the whole people by the people themselves." p. 15. The contrast of the theory with the practice is, however, sufficiently striking. "Though nominally a popular government, controlled by the voice of the people, practically our government has degenerated into an oligarchy of the leaders of the dominant clique or coterie of the dominant party of the day; the people act a very subordinate part, even in the elections of their own representatives—a majority of them merely ratifying and confirming the nominations made, and supporting the measures and policies prepared by the party oligarchy, while the minority look on, and have no substantial voice or participation in the government." This divergence from the theory of the constitution to the government of an oligarchy has led to the most frightful corruption in the political life of America. If Mr. Seaman's account may be trusted, party-spirit in America has led in all circles of political life to the most shameless jobbery, falsehood, trickery, and dissimulation. Political office is spoken of as a mere question of bargain and sale; "duplicity, petty scheming and trickery, falsehood and fraud," "corruption, intrigue, and violence" are enumerated as the characteristics of an election. Political committees are said to be "kept up for the purpose of enabling certain men to acquire plunder;" and of a political faction it is stated that "by persistent bullying and intriguing they have contrived, year after year, to be entrusted with the party management, and this power they have used for corrupt personal purposes. The most valuable part of Mr. Seaman's work is devoted to a search into the causes of this fearful corruption, and to suggesting remedies for its removal. The pages which he has devoted to this subject ought not to be lost to English radicals. They have been for years striving for the ballot and for a democratic suffrage; they ought to be warned by their friends across the Atlantic that the ballot and

manhood suffrage may co-exist with diseases in the political system which, if not removed, must lead to its ultimate destruction. Though on the whole favourable to the ballot, Mr. Seaman is not blind to its disadvantages; he says it serves as a cloak for numerous frauds, and it also renders the task of ferreting out fraudulent voting much more difficult. We may also learn from him that the ballot does not prevent bribery. "Votes may be pur-. chased with equal facility, and corruption may prevail to nearly the same extent, under both systems." The principal remedy suggested by Mr. Seaman for purifying the political life of his country is the adoption of a system of minority representation. The present plan of electing representatives practically leaves all political power in the hands of the majority of the dominant party. Instead of all citizens having equal electoral power, the minority, in reality, possess no representation; and a majority of the majority governs. "The majority of the voters in each electoral district elect all the representatives, and the minority none; whereby the minority are unrepresented and practically disfranchised, have no voice in the government, and no one to represent, advocate, or defend their special interests and rights." The question of minority representation is much more urgent in America than in this country, where we are too apt to imagine that the defects in our representative system may be removed by such means as a wider extension of the suffrage and vote by ballot. In America they are possessed of both of these, and they are therefore compelled to look further for the cause of the evils which so seriously affect the representative character of their government.

Mr. Seaman's book contains an interesting chapter on the commercial prospects of the United States, on the merits of which, however, space does not permit us to enter. He also has a chapter on the women's rights movement, which has apparently assumed an importance in America it has not yet attained here; for, in the preface, Mr. Seaman speaks of it as one of "the agitating questions of the day." His chapter on the subject contains the usual platitudes with which this question is generally deluged. Women are cautioned that this movement may probably diminish their chances of marriage and decrease the happiness of married life. Of real argument on the justice of the claims of women there is little or none. For a detailed account of Mr. Seaman's observations on the subject we refer our readers to the book itself,

NOVELS OF THE WEEK.

Falsely True. By Mrs. Cashel Hoey. 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.) Schooled with Briars.

(Tinsley Brothers.) Esther Hill's Secret. By Georgiana M. Craik. 3 vols. (Hurst & Blackett.) 'FALSELY TRUE' is a decided improvement upon Mrs. Cashel Hoey's former works, and although disfigured by many faults, it is nevertheless upon the whole an interesting and carefullywritten book. The story in itself is anything but original, and only the way it is treated renders it at all palatable to the reader. Its main incidents are as follows:-James Morris, a young man visiting in the neighbourhood of