Weekly Mail

00 fBT WESTMINSTBR/j LONDON, SATURDAY. It is very good of the European Powers )o take such pains hi order to prevent t.he outbreak of hostilities between. China and 1apan; but I am bound to say that these humane eR'orts at'; not gt:ea,ciy reh'sbed by the British puMic, who view t-he criticaJ situation with perfect equammity, and think tilll',t a war in the Far E-ast would be mte- !'estiiig a.nd mstructive, and, perhaps, also prohtable. Neither Japan nor China would tiit.M'iere with foretgn trade, and experiments tried in a.ctual warfare with guns, armour .,U:ks, and modern explosives would be ¡'T.inite.ly more valua.ble t.hau those ma,de in i:'n& cf peace. What are even our own .Cav: manoeuvres worth when compared with If!$on to be learnt, from a real iight at << between squa.drons of ironclad's? Then, <t-ga :n, there is the pleasing excitement arising Mt of the expectation, expressed with much simplicity by one cf this morning's papers, that "both belligerents will probably place iarge contracts for wa: materials 1Il this country." The manufacturers of war aia.terials have done very well for many years ttow, owing to the competition of th.e chief rœtions of the world in military a.nd naval hrnu-.ments. The only thing against them is that production has increased even faster {nan consumption, and it is impossible for them not to feel that trade would be greatly emulated by the destructive effects of a downright good wa.r. Besides, Japan and Dhina a.re a. loEg way off, and the loss of .thousands of lives in Corea is not at all the ;a.me thing as if it were to take place at aur own doors. So fa.r as sympathy is felt tt all with either of the belligerents, Japan may be said to be the favourite. The Japanese are a clever, kindly-disposed, alert, &nd enterprising nation, who have shown a !U!pri.sing facility in adapting themselves to Bile use of tlie habits, manners, and tastes tf Western oivilise'.tion; and they are so tn?oh more active and energetic than the Chinese that they will, no doubt, gain the advantage at the outset of tile war. China, advantage at the outset of tile war. China, 3!i the other hand. remains what she has <l\t.ays been—.a, sluggish, un'-vieldy mass on R'hich foreign ideas can make no impression, sut with a. sort of passive strength of resis- tance to misfortunes which in the end has tft-en converted defeat into victory, i'he tctive spirit of the Tartars seems" to have "jpent itself in the successive waves of invc.. ion by the hosts under Chengiz, Timour, md other great leaders, which devastated aJl Wsstern Asia, as fa.r as the Bosphorus, and !!Vpn reached as far as the Danube and the wall'9 of Vienna: and one looks in vain for ti-ny revival in the Chinese Empire of this a.nd aggressive feeling. Put the people are the hardest workers in the world, tnd have a recuperative power which sustains jiha prosperity of th&ir country under the <everest trials. Thus, China seems to have )u,Tt:red no permanent injury from the great f&i.ping rebellion, which laid waste the 30!intry for ma.ny years, and was only aup- res,ed at last by the military genius ot Chinese Gordon, the tenacity and immense ''esources of China may, therefore, in the t'GBg run, make her more than a match lor tte" plucky little neighbour. As for the talked-of intervention of European Powers, t'hat s&ems to me to be cut of the question. Russia ha.s no interests to defend in Cc'rea, p-nd a.ny forward movement on her pa.it M'c.tdd be instantly resented by Great Britain. <vho gave up a few years ago the important strategic position of Port Hamilton in order Ctot to provide Russia, with any excuse for tctermeddling in Corean aSairs. Considering the a.lmost unprecedented stag- Sahon in politics, and the utter indin'erence of newaper readers to proceedings in Par- S-Sxent, nothing i's more creditable to political coders than the way in which they keep tb.L spirits up and make of the most unpro- Sismg subjects a theme for very keen debat- 'mg. No ordinary mortal, for instance, can feel the slightest int.eres.t in tthe Evicted Tenants Bill, which is nothing more or than a scarcely veiled attempt to use the public revenue for the purpose of subsidising pt the Irish members. Yet the. speaking of las' Right on this Bill was excellent. Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain were both a.t their ?est, an.d Mr. Tim Healy worthily ma.in- tba.ined his reputation foT caustic humour. This hon. member, indeed, acts as a blister, j SsJ 'stings his opponents into usmg tbei" StHiost energies to overcome him. He had a friendly passage of arms with Mr. Cham- ?frisin early in the evening, when, on tue timber for West Birmingham taunting him )riM1 directing the Government and saying )fe would like to direct the Liberal Unionists "0, Mr. Healy. with characteristic readi- "3S, exclaimed, "The day ha.s gone by when ? us.ed to d'o that." This disagreeable re pfunder of the time when Mr. Chamberlain ?!.a.d iB.timate and affectionate rcla- ons with the Irish Nat.ionali.sts provoked from him the retort that he could remember when Mr. Healy, instead of dictftin.g a. policy, was "a sup- tliant for favours. The phrase hurt Mr. Pealy's fine feelings, and Mr. Chamberlain afterwards explauied tJiat he had not meant to suggest that Mr. Healy ever asked for favours whit'.h it would have been dishonour- able for him to accept, whereupon Mr. Healy, vith unwonted grace, withdrew the remarks that had irritated Mr. Chamberlain, it is only fair to Mr. Healy to say that nobody would accuse him of seeking only to gratify Ms private ends. He is a thorough insn patriot, and later in the evening he made en impassioned speech on the wrongs of the Irish peasantry, of which Mr. Balfour tmely said that it came from the heart and was **tbe echo of centuries of passion." No one embodies more forcibly and plainly than Mr. Healy doss the sentiment of unqueuch- a,ble hatred to English oppression which is the heritage of the Irish ppa.sanLt.ry. What is the Irish question in all its various mani- festations but the struggle of a dispossessed face to recover the land seized by their English conquerors ? "It was simply," said Mr. Eealy. "because in earlier days the English had suits of mail and muskets and the Irish more primitive weapons of defence that the English were now the landlords." This vehement protest reminds one of the words which Sir Walter Scott puts into the mouth of the Highland chief "The Saxon came with iron hand, And from our fathers rent the land." This feeling is by no means extinct in Scot- land at the present day, and it naturally ranldpa more deeply in Ireland, where the conauered race have never been able to turn the tables on their conquerors. Mr. Balfour, who is never ungenerous, fully admitted Mr. Ðœly's right to make such a speech, but pointed out that it marked the real desire of Mr. Morley's Irish masters, who would never be sa,tis6ed till they had completely upset the reign of British law" in Ireland. 'Both be and Mr. Chamberlain, however, made significant i.ntima.tions that they were ajixicus to heal the chief social grievance in Ireland, and that they would consider favour- ably a voluntary, instead of a compulsory, tneasure for the restoration of evicted tenants. Will Sir William Harcourt, when the Radicals acclaim him as their conquering hero at the dinner to be given in his honour next Wednesday, have the nla,g-nonimity to acknow- ¡ ledge that the House of Lords h.as behaved ..¥ w11 in parsing c4 Budget which deals j most unfairly with the estates of most of bhe members of that House? As I antici- pa.ted, the Lords have waived their undoubted Constitutional right to amend the finance Bill, and have bowed to the expression of public opinion in Its favour. The Dukes of Devonshire and Argyll showed what harm the Bill will do to the agricultural interest throughout the country, but they contented themselves with making a verbal protest. If these enlightened public men are right m their view of whut the effect of the Budget will be, the men who live upon the land wiH soon have the opportunity of punishing the Government which has despoiled them. Tha Lord Chancellor thought it a good answer to make that the money taken from the land would be paid in wages to ship- builders in the dockyards and to makers of armour plates and big guns in our great towns. But this is the essence of the com- plaint ma.de by the agricultural interest. Why should not the men who benefit by the increased expenditure pay their fair share of the taxation imposed to maet it ? Why should one class of the community ca.Il the tune and another pay th.e pipc'r ? How can it com- fort the groom or gardener who is thrown out of work because his employer is forced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to cut down his expenditure to be told that what he loses is gained in the form of increased wages by working men in Po'rtsmouth or Shemeld ? But Sir William Ha.rcourt cares for none of these things. Naturally one of the most arro- gant and boastful of men, a.nd feeing con- sci-ou's now of the fact that the men on his own side who call the present Prime Minister a "political Bazaine" have organised the dinner of Wedne-'day as a demonsti'E.tion against Lord Rosebery, Sir William ma.v b<t relied upon to deliver the loudest and most resounding "Cock-a-doodle-do" that has ever issued from the lips of a public man. He will treat the House of Lords with unlimited scorn, and disregard wholly their eminently reasonable conduct with rega-rd both to the Finance Bill and to the important principle of betterment. The country, however, will be able to judge between him and them. The French Government has only done its duty in passing a. severe measure to put down the propaganda, of Anarchism. The provision in the Bill which prohibits the publication of the reports oi trials of Anarchists would probably not be tolerated in this country, but it ought to be useful in preventing the gratification of that morbid vanity which is the special disease ;'ffectin!? this class of crimina-ls. Now that S.witzerland ha.s passed a- law for the expul- sion of Anarchists England is the only country in which they can take refuge. Our Government ought, therefore, to be armed with powers to prevent them from landing in England. It ha.s always seemed to me, however, a whimsical idea. to think that a State can do itself or its neighbours any good by simply expelling Anarchists. It is said that these people hatch their con- .s piracrv in London, but so long as they remain in London they are well watched, and can do no harm to .either Russian Emperor or French President. It is only after they have left thi.s country that they become really mischievous, and then it is the business of the Continental police to deaj with them. The French papers which now cry out against England for harbouring assassins did not show much sympathy with us a.t tha time of the Phcenix Park murders and the explo- sions in London. The nercest party nght of this a,utumn will be fought over the election of the new London School Boa.rd, for the issue raised is the burning one of religious education in the elementary schools. The important meeting which was held yesterday under the chair- manship of Sir Rieha.rd Webster, and at which Lord Selborne waa the' principal speaker, shows that Churchmen generally, and, I balieve, a large body of Noncon- formists, are uetermined to support a-t. the coming election the policy, so furiously and persistentiv assailed in some quarters, of Mr. Diggle and the m2.jOTity of the existing board. Mr. Di??le and his friends main- tain that the "religious teaching" given in the schools under the so-ca.lled compromise of 1871 is quite indefinite and colourless, and sets aside those principles' of a common ChriiS- tia.nitv which are held by almost all bodies of professing Christians. They, therefore, drew up and adopted a, circular requiring the t99.ch.ers employed by the board to give to religious instruction? a. definite Christian character. Mr. Lvulph Stanley and the other pa.rtisa.ns of Un.itM-ia.nism on the board vehemently denounced thi.s circula.r as intolerant, and a large number of teachers protested against being required to put it in foroe- Londoners will be a.sked, then, at the election to S3.y whether they approve of this circular or not. There was some divi- sion of opinion at nrst among the advocates ol' e of relio'ious education as to the expediency of disturbing the practice that has prevailed since 1871. and Archdeacon Fa,r.ra,r made him- self conspicuous in deprecating any oha.nge. In thus acting the archdeacon only repre- sented what may be called the traditional policy of Westminster Abbey, as nrst advo- cated by the late Dean Stanley. At one of the most amusing public meetings I ever attended I remember that Dean Stanley, Dr. Mart-ineau, and Baboo Keshub Chunder, son of the Brahmo Somaj, were all present on the same platform, and I could not but admire tha dexterity with which they all three, while fairly bubbling over with bea.ti- tudes. avoided the enunciation of any religious dogma whatever. I came away feeling much as a man does after sitting in that ingenious chamber at the Earl's Court Exhibition in which the outer walls whirl round so that in a few minutes 'the occupa-nt of the room does not know whether he is standing on his head or his heels. Most men who have thought a.t all on such subjects must have come" to the conclusion that religion without dogma ha.s no meaning at all, and I fancy that Archdeacon Farra.r himself must by this time be convinced of the necessity of either making religious instruction definite or doing without it altogether. It might be fairly contended that the practice which now pre- vails constitutes &n attack on the faith of o:t-dina.ry Christians, as it embodies a dema.l of the "doctrines, held bv all the Churches except the Unitaria.n, of the Incarnation and the Trinity. Thus, I am assured that in the schools a, new version of the Evenmg Hvmn is sung, with the Doxology in the last verse, "To Fa.ther, Son, and Holy Ghost," &c.. omitted. Now, these are lines which i&lmost every child has learnt to lisp at its mother's kaee, a.nd the proscription of the fa.milia.r words must excite curiosity and lea.d the scholars in the board school to believe tha.t the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Trinity are unworthy of credit..

SINGULAR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. In Brazil a couple may be ma.rried by drink- ing brandy tog-ether; in Japan by so many cups of wine in Russia, and Scandinavia It used to be one cup for both. The .icining of hands among the Romans and Hindoos is common to many'parts of the world. In Scotland it is called hand-fastening, and couples live together nfter. To sit together oh a seat while re- ceiving friends, or to have the hands of each tied top-ether with grass, or to smeM- with each other's blood, or for the woman to tie a, cord of her own twisting around the na,ked' wrist of the man, constitutes marriage in one part or another. In Australia, a woman carries iire to her lover's hut and makes a fire for him. In South Amarica. she lays a bundle of rods f,t the door of his tent. A Loango negress cooks two dishes for him. in his own hut. In Croatia, the bridegroom boxes his bride's ears, and in Russia the father formerly struck his daughter gentiv with a new whip—for the last time—a,ad then 6--ve the weapon to her husband. Down to the present it is a custom in Hungary for the groom to give the bride a kick a,fter the marriage ceremony to make her feel her sub-

(?.MBtyMs-Ress?e?) A FREN'CH VIEW OF WALE8. ENTERTAINING ARTICLE BY M. PAUL BAEBIEE. FEBYID DESCRIPTION OF FAULTS AND VIRTUES. M.PAULBABBIBR. An Englishman who gloried in the fact of his being able to traca bis pedigree, not only as far ba.ok a.3 William the Conqueror. as two-thirds of his countrymen say they can. but as far back as Noali, once invited one of his most intimate friends to visit him. After showing- him around his grounds, his vineries, his ng trees, his horses. his picture gallery, and silver plate, he took him to the library, and there exhibited with prida the portraits of his ancestors and his family pedigree. His g-uest, much to his chagrin, examined the roll of parchment with the utmost indifference. This not only annoyed, but greatly puzzled, the host. "Are you not astonished that my family make one long, unbroken chain from the days of Noah? Why. sir, ours is the o?-est family in England." "Stay, my friend," said his g'u€?t, "I cannot grant you that." "Aud why, pray ?" queried mine host with just & tinga of sarcasm in his tone. "Well," said his friend, "last summer I was travelling in South Wales, when I was shown a, ganealogica.1 tree which covered three large parohments, and contained many thousands of nan'cs. In the middle of the second were the following words, which made. the Welshmen very proud indeed 'About this time God created the world.' this time God created the world.' Pride of the past is a. feature of the Welsh race. I have observed it bordering almost on vanity in its literature, language, and customs. The Welsh language. possesses the oldest living records of any modern European tongue. We have undoubted proofs that the Brython has oonfbinu.ed Yry near the E!Mne at least for thirteen hundred years; the compositions of the famous ba.rd Talie'sin, the two Merddius. Aneurin, and Prince Llywarch Hen, &o., all who flourished in the nfth century, being at this day parfeotly intetlligiblo in this language. In spite of hostile, social, and political circum- stances, it is still the language of the home, the playground, the Church, and the chapel. Those counties in Wales that speak Welsh are those counties where the statistician meets with fewer crimes, less perjury, and purer social life. In this latter respect the Irish peasantry carry the palm. For family purity the Irish peasant stands unrivalled amongst the peasants of Europe. It seems that the Welshman, is a more obedient son, a more affectionate father, a more devoted husband. The respect for parental authority and old age, so much weakened in England, and almost extinguished in America,, is with the Welsh, as it is with the Celtic race in a religion. Through the Welsh University Colleges the Welsh lan- guage is growing aggressive, is nghting its way I into the schools and colleges of the nation. It is a recognised branch of academical studies for a university degree. This is a great achieve- ment, and is entirely due to the true patriotism of a few plucky Welshmen and to the breath of statesmanship of the/Guizcts of Welsh edu- cation, Lord Aberdare a.nd Mr. Acland. In other climes the Welsh language is not much used; but I may point out the case of America to prove the tenacity with which the sons of Cambria stick to their language and institutions. The Welsh possess actually more than 2,000 MSS. containing examples of writers from the nfth century up to our present time. For a Welshman to speak Welsh and willingly not to be able to read the literature of his lan- guage and write it is to confess himself a very simple boor (I quote the expression). He ought to try to understand the language gram- matically, and to speak it with the light of reason. To speak Welsh a.s an English gentle- man speaks English, or an educated French- man speaks French, and an erudite German speaks German, ought to be the ambition of a Welshman. To speak Welsh is no longer a stigma.. Jeering and disparaging remarks have not killed the Welsh language yet. Let the race by all means leam the bread- winning languages, but don't eradicate the affection a whole neople has for the speech God gave it. I often hear it said that this language is harsh, guttural, that it has a superabundance. of consonants and long v.'ords, which accounts for its being an uncommercial language, but that is, it seems to me, to the eye only. For the ear it is harmonious, as I hear the Welsh language spoken by my pretty, modest, and cheery Keltic kinswomen, the Welsh women students. It has a sweet, low, and winning sound. Does not this magical power of language explain the fewness of old maids in Wales, and account for this branch of English social organism not taking kindly root in the Keltic soil? If my Welsh women students made it a craft to write as many letters in Welsh as their good-looking and dÙtinfínéeJ English slaters do in their own native language, they would contri- bute to create a branch of literature which is neglected in Wales. We should have eventually I a few De Sevignes in the vales and glens of Gwalia. If French be the language of men, German of soldiers, Spanish of God's saints, Italian of woman, English of birds, surely Welsh is that of angels? It is an extraordinary circumstance, studied as the Welsh is, admired by those who understand it, despised and vilified only by those ,vho are of it, tha,t its beauties have not been asserted nor its force and energy fairly In its construction verbal modes of expressions I detect a simi- larity with the Hebrew. There is no actual present tense in either Hebrew or Welsh. So- rapid is thought and the progress of time that the ileeting moment now may be regarded as past while we are yet speaking it. In reciting the Creed in both languages one is obliged to use the future tense, "I shall believe," not I believe." If modes of expressions, style, language, are man himself, we may infer that some of the Qualities of the Hebrews of old will be found in the Welsh. They are fond of pastoral life, they a.re an agricultural people. If they are not enterprising men on a large scale, they are venturesome; if they do not make money, they save it. They are good bankers. Take a banking directory and you will meet with. as I did, names of managers of banks that are Welsh. You will mark the Bevans, the Lloyds, the Edwa.rdses, the Williamses, the Evanses, &o. Evidently, it is a saving and calculating people. Generous to their own kin, the Welsh will be so to those of other nationalities, with a reticent, reflective rnent&l attitude. Unlike the Hebrew, who has not changed a.nd moved on with the time, when everything around it changes and moves on according to the eternal order of nature, the Welsh hae changed. Its vernacular press, its oratorioa,! performances, its living literature, its rich vooatbulary, eminen!tly stamp the language with that elasticity of expressions and terms required in order to express modern ideas. Had not the language possessed inhe- rently these living elements the race would have stuck to its primitive genius, would have kept a.ioof, would have remained wilfuMy isolated, would have declined in the scale of civilig.a.tion. UuHke the Hebrew, who ha<; reina.ined isolated in his majestic and solita.ry grandeur, the Welsh ha;s not remained a stronger to foreign in'Suence, he has wel- comed the idea.s of other more advanjed races, be has become stronger. Misfortunes will inevita.bly befal obstina.t.e national indi- vidualism tha.t refuses to enter into the <'on- gross ot tne inteiieotuai oommuniNes 01 tne world. Evidences are not wanting that Wales has chained her destiny to the wheel!S of civilisation's oliariot. It is a strange co- in.oidence and a remarkable fact that 0 those 0 countries which have been most refractory and rebellious to modern tendencies and spirit, have kept longest the worship of old habits, cus- toms, and thought, are the oldest lands in Europe. When the Spirit of God moved upon the fa&e of the waters,, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Brittany in France and Wales rose up from the depth of th'e dark waters of the mysterious ocean. and have atood since like a stone wall against the devastating surges of the stormy main. At that time the lands now called England, Ger- many a.nd France were under the waters, and remained submerged for ages. From Liver- pool to Geneva, one would have met with nothing but a vast lake. it has been calculated that under present conditi-'ns it would take more than 120 million years to accumulate a bed of coal 25ft. thick. From this my readers can form an opinion of the :<€ of their country, a.nd understand fully the ?y';ng ".M old as the hills." Possessing such a, fasc.inatirg claim on the imagination, the \Tclsh have invested their native land a.nd ancient speech with it zealous a.ifection and pecul'arre.pect. Rightly, they keenly resent the .lests and unkind treatment they have received, and are receiving, from the English. Tlia.t the Welsh still retain their hereditary resentment toward everyone who speaks the English tong'.e is a fact I have observed. I confessed deplore the fact. The fault does not lie with them, but with the peoples who fail to under'tan d their ideas, their intense love both for country a.nd language, their de- votion to music, and their high moral and re- ligious principles. Can the Welsh peasantry, deeply read as they are in the Biblical litera- ture (for the Welsh is a nation of Bible readers), discover from anything but second sight that the English had ceased to treat them as a con- quered race when the spirit prevails in the bro;.d nineteanth century in social ciroles.a.nd the public press, that would scarcely allow them a place in the rank of civilized nations. Some two vearg ago I chanced to read the "Hereford Journal." In its columns t met with the following remarks :On Saturday last our stately-historic cathedral was invaded, and many a would-be worshipper must have had his or her feelings sadly disturbed by the yells of Cymric infants, whose mothers endeavoured to soothe with hearty shakes, bangs and slaps, the result being increased noi&e. Adult Cymry wandered about staring, wondering, and lo.jdiy laboring ir. the language of the Ancient Britons, which is so soft and melodious. It needed no great stretch of imagination to think that the cathedral had been seized by Barnum or Buifalo Bill, and that the nave wa..s baing Riled up at 3d per head. Bewildered and horror-struck sacris- tans rushed vainly about from one grou- to j another, imploring and suggesting less uproar, but to no purpose. Some Cymry shouteo, 'Was kind of place is this?' and others, by their behaviour, seemed to think the sacred edifice was built as a show-place, and for their amusement. Personally, I trust that in future they will keep to their own hills, dales, and mines', and oea.sa to trouble the fair city of Hereford until a portion of this century s j civilisation has permeated into their homes, minds, and manners.—July 50." I read in Warrington's "History of Wales": When any Welshman ccmeth to RutbIaM with mercha.ndise, if he refuses whatsoever any Englishman oSereth, he is forthwith sent to"pri?cn %nd the buyer hath the thing and the King hath the price, then the soldiers of the Castele nrst spoil him and beat the Welsh- man, a.nd then cause him to pay he a.nd let him go. If any Welshman 'ring's anything in Ruthlan a.nd any Englishman do meet him, he will take it from him a.nd will give him less than he paid for it." The treatment Wales experienced in the past, the sad consequences, the conquest, the annexation, of Wales left, coupled with thej jeering sarcasm and funny jokes of the Eng- lish of our day, do not tend to conciliate the Welsh. li, with that. admirable sense of equity and marvellous practical benevolence whLoh) characterise tihe English, they had shown le&s ha.ug-hty pride and had exhibited more sympathy with their annexed races, they would "have conciliated them, would have won their aFections. Englishmen would have solved, to the greatness of their race, the poli- tical problem—On.e heart, one people. When I iirst came over to Wales T made it a pcint to read somethi.ig that would help me to fonn a clear ludgment of the people amongst wl.om I was called upon. to live. In the triads mv attention dwelt "n some remarkable national sentiments. The love the Welshman has for his native hills, for his nation, is, for instance, strikingly worded. "Three things should a Welshman always bear in mind lest he dishonours them his father, his country, and his najne Cymro. There aje three things for which a Cymro should be willing to die— hi'! country, his good I aiiie, and the truth, wherever it be. Three things it specially behoves a Cymro to choose from his own country—his chief, hi wife, and his friend When I hear Welshmen and Scotchmen speak of th'Jir native hills and moi.i tains it reminds me of a pai-ticula.r ceremony of a Persian Am- bassador in France, who every morning before ha went abroad .religiously &alutpd a turf of earth out of his own native &oil, to remind iim. that in all the transactions of the day he wa.s to think of his country and pursue its aclnJn- taK'es. So it was of old, so it is now. ihey inter-marry amongst themselves, celebrate the -virtues of their heroes, keep up their customs, Thev surround their ba.rds vlth honours Like the Hebrew prophets, the patriotism and patriotic imT.?'ina.tion of the Welsh bards is simply intense. The known function of the poet is to give, by usinsr becoming words, utterance to emotions and thoughts which he conceived within for the purpose of mcying- -olcasurablv or stirring and exciting the minds Mid hearts of his hearts In the crafty and fikHful hands of the burds Ca.mbi-ia can boa,st th:tt she haa a. :anguag-e excelling a.ny provin- r.i:d tongue in Europe; she h3,s among her native hills men capable of soaring abova all vulgar height, in their intercom'se with the Muses, and. to be sure, surpassing any of her CeHi ripighbours. TIie influence of 'burds on Wales is a. delicate topic to handle. Bardic literature seems to become the naSon'd necessity. Men must have it. Hence its power in the formation of national -QLe' "l'>\i1 sentiment and character. Asthesoftwa-x receives the ngure of the sea!, the moral he&i't of the people is receiving the impress of the effusion of the bard. Tills literature engrosses too much, it seems to me, the gttention of the nation. Facts are to the Welsh bard but the raw material from which in fancy's loom ha weaves the glorious garments with which he clothes the actors in the pomp of his airy fabric. There may be no deceit intended thereby. On the other h&nd—and into this error the Welsh fall—a- too fa.nciful and fervid imagination of poetical bardic temperament, unbalanced by the perception of actual facts, mistakes the bard's glittering pageant for sober every-da.y reality. I have seen this poetic imagination in the province of pa.trioti&m appropriating! both persons and events from the histories of other countries and churning' for itself t"e origination, the genesis, of their moat peculiar sentiments. Is not the Queen a Welshwoman? Was not America, discovered by a Cymro? Is proof of it, are there not Welsh Indians that smoke the same kind of pipe as those Welsh- men used to smoke? Is not Stanley a- Welsh- man ? Was not Boulanger a. countryman of General Roberts, himself a. Welshman? Was not his mother a Miss Grinlth? This un- restrained imagination works detrimentally in more directions than one. It strengthened the old love of sunerstition- Superstition still exists, yet by what I resd and hear, not more so than in other countries where the railways, telegraph, and telephone inventions have brought in their rear mpnta.1 change:! of a, healthier character. The g,- mt love the Welshwomen had for the music of the Jews' harp was accounted for by the effect that innocent instrument had in driving the devil oack from moisting our Lord on the occasion of His tempta.t.io.n in the Wilderness. That is a thing of the past- The belief that frightened so many children, a,nd still entertained in some remote Traces, that the devil aDT)e,irs ou the hills at the stroke of twelve o'clock at night, then disn.ppea.red, leaving behind traces of sulphur and brimstones, may be traced to the Revere. doctrine about hell, and to in'umcient food. For the Welsli mind tis devil is no abstract idea., phantom, no specula- tive philosophical theme, but a living and bodily evil existence that prowls about the valleys ana mountains of Wales, seeking and devouring. If there be less superstition, I ascribe it tjot only to the fo.ilities which our locomotJOD systems a-nord for conveying men and tra!iS_ milting thought, but chieSy to a. better food regime. Is there not; for instance, no connection between food, cookery, and German character- Is it not possible to trace in the strong navour< and strong mixturf-s of sweets and sours beloved by tha.t people the germ of the bold a?serti?' without the charm, the lovableness which 11101" be said to the German I> there not something suggestive between t"c oleaginous diet of the Southern nations and the smoothness of their language and the slipperiness of their morals? Take my countrymen, the ga.iest hearted a.nd the longest; living peOP le in Europe. Of every thousand inhabitants il England. 132 rea,oh the age of 60 a.nd above; Or Italy, 150; in <?erma,ny. 159; in France, 2? Have not the French the most delicate, ethe- realised cuisine food elevated into poetry of aaY people we know? Is it not the land of cl? thought, of lucidity, of postive truth a.nd lis eternal import? the land of Ca.lvin, of Pasca, of Montesquieu? &c. ..A

CY?MN? TWENTY-FOUR HOURS RACE AT HEARNE HILL. The third annual twenty-four hours racs' which is held under the auapiees of the L-o??' and Ullb, )v-t, wi-tiinei-icecl oil t.114 Herne Hill track on Friday evening, and co"' eluded on Saturday night at eight o'c'l'?', An excellent entry had been received, ?°? which twenty competitors wer& selected. ? of whom, with the exception of two, put ? aDpears.nce. It wa.s thought some time 9-0 that. F. W. Sborla.nd, who ha,s won the two, previous contests, and had only to prove sit cesaful again to make the challenge cup ? npct?d with the competition his own proper? would ha.ve been unable to have ridden ?.?.T' to a dimculty with the licensing commitw? but after considerable dela,y he received ?. neoessa.ry permit. There W{:s a. strong oppo°?'?. to 'bhe holder, including nearly every l?'??y tance rider in the country The pace sst ? Shorla.nd was so grea,t that, Hfter bea.ting' ?'?'?? from eleven to fifteen miles inclusive, he ? run all those who were deemed his ?? ?p midnble opponents fairly off their leg's ?' twelve hours had been covered. He ??1?. menoed to brea? English records at 101 ??g amd at hn.lf time, ?vhen he had covered .? miles 1,00& yards, he was only just behind ? French record, and over five miles before'il&J rca-rest opponent. As a- race, it b.a.d }ong been all over, and the main interest arc. it1 was to see whether Shorla.nd would succe 9,t lowering the French record, which ??.,? 457 miles 1,648 ya.rds. He got. inside the i?? figures at thirteen hours, a.nd, though h? ? veiled very inditferently in the seventeenth ?? eighteenth hours, he never afterwards ?'-? position. At thp inish the closing scores ?'? Sliorla.nd, 4-60 miles 1. 29b yards. Fetersen, 431 miles 993 yards. Chappie, '27 mileR 504- yards. ClaJ,k, 423 mUM 1,600 yards. lUslev. 406 imles 1,008 va-rds. Field. 360 miles 126 yards.iJ'< Shorlancl thus bea.ta the previous '7, record by two miles 1,408 yards. -0'd.1!i

XODE'RN HERESY. PAPER BY MR. GLADSTONE. The Press Association has received ? Messrs. Sa.mpsom Low a.nd iAloriitOn advuuoe copy of the ".Nineteenth ven the conta.ining an article by Mr. Gladstone °jgf!t 'pla.ce of heresy and sohism in the 1\1.1tor Christian Church. The eirnheut contra ?? distinguishes betv.?ean. tite facts of heresy? ? schism as they stood in Apostolic days aU esetl corresponding facts as they are nov._P "er1 ,1i!:J, ..r to us. mere was now oeiore tne ""? ..i.?dO? babel of claimants for the honours of ? ?h'? and Catholicity, but if the Christian .? he had sustained heavy loss through dtVi???ed would ask whether she might not have ?pgp?' suitable, perha.ps preponderating, ?'hrtS?'' tion in the accordant witness of a.Ll 'tg rc'? dom to the truth that our religion is ? ?f' gion of the God Man. The St?te m'? pie?" new creeds by cutting' old ones ?' ?e ?' a.nd throwing them into the cauldron 1° 11 pf'" boiied, but it would be a.n evil ??.??bf! sons took into thoir own unoonimissio? ??'?? the manipulation of rsiigic?. ?Tnt''?' sion, he said that wha.t his article c?""jj?. a.nd sought 'more to commend was a. ? ? r.? ment of ideas, and not a. 3uireticter I" 11-1 quarter of considered, and consmentlOctioes. Tictions or of established facts and pr

A rROMISING FUTURE hM often bPe it, through the breaking down of the b,clilv sys" Gwilym M.-ans'a Quinine Hitt.ers forties !.e ju:r¡\ a.nd puriiiea the blood. Try. it. Avo? ?l? tiona. ??!' 9' ?osa???? ?. ??-?. ? ?? /y hp,lMMANS ?'?ES?? PI.0 i, ?-? 00N I FIR BOTTLE 0,-) ly oy