THERE seems no subject of any special interest treated in the papers now to hand. The Referee libel case is written about, of course, there are many hints that further measures of repression were then about to be enforced in Ireland, and the proposed informal mission to the Pope discussed in its various bearings. But none of these points present any features of interest or novelty. 'The only literary event worthy of the name is the appearance of Mr. Alfred Austin's tragedy of Savonarola, This work is reviewed in the Atheneum, not over-enthusiastically. The preface of the book says that, with' one supreme exception, Savonarola is the most interesting figure in human story. This is censured by the critic as a monstrously excessive estimate, and no doubt justly. The prosody of the composition is severely dealt with, and certainly the samples given go far to justify the denunciations of the writer, We regret that so few extracts are made calculated to show some of the beauties of the piece—in which it surely is not lacking. The following, however, is quoted as 8 commendable passage in its way. It embodies a conversation between four of the Piagnoni after Savonarola has been for some time interdicted from preaching As on the skin were stretched upon the ad P, How hollow and inanimate be looks,
ist 2 E. Wait till he speaks, he then will Tiger the parchment, louder sounds the 20d" he Tinea have even deepened in his brow Since Fra Bartolomeo limned his head, The temples and the jutting cheekbones loom:
fa naturally large, atid the sank eyes Hoave like a spent volcano fallen jeaving dark hollowness where once fingers, thin and fanciful, proclaim Vigil aod fast and prayer What would you have?
when its weeds are rightly written article on the late Mr. William Rath-
Done Greg, dealing, however, almost exolusively with the political portion of his works. With regard to his polemical writings, the reviewer says but little. "In philosophical and theological controversies Mr. Greg exhibited the same earnestness and good faith; but in these departments his aus thority was less, and the benefit to be conferred by the publication of disputable opinions was more than doubtful. The duty of preaching the truth in or out of season, if it has any existence, must be contingent on the certainty that the doctri true. Mr, Greg had not attained to the fanatical zeal of a later writer who asserted that reticence on serious subjects indicated want of faith in humanity. In dealing with transcendental subjects, which he might perhaps have advantageously avoided, Mr. Grog had at least the merit of not being either a partisan or a devotes of extra: One of hi ays.was written in answer to a whimsical contention that a future life would consist, not in the prolongation of personal identity, but in the probable continuity of the human race. Perhaps few anxious enquirers were satisfied by the assurance that, if they were not to live after death, somebody else would, with equal advantage to the world, take their place fora season." Further on there isan article called 'Penny Dreadfuls,' pointing out the terrible increase of crime that results from the superabundance of trashy sensational literature among the uneducated classes, and the avidity with which it is read. Vanity Fair contains an article we commend, but do not venture to quote from. It is entitled 'A Phase of Humbug,' and is strongly condemnatory of the.unhealthy taste to which the London journals are now pandering, for knowing all about the private affairs of public persons. The article is true and thoroughly well called-for, but outspoken to nastiness, The Spectator gives currency to some rather exciting rumours about the possible intervention of the United Sta'ss between Chili and Peru. The paragraph concludes as follows
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.