Tae Pall Mall Budget contains a short article on the late Richard Wagner, which, ike perhaps the majority of articles that have been or will be written on the great comparer, will bemoreinteresting to posteri we hundred ents ence than it late-day. Wagner may be said, indeed, to have anticipated He probably did not expect, and certainly did not gain, universal Acooptance daring his life-time, The rovolution in music which he inaugurated was too sudden, too aweoping, too audacious to carry everything before it, The verdict of Pall Mall no doubt represents the diet of the musical world at large. {No one ventures to say that there is am living musician who can compare with Wagner in strength and originality of genius.
His critics rather insist that, on the principle of corruption optimi pessina, it ts just because of the greatness of his powers that Wagner deserves special con-sure for the use to which he put them. Wagner has himself to of the opposition jons, Ho had the bottomless self-confidence of every great pioneer, but he was more than merely confident. lo was satirical, pugnacious, aggressive, with a boundless contempt for those who differed from him... His genius was essentially one of those which are sent into the world not to bring peace but a sword." The Pali Dfall contains also the review of work which seems likely to have It is entitled After to be a most powerful and impressive piece of writing. Altogether the present number of the Pall 'Mall la exceptionally interesting. The 'Spectator has an article which we are glad to ea has attracted attention in other quarters, It is called 'A Now Etiquetto,' and embodies one of those original and valuable suggestions for which the Spectator is celebrated.' The Pall Mall, which heartily approves of the idea, summonses it as follows The Spestator has a good suggestion for the protection of the over-increasing class of brain-workers who can only be saved from a breakdown by temporary com] rear. ad f our to the number of they were actually ill or had recognized causes of till the 20th," ae an auawer from the to-morrow—uay, ey'
for It ie to exclu fers of condolence.
ple who cannot afford or wish to go away are to be secured the same immunity from friendly present yacht bore 10 objection to such an far too sensible to become a fashion Thoro is an excellent practice among the Catholic clergy of going into and it would be a boon to many if thi principle could be extended to laymen. The Spectator has another very good article upon the coming fusion of the moderate sections of the Evangelical and High Church Parties, The writer says truly enough that there is at present lo mon between the Extreme and the Bloderate Evangelicals than there is between Moderate Evangelicals and Moderate High j Churchmen. If the Evangelicals as a body take to preaching in the surplice, to having choral servi 1g by surpliced choirs, and to rather than the—the points on which they and the High Churchmen agree, rather than those on which they differ—it will be very difficult to draw a line betwoon them and the High Churchmen who hare precisely the same Kind of services, and preach sermons not tly differing' from theirs." Apropos of sermons, the following paragraph from Truth is worth repu to take up 1 and tells me that the whom be sits" display of no member congr that it is too mac as they preach goo able te depend upon. ing to hear them expect humanity to common majority from their pulpit They would jess harm and probably their congregations more good.
Poetry-column contains an poem by "A.J.C." headed Hero are two of the verses Still, far behind uw we cleave Smooth-flowing the din of life And passionate voices of the Are inched to silence, and we leave The cares that haunt us, dark regret For wasted years, and wild unrest, ug for praise or pleasure, hi With life's last blessing,—to forget.
The Athenccum also has some very pathetic little stanzas by Christina Rossoiti on the id ayed not quite two years, The ideas embodied in the concluding lines are not very original, but they are touchingly expressed The youngest bud of five, The least lamb of the fold, Bud not to blossom, yet to thrive, Away from cold:
Lamb which we shall not see Leap at its pretty pranke, Oar lamb at rest and fail of glee On heavenly bank The most important article in this week's Athenaeum, however, is that which deals with Professor Max Miller's book, ' Indi What can it Teach Us? The Professor repudiates as a one-sided and exaggerated view the supposition that all religions arose from fear or terror, and teaches that Religion is trust, and that trust arose
the mind and heart of men by the order and the Bepinning from the impressions made on wisdom of nature, and more particularly by those regularly recurring events, the return of the sun, the revival of the moon, the order of the season, The reviewer considers this conception too advanced. Professor Muller," says the Saturday, in writing on the same book, is devoted to India as a bridegroom ts devoted to his bride, or as a moth devoted to her baby." In his exposition of the teaching of the Vedas, he " occupies a field in the mastery of which he is quite unrivalled, The reader can only approciate the power and the art of the lecturer if at the eud of the concluding lecture he pauses to think how much ho has learnt, and yet in how short a space the teaching has been embodied, with what Incidity and pleasantness it) as been conveyed, and how just a proportion has been preserved between its parts." A still mora interesting review deals with "The Iliad of Homer done into English Prose," by Messrs. Long, Leaf, and Myers. Upon the whole the critique is laudatory, though of course it contains sufficient criticism to justify its name, Wo recommend the article, as the article recommends the book, to the notice of those who still keep up their taste for classic reading. Wo have not nearly exhausted the papers before us, but must conclude, The Athenaeum has the following items of Literary gossip Mr, Colquhoun's ' Across Chrya6' will, we learn, be randy for del by the publishers, Mo: ow & Ao., at the and of the present month. A smaller worl by the same author, giving an account of the highly interesting Shan country, entitled 'Amongst the Shans,' will be randy a fortnight later, and is to be published by Messrs Field and Tuer. Mr. Colquhoun visited Siam and the Shan country whilst attached to the mission sent by the Gov-vernment of India,—Mr. A\ author of 'Vice Veret,' has his novel whi will, if report apeak true, take thing like a new departure, Dir. Morley is to take up the editorship of Macmillan inMay.—Mossrs, Field and Tuer announce, under the title of 'English as She is Spoke; or, a Jest in Sober Earnott,' the immediate issue of No. 1 of a new vellum-parchment sories of miacollancouel 'The price of each volume is tobeont We regret to record ti leath, curred recently at Goritz, of Mita Gertrude Grant. She was the author of ral novels, among which may be montia "Coming Home to Roost," tothe Old Orou Quarry,' and 'The Great Gulf Fixed,' all published under the nom de plume of "Gerard Grant"; and of many shorter stories and sketches contributed to magazines.—A new novel by Mrs. Randolph, entitled ' Woodroffe,' will shortly be published by Messrs. Hurat & Blackett. 'The same firm will also issue during March 'What hast Thou Done? a novel by Dir. J. Fitzgerald Molloy, author of 'Court Life below Stairs.'—' Daniel Deronda' is being published in French in the Moniteur Egyptien at Cairo as a feuilleton.
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.