Thad a talk on Monday evening with' a Japanese student of remarkable culture and intelligence, who is returning next month to his own country, after a years' University course in London and Berlin. He speaks English well and understands it perfectly, and as ho has given special attention to modern literature, it is interesting to hear his opinion of our great novelists. Thackeray is in his eyes the king of English fiction writers; he enjoys "Vanity Fair" and "Esmond," but has not yet succeeded in mastering' "The Newcomes" or " Pendennis" He has read "David Copperfield," but does not think Dickens will ever be a favourite in Japan, as his humour is too exotic. For the same reason, while ho mentions Mrs. Gaskell with George Eliot and Thackeray as a writer who gives him constant pleasure, he says the Japanese could never care for "Cranford." "That is too English; or people could not understand the life described."
"Do you see a daily paper in London?"
"Yes, I used to read the 'Times,' but I found it too large and heavy; now I take the 'Standard, and profer it to all the others. The 'Standard' makes no mistakes."
Touching on his months in Berlin, my informant said he found there two distinct lines of opinion with regard to the v Amongst the upper classes sympathy is with Russia; the tradespeople and the working men frankly hope for the success of Japan. He feels much happier in London, where everyone seems a friend. It has been his good fortune to visit all our principal towns—Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds—and he carries back a vivid impression of the beauties of Loch Lomond scenery, the stateliness of Edinburgh, and the massive wealth of Glasgow and Leeds. While he chats gaily on all thing English, it is easy to gather, from his frequently recurring
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.