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gravitated round him. He was not pre- to the "distant Cheviots blue;" mixing cisely brilliant; nobody, we know, ever with the sturdy dalesmen, and the tough wrote so many sentences and left so few indomitable puritans of his native land; that have fixed themselves upon us as es- for their sakes we can forgive the explodtablished commonplaces; beyond that un-ed feudalism and the faded romance which lucky phrase about "my name being Mac- he attempted in vain, as such an attempt gregor and my foot being on my native must always be vain, to galvanize into heath" which is not a very admirable life. The pleasure of that healthy opensentiment we do not at present remem- air life, with that manly companion, is not ber a single gem of this kind. Landor, if likely to diminish; and Scott as its expowe remember rightly, said that in the nent may still retain a hold upon our afwhole of Scott's poetry there was only fections which would have been long ago one good line. that, namely, in the poem forfeited if he had depended entirely on about Helvellyn referring to the dog of his romantic nonsense. We are rather in the lost manthe habit of talking about a healthy animalism, and try most elaborately to be simple and manly; indeed, we have endeavoured to prove that the cultivation of our muscles is an essential part of the Christian religion. When we turn from our modern professors in that line, who affect a total absence of affectation, to Scott's Dandie Dinmonts and Edie Ochiltrees, we see the difference between the sham and the reality, and fancy that Scott may still have a lesson or two to preach to this generation. Those to come must take care of themselves.

When the wind waved his garments, how oft didst thou start!

To judge either of poetry or prose on such principles is obviously unfair. Scott is not one of the coruscating geniuses, throwing out epigrams at every turn, and sparkling with good things. But the poetry, which was first admired to excess and then rejected with undue contempt, is now beginning to find its due level. It is not poetry of the first order. It is not the poetry of deep meditation or of rapt enthusiasm. Much that was once admired has now become rather offensive than otherwise. And yet it has charm, which becomes more sensible the more familiar we grow, the charm of an unaffected and spontaneous love of nature; but not only is it perfectly in harmony with the nature which Scott loved so well, but it is still the best interpreter of the sound healthy love of wild scenery. Wordsworth, no doubt, goes deeper; and Byron is more vigorous; and Shelley more ethereal. But it is, and will remain, a good thing to have a breath from the Cheviots brought straight into London streets, as Scott alone can do it. When Washington Irving visited Scott, they had an amicable dispute as to the scenery: Irving, as became an American, complaining of the absence of forests; Scott declaring his love for his honest grey hills," and saying that if he did not see the heather once a year he thought he should. Everybody who has refreshed himself with mountain and moor this summer should feel how much we owe, and how much more we are likely to owe in future, to the man who first inoculated us with his own enthusiasm, and who is still the best interpreter of the "honest grey hills." Scott's poetical faculty may, perhaps, be more felt in his prose than his verse. The fact need not be decided; but as we read the best of his novels we feel ourselves transported

From The Spectator.

THE SITUATION AT VERSAILLES. THE Pact of Bordeaux has become distasteful to the majority of the French Assembly, but they do not know how to get rid of it. That seems to be the meaning of the extraordinary series of intrigues, proposals, debates, and quarrels which have been going on at Versailles for the last fortnight, and have inspired all France with fear of another relapse into anarchy. Under that compact the members of the Chamber, three-fourths of whom were country magnates, elected because they were the only persons visible in the turmoil, and were therefore Monarchists of one type or another, agreed to postpone their differences with the Republicans, and support M. Thiers as virtual Dictator, until by carrying out the stern conditions of the Treaty he had terminated the German occupation. M. Thiers on his part agreed to leave the ultimate power, or, as he termed it "the sovereignty," with the Assembly - thereby surrendering the right both of dissolution and of taking plébiscites and to avoid any acts which should commit the country to a particular form of government. The scheme was not, for the moment, an un

a

wise one. M. Thiers certainly was not | father's memory by acknowledging him as the man whom foreign observers would a usurper. Marshal MacMahon, whom have selected to lead France out of her they would have endured, as a soldier quagmire; but he had been elected by likely to play the part of a Monk, did not many departments, he was almost the only encourage their proposals, and in fact is man in France not a Bonapartist familiar no politician. Gambetta they would not with office, and he was a Frenchman have, despite the latant kindness of the to his heart's core. At first it seemed as Right for his name, for he would have if the experiment would succeed. The made the Republic a reality; and M. "Chief of the Executive Power" succeed- Grévy, though repeatedly mentioned, ed in putting down the Commune; he alarmed them for the same reason. They raised a loan of unexampled amount with resolved therefore to see if they could not great ease, and for some months he con- get rid of M. Thiers' dictatorship by protrived, to employ his own expression, to motion, by declaring him President prevent the parties within the Chamber title which, for diplomatic and personal from flying at one another's throats. The reasons, he greatly desired - but relegatimmense power always belonging to the ing him to the position of a constitutionGovernment in France enabled him to al King. This was the meaning of the conduct the Administration without rep- "proposition Rivet," according to which M. resentative help, and the Army has been Thiers was to be President for three years, obedient and ready to maintain order. Of but with responsible Ministers, no veto, late, however, the majority within the As- and all the rest of the compromises which sembly have become dissatisfied with their we English think so excellent, and the rest ruler, with affairs, and with themselves. of the world so ridiculous. M. Thiers They had thought that M. Thiers, an Or- would none of it. He would not be fatted leanist by habit, if not by conviction, a hog, a king with neither dignity nor power, believer in strong government, and an and he threatened if the plan were acenemy of the Ultras, would employ his au- cepted to depart into private life. The thority to found a monarchy, whereas he majority were not prepared for this, seeis employing it to found a moderate Re- ing clearly that M. Thiers once away, they public, with immense powers lodged in the must either proclaim a King and so risk a hands of the Chief of the Executive. They civil war, or appeal to a country very had thought that he would be a Parlia- likely to declare for Gambetta, and cermentary leader, very pliable upon all tain at all events to dismiss them. They points but foreign policy, and very much therefore accepted a compromise, declarafraid of them, whereas he has been inde- ing M. Thiers President of the Republic, pendent, exigeant, and in his treatment of but otherwise leaving him just where he the majority sometimes peevishly dictato- was before, with these drawbacks, that his rial. They had thought that the country term of office and that of the Assembly would by degrees manifest monarchical being made synchronous, he could no tendencies, and agree that M. Thiers longer propose a dissolution, which would should be regarded as the locum tenens for terminate his own power, and that ala King, whereas they perceive, from the though he could after notice address the recent elections, from the military vote, Assembly, he could no longer mingle in and from the attitude of the South, that its debates. This is the meaning of the the country is accepting the Republic," proposition Vitet," and to this also M. that it is growing impatient of reaction, and that it turns rather towards Gambetta than towards the Comte de Paris. They begin to be anxious to get rid of M. Thiers, and could they have discovered a substitute, they would, we conceive, have long since accepted one of his too frequent resignations. Personages, however, are rare in France; only four can be named who would not be ridiculous in such a post, and none of these four are immediately available. The Duc d'Aumale, whom they would have preferred, distinctly declined the post, fearing, it may be, to compromise the possible future of his House, fearing also, we are told, to seem to blacken his

Thiers refused to accede unless it were accompanied by a formal recognition of his service to France. M. Thiers has been greatly blamed for this outbreak of "inopportune vanity;" but though he is vain enough, with the vanity of a very old man as well as of an actor, the blame is in this instance undeserved.

No statesman can live in France who suffers himself to be politically insulted, and there was insult, deep contempt for the head of the State, in the wording of M. Vitet's Bill, with its careful ignoring of his name, its cautious retention of absolute power in the Assembly, and its preposterous proviso that both President and Minis

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ters should be responsible for all their knows that the country does not agree acts, a proviso which destroys his control with its convictions. It treats M. Thiers of his Ministers without allowing him to as if he were a mere Premier, and the depend on them. It was absolutely need- moment he offers to go it recoils in ful, if M. Thiers were to go on at all, that affright, thus depriving his government the Bill should contain a vote of confi- of all the advantages of unity, and yet dence, and M. Dufaure therefore demand- foregoing any advantage that might arise ed it on M. Thiers' behalf. The demand from its own independence. It is morwas acceded to, though with wretched bidly jealous of its claim to sovereignty, want of grace and consideration, for M. yet makes M. Thiers head of the ExecuThiers has kept his faith with the Assem- tive for a term, and then directs that he bly; and the situation is therefore this - shall look to it for orders which, after all, that M. Thiers is President of the Repub-it rather insinuates than gives. It has lic by virtue of a law which may be abro- | neither temper to wait, nor courage to act, gated to-morrow, passed in an Assembly nor resignation to submit to a dissolution. which dislikes and distrusts him, and which in that very law has almost in so many words commanded him to hold his tongue. We can hardly imagine a more unfortunate position, or one less likely to endure. Had the right of the veto been conceded, M. Thiers would have been able to go on with his daily work, and let the Assembly say its say at discretion; but without this, he must consent to carry out its policy without helping to discuss it, and without possessing in theory any option of resignation. Of course, in practice, he can resign, as he can now; but if he is to resign on an adverse vote, what is the sense of turning him out of the Assembly, or of making his Ministers responsible for his orders? Even as a temporary expedient the arrangement is childish, much worse than the present one, under which M. Thiers is, at all events, Premier of France.

Unless some change can take place in its attitude, a catastrophe sooner or later is inevitable, and M. Gambetta in asking it either to dissolve itself or to fix a date for its dissolution is acting in the interest of constitutional government, and enabling the Assembly to avert the coup d'état which otherwise in some form or other is certain to terminate its existence. The blow may take the form of M.Thiers' resignation, or of an insurrection of the South, or of a moral insurrection of the electors, or even of a sharp menace from the Army; but a representative body which will neither keep quiet, nor act, nor trust its electors and yet is beyond dissolution, is a doomed body. We presume the danger is staved off for the present, as the Chamber wants its vacation; but there is uneasiness in the air, a feeling throughout France as if this quarrel among the postilions on the brink of a precipice were becoming intolerable, The truth is, the Assembly is in an impos- and any strong driver would be preferred, sible position, and should either efface It is evident, too, that the Germans watch itself till the departure of the Germans, the state of affairs at Versailles with con thus fulfilling honestly the Pact of Bor-siderable irritation, and although Prince deaux, or proclaim a King at all hazards, or take itself away by a dissolution. The dispute about its constituent power is a dispute about words. If it is sovereign it is constituent, and if it cannot constitute because the country disagrees with it, then it is neither constituent nor sovereign. As a matter of fact, it does nothing, and can do nothing but fret and yell. It will not go with the country and establish a Republic, because its convictions are opposed to that form of government, and it dare not proclaim a Monarchy because it

Bismarck would scarcely lift Germany once
more merely to interfere in the internal
affairs of France, he will undoubtedly in-
sist on the Treaty being fulfilled, which it
cannot be if the Assembly succeeds in
paralyzing the Government, while refusing
to take the reins into its own hands.
result of the fortnight's fury is that M.
Thiers is to go on for a time, a good deal
weakened by the visible discord between
himself and the majority which elected
him.

The

"THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP." From the hour (how well we remember it - 10 A.M. on the morning of the twentieth of last month) when we first heard, from a mutual friend, of the proposed investigation of the bed of the Tiber, to the present time (half past three, Friday afternoon, September the first), we have allowed our imagination to dwell, in all weathers, and under every change of circumstances, on the Treasures, which a few years careful dredging will yield, for the unalloyed gratification of countless visitors to the Museums of Rome. Day and night, and sometimes also on a fine afternoon, we have pictured to ourselves, and to those near and dear to us, the rapturous delight of the traveller, the tourist, the dilettante, the virtuoso, the man of science and letters after his name, the cultivated and the curious of all ranks, countries, ages, sexes, and professions, when they examine, for the first time, with reverent gaze, objects which, from their childhood, they have read of, with eager eyes and bated breath, in the pages of Niebuhr, in the volumes of Arnold, in the chapters of Mommsen, and Goldsmith, and numberless other learned historians of departed Rome.

We can foresee a Catalogue containing (amongst a thousand others) simple entries like the following for what need of elaborate description of articles which, though they have lain hid from the eye of the world and the cognoscenti for thousands of years, are as familiar as the cross on the summit of St. Paul's, or the outstretched arm of the Duke of Wellington on Constitution Hill, yea, or even the metal rol which rises so grandly from the head of the Duke of York at the termination of Waterloo Place?

1. Stones identified, beyond a doubt, as having formed part of the grotto of Egeria.

2. One of the bucklers with which Tarpeia was crushed to death, to the inexpressible grief of her surviving relatives.

3. The razor with which Tarquin (Tarquinius Priscus) cut through the whetstone. (Careful search has been made for his strop, but hitherto without success)

4. The footstool (much discoloured by time and mud) thrown by Tullia at the head of her coachman, whom she was fined for assaulting.

5. The stone chest containing the Sibylline books. (The binding is in pretty good order, and by a newly discovered process the mystic characters, which were entirely obliterated, have been deciphered. It will be a relief to the public mind to know that they appear to be nothing more than simple family receipts, culinary and medicinal.)

6 Lucretia's spinning-wheel (one or two of the spindles missing), and the poniard with which she committed suicide, exactly agreeing in all respects with the description of it contained in contemporary accounts of the coroner's inquest (Vide Dion. Halic. xviii. 7; and Polyb., pp. 1074-7).

7. Cincinnatus's plough.

8. The Ivory Sceptre of Senator Papirius (the ornament on the top knocked off).

9. The Scales and some of the weights used in the monetary transaction with General Brennus.

10. The beautifully-carved Ivory Manger out of which Caligula's favourite hanter was in the habit of feeding, with some of the gilt oats still adhering to the bottom.

11. Nero's Fiddle (the strings gone).

12. The Emperor Domitian's bodkin. (The first chemists of Europe, after a most careful analysis, are strongly of opinion that the darkcoloured stain is the blood of an enormous bluebottle.)

13. Cornelia's Jewels.

14. Axes enclosed in bundles of rods (completely fossilized); Jewellery supposed to have been worn by the Vestal Virgins; the Jawbone and Teeth of a Wolf (believed to have been the identical animal which nourished Romulus and Remus in the dawn of life); bushels of Sesterces; several Civic, Mural, and Golden Crowns; Knights' Gold Rings; Galleys, Triremes, Curule Chairs, Roman Candles, &c.

Punch.

CAUSE OF PHOSPHORESCENCE.-M. Pancrei has presented to the Congress of Naturalists and Physicians at Turin the results of some investigations as to the cause of phosphorescence in animals, and especially in fishes. He has come to the conclusion that the cause of this phenomenon is the slow oxidation of fat, which he finds to be always present when phosphorescence is observed in animal substances. In the case of fish, the oxygen of the atmosphere very readily penetrates the skin and acts upon the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The phienomenon is promoted by placing the phosphorescent substance in oxygen, but entirely arrested by its immersion in carbonic acid, fresh water, alcohol, or any solution not containing oxygen. Phosphorescence usually commences immediately after death, and continues until decomposition sets in, with disengagement of ammouia, when it invariably immediately ceases.

Academy.

THE Univers publishes the following prayer, which the Pope is said to offer up daily for France: -"O Mary, conceived without sin, look down upon France; pray for France; oh, save France! The greater its guilt, the greater its need of thy intercession. A single word to Jesus, reclining in thine arms, and France is saved. O Jesus, obey Mary, and save France! "

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