A gentleman, in his report on the condition of England, says that "in one small village the Lord of the Manor had 200 acres, and no other inhabitant had a single acre left. The manorial estate had absorbed all theirs, and the little community had been reduced by this means from prosperity to poverty." Should not the English labourer le grateful? In some parts he has nearly as much for his maintenance as it costs to feed a pauper in the workhouse, and yet he grumbles. “In many villages,” says Mr Stuart, "I saw handsome European houses, surrounded by gardens, vineyards, and well-stocked farms, and invariably the natives told me that these properties belonged to money-lenders, who had become possessed of them by degrees, adding field to field through the instrumentality of the mixed tribunals." THE CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST. STAND ALOOF FROM INJUSTICE." One Penny Monthly. Subscription, Is. 6d., Post Free. 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Those who wish to purchase copies for distribution can obtain particulars of price on application to the are based on truth, which is great and must prevail, we shall be able to advance them with a force that will gain from calm strength of conviction much more than it will lose by the absence of the energy of despair. If we think that the faults and vices of our poorer or more ignorant brothers are almost wholly the result of vicious conditions of life, our belief in the absolute equality and brotherhood of rich and poor, of wise and weak, will force us to extend pity to the peer whose pride ruins a province, as well as to the peasant whose folly desolates a home. In separating the sinner from the sin, our love for the man will not make our voice tremble UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES. "The Conservative party have lately started a new magazine and a big club.. No doubt they expect great things to result from this exhibition of energy, but they are doomed to disappointment. They are merely adding a dab of fresh paint to a rotten structure." These are the words of Lord Dunraven. Not the least remarkable feature, however, in the formation of the new club is its name. It professes to be "constitutional," and yet the names which guarantee that quality are the names of men who have for three years succeeded in violating the first principles of the Constitution by sheer physical force, depriving a large constituency of its electoral rights, and degrading the House of Representatives to the level of a racecourse, The outrage at Monte Carlo which occasioned on much A gentleman, in his report on the condition of England, says that "in one small village the Lord of the Manor had 200 acres, and no other inhabitant had a single acre left. The manorial estate had absorbed all theirs, and the little community had been reduced by this means from prosperity, to poverty." Should not the English labourer Le grateful? In some parts he has nearly as much for his maintenance as it costs, to feed a pauper in the workhouse, and yet he grumbles. “In many villages," says Mr Stuart, "I saw handsome European houses, surrounded by gardens, vineyards, and well-stocked farms, and invariably the natives told me that these properties belonged to money-lenders, who had become possessed of them by degrees, adding field to field through the instrumentality of the mixed tribunals." "In many villages," says our English reporter "I saw handsome houses surrounded by gardens, orchards, and well-stocked farms, and invariably the natives told me that these properties belonged to the Squire, who had become possessed of them by degrees, adding field to field through the instrumentality of enclosure Acts, and a process of forestalling his poorer neighbours." The English labourer should be congratulated that he was not born in Egypt, but in a land where labour is the sole title to prosperity, where only the idle starve, and the industrious never lack for work which will repay them sufficient to enable them to live as good citizens. At a meeting of the Junior Clerical Society of London last week, Canon Shuttleworth read a paper on "Christian Socialism." The paper was well received by the clergy, and no opposition was offered to the Socialism advocated. This is a very hopeful sign, for we feel sure that nothing but Socialism united with Christianity can mend the evils of society. If the clergy will speak out from their pulpits, and declare in the presence of their rich churchwardens, as we heard one the other day, that "to start in life with the object of making a fortune was absolutely unlawful for any baptized person," Christian Socialism will move apace, and the Church will gain many more adherents than the few rich men she will lose who are unable to bear these "hard sayings." The difficulty which is discussed at each Church Congress without much effect, how to gain the masses, would quickly be solved, and again the poor would hear the Gospel “gladly.” national pictures nor at the international fish on the Sabbath-day-we beg pardon, we mean Sunday, their lordships having overcome all scruples in respect of Saturday-knowing full well that he is too much occupied to snatch a glimpse of them on the other days of the week, unless he is sufficiently his own master to keep the institution of St. Monday, by sticking to his work on Sunday, and taking his holiday on the second day of the week instead of the first. There appears to be a strange disagreement in high places. Sir Hardinge Giffard maintains, "without the slightest fear of contradiction," that Christianity is part of the common law of this kingdom. Lord Coleridge says that "it is no longer true that Christianity is part of the law of the land." Forty years ago Thomas Carlyle maintained that the kingdom had been atheistic since the accession of Charles II. Woe unto you that make a few rich to make many poor! Woe unto you that make merchandise out of the needs of your brethren! Woe unto you who on the hustings and the platform fall down and humble yourselves that the congregation of the poor may fall into the hands of your leaders. Woe unto you, for God the Father of All is against you, God the Son, the poor man of Nazareth, is against you, God the Holy Spirit, who cannot lie, is against you!-C. KINGSLEY. The picturesque little town of Bakewell, in Derbyshire, has a population of about 2,500. It has also 14 publichouses. The town is entirely owned by one man, whose agent carries on the business of a brewer in a neighbouring town. We leave these facts to speak for themselves to our temperance friends. The Land Question and the Drink Question are more closely allied than would appear at first sight. A well-known unorthodox preacher was travelling with a little girl, and by way of making himself pleasant, he asked if she were a good little girl. She replied, "I am not a good girl, but I am a Christian Socialist, a Catholic Democrat, and a life-long teetotaller." If many of the rising generation have been taught to make a like declaration of faith, and to act it out in their lives, the future of England is very hopeful. "The refusal of the Irish labourers and servant girls to forget Ireland is nothing but the puerile foible of a halfeducated race."-Daily Telegraph, May 11, 1883. All systems of society which favour the accumulation of capital in a few hands, which oust the masses from the There was a time when we ignorantly imagined that soil which their forefathers possessed of old, which reduce the love of the fatherland, cherished perennially in them to the level of serfs and day labourers living on remembrance by the alien in far distant lands, was the wages and alms, which crush them down with debt, or in Daily Tel graph apprises us of our mistake, and inculcates sweetest sentiment that could inspire the human soul. Our anywise degrade or enslave them, or deny them a permanent stake in the commonwealth, are contrary to the king-aloud that British invaders have written the name of a purer form of patriotism. To sit at home and rejoice dom of God which Jesus proclaimed.-C. KINGSLEY. The Rev. W. Harper, of Selby, has been very busy lately on the subject of reverence for "betters," and the worship of pomp. He seems to take it for granted that those who occupy a high worldly position, notably noblemen and such like, are necessarily worthy of reverence. "Human equality," says Mr. Harper, "is a dream, but if one must be a dreamer, I would dream not that the tall man had their heads cut off, but that they grew much taller, and by some magic of brotherhood and sympathy drew up all other men to be tall, too, after their towering example.". On May 8th the Lords decided, by a very decent majority, that the British workman should look neither at the England on the shifting sands of Egypt with the blood of Mr. Henry George will shortly issue a reply to the many criticisms which his Progress and Poverty" has called forth. It will be published by Mr. W. Reeves, Fleet-street London. LAND REFORM UNION. THE following appeal has been issued by the graves; we want young men who wish that their sons and Council of the Land Reform Union : For some months past, a few friends have been in the habit of meeting at each other's houses to discuss "Progress and Poverty." The more the book was discussed the more apparent did it become that though some of Mr. George's side issues might be challenged, yet no argument could be adduced which would invalidate his main conclusion, that to nationalise the land is absolutely just and necessary. It was determined, then, at a meeting on the 16th April, that a public society should be formed with the object of diffusing such knowledge of the land question throughout the country as might tend to bring Land Nationalisation within the range of practical politics. Though the theories propounded by Mr. George are by no means new to English thought, since all philosophers, from John Locke to J. S. Mill and H. Spencer, have maintained that the land should be used for the benefit of the community, and not for the advantage of individuals; yet Mr. George is the first who has been able to popularise this idea. So it may be said that "Progress and Poverty has in large measure caused the foundation of the Land Reform Union. The wide circulation which that book has had leads us to expect a large measure of support from the country. As we have said above, our object is the restitution of the land to the people, because in the words of H. Spencer, "However difficult it may be to embody that theory in fact, equity sternly commands it to be done." We do not assert that Land Nationalisation will prove a panacea for all human woes, but we do know that it will cure many of the evils under which modern civilisation is suffering. Such, then, being our object, the methods by which we shall strive to attain it will be by getting up meetings and lectures which shall stir the apathetic mass of the people, and by disseminating literature which shall teach all classes the absolute justice of the reform for which we are striving. We shall utterly refuse to appeal to the cupidity of a class or to class prejudices. It is the work of all true reformers to heal the wounds of humanity, and not to tear them open wider by setting class against class. It is well to remember that if some members of our social body are brought up under such horrible conditions as to make, in Kingsley's words, "Cleanliness impossible; drunkenness all but excusable; and prostitution all but natural," yet other members have been brought up under such conditions as to make landowning all but excusable. How could landlords do otherwise than accept their position when society has taught them that it is just as natural to own land as any other commodity. The same charity which we bestow on those members of society who are obviously victims of circumstances we must extend to landlords, even if they oppose us bitterly. We must forgive them, for they know not what they do. To carry on the work of the society we shall want funds that is certain; but we have no doubt of their being forthcoming. What is much more important is, that we should have men and women to join us from every town and village of the United Kingdom. Men who are willing to do and to sacrifice, not men who will come to us secretly, like Nicodemus, and support us merely by their subscriptions, but men who will stand side by side with us in the broad light of day and espouse the cause, even though unpopular, because it is a just one. We want all sorts and conditions of men. We want women whose tender hearts are torn by the misery and suffering around them, which they have felt powerless to help. We want the working men of the cities, who know, from a hard and bitter personal experience, the awful evils which private ownership of land inflicts on the poor of our great towns by overcrowding and filthy accommodation; we want country labourers who have seen their fathers and grandfathers, after years of unremitting toil, sink into paupers' daughters, at least, shall be delivered from the temptations to which they and their sisters have been exposed in our congested cities; we want students who will tell the people of England how landlordism has grown up, and how it will inevitably overwhelm our civilisation in ruins, if it be not itself destroyed; we want landlords to prove themselves men indeed, and to declare that their rights shall not be in the people's wrong. Finally, we want ministers of the Christian religion to declare to the people that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," and that to all his children the All Father has given it. To declare, "Woe unto them that join house to house and lay field to field till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth." We do not say give us your money and we will do your work for you. It cannot be done by proxy. If you know these things and do not actively help us or some kindred society, you are concealers of the truth, and your life is a lie before God and man. All can help; from those to whom little power has been entrusted little will be expected, but still that little will be expected; from those to whom great powers have been given, whether it be of position or eloquence, or intellect, or wealth, we do expect much. cause must be won by perfect and unstinted self-sacrifice. We appeal to you for your support in words and actions; we ask you to sacrifice your, it may be, well-earned leisure. There is work for all. To all, then, we say, in the name of suffering humanity, "Come over and help us." TO THE RICH FOLLOWERS OF THE POOR NAZARENE. This Arise, ye worshippers of Christ, the God in man revealed, Whose stripes and scourge-wounds bleed afresh, whose scarred brows are not healed. Why suffer yet your brother-men, as suffered once your Christ? For silver pieces now, as then, men's lives are sacrificed. Ah! ye whose happy homes are bright with wealth that others make, Whose fair white hands are soft while their's are hardened for your sake, Whose ears have heard the toilers' moan full many a time, and oft, Say, are your hearts turned all to stone, although your hands are soft? We testify against you, lo, ye careless ones and cold, Is it nothing to you passing by that men are bought and sold? Is it nought that, in the streets your dainty feet disdain to tread, Your sisters sell their love for shame to earn their daily bread? Go, kneel and pray, "Give us this day our daily bread, O Lord;" Your tongue-worship is rejected, your lip-sacrifice abhorred; Yea, since your daily bread ye steal from those that toil and spin, High heaven shall shut its gates on you and let the toilers in. Now, therefore, ere night cometh-when no work may be done, Now, ere Death draw his veil across the splendour of the sun, Now, since ye may, while yet 'tis day, God's benison ensure, Arise, go forth, sell that ye have, and give unto the poor. A VOICE FROM THE PIT. OPTIMIST critics, with or without inspiration born of managerial suppers, have substantial ground for their chorus of satisfaction with the state of the modern stage. The performance of the "Rivals" at the Vaudeville is of an excellence hardly surpassed even by "Much Ado About Nothing at the Lyceum. "The Silver King" is a thoroughly sound and wholesome play of its kind, only marred in performance by the weakness of the leading ladies. Iolanthe," if not quite equal to "Patience," and the rest, is very pretty and very funny; and the "Merry Duchess" is a clever following of the "Savoy school." So far, we are quite willing to join in the optimist hymn of praise to modern managers, with certain reservations and exceptions of our own. Nor have we much desire to find fault with the bloodand-thunder business at the Adelphi-better than the average and at what are called minor theatres. Highflown sentiment and vociferous morality are the genuine expression of an ideal to the minds of large classes of persons. They speak of a life better and more beautiful than that which is daily lived by those who applaud. The greeting with which pit and gallery never fail to receive some high-pitched speech about honour and virtue is the sign of a healthy instinct, even though those who cheer loudest may be farthest from practical personal accep tance. But there are signs in the theatrical sky upon which, for our part, we cannot look with satisfaction. For example, the plays now being performed at the two chief theatres of the West-end, though interpreted with admirable art, deal with unpleasant and unwholesome subjects. A fair case can perhaps be made out on behalf of "Impulse," and the strong motives of life must not be forbidden to the dramatist any more than to the novelist. Still, the play is not of the type for which we look from Mr. and Mrs. Kendal, and we regret that they should have given in to the taste for French adaptations when plenty of good English plays are to hand, and capable English playwrights are not few. "Impulse," however, is wholesome by the side of Fédora." That this most repulsive piece should appear at the Haymarket at all, that it should follow the Robertson comedies, that it should be adapted by the ablest and most original of living English dramatists, are facts as depressing as they are surprising. Mrs. Bernard Beere has won for herself a place in the first rank by her performance of Madame Bernhardt's part. But all her skill cannot make up for the essential badness of the play. Burlesque still lingers out a moribund existence at the Gaiety, thanks to the galvanic skill of Mr. F. C. Burnand and of the clever "Blue-beard" company, worthy of better work. French comic opera seems to have dethroned the once mighty sovereign burlesque. The "Cloches de Corneville," could boast of a pretty story and of really tuneful music; but for the rest which have followed it,-the rest is silence. "Rip Van Winkle" is only redeemed by Mr. Leslie's really remarkable performance, and by Mr. Brough's characteracting. Miss Cameron is always graceful and charming; but what is to be said of the criticism which styles her a first-class actress and ecstasises over her exquisite voice! On the whole, this deluge of "comic opera" is not to our liking. Why was the "Promise of May" such a failure? It was well acted, well put on the stage, and-thanks to an eccentric peer-singularly well advertised. It was full of pretty things-the "Last Load Home" of itself should have secured the run of the play--but Edgar's long philosophical disquisitions, the occasional empty stage, the absence of the humorous element, and perhaps more than all, the failure to mete out poetic justice to the villain, contributed to condemn it. Yet it was a play of a type we wish was to be seen more often-refined, poetic, ideal. But Manchester principles are in the ascendant, and we know that theatrical management is less of an artistic than a commercial undertaking. You cannot expect a manager to keep on a piece which does not pay, artistic or not! It is recorded of Mr Vanderbilt, that on being asked if he was so particular about the comfort of his railways out of consideration for the travelling public, he replied, "The travelling public be d-d. Comfort pays: and so I make my railways cemfortable." For railways read stage, for comfort read artistic finish, and for the travelling public, the theatre-going people. Who are the Vanderbilts of the stage? WE have thought it better in this first notice, to confine our remarks to a more general inquiry as to the present direction of the art of this country, as represented in the Royal Academy, than to attempt any detailed criticism of individual works. The first thing that will strike us in a survey of the Exhibition is the absence of all imaginative work-of all work that appeals to the highest faculties in man. There will be found the usual amount of canvas which had been better never painted, of which Nos. 232 (F. Dicksee), 279 (H. W. B. Davis) and 297 (Vicat Cole) are conspicuous examples; a large number of portraits, among which one by Millais of Hook the painter, and another of a girl by Watts, stand in the front rank, the latter, though not without defects of drawing, perhaps the finest picture in the Exhibition; magnificent painting of textures by Tadema; robust painting of coast scenery by Hook, and possibly the most beautiful example of Brett that has yet left his studio; a certain amount of work that is deliberately false, of which Nos. 688 (Keeley Halswelle) and 807 (Fahey) may be noted; a large amount of space occupied by studies, chiefly landscapes, where no arrangement or selection is attempted, and brilliant work of young men of the Continental school, and we have mentioned all that the limits of this article will allow. In our next we shall hope to enter into a more detailed notice of individual works. It is indeed a melancholy task to those who believe in the significance of Art as a teacher to look round upon the walls of the present Exhibition as an exponent of this view. How long may the eye wander ere it rest on one patient, faithful piece of work, one labour of love, one picture not alone painted for gain, but because the painter would tell us something which he alone could tell, that he had found this beauty, which we in the hurry of our little lives would have passed by. He shows us this, and perhaps he makes us happier. But in another case, in nearly all cases, if we are thoughtful men, he will make us sad. Let us walk round these galleries, and we shall not see, I think--and in this most critics are agreed-we shall hardly see one poetical picture, hardly one! Now, as it appears to us that there lies a great significance in this absence of the highest forms of Art, we shall be pardoned if we give a short time to considering in what this poetic faculty consists; this power of making us feel. Whether it be a faculty existing only in the minds of the most gifted, or a faculty which we all more or less possess—a music that is breathing everywhere, whether it be in spite of the man, or in consequence of the man, whether this same poetry be not another name for Truth, and him whom we call poet, genius, and the like, he who sees into the realities of things, and tells us what he sees, that the real is the true Ideal, and that the Beautiful can only exist in the True. This, too, that we call imaginative power is but a deeper insight into Truth; only imaginative to those who cannot see it to be true. The great painter will say "I have painted a true thing," leaving it to his reviewers to call it imaginative, who call that imaginative which they do not see to be true. What we wish to point out is, that the one is only the semblance of the other, that they exist one and indivisible; that you can no more divide them than you can divide soul and |