Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register

MOLD PETTY SESSIONS. I MONDAY. I Before J. Scott B.uikea. P. A. Lloyd, r. T. D. Cooke, B. E. Philips C. P. Morgan, Esqrs. DKUXKE.N.^ESS. Joseph Jones, Llanarmon, a quiet looking man, but who has been several times convicted was charged by Sergt. Burton with drunkenness and disorderly con- duct in High-street on 3rd February (Fiidty).-Fined :LQZI and costs. EXCISE CASES. I George Oldfielcl, Nerquis, was charged by Mr G. M. Byrne, Inland Revenue officer, with using a carriage without a licence on 28th November.—Com- plaina.nt saw the trap in the yard of the Red Lion. It was not the sort of carriage used only for goods. People might sit in it back and front, and it had not tb<* n ?ne of tb e owner inscribed on it as required by Ãct, in cMca of carts used for --Oods "? duty had been paid for fl"- years, but the defendant had "paid previously.—Fined 20s and the costs. Edward Jones, of iCew Brighton. was charged by Mr Byrne with keeping a dog without a licence, on -the 17th December. 1891. Complainant saw the dog. and subsequently he met the defendant, who admitted the ownership of the dog, and said lie would have paid the licence only lie was too poor, but he would pay before the end of the year. The defendant had the option of paying the licence or appearing before the justices.—Mr Marston. who appeared for the de- fendant, urged that the dog was not six months' old. —Their Worships ordered the defendant to pay the licence and the costs, 15s in all. A SAVAGE ASSAULT ON A BOY. Elizabeth Roberts was charged by Arthur IVilliiinis, aged 14, son of Thomas Williams, Pentre Collierv Cottages, with knocking him in the face, and lucking him in the stomach on the 2nd February. It appeared that the two were servants at the Victoria, and owing to some words they had defendant punished him very severely, taking him by the hair of the head, rubbing his face on the ground, kicking him in the stomacn, and then hitting him on the leg with a brick.—Their Worships said she ought to be ashamed of herself, and fiiitd her 20s and costs or eveu days in default. CHAr.OE OF STEALING A DRESS. I Mary Owen, wife of i-lr John Rowland Owen, Xing-street, was charged with stealing a dress, the property of Mrs Hitrriet Jane Thomas.—Mr Marston, -who appeared for the defendant, before the case was -opened, said he should claim that the prisoner should be tried by a jury, and that in the preliminary hear- ing all witnesses should be out of court. This being done, the first witness called was Mrs Thomas, who said she had resided in Cunliffe- street, Mold, and in consequence of some domestic differences she decided to leave. She took two rooms in the house of the female prisoner in King-street, where she removed her things on the 27th January. Amongst them was a box containing wearing apparel, including a dress. She went to look for the box on the Saturday following, the 30th, but the house was locked up. She did not go again till Friday, February 5th, when she examined the box and missed the dress. She told Mrs Owen that she had missed it, and Mrs Owen replied, You are sure to find it among your things." She went and searched again with the same result, when she gave information to Sergt. Burton. In answer to Mr Marston, she said she placed the dress in the box the evening before the box was re- moved to King-street, but she did not look at the dress on the day it was removed. The box was not locked. Sarah Roberts, wife of David Roberts, Garden Place, said Mrs Owen was her sister. About a fort- night ago, Mrs Owen's girl came to her, and in conse- quence of what she said witness went to King-street, when her sister asked her to take a. parcel to the pawnshop for her, telling her to ask 10s. on it. She took the parcel to the pawnshop, gave it to Mr Greenelch, who gave her the 10s. asked for upon it. She never saw what was in the parcel, but her sister told her it was a dress. She took the 10s. and ticket to Mary Owen. She was in the habit of pledging articles for Mary Owen, and when she took her sister the 10s. she gave witness 2s. upon it, with which she went and got a watch out of pawn for her. Tn reply to Mr Marston, witness said she only went to her sister's when she sent for her. She did not see Sergt. Thomas, the husband of the prosecutrix, in the house of Mrs Owen at any time. She did not know Mr Thomas. Re-examined, Mrs Owen said she wanted the watch because a man was coming for it in the morning. Her husband cleaned watches. Joseph Greenelch, pawnbroker, said Mrs Roberts brought the dress to his shop on the 29th January, and pledged it in her own name. He had a slight recollection of Mrs Roberts redeeming a watch for 10s. or 12s-, but he could not say exactly when. Sergt. Burton said on the 5th February he made inquiries respecting the dress, got the body of the dress from Mr Greenelch, and subsequently he ap- prehended Mrs Roberts and charged her. In conse- quence of information then received, he apprehended Mrs Owen, and charged her at the police station in the presence of Mm Roberts with stealing the dress. Mrs Owen denied, saying I know nothing at all about it." Mrs Roberts said, Oh Mary, yes you do, you gave me the dress to go and pawn; tell the truth." Their Worships committed the prisoner for trial, but accepted bail, herself in iE20, and two sureties in £10 each.

GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH. Present: Ald. R. W. Evans, in the chair; Alder- men Jno. Jones and W. E. Samuel, Councillors F. W. Soames (mayor), Thomas Jones, Benjamin Owen, G. Cathrall, R. H. Done, Geo. Bevan, A. Nuttall, Bernard Lewis, H. V. Palin, and C. K. Benson Mr Thos. Bury, town clerk, and Mr J. W. M. Smith, borough surveyor. MR UIGGINS. The SunvEYOR reported that in consequence of in- disposition Mr David Higgins, the sanitary inspector, was unable to attend the meeting nor to his official duties. He had made arrangements to have the in- spector's duties performed in his absence, both as regards the sanitary work and in the collection of tolls at the Smithfield. IMPORTANT SUGGESTION. The SURVEYOR read a long report upon the condi- tion of those streets in the tD town which carried the heaviest traffic. He quoted authorities which pro- nounced against macadam where the business was very great, and taking Regent-street as a sample, he had on Thursday, February 4th, had a census taken of the vehicles passing and repassing over that road. The number was 1,422. He recommended that the road should be paved with setts fixed in asphalt, which was, when compared with other methods, cheapest in first cost and cheapest in subsequent ex- penses. The report was referred to a epecial sub-committee, consisting of the members of .the Labor Committee with Mr Cathrall added. TENDBBS. The SURVEYOR was given instructions to advertise for supplies of road stone, paving material, and coal. THE COST OF THE LAST KNOW STonM. The SURVEYOR reported thatdn removing the snow which fell in such a copious quantity a few weeks back, 59 carts and 123 men had been employed, the total cost being Y,65 14s. Mr THOMAS JONES asked .m-betber the County Council would not have to pay ,part of the cost as re- garded the main roads? The SURVEYOR said a certain amount would be charged against them. Mr BEVAN said he thought they ought to pay in re- spect of the main roads, because there was no difference between removing snow and removing mud. THE INFANT HERCULES STOYK- THE WAY. The SURVEYOR alluding to the intended alteration of Watery-lane, said the W. M. & C. Q. Railway Company had been invited to join with the Corpora- tion in effecting this improvement by raising the road which leads from Watery-lane to their Line. Mr T. Cartwright, the manager, had written regretting that the Company was not prepared at present to co-operate. Mr BEYÜÕ regretted that the Railway .Company had not met the Corporation in the way it had always been met by the Council. Probably the Company would have to come to them upon other business a.nd they could negotiate the matter then. On the motion of the MAYOR, seconded by Mr LEWIS, a resolution was unanimously passed regret- ting the course adopted by the Railway Company. THE NEW RAILWAY BlillMJES. ¡ The SURVEYOR reported that he had seen the plans of bridges the Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway C.9. intended constructing in the town. The one over Vicarage-hill would be 36ft wide, the present width of the road being 21ft.; Town-hill, 34ft., present width 34ft. Tuttle-street, 32ft.. present width 32ft.; 1 and Salop-road, 35ft., present width 27ft. The MAYOR proposed and Mr BEVAN seconded that the matter be referred to the Committee already appointed to deal with the question. The TOWN CLERK said he had written to the solicitors of the Company ( Messrs. Evan Morris and Co.) asking for plans, but they had replied that they were not compelled to supply them, for the whole matter had been settled by Section 10 of their Act. They, however, said as an act of courtesy, the engineer should wait upon the Council by appointment with the plans when they could be then inspected. The Town Clerk pointed out that the Section in question (which he read) had been agreed to after considerable discussi(.:i with the late Sir Evan Morris and the late I Mr Piercy. The Mayor's resolution was then adopted. PLANS. I The following plans, having been reported by the Surveyor as being in conformity with the Bye-laws, were approved:—Iron Chapel in Bradley-road for Messrs. Hughes and Owen five houses in Victoria- road for Mr J. Wilcoxon; two houses in Cunliffe- street for Mr Hy. Jones; and four in Derby-road for Mr Lindsay. A letter from Mr J. J. Scott referring to his property in Lambpit-street, which has formed the subject of previous conversations, was read. He accepted the terms of the Council to sell thirty yards. It was pointed out by Alderman Jno. Jones that the houses which project to the gutter were not to he removed, and until this was done it was decided to do nothing. ELECTION OF AN ALDERMAN. I At the close of the meeting of the General Purposes' Committee, a meeting of the Council was held to elect an alderman in the room of the late Mr Alderman Richard Jones. The MAYOR, who presided, explained the object of the meeting, and then voting papers were distributed. These were being filled up by several of the mem- bers, when Aid. Jo. JONES asked whether there was I to be any formal proposing and Seconding of candi- dates. The TOWN CLERK said it was not necessary, but there was nothing to prohibit such a couse being adopted. Mr THOMAS JONES said he begged to propose a candidate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ald. Richard Jones, and that was Mr Councillor Benjamin Owen. He thought Mr Owen had been a member of the Council for eleven or twelve years, and had given those years—the best of his life-to the services of the town, and during them had shown a practical and thorough knowledge of the town. He had devoted himself most heartily to his duties at the Council. He had devoted a great deal of his time to the work, and a reference to the attendance book would show that there was no member who had been so regular in his devotion to his duties. Not only had lie been regular at the Council meetings, but all the committees and sub-committes of which he was a member had had his constant attention. He (Mr JOXES) thought when the aldermanic principle was adopted, it was intended to be given as a reward for long and valuable services rendered to the town. In malang his proposition, he wished to disclaim am feeling against anyone, but he considered the honor was most justly due to Mr Owen. Mr NUTTALI, seconded the proposion with great pleasure, and considered in bestowing the honor on Mr Owen it would be most fittingly given. In doing this, lie did not wish to say anything against Mr Done. (Laughter.) MR MiT?*LESS 'ccxgeu to piC-JOse that the honor be êûïltenecl upon Mr Robert Henry Done. He was sorry he could not support Mr Benjamin Owen, but thought,from every point of view, Mr Owen had had a fair share of the honors. He had been chairman of nearly every committee, and lie thought there was nothing like giving new blood a chance. DR. PALIX, in seconding the resolution, said Mr Done had been chairman of the General purposes Committee, and by electing him. they were only giving honor where honor was due. It was not out of any disrespect to Mr Owen, that he seconded the nomina- tion of Mr Done, but he considered him personally worthy of the office. Alderman JNO. JONES said he would begin by dis- claiming any personal objection to Mr Done, for lie had a sense of his fitness to be a member of the Council and he would remind the members that he said from the first that he would cupport any honors which might be bestowed upon him, but he could not shut his eyes to the fact that they Were going to vote according to party unconscious of merit. (Hear, hear.) They had all come there having made up their minds what they were going to do. and the Council was not a very agreeable spectacle at that moment. (Laughter.) It seemed hardly worth while to struggle for a fragmentary aldermanic honor, for in nine months it would have to come up again, but lie supposed the Mayor had been set in motion and he had no alternative. The MAYOR I received a notice from burgesses. Alderman JNO. JONES Of course, yon had notice and yon had to act. Continuing—the speaker said some one had said Mr Owen had had his fair share of honors. He had not been mayor and he had not been an alderman, and yet he was the oldest man, as far as office went, in the Council. There would come a time, lie hoped, when they would have out-lived all party quarrels, and would bestow office in accordance with the merits of the different candidates. For the present they must submit, unfortunately, and vote as they were Impelled by party considerations. Mr BEVAN feared that Alderman Jno. Jones' memory was short, for when his own party was in power, an experienced man like Mr Oswell Bury was left outside. Alderman JNO. JONES What does that prove ? Mr B?vAX That you acted on party lines. Alderman JONES I waa no party to it. Mr BEVAN You accepted office. Mr LEWIS alluded to the action of the Denbighshire County Council, and sa.id the action there was en- tirely political. He thought those who lived in glass houses should not throw stonC". The following is the result of the voting :— FOR MR DONE—9. FOR iin OWEN-5. Alderman Samuel, Alderman Jno. Jones, 11 Evans, Councillor Nuttall, Councillor Soames, "Praser, Cathrall, „ T. Jones, „ Lewis, Owen. „ Palin, Bevan, „ Done, „ Murless. Mr Benson did not vote. The MAYOR then declared Mr Done duly elected. Alderman DONE briefly returned thanks, and Mr Owen good humouredly thanked his supporters. The business then terminated. i

(jj-OOD JLS G OLD. JgRANDRETH'S pILLS. SUGkit N ^>RANDRETH'S )ILLS. SUGAR = ^RAXDEETH'S )ILLS. COATED. HEALTH, STRENGTH, FRESHNESS OF COMPLEXION, AND CLEARNESS OF VISION, ALL RESULT FROM THE USE OF BILTNDIIFTH", PILLS, THEY PURIFY THE BLOOD, CLEANSE THE LIVER, AND INVIGORATE THE WHOLE SYSTEM. THERE IS NO REMEDY OF TO-DAY THAT CAX APPROACH THEM FOR TRUE EXCELLENCE OF QUALITY. ASK FOR BRANDRETH'S SUGAR-COATED PILLS, 40 IN EACH BOX. AGENTS: FRANCIS & Co., Family- and Dispensing Chemists, Hope-street. Wrexham; C. K. BENSON & Co., North Wales and Salop Supply Stores, 14, High-street, and 35, Hope-street, Wrexham; Messrs HENRY ROBERTS & SON, 11, High-street, Mold. 2651f

I THE CAMELOT GUILD. I On Tuesday night the members met in good force at the Chester-street Congregational Lecture-room, when a paper was read by Miss Hughes, of Ruabon- road, on Richard Baxter. The President (Rev. M. O. Evans) occupied the chair. The paper was well- written and well-read, and was much admired for its literary finish as well as for the tenderly devout spirit which breathed throught it all. In the words of the Chairman it was simple and yet eminently able, lucid, and tenderly sympathetic." Mr A. N. Palmer moved, and Mr J. Sephton seconded, a hearty vote of thanks to Miss Hughes, which was cordially carried. It was suggested th!).t"B&xteria.nisni''might forma. suitable subject for discussion at a later stage. We understand that a copy of the very rare treatise entitled Baxterianisin Barefaced" is in the archives of the Chester-street Congregational Church, and was kindly presented by Mr A. N. Palmer. NEWSPAPERS GOOD AND BAD. I The Rev. M. O. Evans, preaching to the Camelot Guild, in the Chester-street Congregational Church, Wrexham, on Sunday evening, upon the above sub- ject, took for his text Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." Acts xvii, 21. The rev. gentleman said :—When I think how much more time the majority of people spend over the newspaper than is given to books or in the pursuit of any art or science, how its contents form the staple of our conversation—always except- ing the state of the weather, how it shapes our thoughts and moulds our opinions upon every con- ceivable subject, it is not without a sense of guilt that I reflect how I have been going on, year in year out, talking about all manner of subjects bearing on the conduct of life, saying almost never a word about so wonderful a feature of modern life, so powerful a factor in modern civilization. Even fifty years ago Carlyle said The journalists are now the true kings and clergy. A preaching friar settles himself in every village, and builds a pulpit, which he calls newspaper. Thereupon he preaches what most momentous doctrine is in him for man's salvation, and dost thou not listen and believe ? Look well, thou scest everywhere a new clergy, who teach and preach, and break in pieces the ancient idols for copper alms and the love of God." These then are the great rulers and teachers of mankind the oracle will henceforth utter its voice from the editor's sanctum. Welcome, the new clergy of the Press! 1 ou have a larger pulpit than the old. and a vaster audience than the human voice could command. Not that the new clergy will ever supplant the old, or the press supersede the pulpit; a pure press and a powerful pulpit will remain the two mightiest agencies for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. The Press is, and has long been. the prime mover in all civil reform and social progress. It wields a tremendous power in the formation of public opinion on all subjects, whether religious, political, social, scientific, or economic, and of all positions of trust and responsibility., I know of none which affords greater or more varied opportunity for good or evil than those of the author and journalist. The British newspaper press is beyond guestioii the most remark- able development of modern history. It is over three hundred years since the first written sheets of daily intelligence were issued in Venice during the war with the Turks. It is not qclte two hundred years since the first daily newspaper made its appearance in London. It was only some thirty-five short years ago that the first penny daily wa.s published in this country, and now the country is inundated with printed sheets of every tone and description. Steam and electricity are the handmaids of the printing press. The world is a great straggling village; New York whispers in the ear of London, China. and Australia are next-door neighbours. The daily news- caster is a wonderful pennyworth. The drama. of human life-its daily tragedy and daily comedy—is played out there in such different shapes and by such different actors," old and young, wise and foolish, rich and poor, great and small. To begin with, there are the inevitable advertisers, revealing the myriad sided- ness of the modern struggle for existence, and a large proportion of which "lie like an epitaph," there is the leading article on the topic of the hour; then you come to the Court news, and the equipages of rank and greatness roll past you. Then you come to the foreign intelligence, you see the cotton growing on the western plantations, you hear the fall of the hammer in the Oriental bazaars. You see locomo- tives and steamships—the shuttles in this roaring loom of time "—weaving the web of modern civiliza- tion." You listen to the gossip of the Lon- don eavesdropper. Thence you come to the schools and orphanages and galleries of arts, thence to the chapter of crimes and accidents you look in at the hall of justice, rush through Vanity Fair, and pull up at the bookseller's. What a study of human life in its majesty and misery, its glory and its shame! What a revelation of man! Now moved by the noblest impulses, the divinest instincts—now actuated by the most fiendish passions. What a spectacle it is both to men and angels That pennyworth of news is a daily reproduction of the Revelation of St. John. The editor's room is a camera. obscura, where this moving, multitudinous life of man is thrown on the screen. A leading journal is not merely a mirror of events: it reflects the civilisation of a people. There you hear the voice of trouble, oppression, and righteous anger; there also selfishness, hatred, and malice find utterance. Upon all these cases the world sits in judgment, and in some way or other, as a general rule, justice is done. The benefits of news- paper reading are many. In some cases the informa- tion given on every blanch of human knowledge is a liberal education; also. by extending our outlook, they widen our sympathies, liberalise our sentiments, sa.ve us from parochial prejudices, and deepen our love for the race. Thus do they help us on towards the realisation of our human brotherhood. But with all its benefits, there are grave evils which attend the reading of newspapers. It produces the state of mind described in the text: All the Athenians and the strangers there had leisure for nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." It creates a morbid craving for novelty. The morning wears weaiily away and the evening is tedious without some novel sensation, some perpetual change of scene. This love for mental excitement and intoxication weakens the mental grasp upon truth, and dims the mental vision. Athens was about the only place where Paul failed to plant a Christian church. Whether it was a new god or a new statue, a new cult or a new play, it was much the same to them they received it readily, but it made no lasting impression. From the Areopagus they would go to the theatre. and before they were half through with the play they had forgotten all about the sermon. Novelty—sensa- tion was all they eared for. The tendency of a mere "newspaper is to create and perpetuate everywhere a. similar state of things. Then it must be essentially bad for the mind to be distracted between forty different subjects in the course of half an hour. It allows no time for reflection. You borrow your ideas from the newspapers; you wear second-hand thoughts all day long which don't always fit very well. Why should you think for yourself when you can put a penny in the slot and have your thinking done for you Like all dissipation it weakens — it enervates the thinking powers of man. Speaking of the power of journalism and the respon- sibilities of Christians, the preacher continued: It has been truly said that no power in the civilized world is more felt, more feared, or more obeyed than the newspaper. They take instantaneous photographs of individuals, institutions, and society. They drag every secret to the day." Wickedness cowers under their fearful glare. They take the world in the very act. They sometimes read the Ten Commandments to princes, they drag Prime Ministers down from their lofty pedestals. They lecture a duke with as little ceremony as the master of a union workhouse. They tell everything. It is an honour to the people that they dare to print all they know. and dare to know all the facts." But there are newspapers and newspapers. There are the champions of truth and I justice and goodness, whose mission it is to enlighten the popular mind, purify the popular taste, and elevate the popular morals. There are also the out- laws among moral torces. striving their utmost to corrupt society and turn it into a commonwealth of fools and demons. These contending hosts maintain unceasing warfare. Editors are our generals, reporters are our sentinels, our artillery is the printing-press, and our trust is in the invincible sower of truth, righteousness, and virtue. The ideal newspaper will ever be the patron of the weak, the troubled, and the oppressed. Tn describing his former prosperity, Job said, I delivered the poor that cried and him that had none to help him. I put on righteousness, and I caused the widows' heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. the cause I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and pulled the prey out of his teeth." Would that he lived now. for the Arab sheikh would have made a splendid editor! These are precisely the functions of the ideal newspaper, to teach and to comfort, to be the patron of the weak and the terror of all wrong doers. For whoever sins against society ought to be placed in a visible inferno. There are those who fear nothing but the light, who dread nothing but the public pillory. Our newspaper may yet be used as effectively as the mirrors of Archi- medes, which by concentration of light burned the enemy's ships." We must however utter our vehement protest against the undue prominence given to the worst features of human nature. To convert our journals into social laundries and museums of moral anatomy is to desecrate the noble art. To familiarise the young mind with vice and crime, to expose the public drains, and to bring the virgin-conscience in contact with the painful facts of spiritual disease, is a sin against the race. And in this matter, are we as Christians altogether free from guilt ? You blame the papers for giving so much space to the description of the menageries where all the lower passions are let loose. But does not the demand account for the supply ? Do gentlemen of the newspaper profession consult their own tastes or their readers ? When the newspaper comes into your hand which do you read first, the political, literary, and scientific editorials, or the divorce case and society scandal ? I make no apology for a leprous journalism. I am not now addressing myself to the gentlemen of the Press. It would be easy enough to hit them hard, and to send them howling for days and days, if they have any vestige of conscience left. My business is with you, readers of newspapers. I wish to enlist your services in the holy crusade against a corrupt Press. It is for us to elevate the taste of the reading public, and to elevate the character of the newspaper staff. "Ye are the salt of the earth." The Christian people of England could suppress, by the grace of God, this mischievous pandering to a depraved taste. Why do we not in the name of Christ seize the British newspaper Press and convert it into the most powerful engine for the elevation of the race ? Let it be cleansed and sanctified to holiest uses. Let it be made the Gospel's strongest ally. Let the glad tidings travel on the wings of the morn- ing from east to west. The cylinder of the printing press will yet become the front wheel of the Lord's chariot. Let it roll on." ♦ —————

—A strange suicide is reported from Ireland. A farmer named Ransford, of New Rose, let himself down a deep well by a bucket and rope, and was drowned. The body was discovered by a girl bringing up a neckcloth in the bucket. A farmer named Laurence, at Magherafelt, who had made a fortune in South Africa, committed suicide by shooting himself in the stomach after cutting the veins of one arm.

I TOWN AND COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION NOTES. The usually quiet and peaceful town of Wrexham is just now divided into two camps. The honor of holding four seats in the Denbighshire County Coun- cil is about to be raffled in the ballot box, and Liberals and Tories are busily engaged in obtaining chances for the prizes. It is expected the polling will take place on March 4th, and until then, the clash and turmoil of war will be heard everywhere. In the West Ward Mr John E. Powell. the sitting Liberal member, of whose personal character and past services it is impossible to speak too highly, is being opposed by Mr Charles Murless, a sturdy Tory, who lias been imported from another ward to give him battle. One would have thought that the recent serious fire at the Cambrian Ironworks, where Mr Powell pays high wages to a large number of men, and the consequent temporary dislocation of busi- ness, would have been a reason for letting him pass in unopposed, but chivalry is evidently not with the Tories. < The gauntlet having been flung down. Mr Powell nor the Liberal Association were not loth to take it up, and when the result is declared, Mr Murless will take himself aside, and very seriously ask himself what on earth made him undertake such an absurd quest. Anyway no one, not even the betting men. seem to think the Host of the Wynnstay has a shadow of a chance. The addresses of both candidates are documents which possess more than a passing interest. Mi- Powell's is manly, sincere, and above all. accurate. It shows that he knows what he is talking about. But what about the other. Oh! Mr Murless where have you been ? The Tory address is strangely mis- leading. « Mr Murless says, It does not appear that any real advantage has yet b.en secured by this borough through the policy adopted by the County Council during the past three years." But does Mr Murless mean that the reduction of the county rate from 5d in the £ to 2d in the £ nothing ? Does a reduction of roughly £ 1,700 a year in the maintenance of the main roads mean nothing. The town has benefited by this saving, and will do stiil more, because the Intermediate Education scheme—with which Mr Powell has had so much to do—will bring £ 2.000 into the town for school build- ings, in the erection of which the voters will benefit, and S1,500 a year afterwards. Mr Murless is a member of the Wrexham Town Council, where the Tories are in power. Has he done his duty by our roads as the County Council has done theirs. Our columns have contained letters week after week complaining about them and this, be it borne in mind, after the County Council pays over JE500 a year to the town towards the repair of the main roads in the borough. Before Mr Murless lectures the County Council, he ought to practice what he preaches in the Town Council, and stir his fellow Tories into activity. One more fact about Mr Murless. In 1890-1 he was a member of the Board of Guardians. Out of seven- teen meetings held lie was present at one. Now follows a sum in proportion—If he attends one out of seventeen meetings which are held at Wrexham how many meetings will he attend when they are held in Wrexham, Ruthin, and Denbigh alternately A fact has come to knowledge concerning Mr Powell which deserves to be widely known. As all are aware, there was a serious fire at the Cambrian Ironworks, and many men were thrown out of employment. During the whole of that time lie has given subsidies to the men, so that by his generous forethought their w ives and families iI vh c been spared much trouble. This alone ought to commend him to working men with votes, who also feel that just when he is getting his works into shape again is not the time to force him into a contested election. The South Ward is also to be the scene of a fight. Mr John Prichard, the sitting member, is opposed by Mr F. W. Soames. Mr Prichard's address is a plain statement of fact, while that of Mr Soames is im- pregnated with that strange inaccuracy which has been referred to in that issued bv Mr Murless. Mr Soames very innocently puts the large sum ( £ 3.100,0001 devoted to the yearly relief of local taxation in such a way as to laad the unwary to suppose that all this came to the Denbighshire County Council. The in- telligent reader will, of course, note that only a pro- portion of that sum comes to this county, which is large, and said to contain other towns than Wrexham, who have an eye upon getting their share of the money. V But Mr Soames' remark that Wrexh.-im has "virtually received no relief whatever under the Local Government Act is—well to put it mildly— very singular. This matter has been referred to above, and so it is unnecessary to expose its fallacy again. There is, however, one matter which deserves I to be seriously considered by the townsfolk. Mr Soames is the mayor of the borough, an office honor- able. and one which is usually considered as being worthy of being preserved from the turmoil and in- dignities of a contested election. Mr Soames has considered it to be his duty to de- grade the office. and we question very much whether such a wilful disregard of the traditions of the honor- able post will not tell very heavily against him. The Mayor, like the King, should be above party strife. Our Mayor, a very efficient servant in all other respects, has not done the fair thing to the town, nor the office lent him, by entering the lists. We think the electors may be trusted to settle this point very satisfactorily. It seems that Mr John Lewis was first invited to contest the South Ward against Mr Prichard, but he declined, and the choice has fallen upon Mr Soames. He will have a very tough fight, and then to lose as well, makes many people think that the game is not worth the candle. In the West and South canvassing is going on right merrily, and the Liberals are in great spirits. If all goes as well as the promise of the fight enable us to hope it will, the Tories will receive a complete rout. The West Ward is very important just now, for, owing to the elevation of Mr Done to the rank of alderman, a vacancy has been caused. Some weeks ago the Liberal Association met. and selected Mr J. Hopley Pierce as the candidate. He is to be opposed by Mr Ralph Williamson, who has previously woed the ward and been rejected. We are sorry to think that Mr Williamson is again doomed to failure, hut so he is. The Tories thought to steal a march on the Liberals, and before the vacancy was announced, the address in blue ink, was out. The same day every elector received Mr Pierce's address. No time was lost, and in the West Ward, as elsewhere, the organi- sation of the Liberal party is particularly good. The canvassing has not been without its funny side. For exiiiiil)le-Ciildid;lte Is the master in V Wife: No. C.: Do you think he'll vote for me ? W. I daresay he will; he isn't particular.—Here is another. Mother (a knock a.t«he door causes baby to cry I Hush, here's the bogev man Colonel Trevor Roper declines to seek re-election. Mr E. S. Clark has, it is said, consented to contest the Gwersyllt district. The Rev. T. Smallwood is the Liberal candidate at l Ffrith. ¡

LIBERALISM IN WEST N,-l IN WEST DENBIGHSHIRE. MEETING AT RUTHIN. SPEECH BY MR. HERBERT ROBERTS. Mr Herbert Roberts, the Liberal candidate h. West Denbighshire, opened his political campaign' on Tuesday evening, at the Assembly Rooms, Ruthin where a meeting in connection with the Ladies Liberal Association of Ruthin and District was held The chair was taken by Mr Edward Roberts, Record House, and Mrs Walter Maclaren and other bli addressed the meeting. Mr HuHHHK'r Houmns" who was very cordi' L!:? received, said it gave Inm much picture to '(6 present that evening, and to show his sympathy wiT' the work of the )ady Liberals of the disriet. }t? an occ.?i'jn of special interest to him, because it ? ''? his first appearance as a Llberd candid.Ltc ).(;ff;rp? D 1 I' .1' 'T' k West Denbighshire audience. The taik wLid¡ }' had undertaken Was an .nduous one, and be I ••' day by day more keenly ah ve to the serious ntwn sibhity of his position but with the ?o?inr, responsibinty there came .m iiiereLL.,iii Of ecn niencc and encouragement, as he received tokfnJ?f sympathy and support from friends tlno,t( l?ii,,tli and breadth of the constituency, IA, A candid.nes position in those d?y.? \\?? ll,)t i,N- itny me?ns a bed of roses, but he felt sure that his )? would be smooth and his dimcuttie? lIghlcHed iuU coming c?mp.L?n by the presence of Ins ]ady frien.?' (Applause.) He would on)y refer bn'ef!y m passin".Mr! one or two j.,) connection with the put u"Vb played by women in politics. It wa an obviom fit that their iiiflueiiee-itiid this must alwavs be a powerful one—must be exerted on one side or the other, and the Conservatives had to a certain extent forestalled the Liberals, and taken the wind out of their sails by inventing the institution known a ■ Primrose League, an institution which excrtei a strong influence in certa:n localities, but ita ful only as a social organisation and not as a pulitical force. (Hear, hear.) Further, lie btheved that its sway could not be long-lived, for as the people becmie more educated and more enlightened they wo all realise that it was but a Tory dodge to beguile them to adopt Conservative principles through social influence* and through the medium of crJlljuring feats and comic songs. (Laughter and applause, i Lord Sa'li-- bury's mind seemed to be saturated with thi-i idct and he need liardly remind them úí tho L'i-inle Minister's now famous dictum as to tho wic|ljm Gf providing the vifh?Ci of our country v.?h circles r?rttol,?,,i(r,i than parish councils. (Laughter.? He \MH glad to think that the Primrose League was a plan; that was not likely to flourish in the breezy political atmosphere of the Principality. I Applause.) indeed he had read the other day that a number of I'riimoe League lodges in that neighbourhood had recently died a natural death, and the only further proceeding required in regard to them was to provide them with a decent burial. (Laughter.) He referred to the Primrose League not so much to condemn it as to point out that it seemed to have beuii the means of discovering an important secret in political subjects, namely, the amazing influence of ladies when banded together to work for political ends, and one of the 'most satisfactory developments in the political world I since 1886 had been the steady growth of the interest taken by Liberal ladies, as well as their systematic organisation for political purpo-es. (Hear, hear.) In view of the rapid] v approaching County Council election, he would point out the great importance of every effort being made to secure the return of Liberal candidates, for it was on the foundation of the County Council that would be reared in the future. lie ):ol)cd. :L ii of local government for Wales of such a type as would satisfy the aspirations of the Welsh people. and a moment's thought would show them the vital importance of ele 'ting men on County Councils who were in sympathy witii ti,e national sentiments of Wales. (Applause. 1 Referring to the general election, he reminded them that Parlia- ment met that evening that they knew not how they might be dismissed by the mandate of a dissolu- tion. The members of the Tory party had assembled in the gloom of an impending disaster, hut the Ghtdstonians werj full of hope, as they descried already the first streaks of dawn, which w.>ald soon burst into the full splendour of a day oi triumph. (Applause.) He desired at the outset of his campaign to lay down the principles by which he would endeavour to rule his conduct, and which, he hoped. would animate the conduct of his supporters also, in the coming contest. lie was determined, as far as lie was concerned, not to say an unkind or bitter word about his opponent, whoever that opponent might be. and he trusted that the election from beginning to end would be characterised by good humour and kind feeling. (Hear, hoar.) They wrestled not with tienii and biojd. but with principles; they ii.id to do with measures, not men, and their devotion to principles need not imply repugnance to persons neither should difference of opinion interfere with harmony of social relations. Let them make up their minds to give each other the credit of being sincere in their motives, and of being alike impelled to work for their re- spective sides by honest convictions, Hear, hear.) There was a point which he desired to place in the forefront on ail occasions, a consideration wnich en- couraged him to fight the brittle with a stout and even a light heart, and that was the fact that he was called upon to champion the Weisli cause. (Applause.) He was one of those who had felt strongly the steady lise of the Welsh moiement. and rejoiced that it was sweeping onward, and gathering force as it took possession of the whole land. Tnere was a tide in the affairs of men which. t;iken"at the Hood. led on to fortune," and it was the consciousness that he was carried forward on this "eYe of national feeling tlmi heartened liim for his gLezLL task of wresting the seat from the hands of the L nionists, and of restoring to the majority of the electors their inalienable right of being represented within the walls of Parliament. (Applause.) He was. therefore, a be'iever in the phrase, Wales to. the Welsh," but he would like to take that opportunity or explaining, for fe ir of mis- construction in the future, what meaning the phrase conveyed to him; and lie fe:t sure that it was the signification generally attached to the phrase by t lose whom it most directly concerned. The phrase Wales for the V, ebi." meant, to his mind, an acknowledgment of the fact that the people of Wales were a distinct race; distinct by blood, language, religion, cusvoms. and habits of l-iotigr. and as such that they had distinct rights—a light to govern themselves locally and to enforce their ideas and convicions in reh ion to religion and educa- tion and other Welsh interests. (Applause.! Further, that in order to give effect to these views !t was neces- sary that the people should elect Welshmen to repre- sent them in Pailiiment, that the members of the Welsh County Counci s should as far as possible be Welshmen, and i:i sympathy with Welsh views as to local government and t! e- management of county affairs that the educational system of Wales should also be under the control of those who understood the peculiar bent and craving of the Welsh mind lor education. ( Applause.) That was what Wnas for the Welsh meant. The phrase on the other band did not mean what some of their quondam fra uds and critics continually asserted, and dinned into the ears of the English public with a view to throwing ridicule upon the Welsh movement, it did not that no man. whatever might be his position or qualifications. experience or knowledge, should be ex-duded from every post of trust in Wales simply because he happened not to be a Welshman or could not speak the Welsh tongue; it did not mean that all the wise, all the mighty, and all the noble of the u.tialci Welsh life were to be hounded out of the coiintiy because they happened not to understand the "firit of the tiii.es, and their land left poveity-tikken. destitute of all culture, the prey of a political faction. S'o, that was a travesty of the case and facis. ana 11 considered for a moment, pointed in the other direction. No people, lie believed, were more con- siderate of the needs and more appreciative of the worth of strangers than the Welsh people, and ne would refer only to one instance of this, niuialv. the splendid fact that Welsh Nonconformists lirtil. despite their poverty and multitudinous diiiia!"15 provided at great cost annually the means of rdl;lOn:! worship for English visitors and residents, in the English language, and he said it without fear of con- tradiction, thatthey might search England from Land s End to Berwick Without finding a single in -tar.ee ol an English community providing Wel-h iesidcnts with means of worship in the Welsh tongue. charge levelled at the people of Wales, oi bigotry and In,tred of the English could not stand for a nionant, and yet it was upon this false estimate of VTcisii character that this unfair and inaccurate mc.ning' attached to the phrase Wales for the Wcish rotcn. and the sooner it was exploded and thrown to the winds the better, (Hear, hear.? It was not his business that ni?ht to iii?luire ,lcc" had conspired to bring about this new in W ales, but he would sav this, that whatever Wales was at present, whatever advantages her people possessed m religion, education, and "enlightenment ge;iciaii>, were obtained, not through the so-called wi-e. mighty, and noble ones of the land, but through the self-iacrifice and splendid voluntary lie, humble sons. Popular instinct might fail ill tiie selection of leaders to champion a popular cape. it was never at fault in its estimate of the waiv vtf ,e past, and in rendering the honor to whom it Their countrymen realised clearly to whom tac> wer indebted for all thev now enjoyed, and they natui.n sought to repose in the hands of similar men. illtll similar views and sympathies, their interests ill the future, and it was because he sprang from that cui" of the benefactors of their countrv, because he ,:a- nt all points a Welshman, and, fired with the SJUVUOJ his race, that he confidently appealed to tsam to £ l^ him a helping hand in the stru,Ie f. l' 1. <0 d 1 _I .¡1!'1' him. feeling sure that if he receive d the tilli,( (I of a united party victory would crown il- ettcii (Loud cheers.)

BUCKLEY. INFLUENZA.—This scouge is still raging irn'opy the neighbourhood, ha.vin? some 5cor": (? vlLll'!l' and we are sorry to sav tht it has pro\cd faum -? least in two itii(i that Lfter a .hart ,east 111 a;;e;; ,1lHI th,tt ¡fter a ,<") a. Illness. viz., Miss T?ylor, Alltami, and )Ir llopv.ù,o V II ,'pcr Vron Haul, widow of Mr Tsaac Hopwood and  of Mr W. Hopwood, certificated manager. '? ,] Collieries. Much sympathy is felt i? Loth "? families in their bereavement. O C l' II 'J']: j" 1) \i;15 OPIININO OF CKNTKAI. l?L-HUc H AI.L.— i i?'?" formally opened to the public on the 3:" i!? 1)- lecture delivered by the Hc". H. Elvet Lewis.  Ill' 1 f' f J t' "'W)l,l who w?s. a few yc?rs .1?0. plstor 0 the Congri-r \'K IJ Church here, and we are ,ure that mam o) "?  friends (for he had many) were pleased to see > once ?Ain. The audience was not as good as "? n (' 1 > 'I \rJ have been expected. We hope tha.t tL!s 1,U .n prove of immense usefulness. UXWXIST MUETINC;.—The Unionist ? '? T.'C??y held a meeting at tho Uistre National S?!<"? 3rd inst., when there w?s an audience of ahout^ and many of these were Liberals. E\ckntly, Unionism has not rooted very decplv. ?" r. ;¡t Huch!ey. The chair was taken by Mr P. ? D .'?i' •T.P., who addressed the meeting at som^ h'llg ,lV J.P., :1O addressed the meeting tt son'? leugth. The meeting was also addressed by Mr ?\:d"? ''? London. The meeting WiM a good humoured en throughout.

THE ARENA SOCIETY. I THE PRESIDENT S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. The inauguration of the Arena Literary and Scientific Society of Wrexham, which now numbers 65 members, took place on Wednesday, when Sir Robert A. Cunliffe, Bart., the president, delivered his address to a large attendance, in the Rooms of the Chamber of Commerce. Sir Robert Cunliffe, who was cordially received, said I must begin by congratulating you upon the opening meeting of your society. When your com- mittee did me the honor of asking me to become its president, I saw that its list of vice-presidents con- tained the names of several of our Wrexham citizens, best known for their love of literature and science, and I felt that we had now an opportunity of establish- ing a society which might be of real and permanent benefit to the intellectual life of this growing and very prosperous town. I am afraid I can recall more than one instance of well-intentioned projects failing in Wrexham, owing to their not really taking root: and therefore losing the support which had at first been given to them. I hope nothing of the kind will take place now. I do not see why it should. It has been well said that reading is of all pleasures the cheapest and most lasting:" and as the expenses connected with our society can only be of a very modest kind, there should be no apprehension on the score of ifnance. Its success will depend upon the genuine and sustained interest which you, f -entlenien, take in its welfare; therefore, I hope I may confidently predict for it that it will continue to grow and gather to itself all the best elements of intellectual progress here. Now, when Mr Caldecott wrote me that it was wished I should give a kind of inaugural address," I felt that that was rather a grand name for any remarks which I might be able to offer you the more so that under the circumstances the notice given me has been unavoidably short, and I have not had time to put together more than a few rough notes, I must therefore ask you to give an indulgent hearing to what are merely some of the passing thoughts of one whose only title to address you is. that like your- selves, he has all his life derived many of his happiest hours from the friendship of books. But before I go on to speak of them I want to refer to another matter, on which I have nothing to sav. Our Society's aim, as I understand, is to promote the culture of scientific as well as literary subjects: and as to the former. my ignorance, I am sorry to own, is complete but I am very glad to think many of you are able to take a more intelligent interest in it than myself. One of your vice-presidents, Mr Acton, whose absence to- night and the cause of it I greatly regret, has given, as you know, much attention to these studies, and we shall hope that he and his son, a professor at Cam- bridge University may be able on some future occa- sions to address our meetings. I can only look at such things as a complete outsider; yet, even so, how fascinating they can be. In former years I often read those brilliant addresses which from time to time Huxley or Tyndall would give to the world, and on putting them down one felt how true is that line in Locksley Hall" where Tennyson speaks of the Fairy Tales of Science and the long results of Time." I dare sav you will have noticed in the papers of February 4th an account of Mr Tessla's Lecture on Electricity. That, too, sounds almost like a "Fairy Tale," and this is how the Times leader described it, Mr Tessla is working on the border land where light, heat, electricity chemical affinity, and forms of energy which we cannot confidently identify with any of these, meet and blend. Watching some of his striking experiments, one feels that old lines of demarkation are fading awav, and that some new and fruitful generalization can not be far off, with which we may start upon new voyages of discovery." Yes, science offers to her students, as far as we may judge, an illimitable field for patient research, leading to fresh discoveries, and there attaches to their work something of that interest which belongs to the pioneers of new lands and seas which has been so well described by one of our poets:— Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes. He stared at the Pacilic-allllllll his men Iiook <1 at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak- in Darien. And now I go bacl: by a natural transition from Keats to the subject of books. There is no doubt, we live in a reading age but the question is what do we read ? It is also an age of hurry, in which we have to pick up the current news and information of the moment as rapidly as may be, and we do so mainly through the newspapers and magazines. As regards the former, I have no doubt that most of us are apt to spend too much time over them, and that we ought to cultivate the art of getting rapidly at what isreally useful, and resolutely rejecting the rest as mere gossip and verbiage, to spell through which is waste of time. I remember one day in a London Club remarking the way in which a very distinguished man. one of the ablest of the day, and who has sat in several Cabinets. read the papers. He took up in succession several of the leading journals, looked through them carefully, and reading what he did read with the closest attention-not seeming in the least to hurry or skip. He was not a quarter of an hour in the room, and I am convinced that when he went out he was fully posted up in all that it was important to know that day either of public affairs or the state of public opinion. Magazines, of course, have a more permanent and often a high value for the information they give, especially when the interest is heightened by the signatures of the writers; but I venture to think that even with regard to magazines there is a danger of getting into the habit of confining our read- ing too much to them, and therefore losing the profit of reading a really valuable book. And by a book I mean something which gives us the impression of the man behind it. One gets tired of the impersonpJ and editorial we." and feels greatly more interested in the I of the author. Do you remember Milton's famous description of the value of a real book in his •• Areopagitica"—" A speech." as he termed it, for the liberty of unlicensed printing," or as we should say now a Free Press ? And yet on the other hand, unless wariness be used. as good almost kill a man as kill a good book who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature, God's image but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself—kills the image of God, as it were. in the eye. Many a man lives a. burden to the earth but a good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit. embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life be:, olld life," I am sure we feel that what Milton says here is true of the great standard works of our literature. The value and charm of a book is much derived from its being the work of a man whom we begin to know and recognise, as it were, between the lines; and so, if we love n.nd admire the book. it is natural to transfer something of the same feeling to the author. In that noble essay on Addison by Lord Macaulay. for which Thackeray, in his "English Humorists," expresses such high admiration, the great critic uses these words:— To Addison himself we are drawn by a feeling as much approaching affection as can be inspired by one who has been sleeping for a hundred and twenty years in Westminster Abbey." And to come to one nearer to our own times, and whose writings, I should hope, are familiar to, and loved by every one who hears me—who ca.n think of Sir ?Valter Scott, without a strong feeling of personal gratitude ? If I may repeat some words which I ued about him at the opening of our Circulating Library, whatsoever things arc pure, noble, lovely and of good report, we may find in his pages. In ail his writings there is not a line that he need blush for, or wish to recall. And one reason, I think, why our feeling for Scott is that of real attachment for the man, is because his sympathies are so warm and so broad. In his historical novels he gives us splendid pictures of great personages, and stirring scenes, but his gennis seems to delight itself quite as much in drawing for us the portrait of Jeannie Deans in "the Heart of Midlothian," or poor old Edie Archiltrie, th e Bedesman in The Antiquary." To his true poet's eve, there is just as much of human interest in the pea- sant's cottage as in Leicester s pageant at Kenilworth, in honor of Queen Elizabeth. He seems to look at mcn and women with a glance as kindly and sympathe- tic, if not so wide in its range, as that of Shakespeare himself. Of the latter whom Grey in his Progress of Poesy," so well called "Nature's Darling," what can one say which has not been said -tlre-,tdy a hundred times better? Our debt to him his infinite, who has sounded as no one else can. all the depths and shoals of human life, and who leaves on our mind the impression of a sweet serene wisdom, which nothing could impair or darken. I shall not presume to dwell further on a theme which you can best study for yourselves in some of the foremost writers in our language; except to say that I think we are specially indebted to Shakespeare for his portraits of our countrymen in his historical plays. One has only to mention that word, and what an array of famous figures rises before our mind's eye how they live in his page, and what a masterly picture they present of the great English race, with all its faults and all its great qualities. We seem in reading them to understand better how this little island Z3 has become the mistress of a world-wide Empire, the cradle of the freest race under the sun. And if we may sometimes attribute to Shakespeare the feelings he puts into the mouths of his personages, one may well believe that it is his own love of his countrv which comes from the dying lips of *• Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster :— This royal throne of king's this sceptred isle. This fortress built bv Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war; This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea Which serves it in the office of a will, Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less happier lands. This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear laud, Dear for her reputation throughout the world. It is needless to say that in his gallery of portraits, each race in this island is properly differentiated from the others. The Scotchman stands ont distinct from his kinsman who Jives south of the Tweed, and as to Wales, who does not know Owen Glendower and Fluellen or how, when the latter reminds Henry V. that he takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's Tay," the king replies "I wear it for a memorable honor, for I am Welch, you know, good countrymen." Second only to Shakespeare's is the place which posterity has long since given to Milton, and no one, I think, can realise the full splendour and power of the English language who does not know and study his poems, and even those prose writings, from which I just now quoted a few lines—we may differ from some of his opinions, and believe that lie did not escape some of the errors of his time, but the essential nobility of the man, his lofty sense of duty, pervade his writings and his life, and fully justify that fine expression of Macaulay's that there are some few characters who are visibly stamped with the image and superscription of the Most High—and of these is Milton." Wordsworth has given a similar judgment in his well-known sonnet, from which I am sure you will let me quote the following lines :— Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart; Thou had'st a voice whose sound was lLie the Sea, Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free. I have mentioned the Itwo. greatest names in our literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, and now I pass on to the 18th, to that group of famous humorists represented by Swift and Congreave, Steele and Addison, Pope and Goldsmith, Hogarth, Smollett and Fielding and I would venture to advise any young member of this Society, who may not as yet have had much time or opportunity of making himself as- quainted with them, to take first si book I have already referred to—Thackeray's English Humourists "— where each of these writers is reviewed by one who was himself a great humorist, and a master of a beauti- ful English style. It is one of the most brilliant and charming books I know. And now having got near the close of the last century, it would be almost an act of treason to pass over without mention one of the most celebrated and delightful of our books—Bos- well's Life of Johnson," and I refer to it not merely because it is so eminently readable and amusing, but because it help!- to bring before us a group of famous men, of whom the Doctor was himself the centre. We live in days when opinions are very sharply divided on subjects social, political, and theological. So did they: but it is a good lesson for us, who are apt to let our present controversies divide us too much,to note what a noble friendship existed between men so eminent and of views so divergent. Where could you find a stouter old Tory-in his heart almost a Jacobite- than the Doctor himself a man always willing to give and take shrewd blows in an argument, and to express his opinions with the most uncompromising vigor ? Do you remember his retort to someone who had said, in reply to some statement of his, "I don't quite understand that, Doctor ?" I have found you a reason, sir; I am not bound to find you an under- standing." And yet what a deep regard and mutual respect existed between him and Edmund Burke, a Liberal statesman, of whose Liberalism we may still a hundred years later borrow with the greatest advan- tage. Burke was the glory of the Whig party, and yet Johnson, who declared that the first Whig was the devil, was his friend to the end of his life, and treated him with unvarying respect and admiration. Burke," he said, is such a man that if you met him for the first time in the street, and were stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he stepped aside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner that, when you parted, you'd say, This is an extraordinary man. And when Burke found a seat in Parliament, Johnson generously said, Now we who know Burke, know that lie will be one of the first men in the country." Time would fail me if I were to linger in gossip as one is tempted to do over that group of literary men, which contained such names as Garrick. and Gibbons, and Goldsmith, and Sir Joshua Reynolds but it lives in Boswell's pages, and we can go and meet it whenever we like. I have just used the word gossip," and I am afraid this address of mine is a very gossipy performance but before I conclude I should like, if I am not trespassing too long on your indulgence, to refer most specially to one particular branch of reading. When I look at the audience before me, I know that in many cases I am preaching to the converted, but as some of our younger members cannot have had the time or oppor- tunity which we more middle-aged ones may have enjoyed, may I with great respect invite them to give some, and that the best part, of their reading hours to the study of our own English history. It is not only, if I may so express it, a duty on the part of any man who desires to have a reason for the faith which is in him and to arrive at intelligent conclusions in regard to public affairs; but it is also, I can venture to assure him, its own great reward. Take such books as Green's History of the English People," Froude'a volumes which give us the Tudor period, those of Macaulay, the later Stuarts and William III., and, lastly, Liecky's very valuable "England in the 18th Century," and it would be difficult to turn to volumes more instructive or more readable. In Green's opening chapters one finds a most interesting account of our remote English forefathers in their home in Sleswick, on the shores of the Baltic; carrying out in a primitive form in their townships and villages, the principles of freedom and justice, and the courage to defend them, which they brought to England, which developed slowly into the ParYia- mentary privileges which we have so long enjoyed, and which in the shape of well-ordered self-govern- ment we have taught a.nd are teaching to the rest of the world. With all its struggles, errors, and draw- backs, it is a story of which we may well be proud; and it is no wonder that the historian, when he speaks of the landing of Hengist and Horsa. in the Isle of T l i-.tiiet in ,?2? of Hen  ist -tii d Horsa in the Isle of Thanet in 442, says, No spot can be so sacred to Englishmen as the spot which first felt the tread of English feet." One likes to think of the strong line of continuity which has followed ever since. In less than a century from that date, a great victory near Winchester placed the crown of the West Saxons on the head of Cerdic, who was the ancestor of Alfred the Great, and through Alfred, of our Queen. There are of course many epochs of great importance be- tween that early date and the present, which well deserve to be studied; but, perhaps, none more im- portant. and certainly none more instructive, or of a deeper dramatic interest, than one so near our own times, as the great French Revolution. Some of us can rceollect the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, and how long it seemed, and how keen was the suspense before these sharp struggles were concluded. But think of what our forefathers had to endure in that long war with France, lasting over twenty years, when our enemies were headed for the most part by a military genius unsurpassed in the annals of the world and when until the crowning victory of Trafalgar we never knew how long our shores would be safe from invasion. The French Revolution was a great uprising of modern Europe against the ideas and methods of worn out feudalism. It no doubt brought with it great benefits, but also great miseries. It is melancholy to compare the hi"h hope with which that epoch began and the condition in which it closed. Wordsworth, who shared those sanguine hopes, and who lived to regard their downfall very differently has told us what he felt- When France in wrath her giant limbs upreared I And with that oath, which smote IlÏr, earth and sea, Stamped her strong foot and said, She would be free." But we know how the story goes on. The destinies of France fell into the hands of assemblies, who could talk and form theories, but who had no idea. of how to govern a great State; who pushed their theories to the wildest lengths, a.nd thus brought about that military dictatorship which Burke had so sagaciously foretold. And how stands the case no\v '? After more than a hundred vears, the groundswell of that terrible storm is still plainly felt in France. During all that time the form of government has repeatedly changed from Republican to MonarchiaU or Imperialist types. None until the present one lasted more than eighteen years, while w 1 know that the third Empire brought upon France the most terrible humiliation in her history, the loss of two Provinces, and an annual budget of about 140 millions sterling. The conclusion of all this seems to be that reform is better than revolution, and that the last thing a nation should do is to break with its past. The story, as I have ventured to point out, is full of lessons for us, and it is in itself an inexhaustible field of study. The memoirs of the time are most ample, and are delightful reading. If you want to read about the revolution itself, Carlvle's book with its wonderful flashes of insight is all excellent foundation. Of the great campaigns you will find them told clear A and with much spirit in Alison's "History of Europe." If you wish to know with what skill and resolution, Wellington met and defeated Napoleon's best Mar- shals. it is recorded with great a ility. and not infre- quently with passages of much eloquence in Napier's Peninsular War." The subject is full of infinite interest in all directions, but to us English folk towards the end of that struggle, the two figures in which our interest centres are the great Napoleon and our own hero, the Duke of Wellington. How great Napoleon was intellectually and as wielding with despotic force the whole centralised power of France with much of Europe besides, it is difficult to exaggerate. I remember once hearing Mr Gladstone say when his character was discussed, that since Charlemagne there had probably been no brain with such dririmi power in it as Napoleon's." This is quite confirmed by INI. Taine in the last volume of his great work on the revolution. He there devotes a whole chapter to Napoleon's character, and quoting from the memoirs of that time, shows how lie could and did sometimes work fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen hours in the day without flagging or loss of interest, and when his unhappy ministers got home from his Cabinet, they would find a messenger from the Emperor with a fresh string of questions, the answers to whicli would Keep them up half the night, but which had to he taken to him in the mornin" g. He was a prodigy of genins and will and to this must be added he had no scruples. Not long after the cruel putting to death of the Due d' Enghien, done by his orders, he re- marked, Men like Ciesar and myself, do not commit crimes—we do what is necessary "-lie, of course, being the judge of what was iiecessti-i- Probably he really believed that what he himself desired was somehow necessary in the interest of France, for he was an incarnation of egotism. If I am not detaining you too long I should like to give you two anecdotes of him, which have not been published, but which I have on high authority. The first was told to a friend of mine by Lord Russell. who, as a young man, visited him in Elba, and had a long conversation with him. Napoleon was full of interest in English affairs, and knowing that Lord Russell belonged to one of the great English families questioned him much about matters here, and especially what course the Duke of Wellington was likely to take now that he had reached a position of such commanding influence. Lord Russell in vain explained that the Duke, as a. loyal subject, would continue to do his duty to his Sovereign. Napoleon's comment upon this was Ah la guerre est un beau jeu une belle occupa- tion (Ah War is a gra.nd game-a splendid occu- pation.) Judging from what he himself would have done. lie evidently could not understand that Wellington, having the ball at his feet, should not push his ambition yet further. The other story was related in the hea.ring of another friend of mine by Lord Macaulay at a breakfast party in London; and he gave it on the authority of the Count De Flahaut. The latter was French Ambassador here for some years about 1860. As a young man he had been on Napoleon's personal staff in more than one of his campaigns, and rode away with him in the terrible rout that fol- lowed the battle of Waterloo. At such a moment he naturally respected his master's misfortunes too much to spea.k to him. Napoleon at last broke silence, and the first words he uttered were This is bad, De Flahaut, but is not so bad as being a sous-lieutenant." This anecdote Ma- caulay said impressed him much as being so characteristic of the man. He was thinking, you see, not of his country on which he was for the second time bringing an invasion, nor of his superb and devoted army, which he had led to a crushing defeat; but of his own personal fortunes, and that even then he was better off than when a poor and unknown sub-lieutenant. But such as he was, he was a tremendous enemy and we may well admire the courage with which Pitt and our countrymen behind him, again and again, rallied from his blows, and upheld the cause of European freedom. In his brilliant sketch of Pitt, recently published, Lord Rosebery describes how the great minister already deeply broken in health had to dine with the Lord Mavor the day after receiving the news of Trafalgar. —" There his health was drunk as the saviour of Europe. Pitt replied in the noblest, the tersest, and the last of all his speeches. It can be here given in its entirety—' I return you many thanks for the honor you have done me. But Europe is not to be saved by any single man—England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example. This was about the middle of October, but in December came the fatal news of Austerlitz and on 23rd January, Pitt was dead. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting the last eloquent sentence of Lord Rosebery's book— From the dead eighteenth century his figure still faces us with a majesty of loneliness and courage. There may have been men both abler and greater than he, though it is not easy to cite them but in all history there is no more patriotic spirit, none more intrepid, and none more pure." Pitt was gone; but to England there still remained Wellington, and when we come to estimate the character of that great man, we readily admit that though a soldier of rare skill and genius, he cannot Stang on the same level with Napoleon nor do we claim for him in any marked degree the gifts which make the successful statesman or administrator of domestic policy. His best years had been given to defeating the French Armies whenever he met them, and inflicting in Spain a deadly wound to Napoleon's power. Then came that famous Sunday in June 1815, when one that sought but Duty's iron crown On that loud sabbath shook the spoiler down. You will recognise those lines as coming from Tennyson's Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington"—in my humble judgment one of the most beautiful poems with which he has enriched our language-and the keynote of it is duty. Not once or twice in our rough island-story, The path of duty was the way to glory He that walks it, only thirsting For the right, aii(I learns to deaden Love of self, before his journey closes, He shall tind the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which outreddcn All voluptuous garden-roses. Here I must leave the great duke and the epoch with which he is identified. He and his mighty opponent stand out before us, as contrasted in their character as their fortunes. The one, the type of ambition ruthlessly followed the other, of duty resolutely pursued. And now it is quite time I should bring these remarks to a close with an apology for their length. My desire has been to suggest how many objects for study the members of this society may- find in our literature generally, and not least in the history of our own country. I need not remind you that we have the unusual good fortune for a town of this size to possess an admirable Free Library, and I do not think I have brought before you any topic to- night (I am afraid in a rather desultory fashion) which you cannot'study for yourselves here, with the best authorities at your command. In our English literature we have a splendid inheritance which we cannot exhaust, and which is constantly growing richer; and it is one in which, especially on its poetic- side, we can (to borrow a phrase from Professor Palgrave's dedication of the Golden Treasury sweeten solitude itself with best society,—with the companionship of the wise and the good—with the beauty which the eye cannot see, and the music only heard in silence. At the close, Mr Thomas Bury (in the absence of Mr Autoii), proposed a, vote of tnanks to Gil- Robert for his valuable and interesting address. This was seconded by Mr John Francis, who pointed out that if the Society had only succeeded in obtaining the inaugural address it would have justified its existence. Mr A. N. Palmer also supported the resolution, and referred to the foundation of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society by the descendant of a Wrexham man. Sir Robert Cunliffe, having replied, the meeting terminated. On Wednesday, at 7.30. Mr E. J. Baillie, F.R.S., of Chester, will deliver a lecture upon John Ruskin." Mr Baillie is not only a member of the Ruskin Society, but is a personal friend of the great teacher. There is no doubt the lecture will be of great value.