County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

I ARMY MANCEUVRES STOPPED. The field operations of the 1st Army Corps in the Thames Valley came to an abrupt cenclusion on Saturday, when the troops were suddenly ordered to return to their barracks at Aldershot owing to the fands at the disposal of the general officer commanding running out. The force, nearly 30,000 of all arms, had been driven from the line of the Thames between Reading and Windsor, and on Friday of last week had taken up a line between East Hampstead and Woking- ham. The successful troops, under Major- General Scobell, followed up their retreating forces so closely that General French used their energy to bring about their defeat. On Satur- day he again retired south, and when in the dense wooded country between Bagshot and Sandhurst, turned on the enemy. While engag- ing them in front he send his third division round by Heatherley and made a successful counter attack on Scobell's right rear, crumpling up his force and becoming the pursuer instead of the pursued. The troops behaved splendidly. The exertions of the day were followed by dinner and two hours' rest, and then the whole force marched back to Aldershot, a distance of sixteen miles. The men were on the move from five a.m. until nine p.m. I BATTLE ON THE NINE MILE RIDGE. The general scheme of inland manoeuvres con- nected with an imaginary invasion of England from its East coast about the Wash, the first (theoretical) phases of which were embraced by a staff tour in the Midland counties, followed by the practical operations of the First Army Corps in Berkshire, was (says the military Special Correspondent of the "Standard") brought to a conclusion on Satur- day with a pitched battle amongst the pinewoods of East-hampstead. On the "Grey" invader gain- ing command of the River Thames on Thursday of last week, between Windsor and Great Marlow, the "Khaki" defenders executed a harassed retreat southwards from the positions its divisions had originally occupied at Cookham and Fifield, with the mobile troops of the "Grey" invader following closely upon their heels. While retiring, their front was changed to north, and on Friday night they rested on the line of the railway betwen Wokingham and Ascot, at which points they were enabled on Saturday to assume a more offensive attitude, partly by the existence on their left of an imaginary Fourth Army Corps, which had retired from Henley to Reading on the north- western side of the river in consonance with its own movements, and partly by reason of the enclosed and difficult nature of the country into which this retreat had now drawn the enemy's horsemen. The weather was very favourable for manoeuvring. The General commanding the "Khaki" de- fending Army, learning that the enemy was still intent upon following up his retirement, that his forces had been in touch with his own rear- fuard all through Friday, and that he was now ivouacked with his main bodies at Binfield and Winkfield Row, determined to bring him to a general engagement, and, if possible, crush him while in the intricacies of the woods South of the Wokingham-Ascot Railway. He disposed his troops (who had again bivouacked at Bear- wood Park, Holme-green, and Easthampstead- park, with headquarters at the latter point), so that they extended along what is known as the Nine Mile Ride, North of the Roman road, with Ctesar's Camp as a commanding eminence. This force was to hold the enemy in front while some effort was being made to drive in his right flank, in which worii: the Fourth Army Cox*ps would be able to co-operate from its base, at Reading by threatening the enemy's communi- cations North of the railway. On the Nine Mile Ride the First Division, including the Guards Brigade, were in position at nine o'clock, under the command of Major-General A. H. Paget, and on the summits of some of the hills nea.r Csesar's Camp were posted the howitzers of the Corps Artillery, who were attached to this Division. The Second Division was in reserve on the Roman road to the South, near Lower Star Post, under the com- mand of Major-General Sir Bruce Hamilton, while the Third Division, commanded by Major- General A. S. Wynne, had allotted to it the: duty of cutting in upon the right flank of the enemy from the direction of Lucas' Hospital and Heathland. From these dispositions it became evident that Sir John French anticipated that the "Grey" enemy intended to press him in this direction. At any rate, to guard against the attack on the other hand being delivered with main force against his right, he moved the Mounted Infantry from Crowthorne away to- wards Bagshot and Ascot, where they lined the narrow lanes, ready for either mounted or dismounted action in 'he woods and glades, as circumstances might demand, and also to pre- vent a counter-attack on the part of the enemy, should the latter fail at other points during the engagement. It was impossible to see much in such a close and difficult country, so touch was maintained by means of field telegraphs as far as possible, and the sound of firing alone other- wise indicated where the cpposing forces were in contact. The "Grey" Artillery had pushed up on to some eminences by Bracknell, and were firing apparently at the 3rd Division, which was coming up from the East to attack their right flank, when the guns from the Nine Mile Ride chimed in with the object of distract- ing their attention, in which they were partly successful. However, th3 effect of the enemy's Art'llery fire apon the flanking movement was considered by the Khaki commander to be serious enough to justify him in reinforcing that flank to prevent it being cut off from its touch with the First Division. Accordingly, one of the Brigades from the Reserve Division was despatched to co-operate in the flank move- ment, and about noon the Southern force were, presumably, in a position to get round the enemy's right, which, with the imaginary fore-a North of the railway, would have dislodged the invader, and, in all probability, have cut off his communications with ihe Thames.

AN EUHO OF THE MOAT FARM MURDER. An inquest was held at Kingston-on-Thames, on Saturday, on the body of Newton Butt, aged seventy-two, whose body was found in the Thames, off the Canbury Promenade, at Kingston, on the 10th inst. The master of the Chelsea Workhouse was called, and said Butt had been an inmate of the workhouse since November 1895. Evidence was given as to the finding of the body, and the jury returned a verdict of "Found drowned." It was stated during the inquiry that among other articles found in the deceased man's pockets was a letter which referred to the Moat Farm murder. It was read by the coroner as follows:—"Copy of letter sent to Superintendent Pryke, 123, Sydney-street, London, April 26, 1903.—Dear Sir,—My object in sending you this communica- tion is to convey information I have received that the body of Miss Csaiille Holland is buried at the back of the stSbles, about ten yards from the largest of the trees. I have received further information as to how the lady was murdered, but if the statement I am making should not turn out to be correct, it is not worth while going any further; but if it should turn out correct I should be pleased to furnish you with full details. (Signed) N." There was also a number of news- paper cuttings found on the body, all relating to tile Moat Farm murder.

I DEATH OF COLONEL KNOLLYS. Colonel W. W. Knollys died quite suddenly on Friday afternoon of last week of heart failure. He was the elder brother of Lord Knollys, and thj eldest son of the late General the Right Hon. Sir William Knollys. He served for many years in the 93rd Highlanders, and latterly had held the position of Secretary to the Alexandra Trust. He was well known as a military writer, and on many occasions represented' the "Times" news- paper at the great manoeuvres in France and Germany. The news of his death will come as a great shock to a very wide circle of friends.

The Lancashire holiday-makers are disturbing the Blackpool magistrates. They have been t><? badly bitten with the football craze that they play continuously in the streets, Iiindering-ths" traffic, and breaking windows.

I NATURE NOTES; USEFUL FLOWERS. There are flowers that act as timekeepers for those who hav.e by observation studied their ways and habits, and so punctual are they that labour- ing men in some countries tell from them when the hour for dinner and leaving work has come, while in certain districts of Scotland, where clocks are not numerous, the school-children are said to be dismissed when the goafs-beard closes, which it does punctually at the same time every day. The gardener to a millionaire has provided a flower-clock in the shape of a circular flower-bed, with twelve divisions. Each of the divisions, from one to twelve, contains flowers which open or close at the corresponding hour. Thus the two space is occupied by a II., made of hawksweed, which closes at 2 p.m. pre- cisely, and so on. He had no difficulty in finding flowers to suit the several hours, and in some cases the figure has been made of more than one flower. Amongst the flowers used are the snow thistle, blue chicory, pimpernel mari- gold, Star of Bethlehem, and e vening prim- rose. The Yellowstone Park in America con- tains the most unique greenhouse for flower cul- tivation in the world, the heat being obtained from one of the natural hot springs, or geysers, the water of which issues from the earth at a temperature near boiling point. The shortest- lived flowers are the dew-flowers of the Death Valley in California. Heavy dews are wafted by the winds from fhe mountains over the parched plain, and an hour or two before sunrise the moist sand, with its under- current of warmth, gives life to the dew-flower. When the light begins to glow in the east, myriads of tiny pink flowers burst into bloom, hugging the sand for the few minutes they are destined to live. The sun's rays come slanting across the surface, and, as though a touch of fire had passed over them, the dew-flowers wither and disappear. OAK APPLES. The little brown balls, popularly known as "oak apples," which may often be seen growing in clusters upon oak twigs, are not a fruit, as some suppose, but forms of a disease which results from the attacks of a minute gallfly (cynips). This little insect, a distant cousin of wasps and bees, is provided with a complicated piercing ovipositor in her tail, by means of which she makes little holes in the tender shoots of the oak, laying an egg in each, and at the same time introducing a drop of irritant fluid. The substance of the shoot is thus stimulated to unnatural growth, and produces an oak apple or "gall," which may be regarded as a sort of vegetable tumor and serves as a home for the grub which hatches out of the egg. This can easily be seen by cutting open a young gall, but in an old one the insect has escaped by driving a tunnel to the outside. The oak is infested by many other kinds of gall. Some are tufted, others look like currants, and others again are the little brown "oak spangles" seen on the undersides of the leaves. Each kind of gallfly leads to the production of a different kind of gall. THE WILY GIRAFFE. Perhaps the most difficult of all wild animals to capture is the giraffe. In addition to being very rare, giraffes are exceedingly timid and are very swift footed. There is no special way to capture a giraffe, as almost every way has been tried, and all have been almost equally unsuccess- ful. The method which has occasionally resulted in a capture is by using a long cord, at each end of which is a round weight. This cord is thrown by the hunter in such a manner as to wind round the animal's legs, either bringing it to the ground or rendering it incapable of escaping before it is made a prisoner. Most of the giraffes in captivity have been caught by chance when young. THE MONKEY AND THE NUT. An extraordinary instance of animal intel- ligence has recently been recorded as having been shown in the Royal Park, Melbourne, Aus- tralia. "I was watching some monkeys," says Mr. Thomas Hutton, of Tynemouth, "in a large cage, when one of them came to the front and tried to reach a, nut which had been thrown and was lying on the gravel path. Putting its arm through the bars, and stretching as far as pos- sible, it found that the nut was just beyond its reach. There was straw on the floor of the cage, and, going to the back, where it evidently expected to find the straw less damaged, it tested straw after straw, discarding them one by one, not thinking them strong enough for the purpose. At last it found a satisfactory one, returned with it to the front of the cage, and very quickly, with its aid, hooked the nut close enough to be picked up." POACHER'S APPLIANCES. The latest poaching contrivance which has come into more or less general use in the Mid- lands is in the form of a round hawk-trap, and every bit of it is made of thick copper wire. When set it rests on the ground perfectly flat, and is the size of a tea-plate; the spring, which is spiral, is exceedingly strong. One of the contrivances is set in each well-used run. A bare passing through is certain to spring it, and to such an unfortunate hare it attaches itself with the tenacity of a leech. If caught by a foot she can only drag herself along, and if on the head or neck her death is not far distant; in any event she will not be able to progress far, and the advantage to the poacher rests on the fact that she utters no cry. By day the signs of the trap can be seen in the grass, and at night a trained retiiever sent in speedily returns with the hare. The traps are known as hare-clips. CLEVER BIRDS. A man from Lahore (says the "Indian Daily News") is exhibiting in Madras half a dozen birds, which have been skilfully trained to do some really marveJ us feats. A sparrow threads glass beads with his beak and cleverly imitates the drawing of water from wells and emptying the contents of the bucket. An old parrot plays the part of a clown, and on receiv- ing a small rod in his beak, it turns any num- ber of somersaults. But another parrot is the most intelligent of the whola lot. Pieces of cardboard with the numbers 1 to 10 written on them are thrown on the ground, and if the parrot is asked to pick up any of the numbers it never makes a mistake. It was asked to fetch No. 30, and it picked up the ten pieces of cardboard on by one only to throw them down at once, and so he went through the whole range of them, repeating the operation several times, and desisted only when it was told that No. 30 was not there. A number of coins of various denominations were thrown on the ground, and the parrot every time picked up the coin that was asked for. There is also a pail- wan paraot, which swings with his beak a slender "club" with lighted torches at both ends, and shoots arrows from a bow. There are two other parrots which perform clever tricks. BIRDS AND TRAINR. A singular case of a bird entering a moving train occurred recently between Hawick and Carlisle. On nearing Longtown, wliile the train was going at about 20 miles an hour, a bird Ðf the finch tribe flew in at the window, and lay with outstretched wings, trying to conceal itself in the corner opposite. So quiety did it pop in, without touching the glass or woodwork, that one would have said the negotiation of a window was with it an everyday occurrence. A pas- senger was just preparing to capture it and restore it to liberty, but it dashed across the carriage and was off, its exit by the other win- dow being as successfully and noiselessly ac- complished as its entry. A SPIDER'S APPETITE. The spider has a tremendous appetite, and his gormandising defies all human competition. A scientist, who carefully noted a spider's con- sumption of food in twenty-four hours, con- cluded that if the spider were built propor- tionately to the human scale he would eat at daybreak, approximately, a small alligator, by 7 a.m. a lamb, by 9 a.m. a calf, by one o'clock a sheep, and would finish up with a lark pie in which there were 120 birds. I

f "JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE." The adjourned inquest was held on Tuesday at Seathwaite on the body of Owen Kavanagh, who was shot during a riot of navvies at a public-house three weeks ago. Evidence showed that a man named Foy wanted to sleep in the bar when the landlord told him he must get out. A dispute followed, and Foy was joined by men named Kinsella, Havanngti, Burns, and others, all navvies. The landlord was threatened, and the men broke every window and smashed the bar. They afterwards went away and broke the windows of the church and school, and then returned to the public-house. The landlord and his assistant* were in the kitchen, and hearing the men coming, seized some shot guns. The navvies made a rash, and a barman named John Greenhow fired and shot Kinsella, while another man, Todd, fired at Kavanagh. The landlord was attacked by Foy, and he shot him. Kavanagh died liext day. A witness said that the rioters threatened to murder everyone in the house, if they swung for it." Henry Todd, who shot Kavanagh, told the coroner he did not intend to kill the deceased man; he only wanted to disable him, al; he was in the act of flinging a. heavy stone. He shot as low as he I could, but Kavanagh was in a crouching position at the time. The j ury returned a verdict of Jus- I tifiable homiciùe," At the police-court proceed- ings last week the men charged with shooting wer discharged.

I ARMY REORGANISATION. I NEW COUNCIL'S FUNCTIONS. I In the "Gazette" of Tuesday night were pub- lished three notices bearing on the new Army Council constituted under letters patent, and i in regard to the duties or the Inspector-General. Concerning the latter, the notice runs: — At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th day of August, 1G04. Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas his Majesty has been "pleased to appoint an Inspec- tor-General of the Forces, and it is expedient to prescribe generally the duties of that ofheer Now, therefore, his Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered as fellows The duties of the Inspector-General of the Forces, are, under the orders and direction of the Army Council, to review generally, and to report to the Army Council on, the practical results of the policy of that Council, and for that pur- pose to inspect and report upon the training and efficiency of all troops under the control of the Home" Government, on (he suitability of their armament and equipment, on the con- dition of fortificaticns and defences, and gener- ally on the readiness and fitness of the Army for war. The notifications as to the Army Council read as follows — At the Court of Buckingham Palace, the 10th day of August, 1904. Present The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas an Army Council has been constituted under his Majesty's Letters Patent, and it is expe- dient to make such provision as is hereinafter contained with respect thereto; Now, there fore, his Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered as folluws -1. The Secretary of State te to be responsible to his Majesty and Parliament for all the business of the Army Council. All business, other than business which the Secretary of State specially reserves to himself, is to be transacted in the following principal divisions :-(a) The first military mem- ber of the Army Council (the Chief of the General's Staff), the second military member of the Army Council (the Adjutant-General), the third military member of the Army Council (the Quartermaster-General), and the fourth military mfember of the Army Council (the Master-General of Ordnance) to be responsible to the Secretary of State for the administra- tion of so much of the business relating to the organisation, disposition, personnel, armament, and maintenance of the Army as shall be as- signed to them or each of them from time to time by ihe Secretary of State, (b) The Fit sr.ee member of the Army Council to be responsible to the Secretary of State for the finance of the Army, and for so much of the other bu&ii ess of the Army Council as may be assigned to him from time to time by the Secretary of State. (c) The civil member of the Army Council to be responsible to the Secretary of State for the non-effective votes, and for so much of the other business of the Army Council as nay be assigned to him from time to time by the Sec- retary of State. The Secretary of the War Office will act as Secretary of the Army Council, and will be charged with the interior economy of the War Office, and the preparation of all official com- munications of the Council, and with such ether duties as the Secretary of State may from t'me to time assign to him. At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th day of August, 1904. Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas an Army Council having been constituted under his Majesty's Letters Patent, it is expedient that the functions of the Officer charged with the accounting of Army Votes, Accounts, and Funds should be defined Now, therefore, his Majesty, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered as follows: —The Director of Armv Finance will act as Deputy and Assistant to the Finance Member of the Council, and, as the Accounting Officer of Army Votes, Accounts. and Funds, shall be charged with the allowance and payment of all moneys for Army Services with accounting for and auditing all cash ex- penditure and preparing the annual accounts of such expenditure for Parliament; with the audit of all Manufacturing Expense, Supply and Store Accounts; and with advising the Administrative Officers at the War Office^ and 'I in commands on all questions of Army expendi- ture.

I THE KING ON THE CONTINENT. The Emperor Francis J oigeph arrived at Marien- bad on Tuesday afternoon, and had an enthusiastic welcome. King Edward cordially greeted his Majesty at ttse railway station, and they drove together through crowded thoroughfares to the Hotel Weimar, where they remained in conversation for three-quarters of an hour. The Emperor then left the hotel, and drove to his villa, where be received a deputation of ladies. King Edward paid a return visit to the Emperor, who afterwards proceeded to the Curhaus, where he received deputations, who presented loyal addresses. In the evening the King gave a banquet in honour of the Emperor. >

STRANGE STORY OF THE SEA. The American line steamer Westernland, from Philadelphia, which arrived at Queenstown on Tuesday evening, brings intelligence of a strange phenomenon experienced by the British ship Mohican in the Atlantic on the 1st inst., while on a voyage to Philadelphia. A luminous cloud enveloped the vessel, magnetising everything on board. Captain Urquhart says that the vessel and crew had a fierv coating. The compass was violently disturbed. He ordered several of the crew to move some iron chains lying on the deck. The sailors cou d no remove them, although they did not weigh more than 751b. each. Everything was mngnetised, and chains, bolts, spikes, and bars adhered to the decks all if they had been riveted. The cloud was so dense that it was impossible for the vessel to pro- ceed. He could not see beyond the decks, and everything appeared a mass of glowing fire. Sud- denly the cloud lifted, the phosphorescence on the ship began to fade, and in a few minutes the cloud parsed away and could be seen moving over the sea. —————————————

Mr. Balfour is much wealthier than was his tmele, the late Lord Salisbury, the Premier's in- come, it is said, being about £ 70,000 a year. The money came from hi« grandfather, Avho earned a vast fortune in India, at the beginning of last century by contracting for the Navy, making as much as £ 300,GOD ill four years. When the income-tax stood so high during the Boer War it was stated that Mr. Dzlfcur handed over to the Inland Revenue an amount equal to his salary as Prime Mifister.

I ART AND LITERATURE. The London Academy of Music bronze medal for pianoforte playing, counterpoint and har- mony, has been awarded to Max Darewski, tha eightr-year-old composer, who ie by far tha youngest competitor who has ever entered for; i the medal. Out of forty other competitors the? youngest was twenty-five. Sir William Garstin's report on the irrigation; of Egypt is being issued by the Foreign Office at 17s. a copy. It is lavishly illustrated with admirable photographs. The table in the British Museum Reading- I room specially reserved for ladies, which at onEIl time was known as the "Tabbies' Retreat," is: reported to be regarded with superstitious awet by the youthful and fair habitues of the place. A notion is abroad that if a maiden of this order I utilises it she is doomed to spend her days in single-blessedness. I About two months ago a brilliant musician. i Signer Tomma.so Tafuri, arrived in New York: with his Cremona violin, to which he was greatly, attached, calling it hie "soul." Although offereci many places as second violin, he refused to insult his "soul" by accepting them, and was nearly starved to death. Recently he was asked too appear as substitute for the first violin at: Terrace Garden, his performance being receive# with deafening applause. But ere it had died! away, says the "New York Herald," he fell: I fainting from exhaustion, and died soon after,, fondling his cherished violin. I The third part of the serial, "Bygone Eton, which is being issued at the College Presev, includes eight illustrations reproduced in per-, i manent photography from old drawings, litho- graphs, and engravings, by such topographies draughtsmen as J. Faring ton, J. Dolby, W. Westall, and Fairholt; and these illustration* ] are accompanied by explanatory notes. The j publication is one whici-4 will appeal to students i of local history; but it tius also claims upon the attention of people who are interested in tha | work of the early nineteenth century artists. | The pasigraphisis (says a writer in the "Pall Mall Gazette") are at it again, and grammars and dictionaries of a new international tongue, to be called Spokil," have been published. The new language contains about sixteen thousand words, mostly French, and is so con- structed that one can tell at sight whether a word is noun, adjective, or verb, and can also guess at its meaning. The idea is to make all words similar in meaning similar in sound. Thus, great, wide, fat, long, thick, are repre- sented by aipo, alko, aljo, also, alto, and their converse by similar symbols beginning with a u instead of an a. Like Volopuk, Esperanto, and the rest, it is doomed to failure until everybody can be compelled by force majeure to learn it. Really, as somebody has lately suggested, Latin, if deprived of its declensions and conjugations, j would answer all the purpose of a "pidgin" language, and would come easy to all civilised people. Here, as elsewhere in educational matters, perhaps it is Germany who is the enemy. Mr. Edmond Gosse has completed his book on Coventry Patmore for the Literary Lives Series, and it will be published in the autumn. Evidently there is a constant market of I moderate dimensions for the works of Thomas Carlyle. Messrs. Chapman and Hail announce a new standard edition in eighteen handeoma octavo volumes bound in buckram, which will appear in monthly instalments beginning from September. This edition will comprehend all I the works and translations which Carlyie iiim, self thought worthy of preservation, which is J an advantage, inasmuch ac; even Carlyle had his Peter Bell. "Past and Present" (1643) will appear in this series in October—an enduring sermon against the wickedness and fatuous futility all round of the Corn Laws, which pos- sesses a piquant relevance to contemporary Fiscal controversy. In the autnui will be published by Mr. George Allen "An Artist's Love Story," a told in ft series of letters written by Sir Xhomaaj Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy. Mrs. Siddons, the great tragic actress, Miss Sally Siddons-her eldest daugiiter-arid otnera between the years 1798 and 1803. These let- ters, now edited by Mr. Oswald Knapp, M.A.—. who has written an introduction for the book —have hitherto not been published. On the death; of Mrs. Siddons the question of their publica- tion was considered, out it was thought that they would give pain to some people who had been closely associated with the families con- cerned, ana therefore the idea was abandoned. Such considerations no longer bar the way to the publication of the letters; and, indeed, it is desirable that at length this extraordinary story should be told in full by the chief charac- ters themselves. Sir Thomas Lawrence had various love affairs during his brilliant career,, j but the treble one with the Siddons sisters was the master passion of his life. He fell in lova with Sally Siddons, jilted her for Maria Sid- dons, ax-d then, jilting Maria, strove desperately. to win back Sally. The letters are given in extenso, with a brief introduction and the neces- ( sary explanatory matter, and are illustrated with sixteen portraits-as far as possible from the pencil of Lawrence himself—with facsimiles of letters and signatures. The pleasant picture given in the Hon. Emily. I Lawless's recent sympathetic monograph on Maria Edgeworth of the friendship between the Irish novelist and Sir Walter Scott recalls (says the "Westminster Gazette") the name of another feminine writer who admired the great romancist—Miss Anna Seward, better known, perhaps, as the "Swan of Lichfield," whv was born in the vicarage of Eyam. Her admiration for Scott was unDounded, and Lockhart tells I' how, filled with this passionate admiration, she prevailed upon him to visit her at Lichfield,; I and was so impressed that she bequeathed her poetry to him, with the injunction to publish it speedily, with a sketch of her life prefixed. Poor Scott, in a letter to Joanna Baillie, wrote:, I "The despair which I used to feel on receiving poor Miss Seward's letters, whom 1 really liked, gave me a most unsentimental horror for senti- mental letters. I am now doing penance for my ill-breeding by submitting to edit her poa- thumous poetry, most of which is ab-solutely execrable." Fortunately Mias Seward left her [ literary letters to Constable, who allowed Scott to run his pen through all her extravagant eulogies of himself and his poetry. ) It has long been known to travellers and an- thropologists that some of the Polynesian races constructed rude charts, by the aid of which, they made voyages from island to island. The British Museum authorities have just put out for exhibition in the ethnographical gallery uch I a chart of the Marshall Islands. Routes cur- rents, and prevailing winds are represented by I pieces of split cane, straight or bent in accord- ance with the chart-maker's conception of the .facts of the case; the islands themselves are | indicated by small univalve shells attached to canes. 1 his is the first example of such a primi i\e guide to navigation acquired for the national coLeeiion, though others -have been, brought to Europe. j • ^f,es?rs;f George Bell and Sons have issaed m their "All-Eiigland" series of bocks of sport ¡ a small volume on "Rowing and Sculling, with a chapter on Punting," written by Mr. Guy Rixon. Plentifully and well illustrated, and with an exposition made interesting by its clear- ness and its practical knowledge of the subject. the book cannot but prove helpful to oarsmen. and "cox's" who wish to make the most of themselves. Diderot's "Thoughts on Art and Style se- lected and translated by the Honourati, -Mr, Lionel pa^d in^a sefond: edition. In this little volume the work of se- lection and translation is well done. The short essays on art are particularly interesting for they remind one of the source of that highly finished elegant critioisTn mbuv deeply rooted in 7°* like Ruskin; he i t lar^e thonaV- „ i mto Plctures hls own. doiW so he atpirel to K. spired to the broadest views of art. nntrAc h38 translated many brilliant pages, and she has retained their snarkle.

I .PEASENHALL CRIME. I A SOLDIER'S STARTLING CONFESSION. The startling announcement that a military prisoner at Dover had confessed that he was the murderer of Rose Harsent, the servant who was killed at Peasenhall, Suftoik, two years agp, was at first received with incredulity. But now it is stated that the soldier has made a written con- fession, and persists in the truth of his story. It has been decided to report to the Home Office, and if there should be any suggestion of truth in the confession the man who made it will be removed from Dover to either Sax- mundham or Halesworth, and brought before a special court. It will be remembered that in June, 1902, Rose Harsent was found by her unhappy father lying murdered in the kitchen of her" employer's house at Peasenhall, a little Suffolk village about thirty miles from Ipswich. Her throat had been cut, and an attempt had apparently been made to burn the body with petroleum. William Gardiner, Sunday-school superintendent and choirmaster at the local Primitive Methodist chapel, was twice tried for the murder, but on each occasion the jury dis- agreed and, the Treasury declining to proceed with the prosecution, he was discharged. The trials created a tremendous sensation. At their close the accused and his wife left the neigh- bourhood, and now keep a small confectioner's shop in Southall. According to Major Daniels, the Governor of the military prison at Dover, the soldier who has made this confession has lived in the Pea- senhall district, and this fact adds weight to his statement. He was drafted from Ipswich. It appears that he is a man with a bad record, and the only explanation he can give in ex- tenuation of a long list of offences against him is "I never had a chance I was badly brougnt up." When he repeated the confession to In- spector Staunton at Dover on Saturday, Major Daniels says he was very calm, and appeared to realise thoroughly the extreme gravity of what he was saying. When Wm. Gardiner first heard the news that someone had confessed to a crime the shadow of which had hung over him for two long years his face brightened, and he fervently exclaimed: "It seems too good to be true, al- though I have trusted and hoped that the truth would be known before my life ended. There is nothing for me to do but wait. And I shall be grateful-only God knows how grateful-if the dreadful mystery is cleared up." I A BOGUS STORY. Superintendent Staunton, of the Suffolk County Police, who went to Dover in connec- tion with the alleged confession by a soldier of the Peasenhall murder, returned to Ipswich on Monday evening. He put numerous questions to the man in regard to the tragedy, and found that he had no knowledge of it other than what might have been gained from hearing of the circumstances. The Superintendent is con- vinced that the confession is a bogus story, and no further proceedings will be taken in the matter.

METHYLATED SPIRITS AS A j DRINK. Shocking disclosures (says the Sheffield Daily Telegraph") were made at a recent inquest at Douglas concerning the death of a woman. It appeared from the evidence that the deceased and several women neighbours had been in the habit of drinking methylated spirits, which they were able to procure at the chemist's for a penny aii ounce. This cheapness, and the fact that the spirit could be bought on Sunday, had caused the consumption to grow in the poor localities. The woman had been drinking heavily of the spirit since Christmas.