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Random Readings from the Reviews. 



I'lCa'URES OF IHE EHZABEIHAN AG£. 



The December JVinJsor gives the reign of Queen 

 Kli/.abelh in jwrtrait and picture. There is only one 

 portrait of the Queen herself, that by N. Hilliard, 

 and one of Mary Queen of Scots by 1'". Oudry. 

 There are pictures of the latter Queen's compulsory 

 abdication of her crown, of the procession of Elizabeth 

 to visit the Governor of Berwick-uiJon-Tweed, of the 

 execution of Mary, of Ehzabeth at Tilbury Fort, of 

 the call to arms, of the famous game of bowls, of the 

 defeat of the Spanish Armada, of the news of the 

 defeat brought to Philip II., of Elizabeth dismissing 

 the Earl of Essex, and of the death of Queen 

 Elizabeth. There are portraits of Sir Francis Drake 

 and Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Burleigh. This is 

 only one of a series of articles appearing in the 

 IVinJsor every month, covering the whole history of 

 England. 



An Airship Planned in 1709. 



The O/Tfti Court quotes from a newspaper published 

 in the reign of Queen .\nne, of date December, 1709, 

 a description of a Hying ship, said to have been 

 invented by a Brazilian priest. The priest claims that 

 he has found out an invention " by the help of which 

 one may more speedily travel through the air than in 

 any other way, either by sea or land, so that one may 

 go two hundred miles in twenty-four hours." The 

 visionary nature of the scheme may be inferred from 

 the fact that the ship was to be furnished on each 

 side with a pair of bellows, which must be blown 

 when there is no wind, and on the cover were to be 

 a good number of large amber beads, which by a 

 secret operation will help to keep the ship aloft. 

 What would the good priest think of the speed of our 

 aeroplanes ? 



Curious Wav ov Caichini; Turtles. 

 In Blackwood' s for November a writer describes 

 what he saw of turtle-fishing on the coast of British 

 East Africa. He tells how the natives use certain 

 sucker fish, named " taza," varying in length from 

 three feet to eight inches. They attach these sucker 

 fish to their lines and tlingthcm into the water. These 

 then fasten themselves on to the turtles, some of 

 which are over five feet long and two feet nine inches 

 broad, and such is the tenacity of their hold that even 

 the largest animals are unable to get away. The 

 moment the sucker fish comes above water it 

 relinquishes its hold. 



Two ExPLORiM. Pa kilts. 

 In charming pictures of Australian life, contributed 

 to Corithill io\ December by Mrs. 1' H. Huxley, she 

 gives this account of Iier tickct-of- leave cook : — 



llcnry llie cook was .in ori{;inal. " H^w ili<l yoii conic lo lie 

 ill .New Soulh Wale-, llcnry T" I a'-kcil of liini one day. "All 

 altinj; of cxplorint;, Mi^>." " Hxplorinj; .' I ilon'mnilcr^taiid.' 

 " Well, this was tlie way uf il, Miss. 1 w.a.> one of an cxplotini; 

 (larly in a l)ig |)ark one niylil, and we tame upon a liouse ami 

 wnnied to see wliai wa* in-ide of il. So in we weni, but not l)y 

 fioni <loor. .\nd wliil-i wi- wim Inokinj; over beautiful 



silver things, there was a noise and a barkin' of dogs— and 

 another exploring party conies in, but they wasn't our friends, 

 and I got .iway and look a cold baih." " A cold bath 1 " I ex- 

 claimed in bewilderment. " Ve:;, -Miss ; a cold bath, and it was 

 in a water-butt quite convenient, and the water was very deep 

 and come up to my chin, and there the enemy found me. The 

 enemy was in uniform, and dragged me out and put bracele.- 

 on my wrists, and was very na>ty altogether ; and I made .i 

 voyage with friends of mine right out to this country, and here 

 I am a-coolving for ymii Pa and Ma and you, Miss, and a — 

 raisin' of ducks and fowls. Il ain't such a bad life, after all ; 

 but it was a grim one, you bet, before I got my licl;et-of-leave." 

 Tliis account, interpreted, was that Henry had been caught in 

 England robbing a house at night, and had been scnlence<l '.o 

 transportation to New South Wales for seven or fourteen year-, 



A Three Hundredweight Plum Pudding. 



Mr. J. F. Fraser, describing in London Christmas 

 in London, declares that he does not believe there is 

 a single family in the East End which has not a sound 

 Christmas dinner, with plenty of plum pudding. He 

 tells this story of Mr. Will Crooks : — 



Mr. Will Crooks, M.P. for Woolwich, lives in Poplar^one 

 of ihe most poverty-stricken regions of the mciropolis. Last 

 I Urislmas a huge box was delivered by carter at his house, so 

 heavy that the carter, the attendant boy and .Mr. Crooks had a 

 job to edge it into the house, where it blocked the passage-way. 

 It weighed some three hundredweight. But what was it? The 

 lid was burst open, and one of the daughters, h.astening to dis- 

 cover the contents, hauled out a handful of plum-pudding. The 

 whole box was a conglomerate mass of hundreds of plum- 

 puddings — small, large, well-cooked, badly-cooked, ofdirt'erent 

 colours and dilVerenl ingredients, all humped into one mighty 

 lump. .V London newspaper hatl been giving prizes for the 

 best-made plum-puddings, and the editor, no doubt bombarded 

 to desperation with plum-puddings, had several hundreds put 

 into a box- and sent to Mr. Crooks. The Crooks family — there 

 are six or seven of them — set to work with all hands, and soon 

 tilled the household bath. The news ran round. Crowds 

 gathered ihat afternoon, all seeking plum-pudding. Come 

 evening there was still much left. It was all taken up lo 

 Shaftesbury Hall, where there was a tremendous " blow-out " 

 for the children. They got rid of the last raisin. " Why, the 

 kids ate until they almost burst ! '' said my informant. " And 

 then we called for three cheers for the givers, just to aid 

 digestion." 



An Intekestinu Sui;i;estion. 

 It is an interesting fact that English has been 

 adopted as the language of scientific teaching in 

 China, and that all the tickets on Chinese railways 

 are printed in English as well as Chinese. If things 

 go on as they are going on, the next generation will 

 see Japan, China, and India included as integral 

 jiortions of the l-^nglish-speaking world. This would 

 mean that considerably more than half of the inhabi- 

 tants of this planet would have I'jiglish as their first 

 or second language. No wonder that a distinguished 

 ( lerinan siwant, who has twice had the refusal of the 

 [jo^t ol .Minister of Instruction in Prussia, in discu.-'b- 

 ing the possibilities of a world - language, replied 

 shortly, "The true WeKs/iraclte is English —but, " 

 with a twinkle in his eye, " English is only a dialect 

 of Cierman ! " If only this spirit pervaded his fellow- 

 countrymen, then might the Germans welcome with 

 joy, on patriotic as well as economic grounds, the 

 inclusion of the eight hundred millions of the East 

 among the speakers of this " dialect of German," 



