The Review of Reviews. 



June 1, 1900. 



THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE. 



The Cornhiil Magaztne. though not very quotable, 

 is vei-y reacbible this month. 



IN UNKNOWN CHINA. 

 The most interesting paper is Mrs. Archibald 

 Little-s ■• Journev of Surprises.'' an account ot her 

 iournev through Yunnan (.the most south-iresterly 

 and, it seenis, the poorest province ot China) trom 

 the Yan^tse, with poor sheep, cattle used only, as 

 beasts ot burden, and •■ roads so bad that nothing 

 can be taken away to sell advantageously. Ihe 

 iournev took fortv-two days, "the hardest as well as 

 the lonijest land journey 1 have yet taken. ihe 

 flowers seem to have been beautiful, from sweet vio- 

 lets to rambler roses, from candelabra cacti to rhodo- 

 dendrons. 1 make one extract from this account ot 

 a little-known part of the world : — 



One of the great (leliglits along Ibis indescribably bad 

 road, and, indeed, all the wa.v to > unnanfu. was the great 

 varietv of butterflies flitting across our path, and the tame- 

 ness of the birds, who only just rose as we came near, flj-ing 

 on to another twiu a little aliead. and then sett ing again, 

 thus affording me a view of themselves and their move- 

 ments such .IS with my short sight is never possible where 

 S,ortlmen are about. I thus had the pleasure o watching 

 a Reeves pheasant, looking, as usual, as il something were 

 Ued to its tail, it is so incredibly long, dipping into the 

 foam ot a cascade between clusters ot ramble roses and ot 

 wat?hin<' a hoopoe, with its dainty crest, mak ng its little 

 e«ning "preparations, besides many pretty, unknown song- 

 sters, who gladdened all the day with their songs. 



Takintr as his title 'A New Tale of Two Cities. 

 :Mr Lauiencc Gomme comments on the new phase 

 entered upon bv Paris and London. " They have di.s- 

 oovered in the idosvncra.sies of each other food tor re- 

 flection and studT." Most of the article is taken up 

 with a comparison between the characteristics of the 

 two capitals, whicii is not particularly novel or sug- 

 gestive There is an amusing sketch, " The Is en- 

 House of Commons," anent the supposed experiences 

 of Air. Titmouse, M.P. ; and the papers " Froin a 

 Colleire Window," which have for a year been a fea- 

 ture of the I'nrn.lnU. are continued, the twelfth paper 

 dealing with religion and the writers conception of 

 the meaning of that word : — 



By religion I mean the power, whatever it be. wMch 

 makes a man choose what is bard rather than what is 

 easy what is lofty and noble rather than what is mean 

 and" selfish; that puts courage into timorous hearts, and 

 gladness into clouded spirits; that consoles men in grief, 

 misfortune, and dis.ippointment ; that makes them joMull.\ 

 accept a heavy burden :. that in a word, "Pl'/tS-I"*" "1 /.; 

 the dominion of material things, and sets their feet in a 

 purer and simpler region. 



THE CENTURY ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE. 



The Cf'ifH'y publishes, as its opening paper, an 

 account of -^ A Meek at Waterloo." the narrative of 

 Ladv de Lancv, the three months' wife of a Colonel 

 of Wellington's Staff, who was wounded at the be- 

 u-innino- of the battle, and nursed by his young wife 

 Uil his°deatb. Prefaced to this narrative, whose art- 

 less .stvle invests it with strong human interest, is an 

 unpublished letter by Scott, and a letter from 

 Dickens, on whom the reading of the narrative 

 clearlv made a deep impression. " I shall never think 

 of the Duke [of Wellington] any more but as he stood 

 in his shirt with the officer in full-dress uniform, 

 wrote Dickens, This refers to a passage describing 

 how Colonel de Lancy had been twice to the Duke 

 (if Wellington's in one day : — 



The first time he found him standing looking over a map 

 with a Prussian general, who was in full-dress uniform— 



with orders and crosses, et<^^-tll^ I>"ke ^•'>« ,"L '^ „V' Bi'ch' 

 and slippers, preparing to dress tor the Duchess of Riclr 

 m"nds hall- the two figures were quite admirable. The 



ball took place notwithstanding the rcmile played through 

 the streets the whole night. Many of the officers danced, 

 and then marched in the morning. 



Lady de Lancy's account of her nursing her hus- 

 band at Waterloo itself shows how lamentably little 

 provision there was for sickness. The surgeon's only 

 idea seemed to be to bleed an already enfeebled pa- 

 tient, and one cannot but teel that here was a good 

 life thrown away. Lady Hamilton appears frequently 

 in the narrative. 



Another article deal> with the work of Constantin 

 Meunier. as " A Sculptor ot the Labourer." The re- 

 productions of his work show it to be very vigorous. 

 .\Ieunier. who died ju.st a year ago. wa.s a Belgian. 

 The Historic Palace of Paris described is the Hotel 

 de la Kochefoucauld-Doudeauville. The paper on 

 ■•Lincoln the Lawver " contains several good stories 

 of old Abe. He w-as an unusually fair practitioner, 

 but anyone who took him for a simple-minded man 

 in the "court-room ■' would very soon wake up on his 

 back in the ditch." He was a singularly able cross- 

 examiner, yet he never succeeded in making more 

 than a baire living from his practice, which is perhaps 

 n^hy so manv people have forgotten that he ever was 

 a fawyer. The rejison why he ditl not pile up fees 

 may be gathered from the following ; — 



Yc«, ■ Mr. Herndon reports him as advising a client, ''we 

 can doubtless gain vour case tor you: we can set a whole 

 neighbon.hood at loggerheads; we can distress a widowed 

 mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby get 

 for vou six hundred dollars to which you seem to have a 

 le°-ai chaim but which rightfully belongs, it appears to me. 

 as much to the woman and her children as it does to you. 

 You must remember, however, that some things legally 

 right are not morally right. We shall not take your case 

 but we will give vou a little advice for which we will 

 chiirge vou nothing". You seem to be a sprightly, energetic 

 man We would advise you to try your hand at making six 

 hundred dollars in some other way 



THE WINDSOR MAGAZINE. 



In the Wiiiil.so, ihuia-mc Mr. J. C. Dollman's art 

 is made the .subject of an illu.strated paper by Mr. S. 

 L Beiisusan. Mr. Dollman'is work is best summed up 

 bv saying that it is a realisation of his own idea that 

 painting" should be before all things dramatic. In 

 the painting of the picture of ■ Mowgli (Academy 

 of 1903), suggested bv Kipling's story, the painter 

 did not know where he should get the right kind of 

 monkey. Finally he fciuiid a young organ-grinder, 

 \\ ho had one of the right kind : — 



The lad was so well satisfied with hia treatment^ that he 

 spread the story ot his experiences among his brethren, 

 with the result that the quiet corner ot Chiswick in which 

 th« artist works was spee.iily crowded with organ-grinders 

 and monkeys. These men refused to understand wh.v their 

 animals were not required, and on the day when the pic- 

 ture was taken to Burlington House, there were half-a-dozen 

 disappointed owners of monkeys still waiting in the street 

 for a job. 



The Chroniolevs in Cartoon are no less interesting 

 thin usual and are this month concerned solely with 

 ■the Bench and the Bar." from the late Lord Russell 

 of Killoweii to Mr. Uufus Isaacs, M.P. 



Mr Ernest E Williams calls attention to the way 

 in wiiich Canada is handicapped through lack ot 

 cheap means of transit. He enumerates the advan 

 taae.s of the Hudson Bav route between England and 

 Canada and combats the prevalent notion that this 

 route is impracticable. Soinetiiues the Hudson Bay 

 route is confounded with the -North West passage 

 soutrht for bv Arctic explorers. Hudson Bay is not 

 within the Arctic circle, nor is its climate arctic; 

 while as regards safety, -Mr. Williams thinks it would 

 compare favourable with tiie present St. Lawrence 

 route. 



