84 



I he Kevlew of Reviews. 



July 1, lnU6. 



THE REVUE DES DEUX MONDES. 



There are several interesting articles in the April 

 numbers of the Revue, de^s Deux Mondes — too many for 

 special notice. 



FEEXOH PAKUAMENTAET REFORM. 

 Charles Benoist, who writes on Parliamentain- Re- 

 form, shows how imperfect present parliamentary life 

 is in France. Everywhere disorder reigns supreme, as 

 much an.oiig the electors as among tne elected. To 

 an Assembly certain forms are as necessary as tactics 

 in an army, but theie is no form anywhere. Parlia- 

 mentary reform ought to begin with the reform of 

 the rules of tiie Chamber of Deputies, or, rather, the 

 next Chamler ought first to undertake electoral re- 

 form and follow it up by certain reforms in parliamen- 

 tary procedure. 



ELECTRICITY IX URBAN TRANSPORT. 

 In another article Gaston Cadoux discusses the 

 question cf Electricity and Urban Transport, especially 

 in Loudon, Paris, snd Berlin. He is quite appalled 

 by the immensity of London, which he contrasts with 

 Paris. Greater London, with Charing Cross as its 

 centre, forms a circle which, with Notre Dame as its 

 centre, would embrace the departments of Seine-et- 

 Oise and Seine et-Marne. and the region extending -from 

 Versailles to Saint-Leu-Tavemy towards the middle 

 of the Forest of Montmorency, and the territory be- 

 tween Saint-Germain and the Forest of Senart. A 

 comparison of the means of transport of the two 

 cities he thinks scarcely possible, owing to the dif- 

 ferences of size and population, and the manners and 

 needs of the two populations, but he shows the main 

 features and the most important improvements in 

 eath capital. In considering Berlin, he also includes 

 the suburbs with Charlottenburg and Sohoneberg. 



THE DANCE OP DEATH IN ART. 



There is a very interesting article, by Eiiile Ma'e, 

 on French Art at the close of the Middle Ages. In it 

 the writer deals with various representations of " Tl e 

 Dance of Death." He shows that the poets and tlie 

 artists of the thirteenth century depicted death not 

 as a thing to be feared, but rather enjoyed. At the 

 end of the fourteenth century, however, death in all 

 its terrors suddenly appears, and in the fifteentli 

 century a.rti.sts were literally inspired by the subject. 

 In the sixteenth century, also, death was depicted 

 everywhere, not merely on tombs, but in the sculp- 

 tural decorations of houses. Over the fireplace in a 

 house at Yvetot there is a death's head with bones, 

 and an inscription. 'Think on death." 



In the thirteenth century artists were more con- 

 cerned with the teachings of Christ, in the fourteenth 

 it was Christ's sufferings which inspired them.- But 

 the great change can only be understood when the 

 history of the mendicant friars, the Franciscans and 

 the Dominicans, of t'-e two centuries has been written. 

 It was they who terrified all Europe in speaking of 

 death, and the writer is convinced that the first idea 

 of a Dance of Death belongs either to the Franciscan 

 or to the Dominican preachers. Tlie idea of the 

 Dance of Death, adds the writer, is no more German 

 in its origin than is Gothic architecture : it is en- 

 tirely French in its inspiration. Even "Tlie Dance 

 of Death " at Lubeck betrays its French origin. 



OTHER ARTICLE.S. 

 In the second number Ernest Martinenche has a 

 .study of Perez Galdos and his drama.s, and Cami'le 

 Bpllaiome rontr'bntes "Musical Thoughts in the Sis- 

 tine Chapel." The most beautiful of the wonderful 

 harmonies of Rome, says M. Bellaigue, is the contact 



of Christianity with antiquity, and in the remark- 

 able contrasts or great resendjiances of the Eternal 

 City music is not an un<x)mnion element. The rela- 

 tions of Rome to music may be somewhat limited, but 

 they are none the less glorious. 



THE ITALIAN REVIEWS. 



In the Basse/jna Na-.ionale S. Monti discusses in all 

 seriousness whether women are permanently to be 

 classed with criminals, minors and illiterates, and 

 denied a vote, and answers the cjuestion in an em- 

 phatic negative. Parliament, says the writer, makes 

 laws which affect the interests of women as wives, 

 mothers, professional workers, clerks, factory-girls ; 

 why deny them the right to vote for those who make 

 such laws? It is encouraging to find at least one 

 leading magazine in Italy to talk sober sense on this 

 much-debated subject. In tlie same number Countess 

 Sabina di Panavicino. herself an eloquent advocate 

 of the emancipation of her sfx, summarises the Life 

 - -written in his present enforce<l leisuie by Cardinal 

 Ranmo'Ia — of St. Melaine the Younger, one of those 

 Early Christian Roman matrons whose energy and 

 learning ought to act as an incentive to the timid 

 piety of many moc^in Christian women. Senator F. 

 Gabba (April 1st) resumes his discussion — or, rather, 

 his denunciation — cf Sionisni, and points out once 

 again how fatal to the piesent favourable position of 

 tho Jews in Italy, and to the social and political well- 

 being of the nation, would be a Sionistic propaganda 

 throughout the peninsula. This, he declares, is recog- 

 nised by many Jews themselves, and by some of their 

 Rabbis. 



By far the most attractive article in the Nuova 

 Atiti'hiqia is one bv a lao'y, Signora Ravizza. describ- 

 ing her rescue-work among the little thieves and raga- 

 muffins of the streets of Milan, a work to which she 

 was drawn by reading of the suicide of a boy-thief of 

 fourteen in gaol. Thanks to a "kitchen for the sick 

 poor." which s!;e worked in a very poor quarter, and 

 at wliich free meals were to be had. the authoress was 

 able to make friends one by one with a little gang 

 of boy-pickpockets, and her accxjunt of her proteges 

 and their many misdemeanours is full of charm, 

 although the thought occurs to one that Italy stands 

 sadlv in need of a Compulsory Education Act. The 

 anonymous political writer sums up the position of 

 Italy at the close of the Algcciras Conference as one 

 for sober satisfaction, in spite of the obvious, and, as 

 the author asserts, unmerited disapproval of Germany. 

 Italy's national feelings were clearlv much gratified bv 

 the selection of an Italian delegate to convey the 

 decisions of the Conference to the Sultan of Morocco. 

 There is an interesting historical account of the 

 Tlieatre of Marcellus in Rome, illustrated from fine 

 old engravings. 



The Civilta CaitiUca maintains that anti-clerical 

 prejudice, sown throughout Italy by revolutionary 

 Liberalism, is the great obstacle to the religious paci- 

 fication and true national unitv of the nation. As 

 evidences of the existence of this spirit the author 

 C(Uotes the annual Giordano Bruno celebrations in 

 Rome, and a rcnient article by P'ofessor C. Lombroso 

 on the dancers of clericalism. From other points of 

 view, however, he admits that the religious condition 

 of Italy to-<lay is in many ways most encouraging. 

 The same writer writes energptica'ly on behalf of a 

 purified theatre, the need for a stricter cen.sorship 

 bei"g recogni.sed by men of every party. 



The present year has seen the birth of a new Uni- 

 versity magazine. Studium, which, besides giving 

 much University information, publishes articles of 

 general interest. 



