Review of Reviews, l/T/OG. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



says. Ru.^siaoi industry i^ really a recent creation, 

 but its rapid progress is now certain and inevitable. 

 for it is in the eoonoraic youth of the Russian nation 

 tliat the secret of Russia's strength lies, as her econo- 

 mio youth is also the motive for which Russia has 

 borne terrible trials, whicli would probably have 

 caused the fall of any otiier State. 



THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. 



The editor of the Library has had the happy idea 

 to devote the April number of his quarterly to Shakes- 

 peare. 



Mr. Sidney Lee supplies not-es and addition.s to the 

 Census of Copies of the First Folio, and Mr. H. R. 

 Plonier deals with the Printers of Shakespeare's works. 

 In another article Mr. G. F. Barwick writes on Im- 

 presas, namely devices or emblems with a motto, from 

 the earliest times to the sixteenth century, and con- 

 cludes with a refeience to the six impresas found in 

 '■ Pericles," though not in the portion recognised as 

 Shakespeare's. 



There are two articles of more "practical" interest. 

 Mr. Arundell Esdaile, who takes for his subject 

 Shakespeare-Literature, 1901-.5, gives an interesting 

 bibliography of the more important editions of Shakes- 

 peare and books relating to Shakespeare issued during 

 the first five years of tho century ; while Mr. John 

 Ballinger treats of tlie Sliakespeare collections in 

 Municipal Libraries, such as Birmingham, Cambridge, 

 Birkenhead, Liverpool, Manchester, and Lambeth, the 

 owner of three of the folios, and concludes with a list 

 of editions anrl works which he thinks should be found 

 in every municipal library. 



The greatest monument that could be raised to the 

 genius of Shakespeare, says Mr. Ballinger, the lib- 

 rarian at Cardiff, would bo to bring the great mass of 

 readers to a knowledge of bis works, but the promotion 

 of the study of the greatest of all writers still awaits 

 the revivifying touch of some organisation. Local 

 societies exist in many parts of the country, but some 

 movement to promote a more systematic study of 

 Shakespeare is still wanted. 



THE REVUE DE PARIS. 



In the April numbers of the Bevue de Paris Felix 

 Mathieu writes on Pascal and his famous Puj^de-Dome 

 experiments on Atmospheric Pressure. 



PASCAL AXD ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. 

 Descartes claims that he suggested the experiment, 

 and that Pascal was at first hostile to the idea. Tlie 

 writer examines the claims of each, noting in advance 

 that Torricelli in 1644 had also made certain similar 

 experiments. Pascal's Puy-de-Dome experiment oc- 

 curred on September 19lh, 1648, and tho results were 

 published at the end of the year, but Pascal did not 

 apprise Descirtes of the fact, nor did he send him 

 any- account of it. Descartes complained, and Pascal, 

 in a letter dated 1651, after Descartes' death, declared 

 that the experiment was of his own invention. 



MICHELANGELO. 

 Remain Holland, writing in the second ApiTl num- 

 ber, deals with the personality of Michelangelo. He 



describes the great artist as a man of medium height, 

 with broad shoulders and strong muscles. Li his 

 physiognomy sadness and indecision predominated. 

 No man was ever such a prey to genius. His life was 

 a frenetic exultation in a body and a soul too weak 

 to contain it. He lived in a continual fury. His 

 excess of force obliged him to act, to act incessantly, 

 without a single hour of repose. He wrote: "I think 

 of nothing but work, niglit and day." 



This unhealthy need of activity degenerated into 

 mania. When he was to make a monument he would 

 lose years in choosing his materials and in consti-uct- 

 ing routes for the transport of them. He would be 

 engineer and everything. He did not allow himself 

 time to eat and to sleep. He complained of poverty, 

 and yet died a rich man, owning six houses and lands. 

 It is'not surprising that he had many serious illnesses, 

 and that at forty-two he was an old man. 



And his mind more than his body suffered from the 

 life ho led. His pessimism was hereditary, and he had 

 attacks of panic. Beethoven was sad owing to his 

 circumstances ; at heart he was cheerful and happy. 

 Michelangelo's sadness was in himself as much as his 

 need for pei-petual work, and it isolated him from his 

 fellow-men. Yet he had a tender heart, and he had 

 much to endure from his famUy. His father and three 

 brothers, who were always quarrelling among them- 

 selves, were agreed on one point — that Michelangelo 

 should work for them and supply them w'ith money. 



AN ANGLO-EUSSIAN ALLIANCE. 



A Ru.ssian, writing under the title '" Berlin and St. 

 Petersburg," conoludea with a plea for an Anglo-Rus- 

 sian alliance. He thinks it would be a sensible thing 

 for Russia to enter into friendly relations with the 

 Power whose intei'ests, like those of Russia, are so 

 many iu Asia. England has made many overtures to 

 Russia, but they have always been rejected, at the 

 occult instigation of Berlin. An Anglo-Russian rap- 

 prochement on the basis of an arrangement in A.sia 

 would re-establish the threatened equilibrium in 

 Europe, and would offer to the world a strong 

 guarantee of peace. 



The Uarh'mger of Li/jht for May has a character 

 sketch of Professor Barrett (of the Royal College of 

 Science, Ireland), by the Editor, Mrs. BVight. A con- 

 siderable section is taken up with an account of 

 a spiritual address by the late Dr. Robinson, in con- 

 nection with the medium. Charles Bailey. Mre. 

 Bright is bringing the magazine up to a very high 

 standard. It is no wonder that its circulation is in- 

 creasing. 



Christians in the Army form the subject of a short 

 paper by Rev. O. S. Watkins, Chaplain to the Bri- 

 gade of Guards, in the Young Man. He says a Chris- 

 tian man possessed of real grit will not find it harder 

 to serve Christ in the Army than in civil life. The 

 days of severe persecution have passed away. " I know 

 a barrack-room where every voice is hushed while the 

 Christian men kneel in prayer at their cot-sides; and 

 in most rooms the men take a sort of pride in the 

 Christian in their mom, and keep him up to the mark 

 if they think he is growing slack." 



