no. 6. vol. south place magazine · city morality. south place chapel is now represented by an...

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No. 6. MARCH, 1897. Vol. n. SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE Conte7lts PAGE. CITY MORALITY 81 fly G. J lIOLYOAKE. THEISM AND AGNOSTICISM ..... .. . ........ . .... .. 82 By \V . R \VASHlNGTOl-l SULLlVAN. SCIENCE AND FEELING: A South Place Reading. . .. 86 By JOB:; :\I. ROBERTSOl-l . THE SOUTH PLACE SOCIETY ON THE THRESHOLD OF ITS SECOND CENTURY .................. 88 By CLAR!;NCE H. SEYLER. "MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS, " BY ELIZA FLOWER................ 92 fly C. D COLLET A FABLE.... .......... ................... . . 93 By E. J. TROUP. REPORTS OF MEETINGS AND NOTES ON SOUTH PLACE WORK .... ... ........ . ......... . ...... 94 KINDRED SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 NOTICES, &c. ........................................ 96 Monthly, 2d., UR 2s.6d. PER ANNUM, POST FREE :lLonbolt SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY, FINSBURY, E.C. A. & [1. 13. BO)l,NER. 1 & 2 TOOK'S COURT, CURSITOR ST., E.C.

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No. 6. MARCH, 1897. Vol. n.

SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE

Conte7lts PAGE.

CITY MORALITY 81 fly G. J lIOLYOAKE.

THEISM AND AGNOSTICISM ..... .. . ........ . .... .. 82 By \V. R \VASHlNGTOl-l SULLlVAN.

SCIENCE AND FEELING: A South Place Reading. . .. 86 By JOB:; :\I. ROBERTSOl-l .

THE SOUTH PLACE SOCIETY ON THE THRESHOLD OF ITS SECOND CENTURY .................. 88

B y CLAR!;NCE H. SEYLER.

"MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS," BY ELIZA FLOWER................ 92

fly C . D COLLET

A FABLE.... .......... ................... . . 93 By E. J. TROUP.

REPORTS OF MEETINGS AND NOTES ON SOUTH PLACE WORK .... ... ........ . ......... . ...... 94

KINDRED SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 NOTICES, &c. ........................................ 96

Monthly, 2d., UR 2s.6d. PER ANNUM, POST FREE

:lLonbolt SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY, FINSBURY, E.C.

A. & [1. 13. BO)l,NER. 1 & 2 TOOK'S COURT, CURSITOR ST., E.C.

-------------............... .

South Place Chapel & Institute, Finsbury, E.C. MINISTER: MONCURE D. CONWAY, L.H.D.

Object of the Society. " The object of the Society is the cultivation of a rational

religious sentiment. the study of ethical principles, and the promotion of human welfare, in harmony with advancing knowledge."

:MARCH, 189'7.

The followil/J< DISCOURSES will be dtlivcl'cd 011 SUI/day lIIornillgs, Service bcgill1li1lg at 11 .15:--

March 7th.-J AMES ALLANSON PICTON .-" Herbert Spencer's doctrine of the Unkuowable."

Hymns, 56, 67· A th 11." The Silent Land" ... ... ... ... .. . ... Gau/.

n ems. l2. .. Ah! When the Wanderer" (The Building of ibe Ship) ]. F. Barnelt. March I4th.-JAMES ALLANSON PICTON.-Continuation of the subject.

Hymns, 35. 2'9· I' .. Keep innocency" (No. 192, Old Book) ... ... ... Mac/arr ....

Anthems. ! 2: "The Trumpe,'s loud Clangour" (Ode to St. Cecila's Day) ... Hand.l . March21st.-Dr. MONCURE D. CONWAY.-"Jesus converted by Pau\."

Hymns, 50, 18.

I, .. Salve Reglna" lfaufJ/mallll. Anthems. '2: 11 Belshazzar" S,fwmalJn.

March 28th.-Dr. MONCURE D. CONWAY.-" The Wisdom of this World." Hymns, 97, U.

11. 11 Happy is the man" ... ... ." .. . Anthems. 2. "I cannot find thee" (No. 549, Old Book) .. .

... Prollt. E.]. Trollp

Visitors may take all)' Seats vacallt at the close of the jil'st A Itthem, and they are illvited to obtaill informatioll in the Library regardi1lg tlte Society either before or after the Services.

A COl/cctjOlI is made at the closc of each Service to Cl/able Visitors to cOlltribute to the expmses of the Society.

NOTICE.--A meeting of the members of South Place Ethical Society, (adjourned from Feb. 14th) will be held on Monday Evening, March 8th, at 7 o'clock, to consider the Education Question.

SUNDAY SCHOOL. The Children meet in the Chapel every Sunday morning, at ILlS, and their lesson i.

given In the Class-room during the discourse. The following are the arrangements for March:-

March 7th.-Mrs. BRACE: "A Great Woman's Girlhood." 14th.- " 11 " Useful Little Labourers."

11 2Ist.-Mr. A. BONNhR: 11 Something more about our Big City." 11 28th.-Mr. T. B. FOREMAN: 11 Hans Andersen."

MEMBERSHIP. "Persons paying for sittings in the Society'. pJace of Meeting for tbe time being arc thereby

constituted members of the Society. Members who arc twenty-one years of al?e or upwards, wbose names have been twelve months upon the register, and whose subSCriptions for the previous quarter have been paid, sball be qualified to vote and to hold office."-Extract from the Rllles

Sittings may be obtained upon application in the Library, or to C. G. CANNING, 4, Morland Road, Pengc, S.E I prices varying from IS. to 10S. per quarter. Persons under 21 are charged half the usual prices.

Cyclists desiring to attend at South Place arc informed that the Committee have made arrangements for honsing their machines.

A5S0CIATEs.-Fersons I csiding at a distance, and who arc unable to attend the services rcgular!y, may become Associates of the Society upon payment of an Annual Subscription of 55., with the privilege of recei\'io.g all the current publications of the Society.

The Chapel is licensed for Marriages.

SOUTH PLACE -MAGAZINE . No.6. Vol. n. • d. Monthly.

28. Bd. per o.nnum, post troe.. MARCH, 1897.

(The wJ'iters of Articles appearing in this M agazille arc alone responsible for the opinions thcrein cxpressed.)

CITY MORALITY .

SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL is now represented by an Ethical Society, and being situate in the city, City Morality must be a relevant subject in its Magazine. The outh Place Ethical Society is a better name than South Place" Religious Society", its former name, since religions societies are not always ethical, while an ethical society is religious in the best sense of the term-that of devotion to human duty in relation to human interests. There is an Ethical Society which gives lectures at Essex Hall. I lately heard one there-lured by the name of Augustine Birrell, who is always original, emitting flashes of humour or wit, and wisely entertaining. But I, on this occasion, found him sur­prising-in what he did not say. Discussion was permitted, but no indication whether it was expected or merely tolerated; whether it was regarded as a right or an interruption. NI" information was given to the audience upon the subject, or I should have asked the lecturer for the expression of some additional opinion beyond what he vouchsafed. Mr. Birrell began by remarks upon the Sermon upon the Mount, and told us it contained precepts which the common sense of mankind regarded as absurd and impracticable. I should like to have asked whether Mr. Birrell did not think it a great misfortune that one regarded as a Divine Teacher should have brought morality into contempt by putting forth precepts which the world must ignore if society is to exist. Bishop Magee, in a famous speech, held them to be impracticable, and defended his view. At the conclusion of Mr. Birrell's lecture he extolled Christ as the flawless, unsurpassed, transcendent, ethical teacher of mankind; but as so many other speakers, in pulpits and on platforms, do this, it did not strike me as strange, nor did I think it seeming or true. My surprise came in later. His subject was City Morality. As I had never heard of it, I was very desirous of learning in what it consisted. Mr. Birrell said that the morality of the city accepted the principle that, in commerce, it is justifiable in the seller to withhold any infor­mation which the buyer could find out for himself. How can an ordinary buyer find out whether food, or drugs, or cloths, are adulterated j whether there is shoddy in his coat, or pasteboard

under the soles of his boots, or whether colours will not fade; and a thousand things from which nothing but honesty and candour in the seller can save the purchaser? The motto of the <:ity, Mr. Birrell said, was" Let the buyer beware of the seller " . This seemed to me the motto of knaves; and I told the Inter­national Co·operative Congress in Paris, the other day, that this motto implied that behind every counter there probably stood a knave. The tradesman behind the counter may be an honest man, and often is, who would not cheat you by his speech, but he may by his silence, This is competitive morality. Mr. Birrell did not seem to be aware that there was a large commercial house in the city- the Leman Street Branch of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, whose business transactions amount now to nearly a million a month-whose principle it is to make known to the purchaser anything known to the vendor which the purchaser ought to know before he buys. This rule is in the laws of all Co-operative Stores. Why should the morality of city gentlemen be lower than that of working-men <:o-operators? Mr. Birrell knows well the law of City Morality. In answer to an enquiry I made to him, by letter, after the lecture, he took trouble very courteously-as is his wont-to explain to me the decision of judges in this matter. Judges, however, sometimes think a law is bad, and say so. Mr. Birrell explained to his audience the rules of city morality by which we were all instructed . But my surprise was that he uttered no word against the commercial morality of fraud by silence. Is it not the very business of an ethical lecturer, speaking in the name of an ethical society, to show us- not only what is, but what ought to be? If an ethical lecturer does not do this, who is likely to do it, and to whom are we to look for the lessons which shall impart honesty to Commerce and raise it above the ethics of War? G. J. HOLYOAKE.

THEISM AND AGNOSTICISM.

MR. CLARENCE SEYLER'S criticism of a lecture on "Gnosties and Agnostics", delivered by me at South Place, affords a favourable opportunity of supplementing the necessarily meagre treatment which I was able to give to a matter of the most pro­found importance. Before offering any reply to the criticism in question, I should like to say that I recognise in it the true tone and temper of the philosophic student, and that the writer has successfully reproduced not only the mind, but also the manner, of the master whom he delights to follow. Whether we follow Mr. Spencer or not, the spolia opima of that trans­cendent champion of Science entitle him to the respect, I had almost said the reverence, of every thinking man. He is the one philosopher now in this world who stands forth as

the author of a system which expresses, in accurate terms of the now universally recognised key of knowledge, all the problems raised by the knowable . Here, I take it, "the judgment of the world is secured" to him . But, it is difficult, or rather impossible, to a void the conviction that he has given us an ambiguous system. It may be interpreted on the Negative and Materialistic side, or on the Positive and Rational side. Since the recrudescence of the Monistic philosopy, which Kant proved not to have killed, but only scotched, Spencer has necessarily been interpreted in a Materialistic sense. But there is, none the less, another side, and it has led the author to give ambiguous answers to two fundamental questions, to wit, those of Personality and a Personal Deity. Students of the Synthetic Philosophy will not need any further reference to the former of these questions after I have explained carefully what I mean with regard to the latter.

In the first place, then, Mr. Seyler rightly asserts that I detect" theistic implications", in the" negative attributes" with which Mr. Spencer endows his "Unknowable". I do so, because those attributes, though expressed, owing to the poverty of language, in negative terms connote in the highest degree positive realities. The hands may be those of Esau, but the voice is the genuine utterance of Jacob. Thus, to say that the Supreme Power, external to, and independent of, all phenomena, is " infinite" and" eternal" is to make two most positive asser­tions, namely, that It is actually without limits of any sort, and, next, that It positively has existed in the Supreme Autonomy of Its Being for ever, and that It will endure for ever, in other words that It is a self-originated Entity, boundless in the duration of Its existence, and illimitable in the Exercise of Its attributes.

Aristotle says our knowledge of the First Cause is three­fold: positive, negative, and eminent. That is, we discover reasons for affirming of It such positive excellencies as involve no imperfection, for denying of I t any human limitation, and (most important of all), for asserting that It possesses in a transcendent degree, utterly removed from any mode associated with our experience, any attributes we may assign to It . This last, or Eminent, Knowledge of the Divine is the outcome of the recognition that God is, as the Platonists expressed it, "?TaVTWV BI.UL<; KaL 7raVTWV 'acpatp£uL<;, "the affirmation and negation of everything, i.e., that He is everything, and yet, in another sense, nothing, for nothing adequately represents Him; in other words, as I said, after Pascal, He is "infinitely incom­prehensible ". Wherefore, Theism is careful to affirm that any attribute it ascribes to the Deity is not, as Mr. Seyler suggests, an "apotheosis characteristic of the human mind-an image exaggerated and distorted by reflexion in the skies", but a

description, faint and unworthy, of a Reality which may, indeed, be known to exist, but never comprehended. In fact, just as Mr. Spencer hesitates to ascribe" Personality" to the Great Cause, not because it exceeds, but because it is immeasurably inferior to the awful truth-so is Theism eager to explain that in all it affirms it recognises how infinitely short it falls of the Being whose Essence passeth all knowledge.

Now, if Mr. Spencer is justified by his limited reason in discovering the non-phenomenal" Energy" which is positively without any limits whatsoever, that is, if he may legitimately recognise an Eternal Force, why may I not affirm with Lord Bacon an Eternal Mind? "I hac;! rather", says the Master of the ew Learning, " believe all the fables of the Talmud and the Koran than that this Universe is without a Controlling Mind." 1 Come, which is the more conspicuous in this wilder­ness of worlds, Force or Mind? To the undisciplined man Nature may spell Force, but to the philosopher she is a revela­tion, overpowering in its intensity, dazzling in its radiance, of unbroken law, and law is "an ordination of reason". Else, whence the glories of scientific discovery in this 19th century; whence the method and consistency of Evolutionary Doctrine, the logical coherence of the ynthetic Philosophy itself? If Reason is not in ature it could never have been described, and if it is unquestionably the very soul of things, subtle and pene­trating as the light, equally dominant with Force and Power, then, if the intelligence of man is irresistibly driven to conclude an Eternal Force, why not an Eternal Mind?

"Ah! but that is anthropomorphic," protests Mr. Seyler. Really, the word anthropomorphic is fast becoming as "blessed" and "comforting" as Mesopotamia. Surely, if I am an offender, Mr. pencer should be put in the dock with me. Whence is his idea of Force gathered, but from himself?2 It is his own experience which enables him to interpret the forces at work in the Universe as forces, or exercises of power. To borrow, therefore, such an idea, for the supreme investiture of the Unknowable, from himself and Nature, is precisely the offence with which his disciples roundly charge the Theistic philosophy. But, more than this, our anthropomorphism is of a far more refined and spiritual type, for, whereas Mr. Spencer's is borrowed frmY! the very lowest attributes which man shares with the savage, the panther and the blizzard, ours is taken from that whereby man is able to erect himself above himself and be­come, in Darwin'S phrase, "the crowning glory of the Universe". Unless, therefore, we are to hold our tongues altogether, a garland culled from the flowers of the best men's minds would seem a

I .. Essay on Atheism." 2 Mr. Seyler quotes the sentence from the" First Principles " , in which Mr

Spencer acknowledges the fact.

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more suitable offering at the shrine of the Unknown ;:p;td Un­knowable than a string of ·titles- borrowed from that brute strength, which is the commonest, because the lowest, attribute discoverable in Nature. The truth of 'the matter is that all this talk about anthropomorphism would be suitable if addressed to the geniuses presiding in Little Bethel, but irrational when suggested of a Theistic philosophy, such as is embodied in the Metaphysics of Aristotle, or-to come to modern day.s-the "Study of Religion" of James Martineau. Can we soberly conceive Aristotle ignorant of the l1mits of human intelligence­the man who actually taught us how to think? To put the question is to answer it. No, we are constrained to talk of the Ultimate Cause in terms of the human, if we are to talk about jt at all. With all his anxiety to purify himself of the contagion, Mr. Spencer is as infected as anyone of us.

And, if these things be so, I imagine the generality of men will continue to think it positively" unthinkable "-as Mr. Spencer would put it-that "the unquestionably intelligible should proceed from the unquestionably unintelligent". The con­tradictory proposition would be flat Materialism, whether the original statement be a survival of anthropomorphism, " undis­ciplined" or otherwise. lust as Mr. Spencer would say: Unless the "Ultimate Cause 0 all things" be Force, nothing could exist, so I say, Unless the First Being be Mind, there never could have been order in the Universe which proceeds from It. Let a blind" Force, Infinite and Eternal" as you hke, energise everlastingly, I state it, as the first deduction from the canons of thought, that it could never have produced a Cosmos. To .assert the opposite is not to reason, but to ramble. It seems to me, therefore, indisputable that Mr. Spencer's admissions com­mit him logically to a philosophical Theism or they commit him to nothing. What is the" Unknowable" about which he knows so much and so little?

And, there is one more word, though after what has been written, perhaps I need scarcely say it. \Vhen I spoke of the "God Who is for ever Reason ", with Thomas Hill Green, the very last suspicion I had was that I was laying myself open to the cbarge of ascribing limitations and imperfections to the First Mind . And, the same holds good, analogously, of volition . Of course, reason nleans discltysltS, the progress from the known to the unknown . But, could anyone think of the" omma Sapienza" of Dante as syUogising? No, just as Spencer removes all limitation and imperfection from his Force, -vainly endeavouring to purge it of that dread thing which shall be nameless at this late stage-making it "Infinite" and "Eternal ", even so, do I protest against any thing like disClf,YSUS <Jr syllogisms being associated with the Great Intelligence . If I ventured on any simile which might explain the intuitive knowledge of the "All-Knowing ", I should say that as we

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apprehend necessary truth, such, e.g., as " The whole is greater than the part ", or, the principle of contradiction, "A thing cannot be and not be at the same time", so does the Infinite Mind intuitively and simultaneously know all. But I am pierced with a sense of my hopeless inadequacy to express myself about the Eternal Mind. \Vith Gregory of old I protest that I am stammering while I seem to talk : Balblttientes resonamlts divina . I make no effort to explain. I am content to know the Great Existence, and to bow before its Presence.

Aye, for the Knowledge of God is the Cause of Things. It is not with Him as with us. We know things because they are: they are because He kllows them. They are true to the archetypal ideas in the Mind of the Eternal Artificer, and hence Kepler could say when he had at last discovered the secret of planetary movement, "God, I thank Thee, I think Thy thoughts again"! This is the explanation-complete and final -of the reign of law in this mighty Universe of things. It, in its stupendous whole, as in its minutest part, is ever under the gaze of the Eternal, because it ever was a content of His Consciousness, and hence the words that no sparrow falleth to the ground without the knowledge of the Supreme Mind are nothing but the statement of the scientific fact that law is an Omnipresent, ever-pervading element of the universal frame; and law, I again repeat, is nothing but the expression of Reason .

Mr. Spencer's philosophy will, I believe, prove a landmark in the history of thought, not for any original discovery asso­ciated with his name, but because he, the first man who has expressed to us the Knowable in terms of Evolution, has at the same time repudiated the purely negative teaching of his age so far as to definitely assert the existence of a non-phenomenal Power to which we ourselves and all things owe our existencp.. The question which the next fifty years will settle is this: Is Mr. Spencer to be interpreted in the sense of Schopenhauer and his" Will ", or of Hartmann and the" Unconscious ", or in the sense associated with that form of Rational Philosophy known as Theism? I believe there is a reaction now going on in favour of such Rationalism, and that Spencer was the harbinger of it, and that there "may be some standing here who will see the Kingdom of God".

W. R . WASHINGTON ULLIVAN.

SCIE CE A D FEELING. A SOUTH PLACE READING.

FOR reasons some of which are good, there has existed in all ages of culture a certain distrust of the spirit of calculation, of the spirit of reason in fact, not only as applied to the things of religion, but as applied to matters of moral impulse, of secular

feeling, of sympathetic action . There is a common tendency to esteem the first movements of an un reflecting enthusiasm, and to look askance at those who criticise or oppose it, or seek to chill it. It was thus that religionists of the past insisted on their followers becoming as little children; and saw in the wisdom of babes and sucklings the truest inspiration.

In many directions this faith in impulse has been shaken and chastened by the progress of critical thought, so that one of the commonest of benevolent impulses, that of almsgiving, has been in large measure put under surveillance, not only by those who are very ready to suffer such a check, but by those who undergo it with reluctance. But even in that regard some teachers, poets, and others, protest against the calculating spirit; and in other matters they protest still more loudly. In par­ticular, impulses of generous indignation, pointing to vehement sympathetic action, are felt to be their own justification, and cool scrutiny of them is stigmatised as heartless and selfish. It would indeed be ill for us if we ever learned to contemn generous impulses as such; and much of the denunciation of the processes of objection to such impulses is justified. The science which cavils at them sometimes turns out to be falsely so called; and in any case the caviller against enthusiasm may be wrong. But then, so may be the enthusiasm; and this is apt to be the more serious form of error, for enthusiasm may do a hundred harmful things while criticism does but argue whether things should be done. Ignorance, the moralist tells us, ignorance with a firkin of oil and a match, carl flavour its one day's roast with the burnt souls of many generations. And ignorance is very prone to enthusiasm. What is needed, ethically speaking, is that enthusiasm should be ready, in its own interest, to subject itself to every test that criticism can offer, whereafter, if it can still hold on its path, it has the power of discipline added to the power of impulse. But men seem to fear that if they get into the way of scrutinising their every enthusiasm they will impoverish their spirits and lose some of their best joys, as if the glow of a truly f'enerous impulse were a fortuitous and evanescent thing, inca­pable of bearing up against critical handling.

For those who harbour such fears, there is a reassuring lesson in a notable fact of intellectual history. Of all arts and delights cultivated by men, perhaps the most ethereal, the most subtle, the most immeasurable, perhaps, too, the most precious, is that of music. And yet this ethereal and elusive delight, in its most exquisite form, is made possible to us only by the most rigorous preliminary study of conditions, of materials, of methods, of principles, and by the strictest fidelity to rule and measure, even to a hair's breadth of exactitude. If from the closest discipline of impulse and emotion there thus emerges the most ethereal joy, can we not conceive that from the closest discipline of impulse in other fields there may emerge, not a lessened

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'facultyof beneficent moral emotion, but a far greater? Music <is but the chastening, controlling, and perfecting of impulses to 'utterance which in the savage yield rude and dissonant clamour, 'speaking rather of the animal than of the man. But all our main impulses to action, above all the impulses to strife, derive equally from the savage; and some of them to-day are hard to distinguish in quality and in operation from ·his. Then it is that they have not been made subject to analysis, to discipline, to rigorous comparison .

And on this view we end by feeling that, as the music of our 'orchestras is to that of the primitive man, as we may know him 'in the contemporary savage, so our whole polity may yet be to 'his: that uy loving zeal those phases of our life, those collective activities, which now keep us nearest to him and stamp us of his kind, may after all be so transformed as to make our lives yield in all relations even the same degree of contrast. It needs, for that, that multitudes should bring to the vast art of social life the same eager patience and un tiring devotion, the same sub­mission to inward discipline, as have been given through so many ages to the arts of expression. And this is surely not an inconceivable thing. The ideal is indeed a high and arduous {)ne. But if it be not worth living and striving for, then none is, 'among all the aspirations and activities of men.

JOHN M. ROI3ERTSON.

THE SOUTH PLACE SOCIETY 0 THE THRESHOLD OF ITS ECOI D CENTURY.

By CLARENCE H . SEYLER.

The Need of the Day. THE OpInIOn is sometimes expressed that the only proper and legitimate function of outh Place in the world of thought and religion is to act as an external critical influence upon the Church, and thus to a~sist in its insensible reformation and re­adjustment to the spirit of the times.

But such a view is a confusion of the incidental with the essential, and indicates a lack of perception of the all-absorbing need of the time and of the free thinking world in particular.

The religions of the past were superstructures, consisting of rules of conduct, rites, ceremonies, and modes of worship, based \lpon a mixed foundation of supernatural beliefs and social needs . The work of outh Place, assisted by advancing know­ledge, was the explicit destruction of the Christian superstructure, and the gradual and implicit, because less consciously recognised, substitution of a scientific belief in " law" and" evolution" for the supernatural groundwork on which the old edifice had been

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erected. But, when this process had been accomplished, there remained, and still remains, ·the task of raising upon this new basis a sounder and more serviceable fabric-a body of prin­{;iples of life and conduct. The first century of work at South Place was, therefore, more definitely destructive than consciously {;onstructive-a period of definite Negation, and of incomplete and, as yet, incoherent Affirmation. Principles of action, con­formity to ' which is alone capable of guiding man safely through perplexity and evil to permanent welfare, are essentially positive

. ana interdependent propositions-and no number of isolated nega­tiODS can take theIr place or serve the same purpose. Their discovery and precise and definite formulation for application to every department of human activity in the furtherance of welfare, is the life-work of this and the next generations :--to learn definitely how to live and make life healthy, strong, efficient, full, beautiful. and happy. It is a constructive labour, involving deep analysis, scruplllous definition, careful and sel£­consistent co-ordination, bold generalisation, broad synthesis, constant verification and revision, and most cautious experi­mentation-a task that will tax the powers of our race to the utmost; that claims from every rational thinker his most strenuous endeavour and devotion; and upon the successful accomplishment of which depends the fate of our children and childrens' children.

In this supreme effort to meet the most vital needs of man at the present juncture, South Place should bear a leading and honourable part; should clearly recognise the duty, and lend itself in a whole-hearted way to its performance-unless, indeed, it be content to sink into dilettantism and insignificance, and to prove itself unfaithful to its traditions in the service of humanity.

To assist in an efficient manner in the search for leading and subsidiary principles of Ethics, Sociology, Politics, International Relations, and Education, is one of the most essential services South Place could render our age. Even more imperative is the primary and pressing duty of ministering to like spiritual and intellectual needs of its own members, who have yet to gain a clear, scientific, definite knowledge of such principles as I have referred to. And tbis must be done, not only for the guidance of their own lives, but also in order that they may know how to do their duty as citizens and as the progenitors of future members of the civilised world.

By living its own life faithfully and earnestly; by really taking to heart its old motto, "To thine own self be true"; by freely thinking its own thought, and sturdily formulating and re-criticising it at every step; by co-ordinating the best it can tender conscious to itself; by making that" best" self-consistent and consistent with fact and the requirements of a completer life; South Place will, at the ·same time, be incidentally in· fluencing the Church. And, by calling in to its aid and attract-

go

ing the rational world outside its own gates, it would not merely assist itself, but also help the forward movement of modern thought and reform outside.

We are in the midst of a transition-stage of Rationalism, in which progressive work is too largely dependent upon individual and isolated endeavour. The Freethought World, and South Place with it, has yet to learn the supreme value of systematic collective effort for a closer approximation to unification of thought; and it is the duty of those who perceive this lack of insight - a defect which has almost grown into an intellectual vice-to presistently and forcibly point it out.

Fellowship is as necessary for the criticism and clarification of thought as it is for strengthening the higher emotions and sympathies, for supporting courage and stimulating energy. Only co-operation in thought and discussion can complete the critical elimination of prejudice lmd error-can bring to view every facet of a truth in its relation to all others. And this fellowship is equally helpful in the flowering out and expansion of the emotions. So long ago as in 1878, Colonel Higginson, speaking at the "General Conference of Liberal Thinkers", held at South Place, referred to that class of freethinkers, which he found so numerous in England, viz., "of those who, living in the midst of all opportunities of contact, are excluded from it, not from necessity or tyranny, but from over­sensitiveness of temperament, and from too great predominance of the literary tone in their minds; people who while knowing that they are useful, feel also that they do not need contact with others, when really they need it more than anybody else," who are not aware of "the amount of benefit they lose by such isolation" .,

If this may rightly be characterised as a fault in cultured freethinkers, i.t may at the same time be admitted that it is largely the outcome of the conditions under which the new thought has been forcing its way towards the light. It is due to the same facts that have led so many hard-headed thinkers to manifest a lack of resthetic perception and feeling in the immediate past. The intense, laborious, and, mostly, bitter struggle for liberation from the fetters of superstition has necessitated, on the part of many sceptics, the devotion of so much undivided energy to purely logical and intellectual efforts, that they have largely neglected the restbetic and social sides of life, and acquired the habits of the solitary thinker. It is, in reality, but a phase in the development of modern thought, which will pass-is, perhaps, already beginning to fade, like that other abnormal and transitory wave of sadness and pessimism which has frequently been associated with Rationalism. These

,,, Report of a General Conference of Liberal Thinkers." (Triibner and Co., 1878) . p . 56.

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blemishes will yield as soon Cl:s the newer views of life, of its conditions, outlook and possibilities, have settled themselves into a more consistent, well-balanced, better formulated and tested system of principles, as the result of an approach to a consensus of co-ordinated opinions, arrived at by patient, definite sifting of evidence and the ascertainment of the laws of nature and human life.

Isolated thinkers, like Herbert Spencer and others, have gladly devoted an entire life to the formulation and co-ordina­tion of definite views on every important department of human activity; but no mtited attempt has been made by the free­thought world to test, criticise and weigh the divergent systems of its modern seers-to "gather mind to mind" in "wistful search for harmony"; to "read the mid most truth betwixt extremes"; to help men to "a gospel that is not a lie, nor will be proved one in tomorrow's light".'

If the members of our Society desire to make the best of this life, in which the whole of their interest now centres, for themselves and their successors, they must put order into their thought and dispel the mists of vagueness which are the accom­paniments of comparative ignorance; and when this is done, and only then, can they presume to exercise a healthy and helpful influence upon the rest of the community. And, again, if the redemption of the freethought of this metropolis from helpless disunion and isolation be a great" worth while", in the accomplishment of which such an institution as South Place is peculiarly fitted to assist, its members must begin by taking to heart the truth enunciated by Mr. Con way, and which applies as strongly to a Society as to the individual, viz., that" no man greatly moves men by his doubts, but by his convictions" . They must sweep aside the groundless fear of collective endea­vour at precision of thought and statement, by recognising the suicidal and irrational position of a Society which, whilst empha­sising the supreme value of the pursuit of Truth, should adopt an attitude implying that, whatever truth may be discovered which may justly be maintained by the illdividual, its declaration by two or more gathered together in its name constitutes an injury to mankind and to themselves. And yet this is the position taken up by those who object to any definite formulation of principles at South Place, on the ground that it would amount to the creation of another" sect", to the erection of another" creed ", and would operate as a brake upon the progressiveness of a Society engaged in such a work.

On the next occasion I hope to say another word on this subtle fallacy .

1 Quotations from Miss L. Bevington's .. Key-Notes ".

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"MUSICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS,'" BY ELIZA FLOWER.

THE readers of the Sot1TH PLACE MAGAZINE have already had before them extracts from the notice of this work reprinted from the Westminster Review of October, r831.

I accept fully the praise given in that review of Miss Flower's earliest work. I recollect, too, the delight which her songs gave at the time to all who had the good fortune to hear them .

But all this appreciation was in private circles. There, where vocal display is not expected, can be felt the full beauty (If the melodies, and of accompaniments which prefigure the success the composer aftenvards obtained in concerted vocal music.

The music always corresponds to the feeling excited by the words, but those of the songs, which in the novel are sung by men, are not always adapted to the voice which their character requires . If they were sung in public the key would sometimes have to be changed, in order to give them their proper effect . But this will in no way prevent their being heard with pleasure, if sung in a drawing.room, especially by any lady with a mezzo­soprano voice. The songs now separately published have been chosen in order to accommodate these ladies, when singing in their own character.

No. Il, "Annat Lyle's Ballad," is an air as simple as it is affecting, and presents no difficulty .

0.9, "Rebecca's Hymn," is simple but grand, and not going above E, is well suited to a lady with a strong middle voice.

No. 3, "Lucy Ashton's Song," is the song of a young lady who" can sing both high and low" . The effects in the low notes are not important, but there is a delightfully playful note near the end which tries some singers, and which a composer bent on a commercial success would have altered, but to the detriment of the effect.

0.2, Rose Bradwardine's song, "St. Swithin's Chair," is one of the most interesting in the set. Good low notes are desirable for it, but as they are meant to be !:ung sotto voce, their weakness will not destroy the effect of the narrative.

The remaining two songs, "Meg Merri)ies' Chant", a song for a contralto of limited range, and "The Death of Madge Wildfire", for a voice enjoying all the best qualities both of con­tralto and mezzo-soprano, might be sung with effect at a public concert. I hope to return to this subject on some future

'Republished from tJ.:! Edition of I831. Price Ss. Novella, Ewer and Co., Berner's Street.

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occasion when these songs Il)..ay have been hea rd at South Place, as their character varies considerably from those I have mentioned, in that they possess a more powerful and dramatic character than the others.

C . D. COLLET.

A FABLE .

IN times when men thought little and knew less-when the sun scorched, and the rain fell on them by day, and at night they crept into hollow caves for shelter-they knew not the sweet glad face of the spirit of Human Love. That Love who is still but as a half-grown maiden, who steals unseen among the haunts of men, and bears with her many coils of silver cord (and the threads of it are called "tenderness" and "sympathy"); and whomsoever she encircles with the silver cord is drawn along with her, and his heart feels no more bitterness, but is full of joy and bravery to the end. Sweet Love they knew not, but the veiled, grey phantom, Fear, they knew; it stalked ever near them, its form was as familiar as the light of day. Once when the storms of heaven had descended, and the earth trem­bled, and the lightnings had rent the oaks, some gathered together and made them a fire upon the seashore to warm themselves; and the grey-cloaked phantom Fear passed by, and threw into the fire a curious glittering substance. And when the ashes were cold, the men found it and marvelled; and they fashioned the stuff into a rude mirror which they hung aloft where all might see. And the mirror had the gift of reflecting the souls of those who gazed upon it, though the makers knew this not . And when the savage came and looked into the mirror it gave back no light; and when the mean man looked into it, it grew black and clouded . But when the good man looked, it gave back the radiancy of his own soul in beau tiful rainbow colours and changing opal-lights, so that his heart leapt within him for joy. And time went on, and men enriched the mirror with precious gems, setting them in the frame, so that it became a store of beauty; and many good men came and spent much time absorbed in ecstasy before it, and went away comforted .... .

And ages passed, and it came about that there were none but good men to look into the face of the mirror. And Love, whose wings had grown wider and stronger than she knew, now went always about with Knowledge; and one day, the tip of one of her pinions brushed the mirror as she and Knowledge flew by together, and the glass fell and was shattered. And it was found that there was no longer any need of it, for the good could see all the beautiful rainbow colours and the glory in one another's eyes.

E. J. TRO U P.

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South Place Discussion Society.-A very interesting paper on '"The Catholic Revival" was read before the Discussion Society by Mr. Washington Sullivan, on Vvednesday evening, February loth, Mr. J. Hallam acting as chairman. The popularity of the lecturer and his subject was evinced by the unusually good attendance on this occasion; but as Mr. Sullivan dealt mainly with the purely historical view of Catholicism, very little con­tentious matter arose, and consequently but little discussion. Mr. Wallis Mansford and Mr. H . Crossfield spoke, and two visitors (Mr. Smith and Mrs. Donne) contributed some remarks; but those who regretted the absence of debate could not but congratulate themselves on having heard so able an exposition of the Catholic situation .

Sunday Afternoon Lectures.- The following lecturers are announced for the Sunday afternoons during March, in con­tinuance of the course on the Britis~l Empire;-

Sir Hugh Law, G.C.M .G., K.C.M.G., wbo in 1849 was Secretary to the Governor of Labuan, and Polic~ Magistrate there from 1859 to 1877. He has administered the government of Labnan five times at intervals from 1855 to 1860.

Muncherjee M. Bhownaggree, C.I.E., M.P., who is the son of a Bombay merchant. He was educated in Bombay, became a journalist, and subsequently head of the Bhaunagar State Agency and a judicial councillor. In 1885 he received the ilver Medal of the ociety of Arts.

J. R. Cowell, ].P., who has for many years represented Ramsay in the House of Keys, where he is the leader of the Progressive or Non­conformist party, is the chairman of the Board of Advertisement, one of the Manx Government departments_

Dr. James Cantlie, who was in practice for some years in Hong Kong where he founded a medical hospital.

Ramblers' Notes.-Among the interesting places to which conducted visits will be made by the Ramblers during March, will be the following ;-

THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE.- The State Papers and Public Records from the different Government departments are preserved here, among others the Doomsday Book in two parchment volumes. The Papers were previously stored at the Chapter House (West­minster), the Tower of London, and other publie offices.

THE GENERAL POST OFFlcE.-Designed and built by Sir R. mirke. The number of letters, newspapers, etc., passing through

the Post Office last year in the United Kingdom was over three thousand millions.

THE GENERAL TELEGRAPH OFFICE.-This Office was erected in 1870-73, at a cost of £450,000 (Mr. ] . Williams, Architect), and con­tains 500 instruments, and has four steam engines for sending messages to other offices. Over seventy millions telegrams were sent in one year, six millions in London alone.

THE MSS. ROOM AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.-This department of the Museum contains MSS. and State Papers that have been acquired by purchase or gift; those from the different Government Offices are kept at the Public Record Office. The European Collection ranges from the 2nd Century before Chnst.

THE ELGIN ROOM, BRITISH MUSEUM. - It contains the Greek

95

Marbles, purchased by Lord Elgin in 1801 from the Turkish Govern. ment. The Marbles consist of the pediments, frieze, and 17 metopes from the Temple of Pallas Athena built on the acropolis of Athens about 440 B.C.

Full particulars concerning these and other visits will be found in the Monthly List.

South Place Sunday Popular Concerts.-Among recent concerts one deserving special notice was given on January 31st, being devoted to works by Schubert in commemoration of the centenary of that composer's birth. His famous Octet for Stringed and Wind Instruments was performed; and Mr. Plunket Greene gave an intensely dramatic rendering of the" Erl King ", and sang several other of Schubert's songs. Probably the Chapel has never been so densely packed as on this occasion, and it is gratifying to learn that the happily expressed appeal for support made from the platform by Mr. Theodore Wright met with a hearty response from the audience.

Monthly Soirees.-Tbe March soiree will be of great interest, as papers are to be read by members of the "Healthy and Artistic Dress Union". The subjects will be illustrated by photographs, dresses, etc.

------------------KINDRED SOCIETIES.

Union of Ethical Societies.-The Uni-on has successfully in­augurated the McIntyre Ethical Library. Leighton Hall was crowded on Thursday, Feb. 11, when C. Schwann, M.P., presided at the opening, and speeches were delivered by Leslie Stephen, J. H. Muirhead, M .A., and J. A. Hobson, M .A. A printed catalogue is in course of preparation. The East London Ethical Society has arranged a course of lectures by Dr. Stanton Coit, on "The Labour MO\'ement: the Mental and Moral Causes of its Failure to Organise the Masses", to be delivered at the Bromley Vestry Hall on six consecutive Monday even ­ings, beginning March 8. The lectures will be free, and efforts are being made to enlist the co· operation of all political parties and clubs. The chair will be taken at 8. IS p.m. on each occasion . At Libra Road the Sunday proceedings during the month will be as follows : March 7, T. Okeyon " Dante"; 14, Miss H. Rea on "Our Movement"; 21, Miss ValIance will open a discussion on "How to Judge Moral Acts"; 28, Quarterly General Meeting. The West London Ethical Society will hold a childrens Ethical class at Kensington Town Hall, on Sunday mornings, at II .IS, beginning March 7. An adults' Ethics class will be held weekly in the afternoon of some week-day to be decided upon . The Quarterly Social Meeting will be held probably on Tuesday, March 28, at Kensington Town Hall. Dr. Stanton Coit will lecture every Sunday during the month.

Humanitarian League. - The series of humanitarian two­penny pamphlets will be continued during 1897. The first for the year, "The Humanities of Diet" (No. 23 in the series), a

96

reprint of H. S. Salt's article in the Fortnightly Review, will be followed by an essay on Capital and Corporal Punishment, by Mrs. Bradlaugh Bonner. It is intended that subsequent pam­phlets shall deal with the Lunacy Laws and the Game Laws.

The Lantern Lectures for children, organised by the League, have been in great demand during the winter months.

It was intended to hold a Meeting of the Society, after the service on the 14th ult., to express its views on the Government Education Bill. After a few remarks, however, from Dr. Conway, and others, it was found that the time was too short to allow of any adequate dis­cussion of the measure, and the meeting was therefore adjourned. The General Committee have now called a meeting of the members fm' Monday evening, the 8th inst ., at 7 o'clock, when it is to be hoped there will be a good attendance, as the question is of vital importance, antl South Place should take a prominent part in its discussion. Dr.

onway will be present, and Mr. J. Allanson Picton, Mrs. Bradlaugh Bonner, Mr. G. L. Bruce, M. L. S . B., Mr. Gould, and others, have been invited t o attend and speak.

We und erstand it is intended to hold a Sunday Evening Conference shortly, at South Place, on the ,. Ethics of Animal Rights", a subject which calls for the serious consideration of such a Society as ours, and one upon which there is a good deal of misconception.

NOTICES.- New Associate.-Turoer, R., 13 Drakefell Road, Nun­head, S.E.

Removal.-Atkinson, E . H., 21 Oxford Road, Ealing, W. _ At Homes.- Mr. and Mrs. Fairhall were .at bome to about sixty of

the children of South Place, at Armfield's Hotel, on the 6th ult.

We have to announce with much regret the death, on the 8th ulL, of Mrs. Offor, wife of Mr. George Offor, at Peak Hill Villa, Sydenham. Mrs. Offor was the mother of Miss Kathleen Grant, a member of our Choir.

By the death of Mr. T . Reed, L.C.C., at the age of 78, which took place on the 9th nlt ., London loses one of its prominent parochial politicians. He was long an active member of Marylebone Vestry, and also represented his parish on the London County Council. At one time Mr. Reed was a lI1emuer of South Place Chapel, and, we believe, was married to his first wile by vViIliam J ohnson Fox.

The next number of the MAGAZINE will contain articles hy Mrs. Bradlaugh Bonner, Mrs. Bridell Fox, and J. H. Muirhead, M.A.

The SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE is for sale on the bookstalls of the following Ethical Societies: The London Ethical Society, Essex Hall, Essex Street, Strand; The West London, at Kensington Town Hall; The South London, at the Masonic Hall, Carnberwell New Road; and The East London, Libra Road, Bow, E. It is also sold by the following booksellers: Messrs. Jones and Evans, Queen Street, Cheapside; Mr. F erris, 53, Finsbury Pavement; Mrs. Born, Il5· London 'Nail; Mr. Forder, Stoneclltter Street, E.C.; and Mr. W. Reeves, Fleet Street.

It is requested that all Literary Contributions be addressed to the Editor of the SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE, South Place Institute, South Place, Finsbury, E.C. Notes from Kindred Societies, Correspondence, Changes of Address, or other Notices for the next number of the Magazine, should he sent to the Editor not later than the 15th of the month.

Printed by A. BONN I!. R, t & 'Z Took's Court, Chancery Lane, London, E.C.

INSTITUTE SEASON TICKET. The G SCri(..~, available for lhl: entire Yl'ilf IH97. is now being issued, including:­

Monthly Soir(oes.-Fcbruary, March, April, Octob~r, November, Decemher. Discussion Society i\lcctings, Jauuary to Aprilr and October'lo December. Institute Lectures.-Octobcr to Deccmbt!f Saturday Afternoon ~aIlLblcs.----M:1rch to September, 1897; 2 Ramblers' Soir(-es; and

use of Lending' Library at the inclusive charge of 10S. 6d. Early application should be made to the Librarians or to the Hon. Secretary,

. \VAL!.Il'. MANS1'ORD, 53, Alders~ate Street, E.C. RAMBLERS' DANCES. NINTH SEASO N.

These will he held at Armfielu's Hotel, I South Place, on March 13th and 27th, 7 to 10.30 p.m. For funlu.:r parLic;utars, apply to the hon. sec., hliss S. T.\YI.o ,226 Hainault Road, Leytonstone.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON RAMBLES. The Eleventh Serit::s of Conducted Rambles to Studios. Chllrches. Museums, Collection!;,

Country Seats, Manuf,lctories, and other pI3~CS of interest In and near London, wit,1 c~m~ mence on Saturday, March 6th. Tlw follOWing have been arranged for March. ApphcatlOn for these and subsequent visits must be made 011 fOflT's which may be had ill the Library: -

Public Record Office' Gt.:ncrnI Post Officf.\ LirclIlation: Ditto, Central Telegraph; British ~Iuseum, ~IS;;. R'lom (conducted by Edward J. L. SCOtl 1>1.A.)· llritish Museum Library (conducted by John Macfdrlane ; The ~tudio of 1\1". trarrahle (President of Society of Lady Ani5ts); Gcncfdl Post Uffice, Circulation: Ditto, Central Telegraph; . he Studio of E. On slow "ord, R.A.; The Studio of G. l.fillyard ~\\'instcad, R.B.A.; Ea~t London \Vawrworks; Brill~h Musotll11, Greek Room (conducted by Dr. Waiter Leaf); 1:;. 11. Baylcy and Co., Fire E cape Works.

EVENING LECTURES. The above Lectures arc postponed until the autumu.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON FREE LECTURES ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE. March 7th.-Sir HUGII Low, G.C.~f.G. (L"" IIriti ,h Resident at Perak). Lecture XLV.­

I! British North Borneo ." (With Lantern Illustrations.) 14lh.-MuNCHEUJt-:E 1\[. BIIOWSUfoCRE£, C.l.E., M.P. Lecture XLV 1.-. • India from

an Industrial Point. of View." Ztst.-J. R. Cow,,~~, J P. PI ember of the lIouse of Keys), Lecture XLVII.-" Isle

of Man ." 28th.-Dr. jA"'_S CASTI.", (of Jlong Kong) Lecture XLV I 11·-" Hong Kong." (With

I antern Illustrations., An ORGAN RECITAL will be given each afternoon from 3.30 to ., o'clock. All seats free.

No collection. Doors opcn at 3.30. Lecture at ~ o'clock. HOII. Sec .. W. SIIEOWlttNG, 35, Osbaltlcston Road, Stoke Newington, N.

THE MONTHLY SOIREES. The next Soir6e will be held on Monday eveninlj, ~'arch 1St, when pap.'rs will be read

by members of the U Healthy and Artistic Dress Umon to, i1Iustratt!d by photos. dresses, etc. Mr. John Guppy will recite. Tca anu coffee, 7.30. Tickets, IS ; childr"n, IMlf.price.

Hon. 5("c., ~Irs. \V. COCt\UURN 68, Linthorpc l{o.td, !)l..1mford HiIl. N.

SUNDAY P O PULAR CO NCERTS. 250th South Place Concert next Sunday.

f~l~O!~~~~i~~ ;i~hs~~~ S~IJ ,bU B~I~!f~~~T~~~ .~~{1~I;e cC~~:'n1lt~~\i~{~I~~r~~ i~~~~de one or more of his compositiol1s in the programwe of each remaining conCert of the present season \cxcept on ~rarch .Sth).

The arran~ernents for March arc as follows:-March 7th -1"'I,,",,wt.lii.ts: Mrs. Fraucis Ralph, Messrs. Gerald Walenn, H. Krause,

and Herbert Walcllll; I?ocnli.\fs: Miss MlJricl Jieath and ~Jadame Annic Morlcy; A ccompmli.~/: Miss Kale Al1gUSW Davies. The programme will include Schumann's and Rbeinberger's Quartets for Piano and Strings.

March qth.-["'/""III,·"I.lltsl,: Madame Lily Henk"l, Mr. W. W. Cobhctt, Miss Id t Slamur, Herr F. Hartul.lg, Herr I lugo llUnefilr~t, Mr. A. J. Ptlltici<; Accompanist; Miss Kate Augusta l)nvt('s. Vowij,l: Mr. Wil"rid Cunliffe. The programme will include Schubert's .. Trout" Quintet for Piano and Strings, .!Od Stcrndale Benncu's Sextet for Piano and Strings.

March 2ISl.-l1Jst'·"'"flltnli~/s· Messrs. John Saunc1ers. Archibald Evans, Thomas Batty. Alfred j. Clements, and Willial1l C. !lann; I'oct/,isl: The programme will include Schubefl's String Quartct in D minor, and Mozart's String Quintet in D.

March 2-;th.-SCANDINAVIAN CONCERT. 11l1/"''''t'IIlaiis/s: ~li" jessie Grimson, ~1is!'; Annie Crimson, l\liss AIlIY Cril1lson, Miss Nt'lIic Grin~soll, Mr. S. D4:.Ul Crimson. Mr. Salll Grimsol'l, Master lIaro~d Crimson, and f\laster J<.obt'rt Griol1son; '''Oll,l'!;I: ~Jiss A~nes \rVitting . ..l ccomplll/~~t: Miss h:t.l1e Angusta Davil~s . The programme wil CJIlSiSl entirely ()r mnsic by Scandinavian composer:;, and will include Svclluscn's OClt:l for Four Violins, Two Violas, ano Two Violoncellos.

Doors open at 6'40. Concerts at 7 1'.111. Admission Free. Collection to defray expenses. lloll. Tlels.: r. FAlRIIAL!., J07, Hunhill Row, E.C. JI S ) ALI'RI- P J. CJIE'lEt\TS, '25, Camd('n Road, N.\V .

on. ees. t \V. F. f\rOI{IH;S~", H, Lcighlon rcscenl, Kentish Town, N.W.

S OUTH PLACE DISCUSSION SOCIETY. The Discussions for the 1110uth of March will be as follows:-Wednesday, March loth ... Old Age Pensions". Opened by J. F. O""SIIOTT (London

Reform Union). Chairman, E. Dollow. Wcdnesday,l\larch2Ith . .iI British I mperia l Policy." Opened by JIENRvCnOSSl'JEL.D.

Chair by il member uf the Council 11 British Empire League ". These Meetings will in future cotlltllt'nce punctually at 7.30 p.m. Free Discussion, in whIch

all those interested arc invited to Join. A11nual Subscription, IS., il1~lutlccJ in SClson tick(;l.-J·[o", Src.: t\lAuJ) llLAKI':, 3, \Vindsor fcrrdce, City Road, N.

DEBENTURE REDEMPTION FUND. Terminable Dcbentur~s. -The out;;lauding liability is now reduced to

£[,286,. Art :.tnr.l Bo k Sale. GiflS (\t hool~. music, pholo,.!r.q hs, Ne., arc now heing rc~

ccivcd for the Art and Book Sah~ which is flxt'Cl to take place on Tuesday and \Vcdncsday, .\fay 25-1h i11,d 2'llh, 1897. Speci, I :lttcmion is directed to tJ1C Boxes which have oeen fixed in the l't1I.r.lOCC lobbies of the ChapcllO faciiit:ltl: tho colll:clion of books for the :'\raY,sale:

E.:JII. Sa.: \VAT.I.IS ~IASSPORD, 53, Alder '~mc Street, City.

PUBLICATIONS.

The followillg amollgst other t"b1i(.lliollS tlrf 011 sale ill Ihe LibralY: Fourtcf'n "Waverley Musical Illustrations" 1 by ELllA FLOWER; Price Ss.; Nos. 2, 3, 5'

8, 9. and I I. sqlaratc, IS. each. "Pnine's VJritings ", Vol. [V, edited by Dr. COSWAV j gs. Sd . Paine's "Age of Reason " , edited by Dr. CON\VAY; 25. Sd. liThe Sacred Anthology," by Dr. CONWAV; 35 •

.. Thoughts and Aspirations of the Ages," compiled by Dr. W. C. COUPLANO; 7S.lld . •• Workers on their Industries"; IS. ud. " Religious Sy;;tems of tht: World"; 7~. lId. o. National Lif..! an:! Thought "; 25. 6d.

SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE . The Subscription to the i\.ragazinc for t2 months, post free, is 25. 6d., and it can be paid

in the Library, or sent to ERNEST A. eARR, 11011 . Scc. Hagw:ine Commit/t·t, Soutb Place lnstitutl~, ~oulh Place, Finsbury, H.C.

Sccrl'larit.'s ot kindn!d Soclctic1t, bookselkrs, and otlwrs willin.~ to ha\'e copies of the Ma~azinc on s:\.lc. can be sl1ppliecl on the usual lr:1dc terms by the publishers, A. and H. B. 130:\NF.H. J ano 2 Took's Court, Chanccn' l ant·, E.C.

LENDING LIBRARY. The Library is open to Subscribl'rS an!1 Season Ticket Holders. The Hon. Librarians

attend ~vcry Sunday morning at 10.30. nooks may also be obtained at the Monthly Soirt~es, (.ilh cr for rcference or honw realling. Calalol{l1cs C lJ1 hI'! ohtaillcrl in tlw Library, price 2d. ;\lcTllbers and olhel"s ha\'inl-! books thpy are willing to lend anI requcsted to kindly ·corn· municatc the Titles to onc of the lIon. Librarians, who will be gliul to make lhem known la USers of the Library.

11011. Lzbrarialls J R. CARTER, 67. Cromwcll AVl'ntH\ ITig-h.!al~, N. )rrs. J. S''':lit~I,ORS. rhorJ11ci~h, Cavcncli:-Jll Road, Harrittgay, N.

HONORARY OFFICERS. Trc.ltltl'fr: \V. CROWI)t-:R, 271, EVl~ring Roa.i, Upp(~r Clapton. ~.E, Sl!cr~I:1Yy,' :\£r5. C. FCbrclIl-:H, ~'IIl't1. 38, :\£aI10, R.;ad, Stamford HiB, N.

BuildIng ...

Concert

Secrt'lanes oj Sub-Committers. HEIWEHT ;\£A~SFOR}). 53 . • \IUl-!rsgale Street, E.C.

! AI~Fln:n J. CLI~.tgN1·S, 25. C:unuen Road, N.\V. , \V. F. :\IoItRl-;sSY, 8, Lci.~htan Cresccnt, Kentish Town, N.W.

Debenture Redemption WALl-IS M\NSFORn, 53, Alders~atc Street, E.C. Decoration . ~liss HUN"I. li, Thistlcwaitc Road, C1apton, N.R. Discussion... Mrs. f\1,\l:n BL,\KE, 3, \Vindsor Terrace. City Road, N. Finance C. R. BRACE, 42, Manor Ruad, Stamford Hill, N. Girl's Club Miss E. 1'1II1'>'ON, 5, Park Place, llppcr Baker Street, N.W. House Miss JOllN~ON. J{)'2, Amhurst Road, Hackney, N.E. Institute I W .Sm:owRING, 35· O.baldeslOn Ra,ld, Stoke Ncwington, N.

J. IIAJ.I.A". IM, SI. ~1.lrk·s Cresccnt, Regent's Park. Library M 19nzine

Members

Music Season Ticket Soiree Sunday Morning

Lecture ... Sunday School ...

F. FOROHAM FnEclIET, 18, Emperor's Gale, S.W. EI<NEST .\. CARR, 9', Thurleston Road, West Norwood, S .E.

\ ~lrs. T. DIXON, 69, T"llin~toll Park, N. I PAUl- 11. 11(01), la, Fil'lding Road, Bedford Park, W.

E. !\r RIUSS, '1.7. Grcsham Road, Brixton. WAl-I.1 ~f'NSFORO, 53, Aldersgatc Street, E.C. Mrs. \V. COCfo;UUtlN. ~, Linthorpc Road, Stamford Hill, N.

I W. RAWLINGS, 406, Mare Street, Hackney, N .E.

Mf' C. R. BRACE, 42, ~Ianor Road, Stamforcl Hill, N.

DIS/nct Secretaries (Members' Comllliltce). E.C. N.E. N, N.W. S .W.

Mrs. T. FAIRHALL, ]07, Bllohi11 Row. Miss lOHNsoN, 102, Arnhurst Road. ~Irs. W. J. REVNOLUS, 61, I'alrholt Road, Stoke Ncwinj:(ton. Mrs. P. TAIT, 20, L:unl>oll" Road, S. Hampstead, N W "frs ..... G. FEN TON. 30, Thurlcigh Rond, \Vand"wonh Common ~Irs. PERCV HIC .... SON. 32, Fop~lanc Road, Earl'5 Court.

S.E. 11. G ~Ioluus, 42, Gcorgo Lane, Ll'wishalTl. .• J.T. R. CAIt"l'I·.lt. 67, Crolllw('ll Avenue, lIi):thgatc. N.

Llbr .. lTl3.ns... ... f ).lrs J. SKI':I.I.OH~, Thorlllci~h. Ca\'cnciish Road, Harrin~ay, N.

Organist H. S\IJTW WUJS11·:H., 132, Call1den Sll"tet , N .W.

The l:!uilding is to be let for Meetings, etC'. Forms of application may be had of the Caretaker, 11, South Place, E.C. ; and wh"n filled up should be sent to Mr. C. R. Brace, -42, Manor Road, Stamfonl Hill, N.