No. 5. FEBRUARY, 1897. Vol. I!.

SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE

Contents PAGE.

MATHILDE BLIND 65 Dy MONA C AllW.

THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM JOHNSON FOX.. 69· By E . F . BRIDEL L Fox.

MR. W. R. WASHINGTON SULLIV AN'S THEISM. AND MR. HERBERT SPENCER'S AGNOSTICISM .... 73

By CLAREN CE H . S EYL E R .

REPORTS OF MEETINGS AND NOTES ON SOUTH PLACE WORK .... ,. , .. . .. .. . . . ... . . . ... ...... 75

KINDRED SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

ND rrCES, &0. ...... .. .... . . . ....• . ............... .. .. 80

Monthly, 2d., oR 25. 6d. PER AN S U ", PO S 1 F REI'; •

j!,on~on

"JUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY, F INSBU RY, LS.

\ & II. B. 130)l::-lER. I & ! TOOK S COURT, CURSITOR ST., E C

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sort of tie or tether was intolerable to her, although she often asserted that it was good for the human being to be tied and bound, and that one of the fatal errors of our day is neglect of the element of discipline in education . She even declared that the training of a convent is the best a girl could have, this being the exact opposite of her own training. In spite of this opinion, however, Miss Blind has always felt and resented the limitations and lack of real freedom in a woman's life. III health, in her latter years, and an utter inability to cope with the little affairs of every day, have been among her misfortunes. Vast stores of vitality were expended in mere trivial wear and tear, and I am convinced that this has deprived us of much ripe and noble work from her pen. Indeed, I believe that it hastened her death.

There was something that suggested the word" grand" in all that was really essential to this finely imaginative nature. She took large views of everything-thought, dreamt, felt, on a large scale. And withal she had the simplicity of greatness. But her life was spiritually very lonely, in spite of the innumer­able friends that she made during her earlier wanderings, and the new ones that gathered round her wherever she went.

Of her many friendships with remarkable men and women J have no space to speak.

It is well known that Mazzini exercised a profound influence upon her development. She was keenly susceptible to personal charm, and loved to be surrounded by people who interested and stimulated her. She craved always for stimulus.

Of her work it is scarcely possible to speak in a few words. It will, I think, be found to illustrate and confirm what I say of its author. Her breadth of view, her love of the beautiful, her passionate idealism, all find exquisite utterance in her writings. \.Vhen I first met her, Mathilde Blind had lost much of the fiery enthusiasms of her youth. She was saddened, at times embittered, because · the realities of existence had proved so different from her romantic visions of earlier days. he was one of those who 1IIust believe in the goodness and nobility of mankind, or existence uecomes a nightmare. She made large demands on life. She must have everything that it could give; nay, all that a poet could dream ..... ! he was apt to forget its bounties, because something or other that she desired was lacking. In that she resembled the rest of the world, but she suffered and craved and regretted more bitterly than others, even as she enjoyed more rapturously. Her enjoy­ment came in those somewhat rare moments when health, mood, and conditions were in benevolent conspiracy.

She was truly happy when she was at work, or in congenial society, or in communion with Nature. I cannot give any idea of her passion for the earth and sea and sky, and all the glories of the visible universe. he loved especially our

homely English landscape, and that she loved pre-eminently when, as she sings, "The liJacs, -the lilacs, are blowing and glowing!" England in Spring! That was her ideal of fairness and joy! She had some intense sympathy with the great out­burst of new life, the gigantic outflow of force in the rising of the sap to the top of giant trees, a force that is indeed staggering to think of when expressed in dry figures. The evidence everywhere of a myste rious vitality of whose essence we kIlOW nothing, produced in her, I think, something akin to a religious faith . In science she found infinite fascination . Her " Ascent of Man" is a rendering in poetic form of the doctrine which has transformed the philosophy of our time. To a small circle of friends assembled one evening in the drawing-room of the late Mr. Ford Madox Brown, Miss Blind read this poem; and as she read, it seemed as if she had carried us all back to the beginnings of the world's existence, and made us travel, in that short evening, through untold aeons of time, while dead matter passed into living forms, and life found finer and finer vehicles, till the upward way seemed to stretch to sublime and terrible heights, almost beyond the range of mortal dream! One understood why the miracle of Spring affected so powerfully the author of this wonderful conception. In one of the last inter­views I ever had with Miss Blind, she was discussing philoso­phical problems with her usual breadth and clearness of thought . She united the characteristics of the tbinker and the artist, a very unusual and charming combination.

Her descriptive power was magical. She made one see what she saw. Her first visit to Egypt, which took place during her later years, affected her in a very startling way. She had a puzzling sense of great fami liarity with every­thing in that mysterious land; of being unaccountably at home there, as never before. The overwhelming impressions that she received even, had the effect of washing out of her memory many scenes and faces that she had known in England. On the first night that she slept in the land of the Pharaohs, she dreamt a dream of its ancient state; a dream of colour and splendour as wonderful, in its way, as Kltbla Khat/ .

Part of tbe autumn previous to the Egyptian journey was passed at the old English village of Wendover, where Miss Blind used to enjoy undisturbed bours of work in a cb arming little study on the first floor of a tiny house, overlooking the quaintest of village high streets: a room whose air of pensive repose I vividly recall to this hour, together with the still more vivid picture of a fine, worn face and noble head standing forth in relief against the creamy white of the ancient panelling. In the garden there was a magnificent horse-chestnut tree, which to Mathilde Blind was a constant joy. It almost overwhelmed the tiny red-brick house, stretching out its branches almost into

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our windows. Its leaves made the strangest murmurs and sighings, especially at night, when all sorts of mysterious whispers used to fill the air round our little shelter, whispers that strongly moved my companion, and which I used to think were transmuted, in the heart of the poet, into the sweetest and most thrilling of poems and sonnets.

Every fine afternoon we used to take long sauntering walks through the golden country. Again and again Malhilde Blind has recalled, with expressions of peculiar delight, the memories of those bright days .

What particularly dwelt in her mind were the paths by the stream, the wide downs, glistening with millions of floating thistle-seeds, the old gloomy farm-house which looked as if it harboured some dark romance within its neglected walls; and the strange, haunted autumn woods on the hill-side, ominously silent, and growing more brilliant, day by day, before our eyes. And the swallows! Never had either of us seen such a muster. My companion would never tire of watching their tumultuous gatherings under the vVendover eaves, the flitting and crowding of the innumerable tiny emigrants. For her, all birds had a peculiar fascination-free, beautiful, winged creatures, like the soul of the world-saddened woman, who watched them with wistful :.ll1d half-envious delight . he has spoken to me again and again of the Wend over swallows. How late we used to be -regularly every afternoon-for tea, which the puzzled little maid used as regularly to prepare for us in the small dining­room of our cottage! Yet the next day Miss Blind would tell her just as positively that we should be home at four thirty without fail! Vve never learnt to allow sufficiently [or the swallows. Months afterwards I heard from Miss Blind that she intended to call her new volume of poems Birds of Passage in memory of the "\Vendover swallows. Those weeks will always be among the most delightful of reminiscences.

But nothing one can say will ever really convey a true idea of the vivid, craving, powerful, desolate soul whose passion and inspiration it is so overwhelmingly difficult to think of as quenched for ever.

Only yesterday that busy brain was at work; only yesterday she was crying out for the things of life: more life, full and buoyant and complete-though never for length of days. That passion for life was one of her essential attributes. It is no real contradiction that she was also in love with death. For rest she often cried out, but never, I think, for conscious peace. Joy, work, emotion-or the darkest oblivion-these were what she longed for with ever increasing intensity, as the life-flood ebbed away.

he who has felt so much, has felt too what her friends feel now, as they stand before" the abyss of the un answering grave"

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(to use her own stately words), sorrowfully incredulous of the "wrecked identity" which to .her also was so baffling a thought.

The dreams that she dreamt, the songs that she sang, at least, have not been dreamt and sung in vain, nor are they" dissolved in foam on Death's dissolving wave ". She seems to be speak­ing to us still in those wonderful poems and lyrics. In her poem on the" Tombs of the Egyptian Kings ", she sings prophetic defiance to the King of Terrors himself.

" Nothing dies but what is tethered, kept when Time would set it free

To fulfil Thought's yearning tension upward Through Eternity" .

MONA CAIRD.

THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM ]OHNSON FOX.

First Minis/er of S Ol/lh Placc Chapel, al/d Mcmbcl' of Parliamcllt for Ihc Borough of Oldhalll.

BORN, 1786. DIED, 1864-

THE early years of all men who afterwards make their mark in the world mnst always command a special interest. The infancy and boyhood marshal the way that they shall walk in later years .

Speaking at Oldham on his nomination for the representation of that borough in 1846, Mr. Fox said, with enthusiasm: "\iVhat formed the worth, what the merit of William Cobbett, but that he was the man of the people, sprung from the people, and felt with the people." So of. himself; he took pride in asserting, to the end of his life, that he "had lived to raise his voice in the British Parliament for the rights and amelioration of the con­dition of the working classes". He well knew what was the condition of those classes. He spoke not as an outside observer. He had himself risen from amongst them, and spoke with the authority of one who knew, and the enthusiasm of one who felt, the need of the changes he advocated.

His father, Paul Fox by name, was a farmer who worked a small farm for his widowed mother at the little village of Wrentham in Suffolk. Here his eldest son, William John50n (called J ohnson by his family), was born. At the age of three years, the little] ohnson had by some wonderful intuition taken his first step in learning-he had taught himself his letters. This acquirement he proudly displayed one day to his grand­mother, by means of bits of stick dragged out of her winter pile of faggots stacked in the yard, broken and twisted into the shapes of all the letters in the alphabet, and carefully arranged

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on her clean-swept, Dutch-tiled hearth-for which elaborate performance the child got more scolding for the" mess" he had made than praise for his precocious display of learning.

Shortly afterwards, Paul Fox, with Mary his wife, little Johnson, and a second baby, migrated from" Silly Suffolk" to Norwich, where a long struggle against adverse circumstances awaited him.1

Mr. Fox writes thus, describing the religious influences of his early years :-

" I was born of pious parents. They belonged to the Cal­vinistic Independents, and sat under the Rev. S. Newton, of Norwich. My father was somewhat ignorant, narrow-minded and bigotted, and had occasionally a leaning towards the Anti­nomian heresy, then made popular by the celebrated William Huntingdon, S .S . (Sinner Saved), who was accustomed (before he rode in his carriage) to pray publicly for new clothes when he wanted them, and, during the following week, to find them ready made at his dwelling. My mother was of a far more liberal turn of mind, and construed her Calvinism in the spirit of charity. They were very regular in their attendance at public worship, both on Sundays and the week-day lecture or prayer-meeting; and trained up their children (of whom they had seven, besides two who died in infancy) to be as regular. Until I was sixteen or seventeen years of age, I cannot remember that I ever absented myself either from morning or afternoon service, or from the evening, when an evening lecture was occasionally added .

"The school to which I went was a Foundation Day School connected with the Chapel. There I learned, and repeated twice through, the Assembly'S Catechism, Scripture Proofs, and al1. 2 The religious books of our scanty stock which I read through at this early period were Bunyan's" Pilgrim's Progress" and" Holy War ", Sherlock "On Death ", Harvey's "Medi­tations ", " The \iVhole duty of Man", and some of the works of Watts, Doddridge, and Baxter. I was a steady and moral youth; still I was not as yet called, converted, or regenerated.

"Before that time an interlude occurred of juvenile scepticism . I had Unitarian acquaintances, and one or two who were some­thing more. My first Sunday truancies were to the Unitarian Chapel, upon the special occasions of a Charity or Funeral Sermon; or the attractive music, directed by Mr. Edward Tayler, afterwards Gresham Professor. Then I was noticed as a promising lad, who solved mathematical problems and wrote verses, by a Mr. N., an important tradesman, who had formerly

I "Silly Suffolk"; so Norfolk folk habitually speak of Suffolk folk. 2 For which he gained great credit with the Trustees. at the quarterly

examination of the scholars.

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belonged to the Chapel where my parents attended, but who seceded from it, and had carried into his newly-adopted Uni­tarianism much of the fervour of his Calvinistic zeal. He invited me to his house; talked with me and lent me books, especially those of the late Dr. Fellowes. I began to look at the New Testament controversially; and, in the calculating spirit of a young mathematician, to count the texts for or against this or that doctrine."

Mr. Fox elsewhere gives an amusing description of this Mr. N ., his first Unitarian friend . He writes: "His house stands where three streets meet, as his mind did where many ways met, all of which had been traversed in succession by his versatile intellect. He was about this time the father of four children, who constituted three families; the husband of his fifth wife, and the professor of his fifteenth religion. He had belonged to almost all the sects which exist in Norwich ; and that thinking town has always been able to exhibit an ample and varied assortment of isms . He had been Churchman and Dissenter, Calvinist and Armenian, Baptist and Predo-baptist, Immortal-soulist and Soul-sleeper-ite, Trinitarian, Arian, and, finally, Rational Christian, Presbyterian, Octagonite, and Hu­manitarian, in which (or at least disbelieving in every other system, after having contended for all, quarrelled with all, and denonnced all) he at last died, and Pendlebury Houghton 1

preached his funeral sermon, from' Mark the perfect man'; but assuredly, had his life been prolonged, it would not have been safe for any faith to attempt to 'mark him for her own' ."

To return to the fortunes of the Fox family. Long before J ohnson was twelve years old, the father 's failure to " get on" in life had touched its lowest point, and stern necessity demanded that the little lad should assist in the bread-winning of the family. He was taken from school, where he had, however, apparently learned all that the master was capable of teaching. As a child be had never known what it was to have any "children's books": with the first money that he earned he bought a twopenny copy of" Chevy Chase"; "Robinson Crusoe" was his second literary purchase, and Bonnycastle's Algebra the third. Of that work, he says, he mastered several pages in the street, on his way home from the bookseller's.

His father now turned his attention to hand-loom weaving, then the popular industry of Norwich, and Johnson was set to filling the bobbins for his father. His political opinions we~e more formed at this early age (in his twelfth year) than his religious ones; for fifty years later-in a speech at Oldham, on his nomination to represent that borough in Parliament­recalling his boyhood, he said that he "had kept his faith In

I Then minister of the Octagon Unitarian Chapel at Norwich.

7'1.

Radical principles from the first when he was a child filling bobbins, and in the hope of being promoted to a hand-loom "_ "During the bobbin-filling era", he writes, "I had my full swing of fiction. My mother had just at that time a strong fit of novel reading (with the lucky chance, at the same time, of being able to gratify it). I worked at home, and the hum of the wheel did not interrupt my hearing her read, which she did aloud. We often despatched a volume in a day. They were of all sorts- good, bad, and indifferent; but amongst their authors I should certainly still remember, even if the recollection had not been renewed since, the names of Miss Burney, Richardson, and (' Monk ') Lewis. I fed on novels and romances till they ceased to excite me. I then took to dramatic reading. This did not suit my mother's taste; our disposable funds were possibly exhausted. My mathematical turn became more decided, and geometry and algebra were heaved, as ballast, into the vessel whose sails had been so amply and prematurely expanded . I managed first, however, by way of a long farewell, to devour the whole of Bell's 'British Theatre '- tragedies, comedies, farces and operas."

The weaving epoch did not last very long. As a speculation it did not succeed, and other means of livelihood had soon to be sought for. Power looms were driving hand looms out of the field all over the country, to the great distress of the weavers of Norwich, where weaving was an important industry. Mr. Fox sat behind the loom long enough, however, to give him the right to entitle himself" A Norwich Weaver Boy", as he signed himself in the days of the great fight against the Corn Laws. He could speak with knowledge of the process, and always took a special pride in boasting of his proficiency as a weaver.

At last the tide of ill fortune turned for both father and son. The father, Paul Fox, obtained the situation of Master of St. Gcorge's Foundation School-the same in which his son had acquired the rudiments of knowledge;' and at about the same time procured the situation as clerk in the banking house of Messrs. Kett and Back for his son, the lad being then just thirteen years of age. He writes: "The next seven years, from the summer of 1799 to that of 1806, were years of comparatively external stability and comfort. It was a step on the social ladder. Directly, it did something for my mind and manners; indirectly it did much more, and of more unquestionable worth for my character. A banker's clerk is necessarily but an anomalous being: he hangs, like Mahomet's coffin, above the floor (If vulgarity, and below the roof of gentility. Habitual and un­restrained in tercourse with my associates of the desk; occasional but more regular and formal association with our employers,

I To tbis post his tbird son, Denny, succeeded on his father's dea th in rSr3'

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their families and friends, a1}d rapid but characteristic and <.:onstantly occuring glimpses into the dispositions, habits, and modes of thought, with the large variety of persons with whom business transactions brought me into contact, were a school in which even the most inattentive must have learned something.

My constitutional steadiness and my readiness in accounts Soon recommended me to the principals; and I was employed and trusted far beyond what was usual at my years, or in my relative position in the establishment. But it was out-oE-doors that the most important influences were acting upon me. I had now a little money; my salary advanced by a graduated scale from a nominal one of about £20 per annum to £60. I could buy a few books. I had time, too. The hours of business were from nine in the morning till six in the evening, and my reason exercised its privilege of looking before and after.

There was also an hour allowed for dinner; as the distance from home to the bank was only about a mile, I generally secured half this hour for study, accomplishing the eating and the loco­motion in the remaining half. It was in this way that I first digested Locke's "Essay on the Understanding" . But the mathematics were my regular pursuit . They occupied my mornings and evenings with little intermission for the first two or three years of this period. They had their share of the day too; and the rapidity with whic:h I could cast up the columns of the ledgers, and calculate interest, occupations which had been prematurely devolved upon me on account of my peculiar aptitude, left me many odd minutes which I could appropriate without injury to my employers, still retaining a handsome surplus of merit for the quantity of work which I despatched. In these pursuits 1 was joined with, guided and stimulated by, one whom I must now introduce as my first friend."

-Extracts f,'o ll! an A Iltobiographical Fragment, contributed by his Daughter, E. F. Bridell Fox.

COPYRIGHT.

MR. W. R . WASHINGTON SULLIVAI'S THEISM AND

MR. HERBERT SPENCER' AGNOSTICISM.

By CLARENCE H. SEYLER.

THE account, given in the November number of this Magazine, of Mr. W. R . Washington Sullivan's lecture at South Place, on "Gnosticism and Agnosticism ", contains an admirably frank avowal of Theism as his" first and final fact of Philosophy". Nor, indeed, has he left it in any way doubtful that his is a definite belief in a "personal" God, and not that impalpable

and attenuated kind of Theism, held by some thinkers, which suggests more than they declare, but commits them to no definite content of thought that can be criticised.

In developing" his argument, Mr. Sujlivan professes to find support for his views in what he considers to be the" theistic" implications lurking in the terms employed by Mr. Herbert Spencer to denote the negative attributes of the" Unknowable Power", the existence of which constitutes the one positive affirmation of his agnostic doctrine.

Theism and Mr. Spencer's Agnosticism being at one in asserting the existence of au "Energy" of which the phenomenal cosmos is the manifestation to the human mind, Mr. Sullivan appears to think that a further agreement as to the impossibility of assigning to this Power any attributes which would ascribe to it the limitations of time and space and of the human mind, gives ground for anticipating that Agnosticism may be corn· mitted, by this declaration of negative attributes, to concurrence in all those positive ones with which Theism clothes the Power it, in the same breath, proclaims to be infinitely incomprehensible and inscrutable. Theism, he surmises, may, therefore, be found to be the logical Aristotelian" mean" between" Gnost icism", which knows too much, and "Agnosticism", which knows nothing, respecting the ultimate Cause, beyond the fact that the human mind is forced" by the form of its experience" to postulate its existence.

Accordingly, Mr. Sullivan passes from the consideration of the agreements, to that of the differences, between his views and those of Mr. Spencer.

Ignoring his previously avowed agnosticism in regard to the attributes of his "infinitely incomprehensible" One, he proceeds, in the usual theistic fashion, to the solemn investiture of his God with the linlitations characteristic of the human mind-to the apotheosis, in fact, of his own image, exaggerated and dis­torted by reflexion in the skies.

According to Mr. Spencer, it is by reason of the very consti­tution of the mind itself that the" ultimate Reality" must ever remain the lt1lknowable cause of all the fleeting states of conscious­ness with which, aided by experience of the law of causation, we construct the known cosmos of phenomena in time and space. Of the ,( Absolute" we can predicate no likeness or difference, no sequences or co-existences, no consciousness or non-consciousness, no mode or form-these being terms appli­cable exclusively to the finite and Relative-nor can we even think of it, save by way of a vague symbolism, « utterly without resemblance to that for which it stands", I and based upon our ex­perience of « the force by which we ourselves produce changes".2

I .. First Principles" (1887), p . 1I3. 2 Ibid, p. I69.

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In the hands of Mr. Sullivan, this purely philosophic pos­tulate is moulded into a "personal-" being, uniting "in one individuality" the" volition and intelligence" which have" con­sciously produced the universe "-a God "who is for ever Reason " .

To borrow Mr. Sullivan's own words: "the import of these pronouncements is self-evident"; and there need be little hesita­tion in believing that he will come to see the self-contradictions which they contain, and to recognise that they reveal the survival of an undisciplined anthropomorphism, inherited from a pre­scientific age, to which alone" the possibility of the unquestion­ably intelligible proceeding from the equally unquestionably uninteIIigent" was "positively unthinkable ". Let him but reflect that "reasoning", as we know the process, consists in inference, i.e., in going from the known to the ul/known: implies limitations, therefore, inherent in the intellect, without which it would have no function, no raisoll d'ctre- would, in fact, have no existence as " Reason" in any sense intelligible to us !

It is sufficient to point out this truth in order to make it abundantly clear how crudely anthropomorphic and self-stulti­fying is the theistic tendency to invest the "Absolute", the "Universal", with the limitations of" Reason ", "intelligence", "volition" (and all that these imply of "desire" and" purpose "), which form the common trappings of the human mind. They stand in direct contradiction to the terms in which Theism, in common with Spencerian Agnosticism, believes it suitable to designate the "infinite, absolute, inscrutable Power that has produced the universe".

South Place Discussion Society.-The first debate of the New Year was held on Wednesday, January 13th, when Mr. John A. Hobson, M_A., gave an opening address on " Expenditure vel'slts

avings". Mr. VV. J. Reynolds took the chair. Mr. Hobson proceeded to point out that in general instances a product passes through five phases before reaching the consumer: it is first obtained in the raw state from the earth, and is next put through a process fitting it for the manufacturer's use; it is then manu­factured into a saleable commodity, which passes into the ware­house of the wholesale trader, and thence to the shopkeeper who retails it over the counter to the actual consumer. The flow 0

products through these channels is determined by the consumers. It is obvious, therefore, argued Mr. Hobson, that though an individual (or even a number of individuals) may, by practising strict economy, limit his consumption of commodities to the absolute bare needs of life, and invest his savings in promoting the output of products to be consumed by his neighbours, yet the community could not do this, or they would resemble the

South Sea Islanders, who are reported to have made a living by taking in each other's washing. The withdrawal of the demand for all commodities, save those absolutely essential to maintain life, would block the current of all other production, which would thus have nu raison d'etre, and no further opportunities for profit­able investment could arise, every industry being over-provided with capital. This, indeed, in a greater or less degree is the cause of what is known in trade as a " glut" of any commodity -the demand is suddenly lessened, aud the output being, in the case of most articles anticipatory, is very excessive. From these facts Mr. Hobson deduced that consumption should not be dis­couraged but promoted, and that the older economists, from Adam Smith to our own time, had erred in the advocacy of extreme thrift and parsimony . At this point Mr. Hohson explained that he must not be understood to condemn the thrift and forethought which lays by savings for old age, as this practice merely represents a de/en'cd expenditure, and is perfectly justifiable. He then challenged the standpoint of those who maintain that more labour is employed by the investment of savings in big enterprises than by the liberal consumption of products paid for over the retail counter, and af£rmed that a given sum of money will employ exactly the same amount of labour in both cases, neither action being "unp,'od1lctive". Mr. Hobson pointed out that the restricted production of com­modities is largely due to the fact that a great mass of the community can exercise no effective demand-the desire to consume exists, but the means to gratify the desire are insuf­ficient, whilst the desires of the wealthy classes are not enough to represent a consumption proportionate to their resources. At the close of Mr. Hobson's address the Chairman made a short and very interesting speech, in which he indicated the causes which necessitated the policy of the old economists in advocating thrift. Commerce in this country was, he suggested, in its infancy, and required tremendous force of capital and industry to push it forward towards the acquisition of its now colossal proportions, and the accumulation of savings was therefore at that time absolntely imperative. Messrs . Seyler, Read, Dallow, Crossfield, Pot bury, Crawshay and l\Iillington also took part in the discussion.

Sunday Afternoon Lectures.- The f0110wing lecturers are announced for the Sunday afternoons during February, in continuance of the course on the British Empire:-

Peter Byrne, who has been the official representative of the Ontario Government for the last twenty years.

Jervoise Athelstone Baines, C.S.I., who entered the Indian Civll ervice in 1870, and acted on special duty at Bombay as compiler of General Administration Report, I878-9· He was

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Director of the Agricultural Department in r886, and Census Commissioner for India from August, r889 ·

A. 1. McMillan, who was originally a farmer of Warwick­shire, and, migrating to Canada, successfully made use of the experience acquired in England. He has now for some years represented the Manitoba Government .

Harrison Watson, who is a native of the province of Quebec, was educated in England, and afterwards represented a large Canadian manufactory. He is now Curator of the Canadian Section at the Imperial Institute.

Saturday Afternoon Rambles.- We are informed that this most popular branch of the Institute Committee's work will commence on the 6th prox., and that arrangements have been made for about thirty visits to places of interest, in addition to the usual holiday rambles, etc.

Monthly Soirees.-As will be seen on reference to the Monthly List, Dr. Con way is to read a paper on Dante Gabriel Rossetti at the next Soiree on Monday, February rst. It is sure to be an occasion of great personal interest, as Dr. Conway was an intimate friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as, indeed, of others of the pre-Raphaelite circle. The recent death, too, of Rossetti's sym pathetic friend, Mathilde Blind, will give an additional interest to the lecture.

On the following Mondays (8th and r5th), Mr. Herbert Mansford will deliver two lectures on "Why Buildings are interesting", which are to be fully illustrated by lantern views and some models of the English Cathedrals. Mr. Mansford is qu ite at home in the subject matter of his lectures, and should therefore draw good audiences on both evenings; but, if any further inducement is needed, we may mention that the proceeds of the lectures are to be devoted to the deficit fund.

Art and Book Sale, May 25th and 26th, r897.-Boxes have been placed for the reception of books, magazines, etc., in the lobbies of the Cbapel, and members are requested to deposit in them any contributions they may have for the Sale.

"Feeding and Fun for Poor Children."-Under this heading the Daily Ne ws of the 6th January gave a long notice of the party to the poor children, which took place on the 5th, in the Institute. This annual treat to the poorest of the children attending the Board Schools in the district, has now become one of the regular events in our calendar, and the party is looked forward to with gladsome anticipation not only by the youngsters, but also by their parents, on account of the gifts of articles of clothing, etc., given to each child at the close of the evening's entertainment. This year 260 children were present, and after a good tea came the entertainment, the chief item in which was

a fairy play, "Little Red Riding Hood ", by Percy Dixon and Clifford Seyler. The songs, jokes (it was full of puns) and dances of this little extravaganza were appreciated to the utmost. It was followed by a "nigger entertainment "-the knockabout " business" in which seemed to appeal very forcibly to the children-and by some pretty skirt dancing. At the close each child was sent away happy with a mysterious bag containing useful presents.

UNDER STRANGE SKIES.

As mariners who, much adventuring, sail Beyond the confines of their wonted seas, \Vith canvas stretched before an alien breeze,

Whilst nightly from the deep sky's studded veil The old accustomed star-guides wane and fail­

Red Aldebaran, clustering Pleiades, Each well-known orb: yet are their hearts at ease,

For the great Sun still treads his day's vast trail : So we who, watching from the thrusting prow,

See long-familiar luminaries set,-Red Hell, bright Heaven, sinking from above,

Whelmed in strange seas, or pale and spectral now,­Renew our hearts, and speed undaunted yet, \Varmed by tbe self-same Sun of Human Love.

C.

KINDRED SOCIETIES_

London Ethical Society.-The following unday lectures are announced :-Feb. 7, Professor A. V. Dicey, "How ought we to regard Democracy?"; Feb. 14, Miss Harrison, on "Mysti­cism in Greek ReliglOn": Feb. 21, "Simplification in Manners", by Herbert Rix; Feb . 28, Arthur Sidgwick, M.A., on "Heroines of the Greek Drama".

Union of Ethical Societies.- The Union has re-opened its Wednesday evening classes on "Ethics" and "Moral In­struction" at University Hall, W.C. The presidency of the West London Ethical Society has been accepted by Leslie Stephen. Dr. Stanton Coit will lecture at Kensington Town Hall on Feb. 7 and 14, upon" John Ruskin ". The East London Society's list of Sunday evening lectures for the month is as follows :- Feb. 7, F . Moscheles, "Felix MendeJssohn, the Musician and the Man"; Feb. 14, Miss Hope Rea, "Our Movement-its Direction"; Feb. 21, E. Williams, "Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn Law Rhymer"; Feb. 28, F. J. Gould, "A Popular Story among the Early Christians". A Free Entertain­ment is announced for Feb. 15, at 8 p .m . The North London

79

Ethical Society now holds meetings every Sunday evening, at the Athenceum, Cam den Road. Tl1e Sunday School, of which F. J. Gould is superintendent, meets at Leighton Hall on Sunday mornings, at 11 o'clock. A class for the study of Professor Seeley's " Ecce Homo" meets at that ball on Friday evenings, at 8.30, under the leadership of Miss Hope Rea. Persons interested are invited to attend. The South London Society announces a lecture by Tom Mann, on Sunday, Feb. 7, upon " M oral Progress and Material Prosperity". On the succeeding three Sundays in February, Dr. Stanton Coit will lecture on "Here and Hereafter", "\iVilliam Morris", and" ] ohn Ruskin". Meetings for discussion and social intercourse are held at 75A Church Street, Camberwell, every Tuesday evening, at 8 o'clock.

Humanitarian League. - The course of Humane Science Lectures at St. Martln's Town Hall will be brought to a close by a lecture on Feb. 9, at 8 p.m., from Dr.]. Milne BramweJl, upon" Suggestion; its place in Medicine and cientific Re­search" . The course has been most successful, the meetings­especially those addressed by Edward Carpenter and Peter Kropotkin-having aroused much interest and drawn large audiences .

The Prisons Department of the League is reprinting the article on " Insanity in Prisons" lately contributed to the Pro­gressive Review by Bernard Molloy, 1\I.P. It is also organising a series of lectures, including the following : Sunday, Feb. 7, at the Ideal Club, 185 Tottenham Court Road, ]. T . Grein, on "French Prisons " . Monday, l\Iarch I, at St. Martin's Town Hall, Mrs. Bradlaugh Bonner, on "Capital Punishment " . \iVednesday, April 7, at South Place, Rev. J. Page Hopps, on "The Elmira Experiment". Each lecture will commence at 8 p .m.

It will interest our readers to know that a biography of Miss Blind is in contemplation, and that her executors are at present busy getting llP material for it. Miss Blind made a bequest of Ford Madox Brown's fine picture, " Don Juan and Haidee" to the Musee du Louvre, which the authorities have accepted. The picture, before being sent to Paris, is on view at the Grafton Galleries, where is also a portrait of Miss Blind by Mrs. Lucy Rossetti, which was bequeathed to Miss Blind's life-long friend, Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum.

Next month, Messrs. A. and H. B. Bonner intend bringing out a new monthly, to be called the Reforlller, which will be conducted something on the lines of the late National Reforlller, except that it will be the organ of no specia l body. Its scope will be as wide as possible, dealing with the variolls questions relating to Freethought, and Religion, Politics, Social and Natural Science, etc., and among its contributors we notice the names of Dr. Conway, John M. Robertson, J. A. Hobson, M.A., W. F. Revell, and others well-known to our members. We wish tbe new venture all success.

80

In the Daily News of the llth ult ., there was a long extract from Dr. Con way's article on Mathilde Blind which appeared in the last number of the SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE; and the 11Iqnir.r of the 16th ult . referred to Mr. Robin Alien's interesting article on" South Place Hymnology", in the same number of the Magazine .

FROM KEATS TO LEIGHTON .

THE DAPHNEPHORIA. " Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard "­

Whether with slately march they mean Calm rytbmic pace of manly Duty, Or children's trebles may be seCII Shrill, crisp and clear As tho' of bird, Keen fancies, floating to the rear To meet the outspread, winnowing skirts

Of dainty Beauty;­Whate'er they mean, Of this our Poet-Painter may be sure­His melodies endure! Rooted where art and morals meet, Ever lovely, always pure, Fitted alike for grove or street, Still they sing on I-and listeners. looking, find Canloes of pictured sound for every mood of mind.

ROBIN ALL EN.

NOTICES.- Births.-On Jan. 9, at 17 Sydenham Park, the wife of H. F . L. Meyer (nee Lilian Smith) of a daughter (Lily Doris).

On Nov. 28, the wife of T . W. Arnold (C. May Hickson), of Aligarh, N.W.P., India, of a daughter.

New Members.-Clark, James, 85 Clark Street, Stepney, E . Horne, Thomas, 33 Mark Lane, E.C. Hand, H., Iq Byron Avenue, White Post Lane, East Ham, E. Newsome, R. H., 18 Stonefield Street, Islington, N. Singleton, Alex. H., 138 Adelaide Road. S. Hampstead. Underhill, J. T., 101 Chobham Road, Stratford, E . New Associate.-Clapham, G. H., 414 Brixton Road, S.W. Removals.-Dalby, Mr., Slanley Mount, Ox ton, Birkenhead. Delve, E., 36 Pemberton Road, Harringay, N.

An article by George Jacob Holyoake, on "City Morality", will appear in the March numbcr of the l\fagazine.

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. Noles from Kindred Societies, Correspondence, Changes of Address, or other Notices for the next number of the Magazine, should be sent to the Editor not later than the 15th of the month.

Printed by t\. Doron:R, J & 2 Took's Court, Chancery Lane , London, E.C.

INSTITUTE SEASON TICKET. The G Series, available for the entire'Year )897. is now being issned, including:­

Monthly Soir(ocs.-F(~hnwry, March, April, October, November, Decemher. Discussion Society Mt.'ctingi-i, Jalluary lo April, and October to December. Institute Leclures.-Oclobcr to December. Saturday Afternoon Rambles.· March to September, 1897i 2 Ramblers' Soirees; and

l1se of Lending Libr:lry at the illclm:oive charge of 105. 6d. Early application should be made to the Lilrrarians 6r to the Hon. Secretary.

WALL1S MANSFORll, 53. Aldcrsgate Street, E.C.

RAMBLERS' DANCES.-NINTH SEASON. These will be held at Armlield's Hotel. I South Place. on February 13tb and 27th .

7 la 10.30 p.m. For further particulars, apply to the hon. scc., Miss S. TAYLOR, 226 Hainaul[ Road. Leytonstone.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON RAMBLES. The Eleventh Season will conll"ence on Saturday. March 6th. Lists of Rambles and

Application Forms may be had in the Libr;ory. EVENING LECTURES.

The above Lectures arc postponed until the autumn. Two lectures entitled" Why Buildings are Interesting" will be given by F. I11>RBERT

MANS1'ORD on Monday-s, Febr11ary 8th and 15th, in aid of the Deficit on the Repairs la the Chapel. The chair will be taken on the first occasion by Alfred Preston, at 8 o'clock. The lectures will be fully illustrated by Lantern Views. Transferable tickets admitting to both lectures, IS.; may be had of the hon. scc., Mrs. Flctchcr Smith, 38, Manor Road, Stoke Ncwinglon, or allY member of the Chapel Comminee.

HOII. Sce .• J. HALLAM. 18. SI. Mark·s Crescent. Regent's Park.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON FREE LECTURES ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Feb. 71h.-PETER B\'RNI;: (Go\'crnn!cnt Agent for Ontario). Lecture XLI.-II Ontario."

(With Lantern IlIustralions.) 14th.-J. A. BAlNES. C.S.I. (Late Ccns"S Commissioner for India.) Lecture XLII.­

I! Famines in India." (\Vith Lantern lllustration~.) 21st.~A. J. MCl\!lI.L'" (Chief Agent General for Manitoba .) Lecture XLIlI.-

.. Manitoba." (With Lantern Illustrations.) 11 28th.-HARRISON WAT!:iON (Curator, Canadian Section, Imperial lnstitute.) Lecture

XLIY-·· Ouebec." (With Lantern lIIllstrations.) An ORGAN RECITAL win be given each afternoon from 3.30 to 4 o·c1ock. All seats free.

No collection. Doors open at 3.30. Lecture at 4 o'clock. HO/I. Sec., W. SHLOWl<lNG. 35. Osbaldeston Road. Stoke NcwingtoD. N.

THE MONTHLY SOIREES. The n(;xt Soin'ie will be held on Monday, February 1Sl. ))oors open at 7 o'clock. Tea

and coffee 7.30. Dr. Con way will read a paper on .. Dante Gabricl Rossetti." ~Ir. Lang will conduct a toy ::;ympbony played on toy instruments. Tickcl~. IS. 6d. for series, or IS. each; children, half~price. At the March Soiri'c papers will be rcad by members of the I. Healthy allli Arlistlc Dress Union." Recitations by Mr. Guppy. A ~crics of Dramatic Readings is being arranged for the April Soil'l-c.

llol/. Sce .• Mrs. W. COC"UURN. 68. Linthorpe Road. Stamford Hill. N. SUNDAY POPULAR CONCERTS.

The Eleventh Season will be continued evc:ry Sunday cvcnin~ untit further notice. In connection with lhc SCJlUBERT CENTENARY the Comm ittee intend toinclllde onc

or more of his compm;Jtions in the programme of e:ach remaining conct.:rL of the present season.

The arrangements for F(·bru:try are as follows;-F(;brnary 7lh.-IH .. t,·,,"ulltalij/.~: Messrs. Leslie Courtraic, John Saunder~, A. G. Kent1eton,

Thomas Batty. and J. Prcuvenccrs; I'oenli .. ts: ~!adame I1yd" Walker and 1'>1 ... J. Rosslyn Howl:!lI; Acc01uprllli.· t,' Miss Kate Augusla Davies. The programme Will include Schubcrt's String Quartet in G, Op. 16r.

Februa.ry 14th.-JII,I"lIl11clllalisl.,: Miss ~label ~Iontcith. Messrs. GCOI·ge Palmer. Edward Carwardinc, hmil Krc.:uz, and Charles vuld ; rocahst: Miss Agncs Vvitting : A rc01ll­pll1lisl,' Miss 1<ale AllgU!ita Davics. The prograu'JIlc will illcluc.1c Beethovcn's Stril1~ Quartet in B fiat. 01'. lB. No. 6.

February 21st.-Im.inll1lelltuli.\t5· Miss Bcatrice Ballet, Miss Edith Swcpstone, Messrs. Tohn Saundt;rs, Archibald Evans, ano \Villiam C. Hann ; Vocalist: 'M iss Marianne Hann. The programme will include Schubcrt·s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 29.

Febrllary 2Bth.-THE TWO-HUNDRED-AND· FIFTIETH CONCERT. 1",1,.,.­l1ullt"Ii~ts: Miss Jcssic Crirnson, Miss Annie Gnmson, J\.liss Amy Grimsoll, Mis~ Ncllie Grimson, I\lr. S. Dean Gril11s~n, Mr. S. Grimson. jun .. *la~tcr Harold Grim .... on and Master H.obl'rt Grimson; l 'ocalrs!,' Alr. Hcrbcrt Thorndikc; tI ccompa {,st: ~liss Kale Augusta Davic~. The pro~ramnte will incluoe Schubt'l'l'S (,.?Ui:llLt in C. up. 10J, for two violins, viola, and two \'iolonccllos; and als J I\It'ndebsohn's Octet in E fiat, Op. 20, for four violi115, two violas, and two violoncellos.

Doors open at 6 .. l0. Concc.:rts at 7 p.lll. Admis~ion Free. Ollcclion la defray expcn~cs. J/ OII. Tm.s.: T. FAIR"' ..... 107. Bunhill Row. E.C.

if S, 1 ALl'RI~l) J. CLU,f[~NTS,251 Camden Road, N.W.

Oil. eCS. W. F. MORUESSY, 8, Leighton Cresccnt, Kentish Town, N.W.

SOUTH PLACE DISCUSSION SOCIETY. The Discussions for the month of Fchruary wi11 be as foHows:

\Vcdnesday, Feb. lOlh.-Opcned by W. R. \VASHINCTON SUU.IVAN: "The Catholic Revival."

\Nednesday. .. 24th.-Opened by Dr. AL1CE VICKERY: .. Vllccination and Rc-vaccination." Dr. Newton Parker in the Chair.

Thtsc l>leetings will in futurt· commence punctually at 7.30 p.m. Free Discussion. in which all those intcresteu arc ill\'ilcd to join. Annual Subscription, IS., included in Season

ticket.-HolI. Sce.: MAUD ilL"". 3. Windsor Terrace. City Road. N.

DEBENTURE REDEMPTION FUND. The repayment 0{ Fiv(! Debentures drawn at the Annual Meeting, and the free gift of a

proportion of another Bond, rcduc(';s the outstanding liability to £1,291. Art and Book Sale.-Gifts of books, music, photographs, etc., arc now being re·

ceived for the Art and Book Sale which is fixed to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25th 3lad 2(ith. 1897. Special attention is directed to the Boxes which have been fixed in the entrance lobbies of tbe Chapel to facilitate the collection of books for the May sale.

Hall. Scc.: WALLlS ~IANSFORD, 53, Aldersgate Street, City,

PUBLICATIONS.

The following amongst other Fllblicatiolls are 011 sale ;11 tlte LibralY: "Paine's Writings tit Vat. IV, edited by Dr. CON WAY i 9S. Sd. Pnine's 11 Age of Reason ", edited by Dr. CON WAY ; 25.8d. H The Sacred Anthology/' by Dr. CONWA\'; 35 . .. Thoughts and Aspirations of the Ages," compiled by Dr. W . C. COUI'LAND; 7s.lId. H Workers on their Industries"; IS. lId. " Religious Systems of the World"; 7S. IJd . .. National Life and Thought"; 2S. 6d.

SOUTH PLACE MAGAZINE. The Snbscription to the Magazine for 12 months, post free, is 25. 6d., and it can be paid

in the Library, or sent to ERNEST A. CARR, /lOll. Sec. MC/gazille Commit/u, Soutb Place Institute, South Place, Finsbury . E.C.

Secretaries of kindred Societies, books(>l1crs, and others willing to have copies of the Ma~azine on sale, can be supplied on the usual trade terms by the publishers, A. and 11. B. DO>lNEn, I and 2 Took's Court, Chancery Lan~, E.C.

LENDING LIBRARY. The Library is open to Subscribers and Season Ticket Holders. The Hon. Librarians

attend every Sunday morning at 10.30. Books may also be obtained at the Monthly Soirt\cs, cjther for reference or home reading. Catalogues can be obtained in the Library, price 2d . ~Iembers and others having book' they arc williIll': to lend are requested to kindly com· municate the Titles to onc of the Hon. Librarians, who will be glad to make them known to users of the Library.

T R. CAItTFH, 67. Crolllwcll Avenue, nigh~atc, N. 1Ilrs. J. SKl<LLORN, fhornlcigh, Cavendish Road, Harringay, N.

HONORARY OFFICERS. Tye,HUrtr: \V. CROWDf'. ,271, Evcring.Road, Upper Clapton. N.E. Secretary: Mrs. C. FLETCHEIt S'IlTII, 3B, Manor Read, Stamford Hill, N.

Secretllries of Sub-Committees. HERUERT :\lAN~FOR1), 53, Alclcrsgate Street, E.C.

I ALl-RIm J. CLUIENTS, 25, Camel en Road, N.W. W. F. MORR>:SSY, 8, Leighton Crescent. Kentish Town, N.W.

Buildtng

Concert

Debenture Redemption WAI.LIS MANSI'ORD, 53, Aldersgate Street, E .C. Decoration.. Miss HUNT, q, Thistlcwaite Road, Clapton, N.E. Discussion... Mrs. MAUD BI .. AKF, 3, Windsor Terrace, City Road, N. Finance C. R. BRACl<, 42, ~Ianor Road, Stamforel Hill, N. Girl's Club :\!iss E. PHIPSON, 5, Park Place, Upper Baker Street, N.W. House Miss JOIINSON , 162, AOIhurst Road, Hackney, N.E. Institute 1 W . SHJo:OWRJNG, 35. Osbaldcston Road, Stoke Ncwingtoo, N.

J. l-lALLAM. 18, St. Mark's Cresccnt, Regent's Park. Library M gazine

Members

F. FOROIIAM FRECHET, IB, Emperor's Gate, S.\V. llltNE.ST A. CARIt. 9I, ThurieRton Road, West Norwood, S.E.

I :'ITS. T. DlXoN, 6<), Tollin1(ton Park, N. PAUL H. !loon, 10, Fielding Road, Bedford Park, W.

Music E. M. REISS, 27. Grcsham Road, 13rixton. Seasen Ticket WALLI , MANs,'"o,Ul, 53 , Aldersgate Street, E.C. Soiree ~Irs. W. COCKIlURN, 6l!, Linthorpe Road, Stamford Hill, N.

Sunday Morning } W. RAWLINGS, j06, :\lare Street, Hackney, N.E. Lecture ...

Sunday School... :\Irs. C. R. BRAcl';,jO, Manor Road, Stalllford Hill, N.

E.C. N.E. N. N.W. S.W.

District Secrttancs (lIIembers' Committce). Mrs. T. FAIRIIALL, 107, Bunhill Row. Miss ]OHNSON, 162, AmhurRl l{nild . Mrs. W J. REYNOLDS, 61, Fairholt Road, Sloke Newington. Mrs. P. 1-."IT. 20, Lambollc Road, S . HampRtcad, N W Mrs. ~. G. FEN TON, 30, Thl1rlel~h Haad, \Vanclsworth Common. Mrs. PERCV lIICK50N, 32, Fopstonc Road, Earl's Court.

S.E. H. G. MOJ(RlS, 42, ueorgc Lnnc, Lewisham.

I J. R. CARTEII. 67, Cromwdl Avenue, lIighgate, N. Librarians... Mrs. J. SKELLORN, Thornleigh, Cavendisb Road, Harrinltay, N,

Organist H. SMITH \VEDSTER, 132, Camden Street, N.W.

The Building is to be let for Meetings, etc. Forms of application may be had of the Caretaker, It, South Place, E.C. ; and when filled up should be sent to Mr. C. R. Brace, 4', Manor Road, Stamford Hill, N .