V.

And now to tell of the queerest thing of all. About two years after his cure I dined with the Davidsons, and after dinner a man named Atkins called in. He is a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and a pleasant, talkative man. He was on friendly terms with my brother-in-law, and was soon on friendly terms with me. It came out that he was engaged to Davidson's cousin, and incidentally he took out a kind of pocket photograph case to show us a new rendering of _fiancée_. "And, by-the-by," said he, "here's the old _Fulmar_."

Davidson looked at it casually. Then suddenly his face lit up. "Good heavens!" said he. "I could almost swear--"

"What?" said Atkins.

"That I had seen that ship before."

"Don't see how you can have. She hasn't been out of the South Seas for six years, and before then--"

"But," began Davidson, and then, "Yes--that's the ship I dreamt of, I'm sure that's the ship I dreamt of. She was standing off an island that swarmed with penguins, and she fired a gun."

"Good Lord!" said Atkins, who had now heard the particulars of the seizure. "How the deuce could you dream that?"

And then, bit by bit, it came out that on the very day Davidson was seized, H.M.S. _Fulmar_ had actually been off a little rock to the south of Antipodes Island. A boat had landed overnight to get penguins' eggs, had been delayed, and a thunderstorm drifting up, the boat's crew had waited until the morning before rejoining the ship. Atkins had been one of them, and he corroborated, word for word, the descriptions Davidson had given of the island and the boat. There is not the slightest doubt in any of our minds that Davidson has really seen the place. In some unaccountable way, while he moved hither and thither in London, his sight moved hither and thither in a manner that corresponded, about this distant island. _How_ is absolutely a mystery.

That completes the remarkable story of Davidson's eyes. It's perhaps the best authenticated case in existence of a real vision at a distance. Explanation there is none forthcoming, except what Professor Wade has thrown out. But his explanation invokes the Fourth Dimension, and a dissertation on theoretical kinds of space. To talk of there being "a kink in space" seems mere nonsense to me; it may be because I am no mathematician. When I said that nothing would alter the fact that the place is eight thousand miles away, he answered that two points might be a yard away on a sheet of paper and yet be brought together by bending the paper round. The reader may grasp his argument, but I certainly do not. His idea seems to be that Davidson, stooping between the poles of the big electro-magnet, had some extraordinary twist given to his retinal elements through the sudden change in the field of force due to the lightning.

He thinks, as a consequence of this, that it may be possible to live visually in one part of the world, while one lives bodily in another. He has even made some experiments in support of his views; but, so far, he has simply succeeded in blinding a few dogs. I believe that is the net result of his work, though I have not seen him for some weeks. Latterly I have been so busy with my work in connection with the Saint Pancras installation that I have had little opportunity of calling to see him. But the whole of his theory seems fantastic to me. The facts concerning Davidson stand on an altogether different footing, and I can testify personally to the accuracy of every detail I have given.

THE LORD OF THE DYNAMOS

The chief attendant of the three dynamos that buzzed and rattled at Camberwell, and kept the electric railway going, came out of Yorkshire, and his name was James Holroyd. He was a practical electrician, but fond of whisky, a heavy, red-haired brute with irregular teeth. He doubted the existence of the deity, but accepted Carnot's cycle, and he had read Shakespeare and found him weak in chemistry. His helper came out of the mysterious East, and his name was Azuma-zi. But Holroyd called him Pooh-bah. Holroyd liked a nigger help because he would stand kicking--a habit with Holroyd--and did not pry into the machinery and try to learn the ways of it. Certain odd possibilities of the negro mind brought into abrupt contact with the crown of our civilisation Holroyd never fully realised, though just at the end he got some inkling of them.

To define Azuma-zi was beyond ethnology. He was, perhaps, more negroid than anything else, though his hair was curly rather than frizzy, and his nose had a bridge. Moreover, his skin was brown rather than black, and the whites of his eyes were yellow. His broad cheek-bones and narrow chin gave his face something of the viperine V. His head, too, was broad behind, and low and narrow at the forehead, as if his brain had been twisted round in the reverse way to a European's. He was short of stature and still shorter of English. In conversation he made numerous odd noises of no known marketable value, and his infrequent words were carved and wrought into heraldic grotesqueness. Holroyd tried to elucidate his religious beliefs, and--especially after whiskey--lectured to him against superstition and missionaries. Azuma-zi, however, shirked the discussion of his gods, even though he was kicked for it.

Azuma-zi had come, clad in white but insufficient raiment, out of the stoke-hole of the _Lord Clive_, from the Straits Settlements, and beyond, into London. He had heard even in his youth of the greatness and riches of London, where all the women are white and fair, and even the beggars in the streets are white, and he had arrived, with newly-earned gold coins in his pocket, to worship at the shrine of civilisation. The day of his landing was a dismal one; the sky was dun, and a wind-worried drizzle filtered down to the greasy streets, but he plunged boldly into the delights of Shadwell, and was presently cast up, shattered in health, civilised in costume, penniless, and, except in matters of the direst necessity, practically a dumb animal, to toil for James Holroyd and to be bullied by him in the dynamo shed at Camberwell. And to James Holroyd bullying was a labour of love.

There were three dynamos with their engines at Camberwell. The two that have been there since the beginning are small machines; the larger one was new. The smaller machines made a reasonable noise; their straps hummed over the drums, every now and then the brushes buzzed and fizzled, and the air churned steadily, whoo! whoo! whoo! between their poles. One was loose in its foundations and kept the shed vibrating. But the big dynamo drowned these little noises altogether with the sustained drone of its iron core, which somehow set part of the ironwork humming. The place made the visitor's head reel with the throb, throb, throb of the engines, the rotation of the big wheels, the spinning ball-valves, the occasional spittings of the steam, and over all the deep, unceasing, surging note of the big dynamo. This last noise was from an engineering point of view a defect, but Azuma-zi accounted it unto the monster for mightiness and pride.

If it were possible we would have the noises of that shed always about the reader as he reads, we would tell all our story to such an accompaniment. It was a steady stream of din, from which the ear picked out first one thread and then another; there was the intermittent snorting, panting, and seething of the steam engines, the suck and thud of their pistons, the dull beat on the air as the spokes of the great driving-wheels came round, a note the leather straps made as they ran tighter and looser, and a fretful tumult from the dynamos; and over all, sometimes inaudible, as the ear tired of it, and then creeping back upon the senses again, was this trombone note of the big machine. The floor never felt steady and quiet beneath one's feet, but quivered and jarred. It was a confusing, unsteady place, and enough to send anyone's thoughts jerking into odd zigzags. And for three months, while the big strike of the engineers was in progress, Holroyd, who was a blackleg, and Azuma-zi, who was a mere black, were never out of the stir and eddy of it, but slept and fed in the little wooden shanty between the shed and the gates.

Holroyd delivered a theological lecture on the text of his big machine soon after Azuma-zi came. He had to shout to be heard in the din. "Look at that," said Holroyd; "where's your 'eathen idol to match 'im?" And Azuma-zi looked. For a moment Holroyd was inaudible, and then Azuma-zi heard: "Kill a hundred men. Twelve per cent, on the ordinary shares," said Holroyd, "and that's something like a Gord!"

Holroyd was proud of his big dynamo, and expatiated upon its size and power to Azuma-zi until heaven knows what odd currents of thought that and the incessant whirling and shindy set up within the curly black cranium. He would explain in the most graphic manner the dozen or so ways in which a man might be killed by it, and once he gave Azuma-zi a shock as a sample of its quality. After that, in the breathing-times of his labour--it was heavy labour, being not only his own, but most of Holroyd's--Azuma-zi would sit and watch the big machine. Now and then the brushes would sparkle and spit blue flashes, at which Holroyd would swear, but all the rest was as smooth and rhythmic as breathing. The band ran shouting over the shaft, and ever behind one as one watched was the complacent thud of the piston. So it lived all day in this big airy shed, with him and Holroyd to wait upon it; not prisoned up and slaving to drive a ship as the other engines he knew--mere captive devils of the British Solomon--had been, but a machine enthroned. Those two smaller dynamos, Azuma-zi by force of contrast despised; the large one he privately christened the Lord of the Dynamos. They were fretful and irregular, but the big dynamo was steady. How great it was! How serene and easy in its working! Greater and calmer even than the Buddahs he had seen at Rangoon, and yet not motionless, but living! The great black coils spun, spun, spun, the rings ran round under the brushes, and the deep note of its coil steadied the whole. It affected Azuma-zi queerly.

Azuma-zi was not fond of labour. He would sit about and watch the Lord of the Dynamos while Holroyd went away to persuade the yard porter to get whiskey, although his proper place was not in the dynamo shed but behind the engines, and, moreover, if Holroyd caught him skulking he got hit for it with a rod of stout copper wire. He would go and stand close to the colossus and look up at the great leather band running overhead. There was a black patch on the band that came round, and it pleased him somehow among all the clatter to watch this return again and again. Odd thoughts spun with the whirl of it. Scientific people tell us that savages give souls to rocks and trees--and a machine is a thousand times more alive than a rock or a tree. And Azuma-zi was practically a savage still; the veneer of civilisation lay no deeper than his slop suit, his bruises, and the coal grime on his face and hands. His father before him had worshipped a meteoric stone, kindred blood it may be had splashed the broad wheels of Juggernaut.

He took every opportunity Holroyd gave him of touching and handling the great dynamo that was fascinating him. He polished and cleaned it until the metal parts were blinding in the sun. He felt a mysterious sense of service in doing this. He would go up to it and touch its spinning coils gently. The gods he had worshipped were all far away. The people in London hid their gods.

At last his dim feelings grew more distinct, and took shape in thoughts and at last in acts. When he came into the roaring shed one morning he salaamed to the Lord of the Dynamos, and then, when Holroyd was away, he went and whispered to the thundering machine that he was its servant, and prayed it to have pity on him and save him from Holroyd. As he did so a rare gleam of light came in through the open archway of the throbbing machine-shed, and the Lord of the Dynamos, as he whirled and roared, was radiant with pale gold. Then Azuma-zi knew that his service was acceptable to his Lord. After that he did not feel so lonely as he had done, and he had indeed been very much alone in London. And even when his work time was over, which was rare, he loitered about the shed.

Then, the next time Holroyd maltreated him, Azuma-zi went presently to the Lord of the Dynamos and whispered, "Thou seest, O my Lord!" and the angry whirr of the machinery seemed to answer him. Thereafter it appeared to him that whenever Holroyd came into the shed a different note came into the sounds of the dynamo. "My Lord bides his time," said Azuma-zi to himself. "The iniquity of the fool is not yet ripe." And he waited and watched for the day of reckoning. One day there was evidence of short circuiting, and Holroyd, making an unwary examination--it was in the afternoon--got a rather severe shock. Azuma-zi from behind the engine saw him jump off and curse at the peccant coil.

"He is warned," said Azuma-zi to himself. "Surely my Lord is very patient."

Holroyd had at first initiated his "nigger" into such elementary conceptions of the dynamo's working as would enable him to take temporary charge of the shed in his absence. But when he noticed the manner in which Azuma-zi hung about the monster he became suspicious. He dimly perceived his assistant was "up to something," and connecting him with the anointing of the coils with oil that had rotted the varnish in one place, he issued an edict, shouted above the confusion of the machinery, "Don't 'ee go nigh that big dynamo any more, Pooh-bah, or a'll take thy skin off!" Besides, if it pleased Azuma-zi to be near the big machine, it was plain sense and decency to keep him away from it.

Azuma-zi obeyed at the time, but later he was caught bowing before the Lord of the Dynamos. At which Holroyd twisted his arm and kicked him as he turned to go away. As Azuma-zi presently stood behind the engine and glared at the back of the hated Holroyd, the noises of the machinery took a new rhythm, and sounded like four words in his native tongue.

It is hard to say exactly what madness is. I fancy Azuma-zi was mad. The incessant din and whirl of the dynamo shed may have churned up his little store of knowledge and big store of superstitious fancy, at last, into something akin to frenzy. At any rate, when the idea of making Holroyd a sacrifice to the Dynamo Fetich was thus suggested to him, it filled him with a strange tumult of exultant emotion.

That night the two men and their black shadows were alone in the shed together. The shed was lit with one big arc light that winked and flickered purple. The shadows lay black behind the dynamos, the ball governors of the engines whirled from light to darkness, and their pistons beat loud and steady. The world outside seen through the open end of the shed seemed incredibly dim and remote. It seemed absolutely silent, too, since the riot of the machinery drowned every external sound. Far away was the black fence of the yard with grey shadowy houses behind, and above was the deep blue sky and the pale little stars. Azuma-zi suddenly walked across the centre of the shed above which the leather bands were running, and went into the shadow by the big dynamo. Holroyd heard a click, and the spin of the armature changed.

"What are you dewin' with that switch?" he bawled in surprise. "Han't I told you--"

Then he saw the set expression of Azuma-zi's eyes as the Asiatic came out of the shadow towards him.

In another moment the two men were grappling fiercely in front of the great dynamo.

"You coffee-headed fool!" gasped Holroyd, with a brown hand at his throat. "Keep off those contact rings." In another moment he was tripped and reeling back upon the Lord of the Dynamos. He instinctively loosened his grip upon his antagonist to save himself from the machine.

The messenger, sent in furious haste from the station to find out what had happened in the dynamo shed, met Azuma-zi at the porter's lodge by the gate. Azuma-zi tried to explain something, but the messenger could make nothing of the black's incoherent English, and hurried on to the shed. The machines were all noisily at work, and nothing seemed to be disarranged. There was, however, a queer smell of singed hair. Then he saw an odd-looking crumpled mass clinging to the front of the big dynamo, and, approaching, recognised the distorted remains of Holroyd.

The man stared and hesitated a moment. Then he saw the face, and shut his eyes convulsively. He turned on his heel before he opened them, so that he should not see Holroyd again, and went out of the shed to get advice and help.

When Azuma-zi saw Holroyd die in the grip of the Great Dynamo he had been a little scared about the consequences of his act. Yet he felt strangely elated, and knew that the favour of the Lord Dynamo was upon him. His plan was already settled when he met the man coming from the station, and the scientific manager who speedily arrived on the scene jumped at the obvious conclusion of suicide. This expert scarcely noticed Azuma-zi, except to ask a few questions. Did he see Holroyd kill himself? Azuma-zi explained he had been out of sight at the engine furnace until he heard a difference in the noise from the dynamo. It was not a difficult examination, being untinctured by suspicion.

The distorted remains of Holroyd, which the electrician removed from the machine, were hastily covered by the porter with a coffee-stained tablecloth. Somebody, by a happy inspiration, fetched a medical man. The expert was chiefly anxious to get the machine at work again, for seven or eight trains had stopped midway in the stuffy tunnels of the electric railway. Azuma-zi, answering or misunderstanding the questions of the people who had by authority or impudence come into the shed, was presently sent back to the stoke-hole by the scientific manager. Of course a crowd collected outside the gates of the yard--a crowd, for no known reason, always hovers for a day or two near the scene of a sudden death in London--two or three reporters percolated somehow into the engine-shed, and one even got to Azuma-zi; but the scientific expert cleared them out again, being himself an amateur journalist.

Presently the body was carried away, and public interest departed with it. Azuma-zi remained very quietly at his furnace, seeing over and over again in the coals a figure that wriggled violently and became still. An hour after the murder, to anyone coming into the shed it would have looked exactly as if nothing remarkable had ever happened there. Peeping presently from his engine-room the black saw the Lord Dynamo spin and whirl beside his little brothers, and the driving wheels were beating round, and the steam in the pistons went thud, thud, exactly as it had been earlier in the evening. After all, from the mechanical point of view, it had been a most insignificant incident--the mere temporary deflection of a current. But now the slender form and slender shadow of the scientific manager replaced the sturdy outline of Holroyd travelling up and down the lane of light upon the vibrating floor under the straps between the engines and the dynamos.

"Have I not served my Lord?" said Azuma-zi inaudibly, from his shadow, and the note of the great dynamo rang out full and clear. As he looked at the big whirling mechanism the strange fascination of it that had been a little in abeyance since Holroyd's death resumed its sway.

Never had Azuma-zi seen a man killed so swiftly and pitilessly. The big humming machine had slain its victim without wavering for a second from its steady beating. It was indeed a mighty god.

The unconscious scientific manager stood with his back to him, scribbling on a piece of paper. His shadow lay at the foot of the monster.

"Was the Lord Dynamo still hungry? His servant was ready."

Azuma-zi made a stealthy step forward; then stopped. The scientific manager suddenly stopped writing, and walked down the shed to the endmost of the dynamos, and began to examine the brushes.

Azuma-zi hesitated, and then slipped across noiselessly into the shadow by the switch. There he waited. Presently the manager's footsteps could be heard returning. He stopped in his old position, unconscious of the stoker crouching ten feet away from him. Then the big dynamo suddenly fizzled, and in another moment Azuma-zi had sprung out of the darkness upon him.

First, the scientific manager was gripped round the body and swung towards the big dynamo, then, kicking with his knee and forcing his antagonist's head down with his hands, he loosened the grip on his waist and swung round away from the machine. Then the black grasped him again, putting a curly head against his chest, and they swayed and panted as it seemed for an age or so. Then the scientific manager was impelled to catch a black ear in his teeth and bite furiously. The black yelled hideously.

They rolled over on the floor, and the black, who had apparently slipped from the vice of the teeth or parted with some ear--the scientific manager wondered which at the time--tried to throttle him. The scientific manager was making some ineffectual efforts to claw something with his hands and to kick, when the welcome sound of quick footsteps sounded on the floor. The next moment Azuma-zi had left him and darted towards the big dynamo. There was a splutter amid the roar.

The officer of the company who had entered, stood staring as Azuma-zi caught the naked terminals in his hands, gave one horrible convulsion, and then hung motionless from the machine, his face violently distorted.

"I'm jolly glad you came in when you did," said the scientific manager, still sitting on the floor.

He looked at the still quivering figure. "It is not a nice death to die, apparently--but it is quick."

The official was still staring at the body. He was a man of slow apprehension.

There was a pause.

The scientific manager got up on his feet rather awkwardly. He ran his fingers along his collar thoughtfully, and moved his head to and fro several times.

"Poor Holroyd! I see now." Then almost mechanically he went towards the switch in the shadow and turned the current into the railway circuit again. As he did so the singed body loosened its grip upon the machine and fell forward on its face. The core of the dynamo roared out loud and clear, and the armature beat the air.

So ended prematurely the Worship of the Dynamo Deity, perhaps the most short-lived of all religions. Yet withal it could at least boast a Martyrdom and a Human Sacrifice.

THE HAMMERPOND PARK BURGLARY

It is a moot point whether burglary is to be considered as a sport, a trade, or an art. For a trade, the technique is scarcely rigid enough, and its claims to be considered an art are vitiated by the mercenary element that qualifies its triumphs. On the whole it seems to be most justly ranked as sport, a sport for which no rules are at present formulated, and of which the prizes are distributed in an extremely informal manner. It was this informality of burglary that led to the regrettable extinction of two promising beginners at Hammerpond Park.

The stakes offered in this affair consisted chiefly of diamonds and other personal _bric-à-brac_ belonging to the newly married Lady Aveling. Lady Aveling, as the reader will remember, was the only daughter of Mrs Montague Pangs, the well-known hostess. Her marriage to Lord Aveling was extensively advertised in the papers, the quantity and quality of her wedding presents, and the fact that the honeymoon was to be spent at Hammerpond. The announcement of these valuable prizes created a considerable sensation in the small circle in which Mr Teddy Watkins was the undisputed leader, and it was decided that, accompanied by a duly qualified assistant, he should visit the village of Hammerpond in his professional capacity.

Being a man of naturally retiring and modest disposition, Mr Watkins determined to make this visit _incog_., and after due consideration of the conditions of his enterprise, he selected the rôle of a landscape artist and the unassuming surname of Smith. He preceded his assistant, who, it was decided, should join him only on the last afternoon of his stay at Hammerpond. Now the village of Hammerpond is perhaps one of the prettiest little corners in Sussex; many thatched houses still survive, the flint-built church with its tall spire nestling under the down is one of the finest and least restored in the county, and the beech-woods and bracken jungles through which the road runs to the great house are singularly rich in what the vulgar artist and photographer call "bits." So that Mr Watkins, on his arrival with two virgin canvases, a brand-new easel, a paint-box, portmanteau, an ingenious little ladder made in sections (after the pattern of the late lamented master Charles Peace), crowbar, and wire coils, found himself welcomed with effusion and some curiosity by half-a-dozen other brethren of the brush. It rendered the disguise he had chosen unexpectedly plausible, but it inflicted upon him a considerable amount of aesthetic conversation for which he was very imperfectly prepared.

"Have you exhibited very much?" said Young Porson in the bar-parlour of the "Coach and Horses," where Mr Watkins was skilfully accumulating local information on the night of his arrival.

"Very little," said Mr Watkins, "just a snack here and there."

"Academy?"

"In course. _And_ the Crystal Palace."

"Did they hang you well?" said Porson.

"Don't rot," said Mr Watkins; "I don't like it."

"I mean did they put you in a good place?"

"Whadyer mean?" said Mr Watkins suspiciously. "One 'ud think you were trying to make out I'd been put away."

Porson had been brought up by aunts, and was a gentlemanly young man even for an artist; he did not know what being "put away" meant, but he thought it best to explain that he intended nothing of the sort. As the question of hanging seemed a sore point with Mr Watkins, he tried to divert the conversation a little.

"Do you do figure-work at all?"

"No, never had a head for figures," said Mr Watkins, "my miss--Mrs Smith, I mean, does all that."

"She paints too!" said Porson. "That's rather jolly."

"Very," said Mr Watkins, though he really did not think so, and, feeling the conversation was drifting a little beyond his grasp, added, "I came down here to paint Hammerpond House by moonlight."

"Really!" said Porson. "That's rather a novel idea."

"Yes," said Mr Watkins, "I thought it rather a good notion when it occurred to me. I expect to begin to-morrow night."

"What! You don't mean to paint in the open, by night?"

"I do, though."

"But how will you see your canvas?"

"Have a bloomin' cop's--" began Mr Watkins, rising too quickly to the question, and then realising this, bawled to Miss Durgan for another glass of beer. "I'm goin' to have a thing called a dark lantern," he said to Porson.

"But it's about new moon now," objected Porson. "There won't be any moon."

"There'll be the house," said Watkins, "at any rate. I'm goin', you see, to paint the house first and the moon afterwards."

"Oh!" said Porson, too staggered to continue the conversation.

"They doo say," said old Durgan, the landlord, who had maintained a respectful silence during the technical conversation, "as there's no less than three p'licemen from 'Azelworth on dewty every night in the house--'count of this Lady Aveling 'n her jewellery. One'm won fower-and-six last night, off second footman--tossin'."

Towards sunset next day Mr Watkins, virgin canvas, easel, and a very considerable case of other appliances in hand, strolled up the pleasant pathway through the beech-woods to Hammerpond Park, and pitched his apparatus in a strategic position commanding the house. Here he was observed by Mr Raphael Sant, who was returning across the park from a study of the chalk-pits. His curiosity having been fired by Porson's account of the new arrival, he turned aside with the idea of discussing nocturnal art.

Mr Watkins was apparently unaware of his approach. A friendly conversation with Lady Hammerpond's butler had just terminated, and that individual, surrounded by the three pet dogs which it was his duty to take for an airing after dinner had been served, was receding in the distance. Mr Watkins was mixing colour with an air of great industry. Sant, approaching more nearly, was surprised to see the colour in question was as harsh and brilliant an emerald green as it is possible to imagine. Having cultivated an extreme sensibility to colour from his earliest years, he drew the air in sharply between his teeth at the very first glimpse of this brew. Mr Watkins turned round. He looked annoyed.

"What on earth are you going to do with that _beastly_ green?" said Sant.

Mr Watkins realised that his zeal to appear busy in the eyes of the butler had evidently betrayed him into some technical error. He looked at Sant and hesitated.

"Pardon my rudeness," said Sant; "but really, that green is altogether too amazing. It came as a shock. What _do_ you mean to do with it?"

Mr Watkins was collecting his resources. Nothing could save the situation but decision. "If you come here interrupting my work," he said, "I'm a-goin' to paint your face with it."

Sant retired, for he was a humourist and a peaceful man. Going down the hill he met Porson and Wainwright. "Either that man is a genius or he is a dangerous lunatic," said he. "Just go up and look at his green." And he continued his way, his countenance brightened by a pleasant anticipation of a cheerful affray round an easel in the gloaming, and the shedding of much green paint.

But to Porson and Wainwright Mr Watkins was less aggressive, and explained that the green was intended to be the first coating of his picture. It was, he admitted in response to a remark, an absolutely new method, invented by himself. But subsequently he became more reticent; he explained he was not going to tell every passer-by the secret of his own particular style, and added some scathing remarks upon the meanness of people "hanging about" to pick up such tricks of the masters as they could, which immediately relieved him of their company.

Twilight deepened, first one then another star appeared. The rooks amid the tall trees to the left of the house had long since lapsed into slumbrous silence, the house itself lost all the details of its architecture and became a dark grey outline, and then the windows of the salon shone out brilliantly, the conservatory was lighted up, and here and there a bedroom window burnt yellow. Had anyone approached the easel in the park it would have been found deserted. One brief uncivil word in brilliant green sullied the purity of its canvas. Mr Watkins was busy in the shrubbery with his assistant, who had discreetly joined him from the carriage-drive.

Mr Watkins was inclined to be self-congratulatory upon the ingenious device by which he had carried all his apparatus boldly, and in the sight of all men, right up to the scene of operations. "That's the dressing-room," he said to his assistant, "and, as soon as the maid takes the candle away and goes down to supper, we'll call in. My! how nice the house do look, to be sure, against the starlight, and with all its windows and lights! Swopme, Jim, I almost wish I _was_ a painter-chap. Have you fixed that there wire across the path from the laundry?"

He cautiously approached the house until he stood below the dressing-room window, and began to put together his folding ladder. He was much too experienced a practitioner to feel any unusual excitement. Jim was reconnoitring the smoking-room. Suddenly, close beside Mr Watkins in the bushes, there was a violent crash and a stifled curse. Someone had tumbled over the wire which his assistant had just arranged. He heard feet running on the gravel pathway beyond. Mr Watkins, like all true artists, was a singularly shy man, and he incontinently dropped his folding ladder and began running circumspectly through the shrubbery. He was indistinctly aware of two people hot upon his heels, and he fancied that he distinguished the outline of his assistant in front of him. In another moment he had vaulted the low stone wall bounding the shrubbery, and was in the open park. Two thuds on the turf followed his own leap.

It was a close chase in the darkness through the trees. Mr Watkins was a loosely-built man and in good training, and he gained hand-over-hand upon the hoarsely panting figure in front. Neither spoke, but, as Mr Watkins pulled up alongside, a qualm of awful doubt came over him. The other man turned his head at the same moment and gave an exclamation of surprise. "It's not Jim," thought Mr Watkins, and simultaneously the stranger flung himself, as it were, at Watkin's knees, and they were forthwith grappling on the ground together. "Lend a hand, Bill," cried the stranger as the third man came up. And Bill did--two hands in fact, and some accentuated feet. The fourth man, presumably Jim, had apparently turned aside and made off in a different direction. At any rate, he did not join the trio.

Mr Watkins' memory of the incidents of the next two minutes is extremely vague. He has a dim recollection of having his thumb in the corner of the mouth of the first man, and feeling anxious about its safety, and for some seconds at least he held the head of the gentleman answering to the name of Bill, to the ground by the hair. He was also kicked in a great number of different places, apparently by a vast multitude of people. Then the gentleman who was not Bill got his knee below Mr Watkins' diaphragm, and tried to curl him up upon it.

When his sensations became less entangled he was sitting upon the turf, and eight or ten men--the night was dark, and he was rather too confused to count--standing round him, apparently waiting for him to recover. He mournfully assumed that he was captured, and would probably have made some philosophical reflections on the fickleness of fortune, had not his internal sensations disinclined him for speech.

He noticed very quickly that his wrists were not handcuffed, and then a flask of brandy was put in his hands. This touched him a little--it was such unexpected kindness.

"He's a-comin' round," said a voice which he fancied he recognised as belonging to the Hammerpond second footman.

"We've got 'em, sir, both of 'em," said the Hammerpond butler, the man who had handed him the flask. "Thanks to _you_."

No one answered this remark. Yet he failed to see how it applied to him.

"He's fair dazed," said a strange voice; "the villains half-murdered him."

Mr Teddy Watkins decided to remain fair dazed until he had a better grasp of the situation. He perceived that two of the black figures round him stood side-by-side with a dejected air, and there was something in the carriage of their shoulders that suggested to his experienced eye hands that were bound together. Two! In a flash he rose to his position. He emptied the little flask and staggered--obsequious hands assisting him--to his feet. There was a sympathetic murmur.

"Shake hands, sir, shake hands," said one of the figures near him. "Permit me to introduce myself. I am very greatly indebted to you. It was the jewels of my wife, Lady Aveling, which attracted these scoundrels to the house."

"Very glad to make your lordship's acquaintance," said Teddy Watkins.

"I presume you saw the rascals making for the shrubbery, and dropped down on them?"

"That's exactly how it happened," said Mr Watkins.

"You should have waited till they got in at the window," said Lord Aveling; "they would get it hotter if they had actually committed the burglary. And it was lucky for you two of the policemen were out by the gates, and followed up the three of you. I doubt if you could have secured the two of them--though it was confoundedly plucky of you, all the same."

"Yes, I ought to have thought of all that," said Mr Watkins; "but one can't think of everythink."

"Certainly not," said Lord Aveling. "I am afraid they have mauled you a little," he added. The party was now moving towards the house. "You walk rather lame. May I offer you my arm?"

And instead of entering Hammerpond House by the dressing-room window, Mr Watkins entered it--slightly intoxicated, and inclined now to cheerfulness again--on the arm of a real live peer, and by the front door. "This," thought Mr Watkins, "is burgling in style!" The "scoundrels," seen by the gaslight, proved to be mere local amateurs unknown to Mr Watkins, and they were taken down into the pantry and there watched over by the three policemen, two gamekeepers with loaded guns, the butler, an ostler, and a carman, until the dawn allowed of their removal to Hazelhurst police-station. Mr Watkins was made much of in the saloon. They devoted a sofa to him, and would not hear of a return to the village that night. Lady Aveling was sure he was brilliantly original, and said her idea of Turner was just such another rough, half-inebriated, deep-eyed, brave, and clever man. Some one brought up a remarkable little folding-ladder that had been picked up in the shrubbery, and showed him how it was put together. They also described how wires had been found in the shrubbery, evidently placed there to trip-up unwary pursuers. It was lucky he had escaped these snares. And they showed him the jewels.

Mr Watkins had the sense not to talk too much, and in any conversational difficulty fell back on his internal pains. At last he was seized with stiffness in the back, and yawning. Everyone suddenly awoke to the fact that it was a shame to keep him talking after his affray, so he retired early to his room, the little red room next to Lord Aveling's suite.

The dawn found a deserted easel bearing a canvas with a green inscription, in the Hammerpond Park, and it found Hammerpond House in commotion. But if the dawn found Mr Teddy Watkins and the Aveling diamonds, it did not communicate the information to the police.

A MOTH--GENUS NOVO

Probably you have heard of Hapley--not W.T. Hapley, the son, but the celebrated Hapley, the Hapley of _Periplaneta Hapliia_, Hapley the entomologist. If so you know at least of the great feud between Hapley and Professor Pawkins. Though certain of its consequences may be new to you. For those who have not, a word or two of explanation is necessary, which the idle reader may go over with a glancing eye, if his indolence so incline him.

It is amazing how very widely diffused is the ignorance of such really important matters as this Hapley-Pawkins feud. Those epoch-making controversies, again, that have convulsed the Geological Society, are, I verily believe, almost entirely unknown outside the fellowship of that body. I have heard men of fair general education even refer to the great scenes at these meetings as vestry-meeting squabbles. Yet the great Hate of the English and Scotch geologists has lasted now half a century, and has "left deep and abundant marks upon the body of the science." And this Hapley-Pawkins business, though perhaps a more personal affair, stirred passions as profound, if not profounder. Your common man has no conception of the zeal that animates a scientific investigator, the fury of contradiction you can arouse in him. It is the _odium theologicum_ in a new form. There are men, for instance, who would gladly burn Professor Ray Lankester at Smithfield for his treatment of the Mollusca in the Encyclopaedia. That fantastic extension of the Cephalopods to cover the Pteropods ... But I wander from Hapley and Pawkins.

It began years and years ago, with a revision of the Microlepidoptera (whatever these may be) by Pawkins, in which he extinguished a new species created by Hapley. Hapley, who was always quarrelsome, replied by a stinging impeachment of the entire classification of Pawkins[A]. Pawkins, in his "Rejoinder[B]," suggested that Hapley's microscope was as defective as his powers of observation, and called him an "irresponsible meddler"--Hapley was not a professor at that time. Hapley, in his retort[C], spoke of "blundering collectors," and described, as if inadvertently, Pawkins' revision as a "miracle of ineptitude." It was war to the knife. However, it would scarcely interest the reader to detail how these two great men quarrelled, and how the split between them widened until from the Microlepidoptera they were at war upon every open question in entomology. There were memorable occasions. At times the Royal Entomological Society meetings resembled nothing so much as the Chamber of Deputies. On the whole, I fancy Pawkins was nearer the truth than Hapley. But Hapley was skilful with his rhetoric, had a turn for ridicule rare in a scientific man, was endowed with vast energy, and had a fine sense of injury in the matter of the extinguished species; while Pawkins was a man of dull presence, prosy of speech, in shape not unlike a water-barrel, over-conscientious with testimonials, and suspected of jobbing museum appointments. So the young men gathered round Hapley and applauded him. It was a long struggle, vicious from the beginning, and growing at last to pitiless antagonism. The successive turns of fortune, now an advantage to one side and now to another--now Hapley tormented by some success of Pawkins, and now Pawkins outshone by Hapley, belong rather to the history of entomology than to this story.

[Footnote A: "Remarks on a Recent Revision of Microlepidoptera." _Quart. Journ. Entomological Soc_. 1863.]

[Footnote B: "Rejoinder to certain Remarks," &c. _Ibid_. 1864.]

[Footnote C: "Further Remarks," &c. _Ibid_.]

But in 1891 Pawkins, whose health had been bad for some time, published some work upon the "mesoblast" of the Death's Head Moth. What the mesoblast of the Death's Head Moth may be, does not matter a rap in this story. But the work was far below his usual standard, and gave Hapley an opening he had coveted for years. He must have worked night and day to make the most of his advantage.

In an elaborate critique he rent Pawkins to tatters--one can fancy the man's disordered black hair, and his queer dark eyes flashing as he went for his antagonist--and Pawkins made a reply, halting, ineffectual, with painful gaps of silence, and yet malignant. There was no mistaking his will to wound Hapley, nor his incapacity to do it. But few of those who heard him--I was absent from that meeting--realised how ill the man was.

Hapley had got his opponent down, and meant to finish him. He followed with a simply brutal attack upon Pawkins, in the form of a paper upon the development of moths in general, a paper showing evidence of a most extraordinary amount of mental labour, and yet couched in a violently controversial tone. Violent as it was, an editorial note witnesses that it was modified. It must have covered Pawkins with shame and confusion of face. It left no loophole; it was murderous in argument, and utterly contemptuous in tone; an awful thing for the declining years of a man's career.

The world of entomologists waited breathlessly for the rejoinder from Pawkins. He would try one, for Pawkins had always been game. But when it came it surprised them. For the rejoinder of Pawkins was to catch the influenza, to proceed to pneumonia, and to die.

It was perhaps as effectual a reply as he could make under the circumstances, and largely turned the current of feeling against Hapley. The very people who had most gleefully cheered on those gladiators became serious at the consequence. There could be no reasonable doubt the fret of the defeat had contributed to the death of Pawkins. There was a limit even to scientific controversy, said serious people. Another crushing attack was already in the press and appeared on the day before the funeral. I don't think Hapley exerted himself to stop it. People remembered how Hapley had hounded down his rival, and forgot that rival's defects. Scathing satire reads ill over fresh mould. The thing provoked comment in the daily papers. This it was that made me think that you had probably heard of Hapley and this controversy. But, as I have already remarked, scientific workers live very much in a world of their own; half the people, I dare say, who go along Piccadilly to the Academy every year, could not tell you where the learned societies abide. Many even think that Research is a kind of happy-family cage in which all kinds of men lie down together in peace.

In his private thoughts Hapley could not forgive Pawkins for dying. In the first place, it was a mean dodge to escape the absolute pulverisation Hapley had in hand for him, and in the second, it left Hapley's mind with a queer gap in it. For twenty years he had worked hard, sometimes far into the night, and seven days a week, with microscope, scalpel, collecting-net, and pen, and almost entirely with reference to Pawkins. The European reputation he had won had come as an incident in that great antipathy. He had gradually worked up to a climax in this last controversy. It had killed Pawkins, but it had also thrown Hapley out of gear, so to speak, and his doctor advised him to give up work for a time, and rest. So Hapley went down into a quiet village in Kent, and thought day and night of Pawkins, and good things it was now impossible to say about him.

At last Hapley began to realise in what direction the pre-occupation tended. He determined to make a fight for it, and started by trying to read novels. But he could not get his mind off Pawkins, white in the face, and making his last speech--every sentence a beautiful opening for Hapley. He turned to fiction--and found it had no grip on him. He read the "Island Nights' Entertainments" until his "sense of causation" was shocked beyond endurance by the Bottle Imp. Then he went to Kipling, and found he "proved nothing," besides being irreverent and vulgar. These scientific people have their limitations. Then unhappily, he tried Besant's "Inner House," and the opening chapter set his mind upon learned societies and Pawkins at once.

So Hapley turned to chess, and found it a little more soothing. He soon mastered the moves and the chief gambits and commoner closing positions, and began to beat the Vicar. But then the cylindrical contours of the opposite king began to resemble Pawkins standing up and gasping ineffectually against Check-mate, and Hapley decided to give up chess.

Perhaps the study of some new branch of science would after all be better diversion. The best rest is change of occupation. Hapley determined to plunge at diatoms, and had one of his smaller microscopes and Halibut's monograph sent down from London. He thought that perhaps if he could get up a vigorous quarrel with Halibut, he might be able to begin life afresh and forget Pawkins. And very soon he was hard at work, in his habitual strenuous fashion, at these microscopic denizens of the way-side pool.

It was on the third day of the diatoms that Hapley became aware of a novel addition to the local fauna. He was working late at the microscope, and the only light in the room was the brilliant little lamp with the special form of green shade. Like all experienced microscopists, he kept both eyes open. It is the only way to avoid excessive fatigue. One eye was over the instrument, and bright and distinct before that was the circular field of the microscope, across which a brown diatom was slowly moving. With the other eye Hapley saw, as it were, without seeing[A]. He was only dimly conscious of the brass side of the instrument, the illuminated part of the table-cloth, a sheet of note-paper, the foot of the lamp, and the darkened room beyond.

[Footnote A: The reader unaccustomed to microscopes may easily understand this by rolling a newspaper in the form of a tube and looking through it at a book, keeping the other eye open.]

Suddenly his attention drifted from one eye to the other. The table-cloth was of the material called tapestry by shopmen, and rather brightly coloured. The pattern was in gold, with a small amount of crimson and pale blue upon a greyish ground. At one point the pattern seemed displaced, and there was a vibrating movement of the colours at this point.

Hapley suddenly moved his head back and looked with both eyes. His mouth fell open with astonishment.

It was a large moth or butterfly; its wings spread in butterfly fashion!

It was strange it should be in the room at all, for the windows were closed. Strange that it should not have attracted his attention when fluttering to its present position. Strange that it should match the table-cloth. Stranger far that to him, Hapley, the great entomologist, it was altogether unknown. There was no delusion. It was crawling slowly towards the foot of the lamp.

"_Genus novo_, by heavens! And in England!" said Hapley, staring.

Then he suddenly thought of Pawkins. Nothing would have maddened Pawkins more.... And Pawkins was dead!

Something about the head and body of the insect became singularly suggestive of Pawkins, just as the chess king had been.

"Confound Pawkins!" said Hapley. "But I must catch this." And, looking round him for some means of capturing the moth, he rose slowly out of his chair. Suddenly the insect rose, struck the edge of the lampshade--Hapley heard the "ping"--and vanished into the shadow.

In a moment Hapley had whipped off the shade, so that the whole room was illuminated. The thing had disappeared, but soon his practised eye detected it upon the wall paper near the door. He went towards it, poising the lamp-shade for capture. Before he was within striking distance, however, it had risen and was fluttering round the room. After the fashion of its kind, it flew with sudden starts and turns, seeming to vanish here and reappear there. Once Hapley struck, and missed; then again.

The third time he hit his microscope. The instrument swayed, struck and overturned the lamp, and fell noisily upon the floor. The lamp turned over on the table and, very luckily, went out. Hapley was left in the dark. With a start he felt the strange moth blunder into his face.

It was maddening. He had no lights. If he opened the door of the room the thing would get away. In the darkness he saw Pawkins quite distinctly laughing at him. Pawkins had ever an oily laugh. He swore furiously and stamped his foot on the floor.

There was a timid rapping at the door.

Then it opened, perhaps a foot, and very slowly. The alarmed face of the landlady appeared behind a pink candle flame; she wore a night-cap over her grey hair and had some purple garment over her shoulders. "What _was_ that fearful smash?" she said. "Has anything--" The strange moth appeared fluttering about the chink of the door. "Shut that door!" said Hapley, and suddenly rushed at her.

The door slammed hastily. Hapley was left alone in the dark. Then in the pause he heard his landlady scuttle upstairs, lock her door and drag something heavy across the room and put against it.

It became evident to Hapley that his conduct and appearance had been strange and alarming. Confound the moth! and Pawkins! However, it was a pity to lose the moth now. He felt his way into the hall and found the matches, after sending his hat down upon the floor with a noise like a drum. With the lighted candle he returned to the sitting-room. No moth was to be seen. Yet once for a moment it seemed that the thing was fluttering round his head. Hapley very suddenly decided to give up the moth and go to bed. But he was excited. All night long his sleep was broken by dreams of the moth, Pawkins, and his landlady. Twice in the night he turned out and soused his head in cold water.

One thing was very clear to him. His landlady could not possibly understand about the strange moth, especially as he had failed to catch it. No one but an entomologist would understand quite how he felt. She was probably frightened at his behaviour, and yet he failed to see how he could explain it. He decided to say nothing further about the events of last night. After breakfast he saw her in her garden, and decided to go out to talk to her to reassure her. He talked to her about beans and potatoes, bees, caterpillars, and the price of fruit. She replied in her usual manner, but she looked at him a little suspiciously, and kept walking as he walked, so that there was always a bed of flowers, or a row of beans, or something of the sort, between them. After a while he began to feel singularly irritated at this, and to conceal his vexation went indoors and presently went out for a walk.

The moth, or butterfly, trailing an odd flavour of Pawkins with it, kept coming into that walk, though he did his best to keep his mind off it. Once he saw it quite distinctly, with its wings flattened out, upon the old stone wall that runs along the west edge of the park, but going up to it he found it was only two lumps of grey and yellow lichen. "This," said Hapley, "is the reverse of mimicry. Instead of a butterfly looking like a stone, here is a stone looking like a butterfly!" Once something hovered and fluttered round his head, but by an effort of will he drove that impression out of his mind again.

In the afternoon Hapley called upon the Vicar, and argued with him upon theological questions. They sat in the little arbour covered with briar, and smoked as they wrangled. "Look at that moth!" said Hapley, suddenly, pointing to the edge of the wooden table.

"Where?" said the Vicar.

"You don't see a moth on the edge of the table there?" said Hapley.

"Certainly not," said the Vicar.

Hapley was thunderstruck. He gasped. The Vicar was staring at him. Clearly the man saw nothing. "The eye of faith is no better than the eye of science," said Hapley, awkwardly.

"I don't see your point," said the Vicar, thinking it was part of the argument.

That night Hapley found the moth crawling over his counterpane. He sat on the edge of the bed in his shirt-sleeves and reasoned with himself. Was it pure hallucination? He knew he was slipping, and he battled for his sanity with the same silent energy he had formerly displayed against Pawkins. So persistent is mental habit, that he felt as if it were still a struggle with Pawkins. He was well versed in psychology. He knew that such visual illusions do come as a result of mental strain. But the point was, he did not only _see_ the moth, he had heard it when it touched the edge of the lampshade, and afterwards when it hit against the wall, and he had felt it strike his face in the dark.

He looked at it. It was not at all dreamlike, but perfectly clear and solid-looking in the candle-light. He saw the hairy body, and the short feathery antennae, the jointed legs, even a place where the down was rubbed from the wing. He suddenly felt angry with himself for being afraid of a little insect.

His landlady had got the servant to sleep with her that night, because she was afraid to be alone. In addition she had locked the door, and put the chest of drawers against it. They listened and talked in whispers after they had gone to bed, but nothing occurred to alarm them. About eleven they had ventured to put the candle out, and had both dozed off to sleep. They woke up with a start, and sat up in bed, listening in the darkness.

Then they heard slippered feet going to and fro in Hapley's room. A chair was overturned, and there was a violent dab at the wall. Then a china mantel ornament smashed upon the fender. Suddenly the door of the room opened, and they heard him upon the landing. They clung to one another, listening. He seemed to be dancing upon the staircase. Now he would go down three or four steps quickly, then up again, then hurry down into the hall. They heard the umbrella stand go over, and the fanlight break. Then the bolt shot and the chain rattled. He was opening the door.

They hurried to the window. It was a dim grey night; an almost unbroken sheet of watery cloud was sweeping across the moon, and the hedge and trees in front of the house were black against the pale roadway. They saw Hapley, looking like a ghost in his shirt and white trousers, running to and fro in the road, and beating the air. Now he would stop, now he would dart very rapidly at something invisible, now he would move upon it with stealthy strides. At last he went out of sight up the road towards the down. Then, while they argued who should go down and lock the door, he returned. He was walking very fast, and he came straight into the house, closed the door carefully, and went quietly up to his bedroom. Then everything was silent.

"Mrs Colville," said Hapley, calling down the staircase next morning. "I hope I did not alarm you last night."

"You may well ask that!" said Mrs Colville.

"The fact is, I am a sleep-walker, and the last two nights I have been without my sleeping mixture. There is nothing to be alarmed about, really. I am sorry I made such an ass of myself. I will go over the down to Shoreham, and get some stuff to make me sleep soundly. I ought to have done that yesterday."

But half-way over the down, by the chalk pits, the moth came upon Hapley again. He went on, trying to keep his mind upon chess problems, but it was no good. The thing fluttered into his face, and he struck at it with his hat in self-defence. Then rage, the old rage--the rage he had so often felt against Pawkins--came upon him again. He went on, leaping and striking at the eddying insect. Suddenly he trod on nothing, and fell headlong.

There was a gap in his sensations, and Hapley found himself sitting on the heap of flints in front of the opening of the chalkpits, with a leg twisted back under him. The strange moth was still fluttering round his head. He struck at it with his hand, and turning his head saw two men approaching him. One was the village doctor. It occurred to Hapley that this was lucky. Then it came into his mind, with extraordinary vividness, that no one would ever be able to see the strange moth except himself, and that it behoved him to keep silent about it.

Late that night, however, after his broken leg was set, he was feverish and forgot his self-restraint. He was lying flat on his bed, and he began to run his eyes round the room to see if the moth was still about. He tried not to do this, but it was no good. He soon caught sight of the thing resting close to his hand, by the night-light, on the green table-cloth. The wings quivered. With a sudden wave of anger he smote at it with his fist, and the nurse woke up with a shriek. He had missed it.

"That moth!" he said; and then, "It was fancy. Nothing!"

All the time he could see quite clearly the insect going round the cornice and darting across the room, and he could also see that the nurse saw nothing of it and looked at him strangely. He must keep himself in hand. He knew he was a lost man if he did not keep himself in hand. But as the night waned the fever grew upon him, and the very dread he had of seeing the moth made him see it. About five, just as the dawn was grey, he tried to get out of bed and catch it, though his leg was afire with pain. The nurse had to struggle with him.

On account of this, they tied him down to the bed. At this the moth grew bolder, and once he felt it settle in his hair. Then, because he struck out violently with his arms, they tied these also. At this the moth came and crawled over his face, and Hapley wept, swore, screamed, prayed for them to take it off him, unavailingly.

The doctor was a blockhead, a half-qualified general practitioner, and quite ignorant of mental science. He simply said there was no moth. Had he possessed the wit, he might still, perhaps, have saved Hapley from his fate by entering into his delusion and covering his face with gauze, as he prayed might be done. But, as I say, the doctor was a blockhead, and until the leg was healed Hapley was kept tied to his bed, and with the imaginary moth crawling over him. It never left him while he was awake and it grew to a monster in his dreams. While he was awake he longed for sleep, and from sleep he awoke screaming.

So now Hapley is spending the remainder of his days in a padded room, worried by a moth that no one else can see. The asylum doctor calls it hallucination; but Hapley, when he is in his easier mood, and can talk, says it is the ghost of Pawkins, and consequently a unique specimen and well worth the trouble of catching.

THE TREASURE IN THE FOREST

The canoe was now approaching the land. The bay opened out, and a gap in the white surf of the reef marked where the little river ran out to the sea; the thicker and deeper green of the virgin forest showed its course down the distant hill slope. The forest here came close to the beach. Far beyond, dim and almost cloudlike in texture, rose the mountains, like suddenly frozen waves. The sea was still save for an almost imperceptible swell. The sky blazed.

The man with the carved paddle stopped. "It should be somewhere here," he said. He shipped the paddle and held his arms out straight before him.

The other man had been in the fore part of the canoe, closely scrutinising the land. He had a sheet of yellow paper on his knee.

"Come and look at this, Evans," he said.

Both men spoke in low tones, and their lips were hard and dry.

The man called Evans came swaying along the canoe until he could look over his companion's shoulder.

The paper had the appearance of a rough map. By much folding it was creased and worn to the pitch of separation, and the second man held the discoloured fragments together where they had parted. On it one could dimly make out, in almost obliterated pencil, the outline of the bay.

"Here," said Evans, "is the reef and here is the gap." He ran his thumb-nail over the chart.

"This curved and twisting line is the river--I could do with a drink now!--and this star is the place."

"You see this dotted line," said the man with the map; "it is a straight line, and runs from the opening of the reef to a clump of palm-trees. The star comes just where it cuts the river. We must mark the place as we go into the lagoon."

"It's queer," said Evans, after a pause, "what these little marks down here are for. It looks like the plan of a house or something; but what all these little dashes, pointing this way and that, may mean I can't get a notion. And what's the writing?"

"Chinese," said the man with the map.

"Of course! _He_ was a Chinee," said Evans.

"They all were," said the man with the map.

They both sat for some minutes staring at the land, while the canoe drifted slowly. Then Evans looked towards the paddle.

"Your turn with the paddle now, Hooker," said he.

And his companion quietly folded up his map, put it in his pocket, passed Evans carefully, and began to paddle. His movements were languid, like those of a man whose strength was nearly exhausted. Evans sat with his eyes half closed, watching the frothy breakwater of the coral creep nearer and nearer. The sky was like a furnace now, for the sun was near the zenith. Though they were so near the Treasure he did not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitement of the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from the mainland in the unprovisioned canoe had, to use his own expression, "taken it out of him." He tried to arouse himself by directing his mind to the ingots the Chinamen had spoken of, but it would not rest there; it came back headlong to the thought of sweet water rippling in the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips and throat. The rhythmic wash of the sea upon the reef was becoming audible now, and it had a pleasant sound in his ears; the water washed along the side of the canoe, and the paddle dripped between each stroke. Presently he began to doze.

He was still dimly conscious of the island, but a queer dream texture interwove with his sensations. Once again it was the night when he and Hooker had hit upon the Chinamen's secret; he saw the moonlit trees, the little fire burning, and the black figures of the three Chinamen--silvered on one side by moonlight, and on the other glowing from the firelight--and heard them talking together in pigeon-English--for they came from different provinces. Hooker had caught the drift of their talk first, and had motioned to him to listen. Fragments of the conversation were inaudible and fragments incomprehensible. A Spanish galleon from the Philippines hopelessly aground, and its treasure buried against the day of return, lay in the background of the story; a shipwrecked crew thinned by disease, a quarrel or so, and the needs of discipline, and at last taking to their boats never to be heard of again. Then Chang-hi, only a year since, wandering ashore, had happened upon the ingots hidden for two hundred years, had deserted his junk, and reburied them with infinite toil, single-handed but very safe. He laid great stress on the safety--it was a secret of his. Now he wanted help to return and exhume them. Presently the little map fluttered and the voices sank. A fine story for two stranded British wastrels to hear! Evans' dream shifted to the moment when he had Chang-hi's pigtail in his hand. The life of a Chinaman is scarcely sacred like a European's. The cunning little face of Chang-hi, first keen and furious like a startled snake, and then fearful, treacherous and pitiful, became overwhelmingly prominent in the dream. At the end Chang-hi had grinned, a most incomprehensible and startling grin. Abruptly things became very unpleasant, as they will do at times in dreams. Chang-hi gibbered and threatened him. He saw in his dream heaps and heaps of gold, and Chang-hi intervening and struggling to hold him back from it. He took Chang-hi by the pigtail--how big the yellow brute was, and how he struggled and grinned! He kept growing bigger, too. Then the bright heaps of gold turned to a roaring furnace, and a vast devil, surprisingly like Chang-hi, but with a huge black tail, began to feed him with coals. They burnt his mouth horribly. Another devil was shouting his name: "Evans, Evans, you sleepy fool!"--or was it Hooker?

He woke up. They were in the mouth of the lagoon.

"There are the three palm-trees. It must be in a line with that clump of bushes," said his companion. "Mark that. If we go to those bushes and then strike into the bush in a straight line from here, we shall come to it when we come to the stream."

They could see now where the mouth of the stream opened out. At the sight of it Evans revived. "Hurry up, man," he said, "Or by heaven I shall have to drink sea water!" He gnawed his hand and stared at the gleam of silver among the rocks and green tangle.

Presently he turned almost fiercely upon Hooker. "Give _me_ the paddle," he said.

So they reached the river mouth. A little way up Hooker took some water in the hollow of his hand, tasted it, and spat it out. A little further he tried again. "This will do," he said, and they began drinking eagerly.

"Curse this!" said Evans, suddenly. "It's too slow." And, leaning dangerously over the fore part of the canoe, he began to suck up the water with his lips.

Presently they made an end of drinking, and, running the canoe into a little creek, were about to land among the thick growth that overhung the water.

"We shall have to scramble through this to the beach to find our bushes and get the line to the place," said Evans.

"We had better paddle round," said Hooker.

So they pushed out again into the river and paddled back down it to the sea, and along the shore to the place where the clump of bushes grew. Here they landed, pulled the light canoe far up the beach, and then went up towards the edge of the jungle until they could see the opening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line. Evans had taken a native implement out of the canoe. It was L-shaped, and the transverse piece was armed with polished stone. Hooker carried the paddle. "It is straight now in this direction," said he; "we must push through this till we strike the stream. Then we must prospect."

They pushed through a close tangle of reeds, broad fronds, and young trees, and at first it was toilsome going, but very speedily the trees became larger and the ground beneath them opened out. The blaze of the sunlight was replaced by insensible degrees by cool shadow. The trees became at last vast pillars that rose up to a canopy of greenery far overhead. Dim white flowers hung from their stems, and ropy creepers swung from tree to tree. The shadow deepened. On the ground, blotched fungi and a red-brown incrustation became frequent.

Evans shivered. "It seems almost cold here after the blaze outside."

"I hope we are keeping to the straight," said Hooker.

Presently they saw, far ahead, a gap in the sombre darkness where white shafts of hot sunlight smote into the forest. There also was brilliant green undergrowth, and coloured flowers. Then they heard the rush of water.

"Here is the river. We should be close to it now," said Hooker.

The vegetation was thick by the river bank. Great plants, as yet unnamed, grew among the roots of the big trees, and spread rosettes of huge green fans towards the strip of sky. Many flowers and a creeper with shiny foliage clung to the exposed stems. On the water of the broad, quiet pool which the treasure seekers now overlooked there floated big oval leaves and a waxen, pinkish-white flower not unlike a water-lily. Further, as the river bent away from them, the water suddenly frothed and became noisy in a rapid.

"Well?" said Evans.

"We have swerved a little from the straight," said Hooker. "That was to be expected."

He turned and looked into the dim cool shadows of the silent forest behind them. "If we beat a little way up and down the stream we should come to something."

"You said--" began Evans.

"_He_ said there was a heap of stones," said Hooker.

The two men looked at each other for a moment.

"Let us try a little down-stream first," said Evans.

They advanced slowly, looking curiously about them. Suddenly Evans stopped. "What the devil's that?" he said.

Hooker followed his finger. "Something blue," he said. It had come into view as they topped a gentle swell of the ground. Then he began to distinguish what it was.

He advanced suddenly with hasty steps, until the body that belonged to the limp hand and arm had become visible. His grip tightened on the implement he carried. The thing was the figure of a Chinaman lying on his face. The _abandon_ of the pose was unmistakable.

The two men drew closer together, and stood staring silently at this ominous dead body. It lay in a clear space among the trees. Near by was a spade after the Chinese pattern, and further off lay a scattered heap of stones, close to a freshly dug hole.

"Somebody has been here before," said Hooker, clearing his throat.

Then suddenly Evans began to swear and rave, and stamp upon the ground.

Hooker turned white but said nothing. He advanced towards the prostrate body. He saw the neck was puffed and purple, and the hands and ankles swollen. "Pah!" he said, and suddenly turned away and went towards the excavation. He gave a cry of surprise. He shouted to Evans, who was following him slowly.

"You fool! It's all right It's here still." Then he turned again and looked at the dead Chinaman, and then again at the hole.

Evans hurried to the hole. Already half exposed by the ill-fated wretch beside them lay a number of dull yellow bars. He bent down in the hole, and, clearing off the soil with his bare hands, hastily pulled one of the heavy masses out. As he did so a little thorn pricked his hand. He pulled the delicate spike out with his fingers and lifted the ingot.

"Only gold or lead could weigh like this," he said exultantly.

Hooker was still looking at the dead Chinaman. He was puzzled.

"He stole a march on his friends," he said at last. "He came here alone, and some poisonous snake has killed him ... I wonder how he found the place."

Evans stood with the ingot in his hands. What did a dead Chinaman signify? "We shall have to take this stuff to the mainland piecemeal, and bury it there for a while. How shall we get it to the canoe?"

He took his jacket off and spread it on the ground, and flung two or three ingots into it. Presently he found that another little thorn had punctured his skin.

"This is as much as we can carry," said he. Then suddenly, with a queer rush of irritation, "What are you staring at?"

Hooker turned to him. "I can't stand ... him." He nodded towards the corpse. "It's so like--"

"Rubbish!" said Evans. "All Chinamen are alike."

Hooker looked into his face. "I'm going to bury _that_, anyhow, before I lend a hand with this stuff."

"Don't be a fool, Hooker," said Evans. "Let that mass of corruption bide."

Hooker hesitated, and then his eye went carefully over the brown soil about them. "It scares me somehow," he said.

"The thing is," said Evans, "what to do with these ingots. Shall we re-bury them over here, or take them across the strait in the canoe?"

Hooker thought. His puzzled gaze wandered among the tall tree-trunks, and up into the remote sunlit greenery overhead. He shivered again as his eye rested upon the blue figure of the Chinaman. He stared searchingly among the grey depths between the trees.

"What's come to you, Hooker?" said Evans. "Have you lost your wits?"

"Let's get the gold out of this place, anyhow," said Hooker.

He took the ends of the collar of the coat in his hands, and Evans took the opposite corners, and they lifted the mass. "Which way?" said Evans. "To the canoe?"

"It's queer," said Evans, when they had advanced only a few steps, "but my arms ache still with that paddling."

"Curse it!" he said. "But they ache! I must rest."

They let the coat down. Evans' face was white, and little drops of sweat stood out upon his forehead. "It's stuffy, somehow, in this forest."

Then with an abrupt transition to unreasonable anger: "What is the good of waiting here all the day? Lend a hand, I say! You have done nothing but moon since we saw the dead Chinaman."

Hooker was looking steadfastly at his companion's face. He helped raise the coat bearing the ingots, and they went forward perhaps a hundred yards in silence. Evans began to breathe heavily. "Can't you speak?" he said.

"What's the matter with you?" said Hooker.

Evans stumbled, and then with a sudden curse flung the coat from him. He stood for a moment staring at Hooker, and then with a groan clutched at his own throat.

"Don't come near me," he said, and went and leant against a tree. Then in a steadier voice, "I'll be better in a minute."

Presently his grip upon the trunk loosened, and he slipped slowly down the stem of the tree until he was a crumpled heap at its foot. His hands were clenched convulsively. His face became distorted with pain. Hooker approached him.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" said Evans in a stifled voice. "Put the gold back on the coat."

"Can't I do anything for you?" said Hooker.

"Put the gold back on the coat."

As Hooker handled the ingots he felt a little prick on the ball of his thumb. He looked at his hand and saw a slender thorn, perhaps two inches in length.

Evans gave an inarticulate cry and rolled over.

Hooker's jaw dropped. He stared at the thorn for a moment with dilated eyes. Then he looked at Evans, who was now crumpled together on the ground, his back bending and straitening spasmodically. Then he looked through the pillars of the trees and net-work of creeper stems, to where in the dim grey shadow the blue-clad body of the Chinaman was still indistinctly visible. He thought of the little dashes in the corner of the plan, and in a moment he understood.

"God help me!" he said. For the thorns were similar to those the Dyaks poison and use in their blowing-tubes. He understood now what Chang-hi's assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. He understood that grin now.

"Evans!" he cried.

But Evans was silent and motionless now, save for a horrible spasmodic twitching of his limbs. A profound silence brooded over the forest.

Then Hooker began to suck furiously at the little pink spot on the ball of his thumb--sucking for dear life. Presently he felt a strange aching pain in his arms and shoulders, and his fingers seemed difficult to bend. Then he knew that sucking was no good.

Abruptly he stopped, and sitting down by the pile of ingots, and resting his chin upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees, stared at the distorted but still stirring body of his companion. Chang-hi's grin came in his mind again. The dull pain spread towards his throat and grew slowly in intensity. Far above him a faint breeze stirred the greenery, and the white petals of some unknown flower came floating down through the gloom.

PRINTED BY

TURNBULL AND SPEARS, EDINBURGH

A LIST OF NEW BOOKS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF

METHUEN AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS: LONDON

36 ESSEX STREET

W.C.

CONTENTS

FORTHCOMING BOOKS

POETRY

ENGLISH CLASSICS

HISTORY

BIOGRAPHY

GENERAL LITERATURE

THEOLOGY

LEADERS OF RELIGION

WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD

FICTION

BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

THE PEACOCK LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES

SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY

CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS

SEPTEMBER 1895.

MESSRS. METHUEN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Poetry and Belles Lettres

RUDYARD KIPLING

BALLADS. By RUDYARD KIPLING. _Crown 8vo. Buckram_. 6_s._

Also 200 copies on hand-made paper. 21s.

Also 35 copies on Japanese vellum. 42s.

The exceptional success of 'Barrack-Room Ballads,' with which this volume will be uniform, justifies the hope that the new book too will obtain a wide popularity.

W.E. HENLEY

ENGLISH LYRICS. Selected and Edited by W.E. HENLEY. _Crown 8vo. Buckram_. 6_s_.

Also 30 copies on hand-made paper _Demy 8vo_. 21_s._

Few announcements will be more welcome to lovers of English verse than the one that Mr. Henley is bringing together into one book the finest lyrics in our language. The book will be produced with the same care that made 'Lyra Heroica' delightful to the hand and eye.

ANDREW LANG

THE POEMS OF ROBERT BURNS. Edited, with Introduction, etc., by ANDREW LANG. With Portraits. _Crown 8vo_. 6_s._

Also 75 copies on hand-made paper. _Demy 8vo_. 21s.

This edition will contain a carefully collated Text and Notes on the Text, a critical and Biographical Introduction, Introductory Notes to the Poems, and a Glossary.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

VAILIMA LETTERS. By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. With an Etched Portrait by WILLIAM STRANG, and other Illustrations. _Crown 8vo. Buckram. 7s. 6d_.

Also 125 copies on hand-made paper. _Demy 8vo. 25s._

A series of long journal letters written from Samoa to Mr. Sidney Colvin during the last five years. They form an autobiography of Mr. Stevenson during this period, giving a full account of his daily life and literary work and ambitions. Mr. Colvin has written a Prologue and Epilogue, and has added numerous notes.

ENGLISH CLASSICS

Edited by W.E. HENLEY.

The books, which are designed and printed by Messrs. Constable, are issued in two editions--(1) A small edition, on the finest Japanese vellum, limited in most cases to 25 copies, demy 8vo, 21s. a volume nett; (2) The popular edition on laid paper, crown 8vo, buckram, 3s. 6d. a volume.

NEW VOLUMES.

THE LIVES OF DONNE, WOTTON, HOOKER, HERBERT, AND SANDERSON. By IZAAK WALTON. With an Introduction by VERNON BLACKBURN, and a Portrait.

THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS. By SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. With an Introduction by JOHN HEPBURN MILLAR, and a Portrait. 3 _vols_.

W.M. DIXON

A PRIMER OF TENNYSON. By W.M. DIXON, M.A., Professor of English Literature at Mason College. _Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d._

This book consists of (1) a succinct but complete biography of Lord Tennyson; (2) an account of the volumes published by him in chronological order, dealing with the more important poems separately; (3) a concise criticism of Tennyson in his various aspects as lyrist, dramatist, and representative poet of his day; (4) a bibliography. Such a complete book on such a subject, and at such a moderate price, should find a host of readers.

FICTION

MARIE CORELLI

THE SORROWS OF SATAN. By MARIE CORELLI, Author of 'Barabbas,' 'A Romance of Two Worlds,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

ANTHONY HOPE

THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO. By ANTHONY HOPE, Author of 'The Prisoner of Zenda,' 'The God in the Car,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

A romance of mediaeval Italy.

GILBERT PARKER

AN ADVENTURER OF THE NORTH. By GILBERT PARKER, Author of 'Pierre and his People,' 'The Translation of a Savage,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

This book consists of more tales of the Far North, and contains the last adventures of 'Pretty Pierre.' Mr. Parker's first volume of Canadian stories was published about three years ago, and was received with unanimous praise.

EMILY LAWLESS

HURRISH. By the Honble. EMILY LAWLESS, Author of 'Maelcho,' 'Grania,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s._ A reissue of Miss Lawless' most popular novel.

S. BARING GOULD

NOEMI. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of 'Mehalah,' 'In the Roar of the Sea,' etc. Illustrated by R. CATON WOODVILLE. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

A Romance of Old France.

MRS. CLIFFORD

A FLASH OF SUMMER. By MRS.W.K. CLIFFORD, Author of 'Aunt Anne.' _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

J. MACLAREN COBBAN

THE KING OF ANDAMAN. By J. MACLAREN COBBAN, Author of 'The Red Sultan,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

G. MANVILLE FENN

AN ELECTRIC SPARK. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of 'The Vicar's Wife,' 'A Double Knot,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

C. PHILLIPS WOOLLEY

THE QUEENSBERRY CUP. A Tale of Adventure. By CLIVE PHILLIPS WOOLLEY, Author of 'Snap,' Part Author of 'Big Game Shooting.' Illustrated. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

This is a story of amateur pugilism and chivalrous adventure, written by an author whose books on sport are well known.

H.G. WELLS

THE STOLEN BACILLUS, AND OTHER STORIES. By H.G. WELLS, Author of 'The Time Machine.' _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

MARY GAUNT

THE MOVING FINGER: chapters from the Romance of Australian Life. By MARY GAUNT, Author of 'Dave's Sweetheart.' _Crown 8vo._. 3s. 6d_.

ANGUS EVAN ABBOTT

THE GODS GIVE MY DONKEY WINGS. By ANGUS EVAN ABBOTT. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d_.

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS

S. BARING GOULD

OLD ENGLISH FAIRY TALES collected and edited by S. BARING GOULD. With numerous illustrations by F.D. BEDFORD. _Crown 8vo, 6s_.

This volume consists of some of the old English stories which have been lost to sight, and they are fully illustrated by Mr. Bedford.

A BOOK OF NURSERY SONGS AND RHYMES. Edited by S. BARING GOULD, and illustrated by the Students of the Birmingham Art School. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

A collection of old nursery songs and rhymes, including a number which are little known. The book contains some charming illustrations, borders, etc., by the Birmingham students under the superintendence of Mr. Gaskin, and Mr. Baring Gould has added numerous notes. This book and the next have been printed in a special heavy type by Messrs. Constable.

H.C. BEECHING

A BOOK OF CHRISTMAS VERSE. Edited by H.C. BEECHING, M.A., and Illustrated by WALTER CRANE. _Crown 8vo. 5s_.

A collection of the best verse inspired by the birth of Christ from the Middle Ages to the present day. Mr. Walter Crane has designed several illustrations, and the cover. A distinction of the book is the large number of poems it contains by modern authors, a few of which are here printed for the first time.

JOHN KEBLE

THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. By JOHN KEBLE. With an Introduction and Notes by W. LOCK, M.A., Sub-Warden of Keble College, Author of 'The Life of John Keble.' Illustrated by R. ANNING BELL. _Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d._

A new edition of a famous book, illustrated and printed in black and red, uniform with the 'Imitation of Christ.'

Theology and Philosophy

E.C. GIBSON

THE XXXIX. ARTICLES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Edited with an Introduction by E.C. GIBSON, M.A., Principal of Wells Theological College. _In two volumes. Demy 8vo. 7s. 6d. each. Vol. I_.

This is the first volume of a treatise on the xxxix. Articles, and contains the Introduction and Articles i.-xviii.

R.L. OTTLEY

THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION. By R.L. OTTLEY, M.A., late fellow of Magdalen College, Oxon. Principal of Pusey House. _In two volumes. Demy 8vo._

This is the first volume of a book intended to be an aid in the study of the doctrine of the Incarnation. It deals with the leading points in the history of the doctrine, its content, and its relation to other truths of Christian faith.

F.S. GRANGER

THE WORSHIP OF THE ROMANS. By F.S. GRANGER, M.A., Litt.D., Professor of Philosophy at University College, Nottingham. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

The author has attempted to delineate that group of beliefs which stood in close connection with the Roman religion, and among the subjects treated are Dreams, Nature Worship, Roman Magic, Divination, Holy Places, Victims, etc. Thus the book is, apart from its immediate subject, a contribution to folk-lore and comparative psychology.

L.T. HOBHOUSE

THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE. By L.T. HOBHOUSE, Fellow and Tutor of Corpus College, Oxford. _Demy 8vo. 21s._

'The Theory of Knowledge' deals with some of the fundamental problems of Metaphysics and Logic, by treating them in connection with one another. PART I. begins with the elementary conditions of knowledge such as Sensation and Memory, and passes on to Judgment. PART II. deals with Inference in general, and Induction in particular. PART III. deals with the structural conceptions of Knowledge, such as Matter, Substance, and Personality. The main purpose of the book is constructive, but it is also critical, and various objections are considered and met.

W.H. FAIRBROTHER

THE PHILOSOPHY OF T.H. GREEN. By W.H. FAIRBROTHER, M.A., Lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford. _Crown 8vo. 5s._

This volume is expository, not critical, and is intended for senior students at the Universities, and others, as a statement of Green's teaching and an introduction to the study of Idealist Philosophy.

F.W. BUSSELL

THE SCHOOL OF PLATO: its Origin and Revival under the Roman Empire. By F.W. BUSSELL, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford. _In two volumes. Demy 8vo. Vol. I._

In these volumes the author has attempted to reach the central doctrines of Ancient Philosophy, or the place of man in created things, and his relation to the outer world of Nature or Society, and to the Divine Being. The first volume comprises a survey of the entire period of a thousand years, and examines the cardinal notions of the Hellenic, Hellenistic, and Roman ages from this particular point of view.

In succeeding divisions the works of Latin and Greek writers under the Empire will be more closely studied, and detailed essays will discuss their various systems, e.g. Cicero, Manilius, Lucretius, Seneca, Aristides, Appuleius, and the New Platonists of Alexandria and Athens.

C.J. SHEBBEARE

THE GREEK THEORY OF THE STATE AND THE NONCONFORMIST CONSCIENCE: a Socialistic Defence of some Ancient Institutions. By CHARLES JOHN SHEBBEARE, B.A., Christ Church, Oxford. _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d._

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

EDWARD GIBBON

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By EDWARD GIBBON. A New Edition, edited with Notes, Appendices, and Maps by J.B. BURY, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. _In Seven Volumes. Crown 8vo. 6s. each. Vol I._

The time seems to have arrived for a new edition of Gibbon's great work--furnished with such notes and appendices as may bring it up to the standard of recent historical research. Edited by a scholar who has made this period his special study, and issued in a convenient form and at a moderate price, this edition should fill an obvious void. The volumes will be issued at intervals of a few months.

E.L.S. HORSBURGH

THE CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO. By E.L.S. HORSBURGH, B.A. _With Plans. Crown 8vo. 5s._

This is a full account of the final struggle of Napoleon, and contains a careful study from a strategical point of view of the movements of the French and allied armies.

FLINDERS PETRIE

EGYPTIAN DECORATIVE ART. By W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L. _With 120 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

A book which deals with a subject which has never yet been seriously treated.

EGYPTIAN TALES. Translated from the Papyri, and edited with notes by W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE, LL.D., D.C.L. Illustrated by TRISTRAM ELLIS. _Part II. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d_.

W.H. HUTTON

THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. By W.H. HUTTON, M.A., Author of 'William Laud.' _With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 5s._

This book contains the result of some research and a considerable amount of information not contained in other Lives. It also contains six Portraits after Holbein of More and his relations.

R.F. HORTON

JOHN HOWE. By R.F. HORTON, D.D., Author of 'The Bible and Inspiration,' etc. _With a Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. [Leaders of Religion_.

F. M'CUNN

THE LIFE OF JOHN KNOX. By F. M'CUNN. With a Portrait. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. [Leaders of Religion_.

GENERAL LITERATURE

W.B. WORSFOLD

SOUTH AFRICA: Its History and its Future. By W. BASIL WORSFOLD, M.A. _With a Map. Crown 8vo. 6s_.

This volume contains a short history of South Africa, and a full account of its present position; and of its extraordinary capacities.

J.S. SHEDLOCK

THE PIANOFORTE SONATA: Its Origin and Development. By J.S. SHEDLOCK. _Crown 8vo. 5s._

This is a practical and not unduly technical account of the Sonata treated historically. It contains several novel features, and an account of various works little known to the English public.

F.W. THEOBALD

INSECT LIFE. By F.W. THEOBALD, M.A. _Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. [Univ. Extension Series_.

R.F. BOWMAKER

THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES. By F. BOWMAKER. _Crown 8vo. 2s.6d. [Social Questions Series_.

W. CUNNINGHAM

MODERN CIVILISATION IN SOME OF ITS ECONOMIC ASPECTS. By W. CUNNINGHAM, LL.D., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. [Social Questions Series_.

M. KAUFMANN.

SOCIALISM AND MODERN THOUGHT. By M. KAUFMANN, _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. [Social Questions Series_.

CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS

_NEW VOLUMES_

_Crown 8vo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram._

SOPHOCLES--Electra and Ajax. Translated by E.D.A. MORSHEAD, M.A., late Scholar of New College, Oxford; Assistant Master at Winchester. _2s. 6d_.

CICERO--De Natura Deorum. Translated by F. BROOKS, M.A. _3s. 6d_.

EDUCATIONAL

A.M.M. STEDMAN

STEPS TO GREEK. By A.M.M. STEDMAN, M.A. _18mo. 1s. 6d_.

A very easy introduction to Greek, with Greek-English and English-Greek Exercises.

F.D. SWIFT

DEMOSTHENES AGAINST CONON AND CALLICLES. Edited, with Notes, Appendices, and Vocabulary, by F. DARWIN SWIFT, M.A., formerly Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford; Assistant Master at Denstone College. _Fcap, 8vo. 2s._

A LIST OF

MESSRS. METHUEN'S

PUBLICATIONS

POETRY

RUDYARD KIPLING. BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And Other Verses. By RUDYARD KIPLING. _Eighth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s_.

A Special Presentation Edition, bound in white buckram, with extra gilt ornament. _7s. 6d_.

'Mr. Kipling's verse is strong, vivid, full of character ... Unmistakable genius rings in every line.'--_Times_.

'The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before the world; for a man of genius has taken it in hand, and has shown, beyond all cavilling, that in its way it also is a medium for literature. You are grateful, and you say to yourself, half in envy and half in admiration: "Here is a _book_; here, or one is a Dutchman, is one of the books of the year." '_--National Observer_.

'"Barrack-Room Ballads" contains some of the best work that Mr. Kipling has ever done, which is saying a good deal. "Fuzzy-Wuzzy," "Gunga Din," and "Tommy," are, in our opinion, altogether superior to anything of the kind that English literature has hitherto produced.'--_Athenaeum_.

'The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We read them with laughter and tears; the metres throb in our pulses, the cunningly ordered words tingle with life; and if this be not poetry, what is?'--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

HENLEY. LYRA HEROIC A: An Anthology selected from the best English Verse of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. By WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY. _Crown 8vo. Buckram, gilt top. 6s_.

Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike for poetry and for chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully, and even unerringly, right.'--_Guardian_.

"Q" THE GOLDEN POMP: A Procession of English Lyrics from Surrey to Shirley, arranged by A.T. QUILLER COUCH. _Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s_.

Also 40 copies on hand-made paper. _Demy 8vo. £1, 1s_. net.

Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. _Demy 8vo. £2, 2s_. net

'A delightful volume: a really golden "Pomp."'--SPECTATOR.

'Of the many anthologies of 'old rhyme' recently made, Mr. Couch's seems the richest in its materials, and the most artistic in its arrangement. Mr. Couch's notes are admirable; and Messrs. Methuen are to be congratulated on the format of the sumptuous volume.'--_Realm_.

"Q." GREEN BAYS: Verses and Parodies. By "Q.," Author of 'Dead Man's Rock,' etc. _Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'The verses display a rare and versatile gift of parody, great command of metre, and a very pretty turn of humour.'--_Times_.

H.O. BEECHING. LYRA SACRA: An Anthology of Sacred Verse. Edited by H.C. BEECHING, M.A. _Crown 8vo. Buckram, gilt-top. 6s._

'An anthology of high excellence.'--_Athenaeum_.

'A charming selection, which maintains a lofty standard of excellence.'--_Times_.

YEATS. AN ANTHOLOGY OF IRISH VERSE. Edited by W.B. YEATS. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d_.

'An attractive and catholic selection.'--_Times_.

'It is edited by the most original and most accomplished of modern Irish poets, and against his editing but a single objection can be brought, namely, that it excludes from the collection his own delicate lyrics.'--_Saturday Review_.

MACKAY. A SONG OF THE SEA: MY LADY OF DREAMS, AND OTHER POEMS. By ERIC MACKAY, Author of 'The Love Letters of a Violinist.' _Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo, gilt top, 5s._

'Everywhere Mr. Mackay displays himself the master of a style marked by all the characteristics of the best rhetoric. He has a keen sense of rhythm and of general balance; his verse is excellently sonorous, and would lend itself admirably to elocutionary art.... Its main merit is its "long resounding march and energy divine." Mr. Mackay is full of enthusiasm, and for the right things. His new book is as healthful as it is eloquent.'--_Globe_.

'Throughout the book the poetic workmanship is fine.'--_Scotsman_.

JANE BARLOW. THE BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND MICE, translated by JANE BARLOW, Author of 'Irish Idylls,' and pictured by F.D. BEDFORD. _Small 4to. 6s. net_.

IBSEN. BRAND. A Drama by HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by WILLIAM WILSON. _Crown 8vo. Second Edition. 3s. 6d._

'The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to "Faust." "Brand" will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in the same set with "Agamemnon," with "Lear," with the literature that we now instinctively regard as high and holy.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

"A.G." VERSES TO ORDER. By "A.G." _Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d net_.

A small volume of verse by a writer whose initials are well known to Oxford men.

'A capital specimen of light academic poetry. These verses are very bright and engaging, easy and sufficiently witty.--_St. James's Gazette_.

Hosken. VERSES BY THE WAY. By J.D. HOSKEN. _Crown 8vo. 5s._

Gale. CRICKET SONGS. By NORMAN GALE. _Crown 8vo. Linen. 2s. 6d_.

Also a limited edition on hand-made paper. _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._

'As healthy as they are spirited, and ought to have a great success.'--_Times._

'Simple, manly, and humorous. Every cricketer should buy the book.'--_Westminster Gazette._

'Cricket has never known such a singer.'--_Cricket_.

Langbridge. BALLADS OF THE BRAVE: Poems of Chivalry, Enterprise, Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. F. LANGBRIDGE. _Crown 8vo. Buckram 3s. 6d_. School Edition, _2s. 6d._

'A very happy conception happily carried out. These "Ballads of the Brave" are intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit the taste of the great majority.--_Spectator_.

'The book is full of splendid things.'--_World_.

ENGLISH CLASSICS

Edited by W.E. HENLEY.

Messrs. Methuen are publishing, under this title, a series of the masterpieces of the English tongue, which, while well within the reach of the average buyer, shall be at once an ornament to the shelf of him that owns, and a delight to the eye of him that reads.

The series, of which Mr. William Ernest Henley is the general editor, will confine itself to no single period or department of literature. Poetry, fiction, drama, biography, autobiography, letters, essays--in all these fields is the material of many goodly volumes.

The books, which are designed and printed by Messrs. Constable, are issued in two editions--(1) A small edition, on the finest Japanese vellum, demy 8vo, 21_s_. a volume net; (2) the popular edition on laid paper, crown 8vo, buckram, 3_s. 6d_. a volume.

THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY. By LAWRENCE STERNE. With an Introduction by CHARLES WHIBLEY, and a Portrait. 2_vols. 7s_.

60 copies on Japanese paper. 42_s. net_.

'Very dainty volumes are these; the paper, type and light green binding are all very agreeable to the eye. "Simplex munditiis" is the phrase that might be applied to them. So far as we know, Sterne's famous work has never appeared in a guise more attractive to the connoisseur than this.'--_Globe._

'The book is excellently printed by Messrs. Constable on good paper, and being divided into two volumes, is light and handy without lacking the dignity of a classic.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

'This new edition of a great classic might make an honourable appearance in any library in the world. Printed by Constable on laid paper, bound in most artistic and restful-looking fig-green buckram, with a frontispiece portrait and an introduction by Mr. Charles Whibley, the book might well be issued at three times its present price.'--_Irish Independent._

'Cheap and comely; a very agreeable edition.'--_Saturday Review._

'A real acquisition to the library.'--_Birmingham Post._

THE COMEDIES OF WILLIAM CONGREVE. With an Introduction by G.S. STREET, and a Portrait. _2 vols. 7s._

25 copies on Japanese paper. _42s. net._

'The comedies are reprinted in a good text and on a page delightful to look upon. The pieces are rich reading.'--_Scotsman._

'So long as literature thrives, Congreve must be read with growing zest, in virtue of qualities which were always rare, and which were never rarer than at this moment. All that is best and most representative of Congreve's genius is included in this latest edition, wherein for the first time the chaotic punctuation of its forerunners is reduced to order--a necessary, thankless task on which Mr. Street has manifestly spent much pains. Of his introduction it remains to say that it is an excellent appreciation, notable for catholicity, discretion, and finesse: an admirable piece of work.'--_Pall Mall Gazette._

'Two volumes of marvellous cheapness.'--_Dublin Herald._

THE ADVENTURES OF HAJJI BABA OF ISPAHAN. By JAMES MORIER. With an Introduction by E.G. BROWNE, M.A. and a Portrait. _2 vols. 7s._

25 copies on Japanese paper. _21s. net._

HISTORY

FLINDERS PETRIE. A HISTORY OF EGYPT, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE HYKSOS. By W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., Professor of Egyptology at University College. _Fully Illustrated. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'An important contribution to scientific study.'--_Scotsman._

'A history written in the spirit of scientific precision so worthily represented by Dr. Petrie and his school cannot but promote sound and accurate study, and supply a vacant place in the English literature of Egyptology.'--_Times._

FLINDERS PETRIE. EGYPTIAN TALES. Edited by W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE. Illustrated by TRISTRAM ELLIS. _Crown 8vo._ In two volumes. _3s. 6d. each._

'A valuable addition to the literature of comparative folk-lore. The drawings are really illustrations in the literal sense of the word.'--_Globe._

'It has a scientific value to the student of history and archaeology.'--_Scotsman._

'Invaluable as a picture of life in Palestine and Egypt.'--_Daily News._

CLARK. THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD: Their History and their Traditions. By Members of the University. Edited by A. CLARK, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. _8vo. 12s. 6d._

'A delightful book, learned and lively.'--_Academy_.

'A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the standard book on the Colleges of Oxford.'--_Athenaeum_.

PERRENS. THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. By F.T. PERRENS. Translated by HANNAH LYNCH. _In Three Volumes. Vol. I. 8vo. 12s. 6d._

'This is a standard book by an honest and intelligent historian, who has deserved well of all who are interested in Italian history.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

GEORGE. BATTLES OF ENGLISH HISTORY. By H.B. GEORGE, M.A., Fellow of New College, Oxford. _With numerous Plans. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Mr. George has undertaken a very useful task--that of making military affairs intelligible and instructive to non-military readers--and has executed it with laudable intelligence and industry, and with a large measure of success.'--_Times_.

'This book is almost a revelation; and we heartily congratulate the author on his work and on the prospect of the reward he has well deserved for so much conscientious and sustained labour.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

BROWNING. GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES: A Short History of Mediaeval Italy, A.D. 1250-1409. By OSCAR BROWNING, Fellow and Tutor of King's College, Cambridge. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s._

'A very able book.'--_Westminster Gazette_.

'A vivid picture of mediaeval Italy.'--_Standard_.

BROWNING. THE AGE OF THE CONDOTTIERI: A Short Story of Italy from 1409 to 1530. By OSCAR BROWNING, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. _Crown 8vo. 5s._

This book is a continuation of Mr. Browning's 'Guelphs and Ghibellines,' and the two works form a complete account of Italian history from 1250 to 1530.

'Mr. Browning is to be congratulated on the production of a work of immense labour and learning.'--_Westminster Gazette_.

O'GRADY. THE STORY OF IRELAND. By STANDISH O'GRADY, Author of 'Finn and his Companions.' _Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d._

'Novel and very fascinating history. Wonderfully alluring.'--_Cork Examiner_.

'Most delightful, most stimulating. Its racy humour, its original imaginings, make it one of the freshest, breeziest volumes.'--_Methodist Times_.

'A survey at once graphic, acute, and quaintly written.'--_Times_.

MAIDEN. ENGLISH RECORDS. A Companion to the History of England. By H.E. MALDEN, M.A. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

A book which concentrates information upon dates, genealogy, officials, constitutional documents, etc., which is usually found scattered in different volumes.

Biography

COLLINGWOOD. THE LIFE OF JOHN RUSKIN. By W.G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., Editor of Mr. Ruskin's Poems. With numerous Portraits, and 13 Drawings by Mr. Ruskin. _2 vols. 8vo. 32s. Second Edition_.

'No more magnificent volumes have been published for a long time....'--_Times_.

'It is long since we have had a biography with such delights of substance and of form. Such a book is a pleasure for the day, and a joy for ever.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

'A noble monument of a noble subject. One of the most beautiful books about one of the noblest lives of our century.'--_Glasgow Herald_.

WALDSTEIN. JOHN RUSKIN: a Study. By CHARLES WALDSTEIN, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. With a Photogravure Portrait after Professor HERKOMER. _Post 8vo. 5s._

Also 25 copies on Japanese paper. _Demy 8vo. 21s. net_.

'A thoughtful, impartial, well-written criticism of Ruskin's teaching, intended to separate what the author regards as valuable and permanent from what is transient and erroneous in the great master's writing.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

KAUFMANN. CHARLES KINGSLEY. By M. KAUFMANN, M.A. _--Crown 8vo. Buckram. 5s._

A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements in social reform.

'The author has certainly gone about his work with conscientiousness and industry.'--_Sheffield Daily Telegraph_.

ROBBINS. THE EARLY LIFE OF WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. By A.F. ROBBINS. _With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 6s_.

'Considerable labour and much skill of presentation have not been unworthily expended on this interesting work.'--_Times_.

'Not only one of the most meritorious, but one of the most interesting, biographical works that have appeared on the subject of the ex-Premier.... It furnishes a picture from many points original and striking; it makes additions of value to the evidence on which we are entitled to estimate a great public character; and it gives the reader's judgment exactly that degree of guidance which is the function of a calm, restrained, and judicious historian.'--_Birmingham Daily Post_.

CLARK RUSSELL. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of 'The Wreck of the Grosvenor.' With Illustrations by F. BRANGWYN. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A really good book.'--_Saturday Review_.

'A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of every boy in the country.'--_St. James's Gazette_.

SOUTHEY. ENGLISH SEAMEN (Howard, Clifford, Hawkins, Drake, Cavendish). By ROBERT SOUTHEY. Edited, with an Introduction, by DAVID HANNAY. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

This is a reprint of some excellent biographies of Elizabethan seamen, written by Southey and never republished. They are practically unknown, and they deserve, and will probably obtain, a wide popularity.

GENERAL LITERATURE

GLADSTONE. THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES OF THE RT. HON.W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes and Introductions. Edited by A.W. HUTTON, M.A. (Librarian of the Gladstone Library), and H.J. COHEN, M.A. With Portraits. _8vo. Vols. IX. and X. 12s. 6d. each._

HENLEY AND WHIBLEY. A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. Collected by W.E. HENLEY and CHARLES WHIBLEY. _Cr. 8vo. 6s._

Also 40 copies on Dutch paper. _21s. net._

Also 15 copies on Japanese paper. _42s. net._

'A unique volume of extracts--an art gallery of early prose.'--_Birmingham Post._

'An admirable companion to Mr. Henley's "Lyra Heroica."'--_Saturday Review._

'Quite delightful. The choice made has been excellent, and the volume has been most admirably printed by Messrs. Constable. A greater treat for those not well acquainted with pre-Restoration prose could not be imagined.'--_Athenaeum_.

WELLS. OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of the University. Edited by J. WELLS, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Wadham College. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

This work contains an account of life at Oxford--intellectual, social, and religious--a careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent changes, a statement of the present position of the University, and chapters on Women's Education, aids to study, and University Extension.

'We congratulate Mr. Wells on the production of a readable and intelligent account of Oxford as it is at the present time, written by persons who are possessed of a close acquaintance with the system and life of the University.'--_Athenaeum_.

OUIDA. VIEWS AND OPINIONS. By OUIDA. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Her views are always well marked and forcibly expressed, so that even when you most strongly differ from the writer you can always recognise and acknowledge her ability.'--_Globe._

'Ouida is outspoken, and the reader of this book will not have a dull moment. The book is full of variety, and sparkles with entertaining matter.'--_Speaker._

BOWDEN. THE EXAMPLE OF BUDDHA: Being Quotations from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled by E.M. BOWDEN. With Preface by Sir EDWIN ARNOLD. _Third Edition. 16mo. 2s. 6d._

BUSHILL. PROFIT SHARING AND THE LABOUR QUESTION. By T.W. BUSHILL, a Profit Sharing Employer. With an Introduction by SEDLEY TAYLOR, Author of 'Profit Sharing between Capital and Labour.' _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d_.

MALDEN. THE ENGLISH CITIZEN: HIS RIGHTS AND DUTIES. By H.E. MALDEN, M.A. _Crown 8vo. 1s. 6d_.

A simple account of the privileges and duties of the English citizen.

JOHN BEEVER. PRACTICAL FLY-FISHING, Founded on Nature, by JOHN BEEVER, late of the Thwaite House, Coniston. A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by W.G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

A little book on Fly-Fishing by an old friend of Mr. Ruskin.

Science

FREUDENREICH. DAIRY BACTERIOLOGY. A Short Manual for the Use of Students in Dairy Schools, Cheesemakers, and Farmers. By Dr. ED. VON FREUDENREICH. Translated from the German by J.R. AINSWORTH DAVIS, B.A. (Camb.), F.C.P., Professor of Biology and Geology at University College, Aberystwyth. _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d_.

CHALMERS MITCHELL. OUTLINES OF BIOLOGY. By P. CHALMERS MITCHELL, M.A., F.Z.S. _Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 6s_.

A text-book designed to cover the new Schedule issued by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

MASSEE. A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By GEORGE MASSEE. With 12 Coloured Plates. _Royal 8vo. 18s. net._

'A work much in advance of any book in the language treating of this group of organisms. It is indispensable to every student of the Myxogastres. The coloured plates deserve high praise for their accuracy and execution.'--_Nature_.

Theology

DRIVER. SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT. By S.R. DRIVER, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of Oxford. _Crown 8vo. 6s_.

A welcome companion to the author's famous 'Introduction.' No man can read these discourses without feeling that Dr. Driver is fully alive to the deeper teaching of the Old Testament.'--_Guardian_.

CHEYNE. FOUNDERS OF OLD TESTAMENT CRITICISM: Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies. By T.K. CHEYNE, D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at Oxford. _Large crown 8vo. 7s. 6d._

This important book is a historical sketch of O.T. Criticism in the form of biographical studies from the days of Eichhorn to those of Driver and Robertson Smith. It is the only book of its kind in English.

'A very learned and instructive work.'--_Times._

PRIOR. CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by H.C. PRIOR, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott.

'A representative collection. Bishop Westcott's is a noble sermon.'--_Guardian._

'Full of thoughtfulness and dignity.--_Record._

BEECHING. SERMONS TO SCHOOLBOYS. By H.C. BEECHING, M.A., Rector of Yattendon, Berks. With a Preface by Canon SCOTT HOLLAND. _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d._

Seven sermons preached before the boys of Bradfield College.

LAYARD. RELIGION IN BOYHOOD. Notes on the Religious Training of Boys. With a Preface by J.R. ILLINGWORTH. By E.B. LAYARD, M.A., _18mo. 1s._

DEVOTIONAL BOOKS.

_With Full-page Illustrations_.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. By THOMAS A KEMPIS. With an Introduction by ARCHDEACON FARRAR. Illustrated by C.M. GERE, and printed in black and red. _Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'We must draw attention to the antique style, quaintness, and typographical excellence of the work, its red-letter "initials" and black letter type, and old-fashioned paragraphic arrangement of pages. The antique paper, uncut edges, and illustrations are in accord with the other features of this unique little work.'--_Newsagent_.

'Amongst all the innumerable English editions of the "Imitation," there can have been few which were prettier than this one, printed in strong and handsome type by Messrs. Constable, with all the glory of red initials, and the comfort of buckram binding.'--_Glasgow Herald_.

THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. By JOHN KEBLE. With an Introduction and Notes by W. LOCK, M.A., Sub-Warden of Keble College, Author of 'The Life of John Keble.' Illustrated by R. ANNING BELL. _Fcap. 8vo. 5s._ _[October._

LEADERS OF RELIGION

Edited by H.C. BEECHING, M.A. _With Portraits, crown 8vo._

A series of short biographies of the most prominent leaders of religious life and thought of all ages and countries.

The following are ready--

CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R.H. HUTTON. JOHN WESLEY. By J.H. OVERTON, M.A. BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G.W. DANIEL, M.A. CARDINAL MANNING. By A.W. HUTTON, M.A. CHARLES SIMEON. By H.C.G. MOULE, M.A. JOHN KEBLE. By WALTER LOCK, M.A. THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. LANCELOT ANDREWES. By R.L. OTTLEY, M.A. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY. By E.L. CUTTS, D.D. WILLIAM LAUD. By W.H. HUTTON, M.A.

Other volumes will be announced in due course.

WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD

OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. PARKINSON, F.D. BEDFORD, and F. MASEY. _Large Crown 8vo, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, 10s. 6d. Fifth and Cheaper Edition. 6s._

'"Old Country Life," as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core.'--_World_.

HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading.'--_Times_.

FREAKS OF FANATICISM. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly fascinating book.'--_Scottish Leader_.

A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG: English Folk Songs with their traditional melodies. Collected and arranged by S. BARING GOULD and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD. _Demy 4to. 6s._

SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by S. BARING GOULD, M.A., and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 Songs each), _Parts I., II., III., 3s. each. Part IV., 5s. In one Vol., French morocco, 15s._

'A rich collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy.'--_Saturday Review_.

A BOOK OF FAIRY TALES retold by S. BARING GOULD. With numerous illustrations and initial letters by ARTHUR J. GASKIN. _Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s._

'Mr. Baring Gould has done a good deed, and is deserving of gratitude, in re-writing in honest, simple style the old stories that delighted the childhood of "our fathers and grandfathers." We do not think he has omitted any of our favourite stories, the stories that are commonly regarded as merely "old fashioned." As to the form of the book, and the printing, which is by Messrs. Constable, it were difficult to commend overmuch.'--_Saturday Review_.

YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS _Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

STRANGE SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With Illustrations. By S. BARING GOULD. _Crown 8vo. Second Edition. 6s._

We have read Mr. Baring Gould's book from beginning to end. It is full Of quaint and various information, and there is not a dull page in it.'--_Notes and Queries_.

THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of 'Mehalah,' etc. _Third Edition. Royal 8vo. 15s._

'A most splendid and fascinating book on a subject of undying interest. The great feature of the book is the use the author has made of the existing portraits of the Caesars, and the admirable critical subtlety he has exhibited in dealing with this line of research. It is brilliantly written, and the illustrations are supplied on a scale of profuse magnificence.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

'The volumes will in no sense disappoint the general reader. Indeed, in their way, there is nothing in any sense so good in English.... Mr. Baring Gould has presented his narrative in such a way as not to make one dull page.'--_Athenaeum_.

THE DESERTS OF SOUTHERN FRANCE. By S. BARING GOULD. With numerous Illustrations by F.D. BEDFORD, S. HUTTON, etc. _2 vols. Demy 8vo. 32s._

This book is the first serious attempt to describe the great barren tableland that extends to the south of Limousin in the Department of Aveyron, Lot, etc., a country of dolomite cliffs, and cañons, and subterranean rivers. The region is full of prehistoric and historic interest, relics of cave-dwellers, of mediaeval robbers, and of the English domination and the Hundred Years' War.

'His two richly-illustrated volumes are full of matter of interest to the geologist, the archaeologist, and the student of history and manners.'--_Scotsman_.

'It deals with its subject in a manner which rarely fails to arrest attention.'--_Times_.

FICTION

SIX SHILLING NOVELS

MARIE CORELLI. BARABBAS: A DREAM OF THE WORLD'S TRAGEDY. By MARIE CORELLI, Author of 'A Romance of Two Worlds,' 'Vendetta,' etc. _Seventeenth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'The tender reverence of the treatment and the imaginative beauty of the writing have reconciled us to the daring of the conception, and the conviction is forced on us that even so exalted a subject cannot be made too familiar to us, provided it be presented in the true spirit of Christian faith. The amplifications of the Scripture narrative are often conceived with high poetic insight, and this "Dream of the World's Tragedy" is, despite some trifling incongruities, a lofty and not inadequate paraphrase of the supreme climax of the inspired narrative.'--_Dublin Review_.

ANTHONY HOPE. THE GOD IN THE CAR. By ANTHONY HOPE, Author of 'A Change of Air,' etc. _Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Ruston is drawn with extraordinary skill, and Maggie Dennison with many subtle strokes. The minor characters are clear cut. In short the book is a brilliant one. "The God in the Car" is one of the most remarkable works in a year that has given us the handiwork of nearly all our best living novelists.'--_Standard_.

'A very remarkable book, deserving of critical analysis impossible within our limit; brilliant, but not superficial; well considered, but not elaborated; constructed with the proverbial art that conceals, but yet allows itself to be enjoyed by readers to whom fine literary method is a keen pleasure; true without cynicism, subtle without affectation, humorous without strain, witty without offence, inevitably sad, with an unmorose simplicity.'--_The World_.

ANTHONY HOPE. A CHANGE OF AIR. By ANTHONY HOPE, Author of 'The Prisoner of Zenda,' etc. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A graceful, vivacious comedy, true to human nature. The characters are traced with a masterly hand.'--_Times_.

ANTHONY HOPE. A MAN OF MARK. By ANTHONY HOPE, Author of 'The Prisoner of Zenda,' 'The God in the Car,' etc. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A bright, entertaining, unusually able book, quite worthy of its brilliant author.'--_Queen_.

'Of all Mr. Hope's books, "A Man of Mark" is the one which best compares with "The Prisoner of Zenda." The two romances are unmistakably the work of the same writer, and he possesses a style of narrative peculiarly seductive, piquant, comprehensive, and--his own.'--_National Observer_.

CONAN DOYLE. ROUND THE RED LAMP. By A. CONAN DOYLE, Author of 'The White Company,' 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,' etc. _Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'The book is, indeed, composed of leaves from life, and is far and away the best view that has been vouchsafed us behind the scenes of the consulting-room. It is very superior to "The Diary of a late Physician."'--_Illustrated London News_.

'Dr. Doyle wields a cunning pen, as all the world now knows. His deft touch is seen to perfection in these short sketches--these "facts and fancies of medical life," as he calls them. Every page reveals the literary artist, the keen observer, the trained delineator of human nature, its weal and its woe.'--_Freeman's Journal_.

'These tales are skilful, attractive, and eminently suited to give relief to the mind of a reader in quest of distraction.'--_Athenaeum_.

STANLEY WEYMAN. UNDER THE RED ROBE. By STANLEY WEYMAN, Author of 'A Gentleman of France.' With Twelve Illustrations by R. Caton Woodville. _Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

A cheaper edition of a book which won instant popularity. No unfavourable review occurred, and most critics spoke in terms of enthusiastic admiration. The 'Westminster Gazette' called it '_a book of which we have read every word for the sheer pleasure of reading, and which we put down with a pang that we cannot forget it all and start again_.' The 'Daily Chronicle' said that '_every one who reads books at all must read this thrilling romance, from the first page of which to the last the breathless reader is haled along_.' It also called the book '_an inspiration of manliness and courage_.' The 'Globe' called it '_a delightful tale of chivalry and adventure, vivid and dramatic, with a wholesome modesty and reverence for the highest_.'

EMILY LAWLESS. MAELCHO: a Sixteenth Century Romance. By the Hon. EMILY LAWLESS, Author of 'Grania,' 'Hurrish,' etc. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A striking and delightful book. A task something akin to Scott's may lie before Miss Lawless. If she carries forward this series of historical pictures with the same brilliancy and truth she has already shown, and with the increasing self-control one may expect from the genuine artist, she may do more for her country than many a politician. Throughout this fascinating book, Miss Lawless has produced something which is not strictly history and is not strictly fiction, but nevertheless possesses both imaginative value and historical insight in a high degree.'--_Times_.

'A really great book.'--_Spectator_.

'There is no keener pleasure in life than the recognition of genius. Good work is commoner than it used to be, but the best is as rare as ever. All the more gladly, therefore, do we welcome in "Maelcho" a piece of work of the first order, which we do not hesitate to describe as one of the most remarkable literary achievements of this generation. Miss Lawless is possessed of the very essence of historical genius.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

E.F. BENSON. DODO: A DETAIL OF THE DAY. By E.F. BENSON. _Crown 8vo. Sixteenth Edition, 6s._

A story of society which attracted by its brilliance universal attention. The best critics were cordial in their praise. The 'Guardian' spoke of 'Dodo' as '_unusually clever and interesting_'; the 'Spectator' called it '_a delightfully witty sketch of society_;' the 'Speaker' said the dialogue was '_a perpetual feast of epigram and paradox_'; the 'Athenaeum' spoke of the author as '_a writer of quite exceptional ability_'; the 'Academy' praised his '_amazing cleverness_;' the 'World' said the book was '_brilliantly written_'; and half-a-dozen papers declared there was '_not a dull page in the book_.'

E.F. BENSON. THE RUBICON. By E.F. BENSON, Author of 'Dodo.' _Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

Of Mr. Benson's second novel the 'Birmingham Post' says it is '_well written, stimulating, unconventional, and, in a word, characteristic_'; the 'National Observer congratulates Mr. Benson upon '_an exceptional achievement_,' and calls the book '_a notable advance on his previous work_.'

M.M. DOWIE. GALLIA. By MÉNIE MURIEL DOWIE, Author of 'A Girl in the Carpathians.' _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'The style is generally admirable, the dialogue not seldom brilliant, the situations surprising in their freshness and originality, while the subsidiary as well as the principal characters live and move, and the story itself is readable from title-page to colophon.'--_Saturday Review_.

'A very notable book; a very sympathetically, at times delightfully written book.'--_Daily Graphic_.

_MR. BARING GOULD'S NOVELS_

'To say that a book is by the author of "Mehalah" is to imply that it contains a story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery.'--_Speaker_.

'That whatever Mr. Baring Gould writes is well worth reading, is a conclusion that may be very generally accepted. His views of life are fresh and vigorous, his language pointed and characteristic, the incidents of which he makes use are striking and original, his characters are life-like, and though somewhat exceptional people, are drawn and coloured with artistic force. Add to this that his descriptions of scenes and scenery are painted with the loving eyes and skilled hands of a master of his art, that he is always fresh and never dull, and under such conditions it is no wonder that readers have gained confidence both in his power of amusing and satisfying them, and that year by year his popularity widens.'--_Court Circular_.

BARING GOULD. URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. By S. BARING GOULD. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'The author is at his best.'--_Times_.

'He has nearly reached the high water-mark of "Mehalah."'--_National Observer_.

BARING GOULD. IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. By S. BARING GOULD. _Fifth Edition. 6s._

BARING GOULD. MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. By S. BARING GOULD. _Fourth Edition. 6s._

A story of Devon life. The 'Graphic' speaks of it as '_a novel of vigorous humour and sustained power_'; the 'Sussex Daily News' says that '_the swing of the narrative is splendid_'; and the 'Speaker' mentions its '_bright imaginative power_.'

BARING GOULD. CHEAP JACK ZITA. By S. BARING GOULD. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

A Romance of the Ely Fen District in 1815, which the 'Westminster Gazette' calls '_a powerful drama of human passion_'; and the 'National Observer' '_a story worthy the author_.'

BARING GOULD. THE QUEEN OF LOVE. By S. BARING GOULD. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

The 'Glasgow Herald' says that '_the scenery is admirable, and the dramatic incidents are most striking_.' The 'Westminster Gazette' calls the book '_strong, interesting, and clever_.' 'Punch' says that '_you cannot put it down until you have finished it_.' 'The Sussex Daily News' says that it '_can be heartily recommended to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting fiction_.'

BARING GOULD. KITTY ALONE. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of 'Mehalah,' 'Cheap Jack Zita,' etc. _Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A strong and original story, teeming with graphic description, stirring incident, and, above all, with vivid and enthralling human interest.'--_Daily Telegraph_.

'Brisk, clever, keen, healthy, humorous, and interesting.'--_National Observer_.

'Full of quaint and delightful studies of character.'--_Bristol Mercury_.

MRS. OLIPHANT. SIR ROBERT'S FORTUNE. By MRS. OLIPHANT. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Full of her own peculiar charm of style and simple, subtle character-painting comes her new gift, the delightful story before us. The scene mostly lies in the moors, and at the touch of the authoress a Scotch moor becomes a living thing, strong, tender, beautiful, and changeful. The book will take rank among the best of Mrs. Oliphant's good stories.'--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

W.E. NORRIS. MATTHEW AUSTIN. By W.E. NORRIS, Author of 'Mademoiselle de Mersac,' etc. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'"Matthew Austin" may safely be pronounced one of the most intellectually satisfactory and morally bracing novels of the current year.'--_Daily Telegraph_.

'Mr. W.E. Norris is always happy in his delineation of everyday experiences, but rarely has he been brighter or breezier than in "Matthew Austin." The pictures are in Mr. Norris's pleasantest vein, while running through the entire story is a felicity of style and wholesomeness of tone which one is accustomed to find in the novels of this favourite author.'--_Scotsman_.

W.E. NORRIS. HIS GRACE. By W.E. NORRIS, Author of 'Mademoiselle de Mersac.' _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Mr. Norris has drawn a really fine character in the Duke of Hurstbourne, at once unconventional and very true to the conventionalities of life, weak and strong in a breath, capable of inane follies and heroic decisions, yet not so definitely portrayed as to relieve a reader of the necessity of study on his own behalf.'--_Athenaeum_.

W.E. NORRIS. THE DESPOTIC LADY AND OTHERS. By W.E. NORRIS, Author of 'Mademoiselle de Mersac.' _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A delightfully humorous tale of a converted and rehabilitated rope-dancer.'--_Glasgow Herald_.

'The ingenuity of the idea, the skill with which it is worked out, and the sustained humour of its situations, make it after its own manner a veritable little masterpiece.'--_Westminster Gazette_.

'A budget of good fiction of which no one will tire.'--_Scotsman_.

'An extremely entertaining volume--the sprightliest of holiday companions.'--_Daily Telegraph_.

GILBERT PARKER. MRS. FALCHION. By GILBERT PARKER, Author of 'Pierre and His People.' _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

Mr. Parker's second book has received a warm welcome. The 'Athenaeum' called it '_a splendid study of character_'; the 'Pall Mall Gazette' spoke of the writing as '_but little behind anything that has been done by any writer of our time_'; the 'St. James's' called it '_a very striking and admirable novel_'; and the 'Westminster Gazette' applied to it the epithet of '_distinguished_.'

GILBERT PARKER. PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. By GILBERT PARKER. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Stories happily conceived and finely executed. There is strength and genius in Mr. Parker's style.'--_Daily Telegraph_.

GILBERT PARKER. THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE. By GILBERT PARKER, Author of 'Pierre and His People,' 'Mrs. Falchion,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'The plot is original and one difficult to work out; but Mr. Parker has done it with great skill and delicacy. The reader who is not interested in this original, fresh, and well-told tale must be a dull person indeed.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

'A strong and successful piece of workmanship. The portrait of Lali, strong, dignified, and pure, is exceptionally well drawn.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

'A very pretty and interesting story, and Mr. Parker tells it with much skill. The story is one to be read.'--_St. James's Gazette_.

GILBERT PARKER. THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. By GILBERT PARKER, Author of 'Pierre and his People,' etc. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Everybody with a soul for romance will thoroughly enjoy "The Trail of the Sword."'--_St. James's Gazette_.

'A rousing and dramatic tale. A book like this, in which swords flash, great surprises are undertaken, and daring deeds done, in which men and women live and love in the old straightforward passionate way, is a joy inexpressible to the reviewer, brain-weary of the domestic tragedies and psychological puzzles of everyday fiction; and we cannot but believe that to the reader it will bring refreshment as welcome and as keen.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

GILBERT PARKER. WHEN VALMOND CAME TO PONTIAC; The Story of a Lost Napoleon. By GILBERT PARKER. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Here we find romance--real, breathing, living romance, but it runs flush with our own times, level with our own feelings. Not here can we complain of lack of inevitableness or homogeneity. The character of Valmond is drawn unerringly; his career, brief as it is, is placed before us as convincingly as history itself. The book must be read, we may say re-read, for any one thoroughly to appreciate Mr. Parker's delicate touch and innate sympathy with humanity.'--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

ARTHUR MORRISON. TALES OF MEAN STREETS. By ARTHUR MORRISON. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Told with consummate art and extraordinary detail. He tells a plain, unvarnished tale, and the very truth of it makes for beauty. In the true humanity of the book lies its justification, the permanence of its interest, and its indubitable triumph.'--_Athenaeum_.

'A great book. The author's method is amazingly effective, and produces a thrilling sense of reality. The writer lays upon us a master hand. The book is simply appalling and irresistible in its interest. It is humorous also; without humour it would not make the mark it is certain to make.'--_World_.

JULIAN CORBETT. A BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS. By JULIAN CORBETT, Author of 'For God and Gold,' 'Kophetus XIIIth.,' etc. _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'There is plenty of incident and movement in this romance. It is interesting as a novel framed in an historical setting, and it is all the more worthy of attention from the lover of romance as being absolutely free from the morbid, the frivolous, and the ultra-sexual.'--_Athenaeum_.

'A stirring tale of naval adventure during the Great French War. The

## book is full of picturesque and attractive characters.'--_Glasgow

Herald_.

ROBERT BARR. IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS. By ROBERT BARR, Author of 'From Whose Bourne,' etc. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'A book which has abundantly satisfied us by its capital humour.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

'Mr. Barr has achieved a triumph whereof he has every reason to be proud.'--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

'There is a quaint thought or a good joke on nearly every page. The studies of character are carefully finished, and linger in the memory.'--_Black and White_.

'Distinguished for kindly feeling, genuine humour, and really graphic portraiture.'--_Sussex Daily News_.

'A delightful romance, with experiences strange and exciting. The dialogue is always bright and witty; the scenes are depicted briefly and effectively; and there is no incident from first to last that one would wish to have omitted.'--_Scotsman_.

MRS. PINSENT. CHILDREN OF THIS WORLD. By ELLEN F. PINSENT, Author of 'Jenny's Case.' _Crown 8vo. 6s._

'There is much clever writing in this book. The story is told in a workmanlike manner, and the characters conduct themselves like average human beings.'--_Daily News_.

'Full of interest, and, with a large measure of present excellence, gives ample promise of splendid work.'--_Birmingham Gazette_.

'Mrs. Pinsent's new novel has plenty of vigour, variety, and good writing. There are certainty of purpose, strength of touch, and clearness of vision.'--_Athenaeum_.

CLARK RUSSELL. MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of 'The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc. _Illustrated. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

PRYCE. TIME AND THE WOMAN. By RICHARD PRYCE, Author of 'Miss Maxwell's Affections,' 'The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,' etc. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'Mr. Pryce's work recalls the style of Octave Feuillet, by its clearness, conciseness, its literary reserve.'--_Athenaeum_.

MRS. WATSON. THIS MAN'S DOMINION. By the Author of 'A High Little World.' _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s._

'It is not a book to be read and forgotten on a railway journey, but it is rather a study of the perplexing problems of life, to which the reflecting mind will frequently return, even though the reader does not accept the solutions which the author suggests. In these days, when the output of merely amusing novels is so overpowering, this is no slight praise. There is an underlying depth in the story which reminds one, in a lesser degree, of the profundity of George Eliot, and "This Man's Dominion" is by no means a novel to be thrust aside as exhausted at one perusal.'--_Dundee Advertiser_.

MARRIOTT WATSON. DIOGENES OF LONDON and other Sketches. By H.B. MARRIOTT WATSON, Author of 'The Web of the Spider.' _Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s._

'By all those who delight in the uses of words, who rate the exercise of prose above the exercise of verse, who rejoice in all proofs of its delicacy and its strength, who believe that English prose is chief among the moulds of thought, by these Mr. Marriott Watson's book will be welcomed.'--_National Observer_.

GILCHRIST. THE STONE DRAGON. By MURRAY GILCHRIST. _Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6s._

'The author's faults are atoned for by certain positive and admirable merits. The romances have not their counterpart in modern literature, and to read them is a unique experience.'--_National Observer_.

THREE-AND-SIXPENNY NOVELS

EDNA LYALL. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By EDNA LYALL, Author of 'Donovan,' etc. _Forty-first Thousand. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

BARING GOULD. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. BARING GOULD. _New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

BARING GOULD. MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. By S. BARING GOULD. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

BARING GOULD. JACQUETTA, and other Stories. By S. BARING GOULD. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

MISS BENSON. SUBJECT TO VANITY. By MARGARET BENSON. _With numerous Illustrations. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'A charming little book about household pets by a daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury.'--_Speaker_.

'A delightful collection of studies of animal nature. It is very seldom that we get anything so perfect in its kind.... The illustrations are clever, and the whole book a singularly delightful one.'--_Guardian_.

'Humorous and sentimental by turns, Miss Benson always manages to interest us in her pets, and all who love animals will appreciate her book, not only for their sake, but quite as much for its own.'--_Times_.

'All lovers of animals should read Miss Benson's book. For sympathetic understanding, humorous criticism, and appreciative observation she certainly has not her equal.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

GRAY. ELSA. A Novel. By E. M'QUEEN GRAY. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches, but minutely and carefully finished portraits.'--_Guardian_.

J.H. PEARCE. JACO TRELOAR. By J.H. PEARCE, Author of 'Esther Pentreath.' _New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

The 'Spectator' speaks of Mr. Pearce as '_a writer of exceptional power_'; the 'Daily Telegraph' calls the book '_powerful and picturesque_'; the 'Birmingham Post' asserts that it is '_a novel of high quality_.'

X.L. AUT DIABOLUS AUT NIHIL, and Other Stories. By X.L. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'Distinctly original and in the highest degree imaginative. The conception is almost as lofty as Milton's.'--_Spectator_.

'Original to a degree of originality that may be called primitive--a kind of passionate directness that absolutely absorbs us.'--_Saturday Review_.

'Of powerful interest. There is something startlingly original in the treatment of the themes. The terrible realism leaves no doubt of the author's power.'--_Athenaeum_.

O'GRADY. THE COMING OF CUCULAIN. A Romance of the Heroic Age of Ireland. By STANDISH O'GRADY, Author of 'Finn and his Companions,' etc. Illustrated by MURRAY SMITH. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'The suggestions of mystery, the rapid and exciting action, are superb poetic effects.'--_Speaker_.

'For light and colour it resembles nothing so much as a Swiss dawn.'--_Manchester Guardian_.

'A romance extremely fascinating and admirably well knit.'--_Saturday Review_.

CONSTANCE SMITH. A CUMBERER OF THE GROUND. By CONSTANCE SMITH, Author of 'The Repentance of Paul Wentworth,' etc. _New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

AUTHOR OF 'VERA.' THE DANCE OF THE HOURS. By the Author of 'Vera.' _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

ESMÈ STUART. A WOMAN OF FORTY. By ESMÈ STUART, Author of 'Muriel's Marriage,' 'Virginia's Husband,' etc. _New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'The story is well written, and some of the scenes show great dramatic power.'--_Daily Chronicle_.

FENN. THE STAR GAZERS. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of 'Eli's Children,' etc. _New Edition. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d._

'A stirring romance.'--_Western Morning News_.

'Told with all the dramatic power for which Mr. Fenn is conspicuous.'--_Bradford Observer_.

DICKINSON. A VICAR'S WIFE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

PROWSE. THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. ORTON PROWSE. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._

GREY. THE STORY OF CHRIS. By ROWLAND GREY. _Crown 8vo. 5s._

LYNN LINTON. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and Communist. By E. LYNN LINTON. _Eleventh Edition. Post 8vo. 1s._

HALF-CROWN NOVELS

_A Series of Novels by popular Authors_.

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1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.

2. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.

3. MR. BUTLER'S WARD. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.

4. HOVENDEN, V.C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.

5. ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN.

6. A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN.

7. DISARMED. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS.

8. A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH.

9. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL.

10. IN TENT AND BUNGALOW. By the Author of 'Indian Idylls.'

11. MY STEWARDSHIP. By E. M'QUEEN GRAY.

12. A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By J.M. COBBAN.

13. A DEPLORABLE AFFAIR. By W.E. NORRIS.

14. JACK'S FATHER. By W.E. NORRIS.

15. A CAVALIER'S LADYE. By Mrs. DICKER.

16. JIM B.

BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

_A Series of Books by well-known Authors, well illustrated. Crown 8vo._

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1. THE ICELANDER'S SWORD. By S. BARING GOULD.

2. TWO LITTLE CHILDREN AND CHING. By EDITH E. CUTHELL.

3. TODDLEBEN'S HERO. By M.M. BLAKE.

4. ONLY A GUARD-ROOM DOG. By EDITH E. CUTHELL.

5. THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By HARRY COLLINGWOOD.

6. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By W. CLARK RUSSELL.

7. SYD BELTON: Or, The Boy who would not go to Sea. By G. MANVILLE FENN.

THE PEACOCK LIBRARY

_A Series of Books for Girls by well-known Authors, handsomely bound in blue and silver, and well illustrated. Crown 8vo._

3/6

1. A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L.B. WALFORD.

2. THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH.

3. THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the Author of 'Mdle Mori.'

4. DUMPS. By Mrs. PARR, Author of 'Adam and Eve.'

5. OUT OF THE FASHION. By L.T. MEADE.

6. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L.T. MEADE.

7. HEPSY GIPSY. By L.T. MEADE. _2s. 6d._

8. THE HONOURABLE MISS. By L.T. MEADE.

9. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. LEITH ADAMS.

UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES

A series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects, suitable for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume is complete in itself, and the subjects are treated by competent writers in a broad and philosophic spirit.

Edited by J.E. SYMES, M.A.,

Principal of University College, Nottingham.

_Crown 8vo. Price (with some exceptions) 2s. 6d._

_The following volumes are ready_:--

THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. _Fourth Edition. With Maps and Plans. 3s._

'A compact and clear story of our industrial development. A study of this concise but luminous book cannot fail to give the reader a clear insight into the principal phenomena of our industrial history. The editor and publishers are to be congratulated on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.--_University Extension Journal_.

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L.L. PRICE, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon.

PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J.A. HOBSON, M.A. _Second Edition._

VICTORIAN POETS. By A. SHARP.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J.E. SYMES, M.A.

PSYCHOLOGY. By F.S. GRANGER, M.A., Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, Nottingham.

THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE: Lower Forms. By G. MASSEE, Kew Gardens. _With Illustrations._

AIR AND WATER. Professor V.B. LEWES, M.A. _Illustrated._

THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C.W. KIMMINS, M.A. Camb. _Illustrated._

THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V.P. SELLS, M.A. _Illustrated._

ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS.H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.

ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By W.A.S. HEWINS, B.A.

THE CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. The Elementary Principles of Chemistry. By M.M. PATTISON MUIR, M.A. _Illustrated._

A TEXT-BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By M.C. POTTER, M.A., F.L.S. _Illustrated. 3s. 6d._

THE VAULT OF HEAVEN. A Popular Introduction to Astronomy. By R.A. GREGORY. _With numerous Illustrations_.

METEOROLOGY. The Elements of Weather and Climate. By H.N. DICKSON, F.R.S.E., F.R. Met. Soc. _Illustrated_.

A MANUAL OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. By GEORGE J. BURCH, M.A. _With numerous Illustrations. 3s._

THE EARTH. An Introduction to Physiography. By EVAN SMALL, M.A. _Illustrated_.

INSECT LIFE. By F.W. THEOBALD, M.A. _Illustrated_.

ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKE TO BROWNING. By W.M. DIXON, M.A.

ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. By E JENKS, M.A., Professor of Law at University College, Liverpool.

Social Questions of To-day

Edited by H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.

_Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d._

2/6

A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, and industrial interest that are at the present moment foremost in the public mind. Each volume of the series is written by an author who is an acknowledged authority upon the subject with which he deals.

_The following Volumes of the Series are ready:--

TRADE UNIONISM--NEW AND OLD. By G. HOWELL, Author of 'The Conflicts of Capital and Labour.' _Second Edition_.

THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G.J. HOLYOAKE, Author of 'The History of Co-operation.'

MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., Author of 'The Friendly Society Movement.'

PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J.A. HOBSON, M.A. _Second Edition_.

THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C.F. BASTABLE, M.A., Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin.

THE ALIEN INVASION. By W.H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary to the Society for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens.

THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM.

LAND NATIONALIZATION. By HAROLD COX, B.A.

A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. GIBBINS and R.A. HADFIELD, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield.

BACK TO THE LAND: An Inquiry into the Cure for Rural Depopulation. By H.E. MOORE.

TRUSTS, POOLS AND CORNERS: As affecting Commerce and Industry. By J. STEPHEN JEANS, M.R.I., F.S.S.

THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By R. COOKE TAYLOR.

THE STATE AND ITS CHILDREN. By GERTRUDE TUCKWELL.

WOMEN'S WORK. By LADY DILKE, MISS BULLEY, and MISS WHITLEY.

MUNICIPALITIES AT WORK. The Municipal Policy of Six Great Towns, and its Influence on their Social Welfare. By FREDERICK DOLMAN. With an Introduction by Sir JOHN HUTTON, late Chairman of the London County Council. _Crown 8vo. Cloth. 2s. 6d._

CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS

Edited by H.F. FOX, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford.

Messrs. Methuen propose to issue a New Series of Translations from the Greek and Latin Classics. They have enlisted the services of some of the best Oxford and Cambridge Scholars, and it is their intention that the Series shall be distinguished by literary excellence as well as by scholarly accuracy.

_Crown 8vo. Finely printed and bound in blue buckram._

CICERO--De Oratore I. Translated by E.N.P. MOOR, M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton. _3s. 6d._

AESCHYLUS--Agamemnon, Chöephoroe, Eumenides. Translated by LEWIS CAMPBELL, LL.D., late Professor of Greek at St. Andrews. _5s._

LUCIAN--Six Dialogues (Nigrinus, Icaro-Menippus, The Cock, The Ship, The Parasite, The Lover of Falsehood). Translated by S.T. IRWIN, M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton; late Scholar of Exeter College, Oxford. _3s. 6d._

SOPHOCLES--Electra and Ajax. Translated by E.D.A. MORSHEAD, M.A., late Scholar of New College, Oxford; Assistant Master at Winchester. _2s. 6d._

TACITUS--Agricola and Germania. Translated by R.B. TOWNSHEND, late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. _2s. 6d._

CICERO--Select Orations (Pro Milone, Pro Murena, Philippic II., In Catilinam). Translated by H.E.D. BLAKISTON, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford. _5s._