passage was especially significant, and reads like prophecy : "The real strength and security of governments in these days lie in public opinion formed and enlightened by free discussion. In that is to be sought the guiding star, and also the warrant for the action of governments. That her language shall be loud and firm is the one main essential for Prussia's safety and strength. My advice to you would therefore be, call this power into play; this it is which will keep France and Russia in check, unite Germany, and place the ultimate decision in your hands."" Williams on Indian Theism. On the 7th of June Prof. (now Sir) Monier Wil- Prof. Monier liams writes from Oxford on Indian Theism: "It may interest the readers of the Athenæum to learn that a young Indian Pandit, named Syāmajī Krishna-varma, who, considering his age (scarcely twenty-three), is remarkably well versed in grammatical and Vedic literature, has recently arrived in this country, and has just been admitted a member of this University. He is the first real Indian Pandit who has ever visited England......Pandit Syāmajī has no idea of giving up one iota of his own nationality. He intends on his return to go through the usual expiatory ceremonies (prāyas'c'itta) for readmission into caste. But he hopes on that very account to render more service to his country by the power he will thus acquire of leavening by his influence the circle of society in which he moves. Perhaps The Hellenic the chief point of interest connected with him is that he is a member of the Arya-Samāj, a new Theistic church, founded by a remarkable Pandit named Dayananda Sarasvati Svāmi, who came across my path two or three times during my travels in India.” The inaugural meeting of the Hellenic Society. Society was held on the 16th of June, and the Athenæum of the 21st states that Mr. (now Sir) C. T. Newton, C.B., "in an opening address of great interest, laid down the lines on which the Society might work, and maintained that the term 'Hellenic studies' covered a period of at least twenty-five centuries, not being confined to the records of classical times, but embracing the monuments, historical, literary, and artistic, of the Hellenic genius in all ages. Nor should such studies, in his opinion, be limited by the boundaries either of Greece in its accepted classical sense or of the modern Greek kingdom, but extend to Greek remains wherever found. Mr. Newton then divided the twenty five centuries during which the Greek language has lived into three periods the ancient period, which may be regarded as ending with the extinction of paganism; the Byzantine period, ending with the taking of Constantinople, in 1453; and the Neo-Hellenic period, coming down to the present day." Lord Morley, Dr. W. Smith, Prof. Sayce, Prof. Colvin, Prof. Jebb, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Mr. E. Maunde Thompson, Mr. Ralli, M.P., Mr. Penrose, Mr. Walter Perry, Mr. R. W. Macan, Mr. Gennadius, Greek Chargé d'Affaires, and Mr. E. A. Freeman took part in the proceedings. The Allgemeine Zeitung. The growth of journalistic activity on the Continent as among the many results of the Franco-German War is thus referred to on the 12th of July in a review of 'Cypern Cyprus under English rule. unter den Engländern: Reise - Skizzen,' by Karl Schneider, Dr.Ph.: "Previously to that period Germany possessed scarcely any daily paper in the least comparable with English or American journals. One of the best, the Allgemeine Zeitung of Augsburg, occupied itself more with literary and scientific matter than with political affairs, and news,' in the sense we take it, was conspicuous by its absence. The great war, in which, naturally, the German nation took an all-absorbing interest, has changed this state of things. The papers have found it to their interest to supply 'news,' both in telegrams and by letters of 'special correspondents,' and the consequence is that a race of special correspondents is growing up in Germany as well as in France. One of these, Dr. Karl Schneider, at present enjoys VOL. II. 2 E a wide reputation on the Continent and ranks with most competent 'specials' of the day. It is to Dr. Schneider we are now indebted for what is, in many respects, the best description of the present state of Cyprus that has yet appeared. With characteristic spirit, the The Aris & managers of the Cologne Gazette ordered Dr. Zitung. Schneider to proceed from Constantinople to Cyprus the instant the telegraph had flashed the report all over Europe that the famous island was henceforth to be under British rule. ......The little volume of Dr. Schneiderit is compressed into 155 closely printed pages-is so full of information about Cyprus, political, social, statistical, and, in fact, everything regarding the present state of the island, our latest acquisition,' that it ought to be translated. From nothing yet published can so clear an idea be gained as to what may be hoped for-or feared, as some will say-from seeing 'Cyprus under English rule.'" Irish biography. In reviewing A Compendium of Irish Biography, comprising Sketches of Distinguished Irishmen and of Eminent Persons connected with Ireland,' by Alfred Webb, on the 19th of July, the Athenæum says: "Englishmen and Irishmen may learn from it to their profit two important facts, viz., that the majority of the distinguished men of whom Ireland may be justly proud are of pure English or Scotch descent, and also, which Englishmen, too accustomed to disparage Ireland, would do well to remember, that many illustrious men whose memory is cherished in England were born on the west, not on the east, of St. George's Channel." Mr. Joseph Gurney's death is noticed on the 23rd of August. He was for many years shorthand writer to the House of Lords and Treasurer of the Religious Tract Society. He "was an earnest Bible student, and was a pioneer in the work of the modern revision of the authorized version. For nearly thirty years he has been engaged in this work. Besides 'The Annotated Paragraph Bible,' which was prepared under his auspices, he has recently published under his initials ('J. G.') Joseph Gurney. Bible.' a 'Revised Bible,' which embodies, so far as His 'Revised translation is concerned, most of the accepted results of modern scholarship." Hill. The lamented death of Sir Rowland Hill Sir Rowland is announced on the 30th of August. "Next week we hope to publish a full obituary notice of one whose services to the whole world of letters can hardly be over-estimated. It is more than forty years ago since the Athenæum first explained and supported Sir Rowland Hill's scheme of Postal Reform, at a time. when it was opposed by the whole official |
