CONRAD.

"Oh! master, master,
You will not let the mob, when I lie dead,
Make me a show, paw over all my limbs.
Pull out my hair, pluck off my finger nails.
Wear scraps of me for charms and amulets,
As they have done to others. Promise!
Swear to me! I demand it."*

"No man lights

A candle to be hid beneath a bushel.
Thy virtues are the Church's dower. Endure
All which the edification of the faithful
Makes needful to be published."

"Oh! my God!

I have stripped myself of all.
I have no more to give thee.
Where are you, children! Alas, I had forgotten.
Now I must sleep, for ere the sun shall rise

I must be gone upon a long, long journey.

To him I love.

But so be it.

Here!

Let me sleep.

You will not need to wake me, so,-good-night."

And she went to her long rest.

NOTE. If the foregoing picture should arouse the interest of the reader for a more detailed life of St. Elizabeth, the choice will practically be almost limited to Montalembert's Life of St. Elizabeth, and The Saint's Tragedy, by Kingsley. The first, to non-Catholic readers, conveys an impression of legend and unreality, which greatly detracts from its interest and weight, and few would probably read it through. The second is one of the most vivid and life-like pictures of the times, and of her

* "Many," says Dietrich, her monkish biographer, "sublime in the valour of their faith, tore off the hair of her head and the nails of her fingers, even the tips of her ears, et mammillareum papillas, when her dead body was laid out for view of the faithful previous to her burial."

self and her surroundings that can be well imagined. I have endeavoured, with all the care in my power, to verify its general character, and even the words that are put into the various speakers' mouths, and the more jealously I have examined it, the more impressed I am with its wonderful truthfulness. There is one scene relating to Sophia, in Act iii, scene 1, for which I can find no authority, and there are one or two soliloquies put into Conrad's mouth, for which it is of course impossible to find the authority except in Kingsley's own conception of Conrad's character. "In Conrad's case," he says (Introduction), "I have fancied that I discover a noble nature warped and blinded," and this has led him to put into the soliloquies sentiments of gentleness and doubt, as coming from Conrad's heart of hearts, which were at variance with his outward actions. I can only say that I have not been able to confirm the mercifulness, or the doubts, from other sources, and the reader must judge for himself if Kingsley has accurately interpreted the inner soul of one of the most prominent actors in-that remarkable century which has passed under review in this "Historical Picture of the Thirteenth Century in Europe, illustrated by the life and surroundings of St. Elizabeth."

AN OPTIMIST ON DEMOCRACY.

BY SIR EDWARD RUSSELL.

Few things are more gratifying than the realisation of well-founded hopes. When University College was founded among us, with endowed chairs for men of learning, it was desired that this considerable addition to the intellectual strength of the community might lead to a general diffusion of the results of special thought and study, and, still more distinctly and positively, to an extended occupation of average minds with themes of more than average importance. The book on which I have undertaken to offer some respectful observations fulfils this desire.

Some will be disposed to attach importance to the independence which is secured to professors by the circumstances in which they are placed. This, probably, is more a matter of temperament than many people think. There are men who would seek popularity and practise complaisance with no interest to serve; and there are others who would express the very bottom thoughts of their minds at the risk of every interest most dear to them. At all events, however, we are delighted to recognise out-spokenness, and to value it; especially when it is much more than the mere honesty of courage—when it expresses the careful and thorough conclusions of a competent and well furnished mind.

There may be those who think that very little courage is needed in these days to defend and applaud and cherish good hope of Democracy. That depends, however, upon whether you are addressing public meetings or private dinner parties. The wealthy and educated class with

which Professor MacCunn has most to do is rather resigned to our mode of government than pleased with it. Many members of that class must have observed with astonishment, and been led to new reflections by, his abounding confidence in the results of popular rule. But I am persuaded that Professor MacCunn is a man of that true mettle which is not conscious of any especial bravery in expressing convictions, though he is also a man whose enthusiasm of expression is all the greater when the convictions he expresses are of a tenor favourable to the characters of his fellow-men and to the prospects of the race. Although he lives among us a philosopher, I believe I do not misrepresent him when I surmise that he values convictions more than theories, and that he would be glad to give satisfaction to those who tread with surest step the border-land between theory and practice. The best theories in politics are those which best incorporate in practice certain dictates of common sense. For these there is no authority. The pronouncements either in their favour or against them, quoted from great authorities, are uniformly no better ad hoc than obiter dicta. Such considerations, incorporating dictates of common sense, can only be pressed upon the judgment of mankind as occasions occur. They are found governing and animating the drift of progress, or, to avoid begging the question, let me say the drift of change. And if change is found to be progress then these considerations stand justified by experience. Mr. MacCunn's doctrines are not all of this simple nature, and I think him too prone to invent and to cite super-subtle reasons or principles. This is one of my friendly quarrels with him. But I find in his book a new and welcome kind of support for that faith in the balance of advantages in a Democratic form of government which is my strongest political opinion.