honour. The subject has now come more prominently before the public since the delivery, on March 25, by Dr. John Evans, the Treasurer of the Royal Society and President of the Society of Antiquaries, of a discourse on the subject, which has been reprinted in pamphlet form,' and is now generally accessible. Much very curious information is supplied by Dr. Evans, not only on the ringposies, but on posies generally. Handkerchiefs, gloves, bracelets, girdles, scarves, &c., received these rhymed mottoes, and in the "Northward Ho!" of Webster, Doll, addressing her "City Poet" Bellamont, says, "I'll have you make twelve posies for a dozen of cheese-trenchers." Rings with mottoes are found at an early date. Dr. Evans points to a beautiful Roman gold ring with the motto, "Accipe dvlcis mvltis annis," which he translates,"" Accept this, dear, for many a year." He gives one also in Anglo-Saxon. As a rule, the motto is amorous. This was to be expected. Cupid has as much claim to be the god of lyric poetry as Apollo. Sometimes, however, there is an underlying touch not wholly loving. A lady who gave thus to her fourth husband a ring with the legend, "If I survive I will have five," had as much eye to the main chance as regard for her husband. The subject is not easily exhausted, and those who care to follow it further may consult this pamphlet of Dr. Evans or the "Finger-ring Lore" of Mr. William Jones, F.S.A.

MR.

"ACROSS THE PLAINS."

R. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S pictures gain in colour and in truthfulness. There is a sincerity about them the charm of which is to me irresistible. I read his later writings with more pleasure even than the earlier. See, for instance, in his latest volume, "Across the Plains," the opening sketch which gives its name to the volume. It is the picture of a journey by an emigrant train from New York to San Francisco. I do not know in this which most to admire: the delicacy and fragrance of the pictures of Nature, good enough for Jefferies, the descriptions of squalid and dishonouring surroundings on the journey, or the digressions on subjects suggested during its course. So terrible were the effects of crowding into the cars an indefinite number of unwashed emigrants that the chronicler is moved to say, "I have stood on a platform while the whole train was shunting; and as the dwelling-cars drew near there would come a whiff of pure menagerie, only a little sourer, as from men instead of monkeys. I think we are human only in regard of open windows. Without fresh air you only require 1 Longmans.

a bad heart, and a remarkable command of the Queen's English, to become such another as Dean Swift; a kind of leering, human goat leaping and wagging your scut on mountains of offence. I do my best to keep my head the other way, and look for the human rather than the bestial in this Yahoo-like business of the emigrant train. But one thing I must say, the car of the Chinese was notably the least offensive."

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MR. STEVENSON ON AMERICAN PLACE-NAMES.

QUOTATION concerning a dissertation on the beauty of American names will be pardoned. After dwelling on the beauty of much of the scenery through which he passed, Mr. Stevenson says: "And when I had asked the name of a river from the brakesman, and heard that it was called the Susquehanna, the beauty of the name seemed to be part and parcel of the beauty of the land. As when Adam with divine fitness named the creatures, so this word Susquehanna was at once accepted by the fancy." A few lines lower he continues: "None can care for literature itself who do not take a special pleasure in the sound of names; and there is no part of the world where nomenclature is so rich, poetical, humorous, and picturesque as the United States of America. All times, races, and languages have brought their contribution. Pekin is in the same State with Euclid, with Bellefontaine, and with Sandusky. Chelsea, with its London associations of red brick, Sloane Square, and the King's Road, is own suburb to stately and primeval Memphis ; there they have their seat, translated names of cities where the Mississippi runs by Tennessee and Arkansas. . . Old red Manhattan lies, like an Indian arrow-head under a steam factory, below anglified New York. The names of the States and territories themselves form a chorus of sweet and most romantic vocables : Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, Minnesota, and the Carolinas. There are few poems with a nobler music for the ear a songful, tuneful land; and if the new Homer shall arise from the Western continent his verse will be enriched, his pages sing spontaneously with the names of States and cities that would strike the fancy in a business circular." Is not this well said? On the beauty of some of these names many of us have dwelt, but praise such as this is special and delightful. Passages no less beautiful abound in the volume-witness the praise of provincial France (page 110) in an essay on Fontainebleau. Not inferior are either the humorous articles or the more meditative, such as "Pulvis et Umbra." volume is indeed enchanting.

The

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OUIDA ON SPORT.

NIMALS have no more zealous or competent advocate and defender than Ouida. I am always glad to meet her on the question of the cruelty of field-sports, and I meet her once more on the ground she occupies in her recent article on "Death and Pity." At the outset this article is a eulogy of Pierre Loti, the latest Academician, and his "Livre de la Pitié et de la Mort." Before long, however, she turns to her favourite theme, and gives eloquent utterance to her condemnation of this age, "the most exacting in small things, the most egotistic, the most silly, and the most nervous which the world has seen." After dismissing the notion that we have made serious progress towards mercy to animals, and pointing to the fact that an amiable young prince, whose recent death she deplores, had during the last hours in which he enjoyed the gladness of the air and the freedom of the woods, been solely occupied in taking the life of innocent and happy creatures, reared merely to offer this miserable diversion to him and his, Ouida continues: "Walking with the guns' has now become a favourite and fashionable feminine amusement." She pictures the women after their luncheon with rich fare and stimulating drinks returning to the scene of carnage and destruction. "The gladiatorial shows of Rome," she adds, "might be more brutal, but were at least more manly than this 'sport,' which is the only active religion of the so-called God-fearing classes." I cannot deal further with her protest, but I thank her again, as I have before, for her advocacy. Touchstone expresses his surprise on learning that breaking of ribs was sport for ladies, but it is about as appropriate an amusement as contemplating the butchery of hundreds of birds which a week before fed out of your hand.