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wild glares of white surfaces, and the ebony blackness of shadows which threw everything around us into sharp outline; but a far-reaching and mellow glamour that showed us the mists lying along the river-tracks, and only revealed to us the softened outlines and configurations of the land. If there had been a ruddy light in Moreton-in-theMarsh, we should have seen it; but the distant village seemed dead; and it, as well as all the great tract of wooded country around it, was whitened over by this softened and silent and almost sepulchral radiance that lay somehow between the dark blue vault overhead and the vast plain beneath. It was but a young moon, but the exceeding rarity of the air lent strength to its radiance.

"Does not moonlight give you the impression that you can hear far?" said Bell in a rather low voice, as if the silence and the stars had overawed her. "It is like frost. You fancy you could hear bells ringing a hundred miles across the clear air."

"Mademoiselle, you will let us hear your singing in this stillness?" said the Lieutenant.

"No, I cannot sing now," she said; and the very gentleness of her voice forbade him to ask again.

We passed along the road. The night air was sweet with the odour of flowers. Out in the west, where the moonlight was less strong, the stars were faintly twinkling. Not a breath of wind stirred; and yet it seemed to us that if a sound had been uttered anywhere in the world, it must have been carried to us on this height. We were as gods up here in the cold sky and the moonlight; and far over the earth, sleep had sealed the lips and the eyes of those poor creatures who had forgotten their sorrows for a time. Should we send them dreams to sweeten their lives by some glimpses of a world different from their own, and cause them to awaken in the morning with some reminiscence of the trance in their softened memories? Or Iwould it not be better to drown them in the fast and hard sleep of fatigue, so that the dawn might bring them a firmer

heart and no vanity of wishes? Gods as we were, we had no care for ourselves. It was enough to be. Could not the night last for ever, and keep us up here near the stars, and give us content and an absolute want of anxiety for the morrow? Queen Titania wandered on as if she were in an enchanted garden, followed by a black shadow on the gleaming white road; and her face, with all its gentleness and delicacy, seemed to have gained something of a pale and wistful tenderness as the white light shone down over the dark woods and crossed our path. As for Bell-but who can describe the grace of the figure that walked before us-the light touching the grey shawl, and the fine masses of brown hair that hung all around the shapely neck, and the flat, small shoulders? We four were in England, sure enough; but it seemed. to us then that we were very much alone, and about as near to the starry world as to the definite landscape lying far away on the plain.

We turned, however, when it was found that the road did not lead to any view of the western country. It seemed to run along a high level, cutting through between sand-pits, farms, and woods; and so we made our way back to the bit of common overlooking Bourton, and there we had a few minutes' rest before getting into the small inn, whose windows were gleaming red into the white moonlight.

"Now you must sing to us something, Mademoiselle," Mademoiselle," said the Lieutenant; "and here is a fine big tree cut down, that we can all sit on; and you shall appear as Apollo in disguise, charming the natives of this landscape with your song."

"But I do not know anything that Apollo sang," said Bell-sitting down, nevertheless, and taking the guitar from her companion.

"That is no matter. You must think yourself some one else—why not Zerlina, in this strange place, and you see Fra Diavolo sitting alone on the rock, and you sing of him? This is a very good place for highwaymen. I have no doubt they

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have sat here, and watched the gentleman's carriage come up the road beneath; and then, hey! with a rush and a flourish of pistols, and a seizing of the horses, and Madame shrieks in the carriage, and her husband, trembling, but talking very brave, gives up his money, and drives on, with much swearing, but very contented to have no hurt."

"You are very familiar with the ways of highway robbers," said Bell, with a smile.

"Mademoiselle, I am an Uhlan," he replied gravely.

Two at least of the party startled the midnight air with their laughter over this unintentional rebuke; but Bell, conscious of past backslidings, seemed rather discomfited, and hastened to say that she would, if he pleased, sing the song in which Zerlina describes the bandit.

She sang it, too, very charmingly, in that strange silence. Knowing that we could not well see her face, she lent herself to the character, and we could hear the terror of Zerlina thrilling through her experiences of the dreaded Diavolo. "Diavolo! Diavolo!" the dark woods around us seemed to say. "Diavolo! Diavolo ! throbbed the bass strings of the guitar; and the girl's voice trembled in its low tones as she pronounced the name. If any lonely stranger had been passing along the highway at this hour, what would he have thought of this strange thing, a beautiful girl seated overhead, amid the stars, apparently, with the moonlight striking on her exquisite face and her masses of hair, while she sang in a low and impassioned voice, and struck chords from some strange instrument? Would she not appear as some wild vision of the Lorelei? Or, considering that companions were visible, and some talking and jesting occasionally heard, might not this be a company of strolling play-actors, such as all honest persons were aforetime conjured to discountenance and suppress ? 1

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1 "All persons concerned are hereby desired to take notice of and suppress all mountebanks, rope-dancers, ballad-singers, &c. that

You know that when Zerlina has sung the first verses of her dramatic song, Diavolo, disguised as a marquis, suddenly rises and sings the concluding verse himself. Bell accordingly handed the guitar to Count von Rosen, with a pretty smile. But would a young man, on such a night, sing a ballad about a mere bandit? No! The Lieutenant was not averse to act the character of Diavolo, so far as his minstrelsy went, but he adopted one of his gentler moods. Lightly running his fingers over the strings, he began to sing of Agnese la Zitella, and how had he learned to soften his voice so? The pretty Agnes was told that she was as sweet as the Spring, and then she is made to call forth her lover because the night is so fair-so much fairer than the day—and so silent. 'Tis a pleasant barcarole, and conveys a message as well as another. But lest he should be thought too bold, probably, our Uhlan rose abruptly when he had finished the song, and said lightly, with a laugh—

"There! was not that touching enough for Diavolo? He was a very accomplished person, to have all the rough delights of a brigand, and then go about dressed as a marquis, and amuse himself with adventures. I think they treated him badly in the end, if I do remember right."

Bell did not answer. She had got back the guitar. Apparently she was looking far down over the moonlit plain -her eyes grown distant and thoughtful -and as her fingers wandered over the strings, we heard, almost as in a dream, the various careless notes shape themselves into a melody-a wild, sad melody, that seemed to breathe the tenderness and the melancholy of this still night. "Silent, O Moyle, be the sound of thy waters"-perhaps that was the air; or perhaps it was the heart-break

have not a licence from the Master of his Majesty's Revels (which for the present year are all printed with black letters, and the king's arms in red). . and all those that have licences with red and black letters, are to come to the office to change them for licences as they are now altered. April 17, 1684."

ing "Coolin"-one could scarcely say; but when at last we heard no more of it, Tita rose and said we must go indoors. There was something quite regretful in her tone. It seemed as if she were bidding good-bye to a scene not soon to be met with again.

The Lieutenant gave his hand to Bell, and assisted her down the steep bank into the road; and we passed on until the window of the inn was found glimmering red through the moonlight. We cast a passing glance around. Bourton lay beneath us, asleep. The great landscape beyond remained dark and silent under the luminous whiteness of the air. The silence seemed too sacred to be broken.

"Good night," said Tita to the Lieutenant; "I hope you have spent at least one pleasant evening with us on this journey."

"I have spent many, Madame," he said, earnestly," and many very pleasant mornings and days, and I hope we shall have a great many more. I do think we four ought to turn vagrants-gipsies, you call them-and go away altogether, and never go back any more to a large town."

"What do you say, Bell?" asked Tita, with a kindly, if half-mischievous, look.

"I suppose we get to Worcester tomorrow," said Bell, with not much appearance of joy in her face; and then

she bade good-night to us all, and left with my Lady.

"There it is," said the Lieutenant, with an impatient flinging down of his cap on the table. "That is what interferes with all our pleasure. You go away on the most delightful excursion in the world-you have the most beautiful scenes, and pleasant companions, and freedom-everything you can wish; and then the young lady who ought to be more happy than anyone-who is at the time of life to have no care but to enjoy her prettiness and her good temper, and all that-who is the pleasant ornament of the excursion, and is a great delight to all of us-then she is vexed and frightened because that this -this-this contemptible fellow threatens to meet her in one of those big towns. Sacker-rrrrr-ment! I do hope he will come and have it over-but if he is annoying-if he vexes her any

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Thus do we poor mortals fret and vex ourselves in the midst of our happiest circumstances. But at last there comes

a time for sleep. And soon this solitary inn on the hill was as quiet and peaceful as the great world outside, where the moonlight seemed to have hushed the very winds to rest, and where the far woods and the streams and the low hills along the edge of the land lay still and dark under the cold majesty of the stars.

[Note by Queen Titania, written at Worcester on the evening of the following day. -Any comment of mine on the foregoing is at the moment unnecessary; we have other matters to engage our attention. Arthur has come. I can find no words to express the deep and serious annoyance which this escapade is likely to cause. All our plans may be upset; for he can scarcely explain his present wild proceedings without provoking some sort of final agreement with Bell. And suppose she should consent to be engaged to him, how are we to continue our journey? Of course he will not allow her: if he had not disliked it, he would not be here now. Certainly, I think Bell has acted imprudently; for I told her that if she did not answer his letter, he would be sure to imagine all manner of things, and come and see her. The consequence is that she is, I fear, in a great dilemma; for I do not see how she can avoid either refusing him altogether, or consenting to everything that he asks. And as we can't continue our journey till Monday, he will have a whole day to persecute her into giving him an answer of some kind; and then she is so foolishly good-hearted that, if he is only pathetic enough, she will say "yes" to everything. It is most provoking. If we could only get this one day over, and him back to London !]

To be continued.

ARTIFICIAL SELECTION.

BY PROFESSOR P. G. TAIT.

[THE following, for the most part almost selfevident, remarks were drawn up a few years ago, but somehow laid aside. Since this article was sent to London, Dr. Lyon Playfair, M.P., has published an excellent address on the comparative value of Examining Boards and Teaching Universities. I have also been referred to Chapter VII. of Mr. Helps' "Thoughts upon Government," in which there are some very telling remarks on the subject of Competitive Examinations. But I have not been able to avail myself of the contents of either of these papers. The ground here occupied is far less extensive than that of Dr. Playfair or of Mr. Helps, and the point of view somewhat different. But it is characteristic of the inherent badness of a system, that it should be found demonstrably bad from more points of view than one. It may be asked why, as my remarks are selfevident, I have published them. The answer is, that things which are self-evident are precisely those to which we are in the habit of paying no attention whatever. The consequences of such neglect in the present instance will be not merely serious, but sudden; and a single step taken in the wrong direction may render it for ever after impossible to regain even our present condition.]]

THE course of nature when left to itself, as in the reproduction of wild plants and animals, is startlingly different from its course when directed by the. caprices of finite intelligence to the formation of fancy tulips and pigeons. But far more startling is the process by which one finite intelligence attempts to judge of others, especially as to their relative fitness for positions of trust and difficulty. The consideration of the value of this mysterious process of Artificial Selection, or Examination as it is generally called, is at present enormously more important to the future of the empire than any mere speculation in science.

Several symptoms appear to indicate that we are approaching a great crisis in the history of selection, whether it be for University degrees or University Chairs for licence to practise in Medicine, or for those lower civil and military appointments which involve subsequent

promotion by seniority. The creation of so-called Universities, whose sole function is to examine; the proposed migratory medical Examining Boards; the amalgamation of the Universities in each division of the kingdom into great examining works' (a step much desired

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1 "There is no doubt that the University, at present, gives the amount and quality of instruction which the country really demands. When we succeed, as I hope we shall soon do, in developing a greater desire for Honours, our present system. will without effort adjust its teaching to the increased demand, Another piece of advice which is con stantly forced upon us is that the Scottish Universities should merge themselves in one National University, of which each would then be merely a College; an idea worthy of Procrustes, or rather of a drill-sergeant. Without disparagement to the other Universities we desire to retain our own stature, our traditional glories, and, it may be, even our peculiarities. We object to being pruned off here and pulled out there, with the view of preventing the future possibility of our being distinguished from our neighbours. The experiment has already been tried; and what is the result? In Cambridge, a group of seventeen colleges forms nothing in their teaching. Even the college Professorial lectures count as University. tutors and lecturers take but small part in the process of education. Private tutors, 'Coaches' there, Grinders' we should call them, eagerly scanning examination papers of former years, and mysteriously finding out the peculiarities of the Moderators and Examiners under whose hands their pupils are doomed to pass, spend their lives in discovering which pages of a text-book a man ought to read, and which will not be likely to pay.' The value of any portion as an intellectual exercise is never thought of; the all-important question is,-Is it likely to be set! I speak with no horror of, or aversion to, such men; I was one of them myself, and thought it perfectly natural, as they all do. But I hope that such a system may never be introduced here; and, as the most effectual preservative, let us avoid amalgamation. Let us unite, if we can, with another Scottish University, in sending a member to Parliament . . . but let us preserve our individuality, and remain to all time the University of the Gregorys, the Mac

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by a few enthusiasts); the recent attempts. to sectarianize the Irish National Schools and Queen's Colleges, with the view of making them mere feeders of a proposed: grand Irish examining machine: such, are but a few of the more prominent of these symptoms. It is scarcely possible to conceive of anything worse for the cause of education. Examinations are, at the best, singularly imperfect modes of testing even relative merit of any kind. It is to be deplored that they are, to a certain extent, at present indispensable; but the proposal to make them of more account than teaching, or even merely to put them on a level with it, is simply monstrous. The reasons are not far to seek. We shall draw our illustrations mainly from Mathematics and Physics, partly because we are more familiar with these than with other branches of education, but chiefly because these are of all subjects those in which (on account of their logical precision) the good features of examinations should most strikingly appear, provided always there be any good features.

A really good Examiner is perhaps the rarest product of civilization. In an unusually large experience, extending to each of the three kingdoms, I have met but two, and I see clearly how each of even these might be greatly improved. It is easy to specify some of the more obvious qualifications which a good Examiner must possess, and a little thought will then show how unlikely it is that even these will be found united in any one man. Besides, who is to examine the Examiner? What precautions can secure that, having himself passed through an absurd ordeal, he may not determine that others also shall suffer? Who so great a bully as the ex-fag, except in extreme cases of rare nobility of nature? The tortures of the examina

laurins, the Play fairs, and the Leslies." ("On the Value of the Edinburgh Degree of M.A.," an Address delivered to the Graduates in Arts at Edinburgh, April 24, 1866. Cambridge: Macmillan.)

To these two men, however, is due a very large part of the few really sensible examination papers which have within recent years appeared in the Cambridge and the London University Calendars.

No. 149.-VOL. XXV.

tion hall do not exalt a man ; such tribulation is far from making perfect. He suffers-and bides his time. Woe to the wretch who first comes under his hands! It is almost impossible that a young Examiner should not be a bad one.

I. An Examiner ought to possess not merely great knowledge, but enormously extensive knowledge, of his subject and of the various modes of teaching it; otherwise, he is incapable of doing equal justice to the merits of students taught on different systems. He must have, in addition to classical or scientific knowledge, a working acquaintance with every sound system employed in teaching his subject, whether at home or abroad, whether viva voce or by books. Do you know, reader, any one man who has even these qualifications? What sort of chance of passing, in at least the great majority of examinations in elementary Dynamics, would a man have who should give Newton's own admirable proof of the Law of Composition of Forces ? How many have been rejected because they could not tell whether a pair of scissors. is a double lever of the first, second, or third order, or had neglected to commit to memory some other equally absurd, because unscientific, classifications? A man who answers correctly, according to modern knowledge, questions in Heat or Electricity, is almost sure to be plucked unless his Examiner be one of the few men who are aware that on these subjects almost all our text-books, have been, till within a very few years, grossly incorrect. Hence it is absolutely necessary that, if there are to be examinations, these should be conducted (at least mainly) by bond fide teachers. No one who is not actually engaged in teaching, or at least working at a subject, can have accurate information as to its development, or that practical knowledge of it which is essential to an Examiner. In Germany all higher

1. In the Free Church of Scotland, to whose authorities even its enemies will not deny the possession of great practical shrewdness, it has hitherto been the custom to have one Examining Board. This Board examines the students of the Church's three Colleges at the end of their course, independently of the Professors. The result has been so extremely low a standard

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