tensive range of reconnaissances over regions lying between Kerguelens Island, Enderbey's Land, and Possession and Auckland Islands for the discovery of suitable southern stations, he predicts the failure of the entire series of English observations, if these southern stations are not occupied.

In the meantime the pith of the controversy is simply, that, after having given a careful consideration to Mr. Proctor's representations and arguments, the Astronomer Royal continues to be of opinion that the difficulties and disadvantages of occupying high northern and southern latitudes, for the sake of securing a wide and suitable base for the more extended application of Halley's method of observing, more than counterbalance the advantages that might be secured by the proceeding; and that arrangements for doing so are unnecessary, because in the present state of astronomical science, with the improved facilities at command for the exact settlement of longitudes, even better results will be secured by the application of Delisle's method without the enlarged base than could be obtained by the most advantageous application of Halley's method. Good observations at Kerguelens Island, when compared with observations of the duration of the transit at French, German, and Russian stations near Japan, will, nevertheless, in reality give fair means of using Halley's method, if at any time held desirable to do so; and observations both at Rodriguez Island and Christchurch may also be utilised in the same way, as the entire transit will be visible at those stations. But if the views which have been for some time gaining ground among practical astronomers of all nations are correct, it will never become necessary to apply the method even as a check, simply because when the longitudes of good stations of observation are accurately and exactly known, Delisle's method, virtually based upon the comparison of the absolute Greenwich times at the different stations, is unquestionably superior to the less refined Halley's method of comparing the durations at the different stations.

The Astronomer Royal, of course, cannot be presumed to be yet endowed with the attribute of infallibility. But no one who is familiar with Sir George Airy's distinguished career, and who has marked his able and painstaking administration of the affair of the National Observatory during a period of thirty-seven years, can doubt he has well considered his ground in the position that he has assumed, and knows what he is doing; as must also the large band of experienced French, German, Russian, and American astronomers, who, it will be remarked, have in no single instance joined in the admonitory

cry that has been raised by one single English voice. One distinctly expressed anxiety of the Astronomer Royal has been that, with the limited means at his disposal, and which, it will be remembered, it is one part of his onerous duty to apply in the best possible direction, it has not been possible to include the Marquesas Islands, and some other desirable stations in the Pacific, in his operations. This anxiety is only in part removed by the welcome announcement just made by M. D'Abbadie that M. Flourien, an experienced naval officer and competent observer, will be sent to the Marquesas by the French Government, who, by this act, will make a very material and valuable contribution to the work. But if the Astronomer Royal is yet able to accomplish what it is well known he has for some time been considering the possibility of doing, namely, the occupation of Crozet Islands, some twenty degrees of longitude west of Kerguelens Island, and also to scatter some subordinate stations around Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands as a matter of further precaution, the ground occupied will in reality have been rendered both promising and strong.

There is also, it will be observed, a very consolatory suggestion comprised in the announcement of the French occupation of the Marquesas, which has been alluded to. England, in its possibly too narrow and too economical treatment of the grand opportunity the approaching transit affords, will not be alone in the interesting and important labour. Mr. Proctor, not having to administer the limited allowance of public money. awarded for this service, may mourn over the conception of England not standing in the van of the movement, or perhaps accomplishing its objects single-handed. But the Astronomer Royal, with a more cosmopolitan sense, in all probability feels that the result will no less certainly be secured under the admirable spirit of co-operation and consent that binds nation to nation, where the noblest achievements of science are concerned. Thus our shrewd cousins on the other side of the Atlantic intend to secure photographs of the transit wherever the sun is ten degrees above the horizon through the entire duration of the phenomenon, and wherever the effect of parallactic displacement is most pronounced. They will certainly have leading stations at Wladiwostok, near Yokohama and Pekin, and in some other parts of China, Japan, or the adjacent izles, and also in one of the Sandwich Islands. The Germans will occupy three principal stations and eight subordinate ones, at which measurements will be made of the distance of Venus from the furthest points of the sun's limb throughout the e transit, and at which also times of first and be taken, and photographic pictures be

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secured. Russia will fill no less than twenty-seven stations, scattered through Eastern Siberia, and stretching between the Caspian Sea and the mouth of the Amoor, at all of which first and last contacts will be observed.

The finest instruments, especially prepared for this work by such men as Repsold, Frauenhofer, Steinheil, and Dallmeyer, will be provided for all these several stations, and the observing staff will be trained, at Berlin, under the superintendence of Professor Anwers, at Pulkowa under that of Otto Struve, and at Washington under the care of Rear Admiral Sands. Among other refinements of instrumental ingenuity it is worthy of note that M. Janssen intends to employ an apparatus which, it may be remarked, is also understood to have been for some time favourably regarded by the Astronomer Royal, which will enable him at the time of expected contacts of the planet with the sun's limb to record at almost continuous short intervals a series of photographic impressions, which must therefore include in the series the one giving the true contact, the time of its occurrence being simultaneously marked.

In speaking of the elaborate and costly preparations that are in progress to render the approaching transits of Venus serviceable for the advancement of science, passing allusion must be made to the notable fact that Urania always has individual votaries who are pressing forward at her shrine with rich offerings that bear well to be compared even with the contributions of states and kings. Upon this occasion a neophyte of this class has appeared, who will be a distinguished and invaluable accession to the expeditionary service. Lord Lindsay announced at the meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in November last that he intends to visit the Mauritius at the time of the transit, with a good equipment of instruments, and to provide with his own hands and staff for more than one form of observation. At the time of the announcement he intimated his purpose, among other things, to make photographic records with a large Cassegranian reflector of thirteen inches aperture, receiving its light, after the arrangement of Leverrier's large sidèrostat at Paris, through the intervention of external plane mirrors; and also to employ a double-image plan of observing, which has found more favour among the Russians and Germans than it has among English astronomers, in which the dimensions of the sun and planet, and the parallactic displacement of the planet, are ascertained by series of contacts of double images formed by the different halves of a divided object-glass. Some subsequent allusions to this subject, however, seem to indicate that Lord Lindsay's plans have recently been modified and extended in some particulars.

ART. VII.-Old Kensington. By Miss THACKERAY. Second Edition. London: 1873.

T HIS story is worthy of consideration in two aspects: first, on account of its intrinsic merits; secondly, as a timely protest against the falsehood in art which is so prevalent among novel-writers of the present period. Upon the first point more remains to be said immediately, but the second is a matter of such grave importance that the age which is yielding to a gradual enervation may well spare a few moments to review its position. The falsity of extremes was never so apparent in the literature of fiction as it is just now, and the careful reader will have noticed that a depravation has set in which threatens to infect the whole body of novelists. The number of those who are imbued with a proper sense of the dignity of their calling is infinitesimally small; in truth, we venture to affirm that there are scarcely ten writers of fiction who are conscientiously endeavouring to fulfil any laudable end. Whether this be due wholly to the writers themselves, to the public, or to both in equal proportions, it is impossible definitely to say, neither is it material to the purpose; but that the modern novel requires purification and elevation is a fact beyond the possibility of doubt. It is because of this malaria which floats in society that we welcome 'Old Kensington' as part of the corrective influence which we hope will soon spread over the whole of that branch of literature to which it belongs. In reading it one cannot but be struck with the purity and the serenity of its atmosphere: its effect on the spirit is like that produced on the physical system by the genial breezes of Spring, healthful and bracing. We commend it on this ground as a study to those who have assisted to degrade our literature by the exhibition of virulence without true passion, crimes without reason, and arts without art. is a melancholy reflection that the advance of science and the progress of intellectual research during the last few years have not checked the growth of an appetite for books which are in every sense a discredit to the nineteenth century. Posterity, for whom the noblest efforts of the genuine artist are ultimately intended, fortunately takes no note of momentary pecuniary success, but weighs the product of the brain in other scales. Amongst the works which will not be found wanting is that now under attention: but, meanwhile, we trust it will also be useful in another direction, and in the immediate present. Books of this description will assuredly help on the

reformation now imperatively called for in relation to the modern novel. They may play the same part towards current English fiction as the works of Frances Burney did to the novel of nearly a hundred years ago.

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In examining the latest work from the pen of Miss Thackeray some idea of the progress she has made will be gained by a reference to her previous stories. Those who read these earlier novels will probably agree with us that they exhibited considerable powers, but powers in a state of uncollectedness, if the word be permissible. They had in them distinctly the germs of future excellence, but lacked the faculty of making the best of materials. There is generally something which betrays the 'prentice hand; but when sufficient allowance has been made for that fact, there was no room for discouragement on the part of a writer who displayed so much latent talent. This was the position taken by Miss Thackeray: her readers were pleased with what she gave to them but waited for something better. They expected a grasp of character which was not perceptible in The Story of Elizabeth' and 'The Village on the Cliff.' In both of these stories there was much that was charming and hopeful; that quiet eye for observing nature, which is so rare a gift, had taken in the beautiful forms of things, and a happy expression had preserved them in a lasting shape; but in a novel we look for a power that is higher than this-the power of individualisation in regard to humanity. The character of Elizabeth in the first of her stories was one of considerable attraction, but it does not beget that intensity of interest which attaches to a character the author has more recently drawn. The story of a woman who scarcely knew what to do with the troubles of life, who was afraid that she would have to succumb to them, and who yet lived to pass through them and to attain profound happiness instead of eternal regret, was told with a certain pathos and tenderness, but the heroine herself was at times too shadowy and impalpable. The same remarks would apply to the later novel, The Village on 'the Cliff,' but with this addition, that the local colouring was richer in the second effort. The pictures of Normandy coast scenery were almost perfect; it was neither an unloving nor an unapt pencil which gave us such sketches as are to be found scattered everywhere through the volume: but the point longed was still confessedly unattained. Nevertheless, substantial progress had been made, as any reader will discover who dispassionately compares the two works. The pathos had deepened and the sympathy of the author with her creations was closer. The greatest attribute of the novelist alone was wanting-viz. the