would be interfered with by the title of the Empress of India, and I do not desire to overlook any one of them. The first argument that is used is what I may term the social argument. I think it was the noble duke who spoke the other night (the Duke of Somerset) who said that, of course, the title would be used in England, and that it would be used not merely by the sovereign, but by other members of the royal family. That argument is very shortly answered. I will read to your lordships what was stated on these points by the prime minister. He said :

"The noble lord who has just addressed us has put the case very fairly before us. He gives myself and colleagues credit for being sincere in the statements we have made, and feels that we have given honest advice to the sovereign-and that advice, I am bound to say, has been received with the utmost sym

jesty has been advised, for great reasons of state, to assume, shall be exercised absolutely and solely in India when it is required, and that on becoming Empress of India she does not seek to be in any way Empress of England, but will be content with the old style and title of Queen of the United Kingdom. To all purposes, in fact, her majesty would govern the United Kingdom as she has always governed it."

country. But, my lords, have we any evidence that the title of Empress is a title which will, in the opinion of the people of this country, properly express the power of the throne in India? I think we have some evidence on that point. I believe that at the time this controversy was raised there were large numbers of people in this country who were under the impression that her majesty was already Empress of India. I recollect, at the time of her majesty's gracious speech from the throne, receiving a communication from a keen observer of the public history of this country, which stated that the government were under a misapprehension on this matter; that in 1858 the queen had become Empress of India, and that was her title at the present moment. My lords, I believe that this was really the opinion and belief of a large number of people at the commencement of this year. The noble earl ridicules the refer-pathy-namely, that the title which her maences that have been made to school-books and almanacs, and I know that a good deal of contempt was thrown upon any reference to authorities of that kind. But I must say for myself that I think that the public man who throws contempt upon the school-books of the nation may be a man of very keen wit and of a very sharp tongue, but he is not a man of a very great deal of common sense. When I find that in school-books and in almanacs, circulating through the country by hundreds of thousands, and circulating for years, the style given to the queen with regard to India is Empress of India, and that no voice has ever been heard against it, I consider that is very cogent evidence that there is nothing in that title, providing it does not affect the English title, which is objectionable to the feelings of the people of this country. If your lordships will take up one of those depositories of information, which I never open without amazement and admiration-I mean one of those books which contain a statement of the titles and histories of your lordships-you will find, I think, this one which I hold in my hand is about the oldest established in this countrythat the title of the queen is thus described, "Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Colonies and Dependencies thereof, Empress of India." It has, so far as I know, never occurred to any person to protest against the title thus given as repulsive to English feelings.

I have anxiously endeavoured to discover what were the arguments upon which it was stated that the title of the Queen of England

As to the members of the royal family, he said, "The advice which the government gave to the crown, and which was received with sympathy, was that no change should be made in, if I may use the term, the courtesy titles of the royal family. That appears to me to terminate this point."

But the noble duke (the Duke of Somerset) had another string to his bow on this part of the question. He said "But suppose you provide for the sovereign exercising the title in the way you say, you must look at the other side. What will people do after the bill is passed even with these limitations? It is said that the moment we pass this bill the country will take up the title of Empress, and that it will in the course of time become the ordinary title of the crown." Now, I want the noble duke who used that argument to contrast it with another which fell from him in the same speech. He said the people in this country disliked the title of Empress-that they would not have it under any circumstances. Now, if that is the case, how does the noble duke establish his first proposition

that the moment the title is adopted every

JOSIAS LESLIE PORTER.

[In our notice of the late Dr. Cooke we referred to the excellent memoir of him from the pen of his son-in-law Dr. Porter, who is himself well entitled to a place among the literary names of his native country.

numerous articles in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Kitto's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, the American Bibliotheca Sacra, the Encyclopædia Britannica, and of a considerable number of pamphlets.]

LYDDA.

(FROM 'THE GIANT CITIES OF BASHAN.")

Josias Leslie Porter was born on October 4, 1823, at Burt, county Donegal. He received his earliest instruction in the house of the Rev. S. Craig, of Crossroads, county Derry; and, like many Ulster young men of that day, entered the university of Glasgow, where he graduated B.A. in 1842, and M.A. in the following year. He then began his theological training in the University of Edinburgh, where he was one of the pupils of Dr. Chalmers, and afterwards studied at the Free Church College there. Having been ordained in 1846, he was first employed in pastoral work in Newcastle. His next sphere was as a missionary to the Jews at Damascus; and before proceeding to this distant scene of labour he married in 1849 the youngest daughter of Dr. Henry Cooke. He remained in the East for eight years, during which time he travelled extensively through Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece. After his return home he was appointed in 1860 to the professorship of biblical criticism in the Assembly's College, Belfast. In 1864 the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D., and the University of Glasgow that of LL.D. In 1875 he was chosen moderator of the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church. When the Board of Commissioners of Intermediate Education in Ireland was brought into existence in 1878, Dr. Porter was naturally pointed out as the fittest representative of his co-religionists at the board, and in the same year he was made assistant-hovels on a rocky hill-side. It was not so commissioner. In 1879 he was raised to the still higher position of president of Queen's College, Belfast.

Dr. Porter has written a large number of separate works, besides being a constant contributor to the higher class of periodicals. He has described his oriental experiences in three books: Five Years in Damascus (1855), Handbook for Syria and Palestine (1856), and The Giant Cities of Bashan (1865). He has written some volumes of biblical criticism: The Pentateuch and the Gospels, and a Reply to Colenso on the Pentateuch. He is also the author of

The sun was already low in the west when we entered the broad avenue-like road that leads to Lydda. It was a beautiful eveningthe sky cloudless, the atmosphere transparent as crystal. The sunbeams fell slanting on the dense foliage of the orange and apricot trees, here gilding the topmost leaves, and yonder shooting in lines of gold through the openings. The sea-breeze was just setting in. Now it played among the rustling branches of the tall palms, and now it seemed to come down for a moment and breathe its balmy breath in our faces. The road, covered deeply with red sand, is lined with orchards in which we saw orange, lemon, peach, pomegranate, and carub trees, intermixed with the palm, walnut, and sycamore; and the whole inclosed by huge hedges of cactus, whose luscious fruit, clinging quaintly to the sides of the great thick leaves, was now almost ripe. An easy walk of three-quarters of an hour brought us to Ludd, the modern as well as the more ancient name of the apostolic Lydda (1 Chron. viii. 12). I have often been sadly disappointed on approaching an old Bible city, which fancy had somehow decked in the choicest beauties of nature and art, but which reality transformed into mud

with Lydda. Even now, though its glory is gone, Lydda has an imposing look. It is embowered in verdure. Olive groves encircle it, and stretch far out over the surrounding plain, and their dusky hue is relieved here and there by the brighter foliage of the apricot and mulberry; while, near the houses, vines are seen creeping over garden walls and clambering up the great gnarled trunks and branches of the walnut trees.

The village stands on a gentle eminence, and

1 By permission of the author.

high above its terraced roofs rise the splendid | the mountains of Israel, their rounded tops

ruins of England's patron saint. Lydda, tradition says, was the native place of St. George; and England's chivalrous king, the lionhearted Richard, built in his honour this noble church, the ruins of which now form the chief attraction of Ludd. The walls and part of the groined roof of the chancel still remain, and also one lofty pointed arch, with its massive clustered columns and white marble capitals, rich in carving and fret-work.

now tinged with the ruddy evening light; and the deep purple shadows of their ravines throwing out in bold relief the old ruined cities and modern villages that crown nearly all the projecting cliffs. On the south a swell in the plain concealed Philistia; but that swell was clothed with the orchards of Ramleh, whose tapering minarets and tall white tower shoot up from the midst of the dense foliage. On the west, beyond the gardens, there was first a stretch of brown sandy plain; then a narrow dark belt traced by the orange groves of Joppa; and then the Mediterranean, gleaming like a mirror of burnished gold beneath the setting sun.

On Monday morning, before the sun had yet risen over Judah's hills, we were all in the saddle, following a gay trooper, bristling with arms, along the broad sandy road to Philistia. Selim, our new companion, was to fill the double post of guide and guard: and he was admirably qualified for office; for he knew the name of every village, fountain, and wady between Ramleh and Gaza; and he was on terms of close friendship with all the bandits in the province. Our route was at first dreary enough, traversing bleak downs of brown sand, over which a few flocks of sheep and goats followed their shepherds, apparently bound for better pastures. But the morning, as usual, was bright and beautiful, the air fresh and exhilarating, and Selim full of tales of border raids, and old traditions about Samson and Jalûd (Goliath); so we got on cheerily. An hour's ride brought us to the top of the swell which separates Sharon from Philistia. The latter plain now opened up before us, rolling away to the southern horizon in graceful undulations, clothed with a rich mantle of green and gold-harvest-field and pastureland. Ruins were visible everywhere; but the villages were few, small, and far between. The distant hill-sides were more thickly

We climbed to the top of the crumbling wall, and there sat down to read the story of Peter's visit to this place (Acts ix. 32-39). The whole village was in full view, and the great plain around it. Peter was away on one of his missionary tours in the hill country of Samaria, "and he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda." He came down through the defiles of those mountains, and across that broad rich plain of Sharon, or "Saron," and up the gentle ascent to this old town. The saints met him as he entered, and told him of the sufferings of poor paralytic Eneas; and the scene then enacted at his bedside was such as the people had never before witnessed. "Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately." As the words reached his ears, divine power operated on his body. The wondrous tidings sped from mouth to mouth, from group to group, from town to country. All eagerly inquired; some probably at first doubted, but when they saw the healed paralytic, faith triumphed, and "all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron turned to the Lord." The joyful news soon found its way to Joppa, ten miles distant; and then the mourning friends of the charitable Tabitha despatched quick messengers to tell Peter of her death, half hoping that even she might not be beyond the reach of his power. Peter delayed not, but set out across that western plain on another journey of mercy. As we looked from our commanding posi-studded with them; and Selim told us that tion over that wide landscape, we could not but admit that there was a charm in it independent of all its hallowed associations. It was one of those views which, like a picture by Claude, never pass from the memory. On the north lay the vast plain of Sharon, variegated with green meadows and yellow cornfields; for, though only the end of April, the fields were "already white to the harvest." In the far distance we could just distinguish the pale blue summits of Carmel. On the east the view was bounded by the long range of

though, like the old Danites, the people lived there for security, their possessions and crops were chiefly in the plain.

THE DRUSES.

(FROM 'THE GIANT CITIES OF BASHAN.")

The Druses are a remarkable people. Their religion is a mystery; their manners are simple and patriarchal; their union and courage are

is always on the hearth; a kid or lamb-representative of the old "fatted calf”—is at hand, and can be "got ready" with all the despatch of ancient days. Food for servants, "provender" for horses, accommodation for all, are given as matters of course. In travelling through Bashan one fancies himself carried back to the days when the patriarchs sat in their tent-doors, ready to welcome every visitor and hail every passer-by.

proverbial; and though small in number they form the most powerful party in Syria. Whenever danger threatens, or whenever they find it expedient to resist the demands or exactions of the Porte, they congregate in the Haurân, and no force has ever been found sufficient to dislodge or subdue them. Here they defied Ibrahim Pasha, and destroyed the flower of the Egyptian army; here they have once and again defeated the Turkish troops, and driven them back with disgrace to the very walls of Damascus. Physically they are the finest race in Western Asia-tall, stalwart, hardy mountaineers. Accustomed from childhood to vigorous exercise, and trained in athletic sports and the use of arms, they form a body of brave and daring "irregulars," such as the world could scarcely match. But the grand secret of their power is their union. They act together as one man. Brotherly union in peace and war, in prosperity and adversity, is the chief article of their religious creed. As regards religion, they are divided into two classes, the Initiated and the Ignorant. With the former the rites, ceremonies, and doctrines remain a profound secret. The holy books are preserved and read by them alone. They assemble in chapels every Thursday evening, refusing admission to all others. What they do then and there is unknown; but there is reason to believe that these meet-ney before us. He would listen to no excuse. ings are quite as much of a political as a religious character.

The Druse sheikhs form a hereditary nobility, and preserve with great tenacity all the pride and state of their order. They receive and entertain travellers with profuse hospitality, and no compensation in money can be offered to them. To strangers, under ordinary circumstances, they are obliging, communicative, and faithful. In time of peace they are industrious and courteous; but in war they are noted alike for daring courage and unsparing ferocity. When among this strange and primitive people in Bashan, I felt at once that I was out of the beaten track of tourists, where one can pitch his tent, picket his horses, cook his provisions, and march again, caring for nobody, and nobody caring for him. Here all is different. We are among a people of patriarchal manners and genuine patriarchal hospitality. We were looked on and treated as welcome guests. We could not pass town or village without being entreated to accept hospitality. "Will not my lord descend while his servants prepare a little food?" is the urgent language of every village sheikh. The coffee

VOL. IV.

Our

On one of the southern peaks of the mountain range, some two thousand feet above the vale of Kerioth, stands the town of Hebrân. Its shattered walls and houses looked exceedingly picturesque, as we wound up a deep ravine, shooting out far overhead from among the tufted foliage of the evergreen oak. | little cavalcade was seen approaching, and ere we reached the brow of the hill the whole population had come out to meet and welcome us. The sheikh, a noble-looking young Druse, had already sent a man to bring a kid from the nearest flock to make a feast for us, and we saw him bounding away through an opening in the forest. He returned in half an hour with the kid on his shoulder. We assured the hospitable sheikh that it was impossible for us to remain. Our servants were already far away over the plain, and we had a long jour

The feast must be prepared. "My lord could not pass by his servant's house without honouring him by eating a morsel of bread, and partaking of the kid which is being made ready. The sun is high; the day is long; rest for a time under my roof; eat and drink, and then pass on in peace." There was so much of the true spirit of patriarchal hospitality here, so much that recalled to mind scenes in the life of Abraham (Gen. xviii. 2), and Manoah (Judges xiii. 15), and other Scripture celebrities, that we found it hard to refuse. Time pressed, however, and we were reluctantly compelled to leave before the kid was served.

EASTERN POLITENESS.

(FROM "HAND-BOOK FOR SYRIA AND PALESTINE.")

The inhabitants of Syria and Palestine form a most interesting study. Their dress, their manners and customs, and their language, are all primitive. No European nation, with the exception perhaps of the Spaniards, bears the

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