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y 1 SAPfHO, After a cycle of tw«nly-five centuries, history h:is again been solving in Great Britaili and her colonies, the â- ame problem that formerly was pre- sented for solution to Ancient Greece and her colonies, viz ; Shall women with the advance of civilization move forward as the equal and true helpmate at man, or shall she be condemned to A sort of bird-cage life, born in a cage Accounting that to leap from perch to perch Is act and joy enough for any bird. In the Homeric period the prjsition of the Greek woman was simple and free. In the Iliad and Cklyssey she is always treated with respect ; unlike the great poems of modern Europe, they do not contain an indelicate line. But with the advancing culture there inevitably arose the question, what shall be -the statues of women ? Should the be ad- mitted to share this culture or be ez- clvded f Athens herself under the in- fluence at Asiatic models decided to 'exclude them. Spaxta. aud the Dorian colonies, on the other hand, preferred to exclude the culture. It was only the Aeolian colonies, such as Mitylene, that undertook to admit the culture and the women also. Nowhere else did women occupy what we should call a mo<lern position. Among the loinans of Asia, according to Herodotu.* , the wife did not share the table of her husband ; she dared not call him by bis name but addressed him with the title of "Lord;" and this was haxdly an exaggeration of the habits of Athens itself. But among the Dorians of Sparta, and prob- ably among the Aeulians as well, the husband called his wife "mistress" not in subserviency, but after the mod- ern peasant fashion ; Spartan mothers preserved a power over their adult sons such as yvaa nowhere else 8e«n ; the dignity at maidenhood was celebrated in public songs cauled "Paxthenia," which were pecultax to Sparta ; and. the women took so free a part In the con- versation, that Socrates In a haU-sar- co^tic passage compares their quick- ness of wit to that of the men. The Aeolian women were also permitted to share the meals of their husbands, and as a compensation, they made for their hu^bandn such excellent bread that it has preserve*! its reputation for two- thousaiui yearn. The old Greek poet Archestrat us, who wrote a book on the art of cookery, said that if the gods were to eat breail they would send Her- mes to the Aeolians to hay it, and ac- cording to "Travels and Discoveries in the Levant," the same excellent receipt and art is still in vogue. And these women shaxe<l not only in the meals and labors of their husbands, but also in their intelk'clual pursuits. lu short, the t'p.irtan women were free, though ignorant, and this freedom the Athen- ians thought bad enough. Uut when the Aeolians of Mitylene cjurie*! the eQu.iUty a step further, and to freedom acided culture, tb« Athenians found it intolerable. Such <ui innovation was equivalent to opening, to-day, the Uni- versities of Cambridge and Toronto to women, .and to setting up the ilnglish theory of woman's position against that of the French. In the present century such women as Charlotte Bronti, Klizabeth Brown- ing (of whom, on the ot^casion of hex death, an ojipocent of the women's rights agitation said: No more Aurora Leighs, thank God I A woman of real gpiiius 1 know; but what is the upshot of it all } She and her sex had better VQXfid the kitchen), and George Elliot may be considered at the same time the product and cause of the continuation of the movement towards women's rights. So in the early centuries the elevation uif the status of women pro- duced many women who were "divinely tongued." Of these Greek poetesse.M, the admitted chief was Sappho. Among the Greeks "the poet" meant Homer, and "the poetess" equally designated her. "There flourishe*! in those days" said Strubo. writing a little before our era, "Sappho, a wondrous creature, for we know not any woman to have ap- peared within recordetl time, who was in the least to be compared to her in respect to poesy." The decjiying Turkish village of Mity- lene marks the site of what was, some centuries before the Christian era. one of the ^eat centres of Greek civiliza- tion. The greiit theatre of Mitylene was such a masterpiece of architecture, that the KonLiin Pomjiey wished to copy it in the metropolis of the world, The city wajt classed by Horace with Ithodes, Ephesus, and Corinth, yet each of these places we now remember for itself, while we think of Mitylene only as the place "where burning Sappho loved and simg." The dates of the birth and deutb are uncertain, but she liv6<l somewhere l>etween the years ^M :uid 572 B. C, thus flourishing three or four ceuhtries after Homer, and less than two centuries before Pericles. Of the actual events of Sappho's life al- most nothing is known, except that she had once to- flee for safely from Mity- lene to Sicily, perhaps to escape the political persecutions that prevailed. It IS hard to ascertain whether she pos- Bessetl beauty even in her prime. Tra- dition represents her as being "little and dark," but tradition descriijcs Cleo- piitra in the same way, and we should cleiirly lose much from history by ig- noring all the execution done by smiill brunettes. The Greek Anthology de- scribes her as "the pride of the lovely haired Lesbians," Plato calls her "-the beautiful Sappho." After her return from her refuge in Sicily, she became the centre of a group of girls whom she taught the fine axis. Concerning the morality of this academy, opinions have varied. Oue critic has prouoiuiced it to have been a school of vice. The German professors sec in it a school of science. Others think that it re- sembled the Courts of Love in the Mid- dle ages. But it seems evident th.at Sappho having undertaken the dtity of in.struction in the most difficult music, the most comjilex metres, and the pro- foimdest religious rites, hod on her hanila quite too much work to have be<jh exclusively a trouba,<lour, a siiv- onte, or a sinner. Professor Felton â- ay^ "she has sbare<L the fortunes of othels of her sex, en<lowed like her with God's richest gifts of intel- lect and heaxt, who have been the victims of lumoraaless caluxany for as- se-rliing the prerogatives of genius and during to compete with men in the struggle for tiime and glory." That a high intellectual standard prevailed ifl this acailjemy of Sappho's may be infeiTed from a fragment of her verse, in which she utters her disjtp- pointment over an uncultivated woman, whom she ha<d, perhaps, tried in vain to influence. This imaginary epitaph warns tlie pujjil that she is m danger of being forgotten through forgetful- ness of those Pieriaji roses which are the Muses' symbol : "Dying she reposee; Oblivion grasps her now; Since never I'ierian roses Were wreath6<l round her empty brow; She goeth unwept and lonely To Hades' dusliy homes, .A.nd bodiless shado^v3 only Bill her welcome as she comes." B'or sincerity, depth of feeling, and exquisite grace of form her lyrics stand alone among the masterpieces of an- tiquity. Her poems were divided into nine Ixmks, according to their nxe;tresi. Of the single complete poem that re- mains to ue, it is safe to say that there/ is not a lyric in Greek literature, nou in any other, which has by its artistic sitructure, inspired more enthusiasm than the "Hymn to Aphrodite." The German critics, true to their national instincts, hint that she may have writ- ten some of heir verses, as exercises in different kinds of metre. It is as if Milton had written L'allegro in hia oharacteir of pedagogue only to show where the rhymes came uil Lei us then, in fancy, call around her, at her alxide in Mityleneâ€" either in some garden of orange and myrtle, such as once skirted the city, or in that marble house which she called the dwelling of the If uses â€" the maidens who have come from different parts of Greece to learn at her. They have come from Miletus, from Salamius. from Pamphylia and from the isle of Telou, Erima ami Damo- phyla study together the complex Sap- phio meters; Atthis learns how to strike the harp with the plectrum, Sappho'a invent iop: Mnasidica embroiders a sacred robe for the temple. The teach- er meanwhile corrects the measure.-* of one, the notes of another, the stitches of a third, then summons all from their work to rehearse together some sacred chorus or temple ritual; then stops to reiid a vers*', of her own, orâ€" must I .say itâ€" to denotmce a rival preceptress. Kor if the too fascinating Andromeda has beguiled away some favorite pupil to one of those rival feminine academies, then Sappho may at least wish to re- mark that Andromeda does not know how to dress herself. "And what wo- man ever charmed thy mind" she says to the vacillatlnK pupil "who wore a vulgar and tasteless dress, or did not know how to draw her garments close atiout her anklesi" The ma<>t interesting intellectual fact in Sappho's life was doubtless her re- lation to her great townsman Alcaeus. These two will always be tmiled in famje as the joint founders of the lyric poetry of Greece and therefore of the world. The niimc of Alcaeus is well preserv- e<l to Anglo-Saxons through an imita- tion of a/lragiaent of one of bis worka by Sir William Jou««,â€" the noble poem "What constitutes a state?" It is worth while to remember that we owe tht-sc fine lines to the lover of Sapiiho. His life was much spent amid political convulsions, in which he w.m promin- ent, and In spite of his fine vei-ses it is suspected, from the evidence remain- ing, that he was a good deal of a fop and not much of a soldier; and it is as well perhaps that the Uidy did nut smile upon him even in verse. Their loves rest after all rather "U tradition than on direct evidence; for there remain to us only two verses that AlcaeuM addressed to Sappho. The one is a compliment, the other is an apology. The compliment is found in one graceful line, which is perhaps her best description; " V'iolet-crownetl, pure, sweetly smil- ing Sappho." The. freshness of those violets, the charm of that smile, the assurance of that purity all rest upon this one line ajul ri'sc securely. If every lover hav- ing t bu:s said in three epithets the whole story aU>ut his mistress, would be con- tent to retire in oldivion and odd no moi^e, what a comfort it would be! Al- caeus. unfoi'tunately went one phrase further, and there.tore goes down ito future ages not only as an ardent lov- er but also as an unsuccessful oue. For he addresses Sappho agalus as follows: "I wish to speak, but shame restrains my tongue." Now this ap<jlogy may have had the simplest possikile occasion. Alca*-us ma.v have breakfasted in the garden, with her and her maidens, and ma.v have spi I led some honey from Hyniettus on a criinson-lionU'reU veil from Kresus. But it is recorde<i that the violet- crowned thus answered; "If thy wishea weiv fair and noble, and thy tonguo designed not to utter what is base, shame would not cloud thine eyes, but thou wouldlst freely speak thy just de- sires." Never was reproof more exquis- itely uttered. But It the occu&ion was in<|je6d but trifling, it is rather refresh- ing to find these gifted lovere in the very morning of civilization, simply re- heai-sing just the dialogue that g<jes on l;elween every village school-girl and her awkward swain, when he falteiw and "fears to speak," and says finally the wix>ng thing, axid she blushinglyi an.swers "you ought to be ashamed." But whether tne admiration of Al- caeus was more or less ardent, it cer- tainly was not peculiar to him. There were hardly any limits to the enthus- iasm habitually expressed in anci ut times for the poetry of Sappho. In re- spect to the abundance of laurels, she stands unapproached among women, lawgiver, Solon, that he expressed the wish that he might not die till be had learnt it by h<'art. Grammariana lec- tured on her poems and wrote essays even to the pi-esent day. One of her poems is said to have so affeoted the on her metres, and her image appeared on at least six different coins of her native land. And it has generally been admitted by modern critics that "the loss of her poems is the greatest over which we have to mourn in the whole range of Greek literature. It is odd that the most direct report left to us of Sappho's familiar conversa- tion should have enrolled her among those enemies of the human race, who jjive out couundruxus. Or rather it is m this case a riddle of the old Greek fashion, such as the Sphinx set the example of propounding to men, before devouring them in any other way. It has been rendered thus: SAPPHO'S RIDDLE. There is a feminine creature, who U>ars in her L>osom a voiceless brood; yet. they send forth a clear voice over sea and land, to whatsoever mortals they will; the aliseut hear it, so do the deaf. It appears that soauel)ody tried to guess it. The ieminine creature, he thought, was the state. The brood must be tht! orators, to be sure, whoao voices reached lieyond the seas as far as Asia and Thrace, and brought back thence something to their own advantage; while the community sat deaf and dumb amid their railings. This seemed plaus- ible but somebot^' else ol)jected to the solution, lor whoever heard of an orat- or being silent until he was put down by force f All of which seems quite mod- ern. But he gave it up at last and ap- pealed to Sappho, who thus replied:â€" A letter is a thin'g essentially femin- ine in its character, it bttars a brood in its bosom, named the alphaliet. They are voiceless, yet speak to whom they will; and if any man stand next to him who reads, will he not hejir f It is not an exciting species of wit. Yet this kind of riddle was in immense demand in Greek society and "if you make Ijelieve very hard its quite nice." While this memorial of Sappho remains, her solemn hymns and E[jithalamia or marriage-songs, which were almost the first effort toward dramatic poetry, are lost forever. In none of the fragments of her work is mentioned the name of Phaon, who is represented by Ovid as having been her lover, and modern critics deny his existence. But to lose her fabled leap from the Leucadhin promontory would doubtless be a greater sacrifice; it formed so much more effective a termination for her life than any novelist could have con- trived. It is certain that the leap it- self as a Greek practice was no fable; sometimes it was ft form of suicide, sometimes a religious incantation, and sometimes again an expiation of crime. But it is certainly hard to believe that the moat lovelorn lady, residing on an island whose every shore was a preci- pice, oiit where her lover was at hand to feel the anguish of her fate, would Uke ship and sail for weary days over five hundred miles of water to seek a more sensationai rock. One German writer on Sappho thinks it is as if a lover should travel from the Rhine to Niagara to drown himw-lf. But whether by the way of the Leuca- di.in cliff or otherwise, Sapplio is gone with her music and sonirs, her pupils and the very city where she dwelt, and all but the island she loved. It is some- thing, however, to be able to record that twenty-five centuries ago in that re- mote nook among the Grecian Isles, a woman's genius could play such a part in moulding the great literature that has moulded the world. FEW DO IT. Tkc People Who Kejolce In Advemlty Are Very i*«-arri-. There Is stUl existing a manuscript letter written by Sir Thomas More to his wife, Alyce, when tlie news came to him that his great mansion at Chel- sea, with its offices and huge granaries, ha<l been almost destroyed by fire. lnst<>ad of lamenting 'iver his loss, he bids her fir.st "find oui if any poor neighbors had stored tiioir corn in the granaries," and if BO. to recom.pensa them. Secondly, to discharge no ser- vant until he have anuiher abi«ling- plaoe; and lastly, to "be nf good cheere. and take all the howsoM with you to church, and there thank God for whati Hee hath given us, ajid what Hee bath left us." He urges her, "I ytdy you, Alyre, witU \ my childr»?n, to be merry in God." Most of us. If we had lost pn)perty and hom" in a night, woulil think we did well if we weiv patient under Goil's will; but to be cheerful, and even "merry" in Him, is an almost forgot ten glnu*. Robert Louis Stevenson, in a prayer written for his lainily on the night l»- fon- his ileatu, o-sked i hat when 1 he day jvturned it should find them strong to en<lure if it brought sorrow, and eag- er to Ix" happy if hapiiiness were their portion. "Why," asked a Hindu sage, "why are the Christians melancholy men? It 1 believed as they say, that the great God was my father and that His Son wae my lililer Brother, 1 should not groan though 1 lost a few liushels of wheat, or jveu an eye. 1 should !« of all men most happy and gay. 'They do not believe what they say." David, whose life was full of struggles and griefs and .sins, taught the world its hymns, full of a mighty, joyous thanksgiving. Paul in prison, knowing that ileath in its moit [Miinful shape might l» near, could exhort his friends noi only to Ije patient, but to "rejoice in the Lord al- ways. And again I say," he adds, ur- gent ly, "Rejoice." Most men will laugh when they are well-led and their lives are comfort- able, Imt it is a different thing to sing in prison, or when one's home is burn- ing ill find time to be kind tn the. poor and "imerry In God," like old Sir Thom- aa More. IS THE GREAT MOA EXTINCT ? VraTclIers May Tliur the BInl Hay HtlU Exiiit In New Xealand. Every one who has read the won- derful adventures of Sinbad the Sail- or, as narrated in the "Arabian Nights," rememliers the great white roc, the gigantic bird which enabled Sinbad to make his escape from the valley which was paved with diamonds. But how many know that within the present gleneration there haci been seen a huge feathered creature, twelve to six- teen feet high, and in comparison with which the ostrich is a pigmy? The bird referred to is the great moa, and it is not at all positive that it is extinct to-day. As late as 1882 Prof. Owen expressed the opinion that the bird could be found in some of the re- mote districts of New Zealand. When Rev. W. Colenso was travelling in New Zealand, the natives told him of a strange, uncanny creature that they had lately seen on Mount Whakapunki. They said its body was like that of a gigantic rooster and that it had a face like a man's. 'They said that it lived on air and was constantly guarded by two huge Tuatame. The natives did not dare go near the hunie of the creature, expressing the fear that they would be tiumpled to death. < According to the Bishop of Waiapu,la the year 187:2 an Englishman heard t bat a moa had been seen in the vicinity of Cloudy Bay, Cook's Straits. In com- pany with another Englishman he started in search of it. Arriving lu the neighlwrhood where it had been seen they caught sight of the bird, which they declared was fourteen or sixteen feet high. So startled were they by its enormous size and terrifying aspect that they made no effort to capture it,and it disappeared among the trees. In 18C3 a puny of miners crossed the hitherto luipassabe Imoimtaiu range which runs the whole length of Midule Island, i'heie they clis<'overed traces of an enormous bird, and while sitting around i he camp one evening they saw the creature on a knoll a short dis- tance away, fhe bird seemed fascin- ated by the glare of the camp fire.und remaineil motionless for a considerable time, but finally stalked away. It had a long, flat head, which it cai^ ried inclined forward and not erect like birds of the ostrich kind. They judged that its height was nine feet. The foot- prints showed three claws atout twelve mches apart, with a pad and a spur alxjut the .same distance in the rear. Walker Mantell found a gigantic egg in the volcanic sand in New Zealand, the diameter •< which was as great as his hat. Bones of the moa have lieen found in New Zealand in great quan- tities, many of them so large as to iustlfy the description given by the inglishmeu as narrated above. TRICKY TREE CRAB. How tbe .Miitive ArrlcanH Hlup HIn i>ep> rediillonH. In Africa there exists a certain mem- lier of the crab genus commonly known as the great tree crab. This peculiar shellfish has a trick of crawling up the cocoanut tree, biting off the cocoaiiuu, and then creeping down again back- wards. The theory u that the nuts are shattered by the fall, and the great tree crab is thus enabled to enjoy a hearty meal. The natives who inhabit the regions infested by this ill-conditioned crab are well aware that the lower portion of the crab's anatomy is soft and .sensi- tive, and they Ijelieve that the crustac- ean was thus' const ructed in order that he might know when he reached the gniunu, and when, consequently, he might with safety release his grasp of the trunk. So what they do in order to .stop his depredations, which often ruin the co- coanut croijs, is this: While the crab is engaged tii nipping off the cocoanuts they climb half-way up the trees and drive a row of long nails right around the tree, allowing an inch or so of the naiLs to pix).je(;t. Tbe crab has no knowledge of disas- ter, nor .vet of the fitnc.s.s of things. Ais he descends, the sensitive part of his Ixxly touches the nails. ThinkLng he has reached the ground he naturall.y lets go. Instantly he falls Iwckwanls and cracks his own shell on the groimd. THE LETTERS "J" AND "W." Tbey .ire I'omparnclvely Nixleru Addillons lo the AlphubrC. It is a fact, not so well known, but that it may be said to be curious, that the letters j and w are modern addi- tions to our alphabet. The letter j only came into general use during the time of the commtmwealth, say Ije- tw.'cn 1049 and 101)8. From lOiiO to 10411 its use is excee<lingly rare, and I have never yet seen a book printed prior to 1652 in which it appeared, says a writer in the New York Mer- cury. In the century imme<llately pre<'eding the seventeenth it U'cunie the fashion to tail the last i when Roman numer- als were used, as in Ibis example: viij., for 8 or xij. in place of 12. I'hls fash- ion still lingers, but only in physicians' prescriptions, I believe. Where the French use j it has the power of s as we use it in the word "vision." What nation was the first to use It as a new letter is an interesting, but perhaps an unanswerable query. In a like manner, the • printers and language makers of the latSer part of the .sixteenth century Iwgan to recog- nize tbe fact that there was a sound in sixiken English which was witljjut a represent!! live in the shape of .an alphabetical sign or character, as the first sound in the word "wet." Prior til thai time it had always Ix-en spt'lled OS "vet," the v having the long sound of u or of two u's together. In order to convey an idea of the new sound (hey began t.<i spell such worils as "wet," "weather." 'web,' etc., with two u's, and as the uof thai date was a typical v the three words alxive looked 'like this: "Vvet," "weather," "web." After a while the tjpe founders re- cognized the f.act that the double u had come to stay, so they joined the two u's tog.ih"r and made the character now .so well kniiw-n as tbe w. t have one bc);ik in which three forms of the w are given. The first in an old double v (vv). the next is one in which the last stroke of the first v crossed the first stroke of the second, and the third is the common w we us© to-day. SUMMARY PUNISHMENT. Sir Frederick Cnrringlon, now in charge of the military operations in iMatalieleland, had a summary method of maintaining discipline among his un- ruly followers. When an offender was brought up before him, he would sit solemnly in Court-martial, and the change was recited. "Did you do it?" he would say. "Yes, sir," was the re. ply. It was not much good to say "No." "Oh, you did, ' did you?" Then Lake that." Wherwith Ca.rrington would rise in his might and thrash the cul- prit until ho coiLsidcred him sufficiently punished. CASEY AT LEISURE. Hurkcâ€" 1 heard yez are on a sbtrlke, Casey? Ctisey- i am. I shtruck fer shorter hours, Burkeâ€" An' did yez git th1m? Casey â€" I did. Shore I'm not wur-rk- in at all now. FAMOUS MENJND WOMEN ABODT WRITERS, KINGS, SOLDIERS AND NOTED PEOPLE. An Asrd BlryellMâ€" The Merman Kuliier^ Larkâ€" The Lute HhuU'it trurllyâ€" The Largest Koyal Familyâ€" I'UBiie ol Bursa Hlrieta'x Death. Ar.., Ac Prinoe Bismarck is said to eara about 9175,000 a year from tbe various industrial undi^rtakingB in which la* Is a participant. Count Tolstoi, who went among the bicyclists last year, aged sixty-seven recently appliett in Muejcow for the permit which wheelmen need who wish to rido within the city limits. "You. young men," said the Bishop of Derry to a congregation of under- graduates in St, Mary's church, Ox- ford "are very proud to call yourselves agnostics. It's a Greek word, I don't think you are equally fond of its Lat- in eqmvalent, 'ignoramus.'" It is said that President Kruger, ot tbe Transvaal Republic, has confined his reading to the Bible, and "Pil- grim's Progress" until recently, when somelxKly gave him one of Mark 'Twain's books. The humour of tb« American joker happened to hit tha -low-goingr Boer in the right place, aodi be has purchased a full set of Msj Clemen's books. Ar^nond and Raymond Forest, the two foster children of Baron and Baroness de Hlrsch, are respectively! ighteen and sixteen yeani old. They ! r â-  liot h Protestants, and were nott legally adopted, it is said, owing ta .some technical difficulty, but the Baron an<l Baroness regarded them as their own children. I'hey will, of course, inherit a large amount of money. The German Kaiser's luck in lotterie* is phenomenal. Tbe annual liallot for pictures has just taken place in tha society known as the "Kunst-Kreunde," and among seventy prizes and somA thousands of blanks no fewer than eight fine piotures fell to the lot of His Maj- esty, while the Kalserin won one fine engraving. Every year the Kaiser's luck excites the same respectful envy from people who never win anything. Viscount de Santa Thyrso, the new, ilinister from Portugal to tbe Unit- ed States, is only ihlriy-two years old, a young man to occupy so pro- minent a place. He Ixilongs to a wealthy and aristo<;rBtio family, and was created a viscount a few years ago l)ecaiU4e of servicros In connectioa with his diplomatic work. He was for a time S<!cretary of Legation at Londonr The Viscountess was Miss Cm'ti lia Jervis d'Althongina JTerre- iro Pinto, daughter of the Portugese Consul-G<-neral in London. She was ed- ucar.(><l in part in England and spealul English fluently. There Ls a curious coincidence almut the place where the Itite Shah met his death. On that very spot some years ago a numi er of .soUiers presented him with a petition asking for arrears ot pay. Tho Shah was furious at their tftneniy, and ordereii thot they Ije tor- ture<l where t hey hail addressed him. Some were strangled and others had their ears cut off. His Majesty's muoh- talke<t-ot reforms con.sisleil ot introduc- ing electric lighi into his palace and es- tablishing a bank. The Golden Rose which the Pope lie- stows ever.v year upon some Catholid princess, will this year tie given to the Princess of Uulgaria, who, after her desperate opposition to the orthodox chrtsteuiiig of her lit tie son, Prince Bor- is, has iH-'Come "persona gratltsima" at the Vatican. The Golden Rose, or tbe Hose of V ii-tue, was established to marliO the highest type of character, and the practice of prO(>entlng it dates fron* the thirteenth century. It is a roee- trco foriuetl of wrought gold and bless- eil with much solemnity by tbe Pope in penson on the fourth Sunday m Lent, which Is called, from the first wont in the service tor the festival, "Laetare Sunday." Henry Vlll, of England, had the Golden R/ino liesi ow- ed on him three times. Other recipi- ents have teen Mann Theresa, Napol- eon III. and the present Uucen of tbe Belgians. Queen Victoria hns the dLsiijiction of having the largest royal family circle in Europe. Her Majesty's family num- Iwrs filty living doeceudant.s, includ- ing sons. daugl)t<>rB, grandsons and grandnughtcrs, groat-granil.sons and givat-graiul<laughicn».. Besides these shi' has four sous-in-law and lour daugjjters-in-l.iw. The Queen has lost one son and one daughter, five grand- .sons, on«' granddaughter, one great- granilBon and one son-in-law. If these were Tlving her family circle would numi)er seventy-four. There are now seventeen members of the royal family who arw pos-siblo .successors to the thi-one. The next largest royal fam- ilv IS that of Uenmark. King Chris- tian has six children and twenty grand- childri'n. The oldest ro.val house in Kurope i.s that of the ducal house of Mecklenliure, which traces its descent from Guiserio, who sacued Rome A. D. 455. M. de Pazmondy.t he celeliratod Him- garian member of Parliament and an intimate friend ot the late Huron Hlr- sch, a.ssurts that tho death of the lat- ter was caused by a violent fit of rage Into which he fell on finding how hi- had been cheated and deceived in the purchase of the estate upon which his chiiteau, O'Gyakei, was lieing built and which had already cost ? 100,000. He had sold bis beautiful and extensfve property of St. Jeau, situated on the banks of the river March, Ijecause it was so damp, and had given orders that in buying another site one should 1)8 chosen with a sandy soil, It being his intention later on to torn his new ac- quisition into a hospital for children, He was first informed by M.ile Pazman- dy to tbe extent, his orders had been disobeyed, that the new property was damper than St. .lean and absolutely unfit for the hospital project. t.'pon hearing this the Baron started iin- mediately for O'Gyakei, where, on veri- fying the truth ot his friend's report, he gave way to such anger and in'>ig- nation that it terminated fatally lat Edition.