What do they mean, if working be not wise? | scientific age. Lefroy proved that it is IV. IT was not to be expected that a man who vibrated so deeply and truly to the beauty of the world and to the loveliness of "the young life," and who was himself condemned to life-long sickness with no prospect but the grave upon this planet, should not have left some utterances upon the problems of death and thwarted vitality. It must be remembered, however, that Lefroy was a believing Christian, and for him the tomb was, therefore, but a doorway opened into regions of eternal life. It is highly characteristic of the man that, in his poetry, he made no vulgar appeal to the principles of his religious creed, but remained within the region of that Christianized Stoicism I have attempted to define. We feel this strongly in the sonnets "To An Invalid "(No. liv.), "On Reading a Poet's Life" (No. lix.), and "The Dying Prince" (No. xlvii.). All of these, for their intrinsic merits, are worthy of citation. But space fails; and I would fain excite some curiosity for lovely things to be discovered by the reader when a full edition of Lefroy's “Remains appears. I shall, therefore, content myself with the transcription of the following most original poem upon the old theme of "Quem Di Diligunt" No. lvii.): O kiss the almond-blossom on the rod ! shine The aureoles that were not and that are. The artistic value of Lefroy's work is great. That first attracted me to him, before I knew what kind of man I was to meet with in the poet. Now that I have learned to appreciate his life-philosophy, it seems to me that this is even more noteworthy than his verse. We are all of us engaged, in some way or another, with the problem of co-ordinating the Hellenic and Christian ideals, or, what is much the same thing, of adapting Christian traditions to the governing conceptions of a possible to combine religious faith with frank delight in natural loveliness, to be a Christian without asceticism, and a Greek without sensuality. I can imagine that this will appear simple to many of my readers. They will exclaim: "We do not need a minor poet like Lefroy to teach that lesson. Has not the problem been solved by thousands?" Perhaps it has. But there is a specific note, a particular purity, a clarified distinction, in the amalgam offered by Lefroy. What I have called his spiritual apperception of sensuous beauty was the outcome of a rare and exquisite personality. It has the translu cent quality of a gem, beryl or jacinth, which, turn it to the light and view it from all sides, retains one flawless color. simplicity and absolute sincerity of instinct is surely uncommon in our perplexed epoch. To rest for a moment upon the spontaneous and unambitious poetry which flowed from such a nature cannot fail to refresh minds wearied with the storm and stress of modern thought. This From Nature. THE ANCIENT TOMBS AND BURIAL MOUNDS OF JAPAN. AT a recent meeting of the China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society at Shanghai, Professor Hitchcock, of the Smithsonian Institute, read a paper on the ancient tombs and burial mounds of Japan, in the course of which he said that, while the form and structure of the Japanese mounds were now known, thanks to the as yet unpublished researches of his companion in many journeys in Japan, Mr. W. Gowland, their early origin was yet to be traced. It was surmised that a few at least of the Japanese burial customs were derived from China. In the course of his own travels in the north of China he had failed to discover any indications of the existence of mounds like those in Japan; but he still expected to hear of them from some experienced traveller in the interior of that vast empire. Referring to the origin of the tombs, the lecturer said the first emperor, who lived in the seventh century B.C., is supposed to be buried in Yamato, and the tombs of his successors are pointed out by the Imperial House. hold Department. The identity of the sepulchres may be questioned, but it is a fact that we can distinguish consecutive modifications of form apparently corresponding to successive periods of time. Several distinct methods of interment have prevailed at different periods in Japan. They may be conveniently distinguished as follows: (1) burial in artificial rock caves; (2) in simple earth mounds, with or without coffins; (3) in rock chambers, or dolmens; (4) in double or imperial mounds. The lecturer then proceeded to illustrate the appearance of these different kinds of mounds by the aid of photograph slides thrown on to a screen. He showed that the double mounds were invariably protected by a wide and deep moat, sometimes by two, and consisted of two distinct mounds with a depression between them. One of these double mounds, near Sakai, according to Japanese reckoning dates from about the fourth century. The height is about one hundred feet, and the circuit of the base 1,526 yards. The Emperor Kei Tai, who is reported to have lived in the sixth century, was one of the last emperors known to have been buried in a double mound. Some mounds have terraced sides, and this form is said to date from about the seventh century. Large quantities of clay cylinders were used for the purpose of preserving the terraces against the effects of the weather. When the covering of earth is removed, it is found that the stone chamber beneath, which contained the coffin, opens through passages often forty feet and sometimes sixty feet long. The earth has in many cases been washed away from the mounds, exposing the rocks which are piled over the central chamber. According to a Japanese authority, in all the sepulchres the first order of performing the burials was the piling up of the earthen mound, leaving an underground tunnel leading from the outside to the very centre of the mound. This mound completed, the coffin, usually carved and made of stone, in which the corpse was placed, and sealed, was then introduced through the tunnel and placed in the centre of the mound, and the tunnel was then filled up with stones. The lecturer, however, said the coffins were not always introduced through the galleries, and the tunnels were certainly not filled up with stones, although their ends were probably closed with stones. He inferred from his own observations that the chambers were frequently, if not usually, built round the coffins. Stone and clay coffins had been found together in one cave, showing them to have been contemporaneous. clay figures representing human beings.. He said it was a very ancient custom in Japan to bury the retainers of a prince standing upright around his grave. Like many other customs, this also came from China. In the time of the Japanese emperor Suinin (97-30 B.C.), his younger brother died, and they buried all who had been in his immediate service around his tomb alive. "For many days they died not, but wept and cried aloud. At last they died. Dogs and crows assembled and ate them. The emperor's compassion was aroused, and he desired to change the custom. When the Empress Hibatsuhimeno-Mikoto died, the mikado inquired of his officers, saying: 'We know that the practice of following the dead is not good. What shall be done?' Nomi-no-Sukune then said: 'It is not good to bury living men standing at the sepulchre of a prince, and this cannot be handed down to posterity.' He then proposed to make clay figures of men and horses, and to bury them as substitutes. The mikado was well pleased with the plan, and ordered that henceforth the old custom should not be followed, but that clay images should be set round the sepulchre instead." Even as late as the year 646 an edict was published, forbidding the burial of living persons, and also the burial of "gold, silver, brocade, diaper, or any kind of variegated thing." From this it might be inferred that the old custom of living burial was kept up, to some extent, even to the seventh century. The edict reads: "Let there be complete cessation of all such ancient practices as strangling oneself to follow the dead, or strangling others to make them follow the dead, or killing the dead man's horse, or burying treasures in the tomb for the dead man's sake, or cutting the hair, or stabbing the thigh, or wailing for the dead man's sake." The figures of clay thus introduced as substi tutes for human sacrifices, and also to take the place of horses, are known as tsuchi ningio. Specimens of them are now very rare, and this fact leads to the supposition that the figures were not buried, but left exposed on the surface of the ground. After showing a number of photographs of the pottery discovered in the mounds, he drew attention to a number of small In the discussion which followed, Dr. Edkins pointed out the resemblance which existed between the stone reliefs found in Japan and China and in Europe, as indicating the existence of communication between distant lands in those days. It was also very interesting to note that in the very earliest ages, men had been possessed with the idea of a future life for the soul. For EIGHT DOLLARS remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & Co. Single copies of the LIVING AGE, 18 cents. VANISHED DREAMS. BEAUTIFUL stories, in shielings wild, They told of the fairies when I was a childHow with feet like the foam-bells, so light and fair, They entered the dwellings of want and care; And as morning dew melts off from the grass, So the cloud of sorrow was sure to pass; No blight on the crops which the fairies had blest, For day they brought gladness, for night they brought rest. Oh, heart of my childhood! what vigils vain And the peasants said: "Ah, they know too well Where peace and gladness and riches dwell! Wait and if clouds darken over your sky, Surely then will you see them nigh." The shadow of a disenchanted time, A palsied shiver in the hope should light A vision of fair angels and their peace, SPRING FLOWERS. Of all the flowers rising now, In all the blooms that blow so fast, Two snowdrops for our boy and girl, DARKNESS AND LIGHT. OVER the kingdom of the ancient isles, A moan of misery multitudinous From famished myriads fading in despair, Through wastes of sullen forest, snowy steppe, The grisly realm of the doomed lonely czar : And o'er the unse kingdom of the soul From Macmillan's Magazine. In mon sovereign might fairly be called a relation of Home Rule. In 1809 the emAT this moment the most interesting peror of all the Russias became conpolitical study in Europe is the grand stitutional grand duke of Finland. duchy of Finland. Its past political his- 1814-15 he became constitutional king of tory and its present political state are Poland. Constitutional grand duke of among the most remarkable that either Finland his successor remains, ruling over past or present supplies. A land has been a free and loyal people, who ask for nothtwice conquered, and each time it has ing but to be left to enjoy the rights and gained by its conquest. Its last conqueror laws which his predecessor confirmed to boasted, and boasted with truth, that his them. That there is no longer a constituconquest had caused a new free people to tional king of Poland no man needs to be take its place among the nations. For, in told. That is to say, of two like political becoming part of the dominions of that experiments tried within a few years of foreign conqueror, the land kept its an- each other, one has wonderfully succeeded, cient laws and political rights, and re- the other has lamentably failed. The ceived a more distinct political being than causes of success and of failure may form it had possessed before. Subject to a a deep study for the political historian. sovereign who rules his other dominions As for the present controversy among ourwith unrestrained power, it still keeps its selves, the contrast may teach something ancient constitution, a constitution of a to both sides. If any man is unwise type of which it is the only surviving ex- enough to fancy that Home Rule is a remample. The free state, united to the des- edy for all things, that it is a relation likely potism, has rather advanced than gone to succeed in any time and any place, let back in the path of freedom. Finland is him learn better by looking at the sad all this, and it is more. It is the land failure of Home Rule in Poland. But if which, more than any other, throws light any man is unwise enough to fancy that on our own controversies of the moment. Home Rule is some theoretical device The name of Finland has been constantly which was never tried before, and which, brought by way of example into late dis- if tried, is in its own nature destined to cussions on the question of Irish Home Rule. And it is almost the only land, outside the dominions of our own sovereign, which has been brought into such discussions with any measure of reason. Talk, on either side, about Hungary and Austria, about Sweden and Norway, about states where the bond of union has taken a federal shape, has been wholly out of place; it could prove nothing either way. But talk about Russia and Finland has not been out of place; if quoting of exam-its own soil. We need not dispute whether ples can prove anything in such matters, Finland is the example which is likely to prove most. But we cannot get the full measure of the teaching of that example unless we contrast it with another example. Within a few years two states were added to the dominions of the same despotic sovereign, not quite on the same terms, but on terms so nearly the same that both may be fairly called constitutional states, so nearly the same that the relation of each to the other dominions of the com failure, let him learn better by looking at the wonderful success of Home Rule in Finland, a success on which assuredly the wisest statesman could not have reckoned beforehand. The Finnish people, the people who have given their name to Finland, claim at starting an unique interest as the only branch of one of the primitive stocks of Europe which has reached to any measure of civilization and historic importance on the two præ-Aryan stocks at two ends of Europe, that which is represented by the Fins and that which is represented by the Basques, have any connection with one another. It is enough for our purpose that the Finnish race, once so widely spread, has in some parts given way to Aryan settlement, that in others it has made its way by conquest into lands already Aryan, while in one land it has stayed at home and grown its own growth, under Aryan rule certainly, but under a |