y of character, in humorous and dramatic
incident, and in unrehearsed and unpremeditated scenes of every kind;
but undoubtedly the most striking and startling of its scenes was that
of the younger Tories, unexpectedly triumphant, hailing with frantic joy
and exultation the fall of the Gladstone government. The event was a
surprise to both sides of the House, a surprise all the greater as up to
the very moment of the appearance of the "tellers" on the floor of the
House, no one doubted that the ministry had sufficient strength and
vigor to withstand the blow that was aimed at its life. "Lord
Kensington," to quote the words of an eye-witness, "came in hurriedly
with a face set into determined absence of expression, and sat down by
Mr. Gladstone. A few moments more and the paper was handed to Mr. Winn
(Conservative whip) amid the loudest outbreak of cheering that the House
of Commons has heard for more than a generation. Wild with delight, Lord
Randolph Churchill actually leapt on to the bench, waving his hat with
the enthusiasm of a schoolboy. His friends clustered round him, caught
at him, drew him down, but could not restrain him from the vehement
expression of his delight. The example was contagious. The whole House
to the left of the speaker roared and shouted and thundered and waved
its hats and clapped its hands in a frenzy of general delight. Their
hour at last had come, and the fate of the ministry was sealed." Alas
for human short-sightedness! How sad a thing the much-vaunted triumph
has proved after all.

In little more than seven months the power so greedily snatched at has
slipped from their grasp like the shadow of a dream. "They laugh best
who laugh last." To the aristocracy and land-owning class generally,
both of England and Ireland, the fall of the Tory government will be a
cause of apprehension. By the majority of the British public it will be
welcomed. The Liberals, as a political party, will, for a time at least,
feel embarrassed by the event, while the Parnellites will regard
it--whether rightly or wrongly, time alone can tell--as another
important step toward the ultimate success of their cause and the
consummation of their hopes.

* * * * *

No one who heard the interesting address of the president of the
Bostonian Society, Mr. Curtis Guild, at its fourth annual meeting,
recently held at its rooms in the Old State House, Boston, could have
failed to feel a renewed i