ourselves of Munden and Dowton, of Bannister and
Suett? To say that he is a Genius, and the Prince of Eccentrics, is
perhaps the only way to cut the Gordian knot of criticism in his
instance.

Let me add, in conclusion, that Robson, off the stage, is one of the
mildest, modestest, most unassuming of men. Painfully nervous he always
was. I remember, a dozen years since, and when I was personally
unacquainted with him, writing in some London newspaper a eulogistic
criticism on one of his performances. I learned from friends that he had
read the article, and had expressed himself as deeply grateful to me for
it. I just knew him by sight; but for months afterwards, if I met him in
the street, he used to blush crimson, and made as sudden a retreat round
the nearest corner as was possible. He said afterwards that he hadn't
the courage to thank me. I brought him to bay at last, and came to know
him very well; and then I discovered how the nervousness, the
bashfulness, the _mauvaise honte_, which made him so shy and retiring in
private, stood him in wonderful stead on the stage. The nervous man
became the fretful and capricious tyrant of mock tragedy; the bashful
man warmed at the foot-lights with passion and power. The manner which
in society was a drawback and a defect became in the pursuit of his art
a charm and an excellence. What new parts may be created for Robson, and
how he will acquit himself in them, I cannot presume to prophesy; but it
is certain that he has already done enough to win for himself in the
temple of dramatic fame a niche all the more to be envied, as its form
and pattern must be, like its occupant, unprecedented and original.

THE PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY, IN SCOTLAND.

There are phenomena in Nature which give the clue to so many of its
mysteries that their correct interpretation leads at once to the
broadest generalizations and to the rapid advance of science in new
directions. The explanation of one very local and limited problem may
clear up many collateral ones, since its solution includes the answer to
a whole set of kindred inquiries. The "parallel roads" of Glen Roy offer
such a problem. For half a century they have been the subject of patient
investigation and the boldest speculation. To them natural philosophers
have returned again and again to test their theories, and until they are
fully understood no steady or permanent advance can be made in the
various views which they have su