The Agamemnon Of Aechylus.*

" Kven now some Grecian dame Beholds the signal flame , And waits , expectant , tbe returning fleet ; •Why lingers yet my lord ? Hath he not sheathed his sword ? Will he not bring my handmaid to my feet ?' " Metoothe dark Fates call :

, , Their sway is over all , Captor ancl captive , prison-house and throne : — I tell of others' lot ; They hear me , heed me not ! Hide , angry Phcebus , hide from me mine own ! " We wish we could have lingered longer over Lord Carnarvon ' s book , which we think cannot fail to find both readers and approval ! We are glad to see our

Statesmen unbend from sterner duties and point to us the " moral " how great has been the value of our public school education . Remembering how Lord Beaconsfield ancl Mr . Gladstone are equally distinguished as writers , as well as foremost in the arena of public opinion , we always rejoice when we behold our younger Statesmen following the path of those older names , which still shed such lustre-on the history of our common countryancl whereas with

, , Lord Carnarvon , he not only manifests that he is the inheritor of a great name , but that the gifts of the writer and the poet have also descended upon him It has given us most hearty jileasure to call attention , if very imperfectly , to our Pro Grand Master ' s work in the pages of the "Masonic Magazine . "

Life Of The Prince Consort*

LIFE OF THE PRINCE CONSORT *

WE think that Mr . Martin is quite right in thus lengthening this most striking and interesting biography . There is a tendency just now to abbreviate and slur over everything as if we were all anxious to " get to the end of a long story , " so that the lives of the eminent and the departed too often represent a few spasmodic utterances , and are often summed up in a startling succession of paragraphic arrangements . Mr . Martinhappilfor us

, y all , has a higher , a truer idea of his " metier " and his duty . The late Prince Consort was a very remarkable man : one who has left his imprint on the " sands of time ; " one who is not likely to be soon forgotten , even amid the thronging tumult of the years as they hurry by us . His was an " ideality " we like to realise , a personality we like to keep before our eyes . Greatness and goodness mark that strong character and that well-balanced mind , ancl ,

amid much that is mean , ancl meaningless , and crouching ancl cowardl y in their most hateful forms , just now the Prince Consort seems to stand out in clear and graceful contour , a " prenx chevalier , " a true knight in word and deed , to whom chivalry was a meaning as well as a name , and who almost towers above the heads of his "paladins" in the clearness of his conceptions , the honesty of his intentions , the simple truthfulness ancl fidelity of his life , and the happy purity

of his heart and mind . It is very remarkable how greatl y the characteristics of the Duke of Wellington seem to be reproduced in Prince Albert . Both are animated by a sense of dut y to the Queen , both are marked by an utter abnegation of self ; both make the Crown the centre of all attraction and sympathy for themselves , the fountain of honour , the reward of loyalty ; both are equally ready to " go anywhere or do anything , " provided they have the approbation of the Sovereign , can defend her interests , uphold her honour , vindicate