The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-21 00:00:00

Ditto for Account
Do. 1864
Do 6 per Cent. Anglo-French ......
ontevidean 6 per Cent............
Drish Imperial 5 per Cent
f3vv. Granada
Do 3 per Con
Do. Deferred ...........
"era-riau 5 por Cent. 1865
Do Account
781
Qo 41 per Cent. (Ui:')arren.) ......
Dolt per Cont., 1862 -
Do Account .................................
-t•%ues, 3 per Ot., 1853, 7,
. ..
Do. do. 1867 ..............
Do. do. Set ip, £2O. paid......
it assign 5 ,Jer Cent., £St
Do 41 per Cent 1850
Do 41 per Cent., 1860
Do 3 per Cent.—
, 1859
Do 5 per Cent., 1862
Dividends on the above payable in Loudon.
Austnan o per Cent. Ex 10 Florins
Dutch •i* per Cant. Ex. 12 Clap,
Do. 4 per Cent. Certificates ....
Do. Account ...........en................ French R C
entes, 3 Der t., Ex..25f.
5 per Cent-. 1831, Ex. 25f.
, Do Account......,
CLOSING PRICES.
Jonsols, Money
Do. Account, May 6... .................. 931

QUARTERLIES.

A brief summary of Mr. Rassam's book on Abyssinia
opens an excellent and varied issue of the Quarterly
Review. The narrative of our Envoy is published at a
time when we are less exultant in our ten millions' worth
of glory than we were about twelve mouths ago ; and,
moreover, it raises one or two controversies which might
have been safely left to oblivion. But it is a simple and
interesting detail of an interesting chapter in British
diplomacy, and it is a description of life in the
East by one who can estimate Oriental peoples
with an impartial judgment. One thing particularly
noticeable in Mr. Rassara's book is his testimony in favour
of the Abyesinian character. Ile often stops to bear
Awibtynssesisninstaolt,ie singular trustworthiness and fidelity of the
both chiefs and people. Some of them, under
circumstances of great peril, undertook to carry his letters
and to bring large sums of money to him. The task
was always discharged with punctuality and honesty. In
some cases these services were entirely unrewarded. Mr.
'lagoon', indeed, protests against the system of judging all
Eastern nations by the standard of a few unfavourable
specimens, and these, too, frequently seen by the light of
English prejudice. Amongst the wildest of Eastern
men Mr. Rassani has found virtues and good qualities,
provided they are treated with proper consideration.
'Phis
proper consideration" is, however, what they seldom meet
withfrom Englishmen. Our success in India depends largely
upon our casting off the insular and narrow preju-
dices which lead Englishmen to regard every dark-
tinged inhabitant of the world as a " nigger." Mr.
Rassam's book will repay perusal. For those who have
not the leisure for two volumes on Abyssinia, the summary
in the Quarterly will be useful. "Modern English Poets"
is a very fine article indeed, a subtle piece of criticism
which we can safely commend to our readers' enjoyment.
The style, too, is very elegant, and far beyond periodical
average. After this comes a paper based on Sir Charles
Lyell's great book on geology. 'I his article will be found
tolerably plain even to those who are unacquainted
with the science. It states she case of the rival schools
of geologists; one party holding that the present state of
the earth has been brought about by tremendous and
exceptional convulsions, the other regarding the various
changes in the earth's crust as the effect of the continuous
operation of natural causes. Sir Charles Lyell is the
leader of the latter section. lle is now, likewise a
follower of Mr. Darwin's theory of the origin of species.
Both these great hypotheses in natural science are well
explained iu the Quarterly. The very marked rise of
Dante in popular esteem of late years renders a life of the
poet acceptable. This contribution is based on Mr.
Longfellow's translation of the Divine Comedy, but the
American poet's work receives very little attention. The
paper is devoted to au honest, but somewhat rapturous
biography. So far, readers of the Quarterly have escaped
a "question of the day," but article sixth presents us with
that terrible pil'ec de resistance, "Female Education." This
is a fairly comprehensive, but not very hopeful survey of the
ground. The writer does not put much faith in
the university for women, or any remedy of the kind. But
he or she coincides with the opinion which has been ex-
pressed in these columns, that, in order to improve the
education of girls, a standard of excellence is needed in
order to test the merits of their teachers. At present any
woman can become a schoolmistress much more easily than
any man can become a schoolmaster. All are alike. There
is no test by which the competent can be distinguished
from the inefficient save the costly and dangerous test
of actual trial. But if examinations or degrees were insti-
tuted for lady teachers, a standard of efficiency would be
established. A lady who had secured a diploma would
have a better chance of employment than she who had not.
The Quarterly Reviewer has much faith in a system
of certificates like those required of national school.
mistresses. Whether degree or certificate it matters
not, provided the requirements for the diploma embrace
the subjects most useful for the training of women. A
national schoolmistress cannot obtain her certificate unless
she chew skill in the art of teaching. This is another
important consideration. " Travels in Greece "is chiefly
a review of the Rev. H. F. Tozer's very superior book of
travels. Mr. Tozer has clearly gone through Greece with
an eye for modern as well as for classic facts. He looks
upon the monuments of civilisation's birth-place with the
veneration of an Oxford scholar, lint he takes great in-
terest in the people concerning whom England was so
enthusiastic forty years ago, but whom England now
finds so unolas.sic and troublesome—the modern
Greeks. Mr. Tozer investigates most minutely the ques-
tion as to whether the modern Greeks are the
countrymen of Pericles and Leonidas. The points of
resemblance are carefully estimated. The character of the
modern Greek is impartially stated. The book may serve as
a useful counterbalance just now when the Creek, who is
so anxious to acquire Crete, ranks very low indeed in
popular esteem. Altogether, Mr. Tozer's work is a
thoroughlyenjoyable one, and so is the review. Thisdoes not
exhaust the list of good papers in the current issue of the
Quarterly. A spirited narrative of the " Religious Wars of
France" is followed by an article on the progress and aims of
modern medicine, written in uutechnical language, and of
exceeding interest. I must leave this paper to be read
as a whole, but the following remarks on the use of
alcohol as a medicine are worth repeating :—" Because in
small amounts and in selected cases it (alcohol) is followed
by an increase in the vital functions, there is a tendency
to hope from these effects a pure gain of vital force, and
to lean on it alone. Experience does not justify that
hope s it shews that while, up to the limit of aiding per-
verted digestion, alcohol is a decided restorative and pro-
moter of life, beyond that limit it actually arrests life in
a degree proportionate to the dose." What must be the
effect of a daily dose of this medicine? The Quarterly, of
course. finishes with "The Irish Church Bill."