politan Club," and its object is the freest discussion of the great philosophical and religious questions of the day. It is to include representatives of all sections of thought, and a Tennyson and a Hurley, a Maurice and a Martineau, a Dean Stanley and an Archbishop Manning are to be among its members. This select vestry of master spirits and the works to issue from it may be of service in checking the reaction of medieval imposture on the one hand, and of destroying some of "the beggarly elements" of a doting Protestantism on the other. -Preface to the Rev. George Gilfil lan's "Modern Christian Heroes." CARLISLE DEBATING CLUB.-At Carlisle a debating club has been formed under good auspices, and with fair prospects of success and usefulness. A recent meeting of the club was presided over by E. Potter, Esq., M.P. for the northern city, when the subject of debate was "Are the Principles of the National Education League worthy of acceptance ?" In the course of his introductory remarks Mr. Potter congratulated the members of the club on the successful formation of their society. He knew no greater charm in life than the possession of what he called sound eloquence. He knew no more than three or four men in the House of Commons who were really eloquent. Without exception, Mr. Bright was the most eloquent man in the House, and he always spoke with great feeling and great deliberation. On one occasion, when Mr. Bright was at his (Mr. Potter's) dinner-table, he, in talking the thing over, told him (Mr. Potter) that the secret of it was this:-" If you mean to speak, you must know what you are going to say in the first place, and when you have ascertained that, speak deliberately; in fact, bring out every word and syllable. If you do that, and have anything worth listening to, depend upon it you will be listened to." Literary Notes. A MEMOIR of Hugh Miller by Peter Bayne, who was for some years sub-editor of the Witness, under the interpreter of "The Old Red Sandstone," is nearly ready. David Macrae has a work on "America, its Men, Manners, and Means," in the press. The first issue of Tennyson's new volume amounted to 30,000. 1,100 Chinese books have been added by the gift of Wang Taon and Dr. Legge to the British Museum. The private letters of Eminent Authors and Artists, received by G. P. Putman, have been printed. "The Life of Lord Palmerston," by Sir H. Bulwer, is nearly ready; vol. i. is in the press. Dr. P. A. Nuttall, lexicographer, &c., died 10th Dec. Dr. Charles Mackay has supplied "Medora Leigh: a History and an Autobiography" to the Byron controversy begun by Mrs. Stowe, who has a volume in her own defence just out. A biography of Sir George Sinclair of Ulbster, by James Grant, the theologian, of the Morning AdIvertiser, has been issued. It has been stated that Sir John Bowring is editing the Life and Letters of Wm. J. Fox. It is proposed to erect a memorial of De Foe in Bunhill Fields. It is perhaps a sign of the times, and the strong competition going on among literary organs, that Fraser's Magazine, established in 1830, appears with the name of J. A. Froude on it as editor, thus publicly announcing a fact which has been known for years in literary circles. Colburn's New Monthly Magazine has passed into new hands. Meliora, after eleven years' good service in elevating the platform of Temperance advocacy, has been discontinued, as the Alliance believes that the liquor traffic has now secured keen enough critics in the ordinary organs of intelligent debate. The Morning Herald has followed the Morning Star in going down. The Athenæum, enlarged and somewhat altered in arrangement, is now managed by Sir C. W. Dilke. The Register, a magazine of biography," an off-shoot of the old Gentleman's Magazine, has, after a year's existence, been discontinued. It has been proposed to establish an Historical Society in Scotland, for the publication of the early histories of that country, and documents of an authoritative nature regarding it. J. H. Noyes promises a of Socialism in America." History Earl Russell's speeches and de spatches have been prepared for the press and published. A new edition of the prose works of Emerson has been issued in America. A new Life of Mohammed will shortly be published by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadoor, C.S.I., author of the Mohammedan Commentary on the Holy Bible. The author has perused the various biographies which have been written by Christian authors, but finds none of them has distinguished the apocryphal traditions from the genuine and accepted ones. The Marchioness Campana, an Italian literary lady, is about to 1 publish a very extensive work on the Stuarts at St. Germains, which will comprise the substance of a large quantity of hitherto unpublished papers. The Rev. Rowland Williams, D.D., author of "Bunsen's Bible Researches" in Essays and Reviews ; "Hinduism and Christianity compared;" "Broad Chalke SermonEssays," &c., died 18th Jan., aged 53. "Samuel Bailey of Sheffield" (of whom a biography appeared in British Controversialist, July, 1868) died 18th Jan. The Life of John Wesley is to have illustration from several quarters. Might not the Wesleyan Book Board usefully bring all these efforts together, by announcing its intention to produce a proper and notable History of Wesley and Wesleyanism? Such a work would not want a public. Dr. Franz Hüffer has issued the Lyrical Poems of Guillem de Cabestanh, a Troubadour of the twelfth century, and has prefixed to it a critical memoir of his romantic life. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Order of Jesus, is to be the topic of a new book by W. S. Rose. Sir G.C. Lewis's Letters, edited by his brother, are to be published. "The Life, Letters, and Works of Huss, the great Reformer, has been issued by M. Palacky. Edward Dicey-formerly correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, and now editor of the Daily News -has in the press a work on The East," and its questions. A most important publication is about to appear in Florence. It is that of all the documents preserved in the archives of the Monastery della Cava. They relate principally to the Lombard rule in the kingdom of Naples, especially at Benevento, Salerno, Amalfi, and Capua. These are considered by the learned a rich mine of historic, paleographic, diplomatic, and literary medieval treasure. The Publishers' Circular gives some statistics of the publishing trade during the year 1869; no less than 5,136 book titles have been registered in the lists of that publication in the year. But the actual number of new books and new editions is 4,569. Theology appears to be the most productive of all classes, as it is certainly the least subject to those fluctuations of seasons which affect the demand for lighter reading. Upwards of 1,000 publications are set down under this heading, against 461 new works of fiction, 500 juvenile works, 142 law books, 288 works of travel, 292 books of history and biography, 160 medical books, and 274 publications classed under "poetry and drama." When we come to look at the ebbs and flows of this great literary stream, some facts of interest present themselves. For example, the intimate connection between books and the fireside is shown in the fact that the numbers of books published rise from 249 only in September, to 522 in October, 479 in November, and 577 in December. Dr. Lee, the Bishop of Manchester, has bequeathed his extensive library to the trustees of Owen's College. The library is unusually rich in valuable editions of the Holy Scriptures. The minor poems of William Lauder, playwright, poet, and minister of the gospel, referring mainly to that year of famine and plague in Scotland, 1568, are to be edited for the Early English Text Society by Mr. Furnivall, from Mr. S. ChristieMiller's unique originals. Garibaldi's work, "The Rule of the Monk," is to be published, early this month, in Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, and Dutch, as well as in English. The life of "Wallet, the Queen's Jester," will shortly be published. L. D. Maurice is engaged in a work on "Huss, Wycliffe, and Latimer." "The Crime of December Second" is to be made the subject of a new novel by Victor Hugo. W. C. Bryant's translation of the Iliad is in the (American) press. E. Littré's great French Dictionary in its 23rd part reaches the letter R. It has been resolved to record the proceedings of the University of Oxford, and for this purpose the Oxford University Gazette is" published by authority." A new edition of M. de Cormenin's clever but unimpartial work "Le Livre des Orateurs" has been issued, revised and augmented. Fragments of a hitherto unknown metrical version of Reynard the Fox, the La Vallière copy of an Italian "Plutarch" (the first book printed at Aquaila, A.D. 1482)-a Wynkyn de Worde (Capgrave's "Nova Legenda Anglia"), containing the suppressed Life of Thomas à Becket, A.D. 1716-and the first edition of J. de Voragine's "Legende Dorée," A.D. 1476, containing many singular passages not to be found in any subsequent edition- -are to be sold this month. Mr. Samuel Bailey has left the magnificent sum of £50,000 by his will to the town trustees of Sheffield for the benefit of the town. J. O. Halliwell made a copy of a scarce tract, entitled "Humour's Looking-glass," by Samuel Rowlands, and this very rare work has been reprinted in J. P. Collier's yellow series of Reprints of rare tracts. The "Tables of English Literature," by Prof. Henry Morley, are to be continued. They are most useful and effective means of bringing under the eye the whole course of letters in formal order and consecution. Epoch Men. THOMAS HOBBES, OF MALMESBURY. "Thou great Columbus of the golden lands of new philosophies."ABRAHAM COWLEY. "Hobbes is a great name in philosophy, on account both of the value of what he taught, and the extraordinary impulse which he communicated to the spirit of free inquiry in Europe."-JAMES MILL. "There is an air of grandeur in the stern confidence with which Hobbes stands alone in the world of his own opinions, regardless of his contemporaries, and conscious that he is the founder of a new race of thinkers." WILLIAM HAZLITT. To the larger proportion of ordinary readers in our day, the phrase "Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesbury "-stat nominis umbra,stands the shadow of a name. Between 1839 and 1846, Sir William Molesworth edited and published, in a uniform and handsome set of sixteen octavo volumes, the entire works of this notable thinker, who, according to Sir James Mackintosh, "gave a new character to European philosophy." Prior to that time there had been no full and authorized collection of his writings published. Two Latin volumes in quarto, printed at Amsterdam, had been issued in 1668, in the eightieth year of their author's age, and a folio volume of his English works had been published in 1750, but there were numerous treatises and tractates, which were not included in either of these issues, which had become rare and costly, and were only to be gathered together with diligence, perseverance, and a full and ready purse. In college libraries one could get hold of an oldfashioned quarto bearing the somewhat quaint title of" The Leviathan," issued at London in 1652; and if he wished to help himself honestly or surreptitiously to the meaning of Thucydides, or the "Rhetoric" of Aristotle, an antique octavo of the former and a queer ugly thirty-twomo of the latter might be got at by the knowing. Even when Sir William Molesworth's edition was nearly completed, though it was dedicated to George Grote, the historian of Greece, and, then, one of the leading members of the House of Commons as an advocate of philosophical radicalism, the works of this bold and original thinker remained unhonoured and neglected in the publisher's shop, until, for a time, an accidental and adventitious interest was added to the publication. During the years 1841-5, Sir William Molesworth, who had represented Leeds previously, instead of holding a seat in the Commons, resolved on giving himself a second and sounder political education. Having fitted himself for renewed efforts in parliamentary life, Sir William Molesworth solicited the suffrages of the electors of the borough 1870. M of Southwark in 1845. Immediately thereupon the committeerooms of "the free and independent electors of Southwark" became the centres of illumination in regard to the works of Hobbes, Molesworth's opponents representing him as an active disseminator of the writings of a great free-thinker in religion, and an advocate of despotism in politics; while his friends endeavoured to convince the possessors of the franchise in "the Borough " that the treatises of Hobbes "on Logic, Human Nature, and Government, were and still are deservedly admired as well for depth of thought as for exquisite precision of style both in Latin and English." Lectures and harangues on Hobbes abounded, so that along Blackfriars Road and in Horselydown the Leviathan was for a time a household word, and "the philosopher of Malmesbury "a theme for public talk. But the excitement of a contested election passed away, and with it departed too the memory of the fame of the nonagenarian thinker, whose wisdom or wickedness was a matter of two hundred years old." 66 Sir William Molesworth after his election became an active administrative reformer, and devoted himself with energy and usefulness to the improvement of penal discipline and the development of colonial self-government. The labours in which he became thus involved impeded the progress of his literary and philsophical endeavours; and when he was suddenly stricken by the hand of death (October 22nd, 1856), he left behind him unfinished and in MS. some portion of a "Critical Biography" of Hobbes, an epitome of his philosophical tenets and political opinions in the sequence of their issue, and with notices of the modifications these had undergone in the course of his long thoughtful life, illustrations and elucidations of his career, and a large quantity of accumulated materials ntended to have been worked up into a complete and consistent memoir of his life and times. These, it was long hoped by the philosophical world would eventually be issued in some available form by his colleagues in thought and purpose, John S. Mill and George Grote, but hitherto expectation has been balked, and no signs appear on the horizon yet. It is, in our opinion, much to be regretted, that no adequate and exhaustive biography of this influential thinker-this "veritable force of nature, formidable, incorruptible, fresh still, after all these centuries, gnarled it may be like an English oak, but also with roots profound, holding by the earth, while slighter generations fall and disappear"-has as yet been given to the world; and that while the facts of the lives of his distinguished contemporaries, Bacon, Clarendon, Cudworth, Descartes, Grotius, Gassendi, Galileo, Locke, Milton, &c., should be fully known to most readers, there should be no standard and available memoir of this man," who," as Bishop Warburton remarks, "with all his errors, we must allow to be one of the first men of his age for a bright wit, a deep penetration, and a cultivated understanding." Had this been done, we should not now so frequently meet as we do allusions to "Hobbes |