singular features. The seas connected by Oudemann's Inlet probably form a twin pair of seas of this sort. Two very remarkable seas, closely resembling each other in figure, and each of which is separated from Delarue Ocean by a narrow curved strait, are very noteworthy features. Were it not for their enormous real dimensions - each sea is at least 300 miles long by 150 broad, and the south-eastern extremity of Delarue Ocean, he could visit all the lands which surround the southern temperate zone. In this intricate labyrinthine fashion are the lands and seas of Mars intertwined. And perhaps, if we consider the physical relations of the planet, we shall recognise the adaptation of this arrangement to the wants of the planet's inhabitants. It must the channels which connect them with Dela- be remembered that if the lands and seas On our earth the oceans are three times as extensive as the continents. It may be noticed that Europe, Asia, and Africa form of Mars had been arranged as those of our own earth, the large ocean masses corresponding to our Pacific and Indian Oceans would never have been swayed by a tidal wave. If Mars has a satellite, it must be an exceedingly minute one; for the most powerful telescopes have been directed towards the planet without discovering any. The effects of the sun in producing tides must be almost inappreciable on Mars. These effects, it is well-known, depend on a single large island, so to speak; while the relation which a planet's diameter bears another large island is formed by the two to its distance from the sun. Our earth's Americas. On Mars a very different ar- diameter is about 8,000 miles, and its disrangement prevails. In the first place, tance from the sun 91,500,000 miles; and there is little disparity between the extent the solar tide upon our earth is very small. of oceans and continents; and then, these are mixed up in the most complex manner. A traveller either by land or water could visit almost every quarter of the planet without leaving the element on which he had commenced his journeyings. Thus, he We can conceive, then, how small the Martial tides would be, when we remember that his diameter is less than 5,000 miles, and his distance from the sun upwards of 150, 000,000 miles. Large oceans, unswayed by tides, would become stagnant and impure. might proceed by water along Nasmyth In- It seems probable that the waters on Mars let for some 2,000 miles; thence southwards are sufficiently moderate in quantity to circulate freely by the mere processes of evaporation and downfall. We have been assuming that the dark spots on Mars are really seas, and the light ochrish-coloured spots continents. Some astronomers have expressed doubts on this point; but such doubts may surely be looked on as unreasonable. We can never, of course, feel absolutely certain respecting the habitudes of so distant a globe; but there are many sound reasons for concluding that the surface of Mars is really diversified by land and water. In the first place, there is the colour of the spots. It was formerly supposed that. the greenish tint of the dark spots might be merely the effect of contrast with the brighter spots which give to Mars its ruddy tint, and earned for it the title of ὁ πυρόεις among the Greeks. But this opinion has been found to be erroneous, and all modern eller by land, starting from Dawes Conti- observers agree that the green tint really nent, could round the extremity of Nasmyth belongs to the dark spots. In fact, more Inlet and pass by a long neck of land called doubt rests on the reality of the orange Mädler Land into Herschel Continent; tint than on that of the green. Astronothence rounding Huggins Inlet to Secchi mers have been disposed to ascribe the Continent; thence rounding Bessel Inlet to orange colour to the absorptive qualities of Mädler Continent; and finally, rounding the Martial atmosphere, and it is only with in the last few years that the improbability | Mars, partially modifying the aspect of the of this view has been established. fundamental features and even in some cases Then we have the evidence drawn from disguising them under new lights and shades, the white spots which cap the Martial poles. If these are really masses of ice, resembling those which surround the poles of our own earth, the question must of course be answered in the affirmative; for whence could such enormous masses of snow and ice be formed, save from large seas? Now we can hardly see on what grounds it can reasonably be doubted that those white spots are rightly called The snowy poles of moonless Mars. Their variation has been found to correspond exactly with the progress of the Martial seasons and this not for one or two Martial years, but ever since Sir W. Herschel first called attention to the periodicity of the variation. There is something singularly striking in the contrast between the small sharply defined ellipse of white light round the pole of that hemisphere which is enjoying the Martial summer, and the irregular and widespreading tracts of snowy light round the cold pole. In the winter these tracts extend as far from the pole as latitude 45°, a which present no constancy, -a thin vaporous atmosphere probably resting on a surface of land, snow, and water. It is also remarked that the outer parts of the disc are nearly always much more indistinct than the central parts; the former shine with that white light which we receive from the cloud-belts of Jupiter; and if we remember that the other parts of the disc contain those regions of Mars which have lately come into sunshine, or are about to pass out of it, we see the meaning of the phenomenon to be this, that the morning and evening skies of the Martialists are more clouded than the midday sky - a condition which is known to prevail in certain seasons and latitudes on our own earth also. The indistinctness of the wintry hemisphere points to the prevalence of cloudy skies during the Martial winter; and this peculiarity is not only conformable with recognised habitudes on our earth, but corresponds with the variations of the Polar snowcaps. The enormous transfer of moisture from one hemisphere to the other,' writes circumstance which indicates an extent of Professor Phillips, while the snows are snow-fall corresponding very closely to that melting round one pole and forming round which in winter covers the northern tracts of Asia and America. In summer, on the other hand, the icy circle is reduced within a range of about 8° or 10° from the pole; so that arctic travellers on Mars are not likely to approach either pole more closely than Sir Edward Parry approached the North Pole of the earth in his celebrated *boat and sledge' journey in 1837. Now, when we see features corresponding so closely with those presented by our own the other, must generate over a great part of the planet heavy storms and great breadths of fluctuating clouds, which would not, as on the quickly rotating mass of Jupiter, gather into equatorial bands, but be more under the influence of prominent land and irregular tracts of ocean.' But the strongest argument in favour of similarity in general physical relations between Mars and our earth, is drawn from the revelations which have been afforded by earth, and consider further the à priori the spectroscope. We regret that space probability that our nearest neighbour will not permit us to dwell on this evidence among the planets should be constituted so fully as its interest deserves. Those of much as the earth is, we are led at once to the conclusion that these white patches are in reality snowy masses, and therefore that there must exist large seas and oceans whence the vapours are raised from which these snows have been condensed. our readers who are anxious to examine the subject more at length, should read Mr. Huggins' paper on the spectrum of Mars, in the Monthly Notices for 1867. The main facts pointed to by his researches are the following: - First, the red colour of Mars is not due to an absorptive power in his atmosphere, resembling that in our own air which causes the ruddy skies of twilight. If this were so, the snowy poles would lose their white colour, since we see them through that the wintry hemisphere is always much But, secondly, although the atmosphere less distinct than the hemisphere which is around the planet is not so abnormally enjoying the Martial summer. A variable dense as to produce the ruddy tint of the envelope,' writes Professor Phillips, gath- planet, yet that atmosphere does contain ers and fluctuates over a permanent basis gases and vapours corresponding to those of bright and dusky tracts on the surface of which are present in our own air; for lines But, further, we have distinct evidence of the existence of a cloud-bearing atmosphere around Mars. The features of the planet are often blurred and indistinct when every circumstance is favourable for observation. And it is especially noteworthy the densest strata of the Martial atmosphere. appear in the spectrum which correspond with those which appear in the solar spectrum when the sun's light traverses the lower strata of the earth's atmosphere. That these lines,' says Mr. Huggins, 'were not produced by the portion of the earth's atmosphere through which the light of Mars had passed, was shown by the absence of similar lines in the spectrum of the moon, which at the time of observation had a smaller altitude than Mars;' so that, if the lines had been due to the earth's atmosphere, they should have been stronger in the moon's spectrum than in that of the planet. is due to a real ruddiness of substance (corresponding to the tint of certain soils upon our own earth), we cannot but recognise the extreme probability that in all essential habitudes the planet Mars resembles our own earth. One circumstance may at first excite surprise: the fact, namely, that in a planet so much farther from the sun than our earth, there should exist so close a resemblance, as respects climatic relations. But if we consider the results of Tyndall's researches on the Radiation of Heat, and remember that a very moderate increase in the quantity of certain vapours present in our atmosphere, would suffice to render the climate of the earth intolerable through the excess of heat (just as glass walls cause a hothouse to be as an oven long after the sun has set), we shall not fail to see that Mars may readily be compensated by a cor It appears, then, from the searching scrutiny of the spectroscope, that the planet has an atmosphere, and that that atmosphere most probably resembles ourown in general constitution. Combining this evidence with that which we already possess of the presence responding arrangement for his increased of water in its liquid, vaporous, and solid states, upon the surface, and with the certainty that the red tint of parts of the planet RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA. - Difficult as it may be to get at the truth about Russia, the nature and bearing of such a material fact as the extensive construction of railroads is easily enough estimated: and it is apparent that the fact is of such magnitude as to concern a good deal all the neighbours of Russia. With its immense distances and want of other roads, Russia is just the country in which the making of railways will have the most striking effect on its advancement. It may really gain less than a more settled country like England, which only gets railways as the climax to an efficient system of communication, and has a large population in narrow room; but in a certain sense, and in appearance, it gains more. It is a great step from no facilities of conveyance at all to a comparatively perfect system, - to become quite compact, instead of hardly holding together. The change is almost one of kind, whereas in a country like England it is only one of degree. We have only to note what the position of Russia is to appreciate the effect of a change so great. A people of between sixty and seventy millions, geographically on the verge of Western Europe, but in reality remote and inaccessible, all at once enters upon intimate relations with its neighbours. It buys and sells much more; its merchants go farther a field, and more frequently, and in turn it is more frequently traversed; its civilisation being much less advanced, it is exposed to a host of new influences and ideas. It is also material, so long as nations have reason to measure each other by their respective forces, to remark that Russia must weigh more heavily in the calculation. It will be more compact, and its army more easily moved, while it will have better roads by which to approach its frontier. In turn, of course it distance from the vivifying centre of the solar system. will be more attackable from the fact that its natural obstacles to locomotion have been overcome, and like other civilised States it will feel more keenly the effect of disasters: it is difficult to injure it now on account of its low organisation but the higher organisation which gives it the force of concentration will make it much more susceptible, and accumulate the effects of its wounds. Not improbably it may lose in this way much more than it gains, both through its neighbours being more fitted to profit by railways from their higher civilisation, and through their having had the start for many years. In any case, whatever may be the speculation about this topic, the railway movement in Russia clearly ought to be observed. Economist, 18 July. An enthusiastic reception was recently given at Cologne to the German poet Freilgrath on the occasion of his first setting foot on German soil after a residence of many years in London, where he was held in deserved esteem by a large circle of friends. About two hundred persons from various parts of Germany assembled at a banquet given in honour of the poet by his friends and admirers in the Rhine provinces. The principal toast was given by Herr Classen-Kappelmann, well known for the prominent part he took in the anti-Bismarchian demonstration of the Prussian Parliament in 1866, and at the conclusion of his speech he presented Freilgrath with a handsome silver goblet two feet high, on which was an inscription in verse welcoming the poet back to his native country. CHAPTER III. A TRUST DISCHARGED. had for the genial widower. With the perverse senitiveness which was a part of his nature, Henry Hurst resented the look, and returned it with a black frown, which his face still wore when he confronted Mr. Eliot Foster, and which rendered him more than ever unprepossessing to the old gentleman, who was not disposed to regard him with much favour already. a An ill-looking fellow,' he thought; sullen, ill-conditioned lad.' And though he shook hands with him, and told him to take a chair politely enough, there was no warmth in his manner, nothing whatever to foster the hope, the almost expectation, which Hugh Gaynor's words had encouraged him to form, that the mystery of his life was about to be dispelled. WHEN Henry Hurst presented himself at Mr. Eliot Foster's chambers, the external aspect of the place was pretty much the same as it had been when Julia Peyton sent her peremptory demand for an interview with the eminently-respectable solicitor. The walls were dirtier, the furniture shabbier, and the clerks, who now led a life of seemingly-perpetual pen-mending in the outer-room, were not the same as the clerks who had suspended that delightful occupation in curiosity and admiration when the handsome, imperious, unbusiness-like client had presented herself. Mr. Clithero was no longer there. That gentleman had long ago set up in business for himself, and gone Time, which had done his habitation but considerably ahead of his former employer. little injury, had wrought in the lawyer the The age of go-aheadativeness' had set in inevitable change which it brings to that by this time, and an enterprising solicitor ephemeral work of the Creator, Man. When appertaining to the smart-man' species had Julia Peyton had made with Mr. Eliot Foster chances such as Mr. Eliot Foster and his the compact which it was his intention now contemporaries had never contemplated. to complete and free himself from, the lawMr. Clithero was a smart man, and was now yer was a middle-aged man, remarkably prospering well in a West-end' concern well-preserved, and of a vigorous and enerand connection, wherein legitimate plodding getic presence. He was an old man now; legal business was largely dashed with mon- he had passed the period of middle life, and ey-lending, and was apt to speak of the the downward way had begun to be trodden. old gent as a sound man, sir; but slow, The clearness of preception and the decision quite behind the times.' To all appearance, of manner which had characterised him still the same flies were travelling across the remained unaltered; but the energy, aptisame dust and rain-tracks on the windows, tude, and taste for the duties of his lot had the same scraps of paper littered the floor, declined, and it was easy to see that the ruthe same orderly bundles of documents en-mour which prevailed among people likecumbered the heavy table, whose leather top was not much more ragged and stained, possibly because there had been little room for such a development. Mr. Eliot Foster's present visitor was totally unconscious of any association with the place which he now saw for the first time, and experienced no sentiment stronger than vexation at the delay which ensued between his giving his name to the clerk, who sat in the place erstwhile occupied by Mr. Clithero, and his being admitted to the presence of Mr. Eliot Foster. At length the door of the innerroom opened, and a stout, florid gentleman, with a frank, pleasant expression, came out, finishing a sentence and a laugh as he did so. Mr. Eliot Foster came no farther than the door-sill, whence he addressed the clerk. 'Let Mr. Burdett have those papers, Morris,' he said; and show the young man in.' The handsome, fresh face of the lad, with a country bloom upon it, caught Frank Burdett's attention as he passed him by; and he looked at him with the kindly interest which everything human except a poacher LIVING AGE. VOL. XI. 423 ly to know, that Mr. Eliot Foster would soon retire from business, was not unfounded. He did think of the boy's mother as he coldly greeted him, he did remember their interview in that same room, but there was no emotion in the remembrance; and the strongest feeling he now had in connection with the affair, which had been the most exciting and romantic episode in a life sufficiently prosaic and prosperous, was, that he was glad that his responsibility concerning the boy had come to an end. During the first few desultory phrases of the conversation between Mr. Eliot Foster and Henry Hurst, the lawyer looked narrowly through his silver-rimmed glasses at his visitor. He had emerged from childhood since he had seen him last, and his personal appearance was as decided, as matured, as his disposition. Mr. Eliot Foster began to change his mind about his being ill-looking, when the boy's face cleared up and brightened as he answered the questions put to him with regard to Mrs. Wood and Alice. He gave a satisfactory account of them, confirmed Mr. Eliot Foster's supposition that the pretty child had grown up into a still prettier girl. At this point the conversation languished, and then Mr. Eliot Foster suddenly gave it the direction which Henry Hurst desired, towards himself. As he did so his manner became entirely businesslike, and that of the young man assumed somewhat of a defiant, inimical tone, as of one standing on his guard against possible encroachment, injustice, or impertinence. The sense of injury that was in him, deepened and embittered by the impossibility of charging any one in particular with the infliction of the injury, rendered him constantly suspicious, and made him assume the aspect and tone of anger and doubt at the smallest approach to a discussion of his private interests and affairs, even when such discussion was most desirable and might prove most satisfactory. one's business but my own. Please to tell me, sir, what I have to receive from you.' As the boy spoke thus, Mr. Eliot Foster saw his face change into so striking a resemblance of what he remembered his mother's, that for the moment he was startled into a throb of the old feeling which had been familiar to him when he was under Julia Peyton's spell. 'Not so fast, not so fast,' he said. You shall know all about that in time. I should like to hear something of your plans first.' You implied unmistakably that you had no such wish, sir,' said Henry Hurst, in a somewhat softer tone; 'and I don't want to intrude upon you. You sent for me, and I am here, as you are the only person I have ever known who seemed to know anything about me; but it now appears that you have nothing to tell me, nothing to say I am informed by Mr. Cheavers that you to me, but that I can go where I like and have given him no cause for complaint with do what I like. Well, this means liberty, respect to your studies,' said Mr. Eliot Fos- to be sure; but-' ter, and that he considers you fairly educated, but with no special aptitude for anything but painting. Is this so?' Yes,' replied the young man curtly, it is. I intend to be an artist.' He said no more, but the pause was expressive, and the lawyer, for all his feelings were dulled and Julia's son was antipathetic to him, felt it so.. This was a melancholy sort of charter under which to sail on life's high seas. There had been a good deal of loneliness in Mr. Eliot Foster's own life, though of course he did not mind it never been such loneliness as this, and he felt for the young man. 'H-m,' said Mr. Foster in a deliberative tone. Well, I have no right and no inclination to interfere with your intention. I don't know much about art myself, and I now, and though equally of course it had know still less about artists. They are not in my way; but I suppose there's no reason why they shouldn't be steady and respectable members of society if they have good sense and good principles. You can please yourself, of course; my share in the business is easily despatched. It concerns exclusively (Mr. Eliot Foster laid a hard emphasis on the word) 'the small sum of money placed in my hands as a provision for you.' Nothing could be more unsympathetic than the lawyer's voice, nothing less kind or interested than his manner. With all his hard selfishness, his incredulity and premature cynicism, Henry Hurst was young, and had some of the keen susceptibility of youth. His feelings as well as his pride might be hurt, and Mr. Eliot Foster's tone did it. 'He takes good care to let me understand that I am nothing to him, that he does not care for me,' the young man thought; 'and I will show him I don't want him or anybody.' Thus thinking, in the illogical heat of youth, that indifference can be susceptible to scorn and indifference, he replied, while the tell-tale colour varied in his dark cheek, 'You must not be so ready to take offense,' he said. You must learn and remember that business is business; even as an artist, you will find that worth remembering. I said I had neither the right nor the inclination to interfere with you; nor have I; but I did not say I take no interest in you, and do not care where you go or what you do. Try to see things correctly, and to represent them in words as they are, not according to your own imagination. You will find the world hard enough to get through without taking up imaginary grievances.' The reproof was kindly meant; it was, indeed, the kindest thing Mr. Eliot Foster had yet said to the young man; but still it was a reproof, and as such Henry Hurst resented it. He hardened himself immediately against the impulse which had been urging him to appeal to Mr. Eliot Foster, and replied in a tone which at once disposed of his chance of exciting friendly interest in the lawyer's mind. 'I don't think I have misrepresented either your words or your feelings, sir. 'I quite understand that my future is no You have no interest in me beyond that of |