wider, served him in place of the sub- narrow in his range of practical symstance of any thing truer and wider, dur-pathies, his name will long be famous as ing the rest of his life. that of the most wide-minded and generThe part of the Autobiography which we ous of political economists, the most dislike least, though it is, on the whole, that on interested of Utilitarian moralists, and which we are most at one with Mr. Mill, the most accomplished and impartial of is the section in which he reviews his empirical philosophers. But as a man, short but thoughtful Parliamentary career. there was in him a certain poverty of naThe tone of this portion of the book is ture, in spite of the nobleness in him, too self-important, too minutely egotistic, a monotonous joylessness, in spite of the for the dry and abstract style in which it hectic sanguineness of his theoretic is told. It adds little to our knowledge creed, a want of genial trust, which of the Parliamentary struggles in which spurred on into an almost artificial zeal he was engaged, and nothing to our his ardour for philosophic reconstrucknowledge of any of the actors in them tion; and these are qualities which will except himself. The best part of the probably put a well-marked limit on the Autobiography, except the remarkable future propagation of an influence such and masterly sketch of his father, Mr. as few writers on such subjects have ever James Mill, is the account of the growth before attained within the period of their of his own philosophic creed in relation own life-time. to Logic and Political Economy, but this is of course a part only intelligible to the students of his more abstract works. From The Economist. THE AMERICAN EXCHANGE ON ENGLAND. THE New York Daily Bulletin makes the following statement with reference to the future form of the New York Exchange quotation on England. At present the quotation is of so many dollars per 22/ 10s sterling, the par of exchange being about 108, but by the new method the quotation will be in dollars and cents On the whole, the book will be found, we think, even by Mr. Mill's most strenuous disciples, a dreary one. It shows that in spite of all Mr. Mill's genuine and generous compassion for human misery and his keen desire to alleviate it, his relation to concrete humanity was of a very confined and reserved kind, one brightened by few personal ties, and those few not, except in about two cases, really hearty ones. The multitude was to him an object of compassion and of genuine beneficence, but he had no pleas- to the £. ure in men, no delight in actual intercourse with this strange, various, homely The Act of Congress of March 3, 1873, world of motley faults and virtues. His regulating the relative value of the dollar and nature was composed of a few very fine the pound sterling goes into effect on the 1st of January next; and in anticipation of the threads, but wanted a certain strength of change the leading foreign bankers have basis, and the general effect, though one agreed upon a method of quoting sterling exof high and even enthusiastic disinter-change which expresses the current value in estedness, is meagre and pallid. His tastes were refined, but there was a want of homeliness about his hopes. He was too strenuously didactic to be in sympathy with man, and too incessantly analytic to throw his burden upon God. There was something overstrained in all that was noblest in him, this excess seeming to be by way of compensation, as it were for the number of regions of life in which he found little or nothing where other men find so much. He was strangely deficient in humour, which, perhaps, we ought not to regret, for had he had it, his best work would in all probability have been greatly hampered by such a gift. Unique in intellectual ardour and moral disinterestedness, of tender heart and fastidious tastes, though dollars and cents of the pound sterling. The following shows the method of quoting the value of the pound sterling at various periods under the new method, with the equivalent rates as quoted under the present method: New Method. $4.70 4.715. 4.72 4.725. 4.73 4.735. 4.74 : Old Method. $107.6625 107-775 107.8875 108. 108.115 108.225 Old New $105.75 $4.785 4.705. 105.8525 4-79. 105.975 4.795 105.0875 4.So. 198.3375 108.45 105.05 4.825 198.5625 103.675 108.78375 108.90 With reference to the above question, j ant result of this usage is an injurious Mr. Secretary Richardson has also ad- effect upon American credit, American dressed a circular to importers, exchange securities appearing at a discount even dealers, and the public generally in the when they are really above par; but United States, calling attention to the here more importance will be attached anomalies of the old system of reckoning to the business confusion and inconve4s 6d to the dollar, based upon a usage dating back to an early period of colonial history, and the attempts to correct these anomalies by expedients which have become the source of new errors. It is in consequence of this suggestion that the New York merchants and exchange dealers appear to have adopted the above resolution of a reform in the method of quoting the Exchange. A principal anomaly which Mr. Richardson points out, however, is beyond the power of the American Government to correct, as Mr. Richardson recognizes. This is the English Stock Exchange practice of quoting American securities at the exchange of 4s 6d to the dollar. The effect of employing this fictitious par is, that American securities at par are quoted at 9 1-2 per cent. discount, and other quotations vary in proportion from the reality. From Mr. Richardson's view, the most import nience, which are extreme. We have more than once suggested to the Committee of the London Stock Exchange that the evil is one which loudly calls for remedy. Investors are sorely puzzled by the calculation of what an American investment will yield them; and the comparison with other investments, which would often be so favourable to America, is impeded. Of course, the calculations are made eagerly enough in brokers' offices, and there are tables and lists which an investor may consult; but all this is a very different thing from the ready knowledge which the investing public should have from a mere glance at a price-list and a knowledge of the rate of interest yielded. A favourable opportunity is now offered for making a reform, and we trust the Stock Exchange Committee will take it in hand at the earliest opportunity. THE LAVENDER FIELDS OF HERTFORD- | ens its speed, at the bottom of what seems to SHIRE. -The lavender plant grows wild in some parts of Italy and the island of Sicily, but it is uncertain at what period it was introduced into England. Shakespeare, in the "Winter's Tale," puts these words in the mouth of Perdita : "Here's flowers for you; A be an extensive chalk pit. This is the northern out-crop of the London basin; and the station at which we alight as soon as the deep white cutting is passed, is Hitchin. At this place, some fifty years ago, the experiment was first made by a Mr. Perks, of growing lavender as a source of profit. So well did it succeed, that there are now thirty-five acres of land in Hitchin devoted to its culture, yielding sufficient essential oil to produce upwards of two thousand gallons of lavender annually. True, the scene is laid in Bohemia; but it is visit to the fields and laboratory, during the evident by the context that the plants named latter part of July or the beginning of August, were such as were usually to be found in an when the flowers are in full bloom, is in itself English shepherd's garden as early as the time worth the trouble of a journey to Hitchin; to of Elizabeth. Passing over the intervening say nothing of the special attractions which the three centuries, let us come at once to the neighbourhood offers to the botanist, gcolosubject of our sketch, the lavender fields of gist, and antiquary. The largest field is Hertfordshire. An hour's journey by the situated at the western side of the quaint old Great Northern Railway, through a charming town, near the house in which George Chaptract of country, past the historic houses of man, the friend of Shakespeare and Ben JonHatfield and Knebworth, which lie hidden by son, completed his translation of Homer. trees on the traveller's right hand; over that The young plants are bedded out in Novemgrand engineering mistake, the Welwyn Via- ber, at a uniform distance of one yard apart. duct, beneath which trickles the tiny river Formerly they were placed at only half that Mimram, through Stevenage, where Lucas, the distance; but it is found that a heavier yield is hermit, wrapped in his dirty blanket, still re-produced from plants set a yard apart, than mains as when he served Charles Dickens as a model for his Tom Tiddler - passing all these, we at length find ourselves, as the train slack from double the number at only eighteen inches. When three years old, the plant is at its best; and when it reaches the age of seven years, it has made so much wood that it is more profitable to uproot it, and set a fresh plant. The harvest time depends much on the state of the weather, but it usually commences about the first week in August. The flowers are cut with a sickle, bound up in small sheaves, and immediately carried to the distillery. There the stalks are cut off, leaving but little more than the flowers, by which the bouquet of the oil, afterwards extracted, is much improved, though the quantity of the oil is sensibly diminished. Much care is needed on the part of those who handle the sheaves in the distilling house to guard against being stung by the bees which remain attached to the flowers. The temperance, industry, and providence of these insects are proverbial; yet their behaviour in lavender fields, especially towards the end of the season, when the flowers are fully developed, cannot be too severely reprobated. So careless are they of the good reputation they have earned, that they refuse to leave their luscious feast even when it is laid on the trimming bench; and hundreds are thrown into the still, notwithstanding the efforts to dislodge them, in a state of helpless intoxication. 66 Chambers' Journal. PRESBYTERIANS are sometimes called "blue." "The epithet," observes a religious exchange, arose in this way. The distinct dress of the Scotch Presbyterian clergy was a blue gown and a broad blue bonnet. The Episcopalian clergy, on the other hand, either wore no distinctive dress in public services, or else wore a black gown. From this arose the contrasting epithets of Black Prelacy' and " 'True Blue Presbyterianism.' So says Dean Stanley, in his lectures on the history of the Church of Scotland." THE Russians and Americans have from time to time discovered affinities towards each other of divers kinds. To these may be added the capability shown by either nation for producing extraordinary religious sects. The latest thing in that line which has come to our knowledge seems worthy of a passing remark. The fair sectarians for with one exception they were all of one sex- dwelt in the Russian town of Porchov, and were named Seraphinovski, from their founder and teacher, Father Seraphinus. Their creed was implicit belief in their reverend leader; their practice "Saint M. GUIZOT has just completed his eightysixth year. This long life, begun amidst the storms of the first Revolution - for his earliest recollection is being taken one winter morning by his mother to bid adieu to his father, who was guillotined that day-this long eventful life is closing in the serenest old age. Père Guizot," as an opponent contemptuously terms him, is in truth a "holy father" to and among his family. At Val Richer he rises at 6 A.M., works at his "Histoire pour mes petits Enfans" until déjeûner; then, for an hour or two, the old man, in his broad hat and grey coat, is seen walking about his garden and grounds alone, or with his children or grandchildren. Afterwards, he works again, ending the day by a cheerful, social evening, to which, with faculties unimpaired, he contributes at least one half of the enjoyment. FROM the Burying-ground of Concord, Massachusetts: God wills us free-man wills us slaves, John Jack, A native of Africa, who died Though he lived in a land of liberty, Till, by his honest, though stolen, labours, He practised those virtues PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. For EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. 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