Armenian, who may be naturally expected, from his neighbourhood to India, to know something about the country, and, having some wealth, to cut a dash there, according to the proverb, once went in for an Indian Civil Service examination, but, being asked to add up several columns of figures which he knew nothing about, for in Armenia they conduct all commerce through the medium of sheepskins or other means to the end of absolute commerce, and to give some account of the travels of Marco Polo in Bengal, which he had never heard of, since they receive no mention in Armenian historical manuals, failed in his examination and was compelled to enlist in the militia, in which office the strange adventure befel him of which you have heard, so that it was perhaps better for him to enlist after all, since he could in that way discover the highest good, which he said he saw with his own eyes, although he may have been dreaming. So that in his case the Indian Civil Service was a means to the highest good, albeit that highest good was of a strange and phenomenal nature, which is a paradox. But this is an exception to the true case, for Theages, whose marriage you all saw in the Times the other day, wanted to become a soldier, and tried to pass into Sandhurst by an examination which is not very different in its means and relative end from the Indian Civil Service, but was "ploughed by the hoof of the plougher," as Pindar says, and consequently had to sweep a crossing opposite the British Museum, until he married a rich wife who brought him a large dowry with the tongue of a magpie, and so gained merely a tempered happiness, which is very far from the true happiness. And this is the general case, for the involuntary usually supersedes the voluntary, just as in the History Tripos, to revert to the more perfect or less imperfect form of examinations, the voluntary subjects will not get a man through unless he knows something of the involuntary and compulsory. Then, again, there are the Higher Locals, and the Locals, which do not seem to differ a great deal, although they may in reality, and are generally concealed beneath a cloak of obscurity and great divergences of opinion. But all we know of them is that there is a third person or middleman in these examinations, called the Invigilator, who seems to derive the greatest profit from the institution, since all the papers pass through his hands and he receives great riches for letting them pass through without looking at them, while the examiner gets little from them but the pain of looking them over and some small amusement, if he has a sense of humour, which would not bring him very near the perfect and absolute examiner, but rather remove him afar off: and the examinee gets little also, save a reputation among the unlearned and a little scorn among the people who may be described as Non-local in contradistinction to the Local division. But on these matters it were best to refer to Mr Berry of King's. And there is the Bishop's examination, which is the last I shall touch upon in this chapter-the rest I hope to describe in my book on Activities-and is for those who desire to become priests. Now this is really a very difficult examination, for the examiner is generally very learned, while the examinee is often a dull person, whose former success in examinations has not been conspicuous. And how the examiner ever came to be very learned is a mystery, seeing that so many of the examinees are unlearned, and that he himself must have once been an examinee-but he is learned, and so the examinees have a very hard time, and they cannot see for that time the top of the Hill of Happiness, which we mentioned a little while ago. And when they get through, which usually happens after five attempts, unless the examiner is their uncle, or was at school with their father, or is an idle person, which Heaven forbid they do not know themselves, having got ! through. And this leads to Pride, which is, indeed, a form, but a false form, of Happiness, and they put on strange clothes and sing in strange voices, and have curious habits of eating, wherefore they are admired of the young female and come to a bad end. Which accounts for the present state of the Church and the recriminations of the penny Ecclesiastical papers. Whence it may be seen that the Bishop's examination, since it leads to a false form of happiness, which is not happiness at all, but only a phantom and shadow of the truth, is the worst form of examination, as falsehood is the worst form of speech, and to act a lie, according to our moralists, the worst form of activity, though both may often be found very useful, especially in public relations. So that the Bishop's examination is an abuse. Now we could say a great deal more about examinations: as, how they could be made better, and how they cannot be made worse: and whether, being a means to happiness, they are actually a mean in themselves; and whether the activities of the examiner are equal to or greater or less than those of the examinee, and what the proper activities of both are; and whether it is necessary that the soul of both be immortal; and to explain the system of marks, with regard to its justice and injustice; and to enquire how a judicial examination differs from others. But we will discuss all these things in the sixth volume. So let us now proceed, by a natural transition, to the Seven Deadly Sins. A. H. T. Stagira, R.S.O., June 25th, 1895. RONDEL. LE temps a laissié son manteau de vent, de froidure et de pluye, et s'est vestu de broderye de soleil luyant, cler et beau. Il n'y a beste ne oiseau qu'en son jargon ne chante ou crye. Le temps a laissié son manteau de vent, de froidure et de pluye. Rivière, fontaine et ruisseau portent en livree jolie gouttes d'argent d'orfavrerie. Chascun s'abille de nouveau. Le temps a laissié son manteau. CHARLES D'ORLEANS. XVme siècle. The year has cast his mantle gray G. C. M. S. THE ADAMS MEMORIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. IN Thursday, May 9, a meeting was held for the unveiling of the memorial to the late Professor Adams, in the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey, the Dean of Westminster taking the chair. After a few cordial words from the Dean, the Duke of Devonshire, as Chancellor of the University, offered his sincere thanks to the Dean and Chapter for the way in which they had met the request of the University, and for the honour which they had thus conferred upon its late Professor, the greatest of the successors of Newton. The Master of St John's referred to the studies of Adams in connexion with his famous discovery of the planet Neptune, and recalled the fact that this was the jubilee year of that event. Lord Kelvin, as a friend and fellow-student of Professor Adams, alluded to the pride which the University felt in Adams, even in his undergraduate days. His best-known achievement was but one of many triumphs of mathematical skill and scientific insight. Speeches followed from Professor Sir G. G. Stokes, who dwelt on the noble character and christian spirit of his life-long friend; the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, who told of the meeting between Adams and Le Verrier at that University; and the Right Hon Leonard Courtney. As a Johnian and a Cornishman, he spoke in eloquent terms of the glory conferred by Adams on his College |