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expect from so astute a commander as Mrs Field-King.

suit the views of the sect; and then there was an interThe services in the Christian val of silent prayer, during Science synagogue are in pro- which Mrs King covered her cess of evolution, like their doc- face with her pocket-handkertrine. At one of the services, chief. There followed a chapter attended by the writer, forty- from the Bible and a chapter two were ladies, and only six from Mrs Eddy's masterpiece, belonged to the busier and less and the gravity with which impressionable sex. Before Mrs the congregation heard the King's appearance the conversa- ludicrous contrast between the tion turned upon the usual topics beautiful English of the one of the London season, for Christ- and the turgid absurdities of ian Science is a joyous faith, and the other showed well the class is tolerant of social distraction of mind that falls a prey to and (we thought we noticed) Christian Science. Mrs King face-powder. They were smart then invited " then invited "testimóny " (with ladies for the most part; and the accent upon the penultiwe did not see one among them mate), and two young ladies whose dress marked her as a recited the benefits they had worker or a crank. Five of the received from their twentysix men were the sort of people guinea course of lectures, with one would expect to see in such pauses which Mrs King punca place the men of tea-parties tuated with exclamations such and bazaars and weak smallas, "That's very joyous!" talk and water. The sixth was Then came question time. an inquirer who was made to Mrs King read Mrs King read a series of suffer for his temerity. Mrs dummy objections to her teachKing was not at all the sort of ing, which, she said, she had person we expected. Instead received by post, and demolof a sharp, adroit, well-edu- ished them to the delighted cated American, a stout, florid, titters of her congregation. A elderly person, with the air of mild young man rose, blusha housekeeper who has been ing, to propound some innocent long with the family, took question. Mrs King beamed her stand upon the platform. on him, and took him, figurShe spoke with an accent which atively speaking, to her broad it would be understatement to bosom. But the inquirer was call American, and she showed received in different sort. He herself to be quite illiterate. wanted her to reconcile an Her features were rather pre- obvious discrepancy between possessing, and her expression her remarks and the teaching kindly until she scented scep- of St Paul. She "turned ticism in the male inquirer; nasty" at once, and tried but there was certainly noth- to silence him with sarcasm, ing about her to inspire con- which would have discouraged fidence. The service opened a opened a younger man, seeing that with a hymn, a well-known the audience, not understandhymn grotesquely altered to ing the matter in discussion,

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was not worthy of you." The ritual is a little changed now. There are two 66 Readers" the platform, the one playing chorus to the other; and they have a wonderful reading of the Lord's Prayer, a paraphrase by Mrs Eddy, in which the opening words are said to be "Our Father and Mother," on the plea that it is wrong to attribute sex to the Deity.

This is a free country, and if people choose to give their money to an ingenious American, and to do their doctoring at home, who can object? Certainly not the doctors, who suck thereout no small advantage in the end, the suffering patients, having tried the experiment of a smiling lady sitting by the bedside and assuring them that there is no such thing as pain, come back to

them cured of Christian Science for all time; not the undertakers or the coroners, who live by fees; not the relations of the converts, who gain by the conversion of fractious hypochondriacs into contented dupes; not the hypochondriacs themselves, who have at last found the kind of bread - pill that appeals to their imagination. Mrs Eddy and Mrs Field-King deserve the reward of their consummate ingenuity as much or as little as they would if they had won it by clever operations on the Stock Exchange, where their remarkable talents must have assured them success. But instead of assailing these clever ladies and their converts, let us watch the movement with sympathetic interest as a study of a curious side of many-sided human nature; as an excursion of the rich uneducated women of the day into philosophy and professionalism, as their protests against the intolerable dulness of a life of ease and pleasure from which their intellectual limitations prevent them from escaping by the channels open to their better educated sisters. Christian Science is important, because for the moment it is gaining ground so rapidly in London; but it will run the inevitable course of all such movements-schism, mutual vituperation, and extinction.

ADMIRAL SIR W. MEN DS.

FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF NAVAL SERVICE.1

WHEN Nelson was negotiating with the Bashaw of Tripoli, and urging that potentate to make peace with our protégés, the two Sicilies and Portugal, the negotiations proceeded satisfactorily up to a certain point. Then the Bashaw found himself on the horns of a dilemma from which it was impossible to escape, and which promptly brought the negotiations to a close: he explained that if peace was concluded with our friends he would have no war on his hands, and then, said he, "What am I to do with my frigates?" From the Bashaw's point of view this argument was unanswerable: the frigates were provided for fighting purposes, therefore if he had frigates he must have a war to keep them employed. Moreover, he could not dispense with his ships, because his dignity would be impaired if he laid them up, so the war must go on. Accordingly the frigates sailed on their usual marauding expeditions. Here we see a standing navy regarded as an excellent reason for breaking the peace, and this was a common sentiment not only in Tripoli but all over Europe in the middle ages. Gradually, however, a great change has come about, and the nineteenth century, which is notable for the large

increase of the navies of the world, is also notable for the almost entire absence of serious fighting at sea.

Thus it came to pass that Sir William Mends, who served from 1827 to 1883, either afloat or at the Admiralty, never was in a purely naval action; and indeed since the the battle of Navarino in 1827 no British man-of-war has been engaged at sea. Fighting there has been in which the navy has borne a part; but in every instance the fighting took place in connection with shore operations, and much of it was actually on shore. In this fighting, as we shall see, Mends took his share. Indeed the book seems to have been written by the Admiral's son, who himself served some time in the navy, not so much to give to the world an account of the high attainments of the Admiral, but rather to throw light on the work of the navy during the period which it covers, and especially to place on record the aspect of the Crimean campaign as viewed from the quarter-deck of Lord Lyons' flagship, which vessel was in closer touch with the land forces by whom the main operations in the Crimea were carried on than any other ship in the Black Sea.

1 The Life of Admiral Sir William Robert Mends, G.C.B. By his son, Bowen S. Mends. London: John Murray.

In common with Blake, Nelson, Jervis, Collingwood, and the great majority of prominent naval men, Mends came from a good middle-class family. It is indeed remarkable how few of our great naval commanders have been of noble birth. Many a scion of the nobility has worthily proved his mettle in the sister service; but the noblemen who have served afloat have very seldom risen to prominence. In the early part of this century the proportion of noblemen serving in the fleet was by no means insignificant, and their interest always enabled them to get such appointments as would give the opportunity of coming to the front; but very few distinguished themselves.

The method by which young Mends entered the navy in 1827 was practically the same as that which is in force at present he had eighteen months' training as a cadet in a college on shore before being sent to sea. But this was then a novelty, and the youngsters who entered in this way-"college volunteers," as they were styled-were looked upon with a certain amount of suspicion by the service afloat. From time immemorial the nomination and entry of youngsters to the service had rested with the captains, and they naturally resented being deprived of their patronage. Mends, however, being the son of a captain in the navy, one of fourteen fighting brothers who obtained commissions in the

navy or army, and most of whom lost their lives in their

country's service, stood in a very different position from that of some Admiralty nominee whose friends had political interest; and the boy does not seem to have been badly received by his messmates. His first ship was the Thetis frigate, stationed on the South American command; and though in the piping times of peace the commission did not pass without more than one incident, which showed that lives may be lost in the service even in peacetime, and that it is quite possible for a man-of-war to be called upon to fight even when there is no war. The first occurrence took place in Valparaiso Bay. The Thetis was moored with two anchors ahead and a third astern, a portion of her men ashore, top - gallant sails unbent and awnings spread, when a Chilian official hurried on board to ask for assistance in the capture of a 24-gun brig whose crew had mutinied and were making off with the ship, which contained a large amount of Chilian Government treasure.

In a few minutes awnings were down, sails bent and set, cables were buoyed and slipped, and the ship was in full chase of the brig. Only three-quarters of an hour had elapsed from the first warning when the Thetis drew up within gunshot of the runaway, and a shot was fired across her bows:

"No notice was taken by the brig of the shot, so a second was fired over her, upon which she at once brought her topsail to the mast and lay to.

Captain Bingham hailed that he wished to send a boat on board; the

answer came back that no boat would be allowed alongside. However, a boat was lowered with a lieutenant and a party of marines in her, and was proceeding towards the brig when

the mutineers threatened to fire on her, and she was therefore recalled. The brig was then hailed to surrender, and after ample time had been given, a single shot was fired into her, which passed in at one ladderway, through the mainmast, and out at the other. Upon receiving this shot the brig retaliated with a broadside of round and grape; but as she had momentarily fallen off and the guns had not been retrained, little or no damage was done. The foremost division of the frigate's main-deck guns were then fired into her, upon which she struck her colours.

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The brig lost three men killed and fifteen or twenty wounded in this brief engagement."

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It must have been a great satisfaction to Captain Bingham of the Thetis to demonstrate in this forcible manner, in full view of the French flagship, the smartness of his ship and the excellence of her gunnery. It says much too for his humanity and forbearance, as well as for the control which he held over his men, that he did not sink the brig when she fired her broadside at the Thetis. Bingham had before been engaged in a serious action during peacetime. He was captain of the sloop Little Belt when, owing to a mistake which has never been satisfactorily cleared up, she was engaged at night by the United States frigate President, of fully treble her force. On this occasion the Little Belt suffered a loss of thirty-two killed and wounded, and inflicted very little damage on her huge foe. It seems not im

probable that after this he found it expedient to pay close attention to training his men at their guns, and there is no doubt that the Thetis was in excellent gunnery order.

Bingham did not live to bring the Thetis home, and young Mends nearly lost his life at the same time as his captain, through the capsizing of the ship's barge by getting athwart the hawse of a vessel at anchor when running up the Guayaquil river in a strong tide. The tide in this river runs five or six knots, and Bingham showed some lack of caution in sailing up this dangerous river in the dark, amongst anchored

vessels.

With poor Bingham, Hall, his chaplain, also lost his life. The sailors of the Thetis were, however, far from attributing this sad accident to any lack of care: they had a much better reason for their captain's death. It seems that the Thetis sailed from Callao on a Friday! Moreover, when making the entrance of the Guayaquil river, they sighted the island of Amortajada—the shrouded corpse— a name given to it by the ancient Spanish explorers who sailed with Pizarro, owing to its supposed resemblance to this gruesome object. Now, Captain Bingham was not only much interested in the strange name, but called to the chaplain to come and notice the resemblance. Such matters were most serious in our ships of seventy years ago, and though we may smile, the old quartermaster and his chum, the boatswain's mate, were absolutely certain that but for the reckless

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