Siegfried's finger and puts it on her own. Then she calls for the Rhine's daughters, declaring that to them she now restores their treasure, which they are to take from her ashes.

Siegfried is now laid on the funeral pile, Brunnhilde herself takes the torch and kindles it, warning those present that when they shall presently see a distant blaze to the northward they may know that the flames have spread to Walhalla, consuming it and all that are therein.

But to the race of men she leaves a parting word-which must be taken as the keynote of the legend -that Walhalla and the whole race of the gods may go to destruction, that wisdom may be quenched, fame, and wealth, and state perish, it matters not to the world so long as love remains. Siegfried's horse, her own, which she gave him once in return for his keepsake the ring, is now brought forward. She mounts, and instantly the steed, with one spring, leaps upon the burning pile. The flames rise, filling the

scene for a moment. Then the waters of the Rhine beyond begin to swell, and presently overflow, quenching the fire, and spreading to the very threshold of the hall. Hagen throws himself wildly into the waves after the ring, but the water nixies have already risen to the surface. Two of them seize him, and twining their arms around his neck, drag him down into the depths, whilst Flosshilde, the third, uplifts her hand in triumph, holding the ring recovered at last. In the distance, to the northward, is seen the glow of

Walhalla in flames, as foretold, and upon this spectacle the curtain falls for the last time.

How

Such are, briefly told, the incidents of 'Der Ring des Niebelungen.' To the English mind there will seem something essentially childish in the grave introduction of so much supernatural machinery into a serious drama. What is suitable enough in a poem, where the prosaic details are left to the imagination, may yet be unfit for the stage, where the sense of improbability, and moreover the theatrical tricks whereby the illusions are brought about, must be perpetually forced upon the spectator. ever, such things are no innovation in opera. Not to mention the works of Glück, whose predilection for mythical subjects was, like Wagner's, a matter of principle, instances occur among some of the most popular operas on the stage. We who have accustomed ourselves to the phantasmagoria of the Freischütz,' 'Oberon,' and 'Zauberflöte,' may learn to bear with that of 'Der Ring des Niebelungen,' where the extravagance, though greater, is at least accompanied by much that is legitimate in the way of powerful dramatic effect. It is greatly to be regretted that a strong and widespread prejudice, partly of natural growth, but largely due to the unwise championship of the composer's overzealous partizans, should still blind many to the general interest of an ambitious scheme which promises to be an era in the annals of art, and of music in particular, and that in an age not overfruitful in undertakings of the kind.

B. T.

IT

T is no reproach to the Education Act of 1870, but, on the contrary, a material proof of its success, that its chief effect, during the first five years of its operation, has been to promote the pecuniary interests of architects and builders. So much building for any single public object has probably never been seen in any country. For the greater number of the new schools we may say that their style is modest and appropriate, and that their provisions for light, ventilation, warmth, and sanitary arrangements may well put to shame such places as Eton and Winchester, where the cost of the education of a single boy equals that of about a hundred and fifty children in an elementary school.

These, however, are only the shell, not the kernel. A school building does not necessarily make a school, any more than a portico makes a Stoic, or a grove an Academy. When we contemplate the schools themselves, that is, the scholars, the view is not so satisfactory. Ample room has been provided for them in most places, and it is calculated that there ought to be 3,250,000 children at school. There are only 1,800,000 in regular attendance. The broad fact is that there are about 1,450,000 children in this country who are not receiving the modicum of education that the Legislature has prescribed for them. Not far from half the provision which has been made at vast expense for their instruction is at present positively wasted.

It has long been evident that such a state of affairs requires a remedy, and two partial remedies have already been adopted by Parliament. One of these, so far as my experience goes, has been perfectly successful in the limited ob

ject which it sought to attain. I allude to the provision in the Act of 1873, directing Boards of Guardians to make the continuance of relief to out-door paupers conditional on elementary education being provided for their children. I believe that the children of outdoor paupers are now among the most regular attendants at elementary schools, and it will be curious to see what effect education has in cutting off the entail of pauperism which has hitherto so frequently existed in such families.

The other attempted remedy is the Agricultural Children's Act. So much has recently been said on this subject, and the Act seems so inevitably doomed to immediate repeal, that it is needless now to remark on its provisions. I will only say that it appears to me to have been by no means so unsuccessful as is generally supposed in those few counties in which it has been adopted. Its radical fault is that its adoption or neglect has been left to the choice of the local authority. It has consequently been generally neglected, even though the local authority in the case is so enlightened a body as the county justices assembled in Quarter Sessions. The usual argument against the enforcement of the Act by the police, viz. that it would make that body unpopular, seems to me by no means unanswerable. A police force that was influenced by fear of becoming unpopular among persons who choose to break the law, would be deserving of little popularity among those who are disposed to observe it.

However, there is now a general persuasion that something further must be done to secure the attendance of children at school. The

most obvious course, perhaps, would be the establishment of School Boards throughout the country. This has already been pressed upon Parliament by a minority of considerable energy and ability. There can be no doubt that the system of School Boards has been on the whole a decided success. With regard to the special point under consideration, almost every School Board in the country, which has existed long enough to get into working order, has passed by-laws for compulsory attendance at school, and has enforced them with at least as much uniformity as public opinion would allow. The members of these Boards have often incurred much odium in the performance of their duty, not from any fault of their own, but from the contrast of the apparent harshness of their measures with the licence existing in adjoining parishes which are still under the voluntary system. In truth, it is impossible that there should not be discontent aroused, as long as there is a difference in the laws which regulate the daily life of parishes divided only by a brook, or a hedge, or by no visible boundary whatever; as long as John Hodge, living in Great Boreham, is fined five shillings for not sending his child to school, while his neighbour, Thomas Giles, living in Little Pigton, enjoys complete impunity in bringing up a dozen children in a state little better than that of the beasts which perish. It is bad enough that our laws should differ in the three ancient kingdoms comprised within the British islands; but it is really too absurd that the law should differ in three parishes comprised within a circuit of ten miles.

School Boards, however, are distasteful to many ratepayers on the score of expense, and to many others, especially among the clergy, for other reasons. The majority of the House of Commons has decisively rejected Mr. Dixon's proposal

for their universal establishment. Nor is there any just reason for blaming this decision. An honest member of a School Board will hardly refuse to admit that the system, as prescribed by the orders of the Department, is too cumbrous and expensive for universal adoption in country parishes. On the other hand, an honest champion of the voluntary system will probably admit that he feels the constant want of compulsory powers, if only they might be secured without the cost of a School Board, and without the sacrifice of definite religious teaching. This is the want that the new Bill of the Government aims to meet, at least in a partial and tentative manner. There are other provisions more or less useful, such as that for filling up bye vacancies at a School Board withont the expense and trouble of an election, and that for affording additional aid to poor parishes. But these may be passed by. The main principle of the measure is permissive compulsion without School Boards, accompanied by indirect compulsion in all cases.

It would be most unfair to doubt the good intentions of the authors of the Bill. But the road to national education will hardly be paved with that material.

We may admit that the construction of the measure shows considerable ingenuity, and, we must add, considerable complexity, which is seldom wanting in the handiwork of the Education Department. The many Factory Acts are said to form a confused jumble of legislative enactments,' and it is doubtful whether there is any lawyer who even professes to understand them. Without expressing a similar opinion as to the new Bill, we may perhaps be allowed to remark that, if it should become law, and the parents of the labouring classes are found to understand its provisions, and govern their families with a view to its influence on their prospects in

life five years hence, it will be a proof that those classes have already acquired pretty nearly as much education as the community need desire for them.

One clause of the Bill wisely and humanely prohibits the employment of children under the age of ten years. But it shrinks from providing directly that they shall be at school at that age. Legislation on that point is handed over by the Imperial Parliament to the charge of Town Councils and rural Boards of Guardians. In a borough where there is no School Board the Town Council may exercise the powers at present belonging to School Boards in other places, so far as to pass by-laws for securing attendance at school, and to take measures for enforcing their observance. This part of the Bill will probably be effective. All the large boroughs in England have already adopted the School Board system, and, as that system is almost synonymous with compulsion, it is probable that by-laws for that purpose will be passed and enforced in the small ones, when it can be done without the dreaded expense of establishing a Board.

But the great object of the Bill is to make provision for the education of children in rural or quasirural districts, and by its success or failure in those districts it must stand or fall. In order to obtain compulsory powers without a School Board in such a district, it will be necessary that a resolution should be carried by a majority of a duly constituted meeting of ratepayers, to the effect that they desire that certain by-laws, the nature of which they may specify, shall be established in the parish. This resolution is then to be reported to the Board of Guardians for the Union comprising such parish, and it will then be the duty of that Board to pass the required by-laws, and to take steps to enforce them, either by the whole

Board or a Committee appointed by it.

The local authority,' therefore, in matters of education, so far as the rural districts are concerned, will generally be the Board of Guardians. No one who has habitually sat on such a Board will join in the abuse or ridicule frequently cast on those bodies by writers who have probably gained their ideas on the subject from the pages of Oliver Twist. The majority of the members of a country Board are men who have not much cultivated the habit of expressing themselves in writing or public speaking, but who have gained the respect of their neighbours by their success in business, and their shrewdness and experience in matters concerning their daily life. They are quite as capable as their critics of seeing pretty deeply into such questions as valuation, rating, and taxation. But it is quite true that they are not moved by any fervent zeal for the extension of education. They see that the first and most certain effect of a School Board is to raise the rates, which fall probably more heavily on the farming class than on any other section of the community. If education without a School Board does not raise the rates, it is by no means clear to them that it will not raise wages so as greatly to increase the difficulties of their business. There is a widespread persuasion among many persons of all classes, though it does not often find expression in public speaking or writing, that education means the right to earn a living without manual labour. Perhaps the idea is derived from the old law respecting 'benefit of clergy.' A woman who appeared before me for neglecting to send her child to school, remarked with considerable plainness, 'You want to make all these boys clerks and such like, and there will be nobody left to do any work!' Probably most of us are acquainted with ladies

who declare that education makes maid servants spend their time in reading novels and writing letters, instead of attending to their duties. It would be very unjust, therefore, to blame the farmers for their unfriendliness to education. They see that there is a great deal of hard, rough, and dirty work to be done in this world, and that somebody must do it. They believe that education will hinder this work from being done, and in believing this they are only holding the same belief as a great many ordinary people in society. But the fact should be clearly recognised that the rural Boards of Guardians are chiefly composed of a class ill-disposed towards popular education. And it is in the hands of this class that the Bill proposes to place the power of enforcing it.

But there are the ex-officio Guardians, who are possessed of various kinds of influence,-position, landed property, education, and often ability. Might they not be trusted to lead the Board of Guardians to choose the better part?

In answer to this it might be sufficient to say that it is unfair to expect a minority to be constantly staking the influence they may possess in attempting to force unpopular measures upon a reluctant majority. Many country gentlemen have already enough to do in such work. But there is a still more conclusive reply. The number of exofficio members present at a meeting of a Board of Guardians is generally very small. The facility of locomotion in the present day is not improving the quality of local government. Formerly, country gentlemen, if more prejudiced than nowadays, were at least generally at home. Home is now an excellent place to get away from. The London season the river in Norway-the moor in Scotland -the yacht in the Channelthe tour on the Continentthe facility of visiting friends

in various parts of the countrythe mere delight of rapid motionall these temptations, which are modifying the English character in various directions, certainly interfere with the conduct of local business by country gentlemen, and leave it to farmers and others who are bound to one spot by their trade or profession. If the education of rural districts is to be carried out by Boards of Guardians, it is to be carried out in the main by assemblies of farmers.

The establishment of compulsion is to be left to the choice, first, of every several parish, and then of every several Board of Guardians. But even after it has been established there is a curious saving proviso, which reminds one of the famous oath of Highgate: 'It shall be the duty of the local authority to take proceedings under this Act, or the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, accordingly, unless the local authority think that it is inexpedient to take such proceedings.'

The other main provision of the Bill, that no child shall be employed between the ages of ten and fourteen unless it has obtained a certificate of education, or labour pass,' is obligatory, and it will become the duty of the Boards of Guardians to carry it out in all cases. This is what is popularly called 'indirect compulsion.' It is quite as unlikely to be willingly carried out by the Guardians as direct compulsion itself.

But a Board which neglects its duty may be declared in default,' and the Education Department may then proceed to appoint other persons to do the work, and charge the defaulting authority with all the expenses that such persons may incur.

This provision is certainly sharp enough. Lord Sandon said that it was not likely to be required. I would rather say that it is very unlikely to be ever put into action. It will be a very difficult matter to