If one thing more than another has been proved by the results of the last Synod, it is this:-That the differences of Irish Churchmen, even with regard to so difficult and delicate a question as that of Liturgical Revision, are not so great as to exclude the possibility of their finding a common meeting ground whereon to stand together in the Future. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the Irish Church may now be said to have well nigh adopted a scheme of revision which, without any violation of principle, all her members may consent to accept." Those who desire an insight into the Bishop's character, as well as to the impress which his mind has left on the Irish revised version of the Prayer Book, will be much interested in the perusal of some of his admirable speeches delivered in the Synod where his true Christian liberality of mind, as well as his soundness of doctrine are well shown, together with the comprehensive breadth of his intellect and the clearness of his views.

Lord Plunket, though in no sense a partisan, has not neglected his legislative duties as a peer of the realm, and some time since, when the changes introduced by the late Government into the constitution of his Alma Mater (Trinity College, Dublin) were proposed, he urged the claims of the Divinity school of that University in the House of Lords with so much ability as to merit the high compliment paid to him by the then Lord Chancellor (Earl Cairns) on the manner in which he had stated the case. In politics his lordship may be classed as a Liberal Conservative, but he displays so little party feeling that he has been described by one as a Liberal, and by another as a Conservative. He has taken much interest, and a prominent part in many of the Church Congresses in England, and was a distinguished member also of the Pan-Anglican Synod which met at Lambeth. The movements which have arisen on the Continent within the past few years, have had especial interest for him. The "Old Catholic" movement, and the Reformed Catholics have had the benefit of his sympathies. He attended the Conference at Rome, in which he took part, and more recently attended the Catholic Synod at Geneva. He lately visited Spain and Portugal to examine into the movement in progress there, which he satisfied himself, on careful investigation, to be genuine, being neither the result of artificial pressure from without, nor of an ephemeral burst of excitement from within. In such movements his desire is that the Church of Ireland should

take some part, and should leave on them some of its footprints, as was the case in the early days when she was the most missionary Church in the world. At the same time his object is not that she should in those cases engage in mission work, but should hold out the hand of Christian fellowship to those who are approaching her, and show them that they have true Christian sympathy in their

movement.

In 1878, Lord Plunket delivered to his clergy his charge as Bishop of Meath in his second Visitation, and in this he treated of most important topics, not merely as relates to the Church but to the Christian religion generally. He dealt with the subject of the infidelity too prevalent, and with the fallacy of the view that science is by any means antagonistic to religion, and the close reasoning of his argument is equalled by the breadth and clearness of his views on these subjects, with regard to which he gave most admirable counsel to his clergy as to the best modes of combatting the arguments of infidels. He also in the course of some two or three short pages, most clearly set forth his views on the inspiration of Scripture, with a lucidity such as has seldom been equalled.

After showing that we must recognise the Bible as "given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost," he goes on to say: "But as in the seemingly analogous case of the Incarnate Word the Divine Essence was revealed to man through the infirmity of human flesh, so in the written Word we have a Divine and perfect message conveyed to us through a human and imperfect instrumentality-an instrumentality perfect, no doubt, as regards its sufficiency to fulfil its appointed end, but not necessarily perfect in every other aspect." Referring then to certain objections he says: "It is in keeping with all that we know of God and of His probationary dealings with mankind in other respects, that in His written Word we should find Him to be a self-concealing as well as a self-revealing God-concealing Himself from those who will not seek His face, but revealing Himself without reserve to those who do His will and wish to know His doctrine." Verbal or mechanical inspiration is, he says, a principle at variance with the purposes of the Bible, and misplaced dignity lowers what it seeks to exalt. "When, therefore, we accept and honour God's message, because we find it in the Bible, instead of honouring the Bible because in it we find God's message, or when we

speak of inspiration in such language as to lead men to suppose that all their hopes for time and eternity might be imperilled by the discovery of a flaw, however minute, in the texture of the human covering through which the Divine message shines forth-then, indeed, we are proclaiming a dogma for which neither Scripture itself nor the Primitive Church, nor the reformers, nor our own standards of faith, give any warrant; we are laying a burden upon men's consciences which God never meant them to bear, and we are attributing to the Almighty a method of dealing with His creatures in the case of His written Word, for which no analogy is to be found in any other of His works."*

His admirable charge, published in 1878, affords evidence that Lord Plunket has in no sense lost hold of the early convictions of his life on religion; that he has thought deeply on the subject to which his life has been devoted, and to which his matured convictions are essentially the same as those which he early experienced, that his mind has been enlarged, his grasp of these important subjects has become more comprehensive, and his vision more distinct in the course of his studies. His reasoning is based on conclusions derived not merely from a knowledge of books, but also from a study of the human heart and of the Bible itself.

In 1880 Lord Plunket read before the Church Conference, which met at Wakefield in October of that year, paper on "The Tendency of True Religion to Promote Joy in the Heart, in the Home, and in Society." In this paper he dealt with the Pessimist philosophy of Schopenhauer, and his followers, showing that this Christless Pessimism was a natural oscillation from the revolutionary dreams of a Christless Optimism, and turned them to the form of modern Optimism displayed in the theory of evolution, in looking to an indefinite expansion of human capacity in the future. This form of Optimism, though less barefaced than its predecessors, aimed at showing how, if sufficient time be given, a conscience can be evolved with the same ease as a fungus or a cray fish. On this he appealed to common sense in asking whether past experience justified any such expectation as that perfect virtue and perfect bliss were to be brought about in a world such as this,

[* This passage is an expansion of a thought which Lord Plunket expressed o a friend in a letter written in 1858, and testifies to an increase of strength In his ideas on this sublime subject.-ED.]

Was the

without Christ, by the survival of the fittest. survival of Napoleon Bonaparte, he asked, a triumph of morality? He then enlarged on the true joys of the believer and the blessings of the unselfishness of the Christian, and concluded by asking his hearers to imagine this new Christless philosophy put in the place of Christianity, and the talented authors of its theories called upon to bind up the broken spirit, to soothe the suffering, to comfort the bereaved, to reclaim the outcast, to give hope to the dying. Some of those present had doubtless heard the wondrous opening passage in Mendelssohn's "Elijah," designed to represent the despair of a people perishing from thirst, and its wail of agony. So he could imagine the voice of a deceived and terror-stricken humanity-having sought in vain to slake its thirst at the dry wells of Positivism, crying "Give us back the Christ that we have lost! Away with the ghastly spectre-the hideous phantom-the 'It' that has usurped His throne, and let us learn again to love and worship a God who is heart to heart."

Lord Plunket's second brother, now deceased, filled for many years a judicial position in the Colonies. His next brother (the Hon. D. R. Plunket) is Member for the University of Dublin, and has filled the offices of SolicitorGeneral for Ireland, and Paymaster-General under Conservative Governments.

His nephew, Lieutenant Coghill, son of the second daughter of the late Lord Plunket, was the hero who, with Lieutenant Melville, lost his life as he brought the English colours home from Isandhlwana.

MR. WILLIAM ROXBY BEVERLY.

FOR the best part of a century in Yorkshire, and in the other two more northern counties, Durham and Northumberland, the name of Beverly has been one of the most familiar and respected. William Roxby Beverly was born in the year 1824, at Richmond, Surrey, his father and mother being natives of the ancient and important port of Kingston-upon

Hull. Natives of the eastern coast, stretching north of the 'Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name," are for the most part of Danish descent, to which, in a large measure, is attributed much of their energy and industry, qualities inherited in a conspicuous degree by the subject of this memoir. On connecting themselves with the theatrical profession, his parents exchanged the name of Roxby for that of Beverly, perhaps suggested by the name (though spelt with one "e" less) of the pretty Minster town some ten miles off. The Beverlys became managers of the Scarborough, Sunderland, and other Theatres in the North. They were emphatically gentlefolk, and conducted all the establishments under their control so ably and respectably as to procure for them the esteem of the great neighbouring families. They also were enabled to draw attention to the early pictorial attempts of their son, William Roxby, which was the means of introducing him to the proudest houses in the country, his intercourse with which has been maintained up to the present hour. William Roxby Beverly was a member of a very large family, who were connected with the stage as actors and managers; and though he did not adopt the profession of his kindred, doubtless an influence histrionic, and a natural bias led him to the paintingroom, imbuing his mind with a love of art; for when little more than a mere child his genius manifested itself. Mr. Beverly may be called the Shelley of the scenic art. Like his poetic prototype, early he made his study in the open air, wandering along the sands of the eastern shore, or roaming among the moorlands in the immediate neighbourhood of Scarborough, and for which he still cherishes a passionate attachment. When on a visit to the theatrical property he still possesses in the North, rarely missing a year without returning to them, he frequently stops for a while at that cosy, old-fashioned hostel," The Flask," particularly renowned for its rare Schiedam, and which rumour has said was commonly smuggled. But, duty paid or not, travellers enjoyed it none the less. Robin Hood's Bay always has had a reputation for illicit traffic. We must inform our readers, we mean those of them who are un

*

This fine Bay, Mr. Beverly has himself most beautifully limned in watercolours. It is not surprising that he is able to paint a ship, which few are, considering his acquaintance with the sea, which he adores with the same enthusiasm as was entertained by the elder Pugin, who declared that “the sea and Gothic architecture were alone worth living for."