allow me to say so, Lady Fritterly, no new religion to satisfy its demands.  If the world is of late beginning to feel dissatisfied with Christianity, it is not because the moral standard which that religion proposes is not sufficiently lofty for its requirements, but because, after eighteen hundred years of effort, its professors have altogether failed to reach that standard.  Christianity seems a failure because Christians have failed—have failed to understand its application to everyday life, have failed to embody it in practice, and have

sought an escape from the apparent impossibility of doing so, by smothering it with dogmas, and diverting its scope from this world to the next.  It will be time to look for a new religion, when we have succeeded in the literal application of the ethics of the one we have got to the social and economic problems of daily life.  It is not by any intellectual effort or scientific process that the discovery will be made of how this is to be done, but by the introduction into the organism of new and unsuspected potencies of moral force which have hitherto lain dormant in nature, waiting for the great invocation of wearied and distressed humanity.  There can be no stronger evidence of the approach of this new force, destined to make the ethics of Christianity a practical social standard, than the growing demand of society for a new religion.  It is the inarticulate utterance of the quickened human aspiration, in itself a proof that these new potencies are already stirring the dry bones of Christendom, and a sure earnest that their coming in answer to that aspiration will not be long delayed.

Drygull.  Of course, I entirely disagree with you as to any such necessity in regard to the

moral requirements of the world, existing.  You must have met, in the course of your travels, that more enlightened and initiated class of Buddhists, with whom I sympathise, who are quite indifferent to considerations of this nature.

Rollestone.  And who were too much occupied with their subjective prospects in Nirvana, to be affected by the needs of terrestrial humanity.

Drygull.  Quite so.

Mrs Allmash.  And, Mr Allyside, I am afraid you are equally indifferent.

Ali Seyyid.  I am certainly not indifferent to the discovery of any force latent in Christendom which may check the force of its cupidity, and put a stop to the exploitation and subjugation of Eastern countries for the sake of advancing its own material interests, under the specious pretext of introducing the blessings of civilisation.

Coldwaite.  You have certainly presented the matter in a light which is altogether new to me, Mr Rollestone, and upon which, therefore, I am not now prepared to express an opinion.  I should like to discuss the subject with you further privately.

Rollestone.  It is a subject which should never be discussed except privately.

Mrs Allmash.  Now, I should say, Mr Rollestone, on the contrary, that it was just a subject you ought to write a book about.  You would have so much to tell,—all your personal experiments, you know; now do.

Fussle.  Take my advice, Mr Rollestone, and don’t.  You would have very few readers, and those who read you would only sneer at what they would call your crude ideas; and indeed, you will excuse me for saying so, but I am not sure that they would not be right.

Lord Fondleton.  I quite disagree with you, Mr Fussle.  If Rollestone would write a book which would put a stop to this “religion of the future” business, he would earn the gratitude of society.  Do you know, I am getting rather bored with it.

Fussle.  Not if he introduced instead a latent force, which should overturn all existing institutions, and revolutionise society—which it would inevitably have to do if we were all coerced by it into adopting literally the ethics of Christianity, instead of merely professing them.  Why, the “Sermon on the Mount” alone, practised to the letter, would produce

a general destruction.  Church and State, and the whole economic system upon which society is based, would melt away before it like an iceberg under a tropical sun.  I don’t mind discussing the religion of the future as a subject of interesting speculation; but, depend upon it, we had better let well alone.  It seems to me that we—at least those of us who are well off—have nothing to complain of.  Let us trust to the silent forces of evolution.  See how much they have lately done for us in the matter of art.  What can be pleasanter than this gentle process of æsthetic development which our higher faculties are undergoing?  With due deference to Mr Rollestone, I think we shall be far better employed in cultivating our taste, than in probing our own organisms in the hope of discovering forces which may enable us to apply a perfectly unpractical system of morality, to a society which has every reason to be satisfied with the normal progress it is making.

Mrs Gloring.  Indeed, Mr Rollestone, I agree with you a great deal more than with Mr Fussle.  I should like to call out a higher moral force in myself—but I should never have the courage to undergo all the ordeals

you say it would involve; I am too weak to try.

Lord Fondleton.  Of course you are,—don’t!  You are much nicer as you are.  Why, Rollestone, you would make all the women detestable if you could have your way.

Rollestone.  I don’t think there is any immediate cause for alarm on that score.

Mrs Allmash [rising].  Dearest Augusta, I am afraid I must run away: thank you so much, for such a treat.  [All rise]  Mrs Gloring, we have all been so deeply interested, that we have scarcely been able to exchange a word, but I hope we shall see a great deal of each other this year.  I have a few people coming to me to-morrow evening; do you think you can spare a moment from your numerous engagements?  Lady Fritterly and Lord Fondleton are coming; and perhaps, Mr Drygull, you will come, and bring Mr Allyside.  Mr Fussle, I know it is useless to expect you; and I cannot venture to ask Mr Rollestone to anything so frivolous.  But perhaps you will dine with me on Thursday—you will meet some congenial spirits.

Rollestone.  Thank you, but I fear it will be impossible, as I leave London to-morrow. 

Good-bye, Lady Fritterly.  Forgive me, an utter stranger, for having so far obtruded my experiences upon you, and for venturing finally to suggest that it is in our own hearts that we should search for the religion that we need; for is it not written, “The kingdom of heaven is within you”?

THE BRIGAND’S BRIDE: A TALE OF SOUTHERN ITALY.

The Italian peninsula during the years 1859-60-61 offered a particularly tempting field for adventure to ardent spirits in search of excitement; and, attracted partly by my sympathy with the popular movement, and partly by that simple desire, which gives so much zest to the life of youth, of risking it on all possible occasions, I had taken an active part, chiefly as an officious spectator, in all the principal events of those stirring years.  It was in the spring of 1862 that I found matters beginning to settle down to a degree that threatened monotony; and with the termination of the winter gaieties at Naples and the close of the San Carlo, I seriously bethought me of accepting