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evidently, for since that time many sales have been recorded. "During the hearing of a school board case in the course of 1881, at Ripon. a woman informed the bench that she had been bought for twentyfive shillings, and had assumed the name of the purchaser. "At Alfreton, in 1882, a husband sold his rib for a glass of beer in a public house, and the rib gladly deserted her legal lord. One cannot expect a wife for less than twopence halfpenny. •'Two years after this a bricklayer at Peasholme Green, Yorkshire, sold his wife for one shilling six pence, — a ' legal ' document being drawn up to make the bargain binding on all sides. "In the ' Globe ' of May 6, 1887, there appeared an account of a well-to-do weaver at Burnley, who was charged with having deserted his wife and three children. He admitted the soft impeachment at once, but urged that, inasmuch as he had sold the whole family to another man before the alleged desertion, he be acquitted of all responsibility for their main tenance. It was nothing to him whether their pur chaser provided for their wants, — the law had better see to that; for himself, he had duly received three halfpence, the amount of the purchase-money, and there his interest in the affair began and ended. "During 1889 a paragraph went the round of the papers, to the effect that a man connected with a religious body in a village in the midland counties had disposed of his wife for the small sum of one shilling."

WHAT 's in a name? From a catalogue of law-books advertised to be sold at auction in a neighboring town, we make the following extracts of titles given to some of the publications offered : Story on Equite Juris Prudence, Black on Tacts Titles, Bigelow's on Forts, Schouler's Personal, Pichering's Report, Stephen on Digest, Ken's Injuntions Equity.

ONE of the daily papers lately stated that a law was passed in 1750 to the effect that at parties "ladies must not get drunk on any pretext what ever, and gentlemen not before nine o'clock." We think we have heard or read of this statute before. It is damaging circumstantial evidence against our forefathers and foremothers. — Law Notes. SIR JOHN THOMPSON, Minister of Justice of ("anada, has become Prime Minister of that coun try, in succession to Sir John Abbott, who has re

tired on account of ill health. (A portrait and sketch of the distinguished Canadian statesman appeared in the "Green Bag" for March, 1891.)

CONTENTS OF THE DECEMBER MAGAZINES.

The Arena. Whittier and Tennyson: William J. Fowler. In the Tribunal of Literary Criticism: Rev. A. Nich olson, D.D. Compulsory Arbitration : Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D. Occultism in Paris: Napoleon Ney. Why the World's Fair should be opened on Sunday : Bishop J. L. Spalding. Evictions in New York Tenement Houses: W. P. McLoughlin. Govern ment Ownership of Railways: T. V. Powderly. Re ligious Thought as Mirrored in Poetry and Song of Colonial Days : B. O. Flower. A Chinese Mystic : Prof. James F. Bixby. Are we Socialists? Thomas B. Preston. Christmas Eve at the Corner Grocery: Will Allen Dromgoole. The Atlantic. Don Orsino, XXVII.-XXIX. : F. Marion Craw ford. A Few of Lowell's Letters : W. J. Stillman. Alone on Chocorua at Night : Frank Bolles. At Night: Lilla Cabot Perry. A New England Boy hood, VI., VII. : Edward Everett Hale. A Morn ing at Sermione : Ellen Olney Kirk. The Withrow Water Right, in Two Parts, Part Second: Margaret Collier Graham. December: John Vance Cheney. Wit and Humor: Agnes Repplier. An American at Home in Europe, IV.: William Henry Bishop. Mississippi and the Negro Question : Andrew C. McLaughlin. The Century. Picturesque New York (illustrated) : Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. My Cousin. Fanny : Thomas Nelson Page. The New Cashier: Edward Eggleston. Seeming Failure : Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Benefits Forgot, I. (with portrait of the author): Wolcott Balestier. Jenny Lind (with portrait): Ro nald J. McNeill. Noël : Richard Watson Gilder. Cid Ruy the Campeador (illustrated) : John Malone. Sweet Bells out of Tune, II. (begun in November): Mrs. Burton Harrison. Compensation : John Hay. A Knight of the Legion of Honor: F. Hopkinson Smith. Leaves from the Autobiography of Tommaso Salvini (with portraits). Impressions of Browning and his Art (with portraits): Stopford A. Brooke. Present-Day Papers, — The Problem of Poverty: Washington Gladden. To Gipsyland, II. (Pictures by Joseph Pennell): Elizabeth Robins Pennell. After the Rain : Mary E. Wilkins. The Effect of Scientific