ILLUSTRATIONS

  Hampton court—­west front. 
  Hampton court—­looking up the river. 
  Entrance to Wolsey’s hall. 
  Middle quadrangle, Hampton court. 
  Archway in Hampton court. 
  Wolsey. 
  Portico leading to gardens. 
  Centre avenue. 
  Hampton court—­garden front. 
  Gate to private garden. 
  Bushy park. 
  Garrick’s villa. 
  River scene, Thames Ditton. 
  Wolsey’s tower, esher. 
  Claremont. 
  CLIVE’S monument. 
  Princess Charlotte. 
  Walton church. 
  Kingston church. 
  A dwelling at Mazagon. 
  Hindu temple in the black town, Bombay. 
  Jain temples at Sunaghur. 
  The vestibule of the grand shaitya Ok Karli. 
  Sculptured figures in the vestibule of the great shaitya of Karli.

[Illustration:  The century:  Its fruits and its festival.]

THE CENTURY:  ITS FRUITS AND ITS FESTIVAL.

I.—­General progress.

This of ours is a conceited century.  In intense self-consciousness it exceeds any of its late predecessors.  Its activity in externally directed thought is accompanied by an almost corresponding use of introverted reflection.  Its inheritance, and the additions it has made, can make or will make thereto, supply an ever-present theme.  It delights to stand back from its work, like the painter from his easel, to scan the effect of each new touch—­to note what has been done and to measure what remains.  It is a great living and breathing entity, informed with the concrete life of three generations of mankind the most alert and the most restless of all that have existed.  This sensation of exceptional endowments is self-nourishing and ever-growing; and our little nook of time is coming to view all the paths of the past, broad or narrow, direct or interlacing, straight or obscure, as so many roads laid out and graded for the one purpose of leading straight to its gate.  It sounds its own praises and celebrates itself at all opportunities.  But with all this there is a wholesome recognition of responsibility.  Nobility obliges, it is prompt to confess, and to act accordingly.  It sees flaws in its regal diamonds, spots that still sully on its ermine; and is not slow to address itself to the duty of their removal.

If the century understands itself, it may be said likewise to understand the others better than they did themselves.  It collects their respective autobiographies and their mutual criticisms.  The real truths, half truths and delusions each has added to the accumulating common stock it sifts and weighs, mercilessly piling a dustheap beyond Mr. Boffin’s wildest dreams, and rescuing, on the other hand, from the old wastebasket many discarded scraps of real but till now unacknowledged value.  Busy in gathering stores of its own, it is able to find time for digesting