General Architectural Intelligence.

the late Sir Hugh Playfair , to whom the improvements in St . Andrew ' s are mainly due , and by whom this building was originated and carried out . A public meeting has been held at Leith , for the purpose of considering the propriety of having powers conferred on the public authorities for widening- the streets , and otherwise improving the town . The Provost occupied the chair ,

and referred particularly to the necessity of having a new slaughter-house , a large supply of Lochend water for sanitary and manufacturing purposes , and a public park in North Leith . Resolutions favourable to the purpose of the meeting were unanimously passed .

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEWS . Ten Weeks in Japan . By G EORGE SMITH , D . D ., Bishop of Victoria ( Hong-Kong ) . Longmans : London . Books of travel are not often written by bishops , but if spiritual peers are possessed of such really good powers of observation as tho Bishop of Victoria , we should not be at all

sorry to see a few more itineraries from the pens of the members of the episcopal bench . Dr . Smith , it must be confessed , has had considerable experience of Chinese life , and hence it is not difficult to suppose that the Japanese character was not to Mm altogether such a novelty as to Capt . Sherrard Osborn , or Mr . Oliphant .

AVe can only draw inferences by comparison on subjects with which we are unacquainted , but , without in any way undervaluing the labours of Capt . Osborn or Mr . Oliphant , the work before us is as superior to either of them as it is possible for two books on the same subject to be . Dr . Smith shows that the Japanese exclusivoness is not so very unreasonable after all . The vast wealth of the Daimios is

almost beyond belief ; the Prince of Kanga , the great Lord of the Empire , having a revenue of £ 2 , 334 , 82-5 per annum . "The Prince of Kanga ( says the bishop ) has 40 , 000 men of arms in the capital dispersed over his various palaces in tho city and suburbs of Yeddo . He is regarded as the head of the Conservative party of Daimios , and the principal supporter of a , reactionary policy in regard to foreign nations . In the interval of time

between the original drafting and tho final signing of Mr . Harris's treaty , during which the formal assent of the Mikado and the great Daimios was procured to the official act of the Tycoon , the powerful Prince of Kanga is reported to have advocated strong measures of resistance against foreign encroachments , and to have placed his hand on his sword-hilt in a passionate outburst of patriotic enthusiasm , declaring that it would be better for the Japanese nobles to die fighting for their country ' s honour than to sign their consent to the

revolutionary provisions of such a treaty . The Princes of Satsinner , Ilizen , and Mi to are among the reputed Liberals of the empire ; but the most advanced Liberal in Japan is probably a being very different from the idea conveyed by the term in the phraseology o ^ European politics . The smaller Daimios and Siomios , who amount in all to some hundreds in the empire , are apt to shelter themselves behind the more powerful leaders of their order , and united together on any one point of foreign or domestic policy , they form a closely compacted front of array whicli no Tycoon or Council of State can dare to offend . "

The bishop touches , guardedly , on the customs of the great , and their lives and manners , and these are told with no small amount of descriptive power , as the following extract will prove : — " The proud independence of the great Daimios prevents a visitor from entering within their spacious and richly planted grounds . The more powerful among their number are said to assume a

somewhat defiant attitude even towards the Siogoon himself , and to refuse admission to the agents of the supreme government for the purpose of taking a census of their retainers . In all the arrogant hearing of seini-harharian pride and a keen sensitiveness to the most trifling semblance of humiliation or insult , these powerful barons generally keep themselves aloof from each other's society , and lead lives of idle dissipation in the midst of their armed " dependents . Habits of intoxication are also reported to be very prevalent among them . Contests [ of precedence and mutual jealousies drive them

far asunder ; and these extensive enclosures within which imagination pictures the ordinary population of a small town , are probably occupied by feudal chiefs , each separated from familiar intercourse with his class , and exempt from all the humanising refinements of civilised society . A long wall of dark-coloured chunam , crossed by square or diamond-shaped white trellis-work of the same material , is the only object which is visible from without . The basements

alone are generally constructed of solid stone material . AVhat we are accustomed to dignify with the name of a palace is probably a one- storied building covering a vast area and having only in a small portion of its space any upper-rooms—huge comforttess structures containing few articles of luxury or appliances of art beyond specimens of lacquered cabinets , porcelain vases , and the ordinary furniture of a Japanese dwelling . A European gentleman who has visited the interior of the Tycoon ' s palace , represents even the

abode of imperial majesty as containing furniture of only the plainest description , and as being entirely destitute of gold , diamonds , and the glittering ornaments of barbaric display . A \ hat gives to Japanese houses of the middle and upper class their characteristic attraction is the universal neatness of the interior , and the air of cleanliness which generally prevails . Everything in this official quarter of the Daimios appears , however , on a largerather than a magnificent scale—fine macadamised roads

, , , extensive parks and groves , a grand sweeping slope of undulating lawn , a largo serpentine sheet of clear water in the moats , and a long range of palace-wall inelosures , covering a vast area of space , though of moderate elevation , adapted to the insecure foundation of this region of earthquakes . " The bishop does not seem so smitten with the nude simplicity of tho natives as Capt . Osborn and his officers , who ,

because the people seemed indifferent to decent clothing , at once supposed them to be primitively pure . In Ms remarks upon their famous baths , where both sexes bathe at one and the same time , Ms lordship says they are one of the most licentious races in the world . The following notes upon the habits of the common people will be found interesting -. —¦ " There is one particular in which the Japanese are superior to their Chinese neighbours . The fortune-tellers' tables and gambling

stands so numerous in the cities of China are here nowhere to be seen . The laws of Japan interdict gambling by the severest punishments ; and no gamester dares to pursue his calling in public . The nearest approximation to gambling which I witnessed was a species of betting on the feats of a tame mouse . A man was generally observed in one of the thoroughfares exhibiting the little animal . Its owner opened a wooden drawer , from which it forthwith escaped , crossed a miniature bridge , pulled open a small door ,

drew out one of ten papers each enclosing its own number , brought it thence to its master , and then running up his full loose sleeve , buried itself in its folds . Purchases of fruit , sweetmeats and cakes , or a stake of money , were decided by the chance number which the mouse singled out from the parcel . " In other respects the Japanese manifest a peculiarity of their own in the absence of shops for selling opium , —their exemption from lawless mobs and jostling crowds- —no fihtsquarrelsor

, g , , violence in the streets , —the habit of self-control and the universal ascendancy of law preventing a breach of the public peace . Many of the offensive sights and odours common in Chinese thoroughfares are also absent from the scene ; no filthy jars and disgusting spectacles in the public resorts . But if some of the disagreeable objects in the Chinese streets are absent , it must not be understood that the Japanese have in all these respects attained to an English

standard of good breeding . The Japanese norimon-bearers are often very offensive in their violation of decency ; and the delicacy of a foreign lady must often be solely tried by the habits of the common Japanese . Even when the thermometer stands below 70 ° of Fahrenheit , the Japanese labourers and artisans throw aside their upper garments , and pursue their work with nearly their whole person exposed to view . A small strip of cloth or a cotton rag three inches wide by half a dozen in length , connected with a

slight piece of string running around the body , is the nearest approach to a loin-cloth and the flimsiest apology for a covering . The children run about at such times of temperate season in a state of perfect nudity . The women suffer their bosoms to remain exposed , and sometimes divest themselves of sleeves , which hang in a loose bundle from the tightened girdle confining their nether dress , ard thus lay hare the whole upper half of their persons . Naked infant sclinging to the bare breasts of their semi-nude mothers are a

frequent spectacle in the streets . Though they are generally neat and cleanly in their habits , and scavengers may be seen sweeping their dwellings and the sides of their streets , it must not be supposed that the favourable verdict is given so much after an European as after an Asiatic standard of judgment . Even in the matter of personal cleanliness there is a strange combination of opnosite qualities . Bodily ablutions and unwashed clothing mark .