"Grant ine the lyric poet's praise, And to the stars, my head I'll raise." Among recent American translators, Mr. Sargent renders the passage thus : "But I shall touch the starry skies If thou vouchsafe to write my name Among the bards of lyric fame." But Mr. Sargent does not tell us what he will touch the skies with. Mr. Field gives it thus : "And if you place me where no bard debars, With head exalted I shall strike the stars." The first line of which is rather uncouth in sense and in sound. Again, in the fourth ode of the first book Mr. Glad stone renders : "I'allida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres, o beate Sexti," — "Oh Sextius, Furtune's favorite, the kingly tower alike And pauper's hut pale death will strike." Mr. Sargent renders this : "Pale Death before them stalks impartially, Whether the portals be Of peasant or of prince — hovel or tower — Alike all feel his power, Oh, happy Sextius!" Mr. Sargent is diffuse and Mr. Gladstone misses the idea of the crushing foot of Death. Let us diffidently move the following amendment : "Oh, happy Sextius! pale Death's foot will strike The tower of kings and peasant's hut alike."
The Chancellor's Term. — Something has been said recently in these columns concerning the notion prevalent in England that the term of judicial office is shorter in this country than there, and the opinion was here expressed that this is an error. Just now an incident has occurred which emphasizes the fact of the uncertainty and brevity of the Lord Chancel lor's term of office, and the absurdity of allowing the first law-officer of the kingdom to be subject to the fortunes of his political party, as it would be absurd for the- Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to come in and go out with each changing administration at the White House. We are indebted to the ever excellent " Notes from Lon don " in the " Scottish Law Magazine " for the fol lowing account of the incident in question : — "These two officers, the greatest functionaries of the whole system, played a little comedy at the Guildhall on the occasion of the Lord Mayor's banquet, which sounds like a version of the amenities that occurred between Betsy Prig and Sairey Gamp when their relations became
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too strained for silence. If it wasn't a quarrel in public, the printed word must convey a very wrong impression. It may have been only their fun; but, as one reads, the feeling is strong that, if it were, they have not mastered the art of humorous expression; and their chaffing, if such it were, like that intellectual entertainment often does, seemed to end in right-down earnestness and bad temper. It was a question of who should respond for the judiciary as the real head of it. The poor sheriff got mixed, and, knowing the Lord Chief Justice was to respond, apologized to the Lord Chancellor for the toast not being entrusted to him. This was not pleasing to the new Lord Chief Jus tice, who naturally magnifies his office. The instincts of the fighting advocate were roused, and he said, ' I beg to say that the Sheriff had no cause of complaint. My noble friend, great and distinguished as he is, is, after all, only a fleeting, temporary, political, quasi-judicial person. I claim to be one of the permanent judges of the land.' "To whom the Lord Chancellor in reply, 'The Lord Chief Justice has said that I am but a fleeting character in the judicial world. However true that may be, I reflect that at least my career has not been so fleeting, but that this is the third Lord Mayor's banquet at which I have been present, and I think that under those circumstances I might well believe you would all desire that it should be left to the Chief Justice to respond for the Bench on the first occasion on which he appears in his present office.' "There is a healthy ring of genuine human nature in this little outburst, which comes as a great relief from the solemn conventionalities and platitudes about the fearless ness and incorruptibility of the judges and the devotion and courage of the Bar with which we are usually wearied on these occasions." How long a period three Lord Mayors' banquets cover we do not know, but it is a queer standard by which to measure the term of the Lord Chancellor's office. But Lord Chief Justice Russell is right; the Lord Chancellor is only a "fleeting, temporary, po litical, quasi-judicial person," and the soup that he eats at the Mansion House should be mock-turtle.
D1vorce 1n Oh1o. — Recent statistics of divorce in Ohio expose a most shocking state of affairs, as disclosed in one of our Ohio exchanges, namely, about one divorce to every twelve marriages in the year from July, 1893, to July, 1894, or 2,753 divorces in all! In 1892-1893 the number was 2,913, and in 18911892 it was 2,737. In three years, 8,403 divorces! The total number of suits brought during the year was 3,696, and 2,918 were pending when the year began. There were 858 cases dismissed during the year. In one county 399 divorces were granted. The women get about 73 per cent of the divorces. It is significant that 1,380, or more than half the whole number, were granted for absence and neglect, while only 385 were granted for adultery, and the
