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self before a just displeasure excuses | In France, indeed, the phenomenon is exwhich are prompted by egotism rather plained in part at least by the literary exthan sympathy. It should be a rule to cellcnce of Amyot's version, which has make no apologies which cost us nothing; made Plutarch for the last three centuries they are mere selfish indulgences. It is a sort of French classic. Montaigne, a much easier for the listener to behave diligent student of this version, has told properly under the confession of genuine us at some length the secret of the charm shame and sense of misconduct than under which drew him to Plutarch and another the smug inflictions we complain of. Some- favourite author of his, Seneca. "Ils ont body ought to be uncomfortable under any touts deux," he says, "cette notable comapology that is worth the name, and modité pour mon humeur que la science common justice shows that the sufferer que i' y cherche y est traictée à pièces should not be the recipient of excuses. descousues, qui ne demandent pas l'obligaThere are few persons to whom the ques- tion d'un long travail, de quoi ie suis intion can be indifferent, for few of us are capable: ainsi sont les opuscules de Pluabsolutely guiltless towards our less attrac- tarque et les épistres de Sénèque, qui sont tive acquaintance of making a string of la plus belle partie de leurs escripts et la civil artificial words do the duty of self-plus profitable." Plutarch's essays were sacrifice. No two things are more oppo- profitable reading, because Montaigne site than the volunteered and the compul- found there "la cresme de la philosophie," sory apology. This was felt by a man of a opinions platoniques, doulces et accomoviolent temper, which was perpetually pre- dables à la société civile❞—in short, a cipitating him into scrapes; after frankly conception of life at once ethnic, consoling, avowing himself in the wrong to the per- and practical: no writings seemed to resons he had injured, he added, "The worst veal so much of that wisdom of the anof this temper of mine is that I have to cients which had hitherto been a sealed apologize to fools." The poor and un-book to all but the erudite few. And it taught find apologies so impossible to a proud nature, that, rather than say the word, they will encounter any amount of hardship and privation. But of all sufferers, of all grudging, unwilling apologizers, an honest child is the greatest. To him to have to say, "I am sorry; mea culpa I have been to blame," is the bitterness of humiliation. He has learnt no subterfuges, finds no soothing emollient balm in the way of doing it; he stands in the depths in which his elders only profess to find themselves. Be indulgent to the struggle between nature and grace. Do not press too far the sore and wounded spirit, excuse much awkwardness in the manner, and some evasion even in the matter, mindful that, of the two extremes, it is better for the character through life to find apologies hard work than easy.

must be confessed that there is in all that Plutarch says an air of sanity and even commonplace which makes him a better exponent of the average mind of antiquity than a writer of the first order would have been. He has a profound horror of paradox; hence his aversion to Stoicism. Epicureanism appears to him a mass of immoral contradictions, which render happiness an impossibility, and for which the saintly life of Epicurus himself is no excuse in the eyes of his severe censor. Superstition he pronounces to be worse than atheism, on the ground that the supersti tious man is "an atheist at heart, but too much of a coward to think as he is inclined." His treatise "Concerning such whom God is slow to punish" is a sort of Théodicée, explaining on principles of reason why the divine vengeance may be suspended so as to fall on the remote posterity of the offender. He does not agree with Chrysippus in thinking evil to have a natural place in the economy of the world: he cannot conceive that death is the end of all things, and that the gods, "like wolittle gardens in earthern pots and pans, men that bestow their pains in making created us souls to blossom and flourish only for a day, in a soft and tender body of flesh, without any solid root of life, and then to be blasted and extinguished in a moment upon every slight occasion." Plutarch, in a word, is a religious man and a moralist; intent on edifying us, yet always

Hands".

none of them "eminent," unless we make an exception in favour of that careful scholar, William Baxter, and Creech, the editor of Lucretius, who was Fellow of All Souls': the rest were for the most part Oxford men, whose strong point was manifestly not their knowledge

willing to relieve the didactic austerity of | his theories by a wealth of anecdote and learned allusion, which makes him one of the most entertaining and instructive of ancient writers. Those who desire to know what attraction Mr. Emerson has found in Plutarch will do well to consult the highly interesting introduction pre-of Greek. Prof. Goodwin cites some

fixed to these volumes.'

The basis of the work before us is a translation which appeared in London in 1681-1691. This old translation, now that it has been throughout corrected and revised by the scholarly hand of Prof. Goodwin, of Harvard, forms an appropriate pendant to the edition of the Lives published some years ago under the superintendence of the late Mr. Clough. The plan of amending an old version, in preference to producing an entirely new work, is one sanctioned by the great name of Courier, who followed it with eminent success in his Longus. Although we think that Mr. Emerson goes too far in claiming for the present translation of the Morals the credit of being a monument of the English language at a period of singular vigour and freedom of style," it is probably better than anything that could be done in these days; its quaintness, at any rate, is an acceptable relief from the laboured realism of many modern attempts at translation. Here is a specimen, taken from the Essay on Banishment:

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amusing instances of their ignorance, and we can well imagine that his patience has been sorely tried in the work of clearing away the portentous blunders of his predecessors. His patience, we fear, must have occasionally failed him, for inaccuracies, not a few, remain to perplex the reader who cannot correct them for himself by reference to the Greek. Errors like precepts," instead of "catalogues of dramas" (vol. ii. p. 178); "we say nothing that we take from them," instead of we give no opinion of our own” (vol. v. p. 240), and others which we forbear to enumerate, are serious blemishes in a book so laudable in design, and, taken as a whole, so excellent in execution. Let us add that on the score of typographical beauty these volumes have every claim to a place in an English library.

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From The Athenæum. THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER IN JAPAN.

THE Foreign Office has rendered an important service to the industrial art of this country by the compilation and publication of an interesting Report on the Manufac

"These are the boundaries of our country, and no man is an exile or a stranger or foreigner in these, where there is the same fire, water, air, the same rulers, administrators, and presidents, | the same sun, moon, and day-star; where there ture of Paper in Japan. The volume, alare the same laws to all, and where, under one orderly disposition and government, are the summer and winter solstices, the equinoxes, Pleiades, Arcturus, times of sowing and planting, where there is one king and supreme ruler, which is God, who comprehends the beginning, the middle, and end of the universe; who passes through all things in a straight course, compassing all things according to nature.'

though only recently published, is due in the first instance to the wise forethought of the late Earl of Clarendon, who, in May 1869, directed Sir Harry Parkes to collect information on the subject. Sir Harry, in the September of that year, addressed a circular letter to Her Majesty's Consuls in Japan, directing them to give their best attention to the Japanese paper manufacture, and to collect and transmit to Yedo samples and specimens. Replies to this circular were sent by Mr. Lowder from Yokohama, by Mr. Annesley from Nagasaki, and by Mr. Enslie from Osaka. Thus we have direct information from the south-western district of this great Archipelago; from the chief port of its internal sea, the Japanese Mediterranean; and from the seat of Government, at the southeastern apex of the triangular group of istands. The range in latitude included between these stations does not, however, exceed about three degrees, so that the

species of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) which is grown chiefly in the Island of Kiusiu. The Kaji, or Kajiso, a plant of which the botanical acquirements of the Japanese consuls do not appear to be such as to afford the means of scientific identification, grows, more or less, all over Japan, and is cultivated much in the same manner as the tea-plant and mulberrytree. It is described as closely resembling a willow. It does not thrive in the north of the island. The Kajiso does not yield so well as the Makoso or Ma Kôdzu. A third plant is called Takaso, which yields a larger quantity of paper than either of those previously named. It does not require the manure, or the great care as to soil, demanded by the previously-named vegetables; but the quality of the paper

hopes of the successful cultivation in Great Britain, entertained by one of the reporters, of plants growing wild in a latitude of 33° to 350 must be received with hesitation. But while the immediate observation of the writers is thus limited, the returns collected by Consul Enslie include samples of 139 different sorts of paper manufactured in 21 out of the 68 provinces of the Empire. This number of specimens, however, is far from representing the almost endless variety of the manufacture. Mr. Enslie furnishes three lists; the first specifying 89 distinct samples, together with their respective uses and prices; the second being that giving the geographical distribution, to which we have just referred; and the third enumerating 263 sorts of paper, which are prepared in Yedo from the appropriate kinds which it produces is inferior. A fourth named in the former series. Mr. Lowder also has sent samples of 263 sorts of paper, but does not mention the localities of their production. Mr. Annesley has collected 60 articles made of paper, as illustrating the process of manufacture. All these specimens have been deposited in the South Kensington Museum.

species or variety is found chiefly in Kiusiu, the native name for which is "Mitsumata," from the bark of which alone the paper currency of the country is manufactured. It is little used for any other purpose.

The plants of the paper-mulberry are annually cut down to the roots in the winThe objects for which special sorts of ter, and the cuttings of the fifth year, by paper are manufactured are surprising, which time the shrub has become dense not less for their extreme and comprehen- and strong, are used for the manufacture. sive variety, than for their minute and The branches are cut into lengths of from whimsical detail. Thus, under the general thirty to thirty-six inches, and steamed, head of writing-paper, we find separate in a straw vessel, over a boiler. When varieties, not only for despatches, for let- the skin begins to separate from the stalk, ters, for copying, for memoranda, for it is stripped off by hand, the wood being deeds, and for official purposes, but in useless except to burn. After peeling, addition to these, four distinct kinds used the skins are dried by exposure to the for writing verses and songs upon. Again, wind on poles; and when dry, they are we have papers for making umbrellas, for weighed and made up into bundles of making rain-coats and waterproof pouches, about 32 lb. each. They are then washed for making hats, and for making lanterns; in running-water for twelve hours, and the we have the Chiri Gami, which is used for outer, or dark-coloured portions of the the wicks of candles as well as for hand- bark are next scraped off with a knife; the kerchiefs, and the Kobanshi, used exclu- scrapings themselves being used to make sively for the latter. There is a special an inferior kind of paper. After a fresh sort, the Kiu-yukinari Gami, used for washing in running-water, and a pressure dressing dolls; and another, the Kiô no under heavy stones, to expel the fluid, the Chigo Gami used for inclosing the fish-fibre is boiled. It is again washed after skin that accompanies presents! For boiling to remove the residue of the ashes enveloping the presents from the temples thrown in to aid in that process, and is to the Government, however, the Tsuka then "pounded for about as long a time as moto Gami is used by the priests. it takes to boil the rice for breakfast"

The materials which the bountiful Flora with a wooden pounder, 3 feet long and of Japan yields for this wonderful variety 3 1-2 inches square. The pounded fibre, of paper are of two descriptions; namely, now called Sosori, is made into balls and the trees or shrubs of which the bark is mixed in a trough called the boat, which furnishes the fibre that gives strength of is 6 feet long and 3 feet broad, with the texture, and the plants of which the roots, paste made from the root of the Tororo. seeds, or sap yield a natural size, that gives This shrub is described as being not unenamel to the surface of the sheet. The like the cotton-plant, and the size of the best fibre is that of the Ma Kôdzu, a root is "about the same as that of the

The man

common dock." We believe it to be the three-quarters of a century. plant which supplies the vegetable wax of ufacture from the paper mulberry was inJapan. The sprouts and skin of the root troduced into Japan about A.D. 610. Up are scraped off, and the root is then beat- to the year 280 A.D. silk, with a facing of en; the time for taking it from the ground linen, was used for writing upon, and being that of the rainy season of the thin wood shavings were also employed. spring, after the flower has died. When In that year paper was imported from the required for use, these roots are boiled Corea; which was the only paper used by into a thin paste, which is strained into the Japanese down to 610, when two tubs through a fine hair-sieve. Lumps are priests were sent over to Japan by the broken off from the "Sosori" balls, and King of the Corea, who established a local mixed up with the strained "Tororo manufacture. The paper thus produced paste; the mixture being thoroughly did not take ink well; it tore very easily, stirred, and proper consistency being indi- and was liable to become worm-eaten. cated by the peculiar noise which the Taishi, a son of the reigning Mikado, then stirring-stick makes when passing through first made use of the bark of the Brousthe pulp. A frame, consisting of an inner sonetia, which he caused to be extensively and an outer portion, with a false bottom planted all over the country, and the mode made of plaited bamboo, is filled with this of manufacturing which he caused to be pulp; "a peculiar and dextrous jerk is promulgated among the people. given to the whole, which sets the paper, and the frame is then leaned against the upright rest to allow the water to drain off." This manipulation is performed very quickly by experts in the manufacture.

"The sheet of paper is removed from the frame with a piece of bamboo," and laid, by the aid of a brush, on a drying board, the side which adheres to the board forming the face of the paper. In wet weather, artificial heat is required for drying. Two or three straws are inserted between every twenty sheets of the paper, which is made up in packets of 100 sheets, and cut off by means of a sharp knife and heavy ruler.

For making paper warranted to wash, which is called "Shifu," a different kind of paste is prepared. Boxes, trays, and even saucepans, are made of this paper cloth, and saucepans thus manufactured sustain no injury over a strong charcoal heat. For the mannfacture of oil paper for rain-coats, sheets of paper called "senka" are joined with a glue made from young fern shoots, stained by the juice expressed from unripe persimmons. Colour, when required, is applied as a powder mixed with bean paste; and a vegetable oil expressed from seeds, and known by the name of " Ye-no-abura," is used, the preparation chiefly consisting in softening the paper by rubbing it with the

hands.

A native work written in the tenth year of the Kancee sycle (1798), gives details of the process of manufacture, and also specifies prices, which, however, have considerably increased in the subsequent

The Report possesses a feature, as yet unique, not only among Blue Books, but among industrial treatises. It is illustrated by a series of twenty sketches, by Japanese artists, representing the entire process of the manufacture of paper, and rudely delineating the materials employed. Indeed, the word "sketch" gives but an imperfect idea of the rapid and shadowy outlines traced by the brush of the Japanese artist, or of the wonderful amount of character and of "go" communicated by a few dabs of colour. These quaint and admirable illustrations have been chromo-lithographed by Messrs. Harrison &. Sons, St. Martin's Lane, and the name of that firm appears on the title-page as printers of the Report, The paper employed for these illustrations might have been thought to be of Japanese origin. It is fine, and of not too bright a colour, and admirably in keeping, with the sketches, having been rolled before printing so that the effect of the fac-simile is perfect. We have noticed the Report at unusual length, in consequence of its rare interest and great commercial importance. We repeat, that gratitude is due to the diplomatic service of the country for this timely information; and we recommend all persons interested in the manufacture of paper in England to provide themselves without delay with this unique text-book. In introducing to the English reader so uncouth a word as "persimmon" it might have been well to state that it is the local, though not the Japanese, name of that most delicious fruit the Nespilus Japonica.