STUDY AND STUDIO.
A Boy Reader.—1. Candidates for appointments as Engineer Students in Her Majesty's Navy must not be less than fourteen or more than seventeen years of age on the first day of May in the year in which they are examined. Their parents or guardians must pay £40 a year during their training, which may in certain cases be reduced to £25. The pay begins at once at 1s. a week. You can get full particulars by writing to the "Admiralty," London, when papers will be sent you.—2. Barnard Smith's arithmetic is excellent. You can procure it either with answers to the problems or without at a low price. If you want to prepare for any special examination you had better use the prescribed handbooks.
S. T. P. Q.—1. We find it a little difficult to select one play exactly fulfilling all the conditions you describe. Home Plays for Ladies (French, 89, Strand), is published in parts containing three or four plays each, price 1s. each part. Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen, arranged by Mrs. Dawson, published at 2s. 6d., by J. M. Dent & Co., might suit you; or Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act them, by Mrs. Hugh Bell (Longmans & Co.). We should obtain French's Catalogue in the first instance and send for one or two of the "parts" mentioned.—2. Your writing is very clear. We think it would be better if the loops to your l's, d's, y's, etc., were not so black, and if you avoided the inclination to make your letters pointed.
Rex.—1. There are a great many good French dictionaries, published at prices varying from 21s. to 1s. 6d. As you do not name any sum we may mention Feller's Pocket Dictionary, or Cassell's Dictionary; net cost of either, 2s. 7½d. Do not rely on any dictionary for the proper pronunciation of French.—2. Your writing is very well formed. There is not quite enough freedom about it; it looks too "copperplate" and stiff. But we do not advise you to introduce flourishes. Practice will improve it with regard to the point we criticise.
Marita (an Australian admirer).—1. The best hand-book to help you in composition is How to Write Clearly, by Dr. Abbott; but in order to store your mind with beautiful ideas, you should read the best of all literature, poetry and prose,—Shakespeare, Scott, Ruskin, and so forth.—2. We like your writing. It seems to us characteristic, and as you grow older it will more and more take your own impress. A good distinct sort of handwriting at seventeen is far better than an indefinite scrawl, and makes a more satisfactory foundation for what comes afterwards.
A Grateful Reader, A. L. B.—Would you not like to take a situation in a very good boarding school, and receive painting lessons from the master who teaches there in whole or part return for your services? The only way to hear of such a situation is to advertise in some London paper, or apply to a registry office, saying exactly what you want. You might find a situation on the Continent, entering a family (for instance in Dresden) to teach English, and studying under some artist. There is a Governesses' Home at Dresden, and the Lady Principal might give you some hints. Address, Fr. Hartung, Lehrerinnen Heim, Cranach Strasse, 11, Dresden. Again, you might give some household assistance in return for a home in London, and so attend either the Academy Schools or one of the numerous Metropolitan District Schools of Art. Advertising and private inquiry are the only means of finding what you want.
Othello.—You can obtain Milton's Paradise Lost (abridged) for one penny, in the "Masterpiece Library," but we advise you to spend about 1s. 6d., and to get such an edition as that in the Temple Classics (J. M. Dent & Co., London). We are glad you intend to read it.
Ivanhoe.—1. Are you not thinking of Bulwer Lytton's historical play, "Richelieu"? You can obtain an acting edition for 6d.—2. October 12th, 1875, was a Tuesday. Two questions are our limit.
Veilchen.—Mudie's Library, New Oxford Street, London, supplies a large number of the best foreign books, and as boxes are sent to the country we suggest that you should write there for particulars.