This is the only Anglican Cathedral built in England during the Queen’s reign. The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales, May 20, 1880, and the Cathedral was opened in his Royal Highness’s presence, November 3, 1887. A portion of the nave and the central tower have yet to be built. The architect is Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A.

As to the impulse given to the demand for literature by the extension of education, there need be no doubt whatever; the enormous supply continually pouring from the press of the country is sufficient proof of that. In respect of books, the returns from the numerous public libraries in the country show that works of fiction are in request far beyond all the other branches of literature put together. |The Predominance of Fiction.| Some sinister conclusions have been drawn from that fact, but it is not always remembered that most of those who frequent free libraries are hard-working people, who turn to books for recreation rather than instruction. On the whole, English fiction remains wholesome, a result which, notwithstanding the democratic nature of our Constitution, is owing, undoubtedly, in large measure to the tone maintained in her Court by our present Monarch.

From a Photograph] [by Eyre & Spottiswoode.

CENTRAL PARCELS POST OFFICE, MOUNT PLEASANT.

This spacious but unimposing building occupies the site on which, a few years ago, stood the Clerkenwell House of Correction. Parcel postage was first introduced on August 1, 1883, and the number of parcels forwarded between post offices in the United Kingdom during the succeeding twelve months was about 25,000,000. During twelve months of 1895–96 the number of “inland” parcels despatched reached the enormous total of 60,500,000.

That ephemeral, but not the less potent, form of literature known as the Press, may be said almost truly to be the creation of the Victorian age. Newspapers, as we know them, are the outcome of two circumstances, the removal of the paper tax in 1861 and the spread of telegraphic communication. |The Growth of Journalism.| Every industry, every sect, every amuse­ment, every shade of opinion, now has its special organs in the press; and perhaps nothing is more remarkable than the enterprise and high quality of the provincial journals, as distinguished from those published in the Metropolis. British journalism differs in several important respects from that of all other European countries. In the first place, it is absolutely free: there is nothing approaching a censorship of the Press, and in those rare instances in which, during the present reign, publishers have been interfered with by the State, as has occasionally happened in Ireland, the offence has not been a political one, but such incitement to crime or disorder as would be punishable in any private individual. It is matter for just pride that this liberty is exceedingly seldom abused. Another point of difference is that the British Government has no official or semi-official organ in the press. Official announcements are communicated, when necessary, to press agencies, and through them find their way into journals of all shades of politics. Lastly, the British press has maintained, as a rule, its impersonality. There has been a slight tendency of recent years to exchange the editorial “we” for a more familiar style, but this has been confined so far to journals of little influence. Leading articles and critical reviews are almost invariably anonymous, whereas in France the weight attached to these is proportioned to the repute of the name by which they are signed. In order to give some idea of the daily output of the newspaper press in London alone the following instance may be given:—On Monday, February 13, 1893, Mr. Gladstone introduced his second Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons. On the following morning there were despatched from a single establishment, that of W. H. Smith and Son, 374,218 newspapers, weighing upwards of 44 tons.

L. Tuxen.] [From the Royal Collection.

THE MARRIAGE OF THE CZAR OF RUSSIA TO PRINCESS ALIX OF HESSE, GRANDDAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN, AT ST. PETERSBURG, November 26, 1894.