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H ere is a specimen o f the sonnets, not the best, perhaps, but to the purpose : C IR C E . Men call me Circe, but my name is Love; And my cup holds the draught of sweet and sour, O f gain, joy, loss, renouncement, all the dower That woman’s love brings man. I hold above Your outstretched hand the chalice; ere you prove Its potency, bethink you; it has power T o test your soul. If in a sinful hour You touch it, you shall sink as those who strove O f old to win my heart. Lo! there they be, Not men but beasts; for with impure desire They sought me, and Love holds th a t blasphemy; And for their sin doth bid them dwell in mire Nor know their shame. Had they been pure in thought, My cup had strengthened them and injured not. It is but a tiny handful, this, o f first flowers ; not even a gathering o f firstfruits. But they have the fragrance o f promise, and a freshness o f real rarity. W hether the fruit will set and mature must depend upon the sunshine and the rain and other surroundings o f the struggling life, and on the depth of s"oil and strength o f rootage. O f these we cannot ju d g e ; but the first-flowers are sweet and pretty and worth a word o f welcome. G. M. TH E CREATO R, AN D W H AT WE M AY KNOW OF T H E M ETHOD O F C R E A T I O N .* T h e above is the title of a lecture, forming the seventeenth o f what are known as the “ Fem ley Lectures,” delivered annually, by the leading minds in the Ministry o f the W esleyan M ethodist Society. Th is specific lecture is the latest o f the series, and was delivered in Manchester, August 1st in present year, by the R ev. W. H . Dallinger, L L . D., F .R .S., Pres. R .M .S ., etc., Governor of Wesley College, Sheffield. T h e lecture occupies an unique position amongst its fellows, and will bear a most favourable comparison with any that have been delivered by the various Presidents o f the R oyal Society on the sciences o f the day. For clearness o f argument and lucidity o f thought — a s f a r as i t goes — it is unsurpassed, and, as a specimen o f the power o f English language, it is a treat to all who can estimate its value. It is all this, and more, and here its significance and suggestiveness comes in, and I can do no less than characterise its delivery under the circumstances, to an auditory that represents (in the eyes o f the sect itself, at all events) the purest form o f Evangelical religion, as a startling phenomenon, and as such I consider a notice o f it in no way out o f place in a theosophical journal. T h at such a lecture should be allowed to be delivered and favourably received, not only by the audience, but by the Wesleyan body at large, is a “ sign o f the times ” that the intelligent observer cannot fail to discern. It is, undoubtedly, an index * T he Kem ley Lecture, 1887, by Dr. Dallinger. T . W oolm er, a, Castle Street, City Road, London E .C . (is. 6d., paper covcrs,)