TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Hitherto most people have The Czar regarded the Czar in the light as he is. • of a cold abstraction rather

than as a man. We know of him as a despotic ruler at whose frown millions of subjects tremble, while he himself lives in a constant fever of terror of death by assassination. Little has been known of the Czar as a man—of his personal tastes and habits, his intellectual qualifications, and so forth. This information ia at length supplied in an interesting article contributed to the Contemporary Review by E. B. I_rdn, whose writings on Russia give one always so much the impression of being by a man who has seen things from the inside. , In person Alexander H_, we learn, is powerfully built, strong and muscular. In his younger days he was able to bend a bar of iron across his knees, or to burst in a strong door with his shoulder. At the present time he delights in manual labour of the heaviest j

description. He unhesitatingly puts his hand to any kind of work that has to bo done ; but his usual occupation is to fell Luge trees, saw them into planks, plane them, and generally prepare them for the cabinetmaker. In winter the gardeners have strict orders not to clear away the snow from the avenues and walks in the park, which is invariably left for his Majesty to shovel into enormous mounds and transfer them to a cart.

It is often suggested that the Does He Czar does not know the cruelKnow ? ties perpetrated in his name.

The writer in the Contemporary gives no countenance to this charitable supposition. Coldblooded cruelty, or savage hatred, he reminds us, is not the correct name of the motives that inspired the slaughter of the Amalekites by Saul, or the autos da fe of Arbues de Epila, and it should not be forgotten that there is a moral ailment called a false conscience, the effect of which is to poison the action without vitiating its source. "Men never do wrong so thoroughly or so cheerfully," says Pascal, "as when they are obeying the promptings of a false principle of conscience." To fancy, therefore, as many English optimists do, that the Emperor needs only to be informed of the facts in order to repeal the cruel laws and remodel the system of government which is raining his people, is as reasonable as to delude oneself with the pleasing notion that ah illiterate peasant needs but a pair Of spectacles to enable him to read his Bible.

Laxi_ does not give a very The Mental flattering picture of the Aspect of intellectual attainments of the Czar. s the Czar. His reading is

not varied or extensive. He conflnes himself chiefly to reading Russia*), French, and English novels. Among the novelists of his own country he prefers Count Tolstoi, little though he relishes him a3 a preacher. Among the likings of the Czar, it appears, is a fondness for scandal and loud music. The former is largely supplied by General Tsheverin, who gives his Imperial master all the gossip of the Court, and is known as the Czar's jester. As for the loud music, tbe great Monarch is able in a great measure to supply his own wants, as he is a practised performer on the trombone, which we are told he plays with as much success as any specialist in his military band. It will be no news to the public to learn that the Czar is anything" but a happy man. The Crown sits indeed heavily upon his" brow. "It's awfully hard lines that I, of all others, should become Emperor of Russia," was his remark soon after it had become an accomplished fact. Even his brothers, cousins and other relations, the writer ia the Corttemporary tells ns, " are never at ease in his presence, aad are far more afraid of correcting an error or giving utterance to an unpalatable Statement of fact than tbe meanest of hi 3 subjects. The atmosphere of human sympathy is thus exhausted v by a moral airpump from the State apartments, and the Czar feels faint and languishes for the love which becomes hi 3 only iv the narrow circle of his family. Many an afternoon he presses his sorrowful face against the window pane of his apartment, and looks out wistfully at the broad stream of humanity as it ebbs and flows along the street, and envies the unenviable lot of the humblest of his subjects. When his Ministers and courtiers come to pay him their respects before setting out for their estates in summer, he has more than onco remarked to the departing official, "Ah I how I long to bury myself in the country. I envy you your happiness." It is a melancholy, picture, but no doubt a true one. . . * .

A REPRESENTATIVE of tha A Chat about y St. James's Gazette has Canaries. been interviewing tho keeper of a "canary farm"—if the wing of a house devoted to their rearing can Iba so designated—and has elicited some very interesting information about this cheerful little songster. Mr . Heath, the fancier in question, is a very successful exhibitor. At Islington he showed thirteen birds, and took twelve first prizes, one second prize; and thirteen special prizes. Hi 3 average has been much the same at the Crystal Palace shows. Some ,of his • birds, too, have fetched very good prices. One, gentleman gave him £24 for two canaries, He sent four to Australia, for which he got £50, .and on another occasion he received £92 for eight birds. As to the number of canaries in London Mr Heath puts it at over 10,000, There are nine or ten varieties of canaries, and it is a mistake to imagine that they are to be seen flitting about in all the glory of buff and cinnamon plumage in the ;Cahary Islands. The birds there are very jsmall, and are all green in colour. A. fancier, however, finds it necessary, to keep green canaries for breeding purposes. If Ihe bred yellow canaries one with another any length of time, he would soon produce white canaries. As for their Bong, the sweetest note is that of the German canary which has a low soft warble j it compares favourably with the shriller note of the English canary. To be. successful in rearing canaries, like success in most departments of life, requires pains and care. The principal things to be attended to are uniform temperature—-for canaries are subject to asthma — general cleanliness, and varied food.