This book, the result of years of research and meditation, was not a success. But the excellence of the studies of the great pioneers of Spanish conquest which it contained was quickly perceived when some years afterwards they were recast and published as separate biographies. Thus The Life of Las Casas, the Apostle of the Indians, appeared in 1868, The Life of Columbus in 1869, The Life of Pizarro in the same year, and The Life of Hernando Cortes in 1871. In this form all that is most important as well as attractive in the larger historical work has been placed within the reach of a wide circle of readers, to whom the result of Helps s researches otherwise would have been unknown.
From the time of his appointment as Clerk of the Council in 1860 to his death, Helps continued to add to the already considerable list of books, all dealing in one form or another with questions of social, sanitary, or political reform, which he had most earnestly at heart. No man felt more strongly that, in the words of Lamennais (Livre du Pevple, cap. i.), " things in this world are not as they ought to be." No man was more eager to do what he might towards obviating or curing the folly, stupidity, ignorance, lethargy, and selfishness to which so much of the misery, the ill-health, the suffering, and the sin of the world is due. It was a matter of conscience to do what lie could towards " the relief of man s estate," by putting again and again before the world the results of his observation and thought upon its defective social and sanitary arrangements, and in this the reason is to be found for nearly all his books. Besides those which have been already mentioned the following may be named to complete the list : Organization in Daily Life, an Essay (1862), Realmah (2 vols. 1869), Casimir Maremma (1870), Brevia, Short Essays and Aphorisms (1871), Thoughts upon Government (1872), Life and Labours of Mr Thomas Brassey (1872), Ivan de Biron (1874), Social Pressure (1875).
His appointment as Clerk of the Council brought him into personal communication with the Queen, and also with the late Prince Consort. They were not slow to find how valu able a servant they had obtained in him. His powers of mind, his gentle, reserved manners, and his tender almost chivalrous devotion to the sovereign, not demonstrated yet subtly making itself felt, produced their natural effect in winning the confidence and respect of these high personages. After the Prince s death, the Queen early turned to Helps to prepare such a sketch of the prince s character as might make her people aware how much they as well as herself had lost by his early death. The task was undertaken by Helps, and performed with all the excellence which might have been anticipated from his sympathy with the great aims and objects of the Prince s life, and his practised skill in the analysis and portrayal of character. His intro duction to the collection, published in 1862, of the Prince Consort s speeches and addresses was the first, and will pro bably always be the standard, attempt to sketch in clear and vivid outlines the varied characteristics of this remarkable man. Helps some years afterwards edited and wrote an introductory preface to the series of extracts from the Queen s diary, which were published in 1868 under the title Leaves from a Journal of Our Life in the Highlands. In 1864 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the university of Oxford. He was made a C.B. in 1871, and K.C.B. in the following year.
At no time of his life very strong, an obvious decline of vital strength, accelerated probably by anxiety from embar rassments in which his later years were involved by unfor tunate speculations in the purchase of land, was visible to Sir Arthur Helps s friends for some years before his death. This came after only a few days illness on the 7th of March Itf75.
Sir Arthur Helps was of middle height, slender, dark in com plexion, with a high well-defined forehead, deep-set eyes, and a mouth the habitually grave expression of which was tempered by a pleasant smile, when his faucy was touched by the humorous suggestions of his own mind, or the playfulness or wit of others, to which he was peculiarly sensitive. Something of the delicacy of his frame entered into his manner and conversation, which were marked by an avoidance of everything approaching vehemence or even emphasis. He loved good talk, and his low vibrant voice and grave playfulness of mind were very pleasant, when among trusted friends he was tempted into taking an active part in the give and take of easy conversation. But he was in manhood what he was in youth, when we are told by one who knew him well, " he had not the physical force or the animal spirits which predispose novices to oral controversy." As a rule, he was more ready in general society to listen than to talk, especially when people were present who.se character was worth studying, or whose ideas were fresh and based upon experience or comprehensive study. He was always learning, and a new thought or pregnant suggestion dropped by a friend in conversation was often to be found soon afterwards in his writings carefully developed, and illustrated from his own fertile stores of reading and research. As might be expected from his books, there was a sympathetic charm in his familiar intercourse which was peculiarly fascinating. His sensitiveness to pain, especially to moral pain, was extreme, and would have unfitted him for much of the rough work and ways of the world. As an orator, a character for which he had many intellectual qualities, he could scarcely have failed to attain a high rank. He was himself not unconscious of his gifts in this direction ; but he was altogether of too fine a fibre for the hard hitting and the fiery struggle of the political arena, in which alone he would have coveted distinction. Wisely, therefore, he made for himself, as was well said by a friend at the time of his death, " work of another sort, applying his gentle ever busy mind to such discussion as purifies the thought, informs the pity, and confirms the forbearance of mankind." To the last his mind retained its vigour as well as its delicacy of perception. Nor would he have regarded it as among the least happy circum stances of his lot on earth that he was taken away before either of these had been touched by the palsy of decay taken, moreover, swiftly and by no lingering illness to wear out the spirits of him self and those to whom he was dear.
HELSINGBORG, a town of Sweden, province of Skane and Ian of Malmo, is beautifully situated at the narrowest part of the Sound there only 3 miles wide< opposite Elsinore, and 32 miles N.N.W. of Malmo:. It is connected with the Swedish railway by a branch line to Hessleholm and Eslb f, and it has regular communication with Denmark by steamer. The harbour, completed in 1 832, is sufficient for vessels of an ordinary size. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in fishing, commerce, and agriculture. Corn is the principal export. A short distance north-east of the town there is a mineral spring, and about 2 miles south-east are the more famous wells of Eamlosa. The sea-baths to the north of the town are much frequented in summer. At Hoganas, about a mile and a half north, there are extensive coal-mines and also a pottery. The population, which in 1800 was only 1761, in 1860 was 5053, and in 1876 had reached 10,066.
Helsingborg is one of the oldest towns of Sweden. The original site is marked by the tower of Karnan (i.e. the churn), which was probably the strongest in the old fortress first mentioned in the year 1135. In the 14th century it was several times besieged. From 1370 it, along with the other towns of Skane, was joined for fifteen years to the Hanseatic League. The fortress having been laid waste by fire in 1418, King Eric of Pomerania about 1425 built a new fortress near the sea, and caused the town to be transplanted thither, bestowing upon it at the same time important privileges. Until 1658 it belonged to Denmark, and it was again occupied by the Danes in 1676 and 1677. In 1684 its fortifications were dis mantled. It was retaken by Frederick I V. of Denmark in November 1709 ; but his troops, under General Eantzau, were severely defeated near it by General Stenbock, 10th March 1710, from which time it has remained in the possession of Sweden. In 1711 it was again bombarded by the Danes.
