energies. Charity is never felt to be so sweet as when given by a society patronized by a royal personage, for piety and royalty are thus combined. A royal chairman at a public dinner invariably insures a success. It may be a bore to have to deliver a speech on a threadbare subject; but the knack of piecing together pretty platitudes can soon be acquired, and sometimes an intelligent private secretary can supply an idea, which if not new can be made to appear so. The worst of accepting the office of chairman at a public dinner is that it generally involves a large subscription. That is unfair; where patronage is given the pocket ought to be spared. This was probably the idea of a certain royal personage who, during the second quarter of the present century, was always ready to eat a bad dinner in a good cause; but his countenance was all that he gave.
But there are other functions open to junior royalties besides those of presiding at charity dinners, or even in awarding prizes for bloated bullocks and obese sheep. Art in its most comprehensive shape merits the patronage of princes, and certainly derives benefit from it. Many dull souls become regular attendants at the theatre, the opera, and concerts simply because royalty sets the example. Apart from the refining influence of such modes of spending leisure time and cash, the pleasurable sensation produced by breathing the same oxygen as a R. H. is very great to some people. Fancy, for example, the delight of hearing a prince fiddle! Then there are the duties of a country gentleman, which are supposed to afford ample occupation to the most active, though what their precise nature is we have not yet been able to determine with exactitude. We fancy, however, that "improving the property and neighborhood" by building laborers' cottages on æsthetic principles, erecting model dairies, attending a few meets, giving prizes for gigantic cabbages and clean faces, breeding and slaughtering thousands of pheasants, wearing gaiters, and solemnly displaying ignorance of law at petty sessions, may be considered as among the chief functions of a landowner. A prince cannot very well dispense gratuitously bad law, but he may do everything else in the above catalogue.
To our thinking, however, the widest scope for a prince who is anxious, at all events, to do no harm, is afforded by social science. He may devote himself to this pursuit as much as he likes. If he really has studied and understands any branch of the subject, his rank will give weight to truths which, enunciated by a humbler person, would possibly meet with neglect. If he is quite ignorant, his countenance is still valuable to those who are not, and his want of knowledge may be veiled by generalities. We therefore earnestly entreat princes in want of employment to take up social science. It is a field that much needs cultivation, and has hitherto been but superficially scratched. It is inexhaustible also, and, no matter how numerous our royal family may become, there will be ample occupation for every one of them. The greatest of English poets has hazarded a conjecture that Alexander's dust may be used to stop a bunghole; how much more glorious would it be for our princes were some of them to use their influence, while still alive, to get our drains cleaned!
THE GREEN FLAG OF THE PROPHET.
Since the commencement of the war between Russia and Turkey, the world has several times been startled by the announcement that the "flag of the Prophet" was about to be unfurled in the streets of Stamboul. Such an event, if it should happen (which may Heaven avert), would proclaim a crusade in which all true Mussulmans would be bound to take an active part, and to fight against Christianity in every part of the world. They may be in India, Arabia, Egypt, or wherever else their scattered race has found a home: the raising of the green standard is a call which none may disobey, without, as the Koran lays it down, sacrificing all his hopes of Paradise.
This fearful appeal to all the worst passions of the Eastern races hangs like a menace over the Mohammedan world; and if the word was once uttered and the dread flag unfurled, there is no telling to what sanguinary excesses it might lead an enthusiastic and half-savage people. It may be of interest to our readers if, under these circumstances, we endeavor to make them acquainted with the origin and history of a banner which has not seen the light of day since the empress Catharine of Russia attempted to reinstate Christianity in the city of the sultans, and which, once unfurled, would set a whole world ablaze.
There have been many flags or signals
