assisting his natural extraordinary histrionic perception with the observations of scholarly and gifted people. He is a sympathetic man, and possessed of an astonishing celerity of thought and changeful emotion. He makes a skilful use of his hands in reading his lines, and their shapely beauty is said to assist the illusion wrought by his sympathetic and intense elocution.

Lastly, Mr. Irving is always original; in all his parts he is true to his own intelligent perception of the manner in which they should be played. He does not lean his back against tradition, content with the ideas of other men. He goes to the book of Shakespeare and not to the business of a scene as others have played it.

The prominent actor is a tall slim man, somewhat nervous in his movements. His appearance indicates the great actor. You feel it in talking with him; but there is a cordiality and well-bred dignity in his manner that puts you at ease in his company. Here is a man who is every inch a king," but he don't seem to be conscious of the fact himself, and from the moment of shaking hands you feel quite at home with him. He is rather slow and deliberate in his speech, now sitting carelessly in his chair, now standing in a graceful pose, and now striding the room and stamping his foot impetuously at times by way of emphasis. What an expressive countenance he has! It is not handsome, but its features are strongly marked and capable of picturing every emotion of his heart. His long nervous frame is like a delicately-stringed instrument, which his artistic spirit plays upon with masterly skill.

No living actor has a more correct understanding of the principles of art, and his success marks an epoch in the history of the British stage.

Mr. Irving thinks that the Shakespearean drama is rapidly growing in popular favor; certainly in his own country, and apparently in others.

GEN. JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

Born in 1807.

THE soldier and statesman, Gen. Jos. E. Johnston, is a native of the state of Virginia. In 1829 he graduated at the United States military academy, in the same class with Robert E. Lee. Mr. Johnston at once entered into active military life, and served with distinction through many battles, notably those of the Indian

Florida and the Mexican wars.

In 1861 he resigned from the military service of the United States, and entered the confederate service, in which he became one of its most noted generals.

In 1865 Gen. Johnston was ordered by Gen. Lee, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the confederate states, to assume command of the army of the Tennessee, and all of the troops in South Caro

lina, Georgia, and Florida, "to concentrate all the available forces to drive back Sherman."

Gen. Johnston was wounded in the Florida Indian war, in the Mexican war, and in the civil war,- ten times in all.

After the war he was president of numerous business enterprises, and in 1877 was sent to congress. He is now

(1888) commissioner of railroads of the United States, being appointed by President Cleveland in 1885.

Gen. Johnston has published a narrative of the late war, which attracted considerable attention,

ALFRED P. EDGERTON.

Born in 1813.

A VARIED career has been that of Mr. Edgerton, who in his time has been an editor, merchant, and politician. He is a native of the state of New York. Removing to north

western Ohio, he was elected to congress as a representative from his district; and so popular had he become that he re

ALFRED P. EDGERTON.

ceived the re-election, thus being a member of that body for two terms

Mr. Edgerton subsequently removed to the state of Indiana, where he now resides.

He is a prominent democrat, and has taken an active part in the management of the democratic party.

The educational movements in his adopted state have also claimed a fair share of his attention, and in which he is ever ready to take a prominent part.

In 1885 he was appointed to the office of civil ser

vice commissioner, in which position he has distinguished himself as a man of great ability and broad principles.

The idea that the one hundred thousand or more officers of the government civil service belong to the party in power is acknowledged as a bad one, and the civil service commission was established to draft rules for the administration of the civil service on the basis of merit and competition.

SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX.

Born Sept. 30, 1824.

MR. Cox is a native of Ohio. His father Ezekiel Taylor Cox was by trade a printer, but served in the Ohio senate during 1832-33. Mr. Cox received his education at the Ohio university at Athens, and Brown university in Rhode Island, graduating with honor from the latter institution in 184.6. He shortly afterward be

gan the study of law in the office of Vachel Worthington, in Cincinnati, and he made the Queen city his home until 1850, when he went abroad on an extended European tour.

On his return he published "The Buckeye Abroad," a well written and popular work, descriptive of his travels. In 1853, Mr. Cox became proprietor and editor of the "Ohio Statesman," a Columbus paper, at which place he took up his abode.

SAMUEL S. COX.

While editor of this paper he received the sobriquet of "Sunset" Cox, having obtained the appellation from a description of a beautiful sunset witnessed by him and published in his paper.

In 1855 he was offered the secretaryship of the legation to England, but he declined the honor; he, however, the same year, accepted the secretaryship of the legation to Peru, but resigned on account of ill-health.

He was elected representative from the Columbus district

in the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh, and thirtyeighth congresses, serving on various committees, and as one of the regents of the Smithsonian Institute. He did all in his power to avert secession and civil strife, but the war having begun he heartily supported all constitutional measures for bringing it to a speedy termination.

In the thirty-eighth congress (1863) he was the unsuccessful nominee of his party for speaker against Mr. Colfax.

In March, 1865, Mr. Cox removed to New York, and the same year published his "Eight Years in Congress." Shortly after this he made a visit to the shores and islands of the Mediterranean. As the result of his trip he gave to the public a volume entitled "A Search for Winter Sunbeams,' published in London and New York. It is a work commendable on account of its elaborate and philosophical style.

Mr. Cox has met with great success as an author and as a lecturer on literary themes: his most popular lectures being "Spain" and "Poetry of Mechanism."

In 1868 Mr. Cox was elected a representative from the sixth district of New York to the forty-first congress, and was re-elected over Horace Greeley in 1870. His principal efforts being made in connection with the tariff, he has been constant in protesting against the doctrine of "protection," presenting his views with elaborate statistics. He was reelected to the forty-third congress, and to every congress until he was appointed United States minister to Turkey, from which he soon resigned.

He is again a congressional member from New York. He has occupied a seat in the house for a longer period than any of its present members. While he does not pretend to great activity in originating measures, he pledges himself to understand every bill that comes to a vote in the house.

Of the members of congress, certainly, none on the democratic side "hold the house" better than Mr. Cox. He is a ready, graceful, self-possessed and vigorous debater.