We advise our readers not to give up Shakspere on account of the so-called cipher of the Hon. Ignatius Donnelly. Authority is of some importance in this case, and whatever authority Mr. Donnelly has is in Minnesota politics. All that has been reported about Mr. D.’s discovery might be true and still not disturb Shakspere’s claim to the writings which bear his name. * * * * * The last of the patents for sewing machines expired in 1876; but the women of the country are so attached to the old machines that they would not buy the new, and probably better machines. The result is that the new companies go into bankruptcy and the old companies monopolize the business. Here is a plain account of one of the “grasping monopolies” of the country. A few others are explained by the insane attachment of the men of the country to tools of a particular brand or make. * * * * * We notice in the papers an unusual number of reports of contests over wills containing charitable bequests. Let us say frankly that we think this post mortem method of being charitable rather a sneaking way of discharging the duty of benevolence. Give like a man what you might keep yourself. It is a coward’s way to assess your children to pay your debts to philanthropy. A man who really wants to be benevolent is usually able to execute his own will. Be your own executor. * * * * * The largest farm in America has been sold to foreign nabobs. It is a cattle ranch of 800,000 acres in Texas. Mr. King, who has just sold it for $6,500,000, built up this property, beginning with nothing. He is now eighty years old and thinks it time to retire from business. The new owners will operate the farm as a joint stock concern, and it will probably be bankrupt in twenty years. One King is better than a score of nabobs for such business. * * * * * Dr. Talmage is still picturesquely anti-evolution. In a recent speech he said: “There ought to be some place where God could go, where the evolutionists could not reach him. They keep ordering him off the premises.… According to evolutionists we are only a sort of Alderney cow among other cattle. I believe in an evolution of mortality into immortality—a heavenly evolution.” * * * * * The English House of Lords has obtained a great victory. After a summer of agitation in the form of great meetings, monster processions and burning eloquence, the Ministry has compromised with the Lords on the Franchise bill, on terms dictated by the Lords. The Radicals are very angry; but Mr. Gladstone has secured the extension of the ballot to some millions of Englishmen, and is believed to regard this success as a fitting crown of his public career. He will leave the “reform of the Lords” to his successors. * * * * *