Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

THE SARGASSO SEA . ( Continued . } The region of perpetual calm to which hydrographers have given the name of the "Sargasso Sea , " bears a strong resemblance to a vast lake placed in mid-Atlantic , and girdled , not by terra firma , but by running water . Humboldt speaks of it as " that great bank ot weeds , which so vividly occupied the imagination of Columbus , and which Oviedo calls the

sea-weed meadows . " The cause of this perpetual calm may be best explained by a humble illustration . Take a basin half-full of water , and put into it some chips of wood , cork , and other flotsam . Then impart a circular motion to the water with a sweep of the hand , and watch the result . The chips , cork , and whatever else may have been thrown in will almost directly gather into the very centre of the basin , where the movement is , of course ,

the slightest , while the outer edge of the whirl , where the water is racing at its fastest , will be left completely clear . The same phenomenon is very often produced by children when they stir the tea in a teacup to collect the bubbles in the centre , and form what is known as " a kiss . " This is precisely what happens in mid-ocean . The ocean currents form the outer whirl , the Sargasso Sea is the smooth and almost motionless centre , and the great

Atlantic is the basin . But this is not all . The metaphor of the teacup and the basin is carried out exactly , and the greater part of the drift and seaweed which is swept along by the currents , is gradually whirled to the right , until they slip out of the whirl , and are left in the smooth waters of the Sargasso Sea . This process has been going on for centuries , and the result is that the surface of the sea is thickly covered with dense masses of a marine

plant , which is indifferently known to us as varech , gulf weed , or the tropical berry plant , and is called the Spaniard ' s sargazo . Hence the name of the Sargasso Sea , for the surface of it seems , as above quoted , like a perfect meadow of seaweed . It is supposed that this enormous mass of gulf-weed may have been partly grown at the bottom of the shallower parts of the seaand partly torn from the shores of Florida and the Bahama

, Islands by the force of the Gulf Stream . It is then swept round by the same agency into the Sargasso Sea , where it lives and propagates , floating freely in mid ocean . And the store is ever-increasing , both by addition and propagation , so that the meadow grows more and more compact , and no doubt , at the inner parts , extends to a considerable depth below the surface . Nor is this all , for at least two-thirds of all the infinite flotsam and jetsam ,

which the Gulf Stream carries along with it in its course , sooner or later , finds a resting place in the Sargasso Sea . Here may be seen huge trunks of trees torn from the forests of Brazil , by the waters of the Amazon , and floated down far out to sea until they were caught and swept along by the current ; logwood from Honduras ; orange trees from Florida ; canoes and boats from the island , staved in , broken , and bottom upwards ; wrecks and

remains of all sorts , gathered from the rich harvest of the Atlantic ; whole keels or skeletons of ruined ships , so covered with shells , barnacles and weed , that the original outline is entirely lost to view ; and here and there a derelict ship , transformed from a floating terror of the deep into a mystery , put out of reach of man , in a museum of unexplained enigmas . It is only natural that ships should carefully avoid this marine rubbish heap , where

the Atlantic shoots its refuse . It seems doubtful whether a sailing vessel would be able to cut her way into the thick network of weed , even with a strong wind behind her . Besides , if the effort were rewarded with a first delusive success , there would be the almost certain danger that in the calm regions of the Sargasso Sea , the wind would suddenly fail her altogether , leaving her locked hopelessly amid the weed

and the drift and wreckage without hope of succour or escape . With regard to a steamer , no prudent skipper is ever likely to make the attempt , for it would certainly not be long before the tangling weed would altogether choke up his screw , and render it useless . As it happens , moreover , the Sargasso Sea does not lie on the direct route of the main lines of communication between Europe and the two Americas , but within the

triangle so formed . A skipper who keeps straight on his course , with a strict eye to his compass and his dead reckoning , has no reason to fear that he may run his prow by night into the thick web of the Sargasso weed . The most energetic explorer of land or sea will find himself baffled with regard to the Sargasso Sea by the fact that it is neither the one nor the other . It is neither solid enough to walk upon nor liquid enough to afford a

passage to a boat . At the same time any one who fell into it would certainly be drowned without being able to swim for his life . Of course , it is quite conceivable that a very determined party of pioneers might cut a passage for a small boat , even to the centre . The work would take an immense time , however , and the channel would certainly close up behind them as they proceeded . They would have to take with them provisions

for the whole voyage , and a journey over a space equalling the Continent of Europe would probably require larger supplies than could be conveniently stowed away in a small boat . Besides , there is no reason to suppose that the expedition would be worth the making , or that the inner recesses of the Sargasso Sea would exhibit any marked differences from the outer margin . The accumulation of weed would be thicker and more entangled ,

and the drift and wreckage would lie more closely pressed together , but that would be all . There is no possibility of the existence of any but marine life in this strange morass unless the sea birds have built their nests in the masts or hull of some derelict vessel . It is a curious problem , to conjecture what will become of this vast accumulation of vegetable matter , which

iscontinually increasing , decaying , and propagating , while the outer whirl of the ocean currents presses it all inexorably together into a more and more compact solidity . One great writer on Physical Geography has given it as his opinion that the ultimate result of the increasing pressure will be that in the course of thousands of years the whole mass will graduallysolidify into coal , and form a bountiful store of fuel for future generations when the exUting resources are exhausted .

Our Early English Architecture.

OUR EARLY ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE .

[ Coiitimtcil ) . It is certain that the Gothic taste remained in vogue till towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII . His father ' s chapel at Westminster , and the chapel called Wolsey ' s tomb-house , at Windsor , previously erected , were noble examples . But soon after the Grecian style was introduced ; and no wonder , when so many Italians were entertained in the king ' s service . They had seen that architecture revived in their own country in all its

Our Early English Architecture.

purity ; but whether they were not perfect masters of it , or that it was necessary to introduce the innovation by degrees , it certainly did not , at first , obtain full possession . It was plastered upon Gothic , and made a barbarous mixture . Regular columns , with ornaments , neither Grecian nor Gothic , and half embroidered with foliage , were crammed over trontispiec . es , acades , and chimneys , and lost all grace by wanting simplicity . This

mongrel species lasted till late in the reign of James I . Ihe beginning of reformation in building seems owing to Holbein . His porch at Wilton , though purer than the works of his successors , is of this bastard sort ; but the ornaments and proportions are graceful and well chosen . Where he acquired this taste it is difficult to say ; probably it was adopted from his acquaintance with his fellow-labourers at Court . Henry had actually an

Italian architect in his service , to whom , without scruple , may be assigned the introduction of regular architecture , if it was clear that he arrived here as early as Holbein . He was called John of Padua , and his verv office seems to intimate something novel in his practice . He was termed Devizor of His Majesty ' s buildings . Who he was ? what was his real name ? how and where educated ? and what were his works , previously to his arrival in

England ? no research has hitherto discovered with any satisfaction . But here he acquired a title , not before that patent ( 1544 ) given to any architect , as " Devizar of His Majesty's buildings , " which implies likewise that he had the sole and exclusive appointment . Henry VIII . had then completed his palaces , and little more could have been done bsfore his death in 1547 . In one of the office books there is a payment to him of £ 36 ios .

John of Padua is mentioned again in Rymers Foedera , on the grant of a fee of two shillings per diem . This grant was renewed to him in the third year of the reign of Edward VI . From the first warrant it appears that John of Padua was not only an architect , but musician—a profession remarkably acceptable to henry VIII . Henry had another architect of much note in his time , but who excelled chiefly in Gothic ( from whence it is clear that the new taste was also introduced ) . This was Sir Richard Lea ;

master-mason and master of the pioneers in Scotland . This Sir Richard Lea was , with greater probability , excellent as an engineer or military architect . He was certainly so employed by his royal master . Henry gave him the manor of Topewell , in Hertfordshire , and he himself bestowed a brazen font on the church of Verulam , or St . Albans . The font was taken in the Scottish wars , and had served for the christening of the royal children of that kingdom . This tont was stolen in the Civil Wars .

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE . There is no more ardent student of the actor ' s art than Mr . Beerbohm Tree . Whatever he does has the impulse of sincerity . In his management of Her Majesty's Theatre he has rivalled that of the classic example of Irving ' s Lyceum . We are glad to know that "A Midsummer Night's Dream " has been a financial , as well as an artistic , success . If his " Rip " in the present production cannot possibly eclipse the public memory of

Jefferson's remarkable impersonation , he may eas . ly give the romantic story a better setting than that which satisfied Boucicault and the great American actor . We can hardly conceive of any play that lends itself more consistently to stage decoration . In the meantime , for the benefit of the sufferers by the Ottawa fire , Mr . Tree played a scene from Othello , he as the Moor , and Mr . McLeay as Iago . A reversal of the parts would promise greater

success . We have seen Mr . Tree s Iago in the country . It was marked by the actor ' s fine artistic sense of " make up , " and was full of merit . In our time , however , there has been only one Iago , and that was Henry Irving ' s with Edwin Booth as the Othello . Mr . Tree has made such marked advances in his profession , that we should look forward with satisfaction to a revival of the Shakespear tragedy at her Majesty ' s , but with Mr . Tree as Iago .

PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE . " lb and Little Christina , " is the second piece of the triple bill , which Mr . Martin Harvey has presented at his theatre , and it has more than one point of interest . It is in three scenes , the second separated from the first by a supposed interval of 15 years , and the third from the second by a supposed lapse of seven years . Miss Mary Rorke will appear in all three

sections , as Ib's mother , and the passage of time in the action , will give her an opportunity of showing her skill in " make up . " Again , little Miss Dare will figure as the child Christina , in the first scene , Miss Eva Moore will be the grown-up Christina of the second scene , and , in the third , little Miss Dare will re-appear as the adult Christina ' s child .

GENERAL NOTES . Every now and then an actress is . able to be her own manager , and then she can make opportunities for herself . This is what has happened to Miss Janette Steer , who is about to start a three months' season at the Comedy Theatre . But Miss Steer is no novice at the work . She has served a pretty long apprenticeship . It is some years now since she made her London debut . Besides playing prominent parts at the Criterion , Haymarket , and Terry's , she has had considerable experience in the suburbs and the provinces . She can claim to be taken seriously as an artist—as a player with a method of her own .

A still mere interesting management will be that on which Miss Marie Tempest ( Mrs . Cosmo Gordon-Lennon ) is about to enter . And for this reason—that the lady proposes to appear before playgoers as an actress solely , not as a vocalist . It is well that she has cut herself adrift from " musical comedy , " but we should have liked to see her at the head of an

operatic organisation . We consider her to be the most brilliant of our singing actresses . However , she elects to appear in the meantime in nonmusical pieces , and her Nell Gwynne should be a very winning performance . Wc are pleased to learn that Miss Tempest does not intend to desert the concert platform .

There has been some talk in influential quarters about the hours of West-end theatres . One manager has expressed an aspiration to start his performances at seven instead of eight . The whole problem centres on the fashionable dinner honr . So long as "Society" dines late West-end entrepreneurs - will have to raise the curtain late , for it is upon " Society "

that most of our West-end theatres chiefly depend . It is the half-guinea stall which renders possible our brilliant metropolitan productions , and it s " Society" that pays the half-guinea . Should it become fashionable to make supper the chief evening meal then ( but not till then ) we shall have the theatres opening at seven and closing somewhere about half-past ten .