Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE AND ART .

BY BRO . GEORGE If ARKHAM TAVEDDELL , follow of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries , Copenhagen ; Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society , London ; Honorary Member of the Manchester Literary Club , and of the Whitby Literarv and Philosophical Society , & c , & c .

MR . GEORGE ROBERTS , a working gardener at Loft house , near Wakefield , whose Avhole leisure for many years , Avhen he could , spare a few clays from his somewhat extensive market-garden , has been spent in rambling , with the open eyes of a naturalist , in various parts of Yorkshire—I have met

him myself down in Cleveland—and who has been in the habit , from time to time , of furnishing those Avell-knoAvn natural history notes which have attracted some attention in the Yorkshire Post and other papersis engaged in making numerous

, additions and corrections to them , Avith an entirely new arrangement of the Natural History Diary , for publication in a collected form , under the title of " Essays , Miscellaneous Notes , and Diary of a Naturalist . "

The work is to comprise notes and records on Avild plants , birds , quadrupeds , reptiles , shells , and insects ; sketches on antiquarian and rural subjects , local lists of shells and plants ; comparative tables of the dates of appearance of migrating birds ; tables

of rainfalls , with the history , natural and chronological , of Loftbouse , its folklore , and other useful and interesting information . Lancashire and Yorkshire have long been rather famous for a goodly number of Avqrking men whoin the true spirit of

, our aucient Fellow Crafts , carry their researches into the hidden mysteries of nature and science , —hidden only for those who seek to find , and I sincerely Avish success to Mr . Roberts , one of the most notable of the number .

Mr . L . ARNOUX , art director , and superintendent of Minton ' s factory , contributes an able paper on Pottery to tbe " British Manufacturing Industries , " now in course of publication by Mr . Edward Stanford . ' The practice of making vessels from plastic clays for holding liquids and provisions , " he observes , " first resulted from the exertions made by man to emerge from

his primary condition . It is a well-known fact that vessels of clay , only partially baked , have been found , together Avith stone implements belonging to prehistoric times , ancl that those vessels , unfinished as they Avere , had peculiar characteristics . "

All readers of tbe Bible and tbe classics must have been struck Avith the antiquity and importance of the potter ' s art . " It may have been anterior to the use of fire , for a sound and useful pottery may be made Avith clay hardened in tbe suuas

, still practised in Egypt and India . At all events , it existed previous to the Avorkiug of the first metal , as one can hardly understand how bronze could have teen melted

Avithout the assistance of vessels made of fired clay carefully selected . Consequently it is admitted by everybody that this is one of the earliest of human inventions , and that the material has proved most durable . " But tbe application of fire rendered tbe pottery much more lasting .

" This is particularly noticeable , " remarks Mr . Arnoux , " in the black Greek pottery , Avhich , while possessing all its former appearance , can , hoAvever , be scratched by the nail , or broken by a gentle pressure between the fingers . It is thus that Ave

are indebted to the art of pottery for innumerable Avorks of art , many of Avhich have ] Droved most useful in elucidating historical facts and making us acquainted with the habits , dresses , and ceremonies of ancient peoples . " I have myself helped to exhume it from a tumulus after an

interment of probably from two to three thousand years ; and Ave read of it being dug up iu all parts of Europe , Asia , and America . No one can now say who were the first potters . " ft is , however , " as our author observes , " easier to decide Avhich people first excelledin itand in this

re-, , spect we must give equal credit to the Egyptians ancl the Chinese . It is mentioned in sacred history that more than two thousand years before Christ the Egyptian potters were celebrated for their skill ; and , if we can believe Chinese

tradition , the manufacturers in China were at this same time under the control of a superintendent appointed by the Government . " Using the same metallic oxides for colouring as we noAv use , and for above a thousand years producing the finest ceramic works of art , the ancient Egyptians