Notes On Literature , Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE AND ART .

BY BRO . GEOBGE JIAKKHAJI TWEDDELL , Fellow 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 Literary and Philosophical Society , & c , & c .

I AM such an enthusiastic admirer of fine old AVarwickshire , Avith all its sylvan scenery and historical associations , that any good book connected Avith that county is sure to give me pleasure . For the same reason , a bad book—literary work slovenl y

done—about " the Heart of England " and the land of her greatest son , might be reasonably expected to produce in me equal disgust . My various visits to the land of Shakspere , aud the unassuming hospitality of that dear friend Avhose hospitable doors

at Snitterfield Park and Welcombe House Avill open for me no more , have been such red-letter days in the calendar of a care-Avorn life , that AVarwickshire is to me as a fairy laud . Not a whit less interesting to me are its historic sites because remote

, dimly remote progenitors of my own , ( such as the Beauchamps , for so many generations among its mightiest Earis , ) have shone most conspicuously , for good or ill , in its long-gone-by transactions . But , above all , it is dear to my heartas it must be to

, that of eA'ery true Englishman , as the biithplace and home of our greatest poet ; ami wherever 1 wandered—whether by the quiet Avon , —

" Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge It overtaketh in its pilgrimage , " or in pleasant pastures , or in woods Avhere the warbling of birds Avere heard in the self-same songs as those they sang to Shakspere , all seemed part and parcel of

the mighty bard , and sank deeply into my soul . And at times the spirit of good old Michael Drayton too would seem to favour me with his company , even as he did his friend the poet of all humanity Avhen in the flesh ; and I felt as though I looked

into their eyes and listened to their elevating conversations . Imagination is a good gift of God , Avhich only needs to be reined by sober reason to give us pleasures

gold can never buy : and I know of no part of England where I can indulge in what my friend , the late John Bolton hogersou Avould have called " Rhyme , Romance , and Revery , " better than by the bosk y bauks of the Avon , the ruined castle of

Kenilworth , the vcalls of Coventry , the ancient city of AVarwick , the quiet glades of Snitterfield Bushes , the green hills of Welcombe , the cottage at Stratford where Shakspere Avas born , that at Shottery Avhere he Avooed and won his Anne

Hathaway , or that at AVilmecote from which his father brought away the gentleblooded Mary Arden , the church where their ashes repose in peace , or even beneatli the flamboyant chancel Avindow of " hungry Grafton" to say nothing of such historic

, places as Charlecote Park and Clopton House , and scores of others Avell known tu English readers . He would be a poor author indeed A ^ ho failed to make a good book Avith AVarwickshire for his theme .

Those who know Mr . J . Tom Burgess—Avhether by his very popular book on " Old English AVildflowers , " his little work on " The Last Battle of the Roses , " or his collection of " Legends of the Dalcassiaus , " or have heard him discourse , as he did to the Warwickshire Field Club and to the

Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society , in one clay , on the natural history and antiquities of Kenilworth , Guy ' s Cliffe , and Warwick , pointing out the objects of interest on the various spots—Avill not be surprised to learn that his newly published work on " Historic

AVarwickshire , its Legendary Lore , Traditionary Stories , and Romantic Ep isodes , " is as interesting iu the reading as it is showily got up . Of "Legends and My thical Lore " he says : — " The bards of the Gaels—the fathers of

the land—sang in forest and in temple the glories of the past . The young Avere incited to emulate the deeds of' heroes , and receive their reward iu the land of the blest . The gleemen of Woden and of Thor , the scalds of the north , took up the strain , and in the famed days of chivalry ths

romancer and the troubadour threw a poetic glamour OA'er the glories of the knightly deeds of baron and squire . In song , in story , and iu legend , many of these remnants of mythical lore have come down to us , and have bevu preserved in