Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

Sloops Bonny Kirby Kuowle ; Sholter'd by the bare , brown moors , That skyward loom in eastern glow , Boimy Kivby Kno-wle ;" and each of those interesting neighbourhoods , Mr . Rowell Waller ' s little volume ought to find a warm welcome , for the heart of the poet has loved to dwell on their beauties . There is a healthy feeling runs through all the poemsancl a facility of expression as well ,

, which warrants me in giving my feeble commendation to the writer to go on cultivating that gift of poesy with which he is naturally endowed , as I may perhaps have opportunity of showing in a future Note . Athens , which Milton , in his Paradise Regained , well called " the eye of Greece , mother of arts and eloquence , native to famous wits , " is thus beautifully described by the Rev . Professor Porter , D . D ., in Good Words : — " The approach to Athens is most

impressive . Even now that some of its finest monuments have disappeared , and all that remain are in ruins , there are few places in the world which so completely rivet the attention , ancl so powerfully affect the mind . Independent altogether of its grand associations , the city is attractive ; and yet , when I have been asked wherein the attraction lies , I have at first had difficulty in replying . There is no richness in the scenery , for , with the exception of the grey olive-groves , lying so low along the banks of the

Cephissus as to be invisible from the sea , the surrounding country—mountains , glens , and plains—is bare ancl parched . Nor is there any sublimity in the features of the mountain-ranges , the loftiest of which , the distant Parnes , scarcely exceeds four thousand feet in height . The great charm lies in the variety of outline , in the extent of the panorama , in the mingling , one might almost say interlacing , of land ancl sea ; and , above all , in the exquisite softness and beauty of the colouring , especially when the evening sun , glinting over the conical tops of Cithajron , gilds the white marble columns of the Acropolis ; encircles , as with a halo of five , the brow of Lycabettus ; and bathes the sides of Hymettus in a flood of rosy light . The more distant mountains then assume

that deep , rich , purple hue peculiar to the Levant , making them , stand out , with wonderful distinctness ancl sharpness of contour , from the glowing background of the evening sky . The views which I got on many a bright summer evening , from the steps of the Parthenon ancl from between the columns of the Propylea , ancl from the chapel of St . George on the top of Lycabettus , the world could not match . Not only did my eye range round Hymettus , Pentilieus , Parnes , and Cithairon , with the whole intervening

plain , but it took in the entire Saronie Gulf , its historic islands , Salamis ancl iEgina , ancl the coast of the Morea beyond , from the citadel of Corinth to the promontory of Scyllamm . " Ancl he adds : " Nineteen centuries ago , Athens and Attica were different from what they are now . They . had then still other charms , of which time , war , ancl neglect have robbed them . The mountains were clothed with forests , the plains and uplands had that verdure which cultivation gives , ancl were studded , besides , with

picturesque villages ancl villas . Temples ancl monuments occupied prominent sites in and around the city . Nature and art , wealth and taste , combined to make Athens in external appearance , what she was in literature ancl philosophy , 'the eye of Greece . ' Athens stands in the centre of an undulating plain , some ten miles wide , shut in on three sides by the ranges of Hymettus , Pentelicus , and Parnes , ancl open on the other , the southto the Saronie Gulfon whose shorenearly five miles from th e citis the

, , , y , harbour of Ph-teus . In front of the harbour lies Salamis , its winding coast overlapping the promontories and bays of the mainland . Earther out rise the dark hills of iE gina ; and beyond , along the southern horizon , runs the serrated chain of Argolis . The Acropolis of Athens is an isolated rock , which rises abruptly from the midst of the cit y to a height of one hundred and fifty feet , and is thus visible from afar , its flattop crowned with the most magnificent ruins in Greece . Behind iton the north-westis a

, , still hi gher crag , the Lycabettus of classic story ; and near it , on the opposite side from l ycabettus , are several rocky mounds—Areopagus , Pnyx , Museiurn , and Nymphamm , each of which has a history ancl a fame of its own . " The Editor of the Hull Bellman thus advises a correspondent : " Re-write your poem ,