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life is sapped and marred by the dangerous pursuit after wealth at any price , by unhallowed lives , and unbelieving sneers , but above all is varnished over by the corroding veneer of plausible pretence , or sanctimonious hypocrisy , is indeed both alarming

and depressing . Such is our young England of 1875 . Where is it all to end 1 If satirists exaggerate , if satire is , as it practically is , extravagant in some respects , still , as we know well , there is no smoke without fire

, except in very extreme cases , and very scientifically constructed chiiunies . . The satirist himself could not be forthcoming , unlike the poet , '' fit , " " non nascitur , " he would have no vocation , and no audience , unless he had to hear the bray of folly and

of fools at our own very doors ; the counterfeit of the smasher could not be surreptiously moulded without the existence of the real " circulating medium . " And hence we must believe that the cause exists for satire , the need is here for satirists .

We fear that the world at large , and society in particular , heed but little the friendly advice , or the warning tone , take less notice of the smile or the frown . Such as they are , such they wiUcontmuctobe , until in the good Providence of God something will arouse our youth once again to the sterner claims of duty , to hi gher aims , and nobler lives .

Some irrational writers have lately been amusing themselves by charging women generally , especially our younger generation , with being the cause of all the folly , frivolity , extravagance , and giddiness of the hour . Most perverse of accusations , and most untrue . All honour to the

women , we say . They , on the contrary , despite the attributes of fastness and the like so liberall y awarded to them , are still the very salt of this great English society of ours ; they give to it what sweetness , what life , what purity it still possesses . Never at any time was woman ' s kindlinfluence

y more needed to restore and reform than now . Never was the honest-heartedness of Avomen more required to elevate the tone of our decaying and corrupt society than at the present hour . Never Avas it so needful to have Avoman ' s and trust and

grace uprightness and clear perception to bear on the reckless strivings of a diseased generation , to raise it from its " slough of despond , " to animate , to vivify , and to adorn

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to " point to brighter worlds , and lead the way . " Aud just as the patriot never despairs of his country , so we should never despair of humanity . It has passed through many epochs , and through many struggles , through fiery furnaces very heavy , and sad

seductions not a few , and blighted and tainted , as it is , there still linger with it the traces of a g lorious ceatiou , there still belongs to id the likeness of its Divine original . It may be weak and wavering , pervertedbetrayed and debasedbut it still

, , has before it ever the reality of its deathless mission , and the holy aud blessed truth of its eternal destiny . W .

Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE AND ART .

BY BRO . GEOKGE MARKHAM 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 .

MR . HENRY WADE , Master of the AVolsingham Grammar School , and the author of an admirable prose volume , now out of print , entitled Halcyon , or Bod Fishing in clear Waters , as Avell as of

Country Lyrics , and other Poems , has favoured me Avith the perusal of a lengthy local poem of his in MS ., entitled Richmond and Swaledale , Avhich he says " was Avritten merely as a description of the beautiful scenery it professes to dejfict , interlarded

with local legends , and not with any intention of correct chronological arrangement regarding the events themselves . " My own opinion is , that it would have been almost as easy for a cultivated mind , like that of Mr . Wade ' s , to have preserved strict

chronological arrangement , and thus have made his pleasant poem as truthful to history as it undoubtedly is to the sig hts and sounds of nature . Mr . AVade has the eye of a painter , and the ear and feelings of a poet ; his summer leisure is spent in angling , and in sketching from nature , his winter leisure in painting aud in literary composition ; and with his intimate know-