Literature.

mctic , astonished and delighted them exceedingly . There was not a trade or manufacture or invention , common to Europe or the United States that they did not expect to have explained to them , in order that tbey might immediately proceed to imitate it ; and inquiries upon these subjects ivould come from the government , tho nobles , and the people generally . Like very inquisitive children , thoy often nearly posed their instructors . ... As an instance of the abrupt and unexpected queries put to them , ono of these persons told

me that a Japanese came all tbe way from the capital , an oA-erland journey of forty odd days' duration , to inquire about one 2 > articulaisubject . A \ 'ha , t was it ? 'Explain the means by Avhieh the hourly A-ai-iations of the barometer may be registered by moans of a photographic apparatus !' " My informant AA-as for a time fairly puzzled , but at last , in some recent work on photography , he found what , had been done , and told the messenger hoiv it was possible to do so . ' But . surely you want some other information ? ' he asked . ' Xo , that was what he was sent to know , and he had no other business 1 '"

At the time of Captain Osborn's visit , the Dutch instructors were engaged in teaching a select company to ride , but the Captain does not enli ghten us upon the performance . Wisely sticking to his OAA-n element , he tells us that the Japanese ivere very hamly in using their vessels , and had attained a perfect knowledge and mastery oi'er the marine steam engine- In the account which he furnishes us of Yedo , he agrees , in the main , with all the

singular reports we have hitherto read of that remarkable city , lie tells us , the fishermen go naked , all but a strip of cloth tied over their—noses ; and that the horses are shod with shoes made of straw . It appears that while Lord Elgin was there , the whole suite were under the strictest surveillance , not only of the police —who politely dogged them wherever they went—but of the whole of the general public of the capital . Their quarters were a

regular exhibition and station-house : — " The entrance hall of the embassy AA-as screened off here and there into small apartments forthe domestics , and the tAvo extremes ofthe hall ( for it ran along the Avhole face of the house ) terminated in the English kitchen at the one end , and the Japanese police establishment at the other . To us the latter was an endless source of interest , as much as were the wonders ofthe ambassadorial cuisine to all the Japanese priests

, women , porters , and loungers , with whom the courtyard in front was generally filled during the daytime . There were cracks in the wooden walls of the kitchen , ivhich rendered it a perfect pecpshoiv , and there , Avith eyes fixed firmly to the chinks , a curious individual , after a tough battle for the position , Avould remain until , in the height of liis astonishment , he inadvertently turned round to utter some exclamation , or

communicate his information to the bystanders ; in a moment he was borne away , and another successful sightseer won his envied peephole . . . . " AVe have already spoken of the curiosity of the people , and of the struggle which daily took place to inspect the mysteries of the ambassador ' s kitchen . There were many other instances of the wonder excited by the novelty , and ( as they owned ) by the superiority of the strangers . Yenoshe , the interpreter , had often to blush at Avhat he called the ill manners of his countrymenbut he assured that in three four

, us or years' time they ivould behave much better . Poor souls , it ivould , indeed , have been unreasonable to have resented their inquisitiveness ; and if ive ever did so , they immediately recalled us to our senses by a good humoured laugh . The visitors to the embassy being quartered at a temple a short distance from the abode of that Arguseyed individual , the deputy lieutenant-governor , wove especially favoured with the attentions of those Indie * and gentlemen of Yedo who wished to judge for themselves of

English manners and customs . No doubt the priests , who , with their families ( for priests in Japan are alloived to marry ) , were living in the enclosure of the same temple , turned to profitable account the spectacle we afforded to their friends and neighbours . There was no objection to gratify all reasonable curiosity , and arrangements were made that our only apartment should be throivn open for air audience directly after the morning ablutions were completed . This express stipulation that a Briton taking his bath Avas to form part of the

no morning ' s entertainment , was made in consequence of one of our party having unconsciously , for several mornings , been shown to various parties of Japanese ladies , in such light costume as might enable them to assure themselves of the fact that his skin was quite as fair as bis face and hands promised . "

On both sides there appears to have been a desire to maintain the most perfect good humour . Every thing English was treated with the most profound respect , which led , in one instance , to a very amusing mystification of our author , he believing a certain white goat to be a Japanese divinity , while some of the natives had just the same idea of its English importance . It is so good that the captain shall tell his oivn story-

—. "Stepping out into the balcony ivhich ran round the apartment , we saw a white goat trotting over the grass and flower beds ,-bleating incessantly , whilst the priest and policeman ivere addressing . it in Japanese , and the former occasionally threw up his arms , and made reverend obeisances to the brute . AVe had ready a pair of stout boots to pelt the brute with , but they fell harmless from our bauds , for we at once jumped to the conclusion that the gout was an incarnation of Buddha ,

and that to touch it would be sacrilege . Mentally anathematising all such noisy objects of idolatrous worship , we besought the priest and policeman to persuade their four legged deity to remove its sacred presence to .-mother part of tho premises . They understood us , and with aive struck faces , Ailiich the bright starlight enabled us to see , proceeded to carry out our wishes . They approached us most cautiously , making all sorts of coaxing and wheedling noises ; but directly tho goat showed tho slightest inclination to resistor dropped its head as if to buttaivay

, , seuttled priest and policeman , and hid themselves until ive cheered them on again to tho fray . . At last the animal was expelled , aud the priest held up his hands , shook his head , anil sighed as he returned to his hut . as if what ho had done was " no canny ; " aud all this so confirmed us in our supposition , that when the brute returned again at dawn and bleated ,, ive only pulled the bedcloths over our head , and hoped for the speedreligious enlihtenment of the idolatrous worshi of

nannyy g ppers goats . All that we saw during the day confirmed us in our original idea , for there was the goat browsing upon dwarfed plants , which were worth their AA'eight in gold , and the priest did uot attempt to stop it , but offered it hot boiled rice in a plate—a devout , offering which the beast indignantly rejected . A second night of the same bleatings AA-as , hoivever , too much for the patience o £ a naval officer ; aud , taking the greatest care not to touch or hurt the goat ( a forbearance which cost au

hour ' s hard work , where fiA-e minutes ivould otherwise have sufficed ) , wo expelled it from our gardens , and sent it forth into the general court of the temple . Had a certain old gentleman iu black made his appearance in that court yard , the astonishment and horror of the horse boys , porters , and policemen could not have been greater , and they seemed quite ready to folloiv the example of the children , AA'ho ran off yellingivith alarm . Then , and not until then , the truth flashed across us , that and what

the goat was one that had been brought from the ship , appeared at first to be reverential awe was merely extreme fear and wonder at tho sight of so marvellous a quadruped !" Our author tells us the Japanese are not great warriors , but have a boyish love of weapons , and during Lord Elgin ' s visit they seemed to look upon arms as very glittering and brilliant playthings : —•

" One could not help smiling at this childlike love for arms , and , with all disposition to approve of every thing Japanese , certainly a man ivith his dress straw sandals , and clean shaved poll , with a long ugly musket in his hand , and a British grenadier ' s belt and pouch over his shoulders , did not cut a martial or imposing figure . This love of guns and swords is extraordinary , for , with the exception of petty rebellion , it is now some centuries since there was any demand upon the military spirit of Japan and the le and chiefs are thing but a fierce and

blood-; peop any thirsty race ; yet to carry arms is the ambition of every Japanese , and the right to wear tii'o sivords is a stamp of gentility indicating that the person so distinguished is aboA-c the trading class . Each of the sixtygreat princes , the barons ofthe Japanese empire , spends the major portion of his revenue in guns , powder , and arms , aud each of them has an < enormous body of idle serfs , AA'ho at his bidding become soldiers . Sharp sivordsand boil's and arroivsconstitute as yet the principal armamoBt

, , of these hosts : but every effort is being made to make and obtain muskets anil rides , and to drill the natives in the European style . Throughout the period of our stay in Yedo , drilling of men was constantly going on , under the direction of Japanese officers , instructed by the Dutch at Nangasaki , and there was an eternal target practice with muskets in more than one of the enclosed batteries . "

Having quoted the work rather freely , ive shall conclude hy briefly noticing one or tivo points , which SIIOAV the sensitiveness of the Japanese to the opinions of their visitors . It had come to their knoivledge that the American account of their visit had made some severe strictures on the gladiatorial displays which bad been slioiA'ii them at Yedo , and , accordingly , all such exhibitions ivere strictly prohibited during the stay of our embassy . But what is '

still more remarkable , is , that inspitc of the indelicacy which the mass of the people exhibited , a police officer was sent before the English , AA'hen they ivent into the streets , to have all pictures and models , ivhich might be oifensive to English notions of propriety , carefully removed ; and " they disappeared like magic at his approach , though not Avithout a good number escaping his detection . "

A . Cruise in Japanese Waters is a very important instalment of information about a nation of which AA ' C knoiv but little ; and , as we said at the commencement , Captain Sheravd Osborn writes not only instructively but amusingly ; so , to our readers seeking for novelty in either department , AA-C cannot recommend a more pleasant work than .- ! Cruise , in Japanese Wafers . NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

The latest number of the American Historical Magazine contains an interesting paragraph relating to the late Lord Macaulay , in the following words : — "An indignant correction of a libel comes to our notice incidentally in the catalogue of Autograph Letters , & c ., just issued by the auctioneers , Bangs , MerAVJn and Qo- It is in a , letter from the . h . istorja ™