Notes On Literature Science And Art.

the British Museum between the stated hours ? How can the officers of public companies , or men engaged in law , [ in commerce , & c ., pay their visits to Great Russel-street , although they be denizens of London ? But what of those who are not ? AVhat of the Indian students who reside in the country , who only visit the metropolis once or twice a year ? It may be said that objections of this kind are of general application ; that , if arguments at all , they are arguments in favour of allowing books to be taken out

of our great national libraries and used at home . And so , to a certain extent , they are . But the case of the Indian student is a peculiar one . AVe scarcely think , therefore , that we exaggerate when we say that the transfer to the British Museum of the printed books and manuscripts formerly belonging to the old East India Company will put a stop to the prosecution in this country of those Oriental studies which resulted in the publication of so many works of Indian history ancl philology—works commonly undertaken as labours of love , and , except under very peculiar circumstances , seldom or never remunerative to the student . " Mr . AVoolner is sculpturing busts of Professor Henslow and

Archdeacon Hare , and a group of the children of Dr . Thomas JFairbaiurn , of Manchester . Sir John _? . AV . Herschel , in his contributions to the new edition of the Fncyelopedian Britanaica , remarks on radiation fogs and river mists : — " If the ground slope ever so little towards a valley , the cold air will run down-wards , and depress the mean temperature of the mixtureproducing fog ... In the AVeald of Kenta

, , district abounding in grassy slopes and winding and branching valleys , in the calm clear nights which are there so frequent , beautiful instances of radiation-fog are of perpetual occurrence . Immediately after sunset , in clear weather , dew commencesstreams of cold air set downwards , following the lines of shortest descent , their course being marked with mist , thin ancl filmy at first , but acquiring density in its downward progress , and by

degrees filling the valleys with fog . which , in the morning before snnrise , presents exactly the aspect of a winding lake or river of water , whose surface , perfectly even and horizontal ,. runs a sharply defined level line round every promontory and into every retreating nook . ... It is a matter of ordinary remark that the spring , frosts are severer in hollows ancl low grounds than on slopes and heights . "" In Fdwin of Deira , Mr . Alexander Smith ' s new poem , the introduction of Bertha to the Prince is thus described : —

" He stands in centre of thy brethren there AVortlry thy clearest greeting" As she turned ( Half-breaking from the arms that softly held ) A hai _ py blushing face , with yellow hair Ancl sweet eyes azure as the flaxen flower , The dim ah- brightened round her , and her voice Brake into silvery welcome , then so stopped That its surcease was to the ear what light

AVithdrawn is to the eye . The Prince , through all The hurry of his pulse , returned her grace . In ceremonious phrases—stately set Cold in themselves , yet tinged as by a dawn Of coming passion—when the King broke in Words that a kiss foreran , " Now go , my girl : Thou shouldst be very fair ; thy coming stole Thy mother from me . "

They go a-hunting , and meet alone in the wood : — "The Princess rode with dewy drooping eyes And heightened colour . Voice ancl clang of hoof , And all the clatter as they sounded on , Became a noisy nothing in her eai-, A world removed . The woman's heart that woke Within the girlish bosom—ah ! too

soon!—Filled her with fear ancl strangeness ; for the path , Eamiliar to her childhood , and to still And maiden thoughts , upon a sudden dipped To an unknown sweet land of delicate light Divinely aired , but where each rose and leaf AVas trembling , as if haunted by a dread Of coming thunder . Changed in one quick hour Prom bud to rose , from child to woman , love

Silenced her spirit , as the swelling brine Prom out the fair Atlantic makes a hush "Within the channels of the careless stream , That erst ran chattering with the pebble stones . " Afc the opening of the Social Science Congress at Dublin , Lord Brougham thus noticed the recent increase of co-operative societies : — "In the great department of social economy much attention was at

the last congress given to the important introduction into the manufacturing districts of the co-operative system- —the establishment of unions by the working classes , for the purpose of sharing in the profits on the goods consumed or used by them , as well as oi ' preventing adulteration of those goods , and for the purpose of carrying on branches of manufacture . In both these kinds of union the progress has been very great since last and in the

year , latter those doubts which seemed to exist of the scheme's practicability have been almost altogether removed . About fifty companio ' for manufacture have been established since last congress , beside .- , many of mere stores . In these last a capital of £ 500 , 000 is invested ; but in the former the manufacturing concerns represent a capital of nearly £ 2 , 000 , 000 , exclusive of the Manchester Cotton . Company ( Limited ) , whose capital is £ 1 , 000 , 000 . The returns of

Mr . Tidd Pratt shows the creation of above 250 co-operative societies within the last twelve months , all enrolled under the Friendly Societies Act . As might he supposed the savings aariJ profits of these goocl men are in part applied ito public purposes ancl to charity . Thus at Rochdale they have given " to the town , a drinking fountain ancl contributed £ 50 to the Indian Relief Fund , besides smaller yearly sums to the Dispensary and the Deaf ami Dumb Institution . The effect of co-operation in preventing those

strikes , so pernicious to working classes and so dangerous to the peace of the community , has been everywhere felt . The kxte strikes at Colne may be ascribed to the want of co-operative union © in that district ; but the mischiefs occasioned , ancl which left their traces behind , opened the people ' s eyes to their error , and the consequence has been the establishment in that district of a shsE with 700 looms upon the co-operative plan . "

AVe are glad to learn that a book-post treaty has been mm ' between Great Britain ancl France . The more the two comwries exchange ideas , the less likely will they be to exchange bullets sz _& cannon balls . Miss Harriet Hosmer , tho American sculptress , has completed ! her colossal statue of Colonel Benton , of Missouri . The statue ,

which has-been modelled at Rome , is to be cast iu bronze afc Munich , and erected at St . Louis . In Fraser's Magazine , Mr . AV . M . Rossefcti , writing on " British Sculpture , its conditions and Prospects , " thus notices one of osr living English sculptors , Mr . AVoolner : — "This gentleman is at xhn present moment known chieflbhis portrait busts ancl medallioEs-:

y y but there are other capabilities in him of which he has alreadygiven very clear proofs , ancl which will doubtless some day appear in much more signal evidence . In portraiture , we are not acquainted with any works which , for consummate study and arc , for lite and poiver , can at all stand beside his . The labour which 'he expends upon his busts is out of all proportion to that of other men , but not out of proportion to the effect produced : ifc is labour

of the brain as well as the hand ; exquisite art as well as determined ! study and finish . His modelling of flesh in all its delicate niceties may well be termed perfect , and is indeed carried so far that nothing but the real intellect and fire of his work would suffice to sustain it . With less of these highest qualities in combination , it would be over-finish ; these keep it in its place , and preserve it from transcending the bounds of true sculptural art . Gives .

expression and character strong and fine enough to present a true reflex of what pertains to life itself—a finish of modelling equally tiiie stands rightly bestowed and harmonised , but on no other conditions . The marble busts of Rajah Brooke and Sir William Hooker , and of Mr . Tennyson and Professor Sedgwick , now ia Trinity College , Cambridge , are eminent instances of thsse qualities , and rank certainly among the most remarkable works of modern sculpture ; and to these we may add the bronze medallions of

Carlyle , Tennyson , and Browning . In heroic portraiture , Mi . AVoolner has given us the Bacon of the Oxford museum , and a design for a AVordsworth monument ,- the latter , a much earlier work , as dignified in sculptural arrangement as the former is informed with intellect and meaning . The side-groups of the AVordsworth design are amply sufficient to indicate their sculptor ' s faculty of ideal invention ; indeedive could scarcely illustrate

, more aptly than from them the sense , or one of the senses , in which we understand the term . They are intended to exhibit the two dominant principals of the jioet's mind : on one side , authority controlling impulse—a father subduing his refractory hoy ; on the other , reverence to God as the fruit of the contemplation of nature —a mother , in a gesture of awe and worship , directing upwards the thought of her daughter , who has brought her a . lower .

Among other works of Mr . AVoolner already made public , VSJ cannot forbear citing a statuette of ' Love' —a female figure <___ delight fulgrace ancl tenderness , classical in the right sense , without needing the aid of a mythological name : and the ansll