Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

when all people are more or less interested in the Geology o Cleveland . Mr . Walter Thornbury , in his Life of M . W . Turner , ll . A ., just published , thus notices the Liber Siudiorum of that great artist : — " The publication of the * Liber' stopped at the fourteenth number , making in all ( including the frontispiece which Turner somewhat ostentatiously gave to his subscribers )

seventyone plates . The great work , strange to say , never paid , and it stopped as soon as Turner began the * England and Wales / and got other more profitable engagements . * * One of the first -engravers chosen for the task was Charles Turner . Thc hard terms were that he should . engrave fifty drawings , attend to the printing , publishing and delivery of tho numbers ( for Turner was going to be his own publisher ) , at the miserable jn-it-o of eight guineas per plate . The painter was severe , exacting , and

sensitively careful in Lis corrections and additions . Thc engraver toiled through the first twenty plates ( forming Nos . 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 ) patiently . He then frankly complained of thc terms , and asked two guineas each , in addiuion . The plate specially fought over was one of ' Windsor Castle , ' with a view tf the Montem Hill and some Eton boys on it on the loft-hand side . Some additional trees on the right-hand side , and some angry demands to make the steps np the Montem clearer , were the last straws on the camel ' s back . The painter who had never had quarter given to hiin when he was sti-ngarling , now , iu his

turn gave no quarter . * * The maimer in which the ' Liber ' was got up and the engravings printed was unbusinesslike , fitful , and peculiar . We can scarcely wonder that , as is generally reported , some female servant of Turner , employed to stitch the numbers , stole many of the plates and sold them privately . Turner superintended the printing and publication in a most minute , and yet in a most capricious manner . The alterations in effects before publication were as numerous as the additions , as is

evident from the artist's proofs ( the touched proofs ) , still preserved by Mr . Pye , Mr . J . Dillon , and other collectors . * * ' These variations , ' says Mr . Dillon , who possesses a superb collection of the etchings , ' render it extremely difficult to forma complete set of the first impressions of tho ' Liber '; it appears that no set at the time when it was issued contained all the plates in the first state , or indeed in any one similar state ; on the contrary , in the original numbers a very early and fine

impression of one plate will be found in company with very late and bad impressions of another plate , as if one had been giveu with a rude sense of justice as a sort of compensation , for tho others . ' I am sorry , too , to say , that there can be no doubt , from years of investigation hy Messrs . Pye , Stokes , and other cotleetors , that Turner often took out the thickened letters of the plates in the bad third state , and engraved open , letters higher up in the plate—in fact , he sold sham proofs ; having private marks and scratches to indicate to himself the various states . "

Mr . J . T . Burgess , editor of the Bury Guardian , and formerly editor of the Clare Journal , is preparing for publication The Legends of the Dalcassians : a Collection , of Folk-Lore , Legends , and Historic Incidents , extant among the Inhabitants of the County of Clare . As we understand the descendants of Dal Cas are rich in legendary lore , we have no doubt that Mr .

Burgess's volume will be one of great interest to the curious . Sketches for Pictures , etc ., is the title of a volume of poems lately issued by E . L . The following verses tell their own tale : — "Tis the time of merry Christmas , True genial Christmas time ; When the hoar frost gems the branches , And the panes are starred with rime .

When the snow is l ying whitely , And stern winter ' s icy hand , Binding up the streams * and rivers , Makes a silence in tho land . "Tis a time of recollection , — When the loved and lost once more Walk with usas we remember

, , In the Christmasses of yore . AVhen we twine the holly garlands With their berries gleaming clear . And a thought comes up before us Of the farmer ones now sere .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

'Tis a time of happy greeting , Bringing heart to heart more near ; Reuniting the long severed ; Making the dear ones more dear . 'Tis a time of kindly feeling , — Of more true and earnest heed Por the sorrows of the mourner ,

Eor the help of those who need . Professor O'Curry , in his recently published Lectures on the MS . Materials of Ancient Irish History , says : ¦—• " The only valuable , the only complete and rich history , then , the only worthy , the only true intelligible history of ancient Erinn , must be written upon the basis of the Annals , of which I have given you some account , and , above all , upon the basis of the

last and most complete of the annals , those of the Pour Masters . Prom O'Donovan ' s richly-noted edition of this great work the student can indeed learn almost all the chief part of that history ; but , as I before explained to you , even these annals , and especially the earlier portion of them , are extremely dry and meagre ; so that to arrive at anything like an intelligible history of those early times we are forced to search elsewhere for assistance . The lights and shades , the details of

such a history , the minute circumstances , —not only those which explain historical events , but those equally or even more important descriptions , in which the habits and manners , the social ideas and cultivation , the very life of the actors in those events , are recorded for us , —all these things must be brought out in their proper places in order to transform the meagre skeleton supplied by the mere annals into a full and real history . Aud it is out of all the other materials which have

been spoken of in these lectures that these details are to be gathered , for the purpose of tiffing in tho outline drawn by the Four Masters . All these various materials must , however , first be submitted to the closest analysis , to the most careful comparison one with another , and to the most minute critical investigation , assisted by the light supplied by the languages and histories , as well as the antiquities , and what is known of the life , of other Celtic nations—of all the contemporarynations , indeed , with whom our forefathers were ever likely to have come in contact . "

Down South , or an Englishman's Experience at the Seat of the American War , by Mr . S . Phillips Day , the special correspondent of the Morning Herald , is in cousre of preparation for the press . A memoir of the late Mrs . Gore , the never-ending novel writer , is said to be in preparation . A new Satirical Poem is announced as nearly ready for

publication , entitled The Poet of the Age . With introductory remarks on the decline of Poetry , and critical notes . Dr . Hare has in the press a memoir of our departed Bro . the late Duke of Richmond . A new juvenile periodical is to be commenced this month , under the title of Every Boy's Magazine .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents , NORTHUMBERLAND AND THE MASONIC CHAEITIES .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE latEJSjrASONS' jrAOAZIIfE AUD MASOIfIC MIBEOB . DEAII SIR AND BROTHER , —Had Bro . John Barker ' s letter in last week ' s MAGAZINE not contained such an amount of what is commonly called " gammon , " I should not have condescended to notice it ; but as I feel that to leave it unanswered might lead brethren at a distance to believe the Northumbrian brethrenwith the exception of

, Bro . Barker , of course , were opposed to assistance being given to the Masonic Charities from the Prov . Grand Lodge of Northumberland , I most fraternally crave your indulgence by allowing me , through the medium of your valuable MAGAZINE , to reply to his mis-statements .