Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

tion : he is now in his 'ioth year , and has sustained some serious losses , and , moved by these considerations , some of his friends and admirers propose to raise a sum of money for investment for the benefit of himself ancl his family . Professor Eraser , of Edinburgh , and the Rev . J . J . S . Perowne , of King ' s College , London , will act as secretaries , and Mr . J . Gurney Hoare , of Lombard-street , as treasurer of the fund .

In an able article on political economy , published in the present number of the Revue Conlemporaine , II . Levasseur borrows the following concerning workmen in France from Louis ~ Reybaud's book on the subject . " In the north of Erance the wages of a cotton-spinner are 3 f . 25 c . per day , and may rise to 4 £ . for a clever hand . A country weaver does not earn more than If . 50 e .

per day . Generally a man earns from fiOOf . to 1200 f . in the course of the year , calculated at 300 working days ; a woman earns from 375 f . to 450 f ., ancl a child from 120 f . to 225 f . The expenses of a workman in Normaiicby would not exceed his income did lie know how to husband it ; he might even lay something by . The only heavy burden is house-rent , especially in

the larger towns ; living is not clear , ancl his wardrobe is cheap ; hence , with a little order , ho would do well , but unfortunately it is this he neglects . He has a predilection for damp quarters and narrow streets , where he ancl his class live cro-vded together . At Amiens , convenient and healthy lodgings have been constructed on high ground , but the workmen shun them , Afc Lille , the authorities have had to intervene in order to drive them out of tho cellars where they were being devoured by fever ;

but they have not abandoned the filthy streets called courelles . At Roubaix , they inhabit what are called the forts , which look rather well on the outside ; but on penetrating into those courts one finds that the ground is not levelled , dirty water is left there to stagnate in pools , and all kinds of filth are accumulated around . The interior is not more inviting . Generally the bed

is unmade , the floor is not swept , straw is the only bedding , ancl is seldom renewed ; different ages and sexes are confounded together ; there is but one bed for all . Here M . Levasseur pauses to ask how this can he . It is not attributable to insufficiency of wages , since there are a few families which , though they do not earn more , still live decently . In Alsatia , with lower wages , the

working classes live much more respectably . The cause of the misery described lies in the moral condition of the people , and M . Levasseur points to drunkenness as tho reigning vice . Good example on the part of the masters would do much to correct this state of things ; but , according to II . lteybaud's testimony the master is scarcely better than the man , and . ifc is not easy for an employer to preach abstinence when his own conduct belies his words .

Messrs . Simpkin , Marshall , ancl Co . will publish immediately a Civil Service Arithmetic , containing , in addition to the ordinary arithmetical course , upwards of two hundred questions proposed afc recent civil service examinations , their answers , hints for solutions , and the names of the departments in which each question has been proposed .

Mrs . Wood , the author of Fast Lgnne , will commence a new novel . " The Troubles of Mrs . Ilaliburton , " in the Quiver of this month . To the same periodical the Right Hon . J . Napier , ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland , will contribute a second series of papers on " Butler ' s Analogy . " Messrs . Kelly and Co . have a half-crown Post Office Guide to

London in hand , which will be out at the end of the month . The Reminiscences of Captain Gronow , formerly of the Grenadier Guards , comprising- anecdotes of the enmp , the court , and the clubs , at the close of the war with France , is in preparation .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

Mr . Carlyle , who has found that it will require five volumes to contain his Sistorg of Frederick the Great , has resolved ( says the Critic ) to publish the third volume , which has heen printed off some time , by itself . The fourth volume , which is well advanced in type , will likely be kept hack until the completion of the fifth .

The Queen , the ladies' newspaper , will remove next week to larger ancl more prominent offices , at 346 , Strand . It is announced that the Queen will henceforth be edited by a lady , and neither pains nor expense , it is promised , will be spared to make it the most attractive ancl useful ladies' journal ever published . Political news will he omitted , as such news can be best obtained in papers devoted to it . The speciality of the Queen will lie in all matters which interest ladies at home or abroad .

The National Portrait Gallery , Great George-street , Westminster , will bo open tc the nubile on Easter Monday , Tuesday and Wednesday , from ten to five o ' clock . s "The Dublin University Magazine" has lately changed editors , Mr . Cheyne Brady having been succeeded by Mr . Le Fanu and Mr . Anderson Scott .

The Rev . Issac Taylor has a work in preparation on " Words and Places ; or , Chapters on the Relations of Geography and Etymology . " The Life and Writings of Tim Bobbin , the renowned Lancashire poet , is announced by Mr . John Heywood , of Manchester , for publication , in one volume , next month . Tim Bobbin is

little known out of Lancashire j but in Lancashire he is about as well known as Burns in Ayrshire . Miss Anne Sheepshanks has been elected a Fellow of the Astronomical Society . The splendid present of instruments made by this lady to the society ( says the Athenmuni ) , and the large endowment by whicli she has perpetuated the name of her

brother ancl his astronomical pursuits in his own university , most properly call for such acknowledgment as a society devoted to astronomy can give . Government ( says the Athenamm ) having resolved on lodging Professor Owen and his interesting collection of Natural History at South Kensington , a formal application has been made from

Downirig-sfcreefc to her Majesty ' s Commissioners for 1 S 51 foispace . Her Majesty ' s Commissioners very readily met the wishes of tho Government , and the site made over to Professor Owen will probably be that of the ground now covered by the western annexe—the machinery department of the International Exhibition . We should be glad to see Sir Roderick Murchison ancl the Geological collections lodged in a corresponding building on the eastern side of the Horticultural Society's Gardens .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The EdUor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . POST-OEEICE SAVINGS' BANKS . TO THE EDITOE OS THE FHEIMASONS' MAGAZINE AMD 3 IASOSIC MIMiCK . DEAK SIE AND BKOTHEB . —These woi'ds are used by you in tho review of Bro . Shannon ' s Hand-boole , to tlie

Post Office Savings Panics : — " To lodges with but limited funds , and Lodges of Instruction , the Post Office Savings Banks offer a ready means of investment , and making something on their money ( if only a little ) , instead of letting it lie idle in a Treasurer ' s hands . " Prom the first establishment of these banks , I was struck with the idea that they would become useful in the way you suggest , and what is more it would enable a lodge to feel itself more safe as to its savings , especially