Literature.

pay your honour . ' ' Can you pay mo now ? ' ' No ; " I am poor ; I have nothing . ' 'Do you know how much you owe me ! ' 'Not exactly . ' ' Three hundred dollars . ' ' It is so , since your honour says so . ' ' Caimot you pay me at least a portion of it ? * I havo nothing . ' 'Then you must come with me , and work for me . ' 'I am ready ; I believe your honour's demand is just . ' 'Then get ready ; I caimot wait . ' 'lam ready ; I wear all I possess . ' This consisted of an old straw hat , a sandalsand

coarse cotton shirt , wide unbleached cotton trousers , , a gay coloured ragged woollen blanket , with which the poorest man gracefully covers his rags . " During this conversation , which deeply affected the fate of several persons , we had not got off our horses , and the old woman had not spoken a- word . She now burst into tears , and turning to Don Guillermo said , ' Tour honour claims your right ; . but how miserable am I in my old He is onlchildBut I have long seen that he would not

age . my y . be the comfort of my latter years ; he has not followed his father ' s example . But will not the gentlemen dismount and enter my poor house . ' she added , with the politeness which the lowest of the Spanish raee never forget . ' Yes , ' said Don Guillermo , as we entered the small clay hovel , ' your husband was a worthy man . How lias his son fallen into so miserable a position ? ' 'Ah , sir , he has gambled away everything . ' 'I should have given him no credit but for the letter of his father ; how could he recommend a son whose bad character ho must

have known V 'Ah , sir , my husband never wrote that letter ; my boy forged it at the instigation of his bad companions . ' ' Then it is right that you should be punished , ' said Don Guillermo to the young man ; ' and you , Senora , ' he continued to the mother , ' must comfort yourself . As the lad now is , ho can never give your houso any help . I will take charge of him . I will teach him to work and to live like a respectable man , and the time may come when he will return to you au estimable character . You will go with me to Texas' he then addedaddressing

, , himself to the son . ' Wherever your honour pleases , ' and , after a short stay , during which tho old woman regailed us with 'tortillas' ancl ' frijoles , ' and Natividad took leave of a young woman and kissed a child , we left the place , and set on our return . " It deserves especial notice that this transaction , which did not occupy half an hour , was settled without the intervention of any public authority . "

From thc somewhat lengthy extracts wc have given , it will be seen that we consider Mr . Frocbel ' s Travels as a very interesting and instructive work , containing numerous sketches of a savage and half civilized people , besides much scientific aud geographical information , more especially in that part which gives his remarks on the mountain ranges in the south west . To such of our readers who love a real hook of adventurous travel , we cannot do better than cordiall y commend to their perusal the entire ivork before us .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . THE winter session of the University of Edinburgh , was opened last week by an address from the Principal , Sir David Brewster . The chemistry class room , and thc lobby and stairs leading to it , were crowded to excess long before tho hour for the delivery of the address , ancl many were unable to gain admission , while a large number of those who effected au entrance could not hoar thc address iu consequence of thc

noise and confusion caused b y tho overcrowding . Sir David Brewster was accompanied to the class room by nearly all tho members of the Seuatus , and by Bailies Grieve and Johnston . Lord Brougham has been elected , [ as we anticipated , to the Chancellorship of the University of Edinburgh ; and , at a meeting of the Seuatus Academicus , on Tuesday , the degree of LL . D . was conferred upon him by acclamation . The

next excitement in store for tho members of the university will bo tho election of a rector . Wo understand that Mr . Gladstone has been brought forward for this office , and that a committee is ' in course of formation for securing his election . Thc names of Lord Campbell , Lord Macaulay , Lorcl J . Russell , and Mr . Stuart Mill , havo been brought up , as have those of the Lord Advocate , and the Lord Justice Clerk , but these latter

are commissioners , and it is understood that the members of the Universities' Commission have expressed themselves to tho effect that they decline being proposed as members of any oi thc University Courts during the existence of the commission . We aro requested to state that tho " Sequel to Adam Bede , " which is now advertised , is not by tho author of " Adam Bede . " This unauthorised of

use a popular author ' s title for purely commercial purposes is scarcely fair dealing towards the public . The honorary degree of D . C . L . has been conferred by the University of Cambridge upon thc Bishop of Oxford , Mr . Gladstone , and Sir George Grey . _ M . Philoxonc Boyer resumed on Wednesday , iu Paife , his reading in the rooms of the Scientific Club . A numerous audience of literary laches and gentlemen were present . M , Boyer continued this year the

work he commenced in 1 S 5 S—the explanation and glorification of the great William Shakspeare . M . Boyer ' a introductory address was frequently applauded . He felt no hesitation in directing some strong and original attacks on the modern dramatists , who appear , he said , to address themselves solely to bankers ancl courtezans . M . Louis Lurinea well known Parisian critic , and the manager of tho

, Theatre Vaudeville , has died suddenly of apoplexy . " M . Empig . " say 3 Galignani , " retires from the Theatre Francais , being called , it { = ¦ announced , to superior functions , having raised the theatre by his enlightened management to a height of prosperity greater than had been known for a long series of years . The gentleman appointed to succeed him , M . E . Thierry , has long been known to the public as one of the

most eminent of our dramatic critics . Mr . R . Griffith , B . A ., scholar of Waclham College , Oxford , Ireland , University scholar , has been appointed one of the Assistant Masters of Wellington College . Mr . Thackeray is to bring out his niaga / ine on New Year ' s Day . His plans , says the Atlienccv . m , are already laid down . He is not going , ho says , to set the Thames on fire , or regenerate society—only to do his

best to please ancl amuse the town . He proposes to seek an audience of gentlemen and gentlewomen for his sermon , and to take care that all the matter to which he-shall lend the sanction of his name and popularity shall be such as one gentleman might write and another may read . So far so good . Such a publication should have a humour and a place of its own . We wish Mr . Thackeray every success . Wc arc glad to hear that Mr . J . Hollingsheadwhoso last book ,

, " Under Bow Bells , " has been so favourably received by tho public , has in the press a second volume , which contains his political essays ; a third is to follow , which will be a republication of descriptive articles by him—visits to strange places , & c . Mr . Hollingshead has also joined the staff of Mr . Thackeray's new magazine for a long period , to contribute a

series of articles . The Art Journal nays : "The next fresco to be placed in tho corridors is a work by Mr . Cope , R . A ., the subject of which is ' Thc parting of Lord and Lady Russell . ' The artist is still engaged on the picture in one ofthe committee rooms ofthe House of Lords ; and , as it is nearly complete , it will shortly be found in its place . It is to be hoped that the method of executing these frescoes on slateand fixing them in their

, respective panels with a space behind for the circulation of air , will secure them against thc fato that has befallen the works in tho Poets ' Hall . It is some months since wo examined these frescoes ; but on a more recent inspection it is evident that injury is advancing with increased rapidity . Iu Herbert's work the faces of Goneril and Regan are peeling o % and in others large portions of the surfaces aro extensively

blistered . The natural cause of this , as we havo already stated , is tho dampness of tho walls . There never has been perhaps a fire in the Poets' Hall , and at times the walls are streaming with moisture . So insufficient is the light in the corridors , that every composition painted on the principle of breadth of low or middle tone will bo lost . Compositions designed with their principal quantities iu strong opposition , like Ward ' s ' Argyle , ' are alone suited for such a light . Tho substitution of stained for white glass in the windows of St . Stephen ' s Hall has materially reduced the lights ; but nevertheless pictures there , especially on

the north wall , will be much more distinct than in any of the other corridors or passages of the houses . " Ac-cording to the same authority , Mr . Joseph Durham , the sculptor , whose name is already honoured , by the profession and the public , has been commissioned to execute a statue of " the first English printer , " Caxton , to be placed in the great room of tho Westminster Palace Hotel . The hotel is built on the site of Caxton ' s printing officeaud it occurred

, to the directors of tho company that tho interesting fact should obtain a permanent record . While tho foundations of the hotel were digging , there were hopes of finding some relic of the old building ; the ancient walls were clearly traced , and a mutilated statue of the Virgin aud Child—probably one of tho ornaments of " tho chapel " —was found ; but tho search , although minutely and carefully instituted , was vain to

procure a morsel of the typo which the first printer had used . Mr . Durham ' s statue , life size , will bo in p laster . The directors , not feeling justified thus to expend the money of the shareholders , have subscribed privately to meet the necessary expense . It will be a work of very high merit . Caxton is represented seated on a fine oak chair of tho period , examining a proof sheet , one foot resting on an iron chest . A Scottish clergyman has hit on a method of making the service of his church attractive . The Ayrshire Express informs us that the Rov . Mr , Waddell , of Girvan , road from his own pulpit a poetical tragedy , of