Literature.

ought to knoiv Croydon is situated tcu miles south of London . Of the Boys School , founded sonic fifty years ago , though only latterly brought under one system , there is no mention . AVe cannot specify the many very glaring errors and inconsistencies we see in the Avork , because AVC i \ i ! l not make our pages transgress those obligations ivhich wc hai-c solemnly bound otirseh'cs to conceal ; and we deeply deplore that so eminent a Mason as Bro .

Donald Campbell should have allowed his name to be appended to a work , the orig inal , much less the proof sheets , he could never have read through without condemnation . It is some slight satisfaction to as that the working is obsolete here , and therefore no improper use can be made of Dr . Macke 3 ' 's labours , which mi ght have remained unpublished in England without the Masons having suffered the slightest inconvenience , for our Bro . Dr . Oliver has gone quite far enough in some of bis books , but this Lexicon can only he called an alphabetically reserved revelation .

XOTGS CW LITERATURE , SCIENCE ANT ) ART . THE publication of Humboldt ' s letters to Varnhagen von Ense—whose heirs , by the iray , now keep a lodging-house iu Paris—has caused a terrible commotion amongst literary men in that city , ivho , it must be admitted , have too much cause to be annoyed . Prominent amongst the complainants is ? d . Philavetc Chaslesthe popular lecturer at the

, College of France . This gentleman received some very gratifying messages , letters , and compliment , ? from the author of "Cosmos" during his lifetime , ancl is naturally indignant to find himself spoken of in the letters in question in terms Avhich are terribly humiliating . At the University of Cambridge , AVilliam Lloyd Birkbeek , Esq ., bar . rister , of Lincoln ' s Inn , has been elected Downing Professor of Laws , in

the room of the late Mr . Amos . Mr . Birkbeek , is a son of the late celebrated Dr . Birkbeek , founder of the London Mechanics' Institute , Ho received his education at Trinity College , proceeding B . A ., as 9 th wrangler , in 1 S 30 . Soon afterwards he was elected a Fellow of his college . In 18 / 52 , on the establishment of their neiv system of legal education , he was appointed one of the readers to the Inns of Court , and

from that time to the present has been actively engaged in deliver-in " lectures to students for the bar , and examining candidates for the honours aud certificates granted by the Inns of Court . ' Mr . Thackeray , it is said , will not , now that " Lovell the AVidower , " is completed , contribute in tbe mean time a neiv novel to the C ' ornhill . Rumour says that his Lectures on the Georges are to appear in its r a » -e . ? . Lady Eastlake has undertaken to superintend the issue of Mrs ,

Jameson ' s volume of tbe " Life of Christ and John the Baptist , " which was announced to complete the series of " Legendary Art . " Ko one could be mere competent in point of literary and artistic knowledge to complete the undertaking than ( he accomplished wife of the P . R . A . The English translation of the '' Liber Albus , " the cm-ions record of old City days , to which AA-O have more than once called attention as in preparation by Messrs . Richard Griffin and Co ., is promised by them about the middle of June .

Messrs . Smith and Son , the news agents , of the Strand , intend , we understand , to open a circulating library on the same plan and system as Mudie , at the AVest-ond . It is , Ave belioA-e , to be a colossal affair . M . Fi-ueelu , of Nice , announces that lie has discovered a new method of rending and interpreting the hieroglyphics of Egypt and China , anil has thereby discovered the common principle of all the languages in the Avorld . He invites ihe learned of every nation to come

and listen to his exposition at the Cerclc des Soeich ' s Savantcs , in Paris . M . Charles de ltemusat , the eminent politician , litterateur , and philosopher , has brought out a volume of " Politique b ' tci-alc , " professedly in defence of the French Revolution . He did not publish ivorks with this aim during the reign of Louis Philippe , one of whose ministers ho ivas . Dr . MiiKgrayc , the late Archbishop of A ' oi-k , has bequeathed to Trinity College . Cambridge , a beautifully executed MS . of the Koran , ivhich ho

purchased afc the sale of Dr . Adam Clarke ' s library . A meeting of the committee for promoting- the extension of the Guarantee Fund for the International Exhibition of 1 SG 2 , was held at the Society of Arts , on Tuesday last , the . Marquis of Salisbury , K . G ., iu the chair . The Secretary reported thafc iqmvu-dri of < f 00 persons had undertaken to subscribe , the Guarantee Agreement , for sums amounting iu the aggregate to -e-3 O 2 lC 0 . The . amount hassince that date

, , , increased to £ 308 ,-150 . At the recent visitation of tho Royal Obsen-atory , Mr . Airy availed himself of the opportunity to inform the Board of Alsitors , that he has ascertained that M . Sfcnive is desirous that the folloAving- suggestions should be carried into effect , as regards the proceedings in the British

Survey , tor exhibiting- tho comparison of measure Avith theory in one or more extensive arcs of parallel : —1 . That the junction betiA'eeii the British and the French or Belgian triangles should if necessary be repeated . 2 . That a IIOAV determination of the longitude of Valentia by the galvanic telegraph might be recommended , especially as on the former occasion personal equations wore tlotcrmiuad only at tho end of the operations , anel observers were not interchanged . 3 . That the

longitude of the extreme eastern section of the British triangles should bo fixed by galvanic telegraph . -1 . A scrupulous examination of tho principal triangles might be made , and perhaps the measures might be repeated AA'henever that examination should indicate a weakness . 5 , If necessary , a new comparison of the units of measure employed on the different base lines might be made . It is saicl that tlie source of cowpox has been discovered almost by

accident in the purulent matter of a disease to AA'hicli horses are liable , and AA'hich is known in France as water on the legs . One of these horses having been taken to the veterinary college at Toulouse , the professor , AL Lafosse , recognized the malady as the source referred to by Jenuer , caused a COAV to be inoculated with the matter , and AA'as rewarded by soon seeing the vaccine pustules . The produce of the latter has since been tried on several children , under the supenisiou of the medical

officers of Toulouse , aud the success is reported as complete . A commission has been appointed to folloiv out the subject , and it will be a fitting completion of the great work of our countryman Jenner if it should really appear that the source of vaccine indicated by him has been discovered by our neighbours , who hold his name in the highestrank of honour . Heivey , Jenner , and Bell , are the three English gods of the temple of Esculapins in France . Last iveek the following gentlemen AA'ere elected Fellows of the Royal Society : —? . A . Abel , Esq . ; T . Baring , Esq ., M . P . ; J . P . Bateman , Esq . ; E , B . Sdquard , M . D . ; R . C . Carringtou , Esq . ; F . Galton ,

Esq . ; J . H . Gilbert , Esq ., Sir AV . Jardine , Bart . ; T . H . Key , Esq . ; J . Lister , Esq . ; Rev . R . Main , M . A . ; R . AV . Milne , Esq . ; R . Palmer , Esq ., Q . C . ; J . T . Quekett , Esq . ; E . Smith , M . D . At the Institute of British Architects on the ith June , G . Godwin , Esq ., A . P ., ivas in the chair . A paper ivas read by A . Aspitel , Esq ., "On the Origin and Development of the Use of Crypts in Christian Churches . " The paper included a long- account of the Catacombs under

Rome , and shelved their influence on the churches afteriA'ards erected . The chairman stated the desire of the Council that the Ai-orkmen who attended the funeral of the late Sir Charles Barry should know the gratification their sympathy and co-operation had afforded them . At a meeting of the Hunterian Committee on AVednesday , it ivas decided that the execution of the statute of the great John Hunter should be intrusted to Mr . II . AVeeks , A . R . A . ; and that , Allien

comp leted , it should be placed in the museum of the college . After a long interregnum in the Professorship of Architecture afc the Academy , the Forty haye elected Mr . Sydney Smii-lce to the post ; a good choice if Air . Scott cannot be had . AVe presume the latter will be promoted to Sir Charles Barry ' s vacant scat among the R . As ., he being the only architect within the pale of the Associates , and certainly the most distinguished of living English architects . " The late Sir Charles Barry , " says the Builder , " bequeathed the

Avhole of his books , drawings , and books relating to the Jfeiv Houses of Parliament to his younger son" ( he had two in the profession ) , "Mr . Edward M . Barry , of Covent Garden fame" ( such as ifc is ) , " he having been especially connected with him in carrying out tho work . " And this is taken as an indication of the fortunate man ' s wishes in regard to his successor . iSTo doubt ! But is the nation to be saddled with hereditary linos of Barry for its Parliamentary Palace , hereditary

Smirkes for its Museum ? Both buildings ivill for ever be requiring some work to bo done to them—" completions , " alterations , enlargements . Surely Sir Charles AA'as sufficiently lucky in his time —almost unprocedontedlj' so—to get that colossal building completed ( in the main ) in his own lifetime . A . building of tho same size would in the old times have tested the genius—and how adA'antagoously!—of successive generations of architects . HOAV about the

percentage question ? That lias still , presume , fco be settled ivifch Barry ' s representatives . Eveiy Government has been utterly , and justifiably as guardians of the public purse , opposed to paying " the usual commission" on the enormous total outlay , so immensely beyond the original estimate , in regard to ivhich the architect bad , in the first place , agreed to accept , instead of commission , a stated sum . Some mutual compromise is the only honourable escape out of the difficulty , which will not saddle the nation with a most unfairly exorbitant payment .