Notes On Literature Science And Art.

influence of the belief , ancl took the precaution of observing in his very first page ' a reader of sense ancl taste never expects to find in the memoirs of a philosopher or poet the same species of entertainment or information which he would receive from those of a statesman or general / Some years after Anderson came out with a Life of Smollett—{ whose existence one would think had been adventurous enough)—and boldly laying down the old axiom , proceeded to exemplify it by writing one of the dullest biographies

on record . Much about the same time a worthy Scotsman—Sir AVilliam Forbes , of Pitsligo , —favoured the world with two quartos on Beattie , and produced the venerable fallacy in the beginningquite unconscious that he was justifying the public in never perusing his performance . Even Boswell ' s success , though it showed that such a 'life' as he produced might be more amusing than half the novels in existence , had failed to convert people . " And again : — " Hencein spite of the tradition as

, to the lives of authors being dull , they feel a vivid curiosity about them ; and , on the whole ( unless they themselves should have utterly failed in some literary undertaking ) , they are inclined to believe well of their characters , ancl hopefully of their conversation . Occasionally they track to then- source the anecdotes on which the popular impressions about great writers rest .

They find that the ' dead ass ancl living mother antithesis concerning Sterne occurs in the Watpoliana , ivhich excites scepticism ; that the original authority for Congreve's affected remark to Voltaire is difficult to get at ; that Rosseau was not always iu his right senses ; that Burns never came home in a state when he could not see the house was safe , and convey himself to bed somehow ; that there is no real evidence of Swift's marriage with Stella , though the story has so often sharpened an attack on his memory ; ancl they

make other discoveries , which rob some ugly traditions of their sting . Possibly , too , they discover , on the intellectual side of the inquiry , that it was only in large companies that Addison could not talk , while Swift , Bolingbroke , Voltaire , Berkely , Burns and Byron , Johnson and Burke , were all among the first talkers of their times ; as Congreve , Sheridan , and Colman , the wittiest writers , were also the wittiest talkers of their generation . In short , much of the traditionary mystification of the whole subject vanishes on inquiry

, and a man of plain good sense is likely to arrive at the conclusion , that authors are not a caste or peculiar class , such as the Strulclbrugs , but exceedingly like other specimens of the genus homo , with a little more faculty , the exertion of which is not so public , in its mode of action as the faculty of the majority , but ivhich is just as naturally related to character . "

It has been stated , that a small quantity of gold added to iron in the puddling-furnace greatly improves its strength , ductility , and . durability . The statement seems strange ; but to those who know the bad effects of a morsel of brass upon iron in the puddling process , the wonder is abated . That miserable monarch , Charles II . of Spain , is thus sketched

by Lord Macaulay , in the last volume of his History of Fngland- — " The Prince , on whom so much depended , was the most miserable of human beings . In old times he would , have been exposed as soon as he came into the world ; and to expose him would have been a kindness . From his birth a blight was on his body and on his mind . AVith difficulty his almost imperceptible spark of life had heen screened and fanned into a dim and flickering flame . His

childhood , except when he could be rockad ancl sung into sickly sleep , was one long piteous wail . Till he was ten years old his days were passed on the laps of women ; and he was never once suffered to stand on his ricketty legs . iSTone of those tawny little urchins , clad in rags stolen from scarecrows , whom Murillo loved to paint begging or roiling in the sand , owed less to education than this despotic ruler of thirty millions of subjects . The most

important events in the history of his own kingdom , the very names of provinces and cities which were among his most valuable possessions , wero unknown to him . It may well be doubted whether he was aware that Sicily was an island , that Christopher Columbus had discovered America , or that the English were not Mahometans . In his youth , however , though too imbecile for study or nonbusinesshe was not incapable of being amused . lie shothawked

, , , and hunted . He enjoyed with the delight of a true Spaniard two delightful spectacles , a horse with its bowels gored out , and a Jew writhing in the fire . The time came when the mightiest of instincts ordinarily wakens from its repose . It was hoped that the young king would not prove invincible to female attractions , and that he would leave a Prince of Asturia to succeed him . A consort was found for him in the royal family of France ; and her beauty ancl

grace gave him a languid pleasure . He liked to adorn her with jewels , to see her dance , ancl to tell her what sport he had had with his dogs and his falcons . But it ivas soon whispered that she was a wife only in name . "

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

KNIGHTS TEMPLAR . 10 THE EDITOK 01 ? TIIE FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . DEAB SIE AND BROTHER . —My attention has been directed to a paragraph in the FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE for April 11 th , in which a list of Prov . G-. Commanders of Knights Templars is given . Some surprise has been expressed here that the

name of our Prov . G . Commander has been omitted . Had K . T . been an attentive reader of your excellent Magazine , he would have seen in the number for February , 1860 , an account of the holding of a Prov . Grand Conclave of Bombay in January , of that year , and he would there havo seen the name of Sir Knt . Gustavus Septimus Judge , Prov . G . Commander , together ivith the names of the Grand Officers

by him appointed . That V . E . Sir Knt . G . S . Judge has not been installed is no fault of his , as there is no one here of rank sufficiently high to instal him , and Bombay is rather too far from head-charters for a commission to be sent . All hia acts , howei-er , as Prov . G . Commander are recognised by the Grand Conclave of England , and you will only be doing an act of justice by inserting his name in any future list of

Prov . G . Commanders . Yours faithfully and fraternally , J . J . FABNIIAM , Prov . G . Prelate Bombay .

The Masonic Banquet At Norwich.

THE MASONIC BANQUET AT NORWICH .

TO THE EDITOK OP THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —As it might be imagined from the article in the Norwich Mercury , forwarded to you by a correspondent , and published in the same number of the MAGAZINE as the report of the late Masonic banquet in Norwich , that there was an important omission in the report , I beg to say that though it is unfortunately true that two

brothers , having imbibed too freely , were rather demonstrative and obstreperous in their conviviality . The Mercury ' s tremendous story about a disgraceful " scene" is a sreafc exaggeration . The very heading of the article— " Sudden Break-up of the Masonic Dinner" - —is as untrue as the positive assertion that the Prov . G . M ., Bro . Cabbell , ivas prevented by the " disorder and confusion" from stating

the circumstances as to his purchase of the Assembly Rooms , and his intention to dedicate them as a Masonic Hall . Bro . Cabbell is not very likely to have made the editor of the Mercury , who is not a mason , a confidant in . a matter about Avhich he has chosen , for the present , to maintain a degree of reserve , even with brethren of high standing in the Order ; but there is not the slightest reason for supposing that Bro . Cabbell ever intended to say anything more than he really did say . The hour at ivhich the banquet close d was not much earlier than usual , and may be simply

accounted for by the R . W . Prov . G . M . 's advanced age and feeble health . The article in the Norwich Mercury gives so exaggerated an account of the foolish escapade of two ofthe , guests at the banquet that it seems hardly probable that the information can have come directly through a brother : if so , it must have become distortedthrough the editorial medium , which is also improbable , as the editor is too high minded and

conscientious a journalist to be capable of so Avilful a perversion , even when smarting under a fancied slight to himself and his representative . It is evident , however , that somebody who ivas at the banquet must have spoken of what had occurred in the presence of non-Masons . It is greatly to be regretted that there is so much laxity among many Norwich Masons on this pointand that even personal matters of

, great delicacy which transpire in a lodge should be afterwards canvassed in general company . It cannot be denied that with respect to this aud some other of the social features of Masonry , the discipline in Norwich , might be greatly improved . The brother who appears to have been alluded to in a paragraph of the letter of " a Norivich Freemason " informs

ine that the writer ' s inuendo that the editor of the Mercury had receii'ed any information from him , as to what transpired at the banquet , is entirely unfounded , as ho never spoke to his employer on the subject . I should bo very