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forgotten this invariable rule as to eat a chilly without sharing it with the priest , he submitted himself to a penance in expiation of this youthful impiety . His death scene , as described in the Mcdumanm , contains an enumeration of tho deeds of piety by which his reign had been signalized . Extended on his couch in front of the great dagoba which he had erected , he thus addressed one of his military companions who had embraced the priesthood : — ' In times past , supported by my ten warriors , I engaged in battles ; now , single-handed , I commence my last

conflict with death , and it is not permitted to me to overcome my antagenist . ' ' Ruler of men , ' replied tho thero , ' without subduing the dominion of sin , the power of death is invincible ; but call to recollection thy acts of piety performed , and from these you will derive consolation . ' The secretary then ' read from the register of deeds of piety' that ' one hundred wiharas , less one , had been constructed by the Maharaja , that ho had built two great dagobas and the Brazen Palace at Anarajapoora ; that in famines he had given his jewels to support the pious ; that on

three several occasions he had clothed the whole priesthood throughout the island , giving three garments to each ; that five times he had conferred the sovereignty of the land for the space of seven days on the national church ; that he had founded hospitals for the infirm , and distributed rice to the indigent ; bestowed lamps on innumerable temples , aud maintained preachers in the various wiharas in all parts of his dominions . ' All these acts , ' said the dying king , ' done in my days of prosperity , afford no comfort to my mind ; but two offerings which I

made when in affliction aud hi adversity , clisregardful of my own fate , are those which alone administer solace to me now . ' After this the preeminently wise Maharaja expired , stretohed on his bed in the act of gazing on the Mahatupo . "

The early zeal of the Buddhist seems to have toned down during the space of fifteen centuries , but it has never relaxed its hold on the temporalities , and the Singalese chronicles are full of such records , until they announce an event , which has given a new aspect to the history of Ceylon , as follows : — "And now it come to pass that in the Christian year 1522 A . D ., in the month of Aprila ship from Portugal arrived at Colomboand

informa-, , tion was brought to the king that there were in the harbour a race of very white and beautiful people , who wear boots and hats of iron , and never stop in one place . They eat a sort of white stone , and drink blood ; and if they get a fish they give two or three ride iu gold for it ; and besides , they have guns with a noise louder than thunder , and a ball shot from one of them , after traversing a league , will break a castle of marble . "

We must take leave of Sir J . E . Tennent ' s Ceylon , with the conviction that he has bestowed upon his work all the conscientious care , vigour , and exactness which should animate the historian . But this would be but a meagre tribute to his varied , scientific , historical , antiquarian , and descriptive work ; and we are compelled to admit that we have not read a work on any of our Eastern possessions , that can at all compare with Ceylon ; and

so fascinated are we with the subject , matter , and manner , that we have laid the volumes apart for a second studious perusal , and advise our brethren to obtain the work and carefully read it for themselves . Great praise is also due for the arrangement of the subject—no mean ingredient in the success of any work , as many valuable undigested volumes , that we know of , are never consulted owing to this deficiency ; and the author has prepared copious analytical tables of contents , and a capital index . The work of Sir . 1 . E . Tennent must be pronounced as one of the great literary successes of the present century .

NOTES OS JJTERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . MESSRS . Longman , Murray , Charles Knight , Bentley , and Parker , were all present at the funeral of Lord Macaulay in Westminster Abbey . The first chapter of the Hon . Gr . mtley Berkeley ' s description of his sports and experiences iu the prairies of America , during his recent visit to the United States , will appear in the Field of the 21 st inst .

Mr . Mizdie , it is said , took no less than 2 , 000 copies of Mi-. Oliphant ' s " Narrative of Lord Elgin ' s Mission to China" ( a two-guinea book ) , published b y the Messrs . Blackwood , of Edinburgh . A letter from St . Petersburg says ;— " When the German Christmas was approaching , Professor Teschendorf left here for Saxony , but assured the minister of popular enlightenment—of public instruction as he would be called in the west—that ho would return in a few months .

The greater the sensation he excited here , both at court and in other circles , by his Oriental collection , the greater was the jealousy and cabal he encountered from some other quarters . His Sinaitic MS . of the Bible , for instance , was made the object of a literary attack , particularly when it transpired that the imperial government was in treaty for its purchase , and that photograph ) ' was about to be employed for producing fac-simile . One academician , in c < m .-eil with others , published in the

( academical ) Qaictte oi this city au article tending to impeach its age and value . Tho article was destitute of all palawgraphical acumen , aud of all pretensions to textual criticism . It contained merely vague insinuations , but sufficed , on account of the organ in which it appeared , to render many sceptical , as it was desired . Tisehendorf has now replied to this academical article , iu which he proves that tho Sinaitic MS . cannot bo younger than the early part of the 4 th century , and his

arguments are so convincing that the hostile critic himself now writes : — ' It was by no means my intention to throw doubts on the statement of M . Tischendorf respecting theantiquity of theBiblicalMS . of Mount Sinai . ' Tisehendorf himself reasserts that in what concerns the bibleof Sinai , Iplace it beyond a doubt in the first half of the fourth century . ' It must therefore be the oldest now extant in the world . The Vatican MS . can only compete with it as to the century perhaps , but the latter is deficient in

textual completeness , seeing that it wants five whole books of the iS ew Testament alone , and altogether one sixth of the entire Bible . After giving his various arguments and reasons , with numerous quotations from the fathers in support of them , the learned professor goes on to say that in his own seventh edition of the 3 S ew Testament the text he has used is confirmed iu several thousand passages by the Sinai MS . most carefully read through and copied by himself . Finally , having

already published for the Christian world ten folio volumes , with biblical documents 1000 years old , he claims the fullest confidence from the public in the arrangements to be made for the publication of this MS ., expressing his conviction not only that the original , many centuries hence , will still be regarded in this capital of the Worth as a Christiau national treasure , but also that the editio princepx of it will be received as a worthy monument of Imperial munifioenco by all among whom Christiau knowledge obtains . " Arago , on Ins dying bed , entrusted his friend M . Baral with the task of editing his works . ¦ This arduous task has been completed . On the

last meeting of the Academy , M . Baral presented the sixteenth and last volume of Arago ' s works to the learned assembly . Countess Hahn-Hahn for many years a religious recluse in a convent at Mayenee , returns to the abandoned world once more , at least with her works . A new novel of hers , "Begina Maria : a tale of the present day , " is in the press , and will shortly appear . It is a curious illustration of the tendency towards cultivating the

alliance with England , that the French government journal , tho lievue Etiropeenne ,. has commenced , in advance of all its contemporaries , a regular Cannier clc . Londres , or report of English literature , art , science , and miscellaneous news ; it is written by au Englishman , who has adopted the pseudonym of ' Henry Street . " This first chapter of the Courrkr is principally occupied with the late Lord Macaulay , Sir J . B . Tennent ' s "Ceylon ; " "The Voyage of the Fox ; " Oliphant ' s "Chinr .

and Japan ; " and tho new magazines . The tone of the article is highly complimentary , but the writer says that he " shall use his claws at times in the cause of justice and truth ; " if any in . England neglect the law .-i of meiim and tumn he may get a touch of these claws . Professor Phillips presided at the meeting of the Geological Society on the 4 th inst . S . II . Havlowe , ' Esq ., the Rev . S . W . King , and "D . Llewellin , Esq ., C . E ., were elected Fellows . The following communications wore read : — " On the Flora of the Silurian , Devonian and Lower

Carboniferous Formations , " by Prof . H . R . Gooppert . " On the Freshwater Deposits of Bessarabia , Moldavia , Wallachia and Bulgaria , " by dipt . T , Spratt , B . N . " On the Recent and Fossil Foraminifera of the Mediterranean Area , " by T . Rupert Jones and W . Iv . Parker . At the last meeting of the Asiatic Society , Lord Strangford was in the chair . The secretary read a paper " On some Inscriptions found in the Region of El-Havrah , in the Great Desert , to the S . E . of the Holy Land . "

by C . C . Graham , Esq . The chairman then read a translation of an Inscription of Sennacherib , found on a clay cylinder in the British Museum , which was printed by the Museum authorities . The translation was made by Mr . Pox Talbot , from a very superior copy of the inscription made by Bellini , and published b ) G ' rotefend . This inscription contains the annals of the two years commencing the reign of the monarch . It begins with his victory over Merodach-Baladan and his

allies of Edom and Susiana ; the capture of Babylon ; the plunder of all his treasures : and the seizure of his followers , his wife , and harem , who were distributed as a spoil . He then relates the capture ancl destruction of eighty-nine large cities and eight hundred and twenty small towns in Chaldaja ; after which he placed Belibus , one of his followers , as a king , in the place of Merodach-Baladan . On his return from Babylon Sennacherib conquered seventeen tribes , all named , and carried off to Assyria 208 , 0 . 00 male and female captives , together with a vast spoil of horses