Notes On Literature Science And Art.

a culprit , AA'ho , on Tuesday , August 27 th , ivas hung at Chester , for a barbarous attempt at murder . The new poem , Tannhauser ; or ihe Battle of the Bards , hy Neville Temple and Edward Trevor , is being shown up by the critics as an . wful plagiarism of Tennyson . Neville Temple is said to he a fictitious name of Mr . Robert Bulwer Lytton , "better knoAA-n as Owen Meredith , and Edward Trevor is the assumed

cognomen of the Hon . Julian Fane , son of the late Earl of Westmoreland , ambassador at Vienna . The latter gentleman took the chancellor ' s medal at Cambridge , in 18 S 0 , for verses which were considered by many to " smell strong" of Milton ' s Lycidas . Of Thomas and De Quincey , the Critic remarks : — " Opium and De Quincy are so intimately associated in one ' s mind , that it is well nigh impossible to disconnect one from the other . Each is an

acquired taste—the drug by universal consent , the author in our pi-iA-ate opinion . We could as soon imagine an ordinary man , who had never been initiated into the opiate mysteries , taking a pint of laudanum with his steak and enjoying it , as reading for the first time of his life a whole essay of De Quincey and not yawning over it . But acquired tastes confessedly take a stronger hold on man than natural ; one who has mastered the difficult habit of eating olives thinks there is nothing equal to them for dessert

; the smoker , so soon as hy heroic endurance he has conquered the feeling of nausea—that sure consequence of primal cigars—could as easily reconcile himself to the loss of his morning " tub " as to the deprivation of his tobacco ; he Avho by superhuman efforts has reduced his stomach to an appreciation , of caviare thinks any breakfast imperfect Avithout it ; and by the same process , we take it , it is brought to pass that there are people—and there certainly are people—ivho think there is no essayist like De Quincy .

Beginning ivith infinitesimal doses , a man may arrive at we knoiv not IIOAV many drops of laudanum , and by a similar method it is liossible that a strong man may get through fourteen mortal volumes of De Quincey . So A'oluminous is that author in the only

edition of his works which we have hitherto seen ; and very infinitesimal are the doses we have taken of him at one time , without arriving at that desirable condition of having so completely seasoned our faculties as to imbibe large quantities of him and yet feel no disagreeable effects . To us he seems marvellously diffuse , artificial to affectation , laboriously , humorous , and unpleasantly conceited . Of Coleridge and Wordsworth he speaks indeed with respect ; but the respect has a suspicious air of

unreality , as though it were assumed in deference to general opinion , whilst lie himself v-as satisfied of Iiis own superiority to both ; AA-hereas in very truth he AA-as , it seems to us , as far beneath Coleridge as Prose is beneath Poetry , and as much inferior to "Wordsworth as Art is to Nature . His vast reading ( AVO might almost say learning ) ive Avill not for a moment deny , it is evident upon nearly every page of his writings—indeed , it not unfrequently interferes ivith his originality ; his happiness of expression is often

peculiarly striking ; his command of language is really extraordinary ; and his declamatory fervour sometimes rises into eloquence . But to us his beauties appear hardly to compensate for his defects ; the brilliant passages are but rare cases in a Avilderness of words ; the fountains of wisdom are too feiv and far betiA-een , and withal [ too scantily supplied , to slake the thirst of weary AA-anderers ; the jets of humour are refreshing , still they are but occasional jets ; and the flashes of genius , bright as they are , are but fitful gleans from a murky sky . The spirit of opium pervades , or seems to us to pervade , all ive read ; noAV ail is bright , now dark as Erebus ; when the spirit is fully at work , all is lively as quicksilver , when it has evaporated , as dull as lead . "

Mr . Charles Dickens is stated to have received £ 1000 for supplying Messrs . T . B . Peterson and Brothers , of Philadelphia , with an early copy of his Great Expectations , so that they might get a start in the market of those publishers who bring out pirated editions .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . PRIVATE SOLDIERS AND THE CRAFT . TO THE EDITOtt OU THE IKEEMASOXS 3 UGAZ 1 KE ASD MASOHIC HIIBEOIt . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I should have been content , have allowed this subject to rest for the present , had /} the strange letter of "Secretary 162 " called for some / feS IILI

meut . Between R . E . X . and myself the difference of opinion is more apparent than real . I wish I could say the same of "Secretary 162 , " whom I know only by his letters , which have not at all helped to clear up thc subject in dispute . R . E . X . is evidently oneof those brethren to whom oue may say , in the language of Isaiah , "Come now , and let us reason together , " with some certainty of success ; and I thank him for tho-courtesy with which he has met me in your pages .

I have great pleasure in being able to assure him , on the word of a Mason , that I have no wish to open tbe door to the admission of any one who is not truly prepared in heart and mind to become " a true and faithful brother amongst us . " I think too many lodges look more to the worldly position of the canditate than to his moral and intellectual qualifications ; and I am pained to say , that I have met

with scores of men occupying " respectable" positions in society , who have been not only members but officers amongst us , who have disgraced the holy precepts of Freemasonry as much by their lives as the common soldiers could possibly do , even if they were admitted without ballot at all . "Was this a secret known only to the initiated ? I would have carefully abstained from any allusion to it here ;

but I have , unfortunately , beard it constantly assigned bymany good men as a reason for never becoming candidates for admission , and I know that it has caused great numbers who have been admitted amongst us to leave our beloved Craft with loathing and disgust . Now I sincerely hope that the time is not far distant when the glorious privileges of Freemasonry will be confinedas our ritual beautifully

, expresses it , " to worthy men , and to worthy men alone ;" when all promotion amongst Masons will be earned by merit only ; when labour will be the rule , and refreshment the exception ; and when every lodge will be a school , both for the inculcation of brotherly love and for aiding the brethren

in gaming a knowledge of " the hidden mysteries of nature and science , " instead of being , as too many lodges are at present , little better than " respectable" free-and-easies . I have no desire to remove the ancient landmarks of Freemasonry ; uay , it is because the entire prohibition of the private soldier , whatever his character may be for integrity , humanity , sobriety , and intelligence , is palpably opposed to the leading principles of the Craftthat I wish it removed

, from the Booh of Constitutions ; and , notwithstanding that " Secretary No . 162 " so positively asserts that my " disregard of our landmarks , " as he is pleased to call it , " will not be countenanced , " I have sufficient reliance on the ultimate triumph of justice , aud I am content to leave the results of my efforts to God . If" Secretary No . 162 " cannot see the injustice of the prohibitionit is possible that

, others may . Before taking leave of the subject , I must just refer to a few misstatements in the last letter of " Secretary No . 162 . " It is not true that when I " put the question it was with the full intention of being prepared to bulk / somebody who was certain to attack " me , and I am content to leave the readers of the MAGAZINE to draw their own conclusions as

to which of us has nearest earned that unenviable epithet , if " Secretary No . 162 " must bave it fixed upon one of us . I never professed tho least ignorance of the law on the subject of private soldiers and the Craft , as tbe reader will see , by referring to my query at page 28 of the MAGAZINE . "What I wanted was , " some good and sufficient reasons" for such a law ; andas yetnone have been shown . If better

, , could have been given , I feel convinced that I should have got them from R . E . X . I shall not allow either "Secretary No . 162 " or any othercorrespondent to draw me from the object 1 have hi view in writing for your columns , into a mere personal

wrestlingmatch , should they desire to do so . But if any writer takes upon himself to proclaim to the world that I am ignorant of some question on ivhich ha has no means of judging of my knowledge , I must be allowed to brand such conduct as "impertinent and needlessly insulting , " even though "Secretary 162 " should look upon me as a "bully" for so doing . If " Secretary No . 162 " will only observe towards jflgihe usual courtesy of man to man , I ask no further

M § i ® jijh-Nfrom him . I fear , even if there was no prohibition , TieT ^ ftfljj- noi h i me proposing any great number of candi-< HM ^ irffla the army , if I may judge by the respect shown to In / ,.. In