Literature.

opposed that which their darkened eyes would not see—that which they had neither the wisdom nor the will to understand or to admire . It is hardly fair to criticise at any length a composition ivhieh the author himself says was never intended for publication . It ivas printed by request of his brethren in the Star in the East Lodge , who have stamped it with the imprimatur of their approval ; and we may fairly add that it is excellently adapted for the purpose for which it Avas written .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

The appointment of Baron Marochetti , to the rank of A . R . A ., over the heads of so many Englishmen who are considered to have much greatermerit , is provoking much criticism in artistic circles . The Illustrated London News , in concluding a brief memoir of the Baron , remarks : — " It will be observed , and we confess it , that we are not amongst the ardent admirers of the worthy Baron whose elevation to the dignity of Associatcship in the Royal Academy

last January will be received with surprise , and perhaps some feeling of disappointment , by many earnest and younger labourers in the same field , wdio have not had the advantage of that Court and aristocratic patronage in their support which he has , during his comparatively brief artistic career in this country , enjoyed . AVe believe it may be added—and this , at least , is worthy of remarkthat , to the best of our knowledge , the Baron is the oldest aspirant in art ( being now in his fift-sixth ) who ever took

probay year tionary honours at the Royal Academy . " A School of Art is projected for Hertford . AVorks of art intended for the Paris Exhibition are to be sent in by the end of the present month . Air . Richard Ansdell , wdio was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy on the 29 th of January , was born in Liverpool in 1815 ,

and educated at the Blueeoat School of that borough . The two volumes of Essays and Observations on Natural History , Anatomy , Physiology , and Geology , by John . Hrmtor , which . Uuvo just been published under the able editorship of Professor Owen , will add fresh honours to the name of the great surgeon and anatomist , by proving that as a natural philosopher he was far in advance of the scientific men of his day ; and but for the late Sir Everard Home , who , in 1823 , burnt the whole of the valuable manuscripts of Hunter we should have seen the lowly cabinet maker

John Hunter , forestalling- some of the most startling teachings of geology . Providentially , the apprentice of John Hunter , Mr . AA'illiam Gift , had made copies of some of those papers ; hence the fragments which Professor Owen has now published . "AVhat more John Hunter would have achieved had he lived , " says the Ailienmim , "it is impossible to say ; but we feel , from the character of these fragments , that , had lie been spared , he would

have placed himself before the world , much more decidedly than he has done , as a philosophic naturalist . He would have been much more clearly apprehended as the profound student of the laws of life ; and his reputation would have struck men , not as the great surgeon , or the great anatomist , but as the greatest exponent of the laws which regulate the succession and existence of organic beings that the world has yet seen . " Air . Hiram Powers , the eminent American sculptor , is engaged

in his studio at Ala Chiara , near the Porta Eoniana , at Florence , on a colossal marble statue of Bro . Dr . Benjamin Franklin , which is commissioned by the Government of the United States . "Old Lightning-rod , " as Cobbett was pleased to designate our philosophic brother , will be represented musing beside a tree split by the electric fluid—beautifully symbolical of the illustrious printer ' s

discovery with his electrical kite . Air . Hart ( an American sculptor , whose studio is only a fewdoors from that of Mr . Powar , on the opposite side of Via Chiara , at Florence ) has just executed the model for a bust of the Rev . Theodore Parker , the American orator , which is said to be a capital likeness . Mr . Parker , it will be remembered , died at Florence ;

and the bust is executed from a photograph and a cast of the orator ' s features taken after his death . The . now volume of Macaulay ' s History is likely to provoke much controversy , partaking , as the work does , very largely of the character of a polemical treatise .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

The statue about to be erected by the people of Bolton- le-Moor to the memory of Samuel Crompton , is to be in a sitting posture . Mr . Calder Marshall , R . A ., has received the commission ; and the site fixed on for its erection is in Nelson-square . A new planet—a star of the tenth magnitude—has been discovered at Naples by M . De Gasparis . We are glad to hear that Mr . James Sheridan ICnowles , the

eminent dramatist , has recovered from the attack of bronchitis from which he was suffering some time ago , and that he is once more in sound health . He is residing at Babbiscombe , neat-Torquay . It has hitherto been considered that Australia was first

discovered by the Dutch in the year 1606 ; but Mr . R . J . Major , of tho British Museum , has found a manuscript map in the Museum which transfers the honour to Portugal . From this document it appears that Australia was discovered in 1601 by a Portuguese , called Manoel Goduiho di Eredia , or Heredia . At the meeting of the Society of Antiquaries , on the ] 7 th inst ., Captain AAlndus communicated some information on a galley named

the Santa Ann , which belonged to the once famous Knights of St . John , or Hospitalers , and which was built at Nice in the year 1530 . This galley was of some 1700 tons burthen , entirely sheeted with lead from the bulwarks downward , and below the water-line bolted with brass bolts . He also exhibited six paintings of other galleys belonging to the Knights Hospitalers , or Knights of St . John , and

the portrait of a captain of galleys named Rocella . Mr . G . Adams , who executed the statue , of our late gallant brother , General Sir Charles James Napier , G . C . B ., has been coinmissioned to execute one of the late General Sir AVilliam Francis

Patrick Napier , for St . Paul's Cathedral . The inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope are about to erect a Statue Of Bro . Sir G-coiga Grey , LIIB governor uf the colony . It is to be executed by AV . Calder Marshall , Esq ., B . A . JUVEKIIE PHOFICIEK-CT . —A large and beautiful oil-painting , abounding in figures , and descriptive or illustrative of "Daniel in the Den of Lions , " has been issued from the easel of a lad of some

fifteen summers , son of Bro . George Markham Tweddell , of Stokesley , author of Shakspere—his Time and Contemporaries , and numerous other works . The work would have been highly creditable to a far older student , and , to say the least , viewing it in an artistic light , its character is such as cannot but obtain for the professor , who has so early and earnestly begun to practise this ,

his favourite art , the attention of those who , by their position , are calculated to lend a helping hand to merit , and to give worth its proper place . The face of the principal personator in the incident —Daniel—is pregnant with holy emotion , and is one of those rare efforts which speak their own praise . The animals are correctly drawn , and in every position indicate that much study and time must have been spent in the desire to render them life-like in their

whole contour and aspect . VA e cannot afford space to say more in praise of the picture , but we would add that if this short paragraph in commendation were as valuable as a gold medal , the young student would be equally welcome to it—so much do we admire the artistic skill and ingenuity lie has displayed . — -Middlesbro' News .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is r . ot responsible for the opinions expressed l >>/ Correspondents . GRAND LODGE . TO THE EDITOS OF THE MEKM . LSOXS 3 IAGAZryU AWD MIS 0 K 1 C MIRROU . DKAR Sin AND BROTHER , —In the report of the proceedings of the last Grand Lodge , you state , in your report , that a Bro . Angle was the seconder of Bro . Smith ' s resolution for

giving £ 1000 to each of our charities . I was the secondernot an Angle . Perhaps you will alter the report in your next Journal , as I am proud in having assisted in trying so good a cause in Grand Lodge : although AVO lost it , we may ou some future occasion be successful . Yours fraternally , J , II . WYNNE , No . 5 , Burr-street , Lower East Smithfield , March 21 , 1861 .