Notes On Literature Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE SCIENCE AND ART .

In the third edition of Col . Jackson ' s What to Observe ; or , the Traveller's Bemembrancer , just published , under the editorship of Dr . Norton Shaw , Acting Secretary to the Eoyal Geographical Society of London , we are told : — " The obstruction of a river is always a serious impediment to the progress of travellers , whether they be wandering aloneor be in a large or small part ancl here

, y ; we cannot help observing how very necessary it is that every traveller should be a good swimmer . But though the traveller may be able to swim , it may be of importance to him to secure his papers , his watch , or instruments , his gun and powder , ancl even his clothes , from wet . He must , therefore , construct a little raft of branches , or reeds , or anything floatable he can get , and on this erect securely a little stage , on which to put his clothes , papers , & c . ; ancl by

means of twisted twigs , or otherwise , for want of a rope , drag his raft after him , while swimming over . When there is a party , the }* - are iirobably provided with many objects which may help them in the construction of a raft to carry all across . In swimming a river with a horse , the better plan is to lie in the water , ancl , holding tight by the lower part of the mane with the left hand , allow the horse to drag you along , keeping the body stretched out straightand assisting yourself with the movement of the riht

, g hand ancl arm . The cowherd of the Nile crosses that stream , seated on a bundle of straw , and dragged across by his swimming cow , of which he holds the tail . Sometimes this river is crossed on a raft of inverted earthen pots , or on an inflated goat ' s hide . In tropical countries , where sharks or crocodiles , or other dangerous animals inhabit the water , the crossing on a reft should always be preferred , if practicable , to swimming . Crossing astiide on a rounded log is always hazardoufor who cannot swimfor it is to

s one , very apt roll . This inconvenience is avoided by fastening two logs " together in a parallel direction . It may be observed that , as the specific gravity of the human body is not very different from thafc of water , a very little is required to hear the body up . A string of small faggots or rushes , fastened round the body under the arms , is quite sufficient .

An English dictionary , edited by Dr . Nuttall , is on the eve of publication , in a cheap form . Mr . Thomas M'Nicoll , in his Essays on English Literature , just reprinted from the London Beview , thus lauds Pollok ' s Course of Time - . — " The originality of Pollok ' s genius strikes us in every page of his workand is as visible in his treatment of the subject at

; large , as in versification and verbal expression . His poem might be distinguished as the Evangelical Epic . It dwells rather upon the moral character of individual man , than on the external history of his race ; it describes the varieties of folly which separately seduced the human family in their probationary state : it exposes the evil heart of unbelief , of pride , of avarice , ancl of sensuality ; it depicts the humblest and the hihest social virtues

g , and exemplifies them in charming portraitures , —as in that of a young ancl dying mother ; it instances , among the providential afflictions of mankind , the mental cloud of disappointment by which the author had himself been been chastened ancl improved . No hypocrisy is left unstripped , no vanity undetected , no lie uncontradicted . The poet in imagination ascends to the everlasting heihts of futuritand assumes the awful position of a irit who

g y , sp has long since left the day of doom behind , that he may see with undeluded eyes , and dress in their true colours , the busy personages of earth . As they approach him from the masquerade of time , each uncovers his features to tho light , and hears himself unflatteringly described . "

Mr . W . M . Kossetti , writing in a late number of Eraser's Magazine , remarks : — " The Grecian temple of antique times was the fitting receptacle of the Grecian sculptured god or hero ; and the Crisfcian cathedral of the middle ages , of the Christian saint and the storied stone of faith and salvation . Unless properly placed , a work of sculpture cannot even be seen well , in the literal sense , still less seen to advantage , so as to come out with its due meaning ancl impressiveness . Sculptureto be vitalis essentiall

, , y a national and monumental art . Besides , its great scale , its limited powers of expression and representation , and the laborious nature of its practice , combine to require very generally that it should work ancl display itself in continuous series ; a single figure or subject can seldom , comparatively speaking , explain itself with full force . Isolated , and set up as a mere specimen of fine art and unconnected object of sight , the work of sculpture loses half its ifc in difficult

power : conveys , a and abstract form , only a limited meaning , which untutored eyes can scarcely read , ancl which neither harmonises with , its surroundings , nor is elucidated by them . The Grecian sculptor of a heroic fi gure or group hacl a ' whole city to

understand ancl sympathise with his achievement , so placed that its purport was clearly brought out , and influential on the mind ,- the British sculptor has for the most part only the exhibition-goers of a season , ancl the private patron ancl his friends , with nothing to illustrate or confirm his meaning . "

Principal Tulloch thus characterises the poet Milton , in his new work , English- Puritanism and its Leaders : — "Because Milton and Cromwell outlived , in many respects , the original narrowness of Puritanism , it would be absurd to say that they are not to be classed as Puritans . Puritanism was not merely a mode of theological opinion , such as we discern in the Westminster Confession , and the prevailing theological literature of the time ; it was a phase of national life and feeling , which , while resting on a religious

foundation , extended itself to every aspect of Anglo-Saxon thought and society . Its distinguishing ancl comprehensive principle was the adaptation of State and Church to a divine model . In all things it sought to realise a divine ideal . But it was not so much the unity and consistency of a particular ideal , as the aim towards some ideal , and the dogmatic , positive , and formal manner in which this aim was carried out , that characterised it . The creed of Puritanismthereforeboth theological and ecclesiasticalmight

, , , ancl did vary . Cromwell , Milton , ancl others , soon pushed through the narrow bonds of Presbyterianism into a broader religious atmosphere . And Milton , especially gifted with that innate intuition of the divine which has a constant tendency to ascend above forms , ancl seek its ideal ever higher hi the region of the contemplative—not merely abandoned Presbyterianism , but rose in many respects above the dogmatic basis to which it was so strongly welded . His was not a mind like that of Owen , or even Baxter ,

to rest set in any mould of dogmatic opinion prepared for it , or to busy itself with merely working out this mould into more complete and profound expressions ; he was himself a Yates—a divine seer •—ancl no mere theological mechanic . Yet while Milton rose above

tbe hardening forms of Puritanism , its spirit never left him . He never outlived the dream of moulding both the Church and society around him into an authoritive model of the divine . In all his works he is aiming at this . He is seeking to bring down heaven to earth in some arbitrary ar . d definite shape . If there is anything more than another that marks his mode of thought , it is this lofty theorizing , which applies its own generalisations with a confident hand to all the circumstances of life , and , holding forth its own

conceptions , seeks everywhere in history and scripture for arguments to support them , ancl to crush out of sight everything opposed to them . Even when he is least Puritan , in the limited doctrinal sense of the word—as in his writings on divorce—he is eminently Puritan in spirit . Whatever may be his special oxiinions , he is everywhere a dogmatic idealist — not merely an interpreter and learner of the divine—but one who believing himself confidently to be in possession of it , does not hesitate

to carry out his ideas into action , and square life according to them . The varying and expansive character of his opinions does nofc in the least affect the unity of his spirit . The epithet or thequality of electric , therefore , which some have applied to Milton , is more misleading than in any sense characteristic . ' He was not a Puritan , ' Macaulay says ; ' he was not a free-thinker ; he was not a Royalist . In his character the noblest qualities of every party were combined in harmonious union . ' So far as this is true at allit is

, true merely of the superficial qualities of his nature . If hy a Puritan he meant one who wore long hair , disliked music , who despised poetry , then Milton certainly was no Puritan . But it isonly to a . very material fancy that such qualities could be supposed to constitute Puritanism . It would never for a moment have struck

our poet himself that his love of music , or of poetry , or even of wearing his hair long , separated him in any degree from his own party , or assimilated him to that of the Court . With the latter party he had not a single element of intellectual affinity . He and the Royalist writers ofthe the time stood at entirely opposite poles . The whole circle of his ideas , political , poetical , and theological , was absolutely opposed to theirs . He would , have abhorred Hobbes , as he despised and ridiculed Charles I . His intellect was as little

electric as any great intellect can be . It sought nurture at every source of cultivation , and fed itself on the most varied literary repasts ; but after all it remained unchanged , if not uncoloured , by any admixtures . He was direct , dogmatic , and aspiring , but never broad , genial , or dramatic . 'His soul was like a star , ancl dwelt apart . ' He outshone all others . But while elevated in his grandeur , he was not comprehensive in his spirit . Even when he soared farthest beyond the confines of temporary inionhe carried with

op , him the intense , concentrated , and Hebraic temper which characterised it . Puritanism was in many , perhaps in most , a very limited , while , at the same time , a very confident and unyielding-, phase of thought . In Milton it loses its limits , but it retains all its confidence and stubborness . It soars , but it does not widen ; ancl even in its highest flights it remains as ever essentially unsym-