Notes On Literature Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE SCIENCE AND ART .

In a short time we may expect an edition of Cervante's great work , Don , Quixote , illustrated in a manner worthy of the immortal Spaniard , M . Gustave Dore , the celebrated artist , being at present travelling in Spain , over the scenes -mentioned in the work , and taking sketches for the purpose of truthfully delineating the various places in which the adventures of the chivalrous Don and

his trusty ' squire , Sancho Panza , are imagined to have occurred . The Art Journal for October states that "Mr . Eosetti has completed , and just forwarded to its destination , Llandaff Cathedral , a picture , the subject of which is ' Christ , sprung from high and low , in the one person of David , shepherd and king . ' It is a tryptich , in the centre-piece of which appears the Virgin with the infant Saviour , and an angel leading in a king and a shepherd to

worship , while other angels are grouped around and above . On the right hand wing is seen David , the warrior , king , and sweet psalmist of Israel , as if resting after the fatigue of battle , and . solacing himself with bis harp . This wing is entitled ' David Hex , ' the other ' David Pastor , ' hut the latter has yet to he painted . " We are great admirers of the Art Journal , which is a publication that has done much to spread a knowledge of the fine arts among the

people , but really it is too much to ask of us to believe that a tryptich , or picture in three parts , can have been " completed ancl just forwarded to its destination , " even in these days of electric telegraphs , when one wing , or a third of the picture , " has yet to he painted . "

The Builder thus describes the sanitary condition of Sheffield : — " We have surveyed Birmingham , Stafford , Wolverhampton , Newcastle-upon-Tyne , Hull , Shrewsbury , ancl other towns ; but Sheffield , in all matters relating to sanitary appliances , is behind them all . The three rivers sluggishly flowing through the town are made the conduits of all imaginable filth , and at one particular spot , which we shall presently describe , positively run blood . These rivers , that should water Sheffield so pleasantly , are polluted wifch dirt , dust ,

clung , and carrion ; the embankments are rugged and ruined ; here and there overhung with privies ; ancl often the site of ash and offal heaps— -most desolate and sickening objocts . Mo hope of health for people compelled to hreathe so large an amount of putrefying matter . " . From La Bretagne , a new work , hy Eugene Loudun , published in Paris , we find that the new sea-port which lias recently been called into existence at the mouth of the Loire may vie with

Birkenhead and Middlesbrough-on-Tees for rapidity of construction . "Ten years ago / ' says he " Saint-Nazaire was a village of five hundred souls ; there was no port , and nothing was to he seen but a few fishing-smacks , whieh anchored behind a small jetty . Now it is a town of five thousand inhabitants , and in ten years more it will have thirty thousand . " And he adds : — " Already the principal merchants of Nantes have opened offices there ; already the basin is filled with ships from all parts of the world . "

According to the Banff shire Journal , her Majesty has commanded " a distinguished author " to write a History of Balmoral , of which only a few copies have been printed . An exhibition of paintings , by living artists only , will open at Glasgow next month , and close in January . The time is happily

chosen when other similar exhibitions are closed , and artists can thus-send paintings without preventing them from showing them elsewhere . The Life anil Letters of John , Angell James , including an unfinished Antoliogra- pliy , a work which has been issued by his colleague and successor , K . W . Dale , M . A ., we fear will have the bad effect

upon many a young minister of religion , of encouraging the already too prevalent practice of hunting out wealthy memhers of their congregations for wives . Mr . James's first wife , he informs us himself , "had few personal charms , " ancl but "little sprightliness or vivacity , " but she had plenty of money , and they lived comfortahl y together for ten years . Three years after burying his first

wife , he looks out for another wealthy wife : — " By God ' s good Providence I was directed to one in every way worthy to be the successor of my first wife , ancl this is saying much . The widow of Mr . Benjamin Neale , of St . Paul ' s Churchyard , had been sought by many , ^ but she was reserved for me His widow was left without family , and in the possession of property ( subject to « ome charitable bequests , which she liberally carried out ) to the ount of £ 20 , 000 . Possessed of a masculine under-

Notes On Literature Science And Art.

standing , great piihlie spirit , equal liberality , ancl eminently prudent , she was well fitted for the station into which Providence now brought her . She had her failings ; but they were very light and small compared with her many and eminent virtues . " AVe should nofc have considered ifc our province to have alluded to these things had not they been so prominently brought forward "fay Mr . James himself ' , who seems to have a dreadful horror of a dissenting minister

marrying a young woman of piety and intelligence , with "few personal charms " or more prepossessing appearance , unless she he rich in this world ' s goods : — " It has long been my opinion that the comparative failure of many of our ministers in their public career is owing to unsuitable marriages . They are in haste to be married , and often make most unwise selections Ifc is but rarely that a student makes a wise choice . The result isa frivilousweak

, , , moneyless , thriftless woman becomes his wife—a young family comes on—difficulties increase—a small stipend , hardly sufficient to obtain necessaries , is all they have to depend upon , the spirit of the husband and the father is broken , and he wears out a life in moving from church to church , without being useful anywhere . " In a paper recently read before the Geologist ' s Association , by

Mr . S . Highley , it is stated , that Taranaki iron sand abounds along a certain part of New Zealand , a view of which district is given in the Government report on the late war in that island . " Sometimes , " says Mr . Highley , " the sand is washed out hy the heavy seas from between the rocks ancl boulders , but is soon washed back again on the occasion of calm weather , so as to fill up all crevices , and thus make a level beach , formed of this valuable deposit . Sand identical

in character is also found at the base of Mount Egmont , the extinct volcano , that stands inland about fifteen miles from the shore , thus showing a connection between the two deposits , and indicating a volcanic origin for this iron ore , probably in the shape of volcanic dust , but , as yet , sufficiently exact data for forming a decisive opinion on the geological bearings of the deposit seems to be wanting ; . The analysis of the ore by Messrs . Johnson ancl Matthew shows its , composition to be— -oxide of iron 88-45 oxide of

per ; titanium , 11-43 ; loss -12—100 . " The titanium makes steel manufactured from this ore very valuable ; and the sand is so fine as to pass through a gauze sieve of 4 , 900 holes to the square inch . The subscriptions towards the erection of a statue of our late Bro . Sir Charles Barry , in the Witness Lobby of the House of Commons , have reached nearly £ 1 , 000 .

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

Illustrations of Masonry . By the late WILLIAM PIVESIOX , ESQ . With Additions , Explanatory Notes , and the Historical Portion continued from , 1820 to the Present Time . By the Rev . GEORGE OLIVER , D . D . Seventeenth Edition . Richard Spencer , London . To the labours of Bro . William Preston , Masonry is

indebted for much of its present position . Before his time there had been histories , aud books without number had issued from the press , devoted to Masonic enquiry und chronicling the events in the Craftsmans world , but it was Bro . William Preston who first produced a readable commentary on the general manners , customs , usages , laws , governmentand history of the orderwhich he

happilen-, , y titled Illustrations of Masonry . In the face of seventeen editions in this country , and of how many on the continent and iu America , we cannot reckon , it would be Masonic heresy of the most reckless kind to breathe a word against it . Although ifc was first published eighty-nine years since , yet its intrinsic value is as great to us , now , as it was then to our forefathers in the craffc ; ancl much that Preston tells us

has been since changed , not for the better , but for the worse , for the ceremonies , and lectures , currently adopted before the time of Dr . Hemming , contained thoughts and language of the most exalted kind , ancl , in comparison with our now received ritual and catechism , like the virgin gold , pure and unsullied , whilst wo cling with tenacious grasp to the murky dross and dilution offered to us as emboding the princiles

y p of Masonry I But even in this there is comfort . Preston ' s is a really popular book in the Craft , ancl , in this instance , popularity is on the side of excellence , and yet , strange to say , the memory of such a man does not seem to keep green amongst the dignitaries ofthe Order , for if we mistake not ,