Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

BY BEO . GEORGE MAEKHAM TWEDDELL , Author of " Shakspere , his Times and Contemporaries , " " The Bards ancl Authors of Cleveland and South Durham , " " The People ' s History of Cleveland and its Vicinage , " " The Visitor ' s Handbook to Redcar , Coatham , and Saltbum-by-the-Sea , " " The History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway , " § "c , < yc .

AMONG the many true poets to whom Lancashire lias undoubtedly given birth—would that one could always add a comfortable subsistence—the name of John Critchley Prince stands conspicuous . He is , most assuredly , a Prince among modern Poets ; ancl time will not tarnish , but brighten his coronet . His biography , more than that of my acquaintances generally , is truly " a romance of real life ; " and his poems—sweet and vigorous , ancl ever full of sterling stuff—are among the rich treasures of our English literature .

Though never initiated among us into the mysteries of our dear Craft , yet his writings abound with those noble sentiments which are the very soul of Freemasonry . Thirteen years have now elapsed since the conqueror , Death , wrested the lyre from the poet ' s grasp , yet , strange to say , without any serious action being taken to collect and preserve his excellent literary productions , or even without any outcry being made bthe peoplefor whom he sangfor

y , , the thing to be done . The fact is , that the few years of unexampled commercial prosperity—which any sound thinker knew was too inflated to last long—did much to demoralise all classes of the people : the ignorant workman wasting his wages , ancl traders and manufacturers of all grades seeking to amass large fortunes , not by a life of careful industry , but in fewer years than it would take to ripen a newly-born daughter into Miss-in-her-teens . And ,

for this , among other of our national sins against prudence , we are now righteously punished . We have been too devout worshippers of Mammon to have either time or inclination to think of poets or poetry . We shall be wiser by-and-bye . In the meantime the numerous lovers of poor' Prince ' s writings

will be glad to learn that there is now preparing for the press a collected edition of his poems , edited , with a new memoir of the poet , by our gifted brother , Dr . R . A . Douglas Lithgow , F . R . S . L ., himself a brother bard of some promise , as the readers of the Masonic Magazine are by this time aware . "Prince , " as our literary Brother well observes in his prospectus , "belongs to the class of Artizan Poets , and few men have added more nobly to the Literature of Labour ; yet there is no strain of ' class ' in his compositionsancl the

, perfect melody of his verse is as remarkable as its intellectual quality . He had , in a marked measure , the gift of song , which dignifies even the meanest topics , and throws a halo of beaut y over the sternest scenes . There is a healthy tone pervading them which strongly contrasts with the meretricious display of some who were more happily placed than Prince . Of no man could it be more truly said that' he learned in suffering- what he taught in song . '

His poetry is the genuine reflex of an ardent and emotional nature , ancl mirrors alike the brief joys , the many sorrows , ancl the keen remorse which made up his life . " Bro . Lithgow ' s Life of Prince , for which he has been diligently collecting for some time , is to form one volume , and the Poems two volumes . The price to subscribers being only fifteen shillings for the three volumes , and the edition limited to a thousand coruesthe whole ought at once to be

, bespoken . Prince is one of those true poets whose works never die ; ancl , as one of his friends and admirers whilst he was " in the flesh , " I rejoice that he has now fallen into the hands of so competent and sympathising an editor as our good brother ,