Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

the perhaps less gifted writer of the Lakes was in penetrating beneath the surface of all earthly things . But—forgetting for a time the rival merits of Byron and Wordsworth—let us look for a few moments at the little poem which has drawn us into this digression ; a fault , if it be one , which it will at once be seen our author has no rig ht to complain of . Here is his opening passage : —

" Hail , Pegasus ! fire-wing d , ethereal steed , Whose tameless hoof was ne ' er confined to ground ; Thee will I mount , from silence' durance freed , And scour the varied universe around ;

And though no fame be my exalted meed , Nor this my ride adventurous be renown'd , Enough if I but roam at large , with thee , The world , uncheck'd , contemplative and free .

Then on thy back I'll gallop , walk , or canter , Through all the fields of thought or speculation ; And , as through changing scenes I post or saunter , I do not mean to curb imagination , But give vent to my inmost thoughts instauter , According to my mood or inclination . "

I am glad that the writer , like my dear friend , the late Charles Swain , makes poetry the amusement of his leisure , and not the means of livelihood , for he sings : — " But , first of all , be't plainly understood

That I have led my courser from the stable Not for that aim— pecuniary good ; T'exist by other means I am quite able ; In fact , to tell the truth , I never should - Have dreamt of making rhyme my saving cable , Although it must unfortunately be told , The spur of Pegasus too oft ' s of gold . "

This is as it should be ; for , as the late John Walker Ord once remarked to me , " I think poetry should be a thing above all money price , "

Our author has here and there some fine thoughts ; and at times he has what the Duke in " A Midsummer Ni ght ' s Dream " would call" Some satire , keen and critical , Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony ;"

as , for instance , when he remarks , alas ! with too much truth : — ' * 'Tis curious how some men , by strategy Or toil , contrive t ' obtain so large a part Of Fortune ' s favours ; surel y it must be

Their deep assurance in this world ' s great mart , And that their art one crowning phase embraces—Coining to gold the brass in their own faces . "

I am not so sure about the line" And down falls ruin , like Damocles ' sword . " I guess the sword would fall , if allowed to hang long enough , seeing that it was only

suspended by a single hair from a horse ' s tail . But when the Sicilian flatterer looked up from the throne which the tyrant had temporarily resigned to him , and beheld the gleaming instrument of death pointing down to his headwe are not to suppose

, that the elder Dionysius—who really was as clever as he was ambitious—usually allowed the falchion to hang dangling in so dangerous a manner , but rather had only ordered it to be so suspended to teach

his flatterer the danger of supreme power , by that fine piece of symbolic instruction and the terrified Damocles , according to the story , did not sit there long enough for the steel to sheathe itself in his sconce , but wisely abdicated . Of the story of " Marmaduke Miller "

there is not sufficient yet published to enable one to speak with certainty , but it promises so far to be very interesting . As might be expected , there are many digressions . The author seems to me too credulous of apparitions and supernatural

appearances ; and though ho may " instance Johnson , Bonaparte , Wesley , Byron , " and a thousand other " Men no mere myths , but all with minds of iron , "