Literature.

" ' AVhat a singular marriage Miss So-and-so made !' "' AVho would havo thought of Lord This-or-that fancying such a mere child V " 1 wonder—but when Ave havo multiplied these wonders aud truisms , ad , infinitum , we shall at last find ourselves just where we set out on our exploring mania , for there is very little in this great Avhisporiug gallery , 'Self-balanced on its centre Imng , '

that is not a mystery . " AVhat aro the stars , tho flowers ? " AVhat is Life , ancl its shadow Love ? Death , and its twin-brother Sleep ? " AVhat is the Soul , and its first-born Thought ? " Wlat U Time , and what Eternity ? "But is there not a still greater Mystery ; a mystery tho loftiest intelligences of heaven yearningly desire to look into , Avhile Ave , dots in the vast creation , waste our precious hours on aught beside , though joy

or woe interminable hinges on our reception of it , the science and song of all eternity : — ' ' 'Tis mystery all , the Immortal dies AVho can explore the strange design ?

In A'ain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love diA'ine . Amazing love ! hoAV can it be That Thou , my God , should die for me ?' " Only in the light of this wondrous love can Ave catch faint streaks of life ' s lesser mysteries ; and when , from her glory home , the enfranchised soul looks on all the ways ( rough and thorny ancl mysterious though they havo been ) by which she has reached at last her resthow will the

, exulting anthem ring through the abiding city , — ' True , and j ml are all thy ways , thou , King of Saints /' Conscious oven to agony that under the impulse of terror she betrayed her love . Mary shrunk from herself and others , " & c . It is not a pleasant task to review Avorks like this ; the mingling of the human and divine—the glib and irreverent calling upon or appealing to the Creator for every trivial incidentmakes us come

, to the conclusion that the extract we haA'e given above , capitals , italics , punctuation and all , is to be summed up in one Avord—Cant . The intention of the authoress Avas , Ave doubt not , good , but the execution full y illustrates the proverb—that a certain place is paved ivith good intentions .

Lob Morris ' s Alasonic Almanack for I 860 . Kentucky : Morris and Montsarret , Louisville . This Almanack , though of course more adapted to the wants of the American than the English brethren , Avill be found a useful and welcome A-isitor whereA'er it finds its ivay . It contains a great amount of Masonic information , conveyed in the briefest phraseologyand mustAve should thinkcommand an immense

, , , sale , seeing that in the United States Bro . Morris has a constituency of something like 200 , 000 free and accepted brethren to address , thousands of ivhom are always looking out for something new to emanate from his pen , in Avhich they are sure to take an interest . AVe shall find occasion to make good use of its pages , AVC hope , alike for the instruction and amusement of our readers .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . AVE hear that the Birkenhead steam launch having proved a failure , Dr . Livingstone has sont homo orders for the construction of another , at au estimated cost of £ 2000 . This cost Dr . Livingstone proposes to defray out of his own pocket , from tho means set aside for his children out of the profits ofhis "Travels . " "The children must make it up for themselves" was in effect his expression in sending the order for

appropriation of tho money . M . Q-uizot , says a Paris letter , Avho is giving the last touch to the third volume of his memoirs , has lately received a very flattering compliment from his townsmen of the city of Nimes . The honorary presidency o £ the academy of Nimes haA'ing been offered him , the illustrious statesman hastened to reply by a letter in Avhich he accepted the appointment . M . Guistot added that , notwithstanding his advanced age , ho hopes to

render his presidency effective . M . do Lamartino ' s jiatcrnal estate of Monceanx , near Macon , is advertised for sale by auction at the chamber of notaries in Paris , on tho 7 th o * February next . Tiie upset price is fixed at 1 , 000 , 000 francs . The French papers publish , on behalf of M . do Lamartine , a contradiction of the report , AA'hich it seems , has been circulated , that he proposes to deliver public lectures . He had arrived in Paris from Macon , and is

Avorking at his serial , the JEnlrcticn , Lilteraires . Not less than 43 , 000 copies of the pamphlet " Lc Papo et le C ' ongres , " havo been sold . AVhoever may lose , M . Dcntu , the publisher , is not tho man . Dr . Justus Liobig , iu the supplements to the Allgcmeinc Zeilung , has commenced tbe publication [ of a now fleries of popular letters on the

subject of agricultural chemistry . Thoy arc addressed to Alderman Mochi . The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has recently transferred iU museum and library to now quarters , under tho auspices of government . The celebrated " Maiden , " the supposed original of tbo guillotine , so fraught Avith recollections and associations , has , wo presume , Avith the

rest of the varied objects of interest , found a more appropriate and special resting place . Tho collection of antiquities has received an important accession in a series of Egyptian antiquities , presented by Mr . A . H . Rhind , and which Avere excavated under bis personal superintendence . The same collection possesses some curious fragments of painting , and a copy of the " Confession of Faith , " headed by the signature of Montrose .

At the meeting of the Royal Society on tho 22 nd ult ., the chair was taken by Sir Benjamin Broctie , the president . B . AA ^ oodcroft , Esq ., AVI-. S admitted a fellow of the society . The following papers Avere read : — "On the Electro-conducting Power of Alloys , " and "On the Specific Gravity of Alloys , " by A . Matthiessen . "On tho Structure of the Chorda Dorsnlis of the Plagiostomes ancl some other Fishes , " by Prof . Kolliker . ' ' On au extended Form of the Index , the Index Symbol in tho Calculus of Operations , " by AV . Spottiswoode , Esq . Admiral FitzRoy , Superintendent of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade , gave an oral account of the late storms o £ the 25 th and 20 th of October and

the 1 st of November . The Society of Antiquaries met ou the same day , when J . Bruce , Esq ., one of the vice presidents , took the chair . Mr . J . G . Nichols presented a broadside elegy on the death of Edward Jones , the famous Gazette printer in the Savoy . Mr . Charles Reed exhibited some early certificates of Quaker marriages . The Rev . J . S . Hiley exhibited a bronz-j celt and two , Roman coins , found in ChaniAVOod Forest—one of them

Avas of Vespasian , and bore the numerals LXXXIII in countermark . Mr . B . AA ilmer ^ the society's local seci-etary for Normandy , exhibited drawings of a glass Roman vase , Avhich had been cast iu a mould , the figures on it being represented in high relief . Mr . AV . M . AA ylie comimuiicatecl some remarks on this rare example of Roman art . Mr . J . J . HoAvard exhibited , by permission of Dr . Iliff , an ivory signet ring , bearing tbe arms of Francis Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury . The president

communicated a transcript of a document in his possession relating to the defeat of the Spanish Armada , on which some remarks , by Sir . R , Lemon , Avere read . Colonel Sykes presided at the last meeting of the Statistical Society , Avhen S . AVhitbread , Esq ., tho Rev . E . T . Rogers , M . A ., J . Coles , H . J . Phillips , ancl II . R . Sharman , Esqs ., wore elected Fellows of the . society . Mr . D . Chadwiok , Treasurer of Salford , read a paper "On the rate of Avages in Manchester and Salford and the manufacturing districts of Lancashire , during the last twenty Years .- "

DEATH OF LOUD MACAULAY . England and European literature have sustained an irreparable loss by the sudden death of Lorcl Maeaulay , Avhich took place at his residence in Kensington , at eight o'clock on AA ' cdnesday Aveek . Although in 1 S 52 he had a serious ancl protracted illness , from declared disease of the heart , tho attack Avas subdued , and till within tho last month his health ivas tolerably good . About throe Aveeks since ho had a second ,

attack , from ivhich , however , he rallied , and his medical advisers considered him out of immediate danger , but a relapse took place , and terminated fatally . Lord Maeaulay Avas never married , and the title dies ivith him . He Avas born at Rothley Temple , Leicestershire , in the yearlSOO , and Avas consequently only fifty-nine years of ago . Tbe son of Zachary Maeaulay—a man worthy to be named along with Clarkson , AVilberforceand Stephenfor his exertions and sacrifices to promote the

, , abolition of the sla \ 'e trade—Mr . Maeaulay had doubtless an excellent early training . He entered Trinity College , Cambridge , in 1 S 19 , carried off prize after iirize , and having on leaving the University chosen the bar as his profession , lie selected tho Northern Circuit as the sphere of his legal career . About this time his celebrated article on " Milton " appeared in the Edinburgh Review . The publication of that article was a literary event , and it Avas soon felt that a UCAV luminary Avas rising in

the literary hemisphere . Subsequent articles of equal ability led to Mr . Macaulay ' s beiug made a Bankruptcy Commissioner , and to his introduction to Parliament , under the auspices of the Marquis of Lansdowne , as member for C ' alno , and to office as Secretary to the Board of Control . Tho right honourable gentleman in 1 S 32 accepted an appointment in the Supreme Council of India , and at tho end of two years and a half returned to England , To his residence in India wo owe his essays on Lord