Notes On Literatues, Science, Music, Drama, And The Fine Arts.

NOTES ON LITERATUES , SCIENCE , MUSIC , DRAMA , AND THE FINE ARTS .

The subject of Mr . Balfe ' s new opera is Scott ' s " Talisman !" The JEra speaking of Mr . James Bennett's performance at Sadler ' s "Wells Theatre , says lie ought never tobe out of London . The neiv play of M . M . Alexandre Dumas pore and

Jallais , " Gabriel Lambert , " has turned out fiasco at theAmbigu . Professor Buschmann , Librarian at the Eoyal Library at Berlin , lias offered to the Emperor Napoleon the orig inal MS . of " Kosmos , " the gigantic work of Alevander von Humboldt .

Mr . Mayall has invented a neAV solar camera by which he can magnify small carte de visites to life-size portraits . One of the best examples of the new process is a photograph of Tennyson enlarged to

various sizes . Mr . Maclise ' s " Story of the Norman Conquest , " a series of forty-two illustrations , is in the course of delivery to the subscribers to the Art Union of London . The Leichardt expedition has broken down in consequence of the drought in the far north . Some

members of the party have arrived at Queensland . The country recently traversed by the expedition has not been visited by rain for nearly two years . The Government of Yictoria has determined to publish authorised Parliamentary reports . Although the Melbourne daily papers give very full records of

the proceedings , three gentlemen have been selected from the staff of the Argus , Avhose duty Avill be to furnish a complete account of what takes place . A bottle Avas picked up on Eriday Aveek on tlie beach at Brighton , containing the following words written in pencil on a torn envelope : — " 11 th of

January , on board the London . We are just going down . No chance of safety . Please give this to Avonia Jones , Surrey Theatre . —GUSTAATTS VAUGHAH - BROOKE . " The summary of the number of exhibitoz-s and the demands for space at the Paris exhibition of 1 SG 7 has

just been made . The number of exhibitors , exclusive of fine arts , is 2 , 280 ; in 1855 the number Avas 1 , 541 . The total space demanded exceeds 305 , 000 square feet , exclusive of space demanded in the park . Tlie net space at the disposal of the British executive is 93 , 000 square feet , or considerably less than one-third of the space asked for . In 1 S 55 the net space filled was 65 , 000 square feet

A correspondent of the Guardian writes that Dr . Newman has been obliged , out of deference to superior authority , to suppress his second letter to Dr . Pusey on the subject " of papal infallibility . It is said that Dr . Newman stood out for no more than the infallibility of his Holiness at the head of an ( Ecumenical Councilbut this restrictionit ivould seem

, , , is too much for the present temper ofthe Soman Catholic hierarchy in England . M . Athanase Coquerel , fits , has just published a work entitled " Tbe First Historical Transformations

of Christianity . " The object of the writer is to prove that a number of such changes took p lace in the course of the first three centuries . During that interval he finds—first , the Christianity of Jesus

Notes On Literatues, Science, Music, Drama, And The Fine Arts.

Christ ; then the Judaic and Hellenic Christianities ; then those of St . Peter and St . Paul ; then Eoman Christianity ; ancl so on to the number of ei ght . Mr . William Harrison Ainsworth , the proprietor of : ; Bentley s Miscellany , " has obtained an injunction restraining Mr . Bentley , of New Burlington-street ,

from publishing " Temple Bar , " on the ground of a covenant entered into when Mr . AinsAVorth bought the " Miscellany " for £ 1 , 700 that Mr . Bentley ivould not publish any other magazine of tho same class . Tlie injunction is , however , conditional , and is not to interfere Avith the publishing of " Temple Bar " till

the case is fally heard . The decay of the stone of the Houses of Parliament has again been brought before the Commons by Mr . Tite , AVIIO had hoped that the decay Avould iu time arrest itself , and that the Avounds Avould skin over . A partial change of that kind has taken place ,

but it appears that the decay has set in again , owing to the recent heavy rains . Mr . Cowper was unable to suggest any remedy , but he stated that Mr . Abel , of the Eoyal Laboratory , Woolwich , ivas engaged on a series of experiments on the western front of Henry VII . ' s chapel , with a view to the prevention of the absorption of moisture . The neAV works now

in progress at the Clock Tower are to be carried out in the same stone as the other part , but Mr . Cowper assured the House that every possible care should be taken to select the best stone from the quarry . Mr . Melville Bell , an Edinburgh professor of elocution , has recently been exhibiting his new invention of visible speechconsisting of an

, alphabet of thirty signs , by means of Avhich and their various combinations it is alleged he is able to represent every sound of whicli the human voice is capable . The test was this : a number of gentlemen j > resent—all were invited to do the like—repeated to Mr . Bell sentences and p hrases from a great

variety of tongues—from the polished Arabic , or Syriac , or Chinese , to the barbarous Hottentot and other savage languages , including several of our provincial dialects . These Mr . Bell ivrote down in his alphabet , some of the sounds being such as he had not heard before , and his son , who had been in a room

adjoining , AA'as brought in and read tlie sounds which had been written Avith the most perfect exactness , rendering correctly the drawl or splutter of the various local dialects , and the scarcely appreciable refinements in pronunciation of other languages . The test Avas most varied and searching , and left no doubt on the minds of those present as to Mr . Bell ' s success .

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

27 ic Freonason ' s Galcmlav for the Province of Oxford , 1866 . Edited by Bro . E . J . SHEKS , D . Prov . G . M . Oxon . ; P . G . S . B ., & c . Wo havo received this Masonic Calendar for the present year ; the publication of it having been continued annually for some time past . Ib is admirably adapted to answer the for which it is intended—as an

purpose , index to the meetings of the Masonic bodies of the province and of others connected ivith it . The Calendar also gives , in addition to the various Provincial Lodge meetings , the days of meetings of Grand Lodge , the various Masonic Charities , & c . And ,