Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

Ihose Avho haA'e carefully studied the life aud Avritings of that Bristol genius—certainl y the most gifted youth of whom I knoAv—will agree Avith me , that a more pithy line Avas neA'er penned . Malone AA'ent so far as to term him " the greatest genius that England had produced since the days of Shakspere , "—AA'hich , seeing that a Milton had intervened , AA'as saying too much ! " A prodigy of genius , " as Warton termed him , he certainly AA-as ; " a singular instance of premature abilities . " Ancl Ave may easEy add AA'ith the historian of English poetry : "He possessed a comprehension of mind ancl an activit y of understanding AA'hich predominated over his situation iu bfe , and his opportunities of instruction . " And AA'ell did Scott of AniAvell sing : —

le , who superfluous wealth command , 0 , why your kind relief delay'd ? 0 , why not snatch his desperate hand —• His foot on Fate ' s dread brink not stay'd _ "What thanks had you your native land For a new Shakspere or new Milton 2 'aid ! " And Poet-laureat Pye stands hi gher in my estimation for his four lines in The Progress of Refinement : —

"Yet as , Avith streaming eye , the sorrowing Muse Pale Chattertou ' s untimely urn bedews , Her accents shall arraign the partial care That shielded not her son from cold despair . " And Robert Southey—no unqualified judge-Jias pronounced him " the most extraordinary young man that ever appeared in this country . " Ancl if my readers have Coleridge ' s poems at handI beg of themas a favourto read his beautiful " Monodon

, , , y the Death of Chatterton . " KnoAving that the poor poet's body Avas hastily thrust into a parish shell , and buried in the pauper burial-ground attached to what had once been the metropolitan palace of the Bishops of Bangor , but- Avas then a Avorkhouse , in Shoe Lane , I more than suspected that no stone Avould mark the place Avhere , as Mrs . CoAA'ley has it , he " Avith the vulgar dead unnoticed lies ! " But still I thought—though I learnt the quondam palace-workhouse had long been pulled doAvnand Acts of Parliament wa-e

, IIOAV printed on the spot—some portion of the burial-ground might yet remain kept sacred from the purposes of trade , —a breathing-place iu the over-groAvn and eA'er overgi'OAving city . On making proper search , hoAveA'ei ' , I found myself like the man who had been taEring prose all his life AA'ithout knowing it ! I had been at the great Avkolesale emporium for watercresses , ancl seen fine carrots ancl other useful A'egetables , nutritious to the bodies ancl purifying to the blood of the Eving , exposed for sale in

Farringdon Market , but never once suspected that many a human skeleton lay beloAv its flags , and that poor Chattel-ton ' s unheeded giwe Avas either there or under the adjoining buddings ! Such being the UOAV unalterable fact , let me suggest that a goodly stone column , surmounted by a bronze statue of the unfortunate bard , should be erected in the centre of the market—Avhich much needs some such ornamentation—AA'hich a small subscription from all Avho haA'e deriA'ed pleasure from his AA'ritings , inaiweEed at his genius , ancl sorrowed for his unhappy fate , AA'ould easily accomplish . Mr . W . HepAA'orth Dixon , AA'riting to the Northern Echo from Armidia , in our neAvly-acquired island of Cyprus , thus describes his present residence : —

" My home , hospital , asylum is a fair example of the higher class of house in Cyprus ; the genuine native house untouched by influences from a foreign source . It is not a kouak ; not an official residence of any sort ; but such a private house as the better sort of Greek might build , and the richer class of Turk might live in . It is neither new nor old , as houses might be called in England , where we build of brick and stone . I set it down at forty or fifty years ; but this is old for Cyprus , where nearly all the dwellings are built of frail and perishable stuff . All villages here are built of mud ; mud mixed -with straw , dried iu tho svm , and cut into large square cakes ; a cross between the hovels built of sun-dried bricks on the dSTileand the adobe cabins raised on the Colorado and the Sacramento

, . Towns in Cyprus are partly built with stone ; the konak and the magazines are always built of stone ; but even these pretentious edifices last but a little while ; the native red sandstone and Avhite limestone being almost equally friable when they are exposed to this semi-tropical sun . Nothing in the way of edifice endures as churches and castles endure in England , Italy , and France . Cyprus had once a hundred temples of the gods ; temples of Aphrodite , temples of Jupiter ; temples of Isis , temples of Apullo .