Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE AND ART .

BY BRO . GEOEGE MAKKHAM TWEDDELL . Author of " Shakspere , his Times and Contemporaries , " " The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham" " The People ' s History of Cleveland and its Vicinage , " ' The Visitor ' s Handbook to Redcar , Coutham , and Saltburn by the Sea , " "The History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway , " fyc , Sfc . SHAKSPERE makes Hamlet enumerate among the other ills of humanity , " the law ' s delay . " A writer in the Civil Service Review puts the matter in a very practical light : —

" Another great evil that has sprung up of late years , and appears likely to increase , is the enormous length of the trials . Long trials mean heavy costs , and when yon remember that , in a long trial , the Counsel and Solicitors are all working ( as Jack Tar says ) " by the month , " it is hardly reasonable to expect that any undue exertions will be made by them to shorten the proceedings . Another cause of long trials is the high fees paid , even in petty cases , to leading Counsel , who , feeling in duty bound to give

something for the money , too often appear to endeavour to make up in quantity what is wanting in quality ; and it must not be forgotten that all unnecessary long-windedness of Counsel costs the country , if the action is being tried in the Common Pleas Division , ten shillings a minute , and in any of the other Divisions the cost to the Public is not much less . " I have not seen Mr . William Shepherdson ' s book on Starting a Daily , but find the following anecdote of my friend , January Searle , quoted from it in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle : —

" He [ January Searle ] had written a long and elaborate review of a recentl y published work of De Quincey ' s . The copy lay on the table , marked ready for the printer ; but before it was given out , Mr . Isaac Ironside , who was proprietor of the journal for which the review was written , saw and read the article , across which he wrote the following characteristic and laconic instructions : — " Two columns about a d d opium eater ! Not to go in . ' " I well remember the article in question , which

was a lecture delivered to the Mechanics' Institutions in connection with the Yorkshire Union ; and , as I told its author , the setting was so elaborate as to detract from the gems he wished . to show . January Searle published an Autobiography of his early life , which was written in so interesting a manner , that it has been matter of regret with all who read it that he never continued the work . He also read me several able articles in manuscriptwhich I have never heard of being published .

, Dr . Ryley Robinson , in his Leaves from a Tourist ' s Note Book , informs us that "the four huge piers which support the dome" of St . Peter ' s , at Rome , " are used as shrines for the four principal relics " said to be preserved there ; and that the said relics are : —

" I . The lance of Longinus , the soldier who pierced the side of Our Saviour ; presented to Innocent VIII . by Pierre D'Aubusson , Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes , who had received it from the Sultan Bajazet . So highly did the Pope appreciate the gift , that he sent two bishops to receive it at Ancona , two cardinals to receive it at Narni , and went himself with all his court to meet it at the Porte del Populo . " II . The head of St . Andrew . "III . A portion of the true cross , brought from Jerusalem by the Emperor ' s mother , St . Helena .