Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

account of the rare grace and beauty of his poems as the peculiarity of the genius which inspired them . In this latter respect they stand almost alone . " Here is a little gem as Englished b y my very clear friend the late Eta Mawr , whose translations of their " native poets " have been highly commended b y literary Germans , and by such competent critics as Lord L y tton , Sir John Horschell , Dr . Dick , and others : —

" The blue eyes of the spring Are peeping from the grass ; They are peeping in the violets Which I gather as I pass . " I pluck them , and I think That all the thoughts which spring Within my hidden bosom

The nightingale doth sing . " Yes ! what I feel she sings , Till echo joins the tone ; The secret of my heart To all the world is known . " I have had occasion to express my disappointment more than once , after

searching for the grave of some child of genius whose name is familiar to every reader , at having to return totally unsuccessful in my researches . It is a feeling rather of sorrow than of surprise that comes over one on such occasions . One of my oldest living literary friends—for Death has thinned our ranks considerably during the five-and-thirty years that have elapsed since ' our names first appeared in print togetherand our thoughts and feelings were

, first privately communicated to each other—thus pithily puts it , in the " preliminary chapter" of his delightful " Literary Reminiscences ancl Gleanings : "" Judging by experience , the graves most difficult to find are those of authors and artists . Generall y speaking , parish clerks do not know them ; ancl if , by dint of questions put to obliging newspaper editors , and by patient research in silent consecrated acres , you succeed in finding the stone—if stone there

bewhich covers the departed man of mind , it is possible his name will be absent , or if present be introduced in characters so small and insignificant that you marvel the merit which drew you so far from your path can be so poorly represented . On the other hand , the graves easiest to trace are those of successful traders . Enter any churchyard or cemetery you may , these favourites of fortune will be found sleeping beneath the weight of the largest

tombs and the eulogy of the longest inscriptions . Yet , after all ,, these elaborate monuments can win merely the passing glance of curiosit y , while the simplest stone , when bearing a notable name , attracts the pilgrim from afar . So the spirit of Justice hovers above the churchyard , ancl the spirit of Freedom keeps her company . Here is no shrinking from the empty purse , or the unfashionable form ; freed from the trammels of

pride , mind mingles with mind , in a communion purely spiritual , dispensing with the formality of a card . It was surely on such republican ground that Diogenes affixed his tub , ancl , doubtless , to grave-stones that Shakspere alluded when he wrote of the sermons which stones convey . " It is no small recommendation of a book which one has read many years ago , to be able to take it up and read it again and again with renewed interest . This have

I done with Mr . Procter ' s "Literary Reminiscences ; " and I need onl y repeat a portion of what I wrote nineteen years ago : — " One cannot hel p wishing , as we read Mr . Procter ' s genial book , that should we ever have our own name engraved on a tombstone , some kindl y hand , like that of S ylvan ' s , may once or twice in a generation come to ' clear the weeds from off our grave , ' to remove the moss and lichens which obliterate the inscriptions , and pay a shilling to some poor sexton to brush off the dust and repaint the stone . " Bose Cottage , Stokesiey ,