Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

said to have . brought down upon him that fearful curse of the Greater Excommunication , - -worse than any I ever heard of being awarded even to popery-hated Freemasons , —of which dear Corporal Trim remarks in Tristram Shandy , that " the army swore terribly in Flanders , but nothing like that !" In the last number of the Masonic Magazine I briefly alluded to a volume of poems , recently published , from the pen of our gifted Brother , Dr . R . A . Douglas-Lithgow ,

F . R . S . L ., who was evidently properly prepared to he made a Mason before he became a candidate for those invaluable privileges which ought to be more strictly confined to worthy men , and to worthy men alone . For every true Freemason will rejoice at finding the gifted and the good " Brothers of the mystic tie ; " and none but a mind which is both could have produced the poems to which I now wish to direct the attention of my readers . Pet Moments , Brother Douglas-Lithgow has taken for the

title of his neat little volume , because the poems , as he tells us , have been written " in the intervals of study and of active professional work , —at all hours of the ni ght and day , and often under most romantic circumstances , " —so that he thinks " they should disarm criticism , as the smile of a child mi ght disarm a frowning warrior . " I cannot say . that I quite agree with our good Brother in this last remark ; for , though one would always rejoice to know that he " has always foimd his greatest enjoyment in literary pursuits of some kind or other , and in hours of fatigue and depression , such as come to all , he has ever found rest and solace amongst the Muses , " which so far is undoubtedly a proof of a refined mind ; yet , if his lucubrations had not been " up to

the mark , " whatever pleasure they might have given to himself in the composition , that would not justify him in boring the public by then- publication . If my cordwainer makes me boots that nip my toes until they give me corns , it is no excuse for him to tell me that he never learnt his trade , which really was that of a barber , a tailor , or a chimney-sweeper . Happily , however , Brother Douglas-Lithgow has no need of any such poor apologies ; his poems are harmonious , and full of high thoughts and noble

sentiments ; and if these are the blossoms of his early life , what may we expect the fruits of his maturer years to be ! For with such a man I feel sure that poesy will he no mere flash in the pan , but an abiding power , to be used for good ; and I give it to him in terms of the warmest commendation—feeling confident that he is the ri ght man for the work—that in his leisure moments he should assist to increase our too scanty stock of true Masonic poetry , to help to supersede that immense quantity of rubbish

which has been palmed upon the Craft under that name ; and , though my own contributions only appear in the Masonic Magazine by sufferance , and I hold myself solel y responsible for every opinion I express , I feel certain our dear Editor will be glad to welcome him as an additional contributor to its pages , knowing , as I do , his great anxiet y to raise the standard of Masonic literature in England . And perhaps I may be allowed to say , which I . do most earnestly , on the word of a Mason , that I know no one who

has laboured more energetically , in many ways , for many years , most disinterestedly to accomplish so glorious an object ; one in which , I am sure , Brother Douglas-Lithgow will warmly sympathize : and it is a hi gh object , which every true Mason ought to do his best to encourage . The work now before me opens with a Dedication to Mr . Tennyson , in which "the blank verse" does not "halt for it , " but which is worthy of the subject ; and that is saying much . Let the reader judge : —

To thee , around whose genius-lighted brow A nation ' s hands have bound the laureate wreath — "Whose honour'd name with loving pride is shrined Deep in the chambers of the people ' s hearts ; Whose mighty mind has deftly , subtly , wrought A web of king-thoughts destined to endure , And glow unclimm'd , untarnish'd , through all time ; Whose noble heart , throbbing with soul-fed springs Of love and

sympathy for all mankind , Hath moved thee to unbar the golden gates Of genial Fancy , setting free her light . To tint and mellow that diviner gleam