The Inquirer. en QUESTIONS REQUIRING ANSWERS. 901. Thomas Carlyle bases his chapter of "Hero Worship titled "The Hero as Divinity" on "the Norse Mythology." In what books can some more information on that mythology be had, their prices and publishers ?-MYTH. 902. On the subject of " H dropping" different opinions are entertained. Perhaps some reader could give (1) the general euphonical law regarding it; (2) a statement of the actual practice in regard to it; and (3) the principles which ought to be applied to settle questions concerning it on the occurrence of circumstances in which "To H or not to H," that is the question.-G. A. J. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. 893. This line "Too wise to err, too good to be unkind" is attributed to various authors. The lines sometimes are quoted thus "Too wise to err, too good to be unkind Are all the movements of the eternal mind," said to have been written by the Rev. John East, of St. Michael's Church, Bath. But in all probability the true author is Adam Clarke, who in his sermons (iii.) on "The Plan of Human Redemption" asserts that the following propositions have become incontrovertible axioms among religious people :1. God is too wise to err. 2. He is too holy to do wrong. 3. He is too good to be unkind.-S. R. G. 895. A good song must fulfil two conditions. (a) It must be good verse; and the shorter the more perfectly executed. (6) It must be singable-i. e., fitted to serve as the freight of a melody. As to a, Mr. Palgrave's definition may serve (Golden Treasury, preface). It must turn on some single thought, feeling, or situation," and it must have "rapidity of movement, brevity, and the colouring of human passion." With these restrictions there is no reason why a good song should not be narrative, descriptive, or didactic. A ballad is a narrative song, and such may have greater length than any other; but the best song is either sentimental or humorous. As to b, it is obvious that heroic and Alexandrine measures are inadmissible. Any of the accepted lyrical measures may be used. A good song sings itself. Now for an example. Strange that the most perfect song-genius of all our poets was deliberately excluded from Palgrave's Golden Treasury! What song is so perfect as Annabel Lee? Mr. Thomas Anderson, of Birming ham (Mus. Bac. Cambridge), has set those dissolving words to worthy music. We have many great song writers of modern times-Burns, Shelley, Campbell, Blake, Landor, &c., &c., but none so musical as Poe. Note the exquisite simplicity of the diction of Annabel Lee, reading itself into rhythmical prose, with no inversion, and also with no commonplace. "And this is the reason, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. Or take Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break," &c., so worthily set by Professor Oakeley of Edinburgh; or Hood's "I remember, I remember," set to melody by Dr. C. M. Ingleby, with an exquisite pianoforte accompaniment by Mr. C. J. Culwick, of Parsonstown; or Shelley's passionate burst of "I pant song, for Music," set by the same composers for Mr. Santley; on the whole, one of the noblest songs in the world, though just a little too orchestral, and therefore superbly fitted for swift execution by a mili. tary band, the air being taken by cornets-à-piston. 2. Alliteration is a vice in prose, or at best a rhetorical artifice. In verse it is in place, but is an ornament of difficult use, being "the guiled shore to a most dangerous sea." On this point Revill should consult Dr. Marsh's "Lectures on the English Language," edited by Dr. W. Smith, ch. II. 3. Dr. Roget's "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases" will answer every purpose. It is in demy 8vo. and sm. 8vo. The former sells at 10s. 6d., the latter at 78. 6d.--OMEGA. 1. It may be said generally, though it would occupy too much space to go fully into the question of song-criticism, that a song to be good must convey the language of passion or feeling; descriptive verse is inappropriate in metrical compositions of this kind, except as intended to elucidate or to intensify the sentiment. There should be a harmony throughout, and a leading idea, to which the other ideas embodied in it should be subordinated. of the greatest merit will be found usually to consist of not more than seven or eight stanzas, which should not be lengthy. Though a certain degree of abruptness at the commencement is no fault, but gives force to a song, the close should finish off so as to leave a sensation song of repose in the hearer or reader. As an example of a song which is almost perfect, I quote an exquisite little composition of our Laureate's which appears without a title, and is as follows: Break, break, break, On thy cold grey stones, O sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me. "O well for the fisherman's boy, That he shouts with his sister at play; O well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay. "And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill; But oh for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still! "Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O sea! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Can never come back to me.” In 2. Some of our greatest poets have not hesitated to employ "apt alliteration's artful aid," and have given piquancy to some of their compositions by so doing; yet the use of it implies ingenuity rather than poetic fire, and it can by itself scarcely be considered a merit in verse. prose, as a general rule, alliteration should be avoided, unless in humorous writing. 3. There has been recently advertised Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," and it is reported to be well compiled; but the best work, I think, is Roget's "Thesaurus of Words and Phrases," published by Longmans at 10s. 6d. This has gone through several bona fide editions, and has received high commendation. J. R. S. C. Literary Notes. LAMARTINE'S" Autobiography," preceded by a memoir of his mother, is to be issued simultaneously in French and English soon. A Life of (Ingoldsby) Barham, by his son, is announced. A prize of fifty guineas for the best Essay on Taxation, Local and National, is offered by the Statistical Society. A History of Punch by Mark Lemon is likely soon to be issued. Mrs. Simpson, sister of Sheriff Henry Glassford Bell, authoress of "Poems by Gertrude," has been preparing an edition of the works of Robert Burns for years, and it is now about to be published. "Characteristics of Biography," by S. Smiles, is in preparation. Louisa Stuart Costello, historian and fictionist (born 1815) died April 30. "A Life of St. Alban," the protomartyr, in Norman French, by Matthew Paris, has been discovered in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. "Quaker History and Biography," by William Howitt, is among the literary expectancies of the autumn. Homer's Iliad has been translated into French verse by M. Thourou, President of the Academic Society of Var. Alex. Murray has reprinted J. R. McCulloch's treatise on Political Economy. Edward Arber has added William Habington's "Castara" to his English reprints, and he promises "Tottel's Miscellany Webbe's "Discourse on English Poetry" at an early date. " and Dr. Leary, editor of The Rock, has in the press a translation of Virgil's " Æneid” into blank verse. It is said that the Queen is writing an Autobiography. Mr. John Morley, editor of The Fortnightly Review, and lately editor of The Star, is reported to be about to issue Light. A new preparation. "Flora of India" is in An Essay prize in commemora tion of the late Dr. Jeune, Bishop of Peterborough, is to be instituted. Mr. Fred. Mahon, of St. John's College, Cambridge, has had the Hul sean prize for 1869 adjudged to him. The famed poetic firm of Moxon is about to issue a new edition of The British Poets. The series is to commence with "Byron," illustrated by F. M. Brown, and biographised by W. M. Rossetti. Signora C. de Luna Folliero, authoress of "Studies in Moral Philosophy," "The Education of Women," &c., died at Naples 25th June. A drama entitled Phaedrus has been produced at Berlin by Prince George of Prussia, nephew of the King. The Aldine series of Poets is being issued, revised, in 52 vols. at 1s. 6d. A promise of about twenty years' standing is about to be fulfilled in the issue of vol. I. of a new edition of the "Works of Alexander Pope," by Rev. Whitwell Elwin, born 1816, editor of the Quarterly Reivew 1853 -1860, Rector of Boston, Lincolnshire, since 1849. A French-Chinese dictionary has been composed, cast, and set by Mgr. Perny, Apostolic missionary. Many-sided Minds. FRANCIS BACON, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban's, Lord Chancellor of England, Lawyer, Statesman, Scholar, Poet, and Inductive Philosopher.* BY C. M. INGLEBY, M.A., LL.D., Author of "The Revival of Philosophy at Cambridge," &c. THERE are but two legitimate modes of studying a science: the historical and the systematic. There may, indeed, be a latent system in its historical development, but that need not be identical with the system on which the science may be best studied, and by which it may be most readily taught. On the contrary, it is the rule, not without exceptions, that the history of a science is a history of error and its correction. The quarry is run down after many faults and doubles, instead of being picked off at a long range. Eminently interesting and instructive is such a history; but it is 80 in behalf of those who have acquired, with thorough comprehension, at least the elements of the science. Mutatis mutandis, but with far less force, may the same be said of Philosophy; for at present its elements are inextricably interwoven with its history. The works of Francis Bacon, edited by J. Spedding, R. Leslie Ellis, and D. D. Heath. 1857, etc. Review of the above in the Athenæum, Sept. 11 and 18, 1858. "Francis Bacon of Verulam." Fischer. Translated from the German by John Oxenford. 1857. By Kuno sa Vie, son Temps, sa Philosophie." By C. F. Remusat. Paris, 1857. Bacon, "Novum Organon Renovatum." By W. Whewell. 1858. Chap. viii., § 2. "On the Philosophy of Discovery." By W. Whewell. 1860. Chap. xV., Iri., and xvii. "On Bacon of Verulam and his Scientific Principles." By Professor Lasson. 1860. "On Francis Bacon of Verulam and the History of the Natural Sciences." By Justus Liebig. 1863. "Lord Bacon as Naturai Philosopher." By Baron Liebig. Macmillan's Magazine, July and August, 1863. Review of Baron Liebig's Discourse in the Home and Foreign Review. Jan., 1864. A Reply to Baron Liebig's two Articles, in Macmillan's Magatine, by G. F. Rodwell. The Reader, June 2 and 9, 1866. "The Correlation of the Physical Forces." By W. R. Grove. Fifth edition. 1867. Pp. 8-10. 1866. "Was Lord Bacon an Impostor? Library Miscellanies. 1870. 1870. Of late years some French writers have attempted to identify the history of any branch of knowledge with the method on which it can be best taught. It has been confidently maintained that the only sound method of instruction is "la méthode d'invention' "la méthode suivie par l'inventeur." If such be the fact in any case, it is so exceptionally. The only sound method of instruction is that which starts, not with the locus standi of the inventor, but with that of the learner, whose rude notions and profound ignorance must be the very groundwork of instruction. Ignoring both, and sublimely contemplating the architecture of the science to be imparted, we may find that our foundations have been laid on a morass or on a quicksand. The history of a science, and therefore of science in general, is for the initiated; and for such it has almost the charm of a romance, at least of a romance read backwards, like Froude's "Lieutenant's Daughter." Fable, indeed, can hardly obtain a footing there, for the results always exercise some check on the nar rative of those fictions and mistakes which the results have overthrown. We know, at least, from the results what could not have been observed or performed by the physical philo sopher during the epoch of discovery. We know, for instance, that Bacon could not have burnt a candle in the flame of spirit of wine; and that Haüy's antimony could not have been rhom bohedral. We may thus with certainty determine what, among alleged observations, were inventions or blunders, and what, among alleged experiments, were performed in fancy only, or not performed at all. We may indeed err, through the insufficiency of evidence, in assigning a discovery to one who was not first in making it, or who did not discover it at all. This has been done, with many notable additions to science, as the composition of water, the polarisation of light, and the doctrine of limiting ratios; in each of which there are still contending claims, where some find it hard to give the preference, while others administer a summary justice or injustice. There is a small class of eminent men included in the larger class of "many-sided minds," who became distinguished by virtue of pur suits for which they had received no special professional training. Such men were Francis Bacon, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: the first of whom will now engage our at tention. It may be remarked, however, in passing, that these three men, presenting so many marked differences, do also present some striking forms of agreement. All three were born to a position of eminence or affluence: all were functionaries of the government under which they lived, and rose to be eminent statesmen. All, by virtue of congenital powers and tastes, became physical philosophers, equally rejecting ideas, and working on nature by means of obser vation, experiment, and induction. The poet, however, is the only one who can be credited with a positive and unequivocal discovery in physical science. Between Bacon and Swedenborg (quite irre |