The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

The Atheneum announces that Sir Henry Bulwer'.i
" Life of Lord Palmerston " will appear before the end
of the present season. It is said that it will probably show
Lord Palmerston's character to have been simpler and more
frank than the present generation is inclined to believe.—
Mr. S. P. Tregelles has nearly finished the fifth and con-
cluding part of his elaborate critical and annotated New
Testament in Greek. The issue has been confined to sub-
scribers, but on the completion of the work it will be pub-
lished on the ordinary terms.—Mr. George Macdonald is
preparing for publication a number of plays
for young people, several of which have
been duly tested by actual performance. A com-
mittee has been appointed by the Society of Arts
to confer with the Lord Mayor of London and the Chair-
man of the Metropolitan Board of Works, with the view
of establishing such harmonious action between the seve-
ral authorities they represent as may prevent the erection
of ugly public buildings in future.—Before leaving Paris
for London, Mdlle. Nilsson received from Napoleon the
Taird a group of daisies in diamonds.—According to
L'Art Musical, the pr6gramme of Mdlle. Nilsson is com-
plete up to the point of her retirement from the profes-
sion. After the present London season she goes to
America, remaining there thirteen months. Returning,
she takes the place of Madame Patti at St. Petersburg,
then bids farewell to the lyric stage.- Some new and
stringent rules are in force at the Munich Opera. No-
body is ellowed to enter during the performance of the
overture, and those who arrive while the curtain is up
are required to wait till it falls before taking their seats.
Nature announces that. Professor Stokes will be a
member of the Royal Commission to inquire into the
present state of Science in this country. Up to the
present time then, so far as we are informed, the Com-
mission stands as follows : President, the Duke of
Oevonshire. Members : Professors Huxley, Stokes, and
W. A. Miller : Dr. Sharpey, Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
M.P. ; Messrs. Lyon Playfair, M.P., and B. Samuelson,
M.P.—At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, on
Monday, Sir Roderick Murchinson announced that the
Earl of Clarendon had decided, on the part of Her
Majesty's Government, to provide means for relieving
Dr. Livingstone by land from Zanzibar, news from the
doctor having been cut off some time since by the out-
break of cholera on the caravan route.

The Musical Standard says :—" Mr. Sims Reeves will
make his first appearance (on his return from Italy) in the
" Messiah " at Mr. Leslie's concert, to be held at St.
James's Hall orb t2sth„nst,;t

COMPULSORY PILOTAGE.

The select committee upon compulsory pilotage resumed
their inquiry yesterday fternoon, Mr. Shaw Lefevre in the
chair.

Captain J. Roper, harbour-master of the port of
Bristol, was called, and stated that all sailing ves-
sels exceeding eighty tons were obliged to take
a pilot in the Bristol Channel. The jurisdiction of the
Bristol authorities had been diminished because various
new local authorities had sprung up at Newport, Cardiff,
Swansea, &c. The Channel was very dangerous at
Bridgwater, and the haven up to Bristol was even
more dangerous. There were at present no less
than sixty. pilots at Bristol, and forty-four
boats of various sizes up to forty tons. The pilots
were a very respectable class of men; there was a general
tendency to confine those of each port to that port.
He was in favour of adopting the compulsory system as
far down the Bristol Channel as Lundy, while it was
absolutely necessary from Kingroad to Bristol on account
of the tortuous character of the Severn. The maintenance
of the compulsory system would tend very much
to the efficiency of the pilots and the protection of the
shipping. The restrictions were not so great but that the
master of a brig might employ a tug. If they were to
abolish the compulsory pilotage from Lundy to Kingroad,
it would still be necessary to have it up the Avon from
Ree to Bristol.

Captain J. Rosser, deputy harbour master, and Captain
Ford, merchant and ship-owner of Swansea, having also
given evidence,
The committee then adjourned at four o'clock.