Assyrian Discoveries.

shape of winged bulls and lions , as the Egyptian Avere by sphynxes . There , then , the same household gods or Teraphim are met with , which , as you will remember from the Bible , Rachel stole from her father for the purpore of transferring them

to her neAV home ; or the Penates Avhich JUneas carried along from old Troj' to Rome . By this peculiar old custom AVC cannot help being impressed with a grand and touching lesson . Looking over the' large ground man has

trod on ever since tbe early Chaldeans p itched their tents in the centre of Asia , where they lived , together Avith the old Chinese , to settle , perhaps ten thousand years before our era , at the shore of the Caspian Gulf , up to this clay , how many

nations do we behold carrying along their sacred household reminiscences to keep up the connection between remote past and distant future I Yet they move onwards , each nation ancl each age improving upon the other . Can Ave fail to recognize in all this the guiding hand of a Supreme Power

watching over the destinies of mankind , aucl never allowing one of their dear and sacred truths to be entirel y lost ? Ages bequeathing to each other the inheritances of the past , ancl nations transmitting , while dying , their productions and traditions to

others rising in their stead , keep up that mighty , ei-er-growing stream we call progress . Avhich , indeed , shoAvs merely an everlasting reform , — Voice of Masonry , America .

An Original Dissertation On Public Speaking.

AN ORIGINAL DISSERTATION ON PUBLIC SPEAKING .

BY BRO . EMRA HOLMES . ( Continued from page 11 J Delivered in the Town Hall , Colchester , before the Members of the Y . M . C . A . IT is a German proverbI thinkthat

, , *' speech is silvern , and silence golden . " That mi ghty poet , the poet Tupper , thinks differentl y , for he says that " speech is the golden harvest that followeth tho flowering of thought ; " meaning , iu homely Saxon , that we think first and speak afterwards

. But clo we , 0 men of the Town Council of Little Pedlington and Eatenswill 1 Some people ¦ object to wit and

humour , abominate anecdotes , and think eA'ery punster a pickpocket , like poor Cowper the poet . To such persons the introduction of fun into a lecture must seem dreadfully out of place , in fact , quite improper . There are none such here I see . But remembering that the proper study

of mankind is man , one cannot but Avonder IIOAV little such people must have studied their fellows , not to have found out that in this " ruerrie England " of ours , Avhere , by the Avay , it is said , and said untruly I thinkthat Ave take our pleasures sadly , Ave

, need plenty of laughter to chase away our tears ; we Avant some little relaxation from the cares and anxieties of humdrum every clay life , —we need some little joy to compensate for the sorrow which most of us have knoAvn something of before Ave

have reached middle age . It has been to some a matter oL regret that humour cannot be introduced into the pulpit . It seems to us an odd place to look for fun , but some of our old divines did not disdain—aucl notablyDr .

South—, the use of the ecclesiastical rostrum . Mr . Spurgeon , I am told ( not having bad the pleasuue of hearing Mm , I cannot vouch for the truth of the assertion ) , makes great use of humour , ancl I daresay there are some of us who have heard of the

Reverend Rowland Hills preaching a charity sermon at AVapping ( before the Claimant ' s time , of course ) , which he commenced by saying : " I come to preach to sinners , to great sinners , yea , to Wapping sinners I " Talking of Dr . South reminds me that

Avhenhe Avas Charles II . ' s Chaplain , he was preaching one clay before the Court , which Avas composed of the most profligate and dissolute men of tbe nation . He perceived in the middle of his discourse that sleep had taken possession of his hearers . The Doctor immediately stopped short and changing his tone of voice , called out to Lord Lauderdale three times . His

Lordship standing up : " My Lord , " said South , Avith grave composure , " 1 am sorry to interrupt your repose , but I must beg of yen that you will not snore quite so loud , lest you aioalten his Majesty 1 " Bishop Kennet says of South , " that he laboured very much to compose his sermons ,

and in the pulpit worked up his bod y when he came to a p iece of Avit , or any notable saying . " His Avit Avas certainl y