Masonic Notes And Queries.

les plus vives acclamations les sautes du Roi , de la Seine , de Monsoigneur le Dauphin , " "Ensuite cl ' un Discours du Frere [ name illegible ] , Orateur , les autres santes d ' obligation out etc portees ; la quote pour les panvres a ete faite suivant 1 ' usage ; puis le Venerable s ' ctant assure qu ' aucnn des Freres et Soeurs presents n ' avait rien a proposer pour le

bien de l'Ordre en general , et celui de la Loge en particulier , il l ' a fermee avec les Ceremonies accoutumees . "CHARLES PURTON COOPER , Chateau Frampas , Montierender , Champagne , May 22 , 1861 . HISTORY OE EREEMASONRY . I _ have unfortunately been in-evented , owing to much

business connected with the recent installation at Leeds , from attending to Bro . Findel's kind request in the M AGAZINE of the week before last . In reply to the very friendly expression of Bro . Findel , I am happy to say , that I understand and read German , and shall gladly avail myself of his most generous offer . I hope in an early number of the MAGAZINE to give hi full the extract alluded to . I have no

doubt myself that we are now in the right way to a true Masonic history , which , to the reproach of our Order , is entirely wanting- to us hi England . I must beg once more to express my fraternal regards and good wishes to Bro . Findel . —A . T . H . WOODFORD , Swillington , Leeds , May 29 , 1861 .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

At the meeting of the British Archaiological Association , May Sth , a drawing , forwarded by the Kev . Mr . Kell , was exhibited of an incised sepulchral slab , found during the recent excavations at Netley Abbey , near Southampton . It is the only stone yet discovered on which a name has been found , and represents a monk in his habiliments , with the name of " Johannes Worde , 1515 , "

beneath which occurs "Obiit 11 die 153-1 . " At the same meeting-Mr . Fettigrew read a paper to yu-ove that Dr . Cains , the founder of Caius College , Cambridge , furnished to Grafton's Chronicle the account of the sweating sickness which visited Shrewsbury in 1551 , at which time the learned doctor was a resident practitioner at the ancient capital of Salopia .

The seventh annual exhibition of the Worcester Society of Arts is to take place in August . The Bishop of Salisbury has commenced a prosecution , in the Court of Arches , against the Rev . Rowland Williams , D . D ., for his share in Essays and Meviews . Luckily for the doctor there is no burning at the stake for heresy now-a-days .

Inhisrecent Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Characler , the Rev . Charles Rogers , LL . D ., relates the following humorous anecdote : — " Alexander M'Lachlan , beadle in the parish of Blairgowrie , had contracted a habit of tippling , which , though it did not wholly unfit him for . his duties , had become a matter of considerable scandal . The Rev . Mr . Johnstone , the incumbent , had resolved to reprove him on the first suitable opportunity . A meeting of the

kirk-session was to be held on a week-day at twelve o ' clock . The minister and the beadle were in the session-house together before any of the elders had arrived . The beadle was flushed and excited , andjthe minister deemed the occasion peculiarly fitting for the [ administration of reproof . 'I much fear , Saunders , ' began the minister , 'that the bottle has become ' 'Ay , sir , ' broke in the unperturbed official'I was just g . uin to observethat there was a smell o'drink

, , amang ' s !'— 'How is it' John , said the clergyman to his church-officer , ' that you never go a message for me anywhere in the parish but you contrive to take too much spirits ? People don't offer me spirits when I ' m making visits in tbe parish . ' < Weel sir , ' saiciTJohn , 'I eanna precisely explain it , unless on the supposition that I ' m a wee mail- popular wi' some o' the folks . '"

Mr . Robert Hunt , writing hi the Art Journal , pays the following high compliment to the city of Manchester : — " Manchester , as the seat of manufactures , is second to no town in the world . We shall be corrected , and told that for town we should have written

CITY . Manchester men , however , confess to us that city does not sit easy upon them , but they love tho 'dear old town . ' Still rejoicing in the distinction between Manchester men and Liverpool gentlemen , the native sons of the great Cottonopolis would have the men and the town , associated . But this is , after all , a question for themselves , and not for us . Manchester , as the seat of manufactures , is unrivalled . Nowhere , within the wide circle of civilisation and commerce , clo we find anything to equal Manchester .

Its warehouses are palaces such as Venice , once the boast of the commercial world , never built for the most magnificent of her ducal kings . It mills are hives of industry , within ^ whieh are crowded such working bees as were never found in any otber hive . From the ends of the earth she draws the material of her wealth , ancl with an ingenuity which has never been equalled , by her marvellous machinery , she takes a bale of dirty cotton into the ' mill' it is seized bthe iron-iantancl tornand [ combedand

, y g , , , twisted , and woven in its passage , until , at the extreme end of the same establishment , it is sent out a delicate fabric , upon which the elaborations of art have been expended . Such is the striking feature of Manchester . Her commerce for raw cotton is with the world , her commerce is with the world for the ' manufactured material . "

It appears from the last census , that it requires 7 u 0 paper-mills ancl 2000 steam engines to supply the publishers with paper for books and newspapers in the United States . At all events , Brother Jonathan is a reader . Dr . Jenncr has resigned the Professorship of Pathological Anatomy at "University College , London , but will retain the

Professorship of Clinical Medicine . A method of covering iron with a thin film of nickel previous to tinning it has been discovered in Erance , by which the iron will g . be more effectually protected from oxidation . Of the Japanese powers of imitation the Builder observes : —

"The astonishing aptitude ofthe Japanese for imitating everything they ses appears to be a constant source of interest and amusement to the members of the Legations ,- and some of the most impossible things to do appear to have heen given to some of the more ingenious workmen , in order to try them , rather than with any hope of success ; hut a failure is said to be very rare . Chubb ' s lock was given to a clever lacquer-ware man merely to fix on a box which

had been ordered . The box was duly produced , the lock admirably fitted , but something drew attention to the key ; when , upon minute inspection , it was found that both lock and key were imitations I Friend Sabie , tbe name of the ingenious individual , had been so struck with tbe beauty and perfection of the lock , that in an incredibly short time he had succeeded in finding a workman to

produce so exact a counterfeit , that it was hy the merest accident the trick was discovered . This is an anecdote which Mr . Chubb , ive dare say , will scarcely * take in , ' whatever others may clo . If the Chinese , at all events , have , from time immemorial , as we are told , possessed the principle of the Brahma lock , the Japanese may also be skilled in lock-making-, and may have appropriated Chubb ' s lock in the way indicated . Many of our more recent discoveries are nowit is saidfound to have been known in Japan

, , ages ago . Take lithochrome printing , for instance , by which ( only within the last twenty years ) a perfect imitation of the effects of water-colours may he obtained from a series of stones , printing in . different colours . The same thing is everywhere to be seen in Japan . The process is the same , only wooden blocks are used instead of stone . The effect is not so fine , certainly , but the principle is there , and reduced to practice . They are not artists

in tho sense in which we should use the term ; yet many of their smaller ivory carvings of groups of figures , generally grotesque , are hold to be marvels of expression ancl skill in the handling of the chisel , full of character ancl of humour . So much for the aptitude ancl capacity of the Japanese workmen ; and there seems little doubt that , if anything like a free competition for a large trade arose , they would hold their own ' against the best workmen of Europe , ancl might prove formidable rivals to Manchester and lliriamgliava . TUei . sword-blades , bwc . tlw . rtspntation of being superior to any now produced in Europe . "

The examination of the Whately Professorship of Politica ? Economy will he held in Trinity College , Dublin , on Monday , June 17 th . Candidates must be LL . B . or M . A . of one of the Universities of Dublin , Oxford , or Cambridge , or of the Queen * '" , University in Ireland .