Masonic Notes And Queries.

council . ' The Duke of Norfolk encamped near Doncaster , where he entered into a negotiation with the rebels , which was protracted till the Pilgrims of Grace , reduced almost to a state of famine and dispirited by the recent rising of the Don , at [ two different times , when they meditated an attack , began to disperse and suffered their leaders to be taken prisoners . Some of

* hem with tee abbots of Eountains , Jervaux , and Rivalx , wei-e executed at Tyburn . Sir Robert Constable was hanged in chains over Beverly gate , at Hull ; Lord Darcy was beheaded on Tower Hill ; audAske , the leader of the insurrection , was suspended from a tower , probably Clifford ' s Tower , at York . Yorkshire , during the reign of Mary , surnamed the Bloody , enjoyed repose , and it dfles

not appear that this ancient city was the scene of any of her persecutions . The long and splendid reign of Elizabeth affords few materials for the historian of York . In her reign , a rebellion broke out in the north , headed by Thomas Percy , Earl of Northumberland , and Charles Nevil , Earl of Westmoreland , the object of which was to ¦ restore the Soman Catholic reliion . The failure of this

g enterprise involved many of the conspirators in ruin , and on Good Friday , the 27 th March , 1570 , Simon Digby of Askew , and John Eulthorpe , of Issebbeck , Esquires , with Robert Penneyman , of Stokesly , and Thomas Bishop , of Poukington , gentlemen , were drawn from the Castle of York , to Knavesmire , and there hanged , headed , and ¦ quartered . To strike terror into the inhabitants , their

heads with four quarters , were set up in different other parts of the country . The Earl of Westmoreland found means to escape out of the country , but Northumberland was taken , and being attainted by Parliament , was beheaded August 22 nd , 1572 , on a scaffold erected in the pavement , at York , aud his head set on a high pole , on Mioklegate bar . This was the last open attempt made to restore the Roman Catholic religion in this kingdom . —A

ALCHEMV AND KOSICBI / CIANISM . The following may interest some of your readers : — - "'The science of alchemy and transmutation of metals , —that igneusfahnts ivhich always exhibits a dawn , but never produces the fruition of day , had the honour to rank among his votaries Henry "VI ., the unfortunate representative of the House of Lancaster ( 1458 ) . Though

he had , on a former occasion , commissioned three philosophers to make the precious metals , without receiving any return from them iu gold and silver , his credulity , like that of many wiser men , was unshaken by disappointment , and he issued a a pompous grant in favour of three other alchymists , who boasted that they could not only transmute the inferior metals into gold and

liver , but could also impart to men perpetual youth , with unimpaired powers of mind and body by means of a specific , called The mother and Queen of medicines , the inestimable glory , the quintessence , or the elixir of life . Iu favour of these- three " lovers of truth and haters of deception' as they modestly styled themselves , Henry displeased with the law passed bhis royal grandfather

y against tho undue multiplication of gold and silver , empowered them to transmute other metals into those more precious ones . This extraordinary commission had the sanction of parliament , and two out of the three commissioners , there is little reason to doubt were the heads of leading families in Lancashire , Sir Thomas Ashton , of Ashton-under-Lyne , and Sir Edmund

Trailbrd , of Trafford . The two worthy knights obtained a patent in the 24 th of Henry VI ., ' for making alchemy and changing several metals . ' These sages imposing probably upon themselves , as well as upon others , kept the King ' s expectation wound up to the highest pitch ; and in the following year he actually informed his people that the happy hour was approaching , when , by the means of the stone , he would be able to pay off all his debts . " Following Baine ' s History , we again hear of these sages in connection with the establishment of the

Manchester Grammar School , April 1 st , 1624 , the" trust deed containing , amongst others , the names of " Edmund Trafford , the Alchemist , and Richard Aston , son of his coadjutor . " The College of Manchester was dissolved during the regency of Edward VL , but renewed in 1758 , and comprehended one ward priest , B . D . ; four fellow priests , B . A . ; two chaplains , or vicars , and four children ,

skilled in music . Dr . Chaderton succeeded Johu Wolton , and held the wardership of Manchester College till 1595 , when he was succeeded by John Dee , A . M ., the friend of Camden , and a celebrated mathematician . This divine was addicted to the occult sciences . Some few months ago you favoured your readers with a most valuable extract from the papers of this learned Rosicrucian brother

, and there can be very little doubt that the Site of Bose Criox of Heredom has been conferred , in Manchester , from a very distant period , as the Jerusalem Conclave claims to have met in Manchester from time immemorial as the head of that rite . —V

THE KNIGHTS 01 ? ST . JOHN OE JERUSALEM . ( I S . iii . 270 , 289 . ) I thought that the extinction of the English Langue of the Order of the Knights of Malta was now an admitted fact , and the insignia , when now conferred upon English subjects , must be considered in the same light as that o £ any other foreign Order .

You seem , however , to have correspondents interested upon the subject , and having some time since endeavoured to learn the history of the separation of the English from the other Langues , I send you the result at which I arrive , and which led to the conclusion that the English Langue does not exist under any legal foundation , nor is it recognised by the governing authorities

of the surviving foreign Langues . The Order of St . John of Jerusalem , once the most celebrated equestrian Order , combining a military with a religious character , and possessed originally of large revenues , has been known throughout Europe under the several designations of Knights Hospitallers of St . JohnKnihts of Rhodesand Knihts of Malta .

, g , g From its earliest foundation , an English branch or Langue of this Order was united to the original body , and the Grand Prior of England , under the title of "The Prior of St . Johu of Jerusalem , " had place and seat in Parliament . The Order is said to have been introduced into Scotland under King David I . ( 1124 ) , and into Ireland by the Earl of Pembroke about 1174 .

The house or hospital of the English branch was at Clerkeuwell , and the Order was countenanced by the pontiff and every potentate in Europe . In the commencement of the fourteenth century ( 1322 ) , the Order , by a decree of its chapter held at Montpelier ( or Avignon , as some writers say ) , was divided into seven Langues or nations ; and in that council England

was placed sixth in rank , and soon afterwards an eighth division was made called Castile and Portugal , so that the Langues or nations stood thus : — : - Three French—1 . Provence ; 2 . Auvergne ; 3 . France ; 4 . Italian : 5 . Spanish or Aragou ; 6 . English ; 7 . German ; 8 . Castile and Portugal . After a lapse of four centuries the overthrow of this independent Order has

been iu great degree accomplished . The last locality of the Knights as a body was Mala , and its sovereign independence was considered extinguished when Napoleon Buonaparte , in 1798 , took possession of that island , and confiscated the estates and revenues of the remaining Knights , who were disunited , and had degenerated from their former greatness .

The Order within the limits of France had ceased to exist by an enactment of the Constituent Assembly iu 1792 , Rohau , elected iu 1775 , being at that time Grand Master . By the capitulation of June 12 , 1798 , with the French ( Ferdinand de Hompesch then Grand Master ) , Malta was lost to the Order ; but it is alleged that the supreme executive authority remained vested in the Grand Mastership and Sacred Council of the Order , and that the