Masonic Notes And Queries.

Ramsay ' s ? One thing is certain , it is not included in the p erfect edition of his Avoks . —EKOOO . THE MASONIC CHARITIES OP THE CONTINENT . I should very much like to see among your Notes and Queries , some list of the Masonic charities which exist on the Continent of Europe . I am told they are numerous , aud embrace a variety of objects . Will some kind Brothers

furnish the information desired?—LIFE-GOVERNOR . WHY ARE WOMEN EXCLUDED PROM MASONRY . It has often occurred to me , aud I have frequently asked the question , ivhy are Avomen excluded from Masonry ? I hai'e never obtained a satisfactory reply ; can you help me to one ?—Uxoit , —[ AVe hai e heard it said that as all the

rites of Masonry spring from , or have an allusion to , the building of Solomon ' s Temple , there is no trace in holy writ of women' being employed in the work , so it ivould be contrary to the spirit of Freemasonry to admit women to a participation of those secrets which took their origin on that occasion . ]

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEW . About London . BY J . EIFIXG RITCHIE . William Tinsley , U 213 p . p . SINCE the time of Old Stowe , there have been histories of London as plentiful as blackberries , and no wonder u-hile there are 2000 , 000 of inhabitantsto auy city there must

, , always be new phases of life and society ; alterations continually being made so that at last it becomes a difficulty to find a really ancient street hi the immense mass of bricks and mortar , that constitute tho cities of London and AVestminster , the borough of Southwark , and their eiii'irons , popularly termed London . Mr . Ritchie has tried his hand at our capital beforo , ho has written " The Night-side of

London , " " The London Pulpit , " " Here and There in London , " and now presents us with About London . AVe suppose Mr . Ritchie has not yet exhausted the list , for there is , in this mi g ht } '' Babel , sufficient material to last dozens of authors their lifetime . But come what ivill , the smart writing of to-day , bears but little comparison with the beauties of our past chroniclers . Let any one take up all of Mr . Ritchie ' s

books , one after another , and throw Mr . Peter Cunningham ' s Handbooks into the scale as make-iveights , and , then let him turn to Leigh Hunt's deli ghtful gossip in The Town , how vapid , flat , stale , and unprofitable , will the former cooked up brochures appeal * . The first paper our author indulges us ivith , is entitled " Newspaper People , " and is chiefly devoted to pourtray the

likeness of that extraordinary class , Avhich people hear so much of , but know so little about—the penny-a-liner—which Mr . Ritchie says , is not the a name , as the pay received for " marvellous gooseberries , " " shoAA'ers of frogs or fish , " is exactly three-farthings * a line , lloivever , the penny-a-liner has , as our Yankee cousins say , " been kind of domesticated " under that special money value , and it is too late in the clay to bring the " critter" doAvn another farthing to his just mercantile worth .

Mr . Ritchie writes in a free-and-easy style , and although it is graphic , yet at times it is inclined to bo " slangey , " but "take him for all in all , " he is amusing . The following is his sketch of the penny-a-liner : — "The penny-a-liner lias long been the butt of a heartless world . He ought to be a cynic , and 1 fear is but an indifferent Christian , and very so-so as head of a family . His appearance is somewhat against himand his antecedents are eccentric ; his face has a beery

, appearance ; his clothes are worn in defiance of fashion ; neither his bat nor his boots would be considered by a swell as the correct stilton ; you ivould scarce take him as the representative of the potent fourth estate . Yet penny-a-liners rise ; one of them is now the editor of a morning paper ; another is the manager of a commercial establishment , with a salary of almost a thousand a > -ear ;

but chiefly , I imagine , they are jolly good fellows going down the hill . Charles Lamb said he never greatly cared for the society of what are called good people . The penny-a-liners have a similar weakness ; they are true Bohemians , and are prone to hear the chimes at midnight . Literally , they take no thought for to-morrow , ancl occasionally are put to hard shifts . Hence it is , sub-editors have to be on their guard with their dealings with them . Their powers of imagination ancl description are great . They are prone

to harrow up your souls ivith horrors that never existed ; and as they are paid by the line , a harsh prosaic brevity is by no means tbeir fault . Occasionall y tbey take in tbe papers . Not long since a most extraordinary breach of promise case went the round of the evening papers , which was entirely a fiction of the pen-a-liners . Yet let us not think disparagingly of them ; of a daily newspaper no small part is the result of their diligent research . Ancl if they do occasionally indulge in fiction , their fictions are generally founded on fact . The reader , if he be a wise man , will smile and pass on—a dull dog will take the matter seriously and make an ass of himself . "

Spiritualism is the subject of the second chapter , and it is neither invitingly told nor pleasant enough to deem worthy of more than the statement where it is to be found . When , hoivever , Mr . Ritchie gets to Highgate discoursing about its celebrities , Lord Bacon , Aiidreiv Marvel , Hogarth , Coleridge , & c , & c , then ' Ave really haA'e some enjoyment opened up to our A'iew . He reminds us that there are pointsyet

, free from the influence of bricks and mortar , from which views of exquisite beauty , and English landscape , can be seen extending through no less than seven counties . He also takes us round the cemetery in which repose many who , in their day , were men of mark . "Tom Tiddler ' s Ground" is a combination of

out-of-theway materials . Every one has heard of the million of old postage stamps and of the various uses to which collectors were said to apply them . Some foolishly supposed that the same quantity would entitle a child to be admitted to certain schools . Others haA'e heard of obdurate papa ' s unwillingness to alloAV their daughters to form a matrimonial engagement until they had papered a room with such refuse .

But Mr . Ritchie , quoting the Times , states that it is the practice for the JOAVS to collect old defaced stamps , and hy an unheard of employment of diligence and patience , piece together the parts ivhich escape the obliteration , and at last retail the effects of their extraordinary manipulation at the rate of two-pence per dozen ! How such ingenuity can find a recompence at this rate passes all our powers of

comprehension . In the same place we have . remarks upon the Registrar-General ' s reports and plenty of statistical matter , after which there is an account of some men who , to use the current expression of the day , " were the architects of their own fortunes , " and Mr . Ritchie treats us to the following as specimens of what may be achieved , even Avithout being backed by a fortune to commence in life : —•

" The late Lorcl Mayor was but an office-lad in the firm of wheih he is now the bead . Mr . Herbert Ingram , M . P . for Boston , ancl proprietor of the Illustrated News blackened the shoes of one of his constituents . Mr . Anderson , of tbe Oriental Steam Navigation

Company , and formerly M . P . for the Orkneys , rose in a similar manner . Sir Peter Laurie was originally in a humble position in life ; so was Mr . Dillon , of the house of Dillon and Co . Our great Lorcl Chancellor , when employment was scarce and money ditto , held a post as reporter ancl theatrical critic on the Morning Chronicle newspaper . Mr . Chaplin , the late Salisbury M . P ., was an extraordinary instance of a man rising from the humblest rank . Before railways were in operation Mr . Chaplin hacl succeeded in making

himself one of the largest coach proprietors in tho kingdom His establishment , ! from small beginnings , grew till just before the opening of the London and North-Western Line , he was proprietor of sixty-four stage-coaches , worked by fifteen hundred horses , and giving yearly returns of more than half a million sterling . Mr . Cobden began life in a very subordinate position in a London warehouse . Sir William Cubitt , when a lad , worked at his father's

Hour-mill . Michael Faraday , England's most eminent chemist , was the son of a poor blacksmith . Sir Samuel Morton Peto worked for seven years as a carpenter , bricklayer , and mason , under his uncle , Mr . Henry Peto . The well-known Mr . Lindsay , M . P . for Sunderland , was a cabin boy . The editor of one morning paper rose quite from the ranks , and the editor of another well-known journal used to be an errand-boy in the office before , by gigantic

industry and perseverance , he attained his present high position . " Long live tbe rifle corps movement . The other clay a gallant little band in my own immediate neighbourhood set out for an evening ' s march . They were in capital spirits ; they were dressed