Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

" And first , within the porch ancl jaws of hell , Sat deep Remorse of Conscience , all besprent With tears ; and to herself oft would she tell Her Avretchedness , ancl , cursing , never stent To sob ancl sigh , hut ever thus lament With thoughtful care ; as she that , aU in vain , Would wear ancl Avaste continually in pain :

Her eyes , unsteadfast , rolling here and there , Whirl'd on each place , as place that vengeance brought , So AA'as her mind continually in fear , Tost ancl tormented Avith the tedious thought Of those detested crimes AA'hich she had Avrought ; With dreadful cheer , and looks throAA'n to the sky , Wishing for death , ancl yet she could not die . "

Surely Spenser Avould not have been ashamed of the foregoing , ancl of the symbolical representations that folloAv of Dread , Revenge , Misery , Care , Sleep ( finely called " the cousin of Death , " ) Old Age , Malady , Famine , " pale Death , " ancl " War , in glittering arms yclad , With visage grim , stern look , ancl blackly lined : In his right hand a naked SAA'ord he had , That to the hilt Avas all Avith blood imbrued ;

Ancl in his left ( that kings and kingdoms rued ) Famine and fire he held , and thereAvithal He razed toAvns , and threAv down tOAvers and all : Cities he sacked , ancl realms ( that whilom floAvor'd In honour , glory , ancl rule aboA'e the rest ) He overAvhelin ' tl . ancl all their fame devour'd , Consumed , destroy'd , wasted , ancl never ceased ,

Till he their wealth , their name , and all oppress d : His face foreheAv'd AA'ith AVOUIICIS ; ancl by his side There hung his targe , Avith gashes deep ancl Avicle . " Such AA'as that Sir Thomas SackA'ille , one of the authors of our oldest knoAvn tragedy ( Ferrex and Porrex ) , whom Queen Elizabeth is said to have sent to York to inquire into Freemasonry , ancl AA'I IOHI Ave knoAV she sent as ambassador to France iu 1570 , and to the Netherlands in 1587 ; and though the unprinciled Leicester flung him for a

p time into prison , Avas found AA'orthy to succeed the Great Lord Burghley as Lord Treasurer of England , ancl AA'as created Earl of Dorset . The legend of his visit to York , ancl his initiation there , must for the present remain as one of the noble traditions of the Craft ; for , as the possessors of monastic ruins have rarely sought to preserve them until the elements and pilfering biulders of cottages ancl pig styes have scarcely left a feAV fragments to preserve ; so Ave modern Freemasonsafter dozing over our pipes aud grog ,

, and forging all manner of lies-to embellish tlie glorious old Craft that needed them not , waken up , ancl find the true ancient history of the noblest fraternity in the Avorld has been alloAved to be lost , Avhilst our brothers were idly " singing Old Rose ancl Burn the Bellows . " Freemasonry had either to be purified from its dross—or rather from the

expectorations cast upon it-b y its uiiAvorthy initiates—or to perish before the light ot science ; it is , thank the G . A . C ., gradually coming out to the perfect light ; and the clay is fast passing aAvay Avhen an " incompetent brother " in his cups , could sit lolling at a public tavern , Avith the saliva running out at the corners of his month , as he boasted in his maudlin manner of haA'ing beeu " three times made a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek . " The Masonic press , so much dreaded by the poor old fogies who have got slunk into the Craft ;—has helped to reform much of this but there is still good

; work for all to do , before Ave can realize our glorious ideal , ancl can feel certain that no good man Ave propose will be blackballed in the ballot , and that all mere animal men will be denied admittance to those privileges AA'hich of right belong to worthy men , and to Avorthy men alone . Rose Cottage , Stokesley .