The Pantomime: Harlequinfreemason.

first scene exhibits a Mason ' s yard , bounded with a view of a wide river , the opposite bank of which presents a rich rural landscape , the whole forming one of the most beautiful , correct , and finished stage pictures ever exhibited in a theatre—a picture that will bear the closest examination of the eye of the connoisseur through the best opera glass that ever

was made by Dollond . The frost scene is also a very picturesque representation of the subject it is designed to represent . The side wings have been seen before , but the whole of the centre is new , ancl painted with great skill and success . The skating figures are artfully managed , but they would have a better effect if they shifted their feet and used their legs alternately , an alteration which we conceive a skilful mechanist

might easily contrive . The procession ( the idea of which is evidently taken from the procession in Mr . Garrick ' s entertainment of the Jubilee ) is as grand aud splendid a theatrical pageant as ever ivas seen since pageantry became the vice of the stage , and Avhen we say this we are aivare that we speak boldly . There ishoiveverif anything

, , , too little gradation of pomp , and too uniform a glare of shoiv in the objects presented . They are not quite so theatrical , as less expensive objects have been before rendered . Solomon ' s throne ought certainly to be superb , but its grandeur is carried to such an elevation that it leaves little room for a hiher degree

g , and destroys the climax of effect which should be produced by the last magnificent Masonic fabric , in which the Grand Master of modern Masonry appears seated in conscious superiority over every other figure produced as a part of the spectacle . The . p rincipal performers very kindly lent their

assistance to this expensive effort of the manager by walking in the procession , ancl giving it every support deduceable from skilful dumb-shoAV and adroit pantomimic . Their great master , Mr . Garrick , set them the example in the Jubilee , aud though we neither wish nor hope to see the best actors

ordinarilrey duced to the mortifying situation of pageant kings , popes , and princes , we cannot but confess that it argues a most laudable zeal for the service , Avhen they condescend to put themseli'es in that situation during the first run of an entertainment which must have

cost the manager so much , ancl Avhich promises to draw such large audiences to the theatre . The music ivas rather pleasing than excellent . The performers did the pantomime justice , but no one tried more successfully to keep the piece alive than Mr . Stevens . This young man has not afforded any great promise to become a capital comedian , though

he is considerably improved of late , but in pantomime he seems determined to stand conspicuously forward , ancl to shoAv ' that he knoivs , what feiv comedians are master of—the art of expressing a good deal Avhen he does not utter a syllable . Harlequin Ereemason ivas received with loud and repeated plaudits , and will , we doubt not , become as great a favourite during the remainder of the season as any holiday shoiv before contrived .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

MONSIEUR VACHEROT S IDEALISM . It is sufficient answer to a Brother at Versailles Bending two folio pages which he designates " Notes

and Queries respecting Monsieur Vacherot ' s Idealism , " to say that a repudiation of Atheism and Pantheism is vain Avhen there is not a recognition of our Great Architect of the Universe . A God , who is a mere abstraction , existing only in the Human Mind , is not the Supreme Being whom Ereemasons

acknowledge and adore . Our brother should get a book with which he ought not to be unacquainted if , as he states , he never fails to read the EREEMASONS ' MAGAZINE . In my communications to that publication " Positivism and Preemasonry , " vol . xiii ., page 57 , and "Naturalism ancl Ereemasonry , " vol . xiii .,

page 189 , he will find mention made of Monsieur Caro ' s Treatise "L'Idee de Dieu et sea nouveaux Critiques . " He should get this book and attentively peruse the chapter entitled " Le Dieu de l'Idealisme le Systeme de M . Vacherot . " The exposition is most elaborate aud the refutation most convincing . My opinion is clear that a disciple of Monsieur Vacherot ought not to be received into Ereemasonry . — CHARLES PTJRTON COOPER .

THE GOD OE ENGLISH EREEMASONRY . EXPLANATION OE A EORMER . COMMUNICATION . A Brother has sent me some suggestions respecting my communication to the EREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , vol . xii ., page 474 , entitled " A God who is not the God of English Ereemasonry . " It is hoped that a few lines will afford the explanation which my

Brother seems to desire . The God of English Preemasonry is either the God Jof Christianity , or the God of Natural Theology . See my communication to the EREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , page 209 of the present volume , " English Ereemasons , their notions of the Deity . " Now , a God " sine dominio ,

provideutia et causis finalibus " is neither the God of Christianity , nor the God of Natural Theology , and therefore not the God of English Ereemasonry . It would , hoivever , have been correct , as my Correspondent intimates , had I , instead of English Ereemasonry written Ereemasonry generally . See my

communication to the EREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , vol . xii ., page 391 , "Religion of Ereemasonry as an Universal Institution . " But the letter of the Brother , " who substitutes for his oivn name that of a celebrated German Professor of Philosophy , " speaks of the God of English Preemasonry , and my communication ivas fashioned to his language . — CHARLES PURTON COOPER .

EREEMASONRY AND THE GREEK CLERGY . As Preemasonry is spreading among the Greeks in Turkey , some of them at the late Easter Communion confessed to the priests that they ivere Ereemasons .. The uniform answer was that there is no harm iu that , as Ereemasonry is a very good and charitable institution . This the clergy can ascertain by the handsome

benefactions of the Hellenic lodges under the English constitutions to the schools and hospitals . How these Preemasons came to confess ivhat they had no reason to think a sin or to be of doubtful morality it is not easy to make out . Some say they did it to try the priestsbut others think it was to make

, themselves safe , for the devil is as inseparably connected Avith Ereemasonry in the East , as the gridiron and red-hot poker are in the West . At all events an expression has been elicited from the Greek clergy much more complimentary to them than the