Notes On Literature Science And Art.

twelve volumes . An English translation , of Mazzmi's Diciies of Man- may shortly be looked for from the press . AA'illiam Mee , the author of the beautiful and once-popular song of Alice Greg , is now an inmate of Shallow Union AVorkhouse , in Derbyshire . ' Professor Masson , in Macmillan's Magazine , very ably remarks

as follows on the purport of history : — " What is history for but to recover forgotten names that ought not to be forgotten , to make rich our memories , to connect the life of the present , through an avenue of increasingly strong recollections , with the life of the past ? And more ancl more it will be found that in history , as in other things , superficiality will not do—that there must be quarrying and deep digging , ancl turning over and over of heaps of buried

material , ancl marshalling of entire orders of facts that have heen lost sight of but are still recoverable ; that the presentation again and again , as in most of our popular narratives , of a few large historical names and incidents already familiar , with repetitions ofthe old comments respecting them , and a dash of twopenny philosophy about the laws of progress , is a method of sheer indolence , which , is beggaring our historical literature before our very eyes , and driving us farther ancl farther from all hope of ever knowing what

the real laws of human progress may have been ; that , in short , while the largest names and events will ahvays have the preference , it is the very use of history to chastise our ignorance and rouse our curiosity over and over again , by revealing to us what a

multiplicity of things , behind those names and events , and yet in vital connection with them , remains to be known . Ancl where shall history exercise itself more usefully , with any such end in view , than in the exploration of our own national annals—of those English , Irish , and Scottish affairs of a few by-past centuries , out of which , by direct development , our own civilisation has come ? Shall it be deemed right and proper that volume after volume should be written that we may know a thing or two about

Tiglath-Pileser and other polysyllabic Assyrians—shall it be deemed a labour worthy of our scholars and historians to clear up for us the politics of Nikias , or to tell the true story of the Gracchi—and shall it he with impatience that , because of our very ignorance in our own national history , we hear of men who , though they did chance to wear homespun . English or Scottish names , did more for ns a good deal than ever Tiglath-Pileser meant to do , were more akin to us than Nikias , served our liberties more nearly than , all

the Roman Gracchi ? At all events , if a modern writer , of his own free will , does make a raid among those less-known worthies of our national past—if , with an intent not to honour but 'co vilify , he pays a visit to their graves , disturbing in that little-invaded solitude the grass ancl the weeds that time has made so rank—what is any one else to do that may have been lingering among these graves before him , on an errand more like that of Old Mortality , but to start up , mallet and chisel in hand , and confront the intruder ?"

At a public meeting held in the town-hall , Ripon , on Friday , the 4 th inst ., our R . AV . Bro . the Earl de Grey and Ripon in the chair , it was resolved to repair and restore the ancient cathedral of that city , at an estimated cost of £ 32 , 000 . An able and lengthy report by Mr . Scott , the eminent Gothic architect , was read to the meeting .

A new novel , entitled The StoTcesleg Secret , by Miss Yonge , is just being published . She has also in the press a work on Christian names .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The JSditor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . BRO . PETER'S METHOD OF RECRUITING FOR FREEMASONRY .

IO THE EDITOK OP THE Pr . EIi'iSOXS' -JiGAZIJfE AXD HAS 03 . IC HIEBOE . DEAE SIE AND BEOTHEE , —In pleading , at page 191 of your useful magazine , for the removal of that un-Masonic regulation which denies to the most intelligent and virtuous man in the world the glorious privileges of our Craft , if he happen toserve his country as a private soldierI acknow

^ , - ledged " that the army generally is not the best place in which to recruit for Freemasonry ; " whereupon Bro . Webster , the Secretary of the Britannia Lodge ( No . 162 ) , Sheffield ) , takes exception to the phrase " recruiting for Freemasonry , " though he himself , in the same letter in which he is horrified at my expression , uses the certainly not less

objectionable one of " not Avhere we should seek , brethren . " Is not this really a distinction without a difference ? I will not do Bro . Webster the injustice to pervert his meaning , as he has evidently clone mine ; but as that remakably charitably-minded correspondent , J . W . W ., who " was initiated in a military lodge , ancl Master of it [ of which I have no doubt ] several times , " has also gloated ovor Avhat

he evidently regards as my bad Masonry , —remarking that what I mean by recruiting for Freemasonry he is " at a loss to know , " as soliciting even is " strictly forbidden , " and that my obligation should have , taught me better ; I will now proceed to explain what I mean by " recruiting for Freemasonry . " As I shall have much to say on this subject , I will divide my remarks into a series of letters , so that I

may not trespass too much on your pages ; and I will leave it to the good sense of your readers to determine whether I am what Bro . Webster has proclaimed me , or the ( if possible ) still more degraded ancl depraved monster Avhich J . W . W . has conjured up in his imagination . And in the very commencement of my promised explanation , it wil he well to see what the term recruiting , or , as I used it , to recruit , really means . WALKER defines it " To re-pair anytlvinq wasted hy new supplies ; io supply an array

with new men . " Now , as one half of tbe contentions in the Avorld arise from different parties putting different meanings on the same expressions , and foolishly striving to find something in which they differ , instead of going together as far as they can hand in hand , and then each parting in peace when they can accompany one another no further , I will , in these letters , from time to time , by your permission ,

boldly but reverently state my views on the present state of Freemasonry , what it too often is , and what it always should be , in practice , and prove to every " true and faithfal brother amongst us " that it is not " Peter , " but those who differ from him , who remove our ancient landmarks , and degrade our Royal Art . And if I write strongly on the subject , it is because I feel strongly too ; and I beseech

every true brother who may peruse my letters , to believe me when I state that it is not from the paltry desire of giving pain to any one that I take up my pen , but from higher and holier motives . Ancl as every true reformer must expect abuse and slander , and all sorts of persecution which may he in the power of the friends of corruption , I shall not be surprised if , during the progress of my epistles through the press , I am attacked with still more virulence even than I have been . But , as our gifted brother , Du . CHAELES MACKAA " , truly sings : —

" But truth shall conquer at ths last , For round and round me run , Ancl ever the right comes uppermost , And ever is justice done . " The very fact that I was anxious in any way " to -recruit " for the Craft , might have shov / ii that I had zeal for the

Order ; and if brothers thought that- it was not a zeal according to knowledge , it was their duty , in a different spirit to Avhat has been shown towards me , to bring me to the light . " Their obligations should have taught them better . " That the ranks of Freemasonry must he " recruited , " year by year , every sensible man will allow , unless the Orderis to cease to exist ; a catastrophe which will not happen

whilst there is so much work for it yet to do . And yet we are continually losing our brethren : some by the hand of death—that inevitable destiny which the Master Mason has been so wisely taught to contemplate ; seme b y removal to foreign lands ; some by Avithdrawal from our loclges , though they can never withdraAV from the Masonic obligation , however much they may practically despise it . It is evident ,

then , that our ranks must be constantly supplied with younger brethren , Avho will learn the Eoyal Art from the old Craftsmen , and carry on the great work of Freemasonry when their aged instructors are no longer able to bear the heat ancl burden of the clay . Ancl of each aged Mason may it be said : — " Age sits with decent grace upon his visage ,

Ancl worthily becomes his silver locks ; He wears the marks of many years well spent , Of virtue , truth well tried , ancl wise experiance . " — lueliolas JEoioe ,