My Stars And Garters.

MY STARS AND GARTERS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , OCTOBER , 25 , 18 G 2 .

"We had hoped that , after the publication of Bro . JTicholson ' s letter last Week , and the observations which we felt it our duty to make in explanation of the Laws of the Order as applying to the position in which that brother—of whom Ave are bound to say ive haA e received the highest accounts regarding his ,

honour aud integrity— -was placed , that we should JiaA * e been spared from again alluding to the subject . We have , however ,, received so many letters this week respecting it , that , though we decline to publish , we cannot abstain from alluding to them . Bro .

Best , P . M ., declares he had no connection Avith "N . W . 's" original communication , and desires us to publish his disavowal ; but surely Bro . Best does not expect us to run a muck through , not only the Avhole lodge , but the vrhole Order , in order to discover the

author of the first * notice of the irregularity . What has the Camden Lodge to boast of ?—A brother was initiated in January , passed in February , and raised iu March ; forthwith resigned , and looked for honours elseAvhere . " We have a high respect for the Camden Lodge per se , and shall appear in propria persona at no distant date .

Our Masonic Contemporaries.

OUR MASONIC CONTEMPORARIES .

- NO . Y . —BEO . OLE BULL . "We do not usually select " two of a trade" to follow each other , but in preparing the life of Bro . Vincent Wallace we came on that of Bro . Ole Bull , and as they were both at the same time in America

, and occasionally playing together , we felt that we could not do better than to present them in succession . The name of Bro . Ole Bull is very familiar to John Bull , and to most people—for the brother Avho owns it has been a great traA'eller in all parts of the globe .

He is , as our readers may be aware , a celebrated Norwegian violinist , and in 1861 was playing at the Crystal Palace , to the great delight of thousands of spectators and auditors . He has done what Paganini never did—discovered the art of playing all the four strings of the violin at once ; besides , he has

introduced the double , treble , and quadruple staccato , and founded a colony of imitators in the New " World . He is , besides , a great politician , as Avell as the first to establish a National Theatre , in Bergen , Norway . Some particulars concerning the remarkable Norwegian artist , Bro . Ole or Olaf Bull , who , in 1836 ,

came hither to dazzle and animate us , like a coruscation from those " Northern lights , " that often are so conspicuous in his own land , may not be unacceptable . His advent to our shores Avas immediately preceded by a visit to that of our lively neighbours on the southern side of the Channel .

The following sketch—of which the earlier and most picturesque portion is chiefly derived from a French account , written by a medical professor and musical amateur at Lyons—will furnish some idea of the powers and peculiarities of this individual . It chanced , on a certain clay , during the time

when the cholera was ravaging the French , capital , that one of the numerous diligences which were then Avont to make their return-journey in an almost empty state , deposited in the yard of the coach-office a young Northern traveller , who came , after the example of so many others , to seek his fortune in Paris .

Scarcely arrived at his twentieth year , he had quitted his family , his studies , and Norway , the land of his home , to give himself wholly up to a passion which had held sway within him from infancy . The object of this pervading passion Avas music and the violin . Deeply seated , active , and irresistible , the bias had seized him ivhen he quitted his cradleand had

, never ceased from its hold upon him . At six years old he Avould repeat , on a little common fiddle bought at a fair , all the airs which he had heard sung around him , or played in the streets ;¦ and two years after-Avards he had astonished a society of professional men , by playing at sight the first violin part in a .

quartet of Pleyel ' s , though he had never taken a lesson in music , but had found out his way entirely alone . Destined afterwards by his family to the ecclesiastical life , and constrained to the studies which it imposed , he had still kept his thoughts fixed on his beloved A'iolin , Avhich was his friend , his companion

¦ —the central object of his attachment . At the instance of his father , the study of the law became subsequently his unwilling pursuit ; and , at length , these struggles ended in his yielding to the impulse of his love for the A'iolin , and banishing himself from Norway , in order to devote all his clays to the cultivation of music .

In the midst of a mourning city—a mere atom of the region of a Avorld—what is to become of the young artist ? His imagination is rich , but his purse is meagre : his whole resource lies in his violin ; and yet he has faith in it , even to the extent of looking to fortune and renown through its means . Friendless

and patronless , he comes forward to be heard . At any other moment , his talents must have forced public attention in his behalf ; but in those days of desolation , Avhen death was threatening every soul around , Avho could lend his ear to the charmer ? The young artist is left alone in his misery ; yet not quite alone , for his cherished A'iolin remains like a friend to

console him . The cup of bitterness Avas soon , however , to be completely filled . One day , in returning to his miserable apartment in an obscurelodging-house , he found that the trunk in which his last slender means Avere contained had disappeared . He turned his eyes to the spot Avhere he had placed his A'iolinit was gone .

This climax of disaster Avas too much for the poor enthusiastic , who wandered about three days in the streets of Paris , a prey to want and despair , and then threiv himself into the Seine . But the art which the young Norwegian was called to extend and embellish was not fated to sustain so deplorable a loss . The hand of some humane person rescued him from this situation .