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old friends of tho Metropolitan , and hearing more of their doings .

We cordially endorse the opinion expressed in the Western Morning Neivs that the prosperity of the Craft in Cornwall has been most marked since the j atniointment of Lord Mount Edccumbe . The central

Masonic Charities , as well as the local Annuity and Benevolent Fund , are warmly supported by the members , who are not only favoured with an able ruler , but are also blessed with a most efficient Provincial G . Secretary and an excellent staff of helpers .

The whole of the papers published in Halifax , the Daily and Weekly Courier , the Weekly Guardian , and the Mercury , reprinted in their columns last v . \> ck

Bro . Forshaw ' s sonnet on the death of Bro . Alderman Davis , Mayor of Halifax , quoting it as from our pages , a courtesy for which we tender acknowledgment .

Memory.

MEMORY .

( Continued from page 59 . )

PRECOCITY . —In a work pnbliahed by Martini an account is given of that wot dt-rfnl child , Christian Hoinccker , who waa born afc Lubeck on 6 fch Febraary 1721 . The attainments of the infant would naturally inspire an utter disbelief in the story , bnt if true , as we are assured it is , no wonder can be expressed thafc ifc died when a little over four years old . It is said thafc when ten months old he conld repeat every word uttered to him ; thafc at the age of twelve

months he knew by heaifc the principal events narrated in the Pentateuch : in his second year be learned the greater part of the history of the Bible , both of the Old and New Testaments ; in his third year he was enabled to answer difficult questions on history and geography , and also to speak Latin and French ; in his fourth year he could reason npon matters connected with religion and the church , being

able to express his own judgment . At the request of the King of Denmark this prodigy was taken to Copenhagen , and examined before the court . A batch of prodigies . —Zerah Colhurn , a native t f Vermont , in the United States , the rage of London at the beginning of the present century , was another of these prodigies j so was Vifco Mangiamcle ,

fche Sicilian , who in 1839 was eiarnined by tlie Academy of Sciences afc Paris , and in the same categ > ry may bo placed George Parker Bidler , tho eminent Civil Engineer , ami Blind Jamid of Stirling . Elihu Burnt *' . — The aptitude for learning languages has rarely been so remarkably demonstrated PS in the case of Elihu Burritt , M . A . ( a native of Notth Anu-rii-. ) , author of " Sparks from the

Anvil . " Of this extraordinary exmrhvof the pursuit of knowledge , tue following is a brief account . He was born in Connecticut , ' , in 1811 , of humble bnt respectable parents ; he attended the district school for some months yearly , until the age of sixteen , when , his father dying , ho was apprenticed to a blacksmith , at which trade he worked until he was twenty .

three , and after trying for a year or two teaching the other professions , whioh did not improve his health , he returned to the anvil , devoting all his leisure hoars to literary pursuits . By dint of hard labour he became a proficient in the most difficult languages of Asia , and in many of those languages of Europe which are now nearly disused and obsolete ; among them are Gaelic , Welsh , Celtic ,

Saxon , Gothic , Icelandic , Russian , Slavonic , Armenian , Cbaldaio , Syriac , Arabic , Efchiopio , Sanscrit , and Tamul . It was stated at a public meeting in 1838 , by Governor Everett , that Mr . Burritt by that time , by big unaided industry alone , had made himself acquainted with fifty languages . He usually devoted eight hours to studv , eight hours to labour , and eight hours to physical indulgence

and repose . Pitt ' s Memory . —Ifc has been said of the greafc statesman , William Pitt , that he could read off in English any passage in the " Cassandra" of Lycophron at sight , but those who are familiar with the original affirm that this wonld be an impossible feat , however learned the individual might be who attempted it .

A Polylinguisfc . —Sir John Bowring , who served his Government for ten years in China as Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of Trade , was born at Exeter , in 1792 . He will be especially remembered as a polylinguist , for as a clever literary man he used according to bis own admission two hundred languages , of which he spoke one hundred . Forty of them he is stated to have known

critically , and he retained his wonderful powers to the last , dying at his residence in November 1872 . Sheridan Knowles—James Sheridan Knowles , author of "The Hunchback , " and other well known plays , possessed such a retentive memory that he oould repeat the entire gospel of St . John in the original Greek . Doctor and Poet . —Dr . Jchn Abernethy had a very excellent

memory , which caused him to play off a joke upon a poetical friend who had composed some verses complimentary to Mrs . Abernethy , which he recited after dinner on her natal day . The doctor listened very attentively , but immediately the reading was over remarked , " Come , that is a good joke , to attempt passing those verses off as your own original composition . I know them by heart ; " and Abernethy at once repeated the lines without a mistake . The embryo poet was amazed , and was only appeased when his host

Memory.

offered to repeat verbatim any piece which the company might wish to recite . Scott and Macaulay . —Sir Walter Scott possessed a marvellously retentive memory ; so did Macaulay , who , it is said , could repeat the whole of Milton ' s " Paradise Lost . " Mr . Roebuck's Memory . —Mr . Roebuck , late member for Sheffield

( " Tear ' em , " as ho was irreverent'y called ) , had also a remarkably retentive memory . He was taking part in a great debate concerning Mackenzie and others implicated in the Canadian rebellion . Anxious that his speech should be correctly reported , bo had previons ' y sent a cipy of it , written in an elegant angular hand , to each of the reporters in the gallery of tho House of Commons . Tbe speech took

nearly two hours in its delivery , and Mr . James Grant , who was following tbe speaker by the aid of a copy of the manuscript which he preserved , states that during all the time there waa not the variation of a word between the written and the spoken speech . A Wonderful Feat . —Mr . Emmerson , afterwards Sir Emmerson

Tennant , then member for Belfast , undertook the task of replying to tho ppeech of Mr . O'Connell on the repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland . Anticipating tho figures nnd facta and arguments , judging by former speeches , which Mr . O'Connell would employ , bo wrote out his speech at full length nnd snppli . d the reporters with copies . Incredible as it miy seem , the speech , whioh

occupied nearly four hours in delivery , and wa ^ o erfljwing with arithmetical figures and statistics , every word and every figure of it waa repeated without hesitation or a single mistake . A Fisher-lad ' s Proficiency . —William Roscoe , the historian , produced in 1822 the memoir of a poor Welsh fisher-lad by name Richard Roberts Jones , of Aberdaron . Although of weak intellect , the lad

managed to become critically acquainted wifch Hebrew , Greek , and Latin , and spoke fluently French and Italian . Dr . Samuel Parr , the eminent scholar , in an interview he bad with him , tried his subject in Chaldce , and was amazed to find that his knowledge of it waa not of A superficial kind . Notes as Aids to Memory . —The following is related in Mr . Charles

S . Miall ' s " Life of Henry Richard , M . P . " " In 1863 , « the member for Wales , ' as Richard was called , paid a visit to Cobden , afc Midhurst , and in his diary he records a conversation concerning ' preparation for the platform . ' Cobden expressed the highest admiration for Heury Ward Beecher ' s ability and skill as a popular speaker , and thought him an unmatched platform orator . ' Mr . Richard , ' says

Cobden , ' was much surprised when I told him that Beecher had a considerable portion of his speech at Exeter Hall written , and that he read it from the manuscript . I had seen his notes , whioh he had given to a friend of mine , saying he had no verbal memory . ' ' Well , ' said Mr . Cobden , ' I should not have thought thafc of Beecher , but that is precisely my case , and hence it is that I never write a speech .

I could not remember the words , and it would confuse me . ' I said that Bright did prepare carefully the sentences and words of at least some portions of his speeches , as I had seen his notes when I was with him at Birmingham . " Failing memories . —To a man of refinement and culture , a bad memory is a very serious drawback , and perhaps no one ever felt the

loss of this important faculty more acutely than the American genius Nathaniel Hawthorne . He was once called upon t > speak afc a public dinner , but when he arose and looked around upon tbo audience his mind appeared to desert him , his memory became a perfect blank . In describing the circumstance he saya : — " Aa I arose I tapped upon my mind , and it seemed hollow . lb was quite

empty . There was nothing in ifc whatsoever . " William Hogarth , the great painter , though blessed with artistic abilities could nofc boast of a good momory . Dr . Hoadby , Chancellor of Winchester , who was a personal friend of the painter waa very fond of theatrical performances , and often invited him to his residence for tbe purpose of witnessing them . Upon one occasion

a laughable parody upon Julius Csosar had been prepared for representation , and David Garriok and Hogarth were pressed into the worthy doctor's service as performers . The painter personated the Ghost , and had to appear as Brutus , but bis memory was so unretentative , that , although the speech consisted of two lines only , Hogarth was unable to commit them to memory . A novel expedient

was adopted however , for the letters wero written in large characters on the outside of an illuminated paper lanthorn which Hogarth carried in his hand on to the stage . Mr . Jas . T . Fields in his " Yesterdays with Authors , " relates a very good story of Thackeray . " The author of ' Vanity Fair' has been described as' the most finished and elegnnt of all lecturers , '

and yet on more than one occasion he has come to grief after delivering fche first few sentences , although the subject matter had received at his hands such careful preparation that the lecturer thought he was going to electrify his audience . On these occasions his listeners , instead of being annoyed , were often amused at the cool audacity he displayed under circumitancea

which to another man would have meant excitement of a most painful kind . However dismal the failure when he posed as a speaker , he would sit down wifch such utter sang froid that hia audience became affected by the smile whioh he composedly assumed . He was invited to speak at a meeting held in connection with the founding of

tho Manchester Free Library , where Sir John Potter was chairman . On his way to Cottonopolis , the great novelist confided to a friend ( Fields ) , the fact thafc although such eloquent speakers as Charles Dickens , Bulwer , and Sir James Stephen were to precede him , yefc he intended to beat all of them .

"When Sir John Potter rose and introduced to the audience tho author of ' Vanity Fair , ' tho novelist was welcomed with ringing plaudits . Thackeray began in a clear and charming manner , and was absolutely perfect for three minutes . In the middle of an elaborate sentence

ne suaaeniy stoppea , gave a IOOK ot comio despair at the ceiling , crammed both hands into his trouser ' s pockets , and doliber . ately sat down . " " Book of Rarities , " by Bro . EDWARD ROJJEKTS P . M . Assist . P . G . T ,