Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

Arrangements will he made at the British Museum during the International Exhibition of a character still more attractive than those of 1851 . The departments of Natural History and Antiquities , instead of being open to the public on alternate days , will he open on every week day hut one , which will be necessarily reserved for cleaning , and this day of closing will be Thursday , instead of , as formerly , Saturday , iu view of the fact that

Saturday is a day of more general leisure . The reading room could not , of course , be thrown open to the public without ceasing to be available for its usual frequenters , but it will , during the present season , be invariably closed to readers at five o'clock ; and from five to eight will be open for general inspection . Tbe public will also circulate during those hours through some

portions of singular new library which surrounds the reading room , and is destined to contain more than a million of volumes . The King ' s Library , the Grenville Library , and the Manuscript Rooms , with their exhibition of bibliographical treasures , will he open at the same times as the natural history and antiquity departments ; but as from five to eight there will be more to be

seen in the Museum than on any previous occasion , it is anticipated that in those hours there will be the greatest number of visitors . The trustees of the Soane Museum have decided upon declining the proposition made to them of transferring a portion of the objects contained therein to the forthcoming Exhibition ;

but with a view to the accommodation of foreigners and persons from the provinces—visiting London during the Exhibition season , they have resolved to keep the museum open four days in the week during the months of May , June , July , August , and September—namely , Mondays , Tuesdays , Thursdays , and Fridays . Foreigners will be admitted on producing a card to he issued at the several embassies .

The committee managing the Zoological and Acclaimatisation Gardens at Paris have resolved to have an exhibition of birds and poultry ( votailles d ' elite ) during the coining summer , from which however , birds of prey are to be excluded . Gold , silver , and bronze medals will he awarded on the recommendation of a

jury . Foreign as well as French amateurs and breeders will he allowed to exhibit . Mr . J . Lewis Farley , the author of a recent volume on the Massacres in Syria , has a new work on hand , which will he ready for the press in the course of a month , ou The " Resources of Tur" key , considered with especial reference to the Profitable

Investment of Capital in the Ottoman " Empire , " with full statistics of the trade and commerce of the most important commercial towns , viz ., Constantinople , Smyrna , Brussa , Trebizond , Samsoon , Salonica , Volo , Monastir , Bosnia , Rhodes , Cyprus , Candia , Scio , Cos , Galatz , Ibraila , Aleppo , Alexandretta , Latakia , Tripoli , Beyrout , Damascus , Jerusalem , & c .

Mr . William Simpson has returned from India with a collection of water-colour drawings and sketches of the scenery , architecture , and manners and customs of the people throughout her Majesty ' s Eastern Empire . The forthcoming' volumes of The Life and Correspondence of Lord AucHand , edited hy the Bishop of Bath and Wells , will

contain a full account of the love-passage between William Pitt and the Hon . Miss Eden , differing in many respects from that given by Lord Stanhope in his Life of Pitt . These last volumes of the Auckland Correspondence are said greatly to exceed in interest even the first . They will comprise " secret and confidential letters" from George III ., Mr . Pitt , Lord Liverpool , Lord Sidmouth , Lord Grenville , Lord Henley , Lord Loughborough , and others relating to " , the great party strus" -les of 1793 to 1814 ,

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

Mr . Edward Dicey will commence his papers on the United States in the April number of Macmillam ' s Magazine , with an article entitled " Three Weeks in New York . " The Memoirs left by Thomas Bewick are at length , we hear , in the press . They are to he edited by his daughter , and illustrated hy several vignettes not hitherto published , together

with the finished cuts of his work on British Fishes . A few weeks ago an inquiry was made as to the existence of any drawing of Old York House—the most famous of all the old London mansions on the river . We are glad to say that hints for a representation of that house in which Charles Brandon and the "Pearl of England" lived , in which Lord

Bacon was born , in which Ellesmei-e died , have been discovered in the drawings of Wyn Graede at the Bodleian . By help of Mr . Cox , the librarian , Mr . E . M . Ward , S . A ., has succeeded in making , from Wyn Graede ' s hints , a slight but pretty and spirited sketch of that historical p ile which Buckingham pulled down in order to clear the site for Inigo Jones .

We see daily advertised an entertainment hy a clever comedian , entitled "At home" bnt a lasting entertainment may he furnished " at home " by the purchase of one of those marvels of mechanism the " Lock Stitch Sewing Machines . " Our attention was attracted the other day to the show rooms of the Wheeler & Wilson Co ., at 139 Regent Street , and we were gratuitously and profitably entertained hy having the "Lockstitch Machine "

explained to us . Instead of the old stitch , stitch , stitch , from morning to night , the materials for instance of a shirt are passed through the machine , and—heigh presto !—it is finished before we think it could hardly be commenced . Indeed , we could not recommend to our friends any of the exhibitions in London so highly as that at 139 Regent Street , where the visitor is certain to bo gratified by the ingenuity displayed in the machine , astonished at the rapidity , and thankful to the inventor of such a boon to the fair portion of the civilized world .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed hy Correspondent s , THE PAST MASTEB'S JEWEL .

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASON'S * . ArAGAZIEXE Ai'D MASOXIC MIRROR . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Is not the figure of the 47 th Prop . Euclid , Book I ., worn by a P . M . to show his ability as a Mason ? Inasmuch as that theorem is the most important in plane geometry , and therefore fitly represents the whole science of geometry , with which an operative Master Mason should be well acquainted . This

suggestion may satisfy the inquiries of yonr correspondents on this subject , without attempting to draw from the squares , lines , and triangles , any moral to show why a P . M . should wear it . Tours fraternally , 3 . NEWTON . Navigation School , Sailors' Home , Well-street , E . April 2 , 1862 .

The High Grades.

THE HIGH GRADES .

TO THE EDITOR 01 ? TIIE PREEMASOESS' MEAGAZIXli AEXD MASONIC 7 JIEH 0 H . DEAR SIR , AND BROTHER ,- —I should not have thought it right fco take up your limited space with the following remarks , had I not been , after a recent letter of mine in your periodical , almost compelled to accept the challenge so boldly proffered , in the somewhat extraordinary communication of your correspondent , "M . H . S . W , " in your