Masonic Notes And Queries.

Bro . Heseltine , who wished at that time to publish an improved edition of the JBoo 7 i . of Constitutions , which would bring down the history of Freemasonry to his own time . Considering Preston tho most eligible to prepare the work for the printer , he gave him the entire charge of it , and free access to all the documents and papers of Grand Lodge . AVhen the most labourious part of the work

was performed , and it was nearly ready to go to press the G . Sec . wanted to give an acquaintance of his , Bro . JNoorfchouck , Treasurer of the Lodge of Antiquity , an interest in its publication , and appointed him to assist Preston iu completing it . Bro . Prestou having done all the work of selecting , arranging , etc ., thought he was entitled to the individual honour of his laboursand declined the

, offer , when the work was taken from him altogether and given to JNborfchouck . Seeing that the honours he had so well earned were taken from him , he remonstrated warmly and threw up the office of D . G . Sec . in disgust , and , some say , withheld a part of the material he had collected for the book . This displeased Bro . Heseltine , who was not long waiting for an opportunity of resenting the offence which

Preston had given him , and the latter was arraigned for a violation of the laws of the Grand Lodge in attending a sermon at church in Masonic costume ; aud in his defence Bro . Preston said that this regulation of the Grand Lodge —the one which they said he had violated- — -was " the height of absurdity , and could not be admitted by any person who in-ofessed himself a friend to the society . " He also said

that " tho Lodge of Antiquity had its own peculiar rights formally secured to it at the revival in 1716 , and was determined to preserve them inviolate , and it was very questionable if the Grand Lodge was empowered to make laws binding on a lodge which had acted on its own independent authority from a period long anterior to the existence of that body . " On the 30 th of January 1778 he ( Bro . Preston )

, , was "expelled from the Grand Lodge , and declared incapable of attending the same or any of its Committees . " In 1787 , when the Duke of Cumberland was Grand Master , the case of Bro . Preston was submitted to the Grand Lodge , who then , in a better aud more Masonic spirit , reconsidered all its former proceedings , and reinstated Brother Preston to all tho rights and honours of Freemasonry . ]

Notes On Literature Science And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE SCIENCE AND ART .

The British Archaeological Association , finding its journal too limited for all the papers which it wishes to make public , has just issued the first volume of a series of communications under the title of Collectanea Archmologia , from an able article in which , on the Local Legends of Shropshire , by the well-known antiquary , Mr . Thomas Wright , we cull the following : — " The giants are

frequently associated with ruins and ancient relics in the legends of this country . In the history of tbe JFitzwarine's ive are given to understand that the ruined Roman city of tfricomum , which we are now exploring at AVroxeter , had been taken possession of by the giants . Sometimes , in these legends , the very names of the Tuetonic mythic personages are preserved . Thus , a legend in Berkshire has presetved the name of the Northern and Teutonic smith-heroAA elanclthe representative of the classical Vulcan

, , . The name of Welaud ' s father , AA ade , is preserved in the legend of Mulgrave Castle , in Yorkshire , which is pretended to have heen built by a giant of that name . A Roman road which passes by it is called AVade ' s Causeway , and a large tumulus , or cairn of stones , in the vicinity is popularly called AVade's Grave . According to the legend , while the giant AVade was building his castle , he and his wife lived upon the milk of an enormous cow , which she was

obliged to leave at pasture on the distant moors . AAlule nude the causeway for her convenience , and she assisted him in building the castle by bringing him quantities of large stones in her apron . One day , as she was carrying her bundle of stones , her apron-string broke ancl they all fell to the ground , a great heap of about twenty cart-loads—and there they still remain as a memorial of her industry . Another castle in Yorkshire ing earlsite

, occupy an y , was said , according to a tradition mentioned by Leland in the sixteenth century , to have heen built hy a giant named Ettin . It is a mere corruption of the name of the Fotenas , or giants of Tuetonic mythology . " The legend of AVade ' s Causeway is noticed by Leland , Graves , Young , and others , and Mulgrave Castle , with

which it is connected , is in the interesting district called Cleveland , on a new history of which , Brother George Markham Tweddell is at present almost exclusively engaged , and for which he has been carefully collecting materials for upwards of eighteen years . A writer in the Fcclesiologist very rationally remarks : — " Before we look forward to the future of art , however hopefully

we may do so , this one work is of the first importance—to do what ive can to stay the ruinous hand of the restorer amongst the cities of Europe . Year by year fresh works of destructive renovations , are undertaken . It is too late already to save some of the very noblest works of the past ; it will be too late soon to raise a voice save in lament for the dead . At all events , let us take care of our own ancient buildings in England . To let well alone is prudent counselin this as in other matters . Let us learn to be more

, judicious and conservative in the restoration of our English mediawal remains , and so , perhaps , teach others to hesitate before they spend their means ancl labour in undertakings so ill devised . In all new work we have room enough to indulge without restraint in design , and to allow imagination a sober licence . But let us . pause before we lay a rude hand on the structures of earlier times . It is an ill preparation for our own works to show no reverence for

those of our fathers . There is a curse on the man that removes his neighbour ' s landmark ; there is , perhaps , a greater one for hini that destroys the earnest , faithful labour of the generationsbefore him . "

Sir John Richardson , L . L . D ., F . R . S ., in his recent volume on The Polar Regions , says , respecting the hundreds of meat-cannisters . bearing the label of J the contractor Goldner which were found at Beechy Island hy Captain Penney : — "So large a quantity could not have been needed during tho first winter from England . ^ It is therefore most probable that a survey was made of the provisions , and the bad cases iled in the order found . The loss of so large

p a proportion of the supply was doubtless a main cause of the disastrous fate of the expedition two winters afterwards . A record , in a tin case , was most probably exposed on the top of the cairn . The voyagers did not know that the Polar bear is in the habit of carrying off ancl gnawing such unusual objects , a fact subsequently learned by the searching parties . That their provisions were actually exhausted when they reached King William ' s Island was

made known to Dr . Rae by a party of Eskimos , who sold them Some seal ' s flesh . The number of deaths ( nine officers and fifteen men , up to the time of leaving the ships ) indicates that officers and men had gone on short allowance , an expedient wliich , however needful , cannot be resorted to in Arctic climates ivithout inducing scurvy . It is characteristic of that disease , that its victims are not aware of their weakness and the near approach of death , until , on some sudden exposure or unusual exertion , they expire ivithout warning . " A new edition , reconstructed and revised of Journeys and

Fxplorations in the Cotton Kingdom of America , by Frederick Law O'lmsted , brought down to the present time , will shortly he published . Two letters , entirely in the autograph of Oliver Cromwell , sold by auction the other day , in London , for £ 59 . They had been the property of the late Rev . Dr . Badinel .

The Homeioard Mail thus writes of the contemplated removal of the museum and library of the India House to the British Museum : — " AA e know something of the advantages which the old India House Library has conferred on literary mem who have illustrated the history , the geography , the manners and customs , and , above all , the philology of India . But why , ifc may be asked ,, cannot these same advantages he conferred upon them after the

reported change has taken plaee ? The answer is very obvious ; . because the system of the British Museum is not the system of theold India House Library . Iu the former you may read what you can get between certain stated hours . You may hunt your book through an incomprehensible catalogue , ancl having got it , you may sit clown at a common table ancl turn it to the best uses you can . But the India-house Library lent out its book and manuscripts to tbe home student , Few of those who have

contributed to our knowledge of the languages , the history , and the institutions of India could have prosecuted their studies between stated hours in a public room . There are many literary men in this country who never have been to the Library of the British Museum , who never will go , and never can go . If they cannot from some quarter or other obtain the books ancl manuscripts they require , with permission to use them at their own homes , they cannot do their work at all . Take , for example , the case of a man in the public service , compelled to attend a Government office between the breakfast and the dinner hours . How can he go to