Masonic Notes And Queries.

familiar to the vallies of Scotland aud Danmonium , when Gaul and Germany were yet unpeopled either by real or imaginary beings . The belief , indeed , of such invisible agents , assigned to different parts of nature , prevails at this very day in Scotland , and in Devonshire and Cornwall , regularly transmitted from the remotest antiquity to the present times , and totally unconnected

with the spurious romance of the Crusader or the Pilgrim . Hence those superstitious notions now existing in our western villages , where the Spriggian * are still believed to delude benighted travellers , to discover hidden treasures , to influence the weather , and to rule the winds . " This , then , " says our excellent critic , in the most decisive manner— "this , " says Warton , " strengthens the hypothesis of the northern parts of Europe being peopled by colonies from the East ! " The inhabitants of Shetland

and the isles pour libations of milk or beer through a holed stone , in honour to the spirit Browne , and I doubt not but the Danmonii were accustomed to sacrifice to the same spirit , since the Cornish , and the Devonians on the borders of Cornwall , invoke , to this day , the spirit Browny , on the swarming of their bees . With respect to rivers , it is a certain fact that the primitive Britous

paid them divine honours ; even now , in many parts of Devonshire and Cornwall , the vulgar may he said to worship brooks and wells , to which they resort at stated periods , performing various ceremonies in honour of those consecrated waters : and the Highlanders , to this day , talk with great respect of the Genius of the Sea ; never bathe in a fountain , lest the elegant spirit that

resides in it should be offended and remove ; and mention not the water of rivers without prefixing to it the name of excellent ^ ; and in one of the western islands the inhabitants retained the custom , to the close of the last century , of making an annual sacrifice to the Genius of the . Ocean . That at this day the inhabitants of India deify their principal rivers is a well-known factthe

; waters of the Ganges possess an uncommon sanctity ; . and the . modern Arabians , like the Ishmaelites of old , concur with the Danmonii in their reverence of springs and fountains . Even the names of the Arabian and Danmonian wells have a striking correspondence . We have the singing-well , or the white-fountain , and there are springs with similar names in the deserts of Arabia .

Perhaps the veneration of the Danmonii for fountains and rivers may be accepted as no trivial proof , to be thrown into the mass of circumstantial evidence , in favour of their eastern original . That the Arabs , in their thirsty deserts , should even adore their " wells of springing water , " need not excite our surprise ; but we may justly wonder at the inhabitants of Devonshire and Cornwall thus worshipping the gods of numerous rivers and never-failing brooks , familiar to every part " of Danmonium .

_ The Druid rites come next to be considered . The principal times of devotion among the Druids were either ¦ mid-day or midnight . The officiating Druid was clothed in a white garment that swept the ground ; on his head he wore the tiara : he had the anguinum or serpent ' s egg , as the ensign of his order ; his temples were encircled with a wreath of oak-leavesand he waved in his handthe

, , magic rod . As to the Druid sacrifice , we have various and contradictory representations . It is certain , however , that the Druids offered human victims to their gods . And there was an awful mysteriousness in the original Druid sacrifice . Having descanted on the human sacrifices of various countries , Mr . Bryant informs us , that

Masonic Notes And Queries.

among the nations of Canaan the victims were chosen in a peculiar manner ; their own children , and whatsoever wasnearest and dearest to them , were thought the mostworthy offerings to their gods ! The Carthaginians , whowere a colony from Tyre , carried with them the religion of their mother country , and instituted the same worship in the parts where they settled . It consisted in the

adoration of several deities , but particularly of Kronus ,. to whom they offered human sacrifices , the most beautiful victims they could . Parents offered up their ownchildren as dearest to themselves , and therefore the more acceptable to the deity : they sacrificed "the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul . " Ivronus was an oriental divinity—the god of light and fire ; and , therefore ,

worshipped with some reference to that element . He was the Moloch of the Tyrians and Canaanites , and the Melech of the East . Philo-Biblius tells us , that in some of these sacrifices there was a particular mystery , in consequence of an example which had been set these people by the god Kpovos , who , at a time of distress , offered up his only son to his father Qvpavos . When a person of'distinction

brought an only son to the altar , and slaughtered him by way of atonement , to avert any evil from the people—his was properly the inysticaI sacrifice , imitated from Kpoi / os ,. or from Abraham offering up his only son Isaac . Mr . Bryant is of opinion , that this mystical sacrifice was a . typical representation of the great vicarial sacrifice that was to come . At firstthere is no doubt but the Druids

, offered up their human victims with the same sublime views . The Druids maintained , quod pro vita hominis tisi vita hominis redclcdur , non posse aliter deorum immornalium numen placarie . * This mysterious doctrine is not of men , but of God ! It evidently points out TEE ONE GREAT SACRIFICE 1 'OR THE SINS 01 ? THE WHOLE WORLD ! .

( To be continued . ) TUE 3 IAS 0 NIC PRESS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD . One of the New York papers , under the above heading , , offers the following information : — England ' . —The FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR , edited weekly , by Bro . H . G . Warren , London .

France . —Le Monde Maconnique , edited by Franc Favre and L . TJlbach , Paris . Holland . —Maconnicls . WeelMad" edited by Bro . Andriessen , Utrecht . Germany . —Die Freimaurer Zeitung , weekly , by Bro .. Moritz Zil ' le , Leipsic . Die BauhutteweeklbBro . J . G . FindelLeipsic .

, y , y , Latomia , quarterly , by Bros . Merzdorf and Schletteiy Leipsic . United States . —Tlie Freemason ' s Monthly Magazine ,. by Bro . Charles W . Moore , Boston . The Masonic Review , monthly , by Bro . Cornelius-Moore , Cincinnati . The Voice of Masonry , monthly , by Bro . Bob .

Morris-Chicago ( now defunct . ) The Troioel , monthly , by Pro . H . G . Reynolds , Springfield , 111 . Der Triangle , -semi-monthly , by Bro . Ed . Roehr ,. Brooklyn , L . L The Neiv York Sunday Despatch , the Neiv Yorh Saturday Fvening Courier , and the New Yorh Bra , each contain several columns devoted to a Masonic Department .

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" The ISTewe Testament translated into Englysshe , by John , Wyclllle , with a Rule and Kalendav of pistles and gospels after ye use of Salisburie , " a very elegant manuscript on vellum , iu a very clear hand , with capitals illuminated in gold and colours , scec . xx ., has been sold during the week , among other interesting varieties , by Messrs . Sotheby and Wilkinson , at £ 350 . It was purchased by Mr . Henry Stevens , after a severe contestwith Mr . Boone .