Ar00700

net ouly lO . i . iu the pound . My loss up to this time is only £ ?>; but when the meeting began to realize their position that they and thousands of subscribers to the amount of .- £ 30 , 000 had hacl 50 per cent , of this amount so quickly disposed of before a pound hacl been spent in premises , machinery , or fche consequent losses iu commencing- the publishing of such a paper , I believe they came to a conviction , the exact character of whieh may be inferred from fche facts themselves . '

A course of six lectures on Social Science—embracing the relations between Labour and Capital—is about to be delivered by Mr . AVilliam Ellis , under the authority of the Committee of Council on 1-Mucatiou . at the South Kensington Museum . These lectures will be particularly addressed to school teachers , but the general public are to be admitted so far as there may be room iu the theatre of the museum .

The Rev . K . Hatch , B . A ., of Pembroke College , Oxford , has been appointed principal classical professor in the university of Toronto . Air . Antonio Panizzi , of the British Museum , has left Modena on his way back to England ; but from . Turin he will go to pay a visit to Count Cavour , at his country house of Leri . Air . Robert Chambers is engaged upon a volume refuting the antiquity of the Scottish Historical Ballads . AVe hear that lie considers them to

have been written in the early part ofthe eighteenth century . Literary publications , meant as gifts for the celebration of Schiller ' s centenary birthday , begin to appear in Germany everywhere . Amongthem we notice a volume of writings by the father of Theodor Korner , Schiller ' s intimate friend , published for the first time on this occasion , nd edited by Dr . Karl Barth , of Augsburg . The Publishers' Circular gives an interesting and valuable account of

the conventions entered into between France and other nations for the preservation of literary ancl artistic property . From Franco wo learn that the Minister of the Interior has issued for the guidance of the prdfets a resume , iu chronological order , of the instructions which from

time to time have accompanied the conventions having for their object the protection of property in works of thought and art . These instructions are followed by a detailed analysis of the twenty-eight conventions concluded between France and the principal states of Europe . A Fern Collector ' s Album has been issued by Air . Robert Harchvieke , for the use of ladies ancl gentlemen who love to gather ancl preserve the beautiful ferns of Great Britain . This album is handsomely printed , in

red type , on pages framed in a flowery border , ancl is mounted in a strong , showy case , glittering in scarlet and gold . Blank pages for the specimens alternate with descriptive pages ; the whole , when filled with ferns and with the memories that may belong to the incidents of their collection , forming a handsome book . The late Sir AVilliam Forbes , of Pitsligo , left a very curious work in manuscript , entitled " Memoirs of a Banking House , " giving a history of

his bank , which had never refused to pay its notes—almost the only old bank that could say so . These memoirs are being printed for private circulation . The lecture season at the Royal Manchester Institution has commenced witli the first of a course of lectures by Professor Owen , F . Pi . S ., " On the Classification ancl Geographical Distribution of Recent and Fossil Alammalia . " The professor commenced by stating that the study of natural history was an important one in the education of youth , on

account of its impressing upon the mmd the principles of order and arrangement , conditions well adapted not only to business habits , but to almost every form of active life . The various divisions of warm and cold blooded animals , with their distinctions of vertebrate and invertebrate , & e ., were then pointed out ; also the basis of classification liy Aristotle , Linnceus , and Baron Cuvier , with subsequent discoveries by the learned professor himself . There was a good audience .

Air . AA ' allace , the English naturalist , has arrived at Menado , with the intention of spending some months iu the Minahassa districts , for the purpose of making zoological collections , the requisite help having been granted him by government . An election to one fellowship , now vacant in All Sou ' s' College , Oxford , will take place on the 3 rd of November next . Candidates are

requested to call on the AVarden on Wednesday , October 26 th , between the hours of eleven a . m . and two p . m ., bringing with them the following papers : — -1 . Testimonial of good conduct from their college for three years . 2 . Certificate of baptism . * - ' . Certificate of having taken the degree of B . A ., or of having passed all the examinations required by the University for that degree . 4 . Certificates either ( a ) " of having been placed in the first class in one , afc least , of fche public examinations of the University ; " or ( b ) " of having obtained some prize or scholarship within

Ar00701

the University , unattached to any college or hall , aud open to general competition among- the members of the University . " The examination will commence on Thursday , October 27 th , at ten , a . m ., hi the college hall . Candidates will be examined in French and German , and special reference will be hacl to the studies recognized in the School of Juris prudence and Modem History .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

ETYMOLOGY OV Tire TEEM " COWAX . " Tin- -, term Cowan has , among our brethren of the Free and Accepted Craft , a meaning and signification of its own , which is so well understood by every Mason , that there is no reason to speculate upon its Masonic interpretation here ; but there is a dearth of information " among us as to whence the term is derived , and what was its orig inal import ; ancl a note on this part of the

inquiry may , perhaps , be interesting to your readers . In the sense understood hy us , ifc will ' be sufficient if we quote one or two examples of the use of the word in question ; thus , hi a song , " Once I was blind , and could not see , " wc have the fol lowing as part of the last verse : — - i : Then round and round me he did tie A noble antient charm , All future darkness to defy , And ward off Cowan ' s harm . '

So also , iii a song of Gavin "Wilson's { ride Freemasons' Magazine , vol . iv ., p . 873 ) , — " There once was a Alason who loved a long drink , And a fop of a Cowan who fondly did think Could he get him fuddled , and find out this wonder , He'd make all the Alasons of Scotland knock under /' And in another song we are

told" How happy are tho antient bravo , AA'hom no false Cowan can deceive . " Whilst another , entitled " "We brethren Free Masons , "

declares" The name of a Cowan we'll not ridicule , But pity his ign'ranee , nor count him a fool . " This term , too , has not been without its difficulties to many of the writers on Freemasonry , whether charlatans or not , and without giving undue prominence to the catchpenny tribe , ' one ot the most popular of these ' revelationmongers , says , in a note , "The word cowan is a flash word peculiar to Masons . It signifies an

enemy , but formerly was expressive of kings ancl all those ^ who had the power to persecute , and who did persecute the associated Masons . " I do not take into account the meaning given to the term Cowan in the American Lexicons , Manuals , & c , as they appearto be equally in the dark with our own authors , and only reproduce the definitions we have usually met with . Nor have I

encountered any veal knowledge of the subject among those shining lights of the Craft who are thrust clown the young Mason ' s throat as knowing the ceremonies and lectures by rote , and consequently to be venerated as great authorities - , all they could tell me Was the usually received sense of the word among us . I am in no way finding fault with the use of the word cowein , but I wanted to know how wc obtained it , and from whence it came V No one knew . For a long time I gave it up as hopeless . I searched the Encyclopediasthe BritanaicaEdinburgh , London ,

, , MetropoliUma , National , aud Eees's , ancl all without avail . I then turned to the dictionaries of Ash , Bailey , Bayle , Barclay , Boag , Halliwell , Lemon , Nares , Ogilvic , Richardson , Sheridan , Todd , Johnson , AVebster , and AVrig ht but the word Cowan was not to be found in any of them . In Preston ' s Illustrations , 13 th edition , page 80 , is a note to the "Antient Charges , " in which it is stated , "Twelvcthly- —That a master or fellow make not a mouldstone ,

square , nor rule , to no lowen" [ this no doubt should be Cowan ] " nor let no lowen worke within their Lodge , nor without , to moulde stone . " ( See also Freemasons' Magazine , vol . iv ., p . 852 ) . And in Dermott and Harper ' s Ahiman Rezon , 7 th edition , 1807 , among the antient charges , ] S o . T ., entitled , " Of the Management of the Craft in "Working , " p . 37 , it says , "But Free and Accepted Masons shall not allow cowans to work with them , nor

shall they be employed by cowans without an urgent necessity ; and even in that case they must not teach cowans , but must have a separate communication ; no labourer shall be employed m the proper work of Freemasons . " Now these two extracts positively refer to an operative class called Cowans ; and it occurred to me that as we symbolize many other matters connected ivith the handicraft of Masons , so we have treated the Cowans ; and as speculative Masonry long held its