Masonic Notes And Queries.

OBDEE OF THE TEMPLE . Where can I obtain a copy of the " Charter of Transmission " of the French Branch of the Order of the Temple ? It would interest many besides myself , if you Avould favour us with a copy hi this department of the MAGAZINE . I have often thought it would be an excellent , feature if you were to devote a page or two weekly to the reprint of scarce and valuable works on the Craft . —A

WORKS OF FICTION . Is there any list of works of fiction in which Masonry is made to play a prominent part ?—C . G . CUKTISS . FRENCH MILITARY LODGES . Are there , in the French army , military lodges attached to regiments , as with us ?—E . Y—Aldersliot . CHATTERS ATTACHED IO MILITAEY LODGES . Let me also ask if there are any instances among our military lodges of Eoyal Arch Chapters being held under their warrants ?—E . V . —Aldersliot .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

ME . JOSEPH BEWICK , in his Treatise on the Ironstone of the Cleveland District , just published , says : — "Nothing can be more puzzling and perplexing to the geological student than the nomenclature of this science , crowded as it is with names as absurd as they are unmeaning , so far as comprehension and perspicuity of the subject is concerned ; and it is admitted , we think , by nearly all who have

paid attention to the subject , that nothing is more needed than an improved vocabulary of geological terms . At a meeting of the Koyal Academy on the 28 th ult ., George Gilbert Scott , Esq ., was elected an Academician , in tbe room of our departed brother , the late Sir Charles Barry . Mr . Mason Jones has returned from Italy , and is lecturing to

literary institutes , & c , on " Garibaldi and Italy .- " A new work has been published , by Evelyn Philip Shirley , Esq ., M . A ., M . P ., entitled , The Noble and Gentle Hen of Line / land ; or , Notes touching the Arms and Descents of the Ancient Knightly ami Gentle Houses of England , arranged in their Respective Counties . Two new ivorks , by Sir W . J . Hooker , are to be commenced in monthly parts ivith the new year ; the title of one being The " British Ferns , ancl that of the other , Garden Ferns . Both works

are to be illustrated with coloured plates . A correspondent of the Bury Times of last Saturday says : — "At a beer-house in this town [ Bury , in Lancashire ] men are engaged to compete ivith dogs in the worrying of rats . Six rats are put upon : i table in turn , and fastened by a string , a fevr inches in length , to the table , by a nail at the end of the string . The man ' s hands are tied behind his back , and at the proper signal he commences to

seize the rats as he can with his teeth , and thus kill tbem ; tbey , on their part , inflicting in terror and self-defence their teeth into his face and head . The time occupied by him is noted by a man standing by ivith a stop-watch . When he has completed his carnage , eight other rats and a doc ; are put into a large , deep tub , ancl the dog commences tbe same onslaught as his rival felloiv-worrior

bas just retired from ; ancl the contest is which can complete the killing in the shortest time . " ¦ Such is the fallen condition of a portion of the population amongst whom Brother Tweddell ivas allowed to labour for some five years without encouragement as a Bagged and Industrial School teacher , and whose labours were at last dispensed with for want of funds . Gray , in his beautiful "Eleey Avritten in a Country Churchyard , " remarks of " the rude forefathers of the hamlet "—

" But knowledge to their eyes her ample page , Rich with the spoils of Time , did ne ' er unroll ; Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage , And froze the genial current of the soul . " But that amongst the comparativel y highly-paid working men of Lancashire , in the middle of the nineteenth century , such savaeery as we have mentioned should exist , shoivs plainly that not onl y is there much to be achieved before Literature , Science , ancl Art become

the inmates of every English home , but that the moral condition of a great portion of the population is in a A'ery deplorable condition . The eleventh volume of Tales from "Blackwood" has been issued : the twelfth will complete the series . A second edition , revised and enlarged , of Dr . Livingstone ' s-Cambridge Lectures , edited by the Rev . W . Monk , M . A ., has been ,

published , with a Prefatory Letter by the Bev . Professor Sedgwick . The Autobiography and Services of Sir James M'Qrigor , Bart ., late Director-General of ihe Army Medical Department , etc ., withan Appendix of Notes and Original Correspondence , will be jiublished shortly , in one volume . The Eev . George Rawlinson , M . A ., late Fellow and Tutor of

Exeter College , Oxford , and Bampton Lecturer for 1859 , has in . the press a volume entitled Christianity and Heathenism , consisting of nine sermons recently preached before the University . In The Journal and Correspondence of William , Lord Auckland ,. just published under the editorship of bis son , tbe Eight Hon . ancl Eight Eev . the Bishop of Bath and Wells , the following picture of

His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Cumberland is drawn by Miss . Sayer : — " But here ' s two anecdotes of the ivise Duke of Cumberland , which most likely you have never heard ; one came from Sir Joshua Reynolds himself . The Duchess of Cumberland was sitting for her picture ; the Duke came in and tumbled about the room

in his awkward manner , without speaking to Sir Joshua . Tbe Duchess thought it too bad , ancl whispered to him her opinion , upon which be came , and , leaning on Sir Joshua ' s chair ivliile he was painting , said : 'What ! you always begin ivith the head first , do you ? ' Ancl once when , at his own public day , he was told he ought to say something to Mr . Gibbon , the author— ' So / says he , 'I suppose you are at the old trade again—scribble , scribble ,

scribble . ' I should think , with such pretty , witty sayings , His Royal Highness must be very entertaining . " Port Royal , a Contribution to the History of Religion and Literature in France , by Charles Beard , B . A ., is to be published in . January , in two i-olumes . The Stockton Gazette and the Middlesboro' Times bave been

incorporated into one paper , ivhich is the property of Bro . Jordison .. Mr . Thomas Erskine May , C . B ., Clerk Assistant of tbe House of Commons , is prejiaring for publication a Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George ILL 1760—1860 . The work is expected to be completed in two volumes , the first of which is to be ready in January next .

Two volumes of Political Ballads of the Seventeenth and , Eighteenth Centuries , annotated by Mr , W . Alexander Wilkins , arc just ready for the public . The collection comprises 124 ballads , dating from the year 1611 to that of 1757 .

The Autobiography of Mrs . Piozzi ( Titrate ) , authoress of Anecdotes of Dr . Johnson , is in the press , edited by A . Hayward , Esq ., Q . C ., who also furnishes some account of her life ancl writings . Tbe ivork is to be in two volumes , illustrated with a portrait of Mrs . Piozzi , and an engraving of a picture by Hogarth , The Lady ' s Last Stake , for the principal figure in which Mrs . Piozzi sat . The Eev . George Croly , LL . D ., the eloquent rector of St .

Stephen's , Walbrook , ancl one of our well known literary men , died suddenly , on Saturday afternoon , the 24 th ultimo ,, aged some fourscore years . Dr . Croly was born at Dublin , in 17 S 0 , ancl educated at Trinity College . His first publication ,, which is generally considered his best , ivas a poem , Pan ' s in 1815 . His Lines on the Death of Princess Charlotte appeared in ISIS :.

The Angel cf the World , in 1 S 20 ; his comedy of Pride shall have a Fall , in 1 S 2-1 ; and Salathiel , a romance , in 1827 . He was also the author of Cataline , a tragedy ; a Life of Burke ; two ivorks of fiction , entitled Marston and Tales of ihe Great St . Bernard ; and several poems , sermons , and pamphlets . He bad been dramatic critic- on the New Times ; editor of the Universal Review ; , ancl a contributor to Blaclwood ' s Magazine , the Britannia , the Standard , and tbe Herald .