Masonic Notes And Queries.

WHAT S THE USE OF BEING A MASON ? I am frequently asked " What ' s thc use of being a Mason ?" and when I give the best explanation I can , viz ., to state it is for tho practice of brotherly love , relief , and truth , I am met with the objections that brotherly lovo is often very quarrelsome love , and Masons are bitter haters ; that- the relief we boast so much of is parsimonious in comparison to thc expenses incurred in eating and drinking ; and as to truth

, what truths do Masons know beyond any other folks ? I have battled for the Craft against these attacks as well as I am able , but my knowledge is small , so I ask , is there any book published that will put me in possession of answers to these objections , or will some Brother suggest how they may bo met ? —Z . Z . Z ., Great Yarmouth .

THE MIALLIC 1 V 0 BS 1 IIP . What has tbe Phallic worship to do with Masonry , and where can I get a good account of it ?—SPES . —[ -Nothing . Consult Paber ' s Origin of Pagan Idolatry , 3 vols . Ito . London , . 181 __» , " ]

-ROSICRUCIANS AND MYSTICS . What was tho connection betiveen the Bosicrucians and the Mystics , and were both of those fraternities Freemasons ?—ALHIED H . S— [ The Rosicrucians were alchemists , and the Mystics were reli gious enthusiasts ; but though tho latter wrote much that will pass for genuine Preemasonry yet , it is very doubtful if any of them were ever initiated as Free and Accepted Masons . They wero in

general good men , pious , learned , and had accumulated such « , fund of knowledge , both symbolical and esoteric , that many have believed they were members of the Craft . We , however , cannot acknowledge them without better proof . ]

- ROYAL AKCH CYniER . Is the Eoyal Arch cypher different from that of the Craft ? —E . E . —[ It is . ] THE 1 'IHST AND SECOND TEMPLES . Which was superior—tho first or second Temple ?—E . A . —[ The Jew considers the first , or Solomon ' s Temple , to bo superior , because in it was the Ark , the Urim and Thnmmim , the Fire from Heaven , the Divine Presence , or Cloud of

Glory , and the Spirit of Prophecy and Power of Miracles . The Christian considers the second Temple as equal to the ¦ first , because iu it God , as Man , in the person of onr Saviour , was presented , taught , and claimed it as the peculiar houso of His Father . The relative value of the two Temples is a fancifuf point , and in no particular way useful , as an inquiry , to either Arch or Craft Masons . It i ' s a speculation much better allowed to rest than be mooted . " ! MASONIC JEWEL . " At a jeweller ' s shop , the other day , I picked up a silver

jewel , of which I send yo n a rubbing . A wreath of corn ears half surrounds it , but could not well be taken . It bears the Hall mark . The front is the old

P . M . ' s jewel ; the reverse is , I conceive , the jewel of a Mark Master . The inscription on the border may

Tory easily be deciphered , and understood by any Mark Mason—P . Pnov . J . G . W ., Liverpool .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . Mr . R . W . Procter , the publication of whoso Literary Eenunis-¦ cences and Gleanings we lately noticed , is preparing for publication a second edition of his Barber ' s Shop , re-written and re-arranged , ¦ so as to contain much new and interesting matter . It will also contain many iie « - illustrations , designed and engraved by Mr .

AVilliam Morton . Both the author and the artist are Manchester men . The Rochdale Co-operative Society now procure for their reading room eighty of the principal daily and weekly newspapers and ¦ monthl y magazines , and more than one copy of some of the daily jiapers , & e . Elaborate investi gations and experiments at Woolwich and

Chatham have proved to satisfaction the practicability of firing gunpowder by means of the phosphide of copper fuze , and cf a small magneto-electric apparatus . The Rev . Thomas Itartwell Home , the well-known biblical writer , has retired from the situation which lie has held in the British Museum Library ever since the year 1821 . He will enjoy

a retiring pension . Lord Braybrookc , a zealous antiquarian writer , has died at the age of forty-one years . -His Lordship ' s father was the editor of the famous Pepy's Diari ) . Sir Walter . C . Trevelyan , Bart ., has presented to the Museum a valuable manuscript volume , principally on llnv . i

written from the commencement of the thirteenth to tho beginning of the fifteenth century . It is supposed to have belonged formeriy to Exeter Cathedral . It contains , amongst other things , the Acts of the Synod of Exeter , under the presidency of Bishop Quivil , A . D . 12 S 7 ; and the Taxation of Ecclesiastical Benefices made by order of Pope Nicholas the Fourth , between A . !> . 1288 and 1291 ,

as far as the diocese of Exeter is concerned , with other documents of historical value . A subscription has been commenced to purchase an annuity for Professor Merlet , whose retirement from the chair of French Professor in University College , London , on account of Hj-health , we lately noticed .

By order of the Committee of Council on Education , examinations in drawing , conducted by the Science and Art Department , will this month be-held in the following Metropolitan Schools of Art : — Finsbury , Hampstead , Lambeth , liotherhithe , St . George ' :- in-ihe-East , St . Thomas's , Charter-house , South Kensington , and

Spitalfields . The large plants of the "Rhododendron Arborcmn , " in tiie Conservatory of the Royal Botanic Society , Regent ' s Park , are now in full ifoiver . Dr . Kinkel , F . R . G . S ., and formerly Professor of the History of Art at the University of Bonn , is about to commence a serie _ _ of lectures on the History of Ancient Art , in the lecture theatre ofthe

South Kensington Museum . In the year 1827 , the Royal Commissioners for visiting the Universities and Colleges of Scotland offered a prize of £ 100 to the students of the University of Edinburgh , for the best essay On the National Character ofthe Athenians , and the Causes of those Peculiarities by which it teas Distinguished . The prize was awarded to

the late Rev . John Brown Patterson , M . A ., then a student or twenty-three years old , and led tho late Sir Robert Peel to present the author to the ministry of the parish of Falkirk ' , which he retained until his death . A new edition of this learned Essay , with large additions and illustrations prepared for publication by the author some time before his death , has lately been issued , witli a

biographical notice . Dr . Lankester states that ho has traced nineteen out of every twenty ofthe cases of scarlatina which have come under bis notice , as medical officer of health , to the unsanitary condition of public schools .

All works of painting , sculpture , architecture , or engraving , intended for the ensuing Exhibition of the P . oyal Academy , are to be sent in on Monday , the Sth , or Tuesday , the 9 th of April . Mr . Blanchard Jerrold has accepted the editorship of the IVcicoine Guest . The forty-sixth anniversary dinner ofthe Artists' Genera ! Benevolent Institution for the Relief of Decayed Artists , their Widows

and Orphans , is to take place in Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday , the 23 rd inst ., the Right Hon . William Cowper , M . P ., in the chair . The trustees appointed by the late Sir John Sonne are to meet ai the Soanean Museum , 13 , Lineoln ' s-inn-lields , ou Monday , the 25 th inst ., to distribute the dividends which have accrued during the past year from the sum of £ 5000 , reduced Three per Cer . t . Bank Annuities , invested by Sir John , among distressed architects , and