Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

says M " . Bone , ' is a learned Prussian arrested in his researches by an absurd gendarme of his own country ; elsewhere geologists have been taken for refractory consents , placed in prison , and dragged , chained to thieves , for neglecting a certain visa . M . Hugi ivas taken up in Entlebach for a vagabond , ancl , in ansiver to his complaints , was beaten with a stick by a fat gendarme . The Mayor of Montpezat caused me to be arrested in Vivarais , mistaking my barometer for a musket , my specimens for cartouches , and my book of memoranda for incendiary proclamations . '"

M . de Sanley , the eminent French areheologist , boldly asserts that the so-called Nineveh collection of Sculpture in the British Museum has belonged to some Syro-Egyptian colony , and never formed any portion of the city of Sennacherib ; therefore a warm contention may be expected in antiquarian circles .

"West Rounton Church , near Northallerton , which possesses a tine Norman chancel arch and doorway , has just been restored under the superintendence of Mr Pritchett . Mr James Blackwood has the following works in preparation : — " The Bishop's Daughter , a story of the Dark Ages , " by the author ¦ of " Squires and Parsons . " " The Adventures of an Ambiguous Law and Articled Clerk , being Notes and Sketches founded upon facts . " And " Enoch , or the Sons of God and the Sons of Men , " by Professor Robertson , of Dublin .

Mr Henry Heavisides , of Stockton-on-Tees , who recently issued a third edition of his " Pleasures of Home , and other Poems , " has just sent forth a neat little volume on " The Minstrelsy of Britain . " uniting in his own person the various occupations of author , printer , and publisher . A translation of the late Mr . Alexander Mackay ' s has reeently

appeared at Leipzig , where the well-known publisher , Tauchnitz , -has begun the issue of a new copj-right series of English works , intended exclusively for the use of the young . The two volumes actually published comprise " Kenneth , or the Rear-guard of the Grand Army , " hy the author of " The Heir of Redclyffe : " and - 'Ruth and her Friends ; a Story for Giils . "

The fifth volume of the " Correspondence of Napoleon the First " has just appeared at M . Henri Plon ' s , Paris . It contains letters , orders of the day , proclamations , & c , from the 22 nd of September 1798 , to the loth of October 1799 , thus including the whole Egyptian expedition . It is flattering to English pride to perceive that of two volumes

of Biographies of famous inventors of modern times ( Biograpliien beruhmter Erfinder , & e ., der Neuzeit ) , just published at Stuttgart , both are devoted to English worthies—James Watt and George Stephenson .

By the will of the late Louis Fould , a sum of 20 , 000 francs has been placed at the disposal of the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres , to be awarded to the author of the best history ol the arts of design , their origin , progress , and transmission amongst the different populations 0 f antiquity up to the time ol Pericles . By the arts of design is meant to be understood all that concerns painting , engraving , architecture , and sculpture , as well as the

industrial arts appertaining thereto . The work to be proclaimed at the annual sceance of the Academic of the year 1863 . De la Roche ' s pictures , the famous "Cromwell" and equally famous " Napoleon , " that are preserved in the Town Museum at Leipsic , have been seriously damaged by a hailstorm , which , on the 27 th ultimo , broke all the western windows , and injured the

lirstnamed picture in twelve places , the latter in sixteen . Some of the hailstones weighed from 2 Joz . to 5 oz . The engraver Hen- Jacobi , of Berlin , has left for Rome , in order to finish his drawing after the "School of Athens . " The undertaking is supported by Government . The total amount for which the objects of art left by the late Alexander von Humboldt were sold by auction is 10 , 000 thalers . Humboldt ' s scientific instruments , and the large gold and silver coins of considerable value , were not included in the sale .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

[ THE EDITOB does not hold himself responsible for any opinion entertained hy Correspondents . " ] BRAHMIN MASONS .

TO 1 KB EDIIOE 01 ? THE FKEE _ USO- * s' ITiGiZUt * - AHD ItASOJTIC ICIRROB . DEAR SIE AUD BBOIHEK , —I was much griei * ed on reading "An Enquirer ' s" letter in your number ofthe Sth inst ., to find thatan act of the Meridian Loclge ( No . 1045 ) , has been "the cause of some discussion between some ofthe brethren of our order . " Especially as from "An Enquirer ' s" italics , I fear the discussion has assumed a tone always to be

deprecated , but most particularly so amongst Masons . The brethren of the "Meridian" are now Avith the Expeditionary Force in China , and it consequently must be A * ery long ere an ansiver from its W . M . can arrive , I therefore , as an honorary member of it , and an old fellow-AVOi-ker with Bro . Gould , ivhen he was W . M . of No . 178 , and of most of its present members—beg to thank you for your

editiorial answer , and at the same time to amplify that ansiver , and clear up the remnant of doubt left by your use oftheAi * ord" ( f . " The A'ery ground-work of the Brahtnin faith is the belief in "One G-rand Superintending Being . " Sir William Jones says , " It must be remembered that the learned Indians , as they are instructed by their books ,

in truth acknowledge One Supreme Being . " ( Vide Asiatic Researches ; or , Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society . Vol . I , p . 242 . ) The great book of Brahmin Laws , professing to be the address of Menu , the ' son of Brahma , to the sages ivho consulted him on the formation of the universe begins thus .- — "This world was all darkness , undiscernible ,

undistinguishable , altogether as iu a profound sleep ; till the self-existent invisible God , making it manifest with five elements and other gtorious forms , perfectly dispelled the gloom . " ( Sir William . Jones ' s Asiatic Researches . Vol . I ., p . 2-14 . ) The "BhagaA-at" or sacred A * erses , supposed to have been pronounced by the Supreme Being to Brahma , begin : — "Even I was even at first , not any other thing , that , which

exists , imperceived , Supreme : Afterwards I am thai which is ; and he , who must remain , am I . " ( P . 245 . ) This Supreme Being is Avorshipped by the Brahmins under the unutterable name Ami or O ' n , as a _ triune deity , the three letters A . U . AL , representing respectively Vishnu , Siva , and Brahma , and denoting severally the All-Creating , All-Preserving , and All-Disposing attributes of the " Great One" whom thev adore as T . G . A . O . T . TJ . And all the

great writers on the Hindu or Brahmin religion , seem to agree that although outwardly a great number of idols are worshipped , yet these all are intended as representations , or symbols of the various poivers and attributes of , and emanations from the One Supreme Being , their Hierarchy openly stating that by such symbols the vulgar mind is more easily operated upon , than by the enunciation of abstract theories . This is A * cry like thc apparent

worship of images and pictures of saints by the Eoman Catholics ; nay , without any A * ery extraordinary flight of fancy , one might imagine some OA-cr scrupulously pious Brahmin , so far misunderstanding our use of symbols , when first shown the three great lights , as to accuse us of paying adoration to them . Having , I think , thus shown beyond a doubt that there can bo no objection mado to the reception of a Brahmin

into our institution on the score of his being a heathen , "An Enquirer ' s" second query demands no further reply , but as regards the question of time between the several degrees , I ivould beg to inform him that Grand Lodge has made certain provisions for conferring a hig her degree , iu some cases of emergency , hi less time than one month . * I am , yours faithfully and fraternally , G . W . W . INGRAM , P . M . 345 , Treas . 178 , Proi * . S . G . W . Andalusia , Hon . Mem . 1045 . Gibraltar , Sept . 27 , 1860 .