Masonry In Ceylon.

thought that in the present instance a deviation from routine would be of benefit to the Masonic community at Ceylon ; and , could his lordship be convinced that this statement is founded on facts , it is more than possible that he would cause inquiries to be made on the subject , with a view to ultimate consideration ; and

should it be deemed of sufficient utility , appoint a Prov . G . M ., although unusual . Brethren of acknowledged ability have in more than one instance been appointed Prov . G . Ms , with jurisdiction over less than three lodges .

Stray Thoughts About Books.

STRAY THOUGHTS ABOUT BOOKS .

Bx DlAGORAS . The immense time consumed in copying or transcribing works led to the use of abbreviations and contractions , which , although they expedited the progress and diminished the labours of the transcriberbecame so

-, per plexingly numerous that books had to be written for their elucidation . Kenophon is said to have invented a species of short-hand , and Plutarch says , that Cicero being desirous to have one of Cato ' s orations entire , he employed several persons to take it down in characters he furnished them with . MartialI thinksomewhere

, , speaks of the writer as keeping ahead of and waiting for the speaker . Tyro , one of the freedmen of Cicero , and afterwards his friend , brought the art to great perfection , and formed a system called the Not as Tyronianas , which was in use for some centuries ; Tyro took down several of Cicero ' s orations as they were delivered . In

ancient times , as in our own day , the author had to depend upon the bookseller ancl publisher for placing his book before the public . Among the Greeks there were liibliopolim or shops where manuscripts were sold , and where it was the custom for the learned men to meet in order to hear new works read . A endors of books aro frequently mentioned by the Latin authors under the name of uiuliopoU or librarii . When a Greek or Eoman author , wished to have his works

known , he frequently hired a room , invited an audience , and read his works to them , an example ivhich would , doubtless , be imitated by many of our modern authors if they were not dubious as to the effect of the reading . For a considerable period after the invention of printing , the printers were also the booksellers . Faust carried

his Bibles to France for sale , and many persons who had formerly been copyists , now became a ' gents , and carried works round the country , and to the monasteries for sale . Tiie universities assumed a control over the printers and booksellers ; they established censorships , and prohibited the publication of obnoxious works ; but

longprior to theinveutionofprinting , theliberty ofpublishing obnoxious opinions to the world was restricted . The works of Diagoras , Protogaras , ancl Diogenes ofMilos , were prohibited at Athens , and all the copies that could be procured publicly burned , ancl the authors banished for having denied the existence of the goclsand for

, refusing to pretend to believe in the multifarious absurdities of the time . Ovid was exiled for having witten his Art of Love , but this must have been a pretext , as the book itself was not prohibited . AVhen the Christian religion became prevalent , the clergy exercised the same severity towards obnoxious books which they hacl ridiculed

when employed by their enemies . The ' Council of Nice caused the works of Arius to be burned , at the

same time proclaiming death to be the punishment of those who should conceal or preserve them . The Council of Ephesus caused the works of Nestorious to be burned ; the works of Abdelard were condemned in 1141 . The punishments of John Huss , Jerome of Prague , and others , and the attempted destruction of

their works are familiar examples . In France , an immense number of persons were burned at the stake , for introducing and promulgating the principles of the Eeformation , with the early jirinted works . The stubborn despotism of Henry the Eighth , in the suppression , and the destruction of susjiected works , is well known ,,

and although the Star Chamber and its odious jurisdiction and nefarious proceedings were abolished , the Parliament long after continued its restrictions ; in fact it is only from the year 1694 that liberty of the jiress can be truly dated . The various European universities ., seem first to have assumed the riht of censorshipand they

g , , compelled the booksellers to keeji susjiended a fist of jiermitted works and their prices . As one of the results of their claim to infallibility , the Popes exercised the censorship of books . AVhen manuscripts were scarce , and seldom read by the laity , and when written by the clergy , usually submitted to their superiors for correction and

approval , they contented themselves with mere recommendations ; but when the spread of knowledge began to menace their sujiremacy , absolute jirohibitions and the terrors of excommunication were resorted to . Hence originated the celebrated Index , JExpurgatorhts or list of prohibited books , which embraces such a list of learned ,

honourable and illustrious authors , that to be included nx it , is rather to be considered honourable than otherwise it includes the names of Linnaius , Adam Smith , and a host of other eminent names . The abundance of books amongt the ancients was not so great as woulcl appear at first- sight ; the cumbrous form of the volumes or rollobliged them to publish their works in detached

, parts . Horace published but one book of Odes , Epistles , or Satires , at a time ; A irgil but one book of Georgics ; Ovid , one or two of his metamorphoses . The collection of books in jiublic libraries has always proved of vast benefit to literature . The Egyptians are said to have had libraries contemporaneously with the Trojan war ;

and Pisistratus founded one at Athens long prior to the time of Aristotle , who , according to Strabo , ivas the first Greek who founded a library . The libraries of Alexandria have enjoyed a wide world rejiutation ; that founded by the Ptolemies was accidently destroyed . Antony presented to Cleopatra the library of Eumenes

, which laid the foundation of the celebrated collection ,, amounting to 700 , 000 volumes , at the period of its destruction by the Saracens in 642 . The Romans did not possess any public collections till the time of Augustus , but other collections were added by various Emperorsso that in the time of Constantinothey

, , were twenty-nine . One of the most magnificent was the Hlpian , founded by Trajan ; students were maintained there at the Emperor's expense , in a most princely manner ; their education superintended , and their general knowledge advanced and promoted in every way .

Amongst the private citizens the libraries of Tyrannisu and Epaphrodotus are the most celebrated in history . These private libraries were not always formed from a love of literature , for Seneca complains of the vanity which prompted some to furnish their banquettiug rooms with books , out of the mere spirit of jirofusion . How

many libraries in our own day are formed from a desire of knowledge , and how many from a love of disjilay ? The arrangement of the books in the libraries afforded scope for a display of taste ; Cicero speaks , in terms of praise and gratification , of the elegant manner in which