Masonic Notes And Queries.

and French . Hie cityai one time numbered nearly fifteen thousand . Many of the houses thafc ivere formerly the residence of men of Avealth , influence , and position , are now empty , and are rapidly going to decay . Gardens , in ivhich fifteen years ago were cultivated the best and rarest of vegetables , are now overrun with weeds and filth . Barns , that ivere formerly built for the best stock in the Union are noiv wailing , with their creaking doors anel clattering clapboards , their lost position , and are only the homes of

innumerable rats and sivalloiA's . The Masonic Hall , built of bricks , looks like a deserted horse-barn in its last stages of decay ; ancl , although the old Lodge-room is used occasionally by a German musical society for its meetings , it is sadly out ofrepeir , and is only used because no other place can be obtained . Ifc has been stated that all Mormons were Masons . This is untrue . A few of the Mormons were members of Eastern Lodges . They instituted a Lodge in Nauyooandas they commenced work in violation of the laii-s of the

, , Grand Lodge , their charter ivas at once withdrawn ; and they afterwards introduced a new Ritual , interspersed with Mormon obligations , so that the Mormon Secret Society ( called Masonic ) was as unlike Masonry as the monthly meetings of a New- York fire company are unlike a Cape Coil camp-meeting . No person who ivas a member of one society could ivork his way into a loelge ofthe other . "

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEWS . * Traits of Character : Tieenty-five Years Becollections by a Contemporary . 2 vols . Hurst and Blackett . THE present is essentially an age for gossip , diaries , recollectionspersonal adventuresand familiar anecdotes . Such

, , compilations find a large class of readers , and are useful as store-houses of good things , about eminent persons , which may be retailed at the dinner table and secure the narrator a constant welcome as " professing such a ready fund of anecdote" that the hospitable board is dreary in his absence . The Contemporary is one who has culled diligently from the out-of-the-way sources of small talk , and has been rewarded

by finding many pegs on ivhich write good , and telling paragraphs , but to presume for a moment that these are the actual experiences of one person , would be to credit a very unlikely tale . The work is well put together , that is as well as its fragmentary characters would allow , and the result is a mass of interesting desultory reading , ivhich will go far to make these volumes popularfor they are so

, multifarious in their contents that , take them up at any odd moment , ' some short trait of character ivill present itself , and when read , the book may bo closed and the next interval of consultation is as agreeable and fresh as ever . In such a collection of stories it is impossible to resort to any detailed criticism , the best opinion to be formed of the book is from the extracts ivhich crowd usWe have

upon . marked nearl y one entire volume as worthy of our readers attention and the selection of what Ave shall present them is reall y a matter of difficult y , the material is so abundant , terse , and , in by far the largest proportion , new . Take such gossip as the following , and note the immediate consequence of reading it , which manifests itself in a stron g desire to know who ivere the individuals alluded to in the

following few lines . We are told a story of a- young gentleman who took tAvo sittings at a fashionable west-end chapel , one for himself , and one for his hat . There is another of a county M . P ., who had ten pair of scissors on his dressiiiotablc—a pair for each nail . We are also told of a lady of 40 , who uiiblushiiigl y avowed to her friends that it was her nightly prayer she mi ght preserve her young looks . Here is something new about Lord Macaukv : —

" IOKD MACAULAY TIIE GliEAT UNWASHED . " Mr . 1 'reston told a lady , who had rallied him for his excessive predilection for the kid ' s society , she holding that Hannah More ' s suggestion that her young friend should be 'very neat'was not . sufficientl y attended to , and Tom being in her eyes chiefly noticeable for unbrusheel apparel , unkempt hair , and strong antipathy to soap and water . All you say is true , madam , but it is also certain that Tom Macaulay is an extraordinary young man ; he has much classical and more miscellaneous rending , a vivid imagination , and n- prodigious memory ; nor do I . either in or out of Canibrid-re , know any one with -. vhom I can converse more pleasantly , or would

prefer as my companion m 1113- rambles of a Saturday afternoon . Both were right . Young Tom worshipped the Muses ardently , but paid 110 court whatever to the Graces . Some weeks after the conversation we have above adverted to , as Mr . Preston , with his sisters and their visitor , sat after supper in the library at Shelford , his reverence was startled , and the females terrified , by loud cries of rage and furious expostulation , mixed ivith half-smothered laughter , proceeding from the pupils' room . Thitliev tlie Vicar ,

followed by the ladies , hurried , ancl there saw Tom Macaulay held eloAA-n forcibly in an arm chair by three of his sehoolfelloiA'S , ivhile a fourth was shaving him . Mr . Preston ' s entrance released the future orator from confinement , and Tom almost beside himself with fury , amidst uproarious and irrepressible shouts of merriment , spluttered forth his grievances , three parts eloquence and the remaining quarter soapsuds . At length , when out of breath with ravingthe well-lathered laintiff ceased his torrents of volubilit .

, p y Mr . Preston looked toivards the aggressors for an explanation . ' Sir , ' cried their spokesman , ' ive are sorry to have disturbed your quiet , but Tom Ivlacaulay's slovenly habits are disrespectful to your sisters , to their visitor , ancl to yourself ; they bring , moreover , much discredit upon us all . We have often threatened him , but be iviil take 110 warning ; and so this evening we resolved to give him a thorough cleaning . ' Mr . Preston heard , pondered , and anon delivered a judgment , his sentence being worthy of King Solomon

or Sancho Panza . He forbade the use of razors , as being too dangerous , ancl indeed premature ; but with that sole restriction gave full licence to Tom's schoolfelloivs to employ comb , brush , anel toivel upon the recusant whenever forcible ablution should be necessary . " In such a work as the Traits of Character , all persons of note are pretty sure to find a corner , and as the senate and the bar are pretty well represented , of courso we shall find some allusion to the pulpit . The extract we submit to our readers on this latter subject is one on

THE REV . ME . BEIiEW AND rTjEPIT EIOCCrlON . Our author says : — " I scarcely knoiv ivhich I feel disposed to give Mr . Bellew the precedence for excellence , whether as a reader or preacher . Were I compelled to pronounce judgment , I think I should say his reading even surpasses his preaching . It seems to me as nearly perfection as any human effort can be . Let any one hear him read

the Litany , and then say whether it is possible to suggest , in any one of its exquisite clauses , the most trifling improvement in the tone and emphasis ivhich he imparts to them . The most touching invocation , ' That it may please Thee to defend ancl provide for the fatherless children and widoivs , ancl all that are desolate and . oppressed / Is delivered by him ivith such profound and soul-felt pathos , that I cannot imagine any heart so dead and cold as not to be moved and affected by the solemn yet passionate earnestness of

the entreaty . I have singled out one passage for encomium ; but I might with equal truth dilate on all , for in each he seems to develop fresh beauties in this the most beautiful portion of our beautiful liturgy . To hear him read this only is worth going from London's extremest suburb to the one lying in the most opposite direction . That he is one of the greatest elocutionists of the day is generally conceded ; but the knowledge [ of all its arts and rules—the most intimate acquaintance any studmiht afford ivith its theories—

y g would be inefficient in producing the effect ; ids reading does produce , if nature had not endowed him ivith such a superb voice , ii'hcse tones really swell on the ear like some melodious music . " No work of the kind like that under notice would be complete without some Trails oi' the Great Duke of Wellington . First we have our illustrious brother pourtrayed in an interview with the writer ' s friend . Hisjgrace

is there represented as THE IRON DUKE IN A BAD TEMPER . "My friend , when so unusual and important an event ivas tc take place as a visit to the world ' s greatest living hero , had taken especial pains ivith her toilette , iviii . h , on this occasion , was in faultless taste and of costly material . Hiie really looked so bewitching that I told her , as ' . ve drove along , that I ivas sure the aud surrender read

Iron Duke ivould find her irresistible , a y accordance to her petition . " We arrived at his well-known residence at the exact moment indicated—half-past nine in the morning—and were shown into a large , of course luindsoinely-furnisUed , room , into which , -as it v .-as the depth of winter , sundry domestics ivere constantly entering to attend to anel replenish the fire . Each time the door opened was a trial of nerve to my poor young friend , as she imagined it ushered in the I Juke . After we had waited what see :: ed to our impatience a considerable time , unannounced , v . ' . ' . alti-. uk'd , ' . he Hero of Waterier , suddenly stood before us .