Masonic Notes And Queries.

ScotoEli Rite , among which " the Princes of the Royal Secret will be placed in the 32 nd degree , next below the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General who have the thirty-third and last degree of the Order . The 31 st degree will be that of Sovereign Judges Commanders ; and the Sovereign Commanders , Sovereign Knights Kadosh will constitute the 30 fch degree . " Now in the list given

in the Charleston Circular of 1802 ( an official document ) , the 30 th , 31 st , and 32 nd—three distinct degrees—are mingled together under one one title , Princes of R . S ., wMle the Kadosh forms the 29 th degree . And yet Daleho in his Orations , says that " not the slightest alteration or addition has been made to the Sublime degrees since the time of their first foundation . " Why then this discrepancy ,

if the Charleston Council was based on the " Yera Ihstifcuta Seereta" of 1786 ? And how comes it that the founders of that Supreme Council were ignorant of that authority , from which they themselves derived their power . To the " critical mind " it certainly looks as if the Constitutions of 1786 were manufactured subsequent to 1802 . Again , the signatures to the ori ginal duplicate of this remarkable document ( we may ask , where is the

original ?) are said to have become illegible or been effaced by attrition or by the effect of sea-water , to which it has several times been accidentally exposed . It must be borne in mind that the document is in three parts , viz ., the Institutes , signed by "Fredericus , " the Constitutions and the Appendix—the two latter bearing the same signatures at some considerable distance apart , and yet ,

strange to say , the sea-water has effaced only the same jsames in both places , leaving all the rest of the text in the most perfect condition . Then , again , the difference which exists between the text given by the Sup . Council of France in 1832 ( vide Setiers Recueil des Actes du S . G . de France ) , and the text given Albert Pike in his edition of the Grand Constitutions , which is taken from tho

copy authenticated in 1834 , by the Sup . Councils of Franco and Brazil , suffices to prove that no relianee can be placed on either . We will conclude these remarks by again quoting from the learned Chinese p hilosopher , that "it is necessary to endeavour not to apprehend things altera confused manner ; it is requisite to have some clear ideas thereof , so that we may truly discern the good from the bad , the true from the false . " ]

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

3 fr . Spencer St . John , formerly her Majesty's Consul-General s . fc Borneo , is engaged on a work , entitled Life in the Forests of ihe Ear East , which will contain accounts of expeditions of discovery into the interior of Borneo ; residences among tribes hitherto unknown ; delineations of savage manners and customs ; with journals of two ascents of Kini Balu ( the Mont

Biane ofthe Indian Archipelago ) , interspersed with incidents of personal adventure ; also incidental notices of the Fauna and Flora , of Borneo , and a view of the stream of Chinese migrations arnd settlements . The Eev . F . C . Cook , who has just been appointed preacher to Lincohi's-lnn , has in preparation The Lives of St . Peter and

St . JOIIK , tvith an Account of their Writings and of the State of Hie Christian Church at the close of the Apostolic Age . It will Ije published uniform with the first edition ol Conybeare and Hbwson's Lift and Epistles of St . Pant . 'The Rev . John Hoskyns Abrahall ' s poem , called Basplerry Moon ; or , a July among the Woods and Waters ofthe Bed

Mian , announced about a year ago , is promised in the course of the present month . The Raspberry Moon of the Indian corresponds pretty nearly to our July , during which month Mr . Hos . 3 ryB £ ° AJbrahall made a trip in a small steamer on Lake Superior ,

the incidents and impressions of which form the subject of lii ' g poem . It will be extensively annotated with extracts from American books and periodicals , as well as from the journals of the author and his wife , during nearly two years absence from England . Mr . T . L . Kington is writing a PCislory of Frederick XT .

Emperor ofthe Bomans , from chronicles and documents publish , ed within the last ten years . Frederick II . Mr . Kington regards as the Yictor Emmanuel of the 13 th century , who , for promoting Italian unity , incurred the special enmity ofthe Papacy . Mr . Carlyle's Life of Eredeiich the Great , has grown too large for four volumes , and when the second part makes its

appearance it will be in three instead of two volumes , as at first expected . Mr . William Smith , the author of Thomdale ; or the Conflict of Opinion , has a new work in the press , entitled , Gravenhurst ; or , Thoughts on Good and Evil . Professor Tyndall is engaged on a volume entitled

Mountaineeriny in 1861 , giving an account of his ascent of the Weisshorn , ' a passage of the Old Weissthor , and of other excursions in the High Alps during last summer . The late Rev . Thomas Hartwell Home has left a collection of autobiographical reminiscences , which his daughter Mrs . Sarah Anne Cheyne , is preparing for the press .

The Calendar of Native Irish Saints , nsually styled the Martyrology of Donegal , is being printed for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society . The project of the Correspondent , a shilling magazine on the model of the Cornhill , written by Roman Catholics , and designed for general circulation , has been abandoned . Antiquaries and biographers will be glad to learn that Sir C . Cressswell has taken advantage of the first opportunity , afforded

by some enlargement of the premises of the Court of Probate in Doctors' Commons , to set apart a room for the use of persons desirous to inspect the entry books of old wills for literary purposes . The Lords of the Treasury have approved of the plan , but at the same time have insisted upon a small fee being paid by the visitor , in order to liquidate the expenses . Mr . John Thomas , the well-known sculptor and architect , has

offered to erect in Stroud , as a memorial to the late Prince Consort , either a collossal bust with drinking fountains , or a fulllength statue surmounted on a pedestal , to he executed in Sicilian marble , on condition that the town will find some suitable place for its erection , ancl contribute a portion of the funds necessary to complete it . Mr . Thomas had the

distinguished honour of personal intercourse with his Koyal Highness for many years , and has designed and executed some choice specimens of art under the Prince's guidance at Balmoral and AVindsor Castle . The Portland Gallery is numbered among the defunct . It was a sort of fungoid growth from the other exhibitions , and

arose out of the superabundance of mediocrity . Except that it was a sort of bazaar for a host of artists who paint to live , we ( Critic ) have no very poignant regrets to utter over the decease of this institution of the fine arts at the early age of twelve . A curious illustration of the heat-retaining power of colours

occurred some time since , when it was found that the intense power of the sun caused the caulking-pitch , & c , to drop through the joints of the iron roofs of the so-called " boilers" at the South Kensington Museum . These were orig inally of ' a dark colour , but at the suggestion of one of the engineer officers they were painted almost white , to a successful result , so far as to moderate greatly the running of the pitch * he interior of the construction .