Literature.

These etchings are far more beautiful than the plates , and being extremely rare , this permission is a real boon to the public . M . Sauvagest has presented to the Louvre five pieces of crockery known as Pieces de Si-rrice de . Henri IL These productions are supposed to be the work of Asc . inio , the favourite pupil of Benvenuto Cellini , aud belong to the best period of the Renaissance ; only thirty specimens aro known to exist—the Louvre hacl two , the Hotel Cluny

one . and the Sevres Museum one and a fragment . The value ofthe five pieces now presented to the State may be guessed from the fact that in March , 1 S 59 , at the sale of M . Ratlin ' s collection , one cup and three small salt-cellars fetched 38 , 220 francs , and Baron . Rothschild gave 20 , 000 francs for a small ewer .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

[• T HE Eovroii docs not hold himself responsible for any opinions entertained b y Correspondents . ' ] MASONIC If ALLS . TO THE EDITOR . Of Tlll-l J'llEEMASON ;' ' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIlUlOll . SIB AST > I'liOTinsit , —I think it due to myself to state that I

gave notice to the President of the Board of the General Purposes a week before last Grand Lodge , that it was my intention to oppose the confirmation of the minutes ; and I think I may fairly assume that it was generally understood that I should do so . In all important alterations of the laws or customs ol Masonry , it is reasonable to expect that the confirmation of the minutes- —being the second ancl last time when the o ] iportiiiiity is

afforded of rejecting a proposal held by brethren to bo injurious to the Craft—that the confirmation ivill he opposed , and no one ought to complain of that , the last opportunity , being- embraced . I give full credit to Bro . "Havers for a sincere desire to do good in seeking the proposed poivers , but I think , if successful , lie would have embarked . Grand . Lodge on a sea of trouble , and risked the money and reputation of the Craft . . 1 . proved that Masonic Halls

did not pay , and were not a successful property—indeed , in many instances , were disused ; let mc call your attention to a hricf recapitulation of some of my facts . Southampton . Masonic flail used by tivo , now three Lodges ; one , now two Chapters ; and one Encampment ; besides "bein g let for other pm-poscs , ivith wine vaults under , and large room adjoining ; held fifteen years at a cost of £ 1800 . Only paid , one per

cent , on an average . Portsmouth . No Masonic Hall . Three Lodges meeting- in three different private rooms , and no united action to save cost find build a Masonic Hall . Christchurch . Masonic Hall built more than twenty years ago . Soon disused for Masonry , and Loclge now moved to Bournemouth .

Lyiiiington . Masonic Halt built about twenty years ago . Hall sold from Masonic use ; Loclge dues paid , but Lodge never meets . Coives .. Masonic Hall ; Lodge meets at another place , and the Hall taken by mortgagee at half the cost . E . yde . Masonic Hall ; sold out of the possession of the original proprietors at a great lossancl pays an inadequate return to

, the present owners . These arc the melancholy histories of Masonic Halls in one county , and refer to all the Masonic Halls it contains , excepting Newport , not ascertained ; I referred in Grand Loclge to similar facts in other places—and I boldly ask if these results justify Grand Lodge in embarking the funds of Masonry with ' such facts before us .

If the provinces desired the experiment to he tried with the money of Grand Lodge , after the experience that so much has been ' lost to private enterprise , the desire should have been shown b y the Board of General Purposes : but this was not clone , Berwick ' being the only town given by name , and the assumed case of the Board was really never made out . 'The truth is , Masonic Halls , as an investment , clo not pay , and

hence there is an unwillingness to build them ; we keep np ours at Southampton , for the advantages which a Masonic Hall gives , and twenty or thirty brethren are willing to have a small interest on their capital for the good they can do to Masonry ; hut in small towns it is difficult to raise the capital , or even insure the prosperity or continuance of the single Lodge that meets iu it , besides which , it is more expensive to conduct a Lodge at . a private hall than at a tavern . At the former the banquets ami refresh-

Correspondence.

ments are dearer , and a substantial rent to pay in additioh . In a tavern it is altogether more economical . I quite admit : the great comfort , privacy , ancl respectability of Lodges meeting , iff a Alasonic Hall—I wish it could be always done—but local enterprise ancl local liberality must clo it . The Grand Lodge must not be drawn into all the difficulties of holding non-paying properties in various towns in England , especially with the fact that had this value

scheme been in existence twenty years ago , and half the had been advanced on thc Halls of Southampton , Cowes , Lyiiiington and Christchurch , Grand Loclge must long ere this have sold them from the purposes of Masonry , or lost either principal or interest ; 'ancl yet , Masonry has flourished and increased in Hampshire , though Masonic Halls have , as a property devoted to Masonrysadlfailed

, y . With sincere thanks for your kind notice of myself , I am . Shane ! Brother , yours truly and fraternally , Southampton , ' , T . RANKIN STUBBING , AV . M ., _ NO . 1087 ; Maxell 13 /// , 1860 . P . M ., Nos . 1 . 52 , 462 . 555 .

Ancient And Accepted Rite.

ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE .

TO THE EDITOR 01 ? THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . DEAII SIR AND BROTHER , —I observe in your Magazine for January 28 th , there is a question asked under the signature " Knt . E . W ., " as to whether a Brother , having promised fealty to the Supreme Council of England , would be acting contrary to his loyalty in attending a Loclge of Perfection in Paris ' ? The Grand Orient ami Supreme Council of Paris are recognised

by , and in friendly communication with , the Supreme Council of England , and therefore any Brother holding under the Supreme Council of this country , is perfectly at liberty to visit any Masonic body holding under tiie Supreme Council of France—or , indeed , under any regularly constituted Supreme Council throughout the world . I shall at all times be happy to give you any information you

may require in regard to the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . I remain , dear Sir and "JJrothev , yours fraternally , 11 , Sutherland Gardens , IK , JNO . A . D . Cox , 38 ° . March 20 //; , I 860 . G . Sec . Gen . H . E .

"Bro. Percy Wells."

"BRO . PERCY WELLS . "

TO Tin- EDITOR or Tin ; EIII-EMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . DEAR Sin . AND BnoTiiEi :, —I 8111 appealed to by the writer of a letter headed "Bro . Percy Wells , " signed " An Old Wellsian , " dated Bath , March 13 th , 1860 , and inserted- in your " Magazine of March the 17 th . Although one of your subscribers , I had not read that letter when I receivedposted to my address in Londonan envelope

, , enclosing another printed anonymous letter signed "Bathoniensis , " dated March 17 . 1860 , and professedly addressed "To the brethren of Bath . " Allow mc , not onl y as the Bro . Eidgway appealed to , but also as an Englishman and a Mason , to repl y to the person who has assumed these two names . The Grand Master of Mark Masters in South Australia is a

just and honourable man , now in this country , ready , as in cluty bouncl , to receive and investigate according to the Constitutions , any matter of offence openly laid to thc charge of any brother under his jurisdiction . Before Bro . Percy Wells embarked for South Australia , and whilst he was yet the AVorship ful Master of a Lodge of Mark Masters at Bath , I received a communication marked "

confidential , " conveying , at the request of a person not then named _ tn mc , certain insinuations which , viewed from the unbiassed position in which I stood , were foul , mean , and malicious . The avowed object of this communication ivas to ruin the Masonic position of the brother in question , and to do so secretly . My answer then ivas , as it is now , by a reference to the Constitutions , anil to the sure and open means of punishing wrong

doers . The result then was , as it will be noiv , and as it generally has been in all times , that the anonymous writer was too mean to avow his accusation . Bro . AVells is fourteen thousand miles away from this country , in a British colony , and , as I presume , seeking to earn his livelihood by honest industry . . 1 trust , therefore , your readers will treat with the contempt it deserves , the slanderous malice so cowardly exemplified . You , Sir , are not to be transformed into a Neapolitan Minister of Police , nor are your readers to be unmind-