Our Public Charities.

worked and underpaid , and has to find drugs out ofhis pitiful stipend . The workhouse has been visited by cholera severely twice , ancl in a new epidemic similar visitations mi ght be anticipated . The workhouse , however , is unfit to receive such cases with safety , and is now in a state to foster epidemic diseases generally .

Quakers.

QUAKERS .

This contemptuous denomination originated at Derby in the year 1650 , from the following circumstance . George Fox , the first of the people called Quakers , having been brought before the magistrates at that place , admonished them to tremble

at the Word of the Lord . Justice Bennet , one of the bench , more ludicrous than grave , converted the _ expression into a subject of ridicule , and in derision gave George and his friends the appellation of Quakers i by which name the members of this society have since that time been distinguished b

"y the world ; but they have transmitted down to the present time the more endearing appellation of "Friends . " George Fox was imprisoned at Scarborough Castle , when Sir Jordan Crossland was governor , for above twelve months , having received a premunire on account of some reliious

g principles which a more enlightened age has tolerated . His constitution was delicate and feeble , yet he supported the rigours of a severe confinement in a miserable cell with perfect resignation . The peaceful serenity of his mind was unmoved b y

external accidents , and though deprived of every social intercourse with friends , and exposed to the derision of his enemies , this holy man in patience possessed his soul superior to every indignity . He was confined at separate times in three different rooms : one of them on the seaside , now in ruins ,

at a little distance from the spring called the " Lady ' s Well , " which , he says , "lying much open , the wind drove in the rain so forcibly , that the water came over his bed and ran about the room , so that he was glad to skim it up with a platter . " " A threepenny loaf lasted him three weeksand

, sometimes longer , and most of his drink was water with an infusion of wormwood . " The exemplary patience , great humility , and inoffensive conduct of George Fox so conciliated the esteem of the governor and officers of the garrison that they ultimately became his friends ancl advocatesand were

, accustomed to say "That he was stiff as a tree ancl pure as a bell , for they could never move him . " He was released by order of the King , and the following passport was granted by the governor : —

Permit the bearer hereof , George Fox , late a prisoner hove , but now discharged by his Majesty ' s order , quietly to pass about his lawful occasions without any molestation . "Given under my hand at Scarborough Castle this 1 st day of September , 1606 . "JOEDAN CROSSLAND , " Governor of Scarborough Castle . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

TIIE SECEETS OF l'KEEHASONKV . The Monde would have its readers believe that the following is the oath taken hy every Freemason on the day of his reception : — "In the name of the Supreme Architect of the World , I swear that I shall never reveal the secrets , signs , touches , words ,

doctrines , and usages of the Freemasons , and that I shall observe an eternal silence with regard to them . Should I prove false , I submit to the following punishment : that my lips be burned with red-hot iron , my hand severed , my tongue torn out , my throat cutand body suspended in a lodge during

, my the time that a new brother is being admitted , in order that my treachery may be branded , and my example serve as a terror to others ; that my body he then reduced to ashes and flung to the winds , so that the memory of my treachery may utterly perish . "

A MASONIC SIGN SAVES EEOM DEOWNING . A correspondent has been so good as to send me a paper-writing , to which he has with his pencil prefixed the words " A Masonic Sign saves from Drowning . " He states that he lately purchased some hooks which had belonged to a member of the Craft , who died a few years agoand this writing was discovered

, by him enclosed between the leaves of one of them . The following is a , verbatim copy : —" . D . 1793 . The Master of a Berlin lodge , whilst walking in a meadow adjoining the Spree , heard the cries of a man who by some accident had fallen into the river , and he speedily ran to the bank , but being a very indifferent

swimmer , he hesitated to go any further . The drowning man had already sunk twice , when , on coming to the surface once more , he contrived , in the midst of his struggles , to make a Masonic sign . The Master of the lodge recognised it , and he hesitated no longer ; he plunged into the waterand succeeded ,

, although with great difficulty , in rescuing the brother , who proved to be a Frenchman , holding a high office in the Grand Orient of Paris . "—CHAELES PUETON COOPEE .

MUSSULMAN' MASONS . I should like to know whether the case of a candidate not beiu <[ -, freeborn has offered itself in India . 1 opine not , as Mussulman Masons in India are many of them of princely families . —A STUDENT

ABKAIIAM LINCOLN . The continental lodges eagerly seized on the death of President Abraham Lincoln to make popular capital , hut they were countenanced in it by American brethren , who encouraged any expression of sympathy without inquiring whether the deceased functionary was a Mason . The proceedings of the American Grand Lodges now in session are in strong contrast to this , as they deprecate any action not justified hy Masonic work . —IS " . P .

MASOXIC LANGUAGES . Thinking it may interest some , and lead to further inquiries , I have drawn up the following list of languages in which Masonic ceremonies have been performed : —English , Dutch , Danish , Swedish , German , Latin , French , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese , ¦ \ Vallachian , Modern Greek , Armenian , Polish , Russian ,