Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

primitive , and the miller , who was burly ; and also something much more worth seeing , at least to our young acquaintance , who tucked up his skirts and ran briskly up a ladder into the upper regions , calling to us to follow him . A door led from the granary into the miller's house , and the miller's daughter happened , of course entirely by chance , to be coming through that way . A very pretty girl she was too , and I never in my life saw anything more intensely

comic than the Looks of intelligence that passed between her and the young friar when he presented us . It was decidedly contrary to good monastic discipline it is true , and we ought to have been shocked , but it was intolerably laughable that my companion bolted into the granary to examine the wheat , and I took refuge iu a violent lit of coughing . Our nerves had been already rudely shaken by the King of the Cannibal Islands , and this little scene of convent life fairly finished us . We asked our friend what his day's work

young consisted of , and how he liked convent life . He yawned , and intimated that it was very slow . We inquired whether the monks had not some parochial duties to perform , such as visiting the sick and the poor in their neighbourhood . He evidently wondered whether we were really ignorant , or whether we were ' chaffing ' him , and observed that that was no business of theirs ; the curas of the village did all that sortof thing . 'Thenwhat have you to do ?' we asked . 'Well , 'be said , . 'there are so many services every day ,

and high mass on Sundays and holidays ; and besides that , there ' s —• well , there isn't anything particular . It ' s rather a dull life . I myself should like uncommonly to go and travel and see tbe world , or go and fight somewhere . ' We were quite sorry for the young iellow when we shook hands with him at parting , and he left us to go back to his convent . " The Rev . John Raine , M . A ., in his Sistory and Antiquities of of Bl yth , in the counties of Nottingham and York , after deriving

the name Alcotes from Hullcote , a pig-sty observes : "This apriori hypothesis is converted into certainty by reference to such names as Swinbarm , Swindon , Swindell , Sugden , Sowerby , Swinnerton , and others . Dr . Leo observes , 'that an estate is hardly registered as complete in the Anglo-Saxon charters without including one or more hog-woods . ' The addition of cote or cotes at the end of the name Alcotes forms no fatal objection to this etymology , inasmuch as a

second word is perpetually added to explain the first in our local names—e . g . in Skelbrook , Skel meaning precisely what brook means , and again in our own district in Blyth Law Hill , where the second word , Sill , is simply a repetition , of Law , which is of equivalent import ; and at a more remote distance from us , in Lancashire , in the name of Pendle Hill , where Sill has been added in explanation , or perhaps iu ignorance of the original Pen , which has the same signification , and which we find in Penrith , Penrhyn , and in the Pennine and Apennine mountains . "

We are sorry to record the death , from puerperal fever , of Mrs . T . H . Wells , wife of the distinguished miniature painter , aud sister of Mr . G . Boyce , the water-colour landscape painter . Mrs . Wells was a young artist of much promise , two of her paintings have been exhibited this year . The chair carved for our brother , David Garrick , in the wood of

Shakspere ' s mulberry tree , from the designs of William Hogarth , who carved the medallion of the bard , for the back of the chair , with his hand , was sold by auction the other day , in London , for £ 315 . The College of Preceptors has adopted the Educational Times as its monthly organ .

A terra-cotta bust of Oliver Cromwell , modelled by Edward Pierce , has been added to the National Portrait Gallery . Mr . Gassiot has been appointed to the secretaryship of the Ray Society , vacant by the resignation of Dr . E . Lankester . Dr . Bennett is to compose the English music for the Great International Exhibition of 1862 .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents ANCIENT AND MODERN MASONRY . TO THE EDITOE OP THE FKEEJIASOITS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MDUIOB . DEAE SIE AKD BEOTDEE , —If Bro . Peter , instead of making unmasonic remarks about members of Orders with which he is evidently unacquainted , would exercise a little discrimination , he would discover that as Craft Masonry was in existance before the building of King

Solomon ' s Temple , whilst the higher degrees originated no further back than A . C . D . 1018 , Grand Lodge acts very properly in not recognising comparatively modern degrees as part of Ancient Freemasonry , aud if you will allow me a little space in your valuable pages , I think I shall be able to prove to Bro . Peter , not only that Christian Masonry is usefulhut that from its very foundation it has been

inti-, mately interwoven with craft or symbolic Masonry . Freemasonry practically carries out to the fullest extent perfect freedom of reli gious and political opinions , holding out the right hand of fellowship to w orthy men , and 1 trust to worthy men alone , utterly regardless of their theological opinion , provided only they believe in the existence of one Supreme Being .

Father of all in every age In every clime adored , ) By saint , by savage , and by sage , Jehovah , Jove or Lord .

Craft Masonry , indeed , with all its beautiful simplicity , professes only to be a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbols , but it may , wheu rightly understood , claim to he the incarnation of the platonic philosophy , whose founder presents the most brilliant example how far the human intellect may , unaided by that light which is from above , penetrate , into the

obscure region of the future , which even the Christian now sees , " as through a glass darkly ; " let our worthy brother call to his remembrance how the initiate is led through the flowery paths of nature and science , his instructor inculcating at every step some relig ious truth or moral maxiom rivetting it upon his memory , through the medium of sound leasing allegoryuntil havingby due diligence and

p , , unremitting perseverance , surmounted the preliminary degrees of E . A . P . and E . C ., he is at last privileged to participate hi the mysterious secrets of a M . M . His education finished , the M . M . has , amongst other learning , acquired that greatest of all knowledge , the knowledge of himself . He has also learnt the power and attributes of the Deity , and know "that he is of purer eyes

than to behold iniquity , " feeling himself to be an erring aud sinful mortal , he turns for consolation to tho holy volume . The Bible , it is true is ahvuys open upon the Master ' s pedestal , but the book , for reasons obvious to every

reflecting Mason , is or ought to be the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament only . The Masonic ladder is based upon the Holy Bible , but clouds of thick darkness rest upon its summit . "Will Bro . Peter reflect seriously upon the true aud occult meaning of the mystical closing of the third degi-ee , and if he is a Royal Arch Companion will the rays of light emanating from that degree displace the gloom

that overshadows the path of a M . M . I am sure he feels they will not , and he also knows that the sublime doctrine of the atonement , cannot , for reasons I have above alluded to , be expounded by tho "W . M . of a Craft Lodge . The historical records and teaching of Craft Masonry cease at the period of the building of the second Temple , and it is to complete the Grand scheme of Freemasonry , that the

Rose Croix and its subsidary degrees step in , forming the connecting link between the Royal Arch and the Emights Templar ; and it is under the shadow of the cross on Calvary , when the veil of the Temple was rent in twain , the ashes poured out , and the despairing angel had fled for ever from the holy of holies , that the W . M's . expose to the gazes of the trembling supplicantthe rising of that bright morning

, star , which brings health and salvation on its wings . "With your permission I will return to this subject next week , and in the meantime I remain , yours most fraternally , P . M ., P . Z ., S . P . R . ^ H . R . D . M ., andP . E . C . K . T ., K . D . S . H , Buckhurst Hill , July 16 , 1861 .

The memorial statue of the Rev . Isaac Watts , D . D ., was inaugurated on Wednesday , the 17 th inst ., being the hundred and eightyseventh anniversary of his birth , at his native place , Southampton . As a man , a poet , a philosopher , and a divine , Dr . Isaac Watts well deserves the monument which his native place has been so tardy in erecting to his memory .