very great, and he died about the year 243. His doctrines were widely propagated by his disciples, amongst whom was Longin, from whom we have still a work extant upon the sublime. This scholar was also surnamed the Golden Chain. Under Constantine the Great the Modern Platonics were scattered into every corner of the earth, until under the Emperor Julian their condition was made more supportable; finally, Athens was the chief seat of this school, and in the sixth century it was quite destroyed, Christianity had got the upper hand of it. The scholastic philosophy of the fifteenth century awakened the doctrines of the Modern Platonics in the west by Georgius Gemistus Pletho, who died in 1451, but it was without success.

Nicolai Christian Friedrich, commonly called Freidrich Nicolai, was born at Berlin on the 18th of March, 1733, and died there on the 8th of January, 1811. He was a bookseller and member of the academy of sciences there. Freidrich Nicolai has not only made himself conspicuous in the learned world, but also in the Masonic Order, by his works upon it, and the ingenious and subtle inquiries which are therein contained. His father was a bookseller or publisher in Berlin, and he learned the same business in Francfort-on-theOder, while he at the same time devoted all his spare time to incessant study, and would most willingly have devoted himself entirely to the sciences, if the death of his elder brother, and the small fortune which belonged to himself and to his sister, had not compelled him to carry on his father's business. We can say here but little of what he has accomplished as a publisher and learned man, when we name Lessing, Mendlesohn, and other great men, and gratefully acknowledge their important services unto literature, we must dearly ever prize our Fr. Nicholai as their associate. Who does not know the "Universal German Bibliothek," founded by him? a work which appeared regularly from 1765 until nearly the time of his death, which was edited by him, and which has contributed so immensely to explain every science. He wrought equally as powerful against Obscurantism as against Catholicism. His description of Berlin has become a model for all future typographers; and through his excellent romance, "The Life and Opinions of the Magister Sebaldus Nothanker," he endeavoured to show the spirit of prosecution of the orthodox in all its naked deformity, to recommend freedom of thought, to unmask hypocrisy, to lead fanatics to sound reason, and to cure the age of its morbid sensibility. He was an active member of the Lodge the Three Globes at Berlin. His work under the title of "Enquiries into the accusations which have been made against the Order of Knights Templar, and into its secrets, with an appendix upon the origin of Freemasonry," is strict and well grounded in its citations, but the superfluity of learning he brought unto the task led him to dangerous inferences and hypothesis. The first part of this work is against Anton's defence of the Order of Knights Templar, and the second is against the doubts raised by Von Herder on the same Order. A great deal of his time was devoted to able inquiries into the nature and origin of secret societies, and we principally find the results of those inquiries in his remarks upon the origin and history of the Rosycrucians and Freemasons. He, also, in common with Biester, raised his voice upon the Order of Illuminati, and we have from him an open declaration of his secret connexion with this Order. We may maintain that he has rendered undoubted and great services to the fraternity. Through his writings he has driven out the whole regiment of, for the

VOL. V.

X

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greatest part, dreaming secret chiefs, and has assisted to give vitality to a spirit of free inquiry and of free constitution. His writings contain a great deal of valuable information regarding the history of the Brotherhood, and we have him to thank for many literary notices. Those his services are entirely independent of his hypothesis of the history of Freemasonry.

Niederland und Holland. Netherlands and Holland.-The kingdom of the Netherlands consists, as is well known, of Holland and the greatest portion of that which was formerly the Austrian Netherlands. Previous to the year 1735 there were Lodges in Holland, and Johan Cornelius Rademacher, general treasurer to the Prince of Orange, was their Grand Master. But the States of Holland soon issued very strong decrees against them, and a Lodge in Amsterdam was broken up by force. Those persecutions soon ceased, and in the year 1756 a Grand Lodge was formed in the Hague, with the consent and assistance of all the working Lodges in the then United Provinces, which on the 25th of April, 1770, concluded a treaty of union with the Grand Lodge in London, and has since then founded many new Lodges both in Holland and the colonies. Lodges were formed in Amsterdam, and in nearly every other Dutch city, and they still continued to increase when Holland came under the dominion of France. In those times many Lodges were formed in what was formerly the Austrian Netherlands. Since that both States have come under one government, and has taken the common name of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Freemasonry has maintained a firm footing. In 1816 the Lodges petitioned the king (and with success) that his second son, Prince Frederick, might become their Grand Master.

Norden. North.-The operative mason is accustomed to lay the foundation-stone of a new building on the north side, and for this reason all those who have not been initiated amongst us have their place in the north. The light streams from the east unto the north, as all our knowledge has been obtained from the orient.

As a

Nostradamus Michael, or really called Michael Notre Damus, was born at St. Remi, in France, in 1503, and died at Salon in 1756. He studied medicine, but became a quack doctor and fortune teller. master of the last art he obtained so much celebrity in his days that he forced his way to court, notwithstanding that his prophecies commonly failed. His work, Les vrayes Centuries et Propheties, must have been very celebrated, for a new edition was printed at Amsterdam in 1668. Astrologers continue to honour him very much.

Nothzeichen. Distressed sign.—In a society whose members ought fraternally to love and assist each other, it is to be expected that they should have a sign whereby they could make themselves known immediately to their brethren, in however distressed circumstances they might be placed, and thereby at the same time claim their assistance and protection. This is the sign of distress, in conjunction with a few words. He who falls into the greatest difficulty and danger, and supposes that there is a Brother within sight or hearing, let him use this sign, and a true and faithful Brother must spring to his assistance.

Obelisk. A high, square-sided and sharp-pointed pillar, which is com

* Freemasonry upon the Continent and in England are two very different things. We never had (at least so far as I know) any secret chiefs or leaders; it appears they have had upon the Continent. We never denied admittance to Jew or Mahometan; it appears they do this still.-TRANSLATOR.

monly erected in commemoration of some celebrated person or remarkable event. They are to be found among the Masonic emblems.

Obereit, Jacob Herrman, was born at Arbon, in Switzerland, the 2nd December, 1725, and died at Jena, 2nd February, 1798. He was a doctor in philosophy, surgeon, chemist, alchemist, &c. &c., without any diplomas. His head was formed by nature for speculation and acute investigation, and having been induced by intercourse, example, and reading, to have a firm faith awakened and supported in him in all that was wonderful and extraordinary, caused him to devote himself incessantly to the search for the philosopher's stone, and drew him into a mystical Masonic union. It is not possible to determine whether he ever was really a Freemason or not, nevertheless he has written upon it, upon rosicrucianism, jesuitism, mysticism, alchemy, and had many literary controversies upon those subjects.

THE SCAMANDRIAN SPRINGS.

HORACE Somewhere says, or sings, that even great Homer sometimes is found nodding. He does not, however, condescend to particulars. Not so with the author of the "Gallery of Nature," a popular and recently published work, who pronounces prompt and positive judgment in the following special case:

"Homer," says he, in the chapter upon springs, " in describing the flight of Hector before Achilles, attributes to the Scamander two fountain heads, the one hot and the other cold:

'Next by Scamander's double source they bound,
Where two famed fountains burst the parted ground.'

РОРЕ.

Homer is wrong in assigning such a source to this particular river, which bursts at once from a chasm in the Idæan mountains, amid scenery of the grandest description."

This is pretty authoritatively pronounced; but let us inquire if Homer does really assign such a source as these fountains to the river. He tells us that Hector and Achilles in their course "reached the fair-flowing fountains (or out-gushings) where two springs burst forth from the whirling Scamander," and these, he subsequently says, were collected into stone troughs or reservoirs, in which the Trojan maidens washed their clothes. He does not call them "Scamander's double source," as Pope gratuitously designates them: he speaks not of sources at all relative to the Scamander, but simply of two springs, with their out-pourings that bubbled and trickled into the whirling eddies of the river. appears to be the true interpretation of the expression, because Homer himself, in Iliad xii. ver. 19, distinctly states, that the Scamander, along with other rivers, rose in mount Ida, a fact which the critic forgets to state, but which could be the only authentic source of his own knowledge of the river's origin; as at the present day it is almost impossible to identify any particular river in the Troad.

Such

Pope, in the licence he too frequently takes with the text, has led many a one astray unaware; but the reverend author of the "Gallery of Nature," as a scholar, ought to have been more cautious. Cowper, a

much better classic than Pope, and a more correct critic than Broome or Fenton, never thought of terming these founts or springs the sources of Scamander's stream; on the contrary, he treats them as subsidiaries, or derivatives

"And now they reached the running rivulets clear,

Where from Scamander's dizzy flood arise

Two fountains."

In a note to the small edition of Cowper, whence this quotation is taken, it is stated that "the Scamander ran down the eastern side of Ida; and at the distance of three stadia from Troy, making a dip, it passed under the walls, and rose again under the form of the two fountains, here described, within them; from which fountains these rivulets are said to have proceeded." We know not upon what authority this is given; but were it the case, it might have justified the poet in assigning them as a source of the river, that is, its origin in the plain.

Again, Wood informs us, in his Essay on Homer, that "he saw the Scamander in its lowest state, when it had not water sufficient to support one continued current from its source to the sea. It consisted of a succession of several small streams produced from different springs, all which were absorbed in the gravelly channel after a short and languid course." Here, then, we have springs or fountains feeding, or rather forming it in the dry season, when its sources in mount Ida had failed; hence it might be described as having different sources during the wet and during the dry season; and thus also Homer's seeming inconsistency (if he did attribute to it different sources) might be reconciled.

But we prefer taking the meaning as before stated, without equivocation, namely, that the poet alludes to the two springs or fountains simply as being beside the river, and receiving their name from their locality, without any reference to them either as primary or secondary sources of the vortiginous Scamander," as he emphatically terms it, and which peculiar characteristic it could only assume when swoln by the mountain torrents poured down from Ida's side, high above the plain and far from Troy. The explanation above given is as ancient as Strabo.

TOXOTES.

EARLY TALENT AND PIETY.

In the previous part of the seventeenth century there lived, in an obscure village near Liverpool, a young gentleman named Horrox. The astronomical tables of Kepler had indicated a transit of Venus in 1631, but none was observed. Horrox, who had a fondness for the science, set himself to correct the error of the tables; and, without much assistance from books or instruments, found that such a phenomenon might be expected to occur in 1639. He repeated his calculations with all the ardour and zeal of a youthful enquirer, and, confident of the result, imparted his expected triumph to a friend in Manchester, desiring him to watch for the event and take observations. So eager and anxious was he to see his predictions fulfilled, and be the first to observe the passage of the planet, that he commenced his observations the day before the calculated time, in case of the possibility of error, and he resumed them at the rising of the sun the next day. That day was Sunday, the 4th December, 1639; and the very hour of the expected visible appearance

of Venus, was the hour appointed for the performance of public worship. The loss of a few minutes might deprive him for ever of the interesting sight; clouds might intervene after the commencement of the transit, and continue till the sun set. He had been waiting for the event for about eight years-what a disappointment to the young enthusiast should he miss the observation! Nay, the result promised much utility to science. Nevertheless, conscientiousness prevailed over every temptation, and twice he suspended his observations to repair to the house of Godthe Great Architect of that wondrous universe which he delighted to contemplate.

Horrox had his reward. When his duty was thus performed, and he had returned to his chamber the second time, his love of science was gratified with the fullest success, and all his ardent anticipations were realized. He beheld what the eye of man had never before contemplated.

Horrox wrote an account of this celestial phenomenon, under the title of "Venus in sole visa," which was afterwards published by the astronomer Hevelius. The manner in which he speaks of the incident above narrated, is creditable alike to his modesty and piety.

"I observed," says he, "from sunrise till nine o'clock, again a little before ten, and lastly at noon, and from one to two o'clock-the rest of the day being devoted to higher duties, which might not be neglected for these pastimes."

Horrox died at the early age of twenty-two; and, had he lived, he would probably have become one of the most eminent men of his time. The precocious talent and studies of this youth, remind us of one of the present time; we allude to Mr. Adams, of St. John's College, Cambridge, who, while yet an under-graduate, began those profound and ingenious calculations, which have distinguished him as the first theoretical discoverer of the existence and place of the new planet. In this he certainly anticipated Le Verrier; and his country may yet look to him for further discoveries and distinction. Henceforward, let no Professors of Trinity pretend to despise a Johnian.

FREEMASONRY IN THE IRISH COURTS OF LAW, 1808.* ཨ་མ་ (Continued from page 49).

GRAND LODGE OF IRELAND.

At the monthly meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, held at the Taylors' Hall, in the city of Dublin, on Thursday, the 7th day of April, 1808, the Earl of Donoughmore, Grand Master of Ireland, in the Chair, his lordship having, by circular letters to the different Lodges, signified his intention of presiding in person on that day.

Present-Alexander Jaffray, Esq., Deputy Grand Master; Francis Fetherstone, Esq., acting Senior Grand Warden; Henry Bunbury, Esq., acting Junior Grand Warden; John Boardman, Esq., Grand Treasurer; John Leech, Esq.; the Hon. Francis Hely Hutchinson; the Hon. Abraham Hely Hutchinson; the Hon. and Rev. Lorenzo Hely Hutchinson ; and several other members of the Grand Master's Lodge, together

*We are requested to acknowledge, which we do with great pleasure, that these extracts are from old files of the Globe newspaper, to which we have had access.