Hogarth's Portraits Of Masons, And Masonic Caricatures.

gons were a Chinese Order , which made its appearance in about the year 1723 and expired about 1730 . They , like the Masons , indulged in annual processioning . Tho plate in question has not a solitary Masonic emblem on it , and it must therefore orisrinallv have been designed to ridicule

the Gormagons only . But tho Masons also provoked ridicule by their annnal processions . In 1742 , and for at least three years later , a number of droll Masonic caricatures were published in cartoons and newspapers . It seems

to me that the owner of the Gormagon Plato , in order to realise another penny from it , altered the inscription at the bottom of the p late , added Masons to the Gormagons , and when thus Masonised ho found new customers Lr it .

Mr . Nichols , the editor , says , " To the earliest impression of this plate the name of Sayer ( for whom it has since been re-touched ) is wanting . ' Stolen' from Coypel's Don Quixote . ' " What he means b y " stolen , " & c . I do not understand , but it is very evident that the inscription was

altered , and we all know that it is " a common trick of the trade , " when an engraving has fulfilled its purpose for one publication , to alter its inscription in order to adapt it for another , and such may also have been the case wifch the plate nnder consideration . Indeed , I even doubt whether Hogarth engraved it at all . BOSTON . 17 th October 1884 .

An Invitation Politely Declined

AN INVITATION POLITELY DECLINED

We very much regret to find ourselves under the necessity of declining a very courteous invitation addressed to us by tho Masonic Chronicle of Columbus , Ohio . We understand that on some former occasion wc took the liberty of describing certain of our contemporary ' s remarks on the dispute between the Grand Chapter of

Quebec and the Mark Grand Lodge of England as having been characterised by a tone of " unmitigated insolence . " We do nofc remember to have done so , and unfortunately at the moment of writing , our file of the CHRONICLE is not accessible for reference . We dare say , however , our

Ohian friend is quite right . It is not our habit to go out of the way to pay people either deserved or undeserved compliments , and if , as our contemporary points out , we did so describe its remarks , we must have seen something about them of an exceptionally meritorious character . But

it does not follow thafc , because wc have set a rnle at naught on one occasion , and under , we presume , very special cirenmstances , we shonld do so a second time , and with bnt little or no justification . A courtesy is always the more acceptable the more rarely it is bestowed , and we

fear the Masonic Chronicle is nofc sufficiently impressed with the kind attention we have shown it , when it invites us to bestow a like attention on a certain Bro . Theo . T . Gurney , with whom ifc is onr misfortune , though nofc our fault , to be unacquainted . We have no doubt this Bro .

Gurney is a most estimable man and Mason . If it pleases our contemporary , we will even go so far as to suggest that he is in all respects well qualified to offer an opinion on questions whicb are evidentl y beyond his powers of

comprehension . But we cannot undertake , even at the express and politely-conveyed invitation of this worthy Ohian editor , to scatter indiscriminately among the many well-intentioned brethren of the United States the limited

supply of compliments it is in our power to bestow . Let it suffice , for the present at all events , that from the very slig ht , opportunit y wc have had of judging of the value of Bro . Gurney ' s contributions to the literature of the Quebec imbroglio , we do not , think they deserve to be placed quite

on the same footing as the remarks of the Masonic Chronicle . The latter must have been characterised hy a certain tone of "unmitigated insolence / ' or we should not have so described them at the time thoy were broughtunder notice , but the former are nofc worth nofcicins * afc all .

There is another reason wh y we cannot listen to tho voice of this interesting charmer , who dwells in far-ofr Columbus . Once upon a time a very little frog and a very big ox were next , door neighbours . The ox went on IUK way rejoicing , but the frog , when it noted the difference in

Size between it and its neighbour , grew quite envious , and being an absurdl y plucky little fellow , ifc made up its mind to httain the same dimensions r . s the ox . Accordingly , it went on swelling itself out with pride and arrogance and vain-glory until one day its little skin became so inflated

An Invitation Politely Declined

that it burst incontinentl y , and the little frog went over o the majority . . \\* u , wero wo so inconside . ato as ' -, take any notice of l > ro . Gurney ' s comments on the i ^ neb ^ c business , he might be ill-advised enoiiurh to continue fchcin ,

in the belief that he was laying down the law authoritativel y on a matter which , as we have alread y suggested , is entirely beyond his powers of comprehension : in whieh case , of course he would expose himself to the same untoward fate as friend froggy . For Bro . Gurney ' s own sake ,

therefore , we shall take no notice of his remarks as quoted by the M ( so . u ' c CLronicle . Wo have no wish to hear of his having perished in the vain attempt to swell himself to the

dimensions of a full-grown Masonic jurisconsult , and he would inevitabl y do so if as our friend so courteousl y puts it , we looked out the big words in our dictionary , and anathematised him . Ifc is for these reasons that wo have no option \ -, ut to decline fche generous invitation of onr contemporary .

Symbols.

SYMBOLS .

( Continued from page 267 . ) WE know that whatever form of reli gion was observed b y Abraham it passed down to Jacob , and so continued until Joseph was found in Egyptby his brother . Granting the possibility of the ancient true religion being corrupted in Egypt , they would naturally have retained their temples and the general moral code . Joseph now finding it in that

corrupt condition , would endeavour to establish it in its former purity , but after his death , while it would again become corrupt , the archives of the government would preserve the records of their former forms of worshi p , and it would become a part of the wisdom of the learned men

of Egypt . Moses now being educated under the direction of the royal court would thus become learned " in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , " hence , when called upon fche mountain to receive the law , he is instructed to embod y in a written form all tho moral code , the form of religion , and ,

having no abiding place to erect a temple , he materialises the work by the construction of the tabernacle . Granting this theory to be correct , it may be easily seen that the adoption of the tabernacle and the peculiar form of reli gion wns not borrowing from Egypt , but the revivication of the divine form of worship perpetuated in Egypt .

Melchisedec comes npon the stage for a moment and then is lost sight of . Jethro appears momentaril y as tho wise counsellor of his son-in-law , Moses ( Exodus xviii . 1-9 ) , and like Melchisedec , is lost fco history . What the peculiar form of their reli gion was we clo not know , bufc that they

were God-fearing men is evident from the manner of joy in which they received the good work of God . The true religion of God then may have been preserved in fche people represented by Melchisedec . With Abraham ifc was given to the care of another tribe also , whoso history has been

preserved in that , direction . On the one hand ifc has been handed down to the Jews , on the other to the Gentiles . As time grew on the religion of Melchisedec , yet perfect , is mofc at the visit of Jethro to Moses , but , iu the later ages , becoming corrupt , it descends into various forms of idolatry .

Assuming the correctness of this theory it is very easily soon how ancient temples , built long before Solomon , had the same plan of his , and the moral code of certain heathen nations , their ideas of the vicarious character of sacrifices , their * traditions of the creation ancl flood , are identical with

bible history , and settle the fact that instead of anything being borrowed for tho Israelitish form of religion , the ai-cient pure religion was merel y brought ; back to its former yinrity . The highest symbol , then , that we find in the tabernacle is holiness , whether it be among the ancient heathen or the Israelitish people .

TEE POINT WITHIN THE CIRCLE . —In our symbolisms there is " a certain point within a circle , embordered b y two perpendicular parallel lines , representing St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist ; and upon the top rests the Hol y Scriptures . " The point represents a brother ,

surrounded b y a circle , bounded by the highest principles and advocates of pure virtue and godliness , symbolizing that no passion or prejudice should ever be allowed to

betray him ; no sinful disposition to lead him into wrong ; that as the circle is crowned with the law of virtue , ancl supported upon the sides by two of the grandest advocates of holy living , we should live in a hi gh degree of purity . If