Correspondence.

appoint Mr . William Pringle Deputy Master . Wardens chosen for the ensuing year were Thomas Boudo and Benjamin Franklin . " How " A Student of Bro . Gould's History " could discover in the above paragraph any reason for supposing that the Philadelphia brethren in 1732 "knew of Coxe's Patent and acted under it , " is

more than I oan tell . To me , however , it seems that the above quotation not only failB to furnish a shadow of evidence that the Philadelphia Masons of 1732 knew anything of Coxe ' s Patent , but it strongly shows that they did not aot under it , as the following quotation from Coxe ' s Patent will show , viz .:

—"Know ye that we have nominated , ordained , constituted , and appointed , and do by these Presents nominate , ordain , constitute and appoint , our Right Worshipful and well-beloved Brother , the said Daniel Coxe , Provincial Grand Master of the said Provinces of New YorkNew Jersey , and Pennsylvania , with full power and authority

, to nominate and appoint his Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens for the space of two years from the feast of St . John the Baptist now next ensuing [ that is , from the 24 th of June 1730 ] after whioh time it is our will and pleasure , and do hereby ordain , that the brethren who do now reside , or who may hereafter reside , in all

or any of the said Provinoes , shall , and they are hereby empowered every other i / eor [ the italicising is mine ] on the feast of St . John the Baptist , to elect a Provincial Grand Master , who shall have the power of nominating and appointing his Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens . "

We see now that Coxe was appointed Prov . Grand Master of the above-named Provinces for two years ; his time expired 24 th June 1732 . Coxe , as well as his successors , was empowered to appoint their respective Deputy Grand Masters as well as their Grand Wardens , but the paragraph in the Pennsylvania Gazette , of 26 th

June 1732 , shows that the Wardens were not appointed by the then Grand Master , but were " chosen for the ensuing year ; " hence they could not have acted under Coxe ' s Patent . But that is not all . Under Coxe ' s Deputation the election of the Grand Master was to take place , not every year , but " every other year , " or every second

year . Coxe ' s appointment was for two years , and his successors were also to serve for two years , but the Pennsylvania Gazette , of 26 th June 1732 , informs us that " William Alleu , Esq ., was unani . mously chosen Grand * * for the ensuing year . " Indeed , their records prove that their elections for Grand Officers were invariably

annual ; hence the paragraph in the Pennsylvania Gazette , of 26 th June 1732 , actually proves that the Philadelphia Masons of 1732 did aot under Coxe ' s Deputation . Looking , therefore , upon the " Philadelphia Claim" from every standpoint , I think that it is now high time to bury that claim side

by side with the thousand and one other absurd claims which have been palmed off by Masonic dreamers and unscrupulous charlatans upon the credulity of the Masonic Fraternity , from the period when the Halliwell Poem was written , down to the last Masonic lecture delivered by Bro . Rob Morris . Fraternally yours , JACOB NORTON .

The follr / wing is copied from an Oration delivered before the Grand Lodge of New Jersey , at its Centennial Celebration , by Henry R . Cann P . G . M ., and refers to the Philadelphia Lodge of 1731 : —

" There is no evidence , however , that this Lodge obtained its warrant from Bro . Cox . Had this been the case , Bro . Benjamin Franklin would not have had occasion , as was the fact , to seek for confirmation of its authority from Bro . Coxe ' s successor in office . " ( See p 139 , New Jersey Proceedings , 1887 . )

Creaton Lodge of Instruction , No . 1791 . —On Thursflay , 14 th ultimo , at the Wheatsheaf Hotel , Goldhawk-road , W ., Bros . C . Rawley Cross W . M ., E . Austin S . W ., G . Higginson J . W ., W , H . Chalfont P . M . Secretary , A . Hardy S . D ., F . Craggs J . D ., Woodard Steward , L . Cox I . G . ; Bros . T . C . Edmonds , Purdue , Child , Jno . Davies PreceptorWilesMarshHaganCoombsHeadSansom

, , , , , , , Benton , Cavers , P . J . Davies , & c . Lodge was opened , and the minutes of previous meeting read and confirmed . Tho first and third sections of the first lecture were worked by tho brethren . The ceremony of initiation was rehearsed , Bro . Edmonds candidate . Brother Coombs was elected a member .

On Thursday . 21 st ultimo , Bros . E . Austin W . M ., G . Higgin . son S . W ., T . H . Wood J . W ., W . H . Chalfont P . M . Secretary , C . Coombs S . D ., Jennings J . D ., Cavers Steward , Wiles I . G . , Spiegel P . M ., Sims P . M ., R . H . Rogers P . M ., Jno . Davies Preceptor , Dresden , Stroud , Cox , Benton , L . Cox , Woodard , Breitbart , Sansom ,

Lichtenf ' eld and Stonnill . Lodge was opened , and the minutes read and confirmed . Lodge was opened in the second degree , and tho first section was worked . Lodge resumed tofitfit degree , when the second , third and fourth sections were worked . Bro . E . Cox , of the Royal Alfred Lodge , was elected a member .

HOLLOWAT ' S OINTMENT AND PILT . S . —Coughs , Influenza . —Tho soothing proper'' 88 of these medicaments render them well worthy of trial in all diseases of * p r * sPiratory organs . In common colds and influenza tho Pills taken internall y , and the Ointment rubbed over the chest , and throat , are excecdinglv emcacions . "When influenza is epidemic , this treatment is the easiest , safest and surest

. Hollowny's Pills pa-ify the blood , remove all obstacles to its free Dirt - ' 0 , 11011 through the lungs , relieve the engorged air tu' es . and render res-IDO-VV ? free without redtt-ing the strength , irritating the nerws , or depres . safflint % 8 P irit 3 : Rnch are the ready means of escaping from suffering when fiia h mf colds « coughs , bronchitis , and other chest complaints , by which wealth of so many is seriously and permanently injured in moat countries .

Notes For Masonic Students.

Notes For Masonic Students .

3 . —THE PATENT OF STEPHEN MORIN , 1762 . A VERT important question in the annals of tho A . and A . S . Rite arises out of this great landmark in its history , and also in r ospect ofthe vexed question of the High Grades . Tho common view of the High Grade History has long since been exploded by the labours of the Authentic School . Masonic writers have failed really to give the subjeot fair

treatment , and have egregiously blundered , for some reason or another , when they have affected to deal with its history and its development in the world of Masonry . A priori , it might have struck them , despite their obvious party spirit , and ignorance of the facts of the case , that this sudden

rise of a world-wide system was due to some antecedent causes of whioh they had not found the clue . The more the subject has been calmly investigated , the earlier do we find traces of the Scottish Rite , though a . veil of mystery still hangs over its aotual birth and early origin .

The old worn-out theory , which ascribed everything to Ramsay , must now be given up , as it is all but certain that he left Masonry in 1737 , and , dyingin 1743 , oertainly had little , and most probably nothing to do with the " Ecossais " movement . Indeed , it is somewhat doubtful now whether he ever delivered the famous so-called Oration at

all , and if this be so , a whole superstructure of charming nonsense crumbles away at once . Hence we are thrown back on the " Ecossais" and on " Eoossisme , " and it is in this respect that Stephen Morin ' s Patent becomes so important when we seek to master the true history of the Chivalrio Grades .

For if in 1762 the system was so formed as to be truly represented by the Patent in question , it throws baok the High Grades by the common laws of evidence to a period synchronous with the early beginning of modern Craft Masonry , the history of which is still in great ooufusion , and even probably to an earlier period of Hermeticism and Occultism .

One grand difficulty at starting we have to contend with is , the absence of the original Patent . Several incorrect copies since 1812 have been given of it , notably Thory ' s , and even Klosa ' s , but the most reliable one undoubtedly is the one certified in 1877 by our eminent

Bro . Albert Pike , from Delahogue '* copy at Charleston , in the possession of the Supreme Council of the Southern States of America , and even remarks have been made , on Delahogue ' s copy , hut which it is needless here to allude to .

I his seems to be the most exact copy of tho original , and this copy diffnrfl from all others hitherto published , both as to names and verbiage . And here conies in tho real point in dispute , which though apparently trifling in itself , is very important when we seek to write a

history of the A . and A . S . Rite . From what body did this Patent emanate ? There is no doubt thac a Patent did emanate to Stephen or Etienne Morin from some body . Some sr . y , as Findel and Kloss and Thory , from the Grand Lodge of

France . Some of onr later French writers from the Grand Lodge of Franco and tho "Conseil des Emperonrs . " Others , like Daruty , from a High Grade Lodge of Peifection , the Respectable Lodge of St . John of Jerusalem , tho foundation on which the " Cons-oil des Empereurs" waa built up .

Kloss , misled by an entry in the Minute Book of a Lodge at Frankfort , assumes , as Thory propounds , that the " Ecossais "had got the upper hand in the Grand Lodge de France , and honce in 1762 this Patent , when a Prince of the Blood , tho Comr . o de Clermont , was Grand Master . But tho use of-the Grand Master ' s name is

one thing , the fact that it issued from the Grand Lodge of France quite another . That Grand Lodge over and over again alike protested against the " Ecossais , " and declared simply for the Three Degrees . Both early and late it used the same words , and never by auy chance called

itself the Respectable Lodge of St . John of Jerusalem , but always La Grand Loge de France . The code of laws mentioned by Kloss is " sealed by the mysterions seal of the Loge Ecossaise , " which ought to have put him on his guard , but he was misled by the idea of Thory ' s—the domination of

tho Grand Lodue of France by tho " Eeos ^ ai-, " and to which K ss himself alludes somewh-tt sceptically in one passage . Tie G . L . of Franco had its own sen ! , and never sealed with nnv nth- r Tn

1757 tho Conseil des Emp » rour « based itself on " tho Grande et Souveraine Loge de St . Jenn do Jerusalem etablie : \ I'Orient do Paris ; " but . this wan an amplifies 1 i » .-n ¦ f the body formed in 175 " ' , which Thorv mistakenly declares to bo the Grand Lo ! " (> of Fr-rre .

Kloss reading a 17 ( 11 version of these mica in the Lodge Hund s de Trene Warheit , at Frmikfort , adopts Thnry ' a views , and makes them the laws or" the Grand Lodgr . of France , wher- 'ns they aro only the laws of the Respectable Lodge of St . John .-. (

Jerusalem , a purely High Grade body , s-lf . exis-tent . and pelf-governed . There is no known ( so far ) any other French copy of thes- rules in existence , and both in their idea , framework , and tendencies they are purely "Ecoseaid , " and hnve nothing to do with tho Grand Lodgu of France .

To account for tho existence of the High Grades , Thory has ingeniously put forth this idea of the predominance of tho Ecossais element , and tho Grand L ' TK-C . The wording of the Patent shows the contrary to thi 3 , as I will point out in ant ther nnprr , find

I will only add to-day that Daubfrtin , who signs tho Patent , rot as Grand Secretary of the Gtai . d L > dgn of France , but a 3 Grand Secretary do la Grande LOM > et Sublime Confuil , kc , was not Secretary then of the Grand Lodge of Fn-ice . Si'fiiio .