The Approaching Election For The Girls School.

with London and Bedfordshire in regard to E . F . Branthwaite , No . 22 on the list . In conclusion wo may again congratulate the members of the Craft , and particularly tlio friends of

tne various candidates on tne iact oi mere iieing so large a number of vacancies , with , comparatively speaking , a short list of candidates . We hope the most deserving anions the number mav secure

admission to the School next month , and that all of them , in due course , may reap the benefits the Craft is enabled to offer through the means of this Charity .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM .

Br Buo . R . F . GOULD .

THE current number , Vol . IV ., Part 2 , of the Transactions , No . 2076 , has been issued rather later than usual , for which the growing band of contributors , and the increasing variety of its contents , will bo a sufficient explanation .

Two papers were read before tho Lodgo in tho interval between the last publication ; one , Masonic Musicians , by Bro . W . A . Barrett , Mus . Doc , P . G . O ., and tho other , Tiie Legend of Selhos , by Dr . B . "VV . Richardson , F . R . S .

Each of these has special merits of its own , and iu either case the impression upon those who had the good fortune to hear them read was deepened by tho practised skill of tho lecturer .

Tbe articles are mainly of a solid type , and the first one of all , A Critical Examination of the Alban and Athelstan Legends , by Bro . C . C . Howard , S . W . 2036 , New Zealand

affords a gratifying indication of the extent to which the labours of the Lodge are not only appreciated , but actually participated in , by the Associate members residing at the very outermost rim of its vast circle .

Lieut .-Col . S . C . Pratt , whose keen intelligence , so long and beneficially exercised in tho internal work of the Lodge , we may well hope will now bo as zealously employed in assisting to n-aintain the high standard of its publications .

A note on the Svastica , is contributed hy the I . P . M .

Next , follows A Masonic Built City , from tbe Pen of Bro . S . Russell Forbes , who observes , by way of introduction : — "I would call your attention to a novel subject ; as far as I know , unique . My theory is a city built to illustrate the threo degrees of Masonry . "

Under the title of The Old Lodge at Lincoln , will bo found the by-laws of an ancient Lodge , together with a transcript of its minutes , beginning 5 th December 1732 ,

and ending 2 / th September 1742 . Tho copyist is Brother William Dixon , and the excerpta with which he has benefited our Transactions aro introduced to the reader in a preface of much power and originality .

After this comes a description of a curious Hand-painted Masonic Apron , by Bro . J . E . Green , 1469 . Johannesburg , South Africa . Tho regalia in question , which is of considerable age , also forming the subject of a pictorial illustration .

Dr . W . Begemann , Prov . G . M . Mecklenburg , follows , with some Eemarks on the William Watson MS ., and carries further the work , so ably commenced by him in 1887 , of classifying and comparing tho old MS . Constitutions of tho Society .

For tho next article—tho longest of the entire series—I am personally responsible , but if the space at my disposal had been far larger , it would still have been insufficient to contain a tithe of what I should wish to havo written in loving admiration of the great Masonic scholar whoso biography I was deputed to record .

If among our literati there have been at any time men of greater mark than Albert Pike , their names have eluded my research . Not only was he a scholar , but also an orator , a prose writer of the first rank , and a poet .

Freemasonry in Solland is the title chosen by the Grand Secretary of that country , Bro . J . P . Vaillant , for one of the most instructive of tho valuable series of historic papers appearing under his name in our Transactions .

The Reviews are three in number , and the works subjected to analysis are—1 . Tlie Transactions of tlw Neiocastle College of Bosicrucians ; 2 . La Migration Des Symboles ; and 3 . The Life of Thomas Dunckerley—the Reviewers being Bros . Speth , Simpson , and myself .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.

The inaugural addresses of Bro . C . Fondelow and our S . D . Bro . Westcott , at the constitution of a new Rosicrucian Province , are noticed by Bro . Speth , with tho commendation which they richly merit , anil to his meed of

praise I shall venture to add my own , having been favoured , by Dr . Westcott , with a copy of tho journal containing the admirable papers read before the Newcastle College , by Bro . Fendelow and himself .

La Migration Des Symboles , by Count Goblet D Amelia , is genially reviewed by his old friend and fellow worker in more than one department of research , Brother William Simpson P . M . The Life of Dunckerleij , by Henry Sadler , forms tho

subject of a long notice , and to quote from myself , " he has given us a most interesting biography of ono of the greatest of our Masonic worthies , and with it he has interwoven a quantity of varied information , which must for all time render his work invaluable to every student of tho Craft . "

The contributions appearing under the heading of Notes and Queries evince the gradually increasing interest which is taken in this section of our Magazine . Among tho contributors are Bros . Caleb Pocklington P . M . 272 , Charles Baxter W . M . 5 ( S . C ) , P . J . Oliver Minos , G . S . Q . Carr

Lieut . R . N ., John Yarker , H . G . M . Murray-Aynsley , Thomas Francis , G . It . Cobham P . M . 20 , and John Bilson . These remarks may be fitly brought to a close by relating , on the authority of our Secretary , Brother Speth , that tho list of subscribers to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum has now reached a grand total of about 1150 .

The Ancients And Moderns.

THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS .

BRO . RINGER , in the New York Freemasons Journal , gives the following brief historical sketch : —Tho historical facts aro : — 1 . Masonic guilds or Lodges existed up to the year 1717 for operative purposes only . In the South of England

somo of the Lodges contained—what is generally termed —a " speculative " element composed of gentlemen Masons , men of influence and learning , men of high station in life , who had been admitted to membership as friends of architecture . It ia this speculative element which

conceived , about tho year 1717 , the grand idea—how will probably for ever remain a mystery—of transforming a society of operative builders into a brotherhood of Symbolic Architects by preserving the moral principles of operative Masonry , allegorising its legends , symbolising the

working tools , and spiritualising the art . For this purpose four , according to another account , six of tho old Lodges in London formed themselves into the first Grand Lodge of F . and A . Masons , and became tho constitutional

mother of all other Grand Lodges dispersed over the surface of the earth . By throwing the doors of membership open to worthy men of all trades and occupations thoy soon became a very prosperous body .

2 . The old Lodgo at York , seeing what was going on in London , remembered its old traditions , and stimulated by ambition , declared itself also a Grand Lodge , but in contradiction to that organised in London , it assumed tho superior title of Grand Lodge of all England . However ,

it did not show much vitality , became oven dormant for somo years afterwards , nntil abont 1760 it was onco more galvanised into activity by tho Grand Lodgo of England

establishing somo Lodges in its immediate vicinity , when it also warranted a few Lodges in Yorkshire and Lancashire . It sank into its final slumber about 1790 , having outlived all its daughter Lodges .

3 . The Grand Lodge of England , placing at its head brethren of the highest distinction and social standing , oven members of tho Royal family , became very fashionable , high-toned , and aristocratic . For tho better adaptation to its social high standard many changes and alterations wore

made in its constitutional organisations much at variance with the simplicity of former customs and usages , in consequence of which the brethren were afterwards styled "Modern Masons . " In course of time side by side with this aristocratic brotherhood arose in London a number of

Lodges of a humbler society , composed of discontented members of the constitutional Grand Lodge , of operative Masons who had never joined it , of mechanics and shop keepers , and especially of Irishmen , who had come from ove the " say , " seeking employment in the metropolis . Th