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Social Gatherings.
able party are detailed , and we think he will utter the very natural wish , he had been one of them . Certain are we he will think it no act of folly to " organise " —that AA * e believe is the right word—a similar excursion , and equally certain , if he is successful in organising one , that he will
thoroughly enjoy it . Wo have taken part in many picnics and country excursions by land and water both , and we never had occasion to regret it . Some may urge that such " outings " detract from the dignity of Freemasonry . As well may a king or noble be said to cast asidehis dignity when
he throws off his state costume . Even for these , hoAvever , Ave have an answer in tho shape of an old precedent set by Grand Lodge itself in the early days that followed the Revival of 1717 . In Preston ' s Ehistrations , at pp . 175-6 , Oliver ' s edition , we read : " At the meeting "—that is ,
when Viscount Montagu was installed Grand Master— "it was first proposed to have a country feast , and agreed that the brethren should dine together at Hampstead , on the 24 th of June , for which purpose cards of invitation were sent to several of the nobility . On the day appointed , the
Grand Master and his Officers , the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond , the Earl of Strathmore , Lords Carpenter and Teynham , and above a hundred other brethren , met at the Spikes at Hampstead , wherean elegant dinner was provided . " This was in the year 1732 , and though ladies are not
mentioned , AVC know that ladies then , as now , took an interest in Freemasonry . Some thirty years later , in May 1767 , Her Grace tho Duchess of Beaufort Avas unanimously elected " Lady Patroness of the Lodge of Friendship , "—noAV No . 6 on Grand Lodge Roll—and presented by the brethren with
a pair of embroidered gloves , value five guineas , to mark their sense of the honour done to the Lodge by Her Grace . Who can say how much the presence of the ladies last year and this at the Boys' Festival has had to do with the marvellous success of Bro . Binckes on each occasion ; and who
knoAvs but Freemasonry may find even greater favour in the eyes of the fair sex , the more opportunities they have of taking part with tho brethren in such harmless homel y jaunts as we have been suggesting ? In the United States ,
the Craft is very popular Avith the ladies . We do not think the same amount of public display of Masonry would be welcome in England , but we certainly think the course of Masonry would prosper the more , the more it encouraged these social gathering of members and their friends .
Nature And Science.
NATURE AND SCIENCE .
BY WALTER SPENCER , F . R . G . S ., & c .
WHETHER the fate of Ismiiel Pasha be to rise or fall , he Avill have established a lasting claim to be revered by posterity , through the enlightened support which he has accorded to scientific investigation . Most interesting are the verifications of dates and places
throughout Egypt m illustration of ancient history . The result of the researches of Brugsch Bey into the geographical misconceptions and alleged mistranslations of names from the Book of Exodus connected Avith bhe sojourn and flighb of the Hebrews , Avas communicated by him to the
Congress of Orientalists , and is now published in the volume of " Transactions , " edited by Professor Douglas ( Triibner . 1876 . ) The main misconception he affirms to arise from the translation of the name of the " Red Sea " instead of " Sea of Seaweed , " meaning Lake Sirbonis .
Numerous alternative routes based on thenames Sukkoth , Ebham , Migdol , & c , have been conjecbured by savanbs , Avith tho help of names given by Greek and Roman writers of the times of the Ptolemies and Caisars , ancl almost all
concur in leaving undoubted the actual passage by the Israelites of the Red Sea . Brugsch Bey noAV , after twent y years of labour , claims to have succeeded iu uniting the disjecta membra of ancient Egyptian topography , Avith the following result .
The Hebrews were settled on the eastern side of lower Egypt , to the Avest of the Pelusiac branch , Avhich has disappeared from the map , but the site of Avhich the ruins of border cities identify . In the south of their settlement Avas the toAvn of An or On ( Heliopolis ) ; then the toAvn of
Pibast , Pibeseth , Bubastus : more to the north is Faquer , Phacoussa , Gosem , or Goshen ; due north between Gosem and the Mediterranean is Pitom , in the country of Sttfcot . In the same neighbourhood , between tho Pelusiac ancl Tanitic Nile branches is Zoan . or Pi-ramses . All these
Nature And Science.
4 * names will be readily recognised . The very deserts and lagoons , now so familiar to travellers by the Suez Canal , formed in ancient times , the banks of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile delta—the district of the Sefchroite nomo , Sulcot , the first station of the fugitives after thoy had quitted the
town of Ramses . At the entrance of the old high road from Egypt to Palestine , near Lake Sirbonis , Avas a small frontier post or fortification called Anhu " tho wall , " a name Avhich was translated by the Greeks " ta Gerrhon , " and by the HebrcAvs " Shour , " words of the same
signification . The marshes and lagoons Avere by the Egyptians called " Athu , " after the seaweed , reeds , rushes and papyrus plants , Avith which they were choked ; this by the Hebrews Avas also literally translated "Yam Souph , " the sea of seaweed . On the eastern side of the nomo of Sulcot , bordering tho
desert , stood the tower " Migdol , " or Samoid , regarded as the most northern point of Egypfc . On the sandy plain noAV named " San , " strewed Avith gigantic ruins , is the site of Tanis or Zoan ( see Psalm lxxviii , for " the plains of Zoan" ) . This was the station where journeyers from Egypt into
Palestine loaded their beasts ; another name of it Avas Pi-ramses , as ascertained from inscribed monuments on the spot . These and the papyri are filled with dates referring to the building of the city , to the stone and bricks Avith
Avhich the workmen were overburdened to finish their task quickly , and Avith details so precise and special as to render it impossible , says the learned author , not to recognize the Bible account of the hard servitude of the Hebrews . " One
must be blind not to see the light which pierces the shadows of thirty centuries , and which allows us bo transport to their proper places events which the good fathers of the Church , excellent Christians bufc bad connoisseurs of antiquiby , would have upseb for ever , had nob bhe monumenbs of the Khedive ancl the treasures of the British Museum come in
good time to our aid . To displace the position of this town of Ramses , would introduce irreparable confusion into the recorded geographical order of " the names and villages of Egypt . " This is named by Egyptian texts as the boundary of Egyptian
territory , the commencement of foreign soil . From hence , from Zoan Ramses , Thothmes III . departed , 1600 B . C ., to attack the land of Canaan . Its plains served as manceuvring ground , its port was filled with the commerce of Egypt and Syria . Here the Israelites Avere captive , Moses adjured
the Pharaoh of his day , ancl here tho Hebrews took fareAvell of Egypt . From hence they Avent to Sulcot , and from Sulcot to Khetam on the edge of the desert , rendered by them Etham . Of this Khetam ( in the province of Zor ) a drawing is represented on a monument of Sethos I ., it was
situated upon both banks of the Pelusiac Nile , its tAvo opposite parts being joined by a bridge , a name to perpetuate Avhich continues to the present day— " the last reminiscence of the only passage , Avhich , in ancient times , alloAved of an entrance into Egypt from the frontier , Avithout
Avetting tho feet . From Khetam , which Avas reached on bhe third day , they travelled to Migdol , on what we should call the King ' s highway . This route led from thence to the Mediterranean shore , bo the Avail of Gerrhonov Shour , situated at the extremity of Lake Sirbonis . The lake , UOAV almost
dried up and forgotten , was well known to the ancients ; it Avas separated from the Mediterranean by a tongue of land , and was covered with a rich vegetation of rushes and papyri , which hid fatal quiclcsands of prodigious depth , Along the narroAV tongue of laud , bordered on one side by
the Mediterranean , on the other by the " lagoon of sea-Aveed , " the Sirbonis , the Hebrews went ; and after they had crossed the shallows , a high tide overtook the Egyptian army of pursuit . Struggling with frightened horses and disordered chariots , it happened to the Egyptians as is
described by Strabo long after . " At the time of my sojourn in Alexandria , there Avas a high tide at Pelusium , and near to Mount Casios . The waters inundated the country , so that the mountains appeared islands and the road leading to Palestine became practicable for ships . " And as related
by Diodorus of a catastrophe which befell the airay of Artaxerxes at the same place , " Avhen the Persian King had united all his troops , he made them advance towards Egypt . Having arrived at the Great Lake , Avhere they found places named ' gulfs , ' he lost part of his army ,
because he was ignorant of the character of that region . " Another classic author , describing the Sirbonis with minuteness of detail , says that " whole armies have been there wallowed up . " Brugsch Bey gives the translation of a papyrus—a simple letter- written by a scribe thirty centuries ago , describing
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Social Gatherings.
able party are detailed , and we think he will utter the very natural wish , he had been one of them . Certain are we he will think it no act of folly to " organise " —that AA * e believe is the right word—a similar excursion , and equally certain , if he is successful in organising one , that he will
thoroughly enjoy it . Wo have taken part in many picnics and country excursions by land and water both , and we never had occasion to regret it . Some may urge that such " outings " detract from the dignity of Freemasonry . As well may a king or noble be said to cast asidehis dignity when
he throws off his state costume . Even for these , hoAvever , Ave have an answer in tho shape of an old precedent set by Grand Lodge itself in the early days that followed the Revival of 1717 . In Preston ' s Ehistrations , at pp . 175-6 , Oliver ' s edition , we read : " At the meeting "—that is ,
when Viscount Montagu was installed Grand Master— "it was first proposed to have a country feast , and agreed that the brethren should dine together at Hampstead , on the 24 th of June , for which purpose cards of invitation were sent to several of the nobility . On the day appointed , the
Grand Master and his Officers , the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond , the Earl of Strathmore , Lords Carpenter and Teynham , and above a hundred other brethren , met at the Spikes at Hampstead , wherean elegant dinner was provided . " This was in the year 1732 , and though ladies are not
mentioned , AVC know that ladies then , as now , took an interest in Freemasonry . Some thirty years later , in May 1767 , Her Grace tho Duchess of Beaufort Avas unanimously elected " Lady Patroness of the Lodge of Friendship , "—noAV No . 6 on Grand Lodge Roll—and presented by the brethren with
a pair of embroidered gloves , value five guineas , to mark their sense of the honour done to the Lodge by Her Grace . Who can say how much the presence of the ladies last year and this at the Boys' Festival has had to do with the marvellous success of Bro . Binckes on each occasion ; and who
knoAvs but Freemasonry may find even greater favour in the eyes of the fair sex , the more opportunities they have of taking part with tho brethren in such harmless homel y jaunts as we have been suggesting ? In the United States ,
the Craft is very popular Avith the ladies . We do not think the same amount of public display of Masonry would be welcome in England , but we certainly think the course of Masonry would prosper the more , the more it encouraged these social gathering of members and their friends .
Nature And Science.
NATURE AND SCIENCE .
BY WALTER SPENCER , F . R . G . S ., & c .
WHETHER the fate of Ismiiel Pasha be to rise or fall , he Avill have established a lasting claim to be revered by posterity , through the enlightened support which he has accorded to scientific investigation . Most interesting are the verifications of dates and places
throughout Egypt m illustration of ancient history . The result of the researches of Brugsch Bey into the geographical misconceptions and alleged mistranslations of names from the Book of Exodus connected Avith bhe sojourn and flighb of the Hebrews , Avas communicated by him to the
Congress of Orientalists , and is now published in the volume of " Transactions , " edited by Professor Douglas ( Triibner . 1876 . ) The main misconception he affirms to arise from the translation of the name of the " Red Sea " instead of " Sea of Seaweed , " meaning Lake Sirbonis .
Numerous alternative routes based on thenames Sukkoth , Ebham , Migdol , & c , have been conjecbured by savanbs , Avith tho help of names given by Greek and Roman writers of the times of the Ptolemies and Caisars , ancl almost all
concur in leaving undoubted the actual passage by the Israelites of the Red Sea . Brugsch Bey noAV , after twent y years of labour , claims to have succeeded iu uniting the disjecta membra of ancient Egyptian topography , Avith the following result .
The Hebrews were settled on the eastern side of lower Egypt , to the Avest of the Pelusiac branch , Avhich has disappeared from the map , but the site of Avhich the ruins of border cities identify . In the south of their settlement Avas the toAvn of An or On ( Heliopolis ) ; then the toAvn of
Pibast , Pibeseth , Bubastus : more to the north is Faquer , Phacoussa , Gosem , or Goshen ; due north between Gosem and the Mediterranean is Pitom , in the country of Sttfcot . In the same neighbourhood , between tho Pelusiac ancl Tanitic Nile branches is Zoan . or Pi-ramses . All these
Nature And Science.
4 * names will be readily recognised . The very deserts and lagoons , now so familiar to travellers by the Suez Canal , formed in ancient times , the banks of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile delta—the district of the Sefchroite nomo , Sulcot , the first station of the fugitives after thoy had quitted the
town of Ramses . At the entrance of the old high road from Egypt to Palestine , near Lake Sirbonis , Avas a small frontier post or fortification called Anhu " tho wall , " a name Avhich was translated by the Greeks " ta Gerrhon , " and by the HebrcAvs " Shour , " words of the same
signification . The marshes and lagoons Avere by the Egyptians called " Athu , " after the seaweed , reeds , rushes and papyrus plants , Avith which they were choked ; this by the Hebrews Avas also literally translated "Yam Souph , " the sea of seaweed . On the eastern side of the nomo of Sulcot , bordering tho
desert , stood the tower " Migdol , " or Samoid , regarded as the most northern point of Egypfc . On the sandy plain noAV named " San , " strewed Avith gigantic ruins , is the site of Tanis or Zoan ( see Psalm lxxviii , for " the plains of Zoan" ) . This was the station where journeyers from Egypt into
Palestine loaded their beasts ; another name of it Avas Pi-ramses , as ascertained from inscribed monuments on the spot . These and the papyri are filled with dates referring to the building of the city , to the stone and bricks Avith
Avhich the workmen were overburdened to finish their task quickly , and Avith details so precise and special as to render it impossible , says the learned author , not to recognize the Bible account of the hard servitude of the Hebrews . " One
must be blind not to see the light which pierces the shadows of thirty centuries , and which allows us bo transport to their proper places events which the good fathers of the Church , excellent Christians bufc bad connoisseurs of antiquiby , would have upseb for ever , had nob bhe monumenbs of the Khedive ancl the treasures of the British Museum come in
good time to our aid . To displace the position of this town of Ramses , would introduce irreparable confusion into the recorded geographical order of " the names and villages of Egypt . " This is named by Egyptian texts as the boundary of Egyptian
territory , the commencement of foreign soil . From hence , from Zoan Ramses , Thothmes III . departed , 1600 B . C ., to attack the land of Canaan . Its plains served as manceuvring ground , its port was filled with the commerce of Egypt and Syria . Here the Israelites Avere captive , Moses adjured
the Pharaoh of his day , ancl here tho Hebrews took fareAvell of Egypt . From hence they Avent to Sulcot , and from Sulcot to Khetam on the edge of the desert , rendered by them Etham . Of this Khetam ( in the province of Zor ) a drawing is represented on a monument of Sethos I ., it was
situated upon both banks of the Pelusiac Nile , its tAvo opposite parts being joined by a bridge , a name to perpetuate Avhich continues to the present day— " the last reminiscence of the only passage , Avhich , in ancient times , alloAved of an entrance into Egypt from the frontier , Avithout
Avetting tho feet . From Khetam , which Avas reached on bhe third day , they travelled to Migdol , on what we should call the King ' s highway . This route led from thence to the Mediterranean shore , bo the Avail of Gerrhonov Shour , situated at the extremity of Lake Sirbonis . The lake , UOAV almost
dried up and forgotten , was well known to the ancients ; it Avas separated from the Mediterranean by a tongue of land , and was covered with a rich vegetation of rushes and papyri , which hid fatal quiclcsands of prodigious depth , Along the narroAV tongue of laud , bordered on one side by
the Mediterranean , on the other by the " lagoon of sea-Aveed , " the Sirbonis , the Hebrews went ; and after they had crossed the shallows , a high tide overtook the Egyptian army of pursuit . Struggling with frightened horses and disordered chariots , it happened to the Egyptians as is
described by Strabo long after . " At the time of my sojourn in Alexandria , there Avas a high tide at Pelusium , and near to Mount Casios . The waters inundated the country , so that the mountains appeared islands and the road leading to Palestine became practicable for ships . " And as related
by Diodorus of a catastrophe which befell the airay of Artaxerxes at the same place , " Avhen the Persian King had united all his troops , he made them advance towards Egypt . Having arrived at the Great Lake , Avhere they found places named ' gulfs , ' he lost part of his army ,
because he was ignorant of the character of that region . " Another classic author , describing the Sirbonis with minuteness of detail , says that " whole armies have been there wallowed up . " Brugsch Bey gives the translation of a papyrus—a simple letter- written by a scribe thirty centuries ago , describing