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THE FREEMASONS' TAVERN , GBEAT QUEEN STEEET . LONDON W . C . The admirable and unrivalled accommodation provided at this Establishment ( or UUC-A-SOl-TIC ZB ^^ QTTIETS , PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DINNERS , WEDDING BREAKFASTS , BALLS , Ac . Is too well known to need comment . The entire management has been changed , and the Establishment in ull its brunches thoroughly re-organised . The attention of the Masonic Body is directed to the many advantages offered . CUISINE OS THE HIGHEST CHARACTER . WINES PERFECT IN CONDITION AND qUALITY . N . B .-D 1 NNERS PROVIDED FROM 3 / -. RESTAT / RA ^ T , "WINE , SMOKING & RETIRING ROOMS . The fullest measure of public confidence and support ensured . BRO . ALFRED BEST . PROPRIETOR .

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23 GREA . T QUEEN STREET , W . C .

The Foundations.

THE FOUNDATIONS .

THE INITIATION—THE HONOURS OP THE LAMBSKIN . PROM THE VOICE OF MASONRY .

WHEN the novitiate first realizes the fact that he is a Mason , at least that he has taken one degree , there is always one thought more permanent npon his mind than anv other , viz ., those wonderful words as to the hononrs of the lambskin , and many of ns do not know their meaning until wo are called to look into the pasres of history . We are aware that it is said to be more honourable to

have the badge of innocence than certain marks of royal honour ; bnt what are those royal marks ? It is well known that whenever Kings or Emperors conferred any of tbe orders of Knighthood , they bestowed upon tho honoured one a beanfcifnl cross , sash ,- or some

significant emblem of the order . He who wore snch a mark was of necessity received with marks of hononr wherever he went . Prominent among these royal hononrs was the order of the Golden Fleece , said to have been founded by Philip , Dnke of Burgundy and Earl of Holland , who was also called "The Good , " 10 th January A . D . 1429 .

The name given to the order has a tvvo . fold meaning . First : It typified the spirit of chivalrous adventure which animates the hearts of the legendary Argonauts . Second : CHRIST having been represented in the form of a lamb , it signified winning His redemption by performing Knightly deeds . The Argonauts . —There is too much of this to give here ,

bnt any-one desiring can refer to American Cvolopaarlia , on Ino , Helle , and Argonauts , for tho whole legend . This ancient legend says that Athamas , King of Thebes , was married to the ( roddess Nephole , by whom he had two children , a son and daughter , Phrixus and Helle . Athamas was also s ° cretly joined in marriage to Ino , who was in trouble on account of her own children's

iealonsy of those of Nephele , and persuaded ber husband to sacrifice them to appease the anger of tbe gods against him . Nephele , hearing of the impending danger , took the ram with the "olden fleece which she had received from "Mercnrv , and placing her children npon hia back fled with them to Asia , bnt Helle fell into the sea at that part now called tho Ifellespontns , tho sea of TTello ; bnt Phrixns

seems to have been carried to safety . After his death tbe fleece of the ram was by Phrixns nailed to an oak in the grove of Mars in Colchis . Pelias , the King of Toclns . desired to possess this fleece , he therefore commissionel . Tason , his nephew , to obtain it . Jason joined to himself a band of heroes and in the ship Argo , which < mve them the name Argonauts , sailed in qnesh of the golden fleece . They

passed through many dangers , once narrowly craping being crushed between two floating islands . Arriving at Colchis Aetas , the King , promised lhe fleece to Jason , " on condition that he should voke to the plow two fire-breathing bulls , and sow the dragon's teeth left by Cndmns in Thebes . " Aided by the King ' s daughter , a powerful enchantress , it was accomplished ; bnt finding that the King designed

treachery , he seized the fleece and carried it on board hia ship , and , accompanied by the son and daughter of tho King , set sail for his own land . Being pnrsivd by the King , Medea , the danghW , having fallen in love with Jason , killed her brother , and threw his bony , by piece , into the sea . The King , by picking up the fragments of the body , wns so delayed as not to overtake the fugitives .

This crime brought maay dangers and difficulties to the fugitives , bnt finally they reached Ioclus , where the Argo was consecrated to Neptune . CHRIST , as a "Redeemer , was always represented as in tho form of a Iamb . The ancient Jews , in their sacrifices , so regarded this

comino-Redeemer , and CHKIST is always so considered in the light of modern Christianity . In the formation of this order of the Golden Fleece we have then the commemoration of the very highest spirit of chivalry , although blended with an ancient legend , aud the highest form of divine truth as shown in the character of a living Redeemer . Being comniemo .

The Foundations.

¦• ativo of snch high thonght and wonderful chivalry it was then worthy of high hononr among men . The original order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece numbered •• hirtv . They wero recipients of very great hononrs among men , ¦ ind were in somo instances granted the right of trial by their own oeers ; thus , when Egmon and Horn were illegally condemned and

pxecnt . ed nnder the reign of Phillip II ., on account of the stand they took in regard to the liberty of their country , they appealed , while nnder condemnation , against the sentence , justifying their appeal on the grounds of membership in this order . When the war of the Spanish Succession left a Bonrbon npon the throne of Spain , tho Emperor Charles VI . and Phillip had a long

discussion as to who had the supreme right of conferring the order . Each based his claim to the honour npon his right by inheritance , Charles being heir of the Hapsbnrgs , and Phillip of Bourbon , so that each in one way possessed the right by inheritance . The final settlement of tho difficulty was affected by treaty in which both wero recognized as Grand Masters of the order , having the right to confer

the order . The Archduke of Austria and tbe Infants of Spain are , as a rule , Knights of the order . It has rlways been considered as an nndue freedom to confer it upon any bub royalty , M . Thiers , of France , being the only person out of royal families wh ' has ever received it . It was once offered , by the Duke of Aosfca , while acting as Amadens I . of Spain , to a Castilian nobleman , bnfc he refnsed it .

The Prince of WaVs seems to be tho only Englishman who enjoys thed'stinction . While it is thns a mark of high honour , only a few comparatively have ever received it , the popes having sometimes desired it withont success . Thns the order and its badges are seen to have a very high character . The emblem of purity and innocence presented the young candidate , is truly a mark of much higher

honour if worn worthily , bnfc there mnst be worthiness and merit , not to tarnish this beautiful emblem . The badge of the Mason is thns presented in a very high contrast to one of the highest marks of honour among men , nnd then declared to be of a higher character still . Granting this to be true , what constitutes this high character ? Is it the lambskin , or the wearing ? Neither . It is the fact that the

wearer is a pure man and that , it is his emblem . It is , therefore , this high mark when worn worthily , bnt if unworthily , then it is a mark of hypocrisy . How careful , then , should all be as they look npon this mark in its contrast with the great hononrs among men . The Roman Eagle . —But the Golden Fleece was not exclu . sively the mark of honour in royalty , the Eoman Eagle claims also a

proper share as a mark of hononr . Properly speaking there is no snch term , bnt from association and use by-the Romans it has come to be so considered . As a king of birds the eagle naturally become the emblem oftho most powerful nations . Ezekiel xvii . uses it to represent the growth of empire , and the fall of Jerusalem by the hand of the King of Babylon . It was always used as one of the symbolical

figures of Babylon . Under this standard Rome moved until she had become the conqueror of many nations ; bnt it ia bard to tell at what time in her history she first used it , for no mention is made of any standard being used at all in her armies during the first few hundred years of ber existence . The eagle was the military ensign of Persia in the davs of her glory . Assyrian sculpture has preserved it as

snch in enduring marble . As a standard the use of the eagle is said to have descended from the Assyrians to the Persians , thence to the Romans . In Egypt , Greece and Persia it was regarded as sacred to the sun . The LORD nses it in Exodus xix . to show his tender mercy toward Israel . The Pngwis used it for the purpose of showing that the wise in virtne might become more and more like GOD by becom .

ing purer by the shining light of virtne . Thus the eagle , as a standard , can be traced to a number of nations and to ages far back in tho hist . orv of the world . Josephus shows that out of compliment to A ngustns CaD'ar , Herod the Great hnd a golden eagle placed over one of ' the gates of the Temple , and that the Jews took it from its place . — Antin . xvii ., 6 . 2 . This may have been called the Roman Eagle ,

be / wise it was a . mark of honour to the people , but we find no where any order of Knighthood known a' that of Roman Eagle . It was used as a national ensign indicative of power , but was held in high hononr ; so should the badge of innocence be a mark of great moral power as well as of great , hononr . The Star was an emblem of H ° raldrv , and in some form constitutes

an insignia nf ancient Knighthood . Th * "Order of the Star" was founded in France , by John IT ., in A . D . 1350 , in imitation of tbe " Order of the Garter , " then recently established in England . The order was conferred with great ceremony on the Festival of the Epiphany , that being the day commemorative of the appearance of the Magi to the infant CnursT , hence it is supposed to have reference

to that event . The Garter was the highest order of British Knighthood , and ono of the oldest nnd most illustrious of the military orders of Knighthood in En rope , and is supposed to have been institn ted by Edward III . of Eneland ; some , however , think it was by Richard I . A . D . 1192 , who made twentv-six of his Knights wear thongs nf leather aronnd their legs in

time of battle . These and other statements are made by historians in regard to its origin , but the majority seem to favour the thonght that , its institution dates from a tonrnament held at Windsor , A . D . 1344 , to which the most illnstrinns Knights of the world were inrjrpd . The order is said to have been instituted in honour of tbe "Viroin Marv , the Trim ' tv , Saint George , the tutelary Saint of

England , and to Saint Edward the Confessor . It is plain , therefore , that the time and ohject of its origin is veiled in mnch mystery . The insignia was of blue velvet and gold , the garter bearing letters of gold ; a star was worn upon the left breast , a hood of crimson velvet , a hat of black velvet , having white ostrich plumes fastened to it with a band of dimonds . This was , doubtless , at least in part ,

the origin of the present costume of the Masonic Knights . In the ages when the these orders were in the prime they were marks of very high honour , and even rank high in honour now , so much so that any man who becomes the recipient of any of their decorations at tho hands of a King is considered fortunate . But after all , what is thuir real worth ? Are tbey not mere empty decorations " . Are tbey