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Article CORRESPONDENCE. ← Page 2 of 2 Article ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Page 1 of 1 Article REVIEWS. Page 1 of 3 →
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Correspondence.
the list of subscribers to all three , not for a princely sum , such as many have so nobly given , but in proportion to my humble ability . I will conclude by observing that all our calculations in the last Pam - phlet are based on thediffereut statementsin the Reports for 1872 , 1873 . and 1874 , which are , or ought to bo , the trustivorthv records of the
years they represent . These Reports aro either right or wrong ; if wrong , the responsibility does not rest with us , we had no desire to make public the unhappy condition of the School . For years past the House Committee wore urged to make an investigation , but the endeavour was as futile as is the proverbial difficulty of " coaxing a cat into a shower-bath . " I am , Dear Sir and Brother , Yours faithfully and fraternally , 0 . G . D . PERPOTT .
To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —As the writer of the letter proposing that something should be done for Bro . Perrott , and as one who has read all the correspondence , from beginning to end , I think I may claim to know something of this sad controversy .
Bro . Sutcliffe is quite right in denouncing the language as " un-Masonic , " if he refers to Bro . Binckes ' s letter , than which nothing more abusive can be well conceived . Take , for instance , last specimen , about " three brothers being rascals . " Why , it is almost incredible that Bro . Binckes should speak of three such brethren in
the discreditable way he does . True , Bros . Tew and Perrott did deal blows about " suspension by the neck , " the Secretary ' s complicity with the Matron , and his letters in Pamphlet to Mr . Goodfellow , but then Bro . Binckes has laid himself open to them , and when people
begin to be strikers they must remember two can play the same game . Bro . Sutcliffe's advice about investigation is nothing more than a repetition of what yon have said from the commencement , and if the committee had taken this step , the present scandal would have been avoided .
1 am , Yours truly and fraternally , " A LOVEE or FAIR PLAY . " 17 th November 1875 .
Answers To Correspondents.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS .
All Letters and communications must be addressed to the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , 07 , Barbirnu , London , E . C . T . B . W . —Many thanks . Wo aro always pleased to hear from
you . J . S . ( Nelson , N . Z . )—Glad to know tho opinion of the brethren in your part . You will sec the report is inserted . Let us hear from you frequently .
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK . —If Cruikshank hns been file most ncoomplished Momus of the nineteenth century , ho hns been so much more , and so much that is better and greater , that one feels naturally some reluctance in so describing him . The truth is , that he has been everything ns a designer that an artist could be , with the single exception that he worked , until of late yoars , with tho etching
needle and the pen and pencil point , almost to the exclusion of the canvas and the easel . As a caricaturist he would have been the very first in Europe , had he chosen so to distinguish himself ; as a painter of genre pictures , he might have been no less eminent—but in either case he must have submitted to limitations which he would have found intolerable . With an imagination so rich in ideas , and a hand
so ready to give them form and permanence , it was impossible for him to submit to the wearisome discipline of academical routine and the painful acquirement of technical methods ; and if we may regret this when we look at the few easel pictures he has given us , we should consider how much we should lose by exchanging tho multitudinous productions of George Cruikshank for the
comparatively few finished performances that constitute the life-work of a Royal Academician . There is no etcher of any school with whom Cruikshank need shrink from comparison . In grouping , and in dealing with crowds of figures , he is equal to Callot , who was renowned for that special faculty , while the number of Crnikshank's works probably exceeds that of any half-score of his predecessors added
together . His drawing , generally coiTect , is in numberless instances remarkable for beauty and for breadth . His pathos is frequently as touching as his humour is provocative and catching . Many of his pieces resemble Hogarth ' s in their didactic character , and , like Hogarth , he mitigates satire with playfulness , and makes his ridicule play the monitor . Some of his works have an avowed
reforming and moral tendency , as , notably , his temperance series , in which the vice of drunkenness is set forth with all its terrible issues . As an illustrator of books ho stands unrivalled , whether we consider the quality of the work , or the amazing amount of it which his industry and ready facility have enabled him to get through . Ci'uikshank , it is clear , must draw pretty much assume nie ; i
write , inscribing his , thoughts in pictures about as readily as they do m words . A curious spectacle would be an . exhibition of his entire works . What a record would ibnot present of the foibles , follies , and fashions—the humours , the blunders , the vices , the delusions—and amidst all , the onward progress , of the nineteenth century . — Leisure Hour .
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Beview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . The Pythagorean Trianqle ; or , the Science of Numbers . —BYTHE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D ., Past M . P . S ., Grand Commander S . G . I . G ., 33 ° for
England and Wales ; Past D . G . M . of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ; Past D . P . G . M . for Lincolnshire ; Honorary Member of numerous Lodges and Literary Societies in every quarter of tho globe ; author of "Tho Revelations of a Square , " . "The Book of the Lodge , " "Historical Landmarks , " & c , & c . With diagrams . London : John Hogg and Co ., Paternoster-row . 1875 .
THE name of Oliver is one that will bo associated with Masonry and Masonic literature so long as there are brethren who can respect the memory of an able and worthy man , an enthusiastic Mason , and an eminent Masonic writer . The length of time the late Dr . Oliver was connected with our Order very nearly equalled what the Psalmist has proclaimed to be the allotted span of life . In breadth bis reputation
extended to every part of tho world where Masonry is known . In point of dignity he attained a height to which few may aspire , while the love and respect in which he was held of all men was of the deepest and most profound character . Tho works ho published during the literary portion of his career form by themselves a small library of well nigh unequalled merit , and he left behind him more
than one valuable work in manuscript . These are now appearing , while our recollection of their author has lost as yet none of its freshness , and while there are yet living very many whose personal knowledge of , or friendship with the man , will ever be regarded as among the brightest features of their own career . To review one or more of these works is a privilege we esteem most highly . We feel
as though the author were again among us , urging , with all that force and enthusiasm for which ho was BO remarkable , the meaning of tho great truths of Masonry . It was in this spirit we studied the volume before us , and it is in this spirit , unmingled , however , with anything like fulsome adulation , that we offer these comments on it . In common with all who can appreciate good sound literary work , we
feel a very great admiration for the author , but our admiration does not blind us to the fact that much of what he wrote will not stand tho rude test of logical analysis . Having a pretty familiar acquaintance with his works , we say , without fear of contradiction , that Dr . Oliver was often earned away by his enthusiastic lovo of Masonry , and often assigned to its teaching a meaning and connection it
never could have possessed . This , comparatively speaking , is a venial error . Most brethren will excuse tho writer who seeks to glorify Masonry , even though , iu doing so , he exceeds tho limit of historic accuracy . The world would hardly bo so agreeable a place to live in if it were governed absolutely by the inexorable logic of facts . Wo admirn tho introduction of a liftle fancy in describing
the events of our daily life . While , then , we value all tho works of Oliver we do not accept all the Oliverian fancies . We do not appreciate the Father of History tho less that he himself occasionally varied the dry history of what actually happened with a little fiction . Oliver Goldsmith , of whom it was written , " Nihil teligit , quad non ornavit , " is none the less esteemed as an historian and
naturalist because his histories of England , Greece , and Rome , and of the Earth , and Animated Nature , are not rigidly accurate . So with the late Dr . Oliver ; oftentimes did he set down fancies as facts , and thus many of his works , while undoubtedly attractive reading , are not wholly trustworthy . To pass , however , without further digression to the Piithaqorean Trianqle . The contents of the volume may be
described very briefly . There is a preface , admirably written ; au introductory chapter ,, treating generally of the Science of numbers , avid ten other chapters , each of which is devoted to the consideration of a number , beginning with one and ending with ten . In handling his subject tho author has shown even more than his usual skill and ingenuity in dovetailing theories with facts , and wc may add that he is more than
usually successful in his conclusions . A summary of one of these chapters will suffice to convey an idea of the treatment . In Chapter I . is discussed the Number One , the full title being "The Point . Monad , Unity , or the Number One . " At the outset , we are told , the practice of primitive man was to count with his fingers , and this practice , how elaborated soever it may have been hi the
course of ages , still remains tho basis of enumeration among civilised people . Thus ten is still the limit of our computation . After this we repeat the ten as two tens , three tens , ton tens or a hundred , ton hundreds or a thousand , ten thousands , then ten thousand thousands or a million , and ' so on . A primitive man expressed a single thing or person by holding up one finger , two by holding up
two fingers , five by raising the hand with all tho live fingers extended , twice five by holding up both hands similarly , or by raising the same hand twice , fifteen by raising it thrice , twenty by raising it Four times , twenty-two by raising it four times and thereafter two fingers only . After a time written symbols were used to nxpress numbers , thus the Romans expressed one in writing by a single lino , or in signs by raising one finger , five by depressing tho three
middle fingers and raising the thumb and little linger , thus forming the written figure expressed by \/ - Th ' doubled and thus written Y or conjoined as X represented ten . By variously eoinbuuugXi V > and J , all the numbers above ten and under fifty were then represented , while the latter was expressed by placing the V its hide . t-hns <; Hence iu Roman numerals fifty is represented by au [_ . Then two fifties were described thus , which in time became a C- I' ^ ve
hundred was expressed by 1 _ Q , which gradually took tho form of a D and a thousand by C L O which came Co be JVJ . Among tho Greeks and Hebrews the letters of the alphabet were used to express all imaginable numbers . Thence we pass to the stage when philosophers came to nttudi
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
the list of subscribers to all three , not for a princely sum , such as many have so nobly given , but in proportion to my humble ability . I will conclude by observing that all our calculations in the last Pam - phlet are based on thediffereut statementsin the Reports for 1872 , 1873 . and 1874 , which are , or ought to bo , the trustivorthv records of the
years they represent . These Reports aro either right or wrong ; if wrong , the responsibility does not rest with us , we had no desire to make public the unhappy condition of the School . For years past the House Committee wore urged to make an investigation , but the endeavour was as futile as is the proverbial difficulty of " coaxing a cat into a shower-bath . " I am , Dear Sir and Brother , Yours faithfully and fraternally , 0 . G . D . PERPOTT .
To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —As the writer of the letter proposing that something should be done for Bro . Perrott , and as one who has read all the correspondence , from beginning to end , I think I may claim to know something of this sad controversy .
Bro . Sutcliffe is quite right in denouncing the language as " un-Masonic , " if he refers to Bro . Binckes ' s letter , than which nothing more abusive can be well conceived . Take , for instance , last specimen , about " three brothers being rascals . " Why , it is almost incredible that Bro . Binckes should speak of three such brethren in
the discreditable way he does . True , Bros . Tew and Perrott did deal blows about " suspension by the neck , " the Secretary ' s complicity with the Matron , and his letters in Pamphlet to Mr . Goodfellow , but then Bro . Binckes has laid himself open to them , and when people
begin to be strikers they must remember two can play the same game . Bro . Sutcliffe's advice about investigation is nothing more than a repetition of what yon have said from the commencement , and if the committee had taken this step , the present scandal would have been avoided .
1 am , Yours truly and fraternally , " A LOVEE or FAIR PLAY . " 17 th November 1875 .
Answers To Correspondents.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS .
All Letters and communications must be addressed to the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , 07 , Barbirnu , London , E . C . T . B . W . —Many thanks . Wo aro always pleased to hear from
you . J . S . ( Nelson , N . Z . )—Glad to know tho opinion of the brethren in your part . You will sec the report is inserted . Let us hear from you frequently .
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK . —If Cruikshank hns been file most ncoomplished Momus of the nineteenth century , ho hns been so much more , and so much that is better and greater , that one feels naturally some reluctance in so describing him . The truth is , that he has been everything ns a designer that an artist could be , with the single exception that he worked , until of late yoars , with tho etching
needle and the pen and pencil point , almost to the exclusion of the canvas and the easel . As a caricaturist he would have been the very first in Europe , had he chosen so to distinguish himself ; as a painter of genre pictures , he might have been no less eminent—but in either case he must have submitted to limitations which he would have found intolerable . With an imagination so rich in ideas , and a hand
so ready to give them form and permanence , it was impossible for him to submit to the wearisome discipline of academical routine and the painful acquirement of technical methods ; and if we may regret this when we look at the few easel pictures he has given us , we should consider how much we should lose by exchanging tho multitudinous productions of George Cruikshank for the
comparatively few finished performances that constitute the life-work of a Royal Academician . There is no etcher of any school with whom Cruikshank need shrink from comparison . In grouping , and in dealing with crowds of figures , he is equal to Callot , who was renowned for that special faculty , while the number of Crnikshank's works probably exceeds that of any half-score of his predecessors added
together . His drawing , generally coiTect , is in numberless instances remarkable for beauty and for breadth . His pathos is frequently as touching as his humour is provocative and catching . Many of his pieces resemble Hogarth ' s in their didactic character , and , like Hogarth , he mitigates satire with playfulness , and makes his ridicule play the monitor . Some of his works have an avowed
reforming and moral tendency , as , notably , his temperance series , in which the vice of drunkenness is set forth with all its terrible issues . As an illustrator of books ho stands unrivalled , whether we consider the quality of the work , or the amazing amount of it which his industry and ready facility have enabled him to get through . Ci'uikshank , it is clear , must draw pretty much assume nie ; i
write , inscribing his , thoughts in pictures about as readily as they do m words . A curious spectacle would be an . exhibition of his entire works . What a record would ibnot present of the foibles , follies , and fashions—the humours , the blunders , the vices , the delusions—and amidst all , the onward progress , of the nineteenth century . — Leisure Hour .
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Beview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . The Pythagorean Trianqle ; or , the Science of Numbers . —BYTHE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D ., Past M . P . S ., Grand Commander S . G . I . G ., 33 ° for
England and Wales ; Past D . G . M . of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ; Past D . P . G . M . for Lincolnshire ; Honorary Member of numerous Lodges and Literary Societies in every quarter of tho globe ; author of "Tho Revelations of a Square , " . "The Book of the Lodge , " "Historical Landmarks , " & c , & c . With diagrams . London : John Hogg and Co ., Paternoster-row . 1875 .
THE name of Oliver is one that will bo associated with Masonry and Masonic literature so long as there are brethren who can respect the memory of an able and worthy man , an enthusiastic Mason , and an eminent Masonic writer . The length of time the late Dr . Oliver was connected with our Order very nearly equalled what the Psalmist has proclaimed to be the allotted span of life . In breadth bis reputation
extended to every part of tho world where Masonry is known . In point of dignity he attained a height to which few may aspire , while the love and respect in which he was held of all men was of the deepest and most profound character . Tho works ho published during the literary portion of his career form by themselves a small library of well nigh unequalled merit , and he left behind him more
than one valuable work in manuscript . These are now appearing , while our recollection of their author has lost as yet none of its freshness , and while there are yet living very many whose personal knowledge of , or friendship with the man , will ever be regarded as among the brightest features of their own career . To review one or more of these works is a privilege we esteem most highly . We feel
as though the author were again among us , urging , with all that force and enthusiasm for which ho was BO remarkable , the meaning of tho great truths of Masonry . It was in this spirit we studied the volume before us , and it is in this spirit , unmingled , however , with anything like fulsome adulation , that we offer these comments on it . In common with all who can appreciate good sound literary work , we
feel a very great admiration for the author , but our admiration does not blind us to the fact that much of what he wrote will not stand tho rude test of logical analysis . Having a pretty familiar acquaintance with his works , we say , without fear of contradiction , that Dr . Oliver was often earned away by his enthusiastic lovo of Masonry , and often assigned to its teaching a meaning and connection it
never could have possessed . This , comparatively speaking , is a venial error . Most brethren will excuse tho writer who seeks to glorify Masonry , even though , iu doing so , he exceeds tho limit of historic accuracy . The world would hardly bo so agreeable a place to live in if it were governed absolutely by the inexorable logic of facts . Wo admirn tho introduction of a liftle fancy in describing
the events of our daily life . While , then , we value all tho works of Oliver we do not accept all the Oliverian fancies . We do not appreciate the Father of History tho less that he himself occasionally varied the dry history of what actually happened with a little fiction . Oliver Goldsmith , of whom it was written , " Nihil teligit , quad non ornavit , " is none the less esteemed as an historian and
naturalist because his histories of England , Greece , and Rome , and of the Earth , and Animated Nature , are not rigidly accurate . So with the late Dr . Oliver ; oftentimes did he set down fancies as facts , and thus many of his works , while undoubtedly attractive reading , are not wholly trustworthy . To pass , however , without further digression to the Piithaqorean Trianqle . The contents of the volume may be
described very briefly . There is a preface , admirably written ; au introductory chapter ,, treating generally of the Science of numbers , avid ten other chapters , each of which is devoted to the consideration of a number , beginning with one and ending with ten . In handling his subject tho author has shown even more than his usual skill and ingenuity in dovetailing theories with facts , and wc may add that he is more than
usually successful in his conclusions . A summary of one of these chapters will suffice to convey an idea of the treatment . In Chapter I . is discussed the Number One , the full title being "The Point . Monad , Unity , or the Number One . " At the outset , we are told , the practice of primitive man was to count with his fingers , and this practice , how elaborated soever it may have been hi the
course of ages , still remains tho basis of enumeration among civilised people . Thus ten is still the limit of our computation . After this we repeat the ten as two tens , three tens , ton tens or a hundred , ton hundreds or a thousand , ten thousands , then ten thousand thousands or a million , and ' so on . A primitive man expressed a single thing or person by holding up one finger , two by holding up
two fingers , five by raising the hand with all tho live fingers extended , twice five by holding up both hands similarly , or by raising the same hand twice , fifteen by raising it thrice , twenty by raising it Four times , twenty-two by raising it four times and thereafter two fingers only . After a time written symbols were used to nxpress numbers , thus the Romans expressed one in writing by a single lino , or in signs by raising one finger , five by depressing tho three
middle fingers and raising the thumb and little linger , thus forming the written figure expressed by \/ - Th ' doubled and thus written Y or conjoined as X represented ten . By variously eoinbuuugXi V > and J , all the numbers above ten and under fifty were then represented , while the latter was expressed by placing the V its hide . t-hns <; Hence iu Roman numerals fifty is represented by au [_ . Then two fifties were described thus , which in time became a C- I' ^ ve
hundred was expressed by 1 _ Q , which gradually took tho form of a D and a thousand by C L O which came Co be JVJ . Among tho Greeks and Hebrews the letters of the alphabet were used to express all imaginable numbers . Thence we pass to the stage when philosophers came to nttudi