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mation of a Masonic Literary Association , the objects being the discussion of Masonic subjects only , and the formation of a Masonic Library . At the preliminary meeting there were about 30 brethren present , tiie Association at set

all ol wnom joined , ana once to work to arrange for a Lodge of Instruction with meetings every week . This looks like genuine enthusiasm , and sets an example that might well be generally followed in the home country .

Our contemporary Truth is still exercised in mind as to the relations existing among Freemasons in the Army , another paragraph on the subject having appeared in this week ' s issue . As we said before we snouici witn satisiaction oinciai mtu

nan an inquiry the truth of the assertions made by the cor :- spondents of our contemporary , whose latest rem : ks on the subject are as follows : —

Sooner or later Army reformers will have to cousidor sorionsly th relations between FreemasoDry nnd military Borvico . A rol'erence to tbe matter in a recent issue of Truth has brought mo a large mass o ? correspondence , the significance of which cannot bo mistakou . Rightly or wrongly , thero oxiata a very general feeling in tho Army ,

that Freemaaoury is answerable for a vast amount of the jobbery aud favouritism which disgust good soldierB with the Service . From what I know of Freomasonry , I should suppose that , as a matter of oourse , this would be BO . If it is , nothing moro need bo said . Freomasouiy Bhould be expunged from the Army as Orangeism has been .

It is suggested by the Indian Masonic Review that an occasional local Festival in aid of the Indian Masonic Institutions would be a good way of raising money for them , the suggestion apparently resulting from a consideration of the result ol * the last Festival of the Boys' School , which is recorded in the same issue of our contemporary .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (Vi. Part 2).

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM ( VI . PART 2 ) .

BY Buo . R . F . GOULD . ( Continued from page 171 ) . rTlHE next coutribntion is an article on the Ancient _ L Stirling Lodge , from iLu pen of Bro . Hughan , whioh

it will be convenient to consider in connection with the late reprint of Dr . Dassigny ' s Serious and Impartial Enquiry ( 1744 ) ; the " Introductory Sketch of Royal Arch

Masonry , 1743—1893 , " prefixed to the same ; and the review of both which appeared in the last number of or " Transactions ( vi . 77 ) .

In Dassigny ' s work wo meet with the oldest printed reference to the Royal Arcb , and our Brother Hughan in the prolegomena , attached to the reprint , furnishes the fullest and best account of that degree which is known to

me . Before its appearrnce , the earliest Lodge records containing any allusion to the Royal Arch , were supposed

to be those of the old Lodgo at Fredericksburg , Virginia , which held a " Royal Arch Lodge " on 22 nd December 1753 , when three Brethren were " rr ' sed to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason . "

Bro . Hughan , however , has 13 ' ntly claimed , on t ^ half of the Lodge at Stirling , a priority of ten , or at the ve . y least , eight years , over its American Sister , in connection with this degree , and the proofs by which his position is supported I shall next proceed to examine .

A Committee of the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland , reported—21 st March 1818—that "af r very mature and deliberate consideration of the seve . . 1 documents produced in suppoii of their respective claims , they

find that the Chapters holding of the Supreme Graud Royal Chapter have produced satisfactory evidence of their having existed in the knowledge and practice of Royal

Arch Masonry , and have held regular meetings sn Chapters of that Degree , since the periods set against their respective names , as follows , viz .:

—" Stirling Rock Royal Arch Chapter , from the 30 th July 1743 ; Enoch Royal Arch Chapter , Montrose , from tho 18 th January 17 G 5 ; Operative Royal Avch

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (Vi. Part 2).

Chapter , Baujf , from the 2-th August 176 G ; Tnu i > . h ~ goto Royal Arch Chapter , from tho year 1768 . " My own opinion of the value of the * ' reports " of Committees on such points as the above is not a very high one ,

and I attach about as much importance to them as I do to the preambles of charters and Acts of Parliament . Moreover , in the case beforo us , tbe attestation ought cortaiuly to be of the highest charactar that the subject will admit

of , to induce us to believe that at Stirling , or anywhoro else , regular meotiuga were held in 1743 , as " Chapters" of tbe Degree . This difficulty seems to have been folt b y Bro . Hughan ,

for he says : — " Granting that tho question as to tho seniority of Stirling bo lefc in aboyauce so far as respects tho Minute Book of 1743 , the By-Laws of 1745 are still in evideuce , and as they mention tho torm - Exalting' [ tho

reador will please take note that it is the * Introductory sketch of R . A . Masonry , 1743-1893 , ' I am quoting from ] , and apply it to the 'Excellent and Super-Excellent '

Degrees , the position is maintained all tho same , for there is no other Chapter anywhero that can pvoduco such testimony . "

In tho same " skotch" or prolegomena , Bro . Hughan , observes : — " Bro , Brown [ G . Scribo E . Scotland ] has mado and sent mo an extract from tho By-Laws of the Lodge at Stirling , dated the 14 th day of May 1745 / . The Dues were then as follows , —

[ Extract from the 8 th By-Law . ] "Exalting Excellent and Supor Excellent , 5 s . Knights of Malta , 5 s . " " Bro . Brown says , * that no direct reference to the

Royal Arch could be found in this Minute Book from 1741 onwards , only Excellent and Super Excellent , ' but he believes that as a matter of fact Super Excellent was the Royal Arch as then conferred in Scotland . "

But on getting the actual Minute Book into his own hands , Bro . Hughan found that the word " Exalting" had been inadvertently imported into the above transcript ( as

it should not have been ) , thereby lengthening the already strong chain of presumptive evidence by an imaginary link .

The portion of tho 8 fch By-Law cited in tho foregoing remarks , should really read : — " Excellent and Supe- ' Excellent , five shillings storliug and Knights of Malta fivo shillings sterling . "

But this is not all . The Code of Rules from which tho last quotation has been carefully taken by Hughan , is not the original and separate Regulations of 1745 , but a copy made about 1790 .

Our Bro . Hughan indeed says : — " The transcript seems to have been made from an old copy , doubtless of 1745 , as stated , for the writer was evidently unable to decipher some portions , and therefore left them blank : and the

general stylo of the regulations would do very well for that year , so that appearances certainly favour the belief that tho foregoing transcript [ Supra ] of about the year 1790 was made from the original code of 1745 . " ( A . Q . C . vi . 109 ) .

But a proneness to embellish their text has been a leading characteristic of all Masonic copyists from the time of Dr . James Anderson down to within living memory , and by far the most potent argument used by Bro . Hughan in

support of the fidelity of the transcription , seems to me to be the absence of any doubt in his own mind with respect to the legitimacy of the entries which he has taken under his protection .

Nor should we forget that in the recent transcription of 1892 , or 1893 , the word " Exalted " was wrongly , though inadvertently tacked on to the others , and what must have been the result of pure accident iu our own time , may well have been paralleled by a similar hap hazard in the past .

The possibility , or as I should prefer to put it , the probability , of a " pious fraud " having been committed by the Stirling Brethren of A . D . 1790 , must also be considered . With the article under review , Bro . Hughan prints an

Appendix ( vi . 112 ) , entitled Copy of" Charter" Made in 1822 . This " Charter" appears at tbe end of the Minnte-book- — Stirling Lodgo—and the last minute is dated August 10 th

1822 . According to the " Charter , " professedly made by " David the first by the Grace of God King of Scots , "" ititn That the free Masons in Stirling shall hold a Lodgo for ever in the bragh of Stirling , " etc