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ImportantNotice. The " Freemasons' Magazine" having ceased to exchange with the " Bauhutte , " / noiv receive THE FREEMASON only , from which I translate all important news for my paper , and make , use of historical facts and discoveries contained in its pages . My personal Masonic friends in England and Scotland and all Masonic authors will oblige me , and at the same time do a service to the Craft , if they publish all their articles in THE FREEMASON exclusively , which is now THE medium forme to become acquainted masonically with all that is going on in Great Britain and Ireland . J . . FINDEL Leipzig , 21 st December , 1869 .

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To ADVERTISERS . HPHE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being - * - now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated , For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

Foreign And Colonial Agents.

Foreign and Colonial Agents .

— - —«—AMERICA : Bro . J . FLETCHER UREXNAX , 114 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . ,, Messrs . WOODRUTK & BLOCHER , Little Rock , Arkansas , U . S .

CANADA : Messrs . DKVIUE & SON , Ottawa . CAPE OF GOOD HOPE : Bro . GEORGE BRITTAIX , Cape Town . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Colombo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Br . l . L . Www , Levant Times .

EAST INDIES : Allahabad : Messrs . WY . MAN BROS . Byculla : Bro . GEO . BEASE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . JORDAN . Kurrac / iee : Bro . G . C . BUAVSON . Madras : Mr . CALEII FOSTER . Mtioro : Bro . COWASJEE NL ' SSERWANJEE .

Poena : Bro . W . WELI . IS . GALATA : II ' SICK KHAN , Perche-Bajar . LIBERIA : Bro . HENRY D . BROWN , Monrovia . PARIS : M . DECIIEVAUX-DI ' MESMI ., Rue de Harlaydu-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Nouf ; Editor Le Franc-Macon . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in England , Ireland , and Scotland .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

—«—P . lS ° . —Wc received your first letter , but deemed it inexpedient lo publish it until we had made certain enquiries , the result of which is : —1 . The excellent Portrait of the Grand Master , by Bro . S . Rosenthal is not painted for the Grand Lodge . —2 . There is no intention , so far as we can learn , on the part of the Commemoration Committee to commission any artist to paint Lord Zetland ' s Portrait .

A PROVINCIAL BROTHER . —The toast of "H . U . H . the Prince of Wales , P . G . M ., " should follow that of the M . W . G . M .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTH . ROSEHILL . —On 4 th January , at Easter Warriston , Edinburgh , the Lady Rosehill , of a son .

DEA TIIS . DALY . —On the 3 rd January , Bro . Robert Daly , W . M ., New Wandsworth Lodge , No . 1044 , of Sandwell Villa , New Wandsworth , after a long and painful illness , aged 30 .

E . MDLIN . —On the 21 st . ult ., at the Residence , Semley Station , Emma Ann , wife of Mr . James Emblin , Station Master ( S . W . Lodge of Friendship and Sincerity , No . 472 , Shaftesbury ) . Aged 31 years . Deeply lamented .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J ANUARY 8 , 1870 .

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THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for tlic early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON is Twopence per week ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 s . Subscriptions payable in advance . All communications , letters , & c ., to be addressed to the EDITOR , 2 , 3 , and 4 , Little Britain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

Masonic Rites.

MASONIC RITES .

THE advantages of establishing a uniform system of work in the degrees of Freemasonry are so obvious , that few brethren , however conservative would feel inclined to oppose

the adoption of any well-digested scheme to obtain so desirable a result . But the diffi culties that beset the path of reform when calmly considered , we confess appear to be almost insuperable ..

Most men are wedded to the language to which they have been accustomed , and can see beauties of style and elegancies of expression , which others regard as evidences

of bad taste . There is one notable sentence in an address that is given during the installation ceremony in English lodges , in which Freemasonry is paid the doubtful

compliment of being compared to a bleak mountain , "baring its bosom to the midnight storm . " There arc also gross anachronisms , and historical inaccuracies , which

must be set right , but the chief stumblingblock , as we have already intimated , will be the reluctance of teachers to abandon their firmly-rootedidcasas to how the work should

be done , and yet without mutual concessions a reformed ritual will be an impossibility . It may be well also to consider that even if Knglish Masons succeed in setting

thcirown house in order , so far as the mother country is concerned , it will be a work of time before the numerous foreign and colonial lodges under English jurisdiction

acquire a thorough knowledge of the uniform system , and wc much question the practicability of its being communicated to them at all , especially when it is understood

that oral instruction is the only orthodox medium . There is another aspect to the question which should also be remembered . Freemasonry differs in its ritual ,

and even in its precepts , in almost every nation ; no two "Masonic Constitutions " arc absolutely alike , not even those of Great Britain and Ireland . A brief

review of the various Masonic rites , practised throughout the globe may therefore prove not uninteresting at the present juncture . Let us begin with England : hero wc

recognise the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry , namely , the Faltered Apprentice , the Fellow Craft , and the Master Mason , together with what is termed ,

curiously enough , the " Order of the Holy Royal Arch , " and yet although it is to all intents and purposes a separate

degree , with different clothing , and rather heavy fees for admission , we are taught to believe it is not a degree , but simply the complement of Master Masonry . Again ,

Masonic Rites.

we have the " Installed Master ' s" ceremonial , and a very beautiful rite it is , with peculiar secrets and vows , and yet it is not considered a " degree " in the ordinary

signification of the word . All Orders of Chivalry , such as the Rose Croix , Kadosh , Red Cross , or Templars , are permitted to meet in England under

the regis of the Masonic Order , their rights so far being secured by the Act of Union between the two Grand Lodges in 1813 . In Scotland a different system prevails ;

there the Grand Lodge acknowledges the three degrees , and also the "Mark" degree , while it ignores the Royal Arch and the " Hantcs Grades . " In Ireland , all the

symbolic and chivalric degrees work under the auspices of the same authorities , and great harmony is the result ; the only defect being

that it is extremely difficult for a brother to obtain admission to the higher grades unless he holds a good position , both in the social and Masonic worlds . We are bound

to add , however , that this peculiarity is by many brethren considered a most admirable feature of the system . In the United States of America they

work the York Rite which is nothing more than an amplification of the degrees recognised in England . To the first three they add the "Mark Master , " "Past Master , "

"Most Excellent Master , " and Royal Arch , " besides which in many States the Royal Arch is supplemented with degrees called " Royal and Select Master , " and in other

parts of America a degree designated "Super-Excellent Master" is likewise added . This degree , we believe , or something very much resembling it , is also practised in

Ireland . American Masons arc fond of the Knightly Orders , and in fact there are more Templars in the Great Republic than in all the earth beside . The "Ancient and

Accepted Rite " may almost call the States its home , as that splendid but incongruous system of degrees has become an acknowledged Rite in Freemasonry mainly through

the exertions of those brethren who formed the first Supreme Grand Council 33 at Charleston , in 1801 , without any other warrant than their own sagacious

perception of its imperative necessity to ensure the perpetuation of the degrees . Turning to France , wc find that our lively neighbours have been , so far as Freemasonry

is concerned , " everything by turns , but nothing long . " First they worked only the symbolic grades , then they invented the " Ineffable Degrees , " or Rite of Perfection

—the basis of the Ancient and Accepted Rite ; afterwards , they struck out new paths , such as the Rite of Elected Cohens , the

Rite of St . Martin , the Philosophic Rite , the " Adoniramites , " the Rite of Adoption , or Androgynous Masonry , with many others too numerous to mention .

In 17 S 6 the Grand Orient , seeing the foil ) ' of these novelties solemnly abolished them all , except the following four , which

they added to the Craft degrees , namely , " Elect , " " Scotch Master , " " Knight of the East , " and " Rose Croix . " After adhering