Masonic Personalities.

MASONIC PERSONALITIES .

It has long been a reproach to Freemasonry that its professed representatives by publication , especially in other days , allowed so much of personality always to intrude into pages given

up to the teachings and principles of a peaceful and kindly brotherhood . It seems a strange fact in itself , yet not strange when we look back on the course of the world , , nd of human thought

and individual opinion , that all subjects treated on in the pages of Masonic journals , should not be free from personalities in every respect As a general rule The Freemason has been

singularly free , on the whole , from any such imputation ; but even in some of the lettters which have appeared , it mig ht have been better , perhaps if the Masonic censor ' s pen had been

editorially applied to several passages of questionable propriety , personally . B nt all who have to conduct a journal like this know the real difficulty of any such repressive process . We live in a land of free life and free

enquiry , and are lovers of fair dealing and fair play , and were the editor to interfere between two angry combatants , as the foolish man did between an infuriated husband

and wife , ( shocking fact in itself ) , he would inevitably receive the reward of such interference ; he would be condemned and attacked by both . In fact he would be in the position of amiable

Mr . Pickwick , between the indignant Pott and the irascible Slurk . We should never hear the last of " unauthorised excision , " " garbled letters , " " suppressed passages , " " indefensible

treatment , " in all that glory of inverted commas , and fiery denunciation with which our " feeble forcibles" would soon fill our crowded pages .

So all we can do is to counsel a general abstinence fiom personalities , from imputing motives , from insinuating objects , from all that plethora of often useless incrimination and invective which

weaken instead of strengthening , disfigure instead of improving , so many of the writings , of so many of the writers , Masonic and non-Masonic , of the day . We shall henceforth

exclude anything like actual personalities from our pages , noting the fact , and stating the reason , in all ofthe correspondence which appears weekly in The Freemason . But we can do no more than this !

It is a little difficult to lay down an absolute rule , as to what is and what is not personality . Some people may call that " scurrilous , " which is , after all , only fair criticism . Some

may deem that " personality , " which , after all , is only scholarly opposition , for we must bear in mind we have to deal with some very peculiar correspondents . We have the

dogmatic , the self-satisfied , the self-laudatory , the impatient , the intolerant , who are sometimes somewhat difficult subjects , while we have those who trade upon a very little , and give less , and

yet expect everyone to submit to some untenable dictum , and who yet only show most conclusively to the true scholar , and the competent critic , how , in that one only sense , Pope ' s line

is true , which runs , " a little learning is a dangerous thing . " For they at once fall into the hands of those who understand the subject , who have studied it " ab orgine , " and who cannot allow pretentiousness or ' superficiality , to impose on the

Masonic Personalities.

credulous or the careless . Hence they sometimes treat their opponents a little roughly , driving them from pillar to post . No doubt

thc " victim" considers it personality . But it is not personality in its true sense , it is honest and well-considered criticism .

For , as "truth' is the great object of all enquiry , no one has a right to propound hopeless and untenable theories , and proclaim them to be truth and expect every one to "vail his bonnet , "

ane give assent . If so , honest criticism must be silent , and true knowledge must give way to the idle lucubrations of the incompetent and the sciolist . We must always , therefore , allow a

wide margin , in archaeological controversies , as though wc . , in 1874 , have not yet outlived the age of " fables , " of " crude fancies , " and of " unverified quotations and statements . " We

think , too , that a little more forbearance should be shown in all discussions and pamphlets , as regards Craft Masonry and the High Grades . It is not right , because we do not

approve of the High Grades , for instance , to condemn their proceedings , or to cavil at their ways , to call hard names , and impute bad motives . Neither is it ' right for High Grade

Masons to speak disparagingly of Craft Masonry or to assume any superior station or position . Craft Masonry and the High Grades can coexist , and ought to co-exist in all of brotherly

forbearance and good will . We do not agree in aims or end , it is true , but we must agree to differ , and we can surely demonstrate to others , that our true principles are best illustrated not

by words of bitterness or antagonism , but by the deeds of benevolence , sympathy , charity and good will . Some of us will be content to remain , as we have ever been , only Craft Masons ,

because it isthe very universality of our Order which commends itself to our personal support , and dispassionate judgment . Others of us see much of good and utility in the High Grades . So be

it ! Let us gp on our way , treating each other with mutual respect and good will , and we shall see less of Masonic personality , and more , happily , we believe , a good deal more , of Masonic kindness and brotherly love amongst us all .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

I think that "A Masonic Enquirer has done good service by his letter . I hope that the " points " he alludes to may be cleared up by Bro . Paton , though , to say the truth , they all , or most of them , at any rate , belong to the good old period of unverified statements and

unhistoric traditions . If they are no more wellfounded than the so-called Locke letter , I fear they are all in jeopardy as historical facts . For the greatest doubts exist , I believe , as regards the so-called " Locke letter , " as much also as regards the so-called " Locke MS . " The fact that

the latter existed in MS . was , for the first time , stated in The Freemason a week or two ago , by a coutributor to Notes and Queries , and that MS . is in Essex ' s handwriting , and if so , cannot be earlier , by any possibility , than the middle of last century . Essex may have copied it from a

manuscript copy , though that copy , if it ever existed , is now unknown , but he probably copied it from the printed version of it , which appeared in more than one Masonic publication . Of Mr . Locke ' s letter , appended , the original has never been seen , and at the present time , though itcannot be said , perhaps absolutely , that it is a forgery ,

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

we have no satisfactory evidence as yet ot its genuineness . It clearly is not a reliable document therefore , in any Masonic controversy . SCOTICUS .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approving ofthe opinion" expressed by onr correspondents , but wc wish ; in a spirit of fa * play to all , to permit ^ -within certain necessary limits—free discussion . —Eu . J

SLIPSHOD TERMINOLOGY . To the Editor of the Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I see in your last Freemason , a report of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire in which it is called by more than one speaker

and by the Provincial Grand Master , himself the highest authority there , the " Grand Lodge , " " this Grand Lodge , " etc . I hope your readers will not deem me hypercritical when I point out this little " erratum , " aud whether it comes

from the reporter , or the brethren who spoke , it is a careless use of v-ords , and deserves to be checked and commented upon . Some time ago , the Yorkshire Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Masters styled itself the

" Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire , ' which , however , was properly animadverted upon at the time by a Yorkshire Provincial brother , and I think you will accord me space to permit me to submit my little fraternal criticism

to day , and my protest against this slipshod terminology on the part of our good Hampshire brethren . I am , dear sir and brother , yours fraternally , PARTICULAR P . M .

Lodge Bye-Laws.

LODGE BYE-LAWS .

To Ihe Editor of The Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I wish to ask you a question on Masonic Law , if it is not too much trouble to insert it in The Freemason , to which I have been for some years a subscriber .

No . 3 of the bye-laws of the lodge , of which I am for many years a member , states : —That the Master , Treasurer and Ty ler shall be annually nominated in February , and ballotted for in March , and this bye-law has been acted on ever since the lodge had existence . Bye-law

No . aa , states—That any brother wishing to propose any alteration or addition to the byelaws , shall give notice to that effect , at the regular meeting previous to that at which the proposal is to be taken into consideration , and notice of particulars of such propositions shall be inserted in the summonses convening the

meeting at which it has to be put to the vote . The Master , being on a visit to a sister lodge , heard a letter read from Grand Secretary , who said that such a method of electing a Master , was contrary to the constitutions . At the next regular meeting of his lodge , the Master told the brethren present , what he had heard read at the sister lodge .

It was then proposed " as an unapposed motion , " that so far as the election of Master was concerned , No . 3 , should be expunged . Question . —Can bye-law No . 3 , be expunged by unopposed motion , in direct opposition to byelaw No . 22 . I am , yours fraternally , M . M .

[ We are of opinion , that bye-law No . 3 being clearly , as the Grand Secretary states , contrary to the Book of Constitutions , is ipso facto , bad per se ! And though undoubtedly the more regular

way would have been to have acted in conformity with bye-law aa , yet if bye-law 3 was radically unconstitutional , the lodge probably exercised a very wise discretion in expunging it at once , from the bye-laws , where it ought never to have been . The same objection , clearly applies to the election of Treasurer and Ty ler . —ED" ] .