Contents.

CONTENTS .

L EADERS 4 ° 3 United Grand Lodge 404 Reception of the Masonic Members of thc British Association at York 40 _! C ORRESPONDENCEThe Order of Constantine 408 Representation of Texas in Grand Lodge of England 40 S Ncwcasflc-on-Tyne Freemasonry 408 Reviews 4 ° S Masonic Notes and Queries 409

District Grand Lodge ofthe Eastcrn ' . Division , South Africa 400 REPORTS OF MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry 4 10 Instruction 410 . Royal Arch 4 10 Mark Masonry 410 Red Cross of Constantine 410 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 410 Obituary 410 Masonic and General Tidings 411 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 412

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THE Quarterly Communication , as usual in September , has little either of novelty , excitement , or change to chronicle and comment upon . A large proportion of the brethren are still away on their " holiday , " and it is properly not considered fair to g ive brethren in distant parts the trouble of putting in a personal appearance . Thus the motions are generally few and

unimportant . On this occasion we note that one or two technical alterations in practice are proposed in respect of the Lodge of Benevolence , and we shall comment on them next week , when those who propose them have had the opportunity of explaining thc reasons which have led them to suggest such changes in the legal arid constitutional course of action of the Board as both seasonable and desirable .

* * WE are glad to note that the Board of General Purposes hold their hands as regards the new purchase suggested . It is quite clear that it is not because others wish to sell that , therefore , Grand Lodge is to buy , and it must always be a question of convenience . A '' balance of advantage" is

necessary to lead the Board to advise the purchase of adjacent property in Great Queen-street . We have no doubt that it is most advisable for Grand Lodge to obtain all buildings , at reasonable rates , which either interfere with , or increase the value of their own important property , but we

equally commend the prudent and cautious conduct of the Board , which does not buy for buying's sake , but simply recommends the purchase of property needful for the security , or tending to increase the saleability of an admirable locale .

* * * WE apprehend that the Masonic members of the British Association will not soon forget the reception tendered them in the Masonic Hall , York , by the brethren of Nos . 236 and 1611 , and all thc more because it cannot be repeated elsewhere in England with such bona fide Masonic surroundings .

The long report of the meeting will be read by our subscribers , at home and abroad , with especial pleasure ; and not the least attractive part will be found in the list of antiquities exhibited to the visitors , such as have never been so collected before . We hope that such a plan of entertaining the

members of learned societies , who are also Freemasons , will be followed from time to time , and that brethren will be found possessing the zeal and knowledge of Bros . TODD and WHYTEHEAD to sketch the Masonic history of the lodges in the neighbourhood . Wc congratulate all concerned in the arrangements on the success of the reception .

* * * THE discussions in our pages and the queries in our " Notes " serve to point out , especially to students , how much ground has } 'et to be covered , before we can distinctly pronounce on many subjects of Masonic history and antiquity . Of course it is always easy to write " currcnte calamo " as

many have done , and dogmatically decide "this" and uncritically endorse "that . " But such writers belong , let us hope , to a past—at any rate decadent—school in Freemasonry ; and the historian of the future , if he is to write for our posterity as well as for ourselves , must be accurate both m chronology and history , correct as to his facts , and clear as to his

conclusions . It would be , indeed , a reality greatly to be deplored , if wc should in this generation fall into the errors of a preceding generation , and in any way or in any sense imitate either the incautiousness of OLIVER , the sentimentality of HUTCHINSON , and that most mournful " sheepwalking , " that padding " of hopeless inanity , which fills up the pages of many who

profess to give us a true and correct account of Freemasonry . An interesting communication in the last Freemason , on the early use of that word , by one of the youngest and most promising students of our new English critical school , shows , perforce , an instance , by often ourselves previously remarked , now cautious we must be in "laying down the law " in respect of what is still lying comparatively in obscurity and uncertainty .

* rr , * * HE earliest use of the word Freemason has yet to be discovered . So far we cannot get it back beyond 1396 ; and the use of Cementarius , Latomus , La-P'cida , Macon , Mayson , Masson , will probably be found to be governed by " ° ruIes after all , and simply to be "synonyms " for the same and the one ame ; It was at one time thought lhat a consecutive use of the various

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names , which led one into the other , could be traced , but that fact seems now dubious . Indeed , the more we work upon the archaeology of Freemasonry , the more we see clearly what a " terra incognita " still lies before us , and how much prudence and care are needed by us , lest we leave the straight ,

if narrow , pathway of accurate criticism and faithful realism , and fall into the " morasses" of scepticism , or are enticed by those " Will-o' -the-Wisps" of fanciful ideology which have led so many astray , and rendered their elaborate lucubrations useless to students , and unsound and unsafe as Masonic handbooks . * *

To carry on the thought suggested by the immediately preceding remarks , we wish to point out to our readers that all efforts just now to lay down irrefragable data as to Masonic archaeology and history are , and can be , only tentative , approximating probably to the truth , but neither complete nor final , inasmuch as the "debateable land " of Masonic existence and

continuance in the world has become more expanded and more debateable than ever . We can express our opinions and ventilate our theories , and seek to place some hewn stones and landmarks on the steep ascent of the Temple of Truth , but further than that it would be in vain either to attempt , or effect . Who of us , in our present state of knowledge , can speak definitively or

conclusively on such questions as Masons' Marks , Hermcticism , the connection of Operative and Speculative Masonry , thc Mysteries in their earlier " cultus , " and later developemcnts , or even what is nearer to us , Freemasonry as it existed in England in the seventeenth century ? All we can fairly do , we apprehend , is to lay down certain general propositions , clearly and calmly , without

heat , "fad , or party spirit , to urge what is probable , what is reasonable , what is favourable , what is so far proved , and deduce from these preliminary statements certain likely conclusions , which neither militate with good sense or real history , and are supported by all the evidence we have so far been able to recognize , or rely upon . We say this in the best interests of Masonic

history and criticism , inasmuch as we note a tendency in some writers abroad hastily to assume as the " factor '' of the whole controversy that " we know all we can know " as regards the past history of Freemasonry , and that there is neither need nor utility in seeking to keep up our researches , or improve and extend our knowledge of Masonic antiquities .

• Jit * SOME of our readers will have heard about the so-called LOCKE MS ., as it is termed in " KENNTNG ' S Cyclopaedia , " the LELAND MS ., in MACKEY' 9 " Magnum Opus . " The last deliverance on the subject is an official one from the Bodleian Library , which is to this effect—we give the " ipsissima

verba " of the writer : " The document printed in the ' Gentleman ' s Magazine , ' and reproduced in the ' Life of LELAND , ' is always looked upon here as a forgery . The Bodleian Library , has been searched in vain on several occasions , and no trace of such a document ever having existed here can be found . "

A very able paper in the Times of Saturday last , headed " City Improvements , " appeals so much to the sentimentality of its readers , that we have thought it only right and proper to call special attention to it in these pages . The writer , whoever he may be , alludes to IZAAK WALTON ' S old house in Fleet-street , and seems—we say seems , for his conclusion is by no means

clear—to base thereupon a sort of protest against City improvements , as destructive of old landmarks and historic souvenirs . It has been our lot at 19 S , Fleet-street , to work much editorially in the accredited house , and even room , of IZAAK WALTON , and we are , therefore , impartial witnesses in the Controversy , such as it is . " A priori , " no doubt , we should feel inclined to preserve , if

it were worth preserving , any trustworthy record of the good old angler , whose name is imperishable amongst English worthies , and whose work is a " classic " of the Anglo-Saxon tongue . But as he had two houses , one in Chancery-lane and another in Fleet-street , it seems difficult to say which is

most historically connected with his honoured name ; and there is nothing in No . 19 8 , except pure sentimentality , which calls for preservation or claims recognition . In his will he only alludes to his house in Chancery-lane . On the contrary , for thc public convenience , we ought gratefully to encourage the City authorities in their commendable and needful improvements .

* * A review elsewhere in this week ' s impression calls attention to the Guild-life of our forefathers , and the very important part it played in their social existence . The Guild has also an important bearing on Masonic existence , continuance , and work , in that we now want to know

how much in 1717 in Speculative Masonry was purely "derivative ; " how much of "novel devclopement " or " skilful adaptation . " Indeed , it may be said that the history of the Guilds has yet to bo written , as BECUTANA and TOULMIN SMITH have only , so to say , touched the "fringe ofthe question , " and a large field is yet open to faithful "operantes" yet to explore , decipher , and collate .