Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

" MARK AND ROYAL ARCH " ( p . tj ) . "An English Mark Master" gives the date of the origin of the Royal Arch as " 1740 , " while I used the words , " fourth decade of last century , " so , however we take it , that makes no difference to what I

stated at page 801—viz ., that the Mark Degree did not exist until some time after the Royal Arch : ergo , the antiquity of the Mark Degree is less than A . D . 1740 . As to what "An English Mark Master" says

about the Lodge of Kilwinning getting money in the 17 th century for " marks , " that had nothing to do with our Mark Degree , for , at page 550 , Sept . 2 ante , it will

be seen that , in 1670 , the Entered Apprentice , when being entered , got his mark on payment of " anc merk piece for his meassone merk . " The custom of the masons

using marks then was merely the adoption of a common practice , as the coopers also did the same , and even still do . The masons marked their stones , the coopers marked their casks , and if a stone was

improperly wrought , or if a cask began to leak , it was known who did the work , and who to blame . Another reason was , that few craftsmen could write , consequently their mark stood in place of their signature .

By turning to page 418 of THE FREEMASON for August 27 th , 1870 , we see the masons who signed the Rosslyn Charters frankly acknowledging that they " can not writt . " However , marks are , and were , used by

parties able to write , because they arc handy . As to laying any stress upon the finding of the majority of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1 S 58 , that the " ritual " of the Mark Degree , or the Mark Degree itself ,

existed before the institution of Grand Lodge in 1736 , that was simply a mistake ; and , shortly since , Bro . William Officer , S . G . D ., wrote me that , even in the Lodge of Edinburgh Mary ' s Chapel , the Mark

Degree was never worked until introduced by himself a few years ago , during his own Mastership . For further information upon this subject , pages 474 , 490 , 522 , and 553 of last year ' s FREEMASON may be read W . P . BucilAN .

ERRATUM . In " An English Mark Master ' s " letter in our last impression , 1717 should have been 1817 .

QUERY . Can a candidate be initiated at the next regular lpdge meeting under rule 2 , p . 84 ,

Book of Constitutions ( " In cases of emergency , " & c ) , without calling a Lodge of Emergency for that purpose ? VRYL .

PROV . GRAND LODGES IN SCOTLAND . When I read Bro . C . I . Baton ' s remarks at page 7 S 9 , vol . 4 , I felt certain that it would bring forth a general wail from certain old fogies who have managed to hold office

in Provincial Grand Lodges , for many years , without the necessary qualifications ; but I was not prepared to find such a distinguished

brother taking part in the chorus as D . Murray Lyon . He says ( page Soi ) it is nearly ten years since the Grand Lodge of found , " that , on a sound interpretation of

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

the laws of Grand Lodge , the Provincial Grand Master has power to appoint his office-bearers from members of lodges irl the province , they not being necessarily Masters or Wardens . " But as that "sound

interpretation is not given in the Laws and Constitution of the Grand Lodge , we are obliged to fall back on the Laws themselves , aud now hear what Cap . xiii . and Sec . 2 say about it : "The Provincial Grand

Master , who is styled Right Worshipful Grand Master , with all the office-bearers , excepting the Tyler and Inner Guard , and the Masters and Wardens of the several lodges in the province which have complied with

the regulations of the Grand Lodge , shall form each Provincial Lodge , and be entitled to vote therein . " Now , if this law means anything , it surely means what it says ; and I take it that it says , as plain as

language can , that it is the Masters and Wardens of the several lodges in the province which have complied with the regulations of the Grand Lodge , that shall form each Provincial Lodge ; and if the

Provincial Lodges are thus formed , I am at a loss to sec how Bro . C . I . Paton can be wrong . I think it a great pity that Bro . Lyon has not seen it convenient to give us more definite information regarding this " sound

interpretation' by Grand Lodge , as Bro . C . I . Paton may be ignorant of its existence , and for anything he or I know , it may have superseded Sec . 2 of Cap . xiii . altogether . I must congratulate Bro . D . M . Lyon on

his good luck , for this " sound interpretation , " it would appear , was pronounced at a most opportune moment for our distinguished brother , as it conferred on him a qualification never contemplated by the laws as they now stand .

" Glasguensis " has taken rather a novel way of proving Bro . C . I . Paton to be wrong , by telling us that several of the officebearers of the Prov . G . L . of Glasgow are neither Masters nor Wardens of any lodge

Well , if this simple-minded brother could guarantee the infallibility of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Glasgow , he could end the controversy , and at once put Bro . Paton on

the wrong side of the argument ; but , as matters stand , he will excuse me for saying that there is a little difference between the requirements of the law just quoted and the practices of the P . G . L . of Glasgow . J . W .

WE have the pleasure to announce that the M . W . Grand Master has appointed R . W . Bro . Major-General John Studholmc Brownrigg , C . B ., P . S . G . W . England , to the post of Prov . Grand Master for Surrey , vacated by the resignation of the respected Bro . Alexander Dobie .

ENGLISH GRAPES . — Our own country is noted for producing some of the finest grapes in the world , and the fame of the giant vines at Hampton Court and Cumberland Lodge , Windsor , is great . On one occasion George III . was so

pleased with a performance at Drtny-lane Theatre that he gave orders for a hundred dozen bunches of grapes to be cut off from the Hampton Court vine , if so many could be found upon it , and sent to the actors . The gardener executed his

commission , and informed his royal master that he could still cut off as many more without stripping the tree . —Foodfournal . BREAKFAST . —KPPS ' S COCOA . —GRATEFUL AND COMFORTING . — " By a thorough knowledge of the

natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition , and by a en refill applicntian of the fine properlies of well-selected cocoa , Mr . Epps lias provided our hr- akfast tallies with a . delicately-flavoured beverage

winch may save us many heavy doctors bills . '—Civil Service Gazette . Made simply with lloiling Water or Milk . Each packet is labelled— "J AMES EPI ' & Co ., Homceopathic Chemists , London . " Also , makers of Epps ' s Milky Cocoa ( Cocoa and Condensed Milk ) .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

«» The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Will you , through

THE FREEMASON , kindly inform me the name or number of the lodge from which Bro . M . Cooke takes his rank as a Past Master . I noticed in your report of the proceedings of last Grand Lodge that he is described , or rather describes

himself , as a Past Master IN the Globe , No . 23 . This has misled some of the brethren to suppose that the great champion and redresser ot all Masonic wrongs , real or imaginary , is actually a Past Master of the Globe Lodge , which is not

the case ( if I am rightly informed ); and //" rightly informed , why does a brother who is so great an example of all that is right , proper , and correct , not let the world know the lodge that did him the honour of enabling him to put P . M . at the end of his name ? Yours , & c , A LOVER OF JUSTICE . Surely the Globe does not want to take the honour from any other lodge .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Under the above caption you recently produced in your paper what your readers , to the extent of a large majority , doubtless , have considered a very

"A BODY WITHOUT A HEAD . "

satisfactory article demonstrative of the recent strange conduct of the Gaad Orient of France at Paris . To the non-reader of French Masonic history , that article was calculated to be convincing ; but the reader of such history was not

so affected . It is not the first lime in that history that Freemasonry has been without a head . Permit me the use of a column of your space in which to present a history in brief of the Grand-Mastership during the past century , in full

and up to the present , chiefly collated from Dr . Heboid ' s History of the three Grand Lodges of France , with the addition of a few remarks on behalf of that , at present , much censured body , the Grand Orient of France . After the perusul

of such history , I trust a more liberal feeling may take the place of that which now prevails in the minds of those brethren who regard a Grand-Mastership , under any and every circumstance , as something Freemasonry caniut destroy

and live . In 1773 , by trickery , the Duke de Chartres , subsequently known as Phillippc Egali ' e , was elected and installed Grand Master . Twenty years afterwards , in the height of the Revolution ,

he publicly renounced Freemasonry , and the Grand Orient postponed indefinitely the election of his successor ; but , two years afterwards , Roettiers de Montaleatt was elected , and continued in office for the ten years following . This

brings us into the first Empire . Napoleon , crowned in 1804 , consented in 1805 that his brother Joseph should be Grand Master , provided that Cambaceres , Napoleon ' s chancellor , should be Joseph ' s deputy , or acting Grand

Master , and in conjunction with Marshal Murat , Napoleon ' s brother-in-law , should superintend all the principal movements of tire institution known as Freemasonry in France . It was so clone , Cambaceres doing all the superintending , for it

does not appear that Murat ever did any . On the fall of Napoleon and restoration of the monarchy , the Grand Orient , for the first time in ten years , became independent , and declared all official dignities , including the Grand-Mastership , extinct .

Of course there were those who resisted this order of things , and who had influence enough to cause the Grand Orient to petition the king for a prince of his house to rule over that body , but the prayer of the petition was refused . Thereupon

three " Grand . Conservators" were elected , a ; : d in his own person Roettiers de Montaleatt represented the three highest offices of the Grand Orient . He was succeeded by Marshal Macdonald , one of the Conservators , and the Revolution of 1830 , which placed Louis Phillippe