Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

tutions , all are patent to him who knows aught of Masonic history , whereas nothing worse can be said of Bedarride , the apostle of Misraim , than that he came forward , boldly professing to have penetrated the obscurity which veiled the birth

and subsequent development of Freemasonry , and put forth his ideas as the perfection and completion of the structure . Beyond doubt , he was mistaken ; but this will not prevent diligent Masonic students

from winnowing the corn from the chaff , and preserving in any way they may think most advisable the many noble thoughts and masterly ideas interspersed throughout the teachings of the Rite . R . E . X .

The following copy of a curious diploma in my possession may interest your readers . ANTIQUARIUS . In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity . Amen . "Glory to God in the highest , peace on earth , goodwill to men . "

ST . MARTINS KNIGHT TEMPLARS'ENCAMPMENT , No . I , BURSLEM . To all whom it may concern : These are to Certify that our worthy Brother Companion Sir Henry Rothwell , of St . Martin ' s Chapter , No . 115 , who has under the Keystone

signed his name , having been warmly recommended unjo us and found worthy , was upon the sixteenth day of February , 1840 , in the body of our Encampment , justly and regularly initiated and instructed in all the mysteries of our religious and most Christian Orders of Knight Templars and

Knights of Malta , the trusty , true , and faithful soldiers and servants of Jesus Christ , and that we have installed and dubbed him a Knight Templar and Knight of Malta . We have also expounded unto him all the secrets of a Knight of the Black Mark , a Knight of the Red Cross , the degree of a

Rosicrucian , or Knight of the Rosy Cross , and a Knight of the Royal Prussian Blue Order ; the Ark Mason , Mark Mason , the Jordan , Babylonian , and Mediterranean Passes ; and latterly a Pillar of the Priestly Order ; he having through the whole ceremony given us the strongest proofs of

his steadiness , skill , and valour during the many amazing and mysterious trials attending his admission . We also give and grant unto him all those privileges which from time immemorial have belonged , and now , of right , appertain to those of our Orders , not doubting but he will be permitted to

reap and enjoy the same with all our dear and excellent Companions wheresoever dispersed . We therefore greet well all our worthy brethren and knights of the above illustrious Orders throughout the Universe , to accept of him as such , and to take

him under their brotherly care and protection . Given under our hands and the seals of our Orders , hereunto appended , at Burslem , this eighteenth day of July , in the year of our Lord , one thousand eight hundred and forty , and of Light , five thousand eight hundred and forty .

HENRY ROTHWELL . HENRY ROTHWELL , G . M . THOS . BOLTON , P . G . M . F . BROUGHTON , C . G . T . MORRY , J . C . WM . HOLLAND , H . P . S . DUNNING , Treas . J . PEARSON , Sec .

THE WORD " SPECULATYF . " In reference to the word " speculatyf " which occurs at line 623 of Add . MSS . No . 23 , 198 in the British Museum , and as given in Bro . Matthew Cooke ' s copy is as follows : —

. . . and Icr nyd practyke of yt sciens to his speculatyf . For of specculatyfe he was a mastr . I beg to say that Mr . Bond , of the British Museum , kindly writes me— - "The word speculatyf occurs as you quote it in MS . 2 3 i l 9 $ , f- 26 . I presume it means the theory of the science . "

I am extremely happy , therefore , to be able to afford the above confirmation of the accuracy of Bro . Cooke ' s copy , and further , in reading over many of Bro . Cooke ' s remarks written years ago , I must acknowledge the ability of the writer , and although we differ on some points , I am

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

glad to find that we cordially agree upon so many ; and although we fellow Masonic students do at present differ upon some points , I trust we can all hold out the righthand of fellowship to each other with a

cordial and truly fraternal grasp , knowing and feeling that each and all of us , according to the light we have—it is a pity that greater light is not more general—are simply and faithfully striving after the truth . W . P . BUCHAN .

THE PRAYER AT INITIATION . I have ohserved that in nearly all the lodges I have visited , as well as in my own lodge , a passage in the prayer at initiation is thus given : " And grant that this

candidate for Freemasonry may so dedicate and devote his life to Thy service as to become a true and faithful brother amongst us . " ' Surely , the adverbial limitation so as should be omitted . It

would then stand , " may dedicate and devote his life to Thy service , and become , " & c . It is not intended that we should pray that the candidate should , just insofar , orin such a degree only , dedicate and devote his life to God ' s service as to become a true and

faithful brother , but that he should do so in the widest sense of the terms , and also become a true and faithful brother . Upon turning to Dr . Oliver ' s "Antiquities of Freemasonry , " I find that he gives the prayer in accordance with the view which I have taken of it . WILLIAM CARPENTER .

ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS IN GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND . Many of the members of Grand Lodge of Scotland may not be aware of the fact that the Wardens in the Grand Lodge of

Scotland do not continue in office longer than two years . On a reference to the Laws and Constitutions , chapter iii ., paragraph viii ., it reads thus : " The Grand Wardens shall not continue in office for a

longer period than two years . " It seems unfair that this lawshould only apply to the Wardens ; why not include the others ? Equality is a law of Freemasonry . A PAST MASTER .

CATHEDRAL BUILDING IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . In a review of Viollets Le Due ' s new work upon architecture , which appeared in the Building News for March 24 th , we find the following , which , I have no doubt , will be interesting to many of your readers : —

We have only to look at the state of the building trades , as reported upon to the Chapter of Reims , at the end of this century and the commencement of the sixteenth , to see the state of anarchy into which all this order had from these causes fallen .

Under the reign of Louis XI . a fire occurred which burnt off the roofs and destroyed the upper portion of the masonry , and all the various trades were called in to advise how it should be rebuilt . Then came the delegates from the masons , and the

carpenters , and the plumbers ; there was the " Noble Grand " of the Ancient Order of Blacksmiths and lhe Most Wise from everywhere , and a pretty mess they made of it . Each trade worked independently of the other ; they destroyed the harmony of the

building , and found none amongst themselves . The plumber sent his waterspouts where lie liked , quite irrespective of where the carpenter had made his roof to shed the water , who also was regardless of where the mason had intended him to do so . The

stonc-carvcr—wc can hardly dignify him with the good old name of sculptor—worked at home , and came and hung up his handiwork on the wall as though it were an easel picture , painted for anybody who would pay the sole thing needful—the price . Metaphorically , these garotted the architect—he

became simply an engineer and a keeper of accounts , and amongst them they murdered art . Henceforth these assassins simply struggled amongst themselves ; progress was no longer made , and the true principles which had led to such grand results were forgotten . W . P . BUCHAN .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by , Correspondents ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) SIR , —As an article in your number of the 8 th instant contains an unwarrantable attack upon 0

the S . C . 33 of the A . and A . Rite , I am directed to request you will insert in your next number ^ this official reply thereto , which reply is that there is no foundation whatever for that part of the article which applies to this Supreme Council , and that it is altogether untrue . I am , Sir , your obedient servant ,

J . M . P . MONTAGU , Hon . Sec . to the S . C . THE MARK CHAIR .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) SIR AND BROTHER , —I believe the inconvenience is very generally felt in Mark lodges being restricted in their choice of a W . M . to those brethren who have previously filled the chair of a Craft Lodge . As your correspondent last week very justly remarks ,

the Executive of the Mark Degree have never shown themselves backward in the adoption of any reforms that were likely to increase its prosperity , and I have no doubt that as soon as matters are settled with the R . A . Chapter of Scotland , the desired change in the Constitutions will be proposed .

But , meanwhile , let me remind your correspondent that a dispensing power is expressly reserved to the G . M . by the Book of Constitutions ; a power which has , I believe , in no single instance been refused to be exercised when duly applied for . I am , Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , ANOTHER P . M .

SUBORDINATION IN THE HIGHER DEGREES .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —There are men of peculiar order of intellect who , as Polonius says , can only " harp upon my daughter . " The best arguments of Newton and Locke would be thrown away upon them , and though you may with every just argument

and with the whole force of logic roll them tip like the stone of Sysiphus , no sooner do you reach the end of your labour than down again comes the ponderous and dull mass , with its monotonous echoes . On the man whose only answer to mathematical demonstration is " I don ' t know it , " no intellectual effort can have the least effect ; nevertheless , by

constant reiteration , if indeed worth while , some effect might possibly be produced . Your correspondent , the conscientious believer in His OBLIGATION , traverses and retraverscs the same ground , and observes on the S . G . C . ( so called ) that Bro . Yarker lays down the dictum that it is usually considered good Masonic law that the governed should have some voice in the election of such high

functionaries . Now let us ask your correspondent : —1 . What is Masonic law ? 2 . Whether self-election is its radical principle ? 3 . Whether it is an oligarchy or a fraternity ? and , lastly , whether the 33 is truly within the pale of Masonry ?

He goes on to say that " the Council derives its charter from the Supreme Grand Council , N . J ., United States . " But where did the S . G . C , N . J ., receive its charter ? 1 fear that we maybe pursuing our enquiry into the " vast illimitable , " where e uihilo nihil ft . A strange comctic power makes its

appearance , and invading our system , eclipses ( or is supposed to do so ) the meridian sun of Grand Lodge The same writer goes on to talk of expulsion from S . G . C . as a very awful and serious matter ; and so it must be to those who put faith in its authority and pretensions , but beyond the pale of its own influence

who regards it ? Indeed , can any man of honour , knowing its history , retain membership with it ? By their own act Bro . Yarker has been freed from all claims upon his slavish obedience . Are there not thousands of good Masons who never even heard of it , and who would ridicule the very idea of its

preposterous claims ? There is a well-known child ' s rhyme beginning "How many miles to Babylon ?" but people now-a-days in England have no mind for such exposition of geographical notions . The S . G . C . may , however , perhaps live in the mystic capital , and no doubt their votaries imagine that they can

annihilate time and space and reconcile seeming impossibilities—but docs the public on that account abandon railway , ship , telegraph , and other modes of communication , and entrust their business to the rapid carriers , subtle fancy ?

The same writer proceeds : " Freemasonry would soon be in a state of anarchy if every Mason or every lodge thought fit to give , or professed to give , whatever degrees it liked and to be accountable to none . " But supposing that they did so , and acquired a large gathering ( exactly on the same principle , be