Notes On The " United Orders Of The Temple Axd Hospital."

For a proof of this , I need only direct the reader ' s attention to the title page of thi book to which I allude , where it is described as the History of the Holy Military Sovereign Order of St .

John of Jerusalem , or Knig hts Hospitallers , Knights Templar , Knig hts of Rhodes , Knights of Malta , by John Taaffe , Knig ht Commander of the Order .

The author , in mentioning the abdication of the last Grand Master Hompesch , says that on this event taking place , " The Protector * ( the Emperor Paul ) , or locum Umcns >

having been already legalised by a Grand Master , had no need of the election of a council , as would have been instantly the case otherwise ; but assumed his vicarious power at once , as naturally as

the Camcrlergo at Rome enters into office as soon as the Pope dies ; and in the Order at least , to die and to abdicate are the same thing . Then completely was it in rule that on the 26 th June

Paul took the Protectorship , and on the 27 th October the Knights then present at St . Petersburgh elected him to the Grand Mastery , as they had a perfect right to do ; and oilercd him the

magisterial cap . ccc , in a public audience , which , after mature relleclion , he accepted , on the 1 . 3 th November , the Russian Vice-Chancellor pronouncing the act of acceptance , and all the Knights

taking the oath usual on such an occasion ; so that up lo Paul ' s death , for thai short time it appears be was really Grand Master , for any little variation in form niav be excused from the

urgency , and in substance there was none . Therefore it is lobe supposed future historians of our Order will give him a place in the magisterial roll . "

Taall ' esays also that until the Emperor became Protector of the Order , the Order ' s only Protector had been the kings of England . Neither

France nor Germany , however friendly , had tuat distinguished title , it was , like Turcopolier , belonging to England alone .

[' nice noire / initcdnr was raid , ( . veil to Henrv YJil ., who suppressed the Older in England Br the way , we lind no mention in Taaii ' a of tin revival of the English Langue , as related by Bro Woof .

I shall have lo say more anon concerning the Hospitallers . Turning to our own Order of Masonic Kni g hts Templar , you are doubtless aware that of the 123

Encampments now m existence , live claim a descent from time immemorial —( the Baldwyn , Jiristol •¦ the ancient York Conclave of Redemption , of Hull , removed from York : the Abbey

Chapter , Nottingham ; the Observance , London ; and the l . ' nion , or Rougemont , Exeter ) . The Baldwyn , it is said , has been in existence since the time of Richard Coair de Lion , who , as

you know , was said b y some to be a Templar . There is no doubt a p : cciptoiy of the Order existed at Bristol , as the Temple Church ami parish

Mill testily , and curiously enough whilst I was in Bristol in July last , Sir Knight IV-well , the worthy and esteemed D . P . G . C . of Bristol , showed me ihe seal of the Order , which had just been

pick . d up near the river , and which was discovered in making some excavations there about 20 feet below the surface .

The characters which surround ihe Agnus Dei , v . hich was the usual seal of the Order in Kng-

Notes On The " United Orders Of The Temple Axd Hospital."

land , are believed to be of the 14 th century , but how the seal came there no one can tell . Some local antiquarians had long supposed that on the persecution of the Order , the Knig hts

left their quarters in Bristol , and crossing over at Rownham Ferry , which is known to have been in existence for hundreds of years , took shelter at Abbot ' s Leigh .

They may have lost their seal in the river in their hurried escape ; at all events its discovery is a curious and interestinrr . fact .

Mackey and other authors say that it is believed the Bristcl Knig hts still retain the costume and ancient ceremonial of the Order . Thanks

to the courtesy of Sir Knights S . h . laylor and W . Bowden , both distinguished members of the Baldwyn , I was allowed to see many curious and valuable MSS ., seals , rituals , ike , but time did

not permit of my making that careful examination of them which their antiquity deserved . Amongst other things I saw a history of the

Kni g hts of Malta in two large volumes , written , not printed , in French , and embellished with portraits of the Grand Masters of St . John of Jerusalem—a valuable work .

The jewel of the Baldwyn Encampment is curious , since it shows a connection with all the degrees practised under this body , the Knight

Rosa-, Crueis , Knight of Kilwinning , and K . H The Kilwinning , 1 daresay , once had some connection with the Roval Order of Scotland , anil

the Ros . e Crueis with the Rose Croix . The K . H . we know wa < given as a Templar degree , and there is little doubt that these degrees or Orders were given in the last century in other

Encampments beside the Baldwyn . They arc not now recognised by Grand Conclave ; indeed , I havo understood that Colonel Kemeys Tvnte , when Grand Master , gave up control over these

degrees ta Dr . Leeson , the Supreme Commander of the , 5 , J . At all events , they are no use now , xcept when given under the legitimate authority

of the Supreme Grand Council A . and A . Rite , as every Supreme Council in the world refuses to admit the brethren without ccrtilicates from the O . \ J . *~ ., IA , . ( ' /' " lecitnihiucd . )

Nortonian Amenities.

NORTONIAN AMENITIES .

lhe sight oi Bro . Jacob Norton ' s tomahawk , after it had been so long laid aside , was somewhat startling , but the sound of its blows , laid about with such heartiness and seeming sense of

enjoyment , must have made those among us who had not very strong nerves , look about with some terror . ] f men are to be converted from error or from the pursuit of evil ways by

the employment of hard words , or by the force of dogmatism , Bro . Jacob Norton is the man to he of use to them , especiall y if tiny have a hkaig lor contemptuous epithets and personal

sarcasm . But those who look lor lair proof 01 dispassionate reasoning , must go elsewhere . Pro . Jacob Norton ' s papers—the lirst OIK especially- —on Bro . I lughan ' s "Ancient Ch- . ir ' es , "

pivseni a sinking contrast , in both style and sub stance , lo everything that which brother lias writ ten . Bro . liaghan is evidently desirous of push ing his investigations in every direction for tin

Nortonian Amenities.

attainment of truth , without any overweening desire to establish or uphold a theory . Bro . Norton is as evidently desirous to overturn a theory , if he does not aim to establish one ; or to

get rid of what he , for very obvious , and , indeed , avowed , reasons , dislikes . And he is not at all nice in the epithets he applies to those who do not see or think as he does .

He scatters his flowers of speech with a profuse hand , and furnishes us with a vocabulary which any one ambitious of excelling in the use of opprobrious phrases may profitably refer to

" Dreamers , ' who " become half crazed with pondering over Isaiah , Daniel , and the Apocalypse , endeavouring to make others equally crazy , " " men possessing a smattering of learning because

they have read something about Cheops , Palmyra and the Olympiads , filling- the Masonic press with ridiculous speculations . " "Charlatans , who rule our Grand Lodges , " "noodles , who in our

Grand Lodges pass votes of thanks to charlatans for talking nonsense , '' and " record his lecture for the edification of future noodles , " " mystics , who set themselves up as great Masonic

lights , confounding Masonry with sectarianism . " These are amongst the complimentary forms of speech which Bro . Jacob Norton delights in ,

when writing of those whom he places amongst " the Masonic luminaries , " who have been the bane of Masonry , and have thrown " cartloads of trash" into " our so-called Masonic literature . "

If I mi ght take such a liberty , 1 would , in all seriousness , ask Bro . Jacob Norton whether he really thinks thai such a mode of treating questions upon which some of the best men of the

Craft ditler 111 judgment , is calculated either to subserve the interests of truth , or to induce the outside world , who are not Masons , to regard Masons or Masonry with much respect r Surel y

not ; and I have reason to say that many brethren think with me , that an exhibition of good temper , toleration , and brotherly love are of more importance than the establishment of any theory

touching the age or origin of speculative Masonry , however interesting that may be in itself , and when dispassionatel y and discreetly handled . Our " Masonic Student , " whose pseudonym

we are always glad to recognise in the columns of 77 / 1 ; Freemason , has , in his own quiet , and I would fain hope , elfective , way , rebuked Bro . Norton for the iniustice of which he has been

guilty in writing of Anderson and other earl y labourers in Freemasonry , to whom the Craft is so greatl y indebted , but whom he charges with " truckling to the spirit of the age , " or " the

prejudices ol the time , exhibiting " a want ot moral courage , " "Haltering the ignorant , " while one of them , at least , was "as ignorant of history

mil chronology as the author of Matthew Cooke ' s MS . " This sort of thing exhibits itself as Bro . Jacob Norton ' s infirmity , and it greatly mars , il it does not d . 'strov , his usefulness . While he is

ever imputing sectarianism , and intolerance , and superstition to others , he exhibits a vast amount of these weaknesses in his own person , Il has been well said by one who wrote the

" History of Toleration , " that " intolerance has not resulted from any particular system , but from the prevalence of ignorance , and the force

of those illiberal prejudices which are natural to the mind of untutored men ; " and an acute critic in the Edinl-ttr- ' / i J \' erieu ; adds , -, \ ithout any such