The Briton And Freemason Travelling.

The truth is , that as a general rule , if our dear compatriots abroad would only conform to the ways of the countries through which they pass , if they would become personally , as they Masonically profess to be , " citizens of the world , " they would get on themselves a good deal better and

everything would "dovetail" in better with their ideas , their habits , and their idiosyncrasies . We have often admired the Briton and Britoness finding fault with everything abroad out loud , for the benefit of the company in general . For them everything was " frightfully dear , " there

was " positively nothing to eat ; no , nothing , my love , but kickshaws and " then if you don ' t dine at the Table d'Hote you pay double for everything , " and so on , " ad infinitum . " We once met a genial , burly Briton on a Rhine steamer ,

who declaimed thus : " Sir , the Rhine is all very fine , but it is much exaggerated , and then you never can get boiling water abroad . I ' ve not had a decent cup of tea since I left England . * ' Now our advice to many travelling friends is this , we have found its efficacy in many a pleasant jaunt ,

alas , over for us : try to conform to the habits of the country in which you are pro tem . Give up insular ways , ideas , and even meals . You will fare better if you will only accept the " Cafe au lait , " & c , for instance , as an early breakfast , and make a good luncheon at their " Dejeuner ii la

Fourchette " you can get some tea if you like in the afternoon , and then a late dinner . But do at Rome as Rome does . If you will have expensive apartments and solitary meals you must pay for them ,. and pay for theai , dear brother and dear boy , and grumble not . Always be civil to

the " natives ' and they will be civil to you . Remember , a little civility goes a long way , and if you respect them in word , manner , and act , they will assuredly treat you in the same manner . If you go abroad don ' t expect all the luxuries and conveniencies of home . You can ' t have a good British breakfast , ( for the most part ) , at o ;

you can t open the broad sheet of the limes ; you can ' t be purely English but you can , if you will , thoroughly enter into all the incidents and vareties / of foreign life and travel ; you can journey on contented and come back with your mind enlarged , illustrating one of the great tenets of Freemasonry , the true citizenship of life and of the world .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ Wc do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of , the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair plav to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]

COUNCIL OF SIDE DEGREES . To the Editor if the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In a notice of thc Ebor Lodge at York of the Older of St . Laurence I find a statement upon which I think I am entitled to be heard , especially as it cannot in any way disturb or react upon the prosperity of that lodge

and that Older . It would seem by this report that some meeting vvas held at the Alexandra Palace , on the 9 th August last , " for th * purpose of forming a Council of Side Degrees . " This appears in your issue of this day , the nth October , and veiy much astonishes me in more ways that one . So long ago as October , 1875 , during the time that I vvas issuing my " Royal Masonic

Cyclopai-lia , " and before the publication of the part in which Side Degrees were spoken of , thc proof sheets of that work , now in my possession , were submitted to several eminent Masons , including Bros . Captain Irwin , Hughan , Hyde Pullen , Yarker , and others , and in the correspondence incidental to the completion of the book , the formation of a Council of Side Degrees was suggested and took place ,

and the following passage from my book , written in January , 18 7 6 , may be cited in evidence : — " Asa Council of Side Degrees is taking under its prelection all stray rights not olherwise expressly claimed by the former five bodies , they will for the sake of convenience , and for clear Masonic thought , be placed unattached , but with the addition of the letters C . S . D . to indicate the

desire of this body to collect and preserve in its archives manyoDiolete degrees at present lying dormant . — 'Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia '—article , Knights , Masonic , pp . 425-6 . " A Council was then formed , and I was requested to take charge ol it in a secretarial capacity , which I have done , not for the pu-pose of emolument , but from a desire to

co-operate in preserving many interesting Degrees from undeserved neglect . A prospectus—now lying before rocwas privately submitted to most eminent brethren , to their perfect satisfaction , and my book contains the list of the Degrees the Council desired to protect . Finally Bro . Capt Francis George Irwin temporarily agreed—as his letters to me show—to act as President of thies Council , and had not thc premature demise of his son caused him to retire

Original Correspondence.

very much from active Masonry , the Craft at large would have heard more of it . But I claim priority as the representative of the Council in every respect , not only on account of publication , but because the detailed organisation lies before me at this moment , having been duly announced in my book . In conclusion I should like to be informed by whose

authority the Alexandra Palace meeting vvas convened , and who it is , therefore , that is so zealous for the purpose entertained by the brethren with whom in so many - ways I have for years been intimately associated . In any case I must claim for those brethren and myself the real merit , so far as it may exist , of a Council of Side Degrees for the United Kingdom and the Colonies . A study of Masonry rather closer than given by the

majority of my brethren has afforded me wide opportunities for the accumulation of trustworty information on these recondite points . Many really Masonic Degrees are in my possession totally unknown to the present generation of Masons , derived from trusty historical sources of indisputable authority . I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours sincerely and fraternally ,

KENNETH R . H . MACKENZIE , IX ° , ^_ Hon . Secretary Council of Side Degrees "" ( Instituted 1875 ); S . Grand Sec . Swedenborgian Rite . Flint-villas , Hounslow , Oct . nth , 1870 .

CHANGE OF ADDRESS . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Bio . Kenning , As I receive many Masonic letters day by day perhaps you will kindly allow me to inform kind correspondents through your columns that my address henceforth is 2 ; A , Norfolk-crescent , Hyde Park , W „ instead of

10 , Upper Porc . hester-street , though practically it is the same street still , curiously enough . Yours very fraternally , A . F . A . WOODFORD . 25 A , Norfolk-crescent , Hyde Park , W . Oct . 14 th , 1879 .

MELROSE LODGE . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I regret that any remarks of mine should have given umbrage to a Craftsman so worthily esteemed as Bro . Vernon . I can assure him that suci was very far from

my intention . Their object was to ascertain the grounds on which he based his opinion that thc Melrose Lodge could instruct an antiquity as ancient as that of Kilwinning or Mary ' s Chapel Lodges . As he has not stated them , I am afraid that I and others must remain of opinion that Melrose can instruct no such claim . Bro . Vernon from his letter leads one to infer that it was only recently

that he discovered the existence of this lodge , which surprises me . Several attempts have been already made to induce it to join Grand Lodge . The most recent was that made by the Past Provincial Grand Master of Peebles and Selkirk Shires a few years ago . He had meetings at Melrose on the subject , and did everything to induce the Melrose brethren to—as Bro . Hughan happily puts it— " fall into

line . " He even indicated that the lodge would get the highest vacant number on the Grand Roll , and possibly a higher "Bis" number , if they would come to terms . After much trouble the proposal was abandoned as hopeless . Everyone shares the " longing " of Bro . Hughan to see the Melrose Lodge hailing under the Grand Banner . But to attain this desirable object it is surely not necessary to

do an injustice to other lodges . My own recollection was , that the minutes of the Melrose Lodge opened in 1674 , and on referring to the MS . of my note you will find that 1 had so stated it , but as Bro . Vernon ' s letter gave the date 1678 , and I was writing from recollection , I altered the date to that given by him , believing his date was the correct one . As Bro . Vernon states that documents have been

discovered since Bro . Buchan visited Melrose , about eleven year * ago , would he kindly state what they are , and where they were found . As regards the " Melrose MS ., " Bro . David Murray Lyon tells me that he knew of it many years ago . He says it is a copy of the old charges similar to those of Kilwinning ( which was obtained from Mary ' s Chapel ) and the Aitchcsons Haven Lodges . As the

Kilwinning Lodge obtained its copy between the years 1075-1678 , and the Aitchesons Haven Lodge in 1666 , dates corresponding to the minutes of Melrose , very likely the latter lodge obtained its copy about the same period , and from tbe same source . Facsimiles of the Kilwinning and Aitcheson Haven charges are given in the history of Mary ' s Chapel Lodge ; and 1 respectfully suggest that Bro .

Vernon should compare the caligraphy of those documents with the Melrose MS ., and tell us the result . Bro . Murray Lycn states that Kilwinning was in the practice of selling copies of her copy of the " Charges " to lodges . Other lodges may have followed a similar practice . If Bro . Vernon will look into the " Freemasons' Magazine " ( published ten years ago by the " Freemasons' Magazine "

Company , London ) , and other Masonic publications about that date , he will find many instructive archaiological articles by Bro . W . P . Buchan , who was then a large contributor to Masonic literature . In some of these magazines , too , he will find everything that can be said about the Melrose Lodge . P . M . No . 1 , S . C .

YA ' OKDSVVORill's "COCA PILLS" llic ancccsata remedy for Elceplceisiicss , neuralgia , and Hay fever . >« , per box . 'llomu * pathic Chemist , 6 , Sloane-strcet , London ,

Reviews.

Reviews .

THE LETTERS OF THE YOUNGER PLINY , Translated by J . D . LEWIS , M . A . Trubner & Co ., Ludgate Hill . Curiously enough only three English translations of these famous epistles are in existence . The versions of Mel moth and Lord Orrery , both published about the middle of the last century , are now only to be found in the

libraries of the great or of book collectors , and are somewhat scarce . Mr . Bohn some little time back published an edition of Melmoth ' s translation , but with some adaptations and modifications . And even the two versions named are not most inviting to the general reader , and though they may be fairly , we think , said to contain a true representation , on the whole , of the mind and meaning of

the writer , they cannot be considered literal translations of the Latin ofthe man whom the Emperor Trajan addressed as " my dear Secundus . " Mr . Lewis has accordingly produced a translation based on the text of " Keil , " and we , having read the book through , can honestly say that he has done his work well . Some little doubt may here and there perhaps exist , whether in intricate passages

and obscure Latinity he is always correct , but such little points are lew anel far bettveen , and only serve , in our opinion , to set off the gen-ral fidelity and accuracy of the work . And how interesting to us still are these letters of Pliny the Younger , in the glimpses they give us , so true and minute , endued with a sort of word painting of the old world life of Imperial Rome , rapidly

hastening to its deciy and fall . We seem , as we read his frank and animated letters , to live over again the scenes well known to our " classic youth , " to see and converse with the very persons whom we have often heard of , and whose works we have studied and read . We see Rome depicted as it really was in Trajan ' s days by one who , a successful lawyer and a distinguished

statesman , had every opportunity of knowing the facts he describes so well ; who was above all temptations to deceit , all imputations of paitiality , and who seems to recount the daily doings he talks of so easily and so confidentially , as a faithful and close record of things as they really were . Such a witness is very valuable , such a writer deserves loth perusil and reliance . We who have

studied the annals of the past , know how difficult it is to discriminate between truth and falsehood , owing to the animus of the historian or the peculiar colouring which in consequence of predisposing influences or preconceived opinions , he gives to well-known contemporaries or passing events . Horace Walpole , delightful as a Utter writer , has always to be reid cautiously when he touches upon

historical facts , and his so-called historical works are valueless as authoiities for the student of history . Even that great writer , Lord Maciulay , though he will always be admired ( or thc grace of his dicti-n , and the point of his antithesis , and his admirable collocation of words , will in another generation not be looked up to as an authority on what is most important , after all—historical accuracy and

fairness . And almost the same may be said , more or less , of all our historians . But , when we open the pages of Pliny , we are struck with his fairness and his accuracy . Perhaps it was his legal training ; perhaps it was his " mens a * qua ; " perhaps it was his own narrow escape from the brutal cruelties of Domitian , which made him adopt that

admirable spirit of liberal and enlightened appreciation of things and persons , which renders his letters so valuable a picture of the public and private life of the age he lived in . In his dealing with the Christians Pliny has justly incurred grave censure , and was practically rebuked by Trajan . Like all the Roman statesmen , he seems to have looked upon the Christians as a " secret

fraternity " more than anything else , and records , with a sort of unctuous ^ satisfaction , worthy ol an Inquisitor , or a callous persecutor of his brethren , how he tortured two poor eleacouesses to get at the truth and meaning of the " secret assemblies . " As is well known to us Masons , Pliny ' s letters contain Trojan's reply to a request to establish a guild of firemen , ( not of Masons , as some older Masonic

writers had il ) , which is a negative one , on thc ground ol their becoming " secret societies . " The Collegia of the Romans , no doubt , sometimes played the part of secret fraternities , but from fiem undoubtedly thc Fraternity or Guild of Freemasons tool : its rise , ( as all guilds did ) , and

handed down through Anglo-Saxon times those sodalities those sodalities which afterwards played such an important part in the social , domastic , and building life of England . To many of our reading brethren we commend this edition of Pliny ' s letters , as a like useful and entertaining in the highest manner .

London Masonic Charity Association.

LONDON MASONIC CHARITY ASSOCIATION .

Communique ; . Wc understand that thisuselul and growing Association has been very successful in the recent elections , having succeeded in carrying , or aiding to carry , three girls anel three laced its female candidates such

boys , and having p m a position as to render , humanly speaking , the election of two certain next April , and a third probable and possible . We are glad to think that the objects of the Association are becoming more and more appreciated and their honest labours zealously supported .

The Fifteen Sections will be worked by the members of the Metropolitan Lodge of Instruction , No . 105 G , at the Portugal Hotel , Fleet-street , on Friday next , the 24 th instant . The Ioe ' ge will be opened at 6 p . iv . precisely .