Our Visitors From New York.

Lodges in the United States of North America , a Grand Lodge which can boast of having no less than 720 lodges and upwards of 75 , 000 subscribing members on its roll . Personally , too , he is a man of good position , and in himself most estimable . From the address he delivered at the Annual Communication of his Grand

Lodge in the early days of last month , it is evident that Bro . VROOMAN is a man of energy and ability , and that he is actuated by the very honourable ambition of making his term of office as successful as those of his ablest predecessors . Our readers are probably aware that to Bro . FRANK R . LAWRENCE , the immediate

Past G . M . of New York , the Grand Lodge of the Empire State is indebted for its present freedom from those pecuniary incumbrances which had weighed so heavily upon it for a long period of years ; and there is every reason to believe that during

Bro . VROOMAN ' S Grand Mastership an Asylum will be erected for the accommodation of indigent and aged brethren , for their widows , and for the children of deceased or indigent brethren , of whom the men and women will be housed and maintained

in comfort during their declining years , while the children will be maintained , clothed , and educated . A suitable plot of ground has been obtained , the necessary funds for the erection of the building have been raised , and at the annual meeting of Grand Lodge it was determined that steps should be taken as speedily

as possible for building the Home . Thus , as we have just said , there is every probability that Bro . VROOMAN ' S term of office will , in its particular way , be as successful as that of Bro . LAWRENCE . As to his fellow visitors , though of less exalted rank in the Craft , have nevertheless done good service to Freemasonry , and will

doubtless have further opportunities of distinguishing themselves , so that our Anglo-American Lodge has been indeed most fortunate in- this as in all its previous opportunities , and well deserves the thanks of all English Craftsmen for the manner in which it has acquitted itself of its duties and responsibilities .

"Masonic Reprints," Vol. Ii.

"MASONIC REPRINTS , " Vol . II .

The second oldest Masonic MS . in the British Museum , known as the " Matthew Cooke " by the Craft , but officially as "Additional MS ., 23 , 198 , " has been reproduced in absolute facsimile by Mr . F . Compton Price for the "Masonic Reprints " series of the "Quatuor Coronati" Lodge . It is simply

perfection and fidelity itself . Having now the oldest two documents so faithfully reproduced , we are able to value all the more the important Commentary by Bro . R . F . Gould appended to the

senior , the "Regius MS ., " and can carefully note his weighty observations in relation to the period in question , historically and Masonically , side by side with the able introduction to the" Cooke MS . " by Bro . G . W . Speth .

These two Commentaries are far beyond all others of the kind , and prove how thorough and how accurate have been the investigations of these diligent and enthusiastic Masonic students . For my part , I feel exceedingly indebted to Bros . Gould and Speth for their invaluable labours and scholarly papers relative

to the oldest documents of the Fraternity , and feel confident that when the Commentary on the " Cooke MS . " by the latter brother has been duly studied by competent Craftsmen , they will all share my opinion as to its conspicuous ability , originality of treatment , and sustained interest throughout .

Having been engaged myself for over a quarter of a century in unearthing copies of these " Old Charges , " and reporting as to their scope and character , I have not only earned the right to speak somewhat emphatically on the subject , but , knowing as I do intimately all these old scrolls , dating from the fourteenth

century down to modern days , I can without any hesitation declare that Gould ' s Commentary on the " Regius MS . " and Speth ' s on the " Matthew Cooke MS ., " are , as authoritative and trustworthy guides , as far superior to all others issued heretofore on the subject as the two facsimiles surpass in beauty and accuracy all previous reproductions .

The Additional MS ., 23 , 198 , came into the hands of the British Museum in 18 59 by purchase from Mrs . Caroline Baker . The late principal Librarian , Mr . E . A . Bond , believes that its date must be ascribed to the "first half of the 15 th century , " but until his opinion was announced , it was generally dated late

in that century , possibly because in the very useful reproduction of the MS . edited by the late Bro . Matthew Cooke in 1861 ( hence its ordinary Masonic title ) , and published by Spencer and Co ., the word p ' eryd , or pretty < d , is translated as printed , whereas , as Bro . Speth points out , it should be proved , or trustworthy .

Herr Findel styled it the " Cooke-Baker document , " because Dr . Rawlinson mentioned a Roll owned by " Mr . Baker , a carpenter in Moorfields , " about A . D . 1 730 . This title , however , is a misleading one , and the reference most unhappy , as they had nothing in common but the name . The one was a Roll , as noted , and the other is , and always was , in book form .

"Masonic Reprints," Vol. Ii.

Two beautiful copies of this MS . are in existence , preserved in the Grand Library of the Supreme Council , Golden-square , and the rapidly-increasing collection of the " Quatuor Coronati " Lodge respectively . Bro . Speth makes not a few startling assertions in his

introduction , but he gives " chapter and verse" for them all . Many of these are of special importance , because they throw quite a new light on the character of the MS ., and invest the document with such a high value as a version of the " Old Charges , " that , granting the claim—as it seems to me we

mustthis " Matthew Cooke MS . " is in reality a copy of the " Old Charges " prefaced by a Commentary by the compiler . Not only so , but the second part is unquestionably " the oldest and purest version yet come to lig ht of the Book of Charges or manuscript Constitutions of Masonry . "

To our friend is due the discovery that down to line 642 the composition is of a later date than that from line 643 to the end ; and after the most careful treatment of the document he proves that the second portion was only cited by the author of the first part , the whole , however , being copied by the scribe as if one

manuscript . That it is not an original but a transcript seems quite clear , and that being so , whilst the transcript may fairly be dated the early part of the fifteenth century , the original cannot be less than a hundred years earlier still , and may represent a text even of the thirteenth century . Bro . Speth declares this

copy of the " Old Charges " is the purest , least altered copy of these Constitutions that has at present come down to us , and , therefore , the most valuable , far exceeding in intrinsic worth the metrical version of it preserved to us in the Regius MS ., No . 17 A . L , because less altered by poetical license .

In other words , with two exceptions , the second part of the MS . may be the exact counterpart of the first and original " Constitution . " The language differing , and possibly " the original version began with King Athelstan , the legend of Euclid

representing the first of a long series of embellishments applied throughout the ages to the laws of the Craft . " Separate the second portion from the introductory Commentary , " and it assumes its proper place , as the head of all the old Constitutions , the earliest , purest , and most important yet discovered . "

It is curious to note that in one particular especially this venerable document is superior to the later versions . I refer to its statement that the assembly was presided over by a Master , as noted by Bro . Speth .

" The Maister that is pryncipalle of the gedevynge . Moreover , the use of the word " speculative " in the fifteenth century or earlier , just as we do now , Masonically , is another curious point brought out prominently in the Commentary , and

its preservation is claimed to be due " to the Masons themselves alone . " The legal enacfments , in force at the period in question , are represented by the " articles , " but the "points" are " mere internal arrangements" peculiar to Guild life in common .

There are many other deeply interesting matters elucidated by Bro . Speth , and explanations offered by him , more or less satisfactory , but as to these I must defer offering any remarks at present . The usefulness of the work is greatly increased by a free translation into modern English of the old MS ., which must have been considerable labour for Bro . Speth to accomplish .

The "Lansdowne" and "Harleian" MSS ., also reproduced , I hope to refer to in a second article , for all three documents are given in this noble volume . W . J . HUGHAN .

SYMBOLISM OF COLOURS . —This is a subject on which a good deal may be said and has been written without in our humble opinion any very definite result . Much no doubt may be advanced , as has been advanced by mystical writers on this subject , and there may be some groundwork of truth in a good deal that has been put forward ; but for the most part we are free to confess , that their

deductions as well as their premises appear to us both arbitrary and hypothetical even at the best . Oliver says that the Masonic colours , like the Jewish Tabernacle , are intended to represent the four elements . The white typifies the earth , the sea is represented by the purple , the sky-blue is an emblem of the air , and the crimson of fire . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry .

COLLEGE OV CLERMONT . —A well-known college of the Jesuits in Paris , where James II . resided until he settled at St . Germain en Lave . It has been said that his partisans organised there a Chapter of Freemasons , which gave its name to Bonneville ' s Chapter of Clermont . Many of the German writers apparentl y believe in the actual formation of a system of Jesuit Masonry , but we confess to have grave doubts on the subject . VVe do not wish to deny the probability and

possibility of the supporters of the Stuart dynasty making use of the secrecy of Freemasonry , and even accommodating it to their own purposes , but we hesitate much to accept the statement of a Jesuit organisation . That individual Roman Catholics , and even Jesuits , may have been Freemasons , is probably true , but Freemasonry and Jesuitism are as opposed as light and darkness . Those who favour this theory rely a good deal on Bonneville ' s work ; but then we are inclined to think that this was onl y a good specimen at the time of Masonic sensational

literature . On the whole , with the exceptions to which we have adverted , we do not believe in any actual or general Jesuit use of Masonry . In the second part of Bonneville ' s work , which he calls " Moralite des quatre Vceux , " etc ., we are aware he ^ peks to establish a parallel between the four Ignatian vows and the four grades of Masonry as he terms them . But we think his arguments very weak indeed . Indeed , as we said before , there is no solid foundation for his theory , in our humble opinion . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry .