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-To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE F REEMASON being ¦ now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed o the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ ofthe Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , FLEET STREET , LONDON , E . C .

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MOTICE , The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is now 10 s . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 45 . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . III ., ditto 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance .

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NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS . —? — The Office of'THE FREEMASON is new transferred , lo 198 , FLEET STREET , E . C . All communications for the Editor or Publi . her should therefore be forwarded to that address .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

——*—MARRIAGE . RAWSTONE—HESKETH . — On loth August , at St . Paul ' s , Knightsbridge , by the Hon . and Rev . Robert Liddell , Lawrence Rawstone , Esq ., of Penwortham Priory and Hutlon Hall , Lancaster , to Edith Elizabeth , eldest daughter of R . W . Bio . Sir Thomas Fermor Hesketh , Bart ., M . P . for Preston , and Prov . G . Master fur W . Lancashire .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

? — All communications for Tim FRRKMASOX should lie written tr ° ihh on one . side of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion m the current number , must he received not l . \ ter than io o'clock a m on Ihursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of svery writer must be scut to us in confidence . P . M . 40 . —Under the circumstances the Senior P . M . could claim the right to perform the ceremony , but the Book of Consiitutions does not provide for such an emergency , as the W . M . is supposed to be competent to perform the work , if present .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , AUGUST 19 , 1871 .

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Tin FKBKMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for The price of THK FHEBMASON is Twopence per *««!__ •annual -. ubscr . pt . oo , 10 s . ( payable in advance ) . ' lnuM J 9 t ! F | « l "" " , E ? cV " terS ' ' ' ° » daressed to the EDITOR The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him aU rT" Unde , lal ' * t 0 relurn tl , " n unle " accompanied bJ postal

A Masonic Literary Institute.

A MASONIC LITERARY INSTITUTE .

LAST week we inserted a communication from a well-known brother respecting the Rosfcrucian Society , a body but little

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known to the Craft in general , although its operations in the sphere of Masonic literature have been attended with greater suecess than those of more pretentious

associations . It has always seemed to us an anomaly—to say the least—that notwithstanding the fact that there are many learned and scientific men amongst the

members of the Masonic Order , we have yet no accredited organisation for the advancement of Masonic knowledge . It is true that an " Archaeological Institute " was

founded , with a great flourish of trumpets , two or three years ago , and it is equally true that its membership comprised names like those of Bros . Glaisher , Hyde Clarke ,

and Besant , which would reflect credit upon any literary or philosophical society . But , unforiunately , the . tares creep in with the wheat , and it is rumoured that the fair

prospects of the Institute were blighted through the inability of certain parties to keep its accounts in the old-fashioned style of debit

and credit . If this rumour be even partially correct , it gives birth to the melancholy reflection that the presence of a " Cocker " at the Council Board of the "Institute "

might have saved the archaeologists from the discredit which is always more or less associated in the popular mind with the fact of failure . From another point of view

our retrospective glance at the subject is somewhat painful , inasmuch as we personally invested the sum of five guineas in the " Institute , " in the hope of deriving

much pleasure and profit therefrom—a hope which , we need scarcely add , neither has been , is now , nor is ever likely to be , realised . Having ourselves fallen into the

snare , we can sympathise with our brethren in misfortune , and yet in spite of the sad experience which we , in common with other quondam optimists , have thus

acquired , we resolutely maintain that the Craft ought to possess an archtejlogical , literary , or other similar institute , composed of the intellectual or true elite of the Order .

Always , of course , premising lhat the doctrine of victim and tiium be sedulously impressed upon the minds of those who may honour the society by taking care of

its funds ; and , secondly , that the books , receipts , and other documents be enclosed , as a precaution against possible accidents , in one of Mliner ' s best lire-proof safes .

There can be no doubt that in Masonic investigations some of the highest faculiies of the human mind may be usefully employed—the range for thought and

speculation being almost illimitable . The labours of Oliver have to some extent , it is true , opened a path to the untrodden expanse of Masonic lore , but his conclusions are

after all , but texts upon which to found sermons . The affinity of our secret system to the ancient religious rites—the similarity between our present organisation and that

ofthe Dionysian artificers , or of the Roman architects—are subjects which demand patient and impartial enquiry before we can venture to pronounce ex cathedrd that modern Freemasonry is the direct successor

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of the operative guilds of the Middle Ages . The theory of progressive development seems to offer the best solution of the problem , but it rests at present upon such a

shadowy basis , and is supported by such an incongruous array of evidence , that no honest Masonic student can consider the question settled . Now , what we want is

an association of men competent to sift and to compare , to analyse and to scrutinise , the proofs , or supposed proofs , of the antiquity of the Craft , We

want such an association to be composed of the leading minds in the Order , of the real aristocracy of thought , the kings of intellect , before whose decisions the

Fraternity would cheerfully bow . Not that we desire to exclude the humblest seeker after knowledge , but the " blue riband " of the

association should be confined to men who had distinguished themselves in the arena of literature and science . If Smith or

Brown , Jones or Robinson , is anxious to play the oracle , let him seek some more congenial sphere , and not bring ridicule upon a professedly learned body by a

ludicrous display of his crass ignorance . Let such men , we say , keep aloof , and allow their intellectual betters the place which they improperly assume . There must

always be , we are well aware , a large proportion of superficial thinkers in all literary sodalities ; but , as a rule , their measure is soon gauged , and their relative position

speedily determined . A bitter saying is on record , that a certain army was composed of lions but led by asses , and really this seems to have been the case in Freemasonry

so far as its literary progress is concerned . A plausible , pompous fool , with more shirtcollar than brains , will very often affect to be the Jupiter Tonans of a society which

counts within its ranks men of culture and consummate ability . Some brethren through sheer stupidity , but more from

apathy or indifference , tacitly admit hiS pretensions , and the great man forthwith sits enthroned on a pedestal of his own manufacture . The establishment of a

Masonic Literary , Archteological , and Scientific Institute upon a just and equitable basis , and under the auspices of a dozen men of talent and integrity , would have the

happy effect of deposing such usurpers and of re-asserting for Freemasonry its undoubted claims to veneration as a fount of light and wisdom .

Our own columns furnish valuable evidence of the fact that Masonic scholars and critics are to be found , as the varied contributions from the pens of Bros . Hughan

Lyon , Carpenter , Paton , Buchan , and others , will readily attest . We are also convinced that a large meed of support would be extended by the members of the

Craft generally , to ensure the success of such an Institute , if they were once satisfied that its affairs would be conducted in a

proper manner . The prosperity of the Rosicruci . in Society , as stated by our correspondent last week , is to be ascribed primarily to the confidence inspired by the