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Original Correspondence.
I don ' t know much of the Rochdale high degrees which have been , already gibbeted by one of the American papers , but I should like to know , as a matter of curiosity , what governing body in the whole world recognises them . The fact is , I suspect , that they are about as highly-esteemed amongst
Masons as the American Masonic M . A . is by the members of our own Universities . I should like to make one suggestion , which is this : The givers of these irregular degrees are responsible to no one . The Supreme Grand Council is a regularly-constituted body whose members are
well known , one of them being the Earl of Carnarvon , Deputy G . M . of England . The S . G . C . requires brethren who wish to cultivate the ineffable degrees to be at least of one year ' s standing and well recommended as Master Masons before they are eligible for the Rose Croix . It seems unfortunate that of
late some brethren have been well recommended who were not worthy . Candidates for the 30 must be Rose Croix Masons of at least three years' standing , or they must have held , or still occupy , the position of M . W . S . of a Rose Croix chapter . Members of the 31 ° are selected by the S . G . C . for their
zeal in Masonry , their attainments literary or otherwise , their high social position , and the fact that they are " bright" or "learned" Masons . From this body the 32 are selected , and from the last-named dignified circle the ranks of the S . G . C . itself are filled .
I am not certain that the principle of selection is not in itself as good as that of election . Of this I am certain , that in the A . and A . Rite a Mason who is worth anything is certain to get on . I am not at all sure that this is so in the Craft . Look , for instance , at the appointment of Grand Officers .
How often is Grand rank given to members from tile provinces , and what chance has a provincial Mason ( no matter how learned in Masonry he may be ) of ever attaining the purple ? I answer , unhesitatingly , that as a general rule he has none at all . Dr . Oliver , to whom . Masonry owes more than to
any living Mason ( except , perhaps , Dr . Beaumont Leeson ) , was made a member of the 33 ° ; what honours did Grand Lodge confer upon him ? Bro . Ashworth seems to doubt my knowledge of the hautcs grades , and so far as the Rochdale degrees are concerned I am fain to acknowledge I am
lamentably ignorant as to their history and origin . Perhaps Bro . A . will favour us with some evidence as to their time-immemorial character . The Ancient and Accepted Rite is the most widely spread in the world , Supreme Grand Councils of the 33 existing in almost every country in Europe
and America . Which of these Supreme Bodies knows of Bro . Ashworth's existence as a Rochdale 30 or 32 ( whichever he is ) , and which of them recognise his degrees ? If Bro . Ashworth knows anything of the A . and A . Rite , he must be aware that one Supreme Grand Council only can exist in 0
any kingdom , and that the 32 can only be conferred by the S . G . C . I suppose Bro . A . is scarcely prepared to say that the 32 ° ever existed outside or apart from the A and A . Rite since the appointment of Frederick the Great as the first Sovereign Grand Inspector-General 33 . As to the imputation of
forged charters and warrants , wc had' better not go into that question ; it cuts both ways , and drags in the Craft as well as the higher degrees . * I have very little to say to " Vampire , " except that it was not I who first proposed to expound Masonic law , but Bro . Yarker , to whom I beg to refer him .
" Vampire ' wishes to know if any man of honour , knowing the history of the S . G . C , can retain membership with it . I reply that there are two or three thousand of us whose names are not unknown amongst our brethren of the Craft , and who are
proud to be owned as members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . Following the example of such good Masons as " Lupus" and a " Masonic Student , " I am not so anxious as some Masons to puff my name before the Craft , but am quite content again to sign myself
A MASON WHO BELIEVES IN HIS O . B .
* The proof of the Charleston warrant and statutes not being a forgery is to be found in the 3 rd volume of " Histoire secrete de la cour de Berlin , " par Jlirabeau . [ We have omitted a portion of our correspondent ' s letter which referred to the Rite of Misraim ,
inasmuch as we have reason to believe that negociations are now in progress which will ensure an amicable and Masonic solution of the difficulty . Under these circumstances , we must now close the discussiou .-. n the subject . —ED . F . ]
KNIGHT TEMPLARISM AND MASONRY ,
( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Some time back I had the misfortune to incur the displeasure of one of your contributors who signs himself "Enquiring Brother , " pressure of business has hitherto prevented me from paying so much attention to the
Original Correspondence.
question ( Knight Templarism in connection with Masonry ) as I should have desired . If my memory serves me right , " Enquiring Brother " wished to repudiate any connection between Knight Templarism and Masonry ; and as both of us cannot be in the right , I may be allowed to give my reason for
thinking that the Knight Templars who took their rise during the Crusades in 1125 , if they did not openly practise Masonry they must have been very well versed in the theory of it . To make a long story as short as possible , there is little doubt , if any , of the connection between the three degrees
commonly called St . John ' s , or Blue Masonry , and Royal Arch Masonry . Certainly there is some obscurity respecting its first introduction into this country , and the principal cause of this obscurity is that while St . John ' s Masonry has been always in connection with public buildings , the greater part
of Royal Arch Masonry has been practised only in private . The earliest printed notice of it is an address by Lawrence Dermott to the " Gentlemen of the Fraternity , " published about the middle of last century , in allusion to the differences between the ancient and modern Grand Lodges of England . He
asks whether it is possible to initiate or introduce a modem Mason , into a Royal Arch Lodge ( the very essence of Masonry ) without making him go through ancient ceremonies . " In " La Mcconnerie considered comme le resultat des Religious Egytienne Juine et Chretienne" ( by M . Reghellini
de Schio ) , torn 11 ., page 124 , it is said : un de reformateurs les plus accredited fut le Chavalier Ramsay Eccossais ; il crea en 1728 un nouveau rite aux trois Grades symboliques il en ajouta quartre autres base ' s sur de nouvelles institutions et doctrines i ° L'Eccossais , 2 ° Le Novice , 3 ° Le Cher
du Temple , enfin le 4 et le dernier des sept , etait le Royal Arch "sous l'enibleme duquel 1 'Eglise est toujours symbolisde ; " and the same words are used in torn ii ., page 59 , of the " Historie de Franc-Magons , " by Dubrenvil , a fictitious name adopted by Reghellini . As , however , no other author notices
the R . A . in connection with Ramsay ' s system , there is reason to suppose that Reghellini is mistaken , and the passage is merely alluded to to show the opinion entertained as to a connection between Royal Arch Masonry and the Masonry of the Temple . The third of the degrees is most
probably the same as the Red Cross degree permitted to be granted by Scottish Royal Arch Chapters . Ramsay is said to have created a new system , and to have alleged that it was brought from the East by Godfrey du Boullon at the time of the Crusades . In so far as Ramsay invented new
degrees , the assertion may be correct ; but the system which gave rise to his degrees was previously well know in England and Scotland . Ramsay's degrees were founded on by the Chapter of Clermont in 1745 , and 5 t was then or soon after that Baron Hund drew up the account of Masonry for the
lodges of the Strict Observance , in which all the degrees , even the most fundamental , are derived from the persecutions of the Templars in 1307-1 3 " . In Scotland , as well as England and Ireland , there has always been a close connection between
Royal Arch Masonry and Masonic Templarism , and scarcely half a century has elapsed since these were placed under two distinct governing bodies . Some time ago there were mentioned , among other Masonic relics in the kingdom , two rudelyengraved plates in possession of the Stirling
Ancient Lodge , to which I will briefly take notice . One of them relates to the two first degrees of Freemasonry—the other contains , on the one side , certain emblems belonging to a Master ' s Lodge , and on the reverse , five figures . The one at the top is called the " Redd Cross , or Ark . " At the bottom
is a series of concentric arches , which might be mistaken for a rainbow were there not a keystone at the summit , indicative of an arch . The three other figures are enclosed within a border—the upper is called the " Sepulchre ; " the second , " Knights of Malta ; " and the third , " Knight
Templar . " The age of these plates is unknown , but they can scarcely be more modern than the beginning or middle of the seventeenth century . The lodge itself never mixed up these degrees with St . John ' s Masonry—they formed a different series , and about the beginning of the last century a
complete separation into two lodges took place , the new lodge soon beginning also to grant the three degrees of Blue Masonry . The Ancient Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736 , but the new one , called the Royal Arch , remained independent until 1759 . After it received its charter
by which it was debarred by the Grand Lodge from practising the higher degrees , another division took place ; but until 1811 , when a Supreme Encampment of Knights Templars was formed in Scotland , and a further separation of degrees took place , the
above high degrees were all conferred in a Royal Arch Chapter , or rather Knight Templar Encampment . It is now well known that , although most authors allege that the chivalrous Order of Knights Templar was entirely extirpated in 1309 , a rem-
Original Correspondence.
nant was preserved in this country ( Scotland ) , their preservation being chiefly owing to the wars of King Robert Bruce and Edwardof England . There are even some modern foreign degrees of Templar Masonry to which Knights of Malta are refused admittance on account of their supposed assistance
in overwhelming the Templars , and of having obtained possession of part of their estates ; but sufficient public documents have been collected to show that in Scotland their animosity , if any did exist , was extinguished as early as the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century , and that the
two bodies resided amicably together in the same preceptories . This union continued until the era of the Reformation , when many , both of the Templars and the Knights of St . John , embraced the Protestant faith , and laying aside their arms , fraternized with the Freemasons . Although others of the
Templars appear to have preserved the chivalnc or military character of their Order , and handed it down to the time when Prince Charles Edward Stuart was elected Grand Master of Holyrood in 1745 , still as a body they seemed to have lived in obscurity ; and therefore it is to the Masonic
branch that the Knights Templar of the present day still hold their chief seat in Scotland , and to them they are mainly indebted for the preservation of the ceremonies used at a reception . It is generally understood that the Knights of [ St . John had no secret ceremonial , and therefore one now called
the Masonic Knights of Malta must heve been instituted in imitation of that of the Templars ; but whether , during their residence together before 1650 or after , they had formed an alliance with the Freemasons cannot now be satisfactorily demonstrated . The former appears the more probable
because the Knights of St . John could have no object in joining the Freemasons , unless for the preservation of those rites which for some time previous they had been accustomed to practise . Now , when we find those degrees , as well as the Royal Arch , mixed up , as already alluded to , in an old
plate belonging to the Stirling Ancient Lodge , and that none of these degrees were granted in the Common Lodge , as the minutes show , but in an annexed lodge or chapter solely for those degrees , there is a strong presumption that all were introduced by the Knights Templar and the Knights of
Malta . Lawrie ' s " History of Freemasonry " ( page 83-88 , or ed . 2 , page 41-44 ) says : " It is not to be supposed , however , that the Knights Templar wore aprons or Masonic emblems , as we do , or practised our three degrees of Craft Masonry ; but they
could scarcely have mixed with Syriac fraternities common at that period in the East , without obtaining a knowledge , not only of the elementary degrees , but also of the supplementary portion , or the mode of filling up the void left in the third degree , to complete which is the end and aim of all systems of
true Masonry . " Much more on this subject could be said , but I think this is sufficient to show that Templarism and Blue Masonry are , and have been for some time , closer connected than a casual reader would have [ been' led to infer . I ; had hoped that some of
the brethren deeper read in the question than myself would have taken the question up j but as it is , what I have given are from good authority , and I only hope "An Inquiring Brother" will not put them down as " Bald Statements , " without
inquiring carefully into them . I am yours fraternally , CHARLES G . FORSYTH .
Dunoon , Argyleshire , April 15 th , 1871 .
THE ladies of San Francisco have been long working very steadily for Female Suffrage , but , as usual , not without meeting abundance of serious opposition . A Californian paper now expends its wrath on a terrible innovation , worse than that of women at the ballot-box—it is known as the
Freemasons' Lodge . The Irish lady of the St . Leger family who in the last century managed to surprise the secret of her father ' s friends , and was afterwards admitted into the Order , has been , it seems , left far behind by the go-ahead dames of the Far West . It is , we are told , ' a remark now often heard from
the lips of women , 'lama Mason . I am going to my lodge to-night . I have taken so many degrees . '" The disgusted complainant asks , How is it possible for women to undergo the ordeal of initiation , in which , as he or she informs us , are included the ceremonies of riding on a goat , and being put on a gridiron and into a coffin ? The
indignation of the writer is directed against the insult done to Freemasonry by admitting women to its sacred mysteries . If the mysteries were such as she imagines , it is the women who are insulted by being invited to share-them . But how extraordinary it is that people should always assume there is something ridiculous or improper in any assembly to which they are not admitted . Echo *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
I don ' t know much of the Rochdale high degrees which have been , already gibbeted by one of the American papers , but I should like to know , as a matter of curiosity , what governing body in the whole world recognises them . The fact is , I suspect , that they are about as highly-esteemed amongst
Masons as the American Masonic M . A . is by the members of our own Universities . I should like to make one suggestion , which is this : The givers of these irregular degrees are responsible to no one . The Supreme Grand Council is a regularly-constituted body whose members are
well known , one of them being the Earl of Carnarvon , Deputy G . M . of England . The S . G . C . requires brethren who wish to cultivate the ineffable degrees to be at least of one year ' s standing and well recommended as Master Masons before they are eligible for the Rose Croix . It seems unfortunate that of
late some brethren have been well recommended who were not worthy . Candidates for the 30 must be Rose Croix Masons of at least three years' standing , or they must have held , or still occupy , the position of M . W . S . of a Rose Croix chapter . Members of the 31 ° are selected by the S . G . C . for their
zeal in Masonry , their attainments literary or otherwise , their high social position , and the fact that they are " bright" or "learned" Masons . From this body the 32 are selected , and from the last-named dignified circle the ranks of the S . G . C . itself are filled .
I am not certain that the principle of selection is not in itself as good as that of election . Of this I am certain , that in the A . and A . Rite a Mason who is worth anything is certain to get on . I am not at all sure that this is so in the Craft . Look , for instance , at the appointment of Grand Officers .
How often is Grand rank given to members from tile provinces , and what chance has a provincial Mason ( no matter how learned in Masonry he may be ) of ever attaining the purple ? I answer , unhesitatingly , that as a general rule he has none at all . Dr . Oliver , to whom . Masonry owes more than to
any living Mason ( except , perhaps , Dr . Beaumont Leeson ) , was made a member of the 33 ° ; what honours did Grand Lodge confer upon him ? Bro . Ashworth seems to doubt my knowledge of the hautcs grades , and so far as the Rochdale degrees are concerned I am fain to acknowledge I am
lamentably ignorant as to their history and origin . Perhaps Bro . A . will favour us with some evidence as to their time-immemorial character . The Ancient and Accepted Rite is the most widely spread in the world , Supreme Grand Councils of the 33 existing in almost every country in Europe
and America . Which of these Supreme Bodies knows of Bro . Ashworth's existence as a Rochdale 30 or 32 ( whichever he is ) , and which of them recognise his degrees ? If Bro . Ashworth knows anything of the A . and A . Rite , he must be aware that one Supreme Grand Council only can exist in 0
any kingdom , and that the 32 can only be conferred by the S . G . C . I suppose Bro . A . is scarcely prepared to say that the 32 ° ever existed outside or apart from the A and A . Rite since the appointment of Frederick the Great as the first Sovereign Grand Inspector-General 33 . As to the imputation of
forged charters and warrants , wc had' better not go into that question ; it cuts both ways , and drags in the Craft as well as the higher degrees . * I have very little to say to " Vampire , " except that it was not I who first proposed to expound Masonic law , but Bro . Yarker , to whom I beg to refer him .
" Vampire ' wishes to know if any man of honour , knowing the history of the S . G . C , can retain membership with it . I reply that there are two or three thousand of us whose names are not unknown amongst our brethren of the Craft , and who are
proud to be owned as members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . Following the example of such good Masons as " Lupus" and a " Masonic Student , " I am not so anxious as some Masons to puff my name before the Craft , but am quite content again to sign myself
A MASON WHO BELIEVES IN HIS O . B .
* The proof of the Charleston warrant and statutes not being a forgery is to be found in the 3 rd volume of " Histoire secrete de la cour de Berlin , " par Jlirabeau . [ We have omitted a portion of our correspondent ' s letter which referred to the Rite of Misraim ,
inasmuch as we have reason to believe that negociations are now in progress which will ensure an amicable and Masonic solution of the difficulty . Under these circumstances , we must now close the discussiou .-. n the subject . —ED . F . ]
KNIGHT TEMPLARISM AND MASONRY ,
( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Some time back I had the misfortune to incur the displeasure of one of your contributors who signs himself "Enquiring Brother , " pressure of business has hitherto prevented me from paying so much attention to the
Original Correspondence.
question ( Knight Templarism in connection with Masonry ) as I should have desired . If my memory serves me right , " Enquiring Brother " wished to repudiate any connection between Knight Templarism and Masonry ; and as both of us cannot be in the right , I may be allowed to give my reason for
thinking that the Knight Templars who took their rise during the Crusades in 1125 , if they did not openly practise Masonry they must have been very well versed in the theory of it . To make a long story as short as possible , there is little doubt , if any , of the connection between the three degrees
commonly called St . John ' s , or Blue Masonry , and Royal Arch Masonry . Certainly there is some obscurity respecting its first introduction into this country , and the principal cause of this obscurity is that while St . John ' s Masonry has been always in connection with public buildings , the greater part
of Royal Arch Masonry has been practised only in private . The earliest printed notice of it is an address by Lawrence Dermott to the " Gentlemen of the Fraternity , " published about the middle of last century , in allusion to the differences between the ancient and modern Grand Lodges of England . He
asks whether it is possible to initiate or introduce a modem Mason , into a Royal Arch Lodge ( the very essence of Masonry ) without making him go through ancient ceremonies . " In " La Mcconnerie considered comme le resultat des Religious Egytienne Juine et Chretienne" ( by M . Reghellini
de Schio ) , torn 11 ., page 124 , it is said : un de reformateurs les plus accredited fut le Chavalier Ramsay Eccossais ; il crea en 1728 un nouveau rite aux trois Grades symboliques il en ajouta quartre autres base ' s sur de nouvelles institutions et doctrines i ° L'Eccossais , 2 ° Le Novice , 3 ° Le Cher
du Temple , enfin le 4 et le dernier des sept , etait le Royal Arch "sous l'enibleme duquel 1 'Eglise est toujours symbolisde ; " and the same words are used in torn ii ., page 59 , of the " Historie de Franc-Magons , " by Dubrenvil , a fictitious name adopted by Reghellini . As , however , no other author notices
the R . A . in connection with Ramsay ' s system , there is reason to suppose that Reghellini is mistaken , and the passage is merely alluded to to show the opinion entertained as to a connection between Royal Arch Masonry and the Masonry of the Temple . The third of the degrees is most
probably the same as the Red Cross degree permitted to be granted by Scottish Royal Arch Chapters . Ramsay is said to have created a new system , and to have alleged that it was brought from the East by Godfrey du Boullon at the time of the Crusades . In so far as Ramsay invented new
degrees , the assertion may be correct ; but the system which gave rise to his degrees was previously well know in England and Scotland . Ramsay's degrees were founded on by the Chapter of Clermont in 1745 , and 5 t was then or soon after that Baron Hund drew up the account of Masonry for the
lodges of the Strict Observance , in which all the degrees , even the most fundamental , are derived from the persecutions of the Templars in 1307-1 3 " . In Scotland , as well as England and Ireland , there has always been a close connection between
Royal Arch Masonry and Masonic Templarism , and scarcely half a century has elapsed since these were placed under two distinct governing bodies . Some time ago there were mentioned , among other Masonic relics in the kingdom , two rudelyengraved plates in possession of the Stirling
Ancient Lodge , to which I will briefly take notice . One of them relates to the two first degrees of Freemasonry—the other contains , on the one side , certain emblems belonging to a Master ' s Lodge , and on the reverse , five figures . The one at the top is called the " Redd Cross , or Ark . " At the bottom
is a series of concentric arches , which might be mistaken for a rainbow were there not a keystone at the summit , indicative of an arch . The three other figures are enclosed within a border—the upper is called the " Sepulchre ; " the second , " Knights of Malta ; " and the third , " Knight
Templar . " The age of these plates is unknown , but they can scarcely be more modern than the beginning or middle of the seventeenth century . The lodge itself never mixed up these degrees with St . John ' s Masonry—they formed a different series , and about the beginning of the last century a
complete separation into two lodges took place , the new lodge soon beginning also to grant the three degrees of Blue Masonry . The Ancient Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736 , but the new one , called the Royal Arch , remained independent until 1759 . After it received its charter
by which it was debarred by the Grand Lodge from practising the higher degrees , another division took place ; but until 1811 , when a Supreme Encampment of Knights Templars was formed in Scotland , and a further separation of degrees took place , the
above high degrees were all conferred in a Royal Arch Chapter , or rather Knight Templar Encampment . It is now well known that , although most authors allege that the chivalrous Order of Knights Templar was entirely extirpated in 1309 , a rem-
Original Correspondence.
nant was preserved in this country ( Scotland ) , their preservation being chiefly owing to the wars of King Robert Bruce and Edwardof England . There are even some modern foreign degrees of Templar Masonry to which Knights of Malta are refused admittance on account of their supposed assistance
in overwhelming the Templars , and of having obtained possession of part of their estates ; but sufficient public documents have been collected to show that in Scotland their animosity , if any did exist , was extinguished as early as the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century , and that the
two bodies resided amicably together in the same preceptories . This union continued until the era of the Reformation , when many , both of the Templars and the Knights of St . John , embraced the Protestant faith , and laying aside their arms , fraternized with the Freemasons . Although others of the
Templars appear to have preserved the chivalnc or military character of their Order , and handed it down to the time when Prince Charles Edward Stuart was elected Grand Master of Holyrood in 1745 , still as a body they seemed to have lived in obscurity ; and therefore it is to the Masonic
branch that the Knights Templar of the present day still hold their chief seat in Scotland , and to them they are mainly indebted for the preservation of the ceremonies used at a reception . It is generally understood that the Knights of [ St . John had no secret ceremonial , and therefore one now called
the Masonic Knights of Malta must heve been instituted in imitation of that of the Templars ; but whether , during their residence together before 1650 or after , they had formed an alliance with the Freemasons cannot now be satisfactorily demonstrated . The former appears the more probable
because the Knights of St . John could have no object in joining the Freemasons , unless for the preservation of those rites which for some time previous they had been accustomed to practise . Now , when we find those degrees , as well as the Royal Arch , mixed up , as already alluded to , in an old
plate belonging to the Stirling Ancient Lodge , and that none of these degrees were granted in the Common Lodge , as the minutes show , but in an annexed lodge or chapter solely for those degrees , there is a strong presumption that all were introduced by the Knights Templar and the Knights of
Malta . Lawrie ' s " History of Freemasonry " ( page 83-88 , or ed . 2 , page 41-44 ) says : " It is not to be supposed , however , that the Knights Templar wore aprons or Masonic emblems , as we do , or practised our three degrees of Craft Masonry ; but they
could scarcely have mixed with Syriac fraternities common at that period in the East , without obtaining a knowledge , not only of the elementary degrees , but also of the supplementary portion , or the mode of filling up the void left in the third degree , to complete which is the end and aim of all systems of
true Masonry . " Much more on this subject could be said , but I think this is sufficient to show that Templarism and Blue Masonry are , and have been for some time , closer connected than a casual reader would have [ been' led to infer . I ; had hoped that some of
the brethren deeper read in the question than myself would have taken the question up j but as it is , what I have given are from good authority , and I only hope "An Inquiring Brother" will not put them down as " Bald Statements , " without
inquiring carefully into them . I am yours fraternally , CHARLES G . FORSYTH .
Dunoon , Argyleshire , April 15 th , 1871 .
THE ladies of San Francisco have been long working very steadily for Female Suffrage , but , as usual , not without meeting abundance of serious opposition . A Californian paper now expends its wrath on a terrible innovation , worse than that of women at the ballot-box—it is known as the
Freemasons' Lodge . The Irish lady of the St . Leger family who in the last century managed to surprise the secret of her father ' s friends , and was afterwards admitted into the Order , has been , it seems , left far behind by the go-ahead dames of the Far West . It is , we are told , ' a remark now often heard from
the lips of women , 'lama Mason . I am going to my lodge to-night . I have taken so many degrees . '" The disgusted complainant asks , How is it possible for women to undergo the ordeal of initiation , in which , as he or she informs us , are included the ceremonies of riding on a goat , and being put on a gridiron and into a coffin ? The
indignation of the writer is directed against the insult done to Freemasonry by admitting women to its sacred mysteries . If the mysteries were such as she imagines , it is the women who are insulted by being invited to share-them . But how extraordinary it is that people should always assume there is something ridiculous or improper in any assembly to which they are not admitted . Echo *