The American Knights Templar.

entertainments to which they were invited . We have already chronicled at considerable length the meetings held in their honour at Belfast and Glasgow , and may now add

that we learn from the Perthshire Constitutional that the Knights were feted at Perth upon their visit to that ancient burgh . From the Derbyshire Advertiser we

condense a report of the proceedings at Alton Towers , where the R . W . Bro . the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot , P . G . M . Staffordshire , received our Transatlantic brethren .

On their arrival in London , several of the Knights were chaperoned to the various sights of the metropolis by our esteemed Bro . Hughan , who came up from Truro

expressly to meet and greet them . The Knights Templar of England , we are glad to say , likewise welcomed their brother Knights , and an abridged report of the

proceedings will be found in another column . We hope , however , that the Craft Masons of England will not allow their

American brethren to return home without offering them a reception worthy of the Grand Lodge of England , and of the great cause of universal brotherhood .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Nores And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Nores and Queries .

COWAN . I think we have got pretty well at the meaning of the word cowan , as it is used in the Craft . Bro . D . Murray Lyon will not take offence at my saying that I much prefer Bro . Dr . Bedolfe's

conjecture to his , although the phrase " cowans and eavesdroppers , " in the old Scottish ritual , shows that cowan was not synonymous with listener or eavesdropper there . We have cowans and intruders , however—the intruder being a

person " who might attempt to gain admission without the word , " and the cowan something else . I got listener through the Anglo-Saxon ; Bro . Dr . Bedolfe through the Greek ; but we agree in the import of the word , and in its use

amongst Masons . Will any brother tell me why we " leave the east , and go towards the west , in search of that which was lost" ? WILL . CARPENTER .

A correspondent in your paper of the 8 th instant , dating from Church-street , Liverpool , inquires the regulation size of Masonic aprons . It is a pity that members either don ' t , or won ' t , read the Book of Constitutions , for if he had

referred to that part headed "Regalia , " he would there have found that aprons are of two sizesone being 14 inches wide and 12 inches deep , and the other 16 inches wide and 14 inches deep , either size being correct at the discretion or taste of the weaver . W . M .

SCOTCH KNIGHT TEMPLARY . Is the Grand Priory of K . T . of Scotland the only acknowledged body of that Order in existence there ? Or do the Grand Conclaves of

England and Ireland acknowledge any others working under charters held from H . R . H . Duke of Kent , Dciiclinr , or the Earlv Grand of IrelandI ' Q .

In answer to the query of "A Knight templar , " on page 425 , I beg to inform him that the so-called Girvan Encampment of Knights Templars , held at Glasgow , are a spurious and illegal body . They have no head , and are not

recognised by Ihe Grand Priory or Chapter General of Scotland ; and , I believe , on the same footing with the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templars of England or Ireland .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Nores And Queries.

" A Knight Templar " will find my answer to Bro . G . W . Wheeler ' s letter of 1 st July , which appeared in No . 122 of THE FREEMASON , " a fuller explanation to his query . Want of time prevents me forwarding it this week . MONTRA .

THE GREEK 0 lWoi , OR THE CLASSIC " LODGES . " " The Greeks had led the way for the Romans as well in matters relating to private associations as in all other results of thought and refinement .

The Greek -qpavoi or fliWoi of Athens , Rhodes , and the islands of the Archipelago , had been useful societiees for mutual assistance in the way of loans , fire assurance , common religious observances , and harmless amusement . Each

society had its rules carved on a stela , its archives , its common fund , provided by both voluntary contributions and assessments . The members met together to celebrate the festivals and to hold banquets , where cordiality reigned supreme .

A brother needing money could borrow from the treasury . Women were admitted into these associations , and had a president for themselves . The meetings were held in secret , and under strict rules for the preservation of order . They

took place , it seems , in enclosed gardens , surrounded by porticos or small buildings , and in the centre was erected an altar for the sacrifices . Each association had its officers selected by lot for one year , according to the usage of the

ancient Greek democracies , and from which the Christian ' clergy' may have derived its name . The presiding officer only was elected by vote . These officers passed the candidate through a kind of examination , and were required to certify

that he was ' holy , pious , and good . ' Ihere occurred in the two or three centuries which preceded the Christian era a movement in favour of these little religious clubs almost as marked as that which , in the Middle Age , produced so

many religious orders and subdivisions of orders . In the island of Rhodes alone there is record of nineteen , many of which bore the names of their founders , or reformers . Some of them , particularly those of Bacchus , inculcated lofty

doctrines , and sought to administer consolation to willing men . If there yet remained in Greek society a little charity , piety , or religious morality it was due to the existence and freedom of these private devotional assemblies . They acted , as it

were , concurrently with the public and official religion , the neglect of which was becoming more and more apparent day by day . At Rome , associations of this nature met with more opposition , and found no less favour , among the

poorer classes . The rules of Roman policy in regard to secret confraternities were first promulgated under the Republic—B . C . 186—in the case of the Bacchanals . The Romans were by natural taste , much inclined to associations , an .

in particular to those of a religious character ; but these permanent congregations were displeasing to the patrician order , who controlled the municipal power , and whose narrow conceptions of life admitted no other social group besides

the family and the state . Ihe most minute precautions were taken , such as the requirement of a preliminary authorization , the limiting of numbers , and the prohibition against having a permanent Maqisfcr Sacrorttm , and a common

fund raised by subscription . The same anxiety was manifested on several occasions under the empire . The body of public law contained clauses authorizing all kinds of repression ; but it depended on the administrative powerwhether

they should be enforced or not , and the proscribed religions often reappeared in a very few years after their proscription . Foreign immigration , especially from Syria , unceasingly renewed the soil in which flourished the creeds

so vainly doomed to extirpation In spite of the efforts of statesmen , the confraternities multiplied immensely . They were precisely analogous to our confraternities of the Middle Ages , with their patron saint and

common refectory . The great families mj ^ ht centre their pride in their ancient name , their country , and their traditions ; but the humble and the poor had nothing but the collegium , and there they fastened all their affections . The text of the law shows us that all these clubs were com-

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Nores And Queries.

posed of slaves , veterans , or obscure personstcnuiores . Within their precincts the free-born man , the freed man , and the slave were equal . They contained also many women . At the risk of innumerable taunts and annoyances , and

sometimes of the most severe penalties , men persisted in entering the collegium , where they lived in the bonds of a pleasant brotherhood , where they found mutual succour in time of need , and where they contracted obligations which endured even after death .

"The place of meeting , or schola collegii , usually had atetrastyle—portico with four fronts —where were set up the rules of the collegium near the altar of its protecting divinity , and where stood a trichiiiittm for the repasts . These repasts , indeed , were looked forward to with

impatience ; they took place on the day sacred to the patron divinity , or on the birth-days of members who had contributed endowments . Every one brought his little portion—spqrtula ; one of the brotherhood furnished in turn the accessories of the feast , such as couches , table

furniture , bread , wine , sardines , and hot water . A slave newly emancipated owed his comrades an amphora of good wine . A quiet air of enjoyment animated the repast ; it was a positive rule that none of the business of the society should be discussed , in order that nothing might disturb

the brief interval of enjoyment and repose which these poor souls were thus providing for themselves . Every violent act or rude remark was punished by a fine . In appearance , these clubs were simply associations for burial of the members . . . . The poor man loved to believe

that his body would not be cast into those horrible trenches ; that his club would provide for his decent obsequies ; that the brethren who should follow him on foot to the funeral pile would receive each a little honorarum—about two pence . The slave especially felt the need of an assurance that , if his master denied him

the privilege of the ordinary rites of sepulture , that there would be a little band of friends who would perform ' imaginary obsequies . ' Hardly any was so humble or destitute as not to contribute a penny per month to the common fund to procure after his death a little urn in a columbarium , with a slab of marble on which his name should be carved . " W . P . B .

Ax unwarrantable liberty has been taken with the name of THE FREEMASON , by coupling it with a wretched anti-Masonic print in an advertisement in an Irish paper ; and we can only state that the advertisement referred to was inserted without our knowledge or consent .

IK , in the tunc of the company mania , every undertaking had been based upon the sound principles of the Alexandra Palace and Muswell Hill Estate Tontine ( a prospectus of which we publish in full in another part of our journal ) , there would

have been less cause for the outcry raised against the joint-stock system . The directors of this enterprise , who have secured the subscribers from all liability by making it a trust , grant certificates to each Tontincer providing admission to the palace

and grounds , participation in an Art Union , to which a sum of , £ 500 , 000 is to be devoted during the period of the Tontine . The close of the Tontine is to take place in 18 S 6 , when the property , towards the improvement of which all the profits of the

undertaking are to be devoted , will be sold , and the proceeds divided amongst the Tontincers . An insurance company has agreed to provide against possible loss by agreeing , for the consideration of is . for every 21 s ., to Irefund 20 s . out of every such

2 is . should the life so insured terminate before the close of the Tontine . This charming place of resort , originally planned more exclusively for the north side of this great city , is destined to be one patronised by tlie inhabitants of all parts , and will

doubtless attract vast numbers of our country cousins , as the railway companies have , by their junctions and connecting systems , placed it within the reach of all . For the various amusements and exhibitions

we must refer our readers to the prospectus , but when we mention that the directors are in this respect actuated by a desire to carry out the views of the late Prince Consort , we venture to think enough has been said on that point .