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NOTICE .

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United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered ftee in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of the Freemason is Twopence per wee ! : ; annual

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NOTICE . All Communications , Advertisements , is ' c ,

intended for insertion in lhe Number if the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock on Weilnesdati evening .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

MARKIAGE . BIIOWN—BALDWIN . —On the 13 th inst ., bv special lieense of His Grace the Archbishop of Caiiteibuiy , at the I'rbry Church , Great Malvern , by Bio . the Kev . Oswald M . Dolilen , li . C . L ., M . A ., assisted by the Kev . Gicjrory 1

Smith , Vicar ot Malvern , William Artnur brown , ne Hollies , I'enn , near Wolverhampton , to A my lillen , elder daughter of BID . George Baldwin , > ' . 1 ' iov . CJ . K . Worcestershire , P . M . 280 and 5 60 , of Merr ' ulale Gro \ e , Wolverhampton . ,

Liverpool Theatres, &C.

LIVERPOOL THEATRES , & c .

Week cutling August 30 . ROYAt . ALEXANDRA THLATRI- ; , Lime-street . —Lessee 13 ro . li . Sakcr . "Charles I . " ROYAL AMl'lllTHEATRi :, Great lliarloitc-strcet . —Lessee tiro . It . Leslie . London IMaina , " Innocent . " _ P ' lUNC ¥ Oi ' WXilliS fifKATKI't ; Clavlim- ^ iiuVic—Lessee Air . Sel ' ton Parrv . livron ' s IJniles . jiie , " Orpheus anil l-. urvilii-e . " '

THEATRE ROYAL Williaiiisiin-s . piare . —Lessee , Urn . De b ' reccc . " 'I'he Royal Tuvki-li llatli , " ' * IHiakers ami Sliakert , " and Miscellaneous Entertainment . __ ST . . / AMES'S HALL , Lime-street . —Proprietor , tiro . S . lla :. ; uc . Special Artistes and Programme . NEW STAR MUSIC HALL , Wiiii .-. msnn-seuare . —Manager , tiro . Saundejs , Opera and Special Alti .-icli . iNs .

pOI'UNDA THEATRE and MUSIC I IAI . L . —I'roprielor , Mr . •*¦ » - I ) , 'lianncll . Miscellaneous Entertainments . NEWSOME'S CIRITS , Whiiccli .-ipci . —Scenes ol lhe ( inkant ! oilier JinU-rt . mimcnts ; r ^ L •Ki ¦ : N'S ^ " ^ ALX ~ - "lilondinlMTel ^ Li 7 i , li ; ls ' . '

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , AUOUST 2 ; , 187 , 3 .

Dedication Of A Masonic Lodge At Jerusalem.

DEDICATION OF A MASONIC LODGE AT JERUSALEM .

The attempt to organize a Masonic lodge in tile city ot Jerusalem , under American auspices ,

which has been long on foot , lias at length sueceeded . Advices were received a few days ago from Bro . John Sln-ville , who went outlast spring for that purpose , that " on Wednesday , . May 7 th ,

he organized the Koval Solomon Mother Lodge , No . 295 , in due and ancient form , in the Gn-al Mark Mister ' s Quarry , tirjd . r tin- city of

Jiru-:, aleiu , and initiated a candidate . " As a preface to this remaifable incident , which forms an era iu Mdtuuu : history , we giro a brief history of the Cotton Megara ( or

Dedication Of A Masonic Lodge At Jerusalem.

Roy a ] Quarry ) , with which every traveller in Jerusalem , is familiar . The very existence of this vast cavern under the city had been

forgotten . No records of crusading times give any account of it , although the discovery of Christian crosses on the walls show visits of travellers at least since the era of Christ . Some

Arab chronicles of the ninth or tenth century hint at the fact that " very extensive caves underlie the Holy City ; " cut these may refer to other large excavations known to exist under

vaiious parts of Jerusalem . Upon the whole , it is the settled opinion that no knowledge of the great quarry , later than the first or second century of the Christian era exists , and it was

reserved to an American missionary , Dr . J . T . Barclay , to bring the fact to light . Some twenty years since , passing along outside the north wall of Jerusalem , his dog , in pursuit of a rat ,

scratched an opening under the wall , and disappeared from the eyes of his master . This led to an enlargement of the opening , and the most remarkable discovery that this most wonderful

of cities has ever yielded . It was found that under the north-east t | U ; irter of Jerusalem is an abandoned quarry of such vast extent as to

answer most satisfactorily the < jncry that has long puzzled antiquaries— - "Where did Solomon ' s builders procure the native stone for the walls and substructure of the Temple ? "

To enter this wend and mysterious crypt , it is necessary tj pass outside the city at the north ot Damascus gate , and turn to the right . The city wall here is about fifty feet high and of

corresponding thickness . It was erected , as an Arabic inscription shows , in the year Hegira 9 . 1 . 8 , equivalent to A . n . 1542 , b y order of the Sultan Suleynian . In constructing this wjill , all sorts

of massive materials were used— -granite columns marble blocks and huge bevelled " ashlars , " that had done similar duty in mnr . il structure ever since the da , s ot Solomon .

The entrance into the great quarry has been enlarged with spade and chisel , so that it is an easy matter now to \ isit the place . Lighting caudles to dissipate the midni ght

daikness , you pass lirst m an easterl y directim JI . - ; feet . The way is over great mounds of rubbish , partly artificial , as the marks of chisels

show ; partly made up of pieces that have fallen from , the ceiling . Then the way turns , at nearly a right angle to the south , 400 feet . The marks of chisel and hammer become more and more

evident Blocks of square stone , in every stage of preparation , from the tough ( o the perfect , encumber the path . Piles of chi ppings are heaped up

everywhere . I pen the side of the quarry deep ' narrow grooves are seen , cut lengthwise and perpendicular , marking out the ilimcn .-ion . s of proposed blocks , and showing the ancient method ol

d .-taching the stone : ; from their m . tive bed . The marble is of a soft , friable nature , called in the native tongue ;» . "Mv / ' (> v ; -io-ialty a hard . 1 vein o ( stink- occurs , but of ' . ';¦ same chemical

composition , and tms the nam es call mn . - . rli . 'ruining again t „ th ,- kit , we go lo the distance of 11 / 6 feel , to wir ¦! -.. ¦ a small b . isin , chiselled in the lei-der roc ' ., Ji .-., . feet in < ji . t :-K UT and hall as deep , was made to coiled , water for the wo : ; ¦¦ ,-,. -,-

Dedication Of A Masonic Lodge At Jerusalem.

of " Hiram . " I'he writer at present is bitter and disagreeable to the ta ? te . Near this foundation is a deep circular pit , in which lies ; i human skeleton , probably of one of those early

Christian devotees who used the quarries of Jerusalem for the same purpose as the catacombs of Rorao viz ., as places of concealment during the persecutions of the first four centuries of our era .

A little further to the south there is an apartment eighteen feet square , which from its regular form seems designed for a particular purpose . Great numbers of bats cling to the roof , which

is forty feet high . Bones of various kinds , brought in probably by jackals , proved that there were once ample openings to the cavern . Numerous crosses are traced upon the wall , and a

few-Hebrew inscriptions , but not sufficiently legible to be understood . It was in this apartment , henceforward to be known among Freemasons as " The Chamber of the Brotherly Covenants , "

that the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge , No , 2 yj , of Freemasons was duly organised , May 7 th . - The readers of the Herald will not have

forgotten the visit to this renowned spot by Morris , the Masonic enthusiast , in 1 S 6 S . Collecting together such of the ancient Craft as were to be found in Jerusalem at the time , including Cant .

Warren , the English explorer , the venerable Prussian savant , Bro . Petermann , and others , he entered this memorable chamber , and performed there the mystic rites of Masonry so long

disused . In that crypt of " silence , secresy and darkness , " the brotherly interchange was made , which has been perpetuated in every language

under heaven , and there our American brother repeated his own verses , which e \ cry Mason has acquired by heart : " We meet upon the level and we part upon the square . "

Since 1868 , most zealous and unremitting etlbrts have been pursued by Dr . Morris anil his associates to secure the organisation of a regular lodge in Jerusalem . The diihcnllies , almost

insurmountable , were referable to the sparsity ol the Craft in the East , their numerous languages , their inexperience in Masonic work , the want of

suitable chambers for lodge rooms , & c ., and mo ; t of all to the fact that there is no Grand Lodge of Masons in the Turkish Dominions .

Several eiforts to organize this looge at Jerusalem failed—one from the death of Hon . John P . Brown at Constantinople , and one from th " degradation and death of the Pacha General nt

Syria , Mohammed Rescind . The neareft lodges were at lleyrout , Syria , 1 < jo miles in the north , and Port Said , Egypt , 200 miles to the southwe .-t ; but within the memory of man there has been no lodyy . in Palestine .

At last all the named diihcnllies were overcome , and the following was issued b y the Grand Lodge of Canada : —

" William M . Wilson , Grand Master—To all mil every our Ri ght Worshipful , Worship ful : » ' ¦' Lovinrr Brethren : —

" We , William Mercer Wilson , Esq ., eee ., of Simcoe , in the Province of Ontario , Dominion of Canada , Grand Master of the Most Ancient and

Honourable Eraterniuy of Eree and Accep ted Masons of Canada , si-nd greeting . — " Know ye— -- 'I hat v . e , by the authority aud under the sanction of the Grand Lodge of