Original Correspondence.

OFFICERS VISITING LODGES . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Can you inform me whether the officers of one lodge , when visiting . mother on the occasion of its installation festival , should wear their collars and jewels of office ? And also whether Rose Croix , Templar , and Mark jewels

are allowed to be worn in Royal Arch Chapters ? Yours fraternally , R- E . D . L . [ As regards the first question : In our opinion , yes ; though there is a difference of view on the subject . As regards the second question : No jewels can be worn in R . A . chapters , except those which appertain to the Craft and the Royal Arch . —ED . E . M . ]

THE AGONY COLUMN . To the Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — You are doubtless aware of the daily exhibition of polite literature which is to be found in the " Agony Column " of Times and Standard and other papers . As

the nuisance is increasing , though it has its amusing side , I venture to call atcntion to the subject in the . Freemason , as I consider the pages of your cosmopolitan journal a fitting home for lucubrations " de omnibus rebus et quibusdam alii * -, " especially when , as at this time of the Masonic year , reports are slack and copy is often wanting . In

default of better matter pray insert my letter . The agony columns of the Times and Standard of last week abound in remarkable specimens of sensationalism and rubbish ; so much so as to lead to remarks in the Standard ol Saturday last on its own advertisements . To me the greater part of this unnecessary , if peculiar

verbiage , appears what is termed at Scotland-yard " thieves' gibberish , thieves' lingo , " or else it represents the skilfully dressed up decoy ducks of supposed astute special agents ' . "Ethelreda , " for instance , regrets his or her " churlish behaviour . " Churlish ! The imagination roves away at

once in fields of conjecture as to what he or she did . " Mine , " with a mixture of German-English , is not apparently "his " after all , but leans probably to " ours . " Whoever thc writer be , has he forgotten the Carlsbad ditties ? Wir sitzen so frolich beisammen , wir haben einander so lieb ? Why does he or she advertize ?

"Shrimp" is-told that " all is settled , " and that he is to go to " Box and Cox , " evidently to find the " strawberry leaf " and his "long lost brother . " But why the " Hotel des Bains ? " Does he need washing ? " Harry " is told to write to Jim . There is only " one Jim " that most of us know of is—See Sir W . Lawson " passim . "

"Childe Hanie " speaks in quaint and startling "form " to her " own dearest papa . " I am afraid that Childe Harrie is a great goose . " C . G . " would like to write to " Sphinx , " but " Sphinx " does not evidently wish to hear from " C . G . " Perhaps it is a lawyer's letter for a " bill or a breach . " " I . P . " does not evidently mean to come

back to his " loving wife , " having found " more comfortable quarters . " " Moselle " appears to me rather idiotic , and "Swift " slightly blasphemous . But what can I or any one else say of the forty-two line advertisement in the Standard , " To a Father ? " Is thc writer sane ? What can be the mystery of " Leah and

Rachel . " Is it the " old , old story ? " or is it a " new departure ? " It strikes one as inexpressibly painful and awfully profane ' . Itj may be a cypher , as there seems no coherency in the language , and it probably emanates either from a maniac or a cracksman . Here I stop to-day . Yours fraternally , AN AGONIZED READER OF UNPROFITABLE LUERATURE .

OUR NEW W . M . 'S . To the Editor cf thc "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — * They tell me that there is just now a " great itching for collars . " Is it so ? At this time of the year , when so many elections for VV . M . are taking place in

our lodges daily , 1 venture to crave a few lines of space to urge upon your readers the inadvisability of putting up any brother prematurely , or carelessly , to fill the chair of the lodge . A somewhat long and varied experience of Masonic life and work , convinces mc indeed of these two assured facts : ( i ) that you cannot lay down any one law

without an exception ;* jand ( 2 ) that every lodge is the Best judge of its own true interests , and of its own real wants . But I sometimes hear it said in lodges that brethren are selected as W . M . ' s'not because they are bright Masons ; not because they have done much for Masonry ; not because they arc proficient in Masonic work , or have

rendered good suit aud service for the Masonic Charities . No : but because from their social position their wealth especially , they can raise the tone and increase the respectability of the lodge . Now no one more recognizes the claim of social wealth than I do , the honest fruits of legitimate industry , and especially in the case of the hardworking , the honest and thc self-made . Yet I must

enter a protest against what is after all only a fallacy . For I have known money prevail where other proper qualifications were wanting . I have seen brethren placed in the chair of King Solomon who never yet did a day ' s work in lodge , or in that honourable chair , and ne *> cr will do a day's work if they live to the age of Metbusaleh _ Very bad , in my humble opinion , is thc position of that

Original Correspondence.

lodge where all the work is done by one ready and proficient P . M ., where capacity for the chair is not considered , and in which the election degenerates into too often theselection of favouritism on the one hand , or a premium for incompetency on the other . A recent discussion about ritusl in your columns has reminded me of those old fancies of mine ; and though I do not think that our woithy Bro .

Chadwick ' s , of East Lancashire , somewhat alarming prophecy of incompetent Masters is likely to be fulfilled , yet I have deemed it neither unseasonable in itself , nor unsuitable for your pages , thus to offer a little friendly and honest caveat against a rash choice and an injudicious selection of W . M ., so important for the welfare , honour , and progress of every lodge , By yours , patriarchally , A VERY OLD P . M ., 1 S 47 .

Reviews.

Reviews .

BIBLIOTHECA SUNDERLANDIANA . List of Prices and Purchasers' Names . By this official list we learn that thc whole amount of the ten days' sale was in reality , £ 19 , 373 ios . 6 d . The highest price paid was £ 1600 ; the lowest one shilling . It is curious to note that eleven lots were " passed , " ' and that many were paid for at the time and taken away . The

purchases by the " public seem larger than we at first believed . We do not know who acted as buyer forthe British Museum , but . the largest professonal buyers were Mr . Quaritch . ofy , Piccadilly book fame , Mr . Techener , of Paris , Messrs . Ellisand White , Mr . Pickering . Messrs . Sotheranand Co ., Trubner and Co ., Bull and Auvache , Hutt , Catalan ! , Nuttall and Bond , Toon , Harber , and S . Low and Co .

Mr . Quaritch has been clearly the principal buyer , and though , no doubt , many of his purchases are on " commission , " and not a few will go to America , a large portion of what he has so judiciously acquired will remain in this country . Wc confess , despite some able remarks we once heard from one of our leading " literati" that we do regret thebrcakingup of large libraries , and grudge ( though it may be , as he ably contended , a selfish theory ) , their

leaving this land of their birth , adoption , naturalization , for foreign realms , and far off shores . Still what is our " * loss " is the ' * gain " of some enthusiastic book collector like our good friend Bro . Bower , at Iowa , U . S ., and therefore let us seek to be Masonic and Cosmopolitan , large-hearted and liberal all at the same time , in respect of a pursuit and a possession which should not be merely the privilege of one , but the happiness and delight of many .

BOOK CATALOGUES . J . Hitchman and A . Wilson , at Birmingham ; and Roche , 1 , Southampton-row , Holborn , have some expensive and rare works on sale at not extraordinary prices . Schcible . Catalogue No . 134 , Stuttgardt . We said in a review of Nauck and Richtei ' s Masonic catalogues last week that " Nauck" had a list , of 400 and odd philsophical works . A catalogue Scheib ' e sends us also of 304

works on Mysticism , Philosophy , Swedenborgianisni , Quakerism , the Waldenses , the Memrionites , & c . Some of Swedenborg ' s works are rare and interesting for collectors of Swedenborgian literature . VVe clearly understand how and why the Martinists used Swedenborg ' s peculiar " reveries , " though it is equally clear to us that he had nothing in common with Freemasonry , and never was a Freemason ; at least there is not the slightest evidence of any such " fact " as the admission of Swedenborg into Freemasonry .

RIDE TO KHIVA . —By LIEUT .-COL . BURNABV Royal Horse Guards . People's Edition . Price Sixpence . Cassel , Petter , Galpin , and Co ., London , Paris , and New York . This is certainly one of the most interesting books it has been our good fortune to read , while the information it contains of a part of Asia of which , till lately , and even now ,

but little is known , is something more than interesting . It is of the utmost value to the statesman and the politician , and especially to those who think the security and wellbeing of our empire in India are worth caring about . Hoivever , politics come not within the province of a Masonic journal . We must content ourselves , therefore , with laying stress on the merits of the book , as being descriptive of a

comparatively unknown country , the manners and customs of whose inhabitants are , consequently strange to thc general reader , and especially to those sections of the community for whose particular benefit this excellent , yet marvellously cheap , edition is published . Messrs . Cassell and Co . have already issued one cheap edition—at three shillings

and six-pence ; but as that is not purchaseable by the multitude , they are to be congratulated on the enterprise . —we may say on the wisdom they have shown in issuing the work in a form which is within reach of everyone . The more we have of " People's Editions " of this class of literature thc better it will be for the country at large .

TOLD IN CONFIDENCE . New song , by Bro . F . lulian Croger ( F . Amos , and Co . ) As . Bro . Croger himself puts it , his motives are " quite disinterested and uns ( -lfi « h (?) " in presenting us with a copy of this song , wr Hen and composed by himself . To suggest that he would like us to say a lot of nice things might , perhaps , bc presumptuous ; but wc guess that " such is his intentions . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

STOW AND GUILLIM . Thanks to Bro . Rylands , I think that wc have now nearly got to the bottom of this " old contention . " So far , the first use of the words , quoted by Anderson in 1723 , is found in Munday's edition of " Stow , " 1 G 33 . The only point remains , where does it come from ? Is it from the

" interna ! consciousness " of Munday , or an earlier Guillim , or an earlier Stow . ' Tlie first edition of " Stoiv " was published in 1588-89 , the second in 1 G 01 , both in Stow's lifetime , he dying in 1609 . Is the passages in either of these editions ? There was a third edition of Stow by Anthony Munday in 1 G 1 S . Is it in it ? AN ENQUIRER .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

ALNWICK MINUTES . Would it be possible for Bro . Hughan to republish thc . Alnwick Minutes in full . CUMBERLAND .

MULTA PAUCIS . To whom does the writer of "Multa Paucis " refer when he says ( p . S 3 ) " and after our good old Master had invested him " ( Anthony Sayer ) , & c Is it Sir Christopher Wren , or the "oldest Master Mason" who presided at the first meeting , St . John ' s Day in 171 G ? according to "Multa Paucis , "_ but on February , 1717 , according to Preston . In Preston it is said that on St . John ' s Day , 1717 , Anthony Sayer was invested by the " Oldest Master Mason . " CRUX .

AN OLD RECORD OF MASONS . In my note last week I mentioned the possibility of the existence of a document from which the statement with regard to the Masons given by Stow had been copied . In the 1723 Constitutions the sentence is introduced as follows : " To fill up this page ( p . 92 of Reprint ) it is thought not amiss tojinsert here a Paragraph from an old Record of

Masons . " This "old Record of Masons" might fairly be taken to . be the 16 33 edition of Stow , but in " Preston ' s Illustrations" ( ed . 1 S 29 ) , p . 150 , we fin . 1 in a * note , which also appears in the 1 S 12 edition ( p . 172 ) , the , following "A record in the reign cf EdwardTV . runs thus : 'The Company of Masons , being other-vise termed Freemasons , of auntient staunding and good reckoninge , by means of

affable and kind meetyngs dvverse tymes , and as a lovinge brotherhode use to doe , did frequent this mutual assembly in the tyme of Henry VI ., in the twelfth yeare of his most gracious reign , A . D . 1434 .. ' The same record says farther : ' That the charges and laws of the Freemasons have been seen and perused by our late soveraign King Henry VI ., and by the lords of his most

honourable council , who have allowed them , and declared That tbey be right good , and reasonable to be holden , as they have been drawn out and collected from the records of auntient tymes , " Sc . From this record it appears that before the troubles which happened in the reign of this unfortunate prince , Freemasons were held in ' high estimation . " Stow , 1 G 33 , says the " assembly " was held "in the time

of * King Henry the Fourth in the twelfth yeereof his most gracious Reigne' * * ( i . e ., 1410-1411 ) . Preston ( as above ) says Heniy the Sixth , and gives the correct date for his twelfth regnal year 1434 [ 1433-4 ] , and dates his record in the reign of Henry the Sixth ' s successor , Edward the Fourth , who reigned twenty-three years—from 14 G 1 to 14 S 3 . What and where is this record ? W . H . R .

JOHN LOCKE AND FREEMASONRY . In Bro . Kenning ' s " Masonic Cyclopaedia , " p .. 430 , we are told that " Dr . Oliver and . Laurie have thought' that from his [ John Locke ' s ] letter to W . 'Molynetix they could find ground for believing that Lbc * ke ' . was made a Mason in 1 G 96 , even between May Gaud June 2 , that year , while in London ; but no evidence o £ such a fact isas far as we

, are aware discoverable or produceablc , and we do not feel ourselves at all convinced as to the argument of . Oliverand Laurie , Sc , Sc . " In Hutchinson's "Spirit of Masonry , " edited by Dr . Oliver , 1 S 43 , p . p . ' , 22 , it is stated , referring to this subject : "but there are corroborating facts which appear conclusive , for this great philosopher was actually residing at Dates , the country seat of Sir Francis

Masham , at the time when the paper is dated [ the ' Locke MS ., ' and Letter , May GtluGgG ] , and shortly afterwards he went up to town , where he was initiated into Masonry . These facts are fully proved by , Locke's letters to Mr . Molyneux , dated March 30 , and July 2 , 169 G . " Hutchinson here writes so positively about these * two letters , not

taking the trouble to use arguments , that I should be glad of a reference to where they have been . published , or where they are to be seen . If not too . lengthy they might find a place in your columns , and would , no doubt , interest many besides myself . We should then Be in a position to judge of the matter for ourselves .

ENQUIRER . RECORD OF OLD MASONS . Having read " W . Harry Rylands " in your last , I turned to an old dictionary by N . Bailey , vol . 2 , the fifth edition , by Mr . Buchanan , London , 1760 , and copied the following ( the author rnixes the company with the Free and Accepted ) : — " Masons were incorporated about the year

1419 , having been called the Free Masons , a Fraternity of great account , who have been honoured by several kings , and very many nobility and gentry being of their society . They are governed by a Master and two Wardens , twentyfive assistants , and there are sixty-five * on the livery , the fine for which is £ 5 , and that for Steward £ 10 . Their armorial ensigns are , Azure on a chevron between three

castles argent , a . pair of compasses somewhat extended of the first . Crest a castle of the second . Their hall is in Basing-lane . Under the heading Free !\ Jasons—Accepted Masons , a very ancient society or body of men , so called either for some extraordinary knowled ge of Masonry which they arc supposed to be Masters of ; or because the first

founders of the society were persons of that profession . These are now in all or most nations in Europe ; what the end of their societies is , yet remains in some measure a secret , unless that they tend to promote friendship , society , mutual assistance and good fellowship , or what Samuel Prichard has lately published in his pamphlet , entitled , Masonry Dissected . " R . W . O .

The Grand Lodges Of England And Quebec.

THE GRAND LODGES OF ENGLAND AND QUEBEC .

" n Ihe Monlrcdlnlerald has the following -. " The London , England , Freemason has published a lengthy synopsis of the recent annual address of the Grand Master of Quebec , together with the whole of the correspondence with H . R . H . the Grand Master of England , and a review ot the address

itself . 1 he veteran and learned editor deals with the subject most courteously and fraternally , dissents from one or two points taken by the Grand Lodge of Quebec , counsels forbearance , deprecates coercion , desires to allow the correspondence to speak lor itself , points to the Ieaninu of the English authorities towards a not far distant settlement , deems that thc address deserves attention and perusal , not