Masonic Notes And Queries.

which was sunk a Brass Plate with the following inscription thereon : PATTISON ELLAMES , Esq ., Mayor of this City , CHESTER , Laid this stone in the Year of the Christian / Era ,

MDCCLXXXIL , As D . Provincial Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons . Thomas Cotgrave , ) Esqrs ., Aldermen and And Hen . Hesketh , ) Murengers . Jos . Turner , Architect .

At this time France , Spain , and the States of Holland leagued with the British American Colonies ( now in open and ungrateful rebellion ) are endeavouring the Destruction of the Empire of Britain ! her freedom ! her Religion ! her Laws ! and her Honour !

in support of which Blessings her Armies and Navies are bravely contending in every quarter of the Globe . May the God of Armies go with them . The late Dispatches from Rodney arriving and the above being engraved , the following Words were endorsed on the Plate :

" The great and joyful News was announced this Day of the British Fleet , under the Command of Admirals Rodney , Hood , and Drake , having defeated the French Fleet in the West Indies , taken the French Admiral De Grasse and five ships of the Line and sunk one . The battle continued close and bloody for

eleven hours . The Rev . Mr . Crane opened the Lodge with an excellent Oration on Architecture , and a solemn charge to Masons . Elegant entertainments were provided at the different Lodge Rooms , and the evening was spent with that Harmony and Decorum which on all occasions have distinguished that respectable Body .

9 . —Courant , 28 May , 1772 . Tuesday , the 24 th ult ., being the anniversary of St . John the Baptist , the brethren of the Moria lodge , held at Holyhead , marched in solemn processional order to Church , before whom divine service was perform'd and an excellent sermon delivered on the occasion , by the Revd ,. Dean Brocus , from Dublin . From Church

they returned to the King ' s Head , where a neat dinner was provided , and several of the inhabitants ( not masons ) were invited . Decorum and regularity rul'd the day . Many masonic and loyal toasts were drank , and the evening concluded with that vein of social mirth and good harmony , ever characteristic of that noble institution . Several elegant well turn'd Songs

were given . 10 . —Chronicle , 20 June , 1773 . On Tuesday last , being St . John ' s day , a Provincial Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was held at the Feathers Inn , in this City , when Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton , Bart ., was installed Grand Master

for Cheshire , Pattison Ellames , Esq ., was continued Deputy Grand Master , James Folliott , Esq ., and John Buckley , Esq ., were elected Grand Wardens for the year ensuing . After the installation the Worshipful Grand Master constituted in ample form a new Lodge

by the name of The Lodge of Independence , to be held at the Castle and Falcon . The new lodge was solemnly consecrated , and an oration pronounced by the Rev . Mr . Crane , Provincial Grand Orator . The brethren made a splendid appearance , and spent the day in that harmony for which this society is ever famous .

11 . —Chronicle , 30 December , 1785 . The triennial ' procession of the united lodges of Free and Accepted Masons in this City it is expected will be more numerously attended on Monday next than has hitherto been known at any former period , a

considerable number of very respectable brethren from different parts of the Country having signified a wish to attend their Provincial Grand Master on the occasion , and to publicly incorporate themselves with that fraternity whose order has for ages been the boast of mankind .

S 86 ] ANOTHER OLD MASONIC JUG . In your issue of the 5 th inst . you were good enough to insert a somewhat long letter of mine in reply to one from Bro . Carson ( I . C . ) . Attracted b y the description on the 19 th inst . of a curious jug in the possession of Bro . Godfrey W . Ferguson , who also hails from the

Sister Isle , I have ventured to inflict upon you another epistle . As I stated in my former communication , specimens of pottery with Craft emblems thereon are by no means rare , but Bro . Ferguson , I think , has to be congratulated upon being the fortunate possessor of something unique in the way of Masonic ware . 1 have

never seen in any museum , private collection , or at a public sale anything approaching the ceramic curio , as described by your correspondent . With the exception of the Mark Degree the specimen appears to have printed symbols of all the well known Masonic Orders . When it is considered

that the Christian grades of Masonry were but little known , and most certainly not generally worked , in the latter half of the eighteenth century , it renders Bro . Ferguson ' s jug additionally remarkable and interesting . As it is described as being " painted in black , on a yellowish-white ground , " I have no doubt whatever that the specimen is of old Leeds manufacture . Josiah

Wedgwood , of Staffordshire , also made cream coloured ware , but he was most artistic , and never permitted anything to issue from his works that the most hypercritical could cavil at . He also would not have allowed errors in spelling to have appeared on his wares . Bro . Ferguson states that his jug " had formerl y been used in a country lodge for making ' punch' in . " There is

Masonic Notes And Queries.

every reason to believe that consequent upon the expense and fragility of glass , bowls , jugs , goblets , and mugs of pottery were used instead in the eighteenth century lodges . I have seen many specimens , but they were only decorated with Craft and Royal Arch emblems . Speculative Masonry then , as now , knew no

sect , and I am confident that the brethren of the Craft would not have tolerated vessels to have been used at their festive boards bearing designs and mottoes relating to the Kni ghts Templar , Rose Croix , Red Cross of Rome and Constantine , and the Royal Order of Scotland Degrees . I do not wish in

any way to throw discredit on the statement made by the person who gave Bro . Ferguson the jug ; the members of the said lodge were doubtless ignorant of its symbolism . I conjecture that the specimen had been specially made to the order of some enthusiastic Mason who had taken the Christian Degrees . Objects

of the ceramic art bearing emblems outside the Craft Degree are very rare . One of the earliest known dated specimens bearing a triangle was produced at the Chelsea factory in 1745 . I saw one sold at Sotheby ' s a few years ago for £$ or so . In Horace Walpole ' s now scarce " Description of Strawberry

Hill" he mentions as possessing " two white salt cellars with crawfish in relief of Chelsea china , a very un' common design , which I have found only once , viz ., at the Earl of Ilchester ' s , at Melbury , where are four such salt cellars , all marked with a triangle . " Curiously enough , those very salt cellars were publicly sold a

short time since , and they were examined b y me with , the greatest curiosity , on account of their historical pedigree . In 1 747 a porcelain manufactory was established at Neudech , on the Au , and Nymphenburg . Early specimens of the latter factory are marked with two intersecting triangles , bearing the aleph , beth , and

lamed , with other characters . At Doccia , near Florence , a china establishment was working in 1735 , and is still in existence . . Antique specimens of this factory are to be met with bearing the double triangle , with and without a five-pointed star or mullet . The latter , however , has no Masonic

significance , as the star forms part of the heraldic bearings of the Ginori , an old titled frmily of Italy , who were the founders and patrons of that fabrique . At the commencement of the present century at Korzec , Poland , a porcelain manufactory was established . The directors adopted as their mark the All-seeing Eye within a

triangle . Some of the early Sevres painters on porcelain also marked their productions with the triangle . With regard to the figures and dates on Bro . Ferguson ' s jug ( with the following exception ) , I am comp letely at fault . A . D . 1314 was the year that saw the martyrdom of Molay , the Grand Master of

the Templars . Robert Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn in 1314 , and the Royal Order of Scotland is traditionally stated to have taken its rise at that period . The motto of the Order is Virtute et Silentia , and this , in conjunction with the " house with castellated parapet , " on the jug ,

has reference , I think , to that interesting chivairic Degree . The other dates , 471 and 1122 , I cannot venture to give an opinion upon . The motto , In hoc signo vinces , and the figures of Faith , Hope , and Charity , evidentl y refer to the Degrees of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine and the Knight of

the Holy Sepulchre . The banners , mace , axe , and cock are ancient emblems of the United Reli gious and Military Orders of the Temple , & c . The pillar " covered with hieroglyphic characters , out of the top is a flame , " may have reference to the occult mysteries of the Rosicrucians . The ladder of seven rungs and

the letters K . A . D . O . S . H . S . are connected with the Ancient and Accepted Rite . The star and the Latin quotation at the end of Bro . Ferguson ' s letter have something to do with anon-working Degree designated the Knight Templar-Priest . The other emblems need no explanation , as they refer to several of the

characters , & c , on the three tracing boards of the Craft Degrees . Perhaps some of your readers may be able to explain or hazard a conjecture as to the meaning of the figures 81 , 34 , 27 , 9 , 7 , 5 , 3 , and the signification of the " child sitting on a level and holding a festoon of garlands . " The latter may , possibly ,

allude to the generous support afforded by Masons to the distressed orphan . I have but . briefly touched upon the emblems of the Christian grades , as I cannot conscientiousl y fully explain their meaning without betraying " The symbols of hidden truths known only to the

perfect Mason . " In conclusion , I venture to think that Bros . Hughan , Speth , John Lane , and other clever students and enthusiastic erudite expounders of Masonic lore will agree with me that Bro . Ferguson ' s piece of pottery is worthy of more than a mere passing

notice . T . C . WALLS ( London ) , Associate Quatuor Coronati , 8 ° Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia .

887 ] UNION LODGE , EXETER . I have to thank Bros . Hughan , Lane , and other brethren who have written to me privately anent my queries in last week ' s Freemason . I hasten to acknowledge that I was in error as to Bro . Hughan ' s note re the Union Lodge at Gateshead , Bro . Bain , P . G . Reg .

Durham , having privately put me right on that point , and answered most of my queries . But I think that he and Bro . " Flej , " who quote the same stanza , are not on the same seam that I was trying to work . Here is the first verse as I took it down when ballad-hunting over 17 years ago from the lips of an old woman over 80 years old . Her memory required to be " refreshed "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

occasionally , and she had to " croon , " i . e . , sing in " a still small voice , " every fragment of verse or song , and beautifully mixed and muddled they were . But I am prosing while you are waiting , so here is the fragment of the song as I heard it :

Ye brethren , all who wish to know How Masonry first began , 'Twas in the garden of Paradise , When Adam first he sprang ; 'Twas in the garden of Paradise , As plainly you may see , When the fi g leaf apron he put on To show his Masonrie .

I have other fragments of the same song , which bear the impress of antiquity on the surface to my idea more than the lines quoted by " Flej" in your last issue . And , by the way , while the pen is in my hand , I may as

well answer that brother ' s query— " How is it that Bro . Vernon has not shown his books at any of the recent exhibitions ? " Simply because I considered them valueless compared with some other older and much loved volumes , but if any Secretary of any future exhibition will take the trouble to write to me I think

I could send him some MSS . of last century which might be of some interest to the brethren . I must thank Bro . Hughan for kind remembrances , and will be happy to number among my correspondents Bro . " Flej . " All other brethren who have kindly answered my queries are thanked by theirs fraternally , W . FRED . VERNON , P . M ., & c .

888 ] A CURIOUS MEDAL . I have an octagonal bronze medal or token 1 j inches in diameter , and shall be glad if any of your readers can give me any information as to whether it is Masonic or not . Obv . —a beehive on a board ; on the right hand of the board a spray of oak , and some other foliage ; on the left , from the ground , some

plant . To the right of the line two bees , to the left one bee , in front one or two bees . Inscription" Chambre des Entrepreneurs de Maconnerie . " In the lower left-hand corner " E . Rogat , " and on the edge " Guivre . " Rev . —Two sprays of oakleaves forming a

wreath round a date— Le 13 , Janvier , 1810 . I do not find anything in the chronological tabic in Thory ' s " Acta Latomorum " to which this can refer . LEX SCRIPTA .

Reports Of Masonic Meetings.

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS .

Craft flDasonry .

METROPOLITAN MEETINGS .

Bank of England Lodge ( No . 263 ) . —The last meeting of the season was held at the Albion Tavern , Aldersgate-street , on Thursday , the ioth inst . Bro . Sudlow , P . M ., occupied the chair in place of the W . M ., Bro . A . D . Parr Dudley , who was unavoidably absent . There were also present H ros . Owen Spearing , S . W . ; G . L . Kennaby , J . W . ; Col . James Peters , Treas . ; Henry Pritchard , Sec . ;

J . W . J . Kennedy , J . D . ; A . Oliver , I . G . ; A . Leighton , and G . R . Kennedy . This was the "close " meeting of the year , i . e ., visitors were not admitted . Although visitors were not admissible , we are informed that Bro . Albert Leighton , was duly passed to the Degree of F . C . in Bro . Sudlow ' s usually able manner . Other business of an important nature was

also disposed of amicably , and the lodge was closed . After the banquet , the Worshipful Master in the chair gave the usual preliminary toasts , and Bro . Col . James Peters , P . G . S ., responded on behalf of "The Grand Officers , " and , taking charge of the gavel , proposed " The

Health of Bro . Sudlow , " eulogising his Masonic career and the great interest he took in Masonry in general and that lodge in particular , being always ready to fill a vacant place , and willing and anxious that the lodge should proceed with credit to itself and harmony amongst the members .

Bro . Sudlow in response , said , that he regretted the absence of the W . M ., but at the same time was pleased to have had the honour of presiding over that particular happy meeting of the lodge . Particular happy , notwithstanding the absence of visitors , whom at all other meetings they so gladly welcomed . He should at all times take a great interest in the lodge , and with pleasure render any assistance

in his power , whether it be in the lodge work proper , or the outside business in connection with the lodge . " The health of the Treasurer , Bro . Col . James Peters , and the Secretary , Bro . Henry Pritchard , " was next proposed , and in proposing the toast , the Worshipful Master congratulated the lodge upon having a Treasurer and a Secretary who had worked so harmoniously

together for the good of the lodge , and through that harmonious labour had succeeded in bringing the lodge into such a flourishing financial position as the report of the Audit Committee had that evening shown , viz ., a balance of over £ 100 . Bro . Col . James Peters , in responding as Treasurer ,

thanked the W . M . for his kind remarks , and said it was indeed a proud moment for him to know that he had , on behalf of the lodge , a good balance in hand . The lodge was in an all round flourishing condition , and it was a pleasure to him to act as Treasurer . Bro . Pritchard thanked the W . M . for his kind words , and the brethren for the manner in which they had received