A New History Of Freemasonry.

The famous address of 1740 , in which the germ of the Templar movement is to be discovered , was delivered in 1737 , at the installation of the G . M ., and from that very date , owing to his correspondence with Cardinal Flenry and the objections of Louis XV ., Ramsay ' s connection with all Freemasonry seems to have closed . He died in 1743 , as is generally asserted . We fail to find any traces of him in reference to Freemasonry anywhere . The statements of some

writers in respect to him have been handed on \> j others , without inquiry or research , in a spirit of pure " sheepwalking , " as Sydney Smith has it , and it is all but impossible to ascertain what is fact or what is myth in respect of him . It is quite clear that he had nothing to do with the English Grand Lodge , and could have nothing to do with the "Antients . " We therefore quite agree with our contemporary , the Keystone , in its view of Bro . Grant ' s , with all respect to him be it said fraternally , " unhistorical propositions . " His new theory of Masonic history is , alas , like many other new theories to-day , an " unadulterated myth !"

Old Books.

OLD BOOKS .

THE taste for old books , if not increasing amongst ourselves , is remarkably developed in America , whither week by week a large quantity of scarce editions , and curious volumes , and quaint publications is dispatched . Not that , indeed , there does not linger in the old country a taste for books ; there does undoubtedly , but we fear that just now people are too busy to read , too excited to think . It seems to be the " order of the clay , " moreover , to sell old librariesand the price of rare volumes and unique issues is undoubtedlon

, y the rise . We regret , for many reasons , the dispatch of valuable libraries and careful collections , and wish now to express our opinion that " Bibliomania , " as it is termed by the ignorant , and thoughtless , and brainless , is a very innocent , nay elevating and improving , pursuit . The love of books is , "per se , " a healthy taste , and the liking for old books is , we venture to believea sign of much learningeducationand more culture .

, , , It is always the sign of a debased taste , and of an unthinking , unstudying , age , when we hear of worthless novels and childish catchpennies embedded in gorgeous bindings and adorned with " rococo" splendour . We trust , however , as all these "fads " have " only " a " day , " to hear soon of recurrine

good taste , and a healthier taste for old books and forgotten literature . Mr . Eliot Stock , 62 , Paternoster Row , has recently been issuing some ancient reprints of old books , of which from time to time reviews have appeared in the Freemason , and we wish to explain what we have touched upon above , with two illustrations from a recent circular of his . A FACSIMILE OF THE BOKE OK SAINT ALBANS , by Dame Juliana Berners : containing the

Treatises on Hawking , Hunting , and Cote Armour . Printed at St . Alban ' s , by the Schoolmaster-Printer , in 1486 . With an introduction by William Blades , Author of the " Life and Typography of Caxton . " —Of the printing presses established in England before tho close of the 15 th century , none exceed in interest that of the Schoolmaster-Printer of St . Alban ' s ; not only on account of the works known to have been printed by him , but by reason of the mystery which surrounds him as a man , and the work whichhe carried out . Of the works issued from this press none has drawn more attention than The Boke of St . Albans , by Dame Juliana Be ' rners . This interest is not to be accounted for entirely by the glamour which surrounds the origin of the press which produced the work , but is largely to be attributed to the importance which the readers of later times have attached to the subjects of which it treats , as well as to the kindly i ' eeling