The Illustration

THE ILLUSTRATION

ON the opposite page is taken from a MS . in the Cottonian Library , British Museum , Nero D . 1 . It is found in a "Life of King Offa , " written by Matthew Paris . In the illustration , King Offa is represented as giving instructions to the "Master Mason" of the masons— " Hand Masons , " one MS . calls them—employed hi the erection of St . Alban ' s Cathedral . The Mastei Mason has the " square and compasses" in his left hand . Two Masons are at

work under the arches knocking off the superfluous " corners " from the stones . One is placing a stone in its proper position ; another is " adjusting a perpendicular arch on its proper basis" by the plumb rule ; two are hoisting up stones by a windlass . This drawing well represents , doubtless , the dress and working tools of the " mediaeval Freemasons . "—[ ED . M . M . ]

The Work Of A Masonic Session.

THE WORK OF A MASONIC SESSION .

BT AN OLD MASON . WERE I a young man I might hesitate to trouble the readers of the Masonic Magazine with my lucubrations , but pleading the garrulity of old age , I will " spin " for them a short " yarn , " which I hojse will "bore "

none , and may interest , perchance , some friendly minds ; for I assume on " my premise " that we all " believe in " Freemasonry . Of course , if we do not , then mine is truly " mentalis labor " in writing—theirs a " waste of time " in reading . No doubt there are " Freemasons and Freemasons ; " there are those , that is , ' who enter Freemasonry from idle , yes , and sordid motives , to whom its " be all and end all" are found in glittering decorations and dainty banquets . But such miss the inner mind and value of our great and mysterious Order . They have the " trash " without the " jewel ; " they realise the " show , " not the

" reality ; " they possess the " shadow , " not the "substance ; " they have found the " exoteric " not the " esoteric " of our ancient organisation . There are a good many of us who affect to deny what they call " sublimated views " of Freemasonry , and so they sink the Masonic gatherings to the level of a convivial club . There are not a few who look to Freemasonry both for what it gives and what it does for them , and beyond that narrow and dim horizon their ideas cannot passtheir vision cannot penetrate . But I do not write for

, such , they are out of my " pale " altogether ; they belong to a school which I think is passing away , anel with them and for them I do not affect to sympathise or feel . But I am writing to-day for some who , like myself , after long years of faithful membership have found value , improvement , happiness in onr " good old Order . " Like myself , they can recall gratefully many years ; maybe , of kind , fast friends and good real work ; and they are not ashamed to

avow themselves Freemasons wherever they be , at home or abroad , because they are proud both of the kindly and tolerant principles and the practical beneficent outcome of this worldwide sodality .