Masonic Incidents.

them as well as they could , but they had to contend against great odds , and were ou the point of surrendering their charge to the fury of the mob , when a sudden thought struck me— -I was a Mason , I would test my power . Jumping from the horse I rode , I dashed through the crowd , elbowing and fighting my way , till I confronted the leader of the gang ; in a moment I seized his

hand and gave him a token that I knew must be recognised where he of the Craft ; he started back , but in a twinkling was again at my side , whispering in my ear . And in less than I can describe the scene , he turned towards his followers , and cried out : " These men are all right , —my word for it—our information is wrongleave them alone . " The mob didn't know what to think ;

it however desisted from its violence , and drew off , after a hurried consultation with its leader . I need not say that we followed their example as speedily as possible . — GEOHGB M ., New Orleans .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

TUB PAETI 0 TTLAES WANTED . It has been asserted by Masonic writers , o \ er and over again , that " Queen Elizabeth hearing that the Masons had certain secrets that could not be revealed to her ( for that she could not he Grand Master ) , jealous of all secret assemblies , she sent an armed force to break up their annual Grand Lodge at York

, on St . John ' s day , 1561 . Sir Thomas Sackville , then G . M ., instead of being dismayed at such au unexpected visit , gallantly told the officers that nothing could him greater pleasure than seeing them in the Grand Lodge , as it would give him an opportunity of convincing them that Freemasonry was a system founded

on divine and moral laws . The consequence of his argument was , that he made the chief men Freemasons , who , on their return , made an honourable report to the Queen , so that she never more attempted to dislodge or disturb them , but esteemed them as a peculiar sort of menthat cultivated peace and

, friendship , arts and sciences , without meddling in the affairs of Church and State . " "Where is this statement derived from , and Avhat evidence is there that there is one Avord of truth in it ?—ENQTIIEEE .

A NOTE 3 FOE LODGES 2 . 0 . — AND — . The ballot box is not the place to punish our brethren of any degree , for faults or offences they have committed at any previous time , so says the GEAND MASTEE OE IOWA .

MAKIN & A TEADE 0 JP MASONIC EMBLEMS . The Americans , no less thau ourselves , feel that the above subject requires to be steadily discountenanced , aud in one of their papers the following pertinent remarks on the practice appeared , which I think so applicable to our own side of the Atlantic , that I cannot do better than send you the extract . —Ex . Ex .

" "Within the last twenty-five years , in journeying through the world , we have seen the emblems of Masonry almost everywhere—where they ought not to be , as well as where they ought . -TV e have seen them on the signs of respectable hotels , and on some not so respectableand on some anything but

re-, spectable , and so down to the lowest grog shop . We have seen them on the flag flying above the steam boat and at the door of a little shop in the country village ; appended to a medical advertisement in a newspaper ,

and hung over the entrance of au oyster saloon ; on the bosoms ancl watch chains , ancl finger rings of mercantile drummers , and dapper clerks in jobbinghouses ; indeed , we hardly know where Ave have not seen Masonic emblens . We once saw a little ragged , dirty urchin , of six or seven years , the child of a British soldierastray on a steamer in the middle of

, Lake Ontario . Ou the side of his dirty cap , which had survived a campaign in the Crimea , and a winter in Nova Scotia , were the square aud compasses ! "We shall not be surprised to see them , some of these days , branded upon a cow ' s horu , as a mark of ownership , or suspended frotn a dog ' s ear , to indicate that his

master is a Freemason . Why not ? Are they not a " big medicine ? " Why should they not be every-Avhere Avhere Masons are , and on eA erything a Mason owns ? We have often wondered for what purpose these emblems were thus exposed , and the reply has as often been suggested—mercenary . Occasionally a brother may wear them attached to his clothes , or about is person , simply because he thinks them

pretty or is fond of looking at them ; but nine times out of ten they are put on sign boards , or attached to advertisements to secure customers . Sometimes a trafficker is fearful he cannot pass inspection in the market , and he hangs up a Masonic emblem as a proffered guarantee ofhis honesty ! It is not so ? And if it isin what light does it place the individual

, in the estimation of all "just aud uprig ht Masons ?" Several Grand Lodges in this country have been compelled , out of self-respect , to utter a sentence of condemnation against the practice ; "but still it obtains to much too great an extent . The practice is wrong wherever it may obtain , and should be discouraged

by every possible means . The emblems of Masonry belong to the lodge room , where , as the tangible representatives of sacred and important truths , they should be kept for instruction . They should never be placed as beggars upon the hig h road of life , nor desecrated to mercenary purposes . ' The square teaches morality ; ' it should never become a solicitor for patronage to an hotel or an oyster house . "

EXHIBITION or A MASONIC COTEIN . Having occasion , iu 1857 , to visit the coast town of Wester-Austrather , in Fifeslure , Scotland , I was induced to step into a dwelling house of tAVO stories or floors , which stands on the east side of the burgh , iu consequence of noticing this curious invitation painted on each side of the entrance door . —

" Here is the splendid grotto-room , The like's not seen in any town : Those that it do wish to see , — It ' s only Threepence asked as fee . " The " grotto-room , " which is upon the second floor , is an apartment of about seven or eig ht feet square . The ceiling aud walls are covered with marine shells

of great variety , disposed iu many curious and ingenious devices . A mirror and several prints are set in frames , ornamented from the same interesting objects . But the most extraordinary piece of furniture ( if it may be so called ) is a coffin or chest for a dead bodythe topsidesand ends of which are also

, , , closely covered with sea-shells , and painted black , except that the Masonic signs of the sun , moon , and seven stars , the figure of a human heart , and the initials of the artiste , Avhose body the coffin , is intended to contain some day , are iu gold-gilt upon the