Correspondence.

possibly paint , in tbe noble sense of the word . Yanity and selfishness are troublous , eager , anxious , petulant . Painting can only be done in calm of mind . Resolution is nob sufficient to secure this ; ifc must be secured by disposition as well . You may resolve to think of your picture only ; bufc , if you have been fretted before beginning , no manly or clear grasp of ifc will be possible for j r ou . No forced calm is

calm enough ; only honest calm , natural calm . You might as well try by external pressure to smooth a lake till it could reflect the sky , as by violence of effort to secure the peace through which you can reach imagination . That peace must come iu its own time , as the waters settle themselves into clearness as well as quietness ; you cau no more filter your mind into purity than you can compress it

iubo calmness ; you musb keep it pure , if you would have ib pure ; and bhrow no sbones inbo ifc , if you would have ib quiet . Great courage and self-command may , to a certain exbenb , give power of painting without the true calmness underneath , bufc never of doing firsfc-rabe work . " Nob less is undisturbed serenity of soul required for him who would move the minds of his fellow men on Masonic matters .-

" Far from the madding crowd ' s ignoble strife " and free from fche constant pain of finding my good intentions misunderstood , and the noblest aspirations of my soul traduced , I will continue to contemplate and practise each Masonic virtue , humbly beseeching the Giveuof Every Good Gift to assist me in my researches after truth , and to enable me to give ifc a fitting utterance .

" Wisdom's self Oft seeks for sweet retired solitude , Where with her best nurse , Contemplation , She plumes her feathers , and lets grow her wings . " JOHN MILTON . When I have perfected my nob-unimporbaut work in my rustic retirement , I will present it to the full and free

criticism of the whole British and American press , confidenb bhab every cribic , whether initiated or uninitiated as a Mason , will treat my writings and myself with at least as much justice as your correspondents , with the solitary exception of BJ . 'E . X ., have thought proper to deal out to me , forgetting , I am afraid , the divine injunction of the holy Jesus , to "judge righteous judgement , " for " "With what measure ye

judge ye shall be judged . " Thanking you , dear Sir aud Brother , for the ready insertion which you have afforded to my papers , and apologizing to yourself and your subscribers for the space I have occupied , aud wishing you and them every blessing , I subscribe myself , for the last time in your pages , " That Grand Bore , " etc ., etc ., October 28 th , 1861 . BEOTIIEB , PETEE .

"Anent Personalities."

"ANENT PERSONALITIES . "

TO THE EDITOR OI ? THE EKEEJIASOHs' MAGAZINE A 2 TD MAS 02 TIC MIIUIOII . SIR , —I have been a reader of your publication for some years , and have had so frequently to regret that the facilities afforded to your correspondents for obtaining information have been perverted into occasions for " personalities " by individual brethren , that I have as often thought it a duty to Masonry in general , and myself in particular , to cease to

support in any way the periodical which thus appeared to be sacrificing our first principles by lending itself to controversies thafc were of a personal and abusive character . I adduce , in instance , the recent letters between "Bro . Peter , " " Secretary 162 , " "J . W . W ., " ancl "Paul the Hermit , 90 ° . " It is lamentable , when one reflects upon the obligations

we have surrendered to , to see how readily they are ignored when only some slight—or it may be even serious—difference of opinion offers . Are Masons so distrustful of each other as to visit a mere difference of opinion with the severity due , if at all , only to blackness of heart ? Are men who call each other brothers to add " Racca" always when they differ ? Is it even prudent for H . N . in referring

to a quotation by Bro . Tweddell ( see page 329 ) , to pronounce it all " bosh ? " The spirit behind even this little word threatens to culminate ultimately into " abuse ; " and I submit , Mr . Editor , that you would do Masonry a service ,

"Anent Personalities."

if , when you detect any such manifestation of temper or superciliousness , you would simply decline the entire letter . We owe ifc to ourselves " to be cautious " - in every direction that a " system of morals" is not hampered with " symbols " which are so foreign to its spirit , and so calculated to destroy its meaning . It is possible even in narrating our " complaints , " to exhibit them in sorrow rather than in anger ;

and if Masons cannot clo this , there is an end to their " brotherhood "—there is an end to the " mystic tie " altogether . I agree so much in the main with Bro . Peber in his estimate of Ereemasonry as it is , in comparison with Ereemasonry as it should be , that I would , with him , rather cultivate first the graces and sciences in alliance with " Craffc

Masonry , " than , having imperfectly comprehended them , rush into " higher degrees . " I have a feeling , too , with which he probably sympathises , that if the " higher degrees" cease to be popular amongst us , it will be because being " higher " they , nevertheless , seem to be unfortunately " narrower " in their teachings , and somewhat exclusive . I mean that they tend to ignore the " Catholicity" which is so much

admired , ancl wbich so much recommends Craft Masonry . If the higher degree be attained , a new theology for instance sbeps in , which ifc is the aim of Craft Masonry to leave outside the door , we are , then , no longer free men in Masonry , but rather the upholders of differences that have done more to set man against his fellow-man than almost any other instrumentality . It is on this account I rest happy in Craft Masonry at present . I am , Sir , your obedienb Servant , Dudley , 28 fch October , 1861 . PRATER .

Masonic Notes And Queries, By A Lady.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES , BY A LADY .

TO THE EDITOR OP THE FEEEilASOXS * MAGAZINE AXD 3 IASONIC JIIHEOE . DEAE SIE , —Asyouhave recenblybrought the views of some ladies , on the subject of Masonry , before your readers , it hasstruck me that the following extracts from a letber received , from a relative—herself the daughter of a distinguished French Mason—may be thought also acceptable to them ; and that there are some points on which information

through the ) medium of your columns may probably be thought more conclusive and satisfactory to her than thafc which she has received from me in reply . S . TUCKER , S . P . R . $ t and R . A . " I have read somewhere that the ' square' is the representation of uprightness ; that the ' white gloves' ( are there any white gloves ?) are expressive of sincerity ; and the ' trowel , ' among many

other symbols , conceals the faults of your neighbours . That trowel must have been of gigantic dimensions in the Paris lodge , which had to hide , conceal , or cover the peccadillos of some worthies received into its motherly bosoms , amongst which I may mention the infidel 'Brother' Voltaire , the atheist Venerable cle Lalande , theunbeliever Diderot , the blood-thirsty Robespierre , the monster Marat , ancl a host hoc genus omne . AVhen that old scoffer , Voltaire , had gone through the celebration of the mysteries with all duedecorum , about two months before his death , some ' brother' got up , and gravely delivered the following stanza : —

" Au seul nom de l'illustre frere , Tout Macon triomphe aujourd' hui—S'il recoit cle nous la lumiere , L ' univers la recoit de lui . !! 1 " " It is then , I presume , ' light' that the brethren receive with the-Masonic badge . Has Freemasonry any persuasion of possessing the secret of some of the mysteries of life and death ? Tell me , what

is the tise of it ? Does it teach anything new beyond the illusion and prestige attached to what is dignified with the title of mysteries ? I imagine that a belief that they stand on the borders of a supernatural world , would necessarily make the obligations of this a minor consideration . "The King of Prussia was a Mason who had not been terrified hy the Craft ' s phantasmagoria—he indulged in all the despotism of an unlimited crown . When the Empress Catherine of Russia had

illed her husband , Frederic , putting the largest possible ' trowel ' in use , said , 'On ne doit pas prendre taut de connaissance des d ' efants des autres . ' " Can you recommend me a good history of the Druids ? They seem to me to have been of a Masonic character . It took 20 years to make a good Druid . It does not require so long to make a bad Mason . The first Grand Lodge was opened at York in 927 . Was this the first held in England ?"