Universality Of Masonry.

ministers ? The result would have been that none but Christians would have accepted it . Or , suppose that it had required of its votaries not only brotherly aid and protection , but the destruction of opposers , like the Thugs of India ! Good men

would have shrunk with horror from its embraces . The same effect Avould have been witnessed , had the Jaws of Masonry required of its members an unjust discrimination against others in business matters . No society could flourish that should

incorporate that among its principles . But Masonry being founded upon the general or abstract idea of God , and the universally conceded fact that fraternal aid to each other is a duty to be enforced and practised , there is no reason

why it should not b ecome universal . It has done so , and it ought to have done so . How could it do otherwise ? and the same causes that brought it into existence , continuing to act , will continue it in prosperity , while God lives and men need to be fraternal . —Masonic Trowel .

Masonic Jottings.—No. 22.

MASONIC JOTTINGS . —No . 22 .

Br A PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTBE . BUHLE'S DISSERTATION . The title of Buhle's Dissertation is as follows : — " Do vera origine adhuc latente fratrum de Rosea Cruce , inprimis vero or dine Francomurariorum . " It was read before the Royal Society of Gottingen in 1803 . A German translation with additions

appeared in 1804 . AN ELIZABETHAN MASONIC TRADITION . In some foreign Biographical Notices of the Chevalier Ramsay that have come in my way , there is an Elizabethan Masonic Tradition , the

source of which is unknown to me . It is to the effect that Queen Elizabeth at one time thought that our Freemasonry was the invention of the Crusaders , and that the Freemasons were disguised Papists .

TAVO MASONIC CRADLES . According to the German theory the nave of the Metropolitan Church of York is the cradle of Masonry in England , and the nave of Kilwinning Abbey Church is the cradle of Masonry in Scotand .

THE MYTHICAL . The Mythical is the Historical embellished . Xing Solomon , Grand Master of our Freemasonry , is King Solomon , President of the Lodges of Jewish and Tyrian Masons established at Jerusalem for building the first Temple .

Antient Times.

ANTIENT TIMES .

In antient times it was , in general , in a nation's lodge that its Masonry took its rise . —Old MS . THE 1717 THEORY . THE PHCENIX . A young Brother who writes of the 1717 Theory and the Phcenix , should call Operative Masonry

the old Phoenix burning itself , and Speculative Masonry the new and young Peenix springing from its ashes . The simile will then make by no means the worst part of my young brother ' s argumentation .

FIRST DEVELOPEA 1 ENT OE SPECULATIVE MASONRY . A learned Brother observes , that did we possess the conversations of architects , master builders , and men , eager for knoivledge , Avho resorted to the lodge , we should probably find in them the first

developement of Speculative Masonry . CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS . MASON'S MABKS . A learned Brother writes that the recollection of the mistake of Hyde , the eminent Orientalist , in regard to Cuneiform Inscriptions , has made him always forbear to express any opinion upon the subject of old Mason ' s Marks .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

CEAFTSJIEN ' S APEONS . Flav . —Hence 1 hence , home , you kilo creatures , got you . home ; Is this a holiday ? AVliafc ! know you not , Being mechanical , you ought not walk Upon a labouring day without the sign Of your profession ? Speak , what trade art thou ? 1 st Cit . —Why , sir , a carpenter .

Mar . —AVhere is thy leather apron , and thy rule ? So says Shakspeare in the opening of his Julius Ccssar , which goes to show that in his time the carpenters wore leather aprons , not ham or coarse linen aprons , as they so commonly do now . However , I shall proceed to give a few remarks upon aprons

, which are the result of a conversation with Bro . John Stewart , who took considerable interest in these matters many years ago . The Mason ' s apron was formed of a sheepskin , almost entire ; the strings were got hy cutting a slip down each side , and fixing to the two fore paivs ; the apron was thereby fixed by binding

round the waist , the part of sheepskin above the paws being folded down , formed the flap . The masters often wore chamois aprons . The Smith's apron was . similar to the mason's . lha Farrier ' s had a small piece cut out across the bottom , between the paws , so as to make them look longer , while the paws

themselves were cut up into strips . The Slater ' s apron was also cut out between the paivs , only much higher up , so that the body of the apron only came down to about the knees , and left the two long paws or bands hanging down , one on each side . These long strips , when the apron was folded up so as to form a bag , could be tied or fixed at the back , so that the slater could hold nails , & c , in his apron . The Shoemaker ' s