Ineligibility Of Candidates For Freemasonry.

require any one who comes late to do the same . As to the case of Bro . Morris , who is said to have taken 142 degrees , and therefore might be " gesticulating the whole evening , " if his recollection of the signs served him so far , it seems to me not to the purpose , for the several departments of Masonry are kept

separate . In the Eoyal Arch , for instance , which is recognised b y Grand Craft Lodge , but under a distinct jurisdiction , we are not required to give the signs of the Craft degrees . Tours fraternally , August 30 , 1869 . H . H .

EEVISION OF THE BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS . TO THE EDITOR OF TIE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . _ Dear Sir and Brother , —Tour article in the Magazine of the 28 th inst ., on the necessity of a re-organization of our Masonic systemdeserves the utmost

, attention . I perused it with great pleasure , and I cordially agree with your premises . But , I go further than you , and I say that not onl y is more efficient organization needed , but that a thorough revision of the Book of Constitutions and a clear and distinct definition of the powers of the Grand Master are

also most urgently required . I reside in a province , the Grand Mastership of which lately became vacant by the resignation of the E . W . Brother who held it The vacancy was not filled up , and shortly afterwards tbe adjoining province of Hampshire also lost its Grand Master by

the hand of death . The M . W . G . M . then coolly and , as I think , unconstitutionall y ignored altogether the separate and independent existence of my province , and without the slightest previous intimation of what was intended , we were told by the G . See . that we must henceforth lose our individuality and be united with Hampshire as one province under the rule of Bro . Beach .

Now , since 1813 , the Isle of Wi ght has existed as a separate Masonic province under its own Grand Masters , and , so far back as 17 S 7 , I find that it had its own Deputy Provincial Grand Master aud a separate Provincial Grand Lodge . It contains five lodges , one dating back to 1732 , and Masonry has hitherto

grown and flourished—but why we are now , against our will , to be tied to a province with which we have no common interest and from which we are geographically cut off , is utterly incomprehensible . We have memorialized and petitioned the Grand Master to no purposeand we at last appealed to the

, Board of General Purposes , but they have refused to entertain the appeal on the grouud that it was a question of the Grand Master ' s prerogative ; so that we are reall y to lose our standing as a province and be turned over to another like so many sheep turned into a pen ! Why ? Because it is the Grand

Master ' s pleasure ! I contend , however , that the Board of General Purposes have quite inisunderotood the matter . We appealed against the extinction of our lodge , and not against the appointment of a Provincial Grand Master . The latter is an undoubted prerogative of the Grand Master , clearly and explicitly provided for in the Book of Constitutions ; but where is the law or the custom which gives the Grand Master the power to

abolish a Masonic province which was originally formed by Grand Loclge itself ? I entertain no doubt whatever that the arbitary decision of the Grand Master will give a death blow to Masonry in the Isle of Wight , and under such circumstances as these it is high time that the hand of the reformer was

resolutely applied to our whole system . A feeling of this description is widely prevalent among the brethren , and sooner or later it will have effect . I enclose my card , but not for publication , and am , Tours fraternally , Cowes . 30 th August , 1869 . JUSTITIA .

"CEUX" ON MASONIC DISCIPLINE .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS * MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Eespected Friend , —Thy correspondent " Crux " ( and thou hast few his equal ) , iu his 19 th Article , seems to be in a little difficulty as to whose duty it is to prepare the candidate for initiation . I will tell hitn whose duty it is in the lodge to which I belong ,

and what determined us so to place that duty . In our lodge , as well as in all lodges , the candidate must have a proposer and seconder ; it is the duty of the proposer to prepare the candidate ; and , should the proposer be absent , that duty then devolves upon the seconder . The reason for this is that the

candidate must be well known to these two brethren , and will feel most at home with them during his being prepared . The practice of proposers and seconders may not be so general in the two following degrees , but with us the candidate for the two next degrees must be

proposed and seconded in open lodge as at his initiation , and in every case either his proposer or seconder mustprepare him . I remain , thy sincere friend , THE QUAKES .

REVISION OF THE RITUAL . TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —Whilst fully admitting the value of Crux ' s remarks with reference to the ritual used in opening the lodge , may I be allowed to suggest for his consideration that it would be less a departure from

the present form if the answer to the fifth ancl seventh questions were respectively , "Immediately without the door of the lodge , " and " Immediately within the door of the lodge . " It seems to me that tbe addition of this one word , " Immediately , " in the way I have pointed out , would define the position of each officer as accurately as Crux could wish . Tours fraternally , H . M . G .

THE new three act comedy by Mr . Tom Taylor and llr . Dabourg was produced , on the 20 th ult ., at the Theatre Royal , Manchester , Mr . Buckstone and the-Haymarket company , plus Miss Madge Robertson , sustaining the principal characters . The comedy , which is entitled " New Men and Old Acres , or a Managing Mamma" and is designed to contrast the hereditary

, possessors of an " Abbey " and estates with the wealthy parvenu , to the great disadvantage of the latter , appears to have given great satisfaction . It will be produced in London at the opening of the next season at the Hay market .