Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

MYTHOLOGY . Brother * * , your letter is in entire accordance with what I read three or four years ago in our excellent periodical : — " Is it meant , asked the editor , to commence Grecian history from tlie Persian wars , and Roman history from the invasion of Bvemms ? Is it denied that mythology , which at all times has delighted the young and the old , forms an integral part of history . " —CHARLES PURTON COOPER .

MASONIC INTERVENTIONS . Bro . Eastwiek , C . R ., M . R . for Falmouth , is the son of a distinguished officer and Mason , who died at the advanced age of 9-1 . In the course of a long life of military adventure in all parts of the world , with its vicissitudes of battle and wreck , Bro . Eastwiek , sen ., was made prisoner by the French , and he owed the alleviation of his captivity to the circumstance of his being a Mason . —It . M .

NE PLUS ULTRA AND BRO . MATIER . Though I fail to perceive the necessity of replying at all to the attack of "Rite Ecossais" iipon my signature , yet I do not hesitate to gratify his curiosity by informing him that after my withdrawal , some half a dozen years ago , from the Palatine Chapter of Rose

Croix , to which he alludes , I received thc ne phis ultras of three different rites , viz ., Templar , Ancient Masonry , and French Rite , though of these , at least the first and last ought to be considered synonymous . Willi regard to Bro . Matier , I need only say , that as he has not imported any new matter into the attack upon the High Greenwood Chapter of Rose Croix , so I shall leave them to defend themselves . —f J JOHN YARICEB , N . P . U .

" GENTLEMAN ' S MAGAZINE , " , . 31 , 1732 . An account was given in the papers of a society who call themselves Free Sawyers , and claim priority to the Free Masons , Gormogan or Ancient Hums , as dating their standing before the Tower of Babel , alleging they cut the stones for those mad builders the Freemasons . At their meetings they have a silver saw laid on their tabic with this motto , "Let it work . " —V . B .

GEOMETRY . An Entered A pprentice will find what he is looking for in an early part of the Legend of the Craft : — " And the fifth science is called geometry , and that tcacheth meto and measure of earth and all other things , of the which science is called Masonry . —C . P . Cooi'EE .

MASONIC APRONS . Did Elias Ashmole and other fellows or "Freemasons" wear aprons in the 17 th century , as ive now do ? I am prepared to believe , if it can be proved in any authentic manner by old portraits , or some such means . Ashmole was ait a Masonic meeting in London in 1 GS 2 , being tho senior "fellow" present . Did lie wear an apron on that occasion ? 1 should like to know ,-W . P . B .

SPANISH MOSQUES . Mr . Ferguson sayr : — "It ( the mosque of the Alliambra ) must , like all Spanish mosques , have faced the south . "—W . P . B .

BRO . HUGHAN AND A MASONIC STUDENT . An Entered Apprentice , who sends me some remarks upon the first part of Bro . llughan ' s Analysis , printed in the Freemason ' s Magazine October , November , and December , 1867 , should read the letter signed "A Masonic Student" in the same periodical

, , 11 th April , 18 G 8 . "When the remarks of an Entered Apprentice agree with that letter , he may safely consider himself right ; but when they do not agree with it , I recommend him to consider himself wrong . —¦ CHARLES BURTON COOPER .

TOULMIN SMITH ' S ENGLISH GILDS . At page 330 of the Magazine for October 23 rd 1 S 69 , I observe : — " It strikes me that Mr . Smith' ]! work will support my views . " Now , I have just go this work , and , so far as I have yet seen , Mr . Smith's book to prove that Masonic customs previous to

goes the last century were , as I have already said , merely similar to the customs of other co-existing crafts ; . further , it seems to me that Desaguliers and Anderson got themselves well posted up in the history of a number of those guilds and their customs , after which they adopted , altered , and so moulded things to suit

themselves , and to make up the system they were forming . In these old non-masonic guilds , we read of Master and "Wardens , marching in lii ery , installation , four meetings in the year , or " quarterly communications" as we may call them , secrets to he kept , kindliness to be cherishedoaths to be taken ( which

, are written in hooks ) , jewels to be worn , gentlemen admitted as members , three candles used , box with three locks . " Tho opened box was the sign that the meeting had begun , just as with the Craft guilds-While , therefore , the box teas open , all present had to remain with uncovered heads , and during such time

all disrespectful conduct , as well as improper clothing , cursing , ancl swearing—in short , all that showed want of respect , was severely punished . " Pointed weapons were also forbidden , & c . In short , while we see where Desaguliers and Co . have copied or adopted their ideas from , wo also see the marks of their manipulation in our present system . — "W . P . BUCHAN . WORKING OE SCOTTISH OPERATIVE LODGES IN

1727 . A work printed in Scotland has been mentioned to me , ivhich alludes to the Master ' s degree and secrets , as possessed in 1727 by the Scottish operative lodges of the time , the same drawing a distinction between Entered and Unentered Apprenticesthe former being

, considered initiates , and the latter as cowans . This work , for the knowledge of which I am indebted to the kindness of Bro . Matier , is entitled , "A Mason ' s Confession of BID Oath , Word , and other Secrets of his Craft . " " These are to certify concerning that oathwordand other secrets held among the

corpora-, , tion of Masons , wherein I was taken under the same , by sundry of them gathered together , and met at D about the year 1727 . —JOHN YARKER . TEMPLAR CROSS AS A JEWEL . The Patriarchal Cross ( now worn bCommanders

y only ) is assigned to the original Templars as a jewel , by the following work in 172 G , " Historic des Ordres Eeligieuses Militaires de 1 ' eglise et des ordres de Cheralerie . A Eouen , chez Jean Baptiste Besongne , MDCCXXVI . "—JOHN YARKEE .