Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

corded to the Christians , I am equally overwhelmed by them , since my intentions were to avert from them , at any price , the danger that threatened ; but , to my great regret , I could not carry out this desire , from want of timel y preparation . ' Wise and majestic chief , to you belong these praises more than to myself , as they onl y proceed

from your amiability of sentiment and deep interest in the cause . ' Do not deprive me of your letters . ' I salute you . ' ABD -ET , -KADER BEIT MUHI EDDKN- EI HuSIv Y . ' " GEAITD ORIENT OE ITAET . —There seems to be

something out of gear in the working of this new body . A meeting took place in the lodge room of the Concord Lodge , at Florence , when no other Grand Officer but the first Grand Warden was present , the Grand Master , the first D . G . M ., and several other brethren—Grand Officers , having all resigned

previous to the assembl y , and the second D . G . M . beingabsent from Italy . A committee Avas then formed of five members , who were charged to carry on the business of the Order without any attempt to replace the dignitaries who had resigned . This committee appointed a general meeting of delegates and officers from all the lodges , of every rite and order , to assemble at Florence , in December next , to discuss the Constitution of the Grand Orient ancl form a central

system to embrace all lands of Freemasonry ; ancl although many projects to accomplish this desired end were stated , those present were actuated with but one desire , which Avas to establish the Order on the firmest basis , and to make it as comprehensive as possible . It would seem that Garibaldi was , two years since ,

put forward to be the Grand Master , but was not elected ; and this was one of the causes of the late dissolution . The Grand Orient , too , was found to haA'e become involved in the politics of the kingdom ; hence vre see how prudent it is that Freemasonry should not enter upon such questions . The lodge

Dante Aii ghieri has also separated itself from the Grand Orient , and is under the control of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . To recover it , the Grand Orient propose to widen the basis of admission , and incorporate the hi gher degrees with the very restricted Craft Constitutions they had previously adopted—a plan which will go far to consolidate Freemasonry in Italv .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

BIGir PRIESTHOOD . ' " B . * * * * " must bo well aware of the difficult y there is in giving the uninitiated proof of anything connected with a strictly secret association . I am not myself a High Priest , except under tho modern Royal Arch ritual , but I yet believe in the great antiquity of the degree , though it is quite possible " the Order have

may been reproduced as he mentions . As showing how careful even well informed brethren should bo iu their assertions , we are everywhere met by the statement that there is no proof of anything beyond a Master Mason before 1760 ( which they know there ought not to be if the Order had always remained true to its princi ples ) , when it is shown b y Bro . Matthew Cooke , a certain authority

in MSS ., that a Rose Croix Kadosh Templar warrant was granted in 1721 ; and there is also documentary proof that our ancient Arch ceremony constituted thc fifth Order of the Ancient Rite iu 1725 ; and Bro . Oliver

informs ns that a Priesthood degree formed one of the series which Ramsay advocated unsuceessfufly in 1726 . The emblem of the Priestly degree is also found on a Kadosh Templar seal , known to have been used as early as 1791 by Bro . Dunckerley , and all the old Religious and Military Orders had their Priestly receptions , distinct from those of Knights and esquires . I should

suppose that allusion to the degree would be found in the German books on the Rosy Cross , which I believe to contain their hidden version of our York Masonry ; for one of Dr . Dee ' s crystalline angels ( from whom he professes to receive his Rosicrucianism , say about 1625 ) is habited in the breastplate of the Jewish High Priest . That the connection of Rosicrucianism with the operative

lodges of London is not an assertion of to-day the following , from your volume of 1855 , will prove : — - "The brethren of the shears and shopboard are he » eby informed that their whimsical kinsmen of the hod and trowel , having ( on new light received from some worthy Rosicrucians ) thought fid to change both their patron aud day , and unexpectedly taken up our usual place of

meeting , the worshipful society of Free and Accepted Taylors are desired to meet on Monday next , the 27 fch instant , at the Folly on the Thames , in order to choose a Grand Master and other officers , and to dine . You are desired to come clothed and armed with bodkin and thimble . —December 25 th , 1725 . " It is quite possible some brothers who object to the

teaching of " The Book " may take objection to the Rosicrucians on the ground of their spiritualism ; to this I may say—1 st . They know nothing about it . 2 nd . Such delusions as were attributed to them , are as old as the world ; and 3 rd . They who live in glass houses should not throw stones , for many of Preston ' s list of Masonic worthies were addicted to the occult learning of the period , and

tho oldest MS . of the . Freemasonr-y connected with the Englisii builders , viz ., that of 14-00 , published by Mr . Halliwell , alludes to the legend of the four holy martyrs , who always worked in the name of the Lord , after prayer and signing with the cross , and whose skill under Diocletian was so great , that the philosophers attributed it to the mysterious words of art magical . Whatever may be

the difference in opinion as to Athelstan or the Templars being the authors of the original York assembly , which is reputed to have given birth to these rules for their working brethren , or as to the secret system of such assembly , the rules of study , & c , laid down , corresponds pretty well with tho old Pythagorean and Platonic schools , and the laterchivalrous , religious , German Rosicrucianism ;

and those very constitutions themselves are so far in harmony with the 18 th century assertions of the York rite , that they claim their origin from au assembly of " Dukes , earls , and barons , also knights , squires , and many more , and the great burgesses of that city . They were there all in their degree . " For the reformed London system of 1717-1725 Anderson visited the lodge at

, Edinburgh , and we arc assured the founders had no legitimate ' knowledge of ancient Masonry . If "B ****" lias been a constant reader of your pages , what he knows of York Masonry will enable him to understand coarse old Samuel Butler ' s witty sarcasm , who puts the folfowing into themouth of Gidrophel , or Lilley , the

astrologer : — " . As for the Rosy Cross Philosophers Whom you will have to be hut sorcerers , AA'hat they pretend to is no more Than Trismegistus did before . Pythagoras , old Zoroaster , And Appolonius their master , To whom they do confess they owe

AU that they clo and all they know . " It is ingrained in human nature for mon to decry that of which they cannot be the possessors , and there is no reason why the holders of Plato ' s craft or geometrical degrees should not have acted towards the philosophical in thc same manner our present Craft Masons act towards the more sublime degrees . —___