Bro. Melville And His Discoveries.

cule upon Masonry and Masons . What a disgrace would it he upon us in the present day if we kept secluded from the world of learning such a vast body of knowledge as is assumed by Bro . Melville . Fortunately it is not so , nor is it possible to persuade Masons or the public that it is possible for illiterate

men by becoming initiated as Masons , and eating more or less good or bad dinners , to acquire mysteriously such knowledge as Masons and non-Masons can only acquire by hard study . What Masons can have as their specialty is this , if they choose to avail themselves of it , that they

may attain to that height of philosophy and of human learning which consists in the cultivation of virtue . This has always justly been regarded as the hi ghest learning , ancl this even the most illiterate Mason may acquire and practice . For this we keep our own organization , we choose our own candidates , and adopt our own forms , and are only so far in the nature of things mysterious and exclusive as we are separated

from those who cannot or will not belong to us . As to Bro . Melville ' s pretensions , hoAvever much they may impose upon himself and others who know nothing of the subjects on which he treats , their assertion has been sufficient to convince every man of moderate information . No wonder that Bro .

Melville claims so much when he knows so little . Hence we hear about Assyrian and hieroglyphic discoveries , unknown to such great scholars as Bro . Oppert and others , who have spent the labour of lives on these matters . It is difficult to make the general public understand the true nature of Bro . Melville ' s position

in Syro-Egyptian studies . Luckily , he has in his last favoured us with a more familiar example . Some pages of your last number are taken up to shoAV that men of education do not know when Charles the First was beheaded . They state on 30 th Jan ., 1 G 49 , whereas Bro . Melville shows from contemporary documents that it Avas on the 30 th Jan ., 1 G 4 S .

I am almost ashamed to take up your space with such matters , for if a schoolboy in this day does not understand it , a man of Bro . Melville ' s age ought to know better . When anyone spends his days iu the British Museum Library , as Bro . Melville does , copying books and MSS ., he is expected to profit by

the ordinary hooks of reference . 30 Jan ., 1648 , and 30 Jan ., 1 G 49 , are both right , and both the same thing when rightlv understood . In lGd'S and 1 G 49 , the 30 Jan ., 1619 , was the 30 Jan ., 1 G-1 S , because the year then , and for 1700 years , did not begin on the 1 st of Jan . as Bro . Melville

supposes , nor did it so begin until long after . Bro . Melville will , perhaps , explain howit is that September , the 9 th month , means tlie 7 th , October the 8 th , NoA'ember the 9 th , and December the 10 th . AVhen the year was made to begin on the 1 st of January , then such a date was indicated as 30 Jan ., 16-48-9 .

Gradually , as the change was accepted , this form was dropped , and in all our new books the date is entered , 30 Jan ., 1 G 49 , but Bro . Melville will find histories enough with 1 G 4 S respectively , 1 G 4 S-9 ancl 1 G-19 . AH Bro . Melville's surmises consequently fall to the ground . Acs to Bro . Melville ' s unpublished and mysterious discoveries yet to be communicated , there is no need to pay one farthing for their elucidation , or to

propagate them through our lodges . We can rest contented Avith what we have . Yours fraternally , P . M .

TO THE EDI'IOE OF THE " FREEMASON ^ ' MAGAZINE ASD JIASOXtO JHEKOE . Dear Sir ancl Brother . —AVith reference to the remarkable paper contributed to your issue of the 1 st inst ., by Bro . Henry Melville , commenting upon discrepancies as to tho date of the martyrdom , of King Charles I ., I beg to point out that all well-informed persons are aware

that no discrepancy whatever on the point has ever existed . In its issue of the l 6 oh of February , 1861 , the Times drew public attention to the fact , that from old times the English civil and legal year commenced upon the 25 th of March , a circumstance which at once explodes the mare ' s nest upon which Bro . Melville has laid so much stress while the following paragraph from Timbs '

; " Things not Generally Known , " eighth edition , Kent and Co ., London , 1859 , pnge 165 , completely does away with any credit for accuracy as an . antiquarian and man of research , which unthinking- persons might feel disposed to accord to that brother- It is headed

" THE HISTORICAL AXD LEGAL YEARS . " Remarkable examples of the confusion produced by two modes of computing dates , are afforded hy two of tho most celebrated events in English history . King Chai-les I ., is said by most authorities to have been beheaded on the 30 th of January , 1648 ; Avhilst others , with equal correctness , assigned that event to the SOfch

January , 1649 . The Revolution , which drove James II . from the throne , is stated by some writers to have taken place in February , 1688 ; whilst according to others , ib happened in February , 16 S 9 . These discrepancies arise from some historians using tho civil and legal , and others the historical year ; although both would have assigned any circumstance after the 25 th of March to the same

years , namely , 1649 and 1689 . " To avoid , as much as possible , tho mistakes which this custom produced , it was usual to add the date of the historical to that of the legal year , when speaking of any day between tho 1 st of January and 25 th of March , thus :

« T QO irfi S '' - ' > 164 S , the civil and legal year . Jan . dU , 104- g ^ > ] 6 LP i thc historical year . or thus : January 30 , 1648-9 . "This practice , common as it has long been , is nevertheless frequently misunderstood ; ancl even intelligent are sometimes lexed bdates so written .

persons perp y The explanation , however , is perfectly simple ; for the loAver or last figure always indicates the year according to our present calculation . " Yours fraternally , PROVINCIAL G-M . 3 rd May , 1869 .

TO THE EDITOE OE THE EKEK . MASOys' MAGAZINE AXD rHASOyiC tflRKOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —Like " Seuex , " I am compelled to say that the tremendous discoveries (?) of Bro- Melville are still " Masonic Celestial Mysteries " to me . Bro . Melville may be entitled to high honour for something or other which he has done , but what that something is has not yet been shown in the ill-constructed and involved

sentences which form his articles . Probably Bro . M . has been so busy " discovering " the said something that ho has had no time to study the ordinary and commonplace discoveries of Liudley Murray and other grammarians . Yours fraternally , A STONE OF THE TEIIILE . May 1 st , 1869 .