Masonic Notes And Queries.

ibis passage three times aud carefully examined it , and regret to say that from its age and tottering condition , parts of it will soon fall into ruins . Ifc is a great misfortune that a country possessing so much that deserves to be studied and preserved should be gOA'erned by a nation so unwilling to partake of European civilisation .

" We will noAv examine tlie cisterns to the north of tbe mosque es-Salcltaralt . On entering the northern one ( 29 £ feet deep ) , I found the floor covered with wet mud to the depth of about 1-J- feet . At the first glance I saw an opening on the south side , 3 feet wide and 4 < £ high , half built up Avith Arab masonry , and after clearing aAvay some of the stonesearthand

, , mud that blocked ifc up , I passed through ifc into another cistern in the same direction , 32 feet deep . These are both very ancient , and are Avholly excavated in the rock ; and I have no doubt that they belonged to the threshing-floor of Arauuah the Jebusite . On the south and on the east of the deeper cistern are

the openings to two passages ; the first leads to a conduit ( 3 feet wide and 34- high ) , descending from the west ; but after going a few feet along the passage Ave find another conduit of the same size as the above , coming from the south , and leading -upwards into a double cistern , as I had always expected . The form

of the lower chamber is an irregular sphere , aboufc 22 or 23 feet in diameter ; its floor is covered deep with dry mud Avith a few stones ( but rather too many for me to remove ) . On a careful examination I saw , at a height of 12-J- feet , the mouth of the hole leading to the upper chamber , about Gi feet in diameter and d < feet long , and the marble slab , rvhich Ave have already mentioned as covering ifc . This it Avas that the Santon

struck Avith his foot or stick to prove the existence of the ' "Well of the Souls' beloAV ! There is a conduit on the south , into which I entered through an aperture ( IIOAV walled up ) and by a very gradual ascent reached the other extremity at tbe fountain opposite to the mosque el-Aksa . The whole depth of the double cistern is 2 §^ feet below the top of the rock

, and 23 A- below the pavement of the mosque . The reader may imagine my joy at this result of my labours , so long desired and so anxiously sought , and tbe gratitude I felt to God for granting me this boon of ascertaining the position ., of the altar of burntofferings , and the cisterns and conduits for blood

belonging to the ancient Temple : an ample recompense for all my toil . Ifc is true , indeed , that after a most careful search I have not been able to find any opening on the south-Avesfc , in accordance with the statement of the Rabbinical writers ¦ but for this time I trust my OAVU eyes , and that suffices me . . .

" On entering the cistern excavated in the rock on ¦ the west of the Golden Gate , I found that it Avas 20 feet deep , and that on the west side Avas the mouth of the conduit , which I partially examined from the cistern north of the mosque es-Salcliarali . I was able to pass along it for some distance on this side also , and

and found it to be 3 ^ feet wide 3 hi g h . The only thing that now remained to be done Avas to find the conduit leading out of the cistern towards the east ; and after a long search I had begun to despair , when a labourer , who was Avorking at the south side ofthe chamber , told me that there Avere signs of an opening there ; in a few minutes it Avas uncovered , and through ifc I entered into another cistern , whose

floor was 4 feet below the level of the former ; and on the east side of this was a conduit 3 i feet wide and 3 nigh , running towards tbe Haram wall , which must have communicated Avith that the ruins of which I had found outside the east wall . 1 had thus completed a chain of evidence , which established the

course of the conduit for blood , as laid CIOAVU by me , at every point . " M . Pierotfci's accounts are illustrated by a folio volume of vieAvs , plans , and sections , showing , among other things , the system of underground passages and watercourses of Avhich he has made out so much . The p lates of views are lithographed from photographs or drawings Avhich bear M . Pierotti ' s name , and many of them are of great interest .

MOZABT A EKEEMASON . In your "Sayings and Doings Abroad , " I see you give credence to the report that Mozart was a Freemason . Is there any proof of this assertion ?—A PBOA * - . G-. ORGANIST . —[ In the year 1785 , Mozart was at Vienna , where his father visited bim , and , as Edward Holmes in his Life of Mozart says ( p . 25 G ) ,

the latter Avas " in declining health , much afflicted with gout , and during his whole stay almost constantlyindisposed . However , what could be done to make the time pass cheerfully was done ; he heard music at home and abroad , and Avas carried by his son to the lodof Freemasonsand initiated into the mysteries

ge , of that fraternity . " At page 261 of the same work , Mr . Holmes adds : — " In the middle of this year [ 1785 ] he composed several songs , an orchestral dirge for the Freemasons' lodge , on occasion of the death of a distinguished brother of the house of Meeklenburgk and Esterhazy , and the pianoforte quartetfc in G

minor . " We have never yet seen this music , but most anxiously desire to do so . If our brother , the Prov . G . Organist , should meet with it—UOAV be is satisfied that Mozart Avas not only himself a brother but actually introduced his father to the Craft—we sincerely hope he will take our trouble , to settle his doubt , into consideration , and allow us the opportunity to copy it . ]

OJtiaiS OS THE OKDEB 01 ? TEMPLAES . In what year did the Order of Knights Templar take its origin P—MILETES .- —[ The received history is that the " poor fellow soldiers of Jesus Christ" was a military and relig ious brotherhood formed to protect poor pilgrims , and founded about A . D . HIS , and

after they had a house assigned to them they were called , and assumed the title of , " Poor fellow-soldiers of Christ , and of the Temple of Solomon . " This , however , is only a part of the truth . Centuries before Christianity the Order was in existence . At its suppressioncertain curious charges - were made against

, the Templars Avhich have , in the majority of inquiries , been either accepted or dismissed without instituting any real sifting process to come at their obAnous meaning . All sorts of accusations Avere made against them , but few , very few indeed , of the writers on the subject seem to have taken into consideration what

those accusations were . No doubt the Pope and his legates knew the mystery , aud resolved ifc should remain one for them , but it has gradually been cleared up , and now Ave know from whence it comes , to what it alludes , and can prove that it Avas tbe guiding principle of a large section of Freemasons , from the