Masonic Jottings.—No. 14.

" ¦ . — PHILOSOPHIC SCHOOL . —MASONIC LODGE . A Brother finds a similitude between the teachings of the old philosophic school and the teachings of the Masonic lodge . LODGE FOR BUILDING AN ABBEY .

The architects and master builders brought to it sciences relating to matter . The abbot and monks brought to it sciences relating to mind . GERMAN MASONIC WRITERS OP THE PIRST HALF OP THE PRESENT CENTURY .

The principal German Masonic writers of the first half of the present century are—Albrecht , Eckert , Fallon , Fessler , Heldmann , Keller , Kloss , Krause Lenning , Mossdorf , Schauberg , Sehroeder , and Seydel .

DEDICATION AND CONSECRATION . A learned correspondent is collecting all he can find in old writers respecting the dedication and consecration of buildings . He expects that the result of his labour will throw light upon the origin of Speculative Masonry .

SYLLOGISM . The Masonry of 1757 is the Masonry of 1717 . The Masonry of 1757 is , according to the Manningham letter , the Masonry of the end of the 17 th century . Therefore the Masonry of 1717 is the Masonry of the end of the 17 th century . DEPUTY GRAND MASTER MANNINGHAM—THE ABBE

GRANDIDIER . Deputy Grand Master Manningharn takes back our existing organisation and ceremonies to the end of the 17 th century . The Abbe Grandidier takes them back to the middle of the 15 th century .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

HAFPT HUTTE—GRAND LODGE ( page 267 ) . At page 665 of the second edition of Findel , the words " Grand Lodge" occur . I think some other term could be got more appropriate . It is the insertion ofthe thin edge ofthe wedge for some German pretension , and the word " grand" is only too apt to

give false ideas . Operative Masonry is one thing , Speculative Masonry another . —W . P . B . AN EDITORIAL REMARK . An editorial remark , Freemason ' s Mac / azine , 1853 , page 580 , to which a Metropolitan Brother calls my attention , has been known to me ever since it was

published . Dr . Oliver somewhere cites it at length , and with approbation . There is a great deal in it to which I cannot assent . It is possible that Kings David and Solomon were what are now called Grand Masters ; but for reasons often stated by me in communications to the Freemason ' s Magazine , the Masonry of their lodge could not have been true Freemasonry .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

It is possible , too , that Zerubbabel was what ' I ' we designate Grand Master , and , in this case , the Masonry of his lodge would , as the communications referred to show , be true Freemasonry . It is possible , too , that Nehemiah and Ezra were Grand Officers in the present signification of tho term , although , as my brother remarks , they could not have been Scribes . —CHARLES P TJRTOS COOPER ,

THE ABBE GRANDIDIEE ' S DISCOVERT ( page 26 /) . The Abbe Grandidier ' s " discovery" is a mistake , so far as the Guild Theory is incorrect , as well as the Templar Theory . The German Masons , e . g ., did not get their Speculative Masonry from their own operative uildsthey ied it from England after 1717

g ; cop , where it was manufactured hy non-operatives , who , however , while concocting their system , made use of the Operative Masons , in so far as served their purpose . —W . P . B .

EXTRACTS PROM A MASONIC CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE . 1645 , Masonry dozes—1646 , October , Elias Ashmole initiated—Masonry still dozing ; but this famous Rosicrucian rouses it . 1692 , Ashmole dies , and Masonry dozes ' again . 1717 , John Theophilus Desaguliers rouses it , to doze no more . —CHAS . PURTON COOPER .

ORDER 01 ? THE TEMPLE Our esteemed confrere , "lupus , " has remarked , at page 267 , upon my assumption that the charter of the French Ordre-du-Templevz a forgery . His opinion is entitled to great respect , but I would point out that I did not instance the anathema as a proof of

forgery , but of the existence of a Scottish rival at the time when the charter was compiled . The indications of forgery I consider to lie in the internal evidence afforded by the charter and the statutes , which seem to be in such consonance with each other that they may be supposed of the same period of time . These

indications I may point out as follows : — 1 . In Roman Catholic times and countries it would have been impossible to continue the Order without its transpiring in the confessional , and the Knights of St . John would have kept a wary eye on the matter . True , Rosetti adduces powerful arguments for the existence of an anti-papal secret society , amongst which he classes the Templars aud their descendants

the Freemasons , but the admission of this origin for the Freemasons would strengthen the probability of the forgery ofthe Preach charter . 2 . Triple names , such as Johannes Marcus Larminius , of Jerusalem , and Eranciscus Thomas Theobaidus Alexandrius , are a modern custom , and point

suggestively to James Henry de Durefort , and Charles Edward Stuart . 3 . The Latinity ofthe charter and the mode of subscription are believed to be modern , and not mediawsl . 4 . The whole system of the orig inal Templars _ was modest and unarsuming in the extreme , and strictly

enforced by the rule of St . Bernard , whilst the charter and statutes of tho French Order have a reverse tendency , and even point to the French Masonic rites of 1750 . 5 . John Mark Lanninius could not so far have forgotten or abrogated the constitution of his Order , as to have decreed the following in 132-1 : — "JSTe autem lanquescant supremi officio numera suit nunc et pe-