Reviews.

soldiers of the Cross , and at last the Order was perpetually dissolved by the Pope , and its estates conferred on the Knights of St . John of Jerusalem , Palestine , & c , who had conquered Rhodes in 1310 . That venerable martyr , Jacques de Molay , the last Grand Master of the whole Order of the Temple , perished in tho flames , March llth , 1313 . In England and Scotland their

estates passed to the Knights of St . John between 1313-24 , with whom many of the Templars , especially in the latter country , united themselves ; others married and returned to lay occupations . The Order of the Temple was thus annihilated , but in Britain it seems to have been remembered in connection with its estates then appertaining to the Order of Knihts Hospitallers of St .

g John , which thus came to represent St . John and the Temple . Under the name of the Order of Christ , however , the Priory of Portugal retained its property and constitution , and charged its Red Cross with a White one . But in 1552 , the Crown fearing the power of the Knights , assumed the Grand Mastership , and in 1789 the Order was made to consist of six Grand Crosses ,

450 Commanders , and an unlimited number of Noble Knights ; even at the present day the dark cloak of its lower Militia is worn by all ranks in Portugal .

" The Order of the Temple and of St . John had established themselves in Britain as early as the commencement of thel 2 th century , though weknow but little of their history in England , owing to the destruction of their re . cords by WatTyler ' smob ; however , the Order of St . John maintained its position , strengthened by the forced union of the property of the two Orders , and in Scotland

James IY . in 1488 confirmed by deed the property granted by his predecessors to the Knights of " St . John and the Temple" ( Sancto Hospitali de Jerusalem etfratribus eiusdem Militiae Templi Salamonis ) , and their acquisition of Malta in 1530 added an additional title to this illustrious and exalted Order . In England , however , their power was waning . Henry YIII . seized their

estates in 1534 , and Sir William Weston , the Lord Prior of England , died of grief at the destruction of his Order . "VYe are informed that in 1500 Freemasonry in its operative state was under the patronage of these Knights , and that Henry YII . was the Patron and Protector of both associations , but not until after the reformation and suppression must we look for any close connection ,

and owing to the jealousy of the Ancient Accepted Masons , who burnt their few records in 1721 , little can now be ascertained . Queen Mary attempted a restoration of the Order of St . John in 1557 , but the accession of

Queen Elizabeth caused a second suppression in 1559 . An attempt was also made in 1561 to break up tho General Assembly of Freemasons at York under Sir Thomas Sackville , a namesake , or relative , of the last Prioress of Clerkenvvell . In Scotland the Order of St . John and the Temple had been continued by the election of David Seton as Grand Prior , and intriguers edeavoured

to wrest Ireland from the British Crown and there establish the Order of St . John , and though in Scotland the Order continued itself as Templars , yet Seton retired to Germany in 1573 , with a portion of his Scottish brethren , and died atEatisbonne in 1591 . On the accession of James I ., in 1603 , the English Masonic Lodges wore frequented by men of letters and position , and the policy

of attracting such initiates was followed by Charles 1 . and Charles IL , both of whom patronised the Order . Laws were passed to bring all lodges of operative and speculative Masonry under the Grand Master , and those brothers of the Rosy Cross , Protestant Knights Templar , and others , meeting in the Masonic General Assemblies of York and London may have contributed

considerably to the development of Johanite Masonry . Stirling claims to have founded a chapter of Templars on the death of David Seton , under the patronage of James VI ., but it is more parfciculary to 1686 , under the sanction

of the Scottish Chivalric Order , * that our traditions point for tho revival , revision , and recognition of their Order of the Holy Royal Arch and the Craft Noviciate as in character with their own lower Militia . This revisal is a key to all the rituals of Knights Templar , or Knights of St . John , who adopt the Masonic degree , and ceremonially conveyed an allusion to the foundation of the

Order in Palestine—1 st . A pilgrimage to the head chapter at Jerusalem . 2 nd . Application and reception as an armed novice , or esquire . 3 rd . Reception as a Knight of St . John and for the defence of Temple and Sepulche . On this was added Knight of the Tabernacle or Templar priest , a degree of 1686 , and Knight Rosae-Crucis , which may have been adopted as a Knightly version

of the degree of Mhster Mason , thus completing a chivalric constitution similar to Craft Masonry and the augmented Arch degrees . Soon after the date already mentioned , the followers of the Stuart family established a system of high grade Masonry in Franceand a Rose Croix warrant granted therefrom to certain London Knights in 1721 by James III ., f or the

Pretender , is said to be in existence—but the Order of Templars was not included therein , and it is scarcely to be expected that our exiled Kings would venture to do this , as the French Ordre du ' Hemp le had been revived in 1705 by Philip of Orleans , at Versailles , the successor of the Duke de Duras , under a " Charter of transmission " from John Mark Larmemus , who had been appointed as his successor by Jacques de Molay % In this order the

Superior Militia was made to consist of the three grades of Companion , Commander , and Grand Cross , and comprised all consecrated Knights with their Esquires ; and the Inferior Militia , the brethren admitted propter artem , and postulants for the honours of Chivalry . The candidate must be a gentleman of liberal education , and strict scrutiny takes place unless he be a Knight of Christ , a

Teutonic Knight , or descendant of a Templar : for the rank of Novice Esquire , which precedes Knighthood , he must produce proofs of nobility in the fourth generation . " In Scotland , John Graham , Viscount Dundee , was succeeded in the Grand Mastership of the Order of St . John and the Temple by the Earl of Marbut the Order

, fell into abeyance , through the troubles of 1715 , on the demission of the G . M . ; but a small muster of ten Knights were assembled in September , 1745 , under the Regency of the Duke of Athol at Holyrood House , when Prince Charles Edward was installed a Templar , elected Grand Master , and vowed he would restore tho Temple higher than it was in the days of William the Lion ; the terms

in which this information is conveyed by the Duke of Perth , in a letter to Lord Ogilvio in the same year , shows the writer ' s acquaintance with the French revived order . Whilst at Derby , in December , 1745 , Prince Charles Edward granted a warrant for the Longnor Lodge of Ancient Freemasons , as Grand Master , and many writers , amongst the rest the learned Bro . Van Lennep , deny any formal connection betwixt tho Templars and Free-