Masonic Notes And Queries.

SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY . I mean by speculative Masonry our present system with its degrees and ceremonies , doctrines and principles , which system was instituted about A . D . 1717 and then—and not until then—grafted into the old operative lodges so as to give it a start . —W . P . BUCHAN .

MASONIC LITERATURE . As a Masonic reader and supporter of the Freemasons' Magazine , I crave permission to notice the very different state of the Magazine at present and what it used to be formerly . Although very ably conductedit found difficulty in obtaining Masonic

, matter , except reports of meetings , and its pages required to be filled with literary articles . Now we have got to a stage when , even by diminishing the reports of lodge meetings , and the accounts of the banquets , and of the " worthy host , " the entire number is filled with Masonic matter . I attribute this to

"the spirit of inquiry fostered by the Magazine , and which has led to a great development of Masonic literature . I look with confidence to the future . — P . M .

NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL OE ST . JOHN . I have had the pleasure of reading Bro . Yarker ' s useful work upon the above subject , and consider that he deserves great credit for the trouble he has taken in collecting together so many of the current legends and traditions , & c , anent the origin of the Masonic

chivalric degrees . I at first imagined that he believed some of these traditions , or manufactured notions , to be . Gospel , but was informed by a brother—who is a friend of his—that such was not the case . So far as 1 am aware , all the chivalric Masonic degrees or orders now in existence are all less than a century and a half old .

After the institution of speculative Masonry in 1717 , it is easy to understand how , in process of time , legions of Masonic chivalric , and pretended Eoyal , degrees sprang up and spread abroad . What with pretended charters of transmission , cooked up histories , & c , and other such usual and legitimate

means of inaugurating such matters ( ancient landmarks !) chivalric degrees or orders sometimes sprang up in a single night , with a pedigree , too , as long as "the distance from York to Jerusalem . The idea of being turned into a Sir Kni ght McDignito at the expense of a few shillings proved a wonderful attraction ! However , "it ' s an ill win' that blaws naebody good , " as the manufacturers of Masonic clothing , jewels , & c , know . —W . P . B .

OLD EREEMASONRT . Drowning men catch at a straw , so does J . A . H . at Bro . H yde Clarke ' s old MS ., but I am afraid that a MS . written between " 1720 and 1740 " will prove only a straw after all . —W . P . B .

MASONIC TRADITIONS . Had we really any traditions anent speculative Masonry worthy of the name , it would be worth while examining into their origin , but our pretended traditions have been manufactured since the beginning of last century ; further , read the reallv old Burgh Records which I have been publishing lately , and it will be seen that our pretended secrets , & c , were then many of them nublic property . — "W . P . B .

SCOTUS . My extract as to the " Rite of Mizraim" was made in consequence of information given to me in the Rue Coulet by the principal officers of the Grand Orient during a recent visit to Paris . I shall be glad to know on what part of the continent it is usual to confer the three degrees in one

evening as in Scotland ? After frequent Masonic visits in Germany , Holland , Belgium , France , and Scandinavia , I am ignorant of a single instance of the kind .

"Scotus is welcome to criticise my articles according to the rules of controversy common among gentlemen—to say nothing of Freemasons—but when he charges me with revealing my " personal gastronomic feats , " I appeal to your readers whether he is not guilty of gross libel ? Considering that my health has for some years been such as demands the most

careful regimen , I have been utterly incapable , even if I had so desired , of accomplishing any " feats " of the kind ; and , moreover , however "good , bad , or indifferent " my articles may have been , my references to " gastronomy" have been very infrequent . If we may assume that " Scotus " is himself a Scotchman

, he is well aware that , as a rule , Scotch lodges offer no opportunities for " feats of gastronomy . " I have several times been accused of revealing too much of the working of the Craft ( though I deny the justice of the charge ) , but " Scotus " is the first correspondent who has considered that I have "

revealed chiefly my own opinions . " However , it is sufficient to say that the man who has no opinions ought to cast aside his pen at once and for ever . "Wh y should men write at all except to record the opinions and observations they have accumulated by experiences in the study of menbooksand things in

, , general ? " Scotus " may depend upon it that neither my opinions nor his own are worth anything unless they are correct , and , if correct , they will hold their own in tbe long run . —J . A . H .

SYMBOLISM IN BOHEMIA ; OR , THE BOOK AND THE CUP . " The first object that attracts the eye of the Protestant traveller in Bohemia is the religious symbol that meets him everywhere—not the cross or the crucifix , but the Cup of salvation , the communion emblem of the Redeemer ' s blood , and the Bohemian symbol of the Protestant faith . If you enter a church

, whether in the heart of the picturesque capital or in the outskirts of a remote village , you see the Cup cut in stone on the centre of its principal wall ; and the Bible and the Cup , carved in wood , form the most conspicuous ornament of the pulpit . If you visit a school , you are assured of its character afar off by

the symbol of the Cup in the centre of the wall over the door . The resting-place of the dead is covered with cups of stone ; the Cup surmounts each pillar ot the gateway , and nearly every tombstone has the Cup for its chief device , either carved on the surface , or more commonly , in its full round form , as the

crowning ornament of the tomb . Even spots not sacred occasionally bear the beloved emblem . The old gateway of the peaceful farm-steading may be seen with a massive cup planted on tlie Jceystone of the arch . The ancient battle-field discloses among its buried treasures , not the mere imitative form , but the Communion Cup itself , that had been consecrated at the table of the Lord . In the civil wars for the