Masonic Notes And Queries.

ination of " Querist , ' '' I am sorry to say that there exists no record whatever of the circumstance . —G-. DORLING , Prov . CI-. See . Suffolk .- —Ipswich , Dec . 4 . WHY WOMEN ARE EXCLUDED 1 'B . OM FREEMASONRY . An old author gives the following reasons for the nonadmission of women into Freemasonry : — " Our Order excludes women ; not because it is unwilling we should

pay a proper regard to that lovclj- sex ( the greatest , the most valuable gift that Heaven has bestowed upon us ) , or because it imagines they would not implicitly obey the strictest commands of secresy ; but it knows if they wore to be admitted to our assemblies , that our bosoms must often be inflamed by love ; that jealous } ' would sometimes be the consequence ; that then we should no longer be

kind brethren , but detested rivals , and that our harmonious institution would by that means be annihilated . But though our Order excludes women , it does not forbid our enjoying tho pleasures of love , but it bids us enjoy them in such a manner as the laws of conscience , socict } " -, and temperance permit ; it commands ns for momentary gratifications not to destroy the peace of

families ; not to take away the happiness ( a happiness with which grandeur and riches arc not to bo compared ) which those experience whose hearts are united by love , not to profane the first and most holy institution of nature . To enjoy tho blessing sent by divine beneficence , it tells us , is virtue and obedience ; but it bids us avoid the allurements of intemperance , whose short hours of jollity arc followed by tedious days of pain and dejection ; whose joys turn to madness , and lead to disease , and to death . "—Ex . Ex .

THE GOTHIC CONSTITUTIONS . Bro . Anderson , in his Booh of Constitution * , occasionally refers to the " Gothic Constitutions ; " and as he seemed to be a great admirer of the Augustan style , did lie wage war against the Gothic in a similar way to our late Battle of the Styles ? I cannot make head nor tail of it . —A CONSTANT READER . —[ When Anderson wrote of

the " Gothic Constitutions , " he alluded to the Constitutions ol'Masons in times considerably earlier than his own , and did not intend to be understood architecturally . We know of several distinct copies of these early laws for Masons . Some are in public libraries , others in the hands of private individuals , not Freemasons , three have been printedand wo have been told of anotherin MS .

, , , which we have not yet soon . Those have , all but tho last , been collated by us , arc ready for the press , and are likely , at some early day , to bo published separately . If " A Constant Header" is interested in tho subject , we shall bo happy to afford him further information privately . J

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The JZJitor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . THE GLAMORGAN LODGE AND THEIR LATE ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS . TO TlXIi EDITOR OF TUE EllEEHA-SOXS' MAGiZIXE AXD iti-SO'IC jEI-tROll , DEAR SIR AND BROTHER—I am almost surprised

, you should have overstrained your well-known character for impartiality to so great an extent as to suffer the appearance , in your last number , of such an ungrammatical concoction of impudence , ignorance , and falsehood as the epistle which bore the signature of the Senior Deacon of the Glamorgan Lodgo , but which , it is well known , passed through several hands before it reached .

yours I am well aware I have made use of strong language in thus stigmatising the production in question , but if I do not fully substantiate the charges I have brought against it , 1 know you will not suffer this to go into print . On the charge of impudence , I need say very little ,

but may well leave tho writer of the precious document to writhe under the severe but well-merited castigation you have inflicted upon him in the few lines you appended to his letter , simply adding , for your own information , that Bro . "Nelson D . Marks , Senior Deacon of the Glamorgan Lodge , " is not the old and experienced Mason his authoritative stylo of diction would lead you to

suppose , but a very young and very inexperienced brother , never likely to rise high in the Masonic profession . I am not quite sure that the charge of ignorance ought not to merge into that of impudence ; hut , for the nonce , will give the writer the credit of really believing what he stateswhen he coolly avers that " nothing

uncon-, stitutional was done " at the lodgo , the too faithful report of which has given such umbrage to a few offending brethren . As we shall shortly be in possession of a judicial verdict from the constituted authorities , upon the legality of the re-initiation of a true and lawful brother Mason , I will not prejudge the case further than by expressing an opinion , shared in by every brother I

have consulted , not wilfully blinded , that the blissful ignorance of our Senior Deacon will bo quickly dispelled . Two or three other manifestations of ignorance , such as tho duty of your correspondent to bring the matter " before the Board of General Purposes , " whereas no such right exists ; and a little bit of highflown sentimentality about some imaginary " obligation , " existing

only iu the misty vision of our Senior Deacon , I pass without further comment ; but into the more serious charge I have brought against ' ' Nelson D . Marks ' s " communication , tho proof , or otherwise , of which closely affects my personal reputation , I must enter a little more fully . Tho Senior Deacon has had the audacity to affirm that the report of the proceedings of the Glamorgan Lodge , which appeared in the FREEMASON ' S' MAGAZINE of the 14 th . ult ., was " a most untruthful and garbled record of what

happened . ' This statement , as the brother who vouched to you for the accuracy of that report , I regret to be compelled to stigmatize as an unmitigated falsehood . And now for my proof . You are aware that I forwarded to you , for your last publication , a succinct account of the proceedings of a lodge of emergency , summoned not after the publication of your report , but immediately

upon the appearance of the leading article commenting thereon , to take into consideration that roporfe . Upon mature deliberation , and after consultation with other brethren , anxious to spare the feelings of some , for whom ( although I was well aware they had committed an unpardonable Masonic offence ) I entertained tho greatest possible regard , I determined , as tho lodgo referred to

was compelled tacitly to admit the authenticity of the report , to allow the matter , so far as any interference of mine went , to die a natural death ; and I , therefore , wrote you at the eleventh hour , begging a suppression of the second report , however inconvenient it might be to your publisher , and which request , upon the appearance of the scurrilous effusion of our Senior DeaconI

, regretted you complied with . I am sorry the whole matter must now be re-opened , and cast the blame upon the defender of " the Glamorgan Lodge , and its late illegal proceedings . " At the lodgo of emergency alluded to , a very feeble attempt was made to impugn the veracity of the statement in the MAGAZINE of the 14 th ult ., and a proposition

actually made to that effect , whereupon a Past Master insisted that tho report should bo read and discussed seriatim , which having been done , the same Past Master proposed , as an amendment , that the report was substantially and materially correct ; when the original motion was immediately withdrawn , and the amendment confirming tho communication was tacitly carried . The only paragraph about which any quibble was raised , was the one which contained a statement that the Provincial Grand Master was not informed of what was