Masonic Notes And Queries.

being great , the Popes , in order to encourage them , granted many indulgences , by means of then . " Bulls and Charters , of which one is stated to have recited in its preamble , "the precedent of the chief builder of Solomon ' s Temple having incorporated a body of architects , with the power of regulating the prices of their labour , " & c . This being frequently recited was afterwards takenfor the record of a factas if the

, , society had existed , uninterrupted , from the time of King Solomon . Among the privileges granted to them by the Popes were those of setting their own prices ; of taking apprentices ; and of admitting and accepting approved Masons into their corporation . In consequence of these advantages , the Fraternity called themselves Freemasons , claiming to be exempt from the laws which regulated common

houses . In the 13 th and 14 th centuries , still under the protection of the Pope , a considerable number of churches and other ecclesiastical structures were built , including several of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge ; and it is possible we may ascribe the history and building of all the principal religions structures in this country to the Freemasons . On the 24 th of June 1502 a lodof Master Masons was formed

, , ge in Westminster Palace , at which King Henry presided as Grand Mastsr ; who , having appointed John Islip , Abbot of Westminster , and Sir Reginald Bray , Knight of the Garter , his Wardens for the occasion , proceeded in ample form to the east end of Westminster Abbey , where he laid the foundation

stone of that rich masterpiece of Gothic architecture kn oivn as Henry the Seventh ' s Chapel . Henry VIII . succeeded his father in 1509 , and appointed Cardinal Wolsey Grand Master . Under his superintendence Hampton Court Palace , Christ Church College , Oxford , and several other noble edifices were built . We next find the Protestant Bishop of Winchester , John Poquet , Grand Master of the lodges

from 1542 to 1553 . And from the time the English Eeformation commenced the Popes of Eome have thundered their Bulls from the Vatican against the society and its members . In 1737 , the Pope ( Clement the Twelfth ) issued a decree against the Order , which was further coerced by the Edict of the following year ( 1738 ) , of Cardinal Firrao , and the punishment therein awarded for attending a Masonic

meeting was confiscation and death ; and . not to be outdone by former edicts , Philip V ., hi 1740 , declared the galleys for life or punishment of death , with torture , the award for Freemasons in his own dominions many of whom he bad arrested and sentenced , as he had determined ; and those who were not under the Pope's civil control , were to be excommunicated . Benedict XIV . filled the Papal throne in

1751 ; he revived the Bull of Clement , but never put it in force , —he was said to have been a Freemason himself . After him the successive Popes have endeavoured to suppress Freemasonry every where : it is therefore scarcely probable there should be many brethren of this persuasion in holy orders . —R . M . HAYLEY .

KNIGHTS TEMPLAR . In your last issue , page 206 , " K . T . " says , ' * ' that the patents of the Prov . G . Commanders are for life , or , " & c . Now , if he will refer to the Statutes , p . 13 , he will read with regard to that office— " 1 . Prov . G . Commanders shall continue in oflice during the pleasure of the Grand Master . " Out of twenty-four Prov . G . Commanders , now reduced to

twenty-three by the lamented death of Sir Knt . Dawes , it is to be hoped that more than seven have been duly inaugurated , and that Sir Knts . Vernon , Stafford , Cruttenden , cum multis aliis , will forward you the dates of their inauguration . — X ¦ '• P- G . C . THE COVENTRY " MYSTERIES . What had the Coventry Mysteries to dp with

Ereemasonry ?—S . F . —[ Nothing . These Mysteries were plays , or pageants acted by the Guilds of the City . Freemasonry does not belong to every mediajval custom that is called a mystery , though there is much similarity between it and the early classical mysteries . No one supposes our Craffc to have anything to do with the Art , Craft , and Mystery of the Cordwainers . ]

PAMPHLET SENT US . [ We have seen the pamphlet , and as it is totally beneath the notice of those to whom ifc is addressed , we decline inserting . its name in these columns , or replying to it . The interested

parties may vapour as they please , both in license of speech and print , as their statements will not injure the Craft in the minds of any reflective men . Law , reason , and common sense are all against the writers . ] PABTICULAHS OJ SRO . IT . ' jIOODY WANTED . Who was Brother H . Moody , when did he live , and what Lodge did he belong to ?—C . MOODY .

VEXILLUM P > ELLI . Looking over the British and Colonial Masonic Calendar , under the head of " Chapter General of the Religious and Military Order of the Temple , " I see there is an officer calledjfche "Bearer of the Vexillum Belli . " What is it , and what are its uses ?—E . G .

QUOTATION FROM ADDISON . " The religious man fears , the man of honour scorns to do an ill action . The latter considers vice as something beneath him ; the other , as something that is offensive to the Divine Being ; the one as what is unbecoming ; the other , as what is forbidden . " No doubt the foregoing passage is familiar to many readers . I found it in a miscellany of choice thoughts , with Addison ' s name appended to it . Wanted the reference to any production of his iu which it occurs ?•—Ex . Ex .

OLD "MASONIC BOOK . I have now before me a book , published in the year 1738 , which was discovered amongst a lot of old books aud papers recently purchased at a sale in this neighbourhood by a friend and brother . I enclose a copy of the title page , and should be glad to hear through the medium of your valuable journal , whether it is a work known to the Craft as having

been in extensive circulation , and also whether a copy of the . pamphlet therein referred to , Masonry Dissected , can be obtained—The History and Constitution of the most ancient and honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Jfccsoms : Containing cm , Account of Masonry . —I . From ihe Creation throughout the 7 cnown Earth , till true Architecture teas demolished by the Goths , and at last revived in Italy . —II . From ,

Julius Caisar to the first Arrived of ' the Saxons in Britain . —IU . From the Union of the Croivns of England and Scotland , in the Person of King James the First to theprcsent Time . To which are added—I . The List ofthe Grand Masters or Patrons of the Freemasons-in England from the coming in of the Anglo-Saxons to these times who cere mentioned in this worh . —II . The old Charges of the Masonscollected from their earliest

, Records at the Command of His Grace the Earl of Montague . —III . The Mannar of constituting a Lodge . —IV . The general Regulations of tlie Free and Accepted Masons , both ancient and modern , in distinct Columns . —V . The Constitution ofthe Committee of their Charity . —VI . AList , ofthe Lodges in ancl about London and Westminster , with , ihe Deputations of several Grand Masters for the forming of Lodges in Wales , the

remote parts of England , and in Foreign Realms . —VII . The Songs sung at the Lodges . —VIII . A Defence of Masonry occasioned by a Pamphlet called " Masonry Dissected : " WitliBro . Euclid ' s Letter to the Author against unjust Cavils . By JAIIES ANDERSON , B . D . London : Printed and sold by J . Robinson , at the Golden Lion , in Ludgate-street . In the vulgar year of Masonry , 5746 . —M . M ., King's Lynn .

LECTURES AND THE SECTIONS . When did the present system arise of working the Lectures and Sections ? It appears to me that tho designation lecture is incorrect as applied to that which is strictly of a catechetical form , and I am inclined to think the term lecture was continued after the real geometrical lectures had ceased to be given in our lodges . Be this as ifc may , I am sure the subject is one worthy of discussion , and that amongst your readers you have many who can "ive tho required information . — J ' . D . E .

BALANCE-SHEET OF THE HIGH GRADES . An inquiry was recently made as to a balance-sheet of the high-grades ? Meeting one of those brethren lately , I was informed that there is a statement submitted , _ to certain classes of them , every April , and that last year it showed about £ 600 in hand . Can this be the fact- ? I thought they were very rich , seeing they have heen in existence in this country since 1837 , and gh e no money to charity , nor do