History Of The Knights Templar.

upon , but without any other idea than of gratifying his curiosity . Upon being received in the Priory of the Lothians , in 1859 , his interest in the ancient Order deepened , and his notes began to grow voluminous , so that , when the Scottish

Freemasons' Magazine was started , in 186-3 , he was able to contribute certain papers upon it , from its origin to the Third Crusade , and afterwards an account of the Persecution .

In the preface to the Persecution the author expressed a hope that , should that little work prove of general interest , he might at some future time be tempted to publish the complete history , according to his views . The whole edition of the

Persecution was exhausted in a few days . The Press flattered him with unanimous approval , with two exceptions , the one being the Saturday Review , which , with great encouragement , administered some wholesome advice , and the other

being a Roman Catholic periodical , which , ivithout bringing a single fact to bear against the book , reprobated it as a falsehood from beginning to end , and favoured the author with a violent personal attack , because he had the honour and privilege of being a Freemason , as his ancestors and name-father were before him .

Writers upon the Crusades have been dazzled by the high-sounding titles of emperor , king , and count , the reckless and useless exploits of a Cceur de Lion , and the ill-advised zeal of hotheaded holiday knights , who looked upon a journey

to the Holy Land as a prime bit of junketting , and who , after plunging the Eastern Christians into warfare with the infidel , tired of the sport , and , perhaps alarmed at the magnitude of the dangers they had evoked , turned back to Europe to plunge

into the dissipations of the West , leaving the Templars and the other military Orders to bear the brunt , and suffer all the consequences , of wars they had not provoked , and which they deplored . Thus , they had overlooked in a great measure those valiant men who , for nearly two hundred years , remedied the blunders of hotheaded

monarchs , and preserved the Holy Land to the Christians , and would , perchance , have preserved it longer had those monarchs been content to forget their rank , and , as true and humble Crusaders , to follow the counsels of those veteran

soldiers of the Cross , whose experience had been gained in dail y battles with the infidel , and who , unable to retrieve the disasters brought upon the Eastern Christians by the reckless folly of the

Western , died noble martyrs to a noble cause . Thus , the bright ancl shining stars of the Christian chivalry in the Holy Land are not Richard of England and St . Louis of Prance , but the soldiers of the Temple , of the Hospital , and the Teutonic

Knights . In the compilation of this history over a hundred authorities have been consulted , ancl , ivhile the author has not attempted to make the Templars ' act miracles of virtue ancl valour , he has been

equally careful not to make them fiends of iniquity . That they had faults is not to be denied , but that they were guilty of the atrocious crimes laid to their charge is beyond belief . Their great crime lay in their being an imperium in imperio , a state

within each kingdom ancl this destroyed them , for their power and their riches , equalling that of the greatest monarchies of the time , made sovereigns jealous . ( To be continued . )

The. Order Of St. John.

THE . ORDER OF ST . JOHN .

NOTES BY A NOVICE . The manifold tomes of ancient chroniclers rarely present to our notice a more interesting record than the history of the renoivned Orders of Chivalry , and we may not unprofitably turn for a

brief period from the less alluring pursuits of abstruse science to a contemplative survey of their progress and their decay . First in the " shining roll of fame " is the venerable Order of Knights Hospitallers of St . John of Jerusalem , which

originated in the pious desire of a few Neapolitan merchants to provide an asylum for the way-worn ancl distressed pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Land during the eleventh century . In 1048 , they obtained permission from

Monstaserbillah , the Caliph of Egypt , to erect an hospital or house of reception , together with a church , near the Holy Sepulchre , and having dedicated it to the Virgin , under the title of St . Mary ad Latinos , they placed their fraternity

under the protection of St . John , the Almoner . * The advantages derived from the humane exertions of these zealous men were so evident and so