Correspondence.

as Chaplain of St . John ' s Loclge ( not P . G . Chaplain , whicli Dr . Burns is ) , made the remarks he falls foul of . However , to the point . Freemasonry is not able to teach Christianity anything ; but a good many of the principles of Freemasonry have been copied from Christianity . Christianity has existed for nih

nineg teen centuries , and has been teaching the world all that time , and still continues to teach it . Freemasonry has only existed for about one century and a half , and may I ask—what good lias it done to Glasgow e . g ? 1 know that it lias done very much evil in the past , but it has been doing better ] " atel _ v , aud we "

hope that it will continue to improve , and be , as Dr . Burns says , " an order blessed largely by God for the good of their fellow-men , "—I am , & ' c , " A CHEISIIAN AND A JEEEMASOST . " [ While inserting the above correspondence ive cannot but regret to find " a Chr stian and a Freemason "

rushing into print to insert in the " profane" press a letter containing passages , certainly not calculated to raise the Order in the estimation of the " unenlightened" public . We shall on every similiar occasion pass our veto on the utilizing of the public newspapers as vehiclesjfor the ventilation of subjects relating to Freemasonry . —ED . F . M . ]

The Lancashire Ball.

THE LANCASHIRE BALL .

TO THE EDITOK OF THE FEEmtASOMs' STAGAZINE AKD ilASONIC MIEUOIt . Dear Sir and Brother , —I was somewhat surprised to see an announcement in your last number that on the 11 th of January , a Masonic ball would be held at the Town Hall , Preston , in aid of the Infirmary fund , such ball to be open to any one who might choose to goand that the brethren who attended it were

re-, quested to appear in full Masonic clothing , with regalia , jewels , & c . This was accompanied with the further startling announcement that all this was to take place under the patronage of Bro . the Eight Hon the Earl of Zetland , K . T ., and P . G . M . of Englandand numerous other distinguished Ereemasons . "

, [ Now , Sir , I have always been given to understand that our clothing had a symbolic meaning , and was to be used only in the celebration of the rites of our Order in our lodges , or matters in connection therewith , and was never intended to be made a display of

m public to those who are strangers to our Masonicart , leading in many instances to tbe utterance of a vulgar jibe or lampoon of that which they have not the capacity to comprehend . If these exhibitions are to take place to satisfy the vulgar or gratify the vanity of some new fledged Masons who are anxious to show their new clothesI think our noble order will soon

, degenerate to the level of other public displays to which I need not more specifically allude . Public processions of Masons clothed in the badges of the Order are most strictly prohibited by the Book of Constitutions unless under very exceptionable circumstancesand although I have been some years a

, member of the Craft , I have never seen one in London , but it is my opinion that if my life could be very far extended I should never hear of the prohibition being removed to allow a number of Masons to appear at a ball , even although the proceeds of it might be devoted to a charitable object . If the ball is only to

The Lancashire Ball.

be made a success hy brethren of the Craft making an exhibition of themselves iu their Masonic clothing , jewels , regalia , & c , it appears to me , to say the least of it , a very objectionable way of " raising tha wind . " I am , dear Sir , Yours fraternally , P . M ..

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE GLORIOUS BODY AND THE STILL MORE GLORIOUS SOUL . The only chronicle of the past was the monuments and the ruins which men saw about them , and from ivhich they deduced the conclusion that before their days there had been workers who had produced these visible results . By a like deduction in the

architecture of the world , they found the evidence of theexistence of a Supreme Grand Architect , and thus , through the beautiful symmetry of nature , they looked up , even though with blind and doubting eyes ,, to nature's God . Then following the yearnings of the immortality

within towards this Infinite Power , testified of by nature , who opens to all her prophecy , the unrevealed revelation of the Highest , thus learned to feel the assurance of the existence of that city whose maker and builder is God ; to look to the future , as the consummation of life ; and this grand result arrived

at through the combined studies of the magi of Egypt , ancl the Orient , and the Philosophers of Greece ,, and the West , and confirmed by the inspired preacher and philosopher of Israel , made Masonry perfect , by adding to the use of the operative the beauty of the speculative part , by infusing into the glorious body the still more glorious soul . [ Erom a bundle of Masonic Excerpts . ]—CHAELES PTJETOS' COWPEK .

EXCESSIVE ZEAL . In our Masonry , excessive zeal is commonl y incompatible with impartial criticism . —A PAST PKOYIN - CIAL GEAND MASTEB . AMERICAN MASONIC PUBLICATIONS . Recent American publications include Masonic

Prayers , being a series of Original Prayers , by John K . Hall , and a new edition of Albert J . Mackey ' s Manual of the Lodge , which embraces the craft system , including the P . M ., ivhich is now spreading at a degreejn the States . These books can be obtained of Bro . Trubner , Paternoster Row . — " W . M .

On The Use Of Colour In Diagrams Illustrating The History Of Architecture.

ON THE USE OF COLOUR IN DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE .

A Paper read by Mr . Edmund Sharpe , M . A ., E . S . Z . S . A ., before the Architectural Association . ( Continued from page 19 ) . It was very much the fashion , said the lecturer , to refer the architect to Nature , but he contended that leaves were not suited for anything like exact ;