Masonic Notes And Queries.

both large intelligence and indomitable perseverance , were open to all men who sought them , and thus we find Moses , Pythagoras , and Plato initiates . We find secret societies among the Jews , the Greeks , the Romans , and the Egyptians , having secret means by which each member knew his brother , and devoted to

acts of charity and benevolence , as well as to the pursuit of knowledge . * * * * * These societies continued down to the Christian era , when they were gradually engulfed in the doctrines of the Cross , or became obnoxious to the Government from their decline in puritand consequent immoralit

y y . Their doctrines , so much in union with the doctrines of Christianity , caused many of the brotherhood to adopt the latter ; but they still continued their former pursuits , and still maintained their former secrecy . As with the ancients , so with these brethren , only men of intelli were admittedThere is a

gence . long gap in the annals of the secret societies till the rise of the building fraternities , and to them must be conceded the distinctive rituals of the first and second degrees . " —CHARLES PURTON COOPER .

MASTER ' S DEGREE ( pp . 206 , 308 , and 328 ) . Will Bro . Yarker say where lie " pointed out the distinction observed even in 1723 as to Master Masons and Chair Masters ? " I ask this , as I would like to see how he treated the subject at the time he refers to . Further , it was not Bro . Buehan who used the

words , " admitted Masters and Fellow Craft ; " but , as may easily be seen at page 308 , the " friend , " or correspondent there alluded to , who gives the quotation as it is in the 1723 Constitutions , where Fellow Craft is used both as singular and plural , e . q ., " a Fellow Craft" and "two Fellow Craft . " We have also the

word 'Fellows , " showing that the old Fellow of Craft was to bo turned into the degree of Fellow Craft as we now understand it , all being merely a part of the plot . Is to the Arch , Temple , Kadosh , & c ., said to have been in existence in 1722 , 1 am afraid that idea is either a mistake or ' an imposition . Bro . Tarker evidentl

y here refers to the assertion that a number of high degrees are mentioned in the 1722 Constitutions , but the said assertion is untrue j and I say so on the authority of Bro . Spencer , the owner of the book , having seen a letter of his upon the subject ; also upon the authority of Bro . Hughan , who personallexamined the woilc

y -. There may have been a reprint of this work made , say seventy years after 1722 , with additions , in which the publisher may have put in any nonsense he liked , hut in the original 1722 work I understand that no mention is made of Arch , TempleKadosh & eor svch thine / and I do not

, , ., any . , conceive how it could he . I have found no evidence ofthe existence of the Master Mason degree before 1717—fur less , then , any of the extra degrees . —W . P . BUCHAN .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

T / ie mtitor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by CorretponAenh ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY .

io Tin ; IDIIOB or Tin : iiirajusoxs' MAGAZINE AXB MASOKIC amnion . Dear Sir and Brother , —I beg to enclose the following remarks of Professor Blackie on Aristotle . There are some interesting ideas contained in his remarks

about morality and religion which are worth thinking over , and which may be useful to refer to again . Tours fraternally , W . P . BUCHAN . " Professor Blackie , of Edinburgh , delivered the

second of his series of lectures on the principles of moral philosophy at the Royal Institution on Wednesday , the 4 th inst . The first lecture was devoted to a consideration of the moral philosophy of Socrates . _ On this occasion the Professor took up the moral writings of Aristotlecontrasting the twoand showing the

, , points of difference and agreement . Mr . Blackie said they need not expect anything startling or new in the moral philosophy of Aristotle . Novelties in morals were always dangerous . Aristotle , Socrates , and Plato viewed the subject in different aspects , but the foundation of their system was essentially the same . He

then pointed out the significance of Aristotle in the history of the Greek mind , and explained at some length his doctrine of ultimate aims and of the mean or middle course , illustrating the doctrine in the case of special virtues . Morals , he said , were simply common sense , and nothing more . Virtue was essentially

manly ; and , differing in this from Hobbes , Aristotle contended that the principles of morality were inherent in man . Moral nature , however , was a moral habit , and everything depended upon education . Human beings would not grow like weeds in a garden , and that was the reason why Aristotle and Plato gave

so much prominence to education . As to the doctrine ofthe ' mean , ' he said there was much need for its careful study in these days . In order to get a good government , we should neither have oligarchy nor democracy , but a medium between the two . Democracy ought to adopt a certain amount of monarchy and

oligarchy , and in return monarchy should adopt a certain amount of democracy to preserve a just balance , without which both would be ruined . In conclusion , Mr . Blackie remarked that the sustaining power in the philosophy of Aristotle was the ambition to be a man—not onlto live wellbut to live nobly . It would

y , not make a man a missionary . It was not an aggressive power like Christianity , but was meant to keep a man from sinking into the mire , and to teach him to die rather than do a base action or think a base thought . It might be expressed in the words of Burns : —

'" Ihe fear o hell's a hangman ' s whip , To hand the wretch to order ; But where you feel your honour grip , Let that aye he your horder !' The great defect ofthe philosophy and ethics of Aristotle was the exclusion of the religious element . According to himknowledge was the most perfect kind

, of happiness . He acknowledges God as the First Cause , but he denies that the gods have anything to do in sustaining the world . It was in his ( Mr . Blackie ' s ) opinion childish to say God was the first cause , and yet that the gods had nothing to do except work out mathematical problems like German

hilop sophers or Oxford professors . God truly seemed to have confounded the wise men of the world . Aristotle ' s mind was defective ; he was a purely scientific monster without religious feeling . Modern philosophers like Newton , Bacon , and Locke were religious men ; and if in our day any person contemplated di-