Masonic Notes And Queries.

TRADITIONS . A young and very intelligent Brother to whom we are indebted for some of the nioRt interesting communications that have ever been made to our periodical , stated in its columns , 2 nd October , 1869 , that traditions to be rejected , must not merely be denied , but they must be proved to be false ,

Of this statement an eccentric individual ( I forbear to employ a more appropriate epithet ) whom it closely concerned , notwithstanding his attention was specially called to it , has not thought fit to take the smallest notice . In consequence , all his assertions adverse to the points sustained by our traditions are regarded as if they had never been put forward . —CHARLES PIIRTON COOPER .

IGNORANCE , Think not that in our Masonry darkness can he dispelled by Ignorance striving to enlighten Ignorance . —A PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER . BRO . ALBERT G . ; MACKEY , ON FREEMASONRY . This well-known brother observes ( page 265 ) that

Freemasonry presents'itself to us under two aspects , viz : —First , as a Secret Society distinguished by a peculiar ritual . And secondly , as a society having a philosophy on which it is founded , and which it proposes to teach to its disci ples . These , by way of distinctionmay he called the ritualistic and the

hilo-, p sophical elements of Freemasonry . " Now if it he asked when did these " ritualistic and philosophical elements" of our Freemasonry first exist ? I take the liberty of answering—Not until about A . D . 1717 . —W . P . BUCHAN .

ERASURE OF THE CHARGES OF 1738 . What can a P . Prov . G . M . be thinking about , Avhen at page 266 he says that the effect of the erasure of the l 738 Charges Avould be to make English Freemasonry a Christian Freemasonry ? It is not so , for in the first Charge of the 1723 Constitutions we have the real foundation of all true Freemasonry , viz : — universality . —W . P . B .

THE KORAN versus DRUNKENNESS . " The Koran forbade , and has absolutely extinguished , wherever Islam is professed , the bestial drunkenness , which is the disgrace of our Christian English and Scottish towns . " —W . P . B . MR . FROUDE ON IMPOSTURE ( vide page 130 ) .

"What does an ascertained imposture deserve but to be denied , exposed , insulted , trampled under foot , till the very geese take courage and venture to hiss derision ?"—W . P . B . NATIONAL STRENGTH AND MORALITY . " When nations are easily conquered , we may be sure that they have first lost their moral self-respect . " This shows the value of a high standard of morality in active work . —W . P . B .

STEPHEN JONES . The followingi ? the communication in the Ailicnwwm referred to in the Freemasons' Magazine ( page 249 ) . ' GOODY TWO SHOES . '—I hope you will not think the authorship of ' Goody Two Shoes' to he a subject too trifling for the Athenaeum . It is , at any rate , a question upon Avhich there has been often debate ; and at this time in the South Kensington Atuseum , a copy

Masonic Notes And Queries.

which is a part of the Dyce bequest , is exhibited under a glass case Avith the label attached , " Attributed to Oliver Goldsmith . " The story has been so attributed ; and it has merits which would not diminish the reputation even of the author of' The Vicar of Wakefield . ' ' Goody Two Shoes , ' howeA'er , was not written by Goldsmith . The author Avas Mr . Giles

Jonesre-, sident secretary of the York Buildings Water Company . This gentleman was an intimate friend of Mr-John Newbery , the well-known bookseller and publisher in St . Paul's Churchyard , and he took part Avith him in that series of moral and entertaining hooks for children , of which ' Goody TAVO Shoes' was one . Mr .

Jones also wrote another " famous " ( as the term then went ) ' History of Giles Gingerbread '; and it has always been a tradition in his family that he was the author of ' Little Tommy Trip . ' The names of his other stories are not known . His brother , Griffith Jones , Avas a friend . of Johnson , Smollett , and Goldsmith . Griffith was Editor of the London Chronicle , of the P / aily Advertiser , and of the Public Ledger ;

he contributed many papers to the Literary Magazine and the British Magazine . Of his sons , the eldest , Stephen Jones , Avas the editor of the Whitehall Fuelling Post , and of the General Fvening Post . He was also the conductor of the Freemasons' Magazine : and succeeded Isaac Eeed as Editor of the Fnropean Magazineand Dr . Stanger Clarke as editor of the

, Naval Chronicle . The younger son of Giles Jones , Mr . John Jones , ) succeeded his brother Stephen in the editorship of the Furopean Magazine and the Naval Chronicle ; and the son of John Jones is Mr . J . Winter Jones , the present Principal Librarian of the British Museum . You have now " chapter and

verse" for the settlement of the often-disputed parentage of Goody Two Shoes . ' For fifty years her history Avas the delight of every child in England who could read . Then came an interval of thirty or forty years , during Avhich she was half-forgotten .- I am happy to say that a new condition has lately been published . Perhaps you do not remember that the tale ivas Avritten not only for children , but for grown people , and for a political purpose ?—W . M .

R .. W . THE EARL OF CARNARVON . It will interest you as a journalist , and all brethren connected with tho press , to know that RW . Bro . the Earl of Carnarvon has consented to act as President at the dinner of that valuable institution , the Newspaper Press Fund . —W . Si \ n ? sos \

R . A . AT JERUSALEM . At the Society of Antiquaries , and elsewhere , there has been a good deal of correspondence going on lately as to the recent discoveries at Jerusalem . It is a great loss to Masonry that Bro . Captain "Warren , and the Rev . William Tristan are no longer engaged in the researchesbut it is to be hoped we shall have some

, observations of the Masonic fruits from Bro . Besant , the Secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund , and Honorary Secretary to the Masonic Archaeological Institute—K . E . & AV .

MASONRY IN FRANCE . All the recent eA'ents in France will inflict a moral blow OD Masonry in France , and consequently in many other countries in Europe , where the French example exert influence . The whole constitution will