The Prince Of Wales A Freemason.

respective secretaries work together in a spirit and with a will , which they attribute to their mystic bond of union , and which arc assuredly wanting in the management of too many institutions of the kind . Several thousands per annum are subscribed to each of these schools , and some two hundred of tho sons and daughters of indigent Freemasons are clothed , educated , and fitted for tho business of life in them . The Asylum for Aged

Freemasons and their AVidows provides , as its name implies , for a limited number of those beaten in the world , and is another instance of efficient and omnipresent management . It is well known that an elaborate course of study has to he gone through before Masonic proficiency is attained . Into tbe usefulness of the knowledge gained , or the value of the secrets

laboriously imparted , this is not the place to inquire . But tlr . it the Freemasons themselves take an absorbing interest in them is certain , and the value of this practical testimony may be judged by tho position and accomplishments of some of the foremost members of the Order . That the philosophers Locke and Sir Isaac Newton were accomplished Freemasons ; that Sir

Christopher Wren held lodges in St . Paul ' s Cathedral throughout its building , and that some of the most learned , as well as the most powerful men the world has seen , have given time and labour to mastering the mysteries of the Crnfc—are facts as much beyond dispute , as that it includes some of the foremost living celebrities in its ranks . The present President of the

Council could not have acquired his well-known proficiency in Masonry without giving up to it many laborious days and nights ; and to those who remember the conscientious Masonic energy and advanced Masonic opinions publicl y displayed by the Earl of Carnarvon a few years since , there have been few things more welcome than his lord- I ship ' s acceptance of the Provincial Grand Mastership wo

recorded two days ago . Perhaps a detect of the Order may be some day found in the exhuberaut wealth of human material at its disposal . There are so many good and active spirits ready to give up time and money to the cause that its principal honours are almost necessarily confined to those immediately known to the Grand Master and his advisers . The result is that the

energetic Mason finds his circle of usefulness and distinction confined to the lodge or coterie in which he works ; and that he , . 'is a rule ? , becomes less actively zealous when the hi ghest honours of his lodge have been earned . A Past Master , who has filled the chair satisfactorily , will , as a rule , fold his robe and fall with decency—in other words , contents

himself with the passive performance of the almost , nominal duties left him . As a permanent member of Grand Lcd ^ e the parliament of the Craft—he may , it is true , mingle in debate four times a year , but the chances of attaining rank or position there are far more remote than they would be to an energetic member of St . Stephen's . This is , as it

seems , unavoidable , but the effect is that the men who are the most energetic up to the time of their passing the chairs of their respective lodges become comparativel y supine when that honour has been achieved . Their career terminates then and there , and as they have all subscribed to the charities , there is no Masonic opening to them , except to subscribe again , This to do them

justice , they generally do , but the man who hits upon n method of keeping alive in the great bod y of Masonic Past Masters the zeal which has given them their rank will deserve belter of the Order than any dignitary since Kino-Solomon . It has long been the hope of English Freemasons that the Prince of AA ales should become one of them ; and if His Royal Highness has really joined the Craft in Sweden lie will he heartily and loyally welcomed by the brotherhood here . The "knighthood of Charles XllL , " is a thing for" book ^

masons " to believe in and uphold—the thousands upon thousands of experienced " workers " to whom the very title is unknown will bo content if they can greet His Royal Highness as a Craftsman , as n preliminary to hailing him as the patron of their Order . [ AA'hilo we agree with tbe tenor of this article , at the same

time we cannot agree with the writer's ideas of Freemasonry . It makes very little difference to a Freemason whether a brother is a Sovereign , Prince , or Knight—not even to "book-Masons ;" and Sovereigns , Princes , and Knights in Freemasonry always remember they have brothers in tho Craft . The writer's doubt as to tho Knighthood of Charles XIII . will not affect the King of Sweden , or dispossess the Prince of AA ales of his title . —ED . F . -U ]

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

TME OKDEES 01 ? THE BED CEOSS OE ItOlEE AND THE HOil SEPULCHRE . I have been induced by curiosity , as probably have many other brethren , to peruse the neat little book just published , called " General Statutes of the ImperialEcclesiasticaland Military Order of

Knihts-, , g of the Eed Cross of Home and Constantine , and the Laws of the K . H . S , " In reading the frequent notices of these Masonic Orders in your pages , I had thought that a similarity of titles was probably their only claim to relationship with the public Orders of the same name in the Grand Duchy of Parma , the

Sicilies , and Turkey . But in the appendix of the Statutes I find that the decorations of the present public Orders of St . Constantine and the Holy Sepulchre are given as those of tbe Masonic Orders to which these new Statutes relate . At page 25 of the Statutes is "A Sketch of the History and Records of the Order of Constantine , " which rapidly

carries the reader from the institution of the original Order to the resignation of the Grand Mastership by Andrew Angelas Flavins Coiimenus ( page 27 ) , who it is stated " pretended to assign his hereditary rightsto JTrancis Parnese , the then reigning Duke of Parma . " The sketch then continues : — "The Grand

Crosses of the Order , one of whom was the Abb © Giuistiniani , continued , howe \ er , to exercise their undoubted privilege of conferring the lied Cross upon Avorthy men ; and Ave are , in all probability , indebted to the learned Abbe , who was long attached to the Venetian embassy in London for the existence of the

Order in England . It is beyond dispute that the members of the English branch , during the eighteenth century , were men of high position and of eminence in the Masonic Order ; though , like the Knights Templar , v \ e are unable to say positively when the Order was restricted to Preemasons . "

We are not informed which particular member of the Giuistiniani family is referred to ? The two most distinguished ecclesiastics of that name died in 11 S 5 and 1536 . The sketch thus appears to dispose of the original Order of Constantino t as conferred by the

, excep then Grand Crosses , and it continues and concludes with extracts from minute-books of an Order of lied Cross from 17 SS to 1 S 13 . It can hardly be said that the recipients of the decorations from the Abbe