The Pope And The Freemasons.

" Fancy that ! Oh , the ruffians ! Why hanging is too good for such a set of wretches . And to think that the Craft have contrived to hide their iniquitous doings from the outer world all these many years , and that it should he reserved for His Infallibility to discover and expose them . That ' s curious . Had the Holy Spirit anything to do with it ? Naythat can

, scarcely be , for surely diviue utterances would be couched iss stronger language . But for a neat little bit of po'lite letter writing , for a condensation of 'Choice much-meaning epithets , for an example of 'brotherly love and fraternal sympathy , it will be confessed one would have to go a long way to match this

( merciful anathema . Acts of impiety . . . odious ¦ crimes . . . diabolical artifices . . . destroyers of every idea of honour . . . propagators of monstrous opinions . . . disseminators of abominable vices and unheard-of wickednesses—Well may they keep their vile doings see-ret ! But the question suggests itself ,

How came the Good Papa to know all this ? Is Saul also among the prophets ? Has Pius joined the Craft ? Who had the honour of " burning " His Holiness ? Either he speaks from knowledge or he doesn't . Either what he says is true or it isn ' t . If the latter , isn ' t it naughty in the extreme for the successor of St . Anthony—beg pardonSt . Peter—to write such

, ' monstrous' fibs . " One can scarcely speak seriously of this Papal * bull , ' otherwise it might fairly be asked if there is any cause to wonder at the still increasing weakness and discord prevailing in the Eternal City when the Pontiffin an age like the presentcan wilfully and

, , knowingly stultify himself , and throw discredit on his high office by ' propagating' and ' disseminating ' what tbe common sense and common experience of the whole world know to be the veriest—well , we'll put it in a mild form—chansons that were ever invented .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

HEEALDIC BADGES . Exception has been taken to my blazoning of the arms of the Hospitallers , now Knights of Malta . I have not visited Malta , but I rather think my cavillists confound the blazon on the tombs with the shield of the Order . In Rome , at the present day , the Knights

wear a Hue cross , but the blazon I gave is still the blazon of the Hospital . I refer my disputants to "Berry ' s Encyclopajdia Heraldica , " " Guillim ' s Display of Heraldry , " and the old chroniclers . It is true that the Grand Masters used the red field , but this was because they were the leaders in battle , and ,

although a herald grants a shield to a commander of ¦ ¦ a force , it is not necessary that the country should adopt it . The fact of a shield gules cross argent , is simply a reference to the war-cloak of the Order . In peace the Hospitallers wore a cloak sable , cross argent ( the proper arms of the Order ) ; in war , a cloak

gules , -cross argent . —A . 0 . HATE . A LIST OE LODGES , & C . I have in my possession a part of an old book on Masonry . The first 10 pages and a few at the end are missing . It gives the degrees , signs and watchwords , songs , and a list of regular lodges . The work mentions the degrees as— " There being five degrees

or orders of Masons , representing , or answering to , the Five Noble Orders of Architecture . " The signs "They be seven in number , that is . one for each day of the week . " The watchwords " are fourteen in number , one for each day and one for each night in the week . " The list of " Regular lodges in England" commences

with No . 1 , Queen's Arms , St . Paul ' s Church-yard ; No . 2 , The Som , Westminster ( Nos . 1 & 2 no date ) ; No . 3 , George , Grafton-street , 1721 ; and No . 125 , Three Horse Shoes , Leominster , in the county of Hereford , 1742 . The list is not complete after No . 180 , 1754 is missing . I should be glad to know if another copy is in existence , also the title , date , and printer , and if the list of lodges may be relied on . — GEEA .

EKEEMASON "—ITS DERIVATION . "Without at present entering into the question of the priority of Macon or Mason , I have had the idea that the French work " maison , " a house , was the immediate parent of either or both macjon or mason , the man that builds the house ; while I admitof

, course , that " maison " itself comes from the Latin . However , if I find by-and-bye that I am wrong , I shall admit it . I should like to hear " A Masonic Student ' s" opinion about " franc maeon , " being merely a Frenchified adoption of " Freemason . "W . P . BUCHAN .

MASONIC REFERENCES . When brethren refer to something recorded in a back number of the Magazine , it would be a great benefit to the readers of their articles if they were —as I think they ought—to quote the particular date and page referred to . "A few years back" or "a

, back number" is most indefinite . I have lost a great deal of time often in looking for what I considered was referred to , not knowing properly where to get it . —W . P . B .

MASONIC PRESENTATIONS . It has struck me that one of the most appropriate presentations to the W . M . or P . M . of a lodge would be the back volumes of the Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror . To those brethren taking an interest in the history and proceedings of the Craft ( who

have not already got them ) the Magazine of the last 10 or 12 years would be most invaluable , there being a vast amount of most interesting , useful , and reliable information scattered throughout its pages . As an ornament , a piece of silver plate ia very good in its own place ; but very little can be made of or done

with it , unless one should ever be so unfortunately reduced as to have to sell it ; but with the Magazine it is otherwise , there being not only the honour of the gift , but , while the lucky recipient possessed it , it would be an ever-flowing fountain of knowledge and pleasure , while , should it ever have to be sold , which we hope not , it would have its money value too . —PICTUS .

MASON ' S MARKS . These were simply signs or tokens adopted by workmen to mark their work after it was finished . These " marks " were of any number of points as mig ht hit the fancy of the workman , sometimes odd and sometimes even . Out of tbe 14 marks given at page 94 of the Magazine for August 8 , 1863 , from the old gable and arch at Kilwinning , 10 of these