Masonic Notes And Queries.

the platform on which the temple stood , making the transportation of the immense blocks of stone a comparatively easy task . The heaps of chippings which lie about show that the stone was dressed on the spot , which accords with the account of the building of the temple : 'And the houses when it was in building , was built of stone , made ready before it was brought thither ; so that there was neither hammer , nor axe , nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building . ' The

extent of tbe quarry , the amount of stone which must have , been ¦ worked out there , and the size of some of the blocks themselves . Theextreme age of the part which has been exposed to the action ; of the elements , and which dates back in legends and traditions to the time of Jeremiah . The fact that there are no other quarries of any great size , near the city , and especially the fact that in the reign of Solomon this quarry in its whole extent was without the limits of the city .

" Whether the hole through which we effected an entrance ¦ will be closed again is hard to say , but it seems probable that it will , as tlle quarry lies directly under the Mohammedan quarter of the city , and in case of an insurrection or the Jews , it would he almost impregnable if taken possession of by insurgents , and at the same time , they would have it in their power to blow up all that quarter of the city . "

NAME OF IIIEAM ABIFF . Does not your correspondent , at page 19 , conclude somewhat too hastily , that the personage of the 3 rd degree always represented Hiram Abiff . I think there can be little doubt that the whole ceremony is purely symbolical , and that it has been differently interpreted at different periods , amongst different people and creeds . In Turkish societies it is said to be either Ali or Hossein . In York

Masonry , an allusion formerly hinted at Pythagoras , the ceremony was entirely dramatic , and the present circumstantial relation does not date beyond 1717 , and it is somewhat doubtful whether previously Hiram Abiff -was ever mentioned . Without attaching too much importance to it , we may quote the following attack on the ancient York Masons in 1725 . " They seem to be listed

under the patronage of Hiram , King of Tyre , who was doubtless an heathen , unless converted to Judaism after his acquaintance with Solomon . They tell strange foppish stories of a tree which grew out of Hiram ' s tomb , with wonderful leaves and fruit of a monstrous quality ; although at the same time they know neither where nor when he died , nor anything more of his tomb

than they do of Pompey ' s . The following would appear to militate against the Strasbourg Freemason acknowledging Hiram Abiff as their prototype . Speaking of Rosliti , Bro . Ker says , "One pillar more elaborately

ornamented than the other , is known by the name of the apprentice pillar . The tradition regarding it is , that it Avas executed by an apprentice , while the master builder was absent at Rome , inspecting the original pillar of which it was to be an exact copy . The master at his return was so enraged that his journey had been rendered fruitless , and the fame which he expected to acquire

reaped by another , that he struck the apprentice a blow on the forehead with his hammer , Avhich laid him lifeless at his feet . * At the west end of the centre aisle are three he ids , intended to represent the apprentice with a wound on his forehead , his mother ( the mother of Masons ?) weeping at his death , and the master with a most rueful visage , indicative of sorrow arid repentance for the

foul deed which he had committed . " Again , most of you have beard the story of the apprentice pillar here , and the apprentice window at Melrose . In both instances the Master Mason was unable to finish his work , and had to go to Rome for instruction , the work was done by an apprentice in his absence , who jvas killed by the master on his return . ( Magazine 1857 . ) York Masonry appears

to have fixed on the first Christian King of Korthumbria for the lower degrees , as the higher did the first Christian King of Jerusalem , the true founder , being known according to the established laws of the rite ( which prohibited any one to make any enquiries beyond the degree he bad taken ) , only to those who had advanced to a cert

tain degree . Few high grade Masons will probably dispute the introducers of that rite , and it is not difficulto understand why the Order of " Knigthood of tbe Temple of Solomon , and poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ , " should adopt Hiram Abiff , and claim the St . Johns as Grand Masters . Our Johnnite system would appear to consist of the three cabalistical degrees ofthe

Jewish Rabbinical colleges combined with the lesser and greater mysteries of the Egyptians ( Master and Rose Croix ) , and forming Escenianism . The later junction of Templary , Rosicrucianism , and Freemasonry having still further confused our system .- — /\ All triangles commence with very small points—largequestions frequently arise from very small words .

Themore the question of the above name is ventilated themore information is elicited . On reference to Brown's-. Dictionary , Abi or Ab is supposed to signify Fattier . In . Donaldson ' s Freemasons' Companion , 1773 , pp . 19 , 21 ,. Hiram is represented as being a second Bezaliel , and honoured by his king with the title of Father , and at p . 21 are these words —• " Obdeymonus or abdomenus the

, Tyrian called in the old constitutions Aymon or Hiram Abif . In Oliver ' s Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry , heis called " Hiram the Builder" ( quotation from Mackey ' swork ) . In Biown ' s Dictionary he is represented to be as a famed artificer ; his father is called Tyrian , perhaps merely because be dwelt sometime at Tyre , but he might

be of the tribe of Naphtaii and his mother was a widow of Naphtaii and a daughter of Dan , a native of the city of Dan . Refer also to Hutchinson ' s Spirit of Masonry , p . 145 . Bro . How in his Manual , p . 359 , states Hiram Abif ( an appellation said to mean his counsellor , or head workman ) . In a pamphlet in the Bodleian Library ,. Oxon , entitled , I think , Huriw . and Thummino , it is

stated that the father of Hiram was named Ur ., that he married the widow of Napthali , and that they lived at Tyre ; and Ave may fairly presume that Hiram was theissue of that marriage , and was called Abi , or Abiv , when at the Temple , to distinguish from Hiram K . of Tyre - On the tracing boards in the Apollo Lodge ( No . 460 ) , the three Grand Masters are represented thus -. — " Beet

Hamikdasch birnschalem milna at Jedee Schelomo meleh Israel Khiram meleh Tlnir wa Hiram Sohebet Naftali hebonce bischnat . " I have thus written it for those unacquainted with the pronunciation of the Hebrew language . There Hiram is merely represented as of the tribe ot Napthali , but as at the building of the Holy Temple Hiram was esteemed as the Fatherit can

, hardly be supposed to have been the surname , but only to distinguish it from H . K . of Tyre . In the frontispiece to Dermot ' s Ahinam Itezon , Hiram stands on a pedestal at the right of K . S ., with the emblem of the J . W ., whilst II . K . of Tvre stands on another pedestalat the left with the emblem of the S . AV . —R . E . X .

EOSICUUCIA-NISM . Is the following a truthful account ? " According tothe opinion Saudivogiers , who copied after his great master Frismegistus , all sorts of sciencies , are contained in Masonry . Nay , Valentine in his Burma Triumphus , goes so far as to say an artist cannot properly be called an adopt Avithout he can build his athenors , his digesters ,

and his reverberatory fiirnances , with his own hands , in which is required the skill of a bricklayer , a mason , a smith , and an exquisite geometrician . " Observations and critical remarks on the new Constitutions of the Freemasons .

CRAFT TliACING BOARDS . When did the pretty p ictures we now have in lodges come into use , as tracing boards , and supersede th © veritable old stone ones ?—GKAVER . THE SESQUIADELPIAN F 0 EM . What is the Sesqniadolpian form of Masonry , and where is it practised?—QuuttiST . —[ We never heard of such an affair . Where did querist pick up the outlandish word P ]