Laying The Foundation Stone Of The Grey Friars Church, Dumfries.

Bros . W . Fairley and A . Crackston , Senior and Junior Wardens , officiating as croupiers . . After a splendid dinner , furnished by Bro . Kirk , of the White Hart , the Chairman , in succession , gave "The Holy Lodge of St . John , " "The Queen and the Craft , " " The Prince and Princess of Wales and

the rest of the Royal Family , " " The Navy , Army , Militia , and Volunteers , " to which Bro . Sanson , Glasgow , replied ; " The Grand Lodge of Scotlaud and Bro . J . Whyte Melville , Esq ., " " by Bro . " Alder , replied to by Bro . Wright , Edinburgh ; " The Grand Lodge of England , " by Bro . Fairley ; " The Grand

Lodge of Ireland , " by Bro . Crackston ; "Bro . H . Inglis , D . G . Master , " by Bro . Alder , replied to by Bro . H . Inglis ; " The Clergy of all Denominations , " by Bro . Hyslop ; " The Magistrates aud Town Council of Dumfries , " by Bro . TIellon ; "The Congregation of Grey Friars" bBro . James Wallace

, y , acknoAvledged by Bro . James Riddiek ; " The Contractors , " coupled with Bro . Halliday , by Bro . Robert Martin , responded to by Bro . James Halliday ; " The Visiting Lodges , " by' the Chair , replied to by the brother heading the respective deputations ; " The Masonic Committee , " by Bro . James Thomson ,

acknowledged by Bro . Dykes , Secretary ; "The Senior and Junior Wardens Avho Preside , " by Bro . A . Hay , G . Treas ., responded to by Bro . Fairley . During the evening various songs Avere sung by Bros . Riddiek , Hart , E . Smith , aud Maxwell and Gordon , Castle-Douglas .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

MYSTIC PAlTXnEISJr . A London Brother is right in his remarks respecting Mystic Pantheism . It absorbs the Universe in God , and can in no way be considered atheistical . I am told that Mystic Pantheism has many adherents in the lodges of Germany , and some in those of

France aud Italy . —CHAELES PI / ETOH COOPEE . CUEISTIANITY AND ENGLISH 1 'EEEM ASOXEY . The letter from Nice has been handed to me . English ' Freemasonry will not for a moment listen to the suggestion it contains . Iu such a matter they will regard the example of the lodge of another

nation with extreme indifference . The Bible will ever keep its place in the English lodge ; the Sacred Volume Avill eA'er be seen there open before the Worshipful Master . Christianity and English Freemasonry have hitherto been hand in hand in those countries of Avhich my correspondent speaks . They

will , I trust and believe , continue to do so . English Freemasonry from its nature cannot exist if separated from Christianity . Divide English Freemasonry and Christianity , and the former necessarily and immediately perishes . Its principle of vitality is gone . The Christian missionary has always found

the English Freemason a sincere and able supporter -and assistant in his good aud perilous enterprise . Christianity and Freemasonry united may civilise the Avhole human race ; but he must be a senseless visionary who can affirm that Freemasonry alone Avill achieA'e that immense work . Prosopceia is plainly my correspondent ' s favourite figure of rhetoric , and he possibly will be surprised AA'heu told that the use -he has made of it by no means pleases me . He

personifies Liberty , Equality , and Fraternity , xt is true , in a manner that none valuing them rightly and discreety will disapprove ; yet , strangely enough , he does not personify Christianity . What is most excellent he passes by . His group is defective ; it Avants what would have been its greatest ornament . In this picture Avhich my correspondent ' s lively fancy has painted I discern the offspring , but , alas , the parent is absent . —CHAEEES PUETON COOPEE .

AVAS YIEG-IL A EBEEMASON ? The question of "Enquirer" is one which requires a twofold answer . If by using the Avord Freemason he means to ask , Was Virgil ' s initiation the same as ours , I answer , Most probably no ; but if he intends to say , Was Virgil initiated into a secret Order , with Avhich we preserve a striking likeness in many

respects ? I answer , Probably yes . That Virgil Avas ever initiated , I do not remember at this moment to be positively said by any Avriter , though many have apparently assumed the fact that he was so . We know that the great and the learned in his time , and , anterior to itemperorsoratorsand poets were

, , , admitted into the mysteries , aud the probability is that Virgil Avas also admitted . That he portrayed the scenic representations of some of the mysteries in the VI . iEneid , is not only held by Bishop Warburtpn , but by other learned men , and even Gibbon seems to admit the fact , though he reduces

it to a question of the original , or a copy of the original , as represented by Virgil . The mysteries , especially the Eleusinian , professed to reveal certain great aud important truths , as well in natural science as in religious knoAvledge . Whatever was their local name or peculiar organisation , the emblems they employed , the symbols they used , they all came

originally from the East , Egypt being probaly only a resting-place from India . Freemasonry comes , too , from the East , handed down through mediaeval guilds , hailing from Rome , and derived from Phoenicia and the East generally . Hence it always has been held , and Avisely held , by the most learned amongst us , thatthough it is almost impossible to lay down

, precisely the exact connection to-day betAveen modern Freemasonry and the ancient mysteries , yet that a connection does exist , not only in our common traditions , but to some extent iu our common ceremonies . That the mysteries and Freemasonry are identical I do not say , ¦ but only that they have a

good deal in common , and , in one sense our Freemasonry at this hour , though under the development of an operative brotherhood , bound together by ties of secret association and ritual , and in a very different condition of things , may be said to be a continuation of those ancient mystic assemblies . While , then , it

is never wise to dogmatise , or simply to make assertions , Avhen we are travelling over a debatable land , we have , I venture to add , every warrant to believe that there is still a link of no common kind aud importance between the mysteries and Freemasonry , In that sense , Virgil , if initiated , as he probably Avas , Avas a Freemason . HIRAM .

" DEIYING PILES AND GEAND SHOCKS . I have met with these expressions in the perusal of some old Masonic documents , to Avhich I have not noAv access . Can any brother give the interpretation to be placed upon these ancient and obsolete Masonic terms ?—LTVESTIGATOE .