Masonic Notes And Queries.

the Eomans made the innovation of the Five Orders . Consequently , neither ILA . nor Solomon could knoiv anything about Avhat was not invented until several centuries after their death . I trust brethren will see the necessity of making a distinction between the Three Grecian Orders and the Five Eoman Orders , when , the chronology of architecture being better understood , we will have no more allusions at least to the Tuscan and Composite in connexion with Solomon .

I had no intention of finding fault with , or disputing the propriety of , brethren speaking about the coexistence of Solomon and the Three Grecian Orders •yet , notwithstanding the quotation from Josephus on page 209 , 1 do not know that even the Grecian Corinthian Avas in existence so early as Solomon . Ifc is a question if Josephus could have shown any proof that

Solomon really built his house " according to the Corinthian Order . " Can "Eosa Crucis" point to any Grecian specimen of Corinthian erected 1000 years B . C . ? There is ( I hope I will not be misunderstood ) iu a Masonic point of view too much stress laid upon the

Temple of Solomon . As a building it was undoubtedly a fine one , yefc we may belieA'e there were other buildings erected about that time as good specimens of architecture as ifc was . Ifc was not built b g those whom ifc was built for . It is the reli gious ideas fixed in our minds connected with Solomon ' s Temple that give it its great interest

our eyes . I am not one of the believers in the popularly understood connexion believed to exist between Solomon ' s Temple and modern Freemasonry . I go in with the idea of the origin of Freemasonry being with the building fraternities of the middle ages . It is easy to conceive thafc many allusions would be made to

, and illustrations drawn from , the building of Solomon ' s Temple , as Avell as other matters mentioned in the Bible fco excite and stimulate the brethren . Such Scriptural allusions and quotations Avere customary with writers of the llth and 12 th centuries ; thereafter , what was merely used in illustration came

ultimately in process of time to he considered as fact . " Yet , while I support the idea of the Freemasons being the direct descendants or representatives of the building fraternities of the middle ages , yet , in a sense , as Masons , these building fraternities Avere on their part the descendants of the architectural fathers

of pre-Christian times . —PICTUS . P . S . —Although Bro . "Eosa Crucis " alludes to me on page 209 , 1 am not the correspondent to whom he " replies . " —PICTUS .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . MASONIC CAD GEES .

TO THE EDITOB OS ME MEEUMSOXS' 3 IAGAZI . YE ASD MASO . VIC MIJ 1 BOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —I know of two lodges iu an adjoining province that have been victimized \ er / heavily during the last three years by impostors . Neither of those lodges nor either of their officers read your Magazine , or they Avould have been put on their guard and been saved , in one lodge £ 8 and the other £ Q 10 s . These sums ivould have paid for 12

Correspondence.

copies of the Freemasons' Magazine for two years , and dissemminated Masonic knowledge and intelligence where it Avould , I knoAV , be very useful ; or , if each lodge had subscribed for the two years it Avould have covered that expense and left £ S i 6 s . for distribution amongst worthy objects of charity , inste . id of the £ 1-110 s . going into the pockets of p lausible swindlers

, through the wilful blindness aud neglect of the proper precautions which the trustees of the charitable contributions of others should exercise . Tours fraternally , " O . A'E AVHO AVOULD HAVE BEEN A YLCTILT TOO , BUT POR XOUR HAGAZIXE . "

Masonic Impostors.

MASONIC IMPOSTORS .

TO THE EDITOR 01 ? THE EREE 1 IASOXS ilAGAZIXE AND ATASONIC ATIEEOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —I am , as the Treasurer of a lodge iu this northern province , and as one holding a municipal appointment , Avell known in my own neighbourhood , aucl , perhaps beyond it , and the consequence is that for many years past I have been deputed to distribute to the needy the monies of

various charitable societies and persons . Although I have been a Freemason for nearly a quarter of a century , I never saw or heard of your newspaper , THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR ; ifc is , however , Avith a degree of shame that I confess my ignorance and shortcomings , for I

Avould most willingly bave subscribed for it for years past had I known of its existence . Well , Sir , better late than never . As I called upon a member of my lodge fund committee on Monday to go over my accounts , and I had to produce my vouchers , when I came to some

I . O . IT . ' s » for monies advanced on loan to various travelling brethren , my brother committee-man broke forth iu a hearty laugh , but , iu explaining to me the cause , handed to me a copy of your valuable Magazine oi Saturday last , and called my attention to a letter signed "D . P . G . M ., " referring to the case of Seigmund Sax , who told me nearly the same storv and

produced similar documents to me , and he certainly succeeded in drawing me ol' a larger sum than I usually part with from the charity fund . Sir , your correspondent , "D . P . G . M ., " has done a good service to the Graft ; aud I i ' eel sure thafc the charitable funds of our Order might to au enormous extent be conserved arid a much larger amount of

real good be done if all such cases , and cases of a suspicious character , ivere communicated to you promptly , that you might use your discretion as to publishing or withholding their contents from your pages . You ivould soon be able to judge Avhich ivere impostors or traders on Masonry and ivhich ivere simpl y

unfortunate but deserving brethren . Then , Sir , too , as I now find there is a weekly journal devoted exclusively to our Masonic Order , I consider ifc is indisputably the duty of evez * y lodge to subscribe for and receive from your office the Magazine Aveekly , so that their funds may be , as far as jiossible ,

properly applied , aud that those entrusted with the lodge funds may be properly forewarned . Had j knoAvn of the Freemasons' Magazine , during the laafc 12 years afc least £ 60 of my lodge funds might have been saA * ed and applied—as it turns out—to relieve more deserving objects . I say , therefore , eA'ery "W . M . and the Treasurer of a lodge should have the Free-