Masonic Notes And Queries.

to which the MSS . are somewhat contradictory in themselves , inasmuch as whilst the arfc claims an Eastern origin aud an introduction into this country in the time of the Romans , it is brought doAvn as a geometrical school of Euclid , through Charles Martel ( the English tradition of whose brotherhood has been

recently confirmed by ancient French documents on stone-masonry ) to the organization of an English architectural guild by King Athelstan , on the model of similar associations elseAvhere existing . In Norway the "Heims Kringla" ( translated byS . Laing ) seems to imply a foreign derivation , and the establishment

of the guilds by King Olaf Kyrre ( 1069—93 ) , and may possibly be of English derivation , as King Hakon was educated at the Court of Athelstan of England , as his foster son . These stone-masons' guilds existed in England doAvn to about 1650 and in Scotland to 1721 in their

, , original state , but there seems to have been too little stone building iu England or in Norway to render it probable either that the English association could date beyond ( at auy rate ) the time of Athelstan , or that the Runic marks could have been gathered in either country .

Conde , however , in his " Dominion of the Arabs in Spain , " shows the perfect state of stone work there and in the East , and informs ns that in the 7 th cenfcurv 12 , 000 stone-cutters were emnloved on the

great Alamja at Damascus : various inscriptions are given also , as existing in Spain , showing the state of the art » in that country , where , until about A . D . 1000 , the Runes were in use , then prohibited by the Holy Father ; and it seems highly probable that these secret architectural schools passed , according to tradition , to

Charles Martel and the French , from the Arabs through Spain , and gathered Runic marks—in addition to the older forms—in the latter country . What renders this view still more probable is , that whilst it agrees with traditional history , there is also great resemblance of the present three degrees of

Freemasonry to certain secret associations now existing amongst the Dervishes of Turkey , the Druses , & c , which , with the Arabian association of the " House of Solomon " ( 10 th century ) ancl the three Degrees of Knighthood ( Page , Esquire , ancl Knight ) —not to mention the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross

, which claimed an Arabic origin—may easily , as implied by the resemblance of ceremonial rites , have been derived from the ancient reli g ious mysteries , of Avhich the latest description is found in Apulieus' Matamorphosis , who in the 2 nd century describes his initiation into three degrees of the Isis . We Avant a

reliable account collected from all sources of these secret associations , as it is possible that many of the Gnostic sects Avere derived from the scattered mysteries of Isis , Eeusis , aud Mithras . —A

MASONIC CHARTERS . Bro . Oneal Haye ' s letter , interesting in itself , seems to require to he supplemented by a correct transcri pt of the Latin Charter itself , or , at any rate , of that part of it in AA'hich mention is made of tho " fraternity . " If , thereforeBro . Oneal Haye would kindl

, y take this trouble , he Avould not only confer a favour on Masonic students like myself , but Avould further the common cause of Masonic inquiry and historical accuracy . —A MASONIC STUDENT .

BRO . D ' ASSIGNT . Bro . Hughan will render a great service to "Notes and Queries " and to Masonic students , beyond those he has already conferred , by printing further details from D'Assigny . Such , for instance , as the names of the Masters of the Dublin Lodges . We want more of this personal matter . Such a note as he has made of the female Freemason is very valuable . —NOTA .

FREEMASONRY AND CHRISTIANITY . Bro . A . O . Haye asks sarcastically if Bro . White , IS , can point out anything Christian between the 4 th ancl 17 th degrees inclusive . When Bro . Haye has himself become a real Rose Croix Mason , under the English Constitution , he will know that the 14 th

ends the Jewish , or Temple of King Solomon degrees , and that the 17 th degree is Christian . I am , however , quite ready to agree with Bro . Haye that Christianity is not to be found in Craft Masonry , and it is only in the higher degrees that Judaism and Theism cease and Christianity begins . —Red > J < .

CENTENARIES IN 1869 . The note of Bro . Hughan upon me is a very good one . Although I know , by having seen some warrants , that the numbers do not indicate the real antiquity of the lodges , I AV . IS guided by the Grand Loclge of England Caleudar in choosing the nine ,

which he has reduced to one . NOAV he has got something else to do—as he has old Calendars and I have only neAV—that is , to take from the earlier numbers on the list such " ancient" lodges as may chance to have a centenary in 1769 , for the reduced list created by him is only a list of the " moderns . " —NOTA .

C ORK CATHEDRAL AND CORK GUILDS . Among the curiosities of Dr . Nelligan sold last Aveek Avas the old mace of the Cork Guilds . This leads me to ask , Avas there a guild of Masons there ? So to another affair . The first Cathedral built in Ireland since the Reformation is Cork Cathedral , by

Bro . William Barges , of No . 10 . The first in England AVUS St . Paul ' s , built by Bro . Sir C . Wren , and Freemasons claim a part in it , as the Lodge of Antiquity attests . The Cork Freemasons haA'e o ; iven a Avindow to Cork Cathedral , why should not English Freemasons have a Avindow there ? About : 6200 Avould provide a suitable memorial . —UNION .

SCOTS NOT SCOTCH . We say— " Mary , Queen of Scots , " " Picts and Scots , " the "Scots Magazine , '' the "Scotsman , " and the " Scots Greys . " " Scotch " I have always understood to be a vulgarism , which , although sanctioned by the names of Burns and Scott , Avas condemned by

Hume , Henry Mackenzie , Henry Erskine , and the Avriters in the "Scots Magazine . " Public bodies never call themselves " Scotch / ' but Scottish , " or "Scots , ' as the " Scots Law Society , " "Royal Scottish Academy . " The matter , however , appears totally uuAvorthy of Bros . Buchan and Lyon . — ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE .

ROSICRUCIANS ( p . 471 ) . Which exposition of the Rosicrucians wc are to receive , who can tell ? hut from thafc of Bro . Oneal Haye it is satisfactory to learn that the present society has nothing to do AA'ith Freemasonry . We question it whether the older society , which Bro .