Masonic Notes And Queries .

Among the parchments belonging- to the Lodge is a very ancient AlS . on the subject of Alasonry , which was found at the demolition of Poutcfraet Castle in the year Hi -it ) , and was presented to the Lodge in the year 17-18 , by Air . Drake , the distinguished antiquary just mentioned . " tn 1770 , at the feast of St . John , Sir Thomas Gascoignc , Bart ., being then Grand Alaster elect , a procession of more than one

hundred and twenty brethren went from the Grand Lodge room iu the York Tavern , to St . -io ^ fs church , Alicklcg . itc . And as a , further proof of the importance of this Lodge , we iind it recorded that on the 2-lth of June , 17-S 3 , the Grand Alaster , with all the oflicers , attended in the great room of tha Mansion-house , where a Lodge in the third degree . -was opened , and Bro . Wm . Siddall , Esq ., at that time the Eiht Hon . the Lord Alayorand Grand Master

g , elect , was installed , according to ancient usage and custom , the Alost Worshipful Grand Alaster Alason of all England ; and was thus saluted , homaged , and acknowledged . " "About the year 1787 the meetings of this Lodge were discontinued , ancl the only member now remaining is Mr . Blanchard , proprietor of the York Chronicle , to whom the writer is indebted for information on the subject . He was a member many-. " years ,

and being Grand secretary , all the books and papers which belonged to the Lodge are still in his possession . " " Such was the original Alasonic Lodge in York , from which several less important ones have , at different times , emanated . 'There bave also been established in York , the Apollo Lodge , the ltockingham Lodge , the Provincial Grand Lodge , ancl the Union Lodge . Of these , the Apollo Lodge has been removed from York

the Rockingham Lodge held its meetings at the George Inn , Coneystreet , but it no longer exists as a body , though the room in which the members assembled is still called tbe 1 'ockingham ; the Provincial Grand Lodge yet holds its annual meetings in the room in Little Blake-strcefc ; and the Union Lodge , the one whose members purchased the Lodge room alreacty mentioned , ancl now the most important one in York , consisting of more than one hundred

brethren , holds its annual meetings at the Alasonic Coffee-house , assembles at the Golden Lion in'Thursday Market , alias , Sampson ' ssquarc , on the first and third Afondays in each month , anil holds Lodges of Instruction every Wednesday at the same place . " "On all occasions of extraordinary public joy or calamity in the city , the Alasonic brethren are prominent in their processions , & c , which so far constitutes them a public body as to claim some notice in the annals of the city in which they reside . —Al . C .

THE KllAYfXXlXC LOIHIV . . 1 X 1 ) . ST . . IOHXS I . OUGK OF tltA . tflOlV . In your Afiigiizine . as in most other Alasonic publications , it is stated ( vol . vi ., p . 335-C ) that " some travelling Alasons went to Scotland and established themselves at Kilwinning in the year 11-1-0 , where they erected a stately abbey , and here was the germ of Scottish Ereemasonry , which has regularly descended through the Grand Lodge to this time . " Ancl again , " The Scotch Alasons

claim their * origin as a body from the time of building the Abbey of Kilwinning , about 1 . 1 f > 0 . " I also read in your jl fagazine ( vol . vi ., )) . SO ) , that the St . John ' s Lodge of Glasgow , the most ancient one in the city , holds a charter from Alalcolm Iff ., King of Scotland , dated 1 (> 75 , wherein it is stated that " none in my dominions shall erect a Lodge until they make application to the St . John's Lodge of Glasgow . " In 1 . 1 . 81 , also , it is affirmed , this Lodge received charter of confirmation in its favour

a . Perhaps some of your correspondents can reply to my question , —Which of these two Lodges should be placed first ' in authenticity . If the St . John ' s Lodge is to be believed on the faith ol its charter , how came the Kilwinning Lodge to be established so close to it—of course without any authority from Glasgow , or else , iu later years , it would not have so quietly assumed the first place ? Or is the charter of Alalcolm 111 . to be considered a forgery ? which so many of the mediteval documents avo found to be . — -OXE PEI . TIJ-X'I ' D .

JiA . . AXTI (| I ; ITU : ' . Among the " Correspondence" of ( vol vi ., p . 7 ! ' 1 ) the Freemasons' Afagazine , "It . E . X . " refers to tin ancient ALS . in his possession , which states that Alasonic institutions were proscribed by the British parliament in U 2 f > . This of course relates to the celebrated statute , : > lien . VI ., which has formed the groundwork of so much controversy .

As to another proscription in loo'l , temp . Q . Eiiz ., 1 have been unable to find any reference to the proceeding in any hook , save the usual Alasonic histories . I" throw out a hint—Would if search at the State Paper Office elucidate the point '! , I should also be glad to know of an authority for the statement that " in " 1327 all the peers of parliament were brethren of our ancient Order ! " —llisrouv . —[ Sec a preceding note ]

Literature.

Literature .

NOTES ON LITEEATUKE , SCIENCE , AND AUT . ILu > the lamented Baylc St . John lived , his next work would have been a , biography of Rabelais , which , we believe , will lie completed and edited by his younger brother , Air . Horace St . John . Yv'e hear that the labours of the author have been ivith a view to show that the world-famed humourist has been misrepresented to English readers bhis translatorsespeciallbthe

y , y y witty and learned Urquhart . A letter from Paris says : — "Guizot has just arrived from Yal Kicher , in order to finish the third volume of his memoirs ; and it is so near the 24 th , the clay fixed for the great Orlcanist meeting , that it is not astonishing to learn that Thiers should have just come back to his hotel likewise , in order to finish his volume , too . "

In connexion with the inauguration of the Chambers ' s Institution at Peebles , a dinner took place on Tuesday night , in the new hall of the Institute , at which Mr . William Chambers presented the deed of gift to the Provost , Magistrates , ancl Town Council of the borough . In the speech of the evening he said : — " I never was , ancl never will pretend to say that I am the originator of cheap literature . AU I presume to claim isthat about 1832

, , there was an extraordinary aptitude for the purchase ancl reading of cheap literature . Alost of it ivas very poor , ancl not of a quality which ought to have been addressed to intelligent readers . I endeavoured to turn the tide of popular taste , and get for it that material for which there was a craving ; and in that attempt I was successful . Chambers ' s Journal , which was originated in the month of Eebruary 1832 about six weeks in advance of the Penny

, , A / ar / aziiic , ivas received with a degree of acceptation which astonished me and my friends . Assisted by my brother , I entered on the career . AVith his graphic and elegant papers , that publication became soon more successful than 1 . had ever any reason to expect . It went ou , and goes on now , with a degree of

popularity which has astonished ancl surprised all who arc connected with it . Having gained the public car in 1832 , it has not lost it in 1859 . " The adjudicators of the prizes for the best essays " On the Causes of the Decline in the Society of Eriends" have been prevented from arriving at an earlier decision by unforeseen hindrances , and by the large number and extent of the essays

submitted to them , and by their exceeding desire to deal justly . It has , after careful consideration , been determined that an essay , bearing a motto from the epistle of the York Quarterly Meeting of the year 1855 , should receive the first prize ; and one , bearing the motto -cerium , rita , lux , the second prize . The author of the first essay is Air . J . S . Rountree , of York ; of the second , Air . Thomas Hancock , of Nottingham .

A reproduction of the "BibliaPaiipcriim , " from the copy in the British Museum Library , is announced by Air . J . Eussell Smith . It will consist of forty engravings , printed in one volume , uniform with Air . L . Leigh Sotheby ' s " Principia Typographica . " Mr . Hotten , the bookseller , has recently published a "Dictionary of Slang , " and so rapidly litis it gone off that he is about , to bring out a second edition . With respect to a statement that he had received offers of assistance from Lord Strangford , Air .

Alonckton Alilncs , and others , lie writes to the Critic : I am reluctantly compelled to give a partial contradiction . I am , it is true , preparing a second edition of my work , but I have not the honour of an acquaintance with'the gentlemen 3-011 mention as interested in the reissue , and I have certainly never received offers of assistance from them . " The Exhibition of the Royal Academy has produced this year

CS-1 . 00 . Last year , owing to ' the attractions of Mr . Erith ' s " Derby Day , " the receipts ran to several hundred pounds more . Fourteen hundred works of Art combined to draw this sum from the pockets of the shilling public , of which one hundred and fifty works were supplied by the Academicians . These Academicians ( says the Alheiiiciiiii ) take the whole of the proceeds , and the rest of the artists have the comfort of making the show . It is the old

story in the comedy : the churchwardens eat the venison , ancl treat the congregatio ' n to a ring- of bells . The Archiuological Institute , whose meetings we have had small occasion lately to report , simply because there has been no tangible business done at them , has just concluded its annual festivities—this year at Carlisle . The customary papers were read , though many of these were not of the customary importance-Excursions were made to Corby Castle ancl Brougham Hall . At the meeting of the Kent Archaeological Society at Koclicster .