Masonic Notes And Queries.

Craft still higher in the scale of intelligence and virtue , is to foster the disposition to learn the mysteries of the Masonic rites and their moral application . In the frequent examinations and discussions that take place upon every subject , and in relation to such portions of the ritual as may be quoted , a vast variety of useful aud hihlinteresting information

gy has been circulated ; through these agencies a taste for reading and a desire for the attainment of knowledge has been produced , the result of which must be of incalculable benefit to the fraternity . The difference between an ignorant and a well-informed Mason is so great that we should suppose every member of

the Order that cau read his own language , and no others can without gross impropriety be admitted , would inform himself upon such points of Masonic duty and action as are in daily application , and necessary to be understood , in order to his apprehension aud enjoyment of his position and privileges as a

Mason . The Master Mason that does not read , and neglects the study of his profession , deserves to be restricted in his privileges to the use of such of the immunities of the Order as he is capable of appreciating . To call a man Master , when in his intelligence and capabilithe is nothing more than an

y Entered Apprentice , is an absurdity . As lo : ng as the Master Mason lives he should continue to learn more and more of the mysterious character of his profession , and each day , as it adds to his experience , ought to increase his store of Masonic knowledge . —MoJ .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . A FRENCH LIGHT ON FREEMASONRY . TO THE EDITOR OF THE 3 ? ItEE 3 rAS 0 XS' MAGAZINE AND 3 TASONIC MIRKOK . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I am very glad that the little notice at the head of this section of THE

MAGAZINE , disclaiming all responsibility advanced by your correspondents , is not a thing of yesterday , as it enables me to write freely without committing you to a single word I may indite , and cannot be said to be introduced for this or auy other special purpose . In this month ' s number of Le Monde Mccgonnique

you and I are attacked by name , and I feel it an honour by being included iu such good company . Though the article in question joins our names together , I do not think I ought to intrude on you for any share of that more prominent space which , by journalistic ri ght and usage , is your due as the Fclitor

of THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , and am quite content to say my purely personal say in these columns , and thus take the entire responsibility of every syllable I pen on my own shoulders . Neither will I , for one moment , attempt any defence of your case . Such a proceeding , on my part , would be both

impertinent aud useless , because I know how ably and trenchantly you can dispose of such " poor game , " if you deem it worthy of your notice . I certainl y should have preferred to have let the matter sink into that oblivion , which its appearance in the pages of Le Monde Ma gonnique ensures , but for obvious reasons . The writer who signs his name because , by the law relating to journalism in France , he dare not withhold it , admits that he does not attack me from his

own knowledge , and therefore there is no occasion for parading his name in this letter , and giving him such an amount of popularity among Freemasons in all parts of the world as he could never effect for himself in the pages of Le Monde Magonnique . It will be quite sufficient , then , to style him the French writer .

Had this French writer cut me up root and branch in the way of fair criticism , I should have had no cause of complaint . Every one who writes in a newspaper is liable to such a fate ; but I do complain of the unseen agency which has prompted the attack ,, and that the mischief lies in his manner of telling what " he has been told . "

Now , I believe I can safely trace the affair by circumstantial evidence to the unkindness of a provincial brother who has written occasionally in this-MAGAZINE . His theory on certain points was opposed and ably refuted by another provincial brother , but the former , for some unexplained reasons ,, took it into his head that I was the individual who

had brought him to grief , and you know , as well as I do , that I never wrote a line in the matter . He had also another cause of offence . He sought me at my lodge and at the British Museum , aud , failing to suck my brains for his own purposes , turned round upon me and did me one serious evil , and tried to damage my prospects iu a second place . The first you know of , and how my pen and tongue have hitherto been tied . The other was unconnected with

I reemasonry . In the former case my persecutor was successful , because he was a high provincial dignitary ; in the latter , I am happy to say , he only got himself laughed at for his pains . To , this brother ' s door does as pretty a chain of circumstantial evidence lead as ever was followed up by a criminal lawyer . To him and another brother the French

writer is indebted for what " we have been told , " and I am sorry to say some of that telling is untrue . As you well know , it i 3 untrue to say that you no longer edit the MAGAZINE , aud that I am its almost sole editor . No more mischievous report could have been set afloatand none more opposite to the fact .

, After the six years I have been engaged by , aud with ,, you ; after your various , generous , and important , acts of kindness to me ; after the good feeling that has existed between us , you know how I honour and respect you , and you also know that when you

cease to be the editor of this MAGAZINE my work is done in these pages . The attempt to sow the seed of discord between us is only worthy the prompting of a demon ; but I have that knowledge of your character that I feel the plan devised will he futile , and I trust you know me well enough to believe I have never claimed more iu this paper than to work with

, and under , you . And now to consider a few instances of this Anglo-French light on Freemasonry . It is as foolish as it is false for the French writer to assert that I am an enemy to foreign Freemasonry . I am not an enemy to Freemasonry under any

circumstances , but am an advocate for the broadest and most cosmopolitan extension of the Order . If I am , what the French writer says he has been informed I am , a friend of the high-grade system—and which I do not for one moment deny , but am proud to endorse-—that will not prove my enmity to foreign Freema-