Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

lino , u . n . u . TILE ( MUST ) DUKE or GLOUCESTER . IN my " is ote" ou the Manchester Masonic Eifle Corps , given in the Maijaziue . of December . 2-ith , iu naming the Duke of Gloucester , who reviewed the corps in ISOi , I accidentally omitted the word '' brother , " so that a young Mason , who has not yet studied the history of the Craft , might be misled into thinking that the duke had not seen the light in a Lodge . This , however , as the

well informed Mason is aware , was not the case ; Bro . His Royal Highness Prince William Henry , first Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh , K . G ., third sou of ' Frederick Prince of Wales , and brother of King George the Third , was born in 17-13 ; and on the 1 . 6 ' tli day of February , 17 GG , had the honour to be initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry at an occasional Lodge assembled at the Horn Tavern , Westminster , at which Lord Blaney , then Grand Master

, presided in person . In the same year he married Maria , Countess Dowager of Waldegrave , second daughter of the Hon . Sir Edward Walpole , K . B ., and widow of James , second Earl Waldegrave , by whom he had issue two daughters and a son , the latter being Bro . II . R . II . Prince William Frederick , who succeeded to the title of Duke of Gloucester ancl Edinburgh , on the death of his father , August 22 nd , 1805 . — GEOIHJB ALVKKHAM TWEDDEEL .

ricTUKE OE rmr . AUELniiA . REAM Sin AND BKOTHEH , —I purpose , with your permission , contributing something now and then to the Masonic Notes ancl ( Queries , commenced in your last number . Such gossiping papers form a pleasant relief to the graver articles of a Magazine ; whilst they rescue from oblivion many a stray fact , which might otherwise he irrecoverably loat .

Tho subjoined passages arc extracted from a Avork entitled The Picture of Philadelphia , by James Mease , M . D ., Philadelphia , 1811 . The book is rare , even in America , and in this country there is not perhaps a second copy , so that these extracts may be deemed not unworthy of preservation in the Alagaxine . The prejudice against Masonry , occasioned by the " melancholy event " here recordedwhich " the brethren such uneasiness "

, gave , ¦ appears to be a sort of credulous epidemic , if I may so express it , recurring periodically in America ; as shown , for instance , in the jnorc recent case of William Morgan who , after having been diabolically murdered by the Freemasons at Niagara , in 182 G ,

was found comfortably settled at Smyrna in 1831 . *—SCIUHA , SOY . — -Birmingham . " SOCIETY OE MASONS . " Tho early records of Masonry in Philadelphia have been lost ; but it is known that a s . oeiety of the ' Moderns' was formed at au early date , and that it was composed of several of tho most respectable and prominent characters of the day . The gazettes , the only authority existing ou the subjectinform us of a Grand Lod having been hold so earl

, ge y as the year 1732 , at the 'Tuu Tavern , ' the fashionable hotel of the lime , when William Allen , tho recorder of the city ( afterwards chief justice ) was chosen Grand Master ; it appears that regular meetings were annually held for several years afterwards . "In the year 1737 , a melancholy event occurred , which gave the brethren much uneasiness . A party of idle men , not belonging to the Craftwith a view of enjoying the friht which they supposed they

, g would excite , cither volunteered their services , or acceded to the wishes of a . young man , to initiate him into the mysteries of Masonry , and ¦ accordingly instituted a variety of ridiculous operations ; at night , in a cellar , to all which he submitted with fortitude , although they wore [ willful and extremely trying to a young mind . Finding that their object was likely to be defeated , a bowl of burning spirit , bito which ho had been directed to look for some time , was thrown over him , and his

'clothes taking fire , he was so much burnt that he died in a few days afterwards . This melancholy event justly excited the public indignation , and . the chief promoter of the mischief , after a legal investigation , was iguomhuously punished by being burnt in the baud ; but unfortunately the scene having been conducted under the impression of a connection with Masonry , a considerable prejudice , among those who were unacquainted with the principles o'i the Craft , was excited , aud to such a degree did it extend that the brethren deemed it necessary to come

forward , and after stating the occurrence iu the newspapers , to 'declare the abhorrence of all true brethren to this horrid practice ; and that the persons concerned were not of their society , nor of any society of Free and Accented Masons .

" On the : 23 rd September , 3 7-13 , the Eight Honourable Lord John Ward , Grand Master of England , nominated Thomas Oxnard , Esq ., Provincial Grand Master of all Jforth America , On the 10 th July , 174 !) , Thomas Oxuard , Esq ., appointed Benjamin Franklin , Esq ., Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania , with authority to appoint the other Grand Officers , hold aGrand Lodge , issue warrants , & c . "On the 5 th September , 17-10 , the first Grand Lodge was held at "The Koyal Standard , " iu Market-street , under this warrant ; Grand * Vide Freemasons' Magazine March , 1855 , p . 153 .

Master Frauklin having appointed Dr . Thomas Bond , Deputy Grand Master ; Josonh Shipper ) , Senior Grand Warden ; Philip Syng , Junior Grand Warden ; William Plumsted , Grand Treasurer ; Daniel Byles , Grand Secretary . " At the same meeting a warrant was granted to James Bogreeu , aud others , to hold a Lodge in Philadelphia , The meetings were regularly held until 13 th March , 1750 , when William Allen , Esq ., the recorder of the city of Philadelphia , presented to the Grand Lodge a commission

from the Grand Lodge of England , appointing him Provincial Grand Master , which was recognized , and he appointed Benjamin Frauklin , Deputy Grand . Master ; and the other officers above mentioned , according to rank .

"Prom this time they proceeded iu their business , granting new warrants in the city , in various parts of the state and other places , until superceded by the introduction of various Lodges of 'Ancient York Masons , ' and the ultimate ostablishment . of a Grand Lodge of that Order . "As far as tho minutes of the Modern Grand Lodge go , Dr . Franklin was never absent from a meeting . " A Grand Lodge was erected some years afterwards , in the alley leading from Second-street to Dock-streetby the bank of Pennsylvania

, , which remained until the yearl 785 , when the ' Moderns , ' having greatly diminished , the two surviving trustees of the building were authorized , by au act of . the legislature , to sell it , and to apply part of the proceeds thereof to a charitable purpose . They were given to tho city for tho use of the poor . "At what time tho members of "Ancient York Masons" first held subordinate Lodges does not now appear , but in the year 1761 the late of that

William Ball , of Philadelphia ,, obtained from the Grand Lodge society in London , the charter or warrant for the Grand Lodge iu Pennsylvania , It is Wo . 1 in Pennsylvania , and No . S !) in England , and registered in the Grand Lodge , London , vol . 3 rd , letter C , and bears date July U , 1761 . " The fraternity of the ancients have since regularly held their grand communications , except while the British were in possession of Philadelphiaand to the end of last year have constituted one hundred and

, thirty-one subordinate Lodges in several of the states , in the West Indies , in Florida , and twenty-one in Philadelphia . "For several yeans . past they have been anxious to erect a building suitable to the dignity of the Craft and to their thriving situation , but were not able until the year ISO !) to accomplish their wishes . With the funds then in hand , and the help of additional subscriptions , tkey commenced the undertaking ; but their views enlarging as the work proceededit became to increase their fundsthey therefore

, necessary ; proposed a loan of forty thousand dollars at six per cent , redeemable on the first day of January , 1 S 25 , on the security of the house aud lot . This loan was filled in jess than two hours , by eighty subscribers . A . second loan , for twenty thousand dollars , has also been filled . "The Masonic Hall is in Uhesnut , between Seventh and Eighth streets from Delaware , and was consecrated in due form and with all possible splendour and solemnity on last St . John ' s day . Upwards of eight statesattended the

hundred brethren , many of them from other , procession ou the . occasion . Au impressive and eloquent oration was delivered on the same day , before the society , by the Grand Master , James Milnor , Esq ., in St . John ' s church , Sassafras-street . Officers : — James Milnor , R . W . Grand Master ; P . L . B . DuPlessi « , R . W . Deputy Grand Master ; Biehard Tybout , 11 . W . Senior Grand Warden ; Joseph Burden , K . W . Junior Grand Warden ; Georgo A . Baker , K , W . Grand Secretary ; Samuel F . Bradford , 11 . W . Grand Treasurer . "

" MASONIC UALL . " This spacious and elegant building is situate in Chesnut , between Seventh and Eighth streets . The lot is one hundred and one feet seven , inches in front , on Chosnut-sfcreet , extending in depth oiic hundred and seventy-sis feet , to a new twenty feet street , which has been opened in the rear of the lot . "The building is placed about the centre of the lot , so as to afford a handsome in frontlaid out in walksskirted with grass and

area , , shrubbery , enclosed by a dwarf wall surmounted by an iron palisade , and having two Gothic gates of . the same material attached to white marble pillars , capped with Gothic pinnacles ( corresponding with those hereafter mentioned ) on the summit of the wall . "The front of the building is eighty-two feet , aud its depth sixty-mno feet ; its height to the top of the roof seventy feet , and from thence to the top of the ireincluding the vaneeihtfeet . It is of brick

sp , , gy , _ designed iu the Gothic style , laving in front four marble buttresses of four feet iu breadth , extending from a basement , four feet high , to the roof , and capped with pinnacles . In these buttresses arc two niches eight feet in height , and two and a hall : foot wide , finished with tracery . There are eight windows fourteen by six feet , with an elegant central window , over the entrance , eleven by eighteen feet . " The ascent to the principal story is by a flight of marble steps between two check blocks four feet iu

. seventeen feet long , supported height and live feet in breadth ; the ornaments on which arc the admired quarter foil panel , surmounted by iron lamp pieds , of a construction agreeing with the stylo of the building . The doorway and vestibule are enriched with appropriate ornaments ; over the door , the large window is conspicuously and beautifully disposed , beneath a regular oxeye arch The internal arrangement of the hall exhibits an admirable union of beauty and convenience . The vestibule , twenty-nine by twelve feet , _ is iinitihed in superior style , and conducts to the great room on tho priii-