Masonic Notes And Queries.

brother of this party yet living , if not more ; perhaps be will , if he sees this query , enlighten us on the point . — OXON ET CANTAB . SONG IN PRAISE OF TIIE CRAPT . [ It is both old and witty , but totally unsuited to the columns of any respectable journal of the present day . It

has been i eturned to S ' s . address . ] THE PRINCE OP WALES . If the Prince of "Wales should join our Order , it is necessary , or presumed , that he should be made in the Prince of Wales' Lode ?—H . B . —[ No . H . R . H . can be made wherever he may choose , and the members elect for him , excepting only the Grand Stewards' Lodge , which cannot make a Mason , every other lodge in the Craft is open to him as a candidate . ]

APRON TASSELS . What is the best course to adopt to prevent the lace of apron tassels from fraying out ?—J . H . —[ Use those of solid silver ; Bros . Spencer , Piatt , Thearle , or any other Masonic jeweller , will supply them . ] KNIGHT TEMPLARS' BALDRICK OR SLING . I have seen several K . T ' swear a kind of sling for their

. swords , something similar to a naval officer ' s belt for his hanger . Is this correct . Should not the sword be suspended by the sash or baldrick?—ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL , FOUNDATION OP GRAND LODGES . [ R . DIXON will find , at page 129 of our III . vol ., New Series , July to December , 1860 , under the heading " Dates

of Establishment of Grand Lodges , " all the information he seeks . ] THE PULL-MOON . Why , in all Masonic hieroglyphics , is the moon never represented as a full-moon , but always of a crescent shape ?—W . CURTIS . —[ We suppose to distinguish it from the sun . You surely would not have the two so confounded that it would be necessary to do as the sign-painter did when uader a figure of the animal be had just painted and coloured , with his fiercest vermillion , wrote , — " This is the Red Bull . " ]

THE ACACIA . Is the acacia a shrub indigeneous to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ?—SPES . EZRA , THE SCRIBE . Why is Ezra , tbe Scribe , as well as Nehemiab , called selecters and expounders of the Sacred Law . —ARCH ROYAL ?

—[ A slight acquaintance with Scriptural history is sufficient to show the various parts they took in presenting our Bible to us in the order iu which it stands . At the risk of giving a little more than is inquired for , the following will point out their labours . The oldest book in the world is the Book of Job , written in the purest Hebrew , and probably bJob himselfor a contemporaryhis stle being more

y , , y terse aud compact , and more accurate in the jioetical conformation of its sentencss than that of Moses ; to whom , as Bishop Lowth shows , the Rabbinical writings ascribe the Book of Job upon " very futile" grounds . "The five Books" of Moses , which is the translation of the Greek word Pentateuchus , were written by him , ancl are called " The Law , " for when Ezra collected the books of the Old

Testament , after the Babylonish captivity , he divided them into " The Law , the Prophets , the " Psalms , and the Historical Books , " the first three being often referred to as such in the New Testament . He made additions to several of tbe books , which appeared to him necessary for the completion and elucidation of them , and changed the old names of places which had become obsolete , using those b

y which they were then known . Thus , in the last chapter of Deuteronomy , he added tho account of the death and burial of Moses , and of the succession of Joshua , and substituted in Genesis Dan for Laisb , Hebron for Kirjath Ai-ba . He' rejected such books as were not written by - Divine inspiration , and the list of those which he retained is known as the " Canon of Scripture . " This Canon was completed by him and Nehemiab about tbe year 450 before Christ , Nehemiab ( Neemias ) having been greatly

instrumental , as you will find on turning to the second book of Maccabees , in collecting " the Books of Kings , of David , and of the Prophets . " To this original Canon of Scripture additions wero made by Haggai and Zephaniah , and it was filially closed by Malachai , the last of the Prophets , who was contemporary with Ezra , if not Ezra himself , under tbe designation of Malachai , "My-Angel . " The Book of

Joshua , excepting some few additions and interpolations by Samuel and Ezra , were written by himself ; Judges is generally admitted to have been collected by Samuel or Ezra from the ancient memorials compiled by tho several judges ; Ruth and the first twenty four chapters of the Book of Samuel are assigned to Samuel ; and the remainder of I . Samuel and II . Samuol , and I . Kings and II . Kings , were

probably collected by Ezra from the several books or memoirs of tbe prophets , which are occasionally cited in thorn .. To him we also ascribe the two Books of Chronicles , excepting a few self-evident interpolations made after his death . The Book of Ezra was written by . * himself , partly in Hebrew , and partly in Chaldee ; Nehemiab , sometimes called tbe Second Book of Ezra , was written by Nehemiah ;

and Esther is by some attributed to Ezra , but more generally to Mordecai . The Book of Psalms was collected by Ezra , and contains the whole of the Psalms of David , besides those of several other inspired writers . The Proverbs were put down as the Proverbs of Solomon , though Grotius and other learned men think the authorship doubtfulso also Ecclesiastes and the Canticlesor Song of

; , Solomon , must be ascribed to him , the latter beyond all doubt . The Books of the Prophets speak for themselves , so do also all tbe Books of the New Testament , excepting the Acts of the Apostles , written by St . Luke , to whose Gospel it forms the second part . ]

JOHN PENN . In reply to J . F's . query in the last number of the MAGAZINE as to who was the John Fenn who signed his name on one of the" fly-leaves of The History and Articles of Masonry , published by me , I quote a note of Sir Frederick Madden , which he sent me last week , in which he says : —

_ " The John Fenn whose hand-writing appears on the M . S . is the same person as Sir John Fenn , well known as the editor of The Paston Letters . " He was born at Norwick , November 26 th , 1736 , educated at Scarning , admitted at Gonville and Caius Coll ., Camb ., proceeded Ji . A . 1761 , M . A . 1764 , and was fellow of his college till 1766 , when he vacated his felloivship by marrying Eleanor , daughter of Shepherd

Frere , Esq ., of Roydon , Suffolk , by whom he had no issue . He was afterAvards Justice of the Peace , High Sheriff in 1791 , and died at East Dereham , Fob . 14 , 1794 . His biographer thus sums up his character : — " If the inquisitive antiquary , the clear , faithful , ancl accurate writer , be justly valued by literary characters ; the intelligent and upright magistrate , by the inhabitants of tho county in which he resided ; the

informing ancl pleasing companion , the warm and steady friend , the honest and worthy man , the good and exemplary Christian , by those with whom he was connected ; che death of few individuals will bo more sensibly felt , more generally regretted , or more sincerely lamented . " Such a character , it is to be hoped was a Freemason . May I , in my turn , ask the question if any one can tell whether Sir John Fenn was brother ?—MATTHEW COOKE .

MASONS AND FREE - MASONS . In tho old times were all Masons Free-masons , or were all Free-masons Masons ?—A FREE-MASON . —[ Neither the one nor the other . Operative Masons were not always Free aud Accepted , or speculative ; nor speculative operative . ] THE ATOUCIIMENT .

What is meant by the Atouchment so frequently met with in French books on Masonry ?—G . P . 0 . KNIGHTS TEMPLAR LANDS IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE . At Folkesworth , in Cambridgeshire , John de Wylburgham had the custody of all the lands , & c , of the Knights Templar in the county of Cambridge , and of the estates of Walter de Langton , Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry , in the said county , and was to answer for the profits to the Exchequer . Teste Rege apud London , 9 Oct ., 1311 . Fin .