An Analysis Of Ancient And Modern Freemasonry.

Avithin that city , " ancl that all the crafts were considered mysterious , as it was provided "That strangers shall not assemble but in the common halls of their mysteries , upon the penalties aforesaid , " such mysteries being , no doubt , the secrets

of their various trades . The Statute 3 H ., 6 , is thus alluded to— "It shall be felony to plot confederacies amongst Masons , and such as assemble upon such confederacies shall suffer imprisonment , and make fine and ransom at the Kin IT ' S will "

( page 369 ) . The sums of money "Imployed by any corporation , guild , fraternity , company , or fellowship of any mystery or craft , towards the maintenance of any priest , anniversary , obit , lamp , light , or the like , " had to be " paid yearly as a rent charge to the King , his heirs , & e . " ( Marlb . 28 , 52 , £ 3 ) .

We have compared these Acts , and others also , with those " Collected , viosied , and extracted foorth of the bukes and register of the Actes of Parliment , at his Majestie ' s command , be me Maister John Skene , clerk of his Hienesse , council ,

register , and rolles , under my signe and subscription maunuall , " Edinburgh , 1597 ; but , beyond the fact of their agreement , we have nothing to mention in addition to the foregoing .

ACT OE PARLIAMENT , 1425 , AND MASONS ( Page 422 ) . Acccording to a good authority , " Dr . Plot , in his 'History of Staffordshire , ' mentions the Statute of 3 Henry VI ., and asserts that it was repealed

by an Act passed in 5 Elizabeth , cap . 4 . This is not correct , but it is difficult to imagine how the mistake could have originated , for it does not appear that tlie Statute ever was repealed" ( Early history of Freemasonry in England , page 45 ) .

"ST . PAUL ' S CIIUECH " OPERATIVE FREEMASONS , & c . ( Page 4-1-3 ) . The following is from a manuscript saicl to be in the Eoyal Society library , and certainly worthy

of reproduction here . It is an extract from Aubrey ' s " Natural History of Wiltshire " : — " Sir William Douglas told me many years since , that about Henry the Third ' s time the Pope gave a bull or patent to a company of Italian Freemasons

to travell up aud down over all Europe to build churches . From these are derived the Fraternity of Adopted Masons . They aro known to one another by certain signs and watchwords ; it continues to this day . They have severall lodges in

severall counties for their reception ; and when any of them fall into decay , the brotherhood is torelieve him , & c . The manner of their adoption is ; very form all , and with an oath of secrecy . " Memorandum . —This day , May the 18 th ,

being-Monday , 1691 , after Eogation Sunday , is a great convention at St . Paul ' s Church of the Fraternity of the Adopted Masons , where Sir Christopher-Wren'is to be adopted a brother , and Sir Henry Goodric of the Tower , and divers others . "

OPEEATIVE LODGES OP SCOTLAND . These lodges are frequently alluded to ( and ' , some at length ) in the Scottish Freemasons * Magazine , especially wheu under the editorship of Bro . A . 0 . Haye , and of late in the English

FEEEMASONS' MAGAZINE , several able articles have appeared . Fi-om the former we glean the following ( April , 1865 , page 6 G ) . According to astatement in the records of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , the Lodge Mary ' s Chapel , Edinburgh ,,

was instituted in 1518 , although none of itsminutes are now in existence until some eighty years later . " In its early days this lodge had a connection with the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons , which was constituted by an Act of the . magistrates in 14-75 . The lodge took the same

name as the Incorporation , held its meetings in the same place , had generally the same clerk to record its transactions , and the Deacon -of the Masons was most frequently the Master of the lodge . In reading the records of the lodge it is often difficult

to say whether they refer to a separate society or the Incorporation itself . " This extract is from , the " History of the Lodge of Journeymen Masons ( No . S ) , " by Bro . William Hunter , P . M ., and is well worthy of a careful perusal . We apprehend

in many respects the above is a photograph of Operative lodges , so far as their connection with , foreign bodies is concerned , and , certainly theseand similar facts tend strongly to confirm us in the belief of the present society of Freemasons

having originally been formed out of , or on the . basis of , Operative Masonry . ( Part Second will be commenced in Vol . xviii . )

SCANDAL . —Poor indeed is the cultivation of tlie mind where ,, scandal is tlie only inmate ; base the soul that can derive amusement or gratification from the vices or misfortunes thatbefal its acquaintance .