Sketches Of Notable Masonic Works.

masonry agreed " that the privileges of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative Masons , lbofc extend to men of various professions , provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the Order" ( vide note , p . 194 ) . But with all deference

we submit this is no evidence , but a baseless proposition , as long before A . D . 1717 , many gentlemen of position and influence were admitted as members of the Fraternity , and the minute books of lodges such as Mother Kilwinning , Cannongate

Kilwinning , Ancient Lodge at Tork , and others antecedent to the revival abundantly confirm the fact , that this offer to open the portals of Masonry to those who were not operatives in the 18 th eentury was a mere empty and vain display . Hutchinsou also states that the Free and Accepted

Masons ( meaning the revivalists ) have kept themselves totally apart from the incorporated body of Masons enchartered ( page 214 , 1 st ed . ) . To disprove this Dr . Oliver refers to Halliwell's MS ., wherein it is stated that " In the year 1506 , John

Hylmer and Wilson Virtue , Freemasons , were engaged to vaulte , & c . " How the term Freemason can at all weaken the former assertion I cannot imagine . One thing is certain , no one yet las been able to discover records of Grand Lodges ,

and Grand Masters existing before A . D . 1717 , of even the slightest approximation in nature and constitution to those of a subsequent date , and ihe proceedings of the Ancient Lodge at York snore than confirms—it proves—the truth of our statement .

We have the pleasure of possessing copies of the foregoing , the first edition of which , dated 2775 , is both rare and valuable . The lectures were composed for the use of the members of the Barnard Castle Lodge of Concord , of which the

author was the Worshipful Master , the following is a copy from the " contents" of the 1 st edition . 1 . The General Design of the Work . 2 . On the Rites Ceremonies , and Institutions of the Ancients . 3 . A continuation of the Rites , Ceremonies , and

Institutions of the Ancients . 4 . The Nature of the liodge . 5 . The Furniture of the Lodge . 6 . The Apparel and Jewels of Masons . 7 . The Temple at Jerusalem . 8 . On Geometry . 9 . The Master Mason ' s Order . 10 . The Secrecy of Masons . 11 .

Of Charity . 12 . On Brotherly Love . 13 . On the Occupation of Masons . 14 . A Corollary with Appendix , containing a letter from the learned Mr . John Locke , to the Right Hon . Tliomas , Sari of Pembroke , with an old manuscript on the

subject of Freemasonry . In neither of the editions is anything said about other Masonic degrees than the three belonging to the Craft , as none others were recognised then by either the Grand Lodges of England or Scotland .

Our next sketch will be Preston ' s " Illustrations of Masonry , " to be followed by " Calcott's Disquisitions , " " Books of Constitutions , " and other well-known authorities of the Craft antecedent to the " Union" in 1843 . Any important textual

variations in the editions of the works noticed will be especially mentioned . We shall require time , however , before presenting the next sketch , as we want to push on with the "Analysis . "

Royal Arch And Some Other Questions.

ROYAL ARCH AND SOME OTHER QUESTIONS .

By Bro . H . B . WHITE , Warrington . Pending the discussion in your columns of the origin and antiquity of the R . A . degree , it may be interesting to your readers to have laid before them any scraps of authentic information which

throw light on the early working of the degree , and which may without impropriety appear in your journal . The two old tracing boards of which you gave small engravings a few weeks since , and which I understand you intend

producing on a large scale , throw some light upon this subject . They were designed and published by Bro . Finch , a Masonic instructor of the last or early part of the present century , and who has been stigmatised as a manufacturer of degrees , and a man who taught Masonry for money . Whether the first part of the accusation was just I

know not ( if so possibly in the present day he might have received credit instead of censure ) , but if the latter part was true he could have made but small profit unless he taught Masonry as it was practised . These engravings show that even the third degree

as then worked , raised considerably from the present system , and in this respect they agree with the old lecture of which I have a copy . I am of course precluded from pointing out these variations , but I may say that I was for some time

puzzled to understand the three lower illustrations in the engraving which are reproduced , but I now find that they represent the fifteen conspirators , the twelve recauters , and the three who persisted in their impious design . In a manuscript common-place book of the date 1796 , or thereabouts , which casually fell into my