Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.

church bells in the present day . With a few notable exceptions , as St . Gabriel , Pimlico , St . Paul , Brighton , Hurstpierpoint , Sussex , ivhere the clergy have taken the matter up , either nothing but founder ' s name and date , ancl those of the parochial authorities , or else such rubbish

as was allowed to be put up at Sherborne only a few years since , ivas found . I should very much like to print a few dozen suitable inscriptions , short ancl to the point . As from Ad to 6 c / per letter is charged for the casting , a A ery long inscription is both expensive and tedious .

Having rung so many changes upon the inscriptions of the last five centuries , I must hasten on to some other notabilia connected with ancient bells . { To be continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE HISTOBX OF THE HARK DEGREE . Where is the best history of the Mark degree to be found?—J . O . —[ What Mark degree do you mean ? There are three in existence ; the oue venerable , as being beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant , and practised in the North ; another , the Scotch , of

the blushing age of eighteen ; aud the third , a juvenile , established , founded , concocted , arranged , made up within the remembrance of tlie youngest inhabitant of Bedford-row . There is no history of either of them to be found . The Northern Mark history is bound up , so to speak , ivith a number of degrees now

rarely practised . The Scotch Mark history has yet to he written , ancl , when it is so penned , will disclose some startling facts that will make Freemasons open their eyes as to the manner of making degrees . The latter may have a history , for aught we know ; but it must be a very wee , little , tinj < -, Tom Thumb kind

of record , if it exists . Since the foregoing was written we have received a copy of The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland ' s Reporter , March 31 st , 1865 , in whicli , under date of a committee meeting on the 11 th of November , 1 SC 1 , is the following lucid report of the position of the Mark degree : —

"After a long discussion upon the subject of the memorial from the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters in England , the Committee unanimously adopted the following Report to be laid before the meeting of the Supreme Chapter in December : — "Report hi / the Committee of the Supreme Grand

Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland upon " Memorandum for llie information of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland , with reference lo the Stains and Position of the Degree of ifarJc Master in England ancl Wales , especially in connection with its icor / cing under the jurisdiction of / . he Grand Lodge of Mark

Masters of England , Wales , and the Colonics and Possessions of ihe British Crown . " "In _ dealing with the question remitted to your Committee , they find it necessary to take a ivider view of the subject than that embraced in the document now under consideration , and while they notice the statements therein contained , they will also

Masonic Notes And Queries.

advert to the position of the Mark Masters degree generally , in the hope that the Grand Lodge of Euglancl may be induced to reconsider the question , which has already been before it , and , if possible , that the position of the degree in the three countries of England , Ireland , and Scotland may be clearly defined .

"In this country , from time immemorial , aud long before the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , what is known as the Mark Masters Degree was wrought by the Operative lodges of St . John's Masonry in connection with the Eellow Craft degree . "At the institution of the Grand Lodge of

Scotlaud in the j'ear 1736 , and from that date down to the year 1860 , it continued to be worked ou this footing in the Operative lodges , but in what may be termed the Speculative lodges it never was worked , at all , or , at all events , only in a very few .

"Such being the state of matters when the Supreme Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter was formed in the year 1818 , that body , considering it necessary that candidates for the Eoyal Arch degree should be instructed in tlie Mark Masters degree , assumed the management of it ( ivhich the Grand Lodge of Scotland liad

declined ) , and constituted it the fourth degree in Masonry , or the first in the series of degrees worked in the Eoyal Arch chapters holding of the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland . " Nothing occurred to disturb this arrangement until tlie year 1 S 5 Gwhen a chapter in the citof

Aber-, y been , called the Bon Accord Chapter , No . 70 , took upon itself to grant a charter or warrant to certain brethren in England to work the Mark Masters degree there . Immediately upon this coming to the knowledge of the Supreme Chapter , the Bon Accord Chapter was suspendedbut the Supreme Chapter

, could not get possession of the illegal warrant granted by tlie Bou Accord Chapter , nor could they get itcancelled . " At this time the position of Mark Masonry in England was very anomalous . It is stated in the Memorandum now under consideration , ancl your

Committee believe correctly , that several old lodges ( as in Scotland ) continued to work the Mark Masters Degree ; but neither the Grand Lodge nor the Grand Chapter of England would recognise it , ancl it was therefore without any lawfully constituted head . Such beiug the position of the Degree in

Englandsome brethren in that country who highly prized it , applied to the Supreme Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter of Scotland , as the only lawfully constituted governing body in Great Britain which recognised and superintended the degree , to issue warrants iu England for working it .

" Had the degree been recognised hy either the Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter of England , or had it been superintended by any lawfully constituted body in that country , the Supreme Chapter would not have listened for a moment to the application , and even when iu the special circumstances of the- case

they reluctantly entertained it , they inserted the following clause in the charters , or warrants , issued by them : — " Farther , in the event of the Degree of Mark Master , hereby authorised , becoming at any time hereafter a degree lawfully sanctioned and acknowledged by a Supreme Body of the country in which the Mark Lodge hereby constituted shall be