Masonic Notes And Queries.

ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY . "Our Institution can boast of its antiquity , forming the great link between the period when civilization emerged from barbarism into an age in which it has expanded to such noble proportions . It was in the earliest days of Freemasonry that

Natural Religion first beamed on man , the darkness which ushered in his existence began to disappear , and his mind was insensibl y drawn to the contemplation of the works of nature , and up through them to Nature ' s God . " From a bundle of Masonic Excerpts . —CHAEIIES PuBToir COOPER .

PART OF A PRAYER AT INITIATION . " Be with us 0 ! Lord , and bless all our undertakings ; aud grant that this , our friend , may become a faithful brother . Let Grace and Peace he multiplied nuto him through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ . And grant 0 ! Lord , as he putteth forth his hand to thy Holy Wordthat he may also put forth

, his hand to serve a brother . " The prayer of which the foregoing words form a part , is said to have been in print 80 or 90 years , and to have been regularly used at every initiation b y the Freemasons of the York rite , as well as by many Athol Lodges . " From a bundle of Blasonic Excerpts . —CHAELES PuRTOif COOPER .

" SLIPSLOP . " A communication , metaphorically speaking , may be " slipslop . " But this is a term which , in my judgment , ought not to be employed in the literary controversy of Masons . —A PAST PEOVINCIAII G-RAUD MASTER .

THE IGNORANT MAN . Hope nothing from the ignorant man , until he knows—that he knows not . —A PAST PHOVIJTCIAI GRAND MASTER . A MASONTC CURIOSITY . At the corner of Villiers StreetStrandleading to

, , Hungerford Bridge and Station , and corner of John Street , is a portrait of the late M . W . Bro . H . E . H . the Duke of Sussex , G . M . of England . This was executed by a contemporary brother in pen and ink , and the lines are entirely composed of writing . It is a work of great zeal and labour . —PASSER-BY .

"EUROPEAN MAGAZINE , " The brother who was proprietor of the " European Magazine , " and was not named by you , was Bro . James Asperne , a very active and distinguished Mason in his day , living in Birchin Lane . His portrait was engraved . He was a great loyalist and constitutionalist , and promoted a society for maintaining Pitt ' s administration during the revolutionary war . —NOTA .

ILL . BRO . THE DUKE 01 ? SALDHANA . A very distinguished and very old Mason now in this country is Bro . F . M . the Duke of Saldanha , Ambassador from Portugal half a century ago , and who was persecuted as a Mason during the Miguelite reign and exiled . He was then in friendly communication with the Masons at Plymouth about 1828 . On

removing to Paris he took his place as a Rose > J < in the then flourishing Chapter of St . Louis de Martinique . On his restoration to his country he became a consistent supporter of Masonry . —H . M .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC HISTORY OP WAR . A very interesting little book might bo made by compiling the various anecdotes from Euglish , American , and French sources , relating to aid to brethren given to Masons during war . This would find materials in the wars of tbe last century ; in the

American War of independence , in the great revolutionary war , in the American War of secession , and again in the Franco-Prussian War . There are more examples perhaps in the chronicles of the sea , than of the land . The pages of the F . M . Mag . would afford considerable matter .

If the title were " Masonry by Land and by Sea in Times of Peril , " then it mi ght embrace the numerous cases of assistance given to seafaring brethren in times of wreck and disaster . — LECTOE .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

the Editor i « not responsible for the opinions expressed be Correspondents ON SUBORDINATION IN THE HIGHER DEGREES AND SPURIOUS RITES . 10 THE EDITOR OS THE PREEHASOHS 1 IAGAZIHE AHD MASOXIC MIBBOB . Dear Sir and Brother—Bro . William Ashworth in

, the columns of your contemporary declares my statement with reference to the price charged for his Rochdale and Todrnorden hi gh degeees , to be a gross fabrication . Nevertheless , lam afraid I must simply reiterate the statement that it is currently reported in Lancashire , that the price charged for them is about

the sura I have stated , viz : Is . 6 d . Indeed , I believe I overstated the amount -, at all events , it is said that at Todrnorden they charge thirteen pence halfpenny for each degree . —Perhaps , Bro . A . shworth has heard of the late Bro . Newall . Verbum

sap . Will Bro . Ashworth kindly tell us , if my information is not correct , what he and his friends do charge for the 30 ° , 31 ° , and 32 ? and whence , apart from so . called time-immemorial ri ghts , they derive their authority to confer them ?

Does Bro . Ashworth fondly imagine that no one has seen Bro . Hughan ' s "Masonic Reprints , " in which that able Mason disposes of Bro . Yarker ' s preposterous claims with reference to these degrees ? _ The Warrant under which these high degrees are given at Eastwood , Todrnorden , was granted by W .

Rodwell Wright , in 1812 , and is simplyan old Templar Warrant , similar to those belonging to the Prudence Encampment , Ipswich ; the Royal Kent , Newcastle ; and I believe the Baidwyn Encampment , Bristol ; and on the strength of its capitation . " To the Knights Companions of the Royal Exalted Religious and

Military Order of H . R . D . M . ; K . D . S . H ., Grand Elected Knights Templar of St . John of Jerusalem , " these brethren claim to be able to confer the highest degrees in the Autient and Accepted Rite . I am aware that the Knights Templar degree was sustained aud and acknowledged by the Grand Lodof all England

ge , at York , so early as 1780 , but the 31 ° and 32 ° , as such , were never given , I may say never heard of at that time . Bro . Ashworth informs me that the Rochdale Chapter , Rose < Z < , which has already been