Masonic Jottings, No. 78.

TWO DATES . There are two dates which a brother will do right not to forget : February , 1717 , first Revival Meeting ; June , 1721 , Desaguliers and Anderson , commanded by Grand Master , the Duke of Montague , to frame the Book of Constitutions .

ONE CHRISTIANITY . Whenever , by development , amalgamation , and purification , all Christianities shall become one Christianity , faultless , and perfect , the general Christianity of our Charges of 1723 will be that

one Christianity . YORK LODGE . The Minutes of that Lodge begin 19 th March , 1712 .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE FOUR OLD LONDON LODGES . A correspondent sends long remarks upon the words of a Past Provincial Grand Master : "The four old London lodges enjoyed their rank under constitutions said to be immemorial . " " It appears from the Book of Constitutions , 1738 , that the

constitutions of the four old London lodges were looked upon as time—immemorial constitutions . '' * My correspondent is requested to consider some other words of the Past Provincial Grand Master : — " A brother may , if he pleases , call all that is said , all that is written , of the four old London lodges ,

Tradition . But he must bear in mind that the Tradition is more than a century and a half old , and that hitherto no attempt has been made to disprove its truth . " f —CHAEES PUETON COOPEB . DESAGULIERS . Brother—I have been a Fellow of the Royal

, Society of London , well nigh , I believe , forty years . So far what you have heard is true ; but what is said respecting my search in its archives , during my Grand Mastership of Kent , for certain Masonic papers , and particularly for a discourse upon Ereemasonry J supposed to form part of the Desaguliers manuscri

pts , is entirely without foundation .-CHAEiEs PUBTON COOPEE . OUR LECTURES . " There were no prescribed Lectures before A . D . 1717 , but every Master of a Lodge exhorted his brethren to the practice of moral virtues in short

Masonic Notes And Queries.

and extemporaneous addresses according to the capacity , and adapted to tbe comprehension of the Brethren and state of the Lodge . " These are the words of Dr . Oliver , as cited by Bro . Hughan , in his analysis , " Freemasons' Magazine , " vol . 18 , page 361 . —A PAST PBOVIKCIAL GBAND

MASTEB . * DESAGULIERS AND ANDERSON . Brother , —According to a Contributor , Desaguliers and Anderson invented our English Speculative-Masonry about the year 1717 . During the last two orthreeyears he has repeatedlput forth t his theory

y in the pages of our periodical , but commonly in language , which , for various reasons , an instructed member of the Craft declines to cite . —A PAST PEOVINCIAI , GBAND MASTEE .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

T \ e Editor it not responsible for the opinions expressedby Correspondents-SUBORDINATION IN THE HIGHER DEGREES .

10 THE EDITOR OS THE FBEEMASOS ' S MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIHH 0 H . Dear Sir and Brother , — Bro . Yarker says , he mentioned the trades of Pirlet and Lacome , as showing how ridiculous it was for a tailor and a dancing master to create Emperors and Princes . I reply , by sayingthataccording to Mackey , the Riteknown

, , , as Emperors of the East and West , to which Bro . Yarker alludes , was not founded by them . Perhaps , I may as well here say that I was wrong in speaking of Bro . "Xarker , as a rag merchant , and , in fact , as a merchant at all . There are merchants , and merchants ; merchant princes ' , and merchant tailors .

—I have even heard of winkle merchants , —but the-Manchester directory , so I am told , fails to discover the name of John Yarker as a merchant at all . If I go into business , having saved £ 400 or £ 500 , as a Clerk , and join somebody else as a cloth agent , if I can succeed in turning over £ 50 or £ 100000 per annum

, , manage to make a bare living , I may advertise myself , at all events , amongst the Masons as a Merchant , and become in time , a self-constituted member of a spurious Council of Rites . I may even publish a History of the " Old English