Masonic Notes And Queries.

THE DEEIVATICN 03 ? EEEEMASON . There has been for some time past a controversy iu the pages of the Freemasons' Magazine respecting the derivation of Freemason . In order to ascertain the origin and meaning of any word , especially a distinctive appellationthe safest rule is always to

, endeavour to trace back its use as far back as we possibly can . It is undoubtedly true that the use of Freemasou is comparatively modern , and even the simple word Mason but precedes in its use the compound word by an insignificant period .

In the earliest records at present accessible the members ofthe operative Order are called indifferently latonii , ccsmentarii . " Le logo latomorum , le magister de le loge latomorum , " " magister cwmentariorimi , " " magister , " " scniores , " " gnardiani , ' ' " apprenticii" are expressions to be found— " mutatis mutandis "—to describe

various officers and members of the body in the Tork , Durham , Exeter , and Westminster fabric rolls . In Exchequer and pipe rolls , and especially in the register of W . Molash , Prior of Canterbury , in the reign of Henry VI . The earliest use of the word " Maoon , " I believe ,

occurs in Chaucer ' s "Bomaunt de la Eose , " and wo have frequent examples of the use of the different words " macjonu , " " masonni , " as in the contract with the Abbot of St . Edmunsbury , 1439 , for the repairs and restoration of the great hell tower , " on all mannere of things that longe to Freemasonnry ,

"maisoun , " and even " masonqu . " We also find constant references , as Bro . D . Murray Lyon says , to "Robert the Mason , " "Henry the Mason , " "Eichard of Cracall , Mason , " in the * contract to build Catterick Church , 1412 , Avhich he contracts to make new " als workmanschippe and Mason crafte will . "

The earliest use of the compound word Freemason , I believe , so far known , is in the contract to build Fotheringay Chapel in 1435 , where W . Norwood . Master Mason , the Freemason contracts with Eichard . Duke of York , to " neyther sett mas nor fewer freemasons , rough setters , ne hoys thereupon , but

such as shall be ordeigned . " We have also seen evidence of its use in 1439 . From this time the Avord seems to be generally used in contracts , and is found in many still extant expense rolls . _ We see it in an Act of Parliament ( Edw . vi . 154 S ) , ancl constantlfind it in obituary notices

y , epitaphs , ancl the like . As yet no genuine charter of an operative guild has been discovered , as far as I know : but the earliest connexion of the operative guild with the use of the word Freemasons is to be found in the MSS . Charges ancl Constitutions belonging to the Charter Guild of

Freemasons in the British Museum of date about 1650 . The use of the word Freemason is a great deal earlier than any revival of speculative Masonrv , as Dr . Plot , writing in 16 S 9 , mentions the existence of the society for some time previously under that name , and mainly as an operative Orderthough

, admitting honorary and speculative members . The word Mason comes then from the Norman-French word "Maoon , " Avhich is derived from the Latin Mansio , just as le loge , Norman-French , is

Masonic Notes And Queries.

derived from logerium , in low Latin ; and the compound word Freemason is not derived from " free-stone , " hut is the term of a Mason free of his guild or fraternity in towns among " the freemen Masons" in the country , either belonging to some " loge " attached to a monastery , or the loge , chapiter , assemblye of that " limitt . "—A MASOXIC STUDENT .

MASONIC IMPOSTOES . My experience as a Mason and asi a Master of a lodge , is that Scotland produces by its lax working and small fees , more impostors and beggars than all the other Grand Lodges put together . I can certify as correct every word that D . P . G . M . has written in

the last number . The ancient brazen case , where a man preyed upon the brethren—until put in prisonwith a deceased brother's diploma , is one of the results of our beautiful Scots system . —A . 0 . HAYE .

" THE TE 1 IP 1 ES OE THE HEBEEWS . " " The ark is supposed either to have been destroyed at tho capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezza , or to have been concealed in some of the secret subterranean caverns beneath the temple , and never afterwards discovered . The latter supposition is the more

probable . The existence of subterranean caverns and passages in the heart of Mount Moriah had long been conjectured , and the fact is now placed beyond all doubt by the recent explorations of Dr . Barclay , an American medical missionary .

Having been informed that there were excavated chambers beneath the foundations of the Mosque of Omar which no European had ever entered , at fche eminent hazard of his life Dr . Barclay penetrated into several of these mysterious recesses . In some of these hidden caverns the ark and other articles of the temple furniture were in all probability concealed

during the siege ofthe city ; and there , when explorations shall be permitted by the Turkish authorities , they may yet be discovered . " I give the above quotation from Dr . Bannister ' s 'The Temples of the Hebrews" without further comment than : 1 st . Who would dare to enter the

Holy of Holies to touch the ark and remove it ? 2 nd . The different conquerors of Jerusalem would search every place where they would imagine treasurre could be concealed . However , independent of these , many things may be discovered . About IS months ago I made the following remark

in a Fellow Craft lodge : — " Some of our forefathers from this , then far off Isle * of the Gentiles , may have stood as spectators of that glorious scene , the dedication of Solomon ' s Temple , and carried back with them to their native land some faint glimmerings of the knowledge of that one living and true God whom the Hebrews worshipped , the Great Architect of the Universe . ' '

I grant the above may perhaps be improbable , but it is not impossible . For the sake of the tin mines in Cornwall , the Phaenicians may even then have traded there regularly . Long before Solomon ' s time ships Avere not only used for trade but also in war . We have a representation of a sea-fight that took place about the 13 th century B . C . —W . P . B .