Masonic Notes Amd Ctueries.

we perfectly agree with you that The Boole and its . Story , or whatever similar work it was copied from , is beneath contempt as a guide to such subjects , still our personal likings and dislikings are not to be imported into mere questions that can be settled offhand . If the cut is really intended for Hiram Abiff ' s tomb he was not buried where the lectures say he was ,

and if they are right his tomb cannot be iu existence , for Solomon ' s Temple was utterly destroyed before the second temple—which disappeared in the siege of Titus —was begun . ] « -

THE MASONS' CEEED . About 1755 there was a declaration published hy the Athol Masons called The Masons' Creed . It was a defence of tbe Ancient Masons against the Moderns , and in no way connected with other matters than those of internal management of the Craffc . Can you reprint it for us?—L . M . and J . B . 0 . —[ We have not a perfect copy . Perhaps some brother will furnish one . ]

ONE AND THEEE-HAL-FPENNT DEGREES . When I was a young man I took some four degrees in the north of England for which I paid 13 kl . each . The money was expended in tea for those present . Why was that peculiar sum fixed?—B . S . —[ Can't tell . Perhaps some Ark , Mark , Link , and Wressel

brother will inform us . If our brother , " B . S ., " had told us he had taken them in Newgate-street or the Old Bailey we might have supposed the amount to have had some connection with the vulgar popular delusion of 13 id . being hangman ' s wages , hut as the charge was made " in the moral north , " this solution falls to the ground as untenable . ]

THE EAELIEST ENGLISH WOEE : IN WHICH EEEEMASONEX IS ALLUDED TO ? What is the earliest English work in which there is an allusion to Freemasonry ?—STUDENS . —[ Two very early poets wrote much on Ereemasonry—Gower and Chaucer . To say they were the earliest ; would ,

perhaps , be incorrect , but certainly they were , if not the first two , very near to the earliest . Tour other query we will answer in person . We can show you some startling passages , which are either pure Ereemasonry or pure nonsense . They occur iu a work written and printed in 1492 . ]

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed hy Correspondents . MASONEY EST YICTOEIA , AUSTRALIA . 10 IHE ETHTOa 01 ? THE EIUiElQ . SOSS' MA . GA . ZINE AND SIASOXIC MIRHOR . SIE AND BEOTIIEE , —In the file of your journal , which reached Melbourne by the last mail , an article appears having reference to the proposed Grand

Lodge for Victoria , which contains the following paragraph : ¦—"The complaint , let it be remembered , was that communications from the " lodges in the colony did not meet with proper attention at home , and the complaint was alike made from the lodges under the English , Irish , and Scotch Constitutions . We have amended the complaint , have the other Grand Lodges done the same ? We fear not . It was the Irish

Lodges that first raised the flag of independence in Canada on the ground we have just stated , whieh at that time found a ready echo in the English Lodges . It is again in Victoria the Irish Lodges thafc are foremost in the movement , aud they have put forward the old complaint , & c , & c . "

The latter part of the above extract I desire as publicly as possible to deny . The lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in this colony have not now , nor in my experience have they ever had , the cause of complaint to which you refer as that which induced them , to become " foremost in

the movement ; " on the contrary , they have frequently acknowledged in communication wifch my office the prompt attention with which their requests have been replied to by the Grand Lodge of Ireland and its Grand Secretary , and so pleased was this Provincial Grand Lodge with the unusual attention paid to

communications emanating from my office—unusual as regards the knowledge of what is customary in the sister Grand Lodges— -that at the quarterly communication of the Provincial Grand Lodge , held in September last , it was unanimously resolved , on the motion of the Worshiful the Provincial Grand

p Chaplain , " That the best thanks of this Provincial Grand Lodge are due to the Most Worship ful the Grand Lodge and the Eight Worshipful the Deputy Grand Secretary for the prompt attention paid to all communications forwarded by the Provincial Grand

Secretary , and that this resolution be forwarded to the Deputy Grand Secretary . " I may here state that this resolution was the spontaneous act of the Provincial Grand Lodge , called forth by the regularity of the monthly replies read by me at that meeting . I trust you will be kind enough to insert this communicationin order that our lodges throughout the

, universe should know that your remarks quoted are —as regards this Constitution—not the reasons that induced the Victorian Lodges ( I . C . ) to join in the movement for a Grand Lodge of Victoria . I may conclude by giving it as my opinion ( in which I am joined by most of my metropolitan

brethren ) that the immediate and almost sole reason for desiring to create a Grand Lodge of Victoria is that ( notwithstanding the Grand Lodge of Ireland accords equal Masonic rights to brethren of its own and the sister Constitutions ) the Grand Lodge of England refuses to acknowdedge the Masonic rank of brethren who

have risen in lodges registered in the Grand Lodge of Ireland . Hence the necessity of endeavouring to obtain a ruling power under which the universality of Masonry should be acknowledged in everything appertaining to the Craft , and not as now clogged and limited by the unnecessary and illiberalif not

un-, Masonic enactments ofthe Constitution under which English Masons acfc , and the interpretation of which by the Grand Lodge of England , is even more illiberal and narroAv-minded than the broad principle of universal brotherhood—towards all Masons which should

guide its decisions—warrants . Apologising for thus trespassing on your time and space , and requesting the insertion of these hurried remarks , I remain , yours fraternally , A . ELLIS , Prov . G . Sec . Provincial Grand Office ( I . C ) , Melbourne , Victoria , 2 oth April , 1864 .