Masonic Notes And Queries.

ADOPTIA'E HASONET . Is anything known , for certain , of the ritual of the Adoptive Masons , that is lady Masonry , and if so where can I see it ?—A P . PEOV . G . OFHCEK . —[ If you will call on Bro . Matthew Cooke he will give you all the information you desire" ! .

THE TBACIKG EOAEDS . The following will answer " Gravers " enquiry in last number . About the time of the appearance of the tracing boards , I think I may say , I Avas the first that brought them into general use for the Craft at large . Forty-five years ago I fonnd Bro . Peter Gilkes giving explanation of them from rude woodcuts , published somewhere in Seven Dials . I immediately set about

arranging the materials , and in 1820 published a coloured engraving of the three degrees in one sheet , which was much appreciated at the time . The designs were pirated by a brother in 1823 . I made new designs in an elaborately-coloured lithographic plate , three on a sheet also , same size as the former . These latter designs were submitted , previous to publication , to H . E . H . the Duke

of Sussex , Grand Master , & c , whoAvas pleased to approve of the same , and allowed me to dedicate them to him . These designs are still in use and known as Bro . Harris ' s Pocket Edition of the Tracing Board . New designs of a much larger size , in three separate plates , were published in 1848-9 , from three large paintings , 6 feet by 3 feet , painted by him for the Emulation Lodge of Improvement ,

meeting every Friday evening , at Freemasons' Tavern . These and other Masonic works may be had of Bro . S . Spencer , Masonic depot , who holds the copyright of the same . —J . HA . KB . IS , FREEMASONS' ASAHAJM :.

KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS . Antiquarius has continued his remarks on the Knights Hospitallers , in a recent number of " Notes and Queries , " and writes thus : — AVe remember to have seen , from year to year , in the various public papers at home and abroad , startling paragraphs put forth indirectly as manifestoes , apprising the

world that the Order of St . John was about to shake off the dust from its glorious banners , and array itself once more in the garb of sovereign pre-eminence . At one time the scene of this recovered splendour Avas to be laid in Greece , at another , we Avere told to look out for the reconquost of Ehodes . Then the Holy Land , or a largo portion of it ( the actual limits Avere mentioned ) , was to

be placed under the flag of the Knights ; while , subsequently , as the hopes of the small , struggling community descended from point to point in the scale of expectancy , some smaller speculation was confidently announced : an obscure island or islet scarcely observable on the map of the stated locality was to be the long-sighed for seat of their restored independence , where , — risum teneatis ? — the knights could keep up a quarantine much ivanted .

Prom a consideration of what I have Avritten , my readers will apprehend that the members of the English Langue care not to derive any countenance , authority , or support from the soi-disant chapilre ( to use the words of Admiral Count de Litta already cited ) now seated at Eome , and the silly insinuation that the Avriter of the Memoir of the Order of St . John of Jerusalem and the English

Langue " let the cat out of the bag , " when he remarked that it would be desirable , or might be interesting , to form an union of the Eoman and Anglian portions of the Order , only betrays the dullness or perverseness of its author . According to his false notion , tee English chapter " committed suicide " by adopting the Memoir iu question , which contained a direct acknowledgement

that their body had no confirmed connection with the Eoman Council . But the Memoir met ivith the entire approval of the English authorities , on the grouud that it clearly and succinctly showed the exact nature of the title under which the Langue was revived , and proclaimed that the association could stand alone Avithout any confirmation of its powers and privileges from the " venerable debris " of the Order at Rome . They might ,

at the same time consistently with this view , consider it an event of common interest to the Order , that its segregated and enfeebled branches should be once mora bound together , in accordance with the old maxim that union is strength . And let it be here understood , though Sir George Bo > vyer is willing to conceal the fact , that the Eoman Council were quite as Avilling as the

English Chapter that an amalgamation of tho respective bodies should take place . Extravagant , indeed , Avere theemotions of joy exhibited by the Italian party at theidea of the reconsolidatkm of the long dissevered fragments of the Order . The limits of my paper here remind me that I have no space for more particular detail ,, in reference to the past contemplation of a restored !

union between the Italian and English branches , and thatr I must devote its remaining portion to the concise account Avhich I purposed to give ot the renewed introduction into this country of its long abeyant " Langue . " I now borroAV the words of our able historian , Sutherland , to describe the authority under which the revival of the English Langue took place : —

" In 1814 , the French Knights , taking heart at the humiliation of their arch-enemy Napoleon , assembled at Paris in a ! General Chapter , under the presidency of Prince Camille de . Rohan , Grand Prior of Aquitaine , for the election of a permanent . Capitulary Commission . The government of the Order beingconcentrated in this commission , it was empowered to regulate all political , civil , and financial affairs ; and , under its direction , a formal but fruitless application Avas made to the Congress of Vienna for a grant of some sovereign independency in lieu of that of which the Order bad been wrongously despoiled . "

It is through this commission that the English party derive their rights , and those rights were strengthened ,, and put be 3 ond any questionable source of objection , by the important fact , not -noticed by Sutherland , that the Langues of Arragon and Castile lent their full and entire adhesion to tho measure of resuscitating the dormant Langue of England , —a fact which is distinctly avouched

by the instruments of Convention , given under the common seal at the hotel of the chancellery in . Paris , bearing date respectively the 11 th day of June , 1826 , the 24 th of August , and 15 th of October , 1827 . The steps thus takers for the restoration of the English branch Avere consummated on the 29 th day of January , 1831 , in accordancevvith the deliberations and instructions of the Council

Ordinary of the French Langues , which , associated Avith those of Arragon and Castile , then formed , by a Avide majority , a just representation of the totality of the Order . Prom the period of the dispersion at Malta to the present , hour , no similar assemblage , justly claiming the power of completely representing the will of the greater portion of the members of the Order , has ever taken place ; and

the English Langue is noAV , in consequence of the utter extinction , under the Empire , of the Langues of Provence ,. Auvergne , and Prance , and the defalcation of those of Spain and Portugal , Avhich have become appendages to ? the ci'OAvns of those kingdoms , the sole organised body representing the venerable Council Ordinary or Capitular Commission , established at Paris in 1814 ; and in which , as we have seen from Sutherland , the whole political ,, civil , and financial power of the Order Avas concentrated-—ANTIQtTAEITJS .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Jidiior is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents ; LECTUEES ON FIFTEEN SECTIONS . TO TITli EDITOI ! OF THE TBlSEilASONS ' lUClZIJfB ilfD MASOKIO KIBE 011 . DEAE SIII AND BEOTHEE , —Page 34 , of No . 211 , you will find the name of " Bro . Peter Gilkes" and " Bro . Peter Broadfoot" which ought to be "Bro . Philli

, p Broadfoot , " and not " Peter" as stated . Please to correct this error . I remain , Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , J . HAEEIS .