Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

CEREITONIES 01 ? THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED KITE . Has there over appeared any work ivhich gives the ceremonies practised in the various bodies under the Ancient and Accepted Bite . —KNT . E . AND W . —[ Bro . the Hon . Albert Pike of the U . S ., has published such a work , but it has been only privately circulated . Wo cannot undertake to say , whether , or not , the following was ever published , but append a prospectus , which was circulated pretty widely in 1857 . —

In course of publication , the Petroma , for the iise of Sierophants and Neophytes of the Greater Mj / steries , commemorated in " The Ancient and Accepted Rite , " of Freemasonry ; comprising a Text-Pooh , Ceremonial and Iconographic , of the Craft , Ineffable , Philosophical , Religious and Military Orders and Degrees , Regular and Detached , belonging to said Mile . Prepared at the request of several Lodges , Councils , Chapters and Consistories , and many Brethren cultivating said Bite—from authentic Documents , and the

Traditions and Legends of the "Most Illustrious Order . " By Giles Fonda Yates , Prince of Jerusalem ; P . P . F . M . R . Cross , H-E-D-Mv , and of Kilwinning ,- Past Sov .- Gr .- Commander ofthe Sup-.- Gr .- Council S . G . I . G ., 33 cl and last Degree of said Bite , for the Northern Jurisdiction of the U . S . ; Dep-.- Grv Inspector Gen-.- under the Old System of 1761 , & e . ; Scottish Knight of the Temple , etc . —Nihil novimus nisi bonum , verum , pudicum , cequin , venustmnamabileutiledulcefestuiii solemnequesuperumet

, , , , , , celeste . " Quia altitudinis studio , secta , ista etiam ccelo ipso sublimiora quccpiam vestigavit , et in extimo l . iinidi tergo elegit . " Arur . apol . "Procul , 0 procnl este pi-ofani . "—Vina . We have named our book Petroma , because we cannot , as we think , find one more appropriate . The holy mysteries among the ancient Greeks , wereread to candidates out of a book called ITETPOMA , from irerpa , a rock or stone—of lauriE impregnable the symbol . This book

was made of Two Stones cemented together ; which , like the "two tables of the Covenant" of Moses , adumbrated the iico-fold duty , which " brethren of the alliance" are bound to perform , and the conjunction , of each with his neighbour , ancl with his God . The two books may not inaptly be distinguished into the ancient and modern Book of the Testimony—old ancl new dispensation—old and new law . Part first of Book I , will contain the whole of "Ineffable " ancl " Aclon-Hirmate" Masonry , and Part second , " Zorobabelie ,

or Ancient Knight and Prince" Masonry ; ancl the first part of Book II . will comprise the "Religious Orders , " and part second , the " Philosophic" ancl "Military Orders" belonging to said Rite . The ceremonial part of the work will be arranged in accordance with the ritual approved by the aforesaid Supreme Grand Council , and " worked" in the Nbrthen Jurisdiction , under the auspices of the 51 . P . V . and I . Bro . K . H . Van Rensselaer , Past Grand Master of Ceremonies of said S . G . CDeputInspector General for the States

, y of Ohio and Pennsylvania , & c . The Iconoyrapldc part will comprise 1 not only a complete set of the orthodox emblems of the different grades , but also the allegories and myth-history appertaining to them , represented in costly artistic tableaux . The lust named will ho more or less extended according to the patronage given to the work—To lest which , this subscription sheet is circulated . Each of the four parts into which the work is to be divided , will be complete in itself and can be bound in one , two or four books , as desired . ]

WAS JIANDEL A MASON ? As so many of thc great musicians that flourished in the last century were initiated into Masonry , I am anxious to learn if the greatest of all composers joined our Craft ? Handel ' s residence in England was at a time when Masonry was making no little stir in tho world , and from his eminence , as well as friendship , with many of thc great men whom we

can reckon among our brethren of the period , it seems to me not at all improbable , that he ivas a Mason . As you havo found out several others of note , that belonged to thc Craft , perhaps , ive may be able to boast of Handel , as well as tho other King of Music , Mozart . —Puov . G-. ORG . — - [ Will our correspondent tell us how he arrives at the fact of Mozart being a Brother ?]

3 IAS 0 NIIY AXI ) TUB EPISCOPATE . As Bro . Spiers , D . G . M . Oxon ., was kind enough to furnish us with thc names of three Brethren who have become Bishops , can he , or others , extend the list so as to embrace those prelates ivho arc deceased ?—PIIESUYTEII ANGLICANUS . THE S 1 IYHNA LODGE AND THE MASSACRE IN SYHIA . Whilst the papers are teeming with accounts of the outcheries in Syria , and thc outbreak of the Mussulmans against the Christians , all our Brethren must naturally turn

their eyes to the recently recognised Lodge at Smyrna , because among Mahometan ' s Masonry is , generally , an accursed thing , and this knowledge leads to the enquiry of what is being clone in Smyrna , where there is assembled , natives of every Eastern race . K " o ono , of late , seems to havo heard from our 111 . Bro . Hyde Clarke , and although ive do not apprehend any mischief to the Smyrna Lodge , yet ,

it must be a time of great anxiety for every Brother in the East , and we should all like to know how the storm is affecting those of our own household , who must be , to a certain extent , affected by it ?—f **** f .

THE GKAND LODGE JEWELS . How old are the present Jewels worn by the various-Officers ofthe Grand Lodge ?—P . A . N . KNIGHT TEJIPLAIt ' S 11 IXU . What is thc correct colour , and kind of cross for a Knight Templar ' s Ring , and on ivhich finger should it be worn PP . A . N . APPRENTICES AT SOLOTEOX ' s TE 1 IPLE .

An old Mason tells me , thero were no Apprentices employed at the building of King Solomon ' s Temple . Was this so , and why P—A NEW BROTHER . CUllIOUS COPY OP EUCLID . I have had entrusted to me a very curious copy of Euclid in MS , about three hundred years old . It is written on very large skins of vellumthe problems in Latin , thc definitions

, in G-crman , the figures drawn in red ink . The whole oue of thc most beautiful specimens of caligraphy ever penned . To any Brother interested in geometrical studies and wishing to seo the MS ., I shall have great pleasure in shewing it , if he will favour me , two days previously , with a note appointing an interview ( Thursdays aud Fridays excepted ) . — - MATTHEW'COOKE , 78 , George-street , Euston-road , hf . W .

A 3 IEKICAN KEYELATrOXS . "Wo havo had the annexed extract , kindly cut out from Hob Morris ' s "Voice of Masonry , " ( which , however , had not escaped our notice ) forwarded to us , and reproduce it . SUBIOUS Eititoas CORHECTED , AXD ILLIIJI-KAUTY HEHUKED . — We allow to others the same liberty we claim of publishing their views to their own tastes . Ancl our brother of the London Freenason ' s Magazine will admit that wo have taken some pretty

severe thrusts at American Masons in general , ancl ourselves in particular , without reply . But his correspondent on page < l- 'l-9 of June 9 th , has so egregiously erred in his facts , . mil drawn such ungenerous inferences from his premises , that for thc credit of American Masonry we think best to reply . He says in relation to the Morgan , affair . " To such a pitcli did the seccession arrive at one time , that there was scarcely an American Loclge , which did not have some of its members enrolled among the false brethrenand loried in

, g acknowledging their infamy . " This is simply false , and shows that Bro . Warren ' s correspondent knows nothing- of the subject upon which he wrote . But his inferences are shockingly unjust . He says : " Well may tho Masons of I . nrope look with suspicion on all American Masons and Masonry ? " The fact being-admitted that tbe European Masons do not now entertain those suspicions—as witness tbe courtesy received by all American Masons who have gone abroad—it ivould seem that this writer wishes to introduce a great

mischief . May God confound his efforts ! for the sake of the many English Masons now traveling in this country , ancl receiving unbounded courtesies from the Craft here , and for the sake of Masonry universal , may God confound all such efforts , by whomsoever employed ! AVe rjresume , from the manner in which the above was sent to us , wo arc expected to answer it , and therefore , proceed to do so bfirst correcting u mistake into which the

y writer above quoted has fallen . The Freemason ' s Magazine has like all other periodicals , its several departments , aud if thc author of the paragraph had fully understood thc bearing ofthe brackets in which thc answer , a part of ivhich only ho has quoted , ivas given , he would never have attributed it to a correspondent , but to the Editor of that portion of the paper included under the head of " Masonic Notes and

Queries . " We have no cause to bo ashamed of writing truth to olucidiatc a point of history . As our reply has been garbled in tho extract , wc shall noiv repeat it . At p . 4-19 , a querist asked if Morgan's book was ever published , and what was its title ? We had not then a copy before us , and so were compelled to take another edition with tho name of Geo . E . Crafts appended to it . 'Wo gave tho whole of its title , which need not he repeated here , aucl added , — "W believe tho name of ' Crafts' to be as si . urious as the rest