Burgh Records. —No. 6.

leges et consuetudines dicti burgi durante vita secundum posse suum manutenebit . Et facto hujusmodi Sacramento osculari debet prepositum et vicinos si frater Gilde fuerit . [ The entire oath of a burgess and brother of the gild . ]

That he will be leel and feel to our Lord the King and to the community of that burgh in which he is made burgess . And that he will give to the King faithfully , rent for the land which he defends . And that he will be obedient in things lawful to the provost and bailies . And that he will keep the secret counsel of the community . And if anything to their

prejudice shall come to his knowledge he will forewarn them or apply a remedy if he can . And that as often as he shall be asked he will give them faithful counsel and assistance in the common business to his power . And that he will maintain the liberties , laws , and customs of the said burgh during his life according to

his power . And the oath being made in this manner , he ought to kiss the provost and the brethren , if he be a brother of the gild . ] " Suppose we adopt this ancient "landmark" and

, make the next candidate kiss the R . W . M . ? or , say a general kissing all round ! Reviving the good old times ! ( To le continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

A NEW INDIAN EEEEMASONEY . The Indian Times understands that a society called " The Hindoo Fraternal Association " has just been formed in Madras after the Freemason model . It is composed of educated Native gentlemen , 30 names being already inscribed on its rolls . They are designated Brothers

" . " and are bound by solemn oath to the observance of certain particular rules , a covenant being required to be executed before the admission of any member . No one is eligible who is under 25 years of age , and whose monthly salary is under one hundred rupees . " Unanimity is the moving princi

ple of the body , and the members are said to be bound together by ties of fraternity much stronger and closer than even those of blood relationship . " THE TEMPLAES AND EICHAED I . The greatest crimes of the Templars were wealth

and pride ; the King of France and the Pope wanted the former , by the latter they lost the affections of the people . The following anecdote is stated of King Richard I : " When admonished by the zealous Fulk of Neuilly to get rid of his three favourite daughtersPrideAvariceand

Voluptuousness—, , , , 'You counsel well , ' said the King , ' and I hereby dispose of the first to the Templars , of the second to the Benedictines , and of the third to my prelates . ' " — W . P . B . J

THE ANTIQUITY OF EEEEMASONEY . The following extract from the curious and valuable manuscript published in facsimile by Bro . Matthew Cooke , under the title of " History and Articles of Freemasonry , " seems to claim for speculative Freemasonry , as distinguished from operative , a much earlier existence than that stated by Bro . Buchan and

others in recent numbers of the Magazine : — " After y was a worthy kyng in Englond y * was callyd Athelstone , and his yongest sone lovgd well the sciens of gemetry , and he wgst well y' handcraft had the practycke of y sciens of gemetry so well as masons wherefore he drewe hym to consell and lernyd

practycke of y' sciens to his speculatyf . For of speculatyfe he was a master and he lovyd well masonry and masons . And he become a mason hymselfe . And he gaf hem charges and names as hit is now usyd in Englond . " This appears to refer to a union of operative and

speculative masons at the date of the York Constitutions in the reign of Athelstan ; and if this fact cannot he authenticated , the manuscript itself—of the genuineness of which there seems to be no doubt—is evidence that at the time it was written—towards the end of the 15 th century—there was a distinction

drawn between operative and speculative Masonry , and that the latter did then exist , or was known at some past time to have existed as a separate science . —F . I . W .

THE EOEMATION OE LODGES . I am afraid that Bro . J . A . H . is a little wrong in his logic at page 228 , e . g ., put one spoonful of sugar into' a cup of tea , it is soon dissolved , add another and it dissolves more slowly , then add more and you find that the water refuses to take it up , it has been

already saturated to repletion ; so with Masonic lodges . In the beginning of last century England had , I might almost say , the world before it ; now it has to contend against a multitude of co-existing Grand Bodies ; besides , there was then the prestige of novelty in its favour . TErgo ( except under some very

extraordinary circumstances ) , I consider that for the Grand Lodge of England to add 450 to her roll in " one year now , " would be a far greater achievement than the 340 she managed to make up in about half a century . However , be that as it may , I see nothing but a very commonplace circumstance in the fact of England chartering about 340 lodges in half a century —say eight in a year . —W . P . BUCHAN .

MASONIC PEOBLEM . Did or did not crafts other than the Masons have their shibboleths , or " word and grip " before A . D . 1717 ? I have been told they had . —W-P . B . MASONIC MAGNA . CHARTA AND THE ORAND MASTEE ( page 229 . ) The following" Regulation , " from the

Constitutions of 1723 , may be useful upon this point : — - " XIX . —If the Grand Master should abuse his power and render himself unworthy of the obedience and subjection of the lodges , he shall be treated in a way and manner to be agreed upon in a new Regulation ; because hitherto the ancient Fraternity have had no occasion for it , their former Grand Masters having all * behaved themselves worthy of that honourable office . "—PICTUS .