Masonic Notes And Queries.

It is too true that some members may prefer being "jolly " over a bottle of wine to attending meetings for the benefit of the Craft Universal ; and , instead of looking upon proficiency in the Ritual , and daily practice of the morals of Freemasonry to be the acme of their profession , it is asserted that they

rather choose the carousing of a banquet , late hours , and an unsteady step homeward . Instead of THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , and other useful publications being found in a Mason ' s library , the fanciful jewel and the banqueting-ticket usurp their placeand " can't afford it" is pleaded as

, an excuse in refusing a small subscription to hel p in maintaining the few literary efforts of the Craft . Really , Masonry is becoming intolerably grand , and absurdly puerile in all that enobles human nature . — RES NON VERBA .

AN EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERT . The following paragraph is going the round of the papers , upon the subject of which I should like to get some information . —AMEBICANUS . "Apiece of news reaches us through the Missouri JRepiiblican whichif it should to be trueis of

, prove , the highest historical interest . But is it true ? The engineers engaged in making the piers of a railway bridge , at St . Louis , to cross the Mississipi , arc said to have found an ancient tunnel below that mi ghty river ! Details are given . The tunnel , we are told , "passes under the river to the Illinois shoreancl

, whether it is wholl y the work of some ancient race who once inhabited this land , whose interesting remains are strewn so thickly up and clown this great valley , or whether it is partly natural ancl partly artificial , remains to be seen . In any case , it is none the less stupendous . The main passage we should

judge to be about 20 ft . high by loft , broad , and systematicall y arched overhead—part of the way by - cutting through solid rock and part by substantial masonry . The bottom seemed to be much worn , as if by carriage wheels of some sort . There are many lateral passages which , of course , we had no time to

enter . _ These are about Sft . high and 6 ft . wide . In the main passage , we saw no tools or implements of workmanshi p ; but on entering one of the lateral passages , we soon emerged into a large chamber supported by leaning pillars of solid rock when the chamber was excavated . Around the walls of this

chamber there were what seemed to be niches closed with closely-fitting slabs , each slab covered with inscriptions in Runic uniform characters , which , to our eyes , bore a marvellous resemblance to those upon the slab in the Mercantile Library which was brought from the mines of Nineveh . Between the niches

were projecting pilasters , with draped Assyrian or Egyptian heads , which presented a most impressive and awe-inspiring effect as they were illuminated by the torch-light . Those sweet , sad faces looked down upon us from the ancient ages , like tho souls of the departed . ' If this report is not a joke of the

' Western Boys , ' it brings us the most important evidence yet produced of the existence , in ancient days , of a civilized race in the great valley of the new world . The fact of the tunnel occurring- just at St . Louis is suspicious . If the facts are truly stated , an ancient cit y must have stood on tho Mississippi , near to St . Louis , though probably on the opposite

bank . If so , [ the eases of Memphis and Cairo will have found a parallel iu the New World . " [ A queer story . We cannot say whether false or true , in the face of Mexican discoveries . —ED . P . M . ]

TIIE RED CROSS Oi _ ROME AND CONSTANTINE . Bro . " Lupus ' will , no doubt , see that " R . W . L ., " and also the many other Masons who have joined the above Order , are not without proof of their Masonic position ancl equality with the other chivalric degrees that claim connection with the Craft . On ordinary

chivalric grounds we say nothing , of either the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine , or the Knights of the Temple , because neither , we believe , can prove their regular and unbroken succession from the orig inal Orders . All we know is , that for upwards of a century these degrees have been worked under

the wing of Freemasonry ; but as to when the union occurred , or how it was consummated we are at a loss either to prove or imagine . This defect , however , is felt more by the advocates of the Knights Templars than by the Knights of the Red Cross , seeing that history was silent as to the former lon _ r before the date of its institution

Masonically , whereas the latter seems to have flourished both as an Order of Knighthood and as a Masonic degree at one aud the same time . Hence the members of the Red Cross of Constantino can say that their Order is not only Masonic—as with the Anr / lican branch—but also chivalric , so much

so as even to boast of having claimants for its Grand Mastership in the Emperor of the French , the Ex-King of Naples , aud even King Victor Emmanuelaccording to " Lupus . " I consider " R . W . L . " has answered the objections of " Lupus " in a most satisfactory ancl able manner ; and therefore I trust that ,

seeing we have had such a Mason as H E-. H . the Duka of Sussex for Grand Master , ancl that at the present time we are presided over by so worthy a nobleman as the Lord Kenlis , our friends will allow us " to go on our way rejoicing , " and neither envy our successful past , nor refuse to make way for the Knights of the

Red Cross of Rome and Constantine to take their legitimate position in the front rank of Masonic Chivalric Degrees in the future . Those anxious to still further pursue the subject cannot do better than read the admirable history inserted in the Statutes . If time permitted , it were an easy matter for me to prove earlier Masonic references to the lied Cross than can be found among the archives of the present Knights Templars . —II . J . W .

MASONIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE . Might I suggest to tho members of this Institute , the advantages which might arise from the preparing biographical sketches of eminent brethren both living ancl dead . —W . R . B .

A SCOTS NOVELTY . I cut , for the benefit of our English brethren , an advertisement of a marriage , from the Scotsman of the 20 th February : — " At Edinburgh , iu the Hall of the Journeymen Mason Lodge , on the 10 th inst ., by the Rev . Thomas M'Ewan , of Hope Park Church , Mr . Robert Thornline , of Dublin , to Isabella Scott , youngest daughter