Modern Writers Upon Freemasonry.—I.

we cannot refrain from making an extract from it . The writer ( the W . M . of the Lodge ) says : — ¦ " There are some profanes here who seem to slight the —— Lodge , ou account of their ability to visit tlie metropolis ; who talk very largely about their intention of being received as Masons in London and then returning to affiliate themselves with us . * * * Thc Lodmostlspoken of is

ge y the , where it appears some of our friends have been received . These gentlemen are proposed and seconded constitutionally by two members of that Lodge , who do not know them intimately nor their characters , but who do so at the request of some one ivho is perhaps their consignee , who makes money by them aud considers it his duty to do all in his power to please them , in order to retain their favours . I ivould ask—is that the end of Masonry 1 A strict inquiry should be made as to their charactersand

; whether they have been proposed in open Lodge and rejected . It is time to take the subject into serious consideration . Would it not be as well for us to address Grand Lodge on the subject , and through them make it an iupcrative duty on the several Lodges to seek information irom the place whence they came . "

The observations ou tho ballot , the rig ht of voting , & c , are for the most part excellent , as is also the recommendation that every candidate on his initiation be presented with a copy of the Book of Constitutions—provision for which we are happy to know is made in several books of by-laws lately brought into existence . We must also commend our brother ' s remarks upon " irregularities in London

Lodges of Instruction , " and on "'Sunday councils , " at pp . 102-5 , ancl especiall y his comments on " visiting brethren . " With regard to these last named brethren , tho case again occurs to us of brethren initiated away from their place of residence . Here we have it laid clown that brethren cannot exclude a visitor known to be a Mason , during the time of practising the ceremonies of the degrees : all the more reason ,

wo say , for the addition of a clause such as we have suggested , to the Book of Constitutions . But Dr . Oliver is not even here entirely correct , for , be it remembered that it was deliberately decided b y the Most Worshi pful Grand Master , ancl confirmed by Grand Lodge at tho quarterly communication of Dec , 1856 { Freemasons Magazine , 1857 , pp . 33 to 27 ) , that a person of known bad character , of which

tho Worshipful Master is to be the judge , may bo refused admission as a visitor to the Lodge . At the banquet , the brethren may refuse any one they may seem fit , and wo remember an instance of such rejection about four years since , of a p erson who had been openly guilty of dishonest practices . It is : \ ho competent for any Lodge to exclude visitors during tho transaction of private business , such as passing or auditing . Lodge , accounts , receiving reports of committees , or going into such other matters as concern the brethren of that Lodgo only .

Moreover , our reverend brother ' s law would not be hold as good throughout the United Suites ; it having been laid down at the Grand Lodge of Michigan , 1858 . that "tho Master of a Lodge may , without the order or assent of his Lodge , admit or reject visitina' brothers , at