The Knights Templars.

trophe , an epidemic broke out which swept off numbers of the brethren , and other Christians , and the brave William de Carnota , struck by the malady , succumbed and died , after rulin g the Order for the brief space of a year . ( To be continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

VISHNU . "The Craft requires in every candidate for its mysteries the tongue of good report , a belief , in the Supreme Being , and of the immortality of the soul . There its requirement ends , and tbe candidate must then follow the faith lie believes in , out of lodge , whether it he that of ChristVishnuor Mahomet . "

, , A correspondent inquires respecting the accuracy of this passage , which he has found in Bro . Anthony Oneal Haye ' s letter , " Freemasonry and Christianity , " page 252 of ths present volume . " Aliquando bonus dormitat . " The faith of YisVmu is the faith of the Hindoo , and the Hindoo must abjure his faith before

he can be received into the English lodge . A correspondent may consult the folloAving commuuications to the Freemasons' Magazine . " The Pantheism of the Hindoos , " vol . xv ., page 150 ; " The Hindoo , the Polynesian , and tlie English Freemason , " Mid , page 168 ; " Hindoos admitted into English Freemasonry , "

ibid , page 348 ; " Hindoos , their written declarations previously to admission into English Freemasonry , " vol . xvi ., page 406 , - " Hindoos—their admission into ¦ Eng lish Freemasonry , " vol . xvii ., page 70 ; and " Bro . Khetter Mohurn Gaugooly , " page 5 of the present volume . —CHAELES PUETON COOPEE .

" MOTHER KILWINNING . As our learned Bro . Purton Cooper ( page 489 ) seems to take it for granted that there was an ¦ " ancient Grand Lodge of Kilwinning " in the fourteenth century , can he point to any proof of , or reason forthe idea that Kilwinning Lodge had really the

, title of Grand prefixed to its name , or any reason why it should have it then , ? We know that the Kilwinning Lodge , now " Mother Kilwinning , " was the parent of many lodges from the seventeenth century downwards , but that is no proof of its being so before that ( e . g ., the Normans were established in

England in the latter half of the eleventh century , hut that is no proof that they were so in the first half ) . There were great alterations in Scotland , in many things , in the sixteenth century- I find , with many a thing that has really a respectable and venerable age , that won't do , and it often gets turned into something incongruous or antediluvian . —W . P . B .

" GOOD TEMPLAES AND THE BED CEOSS KNIGHTS AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAES . The Order of "Good Templars , " referred to by 41 An Observer , " is not of a Masonic character , but a body of total abstainers from intoxicating liquors , who choose to wage war against drunkenness under such a cognomen . Surely that body cannot belong to the " Order of Fools , " as their work is an excellent one , and one with which I hope Bro . Harris is a sympathiser . —W . J . HUGHAN .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

EOBEET DEUCE ( p . 489 ) . Mig ht not King Theodore have presided over the Grand Lodge of Kilwinning , as well as well as Robert Bruce ? Had not either as much to do with Masonry ?•—L .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor ia not responsible for ( he opinion ) expressed by Correspondents . MASONIC ORDERS .

TO THE EDITOR OP Till ! PREEAIASOXS MAGAZIXE AJfD 3 IAS 02 CIC MIEBOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —As " An Observer " says in your valuable MAGAZINE ( p . 493 ) , I was not aware there was an ancient Masonic Order of Fools , and I will try to borrow Chambers ' s " Book of Days , " so as to embody it in the great design . I am very much

obliged to " An Observer " for this very valuable hint , having received very little assistance from brethren and much abuse . I am at present engaged in preparing the rituals , so as to give the Garter and a number of Orders all at once , instead of the candidates being put to the trouble of attending several

times . The charge will be the same . When I consider the great ease and speed with which Orders , degrees , and rituals are now got up , I feel some little encouragement to proceed with my praiseworthy undertaking , although up to this time no person has decidedly come forward to co-operate with me , as I

expected , from the great eagerness to take new Orders of much less antiquity and authenticity than mine , and not so learned , as I shall have the words in Hebrew . Tours fraternally , W . HAEEIS , P . M .

Priority Of The Lodge Of Glasgow St. John.

PRIORITY OF THE LODGE OF GLASGOW ST . JOHN .

TO THE EDITOE OP TIIE EliEBMASOJ-S * MAGAZINE A 2 fD ^ rASONIC MIEBOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —Bro . W . P . Buchan is proceeding with determination in his laudable task , and has made a strong claim on the gratitude of brethren hy his researches and his candour . He has disposed of the charter of Malcolm . It

only remains for him to do the same with the charter of William the Lion . Professor Cosmo Innes has already raised a doubt with regard to the charter having any connection with the Lodge of Glasgow St . John ; on examination he will find it has no connection with Freemasonry , even if it be genuine .

If Freemasonry be believed to be a Craft institution of the Middle Ages , there are many who will accept modern Craft details as ancient landmarks ; hut the features dependent on speculative or free and accepted Masonry constitute tlie true landmarks of our Order , namely , the moral elements , and not the

the external envelope—this being the shell , and the other the kernel . I should speak with some reserve on a subject which is under the consideration of Professor Innes and Bro . Buchan , but the internal evidence is not promising for authenticity . Tours fraternally , R . T .