Masonic Notes And Queries.

JSIAKIXG JIASOXS ix I-RISOX . In a former number you told us that Masons were occasionally made in prison , and cited the notorious John Wilkes as an example . Permit me , while I think of it , to add something to that answer , which you appear to have overlooked . The Grand Lodof England passed a special

ge resolution in 1783 , iu which it was laid down as follows : — "That it is inconsistent with the principles of Masonry for any Preeniasons' lodge to be held for the purpose of making , passing , or raising Masons , in any prison or place of confinement . " —DELTA .

MEXATZCIIIAI ou PREFIX . AVhere does the Menatzchirn , or Prefix , as it is sometimes termed , allude to the Overseers at the building of the Temple ?—Iv . A . B . —[ Theabove query is very loosely worded , but as ive received it so we give it . For an account of the Menatzchirn see I . Kings chap . v . verso 15 , and II . Chron . chap . ii . verso 18 . AVe presume by prefix our correspondent

means prefects . ] MASOXIC JEAVEL . Amongst a quantity of Masonic certificates , aprons , jcivels , and memoranda , which were forwarded from India on the death of a friend ' s relative , was an ivory key engraved with the letter Z . These were given me to look over , my friend not being a Mason , and I am puzzled about the above to know if it is a Masonic jewel , or not . —Canyon help me ?—PLYJI . —[ It is the jewel of a Secret Master . ]

ST . PAUL S CATHEDRAL ON A CERTIFICATE . I have been told by an officer of a lodgo , which shall be nameless , that he had seen a representation of St . Paul ' s Cathedral as the engraved portion of a certificate . Is not my informant labouring under a mistake ?— A . E . MASONIC STATISTICS . Is there any means of ascertaining what arc tho relative

numbers of brethren in each of the lodges , under our Grand Lodge , so as to form an approximate data upon which to found some statistical information regarding the order ?•—NUMERUS .

BROTHER THE LATE SIR JOTCS E . SWINBURXE , BART . The late Sir John Edward Swinburne , who died some two or _ three months since , did not find a jilace in your Masonic obituary , and as hehvas a brother whose hand was ever ready to aid the needy , foster art , and extend the blessings of this life to all ivho required them , it may not be out of place to mention that in 1813 he was Prov . G . Master of

Northumberland . He was born in 1762 , and was nearly ono hundred years of age at his death . —GEXEALOGICUS . LODGE DEVICES . As private lodges cannot bear shields of arms , they taking under the general coat of the grand lodge , may I be permitted to enquire if any of them adopt devices , either canting , local , historical , or otherwise?—GEXEALOGICUS .

TOJI MOORE , THE LAST IRISH BARD . Burns and Scott were Masons . Byron , it is believed , was not ; he belonged only to the Carbonari . AVas Tom Moore , the last of Irish bards , a brother Mason?—ERIX-GO-BRAGU . LODGE OF THE CROWNED SE 11 PEXT . Until the beginning of the present century , aud for aught I know to the contrary , at the present time , there was a lodge at Goerliz

, in Germany , which had met since 1761 , with this title . Can any one tell me tho reason it was so called?—BATTY . TILERS' SWORDS . What is the correct pattern for a Tyler ' s Sword ?—f # . — [ We know of none . AVe have seen ' dirks , seymitars , old and new regulation army and navy swords , the Roman blade , and every other speices of sword used . They arc mostly the present of a Brother to the lodge , and depend on individual taste . ]

APROXS ALLOWED BY LAW . _ The Grand Lodge has laid down in tho Book of Constitutions a certain size for Masonic aprons . I am a little man ; my friends call me "' hop o' my thumb , " and the apron is too largo for me , —mayn't I have it made smaller?—PETITE MACOX . —[ It ' s rather out of our line to admit questions on Masoniclaw into these columns , ycfc our correspondent ' s seems more a matter of fact than law , and as wc know a bi g Brother who has had his apron made a little larger (!) ive are inclined to think you may have yours a little smaller , without

Masonic Notes And Queries.

any fcarthat you will transgress the spirit of the Constitutions ' , which could never mean that giants and dwarfs were to be clothed alike ] .

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEWS . The French Tinder Arms . Being Essays on Military Mailers ¦ in France . BY BLAX CHARD JERROLD , author of ' Imperial Paris , The Life and Bernards of Douglas Jerrold , § -c . London : L . Booth , 307 , Regent Street . This book contains rather more than three hundred pages ,

of which about fifty comprise all that is original on the part of Mr . Jerrold . The remainder of these "Essays" consist of translations ( not particularly well executed ) from the writings of sundry French authors , with two long extracts from Sir Charles Shaw , and an American officer , Colonel Tevis . Mr . Jerrold appears to entertain a high admiration for tho French army and everything connected with tho

French military system ; and a proportionate contempt for British officers and the Horscguards . Indeed he may be said to have adopted tho very sentiments , as ivell as the language , of the Gallic authors whom he has set before us . No doubt ho his deeply impressed with the fitness of the description a , lec nation bov . tiquierc conferred upon us by the first Napoleon in a fit of indigestion , and after a rebuff

from cct infame Pitt . The English , wo have been told constantly , for the last twenty or thirty years , are not a military nation—the French on the other hand a people of soldiers . Mr . Jerrold ' s work is another appeal to us to acknowledge these facts . ' Englishmen lately have begun to doubt the correctness of this modern estimate of their military valueThey are

. beginning to recollect what they hav r e done , and to be pretty confident as to what the } - can do again , should occasion arise . AVe say " modern" advisedly , for it would indeed have astonished our erandfathers to be told that Frenchmen or

any other men on the face of the globe , were better soldiers than Englishmen . Humbug obtains a certain sway for a certain time , both at home and abroad ; as modern society is constituted , it must be so—but jierhaps from our practical turn , any particular humbug has a shorter existence among Englishmen then among Frenchmen . The non-military fiction is being snuffed out along with the Peace Society ,

from whom it probably emanated , together with that other wonderful concoction- —tho "forty years peace since AVatcrloo" — which ignored battles fought in India by Englishmen noiv in the prime of life , as bloody as Austerlitz , and as decisive as AVatcrloo—to say nothing of campaigns in Kafiirland , China , and New Zealand , which have from time to time interposed to prevent the sword of Britannia

becoming rusty from want of use . Confident as wc justly may be in our own strength , our wealth , and . our liberty , it is nevertheless ivcllto be acquainted with what is going on around us , and to glance at the doings of rivals , whether dangerous or harmless , magnanimous or cunning . And as the master of France rules in virtueof his position as the head of a purely military system

, , having at his back a larger disposable force of regular troops than any monarch in the world , a force which to preserve in the utmost efficiency and readiness is the main and paramount object of his government , it is undoubtedly desirable to learn as much as wc can about it , that we may estimate correctly its value to France , or its clanger to other nations . A carefully prepared description of The French

Under Arms , by an able and acute observer , would be a very valuable volume , but tho work under our consideration by no means answers to that description . It contains an historical sketch of the exploits of various foreign legions employed by France since the formation of tho monarchy , but which have little to do with the army of the present day . One chapter describes the formation and organization of tho

Zouaves , another of the Chasseurs dc Yinccimcs . A third of the volume is devoted to extracts from the biography and letters of M . dc St . Arnaud . The remainder is derived from Sir Charles Shaw ' s description of a French military