Masonic Notes And Queries.

to assist the needy ; upon which they asked whether I had ever relieved a poor object ? I named to them a lying-in woman , a Romanist , who being reduced to extreme misery , anel heaving that Freemasons were very charitable , she addressed herself to me , and I gave her a moidore . I added , ' that the convent of the Franciscans having been burnt the fathers made a gathering , and I gave them on the exchange three quarters of a moidore . ' I declared further , ' That a poor Roman Catholic who

hael a large family , and could get no work , being in the utmost distress , had been recommended to me by some Freemasons , with a request that we would make a purse among ourselves in order to set him up again , anel thereby enable him to support his family ; that accordingly we raised among seven of us , Freemasons , ten moidores , which money I myself put into his hands . ' They then asked me , 'Whether I had given my own money in alms . ' I replied'that these arose from the forfeits of such

, Freemasons as hael not behaved properly in tho meetings of the society . ' ' What are the faults / saiel they , ' committed by your brother Masons which occasion their being fined ? ' ' Those / saiel I , ' who take the name of God in vain , pay a quarter of a moidore ; such as utter any other oath , or pronounce obscene words , forfeit a new crusade ; all who are turbulent or refuse to obey the orders of the Master of the lodge , are likewise fined . ' They remanded me back to my dungeon , having first inquired

the name and habitation of the several persons hinted at a little higher ; on which occasion I assured them , that 'the last mentioned was not a Freemason ; anel that tho brethren assisted , indiscriminately , all sorts of people , provided they were real objects of charity . ' They then employee ! all the powers of their rhetoric to prove , 'That it became me to consider my imprisonment , by order of the Holy Office , as an effect of the gooel-. less of God ; who , 'they added , 'intended to bring me to a

serious way of thinking ; and , hy this means lead me into the paths of truth , in order that I might labour efficaciously for the salvation of my soul . That I ought to know that Jesus Christ had said to St . Peter , ' Thou art Peter , and upon this rock I will build my church , anel the gates of hell shall not prevail against it -. ' whence it was my duty to obey the injunctions of his Holiness , he being St . Peter ' s successor . ' I replied with spirit and resolutionthat ' I did not acknowledge the Roman

, Pontiff either as successor to St . Peter , or as infallible ; that I relied entirely , with regard to doctrine , on the Holy Scriptures , these being the sole guide of our faith ; I besought them to let me enjoy , undisturbed , the privileges allowed the English in Portugal ; that I was resolved to live anel die in the communion of the Church of England ; and , therefore , that all the pains they might take to make a convert of mo woulel he in vain . ' " —Ex . Ex .

A RomAX CATHOLIC LADV DESIROUS OP JOIXINO OI'E INSTITUTION AT - JIILAS . " A Kentish Matron , " whom a brother at Rheims , possessed of some mysterious art , having read her letter , pronounces from her handwriting , to be young and comely , is mistaken in her supposition that a lady , my near relative , was initiated into Masonry during her stay at

Milan last year . She had indeed a desire to join our institution there , but being a priory Roman Catholic , before taking any steps she consulted her Director , the Abbe **** who sent her a translation of some lines of the bulls of Popes Clement XII . and Benedict XIV ., visiting Freemasons with excommunication . All desire of joining our institution at Milan or elsewhere was thus effectually extinguished . —CHARLES PtniiON Cooi'ER .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed hy Correspondents . ANTIQUITY OP MASONIC DEGREES . TO THE EDITOR 01 ? THE EREEIUSOITS' MAGAZIX'E AND MASONIC MIRROR . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Permit to rectify " one or two errors of misprint , which occur in your last number ,

and in my last communication . R . Fhud , for instance , should read R . Flud , and R . de Phutibus , R . de Fluctibus . The dates 1717 and 1723 should be , respectively , 1617 and 1623 .

I omitted , I find , to mention a curious little French , work , published also ab Paris in 1623 , entitled " Instruction a la Prance , sur la veritc de l'histoire des Preres de la Rose Croix . " There are one or two other typographical mistakes in . my last communication , which I must request your readers to correct for themselves .

Faithfully and fraternally yours , EBOR . November 23 rd , 1863 . [ The dates and the majority of the other errors , even to a name which he complains of as being mis-spelt , are " Ebor ' s" own , we having referred to the copy to seewhere the blame really attached . — -ED . ]

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE FREEJIASOi'S MAGAZINE AXD MASONIC MIRROR . DEAR SIR AXD BROTHER , — " Ebor" will excuse me for again forwarding the following extracts from a York document , dated 1786 , which is in the handwriting of Blanchard , who was Secretary , not to the lodge , but to the whole rite . No doubt the old York Masons held , as is almost universally the case , that the military element

of the Hospitallers was the addition of the nine first Templars — " We , the G . G . C . of the G . and R . E . of all . England , held at York , do by the power and authority vested iu us from the earliest ages of E . K ., and derived , to us from tho successors of that ' worthy S . K . T ., S ( ir ) - G ( odfrey ) B ( ouillon ) , the first C ( hristian ) K ( ing ) of Jerusalem . "

Few well read High Grade Masons will probably dispute that there were three or more versions of the Rose Croix , all of antiquity in different countries , viz ., Knights of the Eagle , K . of the Rosy Cross , and Heredom Templars , as they styled themselves , of York . I should look to no better authority on the York rite than the-Humber Lodgo , Hull , as , to this day , they have , I am

happy to say , strenuously refused to adopt the London innovations ; and ib was stated from the minutes , some months ago , in your pages , that in 1802 they worked the Knight Templar with the old English Heredom or Orange Masonry . A friend suggests Heredom—earthy house—crypt . Had they a Kadosh degree , other than the Priestly , after mentioned ? I think nob . This rite would be equivalent to the Knights of the

East and West , and Rose Croix of the Arras Chapter , and the present K . D . S . H . may have been superadded on the Arras sj-stem from some Templar rite . I , therefore , suppose that Dunckerley , to consolidate Masonry , placed the Templar above the Heredom , or Rosy Cross , or Knights of the Eagle , but that his system was not generally adopted . If any one can prove I am wrong in

this , I will thank him to do so . Whatever York was , it is very evidenb to me , from long study of the point , that it was not what we now consider , a general assembly of operatives ; and it had and claimed the privilege of making Craft , Arch , and Templars . The Hashhasheens , called also Bathenians , from theii ' secreb knowledge of mysberies and their meanings (

Herbelot ) , I have sufficient reading and charity to believe they were very much maligned . We Europeans dislike secret warfare , which , to the Eastern nations , is second nature ; but , looking at bhe quesbion in a humane point of view , whebher was their slaughter of one obnoxious individual , or two armies , better ? I believe the R . A . to be so ancient that it is the word

or creative energy of Plato . A Frenchman reads it , cabalistically , Ho-Hi-He-she ; which brings us to the Ptafi . and Khem , or creative power ofthe Deity , of the ancient Egyptians . When it was found safe to give the Order of Rosy Cross publicity in Germany , they fixed upon the mystical or allegorical pilgrimage of Rosy Cross , just as , when Anderson determined to reform Speculative Masonry , he declined thc previous philosophical claims