Masonic Notes And Queries.

inent of all created things and their development according to the laws of number , yes , on the very use of symbols which could alone have force to the esoteric disciple , ( aud a terrible signifieancy , indeed , has the simplest form , to a mind hasheesh-quickened to read its meaning)—on all these is the legible stamp of the

hasheesh inspiration . "It would be no hard task to prove , to a strong probability , at least , that the initiation into the Pythagorean mysteries and the progressive instruction that succeeded it , to a considerable extent , cons isted in the employment , judiciously , it we may USP the

word , of hasheesh , as giving a critical and analytic poAver to the mind which enabled the neophyte to roll up the murk and mist from beclouded truths , till they stood distiuctly seen in the splendour of their own harmonious beauty as an intuition . " One thing related of Pythagoras and ins friends

has seemed very striking to me . There is a legend , that , as he was passing over a river , its waters called up to him , in the presence of his followers , ' Hail , Pythagoras ! ' Frequently , while in the poAver of the hasheesh delirium , have I heard inanimate things sonorous Avith such voices . On every side they have

saluted me ; from rocks , aud trees , and waters , and sky ; in my happiness , filling me wifch intense exultation , as I heard them Avelcoming their master ; in my agony , heaping nameless curses on my head , as I went away into au eternal exile from all sympathy . Of this tradition of lamblichus , I feel an appreciation Avhich almost convinces me that the voice of the river was , indeed , heard , though only in the quickened mind of some hasheesh-glorified esoteric . Again , it may he

that the doctrine of the Metempsychosis was first communicated to Pythagoras by Thebau priests ; but the astonishing illustration , which hasheesh would contribute to this tenet , should not be overlooked iu our attempt to assign its first suggestion and succeeding spread to their proper causes . "A modern criticin defending the hypothesisthat

, , Pythagoras was an impostor , has triumphantly asked , ' Why did he assume the character of Apollo at the Olympic games ? why did be boast that his soul had lived in former bodies , and that he hacl been first Acthalides , the son of Mercury , the Euphorbus , then Pyrrhus of Delos , and at last Pathagoras , but that he

"might more easily impose upon the credulity of an ignorant ancl superstitious people ? ' To us these facts seem rather an evidence of his sincerity . Had he made these assertions without proof , it is difficult to see IIOAV they would not have had a precisely contrary effect from that of paving the way to a more complete

imposition upon the credulity of the people . Upon our hypothesis , it may he easily SIIOAVU , not only IIOAV he could fully haA'e helieA'ed these assertions himself , but , also , have given them a deep significance to the minds of his disciples . " Let us see . We will consider , for example , his

assumption of the character of Phrcbus afc the Olympic games . Let us suppose that Pythagoras , animated with a desire of alluring to the study of his philosophy a choice and enthusiastic number out of that host Avho , along all the radii of the civilized world , had come up to the solemn festival at Elis , had , by the talisman of hasheesh , called to his aid . the magic of a preternatural eloquence ; that , while he addressed the throng whom he hacl charmed into

Masonic Notes And Queries.

breathless attention by the weird brilliancy of his eye , the unearthl y imagery of his style , and the oracular insight of his thought , the grand impression flashed upon him from the very honour he was receiving , that he was the incarnation of some sublime deity . What wonder that he burst into the acknowledgment of hia

godship as a secret too majestic to be hoarded up ? What wonder that this sudden revelation of himself , darting forth in burning words and amid such colossal surroundings , went down with the accessories of time and place along the stream of perpetual tradition ?"

THE CHEVALIEK D ' EON . I have ahvays heard there was but one lady Freemason . A brother told some of us , at lodge , recently that a Madame Deon was initiated . Is that a fact ? —A P . M . of SHIRE . —[ The Chevalier D'Eon was one of the mysteries of the last century . It is

a funny thing to write , but he was a man . For some youthful indiscretion , the King of France ordered him to assume female attire , and for many years he wore ifc both in France and England , lie also at one time resumed male clothing , but Avas so used to a woman ' s dress that he speedily discarded ifc . There

was much scandal afloat Avith respect to him , and many speculations as to which sex he belonged . When ho was dead tlie mystery Avas solved , by the medical men declariug him to be a man . Although he went by the names of Chevalier aud Madame D'Eon , adopting both as he chose—sometimes giving out that he was a man , afc other times a woman—he was initiated into Freemasonry in London , as Dermott , iu his Ahiman Sezon , tells us : — " This is still

the law of ancient Masons , though disregarded b y our brethren ( I mean our sisters ) the modern Masons , Avho ( some years ago ) admitted Signer Singsong , the eunuch , T—nd—ci" [ Tenducci , a great siuger of his time , formerly one of the Sistine chapel choir , where all the males had female voices—were , in fact , eunuchs .

For more on the point see Byron ' s Don Juan . " ] " at one of their lodges iu the Strand , London . And upon a late trial at Westminster , it appeared that they admitted a woman called' Madame D'E . " p . 29 . This note of Dermott ' s refers to the Old Constitutionsin Avhich it Avas declared that a

candi-, date " must he Avithout blemish , ancl have the full and proper use of his limbs , " or as Anderson after said , in the second edition of his Booh of Constitutions , " The men made Masons must he freehorn ( or no bondmen ) , of mature age , and of good report , hale and soundnot deformed or dismembered at the time of

, their making . But no Avoman , no eunuch . " p . 144 . For a graphic account of the Chevalier D'Eon , and his vicissitudes , see Wraxall ' s Memoirs of Bemarkalle Adventurers . " ]

l-HEEMA . SON ' EY IS THAN CIS . What has become of the Rite Ecossais lodges . Have they been amalgamated with those of the Grand Orient ?—* . —[ We hope not . Freemasonry , in France is a most tangled skeiu , which few can unravel , and we are not of the number . ]

THE MASONIC SUN AND MOON . In almost eA-ery representation of the sun and moon , connected with Masonry , it will generally be observed that the sun is filled up with eyes , nose , and mouth , making , a jolly round face of his own , while