Masonic Notes And Queries.

PRINTED RITUALS . The number of sets of rituals sold by the Grand Orient of France in 1867-8 was , Craft rituals 78 at 12 s . each , 11 ditto at half that price , 3 Eose Croix Eituals at £ 2 8 s ., 1 Eitual of the 30 ° at £ 3 . The total recei pts for rituals for the various officers was £ 60 . —N .

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES . I think this department of the Magazine is fast becoming a most interesting one . It may not be known to all our readers that the idea was first propounded by Bro . Hyde Clarke ( a well-known Mason ) for an interchange of thoughts and opinions on

Freemasonry , and I feel sure that he will be as much pleased as myself to find his suggestions so well responded to as they have been lately . Bro . C . P . Cooper has been the main stay of this department for some time and , although we . cannot over-estimate the importance of many of his valuable

communications , we still are glad to see others walking in the same direction . With all due deference to those who are so anxious to show the Christian tendency and nature of universal Freemasonry , we think Bro . Cooper will be found a much safer guide to follow than any of the fraternity who seek to narrow the

illimitable bounds of genuine and universal Freemasonry . Without doubt , if our constitutions are followed , " Jews , Turks , and Christians " in lodges should " meet upon the level and part upon the square , " for they are equally entitled to our regard Masonically , and are in every sense worthy of our

fellowship so long as they act in obedience to the laws of the Craft . Although neither a Jew nor a Turk ( but hoping I belong to the latter of the three classes mentioned above ) , I must state that the conduct ofthe brethren of the Jewish persuasion has often appeared to me more Masonic than can

generally be found in the ranks of such members who are nominally called Christians . Bro . "E . T . " has , I think , mistaken the point of " Alpha ' s " query ; the question is , can a brother he a T yler of a lodge when he is not a subscribing member to any lodge , although a P . M . ? My belief is he cannot under the English

constitution , neither is he a P . M . when not subscribing to a lodge . I apprehend "Al pha " would receive a Tyler , though poor , as readily as he would a "Peer of the Eealin . " Both are Masons . I am obliged to " A Masonic Student" for his kind notice of my article entitled " Notable Masonic Works . "

More shall follow soon , as my spare time is devoted to the Craft and the works of note deserve notice . Would the " Masonic Student" please say if his edition of the " Blue Blanket" is the same as mine ? My constitutions of A . D . 1723 _ and his are the same edition of course . —WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN .

CHRISTIAN MASONRY . Was King Solomon or H . A . a Christian ? I have heard somebody say that he had heard that one of them was . The settlement of this might settle a knotty point , because , if H . A . was not a Christian , he ought not to have been put in a place of such trust . — CIRCLE .

DEISTS . Are the members of the benevolent Lodge of Joima Deists or Christians ?—R . > fa

Masonic Notes And Queries.

SACRED SIGNS . A writer in the AtlientBum , 22 August , p . 232 , most likely Hepworth Dixon , our chief authority in the Prairies , and who has just read a paper on the Prairie Indians at the British Association at Norwichstates that the sacred sign of the Sioux Indians ,

, or cut-throats , is the action of drawing a knife from ear to ear . The subject of the sacred signs of these tribes has not been sufficiently examined by Masonic students . —W . J .

THEISM , DEISM . A correspondent will find the difference between Theism and Deism stated in my communication , '' Theism , Deism , Freemasonry , " F reemasons' Magazine , vol . xiv ., page 328 . —C . P . COOPEE .

MASTEE MASON . Master Mason . One who , in our old operative Masonry , superintended Masons employed by others * one who , in our old operative Masonry , himself employed Masons one upon whom , in our speculative Masonry , the degree of Master Mason has been conferred . —From BRO . PUUTON COOPER ' S Manuscript Craft Collection .

THE OLD WAY . My brother " M . L . P . " may be young , but still he proceeds in the old way . Of an ingenious theory he says much ; of facts he says nothing . —C . P . COOPEE .

ROBERT BRUCE ( pp . 489 , 505 ) . It is not so preposterous as Bro . L . imagines that either King Eobert Bruce or King Theodore should preside over the Grand Lodge of Kilwinning . King Theodore was a great Mason , or patron of Masonry , as shown by his Order in the Illustrated News , a ,

double triangle . This , perhaps , was owing to his descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba . —L . S . D . MOTHER KILWINNING ' S CHARTERS FOE THE ESTABLISHMENT OE LODGES OUT OE SCOTLAND . A young correspondent should look through Bro .

Murray Lyon ' s communications . My note-book mentions only two charters issued by Mother Kilwinning for the establishment of lodges out of Scotlaud . December 1775 , upon the petition of the officebearers and members of the lodge of Freemasons in Falmouth , Virginia , North America . October 1779 , upon the petition of the Master and Wardens of a High Knight Templar ' s lodge meeting in Dublin . — C . P . COOPEE .

LA . W OE MIRACLES . Bro . "N . C . F ., " what was propounded at the recent meeting , Eue * * * , was to the effect that miracles , if frequent , would be diligently observed and studied , and their law would possibly be discovered , as the laws of other phenomena of nature have been discovered . —C . P . COOPER .

SOME one has heautifuily said , truth is immortal ; the sword cannot pierce it , fire cannot consume it , prisons cannot incarcerate it , famine cannot starve it .