Mother Kilwinning, Scotland.

passing an enactment for the putting " furthe of thair antient companie of all disobedient persones . " We have already shown how a volume of the Mother Lodge ' s minutes Avere lent to a party ivho never returned them ( vide MAGAZINE of August 2 , 1862 ); but the more ancient records of its transactions are supposed either to have been destroyed in the fire , Avhich is said to ^ have laid waste the hereditary Grand Master ' s castle at Roslinor to have

, been , by the monks attached to Kilwinning Abbey , about the period of the Reformation , carried to the continent , along with the chartulary and other official manuscripts , now to all appearance irrevocably lost . We shall in our next communication open and look into vol . i . of our venerable Mother ' s minute-book . ^

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

HOSPITALLEKS , ETC . [ In the last number of Notes and Queries there is another article on the above subject , Avhich we tranfer to these columns . ] In a series of numbers of " 5 " . and Q ., " commencing from the 14 th March , 1863 , there have appeared under the signature of " Historicus , " a succession of articles on

the English Langue of the Knights Hospitaller of St . John of Jerusalem , in which the Avriter impugns the validity of that lately revived branch of the time-honoured fraternity . As in one of these articles the writer has quoted a passage from my History of the Order , in corroboration of his statements , I deem it right to enter my most

emphatic protest against tho assumption that my views on the question are in any degree similar to those of " Historicus . " At th e time I wrote the work in question , I vras residing in the island of Malta ; Avhere , although I possessed every facility for obtaining access to the past records of the fraternity , I had no means of accurately testing the

facts Avith respect to the recent revival of the English Langue . It was whilst in this position , that my attention was drawn to the protest of the authorities at Rome against the English branch , lately inserted in "N . and

Q . by Sir George Bowyer . Misled by the peremptory language of this protest , I was induced at the close of my observations on the revival of the English Langue to insert a paragraph , to the effect that grave doubts existed as to its legitimacy . Had I been convinced of the falsity of its pretensions , I should have suppressed all mention of the Langue ; but feeling that in my position 1 was

unable to form any very conclusive opinion on the subject , I thought it wiser to retain Avhat I had already written concerning the Langue , and to close my observation with a paragraph alluding to the objections taken to its legitimacy . Since that time , I have returned to England ; and having at an early date been put into communication with the leading members of the Langue , I

have been enabled more fully and accurately to investigate the matter ; the result of Avhich Avas that my doubts Avere so completely set at rest on the matter , that I not only enrolled myself as a member of tho Langue , but caused a cancel to be made of the injurious paragraph : so that , in all tho later issues of my Avork , the reader will seek in vain for the remark quoted b"Historicus "

y . Having said thus much by Avay of preface , I will now endeavour to show tho grounds upon Avhich my views concerning the validity of the English Laugue have been founded .

" Historicus" asserts that the English Langue Avas annihilated by the action of the Reformation in England , when its property Avas confiscated , and the institution crushed once and for ever in this country . Alas , that a

similar fate befel the three French Languages during the revolution in that country at the close of the last century ; and further , that the Spanish and Portuguese Languages , by separating themselves from tho authorities at Rome , and placing themselves under the protection of their respective monarchs , ceased to exist as an integral portion of the Order . Under these circumstances ,

"Historicus " considers ( and his statements may be taken as the exponents of the pretensions of the Roman branch of the Order ) that a revival of the defunct English Langue , under the authority of a chapter convened by the equally defunct French Langues , held in Paris in 1826 and 1827 , with the consent of those of Spain and Portugal—also in his opinion virtually extinct—is illegal ; especially as

that revival has never received the sanction of the Lieut . - Grand Master and Council at Rome , whom he calls the undoubted head of the Order , and who had moreover expressly decreed the suppression of the French Chapter prior to the commencement of their efforts to revive the English Langue . Certainly , these statements appear at first blush to

make out a strong case ; and it is only when they are sifted by those who have made the history of the fraternity their study , that their falsity becomes manifest . In the first place the English Langue was never , strictly speaking , annihilated . Such a fate could only have been inflicted by a decree of the Sovereign Order itself , by whose authority it was originally called into existence .

The King of England could , by destroying its status and confiscating its property , cause its virtual suspension , and make it practically dormant—a result much facilitated by the change of religion in England at the time ; but that it was never considered by the Order itself as permanently lost is proved by the fact that all the ancient privileges enjoyed by the Langue were most religiously preserved intact , for the purpose ( as often recorded ) of facilitating a revival of the Langue under more

favourable circumstances . At those Councils of the Order , where representatives from the several Languages were entitled to seats , substitutes were invariably nominated ( usuall y the two senior Knights present of those not otherwise entitled to seats at the board ) , to act as the delegates of the absent Langue of England . The title of Turcopolier—the peculiar dignity of the English

conventual bailiff—was also reserved from appropriation by any other Langue , by being temporarily attached to the Grand Mastership ; so that it might be ready for resumption by the Langue , should it ever again become restored to its original status . In fact , any student of the history of the Order Avill see at a glance that the revival of the English Langue was constantly contemplated

and hoped for , until the dispersion of the fraternity from the island of Malta . All the other objections of " Historicus" turn upon the one vital point , whether the Roman branch of the Order can bo considered iu any Avay superior to , or entitled to , exercise authority over the other dispersed fragments of the Order . Against any such pretensions I most

decidedly protest . The loss of Malta in 1798 utterly annihilated the unity of the Order , and the federation of the Eight Languages , which until that time had paid their allegiance to one common head , and from that moment all hope of restoration of its original federal form of government ceased . The French Languages , numbering three out of the

eight original divisions of tho Order , after having been suppressed during the continuance of tho Republic and Empire , Avcro once more called into existence under the favouring auspices of the Bourbon dynasty . The Spanish and Portuguese Languages , realising the impracticability of any further union of the Order under a single head , had most Avisely placed themselves under the sovereignty of their own respecti \ 'e monarchs , as the Brandenburg branch had already done at a former epoch , without in any degree vitiating its title to be considered an offshoot