Masonic Notes And Queries.

LOOSENESS AS TO DATES ( pp . 2 S 6 < S 330 ) . Bro . J . A . 1 I . has written to mo , and I understand how the mistakes occurred , and am quite satisfied . — W . P . B . BURGH RECORDS ( 330 ) . I am sorry to have to knock clown the fine " castle

in the air" which our esteemed brother , "A Masonic Student , " has been building up at page 320 in regard to the Knights Templar being Freemasons , & e . Turn to page 250 , September 25 th . and it will be seen that the Templars "joined the gild in order to have liberty to trade ; " that is , they joined the merchant gild , not

the Mason Craft . They did not want to work as handicraftsmen ; they wished " to intromet with merchandise . " Moreover , as I have already shown and quoted the Jaw , a man could not be a craftsman and a merchant at one and the same time ; he had to be either the one or the other ; and the merchant gild always thought themselves above the trades gilds or handicrafts . —W . P . BUCHAN .

BRO . W . J . HUGHAN AND FREEMASONRY . Will Bro . Hughan kindly say what lie meant , or what he referred to then , when at page 2 S 9 he said , " Masonry was practised as a secret society , and on a different basis to any other trade incorporations or guilds ? "—W . P . B .

TRADE SECRETS . As Bro . Buchan and other of your correspondents doubt about trade signs and grips in the middle ages , I refer tbem to the fact that at the Council ot Avignon , in 132 G , the system of secret signs and tokens of trades was then so developed as to be

condemned , so that the Popes of the last century were not the first assailants . The curious matter on this is quoted from the History of Davington , p . 5 S , in " Notes and Queries , " 4 th Series , iv ., Oct . 16 , 1869 , p . 310 . The craftsmen are accused also of electing a Major , or Master , to whom they all swore obedience .

Quotations .- — Concilii , edition of Mansi , in folio , at Venice , 17 S 2-, ch . xsv .,, col . 763 . Ducange , Dictionary of Low and Mediaeval Latin , word Fabricate History of Davington , as above . Notes and Queries , as above . —OBSERVER .

LANDMARKS . The investigation of the history of Freemasonry , or , as it is now called , Masonic Archeology , will throw some light on the question of landmarks , superstitiously believed in by some , aud apparently very little believed in by Grand Registrars and other lawyers , who rule the Craft , as they administer their version of the text of the Book of Constitutions without reference to landmarks . —P . M .

MAGUS 5 OR , THE MAGI . The Asiatic rendering of this word signified a consecrated man , or one devoted to the worship of God , and is similar to the Hebrew word ISazarene , or the Hindoo , Samaneen . Consequently , the signification of the word magic was no doubt oriinallintended

g y for the practice of worshi p , and the magi were those wise men who devoted themselves to research into the hidden mysteries of science , and to contemplation and worship . —REITAM .

THE SYBILEINE LEAVES . The ancient uame given to those women who pretended to have a divine inspiration and a knowledge of future events was S ybil . The most celebrated were the Sybils of Ionia and Italy . It was this last who sold the books or sybilline leaves to Tarquinius Superhus ( the elder Tarquin ) . It was stated that these books contained all the future of Rome .

Tarquin deposited them m the Capitol and confided them to the care of two priests , named Duumviri ; these afterwards initiated 13 more , who carefully guarded the sacred records . At the burning of the Capitol in the time of Scylla , these leaves were destroyed . It is supposed that these oracles had their origin from the Essenian priests , from whom some authors have considered the secrets of Freemasonry are derived . — REITAM .

ST . JOHN , THE PATRON SAINT OF MASONS . In confirmation of Bro . Buchan ' s remarks in a late number of the Magazine , I have much pleasure in quoting a paragraph from Bro . Rebold , Past Deputy of the Grand Orient of France , and a recognised authority on all subjects connected with the Craft : —

" In those days { i . e ., the Middle Ages ) it was customary to dedicate and consecrate to some saint every erection intended for the worship of God , and , with the like idea , all the corporations of artists , artisans , and trades chose patron saints . The Freemasons chose St . John the Baptist for theirs , because his

feast fell on the 21 th June , the date of the summer solstice . " This day had always been celebrated by the peoples of antiquity , and by the Masons since the foundation of their fraternity , as the period of the year when the sunhaving attained its greatest height

, , nature is clothed and disports herself in the greatest abundance of her richest products . As successors of the ancient colleges of the Romans , the Freemasons of England conserved these cherished feasts ; but ,, not to come in conflict with the dominant clergy , they were obliged to give their celebration a name not

calculated to give offence . It was on this account they were known , not exclusively by the name of Freemasons , but often as the Fraternity of St . John ,, and on the Continent almost exclusively as St . John Brothers , or the Brothers of St . John . " Without giving any opinion on the above , I can only say , " Si nou e vero , e ben trovato . " —REITAM .

A STRANGE STORY . Through the kindness of Bro . S . Percy , P . M . 317 , 1 , 005 , I am enabled to present the following paragraph to your readers ; it is extracted from a Californian paper , and , I am given to understand , is well authenticated . I have no doubt it will be of interest .

—REITAM . " The first Masonic funeral that ever occurred in California took place in the year 1 S 49 , and was performed over the body of a brother iound in Bay of San Francisco . An account of the ceremonies states that on the body of the deceased was found a silver mark of a Masonupon which were engraved the

, initials of his name . A little further investigation revealed to the beholder the most singular exhibition of Masonic emblems that was ever drawn by the ingenuity of man on the human skin . There is nothing in the history or the traditions of Freemasonry to