Masonic Notes And Queries.

EEEGT . From this vain world of noise and strife , T' enjoy a new-born heavenly life , Our dearest brother's fled ! His body we commit to earth , His soul to God , who gave him birth , To raise him from the dead .

( Chorus . ) To the powers Divine all glory be given , By men upon earth , and by Angels in heaven . The sweet remembrance of the just , Shall flourish while he sleeps in dust , Our hope in heaven secure ; The wicked ' s mcm'vy shall decay ,

And vanish like a shade away , Nor thought of any more . ( Chorus . ) In the grand , awful Lodge above , Dwell Concord , Harmony , and Love , Eternal peace and rest ; Our God is merciful and kind , Then seek in time , and you will find A blessing 'mongst the blest . ( Chorus . ) •—13 AS . > J .

AXTIEXT AXD JIODEIVX JIASOXS . What is known about the differences of the old York , Athol , and Modern Masons of the last century ?—J . S . S . — [ Tho following condensed account , from an old Masonic publication , will explain the difference at length . Preston says : — "A few brethren at York , having , on some trivial occasion ,

seceded from their ancient lodge , they applied to London for a warrant of constitution , and , without inquiry into the merits of the case , their application was honoured . Instead of being recommended to the mother lodge to bo restored to favour , these brethren were encouraged in their revolt , and permitted , under the banner of the Grand Lodge at London , to open a new lodge in the city of York itself . " A short time after the above flagrant outrage , the London Grand Lodge again invaded tbe jurisdiction of tbe York Grand

Lodge . We copy again from Preston : " The Earl of Crawford ( 173-1 ) seems to have made another encroachment on the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge at York , by constituting two lodges within their district , and by granting , without their consent , three deputations . ' The London Grand Lodge in 1738 , published a second book of Constitutions , differing materially in the organic , laws of Masonry from these published in 1723 . In this book of 1738 , after enumerating a list of names as Provincial Grand Masters appointed

for different places abroad , they say , ' ¦ ' All these foreign lodges are under the patronage of our Grand Master of England ; but the old Lodge at York city , and the Lodges of Scotland , Ireland , France , and Italy , all ' ecting independencies , are under their own Grand Masters . " A third encroachment on the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge at York was made in 173 S , Lord Carnarvon , Grand Master ,

by the appointment of a Provincial Grand Master for the West Riding of Yorkshire . This latter encroachment , Preston remarks , " so widened the breach between the brethren in the North and South of England , that thenceforward all future correspondence between the Grand Lodges totally ceased . ' The London Grand Lodge , on the 21 th of June , 1723 , adopted the following resolution ( ed . 1738 , p . 175 ) . ' That it is not in tbe power of any man , or body of mento make any alteration or innovation in tho body of

, Masonry , without the consent first being obtained of the Grand Lodge . ' This resolution of the Grand Lodge is either not generally known , or those who believe in the legality of the formation of the new Grand Lodge , think it best not to mention it . Tbe resolution , however , was offered and adopted by the Grand Ledge . It would hardly be worth while asking the question , if a Grand Lodge ought to be recognisedand fellowshiheld with its

mem-, p bers , that would declare that innovations in the body of Masonry could be made if the Grand Lodge consented to it . The friends of Anderson of 1723 will please make a note of this resolution . Preston , in commenting upon the illegal invasion of the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of York by the London Grand Lodge , says : — "It is much , to be regretted that any separate interests should have destroyed the social intercourse of Masons but it is no less

remark-; able than true , that the brethren in the North and those in the South are now , in a manner , unknown to each other . Notwithstanding the pitch of eminence and splendor at which the Grand Lodge in London has arrived , neither the Lodges of Scotland nor Ireland court its correspondence . This unfortunate circumstance lias been attributed to the introduction of a few modern innovations among the lodges iu the South . " It is a well-established fact that

Masonic Notes And Queries.

the lodges in London did make some innovations about this time , and hence the term " modern , " which was applied to them , and rightfully , by the true body of Masons . Our limits will not justify us in pursuing our investigations . It is certain that the origin of the Grand Lodge formed in 1717 , has been greatly misunderstood . The acts of aggression upon the rights of the parent Grand Lodge , commenced nearly two centuries before , resulted in throwing off their allegiance altogether , and forming an independent Grand

Lodge The city of London had grown to a vast metropolis . The Craft were unwilling to be subordinate to a body located in a small city in the interior of the country . Besides , old Craft Masonry did not suit their progressive notions . At the Assembly and Feast , June 21 th , 1718 , it was desired of the brethren " to bring to the Grand Lodge any old writings and records concerning Masons and Masonry , in order to show the usages in ancient times ; and this year several old copies of the Gothic constitutions were produced and

collated . " On the 29 th of September , 1721 , the Grand Master and the lodge 'finding fault with all the copies of the old Gothic Constitutions , ordered Bro . James Anderson , A . M ., to digest the same in a new and better method . " On the 27 th of December , 1721 , "fourteen learned brothers were appointed to examine Bro . Anderson's manuscript , and to make report . " At the Grand Lodge , 25 th March , 1722 , " the said committee of fourteen reported that they had perused Bro . Anderson's manuscripts , viz .: —The History , Charges ,

Regulations , and Master's Song , and after some amendments , had approved of it . " This Booh of Constitutions , after being amended , altered , changed , & c , in committees and by the Grand Lodge , was approved on the 17 th of January , 1723 ; and from the above history and extracts , an opinion may be formed as to the truthfulness of the document , and agreement of the so-called Anderson's Constitutions with the ancient Gothic Constitution , containing the true and ancient laws and usuages of the fraternity . As the York Grand Lodge did not take any public notice of the schismatics , and as the latter body gave public notoriety to all of its transactions , it

was successful m establishing and multiplying lodges . There were at the time of the organization of the Grand Lodge in 1717 , many lodges holding under the York Constitution in London and throughout England , which had to succumb to the popularity of the new Grand Lodge . The Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland refused , in common with the York Grand Lodge , fellowship with , or countenance to , the new Grand Lodge , which had not only innovated upon the landmarks of Freemasonry , but altered and changed

the ancient laws and charges . In 1738 , James Anderson , by direction of the Grand Lodge , prepared a new Boole of Constitutions , in which the 'Ancient Charges' differ very materially from the ancient charges published in the 1723 edition , These latter charges are generally accredited to Laurence Dermott , who , in 1756 , eighteen years later , published an Ahiman liezon , in which he copied the 173 S ancient charges of Anderson verba tin . If we were to express an opinion why Anderson in 1738 published a code of charges

different in constitutional and Masonic principles from those published in 1723 , we would say that as at that time ( 1738 ) the York Grand Lodge began to show an outward opposition to the new establishment , and as it had right on its side , public opinion was with it ; the new Grand Lodge was in a manner impelled to declare a code of charges more in consonance with ancient established usuages , and which accorded with those practised by the York Grand Lodge .

This history might be extended thiough some volumes from published data of the last century , and particularly from the records of the new Grand Lodge , showing more clearly than we have in the limited space at our command , the illegality of the Grand Lodge formed in 1717 , its previous aggressions and its continued and subsequent innovations upon the body of Masonry , which it claimed the right to make by its resolution of June 241723 ; but as the

his-, tory of the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 has not yet been written , and as the Ancient Grand Lodge of York from 1717 has been almost totally ignored by all Masonic writers , we leave the task to the future historian , satisfied with having thrown out some hints , not heretofore noticed , for his guidance . " ]

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

A writer in the Dublin University Magazine thus sensibl y disposes of the cry which some raise , for party purposes , of " Irish nationality : " — " Of what nationality do wo , Irish , claim to have originally " been ? As for our present state , there is no distinctiveness between our Celtic and Teutonic races , our O'Donoughues , Fitz-Geralds , and Mitchells ; and even seven hundred years ago ,

the country was inhabited by mixed races , Celts , Cimbrians , or Gauls , Scythians , and Scots , with considerable sprinklings of Germans in tbe interior , and Scandinavians all around the coast . During that lapse of time , the immigration of additional Teutonic