The History Of Freemasonry.

a procession takes place of all the Craftsmen around the room before the Master , to whom an appropriate sainte is tendered . This circuit is designed to signify that the new incumbent reduces the lodge to his possession in this symbolic manner . " As regards the other two , it is re

marked , "To what extent these , or any other portions of the existing lodge ceremonial , are survivals of more ancient customs , cannot be accurately determined , bnt the evidence , such as it is , will by no means justify the belief , that the derivation of any part is to bo found in the sources

which are thus pointed out to us . The mode of opemng the proceedings of a court , or society , by a dialogue between tbe officials , may be traced back to a very remote era ; but it will be sufficient for my purpose to remark , that , as the Vehmio ceremonies , of which this was one , were of ' Old

Saxon ' derivation , they must have been known in Anglo-Saxon England before the time of Charlemagne . " As to the Frisian oath , it is contrasted with the concluding words ol the Sloane MS . " These Charges that we have rehearsed ,

and also all other y * belongeth to Masonrie you shall keepe ; to y vttermost of yo knowledge ; So help yon god and by the Contents of this booke . " With brief allusions to the Hiramio and Edwin legends this Chapter and with it the Volume is brought to a conclusion . There are several matters we should like to have

touched upon , but . the length of our review must be accepted as an apology for having passed them unnoticed . The volume as a whole is a worthy continuation of its predecessors , but as we have pointed out at length , we are unable to agree with the author as to his views about the

Wren tradition . In the first place , we consider he has been far too exacting in his treatment of it . He does not seem to have considered it enough to indicate that actual evidence of Wren ever having been a Freemason is not forthcoming as yet , and that as yet therefore it is

impossible to establish it as a fact . He seems to have acted the part of an opposing counsel , and to have set himself to denounce even the shadow of a possibility that Wren was ever a member of our Fraternity . Probably , Bro . Gould will understand our meaning better if we suggest that , had

he taken as great pains to support the tradition as he has taken to destroy it , a very large number of brethren would have accepted his views but too readily , not because they would have established the fact of Wren having been a Freemason , but because they would have chimed in with

the reasonable probabilities of the case . In the next place he has , in our opinion , committed the still graver mistake of attaching the greatest importance to the tradi tion ; when , as we have been at the pains of showing , the question whether Wren was or was not a Freemason ,

however interesting it may be as a distinct and separate study , cannot possibly have the slightest influence on the course of Masonic history . In the discharge of our duty as impartial critics , we have laid considerable stress on

this part of the volume , and have expressed our oprnion freely , but at the same time in the most friendly spirit . As regards the rest of the volume , however , we have hardly anything but praise to offer .

A Vista Of Thought Through A Gridiron.

A VISTA OF THOUGHT THROUGH A GRIDIRON .

A RECENT writer indulged in a jeremiad over what he termed " the loss of the gridiron . " We never met with an instance of such gigantic ignorance . One might infer that this Jeremiah was born and reared in Neptune , or the Dog-star , so oblivious does he appear of

all sublunary things . The only truth he uttered was , that the gridiron opens np a " vista of thought . " It does , indeed , but not of the stuff which he labels " thought . " He says this nation has lost its gridiron , and in consequence

everything is going to the dogs . We deny his assertion ; tbe gridiron is not lost . He says , further , that we may dispense with all other adjuncts of civilisation , and roam contentedly in the forest shades , if we but possess a

gridiron ! True , very true . We endorse also his antiquarian researches concerning this famous utensil . " What memories it evokes , historic , personal , romantic ! Sacred in

ecclesiastical history as the funeral pyre of a saint , famous in the legends of philosophy as the central object of a club of undying names , dear to us all aa associated by the subtlest of all connecting links , the sense of smell , with the

A Vista Of Thought Through A Gridiron.

appetising odours of our childhood ' s home ! How can we overvalue it F Let us strike for the gridiron . But with all his appreciation of its dignity , antiquity and value to mankind , this anonymous writer ia on the wrong scent . He is a nineteenth century Don Quixote , fighting the

windmill of the frying-pan . Now , there is no antipath y or opposition whatever between the gridiron and the frying , pan , in their higher range , and there is not the least danger of the gridiron being crowded out of use or existence . We appeal to history and tradition to justify our assertion .

From the very beginning it has been used , and so far as we can now judge , its use will be continued until the last syllable of recorded time . The gridiron ! Was it not employed in the Osiric Mysteries in Egypt , the Mythriao in Persia , the Cabiric in Thrace , the Adonysian in Syria , the

Dionysiac and Eleusinian in Greece , the Scandinavian ¦ uoong the Gothio nations , and the Druidical among the Celts ? Did not King Solomon himself employ it , and , with the assistance of the two Hirams , make its use universal throughout the Masonio world ? Did not George

Washington , Benjamin Franklin , Marquis de Lafayette , James Buchanan , De Witt Clinton , Chancellor Livingston , Chief Justice Marshall , and a host of other worthies , dignify it by sitting upon it for a short space of time ? And then onsider the great host of the living who bided their time

while pensively shifting from one bar of the gridiron to another , in order to find a refreshing spot . There is Hughan , and Fort , and Gould , and Vaux , and Mitchell , and Paton , and Nisbet , and Meyer , and a great cloud of other Craftsmen , who learned patience and fortitude while upon the

mysterious gridiron . Strange that so airy a utensil , composed mainly of extended holes kept apart by dividing slots or bars , should compass such good for mankind . Surely , it is the trne seat of knowledge , as the coals that underlie it are the real source of light . What says the

Great Light itself ? " God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base things of the world , and things which are despised , yea , and things which are not , to bring to nought things which

are . " Exactly true . That despised and base thing , the gridiron , is the great base-burner of the world . From it emanate light and knowledge . By it a man is lifted np the moment he sits upon it . Through it be sees the fiery flames which are to make a lasting impression upon him ,

and on it ho sits as a hero enthroned . Who , after this , will lament the decadence of the gridiron ? We know it is not much in use among the profane , who prefer the frying pan , and who eventually , many of them , get out of the

frying-pan into the fire ; but where is the Lodge that does not keep its gridiron constantly in order ; where is the Masonic Temple that is not full of these classic utensils ; and where is the Mason who has not sat on one to his

content ? Shame on the man who has no more regard for the truth than to assert that the gridiron is being disused , or going out of fashion . It was never used so much as now . Children cry for it , and cannot wait until they are twentyone years of age to receive it by merit , and , as a

consequence , Grand Masters are occasionally impelled , from a sense of duty , to dispense with legal age and make a youth-under-age a Mason . Princes and presidents , statesmen and warriors , lawyers and doctors , savants and gentlemen of elegant leisure , all are devotees of the gridiron . It

looks as though the gridiron would make the conquest of the world . It appears as though light and knowledge would , through its instrumentality , be universally dispensed . Shade of King Solomon ! who could have dreamed

that your sanction of the use of the gridiron would give such efficacy to the omnific declaration , "Let there be Light !" " Behold , how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! " —Keystone .

Warrants for two Mark Lodges have recently been granted , the first is the Egerton of Tatton Lodge , No . 341 , which will hold its meetings the first Friday in the month , at the Masonic Hall , « a Red Lion Square , and will be condacted on temperance principles . The second , No . 342

on the roll of Grand Lodge , will be styled the Chelme r Lodge , and will meet at Chelmsford , in the Province of East Anglia . Brother tha Rev . John Robbins , D . D ., is the W . M . designate of the former Lodge , and Bro . J . P « Lewin W . M . designate of the latter .