A Model Masonic Scribe.

A MODEL MASONIC SCRIBE .

OUR readers will doubtless have soon a letter , which appeared in our columns last week , from a Jamaica Brother . Ifc had originally been addressed to our Masonic contemporary , but being declined by that journal , was forwarded to us for publication . We , of course , readily

accorded the wished-for space , as it seemed to ns a bare act of justice that a Brother who considered he . had been needlessly attacked should have an opportunity allowed him to resent the onslaught . As regards the letter or note which elicited the reply in question , we have not been at

the pains of referring to ifc . Onr object in making these few remarks is simply to discuss the meaning of the language used in a certain passage which was quoted by Bro . H . J . Burger . Masons are presumed to pride themselves on the scrupulous care they take not to give offence orally or

verbally to thoir brethren . They avoid saying and writing what is objectionable , as they would have others do tho same by them . However , the language used in this letter , which—rightly or wrongly we neither know nor care—is attributed to the Editor of our eontemporai > y , is not quite

in accordance with the original design of Freemasonry . The passage quoted by Bro . Burger relates to one of three classes of persons , namely , the class which comprises " those who wish honestly to improve , " and of these Bro . Burger complains thafc any remark to the effect " that ,

honest themselves , they are often made tho unconscious dnpes of longer beads , of greater rascals than themselves , " should have been made . "We quite agree with him . Indeed , we go a little further , and lay ifc down as a rule absolute that those who cannofc write sense , even to the

extent of one poor sentence , should be forced to observe silence for ( say ) the same number of years as tho disciples of Pythagoras were on joining his school , or , at all events , till they have acquired the art of writing becomingly . We shall not pause to question the writer ' s taste , because it is

impossible the passage could have been more offensively worded . Onr only desire is to convey to his mindpresuming , at least , that it is capable of appreciating good homely common-sensible advice—that , if he must write letters , he should avoid contradicting 1 himself in the same

sentence . The class of persons to whom he was referring is described briefly as " those who wish honestly to improve , " and of these he says that , " honest themselves , " they are often made the dupes of still greater rascals . There is , in fact , a conflict of propositions in this

remarkable statement . In tho first place , these people are honest ; then they are the dupes of greater rascals than themselves ; and consequently , fche honest people are also rascals , only nofc such tremendous rascals as those by whom they are duped . Bro . Burger very

naturally exclaims against the use of such un-Masonic language as is contained in the objectionable passage , and questions the propriety of one brother describing a class of his fellows as " rascally dupes . " This is just and proper , Bro . Burger , but when you have had the same experience as

ourselves , you will cease to be surprised , or rather , you will wonder how ifc is that more abusive letters are nofc written by Masonic scribes . "We , therefore , do not trouble ourselves so much about the propriety or violence of the language used .

We look to tho sense , and our advice to brethren who cannot write one miserable sentence which has auy meaning has been stated already with safficienfc clearness . When a writer calls a brother an honest man and a rascal almost in the same breath , we feel inclined to describe him as—well ,

A Model Masonic Scribe.

we leave our readers to fill up the description for themselves . We might , in our logical anger , say something unfraternal , and commit the error we complain of in the writer of the quoted passage . Moreover , there is so strong a feeling of sympathy between our readers and ourselves , that we feel we can trust them to supply tho blank .

Masonic Portraits. (No. 57.)

MASONIC PORTRAITS . ( No . 57 . )

A OESTRIAN CHIEF . What thanks we owe To worth like thine ! What praise shall we bestow ? To thee the foremost hononra aro decreed .

Be still thyself ; Maintain thy hononrs , and enlarge thy fame .

CHESHIRE is a province which must always commend itself to the earnest regard of all true Freemasons . The part it has played in the annals of Britain is of considerable historic interest . In the days when this island of ours was a Province of the Roman empire , where

now stands tho quaint old capital of the county , was stationed the camp ( Caslra , undo derkalur Chester ) of a Roman legion , and the presence of the Imperial conquerors of tho ancient Britons is still further indicated in the final syllable of sundry towns in

Cheshire , to wit , Nantwich , Norfchwich , Middlewich , & c , the final loicli being commonly set down a vims . It was , moreover , an important part of the Roman Province , for Cheshire borders on Wales , into the mountain fastnesses of which retired the remnant of the British peoplo who refused

to live under the yoke of Rome . On this ground the presence of a Boman castra is explicable . Then in the Anglo-Saxon days , when Britain was a Heptarchy , we read of a great King- of Mercia making a triumphant progress on the river Dee , his galley being rowed by six tributary kings ,

whom , in the successful wars he had waged , he brought to acknowledge his supremacy . In the name of Knutsford wo can trace a reference to tho days when Anglo-Saxon royalty had been temporarily displaced by tho terribla Dane . Then there are the numerous monumental remains

of the operative Masons of the olden time , with whom we moderns are delighted to establish , as we can establish and have established , a direct association . Of these one onl y need be mentioned—the Cathedral of Chester , for the twofold reason that ifc was the 'work of onr operative

predecessors , and that the Speculative Masons of to-day havo contributed their mite in the work of restoring it to somewhat of its pristine beauty . Moreover , but a short timo had elapsed from the establishment of the Speculative system of Masonry , when Masons' Lodges were established

in its capital city . Our Grand Lodge was constituted in 1717 , and a reference to the recently-reprinted Pine ' s List of Lodges in 1734 , for which we are indebted to the energy of Bro . Hughan , will show that in the course of only seven years—thafc is , by the year 1724—two Lodges had been

founded , of which one ( No . 82 , according to the List just mentioned ) met at the Bull , in Northgate-street , Chester , and the other , "No . 38 , at the Castle , Watergate-street , in the same city . In addition to these we find that No . 36 of Pine ' s List met afc the Red Lion , Congleton , ancl must likewise have been constituted in 1724 and that another