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SgiB ^ C ^ a ^*^ " ^ gpreemaswi ^ _^ jj ^^ r ^^ ^^^^* ffVvvWvv ^ % s gtecgSJS ^!^ SATURDAY , MAY 2 , 1885 .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

fWe do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair play to all to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION . To thc Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Many , very many , brethren know not , and possibly care not , to whom they give their proxie ? . To such I would

mention the case ( No . 34 on the list ) of Mrs . Georgina Marsh , better known , years ago , as the excellent actress Mrs . Henry Marston . Her claims are public , and hence I venture to make them _ known . Such votes as are kindly available may be sent to Bro . Edward Terry , P . M . & G . S ., at the Gaiety Theatre , W . C . —I am , fraternally yours ,

JOHN B . MONCKTON , P . G . W . 159 , CromwelUroad , S . W ,

LODGE FUNDS . To the Editor of " The Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Will you please answer the following questions , and insert both in your next issue , as it may possibly be of

service to others as well as myself ? Have the brethren , in open ) lodge assembled , the legal or constitutional right to votejmoney from the lodge funds for any purpose whatever ( except the ordinary lodge purposes ) without giving due notice of the same in the lodge summons ?—Yours fraternally , April 27 th . AN ENQUIRER .

[ Though we necessarily speak without any knowledge of the special circumstances or of the provision made in the lodge By-laws for any such contingency , we feel constrained to answer " No " to our correspondent ' s query . —ED . F . M . ' ]

ROYAL MEDICAL BENEVOLENT COLLEGE . To the Editor ofthe "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , I venture once more to ask your kind permission to appeal in your valuable paper to al ! those readers of it who may be contributors to the Royal Medical Benevolent

College at Epsom . Eustace De Mendes Harris , now on the urgent list forthe next election , is the youngest child of the late lamented Dr . Harris , as good and true a brother of our noble Craft as it ever was my good fortune to know . His widow , whom I have known for the last eight and half years , is naturally very anxious to give her son as good an education as

possible , to let him enter manhood with a cultivated mind worthy of his father . And Mrs . Harris herself , who has struggled for the last six years , and still is struggling most nobly , to maintain herself and two still entirely unprovided for children in a fitting manner , is quite unprepared to give her son even an ordinarily good education . This is the last

chance of the boy for Epsom , and I beg to ask all my brethren to give him their votes and interest . Mrs . Harris ' address is , Hillside , Sunderland . road , Forest Hill , S . E . Thanking them in advance , and you , Sir , for giving me the means of doing so , I have the honour to be , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally ,

EDWARD ASCHER , M . D ., Surgeon to the ss . Teniers ( Sandridge Marine and Beaudesert ) . London , April 25 th .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

584 ] POSTSCRIPTUM . From the printed proceedings of the Lodge of Sorrow , held at Frankfort on the 30 th November last , [ gather , to

my great regret , that Bro . Dr . G . A . Schiifmann , whose Masonic life and works I have lately reviewed , passed to the Grand Lodge above on the iSth of July last . With him Masonic Archaeology has lost one of the most independent and original thinkers of this generation . R . I . P .

G . W . SPETH . ssS ]

THE OLD KILWINNING LODGE OF INVERNESS . As I see by the memorial to the Scottish Grand Lodge that in 1736 a minute book , dating from 16 78 , was said to be then in existence , may I ask some brother of that lodge to let us know if any later tracesof the existence of such minute book exist ? In this way we may come upon the minute book itself . MASONIC STUDENT .

586 ] LOGE CHAMBRE DU ROI . . It is interesting to find that Kloss ' s copy of this valuable ttnnute book is forthcoming , and also that we can now consider certain laws professedly emanating from the Grand Lodge of France in X-7 A < . Rill : thp mprp pvi ' cfpnpp nf r ,

! ° < % e minute book professing to certain Grand Lodge 1 < e Ku ! ations does not make them so , and the curious fact remains unexplained , that no later allusion is ever made p any one to these earlier assumed examplars of Grand Lod ge legislation . But still such facts , as facts , require espectfu l consideration and reception , and we ought all to 06 grateful to Bro . Speth for his persevering energy . A . F . A . W ,

Masonic Notes And Queries.

5 S 7 ] THE CONSTITUTIONS OF 1755 . I am rejoiced to think that Bro . Speth , through his zealous correspondent at the Hague , has made such a find . But I am not quite sure that any discovery now can lead to the conclusion Bro . Speth desiderates . And for this reason —Since the first " note " appeared the conditions of our little controversy are completely changed . Kloss ' s original statement is . thathe , —writing 120 years later , — saw a

transcript of a manuscript of alleged date of 1755 made in 17 G 1 , and which professed to contain certain Regulations of the Grand Lodge of France in a MS ., which was admittedly also a High Grade MS ., thus proving to Kloss ' s mind the elimination of the Grand Lodgeof France by the Rit Ecossais . My objectionjthen was , and still is , you cannot prove historical facts by the alleged authority of a nameless transcriber in 17 G 1 , of certain whether pseudo Regulations or not

n : 755 , and therefore Kloss ' s initial argument is weak and defective on the face of it . Since then a copy , apparently made in 1761 , has also turned up at Frankfort-on-the-Main , and now Bro . Speth announces the discovery of another copy at the Hague . Before we can deal with this fresh and very important piece of evidence , we must ascertain , as Bro .

Speth will see at once , which is the copy and which the original , though from his words I gather the original is at the Hague . We want then a collation of the MSS ., and it will be very important to print them in extenso , though just now space is very limited , as Bro , Speth knows . I shall be truly glad to see tho original French , as much must turn upon that . A . F . A . W .

5 SS ] COWAN . When Mackey gave the probable derivation of Cowan from Kuon , it is quite clear to me he had never studied or realized the etymological difficulties of such a theory . Kuon-Kunes in classic Greek do not seem to have had any peculiar meaning , except as a compound word , as regards men . Kunas , as regards women , bore sometimes a disagreeable meaning . In the purely eastern countries

indeed , where the dogs are " scavengers , " so to say , and are thence called Scavenger , or Pariah dogs , the word seems to be given to others outside the pale of some peculiar nationality or religion . But it is most difficult to trace any common use of such an expression in Greek . There may , have been as now an Oriental use of such a word in its linguistic equivalent . Neither is there any such a use traceable in the mysteries , as far as we know about

them . There were proper Greek words in use for those who were extern to the mysteries , bebeloi , amnetai , but not kunes . Neither is there in Latin . In that language canis came from kuon , and the French chien comes from canis . The name for an initiate in the mysteries was mysta , or mystes , and some of us well remember the well known lines with which the Ceryx or Kerux ( Herald ) is said to have announced the opening of the mysteries ,

Procul o procul este profani . " But canis or kunes is never used . Hence then Bro . Steven's averment that the Masons adopted the word " kuon " from some earlier use , and hence cowan is not historical , and cannot be accepted by students . It is altogether unscientific and inexact . Curiously enough , there is , so far , no known English Masonic use of cowan until after 1717 , though the word was

in use in Scotland , as a technical term , evidently wellknown to its hearers , in 1599 . And therefore as all the suggested derivations , —acouan , couon , chouan , seem to be equally absurd and untenable , we are compelled , by the unfailing laws of expert and historical criticism , to fall back on a clear use of the word in 1599 , which reads then as an understood technical , trade , or Operative term , whatever its actual origin may have been . I am myself inclined

to believe in its derivation from the Norman or Gallic French , as Skinner terms it . I do not myself now set much store , on careful reconsideration , on the word covin or coven , as 1 think there is a better and simpler origin . Skinner , in his " Etymologicon , " well-known to students , tells us that there is an old verb " cover , " which means to work with , or work together with , as we say strictly " cooperate , " and which seems to me to be the origin of

" cowan . The cowan was a worker with ; but not ol the Guild . There is also an old French word " coyon , " which means a pitiful fellow . I do not quite understand Bro . Stevens' allusion to " Collusio . " " Collusio " was a Latin law term , and which may be translated " covine . " "Covin , " " covine , " " coven / 'Jor " covene , "is an old English word , signifying trickery . Indeed , the old French

word " couvant , " which means an engagement , or , as we say , contract , might be pressed into use ; but certainly not kuon , with which our idea of cowan has nothing akin . I hope we have heard the last of kuon . Before 1 conclude it should be remembered that in the Melrose MS . an equivalent is used apparently for " cowans , " namely , "Losses , " which , I believe , is an unique use , and should be glad if any student could suggest a similar one . .

MASONIC STUDENT . 5 S 9 ] FRENCH FREEMASONRY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE XVIII . CENTURY . By G . A . SCHIFFMANN . * This excellent study , apparently unknown in England , has just been transmitted to me by Bro . Koelle , of Frankfort . Both the work itself and the Masonic record of the author deserve high praise . Bro . Schiffmann was born in

July , 1814 , at Stettin , and is at present pastor of the Protestant church of St . James , of that ; city , and an Archdeacon . He was initiated in 1 S 51 in the " Three Golden Anchors , " and filled the chair from 1853-18 ( 32 , and again from 1 S 67-73 . From 1858-76 he was Prov . Grand Master of Pomerania , under the Grand National Lodge of Berlin ( Zinnendorff or Swedish rite ) and in 1 S 74 was appointed Senior Architect ( a very high office ) of said Grand Lodge .

This Grand Lodge works a rite comprising many high degrees beyond the Master Mason ' s , practises a Templar ritual , and is based on a remarkable collection of unhistorical and un-Masonic data and legends . Whilst it has ever been loud in its claims of infallibility , treating all other Grand Lodges , including England itself , as lamentably

ignorant of the true history and purpose of the Craft , it has always scrupulously avoided any impartial enquiry into its own pretensions and documents . On the occasion of its centenary in 1870 the Crown Prince and Protector , as G . M . of the system , advocated , in open lodge , a critical research and judicious reforms . The proposal was warmly taken up

Masonic Notes And Queries.

by some few enlightened brethren of this jurisdiction ; which procured their exclusion . The Crown Prince went further , and commissioned Bro . Schiffmann to investigate its history . He was met by studied opposition and refused access to the archives . The Crown Prince then resigned his post as G . M . in disgust , ist March , 1 S 74 , and was followed by Dachroden as G . M ., and Schiffmann as Senior Architect . In order to preclude Schiffmann being elected as G . M ., in

which case of course the archives would have been at his disposal , the mode of election was arbitrarily altered . Schiffmann , in spite of difficulties , proved in 1 S 74 the fallacies upon which thc rite is founded , upheld the Masonic origin of the Craft , and followed this up by two further damaging works in 1 S 75 and 1 S 7 G , all of which I have unfortunatel y been unable to obtain up to the present . He was therefore suspended , ist May , 1 S 76 . His works

had so far only been accessible to members of the highest degrees , a fact which relieves him from any charge of treason but in 1 S 7 G the Leipsic Bauhiittc began to publish his papers . In consequence Grand Lodge expelled him ist July , 1 S 76 . Two lodges of this system took his part , and were therefore erased , and many lodges of other systems elected him an honorary member . A most interesting little work of his is a study of Ramsay , which at

present I have only been able to obtain in the British Museum , and which very successfully acquits Ramsay of all intentional blame in the origin of the so-called High Degrees . The work under review is of wider scope . It is not exactly a history of French Freemasonry , but an enquiry into the rise of the Scots Degrees . Schiffmann is not content in this case to collate merely the texts of the various exposures and rituals bearing on the

subject ( from 1737 to 1745 circa ) , but follows thc more philosophic plan of first gaining a clear idea of the social , political , and moral status of Parisian life at this epoch . Having presented us with a vivid and undeniably accurate picture of the times , he is able , by sedulously collecting all the hints contained in these so-called exposures to depict the probable course of events . It would he impossible here to give any idea of his arguments , but his conclusions

may be briefly stated . He opines that Scots Masters originally arose circa 1740 , and were merely individual earnest Masons , who banded themselves together to lift French Masonry out of the mire into which it had sunk . They possessed neither separate lodges nor a ritual , nor did they pretend to be a 4 th Degree . They chose as a distinctive mark , being Master Masons , the acacia , and were at first called freres acassois , which became corrupted

into freres or maitres ecossais . In Germany Schmettau appointed Scotch Masters circa 1742 , and although these ultimately developed a ritual , and banded themselves into lodges , they never professed to be higher in rank than Master Masons , nor arrogated any control over the lodges ; and inasmuch as their ritual differed from the French Scots Degree , it is apparent that Schmettau brought no ritual with him from France , probably because there was none to

bring . In France they ultimately formed a 4 th Degree , and as it then became necessary to preface the Scots Alaster Degree by Degrees of Scots Apprentices and Scots Fellows , two Degrees were appropriated , which had meanwhile been invented in the south , viz ., the Elect of 15 , an addition to the Hiramite Master ' s Degree , and the Elect of 9 , an addition to the same Degree of the Adonhitamite ritual . The word Scot having been thus inadvertently introduced , together with the co-incidence that the first

Parisian Masons , in 1725 circa , were notoriously Scotchmen , or at least Jacobites , naturally led to the invention of all the fables concerning Scotland , Kilwinning , the Stuarts , &! c ., & c , to which result Ramsay ' s innocent reference possibly contributed in no small degree . The whole work of 215 pp . is closely reasoned , and , if not quite convincing , is at least very plausible , and calculated to make us think well before deciding to reject the theory . Personally I am inclined to agree . with our author almost entirely .

G . W . SPETH . 590 ] .

THE INVERNESS LODGE AND "W . O ., " & c . The particulars afforded by my friend and brother , " W . O ., ;* in the Freemason for April 25 th ( No . 5 S 3 " Masonic Notes " ) , respecting the old lodge at Inverness , Scotland , from 16 7 S , are most interesting and valuable . I do not see myself why any objections should be urged against the statement that in 167 S William Mackintosh was chosen the Master , and others were elected as Wardens

and Boxmaster , for in 1 G 70 a tutor occupied a similar office in tbe lodge at Aberdeen . It is remarkable to note how many Speculative brethren held office in the Scottish lodges during the seventeenth century . Bro . " W . O . " has not furnished aught from the old records in confirmation of the lodge having worked the Three Degrees from 1 G 7 S j but is inclined to accept the declaration rather than doub the veracity of the petitioners , as also with the Coltness charter .

Unfortunately , we are now so familiar with the alterations , interpolations , and additions of Anderson , Preston , and other Alasonic historians , that we are compelled to object to the reception of any statements which conflict with , or differ from , the actual records of Ancient lodges , unless , indeed , evidence is forthcoming to justify the acceptance of . so-called facts at variance with all hitherto known documents . I trust that Bro . " W . O . " will favour us with several more of his notes , as they are most valuable . W . J . HUGHAN .

591 J . FRENCH FREEMASONRY . I did not mention Pasqualis , because I considered that his authority to form lodges was regular , or even authentic . Why I mentioned him was to show the difficulty there is in deciding certain points in the history of Freemasonry in France about the date he existed . There seems little doubt but that there were , at this time , several "Mere" lodges forming other lodges in different parts of the country , and

that some lodges existed that were working independently of any Grand Lodge whatever . Bro . Yarker will notice that I did not state that Pasqualis was engaged in propagating Freemasonry in 173 S , but that the authority , or patent , he produced bore that date . It is certain that he was so engaged in 17 G 2 . This is shown by a communication from him to the Grand Lodge de France at Paris , dated 2 Gth March ,

1763 , in which he states that he arrived at Bordeaux the 28 th April , 1762 , and that he had already formed a lodge at Toulouse , so it is to be supposed he had been engaged in this work for some time previously . I find it stated that in 1754 he " created" the Rite of " Elus Coiins , " which Rite was adopted by lodges at Marseilles , Toulouse , and Bordeaux . He was a native of Alicante ( Spain ) , but had lived