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forms of the cuneiform characters and the nature of the language , it closely resembled the tablet in the Louvre . Besides these two Cappadocian inscriptions , a third , also in cuneiform characters , was communicated to the society by Mr . SAYCE , who had copied it last spring at Smyrna on a small "Tiffin ' s head carved out of red stone which had been brought from

Cappadocia , and had probably once served to ornament a staff or sceptre . The importance of , the new discovery need not be pointed out . It gives us grounds for believing that a clay library similar to those of Assyria and Baby lonia exists somewhere in Cappadocia ; while the decipherment of the Cappadocian language will probably lead on to that of the Hittite inscriptions . "

Masonic History And Historians.

MASONIC HISTORY AND HISTORIANS .

BY MASONIC STUDENT . I beg to supplement my necessarily short "essay" on the " monograde and trigradal theories " by a few additional remarks . i . I would repeat that the " onus proband ! " undoubtedly rests on all who seek to invalidate the generally recognized system of 1723 and 1811 and the attempt to " prove a negative , " always difficult , is made more

, difficult by two prevailing considerations : ( a ) , that then the whole bearing of Masonic oral testimony is invalidated ; and , ( bj , that the only actual available evidence is so far that of Scotland . Up to the present the evidence of English seventeenth century Masonry , or " lodge life , " is practically very little , and hardly decisive , as I attempted to show last week , one way or the other .

2 . One or two other points necessarily " crop up " when we consider the Scottish evidences of the early eighteenth century . In 1721 , when Dr . Desaguliers visited Edinburgh , there were several other lodges in or around the city . But it seems to be clear that he neither visited any of them , nor were any of those members invited to meet and confer with him . If this be so , it is surely a most fair conclusion , that had so

important and novel a proposal as the institution of purely fresh ceremonial , —practically , one new Degree , at any rate , if not two , to be logically consistent—then be made in Mary Chapel , some conference or meeting must have taken thereanent , and some note of such " proceedings " be minuted . But I believe I am warranted in asserting that not the slig htest trace of any such " idea , " even much less " fact , " minutes i

is to be iound in tne or canongate rvnwinning , > o . z , or journeyman Lodge , No . 8 . The minutes of Journeyman Lodge , No . 8 , are , I am told , remarkably well kept , full , and precise . So again , neither in thc minutes of the Peebles Lodge , 24 , or of St . Andrew ' s , which was in existence in 159 S , though its minutes only date from 1729 , is the slightest to 01 wuiMng iu ui nt 11 iniy

reterence any cnange - IUUHU . ' sun - . UVMIU UI the Hamilton Lodge , No . 7 ; and nowhere is any such reference or " minuting" to be discovered . I believe that I am correct in saying that the Journeyman Lodge possesses many old and curious papers , MSS . and minutes of many kinds , but not the slightest allusion to any change in

3 . It is also well to bear in mind that Mary Chapel had no actual authority over the other Scottish Lodges , that any attempt on its part to initiate so great and important a change in Scottish Masonic life and customs would , at that period of time , especially have been regarded with jealousy and dislike , both Masonic and national , and any isolated proposal to adopt Desaguliers' changes , novel in themselves , would have ensured their own defeat . . ...

4 . There are some minutes of other Scottish lodges which seem to throw a lig ht on the subject . The minutes of the old lodge of Dunblane , No . o , tell us that in January , 1696 , Lord Strahallan was elected " Master Mason " of the lodge , and several other " lairds " were then its leading members . In that same minute one brother is elected " Eldest Fellow of Craft . " In 1716 the lodge resolved that thereafter no person should be

" entered and past" at " one and the same time , " except " gentlemen " who could not be present at a second diet , " but that they be first reported premisses , and their passing ordered by the lodge thereafter according to qualifications . In 1724 a " solicitor " was entered on 24 th December , and on 27 th December , after " examination , " was duly passed from the square to the compass , and from an Entered Apprentice to a Fellow Craft of the

lodge . " In the Aberdeen Lodge , which 1 mentioned as holding its meetings in the " open , " and among " rocks " at the coast , prior to 1670 a number of noblemen and landed gentlemen held the rank of "Fellows of the Craft . " We then see , I venture to think , as others do , that thc existence of at least the two Degrees prior to 1634 , taking the minutes of Mary Chapel into consideration is clear , and the admission of Fellow Crafts in other lodges from the earliest dates of their existing records undoubted .

6 . But then , en the other hand , it is equally the fact' that it is subsequently to 1721 , that the minutes of any lodge in Scotland , so far as is known , except in the case of Mary Chapel , as previously noted , state in express terms that " intrants " were " raised " to the " Degree of Master Mason . " , . , , , , 6 . But bring ing various considerations before us , such as the theory ot a " sacred secrecy , " as well as the teaching of incommunicable and unwriteablc

" aporreta , " we may fairly come to the conclusion , I think , that this silence is both intentional and explicable . 7 . All I venture to add , in all deference to others , that can be safely asserted thereanent is , that Masonic ceremonial in Scotland before 1721 was more primitive in form and less decided in terminology than it afterwards became , but that it was identical in both countries , wilh leading landmarks , in its distinct princip les and its ceremonial and ritual substance . I have again to repeat the " thanks" with which 1 closed my last communication on the subject in thc pages of the Freemason .

The Genesis Of Masonry.

THE GENESIS OF MASONRY .

One of thc topics of the day which has provoked many a stout contest , not only between friends and enemies , but also among friends , is thc question of the genesis of Masonry . It is a knotty question of the first magnitude , that no one has yet been able to solve . Wc do not presume to do so by ordinary methods , neither do we assume to be an Alexander , to cut this Masonic knot . We modestly attempt rather to show why it cannot now be

The Genesis Of Masonry.

undone , at the same time asserting that we do not " give it up . " Many mysteries are being explained in the age in which we ' live . The spirit of enquiry is abroad , as truly as is Brougham ' s schoolmaster , and evoked doubtless by the latter . We are neither agnostics nor pessimists—we think we know something , and we shall know more by-and-bye , and that while the times in which we live are reasonabl y good—doubtless quite as good as we deserve—they will grow better , until finally they will be just what they

ought to be , so as to satisfy even the most hopeful optimist . Let us see how this matter stands . The Craft of Masonry is co-extensive with the existence of civilized man—it is around the globe . Now , the origin of man is not known , historical ! }' , and would not be known at all were it notfor Revelation , and science has even presumed to construe Revelation , in this regard , in a non-natural manner , or else , rudely and irreverently to deny it .

But Masonry has no Bible to relate , supernatural ! }' , its origin . It is a human institution , with only such history as such institutions have and bein- ** in a certain sense a secret institution , its secret history is naturally especially liable to obscuration , or absolute loss . In the olden times there were no Craft publications , no newspapers of any kind , to stereotype Craft or other history .

Secular history owes its preservation -o the State papers of the times ; but where are Masonry ' s papers—the lodge minute books , and the original communications submitted to the lodges ? Irrecoverably lost , we fear . The Lodge of Edinburgh , Mary ' s Chapel , No . 1 , of Scotland , owns the oldest minutes known to be in existence , and these are dated 1599 , and imply the existence of prior minutes . The thread of the narrative of lodge life is broken off abruptly , and all that has gone before is lost . Parts prior to that posbut not

sibly , probably , may be found . Paper is perishable , and brethren would rather destroy lodge minutes than imperil them , so as to expose them to public observation . We have historic proof of this in the unwise destruction of Masonic manuscripts in the early part of the eighteenth century , soon after the formal ion of the Grand Lodgeof England by the four old lodges of London and a few other brethren in the year 1717 . What brethren did then they would do , and doubtless did , centuries before , when less enlightened .

In the age in which we live , an age when a part , at least , of the Proceedings of all Grand Lodges are regularly printed in book form ; when Grand Lodge Constitutions are in like manner printed ; when Masonic newspapers and magazines are patronised by thc most intelligent Freemasons , we cannot , without considerable reflection , comprehend the position of Masonic affairs in the remote past . Then , the only place where Masonry ,

m itself , and in all of its relations , could be learned , was in the lodge . There was no external , no exoteric Masonry . All the learning of the Craft was esoteric . And this ,- let us remark , opens to us the secret of the slim attendance at lodge meetings to-day . Brethren now , after initiation , can learn considerable Masonry outside of the lodge , that is , can supplement the radical knowledge gained within , by the cultivation of the branches

which air themselves , as it were , in the outer world . It is too late to prohibit the publicity of all Masonic knowledge . It may be that there has been unwisdom in the revelation of some of it—perhaps Constitutions should not be printed , nor Grand Master ' s addresses , nor Grand Lodge Proceedings , nor Reports on Correspondence , so as to be made attainable by readers generally . But these have been done , and so far as we can see

will always be clone . It would seemingly be as easy for the sun to move backwards , that is for the earth to revolve contrariwise , as for the Craft to go back to prc-1717 methods . For better or worse , Frceemasonry is modernised in its methods . One result of this is , its history of to-day , as far as we can see will never be lost ; and , for thc reverse reason , its history of centuries ago will never be recovered .

We said that there were differences be it understood , among the friends of the Craft concerning its age and origin . Some trace it to the English Operative Masons' Guilds of the middle ages , others to the German Steinmetzen of the same period , others to the analogies derivable from the Gothic courts and Scandinavian usages , still others to Byzantine artists , or the Charlemagnic school of architects , or stonecutters in the time of

Diocletian , or the Dionysiac artificers , or the Grecian or Egyptian mysteries , or the great Solomonic trio of Temple builders , or ( and here we reach near to the apparent beginning of sublunary affairs ) the Cainite builders of cities , after the Edenic dispersion ! Lovers of novelties may nominate any one of these alleged origins for the Craft , but no man knows , or can certainly in these times

know , , its truth . The genesis of Masonry is absolutel y unknown . It is certain that it is not modern , but it cannot be proved how ancient it is . It is sufficiently ancient to satisfy us , or any one else justly proud of a noble lineage . It is in truth , as well as in name , ancient , and that is not an empty phrase which describes our brotherhood as the ancient and honourable fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons . —Keystone .

tcred upon until the minutes of the last regular lodge are confirmed ; but , beyond this , the regulation of business—the " agenda " paper , so to say—is , in the case of Prov . Grand Lodges and private lodges , in the hands of the Prov . Grand Master and the Worshi pful Master respectively . As a general rule , the summons declares the business , and the order in which it is to bc taken ; but it is impossible , as well as unadvisable , wc apprehend , to lay

ORDER , RULES OF . —Are necessary for the transaction of business ; but with the exception of Grand Lodge—which has certain " Regulations for the Government of Grand Lodge during the Time of Public Business" —in the Prov . Grand Lodge and private lodges , for the most part , unless laid down in thc bye-laws , which is not common , the matter is generally arranged by thc Prov . Grand Master and Worshipful Master . No business can be

endown any order of business which could be universally followed by lodges Good sense and fraternal feeling and business habits and ancient usage constitute , so to say , our common law on the subject . In respect of the actual condition under which the business is transacted in lodge , though there are no laws on the subject—except , as we said before , as regards Grand Lodge —there is a certain uniformity of action arising from Masonic custom , and which is as good as law . The well-known rules of public meetings arc

adhered to , and by them our Fraternity is enabled lo carry on friendly discussions on all subjects in peace and propriety . The presiding officer is the supreme arbiter and court of appeal in all matters relating to order . The common rules of order , as affecting all public meetings , and which are incorporated into all Masonic parliamentary procedure , arc so well known as not to need recapitulation here . They can only be affected , as wc before said , by Prov . Grand Lodge or private lodge bye-laws . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry .