How To Get On.

We have thus enumerated 66 Degrees , excluding the Rosicrucians , who can hardly be ranked as Masonic . But we have by no means exhausted the list . The writer has the honour of acquaintance with a brother who says he Jias taken the qo ° . He is connected with two Rites—those of

Memphis , and Misraim—which , though often confounded , are quite separate and distinct . The former Rite claims connection with certain Egyptian mysteries of great antiquity , but its introduction into Europe dates from 1814 , and in 18 39 the official

list of Degrees was published . The first 33 are those of the Antient and Accepted Rite already referred to . After a good cleal of tinkering the revised list , comprising 9 6 Degrees , was published in 1862 . The list is imposing . Brethren of eminence attain the title of Pontiff , and the term sublime occurs in

connection with 27 . The Rite of Misraim arose in 1805 , and was once recognised by the A . and A . Rite in Ireland . Ninety Degrees are conferred , culminating in that of " absolute Sovereign Grand Master 90 . " The Order of the Eastern Star is very popular in America ,

and our Transatlantic contemporaries devote special columns to accounts of their proceedings . It was invented by Bro . Robert Morris in 1855 , and is divided into five grades , representing as many aspects of womanhood , viz ., Jephtha ' s daughter , Ruth ,

Esther , Martha , and Electra , typifying daughter , widow , wife , sister , and martyr . Why not add the most attractive aspect of all , the fiancee ? Female Freemasonry , however , began and ended in this country with Miss St . Leger .

There is also the Order of the Shrine , whose members are called Sbriners , a term our contemporary the Indian Masonic Review once thought was a misprint for Shiners , and drew down upon itself the wrath of the whole American Masonic Press , which regards the Order very seriously .

The brother who proposes to plunge into Masonry to the extent shown will have to spend a lot of money , and with respect to many of them it maybe doubted whether he will acquire his money ' s worth of Masonic knowledge . The Mark ,

tbe Templars , and the A . and A . Rite differ from the rest of those mentioned . They are deeply interesting , ancl thc two last named are controlled by wealthy and exclusive and influential bodies , so that the attainment of high rank in either of them may be regarded as implying the possession of signal merit .

We mig ht add a word of warning . None of the jewellery appertaining to these Degrees may be brought into a Craft lodge , with the exception of the Royal Arch jewel . Many a brother has experienced mortification on this account . We believe , however , that the jewels of all concomitant Orders are recognised in the further or higher Degrees . *

VVe can only conclude this short article by advising the young brother to attend every lodge meeting , to be careful and even punctilious in even the smallest matters , and to remember

he has two ears and two eyes but only one mouth . Let him read a Masonic journal . Let him learn the ritual from hearing it expounded in lodge . Let him take lodge seriously , and not as the prelude to a social evening , and lie is bound to get on . J . T . L .

Robert Leslie.

Robert Leslie .

GRAND SECRETARY "ANCIENTS , " 1785-8 5 AND 1790—1813 . the

' ^ Trf ^ jjjfN former Christmas numbers of Freemaso n the ; 'E |/ H | 3 $ ; agreeable duty has uevolvn . upon me of describing > pBj @§! . : in detail the services rendered lo 1-reeniasoiiry by ! fp 3 | J |^ . prominent officers of one of the two Societies into MS ~^~ 3 il which the English Crait was divided during the latter half of the 18 th and the lirst 13 years of the present century . The two ollicers whose memoirs were

written were Bro . William Dickey , who was Deputy Grand Master from 1777 to 17 81 , and President of the Grand Committee in 17 82 ; and D . G . M . for the second time from 1 791 till his death in 1800 ; and Bro . Thomas Harper , who succeeded Bro .

Dickey , and remained in ollice till the Union of the two Societies on St . John's Day , in winter ( 27 th December ) 1813 . It is hardly necessary for me lo point out that these two worth y brethren were , after Latin nee Dermott , the ablest , as well as

among the most prominent , among the leaders of the " Ancient " Craft in England , and that it is , entirely due to their devoted attachment to the principles of that Society , ancl to the ability ,

skill , and judgment with which they guided its ship of state successfull y through the difficulties and dangers by which , almost to the close of its existence as a separate organisation ,

Robert Leslie.

it was beset , that thc " Ancient , " or " Athol / ' Masons were able to meet their more numerous and influential rivals—the Society of " Modern " English Masons—on a footing of absolute equality and arrange ; the terms and conditions of a Union that was equally honourable to both . Doubtless there were others who willingly

lent a helping hand towards maintaining "Ancient" English Masonry in its integrity . There were Bros . James Perry and James Agar , who successively occupied the chair of Deputy Grand Master , the former from 17 S 7 to 1 790 , under the

Earlafterwards Marquis—of Antrim ; and the latter from 1 790 to 1794 , during the greater part of which period John , 4 th Duke of Athol , who had been Grand Master from 1775 to 1 * 7 81 , again presided in that capacity , and retained his office till a few months prior to the Union .

There was also Bro . Robert Leslie , who , after a brief , but trying , experience as Grand Secretary from 178 3 to 1785 , was re-elected in 1 790 , and remained in ollice till the rival Societies

became one , and the distinctions between "Ancients" and "Moderns , " "Regulars" and " Schismatics , " were consigned to oblivion . He was also for several years Treasurer of the Institution for Clothing and Educating the sons of deceased and indigent Masons , " according to the old Institutions "—the

present koyal Masonic Institution for Boys—and it is in this latter capacity that , as will be gathered hereafter , we shall , in all probability , learn to esteem him most . But , just as between Laurence Dermott , on the one hand , and William Dickey and Thomas Harper on the other hand , there is a wide and well-nigh

impassable gulf , so between Dickey and Harper and Robert Leslie is there a gulf that is still wider and still more impassable . Laurence Dermott , Ahiman Rezon in hand , stands on the very highest eminence in '' Ancient" Masonry , of which during the greater part of the lirst 40 years of its existence he was , firstly ,

the organiser , and , latterly , the administrator ; Dickey and Harper occupy inferior positions , and Robert Leslie nnd the rest of his " Ancient " worthies positions that were inferior st ill . Nevertheless , he was a useful officer of his kind , ancl could do a day ' s drudgery witb the best of bis minor contemporaries . Apparently ,

indeed , he had a mind that was characterised by a love forthe petty detail and technical phraseology so beloved of the small attorney and notary public , to which profession he belonged . He could follow an instruction , but not originate one , and there is only a solitary instance that I have met with in the whole course

of his long secretarial career in which it is in evidence that he stepped out ol" himself , and proposed a scheme that had any pretensions to merit . It is of this useful , but unoriginal , Robert Leslie that I have- compiled from the "Ancient" records the following brief memoir :

Leslie , like many ofthe leading brethren of his day , belonged to both organisations , being a member of the " Modern " Globe Lodge and of "Ancient , " No . 5 , now Albion Lodge , No . 9 , ancl it is probably due to his connection with the latter , which was Dermott ' s favourite lodge , that he was indebted for his

advancement in the Society ; to this in part , at all events , and in part to his educational superiority over the mechanics , artisans and small shopkeepers , who , in London , formed the bulk of the " Ancient " Society . His lirst election to Grand Ollice was at the stated meeting in September , . 1782 , when he was chosen Junior G . Warden ,

and subsequentl y installed . But in March of the following year , on the resignation of Bro . Charles Bearblock as G . Secretary being accepted , Bro . Leslie was " discharged of his office of J . G . W . " and unanimously chosen to ( ill the vacant post , the Deputy Grand Master atthe time being Laurence Dermott . For

a time all went well , but little more than a year had elapsed ere we read in the minutes of a special meeting on thc 2 tjth March , 1784 , that a motion was " made and seconded tbat tha * Grand Lodge be closed and formed into a Grand Committee , " which being done , and Bro . Dickey placed in the chair , Bro . Leslie ,

as Grand Secretary , read a letier which had been addressed to him by Bro . Dermott , D . G . M ., under date , "Mile End , March ioth , 17 S 4 , " in which the Deputy takes him roundly to task for a r , umber of errors of omijsion and commission , but

chiefly for having issued a circular full of mistakes to the lodges and having taken upon himself to exercise the dispensing power of the Grand Master . In the course of this Idler occur such passages of severe censure , as the following :

" 't was my earnest wish lo see you G . S . and f do still profess a great friendshi p for you . Tint I am amazed at the contempt in which you . seem to bold the G . M . ( and his Deputy ) in usurping his power in many cases . More particularl y in a Dispensing power for congregating and forming a new lodge

and making Freemasons , & c , contrary to your most solemn engagements . Nor do I see how you can plead innocence without betraying ( he greatest ignorance in ( he duly of your office . Your talking of Endorsement is trul y ridiculous . Where does the law of the Craft give you a dispensing power ( even to make a new Mason ) . Consult the printed Regulations , you will not .