Ancient And Primitive Masonry.

beautiful ceremony in any known system of Masonry . The oroceedings were closed with enthusiastic wishes for the progress of the Rite .

Scotland.

Scotland .

GLASGOW . —Lodge St . Mungo ( No . 27 ) . — The regular monthly meeting of this lodge was held in St . Mark ' s Hall on Thursday , the 20 th inst ., the W . M ., gro . D . Butler , presiding , supported , in the unavoidable absence of his Wardens , by Bros . A . Bain , P . M . 103 , p . G . B . B ., acting S . W . ; W . Ferguson , P . M . 543 ( " Freemason " ) , acting J . W . The meeting was well

attended , and among those present were Bros . Mc Ewan , jun ., Dory , S . S . ; Taylor , Archt . ; Albin , Dir . of Music ; Booth , and Sharpe . Visitors : Bros . J . Louttit , W . M . Athole , No . 413 ; Thomson , 413 ; T . Brownlie , 413 ; W . Brownlie , 413 ; W . Christie , Lodge Acacia , No . 61 , Hamilton , Canada ; J . Beaton , jo 5 ; Coutts , 354 ; Alexander , 275 ; W . Perritt ,

441 ; J- A . Campbell , 5 81 ; and others . Two gentlemen were initiated by Bro . Ferguson , P . M . 543 . Their names are Messrs . A . Mason Adam and R . Mait-\ and . The lodge was called to refreshment , when Bro . Butler , W . M ., proposed the following toasts , viz ., " The Queen and Craft , " " The Three Grand Lodges , " " The Provincial Grand Lodge of Glasgow "—Bro . Bain ,

p . G . B . B ., ably replied on behalf of " The P . G . L . ;" " The Newly-laid Stones "—Bro . Maitland replied . "The Visiting Brethren" was proposed in Bro . Bain ' s usual able style , and replied to by Bro . Louttit , W . M . 413 . Tne W . M . proposed " The Health of Bro . McDonald , " a veteran member of the lodge , which was heartily responded to . Bro . McDonald replied , and thanked the W . M . and

the members of the lodge for their kindly notice , and said he was glad to be present in St . Mungo Lodge once more , and concluded , with the sanction of thc W . M ., in proposing "The Health of Bro . Ferguson , P . M . 543 , " and complimented him on the manner he performed the First Degree . During the evening Bro . Coutts gave some selections of music on the harmonium , which were highly

applauded , and Bros . McDonald , Sharpe , Perritt , and Adam ably contributed to the evening ' s enjoyment by singing some excellent songs . Bro . Ferguson , P . M . 543 , was unanimously elected an honorary member of St . Mungo Lodge , No . 27 . Bro . Ferguson returned thanks for the honour conferred . GLASGOW . — Lodge Clyde ( No . 408 ) . —An

emergency meeting of this lodge was held in St . Mark's Hall , on Friday , the 21 st inst ., at 7 p . m . Bro . W . Harper , W . M ., being absent on account of important business , the chair was occupied by Bro . John Mclnnes , S . M ., supported by the other office-bearers . Visitors : Bros . G . McDonald , W . M . Thistle and Rose , 73 ; J . Louttit , W . M . Athole , 413 ; J . M . Oliver , S . W . " Commercial ,

3 60 ; and W . Ferguson , P . M . St . John ' s , 543 . The lodge having been opened in due form , Messrs . Robert Irvine and Thomas Chivas were initiated into tie E . A . Degree by Bro . McDonald , W . M . 73 . Mr . J . Baillie wis also initiated by Bro . Oliver , S . W . 3 60 . Four brethren were then passed by Bro . Louttit , W . M . 413 ; and afterwards three brethren were raised by Bros . Oliver and Louttit .

Freemasonry In Mourning.

FREEMASONRY IN MOURNING .

On the evening of Thursday , the 29 th of June , a solemn and impressive ceremonial took place in the Lodge St . John , Falkirk , No . 16 . The beautiful little Gothic hall was filled to the full , and as the brethren appeared in deep mourning costume , with their brightest badges and grandest jewellery craped for the occasion , there was an

air of unusual solemnity took possession of the assen . bled brotherhood . They had met to do honour to the memory of Brc . Alex . Shields , Past Master of the Lodge ; and if aught can be inferred from the numbers who were present , including representative deputations from a distance , or from the high choral and responsive service , or from the manifold repetition of the Grand Honours , not to speak of

ihe Grand Oration pronounce , 1 in honour of the depaited , lie must have been a man and a brother of surpassing excellence , the range of whose influence , while it irradiated the Masonic circle that had been doing honour to his memory , must have stretched c ut far beyond it , and encircled a wider humanity by far than even Masonry , with its farteaching sympathies , can embrace .

Bro . Beeby , R . W . M ., conducted the proceedings with masterl y effect . Bro . Falconer , by the voice of the lodge , was called upon , as Chaplain , to pronounce the oration in memory of the departed ; and Bro . Maxwell M filler , Grand Director of Music for the Grand Lodge of Scotland , presided at the harmonium , and by the sweetness , the grace , and the grandeur of his performances , lent a grave and

solemn enthusiasm to the brethren all . After the j ° dge was opened amid solemn , and indeed awful , silence , he made "The Dead March in Saul" thrill through the brethren ; and after the raising of the lodge and thc subline prayer of the Chaplain , he threw his soul into a ^> acred Voluntary , " which itself seemed like an oration """ Which in its cadences fell and rose , between the gloom 01 the grave anj the glory of the goal—till it was lost the

n mysterious splendours of the unseen . In the whole ererponial , however , nothing was more imposing than the P'rit of prayerfulness and of praise which presided over ne mystic scene . You could have almost heard the pro-Mbial pin fall throughout the whole proceedings ; but j ' , Sest of all , the manly voices of the brethren , whether psalmody or in recitative iesponce , left upon the mind tari lmpreSS ' on of awful silence and solitariness—the soli-Wa mess and 'he silence of the grave . And yet neither the psalmod y nor the responsive service more grave

Freemasonry In Mourning.

than befitted the occasion . Indeed , the ceremonial could hardly be haloed with sweeter hopefulnes ; . For though in one part of the service of song there was sung" Frail man , how like thc meteor ' s blaze—How evanescent are thy days !" Yet in another part of thc same sacred service the song was changed from the grave to the glorious , and thc

brethren sang " Waft him , angels , through the skies , " Far above yon azure plain . " So may we report of the service with responses . At the opening of the lodge it is— " Naked we came into the world , " & c . ; but at its close it is transfoimed into the nobler voice— " Glory to God on High , on earth peace and

good will toward men . " In the midst of this august ceremonial Bro . Falconer , who appeared robed , clothed , and jewelled for the occasion , was called upon by Bro . Beeby , R . W . M ., to pronounce a death oration over the departed brother and Master , when he , as Chaplain , rose and spoke somewhat as follows : —Right Worshipful Master , Senior and Junior

Wardens , and brethren all , —It has ere now fallen to my lot , as one of Her Majesty ' s Chaplains for her forces in Scotland , to pronounce a funeral oration over a departed hero . A case so sad , so solemnizing , 1 keep within view at this most impressive moment . It was that of a brother of the mystic tie . He had gone to the Crimea to fight the battles ^ of his country , but , wounded and enfeebled , he

was sent home to die . Well , I recollect one dark day , when seated by his death-bed in the hospital , I asked him how his blood could ever surge into the tumultuous swellings of fierce and bloody war ? when the dying soldier , swinging himself round upon his arm , replied— " By God , sir , when your brother ' s brains bespatter your breast you will understand how quenchless is the thirst for blood . "

Well do I recollect that when pronouncing his funeral oration there was not a dry eye as I quoted his dying words : — " It is not in an hospital the soldier would like to die ; no , sir , but it is upon the battlefield , with his back upon thc cold ground and his face to the bright blue sky . " Right Worshipful Master , it is not a brother ' s brains that bespatter our breasts to-night ; no , but it is

the radiant glow of a brother ' s life that gilds our bosoms with more than ihe effulgence of a warrior ' s breastplate to defend us from the fierce and fiery darts of the Evil One , alone opposed to our Order , as the scions of the cedar , the sons of thc temple , and the servants tf the temple's god . Like Him whom we delight to honour , our voice is not for war . We choose the trowel , not the sword ; the compass ,

net the arrow ; while we pass on to glory , nt . t through the battlements that bristle with thc mortal weapens of the foe above the embrazures , scarce less wide than the cannon ' s mouth with its diagon ' s breath ; but we march on to our triumphant aims through the pillared monuments of the Jachin of Beauty and the Boa / , if Strength , overarched by the span tf a presiding Providence ,

until we reach , after we have trodden the tcsselated pavement of truth , that inner shrine where the awful Shekinah enfolds , as with the wings of the dove , the spirit of the departed brother . Right Worshipful Master , —Kings and potentates have delighted to do honour to our most ancient and Ro 3 "al Order . And proudam I to call to remembrance at this hour the honour done to

our august and loyal brotherhood , when the heir r . pparcnt to the proudest throne 011 earth was preparing for his brave joumty to Britannia ' s realms in the rising sun , His Royal Highness did not forget to deposit in his princely wardrobe the clothiug of a Master of our Order , from the star that adorns the breast to the gauntlet that shields the hand , and the lambskin that preserves , unsullied , the loins . Nor

should I even forget at this moment thc auspicious occasion in my field of labour in which this lodge took so conspicuous a part ; and most pleasing is it to record that the nobleman who at that august ceremonial presided as representative of the Grand Lodge in Scotland—I mean Bro . Loid Balfour , of Burleigh—extended his noble hand , sinewed by the strength and quickened by the blood of a

Royal ancestry , to grip the grim and begrimed hand of the miner , whom , as a Mason , he hailed as a brother . Yes ; it is this humanity that makes Masonry truly great . Recognising all that promotes thc honour , the harmony , and the faith of our ancient and Royal Order , she delights to promulgate her creed , that there is nothing human that is not divine . Our departed brother , with a rich and rare

combination of all thc gems that go to form the jewellery of our guild , so viewed humanity ; and his sacred memory commands our homage in that he recognised the divinity that stirs within thc breast of the meanest , the most fallen of the sons of men . With a spirit steeped in the empyrean of our Order , he traced and quarried out , and chiselled , and deposited in our mystic temple material , raw indeed and

incapable , to less discerning eye . He was a Mason ; out and out a Mason ; every inch of him , from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot . Proud of his ritual , which I recollect he once characterised as more sublime and comprehensive than that of any Church on earth ; proud of its symbolism , which he regarded as more affluent in its mystic meaning than aught that has passed under review

of man since the inaugural day when King Solomon , our Royal and inspired founder , erected on Mo . jnt Moriah the temple of our divinity , he imported into the conduct of this lodge a gravity and a dignity , a repose and a devotion , which so becomes an Order whose past is almost hid behind the veil of prehistoric time , but whose present is ever flushed with the glow of perennial vigour . Keenly did

his clear eye and clearerointelligencc discern the mission Masonry is destined to fulfill . Pass in thought over the realms of Christendom ; command nation after nation to marshal themselves beneath your piercing eye , and your sad deliverance must be , that the seamless garment of the Prince of Peace is torn into fragments , and the veil of His temple rent in twain from top to bottom . Is it so with

Freemasonry In Mourning.

Masonry ? No ; and a thousand times no . It is not . All the wide world over it is One—One only—and an undivided and indivisible One . And it is One and indivisible because it possesses a loyalty , a subordination , and a fraternity elsewhere forgotten or ignored . Our departed brother made it his supreme duty to convey from his guild to the world this comprehensive , . his all-embracing

spirit ; and he was simply a good Mason because hi had a heart broad enough to embrace , like the Great Master Builder , all castes and classes , ranks and denominations amongst mankind . Right Worshipful Master , it is sometimes our privilege , as it is our undoubted province , to lay the foundation stone of architectural structures , destined to beautify the scenery or enrich the civilisation of our land .

Oh ! how may I call the present such a hallowed occasion ? To-night we lay a foundation stone that shall support for ever this lodge . Aye ! Bro . Alexander Shields lies now before you as a foundation stone . Descending , in solemn music , he has been deposited in his place of honour and repose . The jewellry of the Order has been applied ; nothing has been found wanting ; and it only

remains that over that foundation stone we shall erect a temple to his everlasting honour . " So mote it be . " You \\ ho have seen , as all of you have seen , a brother elevated to the Sublime and lofty Degree of a Master Mason , must have discerned in the act a recognition of the awe-inspiring doctrine of a resurrection to come ; and it is your creed that the brother who has been true has passed from this

vestibule to the inner shrine , upborne on seraphic wings ; that he reposes in everlasting peace , enshrouded by the glory that illumines the Holy of Holies ; that he has whispered into the Eternal Ear the awful word of a Master Mason , and received in return the sound of that name which no true Mason dares to bieathe on earth . We part with our departed brother , then , in the blessed hope of a

resurrection to come . So farewell , beloved brother , farethee-wcll ! Farewell , Right Worshipful Master , fare-theewell I No more shall thy clear eye bejewel this august assembly . No more shall thy clearer intelligence direct its councils . No more shall , clearest of all , thy life , which embodied thc strength of our faith , the glow of our love , and the halo of our hope , be apparent to the

eye . My brother beloved , fare-the-well I 'Thou shalt still live in our hearts , whilst the hand of the Master Mason shall build thee a monument to perpetuate thy memory from age to age . We shall meet again in the lodge which on the great day of account shall be opened , never , never more to be closed . Till then , beloved brother , anil Right Worshipful Master , fare-thee-well I

After this death eulogium there was that sort of emotion one sometimes , though not cften , perceives at the close of an eloquent and impressive discourse ; but one might have as well expected demonstrations of feeling in the house of God as looked for plaudits on so solemnising an occasion . After exhausting the funeral programme , the R . W . M . addressed the brethren , briefly , though cordially and most fraternally , acknowledging the kindness of the deputations

present ; the offices of the Chaplain and the Grand Director of Music ; and at the same time thanking the lodge for the solemn and most becoming tone which they had imparted to their grateful meeting . After prayer from thc Chaplain , the lodge was duly closed , every member satisfied that Masonry was loftier , sublimer , and holier than he had ever dreamt of or conceived .

Multum In Parbo; Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo ; or Masonic Notes and Queries .

AN ANCIENT JEWEL . The following is the description of an ancient jewe kindly forwarded to us for inspection by Bro . R . H . Armit : — On one side there are three arches , a man setting the keystone of the centre one , with a crowbar on the centre one . Within the centre arch are a volume of the sacred

book open , with square and compasses on i '( and the five pointed star ; in front are two pedestals , wi ^ h the square and compasses on one and the square on the other ; to the right of the arches are the sun and plumb line , and to the left the moon and level ; to the right of the pedestals are grouped a maul , square , hammer , and chisel , and on thc left a pair of compasses , chisel , and block of stone

with the letter u on it . The groundwork of the whole is a tesselated pavement . Motto round he bottom : " Sit Lux et lux fuit . " On the other side is a temple ; two men are on the roof , another is going up a ladder placed against the wall , and the fourth is guiding a stone with a rope which is being raised to the roof ; on a raised piece of ground to the right is a carpenter ' s bench , a man with an apron on standing in front of it holding a square in

his hand , whilst another is pointing to the roof of the temple with a stick ; under them are grouped a maul , a trowel , a pickaxe , and a crowbar . Motto round bottom : " Amor honor justitia . " The jewel was presented to my father , the late John Lees Arniit , of Dublin , while in Naples in 1832 , by Prince Syracuse , the King of Naples' brother—at least , that is the history received from n-iy mother . It was considered ancient . —R . H . A .

Switzerland.

SWITZERLAND .

We learn from the " Monde Maconnique" that the Grand Lodge Alpina and the Supreme Council of the 33 * for Switzerland have made a concordat , by which all the symbolical lodges pass under the jurisdiction of the former and all the High Grade bodies under the jurisdiction of the latter .