Masonic Notes And Queries.

LITERARY CONTROVERSY . A distinguished member of Grand Lodge thinks that no educated Mason will take part in a Literary Controversy in which the language employed resembles that which follows : — " They had " their bit of apron washing . English Masons were , of course ,

mechanics . I wonder -what else they could be ? Gentleman , eh ! Did they wear white kid gloves and silk aprons , whilst working at their stones in ancient times ?" See a communication in " Freemason ' s Magazine , " vol . 22 , page 229 , where a statement of Brother Findel ' s History is challenged , and denied by a contributor . —A PAST PBOVINCIAL GEAND MASTJEE .

A FACT WANTED . An Entered Apprentice ( Oxford ) , who refers to the communication entitled " The Four Old London Lodges , " ( "Freemason ' s Magazine , " vol . 24 , page 249 . ) sends me a paper , of which a verbatim copy is subjoined : — "A fact is wanted for the support of

the 1717 theory . A contributor is not , however , at ja loss . He forthwith invents the fact , and then gravely tells us— " If this fact be kept in mind , many imaginary objections to the 1717 theory will soon vanish ?"

THE 1717 THEORY PARTLY PROPOUNDED . In looking through a Contributor ' s communications , a London Brother will not be long in finding passages in which the 1717 theory is partly propounded , in the fashion of him who claims to be the author . OE one of these passages a memorandum was

made by me a short time ago . It is as follow : — "It seems to me that Desaguliers and Anderson * got themselves well posted up in the history of the English guilds and their customs , after which they adapted , altered , and so moulded things to suit themselves , and io make up the system they were forming . "

THE REVIVAL . With respect to the Eevival , a Brother writes that matters stand thus . There is a detailed account of it by Preston . This account , English , American , and German authors , alike consider satisfactory and adopt . But a Contributor does not consider it satisfactory

, and , consequently , he has , as he asserts , given ua the theory of which we have lately heard so much . As yet , hoAvever , there is nothing to shoAV that , himself excepted , the theory has been seriously adopted hy a single member of our Craft . —A PAST PROVINCIAL GEANB MABTEE .

OUR FREEMASONRY . The principles which Speculative Masonry has chosen to adopt are noble and elevating , and according as they are carried out into action or otherwise hy it , so is Freemasonry honoured or censured by them . If Freemasonry is to be true to itself it will

stand by its princi ples , and if Freemasons are to be true to Freemasonry they will think less of pretensions and more of principles . — "W . P . B . THE A . AND A . RITE AND FREDERICK THE GREAT . I am asked whether I reall y believe in the constitutions of Frederick the Great , and I answer that

I believe as fully in the fact that he really was the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the 33 rd degree , and signed the constitutions which bear his name , as that King Solomon was Grand Master , — that King Athelstan gave a charter to the Freemasons , that the St . Glairs were heriditary Grand Masters of Scotland , and that the Baldwyn Encampment of Rnights Templar at Bristol dates from the time of Kichard 1 st . —M 31 .

THE LETTER " G . " About the dormer of the middle chamber of Solomon ' s Temple in plain view of all who entered , Avas inscribed the Ineffable Name ; and in the place representing the middle chamber in a Mason ' s Lodge , an emblem is suspended to which the attention of the

initiate is particularly directed , possessing the same symbolic allusion as in the temples of Edfou and Solomon- Thus the symbol is traced back to a time anterior to that in which Abraham left the land of Ur of the Chaldees and journeyed to Egypt for the Temple of Edfou was even then an ancient buildiug .

The triangle with a jod in the centre was the original symbol ; hut during the dark ages , when Masonry was in the hands of unlettered men , the explanation of this symbol was lost or forgotten ; and about the time the English word God came into use , the letter G was substituted for the triangle and a new

explanation given . Masonry had fallen into the hands of , and for a long series of years was almost entirely cultivated by , bodies of travelling architects and builders , until it began to be considered an operative

association . An acquaintance with geometry , is necessary to a thorough knowledge of architecture , and the letter G being the initial of geometry , was explained as the symbol of that science . The letter G occupies a prominent position in several of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Kite , in Adonhiramite Masonry , and , in factin every one

, of the many systems in which the people of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were so prolific in manufacturing . Wherever we find this recondite symbol in any of the Masonic rites , it has the same significance—a substitute for the Hebraic jod , the initial letter of the divine name , and a monogram that

expressed the uncreated being , principle of all things ; and , enclosed in a triangle , the unity of God . We recognise the same letter G in the Syriac God , the Swedish Gud , the German Gott and the English God—all names of theDeity . and all derived from the Persian Goda , itself derived the absolute pronoun signifying himself . The Young Craft is the representative of a student of the sciences , and to him the letter G represents the science of geometry . —JPierson .

A BEAUTIJUI ; EXTBACT . —Cease to be selfish , aud seek to serve others . - In that chiefly duty consists , and the duties of life constitute the value of life . Without them , the human being ; would be but an animal . AA e cannot throw off the chain of inter-dependency that bids us to others of our kind . Wo may annihilate their sympathies for us , aud so impoverish ourselves , but we cannot escape their enmity , their contempt , and the fatal ell ' ects of their retributive selfishness . Our good deeds

and kindly offices done to others are the augels that watch over and smile upon our dreams , and make it easy to die . The poorest of men is he to whom no oue is indebted for kindness ; the richest , he whom most men owe for favours unrequited . — Albert Pike .