The British Museum.

AVith your kind permission I will ask these gentlemen a few plain questions . 1 . What has become of tbe new catalogue of the Sloanian collection mentioned in the parliamentary returns for the years 1810 to 1812 , as commenced , aud in progress , printed ( in part ) and indexed ? Why is Ayscough ' s catalogue , replete with blunders and nearly useless , jiermittcd to do duty in tho readingroom if another and better catalogue is in existence ? If describee ! and printed ( and of course paid for ) , why has it not long since been fbrthcomimz ?

2 . AVhere is the third volume of the catalogues of maps and drawings ? From the year 1815 wo continually read in the returns of this third volume as described and being printed , yet now , in I 860 , it appears to be no more than a pleasing illusion . The first two volumes , of four hundred and eighty pages each , took four years to complete ; the third has already attained its . fifteenth year ; how many are engaged upon it , and how much

has it already cost ? 3 . When will a suitable catalogue of the charters and rolls see daylight ? Their number is between 30 , 000 and 10 , 000 ; a few with length ) - descriptions and no indexes , others with meagre descriptions and indexes ill arranged , and several thousands innocent of either the one or the other . Are these records valuable or are tbey not ? If valueless , why purchase them ? If

valuable , why are they not indexed ? AVhy cannot good indexes nominum el locorum be supplied at once , in the place of two hundred and fifty or three hundred laboured descriptions in a foreign language annually ? Here , as with many other transactions carried on in this department , " the horse starves whilst the grass grows . " Whilst the university education of the officers aims at erudite compositions never availablea few auctioneers' clerks

, would step in at half price , and , in an " unvarnished" catalogue , madden the readers with deli ght . I feel , sir , that I have already occupied too much of your valuable space with my queries . My budget is by no means exhausted , and I have not yet done with the question , if you will allow me to return . again to the subject at a no very distant period . As I before observedI have for some years made it a practice to

ana-, lyze the parliamentary returns , and feel convinced that the members for whose especial use they are printed , would feel astonished at their meagre skeletonlike appearance , when divested of the official verbiage in ivhich they are arranged . I have the honour to be , Sir , your obedient servant , FEIXOAV CRAI-T .

Prov. G. M. L. Clothing.

PROV . G . M . L . CLOTHING .

TO THF . EDITOR OF THE FEEEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOB . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Please to inform " J . P . " that the proper clothing for Prov . G . Mark Lodge Officers should be collars of ribbon four inches broad , garter blue in the centre , and crimson for one inch on each edge , with a narrow gold lace on the innermost edges of the crimson . Aprons lined with garter blue , bordered with ribbon two inches wide , garter blue in the centre ,

with crimson edges , and gold lace on the innermost edges of the crimson ; the three rosettes to have a gold centre ; the emblem of office , in the centre of the apron , being of gold or garter blue , within a double circle , in ivhich must be inserted the name of the province . Past Masters and Masters of Lodges to have , in place of the rosettes , perpendicular lines or horizontal lines , thereb y forming three several sets of two right angles , the length of the

horizontal lines being two inches ancl a half , and of the perpendicular lines one inch each , to be in gold , or of the same colours as in the border of the apron . —Yours fraternally , May % id , 1860 . R . E . X .

Visitors' Certificates.

VISITORS' CERTIFICATES .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FUI'EMASONs' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOB . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I was very much grieved to see in the Magazine of the 21 st ult ., the account by Bro . Cooke , of Kentucky , of the reception he met with on the 22 nd March , at a Lodge in Devonport . Surely there must be something radicall y wrong in the laws of the Grand Lodge of England if they require that one qualification for the admission of a foreign brother to

our Lodges shall be the production of a certificate such as we English Masons hold ; when it may be a rule of his Grand Lodge not to grant certificates , and when he therefore cannot possibl y hold one . I observe in the same number of the Magazine a letter hearing upon this question by "N . C . " of Manchester , who says that lie will not admit strangers to his Lodge unless they can produce certificates . Nov .- this may happen when the applicants for ad-

Visitors' Certificates.

mission are better Masons than himself—able to satisfy the most cautious of their claims to bo recognized as brethren—brimful of Masonic lore , and ready and willing to give sound advice on knotty questions , founded on their varied and extended experiences of the usages ofthe Order—able to expatiate on the beauties ofthe Craft , or to give instruction to the assembled brethren such as might not be without profit even to "N . C . " himselfand yet

; , forsooth , because they have not their Grand Lodge parchments in theirpockets , they must be rejected as cowans . The idea is preposterous I To carry out a system like this would be the surest deathblow to that universality of the Masonic bond which is at once the boast and the charm of our Order .

l'aney Bro . Cliow-Chow-Bow-AA ow from the Celestial City , Bro . Cru-las-Hassan from Grancl Cairo , or a distinguished brother from the Court of the Grancl Cham ofTartary presenting himsell to"N . C . " of Manchester , or the courteous "P . M . " of Devonport , for admission to a Lodge . According to the grancl dictum now thrust upon us , the " open sesame" of the Craft would be of no avail to them . These children of the rising sun must produce their parchmentsand having produced them ( as we will imagine

, to be the case ) , are they to remain in the custody of the Tyler until these worthy and sagacious guardians of the inner chamber can decipher the Chinese , the Arabic , the Sanscrit , the Hebrew , the Persian , the Teutonic , the Latin , the Slavonic , or the Celtic , as it may happen to be , or the various dialects of any or either of them , ivhich may be submitted to their perusal ? Of course , having undertaken the task , they will not shrink

from it . Having got the certificate , they will not unjustly send away the wanderer on account of their inability to make " head or tail" of his documents . They will perform their self-allotted task , and having performed it to their own satisfaction , will declare to the Lodge on their honour , that , after an attentive perusal of their unknown brother ' s very funny papers , they find them perfectly en regie . Now , Bro . Editor , to be serious , how can such a rule be carried

out without limiting our Masonic privileges and sympathies to the bounds ( most extensive no doubt ) of the Grand Lodge of England , or such as in a similar manner grant certificates . Many Grand Lodges give no certificates , as Bro . Cooke explained to the Devonport brethren- , and whether their rule or ours is the best is another question , which ought not to influence our conduct in the exercise or enjoyment of universal Masonry . I hold that your answer to " Inquirer" on the 14 th April

, , that "there is no law of the Grand Lodge of England positively forbidding the admission of an unknown brother without a certificate , if he can prove himself a Mason , " is perfectly correct . The Master promises not to admit visitors unless they can produce proper vouchers ; but a voucher is not necessarily a written document . Voucher ( from French , voir , ; Latin , vox , voco ; Sanscrit , vacli ) , the sense of the verb being to throw or drive out

sound ; in fact , our word voice is , in law , " the act of calling in a person to make good his warranty of title . " A voucher is " one who gives witness or full attestation to anything . " A good Mason will carry his vouchers in his head ; and that Bro . Elisha D . Cooke , of Kentucky , United States , can produce vouchers , without pencil or parchment , sufficient to satisfy the greatest stickler for routine and red tape that ever raised the dander of an honest American brother , it is unnecessary for me to assert .

I had the pleasure of listening to a most interesting address from Bro . Cooke in our Lodge a few months ago , and I subsequently enjoyed an hour ' s conversation with him at " my own fireside , " and a better informed Mason , or a more gentlemanlike , agreeable , and unassuming young man I have rarely met . He can afford to smile at the sort of Masonic greeting which he received at Devonport . I hope he has seen too much of English Masonry to judge us harshly on account of that little incident . Probably our

Devonport brethren will be ready to admit that a mistake was committed in this instance ; unless , indeed , it be that , having previously heard of Bro . Cooke ' s keen appreciation of pure Masonry , they adopted " discretion as the better part of valour . " I am , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally and respectfully , North Shields , May 1 st , 1800 . W . ' M . ST . GEORGE .

SOMETHING NEW FOE THE TURKS . —A rather unusual sight has presented itself to the gaze of the inhabitants of Galata and Pera , in the form of a genuine Hansom cab , thoroughly turned out in the first London style . The admirable manner in which the driver bowled his light and elegant trap through the crowded main streets of Galata excited general admiration . This novel equipage is the property of his hi ghness Ilbami Pasha .