Masonic * Notes And Queries.

every Grand Lodge in the world , and of all the incidents bearing directly or collaterally on the subject . It gives also a thorough digest of Masonic law and usage , enabling the reader to form correct views on any question that may arise in the jurisprudence of Masonry ; a dictionary of Masonic terms is added , also description of Masonic regalia , jewels , and so forth , of Grand and subordinate Bodges . To the whole is prefixed a

-complete analytical index , which will enable the reader to put his finger upon any point he wants to refer to without difficulty or loss of time . This edition is dedicated to Judge Lawrence , of Marietta , Georgia—the polished and accomplished editor of the Signet and Journal—who is referred to in the figurative language of Freemasonry , as ' the pillar of beauty of the Order in the South . '"

Is anything known of this book in England , or will any brother say where it can be seen ?—INQUIRER . A LODGE HINT . It was a source of p leasure to me to be present at a lodgo mooting , a few evenings ago , under an intelligent W . M . The able manner in which he discharged

all the duties of his office , the attention that his manner of discharging those duties commanded from the brethren , the earnest desire of every brother present to hear each word that fell from his lips , the readiness with which his decisions were bowed to , and the satisfaction they gave the brethren , all went to convince me that our Worshipful Brother was indeed Master of his

"lodge . One feature I noticed especially , and it particularly pleased me : the regular business of the lodge was over , there was no work ; and , instead of closing his lodgo as most W . M . ' s do under such circumstances , he said , " Brethren , we cau uow spend half an hour profitably in a Masonic conversation ; is there any subject ou which any brother requires light ? or has any brother

any suggestion to make that may benefit us all as Masons ? Let us have a regular family talk over Masonic matters generally . " A Masonic family talk followed that interested all the brethren present—I know it interested me . There was no subtle discussion ; no effort at display ; no attempt at getting a personal triumph . The eliciting of knowledge only seemed to be the object

of every one present . How many W . M . ' s might follow this excellent example , and have their Masonic conversations , their talk over Masonic matters , with profit and satisfaction to themselves aud their brethren generally ! —FIDES .

NAME OF HIRAM ABIFF . In the number for July Sth of the present year are two communications ou the name of Hiram Abiff ; the first , signed "A > " being remarkable for its good sense and erudition , whilst the latter seems calculated to mislead from its want of the previously mentioned good qualities . The latter article is signed "R . E . X ., " and to this my

attention was drawn in looking over the monthly part . Being away from all but a few books , it is not easy to produce quotations , but it is imperatively necessary to correct false analogies and impressions being circulated under the cloak of special knowledge . The writer of the article in question refers to Brown ' s Dictionary ( of what he does not state ) , where , he says , Abi or Ab is supposed

to signify " father . " Now Brown is either an authority on derivations or ho is not , just which ever way the writer chooses , for in either case those who do not know Brown ' s Dictionary will be content to rank him ; but it does appear singular that the author of a dictionary , all the compilers of which kind of book borrow so largely from each other , should only suppose what the majority of works assert

to be well understood . Either Brown is an original etymologist , or he is nothing . Donaldson ' s Freemasons' Companion is also cited as proving what Brown only supposed , but Donaldson himself is a myth , for in no list of Masonic writers does any such author occur . "E .. E . X . " says , "in Oliver ' s Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry he is called Hiram the Builder ( quotation from

Mackey ' s work ) . " This statement is so deliciously involved that it is puzzling to know whether Oliver is quoting from Mackey , and also from what work of his ; or if Mackey is quoting from Oliver ? Mackey has written , perhaps it may be said , speaking withia compass , a score of books on Masonry ; but which of these is intended by the writer must be pure guesswork .

Bro . How is also called upon to furnish his definition ; but " R . E . X ., " though " calling spirits from the vasty deep , " does not know what to do with them when they obey , and so he makes nothing of Bro . How . A pamphlet is referred to as being in the Bodleian Library , Oxon , entitled , so says the writer , Hurim and Thummimo . Here " R . E . X . " evidently trips in his

latinity . Oxon . is an abbreviation for a proper name , Oxoniensis , and not for the city or shire of Oxford . As for Hurim and Thummimo , that is sheer nonsense , neither Hebrew or Latiu , but gibberish . How the tracing-boards of the Apollo University Lodge are to command respect and settle a disputed point 3000 years old , or of what service the incorrect Hebrew

quoted from them is to the author of that communication , appears nowhere on the surface of it . Aud now permit me to show , from learned authors of repute , what they have understood of Abif . The [ Rev . Alfred Jones , in his Proper Navies of the Old and New Testament Scriptures Expounded and Illustrated , gives the word and its etymology in tho following manner : —¦ "ABI , > 3 X * Alhiy , A 0 ov , Abi , "Father , " ? aN abld , construct

of UK abh , father , a primitive noun common to all the Phcenieio-Shemetic languages . It is used also of ancestor , founder of a nation , of an author , a teacher , especially the chief counsellor of a king , as Hainan was called Setireos naTi / p of Arfcaxerxes , and in modern times called Vizier . —Gen . x . 21 ; xxviii . 13 : xlv . 8 ; Judges xvii . 10 ; Job , xxix . 16 ; xxxviii . 28 . " The mother of HezekiahKing of Judahand daughter of

, , Zechariah . Occurs 2 Kings , xviii . 2 . " In the parallel place , 2 Chron . xxix . 1 , it is more fully and correctly written ri ^ X Abhiyah , Abijab , 'father of the Lordj ' and Gesenius says , that in some copies this is also the reading in Kings . " And Dr . Eitto , iu his Gyclopcedia of Biblical Literature ,

sub voce Hiram , or Huram , says : — " He was son of a widow of the tribe of Dan , and of a Tyrian father . He was sent by the King of the same name to execute the principal works of the interior of the Temple , and the various utensils required for the sacred services . We recognise in the enumeration of this man's talents by the King of Tyre a character common in the industrial history of the ancientsviz .

, , a skilful artificer , knowing all the arts , or at least many of those arts which we practice , in their different branches . It is probable that he was selected for this purpose by the King from among others equally gifted , in the notion that his half Hebrew blood would render him the more acceptable at Jerusalem . " —HEEEEORD .

THE THUGS NOT MASONS . Miss Corner , in her India , Pictorial , Descriptive , and Historical , whilst discoursing ofthe Thugs , says : — "The proceedings of tho Thugs are facilitated by the use of a peculiar language , called Moor , known ouly to themselves , and by a code of Masonic signs , by which they are enabled to recognise a member of the fraternity

wherever they may meet . " And the lady then proceeds to give several of their signs , none of which bear the faintest resemblance to any in use amongst us . It is too bad to be branded in this way , as allied to murderers , and all because persons , when writing , choose to express their notions of secresy by likening such things to a secret society , of which they have heard much but know

nothing . —H . B . ELEVEN TO MAKE A LODGE . When was it that it required eleven brethren to be present in order to make a lodge ?—f-j-t-