Reviews Of New Books.

REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS .

History of Freemasonry in Kentucky , in its Relation lo the Symbolic Degrees . B y Bro . Bon Momus , Grancl Master of Kentucky .. Louisville , Kentucky , U . S . : Rob Morris . — This volume ,- a copy of which we have been favoured with through Bro . Elisha Cooke , the able assistant of Bro . Morris now on a visit to England , not only contains a succint history of the Craft in Kentucky , but also a current history of contemporaneous Masonic events in other states of the Union and foreign countrieswith a variety of

statis-, tical tables , showing tbe research of the author . The work commences with the introduction of Freemasonry upon the American continent , about 1733 , the first chapter being devoted to the establishment of the earlier "Lod ges , Grand and subordinate , down to 1800 , at ivhich period there were five Lodges in Kentucky , viz .: at Lexington ' , Paris , Georgetown , Frankfort and Shelbyville . There were thirteen Grancl Loclges in the United States , viz .: Connecticut , organized 1789 ; Georgia , 17 SG ; Maryland , 1781 ;

. Alassaehusetts , 1777 ; New Hampshire , 1789 ; New Jersey , 1786 '; New York , 1 . 787-, North Carolina , 1787 ; Pennsylvania , 1786 ; Rhode Island , 1791 ; South Carolina , 1787 ; Vermont , 1794 ; Virginia , 1778 . In the first chapter there is also given a complete bibliography , so far as possible , of all the Masonic works prior to 1800 , adding to the value of the work . The second chapter presents all the facts procurable from the archives of Lodges , files of newspapers and oral traditions , throwing light upon the organization of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky , the first ever established in the great valley of the Mississippi , now governed by twenty or more . It

presents the names of those pioneers iu Masonry who assembled in September and October , 1800 , at Lexington , to found a new Masonic empire , and whose work , commencing with a feeble membership of 150 Masons , divided into five Lodges , has changed to a band of 12 , 000 , bailing from 302 Loclges , having from year to year sent out offshoots which formed the nuclei of all the other Grand Loclges in the AVest . The prefatory remarks of this chapter arc peculiarly impressive , showing forcibly the causes ivhich

led the Masons of Kentucky at so early a day to unite for the dissemination of their principles and the consolidation of their Masonic interests . The summing up of the period from 1800 to 1809 displays an increase from five Lodges to fourteen , ancl of Masons from one hundred and fifty to three hundred . Loclges had been organized by the Grancl Lodge of Kentucky in Tennessee , Ohio , Indiana , and Mississippi ; a Grancl Lodge in Ohio had been formed in 1800 . Each decennial in the history forms a section , at the end

of which is a summary of the important Masonic events of that era . These constitute a most valuable feature of the volume , ancl , by the aid of a copious index enable the reader to trace up any particular facts at pleasure . The obsecpiies of Joseph Hamilton Daviess , killed at Tippecanoe , November 7 , 1811 , while Grancl Master , are given at considerable length , likewise those of Thomas Smith AVebb , honoured by the Masons of Kentucky as the brightest light of the age , he being the "Preston" of America—founding his lectures , with but trifling variations , on those of our own Preston . He died July , 1819 . The statistical tables are formed with immense labour , ancl present every variety of Masonic facts the reader can possibly demand ,