Masonic Notes And Queries.

1723 , wherever ' Master Mason' would be employed ( as ice should judge ) if such then existed , excepting in the first quotation , as above . In the postscript , the Master and Wardens are clearly Fellow Crafts , and when the ' Master' occurs , it evidently refers to the Fellow Craft as Master of the lodge , and in no other sense . ' The charges of a Master' are the charges for

the rule of a lodge . My opinion is that the word ' Master' in the Constitutions A . D . 1723 , means the office of Master of a lodge . " The two remarks " of said lodge ' ' and " as we should judge , " which are within brackets are mine , and as the above is sent for the purpose of my commenting

upon it , I proceed to do so . We ask why are " Apprentices' ' ' to be made " Masters" if the meaning is Master of a lodge ? The lodge could surely choose its own Master ; and when they did so , it was from the Fellow Crafts . Then in "Postscript" we find the new Master elected or selected in

, the lodge , seemingly as a matter of course , and also installed into his office and position , as also the Wardens "in their proper place . " Then all this is to be " notifyed to the other lodges . " Then , at clause 7 ,

we find that the candidate is to receive more light , or "other good usages , '' at a future time , which usages , it seems to me , refer to the two higher degrees . We further ask how , unless there was a dodge in the matter , the reading in clause 13 does not say " Apprentices are to be admitted Fellow Crafts , and all Masters of lodges elected hereunless ba dispensation ? " M

, y y friend admits that "it is probable by 1720 the Master Mason ' s degree was instituted . " Very good ; if so , what more natural than that the 13 th clause , which " would seem certainly to favour the idea of a third degree being then in existence , " reall y shows it . I believe it does ; and although Fellow Crafts could act

as Deputy Wardens and Clerks , yet that does not disprove the existence of the M . M . degree ; it is simply part of the plot , just as , ( see page 388 , May 15 th , I 860 ) in 1762 Fellow Crafts could act as proxies in Grand Lodge of Scotland , long after we know the M . M . degree was worked . Altogethertherefore

, , while the word Master in other portions of the 1723 Constitutions may mean Master of the lodge and not the M . M . degree , yet in the 13 th clause it appears to me that the Master MasonWet / rceis there alludedto . However , allow me a few words more . Does it not

seem strange that my friend and I should be fiddling away in this manner as to the existence or non-existence of our M . M . degree so comparatively recently as 1723 ? Surely the by-laws of any of the English lodges before 1723 should be published , also the real transactions of the Grand lodge of England before then . Nothing can be gained now bkeeping them

y back , whatever may be lost by so doing . If there be any systematic keeping back of the truth , thereby thereby allowing falsehood and mistaken notions to hold sway , it seems to me , as a Freemason , that such conduct could only he designated as puerile . I trust , however , that all the Freemasons are above such a

thing-^ yet as it cannot be denied that we do require more light , it seems to me that the time has come when we should get it . We may well ask , why have we been kept in darkness as to the true ori gin , rise , and progress of our Speculative Freemasonry ? Talk of the priesthood of pagan nations keeping their peoples in ignorance ! How true is it that " history re-

Masonic Notes And Queries.

peats itself ; for I ask , are not , generally speaking , Freemasons as a hody living , acting , and deporting themselves in ignorance ? They can give a candidate more light in the shape of gaslight , very good in its own place ; hut we want more lig ht to be darted in upon the mind : we want knowledge . I sincerely hope we soon get a truehistorical and honest

may , history of the Grand Lodge of England . Everlasting honour be to the Grand Master under whose auspices such is given . —W . P . BrcnAN . A TRANSITION STATE . Whilst our Craft History is in a transition state , no wise and considerate Mason will assail the author

of a printed discourse , or sermon , because he has not discarded Preston and Dr . Oliver . *—A . PAST PROVINCIAL GEAND MASTEB . A NAKED DENIAL . A naked denial—a denial " with no vesture of proof , "—is altogether disregarded in law , aud is equally disregarded in literary controversy . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEE .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for tlie opinions expressed by Correspondents AN OPINION OF THE " FEEEMASON'S MAGAZINE . "

TO THE BDlTOTt OF THE TKirasIASCKSS' ^ AtUZmE AMU } £ ASOHIO ^ IIKKOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —Upon a remarkable occasion , in the year 1866 , when our Craft history was the subject of consideration , the opinion of the Freemason ' s Magazine , touching an interesting point , was thus expressed by the pen of one of . your predecessors * . — "He who expunges the mysteries of Eleusis and

the names of Pythagoras ancl St . John the Baptist , from the history of Freemasonry , eradicates and destroys the whole of the spiritual element that has always surrounded the bare demonstrated facts with an ideal and poetical hue , without which our institution is divested of most of its charms and attractions . "

This ojiinion not being preceded or followed by aught unfitting Masonic discussion , was received with no feeling of displeasure , even by those known to be the most opposed to it . Yours fraternally , CHAELES PUETON COOPEE .

Masonic Snuff Box.

MASONIC SNUFF BOX .

TO THE EDITOK OP THE rKEEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIIiliOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —At page 165 of the Magazine mention is made of a tobacco box , with the date 1670 , and a number of Masonic emblems upon it , implying , also , that the emblems referred to were then engraved upon it . This has been questioned by some brethren ; however , it is well known that tobacco was

long in use before that time , as , not to mention other dattt , the famous " Counterhlaste to Tobacco , " by James I ., which , however , ended in smoke , clearly proves . As many of the brethren are interested in this subject of Masonic emblems , I beg to enclose a tracing of the top of a rather curious and unique snuffbox , con-