Masonic Facts.

prayers and services in his church and in the indulgences before mentioned , ancl after pronouncing his blessing on them , invited the whole company , both men aud women , to dinner . The two abbots and near 400 monks , eat in the refectory ; the two earls and the two barons , with their wives and suites , and all the gentry , in the Abbot ' s

Hall ; the six cunei , or companies , who reared the six p illars with their wives , in the cloister ; and the populace in the court ., No less than 5000 persons of both sexes were present at the solemnity , which was remarkably favoured by the fineness of the weather , and conducted with the utmost cheerfulness and decorum .

The whole convent pushed their work with unremitting ardour under the direction of Prior Qdosand Arnold , a lay brother and experienced mason . " Csementariffi artis scientissimo magestro . " The foregoing is extracted from a MS . of Peter of Blois , and may be found in the Bibliotlieea Topoqrapltica Brittanica , vol . iii .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

I / AYING THE FOUNDATION STOXE OP ST . PAULS . Can any brother of the Lodge of Antiquity tell me the date of the earliest minute Book of that lodge , and whether there is auy reference in the archives of that lodge , to the form of laying the foundation stone of St . Pauls Cathedral—made use of by Sir Christopher Wren ? —A . F . A . WOODPOBD .

HIGH GBAI 1 ES AND TEMFLARISM :. Could you inform us in what manner Chapters of the Order of St . John are held by the Royal Order of Scotland ? that is , do they claim equal power . with the Templars over this degree ? does the order consist of H . R . D . M . Rosy Cross , and St . John , or do they claim uower to grant warrants for the latter separately ? Your

remarks respecting the right of the Templars to confer the " Rose Croix and Grand Cross of the Order of K . D . S . H . " if they choose , are but just . They have had that power from time immemorial ; these degrees were practised by the York "Druidical Lodge or Templar Encampments , " and other immemorial encampments , as well as by the French Templars . Without the Rose

Croix , Templar Masonry is incomplete , and the old accounts we have from the Continent of the K . D . S . H . is Templary pure and simple . I am not aware the Templars have claimed any power over the intermediate degrees , and they are entirely unnecessary to the system . With all due deference , therefore , to your opinion , I can see no reason why the Supreme Council , though

interlopers , should not also practise them . The mistake they make is in not practising all the intermediate degrees . On some parts of the Continent the lost secrets are given in the third degree , and why the S . C . should hesitate to practise a Royal Arch degree , which refers to the time of Enoch , and which is said to have been established by Romsey at Arras , I am at a loss to understand . —A .

REASON V . RHYME . [ Rhyme v , Reason sends us some lame , halt , and crippled verses extracted from A Poem illustrative of the Three Degrees , and we cannot refrain from thinking the degrees alluded to must be the comparative , i . e ., Bad , Badder , aud Saddest , and can have nothing to do with the Craft , either of Masonry or versification , and certainly do not " help us to answer any questions by the jingle of rhyme . " Let our principle be always Reason

Masonic Notes And Queries.

v . Rhyme ; and to shew our friend what rhyme and reason arc , we append a scrap of xvith century verse , by Sir Christopher Hatton , Queen Elizabeth ' s " dancingchancellor" : — " Tiie silver sivan , who liA-ing had no note , When death approaeh'd , unlocked her silent throat . Leaning her breast against the reedy shore , Thus sung her first and last , and sung no more : FareAvell all joys ! 0 death , come close mine eyes ! More geese than swans now live , more fools than AVISO !"

COrS" SUPPOSED TO BE MASONIC . [ A correspondent wrote some time back , saying he had just found a coin , of which he sent a copy , asking us to inform him what it was , and signing himself an Arch Mason and P . M . The paper was mislaid for a time , but has recently turned UP ) so , although rather late , we are happy to give such information as we can . In looking

over a large number of Indian coins , we certainly have been taken aback by the immense quantity of them which bear a double triangle with a central dot or eye . These are more numerous than we at first supposed , and refer to those regions of India where the worship of Brainah is chiefly understood . " The Brahmins of high caste are nearly all Royal Arch Masons , but there are

certain great differences which we cannot enter into here . To make the coin pass current in other parts it is , on the other side ( we don't know which is tho obverse or reverse ) marked with the Mahometan year of the Hegira , and has certain Hindostanee characters engraved on it . In nothing but the delineation is it Masonic It is a token that passes through many nations , and is used by

the members of two creeds , one of which have a certain symbol that Freemasons employ . Because peculiar signs are found amongst various peoples , it must not be inferred they are one and the same in meaning ] .

LATIN " ? OR 3 I OP AGREEMENT . Does my learned brother Findel of Leipsig , know anything of a "Latin form of agreement made use of by representatives from various lodges , at Cologne in 1535 , ancl signed , among others , by Philip Melancthon ?—A . F . A . WOODFOKD , Swellington Leeds ,

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

We have all beard much of Chinese jugglers , and their curioustricks : the folloAving is related by Mr . "William Lockhart , in his Medical Missionary in , China : — " A juggler was on one occasion exhibiting before a crowd , and performed a needletrick as follows -. —He first pretended to swallow tAventy needles singly , and then a piece of string , to Avhich they Avere to he threaded , and afterAvards draivn out by a hooked ivire . On

passing doAvn the hook this time , however the needles had slipped too low , and both hook and needles became fixed in his throat . After several attempts , he extracted eight or ten of the needles , aud was then brought to the hospital . On passing the finger into the throat , the needles Avere distinctly felt , and the hook found to be firm ]} ' fixed at the back oi the pharynx . It AA'as finally detached ancl draAvn out ; and AA'ith some difficulty four more of the needles , Avith a portion of the string Avere

removed . The rest of the needles could not by any possibility be reached , either by the finger or by forceps , and the Avorst feature in the case Avas that the needles , which were all attached to the string , pierced the oesophagus in . different directions . The patient suffered much from dyspncea , AA'ith -great agony , from a sense of suffocation in the throat ; an emetic -was given , in the hope that some of the needles might be loosened by the vomitingbut only one came aAvay . A

, probang Avas passed during the evening Avithout difficulty , but Avithout benefit ; leeches Avere applied , with considerable relief for a time , and hot fomentations to the neck , but great tumefac , tion , both external and interna ] , took place , and finally the man died , five days after the accident . He was a poor feeble felloAvthe victim of opium-smoking , and other vicious habits . The