How I Spent My Five Weeks' Leave.

hire of the admiral . Our route lies for th e first mile or two , through orchards of oranges , apricots , etc ., I never saw more splendid oranges , nor finer and more abundant fruit . I purchase as many as my havresack will hold , and very

grateful they proved before we had crossed the plain of Sharon . { To be continued . )

Masonic Jottings.—No. 1.

MASONIC JOTTINGS . —No . 1 .

BY A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTER . OUR MASONIC HISTORY . Our Masonic history is , for the most part , conjectural and imaginary . Hence it is a concatenation of contradictions . It is not to-day what it was yesterday , and it will not be to-morrow what it is to-day .

RATIONALISM—SPECULATIVE MASONRY—GERMAN WRITERS . Desirous of instruction respecting the rise of onr Rationalism , we go to German writers ; and , desirous of instruction respecting the rise of our speculative Masonry , we also go to German writers .

PYTHAGORAS . Pythagoras and his disciples and successors for many centuries , with their notions of the Deity ( perhaps Emanation , perhaps Pantheism , certainly not our Monotheism ) , and with their Metempsychosis , could not have possibly known our Freemasonry .

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY . Take the 20 volumes of the present series of the Freemasons' Magazine—can it be asserted that three writers—can it be asserted that two writers of communications on the subject of the

Pre-Christian Antiquity of our Masonry were aware of the Jews having been unacquainted with the doctrine of the Soul ' s Immortality until the Babylonish Captivity ?

TRADITION . Neither the Ashmole theory nor the German theory is inconsistent with our tradition that speculative Masonry existed in the 17 th century . ASHMOLE AND HIS FRIENDS .

Many think that Ashmole and his friends onl y got together the speculative elements which had long been floating about amongst the Rosicrucians , the Temnlars and the operative Masons .

THE NON-OPERATIVE MASONS 1650—1700 . According to Bro . Findel , in the latter part of the I 7 th century , 1650—1700 , the non-operative

Masonic Jottings.—No. 1.

Masons brought forth from tho ancient guildchests the mouldering records of the'lodges , and revived the old traditions , usages , and customs oi the fraternity , rejecting what seemed to them unsuitable for the age in which they lived , or olso

remodelling to make it suitable . HISTORY OF ENGLISH PREEMASONRY . My experience , 1831—1838 , will not allow me to believe that a reliable history of English Freemasonry can be written until , for the earliest

centuries amongst other materials , all records , and for the later centuries , amongst other materials , all family letters , shall have been thoroughly examined . THE YEAR 1717 .

The year 1717 is the year which gave us the term " Grand : " and it should seem to be the year which gave us what is infinitely more precious— -it should seem to be the year which gave us Toleration .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

DEPUTY GEAND MASTER MAB'S'IIfGHASI . See the Freemasons' Magazine , vol . 19 , page 138 , and the present volume , pages S 81 and 839 . The copy of the portion of the correspondence between the Grand Lodges of England and Holland which Bro . Hertzvold has printedwas some weeks ago

, added to a Masonic Collection in Lincoln ' s Inn Library , after a transcript bad been made of the two omitted paragraphs ; otherwise it should at once have been forwarded to Bro . Hughan . But he will not , I apprehend , find that to procure a little hook from the Hague is more difficult for a Mason resident in

England than for a Mason resident in France . In compliance with the request of a correspondent , whose curiosity in the matter is not very intelligible , the two omitted paragraphs are subjoined : — " The three questions you ask me the Constitution Book will resolve . The Grancl Master , or Deputy

Grand Master , always presides in Grand hodge ; aud , whenever they honour a private lodge with a visit , the Master of such lodge immediately resigns the chair if they choose to accept it ; for they have votes , and preside over all lodges by virtue of their high office . When they visit in form , they always take the chairbutif the visit is privatethey accept

; , , or refuse as they think proper . The Grand Wardens never act as Grand "Wardens but when the Grand Master or his Deputy presides . If the Master of the lodge is absent , the Past Master or the Senior Warden supplies his place , just as the private regulations of such lodges direct .

" Our Healths in lodges are first ; the King and the Craft , with 3 x 3 ; next , the Grand Master , with 3 x 3 , thirdly ; the D . G . Master and G . Wardens , with 3 . Then we drink Past G . M ., foreign brethren of distinction by name , as the Emperor , King of Prussia , & c ; after—the general toast of the Craft . "—C . P , COOMB .