The Knights Templars.

men , accordin g to their feebleness and weakness , and dutifull y to honour them , and let them in no wise be restricted from the enjoyment of such things as may be necessary for the body ; the authority of the rule , however , being preserved . " ( To be continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

W . BRO . J . P . BROWN . I see the announcement of another work by a learned Mason , W . Bro . the Hon . John Parker Brown , a member of an historical American family , Secretary of Legation and chief Dragoman of the United States Legation at the Sublime Porteand late Charge

, d'Affaires , S . G . I . G . 33 ° , P . D . G . W . of Turkey , P . M . of the Bulwer Lodge , & c . The present work of this distinguished Orientalist is devoted to the history of the Dervishes , and is published in London . It is a very valuable contribution to Oriental knowledge , to history , and to psychology . —H . C .

BRO . SIR II . L . BULWER . I may , in addition to the above note , commemorate another brother of literary reputation connected with the district of Turkey . The R . W . and Ri ght Hon . Bro . Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer , Past District G . Master Turkey , S . G . J . G . 33 ° , has just brought his " Historic Characters " to a second edition . —H . C .

MASONIC WRITERS . Masonic writers , in general , resemble the old Physicists . The invention of a hypothesis is more pleasing to them than the investigation of a fact . — From a manuscript book in Bro . Purton Cooper ' s collection called " Freemasons' Table Talk . "

IIL . BRO . VIENNET . The Times contains the following anecdote of M . 111 . Bro . Viennet , M . P . Sov . G . Com . of the Supreme Council of France , and M . W . G . M . of the Symbolic Grand Lodge : — " The Figaro reproduced the other day a h

paragrap from the Independanco Beige to the effect that M . Viennet , member of the French Academy , had , since the death of his brother , quitted Paris , with the intention of fixing his residence on a property belonging to him near Beziers ( He ' rault ) , and it added that he was in his 89 th year . The career of

few men has seen more vicissitudes than M . Viennet ' s . He has witnessed ten revolutions . He has been a soldier , a sailor , a prisoner in England , a man of letters , a politician , a deputy , a Peer of France ; he has had the privilege of attaining political and literary distinction , and of having

been , according to his own avowal and boast , the most unpopular man of his time . M . Viennet is still in excellent health , and in possession of a vigorous intellect . He has written the following characteristic letter to the Figaro : — "' Sir , —The Independanco Beige has led you into a mistake ; indeed , in what it says of me every line is an error . First and foremost , I not only have com-

Masonic Notes And Queries.

pleted my 89 th year , but my 90 th , and I have even taken four months out of my 91 st . On this point be so good as to reassure these impatient gentlemen who are sighing after my chair in the-Academy . In the second place , I have no intention of quitting Paris , and of fixing myself in a property near Beziers , for the simple reason that I have no

property there . I have , however , a very small property in an old garden of Paris which once belonged to the Confessor of Louis XIV . —Pere La Chaise . It consists of a little chamber underground , where there is just room for two . One half of it is already unfortunately occupied , and the other half will be so before long . Pray tell this also to those gentlemen , and receive in advance my best thanks . ' VIENNET . '

" M . Viennet ' s wife died about two years ago , and was buried at Pere La Chaise . "—G . W . SUGGESTION THAT THE OLD PLATONISTS HAY I 3 * E- ¦ CALLED FREEMASONS . A learned correspondent suggests that there is no more historical impropriety in calling the old

Platonists Freemasons than in calling them Christians . Certainly the religious princip les of the old Platonists resemble those of Freemasons quite as much as they resemble those of Christians . —0 . P . COOPER .

"MASONIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE . Several Masons have been inquiring when the first meeting of the proposed "Masonic Archaeological Institute " is to be held , and are anxious to take part in it , so I am told . Probably it will be soonas the summer time

, is generally less suitable for Masonic matters than just now , or during the winter , so far as London is concerned . . Without doubt such an institution is much wanted , and will be very useful and valuable to the fraternity . —W . J . HUGHAN .

ALLEGORY , POETRY , AND PALAEONTOLOGY . See my communication , "A Strange Question , " p . 108 of the present volume . I have received the letter from Derbyshire . My notion is that of our English brothers the majority find more pleasure in allegory and poetry than in palaeontology , notwithstanding the extraordinary zeal and success with which that science is cultivated in the British Isles . —C . P . COOPER .

CENTENARIES . "Bute" mentions the Lodge "St . John , Fisherrow , '' among those who will be centenarians this year . It is much to he regretted that this ancient and at one time prosperous lodge has been dormant for many years , and in all probability will never he revived . —ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE .

MIRACLES . A learned correspondent at Oxford has sent me some remarks upon the communication " Miracles , " page 66 of the present volume . The words there used do not , as I am aware , accord with certain modern ideas . But as yet I am not prepared to make the alteration which the remarks suggest . Miracles however , are not , in my conception , violations or ST & pensions of the laws of nature . —C . P . COOPEE ..