Masonic Notes And Queries.

DR . ALBERT MACKAY . A member of a distinguished metropolitan lodge writes that he has never conversed with a brother who did not think with Dr . Albert Maekay ( Address , May , 1866 , Washington ) , that " if you take from freemasonry its dependence on the Temple—leave out of its Eitual all reference to that sacred edifice

, and to the legends and traditions connected with itihe system itself would at once decay and die , or at best remain only as some fossilized bone , serving merely to show the nature of the once living body to which it had belonged . "—CHARLES PURION COOPER .

BROS . TAEKEE AND 3 IATIER . I must really decline to enter into any controversy With my esteemed friend Bro . Tarker as * to what does or does not constitute a regular or a spurious Chapter of Eose Croix . As , however , I have received several letters calling on me to name the chapter mentioned by me a few weeks backI will do so . It is called the

, "High Greenwood Chapter of S . P . R . Cx ., White Cx ., & c , No . 1 , " and is held at Bottoms , near Stansfield , on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire . I have stigmatised it as spurious , as it is not under the authority of the Supreme Council 33 ° , who have the only legal riht in England and Wales & cto constitute

g , ., E . > J < Chapters , and to authorise the admission of candidates into the eighteenth degree , or S . P . E . ? £ < . I will leave to competent authorities the duty of defending the S . C . 33 ° against Bro . Tarker ' s attack , and will content myself by suggesting to him" Order is heaven ' s first law : this confessed

Some are , and must he , greater than the rest . " * C P . MATIER , 30 ° . THE ANCIENT TORE CONSTITUTION AND BRO . IINDEL . In his " History of Ereemasonry , " Bro . Findel states that in Bro . Krause ' s well-know work , * the old

York Constitution is thus described : — " The ancient York Constitution accepted in the year 926 , or the deed of the laws of the lodges iu England , translated into Latin by an Englishman in 1807 , from the original , preserved in the Tork Lodge ; and again , from Latin into German by Bro . J . A . Schneider ,

Altenburg , in the year 1 S 0 S , and accompanied by many explanatory remarks by the author . " Bro . Findel then adds : — "This document , as will be seen by what follows , is , all things considered , most interesting . Its age , under the form iu which it is given us by Krause , as well as its genuineness , is more than doubtful . "

Bro . Findel then sets forth the proofs , external and internal , which brought Bro . Krause to the conclusion that the document is genuine , and afterwards the matters upon which Bro . Kloss founded his doubts of the great antiquity of the document . Bro . Findel concludes thus : — "There can scarcel

y be a doubt that there does not exist a Masonic Constitution of the year 02 G . Should , however , an original be found similar to Krause's translation , yet it could lay no claim to be called a York Constitution . "

See my letter to the editor , entitled " The York Constitution , " page 269 of the present volume . —C . P . COOPER .

QUALIFICATIONS TOR THE HATTTES GRADES . The qualifications for entering the 80 ° in Scotland are the possession of the following : — 1 st . St . John ' s Masonry , or three Craft degrees . 2 nd . Eoyal Arch , or Chapter degrees . 3 rd . Eoyal Order of Scotland ( H . E . M . aud E . S . Y . C . S . ' )

4 th . Eose Croix , or 18 ° . 5 th . K . \ H . \ , or 30 ° . In Ireland they insist on the ' following degrees being possessed by the candidate : —• 1 st . Three Craft degrees . 2 nd . Eoyal Arch degree .

3 rd . Eed Cross of Babylon . 4 th . High Knight Templar . 5 th . Eose Croix , or Prince Mason . 6 th . K . H ., or 30 ° .

As a modification of the above , and as a basis for a Council of Eites , let the S . C 33 ° insist that all their candidates for the 18 ° be in possession of the Eoyal Arch ; and again , let the Grand Conclave of the K . T . require that the 18 ° be a sine qua non for aspirants to that Order . Let the Grand Mark Lodge be placed on the same footing ( by the Grand Lodge ) as the

Grand Chapter , that is , as a subordinate power , although having complete control over its own members . If these desiderata are carried oat , we have , practically a Council of Eites and complete harmony . —L ' TJNION BAIT LA EOECE .

NOTES ON AMERICAN EBEEITASONRT ( page 321 ) . There are two interesting remarks given by the writer of these " Notes" which are especially worthy of perusal . One is as follows , viz .: — "It ( the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ) gives a most complete view of the state of Masonry under

that jurisdiction , setting an example which might well befolloioecl by our own Ch-and Lodge . " It is to be hoped " our own Grand Lodge" alluded to will take the hint , and give us something that will he both valuable and reliable . The second remark is ; " He ( the Grand Master ) stated that the records of the

Grand Lodge , extending from 1733 to the present time , contain the history of the establishment of Masonry " upon the American Continent . '' This last remark is especially valuable to the supporters of the

1717 theory , for 1733 is sixteen years after 1717 ; and if , as has been so often stated , although I am afraid erroneously , our Freemasonry existed long before 1717 , it may well be asked why it never appeared in America before the second quarter of last century , viz ., in 1733 ? Without going further back at present than last safelaffirm thattaking

May , we may y , into consideration all that has been said ^ ro and con . since then , we are quite justified in stating that there has not been brought forward the least substantial proof of the existence of our present system of Freemasoury so much as two centuries ago . All sorts of argumentsdreamsand legendsas well as forgeries

, , , , have been brought forward to show that our Freemasonry existed long before 1717 , but I have not , as yet , seen any evidence of its existence anything like two centuries ago . —PICTUS .