Masonic Notes And Queries.

"it is high time the Masonic schoolmaster was abroad . " F . g .: —what can be more absurd to an educated mind than to hear a W . M . say , in allusion to things said to have existed at the building of Solomon ' s Temple , " These referred to the five noble Orders of Architecture" ancl then the worthy "W . M .

, gravely goes on to enumerate them namely , Tuscan , Doric , Ionic , Corinthian , and Composite . This proves the necessity that exists for the office-bearers of a lodge being really posted up in Masonry , reall y knowing and understanding what they are talking about when trying to teach others . —PICTUS .

EIYE MEDIiEYAL MASONEIES . Great similarity may , perhaps , be assumed between five Medireval Masonries—Kilwinning , Strasburg , Vienna , Berne , and Cologne . —From one of Bro . PUHTON CoCVPEE'S Tifttfi-books .

BBOTHEE IITJ GIIAN S ANALYSIS . A correspondent is not quite correct in his observation . Our excellent Bro . Hughan does not profess to bring forward new materials , but simply to review the old materials . It is wholly from these last that his conclusions are drawn , and it is from them alone that such conclusions must be judged . —CHAEEES PTJETON COOPEE .

DUTIES 01 ? OEEICEBS . r The remarks of" E . T . " upon this subject are quite apropos , aud do him great credit . If the P . M alluded to has come down in the world through misfortune , it is hardly tlie duty of Bro . Masons to trample on him when down . No ; there is only the

greater necessity in that case for holding out the right hand of fellowshi p in a true Masonic spirit . Allowing P . M . to work the ceremonies is merely paying proper homage to Masonry and mind versus money . By P . M . being elected as Tyler , it would seem that , although his money be gone , his character

is still left , Por an immoral or unprincipled man or brother , rich or poor , to work the ceremonies of Masonry is quite out of place , hypocrisy being stamped on every word he utters . If any Querist wishes to know whether P . M . ought to be allowed to work the ceremonies let him consider— -firstlwhether

y , he can work them secondl y , whether he is one who tries to practice the duties and principles he teaches ; thirdly , remembering the remark of Peter to Simon , "Thy money perish with thee—thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter , for thy heart is not right . —W . P . B .

ANCIENT GEEJIAN EKEEMASONEY , EOSICBUCIANISM , MODEEN ENGLISH EBEEMASONBY . A correspondent is thanked . It has not yet escaped my memory that in the communication , " Ancient German Freemasonry , " Freemasons' Magazine , vol . 16 , page 311 it is stated " that the ancient German

Free-, mafionry was , I imagined , not unlike the aucient English Freemasonry . Neither has it yet escaped my memory that in the communication " "Eosicrucianism and Modern English Freemasonry , " ( ibid , page 460 ) , I said that , granting Christian Rosenkreutzwho lived in the fourteenth centurynot to

, ,- have been the founder of Rosicruciam ' sin , ' yet it is clear from Eosicrucian bibliography , that Eosicrucianism existed many years before modern English Freemasonry . —C- P . COOPEE .

. MYSTEEIES OE ANCIENT NATIONS . An accomplished sister , the Countess D * * * , has sent me a letter which may be considered a learned dissertation on the Mysteries of Ancient Nations . At the same timo she makes two inquiries . First ,

what is my opinion upon the subject ? Next , what is the work discussing it , mentioned by me some time ago to a literary brother with whom she has " commercium epistolare . " My answer to the first inquiry is , that although in past years my reading upon this abstruse matter was extensive , yet it did not enable

me to come to any satisfactory result , and my age effectually prevents any further research . ( See my communication , "Mysteries of Ancient Nations , " Freemasons' Magazine , vol . 14 , page 22 S . ) My answer to the second inquiry is that the work is a treatise in Latin , with which language my correpondent ' s

letter shows her to he well acquainted . The title is " Aglaaphamas , sive de Tlieologias Mysticte Grceeoruo causis Libri III . Accedunt Poetarum Orphicorun Eeliquioe . " It was published at Kcenigsherg , in Prussia , 1829 , and forms two volumes octavo . —From Bro . PUETON COOPEE ' Masonic Letter-Book , July and August , 1866 .

OEIGIN OE THE WOED " FBEEMASON . ' I desire to thank " Bute" for his very courteous remarks and information given at page 147 , and I shall find great pleasure in perusing the different articles he alludes to , and if in these articles are contained the " facts " which E . T . refers to at page 109 ,. all rig ht- but if not , perhaps R . T . can say where mention of these " facts " is to be found . —W . P . BTJCHAN .

OEEICE OE MASTEE MASON . DEGEEE OE MASTEE MASON . A young correspondent is , I fear , getting wrong .. The office of Master Mason in our old operative Masonry and the degree of Master Mason in our modern speculative Masonry are , I conceive , different things . Thomas de Loudham and Henry de Tevely held the

office of Master Mason the former at York Cathedral 1347 , the latter at Westminster Abbey 1388 . My correspondent will , I apprehend , look in vain for evidence that these two ancient Freemasons ( I use my correspondent ' s words ) " each took the degree of Master Mason . " My correspondent shouldhowever

, ,, consult our Bro . Hughan . My knowledge of the matter has been acquired in a way of reading that makes it not much better than ignorance . Indeed , were reliance placed upon such knowledge , it would probably occasion error , and verify a certain proverb , and so prove worse than ignorance . —C . P . COOPEE .

THE NEW GOYEENOE OE SOUTH AUSTEALIA . In the person of his Excellency the new Governor of South Australia ( Sir James Fergusson , Bart . ) , the brethren in that distant colony will have au accomplished and enthusiastic Freemason . Sir James was made in the Apollo University Lodge , Oxford is an

affiliated member of Mother Kilwinning , and was its E . W . M . ( and as such Prov . G . M . of Ayrshire ) during five consecutive years ; and is at present W . M . of the Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge , London , No . 1159 . He is also a member of the Oxford Eoyal Arch Chapter and of the Cosur de Lion Encampment of Knight Templars , Oxford . —D . MUEEAX LYON ..