Professor Robertson On Freemasonry.

" The masters , journeymen , and apprentices , formed a corporation , having a special jurisdiction in different localities . Bat the Lodge of Strasburg was pre-eminent above the rest , and , in conformity Avith the statutes , pronounced a

definitive iiide-ment in all causes brought under its cognizance . In order not to be confounded with the vulgar mechanics , AA'I IO could handle only the hammer and the trowel , the Freemasons invented signs of mutual recognition , and certain ceremonies of initiation . A traditionary secret was

handed doAvn , revealed only to the initiated , and that according to the degrees they had attained to in the corporation . They adopted for symbols the instruments of their Craft—the square , the level , the compass , aud the hammer .

" In course of time , it appears that the Masonic lodges , in order to secure patrons and friends to their fraternity , admitted among their associates individuals totally unacquainted with the architectural art . And so , by degrees , other objects

besides those connected with their Craft , engaged the attention of the brethren . The mystery , Avhich enveloped their proceedings , Avas common to all the trade associations of the Middle Ages .

" In the reign of Queen Elizabeth , the government began to entertain suspicions of these Masonic lodges , and interdicted them . In the time of the commonAvealth , the Royalists of England in order to concert measures against the dominant

tyranny , had recourse to secret political societies ; and these societies Avere not engrafted on the Masonic lodges , AA'hich , from the number of men of various professions they admitted into their ranks , were convenient receptacles for

carryingon political plots . The scriptural symbols and scriptural phraseology employed in their lodges , were well suited to the spirit and habits of the time . Ramsay , in his ' History of Freemasony , ' does not deny that the lodges powerfully contributed to the restoration of Charles the Second .

"After the Revolution of 1688 , the exiled Jacobites introduced this modern political Freemasonry into France ; but the government of Louis the Fourteenth chocked its diffusion . Under the regency established on the demise of that

monarch , the English pretender founded several lodges in that country ; and the Regent' himself a sated voluptuary , eagerly sought in these secret societies for some neAv source of gratification . In the year 1725 , the first lodge of France Avas held

Professor Robertson On Freemasonry.

under the presidency of three Englishmen , Lord DcrAventwater , Sir John Maskelyne , and Sir Hugh Tighe . " ( To be continued . )

Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA .

By Bro . D . MURRAY LYOS , one of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland . ( Continued from page 223 . ) FEES OE HONOUR . The question of paying fees of honour on accession

to office was , it appears , the subject of discussion during a recent communication of the Lodge St . Aubin ( No . 954 , E . O . ) , Although on the assumption of certain offices under the Grand Lodge ' of Scotland honorary fees are exigible—Provincial Grand Masters

paying ten guineas and Reprosenfcath'es to sister Grand Lodges three guineas—the practice , as regards officeholders in daughter lodges , which obtained in Scotland centuries ago , has Avith few if any exceptions become obsolete ; and the brother AA'ho would

advocate its restoration would in all likelihood be regarded as an innovator by many excellent lodge officials who think they pay enough for the honour in the sacrifice of time which the performance of official duty involves . We have said that the officebearers in our ancient

Craft lodges were wont to pay their fees of honour , and this is verified by the folloAving callings from the records of the venerable lodge of Kilwinning : — " xx day of December , 1643 .... Item , we Wardane

and Deacone [ Master ] aboveAvritten grents us to be ^ awand to the Boxe for our entrie to the said offices every ane of us iij lb . money , to be peyt befoir the choosing the nixt ; and ordanes that every Wardane and Deacone the farst tyme they sail be chosen sail vey ilk ane of thame to the Boxe iij lb . ; and the

foirsaid Wardane and Deacone are oblisit to cation ilk ane of thame for ane nther for the foirsaid souuie . " This enactment seems in the lapse sf time to have fallen into abeyance ; but the custom to which it

refers formed the subject of subsequent ordinancesin one of which payment of fees of honour is extended to brethren on their retirement from office : " At Kill-winning , Dec . 21 day , 1724 . Here is an acte past and acted among the members of this lodge

of Kilhvinning , that the Deacon is to pay when newly entred to the sd members of this Lodge eight pence [ shillings ] Scots monney , and new Wardanes four shillings Scots monney , and the Officer that day two shillings Scots monney , and the Fisckell [ Clerk and

Treasurer ] that clay is to pay as much as the Officer . "Deer . 20 , 1728 .... It is further enacted that the neAv elected Dickon shall pay eght pence , the