The Early Indiciae Of Freemasonry.

block prints , one print struck me however as very Masonic ; and , though I may also be mistaken , I leave it to the appreciation of all Craftsmen and Master Masons . It appears before the title-page . We give the verse of the legend which refers to the scene itself , in tho Dutch , French , and English : —

Hier doet David ter seluer vron Sijn hof vaste ende wel bemueren Oeek suldi dat claerliken verstaen Dat hi hier sijn ghebet heeft ghedaen . Ici David d ' un mur fait entourer sacour , Contre les indiscrets pour server de

barriSre . Efcvous saurey aussi que , chaque jour , En ce lieu le bon roi recitait sa priere . King David soon , when this he found , His garden closed and well walled round , And you must clearly know that there

He thenceforth after made his prayer . With this I leave No . 1 to the kind consideration of my readers . I will only add that the book from which I have taken these extracts and illustrations is well worthy the attention of ah

Masonic bibliographers and students ; like my Bro . W . J . Hughan and my Bro . R . W . Little , and many more . Those who take an interest in such studies , as well as regards the high grades as the Craft—should tit once procure a copy of

the work , as it is an ornament to any library , and is both interesting , and curious , and valuable for all Masonic archteologists . My Dutch Brethren , if they do not know it , should give it their patronage . Air . Stewart was so kind as to lend me his

block engraving , which forms the illustration , and I am glad to express my sense of his obli ging courtesy .

An Early Masonic Book.

AN EARLY MASONIC BOOK .

BY ALBERT G . MACKEY , JI . D . WE take this most interesting paper from our contemporary the "Voice of Masonry " or June . It has been supposed that the earliest printed book in which Freemasonry is alluded to as an organized institution , is the Constitutions of 1722 , of which but a single copy is said to be extant , and which was recentl y re-published by Bro . Richard

Spencer , Kloss mentions nothing earlier than the Constitutions of 1723 , for when he published his Bibliography , the copy of 1722 was unknown . But there is in the valuable library of Bro . Carson , of Cincinnati , another work

of the year 1722 , to which I have hitherto seen no reference . A brief account of it will , therefore , I think , be interesting . For an examination of the work I am indebted to Br . Albert Pike , to whom it had been loaned by Bro . Carson .

The work is a small 8 vo ., of lxiv-f-199 pages , and bears the following title : Long Livers : A Curious History of such Persons of both Sexes who have liv'd

several Ages , and grown Young again : With the rare Secret of Rejuvenescency of Arnold u s de Villa Nova . And a great many approv'd and invaluable Rules to prolong Life : Also how to prepare the Universal Medicine . Most humbly dedicated to the Grand MasterMastersWardensand

, , , Brethren of the most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of the Freemasons of Great Britain aud Ireland . By Eugenius Philalethes , F . R . S . Author of the Treatise of the Plague . Viri Fratres , audite me . Act . xv . 13 . Biligite Fraterrdtatem , timete

Deum , honoraie Begem . 1 . Pet . ii . 17 . London : Printed for J . Holland at the Bible and Ball in St . Pauls Church Yard , and L . Stokoe at Charing Cross , 1722 . Eugenius Philalethes was the pseudonym of Thomas Vaughan , a Hermetic writer who published in 1652 a translation of the

Famm Fratemitalis . But it is not probable that he is the same author who , seventy years afterwards , published the work now under review . It is not important , perhaps , to identify this second Philalethes . The only matter of interest to the Masonic student isthat this

Her-, metic work , written , or at least published , in 1722 , one year before the first edition of Anderson's Constitutions , contains a Dedication of 60 pages , inscribed with the following heading : To the Grand Master , Masters , Wardens ,

and Brethren of the Most Ancient anel Most Honorable Fraternity of the Freemasons of Great Britain and Ireland , Br . Eugenius Philalethes Sendeth Greeting . This long dedication contains very little information on points of Masonic history , but there are a few passages that may be D 2