Freemasonry.

FREEMASONRY .

' BY THE EDITOK OF " KENNING S CYCLOPAEDIA . IN the last Magazine there was published a most able and kindly Eeview of Bro . Kenning ' s " Cyclopaedia "—which appeared iu the Pall Mall Gazelle . I for one bail the appearance of that Eeview , ( without any personal feelings coining into play , though I must

needs be flattered by it , ) because it seems to me to date as a new era of outside criticism on Freemasonry . Up to the present hour all such like reviews have been to my mind jejune and idle in the highest degree , resting on " padding , " marked by " cramming , " and animated either by a bitter spirit of ultramontane ferocity , or an empty outcome of childish persiflage . Freemasonry has been looked at only from personal prepossession or party

animosities , and as literary efforts all such reviews have been valueless . But for the first time , in that influential paper , the Pall Mall Gazette , a writer has been found bold enough ancl competent enough to handle the question calmly , courteously , and dispassionately , and with great knowledge Of the subject . I therefore congratulate myself that my humble labours have so far been crowned with success , that they have obtained for Bro . Kenning ' s " Cyclopaedia" a fair hearing in

the great and crowded thoroughfare of public opinion . And as my one endeavour was to set before my own order ancl the public an honest , readable , truthful , and reliable work , I feel to-day that my aspirations are rewarded , and that I can well endure , ( as in some instances elsewhere , ) whether the censorious strictness of an uneducated criticism , or the harmless facetioctsness of dull personality . As the writer of the Eeview to which I am now calling notice acceptsas

, facts historically provable , what I put forward on carefully collated and verified data , I need not trouble myself with defending "Kenning ' s Cyclopaedia" from Mr . Hallam ' s charge , that Masonic history has been written so far by " panegyrists and calumniators each equally mendacious . " "Kenning ' s Cyclopaedia" is in fact a realistic effort to give to our ancient legends and often confused chronology the inestimable characteristics of historical veracity and common-sense explanation . But as the writer of the Eeview

touches upon one or two points on which he is unavoidably in error , I think it well to offer these friendly comments on a most ; courteous and able Eeview of a Work destined , I hope , to be valued by Freemasons , as time runs on , more ancl more , for its correctness in detail and its accuracy in statement .

I . I will observe en passant what a striking reproof the writer gives , ancl how well he show's the worthlessness of all pretended expositions of Freemasonry , which , if true , can only , on the showing of the writer , proceed from a " wilfully perjured individual ;" and ,- if not true , are only another attempt to prey upon the purses and abuse the credulity of mankind . II . The writer seems humorously to prefer Bro . Findel ' s authority to mine , in '

respect of the " Solomonic Temple " and the " Mysteries . " He seems tobe of opinion that such is a part of my " stock in trade " as a " chaplain , " but I for one beg to disclaim any professional view of the matter , my only desire being to give a reasonable ancl trustworthy history of the Craft . I cannot ignore the Solomonic Legend altogether ; I cannot shut out the quasi-evidence of the mysteries , and therefore I leave the matter where it isan open questionfeeling still that on thisas on a good other

, , , many matters in this World , much may be said upon both sides . Bro . Findel ' s theory , however interesting and valuable in itself , has this actual defect , that it proves too much . He refers to the darkest age of biblical knowledge the foundation of a system which is purely Hebraic ancl biblical , and though I admit that on