The Sanctuary Of Memphis, Or Hermes:

Brother Matheus likewise established in Rouen , in 1786 , a S . ' . Grand Lodge of the rite of H . ' . of Kilwinning of the Scottish Order at Rouen . The Grand Orient had long thought it time to reunite under its authority all those dissident and varied rites . On the 27 th December , 1801 , it had taken into its fold the Knihts of Arras ; on the 5 th December 1804 it had received

g , , to its bosom the Grand Lodge of Scotland , of the ancient dispensation ; but this union was broken . It was not until the 16 th September of the following year that a definitive concordat or agreement took place ; this Council remained independent for the collation of grades above the 18 th degree . On the 19 th December , 1804 , the Grand Orient declared that they recognised all the rites in their entirety . Conformably with this decision it , named a

Directory of Rites , which was installed on the 25 th July , 1805 . This Directory was replaced by a Grand College , divided into as many sections as there were recognised rites . For example , the French Rite , that of Herodius ; the Scotch , Ancient ancl Existent ( anc . et ac ) , of Kilwinning ; the Philosophic , Ai'ith its regime rectified . That same year Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte was elected sixth Grand Master .

Must we here mention a neiv rite , which , in order to take advantage of this toleration , endeavoured to establish itself about the year 1813 , under the name of the Rite of Misraim ? [ To avoid foot-notes , it may be stated that persons unversed . in Masonic researches confound the Rite of Memphis and

that of Misraim . The Rite of Misraim has nothing more Egyptian about it than its name , which is that of one of the earliest Kings of Egypt . For the rest , the rite is entirely the result of the imagination of MM . Bedarride . The Rite of Memphis , or the Oriental , on the contrary , is of the highest antiquity , ancl belongs to the ancient doctrine of Egypt , through Ormus , priest of Memphis , an Egyptian city which possessed the best " sacerdotal college" which ever existed . ] That Rite ( or ceremony ) of Misraim bad for its inventors and

founders the two brothers Bedarride . MM . Bedarride pretended that their rite had existed in France from the year 1782 , ancl that at the commencement of the century it possessed Chapters at Naples , at Venice , and in the Ionian Islands . It is well knoAvn in France , ancl notorious amongst the initiated of Great Britain ancl her colonies , that the Rite of Misraim was never heard of before 1817 , an epoch in ivhich the Grand Orient proscribed and prohibited it .

It no longer exists in Venice , in the Ionian Isles , ancl in the kingdom of Italy . The Ionian Islands , before their restoration to the King of the Hellenes , or to the kingdom of Greece , by England , professed only the English ancl Scotch rites ; nnder French rule they only practised the prinvovdiai and the Scotch Rites . Venice , in practising the Egyptian observance , has only since acknoAvledged that introduced by Cagliostro , seconded by the zeal of Brother Zuliaui—the 36 th degree of . the rite of Memphis . If , from the origin of the Rite of Misraim ive pass to its acts , we find that , unable , from its first steps , to go alone , it requested the Grand Orient to recognise it in 1816 .

It was on the 14 th day of the month , A . M . 5816 , that the Grand Orient issued a commission to inquire into this demand ; and upon the report of this commission the Grand Orient proscribed this rite on the 27 th day of the tenth month , 5817 , supporting the decision upon the "basis that MM . Bedarride "had not a single regular ritual , and had not been even able to justify their Masonic qualifications . " Struck with the inconvenience , graver still than Masonic irregularity ,

which the practice of this rite presented , the Grand Orient sent forth another circular , dated 10 th of the eighth month , 5821 . This circular refers to and confirms the tenour of thatof the tenth month , 5817 . It likewise ordered , under the heaviest Masonic penalties , all the lodges under its jurisdiction to interdict entrance to the Temple to all members of that rite . But let us abandon these sad discussions , at the source of which every spring may not be equally honourable , and let us only take care that so noble a