Masonic Jottings.—No. 37.

Lodges , circumstances have made the appellation objectionable . It is better to designate them High Lodges , or , as foreign writers are wont—Cradles of Masonry—the former in Scotland , the latter in the north of England .

THE GREAT ARCHITECT . —THE UNIVERSE . Brother W . L . C , Science assuredly teaches that our Great Architect is eternal ; although , peradventure , it teaches that the universe will die . VICTORIA REGIA .

Sir Joseph Paxtoxt , architect of the Great Exhibition Building , 1851 , borrowed his plan of construction from the leaf of the Victoria Regia . [?] SOUL'S PRE-EXISTENCE . The soul s pre-existence is no part of Natural

Religion , and therefore it cannot be part of the Relig ion of Freemasonry as a universal institution . *

By BBO . J . C . MANNINC . ADVERSITY . Never expect a true Mason in adversity to tell you the worst of his troubles . Yonder stream has a placid face enough ; but if you could only look

below , you would find many cold and cruel stones lying like dead-weights at its heart . Act , therefore , accordingly . PROFESSION—PRACTICE . Masonic profession , without practice , is a paper flower , that may be made to bear the hue of the blossom , but lacks the perfume .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

" . COMMUNICATION EEOM YOEKSHIEE . " See Freemasons'Magazine , vol xix ., p . 49 . A similar . paper has just been sent me with a similar request . The words of my answer shall be the same . " I like not the communication . The subject is necessarily vulgarand it is made yet more vulgar by the unskilful

, and common way in which it is treated . Communications of this sort offend all readers who have taste , natural or acquired , and effectually prevent the periodical which inserts them from attaining reputation as a literary publication . —CHAELES PTJETON COOPEE . SOME THINGS WHICH AEE INCONSISTENT WITH THE

EEEEMASONEY WHICH IS UNIVEESAL ABSOLUTELY . See before , page 50 . This paper seems to have been transmitted _ in a manner that has occasioned a mistake too slight , however , to render present explanation necessary . But a letter has reached me which makes it proper to state that the paper never came under the eyes of the former Editor of the Mar / azine to whom , therefore , neglect in regard to it cannot be

imputed . The " want of room" had become known to me in various ways , and for that reason , and no other , the paper was not forwarded . It never left my portfolio until it was placed in the Lincoln ' s Inn collection . —CHAELES PUETON COOPEE .

VAEIETIES OE EEEEMASONEY . We hear of various varieties of Freemasonry , such as Christian Freemasonry , Jewish Freemasonry , Mahommedan Freemasonry , and so on—but what are these ? Not one of them , I venture to say , is true Freemasonry—they are names only . To speak _ of contradiction

Christian Freemasonry , e . g ., is a pure in terms . The only true Freemasonry is the Freemasonry shadowed forth in the 1723 Constitutions ( the great foundation of our landmarks ) , viz ., universal Freemasonry . This , acknowledging God as the Father of All ^ hails all men—ChristianJewand

Mo-, , hammedan alike , as brethren . It is this idea of universal Freemasonry alone that can fairly and honestly admit all men on tlie level into its ranks . It alone can fairly and honestly bold out the right hand of fellowship to the Christian , the Jew , the Mohammedan , or the Hindoo alike . — ~ W . P . BUCHAN .

A MISTAKE ACCOEDING TO THE UNINSTEUCTED . A statement from which the uninstructed dissent , but lacks information and intelligence to prove wrong , in the accustomed literary way , he curtly designates a " mistake , " and stolidly thinks it will be looked upon as such by others besides himself . —A P AST PEOVINCIAL GBAND MASTEE .

HISTOEY OE EEEEMASONEY—BY BEO . T . L . FOX . This History is , as your review says , admirably got up , so far as the publisher ' s portion is concerned ; but as to its authorship , that is a great failure . I do not envy , but pity the compiler of such a production . Perhaps it was calculated that the jermitted dedication

to His Grace the Duke of Manchester would be a cloak sufficiently ample to cover a multitude of sins—if BO , it was a pity it did not do better by preventing them . The manifest ignorance of the history of architecture displayed in this work is truly wonderful . It may have passed muster in 1770 , but to bring out such

rhodomontade in 1870 says very little , in my opinion , for the scholarly abilities of either its author or patron . The laurels of Masonic authorship are not to be won by re-retailing our Masonic fairy tales , and passing them off as " Histories . " We look for something genuine now-a-days , and to the point , for our nursery days , we trust , are past . —W . P . B .

BEO . MOEITZ ZTLLE . A correspondent will find , vol . xv ., page 214 , of the Freemason ' s Magazine , a judicious and interesting review of Bro . Moritz Zille's " Sandkorner " ( Grains of Sand—Masonic Essays , Lectures , and Poems ) . Some passages of that review will show how erroneous are my correspondent ' s notions on some by no means unimportant points . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEE .

THE GBAVE OE THE MOTHEE OE BEO . BUENS . In the parish churchyard of Bolton lies interred all that is mortal of Agnes Brown , the honoured mo . ther of our national poet , Robert Burns . Gilbe rfc Burns , the eldest son of the family , when factor to Lord Blantyre , resided at Grant ' s Braes , his ag , j