HONORARY DEGREE. The degrees of Past Master and High Priesthood, are styled honorary, because each is conferred. as an "honorarium," or reward attendant upon certain offices; that of Past Master upon the elected Master of a symbolic lodge, and that of the High Priesthood upon the presiding officer of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. The degree of Mark Master, it appears to me, is called an honorary degree, because it was intended originally to be conferred only on worthy Fellow Crafts. It certainly should, consistently with its own tradition, precede the degree of Master Mason. The side degrees are also sometimes called honorary degrees.

HONOURS, GRAND. The Grand Honours of masonry are those peculiar acts and gestures, by which the craft have always been accustomed to express their homage, their joy, or their grief on memorable occasions. They are of two kinds, the private and public, and each of them are used on different occasions and for different purposes.

The private Grand Honours of masonry are performed in a manner known only to Master Masons, since they can only be used in a Master's lodge. They are practised by the craft only on four occasions: when a masonic hall is to be consecrated, a new lodge to be constituted, a Master elect to be installed, or a Grand Master or his Deputy to be received on an official visitation to a lodge. They are used at all these ceremonies as tokens of congratulation and homage. And as they can only be given by Master Masons, - it is evident that every consecration of a hall, or constitution of a new lodge, every installation of a Worshipful Master, and every reception of a Grand Master, must be done in the third degree. It is also evident from what has been said, that the mode and manner of giving the private Grand Honours can only be personally communicated to Master Masons. They are among the aporreta -the things forbidden to be divulged.

The public Grand Honours, as their name imports, do not partake of this secret character. They are given on all public

occasions, in the presence of the profane as well as the initiated. They are used at the laying of corner-stones of public buildings, or in other services in which the ministrations of the fraternity are required, and especially in funerals. They are given in the following manner: Both arms are crossed on the breast, the left uppermost, and the open palms of the hands sharply striking the shoulders, they are then raised above the head, the palms striking each other, and then made to fall smartly upon the thighs. This is repeated three times, and as there are three blows given each time, namely on the breast, on the palms of the hands, and on the thighs, making nine concussions in all, the Grand Honours are technically said to be given "by three times three." On the occasion of funerals, each one of these honours is accompained by the words "the will of God is accomplished; so mote it be,” audibly pronounced by the brethren.

These Grand Honours of masonry have undoubtedly a classical origin, and are but an imitation of the plaudits and acclamations practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, in their theatres, their senates, and their public games. There is abundant evidence in the writings of the ancients, that in the days of the empire, the Romans had circumscribed the mode of doing homage to their emperors and great men when they made their appearance in public, and of expressing their approbation of actors at the theatre, within as explicit rules and regulations as those that govern the system of giving the Grand Honours in Freemasonry. This was not the case in the earlier ages of Rome, for Ovid, speaking of the Sabines, says that when they applauded, they did so without any rules of art:

"In medio plausu, plausus tunc arte carebat."

And Propertius speaks, at a later day, of the ignorance of the country people, who, at the theatres, destroyed the general harmony, by their awkward attempts to join in the modulated ap. plauses of the more skilful citizens.

The ancient Romans had carried their science on this subject

to such an extent, as to have divided these honours into three kinds, differing from each other in the mode in which the hands were struck against each other, and in the sound that thence resulted. Suetonius, in his life of Nero, (cap. xx.,) gives the names of these various kinds of applause, which he says were called bombi, imbrices and testa; and Seneca, in his "Naturales Quæstiones," gives a description of the manner in which they were executed. The "bombi," or hums, were produced by striking the palms of the hands together, while they were in a hollow or concave position, and doing this at frequent intervals, but with little force, so as to imitate the humming sound of a swarm of bees. The "imbrices," or tiles, were made, by briskly striking the flattened and extended palms of the hands against each other, so as to resemble the sound of hail pattering upon the tiles of a roof. The "testæ," or earthen vases, were executed by striking the palm of the left hand, with the fingers of the right collected into one point. By this blow a sound was elicited, which imitated that given out by an earthen vase, when struck by a stick.

The Romans, and other ancient nations, having invested this system of applauding with all the accuracy of a science, used it in its various forms, not only for the purpose of testifying their approbation of actors in the theatre, but also bestowed it, as a mark of respect, or a token of adulation, on their emperors, and other great men, on the occasion of their making their appearance in public. Huzzas and cheers have, in this latter case, been generally adopted by the moderns, while the manual applause is only appropriated to successful public speakers and declaimers. The Freemasons, however, have altogether preserved the ancient custom of applause, guarding and regulating its use by as strict, though different rules, as did the Romans; and thus showing, as another evidence of the antiquity of their institution, that the "Grand Honours" of Freemasonry are legitimately derived from the "plausus," or applaudings, practised by the ancients on public occasions.

HOPE. The second round in the theological and masonic

For having attained the belief in his wisdom and

This is but a reasonable

ladder, and appropriately placed there. first, or faith in God, we are led by a goodness, to the hope of immortality. expectation; without it, virtue would lose its necessary stimulus, and vice its salutary fear; life would be devoid of joy, and the grave but a scene of desolation.

HOST, CAPTAIN OF THE. An officer in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, whose duties are of a peculiar nature, resembling in some degree those of a Master of Ceremonies. The person, who in Scripture is called Captain of the Host, occupied a station somewhat similar to that of a modern general, having the whole army under his command.

HOUR GLASS. An emblem in the third degree, reminding us, by the quick passage of its sands, of the transitory nature of human life.

HOURS OF WORK. Lodge hours, or hours of work, before or after which time no business should be transacted in the lodge, are prescribed in the Book of Constitutions.

They are, from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, between the hours of seven and ten, and from the autumnal to the vernal, between six and nine. In this selection of the hours of night and darkness for initiation, the usual coincidence will be found between the ceremonies of Freemasonry and those of the Ancient Mysteries, showing their evident derivation from a common origin.

In the "Baccha" of Euripides, that author introduces the god Bacchus, the supposed inventor of the Dionysian Mysteries, as replying to the question of King Pentheus, in the following words: "Pentheus. By night or day; these sacred rites perform'st thou ? Bacchus.-Mostly by night, for venerable is darkness;"*

* ΠΕΝ. Τά δ' ιερά νύκτωρ, ἢ μεθ' ἡμέραν τελεις ;

ΔΙΟ. Νύκτωρ τα πολλά σεμνότητ' έχει σκοτος.

[Eurip. Bacch. Act. ii. l. 485,

and in all the other mysteries the same reason was assigned for nocturnal celebrations, since night and darkness have something solemn and august in them which is disposed to fill the mind with sacred awe. And hence, black, as an emblem of darkness and night, was considered as the colour appropriate to the mysteries.

In the mysteries of Hindostan, the candidate for initiation, having been duly prepared by previous purifications, was led at the dead of night to the gloomy cavern, in which the mystic rites were performed.

The same period of darkness was adopted for the celebration of the mysteries of Mithras, in Persia. Among the Druids of Britain and Gaul, the principal annual initiation commenced at "low twelve," or midnight of the eve of May-day. In short it is indisputable, that the initiations in all the ancient mysteries were nocturnal in their character.

The reason given by the ancients for this selection of night as the time for initiation, is equally applicable to the system of Freemasonry. "Darkness," says Oliver, "was an emblem of death, and death was a prelude to resurrection. It will be at once seen, therefore, in what manner the doctrine of the resurrection was inculcated and exemplified in these remarkable institutions."

Death and the resurrection were the doctrines taught in the ancient mysteries; and night and darkness were necessary to add to the sacred awe and reverence which these doctrines ought always to inspire in the rational and contemplative mind. The same doctrines form the very ground-work of Freemasonry, and as the Master Mason, to use the language of Hutchinson, "represents a man saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation," darkness and night are the appropriate accompaniments to the solemn ceremonies which demonstrate this profession.

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