of the creation, and is inspired with the most exalted ideas of the perfections of his Divine Creator.

FESSLER'S RITE. A rite formerly practised by the Grand Lodge "Royal York à l'Amitié" at Berlin. It consisted of nine degrees, viz: 1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow-Craft; 3, Master; 4, Holy of Holies; 5, Justification; 6, Celebration; 7, True light; 8, Fatherland; 9, Perfection. They were drawn up, says Clavel, from the rituals of the Golden Rose Croix, of the rite of Strict Observance, of the Illuminated Chapter of Sweden, and the Ancient Chapter of Clermont at Paris. They are now practised by but few lodges, having been abandoned by the Grand Lodge which established them, for the purpose of adopting the ancient York rite under the Constitutions of England.*

FESTIVALS. The masonic festivals most generally celebrated, are those of St. John the Baptist, June 24, and St. John the Evangelist, December 27. These are the days kept in this country. Such, too, was formerly the case in England, but the annual festival of the Grand Lodge of England now falls on the Wednesday following St. George's day, April 23, that Saint being the patron of England. For a similar reason, St. Andrew's day, November 30, is kept by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

FIDES. Fidelity; to which virtue, the ancients paid divine honours, under the name of the goddess of faith, oaths, and honesty. The oaths taken in the name of this goddess were held to be more inviolable than any others. Numa was the first who built temples, and erected altars to the goddess Fides or Fidelity. No animals were killed, and no blood shed in her sacrifices. The priests who celebrated them were clothed in white, and were conducted with much pomp to the place of sacrifice, in chariots, having their whole bodies and hands enveloped in their capacious

Fessler's rite is perhaps the most abstrusely learned and philosophical of all the rites.

mantles. Fidelity was generally represented among the ancients by two right hands joined, or by two human figures holding each other by the right hand. Horace calls incorruptible Fidelity the sister of Justice, and Cicero makes them identical; those principles of Justice, says he, which, when exercised toward God, are termed Religion, and toward our parents, Piety, in matters of trust are called Fidelity.*

FINANCES. The finances of the lodges are placed under the charge of the Treasurer, who only pays them out on the order of the Master, and with the consent of the brethren, previously expressed in open lodge. By an unwritten law, the finances should be first received by the Secretary, who then pays them over to the Treasurer, taking his receipt for the same. A mutual check is thus kept on each other by these officers.

FINES. Fines for non-attendance or neglect of duty, are not usually imposed in masonic bodies, because each member is bound to the discharge of these duties by a motive more powerful than any that could be furnished by a pecuniary penalty. The imposition of such a penalty would be a tacit acknowledgment of the inadequacy of that motive, and would hence detract from its solemnity and its binding nature.

FIVE. One of the sacred numbers of Freemasonry. Its symbolic properties are many and curious. It is formed by a combination of the Duad with the Triad, of the first even number with (excluding unity) the first odd one, 23. In the school of Pythagoras, it represented Light, and among his disciples a triple triangle, forming the outline of a five pointed star, was an emblem of health, because being alternately conjoined within itself, it constitutes a figure of five lines. Among the Cabbalists,

*Justitia erga Deos religio, erga parentes pietas,— -creditis in rebus fides nominatur.-Orat. 78.

the same figure, with the name of God written on each of its points, and in the centre, was considered talismanic. The number five was among the Hebrews a sacred round number, and is repeatedly used as such in the Old Testament, as, for example, in Genesis xliii. 34, xlv. 22, xlvii. 2, Isaiah xvii. 6, xix. 18, xxx. 17. "This usage," says Gesenius, "perhaps passed over to the Hebrews from the religious rites of Egypt, India, and other oriental nations; among whom five minor planets and five elements, and elementary powers, were accounted sacred." Among Freemasons, five is more particularly symbolical of the five orders of architecture, and the five human senses, but still more especially of the Five Points of Fellowship.

FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP. Masons owe certain duties of brotherly love and fellowship to each other, the practice of which, as the distinguishing principles of our order, are inculcated by the Master in the most impressive manner.

First. Indolence should not cause our footsteps to halt, or wrath turn them aside, but with eager alacrity and swiftness of foot, we should press forward in the exercise of charity and kindness to a distressed fellow-creature.

Secondly. In our devotions to Almighty God, we should remember a brother's welfare as our own, for the prayers of a fervent and sincere heart will find no less favour in the sight of heaven, because the petition for self is mingled with aspirations of benevolence for a friend.

Thirdly. When a brother intrusts to our keeping the secret thoughts of his bosom, prudence and fidelity should place a sacred seal upon our lips, lest, in an unguarded moment, we betray the solemn trust confided to our honour.

Fourthly. When adversity has visited our brother, and his calamities call for our aid, we should cheerfully and liberally stretch forth the hand of kindness, to save him from sinking, and to relieve his necessities.

Fifthly. While with candour and kindness we should admonish

a brother of his faults, we should never revile his character be hind his back, but rather, when attacked by others, support and defend it.

FIVE SENSES. The five human senses, which are, Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, and Tasting, are dilated on in the lecture of the Fellow Crafts' degree. See each word in its appropriate place in this Lexicon.

FLOATS. Pieces of timber, made fast together with rafters, for conveying burdens down a river with the stream.-Bailey The use of these floats in the building of the temple is thus described in the letter of King Hiram to Solomon: "And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem."-2 Chron. ii. 16.

FLOORING. A frame-work of board or canvas, on which the emblems of any particular degree are inscribed, for the assistance of the Master in giving a lecture. It is so called, because formerly it was the custom to inscribe these designs on the floor of the lodge room in chalk, which was wiped out when the lodge. was closed. It is the same as the "Carpet," or "Tracing Board.”

FORM OF THE LODGE. The form of the lodge is said to be an oblong square, having its greatest length from east to west, and its greatest breadth from north to south. According to Oliver, the form of the lodge ought to be a double cube, as an expressive emblem of the united powers of darkness and light in the creation, and because the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense were both of that figure. But these two theories of its form are not inconsistent with each other, for, taken in its solid dimensions, the lodge is a double cube, while its surface is a parallelogram or oblong square.

This oblong form of the lodge has, I think, a symbolic allu

sion, which has not been heretofore adverted to, so far as I am aware, by any masonic writer.

If, on a map of the world, we draw lines which shall circumscribe just that portion which was known and inhabited at the time of the building of Solomon's temple, these lines, running a short distance north and south of the Mediterranean Sea, and extending from Spain to Asia Minor, will form an oblong square, whose greatest length will be from east to west, and whose greatest breadth will be from north to south, as is shown in the annexed diagram.

The oblong square which thus enclosed the whole habitable part of the globe, would represent the form of the lodge to denote the universality of masonry, since the world constitutes the lodge; a doctrine that has since been taught in that expressive sentence: In every clime the Mason may find a home, and in every land a brother.

FORTITUDE. One of the four cardinal virtues, whose excellencies are dilated on in the first degree. It not only instructs the worthy Mason to bear the ills of life with becoming resignation, "taking up arms against a sea of trouble," but, by its intimate connection with a portion of our ceremonies, it teaches him