silver, one for Venus and the other for Adonis. At Athens they placed in various parts of the city the figure of a dead youth. These figures were afterward taken away by women clad in the habiliments of mourning, who celebrated their funeral rites. On the second day of the mysteries, sorrow was converted into joy, and they commemorated the resurrection of Adonis. The mysteries of Adonis were, at one time, introduced into Judea, where the Hebrew women were accustomed to hold an annual lamentation for him, under the name of Tammuz, of which Ezekiel speaks, viii. 14: "Behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz." According to Calmet and Faber, Adonis was also identical with Baal-peor, the idol of the Moabites, mentioned in the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers.

Our knowledge of the ceremonies which accompanied the Adonisian initiation is but scanty. "The objects represented," says Duncan, "were the grief of Venus and the death and resurrection of Adonis. An entire week was consumed in these ceremonies: all the houses were covered with crape or black linen: funeral processions traversed the streets, while the devotees scourged themselves, uttering frantic cries. The orgies were then commenced, in which the mystery of the death of Adonis was depicted. During the next twenty-four hours, all the people fasted, at the expiration of which time the priests announced the resurrection of the god. Joy now prevailed, and music and dancing concluded the festivals."*

Julius Fermicius, a Christian writer of the fourth century, thus describes a portion of the Adonisian ceremonies :†

"On a certain night an image is laid out upon a bed, and bewailed in mournful strains. At length, when they are satiated

* Religions of Profane Antiquity; their Mythology, Fables, Hieroglyphics, and Doctrines. Founded on Astronomical Principles. By Jonathan Duncan, B. A. p. 350.

† In an oration inscribed to the Emperors Constans and Constantius. The classical reader may compare the original language of Fermicius, which I here insert: Nocte quadam simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur, et per numeros

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with their fictitious lamentation, light is introduced, and the priest, having first anointed the mouths of all those who had been weeping, whispers with a gentle murmur: Trust ye, initiates, for the god being saved, out of pains salvation shall arise to us."

Hence the ceremonies were a representation of the death and resurrection of Adonis in the person of the aspirant.

ADOPTIVE MASONRY. By the immutable laws of our institution, no woman can be made a Freemason. It follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that lodges which admit females to membership, can never legally exist in the order. Our French brethren, however, with that gallantry for which the nation is proverbial, have sought, by the establishment of societies, which have, indeed, but a faint resemblance to the peculiar organization of Freemasonry, to enable females to unite themselves in some sort with the masonic institution, and thus to enlist the sympathies and friendship of the gentler sex in behalf of the fraternity.

To the organizations thus established for the initiation of females, the French have given the name of "Adoptive Masonry," maçonnerie d'adoption, and the lodges are called loges d'adoption, or "adoptive lodges," because, as will hereafter be seen, every lodge of females was finally obliged to be adopted by, and under the guardianship of some regular masonic lodge.

In the beginning of the eighteenth century, several secret associations sprang up in France, which, in their external characters and mysterious rites, attempted an imitation of Freemasonry, differing, however, from that institution, of which they were, perhaps, the rivals for public favour, by their admission of female members. The ladies very naturally extolled the gallantry

digestis fletibus plangitur. Deinde cum se ficta lamentatione satiaverint, lumen infertur. Tunc a sacerdote omnium qui flebant, fauces unguntur quibus perunctis, sacerdos lento murmure susurrat:

Θαρρείτε μύσται του θεου σεσωσμένου

Έσται γαρ ημιν εκ πόνων σωτηρία,

of these mushroom institutions, and inveighed with increased hostility against the exclusiveness of masonry. The Royal Art was becoming unpopular, and the fraternity believed themselves compelled to use strategy, and to wield in their own defence the weapons of their opponents.

At length, the Grand Orient of France, finding that these mystic societies were becoming so popular and so numerous as to endanger the permanency of the masonic institution, a new rite was established in 1774, called the "Rite of Adoption," which was placed under the control of the Grand Orient. Rules and regulations were thenceforth provided for the government of these lodges of adoption, one of which was that no men should be permitted to attend them except regular Freemasons, and that each lodge should be placed under the charge, and held under the sanction and warrant of some regularly constituted masonic lodge, whose Master, or, in his absence, his deputy, should be the presiding officer, assisted by a female President or Mistress. Under these regulations a Lodge of Adoption was opened in Paris in 1775, under the patronage of the lodge of St. Anthony, and in which the Duchess of Bourbon presided, and was installed a Grand Mistress of the Adoptive rite.

The rite of Adoption consists of four degrees, as follow:

1. Apprentice.

2. Companion. 3. Mistress.

4. Perfect Mistress.

The first, or Apprentices' degree, is simply introductory in its character, and is intended to prepare the candidate by its initiatory ceremony for the emblematic lessons which are contained in the remaining degrees.

In the second degree, or Companion, the scene of the temptation in Eden is emblematically represented, by the ceremonial of initiation, and the candidate is reminded in the course of the lecture, (for there is a lecture or catechism to each degree,) of all

the unhappy results of the first sin of woman, until they terminated in the universal deluge.

The building of the Tower of Babel, and the consequent dispersion of the human race, constitute the legend of the third degree, or that of Mistress. Jacob's ladder is also introduced into the ceremonies of this degree, and the candidate is informed that it symbolically denotes the various virtues which a Mason should possess, while the Tower of Babel is an emblem of a badly regulated lodge, in which disorder and confusion are substituted for the concord and obedience which should always exist in such a place.

In the fourth degree, or that of Perfect Mistress, the officers represent Moses, Aaron, their wives, and the sons of Aaron, and the ceremonies and instructions refer to the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness, as a symbol of the passage of man and woman through this, to another and a better world.

It will be seen, from this brief sketch, that the rite of Adoption professes, in some measure, to imitate the symbolic character and design of true Freemasonry. It cannot be denied that the idea has been very ingeniously and successfully carried out.

The officers of a lodge of Adoption consist of a Grand Master and Grand Mistress, an Orator, an Inspector and an Inspectress, a Depositor and a Depositrix, a Conductor and a Conductress.* They wear a blue sash or collar, with a gold trowel suspended thereto. The Grand Master uses a mallet, with which he governs the lodge, and the same implement is placed in the hands of the Grand Mistress, the Inspector and Inspectress, and Depositor and Depositrix. Every member wears a plain white apron and white gloves.

The brethren, in addition to the insignia of their rank, wear swords and a gold ladder with five rounds, which is the proper jewel of Adoptive masonry.

* The Inspectress, assisted by the Inspector, acts as Senior Warden, and the Depositrix, assisted by the Depositor, as Junior Warden. The Conductress and the Conductor are the Deacons.

The business of the lodge is conducted by the sisterhood, the brethren only acting as their assistants.

The Grand Mistress, however, has very little to say or do, she being only an honorary companion to the Grand Master, which mark of distinction is conferred on her as a token of respect for her character and virtues.

The lodge-room is elegantly and tastefully decorated with emblems, which, of course, vary in each degree. In the degree of Apprentice, for instance, the room is separated by curtains into four apartments or divisions, representing the four quarters of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The division at the entrance of the lodge represents Europe, in the middle on the right is Africa, on the left America, and at the extreme east is Asia, where are erected two splendid thrones, decorated with gold fringe, for the Grand Master and Grand Mistress. Before them is placed an altar, and on both sides, to the right and left, are eight statues, representing Wisdom, Prudence, Strength, Temperance, Honour, Charity, Justice, and Truth. The members sit on each side in straight lines, the sisters in front, and the brothers behind them, the latter having swords in their hands. There cannot, in fact, be a more beautiful and attractive sight, than a lodge of Adoptive Masons properly organized and well attended.

Looking to the mixed sexual character of these lodges, it is not surprising that every thing is followed by a banquet, and on many occasions by a ball. These, says Clavel, are inseparable from a lodge of Adoption, and are, in fact, the real design of its organization, the initiatory ceremonies being but a pretext.

In the banquets of the regular lodges of the French rite, the members always use a symbolic language, by which they designate the various implements and articles of food and drink upon the table. In imitation of this custom, the ladies, in the banquets of the Adoptive lodges, have also established a symbolic language, to be used only at the table. Thus the lodge-room is called "Eden;" the doors "barriers;" the minutes "a ladder;"