voice of his mistress. Walter Scott saw through the outlines of a rusty lancehead or broken pair of spurs the imagery of a well foughten field. Thomas Moore drew from the twang of a ricketty lute wails of lamentation for the decadence of his green old Ireland. All this is in the nature of suggestion, the very essence of poetry. Yet these men could look coldly upon the most pregnant images of Freemasonry, the G, the Broken Column, the Mystic Pillars, and at score of others; they couid listen to a rehearsal of the Masonic covenants without once considering the inexhaustible mine of poetic thought of which these. were only the surface.

As compared with any other theme, I would give the preference to Symbolical Masonry as the richest in poetic thought, and I can only hope that the day is not distant when a great poet will arise who will be to Freemasonry what Scott was to chivalry, Moore to patriotism, Burns to rustic love.

My attention was early turned, as a Masonic student, to the department of poetry, and whatever grade of merit may be attached to my own effusions, I may justly claim to have searched with assiduity the gems of poetic thought buried in the mines of Masonic literature, and brought them to the public eye.

For convenience of use I have arranged the pieces into divisions, as Templary, Symbolical Masonry, etc.; but the distinctions are not particularly obvious, for the aims and teachings of the Masonic Order are the same, whether enforced by the Gavel, the Scepter, or the Sword; whether embodied in emblems of Christ, Zerubbabel or Solomon. In the present edition I have omitted all my odes and poems not Masonic, and supplied their places with a number of productions, notably "The Utterances of the Sword," composed since the edition of 1878 was published.

As to the spirit in which these pieces were composed, I quote from a communication sent ten years since to Hon. James M. Howry (deceased 1884), who was my Masonic instructor forty years since: "I became early fascinated with the wonderful machinery of Freemasonry, and what I felt I spoke and wrote. could no more check my thoughts than the tempest can silence the sounds it Freemasonry appeared to me such a field for the reformer. Here was a body of selected men, united by indissoluble covenants, working out a few grand, simple principles of architecture, and having celestial wages in view! Was not this a perfect theory? I wrote because my heart burned within me, and silence seemed impossible. I found that the effect of Masonry properly appreciated was to render men lovely to their fellows, pleasing to their God. In my poems I said as much, and said it in the most forcible, the most tuneful words at my command. I have visited more than one lodge where learning, religion, the useful

and liberal arts, law, polished manners, all that marks and embellishes the best society, and man as a constituent in the best society, is found, and of such I endeavored to be the reporter, that by their life I might aid in vitalizing other lodges that

'Lie in dead oblivion, losing half

The fleeting moments of too short a life.""

But my preface is becoming verbose, and I will close. To the present generation I pray to commend the thoughts which pleased their fathers.

WE MEET UPON THE LEVEL, AND WE PART UPON THE SQUARE,-
What words of precious meaning those words Masonic are!
Come, let us contemplate them; they are worthy of a thought,-
With the highest and the lowest and the rarest they are fraught.

We meet upon the level, though from every station come—
The King from out his palace and the poor man from his home;
For the one must leave his diadem without the Mason's door,
And the other finds his true respect upon the checkered floor.

We part upon the square, for the world must have its due;
We mingle with its multitude, a cold, unfriendly crew;
But the influence of our gatherings in memory is green,
And we long, upon the level, to renew the happy scene.

There's a world where all are equal,— we are hurrying toward it fast,—
We shall meet upon the level there when the gates of death are past;
We shall stand before the Orient, and our Master will be there,
To try the blocks we offer by His own unerring square.

We shall meet upon the level there, but never thence depart;
There's a Mansion,—'tis all ready for each zealous, faithful heart;
There's a Mansion and a welcome, and a multitude is there,
Who have met upon the level and been tried upon the square.

Let us meet upon the level, then, while laboring patient here,-
Let us meet and let us labor, tho' the labor seem severe.
Already in the western sky the signs bid us prepare

To gather up our working tools and part upon the square!

Hands round, ye faithful Ghiblimites, the bright, fraternal chain;
We part upon the square below to meet in Heaven again.

O what words of precious meaning those words Masonic are,-
WE MEET UPOn the Level, AND WE PART UPON THE SQUARE.

་་

The above is the original form in which the poem, 'We Meet upon the Level," etc., was written. Its history, as often told, is simple enough, and has none of the elements of romance. In August, 1854, as the author was walking home from a neighbor's, through the sultry afternoon, he sat upon a fallen tree, and upon the back of a letter dashed off, under a momentary impulse and in stenographic character, the lines upon this page.

Eighteen years since, Brother George Oliver, D.D., eminent above all others in English Masonry, and the Masonic historian for all time, said of the poem: 'Brother Morris has composed many fervent, eloquent and highly poetic compositions, songs that will not die, but in 'The Level and the Square' he has breathed out a depth of feeling, fervency and pathos, with brilliancy and vigor of language, and expressed due faith in the immortal life beyond the grave."

II

We meet upon the LEVEL, and we part upon the SQUARE:
What words sublimely beautiful those words Masonic are!
They fall like strains of melody upon the listening ears,
As they've sounded hallelujahs to the world, three thousand years.

We meet upon the LEVEL, though from every station brought,
The Monarch from his palace and the Laborer from his cot;
For the King must drop his dignity when knocking at our door
And the Laborer is his equal as he walks the checkered floor.

We act upon the PLUMB,-'tis our MASTER'S great command,
We stand upright in virtue's way and lean to neither hand;
The ALL-SEEING EYE that reads the heart will bear us witness true,
That we do always honor God and give each man his due.

We part upon the SQUARE,- for the world must have its due,
We mingle in the ranks of men, but keep The Secret true,
And the influence of our gatherings in memory is green,
And we long, upon the LEVEL, to renew the happy scene.

There's a world where all are equal,- we are hurrying toward it fast,
We shall meet upon the LEVEL there when the gates of death are past;
We shall stand before the Orient and our MASTER will be there,
Our works to try, our lives to prove by His unerring SQUARE.

We shall meet upon the LEVEL there, but never thence depart.
There's a mansion bright and glorious, set for the pure in heart;
And an everlasting welcome from the Host rejoicing there,
Who in this world of sloth and sin, did part upon the SQUARE.

Let us meet upon the LEVEL, then, while laboring patient here,
Let us meet and let us labor, tho' the labor be severe;
Already in the Western Sky the signs bid us prepare,
To gather up our Working Tools and part upon the SQUARE.

Hands round, ye royal craftsmen in the bright, fraternal chain!
We part upon the SQUARE below to meet in Heaven again;
Each tie that has been broken here shall be cemented there,

And none be lost around the Throne who parted on the SQUARE.

This poem has been subjected to so many alterations in its thirty years of active use that it is deemed proper to give it here with the last emendations. It is likely that older readers will prefer it in its first draft.

PART FIRST.

POEMS:

EMBODYING THOUGHTS OF THE BIRTH, LIFE, DEATH, RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF

The first is a coin of John Zimisces I, Emperor of the Byzantine Dominions, A.D. 969 to 975. Upon the obverse is the portrait of CHRIST in the style of the Middle Ages, with the inscription in Greek, EMMANUEL. The reverse presents a Passion Cross bent to the left, with Greek letters and words cantoned in the spaces.

These are read "Jesus Christ, the King of Kings." This fine specimen was procured by Dr.

Morris at Gebal, on the Phoenician coast. The coin is copper. The Seal is that of

the Militia Templi, founded at Jerusalem by King Baldwin, A.D. 1118. Two

chevaliers upon one horse signify the extreme poverty of the Order.

The inscription, in Mediaval characters, is Pauperes Commili

tones Christi et Templi Salomonis. "The Poor Fellow

soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solo

mon." Procured at Malta.

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