If I had been consulted on the subject, another edi~ tion of the Principles of Masonic Law, which was first published in 1856, would never have been given to the world; at least, it should not have been sent forth without a diligent correction of those opinions in it, which I now believe to be erroneous. As it now appears, it is not, in every part, a just representation of my views. But the control of the book is not in my hands, and all that I can now do — and I ask this as air act of justice to myself — is to request my breth ren, when they shall hereafter honor me by citing my Opinions on Masonic Law, to look for those amended views, in this, my latest work, in which I have not felt any shame in correcting the immature theories, in many points, of my earlier labor. There is no dis honor ia acknowledging a mistake — there is much. In obstinately persisting in it. I do not suppose that I shall ever write another work on Masonic Law. Of all Masonic literature it is the most tedious in its details — in the task of composition, the most laborious and while I have sought, by the utmost care, to make the present treatise one worthy of the Fraternity, for whom I have written it, and to whom I am profoundly grateful for their uniform kind ness to me, I shall gladly turn, henceforward, to the more congenial employment of investigating the sym bols and the religious teachings of the Order.