The Warwickshire Masonic Benevolent And Pupils' Aid Fund.

Masonic Pupils' Assistance , when in working trim , will fulfil the objects t ' ov which it was started , without in the slightest degree interfering with the other Charities . Indeed , its " object has been stated to bo , that it should always remain iu a subsidiary position as regards the

Schools . However , though our Warwickshire brethren will have nothing to say to a general Pupils' Assistance Fund , they have started a similar fund of their own in

conjunction with their Benevolent Fund , and all we need say by way of concluding theso remarks is , as we have once already said , that wo hope and believe this scheme will bo a successful one .

The Mother City Of American Freemasonry.—Iv.

THE MOTHER CITY OF AMERICAN FREEMASONRY . —IV .

By BRO . R . F . GOUM > . BT way of Appendix to the friendly disputation which , under the above heading , has been conducted in the

FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE , the " Title-Pages" of the two " Pocket Companions " ( so frequently referred to ) , may be usefully presented .

It will bo seen that the motto— " Denis Nobis Sol et Scutum "—and the names of printer [ E . Rider ] and compiler [ W . Smith ] are the same in both publications .

From the London list of Lodges being published in 1734 , and the Dublin list in 1735 , it is evident that the latterexcept as to the No . 79—was copied from the former . [ Title Page of London Pocket Companion , 1735 . ]

A POCKET COMPANION JOB . FREE MASONS .

Deus Nobis Sol Sf Scutum . DEDICATED TO THE SOCIETT .

LONDON : Friuted and Sold by E . Rider in Blaokroore-street , near Clare-market . JIDCCXXXV . The dedication of the London " Pocket Companion " follows the Title-page , and concludes as under : —

" Signed by Your loving Brother And most obedient servant , W . SMITH . "

What may be termed the first part of the book , terminates at p 45 , and though the pagination continues , a new Title-page heads what may be described as the second part . [ Title Page of Second Part . ]

COLLECTION OF THE SONGS OF MASONS ,

& c . & c . & c . LONDON : Printed in tho year MDCCXXXIV . At p 95 is given : — " AN EXACT

LIST oy REGULAR LODGES

ACCORDING TO THE IK SENIORITY AND CONSTITUTION . In this list the No . 79 is vacant . [ Title Page of tho DaUin Pocket Companion , 1735 . *] A POCKF . T COMPANION FOR FREE-MASONS , CONTAINING [ The various headings I .-VII . comprise the History of Masonry .

Charges , General Regulations , etc ., etc . ] VIII . A List of tho Warranted Lodges in Ireland , Great Britain , France , Spain , Germany , East and West Indies , etc . Approved of , and Recommended by the Grand Lodge .

Dens nobis Sol efc Scutum . Dnblin : Printed by E . Rider , and sold at the Printing Offico in George ' s Lane ; T . Jones , in Clarendon Streot ; and J . Pennel , at the Hercules in St . Patrick Street . "Huccxxxv . ( Price eight-pence ) . "It is dedicated" ( says Bro . TCnghan ) " to the BRETHREN and

* From an article by Bro . W . J . Hughan , originally published in the "Voice of Masonry , " Chicago , September 1875 , and reprinted in "Early History of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , 1877 , " pp xiv - xxiii .

The Mother City Of American Freemasonry.—Iv.

FF . r . i , ows .... of FREE and ACCEPTED MASONS , by your loving BROTHER and most obedient servant . " W . ( illiam ) S . ( mith ) . In the list of Lodges shown in this work , the 79 th place on the English roll is no longer vacant , but is filled by an American Lodge , which is thus described : " The Hoop in

Water Street , in Philadelphia , 1 st Monday . " I may add , in conclusion , that whilst my hypothesis , as to the Boston Lodge , afterwards No . 126 , being misdescribed as the Lodge at the " Hoop , " & c , is strengthened

by tho fact of the earlier " Pocket Companion " having the No . 79 vacant , it is weakened by the dissimilarity of the clays of meeting assigned to the Lodges at No . 79 and 126 respectively .

No . 126 met on the second and fourth Wednesday , and not on the first Monday .

How Long Will Masons Continue To Believe In Imaginary History?

HOW LONG WILL MASONS CONTINUE TO BELIEVE IN IMAGINARY HISTORY ?

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . A IIALF ~ cracked dreamer , who was initiated into Masonry , wrote in 1724 a book called " Long Livers , " in which he claimed that Masonry was understood by him better than any one else . Thereupon , the editor of tho Freemason took it for granted that High Grades were in existence in 1724 . A humbug imposed upon the High Graders in Golden-square a so-called Henry IV . of France Rose Croix apron , and the same authority tells us that the History of

Freemasonry will have to be re-written . A splurge was recently made by a set of dreamei' 3 about Egyptian Masonry , and the same writer again insists that tbe History of Masonry will have to be re-written . In a like manner the Philadelphia " Mother of American Masonry " was embalmed by the same writer in Bro . Kenning's Cyclopoedia . I supposed that my demonstration about Lodge No . 79 having been an

English Lodge would have settled the Philadelphia pretension ; but a correspondent of mine insists that I must account for the reason as to why the Dnblin editor of the" Pocket Companion" in 1735 made No . 79 a Philadelphia Lodge . Now , with all deference to that Brother , does he really think that we are bound to account for all the whys and wherefores of Masonio writers who have propagated

some thousands of falsehoods in their writings P Thus , several old English Lodge Lists state that a certain Lodge was constituted in the days of Julius Cassar . In 1875 the late Bro . Tisdal asserted that he saw the Warrant of Albion Lodge at Quebec , and that it was dated 1721 . In C . W . Moore ' s Magazine , Boston , U . S . of 1844 ( pp 163-4 ) I found the following assertion : —

" The first [ authority ] for this country was received about ; the year 1720 . It was a Dispensation authorising the opening of a Lodge in this City . " We have the fact from a clergyman ( the late Rev . Mr . Montague , of Dedham ) , who found it stated in an old account in the archives of King ' s Chapel . The Lodge was regularly organized , but was soon after discontinued . "

But although Moore gave it upon the authority of a Rev . Mr . Montagne , yet there is not a word of truth in the above statement . Anderson ' s History of Freemasonry , " Multa Paucis , " Hutchinson ' s , Preston's , and Oliver ' s Works , as well as our Masonic Magazines in general , abound in similar mis-statements . All that is necessary to

do in such cases , is simply to expose their absurdities , and no one is required to account as to why or wherefore the said falsehoods were manufactured , and I really can see no reason why I should be called upon to account for a blunder of the Dnblin editor of 1735 . Bro . Philadelphos , in the issue of this paper of 30 th Oct ., says :

" Bnt I have always looked upon the Coxe Deputation , and the extracts from the Philadelphia Journal ' • • as having a very direct bearing upon the subject , and till the reality of their existence has been very seriously disturbed , I shall always be of opinion that Freemasonry undoubtedly established itself in Philadelphia beforo it

did in any other city of the present United States ; I will go further and say , that even if the Coxe Deputation was never granted—and I know no Craftsman who is more competent to throw light on this than Bro . Gould—I should still hold to the belief that the evidence of a contemporary journal as to there having been meetings of the Craft in the City of Brotherly Love , cannot be overset . "

Now , I have never doubted that Coxe received a deputation in 1730 ' constituting him P . G . M . of Kew York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania . I believo , also , that in 1730 Franklin , in his paper , stated that several Lodges existed in Pennsylvania ; and in 1732 he gave an account of the meeting of a Grand Lodge in Philadelphia . But I maintain that no evidence is in existence showing a connection between Daniel

Coxe and Pennsylvania Freemasonry . Coxe joined a Loudon Lodge in 1731 , and no one could find his return to America before 1734 , that is , two years after he ceased to be G . M . Now , had Coxe founded Masonry in Pennsylvania , and , residing as he did within twenty miles of Philadelphia , he would snrely have visited the Philadelphia Grand Lodge , at least once , on a 24 th of June , to participate with his Masonic children in the Festival of St . John ' s Day ; and had he so visited them

his name would have appeai'ed among the distinguished dignitaries in tho Pennsylvania Gazette . Coxe died in 1739 ; had his Grand Mastership been known to Benjamin Franklin , Franklin would have noticed him in the Pennsylvania'Gazette . Yet there is not only no evidence in tho Pennsylvania Gazette that Franklin knew of Coxe ' s Deputation , bt . t there is no evidence in ail Franklin ' s writings of his knowledge of the very existence of Daniel Coxe ; and , furthermore , there is no