Thoughts On The New History.

and while many of his statements I havo read with pleasure , some I cannot agree to . For instance , Bro . Fort says : — " So early as the year 125-4 tho practice seems to have prevailed of appointing a General or Grand Master over the guilds of Masons in Paris ; " and after referring to John Morow at Melrose , he says , that " Louis IX . had given the Mastership of Masons to Mastor

William de Saint Petri ' . ' ' First , Bro . Fort made this Master William into a nobleman , and thou he proved that a nobleman was Grand Master of Masons in Paris at that time . Now , in the first place , I doubted very much that Master William was-a nobleman ; and , second , I doubted that he wag a Grand Ilaster in any sense of the word . Louis IX . was a despot , and his appointee must have been a despot

also . We need not therefore feel proud about the French Masons having been ruled by a despot , though he was a nobleman . Bro . Gould , however , shows that Master William was not a nobleman . Abont tho Gorman Lodges Bro . Fort says : — "These Lodges originally were convened at sunrise , and the Master having invested himself with the insignia of his office , took

his station in the east . While tho brethren grouped beforo lum in the form of a semi-circle . . . . Prayer was an essential point in opening the Lodgo , and harmony , while assembled , was especially insisted on among tbe members After tho prayer of opening of a media > val lodge was finished , each workman hail his daily labour assigned . . . The Craft again assembled at the

close of day , or at sunset , and the same fovmal arrangement of tae operatives , with prayer , was repeated . " To Bro . Fallon he refers as his authority . Without being able to find out who Fallon was , I marked him down as a Masonic romancer , and such is also the opinion of Bro . Gonld . " Masons' marks " formed another prolific topic for our Masonic

writers . These Masons' marks were regarded by them as Masonic symbols having a Christian significance . I have more than once combated these notions . In 1828 I began to learn the furriers ' trade , where each girl that sewed an article had tn mark it with the needle and thread . When I came to Boston , in 1842 , the girla here marked their articles with tho identical marks that the girls in Lon .

don did fourteen years previous . Some of the said marks are like the marks Masons made on stones many years ago , but yet no one presumes to infer therefrom that tho fur sewers ever rode either a Mason ' s or a furrier ' s goat : tbe reason of the stone cutter and of the fur sewer marking their respective handicrafts was precisely the same . It seemed to me that the old Masous attached no more

religious or moral significance to their marks than the girls in my workshop do , but yet a very gentlemanly and learned English brother , viz ., S . Russell Forbes , treated our Boston Masons , about two years ago , with a lecture on Masons' marks . And here again Bro . Gould come 3 to my rescue . He says , p 192 : — " Amongst the police regulations of the [ French ] Crafts consider .

able importance was attached to the mark which almost every artizan was obliged to put on his work . Levasseur says goldsmiths , clothworkers , potters , coopers , and nearly every class of artizau possessed their stamp or private mark . " So here is another idol worshipped by our profound Masonic scho-Jars smashed to atoms .

With the thermometer at 90 degrees in my room , I cannot make mnch progress either in reading or writing . As far as I have read the first volume , I am very much pleased with it . But still I must point out a serious defect in the work , which Bro . Gould , above all others , should not have left undone . One and the same subject is mentioned or referred to in several parts of the volume , bat as

neither Index , or Table of Contents is furnished with tho work , every time I have to group these passages , I have to go over the whole or a large portion of the volume . Now , this ought to be mended , and "it is never too late to mend , " as the saying is . I hepe , therefore , that Bro . Gould will take due notice thereof , and govern himself accordingly . Boston , 5 th July 1883 .

There was a meeting of the General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls at Freemasons' Hall on Thursday , 26 th ultimo , Colonel Creaton in the chair ; Bros . E . C . Mather , Frank Richardson , E . Spooner , H . A . Dubois , Tattershall , and E . C . Massey were also present .

The minutes of tbe General Committee of 28 th June were read and confirmed , and the following were read for information : —House Committee , 9 fch and 19 th Jul y ; Quarterly General Court 14 th July , and Audit Committee 24 th July . The Chairman was authorised to sign cheques

amounting to £ 1 , 608 13 s . Payments of £ 400 on account of sanitary works , £ 162 10 s on account of swimming bath , and Messrs . Tarn and Co . for furniture , were authorised . Recommendations of the House Committee for further ventilation of the dormitories , for the extension

of the tar-paving in the playground , and for additional lavatory accommodation in the Junior School , were adopted ; and it was referred back to the House

Committee to have these works carried out . Bro . Tattershall gave notice of motion for the next Quarterl y Court , that he wonld move for an addition to the 37 th Rule , to come after the word " trustee " on the third line , viz .: —

Holiday Haunts.

HOLIDAY HAUNTS .

— : o : ~ WESTERN COUNTIES AND WALES .

BEFORE the introduction of railways the coasts of Somersetshire and Devonshire , of Cornwall and Wales wero unknown except to the dwellers near to them and tho rioh few who could command access to them . The Channel Islauds were as a foreign country to most Englishmen , aud Penzance was enveloped in a mist of tradition and remembered to a great extent only from its close proximity to the Land's End . Many aro still living who remember when railways

were not in existence , when the only modes of communication were the sea and the coaches . It was not until a comparatively recent period , counting time aa applied to the age of nations , that many large towns first had the advantages of railways . Now the land is covored with them , and places that were fishing villages and the haunts of smugglers have sprung up into health and pleasure resorts ;

their natural beauties have been supplemented with the productions of art , skill and enterprise , and now hundreds of attractive spots are scattered along the coasts that line our tight little Island . The various railway companies having centres iu London vie with each other in arranging tourist programmes to meet the wants and desires of the millions who now form the great Babylon of London .

Thousands living iu various parts of tbe country make the Metropolis their starting point for their pleasure trip ; but as time goes on and railway schemes develop , this arrangement will become less and less necessary , and most people will be able to go direct from their own homes to the places they have determined to visit . The Great Western , unlike the Great Eastern line , covers a vast

extent of country . It serves haunts far more distant and diversified , and offers a choice which is scarcely equalled by any other service . A g lance at the map which accompanies the exhaustive time table issued by this company , will best explain onr meaning . One network of lines go north through all the trading centres , throwing out branches to the western counties into North Wales , to Holyhead for

Dublin , and intersecting South Wales to Milford . Then through Somersetshire ( branching off to Dorsetshire ) , Devonshire and Cornwall , to Penzance , covering in all a territory that would take volumes to describe . The difficulty is to know" which district to take , which of the series of attractions to visit and enjoy . Happily the time table referred to acts as a finger-post ; in some instances it

adds a brief description , and in all cases it affords every information aa to ronte , cost , and time for sojourn permitted , together with a list of places where the journeys can be broken in order to visit interesting places in the locality . Many , no doubt , are familiar with the beauties of the Thames between London and Oxford , but there are vast numbers who seek

pleasure farther off and fare worse . A week spent in exploring the district would afford enjoyment little reoked of by those who pass unheeded the charms that lie almost at their very door . We are nob alluding particularly to Royal Windsor , for that is a spot that every one goes , or should go , to see . It is the home of onr revered Queen , the castle of our kings from tho Conqueror , and the noblest royal

building in the world . Windsor Castle is replete with interest , and the country all around is charming . The associations are of the most romantic character , from Heme the Hunter to the Merry Wives and Falstaff , while the historic incidents point many a moral , and adorn many a tale . Wo were not , however , thinking of Windsor so much as of the towns and villages which border on , or are not far

from , the Thames which the great Western line serves . The country round Hayes and West Drayton is pretty , but the charms of Taplow , Maidenhead , Cookhani and Great Marlow are rich beyond description . Wargrave is out of the line , bub artists have discovered its attraotions . Then there is Henley beyond , with its regatta associations , far more interesting than all the so-called glories of Epsom , Newmarket ,

or Goodwood , simply because they are purer in their character . There is Oxford , a little more remote , but only a short journey , with its noble colleges and grounds , its river and history , linked aa it ia with much of the fame and greatness of men of the present and past ages . Still away in the same direction are Leamington , Warwiok and Coventry . The former town is pleasant , bub Warwiok , with its

castle , old buildings and Guy ' s Cliff close by , is irresistibly charming . There is an old story of a bet that was made as to the most ; beaatifnl walk in England . The result was that one named thab from Coventry to Warwick and the obher from Warwick to Coventry . The winner remains undetermined to this day . The journey is certainly a most delightful one , and it can be varied by making a detour

through Kenilworth and Leigh Park . Those who have read Sir Walter Scott ' s novel of Kenilworth will not need any recommendation on our part to vis b the scene where Queen Elizabeth figured so conspicuously as the guest of the favourite Leicester . Continuing from Warwick , the line goes on to Birmingham , Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury , branching off to Manchester on the right , and to

Chester and Birkenhead and Liverpool on the left . Before reaching Chester , at Raabon , of coal celebrity , there is . a line of railway to Llangollen , on to Bala , Dolgelly and Barmouth , in Cardigan Bay and to Blaenan Festiniog , the locality of the high range of mountains in North Wales , including Snowdon .

Llangollen is but a short ride from Ruabon , through a black country that gives little indication of the beauties of the vale of which the Welsh are so justly proud . The river Dee ab Llangollen is a rushing stream , over a rocky bed , with good sport for anglers . A splendid view of the valley i 3 obtained in the walk to Chirk Castle , a visit to which should not be omitted . Cnstle Dina Bran—we believe that is

the name of the mountaiu towering above the Dee—wonld well repay the trouble of climbing , and certainly the ruins of Vale Crucis Abbey , and the quaint home of some singular maiden ladies , with a story , not far from the village , ought to be inspected . We must not linger at Llangollen , but retrace our steps towards the south . What a field of pleasure is there opened up by the Great Western line , embraoiug snob