Reviews.

REVIEWS .

All Books intended for Be view should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . Early History and Transactions of the Qrand Lodge of Free and

Accepted Masons of the State of New York , 1781—1815 . Publisher by authority of the Grand Lodge . Granted to Kane Lodge , No , 454 , June 1874 . Parts I ., IT ., III ., IV . New York : Masonic and Miscellaneous Publishers , No . 2 Bleockor-stroot . D . Sickles and Co ., Managers . 1876 .

( Continued from page 70 . ) 0 * the Union Lodge of New York it is recorded that it took part in the celebration of St . John tho Evangelist ' s festival on the 28 th December 1767 , and from the minutes of Solomon ' s Lodge , No . l , of Pongh . keepsie , it appears that Robert E . Livingston , afterwards E . W . G . M .

of Grand Lodge , was the W . M . during 1771 . Masters Lodge No . 2 , City of Albany , received its warrant on the Sth March 1768 from P . G . M . George Hanson , those named in tho document being " William Gamble Master , Samuel Stringer Senior Warden , and Jeremiah Van Eensselaer Junior Warden . " Its early

minutes , we are told , are very complete and highly interesting , even tho minutest details having been most carefully recorded . A number of extracts are quoted in the pages of this history , permission from the guardian of these treasures having previously been accorded to

Bro . Barker . Sundry of these we take leave to reproduce . Within a month from the date of warrant we have recorded the making of a Mr . Peter Schuyler . As he is said to have been personally known to the members , his petition was granted , and " he was entered accordingly , and to be charged with the following dues , viz . —

Dues of the Charity Fund £ 8 0 0 „ to the Tyler 0 8 0 „ of remaining year 1 10 0 „ for his apron 0 2 0 £ 10 0 0 "

These dues Bro . Schuyler liquidated a few days later , namely , on 13 th April , on which occasion Bro . Stringer as Treasurer was ordered to remit to the P . G . M . the sum of £ 3 5 s " for the dues of onr warrant . " It was further agreed unanimously to hold the ordinary meetings of the body on Wednesdays . At a meeting held on 1 st February of the year following , a petition to the R . W . Grand Master , Sir John Johnson , and letter accompanying , with reply thereto , were entered on the

minutes . The petition was for a renewal of the warrant by the title St . John tbe Evangelist's Lodge No . 2 , of Albany , constituting Bro . Samuel Stringer Master , with power to appoint his officers . On receipt of this the old warrant to be transmitted for tho purpose of being cancelled . This petition is signed by Samuel Stringer , William Gamble , and Jer . Van Eensselaer . The covering letter wo give in extenso : —

SIK : At the request of the body , I take the liberty of enclosing herewith a petition from the Masters Lodge , No . 2 . of this place , over which I have the honor of presiding , and as the sense of the whole request that you would be pleased to grant tho prayer thereof as speedily as may be consistent with your own convenience . The reasons for

renewing our warrant are many and urgent . Our local advantage as well as tbe completeness of our apparatus , aro perhaps superior to those of any other Lodge in tho Province ; and we will endeavour to render our conduct as Masons inferior to none . I beg leave to refer you to the petition itself , being with the greatest respect , Worshipful Sir , Your affect . Bro . and most humble obt . servant ,

Albany , 21 Jan ., 1769 . SAMUEL STRINGER . To Sir John Johnson , Kt . The reply was a very courteous letter from Sir John Johnson , regretting his inability to comply with the prayer of the petition . He had not been installed as Grand Master , for his Constitution had not been received from England , and , till then , Sir John thinks no

warrant can properly bo granted . As to the internal regulations of the Lodge , we find that a fine of sixpence was levied on such members as came late . In the minutes of 4 th June 1770 , we learn that certain of these fines , amounting together to the sum of four shillings , wore given to the Tyler , " to purchase a pair of genteel snuffers for the use of the Lodge . " A fortnight later , the snuffers ,

on which there still remained sixpence due , were delivered , and as a Bro . Hogan came late , his fine of sixpence was handed to the Tyler in liquidation of the balance , Bro . Hogan , however , objecting to the levy , and requesting his name to be erased from the list of members because its payment was insisted npon . At this distance of time , and without fuller records , we cannot , of course , venture to say if

the acquisition of the snuffers and the loss of Bro . Hogan mnst be taken as a fair set off one against the other . Evidently Bro . Hogan was an unpunctual attendant , for he is entered more than once as being fined . But the cost of his unpnnctuality went a considerable way towards purchasing " a pair of genteel snuffers , " and the use of snuffers , we all know , is to trim and readjust the illuminating power

of candles . Thus , though he may not himself have been much of a shining light , Bro . Hogan was indirectly , and in a great measure the means whereby the light of " Masters Lodge No . 2 , " was made to burn more brilliantly . Query ; having an eye to the future , and in the belief that a second pair of snuffers might some day be needed , would it not have been

wiser , or , at all events , more expedient , to have refused Bro . Hogan's resignation . Leaving our readers to solve , at their leisure , this knotty point , we note , incidentally , that fines were not always insisted upon . A Bro . Smith , " on account of his not being able to leave iiia work , " ia allowed balf-an-henr ' s grace at

the very meeting which witnessed Bro . Hogan ' s extinction . Early in tho year 1772 , the Lodge , for reasons of state , which are nob described , but may readily be imagined , resolved to furnish the Tyler with twelve pint bowls , and any person breaking one of them was to nay tho sum of eightpence . It was further resolved that Bro . Van Rensselaer should furnish the same officer with two quart bowls ,

" which , if broke , is to be paid for by the person breaking the same . In later minutes we obtain an insight into the reason for making these investments . On 4 th October 1773 , a petition from certain members to form a Lodge by the name of the " St . George ' s Lodge , " of Shenectady , is presented , with a request that tho Lodgo will support it with its recommendation . Tho petition is thereupon

signed by the W . M . and his Wardens , and the seal of the Lodge affixed thereto . In December of the same year , a donation is made to St . Peter ' s Church towards tho purchase of an organ . Several years pass , and then we read that , on 9 th Jan . 1778 , Brig .-Gen . John Starkie is balloted for and initiated , paying for his initiation £ 5 , to the Tyler 8 s , and for Extra Lodge 4 s , The year following , certain fees , dues , and fines are raised in amount as follows : —

" Each person for being initiated in this body , shall pay tho sum of £ 12 0 0 To tbe Tyler the sum of 2 0 0 For each quarter the dues to be •- - 0 16 0 For Extra Lodgo the sum of •- ••14 0 Fines for not attending regular Lodge night •0 8 0 Extra „ ,,. 04 0 . "

At an Extra Lodge held on 12 th April 1784 , the W . M . submits " a letter received from tho Secretary of tho Grand Lodge at New York , informing the body that the Right Worshipful Brother Robert R , Livingston had been elected Grand Master . " " Masters Lodge No . 2 , " has doubts about " the propriety of such election , " and accord , ingly a committee ia appointed to confer with a committee of Union .

Lodge thereon , and ordered to report the morrow evening at 5 p . m . Bros . Ganswoort , Ten Eyck and Abv ' m G . Lansing form the Committee . In the month of May a Constitution is received from Grand Lodge for perusal , and again the snbject is referred to a committee , which is ordered to confer with Union Lodge Committee , " to determine respecting the rights of the Grand Lodge in New York . " On 25 th

April 1785 it is resolved , on the motion of Bro . Gerrit Lansing , that the fines for non-attendance and lato arrival shall be expended in the purc ' iase of liquor " for the good of the Lodge when called from labour to refreshment . " The resolution is then and there carried into effect , for it is recorded " Paid for liquor , 2 s . " Thus , according to preceding tariffs , either four members arrived late , or

the fourth part of a member did not attend . At an extra Lodge on 12 th December of the same year , a summons to attend Grand Lodge is brought under notice . This summons it ha 1 been found impossible to obey , owing to the absence in the country of the W . M . and a uajority of the members , so that a sufficient number did not remain for holding a Lodge . Having in 1772 invested in the purchase of

pint and quart bowls , and having subsequently resolved to expend all fines for non-attendance in the purchase of liquor , the Lodge , we presume , after a fair amount of experience , finds either its labours too onerous or its supply of liquor from this source inadequate . On the 21 st Nov . 1786 , ia recorded a resolution : " That the Treasurer tako order to procure for tho use of the Lodge one quarter caske

of Lisbon or sherry wine , five gallons spirits , two loaves sugar , and two dozen glasses . " We are unable to learn from the minutes vouch , safed in these pages whether this resolution was acted upon immediately or not . Therefore , we are not in a position to determine if the motion next recorded was the result or in anticipation of any result that might follow the purchase of this wine , spirit , sugar , & c .

At all events , on 15 th January 1787 , on the motion of Bro . J . Lansing it is resolved that "no Brother be allowed to drink more than half . a . pint of wine each Lodge night . " It is also further ordered that " the Steward pay strict attention to the above , " and then , on the motion of the same Bro . J . Lansing , we read a mysterious instruction to the effect that " the 10 th article of the By . Laws be put in

force . " No doubt the curious reader will wonder , and the flippant reader smile at the juxtaposition of these two minutes . It is by no means out of the way to suggest the resolution of January , restricting the quantity of wine to be drunk by each member , as the conclusion based on certain premisses , of which the order to purchase wine and spirits in the preceding November was either the major or

the minor . The year following we read that the election of the Lodge officers was determined in the manner prescribed by the State Grand Lodge , namely , " by ballot for all the officers , " instead of in the m inner laid down in the Lodge By . Laws . Thus the Masters Lodge was gradually bringing itself within the fold of the State Grand Lodge , and in 1794 , after consultation between a Grand Lodge

Committee , consisting of Bros . De Witt Clinton and James Ogden Hoffman of the one part and a Lodge Committee , consisting of Bros . Stephen Van Rensselaer and Thomas Ellison , " of the other part , a report was delivered , the result being that Masters Lodge No . 2 , placed itself under the jurisdiction of the State Grand Lodge , and was awarded tho rank to which by virtue of this warrant it was en .

titled . In 1798 it is reported to Grand Lodge . The old warrant had been surrendered and a new one issued in its stead , and the officers installed under it . . Till 1819 this Masters Lodgo No . 2 , became known as No . 4 ; since June of that year it has held the place of No . 5 on the Grand Lodge Roll . King David's Lodge was warranted by the same R . W . George Harison , on the 17 th February 1769 , being located in the city of

New York , and Bro . Moses M . Hays was its first Master . Here it re . tnained till the year 1780 , when the then W . M . carried the warrant to Newport , R . I . There a Lodge was opened nnder it , and con . tinned to work for several years after . Solomon ' s Lodge , No . 1 , of Poughkeepsie , was warranted by P . G . M . Harison on the 18 th April 1771 , on the recommendation of Robert R . Livingston W . M . of Union Lodse , New York , and afterwards M . W . G . M . of the State Grand Lodge , The Lodge wag constituted ,