Another Impostor.

ANOTHER IMPOSTOR .

AT the Ashton-under-Lyne Borough Police Court a few days ago , a man , described as respectably attired , and who gave the name of John Haigh Eobinson , was charged with obtaining money by false pretences from the almoner of a local Lodge of Freemasons . He represented himself as a member of a Lodge at Newcastle-on-Tyne , and it was afterwards ascertained that this was untrue . He was committed for a month .

The above practice is , unfortunately , more frequent than outsiders imagine , remarks the writer of the Masonic column in the " Manchester Herald , " and although some examples have been made recently , there are no doubt a number of impostors scouring the country who are living comfortably on the proceeds of

their nefarious impositions . Those who have had to do with administering funds have in most instances felt a delicacy in wounding the self-respect of a " poor and distressed " Brother ; in consequence many probably not deserving have been relieved .

Almoners cannot be too careful in testing to the uttermost the qualifications of applicants , and making every possible inquiry into tbe circumstances of the ease , and in this way the exploits of such gentlemen as J . H . Eobinson would be materially checked , if not completely prevented .

The Nineteenth Century.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY .

AN interesting address , on " The Nineteenth century , Masonically viewed , " was delivered by Bro . Charles Frederick Silberbauer Orator of the Lodge de Goede Hoop , Gape Town , at the installation ceremony on Saturday , 24 th June . In his opening remarks our Brother said : —During the past Masonic year two events have occurred of more than ordinary interest to

every Craftsman in South Africa , and worthy of special notice on this occasion . As a Lodge , we gladly shared in the local celebrations in honour of the coronation of Queen Wilhelminathat sweet flower of the House of Orange ( a House to which our Empire was so deeply indebted in 1688 for placing fts civiland religious liberties on a firmer basis , and whose scions have during

this century taken high rank among the rulers of the Order ) . May the Almighty abundantly bless her and her people , and grant that she may more than fulfil the lofty expectations which her career hitherto so amply warrants . By a happy coincidence , we have also been privileged more recently to take our part in the

loyal outburst of gratitude to the Giver of all good gifts for His mercies vouchsafed to our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria during her prolonged , benign , and prosperous reign over a far extended realm . Herself the daughter of a Freemason and the mother of Eoyal Craftsmen , we most heartily joiu in the Laureate ' s aspiration regarding our beloved Empress :

May our children ' s children say : , She wrought her people lasting good ; Her Court was pure ; her life serene ; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother , Wife , and Queen .

We are nearing the threshold of the year 1900 .. and—if our lives are spared—we may become to the generation about to be born objects of a reverential awe akin to that with which we in our early youth regarded the aged survivors of the eighteenth century . A rare stoic indeed would he be who couldunmoved ,

, reflect that little short of a physiological miracle will enable anyone here present to behold the last day of the year 1999 . No For ever stilled shall our voices be then , and our toil-worn bodies laid to rest after life ' s fitful fever—even as it hath already been with the majority of the Brethren of the Victorian

era—Who , in their fair abodes of peace and truth With allegory deep and symbols old , Set forth in rite mysterious all that man May know , learn , fear , or hope . Though the Craft as a general rule takes no cognisance of matters external to itself , yet—seeing that every temple is

supposed to be a symbol of the universe , and that the ancient charges enjoin the study of the liberal arts and sciences—it may not be amiss if under the circumstances we dwell for a brief space on a few of the many triumphs of our race during the nineteenth century . It has been well said that the progress made in all

spheres of human work after 1800 has been greater and more farreaching than that attained during hundreds of years before it . Our Brother then reviewed at some length the progress made during the century in various arts and sciences , and concluded with the following " Word for Freemasonry : "

Itmight . be asked , " Why , in view of the dawning of another era , and seeing that old things have to so great an extent passed away , should Freemasonry continue to receive adherents ? " We cannot do better than reply in the words which Jowett used respecting Balliot College : " There is a great interest in belonging to an ancient institution . The members of it are bound by a peculiar tie to those who have gone before them ; they are

The Nineteenth Century.

in a manner our spiritual ancestors . If they had not been , neither should we have been , and we are indebted to them for more than we know . Without vanity , we may regard ourselves as belonging to a family which has continued during many ages , and which numbers amongst its sons many distinguished and even illustrious

personages . " We will go yet further , and say that the Craftsman upon whom the teachings of our Order have not been wholly lost has learnt to know his own powers as well as his limitations , and will govern himself accordingly . He unfeignedly believes in the Almighty as the Creator and Supreme Euler of the Universe—as

the Eternal Source of all goodness and of all wisdom , strength , and beauty . Finally , after having " served his own generation by the will of God " in the exercise of the virtues of Brotherly love , relief , and truth ( in their widest sense ) , he will be ready to commit his soul into the hands oi his Maker , and just , but merciful Judge , in trustful expectation of that

One far-off divine event To which the whole creation moves . So mote it be I

Prophets And Fanatics.

PROPHETS AND FANATICS .

FROM the time of Isaiah , the greatest of all prophets , and of his contemporary Jeremiah , the second of the great prophets , no country has been free from mad or half-crazy visionaries who generally evinced a desire to meddle with the laws of nature , of science , or religion ; the major portion of ¦ whom have been overtaken by some serious misfortune , the outcome of enthusiasm or bigotry . Isaiah , in language brilliant , and act majestic ,

proclaimed the coming and the attributes of the Messiah , and his fate was that of being cut in two with a wooden saw , by order of Manesseh . Jeremiah , ¦ who foretold the captivity of his nation and their future return , and in another age the birth and atonement of the Messiah , was imprisoned for prophesying the calamities in store for his country , and when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar , he was carried to Babylon , where he died

586 B . C . It would be possible for me to introduce into this article the history of many magicians , enthusiasts , or religionists who have been written about over and over again , and whose names are well known in literature , such as Mahomet , Merlin , Nostradamus , Dr . Dee , Kelly , Borri , Antoinette Bourignon , Cagliostro , and others , but I have preferred , with one or two notable exceptions , to leave the beaten path , even if it does not prove so very interesting .

Dositbjeus , the first heresiarch ( or heretical leader ) , a magician of Samaria , pretended to be the true Messiah . Among his thirty disciples he admitted a woman , whom he called the moon . But his eccentricity did not end here , for afterwards , retiring to a cave , he starved himself to death by way of inducing the belief that he had ascended into heaven . His followers are said to have made it a rule to remain for 24 hours in the same position they were in when the Sabbath began .

Mother Shipton , a name honoured in every English nursery , has been variously described . One tradition cities her as a myth , another has it that she was a nun , in a convent , in York , just before the Reformation , and a third leads us to believe that she was born near the Dropping Well , Knaresborough , on 6 th July 1488 , this event having been formerly noted on an inn at the gate , by her likeness and this couplet : —

" Near to this Petrifying Well I first drew breath as records tell . " The Abbot of Beverley baptised her as Ursula , and it is asserted that she was probably the ugliest child who ever underwent the ordeal , " her stature was much larger than common , her body crooked , and her face frightful . " The strength of mind which she possessed triumphed over her physical deformity , and when she arrived at the age of 24 years she was married to

Toby Shipton , of Shipton , near York . Her prophecies caused great concern during her lifetime , and have been matters of controversy ever since . On one occasion the Abbot of Beverley went in disguise to consult her upon some serious ecclesiastical matter , and upon knocking at her door she thus addressed him , " Come in , Mr . Abbot , for you are not so much disguised but the fox may be seen through the sheep ' s skin I Come , take a stool and sit down , you shall not go away unsatisfied of what you desire . " She then uttered the following doggerel : —

" When the lower shrubs do fall , The great trees quickly follow shall ; The mitred peacock ' s lofty pride Shall to his master be a guide ; And one great court to pass shall bring , What was never done by any king . The poor shall grieve to see that day , And who did feast , must fast and pray , Fate so decreed their overthrow ,

Riches brought pride , and pride brought woe . "

C . S . L ., in "Notes and Queries , " 25 th April 186 S , says : — " She " ( Mother Shipton ) " is said among other things to have remarked that ' the foundation stone of old York Bridge would one day be on the top of the Minster , ' for which she was of course laughed at ; but my frieDd says he actually saw it realised , for after old York Bridge was taken down the foundation stone was removed to a mason ' s yard , and at last was used to form one or more of the carved stones required on the Minster cower , at the time of some repairs . "

In a work by E . Hargrove , published 1797 , the above prophecy mentioned by C . S . L . applies to Trinity Church ( not to the Cathedral ) and reverses the operation of the stone : — " Before Ouse Bridge and Trinity Church meet , they shall build it in the day , and it shall fall- in the night ; till they get the highest stone of Trinity Church to be the lowest stone oi Ouse Bridge . "

Note : —Trinity steeple in York was blown down by a tempest , and Ouse Bridge broke down by a flood , and what they did in the daytime in repairing the bridge , fell down in the night , till at last they laid some of the stones that had fallen from the steeple for the foundation of the bridge .

The following is the title of a book claimed to have been published in 1448 , and re-published in 1641 , and said to be an imposture traceable to some st udents in the South of England : — " The Prophesie of Mother Shipton in