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MEMORIALTOTHELATECANONPORTAL. IT ia proposed that the Friends of the late Canon Portal should show their respect for his memory by carrying out the scheme that he hail most at heart , namely , the building of a Parish Reading and Coffee Room ; , i his parish of Bnrgliclcre . Such a building would cost not les than d 0 \ aud a smr < ndowmcnt would also bo neccssa : / . A si e has been kindly promised by the Earl of Carnarvon . Canon Portal was a Past Grand Master of tho Grand Lodgo of Mark Master Masons , and President of the Board of General Purposes ; also chief founder and Chairman of the National Deposit Friendly Society . Contributions to the Memorial Fund are respectfully imtol from those who hold in grateful remembrance tho valuable services rendered by him to those organ sations for so many years . Subscriptions may be sent either to GODFBBT ABXWRIGHI , ESQ ., Adbury House , Newbury , ( lion . Sec . to the Fand ); Burghclere Parish Rom ( Portal Memorial ) Fund , C ' OMBSSRS . StocooK , MATIHKWS , and SOOTHBT , The Old Bank , Newbury ; or to Gso . Ji Cosmj-y P . M ., M . M . M . . . No . 27 , P . P . G . M . O . ( Berks and Oxon ) , P . P . G . A . P . ( Berks and Bucks ) , Secretary Berks and Hants Branch of the National Deposit Friendly Society , Market Place , Newbury . LIST OF SUHSCBIBEKS . Tho Right Rev . the Lord Lady L . Howard 10 0 Bishop of Winchester 10 0 0 M . Howard , Esq . 0 10 0 The Very Rev . the Dean of J . S . Liddle , Esq 5 5 0 Winchester 2 2 0 W . G . Mount , Esq ., M P .... 2 2 0 Sir Alexander Arbuthnot , Rev . Canon Musfe .-avo ... 2 2 0 K . C . S . 1 50 0 0 Hon . and Rev . J . H . Nelson 5 0 0 G . Arkwright , Esq 100 0 0 Rev . R . and J s . Pole ... 2 0 0 W . Arkwright , Esq 100 0 0 Sir Nelson Rycroft , Bau .... 10 0 Mrs . Arkwright 50 0 0 Tho Yen . Archdeacon of Rev . W . H . Arkwright .... 10 0 0 Sr .-ey 110 Miss Arkwright ... ... 50 0 0 Rev . C . Sladen 6 5 0 F . Bacon , Esq 100 0 0 Lady Protheroe Sir ' th ... 2 2 0 Rev . W . Beaumont 110 J . Shaw Stewart , l ? sq . ... 110 Sir A . Blomfield 5 0 0 M'S . Tonge 5 5 0 Mr . Geo . J . Cosburn ... 110 M-. P . J . Stokes , Dover ... 0 5 0 Mrs . Ducat ... 10 0 Anonj . no' -i Subsa ' p ' ons 200 9 0 Mrs . Fansbawo 5 0 0 The Earl of Harrowbr ... 2 2 0 C 721 4 0

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XA'tO'KHAWKlOfK EAST MOLESEY , HAMPTON COURT STATION ( Adjoining the BAIL WAY , and facing the EIVER and PALACE ) . BRO . JOHN MAYO has ample accommodation in the new wing of this old-established and noted Riverside Hotel for Banquets for any number up to 100 . Every convenience for Ladies' Gatherings . Spacious landing to river , whence Steam Launches can start . Specimens of Menus , with prices , sent on application . Three Lodges meet at the Castle Hotel , and reference may be made to the respective Masters as to the catering , & c .

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GREYHOUNDHOTEL,HAMPTONCOURT ( MIDDLESEX ) . This Hotel , now entirely Redecorated and Furnished , contains the best and most comfortable Suites of Apartments . SUPERIOR LODGE ACCOMMODATION , Three Large Banqueting Rooms . Tho Cuisine is of tho highest class , and the cellars havo been well stocked with the best known Brands of Wines , & c . BKO . J . B . MELLA will superintend personally the whole of the details of Management , in order to give full satisfaction , and is prepared from now to undertake any arrangements for Banquets or Beanfeasts , Luncheons , & c , at the most reasonable charges . The Cour-in-Hand Hotel Coach will leave daily from the Royal Hotel , Blackfriars Bridge , and the Criterion Restaurant , for Hampton Court .

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INSTALLATION OFH.R.H.THEPRINCEOFWALES As the M . W . G . M . of England , AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL , 28 th APRIL 1875 . COPIES of this BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVING by Brother HARTY P . M ., consisting of Artist's Proofs , Proofs before Letters , and Lettered Proofs , India Prints , and Plain Prints may be had at Cost Price by applying to Bro . W . R . NORRIS , 29 Southampton Buildings , W . C , London .

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INVALUABLE FOR THE HOME . HOW TO MAKE A . PALATABLE and Luxurious Article for the Tiililo ; at a trifling cost . This valuable Recipe will be sent post free for Is , or 13 . stamps . Notice . —Half profit can be gained by making and . selling . HOW TO GAIN £ 8 PER WEEK EASILY ; BY ETCHING . Full particulars post free for Is , or 12 stamps . Send stxmped addressed envelope . . Money returned if not satisfied . Address—X . Y . / .., City News Rooms , 1 Ludgate Circus . Buildings , London , K . O .

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FUNERALS properly carried out and personally attended in London and Country , by Bro . Q . A . HUTTON , 17 Newcastle Street , Strand , W . C . Monuments erected . ValnaV . ona made .

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gwwwg ggB *^| aA * w - ¦ - ¦¦¦¦¦¦ - ¦ - | m^^^^^^ m '* toaartWVW ___ ftf ^ ^ SATURDAY , 7 TH SEPTEMBER 1889 .

Old Undated Masonic Manuscripts.

OLD UNDATED MASONIC MANUSCRIPTS .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . ( Continued from page 133 ) . BOWERS opened his "History of tho Popes" with the following caution : — " Wo should regard tradition ( said he ) as a known liar , but a liar may sometimes tell the truth : listen , therefore , to what it has

to say , bat do not believe a word of it , without good corroborating testimony . " ( This quotation is from memory ) . The value of a tradition depends furthermore on the character of its first promulgator , and also on the period that intervened between the time assigned to the happening of the event and the time when it was first circulated :

and the farther apart these periods are , the moro unreliable is the tradition . Even contemporary authorities should not be accepted without caution ; for instance , Aubery was a pious gentleman , and friend of Sir Christopher Wren , but because Aubery was credulous , and for other reasons . Bro . Gould rejected Auberv ' s

testimony about Wren having been made a Mason . Now the Euclid legend ( given in my former paper ) was for the first time made known by a nameless poet . To be sure the poet refers us to an "olde boke , " but whether " the boke " was written by a contemporary of Euclid , or written a thousand years after Euclid ' s demise ,

is not stated . The period intervening between the time of Euclid and that of our poet is more than 1700 years ; hence it seems to me perfectly safe to pronounce the Euclid tradition as worthless .

The second authority for the Euclid legend is tho author of tho Cooke MS ., whose name and character is also unknown . As , however , he makes pretension to uncommon scholarship , by quoting from the Bible , aud from

English , French , and Latin books , it is , therefore , right to hear what he has to say . Now , in the first placo , this author begins tho history of Masonry , not with Euclid , but with Lamach , and the Euclid story he introduces as

follows . He says : — " Elders that wero before us of Masons had these charges written to them as we have now in our charges in the story of Euclid ; as we have them written in Latin and French both . But how that Euclid did como to

[ the knowledge of ] geometry , [ the ] reason would we tell you , as it is noted in the Bible and in other stories . In the twelfth chapter of Genesis he telleth how that Abraham came into the land of Canaan , and our Lord appeared to him and said , I shall give this land to thy

seed ; but there fell a great hunger , and Abraham took Sarah , his wife , with him , and went into Egypt . . . . And Abraham , as the chronicle saith , he was a wise man , and a great clerk , and couthe [ or knew ] all tho

seven sciences , and taught the Egyptians the science of geometry , and this worthy clerk , Euclid , was his clerk , and learned of him . And he gave the first name of geometry ; all be that was occupied before it had no

name of geometry . Bufc it is said of Isodour Ethemohgiarum , in the 5 th book Ethemohgiarum , capitolo primo , that Euclid was one of the first founders of geometry , and gave it [ that ] name . "

Curiously enough , the same story , which the author assigns to Euclid , he afterwards repeats , and assigns to Eaglet . This , however , is one of the curiosities of Masonic historic literature .

Now , with all due respect to ouv hankerers for Maaouic antiquity , I can no more believe in the poet ' s story about Euclid ' s Masonry than I can believe in the narrative of the Matthew Cooke MS ., about Euclid having learned geometry from Abraham . Nay , more , if oven that