Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents . All Letters must bear the name ani address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith . We cannot undertake to return reiected communications .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , DEAK SIB AND BROTHER , —I have no intention of embarking in a controversy with Bro . Yarker ; it wonld serve no useful purpose . I have fulfilled the task yon entrusted me with , of reviewing his " Historical Lecture , " and your readers are in a position to form their own opinion of my work . I have carefully looked through the

THE HIGH GRADES OP ANTIENT AND PRIMITIVE MASONRY .

two articles I devoted to his pamphlet , and nowhere do I find that I have overstepped the limits of civility . The brief I received from you did not contain on its outside , " no case ; abuse the plaintiff ' s attorney , "—I shonld have written "defendant ' s attorney , " but it matters not , —your one suggestion being , that there was no need to parade the writer ' s titles . It ia impossible I could have any grudge

against a man I had neither seen nor spoken to , while I take no credit to myself for not having disgraced my review by an uncalledfor reference to " pot-house scrapings and comic songs , "—that is the style of writing in which innately vulgar people delight . I will , however , claim yourindul gence while I make a few remarks . The effect of Bro . Yarker ' s letter—as long almost as his lecture—has

been to confirm me in my opinion as to the ntter worthlessness of what he has been attempting to palm off on a few deluded brethren as Masonio history . It strikes me , he is very much like the man who ia said to have written an essay on " Chinese Metaphysics , " having previously studied all the articles he could find in Encyclopasdias

and elsewhere on " China " and " Metaphysics " respectively , and then jumbled them up together . If I may judge Bro . Yarker by his own estimate of himself , his reading must have been various and extensive ; if I judge him by the result of such reading—knowledge—I find it a curious compound of propositions either long since exploded , or never worth the paper on which they were printed . Faithfully and fraternally yours , YOUR REVIEWER .

BRO . YARKER AND GRAND MASTER PAYNE . To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Bro . Yarker , in his pamphlet reviewed in recent issues of yonr paper , says , on p 10— "It can be proved that there was in existence in 1717 certain Craft Lodges which had no participation in the formation of the Grand Lodge of London , and even the Grand Master was prohibited from visiting these Lodges . "

In a foot note he gives as his authority for this statement , or a part of the statement—which part he does not indicate—Leon Hyneman ' s [ 'Ancient York and London Grand Lodges , " published at Philadelphia in 1872 . Your Reviewer seems to cast doubt upon tho value of that authority , but that I pass by . Bro . Yarker , in last week ' s CHROJJTCLE , asks the following , among other questions : " Does he [ Reviewer ]

not know that G . M . Payne was censured by G . L ., and was requested not to attend their so-called Lodges ? " meaning , of conrse , other Lodges than those of which G . L . was composed . Now I do not wish to enter into a contest with Bro . Yarker , nor do I desire to impart any beat into a dispute sufficiently strained already . I venture to point out , however , that in Bro . Gould ' s " Four Old Lodges , " p 34

there is the following : " In 1730 , Anthony Sayer , the Premier Grand Master , was publicly admonished and well-nigh expelled for taking part in illegal assemblies of dissatisfied Masons , who were seeking to undermine the authority of the Society they and others bad so recently constituted . " Has Bro . Yarker confounded Bro . Payne ' s

name witb Bro . Sayer ' s ? If so , foot notes to the paragraph from which I have quoted in Bro . Gould's work partly prove the offence , which does not bear out Bro . Yarker's contention , for which Brother Sayer was censured , and as a friend reminds me that , as the matter occurred " in 1730 , there were then no ' Ancients' in existence . " Yours fraternally , S . J . B .

With one exception the meeting * of tlie General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , held at Freemason ' s Hall , on Saturday last , was of a formal character . Permission was given in the case of a boy , whose times expires in January next , to remain until June

1884 , owing to his unavoidable absence for a year , dnring which time he was under medical treatment for an accident , caused by no fault of his own . The usual outfit of £ 5 was granted to three late pupils of the Institution . The case of the boy Herring was again brought on , and Bro .

Binckes said , from a letter he had received from Bro . H . S . Alpass , Grand Sword Bearer , he could state the lad , one of three children , wonld be entitled , when he attained the age of twenty-one years , to a third share of £ 1 , 598 . From this it will be seen that the former state-

Correspondence.

ment as to the amount was not true , and Bro . 0 . H . Webb now apologised for any share he might have had in spreading an exaggerated report . He still felt , however , that the case ought never to have been entertained , and gavo notice of motion as follows : " lst . -That the resolution of

the Quarterly Court , of April last be rescinded , so far as relates to the candidature of Frank Alexander Herring . 2 nd . That Frank Alexander Herring be ineligible for the

benefits of this Institution ( except by purchase ) , and that his election in October be declared void . 3 rd . Subject to the above being carried , that the highest unsuccessful candidate at the election in October last be declared

elected . " Brother 0 . H . Webb also gave notice of the following motion : — " That the General Committee have power to place to the credit of every accepted fatherless

candidate at each election any nnmber of votes , not exceeding the number the father was entitled to at the time of his death , multiplied by the number of years he had been so qualified . "

Cremation In Dorset.

CREMATION IN DORSET .

THE first full Masonio funeral ceremony that has occurred in England for nearly a century took place at Mansion , near Sturminster-Newton , Dorset , on Tuesday afternoon , when the remains of the late Captain Hanham were deposited in the family mausoleum to await the cremation ho in his will provided for . Tho invocations were read , and addresses were delivered by Provincial Grand Master Montague Guest , M . P . There was a very large attendance

of Masons and tbe pnblic generally . The remains of the late Captain Thomas Barnabas Hanham , who died last week , aged fifty-eight , were cremated at Mansion on Tuesday night last , in the furnace or " cremator " built close to the deceased ' s house , immediately on the banks of the river Stour , partially from the designs of Captain Hanham , in whose lifetime the building was

commenced . When the late Mrs . Hanham , the wife of the deceased , was cremated , more than a year ago , a great deal of iron was used in the furnace ; but on account of the warping and partial fusion on that occasion , metal was in the present proceedings only employed where absolutely necessary . The masonry of the furnace is very solid , the exterior being of common brick , and all parts exposed to tbe flames

being composed of firebrick . The place in which the coffin was deposited was some four or five feet from the base of the brickwork , and in the clear was 7 feet long by 2 feet 6 inches wido . The coffin rested on firebrick bars 10 inches thick and 9 J- inches apart . These bars had sloping sides , down which the ashes and remains fell on the firebrick plates or pockets . These plates slanted from a central ridge

to the sides of the brickwork , and were so arranged that although the fire could play all round the coffin not a particle of the ashes or other burnt remains of tho body conld escape . The height of the recess containing tho coffin was 2 feet 3 inches from the arched roof to the bars before mentioned , and in the roof were three apertures , having a chamber from which the smoke escaped in a low , square

chimney . There were four peep-holes ranged at regular intervals round the recess , so that the medical men could , when necessary , watch the process . The brickwork at the back of the recess was twenty-two inches thick , and in tbe front fourteen inches . A short distance above and below the coffin chamber the brickwork was strengthened by thick angle-shaped iron . There wero three fire-boxes

a short distance from tho ground , the ash-pans of which were level with the ground . The coffin , which had boeu placed in the mausoleum near the house with Masonic ceremonies during the afternoon , was removed to the " cremator" soon after seven o ' clock in the evening , and having been placed io position , under the directions of Dr . Comyns

Leach , the front of the chamber was closed with thick firebrick slabs or doors , which , together with tho peep-holes , before mentioned , were made air-tight with mortar . Everything having been got ready , the fires were lighted at exactly twenty minutes to eight , in the presence of Mr . J . C . S . Hanham , Dr . Comyns Leach , of Stourmiuster Newton , Mr . Montague

Guest , M . P ., Colonel C . J . Hambro , Mr . Bennett Stanford , Dr . C . Parkinson , of Wimborne , Dr . Tarzewell , of Stourminster-Newton , Mr . E . T . Budden , of Wimborne , and a few privileged friends of the deceased . The dense volume of smoke which followed the immediate lighting of the fires was soon succeeded by flames from tho top of tbe chimney , spreading a glare around which could be seen for a

considerable distance . The flames , however , at no time reached a very great height , owing to excellent arrangements made for internal combustion . Tho best Forest of Dean coal was used , and in a very short time the thick firebrick slabs in front of the coffin chamber wero red hot . At twenty minutes to ten the peep-holes before referred to wero opened

alternately by Dr . Comyns Leach , who pronounced cremation even then to have been to all practical purposes completed . Nothing of the coffin remained excepting the handles and screws and small pieces of white hot charcoal . Tho limb bones had fallen apart and had become highly calcined , but as some carbon still remained to be consumed , tho peep-holes were accordingly reclosed . The fires still

burnt with nnabated vigour , but the brickwork was so solid that little of the heat was folt under the awning by which it was covered . So far the proceedings had been perfectly successful . Not the least offensive smell could be detected , and so far as sanitation was concerned nothing further could bo desired . The fires wero kept up till nearly cloven o ' clock , by which time tho cremation may bo said to have been completed , and that very satisfactorily .