The King And The Craft.

THE KING AND THE CRAFT .

WE are very gratified to be able to announce that His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to grant his patronage to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for

Aged Freemasons and Widows of Freemasons , a fund in which Flis Majesty has long displayed a personal interest . We take the opportunity of tendering , for ourselves and on behalf of the Craft , the heartiest good wishes to the King on the occasion of his birthday , which is celebrated to-day .

Berkshire.

BERKSHIRE .

THE local Brethren assembled in Provincial Grand Lodge , at the Royal Borough of Windsor , on Tuesday of

last week , when the weather proved favourable , and there was a numerous and representative attendance , including members of all the Lodges in the county , and several Officers of the Grand Lodge of England .

The Brethren of the Windsor Lodges and Royal Arch Chapter gave the visitors a most hospitable reception between three and four o ' clock at the Masonic Hall , from whence they

proceeded to the adjacent Town Hall , where several rooms were placed at their disposal bv the Mayor Councillor Walter P . Reavell , to whom a hearty vote of thanks was presented , and acknowledged by the ex-Mayor Bro . Barber .

The Provincial Grand Lodge was opened with due ceremony at half-past four , in the handsome Guildhall , the walls of which are hung with valuable portraits of Royal and distinguished personages . The Deputy Provincial Grand Master in charge Bro . J . T . Morland Past Grand Deacon

presided with his accustomed ability , and was supported by a strong body of Provincial Grand Officers , some of whom had been working in the cause of Masonry for thirty years or more , and to these the Provincial Grand Lodge affords a most pleasant reunion , recalling the incidents and

associations of the past . At one end of the Hall appeared the splendid Prov . G . L . banner with the armorial bearings of the late Lord Wantage , V . C ., while at the other was fixed the banner of one of the youngest Lodges , that at Aldermaston , presented by Bro . Charles E . Keyser , and bearing a beautifully-worked representation of Aldermaston Court .

After the usual formalities it was unanimously resolved , on the proposal of Bro . E . Margrett , seconded by Bro . G . J . Cosburn , that the lengthy minutes of the Prov . Grand Lodge , held at Lockinge House , last summer , be taken as read , the same having been printed and circulated .

The D . P . G . M ., addressing the Brethren , remarked that the first business on the agenda paper was of a melanchol y character . They were reminded by the notices which they had received that on the last occasion on which they assembled in Provincial Grand Lodge it was at the hospitable

home of their late lamented Provincial Grand Master Lord Wantage , and some of them might have formed the opinion from his Lordship ' s appearance on that occasion that it was not likely he would be spared to them for more than a few years . However , it had since pleased the Great Architect

of the Universe to remove him , and they all deplored very much his loss . It was probable that few of them had known much of Lord Wantage Masonicaliy , as ne did not take any prominent part in Provincial Grand Lodge matters until comparatively a short time ago . Nevertheless , he became

a member of the Abbey Lodge as far back as the year 1863 , and continued a subscribing member up to the date of his death . He felt sure they would desire to have recorded on the minutes their deep sense of the loss which the Province had sustained by his death , and also to . express sympathy With Lady Wantage in her sorrow and affliction ,

Berkshire.

They also regretted the loss by death of two other prominent members of the Provincial Grand Lodge , one being their Chaplain , the Rev . E . R . Adams , of Pamber , who was a Mason of considerable standing ; while the other was Bro . Charles Stephens , who had been their Provincial Grand

Treasurer for a considerable period—twenty-three years he believed . Bro . Stephens in his earlier days was an active and most indefatigable member of the Craft , and he had reason to know that at the time of the installation of the late lamented Duke of Clarence and Avondale , his Royal

Highness offered to appoint Bro . Stephens to the position of Deputy Provincial Grand Master , but he was compelled to decline the honour through tailing health , which would render it impossible for him to visit the various Lodges at their meetings , which were usually held in the evening . He

simply mentioned this to show the high esteem in which Bro .-Stephens had been held as a Mason . It was a singular circumstance that the next Provincial Grand Lodge following the death of the Duke of Clarence should have been held in the very room in which they were then assembled , mourning

the deaths of Lord Wantage and two other of their Grand Officers . He would not say more , and would content himself by simply moving the following resolution , asking Canon Garry to second it , and speak more fully upon it : " That this Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons desires to record

its deep sorrow at the loss this Province has sustained by the lamented deaths of the Right Hon . Lord Wantage , V . C ., K . C . B ., the Provincial Grand Master ; W . Bro . the Rev . E . R . Adams , the Provincial Grand Chaplain ; and W . Bro .

Charles Stephens , the Provincial Grand Treasurer ; who had each obtained the sincere respect and marked esteem of all Freemasons in Berkshire ; rnd that a vote of condolence , expressing sincere and heartfelt sympathy , be passed , and forwarded to the members of their respective families . "

Canon Garry Past Grand Chaplain of England , in seconding the vote , said— -Few Provinces have ever had to send a vote of condolence to the families of three of its

Grand Officers at the same annual meeting of the Provincial Lodge ; that is our sad lot to-day . The loss of the Right Worshipful Grand Master of the Province naturally turns our thoughts back to the untimely death of our first Grand Master . In this very room , at the meeting of this

Provincial Grand Lodge , nine years ago , it was my sad privilege to move a vote of condolence on the death of the Duke of Clarence . Many here present can remember the stately and impressive ceremony in the Town Hall of Reading , with which the present King , then Prince of Wales and Grand

Master of England , installed his eldest son , the heir to the Throne , as first Grand Master of the Province of Berkshire , and the kindly grace with which the newly-installed Grand Master investea his Officers . How soon was all the bright

promise of that young life cut short by death ! It was with him as with the young Marcellus , the heir of his uncle the Emperor Augustus : " Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata , neque ultra esse anient . "

After the interval of some years , Lord Wantage was installed , also in Reading , by Earl Amherst ; but he fias not held the post of Grand Master much longer than his predecessor , the Duke of Clarence , though he passed away full of years and honours . Those who can remember the Crimean

War can recall the bravery of Colonel Lindsay of the Guards and how he won the Victoria Cross ; all Berkshire men know and appreciate the part that he took in the Volunteer

movement , and how under his leadership the Berkshire men became , and still are , one of the most efficient Volunteer regiments . When Lord Wantage became Lord Lieutenant the county felt that i \ was a well-merited distinction , and