The Resolutions Of Bros. Havers And The Rev. R. J. Simpson.

Wales ' s approval or disapproval of his motion . We dan say he never intended to make a partisan of His Royal Highness , yet this in effect is what he has done , and , a . matters stand , Grand Lodge has rejected a proposal which on the authority of Brother Havers , had already beer

approved by the Grand Master , It was , of course , competent for Bro . Havers to offer any number of reasons , sound or unsound , in favour of his resolution , but he wasmanifestly exceeding his right when he referred to the

Prince as one of his supporters . Grand Lodge is desirous of honouring its Grand Master . We leave it to others to say , if a man can think himself honoured when the motion he approves of is rejected .

Masonic Portraits (No. 31). The Mariner.

MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 31 ) . THE MARINER .

" Though trained in boisterous elements , his mind Was yet by soft humanity refined ; Him science taught by mystio lore to trace

The planets wheeling in eternal race ; To mark the ship in floating balance hold , By earth attracted , and by seas repelled ; Or point her devious track through climes unknown , That leads to every shore , and every zone ; Jt Jt iH

# Ji Jt ^ Jt ajt jt TP IT ^* T ? * ff ^ P ff Tr ^ r TF O'er the wild surge when dismal shades preside , His equal skill the lonly bark could guide 5 His genius ever for the event prepared , Eose with the storm , and all its dangers shared . "

THERE is a charm about the sea which has a peculiar influence upon the inhabitants of these islands . No other people seem to have that inherent attachment to the domain of old Neptune which is our boast and pride . We

take to the water naturally , and the boy bred in an inland village who has never seen any craft but a canal boat , will dream of the sea and fancy he hears its roaring in the wind that touches his cheek with the first breath of

the far off Atlantic . Just as shells are said to ring with the hollow moan of the surf , the heart of the Englishman thrills at the very mention of the sea . The town bred landsman spends his holidays on its shores , and his children from infancy are accustomed to play within reach of its waves . Wo know that old ocean is our best and

surest bulwark against invasion , and the grandest highway and outlet for our commerce . Without the protection of the streak of silver sea which girdles our shores , we should long ere now have yielded to the galling yoke of the conqueror . In fighting for supremacy on the main our

ancestors were instinctively fighting for dear life . One cannot read the early naval history of this country without feeling a glow of pride . We were formidable before the invention of gunpowder , and held our own

against our neighbours in those tub-like craft , which must have been miracles of naval science if they were really able to sail on a taut bowline , or could even stand on their legs in a heavy gale of wind .

Few epochs in our history are more vividly remembered than the last great naval war , which ended in the defeat of the combined fleets of France and Spain , and ushered in a long and profound peace . The popularity of the navy at this period can scarcely be realised by the men of this

generation . Dibdin ' s songs resounded through the land . Jack was the hero of the drama and the novel , and his admirers credited him with all the virtues of an archangel . He was frank , brave , generous , constant , true ; in short ,

every thing that a man or angel should be . The nautical poets taught us to believe that the blue jacket of a sailor covered a lion ' s heart , which could yet , at the cry for mercy , be as gentle as the lamb .

" But though his strong and ready arm spreads havoo in its blow , Cry ' Quarter ! ' and that arm will be the first to spare its foe . " The popularity of the navy and mercantile marine were at the height in the year 1819 , when the subject of this sketch was born . He first saw the light at Yarmouth , in

the midst of a nautical population , which had seen fleets assembled for serious work in the spacious roadstead that stretches along that part of the coast of Norfolk . He had heard the glorious episodes of our naval history from his earliest youth . His father , a sturdy specimen of the British sailor , was a captain in the merchant service , who had seen

Masonic Portraits (No. 31). The Mariner.

something of the din and excitement of naval war . He was n the Mediterranean , in command of a transport , and was actually bringing the British Consul and residents from Smyrna at the moment when the combined fleets of England , France and Russia , were preparing to strike that

f errible blow at the naval power of Turkey which has •tince made the name of Navarino famous in our annals . At this time our brother was at school , steadily storing his mind with solid information , and preparing himself to follow his father ' s honourable calling . In due time he was

released from the rule of the pedagogue , and apprenticed to the sea . Our brother had the Englishman ' s love for the ocean , and he took a delight in learning all the details of his noble profession . He was soon able to box the compass , or take his trick at the helm with any man in the ship ,

and when the topsails were reefed he was at his place on the yard , and held his own like a true British sailor . It was a day to be remembered in his history when "the mate " for the first time entrusted him with that pretty bit of seamanship which , in nautical phraseology , is called

" sending down a royal yard . " It was a still prouder moment for him when he was permitted to take the " weather earing" in a gale of wind , the post of honour and danger to which every man who is a sailor aspires . He had long before learned to "knot his reef point "

with the best hand in the ship , and now , with the great sail slatting against the foot rope , and almost mastering his young strength , it was true joy to " pass the earing" in triumph , and shout " hawl out to leeward . " Steadily , and step by step , our hero rose in his profession ,

until he attained , at the age of nineteen years , the rank of Chief Officer . He was still knocking about in the Mediterranean , and had seen that glorious sea in its angry and its smiling moods . He had seen all its beauties , the enchanted shores of Greece , the coast of Italy , with its

lofty Apennines , the towering heights of Corsica , Elba , Sicily , and Malta , and that speck in the sea , Monte Christo , which will for ever be associated with the genius of Alexander Dumas . In tho year 1840 tho ship in which ho served was employed in carrying stores from London

to Malta aud Alexandria , aud was within a few days sail of St . Jean d'Acre when the allied fleet , under the command of Sir Robert Stopford , was bombarding the place . Many a gale of wind has he encountered in that classic sea , which was the scene of the naval contests of Rome

and Carthage . Many a sail has he seen blown from the belt ropes , or torn in coach whips from the yards . Several times has he seen the ships in which he served dismasted , and boats , galley , bulwarks and spare spars swept into the raging waters .

" When o'er the ship , in undulation vast , A giant snrge down rushos from on high , And fore and aft dissevered rnins lio : Thus the torn vessel felt the enormous stroke ,

Tho boats beneath the thundering deluge broke ; Torn from their planks the cracking riug-bolts drew , And gripes and lashings all asnnder flew j

Companion , binnacle , in floating wreck , With compasses and glasses , strewed the deck ; The balanced mizen , rending to tho head , In fluttering fragments from its bolt-rope fled . "

Our brother has seen much general service afloat , and in lower latitudes than the Mediterranean ; he was chief officer of the Race Horse , which was considered the fastest vessel in the Brazilian trade , and his Captain , who was anxious to get as much out of such a racer as possible , contrived

to lose his sails in a squall on his passage home . The old sea dog was either not active enough , or he did not care to shorten sail for a trifle , and rude Boreas , angry at the sight of flying kites when he was riding the storm in person , shaved down the good ship ' s wings to the quick , and left her with bare sticks'in mid Atlantic . This was

the last of our hero s mishaps on the ocean . He afterwards made a voyage to the Black Sea , but on his return to England , in 1841 , the death of his father determined him to give up his profession , and try the life of a landsman . His revered parent , long prior to his decease , had entered

actively into business pursuits on shore , and was a ship owner of good repute . He died in good circumstances , and our hero , with an excellent business , and no lack of capital , was speedily transformed from a son of Neptune

to a steady going citizen . The change was a considerable one , but a sailor can accommodate himself to any condition in life , and in his new sphere our brother soon found wealth pouring in upon him in no scanty stream . From 1841 to