Masonic Portraits (No. 27.) The Artist.

are passages in Tristram Shandy , for example , which are as truly pictures , and masterpieces too of their kind , as any of tho great works which adorn our national collection . Corporal Trim , Captain Shandy , Yorick and Widow Wadman aro as real and as vivid as any of the portraits from

the pencil of Titian or Vandyke . They aro from the pen of a genius , » nd the painter who attempts to transfer these wonderful word-pictures to the canvas finds that he can add no touch to complete thoir vivid reality . The veteran who whistled Lillabulleroo , and dug his mimic ramparts in

the garden , is an old iamihar friend . We might part with many of the heroes of modern fiction without a pang , bnt no one wonld consent to a life-long separation from " Uncle Toby " or the " Corporal . " Genius has touched these creations with its magic finger , and they exist for all time .

If our own poor sketches live their little hour , wo shall be quite satisfied ; if they interest or instruct onr readers , they will have fulfilled the purpose for which they wero written . Wc claim for them no other merit than that of truthfulness , and hence we do not tremble while our brother of the

pencil , who is now walking through our studio , passes bis critical eye over our work . He indeed is engaged in a great work of a similar nature , and can make duo allowance for the difficulties which have harassed us in our long and difficult task . He may possibly criticise adversely our

colouring or our drawing ; he may object to the obtrusion of this group of facts , or that stroke of satire . We shall listen to him respectfully , but he must , like others , pay the penalty of his rashness . He shall not leave our literary domain until we have transferred some imperfect outline of him to our canvas . Our features will not mar or adorn

his great composition , but he shall grace our galaxy of Masonic celebrities . Our visitor then hails from Ireland , a country which has given birth to many illustrious sons of genius . Our memory is stored with the names of a long list of poets ,

orators , actors , painters , and musicians , who claim the emerald isle as the land of their birth . An Irishman is an artist by nature ; he tells a story excellently . He writes fluently and well , and the English press is sustained by many brilliant pens which have been imported from the

other side of St . George ' s Channel . The leader in your favourite journal , reader , which you emphaticall y declare to be thoroughly English in sentiment , is perhaps from the pen of an Irish scribe . Your great speech was probably given to the world by an Irish reporter , and the very

prints which hang in your library aro possibly copied from the works of Mulready or Macliso ! But we might go on writing in this strain until paper or space failed us , and to what purpose ? No one needs to be told that Irishmen are clever . The fact is patent to all . The fact is likewise

patent that the Irishman who has been so greatly gifted by providence with the higher faculties of the mind , has little of that faculty for getting money which is so characteristic of our English nature . But wo are forgetting our visitor , of whose career Ave have to say something . He

was born at Queenstown , in the year 1830 , where his father was settled as a professional man , and boasts of being the descendant of a very old family . His attention was early directed to art , indeed he had a natural bent for it , and after some little coquetting with the fair goddess ,

he settled down steadily to the worship of the beautiful as his vocation in life . Circumstances however conspired to clip his wings for a time , and after all his high aspirations we find him an active partner in one of the largest artistic establishments in Ireland . Here his pencil was in constant

and daily exercise , and he threw off many of those beautiful but perishable works which are a characteristic feature of the art workmanship of our time . He was the first to introduce chromo-lithography into his native country , and he is , we need scarcely add , skilled in all the art processes

of this beautiful branch of printing . In addition to his numberless contributions to the artistic repertory of the establishment with which he was connected , he has worked as a book illustrator , and , like many men of genius who have gone before him , he has drawn some of hiw Isest

designs on the wood . The public little know how much talent and even genius is concentrated upon this branch of art . Some of the greatest men of the day have not disdained to draw for the wood engraver , and our

distinguished brother need not bo ashamed of having worked with his sepia and pencil on material which has been ere now enriched by thetalent of Lei ghton , Maclise , Rossetti , and Crnickshank . In the fraternit y he is known as the artist who produced the admirable installation portrait of

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , and it is universally known that he is now engaged upon a great historical picture of the Installation , that promises to be the most successful as well as the most gigantic effort of artistic portraiture which this generation has seen . This work , now

rapidly approaching completion , will contain faithful portraits of moro than a thousand of the brethren who were present at the ceremony . It is engraved on steel , and will be a permanent and magnificently vivid record of an event which will be for ever memorable in annals of tho Craft .

All the resources of our brother ' s art knowledge are lavished upon this great effort of genius , and while it will conform to the canons of artistic criticism , it will be as accurate as a state paper , and as faithful in its details as a photograph . We venture to predict that it will be highly and

widely popular , and that it will carry tho name and the fame of its author to every civilised country in the world . Our brother was initiated in the Eclectic Lodge ( 1201 ) in the year 18 G 3 , and is now Senior Warden . He is Registrar of Marks of Bon Accord Lodge , Assistant Sojourner of

Frederick of Unity Chapter , Honorary Organist of the United Strength ( 228 ) . He is a member of St . George ' s Rose Croix Chapter , 18 ° . For the last sixteen years he has been an active member of our Volunteer forces . He was amongst the first to trail a rifle when the celebrated

letter of the French Colonels set the patriotism and valour of Britain on fire , and he has since worked in the cause with steady zeal . He took the highest prize iu the school of instruction , and was publicly complimented for his

military acquirements . He now bears the rank of Captain , and can handle a battalion as cleverly as any of the professional soldiers of the regular army . Lastly , as some illustration of the versatility of his mind , we may add that he is a member of the London and Middlesex Archaeological

Society . Farewell , honest soldier , go forth from our studio with thy fame as brig ht as the blade of thy sword . Farewell , brilliant artist and good brother ! may thy pencil ever teach us to honour rectitude , to love the beautiful , to

worship the true . Thou hast made a name in the world of art , which will not readily die . Thy graver shall testify to thy industry and talent when thou hast answered the last bugle call . Thy kind face shall live in our memory .

We shall remember thy warm Irish heart , thy bright and cheerful talk , thy jollity at the festive board . There is yet a world of work before thee ; go forth , conquering and to conquer !

Sovereign Grand Council Of The United States.

SOVEREIGN GRAND COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES .

RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE AND APPENDANT ORDERS .

A COPY has reached us of the proceedings of the Convention of Delegates of the several Grand Councils in the United States , of the Red Cross of Constantino , summoned in June of last year , for the purpose of erecting a Sovereign Grand Council . This Convention was held in response to an invitation issued by Sir A . G . Goodall

M . 111 . G . S . of the Grand Council of New York , to the other Grand Councils in the United States , to send three representatives . On assembling in the Masonic Temple on 1 st June , Sir A . G . Goodall called the Convention , and Sir Francis A . Blades , Michigan , on the motion of Sir

James H . Willard , Indiana , was elected Chairman , Sir Robert Macoy , N . Y ., being appointed Secretary . A committee of three to report on Credentials , and a similar committee to nominate Grand Officers having been chosen , Sir C . L . Stowell , of the former , reported that

representatives were present from the Grand Councils of the following ten States : Pennsylvania , Illinois , New York , Massachusetts , Michigan , Kentucky , Indiana , Vermont , Maine , and New Jersey . Representatives , claiming to represent a Grand Council in Indiana , were likewise present , but after

a full investigation , it was decided that the body they claimed to represent could not be recognised . A report was then submitted and adopted , that the following

permanent officers be appointed , namely , Sir Albert G . Goodall , President ; Sir Marquis F . King , Vice-President ; Sir Robert Macoy , Secretary . A committee of ten was then nominated to draft a plan of organisation . A Con-