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LONDON & NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY . A FORTNIGHT IN IRELAND . LAST EXCURSION OF THE SEASON . ON Thursday night , 20 th September , A Cheap Excursion will be run from London ( Euston ) , Broad Street , Kensington ( Addison Road ) , Willesden Junction , & c , to Dublin , Cork , Killarney , Limerick , Thurles , Galway , Sligo , Roscommon , & c , & c , returning on any week-day up to and including Friday , 5 th October . For times , fares , and full particulars see small bills , which can be obtained at any of the Company ' s Stations and Town Offices . FRED . HARRISON , General Manager . London , September 1894 .

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PHOTOGRAPHY : S . HOOKETT & Co ., Photographic Printers , POTTERS ROAD , NEW BARNET . N EGATIVES sent to us by Parcels Post , securely packed , receive prompt attention , and Prints in SILVEE , P LATINOTVI ' , P . O . P ., giving best obtainable results , forwarded without delay . Wo are also pleased to answer inquiries , and give information and advice , for which our large experience fully qualifies us . Price Lists on application .

Vanishing London.

VANISHING LONDON .

WE cull the following , in regard to the famous " Goose and Gridiron , " at which the premier Grand Lodge of the world was established in 1717 , from the " Daily Graphic : " Trade , that great " improver " of tho metropolis , is about to

swallow up another of thoso old London landmarks so dear to antiquaries , so interesting even to the general public which runs and reads . Ere long the " Gooso and Gridiron" will probably disappear down the capacious maw , so to speak , of a well-known firm in St . Paul ' s Churchyard , for whose premises the site of the old hostelry is , or will be , wanted .

There is nothing remarkable now about the outside of the old house . Its present exterior is of the usual sedate and uninteresting stylo of the latter part of the last century , and an escutcheon , bearing the date 178 G , surmounted by a mitre and the letters " T . F ., " undoubtedly marks the period of the present front . Not long ago , however , there was also to be seen over the largo lamp which hung over the door one of the most curious of tho inn signs

of London , the sign of the house , the " Goose and Gridiron . " This , however , is no longer to be seen in its old place , and tho aspect of the house , its doors locked , its curtainless windows staring blankly down the yard towards St . Paul's , its front placarded with an auctioneer ' s notice to " publicans , wine merchants , and fixture dealers , " and with the announcement of a temperance meeting at the Crystal Palace , is forlorn enough .

And yet this " Goose and Gridiron" is one of the most interesting old houses in London . As a correspondent has already pointed out in the " Daily Graphic , " this old hostelry is historically connected with the Freemasons , for in it , in 1717 , Masonry was revived , and the very first Grand Lodge of the world founded . Of

the taverns in which tho four Lodges then in England workedthe pioneers of English Freemasonry—the " Goose and Gridiron " is the last , and soon it also will disappear . The pedigree of the stiango sign of the house is somewhat involved , but can be fairly elucidated with a little patience .

Before the Great Fire of 1665 , there was a house here , perhaps on this very site , with the sign of the Mitre . . . . This Mitre was the first music-house in London . Its master was Robert Hubert , alias Farges . Like many of his brother publicans , he was a collector of curios . . . . And so the

Mitretavern , museum , and Music-House—flourished until the Great Fire destroyed it , and the Goose and Gridiron rose , phcenix like , from the ashes . But why Goose and Gridiron ? Let us hear what the archaeologists who have made our old inns and their signs a speciality have to say about it . According to the " Tatler , " when the house ceased to be a music house the succeeding landlord , to

Vanishing London.

ridicule its former destiny , chose for his sign a goose striking the bars of a gridiron with its foot , thus making fun of the Swan and Harp , which was a common sign of the early music houses . Hotten and Larwood , in their history of signboards , say that it waa a homely rendering of a charge in the coat of arms of the Company

of Musicians , namely , a swan with his wings expanded within a double tressure counter ftory , and that the double tressure suggested a gridiron to the passers-by . From Chambers' " Book of Daya " it would appear that the house was the head-quarters of a musical

society , whose anus wero the lyre of Apollo , with a swan as the crest , that this device was appropriated as the new sign when the house was rebuilt after tho fire , and that it was nicknamed by vulgar and unsophisticated persons the Gooso and Gridiron , the nickname sticking fast as nicknames will .

Be this as it may , as the Goose and Gridiron this house was known , and as tho Goose and Gridiron it will be known for all time in the annals of Freemasonry in England . At this house Sir Christopher Wren , during the rebuilding of St . Paul ' s Cathedral , presided zealously for eighteen years over the St . Paul ' s Lodge of

Freemasons . Ho presented the Lodge with three handsomelycarved mahogany candlesticks , and the trowel and mallet which had been used in laying the first stone of the Cathedral , in 1675 . In 1688 Wren was elected Grand Master of tho Order , and he nominated his fellow workers at St . Paul ' s , Gibber , the sculptor

and Strong , the Master Mason , Grand Wardens . 1716 the four leading Lodges considering themselves neglected by Sir Christopher met and chose a Grand Master pro tern , until they should be able to place a noble Brother at the head , which they did in the year

following , electing the Duke of Montagu . The meeting was held at the Apple Tree Tavern , in Charles Street , Covent Garden , and the other three Lodges were the Crown , Parker's Lano ; the Rummer and Grapes , Westminster ; and our Gooso and Gridiron , St . Paul's Churchyard .

To tho Editor of tho " Daily Graphic . " SIE , — Your further illustrations of " Vanishing London , " arising from my letter in tho " Daily Graphic " of the 21 st inst ., are most interesting . Touching the ^ connection of the Freemasons with tho " Goose and Gridiron , " however , will you permit me to

differ from your statement that Sir Christopher Wren belonged to the Masonic body , or that a Grand Lodge existed previously to that founded in 1717 at the old hostelry in question ? Both incidents are simply legends ., and as such are discarded as matters of fact by the leading Masonic historians of tho present day , for tho

very tangible reason that no documentary evidence has ever been forthcoming to prove either statement . On the other hand , the foundation of the first Grand Lodge of England in 1717 , at the " Gooso and Gridiron , " can bo verified by records in Freemasons '

Hall , London . I may further add that the Lodge of Antiquity , No . 2 , now meeting at Freemasons' Hall , is tho only one left of the four Lodges that founded tho first Grand Lodge of England . In 1717 its domicile was the " Goose and Gridiron . " Yours faithfully , W . F . L . 28 th August .

To tho Editor of the " Daily Graphic . " SIB , —In j our interesting article on the above tavern in to-day's issue , you state that Christopher Wren " during the rebuilding of Sc . Paul ' s Cathedral , presided zealously for eighteen years over the St . Paul ' s Lodge of Freemasons , " and that " in 1688 Wren was elected Grand Master of the Order , and he nominated his fellow workers at St . Paul ' s , Cibber , the sculptor , and Strong , the Master Mason , Grand Wardens . "

I think this is rather a misleading statement . As a matter of fact before 1717 there was no such thing as a Grand Lodge , therefore the position of Grand Master and Grand Wardens was an impossibility ; further , there is no evidence that Sir Christopher Wren or Strong , the Master Mason , were Freemasons in tho

modem sense of the teim . It is true that John Aubrey , writing in 168 J , notes that Sir C . Wren was to be adopted a Brother by tho Accepted Masons , but the fact that he became a Freemason has never been conclusively proved . Wren himself unfortunately left nothing in writing respecting any connection he may have had with the society .

With icspect to Strong , there is not the slightest evidence that he was in any way connected with speculative Masonry , although as a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Masons ho must have been aware of the foimer dual condition of that Company , i . e ., speculative as well as operative . Yours faithfully , E . C .

Chadlington , 28 th August . The Installation meeting of the Upton Lodge , No . 1227 , will be held on Thursday next , at the Three Nuns Hotel , Aldgate , when Bro . Samuel Toye P . M . will be

installed as Master . Bro . James Terry < will act as Installing Officer , and his known ability in the ceremony will ensure its being ably carried out . The other work

set down on the Agenda includes an Initiation and two Eaisings . The meeting will commence at 4 p . m ., and will be fully reported in our next issue .