Lodge Nomenclature

LODGE NOMENCLATURE

OUR attention has not unfrequently been called to the singular want of taste evinced in the selection of Lodge titles . Taking into account the rapid increase in the number of our Lodges , we recognise the difficulty which must occasionally be experienced in providing appropriate

names . It will not do to go on calling too many new Lodges after the same eminent brother . In the first place , it betokens extreme poverty in nomenclature . In the second place , what was intended originally as a compliment stands a fair chance of degenerating into fulsome adulation .

As regards those names which denote this or that abstract quality , such as wisdom , strength , beauty , harmony , felicity , perseverance , fortitude , and the like , the list is speedily exhausted , and it becomes necessary to append thereto some distinctive qualification . If there are , for

instance , half-a-dozen Lodges of Antiquity , and as many of Harmony and Fortitude , we must be in a position to distinguish one from the other , or we shall be in the same dilemma as Punch ' s unfortunate cabman , who carefully arranged his four jovial fares , so that he might put them

down at their respective houses . When , however , he reached the first house , and opened the door of his vehicle , he found them so confoundedly mixed up together , he was unable to make any selection whatever , and they were too far advanced to be in a position to help him . Thus ,

the first Antiquity on the list may stand on its own merits , and remain , as it lias been always , " Antiquity" pure and simple ; but more modern " Antiquities" must , as in some cases they do , have something to distinguish them from their more ancient colleague . Still , the abstract qualities ,

whether pure and simple , or compounded with other names , are , as we have said , very quickly exhausted . Tho names of places are another source to which we may look for the titles of Lodges , but even here our choice is limited by the number of places in which it is likely that a Lodge of

Freemasons will find a proper degree of support to warrant its establishment . The mere multiplication of Lodges is not by any means desirable . The erection of a new Lodge means the expenditure of a considerable sum of money . To plant one in a comparatively unknown spot were as wise a

proceeding as to build a lighthouse in the heart of Birmingham for the safer navigation of the Channel Scriptural names , taken from both the Old and the New Testament , are frequently adopted , but there are several instances in which these are too often repeated .

We see no objection to St . George , who is the patron saint of England , being chosen as the title of a Lodge , but we think it an act of weakness when we find there are some twenty on the roll , all bearing the same name . However , if there are some twenty St . Georges ,

there are nearer fifty St . Johns on the Grand Roll of Eng . land , but as there were two St . Johns , and a learned brother once laid it down that both were Grand Masters of Freemasons , we ought not , perhaps , to be surprised at the freqnent adoption of this name . But we need not

enumerate all the sources whence the title of a Lodge may be derived , or the limits which good taste will suggest should regulate the appropriation of such titles . Let any of our readers take up a Grand Lodge Calendar , and cast

a glance over the list of our Lodges , and we venture to say they will be struck with wonder at the extraordinary combination of names in our Lodge titles . Let us take at hazard a name which occurs more than once , either singly or in combination , such , for instance , as Royal . By

Lodge Nomenclature

itself it sounds well , and in a monarchical country like this it is appropriate . Nor is there any reasonable objection to there being a Royal Lodge in Jamaica , as well as a Royal Lodge at Filey . But what shall we say of such combinations as the " Royal Trinity , " or the " Royal Prince

of Wales . " We understand well enough the Royal York , Royal Edward , Royal Athelstan , Royal Victoria , but what about the Royal Phconix , the Royal Alpha , or the Royal Oak , the last of which is most commonly associated—in London at all events—with the name of a well known

terminus for certain public vehicles . Again , Ivy Lodge , Camberwell , is suggestive of a suburban villa rather than a Lodge of Freemasons . A Crystal Palace Lodge were advisably placed in the neighbourhood of Sydenham , but why have a Lodge of that name at Ealing , of all places in the

world , unless , perchance , the brethren who compose it are , to use a cockueyism , distinguished by their possession of certain " Healing" virtues or properties . " Florence Nightingale " sounds prettily , and has the further advantage of commemorating the name of a most excellent lady .

Therefore , though ladies are not admissible into the Craft , we see no inconsistency in naming one of our Lodges after so estimable a person . So again with the Burdett Coutts Lodge ; there is even a greater fitness in the use of this title . The lady is the daughter of a Mason , and , moreover ,

she is one of those who practise that particular virtue of Charity which it is the purpose of Freemasonry to inculcate in all its disciples . We are not deeply impressed with such names as the Marquis of Granby and the Old King ' s Arms , but they belong to old Lodges , and doubtless commemorate

the places at which they were in the habit of meeting at their first establishment . We have no great difficulty in reconciling ourselves to Hengist as a Lodge title , though there are no authentic records of his having been a Mason . A Saxon Prince , whose name is intimately associated with the

legendary grant of a Charter to the Freemasons , lived close on five hundred years after Hengist . We know that a few . centuries , more or less , whether they be antecedent or subsequent to any particular epoch , are of no great importance in tracing the history of Freemasonry . The

supposition that Prince Edwin was a Mason may to a certain extent justify the assumption that Hengist , who preceded him , was also a member of the same body . Be this as it may , Hengist both looks and sounds well as the name of a Lodge , but then the Lodge so distinguished

should hail from some part of Kent , not from Hampshire , Kent being the first of the seven kingdoms composing the Heptarchy and Hengist its first sovereign . Such titles as " Peace and Harmony , " " Social , " " Love and Honour , " " Scientific , " " Unanimity , " "Perpetual Friendship , "

"Prudent Brethren , " "Integrity , and " Honour and Generosity , " have the twofold advantage of being appropriate and euphonious , but a Grenadiers' Lodge sounds too warlike for so peaceful a body of men as Freemasons . And what shall we say to an "Atlantic Phcenix , " or to an

" Amphibious " Lodge . An " Adam ' s " Lodge has about it a certain sense of antediluvianism , and when people speak of a thing or person being antediluvian , they do nofc usually intend their remark to be complimentary . Moreover—we trust our readers will excuse any error in the rhyme or

rhythm—When Adam delved and Eve span , Who was then a Freemason ? Another singular title is that of " Noah ' s Ark , " which is the name of a Lodge at Tipton . The idea we commonly associate with a " Noah ' s Ark" is that of a child ' s toy . But it may also be considered applicable to the place