Charity.

which Charity delighteth in ; to feel the woes and miseries of others with a genuine and true sympathy of soul . Compassion is of heavenly birth ; it is one of the first characteristics of humanity . Peculiar to our race , it distinguishes us from the rest of creation . " And again , " The

objects of true Charity are merit and virtue m distress ; persons who are incapable of extricating themselves from misfortmes which have overtaken them in old age ; industrious men , from inevitable accidents and acts of

Providence , rushed into ruin ; widows left survivors of their husbands , by whose labour they subsisted ; orphans in tender years , left naked to the world . " The man who is thus animated towards these objects is indeed a charitable man .

Masonic Portraits (No. 7.) The Gownsman.

MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 7 . ) THE GOWNSMAN .

THE legal profession is not generally popular with the mass of Englishmen . It is true that the old people , who declare that they " hate a lawyer like poison , " are rapidly dying out from amongst us ; but the multitude are still disposed to regard an advocate as a person who is paid to tell fibs , while the more thoughtful and the educated

maintain that the superficial studies of the barrister , although they quicken the least nobler of the intellectual faculties , do not afford scope for the play of those higher powers of mind which are indispensable in the statesman . A lawyer is seldom a statesman , he is rarely a profound thinker , or

a student of science . He acquires a knack , which is common enough to journalists , of quickly " getting up , " as it is phrased , any subject that he may find it necessary to understand . An advocate in Court will astonish you by his apparent knowledge of medical science , by his apparent

mastery of the details of architecture or engineering , or by an apparent acquaintance with the technicalities of the naval profession . All this knowledge , however , is , in nine cases out of ten , " got up " specially , and it is at once discharged from the mind , when the occasion for its use or

display has passed by . The basis of the man ' s mind is law ; he approaches every question which may be submitted to his judgment with a legal bias , and can no more forget his training than an opera dancer can lay aside her overdeveloped limbs with the silken hose with which she covers ,

but does not conceal , their abnormal proportions . The superficial quickness of the legal intellect is , no doubt , usef al in the ordinary relations of life . The lawyer cannot help weighing evidence , or exposing defective logic , even when he has put off his professional harness . Perhaps

he sometimes forgets that the bad logician may have a good case , or he ignores the weight of the evidence which has been clumsily presented , or made to prove too much . The practice of dialectics is not always an advantage to the cause of truth . A man who is skilled in the art of

tripping up an opponent , is sometimes too much taken with the sport to think of the consequences . In overthrowing a clumsy foe , he may often forget that he sometimes gives truth an ugly fall , and ranges himself for the moment upon the side of the " father of lies . "

We are glad , however , to know that we have in the ranks of Masonry many gownsmen , who use their knowledge and display their dialectic skill for the good of the Order . It is in the nature of Masonry to gather to itself all that is best and brightest in the learned professions , and

we expect these specially skilled brethren to open the stores of their knowledge for us , just as the Church of Home , in the days of its glory , expected the poets and musicians to devote their genius to the service of the Church . The man who is conversant with those principles

of eternal justice which constitute the science of Eqnity , may often display his knowledge with advantage in the Lodge room . If , for example , he is high in office , and conversant with Masonic jurisprudence , he may help to illumine those debatable points of our law which have

often exercised the minds of the brightest members of the Order . The gentleman whose portrait we are about to sketch is , we need scarcely say , a lawyer , and wears , with honour and distinction , the silk of a Queen ' s Counsel . His

high office in the Order renders him a conspicuous person in Grand Lodge , and few who have ever seen him in his place , at the extreme end of the Dais , on the proper right hand , can forget his striking appearance , or peculiar

Masonic Portraits (No. 7.) The Gownsman.

characteristics . His natural advantages but serve to adorn those mental gifts for which he is remarkable . In the prime of life , of middle statnre , and florid complexion , his handsome features are marked with those traces of thought and care which are the result of many a battle at

the Bar , and much burning of the midnight oil over briefs and books of legal lore . He and that " Distinguished Mason , " whose portrait we sketched some time since , might almost be termed twin brothers . He usually sits

with his head resting m his hand , the fore finger extended and pressing upon the angle of the forehead . The attitude at once reminds a spectator of the famous portrait of Sterne . It is the attitude of a thinker and a wit . Beside

him lies his satchel , gorgeously embroidered with the symbols of the Order , and doubtless crammed to repletion with papers . His duties , we need scarcely say , are agreeably performed . Whenever a dispute arises between any of the brethren who are under the sway of our

Constitution , his profound knowledge is always called into play , and so wisely has he hitherto held the scales of justice that his decisions have never been reversed by Grand Lodge . At the last Quarterly Communication he had to decide upon an appeal by Bro . Robert Levingstone , of

Poona , and so clear and so masterly was the judgment of our original upon this somewhat difficult case , that it was at once unanimously allowed . But although he can hold the scales of justice thus evenly , it has been noticed thatjhe sometimes shows a decided bias in Grand Lodge in favour

of the privileged denizens of the Dais . It is said that when any brother below ventures to bring forward a question it is not received by him with that degree of favour which he usually accords to those who immediately surround him . This partiality , if it be such , may be unconsciously

exercised , or it may be that those who have suffered from his inexorable logic are not always fair judges of his conduct . An earnest man , with a good idea to develope and press upon the attention of his brethren , has , perhaps , little patience for those refinements of temperament with which

the legal mind can make the worse appear the better reason . Our foregone conclusions may run in the direction of truth and justice , but it is not always possible to induce either an opponent or a judge to take our stand point , and look at the thing through our eyes . Our hero may

sometimes err in favouring those whose worldly rank or Masonic importance entitle them to consideration , but no one can say that he willingly , and with his eyes open , employs either his logic or his learning to crush the least experienced Mason who may venture

to address the Lodge . He is a good speaker , but perhaps exhibits a little of the manner of the Bar , and somewhat of what Dickens called the " Jury droop " when he is addressing a Masonic audience . These slight defects of oratory are , however , characteristic of lawyers , who

usually regard every subject under discussion as a " case , " and if they are not called upon to exercise judicial functions , they cannot help taking sides , nor can they ever realise that an audience is not a jury , sworn to give a true verdict according to the evidence . Of the social qualities of our hero , we

need scarcely speak ; he is genial at the table , and , like a true gentleman , he puts every one at his ease . It is not for us to say how often his talents have been exerted to support some dignitary of the Order , who , without such aid , might have made a soriy figure .

"AsiEneas Did from the flames of Troy upon hia shoulders The old Anchises bear "So has he , doubtless , oft upheld a tired or dull Cfflsar of the Order , when sinking , under the weight of his Masonic harness , into a troubled Tiber of difficulty and confusion .

The brethren of the Panmure Lodge , No . 720 , have it in contemplation to give a Masonic ball , under the dispensation of Grand Lodge , the proceeds to be devoted to Masonic Charities . Either of the undermentioned

would be pleased to receive assistance from members of the Craft , who may desire to act as Stewards and members of a Committee , in order to carry out the scheme . Cius . PUMA * W . M . 720 , J . W . 1420 , W . M . M . M . 139 , British Museum . Yf . G .

BENJJT . EICHARDSON , Secretary 720 , D . C ., M . M . 139 , 3 Ramsden Road , Balham , S . W . CHAS . P . MCKAY I . G . 720 , Sec . M . M . 139 , 63 Bryne Road , Balham . S . W .