Visitors: Their Rights And Privileges.

requested to withdraw . " No objection can be taken to this exposition . No brother having the slightest claim to be considered a gentleman would be desirous of prying into the secrets or inner history of the Lodge he was visiting ; and our knowledge of Bro . Constable iustifies us in statins * — — —

O O r " that , had he been invited to retire during the discussion of matters of a private nature , and concerning only the members of the Lodge , he would have done so at once , and Avith all the grace imaginable . But tho request for him to retire was not urged on this account , but on the eround of Lodere

custom . There is nothing in the opening of a Lodge which can be described as of other than a general character . All tried Masons are acquainted with the ceremony , and a night or two ' s attendance at a Lodge of Instruction Avould enable most brethren to fulfil it nersonallv . The minutes , which j j —

I - Avere those of the previous regular meeting of the Lodge on the 2 nd July , and of an emergency meeting on the 23 rd of the same month , may have included notes referring to private matters , or a discussion may have been contemplated on the Question nf their hei-ncr rnnfirmprl . nil wnir > h wnnld - — —

_ , _ & , „ — concern members only . We are assured that , in such circumstances , no visitor would make bold to remain , having been courteously invited to retire . But the offer of the Master of tho Lodge of Goodwill to allow Bro . Constable to remain , if he insisted on hi « rierht to bo nresent . di « noses of

this supposition at once . The sole reason assigned for preferring so unusual a request to the visitor was that "it was not the custom " of the Lodge " to allow strangers to be present at these preliminaries . " What there is in the . ceremonv of onenins' a Lodere to which all annroved Masons

mny not be admitted Ave are unable to say ; but that the minutes might contain matters nf a pr ' vate character is very likely ; still , from the information hVwarded to us by Bro . Constable , " custom " only Avas pleaded as the apology for his not being permitted to remain' during the

preliminarips . This custom , we need hardly say , is not reconcilable with the Constitutions , as qnoted , or with the Report of the Board of General Purposes in 1819 , in Avhich it was declared to be " the undoubted right of every Mason Avho is well known or nroDerlv vouched for to visit a . nv Lodo-p

dnring the time it is open for general Masonic business . " The only reason Avhich the Master of the Lodge of Good-Avill could urge in his defence—so far ns we can judge—is that the Lodge is not open till it has been opened—lhat is , till the orteninjr fieremnnv has been nprfnrmprl We rln nnf .

say this is not a valid reason , but we think it would be straining unduly the law ns interpreted by the Board of Geiernl Purposes in the case we have referred to . All matters of this kind should be dealt Avith in a spirit of Inrorp-hpnrtpdnpss nnd if , SPPTHH in -no in ho TuimmiT minrlorl

in the extreme to invite a brother to retire during the opening ceremony , and yet allow him to enter the Lodge during the transaction of its pvnera . 1 business We > sn . v this ft ¦ »¦

- —t — ^ .-. » ., « -- « y »*¦" much on the supposition of the Lodge not being open till the customary formalities have bpen gone through , but our true objection to the action of the W . Master of this Lodge rests on the earlier and fuller reasons Ave have offered .

The Four Old Lodges.

THE FOUR OLD LODGES .

BRO . Br . P . GOULD . ( Continued from page 179 . )

LIST No . 11 . The engraved list for 1740 constitutes one of the most important links in the chain of our Lod ge History , marking , as it does , the first change of numbers ; the previous ( and earliest ) numeration having extended from

1729 to 1739 . The numeration which this change inaugurates , ranged from 1740 to 1755 inclusive , being followed by those of 1750-69 , 1770-80 , 1781-91 , and 1792-1813 .

It is remarkable , moreover , for containing more errors in regardto dates , than will be found ( appearing for the first time ) in any other of the Official Lists . Successive engravers naturally perpetuated the mistakes of their

predecessors , but to Pine belongs the distinction , after having had the bringing out of these lists for seventeen years , of placing the Avrong dates of Constitution against no less than / our out of the first nine Warranted Lodges on the 1740 List , which error , iu its entiret y , has survived to this day .

The Four Old Lodges.

( See List No . 9 . ) Also No . 43 is placed at the year 1727 from 1728 ; No . 98 at 1734 from 1733 ; and No . 99 at 1732 from 1733 . The dates in each case from , which the alterations were made having been those recorded in the Constitutions 1738 , which Avas approved in manuscript by Grand

Lodge . (*) The present positions of the last mentioned Lodges , Nos . 98 and 99 , afford a good illustration of the inconveniences that have ensued ; No . 98 , the senior of the tAvo , being placed after the fair date of its Avarrant as No . 45 ( Strong Man ) , and No . 99 , the junior , being placed

higher than its proper seniority , as No . 35 ( Medina ) . Present No . 35 ( Medina ) Avas a London Lodge up to 1761 , hut , in 1762 , was removed , or its warrant transferred , to

West CoAves , Isle of Wight . It was erased in 1773 , but appears again in the numeration for 1781-91 as No . 33 , having moreover gained a further year ' s seniority ( 1731 ) , which it retains to this day ?

No . 43 ( present No . 29 , St . Albans ) is placed at the year 1727 from 1728—an error which has also survived to tho present time . No . 93 ( present No . 37 , Anchor and Hope , Bolton ) was permanently placed at the year 1731 from 1732 in the 1781-91 numeration .

It would appear that warrants changed hands very easily . Thus the present No . 64 , Fortitude , Manchester , met at the Flower Pot , Bishopsgate St ., London , until 1743 , when it was erased ; in 1744 it Avas off the list , but reappeared the following year , as the Hare and Hounds ,

Parsonage Lane , Manchester . No . 165 ( present No . 67 , Star in the East ) , or its place or Avarrant , belonged to a London Lodge , meeting at the Three Tuns , Houghton-street , Clare Market , up to 1745 , when the warrant of constitution was surrendered . In

1750 , however , the blank was filled b y the name of the Third Lodgo , Calcutta , East India , dated afc 1740 . The list for that year showing one other Bengal Lodge only , namely : No . 66 , the East India Arms , Bengali , dating from 1730 ( which Avill also be found in the 1740 List ) . In 1756 , at

the change of numbers , these Lodges ( Nos . 66 and 105 in 1745 ) are shown as No . 40 and 117 , respectively , and in the following year , the earlier of the two has disappeared . It is somewhat singular that the present No . 67 , though dated at 1740 , never appeared on the roll till 1750 , also that

whilst \ ts first name , the third Lodge , Calcutta , would imply that there were two Senior Bengal Lodges then in existence , no intermediate Lodge can be found on the lists . In 1778 , present No . 67—then No . 93—is styled the first Lodge

of Bengal . It is just possible , that the older Indian Lodge of 1730 , Avas identical with the so-dated Lodge of 1740 , and in such case existing No . 67 is placed ten years after the fair date of its warrant .

No . 86 ( present No . 39 , St . John ' s , Exeter ) has had a somewhat chequered career . Appearing as No . 97 in the List for 1734 ( the earliest after its establishment now extant ) , it became No . 86 in 1740 , but , on 29 th November 1754 , having been erased , along with nineteen other Lodges , was

omitted from the List at the change of numbers in 1756 , and , accordingly , on re-instatement in 1759 , had to come in at the bottom of the roll ; during the continuance , therefore , of this numeration ( 1756-69 ) its place was No . 239 ; in 1770 , it resumed its proper seniority , as No . 48 ; becoming No . 38

in 1781 , and 35 in 1 / 92 . During the continuance of the engraved lists , 1723-78 , this Lodge was shown at its proper date ( 1732 ) , but in the numeration of 1781-91 , and 1792-1813 , was placed before the fair date of its Avarrant , at 1731 , where it has since remained .

The earliest of the engraved lists Avas published in 1723 , the latest ( now extant ) in 1778 . John Pine Avasthe engraver for 1723 to 1741 ; the lists for 1742-3 are missing , but in 1744 the engraver was Eman

BoAven (§ 3 , IX . ) Benjamin Cole then followed , during 1745-66 ; being in turn succeeded b y William Cole , in 1767 , who brought out , in 1778 , the last engraved list , which is OAvned by our National Masonic Library . The " Signs of the Houses " cease to be shoAvn after 1769 .

The Lodges in this list ( 1740 ) Avhich have censed to appear on the roll , are shown in ordinary type , Avhilst the still subsisting Lodges are in italic .

The various erasures and re-instatements , chronicled in the Constitution books up to 1784 , are , as far as practicable , noted beloAv ; theso changes however , are very imperfectly recorded . To facilitate reference , the numbers borne by Lodges at the previous numeration ( 1729-39 ) , are shown in a separate