Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Banquet.
Five years passed ere we met ; as yet my dear friend had been only painted by imagination on the mind ' s eye ; at length , at Grantham , in the autumn of 1839 , we met in the Provincial Grancl Lodge , and thus became indelibly fixed on my physical retina the impersonation of this truly noble-minded Brother . Can it ever be effaced !— -no ; for , if even deprived of the blessing of physical vision , the moral retina will still retain the impressiondeeplastingineffaceable . Again we met in
, , , London , on a day consecrated to friendshi p , when he threw over me the mantle of his protection ; the remembrance of that day has but one alloy to perfect happiness , and that arises from tlie circumstance that your dear friend has sustained much disquiet from the un-Masonic misinterpretation of his generosity . Again we met in Spalding—some vivid remembrance of that meeting flit on tbe memory , but they pass away in the happiness of another meeting at Peterborough in his mother Lodge
, and in the delightful sensations ofthe present moment . R . AV . Sir , and Brethren , who can with greater sincerity or so much propriety endeavour , gratefully , to acknowledge the unceasing kindnesses of such steady , undeaviating friendship . Great has been the consolation derived from a correspondence that served to steady a mind which might otherwise have yielded , and which taught at the same time the lesson of purification . My clear Dr . Oliver , pardon me , if you think I exceed the limit of
propriety ; I am impelled by a resistless impulse . If I could , I would offer to you the homage of a most extensive community , conveyed in those grateful acknowledgements which I have been directed to deliver , not only from the London subscribers , but from those in every part of
the world , expressed in language of fervent truth , but which , alas ! so far from being refined by the organ of transmission , will require you to imagine ivhat I am incompetent to perform . —( Great Cheering . )' " I look at your Masonic labours from the edition of Preston , which is the cabinet ; your signs and symbols as the appropriate lock anel keylifting the lid , —what mental stores are presented , ivhat moral gems of exquisite lustre , ivhich if he ivould but read , mark , learn , aud inwardly
digest , ivould lead man , erring man , imperceptibly into the paths of Masonic Virtue ; and these gems are the produce of your herculean labours . But , you have not confined yourself to the publication of your own inestimable works , for with a true sense of Masonic duty , you have snatched from undeserved oblivion , the memory of authors who in their day did good suit and service . You have made Time as it were to give back to us their thoughts and imaginings , nay , even more , like a skilful
artist , you have so arrayed them that they reappear to us with even more than their original lustre . Shades of Preston , Hutchinson , and Ashe , look down on this Meeting ivith approbation . I could almost wish that Smith , Calcott , and other Masonic worthies might also be snatched by the same hand from the womb of Time , and also be given back to us as renewed lights to adorn our modern hemisphere , and thus render tbe classic literature of Masonry lete . There
ishoiveverexcomp , , tensive labour yet in active progress . "The Mason ' s task is not done . " The Land-marks of the order will , I predict , be the most interesting and the most essentially useful legacy which you can bequeath to an aelmiring Fraternity , unless , indeed , if it were possible that the Grand Lod ge could be induced to avail itself of your poiverful aid in com-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Banquet.
Five years passed ere we met ; as yet my dear friend had been only painted by imagination on the mind ' s eye ; at length , at Grantham , in the autumn of 1839 , we met in the Provincial Grancl Lodge , and thus became indelibly fixed on my physical retina the impersonation of this truly noble-minded Brother . Can it ever be effaced !— -no ; for , if even deprived of the blessing of physical vision , the moral retina will still retain the impressiondeeplastingineffaceable . Again we met in
, , , London , on a day consecrated to friendshi p , when he threw over me the mantle of his protection ; the remembrance of that day has but one alloy to perfect happiness , and that arises from tlie circumstance that your dear friend has sustained much disquiet from the un-Masonic misinterpretation of his generosity . Again we met in Spalding—some vivid remembrance of that meeting flit on tbe memory , but they pass away in the happiness of another meeting at Peterborough in his mother Lodge
, and in the delightful sensations ofthe present moment . R . AV . Sir , and Brethren , who can with greater sincerity or so much propriety endeavour , gratefully , to acknowledge the unceasing kindnesses of such steady , undeaviating friendship . Great has been the consolation derived from a correspondence that served to steady a mind which might otherwise have yielded , and which taught at the same time the lesson of purification . My clear Dr . Oliver , pardon me , if you think I exceed the limit of
propriety ; I am impelled by a resistless impulse . If I could , I would offer to you the homage of a most extensive community , conveyed in those grateful acknowledgements which I have been directed to deliver , not only from the London subscribers , but from those in every part of
the world , expressed in language of fervent truth , but which , alas ! so far from being refined by the organ of transmission , will require you to imagine ivhat I am incompetent to perform . —( Great Cheering . )' " I look at your Masonic labours from the edition of Preston , which is the cabinet ; your signs and symbols as the appropriate lock anel keylifting the lid , —what mental stores are presented , ivhat moral gems of exquisite lustre , ivhich if he ivould but read , mark , learn , aud inwardly
digest , ivould lead man , erring man , imperceptibly into the paths of Masonic Virtue ; and these gems are the produce of your herculean labours . But , you have not confined yourself to the publication of your own inestimable works , for with a true sense of Masonic duty , you have snatched from undeserved oblivion , the memory of authors who in their day did good suit and service . You have made Time as it were to give back to us their thoughts and imaginings , nay , even more , like a skilful
artist , you have so arrayed them that they reappear to us with even more than their original lustre . Shades of Preston , Hutchinson , and Ashe , look down on this Meeting ivith approbation . I could almost wish that Smith , Calcott , and other Masonic worthies might also be snatched by the same hand from the womb of Time , and also be given back to us as renewed lights to adorn our modern hemisphere , and thus render tbe classic literature of Masonry lete . There
ishoiveverexcomp , , tensive labour yet in active progress . "The Mason ' s task is not done . " The Land-marks of the order will , I predict , be the most interesting and the most essentially useful legacy which you can bequeath to an aelmiring Fraternity , unless , indeed , if it were possible that the Grand Lod ge could be induced to avail itself of your poiverful aid in com-