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Article OXFORDSHIRE. ← Page 7 of 15 →
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Oxfordshire.
LEAMINGTON SPA , May 23 rd . —The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Lecture and Public Hall took place nucleicircumstances of a very gratifying ancl encouraging description . Tho Committee , under whose management the proceedings of the day were conducted , had , with a view of enhancing tbe importance and interest of the occasionsought the aid of the " ancient and
honour-, able fraternity of Freemasons , " whose valuable assistance is rarely withheld from public objects of an unexceptionably useful character . Lord Leigh , the Prov , G . M . of Warwickshire , to whom the wishes of the Committee were respectfully conveyed , entered upon the preliminary arrangements of a great Masonic meeting , with a degree of zeal and determination which fully testified his lordship ' s desire to
g ive to tho proposed work the stamp of his own personal approval , aud the weight of his high official approbation . Under such auspices , it is not surprising to record that the Freemasons throughout Warwickshire , Oxfordshire , Worcestershire , Staffordshire , and many of the adjoining counties , looked forward to the proposed meeting with feelings of no ordinary anxiety . We are glad to state that their
anticipations were fully and delightfully realised . It is seldom that so many members of the Craft as were present on Monday last , assemble for such a purpose , and their presence gave an imposing and attractive appearance to the festivities , without whieh the meeting would have been comparatively insignificant in its details , although equally important as to the end sought to be attained , namely , that
of raising a building primarily intended for the advancement of literary ancl scientific knowledge among the increasing numbers of our local population . The town throughout the whole of Monday presented the gay and animated aspect of an universal holiday ; the bells of the parish church rang a succession of merry peals ; silken banners were hoisted at various public establishments and private houses and tritrains along the Great AVestern line of railway
; p brought several thousands of delig hted excursionists from Birmingham , Oxford , Banbury , & c , whilst the several towns and villages in the immediate neighbourhood largely swelled the masses of holidaypeople arriving from more distant parts . There was , at the last moment , one drawback to tbe entire success of the demonstrationthe lamented absence of the amiable nobleman , the charm of whose
influential patronage had been given to the festivities : _ an absence whicli all deeply regretted as wholly unavoidable , from his lordship ' s deep anxiety as a husband and a father . With this exception , the Masonic portion of tbe proceedings was perfectly successful iu numbers , ancl brilliancy of effect ; ancl it may not be inapposite to remarkin reference to the object which thus attracted so large a
, concourse of the Fraternity , that it was one which had previously received the express sanction of the Grand Master of England , who regretted that time would not permit him to appoint a deputation from the G . L . to attend the celebration . The Masonic duties of the meeting commenced at tbe Music Hall at ten o ' clock , where the Brethren of the Leaming ton Lodge of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Oxfordshire.
LEAMINGTON SPA , May 23 rd . —The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Lecture and Public Hall took place nucleicircumstances of a very gratifying ancl encouraging description . Tho Committee , under whose management the proceedings of the day were conducted , had , with a view of enhancing tbe importance and interest of the occasionsought the aid of the " ancient and
honour-, able fraternity of Freemasons , " whose valuable assistance is rarely withheld from public objects of an unexceptionably useful character . Lord Leigh , the Prov , G . M . of Warwickshire , to whom the wishes of the Committee were respectfully conveyed , entered upon the preliminary arrangements of a great Masonic meeting , with a degree of zeal and determination which fully testified his lordship ' s desire to
g ive to tho proposed work the stamp of his own personal approval , aud the weight of his high official approbation . Under such auspices , it is not surprising to record that the Freemasons throughout Warwickshire , Oxfordshire , Worcestershire , Staffordshire , and many of the adjoining counties , looked forward to the proposed meeting with feelings of no ordinary anxiety . We are glad to state that their
anticipations were fully and delightfully realised . It is seldom that so many members of the Craft as were present on Monday last , assemble for such a purpose , and their presence gave an imposing and attractive appearance to the festivities , without whieh the meeting would have been comparatively insignificant in its details , although equally important as to the end sought to be attained , namely , that
of raising a building primarily intended for the advancement of literary ancl scientific knowledge among the increasing numbers of our local population . The town throughout the whole of Monday presented the gay and animated aspect of an universal holiday ; the bells of the parish church rang a succession of merry peals ; silken banners were hoisted at various public establishments and private houses and tritrains along the Great AVestern line of railway
; p brought several thousands of delig hted excursionists from Birmingham , Oxford , Banbury , & c , whilst the several towns and villages in the immediate neighbourhood largely swelled the masses of holidaypeople arriving from more distant parts . There was , at the last moment , one drawback to tbe entire success of the demonstrationthe lamented absence of the amiable nobleman , the charm of whose
influential patronage had been given to the festivities : _ an absence whicli all deeply regretted as wholly unavoidable , from his lordship ' s deep anxiety as a husband and a father . With this exception , the Masonic portion of tbe proceedings was perfectly successful iu numbers , ancl brilliancy of effect ; ancl it may not be inapposite to remarkin reference to the object which thus attracted so large a
, concourse of the Fraternity , that it was one which had previously received the express sanction of the Grand Master of England , who regretted that time would not permit him to appoint a deputation from the G . L . to attend the celebration . The Masonic duties of the meeting commenced at tbe Music Hall at ten o ' clock , where the Brethren of the Leaming ton Lodge of