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Article REVIEW OF LITERATURE. ← Page 3 of 9 →
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Review Of Literature.
The Freemasons' Calendar , and Pocket Book for 1840 . Three years have passed since we contrasted the then edition of this necessary Pocket Companion with some of the Diaries of the past . The contrast was not creditable to the modern affair ; had we time , we ivould again enter into another contrast , equally favourable to the olden time . It is lamentable to observe our Masonic Calendar limping after all other similar publicationsnot so much bits more humble pretensionsas bits piteous
, y , y helplessness . The Masonic Calendar should contain a well-digested epitome of the past year . Of what use is it , unless it does ? Surely , the year 1839 has not been barren of interest—and what have we ?—worse than nothing ! The Commercialist may excuse the total neglect of any allusion to the contemplated change in the Post-office , and may overlook the deficiencies in the Banking Registration as matter of no moment ; and the omission
of the " Guelphic Order , " which embraces so many of the high-minded in English chivalry , may also find excuse , but why omit , in 1840 , what was good in 1839 ? The Mason may well ask why are the events of 1839 passed over altogether ? Such has been the practice , will be the probable answer . As a set-off , however , we have , at length , a very small instalment of a proposition made in 1833 in the appearance of the Board of Grand
, Steivards—but not in their : proper place , as Grand Officers of the Year . It is curious to observe how time works the changes ; this very list was recommended to be inserted years ago , but then it was considered nonsense to do so . Now , hey , presto ! and it is good . There is also the introduction of Greenwich Hospital ! And among the remarkable
occurrences of Masonry is the donation , in 1832 ( now published ) of five hundred pounds to the Board of General Purposes , by the late Sir John Soane . Why this liberal act was not earlier paraded before the Craft , may hereafter be explained . Had it been in reality a donation , the fact ivould have demanded a grateful record ; but the mere return of commission for a useless and extravagant expenditure of money , does not strike us now any more than it did other persons at the time—than as a
mere parade ; nor should we at present have alluded to the affair , had it not been published for our edification . The Calendar must be improved ; and we offer , among others , the following additions : —Lists of all Boards of Steivards—The Asylum meetings—Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland—Accounts of sermons—Balls and other fetes—Occurrences of the year over the whole world—The Charge to the Entered Apprentice—The song—The
Master ' s Charge , These are but a few of the subjects needful to be considered . If well digested , the Calendar will be approved , and its circulation encreased . If the suggestions are disregarded , it may not be an unlikely consequence that " an Appendix" may appear , containing them with still further information , printed in uniform type , so as to admit of being bound up with the Calendar , at small cost . It may not remunerate private speculationbut it will arouse the public irit of the
, sp Craft , who may echo their approbation , and stimulate further exertion . It is a mistaken notion that the Craft will not pay for a good Calendar the truth is , they do not like an indifferent one ; and we are not much out of our reckoning , if they ivould not prefer that Grand Lodge should incur the responsibility of making up the defect for a useful book of reference , than pay three shillings for what does not do justice to its title
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of Literature.
The Freemasons' Calendar , and Pocket Book for 1840 . Three years have passed since we contrasted the then edition of this necessary Pocket Companion with some of the Diaries of the past . The contrast was not creditable to the modern affair ; had we time , we ivould again enter into another contrast , equally favourable to the olden time . It is lamentable to observe our Masonic Calendar limping after all other similar publicationsnot so much bits more humble pretensionsas bits piteous
, y , y helplessness . The Masonic Calendar should contain a well-digested epitome of the past year . Of what use is it , unless it does ? Surely , the year 1839 has not been barren of interest—and what have we ?—worse than nothing ! The Commercialist may excuse the total neglect of any allusion to the contemplated change in the Post-office , and may overlook the deficiencies in the Banking Registration as matter of no moment ; and the omission
of the " Guelphic Order , " which embraces so many of the high-minded in English chivalry , may also find excuse , but why omit , in 1840 , what was good in 1839 ? The Mason may well ask why are the events of 1839 passed over altogether ? Such has been the practice , will be the probable answer . As a set-off , however , we have , at length , a very small instalment of a proposition made in 1833 in the appearance of the Board of Grand
, Steivards—but not in their : proper place , as Grand Officers of the Year . It is curious to observe how time works the changes ; this very list was recommended to be inserted years ago , but then it was considered nonsense to do so . Now , hey , presto ! and it is good . There is also the introduction of Greenwich Hospital ! And among the remarkable
occurrences of Masonry is the donation , in 1832 ( now published ) of five hundred pounds to the Board of General Purposes , by the late Sir John Soane . Why this liberal act was not earlier paraded before the Craft , may hereafter be explained . Had it been in reality a donation , the fact ivould have demanded a grateful record ; but the mere return of commission for a useless and extravagant expenditure of money , does not strike us now any more than it did other persons at the time—than as a
mere parade ; nor should we at present have alluded to the affair , had it not been published for our edification . The Calendar must be improved ; and we offer , among others , the following additions : —Lists of all Boards of Steivards—The Asylum meetings—Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland—Accounts of sermons—Balls and other fetes—Occurrences of the year over the whole world—The Charge to the Entered Apprentice—The song—The
Master ' s Charge , These are but a few of the subjects needful to be considered . If well digested , the Calendar will be approved , and its circulation encreased . If the suggestions are disregarded , it may not be an unlikely consequence that " an Appendix" may appear , containing them with still further information , printed in uniform type , so as to admit of being bound up with the Calendar , at small cost . It may not remunerate private speculationbut it will arouse the public irit of the
, sp Craft , who may echo their approbation , and stimulate further exertion . It is a mistaken notion that the Craft will not pay for a good Calendar the truth is , they do not like an indifferent one ; and we are not much out of our reckoning , if they ivould not prefer that Grand Lodge should incur the responsibility of making up the defect for a useful book of reference , than pay three shillings for what does not do justice to its title