Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS £ 03 Supreme Grand Chapter 504 Some Ancient York Masons and their Early Haunts { Continued ) 504 Representative Banquet in Celebration of the Completion of Sir Moses Montcfiore ' s

Hundredth Year 505 CORRESPONDENCEMasonic Mendicancy 507 The Craft and the Institutions 507 Masonic Impostors 507 Masonic Portraits ( Uuknown ) 507 Notes and Queries 507

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry Jo 8 Instruction 510 Royal Arch 5 ' ° Mark Masonry 5 ' ° Laying the Foundation Stone of a Church 511

Nursing Home for Gentlemen ' s Children and Young Adults Sn Ancient and Accepted Rite 511 Obituarv ' . $ 11 The Cra ' ft Abroad 5 ' = Masonic and General Tidings 583 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ..... Cover .

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THE party which left London on the 23 rd to assist our esteemed GRAND SECRETARY in the consecration of two lodges in the Isle of Man were composed of the following brethren : Lieut .-Col . SOMMERVILLE H . BURNEY ,

P . G . D . ; Rev . C . SPENCER-STANHOPE , ' P . G . Chap . ; FRANK RICHARDSON , P . G . D . ; C . J . BANISTER , P . G . S . B . ; and EDGAR BOWYER , P . G . St . Br . The proceedings' evoked considerable enthusiasm among the brethren in the Island , and a successful start has been made . We shall be able to

give a full account in our next . * * * WE beg to call attention to the two following paragraphs from the Times of Montreal , of 14 th and 16 th October respectively . They will create great amusement in England , whether " canards" or not , and we should think equally

in Quebec . We defer fuller editorial remarks until next issue . " It was today stated that Mr . J H . ISAACSON , Grand Secretary of the Quebec Grand Lodge of Freemasons , lias written to the Prince of WALES , as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England , intimating that if he did not cause to be withdrawn the warrants of the English lodges here before the 1 st

January , 1885 , they would be declared to be clandestine lodges . " It is reported that the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec has prepared an edict , proclaiming the sovereign and supreme jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Quebec , and declaring that all Masons holding of the Grand Lodge of England are irregular and clandestine . The edict is

understood to be at present in process of circulation . The probability is that the issuance of the document will only tend to still further complicate matters , without in any way leading to a satisfactory issue . Prominent English Masons , who were questioned on the subject , declared that they were not prepared to be ' bulldozed' into renouncing their allegiance . "

* * * BRO . WHYTEHEAD , in a very opportune paper last week , calls attention to a fact , which , though for some time known to Masonic students , is hardly yet realized by the majority of English Freemasons . It is the existence of an organised body of Freemasons , —Speculative and Operative , —in the

seventeenth century . Dr . PLOT ( a non-Mason ) first called attention to the fact itself , and the publication of RANDLE HOLMES' works and ASHMOLE ' S Diary confirmed the assertion of one who does not ( by the way ) appear tohave been very friendly to our Order . This undoubted state of things seems to have been slurred over , if not ignored and forgotten , by our Masonic historians ,

ANDERSON , in 1723 , for some reason or other , ( perhaps explicable ) , does not mention the matter , though , in 1738 , he glances at it in the extracts from ASHMOLE ' S Diary , Dr . PLOT ' S remarks , and the seventeenth century connection with Freemasonry of INIGO J ONES , Sir CHRISTOPHER WREN , and the Duke of RICHMOND . Until quite recently our best writers passed the

seventeenth century history over , as perhaps a subject somewhat difficult to explain , though in the British Museum more than one seventeenth century Guild Legend remained , as if reproduced then to meet a want , to satisfy a demand . And yet nothing seems now to be more clear than that from 1646 ( certainly ) , an English Masonic Body existed akin to

in this important fact , that non-operatives were members of the lodges , our own . It is not too much to say that Masonic life was going on at Warrington in 1646 ; York , 1663 ; Chester , 1670 , at any rate ; London , 1682 ; Staffordshire , 1686 ( and there and elsewhere much earlier ) , if Dr . PLOT be correct , and again at York about 1690 . If the

Swalwell Lodge traditions are correct , that . lodge was in existence existence in the seventeenth century , and we have no doutb , as time runs on , these evidences will be multiplied . The importance of Bro . WHYTEHEAD ' S paper then amounts to this , —that in the theory of Masonic history , being continuous , which the nineteenth century proclaims , he supplies another goodly link in that happy chain of undoubted and authentic facts , which is

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now irresistible and which after longyearsof forgetfulness and desuetude is lengthening , hour by hour . We cannot expect full light all at once , but lot us hail the twilight ( keeping clear of moonshine however ) , and seek to hasten the dawn of a clearer day . * * »

THE progress of Masonic investigation leads to many questions , and opens up curious problems . To-day we are in a better position in some respects of solving the potent difficulties of the case than were our forefathers . Libraries have been overhauled , MSS . have been collated , old books have been searched , " curios" have been collected , until , as it were , the astounding

fact of a wide-spread Masonic life has been irresistibly brought before us , of which our forefathers were apparently ignorant , or of which if ever they knew anything they had let their knowledge " slide . " To realize what we mean , let us go back thirty years , ( a generation ) , and let us suppose a student trying to write a short and compendious history of English

Freemasonry , what authorities had he to go to ? What " landmarks " had he to deal with ? What official statements to reply on ? True it is we had HUTCHINSON , OLIVER , and PRESTON . If he understood German and French , he had also CLAVEL and THORV , RAGON and BESUCHET , KRAUSE , FALLOU , and the Attenburgh school . But

when we came to look into details , the minutirc of English Masonic history , we were confronted by statements without authority , dates which were anachronisms , and " sheepwalking " so serious , and so persistent , that we can fancy many and many a student turning from his selfimposed task sadly or contemptuously away , with the conviction forced

upon him , " nolens volens , that Masonic history was a jumble and a crux , almost hopeless to arrange or to solve . The era of our uncritical school was in full force and life , and Masonic students were few and far between . At this hour , that band of students which for some years , if not all following the same path , yet with the same great plan , namely " Historic and Masonic

truth , has really achieved wonders , and if only we do not become impatient or unreasonable , and lose our balance , so far a prosperous voyage will result in yet greater achievements . The labours of FINDEL , KLOSS , STEINBRENNER , FORT , CARSON , C . MCCALLA , D . M . LYON , HUGHAN , GOULD , RYLANDS , WHYTEHEAD , LUKIS , DARUTY , MASONIC STUDENT , and other familiar

names have thrown light on recondite theories and accredited facts . The history of the Compagnonage , Lodge Life , Hermeticism , the Grades , the Royal Arch , Rosicrucianism , and the Seventeenth century English Freemasonry have all been touched upon , explored , upon opened out , and though all is not as yet ] quite clear or certain , —though we cannot , as we ought not

hastily , speak decidedly or dogmatically on many an interesting point , yet our " coup d'ceil" is far more true and clear , our interest deeper , our realization of Masonic history moredistinctand encouraging than when some of us , 30 , 20 , 15 years ago , began our researches , or commenced our labours in Masonic Archceology , then practically a " sealed book" to the

great majority of the Craft . Supposing we had written a lecture on English Masonic history 30 years ago , how different in general and particular must a similar lecture be to-day . And therefore let us take courage and keep working . There is much on which we want clearer light and public knowledge . There are many points yet in comparative obscurity . Let us be

patient and persevering . Time , which heals and shows us all things here , will yet enable many an honest student to clear up discrepancies , and solve doubts , harmonize anachronisms , and answer queries , which are still before us in vivid reality , but which will yet , let us depend upon it , yield to careful and painstaking , and expert investigation .

* # * OUR well-known and esteemed Bro . SPETH , of Streatham House , Clarendon-road , Cliftonville , Margate , has set up a nursery home for children , a fact which we think our readers may like to know . Such an institution , much wanted and often in demand , seems to us a most useful and

humanitarian movement , deserving alike of patronage , sympathy , and recognition . Under the conjoint management and care of Bro . and Mrs . SPETH , and with the aid of expert nursing and overlooking , we feel convinced that all that solicitude can suggest , or kindness effect , will be manifested

and developed in the nursery home at Margate , thus commenced and opened by Bro . and Mrs . SPETH . To any requiring such a useful and valuable institution we recommend them to apply at once to our esteemed Bro . W . S PETH .