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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and F OREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are nformed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , fnited States of America , & c .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / - P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Flect-st .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later tnan 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . The " Freemason " of this week is printed on a better paper . The report of the Provincial Giand Lodge of the North and East Riding of Yorkshire will appear in our next .

W . D . B . —We cannot answer your letter , we do not see why you have written to us .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . fid for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ] BIRTHS . ANOEHSON . —On the 22 nd ult ., at Stanley | House , Earley , Reading , the wife of Lieut .-Col . H . S . Anderson , of a

son . BULLEN . —On tbe 25 th ult ., at Chaucer House , Ilerne-hill , the wife of G . W . Bullen , of a daughter . CLARENCE . —On the 28 th ult ., { at Lindula , Ceylon , the wife of L . B . Clarence , Esq ., of a daughter .

MATTHEWS . —On the 28 th ult ., at Penn-road Villas , N ., the wife of L . Matthews , of a daughter . MH . BANK . —Cn thj 28 th ult ., at The Grange , Bedale , Yorkshire , the wife of Powlett C . Milbank , of a daughter .

MARRIAGES . ANOEHSON—Ci . isnv . —On the 15 th ult ., at Sandbach , Cheshire , Julius , son of the late G . W . Anderson , of Hamilton-terrace , St . John ' s-wood , to Ellen Elizabeth , daughter of the late S . Clisby , of Sandbach . SUTTON—LAWRENCE . —On the 20 th ult ., at the Church of

St . George the Martyr , William T . Sutton , of Lawfordroad , N ., to Nellie Lawrence , of Queen-square , Bloomsbury . TAIIN—BENNETT . —On the lfith ult ., at Honolulu , John , son of the late W . Tarn , of Chislehurst , Kent , to Mary Gallett , daughter of the lat *; O . Bennett , Judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan , U . S .

DEATHS . BARKER . —On the 24 th inst ., at Hungerford , Charles Hemsled , son of R . H . Barker , Esq ., aged 19 . BORMAN . —On the 27 th ult ., at 5 , Bockstone-terrace , Southampten , James Borman , aged 64 . Deeply

regretted . Friends will kindly accept this intimation . VIVIAN . —On the 29 th ult ., at Plymouth , the Hon . Robert C . Vivian , fourth surviving son of Lord Vivian , aged 22 . WAKEFIELD . —On the 26 th ult ., Herbert Wakefield , at 3 , Mountford-road , Dalston , after a long and painful illness aged 30 .

Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar.

COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR .

W . Masters and Secretaries are earnestly requested to forward to the publisher , at the Offices , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C , particulars of the place , days , and months , of meeting of their respective lodges , chapters , and other Masonic bodies , for insertion in the issue of the Calendar for 1877 .

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The Freemason , S ATURDAY , S EPTEMBER 2 , 1876 .

The Next Quarterly Communication.

THE NEXT QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION .

Many of our readers will have seen the agenda paper for the next Quarterly Communication , and there are some notices in it which seem to demand and deserve comment . Bro . R . J . Simpson , P . G . C ., has given notice of a motion for the appointment of a committee , and also an

alternative notice for the grant of £ 6000 for Scholarships to the Boys' School . Bro . Jabez Hogg curiously enough gives the same notice in almost the same wording , ( peculiar in itself ) , and which we confess we do not understand . Bro . Simpson having carried a resolution for a

committee , was bound , we think , to adhere to that , and not to commit Grand Lodge to a specific vote until after that committee had reported , if anthidg was to be done at all . We do not like , we feel bound to say , this system of alternative motions , which is not altogether

respectful to Grand Lodge , and seems intended as a " sprat to calch a whale , " and to obtain a vote of some kind at any price . It is a very serious amount which it is now proposed to give , and as far as we can see without conditions to the Boys' School . And to this we most

decidedly object . Ifyou like to found scholarships do so ; but let the matter be gravely considered , and above all by those who know something about scholarships : but Grand Lodge must lay down the conditions on which such scholarships ate to be founded and administered .

Ihe present propositions seems to us to be very haphazard and hasty , deficient in careful consideration of what is wanted by the School , of what is due to Grand Lodge , and the grant of so large a sum of money on such ill digested propositions (" with every deference to our worthy Bros .

Simpson and Hogg ) , does , we confess , not only startle us very much , but appears to us to be illsuited to the dignity and business like dealings of Grand Lodge itself . We are among those who would have been glad if Grand Lodge had not incurred the charge of "Masonic selfishness , "

to which a grant to its own charities inevitably exposes it . It is , in fact , " robbing Peter to pay Paul , " and we shall be sincerely rejoiced if the good sense and moderation of the members of Grand Lodge will extricate us from this dilemma by referring the whole matter to a

competent committee , to be carefully and minutely considered as well for the ori ginal object of the motion which seems to be forgotten , to do honour to our Royal Grand Master , as to advance the interests of any particular institution , and the honour and character , and dignity of the Grand Lodge of English Freemasons .

Masonic Vulgarity.

MASONIC VULGARITY .

If there is one thing which ought to distinguish a Freemason more than another , it is that sense of gentlemanly feeling in all things , under all circumstances , which renders it impossible for him to forget what the French call so well the " bienseances " of society . A Freemason should

always be elevated , so to say , above the petty , and jarring , and contemptible animosities of this life , should take a bold , free , generous , and highminded view of men and things , and press on amid the opposing difficulties and often amazing contradictions of society in a

selfsupporting and serene spirit with a kind and unruffled disposition . It is idle to suppose that smooth seas and favouring gales are always to attend us on our journey through life . No , we have all to meet the unavoidable contingencies and conflicts of the way , and we shall all of us have to go through those

numerous little vexations and worries which beset so thickly the high-road of the world , and which have often such a trying influence , and exercize such a heavy pressure on the feelings and temperaments of us all alike . It very often happens that here we are often headed in our path , o to say , by obstacles many and unwelcome . Our journey often becomes one of personal anxiety

Masonic Vulgarity.

and trouble , our motives are arraigned , our words travestied , our views derided , our efforts un . appreciated , and we find very often , as we think that ours are hard lines , in the feeling that often comes over us all alike at one time or another here , that we are misunderstood and ill-used

Then it is that molehills become mountains , and petty matters assume great proportions . It is not given to us all always to command success , or see our own opinions prevail , and there are very few of us who have not from time to time to encounter , as we think , unjust opposition .

unreasoning antagonists . It is a good thing for us all to bear this in mind , and to remember that Horace ' s advice , " servare mentem aequam , " is as applicable to Freemasons now as it was for the Romans of his own generation , nay , as it is to all man really in all times .

For it is here that the touchstone is applied to the true character of the Freemason , to that gentlemanliness of disposition , and word , and action which should always characterize us children of lig ht . The vulgar-minded man ( and we cannot suppose that Freemasonry , however privileged .

is exempt from such an infliction ) , never learns to bear either rebufFor opposition patiently , peacefully . His is a limited mind , a narrow vision ; obstinate prejudices , and a very high opinion ol himself , and as a general rule the "petites miseres de la viehumaine , " even its greater troubles , which

pass by the elevated disposition , leave him complaining and angry , petulant and aggressive . '' Hence the usual " outcome" of all Masonic little , ness is personality . vulgarity . It is sad that such a condition of things should exist at all among Freemasons , it is sadder often to note its effects

on the lodge . We have to deplore every day that Freemasons so often exhibit much of personal feeling and angry animosity . We see them committing acts , we hear them qsing language , which is altogether unjustifiable and un-Masonic . Every now and then we have

outbursts before us , so to say , of this Masonic vulgarity , which it is useful to note , in order to avoid and repudiate ourselves . Some pretentious youth , for instance , lectures an old P . M . on matters of which he is professedly ignorant . The old P . M . naturally resents the

impertinence of sciolism , and the ignorance of inexperience , and this Masonic blossom has no other resource but personality . A Masonic writer whose style is of the very " feeble forcible " indeed , criticizes the arguments of some other writer , opposed to his peculiar theory ,

and as he has neither reason nor knowledge of the subject to back him up , at once resorts to personality . How many petty , narrow , vulgar sentences do we often read , all proceeding either from the writer ' s absolute ignorance , or his density , or his inaptitude , or his unconciousness

of logic , or his inability to appreciate bona fide convictions . Many persons , even brethren , hardly ever write without dipping their pen deep in the gall of personal virulence , of interested opposition , of that utter recklessness of scribbling which must cast a bit of mud at somebody . To

many it seems to be impossible to hear two sides of a subject or to argue two sides of a question , and very often the slightest divergence of opinion is treated with an insolence which nothing can justify , and a vulgarity of utterance , whose only excuse is its utter weakness and

worthlessness . And then again there are those who are always personal , and cannot help being personal . Everything with them is a personal question , and in vain you plead constitutional usage , in vain you suggest legal difficulties , all must either give way to the " sic volo sic iubeo , "

or " hey presto " you find yourself involved in a personal question . And we all know well what personal questions lead to in Freemasonry , how * the breach widens , how the sore increases , until the normal conditions of these personal outbreaks seem to be violence and vulgarity . Nothing is

so painful to the true Craftsman as to see Freemasons , like their outside antagonists , laughing to scorn the whole teaching of Freemasonry , and showing to the outer world what , no doubt , is ever true notwithstanding all things , that Freemasons are still at the best but weak and

inconsistent mortals . We say all this because we believe firmly in our good old Order , in its true morality , its exalted professions , and its ennobling axioms , and because | we sincerely dep lore