Ar00800

NOTICE .

The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is noiv i os . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I „ bound in cloth ... ... 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . s III ., IV ., V . and VI each 15 s . od . Beading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . Ditto ditto 4 do . ... is . 6 d .

United States of America . THE ynsEMASON is ikJiiered tee in any part ol the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains .

The price of the Freemason is Twopence per week- annual subscription , ios . ( payable in advance . ) All communications , letters , Sec , to be addressed to tbe Editor , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C . lhe Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , | iut cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postags stamps . __^

Sow Heady . INDEX to Vol . Vf . of "THE FREEMASON . " May be had at the Publishing Office , 10 N , FlectstreU ,

The History Of Freemasonry.

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .

FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY . Draivn from ( he best sources and the most recent investigations . BY J . G . FINDEL , Second Edition , Revised , and Preface written by Bro . D . MURRAY LYON .

One rol ., 800 pages Svo ,, with an Index . Cloth gilt . Price , ios . 6 d . " This book is a strictly historical one , from which all is excluded that is not based upon ascertained or probable fact . "—Builder . " Of its value to Freemasons , as a detailed history of their Brotherhood , it is not possible to sneak too highly . "—

Public Opinion . "Tlie author seems to have fairly exhausted the subject . "—The Athenaeum . " The edition we are now considering is a second English edition , which had the great advantage of Bro . D . M . Lyon ' s able superintendence and editorship in its English dress . There can be no doubt but , that so far , Bro .

Findel ' s work is the most complete work on freemasonry which has yet appeared , and that he deserves the greatest credit for his cartful and accurate ticatment -A * all evidence on the subject , and for his honest desire after truth . Bro . Findel gives up in the view he has so clearly and consistently put foith our eaily Masonic history , the older theory of the Roman Colleges , & c , and limits the origin

of Freemasonry to about the twelfth century , and as then arising from the operative Masons , and specially the " Steinmeitzen" and " liauhutten" of Germany . Bro . Findel gives us a good deal of evidence on this head , and one thing is clear from his work , that the German Freemasons were , at a very early period , organized into lodges with a Master over them , and with outward regulations and

inner ceremonies peculiar to the Craft . Bro . Findel rejects all the views which have been from time to time put forward of a Templar or a Rosicrucian origin . Whether or no Bro , Findel ' s theory of the date of the rise of Freemasonry be correct , matters very little : we do not ourselves profess to accept it ; but this we can fairly say of Bro Findel's work , it is _ marked from first to last by the most remarkable

token of industry , ability , and care , of patient research , and of skilful criticism . We know of no work which so clearly sets before us our amount of knowledge up to the present time on the great question of Masonic Archa * ology , and there can be littledoubtthatwhatj ' reston'swoikisto English Freemasonry , Findel ' s work is to cosmopolitan Freemasonry . Indeed no student in Masonry can now dispense with it , and it

ts a perfect storehouse both of Masonic evidence and Masonic illustrations . We earnestly recommend all the lodges in this country to obtain a copy for the lodge library before the work is bought up for America ; and we believe that no Mason will rise from the perusal of its pages without a higher idea both of the historical truth and intrinsic value of Freemasonry , and of fraternal regard and recognition to

the latest and not the least well-informed or effective of our Masonic historians . Thc present century has produced no such equal , in authority and usefulness , to the great work of our Bro . Findel , and we wish him and it , in all of fraternal sympathy and kindly intent , many earnest

readers , and more grateful students . " —The Masonic Magaxinc . " This volume is the history of Masonry par excellence Every interested person may regard it , therefore , as tlie present text-book on the subject . "—Manchester Guardian London : GEORGE KENNING , 19 S , Fleet Street .

Ad00808

MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION , BAKER STREET . Now added , PORTRAIT MODELS of the CZAR OF RUSSIA , SIR GARNET WOLSELEV , the Three Judges in the Tichbome Trial , Cockburn , Mellor , and Lush ; the Shah of Persia , Marshal MacMahon , M . Thiers , and the late Mr . Charles Dickens . Admission is . Children under ten , Od . Extra Rooms , 6 d . Open from ten a . m . to ten p . m .

Ad00802

Second Edition , Now Ready , 1 / 6

MASONIC MUSICAL SERVICE

In the key of C . for A ., ' ]* ., T „ li . Opening and Closing Odes . Cralt Ceremonies . Royal Arch Ceremony . Consecration Ceremony . Grace before and after Meat . COMPOSED BY DR . J . C . BAKER , NO . 2 + 1 . LONDON . —Geo . Kenning , 19 S , Fleet-street ; and 1 , 2 , and 3 , Little Britain . „ It . Spencer , 26 , Great Queen-street . LIVEKPOOL . —Geo . Kenning , 2 , Monument-place . MANCHESTER . —E . Henry < S Co ., $ <) , Deansgate . DUBLIN . —C . Hedgelong , 26 , Grafton-street . GLASGOW . —Geo . Kenning , 145 , Argyle-street .

. A

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c ., intended for insertion in tbe Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Ollice not later than 6 o'clock on Wednesday evening . REMITTANCES RECEIVED . £ s d Dr . Saure , Cassel , Germany 7 10 o

Lewoithy , R ., Sydney , New South Wales , P . O . O . 1 10 o Revell , W . II ., Greymouth , New Zealand , P . O . O . 1 ro o Hoffman Van Hove , Rotterdam o 16 3 Armstrong , R . B ., Voung . New South Wales , P . O . O . 0120 Watkins , James , Hamilton , Bermuda o 12 o T . C . Beardsniore , Adamwaham , E . Indies , P . O . O . 0100

ERRATA . —In our last , in the report of the meeting of the P . G . L . of Renfrewshire East , the name of the new J . W . was omitted It is Bro . J . D . Poiteous , R . W . M . of 541 and P-M . of 360 ; further on in the same repott his name is erroneously spelt Proctor instead of Poiteous .

The following stand over : —Communications from J . H . W . ; J . O . ; W . L . A . ; W . D . ; ML . ; G . C ; R . W . ; W . C . ; and VV . G . Reports of Piov . Grand Lodge of Cumberland ; Lodges not , Reading ; 360 , Glasgow ; Chapter j , Edinburgh ; Hoyal Arch Alariners' Lodge , Bolton ; St . John ' s Mark Lodge , Bolton ; Supreme Council of Scotland .

Ar00804

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , OCTOHER 3 , 1874 .

Our Royal Grand Master.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER .

\ Vn congratulate the Craft everywhere oa the acceptance by our Royal Brother , H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , of the high office of Grand Master of English Freemasonry . This

intelligence , which was communicated officially by the Grand Secretary to the press and the Order on Saturday , will be hailed with pleasure by our entire brotherhood . It is a fact in itself which

must be a matter of sincere congratulation to all who belong to our English Craft . Popular as our Royal Brother ever has been , and ever will be , by his many genial qualities and kindl y

sympathies , he has manifested himself , on more than one occasion , a warm and zealous Freemason . Some of us will remember a speech he made at Dublin , —and he has repeated since

then his hearty attachment and earnest goodwil l to the Craft . So we feel we are warranted in expressing the hopes of our Order , that , this acceptance of temporary office may be

but the beginning of a long and happy connection , and official and fraternal relationship between our Grand Master and the entire Order . As Freemasons are habitually and

emphatically loyal , they will rejoice to think that not only the Heir Apparent to thc Throne , but the Son of thoir Sovereign and Grandson of their Royal Brother the Duke of Kent , has

accepted the " Curule Chair" in the Grand Lodge of thr . t great institution , which since 1813 , has nearly trebled the number of its lodges and members . If in the last few weeks , since Lord

Ripon s hurried resignation , our good English Fraternity has been alike depressed and perplexed , with memories of the past , and anticipations for the future , henceforth , all fears and

Our Royal Grand Master.

doubts are at an end , and the announcement we make to-day , while it smoothes and soothes the entire pathway and the abiding excitement of Freemasonry , will be greeted by our

widespread organization with every feeling that loyalt y can suggest and gratification can suppy . We shall find in this welcome intelligence too , we are disposed to think the best answer to many

heated and irrational adversaries , whose arguments and whose language against our peaceable and tolerant Order are alike most illogical and unjustifiable . For at a time when we have been

officially accused , in long-winded manifestoes , and in lugubrious allocutions of grief and grievances , by the authorities of one special religious body , of being " socialists , " " revolutionists , "

"conspirators , and what not besides , the Heir-Apparent to the English Throne does not hesitate graciously to cast in his lot with us , and avows himself willing , as our laws provide , to

assume the Grand Mastership of our inculpated Fraternity . May all peace and prosperity accompany his Royal Rule of oar Craft , and may we all rally round him in these hours of doubt and

depression , as faithful and true-hearted brethren , g ladly recognizing his love for our Order in this his ready acceptance of his constitutional position , and unanimously hailing his auspicious advent to the throne of English Freemasonry .

The Roman Catholic Press And Lord Ripon.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRESS AND LORD RIPON .

We are indebted to our contemporary , the Deri ;/ Mercury , for the reprint of a portion of the last utterance on the subject of Freemasonry of our old antagonist lhe Westminster Gazette , and a very choice specimen it is , alike of that

rowdy language and vulgarity of thought and feeling , in which that habitual offender sees fit so often to indulge . Of course , such a fact as Lord Ripon ' s resignation was , as they say " nuts "

to that truly Christian journal , which , if it represents , bona fide , the taste and temper of the Roman Catholic Church in this country , we can only add , we are heartily sorry for the Roman Catholic Church . The article is

entitled , it seems , " Freemasonry de Profundis , " ( one feels the poetic language and witticism of the writer forcibly ) , and it is of course highly complimentary to Lord Ripon , and highly

depreciatory of Freemasonry . Like our contemporary , we think well to print this striking portion of a very original leader , feeling how much credit it does to the mind of him who

imagined it , and , like our contemporary ,. we do so mainly for the amusement of the brethren . But we confess our merriment is accompanied with regret , deep regret , that we should have to

record such an event in our pages . Let us hear what this well instructed scribe says . Alluding to Lord Ripon ' s resignation he thus holds forth . * ¦—

The event is , in more ways than one , a knockdown blow to that immoral and irreligious institution whose pernicious influences we have had no unfrequent occasion to denounce . One ofthe principal morning papers , evidently

favourable to Freemasonry , has no better eulogy to give than stating that it is " harmless and kindly . " In point of fact , it is neither- but that an advocate can say no more of its shows

that its case , even among its friends , is sad indeed . The great crowd of Freemasonic adventures—and there is no class of adventurer more pernicious , more unscrupulous , or more danger-