The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

been suggested to us that this resolution of May 15 th , is a remnant of red tape . But we reject the covert insinuation , as that we know has long since

been banished from allour Metropolitan Charities . Seriously having called attention to the subject , we do not think it consonant with our own

dignity to say anything more , on what almost assumes a personal aspect . We are content to leave the fact itself to the generous and fraternal appreciation of our brethren . From the first

establishment of The Freemason , our publisher has given the most liberal and zealous aid to the metropolitan charities , in every way , and which still we shall continue to evince and to

encourage , as we hope we know our duty to the Craft too well , either to be affected , or deterred by any want of consideration , or by any abstention of patronage . We shall endeavour in time

to come , as on past occasions , even at considerable cost to ourselves , to provide Masonic information to those who honour us with their

approbation , and no where will the great charities of our Order find more genuine sympathy and support than in the pages of The Freemason .

The Irish Grand Lodge.

THE IRISH GRAND LODGE .

Though we are not in possession of any official information relative to the recent meeting and Masonic proceedings of this distinguished body ; though to us , alas ! no favouring

breeze of patronage or approval greets us from across the Irish Channel ( to use a purely happy and Hibernian expression ") , we believe we are not wrong in stating , that , the objectionable

regulation 133 has been expunged by a large majority . If then we are warranted in saying so much , and we assert it , in all deference , and with all reserve , " pace " our good Bro . Oldham ,

we must most sincerely congratulate the whole of the Irish Craft on this great proof of discretion , good sense , and true Masonic spirit . No . 133 , in its relation to Craft Masonry , is as

objectionable to us as No . 666 would be to many of the most fervent adherents of the Irish Grand Lodge , and . anything more retrograde as a proposal , or more utterly unmasonic in its scope .

we never have yet perused . It was in fact introducing the principles of the Inquisition , into the honest and free-hearted Irish Craft , whereby a Mason might be condemned

unheard and undefended , and might forfeit all those Masonic rights and privileges he held most dear , on the secret and irrevocable decision ot some irresponsible High

Grade Tribunal . What has Craft Masonry to do with High Grade Bodies , or august Chapters of wonderful nomenclature ? Above all why should our honest Craft Masonry be affected or

weakened by the customs and arrangements of alien associations ? Had the Grand Lodge of Ireland proposed to submit any such sentence to the consideration of any of the stated or special

meetings as a Court of Appeal , and to have given the brother inculpated the opportunity of being heard in his own defence , there are grave

objections to any such course , though it would , at any rate , have been both understandable and defensible . But to allow an extern body to pass a sentence against a member , and then to

The Irish Grand Lodge.

register such a sentence in the hooks of the Grand Lodge , without question or appeal , was such a backward step in legislation that it could

have proceeded from that love of a bull , still prevalent amid the witty denizens of the Emerald Isle , and was , as Sir Boyle Roach would have said , " a systematic proceeding backwards way . "

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

The usual monthly meeting of the General Committee of the Masonic Girls' School was held on Thursday week , at freemasons' Hall Bro . H . Browse , V . P ., occupied the chair , and he was suppo' -ted by Bros . J . A . Rucker , Thomas W . White , Griffiths Smith , T . Q . Peacock , H .

A . Dubois , Richard Spencer , Raynham W . Stewart , Jesse Turner , Major John Creaton , Sigismund Rosenthal , H . Guitierrez , J . G . Marsh , and R . Wentworth Little , Secretary . There was not a great deal of business before the Committee , but what transpired was of considerable

importance . In the first place there were eight petitions before the brethren , seven of which being in all respects regular , the petitioners were placed on the list of candidates for election in October . This being the last day for admission on to that list , the list was finally settled , and

announced to contain twenty-nine candidates . Vacancies for ten children in the school were declared for the next election , but the Committee , considering the vast increase in the Craft and the great extension of support given to the Freemasons' Girls' School , resolved to

recommend to the next Quarterly Committee , which will be held on the nth inst ., that five more girls be elected at the same time , making the number altogether fifteen , admissable at the October election . Some brethren gave notice of various motions at the next Quarterl y Committee , and the Committee then adjourned

On Monday , the Girls from the above School , to the number of nearly 150 , were entertained at the Crystal Palace , under the care of the indefatigable Secretary , Bro . Robert Wentworth Little , Miss Davis , and other members of the Institution , the cost being defrayed by the

Festival Stewards . The weather being fine the Girls appeared thoroughly to enjoy the day ' s outing , the Palace and grounds being in splendid condition , the happy countenances and comfortable appearance of the Girls eliciting the ¦ nqualified approval of the thousands of visitors who were present , among whom we noticed

some staunch friends and supporters of the School . Bros . J oshua Nunn , Rev . P . M . Holden , James Stevens , T . Cubitt , W . Winn , T . W . White , George Kenning , Rev . J . R . Simpson , P . G . C ., Paas , Colonel Peters , Henry Muggeridge , Marshall , Mortlock , and many others , most of the brethren being accompanied by their ladies .

Masonic Bibliography

MASONIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

I picked up the other day a curious book of Robert Fludd ' s or Robert de Fluctibus , entitleJ ' de Macrocosmi Historia . " It unfortunately wants the title pages . . There is a companion volume , which I have not got , which contains his treatise on arithmetic .

geometry , and other sciences . Robert Fludd , who also put forth a defence of the " Fraternitatis Rosea ; Crucis" is the author " inter alia " of "the Mosaical philosophy" written in Latin and translated by him , which as a MS . note in my book says , " is a very

valuable mystical work . " By a curious coincidence , I picked up a little book of Latin poetry , by a Jesuit ( Colletius or Collet ) but which contains the autogra ph of William Stonehouse . William Stonehouse was

in all probability a northern antiquary , as he is called , who sold his museum of Roman antiquities to the celebrated Thorby . Can any brother tell us , of what northern town Stonehouse was . A . F . A . WOODFORD .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

THE ROMAN EAGLE LODGE . Can Bio . D . M . Lyon help me to any clue to the minutes , or ritual , or papers of the Roman Eagle Lodge , and of Bro . Dr . John Brown ? My object in this query is this . On the principle of cause and effect , I have

always felt persuaded that Krause ' s Latin socalled York constitution had an original somewhere . But where is it ? " His " formula " may be taken from two , or from three .

But it has always struck me as strange , that , it should be in Latin . Now is it possible , that , Dr . John Brown , who is said to have put the ritual , in Latin , may have put the constitution into Latin also , and

added to it from several sources ? Is anything known of what became of Bro . John Brown , who is said to have gone to London about the end of last century from Edinburgh ? A MASONIC STUDENT .

BRO . WILLIAM PRESTON . I have been looking into W . Preston ' s Bibliography , and have thought well , to call the attention of some of my fellow archaeological students to one or two notes and queries . First of all where was Preston initiated ?

Stephen Jones seems to say on authority , in what was practically an " Antient lodge , " and which was afterwards warranted by the Grand Lodge , and was called the " Caledonian Lodge . '' Where are the minutes of that lodge ?

In a short and well written memoir in the "Bibliographical Magazine , " to which my attention has been called by my obliging and able Bro . P . M . Wm . Cowling at York , this fact seems to be doubted , and Edinburgh is suggested as the possible place of his initiation .

Surely at the very outset of one s attempt to put together a reliable and satisfactory biography of the " father of Masonic History , " we can ascertain that fact without a doubt , or the shadow of a doubt . Bro . Stephen Jones seems to speak positively on the subject , but yet when you come to

analyze his statements , you see at once , that , he is after all somewhat indistinct . Where can I see a copy of the pamphlet , privately printed , but not published , in which Preston defends his position in the " Antiquity " controversy ? A . F . A . WOODI ' ORD .

THE OLDEST HALIFAX MASONIC POEM . Whatever the merits or demerits of the composition may be , it is certainly the first Masonic poem written by a Halifax Mason , and as far as known , it may be the oldest Masonic poem written in North America . I discovered it in a

newspaper , and I believe it is unique . It illustrates the fact about the origin of Masonry in Nova Scotia , which I made known in former numbers of your journal . The writer was evidently dazzled with the handiwork of the colonists , when viewing the wooden huts which they raised in so short a time to shelter about

five thousand human beings , and we may well pardon his indulging in the imagination , that in the course of a hundred years , Halifax would rival , in grand structures , both Greece and ancient Italy . 1 shall only add , that the poem is certainly a curiosity , and for this reason alone it deserves reprinting . J ACOB NORTON .

AN ADDRESS TO THE MASONS AT HALIFAX . BY A BROTHER . When first from Nothing at the Almighty ' s call , Came this unbounded , this stupendous ALL ; And that the Heavens and Earth ' s Foundation laid

Were by unerring Wisdom perfect made ; Beauty and Strength in due proportion joyn'd , To harmonize the particles conibin'd ; In various Life th' unnumbered myriads rise , Peopling the Earth , the Ocean , and the Skies ; But man , created last , tho' first in Worth , Was made the Lord and Sovereign o ' er the Earth :