United Grand Lodge Of England.

bound to take care to makethebest bargain they could , there was a great deal of discretion required . Bro . THOS . FENN said the Board recommended that the lease should be granted on the same terms as before . Bro . BRACKSTONE BAKER , P . G . D ., observed , that looking at the great extension of Masonry , and the probability that during the next 21 years

Grand Lodge would require all the space which Messrs . Malby and Sons had for subsidiary rooms , was it right to let to these gentleman upon the same terms as those granted 25 years ago . Property had increased in value in that time , and so had Masonry increased . Grand Lodge might require these premises before the lease expired , and in that case the lessees would require a very heavy sum of money to release them . Had the Board considered this ? If they had , he had nothing more to say .

Bro . THOMAS FENN replied that the Board had considered that question . Bro . Brackstone Baker would hardly for a moment suppose Grand Lodge could make use of these premises , which consisted of a very narrow slip of building with no light in front , of very small depth , and only fitted for the purposes for which it was now used . Grand Lodge could make no possible

use of it . It was adjoining the dining-room . He did not suppose they could find any other tenant who would give £ 150 a year , but it suited Messrs . Malby ' s purposes , and the Board considered it was only right , as Messrs . Malby had to spend some money on it , and had been the tenants of Grand Lodge a great many years , that they should have a renewal of their lease at the same rental as before .

Bro . C . W . C . HUTTON , P . G . D ., was exceedingly sorry at anytime to differ from Bro . Brackstone Baker , because he knew he was actuated by the best motives , but he thought he might not be possibly aware of the change that had taken place in the value of property of every description , both urban and provincial , agricultural and house , within the last few years .

For his own part , although having only a superficial knowledge of the subject , he thought Grand Lodge had great reason to congratulate the President of the Board of General Purposes on having achieved such a success , and the concluding of such excellent terms with Messrs . Malby , and he thought Grand Lodge should confirm it .

Bro . J . SAMPSON PEIRCE , P . G . D ., said what fell from Bro . Brackstone Baker no doubt was dictated by the best possible motives . It was not a question or urban or suburban or provincial , according to Bro . Hutton , but it was a question of space , and space of almost yards or superficial yards adjoining Grand Lodge's present buildings . That was the point to which Bro . Brackstone Baker wished to draw attention—whether the Board of General Purposes had done the very best they could , or whether thev had

not been for once confused ; he had great confidence in the business capacity of their Board of General Purposes . But , at the same time , he thought Bro . Brackstone Baker had done some little service in drawing their attention to the fact that , whilst they were closing up these walls , and whilst they were requiring enlargements , every square yard they had in contiguity with the present premises they occupied should be looked upon with the greatest possible attention . The motion was then carried .

The next business was the laying before Grand Lodge of the annual report of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons and the Widows of Freemasons , dated the 21 st May , 1886 , including the following alterations in the laws : "Rule 2 to read 'The Grand Master for the time being shall be President of the Institution . The Treasurer of the Institution shall be elected annually on the third Friday in May . ' " "To alter Rule 14 by erasing the word 'Grand' on the third and sixth lines on page 14 , and the word ' Grand' on the fifth line of page 15 . "

Bro . J ABEZ HOGG , P . G . D ., in introducing the subject , said the observations should be very few which he thought it necessary to make in asking Grand Lodge to sanction an alteration in the rules of the Benevolent Institution , which met with the unanimous concurrence of the brethren who took an interest in that Institution ; but , for the information of the brethren who had not served on the Committees , he might say that the change in the

annual election of Treasurer of Grand Lodge had been found not unattended with inconvenience to all the Institutions , inasmuch as that annual change in the holder of the office of Grand Treasurer involved not only an unnecessary delay in the transaction of a good deal of the business , but involved the Institutions in a good deal of expenditure . According to the rules , the President and the Treasurer were always part of the Trustees of these

Institutions , and the now changing of the Grand Treasurer involved the annual change in the names of some of those Trustees , and inconvenience to the Committee and the Secretary in getting the alterations made annually . In the other Institutions—the Boys' and the Girls '—Grand Lodge had already sanctioned the alteration which was now asked for the Benevolent Institution , which was that they might not be compelled to elect their

Treasurer annually , and the alteration they saw on the agenda paper was to enable them to elect a Treasurer , whom they hoped to elect year after year to fulfil the duties not only of Treasurer , but of Trustee , which was part of his duty , and thereby save a good deal of money , as well as a great deal of trouble to the officers of the Institution . He therefore asked Grand Lodge to sanction this alteration , which was more formal than anything else .

Bro . RAYNHAM W . STEWART , P . G . D ., with great pleasure , seconded the motion . Bro . S . PARKHOUSP , P . M . No . 1642 , asked the opinion of Bro . Fenn whether , after this alteration was confirmed , Bro . Edgar Bowyer would still be Treasurer of the Institution . Bro . Bowyer ' s name was now on the list of officers of the Institution as Treasurer .

Bro . Canon PORTAL , P . G . C ., asked whether this question was before Grand Lodge at all . He thought Grand Lodge had nothing to do-but to accept this report .

Bro . BRACKSTONE BAKER , P . G . D ., said it was for information only . General BROWNRIGG did not understand there was any motion to be made upon this report , which was only information given to Grand Lodge . Bro . PARKHOUSE expressed himself as quite satisfied . Bro . J . S . CUMBERLAND , W . M . Northern Counties Lodge , asked

whether it was clearly understood that the rules of the Benevolent Institution were to be altered or acted upon legally before being reported to Grand _ Lodge for confirmation . Was it absolutely necessary that any alteration of the rules of the Benevolent Institution should be submitted to Grand Lodge 1 If not , for what purpose were they submitted at all ? General BROWNRIGG : For information .

Bro . CUMBERLAND : If it be for confirmation , until it is confirmed , I rather think it is a mistake to act upon it . I ask for information . It may crop up again . I think it will . If by that report , which is under the Grand Lodge of England , we have the power to alter the rules and act upon them immediately , without confirmation , what is the good of reporting them to

United Grand Lodge Of England.

Grand Lodge except as our brother said for information and not for confirmation . Bro . THOMAS FENN did not think the question was before Grand Lodge at all . If the question was to be raised it ought to be raised by notice of motion , and therefore he did not think they could discuss it now . He had been asked lo give an opinion , and he was quite prepared to give it , but he did not think he should do so without notice . If notice was given , and the question raised , they could discuss it .

Bro . General BROWNRIGG afterwards said he found that this subject should be put to Grand Lodge for confirmation . The alteration was then put to Grand Lodge , and confirmed by 27 against 14 votes . Bro . CUMBERLAND said that before next meeting he should give a notice .

Bro . PARKHOUSE would only ask one question . Who was at the present time Treasurer of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ? If the Grand Treasurer lor the time being was the Treasurer of the Institution , and en the face of the Book of the Institution Bro . Edgar Bowyer was Treasurer , who was the Treasurer now that this resolution was passed ? Bro . General BROWNRIGG said they could not discuss that .

The second alteration , that of Rule 14 , by erasing the word " Grand , " or the third and sixth lines on page 14 , and the word " Grand " on the fifth line of page 15 , was then confirmed , and Grand Lodge was closed in form , and adjourned .

Bro. J. C. Parkinson, P.G.D.

BRO . J . C . PARKINSON , P . G . D .

We are indebted tothe World for another of those sketches of wellknown men , under the heading of " Celebrities at Home , " apparently by the same pen as the former . It is sufficientl y interesting in itself to justify our transferring it to the columns of the Freemason , but the position of Bro . Parkinson in the Craft , and his well-known ability as an exponent of its ceremonies render it more than ordinarily interesting to Freemasons .

" Literature and journalism , moving westwards , have of late years found a congenial abode in the innumerable flats which form the characteristic feature of the thoroughfare which leads from the Broad Sanctuary to Pimlico , and covers the site of the old Almonry where Wm . Caxton first set up his printing-press . Smoke and time have somewhat dimmed the pristine glories of its Portland cement pilasters , cornices , corbels , and kevstones .

and even the four storeys of Venetian windows , with their ornate architrave dressings , wholly fail to prepare you for the comfort and brightness you are likely to find within . The London season was almost at an end when you passed through the modest portals at the foot of the common staircase , and found youself suddenly transferred from the sober sadness of Victoriastreet to an entrance-hall which savours rather of some cosy country

mansion than of Westminster . Oriental rugs are spread over the floor ; Earlom ' s mezzotints of Hogarth ' s " Marriage a la Mode " are hung on the wall ; the stuffed head ot a four-horned sheep , bred in Collier ' s Wood , surmounts a collection of bullet-riddled helmets , gashed fezzes , and bent bayonets from Tel-el-Kebir ; in an adjoining trophy the assegais of Zululand are mingled with the weapons of an Arab sheikh from the wilderness of Judea

, and aNoya Scotia moose keeps watch and ward over an innerdoorto the right , on one side ot which , by an untoward accident of arrangement , Albert Edward , Grand Master of Freemasons , turns his back contemptuously and unfraternally on his great uncle and predecessor , the " first gentleman " of his time . This year no deputation of Welsh bards invades this picturesque vestibule to claim the presence of J . C . Parkinson , " Aman " at the

Eisteddfod Freiniol Genedlaethol . Twelve months since he was busily engaged , as President of the Second Day , in putting the finishing touches to his inaugural address on "The Celtic Genius ; " but the unmistakable preparations you encounter manifestly relate to a voyage across the Atlantic , and tell you that " Aman" will assuredly be missed at Caerwys . Mr . Parkinson has little leisure just now , but he will manage to spare you half an hour ; so you

pass under the moose s heaa , and find yourself in a well-lighted study looking out on the deserted site of Tothill Fields' Prison , where the proposed Catholic cathedral has not yet been commenced . The octagon table near the window is littered with books and papers ; the Daily News , as an old and privileged friend , is allowed to hide John Bright's Speeches and Froude's "Oceana ; " the last summons to the Court of the Needlemakers is concealed by a pile of Newport Dock returns and the statistics of the

Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company ; the red passenger ' s ticket of the Fulda peeps out from amongst a heap of letters and communications from the Royal Literary Fund , the Incorporated Society of Authors , the International Literary and Artistic Association , the general and political Committees of the Reform Club and half a dozen Masonic lodges , all of which have serious claims on the attention of the man who has only just returned from his morning ride , and now rises to welcome you to his workroom .

As you sit down beside him in one of the low roomy easy-chairs ( from the undisputed possession of which Scissors , an old fashioned English spaniel , is tenderly ejected ) your eye first lights on a statuette of W . M . Thackeray , with his hands in his pockets , placed between an olive-wood tobacco-box from Jerusalem and the Lower Boys' pulling-cup which Joseph Parkinson's son has won at Eton . The author of Vanity Fair Iookson the great coloured

bust of Shakespeare ( a facsimile of that on the Stratford tomb ) , which appropriately crowns the bookcase , filled with the best editions of the English classics . In the corner near the door a portrait of Frederick Yates ( once in Paddy Green ' s collection ) finds a place above the picture of ' * Atlas . " Close by you see Julius Mayhew ' s sketch of his brother Horace doing his " last bit of copy " for Punch , and recognise the features of S . B .

Bancroft , Douglas Jerrold , and Peter Cunningham , who has added to the value of his portrait by a brief inscription . You are soon deeply interested in the sketch of the twelve leading writers for Punch ( all of them dead and gone now ) , and the portraits and autographs of Miss Nightingale , Charles Dickens , W . M . Thackeray , and Dr . Doran . Mr . Parkinson fetches his collection of letters for your amusement , and in five minutes you have

forgotton all about Victoria-street and the pressing engagements of your host . You pass rapidly from Hood to Tennyson , Albert Smith to Henry Brougham , and Charles Kingsley to Cha ' rles Mathews ; French art and literature are represented by Gustave Dore and Theophile Gautier ; Harriet Martineau writes despondently both of Disraeli and Gladstone ; Dean

Stanley comes next to Sir Alexander Cockburn , and Wilkie Collins to Ouida ; a reserved ticket for the fight for the championship between King and Heenan irreverently faces an espistle from Cardinal Manning on the subject of the Poor Law Board ; and on the next page Giuseppe Garabaldi writes his thanks to "Mio caro Parkinson . " A water-colour drawing of Mr . Parkinson ' s living-room in his cottage near Grosswardien , six hours'