Contents.

CONTENTS .

LIADIRS 6 S ; United Grand Lodge of England 686 Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire 687 Provincial Grand Chapter of Gloucestershire 6 S 8 Provincial Grand Chapter of Oxfordshire ... 688 Provincial Grand of 68

Chapter Surrey 9 Grand Lodue of Mark Masters 6 S 9 Annual Festival of the High Cross Lodge of Instruction , No . 754 691 The Late Bro . R . W . H . Giddy , 33 6 gr The Ritual and Ceremonial of Symbolical Degrees in Freemasonry , 1813-1886 691 India ( 191 China 691

CORRESPONDENCEGrand Lodge and Provincial Honours ... 693 Sartor Resartos—The Clothed Unclothed 6 93 The Grand Treasurership ( 193 Admission into Lodges of Instruction ... 693 The Queen's Jubilee 693 REPORT * OF MA ' . MIC MEETINGSiv . n . ni . ... 1 'i . ouniu ... Ba .... u——

, Craft Masonry 6 93 Instruction 096 Roval Arch 690 Mark Masonry 696 Rosicrucin . i Society of England 697 Ancient and Accepted Rite 697 Scotland <) 97 Masonic and General Tidings 698 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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THE report we publish elsewhere of Wednesday s proceedings GrandLodg e . in Grand Lodge contains full particulars of everything of importance that passed , and there are one or two matters we have thought it desirable to make the subject ol special comment further on . But we cannot refrain from expressing our satisfaction at the extremely

good sense exhibited by Bro . RAYNHAM W . STEWART , P . G . D ., in postponing his motion about the £ 1000 contribution to the Imperial Institute . Postponement is the first step towards withdrawal , and when the latter has taken place , everybody—including probably Bro . STEWART himself—will be delighted .

• * * .,,.., IT may bB rank heresy in us to suggest that some of the President of the _ J ., , ' . , . ,. , 1 j -ui Board GRAND MASTER s appointments to high and responsible of Benevolence . office ; n Grand Lodge are more generally acceptable than

others . But the statement is true , nevertheless , as is shown by his selection of Bro . ROBERT GREY , P . G . D ., for the post of President of the Board of Benevolence under the new arrangements . There are many good men in our ranks on whom the appointment might well have been conferred , but we venture to say that none of them so nearly realises our conception of

what the occupant of a delicate and important office like that of President of the Board of Benevolence should be as Bro . GREY . We do not say this with any idea of flattering him to the disparagement of others , nor do we base our opinion so much on the number and character of the positions he has filled in the course of his Masonic career , as on the happy

combination of qualities he has exhibited in his various relations with our Masonic Institutions , but especially in his capacity of Patron of the Girls' School and member of its House Committee . We congratulate the GRAND MASTER on his wise choice of this brother for the newly-created Grand Office , and the Craft and Bro . GREY himself on its having been made .

„ . ,. Two candidates for the election in March next to the office of Nominations ... . , for Grand Grand Treasurer for the ensuing year were nominated on Treasurer . Wednesday , namely , Bro . A . F . GODSON , M . P ., D . P . G . M .,

Worcestershire , to whose merits , on the announcement ol his intended canditure some time ago , we have already had the pleasure of testifying ; and Bro . RICHARD EVE , a P . Prov . G . S . Warden of Hants and the Isle of Wight . Bro . EVE ' S record is one of which any brother might justly be proud . He has been a Mason for upwards of 31 years and is a P . M . of 25

years' standing , having been installed VV . M . of Guy ' s Lodge , No . 395 , Leamington , in i 860 . He is also a member of , and has had a hand in founding several lodges and other Masonic bodies , and is a P . Z . in the R . A , Degree , a P . G . Overseer of Mark Grand Lodge , a Knight Templar , & c , & c , But his most arduous services have been rendered in behalf ol our

Institutions , for which he has served as many as 25 Stewardships , and of each of which he has qualified as Vice-Patron . From this brief summary of his career it will be manifest that Bro . EVE has many claims on the consideration of members of Grand Lodge , and , that in him Bro . GODSON will have a not unworthy competitor . • *

Mark Grand " ^ ^ P of l *\ e General Board the Mark Grand Lodge Lodge , for the past half-year , which was presented at the Winter Communication on Tuesday , was in all respects satisfactory . We have perhaps seen more advancements and new warrants recorded j but even Grand Lodges cannot always bt : going ahead by leaps and bounds ,

and "Slow and Sure " will be found an excellent principle to observe in Masonry as in other Societies . Moreover , the financial statement , which is the true criterion of prosperity , shows soundness , and creates a certain indifference to the mere question of members . There are also sundry other matters to which attention may reasonably be drawn . One is , that it has been resolved to contribute £ 5 annually towards the clothing of each child

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elected on the Educational Fund . Another is that the Festival of the year , though less productive by some ^ 200 than that of 1885 , was ample for all the purposes of the Benevolent Fund . Lastly , it has been wisely resolved that this Fund shall have a Secretary all to itself , to look after its affairs , and Bro . C . F . MATIER has been appointed to the office . Considering the

progress of the Mark Benevolent Fund , and how enormously thc Degree itself has increased of late years , some such an arrangement as this was bound to be adopted sooner or later , and we are glad it has come now rather than later ,, because there is greater need , as there is likewise greater scope , for the services of such enthusiastic members of the Degree as Bros , BINCKES , G . S ., and MATIER .

* # * IT is to be regretted that no process has yet been discovered Committee by which three such unusually strong candidates as Bros ' R . M . I . G . PHILBRICK . G . Reg ., FENN , President of Board of General Purposes , and Alderman SAVORY could have been elected to fill the two

vacancies on the House Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls . But the immortal COCKER has taught us—and taught us truly—that three into two won ' t go , and the result is that Bro . Alderman SAVORY must bide his time for a further and better opportunity of satisfying his most laudable ambition to play the part of a House Committeeman to our senior

Charity . The three rivals in the honourable contest of Thursday , the 25 th ult ., possessed equal ability and will to serve the interests of the School , but Bro . Alderman SAVORY is comparatively a young Mason , and the seniority , larger experience , and higher rank of Bros . PHILBRICK and FENN as

Masons undoubtedly turned the scale in their favour . However , to have been honourably defeated by two such competitors is as much a feather in Bro . SAVORY ' S cap as would have been a victory over others of inferior calibre , and , as we have said before , our solitary regret is that it was im * possible for all three of them to be returned .

* * * THE old adage about self-praise being no recommendation Freemasonry , , , , , , rr .. . in does not always hold good . The speakers at the meeting the Cambridgeshire . other day of lhe ProvinciaI Grand Lodge of Cambridgeshire

and at the banquet which followed the proceedings were fully justified in praising the work done during the past few years by the province of which they were and are the leading representative brethren ; that is to say , in praising the work of which themselves had done the largest share . It is an indubitable fact that less than 10 years ago Cambridgeshire rarely , if ever ,

put in an appearance at any of our great Masonic Anniversaries , while , as regards its doings , it might have been located at the North Pole or in the heart of Africa for aught we were permitted to know of them . But with younger and stronger spirits to guide it , the province has latterly exhibited a far healthier tone . If we compare its present services with those of other

provinces of about the same numerical strength , we shall find it has just cause for its recent indulgence in the iluxury of a little self-praise . It has indeed done more than could in reason have been expected of it , and , as a result , it occupies a higher position among the supporters of our Institutions than would naturally be assigned to it on the mere score of numbers .

Moreover , we now hear a good deal about its proceedings , and therefore have frequent opportunities of testifying to the excellent spirit which prevails among the brethren . The change is most creditable , and , as our report of last week shows , those who have had the largest share in bringing it about

are , of necessity , the most gratified . Henceforth we may reckon on Cambridgeshire , wilh its extended roll of six lodges—as against the four of two or three years since—as being one of the staunches ! of the several constituent parts of our English Masonic system .

• • • Mr Cotter WE arC mUCh obl ! S ed to Mr- R- H ' COTTER , to whose silly ' on exhibition of vulgarity we had occasion to refer a week Freemasonry . of tWQ ^^ 0 f his continued abuse of Freemasonry in the

correspondence columns of an Irish newspaper—as much obliged to him for the abuse as we arc surprised that the editor of any reputable journal should assist in the publication of such scurrilous twaddle . His violent tirade against our Society will do more good than harm ; while the lists of

Peers , members of the House of Commons , and Clergy who are Masons , which he has been at the pains of compiling from the pages of the Freemason , will prove extremely valuable for purposes of reference , and often save us and our coadjutors great loss of time .