Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

¦ PAGE MASONIC HISTORIANS , NO . I . —Bro . Findel ... 61 OBITUARY—Bro . William White 61 MASONIC TRIALS 62 and 63 UNIFORMITY OF WORKING AND

RITUALPreliminary Meeting 63 THE CRAFTMetropolitan 63 and 64 Provincial ... ... ... ... ... 64 R OYAL

ARCHMetropolitan 64 GRAND CHAPTER OF ENGLAND 65 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 65 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 66 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 66

FREEMASONRY IN CANADA 66 and 67 MULTUM IN PARVO 67 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCEUniformity of Ritual ... 67 Hiram Abif 68

Festival of the Benevolent Institution 6 S Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... ... 68 Was Henry Price ever appointed Prov . G . M . of America ? 6 S and 69 OUR EXCHANGES 69 THE CANADIAN DIFFICULTY 69 and 70

Masonic Historians.—No. I.

MASONIC HISTORIANS . —No . I .

Bro . FINDEL . BY WILLIAM J AMES HUGHAN . ( Continued from page 25 ., )

We promised in our last communication to refer to a few errors that have crept into Brother Findel ' s "History of Freemasonry . "

Certainly not so pleasant a task as recounting its many excellencies . We know , however , that the author will pay more heed to our hurried corrections than to our commendations , as the former will be of more

real value to him . Bro . Findel , in reviewing the records of the "Ancients" from 1756 to 1762 , says " They had no Grand Master of noble birth . . . but at length in 1772 the Duke of

Athol became their Grand Master" ( p . 174 ) . The following list of Grand Masters of the seceding Grand Lodge will exhibit the fact that noblemen were connected with that body long before 1772 : —

Robert Turner A . D . 1753 . Edward Vaughan A . D . 1755 . Earl of Blessington A . D . 1757 . Earl of Kelly A . D . 1761 . The Hon . T . Matthew ... A . D . 1767 .

The 3 rd Duke of Athol ... A . D . 1772 * The 4 th Duke of Athol ... A . D . 1775 . Earl of Antrim A . D . 1782 . The 4 th Duke of Athol ... A . D . 1791 . H . R . H . Duke of Kent ... A . D . 1813 .

No doubt our brother has been misled by Brother Preston in his "Illustrations of Masonry , " who declares that the "Ancients

after the secession , continued to hold their meetings without acknowledging a superior till 1772 . " It seems strange that this mistake has been continued in the valuable

work edited by Bro . the Rev . Dr . George Oliver , yet so it is . In another part of the " History " some of the above-named Grand Masters are enumerated , so after all the mistake is virtually corrected .

At page 168 , the author seems in doubt respecting the constitution granted to the Lodge of Antiquity by the "Grand Lodge of all England held at York . " It was granted ; and by virtue of such , the Lodge

of Antiquity was constituted the " Grand Lodge of England South of the Trent , " and actually issued warrants to lodges to work underits authority . The celebrated " manifesto " of the Lodge of Antiquity , of which

we have a copy , was issued in 1778 , and a most interesting production it is . It mainly consists of a recognition of the priority or superiority of the claims of the Grand Lodge of All England at York , and an epitome of

Masonic Historians.—No. I.

the supposed injustice done to the lodge by the "nominal Grand Lodge in London , constituted a Grand Lodge pro tempore 1717 . " Authorities are quoted extensively in confirmation of the ancient privileges of this time-immemorial lodge .

We observe that Bro . Findel falls into the same error that we did respecting the records of St Mary ' s Chapel Lodge , Edinburgh , and the year A . D . 1600 . At page 113 of the History it is stated that "Thomas Boswell ,

Esquire , of Auchinleek , was chosen as Warden of the lodge in 1600 . " We presume this record is given on the authority of Brother Laurie , the Grand Secretary of Scotland , which we also quoted in the Freemasons

Magazine some little time ago , and about which Brother David Murray Lyon wrote to the following effect , in the same paper , on Sept . 11 , 1869 : "We shall not further anticipate the ' History of the Lodge of

Edinburgh ' ( Mary ' s Chapel ) now in course of preparation , " !* than to say that the minutes of this famous lodge do not afford ground for the assertion to which we have taken

exception . BoswelPs name appears only in one sederunt of the lodge ' s meetings ; and the minutes of that particular meeting show that he was not the Warden of the Lodge . In the course of his remarks anent the

minutes of the old Houghfoot Lodge , to which the respected Prov . G . Sec . of Peebleshire has very properly directed attention , our friend Bro . Hughan quotes the version of Boswell's connexion with the

Lodge of Edinburgh , as given by Laurie ; but it is no fault of his that the statement is incorrect . Like Bro . Findel , and others , he has in this instance been misled by a mis-quotation . " We have been

careful to give this antlwritativc correction in order to remind our readers that the earliest instance of a non-professional architect or builder holding office in a Scotch Masonic Lodge , according to Bro . Lvon , is that of

John , Earl of Cassillus , Deacon of the Mother Lodge Kilwinning , A . D . 1672 . In England we have no record preserved of officers' appointments of anything like so early a date as the one just given .

As Bro . Findel is now preparing a third German edition of his valuable history , no doubt the misquotation will be put straight . Bro . Findel says that it was not until 1865 that the " Sloane MS ., No . 3329 , was

discovered , and that by the author in the British Museum , " page 48 . In the Masonic Press ( page 183 , A . D . 1866 , ) the well-known Mason , Bro . Matthew Cooke observes that this MS . was alluded to in the

Enclyclopojdia Metropolitana twenty-four years ago , and that he had transcribed it several times . That being the case , Bro . Findel is not entitled to the claim of having discovered

this MS ., as it was evidently familiar to one of the best authorities on English Masonic MSS . many years anterior to the publication of the work now under consideration .

We do not know of any authority for the statements that "Five lodges would not accede to or sign " the Constitution of A . D . 1723 . The assertion is quite new to us , and certainly somewhat startling , so early

to occur after the revival of Freemasonry . We must take exception to some of the writer ' sremarks concerning Masonic Knights Templar and Royal Arch Masonry , e . g . " the Order of Knights Templars , revived as

playthings for great children about 1780 , " ( page 170 . ) In the Royal Arch degree , " the unprejudiced observer cannot discover the true principles of Freemasonry , either in their primitive purity or comprehensive fulness , " ( page 183 . )

Masonic Historians.—No. I.

Although we do not intend to enter on the discussion of these matters now , we are quite prepared to give weighty reasons for our objections to Bro . Findel's views as enumerated above , as also to his support of

the German lodges founded in the United States in opposition to the American Grand Lodges . We are strongly in favour

of exclusive Grand Lodge Jurisdiction , and entirely disagree with Bro . Findel and the "German Masonic Union , " in promoting the reverse .

We are sorry to find several important works issued this century unacknowledged , and many of less consequence referred to . Of course this arises from the extensive character of the work , and not from any

want of will on the part of the author to chronicle the progress of Masonic literature . The Masonic Biblography of England and the United States require to be written with as much accuracy as the German

department . Few English Masonic historians are noticed , and rarely do we notice a familiar American author in its pages . Certainly the large Masonic library , published by the " Masonic Publishing Company , " New

York , containing works like the " Masonic Cyclopaedia , " by Bro . Robert Macay ; the " History of Royal Arch Masonry , " by Bro . J . L . Gould ; and the " Early History of Freemasonry , " by Bro . G . W . Steinbrenner , well deserve notice and commendation .

There is also Bro . Brennan s excellent translation of Bro . Rebold ' s History of the Order , a work which deserves the support of the Craft universal . We forbear quoting more names , sufficient that we think this

department the weakest , and therefore most susceptible of improvement in the next edition . The great want of the work is a copious

index . The present is an improvement on the first , but is still very far from being what we would like to see offered as an index to the capital " History of Freemasonry" by our friend , Bro . Findel .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . WILLIAM WHITE , 31 ° A short but severe illness has deprived the Craft at krg 1 , and the Province of West

Yorkshire in particular , of Bro . William White , the well-known publisher of Borough and County Directories and Gazetteers , who died at his residence , Collegiate-crescent , Sheffield , on Saturday the 22 nd ult .

Up to the time of his death , Bro . White took an active part in the affairs of the Craft in Sheffield , being Secretary and Treasurer of two lodges , one encampment , and the Rose Croix Chapter , and was looked upon by the brethren as being one of the most energetic and zealous

Masons in the province . None took a livelier or greater interest in the prosperity of its various charities—he being a Life-Governor of the whole . He was P . M . of the Britannia Lodge , No . 139 ; P . Z . of the Chapter of Paradise , No . 139 ; and P . P . G . D . C . of West Yorkshire . He was the founder of the Mark Lodge , No . 53 , of the

Talbot Rose Croix Chapter , and the De Furnival Encampment of Knights Templar , and a G . I . I . Commander of the 31 st degree . He was also a member of the British Archaeological Association , and of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland , and a leading member of the Sheffield Architectural and Archaeological Society .

He was interred on Wednesday , the 26 th ult , in the quiet and secluded church-yard at Fulwood , when upwards of-40 brethren ( including the W . M . 's of 139 , 296 , and 1239 , and many P . M . 's and P . Z . ' s ) , paid the last sad

tribute of respect to departed merit , by following the remains of their much lamented brother to their last earthly resting-place . Bro . White leaves a wife and four young children to lament their sad bereavement ,