Contents.

CONTENTS .

LlADERS 277 United Grand Lodge 277 Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons ... 279 Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire 280 Provincial Grand Chapter of Northumberland 281 Review 281

C ORRESPONDENCERenumbering of Lodges ... 283 Provincial Kalcndars 283 Royal Order of Scotland 283 The Office of Provincial Grand Treasurers 283 Notes and Queries 283

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 28 4 Instruction 285 Royal Arch 283 Mark Masonry 285 Red Cross of Constantine _ . S < Athletic Sports' Fund , R . M . I , for

Hoys-June , 1884 28 S Grand Lodge of Scotland 2 S 6 Masonic Female Orphan School , Dublin 286 Obituarv 286 The Craft Abroad 286 Masonic and General Tidings 287 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 288

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THE Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge took place on Wednesday last , the Earl of LIMERICK being in the chair . There was a very large attendance of brethren considering the numerous attractions elsewhere . The recognition of Grand Lodge of South Australia was carried nem . con . The election for the various Boards took place , and some new blood was added

to those important bodies , no doubt wisely and seasonably , though in the process , as often happens , the Craft loses the experienced services of one or two faithful servants . The vote of a thousand pounds for the Boys' School was carried by a large majority . Both the appeals were dismissed . Grand Lodge was not closed until after ten o'clock .

WHAT the value and benefit of Freemasonry are to the world in which we live , who of us can rightly estimate or truly tell ? Many writers , friendly and hostile , have puzzled themselves and their readers with seeking to answer the question , which appears to them to be a paradox truly , why

rreemasonry flourishes , and progresses , and expands among men ? why it receives the sympathies , and wins the trust of the cultured , the learned , the scholar and the sage , the man of the world , the student recluse , all at the same time ? It maybe its social amenity ; it may be its cultivated toleration ; it may be its intense humanitarianism ; it may be its enduring friendships ;

it may even be its ceaseless witness to the inestimable rights of private judgment and the sanctity of the individual conscience and opinions . Whichever of these causes , or whether they all combine to constitute the charm , the ' * raison de ctre , '' the outcome , the " factor " of Freemasonry proper to-day we cannot pretend to say , for we do not assume to know ;

but we are sure of this , that Freemasonry has some potent influences , some vital and vitalizing power so to please , so to affect , so to gain the good opinion of successive generations . There have been times , indeed , when it has been secretly maligned or openly persecuted . There have been epochs when assumed authority sought to ban it , and foolish tyranny

desired to crush it . Nay , there have been seasons in its annals , some not so long removed from our own period and generation , when a huge Satanic lie was gratuitously propagated by the weak , the credulous , and the fanatic , lo hinder its progress , to disorganize its forces , and to stamp it out and crush out its very lite and reality , as before men . And yet here is

Freemasonry before our eyes to-day , healthier , stronger , and more numerous that ever . Indeed , its little weaknesses and aberrations , ( for we all have little weaknesses and aberrations here ) , only serve to bring out its robust constitution , its " mens san in corpora sano " clearer and fuller to the view . . \' e see other things and institutions fading and crumbling before our own

eyes ; Freemasonry passes by them all , survives them all . Whence , then , we repeat , is the secret of its perpetual youth , its staying power ? We believe that it is to be found in its social , friendly , and sympathetic adaptation to the best feelings of our hearts , and the truest and kindliest sentiments of our nature . We see that it is genial , we know that it is refining ; we have

proved it to be elevating , and we are convinced that it is utilitarian , beneficial , and beneficent . What more do we want ? What else need we care for ? What matter to us the absurd opposition of the ignorant , the sarcasms of the antagonistic , or even the curses of " false prophets ? " We

feel sure that it will outlive all these things , laugh down and contemn all this utter foolishness and preverseness of men , and will prove in the future , as in the present and the past of its history , of utility , of reality , of blessing to our entire race .

A NOTE elsewhere tells us a piece of good news for Masonic Students . Bro . ¦ ' IKDEL is proposing to publish a new work on Masonic bibliography , 't is to be nearly complete in its enumeration of Masonic books from 1858 to

188 5 , and contains 2741 numbers . We do not quite see why our excellent " •" o . FINDEL leaves out the intervening period between 18 44 . and 1855 . Indeed , we are rather inclined to think that Bro . FINDEL ' S best policy would nave been , and have increased materially the value of his work , had he rc * edited an edition of KLOSS , correcting some few trivial errors , introduc-

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ing some omissions , and giving a complete bibliography of Masonic literature from 1717 up to date . But we have no doubt Bro . FINDEL ' S book will be warmly received as a great help to Masonic Students . * * *

OUR worthy Bro . CAMA will shortly be installed as W . M . of a new lodge , the Cama Lodge , to be consecrated by our distinguished Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , Bart ., Provincial Grand Master for Middlesex . We wish Bro . CAMA all health and happiness in his important office ; few brethren have merited more thanks and respect at the hands of English Masons .

* * * WE fully endorse the kindly and sympathetic remarks on our late worthy and respected Bro . Dr . HENRY HOPKINS , which Bro . W . J . HUGHAN , one of his most intimate friends , has forwarded to us , and which appear elsewhere in our columns . From whatever point of view we regard the character of the

deceased , whether as a member of our ancient Fraternity , and one of its ablest and most scholarly exponents , as a genial upholder of the sacred rites of hospitality , or merely as a private individual steeped to the very heart's core with a most unselfish love for his fellows , whatever their estate or calling , in each and every of them we find that Dr . HOPKINS nobly and persistently

essayed to do his duty . That his efforts were in a very great degree successful , we have in evidence the unanimous opinion of his numerous friends and acquaintances , not the least valued of whom was the brother to whom we are indebted for the brief sketch we are now publishing of his Masonic career . Of that career we shall say nothing further here than that it is

given to few men to have figured so prominently in three separate and distinct centres of Masonry—Jersey , Warwickshire , and Somersetshire—and in each case to have attracted towards himself so much genuine sympathy and respect as our late Bro . Dr . HOPKINS , and we are certain the Craft generally , but especially the brethren in the districts we have specified , will read with unfeigned sorrow that henceforth his place will know him no more .

* # * THE Half-yearly Report of the General Board of Mark Grand Lodge , except in one particular , is most satisfactory . Not only does it show the rapid , yet safe , progress this popular branch of Masonry has been latterly making—a fact like this must be so patent to every one that we ought

almost to apologise for referring to it—but it demonstrates likewise the still more important position , that this progress is substantial as well as numerical . The interior arrangements of Grand Lodge are manifestly well and carefully conducted ; its finances are sound , and its Benevolent Fund of greater strength , and doing more important work than ever . It is true that the

Board have to lament the loss , through the failure of their bankers , of a very appreciable sum , amounting to several hundreds of pounds sterling . But the effect of this—which is the one drawback already referred to from our general feeling of satisfaction—can only be transitory in the case of a body

which has an increasing income and an invested capital of over £ 6000 , and we should not be doing them justice if we did not congratulate the executive of the Mark Grand Lodge on the wisdom and soundness of the principles on which they have administered its affairs and the consequent success of their administration .

United Grand Lodge Of England.

UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

The Ouarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and " Accepted Masons of England was held on Wednesday evening , in the Temple . The Earl of Limerick , Prov . Grand Master for Bristol , presided , in the unavoidable absence of the M . W . G . M . Sir Francis Burdett , Prov . Grand Master Middlesex , acted as Deputy Grand Master ; and Bro . Samuel Rawson , Past District Grand Master of China , as Past Grand Master . The Marquis of Hertford , G . S . W ., and Col . Sackville West , G . J . ., were in their respective chairs . Among the other brethren

present were Bros . Rev . G . R . Portal , G . Chap . ; Rev . R . N . Sanderson , G . Chap . ; J . Woodall , G , Treas F . A . Philbrick , G . Reg . ; Thos . Fenn , President Board of General Purposes ; Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . ; E . E . Wendt , G . Sec . G . C ; Dr . Alfred Meadows , G . S . D . ; F . H . Goldney , G . J . D . ; Sir A . Woods , G . D . C . ; Major L . Harding , Assist . G . D . C ; Butler Wilkins , G . Std . Br . ; G . P . Brockbank , G . S . B . ; E . M . Lott . G , Org H . GarrodG . P . ; A . LuckingA . G . P . ; Hugh D . Sandeman , P . D . G . M .

. ; , , Bengal ; W . Kelly , P . P . G . M . Leicestershire ; Rev . H . Adair Pickard , P . G . Chap . ; Rev ? Dr . J . E . Cox , P . G . Chap . ; Rev . C . W . Spencer Stanhope , P . G . Chap . ; Rev . R . I . Simpson , P . G . Chap . ; Horace B . Marshall , P . G . Treas . ; H . Dumas , P . G . D . ; Raynham W . Stewart , P . G . D . ; F . Richardson , P . G . D . ; R . Grey , P . G . D . ; Baron de Ferrieres , M . P ., P . G . D . ; J . H . Scott , P . G . D . ; J . A . Rucker , P . G . D . ; Dr . Ralph Gooding , P . G . D . ; R . Costa , P . G . D . ; R . F . Gould , P . G . D . ; Dr . Jabez \

Hogg , P . G . D . ; J . M . Case , P . G . D . ; T . H . Devonshire , _<_ . u . ; Captain Nathaniel George Philips , P . G . D . ; F . Davison , P . G . D . ; J . Lewis Thomas , F . S . A ., P . A . G . D . C . ; Magnus Ohren , P . A . G . D . C ; H . G . Buss , P . A . G . Sec . ; Col . J . Peters , P . G . S . B . ; George Lambert , P . G . S . B . ; J oshua Nunn , P . G . S . B . ; Chas . Greenwood , P . G . S . B . ; W . Metcalfe , P . G . S . B . ; J . H . Matthews , P . G . St . Br . ; Raymond H . Thrupp , P . A . G . D . C . ; Edgar Bowyer , P . G . St . Br . ; Jas . Brette , P . G . P . ; andC . A . Cottebrune , P . G . P .