The Boys' School Festival.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL .

ALL anxiety as to the issue of the 91 st Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys has now been set at rest . The celebration was held at the Alexandra Palace on Wednesday , and though very little in the way of commendation can be said as to the arrangements at the banquet , the result , as

announced by Bro . BlNCKES , was most gratifying , and the Craft will learn with unalloyed satisfaction that the Board of Stewards was 335 strong , and that the total raised was £ 13 , 182 18 s ., with

24 lists still to be accounted for . It is possible , and indeed most probable , that but for the difficult circumstances in which the Institution has been placed during the last few months , the Returns would have amounted to a still more considerable sum .

Many Stewards found the brethren they canvassed unwilling to contribute in the face of the Report of the Committee of Inquiry , and while there was so much uncertainty as to the course which mig ht be taken by the General Court and Committee . But the

total of the subscriptions and donations shows that the Stewards must have worked not only very hard , but also , in spite of their difficulties , very successfully , and the School authorities will respect their labours the more , both because of the . unusual circumstances in which their canvass was conducted , and because

the School exchequer was m woeful need of replenishment in consequence of the smallness of last year ' s total . Bro . BlNCKES , too , who was chiefly instrumental in bringing together so numerous and hard-working a Board , must have felt more than satisfied with . his part in a campaign which has ended so beneficially ,

and so likewise must Bro . EVE , Past G . Treasurer , who pluckily gave his services as Chairman , when a Chairman could not be found , and presided very effectively . As to the distribution of the Returns , we must refer our readers to the accounts we

publish elsewhere in our columns . But , speaking generally , the honours appear to have been pretty evenly divided between town and country . The Chairman ' s list was over £ 120 , while the 153 Stewards from London raised £ 65 80 15 s . 6 d ., and the 181 Stewards from the Provinces £ 6 4 81 7 s . 6 d ., the grand total being , as we have raid , £ 13 , 182 18 s . A ^_ ... ¦

Festival Of The Mark Benevolent Fund.

FESTIVAL OF THE MARK BENEVOLENT FUND .

OUR three great Anniversary Festivals have now been "eld for the year 188 9 , but there is a fourth event of a similar character yet to come , which , though it appeals to the benevolent sympathies of a somewhat smaller section of

•| he Masonic body , and is on that account of less importance , las nevertheless assumed very considerable proportions during he last few years . Twenty years ago when the first Festival ° the Mark Benevolent Fund was held at the Mitre Hotel .

lampton Court , under the presidency of the late Bro . Canon p ° 'V'' then Grand Mark Master Mason , with a Board of 1 Ve Stewards , and a Return of subscriptions and donations ^ mounting to a fraction over £ g -7 , very few brethren could

. | - anticipated that it would have occupied so large a place 11 the Masonic history of the year . Now the Board , instead consisting of only a few individual brethren , regularly n 1 ers some 150 Unattached and representative Stewards ,

: to subscriptions , instead ot being within £ 100 , range up and have even exceeded £ 2000 . In those days , however , au Masonry was itself only a lesser organisation with a

sim ' l- 1 ° ^ owm & ° f lodges and a roll of members on a Pro ' p m ° derate scale . Now it musters some 400 lodges , with Q v . ~ - Lod ges at home and District G . Lodges abroad . Its of W ster ^ none other than his Royal Highness the Prince t ] l 0 AI ' ) and its registered members are reckoned by the in t « ro ' . ' Moreover , the Benevolent Fund , which was founded

Edu ¦•¦ •' sub"divided into three branches—the Benevolent , the iicoes - f 01131 ' * tlie Annuit y > tne r ' rst or which grants relief to a 7 chM 1 Us ^ * k Masons , while the second clothes and educates I a "d tl /?'•—r 4 k ° y s and x 3 g ' ' s—at an annual outlay of £ 400 , I le third has five annuitants on its books , for whose benefit

Festival Of The Mark Benevolent Fund.

£ 155 a year is disbursed . Lastly , Mark Grand Lodge has taken on a lease of 49 years that portion of the premises belonging to United Grand Lodge , which heretofore has been known , firstly , as BACON ' S , and subsequently as Freemasons' Hotel , at a yearly rental of £ 3 60 , so that the Mark Degree , with

its experienced rulers and admirable organisation is now , as it were , a power in the Masonic world , officially unrecognised , it is true , by the constitutional bodies , but supported and encouraged by its most enlightened and energetic members . The change , therefore , that has taken place in the character , though not in

the purpose , of the Mark Benevolent Festival since the late Canon PORTAL presided at the first of the series , is not altogether surprising . It may not , as we have said , been anticipated , but it has come nevertheless , at first somewhat gradually , but in the last few years , and especially since 1885 , with a great rush .

This year ' s Anniversary will be held at Freemasons' Tavern , on Wednesday , the 24 th inst ., under the presidency of Bro . Sir LIONEL E . DARELL , Bart ., the J . G . Warden of the year . There are already about 140 brethren who have volunteered their services as' Stewards , and there , is still time for this number to be

increased . Moreover , it is most desirable that it should be increased , for Mark Masonry with its enhanced position has taken upon itself far heavier responsibilities . Its Benevolent Fund has invested moneys amounting for the three branches to

£ 8100 , but the Educational Branch is now spending £ 400 a year , while its income is a little short of £ 90 ; the Annuity Branch spends £ 155 , with an income of not quite £ 100 ; while the Benevolent Branch granted relief to Mark brethren and widows

to the extent of £ 135 during the half year to 31 st March last , as set forth in the Report of the General Board , which was presented at the Half-yearly Communication of Mark Grand Lodge on the 4 th June last . We trust , therefore , that our Mark brethren will bestir themselves , so that the Returns at the

approaching Anniversary may be worthy of the Mark system in its present and more exalted position , and , at the same time , equal to the increased and increasing requirements of the Fund . The Chairman , who is deservedly popular , will exert himself to

the utmost , so that his advocacy may equal , it it does not surpass , that of his more immediate predecessors , and we may be sure the Board of Stewards will assist him loyally , that they may share in the triumph they will have helped to secure . «

Masonic Archæology.

MASONIC ARCH ? OLOGY .

IT has long been deemed a settled point in Masonic history that the existence of Symbolical or Speculative Masonry in England cannot be carried back , by authentic evidence , any farther than 16 4 6 , or , in other words , to the initiation of ELIAS ASHMOLE , the herald and antiquary , in that

year . But we are now told by Bro . GOULD , in his recent Commentary on the Regius MS ., that about the year 1400 " there was a guild , or fraternity , commemorating the science , but without practising the art of Masonry . " This weighty declaration is canvassed by Bros . HUGHAN and YARKER in our last issue , and

by Bro . G . W . SPETH in the present one . No speculation of greater interest and importance to the literati ' of the Craft could well have been thrown out for their consideration , and the hope

may , therefore , be expressed that the value of Bro . GOULD ' recent Commentary , as a solid contribution to our existing Masonic knowledge , will not be wholly without effect in augmenting the fund which is being raised on his behalf .

Masonic Reprints Of Quatuor Coronati, No. 2076.

MASONIC REPRINTS OF QUATUOR CORONATI , No . 2076 .

Bro . Hughan has reviewed the above in a most kindly sj . irit in your columns , and has proved his sincerity by not a few strictures . Some of these chiefly affect me as Editor , and others ,.

the Committee on Reprints , of which I am a member . Yelstrange to say—I agree with our critic . Parts I . and III . should follow each other ; and if , as is probable , we should ever reprint Anderson ' s 173 8 Constitutions , it was obviouslv premature to