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NOTICE .

Many complaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring the Freemason , in the West-end , the publisher begs to append the following list , being a selected few of the appointed agents : — Black , H . J ., 47 , Great Quccn-strcet .

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To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / . Brethren in foreign parts , wishing to have this newspaper sent them regularly from th : oflice of publication , should , in sending their remittances , add te . the 2 d . per week the postage on aoz .

newspapers . The Freemason may be procured through any newsagent in the United Kingdom by giving ( if needed ) the publisher ' s address , 198 , Flect-st . All communications , correspondence , reports , & c , must be addressed to the Editor . Advertisements , change in address , complaints of difficulties in procuring Freemason , & c , to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-st ., London , E . C .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts o ( the Globe , its advantages as nn advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

A letter awaits " L . of L ., " at the oflice of this paper , which will be forwarded on receipt of address . A letter from Bro . J . W . Faulk ner unavoidably stands over .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , AUG . 7 , 187 < .

The Burdett Coutts Lodge.

THE BURDETT COUTTS LODGE .

The proceedings at this interesting reunion , " which we give in another column , will , we think , be very gratifying to all our readers . For not only do we as Freemasons gratefully acknowledge the kindness evinced to our Order by that estimable and benevolent lady who was

present on the occasion , but we think the tone of the proceedings was most thoroughly in accordance with the spirit of Freemasonry from first to last . Lady Burdett Coutts called attention we are glad to perceive , to the open Bible in the lodge , her own kindly gift . We are always

pleased to point to the fact , that English Freemasons still preserve in their lodges , and still revere in their minds , thc Best of Books The address of the lodge was , we think , both in good taste , and entirely Masonic in expression and utterance , and equally do we feel bound to

commend Lady Burdett Coutts ' s reply , and trust that this friendly interest of hers in the Burdett Coutts Lodge may continue unabated on her part . Under thc energetic presidency of Bro . Terry , and aided by the zealous assistance of the Stewards , the gathering appears to have been a

great success . and despite lachrymose complaints and petty jeremiades at such revolutionary proceedings , we congratulate the brethren of the Burdett Coutts Lodge on the fair assembly which responded to their invitations , and smiled on their pleasant hospitality . Such occasions as this , and certain great and high days of our

Order are , we venture to repeat , most suitable occasions , when we can properly invite and approvingly hail the presence of our fair sisters amongst us . Such days may be fairly called our Masonic lied Letter Days , when woman ' s kindness may animate , and woman ' s grace may delight , and when the monotony of our custo-

The Burdett Coutts Lodge.

mary assemblies may be advantageously varied by the introduction of that most potent charm of earthly life , the influence and personality of the ladies . Amid those mysteries of dress which puzzle us " outsiders , " lords of the creation though we call ourselves , amid the genial and

enlivening flow of female conversation , which is often most prolonged and animated , amid those charms of bright eyes and waving locks , and warm hearts , and unselfish wills , by which woman so attracts and impresses our often harsh and doubting sex , we can well fancy how this successful gathering pleasantly passed oftj and

has left many vivid memories behind it . We wish that all success may attend on the Burdett Coutts Lodge , and that this assembly of Craft Masons will not be the last which will unite their benevolent patroness with them , in mutual feelings of truly Masonic esteem , respect , and good-will .

Masonic Eloquence.

MASONIC ELOQUENCE .

We called attention some time back to " afterdinner speeches , " and we feel it to be our duty to-day to enlarge on the subject of Masonic Eloquence generally . It is , as Bro . Binckes said at the Chaucer Meeting , a " very wide subject , " when speaking of the admission of ladies to the

Boys Anniversary . We accept his words today , as exactly descriptive of the matter on which we are now treating . If we are to believe Mr . Heckethorn and numerous other profane " ansers , " whose cackling may be constantly heard , and in respect too of subjects of which

they are utterly ignorant , Freemasonry just now has neither literature nor writers , speeches nor speakers , utility nor mission at all . Pace , however , Mr . Heckethorn , and all the " vulgus profanum , " we are prepared to contend , as we contended before , that Masonic Eloquence has

increased greatly latterly amongst us , and is every now and then of very high " calibre , " and for the most part" above the mark , " that is to say , above the average eloquence of the British public . It is true that every now and then some erratic speaker lands himself and us in a dreadful

" corner " or " hole , and boggles out of his illtimed words with the greatest clumsiness , and the worst possible grace . It is a fact that here and there you may still have to listen to lugubrious specimens of that turgid nonsense , of that " high falutin " which seemed at one time to be

the necessary accompaniment of Masonic meetings , and the unvarying characteristic of Masouic oratory . Men are still men j Freemasons are yet human j and to suppose that simply because they are Freemasons , they are not likely to be betrayed into frailties , or to display inanities , or

to commit a " betise , is neither reasonable , nor is it even the way of the world . For if there be one thing the longest experience of time would teach us all , it is this , that we all of us need , and all of us should make , many allowances here for the inevitable foibles , the uncontrollable "

niaiseries " of our race . That all Freemasons talk sense we do not aver ; that no Freemason ever talks nonsense we do not say ; but this we do affirm , that in our opinion latterly the eloquence of Masonry has been marked by careful abstinence from its ancient besetting faults , " tall

talk , " empty phrases , and wearisome repetitions . And we think that we note a decided improvement in the character of Masonic orations and addresses , and even of the dinner speeches generally . Some of us who are now " getting on in

. years , " and remember old meetings and old friends , can vividly summon up before us to-day the old fashioned speakers with their stereotyped formularies of Masonic eloquence at ancient gatherings . Their history was shaky , their

chronology was defective , their views of Freemasonry proper hazy in the extreme . You were taken back to Noah , and Nimrod , to Babylon and Bacchus , to Grecian mysteries , to Egyptian pyramids , to the Druids , as a matter of course , with an amount of confidence which was somewhat

startling , and a calmness of assertion which left no doubt or reply possible . We were told that Freemasonry was ancient , and social , and benevolent , undeniable truths , and that it possessed great and invaluable privileges , and that we were all "jolly good fellows , " and that we were a

Masonic Eloquence.

loyal , a moral , and a friendly Order . Such was the address we heard over and over again , with no variation , made up moreover of a little of Anderson , of a touch of Hutchinson , more of Preston , and a good deal of Oliver . Now we do not deny that there may be , and there most

probably is , a substratum of truth in all these claims and asseverations , more or less , but boldly spoken they do not commend themselves to the fair criticism of the outer world , or even of the Masonic student . Surel y we have changed for the better . Masonic

investigation has opened the chained-up gates of Masonic Archaeology , has stirred the dust of centuries , has put Dryasdusts and Fabulists to flight , and has offered to our Order a critical and a reasonable account of our organization . We say nothing here of those great rhapsodical utterances

which are termed , " proposing the ladies * , " as we prefer dealing with what is real and prosaic even , rather thanwithwhat is purelysentimental . Masonic eloquence has become , we think , more natural , more reliable , and more accurate , and generally more intellectual , since the days of its old

hyperbole are over , and what may not unfairly be called " Masonic swagger" charmeth us no more . But after all is said and done , the orator like the poet , " nascitur non . fit . " Masonic eloquence to be truly effective must come from the intellect as well as from the understanding , from a

knowledge of the subject , as well as from an " artificial memory . " We may make up a speech , we may string together facts and statistics , we may indulge in Masonic glorification and familiar commonplace , but unless the spirit of eloquence be there , it falls at once into the ruck of ordinary and

factitious speaking so prevalent amongst us . It is given to few , we may however well rejnember here , " the applause of listening senates to command , " and it is the lot of very few indeed of the more gifted of our species to attract attention and to retain interest . So long as we can boast

amongst our Order one or two really eloquent orators we should be quite content . They are in truth " rarae aves in terris , " and perhaps it as well that they should be so . Too many eloquent speeches would make some of us become like Simeon Stylites , or an Eremite in the loneliest

wilderness . If then our average Masonic eloquence is as a rule above the mark , —above , that is , the common level of the great river of human verbosity , —if it keeps equally at a distance from politics and religion , from hopeless vapidity and "bottled moonshine , " if it be fair and reasoning ,

calm and courteous in tone , true and tolerant in assertion , if it seeks to allure and to attract instead of dogmatizing , and denouncing , wc may rejoice to think that our lot is cast in these days when we are not forced to listen to reiterated absurdities , or to " didactic twaddle . " A clever

speaker once said , that the " truest eloquence is that , which is contained in the fewest if most forcible words . " And many of us will remember how in " auld lang syne , " some of the " doctors" of our " Israel" alike charmed us and warmed us up , alike encouraged and directed us , with words sparkling like brilliants , and with

scintillations fresh from the anvil of genius . Their speeches were neither too long nor too short , neither too learned nor too sentimental , but memory lingers by them yet , as delivered in all the pure simplicity of our Anglo-Saxon vernacular , with all of heartfelt admiration , saying to us gratefully , if regretfully " Adveniant utinam sic mihi scepe dies . "

The Floods In France.

THE FLOODS IN FRANCE .

The report of its two delegates , Mr . John Furley and Captain Kennick , has been received by the Executive Committee formed in the City of London for the relief of the distress caused by the recent inundation in the South of France , and which committee is , as most of our readers

know , presided over by our worthy and benevolent Bro . the Lord Mayor . Most sad is the report . They say that they have travelled over 800 miles of country , and the following is their

description of what they have themselves witnessed . Although the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Bordeaux bore evidence oi having been more or less inundated , they observed no traces of exceptional damage until they