Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS , 535 Supreme Grand Chapter 536 - Consecration of the Greta Chapter , No . 1073 , at Keswick 537 Inauguration of the Province of Bedfordshire 537 Installation of Bros . Lord Jersey and Rev .

H . A . Pickard as P . G . Master and P . G . Sup . of Oxfordshire 540 The New Provincial Grand Superintendent of Oxfordshire 540 Provincial Grand Lodgeof Dorset 540 Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham 541 Provincial Grand Lodge of Leicestershire and Rutland 542

Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Kent 542 District Grand Lodge of Malta 543 CORRESPONDENCEThe Grand Treasurership 545 Notes and Queries 545 REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 546

Instruction 548 Mark Masonry 549 Celebration of the Centenary of the Lodge of Unions , No . 256 549 Thc Stability Lodgeof Instruction , No . 217 550 Obituary 55 o Masonic and General Tidings 551 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 552

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THE Craft in Ireland has sustained a great loss through the death of their respected Grand Master , the Duke of ABERCORN , and Masons everywhere , but especially in this country , will accord them a full measure of heartfelt sympathy . It is but the other day we published the glad news that his Grace had been pronounced well on his way towards recovery from a severe attack

of illness ; but a relapse followed , and our distinguished brother tranquilly breathed his last on Saturday , the 31 st ult ., to the deep and lasting sorrow of his family , his countrymen , and his brother Masons . The part he took in the government of the Grand Lodge of Ireland may not have been a very active one . Men of high rank like him , on whom devolve the weightier

cares of political and social life , seldom have much leisure at their disposal ; nor , indeed , in Freemasonry is it expected of such a chief that he should often take upon himself the personal direction of the bod y he presides over . But his Grace ' s influence was fell everywhere , and it is needless to say that influence was uniformly exercised lo the benefit of the Craft . Moreover , when

time and the cares of office permitted , bis presence in Grand Lodge and at other important Masonic gatherings in Ireland might be reckoned upon with certainty , so that , though it will be easy enough for our Irish brethren to choose from among themselves a man of character and ability to succeed him , it will be difficult to find one so admirably qualified in all respects for

the office of Grand Master . For , in faith , he was "a worthy gentleman " and " wondrous affable , " and so long as Freemasonry in Ireland , as in England , remains what it is and always has been—a Society of men who

"love the Brotherhood , fear Gon , and honour the King "—so long will the sterling virtues and beneficent sway of our late brother , J AMES , first Duke of ABERCORN , Grand Master of Ireland , remain enshrined in the memory of all good men and brethren .

* * * OUR Bedfordshire brethren are to be congratulated on the success of last week ' s ceremony . There was a large gathering in the Assembly Rooms , Bedford , where R . W . Bro . Col . Stuart , P . G . S . W . of England , was installed the first actual—though it appears he is not the first

titular—Grand Master of the Province , and the proceedings throughout were marked by a genuine enthusiasm which was worthy of the occasion , and from which we have good reason to augur most favourably as to the future of the newly-created province . Enthusiasm , however , is apt to grow cold when the circumstances which worked it have passed away , and it is

something to feel that , as regards the number of its lodges and the good will of their members , Bedfordshire has in itself the wherewith to maintain its position without trusting too confidently to the possibilities of the future . It starts with five lodges distributed among as many of its principal towns , and as we have lately had occasion to point out—in 1 S 52 when the late

Bro . Sir W . Williams-Wynn , Bart ., was installed P . G . M . of North Wales and Shropshire , there were but four lodges in the whole of that large extent of country . Moreover , the five Bedfordshire Lodges are not of yesterday ' s growth . The youngest of them—No . 1470—has already completed an existence of 12 years , and its members , therefore , must be well versed both

m the precepts and practice of Freemasonry . Its senior lodge , the Bedfordshire of St . John the Baptist , No . 475 , Luton , dates from the year 1841 ; the Stuait Lodge , No . 540 , Bedford , from 1847 ; the St . Andrews , No . S 03 , Bi ggleswade , from 1859 ; the Beaudesert , No . 1087 , Leighton Buzzard , from 1865 ; and the Chiltern , No . 1470 , Dunstable , from 1873 . Thus all the

lod ges on its roll are experienced in the teachings and procedure of the Craft , and with that greater sense of responsibility and confidence which a provincial organisation is certain to give , we may now look forward to a move in the direction of greater earnestness and activity . We shall probabl y hear a good deal about the Province of Bedfordshire both in the immediate and more remote future , and we do not doubt that what we

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shall hear will be to its credit . One assertion we venture to make without fear of contradiction , to wit , that it could not have been started under a better man than Col . Stuart , who is a Mason of long and varied experience , and who in the whole of his career has done what lay in his power to promote the welfare of the Craft .

* # * THE GRAND SECRETARY , in one of his speeches at the banquet which followed the installation of Bro . Colonel STUART as Provincial Grand Master of Bedfordshire , mentioned as a curious circumstance that very many years ago the titular dignity of Provincial Grand Master of Bedfordshire had

been held by two brethren , one being a Bro . WILLIAM GILL , who , in 1799 and following years , figured as such in the books of Grand Lodge , and the other , Bro . ANDREW DENIS O'KELLY , who held the office from 1 S 12 till his death in 1 S 20 . There were , however , no lodges in Bedfordshire at the periods named , and consequently the rank conferred upon those worthy

brethren can have been honorary only , involving none of those cares and responsibilities which are now-a-days attached to the Grand Mastership of a province . Why these particular brethren should have been thus honoured does not appear . It may have been because they were associated with the county of Bedfordshire ; or possibly it may have occurred to the Grand

Lodge authorities that if a Provincial Grand Master were appointed , a Provincial Grand Lodge would follow , and that a Provincial Grand Lodge having found its way into existence , a number of private lodges would be established in different parts of the count } ' . But whatever ma } ' have been the particular idea which led to the bestowal of this distinction on Bros .

GILL and O'KELLY , thc grant of patents , or deputations , to distinguished brethren to act as Provincial Grand Masters does not appear to have been governed by any kind of system ; nor does the existence of lodges in the particular district or county with which thc title was connected appear to have been a condition precedent of the creation of the dignity . We

mentioned only the other day that the earliest deputation as Provincial Grand Master was granted to Bro . HUGH WARBURTON for North Wales in 1727 , while the earliest lodge of which we have found any trace in that portion of the principality dales from 1743 . If we accept PRESTON as our guide , we must assume that the bestowal of this honour on WARBURTON for North

Wales in 1727 , and on Sir EDWARD MANSELL for South Wales the year following , had its origin in a certain union alleged to have taken place in the Grand Mastership of Lord INCHIWUIN , on the part of the "brethren of Wales , " with the " Grand Lodge in London . " If so , it would seem only reasonable to infer that the Grand Master , finding the spread of

Masonry in counties remote from the seat of government becoming ever more and more extensive , considered it both wise and expedient to create certain offices , the holders of which , by having entrusted to them thc exercise of some of his preroga ives , should be the better able to maintain and strengthen the interests of the Craft . Nor must we lose sight of the fact that , at this

early period of the history of our Grand Lodge—that is , temp . INCHIUUIN , both before and after—a belief prevailed—whether well or ill-founded is not material to the issue—that there were many Masons scaltered throughout the country , brethren travelling about , survivors of those of whom we hear in the pages of PLOT and ASHMOLE , and so lorth . This being so , it would

follow that a Grand Master , who was heart and soul in his work , would be desirous of setting up some sort of local authority in districts where it was known or supposed that brethren were distributed about , and hence in these cases we have cited , and in others perhaps also , we may in some measure account for the reversal of the ordinary course of procedure by the

appointment of rulers before there were any lodges for them to rule . Anyhow , it is not surprising that in the earlier days of our Grand Lodge , when once it had been resolved to appoint Provincial Grand Masters , the oflice should have been regarded in the light of a personal distinction , bestowed without any reference to the locality with which it was nominally associated .

Or , it maybe , it was conferred from a sense of the gratitude that would be shown thereafter by the recipients of the honour . One thing seems clear , namely , that the office of Provincial Grand Master , in the days more

immediately following its institution , involved no more serious responsibility than that of accepting an additional amount of dignity in the Craft . If it entailed any work at all , it was the work of a pioneer rather than of a ruler of organised bodies of Masons .

* # * IT is most creditable to our Pennsylvanian brethren lhat the Home established in Philadelphia a year since , for the reception of indigent Masons of their

jurisdiction , should already have made such sterling progress . The Report of the Committee of Finance shows that during the first year of its existence there have been received towards the support of this Charity some 14 , 434 dols . (¦ £ 288 7 about ) , while the expenses amounted to 3616 dols . ( £ 723 ) . The