To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 21 I . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in thc United'Kingdom , Post free , 10 / -

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rales , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Dcmerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , L ' nitcd States of America , eVc . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

COLONIAL AND FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month . NOTICE . —It is very necessary for our friends to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

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TO ADVERTISERS . The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . Fur lerm ** , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

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NOW READY . VOLUME 8 OF THE " FREEMASON , " from January to December , 1875 , bound in cloth , with richly embossed device on cover . Price 15 shillings . This volume forms a first class reference and chronology of the leading events in Masonry during the past year . It may be had through any bookseller , or at thc office , 198 , Fleet-st ., London . NOW READY . Reading Covers , to take 52 numbers of the "Freemason , " price 2 / G , may be had at the oflice , 19 S , Fleetstreet .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Cimimuiiicatious , Adveitiscinents , & c , intended for inseiiioii in the Number of the fcKowing Saturday , must reach the Oflice not later thzr 1 s o ' clock on Wednesday morning .

Ihe following communications stand over : —Consecration of the Hamilton Lodge , No . 1600 ; " A New Idea in Spelling Bees ; " Obituary of Bro . | . Porter . Reports of lodges Faith , 141 ; Lagos , 11 7 , South Africa ; Harmony , 43 8 , Cawnpore ; Chapter Domatie , 177 .

BOOKS RECEIVED . " Constitution General Statutes and Ordinances of the Ancient and Premitive Rite of Masonry ; " " New England Freemason . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . Cd . for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this beading . ] BIRTH . ANTRIM . —The Countess of , at St . James ' s Palace , March 26 th , of a daughter . MARRIAGES .

Krsri : v I : N—FUST . —At Croydon , Mr . William II . Kestcven , M . R . C . S ., of Tuffnell Park-road , to Beatrice , daughter of Mr . Richard Flint , of Croydon , March 28 th . PEII . E—ORCSILL . —At St . Stephen ' s , Ilaverstrck-hill , Mr . Clarence J . Pcile , of the Inner Temple , Barristcr-at-L-ivv , to Lizzie , daughter of Mr . J . J . Orgill , of Roslyn Park , Hampstead , March 30 th .

IRWIN—Lox . —At St . Andrew ' s , Deputy Inspector-General Ahmuty Irwin , R . N ., C . B ., son of the late Very Rev . Arthur Irwin . Dean of Ardfert , to Annie G ., daughter of Colonel J . W . Cox , C . B ., commanding the forces in Jamaica , Feb . 29 th . DEATHS .

WAI . HOI . E , the Hon . Frederick , M . P ., Provincial Grand Master for Norfolk , April ist . PORTEIS . —On the 29 th ult ., Bro . James Porteis , P . G . S . W . Cumberland and Westmorland , after a very short , but severe illness . VINCENT . —On the 3 rd inst ., at Morpeth-terrace ,

Augusta , wife of Sir Francis Vincent , Bart . GOMPERTZ , Emily Ann , wife of Major E . D ., Mysore Commission , at Bangalore , aged 31 , March 19 th . BOYCE , Stanley D ., son of Mr . Mathias , of

Warringtoncresctnt , Maida Valf , aged 12 , March 29 th . ROTHSCHILD , Mr . Sigismund , of Munich , Knight of the Danish Order of Dannebrog , at St . Thomas , West Indies , aged 76 , March 14 th . MERCIEII , Pauline , M ., infant daughter of Mr . Frank , at Canterbury , March 29 th .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , AI * RIL 8 , 1876 .

The Return Of Our Royal Grand Master.

THE RETURN OF OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER .

1 he berapis and herconsorts weighed anchor on the morning of the , 3 rd , and left Alexandria for Malta . The Acting Governor of Gibraltar had received a telegram from Alexandria , announcing that the Prince of Wales would probably be at Gibraltar on the 12 th , and stay a week . He would probably reach Malta late on the Cth , or early on the 6 th .

Profession And Practice.

PROFESSION AND PRACTICE .

T hat it is a " queer world my masters , ' * is a statement as undeniable as it is uncontrovertible , and verified b y countless experiences of human life , day by day , hour by hour . And in nothing is this more plain than in that wonderful inconsistency of humanity which accompanies every step

we take , so to say , from the cradle to the grave . Some have declared that this is the dark side of earthly existence , others have looked upon it as the surest proof of the littleness and frailty of man . For curiously enough , ; . it is , as we all know , the stumbling block of our own little career , bc

we who we may . Many of us start in life with high aspirations , and goodly impulses . If we are weak and wavering , if we are inconsistent and ignorant , as we all are , we yet believe , as every real man does , that we have a mission to fulfil , something to do , something to achieve . It is

often very sad to note how the tendencies of a sybarite luxury or easy self-indulgence , mar a life and paUy emotions , both alike once full of vigour and hope-, but now , alas , cold , withered , dead , buried . It is melancholy , most melancholy , at times to reflect how the progress

of life has falsified expectations and crushed energies , how it has dulled the keen sense of beauty and perfection , left us with a mutilated " fo en " if we may so say , amid countless struggles and hopeless defeats . When , then , we talk of profession and practice , we mean rathei the difference between the one and the other which

is always before our eyes , in everything of life and the world , of men and of mortality . The preacher and the philosopher , the moralist and the mentor , the man of pompous preludes and wise axioms , the man who has a part to play before the world and plays it , the common-place

being , like ourselves , m everything here—all equally afford us the same spectacle of human weakness , and human inconsistency—all alike seem to point to the great broad gulf that ties between profession and practice . And in Freemasonry it is ever the same . We profess

to be brethren , and yet how unbrotherly we often are to one another . We proclaim ourselves members of a philanthropic and fraternal association , and yet to hear us talk of one another , one would suppose sometimes we had not learnt the rudiments of any morality whatever . We

assert that we are lovers of truth , of fair dealing , and of open-hearted sympathy , and yet how unsincere , how treacherou ? , how unkind we sometimes make ourselves out to be . It is indeed only another proof , if proof were required , ofthe grave inconsistency of humanity ever ,

that even those of us wbo most avow our love for our good old Order , and know its formularies , and uphold its benefits and reality , can be the most uncharitable of men at times , not even sparing a brother ' s good fame but even wounding him in the dark with the covert

slander , with the cruel inuendo . Alas let us not dwell too long on the bitterness and the " bassesse " of men , for it is a melancholy picture , it is a humiliating subject in all good truth . But as we are on the subject let us keep before

us ever that not only " humanum est errare , " but that we must ever expect here that mortal man will disport himself in the rays and glitter of his ever self-sufficient pride , forgetful of the fact that " the race is not to the swift nor

Profession And Practice.

the battle to the strong , " and that we cannot expect to be consistent while sojourners on earth for a season , even though we are the best of Masons and have taken every degree that can be taken . And knowing this , let us not feel discouraged , because profession is one thing ,

practice another , because every day tells us that we talk much , we do little , and that though wc profess much we perform less . Amiable inconsistency , habitual weakness of us all , let us not be too severe on others , remembering that we all require the greatest of allowances ourselves .

Cardinal Manning On The Stage.

CARDINAL MANNING ON THE STAGE .

We confess that we deeply regret to have had to read Cardinal Manning ' s recent onslaught on the stage , alluded to by Mr . Bandmann in a letter to the "Times" we published bst week , because , in our humble opinion , it is alike unjustifiable in the abstract , and untrue in the concrete .

This great dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church , in the fulness of his ecclesiastical fervour , " lumps , " as they say , all the theatres together , whether the pleasant Haymarket , or the Penny Gaff " , and pronounces all , in unsparing condemnation , to be " one vast scale of corruption "

( whatever that may mean ) , and exhorts his hearers never on any account to set their foot inside them . Thus the principal officer in the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in England declares tin stage to have an entire evil influence en the morals and manners .. f the age in which we live . If

Cardinal Manning * be correct , the stage , as an institution , is , " ipso facto , " corrupt and corrupting , a moril evil , a real upas tree , and saps and destroys the virtue of all classes amongst us . Despite so great an authority , is the statement true ? We beg to express our opinion to-day that it is not , .

and to protest against so sweeping a charge , and so exaggerated an assertion . It is not a fact , per se , that the stage is or needs be corrupt or demoralizing . We look upon the drama , on the contrary , as a great school , alike of past experience and nresent tastes , temper , and tendencies .

And more than this , not only does it represent as in a clear and comprehensive mirror the greatness and the littleness , the stiength and the weakness , of human nature , the fashions and follies of the hour , the hopes which elevate , and the feelings which adorn , the words which move

us , and the thoughts which burn ; but it is also , whenever it is properly directed and wisely controlled , a school of moral maxims . It sets before us the axiomatic teaching often both of duty and decorum , of right and responsibility , of sense and sympathy , cf taste and truth . Who can ,

then , venture to lay down one inquisitorial decree as against the stage ? From what immaculate and infallible cathedra can any one dare to assert that all the dramas and comedies , the speaking verse , and the living prose which mark the great and classic productions of the stage at home and

abroad , are all offerings to corrupted taste , all dominated by the spirit of ill ? When Cardinal Manning makes such a statement does he believe it himself ? We certainly do not . We think rather , and we think strongly , that society and civilization owe a good deal to the stage after all , both

in England and abroad . For the stage has corrected taste , and vindicated honour , has upheld true sentiment , and ridiculed upstart vulgarity ; it has shown us how truth ever ennobles and virtue ever rewards , how falsehood lowers and vieepunishes , and it has set before us this most

useful of lessons , and of warnings , that human life is really much the same in all generations , and that , " mutatis mutandis , " our vices and our virtues are still equally characteristic of the dead ages as of the livirg present . The stage has no doubt also been always inimical to intolerance , to

ignorance , to the parvenu and the profligate , to the tempter , the hypocrite , and the seducer ; and the stage has been quite right in stamping a mark of moral opprobrium on all that can betray , can stain , can disgrace , can degrade humanity .

But is the stage to be blamed for the excesses of some , for the perversity of others , for a vitiated taste , for individual errors ? " Abusus non tollit usum " is as old as the hills , and as true and lasting . No doubt much of stage literature is