The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

less complimentary proposition which was moved by Bro . Joseph Smith , and was to the effect that a retiring pension of £ 60 per annum out of the Male Fund be awarded to Bro . Secretary ; but it was unanimously resolved by way of amendment that , as Bro . Farnfield ' s services gave satisfaction to the

Committee , it was not desirable to make any such alteration at present . So far , indeed , were the Committee from looking favourably upon such a proposition , that in less than a year the increased salary of , £ 50 a year from the Widows' Fund was unhesitatingly voted Bro . Farnfield .

In January , 1 S 61 , Viscount Holmesdale , M . P ., Prov . G . M . Kent , presided at the second Annual Festival , when the subscription realised £ 2982 is ., with five out of the 90 Stewards' lists still to be returned . As a consequence , at the Annual Meeting in May , the numbers on the books of the Institution were raised to 78 males and 45 females . However , progress was not uniformly the order of the day , for when the Earl de Grey and Ripon

presided in 1 S 62 , the returns amounted to only £ 1986 4 s ., and the numbers of Annuitants on both Funds remained stationary till 1 S 63 . Meanwhile , other questions arose which deserve some attention , as , for instance , that formulated by Bro . R . W . Jenkins , P . G ; D . C , as to the amount that would purchase a nomination to either fund during the lifetime of the nominor . The question was thus submitted : —

1 . By the Constitution of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons and Widows is there power , in consideration of a sum of money to be at once paid , to grant a party during life the privilege of nominating one person on each establishment , subject , of course , to all existing- Regulations , so as always to have a

nominee receiving the benefits of the Institution , Male and Female , during the life of the nominor ? 2 . What sum would be required to acquire such a privilege ? 3 . If you should be of opinion that no such power could , under the existing Laws , be ' excrcised , what measures would be necessary for acquiring the same ?

The matter was referred to a Sub-Committee consisting of Bro . J . S . S . Hopwood , John L . Evans , E . Cox , J . Udall , and Col . J . R . Western , by whom the question was most carefully and elaborately considered , even to the extent of determining the basis on which the power of purchase should be calculated , and Bro . Hopwood gave notice of a motion for the Annual

Meeting in May , 1 S 62 , to the effect that "the privilege of nominating one person for the benefits of this Institution , in each or either Fund , be granted to such person or persons as may pay an adequate consideration for the same , during the life of the nominator . " However , the notice was withdrawn , and consequently no decision was arrived at . The other question ,

which was also referred to a Sub-Committee , related to the duties and emoluments of the Collector of the Institution , that officer ' s duties never having been defined with anything like clearness . The subject was most thoroughly investigated , and the results arrived at have , in their main features , formed the basis of the arrangements which have since been made

in calculating the remuneration payable to this officer . It was not , however , till after the subject had been referred back 'for the purpose of examining into the course followed by the Girls' and Boys' Schools that the Sub-Committee ' s Report was approved , and this approval was not forthcoming till January , 1 S 64 .

There arc likewise sundry other matters which posscssa certain degree of interest , and may therefore be briefly noticed as well here as in the order of their occurrence . For example , on one occasion a question arose as to what constituted a London and what a Country brother , and the Committee settled that the difference must be determined by the place of his initiation ; that is

if ho had been initiated in a London lodge , he was a London brother , but if in a Country one , a Country brother , no account being taken of his momentary place of residence . Then in 1864 a letter was received from the Lodge of Unanimity and Sincerity , No . 261 , Taunton , which as far back as 183 7 had voted £ 50 towards the Asylum , requesting that the number of its votes

should be increased from ten to twenty , on the ground thatas four votes were given for every £ 10 , and " so on in proportion , " twenty votes must be a just quid pro quo in the case of a donation of , £ 50 . It also requested that the \ V . Master at the lime should be placed on the list of Vice-Presidents . However , the Committee did not see its way to acceding to cither request , though

at a subsequent revision of the Rules it was decided , and the decision is still in force , that the W . Master for the time being of a lodge presenting the amount staled should take rank among the Vice-Presidents . In the course of the same year , a former inmate of the Asylum having become a lunatic was sent to Colncy Hatch , the cost of his maintenance at which asylum was

defrayed by the Hackney Union , and application was made to the Committee of the Institution that the Annuity should be paid to the parochial authorities of Hackney to reimburse them their outlay . However ,- the Committee were professionally advised by Bro . R . H . Giraudthat the parish had no claim upon the Institution , as the Annuity in question was paid out of

funds voluntarily subscribed for the personal benefit of Aged Freemasons and their Widows , and not to relieve the poor rates . In August , 1868 , it is minuted that the Secretary had been applied to by a Winchester brother for a return of the amounts paid to the Institution by each Province in England and Wales and by the London district—stating whether to the Male or

l'emale bund—during the preceding year , and the number of Annuitants hailing from each Province , so that he might bring the subject of the Masonic Charities before his Provincial Grand Lodge at its next meeting . The Secretary courteously declined to furnish the information requested , and the Committee endorsed his refusal . In June , 1870 , we have the repetition of a mistake which had already once occurred at the election of Annuitants .

An error was discovered in the return of the votes polled for one of the candidates , who would otherwise have been elected on the Fund . As the names of the successful candidates had already been advertised , the brother was forthwith placed on the roll of Annuitants , but whether this course was adopted owing to the lateness of the discovery or to the very vigorous protest which a different mode of meeting the previous similar difficulty , as

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

already described , had evoked from Bro . John Savage , wc have no means of ascertaining . In February , IS . -, Bro . J . C . Parkinson gave the Secretary notice of his intention to move a resolution to the effect that brethren who had contributed £ 100 to the funds of the Institution should be designated " Vice-Patrons , " and receive certain privileges , Bro . Parkinson's object

being to assimilate this to the other Charities . Here , however , a difficulty —happily not insuperable—presented itself . It was clearly impossible there could be . 1 body of brethren styled IVtc-Patrons , unless there were a Patron or Patrons , and the then Grand Master , the Marquis of Ripon , was requested to use his influence with the Prince of Wales , M . W . P . G . M ., and , if possible , induce His Royal Highness to accept the oflice of Patron . The Grand

Master ' s influence was successfully exercised , and the Prince , very graciously acquiescing in the desire of the Committee , became Patron of the Charity . The way was thus cleared for the institution of Vice-Patrons , and those entitled to the designation took rank accordingly . In 18 S 3 , a further change was made , the Prince of Wales being dubbed Grand Patron , and donors of 200 guineas and upwards Patrons , the style and title , with all attendant privileges , of Vice-Patron and Vice-President respectively being still retained .

In February , 1874 , a number of brethren constituted a Committee for the purpose of establishing a fund to perpetuate the memory of a Bro . John Thomas , who had taken a deep interest in the Benevolent Institution ; and Bro . H . C . Overall , as Honorary Secretary of the said Committee , wrote informing Bro . Terry that it had been determined the memorial ' should take

the form of xVunuitics to an aged Freemason and the Widow of a Freemason , the recipients to be called the " Thomas Annuitants ; " and he wished to know if , in the event of the Committee being able to to carry out their intention , the Institution would become Trustees of the fund raised . In reply to a request for further information , Bro . Overall gave an outline of the proposed

scheme , which was that the Annuity—if the funds allowed of only one—should be allotted to an unsuccessful Candidate , preference to be given in the first instance to the brother from the South Metropolitan district who had polled the largest number of votes , and then to a brother from Herefordshire , the late Bro . Thomas ' s native count }" , but if there were no such Candidates on the

list , then to the highest unsuccessful Candidate . If enough money were raised to provide two Annuities , the second was to be assigned to an unsuccessful Widow , subject to the same conditions . The matter was referred to a Sub-Committee consisting of Bros . Major Creaton , Giraud , and Raj'nhani W . Stewart , who , after conferring with Bro . Overall , arranged that the fund

should be applicable to Male Candidates only , the amount of the Annuity not to exceed £ 10 ; or , if more than that sum were raised , the surplus , but not in excess of £ 10 , was to be allocated under the like conditions to the unsuccessful candidate next in order of votes on the poll , and so on , till the whole of the annual proceeds was exhausted . Unfortunately , the

scheme never got beyond the very earliest stage—that of proposition—and little else remains to commemorate the virtues of Bro . Thomas beyond the record in the Minute Books of the Benevolent Institution of the scheme which was submitted , and the conference that followed . A better fate befel

the more recent proposal to establish a memorial in honour of the late Bro . John Hervey , who , as a Past Grand Deacon , and still more during his eleven years' tenure of the office of Grand Secretary , rendered such signal services to the Cralt . ( To be continued . )

Modern Rosicrucianism.

MODERN ROSICRUCIANISM .

What may have been the real history of the Rosicrucian Society of t . ha sixteenth and seventeenth centuries no one can now tell . Whether the fables of Andreas had any grain of truth at the bottom of them , or whether Kobertus de Fluctibus , Cornelius Agrippa , and all the rest of the wondrously named sages of the era were really learned savants or merely harmless monomaniacs , are problems that will most likely never be solved , and we

are inclined to say of the conundrums in their puzzling books , and of the very society itself—we give it up . But if we arc ignorant of the objects of the mythical order of the past , we are at any rate at no loss to discover the history and objects of the present Rosicrucian Society of England , which numbers amongst its members some of the hardest workers in the ranks of our Masonic literary brethren . Founded within a period of some 25 years

for the purpose of encouraging the pursuit of Masonic Archaeological investigation , the Rosicrucian Society seems to have held its own , and in some quarters to have extended its influence to a very considerable extent . There are not many " colleges , " as they are termed , of the Order in existence , but those that are working have gathered amongst their numbers most of the intelligent Masons in their respective districts .

We have been led to make these remarks by the announcement made in our columns a fortnight ago of the intention of the Vork College of Rosicrucians to hold a Masonic conversazione and exhibition at York on the 20 th inst . The members of that college have seized the opportunity of their annual gathering at York to arrange for a loan collection of all kinds of Masonic curiosities to . be on view in that ancient Masonic centre . Old

warrants , diplomas , certificates , jewels , medals , engravings , seals , and objects of interest of all descriptions associated with all branches of _ Freemasonry will be on view , and we understand that promises of contributions have been received from most of the known collectors of Masonic rarities throughout England . A descriptive catalogue will be printed in advance , so that each visitor will be able to make an intelligent examination of the collection ; and

although the conversazione is being organised by the York College of Rosicrucians , any Master Mason can be admitted by ticket of invitation . We have no doubt that this project will prove very successful , and that a most pleasant and intelligent gathering will be the result . Brethren who possess Masonic curiosities of any kind which they may think worthy of being exhibited should at once communicate with Bro . T . B . Whytehead , of York , and furnish him with a description of the articles .