Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS 223 New Grand Officers 224 The Girls' School F 8 te 236 The ComingGirls * School Festival 226 Supreme Grand Chapter 227 Provincial Grand Chapter o £ Sussex 22 S Consecration of the St . Clair Lodge , 2074 Public Installations 229 C ORRESPONDENCENorthern Counties Lodge 231 An Enquiry 231 Answer to the Continual Masonic Enquiries 231 Printing and Publishing 231
Notes and Queries 231 The Late Bro . Col . Burnaby , 232 REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 23 2 Instruction 233 Royal Arch 233 Mark Masonry 234 Knights Templar 234 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 234 The Boys'School Festival 234 West Lancashire Masonic Charities 234 Masonic and General Tidings 23 J Lodge Meetings for Next Week 236
Ar00100
WE regret to be informed that Bro . HEDGES still wants many Stewards for the Girls' School Festival . We are quite aware of the many drawbacks of these hard-pressed times as regards subscriptions and the like ; but we wish to observe that no Institution seems to call for a larger amount of sympathy , or larger measure of support , than that striking Charity of ours , —the Girls '
School . Admirably arranged , important in its position , and happy in its results , it would appeal to the most generous and sympathetic feelings of English Freemasons ; and we trust that even at this late hour , at the Festival now so near at hand , this admirable Charity of ours may receive that full , warm , and vital support it has so truly merited , and so entirely deserves . # » *
THE appointment of two Masonic lodge historians as Grand Officers the same year is a matter of too great importance to the Craft at large , and an incident too noteworthy in itself , to be passed over unnoticed by us . We congratulate our esteemed Bros . GOLDNEY and BROCKBANK , not only on the Grand Lodge honours which have fallen upon them for their Masonic services ,
but also because we feel the recognition thus offered of the appreciation of our rulers to Masonic writers and students may prove to be of the . highest importance for English Freemasonry . It has been too much the custom in past years to allow the literary movement of Freemasonry to be treated as the mere outcome of a question of supphy and demand . It has been far too hastily assumed , that as there has been a dearth of Masonic writers , so there has been a want of Masonic interest in the literature of our Order , and
no doubt , " prima facie , " such has been the attitude of us all alike in this respect , that the most sagacious of authorities might be deceived , the most experienced of rulers might be led astray . No doubt too in some respects Masonic literature has been at a discount . Whatever be the real causes or the dominant influences which have led to such a state of things , we have not been insensible to the gentle or severer sarcasms of many , that our good
brethren seemed often apparently to opine , that the best developemcnt of artistic tastes , rcsthletic proclivities , and literary culture , consisted in an effective menu card . We have ourselves never quite given into any such popular notion , such , in our view , too common fallacy . Masonic literature , it must be remembered , when our present generation mastered alike its meaning , reality , and effect , was not a little trying , and slightly
vapid . It made an enormous demand alike on our faith , and we fear we must add , —yes , and on our gullibility . It was all treated in one way , directed to one end , and led up to the conclusions of one School , and that not a School either of accurate outcome or scientific treatment . The great learning and wide reading of OLIVER had been engaged for many years in rearing up an edifice , strong and pretentious enough , in good truth ,
magnificent in outward contour and proportion , but radically wrong and intensely unsound , fated to crumble away entirely before the inexorable claims and magic touch of historical truth . Those of us who remember the ponderous and useless learning employed in building up visionary theories and hopeless contentions , that wonderful commingling of strength and weakness , originality , and sheepwalking , fact and fiction , which marked the
the lucubrations of the good old Doctor , will hardly wonder to-day at the distaste for Masonic literature which fell on an earlier generation , and the gradually increasing distrust of Masonic writers which correlatively was educed in the minds of thinking Masons . But since those inchoate efforts and unsatisfactory results , what progress has been achieved , what results brought about ? The labours of Masonic students have been directed to
ascertain , to bring out , to validate the true claims and the rightful character ° f our Masonic annals , and if all is not yet clear or certain , in accord with customary human impatience , how far more clearly we see into the dim remains of the past than we did a generation ago . But we must not assume , a common error by the way , that because some progress has been made we have completed our task , or that we can
Put off our armour because the battle is won ; much remains , and must I'ernain , in doubt and debate . We cannot at once , if ever we can clearly "t the veil from our Masonic Isis , —we cannot at once in a moment clear away the neglect of years , or make all things plain and intelligible to the 'stening and wondering Mason . But much has been done , if much
enjains to be accomplished and therefore it is , we anticipate a much further nd general taste for Masonic literature , the efforts , the theories , the disqui-¦ ions , the theories if you like , of Masonic students . We cannot always J- merel y giving our time and attention to the causes of Masonic ceremonial , however laudable , the enjoyment of the Fourth Degree however
Ar00101
charming and seasonable . We all want to know something , however briefly or epigrammatically , yet lucidly told us of what Freemasonry has been in the ages that have swept away , what it still is to the world in which we live , what it may yet be to future generations of mankind . And
therefore , believing in the progress and vitality of Masonic literature , realizing its happy progress to-day , and regarding its eventual triumphs as many and certain , we rejoice to note that the blue ribbon of our Order has fallen , at the spontaneous and befitting suggestion of our constituted authorities , on two Masonic writers and lodge historians , Bros . GOLDNEY and BROCKBANK
* * * WE notice in an American paper that Bro . ALBERT PIKE , a potent authority , and a well-known if lengthy writer across the Atlantic , has in reference to a meeting of the Royal Order of Scotland , though we do not see the connection , complained of the Freemason as filled with lodge speeches and reports , and as a " vermicular record" of uninteresting subjects
and matters . Well , we do not wish to be censorious , we never seek to make comparisons , but we venture to think that the Freemason will hold its own as a Masonic record , with all its contemporaries be they where and what they may , for what it is , what it professes to be , what it seeks to be . In the first place , let us not forget it is a Masonic journal , and as such must proceed , and can only
proceed , in one groove , and that a narrow one , and a straight one . It cannot diverge , it cannot indulge in "flourishes or follies , " it is bound by certain canons of Masonic law and obedience never to forget that it is a Masonic journal , and is intended really and truly , primarily and mainly for Masons . Each Masonic country and jurisdiction may have , and probably often do retain , peculiar proclivities , sensibilities , sympathies , and tastes . The
situation of English and American Masonry is somewhat different , and cannot well be measured by the same gauge , or satisfied with the same literary wants and outcome . What suits America may not always suit England , and "vice versa , " and what becomes the prevailing taste of English Freemasonry may not be ' . that of American , and , again , as we said just now , " vice versa . " It is idle and harmful to attempt to dogmatize , and
say that one line of thought and treatment must , as regards Masonic culture , equally suit both countries . In England Freemasonry is a very remarkable institution ' m its way ; remarkable , we repeat , for some characteristics in which it certainly at present excels all other jurisdictions , —we mean its charitable efforts , and its peaceful , happy , and harmonious advance . The Freemason in presenting week by week the record of so much that appears to
eitherjocal andephemeral , is only bearing witness to the predominant tastes , temper , and efforts of English Freemasonry . Just now there is in England , though the same feeling just now does not prevail in America , where the temptation to be rather lengthy and verbose is often approved of apparently , a grave dislike of empirical didacts and long-worded address . We are inclined more to judge by results , than anticipations , by active work , rather
than prolix verbiage . Anything in America seems to serve as a peg to hang a long discourse upon , which in England would not be listened to for one moment . The Papal attack , ( of which we have really heard now " ad nauseam , " and of which all that need be said has been properly said by Lord CARNARVON on behalf of English Freemasonry , and duly dealt with in the Freemason ) recondite questions , as to whether a man can be
initiated minus a leg , an arm , or an eye ; wnether any brother may be the tenant of a public-house ; whether ladies can be present at Masonic ceremonies , whethei countless points of arch .-eological curiosity or ingenious quibbleness are sustainable or real , —all these may exercize Masonic journalists in America , but they would not suit the meridian of English Masonry . We are too old fashioned , sedate , and
steady going to be moved by recondites fancies , or swayed to and fro by popular excitement . If such matters , as would seem by Bro . PIKE ' S remarks , should form the staple of Masonic literature , surely he can be satisfied at home without asking us to follow suit . The Freemason has onl y sought to give an impetus alike to Masonic charity and Masonic arch . cology . It can point with pride to the contributions of those able brethren , who have
positively given a new turn to all Masonic studies and theories ; and while it gratefully records the efforts and successes of a MACKEY and a MACOY , a FORT and a STEINBRENNER , C . MCCALLA , and J SIMONS , Bros . CARSON , R , MORRIS , A . PiKE , and many more , it can equally ask for recognition for the invaluable labours and contributions of a LYON , a HUGHAN , a GOULD , and of that numerous band of English students , RYLANDS ,
HAWKINS , SPETH , LUKIS , WIIYTEHEAD , GOLDNEY , BROCKBANK , MASONIC STUDENT , and many more , whose lucubrations have advanced the great cause of Masonic literature , and whose names are well known wherever Masonic literature is valued and approved . Therefore , as " all tastes are respectable , " we must once more affirm that the Freemason ' s dealing with what is before it , what is offered it , the living onward course of English Freemasonry , is perfectly right , reasonable and proper , and that ,
whether the nature of its recurring pages be too trivial or too common place for our good Bro . ALBERT PIKE and others , it can fairly point to one fact , both clear and irresistible , that it has numberless readers at home and abroad , in all hemispheres , among all races , and that at any rate its hebdomadal advent is hailed by many good Masons in the United States , as may be seen in many American contemporaries , whose kind sympathy it ever gratefully acknowledges , and whose friendly commendation it is proud to receive .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS 223 New Grand Officers 224 The Girls' School F 8 te 236 The ComingGirls * School Festival 226 Supreme Grand Chapter 227 Provincial Grand Chapter o £ Sussex 22 S Consecration of the St . Clair Lodge , 2074 Public Installations 229 C ORRESPONDENCENorthern Counties Lodge 231 An Enquiry 231 Answer to the Continual Masonic Enquiries 231 Printing and Publishing 231
Notes and Queries 231 The Late Bro . Col . Burnaby , 232 REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 23 2 Instruction 233 Royal Arch 233 Mark Masonry 234 Knights Templar 234 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 234 The Boys'School Festival 234 West Lancashire Masonic Charities 234 Masonic and General Tidings 23 J Lodge Meetings for Next Week 236
Ar00100
WE regret to be informed that Bro . HEDGES still wants many Stewards for the Girls' School Festival . We are quite aware of the many drawbacks of these hard-pressed times as regards subscriptions and the like ; but we wish to observe that no Institution seems to call for a larger amount of sympathy , or larger measure of support , than that striking Charity of ours , —the Girls '
School . Admirably arranged , important in its position , and happy in its results , it would appeal to the most generous and sympathetic feelings of English Freemasons ; and we trust that even at this late hour , at the Festival now so near at hand , this admirable Charity of ours may receive that full , warm , and vital support it has so truly merited , and so entirely deserves . # » *
THE appointment of two Masonic lodge historians as Grand Officers the same year is a matter of too great importance to the Craft at large , and an incident too noteworthy in itself , to be passed over unnoticed by us . We congratulate our esteemed Bros . GOLDNEY and BROCKBANK , not only on the Grand Lodge honours which have fallen upon them for their Masonic services ,
but also because we feel the recognition thus offered of the appreciation of our rulers to Masonic writers and students may prove to be of the . highest importance for English Freemasonry . It has been too much the custom in past years to allow the literary movement of Freemasonry to be treated as the mere outcome of a question of supphy and demand . It has been far too hastily assumed , that as there has been a dearth of Masonic writers , so there has been a want of Masonic interest in the literature of our Order , and
no doubt , " prima facie , " such has been the attitude of us all alike in this respect , that the most sagacious of authorities might be deceived , the most experienced of rulers might be led astray . No doubt too in some respects Masonic literature has been at a discount . Whatever be the real causes or the dominant influences which have led to such a state of things , we have not been insensible to the gentle or severer sarcasms of many , that our good
brethren seemed often apparently to opine , that the best developemcnt of artistic tastes , rcsthletic proclivities , and literary culture , consisted in an effective menu card . We have ourselves never quite given into any such popular notion , such , in our view , too common fallacy . Masonic literature , it must be remembered , when our present generation mastered alike its meaning , reality , and effect , was not a little trying , and slightly
vapid . It made an enormous demand alike on our faith , and we fear we must add , —yes , and on our gullibility . It was all treated in one way , directed to one end , and led up to the conclusions of one School , and that not a School either of accurate outcome or scientific treatment . The great learning and wide reading of OLIVER had been engaged for many years in rearing up an edifice , strong and pretentious enough , in good truth ,
magnificent in outward contour and proportion , but radically wrong and intensely unsound , fated to crumble away entirely before the inexorable claims and magic touch of historical truth . Those of us who remember the ponderous and useless learning employed in building up visionary theories and hopeless contentions , that wonderful commingling of strength and weakness , originality , and sheepwalking , fact and fiction , which marked the
the lucubrations of the good old Doctor , will hardly wonder to-day at the distaste for Masonic literature which fell on an earlier generation , and the gradually increasing distrust of Masonic writers which correlatively was educed in the minds of thinking Masons . But since those inchoate efforts and unsatisfactory results , what progress has been achieved , what results brought about ? The labours of Masonic students have been directed to
ascertain , to bring out , to validate the true claims and the rightful character ° f our Masonic annals , and if all is not yet clear or certain , in accord with customary human impatience , how far more clearly we see into the dim remains of the past than we did a generation ago . But we must not assume , a common error by the way , that because some progress has been made we have completed our task , or that we can
Put off our armour because the battle is won ; much remains , and must I'ernain , in doubt and debate . We cannot at once , if ever we can clearly "t the veil from our Masonic Isis , —we cannot at once in a moment clear away the neglect of years , or make all things plain and intelligible to the 'stening and wondering Mason . But much has been done , if much
enjains to be accomplished and therefore it is , we anticipate a much further nd general taste for Masonic literature , the efforts , the theories , the disqui-¦ ions , the theories if you like , of Masonic students . We cannot always J- merel y giving our time and attention to the causes of Masonic ceremonial , however laudable , the enjoyment of the Fourth Degree however
Ar00101
charming and seasonable . We all want to know something , however briefly or epigrammatically , yet lucidly told us of what Freemasonry has been in the ages that have swept away , what it still is to the world in which we live , what it may yet be to future generations of mankind . And
therefore , believing in the progress and vitality of Masonic literature , realizing its happy progress to-day , and regarding its eventual triumphs as many and certain , we rejoice to note that the blue ribbon of our Order has fallen , at the spontaneous and befitting suggestion of our constituted authorities , on two Masonic writers and lodge historians , Bros . GOLDNEY and BROCKBANK
* * * WE notice in an American paper that Bro . ALBERT PIKE , a potent authority , and a well-known if lengthy writer across the Atlantic , has in reference to a meeting of the Royal Order of Scotland , though we do not see the connection , complained of the Freemason as filled with lodge speeches and reports , and as a " vermicular record" of uninteresting subjects
and matters . Well , we do not wish to be censorious , we never seek to make comparisons , but we venture to think that the Freemason will hold its own as a Masonic record , with all its contemporaries be they where and what they may , for what it is , what it professes to be , what it seeks to be . In the first place , let us not forget it is a Masonic journal , and as such must proceed , and can only
proceed , in one groove , and that a narrow one , and a straight one . It cannot diverge , it cannot indulge in "flourishes or follies , " it is bound by certain canons of Masonic law and obedience never to forget that it is a Masonic journal , and is intended really and truly , primarily and mainly for Masons . Each Masonic country and jurisdiction may have , and probably often do retain , peculiar proclivities , sensibilities , sympathies , and tastes . The
situation of English and American Masonry is somewhat different , and cannot well be measured by the same gauge , or satisfied with the same literary wants and outcome . What suits America may not always suit England , and "vice versa , " and what becomes the prevailing taste of English Freemasonry may not be ' . that of American , and , again , as we said just now , " vice versa . " It is idle and harmful to attempt to dogmatize , and
say that one line of thought and treatment must , as regards Masonic culture , equally suit both countries . In England Freemasonry is a very remarkable institution ' m its way ; remarkable , we repeat , for some characteristics in which it certainly at present excels all other jurisdictions , —we mean its charitable efforts , and its peaceful , happy , and harmonious advance . The Freemason in presenting week by week the record of so much that appears to
eitherjocal andephemeral , is only bearing witness to the predominant tastes , temper , and efforts of English Freemasonry . Just now there is in England , though the same feeling just now does not prevail in America , where the temptation to be rather lengthy and verbose is often approved of apparently , a grave dislike of empirical didacts and long-worded address . We are inclined more to judge by results , than anticipations , by active work , rather
than prolix verbiage . Anything in America seems to serve as a peg to hang a long discourse upon , which in England would not be listened to for one moment . The Papal attack , ( of which we have really heard now " ad nauseam , " and of which all that need be said has been properly said by Lord CARNARVON on behalf of English Freemasonry , and duly dealt with in the Freemason ) recondite questions , as to whether a man can be
initiated minus a leg , an arm , or an eye ; wnether any brother may be the tenant of a public-house ; whether ladies can be present at Masonic ceremonies , whethei countless points of arch .-eological curiosity or ingenious quibbleness are sustainable or real , —all these may exercize Masonic journalists in America , but they would not suit the meridian of English Masonry . We are too old fashioned , sedate , and
steady going to be moved by recondites fancies , or swayed to and fro by popular excitement . If such matters , as would seem by Bro . PIKE ' S remarks , should form the staple of Masonic literature , surely he can be satisfied at home without asking us to follow suit . The Freemason has onl y sought to give an impetus alike to Masonic charity and Masonic arch . cology . It can point with pride to the contributions of those able brethren , who have
positively given a new turn to all Masonic studies and theories ; and while it gratefully records the efforts and successes of a MACKEY and a MACOY , a FORT and a STEINBRENNER , C . MCCALLA , and J SIMONS , Bros . CARSON , R , MORRIS , A . PiKE , and many more , it can equally ask for recognition for the invaluable labours and contributions of a LYON , a HUGHAN , a GOULD , and of that numerous band of English students , RYLANDS ,
HAWKINS , SPETH , LUKIS , WIIYTEHEAD , GOLDNEY , BROCKBANK , MASONIC STUDENT , and many more , whose lucubrations have advanced the great cause of Masonic literature , and whose names are well known wherever Masonic literature is valued and approved . Therefore , as " all tastes are respectable , " we must once more affirm that the Freemason ' s dealing with what is before it , what is offered it , the living onward course of English Freemasonry , is perfectly right , reasonable and proper , and that ,
whether the nature of its recurring pages be too trivial or too common place for our good Bro . ALBERT PIKE and others , it can fairly point to one fact , both clear and irresistible , that it has numberless readers at home and abroad , in all hemispheres , among all races , and that at any rate its hebdomadal advent is hailed by many good Masons in the United States , as may be seen in many American contemporaries , whose kind sympathy it ever gratefully acknowledges , and whose friendly commendation it is proud to receive .