Ad00605

To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

Foreign And Colonial Agents.

Foreign and Colonial Agents .

AMERICA : Era J . FLETCHER BRENNAN , 114 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . „ Messrs . WOODRUFF & B LOCIIER , Little Rock , Arkansas , U . S . CANADA : Messrs . D EVRIE & SON , Ottawa . CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ; Bro . GEORGE BRITTAIN , Cape Town . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Colombo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Br . J . L . HANLY , Levant Times . EAST INDIES :

Allahabad : Messrs . WYMAN BROS . Bombay : Bro . M . B . COHEN . Byculla : Bro . GEO . BE : \ SE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . JORDAN . Kurrachee : Bro . G . C . BRAYSON . Madras : Mr . CALEB FOSTER . Mlww : Bro . COWASJEE NUSSERWANJEE . Poona : Bro . W . WELLIS . GALATA : IPSICK KHAN , Pcrche-Bajar . LIBERIA : Bro . HENRY D . BROWN , Monrovia . PARIS : M . D ECIIEVAUX-DU . MESNIL , Rue de Harlaydu-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Neuf ; Editor Le

Franc-WEST INDIES : Jamaica : Bro . J A . D . SOUZA , Falmouth . Trinidad : Bros . S . CARTER and J LEWIS , 3 , Abercrombie-street , Port of Spain ; and Bro . W . A . KERNAIIAN , San Fernando . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in England , Ireland , and Scotland .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

- ^ DEA TIIS . BLAIR . —On 4 th July , R . W . Bro . Stephen Blair , Prov . G . Master lor East Lancashire , aged 66 years . FOURDRINIER . —On the 2 nd inst ., at 4 , Hill-street , Peckham , S . E ., Bro . Paul Fourdrinier , P . M . No . 1 S 3 , and of No , 1113 , only surviving issue of Bro . John Coles Fourdrinier , P . G . Steward , P . M . Antiquity , antl of

Nos . 183 , 201 , 384 , 755 and 1113 , P . P . G . W . North Wales and Salop . HISCOCKS . —On the 29 th June , Jane , the wife of Bro . Bedford Zachariah Hiscocks , P . M . Lodge 429 , Ramsgate . LYON . —On 2 nd July , suddenly , at 140 , Tachbrookstreet , Pimlico , Bro . John W . Lyon , P . M , and Secretary of Robert Burns Lodge , No , 25 , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All communications for THE FREEMASON should be written legibl y , on one sitle of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current number must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in Very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence .

A WARWICKSHIRE BROTHER . —WC are not surprised at your writing again . As wc wrote the sentence it read thus , but we presume tlie reader must have fallen asleep over it : — " In every age the 'Saccrdos , ' or Priest , has ever been distinguished by the spotless purity of his

raiment—thus , the Druids wore white flowing robes ; the Jewish High Priests were habited in ' coats' and ' mitres of fine linen ; ' and the modem surplice is but the same garb adapted to the tastes of a later generation . "

T . P ., M . D . —The head-dress is thus described in Robson ' s Knighthood : — " The cap worn by tlie Grand Master is made after the Macedonian fashion ; it is one span in height , made of crimson velvet , lined witli white satin , the four sides turned up , and on each side the monogram X P is embroidered in gold ; the cap is likewise adorned with a black ostrich ' s feather . Tlie Grand Crosses wore a similar cap of blue satin , and a

white ostrich ' s feather . In time of war , or when they foughtforthe faith , " accordingtothesameauthority , " the Knights wore a surcoat over their usual armour ; it was of white stuff in the form of a scapulary ; and in the centre the cross of the order , embroidered in red . " A . \ Illustrious Brother in Norway is thanked for his suggestion , which shall receive our best attention . The fact mentioned has been duly noticed in THE FRFEMASO . V ,

PROV . G . SEC—We have no desire to speak ill of the wretched man , but really it reminds us of the anecdote of the witness who said , ' * It I was a chicken , and that nigger was about ; why this chicken would roost high , that ' s all "

Ar00602

The Freemason , SATURDAY , J 9 , 1 S 70 .

Ar00607

THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON is Twopence perwecU ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 s . Subscriptions payable in advance . A . 11 communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the EDITOR 2 , 3 , and 4 , Little Britain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

The Lesson Of A Life.

THE LESSON OF A LIFE .

MUCH has already been said , and well said , upon the death of him whose departure from amongst us has left a blank in English literature which will scarcely be filled

for generations to come , but we feel it a duty not only to ourselves , but to our Masonic readers , to place upon record our

deliberate conviction that in Charles Dickens the world has lost one of the brightest exemplars of true Masonic principles . We are aware that the deceased author was not a

Freemason—that is to say , he had never been initiated , passed , and raised in the ancient degrees of the Fraternity ; but it is none the less a fact , that his whole life was

employed in the fulfilment of those great duties which are peculiarly enjoined by the precepts of the Craft . We find in Dickens that exalted love for

humanity which manifests itself in unceasing labour for the good of the human race . We find in him—for the man yet lives in the imperishable creations of his

brainthat sympathy for the poor , the weak and the oppressed , which is one of the guiding impulses of noble natures ; a sympathy which is developed by actual experience of

the infinite cares and sorrows of life , and especially of those which are inseparable from the struggle for existence in a land where competition is fierce , and the very

right to live is contested . No one , perhaps , had studied more profoundly the life of great cities than Dickens , and certainly no one has painted more

vividly its tribulations , its consolations , its joys , and its miseries . In him wc have no fanciful delineator of human woes , no sentimental traveller weeping over imaginary

griefs ; but a man who feels with and for his kind , and whose generous heart beats in response to every human emotion . In the present age , when the tendency of

many works of fiction is demoralising and degrading , the value of a pure writer , whose exquisite conceptions command popular applause without pandering to popular

tastes , can hardly be over-estimated . Like the heroic band in the Pass of Thermopylae , the genius of such a man maintains the battle of truth , almost single-handed

against the swarming legions of error and vice . Nor is the combat so unequal in the end , because the works of a truly great man live after him , and become a heritage and

a joy for succeeding ages . Dickens entered the literary arena with ungloved hands , and dealt ready and rapid blows at the vulnerable points of our social system ; but his aims were high , his designs supremely noble ,

The Lesson Of A Life.

and his whole heart Overflowed with kindness and goodwill for all . Truly he has peopled the world of imagination with

figures that we feel to be our own flesh and blood—shapes that are not all unsubstantial , but seem to live and move in an

atmosphere of reality . It is this vraiscmblance that gives such a charm and a power to his productions—every scene seems familiar , and every character assumes the aspect of an old friend .

Other writers have possessed this faculty , and others may have evinced a wider range of thought , but none have dedicated their gifts so freely , purely , and delightfully to

the service of their fellows than the great novelist , whose decease is now mourned by every civilised people on the face of the globe .

Our Masonic contemporaries , the Monde Maconnique of Paris , and the Landmark of New York may he cited as instances ofthe deep and universal sorrow for Charles

Dickens' death . A biographical sketch appears in the former , in which a just tribute is rendered to the memory of the great dead by M . Sainte-Anne , who speaks of Dickens

as " this marvellous spirit , whose only enemies were ever ignorance , tyranny and superstition , and these enemies he hated with a good and vigorous abhorrence . "

The Landmark says that " when he left our shores for the last time , he carried back with him all our old love and admiration ; and to-day the American people are among

his chief mourners . " Well may Freemasons lament the loss of such a man , because he was the incarnation of the ruling principles of our Masonic creed .

"To be happy , and to communicate happiness to others , " these were the ideas which guided his pen , and inspired his grandest

efforts . "To aid in lesscningtheaggrcgateof human misery and vice , " was to him a sacred duty , and this duty he accomplished in an artistic and practical manner . Venerable

abuses , time-honoured obstructions , disappeared before the touch of his comprehensive weapon ; and bumbledom trembled and shrank away from his keen and

searching gaze . No form of iniquity escaped ; the chicanery ofthe law , the delays of justice , red-tape puerilities , official circumlocution , all were exposed and annihilated , as well as

grosser and more palpable systems of oppression . The good that Dickens accomplished in this direction alone , is enough to entitle him to the lasting gratitude of

mankind ; but his fame rests not only upon such achievements as these ; his real power is to be traced to that rare faculty with which some great men arc dowered—the faculty

of kindling at once the hearts and minds of men . Thus , a simple chord is stricken , but the universal soul of humanity is stirred , a commonsympathy unites every reader byan

invisible , but all powerful tic . We envy not the man who can rise from the perusal of one of Charles Dickens' works without

feeling mentally purer and better , or without experiencing larger and more charitable views of the world in general . Therefore , in-