Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 38 r The Assistant Grand Secretary 382 Supreme Grand Chapter 382 Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons ...... 3 82 Provincial Grand Lodge of M iddlesex 383

Provincial Grand Lodge of Dorset 383 Consecration ot the Earl of Lathom Chapter , No . 730 , at Chdrley 3 S 3 Consecration of the Ancasta Chapter , No . 1461 , at Woolston 384 History of the Royal Masonic Institution

for Boys { Continued ) 38 4 Celebration of . Centenary Festival of the Harmonic Lodge , No . 2 J 2 , at Dudley 385 - The Great Priory of Canada 383 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ...... 385 Reviews .. ' 3 * 7

Notes and Queries 387 CORRESPONDENCEThe Legal Petition of the Provincial Mark Grand Lodge in Canada ... 3 S 7 An Ancient Freemason 3 S 5

Provincial Clothing 387 The Masonic Controversy in Canada 387 REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 3 R 8 Instruction 388 Royal Arch 3 8 9

South Africa 3 8 9 Dr . Moon's Printing for the Blind 3 8 9 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 3 8 9 Obituary 3 8 9 Masonic and General Tidings 390 Lodge Meetings for Next Week . Cover .

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IT is almost melancholy to walk along that deserted street where English Freemasons love mostly to congregate , and to note the appearance of dullness and desertion drawing ' over the scene . Freemasons' Tavern seems to have lost its old animation , and Bro . DAWKINS is visibly depressed . At an end for a time are Masonic sociality , and Masonic geniality ! Passed

away for a moment the cheeriest of hosts , and the most gratified of guests . No longer does some good old lodge unfurl its banner of unfailing and hearty hospitality . The pleasant home of the social circle , the gay gathering of friends , the jest that sets the table in a roar , the pleasant glee and the sympathetic strain all are vanished and hushed for a little space .

English Freemasonry is " . en sommeil , " as the French say , —in their Masonic parlance , " we sleep . " Yes , and so it is . The agreeable reunions which marked the progress of 1884 are put a stop to , for our brethren are scattered far and wide , and until the good' Secretary issues his mystic summonses again , that good lodge which can recall so many welcome meetings , and

such a prosperous career , has for a little space of time ceased Masonically to be . And perhaps it is good for us all that it should be so , perhaps it is after all but the natural law of rest and change . Even hospitality tires , and Masonic repetition might bore . We may have too much even of a good thing ; unsatisfied and ungrateful mortals that we are . By the end of the

season we can discount nearly and pretty well all that our brethren are likely to say and do under certain given circumstances . Hence the freshness of our social circles has departed from them , and lameness and iteration have begun to pall . A pause is , therefore , advisable ; a rest is needful . Practically until October and November metropolitan English

Freemasonry remains in silence and stillness . Even the good old Tyler is away disporting himself with his family at Ramsgate or Heme Bay . When next we all meet let us hope that no well-known form will be missing from our ranks , no welcome voice be stilledfor aye , no warm heart have passed from our midst and the lodge ' s existence , and has become but a shadow of the past .

May all again assemble to prove and illustrate ' the potency of the friendship and the sincerity of sympathy , and show that our Craft , maligned and assailed just now in many quarters , has yet succeeded in a wonderful

measure in lighting up the graces of sympathy , good will , and fraternalinterest , in such a manner as to make some-contented mortals here go on their way rejoicing , having found in Freemasony a bond of Friendship , a test of sincerity , a living link of kindliness , regard , attachment and affection .

* * * WE venture to repeat bur humble opinion , that enough has now been said about the Roman Catholic attack on Freemasonry . After Lord CARNARVON ' S clear exposition of Masonic leaching and his eloquent repudiation of unfounded calumnies , we had better , we think , leave the matter where it

is . It is useless and unavailable to keep up a state of excitement about it after all . ' An innocuous libel can really do us no harm , and there can be no possible advantage in " piling up the agony" on every occasion . In the Freemason wc have confined ourselves as was only- proper and sensible to a dignified denial of ridiculous allegations and a befitting protest

against unjustifiable charges . We have regretted to see educated Roman Catholics joining in a vulgar cry , and belying their very culture , and common sense . But having said this much , and pointed out certain facts , we have said

enough , our task is accomplished , our duty done " Liberavimus animatn nostram , " and we leave the issue to be developed or even decided by the good sense of mankind , and the honourable and strai g htforward testimony of the great public itself ..

••'¦ ¦ WE rejoice to hear that the prospects of the Worcester gathering are most promising . Offers of helparc / romingih , and the result will be probably a vciy

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remarkable success . We repeat , that if only all the brethren who can help will help , wc shall be able to report some day ' a very signal triumph . It is a movement which deserves every support by the " bright Masons " of our Order . * * *

WE note that the GRAND MASTER of the Grand Lodge of Canada states that the Dutch Grand Orient has actually already taken out of the name of T . G . A . O . T . U . from its ritual , & rc . We think our dhtinguished brother is a little premature . There is a strong movement party with tendencies in that direction in the Dutch Grand . Orient , and the recent promulgation at

Brussels was , to us who know what is going on , not a good omen of the future . There is also no doubt a great leaning on the part of many Dutch brethren for French ideas and Belgian proclivities . But we think the result arrived at in France and Belgium is hardly yet a " fait accompli " in Holland . We shall be glad to be set right on this important

subject one way or the other by some well-informed Dutch brother on the subject . . We shall certainly regret such a change in Dutch Freemasonry as most opposed to its old and honest teaching . We naturally in England , . for many reasons , feel an interest in Holland and in Dutch Freemasonry , and nothing will give us

greater pain than to have to announce officially that it has fallen from its high prestige and forgotten its venerable traditions , orlhat it has become the obsequious imitator of the proceeedings in France and Belgium which have done so much harm to their national Freemasonry respective ! }' , which are so retrograde in themselves , and so antagonistic to the genuine principles of true cosmopolitan Freemasonry .

* * * THE Grand Lodge of Canada , from the recent address of the GRAND MASTER , seems in a very , prosperous condition . A suggestion is made that the words " with jurisdiction in Ontario " should be added to its title . In our humble opinion it had far better style itself the Grand Lodge of Ontario . and Canada . That would be really an unimpeachable name .

* * * WE call attention to a long letter elsewhere from Canada , in respect of the legal position of the Prov . Mark Grand Lodge and its subordinate Mark lodges . We entirely agree with our correspondent , that , as a matter of law , the position of the Prov . Mark Grand Lodge and its subordinate

lodges is unimpeachable . For it will be noted , that the words of the act are " a Grand Lodge , " and the Mark Grand Lodge being clearly a Grand Lodge by general recognition is a legal body contemplated by the act . But this discussion seems to bring out a clearer light than ever , the very serious position of the Quebec Grand Lodge . So long as that bod y has no '

enabling act , so long as it is not exempted formally from the provisions and penalties ot the Secret Societies' Act , so long do its members when they meet , do despite to the laws of the land and incur the penalties enforced b y the Act . It is a very disagreeable position of affairs , but the Masonic and legal position of the English lodges in Canada is altogether , as we have said all along , unquestionable .

*»* INT America and Canada the word " Dude " answers to " Masher , " now very much in use in colloquial parlance . Under the head of a " Masonic Dude , " we find the following " par" in the Montreal Daily Witness , of July 22 nd : " Yesterday afternoon a young . man who could barely have attained the age upon which a person is eligible for Masonic candidature

was observed on the Notre Dame-street cars . His scarf was of a pro- . nounced colour , while in front of it he sported a trowel which was consider , ably out of proportion . He was otherwise got up for effect , but as one gentlemen remarked , ' he won ' t pass . ' " We have no such animal , happily , in England !

* # * WE have' seen some curious Masonic announcements , advertisements , puffs , & c ., in our time , but never any equal to what we now take from the Canadian Craftsman of July 15 th , and which again clips it from the "Home Journal , " whatever that may be . Read and perpend , " my masters all" : " The ' Deputy Imperial Grand Master over all the legal

sovereign lodges of both hemispheres , '—W . B . Lord High Admiral and Imperial Grand Potentate of the Oriental Harem of Mizraim , and . the rest of the world , has issued a proclamation about the ' pristine purity' of the Craft . " What next , we would like to ask in "bated breath ? . " "The Grand Potentate of the Oriental Harem of Mizraim ! " Who is the favoured party ' i

WE agree entirely with the remarks of , our able Bro . BROWNRIGG , PIGICI * the other day that Freemasons ought not simply to devote