Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

mg of the part-song of Brinley Richards ' , " The Cambrian Plume . " The Earl of Shrewsbury followed by proposing " The Health of the Right Hon . the Earl of Carnarvon , Prov . G . M ., Chairman , " and in doing so said : —Ladies and Brethren , —I hope

you will fill a bumper to drink to the health of him whom I am about to offer to your notice - and when I mention to you that I have the honour to propose to you the health of ray old schoolfellr v cf my old college companion , of my broth */ in politics , and my brother in

Masonry , our Pro-Grand Master the Earl of Carnarvon , I am glad to think that you will pardon any want of eloquence on my part in offering this toast to you . As boys , as college friends , and in the House , we have kept up that intimacy , and it has been a pleasure to me that

• we have gone out into the world together . I told him I would not praise him , I knew his bashful disposition s but , I said , you must allow friendship to speak fairly and freely on your behalf . I am glad , therefore , to offer his health to cuch a distinguished assembly as I see before

me . I know that time is valuable , and I know that ladies do not like long speeches , therefore , I shall do no more than propose to you "The Health of the Pro-Grand Master , with all his titles , the Earl of Carnarvon . " ( Applause . ) The toast was drank enthusiastically , and in

reply , The Chairman said : Ladies and Brethren , — There is an old proverb that it is extremely pleasant for any one to be praised by one who is himself praised . It is equally pleasant to have your health proposed by an old school and

college friend : and my noble friend who just now has been good enough to propose my health , has done so not only as a Mason , but in recollection of many pleasant dajs and hours which we in former times have passed together . ( Hear hear . ) I thank him most cordially for the

kindness . which has prompted every word , and I thank this great meeting , also , for the kindly , and more than that , the friendly manner in which they have been pleased to receive that health . ( Cheers . ) Brethren , I have a duty now to perforin in submitting to you another toast

which stands upon my list , and which is one well deserving of all commendation . You are well aware that Masonry has been from all time past compacted , so to speak , of different orders and of different degrees 3 above all things , it has represented these two great principles , the

principle of election and the principle of appointment . Your Masters are elected in your lodges , your Grand Master is elected by the free voice of the Craft ( Hear , hear ) , and yet both Masters and Grand Masters , each in their turn , have certain great powers of appointment vested

in them ; and the officers who more than any represent this double principle of election and appointment are your Grand Officers . They have all served their turn as Masters in their lodges 3 they have all taken their part in the administration of the Craft in the provinces 3 and

they have all been selected , in turn , by the Grand Master for the time being j and , therefore , they are above all the lights and the pillars , so to speak , of the Craft . ( Hear , hear . ) Brethren , we have some of them present here to-day , and I give you their health , and with that toast I give you the name of one who has but recently

been invested with the purple of office , but who already has made . himself a position of great popularity in his own county , " The Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire , Sir Henry Edwards . " ( Great cheering . ) The toast was fittingly accepted by the whole company , and immediately responded to bv

Sir HenryEdwards , who said , —My lords , ladies , and . brother Masons , it is indeed a great and unexpected pleasure , as it is a great privilege , for any Mason to be allowed to stand up in this room to respond for a toast of the importance which I consider this to be . It is quite clear that your General cannot carry on the affairs of

the Craft without his lieutenants , and it is indeed handsome on his part to acknowledge that it is so—that we are all dependent one upon the other , from the head down to the very lowest of the Craft . Friends , all I can say is this that I entirely agree with those who support this Institution , to the Masons , their wives , their daughters ,

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

their swters , met with tnem to do honour to our Provincial and Pro Grand Master ; and I must say this , that of all great meetings that I have attended I have never known such a success as this . ( Great applause . ) It only shows how much our Provincial and Pro Grand Master ' s abilities are

appreciated by the Craft in general 3 and it also shows that those who have come here might have come here entirel y in consequence of knowing he was to preside this evening . I will not say much more , because I know that tim « is short , and very little time is to be given to

subordinates like myself 3 but I cannot help saying one good word for the lodge to which I have the honour to ' . belong , No . 61 ofthe Province of West Yorkshire . ( Cheers . ) I congratulate them on assembling in such numbers to-night , and for the wonderful contributions they have made to the

Boys . School . I think ' that I can answer for this , that next year it will be larger still . ( Renewed cheering . ) My Lord , I am obliged to you for the honour you have done me , and I am sorry that the time is so short as it is . Miss Josephine Sherrington here sang the

Shadow song from " Dinorah , " and was enthusiastically cheered and encored . After she had complied with the call , and been again rapturously applauded ; The Chairman rose to propose the toast of the evening , "Prosperity to the Royal Masonic

Institution for Boys . " He said , —Brethren , there is an old saying somewhere that" After the nightingales come the crows , " and I feel myself very much in the position of a crow when I follow the extremely beautiful air to which we have just been listening 3 but whether I be a crow or whether I

be any other sort 01 bird—and I lay no cla 1 m to being a nightingale— it is my duty to trespass on your patience for a few minutes , and I promise that they shall be but a few minutes , whilst I endeavour to give you that which is after all , the toast of the evening , that which has

brought us together to day . ( Hear hear . ) Brethren , I "have to give you "The Prosperity of this Institution . " In this , as in every institution , we naturall y look back to the past , and if we compare the past with the present how very wide will that difference be . I must ask you to go

back with me as far as the year 1739 , and you need not be afraid that I shall give you a record of every fact that has occurred between then and now 3 but I ask you to remember what the year 1739 was in England . Politically it was very different from the present . We were on the eve

of a civil war , and of an internal disturbance . In matters of education , though there were great writers and great thinkers whom we still delight to read and to honour , there was little education in the class at least for whom this school is provided , and , Masonically , it was an important

year , because just at that time the Pope had thought it worth while in England to fulminate the bull against Freemasonry ; and English Freemasonry itself did not number , I suppose , within the four seas , one-half of those whom I see collected in this room . In that year , 1739 ,

I find that a resolution was proposed during the Grand Mastershi p of one who , strange to say , bore my own name , the Lord Carnarvon of the day , from which grew out , some years afterwards , first the Girls' Schools and secondly the Boys' School . That resolution is

now matter of Masonic history . It was subsequently acted upon as I have said , and this institution was established , In those days it was but a small affair ; there were but six scholars , and they were to be clothed , and brought up , and nurtured , and educated ; but in the inevitable

default of the necessary accommodation it was provided that they should be brought up in any neighbouring school which would offer a good education : Since then , however , great is the difference ! Buildings have been erected which we all know , and the present school , for the sake

of which we are assembled together to-day , numbers within its walls no less , I am told , than 177 boys who are brought up , clothed , and educated entirely free of expense to their friends ; they receive what may be termed a thoroughly good

commercial education , they go forth subsequently into life , and 1 believe from all that I have heard , that they do honour to themselves generally , and to the institution which has sent them forth . Year by year this school has passed

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

nnder examination- * -first of all under the Syndicate of Cambridge , and periodically by the University Local Examinations , and it may be a matter of satisfaction to all those who take an interest in this Institution to know that since the day when these buildings were erected , now

some 16 years since , so satisfactory has been thfe health of those boys , that I am informed that during the whole of that period there have been but three deaths . In this time the school and the Craft have gone on steadily advancing together , and this is an illustration in fact of the

way in which the Craft itself is worked in thie country . It has undertaken useful works 5 by those useful works it stands 5 and through those useful works it has spread far and wide its great reputation for usefulness and for charity . I have to say one word on the subject of that

which , after all , affects all these questions more closely than anything else , and which though it may sound dull , is yet of vital consequence—I mean the question of finance . T have not myself had the opportunity of looking into or examining closely the financial condition of this

institution . All that I can say is to be derived from those who are more conversant with it ; and whilst on the one hand there is much that is satisfactory I am bound a / so to point out to you that , like all human things , it even yet admits of amendment . You have , no doubt , done much :

large sums are subscribed on every gathering such as this . You have erected magnificent buildings ; you have even , as I am informed , paid off" the debt upon these buildings j and you give an education to these boys at what seems to me comparatively a

very low figure , viz ., £ \ $ a year , and I am . told further that even that £ 4 . 5 a year has been gradually reduced , as expenses have been brought down during the last few years . All this you ' have done , all this is matter of honest pride and satisfaction , but I have also to remind you that

this institution has no endowment , and that the money which is ^ subscribed on these occasions has hitherto , as I understand , been only just sufficient to pay the way of this great Institution . And , more than that , I may repeat what was said by one who formerly spoke in this place , and

spoke , I think , on that point with considerable truth , when he stated that the subscriptions proceed too frequently from a certain given fixed number of individuals , and are not so largely taken up and supported as they should be by the whole body of the Craft . In this , as in

other matters of charity , I desire that the pyramid should have as broad a base as possible—should rest on that base , and should not rest on a tiny bottom . Nothing but a large amount of subscriptions from a great number of individuals can make the base of

your pyramid broad , and nothing but breadth of base is a security for such an institution as this . And now I have said enough , and perhaps I should not have said so much had I not myself absolutely felt bound on such an occasion to do so . I have said quite enough for so . festive an

occasion as this . I can only commend the charity to you and to your sympathies by commending it to all those who have in former times supported it so nobly and liberally . I commend it further to those brethren who as individuals have sympathised with , but have

not yet given any visible and tangible evidence of that sympathy 5 and lastly , and certainly most potentially , 1 commend it to those who can do more for it than any brother here present , the ladies who have sat down with us to-day . Bro . George Plucknett , Treasurer , replied as

follows : —Ladies and brethren , —To the last toast I have to reply . I beg to thank you , and to express the gratitude of the Institution for the very kind manner in which the toast has been received . First , let me express on the part of the Institution our gratitude to the noble lord

who has presided here to-nig ht . While the Institution has the privilege and the advantage of being presided over by a nobleman in the exalted position which Lord Carnarvon is , we may augur well for the prosperity of the Institution . Allow

me also to express our grateful thanks to the ladies for their presence here to-night 3 and we may be assured that while they take an interest in the prosperity of the Institution there is no telling what success may attend it . I may tell