Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE F REEMASONRY IN ENGLAND 571 M ASONIC HISTORIANS , NO . 2 . — Bros . John Sheville and James L . Gould 571 & 572

REVIEWSThe Bards avid Authors of Cleveland and South Durham ..., ... 57 The Great American Masonic Poem , " King S olomon's Temple" ... 572 ALLEGORIES OF MASONRY ... 572 & 573

P ROV . GRAND L ODGE OF LINCOLNSHIRE 573 F REEMASONS'LIFE BOAT 573 THE F RENCH MASONS AND THE KING OF P RUSSIA 573 PROV . G RAND LODGE OF DEVON 574 THE C

RAFTMetropolitan 574 & 575 Provincial 575 ROYAL ARCHMetropolitan 575 Provincial ' 575 ORDERS OF

CHIVALRYRed Cross of Rome and Constantine 575 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 576 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 576 THE ARK MARINERS'DEGREE 576 & 577 THE C ANADIAN DIFFICULTY 577 GRAND C HAPTER OF ENGLAND 577 ROYAL MASONIC B ENEVOLENT INSTITUTION ... C 77

ROYAL M ASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS ... 577 MULTUM IN PARVO 578 MASONIC M ISCELLANEA 578 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCEBoard of Benevolence 57 S & 579 The Mark Degree 579 "The Relation of St . John the Evangelist to Freemasonry" ... 579

Royal Ark Mariners'Degree ... 579 The Purple ... 579 A Query 579 SCOTLANDThe Grand Lodge of Scotland 580 Presentation to Bro . Dr . Millman 580 Royal Arch 5 S 0 MARK

MASONRYConsecration of the Blair Lodge 580 POETRYThe Craft and the Queen 581 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 581 ADVERTISEMENTS 569 , 570 , 582 , 583 , & 584

Freemasonry In England.

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND .

BY THE SON OF SALATHIEL . ( Continued from page 555 . ^

In a letter addressed to Lord Blesinton by the D . G . M . on behalf of the brethren , it is remarked that " the number of Warrants

signed by your worship is a convincing proof of the prosperity of the Craft under your lordship ' s sanction , and we have the pleasure to assure your Worship that (

notwithstanding the troublesome time of war , the bane of all good society ) we have not only been able to relieve a great number of indigent brethren , but also have bought

an hundred pounds stock in the 3 per cent , annuities 1726 , and have still money enough in the Grand Lodge chest to answer all demands that are likely to be made on us .

We are sensible that it will be very pleasing to your lordship to hear of a great number of worthy Freemasons , ardently and industriously engaged in brotherly love and

charitable works . " His lordship in response to a request made in this epistle accepted , " with all my heart , " the Grand Mastership for 17 59 , and the new Deputy was Bro .

Goodman , while the Wardens chosen were Bros . William Osborn and David Fisher . It appears to have been usual when a lodge warrant was forfeited , to sell the number

to some junior lodge ; thus on the 6 th June , l 7 S 9 , the Master of No . 55 proposed to P ay £ 4 14 s . 6 d . for the vacant No . 3 , which Proposal was accepted and the money paid .

The members of N 0 . 55 took the rank of No . 3 accordingly . In the same year a special Grand Lodge was held at Reading , being doubtless the first ever held out of the

Freemasonry In England.

metropolis . It assembled at the Upper Ship , Duke-street , in that pleasant old town . Brother John Jackson presided on the occasion , and Lodge No . 80 was duly constituted . It may help future local

historians of the Craft to append the names of the officers of this lodge : —Bros , the Rev . George Goldwyer , W . M . ; Peter Rowbottom , S . W . ; Thomas Hilman , J . W . ;

Abraham Hobbs , S . D . ; Joseph Clarke , J . D . ; and George Tucker , Secretary . There was no I . G . atthisperiodintheancientlodges . At the next meeting of the Grand Lodge , held at the Bells Tavern , Strand , a

Provincial Grand Warrant was granted to certain brethren at Philadelphia , the " Keystone " State thus becoming the first " ancient "

province in the present United States , though not in North America , as Nova Scotia had already obtained a Provincial Grand Lodge .

Bro . Laurence Dermott declaimed vigorously at the December meeting against any victualler being chosen a Grand Officer , and as his address gave great offence to

some brethren present it was put to the vote , whether "the Grand Secretary merited applause , or deserved censure for his speech ; 44 members were for applauding the

Secretary , and 4 recorded their opinion in the negative , upon which the D . G . M . said : " Brethren , there are 44 votes for the Secretary and 4 against him , by which it seems there are only 4 publicans in the room . " It

was about this time that Bro . Spencer , Grand Secretary of the " Moderns , " gave his celebrated answer to a Bro . Carroll , who petitioned him for relief : " Your being an Antient Mason , you are not entitled to

any of our charity . The Antient Masons have a lodge at the Five Bells in the Strand , and their Secretary ' s name is Dermott . Our society is neither Arch , Royal Arch nor Antient , so that you have no right to

partake of our charity . " A curious admission from the Secretary of the regular Grand Lodge , that his " society " was not " antient , " although it is true that he meant it in the sense ofthe Moderns having no connection with the so-called "Ancients . "

In December , 1760 , the Earl of Blesinton signified his desire to quit the chair of Grand Master which he had never once filled , unless by proxy , and a deputation was appointed to solicit the Earl of"

Eglinton to accept the vacant post . His lordship politely declined , but said he would recommend the brethren to " another Earl , " namely the Earl of Kelly , who was pleased to undertake the office , and was proclaimed

accordingly on the 27 th December , 1760 . Upon this occasion the public thanks of the fraternity were tended to Bro . Dermott for his zeal , a Bro . George Donovan being directed to stand upon the middle table

in the Grand Lodge to convey this mark of approbation . Dermott appropriately replied by saying that he was as happy in his Secretaryship , as the great Pitt was in being Secretary of State , " and that " he

would exert his utmost powers for the good of the Ancient Fraternity so long as he lived . " At the festival of St . John the Baptist , 1761 , a sportive contest ensued between the Grand Secretary and the Grand

Lodge , consequent upon the members desiring to drink Bro . Dermott ' s health with 5 , the number allotted to the Grand Wardens , when at length the D . G . M . proposed that the G . S . should be toasted with the number

Df his years , and he received 39 in accordance with this resolution . To this there s a naive note to the effect that the Secre-: ary was then really " in the 41 st year of lis age . " ( To be continued ) .

Masonic Historians.—No. 2.

MASONIC HISTORIANS . —No . 2 .

BROTHERS JOHN SHEVILLE AND JAMES L . GOULD . BY BRO . WILLIAM J AMES HUGHAN . ( Concludedfrom page 540 J The Royal Arch of Ireland and Scotland is then briefly considered , the former of which is

declared to be essentially difterent from any other . The remarks , however , of the author prove that he is more familiar with the Royal Arch of Ireland as it was than as it is . The

degrees of Excellent and Super-Excellent , however , bear no resemblance to the Most Excellent Master of the United States , even where they are given ; but they are little known , and still less worked in that country at the present

time . The view . propounded as to the Irish system in the " Guide " is as follows : — " The ritual of the Irish Royal Arch is based on the discovery of the Book of the Law , as related in 2 Chronicles , chapter xxxiv ., verse 14 , and

hence its date , 624 B . C . Of course , the ceremonies are essentially different from those of other countries . From whence this degree was derived or when it was introduced into Ireland , I am unable to say . A recent writer asserts

that no trace can be found of it in Ireland earlier than 1751 . The Committee of Foreign Correspondence of one of our oldest Grand Lodges , in a recent report , make the statement that Dermott introduced the Royal Arch into Ireland

by conferring the degree on Irish Masons in London . This is undoubtedly an error , because there is no resemblance between the Irish degree and that of Dermott . This consideration is sufficient to warrant the conclusion that the

two systems had an entirely different origin . " We cannot see the force of this argument ourselves . There are important differences existing between the various rituals of the third degree as given generally , and as worked in

some parts of Germany ; quite as different , 111 fact , as those of the Royal Arch under the Irish and Dermott systems , and yet they had one common orgin—viz ., the Grand Lodge of England of 1717 . We , therefore , fail to appreciate

the conclusions of Bro . Gould on this point , and are inclined to favour the notion that Ireland is indebted to England originally for its knowledge of Royal Arch Masonry . Dr . Dassigny , as an author , in 1744 , evidently was of the

same opinion , and we attach considerable importance to this latter fact , as he is the earliest known writer on the subject in any language . But we must proceed and hasten our review of the " Guide . " " In addition to the ' five

degrees ' which may be said to compose the capitular rite of Scotland , the chapters also confer Royal Arch Masons the degrees of Royal Ark Mariner and Babylonish Pass . The Mark degree is not the same as the American Mark

degree . The Royal Ark Mariner and Babylonish Pass are sometimes given in this country as side degrees . " Wc feel sure that the Mark degree is virtually the same everywhere , and that all the differences existing between the

various rituals are merely verbal ones , and do not affect the general uniformity of working . " The earliest mention ofthe existence of Royal Arch Chapters in Scotland is under the date of 1755 . " We may state that 1743 has been claimed

as the first reference to the Royal Arch in Scotland by the historian Bro . W . A Laurie ( now , alas ! to be numbered with the past worthies of Scotland ) , being tbc earliest record of the Chapter of Stirling . We have , however , been unable

to find any confirmation of this statement , although likely enough it is correct . The friends at Stirling know not where the records are , and from private enquiries we have made of companions resident there , they seem quite

unaware of the prominent position in Royal Arch Masonry that Stirling has received . We hope these few observations will draw attention to the desirability of the facts being searched for by some competent brethren , so that we , may know positively what is true and what is not . \ Bro . Gould then proceeds to sketch the introduction and progress of Masonry , including the