The Last Grand Lodge.

the peaceable progress and happy condition of . our fraternity " per se . " May such mutual prosperity , ancl tranquil working long continue to characterize our

English Freemasonry , and may we also evince , ( as we seem to be doing ) , that , amid all our outward well-being , and unanimity and increase , we

are not forgetful of the greatest of our professed principles—Charity , but that we are " ready , aye ready , " not for the combat or the strife , but for that noblest warfare of all—the relief of the old and the indigent , and the succour of the orphan and the friendless .

Our Masonic Charities.

OUR MASONIC CHARITIES .

We shall be very glad if the discussion which has originated in The . Freemason about our great Charitable Institutions , may lead to some really practical results .

Bro . H . Watson ' s pamphlet will have proved to all who read it how well our Charities are now managed , and how worthy they are of support ; while the letters from Bro . Binckes and others will confirm the view we ventured

originally to introduce to the notice of our brethren , that our lodges qua lodges ought to do , far more than they do . It is quite clear that here is the weak point of

our charitable efforts . Some liberal and wealthy lodges , indeed , exist amongst us , many large-hearted brethren give often and fieely , but the great majority of our

lodges do not subscribe at all to the Charities . Were our lodges which give nothing , even only to select one charity this year , and qualify the W . M . for a Life Governorship for the lodge ,

a very large sum would be raised , which would serve to strengthen either the . ' position of the charity funds and of the Girls' School , or to replace the capital of the Boys' School , expended in the

erection of a very noble building . The Boys' School has now no funded property whatever , and depends entirely on the annual festival and the liberality of the Craft ,

So it seems a very good opportunity , this year of grace 1874 , by a steady and combined effort of our lodges , to enable the House Committee of the Boys' School to foim the nucleus of funded

property once again . In saying all this , we do not shut our eyes to the fact , that , instead of the claims of , and on our charities decreasing , they are pretty

certainly to increase , but such is always the happy penalty of material prosperity and progress , inasmuch as the very comfort and well-being we enjoy , entail 011 us the corresponding duties of

large-heartedness and charity . So we trust then to witness through thc length and breadth of our Order , that in expanding numbers and

increasing means , we have not forgotten the abounding claims upon us all , of the great charities of our universal brotherhood .

Weekly Summary.

WEEKLY SUMMARY .

Her Majesty is at Windsor Costle , where she has received all the members of the Royal Family , and a distinguished circle of guests , to meet the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh . Her Majesty came to London on Thursday with the newLymarried couple . The landing at Gravesend was a great success ,

Weekly Summary.

and the arrangements there , to testify , the loyal attachment of the English nation to the Royal Family , and their satisfaction at this auspicious union , reflects the greatest credit on the municipal authorities , and all concerned in the preparations and decorations . We do not doubt , but

that , the same loyal feeling will be exhibited on the 12 th in the Metropolis , but as we go to press on Thursday , we reserve a report of that day ' s proceedings until next week . Everything must have given the charming and august stranger amongst us , a most favourable

impression of the English people . Happily she had Queen ' s weather , and from the pleasant faces of the flower-strew ing maidens , down to the loyal cheers of the Eton Boys , with the naval and military and civil spectacle , as an interlude , and above all , the vast crowds of good

natured exulting people of all classes and conditions , from first to last , in all and through all , there was everything befitting a thoroughly national reception of the daughter of the Czar , and the wife of the Duke of Edinburgh . So as one of the Gravesend mottoes said , say we

and all loyal Freemasons to the newly-married couple to-day , " may all of happiness attend you . " Perhaps not the least of the gratify ing and touching sights of the day , was the motherly

reception by the Queen of this new member of her family circle , and the representation thus happily and openly made , by the highest authority in the land , of the sanctity of those domestic ties of home life and home affections , and home union , without which public life is but

a barren show , and the pageantry of the Court itself an unhealthy dream . Sir Garnet Wolseley has taken Coomassie , burnt the palace and town , and has marched the white men back to the coast to escape the ravages of the wet season . By a later telegram the

infatuated King had sent again to treat for peace . Capt . the Hon . H . Wood , 10 th Hussars , A . D . C , has arrived with the official despatches , and nothing seems to have exceeded either the gallantry of the forces or the skill of their commander . Captain Glover seems to have done

excellently well . Parliament was formally opened by Commission on the 3 rd . The Right Honourable H . Brand was unanimously re-elected Speaker . The swearing in of the members began on the 7 th , and will continue this week . Next week we

shall be able to report the actual opening and the Queen ' s speech . The following high officers of the Cabinet have been sworn in : — Marquis of Hertford , Lord Chamberlain •Lord Barrington , Vice-Chamberlain ; Earl Beauchamp , Lord Steward ; Earl Percy , Treasurer

of the Household : Lord Henry Somerset , Comptroller of the Household ; Marquis of Exeter , Captain of the H . Corps , of Gentlemen-at-Arms , Earl Bradford , Master of the Horse ; Earl Hardwicke , Master of the Buckhounds . The following are the new Lords in waiting : —The

Earl of Dunmore ; the Earl of Roden ; Viscount Hawarden ; Lord Bagot ; Lord De Ros- Lord Elphinstone ; Lord Walsingham . The new Peerages are officially announced * . —Viscount Sydney , to be Earl Sydney ; Viscount Enfield , to be Lord Strafford ; Mr . Chichester Fortescue ,

to be Lord Carlingford ; Mr . Cardwell , to be Earl Cardwell ; Sir Thomas Freemantle , to be Baron Cottesloe ; Mr . Hammond , to be Lotd Hammond ; Sir John Pakington , to be Lord Hampton . The following gentlemen have also been recommended to the Queen by Mr .

Gladstone for baronetcies—Harry Stephen Thompson , Esq ., of Kirby Hall , Thomas Nayler Grove , Esq ., of Feme House ; George Burrows , Esq ., M . D ., President of the Royal College of Physicians ; Thomas McClure , Esq ., of Belfast ; John Heathcoat Heathcoat Amory , Esq ., of

Knights Hayes ; Richard Green Price , Esq . ; William Miller , Esq ., of Berwickshire . The following account of Orton in prison from the Times , may interest some of our readers though we think the sooner he is forgotten the

better for every one . It will interest the public to be informed how the prisoner fares in Newgate . In the first place , he stoutly refuses to answer to the name of Castro or Orton , but willingly responds to that of Tichborne . He was yesterday supplied with his prison dress , which

Weekly Summary.

consists of a light brown woollen cloth blouse , knee breeches , ribbed worsted stockings , common leather boots , and a cap with a little knob at the top , without a peak . He has been closely shaved and had his hair cropped . His shirt sleeves measure 37 inches round , the muscle of the arm

being 27 inches , while round the chest he is 56 inches . He does not pick anything like the portion of oakum allotted to him ; his fingers are somewhat delicate , and the tar-rope is very trying . He rises at 6 o ' clock and goes to bed at

9 , and attenas chapel for the present every morning . He has hitherto maintained complete silence and , considering all things , takes kindly to the skilly . When his new dress was brought to him he appeared to falter a little , bnt soon regained his self-possession . He sleeps well . "

Mr . Jean Line has been finally committed for trial by Sir Thomas Henry , and Captain Brown , of remarkable memory , is " up" before that same excellent magistrate , and seems likely to follow in the steps of his friend and old acquaintance , Luie .

We would just observe that on the account of the spectacle of Saturday , few things we think will have gratified the general public more , or have probably saved their pockets , than the happy idea of shutting up safe from harms way , and from a tumultuous crowd , by the

gentlemen from Scotland-yard , 3 *; of the most adroit of London pick-pockets . It is an act of energy and good sense , which cannot be too highly commended . The following may amuse our readers as it amused us . At the Surrey

Sessions ( Second Court ) , before Mr . H . F . Harrison , James Godwin pleaded guilty to a charge of larceny as a bailee . The prisoner was intrusted by a number of persons , chiefly of the poorer class , with their watches to repair . He seems to have been in the habit of pawning

the watches as soon as they came into his possession , putting the owners oft' with various excuses for the non-delivery of their property . In some cases he said that a new wheel had to be made , requiring a special kind of machinery . The prisoner was found guilty on another

indictment of a similar character , and there being a previous conviction against him , the chairman sentenced him to seven years' penal servitude and seven years' police supervision . At the conclusion of the case , and before sentence , Detective Bell , of the M Division , stated that

the prisoner was one of the cleverest rogues in London . He had known him for a great many years . His practice was to attend meetings and assume different characters ( among others a Bible class teacher and a mesmerist ) , and having disarmed suspicion , he would set up a

shop , receive watches to mend and repair , and after disposing of the watches make oft' himself . The detective had succeeded in the present case in recovering seven out of the eleven watches recently lost . It was rumoured in Court that the prisoner had attempted to " mesmerize "

two warders who had him in custody , and liad offered to mend their watches , but had on both occasions failed to accomplish his object . The obituary of the Times of March 4 th contains some extraordinary illustrations of prolonged existence in ten persons , —viz ., seven

ladies and three gentlemen—whose united ages amounted to 867 years , giving an average of 86 years and more than eig ht months to each ; the oldest was a gentleman , who had reached the great age of 98 years , the youngest of the same sex being 85 years of age ; of the ladies the

oldest was 9 J and the youngest 80 years of age . The following were the respective ages : —Two at 80 , 82 , 83 , 83 , 86 , 88 , 90 , 9 J , 95 , 98 . There were also six septuagenarians , who averaged 73 years and ten months each . Beyond this we have no news to record . Abroad there is little to notice , except that

the Hungarian Ministry has resigned , and that General Moriones is both in bad health , and in a bad way . Marshal Serrano has gone to his relief with 16 , 000 foot soldiers , but we confess , we do not expect that , he can retrieve the

" fortune of the day . " Nous verrons . We have to record with regret , the death of that very eminent medical man , Dr . Forbes B . Winslow , M . D ., and D . C . L .