Contents.

CONTENTS .

( . tADBRS 26 j Ninety-ninth Festival of the Girls' School 266 Catalogue of Masonic Books and MSS . — ( Ill ) 3 ? i

CORRESPONDENCEMeeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution 273 The Senior Grand Chaplain of England 273 The Year of Light 373 The Dorset Masonic Charity 273 Notes and Queries 274 R EPORTS or MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 274 Instruction 276

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Royal Arch 277 Instruction 277 Knights Templar 277 Red Cross of Rome and Constantine ... 277 Allied Masonic Decrees 277

Order of the Secret Monitor 277 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 277 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 27 S The Approaching Boys' School Festival ... 278 Presentation and Unveiling the Portrait of Dr . J . Pearson Bell at the Humber Lodge Hull 37 S Masonic and General Tidings 279 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 280

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WE are pleased beyond measure that our anticipations as lo of the the falling off in the receipts of this year ' s Festival of the R . M . I . G . Rjy- . i . for Girls as compared with those of 1886 have not been verified to the full extent . We were seriously afraid that , what with

the heavy demands of the Benevolent Institution in February last , the rival claims of the Boys' School in June , and the Centenary . Festival in 1888 , the Institution for Girls might find the requirements of the current year but indifferently satisfied . Indeed , however disconcerted we might have been by so untoward a result , it would not have surprised us greatly if it had

fallen to the lot of Bro . HEDGES to announce on Wednesday a list of Returns but slightly in excess of ^ to , ooo , in place of the ^ 13 , 000 which was realised last year . Happily , Fortune has once again proved herself a diligent supporter of our oldest Charity , and the result of Wednesday ' s

celebration is now known to have been ^ 11 , 764 8 s . 6 cj . In accumulating this total 277 brethren gave their services , while the supreme direction of the meeting wasinthehandsof R . W . Bro . Sir OFFLEY WAKEMAN , Bart ., the respected and popular chief of the Craft in Shropshire . That all who had taken part in the beneficent work , exerted themselves to the utmost , and in the

somewhat difficult circumstances in which , as we have pointed out , the Institution was placed , with very considerable success , will be seen from the full report and the lists which are published in another part of our columns . But though we prefer leaving these reports and lists to speak for themselves , and our usual analytical article to explain what may seem to require

explanation , we must not overlook the obvious duty we are under of tendering our congratulations to the CHAIRMAN of the day , his Board of Stewards , and Bro . HEDGES , the indefatigable Secretary of the Institution , on the success which their efforts have met with , and the brethren generally , on this latest illustration of their kindness , and the sympathy they always find it in their hearts to practise at these festive gatherings .

* * Ttieapnrah- ^' E are unc ^ * - ' necessity of entering at an earlier date Bois' School than usual upon one of our most important duties of the lva " season—namely , that of urging , in an especial degree , the claims of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys to the generous support of

the brethren at the Anniversary Festival to be held next month at the Crystal Palace . As will be seen from our report of the first meeting of the Board of Stewards , it has been determined that this Festival shall be celebrated on Tuesday , the 14 th June , prox ., that is , on the day immediately 'olloiving the grand convention of Masons which is to take place in the

K ° yal Albert Hall , under the personal presidency of H . R . H . trie Prince of WALES , M . W . G . M ., for the purpose of congratulating her MAJESTY on we completion of the Jubilee year of her reign . The selection of this day ls - ¦ " many respects , a most felicitous one . There will necessarily be a vast Wigregation of provincial brethren in London in connection with the Jubilee

° mmemorative meeting , and very many of them will , no doubt , be ? * ° f the opportunity , thus happily placed at their disposal , of testify-& in a hearty and practical fashion , their sense of gratitude to e Boys' School for the splendid help it has been , and is , renrin g to the sons of deceased or indigent members of our Society

, the wisdom of the selection in this particular respect is not un-° rnpanied by certain momentous drawbacks , not the least import-° - these being that it shortens by a whole fortnight the period available ° ur third benevolent " Plan of Campaign " for the year . This drawback ,

peciall y as it happens to be the result of a resolution adopted by the Board of , arc * f ° what are , in our opinion , sufficient reasons , yet on the spur . , moment , is , we repeat , a very serious one ; but if the Craft generally , lie •^ tewarc * particularly , will only brace themselves to the task of , r alising its effect as far as oossible . we dare sav that in the result the

vvh ^ '" ^ " £ e favourably oi the change , and after the manner of men 'hat ° . " an event when it has happened , will come to the wise conclusion o-- - ' S better could have been done under the circumstances . However , SC L me diate duty is to place before our readers the special claims of the Boys ' Sun r ? renewal of those contributions which have been so generously P lt « in the past , and the bare enumeration of which will serve to

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show are most imperative at the present moment . In the first place , this Institution , with an annual expenditure of from ^ 12 , 000 to ^ 13 , , has considerably less than £ 1000 of permanent income , consisting only of the dividends on . £ 17 , 000 stock and the grants from Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter , amounting together to £ 160 ios . In the second place ,

notwithstanding the generous aid of the Craft , and the extremest care in the financial administration of the School , there it at this momenta deficit in . connection with the building and furnishing of the Preparatory School of about ^ 2000 . Lastly , in obedience to the heavy demands upon its resources and with the entire acquiescence of the general body of Governors and

subscribers , the number of Boys in the establishment has been increased during the last two or three years from 215 to 260 , the latest addition—of 12 boys —having been made at the recent April Quarterly Court . Here then we have a triad of very sufficient reasons why the Craft should put forth additional exertions at the approaching Festival , namely : ( a ) , a very small

permanent income—lower than in the case of either of the other Institutions ; ( b ) , a serious deficit of about £ 2000 in connection with the establishment of the Preparatory School ; ( c ) , an increased number of Children in the School , which now musters 260 as against 213 in 1885 . With these incentives before ' them to the free exercise of their benevolence , we sincerely trust the Festival

of the 14 th June , prox ., will be on a more productive scale than during the years 1884 , 1885 , and 1886 , and that the brethren , fresh from the Jubilee Commemoration meeting , will recognise the necessity of restoring the financial equilibrium as regards the Preparatory School , and will otherwise assist generally by their subscriptions and donations in strengthening the

resources ofthe Institution . There is even now a strong Board of Stewardsstrong that is to say , as compared with what later Boards have been at the corresponding period of the year , and when a Chairman is announced and the Board has been sufficiently reinforced , we hope the result of the coming - Festival will be more nearly on a level with that of 188 3 , than the three which have been held intermediately .

* * * WE take an early opportunity of congratulating the EARL of Supt . of N . arni ZETLAND on his accession to an office in R . A . Masonry , corres-E . Yorkshire . d •j n rank with tl ) a ( . Q , p rov < Q Master . His lordship

was installed as Prov . G . Supt . of N . and E . Yorkshire , in succession to Comp . J . PEARSON BELL , M . D ., at a numerous and most successful gather- ? ing of R . A . Masons , at the Masonic Hall , York , on the 6 th inst ., the ceremony being performed by Comp . Col . SHADWELL H . CLERKE , the

Grand Scribe E . of England , with marked impressiveness . Everything passed off admirably , and great credit is due to the Zetland Chapter , No . 236 , under whose banner the meeting was held , for the completeness of its arrangements .

IN the Canadian Craftsman for April is an article by Bro * M Ritual ' s . ' "J * Hl" on " The 0 ri S ' Formulation , and Adoption of Masonic Rituals . " The legendary history of the Craft is certainly

not overlooked by the writer , who treats the " Charter of ST . ALBAN ' " as the first bona , fide record of the organisation of the Fraternity in Britain , and " the groundwork of the Charter of York by King ATHELSI-A-J in 926 . " He states that York continued to be the seat of the gener il assemblies until the seventeenth century , though he does not offer any proof , and ,

as a matter of fact , there is none to present , the " Old Charges " only making mention of one assembly being held at York , not that all were so held there until the last century . A deal is then written about the compilation of rituals by INIGO J ONES and ELIAS ASHMOLE , the production of the latter , so we are gravely told , being in the possession of the Lodge of

Antiquity , London , and is styled the " ASHMOLE MS . " This will be news for the members of this famous old lodge , and so much else that occurs in the first portion of the article , the most of which is utterly worthless and unworthy of the pages of our vigorous and respected contemporary , because erroneous and most misleading , and besides which has long ago been "

exploded . " The particulars as to Scotland are also equally untrustworthy , and especially so in relation to the " Grand Lodge of all England , " held at York . "J . H . " declares that " In 1755 the lodge at York , having made little progress , now merged with the so-called Ancient Masons , who then adopted the title of Ancient York Masons . " Evidently the writer has never

read HUGHAN ' " Masonic Sketches and Reprints . " giving the m ^ in tacts of the history of Freemasonry at York , or FINDEL ' S work , or GOULD ' elaborate History . At all events , if he is familiar with the-. e trusuvonhy volumes he cannot have consulted them to any pumo-e , for he should be

aware that the York Grand Lodge never j lined the " Ancients , " and , so far . as evidence is concerned , ASHMOLE had nothing to do with our rituals , nor INIGO J ONES either . It is a pity for such erroneous accounts of the Craft to obtain circulation through the medium of so well-known a magazine as the Canadian Craftsman ,