Ireland.

one who was then no more would be respected by them all , he informed his grace ' s family the Masons would , of course , attend to his request , and therefore it was they gave notice that the funeral would be strictly private . However , a great many did attend in their individual

capacities , and paid the last tribute to his memory . The memory of Augustus Frederick Duke of Leinster would ever live to be hallowed and revered among Masons . In that hall there were many tokens of his kindness and liberality . His memory will always be fresh , and it was a

satisfaction to them that for sixty-one years he had been each year elected head of the Order , showing that he had the interest of Masonry at heart . His interest in Masonic charities had also been deeply and warmly appreciated by his brother Masons—( Hear , hear ) . A very

important and solemn duty now devolved upon them—of electing a successor to the late Grand Master . He felt that it would be impossible to replace him who had gone . They could only hope that whoever they elected would show the same interest that their late Grand Master did

in the order . At the present time it was especially of importance that they should get some person of high social position and influence to be at the head of affairs—( Hear , hear ) . Masonry had within a short time suffered severely by death . In Scotland they had been deprived

of their Grand Master ; the same calamity had befallen the Masons of Ireland . In England the Grand Master had thought fit to sever the connection between him and the craft over which he had presided for some years . The motives which actuated that nobleman in the step he

took , far be it from him—far be it from any of them—to question or take into consideration . He could only say he regretted that the Grand Master of England felt himself constrained to sever the connection between himself and the brotherhood , the more especially as it afforded

the enemies of the Order an opportunity to assail it either through ignorance or suppression of their knowledge of its principles . The fact remained that as Masons they could treat those calumnies with contempt —( Hear , hear ); but it was the more essential for them to be careful in

their election of a successor . He hoped that the brethren who were now assembled from every quarter of Ireland would be actuated by a desire to further the interest of the Order , and that neither fear , favour , nor affection would induce them to put forward any person who would not do so—( Applause ) .

Brother the Rev . Lord Plunket then rose and said that , in reference to the event with which they were all unfortunately acquainted , and in consequence of which they met in the lodge , he would ask the brethren to join him in the discharge of a solemn duty—a duty in the

performance of which they must all necessarily feel deep regret . It was a duty which he wished to say that they felt they would like to leave undone . He would ask them to join with him that evening in placing on record the expression of deep sorrow which they all felt because of the

death of their beloved and venerated brother and Grand Master , the late Duke of Leinster—( hear , hear)—who had filled the position of Grand Master for a period of over sixty years . ( Hear , hear . ) He had vestured to draw up and submit to the meeting the following resolution : —

" That the members of this Grand Lodge , while bowing with submission to the Great Disposer of all things , cannot refrain from giving expression to the heartfelt sorrow with which they individually deplore the death of their beloved and venerated brother , the late Duke of

Leinster , as well as the anxious concern with which , as a body , they contemplate the almost irreparable loss which they have sustained by the removal from the office of the Grand Master of one whose unvarying kindness , dignity , and wisdom have for sixty-one years lent so great a

lustre to that high and responsible office . " They would observe that this resoluiion asked them first of all to express their regret for the loss of a brother , and he had done so advisedly , for while he attached due importance to the distinctions that existed , he yet felt that there was a sentiment of relationship of a higher and a

Ireland.

holier character between themselves and their late Grand Master , a fellowship of brotherhood and common humanity . ( Hear , hear . ) He thought they would agree with him that the very dear brother who had been taken from amongst them was the impersonation of all that was good

in the system of Freemasonry . ( Hear , hear . ) He was a nobleman of the highest rank in this their island , and yet when he entered this room he seemed to leave all his honours and distinctions behind him . Each of them who had seen him enter with his genial and friendly smile ,

courteous greetings , and friendly , cordial words that lie littered from that chair , that while they felt proud to refer to him as a father , he ( the chairman ) felt , and some , if not all of them , felt it to be the greatest honour to be allowed to call himself a brother . ( Applause . ) He would

just add one other thought which occurred to his mind when he looked back to the character of his revered brother , the late Grand Master , and which seemed to mark him in a very striking degree . There was a combination of childlike simplicity with a manly vigour . This was a

combination which was rare amongst fallen humanity . He then went on to refer to the conduct of the late Grand Master at their annual meetings and amongst the children , and the interest he had taken in their Female Orphan Institution up to the last , even at great sacrifice to

his own personal convenience . Their late Grand Master combined the wisdom of the sage with the vigour of a man and the simplicity of a child . He had been called away . He had his sufferings to the last , but he bore them with fortitude and with unfaltering trust in Him whom

he had loved and obeyed through life . He yielded up his spirit to Him who gave it . May our latter end be like his . The way in which the late Grand Master discharged his official duties he felt himself incompetent to speak upon . Those who had more experience than himself

had a better right to speak on the subject . It would be enough for him to say , in the words of the resolution , that they had suffered " almost an irreparable loss " as an order . He said almost an irreparable loss , for he believed the future was not so long but that they might look

forward to finding some one worthy to fill even so great a blank or to occupy so honourable a position . But while they looked forward to the future he asked them to look back for one moment regretfully—wistfully , it might be—to the past , to pay their solemn tribute to the memory

of him who had gone . ( Applause . ) Brother Andrew Browne , in seconding the motion , observed that they had to deplore the loss of a great and good man , one who , since the year 1813—and that was a long time—had presided over them as Grand Master . For his

own part he could never forget the observations which had fallen from his Grace at the dinner given to him on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his holding the office then so worthily filled by him , when he alluded to the position which had been at that time occupied

by the Masons of Ireland , who met in a small sheebeen-house in Bridgefoot-street , and had much difficulty in holding their lives in their hands . How had he left them , and what was the position of the Order ? They were a large and influential body . Every brother present would admit that they had sustained an

irreparable loss in the deatli of their late Grand Master , who , in every relation of life , had endeared himself to them . The Duke had never being wanting in everything calcu . ated to further the interests of Masonry , and even at great personal inconvenience to himself , had attended and presided over meetings calculated to further

its interests . The Deputy Grand Master , in putting the question , expressed regret at the unavoidable absence of Bro . Judge Townsend , from

indisposition , inasmuch as having known his Grace for many years , he would have been able to speak of his merits , and of the deep interest lie took in everything that concerned the working of the Order .

The resolution was adopted unanimously . A copy of the resolution was ordered to be sent to the family of the late Duke .

Ireland.

The Deputy Grand Master next stated that at a recent meeting of the Board for General Purposes , a recommendation was sent forward to the Grand Lodge that His Grace the Duke of Abercorn should be appointed Grand Master , the Viceroy having intimated that he would

consider it an honour and a high compliment to be appointed to the office , if elected by the members of the Grand Lodge . Knowing the popularity of his Grace , not only as an Irishman , but as a Mason , he felt persuaded that his Grace ' s appointment would be unanimously endorsed

by every brother present —( loud applause)—and as Chairman of the Board he moved that the recommendation of the Board be adopted . The motion having been seconded , was put from the chair , and carried . After some other business had been transacted , Grand Lodge was closed .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

Collected from various Sources , BY BRO . GEORGE MARK . HAM TWEDDELL . Mr . W . Hepworth Dixon is supplying a series of letters on the latest aspect of the United States , to the Northern Echo , a half-penny daily , printed at

Darlington , said to be a Quaker property , though it is far from advocating Friends' principles . Speaking of the elevation of the negroes , however , for which the Quakers are certainly entitled to more praise than any other sect of christians , Mr . Dixon remarks : — " The negro is a full citizen .

Africa has won , A negro has a vote . Negroes are teachers in schools and ministers of religion . One negro is a professor ; many negroes are members of State Legislatures ; and many more are coming out as candidates . Seven negroes sit in Congress ; one of them in the Senate . Negroes

are justices of the peace . In short , the negro has attained his full particular rights in the United States , and this whilom African's pretension to be called an American , is not to be gainsaid in either law or fact . " As Freemasons , we do not find the negro " guilty of a skinnotcolottredlikeourown , " and (

howcvertheguiltof slavery might tarnish the lustre of the Craft in America , as it did every other good thing where it was allowed to posion the moral atmosphere ) , every true brother amongst us must rejoice at the disappearance of all barriers between the brotherhood of man .

The Contemporary Review for December is to contain an article on Freemasonry , from the pen of Dr . Manning , the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster . The paper will be anxiously looked for by both the friends and enemies of the Craft ; though wc shall feel agreeably surprised if it

contains anything really new on the subject , and the old objections have been answered over and over again . Ashes lo Ashes is the appropriate title of a work which the Rev . H . R . Haweis is now preparing for publication on Cremation .

Professor Ruskin ( who always has something to sa ' y worth listening to , however one may dissent from some of his views ) , is lecturing at Oxford , twice a-week , to audiences of six hundred , being as many as the room will accommodate . We have often wondered why the English are so far behind

some of the nations of antiquity in providing room for the people in places of public resort . The few trumpery seats , which it is often necessary to bribe a policeman to come at , provided in our Assize Courts , are simply a disgrace to any nation professing to conduct the proceedings of justice , both

of civil and criminal matters , in public , and calls for immediate remedy . A bust of Alphonse Lamartine has been inaugurated at Milley , in the Department of Soaneet-Loire , in France , where the family estates are situated , and with which his name will be associated

as long as the French language endures . When we say his name , of course , we mean that of Lamartine , which he has made immortal by his writings ; but the fact is , his family name was Du Pratt ; a wealthy uncle having bequeathed to him a considerable amount of property on the condition

that Alphonse du Pratt should take the name of I phonse Lamartine . Mr . Walter Thornbury is preparing a second edition of his Life of Turner for the press . We hope the public will be favoured with a cheap edition of it , so that the fame of the great painter may be as general in the cottage as in the hall or

manse . By the death of Thomas Miller , English literature has lost one of its best contributors . Our present space being exhausted , we hope to touch on him in another number of the Freemason . Stokesley .