Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS Sio The Provincial Grand Lodge of Oxfordshire 544 Grand Lodgeof Scotland 53 + Provincial Grand Maik Lodge of North and East Yorkshire SS 5 Grand Council of the Allied Degrees 555 CORRESPONDENCEMiddlesex Masonic Calendar 557 A Legal Query SH Reviews SSI

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry , * > j * i Instruction 5 ** Royal Arch 5 <» Scotland 5 *> 3 Royal Masonic Ins'itution for Girls 5 61 Royal Masonic Institsstion for Boys 563 Royal Masonic Benes'olent Institution 563 The Lord Mayor ' s Shosv 5 * 3 Masonic and General Tidings ** f » 4 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 56 4

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BRO . Alderman Sir R . N . FOSVLER , Bart ., M . P ., P . G . J . W ., concluded his second tenure of the office of Lord Mayor of London , as he did his first , svith a Masonic banquet , but the festivity of Thursday sveek svas of a somesvhat different character from its predecessor . It svas less ambitious , perhaps , in the sense that the principal guests , outside the members of his

osvn lodge , svere not drasvn chiefly from the Present and Past Grand Officers j svhile , on the other hand , it svas more comprehensive , as the Executive Officers of the province of which his lordship is a Past G . S . W ., svere honoured svith invitations . Thus there svere gathered around the same hospitable board several of the Grand Officers of England and

Provincial Grand Officers of Wiltshire , the officers and members of the University of London Lodge , No . 2033 , of svhich Bro . Sir R . N . FOSVLER is the present Master , the officers of Grand Master's Lodge , No . i , of which he was Master during his former Mayoralty , and the Worshipful Masters of the Apollo University Lodge of Oxford , and the Isaac Nesvton University

Lodge of Cambridge , respectively . It ss'as such a meeting as sve seldom hear of , in svhich purple and blue , tosvn and country , men of commerce and men of learning sat down together in the banquet chamber of our highest municipal authority , and pledged . themselves to him and one another after the manner of Masons and to the future honour and svelfare of our ancient

Craft . Irreverent outsiders may sneer , if it pleases them , at such festive gatherings as these . But the sneer , so far from injuring or annoying us , only helps to bring into greater prominence the nature of a Fraternity , svhich is composed of men of all classes , creeds , and politics , svho , once they are met together as Masons , lay aside all differences of opinion , and are

content to vie with each other in promoting good fellosvship among themselves , and good feeling tosvards their fellosv creatures . We trust it may alsvays be thus , as indeed , it has been alsvays in this early home of Freemasonry ; and that in the midst of those sveighty cares and responsibilities , which press so heavily upon us all , there may be many such occasions as that of

Thursday sveek , svhen the imperious demands of duty are less rigorously enforced , and the sense of mutual kindness and forbearance among different sorts and conditions of men is strengthened and developed more and more abundantly . We can only regret that in the absence of the customary invitation to be present , sve are unable to give any account of the after-dinner proceedings .

* * WE heartily congratulate Bro . Alderman J STAPLES on his installation as Lord Mayor of London , a position which the great majority of his fellosv citizens aspire toj but svhich , in the nature of things , it is given to only a very few among them to attain . It is svell knosvn that his lordship during

his career , firstly of citizen and aftersvards of Alderman , succeeded in securing to himself the esteem and respect of men of all classes . He is a good man of business , a painstaking magistrate , genial and kind in his personal bearing , and indued svith some literary taste , chiefly in the field of antiquarian study . The cordial , not to say enthusiastic , reception he met

svith during his progress through London on Monday must have been very gratifying ; svhile the success svhich attended his presidency at the customary banquet in Guildhall in the evening svill have helped to remove any stray doubt svhich may have haunted him as to his ability to fulfil the more ornamental duties of his office . That Bro . Lord Mayor STAPI . ES , as the

successor of so able and popular a Chief Magistrate as Bro . Alderman FOWLER , has no slight burden of responsibility cast upon him is very generally admitted ; but it is already in evidence that he is fully equal to the task m one respect , and that in his hands the reputation of London for its munificent hospitality svill be fully maintained . As regards the severer duties

which svill devolve upon him , and which are so much more numerous and exacting than formerly , he has both the ability and the svill to discharge them thoroughly , and sve doubt not that this time 12 months , svhen his

successor has been installed , there will be the same cordiality and unanimity ° ' thanks to him as to his predecessor . There is one other point to be noticed . The nesv , like the retiring , Lord Mayor is a Mason , though not ° * such long standing and experience , nor has he attained such eminence in

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the Craft . But his career , though short , has been successful . He is a member of the Grand Master ' s Lodge , founder and first and present W . M . of the St . Botolph's Lodge , svhich svas consecrated in January , 1884 , and Z . of the Aldersgate Chapter . He has , too , done loyal service to our

Institutions in the capacity of Stesvard at more than one of their Anniversary Festivals , and it is our knosvledge of these circumstances , as svell as of the services he has rendered as a citizen and magistrate of London , which enhances , if that be possible , the heartiness of our present greeting , * . *

BRO . Colonel WILLIAM STUART , P . G . M . Bedfordshire , of svhose installation sve gave a full account last week , is son of Bro . Colonel WILLIAM STUART , M . P ., svho svas Grand Senior Warden of England in 18 33 , and Provincial Grand Master of Hertfordshire from 184410 1873 . He svas initiated in the Watford Lodge , No . 404 , Watford , in 18 43 , at the early age of 18

years . In 1847 he became a joining member of the Stuart Lodge , No . 540 , Bedford , and in 1848 svas installed Worshipful Master of his molher lodge . He is also a Past Master of the Stuart Lodge , a Past Master of the Lodge of Antiquity , No . 2 , and Past Provincial Grand Senior Warden of Herts , and in 1855 svas appointed by the then Grand Master to be

Grand Senior Warden of England . In the Arch he is a P . Z . of the Watford Chapter , in svhich he svas exalted in 1 844 , and in 1855 svas G , Ass . Soj . of the Supreme Grand Chapter . In Templar Masonry he is a Past E . C . of the Stuart Encampment , Watford , so named alter his late father , Sir Knight WILLIAM STUART , subsequently Supreme Grand Master of the

Order ,- svhile in the Ancient and Accepted Rite he is a member of the Metropolitan Chapter , No . 1 , of Rose Croix , and has taken the 31 st degree in that branch of Masonry . And last , but not least , he is a Life Governor of all our Institutions , and has acted as Festival Stesvard in aid of the Boys ' and Girls' Schools . Such is the distinguished brother upon svhom it has

graciously pleased the Prince of WALES as Grand AIaster of England to confer the honour of being the first actual Provincial Grand Master of the newly-created Province of Bedfordshire , and under such a leader sve imagine the members of its lodges svill have some difficulty in not giving a good account of themsels-es .

THE revised Book of Constitutions has nosv been in the hands of the Craft quite long enough to enable them to judge of the nesv rules by the light of experience . So far as sve can judge—and our testimony is based on very many declarations of intelligent brethren—the lasvs are found to svork svell ,

and the more stringent regulations tend lo improve the status and efficiency of the Society . The arrangement and consecutive numbering of the laws have proved a boon , as sve anticipated , and all that is needed now , is an authoritative , or at least an authentic , ss'orfc on English Masonic Jurisprudence , to serve as a guide to the Masters

and Secretaries of lodges , svho by reason of the pressing claims of their avocations , or their inability to clearly note the application of certain rules , are much in need of some such publication . As it is not probable that such a labour svill be undertaken by the Grand Lodge , there are surely one or more competent brethren svho will perform that duty ,

and provided such a one is able to prove his competency for such a work , we feel sure that our obliging Grand Secretary , and likewise the respected President of the Board of General Purposes—svho did so much for the revision—svould be found ready to aid in such a necessary enterprise . * In many of the Grand Lodges in America , the decisions of the Grand

Masters , on all complicated questions affecting the interpretation of the lasvs , are annually printed and published for the guidance of the brethren . In England , the duty of authoritatively explaining any of the clauses of our Constitutions rests with the Grand Registrar , Grand Secretary , and the Board of General Purposes , the last being the governing and regulating

body of the Craft , subject to the Grand Lodge . Such decisions , however , though sometimes reported at the ensuing Grand Lodges , are not available in a collected form , save in the printed reports , svhich are not preserved as they should be by the lodges , numerous instances proving , not only that they are frequently treated as the private property of the Masters for the

lime being - , but as food for the waste basket , An excellent regulation , ; n force in certain provinces , requires the summonses of the lodges to be sent to the Provincial Grand Secretaries , at the same time they are

forsvarded to the members . By such means , we knesv of an illegal initiation being prevented , through the action of the Prov . Grand Secretary , . and in other instances insufficient descriptions and intended improper action , have been noted in lime , and the members duly warned to refrain from voting . * In