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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION . — THE ELECTION OF COMMITTEE . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In your issue of the 2 nd inst ., under the heading "Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , " a brother singing
himself " P . M . " attacks me on a question of my fitness to serve on the Committee of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and speaks disparagingly of my nominator . Permit me to say that my nominator was thc respected W . M . of my mother lodge—the Egyptian , No . 27 , —which is a vice-patron of the Institution , a position that few
lodges have attained to . It was impossible for me to have a better qualified nominator . The Egyptian Lodge has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Benevolent Institution , and " P . M . " by insulting its Master is not in my opinion furthering the interests of the Institution . When " P . M . " ventured to recommend the Craft to
oppose my election he must have forgotten or been ignorant of the fact that in June last year I was at the head of the poll when Grand Lodge elected its members of the Board of General Purposes , and that I occupied the same proud position on the poll when in December there was an election in Grand Lodge of a Junior Vice-President of the Lodge
of Benevolence . I trust I may be pardoned for referring to these matters , but I feel proud of the honour Grand Lodge thought fit to confer on me . Your correspondent " P . M . ' s " appeal to the Craft to leave me " alone " has been answered in a way that he little expected . As regards his statement that when I had
the honour of being a member ' of the Committee I rarely attended , I beg to say he has been misinformed . I attended rather too often to please some brethren , and had I been less anxious to discharge my duty as one of the representatives of Grand Lodge on that Committee you would not have heard from "P . M ., " nor have been troubled with this communication . —Yours fraternally ,
CHARLES ATKINS , Clapton , 12 th June . P . M . 27 and 1260 . To the Editor of the " Freemason . "
Dear Sir and Brother , — My attention has just been called to a letter inserted in your issue of the 2 nd inst ., and signed " P . M ., " in which it is stated that the brother who nominated another brother for the Committee of Management was
not even a subscriber of five shillings a year to the Institution . Now , sir , I beg most respectfully to set our old friend " P . M . " right . 1 have for eight years past given something every year to one or the other of the Charities ; for the last five years two guineas a year , but my money has gone through other brethren . I
have been each of the last four years one of five brethren in my lodge putting two guineas each , and then drawing for a Life Governorship , in which up to the present time I have been unfortunate . As my name appears in full on the agenda paper , I shall esteem it a favour if you will insert this letter , in justice
to me and the lodge I have the honour to represent . —Yours fraternally , W . M . June 9 th . P . S . —I see by your issue of to-day ' s date that the brother nominated has been elected , as our American cousins say , by a large majority .
REBUILDING THE TEMPLE . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Some brethren have commented on my name having been put forward at Grand Lodge on Wednesday , the 6 th inst ., but I venture lo think that my active
experience for many years of the arrangement and cost of buildings to accommodate large numbers of persons would have been of some use to the committee , while I was perhaps the only one of the brethren nominated who had actually planned a building for Masonic purposes . 1 venture to suggest that the Building Committee should limit the
competition either to the members of Grand Lodge or , at least , to 20 members of the Craft , as a competition advertised in the professional journals would be unnoticed by the best architects , who rarely , if ever , enter the lists in an open competition . It would be rather awkward to have an architect who was
not a member of the Craft , and there is no doubt at all excellent designs could be obtained from the many able and distinguished architects who are members of Grand Lodge . Nobody knows better than the Grand Superintendent of Works and Bro . J . Gibson ( one of the ablest living architects ) that ordinary advertised competitions are very rarely taken notice of by the leading architects . —Yours
fraternally , HENRY LOVEGROVE . 21 , Budge-row , Cannon-street , E . C .
JOINING MEMBERS . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I have always held , rightly or wrongly , that joining members can only be elected at one of the regular meetings of the lodge . The proposition can be made at a
lodge of emergency , but it appears to me that the name must appear in the summons for and the ballot be taken at the next regular meeting , no notice of emergency altering this rule . During the last few months I have known of elections at emergency meetings , and 1 should like to know that I am right . —Yours , & c , P . M . AND SEC .
Original Correspondence.
ON THINGS IN GENERAL . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — 1 . After the very sensible proposal and decision in connection with the rebuilding of the " Temple " and the formation of a Building Committee , I venture to
suggest that a similar Building Committee be formed by the Life Governors of the Boys' School for the purpose of undertaking the erection of the Preparatory School . The House Committee is a shifting body , and I am not aware of the fact that any member of it is competent to select a suitable plan or judge of its arrangements ; probably the
majority would not be able to tell a plan from a section . 2 . Now that the Provincial Grand Lodges are meeting , may I repeat my suggestion that the arrangements be made so that the dinner is charged for at say six or seven shillings per head , and the wine being left to the individual . 1 am not an abstainer myself , but 1 know many who are ,
and I venture to assert that such a change would double the number of those remaining to the banquet , as others besides those above referred to object to paying a guinea for a cold collation and often very inferior wine . 3 . Why should not our committees of the various Institutions be elected by voting papers instead of requiring us all to go to the offices in Great Queen-street to fight for
paper ? Surely if the election of children to important positions for their school life can be done by voting papers such a simple matter as the election of a committee could be conducted in the same way , and our country brethren would then have a voice in the election . I consider that the struggle for voting papers was more like the entrance to the pit of a theatre than anything so dignified as a number of Masons electing a committee . —Yours , & c , OBSERVER .
A MASONIC CLUB . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Allow me to offer through your columns a suggestion to those in authority in our Order who are now considering , and no doubt with anxious care , the subject of the
reconstruction and rearrangement of the great hall and other buildings in Great Queen-street belonging to the Grand Lodge . A great opportunity is now afforded for an extension of the accommodation available for the comfort and enjoyment of the brethren , and I would suggest , as one
of these arrangements , the establishment of a Masonic Club , restricted to members of the Order , and based on lines somewhat similar to the Law Society Club in Chancery-Ianc , which is limited to members of the Incorporated Law Society . —I am , yours very fraternally , P . M . June 7 th .
Reviews
REVIEWS
WILLIAM MORGAN . SVHAT THE FREEMASONS SAY . By Bro . ROBERT MORRIS , LL . D . Robert Maroy , 4 , Barclay-street , New York , U . S . The story of William Morgan curiously enough has never had the slighest interest for the English Masonic mind . It has never been dwelt upon thoughtfully nor seriously regarded . It has been held to be a consummation of trickery and dirtiness combined , unreliable in fact ,
unmeaning in outcome , and unworthy the thoughtful treatment or careful attention of upright and reflecting Freemasons . Yet in America exactly the reverse has been the case . Wm . Morgan , worthless loafer as he was , and in all probability a spurious Mason to boot , has been made the watchword of political factions , and the shibboleth of party excitement . Battles have been lost and won over a lying delusion and for an unhallowed name .
For a long time the Craft in the United States had to meet a most direct , deliberate , and venomous persecution , which partially in some localities quenched their enthusiasm and impeded their advance , and no doubt in a general way has dwarfed the " tout-en-semble" of American Freemasonry in its entirety to a very perceptible extent . But as all iniquity and injustice have an end here in the good Providence of T , G . A . O . T . U ., so Freemasonry in America
seems to have gained new life from such passing shadows and petty libels , and to be moving forward with giant strides in a sure and safe ratio of loyal and salutary progress . But a new antagonist appears on the scene . Lo and behold a pseudo-religion attacks Freemasonry on the most perverse and irrational and irreverential grounds . The "testifying" of certain illiterate quasi religious teachers ( so called ) , the viperous remarks of the
"Cynosure , and a blatant chorus of ignorance and impertinence denounce Freemasonry openly before American citizens ; and anti-Masonic candidates are run for State office , and an anti-Masonic . President is put forward . Of course in America and England those who look below the surface of things , and above the level of the utterances of political mountebanks , or the frenzy of party violence , know at what value to discount
such declamations , and to assess such manifestations . They are absolutely worthless , — " Nehushtan" is their name . They but represent the customary weakness , the ignorance and intolerance of poor humanity , and remind us forcibly of that tendency of fanaticism always to persecute , ot that so-called superstition which ends in " Fetish , " of that developementof cruel and hateful idiosyncracy which massacred unoffending Jews in the middle ages , simply because they
werejews . and handed overjewsand Christians alike , ( happy indifference ) , to the murderous zealots and the " tender mercies " of the Inquisition under the degraded banner of a so-called St . Dominic . In America we concede perforce to American Freemasons alike a better acquaintance with the facts of the case , their needs and necessities , the " pros and cons , " than we can possibly profess to enjoy in England . No doubt , therefore , the publication is required in the
Reviews
exigencies of the hour , and the needs of the Craft ; otherwise we should have been inclined to "let well alone , " and treat all such attacks and assailants with silent contempt , to pay no heed either to novel incriminations or revived calumnies . Everything connected with Morgan seems to have been mismanaged from first to last . He was himself a "pariah" of society , utterly
loathsome to contemplate , a trickster , and an impostor . His pretended experience was a deception and a lie on the very face of it , and how any sensible Freemason could have ever feared anything he could profess to expound passes our comprehension . Any such attempt to silence writers by bribing them away , never pays , and is a grave mistake in policy as well as in morality . The falsehood can only
endure for a short time . Truth will eventually prevail , and in the moral government of the G . A . O . T . U . no deliberate iniquity or trickery is permanently prosperous . That any , even the lowest form of political aberration , could have sought to make a hero of such a scoundrel , only shows to what shifts men are sometimes put to here who leave truth and honour
far behind , and with the exception of a great dual of shortsightedness and inexperience and imprudence , timorous counsels and hasty resolves , all thinking persons will come to the conclusion , that no more serious charge can be laid to the score of Governor Clinton , Bro . Cheesborough , and others , whose names are connected with the Morgan affair . We have always regretted even the migration into
Canada , we' regret it still , and trust that this untoward episode will remain as a useful warning against ever deviating one jot or tittle from the strait and narrow path of legality and honour , justice and truth . We must add that Bro . Robert Morris seems to have done his editorial portion admirably , and under no better auspices could this Defence of Masonry come forth than under the veteran and respected name of Robert Maroy .
THE MAGAZINES . We take them up to-day feeling more and more how great is the tax they constitute on our time and thought , and how greatly they certainly affect the entire outcome of contemporary thought , study , and criticism . "Temple Bar" gives us instalments of "Belinda , " "ToneStewart , " " Katty the Flash , " and " Uncle George's
Will , " which ends , as was to be foreseen , quite " apropos . " The " Reminiscences of Lord Stratford do Redcliffe , " "General Chanzy , " and "Seen under Different Aspects " make up a good number . "The Century" is specially remarkable this month for its illustrations in such articles as " Living English Sculptors , " " Father Junipero and his Work , " and "Thc Great South Gate . " We can heartily commend the number .
" All the Year Round" is strong this month with " Mr . Scarborough ' s Family , " " Geoffrey Stirling , " which is brought to a close , and "Jenifer . " We can also praise "Monsieur Pasteur" and "The Bishop ' s Ripentance . " "Longman ' s Magazine , " to our mind , does not show any increased strength . " Taiwan's Choice , " a Cornish story , seems to show " geist" and power . "Thicker
than Water proceeds . Ihe other articles are good magazine contributions . " The Antiquary and the Bibliographer " come to us recommended by pleasant lucubrations and old world reminiscences . They will be appreciated by all who in this whirling age have time or attention for such thoughts and such things . " Bulletin du Grand Orient de France , " though only
for February , is before us . We fear that , in addition to its abnormal position , the good old bulletin of French Freemasonry is becoming slow . Bro . Grimaux , the able Secretary , will , we feel sure , rectify matters . " Le Monde Maconnique , " under Bro . Rocher ' s editorship , has much inlerest for French Freemasons , in that Bro . Rocher gives them that variety of Constitutions
which in the last few years has weakened French and startled Cosmopolitan Freemasonry . What can you do with a bod y whose Constitution is always changing ? The "litera senpta " which Bro . Rocher prints , shows all of us who are capable of thought and discrimination the " facilis descensus Averni " still ever opening before French Freemasonry .
"The Masonic Review , " edited by Bro . H . D . Moore , Cincinnati . No . 4 , Vol . 59 , comes before us to-day with every claim for a careful perusal . Its contributions are various and interesting , and much to the Masonic point , and it is carefully and ably edited . VVe wish that in England American Masonic serial literature was more read and encouraged .
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
193 J AN OLD BOOK . Can any one tell me anything about Bro . W . Meeson , who published at Birmingham in 1775 a book entitled , "An Introduction to Freemasonry , " & c . It was printed by " Pearson and Rollason . " Bro . Meeson dubs himself simply " M . M ., " and says he publishes the work , because
he does not' find many that are very useful , besides those which contain the historical part of Masonry , and the Constitutions and the Charges . " "Other matters , " hecontinues , " seem to be buried in silence . " He accordingly divides his work into three parts . 1 . To Entered Apprentices ; 2 , to Journeymen and Masters ; and 3 to Masters
, only . He makes in fact his teaching partly moral and partly geometrical . KIoss mentions it at p . 33 , No . 303 , but gives a second edition apparently as published in London , by Baldwin , 1776 , though he does not say so distinctly . Bode republished it apparently also in 177 S , but whether in English or German it is not said . BOOKWORM .
194 ] RANK IN GRAND LODGE . As a matter of history , can anyone tell us , whether in appointment to rank , since 1 S 30 say , such rank has not been approved of by motion in Grand Lodge . OUERIST . I 95 J „ ... . _
ROYAL LANCASHIRE LODGE , COLNE . As the Royal Lancashire Lodge it was founded in 1762 . Some of the founders probably met together regularly for years before that date at the Hole in the Wall at Colne , and James Shackleton would be one of those Masons . Such
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION . — THE ELECTION OF COMMITTEE . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In your issue of the 2 nd inst ., under the heading "Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , " a brother singing
himself " P . M . " attacks me on a question of my fitness to serve on the Committee of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and speaks disparagingly of my nominator . Permit me to say that my nominator was thc respected W . M . of my mother lodge—the Egyptian , No . 27 , —which is a vice-patron of the Institution , a position that few
lodges have attained to . It was impossible for me to have a better qualified nominator . The Egyptian Lodge has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Benevolent Institution , and " P . M . " by insulting its Master is not in my opinion furthering the interests of the Institution . When " P . M . " ventured to recommend the Craft to
oppose my election he must have forgotten or been ignorant of the fact that in June last year I was at the head of the poll when Grand Lodge elected its members of the Board of General Purposes , and that I occupied the same proud position on the poll when in December there was an election in Grand Lodge of a Junior Vice-President of the Lodge
of Benevolence . I trust I may be pardoned for referring to these matters , but I feel proud of the honour Grand Lodge thought fit to confer on me . Your correspondent " P . M . ' s " appeal to the Craft to leave me " alone " has been answered in a way that he little expected . As regards his statement that when I had
the honour of being a member ' of the Committee I rarely attended , I beg to say he has been misinformed . I attended rather too often to please some brethren , and had I been less anxious to discharge my duty as one of the representatives of Grand Lodge on that Committee you would not have heard from "P . M ., " nor have been troubled with this communication . —Yours fraternally ,
CHARLES ATKINS , Clapton , 12 th June . P . M . 27 and 1260 . To the Editor of the " Freemason . "
Dear Sir and Brother , — My attention has just been called to a letter inserted in your issue of the 2 nd inst ., and signed " P . M ., " in which it is stated that the brother who nominated another brother for the Committee of Management was
not even a subscriber of five shillings a year to the Institution . Now , sir , I beg most respectfully to set our old friend " P . M . " right . 1 have for eight years past given something every year to one or the other of the Charities ; for the last five years two guineas a year , but my money has gone through other brethren . I
have been each of the last four years one of five brethren in my lodge putting two guineas each , and then drawing for a Life Governorship , in which up to the present time I have been unfortunate . As my name appears in full on the agenda paper , I shall esteem it a favour if you will insert this letter , in justice
to me and the lodge I have the honour to represent . —Yours fraternally , W . M . June 9 th . P . S . —I see by your issue of to-day ' s date that the brother nominated has been elected , as our American cousins say , by a large majority .
REBUILDING THE TEMPLE . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Some brethren have commented on my name having been put forward at Grand Lodge on Wednesday , the 6 th inst ., but I venture lo think that my active
experience for many years of the arrangement and cost of buildings to accommodate large numbers of persons would have been of some use to the committee , while I was perhaps the only one of the brethren nominated who had actually planned a building for Masonic purposes . 1 venture to suggest that the Building Committee should limit the
competition either to the members of Grand Lodge or , at least , to 20 members of the Craft , as a competition advertised in the professional journals would be unnoticed by the best architects , who rarely , if ever , enter the lists in an open competition . It would be rather awkward to have an architect who was
not a member of the Craft , and there is no doubt at all excellent designs could be obtained from the many able and distinguished architects who are members of Grand Lodge . Nobody knows better than the Grand Superintendent of Works and Bro . J . Gibson ( one of the ablest living architects ) that ordinary advertised competitions are very rarely taken notice of by the leading architects . —Yours
fraternally , HENRY LOVEGROVE . 21 , Budge-row , Cannon-street , E . C .
JOINING MEMBERS . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I have always held , rightly or wrongly , that joining members can only be elected at one of the regular meetings of the lodge . The proposition can be made at a
lodge of emergency , but it appears to me that the name must appear in the summons for and the ballot be taken at the next regular meeting , no notice of emergency altering this rule . During the last few months I have known of elections at emergency meetings , and 1 should like to know that I am right . —Yours , & c , P . M . AND SEC .
Original Correspondence.
ON THINGS IN GENERAL . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — 1 . After the very sensible proposal and decision in connection with the rebuilding of the " Temple " and the formation of a Building Committee , I venture to
suggest that a similar Building Committee be formed by the Life Governors of the Boys' School for the purpose of undertaking the erection of the Preparatory School . The House Committee is a shifting body , and I am not aware of the fact that any member of it is competent to select a suitable plan or judge of its arrangements ; probably the
majority would not be able to tell a plan from a section . 2 . Now that the Provincial Grand Lodges are meeting , may I repeat my suggestion that the arrangements be made so that the dinner is charged for at say six or seven shillings per head , and the wine being left to the individual . 1 am not an abstainer myself , but 1 know many who are ,
and I venture to assert that such a change would double the number of those remaining to the banquet , as others besides those above referred to object to paying a guinea for a cold collation and often very inferior wine . 3 . Why should not our committees of the various Institutions be elected by voting papers instead of requiring us all to go to the offices in Great Queen-street to fight for
paper ? Surely if the election of children to important positions for their school life can be done by voting papers such a simple matter as the election of a committee could be conducted in the same way , and our country brethren would then have a voice in the election . I consider that the struggle for voting papers was more like the entrance to the pit of a theatre than anything so dignified as a number of Masons electing a committee . —Yours , & c , OBSERVER .
A MASONIC CLUB . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Allow me to offer through your columns a suggestion to those in authority in our Order who are now considering , and no doubt with anxious care , the subject of the
reconstruction and rearrangement of the great hall and other buildings in Great Queen-street belonging to the Grand Lodge . A great opportunity is now afforded for an extension of the accommodation available for the comfort and enjoyment of the brethren , and I would suggest , as one
of these arrangements , the establishment of a Masonic Club , restricted to members of the Order , and based on lines somewhat similar to the Law Society Club in Chancery-Ianc , which is limited to members of the Incorporated Law Society . —I am , yours very fraternally , P . M . June 7 th .
Reviews
REVIEWS
WILLIAM MORGAN . SVHAT THE FREEMASONS SAY . By Bro . ROBERT MORRIS , LL . D . Robert Maroy , 4 , Barclay-street , New York , U . S . The story of William Morgan curiously enough has never had the slighest interest for the English Masonic mind . It has never been dwelt upon thoughtfully nor seriously regarded . It has been held to be a consummation of trickery and dirtiness combined , unreliable in fact ,
unmeaning in outcome , and unworthy the thoughtful treatment or careful attention of upright and reflecting Freemasons . Yet in America exactly the reverse has been the case . Wm . Morgan , worthless loafer as he was , and in all probability a spurious Mason to boot , has been made the watchword of political factions , and the shibboleth of party excitement . Battles have been lost and won over a lying delusion and for an unhallowed name .
For a long time the Craft in the United States had to meet a most direct , deliberate , and venomous persecution , which partially in some localities quenched their enthusiasm and impeded their advance , and no doubt in a general way has dwarfed the " tout-en-semble" of American Freemasonry in its entirety to a very perceptible extent . But as all iniquity and injustice have an end here in the good Providence of T , G . A . O . T . U ., so Freemasonry in America
seems to have gained new life from such passing shadows and petty libels , and to be moving forward with giant strides in a sure and safe ratio of loyal and salutary progress . But a new antagonist appears on the scene . Lo and behold a pseudo-religion attacks Freemasonry on the most perverse and irrational and irreverential grounds . The "testifying" of certain illiterate quasi religious teachers ( so called ) , the viperous remarks of the
"Cynosure , and a blatant chorus of ignorance and impertinence denounce Freemasonry openly before American citizens ; and anti-Masonic candidates are run for State office , and an anti-Masonic . President is put forward . Of course in America and England those who look below the surface of things , and above the level of the utterances of political mountebanks , or the frenzy of party violence , know at what value to discount
such declamations , and to assess such manifestations . They are absolutely worthless , — " Nehushtan" is their name . They but represent the customary weakness , the ignorance and intolerance of poor humanity , and remind us forcibly of that tendency of fanaticism always to persecute , ot that so-called superstition which ends in " Fetish , " of that developementof cruel and hateful idiosyncracy which massacred unoffending Jews in the middle ages , simply because they
werejews . and handed overjewsand Christians alike , ( happy indifference ) , to the murderous zealots and the " tender mercies " of the Inquisition under the degraded banner of a so-called St . Dominic . In America we concede perforce to American Freemasons alike a better acquaintance with the facts of the case , their needs and necessities , the " pros and cons , " than we can possibly profess to enjoy in England . No doubt , therefore , the publication is required in the
Reviews
exigencies of the hour , and the needs of the Craft ; otherwise we should have been inclined to "let well alone , " and treat all such attacks and assailants with silent contempt , to pay no heed either to novel incriminations or revived calumnies . Everything connected with Morgan seems to have been mismanaged from first to last . He was himself a "pariah" of society , utterly
loathsome to contemplate , a trickster , and an impostor . His pretended experience was a deception and a lie on the very face of it , and how any sensible Freemason could have ever feared anything he could profess to expound passes our comprehension . Any such attempt to silence writers by bribing them away , never pays , and is a grave mistake in policy as well as in morality . The falsehood can only
endure for a short time . Truth will eventually prevail , and in the moral government of the G . A . O . T . U . no deliberate iniquity or trickery is permanently prosperous . That any , even the lowest form of political aberration , could have sought to make a hero of such a scoundrel , only shows to what shifts men are sometimes put to here who leave truth and honour
far behind , and with the exception of a great dual of shortsightedness and inexperience and imprudence , timorous counsels and hasty resolves , all thinking persons will come to the conclusion , that no more serious charge can be laid to the score of Governor Clinton , Bro . Cheesborough , and others , whose names are connected with the Morgan affair . We have always regretted even the migration into
Canada , we' regret it still , and trust that this untoward episode will remain as a useful warning against ever deviating one jot or tittle from the strait and narrow path of legality and honour , justice and truth . We must add that Bro . Robert Morris seems to have done his editorial portion admirably , and under no better auspices could this Defence of Masonry come forth than under the veteran and respected name of Robert Maroy .
THE MAGAZINES . We take them up to-day feeling more and more how great is the tax they constitute on our time and thought , and how greatly they certainly affect the entire outcome of contemporary thought , study , and criticism . "Temple Bar" gives us instalments of "Belinda , " "ToneStewart , " " Katty the Flash , " and " Uncle George's
Will , " which ends , as was to be foreseen , quite " apropos . " The " Reminiscences of Lord Stratford do Redcliffe , " "General Chanzy , " and "Seen under Different Aspects " make up a good number . "The Century" is specially remarkable this month for its illustrations in such articles as " Living English Sculptors , " " Father Junipero and his Work , " and "Thc Great South Gate . " We can heartily commend the number .
" All the Year Round" is strong this month with " Mr . Scarborough ' s Family , " " Geoffrey Stirling , " which is brought to a close , and "Jenifer . " We can also praise "Monsieur Pasteur" and "The Bishop ' s Ripentance . " "Longman ' s Magazine , " to our mind , does not show any increased strength . " Taiwan's Choice , " a Cornish story , seems to show " geist" and power . "Thicker
than Water proceeds . Ihe other articles are good magazine contributions . " The Antiquary and the Bibliographer " come to us recommended by pleasant lucubrations and old world reminiscences . They will be appreciated by all who in this whirling age have time or attention for such thoughts and such things . " Bulletin du Grand Orient de France , " though only
for February , is before us . We fear that , in addition to its abnormal position , the good old bulletin of French Freemasonry is becoming slow . Bro . Grimaux , the able Secretary , will , we feel sure , rectify matters . " Le Monde Maconnique , " under Bro . Rocher ' s editorship , has much inlerest for French Freemasons , in that Bro . Rocher gives them that variety of Constitutions
which in the last few years has weakened French and startled Cosmopolitan Freemasonry . What can you do with a bod y whose Constitution is always changing ? The "litera senpta " which Bro . Rocher prints , shows all of us who are capable of thought and discrimination the " facilis descensus Averni " still ever opening before French Freemasonry .
"The Masonic Review , " edited by Bro . H . D . Moore , Cincinnati . No . 4 , Vol . 59 , comes before us to-day with every claim for a careful perusal . Its contributions are various and interesting , and much to the Masonic point , and it is carefully and ably edited . VVe wish that in England American Masonic serial literature was more read and encouraged .
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
193 J AN OLD BOOK . Can any one tell me anything about Bro . W . Meeson , who published at Birmingham in 1775 a book entitled , "An Introduction to Freemasonry , " & c . It was printed by " Pearson and Rollason . " Bro . Meeson dubs himself simply " M . M ., " and says he publishes the work , because
he does not' find many that are very useful , besides those which contain the historical part of Masonry , and the Constitutions and the Charges . " "Other matters , " hecontinues , " seem to be buried in silence . " He accordingly divides his work into three parts . 1 . To Entered Apprentices ; 2 , to Journeymen and Masters ; and 3 to Masters
, only . He makes in fact his teaching partly moral and partly geometrical . KIoss mentions it at p . 33 , No . 303 , but gives a second edition apparently as published in London , by Baldwin , 1776 , though he does not say so distinctly . Bode republished it apparently also in 177 S , but whether in English or German it is not said . BOOKWORM .
194 ] RANK IN GRAND LODGE . As a matter of history , can anyone tell us , whether in appointment to rank , since 1 S 30 say , such rank has not been approved of by motion in Grand Lodge . OUERIST . I 95 J „ ... . _
ROYAL LANCASHIRE LODGE , COLNE . As the Royal Lancashire Lodge it was founded in 1762 . Some of the founders probably met together regularly for years before that date at the Hole in the Wall at Colne , and James Shackleton would be one of those Masons . Such