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stituted under the banner of their lodge ; that the first Grand Master of Masons was one of their own members ; that the lodge has preserved an uninterrupted continuity of existence from 1717 until the present day ; and that of the three living lodges who now share the glory of having founded and established the Premier Grand Lodge of the world , it is the only one of them which has never ceased for a single instant to occupy a place on her roll . Bro . O . F . Peall , P . M ., proposed " That a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Bro . Gould , P . G . D ., for his able address on the antiquity of this old lodge , and that the

same be entered on the minutes and printed in pamphlet form . " Bro . John C . Nicholson , P . M ., in seconding the resolution , said they must all recognise the enormous amount of work attaching to such an address . He had been associated just recently in this work of getting out the antiquity and history of their lodge . The I . P . M ., Bro . Stuart Walker , took a good deal of interest in the matter , and they came to the conclusion that the Past Masters and brethren , like the brethren in the past , had considerably overlooked the importance attaching to the history of their lodge , and they determined to bring it forward so that the members n . ight realise the fact . In asking Bro .

Gould to address the brethren , they had no notion of raising issues that might be contested , and the way that Bro . Gould had put the case before them was so dear that no question would ever be raised . He believed that Bro . Gould was recognised as one of the greatest authorities in Masonic history , and they might , therefore , accept with great confidence what he had given them as the real history of the lodge . Bro . Gould had performed a service , not only to this lodge , but to the Craft at large . It was to the interest of the Craft that the real history should be known and appreciated . Bro . Gould had said that no history of this lodge had ever been written . When the l . P . M . discussed this matter with him ( Bro . Nicholson ) they took upon themselves the task of

attempting such a work , but they found they had considerably under-estimated the work . It would have been impossible for them as business men to have got together the necessary information , and , therefore , they had much pleasure in relying upon Bro . Gould . He had much pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks . The resolution was carried unanimously , and Bro . Gould , P . G . D ., in reply , said he tendered them his thanks in return for theirs . Bro . O . F . Peall , P . M ., next proposed that concerted action should be taken with the Lodge of Antiquity and the Somerset House and Inverness Lodge to celebrate St . John ' s Day ( 24 th June next ) , that being the date of the formation of the premier Grand Lodge of the World , and accordingly a Committee was formed with this obiect .

Bro . Peall again rose and stated that when he was in the chair the late G . Secretary voluntarily came to the lodge and stated " that he had found certain letters that proved that this lodge was originally No . 3 ; " that we were renumbered as No . 12 , but that he could give no justification for our being so renumbered , as he could not trace that we had ever done anything wrong . He also stated that from the books in Grand Lodge that we were the first to appoint a Grand Master . It was announced that several of the invited guests had from various causes been unavoidably prevented from attending , and

amongthe number were Bros . Dr . W . J . Chetwode Crawley , P . G . D . Ireland ; W . H . Rylands , P . A . G . D . C ; George Kenning , P . M . ; T . B . Whytehead , W . M . 2076 , P . G . S . B . ; G . B . Abbott , P . M . ; W . M . Bywatcr , P . G . S . B . ; and W . J . Hughan , P . G . D ., from whom the following letter had been received : "' Dunscore , ' Torquay , " February 2 Sth , igoo . " Dear Bro . Lilley ,

"I am very much obliged for the invite to the installation and annual festival of the ' Fortitude and Old Cumberland ' Lodge , No . 12 , and exceedingly regret my inability to attend . " Please apologise for me to the W . M . and members . " I am all the more sorry for my absence , as my old and esteemed friend and Bro . R . F . Gould , the Masonic Historian , is to deliver an address on the ' Early History of No . 12 , ' & c . No one is better qualified and few , if any , so well , to lecture on this subject , as he has made it a special study as the author of the celebrated work on 'The Four Old Lodges . '

" 1 have no hesitation in confirming in 1900 my opinion expressed in 1 S 7 S—that Bro . Gould has identified No . 12 ' as the lineal descendant of original No . 3 , so that under another name the members of to-day may fairly claim that their predecessors took part in the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of the world . * " Dr . Anderson , in his' Book of Constitutions , ' 1738 , informs us that on account 'of some difference amongst its members , ' the lodge was removed in February , 1722-3 , and ' came under a new Constitution , ' though ' they wanted it not . '

" Now , what is it they did not want ? I take it to be the ncu Constitution , i . e ., being newly constituted , and hence , had they objected to that ceremony and not been newly constituted , but continued their assemblies as of yore , and Grand Lodge had agreed , the lodge would still be a 'Time Immemorial' organisation . " Nothing , however , can alter the fact that as a lodge virtually , if not actually , it

dates back to a pre Grand Lodge era , and through its continuity of members , if not as a lodge , it assisted to start the first Grand Lodge ever formed . I see from a table in my possession , in the handwriting of my lamented friend , Bro . Jno . Lane , your lodge attended the Quarterly Communications of Grand Lodge 31 times from 1727 to 1748 . " With all good wishes for the meeting , " Believe me , yours fraternally ,

" WM . J AMES HUGHAN . "To the W . Bro . Alfred H . Lilley , P . M . and Sec . No . 12 . " Bro . Attridge was proposed as a joining member , and a sum of 15 guineas was voted to be placed on Bro . Teller's list for the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys . The lodge was then closed and the brethren adjourned to thc banejuet , after which the customary toasts were duly honoured . "The O ' ueen and the Craft" was first proposed by the Worshipful Master , who

said that at the present time this toast touched a chord of patriotism , tor over Co years her Majesty had reigned in that fierce light that beats upon a throne and had proved herself an example to every one of her subjects . To all men in the honesty and thoroughness of her work and to all women by her private life . She had won and enjoyed the love of all her subjects , and that love had probably been won more by her as a perfect woman and by the sympathy she had always shown for all her subjectsrich or poor—a sympathy they knew was extended to all in sorrow all over the land .

In giving "The M . W . the Grand Master , " the W . M . said he could not find words more appropriate than those printed on the programme— "The Immediate heir of England , the hope and expectation of our time , it is the Prince ot Wales . " The Worshipful Master next proposed "The Grand Officers . " He had read that Masonry in London was a system of dining clubs . He did not admit it was so , for Masonry was a serious bond of union amongst men . Perhaps it no longer occupied the

position it did in times past , say in 1717 when Masonry in its present form was established . It had changed because it had no longer the great objects to serve it had then . It brought men together , to know each other and to learn to respect each other better , Dining clubs had their use in bringing about good fellowship , but Masonry fulfilled higher objects . Their ritual was like a religious service and evith nuny , Masonry was a religious service , and perhaps stricter than denominational religion . It wis a great

Craft Masonry.

Society and therefore all honour to those who had built it up and who had held positions at the head of their Institution . Bro . iHamon Le Strange , Prov . G . Master Norfolk , in response , said it was always a very high honour to answer for so comprehensive and exalted a toast . He certainly wished it had fallen to the lot of the distinguished historian of Freemasonry whom they had heard that evening to have done justice to this toast as a much older G . Officer . One's first duty , however , was obedience , and he would endeavour to express his thanks

for the G . Officers . When he accepted the invitation which they were good enough to send him , he did so with great pleasure , but when he had sent in his letter he remembered one cause which might give him a reception the reverse of flattering . The object of the gathering was to show how and why this lodge had got out of its proper numeration , which had been effected in the most convincing manner by Bro . Gould . He did not reflect that he was a P . M . of No . 10—one of the interlopers who had got ahead of them . He must leave his Masonic predecessors to fight that matter out . He was not ,

however , conscious of having received the cold shoulder from them by the reflection that his lodge had wrongfully got ahead of theirs in numeration . This was a very honourable toast to answer for , and there were two good reasons on the present occasion why this was more than an ordinary toast . First , he was standing up to answer in the presence of so many G . Officers , many much older in G . Office , and , probably , much older in Freemasonry . The second reason was that it was a very exceptional occasion on which anyone should have to answer for the toast in a lodge which existed before the G . Lodge itself . He had listened to the interesting summary of its pist history , and

wished that every lodge had its history dug up and expounded as Bro . Gould had done . It was a good thing for the members in learning the annals of the past , and in getting , link by link , those steps which bound them to the past . There were few lodges which could go back so far , and all the more reason this lodge should look bick with pride and pleasure . He thanked them for giving him the opportunity of attending on this more than interesting occasion , and hoped to receive a copy of the discourse when printed , so that he could look back with pleasure and satisfaction to the noble Masonic gathering they had had that evening .

Bro . S . Stuart Walker , I . P . M ., briefly proposed " The W . M ., " remarking that the brethren who had elected Bro . Stephens knew his good qualities , and also knew what a good Master he would make . Bro . S . Walter Stephens , W . M ., returned thanks . He felt it was a position of pride to occupy the chair of the Fortitude and Old Cumberland Lodge . They had heard that evening of the great antiquity of the lodge , and one could not help feeling

that there was a great responsibility resting upon its W . Master . Perhaps his greatest pride was in the kindness and good fellowship with which every member had welcomed him in his new position . He was not a child of this lodge , having been first introduced to its hospitality by Bro . Roy , P . M . Although a fairly old Mason he was not then a good Mason , but in this lodge a different impression was made upon him , and he asked them to admit him as a joining member He had learned to like Masonry and No . 12 . He thanked them for so kindly receiving him .

The W . M . next proposed " The Health of the I . P . M ., " than whom they had never had a harder working Master . Bro . Walker , I . P . M ., had conducted the affairs of this lodge in such perfect harmony during the past year that they had all thoroughly enjoyed every meeting , summer and winter . The l . P . M . took them over new and classical ground , and all members had engraved on their memory their visit to Ann Hathaway ' s cottage . Bro . Walker had done much for their instruction , and it was to his initiative they really owed all the knowledge that Bro . Gould had brought before them .

Bro . S . Stuart Walker , I . P . M ., in reply , said he hoped the little he had done for the lodge had been for its advantage . He thanked them for their kindness in the past , and would continue to do whatever he could for the lodge in the future . Bro . G . W . Speth , P . A . G . D . C , acknowledged the toast of " The Visitors , " and expressed his pride at having been selected to return thanks for so many distinguished visitors . He thanked the members for their bounteous hospitality . Lavish hospitality was , perhaps , one of the most familiar traits in the character of their race , and he

thought this feature had been so crystallised in the Masonic Fraternity that it was not to be wondered at in one of the oldest lodges in existence —a lodge numbering close upon 200 years , perhaps more , behind its name . Although he and his fellow visitors were grateful for the hospitality they had received , they had reason to be grateful for a far greater favour . They had been privileged that evening to be present at the awakening to consciousness of a Time Immemorial lodge to the proud fact of its own antiquity . The matter which had been brought before

them so ably by Bro . Gould was not strange to him ( Bro . Speth ) by any means . Twenty-five years ago , when he first took an interest in the archieology of the Craft , he was struck with the injustice done to an old lodge and they had that day been asked to be present at the awakening of consciousness , not only to the injustice meted out to this lodge , which they might consider a small matter , but to its distinguished position in the Craft . This lodge had not suffered alone , although , perhaps , in a superior degree . His own lodge dated from 1769 . He had hoped to meet Bro . Bywater , P . G . S . B ., who

was a child of No . 19 , which was warranted in the same year as his own lodge , No . 1 S 3 . Until they came to about 600 , the mere order of precedence was no indication of the age of a lodge . There was , he was sure , no intention of trying to recover their rightful place on the roll . There would be too many lodges who might make a similar claim and there might consequently be " confusion worse confounded . " It mattered not where they were placed on the roll , they had the consciousness of their antiquity . There had been many songs written for Masonry—and they had heard one that evening—but he might say the only song that had ever " caught on " was the Entered Apprentice ' s Song . One of the verses in this

ran"Antiquity ' s pride we have on our side , To keep up our old reputation . " That should be their motto and that should be a solace to them for any feeling of disappointment at not being in their proper numerical place . He suggested that stronf representations should be made to the Boird of General Purposes to drop , in the Calendar , the date " constituted 1722 " after this lodge . There were two lodges in the Calendar which had T . I . after their names , and if the matter was properly represented ,

especially with the authority of Bro . Gould , he had no doubt it would be set right . Hj believed they would seethe next Calendar published with the date " 1 7 22 " omitted , and the two mystic letters , T . I ., substituted . Itevould be some slight acknowledgment of the superior antiquity of the lodge and would be a comforting thing for the members also . He thought he voiced the sentiments of the visitors , when he thanked the brethren rather more for the treat in listening to Bro . Gould ' s lucid exposition of the early history of the lodge , than for the great hospitality shown them .

Oiher toasts were given , including " The Past Misters" and " The Officers . " Bro . Emerson presided at the pianoforte , and the musical arlistes included Miss Eleanor Nicholls , Miss Edie Ferris , and Messrs . Randell Jackson , and H . Turnpenny . Royal Gloucester Lodge , No . 130 , The brethren oi thc above lodge assembled in considerable numbers at the Masonic Hall , Southampton , on the Sth instant , the occasion being the installation of Bro . C . j . Sharp as W . M . till January next , the function having been delayed beyond the usual

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