Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 42 . < Grand Mark Lodge 426 Provincial Grand Lodge of Kent 427 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge o £ Hants and Isle of Wight 428 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Berks and

Oxon , 429 CORRESPONDENCELewises and Priority 431 REPORTS OE MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 431 Instruction 434 Royal Arch 434

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Mark Masonry 434 Ancient and Accepted Rite 434 The Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ... 434 The Recent Hoys' School Festival 435 Roval Masonic Institution for Girls 435

Testimonial to Miss Davis , Head Governess of the R . M . I , for Girls 43 J Royal Masonic benevolent Institntion 435 Masonic Charity in West . Lancashire 435 Banquet of ihe Percy I . odge 435 Masonic and General Tidings 436 ' Lodge Meetings for Next Week iii .

Ar00101

WE are authoritatively informed that the dual luncheon at the Mark Installation was necessitated by the want of a second hall sufficiently spacious for the accomodation of the large number who originally intimated their intention to attend . The restriction at the ceremony to the qualified members of Grand Lodge—compulsorily rectified only three days before

the meeting—led to the withdrawal of the large majority of those who had signified their intention to partake of the luncheon at Freemasons' Tavern , and when it was found that not more than forty brethren werc there present , it was deemed advisable to regard the luncheon as an informal one , without

stated lists of toasts , or a specially appointed chairman ; and this , as being more conducive to the comfort and enjoyment of those who attended . There was , and is , the strongest feeling of regret lhat circumstances , absolutely beyond control , compelled an arrangement which has , unhappily , been the cause of dissatisfaction .

* # * WE must take the opportunity of reminding our readers that the 18 th Festival of the Mark Benevolent Fund is arranged to take place at the Holborn Restaurant on Wednesday , the 28 th inst . R . W . Bro . A . F . GODSON , M . P ., Prov . G . M . M . of Worcestershire , has kindly undertaken

to preside , and as there is a strong Board of Stewards , and the brethren have been putting their shoulders to the wheel right loyally , there is every reason to hope that the celebration will be an even greater success than it was last year , when upwards of ^ 1700 , or more than double the proceeds

of the highest previous total , was raised for the purposes of the Fund . We trust these anticipations will prove correct . The Fund , though it has been in existence only 18 years , has latterly enlarged its field of operations ; there are more applicants for its benefits than there were formerly , and therefore the need for a larger aggregate of contributions is more obvious ,

* * * THE scheme for the presentation of a testimonial to Miss DAVIS , the head governess of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , will commend itself almost naturally to the members of the English Craft . Miss DAVIS has discharged the very arduous and responsible duties of her office with

exemplary ability and success during a period of 25 years . When she entered upon those duties the education bestowed upon the girls was of the most elementary character , comprising , as Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON pointed out in his address at the distribution of prizes the other day , Alderman CUR - TIS ' S " three R's—reading , 'riting , and ' rithmetic—with a little sewing

thrown in / ' Under her auspices it has been developed amazingly , and now there is not in all England a school of a similar character , and consisting of girls ofa middle-class status in society , which is more successful in turning out pupils who are thoroughly well-instructed in all the branches of a sound , serviceable education . Indeed , many far more pretentious establishments

which obtain most of their support from opulent people , are far less successful as regards both the quality and extent of the training they afford . Moreover , our girls are not only good scholars , as is shown by the series of successes they have latterly achieved at our public Middle-Class Examinations , but they are also well-versed in the home duties of everyday life . It

is b y no means an uncommon experience for the same children to be awarded prizes in cookery and composition , or for a knowledge of thorough bass and skill in plain and fancy needlework , and the lady who presides over an institution which annually produces such results as we have described , must have fulfilled her duties both ably and conscientiously , and

in a manner deserving of the highest possible commendation . Thus the testimonial it is in contemplation to present her wilh will be both gratifying as a recognition of her past services and encouraging as to the future , and on these grounds we hope and believe that the response of the members of

the Craft to the appeal now on the point of being addressed to them will be commensurate with the value and extent of the services which Miss DAVIS has rendered . We publish elsewhere a list of the Committee which has been formed for thc purpose of giving effect to the proposal .

Ar00102

CONSIDERING the progress that has been made of late years in the study of Masonic history , and that much of what past generations of brethren accepted as gospel has been shown to be the fabrications of visionaries and enthusiasts , it is not a little amusing and perhaps also somewhat disappointing to meet every now and then with evidence that the imaginative

faculty still plays a conspicuous part in the manufacture of new or the repetition of old historic shams . The other day , for instance , a provincial contemporary , whose duty it is to enlighten the inhabitants of one pf our northern seaports , gravely told its readers among other things that Freemasonry was " first established in Great Britain " in " 674 , . D ., " adding

that it " was interdicted in England in 1424 , but the Grand Lodge was reestablished in 1717 , about which time interest in the Society began to be revived , and lodges were extended over Europe beyond all previous experience . " We have no particular objection to the latter statements . An Act was passed about the time stated against the Freemasons by the

Government of HENRY VI ., and our present Grand Lodge was established , if not exactly " re-established , " in the year 1717 . But we confess we do not see our way clear to accepting the earlier statement as to the first introduction of Freemasonry into Great Britain in " 674 , A . D . " The writer has ignored altogether the St . Alban tradition , which is pretty and attractive , if not

capable of strict proof , and assigns thc origin of our Society in Britain to a very much later date , without offering any particular reason and with no advantage that we can think of to our mythical history . The introduction of Christianity into the island towards the close of the sixth century must have given a great impetus to ecclesiastical architecture . The conversion

of the people to that form of religious faith would necessitate the erection of Christian churcnes , and employment would thus have been found for the Masons and associate Crafts ; but why have selected 674 , A . n ., when 50 years earlier or 50 years later—we all know that a century or two more or less in tracing the early history of our Society is of no great account—would

have done as well , or possibly even better . Our legends indicate a great gap between ST . ALBAN ' S time and that of ATHELSTAN , and it may be the author of the paragraph we are quoting from may have selected the year in question , because , speaking very roughly , it was about half-way between the martyrdom of the saint and the date assigned to the ATHELSTAN charter .

Possibly , some of our readers who have made this portion of our history their especial study may be more successful in suggesting a reason for the selection of this particular date ; but , in any circumstances , we feel it our duty to protest in the first place against the indignity offered by this unknown professor of Masonic history to the memory of ST . ALBAN , whom he has

thus summarily deposed from the honourable position of the founder of the first lodge of Masons in England—see ANDERSON—and , in the next , to his revival of those interesting fables , which have been the theme of admiration among the unlearned , and the ridicule of the learned members of our Society during a whole series of generations .

* » IT is to be regretted that Bro . H . MASSEY did not see his way to permitting the compliment proposed at the Quarterly Court of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys to Bro . G . B . ABBOTT for his " History of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys" to pass unchallenged . It was in

questionable taste to oppose a motion to do a simple act of courtesy towards that brother for the pains he had bestowed upon his work , and Bro . MASSEY did not improve matters by placing his skill in the art of reporting speeches on a level with Bro . ABBOTT ' S ability as a writer and compiler of history . The two classes of labour are so distinct from each other ,

that it is impossible to place them side by side for the purposes of comparison , and , as it was stated by Bro . BINCKES that the History had been of service to the Institution , Bro . MASSEY would have been better advised had he allowed the motion to pass without cavil , or , at all events , without mixing up his own claims to merit as a reporter with those of Bro , ABBOTT as a writer .

* * * A VERY gratifying piece of evidence was furnished at the annual meeting last week of the United Military Lodge , No . 1536 , Plumstead , that the efforts of this journal to enlighten the Craft generally as to the proceedings of the different lodges were , very highly appreciated by the brethren of

our Colonial , as well as of our home , lodges , and that the Freemason had come to be regarded almost in the light of a necessary part of the paraphernalia of every lodge . Bro . Quartermaster DEEVES , P . M ., P . D . G . D . C .

Natal , whose name was associated svith the toast of "The Past Masters of the Lodge , " and who has just returned from service in Natal , in the course of his reply , said that " he and aU the Masons in Natal looked eagerly every week for their Freemason , and that he did not know how he should have got