Provincial Grand Lodge Of New York Under The "Ancients."

of the Grand Master , but of the Grand Secretary . " The explanation of this omission is by no means difficult . I have said that this particular Duke 0 f Athole was re-elected G . Master on the 5 th September , 1781 , that being the -day appointed by the Constitution for the election of the Grand held the

Officers for the year ensuing . But at an emergency meeting , on l 4 . th December following , Bro . W . Dickey , D . G . Master , being in the chair , the following letter from his Grace was read in answer to one which had been addressed to him by the Grand Secretary , Charles Bearblock , inviting him to be Grand Master for 17 82 . '" 5 Dunkeld , Nov . 29 th , 1781 .

Rig ht Worshipful Grand Secretary , I had the honour of receiving a Copy of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge on the Sth Septr . and your Letter yesterday . I should accept vvith the greatest pleasure of the honor the Grand Lodge have done me by re-electing me their Grand Master , but as my Residence is chiefly in the Country , it has not been ( nor will it 1 fear be ) in my power to give that attendance vvhich is the due of the Ancient Fraternity . I trust that during the time I have had the honor CtaSt have diminished

of being Grand Master tbe Honor and Interest of the no way , but for the reason above mentioned , with many thanks to the Grand Lodg * e , I must beg leave to resign the high office of Grand Master , at the same time the Fraternity may rest assured of my best wishes for their welfare and the Prosperity of the Ancient Craft . I remain , Right Worshipful Grand Secretary , Your faithful Bro . in Masonry , ( Signed ) ATHOLL , Grand Master .

This left the " Ancient Fraternity " without a Grand Master . Application vvas made to the Duke of Leinster , who had been Grand Master of Ireland , to accept the office ; but his Grace not being " likely to be in London " for some time , was under the necessity of declining the honour . On the 6 th February , 17 82 , the Grand Committee met and received this refusal , VV . Dickey , late D . G . M ., and L . Dermott , late D . G . M ., being both

present . Bro . Dickey was thereupon unanimously chosen " President of the Committee , " and having " Installed the Grand Secretary for the year of our Lord 1782 and year of Masonry 57 82 , according to Ancient Custom , " the Grand Committee was " closed sine die , or until the President of the Committee calls the Lodges together . " The case therefore stands thus : — This alleged warrant for the constitution of the Provincial Grand Lodge of

New York bears date the 5 th September , 1781—that is , it vvas granted on that day by the Ancient Grand Lodge . On reference to the minutes ol this Grand Lodge , I find that it met in Quarterly Communication on this very day , under the presidency of Senior Grand Warden Jones , and reelected John , Duke of Athole , who at the time was in the seventh year of his Grand Mastership , as Grand Master for 17 S 2 , the September Quarterly

Communication being appointed by law for the election of Grand Officers for the ensuing year . I find further from the minutes of an Emergency Meeting held on the following 14 th December , under the presidency of D . G . M . Dickey , that a letter vvas read from the Grand Master , in vvhich for the reason stated his Grace declined the honour of re-election , and that at a meeting of the Grand Committee , into which the Grand Lodge without a

Grand Master had resolved itself , held on the 6 th February , 1782 , Bro . Charles Bearblock was installed Grand Secretary , and W . Dickey , he late D . G . M ., appointed President of the Committee . In other words , the " Ancient" organisation had reverted to what it was in 1751-3 before Robert Turner was chosen and installed Grand Master , with this difference , that the Grand Committee , instead of being presided over , as

in the earlier period , by the W . M . 's of lodges in rotation , was presided over in 1782 by a permanent President in the person of Bro . Dickey . This will account for the absence of the Grand Master ' s signature . When it vvas granted , John , fourth Duke of Athole—who was also John the Third , Duke of Athole—was in the seventh year of his Grand Mastership ; when it was ssued for the brethren in New York to act under its provisions , the said

Duke of Athole had ceased to be Grand Master , and the only official who could and would attach his signature to such a document was the regularly installed-G . Secretary , Bro Charles Bearblock , the powers of the President of Committee being apparently limited to summoning the lodges to meet together and presiding at their meetings . And that there was an interval of considerable duration between the date of its grant—5 th September ,

1781—and the date of its issue , whenever that may have been , is proved by the three entries which I quoted last week from the " Ancient" G . Lodge minutes—describing the constitution of three several lodges in New York —in all of which two brethren are spoken of as P . G . M . elect and P . S . G . W . elect respectively , while a third brother is mentioned in two out of the three entries as P . J . G . W . elect .

I flatter myself that thus far I have succeeded in bringing together a few facts which vvill have the effect of weakening , if not of overbearing , the objections raised by Fincke , and adopted by Findel , to what the latter calls somewhat contemptuously " this very equivocal Constitution " of the Prov . G- lodge of New York under the " Ancient" G . Lodge of England . ( To be continued . )

"Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 1886-7." V.

"ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM , 1886-7 . " V .

the Paper by Professor T . Hay ter Lewis , read before a distinguished company of Masonic savants , on Nov . 8 , 1886 , is , to our mind , the least satisfactory of the series . The subject selected , " On an Early Version ° ' the Hiramic Legend , " announced with " flourishes of trumpets" beforehand , had lead to many pleasurable anticipations of the facts of great

"nportance that were to be revealed . As a matter of fact , however , we remain practically , in statu quo . Long have vve known about the legends ° the Talmud in relation to the Third Degree , supposed to be in hiding at J-ambrid ge , mentioned by Dr . Oliver , but so far have escaped detection . So ar as we can judge , the Arabic MS . is a variation of the legend , and as to

e Hebrew characters , & c , of the document— " we have found our Master iram " ( as explained ) , they , with additions , are well-known to students the Third Degree , who have been instructed in a Cabalistic manner of eating some esoteric words connected with the Master Masons' ceremony . e were so informed many years ago by an able Rabbi , who was a Brother ,

n also from several other brethren , strangers to each other . Professor ewis told his hearers in the most straightforward manner all he knew of matter , and states he has since been informed that a MS . which seems ° be of t he character of that referred to by Dr . Marks , is said to have act " !" * Cambridge University library , and very possibly , maybe the ual one to vvhich he refers . We hope that this Cambridge MS . will soon

"Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 1886-7." V.

be traced , and , meanwhile , vve hold vvith Gould—supported b y Hughan —that " The silence of the Old Charges vvith regard to Hiram was inconsistent with the supposition that he then occupied a prominent place in our traditions . The Hiramic Legend was introduced into English Masonry after the establishment of the Grand Lod ge of England . " The discussion had one excellent result , viz ., that it served to exhibit the fact with which

we were conversant beforehand , that the members of this Students' Lodge , will not be all of one pattern , or content to follow in any single groove , or to accept any of the members as infallible , for Bro . Speth directly opposed Bro . Gould ' s views , maintaining that " when in 1724 we found a similar idea [ the Legend of Hiram as say in the 14 th century , if then existing ] pervading Masonry , it was only fair to believe that it had descended indirect

line and was not a new importation . " Speth considers that the existence of the Hiramic Legend " was now proved as far back as the 14 th century , closely connected with architecture , and the proof has actuall y been found in England . " We demur to this , and believe that as time rolls on the " discovery of the Hiramic Legend of the 14 th century " vvill be accepted as one of the Myths of the Craft .

Sir Charles Warren , the W . M . of No . 2076 , read a Paper "On the Orientation of Temples " at the lodge held on March 3 rd , 18 S 7 , which is the only one given of this year ' s series in the Transactions Part I . What to do with it in the space allotted to us we know not . Much as we should like to exhibit its chief characteristics to our readers , we despair of doing so . for to remove any one portion from its surroundings would be unfair to the essay

as a whole . The Paper is as a string of most beautiful pearls , or a number of figures in a grand picture . To select either of the components and examine separately might be needful for some purposes ; but for our part we vvould rather not undertake the duty . Those who heard the gifted lecturer , or have read the choice composition in question , will realise our difficulty , and probably be of the same mind as ourselves . Without making any

extracts , therefore , or even quoting from the several participants in the discussion which subsequently took place , and partook of the hi gh character that marked the Paper—the lour speeches by Bros . Hayter-Lewis , W . Simpson , J . L . McG . Mathers , and J . da Silva being thoroughl y in keeping vvith the grandeur of the subject—vve shall simply rest content by stating that the object of the Master of No . 2076 was " to call attention to the

Orientation of Temples , with special reference to the Temple of Solomon and the Master Masons' Lodge . " The conclusions arrived at by Sir Charles Warren , briefly stated , are as follo-vs : "That in our Order vve are the direct descendants from the Phoenicians , who first moulded Masonry into its present form , and who were unable to openly worship the true God tor fear of the people . " The temples and the lodges of the Phoenicians were made on the

same model , being constructed with windows at the east , south , and west , through which lights shone to represent the sun in its three phases . This accounts , according to the gifted lecturer , for the position ol the Master and Wardens of modern lodges , the north in all the ancient mysteries being the abode of darkness . He considered it "exhibited a dash of grim humour " to place the Secretary and Treasurer of the lodge in the "dark corner . "

The "Extracts from Correspondence , Notes , " & c , furnished by the Secretary , will be found most interesting , and will doubtless constitute a useful feature of the Transactions through the numerous members of the " Correspondence Circle , " scattered over " the four quarters of the globe . " We again congratulate Bro . Speth and all concerned in the production of Part I . Volume I . of the Transactions , and consider the publication is a great credit to the members of the " Quatuor Coronati Lodge" No . 2076 . Evidently the small edition will soon be exhausted .

The History Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS

FROM ITS ORIGIN * , 1788 , TO ITS CENTENARY , 1888 . CHAPTER III . IN ST . GEORGE'S FIELDS .

TO THE DEATH OP THE CHEVALIEK RUSPINI ; 1795—1813 * "VVe now enter on the second period in the History of the Institution for Girls . The modest experiment in a small private house in Somers Town had proved entirely successful . The scheme of the Institutor had been carefully and even elaborately worked oat . The

Regulations , as revised and amended or enlarged from time to time , had been found effectual in maintaining discipline among * the children and economy in the household arrangements . The health , both physical and moral , of th ' e young inmates had been carefully watched over , while , as an evidence of the favour with which the plan had

been received b y the general body of the Craft , we have seen that it had been found possible to double the ori ginal number of girls even in the short period for which the School was resident in Somers Place East . The change from a small house to a large one was certain to be attended , if not with difficulties , at all events , with a serious increase

of responsibility , but the means that enabled the change to be made had been readily forthcoming , and even a less determined Executive than that on Avhich the government of the Institution rested must ,

under the very encouraging circumstances by which they found themselves surrounded , have been prepared to carry on their task in tho same kindl y and resolute spirit which had alread y secured them thus far such unqualified success .

It has alread y been pointed out that no ceremony of any kind attended the change from Somers Place East to St . George ' s Melds . There was not even a march past the residence of the Royal Patroness as on the memorable clay in January , 1789 , when the children met at the house of the Chevalier Ruspini , Pounder and Treasurer of the

Institution , in Pall Mall , and proceeded to the little house in Somera Town , " at the back of the Duke of Bedford ' s . " In fact , no further mention is made of her Royal Hi ghness in the Minutes until the year 1809 , when a record of her death appears , and the question of appointing her successor is taken into consideration . Even the prefix of '' Royal Cumberland" to the title of the Institution seems to have