Reports Of Masonic Meetings.

W . Male , and T . J . Scoones , P . M . 1199 . Among thc visitors were Bros . Lionel A . VVcathcrley , I . G . 1755 ; H . F . Lambert , I . P . M . 686 ; Andrew Knowlds , J . D . 1199 ; W . Reece , 1199 ; E . J . Grnbb , 68 and 1755 ; F . Hatton , 97 i ; S . J . Laver , 1199 ; Rob . Compton , 68 and 1755 ; Dr . Lyons , 1404 ; Thos . A . Smith , P . M . 1199 , P . P . G . O . ; and R . Pilgrim , 1199 .

Royal Arch.

Royal Arch .

ROYAL JUBILEE CHAPTER ( No . 72 ) . — The usual convocation of this chapter was held at Anderton ' s Hotel , Fleet-street , on Thursday , the 9 th inst ., b y Ex . Comp . J . Nunn , M . E . Z . ; Ex . Comp . T . Foxall , Scribe E ., asH . ; Ex . Comp . H . Lovegrove , Scribe N ., as J . ; Ex . Comp . Hi Webb , P . Z ., Treasurer ; Comps . Thurston , Walker , ist Asst . Soj . * , Strube , Lean , Read , and others . Ex . Comp . J . S . Cumberland , of York , honoured the

chapter by his presence . Bro . W . J . Morris was the only candidate present for exaltation , the ceremony being exceedingly well rendered by the M . E . Z ., assisted by the . acting Second Principal , while the duties of P . S ., as well as the lecture of the third chair , were undertaken by Comp . H . Lovegrove . The election followed with the following result : Comps . H . A . Lovett , M . E . Z . ; F . Dunn , H . ; * H . Lovegrove , J . ; H . "Webb , Treas . ; J . Nunn , Scribe E . ; F . Thurston , Scribe N . ; Salter , P . S . ; and Potter , Janitor .

ERA CHAPTER ( No . 1423 ) . —A convocation of this chapter was held on Saturday , the 10 th inst ., at the Albany Hotel , Twickenham , when there were present , among others , Comps . E . Thiellay , P . Z ., P . P . G . D . C . Middx ., ; Treas . and acting M . E . Z . ; T . C Walls , P . G . D . C . Middx ., H . ; J . VV . Baldwin , P . Z ., J . ; Faulkner , S . E . ; Goodchild , acting S . N . ; Gilbert , Janitor , and others .

The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed , several communications . from absent members of the ' ehapter , regretting their inability to attend , were read . The resignation of Comp . F . Walters , I . P . Z ., was received , and ordered to be acknowledged . There being no other business before the convocation it was duly and formally closed . There was no banquet .

GARSTON . —Chapter of Harmony ( No . 220 ) . —The regular convocation and installation meeting of this ancient chapter was held at the Wellington Hotel , on Thursday , thc 9 th inst . There were present Comps . T . B . Myers , M . E . Z . ; Thos . Roberts , P . Z . 673 , asH . ; John Hughes , J . ; supported by a good muster of officers and companions and a number of influential visitors , among

whom were Comps . P . J . Edelstcn , P . / .. 148 , P . G . S . B . ; Hugh Williams , P . Z . 5 S 0 , 1094 , P . P . G . S . B . ; W . T . May , P . Z . 220 and 6 73 ; Jos . Skeaf , P . Z . 216 , P . G . O . ; T . W . Ballard , Z . S 23 ; John Hayes , Z . 594 ; VV . Brackenbury , J . 673 ; E . Paull , 1356 ; Thos . Hatton , 203 ; and others . After confirmation of the minutes of the previous

convocation , Ex . Comp . May addressed the Principals elect , and installed them in an impressive manner , viz .: Comps . T . Roberts , P . Z . 673 , Z . ; J . Hughes , H . ; and S . Tickle , j . Ex . Comp . Roberts then proceeded to invest Comps . T . B . Myers , I . P . Z . ; Robt . Pearson , P . Z ., Treas . ; T . F . Hill , P . S . ; E . Humphries , S . E . ; and H . Hatch , S . N . Thc

M . E . Z . proposed two brethren for exaltation at the next convocation , after which the companions adjourned to a substantial banquet , tastefully provided by the host , Comp . Wood . The customary toasts were proposed and heartily received , and a very agreeable eveningwas spent , enlivened by the harmony provided by Comps . Skeaf , Hatton , J acobs , and others .

LIVERPOOL Hamer Chapter ( No . 1393 ) . — The companions of this chapter ( which is justly famed for the excellency of its working ) assembled in good force at the Masonic Hall , Hope-street , on Thursday , the 9 th inst ., for the purpose of installing thc M . E . Chiefs for the ensuing year . Punctually at 5 . 30 p . m . ( the hour at which the companions had been summoned !

the chapter was opened by the M . E . Z ., Comp . John Houlding , assisted by Comps . Thomas Sammons , H ., and Henry Jackson , I . P . Z ., acting as J . The companions eresent comprised Comps . R . H . Evans , P . Z ., Prov . G . P . oj ., Treas . ; Walter C Erwin , Scribe E . ; Rev . Robt . T . Leslie , acting N . ; Fredk . J . Pentin , P . Soj . ; J . S . Russell , P . Z . 292 ; John McCarthy , Dr . Henrv Y . Pitts . R . L .

Stockton , James Lyon , VV . J . Henderson , R . Reader , J . 292 ; and M . Williamson , Janitor . After the minutes of the last regular convocation had been read and confirmed , the ballot was taken for Bros . Dr . F . W . A . Soldat , David Olipant , 249 ; and David Gaudin , which proving satisfactory , they were admitted , and exalted to the Supreme Degree of H . R . A . M . by the

M . E . Z ., Comp . John Houlding , in a manner scarcely to be surpassed . The companions below the rank of Installed Principals then retired while Comp . Henry Jackson , P . Z ., placed the following companions in their respective chairs , viz .: Comps . Thomas Sammons , Z . ; John McCarthy , H . ; and F . J . Pentin , J . ; the work being done by Comp . Jackson in his customary faultless manner . On the re-admission of the companions , the following were invested with the collars and jewels of their respective offices , viz .:

Comps . John Houlding , I . P . Z ., Ireas . ; Walter C . Erwin , Scribe E . ( re-elected for the fourth time ); Rev . R . T . Leslie , N . ; Dr . Henry Y . Pitts , P . Soj . ; and Williamson , Janitor ( re-elected ) . After the Treasurer's accounts had been passed , and some minor business transacted , the chapter was duly and solemnly closed . Thc companions then adjourned to refreshment , and the remainder of the evening was spent in a most enjoyable manner with song , toast , and sentiment .

GREAT STANMORE . — Stanmore Chapter ( No . 1549 ) . —This ncw chapter completed its first season at the Abercorn Hotel , on the Sth inst ., with the addition of three members . Comps . Geo . Tidcombe , M . E . Z . ; Win . Stephens , P . Z ., H . ; and I-I . Lovegrove , J ., opened the chapter at 4 . 45 , Comps . C . Veal , as S . E . ; C . H .

Webb , acting P . b . ; J . B . King , A . S ., and others , and were also honoured with Comp . H . C Levander , Prov . G . H . Middlesex , hon . member , as a visitor . The minutes of the previous meeting having been duly read and confirmed , the ballot was unanimously taken for Bros . Charles Corrick , 101 , and James Pilson , S 8 , as exaltees , and in the

Royal Arch.

absence of the former , the latter , accompanied by Bro . R . Roy , W . M . 1549 ( previously accepted ) , were very ably exalted to Royal Arch Degree ; the ballot was also in favour of Comp . Webb , Chapter No . 1 74 , as a joining member , and hc having so effectively acted at P . S . in the absence of Comp . Maidwell , induced the companion to accept his offer , and unanimously elect him as S . N . The bye-laws were also discussed and ordered to be

printed . After the usual enquiries and " Hearty good wishes " the chapter was closed in solemn form at 6 . 20 . At the dinner which followed the usual toasts were duly honoured , and Comp . H . C . Levander , in returning thanks for "The Provincial Grand Officers , " spoke very highly of the excellent working he had witnessed , with every assurance of the ultimate success of the chapter , which will doubtless be fully confirmed . ' as several candidates were announced for the first meeting in May of next season .

Reviews.

Reviews .

POEMS AND HYMNS . By J SHARP , M . A ., Vicar of Horbury . George Bell and Sons , York-street , Covent-Garden . We are unable to review this little book as fully jn thc Freemason as it deserves , inasmuch as any discussion on

political opinions or religious teaching is forbidden to us by our primary and unchanging laws . We take one selection from many others of much simple beauty and poetic fervour , which seems to us to be full of Masonic teaching . We may add that the writer is a well known , hard working , and very much respected clergyman in West Yorkshire .

ON A WILD GERANIUM , Found in flower on a cold day in December . Say , little harbinger of spring , How dar ' st thou thus so rashly bring Thy flow'rets to the sky ? The beating rain , the cruel wind , The hoary frost , the blast unkind , All whisper , "Thou shalt die . "

Thy bright green leaves , thy slender stem . Crown'd with this little ruby gem , Require a milder clime : Thy tiny form was never made To deck the cold , unshelter'd glade In dreary winter-time .

" Pause , lofty man , sin : quick replied , " Nor suffer thus the thoughtless tide Of thy reproach to flow;—I yield to that Almighty hand , — To Him who holds supreme command , To Whom all creatures bow .

" For some good end , I know full well , He called me from my winter cell;—Be that His care alone : I bow to His Almighty sway ; Whate'cr His word , 1 still obey , And cry , ' Thy will be done . '

" Learn then of me , a simple flower , To yield to Him alone , whose power No mortal can deny : Hc ever is at hand to spare And none escape the guardian care Of His all-seeing eye . "

MAGAZINES FOR SEPTEMBER . " The Antiquary " is very interesting . "'Temple Bar" moves on the even tenour of its way , a little , we venture to think , below its ordinary level . " All the Year Round " is very pleasant reading . "

Asphodel" seems to promise very well and is in Miss Braddon ' s most effective style . " Scribner " is , as usual , very striking . We feel more and more each month what a credit " Scribner" is to American taste , art , and literary culture .

ADDRESS TO THE NATALIA LODGE . By Bro Rev . G . M . St . M . RITCHIE . This able address , ( which we reprint elsewhere ) , was delivered on the occasion of the now famous procession of the Natalia Lodge on Sunday , June 27 th . We said before it is an able address , and so it is , and worthy of perusal . We shall not all agree with it , but there must be , and always will , legitimate differences in Masonry .

SERMON PREACHED IN ST . ANDREW'S CHURCH , Demerara , by Bro . the Rev . J . R . DICKSON , Chaplain , at the dedication of Mount Olive Lodge . This is a lucid and eloquent book sermon , worthy of the preacher , worthy of Freemasonry , and tvorthy of the occasion . It will well repay careful study and thought .

ART AND THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE . By MARK H . J UDGE . This is a little brochure which greatly pleases . We want a good movement in the direction of art in this respect . A " witty nobleman once said , " truth and cleanliness are Protestant failings , " and nothing , in our opinion , will lead

so much to the moral and social elevation of our toiling classes as anything that surrounds them with .-esthetic tastes and art creations , and raises them from the debasing and contaminating influences of hidcousness and unhealthiness , squalor and dirt , the absence of all that can enliven , adorn , or beautify the home .

UNIVERSITY J- ECTURES AT BRIXTON . —Arrangements have been made , in connexion with the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching , of which the Right Hon . G . J . Goschen is the president , for two courses of lectures at Brixton in the ensuing session . Of the first course of twelve afternoon lectures , begining on October 1 , the subject is "English Literature : the age of Milton and Drydcn , " the lecturer being Mr . Churton

Collins , of Baliol College , Oxford . An evening course on " The Great Economists and their work , * or some chapters of the history of Political Economy , " will be delivered by Mr . IL S . Foxwell , Fellow of St . John ' s , Cambridge , and will begin on October 5 . Old Matured Wines ami Spirits . —J . K . SHAND & Co ., Wine Merchants ( Experts ami Valuers ) , 2 , Albert Mansions , Victoriastreet , London , S . VV . Price lists on application . —[ ADVT . ]

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

NINE , THE NUMBER . —The number nine was a mystical number of antiquity , and even for some time in the Christian era was supposed to possess an occult meaning . It was allotted to the spheres and the muses ; and Antonius is quoted as pointing out that it governed a mystical way of crivinn- healths : —

Ter bibe , vol potcs ternos . Sic mystica lex est Vel tria potandi , vel ter tria multiplicand ! . Nine has the peculiar property , when multiplied by all single numbers , of still being made up as nine by the product . It has always been mixed up with the mystical numeration of cabalists and hermetics , though in ancient times it seems to have been looked on as " numerus nefastus , " whether

in itself or with compound formation—specially of its own self-multiplication . It has also been made use of in high grade numerology . We find in the French high grades of Heredom Kilwinning , thc "Handbuch" tells us , the following passage : "<*? . Combien faut-il de chevaliers pour constituer un chaptre du Royal Ordre de Heredom ? A ' . II en faut neuf . 0 . Pourquoi ? R . Pour trois raisons .

0 . Dites-moi la premiere ? R . Parcequ'il y a trois divisions dans les nombres qui nous apprennent h calculcr nos jours de facon que nousnrous appliquions a la sagesse . Q . Donnez-moi la seconde ? R . Puisqu'il y a neuf muses dans l'harmonie , qui ordisscnt la nature humainc . Q . Nommez les moi ? R . Calliope , Clio , Euterpe , Melpomene ,

Terpsichore , Erato , Polymnie , Uranie , ct 1 hahe . Q . Donnezmoi la troisieme raison ? R . Parcequ'il y a neuf ordres d'Anges dans la hierarchie ' celcste . Q . Nommez les ? R . Cher ' ubims et Seraphims . Trones , Dominations , Principautes , Virtus , Archanges , et Anges . "—Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry .

DR . GOSS AND THE GOSS RITE ., Curiously enough , I am able to throw a little light upon the enquiry made in respect to this brother , inasmuch as some years ago 1 obtained from the library of my cousin , a Westmorland vicar and a bachelor , a work by Bro . Dr . Goss , who , under a pseunonym , as is common to some Rose Croix Degrees , was a P . M ., P . Z ., P . E . C , and 33 ° , A . and A . Scottish Rite , in fact , the founder of that Rite in

its present form in England . As I received this book amongst other works — archaeological , theological , and medical , presentation bibles , manuscript sermons , letters of ordination by the Bishop of Carlisle , & c , I may add that the library of the Ancient and Primitive Rite is quite welcome to mv copy of this work . H ' JOHN YARKER . [ VVe have had to excise " one or two " passages from our correspondent , which , however , were " nihil ad rem . " — ED . F . M . I

ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND . Bro . D . M . Lyon seems clearly enough to establish that the first introduction of this Order into Scotland took place about the middle of last century . In estimating its history and importance we may well consider the following points : 1 . In 1721 and 1725 there had been an element of the Rosicrucian Society ( or , as it was previously called , the

Society of thc Rosy Cross ) introduced into Masonry . I gave all that is yet known on this subject in my " Speculative Freemasonry . " 2 . Although the date of the oldest documents of the London Royal Order ( from Royal Art ?) is 1743 , yet at that time it claimed an antiquity which would carry it to the date given in my No . 1 remarks . 3 . As the Rose Croix Deconnection with

gree of the continent usually claims a this Royal Order , I argue that the ceremonies of the latter must have undergone some change , because the Order is now unique , and not in communion with the Rose Croix Degree . 'The Bruce legend is a case in point , and doubtless " inserted when transplanted to Scotland . The Rite does not correspond with what wc know of Ramsay's

Rite . 4 . The ceremonies of the first part or H . R . M . is a lecture upon the thice Craft Degrees , but including Arch Symbolism , as the Ark of the Covenant and Shekniah , and the legend of the sword and the trowel . Hence it would seem as if the Arch Degree was unknown to the founders , and included in the Master ' s ceremony . 5 . From these considerations I would argue that the London 1 743

founders of the Royal Order were Scotchmen or J acobites , who availed themselves of previous Masonic Rosicrucianism , probably Templary , to establish a unique Rite—that is , they invented a Rite founded on existing materials . N . B . —I should be glad if any brother can inform me whether the known members of the London Royal Order , in 1743 , were either J acobites or Scotchmen . ' * " JOHN YARKER .

A CURIOUS OLD BOOK . . . . As the love of books of Astrology and Hermeticism is increasing amongst us , I give my readers an account of a very curious book on pure alchemy , called " Pandora , printed at Basle in 15 SS . It has also a final plate of date 156 *; . Though it mentions "filii sapientia : " and " ven mam . " it does not . at least I have not been able to hnd

the allusion , allude to even the Rosicrucian Fraternity in any way nominatim . It deals simply with the search and discovery of the " philosopher ' s stone . " The writer tells us that the following authors (?) leftbooks on alchemy , ( we give them as the author names them in most unchronologij cal order ) , like , to use his words , " our father Hermes : TurbaPythagorasEximidusPlato , Pandophilus , Lucas ,

, , , Demetricus , Arissleus , Locustes , Eximemus , Socrates , Simon , Mundus , Dardanius , Belus , Theophilus , Dantim , Gallienus , Lullius , Avicenna , Bonellus , Benitus , Moyses , Mozienus , and Arnoldus de Nova Villa . With this book is bound up a smaller work , called "Tswolff Tractac , of the ri-rht true " ohilosonher ' s stone . " Printedat Strasburg early

in the seventeenth century—1606 . Though the author dedicates thc work to all " lovers and students of the chemical art , namely , the true children of Hermes , " he does not mention the Rose Croix . The tractates are anonymous , and are said to have been first put into Latin by a learned philosopher . 'They are followed up by two or three littic treatises , or puzzles , so-called . It is purely alchemical . MASONIC STUDENT .

CATALOGUES . I am glad that allusions are constantly made to caw logues . ' I hope that Masonic libraries may receive A * impetus . M s >