Masonic Exhibition At Shanklin.

MASONIC EXHIBITION AT SHANKLIN .

As stated in our short telegraphic i eport last week , this Exhibition was opened under the most favourable

auspices on Thursday , the gth inst ., and remained open until Monday , the 13 th . Whatever may be the result

financially , there can be no doubt whatever lhat from every point of view Masonically , it has been an unqualified

and decided success . To Bro . Greenham and those who have so zealously aided him it must be a source

of supreme satisfaction to know that they have helped in a remarkable degree to prove to the

outside world that Masonry is not only a bond of friendship and a great social organisation , but that it

has a history of which any community might be proud , and an almost inexhaustible store of antiquarian and archaeological material on which the learned of the Order can work with profit to themselves and pleasure to the Craft . No such collection of Masonic treasures has been gathered together before , and we congratulate Bro . Greenham most heartily on the result of his " happy thought . "

The Exhibition was held in the beautiful Swiss Chalet on the grounds of Rylstone , kindly lent for the purpose by Monsieur and Madame Spartali . This pretty Chalet , which was built several years ago by Bro . F . Cooper , P . M . of Chine Lodge , from a photo brought from Switzerland , is a peculiarly pretty structure , uniformly picturesque within and without ; and is in itself an exhibition of no mean order . The verandah is festooned with beautiful

flowers and foliage , and the principal features of the building are exquisite samples of architectural beauty . Internally every room is a picture , grotesquely painted , papered , and upholstered , adding quite a charm to the general appearance of the exhibition . The exhibits were ranged in the several rooms of the Chalet , upstairs and down , and all were numbered for easy reference to the catalogue , the total number of them being about 1500 .

This took place about three o ' clock on Thursday afternoon , under circumstances of a pecularly auspicious character . While the officers of provincial and local lodges were robing at Cliff Close , a residence nearly opposite the Chalet , a number of ladies and gentlemen assembled on the lawn and near the entrance , awaiting the procession of robed Freemasons . Among those in attendance , unofficially , we observed Mrs . White Popham , Lord and Lady Napier , of Magdala , Mrs . Scaramanga , Mrs . Raphael ,

THE OPENING CEREMONY

Mr . and Mrs . W . Gibbs , Mr . and Mrs . A . de Svertchoff , Dr . Dabbs , Major-General Macdonald , Mr . and Mrs . Ashton , General Sir Henry and Ladv Daly , Mr . W . and Miss Foyster , Lord and Lady John Taylour , Mrs . W . " W . B . Beach , General Redmond , Mr . and Mrs . Pakenham Mahon , the Misses Pakenham Mahon , Mrs . Hugh Simpson , Mrs . Goble , Captain and Mrs . Whitehill , and others . The following brethren , officers , and members of the provincial and local

lodges , all attired in Masonic clothing , took part in the procession , Bro . J . Bailey officiating as Grand Director ot Ceremonies : — Bros . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., P . G . M . Hants and Isle of Wight ; J . E . Le Feuvre , G 1 D „ D . P . G . M . Hants and Isle of Wight ; Edgar Goble , P . G . Sec . Hants and Isle of Wight ; Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , G . S . Eng . ; T . H . Goldney , P . G . D . ; Henry Pigeon , jun ., P . G . O . ; J Kxell , P . G . Tyler ; C . H . Wood , P . P . G . W . Surrey ; C . Basil Cooke . 1028 ; J . C Robinson , P . P . G . S . D . Cheshire ; George Wyatt , P . M . 151 ,

and 340 , P . P . G . W . Oxford ; Wm . Kelly , P . P . G . M . and U . bupt . Leicestershire and Rutland ; G . F . Coster , 1884 ; C . ] . Phillips . P . M . 130 , P . P . G . S . D . ; W . Farrance , I . P . M . 132 , P . G . Std . Br . ; Surgeon-General T . Ginger , P . M . 1301 , P . P . G . A . D . of C . Wilts ; W . St . John Caws , 416 ( S . C ) , P . P . G . Org . Melbourne , Australia ; Thomas Giles , P . M . 35 , P . P . G . Supt . of Works , & c . ; VVm . H . Wooldridge , 1869 ; R . L . Robertson , I . P . M . 35 ; Henry Rose , W . M . 132 ; J . Willmott , P . M . 342 , P . P . G . Swd . Br .: Sam Knight , i < yvt ; Rev . A . G . Barker , P . M . 694 , P . P . G . C . ; Captain Hector

E . McLean , P . G . M . Lanarkshire , Upper Ward ; Lieut . W . Black , P . G . S . W . Lanarkshire , Upper VVard ; James Connor , P . P . G . Sec . Lanarkshire ; J . B . Boucher , P . P . G . S . Deacon . Surrey ; Alfred Dashwood , W . M . 698 ; Henry Durant , W . M . 175 ; Tenison Smith , 175 ; C . T . Allen , P . M . 151 , P . P . G . S . D . ; W . H . Long , l . G . 175 ; E . D . Stroud , S . 175 ; S . A . Banbury , 5 ; W . H . Townsend , P . M . 1003 , P . P . G . S . D . ; F . White Popham , 18 S 4 ; W . Pinsey , 694 ; ] . G . Garnham , W M . isi ; Alfred Millidge , J . D . 151 ; Rev . 1 . L . Palmer , P . M ., P . G . C ; Francis

Newman P . M . 125 , 69 S and 18 S 4 . P . P . G . S . W . ; George Pack , P . M . 175 , P . P . G . J . D . ; VV Hammond Riddett , Sec . 69 S ; Henry Matthews ; Ernest Groves , P . M . 175 ; J . Baxter , P . M . 954 , P . P . G . S . B . Devonshire ; George Douglas P . M . 1131 , P . P . G . S . ; H . B . Arthur , P . M . 359 , P . G . D . C ; T . A . Kaynes ; Mark Linfield , P . M . 551 ; Bernard J . Marvin , P . M . 175 ; A . J . Dransfleld , 175 ; F . Rayner . J W . 1 S 84 ; John Bailey , I . P . M . iSS-i , P . G . A . D . C ; Alfred Greenham , W . M . 1884 ; Robert W . Greenham ; J . W . Cantlmv , 18 S 4 ; C Riddick , 18 S 4 ; Robert Modlin ; B . Cooper , 1885 ; G . Paybody , 1884- Francis Cooper , P . M ., P . P . G . S . ; William Thompson , 1 S 84 ; Richard Young ,

1884- Rev . E . Y . Nepean , P . M . 1373 and 130 , P . P . G . C ; W . J . Mew , 1 SS 4 ; Capt . Geotge Laity , R . N ., J W . 698 ; K . VV . Thoyts , 6 . 4 ; R . Loveland-Loveland , S 69 . P . P . G . S . W . ; George Taylur , P . M . 377 , 5 60 and 1874 , P . P . G . S . W . and P . G . Sec . Worcestershire ; | ames Edward -Ston < -, P . M . 377 , P . P . G . D . Worcestershire ; Thomas Iamb-Smith , P . M . 260 . P . P . G . D . Worcestershire ; Rev . J . A . Alloway , P . G . C ; Wm . VVh-le 1 84 ; VV . C , Gil-ert , SW 257 ; Arthur J . Firth , W . M . 18 G 9 , P . P . G . Org . ; . Sha ' . v , sAV . 186 S ; William Garland , 1 S 6 9 ; A . Houston , 151 , P . P . G . A . D . C . ; and l . hn Blunt , jun ., P . M . and Treas . 1 S 69 .

THE CHALET .

Masonic Exhibition At Shanklin.

The procession entered at the main gateway . proceeded down the carriage drive towards

Rvlstone House , and thence to the eastern side of the Chalet , where the leading gentlemen of the party took

up a position on the •steps of the balcony , the bystanders raising their hats as the Prov . G . Master

approached . Bro . W . W . B . BEACH , M . P ., addressing the ladies and gentlemen present and his

brethren , expressed the great pleasure he ielt at the opportunity thus afforded him of being present to open this

Exhibition at Shanklin . It must not be supposed , he said , that he was going to lift the veil and unfold any of

those Masonic secrets which some present who were not members might be pleased for him to introduce to the light . ( A laugh . ) But he would make , with their permission , two or three ] observations before he opened the Exhibition ; and he would say , in the first place , that it was ill for the welfare of a nation when she tried to efface the memory of the past . ( Hear , hear . ) It was by recounting noble actions of days long gone by ,

if was by recounting the prowess of those who had gone before , that men were incited to valiant deeds . They must always remember that in the olden times it was the symbols of the past which led men to victory and to conquest . It was the standard of the Golden Dragon which led the men of Wessex to far-off Northumbria in a victorious cause . It was the recounting of the battles of their forefathers which incited them to emulate

their actions , and it had been always found that by pointing to brave deeds which had long gone by men were best incited and induced to follow the example of men who preceded them . It was well known in history that it was the bards and poets who aroused the enthusiasm and patriotism of the Scotch and Welsh to such a degree that by an authoritative injunction they were ejected for fear they should incite

them—by recounting the deeds of their forefathers—to a national insurrection . He might give numerous instances of the principle to which he was referring , but he would content himself with one illustration of more modern times . They would remember that in the greatest battle ever fought by Frederick the Great , they were told that the Prussian soldiers , worked up to a great pitch of enthusiasm and excitement , marched to battle and to victory

chanting the rude hymns of the old Saxon poets . Men had in all ages been incited to wonderful achievements by the recital of the actions of their forefathers . Freemasonry , too , had a history of the past , of which they were justly and truly proud . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) They could point back to those who had gone before them , with pride and pleasure , and they strove , as far as they could , to emulate their example . Freemasonry had

existed from remote antiquity . Though everything must have a beginning , it was impossible to trace the origin of Freemasonry . This England of ours , of which we are so justly proud , was little known in the old day till she became noted by becoming the country where the founder of Constantinople first assumed the imperial purple , and Masons , from generation to generation , had been incited by those who had gone before , to try their best to

act up to their principles , and to do their best to maintain the lessons which had been bequeathed to them by their forefathers . Although little was known of the origin of the Order , they could trace it in some degree through its developments , and they knew that in the former ages it exercised a most humanising and civilising influence upon every country wherein it existed . ( Cheers . ) It had been preserved through many climes and

many changes , and handed down to the present generation intact . They could trace it in the remains of the glorious edifices of bye-gone periods ; they could see evidences of it in the great works of the past , and in those things of antiquity which had been disclosed to the gaze of modern eyes traces of the existence of the principles of Freemasonry had from time to time been found . Therefore they could have little idea how long

Freemasonry had really existed in the world . One thing they did know—that was that though it had existed among the civilised communities to the greatest extent , yet even in the more barbarous countries by some extraordinary means Freemasonry had been brought into contact with the inhabitants and in some countries with which apparently no civilising country had had the slightest connection it had been found that some Degree of Freemasonry

had existed . He thought they might , however , congratulate themselves that at least in the present day Freemasonry had extended to the most unprecedented degree , and that the Masons of this day were imbued with those excellent principles which were held of old , and had been handed down to them in one unbroken chain ; and he thought they had reason to congratulate themselves also on the fact that those principles were conducive

not only to reverence for God , but to loyalty to their sovereign and devotion to their country . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) They also prided themselves on being banded together by the ties of Brotherhood , ready to assist in every good thing and every good work . ( Hear , hear . ) They could point to those Institutions which formed the basis of the Masonic Order , and which showed that Masons were that day disposed to act up to the lessons which had been taught them in the past , and tried their best to show by their out-