The Boys' School.

possibility of materially increasing the accommodation at the existing Boys' School at all . Bro . Binckes seemed to think that we had already nearly reached the limit of possible accommodation there , and if that fact is made clear to the apprehensions of the

brethren , no one will wish to overcrowd the boys . On every ground , sanitary , as well as disciplinary , Freemasons would be the last persons in the world to wish to mar the success of a great Institution by a petty instance of ill-placed economy , but at present the impossibility of

increased accommodation at the Boys' School is assumed rather than proved . If nothing can be done at the existing school , the Craft will , we think , readily concur in the proposal to begin a preparatory school . We trust , however , that the House Committee will turn their

attention carefully to the subject , and let us have a clear and an official statement as soon as possible . The brethren and the subscribers only ask for legitimate information , and sure are we of this , that if the necessity be proved of the extension somehow and somewhere , of the

Boys' School , the Executive will not appeal to a liberal-minded fraternity in vain . The Boys' School is one of the most useful and valuable Institutions of our Order , and deserves alike our sympathetic countenance and our steady support .

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

At the next election for this excellent Institution , eight males will be elected out of thirty-five candidates , and only two widows can be received out of thirty-five applicants . Let our brethren note this . We feel sure that we shall but

express the wishes of all our brethren , when we add that we earnestly hope that the Committee and Bro . Terry will find some means of reducing this dead-weight of unsuccessful applications , especially among the widows . Thirty-three widows who cannot be elected for another twelve

months , when by that time a large additional number of applicants will have come forward , is a sorry sight , an unwelcome reflection for the Masonic philanthropist . Many of these poor sisters of ours are old and infirm , and a proportion of them probably will not be able to apply

again , and to many of them practically , this is , humanly speaking , their last chance , We feel persuaded that it will add greatly to the success of Bro . Terry ' s praiseworthy efforts , and to the prestige even of the Anniversary Festival , to be presided over by our Royal Brother , Prince

Leopold , if the Craft could be assured by authority , that a special effort was going to be made , by those in authority , to do something above the ordinary routine , to reduce considerably the list of unsuccessful candidates . The last year ' s return of the Institution amounted to the noble

sum of £ 12 , 550 15 s . 7 d ., and 1877 may witness a still larger return . If Bro , Terry then could at once announce , that the Committee , relying on the present , as well as grateful for the past support of the Craft , and in commemoration of

H . R . H . Prince Leopold ' s honoured Presence , added ten to the men and fifteen to the women to be elected , there can , we apprehend , be no room for doubt , but that our Brotherhood would at once respond to such an appeal and such a fact , with increased efforts , and enthusiastic offerings .

A Correction.

A CORRECTION .

Our esteemed Bro . R . W . Little sends us a correction , as he terms it , which we publish elsewhere to-day , of the statement we reprinted the week before last , and commented on last week , though we do not exactly understand the error to which the zealous and able Secretary

of the Girls' School calls attention . Still we fancy that we understand what , to use a common expression , Bro . Little is " driving at . " He wishes to point out to the Craft , that though there has been an increase in 1876 , it is not so large

as might popularly be inferred from the little synoptical view of the returns for the three charities to which we have alluded , inasmuch as the accounts of the Girls' School vary from year to year , and that even though there has been a large increase in the Gii Is ' fSchool returns for 1876 ,

A Correction.

to be of any real good to the school such increase must be continued , nay , even added to , in 1877 . If our good brother means anything else , perhaps he will favour us with another letter on the subject . We have already pointed out , that so far from such returns tending to slacken our zeal , they

should serve to augment it in the cause of our metropolitan charities , inasmuch as each successive cycle of twelve months will , in the present state of our Order bring upon us fresh applicants for our fraternal aid . It is idle , then , for brethren to say that we are either giving too much , or that

we must at any rate remain in " statu quo . " The law of progression 3 ffects our Masonic Charities as well as all other human interests , and therefore we feel bound to impress upon our readers that , so far from our charities doing with less , they will require more , if they are to rise

to the level of our charitable wants , if they are fitly to respond to the claims of those who have a " fair claim upon our true-hearted Masonic benevolence . " Let us dismiss from our minds , then , any petty questions , either of useless doubt or hurtful debate , and let us set ourselves with a " will , " and we shall find a" way " to give in iSjf

a still more striking proof of our real Masonic unselfishness , in that , by our donations and subscriptions to our charities we shall prove to the world that we are perfectly in earnest , and that Charity , true Charity , is not merely with us a name or a word , but a sustaining axiom , a vital principle , a manifest and practical reality .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ Wc do net hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approving of [ he opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish , in a . spirit of fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . —ED . ]

GRAND LODGE OF ROME . To the Editor of lhc " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — The following letter , addressed to me by the Grand Master ( Signor Giuseppe Mazzoni ) and the Deputy Grand Master ( Signor Giorgio Tamajo ) of the Grand Orient of Rome , in acknowledgment of the paper I

published in the last number of the Masonic Magazine , will be of interest to its readers . I should have mentioned in that paper that the three English brethren who accompanied me on my visit to the Freemasons of Rome were Bro . James Peddie Steele , M . D ., an English physician of high culture and wide research , who is settled in Rome ; Bro . Rudolph Gustavus

Glover , Past Master of the Universal Lodge and Past Provincial Grand Deacon of Middlesex ; and Bro . Cobham , of the Accountant and Comptroller General ' s Department , Somerset House , who is Past Master of a London lodge . These three brethren will , I am sure , endorse , if necessary , my statements respecting the

condition of Freemasonry in Rome . The following is a translation of the ori ginal letter received from Signors Mazzoni and Tamajo , which has been forwarded mc from Rome by our Bro . Dr . Steele , at the request of the before-named distinguished brethren . Yours fraternally , J . C . PARKINSON .

" Rome , 6 th January , 1877 . " Dear and Illustrious Brother , —We have received through Bro . Steele the number of the Freemason , in which we read with peculiar gratification the admirable article on our Masonry in Rome . It has given the greatest pleasure , not only to us , but to all the brethren , who still remember your noble words , and your

dear presence . The satisfaction felt by an English Mason with the manner in which our Grand Orient of Italy is conducted , and with the respect which it displays towards the ancient and venerable traditions of the Order , will serve as a powerful stimulus to our ptrsevering evermore in the path of goodness and virtue . Wc most ardently wish that our brethren of the United Kingdom

may pay us many visits , 111 order that reciprocal affection may be evermore cemented , and that their long experience may help to confirm us in the good and accepted observances of the Craft , which cannot properly attain its end , without the unanimous concurrence of all the brethren , to whatever nation they belong . "It was with the liveliest regret that we learned that this

admirable accord of feeling and observance was threatened by a divergence , which we hope may yet bc reconciled , confident as we are that the profound sentiment of charity and of Masonic brotherhood will prove stronger than any divergence , arising in a speculative field , which , if it can flatter and satisfy the freethinker , is always barren ol good points , and too often the parent of fatal disaccord .

Wc still cherish the hope that the Grand Orient of France and Belgium have no wish to act so as to alienate from the Craft the believers in the Supreme Being and in the life beyond the grave . This cannot surely be their intention . In any case , Italian Masonry , while openly affirming its own principles of

ample toleration and of philosophical and religious freedom , notably in the assemblies of 186 9 and 1872 , will remain ever faithful to the ancient and glorious formula , which places the humanitarian laws of liberty , equality , and fraternity under the ajgis of the Supreme Architect of the Universe . And to this it will be ever true , because it

Original Correspondence.

believes that in this formula every sound philosophical and religious opinion can , and does , find the synthesis of its own fundamental conception , and that in it stands the largest guarantee of that loving and fraternal toleration which , in the calamitous times of superstition and persecution , made of Masonry the sacred ark of reli gious , civil , and political freedom .

"The Grand Orient of Italy , anxious for the integrity of the universal Masonic brotherhood , will co-operate with all the means which the most fraternal love can suggest to it to make cease , wherever it may arise , all ground of dissent or difficultj , and its voice will , we hope , gain a hearing , because in it will speak only the unlimited affection for the brethren of nations so dear to it , and the

impartial judgment which the profound conviction of the truth will dictate to it . " Accept , dear and illustrious brother , our most affectionate and most fraternal greetings , "GIUSEPPE MAZZONI , D . P . G . M . 33 . " GIORGIO TAMAJO , G . C . 33 . "To the Illustrious Bro . J . C . PARKINSON , London . "

THE DUTIES OF STEWARDS . To Ihe Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Would you kindly inform mc what the duties of a Steward of a lodge are ? The reason I ask is—I am one of the Stewards of a lodge which has been consecrated during the last twelve months , and at the

consecration banquet , and upon another occasion , when some of the Grand Officers were present , I and my brother Steward waited at table , and ourselves dined afterwards . Upon ordinary occasions , however , we have a tea , then labour , and after that an hour ' s sociality . Neither I nor my brother Steward have been in the habit of waiting at

the tea ( except to see that visiting brethren are supplied , & c ) , because there are waiters belonging to the establishment in the room , but we have invariably after lodge arranged the festive board , and generally looked after the creature comforts of our brethren . Our not waiting at the tea-table as waiters , however , has , I am sorry to say , been the cause of some very ill-natured public

remarks by one of the brethren , as to " neglect of duty , " & c . Now , if it be part of our duty we are ready to perform it , but if , as we venture to think , it is not , then , I think the amende honorable will be due to us from our " crusty " brother , and so to you fraternally we leave the question . We are , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , THE STEWARDS .

BRO . HIGGINS'S "ANACALYPSIS . " To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I should like to draw the attention of Masonic students and Secretaries of Masonic libraries to the fact that Bro . Higgins ' s grand work , the " Anacalypsis , " is being reprinted by J . Bums , in sixteen parts of half-a-crown

each . Each part contains 112 pages ( 4 parts being already issued ) of closely printed matter , and is certainly a credit to both printer ami publisher . I understand that the whole of the valuable drawings and plates arc to be reproduced in fac simile , and therefore when the volumes arc completed subscribers will be in possession of a more handsome edition of the " Anacalypsis " than that originally issued ,

and certainly in a much handier form . As a subscriber from the commencement , I have taken great interest in its publication , and I believe that the publisher will avail himself of the columns of the Freemason to make known the particulars as to its issue , and the various inducements he offers to immediate subscribers . I feel certain of one fact ,

that it will be the Masonic body that takes the present edition , but I fear that unless our brethren in Great Britain rapidly send in their subscriptions the impression will go abroad , as with many other Masonic rarities and curios . I have already alluded at length to this learned work by Bro . Higgins , and have not always agreed with the able author in his estimate of some of

our Masonic legends and traditions , but I cannot fail to appreciate the great extent of his researches into the origin of languages , nations and religions , and which certainly have made for him a name far in advance of all competitors in his own peculiar department . Several of his contributions to the history of Freemasonry at York are most interesting , and until the visits of Bros , the Rev . A .

F . A . Woodford , M . A ., and J . G . Findel to that celebrated Masonic city , Bro . Higgins's work was the only available one on the subject . Unfortunately , the author had no confidence in the sale of his work ; or , at all events , under-estimated the number of his readers , for only some two hundred copies were printed , the consequence ot which has been that whenever a copy occurs for sale quite fabulous prices are given , and I have seen it offered at from

twelve to fifteen guineas . Judging from its value , as compared with many other works of its kind , it would not bc dear at that , but the " price current" removes it far from the reach of many , hence the publication herein allu : le . l to of the " Anacalypsis" in a cheap ( yet really handsome ) form is a boon to all Masonic students the " wide world " over , and I hope that the publisher will have 110 reason to regret his so doing . WM . J AMES IIUOIIAN .

THE POLISH NATIONAL LODGE . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In your report of the meeting of the Polish National Lodge on the 14 th ult ., I am made to say something very extraordinary as to a connection with the Grand Secretary ' s office , which statement I hasten to correc