Bro. William James Hughan.

Scarcely an CA * ent of importance in connection with AIasonic Jurisprudence , and the many changes that have taken jilace in the various Jurisdictions , at home and abroad , has occurred without Bro . Hughan having a finger in the pie , and , although comparatively young in years , he has become the Nestor of thc Craft , freely placing at the service of the Order the unique experience gained during his busy life .

As " an author Bro . Hughan has been most prolific , much more so than might be supposed from an examination of the list of his published works , Avhich is a numerous one . Commencing with the "Constitutions of the Freemasons" in I 860 , and ending for the present with that charmingly written "History of the Apollo Lodge at

lork , ' the interval between those two productions having been filled by the issue of " Alasonic Sketches and Reprints , " " Old Charges of the British Freemasons , " " Alemorials of the AIasonic Union , " "Numerical and MedalHc Register of Lodges , " "Ori gin of the English Rite of Freemasonrv , " " Engraved List of Regular Lodges . A . D . 17 . i » & c , Ac .

All these works are solid coiifcz'ibufcioii . s to the literature of Freemasonry , exhibiting deep research and ori ginal treatment , and are of themseh-es sufficient to stamp the author as one of the most able exponents of modern thought in connection with the subjects dealt AA-ith But it is in his fugitiA - e contributions to the AIasonic jiress pf the AA-orld on all concei \ -able subjects of interest to the Craft , which , if collated , would fill many portly volumes

that the universality of his knoAvIedge and his never flagging industry in communicating that knoAvIedge to others are best SIIOAVII , and it is in this connection that Ave desire to record Bro . Kcnning ' s most heart y thanks for the unmeasured sujijiort he has given to the Freeinaion . from first to last . In the first number , published in 1869 , an article appeared from his pen , and during the 20 years that have since passed , scarcely a number can be found in which some contribution

from him has not been printed . Not a cloud " the size of a man ' s hand" has ever appeared to mar the jileasant relations existing between Bro Hughan and the Projirietor of this Journal , thc success of which has been in no small degree secured by the loyal aid he has so ungrud gingl y rendered . In America , too , where ihe AIasonic press fills a larger sjiace in serial literature , Bro . Hughan ' s papers frequently are to be found ; and his views and

Bro. William James Hughan.

opinions are always treated with the respect and attention due to so able and jminstakiiig a student . Bro . Hughan ' s labours in behalf of the Charities of the Order are by no means the least important of his services , although the bulk of his work in that dh-ection is little known beyond the 1 icality for the time being . As a Steward , he achieved the distinction of taking up the largest single list of anyone in England

for one of the Institutions , and as the Charity Representative of the Province of Cornwall for 12 years , hc AA-as invariably successful in securing the elections of those candidates he sujijiorted . All this Avas done during his business engagements and at his OAVU cost , and on leaving the county for his jiresent residence at Torquay ' , he generously presented all his votes , to the number of 95 , to the Grand Lodge of that province ; his membershi p of Lodge No . 131 being continued .

But time and space fail us to present to our readers a tithe of the interesting details whicii have gone to make up the busy and useful life of the subject of our sketch . AVe will close it by quoting from the biography Avhich appeared in Bro . D . Alurray Lyon ' s "History of the Lodge of Edinburgh ( Alary ' s Chapel , No . 1 ) , " published in 1873 , and whicii also contains an admirable portrait of our Brother .

" Ever since 1863 , the year of his initiation in the St . Aubyn Lodge , DeA-onport , he has prosecuted his studies in connection AA-ith the literature of the Order AA-ith conscientiousness and wifch an energy rarely evinced .

" In his writings he has been careful to mark the distinction between matters that are purely historical and those that are merely legendary , and in this resjiect has done much to dissipate the superstition Avhich has so long enveloped AIasonic history . Free from the jealousies of rivalry , he accords the fullest credit to the researchesof other brethren . . . In short , his fame as a AIasonic author extends to every place in Avhich Freemasonry has a footing , and is practised by iin intelligent brotherhood . "

Ibis is as true of Bro . Hughan to-day as in 1873 , and the years following this eulogy of Bro . Lyon have been marked by increasing zeal aud abilit y in the jirosccution of those studies and philanthropic efforts Avhich have absorbed thc best years of his life . AV . L .

Two Old Men.

Two Old Men .

BY A LIVE LORD . 1 ^^ BKAK ' COKI-ILI : ROOM . f EAK'S Restaurant is situated somewhere between thc Circuses of Piccadilly and Oxford , and is one of thc most solid , steady going resorts in sill London . The

iicr-; HTQ " fi * " somil attention of a manager is visible m a hundred ' l & ii details . The mahogany tables and fittings give evidence

j " of daily polishing . The jilafe—of Avhich at Beak ' s there is a large quantity—dazzles the beholder in the excess of it - brightness . The servants are attentive , Avithout being ojijircssivcly obsequious , and quick Avithout being hurried .

At Beaks the dinners are somewhat of fhe old st yle . The customers do not cure for what they call kickshaws . A dinner there would consist of a soup , made of undeniable stock , a fish , aud a

joint- —preferably saddle of mutton , which is trundled along on a table running easily on silent rollers . It sfojis at each fable , and thc high priest , arrayed in the white robes of his ofiice and wearing his head-dress , carves in si ght of the diner . Alas ! this fine old

Two Old Men.

custom is d ying out , and our meats are carved in the kitchen and . -cut fl ying UJI to us through a lift . At Beak ' s , happily , it still survives . A bit of a picture buyer was Beak in his day , and the dining rooms here are adorned wit Ji a quantit y of oil paintings of considerable value Thc cellars , too , contain some things more valuable

aud curious even than the p ictures . Here are some clarets of 1858 , Chateau wines of price , big Burgundies of celebrated years , and jiorts of great age and correspondingly- great jirice . For myself , I cannot drink jiort . But it is one of the pleasures still left to me to sit ; it Beak ' s and witness the unalloyed and unspeakable joy of white-headed old boys sitting over a bottle , which has been carefully decanted at the bin-head , and comjiaring notes as to its virtues .

One of the most characteristic and enjoyable of the institutions iit Beak ' s is the smoking-room . It is one of the most comfortable in London . The lofty roof is of cedar-wood , and has become black as ebony with the smoke which it has absorbed for generations . On ihe Avails of this room also are hung examples from the owner ' s

c illection . A huge cigar cabinet stands in the middle of the room , carefull y guarded by Bennett , a model waiter , whose unfailing urbanity and Dundreary whiskers avc thc envy of all his contemporaries . With that liberal and trustful spirit whicii characterises Beak , thc smoking-room is not confined to the use of those AA'IIO dine at thc

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