Ar00805

NOTICE . The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is now 1 os . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . "Vol . II ., ditto ? s . 6 d . Vol . III ., ditto 15 s . od . Vol . IV ., ditto 15 s . od . Vol . V ., ditto 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . fid . Ditto ditto 4 do . ... is . 6 d .

United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in lime for thc early trains .

The price ot the Freemason is Twopence per week ; annual s ubscription , ios . ( payable in advance . ) All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the Editor , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , b ut cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage cramps .

Ar00806

NOTICE . All Communications , Advertisements , tsfc , intended for insertion in the Number of lhe following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock on Wednesday evening .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

W'M . F . —Wc cannot g ive you the information asked . Thc following Communications stand over : —Report of Prov . Grand Mark Lotlge of Somersetshire .

Liverpool Theatres, &C.

LIVERPOOL THEATRES , & c .

Wec * fc ending June 28 . ROYAL ALEXANDRA THEATRE , Lime-street . —Lcsse Bro . E . Saker . Dramatic Performances . OYAfTAMi'MlfHEAI'RE , Great " Charlotie ^ trccl . —U ? scc llro . 11 . Leslie . Arrah na Pnpue . PUIN'CE " 5 ' F VV " Airi * : s THRATiri * : 7 ~ C'layton-s <] uare . —Lessee . I \ Ir . Sefton Parrv . Mr . llvrnn's ncw drama , " Chained to the Oar . " ' f _ _ THEATRE ROYAI . Williamson-square . —Lessee , liro . De Freece . Iturlcsauie ol" M The Forty Thieves , " " Thc Svlpllide , " ancl Miscellaneous . Entertainment .

ST . [ AMES'S HALL , Lime-street . —Proprietor , liro . S . Hague . Special Artistes and Programme . EV " STAR MUSIt : HALL , W'iiiiarnson-sqiiarc * — Manager , Bro . Saundeis . Opera ami Special Attractions . OTUNDA THE . V'fRli anii MUSIC fl 7 \ l . i .. —Proprietor , MT D . IranneJI . Miscellaneous Entertainment ? . ROYA L CIRQUE . —William ISrown-sl . —ki-uesirian and other Performances .

NtWSOME ' . S CIIUUS , Whitechapel : —Scenes ol Hie Circle and other Entertainments .-

Ar00807

The Freemason , SATURDAY JUNE 21 , 1873 .

Gloucester Cathedral.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL .

The Freemasons of Gloucester have done a nohlc . vork , of which they may well be proud , and we can only say we hope ere long to see the fruits in the greater estimation in which our

noble Craft shall be held by the outer world who are not Alasons . Ir . thrsr ilavs of utilitarianism , people are con-- \ . i . tit ask iiit' wh . it is the us . * of I'Veeniasonry , . ind it is no secret that we are charged with alii . u . iv ith a selfish ilt ' sri-nard of others vv

elfare , and an osteiiiaiioiis display ol tue charitj ulmli Iu s ; ins ai Inline . It is true that you havi noble institutions for the education o ! youi , otith , and for the succour of the aired ant !

distressed aniongst you : but then many great public bodies with not half your pretentions do as much for their kith and kin—say thev . In business relations it is often found that

you favour your own brethren 111 preference to strangers , and whilst in some provinces you ? take a public acknowledgement of the Alost High by attending annually some temple raised

Gloucester Cathedral.

to him , * in many places the Freemasons never , as such , attend a place of Divine Worship from one year ' s end to another . This being so , how can you be surprised if ,

in the opinion of many people , you are looked upon as little better than infidels ? We have often heard such remarks made , and often thought there was a great deal of truth in them .

Our Gloucester brethren have set us a worthy example in presenting the noble reredos to their beautiful cathedral , and the ceremonial of Thursday , the 5 th , vvill live in the minds of thousands

as one of the most impressive and most honourable to the disciples of the Royal Art , which has taken place of late years . The AVest Country Alasons have in truth set

an example to the Craft generally , which might be followed with advantage ; and if in this era of Church restoration , and the revival of architecture our wealthy brethren would lead the van ,

and , in their Alasonic capacity , aid the erection and rebuilding of those historic fanes , which were thc glory of the travelling Freemasons of thc middle ages , much of the jealousy and

suspicion with which we are viewed by the great mass of our fellow countrymen would be removed , and an answer woultl be given to the oft-repeated query , what is the good of Freemasonry ?

Our contemporary , the Gloucester Chronicle , in speaking of the restoration of the Cathedral , gives the following succinct account of its history : —

No unimportant part of the history of the county for the last twelve centuries may be found written in stone in the columns and walls

of this noble edifice . Wulphere , king of Alercia , an idolater converted to Christianity , is said to have planned the first " honse of religion" erected in Gloucester . The foundation of this edifice is

stated to have been laid in 672 . Three years later Wulphere died , and the completion of the work which he had begun was carried out by Osric , King of Northumberland : and seven

years after Wulphere ' s death the monastery was dedicated to St . Peter . In 729 Osric found his last resting-place within the walls of the church ; he was buried before tbe altar of St . I ' etronillc ;

his efhgy , crowned , and holding in his hand the model of his church , now lies in a stately chapel on the north side of the choir . Kyneburgh , sister of Osric and Oswald , was the first abbess ;

Edbtirga , the second ; and Eva , who died in J 67 , the third and last . The three abbesses , it is said , all were , or had been , Queens of Alercia . For half a century the monastery was desolate . But

in S 21 , Bernulph , King of Alercia , restored it for the reception of secular canons . About a century and a half later these priests were ejected by Canute , and the Benedictines , the

energetic pioneers of the arts and civilisation , took possession . The edifice , which had been restored by Bernulph , having been destroyed by fire , in io > -: 8 , a new minster , built by Aldred ,

Bishop of Worcester , whose see included thc county of Gloucester , was consecrated . Fourteen years later William the Conqueror kept

Christmas in Gloucester . At that time there were only two monks of age , and eight scholars , in the abbey : thirty years later the fraternitvhad

Gloucester Cathedral.

grown to one hundred members . Again fire raged the monastery was destroyed and next , in noo , a church , which Abbot Serlo had raised , and a great part of which remains , was dedicated .

Robert Curthose was buried here in 1134 ; his effi gy , one of the most interesting features of the Cathedral , was placed before the high altar . Centuries later this memorial was broken in

pieces by Puritan zealots , but the fragments were collected by Sir Humphrey Tracy , of Stanway , and kept until the Restoration , when the effigy was again put together and deposited in the

chapel of the Hol y Apostles , where it now rests , but is about to be restored to its ancient position before the altar . The material is Irish oak . The face * is good , the figure noble and expressive

it is arrayed in a short hose , ancient breeches and stockings united , from which Robert got his surname of Curthose . The arms on the base of the tomb are the arms of Edward the Confessor ,

the ancestor of Robert , and those of France and England as quartered after thc reign of Henry IV . About 1 . 320 Edward the Second visited the monastery , and was entertained with regal

honours . Sitting in the Abbot ' s Hall , and looking at the pictures of his Royal predecessors , the king enquired whether his picture vvas among them . Abbot Thokey—in a prophetic spirit , as was

afterwards said—replied that he hoped to have his Sovereign in a more honourable place than in that hall . And so it proved ; for after the murder of the king in 1317 , when the cowardly

ecclesiastics of Bristol , Keynham , and Malmesbury refused to receive the body , Thokey brought it from Berkely Castle to Gloucester , and it was interred vvith great solemnity near the

high altar . Some of the events connected with the king ' s murder and funeral are pictured in luminous glass in one of the windows of the south aisle . Stimulated by filial piety , Edward

the Third and his Queen made pilgrimages to the tomb of the martyr , and presented grateful offerings for the enrichment of the monastery over which Thokey so worthily presided . On

the east ol the south transept is St . Andrew ' s Chapel , which has recently been so gloriously decorated by the pencil and from the designs of Air . Gambier Barry , as a memorial to Airs .

Alarhng . In 1 . 378 , Richard the Second held a Parliament here , and monarch and court were lodged in the Abbey . A year or two afterwards the Great Cloisters—the earliest and the most

gorgeous specimens of fan-tracery in the world —were built . To Thomas Sebrok , appointed abbot in 145 0 , we owe the tower , which is unsurpassed for its elegance and lightness .

About 1460 the erection of the Lady Chapelonc of the most beautiful parts of the fabricwas commenced . Eighty years later , in i ^ o ,

the Abbey was surrendered by Gabriel Moreton , the last prior , who was awarded the dignified pension of , £ 20 . At the surrender the revenues amounted to nearly F 2000 per annum .

The Abbey , beautified by the offerings of the pilgrims to the shrine of Edward , was at that time probably at the zenith of its architectural glory . It is said than when it was converted

into a Cathedral it had the good fortune to be so entirely preserved that no conventual church in the kingdom , excepting that of Westminster , had escaped so well . Towards the close of the