Agents.

Agents .

— ¦* — AMERICA : Bro . J . F LETCHER BRENKAN , 114 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . CANADA : Messrs . JDEVRIB & SON , Ottawa . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Columbo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Bro . J . L . HANLY , Levant Times '

EAST INDIES : Allaliabad : Messrs . WTMAN BROS . Byculla : Bro . GEO . BEASE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . JORDAN . Kurrackce : Bro . G . C . BRAYSON . Madras : Mr . CALEB F OSTER . Mliow : Bro . C OWASJBK NCSSERWANJEE .

Poona : Bro . W . WELLIS . GALATA : IPSICK KAHN , Perchembe ' -Bajar . PARIS : M . DECHEVAUX-D UMESNIL , Hue de Harlay-du-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Neuf ; Editor Le Franc-Macon . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in Great Britain aud Ireland .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTHS . BEARD . —On the 15 th August , at Wilton House , Highbury New Park , the wife of Thomas Beard , Esq ., ( P . M . 101 ) , of a daughter . HUNTEU . August 13 th , at 5 , Marine-terrace , Margate , the wife of Bro . W . F . Hunter , J . W . Union Lodge , No . 127 , of a son . BIDGWAY . —On the 14 th August , at Sheplegh Blackawton , South Devon , the wife of Captain Alexander liidgway , of

a son . MARRIAGE . AIXKXOER—Au . KNDER .--On the 18 th August , at All Saint ' s , Childwall , Lancashire , by the Rev . Aug . Campbell , M . A , Hector of Liverpool , William Henry , second son of Geo . AUender , Esq ., of Kensington Park Gardens , to Mary Frances , only child of William Allender , Esq ., of Canningstreet , Liverpool

DEATH . CLOSE . —On the 15 th August , at Drumbanagher , County Armagh , Edith , the beloved daughter of Maxwell Charles Close , Esq ., P . G . W . of England , and Grand Secretary of Ireland .

WILLIAMSON . —On the 14 th August , at Saltburn-by-the-Sea , a ^ ed 59 years , Robert II . Williamson , Esq ., late Madras Civil Service , youngest brother of the late Sir Hedworth Williamson , Hart ., and brother-in-law of the Right Hou . the Earl of Zetland , K . T .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

« R . A . M . asks " Is it usual in London lodges , after being closed for the summer months , to charge the brethren with the subscriptions for the monthsthe lodge has been closed ?" —[ Yes ; as a rule the subscription to London lodges is payable half-yearly , e . g ., April and October , and is chargeable during the summer recess . In a few lodges there is

a small monthly subscription , and the members pay for refreshments when they attend , but the almost universal custom is a semi-annual payment of dues to cover all the expenses of the lodge . —liu . /' ' . ] VIAXOB . —We will insert your letter next week . HOMO and A WOOLWICH MASON will see that the subject is fully ventilated iu our present issue .

Ar00603

CIjc Jnemasmt , SATURDAY , AUGUST 21 , 1869 .

Ar00608

TUB FasuMisoif is published on Saturday Mornings in time tar the early trains . The price of TUB FBKBBJSOK is Twopence per week ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 b . Subscriptions payable in advance . All communications , letters , ic , to be addressed to the IDIIOK , 3 & 4 , I . ittlo Britain , I'J . U . Tlie Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . ontrusted to him , but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

A Star In The East, Or The New Masonic Prophet.

A STAR IN THE EAST , OR THE NEW MASONIC PROPHET .

"TOLL for the brave , the brave that are no more . " Sound a solemn dirge for departed greatueiS , a "De Projundis" for the old Masonic worthies . Take down your busts of Preston

and turn your portraits of the two Peters Gilkes aud Thomson—to the wall ; blot out o : your remembrance the fifteen sections , aud prepare to leceive the true li ght , for a Star has arisen , and a new revelation looms in shadowy

splendour over the mystic future of Freemasonry . Hide all your diminished heads , ye would be Teachers of the Craft . Let the "Emulation Lodge of Improvement" cease to Work , and the "Stability ' dissolve like the baseless fabric ol a vision , for their occupation ' s gone , and their

A Star In The East, Or The New Masonic Prophet.

pedestals may now be sent to Wardour-street for the benefit of the dealers in old curiosities . Even as a taper is snuffed out at the advent of day , so must those ancient luminaries vanish before the dawn of our resplendent " New Light . "

Uniformity of ritual is achieved at last ; the dream of earnest brethren is accomplished , only the process looks very much like Aaron ' s Serpent swallowing the sinuosities produced by the Egyptian magicians ; or the lean , ill-favored kine eating up the

goodly beasts . However , let us be thankful for the refreshing waters of instruction , even if the sieve through which they percolate be somewhat unsavoury and unclean . For the sake of uniformity we must endure something , and as humble

disciples of our self-elected Master , it is our duty to take the good which he is pleased to provide for us . But let us hasten to recount the particulars of this great event , which probably is as yet unknown to some few members of the Craft

Universal . Know ye , therefore , all men , and particularly Master Masons , by these presents , without the use of Latin quotations , or other recondite p hrases , that for many years past

certain verbal variations have existed in the Masonic Ceremonial , as rendered b y different expounders , and that of late a desire has arisen to eSect a more uniform system of working .

This great idea fired the mind of an embryo Solon , an Attic philosopher of this wondrous metropolis , who for some time brooded over it in silence , till the happy thought struck him that by a slig ht sacrifice of truth , a small investment

of £ s . d ., and a considerable stock of assurance he might play the Mentor to that modern Telemachus , that poor forlorn atom of humanity , the " Free and Accerjfed Mason of England . " With the utmost magnanimity he determined

to forsake his exalted abode ; yea , even from his urbanlaltitudeheresolvedto descendiuto thenether world , and scatter abroad his Attic salt and the wealth of his Masonic knowledge . Admirable resolution ! inimitable zeal ! while others talked , our

"friend , p hilosopher and guide' acted ; while others indited vain speculatious . our Mentor g irded up his loins and took his railway ticket . And here we must draw attention to the fact that the star of his genius declined to honour London

with the first rays of its surpassing li ght , but like one of Chaucer ' s pilgrims wended its brilliant way towards Canterbury , onl y it didn ' t quite reach that ecclesiastical city , but rested ou the road at the unromantic town of Woolwich .

Having arrived at the end of his pilgrimage , our philosopher sought the chosen arena for the display of his wisdom . Full of the grandeur of his mission , and big with the magnitudo of his design , he entered the lodge-room , and , like

Caesar , was able to exclaim , " I came ! I saw !! I conquered !!! " Like Uobinsou Crusoe , he could calmly look around—monarch of all he surveyed . ( he Worship ful Master collapsed before him : the Wardens were struck dumb in

his presence ; the brethren generally subsided into their side-springs and Wellingtons ; aud the Tyler shrank aghast from the terrors that

sat on the great man ' s magisterial brow . He assumed the chair—we believe that p hrase will best convey the portentous fact—and amid breathless silence it was announced that Bro . P . M .

Atticus would promulgate the " now working iis approved b y the Hoard of Geiieral Purposes . " Here , we confess , there was a trifling deviation

from veracity ; but Homer sometimes nods , and great men have their faults . Extenuating circumstances can doubtless be p leaded for this momentary forgetfulnoss . Truth , wo know is an

A Star In The East, Or The New Masonic Prophet.

amphibious animal , and it is sometimes a pity to disturb her from her cozy quarters at the bottom of the traditionary well . However , the preliminary formalities having been happily surmounted , Brother Atticus , in

the plenitude of his power , proceeds to expound the mysteries of the Third Degree . Unfortunately in his progress he knocks down some foolish antiquated obstructions known to Masonic archaeological students as '' landmarks . "

Murmurs thereat arise , even among the crest-fallen audience ; said murmurs are sternl y silenced by the Oracle with the unanswerable dogmatism , " This is the approved working ; " the dumbfounded audience again collapse , and the new

illustrations of Masonry are concluded , whereupon the loosened tongues of the brethren , so long restrained , begin to comment freel y and not altogether complimentarily , on the working sanctioned by the " Board of General Purposes . "

Sir Oracle , finding the atmosphere of the lodgeroom becoming rather warm , beats a preci p itate retreat , twt , we are glad to say , assisted in hia progress by an external application of the beforementioned side-springs and Wellingtons .

Such is the ludicrous side of a transaction which has actuall y taken p lace in a lodge situate within the Loudon district ; such is the manner iu which truth— -one of our grand princi ples— is set at nought , and the authority

of our governing Board contemned within a radius of ten miles from Freemasons' Hall . And all this buffoonery , incredible as it may appear , has been enacted by a brother whose insignificance will be urged as his best safeguard and

shield from condign punishment . In tho first place , we have the false statement that an orthodox ritual had been approved by the Board of General Purposes ; and , secondly , that this obscure brother was commissioned to

promulgate it to the lodges . One of our correspondents , in referring to this subject , which is exciting a lively interest , states that the W . M . has been " brought up" for allowing the pseudoritual to be propounded in his lodge ; but is

there no law to reach the individual b y whom he was led into so deplorable an error 1 It is a farce to impeach the scholar , aud not the pedagogue ; it is an absurdity to strike the foot , and leave untouched the head and front of this offence .

If the real offender be suffered to escape unpunished , we may expect further manifestations of mingled folly and presumption , aud further demonstrations of contempt for our constituted authorities .

For the honour of the Craft , however , it is gratifying to state that such displays have hitherto been rare , and we trust that by a just but

vigorous exercise of his power in the present instance , our Most Worshipful Grand Master will for the future render them absolutel y impossible .

Lodge Of Benevolence

LODGE OF BENEVOLENCE

The monthly meeting was held at Freemasons ' Hall , on the 19 th inst ., under the presidency of W . Bro . J . M . Clabon , P . G . D ., W . M . ; J . Smith , P . G . Purst ., S . W . ; W . Ough , G . Purst ., J . W . ; and there were also present Bros . J . Udall ,

P . G . D . ; H . Grissell , P . G . D . ; H . Browse , P . G . D .

J . Nunn , G . S . B . ; J . Brett , A . G . Purst . ; Bayn ham W . Stewart , H . W . Hemsworth , H . G . Buss ( acting as G . Secretary ) , R . W . Little , A . A . I'endlebury , W . Edersheim , S . Rosenthal , F . W .

Shields , J . G . Thompson , and others . A meeting of the Board of Masters was first held , after which nine petitioners were relieved , to tho extent of . £ 135 , and five cases were deferred .