Ar00100

CONTENTS . PAGE LEADERSOur Christmas Greeting ... ... ... ••• G 59 The Medals of British Freemasonry ... ... ... ... 659 Provincial Grand Lodge of Leicestershire and Rutland . «¦ ... Gfo

Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey ... ... ••• " 60 Provincial Grand Chapter of West Yorkshire ... ... ... 661 Consecration of the Robert Freke Gould Lodge , No . 3874 ... ... fifa Beard of Benevolence ... . ... ... ... •¦• ••• fi ( i 3 Science , Art , and the . Drama ... ... ... ... r , c

MASONIC NOTESThe Recent Appeal Case ... ... ... ... - 665 " History of Freemasonry in West Cornwall from 1765 to 1 S 2 S " ... G 65 Annual Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey ... _ ... GG 5 Annual Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Leicestershire and Rutland ... ... ... ... ... ... CG 5

Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... G 66 Reviews ... ... ••• ••¦ ••• C () 6 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 066 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... G 70 Instruction ... ... ••¦ ••¦ ... ¦•• ••• O 71 Obituary ... ... ... ... ¦•¦ ... G 71 The Royal Hospitai for Children and Women ... ... .. 6 72 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... G 72

Our Christmas Greeting.

OUR CHRISTMAS GREETING .

Next week we shall be in the very thick of Christmas festivity , and brethren and their families will be thinking far mprc about the p leasures of the home circle , and the intended visits to the pantomime , or the balls and concerts which are

being arranged for their entertainment , than about the duties of Freemasonry and the intricate legal questions which occasionall y arise in the discharge of those duties . To them and all who are looking forward to the realisation of this pleasure we tender

our heartiest greetings . May they enjoy themselves to the fullest extent consistent with their personal comforts , and when their pleasures have been enjoyed , may they find themselves

strengthened and refreshed for the fulfilment of their duties , public , private , and Masonic , in the New Year which is now so rapidl y approaching !

The Medals Of British Freemasonry.*

THE MEDALS OF BRITISH FREEMASONRY . *

It is admitted on all hands that no greater authority exists on English Masonic Numismatics than Bro . GEORGE L . SHACKLES , of Hull , P . Prov . S . G . D . North and Fast Yorkshire , who has devoted himself heart and soul to the formation of what Bro ,

Dr . CRAWLEY , in his Introductory Chapter , justly designates as a " magnificent cabinet " of British commemorative or historical Masonic medals . This cabinet , we are told on the same authority , is " not onl y the largest in number , but the richest in

choice , that has ever been got together , comprising more than one thousand separate specimens , exclusive of duplicates and minor variants ; " and Bro . CRAWLEY adds lo this eulogistic description of the collection , that "the number of p ieces is all

the more remarkable , owing to the stringency with which live rule has been enforced that no specimen shall be admitted " to it " unless it fully complies with the definition of a Masonic Medal —or , in other words , as explained in the next paragraph but one ,

unless it can " be proved to have been struck , or cast , in honour of any particular individual or in commemoration of any special event . " Hence , in the face of these particulars as to the " magnificent cabinet , " and the brother who has formed and possesses

Ar00103

it , the reader will be in a position lo realise that to no more competent brother than Bro . SHACKLES could h-ve been assi gred the compilation ol " this important work , which , it may be ' as well ' for us lo state here , will constitute the main portion of Volume

IB . 0 ! the '' ' Medaillenwerl-. ' . " which is reing compiled under the auspices of Ihe " Hamhurgi-elio ZirkeFCorrospondz , " and of which Volumes I . and U , have already appeared and been reviewed in our columns .

In his Introductory Chapter , Bro . CRAWLEY , who is a Past Master in the art of presenting an array of facts and opinions in a compendious form , I ells us in the space of half-a-dozen pages all the general reader will probabl y desire to know , firstl y ,

about numismatics generally , and the valuable assistance they are to the student of the history of the Craft of Freemasonry . He enumerates the principal works that have been published about Medals and the claims which , as we have already shown , Bro .

SlIACKI . ES possesses , as the recognised authority on the subject in this country , to be cnl rusted with the compilation of this book ; and having done this in true scholarly fashion , he proceeds at once to call attention to the manner in which Biro . SHACKLES

hasfullilledliisla . sk , and , in a word , lo the marked success of his cllorts . As for the work itself , there are , as the title-page informs us , i _> p lates , containing in all 175 illustrations relatinoto 115 medals . There is a lellerpress descri ption of each of

these , containing brief particulars ,-is w > ihe person or event it is intended to commemr rale . In all case . ; the photographs have been taken from the ori ginal medals , am ! exhibit , therefore , ihe blemishes which the wear and tear of years may have produced

as faithfull y as the busts , figures , legends , names , dales , and other details . Plate 1 . contains i , S illusiralions of Ihe obverse and reverse of nine medals , among which are the '' Gormogon Satirical Medal , " which is , in fact , an Anti-Masonic

Medal , and which we are told , Bro . k . F . Goi . 'LD considers to have been issued about 1724 ; the" Freemasons' Hall-Medal , London , " which was struck to commemorate ihe erection of Freemasons ' Hall , and granted to lor '< . 'vs and brethren whonibscrihed towards

its erection ; the " Masonic Penny Tnk -n , " ol which onl y two are known to be in existence ; "Mas , nic Halfpenny Tokens , " of which there are many varieties ; both these having been issued to commemorate the election of ( IKOKI ' . E Prince of Wales

( afterwards ( JEORGE IV . ) , as M . W . Li . Master . Among the medals in Plate 11 . are the Charity jewel , ihe medal struck b y the late Bro . GEORGE Kl ' . NMW , lo commemorate the installation of 11 . k . 11 , the Prince of WALES ( now King FDWAKD VII . ) , as

M . W . G . M ., on the 2 . S 1 I 1 April , 1 S 75 , and the medals of the Inner and Correspondence Circles of the ( Jiutuor Coronati Lodge , No . 207 G . Plate 111 . includes representations of the medals struck b y Bro . KKXNIV , in honour of our late Queen ' s Jubilee and

Diamond Jubilee in 1 SS 7 and 1 . S 97 , and the medal which may be worn generall y b y all who were subscribing members at the time of the Oueen ' s Jubilee in 188 7 . In Plate IV . will be found ¦ the Royal Medal of the Lodge of Antiquity , No . 2 , and the

medal of the koyal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge , No . ¦ t , two of the Four Uul Lodges which formed the Grand Lod « e of Pngland in 1717 , and which work without warrants by Immemorial Constitution . The former was instituted b y the Duke

of SUSSEX in 1812 , and as it is worn only b y subscribing members of the lodge and returned to it when they cease to subscribe or die , it is exceedingl y rare . The medals of the " Nine Fxccllent Masters , " of ihe . Koyal Al pha Fudge , Xo . id , and the Centenary Medal of the Provincial Grand Lodi / e of Lincoln-