The School Elections.

nnd stood nth when the clay was over ; while one of the two bovs from West Lancashire * won the 15 th p lace , with 4390 votes . Gloucestershire and N . and E . Yorkshire complete the list of Provincial successes , the Lny hailing from the former

being p laced fifth with 4925 votes and that from the latter 22 nd with 4097 votes . Of those that failed the Devonshire boy has been a candidate at five elections and will make his sixth attempt with 18 ig votes to his credit , but the others for the . mot-t part

obtained oYdy a small amount of support , which , however , will be of service to them in April in every case but one , who was 17 th on the list at starting and as he obtained onl y S 70 votes for this , his last chance , his name will be

removed on the ground that before next April comes round he will have exceeded the age of 11 years . He was one . of two boys hailing from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and we regret that a stronger and successful

effort was not made in his behalf . However , of the five who had onl y this chance of winning , the Essex boy was withdrawn , and thrce succeeded , so that only this unfortunate is left out in the cold . As regards the votes brought forward and issued , there

were 7147 of the former , to which must be added 21 granted under Law 23 , and 1 29 , 956 were issued , but of these only 123 , 593 passed the scrutineers , so that there were 6357 that were unused or spoiled , the total votes available being 137 , 118 . There were ,

however , 256 votes that were polled for the Essex boy , whose name was withdrawn from the list , so that the number of unused or spoiled votes must be . reduced to that extent . Thus it is clear from the figures we have g iven that the contest must havc been far keener than usual .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.*

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM . *

I he new instalment ol the current volume of " Ars Quator Coronatorum " opens with two articles on "The Order of the Temple " and " Freemasonry in Greece , " the former being from the pen oi " Bro . JOHN YARKER and the latter a contribution

h y Rro . NICHOLAS P 1111 . ON , the Grand Sec . General . Hro . YARKER ' paper in particular is well worth reading both from the views he expresses as lo the connection between Masonic Templary and the old Order of the Temple , and from the

information he affords respecting " the extinct 1805 system of the Order of the East . " On the former question he writes thus : " Personally , 1 have always believed that our own degree of Templar had a genuine orig in from the old Kni ghts ; and that it

arose from some central Knightly Order ejected from Iheir houses wilh llieir artisans . Such a lodge might continue ( o hold their own connection with thc Knights , and when the two bodiesof Templars and Freemasons came lo consist pretty much of the

same members , the Knightl y Order sunk graduall y to a Degree . In Bro . PlUl . ON ' s paper on Greek Alasonry , we remark that he makes no reference to certain English lodges in the Ionian Islands , which were formerly under the protection of tlie I ' nited

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , but are now part of the Kingdom of Greece . One nf these lodges—Pythagoras , No . 447 —was founded in 18 37 , and its warrant was not returned till 18 94 ; while Lodge Star of the East , No . 880 , Zante , is still on

the register . It is difficult to imagine that these lodges exercised no influence on Freemasonry in Greece . But undoubtedl y the most important of the papers contained in this Part _> is ( iiaf read b y Bro . EDWARD ARMITAGE at the meeting on the Oth May

on " ROBERT SAMIIER . " The labour involved in the compilation of such a treastise must have been very great . He appears to have carried his researches in order to make it as complete and as trustworth y as possible in almost every conceivable

direction—whence he was likel y to derive enlightenment . In tincourse of these researches he seems to have unearthed what Bro . CHETWODE CRAWLEY speaks of as an '' important addition "

to the " Masonic MSS . known to exist in the Bodleian Library . " As to thc general tendency of liro . ARMITAGE ' work , it will suffice if we state that he inclines to the belief that ROBERT SAMUER was the author of the dedication to " Long Livers . "

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.*

A long discussion followed thc reading of thc paper and several written comments h y members were communicated b y the Secretary , among those forwarding them being Bros . R . F . G-OULD and CHETWODE CRAWLEY . Bro . EDWARD CONDER ' paper on

" King Charles II . at the Koyal Exchange , London , in 166 7 , " is also a valuable contribution to the Transactions of the Lod ge . The main point to which Bro . CONDER calls attention is as to whether ANDERSON ' statement in the I 7 . 23 and 1738 editions of

the Book of Constitutions , that CHARLES II . was a Freemason , and the conclusion at which he arrives is in ANDERSON ' S favour . The other contents include the W . M . ' s Illustrations of the Hidden Mysteries ol Nature and Science , Nos . III . and IV ., thc former

treating of "The Lives of the Atoms" and the latter of •' Li ght , " but as these , have already appeared in our columns there is no need for us to speak of them at length . There arc also the usual Notes and Oucries , Reviews , and other matter , with a

brief but interesting account of the Summer outing to York , for which the worthy Secretary , Bro . SPETH , is no doubt responsible , There arc also several illustrations of jewels , & o , which lend additional interest to ( he Part .

Installation Of Lord Wantage, V.C, K.C.B., As Prov. Grand Master Of Berkshire.

INSTALLATION OF LORD WANTAGE , V . C , K . C . B ., AS PROV . GRAND MASTER OF BERKSHIRE .

At the town Hall , Reading , on Friday , the 14 th instant , there was an unusually large and influential assemblage of brethren from different parts of the country to witness the installation of Lord Wantage , V . C , K . C . B ., lord Lieutenant of Berkshire , as Provincial Grand Master . In iSyo the

late I Juke of Clarence and Avondale was appointed to rule over this province on its separation Irom Buckinghamshire , being- installed by H . R . H . the Prince of Wales ; but since his death the post has remained vacant , and in the interim the duties have been discharged by Bro . John Thornhill Morland , Deputy Prov . Grand Master .

The ceremony was performed by Bro . Karl Amherst , Deputy Grand Master , Prov . Grand Master of Kent—an old Army comrade of the new Provincial Grand Master , both noblemen having served in the Guards through the Crimean Campaign .

Among the brethren also present were Bros . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., P . G . M . Hants and the Isle of Wight ; T . F . Halsey , M . P ., P . G . M . Herts ; John Strachan , O . C , G . Reg . ; Thomas Fenn , acting G . D . C . ; Jas . Terry , See . R . M . B . I . ; A . K . Loyd , O . C , M . P ., Chas . Ii . Keyser , P . G . D ., and about 250 other brethren .

In the course of his address at the banquet , Bro . Lord WANTAGE said his predecessor in that high office was the late Duke of Clarence , who held the position for only too brief a period , and whose premature death was a source of deep regret and grief to the whole fraternity of FVcemasons , not only in Berkshire , but throughout the country . ( Hear , boar . ) Out of respect for the memory of the young Prince , the oilice remained for some time unfilled ,

and he deemed it a special honour and privilege to have been now selected by the Prince of Wales to be the successor of the beloved son of his Royal Highness in this important post . He first joined the Fraternity at the period immediatintely preceding the Crimean War , when men ' s minds were turned to the serious import of the movement taking place in the East , and to the great political and military disturbances that were impending . The

serious functions of Freemasonry impressed themselves strongly on those who were about to take an active part in the forthcoming war , and many oflkers and non-commissioned ollicers were constituted Freemasons , and a strong lodge was formed at Malta , where her Majesty ' s troops were then gathering for the F . astern campaign . It was there that he , with other young ollicers of the Guards , was introduced to Masonry

by Bro . Studholme Brownngg . then Acting Adjutant-General of the garrison . Although he was thus a Mason of some standing in point of years , other absorbing interests and avocations in life had prevented his being hitherto more than a humble member of the Craft , and it had required some courage on his part to undertake at his age , now somewhat advanced , the responsibilities attached to the office of Prov . Grand Master . Were it not for his

deference to the wishes of the Prince of Wales , and his affection to the county of Berks , and to the brethren who belonged to the Craft in that province , he should have greatly hesitated to assume the duties of this position—duties which could not be regarded as otherwise than onerous—and he must trust tothe indulgence of the brethren for any shortcomings on hir . part . He was fully alive to the great and beneficent part which the ancient

Institution of Freemasonry had for so many centuries played in the all airs of life . In most of them , himself included , there existed a desire to measure Ihe importance of movements , or of institutions , by the practical effects that resulted from them , and there not unfrequently occurred to m j * W of them , the question as to what extent Freemasonry could be measured by such a standard . In reply to such inquiries , he would state that it was h ^ ecl

lot in early life to be first interested in Masonry by an event that happe » to his father , the late General Lindsay , when serving in the _ Walcheren Campaign in iSou . He was shot through the leg , and , being quite disabled , he fell into the hands of the enemy ; but no sooner was he carried from tne field of battle than he discovered that his captor was a brother Freemason , who , true to the traditions of the Craft , like the Good Samaritan , dressed wounaSi carried him into his own house and took charge of him until the time of reieasi ,

defraying all costs , without any security for repayment . ( Cheers ) . To . " larger issues and more recent times—a striking instance of the in , '" , exercised even now by Freemasonry on the course of events came be 1 them on the testimony of one who was evidently not a friend of the ~ A . In a book which is at this moment exciting great interest they learn £ during the siege of Paris in 1 S 70 the great German statesman , l 3 is " j hir complained bitterly of the pressure of certain influences which thwar - ng uncompromising and Philistine course of policy , and frustrated , the car y