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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage :

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TO ADVERTISERS . The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated .

ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current -week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on ¦ Wednesdays .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

The name of Bro . W . J . Hughan was accidentally omitted from the note in last week ' s Freemason on " Knights Templars in Ireland . " AN EXPLANATION . —Wc are requested to state that Bro . Rowbottom , the author of "The Mystery of the Bible Dates solved by the Great Pyramid , " hail not been admitted to the Masonic Order when that work was published .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Night and Day ; " " Medical Examiner ; " " El Cincel ;" " Rules for Making English Verse , " by Tom Hood , John Hogg , Paternoster-row ; " Mottoes anel Aphorisms from Shakespeare , " John Hogg , Paternoster-row ; " Keystone ;"

"Bauhulte ; " "New York Dispatch ; " " Once a Week Christmas Annual ; " " Hebrew Leader . " Reviews next week . Knights Templars in Ireland in our next ; proof will be sent .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing fojr lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . LUCAS . —On the 16 th inst ., at 1 , Kirkley Cliff , Lowestoft , the wife of A . G . Lucas , Esq ,, of a daughter . SAUNDERS . —On the 18 th inst ., at Lee , the wife of Surgeon W . E . Saunders , A . M . D , of a son . TnEvoR . —On the 20 th inst ., at Nusseerabad , the wife of Major G . Trevor , Bombay Staff Corps , of a son .

DEATHS . AUSTIN . —On the 18 th inst ., at Cliftonville , Brighton , Thomas Austin , aged 64 . LAWRENCE . —On the 15 th inst ., at her residence , Balsallhcath , Birmingham , Miss Sarah Lawrence , aged 83 . RAB . —On the 12 th inst ., David Rae , S . W . St . John , of Wapping Lodge . SMITH . —On the 16 th inst ., at Colchester , in his 81 st year , William Bolton Smith , Esq .

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TheFreemason,SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 24 , 1877 .

The Centenary Of The York Lodge.

THE CENTENARY OF THE YORK LODGE .

"We have to thank a kind correspondent , who sent us a special report of a recent Centenary Anniversary , for reminding us so strongly of the historic character which belongs to that wellknown lodge , of which he is not an undistinguished member . The York Lodge , No . 236 ,

constitutes a very remarkable landmark , for many reasons , well-known to most archaeological students , like our esteemed Bro . W . J . Hughan , the happy preserver of York traditions , for instance , in the aianals and p .-ogress of English Freemasonry . Originally called the Union Lodge , it took

in 1870 the name of the York Lodge , and it is remarkable , Masonicall y , for two facts ; first , that it has always been , even during the existence of the York Grand Lodge , warranted from the Southern Grand Lodge , and secondly , that it preserves amid its archives , the actual memorials

of the York Grand Lodge . Little by little the veil is lifting which interest or exclusiveness had thrown over the true history of York Freemasonry . It is quite clear now that the York Grand Lodge never was in the position , numerically or financially of its more fortunate

Southern confrere . At the time when the Revival took place , Freemasonry at York was practically dormant . No Grand Lodge , as we term it , was in existence , and the Grand Assembly , if it existed , certainly has left few if any traces of its active past . We are not prepared to say that

no Grand Lodge or Grand Assembl y had existed in the early part of the last century or the beginning of this . We are rather inclined to believe that a body under some such name did meet from time to time , perhaps annually . There is a minute book , apparently of 170 * 5 , missing ,

which would throw great light on the entire position of the governing body of York Masons , under whatever name it called itself , whether grand assembly or general lodge . It will be remembered that in 1735 Charles Bathurst is

first named G . M ., and Bros . Pawson and Francis Drake , the historian , the two Wardens . Up to this time the chief presiding officer , seems to have been called President . We do not think that too much stress is to be laid on the

somewhat meagre records and careless statements of such earlier minutes , and for other reasons we are quite willing to accept Preston ' s assertion that a " General Lodge " or grand body of York Masons existed , and met more or less regularly , from the beginning of the last century . But , as

we know , between 1725 and 1761 , York Masonry was again dormant , and Drake ' s revival , which took place March 17 , 1761 , was brought about by " six of the surviving members of the fraternity . " Then it was that the " Grand Lodge " was " opened and held at the house of Mr . Henry

Howard , in Lendall-street , in the said city , " York . eVtthis meeting , there were twelve visiting brethren . Notwithstanding the existence of the Grand Lodge of York , ( whose reality we do not question ) , in 1777 » a warrant was granted by the " 'Modern Grand Lodge , "

as it was called , " of London , " to certain York brethren to hold a lodge utterly independent of the Grand Lodge of York . This , in itself , is a striking fact , and shows us the decadent position of the York Grand Lodge . That the brethren in . the south were fully justified in

reviving in 1717 the old Grand Assembly , we have always held , and acted most Masonically and le gaily in so doing , just as we have always repudiated the mistaken theory that the Grand Lodge of 1717 was at any time separated from the York Grand Lodge , which under such a name did not then exist ! It is a curious fact that the York

Grand Lodge never has been formally dissolved . It has lapsed through want of interest , attendance , and the superior position and ascendancy of the Southern Grand Lodge of 1717 . Thus , we often see how historical facts reduce into nothingness the cherished myths and fond persuasions of generations , and how ignorant is that view of Masonic history which in any way

The Centenary Of The York Lodge.

connects Dermott s schism with the old York Grand Lodge . The history of the Lodge of York has been like all other lodges if one of many fluctuations yet on the whole of great success and high prestige , No lodge boasts a more thoroughly Masonic

past , no lodge that we know of can give a better account of its Stewardship . It reflects the greatest credit on a worthy and zealous body of Ma . suns , that they have so carefully preserved , and so truly prized their ancient records , and their liberality and courtesy in allowing studious

brethren to consider or pore over them , are beyond all praise . Ihe lodge has just celebrated its centenary , under most distinguished auspices , and the gathering was most fitly presided over by Bro . Cowling , who is well-known to all Yorkshire Masons , and is identified with the

success and prosperity of the lodge which he has served so well . Bro . Todd , its able historian , with Bro . Cowling ought not to be forgotten , whose zeal for Masonry is well-known , and whose important labours in his lodge and for his ledge are duly appreciated hy his brethren . We

beg , then , to wish , in heartfelt sincerity , all prosperity to the York Lodge . May it long retain its high name amongst the Craft , and may it always remain distinguished , not only for its Masonic working and social pleasantness , but

for its careful preservation and enlightened regard for those historical documents which best illustrate the true history of Freemasonry , which are the best answer to cavils and complaints , the scepticism of the ignorant , and to the antagonism of the intolerant .

Forewarned Is Forearmed

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED

Oh , truest of earthly axioms ! How often in the course of our longish life have we found th y wise prevision needful and advisable , amid the chicaneries of the world , amid the petty treacheries of humanity . Yes , we might write many pages , and yet hardly develope our theory to our

own satisfaction , though we proved it to our own content , at any rate , that very often indeed , amid the combats and controversies of existence , such words represent a salutary and seasonable warning to enable us successfully to confront the wiles of the artful or the combinations of the

unscrupulous . In fact , so long as this human probation of ours remains , a struggle and a mystery for us all , that so long as we find too often that friendship is faithless , professions hollow , and affection simulated , that doubts and difficulties beset the pathway of our feet , the current of

our lives , such must ever be the case here , we can proclaim no safer truth , we can make use of no more sagacious apothegm . But there is always a fear lost we should allow our admiration of pioverbal wisdom to land us in " Fogdom , " to precipitate us into "bathos" of

the most pamtul reality . As a man once said " when you talk sense , talk sense , but if you will talk rubbish , talk rubbish , " and we too often experience that those who will write , or will be witty , severe , or any thing else you like , often forget this sage and becoming rule . We think

nothing is so painful as to have to wade through much of our present writing , which mistakes personality for facetiousness and substitutes ¦ ' cheek " for common sense . This is very often apparent , especially in those private rancours which mark much of our present competitive

literature , and which , introducing the jaundiced views of individual interest , or gain , or trade , or jealousy , into an arena which ought to know nothing of such things , degrades literature into a mere ebullition of unguarded recklessness , or restless maliciousness . We always deeply

deplore the fact , when it confronts us sternly , and when we meet it in our daily experience which , though it points its own moral , and adorns its own tale , is always distressing to the Mason who thinks , to the brother who has realized the happy meaning of true Masonic profession . Nothing so debases

Masonic literature , nothing so degrades the Masonic mind as that bitterness of vituperative energy , or as that sarcasm of affected information which seeks to depreciate or assail , which serves but to show how poor , how mean , how unworthy is the suggestion of criticism , the labour of illiberally ! The world is wide enoug h for