Board Of Benevolence.

P M . oty B . Taylor , P . M . 935 ; T . J . Hooper , P . M . 1633 ; T . C . Corpe , P . M . I « Q . W Clarke , W . M . 141 ; H . Ruding , W . M . 140 ; W . Beavis , W . M . 879 ; J . O Carter PM . 1 S 71 ; W . Jarvis , W . M . 14 ; A . Nicols , P . M . 1974 ; H . Massey , PM 610 ' and 192 S ; L . C . Haslip , P . M . S 13 ; J- R- Fouleer , P . M . 177 ; F . Nash , PM 1067 H . Cox , W . M . 1471 j J . Waters , P . M . 211 ; T . C . Walls , W . M . . 503 ; G F Smith , jun ., P . M . 1706 ; H . John , P . M . 1679 ; J . Painter , P . M . 749 ; R . F . rjXnnD P . G . M . Worcester ; G . W . Peters , P . M . 507 ; G . Bean , W . M . iSS ; G .

fl Walker . W . M . 120 S ; G . Powell , W . M . 11 S 5 ; C . 1 . Lewis , 1472 ; H . Stevenson , WM io" ; I . Wilson , P . M . 209 ; T . W . Ockenden , W . M . 176 S ; E . C . Cooper , P M JS 4 S F- McCarthy , P . M . 9 ; F . W . Koch , P . M . S 20 ; G . Motion , P . M . 453 ; W Lake , P . M . 131 ; W . P . Webb , P . M . 13 S 1 ; S . Hill , W . M . 21 ; J . L . Thorpe , w ! M . 219 ; J- - Horsey , W . M . iSG ; and H . Sadler , G . T . The brethren first confirmed recommendations to the Grand Master made at the September meeting to the amount of £ 235 . The new list contained the names of no less than forty petitioners . The localities from whence

they came were Barton-on-Humber , West Hartlepool , Jersey , Warrington , Mottran , Worcester , Grantham , Gateshead , Sutton , Coldfield , Constantinople , Dunstable , Poonah , Salford , Todmorden , Aldershot , Ilminster , Guernsey , Ashton-in-Makerfield , Newnham , Newark , Calcutta , Windsor , Falmouth , Exeter , and London . Five of the cases were deferred , and one was dismissed . The remainder were relieved with a total of £ 1160 . This was composed of four grants of ^ 100 each , one of £ 75 , six of , £ 50 each , four of ^ 30 each , eight of £ 20 each , ten of £ 10 each , and one of £ 5 . The Board of Benevolence then closed .

Some Ancient York Masons And Their Early Haunts.

SOME ANCIENT YORK MASONS AND THEIR EARLY HAUNTS .

BY BRO . T . B . WHYTEHEAD . I am afraid that our earliest Speculative brethren would by no m eans have approved of the formation of those teetotal lodges which seem now to be in fashion in some quarters . Almost without exception they met in houses of public entertainment , and the tone of their songs which have come down to us through the intervening years goes to show that they took their liquor "both stout and strong . " Truth is , they lived in an age when

ale , wine , and brandy were universal beverages , and when adulteration was comparatively in its infancy . Hence it came about that they and their contemporaries could comfortably consume much larger amounts of stimulants than their degenerate sons , and that without fear of " sorrow and soda

water the day after . " In addition to this wines were much cheaper in their day , even allowing for the difference in the value of money . In the diary of one of my ancestors , who was rector of Bolton , in Cumberland , in 1712 , I find an entry of the purchase of a gallon of " red port wine" at 5 s . 6 d ., and a few years later two quarts of " white wine" 2 s . 9 d . ; a gallon of claret was 4 s . ; and in 1719 a gallon of brandy cost him 5 s .

Nothing strikes one more forcibly in looking through the older York minutes than the changes that have taken place both in the old city and in the ways and customs of its inhabitants , and perhaps if I transcribe some of my notes on these subjpcts and investigate the history of some of the early Freemasons of York the subject may prove of some little interest . At this date it is extremely difficult to obtain accurate information as to old localities , whose names have been perhaps changed and uses altered , and

the identification of some hostelnes where earlier meetings were held is almost if not quite impossible , for of course the memory of no living man is available for such a purpose . The first names of York brethren of whom we have any record are those which occur upon the old mahogany gauge , once the property of the Grand Lodge at York , and now in the collection of the York Lodge . I give them in facsimile as traced from a rubbing taken from the original gauge , which was exhibited at the York and Worcester Exhibitions :

A certain William Baron was a Sheriff of the City in 1677 , and I have no doubt was the same man whose name appears , obviously as Master , in 1663 , for right through last century we see by the records that a large proportion of the Masons of York were Lord Mayors , Aldermen , and Sher iffs , and even down to our own day it has been the same . At the present moment the Lord Mayor of York is a Mason ; out of 12 Aldermen 7 are Masons ; out of 36 Councillors 17 are Masons , and the Town Clerk is also a

member of the eternal Brotherhood . Most likely John Baron was a brother of the Master . About the name John Drake there hangs a good deal of interest . Francis Drake , the York historian , and Grand Master in York in 1761-2 , was born in 1695 , and was the son of the Rev . F . Drake , vicar of Pontefract . Whether his father had a brother John living in York or not , I am unable to say . . Perhaps some reader may have the means of ascertaining this . It would be curious to know if Drake ' s interest in the Craft had been a family inheritance .

The first existing minute of a Masonic meeting is a roll of parchment , and dates in 1712 ; but later minutes give evidence that as late as 1770 there was " a narrow folio manuscri pt book beginning 7 th March , 1705-6 , containing sundry accounts and minutes relative to the Grand Lodge . " It is from information gathered from this book that some of the names of the earlier Grand Masters have been derived . K seems somewhat stranire that

minutes should have been kept in a book in 1705 , and that in 1712 the brethren should have reverted to the system of keeping their lodge minutes on strips of parchment ; but Bro . J . Todd , Treasurer of the York Lodge , has suggested that probably the narrow folio book was more of a Treasurer's account book than a record of minutes , and that the minutes themselves

were engrossed on parchment as being of more importance , and with a view to their preservation ; and I am inclined to think this theory correct . According to this missing record the Grand Master , or rather the " President , " as he was called in 1705 , was Sir George Tempest . Sir George was the second Baronet of his family and resided at Tong-Hall , near Bradford , keeping however a town house in York , where he stayed

Some Ancient York Masons And Their Early Haunts.

during the season . He built Tong Hall in 1702 . His wi / e was a daughter Edward Frank , of Campsal , near Doncasler . He did not lorget the Masonic teaching in his daily life , for the celebrated York glass-painirr , Henry Giles , who in his later days suffered great poverty , in wiiting to Thoresby , the Leeds historian in 1707 , says that Sir George Tempest and his brother had been contributing to his relief .

The Right Hon . Robert Benson , who was Lord Mayor of York the year of his Masonic Presidency ( 1707 ) was member for York , and was created Baron Bingley in 1713 . His daughter and heiress married Geo . Lane Fox , M . P ., in 1731 " . Lord Bingley died in 1762 and the barony expired , but was revived in favour of the son-in-law . The second Lord Bingley had only one son , whose first wife was the only daughter of John Bouchier , who

built and lived in the large house facing Holy Irinity Church , Micklegate , York , now the property of the Crompton family , and also owned the estate of Beningbrough , now the seat of the Hon . Payan Dawnay . John Bourchier ' s great great grandfather was one of the Regicides , and his signature appears on the King's death warrant . His family , like those of all his fellow criminals , died out in the course of a few generations . As the

son of the second Lord Bingley died childless before his father , the barony again lapsed and has not been revived . In 1708 and two following years , Alderman Sir William Robinson , Bart ., governed the old lodge at York City . He was grandfather of the first Lord Grantham , who was the great grandfather of the present Marquis of Ripon , and he resided in a house in Blake-street , which stands at the corner between

the Theatre Royal and the Roman Cathoiic pro-Cathedral . At the general election of 1713 he and Alderman Tobias Jenkyns , also a Freemason , contested York against Admiral Robert Fairfax , also a member of the lodge at York . The Admiral and Baronet were successful , and Bro . Jenkyns was bowled out , but in 1715 at another general election on the death of Oueen

Anne , Bros . Sir William Robinson and Tobias Jenkyns were successful , and the Tory Admiral went to the wall . He married an Aislabie , of Studley Royal , and so that splendid estate came into his family . One of his daughters married a Worsley , of Hovingham , an ancestor of Bro . Sir Wm Worsley , Bart . ( To be continued . )

Consecration Of La France Lodge, No. 2060.

CONSECRATION OF LA FRANCE LODGE , No . 2060 .

There are not a Sew influential brethren who are inclined to question if the multiplication of lodges which has been going on lor several years put is altogether an unmixed benefit to our Society . There is no doubt that mere numerical strength is no criterion of the influence exereiied oy such a Fraternity as ours . The weight of numbers is as nothing when compared with the weight of character , and once we become incautious whom we

receive as members , we shall find ourselves more numerous , but in all otner respects less strong than is compatible with our old prestige and the estimation in which we have heretofore been held by the world generally . but , though the expediency of multiplying lodges indiscriminately , especially in tne Metropolitan district , may be open to question , there are cases occurring every now and then in which the addition of a new lodge to our roll will be

regarded as welcome news by all classes ol brethren . A case of this kind has just happened .. We all know there is a strong French colony resident in London . We are not referring to those expatriated revolutionists , who delight in resisting all attempts at maintaining law and order—religious , political , and moral—in their native country , but those who have settled here for the legitimate purposes of trade or commerce , or in tne pursuit of

this or that professional avocation . Many 01 these are not only men ot sound judgment and great industry , or have attained eminence in scientific or other pursuits , but are likewise , or rather on this very account , men who must be a credit to any Society they may wish to join . Not a few of them are desirous of becoming Freemasons , but their unfamiliarity with the idioms of our language , and the idiosyncrasies which characterise them as

Frenchmen , make it extremely doubtful if they would derive those mental and moral advantages they are entitled to expect from Freemasonry by joining a mixed lodge of English and French brethren . It is pretty certain they would fare better in a lodge of their own , while the friendly relations they would be sure to establish with their neighbour lodges would have the effect of promoting that spirit of goodtellowship ,

which , as between men of different nationalities , is all the more desirable because it is not as easily or as readily established as among men 01 the same nationality . Hence this new lodge , " La France , " which as a subordinate member of our Grand Lodge will be on precisely the same fooling as the other subordinate lodges . It will obey the same laws and constitutions , employ our ritual , and observe all our forms and ceremonies . It will differ

from its sister lodges only in this one respect , that it will consist onl y ol members of French extraction , who will thus have lacilities for mealing together as Masons , which it would be impossible lor them to expect in our ordinary lodges . We may also , perhaps , anticipate this lurther advantage from the establishment of the "La France" Lodge . Considering the change which has latterly come over the spirit of French Freemasonry , as

now and for some few years past interpreted by the Grand Orient of France , it is certainly desirable that enlightened Frenchmen should have afforded to them an opportunity of learning what Freemasonry is as it is understood and practised in the original home of the Craft . It cannot be otherwise than an advantage to the Fraternity generally , and must help to dissipate those silly charges of Atheism and immorality which are being constantly levelled against it , when foreign Masons learn , as doubtless they

will do through the medium of the " La France Lodge , that there is nothing incongruous between the practice of our ancient system of Masonry and the moral and religious observances of law-abiding men . Thus there are several good and sufficient reasons why we should go out of our way somewhat on this occasion and congratulate the brethren on an event which , though of common occurrence , is characterised by certain special features of its own .

As regards the consecration it was performed by V . W . Bro . Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , Grand Sec , assisted by V . W . Bro . T . Fenn , President of the Board of General Purposes , who acted as S . W . j W . Bro . Robert Grey , as J . W . ; V . W . Bro . Kev . Ambrose Hall , P . G . Chap ., as Chap . ; W . Bro . Frank Richardson . as D . of C . ; and W . Bro . H . C . Levander , I . G . The musical portion of the ceremony was rendered by Bro . F . Cozens , assisted by Bros . H . Ashton , Coates , and Bevan .

The lodge was opened in the Three Degrees , and Bro , Col . CLERKE addressed the brethren on the event of the day , and offered his congratulations and best wishes for the new lodge .