A Critic On The Bounce.

testify to the truth of what was stated in the report , that it was a most invaluable book and ought to bc in thc possession of Grand Lodge . He ( Bro . FENN ) thought the brethren ought to feel very much indebted to Bro . LANE—for the work had cost

him a great deal of labour—for offering the copyright . . . . It contained statistics of the most valuable description . " The gift was accepted , the second edition has been published and at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge on the

5 th June last the M . W . G . Master in the chair announced that his Royal Highness the M . W . G . Master , in recognition of his literary services to the Craft , had been pleased to confer upon Bro . LANE the brevet rank of Past Assistant Grand Director of

Ceremonies . Thereupon the acting Grand Master ( Bro . W . W . B . BEACH , M . P . ) invested him with the insignia of his rank " amidst the loud applause of the brethren , " adding " I am very glad to be the medium of placing this collar round you , and I

congratulate you upon the honour conferred upon you , and I express to you at the same time the thanks the Craft owe to you for your labour and your handsome gift . " Let us add that the clothing , & c , of a Past A . G . D . C . was presented to Bro . LANE

by Grand Lodge , the jewel having inscribed on it : " Presented to Bro . JOHN LANE , F . C . A ., Past A . G . D . C , by the United Grand Lodge of England , in recognition of his literary services—5 th

June , 1895 . " This then is the man and these the services which an unknown critic , in the plenitude of his ignorance , has thought fit to treat with contemptuous indifference .

As regards the facts of the case concerning Lodge No . 44 , we publish the following from our own private notes from the Ancient Grand Lodge Records : At a meeting of Grand Lodge held on the 18 th June , 1755 , there was presented a petition for

a warrant from Bros . COLLINS , RADFORD , and BRIDGE , & c , of Manchester , when itwas " Order'd that a Warrant shall be made and convey'd to the Pet - , and with such other things as the Grand Secy , shall think prudent and necessary . " The Warrant

thus granted was the original No . 39 . In the minutes of Grand Lodge of 5 th June , 1793 , Bro . AGAR , D . G . M ., being in the chair , we read that Lodges Nos . 39 , at the Blackamoor ' s Head , Manchester ; 43 , Golden Lion , Butcher Row , Coventry ; 53 ,

Stockport ; 160 , Norwich ; and 171 , Manchester , were cancelled , " having neglected to correspond with and refused to pay due respect to the Rt . W . Grand Lodge . " On the 4 th March , 1795 , Bro . W . DICKEY , D . G . M ., being in the chair , the Grand Lodge

minutes record that an application " from Bro . JOHN WATSON and others , late of Lodge No . 39 , Queen ' s Head , Old Church-street , Manchester , " was read praying for " a renewal and revival of " the warrant , and it was moved , seconded , and unanimously

agreed that the prayer be granted , " the old warrant to . be transmitted previous to renewal . " This will be found quoted almost verbatim in GOULD ' S " Athol Lodges . " As regards the No . 39 of 1803 , which still exists as Lodge of Friendship , No .

44 , we have no reason for questioning the statement contained in Bro . LANE ' S letter of 12 th inst . —that the proceedings of 1803 " show the payment on the 20 th February , 1803 , for the warrant No . 39 as a new lodge . " As for the recitals in the warrant of

confirmation of the 29 th June , 18 35 , bearing the signatures of the Duke of SUSSEX , M . W . G . M ., and the Earl of DURHAM , as D . G . M ., the responsibility for making them rests with the Grand Secretaries—Bros . W . H . WHITE and E . HARPER—and their

staff who drew up the warrant , not with the Grand Master and his Deputy . But the recitals were made 60 years ago , when few people in Masonry thought it worth their while to concern

themselves about the correctness or incorrectness of a date . It was enough for them that the document containing the date was official .

As for the conclusion at which Bro . LANE has arrived , and which was stated as clearly in the first , as it is in the second , edition of his Records , we have not investigated the whole of the circumstances with that exceeding care and as minutely as the

justice of the case demands . We incline to the believe that he is right in regarding the cancellation of the ori ginal warrant of No . 39 in 1793 as the determination of that lodge , and that the

grant of the renewed warrant two years later was equivalent to the grant of an entirely new warrant for the constitution of a second lodge located in the same town of Manchester , and bearing the same No . 39 . But whether he is ri ght or wrong—

A Critic On The Bounce.

and , so far as our present argument is concerned , the point is not material—what we are before all things desirous of setting before our readers is that when a critic declares himself to be in favour of one of two parties to a controversy and opposed

to the other , we have a right to expect clear , indubitable evidence that he has some knowledge of the matter he is criticising . When we find this critic declaring that a certain combination , of which he speaks as a " Mutual Admiration Society , " "has done a

great amount of harm in the past , and must continue to do so unless a check is put upon it , as it stifles honest criticism and tends to perpetuate errors , which , under more rational treatment might soon be corrected and set at rest on a really substantial

basis , we naturally ask ourselves , in the first place , what this means , and , in the next , what it has to do with the difference between Bros . HEYWOOD and CHADWICK re Lodge No . 44 , 0 f Manchester . As for the men whom we suppose the critic refers to

as the " Mutual Admiration Society , " they are the very men who have been engaged all their lives in doing their utmost to prevent the perpetuation of errors , and it is because they have done

so much towards the correction of errors , and have set them at rest , in the majority of instances , for ever , that their services have been recognised by his Royal Highness the Grand Master and Grand Lodge .

The Old Charges Of British Freemasons.*

THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS . *

For some time past we have been looking forward to the publication of this important work , a second edition of one which was compiled many years ago by the same author , but

which has long been out of print . Bro . HUGHAN has devoted himself to many branches of Masonic Study . Nothing , indeed , seems to come amiss to him , and whether it be an old charge , an

old medal , an old warrant , or an old custom , he seems equally ready and competent to offer an opinion upon its characteristics , while his opinion , if not in all cases conclusive , contains invariably much show of reason , and is worthy of all respect . But

as regards these Constitutional Rolls , or Old Charges , as they are more commonly known , Bro . HUGHAN has long been accepted as a foremost authority as to their age and respective merits . As he points out in the opening pages of the present volume , when he and the late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . WOODFORD began their

researches " as to these Manuscript Constitutions of the operative Masons , " less than a score of them bad been traced . In 18 72 , when his " Old Charges of British Freemasons " was

published in its earliest form , considerable progress had been made , and a reference to that volume will show that his and our late Bro . WOODFORD ' S labours had brought forth good fruit

abundantly . In the 23 years that have since elapsed , still more satisfactory progress has been made . Many valuable manuscript Constitutions have been discovered , and their several values been subjected to the keenest criticism . Others , too , have given their

time and attention to the study of these important documents , and to crown all , the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , by the encouragement it gives to the severer class of Masonic studies and the facilities it is able to afford for the determination of the greater

difficulties which present themselves in the pursuit of such studies has been the means of still more rapidly promoting the general acquaintance with these rolls , and augmenting the interest which is taken in them . The result of all this separate and combined

effort on the part of individual brethren and communities of brethren will be found carefully recorded in the pages of tins Second Edition of a work which Bro . HUGHAN brought out 2 } years ago , when the study of constitutional rolls was limited to

a very few brethren , while , save for those who may have bce " at the pains of glancing through the Cook MS ., as published by SPENCER AND Co ., the number of brethren to whom t '

contents of our Old Charges were known was infinitesimal' ) ' small . It appears from the new edition of Bro . HUGHAN ' S v > ' ° ' that there are upwards of 60 " Old Charges" now known to b ^ in existence , together with a few which have been printed , « ' » ' ^