Bro. Dr. John Staples Keddell.

H . Bathurst , P . M . 133 , P . P . G . Reg . ; J . Sharp , P . M . 1273 , P . P . G . Dir . of Cer . ; Owen Carter , W . M . 20 , P . S . G . D . ; W . Redman , W . M . 184 , P . G . Sec . ; E . Mudd , P . M ., P . P . Dir . of Cer . ; J . R . McDonald . P . M . 1089 , P . G . Dir . of Cer .

XV . Fry , W . M . 1050 , P . P . G . S . ; Dr . Seabrook , P . M . 185 , 1174 , P . P . G . S . ; —Turtle , P . M . 184 , P . G-. A . D . C . ; W . H . Moore , P . M . 20 , P . P . D . of Kent . REQUIESCAT IN PACE .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Is it competent for a man who is and has been totally blind from his

birth , to be made a Freemason ? I am led to believe there is a case on record where one was made in a lodge not a hundred miles from Thornhill . I also understand that the same lodge gives the various degrees to men who have been " blackballed " by our brethren in England . If such is the

case , is it any wonder that " Scottish Masonry is looked down upon by our English brethren ? As this information was gathered when I was in the North-West of England ( where they complain bitterly about said doings ) perhaps some brother who knows more of the particulars , can give a fuller account and satisfy them on this subject . I am , Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , Glasgow . JUSTITIA .

"THE STATUS OF D . PROV . G . MASTERS . "

{ To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Your excellent and timely article on the above subject will receive the warm support and approval of most of the Fraternity who are conversant with the general zeal and attention paid to Masonry by the Deputy Provincial

Grand Masters throughout England . It seems to me that such officers should be allowed to take rank , out of their Province , after Grand Deacons . As it is now , their position is forfeited directly they leave their province , although , paradoxically , they are permitted to wear their Provincial clothing

anywhere in Craft meetings . I fancy you are not quite correct in stating that " In Scotland and other Masonic jurisdictions , the Provincial Grand Masters even are not appointed by the chief ruler of the Craft , but are elected by the local bodies . " From this it may be thought

that Provincial Grand Lodges may elect their Provincial Grand Masters in Scotland , but in reality the members of the Grand Lodge do so . Under the Grand Lodge of Ireland it is the prerogative of the Grand Master to appoint the Prov . G . Masters . I remain , dear Sir and Brother , Yours fraternally ,

VV . JAMES HUGHAN , Prov . G . Sec . Cornwall Truro , Cornwall , Nov . 19 , 1870 . THE PURPLE v . WEST LANCASHIRE .

{ To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BroTHER—I have read the letters upon the above subject published in your excellent paper . Your first correspondent on the subject , " M . M . " makes a mistake when he says that Bro . Ibbs , ( Hobbs he calls him , ) Laidlaw and

Pickering were re-elected , as they were only apppointcd to their respective offices , which they now hold , at the meeting in October . Perhaps he thinks that having served the office of Steward for a period of twelve months , is quite sufficient honour for a brother , but it is not the hope of reward that at

all times sweetens labour , and when a brother serves the office of Steward for a period of three years ( or as I believe , Bro . Pickering did for four , ) is he not fairly entitled to go higher up , and be appointed to an office which will confer Past Grand rank upon him which rhe office of Steward does not do .

Another correspondent "P . M . and P . Z . " complains , that " Bro . Dr . Moore has paid more for his Masonic honours than any half a dozen Liverpool brethren , and now he is shelved . " Really , Mr . Editor , I cannot see how he is shelved ; he has retired with past rank , and if , as

' P . M . and P . Z . " appears to think , he ought to have held his office longer , how is the reform he so loudly calls for to be accomplished ? I think it can only he done by brethren who have attained to an office which will confer Past rank upon them retiring .

There is one thing which I fancy has caused all the dissatisfaction which there is in this provinces ind that is , the Prov . Grand Master and his officers seldom , if ever , visit a lodge in the province . In 'his particular , West and East Lancashire are very different , as I have irequently heard of brethren

Original Correspondence.

going over to Manchester and other places in East Lancashire , and meeting with their very excellent Deputy P . G . M . and other officers , who not only give them their countenance , but assist them in their work . This I think goes a very great way towards preserving that love and harmony which should always characterise Masonic meetings . Yours fraternally , ANOTHER P . Z .

{ To the Editor of ' Ihe Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —It is evident that the Province of West Lancashire is too large' to allow of every lodge getting a share of the Purple , at least on the principle it is at present distributed . I would therefore suggest that the Ulverston and

Barrow Lodges ( see P . M ., P . Z . ' s letter in your last issue ) should be attached to the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland , they still retaining any votes they may have in the W . L . Masonic Educational Fund . If this is not practicable , divide the

province the same as the Parliamentary division , and as the Hon . F . A . Stanley , Prov . G . S . W ., represents the Northen division in Parliament , no one could be better qualified to act as the first Prov . G . M . Yours fraternally , G . B . E .

Masonic Miscellanea.

Masonic Miscellanea .

—?—ON Thursday next , the 1 st December , the ceremony of Installation of the Three Principals will be rehearsed at the R . A . Chapter of Improvement , at 7 . A GRAND Conclave of Knights Templar , & c ., will be held at Freemasons' Tavern , on Friday , Dec . 9 th , at 3 p . m . ( See advertisement on front page . )

THE Fifteen Sections will be worked in the Confidence Lodge of Instruction , held at Bro . Foster ' s Railway Tavern , London-street , on Wednesday , 7 th Dec , at 7 o ' clock . Bro . Austin will occupy the chair .

OVER , £ 1200 have been collected in Bombay for the Society in Aid of the Sick and Wounded . The Masonic subscription originated by the heads of Masonry in the district—viz ., Bros . Hon . J . Gibbs , G . S . Judge , J . Percy Leith , and M . Cursetjee—has realized / joo .

WE are requested to state that the Royal Union Lodge of Instruction , No . 382 , ( late at Bro . Claizen ' s , Haymarket ) , is now held at Bro . Duddey ' s the Horse and Groom Tavern , Winsley-street , opposite the Pantheon , Oxford-street , on Wednesday evenings at 8 o ' clock . Bro . Thos . A . Adams , P . G . P ., Preceptor .

A LODGE of Instruction of the Mark Degree is held at the Lyceum Tavern , No . 354 , Strand ( four doors west of Wellington-street ) , under the sanction of the Kent Lodge of Mark Masters , every Monday evening , at half-p 1 st seven , during the months of October , November , December , January , February , March , April , and May—Charles Swan , Preceptor .

THE Southwark Masonic Charitable Association , held at the Bridge House Hotel , London-Bridge , is founded to obtain for its members a Life Governorship in one of the Royal Masonic Charitable Institutions . Subscriptions arc one shilling per week , payable on or before the last Tuesday in each

month , and when the sum of ten guineas is in the Treasurers hands , a chance for a Life Governorship drawn for by the members . Any lady or gentlemen may be proposed as a member , but members of the Craft only will have a vote in the

management . AH information may be obtained on application to Bro . M . E . Loe . venstark , Secretary pro tern ., 1 , Devercux-court , Essex-street , Strand , W . C . The first ballot will take place on the last Tuesday in January 1871 .

THEncxt meeting of the Macdonald M . M . Lodge , No . 104 , will take place on the 10 th December , at the Head Quarters of the First Surrey Volunteers , Camberwell New-road . On this occasion , Bro . James Stevens , G . J . O ., W . M ., will be honoured with a visit from the Rev . G . R . Portal , M . A ., Grand

Master of this degree in England , whom all the members of the Keystone Lodge and a large company of celebrated Mark Masters have been invited to meet . Bros . Colonel Burdett and John Hervey , among others , have accepted invitations , and ameeting worthy of the occasion may be anticipated .

1 here are seven candidates for advancement that evening , and the brethren are requested to be punctual in their attendance at the hour ( six p . m . ) for which the lodge is summoned . A Lodge of Instruction will be held at five , to instruct the brethren in some alterations which have been made in the ritual , and to receive the G . M . with due honours .

Consecration Of The Emblematic Lodge, No. 1321.

CONSECRATION of the EMBLEMATIC LODGE , No . 1321 .

This new lodge was consecrated at the Tulse Hill Hotel , Tulse Hill , on Thursday , the 17 th inst ., by Bro . R . Wentworth Little , P . M ., Prov . G . Sec . Middlesex , in the presence of a goodly number of brethren . In the performance of this important

ceremony Bro . Little had the advantage of the assistance of two of the most able and distinguished workers in the Craft , namely , the V . W . Bro . John Hervey , G . Sec , and Thomas Fenn , P . G . A . D . C . Precisely at the time appointed the brethren entered the lodge-room in procession , marshalled

by W . Bro . W . B . Heath , P . M ., P . Prov . S . G . W . Herts , who acted as D . C , while solemn music was played by Bro . C . Herring , P . M . 382 . The Presiding Officer having nominated Bros . Hervey and Fenn as Wardens , and Bro . H . G . Buss , P . M ., Prov . G . Treas . Middlesex , as I . G ., the lodge was

opened in the three degrees , and the Consecrating Master addressed the brethren on the object of the meeting , and then commenced the ceremony with an appropriate prayer . After the usual preliminaries , Bro . Little then delivered the following oration : —Brethren , the

occasion upon which we meet together this day is , I conceive , interesting not only to ourselves as Masons individually , but to the Craft at large , inasmuch as it denotes the continued prosperity of our venerable Order , which , like the famous Indian tree , perpetually renews itself in scions as vigorous

and flourishing as the parent stem . It is , to myself , a source of peculiar gratification to have been called upon to officiate at so important a ceremony as the consecration of the Emblematic Lodge . More especially , as I feel convinced that its founders are brethren eminently qualified to fill the high offices

to which they have been appointed by the M . W . Grand Master . They are all , I am persuaded , actuated by a sincere desire to acquire Masonic knowledge , and to devote their time and talent to the advancement and development of Freemasonry . And here I would observe , brethren , that the study

of our mysteries is no mere pastime for the idle ; on the contrary , it is a pursuit which challenges the utmost grasp of intellect , and employs the finest faculties of the human soul . It is also well known that there are many votaries of literature , science , and art enrolled in the ranks of our

Fraternitymen of whom a great writer justly speaks when he describes them as " a perpetual priesthood , standing forth , generation after generation , as the dispensers and living types of God ' s everlasting wisdom . " To such enlightened minds Freemasonry unveils a universe of thought—to them it is a keen

delight to trace and to interpret those grand and solemn truths that were dimly shadowed forth in the mystic rites of the ancient world . Looking back through the mists of ages , they behold in the white-robed Essenians a kindred race , and arc familiar with the symbolic teachings of the great

philosophers of old . Amidst the obscurity and darkness of occult ceremonies , they discern faint gleams of the true light in which we now rejoice . In every land they find tokens innumerable graven by the hands of skilful Masons on the walls of ruined fanes and temples . They establish the affinity of

our Order with the Society of Dionysian Artificers , with the disciples of Pythagoras , with the College of Architects at Rome , and with the operative associations of the Middle Ages . They demonstrate clearly that the ethics of Freemasonry were known and taught by the wisest sages of Greece , whose

names are still revered and honoured by the nations . Theyprove that our Order , though often persecuted and often derided , has never faltered or failed in its sublime career , although even the mightiest empires have been compelled to succumb to the hand of conquest or of time . I would therefore ask

what nobler exercise of the mental faculties can be found than a calm and earnest pursuit of Masonic knowledge—thus gleaning and gathering in our onward path the rich treasures of wisdom which it reveals to our view ? But it is not merely to the intellectual pleasure to

be derived from the study of Freemasonry that I would desire to direct your attention . Our institution possesses other and more practical claims to our sympathy and support . It is founded on principles that are an honour to human nature ; it bids us hasten to the rescue of the young and helpless

from the snares of poverty and ignorance ; it calls upon us to ameliorate the sad condition of those who , in the decline of life , require our consolation and assistance . I am proud to add that English Freemasons have ever been distinguished , not only for their zeal in promoting the welfare ofthe Order , but also for their large-hearted benevolence and

diffusive charity . The best answer that can be given to the cavils and sneers of the unenlightened world , is to point to those excellent institutions which have been raised for the nurture of the young and the shelter of the old . More than eighty years have passed away since the Masonic School for Female Children was founded , and who can esti-