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NOTICE . The Subscript-on to THB FREEMASON is now ios . per annum , post-free , pat / able in advance .

Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . IL , ditto 7 s- 6 ( 1 - Vol . s HI ., IV ., V ., & c . ... each 13 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . Ditto ditto 4 do - — IS - 6 u -

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NOTICE . Many complaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring the Freemason in the City , the publisher begs to append thc following list , being a selected few of the appointed agents : —

Abbott , Wm ., Great Tower-street . Bates , Pilgrim-street , Ludgate-hill . Born , TL , 115 , London-wall . Dawson , Wm ., 121 , Cannon-street . Gilbert , Jas ., 18 , Gracechurch-street . Guest , Wm ., 54 , Paternoster-row . Phillpott Bros ., 6 5 , King William-street . Pottle , IL , 14 , Royal Exchange .

May also be obtained at W . TL Smith & Son ' s Bookstalls at the following City Stations : — Broad-street . I Holborn Viaduct . Cannon-street . | London Bridge . Ludgate Hill .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock on Wednesday evening . All Communications should be sent to 198 , Fleet Street .

The following communications stand over : Letters from " A Friend in Need , " and John Boyd , P . AI . " Testimonial to Bro . Sir Alichacl Costa , " unavoidably kept back until next week . Reports of Lodges 118 , 1096 , 1129 , 1138 , and 1203 .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY :, MARCH 27 , 187 . 5 .

The Installation Of The Grand Master.

THE INSTALLATION OF THE GRAND MASTER .

The announcement we made last week , on authority , that the arrangements for the installation are under the direction and management of Bros . Sir Albert W . Woods and Thomas Fenn , is one calculated to afford unqualified approval to trip entire Order . The main arrangements

are in the care of Sir Albert \ V . Woods , so long our Grand Director of Ceremonies , while the direction of the accommodation for the seating of the large number expected to attend could not possibly be more appropriately confided than to Ero . Thomas Fenn . We feel sure that all that

skill can effect and thoughtfulness contrive will be effected and contrived by those two distinguished brethren . It is a feature in Freemasonry that duties , which , at ordinary public meetings , are fulfilled by paid officials , are on occasions like the present discharged by the members themselves . The number of Masons

volunteering their services as Stewards on this occasion for such duties is very large , including many Grand Officers and other Masons of high standing , all willing to undertake any duty which may be assigned to them . The provinces have been invited to send also a prescribed

number of Stewards—and they will , no doubt , have appropriate work found for them . It is , however , obvious that the greater part of the real work must fall upon the London brethren , who are alone in a position to attend meetings at the shortest notice , and who will no doubt

have several preparatory assemblies to attend . The details of the arrangements have not , we believe , been finally approved of , so as to be published with authority , but we are informed that from the fairness and clearness by which they are specially marked they are calculated to give

The Installation Of The Grand Master.

general satisfaction . The executive are evidently exercising an earnest desire to meet , so far as is practicable , the wishes of the brethren and the loyal anxiety of the Craft . As we pointed out a fortnight ago , the seats of the Albert Hall being arranged in the form of an amphitheatre a view of the whole proceedings can be obtained from every seat . The advantage of this form of building on the present occasion will be this ,

that no one seat can be better than another . Under these circumstances the arrangements can , if thought necessary , be made with a regard to colour and effect , and no brother need be or can be dissatisfied , who is asked to change his seat with this object . We hope to give more detailed information next week .

Mr. Charles Bradlaugh.

MR . CHARLES BRADLAUGH .

It seems , from what has appeared in our columns , that this well-known person , who has been attending one or more meetings of Freemasons in the United States , is not a regularly made Freemason under the English Constitution at all , nor indeed under any regular constitution

at all . According to his own account , he was made in the Loge des Philadelphes , pth March , 1859 , a spurious political and unrecognized Order , and he adds that he was received in the Loge de la Perseverante Amitie , Grand Orient of Franee , nth March , 1863 . We , however , can

find no such lodge under the Grand Orient . Mr . Bradlaugh was , it appears , admitted a joining member of the High Cross Lodge , Tottenham , 754 , after some discussion , to which he modestly alludes , on his p . nti-theological opinions , a somewhat curious expression , though he does not

state in what year . He only , however , subscribed one year . Upon the accession of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales as Grand Master , Mr . Bradlaugh returned his certificate to our good Bro . Hervey , cancelled . At the time , then , of Mr . Bradlaugh ' s visit to America , he was unaffiliated

to any lodge , and more than this , he was not , in our opinion , legitimately a Freemason at all . In his original initiation he was radically wrong , and nothing but a member of a spurious fraternity . If the Loge de Ia Perseverante Amitie be a regular lodge under the Grand Orient , even his

reception there does not do away with his orig inal vicious admission , and at the time he joined the High Cross Lodge , Tottenham , he was , as far as we understand his own position , ipso facto , ineligible , being made in an illegal and unwarranted lodge . Mr . Bradlaugh complacently tells us that

he was an avowed atheist then , as at all times , and that the fact was known to the brethren of the High Cross Lodge . We feel bound , therefore , with these facts before us , to ask for a little explanation . How did Mr . Bradlaugh get into the High Cross Lodge ? At the time he was

admitted , how did they know that he was a Freemason ? We must all of us greatly deplore the laxity manifested by that lodge . Here is a person of known atheistical opinions , made in a spurious political lodge , mixed up with revolutionary proclivities , admitted into a respectable

English lodge . Even on Mr . Bradlaugh ' s own showing there was a taint on his orig inal admission which , as far as Freemasonry is concerned , is in itself fatal to his joining an English lodge . But what is La Perseverante Amitie ? Is it under the Grand Orient of France , or is it under the

Rite Ecossaise , or the so-called " Rite of Misraim ? " What certificate had he when visiting the American lodges ? Answers to these questions will serve to make the matter more clear , though enough has been said and put forward

to prove , that Air . Bradlaugh has no right to call himself a Freemason , or to claim the privileges of Freemasonry . We hope that the members of the High Cross Lodge can give some satisfactory explanation of a most anomalous and unprecedented proceeding .

Our Lodge Meetings.

OUR LODGE MEETINGS .

We alluded , in our last issue , to the lodge meetings of other days . We propose to call attention now to the meetings of our lodges " de mense in mensem . " We have no right or warrant for believing that there is much difference in the general routine , though we have heard

Our Lodge Meetings.

that some ' of our younger W , Masters and Past Masters are not so well up and attached to our purely oral ceremonies as we used to be . Otherwise we presume that there is little difference . The same round of customary work goes on there , the same old familiar ritual , with all its beauties is performed , and their business being over , the brethren adjourn to refreshment . Whatever

may have been the want of memory or want of interest previously , we fancy no one need complain of the attendance of the majority of the brethren at this mysterious and agreeable degree . The symbols suggest a good deal to the thoughtful mind . Curiously enough it is the onl y

degree which all are equally willing to take part in , and it is one which seems to commend itself to the objectiveness and subjectiveness , to use some fine modern words , of us all alike , old or young , neophyte or veteran . And no doubt , just as of yore , our lodge meetings are still very

pleasant . They are meetings , for the most part , of good men and true , honest fellows and loyal friends . For a little hour the conventionalities and conflicts of the outer world are at an end , we breathe an atmosphere of moral freedom , we live in a land of harmony and geniality where

all these things are forgotten . What matters to us , as Freeaiasons , the quarrels of mankind , the controversies of theologians , the insane disputes of the " big-endians " and the "little-endians . " We are brethren , we are friends , we are happy , and we are contented . Life has few rosier hours

for any of us harassed mortals , than those which , within the peaceful portals of a Freemason ' s lodge , have made us a " band of brothers . " Long may it be so ! and still , as time moves on , and years fade , though our goodly gatherings grow less numerous , may we , as Freemasons , united in

the sacred bonds of a friendship which never wavers , an interest which never grows selfish , a brotherhood which never decays , find many of the happiest moments of our little lives , in that good old lodge of ours , with which are stored up all the gracious memories of our Masonic career .

But it has been said that " sameness tires , " and that the " chilling influence of routine diminishes interest , and weakens satisfaction . " It may be so , and therefore we have thought well to add one or two further suggestions for those who now mainly direct the course of our lodges . Could

not something be done to arouse a little intellectual activity in the lodges ? Would not a series of lectures , or of conversaziones , in which the artistic , or scientific , or archajological , or mystical aspect of Freemasonry is set forth , serve to animate any flagging interest , or to

stimulate waning activity ' Indeed , we do not see why our sisters should not be pressed now and then into the service of our gallant Craft . They have , we know , the best of intentions ; they arc endowed with the warmest of hearts ; and were we but to ask them now and then to

grace our gatherings , and shed a lustre on our secluded halls , we should , we are bold to think , make our Order more generally popular amongst the fairer sex than it is . For the most part they are apt to regard us with a mingled feeling of

doubt , suspicion , and fear . They hear queer stories their " lords and masters " are sometimes late . Bro . Thomas and Bro . Partington have on more than one occasion not re-appeared at the deserted domestic shrine until the " wee

sma hours , and both Mrs . Thomas and Mrs . Partington have blamed Freemasonry of course . Now we would say to our readers , give up late sittings and go home early . But " en revanche , " every now and then , invite the partners of your joys and your heart , present and future sisters , to

a little Masonic " swarry , " to a cup of tea , to a pleasant re-union . Once within the mysterious locale , once feeh ' ng themselves permitted to lift , if even but a corner of the veil , over the shrouded " Isis , " they will begin to feel quite" Masonic . ' ' Of course such a luxury must not be indulged in

too often , as , dear creatures as they are , good and true , they are still descendants of mother Eve , and always like to know as much as they can . But every now and then , once or twice a year , as an occasional " fillip" to the W . M ., and

the officers , and the brethren , after the long routine of lodge labours , we can think of no better or pleasanter a contrast , than the beaming faces and silvery voices of those who still continue to make an Eden of this world of ours , for toiling , and contentious , and ungrateful man .