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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
the chairman of the committee admits that a large proportion of these are not fit objects of charity , and dwells upon the paramount necessity of classification , no attempt is made to classify the crowd of out-patients that daily besiege the over-crowded waiting-room of the Hospital . Thus an abuse of charity goeson , and is seriously crippling the resources of the Hospital .
With regard to the value of our educational charities , and the one to which you point , Christ ' s Hospital , I have to ask your particular attention to the instructive documents just issued , and giving the receipts and expenditure of this charity for the past year . The income for last year amounted to the enormous sum of £ 78 , 885 2 s . iod . ; of this princely revenue upwards of £ 15 , 000 were expended
in tbe management of the estates of the charity , and leaving a balance for the educational purposes of the Hospital °£ £ 63 , 104 ' 11 we enquire how was this large sum disposed of , the document referred to only partly tells us . The average number of children maintained and educated in the London and Hertford establishments is said to be icSo , and the average expenditure per child ,
and quite apart from the special allowances for prizes , University exhibitions , & c , is given at £ 52 is . 8 d . I do not for one minute say this is a very extravagant sum , but , roughly speaking , it will be seen that only about 1000 children are educated at a cost ot £ 60 , 000 per annum . Can it be possible that this charity is properly administered ? The Endowed School Commission long ago declared it was
not ; and if I mistake not , a committee of Governors drew up a scheme of reform , but it came to nothing . It is almost too much to expect the Corporation will relax its corrupt grasp on so valuable a patrimony as that of Christ ' s Hospital , and which at one time tbe leally necessitous poor enjoyed . J . remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , J ABEZ HOGG .
THE GENESIS OF SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY ( Continued . ) To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — My courteous brethren who have kindly feillowcd
my lucubrations thus far must not suppose that I have not perceived an apparent discrepancy in my way of putting the purely speculative proposition that Freemasonry was , in its inception , the recognition of an almost personal God , by the few among the many inhabitants of the early world , which has , doubtless , not escaped their
penetration . In my last letter I intimated my opinion that there was no such thing as a real [ relapse into Paganism , and , inasmuch as we must assume for present purposes of argument , the historical accuracy of the record contained in the Holy Scriptures , it may fairly enough bc asked how , if God revealed Himself to the fust mm , did their
descendants so soon fall away frcm His knowledge , as we are told they did , and how do I profess to reconcile this with the theory now under examination and its correlative , i . e ., that there is no retrogression into Paganism , that the early history of the race is the development of the worship of the concrete into the perception of the abstract ? Let us take the two branches of the proposition . It is
perfectly intelligible that those early members of the family of man , to whom the G . A . O . T . U . personally and immediately revealed himself , could never fall away from the belief in his existence , how much or how little soever that belief may have influenced their subsequent lives . Noah could indulge in a degrading vice , but he could net deny the existence of that Biing who had directed the
construction of the Ark . Lot might fall into abominable sin , but he knew to his dying-day that an Almighty interposition had saved him from the destruction of Sodom . Abraham might descend to telling a lie , but he could not forget that he had talkcil with God . Jacob could commit a fraud , but denial of the Deity , of whom he had twice experienced direct revelation , was impossible to him .
Mosesj . surely worn and feeble might fail in faith , but he could not attribute to the golden calf the power that had manifested itself to him on Sinai and in the burning bush . But nothing of this applies to the vast mass of mankind , tr comparatively few of whom , as they increased , was vouchsafed direct Divine manifestation . Of the greatly preponderating majority it may bc affirmed , not that they
fell away from a pure faith in the Deity , but that they had only known it by vague report , or perhaps , in course of time as their numbers increased , myriads had never known it at all . In regarding the society of the antediluvian world , many good people fall into the error of dividing the sheep from the goats , so to speak , by a broad and well-defined line of natural demarcation . So many
were true believers—so many were heathen worshippers of false gods . Pure religion or false religion was the chief concern of all men . I venture to think that this is a mistake . I incline ^ to the opinion that , as mankind * multiplied , the " notion of an abstract Deity became so diluted if I may use the term , as—but for the influence pre-supposcd in the theory I am discussing—to be well-nigh
lost altogether . Men were engaged in fighting , hunting , fishing , wandering , tillingEthe soil , ; herding their cattle , founding settlements , building , marrying and burying . The influence , call it what you will , that we now term religion , would bc represented in their society by some visible anil tangible entity that they would suppose to have some power to accelerate or retard their enterprises and
beyond their immediate interest in the exercise of this force , they would care very little for the existence of the supposed Deity ; probably it would never occur to them to inquire into the truth or otherwise of such existence . Hence the savage's belief in omens ; the flight of birds—the actions of beasts , the appearances of various natural objects—and the tangible representations of these supposed supernatural agents—prob-
Original Correspondence.
ably in the first instance manufactured for convenience sake , or from affectionate , or the reverse associationcome , in course of time , to be invested in the minds of votaries with the attributes of their originals , and thus superstition developes into paganism . Those who have really known the true God do not really turn aside from Him , but the vast majority have never knewn Him ;
the believers in the Divine influence have been too few , too widely scattered , to leaven the vast mass . Thus it is perfectly intelligible how the early history of the aggregate of mankind is the record of the progress from idolatry into spiritual worship ; but there is one consideration which apparently qualifies this proposition . The instances warranted in holy writ are numerous
where those who presumably had received the benefit of an immediate divine manifestation apparently turned aside to idol worship . The Israelites , or at least a large proportion of them , were not deterred by the miracle enacted before their eyes , when the bed of the sea became dry land , and the flood that immediately afterwards engulfed the army of their pursuer , by the pillar of fire by
day and the cloud by night constantly before their eyes , or by the lightning ' s rending Sinai , from constructing the calf of gold , and turning aside to render it worship . As years rolled by , although the Divine presence among them was in constant manifestation , we , see them apparently reverting to idolatry at every available opportunity . The very image that Moses had erected by Divine command
as the test of their faith in a Spiritual Being , became in process of time perverted—until Hezekiah wisely destroyed it—into a material object of their veneration . But we must not give these instances of apparent qualification more value than they merit . It must be remembered how largely society is made up of the young , the thoughtless , the self-indulgent , and the indifferent . Unbelief , not ensuing
from conviction , but springing from indifference , a disposition to attribute such phenomena as the recalcitrants had seen to natural rather than to supernatural causes , dislike to the purity of life and high tone of morality exacted by spiritual worship—and as thecorrollary—an almost overwhelming inclination to partake in the indulgences with which the votaries of idolatrous rites always endeavoured
to attract proselytes ; all these influences taken into consideiation , it will be found that my main proposition requires very little qualification , notwithstanding the recorded aberrations of God ' s chosen people , that there is no individual retrogression into paganism in the sense that the human being who has once recognised tbe true God substitutes for that belief a conviction of the
intelligence , influence , ami power of a material idol . The above disquisition may appear an irrelevant digression , but it was necessary to my speculation , because I desire to present to the mind of the reader a view of the society of the early world which involves three classes of individuals , with their various merging and blending tones of thought and habit . First , I take it that the vast
majority of mankind would have no idea whatever of pure spiritual worship , and would bc the votaries of superstitious observances taking the form of the worship of material images . Then I divide the minority into two groups , of which the first , immeasurably outnumbering the second , consists of the indifferent , who thoughtlessly aelopt the worship of the multitude , again capable of
subelivision into the masses who do so for the sake of fashion , luxury , and pleasure , and the not inconsiderable number whose profit is found in ministering to the idolatrous worship and its costly accessories ; and , lastly , a very small body of men who either from thoroughly examined and
well-believed communicated tradition , from sincere conviction , or from the immediate personal community with the Deity Himself , constitute the esoteric brethren who keep the pure light of faith brightly burning . If I may venture to paraphrase our great poet , I might borrow an illustration from
him" How far this little candle throws its light So shines the true faith in a heathen world . " Assuming , as we are bound to assume , for does not a part of our teaching inculcate that He has never ltft Himself without a living witness among men—that such a leavening influence existed in times of the most remote antiquity , is it permissible , or is too extravagantly
fantastical to enquire whether this grain of mustard seed has grown into our goodly tree of to-day , whose branches overshadow all the world ? Is modern speculative Freemasonry the outcome ofthis organization ? Are wc Freemasons the inheritors in direct descent of this heritage ? Is it our birthright ? Has Freemasonry , in short , ever since God first breathed into man ' s nostrils the breath of life
suffered a solution of continuity ? I will , for the present , venture to take it for granted that we may , in a spirit of reverence , but yet very tentatively and diffidently , pursue the enquiry . What is the first thing to be examined ? I take it that we must postulate imaginarily a mode of life of these men—men in the world and of the world as they found it , and ask ourselves what would be their probable course of conduct , what would be
most likely to be their views of themselves , their mission , anel of Mankind—the outer society , of mankind—around them . I apprehend that few brethren will differ from me if I suppose that such a little , little band , opposing , more or less openly , predominant views and habits , never , perhaps , unnecessarily obtruding their notions , but never shrinking from avowing their convictions when necessary , would regard themselves as in the world but not of the world . Those
external to their organisation would presumably be their enemies—enemies , however , capable of being converted by the system of affectionate and moral proselytism into friends—but / until that happy conversion , necessarily foesfor , remember , I am not investigating the conditions of a time when even the most elementary notion of what we
Original Correspondence.
now call toleration had entered the minds of man . As against these outer antagonists the esoteric brethren must be united by one supreme feeling of self-preservation , shoulder to shoulder—all for one and one for all—these , or their equivalents , would be the axiomatic mottoes ever present to their minds . By the most
tangible of all illustrations there would be constantly proved to them the truth , that union is strength . And if we assume this we get so far in our argument that we establish these two points , viz ., that in this early com munity the two prevailing features were the necessity for csoterism , and , the duty of martvrdom . But let us try a step further .
Is it not possible , nay probable , considering that legitimate proselytism must have been by these fratres conscripticonsidered an undeclinable part of their duty—that they would regard admission to their body as analagous to birth ? May we not conceive that association in their labours would
present itself to them as life ? And is it not fairly deducible that the termination—perhaps by a violent end—of the comradeship , should ever be contemplated as possible , and thus the idea of the natural close of life and labour—death—be ever present to them ? But yet a stride beyond—Addison makes Cato eloquently allude to
" that longing after immortality , " as an ineradicable human instinct ; that longing , be sure , was as keen in the hearts of the earliest of our progenitors as in our own . Is it extravagant then to assume that the idea of a reunion with the companions of their former toils suggested itself as a possible solace for the pangs of
the inevitable material parting ? Thus , then , if there be anything whatever of intellectual value in my excogitations I have succeeded in presenting the creed of these very early workers , in a formula , which I may briefly summarise , as Admission = Birth , Work = Liic , Martyrdom = Death ! Yours faithfully , S . P ., No . 002 , 1491 .
GRAND CHAPTER GRAMMAR . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I am not quite certain that " Critic" is right in either of his allegations of bad grammar . In the first case , though the disjunctive be used , yet it
may fairly be a question , I think , whether the two offices named , despite the disjunctive , do not constitute two nominative cases . At any rate it is a moot point . In the last case I feel pretty sure that " Critic " is wrong , Is there not such a thing as being by percritical ? PUFF .
A QUERY . To lie Editor of Ihe "Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — I note in the last list of candidates for the Widows' Fund , that two are the relicts of farm labourers I
I wish to ask a question , I hope without any offence , is that which represents a weekly wage of 18 s ., or 21 s . at the most , such a position as constitutes a candidate " his own master" or a " free agent , " as regards lodge attendance , and the like .
Is it not a mistake to admit such members , I ask , in all kindness ? And was our useful charity really intended for any but those who , " through unforsecn circumstances , " arc reduced to poverty and distress ? I am , fraternally , QUERIST .
A DESCENDANT OF MILES COVERDALE . Dear Bro . Havers , You are always ready to interest yourself in all that appertains to the chaiities and the Craft , and I , therefore , with your kind consent , call your attention to the fact that an alleged descendant of Miles Coverdale , Bishop , and translator of the English Bible , is among the
unsuccessful candidates at the last Boys' School election . I hope to verify the fact shortly , and , if so , I know I shall not appeal in vain to your kind sympathy and powerful aid , and of that of many of my brethren , to tender his election in October next a certainty . I am , dear Bro . Havers , yours fraternally , A . F . A . WOODFORD , P . G . C ., 10 , Upper Porchester-strcet , Hyde Park-square , W .
ROYAL MASONIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS . To the Editor of the "Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — Unfouneleri rumours are abroad that I am a candidate for the vacant Secretaryship of the above
Institution . Would you kindly insert this , my denial of the same , as I am not a candidate . Yours fraternally , H . A . Dcuois . 11 5 , Chancery Lane , London , April 2 ** rd , 1878 .
FREEMASONRY IN NEW ZEALAND . To the Editor of Ihe " Freemason . " Dear Sir anil Brother , — The Supreme Council 33 of England , Wales , and the Dependencies of the British Crown , are very unwilling to enter into a controveisy with an
anonymous writer m your journal , but the letter signed "A 3 * J ° , " in your issue of the 20 th inst ., contains so many misstatements that it is necessary they should be corrected to avoid future misconception . Your correspondent observes , first , that this Supreme
Council has recently issued a manifesto " protesting against the recognition" of the Supre me Council of Scotland . This is not the case—the document alluded to simply notified to the bodies concerned , the position which this Supreme Council has , for certain reasons , felt constrained to take up towards that of Scotland , but it in no way im-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
the chairman of the committee admits that a large proportion of these are not fit objects of charity , and dwells upon the paramount necessity of classification , no attempt is made to classify the crowd of out-patients that daily besiege the over-crowded waiting-room of the Hospital . Thus an abuse of charity goeson , and is seriously crippling the resources of the Hospital .
With regard to the value of our educational charities , and the one to which you point , Christ ' s Hospital , I have to ask your particular attention to the instructive documents just issued , and giving the receipts and expenditure of this charity for the past year . The income for last year amounted to the enormous sum of £ 78 , 885 2 s . iod . ; of this princely revenue upwards of £ 15 , 000 were expended
in tbe management of the estates of the charity , and leaving a balance for the educational purposes of the Hospital °£ £ 63 , 104 ' 11 we enquire how was this large sum disposed of , the document referred to only partly tells us . The average number of children maintained and educated in the London and Hertford establishments is said to be icSo , and the average expenditure per child ,
and quite apart from the special allowances for prizes , University exhibitions , & c , is given at £ 52 is . 8 d . I do not for one minute say this is a very extravagant sum , but , roughly speaking , it will be seen that only about 1000 children are educated at a cost ot £ 60 , 000 per annum . Can it be possible that this charity is properly administered ? The Endowed School Commission long ago declared it was
not ; and if I mistake not , a committee of Governors drew up a scheme of reform , but it came to nothing . It is almost too much to expect the Corporation will relax its corrupt grasp on so valuable a patrimony as that of Christ ' s Hospital , and which at one time tbe leally necessitous poor enjoyed . J . remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , J ABEZ HOGG .
THE GENESIS OF SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY ( Continued . ) To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — My courteous brethren who have kindly feillowcd
my lucubrations thus far must not suppose that I have not perceived an apparent discrepancy in my way of putting the purely speculative proposition that Freemasonry was , in its inception , the recognition of an almost personal God , by the few among the many inhabitants of the early world , which has , doubtless , not escaped their
penetration . In my last letter I intimated my opinion that there was no such thing as a real [ relapse into Paganism , and , inasmuch as we must assume for present purposes of argument , the historical accuracy of the record contained in the Holy Scriptures , it may fairly enough bc asked how , if God revealed Himself to the fust mm , did their
descendants so soon fall away frcm His knowledge , as we are told they did , and how do I profess to reconcile this with the theory now under examination and its correlative , i . e ., that there is no retrogression into Paganism , that the early history of the race is the development of the worship of the concrete into the perception of the abstract ? Let us take the two branches of the proposition . It is
perfectly intelligible that those early members of the family of man , to whom the G . A . O . T . U . personally and immediately revealed himself , could never fall away from the belief in his existence , how much or how little soever that belief may have influenced their subsequent lives . Noah could indulge in a degrading vice , but he could net deny the existence of that Biing who had directed the
construction of the Ark . Lot might fall into abominable sin , but he knew to his dying-day that an Almighty interposition had saved him from the destruction of Sodom . Abraham might descend to telling a lie , but he could not forget that he had talkcil with God . Jacob could commit a fraud , but denial of the Deity , of whom he had twice experienced direct revelation , was impossible to him .
Mosesj . surely worn and feeble might fail in faith , but he could not attribute to the golden calf the power that had manifested itself to him on Sinai and in the burning bush . But nothing of this applies to the vast mass of mankind , tr comparatively few of whom , as they increased , was vouchsafed direct Divine manifestation . Of the greatly preponderating majority it may bc affirmed , not that they
fell away from a pure faith in the Deity , but that they had only known it by vague report , or perhaps , in course of time as their numbers increased , myriads had never known it at all . In regarding the society of the antediluvian world , many good people fall into the error of dividing the sheep from the goats , so to speak , by a broad and well-defined line of natural demarcation . So many
were true believers—so many were heathen worshippers of false gods . Pure religion or false religion was the chief concern of all men . I venture to think that this is a mistake . I incline ^ to the opinion that , as mankind * multiplied , the " notion of an abstract Deity became so diluted if I may use the term , as—but for the influence pre-supposcd in the theory I am discussing—to be well-nigh
lost altogether . Men were engaged in fighting , hunting , fishing , wandering , tillingEthe soil , ; herding their cattle , founding settlements , building , marrying and burying . The influence , call it what you will , that we now term religion , would bc represented in their society by some visible anil tangible entity that they would suppose to have some power to accelerate or retard their enterprises and
beyond their immediate interest in the exercise of this force , they would care very little for the existence of the supposed Deity ; probably it would never occur to them to inquire into the truth or otherwise of such existence . Hence the savage's belief in omens ; the flight of birds—the actions of beasts , the appearances of various natural objects—and the tangible representations of these supposed supernatural agents—prob-
Original Correspondence.
ably in the first instance manufactured for convenience sake , or from affectionate , or the reverse associationcome , in course of time , to be invested in the minds of votaries with the attributes of their originals , and thus superstition developes into paganism . Those who have really known the true God do not really turn aside from Him , but the vast majority have never knewn Him ;
the believers in the Divine influence have been too few , too widely scattered , to leaven the vast mass . Thus it is perfectly intelligible how the early history of the aggregate of mankind is the record of the progress from idolatry into spiritual worship ; but there is one consideration which apparently qualifies this proposition . The instances warranted in holy writ are numerous
where those who presumably had received the benefit of an immediate divine manifestation apparently turned aside to idol worship . The Israelites , or at least a large proportion of them , were not deterred by the miracle enacted before their eyes , when the bed of the sea became dry land , and the flood that immediately afterwards engulfed the army of their pursuer , by the pillar of fire by
day and the cloud by night constantly before their eyes , or by the lightning ' s rending Sinai , from constructing the calf of gold , and turning aside to render it worship . As years rolled by , although the Divine presence among them was in constant manifestation , we , see them apparently reverting to idolatry at every available opportunity . The very image that Moses had erected by Divine command
as the test of their faith in a Spiritual Being , became in process of time perverted—until Hezekiah wisely destroyed it—into a material object of their veneration . But we must not give these instances of apparent qualification more value than they merit . It must be remembered how largely society is made up of the young , the thoughtless , the self-indulgent , and the indifferent . Unbelief , not ensuing
from conviction , but springing from indifference , a disposition to attribute such phenomena as the recalcitrants had seen to natural rather than to supernatural causes , dislike to the purity of life and high tone of morality exacted by spiritual worship—and as thecorrollary—an almost overwhelming inclination to partake in the indulgences with which the votaries of idolatrous rites always endeavoured
to attract proselytes ; all these influences taken into consideiation , it will be found that my main proposition requires very little qualification , notwithstanding the recorded aberrations of God ' s chosen people , that there is no individual retrogression into paganism in the sense that the human being who has once recognised tbe true God substitutes for that belief a conviction of the
intelligence , influence , ami power of a material idol . The above disquisition may appear an irrelevant digression , but it was necessary to my speculation , because I desire to present to the mind of the reader a view of the society of the early world which involves three classes of individuals , with their various merging and blending tones of thought and habit . First , I take it that the vast
majority of mankind would have no idea whatever of pure spiritual worship , and would bc the votaries of superstitious observances taking the form of the worship of material images . Then I divide the minority into two groups , of which the first , immeasurably outnumbering the second , consists of the indifferent , who thoughtlessly aelopt the worship of the multitude , again capable of
subelivision into the masses who do so for the sake of fashion , luxury , and pleasure , and the not inconsiderable number whose profit is found in ministering to the idolatrous worship and its costly accessories ; and , lastly , a very small body of men who either from thoroughly examined and
well-believed communicated tradition , from sincere conviction , or from the immediate personal community with the Deity Himself , constitute the esoteric brethren who keep the pure light of faith brightly burning . If I may venture to paraphrase our great poet , I might borrow an illustration from
him" How far this little candle throws its light So shines the true faith in a heathen world . " Assuming , as we are bound to assume , for does not a part of our teaching inculcate that He has never ltft Himself without a living witness among men—that such a leavening influence existed in times of the most remote antiquity , is it permissible , or is too extravagantly
fantastical to enquire whether this grain of mustard seed has grown into our goodly tree of to-day , whose branches overshadow all the world ? Is modern speculative Freemasonry the outcome ofthis organization ? Are wc Freemasons the inheritors in direct descent of this heritage ? Is it our birthright ? Has Freemasonry , in short , ever since God first breathed into man ' s nostrils the breath of life
suffered a solution of continuity ? I will , for the present , venture to take it for granted that we may , in a spirit of reverence , but yet very tentatively and diffidently , pursue the enquiry . What is the first thing to be examined ? I take it that we must postulate imaginarily a mode of life of these men—men in the world and of the world as they found it , and ask ourselves what would be their probable course of conduct , what would be
most likely to be their views of themselves , their mission , anel of Mankind—the outer society , of mankind—around them . I apprehend that few brethren will differ from me if I suppose that such a little , little band , opposing , more or less openly , predominant views and habits , never , perhaps , unnecessarily obtruding their notions , but never shrinking from avowing their convictions when necessary , would regard themselves as in the world but not of the world . Those
external to their organisation would presumably be their enemies—enemies , however , capable of being converted by the system of affectionate and moral proselytism into friends—but / until that happy conversion , necessarily foesfor , remember , I am not investigating the conditions of a time when even the most elementary notion of what we
Original Correspondence.
now call toleration had entered the minds of man . As against these outer antagonists the esoteric brethren must be united by one supreme feeling of self-preservation , shoulder to shoulder—all for one and one for all—these , or their equivalents , would be the axiomatic mottoes ever present to their minds . By the most
tangible of all illustrations there would be constantly proved to them the truth , that union is strength . And if we assume this we get so far in our argument that we establish these two points , viz ., that in this early com munity the two prevailing features were the necessity for csoterism , and , the duty of martvrdom . But let us try a step further .
Is it not possible , nay probable , considering that legitimate proselytism must have been by these fratres conscripticonsidered an undeclinable part of their duty—that they would regard admission to their body as analagous to birth ? May we not conceive that association in their labours would
present itself to them as life ? And is it not fairly deducible that the termination—perhaps by a violent end—of the comradeship , should ever be contemplated as possible , and thus the idea of the natural close of life and labour—death—be ever present to them ? But yet a stride beyond—Addison makes Cato eloquently allude to
" that longing after immortality , " as an ineradicable human instinct ; that longing , be sure , was as keen in the hearts of the earliest of our progenitors as in our own . Is it extravagant then to assume that the idea of a reunion with the companions of their former toils suggested itself as a possible solace for the pangs of
the inevitable material parting ? Thus , then , if there be anything whatever of intellectual value in my excogitations I have succeeded in presenting the creed of these very early workers , in a formula , which I may briefly summarise , as Admission = Birth , Work = Liic , Martyrdom = Death ! Yours faithfully , S . P ., No . 002 , 1491 .
GRAND CHAPTER GRAMMAR . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I am not quite certain that " Critic" is right in either of his allegations of bad grammar . In the first case , though the disjunctive be used , yet it
may fairly be a question , I think , whether the two offices named , despite the disjunctive , do not constitute two nominative cases . At any rate it is a moot point . In the last case I feel pretty sure that " Critic " is wrong , Is there not such a thing as being by percritical ? PUFF .
A QUERY . To lie Editor of Ihe "Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — I note in the last list of candidates for the Widows' Fund , that two are the relicts of farm labourers I
I wish to ask a question , I hope without any offence , is that which represents a weekly wage of 18 s ., or 21 s . at the most , such a position as constitutes a candidate " his own master" or a " free agent , " as regards lodge attendance , and the like .
Is it not a mistake to admit such members , I ask , in all kindness ? And was our useful charity really intended for any but those who , " through unforsecn circumstances , " arc reduced to poverty and distress ? I am , fraternally , QUERIST .
A DESCENDANT OF MILES COVERDALE . Dear Bro . Havers , You are always ready to interest yourself in all that appertains to the chaiities and the Craft , and I , therefore , with your kind consent , call your attention to the fact that an alleged descendant of Miles Coverdale , Bishop , and translator of the English Bible , is among the
unsuccessful candidates at the last Boys' School election . I hope to verify the fact shortly , and , if so , I know I shall not appeal in vain to your kind sympathy and powerful aid , and of that of many of my brethren , to tender his election in October next a certainty . I am , dear Bro . Havers , yours fraternally , A . F . A . WOODFORD , P . G . C ., 10 , Upper Porchester-strcet , Hyde Park-square , W .
ROYAL MASONIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS . To the Editor of the "Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — Unfouneleri rumours are abroad that I am a candidate for the vacant Secretaryship of the above
Institution . Would you kindly insert this , my denial of the same , as I am not a candidate . Yours fraternally , H . A . Dcuois . 11 5 , Chancery Lane , London , April 2 ** rd , 1878 .
FREEMASONRY IN NEW ZEALAND . To the Editor of Ihe " Freemason . " Dear Sir anil Brother , — The Supreme Council 33 of England , Wales , and the Dependencies of the British Crown , are very unwilling to enter into a controveisy with an
anonymous writer m your journal , but the letter signed "A 3 * J ° , " in your issue of the 20 th inst ., contains so many misstatements that it is necessary they should be corrected to avoid future misconception . Your correspondent observes , first , that this Supreme
Council has recently issued a manifesto " protesting against the recognition" of the Supre me Council of Scotland . This is not the case—the document alluded to simply notified to the bodies concerned , the position which this Supreme Council has , for certain reasons , felt constrained to take up towards that of Scotland , but it in no way im-