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TO ADVERTISERS . Ihe FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS should reach the Office , 198 , Fleetstreet- London , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays .

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NOTICE .

To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particuarly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

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To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON IS a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / 6 . P . O . O . 's to he made payable at the chief office , London .

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Vear for Thirteen Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America . & c .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

"F IAT J USTITIA RUAT CCKLUM . "—We cannot well review a decision of Grand Lodge , which is final . BOOKS , & C , RECEIVED . — "II Moto , " "Keystone , " " New York Dispatch , " " Hajnal , " " Eclectic . "

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . Cd . for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ]

BIR 1 HS . DEAN . —On the 23 rd inst ., at Sandgate , Kent , the wife of G . H . Dean , Esq ., 12 th Lancers , of a son . EVANS . —On the 22 nd inst ., at Chad-road , Edgbaston , the wife of G . II . Evans , M . B ., F . R . C . S ., of a son . HOWEI . I .. —On the 20 th inst ., at Chaldon House , Fulham , the wife of Charles Augustus Howell , Esq ., of a daughter .

MARRIAGE . RYDER—MORGAN . —On the 22 nd inst ., at the British Embassy , Paris , by the Rev . Dr . Fordes , George W . Ryder , of 17 New Bond-street , to Lucy Mary ( Lily ) eldest daughter of the late Charles H . Morgan , Escj ., of Paris . No cards .

DEATHS . HOLDSWORTH . —On the 22 nd inst ., at Ladbroke-rcad , Notting-hill , Jane Bousfield , widow of the late S . Holdswon h , aged 80 . HUNT . —On the 23 rd inst ., at High Wycombe , Joseph Hunt , Esq ., aged 71 .

MMIS . —On the 22 nd inst ., at Durning-road , Edge-hill , Liverpool , Elizabeth Leigh , wife of H . Mahs , Esq ., aged 51 . MARSH . —On the 23 rd inst ., Mr . John Every Marsh , at the Ordnance Arms , Woolwich-common , aged 61 years , deeply lamented .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , MAR . 31 , 1877 .

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To Malta.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER'S VISIT TO MALTA .

Our Royal Grand Master and the Princess were to have left for Malta , via Calais , Paris , and Marseilles , on Monday , but the journey has been postponed for a few days in consequence of a slight indisposition of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales . Probably when next we greet our

readers , we shall have to record the departure of our Grand Master and his charming * consort to the continent . As Freemasons we shall trust that this little holiday and absence may be of great benefit to the health of two persons so dear to all classes of the

community , especially to our loyal Order , as all will have seen with regret that for some little time past Her Royal Highness especially has not been so often in public as an admiring people would wish , nor gone through with her usual grace and energy the routine of Court ceremonial . May all of good go with our Royal Grand

Master and the Princess of Wales , and may we soon again , after a pleasant stay at Malta , that little "military hot house , " and Athens , welcome them safe and sound back again to old England . His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will hold levees on the 7 th of May and the and of June .

Our Worshipful Masters.

OUR WORSHIPFUL MASTERS .

Freemasonry , like everything else just now , has to suffer from the inroads of a morbid sensationalism . Much of our Masonic writing , the didactic twaddle of " dull dogs , " the hopeless meanderings of wwbright Masons , is marked by the prevailing tendency of the hour . Statements

are made , not because they are true , but because they are startling , or spicy , or what not , and because , in fact , like a good deal of modern composition , verity and reality , are secondary considerations for those who please to write , and " write to please . " Hence we see so

often alike , in un-Masonic and Masonic columns the " magna indigestaque moles " of crude ideas , unveracious assertions ! unsound premises , and utterly illogical conclusions . Such is a recent attack on our Worshipful Masters , which appears to have been originally a Transatlantic

faultfinding with American officials , but is now transplanted to our tranquil shores . What can be the use or propriety of such a sentence as this , with reference to our Worshipful Masters , whether metropolitan or provincial ? " Were there Grand Lecturers in England at this present

time , we doubt if one half of the lodges would be able to acquit themselves even moderately well , much less with credit , in the labours of the lodge ; while in far too many cases , the attempt at working would amount simply to a most pitiable display of absolute—we feel

almost disposed to add—crass ignorance on the part of the Worshipful Masters . " Now we deny this statement in toto , by whomsoever made , and declare it to be most unjust to our English Worshipful Masters , whether in the provinces or in town . We state unhesitatingly

that any such representation of the ceremonial or intellectual efficiency of our Worshi pful Masters is nothing better than a bit of sensational writing , utterly valueless as a correct description of our contemporary Masonic lodge work , and actuall y untrue as a statement . Is it in any

sense an accurate description of our Worshipful Masters ? We repeat that it is the very reverse of correct , or even of what is considerate . We have belonged ourselves to two most ] distinguished provinces , and the lodges there are all marked , some ' strikingly so , by the uniform thorough performance by thc Worshipful

Masters of the duties of the chair . This can also be said of other provinces , and of a very large proportion of the lodges in the metropolis . That here and there we find " slovenly work " in our lodges , and inefficient Worshi pful Masters , we do not deny , but they are , very happily , the exception , and not the rule , and to say that in about one half of our lodges the work would be only

Our Worshipful Masters.

moderately weH done , and that in far too many cases the Worshipful Master is utterly i gnorant of his duties , is a parody on veracious statements a burlesque on the facts of the case . We there ' fore give to any such assertion as this an unqualified contradiction , as we consider it to

be most unsound in itself , and most unjust to our Worshipful Masters . Indeed , such a sentence must have been penned by a brother who has had but little experience of Lodge working , and has seen but very few lodges in London or in the provinces . But , as we said just now , the

temptation is to write in that sensational style which is doing so much harm to literature on every side of us . There is , we repeat it , at this moment a recklessness of quotation , an unscrupulousness of assertion , which render so much of what we daily read utterly worthless as

a trustworthy record of passing time and customs , and facts , and history . For though writers will differ , we prefer , and we fancy that our readers prefer too , what is true to what is telling , what is the naked reality without any of the meretricious adornments of paint or enamel . Above

all , we detest and despise the mere sensational writers just as we turn away from , because unreal and unsatisfactoril y in the highest degree , that sensational writing which is only spiced up in truth to suit the tastes of the ignorant and the credulous .

The "Monde Maconnique" And "The Freemason."

THE "MONDE MACONNIQUE " AND "THE FREEMASON . "

At page 476 of the last Monde Maconnique Bro . Caubet returns to the charge that those who use the word " betise " are " mal eleves . " We " au contraire , " contend that such an argument is alike precisian and puritan in the highest degree , inasmuch as the word is very commonly

employed , and is in itself alike forcible and expressive . The truth is that " betise " really was the " word " to use in respect of the remarks of our brethren Grimaux and Caubet and their little " fiasco . " And Bro . Caubet felt it to be so , " Hine illae lachrymal" For

what other or better word could we have employed ? Let our readers remember why and how we used it . Our excellent and esteemed Grand Secretary , at the consecration of the Crichton Lodge , had , as was his right and duty , alluded , not as the Grand Secretary ofHcially ,

but as Bro . John Hervey , the Consecrating Officer , to some recent proceedings in France in respect to a new agitation to remove from the French Constitution the pre-requisite condition of belief , of a general assent to the existence of God and the immortality of the soul . He had

remarked , that he regretted , as all must ( regret , the exclusion of the Bible from the French lodges , and observed , further , that if this great change took place he was afraid that it must lead to a cessation of intercourse as between the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient of

France . Very weighty and sensible words , my Masters ! What is the reply that Bro . Grimaux makes to this friendly and unofficial '' avertissement" of the Grand Secretary of England , a brother who always speaks pIainly , manfully , modestly and moderately * , and whose words are therefore

always listened to with much attention and respect ? Bro . Grimaux ' s reply , fully endorsed by Bro . Caubet , is to this effect , —that there is in England a society which will sell the French lodges Bibles at the cheapest rate , ( a remark of the greatest impertinence ) , and that as long as

Bio . Hervey continues the all-powerful Secretary ofthe Grand Lodge of England such op inions will probably prevail ; equally to English brethren a most offensive statement . Were we not fully justified in calling such a line of argument issuing from such an animus of irritability "

and intolerance , a " betise ? We think we were , add we are quite ready to be judged by the educated , the " bien eleves" of our French brethren . Such is not the way to meet a friendly remonstrance and a kindly warning when offered by so considerate and so able a Mason as Bro *

Hervey , and we resented such words then , and always should resent such utterances , by whomsoever made , knowing that we shall carry * w ) W us the hearty concurrence of all our Eng lish Fraternity , Bro . Caubet amusingly declares thaj because we do not take his views we are fl 0 '