The Prayer Of The Crews Of Our National Life Boats.

THE PRAYER OF THE CREWS OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE BOATS .

To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Sir , —There are at ""*> moment on a table before me as I svrite a' very large number of petitions from the cresvs of the Royal National Life Boat Institution ( practically from all the Boats in the Kingdom ) , for us to have presented to . Parliament , in favour of Refuge Harbours or Ports of

Shelter ; to save the lives of our sailors and fishermen . Also some from our Rocket Life Saving Brigades . It svould be a hard hearted person indeed svho , svithout shame , svould disregard the prayer of the svhole of the cresvs svho . man our Life Boats , and are ever ready to brave . imminent peril to save the lives of their fellosv creatures from shipsyreck . Clergymen and ministers are nosv deeming it their duty to come forsvard and use their influence from their pulpits

and elsesvhere , to direct attention to , and get mitigated , an enormous , reckless , and scandalous sacrifice of life from national negligence , and no doubt the petitions of these cresvs svill bring forth a prompt and ready response from all . Everybody can in one svay or another render some help . By sermons . With petitions . By seriously requiring their members to earnestly take immediate action in Parliament in a practical manner . By becoming a member of this Societv to work svith unity ssdiich alone commands success .

By contributing a small , if they cannot afford a large sum , ¦ of money to its funds ; for the financial assistance hitherto given has not been at all adequate , for the svork it might accomplish . Messrs . Coutts and Co ., 59 , Strand , bankers to this society , svill thankfully receive any subscriptions or donations forwarded to them for thc National Refuge Harbours Society . —Obediently youcs , . . F . JOHNSON . National Refuge Harbours Society ,

17 , Parliament-street , London , S . W ., May 19 . P . S . —A copy of Canon Prothero ' s recent sermon at Westminster Abbey svill be forsvarded gratuitously on svriting to me .

ROYAL'ASYLUM OF ST . ANNE . Dear Bro . Kenning , Can any of the readers of thc Freemason give me any help at . the approaching . etection of this good charity in favour of Frederick Longford Osborne , the son of a Kentish farmet , formerl y in a good position , but through the agticuUural . depression has lost his all ?—Fraternally yours , A . F . A . WOODFORD . 25 A , Notfolk-cresccnt , Hyde Park , VV .

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

BULLETIN DU GRAND ORIENT DE FRANCE For April . Wc have read this very thick number , 325 pages , svith no little sorrosv and svith no little astonishment . To use a familiar expression , here is the Grand Orient of Frarfcc . " at it again . " Alsvays restless , and never tranquil , it desires to have change and excitement . Of course , Frccmasonrs ' . svhich loves peace , order , and quiet , suffers . But

svhat matters 1 Thc changemongefs and svindbags of the hour have their noisy audience , and they only serve to prove hosv true still , is thc adage in every particular , " from thc sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step . " The " Facilis descensus Averni " of thc classicslhas been more than verified in thc recent history of the Grand Orient of France . From the hour that it smiled upon the destructive monstrosities of Massol , condoned the burlesque initiation

of Littre , fraternized svith the enormities of the Commune , the Genius of Freemasonry seems to have taken its sving , and left it as it is ' , nothing more , nothing less than a secret association governed by unbelieving tendencies , and marked by anti-reli g ious and anti-social antipathies . It is quite clear to us , as it is to Bro . Duhamcl , that if thc Convent in September approves of all these essential alterations , these fundamental-changes , thc beginning of thc end is

reached , and sve shall ourselves probably live to see a Republican Government itself perforce closing thc Masonic lodges in France as " nuisibles 51 Petal . " We do not say that some of the changes arc not for thc better ; they undoubtedly are . There is a better collocation of clauses , a more fitting sequence of subjects ; but the " tout ensemble " is undoubtedly a fresh surrender to the movement party , and that political " caucus " svhich underhand and surreptitiously nosv dominates to its hastening end French Free-¦

masonry . . T 11 F IMMORTAL SCHOOLMASTER . Bv G . T . LOSVTII ' . Kerby and Endean , 440 , Oxford-street .. Knosving thc vcry respectable publishers from svhom this " Brochure" proceeds , sve took it up and read it through from beginning to end . It svas not until sve asked ourselves as the French say , " a quoi bon ? " svhat does it all mean , bear upon , or affect ? that there came over us a cloud so to say of haze , of doubt , of uncertainty . Thc language

is excellent , and the episodes arc amusing . It seems to be svhat it professes to be the record of certain chances carried on in these " presumptuous days" in a great school ; changes svhich- " a priori " spem dubious in policy and questionable in outcome , changes svhich Time only can safely realize , or experience attest and disclose their value . And then for the lirst time there gradually dasvned upon us , that sve had been trying to solve an enigma , to read a riddle in vain . No

svondcr sve svere puzzled and hesitating . This clearly and consistently svritten " essay" svas apolitical skit-after all , ¦ ' so ingeniously conceived , and so ably covered up , that svhile the careless reader svould never posssibly discover it at all , even the patient and expert Student might not see it at a first glance , nor until after some reflection . Well here sve have reached our limit . "Sunt certi denique lines " for us poor

Masonic reviesvers svhich sve cannot overpass . Political and religious controversies are happily banished from our peaceful pages , as from our beneficent sodality , and sve can only confess our admiration here of an ingenuity and skilfulncss of verbiage svhich have so successfully given to an amusing shit on passing persons and events , the character and form of a disquisition on scholastic arrangements and educational chances . It must find many readers .

The costly and massive furniture . 'ind appointments manufactured hy Bro . George Kenning for the new Masonic Hall , Sydney , Nesv South -Wales , are nosv on viesv at his shosv rooms , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , Little Britain , 195 , 196 , and 197 , Aldersgate-street , City ;

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

344 ] SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FREEMASONRY . It seems to me that unless sve take great care sve are on the high road to falling exactly in the same error we so loudly accuse our forefathers of , —uncritical assertions , unproved asseverations , and presumptions instead of proof . What do sve knosv of seventeenth " century English Freemasonry ? . Very little indeed . Our knosvledge is confined to , and may be summed up in , a few leading

facts . The earliest admission of a Speculative Mason is that of Moray , or Murray , by a Special Lodge of Mary Chapel at Newcastle , a fesv years before Ashmole in 1646 at Warrington . It is true sve read of masons calling themselves Freemasons , but so far sve have no evidence of any makings or Lodges before 1646 , except those named . . VVe also read that in 16 S 2 Ashmole svas summoned to a lodge in Basinghall-street , svhich he attended . There are only tsvo

references to Freemasonry in his diary . Both at Warrington and in London sve find certain names . Bro . Rylands has identified the Warrington names nearly all , and I svish hc svould take in hand the Basinghall-street names . ' No one could do it better . Bro . Rylands has also elucidated the 2054 MS . list of Randle Holmes ' s in a remarkable manner , and there is little doubt but that sve have in these names the list of a centre lodgcabout 1670 . Plot in 16 S 6 alludes to

the then and previous existence of a body much akin to our osvn , to the meeting of lodges , though svhere not said , and to thc enduring of those Legends sve call " Rolls , " or " Constitutions , " or " Charges . " to-day . Ashmole published in 1 G 51 certain ordinals , svhich mention Freemasons as artificers so far back as the reign of Henry VIII . We have also several seventeenth century Guild Legends , of seventeenth century transcription decidedly ,

and as it seems to me sve have traces of rreemasonry at York , Chester , Warrington , London , and in Staffordshire in the seventeenth century . Plot declares there svere lodges of Freemasons in other counties as svell , and therefore sve may assume that in the seventeenth century there svas a Society of Freemasons in England . But it is nosv proposed to-disconnect seventeenth century from any previous form , except a body of speculativcs , and , therefore , as the history

of thc Revivalists of 1717 is rejected , sve have to construct a fresh one . Where shall sve go to get'it ? I lere is our "Crux . " If it be said , "Oh . ' you have the evidence of Ashmole , Plot , and Randle Holmes , " so you have ; but of the conditions of the society they allude to sve positively knosv nothing , nor so far as yet does any safe assttsotity give us an account of it . All sve can say is . it seems to have existed , but hosv , sve knosv not . Beyond Anderson ' s general

statement in 1738 , there is nothing as far as I knosv svhich even pretends to give us an account of it in any form , and as it is proposed nosv to give up that account as reliable , 1 svant to knosv , svhat is left us ? Toshosv hosv little sve do know , ive cannot thus far trace William Bray , Freeman of London and Freemason , whosignsthe Antiquity MS . ; andof Robert Padgett , Gierke to the Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the City of London , nothingsofar is positively knosvn . It has

been surmised , svith some probability , that he svas a friend of Ashmole's , if not a connexion , but so far it is only a a clever surmise . As time runs on sve may stumble on other evidence , but I only bring forsvard these difficulties to impress upon others caution and hesitation , svhether in deliberate deliverances , or magnificent dogmata . We see still as " through a glass " very darkly , and any conclusion rashly come to on such unsatisfactory premises is certain pretty soon to have to be given up . Of course there are

some people satisfied svith anything or nothing to back up a favourite fad , but after all our labours and protestations for thc last . fesv years of "' nothing , but strict historical evidence , " I for one beg very meekly in thc columns of the Freemason to raise a protest against that far too hasty induction , and that ' nicely destructive criticism svhich seem just nosv to be grosving in fas * our amongst us , and svhich svill if not checked , do infinite harm to thc science of Masonic archxology , and the realization of Masonic history . MASONIC STUDENT .

345 J SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN . It has struck mc that it svill be svell in this column to sum up some points of evidence and some- facts in respect of Sir ChristophcrWrcn svhich have been overlooked or rather not fully considered as it seems to me by our esteemed and able Bro . Gould . ( 1 ); The tradition of . Sir Christopher Wren's membership and Grand Mastershfp' . has been knosvn to Freemasons and thc svorld since 1738 , 146 years . During that time it has never been challenged' by friend , or

foe until the . present time . There svere those living in . 1738 ! svho must have known the fact distinctly , that is , svhether Sir Christopher Wren svas not merely King ' s Suveyor-Gcneral , or the Royal Master Mason of England , but svhether he really belonged , to that society svhich in 1738 issued a second edition of its Constitutions , svith a nesv account of pre-1717 Freemasonry . The Duke of Richmond must distinctly have khosVn arf a

fact svhether Andersons statements svere true as-regards his osvn father , just as Sayer , Payne , Desaguliers ,. Ctjsvper , Rcvis , & c , in 173 S , must have been perfect ! y » an are svhether-Anderson's assertion svas truth or a lie . . There is no alternative . It seems almost incredible to believe on the one hand that such a falsehood could have been palmed off on the Craft , as it appears to mc most svrong on the other hand , that such an accredited and unchallenged and

open assertion is nosv to be dismissed as fabulous , because ¦ me cunnot prove a negative . It thc statement had even been challenged , perhaps the " onus proband ! " would rest upon us , but as the fact cannot be disproved until it be so , sve have a right to claim belief in it , as I for one do . ( 2 ' ); The evidence of the London papers has been dismissed by Bro . Gould in far * too " cavalier a fashion . " His sug * - gestion that the svriter of thc paragraph . on the force of a Masonic advertisement , svould jump to the conclusion that

Sir Christopher svas a Freemason is one of those " abnormalities" and "idiosyncrasies" into svhich clever men sometimes fall . It is in fact hardly svorth arguing seriously . The fact that Sir Christopher svas stated publicly to be a Freemason rested on sonic general belief , and is of itself evidence as far as it goes , and by the term " Worthy Freemason , " it seems the svriter svas speaking of a fact svithin his osvn knosvledge . That sve have no more proof of the fact is , I think , remembering the feeling of our brethren

Masonic Notes And Queries.

against publication then , and realizing it even today , not svonderful at all . The oldest lodge minute book that I knosv of , 1 7 22 , is not the earliest ; others have preceded it , ' and svhether destroyed or still existing in inaccessible depositories , might , if they are ever found , give us a very different- account of Wren . ( 3 ) . Manningham ' s evidence appears to me most important as shosving that in 1757 , forty years after the revival , the

old traditions svere fully believed in . Manningham need not have alluded to Wren at all unless he believed him'to have been G . M . as Payne svas G . M . ( 4 ) . Thc subsidiary evidence of the Lodge of Antiquity cannot be passed oyer or disposed of svith merely a suggestion as to its unreality . It is unknosvn , as a matter of fact , svhen the mallet , gavel , candlesticks , picture , relics of St . Paul's , and the Roll , came

into the hands of the lodge . They they are . They svere in existence svhen Preston svrote tosvards' the end of the last century . ( 4 ) . I am not inclined to give up the so-called Wren MS . without further search . If it ever svas in the hands of Sir Christopher Wren it svould strengthen the old tradition . ( 5 ) . I think Cipriani ' s connexion svith the picture of Sir Christopher Wren deserves consideration .-

Cipriani svas a Freemason , and * he had no doubt some reason for connecting Sir Christopher Wren svith the svorking tools of Masons . " I shall be glad if any brother can tell me more of this print of Wren , svhere it is , and anything of the original . ( 6 ) . I have , purposely , kept Aubrey to the last . In one sense , as I . once before remarked , Aubrey ' s evidence antagonizes

Anderson s ; in another sense it does not , for if Sir Christopher ' Wren svas a member ofthe Fraternity , Bro . Gould's svhole argument falls to the ground . But I am inclined to think thc entry alludes to the initiation of the younger Christopher ss * hich Aubrey beard as the gossip of the day . In 1710 thc younger Christopher svas present at the cope-stone ceremony . He svas a member of the Lodge of Antiquity in 1723 . I ' svould observe in conclusion that it is only of late years sve

have directed our attention to these minute points . Wc have accustomed ourselves to magnificent generalities , and ceaseless platitudes . Sheepsvalking has been intense , and ' original remarks , like actual research , have been discouraged almost universally , in a body too svhose boast is Light . Is there any wonder that sve arc alternately giving svay to uncritical assertions and unhistoric plausibilities , to thc "fad "ofthe ingenious , the conclusions of the impetuous , and the happy nothingness of the Theorist and Sciolist ? 346 J ANTIQUITY .

In " Kennett ' s Ecclesiastical Register , " 1727 , at page-175 it is stated that Sir Christopher Wren svas elected Savilian Professor of Astronomy , February 5 th , 1660 , and admitted May 15 th , 106 " 1 , and aftersvards created Doctor of Law , and Surveyor of the King ' s Works . " Doctoratum postca in jurecsvilisusccpitahdregiscmagistati . Retarchitectorfcic , procurator suprcmus sivc gencralis mcritissimusauditor . " Architectoric . c is an older form for architectonics . See

Facciolati . MASONIC STUDENT . 347 ] Sir Christopher Wren alludes to the Freemasons by name in his essay published at the end ot the Parentalia , as if he fully recognised their corporate existence . - — STUDENT .

34 S ] LODGE CERTIFICATE . What is thc earliest lodge certificate knosvn ? Many probably exist so far utterl y disregarded . Perhaps a search may bring out not ohly the certificates but thc plates . ——— M . S . 349 ] A MASONIC CONSTITUTION . Can any Student tell me to svhat Constitution or "Record

Anderson alludes , svhen he says in 173 S ( at p . 75 ) , " for the foresaid record says further , that the charges and lasvs of thc Freemasons have been seen and perused b y our late Sovereign King Henry VI ., and by the Lords of our most honourable Council , svho have allosved them and declared that they be right good and reasonable to be holden as they have been drawn out and collected from the records of aunticnt tymes . " PROVINCIAL-. .

350 ] THE ' . ' LIBER MUS 1 CUS . " ' It is several years ago since I lirst sasv the " Freemasons ' LiberMusicus , " by Dr . Spark , P . M . ' sSp , Leeds , *& c . - Its . general appearance much pleased mc at thc time , but not being a musical enthusiast , I svas deterred by the price from being a subscriber . Nosv , hosvever , that an edition has been issued by Bro . George Kenning at a merely

nominal cost . I have procured-a copy , anti am so highly gratified svith the book that I desirelotakethis opportunity of recommending my brethren to obtain copies for them--selves before the limited edition is exhausted . It is published , as it should be , in handy form , . said to be suitable " to go into the pocket , " though I must say it is rather larire for any of my . pockets ( not but svhat it is a

capital size ) and though the publication involves for each brother but an outlay of a fesv shillings , it svill be found to contain over 200 pages of engraved plates , and asarrjatte ? of fact , is a reproduction of the . ' ^ contents of fhe more sumptuous volume . The collection isan extraordinary and well nigh exhaustive one of Traditional , Foreign , and English vocal and instrumental music , suitable for-the

svorking of the Three Degrees , the Royal Arch and Mark Masonry , as also for the " Ancient and Accepted Rite " and other ceremonies .. Every elligible opportunity fo introduce music in any portions of thc degrees , and thus enliven and beautify thc rituals , has been skilfull y utilized , and so far as sve havt been able to judge there is no portion of lodge or chapter svork svhich has been neglected . Additional to

the purely esoteric ceremonies , those of consecrations , laying foundation and corner-stones , - funerals , banquets , and festive gatherings ' are all carefully and ably ' provided £ pr by a master mind , and the consequcpee is that svith such a volume before one the choice is easily made of suitable music for any particular purpose and svhen every music-loving brother shall possess a copy of this svork—as

Dr . Spark ventures to think svill ultimately be the casethere svill be no difficulty in using it as a hand-book on * every and any necessary occasion . Such a svish may be . thought by some rather outside "the" limits of the possible , but an examination of thc svork fully justifies such a hope at least , and leads ' me to subscribe to thc sarpe . de . sire .. I

only svish that every province possessed a Craftsman like Bro . Thomas VV ; lew , D . Prov . G . M . of West Yorkshire , svho has , at his osvn cost , presented a copy . to each lodge under his jurisdiction . I svish Dr . Spark all the success his svell directed efforts deserve , and it pleases me to note that the volume is , by permission , dedicated to II . R . IL the Prince of Wales , M . W . G . M . Wi J ** : HUGHAN .