Masonic And General Tidings.

Masonic and General Tidings .

BRO . LORD CONNEMARA has received many letters of condolence from Princes , rulers , and influential native gentlemen in Southern India , sympathising with him in very kindly terms on his recent severe affliction . THE DUKE OF W ESTMINSTER is the donor of the window now in course of construction in the north-end transept of St . Paul ' s Cathedral . Sir W . B . Richmond , R . A ., K . C . B ., has executed the design , the subjects being the archbishops and bishops under whom the new faith was introduced or restored during the Saxon Heptarchy .

FROM THE ACCIDENT I NSURANCE COMPANY ( Limited ) , of io . St . Swithin ' s-Iane , London , E . C ., we have received a wall calendar , in which the tear-off date indicator is a prominent and . useful feature . The Company was founded in 1849 , and insures against accidents and disease , in addition to granting indemnities to employers under the Workmen ' s Compensation Act , & c .

A . SPECIAL MUSICAL SERVICE will be held at the Guards' Chapel , Wellington Barracks , next Sunday evening , at six o ' clock , when , amongst other Christmas music , the whole of that from the " Messiah " will be rendered , with additional orchestra , under the direction of Mr . Richard Lemaire , the Precentor of the chapel . No tickets of admission will be necessary .

THE EARI . or HOPETOUN has not yet assumed the active duties of Lord Chamberlain , but will go to Osborne early in the New Year to kiss hands on his appointment , and will subsequently enter upon the duties of preparation for the Court functions of the ensuing season . Meantime , the work of the department is in the hinds of the Hon . Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane .

THE MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN and Bro . Lord Balfour of Burleigh were presented on Wednesday with the freedom of Dundee . The Chief Magistrate explained that the Corporation conferred the honour on the Marquis for his having , as Secretary for Scotland , secured the title of Lord Provost for the Chief Magistrate ; and on Lord Balfour for the great interest he had taken in Dundee educational institutions .

THE EARI . OF CLARENDON LODGE OF INSTRUCTION , No . 19 S 4 , will hold their second annual Festival on Monday , the 9 th prox . Bro . James Terry , P . G . D . C . Herts , P . G . S . B ., Sec . R . M . B . I ., will rehearse the consecration and installation ceremonies in the Masonic Hall , Watford , at 5 . 30 . Afterwards the brethren will dine in the Corn Exchange . The Provincial Grand Master , the Right Worshipful T . F . Halsey , M . P ., will preside .

BRO . SIR SQUIRE BANCROFT has kindly promised to tell the story , as arranged by himself from the author ' s text , of Charles Dickens's "Christmas Carol , " to which some passages from " The Chimes " have been added , at St . James ' s Hall , Piccadilly , on Friday evening , the 27 th prox ., in aid of the Artists' Benevolent Fund and the Artists' General Benevolent Institution . Sir Edward J . Poynter , P . R . A ., will preside . Tickets may be obtained from the secretaries of the institutions and at St . James's Hall .

SOME SSo homeless and destitute people were regaled with a substantial hot dinner of roast beef and plum pudding at the Field-lane Institution on Christmas Day . The rooms were prettily decorated , the platforms were arranged for the singers and speakers , the tables were laid with clean white cloths , and friends were assembled to receive and entertain the poor people as they arrived . Places were laid for 700 , and provisions were in reserve for about 100 more , who could not be accommodated with seats till the first guests had gone . The time before dinner was very pleasantly occupied by singing by the choir and short addresses from some gentlemen friends of the institution .

THE ARTICLE CLUII . —Bro . Lord Suffield has been elected President of the Article Club for iSrjo , in succession to Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal , who is expected back from Canada in time to attend the New Year ' s dinner of the Club , over which Bro . Lord Suffield presides , on the 4 th proximo . Among those who will also be present on that occasion are the Chinese and Servian Ministers , Bro . Lord Jersey , Bro . Lord Carrington , Admiral of the Fleet Sir J . K . Commerell , Professor George Darwin , the Hon . Dr . J . A . Cockburn ( Agent General for South Australia ) , the Hon . E . II . Wittenoom ( Agent General for West Australia ) , the Hon . W . Pember Reeves ( Agent General for New Zealand ) , Sir Douglas Fox , and the venerable musician , August Manns .

THE PERSONAL ESTATE has been valued at £ 9431 17 s . 10 I , and the gross value of the whole of the estate has been entered at £ 26 , 941 17 s . Sd ., of Bro . John Moxon Clabon , solicitor to the Attorney-General in Charity Matters , and solicitor to the Charity Commissioneis , a director of the Law Fire Insurance Society , the Equity and Law Life Assurance Society , the Law Reversionary Interest Society , the Sevenoaks Water Works

Company , and the Tower Subway Company , formerly a prominent Freemason , who died on the 17 th ult , aged S 3 years . Bro . Clabon disposed of hi * property in a few words as follows : " The will of John Moxon Clabon , of 21 , Great George-street , Westminster , and Clare , Sevenoaks . I give my estate and effects , real and personal , to my three dear daughters , or such of them as shall survive me . "

PRINCE C UR STIAN OF SCHLESWIC-HOLSTEIN , as Vice-President of the Middlesex Hospital , makes an earnest appeal for fundson behalf of that Institution , which has for upwards of a century and a half carried on its important work in one of the busiest and most densely populated centres of the metropolis . During 1 S 97 the in-patients numbered 3641 , and the out-patients 47 , 252 . The year's expenditure amounted to

X ' 30 , 232 19 s . 1 id ., and the income from ordinary sources fell short of that amount by £ 10 , 312 12 s . 3 d . Toward - meeting that deficiency a sum of £ 1925 was received from the Prince of Wales ' s Hospital Fund , but there still remained a balance of £ 8387 12 s . 3 d ., which could only be made good by the application of legacies or by reducing the invested capital—the sole source of assured income to the hospital in future years .

THE C OMMITTEE of the Bethnal Green Free Library appeal for £ 2000 to meet the increased current expenses . Of this sum , £ 1300 has now been subscribed , leaving a balance of £ 700 . The usefulness of the Library is extending , and the new free lending department has proved a marked success . Free lectures , concerts , and evening classes are held in connection with the Institution , and these are well attended . The Librar y

has proved a great boon to the dwellers in the mean streets of Bethnal Green , and is doing a much-needed and successful work among the people who are too poor to pay any of the cost . The Bethnal Green Free Library was one of the lirst to be founded on a voluntary basis 20 years ago . Contributions may be paid to the Treasurer , Mr . F . A . Bevan , 54 , Lombard-street , E . G ., or to the Librarian , Bethnal Green l- ' ree Library , E .

MOURNING ROSRTTKS , in two qualities , can be obtained at Bros . George Kenning and Son , 1 , 2 , 3 , 3 A , 311 , and 4 , Little Britain , 195 , uf ,, and 197 , Aldersgate-street , and iC Great Ouctn-street , London ; 47 , Bridge-street , Manchester ; 23 , Williamsonstreet , Liverpool ; and 9 . West Howard-street , Glasgow . No . 1— per set of threeis . fid .: No . 2—per set of three—is . —ADVT .

Masonic And General Tidings.

BRO . COL . T . DAVIES SEWELL has entered upon his 54 th year of service at Guildhall . v BRO . COL . T . DAVIES SEWELL , P . M . 21 and 1 S 27 , entered upon his 54 th vear of service at Guildhall on Saturday last , the 24 th inst . PRINCE AND PRINCESS ADOLPHUS OF TECK have joined the Duke and Duchess of Westminster ' s family party at Eaton Hall . BRO . THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF WARWICK have been staying at Blenheim Palace as guests of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough .

THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT of Queen Charlotte ' s Lying-in Hospital have received a donation of £ 100 from Messrs . Speyer Brothers , 7 , Lothbury . THE TREASURER of the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest , Victoria Park , has received a sum of £ 144 3 s . gd . from the employes of the Great Eastern Railway at the Stratford Works .

SINCE BRO . SIR HENRY IRVING ' arrival at Bournemouth , his health and strength have very much improved , and the fine weather has enabled Sir Henry to drive out into the country and to take walks in the neighbourhood . BRO . THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE has definitely fixed Thursday , the 19 th prox ., as the date of his visit to Derby for the purpose o ( opening the new Municipal Technical College , erected by the Corporation at a cost of / , \ lo , ooo .

A NOVEL SCHEME for aiding the London Hospital has been set on foot by the Hon . Sydney Holland , the chairman of the Institution . The annual expenditure is just £ 73 , 000 , and Mr . Holland is seeking to secure that sum by inducing 365 wealthy persons to promise to send £ 200 each to the hospital on their respective birthdays . THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY have entirely remodelled their public time-book , and the revised edition is being issued for January . It contains an excellent map of the company ' s system , and upon the cover are views of some of the places of interest served by the line . _ The type , which is entirely new , is exceedingly clear , and the style of the publication is thoroughly up to date .

A FAMILIAR FORM among the Freemasons of Bristol disipojirs by ths d : it ' i of Bro . Captain John Webber , who had reached the age of 7 S . He wis in earlier years captain of one of the Irish boats regularly visiting the port , and for a considerable period he had been Assistant Tyler at the Freemasons' Hall in Park-streat . He wis greatly esteemed by the biethren , and the news of his death will cause genjral regret .

THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA has sent , through the Russian Ambassador in London as a Christmas gift to the British and Foreign Sailors' Society , a donation of £ 50 . His Majesty thus follows in the footsteps of his late lamented father in showing kindness to the society . The directors receive this gracious gift of the young Emperor as another illustration of the Christmas carol ' * Peace on earth , goodwill to men . "

BRO . SIR SQUIRE BANCROFT has consented to tell the story of Dickens's " Christmas Carol " in order that funds may be raised to complete the memorial being erected at the St . Thomas Charterhouse Schools and Institute in memory of his old frierd , the late Prebendary Rogers . Lord Russell of Killowen , Lord Chief Justice of England , will preside on the occasion of the recital at the Northampton Institute , Clerkenwell , on Tuesday evening , the 17 th prox .

AN APPEAL FOR PRINTERS' ORPHANS . —An appeal has just been issued to the friends of the Printers' Corporation to assist in an effort to raise a sum of ^ , 3030 which is urgently needed in order to obviate the necessity of ( rejecting orphan applicants . U p to th e present every orphan candidate seeking admission to the institution has been accepttd , but unless the above sum is quickly forthcoming the council will be compelled to refuse admission to further applicants . Donations may be forwarded to Mr . P . Day , Red Lion , Poppin's-court , Fleet-street .

A RESOLUTION OF condolence has been passed by the Committee of the Evelina Hospital for Children , Southwark Bridge-road , on the death of Bro . Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild , M . P ., who was the founder and the [ president of that Institution , in the prosperity of which he took the deepest personal interest to the very end of his life . Ihey accordingly desire to express unfeigned regret at the loss which the hospital and the community have sustained by the death of the hon . gentleman , and to offer to B iron Albert de Rothschild , Miss Alice de ( Rothschild , and to all his family their sincerest sympathy in their affliction .

IN AID OF Lord Kitchener's Gordon College Fund , the headmaster of Clayesmore School , Enfield , lately offered for sale an interesting relic in the shape of the hymn book used by General Gordon prior to his departure for the Soudan . The volume is a small size , and is entitled " Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship . " Several generous offers were made , and eventually it was sold to Mr . Frederick Gordon , of Bentley Priory

Stanraore , who paid £ 30 for it . The hymn book was originally presented to the headmaster of Clayesmore , as a personal memento of the hero of Khartoum , by Miss Gordon , sister of the General , who , in answer to an inquiry respecting his favourite hymns , replied , " My brother was very fond of th ^ evening hymn * Abide With Me '; also up to the last he very much liked ' For Ever with the Lord . ' " By the sale of thij ' relic the Clayesmore School Fund has been very considerably augmented .

Q UATUOR CORONATI LODGE , No . 2076 . —Although at the time of going to press it is not absolutely certain that the cruise in the Mediterranean will take place , there is every probability of the project being carried out . In that case , the Secretary ( and many other brethren ) would be absent from London between the 2 nd February and the 3 rd March . Brethren are therefore urged to remit their subscriptions in January , before he leaves , and to refrain from writing to him in February , as any letters arriving during

that month could not be acknowledged before his return . The stated meeting of the 3 rd March would also be allowed to lapse , and an emergency meeting be held in its place somewhat later , say about the middle of March . But under all circumstances the summons will be issued , as usual , a clear fortnight before the meeting , so that the brethren will have timely warning . Should no summons reach them about the middle of February , they will know that there will be no meetine on the 3 rd March .

SOME very interesting relics of underground London have been presented to the Guildhall Museum by Sir Benjamin Baker and the City Commissioners of Sewers . These were brought to light as the result of the excavations which have been made in connection with the Bank and Newgate Stations of the Central London Railway . Among them are an engraved brass rowel spur , of the 17 th century , a portion of a horse-shoe , several specimens of Simian ware , a Venetian wine glass , and a platter of also of the

pamted Delft ware , 17 th century , with some green glazed ware , a white stone jug , and a few human bones . These , together with some Roman anti quities , also dug up at the corner of Queen Victoria-street , near Wal brook , and a curious cast-iron plaque , representing the killing of the " Goose with the Golden Egg , " which was discovered in the cellar of an old house in Smithfield Market , have been placed near the famous collection ot relics of underground London , which were gathered together with so much assiduity by the late . Mr . Charles Roach Smith , F . S . A ., of Strood .

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