The Province Of Cornwall.

the Master of the lodge was presented with a similar silver medal accordingly ; the Master for the time being having the privilege of wearing the handsome and honourable decoration between the arms of the official square . According to Bro . Hughan ' s " Masonic Register " of 1879 , eighty-two brethren and twenty-six lodges were so decorated . The former had

the honour simply for their lives , but there are still four lodges in the Provinces and thirteen in the Metropolis , which exercise their right to wear this special souvenir . The lodge at Falmouth had a special commemoration of the centenary of the " Freemasons' Hall Medal , " on the 13 th October , 1879 , which was attended by many distinguished

MASONIC HALL , LISKKARD .

brethren , Bro . Hughan delivering the historical address , and there was also a beautiful lithographic memorial published of the event , under the auspices of Bro . Wilson Lloyd Fox , the W . M . The photographs of the medal are by Mr . W . M . Harrison , of Falmouth .

Some of the early minutes of the " Love and Honour Lodge " ( now No . 75 ) , Falmouth , are well worth reproduction , as also the old by-laws . The first code of laws was agreed to on June 12 th , 1751 . The fee for initiation was fixed at the low sum of one guinea , and half that amount each for

" Passing " and " Raising " ; the annual subscription being thirty shillings . " Cursing or swearing " as well as " Gaming " were strictly prohibited ; lines being inflicted ; the W . M . and Wardens , if guilty , to pay double . The first clergyman initiated in Cornwall was the Rev .

William Borlase ( LL . D ., F . R . S ., & c ) , who was admitted on September 26 th , 1751 . He was a celebrated historian of the county and a most voluminous author , and frequently preached the annual sermon for the lodge or Provincial Grand Lodge , but there are no references to any of these

discourses being printed , in Boase ' s " Bibliotheca Cornubiensis . " Several Provincial Grand Masters of other provinces visited the lodge during the 18 th Century , one especially deserving mention being the R . W . Bro . J . Head , who was appointed Provincial Grand Master of the Isles of Scilly ,

1 754-5 , "'hen there was not a lodge meeting on any of the Islands . The only lodge that has ever assembled in that favoured neighbourhood was formed in 1768 , as No . 430 , and continued on the Roll until 1851 . It was named the " Godolphin , " and was held on St . Mary ' s Island . It is a wonder another has not been started in recent years .

Bro . Charles Bennett was admitted a joining member from the lodge at Truro on January 28 th , 1762 , and is . known as the author of a Masonic song devoted to the "Revival of Masonry , " beginning with the line " When Masonry Expiring Lay . " On November 29 th , 1764

there-, is an entry against an individual who must have sadly transgressed : " Ballot called and all black balls . Resolved that noticebe sent to every lodge in the County of this proceeding . It was also agreed that from the impertinence and plain

conviction , liis apron shall be burnt in the lodge , that no brothershall defile himself by ever wearing it in the future . " The members were always very ready to assist distressed brethren , and particularly prisoners of war , and the neighbouring lodges practised the virtue of hospitality as well as .

the duty of visitation very generally , as did the " mother lodge , " the large number of visitors being always a feature of" the annual meetings , then , as now . The Provincial Grand Masters for the time being have generally been members of the " mother lodge . " The late