The Library And Museum Of The Grand Lodge Of England.

occupy their leisure time in reading for improvement . The men who worked the hardest for their bread would go most to the spring of knowledge . —to many the Library would be a great boon . He wanted to make this an intellectual institution . He moved the adoption of the report of the Board as regarded the Library .

" Brother J . L . Stevens seconded the motion . " The several suggestions were then put seriatim and approved . "

DR . ROBERT T . CUUCEl'IX , P . O . I ) . ' J'llr l- 'irnt CuntI'ihtilui' tn lite llfiimt Ltnltje I . ihfiirl / . This was , to say the least of it , a promising outlook , but , as Burns savs , " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men ,

Gang aft a-gley . " The following paragraph in the report of the Board of General Purposes to Grand Lodge , on the 5 th of June , 1850 , speaks for itself . " The Board beg to suggest and recommend to the

Grand Lodge to discontinue the payment of X 15 per annum for keeping the Library open in the evening according to the present regulation , the number of Brethren who have attended during the past year being so few as to render the expense quite unnecssary . " The action of the Earl of Zetland in opposing so small a grant as . £ 20 , in furtherance of an object which he admitted

to be a valuable one , is , in our opinion , inexplicable , especially in view of the fact that some of his advisers were strongly in favour of the movement advocated , as was also the Board of General Purposes , but whether to the extent of an annual subsidy we have no means of knowing . We now know , however , that the comparatively small sum named would

have been then of as much value to the Library as treble the amount at a later period . Meanwhile , Masonic relichunting has become almost a mania , not only with our brethren across the Atlantic , but also with many private collectors at home ; as a natural result the price of rare

Masonic books , relics , and curio ' s appertaining to the Craft , has gone up enormously , and an article which could formerly have been purchased for a few shillings , now fetches as many pounds . Moreover , as will be seen hereafter , no real progress was made in the establishing either a Library or a Masonic Museum until the Grand Lodge decided to appropriate a portion of its funds annually towards this object .

At the Grand Festival in 1857 , alter an interval of twenty years , John Henderson was again appointed Grand Registrar , and although he might well have been disheartened , he evidently was not dismayed , for , at the first meeting of the

new Board of General Purposes in June , 1857 , a Library and Museum Committee was appointed , consisting of the President and Vice-President , John Henderson ( Chairman ) , Richard W . Jennings , John Havers , Lord Carnarvon , and the Rev . George R . Portal . This committee made a report to the Board on the 17 th

of November to the following purport"As to the matters referred to your sub-committee , no change has taken place since the last report made to your Board , nor , indeed , since a much earlier period . The comparatively small number of books as yet collected have

remained for years locked up in book-cases in the ante-room of the Temple , and the subject of a Alasonic Library and Museum appears to have long faded from the recollection of the Brethren . Yet it appears to your sub-committee that this subject deserves far more consideration than it has

hitherto met with , and that the object in view tends most importantly towards the benefit and honor of the Order . " The proposal made on the 6 th of September , 18 37 , for establishment of a Masonic Library and Museum , was adopted , not only unanimously , but enthusiastically by Grand

Lodge , and it is believed that on reflection , the Brethren will still approve themselves sensible of what is due to the Literature of Freemasonry .

" 1 he followers of every other Art and Science have diligently collected and preserved in libraries devoted to their purposes , whatever could illustrate the subjects of their pursuits . It is not seemly that our Society should stand alone in neglecting to provide for its members , and for future times , the means of learning all that has been written to teach , and of seeing all that can be found to illustrate its history and doctrines .

I he number of books in various languages written on subjects exclusively Masonic is far greater than is commonly supposed . Books in which Masonry is partially treated of or referred to are very numerous . Masonic manuscripts , many of them very valuable , and architectural emblems , and

tl'lintii Elil !¦ Part mil Cn . ) SII . VK 11 MASONIC CD' ( AMHltlCAN MAKK ) . 1 ' ei-ti-nli-il // . // Henri / ,- J . l'iiii-kiinl , lii-it . ' . ' . / .. ' ;/ ' Knijluiiil at li . L . ,, f Imtifimin . other remains of antiquity which would be profitable to the student of Freemasonry , are yearly lost to the Order for want of a suitable repository . To collect together all that

peculiarly belongs to Masonry , is the first , but not the only object . As Masonry embraces the whole circle of the Arts and Sciences , so every good book on any subject would be welcome in a Masonic Library .