Notes On The Old Minutes Of British Union Lodge, Ipswich.

lenclar , " is because of the simple fact that it ceased to exist in 1800 . It was No . 10 in 1782 , and was warranted December 24 th , 1723 . When the Lodge was cashiered its number was 15 . The present calendars are little , if any , ffuide whereby to trace the old Lodgesas

, so frequently their names ( if they had any ) are not given , but only the houses in which they met . Owing to this reason , " ye Twins' Lodge , Norwich , " noticed in the Becords , March Ith , 1783 , I cannot trace , for all the Lodges meeting in that

neighbourhood ( twice as many as now ) are all called by the signs of the houses in which they assembled . If the number of the " Twins" is given I could easily trace it !

" To fiass ye chair , " so often mentioned in early records of Lodges , was necessary as a preliminary for the Royal Arch , under the "Modern" and "Ancient" Lodges . The Provincial Grand Master selected

from the nominations of the Lodge was William Middleton , Esq . No . 426 Lodge , which sent a deputation to the annual festival of the Lodge on St . John the Evangelist , 1784 , was called the Lodge of St . George , and became 342 A . D 1792 . It was struck off at the Union of

December , 1 bl 3 . It is a singular fact that all the visiting Lodges mentioned by Brother Holmes in his interesting sketch of the " British Union , No . 114 , have ceased to work long ere this , and the old Lodge at Ipswich alone left to keep the light of Masonry burning brightly . Long may the members thereof continue so to do , and prove worthy of their privileges .

ADDENDA . The " Philanthropic Lodge , " Long Melford , Suffolk , mentioned by Bro . Holmes , in the "Masonic Magazine" for July , was held in Long Melford for many years after 1790 . The Lodge was constituted in 1788 ,

and on April 18 th , 1792 , its number was changed to 437 . At the " Union" it became No . 501 , and finally No . 331 ; it ceased to exist between 1851 and 1859 , but exactly when we cannot say . We cannot with the statement b

agree y Bro . Holmes that " in the United States a great , parade is made of Masonry—not so , however , in England , '" as it is contrary to more public Masonic Processions in England

Notes On The Old Minutes Of British Union Lodge, Ipswich.

in a year than in all the Grand Lodges of the United States in the same time ; and as there are only about one-fifth the membership in this country , we fail to see that a great parade is made of the craft " across the big pond . "

We cordially agree with the suggestion of Brother Holmes , that Provincial Grand Masters should visit their Lodges as often as possible , and we have often advocated the appointment of Provincial Grand or Grancl Lodge Lectures as in the United

States . We should do well to imitate our American Brethren in that respect , and many Grancl Lodges in the United States should take as models our Royal Masonic Benevolent Institutions .

American Knights Templars

AMERICAN KNIGHTS TEMPLARS

WB take this interesting paper from " The Times , " as we think that it deserves noting and perusal , being the view of an " Outsider , " as regards the Templar organisation in the United States , anel valuable in its facts : — As I mentioned in a former

letterPhila-, delphia is likely this year to be made , on account of the Exhibition , the scene of many gatherings , more American , and therefore , so far , to foreigners more interesting than even the Exhibition itself . We have just had a gathering of Knights

Templars on so grand a scale that it has eclipsed , even in the eyes of patriotic Philadeiphians , the " greatest of World ' s Fairs . " Happily there is no real rivalry between the old love and the new , but , on the contrary , they play into each other ' s hands . The Exhibition imparts exceptional lustre to the visit of the Ternplars , causing them to be welcomed with even more than

the usual courtesy and cordiality , while they in their turn give to the average number of visitors to the Exhibition a very marked addition , which it sorely needs . Dp to the moment of their arrival the number of paying admissions had never , I believe , reached 20 , 000 , except , of course ,

on the opening day . But early this week it suddenly rose to over 40 , 000 , and though this high rate has not been steadily maintained , the attendance has been far better than in any previous week . If the other lions of the season do half as much for the Exhibition as the Templars have