"The Goose And Gridiron,"

at which the famous Lodge of Antiquity , now Lodge No . 2 , on the roll of the United Grand Lodge of England , met . AVe are under fraternal obligation to Past Grand Master Brother John T . Heard , of Boston , for this cut , which he used in his very interesting article entitled " Old London

Taverns identified with Masonry , " that appeared some time since in the "New England Freemason . " At the Revival of Masonry in London , in the year 1717 , one of the four Lodges that Avas instrumental in forming the first Grand Lodge in

England , that of the so-called '' Moderns , " St . Paul ' s Lodge , noAv the Lodge of Antiquity , met at the " Goose and Gridiron , " and on St . John the Baptist ' s Day , of the same year , the Assembly and Feast of the Freemasons Avas held at the same noted tavern .

Mr . Elmesinhis "Sir Christopher Wren and his Times , " says : Wren was Master of St . Paul ' s Lodge , which , during the building of the Cathedral , assembled at the " Goose and Gridiron" in St . Paul ' s Churchyard , and is noAv the Lodge of Antiquity , acting by immemorial prescription ; and he regularly presided at its meetings for upwards of eighteen vears .

During his presidency he presented that Lodge with three mahogany candlesticks , beautifully carved , and the trowel and mallet which he used in laying the first stone of the Cathedral , June 21 , 1675 , which the Brethren of that ancient and distinguished Lodge still and dul

possess y appreciate . " Sir Francis Palgrave , in an article in the " Edinburgh Review , " for A pril , 1839 , refers to the " convivial society of good-fellows ( Freemasons ) who met at the ' Goose and Gridiron . '" St . Paul ' s Churchyard , where the " Goose and

Gridiron " was situated , is a distinguished locality . It is in the shape of a bow and string , and a number of famous booksellers have had their shops there . At the sign of the " AVhite Greyhound , " the first editions of Shakspeare ' s Venus and

Adonis Avere sold by John Harrison ; at the " Crown , " the Merry Wives of Windsor ; at the "Fox , " RichardII ; at the "Angel , " Richard III , —so that as AValter Thombury , in the first volume of lis " Old and New London , " says : " In this area the great poet must have paced Avith the first proofs in his doublet-pocket , wonderin g whether he should ever . rival

"The Goose And Gridiron,"

Speneer , or become immortal like Chaucer . " In St . Paul's Churchyard , there Avas also Child's Coffee House , where Addison looked in to chat and smoke , and the Queen ' s Arms , Avhere the "Free and Easy under the Rose'' a convivial society met . Timbsin

, , in his Clubs and Club-life in London , narrates a number of interesting facts in this connection , which we cannot spare space to give here . AVe learn from Larwood k Hotten ' s

History of Signboards , that the " Goose and Gridiron Tavern" OAved its origin to the folioAving circumstances : "The Mitre , " at the N . W . end of St . Paul ' s Churchyard Avas , in 1664 , a celebrated music-house When it ceased to be used for that purpose ,

its succeeding landlord , in order to ridicule its former use , chose for his sign a Goose striking the bars of a Gridiron with his foot , in ridicule of the " Swan and Harp , " a common sign for the early music-houses . Tlie Taller endorses this account .

A once fashionable conundrum was : What is the Latin for goose 1 ( Answer ) . Brandy . The pun is on the word ansAver . Anser is the Latin for goose , which brandy Avas said to follow as surely and quickly as an answer follows a question . The engraving of the sign of the " Goose

and Gridiron , " at the head of this article , is a very rare one , and we have thought the topic that it suggests , of the ancient taverns in which Freemasons formerly held their Lodges , a sufficiently interesting one to engage for a time the attention of our readers .

Dr. Rawlinson's Ms.

DR . RAWLINSON'S MS .

BY WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN . THE orig inal MS . formerly belonging to Brother Richard Rawlinson , LL . D ., F . R . S ., has long been missed , but a transcript is still preserved in a kind of Masonic Scrap

Book , forming a portion of a valuable collection of papers on Freemasonry , in the Bodleian Library , Oxford . The transcript was made about A . D . 1730 , and the original Roll about half a century previously . Bros , the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , M . A ., Richard James Spiers , F . S . A ., and oura 2