Metropolitan.

liveliest interest in the prosperity of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , was honoured by the high position which it held in Masonry , and gratified to see it send forth so many excellent Masons , who were an honour to the Craft . While such was the case the Lodge of Unions would be proud of giving its sanction to so good a body of men . The W . M . then proposed " success and prosperity to the sister Lodges of Instruction , " coupling with the toast the name of Bro . Havers , P . G . D . Bro . Havers , in replying to the toast , said that on that evening he met the Brethren of the Emulation Lodsre of Improvement for the first time . It was

true he had for many years past been hearing of their numbers , and of their respectability , but he had had no notion of their mode of working . In the Lodge of Instruction ( the Stability ) , with which he was more immediately connected , they thought that they were foremost in promulgating Masonry , althongh they had heard that the Brethren of the Emulation Lodge were before them in point of numbers . Under these circumstances , he would tell them , for the magnificent and glorious display of Masonry with which he had been that evening gratified , he congratulated Bro . Beadon on being the president of such a body of Masons .

With him he joined in the hope that the sublime principles of Masonry might ever flourish . Although the working of the two Lodges might slightly differ , they both had at heart the same good principles , and sought to unite man to man in closer bonds of amity and love . ( Cheers . ) The object of Masonry with them , as with his Brethren of the Stability , was , that in the affairs of this life they should in a manner prefer the man who was a Mason to him who was not

admitted a member of the mystic tie . Of the value and sacredness of that tie no man could doubt , for there was not to be found , he thought , among human obligations any tie more honourably , more religiously fulfilled than that tie which bound Mason to Mason in the grand principles of the Order . In conclusion , he would assure the Brethren present that they should ever be hailed as welcome guests at the board of the Lodge of Stability , and he should carry to his Brethren there the report of the kindness and affection with which he had been received that evening , and tell them that there was no rivalry among Masons , except a rivalry in doing good .

The W . M . proposed as the next toast the "Visitors , " coupled with the name of Bro . Skelton , P . M . of St . Mary ' s Lodge , No . 76 . Bro . Skelton having suitably replied to the toast , The W . M . said the next toast on his list was " Success to the Masonic Chanties , " and it was one which he was sure they would all drink with pleasure , for in charity the whole essence of Masonry was to be found . The Masonic charities

were , he considered , an ornament to the Craft , as they were founded on the kindest feelings of the heart ; in them were maintained the children , widows , and orphans of Freemasons , whom calamity might have placed in a different position of life to that which they had formerly occupied . He hoped that the day would never arrive which would separate Masonry and these charities one from the other . He knew that when ho united with the toast the name of their

Brother Whitmore— -who , despite of all the difficulties and hindrances which apathy and reluctance had cast in his way , had worked up the establishment of the Asylum for Aged Freemasons and their Widows , and to whom the Craft was so much indebted for the manner in which , while engaged in that good work , he had displayed the true feelings of a Mason , love and charity towards the distressed—they would drink the toast with increased enthusiasm . Bro . Whitmore was more fortunate than had been many other promoters of the happiness of his fellow-creatures , for he had his reward in seeing the Institution he had been mainly instrumental in . ( bunding , not only flourishing , but daily increasing in popularity with the Craft .

¦ B ro . Whitmore , who was most cordially received by the Brethren , said that as an old member of the Lodge of Emulation , he felt gratified to witness the prosperity which it at present enjoyed , as he remembered the time when they thought themselves fortunate if they could at their annual banquets muster twenty-five or thirty members . But referring to the toast which they had just drunk , he looked upon it as a high honour to have his name coupled with the charities ot