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discharge of the highest duties amongst them , perhaps unworthily , but which I shall endeavour to discharge to the best of my ability ; and if I shall meet with the approbation of my fellow townsmen , their thanks will amply compensate me . The gentlemen I am . now associated with , and with whom I do feel it an honour to act as borough magistrates , merit your esteem ; by them justice is discharged firmly and emphatically ; and whilst they are a terror to evil-doers , the unfortunate always receive from them merciful consideration ( loud cheers ) . With these imperfect remarks I return you my own and the borough magistrates' most grateful thanks .

Bro . T . Close then rose and said , My lord and Bro . Masons , a toast has been entrusted to my care to which I purpose especially to allude , a little later , when you will see that , in entire connection with that toast , I desire , with your kind permission , to indulge in a few preliminary remarks , which my heart tells me should be uttered , although my tongue may fail to do them justice . As an old Mason in the Province and an old and intimate friend of the Prov . G . M ., I would crave permission to be allowed once more to revert to the beautiful testimonial which has just been presented to pur honoured friend and Brother . In looking at

the effigies of the human figure sculptured upon it in has relie f in three distinct attributes of the country gentleman , soldier , and G . M . Mason , I would again refer to the separate phases of this threefold character in which he whom we have this day met to honour is therein represented . On each of these I would wish now to offer a few observations . In the first place then I would allude to his character as a gallant soldier ; but here permit me to . trespass on your patience for a few

moments m order to refer to his earlier days , in his boyhood at the celebrated school of Harrow ; for Lord Byron was his playfellow at that school ; and little could the poet have then imagined that in the companion of his youthful sports he saw the friend of his manhood , the future owner of his manor , and the conservator and restorer of the beautiful mansion in which through so long a series of years his illustrious forefathers had been cradled . From Harrow to Oxford and from

Oxford to the army as a gallant Hussar were rapid steps . In the Peninsular War the young Hussar contended with great bravery and chivalrous courage , fighting in that band of heroes which quelled and triumphed over no ordinary foes but the numerous , disciplined , brave , and well-directed forces of that great man , the great Napoleon . After the peace of Paris , in the next conflict , he served as the aidede-camp of the chivalrous Anglesea , and fought at that great victory which was gained at Waterloo against those daring and brave men till then the hereditary enemies of our country—but henceforward , thank God , to prove as I believe , our

foremost friends and surest allies . It is glorious to see the two magnificent armies of the two nations , Prance and England , ranged not in hostile but in united ranks , combating not for miserable and ambitious projects or selfish purposes , but arrayed against the Attila of modern days , and his barbarian Huns who threaten the liberties of modern Europe . May the glorious slopes of Inker * mann , where each man proved himself a hero , obliterate every painful reminiscence of the concluding struggle in which our gallant friend appeared for the last time as a soldier on the plains of Belgium . Peace came ; for after the battle of

Waterloo Othello ' s occupation was gone : but other pursuits engaged the attention of our Prov . G . M . ; and through the acquisition of the lordly demesne of Newstead he became connected for the first time with the county of Nottingham . I will not here say in his presence , all that I think of his bearing in this his second character of a country gentleman . You all know the qualities of his heart , benevolence , kindness , princely hospitalities , and how charitable , yet conscientious he is in the administration of justice as a magistrate . But it would be altogether

unpardonable in a meeting of Masons not to allude to the fine taste and feeling displayed in his restoration of the ruinous mansion of the Byrons , and especially to the admirable care he has evinced in the scrupulous preservation of every architectural feature , of every heraldic allusion , even of every tree , and every association allied to the home of the Byrons ( loud cheers ) . A vain or selfish man would have pursued another course . Nor must I fail to notice the gracious liberality with which that mansion has been thrown open every clay of the year to every pilgrim who has come to contemplate the lovely ruins of Newstead Abbey , or to pay his homage VOJU I . ft