Untitled Article

continues to increase unnecessarily , that ought to be drawn upon instanter . The General Benvolent Fund , which we are taxed to provide , and hence one in -which eyery Mason has an interest , has lately been increasing at about £ 1 , 000 per ann . it now amounts to , I believe , over £ 16 , 000 . I ask , why should we continue to lay by this fund for those who come after us ? Why leave our own generation to pine for want of relief ? Here are means by which every case of distress can be

aided ; the fund is created , for that purpose only , and no one , I think , would , venture to say , that the relief of these forty-two applicants is not a righteous and a holy purpose . I heard a Brother in the Lodge , No . 206 , only a few evenings since , when speaking of this Institution , say , that the committee being of opinion that a festival would be productive of benefit , had applied to the G . M . to sanction

it by his presence , but his lordship refused to comply with the request . Now , we all know that this Institution originated with the late Bro . Orucefix , and hence has never enjoyed the favour of the G . M . and his officials ; but as it has now become an Institution recognised and ruled over by the G . L . to use the mildest term , it evinces singular bad taste to allow jaundiced views to interfere with the wishes of the committee of one of our charities .

I suggest then to relieve the committee from the difficulties of its position , that the G . L . should resolve-That it is inexpedient that the Benevolent Fund , be increased . That so much of that fund as now exceeds £ 16 , 000 be voted in aid of the Hoyal Masonic Benevolent Institution , one-third to the males , and two-thirds to the widows .

That the surplus proceeds of the Benevolent Fund , at the next Quarterly Communication , after the accounts are made up , be annually voted in aid of such Masonic charitable institutions as have the most pressing claim on their funds . Thus we should be doing justice to our own generation , and still leave a handsome fund for our descendants . Hoping the bread thus cast on the waters may be picked up ere many days . I am , fraternally yours , November 23 . « ' H . W .

Notes And Queries.

NOTES AND QUERIES .

Street Nuisances . —I wonder when the streets of London will be rid of walking advertisements , an useless social abuse which endangers the limbs of many unoffending Christians . As I walk hastily along the pavement , why am I to be run into by a ragged gentleman with a long pole , containing upon the summit a flaming description of " Brigg ' s Turkish Curiosities , " " Brown ' s Niggers , just exported , with tails ( a fearful tale ) from Central Africa , " or " Mrs . Groggin ' s Waxworks ? " Am I inspired thereby with a greater desire of going to see the far-famed exhibitions of Brigg ' s , Brown ' s , and Groggin ' s ? On the contrary , I am

Sir , —St . Nicholas , Cole Abbey , properly Cold Abbey , if Stow is correct ; he says it was called Cold Abbey from an inlet or bay exposed to the weather on the shore of the Thames in this parish . Can your readers throw any light upon this name ? B .

led to look with aversion upon these firms and their ragged partisans , who for a shilling per day go forth on the wild mission of frightening or hindering respectable mortals , and throwing others down . When , too , will the Jewish gentlemen in the Strand , who offer to give one hundred per cent , more than other house for cast-off clothing , cease from molesting you at night with winning whispers ; and when will coffee-house " touters" learn that their disreputable habitations are not the more frequented on account of their bothering and badgering passers-by peaceably inclined 1—From Nome Thoughts .