Metropolitan.

notice is " The health of the Deputy Grand Master aud the officers oftlie Grand Lodgo , past ancl present . " You all know the very efficient way in which Earl De Grey and Eipon discharges his duties in the Grand Lodge , and how ably he presides over the province of West Yorkshire . You have several members of the Grand Lodge present , and they are a good sample of how they do their duty when they meet by attending lodges of instruction . It is a great pleasure to me to propose the health

of the Deputy Grand Master , the Grand Officers , past and present , and coupling with the toast the name of Bro . Evans , President of the Board of General Purposes . Bro . Llewellyn Evans ; President of the Board of General Purposes , said—It is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I find myself , from an accidental position , liaving the honour of returning thanks for the Grand Officers at this Lodge of

Instruction . The presiding W . M . is a very hard working member of the Grand Lodge , and I wish that you had to hear a speech from him rather than from myself , as to the way in which the Deputy Grand Master discharges his duty to the Craft . As Bro . M'Intyre has said , we all endeavour to do our duty , and we hope that we shall always receive the support of the Craft . As Grand Officers we are always ready to support

our charities and other excellent institutions , and do what we can towards the promotion of the great interests of our Order . I cannot conclude without congratulating the Stability Lodge of Instruction on the satisfactory meeting they have had , and on the admirable manner in which the lodge is worked . Bro . Muggeridge has brought forward his best and ablest workers , and from the specimens we have seen to-night , you know how well they have succeeded . On the part of the Grand officers , I beg to express our best wishes for the continued success of this lodge of instruction .

Song by Bro . Ransford— "My old Friend John . " The Chairman—Brethren , the next toast I shall have to give you will perceive is not on the programme , as we have not had the opportunity formerly of giving such a toast . On this occasion we are honoured by the presence of the Provincial Grand Master for Herefordshire , and when he goes back he will be able to tell the brethren how the old system of working is kept up in this lodge of instruction . Ouc Rev . brother in his vin ce

pro gives the highest satisfaction , and was of the greatest advantage to the Craft , and when the Provincial Grand Master for Herefordshire goes back to the province he will be able to tell them that the Masons of London can work above in the lodge-room , as well as they can in the banquet-room . We beg to welcome the Provincial Grand Master for Herefordshire , trusting that he will come amongst us again and induce other Provincial

Grand Masters to do so also , so that it shall no longer be a strange spectacle to see a Provincial Grand Master amongst us . I ask you to drink the health of Bro . Dr . Bowles , Prov . G . M . for Herefordshire , and with a right good will . _ Bro . Dr . Bowles -. Bro . President and brethren—I offer you sincerely my most grateful acknowledgments for the thoroughly fraternal warmth with which you have received the toast in far

too flattering terms proposed by my Bro . M'Intyre , and I take shame to myself for having never been present before at this lodge of instruction . Since I have been here I have learned much , and if I am in town at your future meetings I shall feel it to be my duty to present myself at your door as a humble brother anxious to receive instruction . I am deeply indebted to the working brethren for the information I have received

, and although I shall not occupy your time by delving into the dust of antiquity in order to trace the origin of Freemasonry , yet I may say that there is some writer , whose name I forget , but whose words I remember , who said that Freemasonry began when chaos first assumed symmetry and order . I know that iu very olden times it did much to neutralise sensual influences ; it taught manwho then governed b

, was y no law , to govern himself , and by generous sentiments to meet in . intercourse with each other , and it carried truth and justice into the administration of society . Its glorious and crowning characteristics , however , are its noble Charities , in whose administration we know no distinction of creed or country , and through whose sphere of action we are constituted as delegates of divine beneficence . I was leased with the reference made

p to-night to your schools , where you awaken the intelligence and morals , and lift up these children from destitution . Then there is your asylum which you have founded for the widows of those of our brethren who have gone before . These are , I think , the noble characteristics of our Oraer , and I am sure I need not

remind any Mason who , in his progress from the cradle to the grave , has helped to bring up these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord , that he has won for himself the highest honours as a Mason , for he has assisted in rearing a temple far more precious than that of King Solomon , and far more enduring than that noble cathedral under whose shadow we are now assembled . Brethren , I thank yon again for the fraternal kindness with which I have been received . ( The rev . brother was

frequently applauded during his address , and sat down amidst general cheering ) . The Chairman said : Brethren , I have now to call your attention to what is really the toast of the evening , and as you have the programme before you , you know the stage of our proceedings at which we have arrived . I hope you will drink the health of a brother whose name I shall mention with

acclamation , as you always do . I now propose " Prosperity to the Stability Lodge of Instruction , " coupling with the toast the name of Bro . Muggeridge , its worthy preceptor . The Stability Lodge of Instruction has now existed for more than fifty years . Last year I occupied the chair for the first time , when we celebrated the jubilee of this lodge of instruction . We have now got a year older , and therefore owe an additional debt of

gratitude to Bro . Muggeridge , who is determined to carry out the principles of Freemasonry . The night after Bro . Muggeridge became a Mason , he became a member of this lodge of instruction , and from that time he has never ceased to take an active part iu its affairs , and his constant desire is to promote its prosperity . He entered under the preceptorship of Bro . Peter Thompsonwho was not excelled hy any one in carrying out the

, precepts of Freemasonry . Bro . Muggeridge , from 1839 , acted under Bro . Thomson , but since 1851 he has followed in his steps , and was never absent from his duties as president of tbe lodge . Iu the length and breadth of England , many who are at present discharging the duties of the chair , in the provinces and in the colonies , can look back with gratitude to the instruction they have received at the hands of Bro . Muggeridge ,

and the true principles of Freemasonry he has inculcated . Bro . Muggeridge has preserved the true ritual , and any one who has learned it under his teaching , need not be ashamed to stand before any Mason in the world . It was his desire that

they should be accurate in the ceremonies they had to perform , that it should not be lip service , but that they should exactly feel what they had to utter . Happy is the lodge who has such a preceptor , and we now welcome him who has for seventeen years presided over you , and I trust that he may continue for seventeen years more , and at their termination renew the term for seventeen years more , for the advantage of those who may come afterBrethrenI ive you " Prosperity to the Stability

. , g Lodge of Instruction , " coupling with it "The health of its esteemed and able preceptor , Bro . Muggeridge . " The toast was most cordially received . Bro . Muggeridge , on rising , . vas received with loud and continued cheering . He said : Very many thanks to you , Sir , for the manner in which you have proposed the last toast , and to brethren for the manner in which you have responded

you to it . I feel highly delighted at the reception you have given me , but I also feel delighted at the admirable manner in which my pupils hare worked in the lodge . I need not be ashamed of them . I am not ashamed of tiiem , and I congratulate you on listening to such working . Your Worshipful Master has told you that I have been connected with the Lodge ot Instruction for twenty-nine years , and during that time I have done my

utmost to promote its prosperity . I thought I should like to come into Freemasonry , which I did for my own pleasure , and , having obtained information , I afterwards thought that it was my duty to communicate it to others , which I have endeavoured to do ; I may say that during the entire term of my masonic career have I ever given more instruction than I do at the present time . This time last year we celebrated the jubilee of

this Lodge of Instruction , when you were kind enough to present me with a . handsome snuff-box , and with something very substantial inside . It seems to me as only the other day when you presented me with this snuff-box , but we now enter upon another epoch , for having completed one half century , we now enter upon another . Although we are now commencing the second half of the century of the Stability Lodge of Instruction , it seems highly improbable that any brother now present may

see the completion of its second jubilee . All 1 can say is , if this Lodge of Instruction be in existence at the completion of the second jubilee , I hope it will be in as prosperous a condition as it is at the present time , and I also hope that some of