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CCoittents , PAGE F EEEMASONS' MAGAZINE : — MASONIC MIEEOE : — The Freemasons 21

Music in Masonry 23 Masonic Jottii ! f" -No . 76 2-The Grand Louj / e of MassSchusetfcs , U . S 25 Masonic Notes and Queries 27 Correspondence 29 Thc Knights Templar Crusade , 29 Masonic Sayings and Doings Abroad 20 Masonic Mems 30

CBABT LODGE MEETINGS : — Metropolitan 30 Provincial 30 Scotland 3 i Knights Templar 35 The Mark Degree in England 36 Masonic Festivities 39 Obituary 39 Notice to Correspondents ..... 40 List of Lodge , & c ., Meetings for ensuing week 40

The Freemasons.

THE FREEMASONS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JULY 8 , 1871 ,

( From the Daily News , July 5 th . ) A striking constrast between Freemasonry , as it is known in Great Britain , and Freemasonry as ¦ it is regarded in some Continental countries , was furnished by yesterday ' s " Court Circular . "

The installation of the Prince of Wales as Worshipful Master of the Alpha Lodge of Freemasons was recorded therein , and one more testimony given of tbe complete harmony which prevails between the constitutional government and the tenets of the craft .

It is the boast of Freemasons that their Order stands alone , and nothing offends a zealous brother more deeply than to affect to regard the Craft as an organisation of similar character to theForesters and Odd Fellows . That which is the boast , and

the laudable boast , of the two latter bodies , Freemasons repudiate with disdain : " We are not an insurance office . We are not self-seeking . Higher motives than mere wordly prudence govern us . No one is admitted into our ranks Avho does not

declare himself uninfluenced by mercenary or other unworthy motives "—such is the outspoken creed of the brotherhood , of which the Prince of Wales is a ruler .

Those members of the general public who believe Freemasonry to be in , any sense , a benefit society , might listen with advantage to the debates of the Grand Lodge , which is presided over by the

Marquis of Ripon as Grand Master , and attended by the leading members of the Craft . Grand Lodge , it may be explained , is the parliament of Freemasonry , and holds four regular meetings in each year . It is composed of

Freemasons who have attained , by services rendered , and the suffrages of their brethren , a certain defined position in private lodges to which they belong , and who meet and deliberate as represensentatives of the Order at home and abroad .

Grand Lodge is , then , a strictly constitutional body , with a sway which extends over the four quarters of the globe . At Simla and at New Brunswick at Shanghae , Bardadoes , the Cape of Good Hope , Tasmania ., and Australasia , are

Freemasons' lodges , which are worked under the Grand Lodge , of England , and the members of Avhich are guided and governed by its decrees . The debates of Grand Lodge are published in the Masonic organs of opinion , and it is certain

that the doctrine it lays down has considerable influence for good or evil on the mind and temper of the Craft .

It occasionally happens that discussion arises concerning the recommendations made by the various boards and sub-committees , and when a proposed grant of money to a distressed brother is the text , no doctrine is laid doAvn more forcibly than that Masonic work and Masonic honours can

not be held to purchase a right to relief . The brethren are frequently warned against encouraging men to neglect their business for the acquisition of Masonic rank , and few things would astonish an outsider more than the gravity and

importance with Avhich the distinctions of Freemasonry are invested by their possessors and thei r aspirants . W hat is termed " the purple" of the Order , in allusion to the hue of the insignia worn by those

who have attained it , represents the Masonic peerage , and its holders are recognised as leaders wherever Masons congregate . The Alpha Lodge , of which the Prince of Wales has just been made Master , is composed

exclusively of wearers of the purple—in other words , of a selected number ofthe Past and Present Grand Officers of the Order , and , unlike every other Masonic Lodge , its members are nominated , not elected . No new Mood is brought into the Alpha Lodge , save by the special intervention of the Grand Master , who nominates the brother he