Masonic Missions: Leicestershire.

Fowke , equerry to the then Duke of Cumberland ); and , as far as his increasing years and shattered health would permit , he continued to take a warm interest in the progress of Masonry in the province , until his lamented decease in the spring of 1856 .-Your next inaccuracy is , as to the number of Lodge towns in the count }' , which you give as two only , Leicester and Hinckley . To these must be added a thirdviz .: Ashby-de-la-Zouchwhere a Lodhas recentlbeen

, , ge y reestablished . This is the Ferrers and Ivanhoe Lodge , No . 1 , 081 , of the formation of ivhich more than one notice has recently appeared in your periodical . This has taken the place of the Ivanhoe Lodge , Ne . 631 , opened in that town in 1886 , but which only survived some six or eight years , owing , unfortunately , to its having been established on too expensive a scale , including champagne dinners , & c . The neAv Lodge , which I am glad to state is unconnected with an hoteland meets at the Town Hallhas

, , amongst its members some excellent working Masons , and promises to be a really efficient and prosperous Lodge . Another Lodge , the Rancliffe , No . 608 , was opened in 1834 , at Loughborough , which , next to Leicester , is the most populous and important manufacturing toivn iu the county , but which , singularly enough , is entirely omitted from your list of towns Avhere Lodges ought to exist . The prospects of this Lodge at starting , were good , but were soon blasted

by tivo of the leading members , a surgeon and solicitor , bringing forward a resolution , as I have been informed , prohibiting any but professional men from being admitted into the Lodge . This suicidal act produced its natural results ; the- feiv respectable tradesmen who were members , withdrew in disgust , and , after vegetating for a feiv years , its members dwindled doivn until they consisted , I believe , of the above mentioned professional men only , and the warrant was at length returned . Both this Lodge and No . 631 appeared in the Calendar for several years after they had ceased to meet .

I must noiv in justice beg to observe that , however well founded might be your remarks as to the objection to the appointment of Provincial Grand Masters for life ( and in no province would they have been more applicable than this informer times ) , they certainly do not justly apply to any imputed laches on the part of either of our last or present worthy rulers , as your readers Avould naturally infer from the juxtaposition in Avhich they appear with the names of Sir Frederick Fowke and Earl Howe .

Having had the privilege to be a Masonic pupil of the late Sir F . G . FoAvke , and to have subsequently served under him in the Provincial Grand Lodge , from 1841 to 1856 , in the various grades of office from Junior Grand Deacon to Deputy Provincial Grand Master—to which office I have also had the honour to be reappointed by the present noble Provincial Grand Master—no one is so competent as myself to bear the testimony , which I do now , to the earnest and active interest ivhich they have

respectively evinced on all occasions , in everything connected ivith the well being and progress of Masonry in the province ; both their purse and personal services having been ever ready in promoting those objects . Let the recent munificent donation by Earl Howe of £ 100 to the Leicester Freemasons' Hall Fund , bear witness to his liberality in the cause , whilst his regular attendance at the annual meetings of the Provincial Grand Lodgeand on other occasionsand a voluminous correspondence

, , very relative to the Masonic business of the province , testify that he spares himself no personal trouble in the performance of his duties . With these explanations , I will take leave of the subject for the present , but with j'our permission will return to it on a future occasion , by offering