Provincial.

kindness . They would agree ivith him that they generally found among them a goodly number of clergymen in AVarwickshire . He only ivished they could number Mr . Craig as one of the Masonic brethren . Nevertheless , he appealed to those ivho ivere not Masons , ivho had heard the noble address delivered that morning in the church , whether they had not a good chaplain . It ivould be alloived that they hid a goodly muster of reverend brethren amongst them Avhen he mentioned that they numbered as members the Rev . Mr . Lane , of Wasperton , Rev . Mr . Yorke , of St . Philip ' s Rectory , Birmingham , Rev . Mr . Smithers , of Rugby , and the Yiear of As ton .

' 1 he Vicar ( Rev . J . Craig , ) returned thanks in an amusing speech , and concluded by proposing " The health of AVilliam Henry Lord Leigh , the Right AVorshipful Provincial Grand Master , and Lord Lieutenant of this county "—( ioud and repeated cheers )—and he wished to request the Master ofthe Ceremonies to give the toast with the honours ofthe Order . Bro , Elkington said , he was sorry that they could not give Masonic honours to the toast ; but they would give such honours as would please Lord Leigh . The cheers reiterated and The Grand Master said

were prolonged . R . AV . Prov . ¦ m reply , ' ¦ Ladies and gentlemen , I thank you most sincerely for the very kind and flattering manner in AA'hich you have drunk my health . I have often had occasion to thank my brethren for the kind manner in ivhich I have been received by them ; but I feel doubly the honour—as so many friends of mine present , it is true , are not brethren ofthe province . I thank you all kindly forthe manner in which you have drank my health , and I only hope that those w-ho are not Masons , may not judge unfavourablof usI hope and trust they will believe that the actions of

y ; the Masons of Warwickshire are always conducted on the square and by the level . I can almost imagine my friend Mr . Craig to he a brother , as he has advocated so well the principles of freemasonry . . 1 hope he may never have cause to find that our actions are not always regulated by the Scriptures , and that , as I said before , they are otherwise directed than by the square aud the level . Before I sit doAvn , perhaps I may be alloived to propose a toast , not by auy means of a Masonic characterbutneverthelessone I think Avhich will be received ball of with the

, , , y you greatest pleasure . In proposing the health of Mr . Craig , I did not allude to his having lately entered into a state of life ivhich I can assure him is attended with much happiness . As a married man and as a father of a considerable family , I always feel sympathy with those who are similarly situated . I say I alivays feel a . sympathy with those who find partners for life . I give with the greatest pleasure ' '• the health of Mrs . Craig—long may she live 1 " and coupled with that , I beg to give , "the lasses of AA anvickshire . "

The toast ivas drunk ivith much enthusiasm , and one cheer more w-as given for Lady Leigh . Bro . Chandos AVren Hoskyns said that he ivas permitted by the R . AV . Prov . Grand Master to propose the next toast , and he did not think , thafc had he himself made the selection , any other toast ivould have given him greater pleasure to propose ; because he believed that the connexion between Masonry and the subject for which they ivere met principally together that day was one of the highest and most valuableand one of the oldest in the original institution of Masonry . They

, were met together in the cause of education , and they had had that day a most auspicious commencement in laying the foundation stone of a building ivhich would thereafter he seen to be the most useful and most necessary adjunct to the early years of men that could possibly be . He believed that he might Avith truth say that , before the principles of Christianity had been promulgated , those learned men of Greece , and men of other countries , Avho communicated thoir knowledge by symbols , were the means of the best system of education that then existed for the early Avorld

. He was here reminded of tbe school of one ivho taught the most useful and valuable knowledge that ever preceded Christian knoAvledge . He spoke of Pythagoras , amongst whose principles it was that the advancement aud civilization of a state might be judged of by the esteem in ivhich it held its Avoruen . It never had been announced to the ancient world that the female sex could be so useful and so valuable hi its influence on mankind , until the opinions of that sage obtained . Those opinions were scarcely understood at the time they ivere pronounced , and men had to be