Performance Of Masonic Work. By Bro. William Rounseville.

done there . In the meantime we fraternally ask an impartial judgment of the Fraternity on what has been said touching the " outside work" of the lodge .

St. Alban And Freemasonry.

ST . ALBAN AND FREEMASONRY .

EXTEACIS EBOil AN ADDRESS BY BEO . W . SlLAS WHITHEAD , P . G . M ., BEEOKE ST . ALBAN ' LODGE , NEWARK , N . J . There is a natural and honest pride of ancestry . The human mind cannot be contented with the

prosaic successes of to-day , but seeks to add to the achievements of the present the triumphs of the past . Travel back as far as we may in the past , we find the people of those days exulting in the

glories of their own earlier history . The ears of the eager listeners never wearied while Homer sang of the ivisdom of Nestor , the bravery of Ajax and the wrath of Achilles . In the Lays of Ancient Rome , the poet has told us that —•

" When the young and old in circle Around the fire brands closed , When the giris ivere weaving baskets And the lads were shaping bows , With weeping and with laughter Still was the story told ,

Hoiv well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old . " When our ancient brethren laid the foundation of the Second Temple , the Priests and Levites and the chief of the fathers , ancient men , that had seen

the first house , lvept with a loud voice as they recalled the glory and splendour of that Temple which Solomon had built .

In the honest pride of ancestory , the society ivhich I represent to-night claims its full share . The records and the traditions of the Craft are full of noble names and noble deeds . The church canonized St . Alban , the proto-marfcyr of Britain .

The Mason of this age as he surveys the vast proportions of the yet unfinished temple , upon which our brethren for so many ages have laboured , has no reason for shame , ivhen " the roll of the workmen is called . "

That St . Alban was a Freemason , and interested himself in the prosperity of the Craft , is a proposition which cannot be sustained by the rules of

St. Alban And Freemasonry.

evidence , which are necessary to establish a substantive fact in a court of law . The connection of St . Alban with Freemasonry is no more than a tradition . If ive find the tradition existing and recognized

at different periods of time intervening between the death of St . Alban and the present , it will go far to establish its reliability . A chain is composed of different links . The first link to ivhich I shall

refer is an extract from an ancient manuscript once in the possession of Nicholas Stone , a sculptor under Inigo Jones . The manuscript , with other valuable Masonic documents , ivas purposely destroyed by fire , from au absurd fear that they

might fall into improper hands , and their publication might disclose important Masonic secrets . The extract in question is as follows : — - * St . Alban loved Masons well , and cherished them much / and made their pay right good , for

he gave them 2 s . per week and 3 d to their cheer j . ivhereas , before that time , in all the land the Mason had but a penny a day and his meat , until St . Alban mended it .. And he got them a charter from the King and his counsell for to hold a general

counsel ! , and gave it to name Assemblie . Thereat he ivas himself ,, and did help to make Masons , and gave them good charges . " The next evidence is to be found in the posthumous papers of Elias Ashmole , the founder of

the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford , and who , as ifc appears from his diary , was made a Freemason , together with Col . Mainivaring , on the lOfch day of October , A . D . 1646 . Bro . Ashmole was the most learned antiquarian of his time , and ivas the

author of a " History of the most noble order of the Garter , " in some particulars a kindred subject to that of Freemasonry . Dr . Knipe of Christ Church , Oxford , himself a Freemason , who had access to Bro . Ashmole's manuscripts , ivrites as folloAVS :

"What , from Mr . Ashmole ' s collections , I could gather ivas , that the report of our society's taking rise from a Bull granted by the Pope in the reign of Henry YI . to some Italian architects to travel over all Europe to erect chapels was ill founded .

Such a Bull there ivas , and those architects ivere Masons . But this Bull , in the opinion of the learned Mr . Ashmole , was confirmative only , and did not by any means create our Fraternity , or even establish them in this kingdom . St . Alban , the proto-martyr , established Masonry