Provincial.

PROVINCIAL .

BERKS AND BUCKS . AviiESiunir . —Buckingham Lodge ( No . 861 ) . —On Tuesday , the 21 st inst ., a regular meeting of this Lodge was held at the AVhite Hart Hotel , when Bro . Dr . Lovell was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Alason . After this ceremony had been performed in a most able manner by the AV . M ., Bro . the Rev . Oliver James Grace , tiie Brethren preceded to consider the new code of bye laws , which

had been prepared by the Secretary , Bro . the Rev . James Cooper Farnibrough , P . M ., Prov . G . Chaplain of Berks and Bucks , and seconded by Bro . Thomas Horwood , S . AA . Each of the new laws liaving been discussed , the whole were unanimously approved of by the Brethren , and on the motion of Bro . H . Baker , P . M . Steward , seconded by Bro . John AVilliams , J . AA ., a vote of thanks was unanimously accorded to Bro . Farmbrough for the very careful and efficient way in which he had prepared the new code . Bro . Farmbrough having suitably responded , the Loclge was closed in due form , and tho Brethren adjourned to dinner and spent a very agreeable evening in brotherly love and harmony .

CAMBRIDGESHIRE . An interesting lecture was delivered at the Institution , Cambridge , on Tuesday evening , the 1-lth instant , on the History and Illustrations of Freemasonry , by Bro . T . L . Pox , P . M . of the Royal Athelstan Lodge ( No . 19 ) , London . The Rev . If . G . Vesey , rector of All Saints , president of the Literary and Scientific Institution , occupied the chair , and in a few words brieflintroduced the lecturerwho craved the kind

iny , dulgence of bis audience in tracing the origin and progress of Freemasonry in England , and in giving some of the illustrations of its excellent laws and tenets . Masonry , according to the general acceptance of the word , he said , was an art founded on the principles of geometry , and directed to the service , & c , of mankind ; but Freemasonry embraced a wider range , and liaving a more noble object in view , might , with propriety be called a science ,

although its lessons , principles , and secrets were veiled , ancl could only be shown to the initiated . Freemasonry , as was generally supposed , was reduced to rules at the building of Solomon ' s Temple ; but there was no doubt of its being entitled to date its origin far anterior to that perio : ' . At that particular period , when upon the stupendous work U 3 , G 00 Freemasons wero employed , some bond of union was very desirable , and found to work most advantageousl . Besides the number of Freemasonsthere were

y , employed on that magnificent structure 70 , 000 labourers , or men of burden . The foundation stone was laid in the fourth year of the reign of King Solomon . The building commenced on the 2 nd day of the month Zif ( April 21 st ) , ancl was wholly completed on the Sth day oftlie month Bui ( October 23 rd ) , in the 11 th year of King Solomon ' s reign . Masonry had then arrived at such perfection that every piece of timber , stone , & c , was prepared far from the place whore it was put up , and in the construction no other

than wooden and such like tools were necessary to form the building ; and in similar manner their descendant Freemasons in all their Lodges banished discord and confusion , while love ancl harmony characterised their assemblies . The lecturer briefly touched upon the masonry of past ages , fn Nineveh , Thebes , Athens , Jerusalem , Some , and other cities ,- and afterwards passed on to Freemasonry in Great Britain , which commenced in the year 287 , when Dioclesian and Maximilianjoint Emperorssent their Admiral

, , Curausius against the Saxon pirates , who , on account of the peace with the Plots had gained a formidable victory : wherefore he ivas made Emperor of the British Isle ; and being a lover of the Arts , appointed Albanus master mason , who built the palace of St . Alban , and fortified the town of that name . St . Alban was not only the first mason , but was the first Martyr of Great Britain , being beheaded in a general persecution of the early Christians . In 303 ,

tho Empress Helena girt the city of London with a wall ; and after this period Masonry began to be encouraged ; but in 581 a horrid period was put to the progress of architecture by Hengis , King of Kent , who in bis bloody congress murdered 300 nobles , many of them great artists anil encouragers of masonry . Pope Gregory I ., who greatly encouraged the arts , scut Augustine , and a . colony of monks into Britain , who converted Ethelbert , King of Kent

, ancl in return was made tho first Bishop of Canterbury , the cathedral of which was first built in GOO . In G 02 the cathedral of Rochester was built ; in 001 . that of London ; and G 05 the cathedral of AA ' estmiiister . The clergy at that time made archi tecture their study , and their masonic lodges or assemblies were usuall y held in the monasteries . In GS 0 Bennet , Abbot of Wirral , first introduced stone ancl brick ; prior to which wood was the chief material . Many of the ancient worthies filled the Masonic chair in succession . In 857 , St . Swithen was Grand Master ; m J 57 , St . Dimstan . Several of the Bishops of Exeter , the

famous William AVykchain , Bishop of AVincltester ; Chichtey , Archbishop of Canterbury ; AValnfieet , Bishop of AYinchester ; Beauchainp , Bishop of Salisbury ; Cardinal AVolsey , and many other dignatarics were master Masons . Among the Kings were Alfred the Great , Edward the Confessor , Edward III ., Henry A IL , James I ., during whose reign Inigo Jones planned the banqueting hou . se , at AVliitchall , aud the stately gallery at Somerset House , frontingthe Thames , but the architect was prevented from finishing bis

work by the civil wars in which Charles I . was beheaded . Sir Christopher AYren was deputy Grand Master at the time of the great fire of London , 1606 . The monument , 202 feet in height , took six years in building , on account of the great scarcity of stone . Among his most conspicuous works were St Paul ' s as it now stands , AA inchester Palace , Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals , and morethan fifty churches . Notwithstanding the merit of this man , he was turned out of his ofiies of surveyor general in bis old age , to make room for an arrant blockhead , ivho was soon dismissed for incapacity , and as Pope remarks . —

" Thc ill regretted Wren , Descends with sorrow to the grave . " Persecutions of Freemasons had taken place at Vienna , occasioned by the jealousy of the ladies , who ivere baffled in their devices to get their tools into the Lodges . The Court of Rome pointed its bulls and decrees against Masons . The only British Monarch who attempted to suppress the order was Queen Elizabeth , who resolved

on the annihilation of the craft , and sent an armed force from the-Tower to break up the Grand Loclge of England assembled at York ,. December 27 , 15 G 1 ; but Sir Thomas Sackville , Grand 'Master , took special care to make her chief emissaries Freemasons , sending them back after their initiation to justify the institution of Masonry . The Queen was satisfied ; and not long after , out of compliment to Masonryshe ordered the Exchangebuilt by Sir Thomas

, , Gresham , to be called her Royal Exchange . AVilliam the Third , the Duke of Norfolk , the Emperor of Germany , Frederick , Prince of AVales , Duke of Gloucester , Duke of Cumberland , King of Prussia , were all Grand Masters . Their Royal Highnesses , the Prince of AVales , Prince AVilliam Henry , and the Duke of York were initiated in 1787 . In 1790 , the " Prince of AVales was-Grand Masterancl as such laid the foundation of the late Covent

, Garden Theatre , 1806 . The Duke of Kent was also initiated into the mysteries of Masonry . Tho grand mastership continued to be vested in one of the male branches of the Royal family until the death of the late Duke of Sussex . Tho Queen was a Mason'sdaughter , ancl the lecturer had no doubt would be a Mason's mother , when the Prince of AAliles became of age to fill the chair of his forefathers . They were now governed by a nobleman

worthy of the post—the Earl of Zetland , Lord ftmmm being-Deputy-Grand Master . In allusion to the secrets of Masonry , be would say wero the privileges of masonry to be indiscriminatoly dispensod , the purposes of the institution would not only be subverted , but their secrets being familiar would lose their value ,

ancl sink into disregard . The essence of Masonry did not consist in the knowledge of particular secrets : these were only the keys to their treasure , while their pursuits were not trifling or superficial . The usages and established customs among Masons had ever corresponded with those of the ancient Egyptians . They concealed their tenets and principles of polity and philosophy under certain hieroglypbic . il figures , and expressed their notions of government bsi and symbolswhich they communicated to their magi "

y gns , alone , who were bound by oath never to reveal them . Thelecturer dwelt at some length upon the Creation and the admirable manner in which God arranged his work , and gave a glance at Scripture History to the temple erected by Solomon . He also alluded to the fact that , in the history of man , Masonry and civilisation had gone hand in hand ; and after a brief sketch of the architectural orderswith some remarks on the hih moral

, g tone which ought to characterise Freemasons and a passing glance at the seven liberal arts and sciences—Grammer , Rhetoric , Logic , Arithmetic , Geometry , Music , and Astronomy—stated before lis retired he would beg to make a few more observations ; in the first place , to those who then or hereafter mig ht feel an inclination to join the society of Freemasons , of which he w-as a member . He would remark that it vras open to all honourable and upright men , bc would note

influenced by their own free will to join it . Next , _ the charity in support of which he had essayed his first attempt at u public ' lecture . Tho Royal Freemasons' Charity for Female Children was instituted in the year 17 S 8 , for the maintenance and education of indigent female children of reduced or deceased Freemasons , and was situate at St . John ' s Hill , Battersea Rise , near London . It was supported by contributions . At the present time

there were about SO children in it . They were admitted between the ages of 8 and 11 , and continued till they wero 15 years old , when thej * were put in a way of getting their future livelihood . Dr . AVard proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer for the