Our Charities.

OUR CHARITIES .

ZONDON , SATURDAY , JANUABY 28 , 1865 .

The Masonic season of 1865 lias commenced well . The Festival in aid of the funds of the Royal Benevolent Institution for Aged Masons aud their Widows was held on Wednesday , when about 200 brethren and 150 ladies Avere present , the

Earl de Grey and Ripon , Deputy Grand Master , and Provincial Grand Master for West Yorkshire , presiding . The noble Earl spoke , as he always does , Avith earnestness and to the point , and the Avhole of the proceedings passed off most

satisfactorily , the utmost order prevailing throughout the evening . Rut the grand test of the success of a festival is to be found in the amount of the subscriptions—and this was more than gratifying , the announcement being £ 3 , 548 16 s . Gd .,

the largest amount ever produced for this Charity by £ 200 or £ 800 , the next largest amount having been produced when the brethren were determined to shoAV to the Grand Master that the Institution

could support an Annual Festival , and that despite the cold shoulder of official red-tapism . But that time is past ; and we have no wish to revive the remembrance of it otherwise than pleasantly . West Yorkshire nobly supported the Provincial Grand

Master , and sent up £ 1 , 000 for the WidOATS' Fund , Avith an intimation that the list for the Male Fund is not yet made up . West Yorkshire—shall Ave call that £ 500 more ? We think Ave may . East Lancashire , with four or five Stewards , came up

with £ 375 . We must have a day for East Lancashire , with their Provincial Grand Master in the chair . He is unknown in London , but he will be none the less Avelcome for that . The metropolis , as usual , did its duty , the highest individual list

standing at £ 251 ; then came tAvo Lists at £ 122 10 s . each ; and from that they became small by degrees and beautifully less . Yorkshire West , with the Deputy Grand Master at its head , has spoken out . Yorkshire East and West , led by the Grand Master , when will you do likewise ?

Bro. Franz Anton Mesmer.

BRO . FRANZ ANTON MESMER .

BY BEO . THE REV . J . KINGSTON , SOMETIME ACTING DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO BRO . H . M . THE KING OP HANOVEE , & O . As a Freemason , Mesmer will doubtless receive a more patient hearing from his bretliren than he has hitherto receiveci from the world without ; whilst , as a persecuted man , he will enlist the

sympathies of a body whose pnucrples—grounded as they are on brotherly IOTB—have ever been abhorrent to unfairness of every kind . Mesmer was not , indeed , a perfect man . Where is such to be found ? Nor must it be denied that

he committed many and grievous mistakes ; that several of his theories are fanciful and untenable ; and that he made a gain of a discovery which , if it really Avas what he professes it to be , must surely have been intended for the benefit of all

mankind . Hence various and contradictory are the opinions respecting him . By many he is regarded as a charlatan , a knave , an impostor utterly unAVOrthy of attention , whilst by others he is lauded to the

skies . Thinking that AA e might be helped to a rig ht conclusion as to the real character of this veiy

remarkable personage , I have ventured to translate from the German some extracts from his life by Dr . Kernel ' , Avhich has recently come into my hands . I am not without hojDe that these papers may prove interesting to the readers of the

FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE . At any rate , they may help to throw some light on Mesmer and Mesmerism , and thus indirectly , perhaps , on " our beautiful system of morality , veiled iu allegory , and illustrated by symbols . " For there is , I feel

convinced , a closer connection between Mesmerism ( or animal magnetism ) and Freemasonry than is generally imagined . Of this , at least , I am sure , that the brother who honestly and impartially bestows some attention on the wondrous system

Avhich Mesmer discovered , or rather recovered , Avill confess that the stud y has been productive of pleasure ancl profit , and that his labour has not been in vain .

" Franz Anton Mesmer , of Suabia , the discoverer of Animal Magnetism . Memoirs of the same , Avith an account of the last years of his life , at Meersburg , on the Bodensee , " by Dr . Justinus Kerner . ( Franz Anton Mesmer , aus Schwaben ,

Entdecker des thierischen magnetismus . Erinnerungen an denselben , nebst Nachrichten von den lefczen Jahren seines lebens zu Meersburg , am Boclensee , von Dr . Justinus Kerner . )

THE CEMETERY AT MEERSBURG . Near the ever-open entrance of the cemetery at Meersburg , peacefully looking down on the restless Avaves of the wide Bodensee , is the grave of Franz Anton Mesmer , the discoverer of anirn magnetism . With emotion have I frequently