Round And About.

French ) , the Jerusalem Lodge administered the Masonic rites to the notorious John Wilkes in the prison of the King ' s Bench , two days after he had been re elected M . P . for Middlesex , a proceeding which was followed by a strict prohibition of the like in future . John Wilkes was , in the same year , elected an Alderman of the City of London ; he became Sheriff in 1771 , and Lord Mayor in 1774 . "

* * * The last meeting of Grand Lodge was a very tame affair , and no business but of a mere routine nature was transacted . None of the Grand Officers were in their places , except , of course , the Grand Secretary , who made no reference whatever to the absence of H . R . H . the Grand Master—who was busily engaged at the Drawing-room

in the earlier afternoon—the Deputy G . M ., or either of the Grand Wardens . It is a grievous pity those gentlemen who accept Grand Office , and whose requisite personal attendance is of the sli ghtest find it impossible to spare a few hours once in three months to attend to the duties they have undertaken . No one expects it

possible for a hard-worked Prince , rushing all over the Empire for the gratification of other people , to be regular in his attendances , but we may assure ourselves that the absence of all , or most , of the other Grand Officers at each quarterly communication of Grand Lodge , infuses an extremely bad example into the minds of the

Officers connected with the less important meetings of the general body of the Craft . Such sound and enthusiastic Brethren as the Prov . G . M . 's for Hants , for Worcestershire , and for West Yorkshire are ever ready , we know , to fill the vacant chairs anywhere and everywhere , but it is , nevertheless , a lamentable fact that substitution is the rule , and hardly ever the exception , in the official positions at Freemasons' Hall .

* * * Sir Henry Isaacs was fortunate at having the proposal of electing the Prince of Wales as G . M . placed in his hands , and he moved the election in his usual plastic and charming manner , bringing in the poets to emphasise his remarks ; but everyone was

delighted that Bro . John Aird , M . P . seconded the resolution for the fifteenth year in succession . The election of the lessee of Drury Lane Theatre to the position of Grand Treasurer was , of course , a foregone conclusion , and all of us may be certain that the post will lose none of its importance in his hands . It might have been better had Bro . Harris not immediately succeeded Edward Terry in the office , but that is of but small account .

* * * There is something very illogical in the confession of the American millionaire , recently dead , that at the six million stage his property was unmanageable , and yet he died leaving thirty-six millions behind him . We are not told to whom his immeasurable wealth is to be given ; but it is to be hoped that he has bequeathed a

fraction of it for the erection of a comfortable asylum for millionaires who are driven mad by the importunity of newspaper and theatrical managers and proprietors , who " go" for the budding millionaires like squibs in November . There is a man of this class in this big village of London whom sensible men pity from the bottom of their

hearts . He has subsidised half the newspaper ventures of the last two or three years , and theatrical people have bled him to the tune of thousands . Some of these harpies lie in wait for him on the steps of his hotel , or track him for days up and down the country in hopes of getting a word with him in private . Even the " Sisters

of Mercy " stand about his office passage to attract his attention , and his purse , should he pass that way . What his means may be of keeping them at arm ' s-length now that the generous days are over I don't know , but I heard him say the other day that he had " been done for two hundred and fifty thou . " What a filthy trade journalism has become !

* * * More than one of the " heads" of the Times newspaper are members of the Craft , but the mighty sheet of Printing-house-square has little space to give to purely Masonic matters . It is not so easy

as it used to be to obtain permission to visit the private parts of that building ; but a very courteous invitation was extended to me some time back , to gratify my curiosity upon several interesting points . Some of the type used in setting-up the " ads . " has been thus used for thirty years , while that needed for the editorial and reporting matter is always new , it being found cheaper to cast

new type than to sort and pick the old after each page has been stereotyped . All the " ads . " and law reports are " set-up" b y hand , all other matter by the type-setting machines , the peculiar property of the Times office . It is astonishing to watch a compositor with a telephone trumpet strapped round his head , seated

at his little tray of lettered keys , by the aid of which he manipulates a continuous stream of type set up without any " copy" to work from . As the magic pieces of metal flow out of the machine another " comp ., " with unerring accuracy , cuts off line after line which he spaces up in the twinkling of an eye . The rolls of

printing paper fitted to the presses are four and a-half miles in length , and when several of the huge "Walter" machines—of which there are twelve—are working , the noise is appalling . So large is the working staff of the Times that a great number of cooks are kept upon the premises to prepare the meals of the men .

* * » A few more such consecrations as The Universities Lodge , 2353 , details of which appear in another column , and provincial Brethren will be able to teach us something worth knowing . The whole of the officers of the Lodge are University men ; there are a couple of Canons of Durham , a Professor of Greek , four M . D . 's , whilst , with

one exception , all these gentlemen are Masters of Art . Needless to say , the harmonic propensity of these Brethren will not extend to an appreciation of " Two Lovely Black Eyes '' or " I Did It , " songs not unfrequcntly heard among us down South .

# # * The opening of the mighty bridge spanning the Firth of Forth marks a new era in British engineering . It is safe to say this might } ' iron monster is the achievement of the century , and if it has destroyed the lovely view from the drawing room windows of Dalmeny , Lord Rosebcry may be able to overcome his loss by a

judicious planting of an avenue of trees at that point in his park just before it dips down into the valley on the eastern side of the estate . Nobody seemed to remember or care about the sixty-seven lives lost in the construction of the bridge . The gilt rivet which the Prince drove home as a memento of his visit will in course of

time lust and probably be forgot , but a cast-iron plate , bearing an inscription , with the names of the sixty-seven silent heroes of engineering skill , might , upon one of the buttresses or abutments of the bridge , draw useful attention to the loss of life occasioned . Materially it is a small matter . Most of us die , or will die , in the

execution of our worldly duties , but it is hardly decent to inaugurate the completion of a public work with feast and wine , forgetting or ignoring a lamentable detail of the loss of human lives .

* + * The new Head Master of the Boys' School has made his first report to the Committee . It is not a very learned epistle , but it now clearly shows , without a further shade of doubt , that the management of the Institution , both inside the school and out of it , was one mass of imbecility and incompetence . A distinguished Brother

particularly requests me to publish in full this report , but so much harm has already been caused , that the less said about past follies the better . A portion of the Provisional Committee , accompanied by several eminent Brethren , paid an official visil to the buildings at Wood-green only the other day , and the Educational department

was found to be in about the same slate as all the others . To ensure a revision of all these affairs , fewer and smaller Committees should be elected to replace those who held office during the reign of Brother Binckcs ar . d Brother Morris , and no gentleman should in future be elected on any Committee who has no requisite acquaintance with the control of educational establishments , or