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  • March 1, 1890
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  • Round and About.
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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

“The Masonic Review: 1890-03-01, Page 3” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 13 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/msr/issues/msr_01031890/page/3/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
CONTENTS. Article 1
Untitled Article 1
CONSECRATION OF THE UNIVERSITIES LODGE. Article 1
Round and About. Article 2
Masonic Mems. Article 4
Untitled Article 8
Eminent Masons at Home. Article 8
THE INNER AND OUTER GUARDS. Article 9
UNITED GRAND LODGE. Article 11
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. Article 11
Facts and Fancies. Article 12
Among the Bohemians. Article 14
Colonial and Foreign. Article 15
Gathered Chips. Article 15
Answers to Correspondents. Article 16
BOOKS AND PERIODICALS RECEIVED. Article 16
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

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

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