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THE MASONIC REVIEW THE LEADING JOURNAL OF

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Eminent Masons At Home.

Eminent Masons at Home .

No . 9 . —BARON FERDINAND DE ROTHSCHILD , M . P ., IN PICCADILLY . PICCADILLY suffered its greatest loss when Stephenson heralded the downfall of the coach-and-four . The modern " Hatchett ' s" has gone by the board , and the White Horse Cellars no longer harbor those old coaching " sports " who made

merry with the pretty chambermaids overhead and defied everything and everybody except gentility and honor . The " tootle " of the horn is not altogether lost , but its echoes are foreign to the termination of that great western road , which , starting at Bath , drags itself through the western counties and terminates at the

" Circus , " where everything is given over to the 'busman and his penny fares . Charles Dickens often brought his fanciful subjects into Piccadilly and played strange tricks witli them . Poor old Peggotty wandered up and down it more than once in search of

" Little Em'ly . " Copperfield himself must have passed it by in his weekly tramps to Highgate , and all creation since has traversed its pavement on its way to the great houses of the rich and opulent . Quaritch , the book king , still occupies his premises at the City end . The overpowering and hideous Burlington House almost faces the Egyptian Plome of Mysteries , where Bro . Maskelyne , with

his partner Mr . Cook , has mystified half the children in the kingdom , and the pretentious Isthmian Club guards the corner of the Green Park , opposite Devonshire Plouse , the home of the Dukes of Devonshire . Lower down the china cockatoo in the window of No . 1 , Stratton-street , the London house of the Baroness

Burdett-Coutts , looks anxious to shout you a good morning as you pass , and just this side of the principal entrance to the Park , where stands the sombre residence of the great Iron Duke , lives Baron Ferdinand , the only member of the Craft in the illustrious house of Rothschild .

Eminent Masons At Home.

It is early morning , and the Baron but yesterday returned from abroad , and although he has not had a moment to attend to the accumulated correspondence which awaits him , you are fortunate to obtain his invitation to a short chat . You did not expect to find the town house of one of the Rothschild's littered with the myriad

gimcracks which an unemployed man has time to collect . You are not disappointed , therefore , to find the house a solid and grand one , free from the enamelled brackets and cheap-and-nasty fans of modern inclination , and with no suspicions of worthless prints framed with large margins in sickly white . At the end of the Marble Hall is a

cluster of ferns and plants hiding a piece of sculpture mirrored at the back . On a lovely ormolu-mounted cabinet of the seventeenth century lies an invitation to the Speaker's dinner on March 12 , and a charming timepiece—the result of one of the Baron ' s expeditions after the beautiful—ticks upon

the wall with solemn accents . From the dining-room , panelled from floor to ceiling in oak wainscot , a glimpse of the Park is to be had through the semicircular bay which amply lights the apartment . There is but a solitary picture , panelled over the fireplace , but that is Gainsborough ' s " Pink Boy" ; and , as you stud } ' the magnificent coloring , you cannot wonder at its owner allowing it to reign supreme . Across the hall ,

and overlooking Piccadilly and the Green Park , the morning-room harbors a delicious collection of portraits by Greuze and a couple of Clodion's superb subject-models , reverently covered by glass shades . A portrait of Lady Rothschild , surrounded by photographs of other members of the family , cover the cottage piano , surmounted by a fine allegorical canvas by Frayonard , and on the Chippendale

writing-tables , scattered with books and nicknacks are clustered the monthly reviews , from the Fortnightly to the unassuming offspring of Archibald Groves . Upon the open hearth walled with plates of spotless polished steel , the glow of the burning logs remind you of the fact that there are still men living who will

not allow coal to enter their rooms . You cannot think how it is that the hall and staircase , panelled and stepped , floored and ceiled in beautiful marbles , strike no feeling of coldness upon you . Perhaps it is that the unique balustrade , manufactured in polished steel from an old and rich design , with the moulded handrail

in bright and glowing copper , counteracts any such idea , but you momentarily wish the Baron ' s love of "light and air" would allow him to draw a curtain of subdued stained glass over the glazed roof above , and , by thus casting a faint glow of color over the polished surface of the walls , make the staircase unequalled within a mile of Hyde Park .

On the first floor , along the entire width of the front of the house , is the drawing-room , and after having tested a Sicilian lounge that must have come from the brain of Alma Tadema you enter and find the Baron seated at a table that belonged to Marie Antoinette , and bearing her initials on the inlaid panels in the sides . With that charm of manner which is peculiarly

characteristic of the illustrious family of the Rothschild ' s , your host divines the purpose of your visit , and assists you in glancing at the details of his career . Born in the lap of opulence , his time is equally divided between his share in the administration of the House of Rothschild , and an encouraging

admiration of the fine arts . His Masonic career , he tells you , is not a brilliant one , if the cares of office constitute brilliancy , but he has never forgotten the day on which he was initiated into the Craft in the Prince of Wales Lodge , or that on which he tells you , with a smile , he was defeated for the post of

Grand Treasurer in 1878 . Baron Ferdinand James de Rothschild , the second son of the late Baron Anselm de Rothschild , of Vienna , is well within the prime of life , and has sat in the House of Commons since 1885 , in the Liberal and Unionist interest , for the Aylesbury division . He is a Justice of the Peace , and was a

Sheriff of Bucks in 1863 . His beautiful place near Aylesbury—Waddesdon Manor—is a vast storehouse of a century ' s collection of all that is most wonderful in the arts and belles