Gloucestershire.

Bros . Vassar-Smith , the Baron de Ferrieres , R . P . Sumner , J . Bruton , J . B . Winterbotham , W . LI . Evans , G . Norman , and Sewell , to confer with Bro . Waller , the Cathedral architect , on the subject . The report

continued—The Sub-Committee met on Monday , the 21 st October 1895 , at the Deanery . V . W . Bro . the Dean met the Sub-Committee , and promised his hearty support and co-operation in the proposed work . He suggested and explained various schemes for the restoration or decoration of some portion of the

Cathedral . Nothing , however , so commended itself to the Brethren present as a suggestion for a restoration of the North Walk of the Cloisters , to make it match the work done in the East Walk , by restoring the mullions and tracery of the windows , opening them where they had been bricked up , and glazing

them , and restoring the pinnacles to the Lavatory . It was determined , therefore , that Bro . Waller should ascertain the probable cost , and , if possible , do a small portion of the work , and submit the same at a subsequent meeting , that the general effect might be estimated before anything definite was decided

on . The Sub-Committee met again on the 7 th February 1896 , in the Cloisters . It was then seen that Bro . Waller had been able to do a portion of the work of restoration , and it was at once agreed bv all that it was a work worthy to be undertaken by the

Freemasons of the Province , from its distinctive character and beautiful effect . V . W . Bro . the Dean also explained that he proposed , in order to make the work as distinctive as possible , to insert a brass plate in the wall , to place on record there that the work was done by the Freemasons of the Province . The total cost of the work was estimated by Bro . Waller at £ 580 , but as

Bro . the Baron de Ferrieres subsequently generously undertook to do a portion of the glazing , the expense to be borne by the Province has been reduced to about £ 520 . The Committee think it right to mention that Bro . the Baron de Ferrieres is making an outlay of more than double the amount he originally contemplated .

The recommendation of the sub-Committee was in due course approved by the Committee , a subscription list opened , and the work is now nearly completed . " From its interesting and permanent character it cannot fail to give satisfaction to all Masons who inspect it , and to impress the outside world with the generous activity of the Craft . " The subscriptions received

from the Lodges up to date amounted to about £ 420 , and included donations of ten guineas each from the Prov . G . Master , his Deputy , the Dean of Gloucester , Bro . S . P . Ryland , and Bro . the Baron de Ferrieres , and one of twenty-five guineas from the G . Mark Lodge of the Province of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire .

The reading of the report by Bro . Winterbotham was followed by a paper by Bro . Waller , the Cathedral architect , who gave some interesting particulars relating to the work of restoration undertaken by the Committee . He said the Cloisters were among the most interesting in the Kingdom , and dated from the latter half of the fourteenth century . They were in the

perpendicular style of architecture , a style which , it was interesting to note , was adopted earlier in Gloucestershire than in other parts of England . He added that the windows given by the Baron de Ferrieres had been put in and greatly set off the beauty of the Cloisters and the work the Masons had undertaken .

The Prov . G . Master proposed , and Bro . Norman seconded , the adoption of the report , and a vote of forty guineas from the funds of Prov . G . Lodge towards the deficiency remaining . Sir Michael remarked that the work was one which would reflect

great credit upon the Province , and that their thanks were due to the Baron de Ferrieres , who , in adding the gift of the Cloister windows , had given another proof of his constant liberality in Masonic work .

The report and vote having been carried , Bro . Bruton was re-elected Treasurer , and Bro . Window Tyler to Prov . G . Lodge . Various Charity votes were next passed , a special grant of lOgs . to the Scholarship fund of the Boys School being made , on

the motion of the D . Prov . G . Master , seconded by Bro . Martyn , with the cordial approval of the Prov . G . Master , who remarked that the value of such a fund , in assisting promising boys , could not be over estimated .

On the motion of the Provincial Grand Master , seconded by Bro . Martyn , the D . Prov . G . Master was nominated for reelection upon the Committee of the School , and a subsequent resolution expressed confidence in the Committee , and gave the

approval of the Province to the proposal which it had adopted to move the School from its present site at Wood Green to a greater distance from London , the Prov . G . Master joining in the general concensus of opinion that such removal was desirable .

The only other matter of more that routine interest was introduced by Bio A . Laker , of Tewkesbury , who asked for the moral support of Prov . G . Lodge to an appeal about to be made to the Lodges throughout the country for help in the restoration of

Gloucestershire.

Tewkesbury Abbey . A resolution to this effect was seconded by Bro . Sir J . E . Dorington , who remarked on the difficulty with which small communities like that at Tewkesbury had to deal in keeping up as Parish Churches what are really national monuments . The Prov . G . M ., in accepting the resolution , held out the hope that Prov . G . Lodge might be able to do something further for Tewkesbury , when its present responsibility was discharged .

The roll of the Lodges was then called , and the Prov . Gr . Master next proceeded to appoint and invest the Officers of Prov . G . Lodge for the ensuing year , as follow :

Bro . J . L . Bretherton 839 2541 - - Senior Warden C . G . Clark 493 - Junior Warden Rev . L . Wilkinson 1067 - - - Chaplain J . L . Tickell 82 - - - - ' Eegistrar J . Bruton 839 - Treasurer Jas . B . Winterbotham 82 - - - Secretary

G . J . Holloway 702 ... Senior Deacon F . H . Eea 246 .... Junior Deacon Dr . A . J . Campbell 761 ... Superintendent of Works F . ' RBudStl 363 " - - ' - f Erectors of Ceremonies

W . J . Jenkins 493 - - - - Sword Bearer W J j efieJi es 592 : - " - " - " } Standard Bearers L . Harm 82 .... Organist

Llewellyn Evans 82 Assistant Secretary S . B . Darke 2407 - - - - Pursuivant J . T . Woollright 702 - - - ) John Brown 2407 - - - - >• Stewards James Estop 2407 - - - - ) Window .... . Tyler .

There were also appointed to past rank , in commemoration of the completion of the 21 st year of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales' Grand Mastership , Bro . Edwin Denning 951 , and Bro . G . C . Hewitt 1363 , who each received the dignity of P . P . J . G . W . The Brethren subsequently dined together at the Subscription Rooms , Sir Michael Hicks Beach presiding . — " Cheltenham Examiner . "

The Old Style.

THE OLD STYLE .

THERE is no danger to the institution of Freemasonry , from what some over-sensitive , antiquated , fossilated sticklers for the " ancient forms and ceremonies " call innovations . There are but a few writers who behold the Masonic Fraternity in ruins , and all because modern Anglo-Saxon language is used in place of " ye olde style . " They claim that the forms and ceremonies

practiced in some of the new states , and old ones , too , as for that , are not what Grand Master Adam , or Moses , or Solomon followed , and are therefore not Masonic in their character , and that these

new-fangled " innovations" are so many battering rams , beating against the foundations of the society . Their arguments would lead the uninformed to believe that the institution was built upon sand and could not withstand any attack .

The fact is , the past history of Masonry has proven that the fierce opposition of Papal encyclicals and ecclesiastical anathemas , the bitter attacks of political prejudice and ignorant superstition , have only . strengthened the foundation upon which the superstructure has been erected . If the wave of determined political

opposition in the early years of this century could not stamp it out of existence , but rather made its principles more deeply seated , then the puerile attacks of the present time afford no cause for alarm , and the elucidation of the sublime lessons taught in the Lodge room , which are styled by some as " innovations , " will only make more apparent the true greatness of the institution .

Away with the idea that a huge wall must be built about every Lodge , and those who practice the ceremonies of initiation must slink about like sneak thieves afraid of being overtaken in some nefarious work . Or the other equally objectionable notion that virtue and purity exists alone within the " sacred circle of our

particular set . " Masonry is elevating in its teachings and purifying in its lessons , and why should not the elevating and purifying influences permeate the whole of society ? In this way only will

Masonry fulfil its real mission . In this way only will its light become pleasant and beneficial to the world at large . Its secrets will be carefully preserved , and if they were not , then those who reveal them become as outcasts , unworthy of confidence .

The " profane" world , as we call those not initiated , are quick to discover the unfaithful and the traitor , and will as surely ostracise them as the Fraternity itself . So that the great ghostlike bugbears of " innovations , " " modern additions , " " public installations , " and the like , do not in any way menace the stablity of usefulness of the institution . — " Dispatch . "

The ceremony of consecration will be rehearsed on Wednesday , 9 th prox ., by Bro . James Terry P . G . Sw . B ., in the Lewisham Lodge of Instruction , No . 2579 , at the Parish Hall , Ladywell .