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ROYAL Masonic Benevolent Institution FOR AGED FREEMASONS AND WIDOWS OF FREEMASONS . Grand Patron and President : His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES , K . G ., Sec , M . W . G . M . Treasurer : —JOHN A . FARNFIELD , Esq .. Bankers :- LONDON AND WESTMINSTER BANK ( Bloomsbury Branch ) , 214 High Holborn , London , W . C . Upwards of 1520 Annuitants have received the benefits of the Institution since its foundation in 1842 and 1849 . 200 men and 242 widows are Annuitants at tho present time . 30 widows , in addition , are receiving half their late husband's annuity . Amount paid Annually in Annuities £ 16 , 264 116 Candidates for next election . THE ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL Will be held at the FREEMASONS' TAVERN , LONDON , W . C , ON WEDNESDAY , 26 th FEBRUARY 1896 , Under the distinguished Presidency of THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GEORGE HAMILTON , M . P . R . W . Prov . G . M . for Middlesex . Brethren are earnestly solicited to accept the Stewardship upon this most important occasion , and to kindly forward their names as soon as possible , with full particulars , to JAMES TERRY ( V . Pat ., P . G . Swd . B . ) , Secretary . Office— 4 Freemasons' Hall , London , W . C .

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SBBBggga ^& gg ^ SATUEDAY , 8 TH FEBEUAEY 1896 .

Lodge Centenary.

LODGE CENTENARY .

THE centenary of Pnn 2 e Frederick Lodge , No . 307 , was celebrated in tbe Co-operative Hall , Hebden Bridge , on the 28 th ult ., when there was a gathering of a numerous company of Provincial and local Brethren . The ceremony took place in the small hall , which was converted into a temporary Lodge Eoom .

Bro . Smith D . P . G . M . ( in the unavoidable absence of Bro . W . L . Jackson P . G . M . ) presented the Warrant , signed by His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales , and delivered an address . The ^ document was accepted by Bro . Ethelbert Harwood W . M . In the evening a banquet was held in the large hall .

Benevolence In Devon.

BENEVOLENCE IN DEVON .

THE annual meeting of the Committee of Petitions for tbe Province of Devon was held at Exeter on Wednesday , 29 th ult ., Bro . Major G . C . Davie D . P . G . M . presiding . The reports of the Secretary and the London representative were received and adopted . Petitions were received from a member of Lodge 1885 , a daughter of a late member of 494 , the widow of a

late member of 70 , widow of a late member of 156 , widow of a late member of 1247 , anrl widow of a late member of 105 . In each case the sum of £ 5 was granted . Bro . Major G . C . D avie was elected Chairman for the ensuing year , Bro . J . B . Gover was

re-elected Secretary , and Bro . F . B . Westlake was elected London representative . A very cordial vote of thanks was passed to Bro . Rev . W . Whittley for his valued services during the many vears he held the office of London representative .

Cornwall Benevolence.

CORNWALL BENEVOLENCE .

THE Cornwall Masonic Annuity and Benevolent Fund is ia a mo ^ t flourishing state , for , according to the report just issued for the year ending 31 st December last , the invested ca | jita ] amounts to £ 5 , 171 3 s lOd , and there is also the sum of

Cornwall Benevolence.

£ 316 10 s 7 d in the Treasurer ' s hands . There are twelve annuities being paid to widows and indigent Freemasons , and ten educational grants , tbe latter extending from three to five years each , making in all an annual charge on the funds of £ 315 . Since the fund was started in 1864 £ 10 , 138 has been received , and £ 4 , 651 has been disbursed , including only £ 423 for the expenses of

management , printing , & c , for all tbat period . All the thirty Lodges are represented in the subscription list for 1895 , the highest this year being No . 589 ( Redruth ) , with £ 20 5 s . The report is full of information respecting the fund . The Officers are : —Bros . E . M . Milford , Treasurer ; Edward D . Anderton , Secretary ; and James C . E . Crewes , Assistant Secretary . — " Western Morning News . "

Last week we recorded a presentation made to Miss Delia Everett , in recognition of the kind assistance she rendered in connection with the annual sports of " Our Boys " at Kempton Park . The letter which accompanied the ring sent to Miss Everett was signed by Bro . Eichard Eve , as chairman , and by the following Brethren :

J . J . Thomas R . V . Vassar-Smith J . Willing jun , J . W . Burgess Hugh E . Diamond Geo . E . Fairchild T . H . Roberts H . Pritchard S . J . Attenborough C . W . Hudson John Glass Clifford Probyn Geo . Corbie J . P . Fitzgerald Oscar PhiJlippe

W . A . Scurrah Alfred C . Spaull Jas . Speller H . A . Hebb Charles E . Keyser W . B . Fendick J . E . LeFeuvre C . K . Benson E . M . Krellwitz

H . Manfield B . Cummings G . Mickley J . M . McLeod W . Russell Christopher Sims C . Pulman W . F . Smithson James Stephens H . Bevir W . H . Bailey ( Hon . Sec ) .

A Masonic ball , to be held afc the Town Hall , Cardiff , on Wednesday , 12 th inst ., promises to be one of the most successful of its kind ever held . The Hon . Secretary Bro . W . I . Vaughan and Bro . W . James Hon . Treasurer are to be congratulated upon the results of their preliminary efforts .

Media Eval Freemasonry.

MEDIAEVAL FREEMASONRY .

NO architect of the present day is fettered by any other rules or conditions than those imposed by his employers in regard to the choice of a style . He may copy that of any nation and any period , and he may alter , combine , detract from or add to it , as he pleases . Indeed , he must do so more or less , because no one recognised and distinctive national architecture either ecclesiastical or secular , exists at the present day . It is all copied ,

and none of it is , properly speaking , original or self-developed . It has ceased to be inventive , at least in any favourable sense . But the case was very different in the Middle Ages , when Freemasonry was a Craft in the hands of a corporate ecclesiastical confraternity , the members of which seem to have been bound down to certain rules and yet to have had almost unlimited

license in carrying those rules into effect ; precisely in the same way as if the alphabet of a language were given to any one , and he were allowed to combine the letters into words as he pleased , but not to introduce any new forms or symbols . This seems exactly to illustrate the position in which the ancient Freemasons stood . They had certain kinds of mouldings , foliage ,

window tracery , Seo ., which were , with comparatively trifling modifications and exceptions , repeated in all buildings of the same era , only very arbitrarily combined , arranged , or applied . For example , in the age of the complete Gothic or Flowing Decorated all window tracery was designed on one fixed principle ; it was neither geometric nor rigidly vertical , as in the

next style , but it was , with surprisingly few exceptions , of wavy and curved lines . Yet each architect seems to have had full liberty to adapt this principle to his own taste , and thus we find thousands of different patterns . Again in mouldings ; some ten or a dozen forms being employed by all with inflexible exactitude , their grouping , or positions in relation to each other , as

well as their application , seems to have been the result of individual caprice . And herein is the glory of the Gothic styles , that they attained by these means perfect uniformity combined with almost infinite variety . There is no monotony , no wearisome repetition ; every detail has some freshness , yet all are strictly subjected to certain laws of composition . Hence that charm of

never-ceasing interest created by perpetual novelty ; for this in reality is a much more enduring gratification than either the magnificent effect or the exceeding aggregratc beauty of some buildings , both which impressions are rather those of first sight , while the minute detail of any one building might engage the attention for months , or even years . Little or nothing has ever

transpired of the secret system which the Freemasons adopted in building , nor of the organisation of their body , except that it was ecclesiastical and under the jurisdiction and benediction of the Pope . It is certain that they were a very numerous , energetic and talented class , whose genius was chastened

and ennobled by all the enthusiasm of a grand religion , and whose efforts were aided by the supply of almost unlimited resources . They must have had the entire monopoly of both domestic and ecclesiastical architecture , though perhaps the distinction is vain , for everything in the Middle Ages was ecclesiastical . — "Builders Reporter . "