Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

W"E need make no apology for reminding onr readers that the Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is very close at hand , and that if we wish it to be on a level with the requirements of this important Charity we have no time to lose in girding

onrselves np for the occasion . Unfortunately , as we hear , the Board of Stewards is far from being as strong as conld be desired , and many even of those who put down their names to serve on it are repenting of their courage and withdrawing . Both these circumstances are greatly to be

regretted . A Board that is strong in numbers may be reckoned on securing at least a good average return per Steward , even if there happen to be few or no individual collections which would deserve attention for the liberality of their amounts iu the most successful of Bro . Terry ' s

years ; while it must disturb all calculations as to the result when brethren send in their names to serve , only at the last moment to withdraw them . Again , it must be remembered on previous occasions Bro . Terry ' s Chairman has had a Province at his back , but the Grand Treasurer ,

who will preside on the 26 th instant , is a London brother , and the amount of support he personally may be able to command must , in the order of things , be very limited . Last year , for instance , when General Brownrigg was in the chair , his Province of Surrey , though by no means a

numerically strong one , gave him support to the extent of over £ 900 . On the other hand , even the prestige attaching to the name and rank of the Duke of Connaught , who is not a Prov . G . M ., was not sufficient to raise the product of the Boys' School Festival , at which His Royal Highness

presided , to the average of Bro . Binckes ' s achievements during the past eight or ten years . There is , therefore , all the greater reason why , in this particular instance , as the Chairman has no special support in the shape of a Province to rely upon , the Board of Stewards , instead of being

exceptionally weak , should be exceptionally strong . By way of climax to the foregoing arguments , we must take leave to remind our readers and the Craft at large , that the demands annually made upon the funds of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution are extraordinarily heavy .

It requires considerably more than £ 12 , 000 to pay the annuitants . Tbe Craft has so willed it , by regularly increasing the number of Old People on the two Funds of the Institution , and the Craft , therefore , owes it as a duty not only to their decayed brethren and the widows of such ,

but likewise to itself , to religiously provide the wherewithal to meet these liabilities . And , as in the literature of the diplomatic world , there is not only an ultimatum , but an ultimatissimum likewise , we must point out that the number of poor old applicants who need the help of this splendid

Institution is considerably greater than usual . We believe we are correct in saying that , while there are something like 126 candidates on the two lists together for the election

m May next , there are only about 17 vacancies to be filled , and it depends on the result obtained at the annual celebration on next Tnesday fortnight whether the Executive must content themselves with merely replacing the annuitants

Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

who have passed away , or replace them , and at the same time still further reduce the array of the disappointed ones . Much may be done in the fortnight that yet remains , and we hope it will be done , so that if the Benevolent Festival of 1884 is no better than its predecessors of the last few years , it , at all events , may turn out to be no worse .

The History Of Freemasonry.*

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY . *

IN continuing his researches into the History of our Craft , Bro . Gould exhibits the same thoroughness and furnishes the same ample details as in his opening volume . If the same charisteristics prevail in the volumes which remain to be written , the work will unquestionably be the most voluminous as well as the most complete that

has appeared on Masonic History . Moreover , there are good reasons for believing that not only will it be complete , but likewise that it will put an entirel y different complexion on the subject from that which previous writers have favoured us with . Bro . Gould may be an enthusiast , but , with the

well-balanced mind of a lawyer , he never allows his enthusiasm to obtain the mastery over him . He goes on pursuing his investigations as calmly and methodically as if he were studying a brief in some lawsuit about a right of way , or the boundary lines-of two neighbouring properties .

He marshals his authorities before us , examines them , criticises them , sums them up , and then draws up the result of his studies in plain sober English . Here and there , of course , he favours his readers with some theories of his own , but he is always careful to delineate the bases

on which he founds them , so that if they feel justified in disagreeing with the conclusions he arrives at , it is not because he has withheld from them any important evidence which is calculated to affect their judgment , or that he has supplied them with evidence derived principally

from his own imagination , but because they view not the evidence that is obtainable as sanctioning the conclusions he draws . Indeed , if there is a fault about Bro . Gould ' s work , it is that he has over-elaborated it , and consequently those who have a mind to examine for themselves the

materials he has collated , and work ont their own conclusions instead of accepting his unchallenged , will find it no easy task to wade through the formidable array of excerpts and references he Jays before them . Perhaps this

is a fault on the right side . It is certainly better to have too much than too little to work upon , but it does not make the task of following him or analysing the result of his labours the more easy of accomplishment .

The first chapter of the second volume—that on " Mediaeval Operative Masonry "—will suffice to illustrate our meaning . It is clearly most desirable we

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