Nottinghamshire.

Prayer having been offered by the Provincial Grand Chaplain Bro . the Rev . H . T . Hayman , the upper stone was raised and the lower one adjusted , the Duke of Portland saying , " I now declare it to be my will and pleasure that the corner stone of this building be laid . " By direction of his Grace the Provincial Grand Secretary read the inscription on the plate , which was as follows : —

This foundation stone of the extension of the Nottingham General Hospital , and in commemoration of the 60 th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria , was laid on the 7 th day of July 1898 , by his Grace the Duke of Portland , G . C . V . O ., P . O .

It was announced that the words "Provincial Grand Master of Notts ., with Masonic ceremony , " would be added . The Grand Treasurer afterwards deposited coins of the realm , and other articles in the cavity , in accordance with time-honoured custom .

The Provincial Grand Secretary placed the plate on the lower stone , on the upper face of which the cement was spread , and the Duke of Portland adjusted the same with the trowel handed to him for the purpose , after which the

upper stone was slowly lowered , with three distinct stops . A vocal quartette , consisting of Bros . H . Stubbs , G . Stubbs , and E . Marriott ( St . Paul ' s Cathedral ) , and T . J . Hayter , rendered an appropriate sentence at each of the three intervals .

After the completion of the ceremony the procession returned to the Albert Hall in the reverse order , and the Provincial Grand Lodge was closed .

Following upon the closing of the Provincial Grand Lodge , the Officers and Brethren repaired to the Victoria Hall , Upper Talbot-street , to partake of a banquet , over which the newly installed Provincial Gvand Master presided . The catering had been entrusted , with eminently satisfactory results , to Bro . Charles

Smith , of the Spread Eagle Hotel , and the scene when all the Visitors , attired in their Masonic garb , were seated , was of a brilliant character . Banging from the table at which the Grand Master and the leading Officers dined were a number of smaller tables heavily laden with the choicest fruit , and nearly 100 seats

were arranged round the balcony in order to cope with the extraordinary demand for tickets . While nothing in the way of the provision of creature comforts was overlooked , the Committee responsible for the arrangements had also drawn up a musical programme of unusual attractiveness .

At the conclusion of the banquet , the toast of the Queen and the Craft having been drunk with enthusiasm , upon the proposal of the Duke of Portland , his Grace , in proposing the Most Worshipful Grand Master of England H . E . H the Prince of Wales , said the toast which he had the honour to propose , like that which

they had just pledged , did not depend on the words of the speaker to cause it to be received with the greatest loyalty and pleasure . In such an assembly as that it was needless for him to dilate on the manifold benefits which had accrued to the Craft from his Boyal Highness the Prince of Wales' long tenure of office as

Most Worshipful Grand Master . Despite his manifold and multifarious duties—for one has only to glance at the newspapers to see he was here one day and there another , doing his utmost to further the welfare of the people over whom , if God so willed , he would some day rule—he yet found time to give his services for

the benefit of Freemasonry whenever the occasion demanded . Quite lately he had rendered vast service by his presidency at the wonderfully successful dinner at the Albert Hall , in aid of the Boyal Masonic Institution for Boys , when a record subscription list was obtained , thus proving not onlv the love which was borne

him by the Freemasons of the united Kingdom , but also the vitality of the Craft . In that respect he was glad to say the Province of Nottingham was not backward , for it rendered material assistance to the splendid record to which he had just alluded .

Bro . Sir Frederick Milner proposed the Officers of Grand Lodge present and past , and in doing so spoke of the Pro Grand Master's many qualities , and the extent to which Freemasonry was indebted to him . The hearts of all went out fco Lord Lathom in sympathy in the terrible tragedy which deprived him of the

light and brightness of his home , and deprived the country of a lady who by her many amiable qualities had endeared herself to all who knew her . It was some satisfaction to Masons , however , to know that the universal sympathy which was shown to Lord Lathom helped him to bear his great trial , and tbey hoped that

time might soften the terrible wound that had been inflicted upon him , and that he might be restored in due course to complete health and strength . With regard to the Officers of Grand Lodge present and past he thought it must have been an immense

satisfaction to all who were present at the magnificent banquet the other day in the Albert Hall to find that the efforts of Masons resulted in the declaration of the largest sum that had ever been given out at any public dinner . It must also have been a great satisfaction to the Grand Officers present on that occasion to hear

Nottinghamshire.

the tribute which was paid to them by the Prince of Wales when he ^ said that during the twenty years he had been a Grand Master he had been most loyally supported by all the Grand Officers , and thafc ifc was principally to their efforts that he attributed the

great success which had attended the efforts of Freemasons , He coupled with the toast the name of the Marquis of Granby P . J . G . W ., upon whose many virtues he would not descant , as fche noble marquis was somewhat modest , and it might embarrass him . He had the utmost pleasure in proposiug the toast .

The toast having been drunk with enthusiasm , the Marquis of Granby , in reply , said that Earl Lathom since his return had devoted his first thought to the Craft with which he had been so long connected , and with regard to the others Officers of the Grand Lodge , it was sufficient to say that all those who were so honoured as to hold office therein would do their utmost to preserve the dignity and the interest of that Crait with which they were all so closely allied .

Bro . Sir Samuel Johnson next submitted the toast of the Prov . Grand Master of Nottinghamshire His Grace the Duke of Portland . It was , he said , his duty , as far as he could , to give voice to the sentiment of the Brethren of the Lodge on the occasion of the appointment of a new Grand Master for that Province . Thev were all , he believed ,. loyal Masons , dutiful

Masons , obedient to the powers that be , and he who had been appointed as their Provincial Grand Master had been received by them with acclamation . But it was all the more acceptable to them when , as on that occasion , their duty coincided with their pleasure—when , if they had themselves had the choice their unanimous and universal choice would have been the

same as that which had been made by the powers that be in Masonry . That was an occasion , he was about to say , and from their applause it was evidently their opinion too , when very few words were required from him to commend to their notice the important toast which he had to propose . They all knew thafc Masonry presented both an outside and an internal

appearance . Outside to the world they appeared by their charity , which they could fairly boast had been useful in the directions to which it had been directed , but , speaking Masonically , the greatest charm of Masonry to him lay in its influence upon the character of every one of those who belonged to it . " That reminded him of the words of an old English poet , Prior , with respect to charity : —

Sweet peace she brings wherever she arrives , She builds our quiet , she forms our lives ; Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even , And opens in each heart a little heaven . And that being the two-fold aspect of their grand Order , who could they have better chosen , who could they have better placed

over them , to lead them successfully through those channels of operation of Masonic influence than the noble duke who presided over them that afternoon ? In remembering the very many honours that had been conferred and had devolved upon him , they could not but remind themselves that he had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of fche County of Nottingham . At the same time

they of the city of Nottingham were equally proud with those of the county , because the noble duke had also been appointed by a separate patent Lord-Lieutenant of the city of Nottingham . For those combined reasons that day would stand as a red-letter day in the history of Nottingham , and they welcomed the noble duke with all their hearts , and rejoiced with all their spirits , because

they were sure thafc Masonry would prosper in that Province so long as his Grace reigned over them as the Provincial Grand Master . On an occasion like thafc one would like to dilate to a considerable extent upon the toast , but without further words he asked them to drink with ringing cheers the health of the Provincial Grand Master the Duke of Portland .

The toast was received with repeated cheers , and at the call of Sir Samuel Johnson ,, who remarked that whether it was Masonic he did not know , but it was human , an additional cheer was given for the duchess , and subsequently one for the young marquis .

The Duke of Portland , in reply , said : He had to thank Sir Samuel Johnson for the manner in which he had proposed the toast , and also for the cordial welcome which he , on behalf of the city of Nottingham , gave him to the high office to which her Majesty the Queen has graciously appointed him . And he thanked the Brethren for tbe cordial reception they gave to the

toast . He did not know whether it was Masonic , but it was certainly human , and he was sure they would not consider him to be a good Mason if he was nob human—if he did not tell them how heartily he appreciated fche cordial cheer which fchey gave for his wife . He assured fchem that she took the greatest interest

in Masonry , but she never tried to find out its secrets . He most deeply appreciated the great honour which had been done him by the Most Worshipful Grand Master in having appointed him Grand Master of that important Province , and he should always endeavour most earnestly to carry out the duties which fell to him to fche best of his ability and for the benefit of Freemasonry .