What Difficult To Make Out From These "Comments' What Brother Norton Does Believe, And I Occasionally Find Myself Wondering Whether He Believes Anything Beyond The Range Of His Own Eyesight, But With All Due Respect To Him, I Must Say That It Appears

what difficult to make out from these " Comments ' what Brother Norton does believe , and I occasionally find myself wondering whether he believes anything beyond the range of his own eyesight , but with all due respect to him , I must say that it appears

to me that the brethren of 1809 ought to have been better acquainted with the subject of their " motion" than Bro . Norton is to-day •, he will therefore , I trust , permit me to stick to my text , le ,, that they knew " they had

previously departed from the Ancient Landmarks of the Order , and were ignorant of the precise period when this event occurred . " As for their not knowing what the " Ancient

Landmarks " were , probably they did not , according to Bro . Norton ' s definition , for this is a phrase even more elastic than the word " ancient ; " but they evidently knew

enough for their own purposes , for the said " motion was passed in a very numerously attended Grand Lodge without a division . I shall not reply at length to Bro . Norton ' s " Comments '

on my simple statement as to the non-observance , by the " Moderns , " of the popular Saints' ch . ys , but as he has

given me credit for a much more powerful imagination than I can fairly lay claim to , I think it better to repeat what I did say than to attempt to defend what I did not .

" I shall now endeavour to show , that apart from the

question of form or ceremony , innovations upon the ancient usages and established customs of the Order had , at different times , been countenanced by the leaders of the regular Grand Lodge ; that from the advent of the aristocratic

element in such large numbers , the Society had undergone a process of what , for want of a bettor word , I shall call modernising . The 24 th Juno and the 27 th of December were literally ' red letter days' in the old Masonic Calendar ,

and are still regarded by many of the Fraternity with

veneration" ( See pp 162-3 ) . Indeed , tho Saints John days were generally looked upon as the days for all important Masonic gatherings , not only in this country , but in Scotland and Ireland also . Our first

Grand Master ( Anthony Sayer ) was elected and installed on St . John Baptist ' s day , 1717 , and this day was adhered to by the Grand Ledge for the installation of his successors until 1725 , when , " being unprovided with a new noble

Grand Master , the officers were continued six months longer . " Lord Paisley was , however , installed on the 27 th December following ; Lord Inchiquin on the 27 th February

1727 ; Lord Coleraine on the 27 th December of the same year ; and Lord Kingston on the 27 th December 1728 . From this time forward the " regulars " seem to have been utterly

oblivious to the fact , — " That saints will aid if men will call , " for the eighteen installations between 1730 and 1753 appear

to have taken placo on a day best suited to the convenience of the noble personages most concerned , and not once on either of the popular Saints' days . Now this irreverent

disregard of an old custom was not likely to strengthen their claims to antiquity when put forth at a later period . " " The ' Ancients' from the first seem to have been most

scrupulous in selecting one or the other of these days for their Grand ceremonials . " I give this as one of several instances of neglect on the part of the regular Grand Lodge of the old customs whereby

they had earned for themselves the appellation of " Moderns ; " it is a simple statement of facts , and my explanation of it happens to be the true one ; it was done to suit the convenience of the different noble Grand Masters ,

for the day of the Grand Feast was invariably left to their selection , as the minutes of Grand Lodge show , and as Bro . Jacob Norton might have seen had he read the paragraph of Anderson ' s immediately following the one he quotes : —

" But of late years most of the Eminent Brethren being out of Town on both the St . Johns' Days , the Grand Master has appointed the Feast on such a Day as appeared most convenient to the Fraternity . " This is what Dr .

Anan ancient landmark . The truth , however , is , the observ

derson said in 1738 , and no doubt it was the real reason , if we read the concluding words thus ; to himself and his successor , instead of " to tho Fraternity . " Bro . Norton ' s

method of dealing with this portion of "Facts and Fictions " is , to say the least of it , most peculiar . I can only afford space for a sample of it .

'' Again , the Ancients observed St . John ' s Day , but the Moderns ceased to observe it after 1730 ; hence our worthy brother imagines that the Moderns were guilty of removing

What Difficult To Make Out From These "Comments' What Brother Norton Does Believe, And I Occasionally Find Myself Wondering Whether He Believes Anything Beyond The Range Of His Own Eyesight, But With All Due Respect To Him, I Must Say That It Appears

ance of Saint John ' s Day is not an ancient landmark at all , & c . Now , as I did not mention the word " landmark '' iu this connection , and certainly never attempted to define it in any part of tho book , it seems to me that my old

friend lias taken an infinite deal of unnecessary trouble to demolish a " guy , " created entirely out of his owhimayina-Uon , for in order to obtain the requisite materials he appears to havo hunted far and near , and to have mixed up

Jews , Christians , Roman Catholics and Reformation , Saints and sinners , Dr . Anderson and the Virgin Mary , with the misdeeds of American Masonic luminaries , into a mass which defies all my efforts to penetrate . I imagine , however ,

from the purport of his concluding remarks that this saintly subject must be rather a sore point with him , and on the principle that " any stick i 3 good enough to beat a

dog with , " ho availed himself of the opportunity I had given him to retaliate for some grievance he has against our brethren over the water .

I cannot agree with Bro . Norton as to the poss bih ' y of Israelitish objections having had anything to do with the non-observance of the Saints' days by the Grand Lodge , for although our registers show that in the latter half of the

last century a large number of that sect entered the Order , it is difficult to ascertain to which branch they gave the preference . I am , however , inclined to the opinion that , at the Union in 1813 , the Ancients had the larger number of

Jews on their register . I have not thought it necessary to go thoroughly into this matter , but I may mention two Lodges that were certainly founded by brethren of the Jewish

faith , viz ., the Lodge of Israel , No . 205 , constituted by the Aucients in 1793 , and the Hiram ' s Lodge , constituted by the Moderns in 1781 .

Bro . Norton s mother Lodge ( Joppa , No . 188 ) seems to

have been a mixed Lodge from the first , but judging from the names on the register in 1813 I should say it was then composed chiefly , if not entirely , of Jewish brethren ; it may interest him to know that about the year 1758 the

person with whom he is so exceedingly angry , the much abused Dermott , had sufficient good sense to slightly alter the wording of his Warrants , which , I have no doubt , wa 3 done in order to meet the views of Israelitish brethren ;

for , instead of stating that " Installations aro to be on every St . John ' s Day , " as at first , subsequent Warrants read " on ( or near ) every St . John ' s Day . " My answer to the assertion " Even the Ancients never found fault with their

opponents for not keeping Saints' Days , " is the following extract from a resolution unanimously passed in their Grand Lodge on the 6 th June 1810 , having reference to

the terms on which they were prepared to consider the question of an union of the two societies : " and that the Grand Lodge shall be convened and held quarterly , on a given day in each quarter , for communication with the

Craft , besides the anniversary meetings of St . John the Evangelist and St . John the Baptist . " ( To be continued . )

The East London Hospital For Children.

THE EAST LONDON HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN .

THE tenth anniversary dinner of the East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women , Shadwell , was held on the 29 th instant at Willis's Eooms , St . James's , Mr . Charles A . Prescotfc , Vice Chairman of the Board of Management , presiding . The Chairman , in proposing the toast of the evoning , the East London Hospital for Children , said that he believed that , taken as a whole ,

the hospital marmgement of the Metropolis was snch as they had a n ' o-bt to be prouil of . At the East London Hospital they very much desired to enlarge the building for the benefit of the oat-patients , and this would cost something like £ 10 , 000 , which he felt sure they would have no difficulty in raising . As au example of the value of

the work of the hospital , he mentioned that during the past year no fewer than 20 , 000 patieuts had been treated in the institution . In conclusion , he asked h s audience to remember that in helping th ae

for whom he pleaded they would bo helping the very poor , and a class of the pcor who were least able to help themselves . Other toasts followed , and during the evening subscriptions to the amount of £ 2000 were announced .

A CARD . —AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY is announced in the "Paris Figaro , " of a valuable remedy for nervous debility , physical exhaustion , and kindred complaints . This discovery was made by a missionary in Old Mexico ; it saved him from a miserable existence

and premature decay . The Rev . Joseph Holmes , Bloomsbury Mansions , Bloomsbury Sqnare , London , VV . C , will send the prescription , free of charge , en receipt of a self-addressed stamped envelope . Mention this paper .