The Masonic Female Orphan School, Dublin.

munificent support of the School was far greater than is generally known , and a hope is expressed that , under the auspices of the Duke of Abereorn , tho new Grand Master , its career will be as useful as in the past . An analysis of the financial portion of the report seems not undesirable . The receipts amount to £ 3 , 162 4 s 5 d . This sum includes

a balance from the previous year of £ 747 4 s 8 d ; dividends and interest £ 358 lls 7 d ; annual subscriptions £ 93119 s Od ; life donations , both individual and official , £ 505 , together with dona ions from Lodges , & o . and snndry , £ 123 lls 6 d ; net receipts at annual meeting £ 305 6 s 2 d , collections at

Governors' breakfasts £ 21 ; contributions from Grand Lodge , including annual grant of £ 125 , £ 169 lis 6 d . The amount of the expenditure £ 1 , 903 18 s 6 d , is distributed thus : provisions £ 610 15 s 5 d ; clothing and repairs £ 306 lis lOd ; coals , gas , and chandlery £ 90 17 s Od ,

furniture , house repairs , and painting £ 102 ls lid ; medicine , & c . £ 34 13 s lOd ; postage and advertising £ 5 9 s 8 d ; books , printing , stationery and music £ 110 ls 6 d ; rent , insurance , and taxes £ 35 16 s 3 d ; apprentice fees and expenses £ 41 16 s 4 d ; outfitsfor pupils leaving , £ 19 lis lOd ;

carnage , railway and incidentals £ 42 9 s 3 d ; salaries and wages £ 503 13 s 8 d , including an annuity to former matron of £ 52 , and collector ' s commission £ 46 12 s Od ; and purchase of twenty Masonic Hall Shares £ 100 . This leaves a balance in bank of £ 1 , 158 5 s lid . Why so considerable

a balance , somewhat over one-third of the total receipts , is retained at bank is not explained , nor are we told if , at the close of the account , there were any outstanding liabilities . These are two points of no little importance . As regards

the former , a few hundreds , say £ 500 or £ 600 , would seem to be all that is required to meet the current expenses , while , as to the latter , it were as well if a statement of the School ' s assets and liabilities were furnished . It makes the

account more complete , and enables the reader to judge at a glance whether the position of the asylum is or is not satisfactory from a pecuniary point of view . The stock acconntshowsinvested property to the extentof £ 3682 2 s Id .

, Of this amount £ 2 , 737 2 s Id are in Government stock , £ 4 , 650 in railway securities , while £ 1 , 295 are in the Masonic Hall Company , being £ 5 shares , bearing five per cent , interest .

There can be no question that the foregoing statement , respecting which we have found it necessary to offer only one suggestion , is satisfactory . A previous falling off in the receipts is partially recovered . The invested property of the School has been slightly increased , and there is a good

round sum in hand . There are forty girls on the establishment , and four vacancies have been declared for the next election . As evidence of the care bestowed on the education , it was stated , at the annual meeting and distribution of prizes , held in the Exhibition Palace , on 20 th April 1875 ,

underthe presidency of the M . W . G . M . the Dnkeof Abereorn , that some of the pupils competed at the Eoyal Dublin Societ y ' s Art Examination , of whom one obtained a certificate from the Council of Education , South Kensington , while two others received certificates from the Royal Dublin Society .

It only remains for us to offer our hearty congratulations to the governing body on the success of their efforts , not only to maintain , but to extend the efficiency of the School over which they preside , and we trust their hopes of increased support from our brethren in Ireland will be ampl v

realised . The establishment of such institutions as this and its companion school for boys , of whom there are 23 maintaired by the Order at the Rev . Bro . S . S . Skeens , Adelaide Hall , Merrion Square , is one of the justest sources of pride with Freemasons . But in Irelandas in

, England , their claims to support must be pressed , both in season and out of season , on the notice of all the Craft throughout the country . We imagine that , with an energetic body of stewards , as capable as they are sure to be enthusiastic , the generous instincts of Irish Masons will not

be appealed to in vain on behalf of this charity . In such case we may anticipate the hope of the governors , that the School may be doubled , will be realised at no distant period . But even as the case stands now , our Irish brethren have every reason to be proud of what they have done .

The Egyptian Priests.

THE EGYPTIAN PRIESTS .

( FROM THE FRENCH OF J . L . LAURENS . ) OF all the institutions which have appeared in the world , and the memory of which excites our curiosity , there

The Egyptian Priests.

is not one of which so many marvels are recorded as that known in olden time by the name of the E gyptian Priests . These were , properly speaking , not ministers of religion . The word rendered " priests " has been improperly translated , and , in the language of antiquity , has a meaning

widely different from that which we apply to it among ourselves , but above all having due regard to the initiation of the Priests of ancient Egypt , the word " priest" is

svnonymous with " philosopher . Thus to define properly the Egyptian Priests , we must look upon them as the Egyptian Philosophers , and then we shall form a just idea of the initiation of the Priests of ancient Egypt .

The origin of initiations , of manifestations , and of mysteries is lost in the obscurity of time . The Egyptian Priests were not , it seems , the inventors , for the History of the World by Thoth , and his successor , the Phoenician Sanconiathon , speak of them . Ensebius , who has preserved

and transmitted to us fragments of this Sanconiathon , speaks of them likewise in relation to the Cabiric Gods . Sanconiathon , far more ancient than Moses , was written after the great Thoth , who , without doubt , is the same as Hermes , the first Mercury of Egypt , about ei ght hundred

years later ; and if we take into account that Herodotus only wrote a very long time after Sanconiathon , we shall easily arrive at the conclusion that the E gyptian Priests were not the first who practised the evidences , mysteries , and ceremonies of initiation . What seems probable is ,

that the Egyptian Priests possessed themselves of the idea of those ancient and venerated mysteries in order to form of them a rational system , from which they have derived all those benefits which have made them celebrated ; for we do not find that before their time initiation had led to resuHs so vast and so happy .

Egypt , the cradle of the arts and sciences , was likewise that of philosophy , of that science , inspired into man , which led him from natural effects to a knowledge of the first principle , of that knowledge which came from heaven

for the happiness of the world , which mankind would have degraded and corrupted , and which , in spite of falsehood and ignorance , will preserve for ever among men the purity of their origin in order to console virtue and confound imposture .

The Mercuries , those beings allegorical or real , for we only know of them by their names , and the benefits they conferred , established in that happy country the central point of all those sciences , the possession of which ennobles man , by directing him in his weakness towards that state

of perfection to which , by every dictate of nature , he aspires . It was from this concentration of light that burst forth in all parts of the world those brilliant , but . passing rays , by means of which the sage distinguished the truth through the darkness and dazzling illusions with

which falsehood and error unceasingly surround it . Hardly had men felt the importance of truth than they applied themselves to the study of those sciences which lead to a knowledge of it , and though it will be always accompanied by certain tokens , which easily determine its

character , deceit will not be slow to assume its name , or to grace ignorance with it , and so impose upon the credulous , by spreading error under the name of truth . It was this strange travesty which caused so many disorders , divided so many societies , disturbed the harmony of mankind , pnd

menaced its moral equilibrium . Truth , in fact , is an absolute need for man . The necessity for cultivating it , and preserving it from the fatal attacks of error , has been

recognised from the moment when notions , united in grand sodalities , had need of the aid of morality , and of the repressive influence of laws so as to procure internal order , and thus establish the happiness of society .

The institution of the Egyptian Priests appears to have been merely a confederation of wise men , united for the several purposes of studying the art of governing men , and of centralising the dominion of truth , regulating its growth , and preventing its too dangerous dispersion . In order to

attain this end , it was necessary to search , prove , and dispose the hearts of men ; above all , it was necessary to oppose an impenetrable veil to curiosity , to menace indiscretion , and to trace around each of those confederated toerether the circle within which he must confine himself .

To this end it was necessary to instruct , and arouse the springs of the imagination , and even to call in the aid of spells and illusions , in order to persuade and dispose , for experience proves beyond question that men must first traverse the circle of error before they can arrive within that of truth .