The Old Year And The New.

down as a success , Bro . Binckes the Secretary being able to announce a total of £ 11 , 700 , the noble Chairman being very strongly supported , as well by his own Province as that of Sussex , in which the banquet was held . We are not in the secrets of the Executive , and are unable ,

therefore , to say whether the experiment will be repeated in tho year that begins to-morrow , but it strikes us that if our Charitable Anniversaries were occasionally held in the Provinces , the latter would show even greater interest in our Institutions than they do now , and would imitate the

laudable example set by Sussex at this particular celebration . Why , for instance , should not a visit bo occasionally paid on these occasions to some such large Provincial centre as Liverpool , Manchester , or Birmingham ? A few words as to the coming year and we have done .

Arrangements have been made for the Festivals of the different Institutions , at least as regards the distinguished brethren who have kindly consented to preside . Afc that of the Benevolent Institution , which will take place on Tuesday , 21 st February , R . W . Bro . Colonel Lloyd-Philipps , Prov . Grand Master of the Western Division of South

Wales , will take the chair . The Girls' School will have H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught , K . G ., P . G . S . Warden , as President of the day ; while Bro . Binckes has succeeded in enlisting the services in the like capacity of the Right Hon . the Lord Mayor of London , Worshipful Bro .

Whittaker Ellis W . M . Grand Master's Lodge , No . 1 . The Benevolent and Girls' Festivals will be held , as usual , in the great Hall of Freemasons' Tavern , where that of " Our Boys " will take place remains to be seen . But wherever and whenever the anniversaries may be held , we have no manner

of doubt that the three distinguished brethren who will play the leading part , as stated above , will have the loyal and liberal support of the Craft . May even the formidable figures of the current year be exceeded ! Finally , may the Craft generally find 1882 as Happy a New Year as their warmest wishes can desire !

Occasional Papers.—No. Iv.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS . —No . IV .

OUR MASONIC INSTITUTIONS . THEIR ORIGIN AND PROGRESS . ' Written expressly for delivery at Loclqes of Instruction

PEOPLE may say what they will in ridicule of Freemasonry . They may sneer at our claims to be a Society that can trace back its ori gin to a remote period in the world ' s history . They may laugh at what they are pleased to designate as our intense love of conviviality . They may chaff us incontinently for wearing aprons and

collars , ancl the other outward and visible ensigns of the Craft we belong to . They may go further , ancl condemn us outright as a secret body , which no civilised government with any respect for its own exalted virtues should dare countenance for a single moment . One thing , however ,

they cannot deny , to wit , that we conscientiously fulfil one of the most important of the various obligations we contract on joining the ranks of the Fraternity . We do earnestly strive , to the best of our ability , and within the limits of what is just to ourselves and families , to alleviate

the distress of our poorer brethren , their widows , and their children . This alone entitles us to the respect of that portion of every community whose respect is worth having . This alone should suffice to rebut the silly charge that , albeit in a certain sense we are a secret Society , we are not

so m the sense of secretly intriguing against order and settled government , or of plotting the destruction of religion and morality . No arguments are necessary to vindicate our character in this respect . The bod y that assists its poorer members , or contributes freely and openly

towards the maintenance and support of the widows and families of those of its number who have died in distress , cannot , even by the wildest stretch of the imagination , be set down as a band of conspirators secretl y leagued together against law , order , ancl religion . Moreover , this liberalit y

is practised m open day , and from a sense of duty , but without ostentation , or the slightest wish to be thought more charitable than other men . Nor is it to Masonic sources alone the public is indebted for its information as to these particulars , The records of contemporary journals

Occasional Papers.—No. Iv.

aro as impartial as they are trustworthy , and to them we mny confidently refer for so much as concerns the celebration of tho Anniversary Festivals of our several Institutions . Again , there is the Fund of Benevolence , which annually disburses almost the whole of its large

incomeand sometimes more than its income—in assisting brethren , or the widows of brethren , in thoir day of difficulty . There are , additionally , Provincial Charitable Associations and Benevolent Funds attached to very many private Lodges , whose services in the same field of labour are none the less

true and hearty , because for the most part they pass unnoticed . Honco , I repeat , people may laugh at ns , may jeer us , may even set us down as capable of all sorts of crimes and misdemeanours , bufc they cannot deny that , as a body , we practise one virtue—the virtue of Charity . We

claim this to be a part of pure and ancient Masonry , at least in the sense of helping those among us who stand in need of help . My present pnrpose , however , is not to occupy your time by telling you what you know as well as I do . My wish is to lay before you a brief account of those

Institutions which , under Providence , are doing such loyal service to our poorer brethren and their belongings . The account must necessarily be brief , or I shonld find myself

trespassing too severely on your patience . I shall , therefore , content myself with glancing rapidly at the chief points of interest connected with our three Institutions in the order of their establishment .

The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls is fast approaching the time when its patrons and well-wishers will be in a position to celebrate the Centenary of its existence . It was founded early in the year 1788 , so that next year it will hold its Ninety-fourth Anniversary Festival . We

are chiefly indebted for its establishment to the kindly and fraternal enterprise of a certain Chevalier Bartolomeo Ruspini , Surgeon-Dentist to His Majesty George III ., who was a most enthusiastic member of our Fraternity , and for a long term of years held the office of Grand Sword

Bearer . At the time I am referring to , the Masonic throne was occupied by a member of the Royal Family—His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland , Grand Master from 1782 till his death in 1790 . George Prince of Wales , afterwards George TV ., and his brothers the Dukes of York

and Clarence—the latter , years afterwards , ascending the throne as William IV . —were all of them made Masons in the year 1787 . Thus , when Bro . Ruspini had conceived the idea of establishing a School for the daughters of indigent or deceased brethren , it was comparatively an easy

task for him , having regard to his professional connection with the Court , to enlist the hearty sympathy and support of the Royal Craftsmen . Other prominent brethren loyally assisted in the good cause , and it is hardly necessary for me to ask you to take my word for it that the ladies , headed

by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cumberland , wife of the Grand Master , were very far from being the least conspicuous among the patrons and promoters of the project . A poet , who subsequently became a Mason , and who , in the year 1788 , was fast entering npon what are called the " years of discretion , " has sung ,

0 woman ! in our hours of ease , "Uncertain , coy , and hard to please , And variable as the shade By the light quivering aspen made ; When pain and anguish wring- the brow , A ministering angel thou !

I will not be so presumptuous as to justify the proposition enunciated in the first four lines I have quoted ; but as to that contained in the last two , I need only appeal to the experience of all ages and peoples in order to confirm its perfect accuracy . At all events , so warm a sympathy

with Bro . Ruspini ' s idea was excited in the mind , as well of the Duchess as of the Duke of Cumberland , that at the outset of its career the Institution was publicly designated the Royal Cumberland School for the Daughters of Freemasons . Under such brilliant auspices , it may well be

imagined that funds were forthcoming at once in such plenty that in the year 1793 a school-house was erected for the accommodation of the pupils on some leasehold ground belonging to the Corporation of London , and situate near the Obelisk in St . George ' s Fields . And here it

remained , its fortunes slowly , but on that account all the more surely , improving . With ever-increasing meansall , be it remembered the result of voluntary subscri ptions , unless we except the contributions of Grand Lodge—the number of inmates kept on increasing commensurately . The Prince of Wales , who succeeded his uncle of Cumberland