Correspondence.

Finally , I would point out , what appears to me to have been lost sight of , that a good and true man honours the Craft by wearing its insignia ; the Craft can add nothing to his character or virtues , though it may add some distinguishing mark as a sign of the appreciation of his services . —I am , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally . N . N . THIELE , Master Rewa Lodge of Vita , No . 223 S ( E . G . ) . Nausori , July 20 th .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

1138 ] — THE TYLER . One has never heard of the Tyler ' s obligation , though it is doubtless practised somewhere ; I do not believe in it 1 and as to the incidents of the stranger who " scored off the Iodge , " he would have done nothing of the sort if I or some others of my acquaintance had been told off to examine him . C . H . W .

Reviews.

Reviews .

"T HE DEVON MASONIC D IRECTORY FOR THE YEAR 1 S 99 . "— 'Exeter , Bros . Besley and Dalgleish , South-street . One shilling each ) . This well-printed and carefully-edited Annual is a credit to all concerned in its production , and Bro . John Stocker , the zealous Provincial Grand Secretary , may be congratulated accordingly . The province is a large one numbering 59 lodges , 29 R . A . Chapters , 20 Mark Lodges , five K . T . Preceptories , and four Rose Croix Chapters , as well as other bodiss . About these an immense amount of information is provided , down to the latest date of issue , the

appointments made at the Provincial Grand Lodge on the roth August being included , and other very recent changes in the personnel of the province . It is a pity that the lists of officers of so many lodges contain appointments not recognised b y the Book of Constitutions , such as Assistant Secretary , Assistant Director of Ceremonies , Assistant Organist , Standard Bearer , & c . Whatever they may be called , such brethren ate not legally oflicers of their lodges , and are fanciful creations of Masters , who thus piy their friends doubtful compliments by placing collars on their shoulders not permitted bv the regulations . An excellent feature is a List of Brethren officially connected with

the Province , and their addresses ; and an addition in this year s issue is a complete reprint of the Bye-Laws of the Prov . Grand Lodge to date , which is a real boon , and will prove most useful . Much valuable information is appended as tothe local Masonic Charities , which are well supported , and fraternally provide for aged Masons , widows , and children not successful in securing admission to theCentral Institutions , or maintain many who else would be left out " in the cold " by reason of lack of friends and supporters . Bro . Hughan's interesting Table of " Pre-Union Lodges in Devonshire , 1732-1 S 13 " is a curious and useful compilation , and with this and other features , the Annuil is , undoubtedly , one of the most complete issued .

Masonic Province Of Cornwall

MASONIC PROVINCE OF CORNWALL

The annual Provincial Grand Lodge ot Cornwall , which is to be held in the Public Rooms , Launceston , on Monday , the 1 ith instant , is likely to prove a very united and fraternal gathering . The Prov . Grand Master , the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe , Past Deputy Grand Master of England , is to preside , and there is no Jack of business to transact . The present lodge held in Launceston—the Dunheved , No . 7 S 9—was warranted on May 16 th , 1850 , and was constituted on January 17 th , i 860 . It is one of several

lodges in Cornwall that assemble according to the full moon rather than on a fixed day in each month , and has over 30 members on its register , Although one of the smallest in the province , it his long had an excellent record , and its roll of subscribing Past Misters begins as far back as 1 S 63 . The first lodge warranted for Launceston was in 1767 , and was held in thi Plymouth and Devonshire Tavern , but it fell through in 17 S 3 . and its number subsequently disti-guishid a lodge hAd in Plymouth Djck ( Devonport ) , but only for some three years , as its career ended in 17 S 6 .

The last Provincial Giand Lodge held in the town was in 1877 , when there were 27 lodges on the roll . Now there are 31 , and about double the number of members ; the Craft being very popular in ths county under the genial rule of the Eail of Mount Edgcumbe . The Cornwall Annuity and Benevoltnt Fund has over £ 6000 invested , and the Chari . y Association is doing excellent work in promoting Life Governorships in the Central Masonic Chai ities by inducing brethren to subscribe annually , and ballot lor prf ferential votes until all are successful .

' 1 he agei da for tl e 1 ith inst . is full of business as customary at such gatherings . At 12 . 30 the Prov . Grand Lodge will cease work so as to proceed to the Parish Church , where the annual sermon will be preached and a collection taken to be devoted to local and general purposes . At the conclusion of the service , the procession will be reformed and return to the

Public Rooms , when the business will be concluded . The votes will be collided on application for local annuities and educational grants ; and the cflicers for the ensuing term will be appointed and invested by the Prov . Grand Master , and committees also elected . A luncheon will be provided at three p in .

Mark Mtasonry.

Mark Mtasonry .

Southdown Lodge , No . 164 . The annual installation meeting of the above lodge was held at the Station Hotel , Hayward ' s Heath , on the 23 rd ult . The lodge was opened bv the W . M ., Bro . J . H . Glassington , Prov . A . G . D . of C , supported by the following officers and brethren of the lodge : Bros . C . Clarke , LP . M . ; J . Howe , J . Abell , G Smith , the Very Rev . Dean Currie , D . P . G . M . Sussex ; A . Alwen , F . H . Beeny , F . Bailey , P . G . Griffith , F . C . Guiding , W . Goaring , A . H . Smith , B . Seeker , and E . I . Waugh . The visiting brethren were Bros . Newbery , P . M . 27 ; W . B . Freeman , P . G . D . ; and B . V . N . Burden , Sec . 7 v

The chief busines was the installation of Hro . F . II . Beeny , P . P . G S . B ., as W . M . 'or the ensuing year , the ceremony being performed by Bro . J . H . Glassington . The W . M . appointed his officers and invested them with the insignia of their respective ollices as follows 1 Bros . I . H . Glassineton , Prov . A . G . D . of C , I . P . M . ; A . Alwen , P . P . G . S . B .. S . W .: A . H . Smith . I . W .: E . H . M . Ffennell , P . P . G . S ., M . O . ; A . D .

"ailey , S . O . ; E . J . Waugh , J . O . ; Warrington Stock , Chap . ; George Masters , P . M ., P . P . S . G . D ., Treas . ; F . C . Golding , P . G . Stwd ., Sec ; W . Goaring , S . D . ; " •L . Seeker , J . D . ; F . G . Bailey , R . M . ; P . G . Griffith , l . G . ; and J . G . Clirke and C . W . Wood . . Stwds . The retiring W . M :, Bro . Glassington , was presented with a Past : M aster ' s jewel , in recognition of the admirable manner in ' which he had carried out his duties during the past year , and Bro . F . C , Golding was presented with a jewel

Mark Mtasonry.

by the retiring W . M . in appreciation of his services as Secretary during his year ot office . The lodge having been closed , the brethren sat down to a banquet , under the presidency of the newly-installed W . M . The customary loyal and Mark Masonie toasts were duly honoured . During the evening a programme of music was admirably sustained by Miss Eda Chaplin , Miss Clarke , Bro . F . W . Roberts , Mr . Wakefield , and Mr . Beeny , jun . A guitar and mandoline duet was played by the Messrs . Geariog , the duties of accompanist being in the hands of Mr . E . T . Gearing .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . WILLIAM SIMPSON , P . M . 2076 . Bro . William Simpson , artist , traveller , war correspondent , archaeologist , and man of letters , died of bronchitis , on Thursday , the 17 th instant , at his residence , 19 , Church-road , Willesden , in the 76 th year of his age . He was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours , honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects , and of the Glasgow Institute of Architects , member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration FundFellow

, of the Royal Geographical Society , member of the Royal Asiatic Society , honorary Librarian to the Society of Biblical Archaeology , and member of the Alpine and the Omar Khayyam Clubs . Our brother was originally destined for the architectural profession , but he soon turned from the pursuit of architecture to that of , art , sketching and painting wherever opportunities occurred , and eventually settled on lithography as his vocation . But this also came to an end in 18 54 , in which year he was sent out to the Crimea by Messrs . Colnaghi , the fine

art publishers of Pall Mall , for the purpose of making a series of illustrations of the war . After this he entered into an engagement with Messrs . Day and Son , of Lincoln's Inn Fields , to visit our Indian Empire , and make a series of sketches to be reproduced in a large work in chromo-lithography . In 1 S 66 he joined the stall of the Illustrated Loudon News , and the first duty entrusted to him was that of attending the wedding of the late Tsar . A couple of years later he accompanied his old friend , Lord Napier of Magdala , through the Abyssinian

campaign , but got back in time to illustrate the new route to India , via the Mont Cenis Tunnel and Brindisi , which was shortly to be opened up by the completion of the Suez Canal . Then came the stirring time of the Franco-Prussian War where the experiences of our late brother were very eventful . The following year saw him in Paris during the terrible period of the Commune , and a little later , in 1 S 71-72 , he was at Pekin , where , hy means of a stratagem , he succeeded in witnessing the marriage procession of the Emperor Tung-chin .

Returning by way of Japan and America , his homeward journey was arrested at San Francisco , by a war in North Carolina between the American troops and the Modoc Indians . Following the fortunes of this contest , he for some time lived in imminent danger of losing his scalp . He next accompanied the Prince of Wales on his visit to India , after which he was despatched to Mycenae and the Troad , and in the Afghan war of 1 S 7 S was attached to the force under Sir Samuel Browne in the Kyber Pass . In 18 S 3 , he attended the coronation at Moscow of

Alexander III ., and in 1884-5 again visited India with Sir Peter Lumsden and the Afghan Boundary Commission . In the course of his career , our late brother published numerous works , including , in addition to his " Campaigns in the East " and " India , Ancient and Modern "— " Meeting the Sun , a Journey round the World ; " " Picturesque People , or Groups from All Quarters of the Globe ;" "Shikaree and Tamasha , a Souvenir of the Visit of the Prince of Wales to India •' " "Arkite Ceremonies in the Himalayas ; " "An Artist ' s Jottings in Abyssinia ; " and

" The Buddhist Praying Wheel , a Collection of Materials Bearing on the Symbolism of the Wheel . " Many interesting papers were also read by him before the learned societies , and among them a long series relating to the mister art or science with which the body of Freemasons are , or should be , most closely concerned . For instance , he read pipers before the Royal Institute of British Architects , on the architecture of India , of China , of Abyssinia , of Afghanistan and on the wooden architecture of the Himalayas . Bro . Simpson was initiated

in the Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge , No . 1159 , London , in 1 S 71 , and in the same year became a member of the " Masonic Archaeological Institute , " which during its short span of life did excellent service in fostering a spirit of enquiry among leading members of the Craft . The first Honorary Secretary wis Bro . ( now Sir ) Walter Besant , during whose period of ollice papers were read by the late Professor F . 11 . Palmer on the " Secret Sects of Syria , " afterwards published as an article—which attracted great attention—in the British Quarterly Review ; by Bros .

Simpson , in " Phallic Worship " ; Hyde Clarke , on "Tree and River Worship " R . S . Halliburton , on " The Year of the Pleiades "; and W . Besant , on "The Newly-Rescued Remains of the Temple . " Other papers were promised , though , we believe , not read , by Bros . Captain ( now Lieutenant-Gencral Sir ) Charles Warren , on " Moorish Architecture , " and W . Besint , on " The Secret Religion of the Middle Ages . " Bro . Simpson was the first joining memberof the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , and would have been a founder , but for the accidental

circumstance of his being in Afghanistan when the petition for a warrant was sent in . Of this lod ge he became the third Master in November , 1888 , when he delivered a most powerful address , and his interest in its proceedings only terminated with his deceise . Papers were reid by him on " The Threefold Division of Temples , " " The Worshi p of Djath , " " Brahminical Initiation , " " The Noose Symbol , " " Sikh Initiation , " and " Tne Consecration of a Parsee Priest , " and he wrote several interesting reviews , which also appeared in

the Transactions of the Lodge ( Ars Quatuor Corona ' orum ) , notably of " La Croix Gamir . ee , ou Svantika , " and " Migration des Symboles , " both of which were from the pen of his friend and fellow-traveller in India , Count Goblet D'AKiella . In a recent memoir of our deceased brother , his friend , Mr . John Trude Fripp , very finely remarks : " He was a man greatly beloved . All who have known him will endorse this epitaph . His kindliness of disposition , his goodness of heart , his tenderness for the feelings of others , his love for children

in his old age , are qualities which will long be enshrined in the memories of those who mourn his loss . A truly great man , with an almost boundless store of knowledge , gained during his long life of travel and adventure , it was a treat , never to be lorgotten , to sit and IKten to him , as he narrated his experiences or expounded those subjects which he had made so peculiarl y his own . Had he written , as he sometimes said he thought of doing , a book of ' Men I Have Met , ' it would , indeed , have been full of interest . He had been on terms of

personal acquaintance with most of the Royal Families of Europe , and with our own Royal Family was always a peesonu giata . On one occasion he was the guest of the Queen for two days at Balmoral , and enjoyed long conversations with her Majesty , and it will be remembered that on the death of the Duke of Clarence , M-. Simpson was the only artist allowed in the death chamber , and by special order of the Prince of Wales was treated as a

guest and allowed free access to the whole of Sandringham House . He was , notwithstanding , one of the most modest and unassuming of men , and one had to know him to find out how really great a man he wis . The sympathies of all will be extended to his widow and daughter on the irreparable loss which they have sustained , and their grief will be in some measure assuaged by a knowledge of the esteem , admiration , and affection with which Mr . Simpson was regarded by all who knew him . "