Ar00100

CONTENTS . PAGE L EADERSThe Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls ... ... 229 Ars Quatuor Coronatorum ... ... ... ... ... 229 <;„ nreme Grand Chapter ( Quarterly Convocation ) ... ... "" ... 230

Provincial Grand Lodge of Herefordshire ... ... ... ... 231 Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire ... ... ... ... 232 Consecration of the Asylums Board Lodge , No . 2842 ... ... ... 232 Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham ... ... ... ... 232 Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 232 Science , Art , and the Drama ... . „ ... ... ... 233

M ASONIC NOTESQuarterly Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter ... ... 235 The Late Bro . G . W . Speth ... ... ... ... ... 235 Half-yearly Chapter of Great Priory ... ... ... 235 Royal Somerset House and Inverness Ledge , No . 4 ( Visit of the Pro G . M ., Earl Amherst ) ... ... ... ... 235 Consecration of the Asylums Board Lodge , No . 2 S 42 ... ... 235

Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 236 Reviews ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 236 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 236 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 239 Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 239 Presentation to Bro . A . D . Corry , 23 S 7 ... ... ... ... 239 The May Magazines ... ... ... ... ... .,, 240

IRELANDImposing Masonic Ceremony in Belfast ... ... ... ... 24 a Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 241 In Memoriam—G . W . Speth .., ... ... ... ... 241 Misonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 242

The Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

THE FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

The second of ( . lie great annual gatherings which are held in connection with our Central Masonic Institutions will take place on Wednesday , the Sth instant , when the 113 th Festival of the

Royal Masonic Institution for ( jirls will be celebrated in the large hall of Freemasons' Tavern , and we hope the pleasant duty will devolve upon us of recording a successful result in our next issue . The circumstances are about as favourable as

we have known them to be . In the first place , the chair will he taken by one of the ablest , most influential , most popular , and most successful of our Festival Presidents in the person of tin-Right Hon . Farl AMHERST , M . W . Pro Grand Master , who , as

on all previous similar occasions , will be loyally and generously supported by the Province of Kent , over which he has presided for upwards , of 40 years . In the next place , there is a very strong Board of Stewards , which alread y numbers upwards of

000 ladies and brethren ; and though this is less numerous by some 150 members than last year ' s Hoard , there are no grounds for attributing this to any diminution of interest in the School itself , or of readiness to support its claims , but , as

explained in a former article , to ihe different policies adopted last year by the Chairman ' s Province of Staffordshire , which sent up as large a contingent of brethren as possible , while this year Lord AMHERST ' Province of

Kent will be content if the bulk of its 65 lodges are Hficientl y represented . London , too , and the Provinces 'lave also furnished the usual array of Stewards , nor , so far as we are aware , is the number of Unattached brethren

greater than at previous anniversary meetings . Lastly , there ls the same indyecment to a liberal subscription list

as 111 the past . The School has maintained its high standard of merit , and has been at least as successful in holding its own in competition with other schools of a similar character at the

various public examinafions for which its pupils have been filtered . Under these circumstances , while we shall necessaril y reserve our estimate of the total until the result is known ,

we are inclined to hope that it will be about as successful as lose of recent date , of which the Secretary and the Governors . "" id Subscribers have so much reason to be proud .

The Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

As regards the Institution , the number of girls it maintains , clothes , and educates is not far short of 270 , and it carries out this duty at an annual expenditure of between £ 14 , 000 and £ 15 , 000 . To meet this outlay it has only about £

3000—consisting for the most part of dividends on its invested capitalin the way of permanent income , and consequently it is under the necessity of looking to its annual Festival to make good the deficiency . Its confidence in the success of this fixture has been

fully justified by the Returns , while of late years it has been able to make considerable additions to its investments , and has thus enlarged its permanent income . We have already furnished

the reasons which incline us to hope that the result on Wednesday next will further demonstrate the wisdom of this confidence in the sroodwill of the Craft .

We must not omit to mention that the distribution of prizes , which is , as it were , the introduction to the Festival , will take place in the Alexandra Centenary Hall of the Institution at Battersea Rise , on Monday , the Oth instant , when the graceful

task of presenting the prizes will be performed by the Countess AMHERST , and the Stewards and their friends will have the pleasure of witnessing the usual calisthenic display by the

children . We trust the weather will be as favourable on this occasion as the prospects of Wednesday ' s more important gathering are hopeful .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.*

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM . *

It is strange that about the date of the lamented death of our Bro . G . W . SPETH , P . A . G . D . C , we should have received so many evidences of his great activity , and of the zeal and ability with which he fulfilled his many and onerous duties . In the week in

which he died we found among a mass of papers . and communications that had accumulated during a brief absence from town , copy of a revised issue of " A Masonic Curriculum , " or " A Guide to a Course of Study in Freemasonry , " which he wrote

some years back , and which , by particular request , he had revised and brought down to date , and which was published by the Palestine Bulletin of Detroit , Michigan , U . S . A . We also received an advance copy of the summons for the regular meeting of

Quatuor Coronati Lodge , which is appointed to be held at Freemasons' Hall this ( Friday ) evening . On the day of his funeral there reached us the usual copy for review of this Part L of Volume XIV . of the Lodge Transactions , which he had

edited with so much care and judgment from the very commencement , and which will constitute about the best and brightest of the memorials existing to his entire devotion to the interests of this important lodge . Other evidences have also reached us which

show that till within a few hours of his sudden decease he was busy transacting the duties of his office , so that the familiar expression , " he dieel in harness , " is strictly and almost literally true . In circumstances such as these , it is difficult to realise that the Secretary and Fditor , whose latest work and comments

are before us in these pages , is no more . The Transactions comprised in this Part are those of the meetings held in January and March of the present year and

in them will be noted the evidence we have become so accustomed to of the ability and thoroughness with which our late brother did whatever he put his hand to . In the January Transactions are included the annual report of the Lodge Committee

Ar00102

Now R ^ dy . —The Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar for 1901 Price 1 / -, by post 1 / 14 .