Masonic Benevolence In 1900.

These figures show an appreciable increase both in the number of cases relieved and the amount distributed amongst them as compared with the year 1899 , when there were 286 cases relieved with £ 7 803 .

Be it added that the Anniversary Festival in aid of the Mark Benevolent Fund , which was held in July , under the auspices of Bro . the Earl of EuSTON , M . W . Grand Master , produced donations and subscriptions amounting in the aggregate

to £ 5113 , while a large amount of support has been given to the Provincial Benevolent and Educational Funds , which have , in consequence , been doing good service to the poorer members

and their families ; the most noteworthy case being that of Warwickshire , which , at the first Festival held in July in behalf of its Benevolent and Pupils' Aid Fund , raised the handsome total of £ 3155 .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.*

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM . *

The contents of the third and concluding Part of Volume XIII . of the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge are exceptionally interesting . First of all we have an account from the pen of the editor , Bro . G . W . SPETH , P . A . G . D . C , of the

summer outing , when , at the invitation of Bro . R . V . VASSARSMITH , P . G . D ., D . P . G . M . Gloucestershire , and other prominent members of the Craft in that Province , the members and their friends visited the City of Gloucester , making excursions thence

to Cheltenham and Cirencester , and inspecting under the guidance of well known local antiquaries the Cathedral and other of the attractive buildings and places with which the neig hbourhood abounds . The account is clearly and concisely

written and has the additional advantage of being well and fully illustrated . With the October meeting are associated two most valuable papers , of which Bro . Dr . CllETWODE CRAWLEY ' S on " The Sackville Medal . The Earl of

Middlesex and Irish Frceemasonry , 1733 '—being No . V . of that brother ' s " Notes on Irish Freemasonry "was read , while owing to the lack of time , the second , compiled by Sir CHARLES A . CAMERON , C . B ., and treating at

considerable length of " The Origin and Progress of Chivalric Freemasonry in the British Isles" could only be taken as read . As regards the "Sackville " paper , there are doubtless many of our readers who will call to mind that in 188 3 a long discussion

took place in the columns of this paper as to the genuineness of this medal , which resulted in satisfactorily connecting it with CHARLES SACKVILLE , Earl of Middlesex , eldest son of the first Duke of DORSET , who was on a visit to Florence in 1 733 ,

the date inscribed on the medal . There were , however , some points which , as Bro . Dr . CRAWLEY remarks in his note of reference to this discussion , " were necessarily left lo the future to determine / ' and it is just one of the most important of these

points which the author of the paper has succeeded in determining . There are those who have rejected this medal as having any value Masonically on the ground that there was no evidence to show that CHARLES SACKVILLE was a Freemason ,

especially as at the date on the medal itself he ( SACKVILLE ) was under age . Bro . CRAWLEV , however , upsets this theory by quoting from Faulkner ' s Dublin Journal , 20-24 November , 1733 , a paragraph , from which it appears that on the 22 nd

November of that year the Earl of MIDDLESEX was present at a " Grand Meeting of the Right Worshipful Society of Free Masons , at the I loop Tavern on Cork Hill , " and which was attended by the Grand Master ( Lord Viscount KlNGSLAND ) , the

Deputy Grand Master ( Lord Viscount I VRONE ) , Lord KINGSTON , Lord Moi'NTJOY , and other Masonic notabilities , and he also points out that while 25 years was the age at which men became eligible for admission into the Society in England , the age under

the Irish Constitution was 21 years . 1 bus the most serious objection to the medal as possessing any Masonic value may be said to have been upset , while the fact of CHARLES SACKVILLE

having been in Florence in 1733 has been established from the note-books and diaries of the Rev . J OSEPH SPENCER , who accompanied his lordship throughout the whole of his prolonged lour on the continent . Bro . CRAWLEY enhances the value

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.*

of his paper by particulars of the career as Masons of the other brethren who were present at the meeting , and Bro . SPETH , in his " Addendum , " does further service towards the solution of this " Sackville " question by quoting important references from the works in which the medal is . mentioned .

There are two illustrations of the medal , both obverse and reverse , one from ZACHARIAS ' S " Numotheca Numismatica Latomorum , " Dresden , 1 S 40 , and the other from a photograph of a cast of the specimen in the British Museum .

The paper on " Chivalric Freemasonry in the British Isles , " by Sir CHARLES A . CAMERON , is a most valuable contribution , throwing , as it does , additional light on the origin and development of this branch of our modern system of Freemasonry . It

is the more worthy of being studied , as it has been compiled by a " Chivalric Freemason" of high rank and long and tried experience in the Order of the Temple in Ireland , and is the more interesting as it is accompanied by reduced facsimiles of early Templar Warrants .

The inaugural address delivered by Bro . E . CONDER , jun ., after his installation as Worshipful Master , on the Sth November , contains a handsome tribute to the brethren who during the last quarter of a century have helped so materially to furnish the

Craft with a literature which may at least claim to be trustworth y as to the facts it treats of . Indeed , both this and "The St . John ' s Card " are on a level with the best of this kind respectivel y , which have been published . We must not omit to mention

that as this completes the volume , there are given with it a Table of Contents , an Index , and a portrait of Bro . T . B . WHYTEHEAD , who presided as W . M . in 1900 , to serve as a frontispiece ; and that Bro . SPETH has fulfilled his part as Editor with his accustomed ability and accuracy .

Masonic Jurisprudence.

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE .

[ COMMUNICATED . ] THE RULES OF DEBATE .

A Masonic gathering , whether of Grand Lodge or a private , is governed by the same rules as regards the orderl y conduct of its proceedings , as any other gathering of intelligent men met together for business purposes , and we may therefore not unprolitably consider the rules of debate .

It is not suggested that our lodges arc debating societies , and , moreover , it is possible that a certain amount of freedom and elasticity is desirable in the way debates are carried on when

they happen to arise . Nevertheless , a knowledge of what is ri ght and what is wrong is always desirable , and the more so in that we generally find lodge bye-laws contain some few rules on the subject .

Ihe first and most elementary rule is that every member shall address the Worshipful Master . This is not only cjuc to the chair as a mark of respect , but it is the only way of preserving decorum . Recrimination is avoided . A certain amount

of restraint is imposed on the speaker , who has to shape his remarks so that , although in effect they are a reply to the observations of a previous speaker , they arc in reality addressed to the Worshipful Master .

The Worshipful Master should be addressed as such , and not as Worshipful Sir . Nor should the brother on his feet address the " Worshipful Master and brethren . " A proposition , of whatever nature , should be handed in in writing , and the mover should always be provided with a

seconder . Much time is occasionall y saved b y the Worshipul Master insisting on having the names of both proposer and seconder , and it has happened that a brother has made a long speech in support of his proposition , and , no seconder coming forward , the motion fell through .

This occurred in the Grand Lodge of , A brother got up to propose that , by way of celebrating Grand Lodge should—with the assistance and co-operation of other Grand Lodges—rebuild King Solomon ' s Temple . There was , however , no seconder , and had this fact been ascertained at the outset , the time occupied in listening to the proposer ' s somewhat lengthy remarks might have been saved .

Whilst the proposer is expected to support his motion by arguments , the seconder may , it he chooses , reserve his right to speak , and intervene at a later stage in the debate . The proposer has a prescriptive right of reply , after the exercise of which the debate is closed , and the motion must be put lorthwith ,