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SATURDAY , J 7 , iqoo .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The Quarterl y General Court of the Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls will be hold at Freemasons' Hall on Thursday , the I 2 th instant , at the hour of 12 noon , when the list of candidates for thc October Election will be settled , and the number of vacancies then to bo filled will be

Masonic Notes.

declared . A motion , of which Bro . Frank Richardson , P . G . D ., on behalf of the House Committee , has given notice , will also be considered , to thc effect that a pension of . £ 100 per annum be granted lo Miss Emily Redgrave , lately Head Governess , who , inconsequence

of the entire breakdown of her health , was a few months since compelled to resign that position , nor do we anticipate that any objection will be raised to the proposal . At all events , we fail to see any reasonable grounds of objection to it .

* * * Miss Redgrave , like all the members of the staff of Miss Davis , as Head Governess , was educated in the School , and on leaving was appointed a pupil teacher . From that subordinate position she rose step by step

until on the retirement of Miss Davis , she was unanimously elected her successor , and in that capacity , during the few years that she performed its duties , proved herself a most capable instructress and one in every way qualified to preside over so important an

Institution . From the date of her first appointment till her compulsory retirement on the score of health , the long period of 31 years elapsed , during which , to quote the words of Bro . Richardson's motion , " she efficiently filled every post " to which she was appointed , and

" in view of the fact that her compulsory retirement was due to a complete breakdown in her heal th brought about by the arduous nature of her duties , " it is now proposed to grant her a pension of . £ 100 a year . As we have already said , we do not understand

how any reasonable objection can be taken to so modest a proposition . There can be no doubt that Miss Redgrave has devoted all thc best ycars of her life to the Institution , and now that her health has

given way under the pressure of her arduous duties and responsibilities , it becomes the duty of the Institution —a duty we feel sure it will discharge with alacrityto take care that she docs not suffer in purse as well as in health .

The Quarterly General Court of thc Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys will be held at Freemasons' Hall on Friday , the 13 th instant , at four p . m ., when the list of candidates for the October Election will be approved , and thc number of vacancies then to be filled will be declared .

The Committee of Management of thc Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution will be held at Freemasons' Hall on Wednesday , thc nth instant , at 4 p . m ., when the report of the Finance Committee will

be received and considered , such petitions as may have been received will be dealt with , and any other business that may be placed on the agenda paper trans - acted . * * *

Fortitude and Old Cumberland Lodge , No . 12 , is to be congratulated on its new departure in formally celebrating the establishment of thc Grand Lodge of England on St . John ' s Day in summer , 1717 . There are those who delight in multiplying anniversaries for

the purpose of celebrating them with greater or less rejoicing , but in England , both in the life of the nation and in the family circle the number of events deemed worthy of special celebration has hitherto been restricted , and in Masonry particularly , the only

anniversaries which have been kept are the Jubilees and Centenaries of our senior lodges , and of thc Institutions which have been founded by the brethren or by Grand Lodge for the good of the Craft . There can be no doubt , however , that the foundation of the Grand

Lodge is an event which is pre-eminently worthy of being annually observed by English Masons generally , and by none of our lodges can it be more worthily commemorated than by thc survivors of the four old lodges which took part in its formation .

* * It has long been known and recognised that two of those Four Old Lod ges were still on the register of thc Grand Lodge they helped to found , namely , the Lodge of Antiquity , No . 2 , which in 1717 met at the

Goose and Gridiron in St . Paul ' s Churchyard , and was the senior of the four ; and Royal Somerset Ho ' useand Inverness Lodge , No . ' 4 , which met at the Horn Tavern , Channel Row , Westminster , and was the junior of the four . •These are entered in Grand

Lodge as " T . I . "—that is Time Immemorial—Lodges , nor has there ever been a doubt as to their being genuinely the descendants of Ori ginals Nos . 1 and 4 . They ranked as Nos . I and 2 on the roll of the

"Regular , " or "Moiern , " Grand Lodge until the union of the "Ancients" and "Moderns" in 1813 , when it was agreed that the numerical order of the lodges on the roll of the " United Grand Lodge " should be settled by thc cast ol a die , and " Ancient "

Masonic Notes.

Nos . 1 and 2 accordingly became Nos . 1 and 3 on the United Register , and " Modern " Nos . 1 and 2 , Nos . 2 and 4 . Thanks to the researches of Bro . R . F . Gould , P . G . D ., it has at length been established , and is accepted by those who have given the subject their attention , that No . 3 of the original " Four Old Lodges " still survives as Fortitude and Old Cumberland Lodge , No . 12 , the date assigned for its constitution being 1723 .

« * * How this loss of rank came about is shown in the 1738 edition of Anderson ' s " Constitutions , " where it is stated that owing to a difference that arose among the members of original No . 3 , which met in 1717 at the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles-street , Covent Garden , some of them removed to the Queen's Head

in Knave s Acre , when they petitioned ifor and worked under a warrant of constitution , " though they wanted it not . " Attempts were subsequently but ineffectually made to have it reinstated in its position , and it rose to be No . 6 on the Register of the " Regular " Grand Lodge , and after the Union became , as it still is , No . 12 on that of United Grand Lodge . Of its

identity with old No . 3 there can no longer be any doubt , and , what is more , Anthony Sayer , who was elected and installed on St . John ' s Day in Summer , 1717 , as the first Grand Master of the Mother Grand Lodge of the World , was One of its members . It would be an act of grace on the part of our Grand Lodge if without altering the order of precedence of

the lodges on the register , it placed against our No . 12 , the letters "T . I . " to which it is shown to be entitled , in lieu of the year 1723 . There are many , perhaps , who may think the suggested alteration of no consequence , but this is not the case . It is at once a recognition on the part of the authorities that No . 12 is the direct lineal descendant of No , 3 of the Four Old

Lodges which founded the Grand Lodge of England , and retains all its Time Immemorial ri ghts and privileges ; as No . 12 of 1723 Constitution it is neither more nor less than a lodge—a very old one it is true—which derives its warrant or authority to meet and work as a lodge from the Grand Lodge itself assisted to found . * * *

The recent annual meeting at Hampton Court of the Prov . G . Mark Lodge of Middlesex , under the presi dency of Bro . Sir Reginald Hanson , Bart ., M . P ., Prov G . M . M ., was an agreeable and successful function . There wasagood attendance of brethren , and the Reports that were handed in . of the state ofthe Mark Degree in the Province were very favourable , not the least

acceptable of the announcements being that the Clapton Lodge , which had been dormant for some time , had resumed work , and was in a fair way to prosper . Under such a chief as Sir R . Hanson , and with Sir John Monckton as his Deputy , and Bro . Stewart Brown as Prov . G . Secretary , there can be little doubt that Middlesex will become year by year more and more prosperous .

* * * . " Ex-Pupils' Day" at the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls on Saturday las t appears , from the report we have received and publish in another column , to have been a great success , greater indeed than in the case of any previous gathering ofa similar character . A considerable number of those who have been trained in the Institution gladly availed themselves of the invitation

to revisit thc home of their girlhood and met with 1 most hearty welcome , testifying , as they did in their own person , to the value of the education they had received . It is pleasant to read of these gatherings of Past and Present Pupils , and we hope and trust that " Ex-Fupils' Day" will long remain as an annual fixture to be looked forward to with pleasurable anticipation by all interested in or connected with our Senior School .

* * * Reports of Provincial Grand Lodge meetings are , and , from what we said in some of our Notes last week , are likely to remain , prominent items in our contents for several weeks to come . The annual meeting of Buckinghamshire was held on Thursday , the 2 Sth ult ., at Windsor , under the auspices of the Concordia Lodge , No . 2492 . On the following day

the Eldon Lodge , No . 1755 , Portishead , had thc lionour of entertaining the Provincial Grand Lodge of Somersetshire , while on Saturday last the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex met at Teddington , the arrangements for the reception of thc Provincial Grand Master and his officers being entrusted to the W . M . and brethren of thc Sir Charles Bright Lodge , No . 1793 .

••a The proceedings at each of these annual gatherings appear , from the reports we publish , to have been of a most successful character . At Wendover , Lord Addington , Prov . Grand Master of Buckiiigha ' mshire , had the opportunity of thanking his Province formally as well as most sincerely for thc generous support they gave him as Chairman at this year ' s Benevolent

Festival . At Portishead , Somersetshire had the somewhat unexpected pleasure of extending a most cordial welcome to Lord Dungarvan , Prov . Grand Master , who had only returned two days previously from South Africa ; while at Teddington it was the privilege of our Middlesex brethren to salute and congratulate Bro . Admiral St . Clair as the Deputy Grand Master of the Province in succession to the late lamented Bro . Raymond II . Thrupp , P . A . G . D . C .