Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 553 provincial Grand Mavt- Lodge of Leicester-The Revised Constitutions . —II $ 54 shire , Northants , and Derbyshire ; jS FroviSl Grand tfds / Sfrifi " «^~ - ™ « " ~ " — and Westmorland # 3 Craft Masonry Si <) CORRESPONDENCE— Instruction 561 The Status of Past Masters < JG R ° > 'a Arch ..... _ S _ The Approaching Elections 556 Royal Ark Mariners 5 « The Revision of the Book of Constitutions 556 Ivni Shts Templar 502

Royal Masonic Institution for Girls— Freemasonry in South Wales 562 Alteration of Rules Jj 6 India 562 vote Solicitation ""; . " ¦ . •. •; : " :. " " ;;•" . ¦;;¦•. •HI South " Africa " . ' . ' . ' ..... ' .... ' . ' ^ Bro . Coi"Kiade ' od'Sioore '" . ' . !!' . ' . !' . ' . '" . ' . ;" . ' . ' . ' . ' . ' . . 557 Sou "' Australia 563 Election "Cases" and "Cases" 5 s ; Ancient and Accepted Rite 563 How History is Written 557 The Theatres 564 Reviews 557 Music 564 Masonic Notes and Queries 558 j Science and Art 564 Provincial Grand Ma " rk Lodge of Berks and j Masonic and General Tidings 505 Oxon « 58 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 566

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ALL our brethren will regret to notice the lamented death of Bro . RAVEXSHAW , P . G . C . Many of us have had experience of his kindly nature , his Masonic merits , and his genial heart , and will feel that he will truly be a loss to Freemasonry and to Philanthropy .

* * THE elections for the Schools , which are now rapidly drawing nigh , suggest many serious reflections to all who take an interest in that great and remarkable " outcome" of our sympathetic English Freemasonry . The Schools are becoming great Institutions , and their future must fill thoughtful

minds with grave solicitude . From small beginnings they have reached a very striking position of value and utility , of use and blessing ; and though so far , happily , the springs of Masonic charity seem still to flow on freely and unexhausted , it is impossible , we think , not to note and feel that the sum needful for our Schools to be raised annually alike for them and the

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , constitutes a severe strain and tension of and on Masonic benevolence and Masonic liberality . There is no other institution doing what Masonry is now doing ; and can these efforts year by year be kept up ? Such is the query which is affecting many minds , and raising many doubts just now . It is averred , and we do not ourselves

doubt the truth of the assertion , that after all is said and done there is yet a great margin left for Masonic zeal , Masonic vitality , and Masonic sacrifices . It is the fact , no doubt , that as yet but a portion of our Order has contributed to our great schools , our Metropolitan Charities , and that many well-to-do Freemasons have yet to have their

sensibilities aroused and their pockets touched . This is , as we said just now , undoubtedly so ; but still in this , as in other respects , Freemasonry at the least but reproduces the weaknesses of society , the tendencies of humanity . It is not perfect , and claims no exemption from all that constitutes the unceasing frailty of man ' s best wishes and endeavours here , the imperfection of our common

inheritance , the burden of our " common clay . We are inclined to think , as we have frequently pointed out , that much more yet may be done by lodges and chapters than has been hitherto done , and that therein the hope of the future for our great Educational and Annuity Institutions really lies . If lodges and chapters cannot afford a large sum annually , let all the

members of the lodges and chapters subscribe " pro rata a given sum , and let that amount be handed over to one of the Institutions annually , so that every lodge and chapter annually would thus do something for these great Charities of ours , which in their beneficent developement and sterling progress are such a credit to our fraternity and such a benefit to humanity .

* * WE hear that the next elections will be marked by extraordinary efforts to secure the successful result for special candidates . Owing to the general system of combination and compact in the provinces , their cases , which are carefully selected and minutely looked into , come up

with every prospect of certain success . We wish we could think that our poor London candidates had the likelihood of any such friendly aid . Our Metropolitan brethren take up certain cases , which are personally worked for and influentially patronized ; but it only requires a cursory survey of the list of London candidates to discover the fact that without such adjuncts and

assistance the friendless , despite the inherent goodness of their case , stand on no equal footing with more fortunate candidates . At the same time we say 'his , there are great difficulties in the way of laying down any other system ° f procedure . One idea has been suggested to us , that when after three efforts a candidate is unsuccessful , the House Committee shall have power ,

assuming the case to be one of ' * need and urgency , " to elect that case . But the objection will at once be raised , " You are interfering with the privileges ° f the subscribers . " Yet , if such was the law , it would , as they say , apply all round , and with this full knowledge , all would be upon an equal footing , ar "d no injustice could accrue to any one , the more so as such election would only take place if the plea " need and urgency" satisfied the Com-

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mittee . As it is , many good cases are not , and never can be , successful ; and we very much fear that it often so inevitably happens , that many who have no friends fail entirely , and those whose friends could well keep them off the Charities , and do not positively need eleemosynary aid , succeed .

* * IT is , however , very doubtful whether in the temper of our f . ondon brethren any organization similar to those which work so successfull y in the provinces , is likely to be successful . Our Metropolitan brethren , though a numerous , are a very independent body , and seem to wish to have an unfettered

decision as to the use they make of their voting papers . We do not find fault with them ; honest independence of thought and action is a great virtue , but , like all virtues , it may be pushed to an extreme . So large is the proportion of London votes given to provincial claims , and so small is the return of the compliment , that with the strength of the voting power in the

provinces , conjoined with that of Metropolitan assistance , each election witnesses some most remarkable facts as to the force of combination , and the efficiency of a carefully worked and fully developed system . Some fine day we have no doubt , as each year adds to a strength which is onl y now being put forth , few , if any , London cases will be successful , except those

supported by brethren of great influence , after much anxious work and unceasing efforts . In saying all this , which we honestly believe to be sure and certain truth , we are in no way seekingtosupportadifferentsystemof proceedure , such as the election by a committee of all cases ; for sure we are of this , that if

weaknesses and shortcomings may be predicated fairl y of the existing system , still more patent and glaring may safely be asserted of the alternative proposed , and old philosophy still should carry us " through " in this as in other matters— " it ' s better to bear the ills we have , than fly to others we know not of . " *

WE wish that we could think that with our advance in archaeology and charity we were making an equal progress aesthetically in English

Freemasonry . We certainly have improved in some little matters of detail . Since the times which are past , some decades ago , when we took part in the working of our good Craft , up and down the country , great ameliorations in decency and order have been made manifest , but how much remains to be achieved ?

How defective we still are as regards the accessories of a careful ceremonial . Is it too much to assert that we hardly know a lodge , even in the Metropolis , which is properly decorated " after the manner of Masons , " or fitted up in such a way as to impress members and visitors with the belief that the smallest details and pettiest adjuncts have been carefully attended to ? We

meet , for the most part , in lodge rooms barely furnished , or in hotels where none of the surroundings suggest an idea of Freemasonry , and where everything Masonic is counterbalanced by incongruous ornaments or un-Masonic adjuncts . In the provinces they manage things better . Many of the halls and lodge rooms are furnished with all those comely accessories of

a beautiful ceremonial which impart satisfaction and create admiration , and they are decorated with all those stately properties and that effective symbolism which teach and expound our ancient and honoured ritual by the very power of their presence , and the very reality of their existence . It is much to be desired that a movement should be made to establish

somewhere a properly ornamented and decorated lodge room , furnished with all those needful and striking " paraphernalia , " by which the beauty of our ceremonial is brought out , and its touching teaching explained , alike to the edification of the members as well as to the gratification of friendl y visitors . Freemasonry is something higher , better , more real , more enduring , than

a hasty and slovenly performance of mechanical labour on the one hand , and an exerbuant outcome of hospitable refreshment on the other . Freemasonry and the Freemasons' lodges are meant to be a school of philosophic

wisdom , of moral discipline , of ritualistic perfection , and of aesthetic beauty . Nothing has done so much evil to Freemasonry , whether in its vital power or normal outcome , in the estimation of its own members and the sympathies of the world , as its connection with Taverns .

* * * WE desiderate for Messrs . SPIERS and POND all success in their new undertaking at Freemasons' Tavern ; and as some members of the firm , we believe , belong to our Masonic Order , we offer them our " Hearty good wishes . " Just now , as a vehement controversy is being carried on in

some of our contemporaries as to public accommodation and the like , we venture to impress on the new lessees , in their own interest , and for the comfort , convenience , and warm support of our Craft , the advisability of moderate charges and first-class " materiel . " Nothing is so hard on a patient

public „ as the system , too much in vogue , of the maximum of cost and the minimum of value received . It is absurd that , for the sums usually charged in first-class restaurants , and at stately taverns , the entertained should not receive the best of fare and the greatest of attention . But that is not so , as we all