An Old Patent.

for thc timc being at London Three Pounds three shillings Sterling for every Lodge you shall Constitute for the use of thc ( irand Charity and other necessary purposes . Given at London under Our Hand & Seal of Masonry this 26 th day of June AL 5777 - ^ ' 777

BY THE GRAND MASTERS COMMAND Witness Jas . TTesflline G . S . R . Ball D . G . M . The document is entirely in manuscript on a p iece . of parchment measuring 24 inches by 16 inches , and is in excellent preservation . The wording varies Irom the form at present used ,

in that the words " snhject nevertheless , to our approval " are now inserted , after power is g iven to constitute Lodges , and that one meeting at least is now to be held in tbe year instead of four , whilst the clause " one whereof to be upon or as near thc

First Day of Saint John thc Baptist as conveniently may be " are entirely omitted— -Provincial Grand Lodges meeting at all times of thc year as thought proper . The sum contributed for each new Lodge constituted is now Five Guineas instead of I bree .

Thc seal is that of the Regular , or " Moderns " 'Grand Lodge and is verv clear and well defined .

The peculiarity of Ihe appointment is that the " Province of Radnorshire " evidentl y onl y existed on paper , for , on the authority of Bro . Lane ' s " Masonic Records , " there is not , and never has heen a Masonic lodge in the County of Radnorshire , whilst the official duties of Bro . Marsh were of such a nature

that hc was obliged lo spend all his time in London , and therefore would be unable lo excit any influence as a Provincial Grand Master at such a distance , from home . I should imagine that the appointment must have been purel y complimentary , and it reminds me of what happened at one of our cathedrals some

years ago . An universally-beloved and revered divine was head of the Theological College , and the Dean and Chapter were anxious to bestow upon him some , rank in the Cathedral Body , but , unfortunately , all the Prebcndal and other stalls were filled . Someone , however , discovered that there was no

one holding thc ollice of Precentor at the time , so , in spite of the fact that thc reverend gentleman was almost , stone , deaf , he was appointed Precentor , with authority to control the musical * services ! Probabl y Bro . Marsh was highly esteemed b y the brethren , and they marked lhat esteem b y erecting an imaginary

province and installing him as its Provincial Grand Master , well knowing that there would be . no duties attached to the office . In thc Book of Constitutions , 17 8 4 edition , there is a list of Provincial ( irand Masters whicli includes " Radnor , Charles

Marsh , Esq ., of the War Office , London , but in the present" Grand Lodge Calender" lists of "Provinces and Provincial Grand Masters , from 1717 to thc present time , " no mention is made of Radnor nor of Bro . Marsh .

I have been trying to find out some particulars of his career , but all I have gleaned is the following , which has been sent to me by thc courtesy of the Under Secretary of State lor War . " ( Copy ) Letter from Mr . Lewis respecting certain retired clerks at the War Office .

" War Office , " 6 lh July , 1797 . SIR , — " In compliance with the request of thc Select Committee for Finance , & c , conveyed to me in your letter received this

day , I have the honour to state that Mr . Harman Leeco , a retired clerk of the War Office , belonged to it fifty years , and for thirty-six years of thai period was one of the Principal Clerks . Mr . Charles Marsh , another retired clerk , was thc other Principal Clerk for about thirty-live years . Both these eentlemen

beingnearl y worn out , and having ever conducted themselves with the strictest attention to their duly , were permitted lo retire at Midsummer , 1 795 , retaining each a moiety ofthe fees and salary belong ing to their respective situations .

¦ '¦ X * # * -X- -X- » " I have the honour to be , " Sir , " Your most obedient humble servant , " ( Sd . ) M . Lewis . "

I his Mr . Lewis was thc then " Deputy Secretary at War , " and after reading his complimentary opinion , we are gratified to 'earn lhat Bro . Charles Marsh retired on the very ' handsome pension of / , ' icioo per annum .

f in the process of time , a lodge should ever be formed wuhin the boundaries of the county of ' Radnor , it will be interest"ig lo the members to recollect that they are the first to take advantage of a privilege which might have been their ancestors , Hi the year of Grace , 1777 .

Sir Henry Harben, P.M. No. 92.

Sir Henry Harben , P . M . No . 92 .

Bv BRO . R . F- GOULD , " Rolal ions of matter of fa of have a . value from ( heir substance , as much as from their form , anil the variety nf events is seldom without entertainment tv instruct inn , limy imliftVrenlly soever the lale is tnlil . " —Sin WILLIAM TEMPLE .

p ^~^ § ll ITE subject of flic present , sketch was born in 1823 , and W /^^^^ M : ™ -hmnary , t 870 , being then in his forty-seventh year , l \ (( tt ^ lN ) l f Wiis I'eceived into Masonry in the Moira Lodge , No . 92 . 1 « O | § | K / I The Third Degree was conferred upon him in the IOl ^ " - "gSkl following March , and the office of S . W . on December

7 th , 1872 . A year later he was installed as Master by the present Father of the Lodg-e , Bro . Cornelius Thorne , Past District Grand Master , Northern China , and has remained . a subscribing member down to the present date .

The Earl of Moira , afterwards Marquess of Hustings , as many readers of the Freemason are aware , became the patron of this Lodge during his Acting Grand Mastership , and one of the features b y which its proceedings have since been distinguished , is the holding of its Annual Festival on the birthday of that noble Lord .

Many of thc Initiates and Past . Masters of the Moira Lodge—as it became in 180-1 , on shedding its previous title of this Lodge of Freedom and Ease—have been "famous in story , " but .-i few examples must sullice , and the dates in every instance shall be kept within the first , half of the present century .

One of the earliest initiates of the "Moira" Lodge was Mr . ( afterwards Sir ) Moses Montefiore , the eminent Jewish philanthropist , whose centenary of years was celebrated with much rejoicing

Sill IIK . VKY IIAIIIIJ-. V . in 1883— from tho report of which in the Times newspaper of October 25 th , I extract the following : — " Sir Moses spoke of ( he gratification ho had received from an Address being sent ( o him by his Brother Freemasons of his Mother Lod' -e , the ' Moira . ' He 'tried and proved' a couple of visitors who were of the Universal Brotherhood . "

Of the . Past Masters who materially contributed to the prosperity of the Moira Lodge was Samuel Cardo / . o , whose labours as oiie of ( he Committee of the Girls School will bear a lasting testimony to bis exertions on behalf of that most interesting Charity . This worthy was succeeded as Fat her of the Lodge by Henry Phillips , " one of the Nine Principals , or Past Principals of the Chair 7 i , not

being Grand Officers , " who were appointed by the Duke of Sussex—February 4 th , 18 : > 5—members of aConnnit tee to revise the ceremonies of the Royal Arch Degree . The same brother published in lS . 'IG , the Harleian MS . 1942—a remarkable version of the Manuscri pt Constitutions of the Society . Then came Isaac Walton , founder of the Masonic Uencvolent Annuity Fund , which has now merged into the ltovul Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged freemasons , aud the

Widows of Freemasons . The next was . lohn Bigg , P . M ., and P . / ,. whose career in Freemasonry advanced with ( he Moira Lodge and Chapter , to the hig hest estimation among the metropolitan bodies of Craft and Arch Masonry . As remarked by a contemporary in 1849 , " It is his vocation to satirise gracefully , yet keenly , classical Grand Deacons , aud learned ttrmul Registrars ; to expound the truth to the ( irand Master ; and to debghf , instruct , and benefit , by his brilliant examplethe members of Grand Lodge . "

, In the same year ( 1849 ) , Uro . G . \ V . K . Pottev was re-elected to the chair , and in presenting him—March 26 th , 1850—with a splendid token of their regard , the Brethren of the Lodge placed on record ,