Ar00704

SATURDAY , OCTOBER IO , 1891 . *

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The Girls' School election was held at Freemasons ' Tavern , as arranged , on Thursday , and the result will be found in our advertisement columns , but the Boys' School election has still to come , and will be

held this day ( Friday ) , in the same tavern , between the hours of noon and 3 p . m . The number of candidates is 3 6 , and the number of boys to be elected 19 , or 24 , if the recommendation of the Council is endorsed by the Quarterly Court .

* * * The Council of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , at their monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall on Saturday last , resolved on recommending to the Quarterly General Court , which will be held at the

Freemasons' Tavern at noon this day ( Friday ) , that in consequence of the great success of the Festival in June last , five additional children be elected , thus

raising the number to be admitted from 19 to 24 . It was also announced that the name of one candidate had been withdrawn since the voting papers were issued , thus reducing the list to 36 .

vf vF TP It was also agreed to accept the sum of . 61050 from the Province of Northumberland as the price of a Perpetual Presentation , which our Northumbrian brethren are desirous of founding as a memorial to

the late Bro . Hubert Laws , with the usual conditions attached to the acceptance , that the boy so nominated shall be the son of a Northumbrian Mason , and duly qualified for admission under the regulations of the Institution .

* * * We warmly congratulate Bro . W . Goodacre , P . G . S . B . England , Prov . Grand Secretary of West Lancashire , on the honour which will undoubtedl y be conferred upon him at the Boys' School Quarterly Court to-day ( Friday ) .

It was in great measure owing to his indefatigable exertions and the exercise of his great personal influence among its lodges and members that West Lancashire succeeded in raising the enormous sum of £ 6000 and upwards in support of their

respected Provincial Grand Master ' s chairmanship at the recent annual Festival of the Institution , and the honorary Vice-Presidency which it is proposed to

confer on him is a slight but , at the same time , a very appropriate recognition of those services . We are likewise delighted to hear that a testimonial is being raised to him in West Lancashire .

* * * The letter from " Lex Scripta " which appeared in our last week ' s issue reminds us of a story we have read in one of Lever ' s novels . Two Irish gentlemen arranged to settle certain differencesor imaginary

, differences , in the usual manner . Accordingly , they and their seconds appeared at a certain rendezvous at an appointed hour . The ground was measured , the men were placed in position , and the signal to fire was given , with the result that neither was hit . A second

shot was equally ineffectual , on which the seconds broug ht their men a few paces closer together . Thereupon the latter first glared at each other ferociously , and then gazed in a state of bewilderment . Finally one of them naively remarked " Why , bedad , it is neither

of us I " Each had fought under the impression that his adversary was some one else . Needless to say , the part y shook hands all round , packed up their r attletraps , and in all probability adjourned to the nearest hostelry , and there discussed the incident to the accompaniment of sundry magnums of claret .

* * * ' Lex Scripta " and ourselves have been engaged in a Passage-at-arms under somewhat similar circumstances . In the controversy over "Article 213 and Lod ge La Cajsaree " he has been blazing away at us in

the belief that we did not consider the Durell case an exceptional one , but he now sees we have so regarded 1 ¦ On the other hand , we have all along assumed that when he wrote in his first letter " With all respect to

e Grand Lodge , to the eminent brethren who spoke , and to the Freemason , " he differed in opinion with m atld us as to the character of the case . Now that VC uvc bccn brought closer together we both find wo

Masonic Notes.

were mistaken . In short , it turns out to have been " neither of us , " and the incident closes , as the duel did , harmlessly and amid all-round rejoicings , but with the magnums of claret still in prospect .

w - ? p Hf We have received from Bro . W . Nicholls , P . M ., P . Prov . G . Treasurer East Lancashire , a letter , in which he " analyses in a way of his own " the recently

issued statement of accounts for the past year of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . This letter is far too long for insertion , but were it otherwise , we should still decline to find a place for it among our correspondence for the following principal reasons .

In the first place , about two years ago the Committee of Management of this Institution , at the instance of one of its members who was dissatisfied with the cost of management , appointed a Special Committee to inquire into the expenditure of the Secretary ' s office . If our

memory serves us rightly , the members of this Special Committee were nominated by the dissatisfied brother ; but whether this was so or not , the Committee inquired into the several points referred for their consideration , and reported that they had no fault to find with the

expenditure connected with the Secretary ' s office , that the salaries of the Secretary and his clerk were duly authorised , and that the commission paid to the Collector was in accordance with the terms of the agreement made between him and the Committee of

Management at the time of his appointment to office . We cannot see how any good—but , on the contrary , a great deal of harm—can result from re-opening in an irregular manner and non-officially an inquiry which was satisfactorily and officially concluded so long ago .

* * * In the next place , when an Institution finds it is being well served by its staff of officers , who not only do their prescribed duties thoroughly and well , but also a great deal more than is prescribed in the terms of

their several agreements , we feel confident Bro . W . Nicholls will agree with us that it is a most impolitic , not to say ungrateful , act on the part of any members of the Institution , but especially of those who are entirely ignorant of the administration of its affairs ,

to say or do anything which must harry and disturb those officers in the performance of their duties , both official and extra-official . The Secretary , Collector , and Clerk of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution

have enough of duty and responsibility on their hands to prevent them from ever falling into that lamentable state so pathetically deplored in one of Dr . Watts's hymns . Let them work in peace . * * *

Lastly , we must decline to convert this journal into a medium for irregularly acquiring information which is properly obtainable from the official head-quarters If Bro . Nicholls will have the kindness to address his series of questions to the Secretary of the Benevolent

Institution , we feel sure the latter , with his . snown courtesy , will oblige him with a series of answers such as will fully satisfy his present thirst for knowledge . Or , if he is content to hang up his curiosity for a time , just while the Secretary is working quadruple tides in

behalf of the approaching Jubilee of the Institution , there will be the annual meeting in May next , when , in the presence of his brother Life Governors , he will have the opportunity of propounding the questions he has recently addressed to us .

Deep regret will be felt at the sudden death at Warsaw on the and instant of Bro . Lord Cheylesmore , better known as Bro . H . W . Eaton , formerly M . P . for many years for Coventry . His lordship was a Mason

of long standing in the Craft , and was appointed Junior Grand Warden of Grand Lodge and Assistant Grand Sojourner of Supreme Grand Chapter as far back as 1 S 55 .

* * * The Supreme Council , 33 , will hold the usual quarterly convocation on Tuesday next , at 33 , Golden-square . According to the agenda issued there

are seven candidates for the 31 ° , and 18 for the 30 . The balance-sheet which we publish in another column attests the continued prosperity of the Order , and the important position it holds amongst the Masonic bodies of the world .

r n > TO ff We feel sure that Bro . W . F . Lamonby , who , with Mrs . Lamonby , has returned to England after a long

absence at the Antipodes , will receive the heartiest of welcomes from his numerous Masonic friends and acquaintances . Ten years ago our worthy brother left for Australia to fulfil engagements he had accepted on

Masonic Notes.

the Argus and Australasian newspapers . During his sojourn in that country he has taken a very active part in Victorian Freemasonry , but more especially in connection with the foundation of the present Freemasons ' Hall , Melbourne , and the establishment of the United G .

Lodge of Victoria . He has at different times received recognitions of his valuable services to the Craft , and before leaving Melbourne was presented with addresses , testimonials , and other like compliments from various committees and public bodies with which he had been

connected , among them being an illuminated address and a purse of £ 150 from the leading Freemasons of Melbourne . He is a Past Senior Grand Warden of Victoria , and will now resume his Masonic duties in

the Skiddaw Lodge , No . 1002 , of which he has been a subscribing member for upwards of a quarter of a century . We congratulate him on his return home , and wish him many years of health and strength to enjoy his well-won honours .

Correspondence.

Correspondence .

T We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair play to all to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion .- ] SIR WALTER SCOTT AND FREEMASONRY .

To the Editor of the Freemason . * Dear Sir and Brother , In the last number of the Freemason , under the above heading , I observe an article in which the writer ascribes the many allusions to Freemasonry in Sir Walter Scott ' s works to the possibility of his having

" stumbled across some old books bearing more or less on Freemasonry , " although he confesses " there are others which seem to imply a deeper knowledge than the outside world is usually supposed to possess . " We might almost say the same of many of Shakespeare's allusions , which any Masonic scholar will readily

recognise , but unfortunately we have no data to go by , and no authority to call the master Shakespeare brother , while in the case of the great novelist it is our pride to own here , in his own country , that he belonged to the Craft , just as we glory of speaking of Burns as a brother .

Scott was initiated in St David ' s Lodge , Edinburgh , on the 2 nd of March , 1801 , when he was about 30 years of age , and his quick perceptive faculties and retentive memory is evidenced by the apt illustrations , expressions , or similes , more or less Masonic , he makes use of in his writings . In that well-known scene in " The

Clachan of Aberfoil , " where Bailie Nichol Jarvie protests against Major Galbraith ' s disrespectful language in talking of the Duke of Argyle , and the Major retorts " She'll speak her mind and fear naebody—she does na value a Cawmie mair as a Cowan , " I find in my copy of "Rob Roy" I had underlined the word Cowan '

and written the query " Is Cowan used here in a Masonic sense ? " and some years later on reading Bro . Murray Lyon's "Freemasonry in Scotland" I found the query satisfactorily answered in the affirmative . Again , to show how fond he was of using Masonic words or expressions where they emphasised

the idea he wished to convey , I lately found in an unpublished letter of his , in recommending a certain person for some particular office in the managementof which he had considerable experience , instead of saying so in so many words he simply but expressively writes " he is a past master" in the business . In the

whole range of the English language he could not have found a more concise or effective expression . In the archives of the ancient lodge of Melrose , No ; 1-, with which I am at present busily engaged for a forthcoming volume , are two notes of his apologising for inability to attend certain functions connected with

the lodge , and in the minutes of the Hawick Lodge , No . 111 , mention is made of his being inv ' ted in 1821 to lay the foundation-stone of the new subscription rooms there . Burns we know was a Royal Arch Mason , having been exalted in Eyemouth , but I have never heard ot Sir Walter Scott being a companion , although as the writer of the article alluded to observes that in

his writings there are passages not uninteresting to Royal Arch Masons , and even an acquaintance with higher Degrees are suggested in his works , but 1 think he would not have time to have gone beyond the "blue" or "St . John's" Masonry . With apologies for trespassing on your space , I am yours fraternally , W . FRED . VERNON . Kelso , 3 rd October .

THE WORCESTERSHIRE MASONIC CATALOGUE .

' To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , It is seldom the Masonic student is gratified with two catalogues of such merit as Bro . Whymper's and the Worcestershire Masonic Library at so close a period .

Thanks to Bros . Hughan , Gould , Rylands , Speth , and other eminent Masons the bibliography of the Craft has received so great an impetus that the enquiring Mason is now to be met with in every town . In England , Ireland , and Scotland I have met with them at every turn , each one with his " hobby . " books .