Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS .

A mectino - of the General Committee of this Institution was held in the Board-room at Freemasons' Hall on Saturday last , Bro . Raynham W . Stewart in the chair ; and there were also present Bros . Alfred Williams , Donald M . Dewar , R . B . Webster , Rev . Dr . Morris , Arthur E . Gladwell , Richard Tyrell , Alexander Wallace , S . Rawson , James Winter , Frederick Adlard , Edward Baxter , F . Binckes ( Secretary ) , and E . C . Massey ( Freemason ) .

The minutes of the Inst General Committee were read and confirmed . The minutes of the last General Court of the House Committee , & c , were read for information . The report of the Audit Committee was read and ordered to be entered on the minutes . Three petitions for candidates for election were deferred , two because certificates were incomplete , and one on account of the candidate ' s inability to read .

A grant of £ 5 was awarded a former scholar upon a satisfactory certificate from his present employer . The SECRETARY reported that the Charitable Trusts Bill introduced into the House of Commons had been withdrawn . The CHAIRMAN said that he resrretted to inform the brethren of the

decease of Bro . Moutrie and Bro . Meggy , members of the House Committee . The SECRETARY reported that the new offices would be ready in about a fortnight , and received authority to expend a sum not exceeding £ 50 in the purchase of additional furniture for the same . A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The monthly meeting of the Committee of this Institution was held on Wednesday , at Freemasons Hall , Bro . Raynham W . Stewart , P . G . D ., in the chair . There were also present Bros . S . Rawson , G . Bolton , J . A . Farnfield , William Clarke , J . M . Case , C . G . Dilley , C . J . Perceval , F . Adlard , John M . Stedwell , Charles Daniel , Thomas W . C . Bush , Edgar Bowyer , Charles Atkins , W . F . Ncttlcship , W . Hilton , and James Terry ( Secretary ) .

After the reading and verification of the minutes of 23 rd July , the Warden ' s report for the last month was read , and the Chairman was authorised to sign cheques for the annuitants , & c . The SECRETARY read letter announcing the withdrawal of the Charitable Trusts Bill from Parliament .

Two petitions were examined , and the candidates were placed on the list for election next May . A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceedings .

Masonic History And Historians.

MASONIC HISTORY AND HISTORIANS .

13 Y MASONIC STUDENT . A very important " factor " in the whole history of Freemasonry , at any rate during and since the Middle Ages , is the question of those wandering bands of Freemasons who built in this country , and other countries , those mighty structures which still attest their constructive skill , adorn architecture proper , and arc the admiration and astonishment of successive ages and of our own times .

Earlier writers , as Hope , Gunn , Dnllaway , Poole , kc , have alluded to the " Freemasons " as " builders " in express terms , and though the fact , as a fact , has been questioned by some and denied by others , I apprehend that there can be little doubt but " that in some sense , at any rale , those writers were correct in their assertions founded on fact . Mr . C . J . Ferguson , an architect well-known in the north of England , in an interesting publication on Lancrcost Abbey , assumes that the work of the Freemasons was a real work .

Recent researches , like Sir Gilbert Scott ' s l'abric Rolls of Westminster Abbey , the Fabric Rolls of York Minster , and of Durham , published by the Surtees Society , the Register of Wm . Molash , Prior of Canterbur } -, and numerous extracts from older documents , seem to demonstrate unmistakably that some Master Masons and Masons worked consecutively in the north and in the south , and that most of the great abbeys had a skilled staff or "lodge "

of workmen attached to them . Sir Gilbert Scott asserts that there were Masons and a Master Mason in the King ' s pay , and the power of the Crown to impress Masons for special service is proved by undoubted authorities . In the lists of names of Masons preserved as working both at St . Stephen ' s Chapel , and at Durham , the former of which has been published in the " Masonic Magazine " some lime back , we note the fact of the

great preponderance of English and local names , with a small admixture of foreign Masons . The German theory , that at one time the Masons in England were mostly foreigners or Germans , is nowhere proved , so far as any list of names has yet been published , though we undoubtedly find names of Flemish or German origin among well-known and undoubted English names . But then the question comes in—Who were these Freemasons ?

Why were they termed Freemasons' ! Was it because they worked " free stone , " and were Masons "de Franche Pierre , " in opposition to rough Masons ; or were they called Freemasons because free of their guild , chapter , or lodge ?

The argument , as regards the derivation of "Freemason " from "Franche Pierre " has always appeared to me to be particularly weak and haphazard . It is the " post hoc , propter hoc " with a vengeance . Neither philologically nor realistically could we get Freemason from " Free-stone Mason . " There is no meaning , to my mind , in any such derivation .

The Act , often quoted , of Edward III ., talks of " Mestre Macon de Franche Pierre , " " Master Mason of Free-stone , " but it is an unique use of the word , and no traces of any distinction between those Macons who worked in Free-stone and those who did not anywhere else appears . In all the Fabric Rolls and Lists , though the Masons arc sometimes termed " Masons of the Lughe or Loyge , " they are not distinguished from one another . There is the " Magisler Ccmcntariorum , " the " Mestre Macon , " the

Masonic History And Historians.

"Maystcr Mayson , " the "Cementarii , Latomi , Latami , Lathomi , " also "Operarii , Operantes , Laboratores , " Masons called setters , Iigiers , tegulatores , and other specific names , but they arc all of quite late use . Indeed , the intense simplicity of the early term " cementarii" is vcry remarkable . Strictly speaking , " cementarii " arc not Masons in any sense of the word .

"Latomi , " from the Greek " Lithos and temno ; " " Lithotomi , Lapicid ; c , " from the "Lapicidina :, a quarrier , " are , properly , stonecutters , stone hewers . "Latomi" are said to come from Latomix . The " Cementarii " are probably the users of " cementum " orcement , and arc , strictly speakino-, perhaps , as Mr . Britton said , " Bricklayers , " really doing the " Roman urn opus" in brick , that being , of course , carefully cemented .

I have not " Facciolati at hand , but , if I remember rightly , such is his use , though the word is used for Masons ; and Facciolati knows nothing of " Latomus , " which is , I apprehend , a word of pu : e monastic use . If , also , I remember rightly , Facciolati spells the word " cocmentum , " but of this I am not quite sure .

In the early 15 th century ordinances of the Dean and Chapter of York , and those of the 14 th century , a Mason to be admitted to work must be admitted with the consent of the Magisler and Guardiani , ( Wardens ) , and Majorcs , ( Elders ) , of the lodge , and take the " corporal oath " of fidelity to his " work" and the Dean and Chapter of York .

I think , then , though it is still , so far , only the evidence of inference , that we may fairly contend that Freemasons were called Freemasons because they were members of a Free Guild , either incorporated by Roval Charter , or , like Bishop Lucy's Fraternity at Winchester , or the Confraternity at Glasgow , by a religious authority .

It seems that in England , if Toitlinm Smith be correct , the " Royal Licence" for a Guild was always needful , and probably one of the reasons for the return of the Guilds in Richard the Second's time , was to ascertain how many were merely ecclesiastical Guilds , as well as for the question of " property " held by " Mortmain , " for at that time , as we know , the contest between the Papal and Regal power was coming rapidly " to the fore . "

But here weave " estopped" by want of evidence , and the " crux " endures , and must do so , until further facts arc before us—1 . What is the history of the Guilds from Richard II . to their suppression in Edward VI . ? 2 . What is the connection between them and the operative lodges existing in 1646 ? and what , again , is the " link" which binds the speculative Masons of 1717 with those of Ashmole's days , and , above all , with the Mediaeval Guilds of Freemasons ?

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

Ihe children , to the number of nineteen , of this excellent Institution , left behind for their holidays , were on Tuesday last taken to Brighton , under the care of Bro . H . A . Dubois , Chairman of the House Committee . They left Clapham Junction at a few minutes after nine o ' clock , in a sh' « on carriage specially provided by the Railway Company , and on their arrival at Brighton proceeded at once to the Old Ship , where -refreshment was promptly served , under the superintendence of Bro . Bacon .

ihe children were then taken to the beach , where they , the whole morning , " battled with the waves " to their heart ' s content , a strong breeze blowing . At one o ' clock the company returned to the Ship , where a capital dinner was served , At its conclusion the young ones were taken through the whole of the rooms and private apartments of the Royal Pavilion— a privilege obtained through the kind influence of Bro . V . P . Freeman , the Prov . Grand Secretary of the Province of Sussex .

The children next visited the Aquarium , and appeared highly delighted and amused with the objects exhibited therein . Alter tea , which was provided at half-past six o ' clock , the company repaired to the Pier . During the day the children met many of their old schoolfellows , a fact which added considerably to their enjoyment . The happy and healthy appearance of the young folks elicited many complimentary remarks from the Brightonians , the universal opinion being that their behaviour and appearance " altogether reflected the highest praise upon all connected with the Institution .

Unfortunately few of the Sussex brethren were present , owing to a prior engagement with Bro . Sir W . W . Burrell , Bart ., M . P ., at a dinner at West Grinstead .

The children returned to Battersea in the evening , thoroughly well pleased with the change in the trip , which has heretofore been to Hampton Court . The weather was all that could be desired . The company in attendance upon the children included Bro . and Mrs . H . A . Dubois , Miss Buck , Miss Shepherd , Miss Barrett , Mr . Peachey , and Bro . F . A . Kelly ( Freemason ) .

LEGEND , THE , OF FREEMASONRY . —Legend , which comes from the Latin " legenda , " seems to take its actual meaning from the old " Legcnda Sanctorum , " and the like , which , preserved in MS ., were read sometimes at meals in the monasteries . But a "legend" may also be oral—a story preserved traditionally ; and there is also a meaning , formerly apparently , and latterly certainly , attached to " legend , " which would seem to imply a

narrative , whether true or false , or even what has been termed a " fiction , with a pretension to truth , " as Mackey properly reminds us . One common use of the word seems to be a national chronicle or a religious tale which professes to be true , but is not actually so ; hence our frequent use of the word " legendary " in this sense . " Legcnda" is clearly of monastic and mediaeval , not classic , use . Some , like Mackey , have divided legends into

mythical , philosophical , and historical , but we do not think that such a division of the subject can be accepted , as we thereby exclude alike the mystical , the religious , and the romantic . In old days , most of the "Mysteries" or " Crafts" had some favourite Saint , whose legend was bound up with its history and rules ; and the operative Freemasons had , undoubtedly , that Legend of Freemasonry which may be called the " Legend

of the Guilds " ( see Guilds ) , which is found in what we term the " Constitution of Masons , " or , as in the Masonic Poem , the " Constitution of Geometry . " We need not dilate upon it here , as it is now well known to us , thanks mainly to the publications of Bro . W . J . Hughan . We shall hope that some day a " Magnum Opus " may appear of all the existing Constitutions and Legends . —Kenning ' s ^ Cyclopaedia of Freemasonry ,