Notable Lodge Meetings.

proclamation issued by him having been dated Queen-street , 12 th February , 1648 . The great Lord Herbert of Cherbury died here in the same year ; while among other residents were Lord Chancellor Finch , the Conway and Paulet families , and the Earl

of Rochford ( 1733 ) . Contemporary with the last-named as an inhabitant was the actress , Mrs . Kitty Clive , while among others of later date may be mentioned Mr . Opie , R . A ., the famous painter ; James Floole , translator of Tasso and other Italian

poets , Hudson , Sir Joshua Reynolds ' s master ; Worlidge , famous for his etchings after Rembrandt ; Miss Pope ; Mrs . Robinson , "the beautiful

Perdita" of George the Third ' s time ; and last , but not least , Richard Brinsley Sheridan , to whom many of the letters in " Moore's Life "

are addressed . These lastmentioned lived at what are now Nos . 55 and 56 , though owing to the system of numbering houses having been

introduced only late last century , it is difficult to determine precisely at which houses many of the celebrities we have enumerated resided .

The particular edifice , however , with which we are more immediately concerned now is the house which , only

CEILING IN BOARD ROOM .

a few years since , was known as Bacon s Hotel , and ranked among the most comfortable and commodious family hotels in London . There were many of these hotels formerly , but their number has been greatly reduced during the past few years .

In the palmy clays of Bacon , who was also for some years lessee of the Freemasons' Tavern , the hotel bearing his name was well supported , and by a good substantial class of customer . On his death it was taken by Messrs . Spiers and

Pond , the present lessees of the Tavern , but when their term had expired they do not appear to have been anxious to renew it , and Grand

Mark Lodge , which has grown to be so important a body during the last dozen years , and which , as it bids fair to become still more numerous

and important , was anxious to obtain more commodious premises , made an offer to Grand Lodge for a 49 years' lease of the hotel , undertaking at the same time to spend some £ 3000

in altering and embellishing the premises , the yearly rental it offered to pay being the same as had been paid by previous lessees , a namely , £ 360 per annum . The terms were agreed

to , and Grand Lodge also agreed to take a peppercorn rent for the first six months while the repairs and alterations , & c , were being carried out . That the renovations have

been done substantially and in the best possible manner is beyond doubt , and the greatest praise is due to Bros . Robert Berridge and C . H . Driver , the honorary architects of

Mark Grand Lodge , under whose superintendence the whole of the work has been done . On the ground floor are the Grand Secretary's room and offices , which are well furnished

and fitted , while what in the hotel days was the Coffee Room has been converted into a spacious and well appointed lodge room . Other apartments on the same floor have also been transformed into the same class

I- 'I REPLACE IN BOARD ROOM .

ot rooms , so that in time G . Lodge may look forward to recouping itself a large proportion of the rental it pays to the Craft Grand Lodge by its charges for the use of their rooms .

Ihe greatest change , however , has taken place on the first floor , which may be said to have been almost entirely reconstructed , so that the space once occupied b y bed and other rooms for the accommodation of the frequenters of the hotel

Notable Lodge Meetings.

now includes a Grand Hall , a Board Room , a Grand Officers ' Room , & c . The Hall , which is the subject of our principal illustration , is , as may well be imagined , a fine and commodious . apartment , in all respects worthy of its epithet " Grand . " In

length it is slightly less than the Grand Hall in Freemasons ' Hall , but it exceeds the latter in width , so that the floor area is little , if at all , inferior to that of the Craft Grand Hall , while in height , as far as we were able to . judge , it appeared to be

about the same . The decorative work here is not yet completed—indeed , it is surprising that the alterations

should have been carried to a point so near completion—¦ but a glance at the walls will show that when what may be thought necessary in

this respect has been added , the Hall will be one of the handsomest of its kind in the Metropolis , while the numerous panels on the two

side walls , and the end one which faces the dais , will admit of a series of portraits being hung on them of the Grand Mark Master Masons

and Pro Grand Masters from Lord Leigh onwards to the present time . The cost of painting and hanging such a series will be somewhat heavv .

and for a long time , at all events , we can hardly expect that this outlay will be incurred . As for the accommodation for seating the Grand Officers and brethren , everything seems to have been done that could possibly conduce to the comfort and

convenience of those present , and the Hall being , as we have said , commodious , will suffice for the attendance on all ordinary and most special occasions . Our other illustrations serve to give a very admirable idea of the

fireplace and overmantel and ceiling in the Board Room . These beautiful specimens of the decorative work of former days have happily survived both the damage which is almost

inevitable when a house goes through many changes of ownership , and the indignities to which the art-remains that have come down to us from the Tudor and Stuart periods are

subjected by the latter-day Vandal , whenever he has the chance ; but thanks to the tender care of Bros . Berridge and Driver , they have been now restored— -in the proper sense of

the word—in such a manner as to enable us to form a tolerably just conception of their pristine beauty , and we must congratulate Mark Grand Lodge on having under the

roof of its new headquarters such rare specimens of the more delicate and tasteful workmanship of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries .

On the upper floors there are also many rooms as yet unoccupied , several of which in time will be used for the accommodation of the less numerous lodges which may

elect to meet at Mark Masons ' Hall . In short , the whole work of alteration and renovation , both externally and internally , has been

done most successfully , and none can say the honours conferred on Bros . Berridge and Driver in recognition of their important

services are not most richly deserved ; while as regards the Building and Premises Committee , ' consisting of Bros , the Earl of Euston , Frank Richardson , James Moon , and Charles F .

Matier , they , too , are equally entitled to the thanks tendered to them by the General Board , endorsed by Grand Lodge , and now recorded on the minutes of the latter .