Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS ? i Royal Masonic Institution for Girls a 6 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 26 New Year ' s Entertainment at the Girls " School 26 Bro . Lane's " Masonic Records" 27

Freemasonry in Ireland 27 C ORRESPONDENCE" Masonic Records" 29 Burns as Poet Laureate of No . 2 29 Westminster and Keystone Lodge , No . 10 29 Confirmation of Minutes 29 Masonic Exhibition 20

CORRESPONDENCE ( Continued)—Music in Lodges 29 Notes and Queries 30 REPORTS 07 MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry 30 Instruction ... 34

Roval Arch—Instruction 35 Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution 35 Twelfth Night Festivity at Drury Lane 3 < j Obituarv 35 Theatres ¦ " 3 $ Masonic and General Tidings 3 if Lodge Meetings for Next Week 36

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MANY of our readers are in receipt of a circular , bearing date the The Jubilee g ,. ^ jnst an fj jssued by the P G RAND M ASTER to all Pro-Celt Dr / tit ion vincial and District Grand Masters , and the Masters of all private lodges , on the subject of the proposed celebration of her MAJESTY ' Jubilee ,

and the course it is in contemplation or suggested that the Masonic body in England shall adopt in connection with that auspicious event . This circular contains , in the first place , the announcement of a scheme , or plan , for Masonically commemorating the Jubilee , which his Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER has sanctioned : and , in the next , a suggestion which has

been submitted to , and approved by , his Royal Highness in his lay capacity , and which , if adopted , will enable the Freemasons of England to play their part to an extent worthy of so loyal , so numerous , and so influential a Society , in the grand National Memorial which it has been determined to raise in honour of her Majesty , and which will signalise , through the

ages yet to come , the splendour and prosperity of her long and happy reign . The Masonic celebration will include a representative meeting of the brethren in the Royal Albert Hall , or at Olympia , at which the GRAND MASTER will preside in person , and for admission to which a fee of one or two guineas will be charged , the proceeds of the fund thus raised being

devoted to our Masonic Institutions . At this meeting an Address of Congratulation to her Majesty will be proposed , and the brethren will thus be enabled to show both their Loyalty to the gracious Sovereign of these realms , and their attachment to the Charitable Institutions of the Order . The GRAND MASTER has further sanctioned the issue of a special Jubilee jewel , to be worn

by all Freemasons who are subscribing members of some lodge under the English Constitution on the 20 th June , 1887 , the day when her MAJESTY will complete the 50 th year of her reign . This constitutes the purely Masonic portion of the celebration , which , be it repeated , has been already arranged and received the sanction of the GRAND MASTER . As regards the remaining

part of the proposal , namely , the suggestion su bmitted to the lodges by the PRO GRAND MASTER , with the sanction and approval of the GRAND MASTER , it is to the effect that a subscription consisting of contributions not exceeding one guinea per member shall be raised by the Masonic Fraternity towards the erection of the Imperial Institute for the United

Kingdom , the Colonies , and India , which the Prince of WALES has proposed , and the Country has resolved to adopt as the national memorial of the Jubilee . This will afford the brethren the opportunity of playing their part in the approaching celebration as members of the body politic , and of showing they are as fully prepared as the rest of their fellow subjects to do honour

to a Sovereign , who is so universally beloved and respected , and so entirely worthy of the hig hest and most enduring honours that can be paid to her . Here then we have the official proposal for commemorating the 50 th anniversary of the QUEEN ' S accession to the throne . In so far as it arranges for a representative gathering of

Masons , the issue of a Jubilee medal or jewel , and above all , for the raising of a fund which shall benefit our Masonic Charitable Institutions , it necessarily commands our instant and hearty approval , for are not these—in substance , if not in detail—the proposals we have ourselves shadowed forth already ? As regards the extra-Masonic portion of the scheme for assisting

by individual subscriptions in the establishment of the Imperial Institute , we trust this also will find favour with the brethren generally , and that a goodly sum will be raised for the project . Had the idea stood forth alone , we should have felt constrained to oppose it ; had it been flung into our midst precipitately , as the rough proposal of Bro . RAYNHAM W . STEWART ,

P . G . D ., was the other day , we should have met it in precisely the same way as we did that brother's resolution . But it comes before us as an addendum—for the brethren to receive favourably or unfavourably as they may be disposed—to a scheme which is already sanctioned , and which nearly everyone who had given the matter a thought had marked out for himself as being the most suitable for the purpose . It is naturally approved by the

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Prince of WALES , as author of the plan for establishing an Imperial Institute , and we trust the brethren at large will loyally assist his Royal Highness in his endeavours to carry to a successful issue a project which can hardly

prove otherwise than beneficial to the whole British Empire . We will even go further , and say that those brethren who may not think highly of the proposed Institute will be paying a graceful compliment to a GRAND MASTER who has presided over them so ably , if they second his efforts in its behalf .

* # * WE shall hope to be forgiven if , with the Index to our Volume Vohime ! XIX . before us , we indulge a little in what is commonl y known as blowing one ' s own trumpet . As a rule people do not regard

an Index as very awe-inspiring . Manylook upon it merely as an indispensable nuisance . When conspicuous by its absence , it is roundly abused , and still more roundly , if being present it is found to have omitted , rightly or wrongly , the particular reference which a casual reader may be anxious about . Yet Indexes mostly have a tale of their own to tell , and though we

have no intention of inflicting on our readers an elaborate analysis of the one we presented them with last week , we propose utilising it as a peg on which to hang a few convenient remarks , just lo satisfy our friends that the thanks we have tendered them for their continued support is something more than a verbal compliment , and that our claims to have extended the sphere of

our labours during the past twelve months are amply justified by the circumstances . We do not lay so much stress on the difference in bulk between our Volume XIX . and its immediate predecessors , though an enlargement to the extent of 100 pages is a considerable one . We know also the information which all our Volumes contain is about the same in character , one year ' s

history , whether of greater or less moment , being pretty much like another year ' s history . But during the past twelve months we find we have been able to furnish reports of proceedings relating to a largely increased number of lodges as compared with previous periods . In 1884 we gave reports of 388 Craft lodges , 37 Mark lodges , and 74 Royal Arch chapters ; in 1885 , of 473 Craft

lodges , 45 Mark lodges , and 90 Royal Arch chapters ; and in 1886 , of 520 Craft lodges , 62 Mark lodges , and 91 Royal Arch chapters , the Provincial Grand Lodges and Chapters , though varying in detail , being about as numerous in all three years . Many will suggest , perhaps , that this is too trivial to be noticed . A few more lodge reports , they will say , and , as a

consequence , a greater bulk of unreadable matter . We certainly should not recommend a course of lodge report reading to a brother suffering from dyspepsia or the blues , any more than we should think of proposing the study of our Indexes as a recreation . Yet it must be remembered that our reports of proceedings are the sinews of Masonic history . Indeed , many a

lodge that has been warranted since 1834 might have its history compiled with a tolerable approach to accuracy and completeness from the Freemason and other periodicals which have been published in different forms and under different names , but continuously , since that year . The more attractive articles and correspondence , which constitute generall y the readable portion

of our periodicals , are valuable , in so far as they reflect public opinion at the time they are written , or when they indicate its tendencies in favour of this or that school of thought . But at best they give us only the opinions , while the reports contain the facts . Hence the stress we lay on the increased and increasing number of lodges and chapters , which from time to time

favour us with particulars of their meetings , as being the true test of our increasing usefulness , as well as of our greater popularity with the Craft . This and the evidence it furnishes that in other departments of news , both home and foreign , we have either maintained our ground , or enlarged and

improved our annual bill ot fare , is the chief consolation we derive from a glance at the Index to our latest Volume ; and our great hope is that when the current year is ended , we may feel as justified as we consider we are now in indulging in a little vainglory .

# # The recent " A WANDERER > " who has lately written to a non-Masonic Death from contemporary on the subject of the recent death from starvation Starvation . Q C a member of the Union Waterloo Lodge , No . 13 , Woolwich , and who describes himself in his letter as " An Old Mason " would

have done better had he observed the virtue of silence . He cannot add anything to our knowledge of the circumstances of poor HUTTOM ' death . Indeed , he does not appear to have troubled himself to read the evidence that was given at the inquest . But he contrasts the record of Masonic Benevolence in 1886 , as published by our contemporary , with the account of the brother ' s lamentable death , and then calml y states from his own knowledge