Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 349 Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex and Surrey . " . 3 . < o Provincial Grand Chapter of Leicestershire and Rutland ....- . ' 3 J 0 English Freemasonn-before J 717 . —No . II . 350 History of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ( Continued ) 351

CORRESPONDENCEBoys' School Festival , 1 SR 4 ... ; 353 Reviews 353 . Notes and Queries 353 Craft Masonry . ' ...... 334 Royal Arch 35 fi Ancient and Accepted Rite 356 Consecration of the William Kelly Mark Lodge , No . 339 , at Winshill 356

Consecration of the Royal Naval Chapter , No . 59 35 } Summer Banquet of the Lodge of Prosperity , No . 65 35 ; Annual Picnic of the Lodge of Atlability , No . 317 , Manchester 3 $$ Summer Excursion of the Hundred of Elloe

Lodge , No , 4 69 , Spalding 35 } Summer Banquet of the Lodge of St , John , No . 1306 .: ' .: 357 Summer Banquet of the Earl of Carnarvon Lodge , No . 1642 •.. 357 Provincial Grand Lodge of Kent 358 Bro . J . E . Dawson , D . P . G . M . Hertfordshire 358 Masonic and General Tidings .. ' 358 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Cover .

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WE would fain hope that the old Masonic formula so clearly and effectively dclivere'd by H . R . H . the GRAND MASTER , as is his wont , at the St . Ann ' s School gathering , will have due effect on many who are inclined to believe the very worst of our Order , simply because one great religious body adheres to its oft repeated incriminations and denunciations . Indeed , the

proceedings of the Roman Catholic Curia often remind us of Don Bartolo , in - Beaumarchais' famous comedy . La Calomnie , calumny if judiciously employed and calmly persisted in is pretty sure to have some effect sooner or later . A portion of Ihe "dirt" assiduously besprinkled must adhere , and if we can only keep on long enough repeating this , affirming that , after

a little while people begin to shake their heads , grow cool and distant , and look askance at some unconscious victims of one of the great " factors " of modern society , calumny . From 1738 the Freemasons have been under the ban of the Church of Rome , and the worst things have been said of them , and the hardest things believed . Since the French Revolution Roman

Catholic Abbds and Jesuit Scribes have " unit voce " declared Freemasonry the cause of that and all other revolutions , though with the former the Freemasons had nothing to do , and the sins of the " Illuminati , " an entirely different Order , have been visited on the Freemasons as a revolutionary and destructive organization ,, which organization , by the way , was

founded by A . Weishaupt , a Roman Catholic , and some even allege a Jesuit , who found Freemasonry too loyal and religious for him . Since 1 S 21 the Freemasons have . been declared to be revolutionists , and secret conspirators , like the Carbonari , & c , with whom they have nothing in common , . and within the last month the great Roman Catholic authorities

have united -in proclaiming Freemasons everywhere , even in loyal and peaceful England , . a dangerous clique of conspirators and revolutionists . His Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER , in the manly and straightforward verbiage of our olden Masonic formulae , on the . contrary , announced to all that , though a mysterious Society , we were both loyal , charitable , and

religious , and that , always obedient to the laws and ever amenable to authority , we rejoiced ' in nothing so much as aiding the work of reli gion in the world , by assisting , like our operative forefathers , at the raising of edifices for the worship of the Most High , and in all works of a useful , scientific , eleemosynary , and aesthetic nature . -Though wc cannot , we fear , expect or hope

that these voices of intolerance and injustice will yet be hushed , or the echoes of calumny will yet entirely . fade away , even before the realities of Truth , and Light , and Justice , and Reality ; yet we may fairly entertain the

assurance that the good old adage is true as ever , and will be found to be so , even amid senseless accusations and ill-omened anathemata , as regards our good old Craft , so perversely maligned , — "Magna est Veritas , et pra ; - valebit . "

. *«* THE extreme intolerance and animus against Freemasonry , as recently exhibited in the Roman Catholic serial , "The Month , " is a very serious matter to contemplate and realize . Freemasons had hoped , and not without fair grounds , that thelong existing acrimony as manifested by the Roman

Catholic body against Freemasons was becoming gradually diminished by the lapse" of years , and the soothing influences of Time , reflection , and common sense ; and that whatever might be the case in some foreign jurisdictions , where the words and acts of Freemasons were certainly susceptible , both of great animadversion and official reprobation , in England and

America , Freemasons dnd Freemasonry would be admitted to hold a distinct and distinguished position , separate from all others , above all others , and deserving the praise rather than the censure , the sympathy rather than the condemnation , of the Roman Catholic body itself . Alas ! such hopes are rudely dispelled b y the recent deliverance of " The Month . " That

magazine is edited b y a Roman Catholic writer cognizant of the wishes of his superiors , and the feelings of his contemporaries . It is a cultured serial for educated Roman Catholics ; and yet what do we find ? Simply the reiteration of the current vulgar tone of Roman Catholicism for the last 100 years unaltered ,, unchanged , unaffected by the progress of time , uninflu-

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enced by any different condition of circumstances . In the same breath with the avowal of the distinct knowledge on the part of the writer that in England Freemasonry is both loyal and reverential , charitable and reputable ; that members of the Royal Family , the Church of England , the nobility , the legislature , the bar , all the learned professions form part of it habitually ,

acknowledge its fellowship and swell its numbers , this outburst of Roman Catholic petulance unequivocally affirms that Freemasons are Pagans and Revolutionists , Communists and Socialists , intent on bringing down the whole fabric of Society , destroying authority , religion , law , and order in the world . In such a state , both of " invincible ignorance " and , we may

add , a " reprobate mind " as regards Freemasonry , is there any use in prolonging the controversy , in even noticing such allegations , and invectives , and assertions ? We think not . We feel that henceforth it is our more dignified course , having called attention to the fact , . as we sometimes say in social life , to " let the matter slide . " We cannot go on repeating for ever

that we are loyal and reverential , charitable and reputable , peaceful members of Society , inimical to revolution , anarchy , secret conspiracies , and secret societies ; neither can we go on for ever protesting against the declarations of an infallible authority that we are all that is bad , and vicious , and-detestable , and "booked for something uncomfortable . " Anglo-Saxon

Freemasonry . at any rate will certainly not suffer in any way from recent Bulls , Allocutions , and the like . Nay , we venture to predict that it will still march on- " conquering and to conquer , " upholding its happy and genial truths among men ,, and proclaiming to near and far , —to savage and civilized , —Glory to GOD and Love to Man .

WE sometimes feel inclined to ask Masonic historian ' s to-day , what henceforth is really to be the "Ultima Thule" of Masonic archaeology , where are ' we to be ultimately landed , into what unknown form' of accredited authority are myth and legend to direct us ? . What will remain of dear

old Masonic "Sagas" and mystic Masonic "Runes "'/ What shall we have left then ?—what are we to credit ? what to accept ' ¦ ! . The developement of negative criticism would almost seem to fore- ' shadow for us all a state of chaos , of nothingness , of unsubstantiality , of intangibility in respect of Masonic history . If we are not somewhat

on our guard , we shall some fine day find ourselves without a creditable or credible history of any kind , so much so that we shall even ourselves feel inclined to say , as " each dear delusion fades ' and dies , " we have nothing left to us . We feel also bound to observe , in the' best interests . as we deem of Masonic writers

and Masonic history , that negative criticism is not the highest expression ¦ of the'critic's labours , or the historian ' s art . In the first place , it is ' andremains negative , and negative alone . It is always difficult to prove a negative ; . it seems to us to be still more difficult to rest on merely negative criticism . For negative criticism , like circumstantial evidence , has always

this drawback and danger , —it may be overthrown at any time by the presence of some " scintilla" of affirmative and direct evidence alike overlooked and ignored . When the historical critic seeks to disprove a particular statement commonly received , and accredited for years , whether by mere tradition or personal asseveration , because a certain portion of

affirmative evidence is wanting , it seems always to be , to some extent ' at any rate , a contest of intellectual actfvity , of mental athleticism , in which the result of a purely negative method , and alike exhaustive and effective , - redounds to the credit of the writer in the school of destructive criticism . The great aim arid end of all History to be History , " Istoria , " namely , Truth ,

are temporarily forgotten , or momentarily obscured . It is one thing to assert our own ingenuity , cleverness , the ease of compilation , and thefacility of transcription , the judicious reservation , and the amiable •" padding , " and above all the ever-taking element of originality and discovery , and it is another , yes , quite another thing , to claim

for the lucubrations we issue and the theories we propound , . the negations we exult in , and the "tabula rasa" we bequeath to studentposterity , the name of history , the dignity of that great science . which so often and so-pleasantly appeals to the faith and the doubt , the conviction and the credulity , the warm acceptance , the wavering cynicism

of mankind . Some such thoughts have recently come over us , as regarding the Masonic literature to-day , we seem again to be dividing ourselves into the critical and uncritical schools . Our words of warning will do no harm if they will only induce some to realize that true history

cannot long survive if based on negative criticism alone , that it is so easy to prove that anything really is not , when it is very difficult to demonstrate that anything really is ; and that in certain cases , and under certain conditions , the discovery of a MS ., or a book , or long-forgotten token , " the missing link" of our common Order , may supply the place of direct and