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GILLIAM ( Successors to Makepeace and Walford ) , SILVERSMITHS , JEWELLERS , AND DIAMOND MOUNTERS , DEALERS IN ANTIQUE PLATE & JEWELLERY . 6 , SERLE STREET , LINCOLN ' INN , 446 , OXFORD STREET , NEAR ORCHARD STREET . The Freemason of May IGth , 1891 , says— " Messrs . Gilliam Bros ., Gold and Silversmiths , of 6 , Serle Street , Lincoln ' s Inn , have been very fortunate in securing so fine a site for thoir new establishment as 416 , Oxford Street ( near Orchard Street ) , and vve congratulate them on the beauty and artistic design displayed in their nesv premises ; the stock is of the most rare and choice kind , and our brethren , who are fond of old and good things in precious metals , vvould do well to pay them a visit . "

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PARTRIDGE & COOPER , " THE " STA TIONERS , 192 & 191 , FLEET STREET , LONDON . THE ROYAL COURTS NOTE PAPER . This is the cheapest paper ever introduced to the public , it being slightly tinted , thick , and pleasant to write upon . Price 4 s . per ream . > Illustrated Catalogue of every requisite for Office or Library forwarded post free .

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SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER ig , 1891 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The address delivered b y Bro . the Rev . J . S . Brownrigg , Past G . Chap ., at the consecration , the other day , of the Woodgrange Lodge , No . 2409 , was a model of its kind , and is well worthy of imitation b y those who may hereafter be entrusted with a like duty on similar occasions . An elaborate dissertation on the

virtues of Freemasonry is well enough as a thesis and might properly be delivered in the theatre of a Masonic University , if such an institution existed . A sermon on the same subject would be appropriate enough during Divine service in a cathedral or church , when

the bulk of the congregation were members of our Society . But what is needed most of all at the consecration of a new lodge is the sound , practical advice

of a prudent and experienced brother as to the future conduct of the newly-created body , and this Bro . Brownrigg gave in simple terms and briefly , yet very much to the point .

* * * It is just possible , as Bro . Brownri gg himself suggested , that his standard of qualification for those who may offer themselves as candidates for initiation into Freemasonry is ideally high , but we would rather it

were too hi gh than so low as to admit of the initiation of all sorts and conditions of men . It is certainly beyond question that those who seek acceptance into our ranks should possess the attributes of honour ,

Charity , and industry . It must be remembered that Freemasonry is defined as " a system of morality , " but how can such a system be maintained in anything like purity if its members possess not the three qualifications just enumerated '¦*

* * * "Honour , " Bro . Brownrigg declares , is " a high and sensitive appreciation of what we owe to ourselves and to the world" " the disregard of all selfish and low motives which are ever tempting us from the

clear narrow line of duty " " the fixed determination at all costs and with all courage to maintain what is ri ght in the face of the bitterest opposition of the strongest power ; " while " Charity , " he tells us , is " the grasping of the great truth that each man lives not

for himself alone , that he does owe great and important duties to his brother man ; that wherever and whenever he can help his brother , it is sin to abstain from giving that hel p ; that no time , no trouble , must be grudged if thereby any one with whom he is thrown into contact can be thereb y bettered and improved . "

* * * As regards the third and last of these attributes" industry "—our reverend brother suggests that it should be one of the questions which a lodge should propose to itself in considering the qualifications of a

candidate for admission— "What is the man doing ? How is the world the better for him ? In his profession as well as in his home what character does he bear for industry and perseverance , and the constant desire to do all things , whatsoever his hand findeth to do , well ?" This and his previous recommendations , as being addressed to a lodge which was just on the point o

Masonic Notes.

entering upon its career , were essentially practical , and we trust the Woodgrange Lodge will follow the advice so happily tendered it in the first instance by the Grand Secretary who consecrated it , and afterwards by his coadjutor in the duty of consecration , Bro . Past Grand Chaplain Brownrigg .

* * * In marked contrast with this excellent address in lodge of our Rev . Bro . Brownrigg was the after-dinner speech of our Bro . the Rev . Dr . Sullivan of New York , who responded for " The Visitors . " A very high order

of oratory is not looked for at the festive board . Let a speech be genial and kindly and in good taste , and those who listen will applaud it generously without troubling themselves about its composition . Dr . Sullivan's speech , however , at the inaugural banquet

of the new Iodge , was in the worst conceivable taste , and needlessly so , as his duty lay in thanking the Woodgrange Lodge for its hospitality and wishing it

God-speed in its career . Were there delivered many more speeches of the same character as Bro . Dr . Sullivan ' s , after-dinner speech-making would cease to be endurable .

t- * The report which has just been issued of the proceedings of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lincolnshire at its annual meeting at Barton-on-Humber in June last shows that our Lincolnshire brethren well maintain the advanced position they have occupied during the past

few years among the provinces of England . There is a slight increase in the aggregate membership as compared with the previous year , the lodges are reported to be in excellent working order , while the various funds

show a balance in hand in each case . Moreover , the province has maintained its prestige as a liberal contributor to the central Charities , so that in all respects Lincolnshire has done itself credit during the year just germinated .

But a brief resume of the several funds will show the good that is being done in Lincolnshire still more clearly . The accounts of the Provincial Grand Lodge Benevolent Fund show a total receipt ( including balance brought forward ) of . £ 249 , and a total

expenditure of £ 177 , of vvhich only . £ 11 was disbursed in the way of expenses—printing , postage , & c . Similarly , the Oliver Memorial Fund for Boys , which now has a capital of £ 1304 Victoria Government Four per Cent . Inscribed Stock , shows recei pts amounting to £ 186 ,

and expenditure , including £ 100 in purchase of Stock , of over £ 120 ; the Smyth Scholarship Fund for Girls , with over £ 1005 Stock , receipts ^ 94 , and grants for education of over £ 32 ; and the Sutcliffe Memorial Fund for Aged Brethren and Widows , which has a capital

of over £ 942 , receipts £ 87 , and expended in annuities £ 40 . We heartily congratulate the Province of Lincolnshire , its respected Prov . Grand Master , the brethren , and its chief executive officers , among whom figures Bro . B . Vickers , Prov . Grand Secretary , on this satisfactory condition of their affairs .

A remark contained in the last paragraph of the letter we published last week from Bro . James Stevens on Article 213 , Book of Constitutions , opens up a somewhat serious prospect . " If that , " says he—namely ,

the interpretation he is pleased to put on the said Article 213 , — "is not intended , the sooner the law is amended the better . " In other words , if this or any other one of our laws will not bear Bro . James Stevens ' s interpretation it must be altered . The next

time a revision of the Book of Constitutions is in contemplation , our Board of General Purposes will have to take Bro . James Stevens into their counsels , and allow themselves to be governed by his opinion and his opinion only .

* * * We learn from an excerpt from the New York Recorder of the 16 th ult . that Lung Ong has been remanded from the Tombs Police Court in that city on a charge of appropriating to his own use one of two

banjos which belonged to Ah Hong , M . W . G . M . of the Lung Gee Tung Lodge of Chinese Masons , and on which it seems the said M . W . Ah Hong was wont to thrum for the edification of the gods which watch over and protect his Iodge . Bret Harte has told us the

ways of the Chinaman are peculiar , but it is news to us to hear there are Masonic Chinese nigger minstrels in New York . But what kind of Masonry is it which is practised by the celestials in New York to the accompaniment of the merry banjo ?

Advices from Bombay report that cholera has broken out on board her Majesty's cruisers Redbreast and Marathon , on less than 28 cases having occurred svithin 24 hours , and of these sixteen had already terminated fatally .

Correspondence.

Correspondence .

|_ 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 . ] THE FUTURE OF FREEMASONRY .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , I am very pleased to read Bro . R . Wylie ' s favourable criticism of Bro . T . B . Whytehead's communication on the very important subject of "Freemasonry—What is its future ? "

All those who have the pleasure of knowing my good friend Whytehead are well aware that the article by him vvas not written in any way to avoid or ignore the pressing claims of Masonic Charity , which were never so urgent and needful as now . On the contrary , as in the past , now , and in the future , that brother will

be found most willing to aid to his utmost all the Institutions , local and general , connected with the Fraternity , which have for their bases the relief of the distressed and destitute . Bro . Whytehead ' s point clearly is that if the rules and main objects of the Society of Free and Accepted

Masons were duly observed , there would not be so many petitioners for relief . The wrong class are not infrequently admitted , i . e ., men who are neither socially nor pecuniarily fitted to become members of our lodges , and thus either they themselves or their dependants soon come on the funds for either whole or

partial maintenance . The real object of the Society is Fraternity , Charity being one , and that not the chief of its branches , for the fewer improper candidates that are admitted the less need will there be for pecuniary aid . Ours is not a benefit society , and I trust will never become one , and were the portals to our lodges guarded as carefully

as they should be , there would not be the number of disappointed candidates at the elections , the increasing number of brethren in " arrears " of their dues , nor the appeals for aid made to us in our streets and at our houses by Masonic mendicants . I hope Bro . Whytehead's letter will receive all the attention it deserves . —Yours fraternally , September 12 . W . J . HUGHAN .

KNIGHT TEMPLAR NOMENCLATURE . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , May I suggest . to my brother Knight Templars the desirability of naming preceptories both in this country and in the United Kingdom after the ancient preceptories , the ruins of which in many cases are

still scattered about the kingdom . For instance , Dundrum Castle , co . Down , now the property of the Marquis of Downshire , was a Templar House , and in this locality " Carrig-o ' -gunnel " ( the Rock of Connel ) , a fine old heap of venerable ruins , vvas also a Templar House .

It may , I think , be assumed generally that all places with the prefix Temple were orig inally Templar Houses , such as Templecombe , Temple Nevvsam , Temple Bruer , and there are ruins at the latter place of a Knight Templar Preceptory founded before 1185 and subsequently given to the Hospitallers .

At Temple in Scotland , in the county of Edinbu rgh , about six miles from Dalkeith , is an old Gothic church founded by David I . for the Knight Templars . Temple in Cornwall belonged originally to the Knight Templars Preceptory at St . Ives . Temple in Hants was made a grange to Southington

Preceptory by Adam Gordon , the outlaw , who was eventually captured here in single combat by Edward L , when Prince , in 1266 . Temple Church in Bristol is a very fine old building , with a leaning tower , belonging originally to the soldier monks .

Temple Bryan , co . Cork , was owned by the Temp lars just before their dissolution in 1308—1313 . On referring to the " Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar , " I do not find a single preceptory in Ireland named after the old Templar Houses , but one or two of the later preceptories in England are so named .

It is quite rig ht and proper also that we should name them after eminent Templars in the old days , ancient Grand Masters , and so forth ; but as we have moulded our modern ritual in great measure on the ritual of the past , as far as it is known , and adopted the costume of the Crusaders , it would probably give a greater interest to the Order in the eyes of the public , and encourage

a study of the interesting history and tragic end of the soldier monks , if we generally adopted the names of the old Templar Houses scattered throughout the three kingdoms in the nomenclature of our preceptories . The same mig ht be done also in the Order of Malta—so many of the Hospitaller Commanderies being known . —Fraternally yours ,

EMRA HOLMES , 31 ° K . C . T . N . B . —Boston parish church was a Templar building , I think ; a magnificent Gothic structure .

ART . 213 AND LODGE LA C-ESAREE . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , "Hard cases make bad law " is an adage that Bros . Philbrick and Prinsep will be well acquainted with , and the present seems a case in point . To grant a brother ' s clearance certificate , stating the circumstance under which he left the lodge—possibly circumstances which