Engraved Lists Of Lodges.

which , becoming oO'i iu 1 770 , proves that there wcre bo vacancies to fill up . Tho only copy of 1771 is in the Grand Lodge , numbered 1 to 414 , having- been presented to the Library by the "York" Lodge , No . 230 . Of 1772 to 1770 , —all under the genial rule of Lord Potre as G . M . —1772-3 are in the Grand

Lodge , one of the two of 1 / 73 having lodges to No . 448 , and the other to No . 400 ; the only copy of 1774 is in the library of Gfaml Lodge of Iowa ( before mentioned ) , 1775 is in the Graml Lodge , and of the two for 1770 , one , owned by Bro . Geo . Tavlor ( presented bv the Yorkshire Masonic historian , Bro .

Riley ) , runs to 494 lodges , and the later one , m archives of Grand Lodge , contains 490 lodges . Of J 777 there are two editions ; one in the Grand Lodge , numbering 504 , and the

. other in the G . L . of Iowa , 509 lodges , respectively . Ot 1 / vb , thc last of the interesting and valuable scries , there are two in the Grand Lodge ( with lodges to No . 510 ) , and another in Bro . Taylor ' s Masonic Library , by far the finest of its kind in England .

Many of these lists in part will be found in Bro . Gould ' s " Four Old Lodges . " To Bro . Gould we , as Masonic students , owo very much indeed , and especially for the history of the Craft now publishing . There are , however , very many peculiarities , alterations , and curious particulars to be found

scattered over these lists from l / 2 o to 17 / 8 , and also in the Calendars from 1775 , which are not to be found in any single work . My good friend , Hro . John Lane , of Torquay , has determined to compile a volume , to contain particulars of all the . lodges ever warranted bv the Grand Loelge of England , with all ,

their places of meeting , numbers , & c , in all parts of the world . It . is an enormous work to accomplish , but he is able to do it , for he has examined nearly all the known Lists , Calendars , & c , consulted all Lodge Histories , and other possible sources of information ; so that when completed , his " Masonic Records , "

to English and American Freemasons , will simply be invaluable . 1 shall be grateful for particulars of any other engraved Lists , and especially of any Calendars of the "Atholl" Masons prior to 1804 , so that Hro . Lane may be put in possession of all needful information , and that we may know of their location and character .

Told By A Lodge Register.

Told by a Lodge Register .

is a truism , no doubt , but at the same time it is a truism that will bear repetition , that , at the festive season of Christinas and New Year , when families

and sets or circles of friends and acquaintances come together for purposes of social enjoyment , one occasionally meets with strange people . I do not mean

when I apply this epithet to them that they are necessarily eccentric—what are commonly spoken of as " characters . " What I mean is that at- other times , aud often for long intervals of time , they seem to pass entirely out of the world ' s knowledge as regards their whereabouts and

their belongings . They turn up suddenly , it may be with annual regularity , or but once in a decade or so . They seem to know every one , though evorv one perhaps cannot quite reciprocate

the compliment . I hey are quite at home with whom they meet , and enter into the spirit of what is passing around them as if they had never been elsewhere for more than the preceding twenty-four hours . It oozes out in a mysterious kind of way , or one gathers from the tcnour of their conversation that they

Told By A Lodge Register.

are busy people in that unknown elsewhere they have momentarily quitted ; and they generally appear to know a good deal about everything and everybody , though whence or how they came by their knowledge passeth all ordinary comprehension . At all events , their presence is generally welcome . They have

in them a fund of entertainment , nnd to use a colloquial phrase , they are mostly " good form , " especially if they are travelled people , and have seen and observed life uneler a variety of phases . It was just snch a man as this I had the good fortune to meet one recent Christinastide uneler the hospitable roof of an

old friend of mine . He turned up late one night quite unexpectedly just as every one was about retiring to rest . Next morning he and I met at the breakfast-table , and it soon transpiring that there was a common bond of interest between us , we became fast friends there and then , and have remained so ever

since . He had not been at my friend ' s house for some six or seven years , liis previous visit happening just when I had left College and was on a foreign tour , so that though I had often heard of him , we had never personally come together . He was of good family , a man of culture and taste , and in the course of his

wanderings , had visited most civilised and a good many uncivilised countries . He was a fine fellow , and , need I add , a general favourite everywhere . AVe concluded our visit the same day , and , journeying to town by the same train , we soon found ourselves deep in conversation on the subject of that mysterious

bond of interest I have referred to . In short , we fell to talking about Masonry , and as I was a young enthusiast in the Royal Art , while he had been—and , indeed , still was—a big gun , not only in his mother lodge and the province to which it belonged , but likewise in sundry of the most distinguished London lodges ,.

I had no difficulty in eliciting from him , not exactly a full and particular account of the men who had been or were still members of his lodge at Oxford , but just snch a passing mention of them and the services they had rendered , or the honours thoy had won , as might , he laughingly remarked , be "Told by the Loelge Register "

itself . JSOV was his record confined to his own personal experiences . The traditions of men as well as of things cling * tenaciously about our Universities . In fact , a man who achieved anything like notoriety in his day must have lived at some A ery remote period , if the traditions of his influence have passed

entirely away . The Don of to-day may have pulled bow in his college eight in the year when Chitty stroked the Dark Blues victoriously past the Ship at Mortlake ; the middle-aged Don of Chitty ' s time was perhaps about giving his first "wine" when Pusev and Newman and other leaders of thought were in their

early prime , and they , too , must have known old Dr . Routh of Magdalen , whose appearance on the scene of academic Oxford was even then a memory of some distant period . Thus my newmade friend had no difficulty in carrying his story back to the days when his lodge had no existence , and the men who founded it had onlv the recollections and traditions of an earlier

University Lodge to comfort them in the absence of any Masonic home of their own—though it must be allowed the welcome they received in the extra-University Lodge wont a long way towards mitigating any inconvenience they may have suffered from this default . But let his story speak for itself . It will suffer no

doubt , as all ta ' es must elo that are told second-hand , by the process of reproduction . Some of thc more salient features will probably have lost much of their sharpness , nor can I hope to make amends by giving more than a part of the pleasant

commentary with which if was interspersed . Hut whatever the guise in which it may present itself , this brief sketch of t . he Apollo University Lodge of Oxford , though derived only from its roll of members , will be found almost incomparable among those of

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WEST LONDON WINDOW BLIND MANUFACTORY . G*.A_WILLIAMS