Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS— PAGE Cjcmentaria Hibernica ... ... ... ... ... 161 The Anti-Masonic Congress at Trent ... ... ... ... 1 G 1 Consecration of the Arter Lodge , No . 26 54 ... ... ... 1 C 2 First Ladies' Night of the Citadel Lodge . No . 1 S 07 ... ... ... 163

Presentation to Bro . C . J . Woodford ... ... ... ... 1 G 3 Annual SupDer of the Royal Standard Lodge of Instruction , No . 129 S ... 163 The Recent Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... ... 1 G 3 Board of Ber . cvolence ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 G 4 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 G 4 MASONIC

NOTESIllness of Bro . Lord Plunket .,. ... ... ... ... 167 Transactions of the Rosicrucian Society ... ... ... ... 167 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 S Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 S Lodges and Chapter of Instruction ... ... ... ... :.. 109 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 169 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 170

Cæmentaria Hibernica.*

C ? MENTARIA HIBERNICA . *

In this second Fasciculus of his " Cc-ementari . i Hibernica " Bro . Dr . CRAWLEY takes us with him through a further stage of his investigations into the early History of Freemasonry in Ireland . That history , as we have pointed out , is most obscure .

All its early archives have long since disappeared , and the labour which his investigations must have entailed can only be understood by those who have embarked upon similar enterprises . Fortunately he has been encouraged to pursue his course by the success which has heretofore attended his efforts—a success

which , though it may not satisfy the expectations of the unlearned in these matters , we venture to think is commensurate with the extent of his labours and entitles him to the gratitude of all who attach importance to ensuring that the history of our

ancient and honourable Society , like the histories of all other Societies , shall be as accurate as the collection of authentic data can make it . Till quite recently Freemasonry has been chiefly indebted for what has been palmed off

upon a credulous public as its history , to the imagination of its compilers , who have allowed so free a play to the exuberance of their fancies as to leave little , if any , room for the introduction of facts . Since the appearance in the ranks of Masonic historians of such as Bros . W . J . HuGHAV , the late Rev .

A . F . A . WOODFORD , R . F . GOULD , and others , and now of

Bro . CRAWLEY , there has been a complete change , and our history is so crammed with facts , that no room is left for the play of the imagination . There are , indeed , some anions : those who

have busied themselves with the study of our history , who , like our worthy Bro . JACOB NORTON , of Boston , Massachusetts , resolutel y rej . ect as facts what cannot be demonstrated with the

same precision and exactitude as are to be found in our records of the present day . This class of writers and critics , however , > s very limited in numbers , though it is sufficiently influential to keep those who arc engaged in Masonic historical investigations

Irorn exhibiting any tendency to extricate themselves from a hfliculty by preferring fancy to facts . At all events , we look to 1 , 1 ( i facts , not fiction , in the writings of our present school of

"istorians , and it is the presence of these facts in Bro . CRAWLEY ' S w ° rk that renders it so valuable .

^ C / iCMFNTARIA HlflFRNICA : Being the Public Cons ' . ituti ms that have served to . ° tr £ ethfir the Freemasons of Ireland Fasciculu * . Srcundus . 1715 . 1744 . Rc-isfued with g n reductions by W . J . Chetwode Crawley ( LL . D ., D . C . L , F . R . G . S ., F . G . S ., F . R . Hist . In ! 1 Semor Gtaml Deacon Ireland , Grand Secretary of G , \ L . \ of Instruction ,

Cæmentaria Hibernica.*

The Preface , in which Bro . Dr . CRAWLEY sets forth his clainl to speak with some authority on matters of ritual , so far as they affect the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Antient Grand Lodge of England , and draws attention to the more important subjects

which are treated in this Fasciculus , has already been noticed . We arc , therefore , at liberty to proceed at once to a consideration of the contents , the first section of which is headed "Ambulatory Lodges , " and maybe taken as in the main

explanatory of the Frontispiece—an exact facsimile of the earliest military warrant known to have been issued by any Grand Lodge . This warrant bears date the 7 th November , 1732 , and was granted by Lord Viscount NETTERVILL , G . Master ; Lord Viscount

KiNGSLAND , Deputy Grand Master ; and JAMES BRENAN , M . D ., and ROBERT NUGENT , Esq ., Grand Wardens of the Grand Lodge of Ireland , to Mr . J AMES MURRAY , Master ; and PATRICK HOWARD , and PATRICK REID , Wardens , to form and hold a

lodge in the First Battalion Royal Regiment of Foot , and granting to them and their successors full power to elect a new Master and Wardens from time to time , and to make such laws , rules .

& c , as they may think proper for the wellbcing of the said Lodge , subject , of course , to the supreme authority of the Grand Lodee of Ireland . The author ' s remarks on this class of

lodges , but more especially upon the warrant of this particular lodge , are brief , but interesting , while in respect of what he says as to the very considerable number of military lodges under the Irish Constitution , it may not be out of place to point out as a

further link connecting the Irish and Antient Constitutions , that the latter also had quite a respectable number of army lodges on the roll . In the List of Antient Lodges for 1817 contained in Bro . GOULD ' S useful little work on " The Atholl Lodges , " there

were as many as 4 8 such lodges enumerated in the year mentioned . In the second section of the Fasciculus , Bro . CRAWLEY furnishes a long account , taken from the Dublin Weekly Journal of the 26 th June . 1725 , of the installation of the Earl of ROSSE as

Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland , on Thursday , the 24 th of the same month ( St . John the Baptist ' s Day . ) Hitherto , the year 1729-30 has been accepted universally for the establishment of this Grand Lodge , though , from Bro . CRAWLEY drawing

attention to a paragraph quoted by Bro . GOULD in the third volume of his History from the London Journal of the 17 th July , 1725 , it is evident that the latter was within an ace of making the discovery which is set forth in this section . The passage quoted

by Bro . GOULD is to the effect that " From the same kingdom ( Ireland ) we " ( the said London Journal ) " have advice that the Society of Freemasons had met and chose the Earl of ROSS Grand Master for the year ensuing , " and the reason why this announcement did not lead Bro . Go _ LD to make further

researches is explained as being that this paragraph " was , fairly enough , held to refer to the Grand Lodge of Minister , the only Grand Lodge known to exist in Ireland about that time . " Thus the

honourof having unearthed this conclusive evidence that the Grand Lodge of Ireland was in existence four years earlier than the date ordinarily assigned to its foundation , and , moreover , that the said evidence shows that even at the earlier date now discovered

it " was no sudden creation , but had been then long enough in existence to develope a complete organisation of Grand Officers with subordinate lodges under its jurisdiction , " belongs entirely

to the author o ( "Cnementaria Hibernica . " The account , as quoted verbatim from the Dublin Weekly Journal , is very precise in its statements , fully bearing out Bro . CRAWI . E »' S suggestion that the Grand Lodge was not a new creation , The