The Province Of Kent.

To-day there are sixty lodges in full work in the County of Kent ; be it understood , however , that nearly all the North-Eastern corner , which includes such places as Greenwich , Lee , Lewisham , Woolwich , and Deptford , does not hold allegiance to the Provincial Grand Lodge , but is part and

parcel of the district directly commanded b y the Grand Lodge of England . Many of these lodges can hold up their heads proudly amongst their sisters in no matter what part of England . The Royal Kent Lodge of Antiquity first met in the City of

London , but the air of the metropolis did not agree with her , and in the year 174 8 , when she had just celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday , she came to the " Queen's Head " at Chatham . In 1873 , the honour of the centenary jewel \ v ; : conferred upon her .

The next lodge on the list is interesting in so far as it is an example of the amity which was brought about by the union of the rival Grand Lodges . The United Industrious Lodge at Canterbury received its warrant in 1776 ; in 1806 a coterie of brethren in this citv formed a lodge of the same

name , which worked under the "Ancient" regime . However , the year of grace 1819 arrived , and peace was declared ; the two rivals agreed to be unitedly industrious together ; they joined hands , and all was well . Although the next lodge on the list , the Lodge of Freedom , at Gravesend , has

had many habitats in that town , yet it has religiously adhered to the place of its birth , except for a matter of six years in the late " fifties , " when it sojourned for a while in the neighbouring town of Melton . It is 150 years old to-dav , although it went to sleep for ten years in the late " twenties . "

And now we get away to Hythe to make the acquaintance of the Prince Edwin Lodge , whose birth certificate is dated 1771 . For some reason or other no centenary warrant has ever been granted to it , but to soothe its troubled feelings , Lord Amherst presented it with a jewelled toy in

the shape of a centenary jewel in the year 1865 . On the other hand , the Union Lodge at Margate—good old Margate , the home of nigger minstrels , large oysters , and bathing machines—was quickly clown upon Grand Lodge when their time for recognition became due—176 3 is

"WIUTK HEAR" IIOTKI ,, . VOW TIIK "REAR" HOTK . _ , WUKRI . THE WEST MAM . IXU LODGE WAS 1 IEL » IX 177 U .

the date on their warrant , and 186 3 they rejoiced in their new skin of parchment . The Harmony Lodge at Faversham has been strictly harmonious since the year 1764 , and found joy in its centenary warrant in the year 1879 . Now , the Adam ' s Lodge at Sheerness , grief to say it , is by way of

being untruthful , seeing that it claims to have been born in the year 1778 , but that learned authority in matters Masonic , Bro . John Lane , says that it is nineteen years younger ,

IIHO . ALFHED SPKXCEll , P 110 V . ( .. SKI ' . KENT . 1 'lioti , Clarl-e . . (• Co ., 3 [ niilsliiiit . and did not see the light until 1797 . The United Chatham Lodge has an idiosyncracy peculiarly its own , that is to say , at various periods of its life it developed a mania for changing its name , until at last it settled down quietly and

went into partnership with the Royal Marines . It started in 1787 as the Globe , then it gave itself a fore-name and blazed out as the United Globe , then in 1824 it joined hands