Some Account Of The Craft In Lincolnshire.

We now come to an important epoch in our history , namely , the appointment of a Prov . Grand Master . This honour was conferred upon the Rev . William Peters—a man eminent as a Portrait Painter & a Royal Academicianafterwards L . L . B . —a Clergyman of the Church of England

BRO . G . II . SHIPLEY ' , SENIOR MEMBER OP PROA' . GRAND LODGE . —holder of several livings and Pretendal Stalls , and Chaplain to the Prince of Wales ( George IV . ) , Grand Master of England . Wm . Peters was initiated in the Somerset House Lodge , No . 2 , in 176 9 his brethren including nearly all the

, leading lights of the Craft . In 1785 Bro . Peters painted and presented to Grand Lodge the whole-length portraits of Lord Petre and the Duke of Manchester . In acknowledgment of this elegant present , " which opened a prospect to the Society of having

its Hall ornamented with the successive Portraits of the Grand Masters in future . " H . R . H ., the Grand Master , conferred the title of Grand Portrait Painter on the Donor , an honour Peters retained till his death . To these portraits those of the Duke of Cumberland and Prince of Wales

were afterwards added , and remained till the Hall was destroyed by the Fire of 1883 . Peters' pictures were both numerous and popular , and their reproduction , especially the Angelic series , by Bartolozzi , are frequently met with . Art criticism not being one

of our pretensions , Ave will quote an eminent authority : — "Altho' never rising to the first rank , Peters was a clever artist and pleasant colourist . " The satirist , Peter Pindar , writes :

Dear Peters ! who , like Luke the Saint , A man of jjospcl , art , and paint , Thy pencil flames not with poetic fury ; If Heaven ' s fair Angels are like thine , Our Rucks , I think , O grave Divine , May meet in t ' other world Ihe nvmplis of Drur \

ihe Angel and Child , the former a likeness of a Noble Countess , is , Ave believe , among the Burghley collection and justly admired . On the other hand Ave have the opinion of a late Dignitary of Lincoln Cathedral criticising a Madonna of Peters' painting , which for many years hung over the Altar Table , which he likens to " A Clouzy Maidservant of

colossal statue , with very red cheeks and tumbled hair , " and " proves the Artist utterly incompetent to depict a sacred subject . " A remark of strong colour by the pious and learned Subdean Paley in regard to this picture is also recorded , tho ' not included in the Doctor ' s famous " Evidences of Christianity . "

During tlie last ten years of the . 18 th Century , The Rev . Wm . Peters obtained considerable preferment in the Diocese of Lincoln . Three Rectories , a Vicarage , and a couple of Prebends Stalls must have been deemed a goodly proportion of the loaves and fishes , even in these good old plurality days . Art thus being the handmaid of religion in a material as Avell

as a spiritual sense . Peters' residence in Lincolnshire appears to have suggested to the Prince of Wales , G . Master , another means of shewing his appreciation of the magnificent gifts and other services rendered to the Craft by his Chaplain . The Rev . Wm . Peters was accordingly nominated the first

Prov . G . Master of Lincolnshire , and one is bound to admit that the attention and energy displayed in the formation and Avorking of the IICAV Province amply testify to the suitability of the appointment . The first Grand Feast ( IIOAV Prov . G . Lodge ) Avas held on

June 21 st , 1792 . According to advertisement in the local Mercury " The brethren are to assemble at the George Inn , Grantham , by eleven O'clock in the morning , to proceed to

Church , where a Sermon will be preached by the Rev . Brother Nicholson on the Principles of Masonry , viz ., Universal Charity , Brotherly love and Peace . " The iirst business of the HBAV body was to prepare an address to H . R . H . the Grand Master , to be presented to him enclosed " in a Column of the Doric Order made out of Old English

heart of Oak . " This address , like the rest of Peters' official correspondence , was admirably worded , and ordered to be inserted in two London and one Country paper . A fact which SIIOAVS the P . G . M . to have fully appreciated the precept , " Let your light so shine before men . " The various offices

appear to have been fairly distributed between the hvo Lodges already mentioned , and the recently formed Doric at Grantham . We learn from a private letter that Mr . Peters duly presented the address , " it has been in the Oracle ( the paper the Prince of Wales takes in ) . . . The Prince

was much flattered by the attention of his Brethren , and we have had much credit and honor in being the first who paid that very necessary and proper compliment to His Royal Highness . "

A considerable quantity of the masonic correspondence of the Rev . W . Peters is now in possession of the Province . These letters indicate the writer as a man of strong personal character , giving homage where due , and requiring the same from others . He issued Warrants of Constitution , made Masons at sight , that is , without the members of the lodge

receiving notice , and altogether acted as he understood " that a Prov . G . Master is by the patent invested with a rank and power in his particular Province similar to those possessed by the Grand Master . " But even this exalted opinion of his functions cannot justify the line of conduct he pursued in

connection with the Athol brethren , the very name of which apparently effected him in a manner only comparable with the proverbial quadruped and red rag . This is first seen in the notice convening the Grand Feast in 1805 , which goes on to say , " no man who belongs not to a Constitutional

Lodge shall be permitted to walk in the Procession . . . . It is in an especial manner thought propel" to give this notice , as attemps have been made by men ... to obtrude themselves into this County , whose impious and destructive principles are of such a nature , & c . "

The impious men referred to were the brethren of the Good Intent Lodge , Stamford , at that time No . 87 on the Roll of the Ancients . This , and one at Grimsby , were the only lodges located in Lincolnshire under the Athol Constitution .

The year following ( 1806 ) the Stamford brethren advertized a church procession , a counterblast from Peters duly appeared , " informing the Magistrates and Clerks of the Peace in and for the said County , " that the aforementioned were the only regular lodges , & c . This announcement in connection with a recent Act of Parliament apparently took

effect , for AVC find a notice postponing the procession for a month , and continuing , " It is with pity , mingled with contempt , that the Lodge 8 7 have viewed the lale efforts of impotent malice in a certain Reverend Divine ... in the meantime they cannot help advising him to pursue a line of conduct , and make use of language more becoming his