Some Account Of The Craft In Lincolnshire.

character as a Clergyman , and more consistent with his obligations as a Mason . From further correspondence we gather that not only did the Reverend Divine fail to quash the Stamford lodge , but that even his OAVII Prov . G . Secretary some time after "had the audacity of forming and promoting a Procession of Athol

Masons at Lincoln , marching up and preaching a sermon to them as Brother Masons in the very Cathedral . " Yet one more extract before Ave leave this interesting correspondence , it is portion of a letter from the P . G . M . to his Deputy , re the Degrees . . . . " as I have known

some very good Characters in the Royal Arch Degree , 1 do not suppose that anything very wrong is connected with it . . . It is dangerous to proceed further , and I have reason to believe that beyond the Royal Arch , it is impious , and Avhen carried to the length of some weak and deluded men , approaches to Infernal . " What makes this letter more interesting is the fact that it

was just before the Solemn Act of Union between the IAVO Grand Lodges when the collective wisdom of the Craft made the remarkable and lucid declaration " that pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more , viz ., those of the C . A ., F . C ., and the M . M ., including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch . " One wonders whether his

Reverence was in the know of what was to take placecertainly he had no hand in drawing up the declaration—for what he wrote could be understood , which is more than can be said of Act I . B . of C . Our second Prov . G . Master was ( so Grand Lodge records tell us ) one William H . White , the

holder of several appointments under , and doubtless a highly decorated member of that august body . But the Province of Lincolnshire knew him not , as he was never installed , never attended a meeting , and never interfered in its concerns . P . G . Lodge , however , under the guidance of the Rev .

Matthew Barnett , got on very well Avithout him , the D . P . G . M . being ably assisted by the Rev . George Oliver , D . D ., who , in 1811 , had set up the Apollo Lodge in Grimsby .

URO . 11 . VICKERS , PROA " . GRAND SECRETARY SINCE lssH . Probably the publishing house of Spencer has no name on its catalogue more prominent than that of Oliver . A few words on the connection of this name with Lincolnshire

seem therefore particularly appropriate in the columns of this journal . To the Rev . Samuel Oliver was , about the year 1801 , confided the spirilual oversight of the Parish of Whaplode . The Vicar , being also Master of the Charterhouse , a Prebend of Sarum and Rector of somewhere else for 40

years , left this Curate to do pretty much as he liked , doubtless feeling ( after pocketing the bulk of the temporalities ) that after providing such an excellent substitute as Mr . Oliver nothing more could reasonably be expected of him . And a very lively time Bro . Oliver had , as Ave learn from the parish registers . Tlie nearest lodge was at Peterborough , a distance

of twenty miles , which Oliver regularly walked to attend the newly formed lodge of S . Peter . About 1802 , his son George \ A \ as initiated in the Lodge at the age of 18 , Father and Son taking the obligation together , as was then the custom . Time bringing an increase of family without a similar movement in income to equalize matters , Ave find this very

charactistic notice in the Mercury : — " The Rev . S . Oliver ,. proposes receiving a ICAV young gentlemen as pupils , who will be genteelly boarded , tenderly treated , liberally educated and moderately charged Mr . Oliver cannot in

conscience think of promising everything to every Parent , as though genius and ability were to be bought and sold , all that he presumes to say , & c . " After spending 42 years at Whaplode , the absentee Vicar died , and Oliver Avas turned out of the Curacy . It can scarcely be believed that such a scandalous piece of business

could have taken place ; yet it is a fact . By a stroke of good fortune , however , the great age which debarred Oliver from obtaining another Curacy , was the means of advancing him to a benifice . The Rector of Lambley , near Nottingham , dying rather suddenl y , it Avas legally necessary to put in what has

been denominated an " Ecclesiastical Warming Pan , " to keep the living aired until arrangements could be made for its disposal . Hence the Rev . Sam . Oliver , age about 87 , wasadvanced to the dignity of Rector , duly inducted , and , considering his years , marvellously fulllilled its duties till his death , at the age of ninety-two .

His son George , as already stated , was initiated at Peterborough . In 1809 he Avas appointed Head Master of the Grammar School at Grimsby , and at once set about establishing a lodge in that place . George Oliver ' s connection with the Province began in 1813 by the appointment as P . G . Steward , in those days the coveted office , probably on

account of the red apron shewing to advantage in the processions . Soon after this he took Orders in the Church , Avas appointed P . G . Chaplain , and preached the Sermon at every meeting till 18 33 , when he succeeded the Rev . M . Barnett as D . P . G . M . In 1826 the Lincolnshire brethren were notified of the

appointment of Chas . Tennyson , Esq ., of Bayous Manor , M . P ., as Prov . G . Master . This was the time of the great Reform agitation , and Bro . Tennyson in the thick of it all , and Deputy Barnett being old and infirm , one is scarcely surprised to find the Craft at a low ebb . Oliver writes very gloomily ,

" Masonry during this inauspicious period declined so much that there was scarcely an efficient lodge in the Province . " The P . G . M . " was at length roused to the necessity of doing something . " Accordingly be summoned a P . G . Lodge in 1832 and AA as duly installed , and with Oliver ' s appointment the next year the brethren entered on a good time .

It may be here noted that our P . G . M ., Charles Tennyson , was a younger brother of the late Poet laureate's father . On succeeding to the Famil y Estates , he assumed the additional surname of D'Eyncourt , an old Lincolnshire barony with which his Father claimed and desired connection , never imagining that the name of Tennyson , in the

person of his grandson Alfred , would be known throughout the world . The Rt . Hon . Chas . Tennyson D'Eyncourt appears to have been throughout the whole of his Parliamentary career thoroughly consistent in his political principles . He was the first representative of one of the new metropolitan

constituencies , being popularly known for twenty years as the Radical Member for Lambeth . About the years 18 39-41 what is known as the Crucifix case agitated Grand Lodge and the Provincial brethren generally . Arising from what should have been a cement to

the Order , namely , the founding of a new Central Charitythro' the perverseness of human nature it developed into the most discreditable chapter in our Craft ' s history .