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Lodge Names.

Lodge Names .

NOT the least difficult , nor the least important , question connected Avith the formation of a new lodge , is the choice of a name . In the early days of the Craft , when lodges were feAV , and Avere separated by long distances , it was a much easier matter , inasmuch as the changes Avere rung on some few score titles replete with Masonic

significance . But IIOAV the register contains Avell on to 3000 names of lodges , and even in small tOAvns as many as three or four lodges are to be found , Avhilst in such cities as Manchester or Liverpool , the lodges number a score or more . When one province , and that of small area , contains more

than no lodges , the naming of a new one is a matter for serious consideration , a wider field of selection becomes necessary , and accordingly local and sometimes personal conditions may prevail . Of the lodges IIOAV on the register , some 320 were in

existence at the beginning of the last century , and a very large proportion of these bear exclusively Masonic namesby these we mean such as Unanimity , Hope , Fidelity , Friendship , Perseverance , Faith , Philanthropy , Charity , Peace , Fortitude , Rectitude , Temperance , Honour , and

the like . These are to be found singly and in various combinations , and the great majority of lodges named after

this manner were warranted in the first half of the last century or before . This , of course , points to the fact that this system of nomenclature is out of date , or is considered to be scarcely distinctive enough ,- the more especially as so many friendly societies , which are constituted into lodges , have adopted the same style .

Sentiments of loyalty and patriotism have found expression in the names given to lodges . Such names as Wellington , Nelson , Give , Rose of Denmark ( happily named at the time of the marriage of our Sovereign and his Consort ) , the names of eminent Grand Officers , as Avell

as the many names drawn from those of members of the Royal Family , have testified to the Masonic and civil loyalty of Freemasons . Names eminent in literature and science

and art are Avell to the fore—Pythagoras , Milton , Shakespere , Socrates , Sir Isaac NeAvton , Burns , & c , are all to be found . There ought , however , to be some limitation to the plan noAvadays somewhat popular , of naming a lodge after a person of local , and possibly fleeting , celebrity . The lodge is to last for ever , at least its promoters hope so , and to call

it by some such name as Smith or Jones , which in tAventy or thirty years Avill mean absolutely nothing , seems rather hard on posterity . And there is always the clanger , when a living person is thus commemorated , that he may not always be the credit to

the Craft that he is presumed to be at that particular moment . On the register at present there are some 600 lodges , or nearly a quarter of the Avhole number , that bear the name of some modern celebrity , and the large majority are of purely local significance . The persons who are thus rendered immortal have doubtless earned the esteem of their

contemporaries , but it hardly seems right to burden posterity Avith the payment of our debt of gratitude . Another modern practice seems to be to commemorate some local circumstance , or some local condition . An institution such as ours , proud of its antiquity , is very happily represented by those lodges which have preserved in their

names some fact of local antiquarian interest . Some of these have adopted the old Roman name of the place where they meet . Eboracum at York , Olicana at Ilkley , Agricola ,. also at York , Calmalodunum at Malton , are examples . No less happy in their names are such as King Harold at

Waltham , Avhere the hero Avas buried ; Rose of Raby , Robin Hood , St . Hilda , Cedewain at Montgomery , Hotspur at Newcastle , Caradoc at Rhyl , Merlin at Pontypridd , Peveril of the Peak in Derbyshire , and the Three Graces at Ha worth . With reference to the last named , the date of the warrant casts some doubt as to whether the sisters Bronte are referred to . ^^ m ^^^ m

Lodge Mentuna has a curious sound , when one recollects the latin meaning , and we might suppose that had Ananias and Sapphira been Freemasons they Avould have joined a lodge of that name . Class lodges are responsible for distinctive appellations , as might be supposed . Galen , Evening Star , Chancery Bar ,

Northern Bar , ^ Esculapius , and the Argonauts are good examples . Names having reference to the science of Masonry are feAV and far between . We have a King Solomon , the Square and Compasses , the Perfect Ashlar , a Hiram , and a Keystone , the last a rather curious name for a Craft lodge .

In many cases the lord of the manor or some neighbouring property is responsible for the name , and thus we have Londesborough at Bridlington , Bute at Cardiff , Eastnor at Ledbury , Wentworth at Sheffield , Talbot at Swansea , Wharnecliffe at Penistone , and Sir Watkin at Mold .

The tendency to name lodges after some living celebrity is more marked in the colonies than it is at home . Some Grand Masters decline to warrant lodges thus called . A great lack of invention seems to have been displayed in naming many of them . Of course , in many instances the

name taken is simply that of the Craft lodge with which they are most intimately associated , but there is no necessity for this restriction . Out of the total , 105 bear the names of the towns or counties in which they meet ; of the rest , 130 are named after persons of more or less celebrity , and but 35 are distinguished by strictly Masonic titles .