Some Illustrious Freemasons.

and the latter is with ns at almost every lodge meeting where music takes a prominent part , by reason of the spirited march he wrote , the strains of which are often heard in the lodge room . Of lesser note are Humel , Sullivan , and a host of others . Of literary eminence , it is difficult to draw up any representative list of names . Perhaps the most notable are

Voltaire , Burns , and Goethe . The first named was initiated in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters in Paris , in 1778 . This was a lodge not unlike , in its objects , our own Quatuor Coronati , and it is interesting to note that the historian was introduced by Franklin , who was then U . S . A . Ambassador in Paris . Sir

Walter Besant must not be forgotten in this connection not only as to his immense literary merits , but also as an exceptionally keen Freemason , being one of the founders of the literary lodge referred to . Herschel and the Earl of Rosse have also to be mentioned . It will be noticed all this

time that we have not yet named the man who in the opinion of many was the greatest Freemason of them all , Sir Christopher Wren . We have no wish , however , to introduce debateable matter , and the omission is due to the fact that whilst there are many who enrol him amongst the English

Grand Masters , there are others no less eminent as historians who say he was not a Mason at all . He is said to have been a member of the Lodge of Antiquity , and the maul and trowel used at the laying of the foundation-stone of St . Paul ' s were certainly presented by him to the lodge .

Living names , other than those already alluded to , we have no space to chronicle , but enough has been said to show the young Mason that he has not joined a society of which there is nothing to be said . W hat the Order owes to our predecessors is one of our most precious possessions , and the serious question for all of us is in what way we personally

and collectively are proposing to add to the lustre already conferred upon the body with the maintenance of whose traditions we are now entrusted .

At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

At the Sign of the Perfect Ashlar

The quarterly meeting of the Grand Lodge of Scotland was held in the Freemasons' Hall , Edinburgh , on Thursday , 4 th August , Sir Charles Dalrymple , Bart ., of Newhailes , M . P ., presiding . By a majority of 94 to 52 , it was agreed to grant a charter to Lodge St . Kentigern , Glasgow . Bros .

Benjamin Rogers , junr ., James Paxton and Andrew N . M'Kinnon were appointed representatives from the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the Grand Lodges of Prince Edward Island , Montana and New Jersey respectively ; and Bro . his Excellency Lord Lamington , Governor of Bombay , was appointed Grand Master of All Scottish Freemasonry in India . Bro . Robert Kirk , M . D ., Past Master of Lodge

Torphichen Kilwinning , Bathgate , was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Linlithgowshire , in room of Bro . Colonel Thomas Hope , of Bridgecastle , resigned . Representations having been made to Grand Lodge that certain brethren in Queensland had seceded from their lodges , and had carried away the charters , books , jewels , papers , clothing , and

paraphernalia of their respective lodges , it was recommended that Grand Committee be instructed to authorize the District Grand Master of Queensland to institute , at the proper instance , actions in the Civil Courts of Queensland , and to carry them to a conclusion , whereby the charters and other

articles , the property of the lodges there , may be recovered , and that Grand Lodge should undertake to bear the expense incurred in such actions , and to pay any expenses for which the pursuers in these actions might be found liable—the recommendation was approved of . During the quarter

grants amounting to . £ 310 16 s . were made from the Scottish Masonic Benevolent Fund , and annuities amounting to . £ 535 were voted to 51 applicants . © © © The secession of lodges from the Grand Lodge of

England and the erection of sovereign bodies in many of our colonies has not been unattended by differences , and in some instances by prolonged strife and contention , but time and a truer Masonic spirit have happily combined to bridge over the fissure temporarily created , and harmony

now prevails . In some cases , however , recognition was long delayed and a good understanding only reached by mutual concession and compromise . It is difficult , to realise the possibility of such an understanding being arrived at with the body styling itself " The Grand Lodge of Queensland .

© : ©> © That the District Grand Lodge of Queensland , which is now the only District in the Australian Commonwealth under the Grand Lodge of England , will eventually form part of an independent and sovereign body we may take for

granted , but , in the opinion of those best qualified to judge , events are not ripe for such a change . The present movement is referred to in the report of the Grand Committee of the Grand Lodge of Scotland at the meeting on the 21 st of July .

© © © At this moment the District Grand Lodge of Queensland is almost solid in its desire to retain its Masonic connection with the mother country , and when the time comes for the formation of an independent Grand

Lodge the movement will emanate from a strongly representative combination of English , Scotch , and Irish Masons , and not from such an insignificant portion of one jurisdiction as the present so-called " Grand Lodge of Queensland " appears to be composed of .

o © " The Mallet , " whose Masonic contributions to the Glasgow Evening News are a feature in that paper , has some remarks in a recent issue condemnatory of a practice which is permitted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland of permitting an unlimited number of candidates to be initiated at one meeting .

It appears that at a recent meeting of the County Kilwinning Lodge , No . 370 , in addition to the twenty-one candidates from the Wild West Show , there were eleven others initiated at a midnight meeting , making in all

thirtytwo initiates . Can there be any reasonable claim that these initiates got justice , or that there could be that decorum in the ceremonial which lends impressiveness ? Another lodge in the same province had an experience of the kind on a former occasion , and initiated on the one night thirty-one

candidates . There is certainly room for limitation , and it is to be hoped that Grand Lodge will in time receive with favour a proposal on the lines of the motion made by Bro . Cochran at a recent meeting in Edinburgh .

© t > s _> It is unnecessary to observe in this connection that no such latitude is permitted in lodges holding under the Grand Lodge of England . Rule 192 of the Constitutions limits the number that may be initiated into Masonry in one day to

five , unless a dispensation be obtained from the Grand Master or Provincial or District Grand Muster , and we have reason to believe that such dispensations are rarely granted . © © © Apart from the difficulty—and we might say the impossibility—of properly investigating the antecedents and determining the fitness of such a large number of