History Of The Lodge Of Emulation, No. 2 1.

the General Charity being the Contribution ol our Brethren in East India . The Healths of Br . Winter and the Brethren in East India were drank with Thanks for their handsome present . ' ' Although this was the lirst , it was by no means the last contribution of a similar character received from our Indian brethren in the early davs of the Grand Lodge .

¦¦ KKKMASOXS' HALL MKHAI . fl 7 S »| . The l ' rnp .-r / i / af / lie l . a I ;/ ,- af Euinlalian , A ' u . il . On the 17 th January , 1739 , "John Jesse of the Post Office . Esqr ., " a hig hly respected member of this lodge , was nominated by the Marquis of Carnarvon , Grand Master , for

the oflice of Grand Treasurer , and unanimously elected . He continued to discharge the duties of his office with satisfaction to the Craft until his death in 1733 . At the next meeting of the Grand Lodge on April 13 th , " The Petition of Bro . Henry Stonestreet referred from the hist Committee was read , when the Petitioner , his character ,

his former nourishing circumstances and present poverty were particularly spoke to and he exceedingly well recommended . Ordered that the Treasurer do p ; iv Bro . Stonestreet Twenty Guineas towards his relief . " The petitioner was a member of this lodge in 1730 , and also of two other lodges .

He must have been held in very high esteem to have received so liberal a grant—the largest yet voted to any brother—the total amount of the funded property of the Grand Lodge , including the collection of that evening , only amounting to / . " 204 4 s . 6 d .

Hitherto the attendances and payments from the Mourning Bush Lodge had been very regular since the incident of the year 173 ( 1 . already alluded to , but the Grand Lodge minutes for 1 739-40 indicate a falling off in both respects . From {; -. ; . uary , 1739 , to January , 1741 , neither attendances nor payments are recorded . This is the more inexplicable , as

the Deputy Grand Master , Dr . William Graham ( or Graeme ) , was formerly a member of the lodge , and the Grand Treasurer tin active member at the lime . At a meeting of Grand Lodge on June 24 th , 1741 . another prominent member of the lodge , Fotherlev Baker , Past Grand Steward , afterwards Deputy Grand Master , proposed

for a law of the Grand Lodge , "That no Brother do presume to print or cause to be printed the Proceedings of any Lodge or any part thereof , or the names of the Persons present at such Lodge but by the direction of the Grand Master , Deputy Grand Master , or Brother officiating as such , and if any

Brother shall print or cause the same lo be printed without such direction , he shall not be owned as a Brother or admitted into any Quarterly Communication or Grand Lodge , or any Lodge whatsoever , or bear any office iu the Craft . And the same being seconded , was , on the Question put ,

agreed to unanimously , -and ordered to be entered as a Law of the Grand Lodge . " This Regulation has been handed down with little variation to the present day . Having brought my examination of the Grand Lodge records down to the period when the existing minutes of the lodge begin , and finding nothing further calling for particular

notice , I will now deal with the records of the lodge itself . I may , however , mention the fact that the minutes of the Grand Lodge from 1741 to 1757 , indicate a remarkable regularity of attendance on the part of the Masters and Wardens of the lodge , as well as a liberal and regular

contribution to the General Fund of Charity . At this period payments to the afore-mentioned Fund were not compulsory , each lodge being expected to give according to its means , which in most cases amounted to about a guinea each year , but after the year 1750 the annual contributions of the Mourning [ Bush Lodge were never less than two guineas and occasionally three .

THE RECORDS OF THE MOCRXJXG BI'SH LODGE . 1742—1780 . In 1872 , Brackstone Baker , P . M . of this lodge and a Past Grand Deacon of England , published a pamphlet of thirty pages , entitled The Lodge of Emulation , Xo . 21 .

Some Xaliees of ils Early History , lis Distinguished Members , and I he Events connected ieilh ils Career . I had originally intended to incorporate this pamphlet with my present work , for it undoubtedly contains 'much of historic interest in a small compass , and I thought it a pity that this , the first

attempt at a history of the lodge by a brother so highly respected , not only by the members of his lodge , but by the Craft generally on both sides of the Atlantic , should be lost sight of as most pamphlets tire in the course of a few years . Finding , however , that the pamphlet in question contains a

few errors , of no great importance certainly , but which I think it unadvisable to perpetuate , as well as several pages of general matter not in any way relating to this lodge , I have concluded to examine the records for myself and to make such selections therefrom as I may deem suitable for publication , without regard to Brackstone Baker ' s earlier efforts in the same direction .

itt'viaisi' OK TIIK A no vi-:. The oldest volume now in possession of ( he lodge is a Treasurer ' s Cash Book , lolio size , bound in rough calf , beginning April 9 U 1 , 1742 , and ending October 9 H 1 , 1780 ;

ils chief value in my opinion consists of a record of the Masters and Wardens of the lodge for the fourteen years prior to the beginning of the minutes , without which this