The Aged Masons' Asylum

Annuity Fund for Aged Masons , —a fund much too low lor the claims AVMCII come upon it , but which ive hope to see ere long so large that we may be enabled to boast that a distressed and worthy brother never seeks its aid without being certain to obtain it . Much has been clone witMn the last few years towards obtaining that position : but much more yet remains to be accomplished . We know , however , that ive have willing ,

charitable , ancl active men amongst us , —aye , ancl on the Committee of the Benevolent Institution too , —who will never rest until every department has been put in an efficient state , corresponding not only with the importance of the Craft , but those holy principles of brotherly love and charity upon ivhich the Order , in the ranks of ivhich it is our pride to be enrolled , is founded .

Freemasonry In England.

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND .

Continued from page 255 . The ever-memorable year , 1666 , presented a scope for the exercise of Masonic abilities in the fullest extent . London having been built at different periods , ancl according to the individual conveniences of those ivho were driven to seek the protection of its walls , in early days , and

afterwards that afforded by its corporate bodies , ivhich the bravery and independence of its citizens had maintained against those who called themselves the lords of the soil ; but who , instead of taking advantage of the blessings it produced , too often caused it to stink with the blood of those who fell in the wars caused by their ambition or covetousness ; and whose boasted bravery Avas but similar to that of the wild beasts of the

fields , which they were always amusing themselves in hunting , ivhen not engaged in destroying their own land . This progressive system of building without any settled plan as a guide , ivas entirely subversive of all order and regularity ; the streets ivere narrow and crooked , and the houses , though admirably adapted to make the best of the ground upon

AA'Mch they Avere built , were , by their overhanging stones , the means of preventing proper ventilation . Their crowded state , together with the bad cleansing of the streets , caused the inhabitants to be continually exposed to contagious disorders , ancl the plague in hot seasons was excessively destructive . In the year 1665 nearly 100 , 000 were swept aivay by this dreadful scourge . By the death of so great a number of its

inhabitants , and the desertion of all those ivIto bad the means of flying to places where the contagion had not reached , the streets became so untenanted and forlorn , that grass grew in them ; and this dreadful visitation had scarcely passed away , and the refugees ancl new comers settled in then- dwellings than they were obliged to fly by a most awful conflagrationwhich laid the principal part of the city in ashes . Tins dreadful

, fire broke out on the 2 nd of September , at the house of a baker in Pudding-lane , which consisted of a wooden building pitched on the outside , as did all the rest of the houses in the lane , which was very narrow , whilst the projections of the stories on either side caused them to nearly meet at