Notes On The Old Minute Books Of The British Union Lodge, No. 114, Ipswich. A.D. 1762.

expense of tbe Lodge , and not at their own , and the great Masonic charities suffer in consequence . On this night we find amongst tbe payments : — " To moat and sauce for dinner , " £ 1 19 s . Gd . ; for liquor £ ¦> 4 s . total

; £ i 3 s . Gd ., for eating and drinking ! and below it is ordered that the Treasurer do send to Bro . Heseltine , Grand Secretary , One Guinea for the use of the General Fund of Charity , by Feb . 1 st , 1780 . Here is a text for a Masonic sermon at

once . The brethren of tbe British Union Lodge of to-day ( except in tbe laudable exercise of hospitality , always exercised Avithout stint or measure , to all visitors no matter from whence they come , AVIIO honour the Lodge by their presence at its meetings ) , never allow tbe funds of tbe

Lodge to be expended in refreshment , as so many Metropolitan Lodges do , but each member pays a reasonable price , say 2 s . 6 d ., for a thoroughly substantial , but by no means extravagant repast , and he may take what stimulant be pleases , or

none at all , so that if he is a teetotaller , and even a Good Templar , he is perfectly at liberty to drink bis toasts in water if he please , no man urging him to drink or to abstain , but leaving him to do what seems best in his own eyes . One of the great objections to Masonry we have seen somewhere , fms been its suppers and its toasts , inciting men to

drink against their will , and leading weak men astray , by tlie gay society of the craft . For ourselves we do not believe for a moment in the statements made by our enemies , that Masonry or its banquets have a tendency to lead men astray . We strongly believe in the social part

of the Masonic meeting , when the brethren from labour seek refreshment , and Ave should be sorry to see the pleasant after part done away with , but at the same time we are strongly of opinion that the Lodge funds should never be trenched upon

except in exercise of hospitality to strangers , and tbe members Avho stay to supper , or dinner , or whatever name it goes by , should be content to pay for it . AVere this practice universal , and extravagant banquets tabooed , the charities Avould get the benefit , and the social gatherings Avould be none tlie less pleasant because they were inexpensive . This is a matter which

chiefly concerns our London brethren however , as except in Liverpool perhaps , and one or two of our great cities , the provincial Masons do not go in for extravagant banquets , save on very rare occasions . Even at our Provincial Grand Lodge meetingsthe dinner provided is

, generally a question of a few shillings only , and Ave do not know that when properly served ( which by the way is seldom the case , through the great paucity of waiters ) , they are not as pleasant as the monthly and quarterly banquets held b

y some London Lodges at a cost of a guinea , and sometimes two , to each brother who Avishes to partake of the costly repast . Apparently harmony did not reign supreme in tbe British Union at this time , for on tbe 7 th March , 1780 , we find a

record that " Bro . T . C ( for obvious reasons AVC suppress the names ) , by order of the Master and the rest of the brethren , is excluded this Lodge ; " the reason of his exclusion is carefully scored out , and no one but an expert , or the celebrated Blind Man at tbe Post Office , could now decipher the cause of this order . " Likewise W . K ., for a scandalous report of calling the

fraternity a society , and that advice be sent to the Grand Lodge , in order to have him erased out of their book and excluded from all regular Lodges , & c . " So runs the minute , and from it we cannot fail to gather that the Lodge ( as too many Lodges are now doing every day )

had made the great mistake of admitting men within its portals who would do nothing but bring the society into contempt , so thoroughly and manifestly unfit were they to participate in the mysteries of Masonry .

On the 5 th June , 1781 , we note the following minute which is suggestive iu many ways : — " This evening it Avas unanimously agreed that the Secretary should provide the Lodge with a Freemasons' Calendar

annually , and the expense to be paid out of the funds of the Lodge . " One cannot help thinking we should have more masonic students , more seekers after lbdit , and fewer knife and fork Masons , if each Lodge now took , not only the Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar , but the Freemason , and the Masonic Magazine , and so contribute to tbe diffusion of masonic knowledge ,