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

There were eight A'isitors present , ancl seven of them appear to have paid 10 s . 6 d . altogether for the honour of sitting at the same table with the brethren of the British Union . Under date January 6 , 1784 , we note that this evening "E . L . ( of course , we do not publish the name ) was

expelled this lodge for unworthy transactions perfectly clear to ye R . W . M . and brethren then present , and was in due form divested of the badge of a Mason by the J . W . " On March 2 , 1784 , we note that whilst

Bro . Bennett was raised to ye degree of a Master Mason , Bros . T . Askew , Thomas Smith , ancl G . Walham " passed ye chair . " This , of course , alludes to the titular Past Master degree , of Avhich mention has already been made .

Two brethren—one a grocer , and the other a cabinet maker—were initiated on the llth June , 1784 . On the 24 th of that month , St . John Baptist ' s Day , the brethren went in procession to St . Mary Tower Church , and an excellent sermon was preached from the 20 and 21 verses of St . Jude by the Rev . V . L . Barnard , who afterwards visited the

Lodge in October . Several brethren from Hadleigb were proposed to take the second ancl third degrees the following lodge night . Under the head of disbursements for this nig ht we find : To one dozen aprons , this day , 12 s . What would our good friend Bro . Kenning say to such a price for

aprons now-a-days . We are afraid they must have been poor lambskins , or else the price of leather has strangely gone up since 1784 . At the Lodge meeting , November 2 , 1784 , it was proposed that Bros . J . Gooding ,

W . Harris , ancl Thomas Smith should be passed and raised to third degree next lodge night ; so that , as we have before remarked , it is evident that at this time brethren did not take their degrees as a matter of course as they do HOAV ; but each

step was taken by favour of the Lodge . Bro . William Lane , operative Mason , became S . W . this year , being elected 27 th December , St . John ' s Day , Avhen the festival was duly observed , and the brethren had an ordinary at Is . 6 d ., dinner being rdered for twenty , and at the Lodge , here appear to have been present a depuatiou from the Lodge No . 426 in ye

King ' s 1 st Regiment of Dragoon Guards , Avhich Avas probably quartered in the town at that time , the brethren representing this military Lodge consisting of the D . R . W . M ., a P . M ., and the S . and J . VV . ' s . We note that there was paid to Bro . Foxwell 3 s . for painting ancl gilding ye

flag-staff belonging to ye Royal Edmund Lodge ; but what this Lodge was , whether it is still in existence , and why the British Union had to pay , we cannot now tell . The Lodge meeting on January 27 , 1785 , Avas convened at Bro . Higgin ' s , at ye

Bull , Cornhill , Ipswich . Why it met here , and Avhether there Avas authority to do so , does not appear . " This evening it was unanimously agreed that no Mason who is not a member of any Lodge , and being a resident of this toAvn , shall not be

allowed to visit this Lodge any more than three times , except they choose to join ancl make proofs of their being a subscriber of some constituted Lodge . " The English is a little defective , but the meaning is obvious , Avhich reminds us of a reply Coleridge made to some lady ' s argument , " Madam , your reasons are Avrong , but your conclusions are right . "

Some people think that Avhen people are 25 roposed as Freemasons , as a matter of course they are accepted—free and accepted—the brethren being only too eager to take anybody in . Whatever may be the fact now in some lodges , it was not so in 1785 in the British Unionfor Ave

, find that on the 1 st March of that year Mr . L . P . ( we think it better not to give the name ) was balloted for and rejected , and his admission money was returned to the brother who proposed him , Avhich brother and another in consequenceAve

, suppose , of his rejection , thereupon withdrew themselves from the lodge . On May 30 , 1785 , a Lodge Avas convened , "in order to inform Bro . John Conder , Bro . M . Willoughby , and Bro . W . Fenton of a dispensation being sent for them to hold

a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in due form at the Green Man , Ipswich , for the space of six months and no longer . Signed and sealed by Rowland Holt , Esq ., Prov . Gr . Master for Suffolk . At the August meeting , in 1785 , three brethren from the Perfect Friendship Lodge Avere present as visitors . It Avas ordered and agreed to , this evening by the