Provincial.

rest of the present and past Grancl Officers of the Grand Lodge of England . " The PROV . G . M . again rose anel said—Brethren , I now rise to ask you to assist me in offering our tribute of mingled veneration and attachment to the memory of your late Deputy Provincial Grand Master , the A enerable Archdeacon Lane Freer . How zealously he laboured in the duties of that office you need not be told , and you all realise the connection that the singular

affection , esteem , anel confidence which he inspired were such as it has been given to few to enjoy . ( Hear , hear . ) I do hut echo the sentiments of the Freemasons of Herefordshire , when I affirm that we all feel his loss as a personal bereavement . ( Hear , hear . ) He lived in the hearts of his friends ; he died amidst general , deep , and unaffected lamentations , anel he has left to us his example as our most precious inheritance . ( Hear , hear . ) Let us bow our heads with filial reverence and trust to the will of

our Heavenly Father , and let us hallow the Archdeacon's memory by copying his example . ( The toast was pledged in deep silence and the honours of the Craft , led by the D . Prov . G . M ,, given with slow anel solemn impressiveness . ) The 1 ) . Prov . G . M ., CIIANDOS WREN HOSKYNS , M . P ., said—Right Worshipful Sir anel Brethren , I have to apologise to yon for the circumstance that I have only within a few minutes become aware of the dutI ht to have been known long

y oug before , when I felt the necessity and pain at the prospect of filling , however unworthily , the position to which I have been appointed ; yet the pleasure with which I rise to perform my duty counterbalances that feeling , and cheers me to hope that my endeavours will meet with that response which is ever ready in your heart . ( Applause . ) The duty I have to perform is to propose "The Health of the R . W . Provincial Grand Master of this Provincethe Reverend Dr . Bowles . " ( Cheers . ) I am not

, able to speak , as I should like to , historically of the claims he has upon our interest and loyal sympathy as Prov . G . M . of this province . I suppose , however , there is hardly any Mason who has not heard of the Duke of Sussex , who was one of the best , or the best , of all Masons in England , for it used to be a proverbial saying with good Masons "There is only one better Mason than I , " each one speaking for himself , thereby testifying that of all the great Masons in England in

his day he was the greatest ; and we know that it is to his influence , acquaintance , friendship , anel appointment that Dr . Bowles has presided over the province of Herefordshire so long anel so ably as he has done . It is not an easy thing to direct the energies , the duties , the charities , and the sccial qualities of a body like Masons , anel that throughout a long course of time , and escape the natural errors anel infirmities that are common to humanity , and to have conducted the business

so as to have given satisfaction to the Masons of the province . Indeed , I trust I shall live to see that good work continue during the period which may be given to me to have the honour of performing the duties of D . Prov . G . M . to Dr . Bowles ; and all I can do is to promise you that I will do my best to second his endeavours for the benefit of Masonry in this province . ( Hear , hear . ) I feel that he is entitled to your gratitude by claims anel calls of sympathy with

which I am not adequately cognizant , so as to entitle me to speak , because my experience has lain iu another province of this kingdom . ( Applause . ) In that province we hael the great happiness to see the energy anel tact combined in one brain necessary to bring the willing spirits of mankind into the good work , and draw them into unison to promote the great object of Masonry . I am able to speak from personal experience as to what has been done there ; and I also learn from excellent

authority that much has been done by the exercise of knowledge , talent , and tact in the province of Herefordshire ; that the appointments have all been judiciously made ; and I have , therefore , no doubt that , under the guidance of the R . W . Prov . Grand Master of the province , the good work will be continued . ( Cheers . ) As far as my experience goes , I must say that I know not of any brother , the powers of whose pen , and the eloquence of whose tongue—no one , in fact , who has the capacity to

present in the form in which it ought to be presented , the very body and soul of Masonry , than our R . W . Prov . Grancl Master Dr . Bowles . ( Cheers . ) There is no brother with whom I have made acquaintance who possesses the same consummate skill in the use of language—so able a specimen of which we have had in the touching tribute presented to the revered and valued relict of our late Deputy Prov . Grand Master , which has been read to us in lodge to-day . ( Much applause . ) I am sure you will not ask me to enlarge upon that to which I am unable to

do justice , and I shall call upon the brethren to honour the toast of our " Prov . G . M . the Reverend Dr . Bowles . " The toast received a most hearty and fraternal response . The PROV . G . M . said : In compliance with ancient custom , and , better still , as the loud and repeated cheers have proved , from the depths of your own kind hearts , you have drunk my health as tbe Grancl Master of the Province . The enthusiasm with which the toast was welcomed permits me to indulge in .

the hope that I still continue to hold that place in your regard which it has ever been my desire to possess , and which I trust I may , without presumption , say I have hitherto always clone my best to deserve . ( Cheers . ) I am deeply thankful , brethren , for this generous and warm reception . It has touched my heart , and elicited my sincere gratitude . I also thank my honourable friend and brother the Right Worshipful and D . Prov . Grand Master for the singularly high , but , alas !

unmerited compliments with which his most eloquent and everready tongue introduced the toast . ( Applause . ) He will not deem me ungrateful if , in return for so much kindness , the dictates of a full heart irrepressibly send to my lips theutterauce of my deep sorrow that the place at my right hand is no longer filled by one who was so singularly clear to all of us , and whose memory is embalmed in our tenderest recollections . ( Great Masonic feeling . ) Suffer me on this , the first

occasion of our meeting at this board since his lamented death , to offer a humble tribute of affectionate regard to his memory . It was my privilege to possess a large share in the esteem and affection of the late Deputy Provincial Grand Master , and the recollections of him are inscribed on my heart in characterswhich nothing less than the shadow of death itself can extinguish . ( Hear , hear . ) Masonry approved itself to his calmest reasonand nothing but a deep and deliberate conviction of

its-, importance induced him to take a foremost place in our ranks . ( Hear , hear . ) He was a Mason not from the mere energy of momentary impulse , hut from the steady perseverance of a manly mind intent on benevolent objects , and conversant veifchnoble principles . His love of the brotherhood sprung from his deep sympathy with his fellow-men . ( Great applause . ) His affections were warm and sympathetic , and his attachments as unalterable as they were sincere ; he was ever ready with

his kind offices , and would spare no cost or self-denyinglabour in his person to confer a favour or avert an injury . ( Protracted applause . ) His integrity might be searched and tested by sunlight ; he never betrayed a truth , never deserted a friend , and where best known he was best loved . ( Hear , hear , and prolonged applause . ) That his removal should have produced a regret so universal and so deep is a touching homage to his character , and a practical demonstration of the power it

exerted over his fellow men . ( Applause . ) Amongst the Freemasons of Herefordshire his name will he held in everlasting remembrance . ( Hear , hear . ) Of his character as a dignitary of the Church of England , and of the manner in which he discharged the duties of his arcbdeaconship , it is not , perhaps , necessary that I should here speak ; yet , as one intimately acquainted with his opinions , I may , perhaps , be permitted to saythat the fulfilment of his duties partook of the strength

, and simplicity of his character . To the solid acquirements of the ripe scholar he added the acuteness of the critic , the mature knowledge of the well-read divine , and the piety of the Christian . ( Applause . ) He was , indeed , a living commentary of the doctrines he taught , a striking manifestation of what Christianity can accomplish in the human mind . ( Applause . ) The light within so penetrated the earthen vessel that enshrined it ,

that " his profiting appeared unto all men . " Surely the ties created by friendship with sueh a man must be eternal . ( Applause . ) It might also be added that it never entered his thoughts that religion was an enemy to the innocent pleasures and social endearments of private life , while his regard for the Deity rendered them subservient to piety by the gratitude they inspired , and the conviction which they deepened of the divine benignity . To the rancour . of religious bigotry ,

the pride of priestly intolerance , he was a stranger : his large soul could not contract itself into the littleness of bigotry . ( Loud applause . ) He is gone to his reward , but he is not wholly gone ; the principle of thought does not die with the body , and a better world has heightened not extinguished his affection for his Masonic brethren ; neither is he gone in influence , for his example remains , and his principles will long be confessed and felt in the Masonic lodges of this province , in all the force of a living and visible reality . Even to us then he lives—lives more emphatically and in a far higher meaning of