lately granted to the Stewards' Lodge of taking precedence of all the other lodges, the two oldest not excepted, a measure certainly very incompatible with the original constitutions. and which can never be sanctioned by the rules of the society. Several lodges have entered protests against it in their private books, which at some future time may have an effect, and probably induce an investigation of the subject.' In Noorthouk's (official) edition of Anderson's Constitutions of the Fraternity, page 296, we find the following:-" As the right of the members of the Stewards' Lodge in general to attend the committee of charity appeared doubtful, and no mention of such right being made in the laws of the society, the Grand Lodge was of opinion, that they had no general right to attend; a resolution was therefore moved and passed, that the Master and three other members of the Stewards' Lodge be permitted to attend at every committee on behalf of the said lodge.'

The next important remarkable notice that is to be met with, occurs in the year 1779, and is to the effect that "A representation was made by the Master and other brethren of the Stewards' Lodge, that it had been usual of late for brethren who served the office of Steward to neglect all attendance upon the Stewards' Lodge afterwards, as members, and when summoned and called upon for their subscriptions, to declare they never considered themselves as members; whereby the funds of that lodge was greatly injured, their books and accounts left in a very irregular state, and the actual members much disgusted. To obviate these complaints, a resolution was made in the following terms:'Whereas, it appears from the Book of Constitutions, to have been the invariable usage of the society to appoint the officers of the Grand Lodge from such brethren only as have served the office of Steward at a grand feast, nor unless he be an actual subscribing member of the Stewards' Lodge at the time of his appointment.' It will appear almost incredible that the Stewards should have ventured upon so bold an expedient as to declare that it appeared from the Book of Constitutions that grand officers were always chosen from past or present Stewards, when it is borne in mind that grand officers gave the feast years before stewards were found to assist; but the perseverence of the stewards one cannot help admiring. In 1779 they curtailed the prerogative of the Grand Master by forcing him to select from among themselves the grand officers, the stewards not being in existence more than fifty years, during which period they had obtained the honour of wearing distinguishing colours, voting and speaking in Grand Lodge, having a majority at the Committee of Charity, and, lastly, being the only persons eligible for grand officers; the whole of which was paid for by their giving a dinner once a year.

The opinion of a disinterested writer may be taken fairly as the views of others upon this subject, and I therefore quote from "The History of Freemasonry in England," lately published by Bro. Kloss, p. 131. "If the Grand Lodge by its vote introduced a system of lodge aristocracy, in forming a Committee of Masters to distribute its fund of benevolence, it was guilty of commencing the more improper money aristocracy by giving those single advantages and preferences to the stewards, for it deprived the worthy, accepted, and experienced brother of obtaining the honours which his purse was unable to purchase. Although we must confess that the sacrifices and expenses incurred by the stewards were worthy of rewards, we cannot deny, however, that the mode adopted deprived the Craft at once of its equality, and founded

a dangerous oligarchy that, as we shall presently relate, led to the division that unfortunately shook the structure of the society to its foundation. That which was at first permitted to be done without creating any notice, was, on the 14th June, 1753, mentioned as the usual practice, and on the 3rd February, 1779, was declared to be the invariable usage of the society. The Grand Lodge of England was the first to put in practice the axiom, that in Masonry the brother who pays the largest sums, has the title to the most honours, and has most to say. The other Grand Lodges that have introduced the office of Steward, as New York, for instance, select them by ballot from among all the lodges. This plan was originally mentioned by Dermott, in Ahiman Rezon,' 1756.' DYHEN.

TO THE EDITOR.

Cork, December 1, 1848.

Sir,-In reading over the Masonic Memoir of our departed Brother the late G. Aarons, I was surprised to find omitted the names of Irish brethren whom I know to have been instructed and enlightened by him. I myself have been, at intervals, for nearly nine months under his instruction, and accompanied him, through the kindness of our respected Bro. Crucefix, to the installation of the Grand Master of England, and to many other installations. I also acted as P. S. in the Chapter of Joppa, at the exaltation of Comps. L. Abrahams and G. Saltmarsh, in June, 1844, and on that occasion was complimented by the grand officers present for my efficiency. I must now say, that though I passed through all the Craft degrees, recognised and unrecognised, as well as the chivalrous degrees, up to the P. G. R. C., yet I candidly confess that I comparatively knew nothing till after I became the pupil of that very competent Master. The brethren whom I know to have been instructed by him also are Bros. Robinson, Hamilton, and Hewitt; the first two were at that time students in Cambridge, and the last-named attended with myself. I remain, Sir,

Your most obedient

RICHARD MEARA, P. Z.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR AND BROTHER,-As one who admires the noble and ancient Order of Freemasons, it pleases me much to see the progress it is making, of late years, in the Isle of Wight. The fraternity is not only increasing in numbers but in respectability, and amply are the brethren testifying their zeal and attachment to the Craft, in the masonic halls which they have erected in the towns of Newport, Cowes, and Ryde, buildings not only calculated for their convenience as places of meeting, but highly ornamental to the towns from the chasteness of their architectural designs. The two former are completed, the latter nearly so; and as a further exemplification of the spread of Masonry in this isle, a new lodge, called the Yarborough Lodge, is now being opened in the town

of Ventnor, where a few years ago there were not more than half a dozen houses. Such are the gratifying prospects of the Craft in this locality, and who is there who knows anything of the Order, and who is a wellwisher of the good order of society and the well-being of his fellow-man, but must rejoice at this growing influence of Freemasonry.

Some few years ago Masonry was at a very low ebb here, particularly in the town of Newport, where the few brethren then constituting the Albany Lodge had several times met to take into consideration the necessity of giving up the charter and disposing of the furniture, &c. of the lodge; such was strenuously and successfully opposed by a few of the brethren in the humblest ranks of life; still did they beg for time, as they felt assured a change would take place in favour of the good old cause; their hopes and expectations have been realized, and three of those worthy brothers still survive to see the good that has arisen from their steady attachment to their lodge, which is now in as flourishing a state as any provincial lodge in England.

On looking over one of the numbers of the "Freemasons' Quarterly Review" for 1843, I chanced upon a paragraph in which the Editor congratulates the fraternity at the reviving prospects of Freemasonry in the Albany Lodge, Isle of Wight, there having been THREE initiations during the past year. You, sir, may now extend your congratulations still further, for the prospects of that lodge have so far improved under the guidance of its present Worshipful Master, who is a young Mason, although an old man, but one of the most zealous I ever met with, as to have TEN initiations during the ten months he has so ably filled the chair, and will no doubt complete the dozen before his year of office expires. I am an old Mason, and have visited many lodges, but in none have I ever witnessed the ceremonies more fully and correctly performed, and the whole work of the lodge better conducted. It is rather a singular coincidence of a father and son being Masters of lodges at the same time, but such is the case, a son of our worthy Worshipful Master being at present Worshipful Master of St. Andrew's in the East Lodge, at Poona in Bombay.

In the erection of the Freemasons' Hall in Newport, the brethren of the Albany Lodge, by whom it has been built, have evinced their attachment to the Craft, by having had a clause inserted in the deeds of the property, which for ever prevents the building being appropriated to any other purpose than that of Masonry. It being so settled, that in the event of the fraternity becoming so few in Newport as not to be able to support the establishment, the building then becomes the property, in trust, of the Most Worshipful Grand Master of England, for masonic purposes, until the brethren of Newport be again able to require it as a lodge-room.

The ceremony of the dedication of this hall, according to ancient form, to the purposes of Freemasonry, took place on the 5th of October, 1848, in the presence of the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master for the Isle of Wight, Bro. J. Simeon, and a numerous assemblage of the brethren. The lodge-room has been decorated and furnished in the most appropriate manner, and no expense or trouble was spared (without any outward parade) to give due eclat to the ceremony. The lodge was opened in due form in the old lodge-room, in the three degrees, and then adjourned to the new masonic hall; the charter being carried from the one to the other by a brother who has been forty-six years a member of the lodge. The Worshipful Master, officers, and brethren 3 H

VOL. VI.

of the Albany Lodge, and visiting brethren, having taken their seats in the new lodge-room, the Prov. Grand Master and officers of the Prov. Grand Lodge entered in form, the organ playing a solemn air, and on his taking the chair he was saluted with due honours. The purport of the meeting was then made known by the Worshipful Master to him, and he in a short and complimentary address on the style of the building and appearance of the room, deputed the Worshipful Master to perform the ceremony of dedication, and vacated the chair, taking the one on the left. The Worshipful Master, Bro. Dawse, then delivered an address to the brethren, which I consider worthy to be published, which was listened to with the utmost attention, and received by the brethren with true masonic feeling and acclamation. After which he proceeded with the ceremony of dedication in due form, the Prov. Grand Chaplain and Chaplain to the lodge, Bro. Wallace, officiating in a most solemn and impressive manner. After the ceremony of dedication was completed, a most lucid lecture was delivered by Bro. Past Master Williams on the moral application of the ornaments, furniture, and jewels of the lodge; Bro. Williams being one of those other surviving brethren who assisted to prevent the final closing of the Albany Lodge, and now to witness its glorious resuscitation.

I will conclude by assuring you that nothing could exceed the regularity and order in which the whole was conducted, and which elicited the most complimentary encomiums from the Prov. Grand Master and several of the visiting brethren. I have thus, sir, attempted to give you an idea of how Freemasonry is progressing in this fair isle, and a notice of the ceremony of opening the Newport Masonic Hall, which I hope will be sufficient to enable you to draw up an article worthy of the pages of your Review, and through its means show to the masonic world how the Craft is flourishing among us. Your complying with my request to give this subject as fully as possible, will not only oblige many of the constant readers of your Review in this island, but one who has for many years derived much useful and gratifying information from its pages. Yours fraternally, W. C.

No article from ourselves could be so acceptable as the letter of our correspondent.-ED. F. Q. R.]

TO THE EDITOR.

Your insertion of the enclosed will oblige the Lodge No. 326.

Lodge of Social Friendship, No. 326,
Madras, August 12, 1848.

To R. T. Crucefix, Esq., M. D., Past Junior Grand Deacon of the United Grand Lodge of England.

RIGHT WORSHIPful Sir and BroTHER,-Learning from the "Freemasons' Quarterly Review" that, at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge in March last, you had intimated your intention of acting on the suggestion of the M. W. the Grand Master, and issuing to the Craft at large a circular, calling upon them to support the cause of the widow, in regard to your motion for a grant of 300l. per annum from the funds of the Grand Lodge to be appropriated for the purpose, we the undersigned, fully sensible of the excellence and importance of the object sought to be obtained by you, and desirous of testifying our appreciation of your exertions for the good of Masonry, do hereby, although

we are not as yet in possession of your circular, most cheerfully place our votes, and that of the lodge to which we have the honour to belong, at your entire disposal, in support of your measure, and earnestly pray that the Great Architect of the Universe may crown your efforts with complete success. We remain, Right Worshipful Sir and dear Brother, Yours faithfully and fraternally,

E. G. Papell, P. M. and W. M., 326, | S. Boyd. Off. S. W., 326,
H. Kennet, P. M., 326,
J. G. Lawrence, J. W., 326.

H. Clarke, P. M., 326,

COLLECTANEA.

MONEY AND TIME." Many people take no care of their money till they have come nearly to the end of it; and others do just the same with their time. Their best days they throw away-let them run like sand through their fingers-as long as they think they still have an almost countless number of them to spend; but when they find their days flowing rapidly away, so that at last they have but very few leftthen they will at once make a very wise use of them; but, unluckily, they have by that time no notion how to do it.”

GOODNESS ETERNAL." The pains we spend upon our mortal selves will perish with ourselves; but the care we give out of a good heart to others, the efforts of disinterested duty, the deeds and thoughts of pure affection, are never lost; they are liable to no waste; and are like a force that propagates itself for ever, changing itself, but not losing its intensity. In short, there is a sense in which nothing human dies; nothing, at least, which proceeds from the higher and characteristic part of man's nature; nothing which he does as a subject of God's moral law. Material structures are dissolved, their identity and function are gone, but mind partakes of the eternity of the great parent spirit; and thoughts, truths, emotions, once given to the world are never lost; they exist as truly, and perform their duty as actively, a thousand years after their origin as on their day of birth."

A SECRET. It is a secret known but to a few, yet, of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.-Steele.

DOOMSDAY BOOK.-This book, in two volumes, was the tax-book of all England, except Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham, and Northumberland, which may have been in a volume by itself, now lost. The work was drawn out in the reign of William the Conqueror, and was seven years in completion. It contains an exact account, not only of all cities, towns and villages, but also of families, and what every one possessed, either in land or money; and when any difference arose concerning such things, or the taxes, &c., this book cleared the point, and the Sovereign could not be defrauded: it obtained, therefore, the name of "Doomsday Book," and it is now kept under two locks and keys. It may be consulted on payment of six shillings and eightpence, and any portion of it transcribed at fourpence a line.-Schomberg's " Elements of the British Constitution."