ST. JOHN'S LODGE No. 279, Leicester, entered upon its centenary year on the 1st January last. Bro. W. Kelly, 2076, Past Provincial Grand Master, was placed in the Chair of the Lodge, which he has already filled four times, the last occasion being in 1888, when he celebrated his Masonic jubilee, having been made in St. John's Lodge 50 years previously. He is not only the senior member of the Lodge but the oldest Mason in the province. BRO. CHAS. BESSELL, of Lodge No. 1388, lectured before the brethren of the Horsa Lodge, No. 2208, Bournemouth, Monday, the 16th Nov., 1889, on the "Ionian Philosophers and Pythagoras.' The lecture was in continuation of one on "Sun Worship," noticed by us at page 136 of vol. II., and we hear that it was highly successful. BRO. G. W. SPETH delivered his lecture on "The Degrees of Ancient (pre-1717) Masonry" before the Wakefield Masonic Literary Society, the Bradford Masonic Literary Society, the Albert Victor Lodge, York, the Humber Installed Masters' Lodge, Hull, and the eight associated Lodges of Leeds, on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of January respectively. Also before the Liverpool Masonic Literary Society on the 22nd February. The latter is a new society, of which the Prov. G.M., Lord Lathom, is the honorary, and Bro. J. Hawkins, the acting, president. The next lecturer at Bradford is to be Bro. J. Ramsden Riley, 2076, on " Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter Certificates," Monday, 24th March; and at Liverpool, Bro. J. Finlay Finlayson, 2076. The brethren in Lincolnshire are also preparing to invite Bro. Speth down for a week's tour in April. The Lodges warranted by the Grand Lodge of England in 1839 are as follows:- No. 2291. West Ham Abbey. Stratford, Essex. Wavertree. Wavertree, Lancashire West. Scaresbrick. Southport, Lancashire West. 2296. United Service. Launceston, Tasmania. 2294. 2295. 2297. Harding. Roebourne, Western Australia. 2298. Southern Cross. Palamcottah, Tinnevelly, Madras. Mount Currie. Kokstad, East Griqualand, Natal. 2300. Aorangi. Wellington, New Zealand. 2301. Fortitude. Bluff, Otago and Southland, New Zealand. 2305. Stour. Ashford, Kent. 2306. Toowong. Toowong, Queensland. 2307. Friendship. Ajmere, Bombay. 2308. Viator. London. 2309. George Gardner. Datchet, Berks. ,. 2311. 2312. Saint Alkmund. Whitchurch, Shropshire. 2313. Johannesburg. Johannesburg, Transvaal. 2318. Lennox Browne. Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 2315. Royal Albert. Klerksdorp, Transvaal. 2316. Princes. Liverpool. In addition to the above, four lodges, Nos. 2292, 2293, 2303, and 2304, were warranted in the Colony of Victoria, but have since joined the Grand Lodge of that jurisdiction. The four London Lodges are all distinctly "class-lodges;" No. 2308 being confined to Commercial Travellers, Nos. 2310 and 2312 to Volunteer Regiments, and No. 2319 to Scotsmen. The numbers were last closed up in 1863, since when 383 Lodges have lapsed from the roll under the following headings: Extinct, 6; Warrant cancelled, 4; Warrant returned, 73; united with neighbouring Lodges, 10; erased, 16; and joined independent Grand Lodges, 274. This leaves at the end of 1889, a net muster of 1949 Lodges under the Grand Lodge of England. GERMANY. MAGDEBURG.- "When lately in Magdeburg I became aware of a strong current of feeling against the local Lodge Ferdinand zur Glückseligkeit, of which the GeneralAnzeiger newspaper was the mouthpiece. This Lodge has hitherto exercised a contracted right over the orchestra of the theatre, inasmuch as it was entitled to require their services, against a fixed payment, on any Wednesday, and gave the finest concerts in the town. But the theatre was thus precluded from producing an opera on Wednesday nights. The theatre having now been acquired by the municipality, this right has lapsed, and the authorities are considering whether they shall in future show the Lodge any favour in this respect.”—Bro. Beck, Dresden. UNITED STATES. BRO. THOMAS R. PATTON, a member of our C.C., presented the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, of which he is Grand Treasurer, with £5000 at the last quarterly communication, wherewith to found a fund for the relief of widows of Freemasons, in memory of his late wife. The deed of gift provides for a part of the interest accumulating till the capital shall have reached £20,000. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. ON Wednesday, 18th December, 1889, a new Lodge was consecrated at Adelaide, St. Alban, No. 38. The aim of the promoters are:-"To cultivate a higher standard of Masonic work; to promote literary effort and the diffusion of Masonic lore and knowledge, and to offer membership to those brethren whose tastes and acquirements may desire the advantage of a congenial fellowship." The South Australian Freemason adds: "The promoters, there fore to a large extent, intend the new Lodge to follow in the steps of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, London. The success of the latter Lodge, which was founded purely on a literary basis, has been phenomenal, and although we have not in South Australia such Masonic literary giants as Gould, Hughan, Speth, and others, we welcome in the field a Lodge whose members are desirous of in some degree participating in the work in which the Quatuor Coronati is engaged." INDIA. IMITATION is the sincerest flattery, and the news from South Australia is capped by a circular just received from the Punjab. It has been resolved to found a Lodge called the Albert Victor to consist of English Past Masters only, and to be located at Lahore. It is to consist of an Outer Circle of Corresponding Members, and an Inner Circle of 36 full members. No portion of the Lodge funds are to be devoted to "refreshment" of any sort, but entirely to working the Lodge, Charity, and "to the purposes of Masonic literature, culture, and instruction." Our brother Whymper is, of course, a member, although he writes us that he had "nothing whatever to do with forming the Lodge." The fees appear to us to be rather high, but perhaps we are not a competent judge of Indian matters. We certainly could not obtain them here. The restriction to past masters, and those of the English Constitution only, seems an unnecessary restraint, and calculated to interfere with the prosperity of the Lodge. But here again the local brethren probably know their own business best, and after paying us the compliment of imitating our pursuits, methods, and even expressions, we can not do otherwise than wish them "God speed." It is indeed a great gratification to us to record, in almost every number, some fresh instance of a stir amongst the dead bones, an awakening of Masons to intellectual life, and to the absorbing interest of Masonic Archæology. We have sown the seed broadcast, and after very few days, comparatively speaking, it is producing fruit. No better recognition of our efforts can he imagined, than an endeavour elsewhere to go and do likewise. FRIDAY, 2nd MAY, 1890. HE Lodge met at Freemasons' Hall at 5 p.m. Present:-Bro. W. Simpson, I.P.M. as Riach, visitors. One Provincial Grand Chapter, seven Lodges, and 48 brethren were admitted to the membership of the Correspondence Circle, raising the total of intrants to 908. The Secretary was instructed to write a letter of congratulation to Bro. T. B. Whytehead on his appointment to the office of Grand Sword Bearer. BRO. T. HAYTER LEWIS read the following paper : MASONRY AND MASONS' MARKS. HE paper upon which the present one is founded was read by me at Glasgow in 1888, and is printed in the Transactions of the British Archæological Association. It there referred chiefly to modern marks, and I have re-written it in different and enlarged form at the request of our indefatigable Secretary, with special reference to the antiquarian part of the subject, viz., from the earliest times down to the 13th century, with only casual reference to modern times. It must, however, go over much of the same ground as the former one, and I have, therefore, to ask the patient forbearance of our brethren in this respect. I must, also, at the outset, express my great obligations to Bro. Gould for his admirable history of our Craft. I had no idea until I had read it, that he could have brought together so large a store of information on every part of the subject, and had mastered so many difficult points relating to my own profession. I must look, however, upon the subject from a different standpoint, viz., from a survey of the buildings themselves, in our own country and Palestine, chiefly in the 12th and 13th centuries, leaving the documentary evidence to be obtained from his writings and those of Mr. Fort and others. To put the matter briefly, I propose to shew that there was a certain distinct style of masonry as well as of architecture both here and in Palestine at about the middle of the 12th century; secondly, that there was another peculiar type of masonry and toolmarks of the 13th century scarcely known in England until near the time at which the Crusaders were driven out of Jerusalem, viz, in 1187; and that the lowest courses of the wall which supported the Temple platform there present the most eastern, and, possibly, the most ancient, example of the 13th century toolmarks. I give this example simply to assist in proving their distinctly eastern origin. Further, I propose to show that the architecture of the Crusaders in Palestine was mainly designed and carried ont under the superintendence of western architects and masons, and that there was a strong eastern influence in the 13th century masonry in England after the return of the Crusaders. The kind of masonry to which I first alluded was that which we usually term Norman. It was developed at the end of the 11th century, became more refined at the middle of the 12th, and was then superseded by the beautiful early English; the first of these dates coinciding very nearly with the capture of Jerusalem, 1099, and the last with its recapture by the Kurds under Saladin in 1187. The masonry of the Normans, in its early stages, was very rude, being composed of stones of various sizes, with wide rough joints: but in the 12th century it became highly finished, the stones well squared, of a much smaller size than those used in the 13th century, |