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Book of Constitutions really does say on the subject . I . It is quite clear , first of ail , page 16 and 17 , small edition , 1873 , that Provincial and District Grand Masters are members of Grand Lodge , and constitute No . 7 in the " Tableof Precedence . " 2 .

When the Grand Master is absent " the lodge shall " be ruled b y the Grand Officer or Provincial " Grand Officer next in rank or seniority who may " be present , " and failing all Grand Officers , by the W . M . of the senior lodge . Thus it is equally

clear that , in the absence of the Grand Master , the Pro Grand Master , all Past Grand Masters , all Past Pro Grand Masters , his D . G . Master , and P . D . G . Master , the senior Provincial and District Grand Master takes the chair . Thus far in all

lodge processions , proceedings , and meetings the rank of Provincial and District Grand Masters is superior to Present and Past Grand Wardens . 3 . But it is said that , though a Grand Officer , he is not an officer of Grand Lodge , and , as such , has no

claim to respond for Grand Lodge on any occasion , and that the senior Present or Past Officer of Grand Lodge present is the brother to do so . We have pointed out before that as regards the " social " circle , " strictly speaking , except by courtesy

and custom , there is no ' . ' law of the Mcdes and " Persians , " but , whether rig htl y or wrongly , certainly for the last forty years in England , the usage has been alike in Grand Lodge and at the social circle , to give the " pas " to Provincial and

District Grand Masters , and to call upon them , whatever other Grand Lodge Officers were present , to represent Grand Lodge . This may be wrong , according to " Cocker , " but so it has undoubtedly been , and we can call to mind , as all others must

do , hundreds of instances where this state of things has been recognized , and where this position of affairs is still recognized by those highest in authority amongst us . It would not be difficult to produce countless " precedents " of the fact , and

by successive Grand Masters from the time of the Duke of Sussex . But , as we said before , it may be an erroneous view of the Book of Constitutions and a mistaken custom of English Masons ; if so , the sooner it is settled , one way or

the other , by competent authority , the better , as the question arises almost daily , and is likely ere long to come before us when our Masonic season in London recommences . If Provincial and District Grand Masters have no warrant to return thanks

for Grand Lodge , and it is the right and duty of the senior actual Present or Past Grand Officer to do so , we think a short explanatory circular from Freemasons' Mall would be alike seasonable and satisfactory . There is , it is said , a difference

between an ••Officer of the Grand Lod ge and " Grand Officers , " though the word " Grand Offi" cers " can only be applied to Present and Past District and Provincial Grand Masters , inasmuch as the officers of Grand Lod ge are

invested in Grand Lodge , and the latter arc not . But we doubt very much whether the Book of Constitutions contemplates any such distinction , and the Provincial and District Grand Masters , as representatives for their respective

localities of the Grand Master , arc given a rank in Grand Lodge , which , we believe , renders them , "wherever Masons do congregate " senior to all Present and Past Officers of Grand Lodge . Under the heading " Regulations for the

Govern" merit of the Craft , pages 16 and 17 , as before printed , Provincial and District Grand Masters are as much members of Grand Lodge , and with a definite rank , as any other members in it , and we fail to see that any reason has yet been adduced ,

by which their position and scnority as before the Craft , even in the social circle , according to the comity and courtesy of Masons , can be safely questioned or properly interfered with . Still we speak deferentially , as open to correction .

* * OUR readers will note with much regret the "Obituary" in our last of our well-known and lamented Bro . EDWARD Cox . Me had for a long

time taken an active part in metropolitan Freemasonry , and was a very zealous and earnest supporter of our great Charities , to which he had liberall y subscribed . He was equally familiar with

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many of our provincial brethren , and at the next elections in October the absence of his energetic presence and his earnest support will be alike missed and regretted by many . He was undoubtedly most sincere in his attachment to

Freemasonry and his support of our great Masonic Charities , and we think it right , therefore , to record the loss in our columns of so persevering and zealous a member of metropolitan Masonry , with

a few simple and kindly words of memorial and regret . We " also regret to have to announce the death of Bro . SARCOOD , P . M . Moira Lodge , 92 , whose talents and services are well known to

Freemasons . * CAN nothing be done to improve the position of our Grand Lodge library , and make it a reality and an assistance to Masonic archaeology , to home

readers , to foreign students ? Let us dismiss the old and mistaken " Red Tape " theory that brethren will not read Masonic books . Brethren , like others , £ xpect a comfortable room and all the accessories of a well arranged library . Given us

these needful conditions we do not hesitate to assert , though we never set up to be prophets in any sense , that any such library with a good catalogue and a librarian and assistant to attend to the wants of the readers , would always find

students to avail themselves of the advantages , and read alike the books and MSS . It is positively a disgrace to the greatest and richest Craft Grand Lodge in the world that it makes no provision whatever for literary studies or archaeological

research . It has already the " nucleus " of a library which in a short time would become most valuable and unique , and which wc doubt not would greatly help the . Masonic student of

today , who , dazed with the " myths and anachronisms of the past , wishes to put together a clear , connected , and truthful history of our really wonderful Order .

* WE are glad to note a much healthier tone arising amongst us as regards theatrical amusements . Of course , as we all know , there are "theatres and theatres , " and " performances and performances , "

but the old and mistaken dislike to the stage and distrust of actors and . actresses is { Massing away , let us trust never to return . Many of those who labour so zealously to increase not only the "harmless gaiety of nations , " but to offer to the passing age sound

and useful lessons of moral wisdom and happy sarcasm , who seek neither inaptly and inappropriately to expose the follies and weakness , nay , and the very baseness of the passing hour , are themselves leading most exemplary lives , as

good husbands and wives , and are most thorougly cultured alike in tone , taste , and sentiment . Many of the theatrical profession arc members of the Order , and a well known lodge boasts

among its members some of the shining li ghts of comedy and the drama . Surel y in 1880 we may afford to "discount" the fatuity and intolerance of perverse , if well meaning , fanaticism .

* * IN- an amusing letter to the Times Mr . COLE , C . B ., complains of the " Postmaster General " having said recentl y at a public meeting that " he should " no more think of advocating that every one

" should study mathematics than he should of ad" vocating that every one should be taught music " or drawing . " He doubts Mr . FAWCETT ' ear for music , and adds that he ( Mr . FAWCETT ) clearly

" does not recognize its universal use in churches , " chapels , in the army , in the theatre , in the homes " of all classes , and as an instinctive recreation in " all nations . Where education is most cultivated

" music , as in German } ' , ranks as an essential . " We are equally favourable , for many reasons , to the encouragement of " drawing , " but should rather sec it confined to "adult classes . " Instruction in

music in primary schools should be elementary , to be carried on in adult schools . We also , with some experience of " education , " disagree with " any " depreciatory estimate of music , " and should like to see its stud y universal , as of civilizing , humanizing , and elevating tendency .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of , the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]

FREEMASONRY IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE . To the Editor of the Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , It is clear to me that I and my reverend critic Bro . J . S . Brownrigg have no course open to us but to agree to differ about the status of Freemasonry in Cambridgeshire . At the same time there is no necessity for him to apologise

for having " too warmly defended his cause . I do not see how , with the views he holds , he could have written otherwise than he has written . I have no wish to prolong a controversy which will lead to no practical result . AH I ask , therefore , is a little space in which to reply to Bro . Brownrigg ' s second letter : — 1 . I have already remarked in my former letter that "I

am not prepared to say the addition of new lodges to the strength of a province is always an unmixed good , or that it invariablyltestifies to increased strength and influence . " I have allowed that Cambridge is well off with its three lodges , and Wisbeach has one lodge , but " there are other places in the county where it might fairly be expected Freemasonry would readily find a home . " As a matter of

fact there have been lodges in the Isle of Ely , one a "Modern , " warranted in 1764 , which became No . 179 in 1792 , and between that year and 1 S 13 ceased working ; the other an "Ancient , " or"AtholI" Lodge , warranted in 1765 , which also had ceased working before 1 S 13 . Whittlesey , too , had a Lodge St . Andrew's , born in 1 S 09 , and deceased some time between 1 S 14 and 1 S 32 . Therefore ,

though the Alma Mater , No . 1492 , which meets at Bletchley , in Buckinghamshire , may justly be regarded as a daughter of the Isaac Newton University , I still hold it is passing strange that " not one of the 5 60 new lodges which have been warranted since the beginning of 1 S 70 , should have been added to the roll of Cambridgeshire . " Cambridge may be geographically convenient for the brethren

of the province , but one would think it still more convenient for the brethren , if any , who reside in Ely , March , Whittlesey , and other towns in the county , to have a lodge of their own which they might attend without the trouble of journeying to and from Cambridge . If a lodge could hold its own in the the Isle of Ely for a considerable portion ofhalf-acentury , between the years 1764 and 1 S 13 , there is no

special reason why , if one were established there now , it should not fare at least as well . Upwards of a thousand lodges have been constituted since the Isaac Newton University , and many of them meet in towns of less importance than lily and the others I have named . I hold this to be a sufficient justification for my assertion that in zeal and activity Cambridgeshire has not kept pace with our other

English provinces . Moreover , it seems strange that Cambridgeshire should be the only county in which " Cambridge men" do not found lodges . Some of its youth take an interest in its University , but except in its capital and Wisbeach , they do not apparently concern themselves much about its Freemasonry . 2 . I do not say "Stewardships at our Charitable Festivals" are " an infallible sign of zeal and activity , " but I do

say this—that where one province is almost invariably unrepresented at those festivals , while others are invariably , or very frequently , represented , the natural inference is that the former concerns itself not over much about our central Charities , which are , justifiably , the pride of the English Craft . I think I have occasionally read of the province , the Deputy Grand Mastership of which my

reverend and fraternal critic so worthily fills , taking part in those festivals , and honestly congratulating itself on its achievements . Is the example of Berks and Bucks unworthy to follow ? or is Cambridgeshire unworthy to follow it ? Again , the same class of men matriculate at Cambridge as at Oxford—that is , men of birth and wealth , or of both . 11 , then , the Apollo University of Oxford frequently sends up

Stewards to our Charitable Institutions , why should not the Isaac Newton University of Cambridge ? All the world watches with intense interest and admiration the honourable rivalry which exists between our ancient Universities , not only as seats of learning , but as centres of healthy physical training . Why should not something of the same kind of rivalry exist between them in Masonry ? 3 . I am afraid I must ask Rev . Bro . J . S . Brownrigg to

excuse me for pointing out that the Cambridgeshire people have not always been so old-fashioned as he imagines , and that some years ago particulars of their Masonic doings did occasionally find their way into the newspapers . 1 have facing me on one of my bookshelves at this moment of writing bound volumes of the " Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror , " in one of which—the volume for (

anuary-June , 1 S 61 , I have had the pleasuretof reading full particulars of the consecration of the Isaac Newton University Lodge , then No . 1141 , while in earlier volumes of the same publication will be ( found notices of the meetings of the Scientific Lodge and the Lodge of the Three Grand Principles . The absence of such news would not by itself have influenced me much in forming the unfavourable

opinion I Jhave formed of the zeal and activity of Cambridgeshire Freemasonry j but it has , I admit , materially contributed to the formation of that opinion—an opinion which , I am sorry to say , the high Masonic character of Bro . Deighton and the friendly and fraternal criticism of Rev . Bro . Brownrigg will not suflice to modify , at least , to any appreciable extent . I apologise for the length of this letter , and remain , dear Sir and Brother , faithfully and fraternally yours , THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE .

FREEMASONRY IN OXFORDSHIRE . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Permit me to thank your correspondent , Bro . Henry VVright , for correcting the mistake I committed in describing our Right Hon . Bro . Robert Lowe , as he was known until the accession to office of the present ministry ,

as Lord Brabourne instead of as Lord Sherbrooke , Lord Brabourne being the present style and title of a brother Mason who has been hitherto known to fame as the Right Hon . E . H . Knatchbull-Hugessen , till his elevation to the peerage , M . P . for Sandwich . It was a slip of the pen on my part , and due to the circumstance that these two brethren were raised to the peerage about the same time , and I am