Old Antiquity.

their secrets , they would lose little that was worth keeping , and the world gain little that was worth having . So far as has been shown , the five or six million Freemasons who inhabit the earth have never deserved the denunciations which the head of the Roman Catholic Church has often levelled against them . Notwithstanding the condemnation of successive Popesthe order flourishes in such purelRoman Catholic countries as France ,

, y Spain , Portugal , Italy , Belgium , Mexico , and Brazil . In France there are 287 lodges ; in Spain , 300 ; in Portugal , 22 ; in Italy , 110 ; in Belgium , 15 ; in Mexico , 13 ; and in Brazil , 256 . In the United Kingdom there are nearly two thousand lodges , while in the United States the number nearly reaches ten thousand . During the worst clays in our history , when Parliament in a frenzy of terror passed laws against secret societiesthe society of Freemasonry was

, specially excepted . The Act of 1799 exempts the lodges of Freemasons from the pains and penalties inflicted upon United Englishmen , Scotsmen , Britons , and Irishmen , doing so on the ground that Masonic meetings are in a great measure directed to charitable purposes . The Act of 1817 , which was designed to carry out the intent of that of 1799 more effectually , specifically exempts Freemasons and Quakers from its operation .

Indeed , those persons who have seen the palatial establishments for the education of the sons and daughters of Freemasons , and the asylums for the old and destitute , which are maintained by English Freemasons cannot doubt that the Order amply justifies its existence in this country . When our Royal Princes associate themselves with Freemasonry , they not only follow an excellent family examplebut they perform duties which cannot but

, heighten their popularity . In undertaking to discharge the active functions of Master of the Lodge of Antiquity , Prince Leopold will certainly receive the thanks of all the Freemasons who glory in a lodge which is the centre of many venerable and cherished traditions of the Craft . "

The Freemason has the following leader on the subject : — " Prince Leopold was , on Wednesday last , installed W . M . of the Lodge of Antiquity , amid a goodly gathering of its members and the manifest rejoicing of all present . That most ancient and distinguished lodge has a history , alike unique and remarkable , and it is very fitting that it should be presided over by one so qualified to adorn the Master ' s chair as H . R . H . Prince Leopold . He is well known to Englishmen and to Masons bhis artistic taste and aesthetic culture

y , and his zealous desire to extend the great blessings of scientific study and sound education . He is a student , and a successful student , moreover , of more than one branch of general and special knowledge , and his public utterances have been warml y hailed and heartily appreciated by all who have had the pleasure of listening to them .. There is also a special interest in the fact to ' Old Antiquity , ' as its members like to term it , that Prince Leopold succeeded

H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex , thirty-four years Master of the loclge . It is this historic connection of the Loclge of Antiquity with the annals of our Order and , above all , with the Royal Family which renders it so desirable that so distinguished a lodge should claim as its head a member of that Royal House , ever ready to take its share of the burdens of benevolent labour and of social amenities which devolve upon them , as citizens of the greatest monarchy the

world has over seen . The history of the Lodge of Antiquity has yet to be written , and its many documents are still to be collated . It cherishes the tradition that King William . III . was initiated among its members at Hampton Court Palace , and certain it seems to be that it was in existence in 1691 , and , probably , very much earlier as a purely operative lodge . Indeed , it stands without a rivalthe head of English Freemasonryand though now No 2 by

, , . the fraternal arrangements of the Union of 1813 , under the great-uncle and grandfather of Prince Leopold , it is , strictly speaking , the real and ori ginal No . 1 of English Freemasonry . Let us hope that the union begun on Wednesday last between the Lodge of Antiquity and Prince Leopold may long be cemented