Page 71 - Amo Amass A-muse is some of the fruit of a lifetimes love of Freemasonry - the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235

BiCENTENARy SPEECh iN REPly TO ThE
TOAST OF ThE lODGE

IGHT WORSHIPFUL DEPUTY GRAND MASTER, Grand Officers,
Brethren of the Muses and our Guests.
R It is customary on such an occasion for the Master to reply to the toast of the
Lodge on behalf of all the Muses and I feel my complete inadequacy to do so. It is also
customary to give a resume of the history of the Lodge at a centenary. Ours is sufficiently
eventful that you would be here all night if I did.
Those of you who attended or watched on the television that great service of
thanksgiving in St. Paul’s Cathedral of the Silver Jubilee of our Queen must have been
struck by a likeness of its main theme with that of our Craft, I mean — that of Building —
and the emphasis laid upon the importance of the foundations being built — ‘in Strength’.
Now the foundations of our Lodge, constituted by the Premier Grand Lodge, were
started when the animosity between the rival Grand Lodges of the Antients and the
Moderns, was at its peak and we became an important influence in bringing peace between
them. We stood for ‘Masonry Universal’ and our founders included Italians, Portuguese
and other races. A group of Noblemen then joined the Lodge. All of them were Whigs,
who had refused to fight against the American Colonists, all were well disposed towards
the rival Grand Lodge and they, or their predecessors, had all been Grand Masters. In fact,
one had been a Grand Master of the rival Grand Lodge, From our foundation we held
no less than two Grand Stewardships for about ten years One of our founders was that
benevolent Italian, the Chevalier Bartholomew Ruspini, who became our leading light.
He also founded, three years later, the Lodge of Rural Friendship, (the two Lodges being
amalgamated in 1796), and ten years later he was the Institutor of the first of our Great
Masonic Charities, the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls .
Thomas Harper, the Masonic Jeweler, who became the Deputy Grand Master of
the rival Grand Lodge, was our Secretary at the time when the Premier Grand Lodge
expelled him. This put us back a bit. All our belongings, other than our Warrant, Jewels and
records were presented to another Lodge. However, we managed to retrieve them later, as
also our Master’s Jewel loaned to H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, who said that he had lost
it. I wear that jewel tonight. Surprisingly, the very brother who had formally proposed