Page 103 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

Lodge of the Nine Muses 103

In 1841 there were fourteen but in 1857 only eight, of these “Hon. Members
of the Second Class”, and by 1865 they had come to an end.
A Bro. Thomas Jolley was present as a visitor to the Nine Muses on 14
February 1854, and is described as “Profefsional Br. No. 1”.
He was proposed the same evening as a “joining Honorary Member of the
Lodge”, and was presumably elected at the next meeting. At the April meeting
he was present as a member, and again in December 1854, March 1855, February
and March 1856, and February and April 1857, after which he disappears. He was
no doubt a professional singer attached to the Grand Master’s Lodge, which he
seems to have joined in 1819, but nothing more is known of him.
About 1852 Bro. Secretary Crew’s minutes, hitherto full and careful, become
progressively briefer and more scrappy, and appetising allusions to the banquets
cease.
We have read in a previous chapter how Bros. Sir William Rawlins, Turner,
Savory and Cleghorn piped up at the Star and Garter in June 1830. The last
Brother to honour this now obsolete practice was the late Bro. Vernet (d. 1933),
who was known on occasion to break out into a sporting ditty after dinner; and
Bro. Reid’s brilliant performances and improvisations on the piano are too recent
to be forgotten.
Space may be found here for a set of verses written and addressed to the Lodge
by Bro. Dr Reid during an absence through illness, from which unhappily he was
not destined to recover; he died on 15 February 1932.
The verses were read to the Lodge by the W.M. at the meeting on 19 October
1931, and it was ordered that they should be entered in the minutes and copies
made for the members.