Page 66 - An account of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 2012UGLE

66 An Account of the

Thus the balance in hand was slowly creeping up, and in December 1828 Sir
William was again re-elected, as the minutes emphatically put it, “with the utmost
unanimity”.
On 11 May 1830 we read of “4 Champaign Volunteers 10 March 1829, 2.4.”
(i.e. £2. 4s.). The price per bottle has come down to 11s., for we must not suspect
the volunteers of providing an inferior brand. This occurs in a list of receipts, given
in the minutes for that evening, which includes also a unique entry – “A Bet B . r
Cleghorn .... 11/-”, another bottle most likely, but curiosity is unsatisfied; can it be
merely a slip for “A Bot.”?
On 10 December 1833,
Sir Wm Rawlins P.M. & Treasurer was unanimously and to the great satisfaction
of the Lodge again duly elected Treasurer for the ensuing year. In accepting the
office the worthy Bro. returned thanks for the honor so repeatedly conferred upon
him now for the [blank left, actually the tenth] time. He exprefsed his intention to
continue to the Lodge & its concerns the same paternal care & solicitude which
his great interest in its welfare & regard for its individual members had made him
feel & exprefs from its earliest institution to its present state of prosperity.
The reference to the earliest institution of the Lodge is ambiguous. It suggests
that Sir William was an original member, which his age – he was then eighty-
one – makes possible; but the Grand Lodge Register shows him as joining on 23
December 1805. Does not this confirm the practical refounding of the Lodge in
1805, after a lapse of several years, as has been suggested previously? It certainly
looks like it, and it is to be noted in this connection that the Signature Book,
described in Chapter Thirteen, is dated 1806: the first signatures in it are actually
dated 14 December 1805.
The minutes for 11 February 1834 supply another instance of the custom of the
subscriptions being paid at the February meeting.

The subscriptions were paid by sev Brethren present and the sum of £83. 5. 6
handed by the Secretary to the Treasurer, being the amount received after deducting
d
£1. 0. 6 for printing p. by W.M.