Page 14 - Centennial Sketch of the History of the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. 1777 to 1877 UGLE

14 Lodge of the Nine Muses 1777-1877

“First. That the Lodge, finding from the Report of their Committee, that
by persisting in their claim to the candlesticks in question they may probably
involve their Bro. Ruspini in an unpleasant dispute with the members of the Nine
Muses, do therefore relinquish all claim thereto, at the same time entertaining,
and being anxious to express towards their Bro. Ruspini, the same grateful
respect and attachment as if his munificent donation had remained in their hands.

“Secondly. That the Lodge cannot conclude this matter without expressing their
very great regret that the Lodge of Nine Muses should not have thought it expedient,
in the first instance, to have offered a temperate and amicable representation to
them on the subject in dispute; and that they feel it due to themselves, and to
the society of Free and Accepted Masons in general, to express their strongest
indignation at the forcible and hostile measures resorted to by the members of
the Lodge for securing to themselves the possession of the articles in question
~ measures equally inconsistent with the principles of the Masonic Institution
and the liberality, courtesy, respect, and decency, the observance of which should
invariably regulate the conduct of Masons.

“Third. That copies of the above Resolutions be sent to the Lodge of the Nine
Muses.”

It must be admitted that this strong language betokens considerable warmth
of feeling on the part of the Brethren of the Prince of Wales’s Lodge, but an
impartial review of the circumstances of the case, so far as they are indicated
11
here, (such as this distance of time we are able to give), inclines us to believe that
justice and right were on the side of the Nine Muses. It seems probable that the
whole difference arose out of a misunderstanding as to the actual proprietorship
of the candlesticks. We gather that Bro. Ruspini (whose death was reported to
the Lodge January 28th, 1814), had for some cause unknown withdrawn from
the Nine Muses Lodge, and joined the Prince of Wales’s; that he had presented
to the latter Lodge the candlesticks in dispute, which had previously been used
by the Nine Muses Lodge, but which Bro. Ruspini looked upon as belonging

11 Thprobable facts of the case.