Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/475

 i2S.x.MA Y 2o,i922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 3S9 totally prevent all public Masonic processions and all private meetings of Masons under any pretence whatever, except on the stated Lodge meetings." This, among other things, was directed against the pomp and circum- stance customary on June 24 and December 27, marked in many of the Masonic calendars as red-letter days. The mandate was evi- dently not popular, especially among the Masonic Lodges in and around London port, and resolutions were sent up to Grand Lodge from time to time asking " that the Craft be restored to their antient privileges as granted to them in the year 926 by Prince Edwin of York." The Duke of Atholl, how- ever, was non-sympathetic, and it was not until March 2, 1808, that it was decided to rescind the resolution of May 6, 1799, and to have a grand procession on the next St. John's Day. At which, we are to know, " there was great rejoicing." And, for a time, until the great union of the fractions of the brother- hood in 1813, on St. John's Day in harvest and St. John's Day in winter many of the import- ant assemblies of the brothers were continued both in Lodge and in public. That some of these functions proved a great strain upon the resources of the humbler Lodges of the "antient " craft is seen in the entry of the Kent Lodge regarding the emergency meet- ing of initiates on June 21, 1796, prior to the grand feast and the election of officers. It was unanimously agreed the Secretary should have a ticket agreeable to ancient custom, in order to dine with the Grand Officers and Brethren on St. John's Day at The Mermaid, at Hackney. Or- dered that such Brethren as Chuse to walk in Pro- cession on St. John's Day, shall meet at the Hour of ten in the morning, at the Hoxton Square Coffee House, to proceed from thence to Shoreditch Church. X.B. The reason why the Brethren do not think proper to Dine with the Grand Officers is in con- sequence of the exorbitant price of tickets, they being 8s. 6d. each. Then again, on December 1, 1800, it was " agreed there should not be a feast on St. John's Day in consequence of the very exor- bitant price of provisions." Things were a little more cheerful on May 15, 1809, when Kent Lodge resolved to " provide a flag at a cost of 15 19s. 3d., against the celebration of St. John at midsummer," and, a month later, it was resolved " that the brothers who think proper proceed in procession from this Lodge [in SpitalfieldsJ " and join the other Lodges in this quarter. Then, on July 16, 1810, it was resolved " that 10s. 6d. be paid by this Lodge towards defraying the expense of the Music and Ball, on last St. John's Day," and this does not suggest that the " music " could have been anything more majestic than a fife and drum. The necessity for the strictest economy was less intense when on July 19, 1825, the brethren of lowly " Kent " met to celebrate the anniversary of George IV., when four musicians attended at a cost of 13. Me. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries in order that answers may be sent to them direct. SALAD. I have searched the indexes of ' N. & Q.,' but in vain, for a certain saying about the dressing of salad. Such notices as I have found deal chiefly with the cele- brated poetical recipe, and the conflicting claims to its authorship of Sydney Smith and Barham, judgment being given in favour of the former. What I want is a reference to the earliest English source of the saying that to make a perfect salad you want a miser for the vinegar and a madman (or a spendthrift) for the oil. Spain supplies something like it, as the following quotation shows : El hombre que hubiere de hacer una buena ensalada ha de ser justo, liberal y miserable : justo en el vinagre, liberal en el aceite, y miserable en la sal (' Vida y Hechos de Estebaiiillo Gonzalez,' cap. x., Amberes, 1646). I feel certain, however, that I have met the saying in some such form as given above in our own literature. HERBERT W. GREENE. 4, Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.2. PHILLIPPS MSS. : DEVAUX LETTERS. Among the Phillipps MSS. sold at Sotheby's in April, 1903, there was a series of letters addressed to Mme. de Guaffigny by M. Devaux, " receveur des finances " at Lune- ville (1758-1773). The marked catalogue of the sale in the British Museum does not particularize them. Is anything known of the destination of these letters ? Who was their piirchaser ? HORACE BLEACKLEY. HERALDIC : IDENTIFICATION OF ARMS WANTED. I am anxious to identify the family to which the following arms apper- tain, viz., On a chevron between three falcons (or ravens) as many leopards' faces ; impaling A lion rampant between three dexter hands couped. I am unable to give the tinctures. CHRISTOPHER W. BAYNES.