PRESENTATION OF A TESTIMONIAL BY THE FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF IRELAND TO THE DEPUTY GRAND MASTER, JOHN FITZHENRY TOWNSEND, ESQ., L.L.D. (From Saunders's News Letter.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVI, Issue 1207, 21 January 1859, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRESENTATION OF A TESTIMONIAL BY THE FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF IRELAND TO THE DEPUTY GRAND MASTER, JOHN FITZHENRY TOWNSEND, ESQ., L.L.D. (From Saunders's News Letter.)

On Thursday evening, 1st July, 1858, the Grand Lodge ot Ireland was opened in due form, the Deputy Grand Master in the chair, for the business of its monthly communication. In the absence of the Senior ixrand Warden (the Right Hon. the Karl of Donoughmore), his place was filled by the Grand Treasurer of the Order, Thomas James Quinton, Esq. ; and in the absence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John S. Robinson, Bart., the chair of the Junior Grand Warden was occupied by John Elliot Hyndman, Esq., the Grand Secretary. Arthur Bushe, Esq., (Master of the Court of Queen's Bench), took his place as Senior Grand Deacon, and the Hon. George Handcock a9 Junior Grand Deacon. A great concourse of the brethren attended, in full Masonic costume. After the minutes of the last monthly communication had been read by the Deputy Grand Secretary (Lucius H. Deering, Esq.), the Senior Grand Deacon (Brother Bushe) rose, and said he had been entrusted with the pleasing duty of presenting, in the name of the committee, the testimonial which the Masonic Order had bestowed upon the Deputy Grand Master He then proceeded to read the address which expressed the feelings of the brethren, and which was intended to accompany their gift. The address, which was engrossed on vellum, and exquisitely illuminated, was in the following terms :— «' TO JOHN P1TZHENRY TOWNSEND, ESO.., L.L.D., Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society ot Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland; Most Excellent Second Grand Principal of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter ; Most Eminent Deputy Grand Master of the Order of High Knights Templars ; Vice-President of the Grand Council of Rites ; and Sovereign Lieutenant Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, Grand Inspectors General. " Right Worshipful Sir and Brother : " We, the Brethren of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland, beg leave to present to you the accompanying Service of Plate, in testimony of our appreciation of the valuable services -which you have rendered to our order since your elevation to the high office which you now hold. It fell to yoHr lot, right worshipful sir, to be called to the office of Deputy Grand Master of the Order of Freemasons in Ireland at a time when it was peculiarly necessary that the councils of the order should be presided over by one who could bring experience and ability to aid and direct them. In addressing you, right worshipful sir, it is not necessary for us to allude more particularly to the many circumstances in the internal economy of the order which, upon your accession to office, occasioned so much anxiety to those who felt an interest in the progress of Freemasonry in Ireland It is known to all your brethren how much has been done under your auspices to infuse energy and regularity into the government of th*» Masonic Order of Ireland ; and we may point with pride to the present admirable code of laws as evidence of the cireful supervision which is now exercised over every department of the order. In the long and arduous task of compiling aud registering those laws, we have seen, right worshipfnl sir, your energy and perseverance ; and we wish to take this opportunity of expressing our grateful acknowledgments for the unwearied patience with which you have attended to the various duties of your office, and for the ability with which you have performed an amount of labour which can only be fairly estimated by those who have been associated with you upon the several Masonic committees, and other deliberative assemblies of the brethren over whom you preside. We beg you to believe that we fully appreciate the sacrifice of time which the performance of the duties of Deputy Grand Master imposes upon you ; that we gratefully acknowledge the unfailing courtesy and kindness which have ever characterised your conduct in the chair of the Grand Lodge of Ireland ; and that, while we congratulate you upon the flourishing condition ot our order, we feel assured that the success which has attended your exertions for the benefit of freemasonry, will be considered by you as a higher reward for your services than any lengthened acknowledgment of our approval or gratitude. May you long be spared to hold that office in our order which you now so worthily fill ; and may you continue to see the masonic body advancing and prospering, in that order and harmony which you have so largely contributed to promote and encourage. "Freemason's Hal!, Dublin, 2nd July, 1858." The testimonial, which consisted of a splendid Sixlight Candelabrum, of burnished and frosted silver, with a triangular base, the whole surmounting a bril.liant plateau, was of the most elegant and chaste design, and from the eminent house of Brother Thomas Brunker, Grafton-street, Dublin. It was accompanied with a large salver, of similar pattern, and equally exquisite workmanship, engraved with the armorial bearings of the Deputy Grand Master. In addition to these, two complete Services, the one suited for a breakfast table, the other a dinner set, both in the richest and newest style, were placed round the testimonial. Some of these articles had been supplied by Brother Brunker, and others by Brother Henry Flavelle, of Eustace-street. The whole elicited the marked approbation of the brethren present.

The Deputy Grand Master then rose, and made the following reply :— " I offer you my most grateful and cordial thanks for the valuable and splendid present which accompanies | the address with which you have honored me. I assure you, with unfeigned sincerity, that your approval of my conduct amongst you gives me far greater satisfaction than any gift, however costly, could afford. Yet I do not undervalue these magnificent tokens of your regard. While I live they will daily bring to my memory the many dear and honored friends whose acquaintance I first made in the Masonic Order. And when the Great Architect of the universe shall summon me ( hence, and my place shall be vacant amongst you, my children may show, with, honest pride, the inscription on this superb testimonial ; for it will remain to prove that their father's humble name was esteemed, among the best and most zealous members of a society, which, while it comprises the highest and noblest in the land, yet regards titles, wealth, and eminence, with calm and philosophic indifference— recognising no other distinctions than personal worth and merit— at once the most tolerant and most immutable of all merely human institutions. You have alluded to the interest I have felt in the internal regulations of our order, and to the care I have bestowed on its general management. You do me but justice in believing that I am animated by a sincere desire to fulfil with diligence and integrity the various duties intrusted to me by our revered Grand Master, the Duke of Leinster. It has ever been my desire that no personal feeling or prejudice should bend me from the straight path of justice, either in the occasional duty of directing the censure of our society against the undeserving (who must sometime* be found within its vast community), or in the more usual and more grateful privilege of promoting to its rewards those who appreciate and practice its maxims. It is happy for me that in those things I have acquired your good will, and our noble Grand Master's confidence, notwithstanding many misgivings, and some inevitable errors on my part. But it is chiefly by the aid of our brethren of the Grand Lodge that I have been able to discharge my duty to your satisfaction. I am proud to express my obligations to those whose good sense has supplied my deficiencies, and made due allowance for my imperfections ; whose courtesy has smoothed away the difficulties of my presidency, and whose fraternal unanimity has enabled us to act vigorously in concert, merging all transient differences of opinion in the earnest desire for our common objects— the prosperity of our ancient Institution, the welfare of its charities, and the diffusion of its noble and philanthropic principles. Believing, as I do, that our society has effected much good, and is capable of effecting much more, I have devoted some time, snatched from the toils of a laborious and responsible profession, to give to Freemasonry in Ireland a higher, more refined, and more intellectual character ; to explain its duties, illustrate its antiquities, develope its resources, extend its connexions with other nations and countries, and place it in its true position. Such an undertaking was not without its difficulties ; but you have shared in my labours, and lightened them by your kind co-operation and generous encouragement. The order has prospered indeed, but its prosperity is no less attributable to your support than to my superintendence. Whatever may be the period of my continuance in office as your Deputy Grand Master, I shall deem myself happy if, by perseverance in tne course which you have approved, I am able to retain to the last those feelings of esteem you have expressed, and which you have evinced by a compliment which I can neither over estimate nor forget." The testimonial bears on its base the following inscription : — "Presented, with a Service of Plate, to John Fitzhenry Townsend, Esq., L.L.D., R. W. Deputy Grand Master of the Order of Free and Accepted Masons, by the Brethren of the Order, as a tribute of their fraternal regard and esteem, and in testimony of the zeal, ability, discretion, and courtesy with which he has discharged the various and laborious duties of his office. — 2nd July, 1858. _/^_

A Nurse Making Coxtesbiox. — "I'm dying doctor — I feel it. You're sure Tain dying, ain't you ?" interrupted she, changing her solemn tones for very shrill ones, "you are quite sure." "We are sure of nothing," said I, gravely ; "you are very seriously ill." "I know," exclaimed she bitterly, relapsing into her melancholy phase again, "that is what all you doctors say ; but it means death. Oh, sir, I have been a very, very wicked woman indeed. I have something— I have three things on my mind, which it will do me good, I think, to get disburdened of ; they will kill me else, I feel, of their own selves. And, sir, I have not got a •oul in the world to tell them to, only you." So this dreadful old person had indeed dragged me out of my warm bed for the purpose of reposing in me a dangerous confidence, which my own good nature invited. "Do you remember the very stout gentleman, doctor— him with the appleplexy in Ward No. 2— at St. Barnabasses i" "446. Pleurisy. Left convalescent ?" inquired I, from memory. "The same, sir. I bled him to death, doctor, at his own house within the week. His friends paid me by the job you see, and I was anxious to get it over." "Good heavens!" cried I; "and to save yourself a little trouble you committed, then, a cruel murder ?" "He went off like a lamb," cried the wretched creature, apologetically. " But there's worse than that. I once gave a young gent. four doses of laudanum in one, and you wouldn't a known when he was dead from when he slep. But them was murders for all that, I know." "They certainly were, miserable woman," cried I, indignantly. "Have you anything yet more upon your mind?" '•Hush !" whispered she, pointing to- wards the door ; •'she's listening ; they alwas does it bless you— I knows 'em so well. Once, only once, as I'm a sinful woman — I smothered a sick man with his pillow ; that was for his money ; he would have died any way, because he had the lock-jaw. VNow," added she, with a long drawn sigh, and after a pause, "I feel somehow better and more comfortable like, thanks to you sir." The patient had sunk back from her sitting posture, as if exhausted with this terrible narration ; but I read in her yet anxious eyes that she had still something more to say. Presently she again broke silence, and this time the emphasis with which she spoke was mingled with a tone of gratitude. She desired to recompense me, I suppose for my prompt attention and interest, and delivered herself of this advice instead of a fee : — "When your time comes, doctor, and you Mends send for the nuss, don't let them pay her by the job."— Chambers' Journal.