WILLIAM GRAY, G. M. OF THE ORDER.

The present Number having a portrait of G. M. Gray, something is necessary to accompany it; but our G. M. is averse to give a history of his life. Unlike some of his countrymen, he will, now at least, not publish, or cause to be published, the clan he descended from, nor give the colour of the plaid, nor a description of the cap and feather his ancestors were adorned with. The reader, will therefore, be satisfied with a brief history of his rise and progress as an Odd Fellow.

In 1826 he was initiated in the Apollo Lodge, this being a newly opened Lodge, official situations were easy of access; it is well known that newly initiated brothers are nearly forced into office. Perhaps this is the cause that we have so many inex perienced past officers; if that really is the case, G. M. Gray must be taken as an exception to the general rule, but let this be as it will, five Lodge-nights after his initiation, he was elected Secretary to the Lodge, a situation which he only vacated while passing through the chairs, and which he retains to this date. Our newly appointed Secretary soon perceived that the Lodge was not conducted as it should be; he found the presiding officers paid more attention to other affairs, than to see that the Lodge-funds were appropriated to the purposes for which they were collected. Under these circumstances, G. M. Gray found himself compelled to take the additional responsibility of Treasurer to that of Secretary; he next proved to the members, the necessity of removing to another house, they themselves saw no alternative, and at a meeting called for that purpose, it was agreed to remove to the Moulders' Arms, Chorlton-street, where the Apollo Lodge is now held. In the new Lodge-house, G. M. Gray arranged matters more systematically; Mr. Heyward, the landlord, who was unacquainted with any of the members except with G. M. Gray, on whose word kindly advanced about thirty pounds to pay what the Lodge were indebted, which, in a short time, the members repaid with many thanks; it is certainly foreign to the present subject, to give a history of the Apollo Lodge, but it is not possible to enumerate a man's actions, without naming the cause of them.

At the time when G. M. Gray was appointed Secretary, the Lodge consisted of twelve members, who, with the exception of himself and another, have long since ceased to be Odd Fellows; the Lodge at that time was thirty pounds in debt, but now it can boast of 160 members, and a fund of £180, independent of outstanding debts between twenty and thirty pounds. It must be admitted on all hands, that a person who has been Secretary ten years, will, of necessity, have considerable influence; to show into what channel that has been directed, it will be sufficient to say, that there has not been a special committee, nay, there has not been a single grievance in the Apollo Lodge since 1829; and even at the regular committees of the Lodge, during that period, there has been no other transactions, but the usual routine, such as settling of the books, &c. except the discussion of the propriety of building an Odd Fellows' Hall, and the formation of a Widow and Orphan's Fund.

VOL. 4-No. 5-2 D.

To show the sort of repute our G. M. is in with the members of the Lodge, the reader no doubt will be satisfied when he is told, that G. M. Gray was the first past officer who had a medal presented from the funds of the Lodge, and since that time he was not only very frequently deputed to the District Meetings, but to every A. M. C. held in his time-except when he was a District, or an Officer of the Order-nor should it be supposed that, through his influence, he could defeat his opponents; we can inform the reader that he never had one to any of the A. M. Cs. except once: however ambitious some of the members might have been to represent the Apollo Lodge, they retired contentedly, being satisfied that he would under no consideration neglect the welfare of the Order.

In June, 1827, the Manchester Annual District Committee elected him one of the Board of Directors. The business of the Order was, at that time, conducted at Treasurer Hodgson's, the Prince's Tavern, Tasle-street. The Board agreed to remove to a more convenient office; and, under the guidance of G. M. Gray and P. G, M. William Armitt, they pitched the tents of the Order at 45, Smithy Door. The Order at that period had no funds, and Treasurer Hodgson refused to deliver the books, until (as he said) the debt owing to him was paid. To get out of this difficulty G. M. Gray introduced Host Heyward, who not only offered to guarantee the payment of Treasurer Hodgson, but also to advance £200. or £300. to the Board. At the final settlement of the books, after much expence and delay, Treasurer Hodgson paid £6. instead of receiving £59. which he claimed.

In January, 1828, our G. M. was elected Vice President of the Funeral Fund. At the A. M. C. held at Dudley, he particularly exerted himself to alter the law, so as to compel the G. M. to act in conjunction with the Board of Directors, the want of which gave a sort of tyranical dictatorship to that officer. One office now followed another. In January, 1829, he was appointed President of the Funeral Fund; in June following G. M. of the Manchester District; and in June, 1830, D. G. M. of the Order. In the course of this year several of the neighbouring Districts sent propositions that the C. S. should be elected at the A. M. C's. Some even anticipated the results at Derby, that all the officers of the Order should be appointed there. Some of the members of the Manchester District considered this an innovation. The majority were of another opinion, and they soon convinced the Order how willingly they could part with any thing which might be construed into undue privilege. On the Monday following, at the Manchester Annual District Meeting, Mr. Gray was elected G. M. of the Order; in addition to this he was presented with a medal, value £5. At the A. M. C. held at Bury, he was appointed on the sub-committee to revise the general laws; at Hull, owing to the discussion in the House of Commons against the oaths of secret societies, he strenuously supported the abolition of the obligation at the initiation, nor was he a silent spectator at the alterations of the lectures. At the A. M. C. at Kendal in 1835, he was on the sub-committee also. About this time he resolved to retire from official situations, very satisfied with his share in accumulating a fund of better than £3000 in eight years. But how weak is human nature-how 'soon does the imagination of yesterday vanish before the reality of to-day-what a proof that we are only the creatures of circumstances,—a week after he resolved gently to glide through the path of Odd Fellowship, he is imperceptibly enlisted into active service. The proceedings at Derby are so recent, that it would only waste time to recapitulate them; but before we conclude we must inform the interested or inquisitive, that the reason the Deputies at Derby so readily adopted the electing of the officers by themselves was, that even anterior to the Liverpool A. M. C. opinions were entertained that the executive government should appoint their own servants, which they accordingly did, and the officers of the Order and Board of Directors will, in future, be appointed by the A. M. C.

GEOFREY CHAUCER, the father of English poetry, was born in London in 1328. It is uncertain at what University his studies were pursued, and little is known of him till about his thirtieth year, when he was brought into the notice of Edward III, who soon showed him very great favour. There is great reason to suppose that he accompanied his warlike monarch in his expedition to France, in 1359; and this supposition is strengthened by the record of his evidence in a military court, wherein he bears testimony to an event he had witnessed in that kingdom, while in the capacity of a soldier. In this expedition he had but little opportunity for displaying any military talent, and, from the fact of his relinquishing the profession at its conclusion, it is not probable that the army was congenial to him. In 1367 he received from king Edward a pension of twenty marks per annum-equal to about £200. of modern money-and a few years after he was presented with a grant of a pitcher of wine daily, and was appointed comptroller of the customs of wool and skins in the port of London. Hitherto he had sailed with the stream, and had prosperous gales-but a sad reverse was at hand. His patron, Edward, died, and was succeeded by Richard II; Chaucer soon became extremely unpopular in the new Court; and a dispute between the Court and the city of London occurring soon after, in which he espoused the civic side, led him into great misfortunes. It is impossible, at this length of time, to state the particulars of the occurrence, but it is certain that he was arrested and committed to the Tower. He escaped from thence, and fled into France, and afterwards to Ireland. On his return to England he was again imprisoned, and is said to have had great difficulty in obtaining his release. Fortune seems, however, again to have smiled on him, and, in 1394, he obtained a pension of £20., and a grant of a ton of wine per annum; the latter being in lieu of the daily pitcher he had before enjoyed. He then retired to Woodstock, and in 1398 the king granted him a patent of protection. On the deposition of Richard, and the accession of Henry IV in 1399, his original grants and pensions were renewed; but he did not live long to enjoy them, as he died on the 25th of October, 1400, aged 72 years: he was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to his memory many years after.

Chaucer has a pre-eminent claim to rank as the founder of English poetry, from having been the first to make it the vehicle of spirited representations of life and manners; from having raised it from the rude, and almost barbarous, state in which he found it; and from introducing into it the heroic measure, or line of ten syllables, which were till then unknown. His principal works are, the Temple of Love, Troilus and Cressida, the Flower of the Leaf, and the House of Fame; but the work which will immortalize his name is the Canterbury Tales, written in his " green old age,' and full of the variety of his genius, and the pathos and romance of fiction. The subject of the poem is the journey and adventures of several travellers, going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury: the characters are numerous, and contain a specimen of every grade in society, from the haughty knight to the humble plebeian; the enumeration of them in the opening of the poem is a full, racy scene; and the object of their journey removes the improbability which might appear in grouping together so many individuals, so widely separated in rank, were they upon any other mission. The age in which Chaucer lived must be considered as the most peculiarly adapted for the purposes of a poet; for, as the light of civilization was but in its earliest dawn, the difference of rank and profession were most strongly distinguished, and the individuals moving in them were placed in the greatest possible contrast.

This contrast is well supported by Chaucer in his description of the demure

prioress, the genial wife of Bath, the rude, boisterous miller, and the polished knight. His characters are not mere names to furnish apology for a story, but they rise to the sight minutely traced, profusely varied, and coloured with the closest adherence to nature; so that through the whole book, the reader seems not to hear the narration through the poet's medium, but to live and travel with the personages he describes.

In the words of a modern and elegant writer "what an intimate scene of English life in the fourteenth century do we behold in these tales, beyond what history displays by glimpses through the stormy atmosphere of her scenes, or than the antiquarian can discover by the cold light of his researches ! Our ancestors are restored to us, not as phantoms from the field of battle or the scaffold, but in the full enjoyment of their social existence. After 400 years have closed over the features which formed the living originals of the poet's descriptions, his pages impress the fancy with the momentary credence that they are still alive; as if time had re-built his ruins, and were re-acting the lost scenes of existence."

The great length of the "Canterbury Tales," and the connexion which runs through the whole poem, preclude the possibility of making many extracts, uniting brevity with sufficient variety to give anything like an adequate idea of our poet's rich and humourous style. I have selected the following passages from the description of the travellers previous to commencing their journey, as being the most suitable for the purpose, and my readers will have a good specimen of the phrases and language of the fourteenth century.

"Befelle, that, in that season on a day,
In Southwark at the Tabard as I lay,
Ready to wander on my pilriniage
To Canterbury with devoute corage;
At night was come into that hostelrie
Wel nine and twenty in a compaynie
Of sondry folk, by adventure y falle*
In felowship, and pilgrimes were they alle.

A knight ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the time that he firste began
To riden out, he loved Chevalrie,
Truthe and honour, freedom and curtesie.
Ful worthy was he in his lorde's warre,

And oft-times had he ridden, no man fevre,†
As wel in Christendon as in Hethenesse,
And ever honoured for his worthinesse.
At mortal battailles hadde he ben fiftene,
And foughten for our faith at Tramissene.
In listes thries, and ay slaine his fo;
This worthy knight hade ben also
Sometime with the lord of Palatie,
Agen another heathen in Turkie;

And evermore he had his sovereine's prise, §
And though that he was worthy he was wise.

There was also a nonne, a prioresse,

And heir smiling was full simplenesse ;
And she was cleped a Madame Eglentine,
Full wel she sange the service devine ;
Entuned in heir nose ful swetely,

And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly.

Ful semely heir wimple pinched was,

Heir nose tretis c, heir eyen grey as glass;

Heir mouth ful small, and heir lips soft and red,
But sikerly she had a fayre forehed.

*Fallen. Further. Thrice. § Praise. || Nun. a Called. Neatly. cStraight.

It was almost a spanne broade I trowe :
For hardily she was not undergrowe.*
Ful fetise was heir cloke as I was ware;
Of small corall about heir arm she bare:
A pair of bedes, gauded all with grene,
And thereon hung a broche of gold ful shene;
On which was first written a crouned A,
And after, Amor oincet omnia.

Another nonne also with heir hadde she,
That was heir chappeline, and preestes thre.

The miller was a stout carl for the nonnes,
Ful bigge he was of braun, and eke of bones;
That proved wel, for over all he came,
At wrestling he wold bere away the ram:†
His berde as any sowe or fox was rede,
As also was the here upon his hede;

And thereto brode, as though it were a spade,
Upon the top side of his nose he hade
A wart, and thereon stode a tuft of heres
Rede as the bristles of a sowe's eres.
His nose-thrills blacke were and wide;
A sowrd and buckler bare he by his side:
His mouth as wide was as a forneis:

He was a jangler, § and a goliardies,||
And that was most of sinne, and harlotries.
Wel could he stele corne and tollen thries;
And yet he had a thomb of gold parde,
A white cote and a blew hode wore he,
A baggepipe wel could he blowe and soune,
A therewithall he brought us out of toune.

EDMUND SPENCER

Was born in London, in the year 1553, and was descended from the family of the Spencers in Northamptonshire: he was educated in the University of Cambridge. In 1576 he left the University and retired to the north of England, owing, it is generally supposed, to his being unable to obtain a livelihood in the scene of his studies. In the north he became enamoured of his Rosaline, who flattered his addresses for some time, and then, spite of the sonnets the poet had addressed to her, gave her hand to a richer rival-probably the gold of the one was more attractive to the lady's eye, than the verses of the other to her ear. Having been thus twice discarded-first by his alma mater, and secondly by his Rosaline-he determined to repair to London, which he accordingly did in 1579; and he shortly after had the good fortune to be introduced to Mr. (afterwards Sir Philip) Sidney. This great patron of learning and science became his warm advocate and friend, and presented him to Queen Elizabeth, by whom he was afterwards made Poet Laureat: the remembrance of the kindness of his patron was always vivid in Spencer's memory, and it is not unlikely that his gratitude was felt with greater force when contrasted with the contumely he had previously suffered. It is generally supposed that Sir Philip was the original from whom Spencer took the character of Prince Auther, in the Fairie Queen; and that it was written as a mark of respect and gratitude for the many favours he had shown to the poet. About this time he published his Shepherd's Calendar; and in the following year he went to Ireland as Secretary to Lord Grey of Wilton, who was appointed Lord Lieutenant of that kingdom. He returned in 1582, and continued in London till after the death of Sir P.

*Of low stature. †The prize. Nostrills. §Great talker. Buffoon. By this expression is meant that he was as honest as the others of the same calling.