"Brethren, I am deeply grateful to the Most Worshipful the Pro-Grand Master for the excessively kind words he has just spoken to you, and for the cordial reception which you have given me. It has been your unanimous wish that I should occupy this chair as your Grand Master, and you have this day installed me. It is difficult for me to find words adequate to express my deep thanks for the honour which has already been bestowed upon me--an honour which has, as history bears testimony, been bestowed upon several members of my family, my predecessors; and, brethren, it will always be my most ardent and sincere wish to walk in the footsteps of good men who have preceded me, and, with God's help, to fulfil the duties which I have been called upon to occupy to-day. "The Pro-Grand Master has told you, brethren, and I feel convinced, that such an assemblage as this has never been known; and when I look round me on this vast and spacious Hall, and see those who have come from the north and south, from the east and the west, it is, I trust, an omen which will prove on this auspicious occasion an omen of good. The various duties which I have to perform will frequently, I am afraid, not permit me to attend so much to the duties of the craft as I should desire; but you may be assured that when I have the time I shall do the utmost to maintain this high position, and do my duty by the craft, and by you on every possible occasion. Brethren, it would be useless for me to recapitulate everything which has been told you by the Pro-Grand Master relative to Freemasonry. Every Englishman knows that the two great watchwords of the craft are Loyalty and Charity. These are their watchwords, and as long as Freemasons do not, as Freemasons, mix themselves up in politics so long I am sure this high and noble order will flourish, and will maintain the integrity of our great Empire. "I thank you once more, brethren, for your cordial reception of me to-day, and I thank you for having come such immense distances to welcome me on this occasion. I assure you I shall never forget to-day--never!" The Prince resumed his seat amid loud cheers, which were long continued. His Royal Highness spoke with a perfect elocution which rendered every syllable audible to the whole of the vast assemblage; but when (adds the reporter of the scene) in conclusion, he uttered a manifest impromptu in saying that the reception which had been accorded to him, and the spectacle which he witnessed, were things which to the last day of his life he "should never forget--never!" there was just so much tremor of his voice as seemed to show that even the trained self-possession of Royalty was somewhat shaken, as indeed it well might be, by the magnitude and the splendour of the spectacle.