Our Weekly Budget.

admirably throughout , and we offer the winners our hearty congratulations on their well-earned laurels . The Festival of the Three Choirs was held this year at Hereford , and the result , so far at least as the first two days , is a great success , a sum of £ 125 having been added

to the Charity . Mdlle . Titiens was among the artistes , and Mr . Sims Reeves wonld have been , bnt for an attack of hoarseness , which rendered it impossible for him to sing . A comparatively new oratorio , by Mr . J . P . Barnctt , and entitled The liaising of Lazarus , was performed on this occasion , and was most favourably received by the

audience . There is little additional news from the seat of war . The Servians still occupy Alexinatz , and the Turks are said to be threatening Deligrad , which , we are told , must be taken before the former can be attacked with a reasonable chance

of success . The influx of Russian officers and soldiers into Belgrade still continues , and the Standard Correspondent estimates that by the end of the month General Tchernaieff will have under his command from eight to ten thousand Bussians . From the Cape the news is to the ! effect that

the Boers have been completely defeated by the Kafirs , and have lost all their supplies . From Spain we learn that the action of the Spanish Government towards the Protestant Churches is still the subject of discussion . The Geographical Congress at Brussels has been closed . The

Marshal-President of the French Republic has been making speeches on several occosions in the course of his present tour of inspection in the provinces . His utterances have been distinguished , as usual , by that judicial calmness for which he is so eminently distinguished .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The Committee of Subscribers to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution met on Wednesday afternoon , in the Library , Freemasons' Hall . Lient .-Col . Creaton was voted to the chair . The other brethren who attended were Bras .

S . Rawson , James Brett , A . H . Tattershall , Benj . Head , C . A . Cottebrune , J . M . Stedvvell , John G . Stevens , R . W . Little , W . Stephens , Dr . Hogg , W . Hilton , H . G . Warren , Thos . Cubitt , W . Hale , F . Adland , John Constable , Joseph Smith , and Bro . James Terry , Secretary .

The death was reported , by Bro . Terry , of four of the annuitants , one of them after having received in all over £ 250 . The report of the Warden of the Asylum at Croydon , Bro . J . Norris , was also read by the Secretary . From this it appeared that one more annuitant had been

received into the asylum ; that one had died , and her furniture had been removed by her relatives , in accordance with the rules . The health of the inmates was , considering

their age , good , and the attention of Dr . Strong to their wants is unremitting . The inmates expressed their thanks for the entertainment lately given , from which they derived much pleasure .

Two petitions were received from poor country brethren , and authority to sign some cheques was given to the Chairman .

A letter was read bj the Secretary from Bro . J . Norris , on behalf of himself and the other inmates of the asylum , thanking the Committee for the increase lately made to the annuities . Bro . Terry also read a letter from W . Walkley ,

the son of the late Mrs . Walkley , conveying his thanks for the benefits which his late mother had received at the hands of the Craft , of whose beneficence he expressed his high admiration . The meeting was then brought to a close , with a vote of thanks to the Chairman .

Obituary.

Obituary .

It is with sincere regret we announce the sudden death , caused by disease of the heart , on Tuesday evening last , of Bro . William James Page , aged 62 , J . W . of tbe Upton Lodge , No . 1227 , and of the Metropolitan Lodge , No . 1507 , proprietor of the celebrated cricket ground and hostclrie

at Tufnell Park . He was in his usual health , and played a cricket match the previous afternoon . His -well known , somewhat burly form , will be sadly missed in the grounds , as well as among his numerous friends and brethren , by ¦ whom he was held in the highest estimation , and who will sinoerely mourn his death .

The Legacy Of The Past.

THE LEGACY OF THE PAST .

A PRESAGE . " Oh cease ! mast bate and death return ? Cease ! must man kill and die P Oh ! drain not to it ' s dregs the urn .

Of bitter prophecy ! —SHEUEY . THE DEAD . Let creed and culture mourn , to-day , For part of Europe wrench'd away I Byzantine walls beheld the fray

And could not check the foe . In savage hate the Turk rushed in , To beast of prey—not man—akin j And Crescents flouted , o ' er the din , The trampled Cross below .

THE DYING . Since then—what slaughter , storm and sack , In teeming towns what waste and rack , What provinces in ruin black ,

What tortures and what woe ! The sons of Orkhan lord o ' er all , Their rule benumbs , their lusts appal , And where their horses' hoofmarks fall No blade of grass may grow .

THE DEAD . Of Constantino the last , the name Will linger long in mournful fame : Byzantium his throne , became

Stamboul—a martyr ' s grave . 'Twas there he fell , amid the slain , A brighter diadem to gain ; And died defending , all in vain ,

The land he could not save . THE DYING . A day like that may dawn again When missiles shower like wintry rain And valour ' s arm defends , in vain ,

A min d and tott ' ring wall . But Othman ' s blood the tide will stain , And Islam ' s badge will mark the slain , And Crescents there will fade and wane On banner changed to pall .

THE DEAD . It comes ! The false must pay to Fate The compound int ' rest bred by hate , Above the Bosphorus tower and gate

The Cross again shall wave . " Mene—Tekel—Upharsin" glows Athwart the Golden Horn . Who knows How soon hereditary foes

May sink upon our grave ? THE LIVING . Our souls are pierced / with awful cries Of womanhood that bleeds and dies . Peace ! peace ! dread shapes that round us rise ,

Te spectres fierce and red ! Revenge is not—and man is blind : A brighter day may dawn behind To heal the woes that scourge our kind .

Let " Peace to all" be said ! CHOBUS . N O peace is here ! We aid the ri ght . When cries like ours urge on the fight , Stronger than kings in all their might—The dying and the dead ! C . T . F .

The ceremony of Installation will be rehearsed on Thnrs . day , the 28 th instant , at the Great City Lodge of Instruction , which meets at No . Ill Cheapside , at 6 . 30 every Thursday evening .

The fifteen sections will be worked on Tuesday evening , 24 th October , at the Dalhousie Lodge of Instruction , held at the Royal Edward , Triangle , Hackney .

On Sunday last the seatholders of the Brighton Hebrew Congregation presented Bro . Lewis Lewis , the President , with three very elegant and artistically designed silver centre pieces , and an illuminated address with suitable inscription .