Our Rulers.

honours thrust upon them . But we believe honestly that Lord Tenterden ' s acceptation of the office of Grand Master for tho Province of Essex is merited , not merely by the position which the noble lord holds , but for his affection for the Craft and his zeal in the furtherance of its welfare .

We would that in every case men so qualified to perpetuate the traditions of the Craft , and so eminently qualified to adorn the profession , were chosen : if ifc wero so , there would bo no need for the expression of that regret which has been bnt superficially alluded to in tho lines which AVO now address to our numerous readers .

"Il Tegame," Or A Mason's Holiday.

"IL TEGAME , " OR A MASON'S HOLIDAY .

IT ia ft trial to take a last look of clear old Pang . Lot any one before doing so mount nt noon , say an omnibus , and as ha descends or ascends the Boulevards , regard carefully around him . He will thero nearly always see a lofty firmament , a clear sky , and feel a capability of freely broatliinpr , which he may often try in vain to find in London . Should one who values these happy endowments analyse his feelings he will not fail to

exclaim" Can I leave thee , Paradise ? " It is the exception , however , which proves a rule ; for almost universally aa Paris receives the homage of praise and flattery , she has been by no means destitute of severe and caustic censors . Two of tho laiest beingmen widely differing from each other—viz ., Father Hyacinthe and Louis Veuillot .

Those who think of the Rev . Mr . Loyson , the late meek Swiss pastor , now married to a qniot , lady-like wife , can havo but an imperfect idea of his former self , when , as Pore Hyacinthe , in friar ' s giey gown , he denounced with glowing and fiery eloquence the sensuous sins of tho Empire in the cathedral of Notre Dame . It was after one of these crns . iding conferences against the profanation of the fine arts

to unchaste statuary that the ink bottle was thrown at the celebrated sculpture of tho then new opera house and , to erase which stain , the most celebrated chemists of Europe were consulted . I had the satisfaction to hear some of these conferences . On one occasion when tho Archbishop of Paris occupied in state his cathedral

throne , tho good Father , bending lowly forward , demanded the apostolic benediction . It was a touching sight , and ono I shall never forget , as tho now sainted D'Arboy with a look of angelic sweetness , stretching forth his pastoral staff , accorded tho sought-for boon .

Such things may be trivial , yet for myself I havo always thought tho blessing of a good man cot to be despised . How sad has been tho fate of the distinguished individuals hero alluded to . "Where is the now sainted Bishop ? where tho Father Hyacinthe ? where the Empire whoso imputed failings these men combined to condemn ? victims , alas , aro they of misfortune or of

sorrow : svntl of the nil miscrantis Orui . "What fiction can bo more strange than truth ? The other censor , Louis Veuillot , who is editor of the Univers , exceeds all past or existing clerical editors in violence of invective , and copious nse of those phrases which among gentlemen and scholars aro never applied save to the vilest of the vile .

He wrote first a book entitled the Perfumes of Rome , in which all within tho eternal city was painted with those hues which we attribute to the Eose of Sharon aud tho Lily of tho Valley . Soon afterwards he published the Odours of Paris . It probably contained some truths , certainly much coarse abuse . One charge , however , was that Paris had become a clean city in contradistinction to ancient

Rome , which even at tho zenith of its power indnlged in tho luxury of dirt , for in spite of the cloacus maximus each villa was more or less surrounded by a fermenting cesspool . His theory being that clcanliness , though reckoned next to godliness , tended to tho decay of national strength . A new theory of the Odeur * of Sanctity . The October morning roso brightly on which I left Paris , bnt a

change came on as noon approached , and thero was no cessation of rain , sleet , snow or hail , until tho train reached the tunnel of Mount Cenis . As we left the plains and turned eastward at Grenoble , for Savoy and the Alps , the snow was seen to cover more and more persistently the nearer hills , and as wo advanced , tho higher and more distant soon showed their premature winter garb , of which only

the month of May could divest them . Ob , those rugged cloud-capped Alps , where is their beauty now ? The poor people in the markets and autumnal fairs seemed miserable , poor little calves looking np so piteonshj in their faces as if asking to go home again , even pigs , tied by tho heel , led their drivers straightly forth j one thought seemed to animate all , and that was homeward ,

for dreary and desolate was Nature ' s aspect . No sunny slopes now , no vine-clad coteauv in all these dreary regions . I had formerly bcenhore , even in December , when all was still bright and gay ; it was in such a season as this and in the same month , that Hannibal , tho great and immortal Cartbagenian general , traversed those self-fame hills , rendered worse in bis case , however , by tlie half melted snow of the preceding winter forming universal glaciers .

Ou p . auting the foot of man or beast on the nowly descended ( lakes , no foothold could be had , and elephants , horses , and men tumbled headlong down tho vast abysses . With varied feelings one passes these eternal Alpiue barriers , ilow do they recall to mind incidents fraught with consequences which si ill influence our destinies , each step beiug sacred to historical recollection . Hannibal was the first general known to history who crossed them

"Il Tegame," Or A Mason's Holiday.

and Livy tells ns of tho fear which even their sight caused to his army , already accustomed to the Pyrenees . " Hills piled on hills , tho distant mountains covered with eternal snow , which confused their summits with tho clouds , whilst their shades frowned horror . Assemblages of miserable huts , hanging as it wore like limpets upon the rocks , cattle , and horses benumbed with tho cold , all things

stiffened with hoar frost and ice , whilst tho peaks bristled with men clad in skins of animals , who rolled stones , ready to fall on and destroy the passers by . For Jiftcon long days ancl nights did this war with man and nature continue ; elephants , horses and mon hurled down precipices , or dying miserably from hunger , cold , and wounds ; such is hill warfare , ancl

shonld recall to mind tho trials of our armies lately fighting gloriously in Afghanistan . Of the 80 , 000 men with whom Hannibal crossed tho Ebro from Spain scarcely 20 , 000 arrived on tho plains of Lombardy , and in what condition wo may judge from tho address of the Roman general to his soldiers . "Figure to yourselves , " said he , "these phantoms and

shadows ; their bodies worn with hunger , cold aud filth , wounded and bruised by the rocks , their joints diseased , their nerves stiffened by the cold , their weapons useless , their horses lame and nnfifc for use . Ifc is not an army , it is a mob of broken men . " In this condition after passing tho Alps did Hannibal present himself before a Roman general and a Roman army , fresh and unbroken . It

was on tho borders of tho Tieinio , near the River Po , ancl in a few days moro did that Roman army repass tho Po in headlong flight . For fifteen years did this man , by lake and river , by mountain and valley , on the plain and by the defile chain victory to his chariot wheels , whilst the frightened eagles of Rome fled , oft trembling and bloody , back to their Tarpeian eyrie .

Had Hannibal been duly succoured from homo , tno Roman Empire had succumbed , bnt divided councils ruined all . Carthage , a trading city , made war as though she loved it not ; greedy only of gain , sho sank in ruin , leaving only wherewith to point a moral or drop a tear , over genius foiled and a world lost . As I walked along tho banks of the Tioino , tho scene of his first battle , Lamartiue's verses on Thrasymeno came forcibly to my mind : —

" Saint , tiois jois , Salat , beau lac do Tvasvmune , Toi qui vit d'Aunibal , les triomphaus drapeanx , Rcflechir lour colours snr les crystanx do tes caux , . Efc l ' aiglo consnlairo la proio a l'epouvante , Vers son roc Tarpeian s'enfuir tout sanglante . "

Hannibal may be said to have commenced tho second Punic war by besieging Saguntum , a city of Spain near tho month of tho Ebro , and a Roman ally . The Romans however had already virtnally dono so , by hemming in tho Punic possessions in such a manner that her existence was gradually becoming impossible . Hannibal ' s genius told him that Italy was tho placo to strike a fatal blow , ancl history tells

ns how nearly Rome then approached her fall . Thus a Fabian policy and Russian snows have equally accomplished a like end . After Hannibal's time tho passage of tho Alps became easy , the inhabitants readily making terms for affording assistance to passing expeditions , since Asdrnbal , bringing aid to his brother , soon after passed them with comparative case . Less fortunate however than

his kinsman , he was destroyed with his army on descending into tho plain , a fatal blow to Hannibal and the hopes of Carthage . Csesav ' s transit is the next important recorded one ( on his being appointed commander of Gaul ) , in his expedition against tho Holvetii , a nation of Switzerland . Tho war arose in this manner . Tho Holvetii , finding the limits of their Switzer homo and holdings

too narrow , resolved to emigrate into Gaul , with their families , to tho number of 300 , 000 . Having destroyed their houses , aud burnt all food and stores which could not be carried away ( much as did our Caffres somo years since ) , they set out . There were three passages by which they might pass into Gaul—one by the bridge afc Geneva , easy , short , and convenient ; secondly , a pass lower down the Rhone ,

now called the Pas de lEnclus ; and thirdly , a long and difficult d & tour by tho Jura mountain . The Allobrogi of Geneva , in great ; alarm , appealed unto Caosar to protect them . He suddenly left Rome , and rapidly crossing the Alps gained a fortnight's time by pretended ncgociations , during which ho broke down tho bridge , and built a dyke fifteen miles long , thus

effectually blocking tho first and second roads . Having done so , he declared for war . They knew the art of war against half civilized tribes in those days as well as now , this incident also proves the oftstated fact that the Romans gained more by tho spado than tho sword . Tho wondrous remains of their ordinary encampments attest fcho samo thing to the present clay . Nothing remained now for the

unfortunate Helvetii but the long and terrible Jura tract . One best understands the Alps by studying , on tho spot , their peculiarly whirled and curved extensions , and I well recollect how clear seemed to me the plan of Caesar ' s campaign as I looked ou the scene of his exploits . Standing on tho heights above the Lake of Geneva one day , with my little boy who had recently read his Cicsar ,

' Ah , Papa , said he , " I sec it all now , there is Mount Jura in front which fche Holvetii wanted to cross , below is the bridge which Ctcsar broke down , to the left is the stretch where Coosar built his d yke , and behind is the place where Ccesar " conscripsit legiones . " In vain did the Helvetii hurry on , Ctcsar soon overtook and nearly destroyed them in the defiles . This is one of the earliest examples of thafc national

emigration of barbarians which subsequently overrun and finally destroyed the Roman world after fifteen centuries of carnage . Let us stretch onr eyes farther along the blue waters of Lake Lemau , and , at least in imagination , wc shall see the prison of the Prisoner of Chillon with the dismal ovMiettcs of its tyrant lord . Further still is tho islet sacred to his memory , which , " fancy free , " he loved to

contemplate" Ono little isle , I saw no more , Scarce larger than my dungeon floor , Bnt on it thero were three small trees , And o ' er it blew tho mountain breeze . "