A Tramp On The Continent, By Three I.G.'S.

A TRAMP ON THE CONTINENT , BY THREE I . G . ' s .

IT is worthy of mention at the outset of those Notes that the party of tourists , of whom I was one , consisted of threo ^ chelors each was a Mason , and each followed the occupation ° f chemist ; a further coincidence may be mentioned , all held * ho same ' rank in their respective Lodges , namely that of I . G . Havin" resolved on our tour for tho summer of last year ,

and having carefully read up Murray and other guide books , till , in theory at least , we seemed as familiar with the countries we proposed to visit as if we had traversed them every year of our lives , wo set off one fine morning , towards the end of August , and , having taken train at Victoria , reached that dull looking outport on the coast of Sussex known of all men as Newhaven . As onr trip

was to be a pedestrian ono , wo had provided ourselves with knapsacks so that we might have as few impedimenta as possible , and to this is due onr almost absolute immunity from the often vexatious delays of the Custom house , and the impositions of hotel and other touts . On the Channel passage to Dieppe we felt as mnch disturbed as the adventurous Robinson Crusoe , who , according to the modern story , was by no means a good sailor : —

Crusoe was not a feller de sea , For it made him feel , as it always does me , Sick * of life , so he staggered below . However , five or six hours sufficed to reach the quaint port of Dieppe , and having carefully recouped our inner man for the losses it had sustained aboard the steamer , we gaily committed

ourselves to the train for Paris . En , route , we passed Rouen , a quaint city , with , as our readers are perhaps aware , a fine cathedral and some magnificent churches , among them that of St . Onen being the most prominent . Rouen is naturally interesting to Englishmen . Here vesided tho Dukes of Normandy , of whom Duke William tho Bastard afterwards became our William the

Conqueror . Here , too , in the long war of the 15 th century , in the reign of our Henry VI ., Jeanne d'Arc was burnt as a witch , hence the monument . to her memory in the square known as La Place de la Pucella . Among the noticeable features of this part of the journey should bo mentioned tho signal women along the lino of route , clad in neat , but somewhat short drosses—no Lord

Chamberlain exercises any authority over these people—and pretty white caps . We also saw women working hard iu the fields . The women ' s rights' question , indeed , appears to be settled after a fashion , for the women iu France havo full liberty to do what in England is left wholly to tho men . Arriving at Paris , about 5-30 p . m ., we traversed the French metropolis from " west" to " east" for

the station , en route to Basle , reaching tho latter town about 2-30 p . m . tho day following , having travelled without intermission through the night . Hero a short rest , during which wo passed from labour to refreshment , and also took a short stroll to seo the lions , and then by rail to Zurich . The mountains between Basic aud Zurich afford some pretty bits of scenery ,

and gave ns a foretaste of the grandeur to come . Rcaclung Zurich at 10 p . m ., wo drove at once to the Hotel Belle Vnc au Lac , for a night ' s rest . Next morning wo wore up betimes , and after a pleasant jaunt through the streets , we caino to the conclusion it deserves all the good things that have been said of it . Wo should havo no objection , indeed , io bo transported en permanence to tho "Margin of

Zurich ' s fair waters . " The town contains some 50 , 000 people , mostly Protestants , and a Masonic Lodge , " Modestia cum Libertate . " According to Murray , the Znrichers have wealth without polish , hence tho saying " Grassier comma v . n Xurichois , " which , like many other sayings , must bo taken with a grain of salt . At all events wo found the worthv bunrhera of Zurich as polite and well-bred as in

other parts of Switzerland . Having looked at all tho pretty sights , by which wo mean not the libraries , and museums , anil churches , so much as tho pretty scenery—had wo not come to enjoy the health-giving breezes which , in our chemical jargon has been described as " tho best tonic in the whole Pharmacopoeia of Nature "—we walked up the Uetleborg , a mountain of 2 , 800 ft ., just hig h enough to give us a fine

view of ( he surrounding country , and serve as training for tho moro trying feats that , were to follow . Next day we started early by steamer for Rappcrschuwyl , and right heartily did we enjoy the trip . The Zurich lake may have no pretensions to grandeur , but its passive beauty is very pleasing . On reaching Rappcrschuwyl we found wo were in good ' time for the train to Ragatz , for tho most part a pretty

ride along tho South Bank of the Wallenstadt Lake , though hero and there wore lingh precipices , and occasionally tunnels cut through the solid rock . At Ragatz wo stayed some four houiv , which wo turned to good account , by visiting tho gorge , and baths of PfaU ' onj , of which we cannot do better than give the following description from Mitrrav : —

"A few yards above the old baths , the sides of tho ravine of the Taminya contract iu an extraordinary manner , so as to approach within a few feet of each other ; n T ' ¦ ¦ . ;}•< further they even close over and cover up the river whi / h i- ¦ ¦ >• i H ! -I < J out of a cavern . The Ppi-inus nre reached ihn . ii : r ! i ¦'> - ¦¦ ¦ ¦ b •Vh . us' -, whence a bridge of plunks loads , to ihe o ! : ; r ; i :. e : > •¦ ' ¦¦' : .. •. . •i l >\ a iloor . Tho bridge is nio : o ::.-efl >¦ :. . <})¦ ¦ ¦ : ¦ ,- . ; ¦ ¦¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' ' ¦ " ¦ '¦"¦ ' . •••' a .-can ' oidiug i . r shelf , suspended bv n u H ire- ' ; hl .: < aiu in a nk-lio as

cutout of the side . Ji is e .. i / . e * i a , i a . i . u ^ uio ou . io ; u i . r . - ; io iu ^ hot-spring , and affords the only means of approach to it , as the side ; , of the rent aro vertical , and there is not aa inch of room between them and the torrent . Formerly the passage was along two ,

sometimes one plank , unprotected by railings ; at present a platform , 4 feet wide , furnished with a handrail , renders the approach to the spriuy easy for the most timid , and perfectly free from risk . Each person pays lfr . for admittance . A few yards from tho entrance the passage is darkened b y tho overhanging rock . " The sudden chid of an atmosphere never visited by the sun ' s ray . ? , tho rushing and roaring of the torrent , the threaten-

A Tramp On The Continent, By Three I.G.'S.

ing position of the rocks above , have a grand and striking effect . It is almost dark in parts where tho sides of the ravine overtop ono another , actually meeting overhead , so as to form a natural arch . Tho rocks in many places show marks of having been worn away by the rushing waters . For several hundred yards the river pursues an almost subterranean course , the roof of the chasm being

the floor as it were of tho valley . In some places tho roots of the trees are seen dangling overhead . Had Virgil and Dante been aware of this spot , they would certainly have conducted their heroes through it to the jaws of the infernal regions . The shelf of planks extends 700 yards from the baths . At its extremity , at the bottom of a cavern , rise the springs , at a temperature of about 100 ° Fahrenheit ,

the water being received into a reservoir , nearly 15 feet deep , from which it is conducted in pipes to the baths . The bathing houses and hotels at Ragatz are supplied with hot water from these springs ; it is conveyed thither through wooden pipes , 12 , 500 feet long , and such is the copiousness of the supply that there is a reduction of temperature of only 2 ° or 3 ° in this distance of 2 . V miles .

From Ragatz we took train for Coire , and there finished up a good day ' s work . The day following we started on our tramp through the Via Mala and Splugen Pass for Lake Como aud Milan . What wo have to say about these places , and of the further progress of the three I . G . ' s , I must reserve till some future number . Y .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents . — : o : — LORD CARNARVON'S SPEECH AT THE INSTALLATION .

To the Editor of THE FREKJIASOJ * S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —1 havo perused your leader upon this subject in your issue of 15 th inst ., bnt I can find no proper evidence in it either in support of Lord Carnarvon or against mo . As to tho mere name , " Freemason , " or " Freemasonry , " I am quite ready to admit that the terms or words aro old , say

400 years or so , in England at least , but as to tho thing signified by these terms or words iu , say the 16 th century and the 18 th , then I consider a great difference existed . An old 15 th or 16 th century Freemason was a Mason who was free of his guild , not a man who received our three degrees , and knew the secrets of our system , of Freemasonry ; for our svstcm of Freemasonry , with its three

degrees , and their ceremonials , & c , and also its grand idea of tho universal brotherhood of man , was not in existence in the 16 th century . You refer to certain similarity of ideas pervading onr system of Feeemasoury aud the old Pagan mysteries ; but what of that ? That does not prove Lord Carnarvon to bo right , and tho 1717 theory wrong . For tho 1717 theory says , that our Freemasonry

has a certain connection with these old " mysteries , it being the renaissance iu a now dress of Pagan mysticism . Tho connection however is not ancestral , but rather adoptive . When Desaguliers and Anderson manufactured our Freemasonry , in or about A . D . 1717 , they made use of tho old Pagan ideas , inter alia , with other things , just as served their purpose . The architects of King ' s College ,

Cambridge , quite possibly " produced a roof which was tho despair of Wren , " because they were not speculative Freemasons in our sense of the term , for if they had been , their brains might have got so muddled with good wine that thoy would have been unable to produce good architecture ! However , Wren himself was a pretty good architect and how was it that he got along without being a Freemason ?

Aud how about the first living architects who aro nob Freemasons ? You also refer to the Church of Rome ; but if our Freeniasomy existed before 1717 , how was it that the Pope ' s bull of 1738 said that the Society had only been recently formed ? Had it existed before 1717 , the bull , I would expect , would havo hinted as much , and also recapitulated all their bad deeds . Then , if our Freemasonry existed before A . D . 1717 , how is it that there is no mention of it in the old

extant records of tho Edinburgh , Kilwinning and Aberdeen Lodges , which reach back long before 1717 ? In fact these old records show and prove that the Edinburgh , Kilwinning and Aberdeen Masous knew nothing of our Freemasonry until some time after 1717 . M y Own Mother Lodge—the Lodge of Glasgow , St . John , No . 3 bis—has a

very hue old Masonic carved box , made in or about A . D . 1084 , aud tho Masons' tools carved thereon , and their position , also show ignorance of onr Freemasonry ; so with loth and 10 th century books of emblems , Ac , which I have examined . I shall not intrude further upon your space , bat I remain , yours fraternallv , Glasgow May 17 th . " w . P . BUCHAN .

The Pope And Freemasonry.

THE POPE AND FREEMASONRY .

To the EJ . it <> r of T 11 & FREE MASON ' CIIUOXICLE . Sin .- A g :-eat s . jci d : >!>< ' * : ral problem is , during tho present era , in LMiirae i . t solution : A - . nut drama is from day to day bein " evolved on the wide arera of Christendom . The watchword is " equally to each , Dieti et mon Droit , aud the ultimate issue equally certain , " Magna est Veritas et pnevalebit , " has about it a ring , weighty and powerful , but in basin . '' a iudsrment upon the contemDlation of ( nets

and results one might almost be led to fall back upon the hacknied enquiry of Pilate . Looking upon tho Pope , not only as the head of one of the contending parties , tho generalissimo of one of the contending armies , but the ackuowledged iufallble mouth piece of an overwhelming majority , onr attentiou is tho more specially attracted to tho nature and direction of his last sortie from his beleaguered