Ball Of The Priory Lodge At Southend.

BALL OF THE PRIORY LODGE AT SOUTHEND .

Qn Wednesday evening , the 8 th inst ., a ball was I pM at the Royal Hotel , Southend , under the auspices of this lodge , which proved a great success , and it is honed thatahandscme profit will be realised for the list of the W . M . who is a Steward for the Royal Masonic Girls' School , to which Institution the surplus funds

are to be devoted . The company , numbering upwards of 100 , on arriving vvere received by the Stewards : Bros . T . Hood , W . M . ; B . Thomas , S . W . ; A . Vandervord , J . W . ; A . Lucking , PM . ' E . J- Bowmaker , I . G . ; C . H . Bowmaker , and R . I . Smith , and G . R . Dawson , P . M ., Hon . Sec . and _ ' / . ct nthers there were also uresent Bros W . E . aiiiuu — —

. ; - "' . Bridg land , P . M . ; C . W . Barnard , S . D . j T . J . Cumine , J . D . ; A . Baker , Dr . H . O . Grenfell , A . Adams , W . Ty ler , B . Fearnside , Org . ; G . L . Wood , P M . ; C . W . Cooke , E . F . Wood , J . V . A . Mason , n ] ' . Creswell , W . M . Burton , W . Trigg , and A . W .

Martin , Tyler . The visitors included Bros . Major C . E Russell , H . Wickes , Bourne , H . Baker , J . E . Forbes , 1 Bull , G . Thomas , ToghiH , R . F . Carter , J . T . Simpson , J . Walker , W . Scott Miller , and others . The entrance hall of the hotel was elaborately adorned with flowers by Mr . Hughes , and the ball room vvas charmingly decorated under the superintendence

of Bros . C . H . Bowmaker and B . Thomas , a variety of Masonic emblems being appropriately introduced . The band was under the direction of Mr . H . A . Eversley , and played an excellent selection of music . A recherche supper was provided , and dancing was kept going with great spirit until 4 o ' clock . Masonic clothing was worn by the brethren present by dispensation from the Prov . Grand Master .

The Earl Of Jersey At Sydney.

THE EARL OF JERSEY AT SYDNEY .

His Excellency the Earl of Jersey was waited upon on the 3 rd of February by a larg ' e number of Freemasons of Sydney and presented with an address of welcome from the United Grand Lodge of Ancient and Accepted Freemasons , from the Supreme Chapter and Koyal Arch Masons , and from the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons . Each address extended to the

Governor a cordial welcome to the colonies , and also rejoiced on account of the recovery of Lad y Jersey from her recent illness , and , at the same time , trusted that his excellency would have a prosperous career there and elsewhere .

In reply to each address his Excellency said he vvas glad , as a Freemason from England , to come among the Freemasons there , as they were alike all over the world . In the afternoon a number of the leading Chinese merchants ( Messrs . Quong Tart , Yee Hing , W . R . G .

Lee , Chue Kee , War Moo , and Koag Mow On ) waited on the Earl of Jersey to present him with an address of welcome from the Chinese residents of S ydney and the colony . The Premier ( Sir Henry Parkes ) , at the request of the deputation , arranged for the presentation . The address was printed in blue on white satin

, and was beautifully finished . It was as follows : "To his Excellency the Right Honourable Victor Albert George Child Villiers , Earl of Jersey , Knight of the Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St . Michael and St . George , Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New South Wales and it Dependencies .

. _ _ We , the natives of the Empire of China resident in S ydney and its suburbs , in a public meeting assembled , desire to offer your Excellency our congratulations on your acceptance of the Governorshi p of New South Wales , and to express our confidence lhat the same rectitude of purpose and the same charitable consideration for others which have marked

your career in your native land will guide you in the administration of the affairs of this colony , and our confidence that we shall enjoy at your Excellency ' s hands the full measure of liberty which the law may allow us . " Signed , on behalf of the meeting , " QUONG TART , Chairman ,

" YEE HING , Secretary . " . Bro . Lord J ERSEY , in reply , thanked the gentlemen lur the address they had presented him with . He said ne could assure them that it was his desire to do everything to promote that confidence which was necessary 'or prosperity in New South Wales whilst he was governor . They knew as well as he did that confience was the basis of all commercial prosperity , and « e trusted that they might all have confidence and Prosperity in the future .

Interesting Ceremony At Strathapeffer Spa, Ross-Shire.

INTERESTING CEREMONY AT STRATHAPEFFER SPA , ROSS-SHIRE .

Rn cer j y unique in the history of Freemasonry in oss and Cromartie took place at Strathpeffer on the - u inst . It was the occasion of the lavimr of thp

"undation-stone of the St . Anne ' s Episcopal Church of i erected there to the memory of the late Countess site ° martle ' The church is being built on a lovely form . 0 pposite the P P °° of the Spa , and will in es h P lcturesc l addition to the many pretty buildin ? nl mg e I , ected > year by year , at the famous water-He S j e architect is Mr . Robertson , Inverness , "as designed the building after the old cathedral

Interesting Ceremony At Strathapeffer Spa, Ross-Shire.

style , and it will be seated for about 300 persons . The estimated cost of the church is ^ 2600 , of which sum £ 1500 has already been subscribed . Amongst the subscribers Bishop Kelly , Inverness , who , in addition to a subscri p tion of ^ 10 previously given , added another ^ 10 on the 4 th inst .

The ceremony was an entirely Masonic one , and was of a very imposing character . There were about 150 Freemasons present , representing the principal lodges of Inverness and Ross shires . Mr . Gunn presented , in the name of the Building Committee , Sir Hector Munro with a magnificent silver trowel , and asked him ,

amid loud applause , to proceed with the laying of the foundation-stone . The Freemasons who took part in the ceremony were afterwards entertained to a cake and wine banquet by the Earl of Cromartie in the Pavilion . Sir Hector Munro presided .

English Cathedrals.

ENGLISH CATHEDRALS .

Messrs . Cassell and Co . have just published , in two volumes , a noble work on the Cathedrals , Abbeys , and Churches of England and Wales . It abounds in illustrations , and it is well supplied with matter , descriptive , ^ historical , and pictorial . We have much to be thankful for in our ecclesiastical remains ; and

Professor Bonney , the editor , will tell us exactly how much . The first thing we have to be thankful for is that there are remains . As a rule , we have preserved our cathedrals and old churches , without attempting to make any considerable additions to them . This , of course , applies only to the principal structures

throughout the country , allowance being made for the activity of Church of England extension societies . The Conquest brought us a good style , both for parish church and cathedral , in putting us into touch with France , the home ot the great Gothic . The Norman architects came over after the Norman soldiers , and when

they departed , we were able to carry on their traditions in a school of our own . The English work soon exhibited certain English characteristics . Our best cathedrals are less splendid than some of the cathedrals of the Continent , but they have a certain sobriety and harmony in the perfect adaptation of

means to ends , which gives them ' quite a charm of their own . The English architects seldom tried to do more than they were able to do well . Their buildings did not run to inordinate height or breadth ; there was no attempt to make them all windows , or to anticipate in their structure the glories of the Eiffel Tower . They

are low as compared with the structures of the Continent , but they need scant support in flying buttresses , and they excell in beauty of outline . Their steeples are fine , and their central towers are almost unique . Their general mass harmonises beautifully with the landscape and with all the surroundings , and

they are usually in the right place . This right place is not quite in the centre of the town . The French cathedral life was an essential part of the life of the city , the cathedral was the centre of all local activity . The English church of this sort had to some degree an independent existence . The cathedral

and the cloister buildings to which it was attached grew up in their way , and the town beside them also took its own course . The early Norman builders were iconoclasts . They destroyed a good many of our earlier churches , and the loss is hardly to be regretted , for they gave us much more beautiful buildings in

place of them . Our business has been to preserve what they have left , and in spite of the civil wars , and of the Puritan reaction , we have preserved a good deal . We are exceedingly foitunate in our churches . Perhaps no other country has the same number of beautiful old structures of this sort . In the countries under the sway

of Rome the old Gothic churches were very often swept away to humour the new taste of the Papal Court for the Renaissance . We have preserved wisely and well . Happily the structural alterations have been few , except where a Wyatt—whose name Mr . Bonney can hardly pronounce without a shudder—has been let

loose at Lichfield , Hereford , Salisbury , and Durham . The Puritans destroyed a good many images , but they did not destroy the cathedrals and the churches . The country was so well supplied with churches that for centuries , covering a period conspicuous for artistic barrenness , few new ones had to be built . The

Victorian age has been an age of restoration , and we have perhaps carried this art as far as it can go . Mr . Bonney is not always satisfied with the result . He thinks , and thinks justly , that the building , however well restored , must always lack the subtle charm of association which belongs to the older structure . That , of course , is true

enough , but it represents an essential difficulty which must be accepted as insurmountable . There was no choice ; the buildings had to be restored , or they had to perish . With some of them , as at Peterborough , the process of restoration was deferred too long , and there was nothing for it but to pull down part of the

structure . They were not always properly built at the outset . They had an art of sinking which was all their own . There were jerry-builders even in the time of Henry Beauclerk . There has been a spiritual as well as a material restoration—so the editor of these volumes

likes to think . The cathedral close is no longer the centre of conservative influence . The cathedrals are no longer sunk in the apathy of moribund forms of belief ; they have once more become centres of spiritual activity . But we fear that , in a spiritual sense , they

will continue to suffer under their old inconvenience of a certain remoteness from the towns . The cathedrals and churches are great object lessons

English Cathedrals.

in our history . Every stone of them has its story . Canterbury is particularly rich in this way . York only seems less rich because it is more bare . It is cold , and , in all but the warmest sunshine , it is apt to chill the beholder in every sense . Great churches are like houses , and they need furnishing . Some of

ours , and notably Westminster , are furnished by their tombs ; but all of them want that upholstery which is supplied in Catholic countries by the peculiar nature of the worship . Our still lingering dread of graven images is a misfortune in ecclesiastical art . The St . Paul's reredos case and the endless

disputes over the internal decoration of the building show the difficulty of doing anything in this way in England . The contrast between St . Paul's and St . Peter ' s is not only to the advantage of the latter in bulk and massiveness , but strangely enough in an air of comfort which one might expect to find wholly wanting in a building

of its enormous proportions . York has some little furniture in its relics , but it does not make much of them . Here is the horn of Ulphas , the good Saxon Prince , who , finding that his relations were likely to quarrel about his inheritance , composed their differences by presenting all his possessions to the Church .

His carved hunting-horn is the tenure by which his lands are held to this day . York and Canterbury long disputed the primacy of England , and the question was not settled until one Bishop of York had been soundly beaten with fist and stick in the struggle for the highest chair . The Northern Archbishop still

retains his ancient privilege of crowning the English Queens . Durham , at first , was but half a church , and the other half a castle against the Scots . At the proper distance it is still a castle to the eye as it stands on the edge of its steep cliff . It is the shrine of Northumbrian Christianity , and Cuthbert

and Bede lay buried within its walls . It was cruelly used by the 3000 Scotch prisoners who were shut up in the building by Cromwell , after the Battle of Dunbar . They burnt all the precious woodwork to boil their porridge . Old St . Paul's was a very noble building , and there is some ground for the belief that we lost

by the change to the present structure . But there was no alternative . The building had a persistent habit of getting itself burned . ' After one calamity of this sort , by which it was partially affected , it fell on very evil days , and the body of the church , Paul's Walk , became a mere covered promenade , something between the

Burlington Arcade and the Quadrant of modern days . The tombs at Winchester , the Cecil tombs at Hatfield , the tomb of Hampden in the village of that name , are all so many fragments of our island story . Our churches will long survive as schools of history , whatever may happen to them as temples of faith . —Daily News .

The Theatres.

The Theatres .

Whatever induced Mrs . Langtry to take down from the shelf where it has been resting these many years the late Sir Charles Young ' s play , " Linda Grey , " wc are at a loss to comprehend , for it is quite evident that it would only suit the tastes of audiences of a very meagre amount of intelligence . At any rate London

will not have it . It certainly has what is known in stage parlance some sensational " curtains , " all of which Mrs . Langtry takes . One of them was particularly effective where Linda Grey , the great actress , whose carriage has run over a youngman , visits him in his garretl in all her grandeur , and hearing him moan out " Linda ,

Linda , she kneels by his bedside and exclaims " It is my husband . " Mrs . Langtry's dresses , by Worth , almost surpass description . They are certainly worth seeing , especially by the gentler sex . Indeed , we met a distinguished Mason , member of the Corporation and

London School Board , on his way to book seats because his wife and daughter want to study the costumes . Why does not Mrs . Langtry try " Ours , " or " Enemies , " or " Peril , " in all of which she has made her mark and which are not star pieces . " Linda Grey" does not give any one else a chance of acting .

* * * Bro . Sheriff Augustus Harris , not willing to have Drury Lane closed or his company idle , and not being ready with his new Pettitt and self drama , fell back upon Charles Reade ' s "Never Too Late To Mend , " which for years has been a prime

favourite with lovers of melodrama . We have heard it stated that Bro . Harris has bought the entire copyright . This would account for its production again at this theatre . Although written for a purpose , and that purpose fulfilled , " Never Too Late To Mend " was warmly welcomed b y a vast audience on Saturday , who greeted

Bro . Charles Warner , in his original part of Tom Robinson . By his indomitable energy he managed to carry everything before him . He was ably assisted b y Bro . Harry Nicholls , the Drury Lane favourite , in the character of Peter Crawley . Miss Millward forcibl y pla ^ s Susan Merton . Mr . Julian Cross got well howled at

for his inhuman conduct as the prison Governor . We missed the Jacky of Mr . Calhaem , but Mr . H . Fischer well filled the part . Miss Maccabe vvas the boy Josephs and gave entire satisfaction . The stage mounting is in the well known style of Bro . Harris . The Australian scene with its real waterfall was thoroughly applauded , as was the whole piece .

? __ The Court of Common Council has resolved to invite thc Emperor of Germany , on the occasion of his approaching visit to England , to receive an address from the City ot London in the Guildhall in J uly next , and there are good grounds for believing that the invitation will be accepted .