Masonic And General Archaeologia.

frightening them , had only served to raise their curiosity ; when I had entered the room , they surveyed me with truly female attention . After they had satisfied their eyes with a most minute examination , they seemed to think I did not differ much from the other children of Adam , and became so familiar to my appearance that one of the number was hardy enough to desire me to dance with her ; andas she escaped without clangerI was afterwards

chal-, , lenged by a pretty little blooming creature , with whom I walked seven minutes during the course of the evening . " As I have mentioned the lodge of Freemasons , I cannot help congratulating myself upon the opportunity I had of making so many worthy brethren in this place , and of forming the only lodge that is in the Levant .

For ages past , a savage race O ' erspread these Asian plains , All nature wore a gloomy face , And pensive mov'd the swains . But now Britannia ' s geu ' rous sons A glorious lodge have rais'd Near the fam'd banks where Meles runs And Homer ' s cattle graz'd ;

The bri ' ry wilds to groves are chaug'd , With orange trees around , And fragrant lemons , fairly raug'd , O ' ershade the blissful ground . Approving Phcebus shines more bright , The flow ' rs appear more gay , New objects rise to please the sight With each revolving day . While safe within the sacred walls

Where heav ' nly friendship reigns , The jovial masons hear the calls Of all the needy swains . Their gen ' rous aid , with cheerful soul , They grant to those who sue ; And while the sparkling glasses roll Their smiling joys renew . ' "

THE OLDEST TAVERN IN SOUTHWARD— "Following in the wake of the ' Tabard , ' immortalised by Chaucer , another and the oldest of the taverns for which Southwark was so famous—viz ., the Bricklayers' Arms—a part of the freehold held by the Bridge-house Estates for the Corporation of the Cit y of London—will soon become a thing of the past . In the reign of Edward III . Philip de Comines records that the Burgundian lords who came over after the battle of Cressy to issue a general challenge to the English knights

in a tournament to be held at Sinithfield , lodged at this house , which he describes as a ' vaste hostel on the old © rode from Kent into Southwarke , about two-thirdes of a league from the bridge acrosse the Thames . ' He adds , 'the Burgundians were mightilie overthrown . ' A century later Wanvick , the great king-maker , on his journey to France to demand the French King ' s sister ' s hand for Edward lV ., waited here for his horses and retinue . Here

Anne of Cleves waited while her portrait was forwarded to her future husband , Henry VIII . In later times , Drake , after his victory over Van Tronip , Sir Cloudesley Shovel ,. Duncan ( Lord Cainperdowu ) , Lord Hood , after his victory over the French fleet , and Sir Horatio Nelson , after the battle of the Nile , all made this their head quarters . In the later part of the last century the house fell into the hands of one Townsend , who modernized it , but , falling

out with his builder , the latter inscribed under the dormer the following lines : — - " By short mugs and glasses This house it was built , By spendthrifts , not Townsend , The sign it was gilt . " This inscription still remains , as also do the old oak beams and garniture of centuries ago .