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of the White Hart * . Amongst the visitors we noticed Bros . Sarel , W . M ., No . 343 ; Webb , P . M ., No . 343 ; Wakeling , P . M ., No . 343 ; Thos . Yesper , No . 343 , P . M ., No . 812 . Bros . Sarel and Yesper were called upon to return thanks for the visitors , and did so in appropriate addresses ; after a toast to the Durrant family , who have been Masons good and true for generations , the Brethren retired highly gratified with the business of the day . —We must not lay down our pen without affording our sincere thanks to the W . Bro . Surridge , Prov . S . G . W ., for his excellent arrangement , both with regard to the reception of the R . W . Prov . D . G . M . and the management of the affairs of the day .

HERTEORDSHIRE . BERkHAMPSTEAD . —BerMampstead Lodge ( No . 742 ) . —Agreeable to the summons of the W . M . of the above Lodge , whose wishes constitute a law to his Brethren , we left those labours which we love , in town , in order to fulfil those obligations which so elevate our considerations , that home with all its beloved associations becomes forgotten in the presence of those glorious Masonic duties we engage in at Berkhampstead As this Lodge is not known as it should be—not only from the ability and hearty good feeling of the Brethren , but from the pretty little town

m which it is held , we will describe the latter , about which there is a quiet , listless style most agreeable to one accustomed to ever active London life—a repose about houses and inhabitants , and the nature that surrounds them , which puts one in mind of those quiet places we see in dreams . Even the sounds come lazily on the ear , and the echoes linger ere they reply ; indeed , an old storyteller informs us that in some of the back streets the state of things in general is so prostrate that the echoes never wake at all , and the whole town appears to be much in the condition of Dibdin ' s waterman when thinking of nothing . The

drowsy repose about the place is a solace to a Londoner ; it brings to mind those quiet Dutch paintings of Teniers , and you feel that you are with a simple , kindhearted people , who pursue the even tenor of their way free from all excitements so prejudicial to livers in large towns . In yon streak of sunshine , falling like a golden haze between those odd-shaped houses , a Berkhampsteadite has been idling about for the last two hours ; he has nothing to do and is taking his own time to do it in ; he was alone when we first saw him , but two others joined him about an hour ago and are still with him — one a lad going for

some beer , the other the doctor s boy . The subject does not appear to be exciting , for when idle no one makes an observation ; the boy on his way for the beer stares vacantly for five minutes before he replies , in order , we suppose , to get full possession of the idea before he decides upon it , whilst the doctor ' s lad speaks-not , being solely occupied in performing as a solo , with gratuitous variations , the post-horn galop on his own whistle , in the same leisurely time that St . Clement Daues' chimes play the Old Hundredth . In the centre of this quiet home of so many quiet people , with the picturesque church rising high up over

the dwellings , whose spire points not more surely toward heaven than doth the teachings and example of the beloved pastors ; here , with the far-off undulating country lying like a lovely green carpet , sits the honest Berkhampsteadite on the bench before his door , like a patriarch of old , smoking a quiet pipe on sultry days , listening with silent happiness to the clucking of his hens , an effort on the part of the fowls which may be truly said to have a silver sound , inasmuch as it conveys a certain assurance of profitable marketing . The native dogs sleep undisturbed on the threshold—the pigeons , with their heads beneath their wings , repose on the house-tops—the Italian boy on the bridge , who

has been looking at his own images in the water , like another Narcissus , has dropped off , not of the bridge , but into a gentle slumber ; the soft spring air plays too gently round the leaves of the tall churchyard trees even to cause a rustle over the quiet graves , scarcely more still homes for their occupants than are the homes of the living ; indeed , we may sum up this effort , on our part , to describe the place , by saying that the profoundest tranquillity reigns throughout the town . The Lodge of the town is held at Bro . Softlands , and on the 7 th of April assembled there Bros . John Mott Tbearle , Bellinger , Harvey Lane , H . G . Lane , Webber , Thomas Adams , and other dis-