Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

his or her veins . Mark Philips ( like his benevolent brother , Eobert Philips , Esq ., of the Park , near Manchester ) , is a Freemason in his heart without knowing it ; and there is something radieallj wrong in the way the affairs of our beloved Craft are carried out , when one meets with such men in " the outer world , " and can find hundreds who have crept in amongst uswho

, ought never to have been initiated . Header , let thee and me firmly resolve , that every word we speak or write , and ( above all ) every action of om lives , shall be in conformity with the princip les of the Craft ; that we will not keep the object of our noble order from the public as though it were one of the secrets to which we have

pledged fidelity ; but that our whole influence in society shall be that which may truly be described as Masonic ; and when once our wide-spread fraternity remains thus true to our ancient landmarks , we shall not have to lament ( as every true Mason must do ) such failures in our mission as the one I have alluded to .

Of the Beecher Club I have only space to observe , that it is a benefit society for the people , in which the clergy and gentry of Stratford-on-Avon , Alcester , and vicinage , take much interest ; that its meetings are very properly held apart from taverns ; but in what other respects it eclipses such societies as those of the Manchester Unity

of the Independent order of Odd Fellows , or the Foresters ( to both which institutions I have the privilege to belong ) , I have not been able to perceive . Certainly , the great element of success amongst the Odd Fellows , Foresters , and similar societies , that of the class for which it is intended managing there own affairs , seems to be too little studied by the model society ; and the

speakers seemed rather too keen of throwing out inuendos against other benefit societies , who are all labouring for the same end , and perhaps not less effectually . I was glad to hear the chairman soften down these uncalled for remarks ; for the true Mason , whilst he will gladly welcome the light on every subjectmust ever feel pained

, when he sees his fellow-travellers through life squabbling , as it were , about the best way of doing a thing , instead of us each doing our own rjart manfully , according to what lig ht we ourseif possess , and allowing others to do their's as to their own convictions seem best . Success , thento the Beecher Club ; may its members never be

, less happy than they seemed to be at tlie festive board ; but success also to every institution whose object is the elevation of tlie people , the amelioration of humanity , and to make " the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for them , and the desert to rejoice ancl blossom as the rose . " *

"In man I love all thafc is noble and great , But war , and oppression , and falsehood , I hate ; And oft has my spirit burst forth into song Against every species of riot and wrong . I ' m a pleader for freedom in every form ; For my country I feel patriotic and warm , — - Yet still I ' ve no wish to disorder the land

With fche flame of the torch and the flash of the brand ; I'm for measures more gentle , more certain , in sooth—The movement of morals , the triumph of truth ; And m } ' hopes are thafc men who are toiling and grieving "Will make this fair Earth like the Heaven they believe in . " —J . ' 0 . PfllSCE . I made the acquaintance of one man only at the

anniversary dinner of the Beecher Club ; and that one man was old Kempe , the sexton . I have hacl from my childhood a strange liking for old sextons , parish clerks , and gravediggers , and many a curious fact and wild legend have I obtained from them ; for most of them may say with the late poet laureate , Southey— " I am skilled in legendary

lore . " As I wanted to visit the church , how could I do better than secure old Kempe when I had got him ? I therefore changed seats so as to make sure of him , treated , him with a quart of ale ( the only beverage he seemed to care for ) , and made a single glass of wine negus do duty for all the toasts ; for , as I wanted to remember all I sawand temperance being at all times a Masonic

, virtue , I thought I could not have a better example in this respect than good old Adam in " As Tou Like It " —a character which Shakspere not only created , but is said to have himself enacted on the stage of the Globe and the Blackfriar's Theatres -. — " Though I look old , yet I am strong and lusty ;

For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ; Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility : Therefore my age is as a lusty winter , Frosty bufc kindly . "—ACT II ., Scene 3 . The name of Kempe struck me forcibly , aud my first

question was , " Is yonr ' s a Stratford family ? " to which I was answered in the affirmative . "Who knows , thought I , that "William Kempe , the player , whose name occurs the thirteenth in the list of the fifteen shareholders in the Blackfriar ' s Theatre , and immediately after that of "William Shakspere in their petition to the Lords of the Privy Council , * in November , 1589 , and who was the

original performer of Dogberry , in Shakspere s comedy of " Much Ado About Nothing ; " who knows , I sav , that this fellow-player of Shakspere was not also a native of Stratford-on Avon , or its immediate vicinity ? There is nothing improbable in this conjecture ; Thomas Greene , the fourth player on the list , we are told , was a Stratfordon-Avon man ; and Shakspere ' s patronLord

South-, ampton , writing of our bard , and Eichard Burbage , the Eoscius of his day , whose name is second on the list of shareholders , says : — " They were both of one county , and , indeed , almost of one town . " Eitson , the eminent antiquary , in a note to his Sol / in Hood says : — " "Will Kempe " the playerwas a celebrated morris dancer ; ancl

, , in the Bodleian Library is the following scarce ancl curious tract by him - .. Kemps nine dales wonder , performed in a daunce from London to Norwich . Containing the pleasure , paines , and hind entertainment of William Kemp between London and that city in his late morrice . Wherein is somewhat set downe worth note - . to reprooce the

slaunders spretl of him , many things merry , nothing hurffull . Written by himself to saii >< fie his friends . London , printed b y E . A . for Nicholas Ling , 1600 , -i-to B . L . On the title-page is a wooden cut-figure of Kemp as a morris-dancer , preceded by a fellow with a pipe and drum , whom he , iu the hook , calls Thomas Slye , his taberer . " Ancl Eitson bids us " see , in Eichard Brathwayte ' s Remains after Death , 1618 . some lines ' upon Kempe and his morice with his epitaph . ' The lines by