Correspondence.

brother on a supposititious charge , for which no opportunity of explanation had ever been afforded . Had the rules of private society been followed in this instance , and a remonstrance been addressed to me , I should at once have assured those who felt themselves aggrieved—that , however I may have characterised proceedings which took place in Suffolk , I never for one moment thought of stigmatising the resident brethren of that province ;

while I should not have shrunk from designating those , who , by an ostentatious display of partisanshi p , invited criticism and remark . I have no wish to embitter controversy or to aggravate the unhappily existing disputes , or I mi ght legitimatel y take exception to many of the sayings and doings of the 16 th . I forbear—and now that I have done that which I trust will be satisfactory to those against whom I cannot entertain animosity , I take leave of the subject . I am , Sir and Brother , yours faithfully and fraternall y , London , 23 rd Feb ., 1859 . FKEDK . BKCKE . S .

IMPERIAL TESTIMONIAL . —A very gratifying' and complimentary mark of honour has just been conferred on a brother of St . Hilda ' s Lodge , Jio . 21 ) 2 , South Shields for meritorious services , by his Imperial . Majest y the Emperor of Austria , iii the shape of a splendid telescope for sea use , manufactured by Olcesal of Vicuna it ia three feet in the tube , and two and a half in the fieldand is fitted up with three

, sets of lenses of various powers , and is enclosed in a beautiful mahogany case . The occasion of this imperial act is a recognition of services rendered by l ! ro . Cautain Straehau , of the brig "Barbaras , " of Shields , to ( he Austrian ship ' ' Furioso , " while imperilled at tho mouth of the Suliua during the year 1 S 5 S . The whole of the crew were saved by the unaided exertions of Captain Strachan , although au Austrian ship of war was at hand , whose commander was put to shame by the

valiant daring of Bro . Strachan , aud his crew . The telescope was forwarded to Shields by . Count Apponyi , the Austrian ambassador at London , accompanied by a highly complimentary letter .

HEXHY VAUOHAN . —Anthony a Wood happily describes Yaughan as ' ' singular andhumoursouie . " He was , in truth , a fantastic writer in a fantastic age . ° His best pieces are overlaid by the quaintest and baldest conceits . Yet many passages in his writings furnish evidence that he had no want of poetical feeling or of tho imaginative faculty . He is neither a rhymer on commonplaces nor a vulvar writer . He possessed both pathos and energy of language . But of wit or humour he had none , and it was perhaps fortunate for his reputation that he early forsook class

a of composition for which he had such little aptitude , to become a disciple of the sacred muse . Wc are led to judge that it was to tho influence of " that holy man Jlr . George Herbert , " whose poems had then recently appeared ( 1033 ) , that Vaughan owed the change which seems to have been wrought in his feelings subsequently to the publication of his amatory pieces in lo-lii . Shortly after this time it is manifest that he abandoned the old objects of his admiration , Ben Jonson i ! ernck , Randolph , and others , end went over to tho school of Herbert . Those who to find in the of

expect poems "Henry Yaughan , the grace , beauty , aud harmony pi' rhythm which distinguish the productions of Crashuw or lather Southwell , will experience some disappointment , Nevertheless , it is not to be denied that uirough his pages are scattered passages of more than average excellence , and one or two in which the vein of poetry places the author on a level with the best minor poets of his day , — Athaimtm .