Poetry.

Poetry .

FELLOW-PEELING . ( AETER J . A . H . ) Though mine was not a Dobson * case , I had a trial sore to face , Ancl , though I did my bacon save , I never knew so close a shave , So I can sympathise , in truth ,

With that ill-used and frightened youth . 'Tis true Sam Dobson had not quite His buttons all— " unlucky wight" — And hence I don't regret that be No Mason is , Accepted , Free ; Yet , still , I deprecate the plan Of joking with an un-made man—A game , regardless of the end ,

To which e'en Masons sometimes bend . It brings contempt upon a name Whicli well deserves unsullied fame , Ancl keeps good men of every sphere From joining us , for very fear . I cannot easily forget The feelings strange which o ' er me crept , When , after being duly polled , I went to have my name enrolled In Lodge of D . A brother true , Whose names begins with W ,.

Was first to greet me with a smile , Ancl then , in his accustomed style , "Why come you here , my friend ? " said he . Quoth I , " To learn the mystery ;" "Oh ! that accounts , " said he , "by Jove , For what they're doing up above—The coals are on , the fire is bright , They're heating irons with all their

might—I ' ve been amazed such zeal to see , But now perceive it's all for thee . " I well nigh dropp'd into my shoes , I scarcely knew which path to choose ; Whether at once to cut my stick , Or wait and bear it like a brick . Methought a moment of the men , Who form'd the mystic bond , and then ,

Though of the secret unaware , I felt convinced 'twould be all square ; So , with determination , said" A worthy Mason I'll be made . " The joker shouted out with joy" Well clone , my brother , you ' re the boy—If every loclge gets such as thee A brave fraternity 'twill be . " I then , with boldness , ventured through What , while I live , I ne ' er shall rue .

All who Masonic honours seek , Take courage from my narrow squeak Treat jokes as nought but drollery , And branding irons as irony . F . C .

Metropolitan Lodge Meetings, Etc., For The Week Ending August 15, 1868.

METROPOLITAN LODGE MEETINGS , ETC ., FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 15 , 1868 .

MONDAY , August 10 th . —Lodge : Peckham , 879 , Edinbro'Castle , Peckham . Chapter : Panmure , 720 , Loughboro' Hotel , Loughboro ' -road , Brixton . TUESDAY , August llth— Lodge : Wellington , 548 , White Swan Tavern , Deptford . WEDNESDAY , August 12 th . —Com . Royal Mas . Ben . Inst ., at 3- Lodges : Doric 933 Masons'

HallBasing-, , , hall-street- Montifiore , 1 , 017 , Freemasons' Hall . THURSDAY , August 13 th . —Lodges : Lily Lodge of Richmond , 820 , Greyhound , Richmond , Surrey . Capper , 1 , 076 , Marine Hotel , Victoria Docks , West Ham . SATUKDAY , August 15 th . —Lodge : Lewis , 1 , 185 , Nightingale Tavern , Wood-green .

Metropolitan Lodge Meetings, Etc., For The Week Ending August 15, 1868.

THE SILENT LODGE . —One of the prospectuses before us recommending a new cemetery , opens with the following beautiful thoughts : —It is a sign always of high civilization when the living eome to regard death as an inevitable ,, beneficial necessity , and take upon them that sweet labour of love whicli the decoration of burial places assuredly is . We remember the time when the meeting-house yard , enclosed grimly by red Puritan bricks , without a tree to bless it with its verdure

or a shrub or a flower with its beauty , was the only abode of which the dead were adjudged worthy , and death was a gloomy idea . Compare this unpoetical burial of the dead with the sweet humanity and high Christian beauty of an interment in this cemetery . At present we behold it a commodious park , with fine ranks of oak facing the road ancl trees and shrubs in picturesque groups all over the mighty sweeps of mound where lie the dead . And here they all liethe holy oneseach with

, , his pale hands folded over the still breast that heaves no more to joy or pain . " They need not us , however much we may need them ; and yet they all silently await our coming . " The grounds are of grand proportions and slope from the apex to tho footpaths ; on these slopes the graves are dug aud the dead put to rest . There is hardly any choice of location , so pleasant are all the resting places . Already the grassy mounds show the habitations below , ancl here ancl there are marble slabs and

monumental tablets and statues , gleaming pure ancl white in the sunlight , symbolizing the spotless purity of the sleeping , souls beneath them . All gloomy ideas are banished from it ; all the old memories of death , and the trappings aud surroundings which make it an ugly and foul thing , full of terror and suggestive only of superstitious fears , are forbidden in these regions , which shall hereafter be sacred and inspired ground where the beautiful living friends may come to mourn over the departed . It was surely a high thought , caught from the archetypal Eden , where , midst the blooms and aromas of those

dazzling gardens of light , God walks with the glorious company of his angels—a high thought , we say , to surround the dead with these touching symbols of the eternal beauty . What need have we to be fed with the idea of decay and death ? It is a kind of nourishment which is to the soul what henbane and nightshade are to the body . Subversive of all healthy existence , and the joys thereof , whilst it puts the mask of corruption upon the pure and holy face of nature , and converts her

pageantry of stars , her sky pomp ancl earth pomp into a sepulchre of dry bones . Instead of the scared schoolboy—as in the days of poet Blair , who apotheosized " The Grave , " and despite thereof was himself finally eaten up of worms—instead of the scared schoolboy , " whistling aloud to keep his courage up , " as he passes the hospitable and open gates of this city of the dead , we find him sitting or lying under the sunny shadows of the treeswhich hang their branches lovinglylike human arms

, , , over some dear father or mother , brother or sister , whom he has bid farewell to for a season , having seen him depart on his long journey to the silent land . It reconciles life and death , ancl makes death to praise God as with the golden lips of some mighty organ . Already the inspirations of art , in music , architecture , painting , and sculpture , are visibly kindling their sacred fires in tho hearts of our citizens , teaching them that beauty has its own deep rewards , its incalculable uses , and that

it is the genuine manifestations of a diviue idea , behind which Gocl himself is veiled . It will not be so very remote a time before we shall have a city beautiful in all its aspects , and a people , let us pray Gocl to match it . Such a people must carry their likeness to the populous city of their dead . This cemetery shall soon grow up to its demands and its standard . Imagine what it will be in the future ! An artificial lake greets to-day the eye of the visitor the moment he enters the gates . A fine sheet of water , serpentine , clear ,, bright and flashing in the sunbeams , reflecting all the imagery of the sky and the close surrounding landscape . —The National and Freemason .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

* * All communications to be addressed to 19 , Salisbury-street Strand , London , W . C . ERRATUM . —At foot of page 69 " Priority of the Lodge of Glasgow-, St . John , " which appeared in our impression of 25 th ult ., for "Registrant Glasguensis Episcopis , " read "Registruin Episcopatus Glasguensis . " Q . T . —Certainly not , unless there is a clause in the . bye-laws authorizing the charge .