Notes On A Visit To Saida In July, 1869.

Emperor Hadrian . The base is Attic , ond the capita l Corinthian . On the bed of the latter is the mason ' s sign or name in , Greek , ineisad , but it is difficult to make it out at present . I have a squeeze of it . It is interesting to remark that there are incised marks on the walls of the city , showing where the aqueduct runs , in the shape of a round 0 : but this mark must be

quite modern . M . Durighello is going to preserve either squeezes of , or the stone themselves , which he finds in future in the ground bearing Phoenician marks . He took me to see capital of a column lying in a mosque , of which he has the fellow in his possession . I forward you a sketch of it ; it appears to be somewhat similar to the capital to

one of the monoliths at the Golden Gate , Jerusalem . I am able to send you about twenty of the characters from the sea-castle walls , reduced from squeeze , and about twenty more which I sketched . On arriving at Beyrout I found that tho Consul-General , Mr . Eldridge , who was away on business , had very kindly made some preliminary arrangements about a house in the mountains , and I had no difficulty in securing it at once .

A Fearful Rite At Rome.

A FEARFUL RITE AT ROME .

Tbe following amusing extract from our facetious contemporary , Punch , appears in the issue of to-day : — "A FEARFUL RITE AT ROME . " Sir , —You know that , about the date of the suppression of the Knights Templars , strange rumours were current of indefinite horrors supposed to be perpetrated in the secret chapters held by that mysterious

brotherhood . Read this telegram from Eome , dated March 22 , being the day after that whereon the Pope had held a secret consistory : — . Among- the prelates preconcised in the consistory yesterday were the Archbishops of Armagh anel Toronto , the Bishops of Savannah , Armidale , and St . Augustine . "Preconcised ! That word doubtless means something

as dreadful as any one of the ordeals which the members ofthe Order whose latest Grand Master was Jacques de Molai had to undergo at their dark seances . The Hol y Father may excommunicate Freemasons , because they refuse to confess their secret , but they , how closely soever they may be tiled in their lodges , are none of them preconcised . Sir , I should like tojhave the person

of one of these preconised prelates examined soon after he had undergone the operation of being so served . I warrant yon he would be found to bear a mark worse than that of the actual cautery merel , not to say red-hot poker . What mark ? Sir , the mark of the Animal . To be preconcised means to be marked with that . Ask Dr . Gumming if it doesn't , unless you are content to take

the word of "Yours truly , " Peterborough , All Sages' Day . " " G . H . W .

GJUKD Master Tucker , of the Grand Lodge of Texas , forbids the brethren of that jurisdiction to recognize or hold communication with any Mason who hails from what was formerly Upper and Lower Canada , now known as the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec , in the Dominion of Canada , unless they are of obedience to the Grand Lodge of Canada .

THE lodges in Airdrie were recentl y inspected by the D . Prov . G . M . of the Middle-Ward of Lanarkshire . After the books of Lodge St . John , No- 166 , and Lodge New Monkland , No . 88 , had been duly inspected , the brethren sat down to an excellent supper in the Town Hall , under the presidency of the Deputy P . G . A most happy and harmonious evening was spent in true Masonic style .

Poetry.

Poetry .

I HAVE NO MOTHER NOAV . Oh ! "grief of griefs , Ah ! joyless day , Tears in abundance flow ; The loving hoart has coased to beat , — I have no mother now . Tho void thus -made cannot be filled Upon the world below .

AA oeping I soe the vacant chair—I have no mother now . Unselfish is a mother ' s lovo , . Devoid of art ancl show ; Experience has taught mo this—I have no mother now . I miss tho woleomomiss tho smilo

, , Griof sits upon my brow , As I recall tho past to mincl—I have no mother now . In pleasure , pain , in woal , in woo , Tho same staunch friond wert thou , My mother , kind , anxious , sincere—I havo no mother now .

But why repine at God ' s docreo ; Thoso who in sorrow sow , Trusting in God , may solaco find , Though they ' ve no mother now . Thon lot us hope and ask of God , Ho will on each bestow A seat in boavon ; thon may I say-Hero ' s my mother now . Tredegar . R . BOND ,

Myddelton Hall, Islington.

MYDDELTON HALL , ISLINGTON .

On Tuesday night the above hall was attended by a fashionable audience to witness Bro . Farenibarson ' s entertainment entitled , "Reminiscences of the Antipodes . " Bro . Farfjuharsoii is a gentleman who has visited the colonies , and is very happy in depicting the humorous side of character . The descriptive part of the entertainment was interspersed with appropriate songs and recitations , some of which gained much applause from the audience . Perhaps ho was most successful in a traveslie on

Blue Beard , and a California !! Election Speech , which latter was delivered in the high-flown language peculiar to candidates for the American Legislature . Bro . Farcpiharson laboured well for the success of his entertainment , and deserved the applause which followed its close .

THE POPE A DESCENDANT OE A JEW . —A correspondent of a continental contemporary writes as follows : — " I have to make a communication which will undoubtedly prove most interesting to the readers of your paper—¦ viz ., that a man thoroughly acquainted with Roman and Italian families has incontestable proofs that the relatives of the present PontiffPope Pius IX . the famil

, , y of the Mastai , are of Jewish descent . The Mastais derive their title of nobility from one Ferretti , who belonged to a family of the ancienne noblesse , but had married in Sinigaglia a baptised Jew , of the name of Mastai . Already 24 years ago when Count Mastai Ferretti ascended the Papal throne as Pins IX ., the Marquis Consolini published a genealogical hletin

pamp , which he demonstrated the Jewish origin of the Mastai . The writer was cited before tho tribunal , and his writing burnt . A deadly feud sprang up between the Mastai and Consolini families . One of tbe Consolinis fell by the hand of one of the Mastai , such occurrences not being very rare in Sinigaglia . The whole story would have been well nigh forgotten , had not a Roman

publisher discovered , among a heap of dust-covered volumes , a copy that had escaped detection , published it anew , and substantiated the truth of its statement by fresh proof . The Correspondanie de Borne tries to question tho authenticity of the statement but without success . — Jewisli Chronicle .