Grand Lodge Of Mark Masters Of England And Wales,

I therefore beg that you will not accuse us of collecting you under false pretence in any shape or way . You have given us your support , your kind encouragement . On behalf of onr Board of Stewards , our sincere trust is that you will have seen enough to give us cause to congratulate ourselves this evening , that every one hero will make a point of coming , not here , but in another lace next where larger accommodation is

p year , pro vided , and bringing more friends than you have brought this evening , so contribute to a still larger success than wo have achieved to-night . This concluded the prrceedings of the evening , and a more agreeable or better arranged festival it has not been our good fortune to assist at , and the Stewards deserved great credit for the " manner in which the whole affair was conducted ;

indeed , tbe only thing that could have been desired was a little more room for the comfort of the ladies who graced the dinner with their presence , and who thereby added so much to the real enjoyment of the evening .

Literature, Science, Music, Drama, And The Fine Arts.

LITERATURE , SCIENCE , MUSIC , DRAMA , AND THE FINE ARTS .

Our brother , Hepwortk Dixon , on leaving the toils of his twenty years' labour at the Athena , um , proceeds on a preliminary visit to [ Russia , where he will remain till near the end of the year . Passing first to Archangel , he will go through St . Petersburg !! and Moscow to the south , and thence to Georgia and

Caucasus . With the view of better accomplishing the literary purposes of bis mission , he has laid tbe foundation of a knowledge of Russian . It is expected we shall obtain from his pen a copious examination of the social system of Eussia . Our brother , E . B . Eastwiek , M . P ., C . P ., has started on a financial mission to Venezuela . On a

previous occasion lie collected the material for a work on Venezuela and some contributions to All the Year Bound . Mr . T . W . Robertson is writing a melodrama , founded upon the trials and troubles of Risk Allah Bey . A new prima donna , Mdlle . Mathilde Sessi , has been attracting considerable attention in Paris .

Mr . Charles Dickens is improving in health , and will give his final public readings early next year . Mr . Gladstone has placed Professor Robertson , of the Roman Catholic University , on the Literary Pension List , for £ 100 a-year . It is said that either Dr . Doran or Mr . J . C . Jeaffreson will succeed Mr . Hepworth Dixon in the editorial chair

of the Athenaeum . The Orchestra mentions that Mr . Byron will supply the Gaiety Theatre with a new drama for Christinas , when Mr . Toole will appear at this house . Mr . Holman Hunt , who has been for some time resident in [ Florence , has just left Italy for the Holy Land ,

the scene of some of his greatest pictorial achievements . Lord Lytton has opened the twenty-sixth annual congress of the British Archasologieal Society at St . Alban ' s with an address , in which he referred at considerable length to the antiquities of Hertfordshire . _ A curious letter from Sir Walter Scott to Mr . Slade , disclaiming the authorship of the Waverley Novels , and

dated 1821 , has been bequeathed to the trustees of the British Museum by the late Mr . Felix Slade . The management of the Gaiety Theatre have started a weekly journal , called The Gaiety Neiosletter and Magazine , in which visitors to that house may see the future arrangements intended for their amusement . The Prince of Wales has presented to the Exeter

Museum a mummy and coffin , discovered during the progress of some excavations recently made in Egypt , by command ofhis Royal Highness , with the sanction ofthe Viceroy of ( E gypt .

Literature, Science, Music, Drama, And The Fine Arts.

The Senatns of tbe University of Edinburgh have conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Sir Roderick Murchison . The Olympic Theatre is opened for a short summer season , under the direction of Miss Constance Roden , a vocalist well known in Clifton , for the production of opera , farce , and burlesque . Mr . W . F .

Taylor ( brother of Miss Emily Taylor , of Clifton ) is the musical director . A Literary Art Union has been established , the prizes to consist of valuable and handsomely-bound volumes . It is stated to be tbe only art union of the kind , and the sanction of the Privy Council to it has been obtained . The prizes are to range from one guinea to fiftyand

, tbe drawing is fixed to take place at the Whittington Club on the 27 th October . Active preparations are being made at Worcester for the 146 th meeting of the three choirs of Worcester , Gloucester , and Hereford , which . commences on the 6 th of September . The following artistes have already been engaged :- —Mdlle . Titiens , Madame

Lemmens-Sherrington , Madame Trebelli-Bet . ini , Madame Patey , Siguor Bettini , Mr . Vernon Rigby , Mr . Sims Reeves , Mr . Santley , and Mr . Lewis Thomas . The Fall Mcdl Gazette winds up a long and exhaustive criticicism of Mr . Gladstone ' s new book , " Juventus Mundi , " thus : — " In short , we find Mr . Gladstone ' s book , speaking ¦ generally , in spite of tbe great capacity

and the severe accuracy which it displays within a certain range , debilitated and poverty-stricken , nevertheless , by the narrowness of its method and by what we cannot help calling the perversity of some of its premises . As a contribution to European scholarship , we cannot think that it will take very high rank . " An international exhibition of select works of fine and industrial art and scientific inventions is to be held in

1871 . A circular has been issued stating that "her Majesty ' s Commissioners for the exhibition of 1851 announce that the first of a series of annual international exhibitions of selected works of fine and industrial art ; will be opened in London , at South Kensington , on Monday , the 1 st May 1871 . The exhibitions will take place in permanent buildings , about to be erected ,

adjoining the arcades of the Royal Horticultural Gardens . The productions of all nations will be admitted , subject to obtaining the certificate of competent judges that they are of sufficient excellence to be worthy of exhibition . " A painless knife , " invented by Dr . W . B . Richardson , was amongst the surgical instruments exhibited at the

British Medical Association at Leeds last week . By mechanism in tbe handle the knife is made to revolve twenty-five revolutions per second , and by this means Dr . Richardson , we are told , was able to cut the ears of a rabbit into strips while tbe creature was contentedly munching green-food in entire ignorance of the way in which it was injured . The rapidity of the infliction is

so great that the sensation of pain has not time to reach the seat of consciousness . Most English people have a natural horror of snakes , but these unfortunate reptiles have at last found a champion in Mr . Highford Burr , whose park at Aldermaston , near Reading , one of the most beautiful bits of spacious woodland and deer frequented near

scenery London , now offers an asylum to English snakes . Land and Water truly observes tbatthisis quite a novel experiment in practical natural history , and Mr . Burr will doubtless ascertain many curious and interesting points in the natural history of snakes which are allowed to have their own way .

Masonic Lifeboat Fund.

MASONIC LIFEBOAT FUND .

Further subscriptions received : —Collected by Bro . Tuohy , Portsea , £ 2 2 s .