Freemasonry In Germany.

appropriates to himself the Avholesome fruits that it has matured . Therefore the Order speaketh a language that may be reproduced in every language and every idiom of the time ; it is the language of symbols and ceremonies ; and , if

expressed in this language , its doctrines will apply to all circumstances of human life that may be changed and reformed by the stream of Time . " On the 11 th of August Bro . Johannes di Dio , Councillor of Domains in the Royal Treasury

Department , died at the age of sixty-four years . In him the Government loses a faithful , assiduous , and conscientious servant . The Si ) enersehe Zeitung adds , that his demise Avill also be deeply felt by the Grosslandesloge of Germany , over which

he had presided for thirty years past , with much zea-land ability . The deceased enjoyed , throughout the German and foreign lodges , a Avell-deserved respect and consideration .

Summer Rambles.—Down The Medway.

SUMMER RAMBLES . —DOWN THE MEDWAY .

Looking doAvn from the old battlements of Rochester Castle—regal domain of the Conqueror , usefully appropriated by the noble Earl , its present owner , to picnic jjarties , at the charge of threepence per head—a singular picture , all but unique in England , presents itself to the A'I OAV . At our

feet lies an ancient cathedral , covered AA'ith the dust of eight centuries ; there lie quaint , high-gabled houses ofthe time of Queen Elizabeth ; there stands , close to them , a monstrous ugly railway bridge of the time of Queen Victoria ; then there is a sixteenth-century almshouse for poor travellersin

, Avhich , as clearly inscribed over . the gate , " neither rogues nor proctors are admitted ; " and not far from it there is a grand modern joint-stock hotel , Avhich , though " limited , " admits everybody—even proctors . The juxtaposition of all these things ,

old ancl HCAV , is odd enough , but it does not complete the curious picture outspread at the foot of Rochester Castle . The most striking portion of it is the wide river'which creeps , in many tortuous windings , among windmill-clad hills , ancl bears on its back a number of extraordinary-looking objects

—big ships , without masts and sails , flags and streamers ; weird and ominous in appearance , like dead whales cast ashore by the sea . Far as eye can reach to the east , Avhere land and sea are mingling together , there tlie dead whaleS are lying , closely packedthe spray of the Avaves chasing

, around them , and the white- mist floating over their heads . How did they get there , the monsters of the deep ? The answer is prosaic—the big creatures , queer-looking as fchey may bo , are real ships , duly entered in the NaA'y Lists as " Her Majesty ' s fleet in reserve . "

A trip doAvn the MedAvay to inspect this phantom fleet is a matter easily accomplished , and well worth the trouble . At the foot of Rochester Bridge Ave step on board a small steamer , not very clean nor elegant , yet on the whole not much worse as regards dirt than the sister vessels of the metropolis .

The little boat called the City of Rochester is crowded with a very miscellaneous company of labourers , fishwomen , young recruits , navvies , English sailors , and Irish hop-pickers , through which , Avith some difficulty , Ave elbow our way to the stern , reserved to such select travellers as can

command an extra sixpence . Even here the compound smell of tar and onions , fish , tobacco , and stale beer , is somewhat strong ; but once fairly started , with a good breeze in front ' , the voyage is pleasant enough . A feAV minutes' ride brings us to Chatham pierright in front of an immense

, mass of stone and masonry , on the top of AA'hich little red-coated soldiers are seen stalking up and down , like distant figures in a pantomime . The sight is rather picturesque , but carries with it a train of contemplation . We feel very much in the mood of a friend in AA'hose company Ave once went

to Shoeburyness to see the famous gunnery practice . He AA'as delighted wifch the spectacle till , all on a sudden , he bethought himself that the play of the big guns must be expensive , and inquiring upon the subject , he discovered to his horror that every shot Avas equal in cost to the amount of his

income-tax . " There they blaze away viy incometax . " The idea Avas ovei-Avhelmiug , and spoilt what pleasure there AA'as in the thunders of Big-Will and his brothers and sisters . We dare not

imagine the sorrows of our sensitive income-taxpaying friend in visiting Chatham . What mortal man can reckon up the millions that are sunk in this endless maze of fortifications , toAvers , battlements , piers , barracks , ditches , scarps , and counterscarps ? What mortal man , even be he the

Chancellor of the Exchequer , can calculate the millions more that Avill be sunk here into the bottomless mud of the Medway ? And all because one fine morning , nigh two hundred years ago , Mynheer de Ruyter and friends came sailing * up the river and burnt some of Old England ' s Avooclen

walls . The time of Avooden Avails is gone long ago , and so is that of Flying Dutchmen ; yet do we keep on sinking stones in the Medway till the mass has outgrown in size the pyramids of Egypt . Our City of Rochester has scarcely quitted the pier afc Chatham when we find ourselves right in the midst ofthe first detachment of dead

Avhalesthat is , her Majesty s fleet in reserve . An odd fleet ifc is . Sails aud masts , ropes , chains , spars , and the Avhole paraphernalia of outAvard tackle AY Inch make a ship a ship , luiA r e been taken from these vessels of her Majesty's navy , and there they lie now , bereft alike of useful wings and ornamental

feathers , like creatures dying or already dead . They lie in tAvos and threes together , strewn , here and there—some in the midst of the river , others