Masonic Rambles.

MASONIC RAMBLES .

( From our oien , Correspondent . ) " If there ' s a hole in a' your coats , I rod yc teat it . A ehiel ' s amanir ye t . ikin' notes , An' laith he'll preiit it . " Parliament being up and whitebait down , leaving the murky chambers , I escaped from smoke ancl turmoil to

breathe the invigorating air of the provinces—the wig and gown meanwhile having the benefit of a remount until a future clay . And , as Cheltenham is so celebrated for invalids , my first visit was to that locality , the more especially that I might rc-visit the elegant Hall I . had known in former years , and wherein , iuteralia , two Masonic lodges hold their regular meetings .

You may easily fancy my surprise when I found so many of the brethren of former days had discontinued their attendance , and hence that instruction to the brethren in the inferior degrees it was their bounden duty to afford . One had not attended since 18-1-3 , " for . so soon as the members arrived at tho dignity of P . M ., their Masonic professions vanished into thin air , no more to lie seen , and

he , therefore , preferred practising Masonic principles in private , which was a great consolation to him . " Another hacl not seen the Light for twelve years—another for a longer period . Another had discontinued , as lie could not attend the banquets . Another who , after being a Warden , was not elected as W . M ., hence discontent was engendered , and he quietly retired- with his blushing

honours to make way for somo more fortunate officer . Another fancied that "Young England" was too fast for the move aged brethren , and that the youth were prevented , by their glittering apparel , from beholding the more particular portion ofthe duty each of them had to perform . I coulcl hear of but two hrethren that suhscrihed , to the

FREEMASONS MAGAZINE ; but I met with two strangers anxious for its perusal , and one of them was fortunate enough to obtain a glimpse of it through the kindness of a well-known brother of the Foundation Lodge . Neither tho Foundation Lodge nor the Union Lodge subscribe to it . How so many brethren as belong to tho two lodges , and the Chapter , which are still working at Cheltenham , can exist

without subscribing to , and hence are ignorant of , your valuable periodical , I cannot imagine . They are not performing their duty to you , and I trust you will take the earliest opportunity of rousing them from their lair . Give them some of their No . -i at tite Mon 1 pcl . it' }; wishing them a safe deliverance , and a quick return fo their native country , should they desire it , instilling into their minds the support

of so useful a publication , one which confers so many benefits on the Craft , and ivhich lias conveyed to the minds of many more Masonic practical jurisprudence and information than can be found in any other work published by the consent of the M . W . the G . M . of England , & c . Invitation was . pressing ]} - preferred to me , a stranger , but they had no work in hand : they offered to meet and call the J . W . to his important duties in the bannuetting ball ,

¦ vAicrc tilings something that ought never io he seen icilhin a masonic lutll . I venture to call the attention of the W . M . ofthe two lodges and Chapter to an alteration required at the toil of the stairs—the construction , by a cloor leading from the robing , etc ., room , diagonally of a passage into the lodge-room , ancl thus prevent the necessity of candidates aud visitors remaining on the open staircase , whilst , waiting

admission . The cost would be small , easily practicable , the benefit great . ' . Che present arrangement is highly objectionable . I trust those . specimens , where the skilful artist by his pencil lias with accuracy ancl precision defined the limits and proportions of their several parts , near the pedestals , are only to be seen , not used . TJie sooner tbey are removed the better . Our most excellent , and worthy ' Brother , the

D . Prov . Cf . M ., cannot be aware of them . On his return from Norway , his attention shall be called to them . Nine miles further is the ancient borough of Tewkesburv , with a population and neighbourhood so eli gible , that ' itsurprised mc to find no lodge had ever been field there . I . have reason to suppose the want will be supplied very shortly by a brother well known to you , he considering it to be his duty to put into exercise the Pth Antient Law .

The Two Boyhoods.*

THE TWO BOYHOODS . *

GIORGIOXE AXD TURNER . IIORX half-way between the mountains and tho sea—that young George of Castlefranco—of the Brave Castle : —Stout George they callecl him , George of Georges , so goodly a hoy he was—Giorgione . Have you ever thought what a world his eyes opened on—fair , searching eyes of youth ? What a world of mighty life , from those mountain roots to the shore ;—of loveliest life , when he went clown

yet so young , to the marble city—and became himself as a fiery heart to it ? A city of marble , did I say—nay , rather a golden city , paved with emerald . For truly , every pinnacle ancl turret glanced or glowed , overlaid with gold , or bossed witli jasper . Beneath , the unsullied sea drew in deep breathing , to and fro , its eddies of green wave . Deep-hearted , majestic , terrible as the sea—the men of Venice moved in sway of power and war ; pure as her pillars of alabaster

, stood her mothers and maidens ; from loot to brow , all noble , walked hev knights ; tho low bronzed gleaming of sea-rusted armouishot angrily under their blood-red mantle-folds . Fearless , faithful , patient , impenetrable , implacable—every word a fate—sate , her senate . In hope and honour , lulled by flowing of wave around their isles of sacred sand , each with his name written and the cross graved at his sidelay her dead . A wonderful iece of world ..

, p . Rather , itself a world . It lay along the face of tho waters , no larger ,, as its captains saw it from their masts at evening , than a bar of sunset that could not pass away ; but for its power , it must have , seemed to them as if they were sailing in the expanse of heaven , and this a great planet , whose orient edge widened through ether . A world from which ignoble care and petty thoughts were banished , with all the common and poor elements of life . No foulnessnor

, tuinult , in those tremulous streets , that filled or fell , beneath the moon ; hut rippled music of majestic change , or thrilling silence . No weak walls could rise above them ; no low-roofed cottage , nor straw-built shed . Only the strength as of roclc , and the ( unshed setting of stones most precious . And around them , far as tho eye could reach , still tho soft moving of stainless waters , proudly pure ; as not the Hower , so neither the thorn nor the thistle , could grow

in the glancing iields . Ethereal strength of Alps , dream-like , vanishing in high procession beyond the 'forcellon shore ; blue islands of Pailium hills , poised in the golden west . Above , free winds anil fiery clouds ranging at their will—brightness out ofthe north , and

balm from the south , and the stars of the evening and morning clear in the limitless light of arched heavens and circling sea . Such was Gioi-gione's school—such Titian's home . Near the south-west corner of Covent Garden , a square brick pit or well is formed hy a close-set block of houses , to tho back windows of which it admits a few rays of light . Access to the bottom of it is obtained out of IMaiden-lano , through a low archway and an iron gate ; and if you stand long enough under the archway to

accustom your eyes to the darkness , you may see on the left hand a narrow door , which formerly gave quiet access to a . respectable barber ' s shop , of which the front window , looking into Maiden-lane , is still extant , filled , in this year ( 1 SG 0 ) , with a row of bottles , connected , in some defunct manner , with a brewer's business . A more fashionable neighbourhood , it is said , eighty years ago than nownever certainly , a cheerful one—wherein a hoy being horn on St .

George ' s day , 1775 , began soon after to take interest in the world of Covent Garden , and put to service such spectacles of life as it afforded . No knights to he seen there , nor , I imagine , many beautiful ladies ; their costume at least disadvantageous , depending much on incumbency of hat and feather , and short waists ; the majesty of men founded similarly on shoebiickh's and wi impressive h

gs;— enoug when 'Reynolds will do his best for it ; but not suggestive of much ideal delight to a hoy . " Hello ovile dov' io dormii agnello , " of things beautiful , besides men and women , dusty sunbeams up or down the streets on summer mornings ; deep-furrowed cabbage-leaves at the greengrocer ' s ; magnificence of oranges in wheelbarrows round corner ; ancl Thames' shore within three minutes' race .

I None of these things very glorious ; the best , liowever , that England , it seems , was then able to provide for a boy of gift ; who , such as they are , loves them—never , indeed , forgets them . The short waists modify to tqe last his visions of Greek ideal . His foregrounds had always u succulent cluster or two of greengrocery at the corners . Enchanted oranges gleam in Covent Gardens of the Hesperides ; and great ships go to pieces in order to scatter chests

of them on the waves . That mist of early sunbeams in the London dawn crosses , many and many a time , the clearness of Italian air ; and by Thames - ' shore , with its standard barges and glidings of red sail , dearer to us than Lucerne lake or Venetian lagoon , —by Thames' shore we will die .