Freemasonry In China.

Japan ( until , perhaps , iu coming years , that country may so far progress as to call for a Proviucial Grand Lodge for its exclusive government ) would possess an opportunity of throAving open to an immense field the uses and advantages

of a participation iu Freemasonry , Avhich must be denied so long as the provincial head is placed in its present remote position . Extending from Shanghai to the north to the ports' of Chefoo , Tientsin , and Newchwaug ; to the east embracing

Japan , with the joorts of Yokohama and Nagasaki ; to the Avest , covering the ports now open on the Yano-fcze River of Hankow , Kewkiauo ,- and Chinkiang ; and , to the south , that of Ningpo , —a vast field is opened of which Shanghai has

become , aud must always necessarily be , the centre of commerce , navigation , disposition of production , and population . This , therefore , is the point whence could be exercised with most influence and benefit the prerogative and authority

of a Provincial Grand Lodge . We hear that a petition is shoi'tly to be for-Avarded to the Grand Master for the establishment

of a lodge m Japan ; and Ave are further informed that the many desires expressed for warrants at the Yangtze ports and the north would lead to a -rapid increase of the number in China should a centralising influence be established , such as can

onlybe exerted from a place like Shanghai , Avhence , easy of access , an effectual regime could be instituted .

The brethren AVIIO advocate the establishment of the new Provincial Grand Lodge mainly rest their case on the following ; oTonnds : — 1 . The great distance of Hong Kong- from Shanghai effectually precludes brethren at the

'latter port participating iu the advantages of Provincial government . 2 . There are in Hong Kong two , and in Shanghai three English lodges . 8 . There is but one solitary instance on record

of a Shanghai Mason being appointed a Provincial Grand Lodge Officer . 4 . Shanghai is , therefore , Avholly unrepresented , and Provincial Grand Lodge is too far off to he of use in granting dispensations .

5 . That a second Provincial Grand Lode-e Avould result in a general diffusion of Masonry throughout the various parts ofthe Chinese Empire Avhere foreigners are located . "We have been favoured with the name of a

brother AVIIO has been suggested for the office of

Freemasonry In China.

— ~ ¦ - — '" ¦¦ ...- ¦¦¦ - - a > . Provincial Grand Master ; but , though Ave know how efficient and enthusiastic a Mason he is , Ave refrain from publishing it , the appointment beingone of those prerogatives of the Grand Master

with the exercise of which Ave feel it would be highly improper for us to interfere . We trust , however , the peculiar position in which the brethren in Shanghai and its neighbourhood are placed , will have its due wei ght Avith the

Most Worshipful Grand Master in determining the question Avhether it is desirable , as we believe it to be , to establish a second Provincial Grand Lodge in China .

Algernon, Duke Of Northumberland, K.G., In Connection With Art.

ALGERNON , DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND , K . G ., IN CONNECTION WITH ART .

In the early dawn , on Sunday morning , the 12 th inst ., as the snow was falling falteringly on Alnwick Castle , and strewing deep silence in itscourts and in the streets of the town without , Algernon Percy , fourth Duke of Northumberland , departed tin ' s life . One of England's mightiest

nobles , —with a lineage authenticated through dim centuries , till it is found springing from Charlemagne , and through him from Caroloman , major domus to Clotharius , King of France , —various duties devolved upon him ; but it is not our province to describe the several phases of his life :

our limits confine us to an indication of his influence upon architecture and the arts generally . Born in 1792 , the late Duke lived through grand eras in our history , serving his country as a midshipman whilst la graiulc avmee was parading Europe , and as an admiral in the years that the third Napoleon has ruled France , while he has seen evolutions as startling in the world of art and letters .

Early in the present century tlie subject of cur notice , then Lord Pruclhoe , devoted himself to the study of Egyptian antiquities on the banks of the Nile ; and , as tho readers of Sir Gardner Wilkinson ' s Avorks on Ancient Egypt may remember , made several interesting disco \ eries . So popular

did this branch of archaeology become under his auspices and those of his collaborateurs , that a museum of antiquities that Avas Avithout a mummy or sarcophagus was considered as devoid of interest as a garden Avithout peas or cereals raised from seed found on Egyptian tombs . One of the

toAvers on the line of circumvallation of Alnwick Castle contains the valuable collection of ancient Egyptian relics amassed by him at this time , and these it was ever his pleasure to show to guests . Subsequently the traces left by the ancient Romans of their occupation of this country had an especial

interest for him . In 1852 , the Archaeological Institute held their annual meeting at Newcastle-