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of untainted character , we should be sorry to doubt , but we venture to think that in looking to character alone as their passport to his favour , he hardly adequately discharges his difficult and responsible duty . Are ability , activity , a warm and proved sympathy with the requirements of the great body of their Brethren , are these not also necessary to the worthily filling of high station ?

But we think that we shall not greatly err if we ascribe the supineness and obstructiveness which we deplore , to the mistaken view which many of our Grand Officers hold of their real position . They would seem to look upon themselves and upon each other as athletes who , having obtained the goal for which they strovemay

, now fold idle hands in contemplation of their own excellence , and decline for the Nepenthe of Sybarite ease all renewal of those exertions which they owe to their Order . What should we say , abroad in the outer world , of a Ministry who accepted the dignity and

emolument of office , not as incentive and instrumental to future services , but as rewards for the past ? How long would be their tenure who , supreme and aloof , looked down upon the governed , careless of their wants and of their prayers , careful but to repress with majestic veto , every struggle for relief , improvement , or reform' ! Such indignationas under these imaginary

circum-, stances , would spring from heart to lip of a free people , has for some time past been rankling in the Craft . It is our wish that a more prudent conduct may anticipate the ebullition of angry words . That the Grand Officers have ample opportunities of evincing a disposition to a more liberal policy by some

public allusion to old wrongs remedied , some little tribute of justice to those among the Brethren b y force of whose argument and opinion such good has of late been done , we gather from , the frequent able reports of metropolitan meetings in the pages of our contemporary , the Masonic Mirror . '

How many festive gatherings in the year do those columns record , where the purple musters strong , and the supper does such credit to the host ' s good management ! Where the bloom of eloquence is almost exotic in its choiceness . and the libation to the oracle is in cool loving cups . But alas ! how little does the oracle tell us that is

either ori ginal or instructive ! If it would even substitute enigma for platitude we would try to guess and be grateful . But no : ( we are glancing at the report of a Lodge of Instruction banquet presided over by a W . Bro . of considerable command of words ) it is toujours perdrix . Compliment—compliment—compliment . No

hints for future guidance , no remarks on past events . A begs the meeting to consider B as the most virtuous and accomplished of mortals . B in faltering accents ascribes Lis merits to C , at whose feet he learned to endear himself to his fellow-men . We are but children with some great people playing at shuttlecock over our

heads . How deftly flies the winged eulogium from one to the other ! Go on with your own game , little folks ; the big ones will not condescend to heed you . But seriously , we ask our readers , are the Grand

Officers doing their duty ? Nay , we put it to the candour of those Brethren themselves , are they not conscious of short-comings ! By all means let them mix with their Brethren at Lodge Meetings . We grudge them not their high seat at the banquet . We are not all so simple-minded as the Augustan bard , who despised the gauds of Persia , and

sought not the late rose to crown bis feast . We know how a Grand Officer decorated the humblest board , and we are g lad to welcome him among us . But we have a right to ask him both in his visits to us and in his place in Grand Lodge , to evince a little more knowledge of , a little more interest inthe politics and prospects of the

, Craft . We ask him to encourage , not to stifle aspirations after improvement . And , in asking this , we but require him to show that lie appreciates the duties of his position , and deserves its honours .

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N'O subject has occupied so large a share of public attention during the last few years as that of education . No question has been so fully discussed , so thoroughly ventilated . Statesmen of various degrees of eminence—politicians of . all parties—magistrates- —¦ philanthropists—churchmen—dissenters—men of all

classes and all shades of opinion , have alike contributed something towards forcing a sense of its importance on the mind oi the nation , and evoking a due appreciation of its value . Within the walls of Parliament , from platform and pulpit , at meetings of councils , vestries , and committeeseducation has been made a leading

, topic . Our ancient seats of learning have adapted themselves to meet the requirements of the age , and have even published schemes having for their object the extension of the advantages of education to those not immediately within their pale . Competitive examinations have supplanted nepotism and patronage , and the

very dregs of the population , those unhappy children , who , by their habits and manners , appeared to claim affinity with the mire and dirt of our great cities , have been to some extent brought within the influence of the charmed circle , and made to feel that the " ragged school" has associated with it attractions superior to the alley and the gutter .

Doubtless this is very delightful , and to the humanitarian and the lover of progress , eminently consolatory ; and yet there may be something to be said on the other side of the question . It has been remarked , and we believe truly , that there never was an advantage without a disadvantage ; and it

must never be lost si g ht of that amidst the universal admission of the desirability of a more general diffusion of the blessing of education , there exists the greatest diversity of opinion as to the means to be adopted , and the machinery to be employed . There is one danger , alsoearnestly to be avoidedthat of over-education .

, , The main object to be kept in view is the proper adaptation of means to an end . In this country society is necessarily in a great measure mixed . Our universities and public institutions comprise members of various