Madame De Sevigne.*

Some of us may like to have recalled to mind here General Fitzpatrick ' s lines on the beautiful Duchess of . Devonshire : — Qnis Dea sublhni vehitur per compita curru ? An Juno , an Pallas , an Venus ipsa redit ? Si genus aspicies Juno est , si dicta Minerva , Si spectes oculos , Mater amoris erit .

What goddess is this we see borne by ? Does Jnno , or Pallas , or Yenus return from the skies ? The voice is like Juno , the words are Minerva's , But the Mother of Love shines forth in those eyes . But , as we know , Madame de Sevigne ' s life was given up to her children and friends , and especially her daughter , whom she liked to term the " prettiest irl in France" who became the charming Madame de Grignanand to whom

g , , most of her letters were addressed . Her happy letters from the Hotel Carnavalet , Paris , and from " Les Rochers , " Brittany , are indeed most interesting and touching in themselves , and may be well termed " classic , " in that they preserve amid the graces of an unequalled style and charm of expression , both exquisite and marvellous , all the truer and better feelings of the human mind and heart . So life-like are they that we almost fancy we

can see her penning them m her little boudoir m the Hotel Carnavalet , or behold her waiting for the letter carrier at a turn of the road near " Les Rochers . " Some have made a pilgrimage to spots thus clear to tender memory and noble sentiment , the aspirations of duty , the reality of sympathy , and we think they are right . We will only add that no one can form a just idea of Madame cle Sevigne who does not read her letters in the original Frenchthough in truth unequalled

, in any language for perfection of style ancl verity of sentiment , as well as the warmth and life of undimmed and undying affection . Madame de Sevigne , after a most real and true existence , died in 1696 . The last letter is dated March 29 th , and on April 10 th she went to her rest , suffering from an attack of small-pox , then mostly a fatal disorder , superinduced apparently by careful but exhausting watching at the bedside of her daughter Madame

de Grignan . Happily for the world and for us all her letters have been preserved , and thus most effectively , in all the reality , truthfulness , and gracefulness of intellect and affection , still set before us her own noble , high-minded character , and can still affect and interest , ancl delight and edify another and a grateful generation .

A Masonic Sonnet.

A MASONIC SONNET .

BY BEO . GEORGE MAEKHAM TWEDDELL . BROTHERS , if we would all be Masons true-In public ancl in private strove to be Faithful unto the principles which we Are taught in our tyled lodges , they would imbue Our minds with all which tends to elevate

The man above the brute . A phalanx firm , Standing unmoved by every raging storm Of worldly cares or wickedness , our state Would then be one of peace with God and man . All that is pure and lovely would be ours , And we should feel within us nobler powers

Of thought and action than we ever can So much as dream of , marching to our graves Mere slothful , sinful , worldly-minded slaves . Rose Gottacje , Stokesley .