Freemasonry In France.

These new lucubrations augmented still more the number of titles and grades , and as if human ambition was insatiable , there have already been invented rites to the number of 90 degrees , to 95 , and even to 120 . Words and signs have

been perverted as a natural consequence of things . We have seen the Sacred Word of the Rose Croix thus translated : " Emperor Napoleon , King of Italy . " Is this not , as has been already observed , a pure waste of our force , our money , and our

influence . In our next number we shall enter upon the second part , which treats upon the absolute right of the Grand Orient of France to the government of all the degrees , and especially of the Ancient and accepted Scottish Rite .

Poets' Corner*

POETS' CORNER *

WHAT a host of glorious recollections crowd upon us as we utter those words ! How often in long past days , when our heart was warmed by the glow of youthful enthusiasm , have we looked upon those words and longed with more eagerness than we can well express to visit the place which

so vividly haunted our imagination ! This was a pilgrimage we had resolved to make , a shrine we were determined to visit ; and when the hour at last came , when our dreams and our desires were fulfilled , we

remember well with what chastened feelings of awe and reverence we stood amongst those eloquent monuments , and fancied ourself in the presence of the illustrious dead , whose memorials surround us here on every hand .

_ We love to spend a meditative hour in this sacred place . Our being seems to be enlarged and ennobled , and the spirit seems to reach far back into the ages , and to bring within the scope of its experience all the years that have been brightened by the genius of those whose memories are here preserved . This is our British poetical Valhalla . The brightest stars that have

Poets' Corner*

risen m our intellectual firmament are here grouped into a constellation of matchle-s splendour . The past is united to the present , and the ashes of him who raised the sweet strains of English song five hundred years ago are only separated by a few

feet from the grave of him whose prose writings are idylls of the heart , and whose magic hand influenced at will the springs of laughter and the fountain of tears . The walls , the graven stones , and the mouldering dust beneath them , become

inspired with life to the enthusiastic mind , and here we deeply feel that there is an immortality in man , for Chaucer is not a memory but a reality , whose sr > irit has lived , aud still lives , in the world , making it wiser , better , and happier , though centuries have passed since the clay that once enwrapped it returned to its ori g inal mould .

But we are not here to-day to indulge m such reflections as these . We have asked you to come with us to spend a leisure hour in lightly examining the many interesting objects in our Poets' Corner . Well , we will proceed . Entering the Abbey once more by the

" Beautiful Porch , " we proceed strai ght across the building , and enter the south transept . This transept is what is called Poets' Corner . Here upon our right is the mouument of David Garrickthe famous actor , who

, was the friend of Dr . Johnson , Goldsmith , Burke , Reynolds , the great painter , aud many other illustrious men . It is a very strikino- work .

A little further on we see the monument of a very learned man , of whom you will learn more , we hope , when you are somewhat older . This was William Camden , the learned historian , and the great recorder of English antiquities . , Any one who has read much of English history must be familiar with his name at least .

In front of Camden ' s monument lie the remains of William Gifford , the distinguished satirist , critic , and editor of the Quarterly Review . This great man was the son of poor parents , and had many difficulties to encounter in his youthful days , and the story of his life affords a very cheering example to those who desire to improve their standing in life . 11 B was apprenticed to the sea in his youth ; but dis-