Visit To Stratford-On-Avon And Its Vicinage.

ares , if we like , I am one of those who have ever felt convinced that the hulk of the people in all ages will ever have to " labour trul y for their own living " Avith their own hands ; and that , instead of looking with contempt upon bodily labour , as something which every wise man ought to shunit were wiser and better to so

, ameliorate the condition of the working classes that the curse should be transformed into a blessing , and Industry should have its fitting temples throughout the length and breadth of the land . The cleanly and even genteel appearance ol the persons engaged in the needle manufacture , as well as the houses which they inhabit ,

to my slight observation of them , was pleasing . Should I ever again be privileged to retrace my route , I hope to make myself able to speak with authority on this important question ; a subject which I take tho opportunity of alluding to here , because I feel convinced that when true Ereemasonry is faithfully and full

y carried out ( instead of the mere plaything which some would make it , lodge night after night , to the immense injury of the Royal Craft ) then will those unhol y hatreds of class against class totally disappear , and the condition of the worker be a higher one than it has hitherto been . For no two things can be more

opposed to each other than the selfishness of the world and the sublime spirit of Masonry , the true Mason indeed "is one to whom the burthened heart may pour forth its sorrows , to whom the distressed may prefer their suit , whose heart is guided by justice , and Avhose hand is extended by benevolence" —and from sirch alone can we look for any good to the human race .

My friend ' s hearty shake of the hand soon banished for the nonce any remnants of the Shaksperian reverie into which much that I had seen was calculated to fling me ; for he was in attendance on the arrival of the coach to greet me with a Worcestershire welcome . I was glad to accompany him to the house which I had

promised for years to visit : but much was changed from what I had expected to have met witli years agone . My old friend , whose merry laugh and happy smile I had hoped to have seen by his own fireside , was laid in his cold and narrow bed , his jocund tales for ever hushed in the stillness of death ; and his poetical daughter had died of

consumption ; and the only mark of respect I could show them was to stand with Ms son and Iter brother by their graves . Philip Massinger ( one of the most gifted of Shakespeare ' s dramatic contemporaries informs us

that"All studies else are but as circular lines , And death the centre where they all must meet . " It is a solemn thing , on one ' s first visit to a place where for years we have looked forward to the pleasure of grasping the warm hands of particular friends and correspondentsto find them laid under the green sod ;

, but the Master Mason of all men has been led to contemplate " our inevitable destiny , and to guide his reflections to that most interesting of human studies , the knowledge of himself ; " and he "will be careful to perforin his allotted task while it is jet day ; " and "listen to the voice of Nature , which bears witness , that even in

this perishable frame resides a vital and immortal principle , which inspires a holy confidence that the Lord of Life will enable us to trample the king of terrors beneath our feet , and lift our eyes to the bri ght Morning Star , whose rising brings peace and salvation to the faithful and obedient of the human race . " Nine o ' clock at ni ght , and the weather had completely changed . At eight we mi ght have said with the author of The Salamandrine :

"The rain drops patter on the leaves Of the topmost branches small ; The fragrance fi-orn the moisten'd grass Floats gently overall ; And tho dust omits a perfume sweet Where the dancing rain-drops fall . "

But now , as Bro . Robert Burns has it : — "Tho wind blow as 'twod blown its last ; Tho rattling show ' rs rose on the blast ; The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd , Loud , deep , and long , the thunder bellow'd , " But in the morning Apollo * drove his chariot

through a cloudless sky ; and the sweet chimes of the Sabbath bells fell pleasantly on the ear . The well-wooded country about Redditch—formerly covered with the noble Eorest of Eeckenham — was p leasant to look upon ; and whether I walked east , west , northor south of the townI was delighted with the

, , fine sylvan scenery . Redditch , though in Worcestershire , is close upon the borders of Warwickshire , to which county I am directing my pilgrimage , for well has Garrick bid the lads and lasses of Warwickshire to

"Be proud of tho charms of their county , AVkcro [ Nature has lavish'd her bounty , Where much she has given , raid some to be spar'd For the bard of all bards was a Warwickshird bard . Warwickshire bard , Never pair'd ; For the bard of all bards was a AVarwickshire bard . "

"Each shire has its different pleasures Each sliiro has its different treasures ; But to rare Warwickshire all must submit , For the wit of all wits was a Warwickshire wit ; Warwickshire wit , How he writ ! For the wit of all wits was a Warwickshire wit . "

After spending a couple of nights with my friend at Redditch , I was anxious to be off for Stratford-on-Avon , soon after breakfast on Whit Monday , having accepted an invitation from Mark Philips , Esq ., of Snitterfield , to dine with the Beecher Club that day , in the Stratford Town-hall , where , in the absence of our Bro . Lord Leigh ,

he was to take the chair . My friend therefore very kindly ordered his gig to the door , and as he could not conveniently drive me over to Stratford himself , he found a very civil man in his employment who , notwithstanding the holiday time , undertook to perform the part of Jehut without his fury .

, A g lorious drive of sixteen miles was that from Redditch to Stratford-on-Avon , and one which I will remember ( as Samlet says ) " whilst memory holds a seat in this distracted globe . " On every hand were woodland after woodland , stretching away as far as the eye could reach—fit haunts of the dryad and the hama-