Rahere Almoners.

and pledged with all honours . M . F . Toole acted as toast Master with hia usual ability , and the whole prnc . edin . a worn char-ant ( -Tisot . by a spirit of lively interest nnd harmony . Tho clever programm itself stated it had been " drawne nppe " by James Stevens V . W . G Counsellor , " and to that gentleman we tender our meed of praise foi the skill exhibited iu the said " drawinge nppe , " ancl for his parting words , namely : —

" To all , to each , a fair good night , And pleasing dreams aud slumbers light . "

The Midland Railway Company.

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY .

EVERY one of onr Railway Companies is unsparing in its efforts , at this season of the year , to provide every possible accommodation nt the most moderate charges for the travelling public , and the Mid l and is certainly not the least enterprising or the least successful in securing the patronage of tourists . It ofers every facility for travell - ing to and from stations on its own line . It appears to have made very satisfactory arrangements in connection with other companies , . otbak

there is hardly any part of the United Kingdom or the Continent whioh is not accessible by means of the tickets issued at its Offices , or to he had of the well known Tourist agents Messrs . Crok and Son , of Lndgate Circus . Lastly , its tickets are issued under the most favourable conditions , as regards price , the period for which they are available , or the terms on which , by a small additional payment , they may bo

extended to any date up to the 31 st December of the present year . As to the regularity and frequency of its train service , they are too favourably known already to need any comment . Among the places and districts with which it is in communication and to which tourist tickets aro issued , are Morecambe Bay or Lancaster ; Scotland—Edinburgh , Glasgow , Perth , Dundee .

Aberdeen , and Inverness , being the chief cities which the traveller has the choice of booking for ; Scarborough , Filey , Harrogate , & c . ; the Eastern Coast—Grimsby , Cleethorpes , Yarmouth , Cromer , & c ; the Isle of Man ; the English Lake District ; Buxton and Matlock ; the South Coast , Isle of Wight , and France ; the South Western Coast and the Channel Islands ; West of England—Bath ,

Weston-super-Mare , Ilfracombe , Dawlish , Dartmouth , Plymouth , Truro , Penzance , 4 c . ; Malvern j North , Mid , and South Wales j Ireland—Dnblin , Belfast , Lakes of Killarney , the Highlands of Connemara , & c . ; and Belgium , Holland , tbe Rhine , Germany , Switzerland , Italy . More than this by way of outline need not be given , unless we add that every information will be readily given at the Company's Offices , or any of its stations , or by Messrs , Ccok and Son .

The Continent Via The Great Eastern Railway.

THE CONTINENT via THE GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY .

THE facilities for reaching the Continent are so numerous , and the different routes offer such a variety of attractions , that in . tending travellers are often at a loss in selecting the line they shall go by . Those who dislike the sea not unnaturally prefer cross , ing " the silver streak " where it is narrowest . Others prefer going by Newhaven and Dieppe , because it lands them at once in some of

the most beautiful parts of Normandy . A third section of the public gives the preference to the Great Eastern train and boat service via Harwich and Antwerp or Rotterdam , this being especially the case with those who intend journeying up the Rhine or through the North of Germany . There are doubtless also other weighty reasons which incline people to select this route . The Great Eastern Railway

Company is not one whit behind other companies in tbe excellence and regularity of its service , both by land and sea . Its tariff of charges is framed on the most moderate scale , and there is no end to the facilities it offers the traveller for breaking or prolonging his journey wherever or for as long a time as he may be desirous of doing . There is yet another reason we are going to suggest why this route should

be even more extensively patronised than it is . In the grand tour of Europe , as prescribed by Fashion for its votaries , the two little states of Belgium and Holland either find no place at all , or , if they are included , it is because a part of one or other of them must be traversed before the more important districts to be visited can be reached . Yet we venture to say there are no two countries in Europe which , whether

we have regard to the attractions they offer , or the historical associations which are connected with them , are more calculated to excite the interest of Englishmen . It is , perhaps , because they are so easily accessible that these attractions and associations have been overlooked ; but whether this is the case or not , both Holland and Belgium undoubtedly offer a wealth of sightseeing which cannot be

surpassed by France or any other of the greater European states . Antwerp , though not what it was in tbe days anterior to Philip IL , when it was the great emporium of trade and commerce in this part of Europe , is still a grand old city . Brussels is a miniature Paris ; Ghent , Bruges , Malines or Mechlin , Louvain , Namur , Liege , are places which will well repay a visit ; while in Holland there are—Rotterdam ,

perhaps the busiest and most prospsrons of Dutch sea-ports ; Leyden , famous for its siege , and still more so for its University ; the Hague , the polical centre of the conntry , and commonly known as the largest village in Europe ; Amsterdam , the commercial capital ; Utrecht . Haarlem , Alkmaar , Arnheim , and a host of other cities and towns , which are only , perhaps , less attractive because they happen to be

less generally known or less populous . The appearance of these places is so nnlike anything we are accustomed to see in England the architecture is so qnaint , the public buildings so numerous , ancl the picture galleries so rich in works by the old Dutch and Flemish masters , that a journey hither offers , in our opinion , one of the greatest possible treats to the travelling Englishman . Indeed , it is hardly possible to traverse a single square mile of territory in either

The Continent Via The Great Eastern Railway.

¦ if these states without lighting on something of interest , such as is > nlv to bo met with at intervals in other countries . This , it strikes us , is one very sufficient reason why the Great Eastprn Continental route should find evxr-increasing favour with the British public . It offers at the very threshold of the journey a series of attractions which , if we take acconnt of their character , number , and variet y

• iro unsurpassed in other European states . Among other reasons for selecting this route must be mentioned tho very great facilities it affords for reaching other countries or districts . The journey to Paris via Antwerp and Brussels is not tho shortest , but where time is no particular object , it is certainl y worth while making the circuit by the cities we have mentioned .

For the Rhino Country , tourists will find the route either b y Rotterdam or Antwerp decidedly the best . If the former is chosen , the journey wilt be made by Gonda , Utrecht , Arnheim , Zevenaar , Cloves , Cologne , Bonn , Coblentz , Mavence , Strasburg , Mnlhausen , Bale ; or if the right bank of the Rhine be preferred , by Emmerich , Dnsseldorf , Wiesbaden , Frankfort-on-the-Maine , Darmstadt , Mann .

heim , Heidelberg , Carlsruhe , Baden-Baden , Offonburg , whence the journey may bo continued to Bale , or , vis . Singen , to Constance . If the Antwerp ronto is selected , then the way is by Cologne , and thence to Bonn , «_ c , as before . Should the traveller prolong his journey , say to Vienna , then having made his way to Mayence or Frankfort-on-the-Maine , he will proceed via Darmstadt , Heidelberg ,

Brugsal , Stuttgart , Ulm , and Aubsburg , to Munich , and thence by Simbaoh , Nenmarkt , and Linz , or by Salzburg , Neumarkt , and Lintz , to the Austrian capital . If he is bound for Italy , he must make his way from Munich , vi „ Innsbruck , Brtzen , to Verona , whence be may go eastward to Venice , or westward to Milan , and round by Genoa to tbe chief cities in Italy , or southward by Mantua and Bologna , from

whioh city he has tbe choice of diverging in a south-easterly direction to Ancona , and on to Brindisi , or of going south-west to Lucca , from which he has a choice of routes by Pisa and Leghorn , or by Florence , in order to get on to Rome and Naples . At Bale , where the Rhine makes an abrupt turn northwards , he will find himself in railway communication with Zurich , Berne , Geneva , and other Swiss cities

and towns , or , if he has exhausted most of his time , he can make his way by Mnlhausen and Belfort to Paris , and thence home . Thus , whether he journey to Rotterdam or Antwerp in the first instance , he will have no difficulty in making for Paris , and thence by Bale , to Switzerland , or up the Rhine either to Bale for Switzerland , to Vienna , or Munich , and on to Italy , the journey being continuous in

either direction , and breakable at the option of the tourist . It is hardly necessary to say that if tbe traveller is desirous of exploring the beauties of the Rhine , he can take the boat up that river , and see the chief places of interest on either bank . We have said the Great Eastern service offers special facilities for journeying through North Germany . Thus there is through

railway communication between either Rotterdam or Antwerp on the one hand , and Berlin on the othor , the Rotterdam route being o course the shorter and more direct . From Berlin there is a choice of lines to Vienna , by Dresden and Prague to Kolin , or by Frankfort on the Oder and Kohlfurt , and thence by a circuit through Breslau to Brunn , or more direct by Koniggratz and Pardubitz to Brunn , and so

on to Vienna . If , again , Russia has attractions for the tourist , then the railway will take him from Berlin to St Petersburg . There is also another excursions that may be made , namely to Hamburg , via Rotterdam , Utrecht , Arnheim , Emmerich , Wesel , Mnnster , Osna . bruck , and Bremen . In fact , whatever part of Europe the traveller is desirous of visiting may be reached more or less directly by

the Great Eastern Continental route , the necessary information being obtainable at the Company ' s offices , or of Messrs Cook and Son , of Ludgate Circus , or Messrs Gaze and Son in the Strand , or at any of their agents in the principal cities and towns of the United Kingdom . We are farther desirous of calling attention to two Continental

trips which those who have not yet made up their minds whither to betake themselves will find very interesting . There is now open at Cleves , and will remain open till the beginning of October , an Exhibition of Hunting and Sporting Apparatus . The attractions Ore numerous , in the shape of Musical Fetes , Prize Shooting , Badger Hunting , an Historical Procession representing the h-gends and

history of Cleves ( on the 11 th September ) , Hawking ( on the 26 th and 27 th S' -ptember ) , Greyhound Races on the litter day , the whole winding up with an International Sportsmen ' s Congress on the 1 st and 2 nd October . For this visit tickets , available for eight days by all boats and trains , are issued at £ 2 la first class , and £ 1 7 s 4 d second class . Here , then , ia an opportunity for visiting an ancient city and witnessing some of the sports of our German friends , which does

not occur every day , and which we doubt not will prove attractive . The other is to the Ardennes , which may be described as almost a new field for the tourist , and which cannot fail to be more and more patronised tbe more generally it is known that special facilities for visiting this picturesque country , in tho heart of Belgium , are offered . Tickets may be had in London or at any Great Eastern Railway Station , the prices ranging from 51 s 4 d first class and 32 s 6 d second class , to 62 s _ d first and 40 s 7 d second .

The St . Michael ' s Lodge of Instruction , No . 211 . -will hold its first meeting after the recess at the Moorgate , Moorgate-street , E . G ., on Thursday evening , Sth inst ., at eight o ' clock . Brethren are invited to attend .

Messrs . W . H . and L . Collingridge , of the City Press , announce the completion and occupation of their new buildings , 148 and 149 Aldersgate-street , which have been erected upon the site of the offices destroyed by fire i : 0 April of last year .