Our Charities.

of the Candidates , with the votes polled for all , successful and unsuccessful , may be obtained on application to the Secretary , Bro . Frederick Binckes , at the Office , G Freemasons' Hall , London , W . C . Votes of thanks were accorded to the chairman , scrutineers , & c .

The regular meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons and the Widows of Freemasons was held on Wednesday 14 th inst ., at Freemasons ' Hall , Great Queen Street . The Secretary , Bro . Jas . Terry read the minutes of the former meeting . Several deaths of

annuitants were announced , one of them , had he lived until June next , would have attained his 100 th year . The report of the finance committee was read and adopted . The list of subscribers is to be published annually , instead of once in two years . Among those present were Bros . Jas .

Brett , C . A . Cottebrune , J . Constable , Hilton , G . Stephens , T . White , J . Smith , H . Massey , H . M . Levy , Griffiths , Smith , J . Bellerby , T . Cubitt , J . Newton , L . Stean , C . Lacey , C . Hogard . The meeting was adjourned to the following month .

The Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill.

THE ALEXANDRA PALACE , MUSWELL HILL .

rTlHIS day fortnight will take place tho opening ceremonial of the - * - new Alexandra Palace , erected on the site of tho building so disastrously burnt down in Juno 1873 , just when a fortnight ' s experience had raised , in every one , the hope that a sterling and permanent addition had been made to our places of entertainment .

The former palace was opened on 24 th May 1873 , and in . the afternoon of 9 th June following nothing remained of it but tottering walls and smouldering ashes . In the short interval of time , however , 124 , 124 persons had visited the place , there having been ou Whit Monday alone , within a few score of 60 , 000 . But the directors ,

hastily summoned to the spot by tho news of tho great disaster , even while the fire was rapidly destroying what had cost them so much ¦ money and labour to erect , pluckily resolvod to build a New Palace , that should outvie this one . Hardly had the fire died out when measures were taken to build a fresh . All honour to so grand an

illustration of British pluck ! At ono time hopes were entertained that tho new Palace would have been opened daring the August of last year , but it was found undesirablo to commence a season just whon London would be emptying itself of its fashionable people , and the opening was accordingly , and , we think , very properly , deferred

till the spring of the current year . As our readers are , no doubt , anxious that we should lay before thorn the programme of this season's entertainment , so far as it has been possible to arrange it , we hasten to fulfil our promise of last week , and submit the following summary of the arrangoments for their enlightenment .

We have said the opening is fixed for Saturday , 1 st May . On this occasion a grand ceremonial will be observed , and Bro . Sir Michael Costa will have charge of tho musical portion of tho proceedings . Among the eminent artistes who will support him , the names of Mdlle . Titiens , Madame Trebelli-Bettini , Signor Campanini , Herr

Conrad Behrens are already announced . Tho Company s choir will be assisted by membors of Choirs , of the Sacred Harmonic Society , Her Majesty ' s Opera , and the band will be greatly enlarged , while the vocalists and instrumentalists will , together , number fifteen hundred performers . On Whit Monday , 17 th May , which is also a

Bank Holiday , there will be a grand National Festival , to includo a grand Concert in the Great Central Hall , under tho conductorship of Sir Julius Benedict and Mr . H . Weist Hill . Among tho vocalists will bo Mdlle . Titiens , Miss Sterling , Miss Edith Wynne , and Messrs . Sims Reeve , E . Lloyd , and Santley . Six Military Bands , including

those of tho GrenadierB , Coldstreams , and Scots Fusiher Guards , will perform in tho Palace and Park . There will also bo a Balloon ascent , Athletic Sports , ami performances in tho Theatre and Hengler ' s Circus . A special programme is also announced for Saturday , 29 th May , on which clay will be publicly celebrated Her Majesty's Birthday .

In Jnne , the most important features aro tho Alexandra I'alaco Races for the 1 st and 2 nd , the Choral Festival of the Tonic Sol Fa Association on the 9 th , a Temperance Fete ou tho 14 th , tho Horse Show—for which tho arrangements , if at all like those of former year . * , canuot fail to bo unexceprio mbiy good -on the 15 th , 16 th , 17 th

and T 8 tli , Hose Show and Garden Fete on tho 24 tu and 25 th , ana two London Swiming Club Fetes on the 7 th and 26 th respectively . The Committee for the Horse Show includes tho Marquis of Conyngham , the Earls of Avlesfoid , Guilford , and Portsmouth , Sir George

Wombwoll , Bart ., Colonel Luttrell , Messrs . A . Ilushout , ij . Tattorsall , H . Villebois , and others . Over £ 1 , 000 will be awarded in prizes , and the horses will be arranged in sixteen classes , for thoroughbredsi stallions , hunters , roadsters , agricultural horses , ponies , & c , In

The Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill.

July , will be held the Dramatio Fete ou 3 rd and 5 th , Licensed Victuallers Fete on the 12 th , the Scottish Fete on 17 th , tho Hound Show on 14 th and 15 th , Nottingham Odd Fellows Fete and Excnrsiou Fetes . In August , a special programme will be provided for the Bank Holiday on the 2 nd , there will be another Race Meeting on the

17 th and 18 th , and a Flower Show ou the 24 th and 25 th , while Monday , the 23 rd , will be set apart for the Great Fete of Railway Officials and Servants . Additional fixtures will be made as the season advances , but our readers will gather from the foregoing

details that a full and sufficient programme is already arranged , and that it will bo no fault of , or owing to any lack of energy in , the directors if the public do not thoroughly enjoy themselves in the new Palace , and the Park in which it is situated .

We have passed unnoticed such attractions as the Picture Galleries , the Grove , the Japanese Village , and others , simply because a proper judgment of their attraction can only be formed after personal inspection , and this we have been unable to make as yet ; but if they at all realise the description given of them in the programme , they

cannot fail to please . It only remains to add that we wish the directors every success , and wo hopo the public will show their appreciation of the plucky efforts of the Company by bestowing upon it all the patronage they can . The directors have done their duty well by catering liberally for the public . Let the public return the compliment by patronizing them to the full extent of their ability .

The Anglo-Saxon.

THE ANGLO - SAXON .

THE nightwind whistles through brake and bush , The owl flaps moodily by , The moonbeams glance with a pale weird flush , Where elear in tho rill , at the baso of the hill The glist ' ning pebbles lie .

And tho shade of the vigorous Saxon thane , Looks round on the land of his race : Each cherished feature seeking , in vain , For how changed is his dwelling-place t Tangle of briars has grown on his grave ,

And thorny thickets havo crept Around tho spot , where his kinsmen brave Covered his bones with a mound of stones , And laid all he loved best , in the place of rest , Where tho Saxon noble slept .

He knows not tho land whore his kindred dwelt , Of which they spoiled the effeminate Celt : For all is gone , or changed .

The glorious forests are levelled low , But many a ruddy and choorf nl glow , Peops from many a homestead , where goodwives sew , And platters are cosily ranged .

But yet , though the laud is changed and tilled , Though ev ' ry spare acre is used and filled , Tho sons of tho men whom the Normans quelled , Have increased a thousand-fold .

The Saxon race is the same as then , The Normans have vanished from S ' axon ken , And the land gives birth to a race of men , With the Saxon hearts of old .

Instead of disputing the right to the soil With Briton , and Pict , and Dane ; Three powerful kingdoms aro firm in their sway ,

Beneath Saxon rule the same Sov'roign obey , And more ; with unyielding and conqu ' ring toil . Realms , realms upon realms have been linked in the coil Of tho sons of the Saxon thane .

Ho gazes on Worlds lb . it his time nev . n- knew : His mechanical agencies simpio and few Are supplanted by magical might ;

And tho creed that hi .: pons had embraced to his shame , ' The nation has ehr : ri > . hed with fervour-and fame , That havo given tho Saxon a glorious namo , Radiaut with halo of light !

So regrets arc made light , as ho aces thro' the night , The great deeds his race has achieved . He po dri's iu thought , till tho first , streak of dawn , Proehinr . a tho approach of tho health-breathing morn , Ou Hie ••' . "inders that HengisL hud scouted with scorn , And Alfred would scarce have believed .

Then in peace and in pride , by the green hill-side , His shade seeks blest repose . And the pebbles f ; lcam in tho sparkling stream , That in murm ' ring ripplets flows , W ALTER SrEtfCEiii