Freemasonry.

tion , bufc busies itself in augmenting true happiness of thsocial sta f o here on earth ; hence the indispensability i / . virtue , temperance , charity , & c . We are indeed sorry to say , however , that some of the vilest wretches thafc God , in

His infinite compassion , ever suffered to breathe fcho breath of life , have Avhipped round and gained admission to our sacred rifces , bufc they are not Masons . Not

being Masons afc heart , they aro nofc Masons in fche true sense of the letter . Free ancl Accepted Masonry extends from East to West , ancl between North and South , in every country and clime . And , nofcAvithstanding such a high

degree of universality , fche Masonic Avorld , bound together by the mystic ties of fraternal love , is so hermetically sealed that Avoe and adversity , though isolated ancl twelve thousand five hundred miles from the remotest brother ,

cause to tremble throughout tho earth ( by medium of intelligence , of course ) the chords of sympathy and affection . I mean to say that isolated woe ancl adversity , by medium of intelligence , excite universal sympathy and affection just as

" every earthly sound Goes trembling throngh the voiceless spheres . " The distinctive peculiarity of Freemasonry is the " rites

and ceremonies , " which have been transmitted to us through by-gone ages by tradition , and Avhich , we aro happy to say , are worthy of prayerful consideration .

And now , brethren , I would say , in conclusion , that it is our high prerogative to press forward the colours of the sacred brotherhood . And you Avho are non-affiliates , I would have enlist as co-ivorlcers in our immortal cause . To

say fche least , it is your duty . Wake tq ) ! Ifc is absolutely your duty to rejoice wifch those who rejoice , and weep Avifch those who weep . To share alike bofch joy and AVOC Avifch the brethren is indeed a blessed precept of Masonry , and

its ancient purity must be maintained . Standing in the active ranks of Masonry , wo admonish you all to hold out faithful to your sacred trust . So , justice being so characteristic of fraternity , and besides , united harmony—one of

the crowning beauties of nature—being so strikingly characteristic of Freemasonry , we therefore , 0 God ! await the death-knell of clandestine Masonry , and in fact , all anti-Masonry .

A Popular Craftsman.

A POPULAR CRAFTSMAN .

WE have pleasure in reproducing , from The World , its pen and ink portrait of one of fche best ; known dramatic authors of the clay—Bro . Henry Pettitt , who is at the same time recognised as a true Mason , and one of the most distinguished members of the Sfc . Asaph Lodge , No . 1319 .

A clamp of ancient elms , with hollow and moss-covered trunks , serves to screen the modest abode of modern melodrama , on the slope of Havoratock Hill , from the irreverent gaze of the ordinary passor-by . The gnarled ancl time-worn branches still put forth leaves abnndantly each succeeding spring , aud are scarcely a whit

less hale and green than they were when " Tom " Moore and Francis Jeffery met in mortal combat in the fields below , just eighty years ago , or when Charles Dickens , half a centnry later , described " tho bowers for reading and smoking , scattered about the tea gardens at Chalk Farm , " before the unattractive architecture ancl ever-increasing

requirements of rival railway companies buried them ont of sight for ever . It is hei * e that Henry Pettitt lives ancl writes , when he is uot engaged in the pursuit of the picturesque at Lynton , or hidden away for a time on the Surrey hills , in his suug quarters amongst the poachers at the lints' Inn , Haslemere , close to the edge of tho

Devil's Punch Bowl . The comfortable house of drab bricks , with neat white stone facings , to the rear of the elms and evergreens , is just such an abode as honest John Gilpin might well have revelled in ; and some dead and forgotten tenant has carefully decorated it after the manner of our forefathers . Every available nook at the back is

occupied by small conservatories , where dazzling blue , rea ancl orange coloured panes throw kaleidoscopic reflections in the sunshine over the palms aud ferns , and lend a peculiar charm to the " Chamber of Horrors " at the end of the dining-room , where Lawler's bnsts of Henry Pettitt , Paul Merit t , and Edward Lloyd , and Lanteri ' s

characteristic statuette of Augustus Harris , gaze vacuously afc each other from bright yellow pedestals amidst the flower-stands , and where the master of the house has hung up a file of the playbills of such of his dramas as have been produced piratirally in every part of the world , which he calls the "Newgate Calendar . "

Henry Pettitt has chosen for his sfcndy a long low room on the ground floor , terminating in a broad bay window , two sides of which are tilled with light stained glass , while the central compartment opens upon some steps which lead down amongst the creepers to a

grass-plot , where a shady pear-treo and a giant umbrella invite you to read and write at your ease in the hot and uninspiring days of July and August . Over the mahogany writing table hang one or two of Walter Foster ' s bright landscapes , with a pair of charming portraits by Frank Miles . The pictures of his uncle , J . P . Pettitt ( an

A Popular Craftsman.

artist of no common merit ) , occupy a prominent place on the walls , and you will * . ! - ••> uoti . o a drawing by Jefferson the n . ' > r , and a '••!" 'tch by Fivii-iiek Yokes . For Henry Pettitt tho worli ia ** hic * h un live is on'y one vast storehouse of dramatic action unci si * :-nic cH'ct , and everything about him reminds you exclusively of plays ai-d play making . The various bookcases which linn the muni are crowded with the works which are so essential to tho mysteries of construction , dialogue , aud situation . Here , for instance , is a

complete series of tho " Illustrated London News , " the fruitful source of so many successful " sets , " which Henry Pettitt flies to now and then as a means of recreation when ho is too jaded to look at anything else ; next to it dwells the " National Encyclopaedia , " and close at hand are to bo found two powerful aids to dramatic sensation in the

shape of Russell on Crime and "Roscoea Digest of the Law of Evidence . " Shakespeare , Scott , Dickens , ancl Macaulay have each their appropriate place in tho collection j but they are perhaps hardly as serviceable as La Fontaine's Fables , a family Bible rich in scriptural engravings , or tho much-used volumes of" Picturesque

America and " Picturesque Europe . Ou one side of the table is a cabinet containing tho neatly-written aud carefully-bound scrip of over forty dramas ; on tho other , a nest of drawers duly labelled "The World , " " Iu the Ranks , " "Drury Lane , " "Returns , " American Interviews , " " Messrs . Gatti , " and " Pantomimes . "

There aro a few more amusing raconteurs than Henry Pettitt , and the inspection of his household gods can hardly fail to elicit one or two good stories well worth remembering . When you are looking over tho " American Interviews" he may , perhaps , graphically describe the visit of tho special correspondent who found Pettitt ' s

vieux cognac so excellent that he was compelled at length to leave tho subject of tho interview to write the article on himself ; and " Pantomimes" may possibly draw forth the tale of a notable managerial exploit at Gloucester , when ho found his stock-piece had been played tho previous year , and ho was compelled to sit up the

whole ol ono cold Christmas night to convert Dick Whittington into Robinson Crusoe , only to havo the sublime effect of the rising sun of his transformation scene ( a bargain from the Grecian ) serionsly compromised by too evident traces of the hobnailed boots of the stage carpenters , which the pit insisted on audibly attributing to the

traditional footprints of faithful Friday . Every receptacle in the table itself is crammed with songs , poems , draft-plots , stray notes , " constructions , " and unacted plays . Henry Pettitt , early in his career , learned from his friend Charles Reade the inestimable value of a commonplace-book , and a corner of the study is dedicated to

newspaper cuttings , a pastepot , and a sizeable pair of scissors , which shave a particular table with an album of prints and photogi * aphsthe source of many an excellent theatrical scene . Here , on tho first page , is the "Devil's Hole , Jersey , " which did good service in " The Black Flag ; " then comes the pretty village of Penshnrst , which

looked so well on the Adelphi stage in "In the Ranks , and Potter ' s Training Stables at Epsom , reproduced with singular fidelity in " Taken from Life ; " there are the photographs of the sad Soudan and Trafalgar-square , which helped so materially in the creation of the realistic effects which fairly astonished all those who crowded

Drury Lane last Saturday to see , in the first performance of " Human Nature , " the greatest scenic success of' modern times ; and the picture of the old stone pier afc Lynton , which next Boxing Night , will be transferred , along with "Harbour Lights , " from Devonshire to the Strand . Near tho door is an ingeniously-contrived coloured

: ip , whioh shows you at a glance the theatrical capabilities of every town in the United Kingdom ; a pile of cut foolscap lies in convenient proximity to tho blotting-pad on the table ; whilo a small bundle of cheques for author ' s fees , just to hand , and thrust carelessly into one of the pigeon-holes , tells you that , in addition to five plays running

contemporaneously in America and Australia , " Tho World occupied last week the boards afc the Pavilion , while " Love and Money " was still delighting transportine audiences at the Surrey , aud " The Black Flag" and "Hor Majesty's Pleasure" wero being played at the Britannia ancl the Marylebone .

Iu the midst of this typical playwrights workshop sits a tall spare man in the prime of life , with a heavy tawny moustache , such as a subaltern might envy , and fair hair falling persistently over his forehead . He is clad in a Paisley dressing gown ( which bears tho usual traces of much writing ) , and is turning listlessly over the best

known standard books on America , in search of incidents for " Columbus , " which is one clay to take tho hearts of our friends across the Atlantic by storm . He has just lighted on a wonderful effect of forest scenery , which ho thinks will look well with a dark cloth in tho foreground ; but he closes tho volume as yen enter , and

does not seem sorry to forget the anxieties of " Human Nature " and " Harbour Lights" for a time , while he chats to you of play-making , dramatic collaboration , and himself . Henry Pettitt ' s ancestors were Huguenots , who settled in Essex during the troubles of 1685 . His father was a civil engineer , whose inventive genius made everybody's

fortune except his own , ancl who finally lost nearly all he passessed over a cotton machine patent ia which he saw a veritable El Dorado . So Henry Pettitfc had to shift for himself , and at fifteen was playing a small Irish part in a pantomime called "Tho Rose of Blarney , " afc Sadler's Wells . He soon became a zealous contributor to the " Boy ' s

Miscellany " ancl other kindred journals ; but his only remuneration was a prize microscope , which realised ten shillings , Io be subsequently spent in a high tea and a visit to the Strand Theatre . He next managed to obtain a junior clerkship at Pick ford's but poetrywriting , plot-making , and burlesque lectures were not thought to be

necessary qualifications for the Down Carriage Department , and he was politely requested to resign . His superior knowledge of geography then gained him an usher ' s desk at the North London Collegiate School , and he remained there as one of Dr . Williams ' s assistants

for nearly six years . The pupils wore at first inclined to rebel against their youthful master , bnt he soon became a general favourite , and managed to make the dryest lesson * interesting and attractive , teaching history by the light of romance , aud taking the boys of North London in imagination all over Europe with tho aid of iiracl-