Scotland.

dates during the year , and the members were proceeding with the erection of shops and tenements , in which provision is made for a new Masonic Hall at a cost of about £ 1300 . During the past quarter the Benevolent Fund Committee voted grants amounting to £ 2 ig 135 ., and annuities of ^ 15 each were granted to six children , and of ^ 10 each to 19 other applicants . The total number of an nuitants now on the list is 140 , the value of the annuities being . £ 1480 .

Consecration Of The Babington Boulton Chapter, No. 1121.

CONSECRATION OF THE BABINGTON BOULTON CHAPTER , No . 1121 .

On Tuesday afternoon , at the Masonic Hall , Bishop Auckland , a special meeting of the Provincial Grand Chapter of Durham was held for the purpose of consecrating the new Babington Boulton Chapter , No . 1121 . There was a numerous attendance of officers of the province and of several chapters . In the unavoidable absence of the Grand Superintendent , Comp . the Rev . Canon Tristram , D . D ., the acting First Principal in the ceremony

was Comp . John Holt , P . G . H ., and the other acting Principals were Comps . ] C . Moor , as Second Grand Principal ; F . H . Bennett , as Third Grand Principal ; Babington Boulton , P . P . G . H . ; R . Hudson , P . G . S . E . ; C . T . Johnson , acling P . G . S . E . ; and R . Hauxwell , P . G . S . N . ; -who were supported by—Comps . Dr . C . D . Hill Drury , P . P . G . H . ; Chas . Cox , P . G . Treas . ; B . S . Beckwith , P . P . G . Treas . ; Ernest Lautebach , P . G . D . C . ; E . H . Tilley , P . A . G . S . ;

T . B . Grimes , P . G . P . S . ; Harry Brown , P . P . G . D . C ; Thomas Robinson , John Robinson , J . H . Jackson , Rev . Jos . Lawson , C . De Pledge , Jno . Grayson , Jos . Rickerby , Wm . Todd , Jno . W . B . Heslop , J . M . Thompson , A . Hollingsworth , R . C . Whittle , G . W . Cottam , Geo . Harrison , Fred . Forster , B . Biggs , W . Payne , T . C . Jackson , R . R . Ferguson , R . II . Daglish , Wm . Scott , T . H . Thompson . W . J . Anderson , John Nicholls , H . T . Halfpenny , A . Lawson , A . Guthrie , W . Cochrane , Wm . Love , G . W . Jennings , R . Archbold , and T . Grieve .

The ceremony was performed with much ability by the acting Principals and officers . Comp . R . Hudson read the petition and warrant , and Comp . John Holt officiated . Comp . F . Forster accompanied on the organ with much acceptance . Comp . Babington Boulton , P . P . G . H ., was installed as the first M . E . Z . of the new chapter by Comp . R . Hudson after the chapter had been duly declared constituted by the Prov . G . D . of C , Comp . E . Lautebach .

Comp . Charles Cox , P . G . Treas ., was installed by Comp . R . Hudson , P . G . S . E ., as H ., and Comp . W . J . Anderson as J . Comp . Babington Boulton , M . E . Z ., afterwards invested the following as the officers of the new chapter : Comps . T . F . Townend , 97 , S . E . ; T . H . Thompson , 97 , S . N . ; R . Ferguson , 636 , P . S . ; A . Guthrie , in , 1 st A . S- ; R . Daglish , 124 , 2 nd A . S . ; and John Barnet , in ( in absentia ) , D . of C . Comp . BABINGTON BOULTON , P . P . G . H ., proposed that the Rev . Canon

Tristram , D . D ., G . Superintendent , be elected as an honorary member of the chapter ,, which was seconded by , p > mp . Cox , H ., Comp . Boulton expressing their deep regret at the absence of the Grand Superintendent , who had looked forward with much interest to being present and conducting the ceremony up to the previous day . He had heard from him that he was suffering from a severe cold , and could not possibly be pres . nt .

Comp . R . HUDSON , P . G . S . E ., alluded to the death of the Bishop , whose loss they all deplored , and in accordance with the wish of their respected Grand Superintendent , their ceremony would be conducted without the usual musical accompaniment . ( Hear , hear . ) Comp . R . Hudson was also elected as an honorary member of the chapter , and a . considerable number of new members were proposed for exaltation and as joining members .

The FIRST PRINCU ' intimated the receipt of numerous telegrams and Jetters expressing wishes of prosperity to the chapter , and of regret at their inability to be present , including Comps . Jonathan Backhouse , R . Luck , R . A . Luck , C . H . Backhouse , J . Joel , Oliver , John Barnett , and Dr . S . Fielding . «

BRO . LORD ROBERTS , having received , 1 , 50 subscribed by 300 time-expired men of Kitchener ' s Horse , has given the sum to the East London branch of the Soldiers ' and Sailors' Families Association .

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Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

LAND AND WATER IN OPPOSITION . { Continued . ) We have , hitherto , spoken of the encroachments of the sea on the main land , let us now consider the reverse action , where the coast is abandoned , and land has been recovered . Let us take Yarmouth , for instance ; here we find enormous accumulations of sand which , now deserted , had been

formerly covered by the waves . Yet this , as well as the other process , is the joint result of one cause . The waves , tides , and currents carry away the cliffs from the towns we have previously named . But whither do they carry them ? The shattered fragments must go somewhere ; and it depends upon a number of local circumstances how and where the depositions shall take place . Near the mouths of the rivers , such as the Yare , there are reasons which would lead one to suspect that such deposition might take

place there . If a tidal current is carrying its load of spoil , its fragments stolen from a cliff elsewhere , and if it meet a river-current at right angles , it may be made to drop its burden , and thus a sandbank might grow up just opposite the mouth of the river . That some such process has been going on at Yarmouth is plain enough , and the good people of that town make all their commercial and social arrangements in conformity with the

plan thus marked out for them by the currents and tides . The three towns of Norwich , Yarmouth , and Lowestoft are worth a few days ' visit , irrespective of their own points of attraction , on account of their relative positions in respect to the sea . Considering the strangely flat marshy district separating the three towns , there seems much reason to believe that it was once sea . The three rivers , Yare , Bure , and Waveney ,

which find a common outlet at Yarmouth , present such fantastic twistings and twinings that there can be little doubt that changes have occurred hereabout in the relative distribution of land and water . It is believed that the Yare was once an arm of the sea up to Norwich , the Bure another arm up to Aylsham , and the Waveney another up to Bungay . At any rate , it is pretty evident that there was once sea where is now green swampy

meadows . Norwich is an interesting old city—interesting for its fine cathedral , and for its connection with the worsted and silk manufactures . We know nothing of Norwich until the earlier incursions of the Danes . The city appears to have risen gradually from the decay of Caister , once a British , then a Roman , town . Some think that in the time of the Romans the lower parts of the present Norwich were under water , studded here and

there with islands . As matters now stand , the streets are evidently set up and framed in accordance with the castle elevation on the one hand and with the river on the other . The river is called the Wensum until it has passed through Norwich ; after which it receives the name of the Yare . The Wensum performs all sorts of queer antics in its passage through the town , curving and winding in , serpentine coursenow flowing south , now north , now south-west , now north-east .

The city is mostly built on one side of the river ; but as it is greatly extended on the other , the bridges are very numerous , pointing in almost every direction of the compass . As for the streets , did any mortal ever see such a labyrinth ? nothing can compare with Norwich for crooked streets . The only principle of arrangement discoverable seems to be this—that no two streets shall be at right angles . If Norwich has received any of its

peculiarities of position from the existence of land where once was water , Yarmouth is still more dependent on a similar cause . The river Yare , after running eastward through Norfolk , seems to have been checked in its course within half a mile of the sea ; it bends suddenly to the south and flaws parallel to the sea for three or four miles when at length it finds an outlet . The Yare brings with it the waters of the Waveney , and just at the point

where the deflection takes place , the Bure also joins it , so that all three rivers are affected by this change of outlet . The metamorphoses of the district seem first to have converted three areas of the sea into three rivers , and then to have driven the three poor rivers about in search of an outlet . Now , it is just at this remarkable spot that Yarmouth has been built . The town has the sea on the . east and the river on the west . It has thus a sort

of double facade ; a west front towards the river and an east front towards the sea . The east front is irregular and straggling , for it is greatly at the mercy of the sands ; but the west front can boast of a quay , finer than any in Europe , except that at Marseilles . It is , however , the other side of Yarmouth which best exhibits the dependence of the town on the changes between sea and land . What a wilderness of sand it s ! It is fine , soft , an 1 of

great depth ; the foot sinks in at every step so as to render walking tiresome . As may be supposed , Yarmouth is very bracing and a great rescrt of holiday folks and prolonged visits . In conclusion , we will give a brief notice of . Lowestoft . It is the third of the towns connected with the singular delta-shaped district we hav < j

described . Although a coast town , it has properly no river actually belonging to it . The town lies about 10 miles south of Yarmouth ; and between the two there is a considerable length of singular sind cliff , exhibiting many proofs of the peculiar tide action of the sea . Between Lowestoft and the sea , as between Yarmouth and the sea , the accumulation of sand is enormous ; deep , rolling , apparently endless masses of the finest and most penetrating sand . This town has been of rapid growth , to meet the wants of a better and a richer class of visitors than those who re _ ort to

Yaimouth . A mercantile and a fashionable suburb has extended during late years , and numerous hotels , and handsome houses , show the town has achieved creditable importance .

SOME FAMOUS OLD STRUCTURES . Before the portal of Northumberland House was altered , there were in a frieze near the top , in large capitals , C . / K ., an enigma long inexplicable to antiquaries . Vertue found that at the period when the house was biilt lived Chrismas , an architect and carver ol reputation , who gave the design of Aldersgate , and cut the bas-relief on it of James I . on horseback , and thence concluded that those letters signified Cnrismas : c Jificavit . It may

be presumed that Gerard Chrismas was as much sculptor as architect , and , like Nicholas Stone , wri * . equally employed in either art . The front of Northampton House ( as it was called when first built by Henry Howard , Earl of Northampton , before 1614 ) , was profusely ornamented with rich scrolls of architectural carving , and with an open parapet , worked into Iette-s and other devices . His sons , John and Matthias Chrismas , were very able carvers , and were extensively eaiployed in designing and finishing monuments ,