Bro. John Jefferson, W.M. 159.

and state , and with unlimited goodwill to all mankind , we here appear in the character of our profession . Invested with the badges of our sacred institution , we humbly implore the blessing of Heaven on all our zealous endeavours for the general good of society , and pray for our steady perseverance in the principles of piety and virtue . As it has pleased the Creator to remove our worthy brother from the cares and troubles of a transitory existence to a state of eternal durationand

, thereby to weaken the chain by which we are linked one to the other ; may his example remind us of our approaching fate , and may we , who survive him , be more strongly cemented in the ties of unity and friendship , and may wo so regulate our conduct here by the sacred dictates of truth and wisdom as to enjoy in the latter period of life that serene tranquility of mind which ever flows from a clear and unsullied conscience void of

offence . "Unto the grave ive have resigned the body of our loving friend and brother , there to remain until the general resurrection , in favourable expectation that his immortal soul will then partake of joys which have been prepared for the righteous from the beginning of the world ; and we earnestly pray Almighty God of his infinite goodness , at the grand tribunal of unbiassed justice , to extend his mercy towards him and

of all of us , and to crown our felicity with everlasting bliss in the expanded realms of a boundless eternity ; and this we beg for the honour of His holy name , in whom be glory now and for ever . Amen . " The mourners then advanced to the grave previous to taking their final leave of the departed , after which the brethren threw in their sacred scrolls and sprigs of acacia . There was a very large attendance of people at the cemetery , and along the line of procession .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen held a Privy Council on the morning of the 5 th inst . The Council was attended by his Royal Highness the Prince of AVales , Sir Charles AVood , and the Right Hon . E . Cardwell . His Royal Highness Prince Alfred , attended by Captain Haig , left Buckingham Palace for Scotland on Saturday last . Tho Queen , accompanied by Princess Helena and attended by the Marchioness of Ely and Colonel the Hon . F . de Ros , attended Divine service in the parish church of Crathio on Sunday last . The [ Rev . Dr . Boyd officiated . .

GESERAI . HOME NEWS . —The mortality of the country is slightly on the increase , if ive may judge by the death returns from tbe eleven principal towns included in tbe Registrar-General ' s report , which amounted to 2 , 640 , or 21 in tho thousand . But here , in the metropolis , the mortality continues to be below the average ; and , what is noteworthy , for the first

time , we believe , since the comparison was instituted , London exhibits tbe lowest death rate of any of the towns . It is only 21 in 1 , 000 ; Edinburgh is one more ; the highest of all is Liverpool , which exhibits the startling rate ' of 36 in the 1 , 000 , 12 above the moan average of all the towns . Of the 2 , 0-10 deaths , 1 , 193 belong to London , which is If ! below the ten

years' average . The births in all the towns amount to 3 , 883 ; of these 2 , 058 are credited to the metropolis , so that the births in London are more than half of those in the other ten towns . The deaths do not amount to the half by about 4-50 . It would follow from this that whether as regards births or deaths London is under more favourable conditions for life than any other

town in the kingdom . In the Court of Bankruptcy on the 5 th inst . the Hon . Richard Bethell passed his examination and received his order of discharge . There was no opposition . Madame \ alentin has received a free pardon . An inquest was opened on Monday on the body of a man who died suddenly on Friday week in a coffee-house in Bloomsbury . His name was Philip Jacob Mindle , .-f Hungarian . A medical witness said he thought death had been caused by apoplexy ;

but the inquest was adjourned to give time for a closer examination of the stomach of the deceased . A young man named Jones was drowned at the Thames Embankment works . He was standing on the edge of a barge , with a crowbar , in his hand , when he overbalanced himself and fell into the river . His body was not recovered until three-quarters of an hour afterwards . On Saturday last James Oliver , the old man who is

charged with stabbing William Underwood and his wife at Hascombe , was brought before the magistrates at Guildford . Underwood and his wife have now so far recovered from their wounds that they could be examined . Their evidence clearly implicated the prisoner , who was committed for trial .- A curious application was made to the magistrate at Worship-street

police-court on Monday . A Jlrs . Farr asked the magistrate to give some assistance to a poor woman named Barlow , who has recently been delivered of a child with two heads . One head grew from the other in such a manner that the slightest sudden movement oi . the child must cause death . The result was that the mother ivould never put the infant down . Jlrs .

Farr vouched for tho truth of [ this statement , and tho magistrate ordered a sovereign to be given to Mrs . Barlow from the poor-box . Watford has got a now agricultural association , and at its first dinner on Jlonday evening there was a large attendance of peers and members of Parliament . Tbe most noticeable speeches of the , " evening were delivered by the Earl

of Clarendon and Sir E . B . Lytton . The Earl of Clarendon , after something like a satirical eulogy on the House of Lords , described and defended what the Government had done in respect of the cattle plague . Sir B . B . Lytton thanked the noble lord for his statement , but still clung to his opinion that there may ba a better way of treating the disease than hy slaughtering all the animals affected with it . He advised the

farmers to support the cattle insurance associations . A girl named Alice Evans was brought up at the Southwark Policecourt on Tuesday charged with attempting to commit suicide . Her story- was rather a strange one . She had lived in service at Brunswick-terrace , Camberwell , but had lost her situation . Her mistress refused to give her a character , on the ground , as

tho girl alleges , that she was always reading instead of doing her work . Out of a place , she ivould not go home to her friends , and for two nights slept under the arches of Londonbridge . Then , she says , a young man told her if she were dressed in man ' s clothes he could get her work at the docks . She went to a secondhand clothes shop iind changed her clothes

for a man ' s suit . Still she did not get work , and she was about drowning herself in despair when a policeman saved her life and took her to tho station-house . The magistrate gave her up to her friends with a caution . George Price , who is charged with having caused the death of his wife by ill-treating her when she was suffering from illness ,

was brought up again at the Clerkenwell police-court on Tuesday . The defence was gone into , and several of the specific allegations of cruelty were denied . The magistrate , however , committed the man for trial , and refused to accept bail . John Roach and his wife , who are charged with grossly illtreating a child placed in their cave , were brought up at the

Westminster police-court on Tuesday . The evidence showed that the child had been most frightfully neglected . The magistrate intimated his intention to send the prisoners for trial to the Central Criminal Court , but as they wished to have witnesses examined for the defence they were remanded . Jlr . Disraeli dined with the members of the Amersham and Chesham

Agricultural Association on Tuesday evening . In a speech which he made in the course of the evening , he pointed out difficulties in the , way of granting leases of farms . After-