-
Articles/Ads
Article A FEW WORDS ON BENEFIT SOCIETIES. ← Page 5 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Few Words On Benefit Societies.
he observes , " art is factitious ; it is extraneous , —superinduced upon our social relations , aud not arising from them . It has no real affinity to our mode of being . It is the forced and sickly floiver of the conservatory , not the idgorous product of the soil . It has no hold upon the multitude , no connection with the mind of our utilitarian era . "
He then proceeds to give a curious and interesting illustration of the close alliance between political ancl artistic feeling in the Middle Ages , ivith which our Masonic readers ivill doubtless agree , heart and soul : — _ "In the Roman 'Province' of Gaul , where the successes of the municipal authorities was uninterrupted , however uncouth and barbaric the
union of thc several portions of tho building may be , yet in each moulding and capital , taken distinctly and severally , a Eoman feeling is preserved . There is an evident transmission qf doctrine from the previous ages . In tho first case , the untaught stone-hewer copied the object which he saw ; in the second , the instructed Mason practised what ho was taught ; and imperfect as his attempts may have been , the contrast between tho productions is extreme , and indicates , even to the oye , the difference between the legal characters of the communities . "
In reference to oil painting , the same writer continues : — " The peculiar manipulations required seem to have been but little known out of the Fraternity ; ancl this circumstance may be in some measure explained by recollecting , that in these Guilds all the moro important and essential processes were concealed as mysteries in the strict sense of the term . Theory and practice were conjoined . During the earlier periods , the hereditary character of tho handicraft must hai'e
greatly assisted in preventing the profane from withdrawing the veil . Other means were practised for tho purpose of keeping the secrets of the trade , _ and defending the monopoly . Oaths , awe-inspiring ceremonies , initiations—sometimes terrific , sometimes painful or ludicrous . Here the candidate trembled beneath the arch of steel , the sword suspended over his head . There , unless his agility preserved him , the incipient workman enjoyed the full application of the lash of the cart-whip . " Even in this our age of triumphant publicity , some curious vestiges of
this ancient system may be traced . ' The gentleman who reports for our paper , ' at whose presence every other door stands open , has never been able to obtain the slightest insight into the proceedings of the Lodge of Cosmopolite Freedom , No . 658 , meeting at the Yorkshire Stingo , Gray ' s Inn-lane ; the same being the true and legitimate seion , as my intended quarto will show , of the Masons' Company of London . The aspirant , admitted into the Worshipful Company of Cooks , binds himself , under a
heavy penalty , noo to reveal to any stranger the secret of raising puffpaste—a fruitless precaution , since the arcanum is entirely in the possession of every publisher in town . And lo Scritlore having , in pure , unsuspecting , guileless innocence , put a question to the worthy Prime Warden of the Plumbers' Company , respecting the proportions of the alloy of tin and bismuth employed by the Beadle , the official superintendent of their metallurgic operations , in the process of ' sealing solder , ' I found myself as completely baffled by the resolute silence with which the interrogatory was received , as if I had sought to know the ingredients
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Few Words On Benefit Societies.
he observes , " art is factitious ; it is extraneous , —superinduced upon our social relations , aud not arising from them . It has no real affinity to our mode of being . It is the forced and sickly floiver of the conservatory , not the idgorous product of the soil . It has no hold upon the multitude , no connection with the mind of our utilitarian era . "
He then proceeds to give a curious and interesting illustration of the close alliance between political ancl artistic feeling in the Middle Ages , ivith which our Masonic readers ivill doubtless agree , heart and soul : — _ "In the Roman 'Province' of Gaul , where the successes of the municipal authorities was uninterrupted , however uncouth and barbaric the
union of thc several portions of tho building may be , yet in each moulding and capital , taken distinctly and severally , a Eoman feeling is preserved . There is an evident transmission qf doctrine from the previous ages . In tho first case , the untaught stone-hewer copied the object which he saw ; in the second , the instructed Mason practised what ho was taught ; and imperfect as his attempts may have been , the contrast between tho productions is extreme , and indicates , even to the oye , the difference between the legal characters of the communities . "
In reference to oil painting , the same writer continues : — " The peculiar manipulations required seem to have been but little known out of the Fraternity ; ancl this circumstance may be in some measure explained by recollecting , that in these Guilds all the moro important and essential processes were concealed as mysteries in the strict sense of the term . Theory and practice were conjoined . During the earlier periods , the hereditary character of tho handicraft must hai'e
greatly assisted in preventing the profane from withdrawing the veil . Other means were practised for tho purpose of keeping the secrets of the trade , _ and defending the monopoly . Oaths , awe-inspiring ceremonies , initiations—sometimes terrific , sometimes painful or ludicrous . Here the candidate trembled beneath the arch of steel , the sword suspended over his head . There , unless his agility preserved him , the incipient workman enjoyed the full application of the lash of the cart-whip . " Even in this our age of triumphant publicity , some curious vestiges of
this ancient system may be traced . ' The gentleman who reports for our paper , ' at whose presence every other door stands open , has never been able to obtain the slightest insight into the proceedings of the Lodge of Cosmopolite Freedom , No . 658 , meeting at the Yorkshire Stingo , Gray ' s Inn-lane ; the same being the true and legitimate seion , as my intended quarto will show , of the Masons' Company of London . The aspirant , admitted into the Worshipful Company of Cooks , binds himself , under a
heavy penalty , noo to reveal to any stranger the secret of raising puffpaste—a fruitless precaution , since the arcanum is entirely in the possession of every publisher in town . And lo Scritlore having , in pure , unsuspecting , guileless innocence , put a question to the worthy Prime Warden of the Plumbers' Company , respecting the proportions of the alloy of tin and bismuth employed by the Beadle , the official superintendent of their metallurgic operations , in the process of ' sealing solder , ' I found myself as completely baffled by the resolute silence with which the interrogatory was received , as if I had sought to know the ingredients