-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE INSTITUTION OF FREEMASONRY.* ← Page 5 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
which severed prosperity and Rome ) , he employed the whole energy of the nation to beautify ancl adorn his new city : 2 , 500 , 0001 . were set apart by him for the construction of the walls , porticoes , and aqueducts ; and , says Gibbon , " a multitude of labourers and artificers urged the conclusion of the work with incessant toil . The impatience of
Constantine , however , " he continues , " soon discovered that , in the decline of the arts , the skill as well as numbers of his architects bore a very unequal proportion to the greatness of his designs ; and the authorities of the most distant provinces were therefore directed to institute schools , to appoint professorsandbthe hopes of rewards and
, , y privileges , to engage in the study and practice of architecture a sufficient number of ingenious youths , who had received a liberal education , " This law is dated A . D . 334 , ancl was addressed to the prefect of all Italy , whose jurisdiction extended even to Africa ; so that its results , we may supposemust have been great . Herethenit may
, , , be said , we obtain a starting point , presenting fewer difficulties than any we have yet seen ; and , without going into the question as to whether the professors appointed to superintend ancl organise these colleges were not actually
remnants of the more ancient associations previously mentioned , and who initiated the students into their own mysteries , thus accounting for the coincidences already pointed out , many are contented to believe that in the members of these we have the ancestors of that body of men more immediately under consideration , the
Freemasons of the middle ages . In Constantinople , as we know , a vast change was effected in architecture . Unfettered by the restraints which , at Rome , paganism and want of space had put upon them , the Christian architects determined upon an entire change of forms in their religious edificesand the cross of equal sides " surmounted at the
, , junction by a majestic cupola borne on arches , became the most striking characteristic of their style . In Constantinople , the sciences flourished for some time , in a greater degree than elsewhere : her men of learning were sought by European as well as Asiatic nations , and her architecture was copied on all sides . Many of its characteristic
features came even beyond the Alps , and were taken up b }' the Lombards : so much so , indeed , that Hope declares that when , upon entering the ancient city of Cologne , he saw the east end of the Apostle ' s Church , he almost thought
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
which severed prosperity and Rome ) , he employed the whole energy of the nation to beautify ancl adorn his new city : 2 , 500 , 0001 . were set apart by him for the construction of the walls , porticoes , and aqueducts ; and , says Gibbon , " a multitude of labourers and artificers urged the conclusion of the work with incessant toil . The impatience of
Constantine , however , " he continues , " soon discovered that , in the decline of the arts , the skill as well as numbers of his architects bore a very unequal proportion to the greatness of his designs ; and the authorities of the most distant provinces were therefore directed to institute schools , to appoint professorsandbthe hopes of rewards and
, , y privileges , to engage in the study and practice of architecture a sufficient number of ingenious youths , who had received a liberal education , " This law is dated A . D . 334 , ancl was addressed to the prefect of all Italy , whose jurisdiction extended even to Africa ; so that its results , we may supposemust have been great . Herethenit may
, , , be said , we obtain a starting point , presenting fewer difficulties than any we have yet seen ; and , without going into the question as to whether the professors appointed to superintend ancl organise these colleges were not actually
remnants of the more ancient associations previously mentioned , and who initiated the students into their own mysteries , thus accounting for the coincidences already pointed out , many are contented to believe that in the members of these we have the ancestors of that body of men more immediately under consideration , the
Freemasons of the middle ages . In Constantinople , as we know , a vast change was effected in architecture . Unfettered by the restraints which , at Rome , paganism and want of space had put upon them , the Christian architects determined upon an entire change of forms in their religious edificesand the cross of equal sides " surmounted at the
, , junction by a majestic cupola borne on arches , became the most striking characteristic of their style . In Constantinople , the sciences flourished for some time , in a greater degree than elsewhere : her men of learning were sought by European as well as Asiatic nations , and her architecture was copied on all sides . Many of its characteristic
features came even beyond the Alps , and were taken up b }' the Lombards : so much so , indeed , that Hope declares that when , upon entering the ancient city of Cologne , he saw the east end of the Apostle ' s Church , he almost thought