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ins & HTS to Corttspn & cnfs . The following articles and communications have been received and will appear in early numbers : — " An HistoricalXoticc of the -St . CJairs of Ko . s . slyn , Grand Master Masons of Scotland . " , " l- ' reemasonry and Israclitism , by "VV . E . N ; " Reports' of Provincial Grand Chapter Lanarkshire ; I ' ro \ inciaI Grand Conclave of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire ; Girvan Encampment . Glassrow .

Eun . vr . i;—In the aiticle "Hull and the Masonic Charities , " page 307 , col . 2 , line 23 , for " all the purest , " read " all that the purest ; " line 2 ; , for " incomprehensible " read "indissoluble ; " line 6 5 , for" alluding " read " attending ; " 8 th line from bottom of column for " Institution " read " Institutions : " in last line but one of the article , for " , May ' s" read " . Mercy ' s ; " in the report of Grand Tribunal A . and A . Hire ; page 312 for " John Baker" read "John Barker . "

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Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY OF THE CRAFT .

BY A MASONIC STUDKNT . CUU ' . R . V . In the last chapter , I endeavoured to demonstrate the existence of a Roman Guild of Masons ,

with so close a resemblance , in many particulars , to our present organisation , alike in external signs and symbols , and in internal constitution and economy , as to raise a very stronsr and

satisfactory presumption , that those writers are altogether in the right who look on the Roman Sodalities as forerunners of the early and medi .-cvnl guilds of Operative Masons , and thus maintain the

connection of our present Speculative Brotherhood , through three successive channels and developments , with the building fraternities of Egypt , Greece , Tyre , and Jerusalem .

I propose in the present chapter to consider the History of the Masonic Guilds , as far as we are now able to trace it , from tiie beginning of the Christian era , until the close of the Saxon Dynasty in this country .

At the outset , I think it well that we should always bear in mind that the actual position of the Roman Guilds had greatly chano-ed

with the promulgation of Christianity , from what it was in the old Roman heathen world . Within one hundred years , at the least , after the Christian

Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

Era , the same struggle would be going on in them and with them , which was going on in all other like organisations then , and which was

going on in the whole society of the then known world , namely , the great struggle between expiring heathenism and progressive Christianity . By degrees , in the building corporations , just

as everywhere else , the " nova superstitio " obtained the upper hand , and these very architectural fraternities were altogether heathen , though always tolerant and cosmopolitan , because , not

nearly almost , but altogether Christian , and took their patron Saints no longer from the fabulous deities of the heathen mythology , but from the true heroes and other worthies of the Christian

Calendar . During the unsettled state of the first three centuries of the Christian Era , the persecutions which arose , and the doubts , the fears , the struggles

which were then agitating the world , the erection of churches and great edifices , like most of the other useful and ornamental arts , made but slow progress , and the buildings which were

constructed , especiall y by the earl } - Christians , for reli gious worship , seem to have been , as we are often told by contemporary writers , hasty of design and rude in form , run up often even of

fragile and perishable materials , only to subserve the pressing and immediate wants of the hour , because liable to sutler , as frequently they did sutler , from the destruction which more than once

fell with such ruthless severity on the frail tabernacles of the then despised and yet persecuted Christians ,- —persecuted and despised , that is , as they were , though most inconsistently , at the sa me

time , by the heathen powers of the world . With the reign of Constantine , popularly surnamed the Great , however , who was proclaimed Emperor in Britain , about A . D . 307 , a new and

happier era was ushered in for reli gion and for tiie world , and the Christian subjects of the Roman Empire , were , we are specially told , encouraged by his edicts , both to repair the churches

which had been destroyed in the persecutions , and to build others in all parts of his dominions . A few years later , though still very early in the fourth century , as ecclesiastical writers tell us ,

many beautiful stone churches were built at Jerusalem , Tyre , Constantinople , and in Italy , which Constantine aided , both in their erection and ornamentation , while lie speciall y favoured

the architects anil building fraternities , which had now apparently become altogether Christian , but which had evidently drawn both ther origin and outward and inner organisation from Rome .

It is very remarkable , that the first assembl y of Operative Freemasons in England , should be connected so distinctly , in our oldest traditions , with Alban or Albantts , whose martyrdom took

place in one of the Dioclesian persecutions in this country , about A . D . 2 S 7 . Of Alban little is known for certain , and though our Masonic hymns and ancient

constitutions connect him with Caransius and Amphibalus , and tell us , that he got a charter for the " assemblage" to meet , yet it seems impossible , at this distance of time , to verify such

commonplace traditions , long continued as they are , and certainl y of very ancient date . If it be true , as some early writers say , that Alban went to Rome , and brought thence Roman

Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

Masons , with whose aid he built Verulam , we shall , I think , probably flnd in this fact the orig in of our Masonic tradition , which is thus essentially true I

There were in all Roman towns , Sir F . Palgrave tells us , in his " History of the Anglo-Saxon Guilds of Roman Artificers , and specially Guilds of Roman Masons , " and he further says , that were

he a Freemason , he could tell us whether our present Order is or is not a scion of the old Roman stock , existing through so many centuries .

Our annals are therefore , I have little doubt , myself , correct , which connect Alban with a Roman guild of Masons .

There is also another remark I feel bound to make . The history of all building art , in Europe especially , and in England , is , after all , only the development of Roman building art , and

our best Masonic historian , Bro . Preston , long ago pointed out , as other writers , not Masons , have since admitted , that the history of all ecclesiastical architecture in the country is connected alike

with Roman masons , and Roman work . But , I am somewhat anticipating the course of events , as regards the progress of the building art in England .

There is no doubt , however , that the earliest churches wereeither held in the Basilia : themselves , or in buildings formed exactly 011 the models of the Roman Courts of Justice . And though it

may be true that the Romans , after their , 300 years of occupation of England , left many line buildings and Christian churches in this country , yet

they were , no doubt , ruined and destroyed by the ravages of the Picts and Scots , and afterwards the efforts of the Saxons to establish themselves in

England . The fall of Rome in the ^ th century , requires 1 short notice here . That "Teat and startlimr event left the buildi ' mr

societies , which had been gradually dissolving , like all other associations of an analogous organization , in a state of confusion , may we not say chaos ? All art , all the refining influences of

civilization , seemed likely to be swept away and forgotten , when , by the successful inroads of Goths and Vandals , the mighty edifice of Roman

supremacy , both in arts and arms , crumbled , so to say , suddenly away . The famous memories of Roman handicraft

and skill , the schools of learning , the colleges of architecture , fell with Rome itself , and nothing remained of that wondrous part of the

greatest power the world had ever seen , but the shattered fragments of a once great national life , and the decaying institutions of a once civilised society .

The fall of Rome seemed to have scattered the building societies in all directions , and when nest we hear of reviving art , it is under their auspices , in Germany , and Gaul , and in Britain , and in the Italic regions of their once mighty

empire . I alluded just now to the Saxons , and we have to deal directly with their history . It has been said that the first body of Saxons

who embarked in Britain , arrived at the Isle of Thanet , A . D . 449 or 450 , under Hengist and Horsa , and after one or more successful engage j ments , settled themselves in this country . Subsequently , as we know , terrible strife arose