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Article FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. ← Page 2 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In England.
considerable time at the top of the tower , found it at last so dangerous , that they refused to work any longer . Br . Wren had then recourse to the use of gunpowder , which , under his able superintendence , answered every purpose required , with little danger or annoyance to the surrounding inhabitants ; but , leaving it to the care of a subordinate , the second explosion had like to have resulted seriously . The charge of powder being too
great , a large stone was shot as from a cannon through an open window , into a room where a number of women were at work , causing much consternation amongst them and the surrounding neighbourhood . A petition was in consequence sent to the Council , praying that such dangerous means be no longer adopted . Br . Wren had , therefore , to recur to the ancient contrivance , called the battering ram , namely a huge pole , headed with
iron , slung by a long chain and propelled by a large number of men , with ropes . This engine appeared to produce but little effect on the first day , hut on the second the tower was observed to shake , and at last fell with a tremendous crash amid clouds of dust . In clearing away the foundation , the north side was found to have been an ancient burying-place , and under the graves of later ages were found , in a row , the graves of the Saxons , who cased their dead in chalk stones , though persons of great eminence
were buried in stone coffins . Below these were the graves of the ancient Britons , proved by the great number of ivory and wooden pins found amongst the mouldered dust . It being their custom to pin the corpse in woollen shouds aud lay it in the ground , and this covering consuming with the bodies they were intended to protect , the ivory and wooden pins only remained entire .
At a still greater depth were discovered a great number of Eoman potsherds , urns , and dishes , sound and of a beautiful red , like our sealingwax . On the bottom of some of these were inscriptions denoting drinking vessels ; others , which resembled our modern salad dishes , beautifully made and curiously wrought , bore different inscriptions , such as DZ . PIUIIANI . On others , PATKICI QUINTIMANI . VICTOK , LANUS . KECINIO , & C . The
pots and several glass vessels were of a murrey colour ; and others , resembling urns , were beautifully embellished on the outside with raised work , representing greyhounds , stags , hares , and rose trees . Others were of a cinnamon colour , in the form of an urn , which appeared to have been gilt , though very much faded . Some resembling jugs , were of an hexagonal form , curiously indented and adorned with a variety of figures in basso relievo .
The red vessels appeared to have been the most honourable , for on them were inscribed the names of their deities , heroes , and judges , aud the material was so excellent as to resemble polished metal in beauty . There were also a number of brass coins , very much decayed ; some , however , where the soil appeared to be more favourable , were so well preserved as to show in whose rei they were coined . On one of them
gn was Adrian ' s head , with a galley under oars on the reverse ; on the others the heads of Romulus and Remus , Claudius and Constantine . At a somewhat smaller depth were a number of lapilli or tessehe of various sorts of marble , Egyptian porphyry , jasper , & c , in the form of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In England.
considerable time at the top of the tower , found it at last so dangerous , that they refused to work any longer . Br . Wren had then recourse to the use of gunpowder , which , under his able superintendence , answered every purpose required , with little danger or annoyance to the surrounding inhabitants ; but , leaving it to the care of a subordinate , the second explosion had like to have resulted seriously . The charge of powder being too
great , a large stone was shot as from a cannon through an open window , into a room where a number of women were at work , causing much consternation amongst them and the surrounding neighbourhood . A petition was in consequence sent to the Council , praying that such dangerous means be no longer adopted . Br . Wren had , therefore , to recur to the ancient contrivance , called the battering ram , namely a huge pole , headed with
iron , slung by a long chain and propelled by a large number of men , with ropes . This engine appeared to produce but little effect on the first day , hut on the second the tower was observed to shake , and at last fell with a tremendous crash amid clouds of dust . In clearing away the foundation , the north side was found to have been an ancient burying-place , and under the graves of later ages were found , in a row , the graves of the Saxons , who cased their dead in chalk stones , though persons of great eminence
were buried in stone coffins . Below these were the graves of the ancient Britons , proved by the great number of ivory and wooden pins found amongst the mouldered dust . It being their custom to pin the corpse in woollen shouds aud lay it in the ground , and this covering consuming with the bodies they were intended to protect , the ivory and wooden pins only remained entire .
At a still greater depth were discovered a great number of Eoman potsherds , urns , and dishes , sound and of a beautiful red , like our sealingwax . On the bottom of some of these were inscriptions denoting drinking vessels ; others , which resembled our modern salad dishes , beautifully made and curiously wrought , bore different inscriptions , such as DZ . PIUIIANI . On others , PATKICI QUINTIMANI . VICTOK , LANUS . KECINIO , & C . The
pots and several glass vessels were of a murrey colour ; and others , resembling urns , were beautifully embellished on the outside with raised work , representing greyhounds , stags , hares , and rose trees . Others were of a cinnamon colour , in the form of an urn , which appeared to have been gilt , though very much faded . Some resembling jugs , were of an hexagonal form , curiously indented and adorned with a variety of figures in basso relievo .
The red vessels appeared to have been the most honourable , for on them were inscribed the names of their deities , heroes , and judges , aud the material was so excellent as to resemble polished metal in beauty . There were also a number of brass coins , very much decayed ; some , however , where the soil appeared to be more favourable , were so well preserved as to show in whose rei they were coined . On one of them
gn was Adrian ' s head , with a galley under oars on the reverse ; on the others the heads of Romulus and Remus , Claudius and Constantine . At a somewhat smaller depth were a number of lapilli or tessehe of various sorts of marble , Egyptian porphyry , jasper , & c , in the form of