Wonders Of Operative Masonry.

" Seemed all on fire that chapel proud , Where Rosslyu ' s chiefs uncoffined lie—Each baron , for a sable shroud , Sheathed in his iron panoply . " Seemed all on fire within , around , Deep sacristry and altars pale ; Shone every pillar , foliage-bound , And glimmered all the dead men ' s mail .

" Blazed battlement and pinnet high , Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair—So still they blaze when fate is nigh The lordly line of high St . Clair . " ' WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL , at AVinchester , sixty-two miles south-west of

London , was founded in the second century , by the British king , Lucius , the first royal personage in the world that espoused Christianity . Since then it has been repeatedly destroyed , rebuilt and extended . AVe have already referred to

its tower , now seven hundred years old . This Tower has no steeple—it was built before steeples were invented , they being the natural development of the pointed or Gothic arch . Bishop De Lacy , in the twelfth century , formed a confraternity of builders—the progenitors of our modern

Craft—for its rebuilding and extension . The magic beauty of the tracery on the vaulting arches of this Cathedral , the canopied niches , storied windows and tapering pinnacles , excite in every beholder feelings of wonder and admiration . MELROSE ABBEY thirty-two miles

, south-east from Edinburgh , from its extent and the superb character of its Gothic architecture , is justly considered the richest , most graceful and elaborate structure in Scotland . It was a favourite retreat of Bro . Sir AValter Scottwho

, never grew weary of studying its labyrinth of graces . The windows are " of extraordinary height , aud every part of the edifice is adorned with statues . The ashes of the dead lay thick beneath its pavement .

"We never tread upon them , but we set Our foot upon some reverend history , " The architect of Melrose was John Moreau , under whom , as early as A . D 1130 , the Operative Masons Craft was organized . He was ten years in erecting

this magnificent Abbey . It is situated on the Tweed , three miles from Abbotsford ( Sir AValter Scott ' s home ) . One of the earliest authentic mural inscriptions to be found in Great Britain is on the foundation stone of Melrose . Bro . G . F . Fort , in his very valuable " Early History and

Antiquities of Freemasonry , " gives an interesting account of Moreau ' s connection , as architect , ivith this Abbey . The Abbey was occupied by Cistercian monks , having been built with the generous gifts of King David I ., who laid its corner-stone . Its

remains consists of fragments of the cloisters , richly ornamented , and the ruins of the Abbey Church . The east window is of unparalleled Gothic beauty and elegance . The stone tracery is light , strong , and as sharp as when newly cut .

The roof of the chancel , a part of ivhich still remains , was supported by clustered pillars , ornamented statues , aud clusters of grapes and foliage . Many of the royal families of Scotland were interred here , including King Alexander II . The heart

of Robert Bruce was buried here . The Monk ' s Walk was a favourite resort of Bro . Sir AValter Scott . The Duke of Buccleugh is now the proprietor of Melrose Abbey . Bro . Sir AA ' alter Scott beautifully described this Abbey in the following lines :

" If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright , Go visit it by the pale moonlight ; For the gay beams of lightsome day Gild but to flout the ruins gray . When the broken arches are black iu

night , And each shafted oriel glimmers white , When the cold light ' s uncertain shower Streams ou tho ruined central tower ; When buttress and buttress , alternately , Seemed framed of ebon aud ivory ; AVhen silver edges the imagery

, A nd the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; When distant Tweed is heard to rave , And tho owlet to hoot o ' er the dead man ' s

grave—Then go—but go alone the while—Then view St . David ' s ruined pile ; And home returning , soothly swear , Was never scene so sad and fair . "