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Article PEEEMASONET ILLTJSTEATED. ← Page 5 of 10 →
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Peeemasonet Illtjsteated.
cate what they have learned in the second . The third suffer death if they reveal their knowledge , or become Mohammedans or members of any other sect than the Druses . Jowett says , the members of this society if they have been ever so loose in their morals , leave off their licentious life and become altered men : they are the best
ordered people in the East . They produce silk in considerable quantity , and corn in thfeir valleys . They are industrious , brave , and hospitable ; and their land is a refuge from Turkish oppression . They do not attempt to make proselytes . All travellers agree in having noticed that the Druses have great esteem for Englishmen , and show them marked attention .
We now approach the distinct society from which we derive our name . Sir Christopher Wren tells us " that the HolyWars gave the Christians who had been there an idea of the Saracens' works , -which were afterwards iniitated by them in their churches , and they refined upon it every day as they proceeded in building . The Italians ( among whom were yet some Greek refugees ) , and with them Prench ,
GrermanSyand Plemings , joinedinto a fraternity of architects , procuring Papal bulls for their encouragement and particular privileges . They styled themselves Preemasoiis , and ranged from one country to another as they found churches to be built . Their government was regular , and when they fixed upon the site of the building they made near it a camp of huts . A surveyor governed in chief ; every tenth man
was called a warden , and overlooked each nine . The gentlemen of the neighbourhood , either out of charity or commutation of penance , gave the materials and carriages . Those who have seen the exact accounts in records , of the charge of the fabrics of some of our cathedrals , near four hundred years old , cannot hut have a great esteem for their economy , and admire how soon they erected such lofty structures . "
Sir Christopher has not erred on the side of vain-glory , but of selfdenial ; for subsequent ages afford presumptive evidence that the Preemasons were the architects of the proudest lofty piles . It has been maintained that until the statute of 3 rd Henry VI ., c . 1 , which by prohibiting them from meeting in Chapters , greatly impaired
their organization and prosperity , they enjoyed a kind of building monopoly in this country . In an indenture of covenants made in the reign of Henry VI , between the churchwardens of a parish in Suffolk and a company of Freemasons , the latter stipulated that each man should be provided with a pair of white leather gloves and a white apron , and that a Lodge fitted to be properly tiled , in which they were to carry on their works , should be erected at the
expense of the parish . The Abbey Church of St . Ouen , in Rouen , which may claim pre-eminence for lightness and elegance over every other Gothic structure , was designed by Alexander de Berneval , the Preemason . He began the church in 1118 , and died when the building had only advanced as far as the transept . Berneval intended , it appears , to flank the western front by two magnificent towers , ending by a combination of open arches and tracery , corresponding with the outline and fashion of the central tower . Peter-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Peeemasonet Illtjsteated.
cate what they have learned in the second . The third suffer death if they reveal their knowledge , or become Mohammedans or members of any other sect than the Druses . Jowett says , the members of this society if they have been ever so loose in their morals , leave off their licentious life and become altered men : they are the best
ordered people in the East . They produce silk in considerable quantity , and corn in thfeir valleys . They are industrious , brave , and hospitable ; and their land is a refuge from Turkish oppression . They do not attempt to make proselytes . All travellers agree in having noticed that the Druses have great esteem for Englishmen , and show them marked attention .
We now approach the distinct society from which we derive our name . Sir Christopher Wren tells us " that the HolyWars gave the Christians who had been there an idea of the Saracens' works , -which were afterwards iniitated by them in their churches , and they refined upon it every day as they proceeded in building . The Italians ( among whom were yet some Greek refugees ) , and with them Prench ,
GrermanSyand Plemings , joinedinto a fraternity of architects , procuring Papal bulls for their encouragement and particular privileges . They styled themselves Preemasoiis , and ranged from one country to another as they found churches to be built . Their government was regular , and when they fixed upon the site of the building they made near it a camp of huts . A surveyor governed in chief ; every tenth man
was called a warden , and overlooked each nine . The gentlemen of the neighbourhood , either out of charity or commutation of penance , gave the materials and carriages . Those who have seen the exact accounts in records , of the charge of the fabrics of some of our cathedrals , near four hundred years old , cannot hut have a great esteem for their economy , and admire how soon they erected such lofty structures . "
Sir Christopher has not erred on the side of vain-glory , but of selfdenial ; for subsequent ages afford presumptive evidence that the Preemasons were the architects of the proudest lofty piles . It has been maintained that until the statute of 3 rd Henry VI ., c . 1 , which by prohibiting them from meeting in Chapters , greatly impaired
their organization and prosperity , they enjoyed a kind of building monopoly in this country . In an indenture of covenants made in the reign of Henry VI , between the churchwardens of a parish in Suffolk and a company of Freemasons , the latter stipulated that each man should be provided with a pair of white leather gloves and a white apron , and that a Lodge fitted to be properly tiled , in which they were to carry on their works , should be erected at the
expense of the parish . The Abbey Church of St . Ouen , in Rouen , which may claim pre-eminence for lightness and elegance over every other Gothic structure , was designed by Alexander de Berneval , the Preemason . He began the church in 1118 , and died when the building had only advanced as far as the transept . Berneval intended , it appears , to flank the western front by two magnificent towers , ending by a combination of open arches and tracery , corresponding with the outline and fashion of the central tower . Peter-