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Article MEMOIRS OF THE FREEMASONS OF NAPLES. ← Page 2 of 2 Article ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHÆOLOGY. Page 1 of 2 →
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Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.
extract of his last speech to an old Masonic friend deserves to be recorded : — " It is a public misfortune that the purity of manners of a society which exceeds every other should not be more generally known among all ranks , especially the lower orders , the people ; the people have been long ignorant of the Masonic princilesthey class all secret societies in one
p ; body , but wo ourselves know the difference ; while they seek only to form themselves into powerful bodies , causing anarchy and insurrection , we willingly submit ourselves to the powers that be ; we seek only to establish virtue and charity , to wipe the tear from the eye of distress , to cheer the heart of the unfortunate , clothe the naked , feed the hungryand preventbanticipationthe wants of the
, , y , unfortunate . We may equal , but we cannot surpass such actions as these ; it is not hero they can be excelled ; and it has long been my fervent wish that the people should be no longer ignorant of the principles of our Institution ; they should be told not to perplex their mind in the minute investigation of secret signs , but to reflect that the base of this Order is charitythat the figurative and tical emblems
, yp are illustrations of a nobler subject . Buildings , however strong or noble , will decay ; but virtue , immortal virtue , takes its flight from these to the celestial abodes , and is at last received into the bosom of its God . " ( To be continued . )
Architecture And Archæology.
ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .
THE BUILDING FOR THE EXHIBITION OF 1862 . The building for the approaching International Exhibition is progressing with extraordinary rapidity . Only a few weeks ago we chronicled the commencement of tho work , and tho building already has assumed form and substance ; nearly one half of the 8 , 000 , 000 bricks to be used in it are
laid . The enclosing portions , which , as our readers have been informed , are brick-built , reveal themselves conspicuously to the passers-by in the adjoining roads . In Exhibition-road the walls are some 20 ft . high , and tho window frames to the lower-storey are fixed . A like progress has been made in Prince Albert ' s-road , whilst the frontage in Cromwell-road is carried even to a greater height . The
flooring joists for the picture-gallery are laid , and at the south-east angle the window-frames over the lofty doorways are in their place . The massive character of the brickwork in here fully displayed , and enables us to estimate in som a measure the magnitude of the work . The central doorways in Cromwell-road , with the staircases at either side of them , are arched over , and the whole of tho arches which divide this portion from the main building are , as far as brickwork is concerned , entirely finished . The floors of tho ^ picture gallery are carried by cross-timber girders resting on tivo
rows of temporary wood uprights , lolt . apart ; iron columns will , however , be eventually substituted for these latter supports ; The whole of the brickwork is exceedingly well executed . It is personally superintended by Mr . Jacobs , the sub-contractor , who has , perhaps , done more work in his time than any man living , and who understands thoroughly how to push it rapidly forward . The bricks have been supbourne
plied by Mr . Smeed , of Sitting . On entering the columnar part of the building one is truly astonished at the divers preparations ; at every step we are arrested by some new and ingenious scheme for economising labour and time , foremost amongst which is the gigantic travelling scaffold built for the purpose of fixing the huge semicircular ribs which aro destined to span the
nave . It is of squared timber , braced and bolted together , and is constructed in . three stages , surmounted by a queenpost frame with stepped sides , on which , as on tho level top , 3-inch planking is laid . The whole is 91 ft . high , and by means of it the ribs will be adjusted and fixed in their proper places . It stands on twelve iron wheels and strong axles , and is thus easily shifted , on iron railways from one end of tho lengthy nave to the other . 50 ft . of scaffolding thus supplies the place of a thousand . Its great advantage
and economy is here seen by its juxta-position with the forest of timber which is required in the scaffolding for the transepts , where the intervention of the domes would not admit of the traveller being employed . That , however , is now very nearly finished , and ropes betokening " portentious preparation" are stretched from point to point , interlacing one another liko gossamers in the hot summer
fields , apparently in inextricable confusion , but really answering a well-defined and skilfully-contrived purpose . The men running about on the dizzy heights " show scarce so gross as beetles , " and , for half-a-crown a-day , almost rival Blondin ' s feats every hour in the week . Others seated on a piece of board , with the assistance of a labourer below and a pulley abovehaul themselves up the sides of the fixed
, columns ; cradled in mid-air they bolt the massive iron girders in their places , or fix the caps of the columns as they are hoisted up to them . Everything seems done here on a grand and expeditious scale . The traditional hodman crawling up and down ladders is put aside altogether . Barrowfuls of bricks and mortar are hoistedby means of a horsea stout and a pulleyas
, , rope , , speedily and as easily as a signal-flag is run up on board a man-of-war . Iron rails with turn-tables at the intersection are laid all over the site to facilitate the transit of materials . Two of Bowser and Cameron ' s large cranes are fixed near the hydraulic testing machine , by which the main girders are subjected to a pressure of some 70 or 80 tons , applied at a quarter distance from their extremities . The girders which
support the gallery-floors are each 2 ft . Sin . deep , those which carry the roof are 2 ft . lin . deep . The hydraulic machine is by Burton , Sons , and Waller . The weight of each of the lattice-girders is between 21- and 25 cwt . Stacks of these girders are on the ground ready for immediate use . Mr . Barrow , at Stavely , is personally superintending the castings , and in another couple of months every piece of iron-work , amounting in all to little short of 4000 tons , will be delivered . In addition to this enormous weight of metal , the Thames Iron Company will supply no less than 1500 tons of wrought
. Passing onwards , we come upon a series of the timber trussed girders which are to rest on the iron ones for the gallery floor . Some dozen of these are being temporarily laid near the ground in order to be tested by an extraordinary load of bricks . Each girder consists of two pieces of timber bolted together , resting in iron shoes . They are trussed with a cast-iron strut in the centre and
Ifwrought-iron rod , which passes under it from one end of girder to the other . Joists , 9 in . by Sin ., will lie on the top of them . Close adjoining , on a large platform of deals , the carpenters are busy tracing full size the lines of the roof for the "picture gallery . " The carpenters' work is all prepared either by Messrs . Lucas ' s establishment at Lowestoft , or at Grosvenor-basin , Pimlico .
The east end of tho nave is the most advanced portion of the central or iron building . The double stage of coupled columns , which form the sides of the nave , are fixed in nine or ten bays , and are ready for the roof ribs , which are now awaiting transit at Grosvenor-wharf . The first stage of the same are also up in three or four additional bays . Many of the side columns and cross-girders are fixed , and the number
increases daily . In tho eastern transept an almost equal activity is perceptible , and more than thirty columns are in their places . The expedition with which those iron bones of the gigantic building are hauled up is one of the most noteworthy features iu the construction . A little steam-engine scarcely bigger than a pony-chaise does the work . It sets
two or three wheels in motion , over one of which a rope passes ; pulleys are placed in convenient j ^ sitions near the ground , they rest on wooden blocks , and are securely lashed to iron pins driven in the ground or to fixed uprights . One or more men , according to the distance , take up their positions with rod and blue flags , to signal to the enginedriveranother is readto haul in or out the to the
, y pay rope revolving wheel ; tho rope passes round the various pulleys , and is then fixed to the material to be raised ; a man regulates its ascent with a gye-rope , a couple more await its arrival at its destination , the blue flag is displayed , a whistle , is heard , the rope tightens , and the iron mass glides rapidly
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.
extract of his last speech to an old Masonic friend deserves to be recorded : — " It is a public misfortune that the purity of manners of a society which exceeds every other should not be more generally known among all ranks , especially the lower orders , the people ; the people have been long ignorant of the Masonic princilesthey class all secret societies in one
p ; body , but wo ourselves know the difference ; while they seek only to form themselves into powerful bodies , causing anarchy and insurrection , we willingly submit ourselves to the powers that be ; we seek only to establish virtue and charity , to wipe the tear from the eye of distress , to cheer the heart of the unfortunate , clothe the naked , feed the hungryand preventbanticipationthe wants of the
, , y , unfortunate . We may equal , but we cannot surpass such actions as these ; it is not hero they can be excelled ; and it has long been my fervent wish that the people should be no longer ignorant of the principles of our Institution ; they should be told not to perplex their mind in the minute investigation of secret signs , but to reflect that the base of this Order is charitythat the figurative and tical emblems
, yp are illustrations of a nobler subject . Buildings , however strong or noble , will decay ; but virtue , immortal virtue , takes its flight from these to the celestial abodes , and is at last received into the bosom of its God . " ( To be continued . )
Architecture And Archæology.
ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .
THE BUILDING FOR THE EXHIBITION OF 1862 . The building for the approaching International Exhibition is progressing with extraordinary rapidity . Only a few weeks ago we chronicled the commencement of tho work , and tho building already has assumed form and substance ; nearly one half of the 8 , 000 , 000 bricks to be used in it are
laid . The enclosing portions , which , as our readers have been informed , are brick-built , reveal themselves conspicuously to the passers-by in the adjoining roads . In Exhibition-road the walls are some 20 ft . high , and tho window frames to the lower-storey are fixed . A like progress has been made in Prince Albert ' s-road , whilst the frontage in Cromwell-road is carried even to a greater height . The
flooring joists for the picture-gallery are laid , and at the south-east angle the window-frames over the lofty doorways are in their place . The massive character of the brickwork in here fully displayed , and enables us to estimate in som a measure the magnitude of the work . The central doorways in Cromwell-road , with the staircases at either side of them , are arched over , and the whole of tho arches which divide this portion from the main building are , as far as brickwork is concerned , entirely finished . The floors of tho ^ picture gallery are carried by cross-timber girders resting on tivo
rows of temporary wood uprights , lolt . apart ; iron columns will , however , be eventually substituted for these latter supports ; The whole of the brickwork is exceedingly well executed . It is personally superintended by Mr . Jacobs , the sub-contractor , who has , perhaps , done more work in his time than any man living , and who understands thoroughly how to push it rapidly forward . The bricks have been supbourne
plied by Mr . Smeed , of Sitting . On entering the columnar part of the building one is truly astonished at the divers preparations ; at every step we are arrested by some new and ingenious scheme for economising labour and time , foremost amongst which is the gigantic travelling scaffold built for the purpose of fixing the huge semicircular ribs which aro destined to span the
nave . It is of squared timber , braced and bolted together , and is constructed in . three stages , surmounted by a queenpost frame with stepped sides , on which , as on tho level top , 3-inch planking is laid . The whole is 91 ft . high , and by means of it the ribs will be adjusted and fixed in their proper places . It stands on twelve iron wheels and strong axles , and is thus easily shifted , on iron railways from one end of tho lengthy nave to the other . 50 ft . of scaffolding thus supplies the place of a thousand . Its great advantage
and economy is here seen by its juxta-position with the forest of timber which is required in the scaffolding for the transepts , where the intervention of the domes would not admit of the traveller being employed . That , however , is now very nearly finished , and ropes betokening " portentious preparation" are stretched from point to point , interlacing one another liko gossamers in the hot summer
fields , apparently in inextricable confusion , but really answering a well-defined and skilfully-contrived purpose . The men running about on the dizzy heights " show scarce so gross as beetles , " and , for half-a-crown a-day , almost rival Blondin ' s feats every hour in the week . Others seated on a piece of board , with the assistance of a labourer below and a pulley abovehaul themselves up the sides of the fixed
, columns ; cradled in mid-air they bolt the massive iron girders in their places , or fix the caps of the columns as they are hoisted up to them . Everything seems done here on a grand and expeditious scale . The traditional hodman crawling up and down ladders is put aside altogether . Barrowfuls of bricks and mortar are hoistedby means of a horsea stout and a pulleyas
, , rope , , speedily and as easily as a signal-flag is run up on board a man-of-war . Iron rails with turn-tables at the intersection are laid all over the site to facilitate the transit of materials . Two of Bowser and Cameron ' s large cranes are fixed near the hydraulic testing machine , by which the main girders are subjected to a pressure of some 70 or 80 tons , applied at a quarter distance from their extremities . The girders which
support the gallery-floors are each 2 ft . Sin . deep , those which carry the roof are 2 ft . lin . deep . The hydraulic machine is by Burton , Sons , and Waller . The weight of each of the lattice-girders is between 21- and 25 cwt . Stacks of these girders are on the ground ready for immediate use . Mr . Barrow , at Stavely , is personally superintending the castings , and in another couple of months every piece of iron-work , amounting in all to little short of 4000 tons , will be delivered . In addition to this enormous weight of metal , the Thames Iron Company will supply no less than 1500 tons of wrought
. Passing onwards , we come upon a series of the timber trussed girders which are to rest on the iron ones for the gallery floor . Some dozen of these are being temporarily laid near the ground in order to be tested by an extraordinary load of bricks . Each girder consists of two pieces of timber bolted together , resting in iron shoes . They are trussed with a cast-iron strut in the centre and
Ifwrought-iron rod , which passes under it from one end of girder to the other . Joists , 9 in . by Sin ., will lie on the top of them . Close adjoining , on a large platform of deals , the carpenters are busy tracing full size the lines of the roof for the "picture gallery . " The carpenters' work is all prepared either by Messrs . Lucas ' s establishment at Lowestoft , or at Grosvenor-basin , Pimlico .
The east end of tho nave is the most advanced portion of the central or iron building . The double stage of coupled columns , which form the sides of the nave , are fixed in nine or ten bays , and are ready for the roof ribs , which are now awaiting transit at Grosvenor-wharf . The first stage of the same are also up in three or four additional bays . Many of the side columns and cross-girders are fixed , and the number
increases daily . In tho eastern transept an almost equal activity is perceptible , and more than thirty columns are in their places . The expedition with which those iron bones of the gigantic building are hauled up is one of the most noteworthy features iu the construction . A little steam-engine scarcely bigger than a pony-chaise does the work . It sets
two or three wheels in motion , over one of which a rope passes ; pulleys are placed in convenient j ^ sitions near the ground , they rest on wooden blocks , and are securely lashed to iron pins driven in the ground or to fixed uprights . One or more men , according to the distance , take up their positions with rod and blue flags , to signal to the enginedriveranother is readto haul in or out the to the
, y pay rope revolving wheel ; tho rope passes round the various pulleys , and is then fixed to the material to be raised ; a man regulates its ascent with a gye-rope , a couple more await its arrival at its destination , the blue flag is displayed , a whistle , is heard , the rope tightens , and the iron mass glides rapidly