Architecture And Archæology.

was used in Scotland at the period referred to in the paper . After referring particularly and at some length to the wages paid to Masons in various parts of the country in the middle ages , the lecturer directed the attention of his audience to the workshop , residence or lodge , & c , aud dwelt at some length on the subject of companies and guilds , showing that there Avere guilds

of Masons existing before the fourteenth century . He next brought under review the privileges of the guilds , in the course of which he made numerous quotations from old documents , and referred at some length to the marks of masons , carpenters , & c . The lecturer next proceeded to give a description of the designation of the Masons in the middle ages , AA-hich include ingeniator ,

latomus , cementarius , & c . The first use of the term Freemason in England was made in 1396 , and was derived ( as the lecturer contended ) from the mason working in freestone . He next alluded to Avhafc were called the travelling masons , Avho were supposed to have erected the principal buildings of Europe , but he did not believe that any such body ever existed in England . On resuming

his seat Mr . Papworth Avas much applauded . The Chairman said he was sure they all felt much interested in Mr . Papworth ' s most learned paper , and hoped that some gentlemen , either from the paper itself or from their OAVU resources , Avould contribute further information on the subject . Perhaps , Mr . Matthew Cooke , who was present , and was a most learned Mason ,

would address the meeting . Mr . Cooke stated that he was not then prepared to make any observations . Mr . Mylne said he thought the master masons had a great deal more to do Avith the architecture of the building than they generally got credit for . As to ecclesiastical buildings , he thought ifc was more likely the master mason would have such buildings handed over to him than a royal building . In several tOAA'ns of Scotland in the fifteenth century , as for instance in the case of

Dundee , a contract would be made between the ecclesiastics and the municipality to appoint the master mason upon certain conditions . One Avas led to believe that more than one master mason had been knovrn to work at the building . There was a great distinction in Scotland with regard to the principal master mason and the master mason . The master mason was elected for a

time , bufc he suspected thafc the principal master mason had more to do with the architecture of the work than the master mason , the principal master mason being appointed for life . And in reference to the works performed , great care should be taken to ascertain whether there Avas nofc a principal master mason over the master mason . In 1630 a certain house was built in Scotland

, , the master mason being John Eitchie , but at the same time he found there Avas a master of works , who had great taste and and a liking for architecture , and he found that to him , Avhose name Avas James Murray , a payment of a thousand pounds Scots was made for drawing the model of the fabric and other services . So that they should not at once put down the words master

mason and attribute Avorks to him Avithout further inquiry . In 1617 , AVilliani Wallace , who was employed to build Heriot ' s Hospital , Edinburgh , Avas called a carver . He had not found the word Freemasons used in Scotland as indicating a company or guild at the period referred to . As to Scotland , where our best masons come from , it was curious to notice that all the principal master

masons were originally Frenchmen . Mr . G . E . Street referred io Spanish buildings , and thought that what was true of them might be true Avith reference to the architects in England as Avell as in France . He thought it was clear that in Spain there were men AA'ho carried on the profession of architect more than the men referred to by Mr . Papworth , Avho received a shillinga day , a class of men who were master's of Avorks , which Avas a term perpetually occurring in Spain . Mr . Papworth appeared to him to prove that the Master

Mason was not the architect , while on the same stone AA-ere found the marks of the superior and of the inferior Mason . Referring to the study of the Gothic buildings of this country , he did not think that the person Avho designed one of those buildings could be one who only received a shilling per day—he did not think the designers could have been of that class . In England our

architects were always as much architects as masons . In confirmation of what Mr , Papworth had said about the term Freemasons , he thought such a name was never used in the sense in which it Avas IIOAV employed , in reference to the men who superintended our buildings in the middle ages . And in Spain a committee of architects Avere asked to give their opinion as to the mode of

construction of the magister operum . Mr . Street then complimented Mr . Papworth for the care and learning exhibited in his paper , and said they should endeavour to get some further information as to the mode in Avhich some of the most eminent designers of buildings were paid at the period referred to . Mr . Mylne was understood to say that the principal

Master Masou was employed for life , but for a number of weeks or months when more actively employed he received more than his usual fee . Mr . W . White said there were two or three particulars Avhich might throw some light on the matter under consideration , and which were obtained from some inquiries he had made in seA'eral places . This was a

subject that had been of exceedingly great interest , and had been to him for some years . In several of the conclusions which Mr . Papworth had arrived at he mustprofess himself to be at variance . One of them had reference to a point mentioned by Mr . Street , namely , the difference of order between the superior mason and the subordinate mason , and there Avere no less than four or five terms Avhich came into general use , though in different countries different terms had been used , and even in England the same term did not always apply to the

same man . For instance , the word " builder" meant in some places " plasterer , " and in other parts they called a " plasterer" the " masoner . " But what ho wished to make special observation upon Avas the difference between the higher and the lower order of masons , although the body might be in some way connected ; but in the present system of Freemasonry there Avas the term " free and

accepted mason , " which applies , and Avhich he conceived did apply , to the artificers employed in carrying out Avorks in different parts of the country , and the " arch mason , " of Avhich none of the lower order had any knowledge , and which was prosecuting the science of Freemasonry , brought doAvn from the earliest clays to the present time . It would be absurd to suppose the lower

order of masons had the same sort of kmrwledge as the arch mason , but it would be equally absurd to say they had not some common knoAvledge to enable them to carry out the directions of the superior or arch masons . And more especially because he believed , aud he had been able gain specific evidence of this fact—which he hoped to be able some day to state more definitely and

more systematically—that the guild of arch masons carried out the work from the first until the decline of art , upon a systematic geometrical principle , Avhich enabled them by secret signs to communicate to those under them—the supervisors and the stone-cuttershow to carry out the Avork without a system of elaborate drawings now indispensable . We had the ancient

plan of Strasburg , but he had never heard of the drawings of any detailed works whatever , Avhich he thought was a corroboration of the supposition he had made . With regard to the difference of the terms employed , might he ask what the interpretation of cementarius Avas ? Mr . Wyatt Papworth—A " mason . " Mr . White—But some men translated that word " plasterer . " Mr . Papworth said some persons did so from a confusion of the word " cement . "