Royal Institute Of British Architects.

Mr . ASHMTEL , in continuation , observed , that whatever might be the position of tho architect in the present day , the fact that William of AVykeham , the son of a poor man , had sprung from the ranks of tho loAi'or ecclesiastics to the position which he successively occupied as Bishop of "Winchester aud Lord . Chancellor of the empire , was in itself sufficient to show iu what high estimation the study of architecture was held in his day , and ivith what honours the man had been roivarded ii'lio had struck out a neiv style of architecture .

Mr . DldBV AA TATT observed , that although some difference of opinion might exist as to tho conclusiveness of the arguments raised by the lecturer , they must all acknowledge the labour and research which he had shown by the collection of his facts and historical data . AA'ith regard to the actual architects of inediteval times , they must all admit that the subject ii-as involved in obscurity , and that great credit ought to attach to those AA-ho might endeavour to penetrate that gloom , and bring additional light to bear upon the subject . As Mr . AVyatt Papworth had applied himself to that task he Ai-as entitled to their acknowledgments , and he therefore begged to move that the best thanks of the meeting be awarded to him for his able and erudite essay .

Archæology .

ARCH ? OLOGY .

THE' WBOXETEE EXCAVATIONS . MR . THOMAS WHIGUT writes to a contemporary , as follows , upon this interesting subject : — " On my return from an inspection of the excavations on the site of the Eoman city of Uriconium , I A-enturc to ask for room in your columns to statein a few linestheir present condition .

, , The men have been working steadily through the winter , and the authority noiv given us to clear away the earth and rubbish has enabled them to lay completely open a number of rooms , some of them of considerable size , and all possessing- hypocausts , which present a much more imposing and interesting spectacle than anything that could be seen during the summer and autumn . The visitor may noiv pass out of one room into another over some

extent of ground , with many of the walls higher than his head ; and the way in which the excavations are now proceeding the interest of the whole will be greatly increased when the season more favourable for visitors approaches . " I feel no longer any doubt that the large building , on ivhich AA ' are at present chiefly engaged , was the public baths ofthe city of Uriconium . Tt formed a square of about two hundred feet b y

one hundred and eighty feet . The buildings of the warm baths occupied chiefly the northern side of this square , and about one half of the whole area . The eastern side had also buildings , ivhich seem to hai-e enclosed a cold or swimming bath . The western and southern sides , and perhaps a portion of the northern side , appear to have been occupied by a broad corridor , or ambulatory ( amlndatoriuin ) . Within these was an open court , with a large tank of water . I think it probable , from tlie appearance presented in some of our earlier diggings , that there Avere gardens

attached to these buildings on the east . The southern wall abutted on a street ; to the west the baths were separated from another street by a mass of buildings which have been supposed to have consisted partly of a small market place , with shops ; and to the north the long and comparatively narrow buildings , the character of which seemed so mysterious , separated them from a third street . These baths present many points of comparison

with the similar establishments found in Pompeii and at Eome . " I have no doubt that the more complete exploration of this building will not onl y more fully explain the use of its different parts , but ivill help to throiv light on the character of the other buildings surrounding it . We knoiv that there were public baths in the Eoman toivns in Britain from the mention of them in inscriptions found on their sites , which record their restoration or

rebuilding after they had been destroyed by accidental fires or had fallen into ruin through age ; and it is very curious that the baths ( balneum ) and the basilica are generally spoken of as coupled together ( apparently adjoining each other ) , and suffering from the same fire or ruin . On ' the site of the Eoman E piaeum ° at Lanchester , in the county of Durham , the baths and basilica , or courthouse ( haln . eii . rn cum hasil / cd ) , were built from the ground in

the reign of the Emperor Gordiau ; and similarly whatever Eoman city occupied the site of Eibchester , in Lancashire , an inscri ption found there tells us that its baths aud basilica had been at some period rebuilt from the ground after having fallen into ruin through age . The date ofthe latter inscription is unknown , but it is probabl y late , as the word is spelt barbarously balincrni . I am inclined , from these circumstances , to lielieA'e that the long huilding _ at Wroxeter , adjoining the baths to the north , the exea-A'ations in Avhich have noiv been covered up , was really , as has

Archæology .

been already conjectured , the basilica of Urieowiun . It is rather a curious circumstance that this supposed basilica is exactly the same length as the basilica of Pompeii , —namely , 220 feet , but its other proportions arc very different , and its extreme length , in comparison to its breadth , seemed very unaccountable . An inscription found at Nctherb y , in Cumberland , informs us that there was completed in the city occupying that site , under the reign of

Severus Alexander , a liasilit-a ee / iics / ris c . rercilnloria , meaning , I . suppose , a basilica for exercise in horsemanship . My first impression , from the peculiar dimensions of the building at Wroxeter HIIS , that AVC had found such a basilica as once stood at Nctherby , but . I fear that the pavement of small bricks in herringbone fashion would not be good footing- for horses . HoiA-ever , it , is . probable that in our Eoman toivns the basilica ivas used for a place of

exercise for the people ns well as for public meetings . " From different discoveries it is evident that there was a wide open place to the west of the buildings wc have been excavating , at least double the width ofthe present road . I am much inclined to think that this was the Foriun of Uriconium ; hut , as the modern road runs over the middle of it , we can hardly hope to explore it properly . It evidently extended from the transverse

street on the south ol the baths to the transverse street on the north of the basilica . At the first of those streets the wide space suddenly narrows into a street which continued in a southerly direction , but we have not yet had an opportunity of ascertaining if this was the case to the north also . If so , the supposed basilica at Uriconium would occupy exactly the same position in regard to the Forum as at Pompeii .

" I will not venture to trespass further upon j-our space hy enumerating the numerous objects of various kinds Avhich the excavations during the winter have added to the museum ; but I am sure you will agree with inc . that to have thrown so much li ght upon the economy of a great Ilomnn town in Britain already deserves to be regarded ns an important discovery . I . will only add , that I have brought with me to town the whole ofthe

deformed skulls found at Wroxeter , which have been the subject of so much discussion even among those who have not yet had the opportunity of carefully examining them , and that they are temporarily deposited in the rooms ofthe Ethnological Society . They will be exhibited at the public meeting of that society on the loth of February , when I ! hope that they will lie the subject of a discussion AA'hich will produce some more decided opinion on their real character . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

" !> 01 VXFAT / L OF FllEEMASOXllV . " I . have been recommended to read a book called the " Downfall of Freemasonry . " 1 have searched for it in the state library of Neiv York without effect , nor do I find any one on this side the water that has any knowledge of it ; perhaps sonic of my brethren in the old country know more of it than we do here , and will tell us what it is all aboutin the "Notes and Queries" ofthe British

, Freemasons ' ' . Magazine and , Alasonic Mirror . —Ax AAIF . KICAX MASOX . Boston , U . S ., Nov ., 1859 . —[ The work in question is A'cry rarely to be met with in England , it being one ofthe series of books published in consequence of the Morgan excitement in America ; but as Ave have seen a mutilated copy , and took the title page doivn , Ave have much pleasure in appending it for our American brother's guidanceand he ivill see there is no reason to

, give a detail of its contents , as it speaks for itself . The Lhncnjidl of Masonry : being an Authentic History of lite Pise , Progress , and Triumph of / lull-Masonry ; also of the Origin and Increase of Abolition . Together with tin Account of lite Dangers , Attacks , Discocerier ., and Escapes of ( lie . Governor from die Cutthroats of tit ,-: Lodge , during lite First . Year of his Administration , hi his rariims peregrinations through Ilia Stale , contained in his men Letters . To

which are prefixed Faith fid . Biographical . Sketches of his Life and . Aly Own , ic ' ilh Notes and . Explanations . AU carefully Jlet-iewed hy Pankins Short . Thunder worked hy Sieam from liiiwlieiii ps . Vhwo . 18 , 18 . The copy AVC saw contained about 150 pages , and had a number of plates ; but there was no imprint to it , nor could we discover who the author ( one Jonathan Pankin , according to a MS . note on the title page ) , could be . ]

THE FllEXCII IIITF . OF 1780 . In continental books of Masonry wc frequently see allusions to the French Kite of 1780 ' as the governing power of the Grand Orient of France . Of ivhat degrees was this rite composed , and is it still the pole star of French Masonry V—P . . c ... L . —[ The rite inquired of consisted of 1 , E . A ., 2 , F . C , 8 . M . M ., 4 , Elect ,