Distribution Of Honours In The Grand Lodge Of Scotland.

all parts of the country to maintain an intimacy of fellowship formerly unknown . Ifc would be for the advantage of fche interests of Freemasonry that full v . ' je were made of this , and that the mB-mi !>; smc-nt of the affairs of the Grand Lodge

were aerjon-odafed to it , instead of continuing to be wo . eh as it was when the whole state of things - : va , i ve-y different , ancl when the presence of a member from Stromness or Stornoway was hardly iu any oircuuistances to be expected .

Masonic Curiosities, No. 1.

MASONIC CURIOSITIES , No . 1 .

BY A MASON > C INQUIKER . Continued from page 482 . Vol . xxiii . The learned author of the Antiquity of Masonry

annexed to which are our Constitutions , has take i so much true pains to draw it out from the rubbish which the barbarous and ignorant Ages of the world have buried it in , as to justly merit the highest gratitude from the brethren .

That diligent antiquary has trae'd out to us those ~ 'pny stupendous Yv ' oi'ks of the Amfcienfcs which were certainly , ancl without doubt , infinitely superior to the Moderns . I shall not therefore follow his steps ; but since there ought

to be something said of antient Architecture , fo illustrate the real antiquity of Masonry in general ,. I shall begleaveto subjoin what an elegant modern author , the ever celebrated Mr . Addison , has

wrote upon this subject : "We find / ' says he , "in Architecture , the ancients much superior to the moderns . For not to mention the Tower of Babel , of which , an old author says , there were the foundations to be

seen in his time , which looked like a spacious Mc-mitfdn ; what could be more noble than the Walls cf Babylon , its Hanging Gardens , and its Tempi t- to Jupiter Belus , that rise a mile high by 8 several stories , each storey a furlong in height ,

? . TV ! on the top of which was a Babylonian Observatory , I might here likewise take notice of fche huge rock that was cut into the figure of Semiramis , with the smaller rocks that lay by it in the shape of tributary Kings ; the prodigious bason ,

which took in the whole Euphrates , until such a timo as ,-i new canal was formed for its reception , with iho several trenches through which that

river was conveyed . "I know /' adds our author , "them are persons who look upon some of these wonders of Art to be fabulous ; but I cannot find any grounds for such a suspicion , unless it be that we have no such works amongst us at present . "

There w ere , indeed , many greater advantages for building in those times , and in that part of the world , than have been met with ever since . The earth was extremely fruitful , men generally lived on pasturage , which requires a much smaller

number of hands than agriculture . There were few trades to employ the busy parfc of Mankind and fewer Arts and Sciences to give work to men of Speculative tempers , and what is more than all the rest , the Prince was absolute , so that when he

went to war , he put himself at the head of a whole people ; as we find Semiramis leading her three million to the field and yet overpowered by the number of her enemies .

It is no wonder then , when she was afc peace , and turned her thoughts on building , that she could accomplish so great works with such a prodigious multitude of labourers . Besides that , in her climate , there was small interruption of frost

and winters , which make the Northern workmen lie half the year idle . I might mention , amongst the benefits ofthe climate , whathistorianssay of fche Earth , thafc ifc sweated out a bitumen or natural kind of mortar which is doubtless the same with ,

that mentioned in Holy Writ , as contributing to the structure of the Tower of Babel . " Slime they used instead of mortar . " " In -ZEgypfc we still see the Pyramids which answer to the descrip - ion th afc have been given of them ; and I

question not but a stranger might find out some remains of the labyrinth that covered a whole province , and had a hundred temples dispos ed among its several quarters and divisions .

"The wall of China is one of these eastern pieces of magnificence which makes a figure even in the map of the world . Although an account of it would have been thought fabulous , were not tho wall itself extant .

"We are obliged to devotion for the noblest buildings thafc have adorned the several countries of the world . It is this which has set men afc work upon temples and publick places of worship , not only thafc they might , by the magnificence of the building , invite the deity to reside there ; but