Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

were intended to receive funeral urns of terra cotta . They were preserved from injury by being covered over also wifch terra cotta , which closed the holes quite hermetically . All the details of this tomb will likewise be found in tlie beautiful collection of antiquities " Recueil d'Antiquities , " engraved by Pianesi . ( To " be continued . )

Masonic Jottings From Abroad.

MASONIC JOTTINGS FROM ABROAD .

ALL contributions towards the early liistory of Masonry indifferent parts of Europe must be regarded with great interest . These are reasons why few documents should exist to guide the historian , and the archaeologist . On the one hand these was the natural jealousy of the Craft to preserve ihe secret of their constitution ; on the other ,

there was the profane impertinence of feudal lords and . powerful municipalities ever ready to meddle with the brotherhood . More than all , the enfranchised artisans of Europe in the middle ages , wrapjring themselves up in the mantle of trade monopolies were unable to understand the free spirit of Masonry and , naturally averse to what

they could not understand . Corporations ivere local Masonry was , so to speak , a universal institution . In Prance and Germany in the middle ages , the artizan had his rights only within a limited circle . In most cities certain trades were confined to a stated quarter of the city , and those who followed a certain Craft or occupation were liable to fine or to hare their wares confiscated if

they ventured into a- forbidden quarter . Those who belonged to the " mystic- tie " were free everywhere not as privileged traders or arfcizans in a commercial sense ; but tree in intercourse , in communicating , and receiving . They existed to be misunderstood , and at the same time envied . Memorials of Masonry in these ages are therefore hardly to be expected . The Lodge was held in a

church , often iu convents . Two or three met together ; but in days when scribes were few it is not likely that records of such meetings , often stolen , were many . _ A communication from Bro . Otto , in the Ba ' uhuite , gives some interesting particulars respecting the introduction of Freemasonry into Swedenivhich it appears

, dates as far back as the year 1125 , when Inge , the younger , was king of that country . At that time meetings of the Brethren ivere held secretly in churches and convents , as in England and Scotland . Written documents exist , which prove that Freemasonry was known in Sweden towards the close of the llth century .

Bro . Findel explains that there must have been working Masons ( IVcrkmaurer " ) , and not Knights Templar . There are old MSS . extant which state expressly that meetings of Freemasons were held , m the reign of Queen Margaret , in that part of the Castle of Stockholm called the " tower of the three crowns , " and also in the church

of the city of Lund , now called the " Craft ' s Church . " Masonry was first brought into Sweden under the name of "Masonic Orders , " with Lodges , & c ., in the year 1730 ; but it was the Grand Stadtholder Count Axel Eriksson Wrale Sporre , who was admitted into the fraternity in Paris the 1 th May , 1731 , and who afterwards

visited several "hi gher lodges" in Italy , that founded the first Lodge in Sweden in the . year 1735 , of which little more is known . On the 2 d January , 1752 , a St . John's Lodge was founded in Stockholm under the name of St . John Auxilian , the first master of ivhich was Major Count Knutson Porse . Since that time the Brotherhood lias ever made more and more progress in Sweden , seeing that its Kings and the highest in the land have enrolled

Masonic Jottings From Abroad.

themselves among the lowliest citizens belonging to it . A circular has been issued by the Grand Loclge of Germany on the occasion of the recent St . John ' s-day festivals , and it will be read no doubt by all those who participated in these fraternal gatherings , with feelings of the greatest pleasure . The language of the circular

letter is simple , but hearty . It expresses the joy that has been felt in the past and the hopes which it builds on the future . It pays a just tribute to the memory of distinguished Brothers who have passed away in the course of the last Masonic year . The election of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia as Master of the Order

( Oriciismcislcr ) appears to have given profound satisfaction to all the Lodges of Germany . The circular dwells with emphasis upon that paragraph , in the Prince ' s address where he admonished his assembled Brethren to exalt the truth and make the Order respected , not by word alonebut bact and deed on the part of the

, y Freemasons , in every relation of life . " And the Order will be always respected when such acts as the following are recorded : Herr Schultze , of Schweta , who died lately , has bequeathed to the educational institution founded by the Golden Apple Lodge of Dresden for the daughters of the better instructed

classes , the sum of 1000 thalers . Bro . Schiiltze was initiated in London , and for a long time was honorary member of the Golden Apple Loclge .

Architecture And Archæology.

ARCHITECTURE AND ARCH ? OLOGY .

I THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE . Tho annual meeting of this Institute was opened afc Gloucester , on tho 17 th ultimo , under tbe presidency of Lord Talbot do Jlalahide , when the members were welcomed fco the venerable city by the Mayor , fche Bishop , the Hih Sheriffand by Captain Guisethe President

g , , of tho CofcteswoM Club . Mr .- E . A . Freeman conducted tlie visitoz's to the various churches and minor ecclesiastical buildings of tho city , and in the evening , papers were road at the Tolscy . The Rev . AV . 0 . Lukis expatiated " On the Ancient Bell-Foundry of Gloucester ; " and the Rev . S . Lysous read a paper " On "Dick "Whittington , " showing that his cat was no myth , and claiming him , on the authority of

MSS . in the British Mnsnem and the Heralds' College , as a Gloucestershire man , of good descent , from the Whittington family , who held land afc Paunfcley , about nine miles from Gloucester , in fche reign of Henry tho Third . On Wednesday , the Rev . G . S . Petit read a paper " On Tewkesbury Abbey . " This was illustrated by a variety of sketches , done in that gentleman ' s usual artistic styleof churches in

, Normandy and elsewhere , possessing apsidal characteristics of the period of the building of Tewkesbury . In speaking of the glass ho was content wifch quoting from Winston , from whom the following , in these ages of rapid restoration , is worth consideration .- — "Identity of design does not always produce identity of effect , iu consequence of different material being used . " " It would be as absurd fco restore ancient

glass , as to attempt to restore an ancient manuscript . " In fche Historical Section , fche Eev . 0 . II . Harfcshorne read an interesting _ and eloquent paper ou " the Parliaments of Gloucester , " iu which lie traced tho growth of our representative system , and tho development of our constitutional liberties . Ho paid a glowing tribute to " Domesday Book , " and claimed tho gratitude of students of the present time for the benefits derived from that work . He said , —

" Some important questions of righfc were settled in the reign of Edward II ., as for example , at York , all matters affecting the estate of the King , as well as of' the realm ancl people , were ordained to lie treated of , and established in Parliament by and with the assent of the nobility anil commonalty of fche realm . In the reign of Edward 111 . the personal privileges of the peers were recognised ; and the Commons had gradually established the power of controlling the national expenditure , assessing tollages —( 6 th Edward III . )—and declining- to grant subsidies for the King's necessities without