Masonic Notes And Queries.

RELIGION AND ARCHITECTURE . A great foundation of theology among Christains is the Bible , which records the rise and progress of religious thought among the Jews . In fact the Bible is taken as their principle or exclusive text-book . I am afraid , however , that this is rather a narrowminded proceeding , and would be equivalent to our

taking a description of Grecian architecture and of the doings of the ancient Greeks , as our only guide or text-book in the study of architecture . The Bible of the Jew and the architecture of the Greek wore both noble and great , but the Eig-Veda of the Indian and the architecture of the Egyptian are also

great , and older than the former ; consequently the inference I draw is that as in order to get a proper and complete A'iew of architecture , we ought to stud y its rise and progress in all nations , so also in order to properly understand the rise and progress of religious thought , we ought to view its workings

and development in many relations and under various circumstances . In doing so we shall find that nobility , beauty , aud appropriateness were not in the sole and exclusive possession of either the Greek or the Jew . More , Ave shall also find that both borrowed largely from their predecessors and nei ghbours . —TV . P . B .

AMERICAN MASONIC BIBLIOGRAPHY . Among American Masonic books included in the list of Messrs . Trabner and Co ., Paternoster EOAV , are " Manual of the Lodge of Perfection , Ancient and . Accepted Rite , & c , 12 mo , " 112 pages illustrated , published in New York . The price is high 6 s . Gd . Another work is a JN ew York edition of Bro . W . J . Hughan ' s " Masonic Sketches and Eeprints . " Price los .

INDIAN MASONIC BIBLIOGRAPHY . In the same list if to be under the head of Anglo-India literature , E . TV . Bro- Coi . Greenlaw ' s Masonic Lectures , published at Madras , in 8 vo . 234 pages , 18 s APPRENTICE . " Apprentice ; a young person of either sexbound

, by indenture , to serve some particular individual , or company of individuals , for a specified time , in order to be instructed in some art , science , or trade . According to the common law of England , every one has a right to employ himself at pleasure in every lawful trade . But this principle was almost entirel

y subverted by a statute passed in the 5 th year of the reign of Elizabeth , which enacted , that no person should for the future exercise any trade , craft , or mystery in England , unless he had previously served to it an apprenticeship of seven years at least ; so that what had formerly been a bye-law of a few

corporations , became the general and statute law of the kingdom . Though the impolicy of this enactment was long apparent , it was not till 1814 that it was repealed by the 54 Geo . III ., c . 90 . The repeal did not interfere with any of the existing rights , privileges , or bye-laws of the different corporations ; but whenever

these do not interpose , the formation of apprenticeships and their duration is left to be adjusted by the parties themselves . The ancients had nothing similar to our apprenticeships , not even a term of corresponding signification . The mechanical arts Avere carried on , among the Greeks and Eomans by slaves . Apprenticeships in these and the liberal arts and

Masonic Notes And Queries.

professions grew up in the middle ages , when the members of a particular trade or profession formed a corporation . These corporations belong to these many institutions recorded in history , which were once necessary , and had useful effects , but which a change of circumstances , and revolutions iu the

social condition , as well as many abuses to which they became subject , have rendered , in moat cases , inexpedient . They have generally been abolished . "—Prom Blackie ' s Popular Encyclopedia . —B .

ARTS . " Arts—from the Latin ars—in the most general sense of the word , any acquired skill . As the fine arts , in earl y times , Avere not distinctly separated from the merely useful arts , nor even from the sciences , and as there isin factmuch difficulty in drawing tbe

, , line , in many cases , one word is used , in most languages , for both , and an epithet is necessary to distinguish them ; in some languages , however , e . g . the German , they are distinguished by two very different Avords . The ancients divided the arts into liberal arts—artes liberatesinyenucebonce—ancl

ser-, , , vile arts—antes seniles . Under the latter were comprehended the mechanical arts , because they Avere practised onl y by slaves . The former ones were such as were thought becoinin < r to freemen . The name servile arts was lost as soon as freemen began to practice them , but the name of liberal arts

was retained . The following seven Avere usually called by this name : grammar , dialectics , rhetoric , music , arithmetic , geometry , and astronomy , according to the well-known verse : — Gram loquitur , JDia verba docet , Rhe , verba ministrat , Mas . canit , Ar . numerat , Ge . ponder at , As . colitastra . "

Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

MASONIC SAYINGS AND DOINGS ABROAD .

The Masonic Board of Eelief for the City of New York , have just issued their fourteenth annual report * . Prom it Ave learn that the total receipts Avere 0 , 622 dollars ; that there has heen expended ( during the past year ) in charity , purchase of lots in Cypress

Hill Cemetery , Secretary ' s salary , rent and incidental expenses , 5 , 785 dollars , leaving a balance in Treasurer ' s hands of 8336 dollars . The Board have buried five brethren and one child of a Mason . Four brethren have been sent to

England , and one to Bremen . Pive widows have also been ] sent to Bremen . One widow has been provided with a home for life . In order that our readers may become more fully acquainted with the good being accomplished by this

Board , we give a few extracts from the report : —• " One of the most interesting cases which has come before the Committee on Charity was that of an English Mason , who was given up by his physician . His case was reported to the Board , and was taken