The Spirit Of Freemasonry.

euco will long bo universally felt . Being a dissenter from the established church , there are many towns in which testimonies of respect and of love would have been limited to those of his own creed and sect ; not so , however , with tho large hearted men of Birmingham . On the day of the funeral , all business on the line of route was suspended ; the

procession , though four or five walked abreast , occupied nearly a mile in length ; the mayor and other authorities were at the head , and attendance was given not only by the dissenting ministers but by nearly all the clergy of the district , of whom some officiated as pall bearers ; no sound was heard but of people hurrying to aud fro , and the tolling of the bell

of the parish church . Then were reconciled all differences , political and reli gious , at least they were suspended for the time ; Jew walked with Christian , Romanist with his most bitter opponent among Protestants , Unitarian with the most orthodox Trinitarian . On the next Sunday , funeral sermons were generally preached in the churches . This is the . true catholic and , let me add , Masonic spirit . Few towns have

oceii more marked than Birmingham by their political aud reli gious differences , and violent party feelings ; yet here , to carry out our analogy , all can be merged in a work of love or of charity . It has been the fashion among certain circles and classes to depreciate Birmingham , to speak of it as a coiner of shams , as the essence of vulgarity . It is not unfrequently

the case , that an individual accomplishes a great object for the public good by his own munificence , but it is not often that one witnesses a whole population rising up and making sustained efforts , such as these here recounted , which would lie an honour and a credit to any community . With such instances of generosity and brotherly love , Birmingham can

nfl ' ord to treat with contempt the sneers of those who may well take example from the good deeds of its people . Well would it lie for the world , if in this way tho glory of God and the good of man were more generally cultivated . The Masonic mission would then be fully performing its work , and proving its divine ori gin and purpose . Jersey , Nov . 2 dth , 1859 . H . H .

Classical And Gothic Architecture.

CLASSICAL AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE .

BY JOIIX WILSON r . oss . Vmtuvius said , "Other men than the artist can discover the good and the bad . The difference between the artist aud the man who is not an artist is , that one can foresee , and the ¦ other cannot . " We all flatter ourselves we have an eye for beauty , and we all judge by a natural instinct . There are

few of us who are not conscious of the lamentable failures in architecture , of which there are nowadays such frequent in * stances from the perseverance of our architects in adopting the Gothic style . How often a building is raised respecting which the architect finds , when too late , that if he had had a little more modestyhad taken good adviceand had more

, , repeatedly studied in drawings and by models , he might have better attained tho effect which he sought to impress upon the child of his hopes . And what is the cause of all the bad architecture of the present day ? One chief cause is a want of propriety and ¦ consistency between the outside and the inside of a building .

The proper method of designing , as followed by the architects uf the middle ages , is , first to get a good and convenient plan , on which , to raise an exterior possessing the appropriate qualities of beauty or grandeur , and the utmost consistency with its purpose within . The present system of our architects is , wc mi g ht say almost universally , the direct contrary

to this : they either design the exterior first , and adapt the plan to that , or they arrange the plan or interior with reference to some imagined exterior : in either case they very often spoil both inside and outside . We put up with inconvenience in the plan for the sake of effect in tho elevations . Lord Palmerston told a deputation of architects , in reference to the palace at Westminster , that the Speaker , on account of

the formation of the windows , could not have blinds or shutters to his bed room , and was obliged to hang up a piece of green baize to exclude the daylig ht when he retired to rest , in the height of the session , at three o ' clock in tho morning . The chairs , again , which were high backed , and of Gothic make , in order that they mig ht be in harmony with the rest

of the building , were universally condemned as most uncomfortable to sit upon . Though architects , with a tasto for mediasval models , ' ' compel the residents of their Gothic structures to put up with every kind of inconveniency , they yet so study and constrain their elevations that , whether in a symmetrical style or not , they seldom possess the expected

beauty or charm—even if they possess any beauty at all . This is one of the evil consequences of copying the stylo of a distant age and disregarding present manners , out of which should arise all architecture . Gothic architecture was very suitable during the earlier period of European civilizationor non-civilization—when

, the character of tho people was of a fighting type . But when the revival of learning was accompanied by a comparative state of quiet , a new field was thrown open for tho inventions of architects . Then Bramanto , to quote one instance , first adopted a double order—perhaps suggested by previous worksbut certainly not founded on . the antique .

, Yignola employed cantilevers in an entablature , as afterwards practised by Sir Christopher Wren . Yignola might have gained some idea of this method from ancient paintings' ) but assuredly not from the temple at Baiiibec , where a similar method is found—for Yignola had never heard of that

place . One feature which underwent important modifications was the construction of tho window . Previously it was small , and sheltered below , to prevent the entrance of the arrows and missiles of attacking enemies . But when commerce and industrial arts succeeded to hostile ravages and warfare— -when . from new discoveries in . projectiles and tho invention of gunpowder ,

cannon balls could not be guarded against even by stone walls—the window was made large . In the palace at Florence it was first ornamented with a pediment , and other decorations . So great an innovation seemed , at first , as if it would occasion nothing but ridicule , but this method of treating the window has endured ever since , and been

practised by all architects of good taste . This feature laid never previously been seen in architecture—it was truly an invention ; and it is only novelties of a similar description which , can be successful . The instance is cited to show that , by attention to points arising out of structure in our buildings , our architects mig ht best attain excellence ; but they must , at the same time , impress the character of the nineteenth century upon their works , and must not , whilst recognising the value of precedent and authority , shut their eyes to every

other important consideration . The advocates of Gothic architecture say that our climate requires high p itched roofs to throw « 2 the water , chimneys for the escape of smoke , numerous and spacious windows , variety in the parts and purposes of our buildings—all which are utterly at variance with the classical styles ; and that ,

with our fogs , our chill winds and our constant rains , we have no occasion for columns , entablatures , open porticoes and colonnades , -which arc absoutely necessary to the classical styles . Granted that our requirements and wants are all internal , and that Grecian architecture is all external—does it thence follow that classical architecture is not fitted for this

country , when , we see the numberless beautiful examples that greet our eyes in all directions of that style admirabl y adapted to our soil and climate i Is it so very absurd to build a private mansion , after the manner of a Roman palace —as Prince Napoleon has just done in Paris—or a Christian church in the likeness of a Greek temple ? For the sake of relief

, what mig ht we not do with other styles imported from Ital y , Switzerland , or Egypt—let us have even specimens after the Chinese fashion , if to the importation we give a character and meaning closely suited to our peculiar manners . A .