An Architectural Conundrum.

So is it , also , in architecture ; Avhat is constitutionally dowdy cannot by mere surface ornamentation be rendered dignified . As is the case Avith many other things , the worth of Avindow-reveal may be best appreciated by its absence ; as when the sashes , or Avhatever the glazing might be , used to be in the same plane as the face of the wall , of Avhich now happily bygone mode the houses in Bedford-row afford ,

examples . Besides depth , there is another most excellent quality in noble design , which , if it exists not in reality , cannot possibly be counterfeited , namely , largeness—a very different thing , by-the-by , from mere bigness , which latter may be produced by

merely piling up " heaps of littleness . " Besides depth , there is another thing AA hich , -although something wholly unconnected with , decoration , except that it affords space for it , which imparts to a facade the more enviable than everyday quality of muscularity , and is consequently

Avhat , Avhere it exists not , cannot be feigned or ¦ counterfeited . It is , in fact , just the reverse of the ordinary " skin and bone" style of house construction . Breadth of pier and depth of reveal together insure a certain air of nobleness which , hoAvever simple it may be , contrasts so forcibly Avith the character of our general street

architecture , Avhether it be of the nude or bedizened out , as to be positively striking . I need not be here told , as I was once by an ignorant prig ' , —Avho , though calling himself a critic , let it be seen that he was a mere penny-a-liner , —that what I spoke of with recommendation could not possibly be

generally adopted . Of course , it could not ; neither did I think that any one Avould be donkey enough to suppose , or else malicious enough to pretend to misunderstand me , and represent me as supposing that what I spoke of could by any possibility be for the many . Excellent well it is

that consideration should be giA ^ en to the requirements and comforts not only of the many , but , as far as practicable , to those of the million also . At the same time , let us alloAV those who can afford them to indulge Avithout reproach in the luxuries of architecture , Avith this sole proviso , that they do so under the guidance of cultivated taste and due aesthetic study . —AKT-LOVER , in the Builder .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR . It would he most gratifying if the tone of candid inquiry and brotherly courtesy which pervades Bro . Ebor's letter on this subject , should he universally adopted in Masonic controversy , and I heartil with him that Freemasonry ia wide

y agree enough , and should he tolerant enough , both for those who agree and those who differ . The explanation of the intimate connexion between Freemasonry and the Knight Templars is indeed very

difficult , and the difficulty is not diminished by the peculiar divisions of Masonic degrees , and the almost insurmountable obstacle that few Blue Masons are at all conversant with the grades of the " Ancient and Accepted Bite , " and the diffei'enee between the various degrees of Masonic Knighthood and the Order of the

Temple ; and were Bro . Ebor a Templar , I think a candid comparison between the ritual of the Order and the beautiful ceremony of the sublime degree of a M . M ., as worked before the " Union , " and even UOAV hy the ritual of the Lodge de la Tolerance and others , Avould exhibit most striking , if not convincing , traces of Templar descent . —ROSA . CRTJCIS .

MASONIC MAPS . I hai'e often thought maps with coloured indications where Grand Lodges , Provincial Grand Lodges , and subordinate lodges are held Avould be a great convenience . Have any such ever appeared?—A TRAVELLING BROTHER ?—[ We were once shown the

design of such a map by a P . G . Officer , but we do not think it was ever published . West Yorkshire looked like a regular hive of lodges . ]

MASONIC KNIGHTS 01 ? THE TEMPLE OF ZEBTJBBABE 1 . The Christian order of the Knights of the Holy Temple and Sepulchre were preceded , five hundred and twenty years before Christ , by a Hebrew religious and military body , which was formed by Nehemiah on his return from Bablonas a bodguard to protect

y , y himself from the conspiracies of the Amorites , Moabites , and Samaritans , Avho endeavoured to prevent the rebuilding of the Temple by hiring foreign mercenaries to assassinate him during its progress , — not , as Josephus tells us , to take care of his own safety , or that he feared death , but of the persuasion

that if he were dead the walls for his citizens would never he raised . He also gave orders that the builders should keep their ranks , and have their armour on while they were building , as well as he ( the serving brother ) who brought the materials for building ; aud on these facts more than one of the degrees of Masonic knighthood is founded . —ROSA ORUCIS .

KNIGHTS OE THE NINTH ARCH AND THE K 0 TAL ARCH DEGREE . Sir Knight How , iu his " Freemasons' Manual , " tells us that the degree of the Knight of the Ninth Arch is founded on the apocryphal Book of " Enoch . " Would he kindly inform me where to find the passage

he quotes , as I have in vain looked for it in the translation in the library of the British Museum ? The Scriptural accouut of the circumstances which gave rise to this degree is as follows : — " When our Fathers were led into Persia , the priests that were then devout took the sacred fire ( symbolised by the brilliant

triangle ) and hid it in a hollow place of a pit without Avater , where they kept it sure so that the place was unknown unto all men . " "And Jeremy found an hollow cave wherein he laid the Tabernacle , and the Ark , and the altar of incense ( this must be the double cube found bthe sojourners in the ruins )

y with tho sacred fire , or ineffable name ( symbolised by the triangle ) , and so stopped the door ; and some of those that followed him came to mark the way , but they could not find it , which , when Jeremy perceived , he blamed them , saying , ' As for that place , it shall