An Oration

country , Bro . Smith , most likely in the company -of his father , wended his way to Charlotte-square , then in the course of erection , and there and then . first handled the mallet and chisel , which he was destined to yield more or less for a

period of fifty-two years . After he was with-, drawn from Charlotte-square , the most important building at which he was employed during the course of his apprenticeship , was St . John ' s Episcopal Chapel , at the west end of

Princesstreet , which was chiefly erected in the year 1818 . After he became a journeyman , the principal buildings at which he wrought were St . Stephen ' s Church , the Orphan Hospital at the Dean , the Exchequer buildings in the Parliament-square ,

the Royal Institution on the Mound , and the Assembly Hall on the Castle-hill . The workmanship at all of these public edifices is of a first-class description , and reflects great credit on the skill and delicate manipulation of the Edinburgh masons .

Bro . Smith , from an early period of his career as an operative , was distinguished for the taste which he displayed , and the pains which he bestowed on

the work under his hand . He was one of the best hewers of his time , aud generally got some of the most delicate and difficult portions of the work to perform at the jobs at which he was . employed . It was , I believe , his excellence as a

hewer , that led to his engagement as a stone-. carver . He entered the service of Messrs . Black - . adder and Yule , stone-carvers , in this city , and remained with tbem for a number of j ^ ea rs . He was in their employment when he wrought at the

Royal Institution ancl the Assembly Hall . Mr . Blackadder died some years ago , but Mr . Yule is still alive . He is a member of this lodge , and I am happy to see him present with us this evening .

Bro . Smith left the employment of Messrs . Blackadder ancl Yule in the end of 1842 or the ¦ beginning of 18-1-3 , and entered into an engagement with Mr . John Steell , the famed sculptor . The first job at which he wrought , after entering

the service of Mr . Steell , was the statue of tlie Queen , which is somewhat incongruously placed above the front pediment ofthe Royal Institution . For the following eleven or twelve years , he was almost exclusively employed as a marble-carver

with Mr . Steell , and it ' would be somewhat interesting to know what statues and busts employed his chisel during that period . We know that one of tlie most notable ancl important was the statue of Sir Walter Scott , placed under the groined '

arch of the monument , erected to his memory in Princes-street . About twelve years ago he had a severe attack of rheumatic fever . It w as brought on , as he used to relate , by an overheat which he gave

himself . He was sent along with Mr . James Carnishelli , the modeller-, to take a cast from the face of a person who had died in the neig hbourhood of Dunbar . The house to which they went was somewhat distant from the railway station , and

they allowed themselves too little time to return for the last train . They observed the train careering for the station , while they had still some distance to travel . They exerted themselves to the utmost , ancl just reached the station in time ,

but Bro Smith was in a state of profuse perspiration and exhaustion . A cold shivering , ere long , crept over him , and was followed , after his return home , by fever and rheumatism . The attack of these fell disorders made a great change on his

whole system . His joints and limbs were racked and distorted , giving him excruciating pain , and leaving him the wreck of what he once was .

AVhen I knew him first , some fifteen years ago , he was vigorous and athletic . He had a commanding and reverential aspect ; and on St . John ' s day , at a quarterly meeting , or on Sabbath , you would not have taken him to be a working

man , but a well-to-do tradesman or merchant . For a year or two I had not the pleasure of seeing him . In the interim his disorders had wrought their direful effects , and when I met him one day in Princes-street , I scarcely recognised him , so

great a change had taken place in his appearance . He never got rid of his rheumatic affections . They tortured and very much disabled him to the day of his death . For four years jurevious to his

death he was also afflicted with bronchitis , and it was this disease that brought his sufferings to a close on the 23 rd of May last . Regarding our deceased brother ' s Masonic career , it will not be requisite that I enter into

any lengthened detail . He appears to have been initiated into the mysteries of the Craft in the memorable year 1822 . In the autumn of that year George IV . visited Scotland , the only crowned sovereign of the British empire that had been in

our ancient kingdom for 150 years . During his short stay in the neighbourhood of this city , there was a grand Masonic display at laying the foundation stone of the National Monument of Scotland , on the Calton-hill . The books of our lodge do