Masonic Notes And Queries.

should have such an aspect that the statue in the cell may have its face towards the west , so that those who enter to sacrifice , or to make offerings , may have their faces to the east as well as to the statue in the temple . Thus suppliants , and those performing their vows , seem to have the templethe eastaud the deityas

, , , it were , looking en them at the same moment . Hence all altars of the gods should he placed towards the east . But if the nature of the place do not permit this , the temple is to be turned as much as possible , so that the greater part of the city may be seen from it . Moreoverif temples he built on the banks of a

, river , as those of Egypt on the Nile , they should face the river . So , also , if temples of the gods he erected on the roadside , they should be placed in such a manner that those passing by may look towards them and make their obeisance . "

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio lived in the first century B . C . He then dedicated his work to Augustus ; he was of small stature and lived to a good age . He treats of the tlirce orders of architecture , there being then no such division , or idea , as the five orders . * His work has been alluded to by many writers upon

architecture . In the 17 th century , A . D ., there was a great revival of Pagan , or classic , architecture , and a consequent large perusal of all the then extant books or treatises thereon , consequently some of the ideas found in said works were ( owing to the sort of connexion between Masonry and Freemasonry ) afterwards incorporated into "Freemasonry" when it was established . —W . P . BUCHAX .

Masonic Archæology.

MASONIC ARCH ? OLOGY .

COKRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents

TO THE EDITOK OF THE EREEMASONS MAGAZINE AST } MASONIC MIKIIOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —There are two papers in your Magazine of the 27 th ult . which present a curious contrast . The one is a paper read by Bro . Besant , M . A ., on " The recent discoveries in connexion with Palestine explorations , " conducted by Bro . Lieut . Charles

Warren , R . E . ; the other is a paper by Bro . Melville on " Masonic Celestial Mysteries . " Both papers relate to the same intensely interesting subject—the sacred mysteries . Bro . Warren went , some two years ago , under the auspices—administrative and financial—of the Palestine

Committeecom-, posed of eminent members , to seek , with the cooperation of Serjeant Birtles and four non-commissioned officers of Royal Engineers , for subterranean reliques in the Holy Land . Bro . Melville went , more than 30 years ago , alone , his courage buoyant , his funds circumscribedto seek in the field of science

, , strewn with tomes , coins , medals , symbols , superscriptions , and the fertile materials of his own brain for some clue to , or indications of , the mysteries . Bro . Warren may ere long return laden with exhumed spoils from Palestine that will be hailed

Masonic Archæology.

with rapture by the committee , who will invite the attention of the learned far and near to join in the examination of them , preparatory to their transference to the British Museum . The learned will be struck with the beauty of the antiques , the contours of the sculptures , and marvel at the uses to which they were

applied , or the positions they occupied in past ages . The learned examiners may here and there decipher hieroglyphics , but let their minds range over any one of the mauy galleries of Eastern reliques , in the British Museum , brought thither regardless of cost by the nationand let the learned examiners

endea-, vour to construct , if they can , from the entire collection auy consecutive series of reliable ancient history , and they will be utterly powerless to do so j and , when they retire from the gallery , their curiosity will be unsated , and they will be neither wiser nor better than when they entered there .

In the interim Bro . Melville returns to his native city—London—toilworn , friendless , unknown , save by two who had the will , but lacked the adequate power to guide , to sustain his steps in the metropolitan wilderness , where even the steps he took were stayed by sickness which brought him to the verge of

the grave , but his hour had not yet come ! his mission was still unfulfilled , the knowledge of the re-discovered mysteries lay treasured in his MSS . not far off the door of the Masonic Temple , awaiting entrance like the patient of old at the Fountain . But what is or can he the nature of that

knowledge which is to purify the mind as the waters of the Fountain purified the body ? Do the MSS . propound any new theories or speculations , or merely deduce modern instances from wise saws ? No ! Do they inculcate any schismatic doctrines to distract the mind like unto those of Bishop Colenso or M .

Renan and others ? INO ! On the contrary , they demonstrate the omnipotence of the Creator , the homogenity of His creatures , as well as Biblical indivisibility ; they show that the kuowledge of the mysteries embraces a positive science , resuscitated from the tomb of past ages ; a science which is of the very

highest order of intellectual study , which unfolds luminous historic views , sacred aud profane ; which is pre-eminently synthetic , not o ^ y exhibiting the cause and effect , but the uniformity as well as the universality of the laws of creation—which above all things begets the love of God , the love of one's

neighbour , be he in the east , or the west , the north , or the south , and which is alone fitted to turn benighted and deluded peoples from idolatry and superstition , to the worship , in spirit and in truth , of the Great Architect of the Universe . Tours fraternally , W . N . CRAWFORD .

Bro. Melville's Articles.

BRO . MELVILLE'S ARTICLES .

TO THE EDITOR OP TEH EHEEirASONS' MAGAZINE AND 3 IASONIC MI 3 B 0 B , Dear Sir and Brother , —That part of the letter of " Senex" ( at page 354 of your last number ) which alludes to the ancient practice of reading appropriate portions of the Bible at suitable periods during ourcoremonies , is most interesting to me , and I doubt not to many of our brethren who are anxious that Freemasonry should be felt by all to be something mora than a mere form .