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Article THE VARYING CHARACTER OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. ← Page 2 of 2 Article THE VARYING CHARACTER OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Page 2 of 2 Article THE CRAFTSMAN'S DUTIES. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Varying Character Of English Architecture.
from the commencement of the sixteenth to the commence " merit of the seventeenth centuries . But about 1620 a more pure Italian style came into vogue , and was continued , with various degrees of success , until the middle of the reign of George III . Since then our principal buildings have been chiefly copies or adaptations of the FlorentineEoman and
, Venetian schools . Of the latter we have splendid copies and OA'en ori ginal productions in great numbers in London—no-Avhere to such an extent and in so small a space as in the olub houses in Pall Mall and St . James ' s Street .
If Ave givo as the duration ofthe various architectural phases iu England since the time ofthe Eoman invasion , 400 years to the Eoman style , COO to the Saxon , ISO to the Norman , 350 to tho varieties of the Gothic , 100 to the Elizabethan , and 200 to the Italian , wc find that the architecture in England in its general form and detail has been
more _ than 1 , 400 years of a different character from the Gothic , ivhilo the latter universally prevailed for only three centuries and a half . The Gothic then can in no sense be called a national style of building . It did not ori ginate in England ; it ivas the Byzantine ai-chitectureinrproved by the Christians Rehiring the period when cathedralschurches
, , and domestic buildings AVOTC erected in this country in that style , similar structures in France , Belgium and Germany were raised in the same style ; the buildings of the four countries have all the same recognizable characteristics , so that if the national style of architecture in England bo Gothic , thc national style of architecture in Germany , France aud Bel
gium is also Gothic . The fact is , Ave can claim for ourselves no particular style as national . At several periods iv-o have adopted different st yles , and the existing races have A * aried them ivith those little differences Avhich they thought suited to their peculiarities . We may be here alloived to lance aside to observe that
g the architectural remains in this country are very A'aluable as aids not only to the progressive development of the arts , but to the knoivlcdge of our history and the changes in our domestic habits and social condition . It is easy enough to perceive from the distinctive character of tho principal remains from the time ofthe Normans to the thirteenth , fourteenth and
even fifteenth centuries , on account of all the houses being then strongly fortified , that Ave were a fighting people ; that from no attempt at fortification being made iii building the brick houses in the reigns of the Titdors and the Stuarts , that Ave Avere then abandoning warfare , aud gradually betaking ourselves to the arts of civilizationand
; , from the comfortable domestic character of private dwellinghouses during the last two hundred years , that our time ivas devoted entirel y to commerce ancl the industrial arts ; that life was preserved to a large extent , and that on every hand social comforts ivere dail y improving .
It is onl y indeed of very late years that difficulty as to choice of style has arisen , it having been safel y taken for certaint y , that no other than classic , or some modern modification of it ought to be thought of for secular public buildings . A few years ago thc great advocacy was for the classic style ; and buildings in styles not Gothic ivere raised with
great beauty and rapidity in London , Edinburgh , and Dublin , at Oxford and Cambridge , and iu such great provincial towns as Liverpool , Manchester , and Birmingham . Nowadays a railway station , or a savings bank , a training college , or barracks , are Gothic and castellated , not quite what a true lover of art likes to see in point of tastenor a
, member of a societ y for improA'iug dwellings in point of sanitary requisites . The windows arc of course very small ; perhaps there is a confined inner court if the building be large _ enough to admit of a court ; tho health ! illness of tho building is consequently made to yield to the idea of some mutation ofthe mediicval castle , and that cannot be for good result in
art , Avhich either represses the utilitarian development , or which seeks to combine Avith a different use the decoivifcive characteristic of something else . Architecture
The Varying Character Of English Architecture.
seems m these days to be neA-er prepared for a new class ot buildings , or a new invention or material . The art is moro than at a standstill , it is going backward ; for we cannot help thinking that to build in the classical style is to modernize and advance , and to build in the Gothic style is to archaize and retrograde .
The Craftsman's Duties.
THE CRAFTSMAN'S DUTIES .
[ The following is an abridgment of an eloquent aud valuable oration delivered before the Grand Lodge of Iowa , U . S ., by the llov . GEO . 13 . JOCELYX , Grand Orator . ] Pon a few moments we have been called from labour to refreshment , that ive may gather around our Masonic trestle board , compare the work of the past year with the designs there traced ,
and sec what yet remains to be accomplished by those of us who are still permitted to labour in the forests , or in the quarries , or in carrying up the Avails of our increasingly beautiful temple . On our trestle board we shall find many designs traced by the hands of those who long since mouldered to dust—designs which , from their universal application , have been thc guide of the Craft from time immemorial—and as wc gather around it , now nearly six
thousand years since the God whose wc arc and in whom we trust , said , "Let there be light , and light was , " we shall discover that those designs , in their spiritual , moral , and practical application , haA * c lost none of their beauty or adaptability to our race by the flight of years or by the ever changing phases of the mental and moral condition of mankind . Centuries since , Masonry lost its distinctive featuresas a society of operativesbut retaining its
, , ritual and ceremonies , still redolent ofthe perfume of the incense that fiflcd the temple of God on Mount Moriah , more than three thousand years ago , when , at the base of that altar on which the ark so safely reposed , were jdaced level ancl plumb line , and trowel and gavel , and compass and square , it has gathered Masons who , collecting the scattered implements of the ancient operative profession , arc building a moral temple whose foundations the
vandal hand of war shall never overturn , and whose walls , and pillars , and halls , and domes shall never be tarnished by the touch of time . To-day , as a part of the great Masonic Craft now scattered over the Avorld , we have gathered around the ancient trestle board found in the old temple , to revive past associations , repledge our fealty to the practise of those virtues so nobly illustrated in the life , character , and death of him who first traced designs thereon :
and , by a few moments' meditation , renew our love and zeal for our time honoured institutiou . Thc antiquity and deeds of Masonry have given it a prominence before the world enjoyed bj * no other merely human institution . To this history I need scarcely allude to-day , for it is within thc reach of all intelligent persons , whether they are Masons or not . It is a part of thc history of the world ; it is engraven on all the
monuments of antiquity , in all lands ; it is interwoven in all those vast designs by which the race has been cleA'ated , and by which liberty and human rights have been secured . To the thoughtful Mason it would be a pleasant task to trace the influence of Masonry on the progress of the world in the liberal arts and sciences , and in thc inculcation of those purely humanitarian principles which have modified the rigour of monarchical governmentsand
, cultivated the sentiment of human brotherhood , and expanded the soul of man with correct notions of a liberty in ivhich due deference shall be paid to rulers , and in which thc subjects may exercise the appetites and passions within due and proper bounds . I need not refer to the simplicity , beauty , truthfulness , harmony , and merit of thc rites and ceremonies of Masonry , for . iff these ^ are demonstrated in the fact that they originated in the purest and
most refined ages of antiquity—survived , like burning centres" * of unfading light ~ during thc night of barbarism that for more than a thousand years settled down like a pall of almost impenetrable gloom upon our whole race , and noiv unchanged , command , in the lioon of the nineteenth century , the admiration ancl wonder of many of the brig htest intellects of the day . Of the purity of its teachings and thc righteousness of its motives , it is sufficient
evidence to point you to the many pure and noble men of all ages and of all lands who have surrounded its altars and cherished them at thc risk of life , and fortune , , and honour . These and other kindred facts form themes , the elucidation of ivhich would cause a just pride to swell in the heart of every Mason here . But these themes , so full of food for the intellect and thc heart , I propose to lay aside to-day , and from the trestle hoard take some of its many deigns tlnit have a practical bearing , and which shall come home to the heart and conscience and life of every brother . Theories
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Varying Character Of English Architecture.
from the commencement of the sixteenth to the commence " merit of the seventeenth centuries . But about 1620 a more pure Italian style came into vogue , and was continued , with various degrees of success , until the middle of the reign of George III . Since then our principal buildings have been chiefly copies or adaptations of the FlorentineEoman and
, Venetian schools . Of the latter we have splendid copies and OA'en ori ginal productions in great numbers in London—no-Avhere to such an extent and in so small a space as in the olub houses in Pall Mall and St . James ' s Street .
If Ave givo as the duration ofthe various architectural phases iu England since the time ofthe Eoman invasion , 400 years to the Eoman style , COO to the Saxon , ISO to the Norman , 350 to tho varieties of the Gothic , 100 to the Elizabethan , and 200 to the Italian , wc find that the architecture in England in its general form and detail has been
more _ than 1 , 400 years of a different character from the Gothic , ivhilo the latter universally prevailed for only three centuries and a half . The Gothic then can in no sense be called a national style of building . It did not ori ginate in England ; it ivas the Byzantine ai-chitectureinrproved by the Christians Rehiring the period when cathedralschurches
, , and domestic buildings AVOTC erected in this country in that style , similar structures in France , Belgium and Germany were raised in the same style ; the buildings of the four countries have all the same recognizable characteristics , so that if the national style of architecture in England bo Gothic , thc national style of architecture in Germany , France aud Bel
gium is also Gothic . The fact is , Ave can claim for ourselves no particular style as national . At several periods iv-o have adopted different st yles , and the existing races have A * aried them ivith those little differences Avhich they thought suited to their peculiarities . We may be here alloived to lance aside to observe that
g the architectural remains in this country are very A'aluable as aids not only to the progressive development of the arts , but to the knoivlcdge of our history and the changes in our domestic habits and social condition . It is easy enough to perceive from the distinctive character of tho principal remains from the time ofthe Normans to the thirteenth , fourteenth and
even fifteenth centuries , on account of all the houses being then strongly fortified , that Ave were a fighting people ; that from no attempt at fortification being made iii building the brick houses in the reigns of the Titdors and the Stuarts , that Ave Avere then abandoning warfare , aud gradually betaking ourselves to the arts of civilizationand
; , from the comfortable domestic character of private dwellinghouses during the last two hundred years , that our time ivas devoted entirel y to commerce ancl the industrial arts ; that life was preserved to a large extent , and that on every hand social comforts ivere dail y improving .
It is onl y indeed of very late years that difficulty as to choice of style has arisen , it having been safel y taken for certaint y , that no other than classic , or some modern modification of it ought to be thought of for secular public buildings . A few years ago thc great advocacy was for the classic style ; and buildings in styles not Gothic ivere raised with
great beauty and rapidity in London , Edinburgh , and Dublin , at Oxford and Cambridge , and iu such great provincial towns as Liverpool , Manchester , and Birmingham . Nowadays a railway station , or a savings bank , a training college , or barracks , are Gothic and castellated , not quite what a true lover of art likes to see in point of tastenor a
, member of a societ y for improA'iug dwellings in point of sanitary requisites . The windows arc of course very small ; perhaps there is a confined inner court if the building be large _ enough to admit of a court ; tho health ! illness of tho building is consequently made to yield to the idea of some mutation ofthe mediicval castle , and that cannot be for good result in
art , Avhich either represses the utilitarian development , or which seeks to combine Avith a different use the decoivifcive characteristic of something else . Architecture
The Varying Character Of English Architecture.
seems m these days to be neA-er prepared for a new class ot buildings , or a new invention or material . The art is moro than at a standstill , it is going backward ; for we cannot help thinking that to build in the classical style is to modernize and advance , and to build in the Gothic style is to archaize and retrograde .
The Craftsman's Duties.
THE CRAFTSMAN'S DUTIES .
[ The following is an abridgment of an eloquent aud valuable oration delivered before the Grand Lodge of Iowa , U . S ., by the llov . GEO . 13 . JOCELYX , Grand Orator . ] Pon a few moments we have been called from labour to refreshment , that ive may gather around our Masonic trestle board , compare the work of the past year with the designs there traced ,
and sec what yet remains to be accomplished by those of us who are still permitted to labour in the forests , or in the quarries , or in carrying up the Avails of our increasingly beautiful temple . On our trestle board we shall find many designs traced by the hands of those who long since mouldered to dust—designs which , from their universal application , have been thc guide of the Craft from time immemorial—and as wc gather around it , now nearly six
thousand years since the God whose wc arc and in whom we trust , said , "Let there be light , and light was , " we shall discover that those designs , in their spiritual , moral , and practical application , haA * c lost none of their beauty or adaptability to our race by the flight of years or by the ever changing phases of the mental and moral condition of mankind . Centuries since , Masonry lost its distinctive featuresas a society of operativesbut retaining its
, , ritual and ceremonies , still redolent ofthe perfume of the incense that fiflcd the temple of God on Mount Moriah , more than three thousand years ago , when , at the base of that altar on which the ark so safely reposed , were jdaced level ancl plumb line , and trowel and gavel , and compass and square , it has gathered Masons who , collecting the scattered implements of the ancient operative profession , arc building a moral temple whose foundations the
vandal hand of war shall never overturn , and whose walls , and pillars , and halls , and domes shall never be tarnished by the touch of time . To-day , as a part of the great Masonic Craft now scattered over the Avorld , we have gathered around the ancient trestle board found in the old temple , to revive past associations , repledge our fealty to the practise of those virtues so nobly illustrated in the life , character , and death of him who first traced designs thereon :
and , by a few moments' meditation , renew our love and zeal for our time honoured institutiou . Thc antiquity and deeds of Masonry have given it a prominence before the world enjoyed bj * no other merely human institution . To this history I need scarcely allude to-day , for it is within thc reach of all intelligent persons , whether they are Masons or not . It is a part of thc history of the world ; it is engraven on all the
monuments of antiquity , in all lands ; it is interwoven in all those vast designs by which the race has been cleA'ated , and by which liberty and human rights have been secured . To the thoughtful Mason it would be a pleasant task to trace the influence of Masonry on the progress of the world in the liberal arts and sciences , and in thc inculcation of those purely humanitarian principles which have modified the rigour of monarchical governmentsand
, cultivated the sentiment of human brotherhood , and expanded the soul of man with correct notions of a liberty in ivhich due deference shall be paid to rulers , and in which thc subjects may exercise the appetites and passions within due and proper bounds . I need not refer to the simplicity , beauty , truthfulness , harmony , and merit of thc rites and ceremonies of Masonry , for . iff these ^ are demonstrated in the fact that they originated in the purest and
most refined ages of antiquity—survived , like burning centres" * of unfading light ~ during thc night of barbarism that for more than a thousand years settled down like a pall of almost impenetrable gloom upon our whole race , and noiv unchanged , command , in the lioon of the nineteenth century , the admiration ancl wonder of many of the brig htest intellects of the day . Of the purity of its teachings and thc righteousness of its motives , it is sufficient
evidence to point you to the many pure and noble men of all ages and of all lands who have surrounded its altars and cherished them at thc risk of life , and fortune , , and honour . These and other kindred facts form themes , the elucidation of ivhich would cause a just pride to swell in the heart of every Mason here . But these themes , so full of food for the intellect and thc heart , I propose to lay aside to-day , and from the trestle hoard take some of its many deigns tlnit have a practical bearing , and which shall come home to the heart and conscience and life of every brother . Theories