The Study Of Classical Archæology.

M . Vinet goes on to discourse briefly of the present situation of the science in question . Archaeology flourishes still in Italy . Long time past , Messrs . Borgbesi and Cavedoni , and more recently M . Miiiervini , acquired for themselves well-deserved celebrity in this class of study . As of old , it is still towards antiquity that the intellectual activity of Germany is turned . At the present time ,

professors and students , all or nearly all contributors to the " Annates , " followed in the steps of Messrs . Welcker and Gerhard , whom thirty years of scientific research have failed to weary . To unite , as closely as may be done , philology and archaeography , such is their aim , and they are right , for if it be true that the complete spirit of antiquity can only be obtained by the study of its monuments , so in

many instances these only tell their secrets to philologists . Of what bas been done by ourselves the reviewer speaks thus : — Can archaeology acclimatise itself in England ? (!) Up to -the present time it reminds us of those exotic plants whose somewhat sickly branches . can only expand themselves under the greatest care and trouble . Nevertheless I have

confidence in the veteran ardour of Mr . Cockerell , in the profound knowledge of Mr . Birch , in the delicate tact of Mr . Newton , and in that swarm of accomplished travellers at the head of whom march Messrs . Leake , 0 . Follows , Hamilton , and Falkener ; and I have faith in the influence of a museum without a parallel . [ Of some hero mentioned by M . Vinet , Leake , and

Hamilton , we must now unfortunately speak in tho past tense . Others might worthily be named in addition ] . In Franco the actual state of archaeology is alarming . Far be from mo the thought of daring to condemn the study of Romanesque and Gothic art ; this study is too grand . It has given us , among many valuable treasures , tho precious monographs of M . Vinet . But this very legitimate passion , this love for our national ruins , as was proved by the recent

discussion on Alesia , these varied researches to which the Antiquarian Society of France gave so happy an impulse , have given birth to an error sufficiently grave to make it necessary to endeavour to remove it . Misled by tho rapid progress of Mediaeval archaeolog ) -, and by the numerous well-informed persons who conscientiously study the cathedrals and castles of their particular province , the general

public , who concern themselves but little about these matters , have imagined that this scientific advance has been made everywhere alike . Thus , according to them , tho great field of archaeology employs an army of labourers . Alas ! this is far from the truth ! With the exception of one small group composed of members of the Institute , to whoso worth in particular forei just homagewith the exception

gners pay ; of some first-rate explorers , a few artists of a great school , and two or three unknown men of science , no one in the country of Montfaucon , even among literary men , seems to feel the least interest in figurative antiquity . This is a remarkable fact , but its explanation is found in ¦ our modern styles of literature : that feverish activity , that desire for incessant production and appearance before the

public , cannotbrooklong and often sterile studiesof antiquity , and forced application to difficult research . Men fear this patient and painful labour , this alchemist-iiko working , unsupported by the encouragements of the outer world , ¦ which is removed thousands of leagues from such trains of thoug ht . What an amount of reading before being able to write a single lino ! What immense preparatory study !

Buildings , statues , vases , medals , inscriptions , the antiquary must see all , study all . Iu a science whore so much is lei ' t to hypothesis , whore induction plays so important a part , it is only by the careful comparison of monuments one with another , that their true signification can be divined . Now that their number has so wonderfully increased , the effort should indeed bo proportionately great . . An eminent writer—M . Ernest Rciian—a short time

mentioned tho following portrait , traced by M . le Maistre ; _ it is that of Modern Science , whom the author ol the " Soirees dc Saint Petersburg" represents , " with his arms loaded with books and instruments of all sorts , pale with , work and night-watchings , dragging himself , panting , and stained with ink , along the path ' of truth , as he droops towards the earth his forehead fun-owed with alaebra , "

The Study Of Classical Archæology.

Archaeology I should have to personify with a magnifying glass in her hand , gazing around on the sublime relics which arc her delight . I would especially take care to seat her beneath a gilded canopy , and for this reason : —In spite of the strictest union with the scholar , she always keeps a pleasant smile for the rich and well-read amateur . Tho sacrifices this science exacts are sometimes too costly to

allow her always to content herself with the somewhat ragged mantle of philosophy . This , to my thinking , her weak point , has in many instances drawn her towards intelligent luxury , that of an enlightened aristocracy . To speak more correctly , the taste for art , the elegant culture of the mind , has attracted to her persons of high condition . One of the privileges of archaeology is to please great

personages : tho Count de Cayltts , tho Earl of Arundel , Lord Pembroke and Sir William Hamilton , M . de Choiseul , Gouffier , and Cardinal Albani , Baron de Stosch and the Duke do Blacas , Count Alexander do Laborde ( whoso scientific ardour lives again in his son ) , tho Count do Clarac ( who has given his fortune in exchange for the gratification of publishing a great work ) , and a hundred

others , bear brilliant testimony in favour of the liberal inclinations of the higher classes . The Duke de Lttynes , whose generous hand bas so nobly supported the "Annales , " is the latest shoot of this noble race of connoisseurs , a race which dates from the Medici . No one is ignorant of this fact : their palace at Florence was the cradle of archaeology . An optimism , very honourable in its principles , will

perhaps raise a doubt as to the justice of those observations , and will deny the decadence of a study which is much more important than is commonly believed , —a decadence only too real in our own country . If so , the reply is easy : in a town containing a million souls , concludes M . Vinet , in the midst of that intellectual sun whoso rays spread throughout the entire world , a collection considered by tho whole of Europe as the most learned organ of archaeology , has not twenty subscribers . —Builder .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

r . K . 0 . COL . 3 IASS 0 JT . Having heard that Bro . Joseph Hanson ( mentioned in the MAGAZINE of Dec . 24 th , 1859 ) , was interred in the burial ground attached to the Unitarian Chapel , at Stand , in the parish of Pilkington , Lancashire , I visited lsis tomb ; and , from the inscription thereon , found that ho died on the 7 th of September , 1811 , aged 37 years . The same tomb ( which is _ iron contains of

protected by railing ) , sepulchral inscriptions his father , and others of the Hanson family ; and I am . informed that there is a family vault under the tomb . Brother Hanson was a cotton manufacturer , who employed a great number of handloom weavers in the neighbouring towns , who regarded him more as a father than as a master . His residence was Strangeways Hall , and his warehouse was in

Caimou-?street , Manchester . What was his Masonic standing G ' EOKGE M . uiiui . ur TWEDDELL . TUB 0 RDE 1 J Or THE TEJIl'LE . Many thanks for your prompt solution of my query , in the last number , and as you there mention the Manual of the Knights of the Order of lite Temple , which is a rare book to be met withwill still further obli me by looking into

, you ge the same , and giving , if it is to bo found there , the account of their costume?—P . E . C . —[ It is in the work cited , but being very long , wc cannot append it this week . It shall , however , appear in an early number . ]

0 VE 11 SEEES . Who are tho Overseers?—Anrarn HOVIE . —[ Theyare three officers of a Mark Lodge , and are respectively culled the Master , Senior , and Junior Overseer . They each wear a square as a badge of office ] . IlEltll ItOSA . In some of the German works on Masonry allusion is made

, to Rosa . Who was he ?—C . T . V . —[ A Lutheran divine who established a rite , which was at one time very popular , but was afterwards superseded by Baron Hund ' s rite of Strict Observance . Very little is known of Hcrr Rosa beyond the simple fact announced above , and that he flourished in the middle of the last century . ]