Masonic Notes And Queries.

'for the first si ght of which the traveller ' still strains his gaze . " It is a curious circumstance that even on the walls of rock-cut tombs at Thebes , containing representations of funeral processions , the tomb is often figured as a built monument . The oldest temples of the

'E gyptians were small and were built . They are 'known as "Sanctuary Temples . " Mr . 'Wilkinson tell us that " the earl y houses of Egypt were of mud ; aud the masses of that material ¦ used in constructing their walls soon led to the simple invention of sun-baked bricksat once for durable

, and convenient . The flat roof was of palm beams , covered with the branches of the same tree ; and a thick coating of mud laid upon them completed the whole ; as in the houses of the poor class of Egyptians to the present day . But it was not till luxury had been introduced that the column performed a part in

an Egyptian mansion ; and the temple of early Egypt was a simple quadrangular cella . " Iu ancient Assyria , however , wood was more used than in Egypt , the houses having wooden pillars and roofs , the roofs covered externally with earth to keep out rain and heat . We are also perfectly convinced

of the large amount of wood used in the Canaanitish houses of Jericho and Ai , for example , which were burned down n . c . 1451 , more especially from the ¦ short time it took to set the whole city on fire . As in Joshua , chap . S , we read that the men of Ai had just left the city , when , on looking hack , verse 20 , " they saw and behold the smoke of the city ascended to heaven . " And I need hardly mention the wood of the forests of Lebanon .

So much for "built-up , " now for " rock-cut . " Among the oldest examples I know of is that of Beni-IIassan , about 2000 ji . c , which , though a rockcut tomb , like all other early stone architecture of whatever date , shows , as Mr . Ferguson says , " evident symptoms of having been borrowed from a wooden

original . " Elsewhere he says , "Like all rock-cut examples all over the world , these Nubian temples are copies of structural buildings . " Sir Gardiner Wilkinson says , — "And when in after times large tombs and temples were excavated in the rock they borrowed from constructed monuments . " He also

says , — 'It has often been supposed that these ( rocktemples ) gave rise to constructed Egyptian temples ; from the idea that the E gyptians first began to make their places of worship ' in the rock ; but I have already explained that the presence of architraves , over the columns within them , show that they , on the

contrary , were taken from built monuments ; those members being evident imitations of the beam , from column to column , required to support tho roof , aud quite unnecessary in au excavation . Besides , it may be doubted whether their first sanctuaries were iu the rock -, aud it is probable that they never cut stone made

, nor use of any , till it was wanted for building a sanctuary . The pillar , or column , however , did probably originate in the quarry ; as it was wanted to support the roof long before columns were used in temples , which is shown by the early sanctuaries having no porticoandconsequentl columns

, , y , no ; hut the quarry pillar has not the architrave "iven to columns in the rock-temples . I may also ° observe that , though some of the quarries are very old , no rock temple dates as early as built monuments in

Egypt , and in excavated temples and tombs the imitation of architrave is always found . The opinion , therefore , that the temples of Egypt were derived from excavated monuments is totally unfounded ; and , though the temple borrowed the column from the quarry , as the excavated derived the architrave , plinthabacusand many other accessoriesfrom the

, , , constructed temple , there is abundant evidence to show that the Egyptian sacred edifices did not owe their plans or mode of building to rock temples . " I mentioned above about the Pyramids of Lower Egypt facing north ; but , as for the position of their templesMr . Wilkinson says : — " There was no fixed

, rule for placing Egyptian temples , nor was it considered right , ' if possible that the statue in the cella should look towards the west , so that a person approaching the altar to perform a sacrifice should bow to the east , ' as Vitruvius directs in regulating the position of a Greek or lloman temple ;

andnotwith-, standing all their superstition , the Egyptians did not confine the presence of the Deity to any practical point of the compass ; tbe various sacred buildings in the same city being found to face in whatever

direction the locality or convenience might suggest . Ibis , indeed , was permitted in Greek and Roman temples ; the front being towards the road , or in any other situation , when the prescribed westerly position could not be managed ; and Vitruvius is wrong when he states that the Egyptians ' thought it right to make their temples face towards the jSTile . ' "

The above quotation suggests the query—Did the framers of certain portions of our rituals study Vitruvius ? I say nothing further at present , believing Bro . Haye will either admit his mistake , or show some reasonable foundation for his opinion anent rock-cut

examples . Apart from Egypt , we have many Indian , Greek , and Roman rock-cut examples executed within a few centuries of the Christian era , and there are also many that have been excavated long after . I add a sketch of a rock-cut tomb in Asia Minor as

given at page 211 of Vol . I . of the " Illustrated Handbook of Architecture , " by James Ferguson , Esq ., M . R . I . B . A . The said tomb would be cut perhaps about 500 n . c . The carpentary structure from which it is copied is so evident that explanation is unnecessary .

HOCIC-CU- LXCIl-f lOlIll .