Professor Donaldson On The Position Of Architecture.*

tinction and deserved not the slightest token m recognition of their studies , their sacrifices , and their merits . In fact , the Government very properly expect to employ men of the very highest talent , and yet make no effort , contribute nothing , to place the means of instruction , improvement , and subsequent encouragement within the reach of the earnest aspirant . But thero is the like realisation

of bitterness even to those who have carried out the noblest works , and stand the objects of envy and admiration to tho unthinking . Of such , three striking instances occur to my own mind . The committee for the . building of the International Exhibition of 1851 consisted , as you know , of six members—three engineers and three architects : of the six "quorum minima -pars

fui , " I am the only survivor . To three of these , my colleagues , I allude—Isambard Brunei , Robert Stephenson , and Sir Charles Barry ; and all will allow that they were fit representatives of varied mental qualities in their several pursuits . Brunei—brilliant , quick , full of resources ,

impassioned ;—Stephenson—solid , thoughtful , calm , and deliberative ;— -Barry—profoundly acquainted with his art , master of various styles , a sound thinker , and rich in imagination;—all of them at tbe top of their profession , and having had to execute critical works of the highest class . When the first section of the Great Western Railway

was opened to Slough , tho success of tho continuous bearing system of sleepers seemed a triumph of Brunei ' s sagacity . He had accomplished a great reform and established a new theory ; and one might have imagined that the moment when he received the congratulations of a numerous assembly of scientific men would have been the happiestproudest of his life . But I recall well

, the words as they fell from his lips , when , with somewhat of a depressed tone , lie acknowledged the compliment paid him , aud said , " However fair all might seem , and however prosperous the experiment that day had proved , there still remained much of care and anxiety and responsibility and doubt , ere he could realise to himself that he had indeed sucnnodprl . "

When the last tube of the Menai Bridge was to bo raised , Stephenson invited his colleagues down to witness tho operation . Barry and myself alone could avail ourselves of the opportunity , and we saw the marvellous combination of simple expedients , by which the huge mass was floated down to its position between the piers , and the rapidity with which tho enormous wei ght was raised

some tens of feet , and , without the slightest pause , or irregularity , or disorder , lodged in its permanent restingplace . On this occasion we heard him declare , in reply to the felicitations of a large company , that not all the triumph which attended this great work , and the new solution of the difficult problem of a rigid roadway at such a heightand carried across such a stream so as to

, allow the largest vessel to pass with all its sails set beneath it , could repay the anxieties he had gone through , the friendships compromised , and the unworthy motives attributed . And were another work of like magnitude offered to him with such consequences , he would not for Worlds undertake it !

We all know how our sympathies were excited by the ordeal of twenty years through which Sir Charles Barry had to pass for the completion of the Houses of Parliament . At the first an unworthy attack from certain competitors , Committees of the Commons , Committees of the Lords , a succession of Chief Commissioners not always favourable , an extravagant system of warming

and ventilating thrust upou him at a cost of £ 80 , 000 to the nation , ancl even the creation of his own ' prolific genius attributed to another eminent in the art , bijt who was too generous to allow such a mis-statement without tho directcst denial ; and then again the parsimony of the Treasury abstracting from the man of genius bis fair professional reward ;—all these harassed and embittered the life of our friend , aud deprived him of the un-

Professor Donaldson On The Position Of Architecture.*

clouded joy he ought to have felt in having executed the most important building of modern times , and in having endowed the metropolis with one of its noblest features . Such ma } - be lessons to every one , and I recall them not to depress , but to strengthen all under the greatest difficulties ; and to show that , whatever the struggles they may encounter , whatever unjust aspersion they may

have to endnre , it is but the common fate of genius and success ; and that after all the only best reward is the consciousness of having done one ' s duty , and not the smiles or favours of a fickle admiration . So true is the wise observation of Guizot at the conclusion of his "Life of Washington , " " that success . ' even does not efface the sad impressions to which the combat of active life gives rise ; and the fatigue contracted in this arena is prolonged even in the calm retirement of venose . "

Masonic Notes And Queries .

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

EXTRACTS FIIOH BRO . HOB . MOKMS ' s ALMANACKS . Adoptive Masonry—The Eastern Star . " Few things have excited tho curiosity of theMasonie brethren . so much as the subject of Adoptive or Ladies' Masonry . Iu France many entire works are devoted to this theme , and great attention ' , is given to cultivating the minds of the fair sex as partners in the work of Masonry . The theory of our brethren

across the water is , that as ladies cannot he introduced into the Temple proper , as much grace as possible shall be bestowed upon ' The Courts of the AA omen . ' In the United States , even more than elsewhere , 'Ladies Degrees' are communicated , hut not with the same attention to order and system as in France . They are usually given here merely as honorary compliments , with little or no ceremony , and of course with small impressiveness . The names of the ' Ladies Degrees' most in vogue in this

country are tlie Eastern Star , the Good Samaritan , the Mason's Daughter , and the Heroine of Jericho ; the second and fourth of these being confined to Royal Arch Masonry . The former is communicated by any Master Mason in good standing to the wife , widow , sister , or daughter of such . In the opinion of the writer , it is hy every consideration the most graceful , interesting , and scriptural specimen of Adoptive Masonry extant , and as such the following ' Signet' is given . In the hands of the enlightened brother , it effords a lucid explanation to mysteries alike beautiful , interesting , and important . "

The ¦ Fmllems of the Craft . W \\ o wears THE SQUAEE upon his breast , Does , in the eyes of God , attest , And in the face of man , That all his actions do compare With that divine , th' unerring square That squares great virtue ' s plan : That he erects his edifice By this design , and this , and this !