Master-Pieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

but in many other walls in Greece and Italy every stone is found fashioned so as to make it respectively , and by turns , perform the function of voussoir and key ; so that there is a certainty of obtaining a vault everywhere a brach is formed . In some monuments the head of each

stone is worked in rustic bosses . The joints are always made to fit so perfectly and closely that even the blade of a knife cannot be introduced between them . No doubt this perfection had its object to render escalades difficult . No cement is found in these constructions . The walls are always from 15 to 24 feet thick ; the ivork outside is

smooth , polished , ancl carefully executed , but inside rough , and apparently left uncompleted . They are invarialily formed of twopartitions of enormous blocks , the interstices left between the . partitions being filled with small dry stones , that seem as if they were chips of the blocks themselves . The periphery of the head of each stone can be

estimated from the diameter it presents on the exterior of the wall . This diameter is from G to 18 feet . The parallelogramic tetragon is the only figure which is now met with in the solid portions of the Cyplopeau walls : it is only found in the jambs of the doors , in the lintels , ancl in the species of torus or p linth which prevails at the bottom of some walls in Greece , and which never , presenting but a single layer , hacl for its object , probably , to establish at first a level on a ground generally uneven .

lourmant observed this peculiarity at Tyrinthus . They did not neglect to take advantage of the natural projection of a living rock , when it ivas found on the line of the plan of a wall . The summit of some walls which still remain in all their loftiness ivas terminated by a parapet , the p lan of

which was on the incline . All round there was a circular road formed by the thickness of the wall , which was reached by steps made along the inside . The history of these monuments and the consequences which must result from their comparison with the chronology of the first ages of Greece and Italy

arecom-, paratively , a matter absolutely new , which Si . Louis Petit Ended has made his own by his discoveries , before the recent period , when , on his return from Italy , this celebrated traveller communicated his researches to the National Institute . All antiquaries , and among them Winckelmann himself , to whom the historical problem

of the origin of these monuments , at least in Italy , was publicly referred , considered that in this construction there was the ' incerlmn " ( the " uncertain " or " unknown " ) of Virtuosos . Some even ascribed it to the Goths aud the Saracens , though Winckelmann knew , and referred to the drawings of the Cyclopean constructions which Giracus of Ancona hacl made in Greece . This famous antiquary did not perceive the identity which these Grecian constructions offered to the Italian

constructions , and , still less , the li ght which tbe connection of both threw on the solution of the problem which was proposed to him , as to the historical origin of these monuments by the author of " 'Travels in Germany . " M . Louis Petit Radel is the first who has explained the distinctive characters of these constructions ; who

has assigned an origin to them , and who pursues the history of them in the ' ¦ ' Researches" which he _ will shortl y publish , together with a numerous series of drawings in confirmation of his critical views . It appears to be demonstrated to him that their ori gin goes back to the foundation of the primitive towns of

Greece , and to the first dynasties of the kings of Greece and Ital y , that is to say , to the Inachides and the CEnotraus , in the 19 th century before the Christian era-He conjectures that the colonies of Danaiis and of Cad-

Master-Pieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

mus carried into Greece and Italy the system of constructions by parallelogranunic stones , or disposed in horizontal layers . It is the only one foiuid in the most ancient monuments of Egypt , of which there is none in Cyclopean constructions .

Tho most ancient Etruscan monuments in Italy ,- built in parallelogrammic stones , have Cyclopean monuments as a foundation . The other combinations of the resjiective dispositions between these two kinds of constructions , in the walls of Thebes , in Greece , and in Mycenas , demonstrate that the system of the Asiatic constructions is of

an introduction posterior to the Cyclopean constructions , and confirm these critical bases of M . Louis Petit E-adel . The scenes of the models ivhich he has hacl executed after drawings made on the spot at the different places , and which have been communicated to him b y M . cle Choiseul-Gouffier , M . Tauvel , M . Clerisseau , and other artists and

travellers , is exhibited in the Eibliotheque Mazarine , in the Palais des Arts . Cyclopean Construction existing at Naupha , a town of A . rgolis , near Naples in Romania . Examples of similar constructions are to be hacl within upwards of thirty towns in Greece , and more than one hundred towns in Italy . ( To be continued . )

Non-Affiliated Masons.

NON-AFFILIATED MASONS .

R . W . Bro . Doyle , whose report on correspondence wc { American Mirror and Keystone ) have jnst finished reading , with much pleasure , remarks , in relation to non-affiliated Masons , that "thoy arc receiving far moro attontion than aii 3 other single matter in Masonry . The great questions are : What shall be done witli them F How shall they lie punished " How got rid of ? " To which , " as answers to

these questions , " lie says , "your committee propose to stato how Rhode Island treats them . " " First , that antiquated idea is still adhered to , ' that once a Mason , alvsays a Mason . ' A candidate is charged not less than twenty-four dollars for his degrees , and as much more as the lodges may choose . Of this sum , four dollars arc paid to the Grand Treasurer for the support of the Grand Lod

ge , the balance defrays the expenses of the lodge . There are no clues , no taxes of any kind . The member attends the lodgo or not , at his pleasure . Ho is left to his own will—he was not compelled to receive the degrees , —he came of his own free will and accord . So also ho is not compelled to attend another meeting if he does not choose . If the lodge docs not afford attractions sufficientlstrong to make him

y desire to be present at its meetings , be may stay away ; and , though years may elapse , so many that the active members of the lodge can only vouch , for him as a Mason by tho records in their archives that lie was there made such , if , when death comes , lie , before , or his iiunily afterwards , request Masonic burial , tho service is performed , and perhaps at the grave some aged brother may say of the

dceeased , 'Iknew him forty years ago , when ho was quite an active Mason , ' for in Rhode Island many a man may he found ivho lias been a Mason more than that length of time , and some for more than sixty years . They still remain as memorials ofthe past , not burdened by dues , not compelled to attend a- lodge against their will , in order to secure a Masonic burial or charity for their widow and orphans ; and

should tho latter call for help , far distant may the day be when in Rhode Island tho hand of Masonic charity shall he closed , when tho Mason ' s widow or orphans ' shall ask for bread and receive a stone , or shall ask for a fish and receive

a serpent . " The result of such Masonry is not a multitude of weak , miserable lodges—of a host of Grand Lodge representatives with their pay and mileage—of long lists of suspended and expelled Masons , whose only crime ivas jioverfcy , and pride prevented the acknowledgement , —but a few strong and healthlocl whowith economy and good management

y ges , , , keep on the even tenor of their way in the paths their fathers trod , preserving the ancient landmarks , keeping the old customs sacred and inviolate , and , as near as can be , working only Ancient Masonry . "