Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

missive . Some authors will have it that they are descendants of Abraham . It is well enough known that Bacchus , Semiramis and Osiris , effected one after the other the conquest of Hindostan , or , at any rate , went there with their armies ; and yet it was not until after the expedition of Alexander the Great into

that country , or rather that part of it wliich is watered b y the rivers Lulus ancl Ganges , that ive have been able , through the historians of that prince , to get at some certain notions as to the geography and population of Hindostan , and the customs and habits of its inhabitants .

According to the sacred books ofthe Hindoos , the Brahmins did not mi grate to India until Vichenou , their God , under the name of Rama , had gone there to preach his doctrine , now about 5 , 000 years ago , the ivorship of Cliiven being older by more than several thousand years . It may not be out of place to observe here that the Hindoos

, as well as ourselves , have their deluge , and that they date the epoch of it back to tweuty-one thousand years ago ! ( The Lamas , the Bonzes of Foe , of Siam , of Timquin and of Cochin China , the Talapsins of Pegu and of Ava , the priests of Ceylon , ancl those of Egypt and of Greece , may then be regarded as the successors of tho Bracmans .

The Saniassis alone , a kind of Hindoo religious sect , might be , in the opinion of De Sonnerat , perhaps the descendants of the Bracmans . The Vedas are also their most ancient books upon reli gion , and all the others appear formed from them . They treated of all the sciences , but in such a highflown and poetical style , that in order to understand them it

was necessary to have commentaries which have also become sacred , like thc Talmud to the Pentateuch and Hol y Books of the Jews and the Misna to the Koran . The most ancient of these commentaries are the Shaslas , or Chasirons , which signify science . They date back more than four thousand

eight hundred years ago , and treat of astronomy , astrology , prognostics , morals , religion , medicine and jurisprudence . It is from these books that the astronomers among the-Brahmins _ calculate the course of the stars , aud fabricate the pandjangans or almanacks . The language of these books is no longer understood b y the HindoosTh Jul

. ere are - y extracts from it iu translation in the common language . Ifamskrit , Sanskrit , or Sanscrit is that ancient and learned language which is partly fixed by eighteen dictionaries and several grammars , which , it is said , are masterpieces . Few oven of the Brahmins know it , which caused Bailly to conclude that it came from a more ancient aud

very learned people , noiv extinct . ^ There is a close connection between the Chinese , Siamese , . Egyptians , Persians and Hindoos . Philosophers ot" all nations went to India to gain instruction ; Pythagoras learnt there the dogma of the metempsychosis ' which Vichenou had establishedancl spread it abroad he also got thenthe science

, ; ; of numbers , ancl the custom of tracing cm the sand geometrical figures . The Egyptians , Greeks , and even the Jews adopted the dogma and modified it . The Hindoos , like all other people , worshipped the sun and moon ; and some savage nations still preserve that worshi p . They worshi pped thenfire under the

name of Chiven , who was God tho Destroyer , as Braraa and Vichenou were God thc ; Creator and God the Preserver . They havo had sacred fires like all other people , of which our modern lamps are but an imitation . These people have also sacrificed human victims to the Demon of Evil ; like all people of hot countries , thoy have had the bath enjoined to them by their religion . They wrote with a stylus on thc leaves ofthe palm tree , and learnt while tracing their letters on the sand .

The Temple or Pagoda of the Gentoos , on the coast of Coromanclol , is a _ large square building with a door in the middle of each side , above which rise pyramidal masses to tho hei ght of seven or ei ght storeys , called oobrone , surmounted by domes or vaulted roofs . ' In it aro observed

Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

square openings , others in arcades and small triangles ; they are more or less rich in Bengal and on the coast of Malabar . The most famous on the coast of Coromandel are , for Chiven , Tironnamaley , Ghalcmbra , and Tirvcdour , and , for Vichenou , Tiroupadi , Ghirangam , and Cangivarou . The temple called The Seven , Pagodas , or of Marcsivwran , between

Pondicherry ancl Madras , near Salera . s , must be the most ancient , if one may judge so from the encroachments made upon it by the sea since its construction , for it bathes its first storey , six only being visible , the seventh being under tiie waters of the sea . The Pagoda of Ghalembron appears very ancient , but its inscriptions are almost effaced and in

unintelligible characters . According to the annals ofthe country aud the sacred books , the Pagoda of Jagrena , the most ancient , must be more than four thousand nine- hundred years old . That in which are the two elephants is of a single block carved in a mountain . The following is the description of it : ¦—On . the summit was a colossal figure with four ai-ms , placed on a high

pyramid , which served as the crowning to the temple ; at the four angles were elephants , as colossal , fastened by chains , which the figure jilaced on the top of thc jiyramid held in its hand ; and these chains , as well as the ivhole of the work , were of the stone of the mountain , hollowed out with admirable skillin the same pieceand in a stylo nearly

, , mixed between the Persian , Hindoo and Egyptian ; which proves the correspondence between these j ^ eople and the similarity of their genius for architecture . ( To lo continued . )

The Principles Of Freemasonry.

THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEMASONRY .

! WE have been requested to republish the following speech , delivered some time since by Bro . HAUTE ., the then D . Prov . G . M . for Suffolk , on the occasion of the pi-esentation of a portrait of the late Sir Thos . Gooch , then Prov . G . M ., to his son : — " Eight AVorshipful Sir , —The presence of ladies iu a Masonic

society , is an event so rare , so gracious , ancl so welcome , that I crave j'oiir permission to preface the more immediate object of this day ' s proceedings hy addressing to them a few observations explanatory ofthe Order they thus honour hy their presence . Ladies , —AVe cannot hut admit , that a society exclusive to one sex and essentially secret , at first sight presents few claims to your favour ; wc , therefore , the more thank you for your presence : and I

am desirous to avail myself of the opportunity it affords to explain to you , as far as I am permitted , the especial tenets and principles of our Order . First , then , let me inform you , Freemasonry is more ancient than thc Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle ; more honourable than the Star , the Garter , or any Order iu existence . It is founded upon thc purest principles of piety and virtue . It possesses great and invaluable privileges to worthmenand

many y , we trust , to the worthy alone . To preserve these privileges our ancient brethren have imposed on us laws as immutable as those of the Medes ancl Persians . Amongst these laws is secrecy with regard to some of our observances , more especially those by wliich a Freemason in any part of the globe , by night or day , may dis cover a brother ; nor , widely as is Freemasonry extended—its branches extending over the habitable globe—do we confine our

sympathies and better feelings within its pale , but wheresoever seen , by whomsoever uttered" To widow ' s tear , to orphan ' s cry , All wants our ready hands supply , So far as power is given . Tho naked clothe , tho prisoner free , Such are thy deeds , sweet Masonry , Beveal'd to us from Heaven . '

Thus , ladies , ive consider ' charity' to be the true characteristic of a Freemason ' s heart . Charity vauuteth not itself ; ancl I beg to he clearly understood , I vaunt not the brethren , but the principles of thc Order they profess . Freemasonry is an allegorical , symliolical , ancl emblematical science . In taking a survey of a Freemason ' s Lodge , you will perceive that its walls ancl our paraphernalia arc decorated by the ivorking tools of the operative Mason

; believe them not I . beseech you , to he unmeaning observances ; believe me there is not one amongst those tools hut conveys to the mind ofthe well instructed Mason some useful lesson on his moral and social virtues . As thc material tools in the hands ofthe operative