The Grand Lodge Property.

THE GRAND LODGE PROPERTY .

LONDON , SATURDAY , MAY 21 , 1861 .

In looking over the agenda of Grand Lodge business for Wednesday next , there is nothing to excite particular attention until we come to a recommendation from the Committee on the Grand Lodge Property that they should be empowered

to take the necessary steps , on behalf of T 3 rand Lodge , " for the letting of the present and future Tavern , and the jjremises in Middle-yard upon such terms and conditions as may seem to them just and advantageous . "" Nothing could appear

more simple and more consistent with the principles of common sense than that the Committee which knows all about the Property should be allowed to try and let it for the benefit of the Craft j but it seems that such a motion cannot-be

allowed to pass in silence , inasmuch as the disposal of the Property is claimed as a ri ght by the Board of General Purposes , which showed itself so dilatory in its movements that its perogatives in that respect were compelled to be curtailed , and the present Committee appointed to supersede them .

Whether the present is or is not the proper time for letting the Property we do not intend to argue ; indeed , we are prepared to admit that we should have preferred seeing the work carried somewhat further toward completion in order that we mi ght

better know what there is really to let before any particular step on the subject was taken ; but there are other questions to be considered . Have the present tenants a right to be kept in suspense as to their future position , and will or will it not

conduce most to their interests to know whether they are , or are not , to continue lessees of the Tavern ? After mature consideration , we come to the

conclusion that tney ought to be placed in the position of at once knowing how they are to be treated in the future , feeling assured that if they can make an acceptable offer , as we have no doubt they will , it will be at once closed with by the

Committee without regard to others and should the Committee not do them justice , they may rely upon obtaining it at the hands of Grand Lodge . Whoever are to be future lessees of the Tavern ought to be placed in the position of suggesting

such alterations as they may require in the arrangements of the proposed new buildings , as to render them complete at once , and thereby save future expense ; and nothing will give us greater

The Grand Lodge Property.

pleasure than to announce that Messrs . Shrewsbury and Co . have taken along lease of the new Tavern , giving , however , sufficient guarantees for the Craft receiving that accommodation which they have a right to demand , and without which the brethren , under any arrangements , will never be satisfied .

The Interior Of A Gothic Minster.*

THE INTERIOR OF A GOTHIC MINSTER . *

In addressing you upon the subject of the interior of a Gothic minster I feel like the man in the Eastern story , who conjured the Genius of more than colossal dimensions kindly to recompose himself within his moderately-sized jar , so large are the materials and so short the limits of a lecture ;

in one respect , however , I will endeavour to secure your approval , in consulting your patience by brevity and conciseness . The word " minster" I use in the following observations in its largest sense , embracing the cathedralconventualand collegiate churches ;

, , and if some points appear omitted from consideration , the reason will be found in the fact that they were treated on in my paper on Church- and Conventual Arrangement , read before the Royal Institute of British Architects , and since published by Messrs . Atchley and Co .

Upon first' entering a minster , the impression now is very ¦ different from that produced in Mediasval times , when colour was freely used . The red and blue draperies , the shining gold backgrounds common in Mediaeval pictures , were intended for churches having such

gorgeouslypainted walls and pillars , and fainter colours would have appeared weak or been completely ] ost when submitted to the glowing streams of light which flowed from windows dyed with azure ,, ruby , and amber . At St . Alban's we discover traces of successive

stages of mural enrichment ; representation of joints of Masonry in the thirteenth century ; rich diapering of the fourteenth , in imitation of stained , glass ; and in the fifteenth , scriptural or legendary illustrations . At Rochester , the shafts and arches were painted red , green , and yellow ; the whole

face of the stonework was filled with the same tint , not distinguishing the moulding , both in the nave and transept . At Carlisle , the choirpillars were painted white , ancl diapered with red roses nearly a foot in diameter , with a gold monogram , I . H . 0 . or J . M . of the fifteenth century .-

In Conrad ' s " glorious choir" of Canterbury the vault was painted like a sky . At Peterborough the old Norman ceiling—and an imitation of the time of Abbot Wheathampsteacl , at St . Alban i a —and one at Bolton of the Early Tudor period ,, are good specimens of their style , to which the-