The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Druids.

Welsh proclamation used on such occasions . At the close of this Gorsedd , the assembly adjourned to the house of Gwilym Morganwy ( Thomas Williams ) , this person and Taliesin Williams ( Ab Iolo ) were the only two Welsh bards regularly

initiated into the arcana of Druidism then existing at Newbridge , where an Eisteddfod was held to adjudicate the prize for the best Welsh ode in honour of the Rev . William Bruce , Knight Chancellor of the Diocese of Llandaff , and Senior Judge ofthe Cardiff Eisteddfod .

The Knights Templars.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .

By ANTHONY ONEAL HAVE . CHAPTER HI . —( Continued . ) ( Continued from pctge 230 . ) GEAND MASTEE , HUGO DE PATENS .

De Payens returns to the Holy Land . —The Christians league ivith the Assassins .- —Advance against Damascus , but arc defeated . —Death of de Payens . —A . D . 1128—1139 . The wind of prosperity now sang full in the sails of the Templars , and from being a few and scattered number of knights , they rose rapidly in

strength and importance , under the patronage of monarchs and the blessing of the Church , until they became an enormous and powerful body . When they took the field to combat the Saracen , their armaments rivalled those of the miahtiest

sovereigns in equipment and valour , Avhile in peace the magnificence of their ceremonial and the splendour of their lives Avere not inferior to those of the

greatest churchmen of their clay . With the acquisition of wealth they proceeded to erect those stupendous houses , such as their habitations in Paris and London , Avhich are in the present time called after them " The Temple , " and Avhich speak

as much for the wealth of the Knights as for their fine taste in architecture . Their fortresses were simply but strongly built , the Order aiming more at strength than beauty in these erections . Their chapels , on the other hand , were of the costliest

material and most gorgeous Avorkmanship , fit temples for the faithful to worship in ; and Avhen we remember that they had chosen for their patroness the Blessed Yirgin , the saint , of all others , the dearest to the Catholic heart , Ave need

not Avonder that their chapels Avere the handsomest and costliest in Christendom . They vrere , farthermore , great patrons of the Masonic fraternities , and their intimate acquaintance Avith the

architecture ofthe East , and the eminent workmen they attracted to their Society , and Avho were actual members of the Order , as in a future chapter we will sheAV , made the presence of the Templars in Europe an epoch in the art of building , and to

their brilliant example we are indebted for some of the finest structures of the Middle Ages . Hugo de Payens , in his journey through Prance and England , received many nobles into the Order ; and the " Saxon Chronicle " says— " This

same year ( 1128 ) Hugh of the Temple came from Jerusalem to the king in Normandy , and the king received him with much honour , and gave him much treasure in gold and silver , and afterwards he sent him into England , and there he Avas well received

by ah good men , and all gave him treasure ( and in Scotland also ) , and they sent in all a great sum in gold and silver by him to Jerusalem , and upon his invitation there went with him , and after him , so great a number as never before since the days

of Pope Urban . " Knights of the noblest families , and of worldwide renown , now ranged themselves under the

banners of the Templars . Kings favoured , and fortune smiling upon the soldier monks , took them under her protection , and appeared to have no other care than to pour out the treasures of her cornucopia upon , the Order . This can be a subject of

little Avonder when Ave consider that that the Order offered inducements to all candidates forits honours , peculiarly grateful to the spirit of the time . Men flocked into the Church , that , undisturbed by the noise and bustle of the world , they might in

cloistered gloom meditate upon God . The Church , as in our OAVII time , Avas the natural career of younger sons , the family estates and wealth generally being kept sacred to the uses

ofthe elder . But among these younger sons there were many who viewed a Monastic life , if not Avith feelings of disgust , at least with those of dissatisfaction . Their hearts were full of the panoply of Avar , and their hands better formed to Avield the

sword than to grasp the crucifix , —their voices more attuned to tho shouts of tho tilt-yard than the chaunts of the chapel , —and , in their own secret opinion , their feces looked better smiling out through the barred avenfcaylo than sombi'ely

frowning from under the shade of a cowl . To these spirits the Templars offered every satisfaction * An Order blessed by the Pope , and under the protection of the great Bernard , uniting the piety and devotion of the monk Avith the gallantry