Masonic Notes And Queries.

special men to direct the works , a few painters and plasterers , who covered the crude masses with a rich envelope ; a few Greek artists to do their carving was all the skilled labour needed , and plenty of force sufficed for the rest . Thus , whatever might be the distance from the metropolis to the place where the Romans built their amphitheatrestheir bathstheir

, , aqueducts , their palaces , or their basi'icas , their architecture was the same , and the buildings of the Romans were before all things Roman . In spite of soil or climate , regardless of the nature of the materials or the customs of the inhabitants , they were buildings of the city of Rome , and never the individual work

of an artist . From the moment when Rome planted her foot upon foreign soil , she there reigned the supreme power ; the arts followed tne same principle as her politics , and under this crushing influence the individuality of man disappeared . Even Greecethat brilliant home of art and human development ,

even Greece was extinguished by the breath of Rome . Christianity alone , Ivy giving a sentiment of personality to the individual man , could struggle against this giant , but it took centuries to clear away the remains of Pagan civilization . "— " JSuilding News , April 14 th . UNITED INCORPORATIONS OP MARY'S CHAPEL .

Bro . James Stevenson having given me a reading of some papers relating to the connection of his late father with the above Incorporation , the following may be interesting : — "Edinburgh , 17 th Oct . 1 S 37 . Dear Sir , You have now paid in twenty-four

pounds five shillings , to be placed to your credit with the United Incorporations of Mary ' s Chapel , beiug the amount of your Entry as a Freemason's Son , with said Incorporations , including Clerk and Officer ' s fees , and the Entry Money to the Widow ' s scheme . I am ,

Dear Sir , Tour most obedient Servant , JOHN CLARK . Mr . 3 " . B . STEVENSON . In the above , the expression , "Freemason ' s Son , " does not mean that the father was a speculative

Freemason , for a man mi ght be free of the Incorporation , aud yet know nothing cf our system of speculative Freemasonry . . It simply means that the father was free as a Mason—or of one of the other trades included among , or incorporated with the Masons . The same expression is also used in other incorporations ,

e . g . " Free-weaver ' s Son , " & c * In " List of Members of the United Incorporation of Mary s Chapel at September , 1309 / ' there are : — 11 Masons , or Deacons of Masons . 115 'Wrights , or Deacons of Wri ghts . Wrights and Coopers—none .

Masons , Bowyers—none . 1 Masons , Glaziers . Masons , Plumbers—none . 1 Masons , Upholsterers . C Wri g hts , Painters . Wrig hts , Slaters , —none .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Wrights and Sieve-Wrights , —none . ' In all 34 s . Stock valued at £ 13 , 855 17 s . 2 d . There are 43 Widows—Annuitants . 7 Members—Pensioners . 3 Children—Pensioners . An engraving of the Arms of this Incorporation appears at page 443 . Dec . 3 rd , 1870 . —W . P . BtfCHAir .

DR . ZERFFI ON THE ROMANS . We had studied the Romans in their architecture , which had been grand and imposing ,- in their sculpture , which had been sensual aud debasing ; in their household furniture , which had been luxurious and enervating ; in their religious ceremonies , which had been pompous and stupifying ; in their military

array , which had been vain-glorious and boasting ; and in their public games which had been sanguinary and degrading . —W . P . B . THE " UNIVERSALITY" PASSAGES IN OUR CHARGES .

_ ( page 303 ) . In the 1723 Constitutions it says " ' tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Eeligiou in which all men agree . —W . P . B . THE CHRISTIAN DEGREES . No matter how these Christiau Degrees were established , there must have been a very great want , as

a complement to Masonry , a yearning in fact after something hi gher than Jewish Freemasonry could supply . The proof of this is shown in the universal spread of the Christian degrees iu all parts of the world , the eagerness with which men press into them , not from a desire for novelty , but from a wish to obtain purer light than Craft Masonry can bestow . —JE .

THE NE PLUS ULTRA DEGREE . Do Bro . Tarker and his friends know which degree is the " Ne Plus Ultra , " and if they do , can they explain it ; whence it came ; how it crept in ; what is its significance ? if . How is it that as an inferior grade of a perfect system there is something admirable in this degree , yet as the culminating point , it would seem inconsistent . —JE .

Light Comes From The East.

LIGHT COMES FROM THE EAST .

{ Continued from page 297 ) . Among the bright lights of Freemasonry in " auld Jang syne" in this district were Bros . Alexander McCormick , Joseph Ingle , John Monntz , William Lambert Daniel Kurtz , Thomas Corcoran , jun ., Charles Cruiksshank , William W . Seaton , and Robert Key worth . Among the valuable recruits from abroad was Bro . John

B . Hammatfc , who brought from Massachusetts in 18 l 5 the revised work of the Blue Lodge , the Chapter-, and the Encampment . Ho sojourned here fifteen years , filling several high Masonic offices , among them that of Grand Lecturer of this Grand Lodge . Eefcurning in 1830 to his native State , he was an acnive Mason there for nearly thirty years , remembering his brethren here until

he passed into another and a better world , leaving the acacia flourishing over his mortal remains . Bro . Henry Clay was also of much practical advantage to the masonic fraternity iu this district , and ho presided over a convention held here to consider the formation of a National Grand Lodge of Masons . This scheme , I will here remark , has since been revived at a nationa convention hold at Baltimore in 1843 , at Lexingtonr . Kentucky , in 1853 , and at Chicago in 1859 . Local preju dices have thus far prevented the accomplishment o '