The Grand Lodge Property.

THE GRAND LODGE PROPERTY .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 30 , 1864 .

Wednesday last may be marked as a red letter day in tlie annals of Freemasonry , for on that day the first stone of a HBAV building to be dedicated solely to the use of Masons , and for the due performance of their ceremonies , was laidAvith allbecoming

pomp by the Most Worshipful Grand Master , assisted by his Deputy Grand Master , the Grand Master of Ireland , and a large number of the brethren . The weather was all that could be desired , and the arrangements

excellent—precautions even having been taken against accident , so that the whole company might have been let out Avithin a minute , exits having been provided both back and front by doors of twenty feet wide , which only required the withdrawal of a bolt to

fly open as if by magic , and render any crowding altogether unnecessary , but hapjnly , as events proved , these precautions Avere not required and all went merrily as a marriage bell . We must congratulate the Committee on th ©

success which has thus far attended their labours , and in doing so we think Ave are justified in taking some credit to ourselves , as it was the MAGAZINE that first broached the idea of having- a building '

apart from the tavern , dedicated to the sole use of Freemasons ; and it was the MAGAZINE Avhich by ridicule when argument had failed , led to the talcing the power of dealing Avith the Grand Lodge property out of the hands of the Board of General

Purposes , and entrusting its future arrangement to a small Committee , whose business it is to devote themselves to that subject alone . In another page will be found a full account of the august ceremony of Wednesday , Avith the

general particulars of which the majority of our readers are no doubt alread y acquainted , through the columns of the morning papers , the representatives of Avhich were invited to attend hy the Committee , and here the only mistake Avas made .

The Committee forwarded a ticket for the ceremony to the editor of each paper , with , a letter stating that if the reporter was a Mason he would be provided -with a ticket for the banquet ; but this was not adhered to . Several of the editors

did not send Masons , and yet , against all Masonic rule , the reporters were admitted to the Grand Festival , whilst those brethren who did represent newspapers and . came properly clothed as Masons , found that no provision had been made for their

The Grand Lodge Property.

accommodation , as it should have been , and one at least went away in disgust . Had the Committee done us the honour to place that part of the arrangements in our hands we would have secured from our personal knowledge of the

various staffs that every paper , wishing to have a reporter present , should be properly represented , and that every reporter should have been a Mason . However , on the Avhole , every thing passed off veiy successfully , and we would be the last to cast

blame for some little oversight , on a body of brethren who have worked so zealously and so Avell to carry out the duties entrusted to them , and on the successful completion of which so much of the future prosperity of Freemasonry depends ; and

we are sure that we are not stepping beyond our jurisdiction in stating' that we know that the arrangements of Wednesday devolved almost wholly on one brother—the Chairman of the Committee , who has worked early and late to ensure success .

Architecture In France.

ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE .

MEDIEVAL TO EENAISSANCE . ( Concluded from page 825 . ) I must say a few words now as to the French glass . Many of the cathedrals are filled with it to an extent which we really cannot understand ,

when we think of the many vicissitudes that France has undergone , and one sees , especially , the actual treatment of whole ranges of great , tmtraceried windows of the twelfth and thirteenth centimes , as decorated Avith glass of the finestcharacter .

Usually it is divided off , as in our own earl y glass , into geometrical medallion patterns , with deep rich borders—the medallions filled Avith figure subjects , and the spandrels , & c , Avith a peculiar sort of plain diaper , almost invariably of blue and

red . Whenever the medallions ancl diapers are of much the same tone of colour , the general effect is that of a somewhat confused mass , owing to the smallness of the details . In such a case , the lara-e

single-figure lights of the later glass - contrast favourably with the earlier . But when ( as is usually the case ) the latter have the medallions brought distinctly out by their contrast Avith the deeplycoloured diaper ground , the window so marked out

produces all the picturesque effect of a traceried window , with the power of colour superadded' The k ° rders are very beautiful in design , but the diaper