Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
junction of the Annan and Lochmahen roads , the elevation will serve as a prominent and pleasing Object with the numerous class of travellers and strangers who visit us from that direction . Although it is well known that a small oratory or chapel crowned the beautiful knoll on which St . Mary ' s Church is now to be built , all traces of it have longsince departed ; and , previous to the period of enlightenment on which we now pride ourselvesthe ground was used as the last unconsecrated
, resting place of the suicide . In an age which is not more than a generation removed , the prejudice against those unfortunates who lifted thenhands against their own lives , extended to the length of denying their bodies Christian burial in the common churchyard , and there are still persons alive—speaking links as it were between the present generation , and one which has passed to its final account—who recollect of the bodies of suicides being hoisted out of the back windows of their
dwellings , and interred by torch-light on the Old Chapel grounds . During the recent process of levelling the ground previous to sinking the foundation , a considerable quantity of human bones were dug up , with about seventy or eighty skulls ; the paucity of number , therefore , sufficiently indicates that the place has never been used as a general burying ground ; and such phrenological amateurs as had an opportunity of examining the caputs of the nameless departedwhich the spade brought to light
, , declare , after inspecting the bumps , that the majority of the individuals , when alive , must have desiderated something in the shape of a balancing or reasoning faculty in the . " upper story . " Traces of the rough foundation of a building were also lighted upon by the workmen ; but from what was seen , it only proves that the chapel or oratory must have been a very small one indeed and totally unlike the handsome and ample
edifice , which is now destined to obliterate the name and recollection of the Chrystal Chapel . Of the manner in which this site acquired a topographical interest connected with our burgh , and is given in the " History of the House of Seyton , by Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington , " a copy of which is now in the Advocate ' s Library , Edinburgh . No traces of this building , as we have stated , have been visible in the time of the present generation ; but , in a work entitled " Picture of Dumfries" published in fS 32 and familiar to many of our home readers ,
, , a date for its disappearance is given . The laying of this foundation stone excited considerable interest , both in the honourable Craftsmen of Freemasons , and in the public at large . It is now twenty-two years since a similar ceremonial was enacted here , viz ., at the laying of the foundation stone of Burns Mausoleum , in June , 1815 . Previously , there had been only three occasions of the like within remembrance ; and we believe the old gentleman who
bore the silver keys of the Kilwinning Lodge , on AVednesday last , was the only person present , or perhaps surviving , who has officiated at all of them ; these were the laying the foundation stone of the Bridge , by Mr . Furgusson of Craigdarroch , in 1791 ; of the Jail , by Lord Dalkeith , about 1806 , and of the Academy , at a later date . But as the New Church was built in 1721 , and St . Michael ' s re-built in 1716 ' none of these occasions of Masonic ceremonialin the recollection of the race that now
, lives , has had for its object—as was well remarked by Mr . Babingtonthe rearing of a temple for the worship of the Great Architect of the Universe . At an early hour the several Lodges from the country , whose attendance had been solicited by the Depute Grand Master , arrived , and about two o ' clock , the several Lodges processed , with music playing VOL . ir . 2 L
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
junction of the Annan and Lochmahen roads , the elevation will serve as a prominent and pleasing Object with the numerous class of travellers and strangers who visit us from that direction . Although it is well known that a small oratory or chapel crowned the beautiful knoll on which St . Mary ' s Church is now to be built , all traces of it have longsince departed ; and , previous to the period of enlightenment on which we now pride ourselvesthe ground was used as the last unconsecrated
, resting place of the suicide . In an age which is not more than a generation removed , the prejudice against those unfortunates who lifted thenhands against their own lives , extended to the length of denying their bodies Christian burial in the common churchyard , and there are still persons alive—speaking links as it were between the present generation , and one which has passed to its final account—who recollect of the bodies of suicides being hoisted out of the back windows of their
dwellings , and interred by torch-light on the Old Chapel grounds . During the recent process of levelling the ground previous to sinking the foundation , a considerable quantity of human bones were dug up , with about seventy or eighty skulls ; the paucity of number , therefore , sufficiently indicates that the place has never been used as a general burying ground ; and such phrenological amateurs as had an opportunity of examining the caputs of the nameless departedwhich the spade brought to light
, , declare , after inspecting the bumps , that the majority of the individuals , when alive , must have desiderated something in the shape of a balancing or reasoning faculty in the . " upper story . " Traces of the rough foundation of a building were also lighted upon by the workmen ; but from what was seen , it only proves that the chapel or oratory must have been a very small one indeed and totally unlike the handsome and ample
edifice , which is now destined to obliterate the name and recollection of the Chrystal Chapel . Of the manner in which this site acquired a topographical interest connected with our burgh , and is given in the " History of the House of Seyton , by Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington , " a copy of which is now in the Advocate ' s Library , Edinburgh . No traces of this building , as we have stated , have been visible in the time of the present generation ; but , in a work entitled " Picture of Dumfries" published in fS 32 and familiar to many of our home readers ,
, , a date for its disappearance is given . The laying of this foundation stone excited considerable interest , both in the honourable Craftsmen of Freemasons , and in the public at large . It is now twenty-two years since a similar ceremonial was enacted here , viz ., at the laying of the foundation stone of Burns Mausoleum , in June , 1815 . Previously , there had been only three occasions of the like within remembrance ; and we believe the old gentleman who
bore the silver keys of the Kilwinning Lodge , on AVednesday last , was the only person present , or perhaps surviving , who has officiated at all of them ; these were the laying the foundation stone of the Bridge , by Mr . Furgusson of Craigdarroch , in 1791 ; of the Jail , by Lord Dalkeith , about 1806 , and of the Academy , at a later date . But as the New Church was built in 1721 , and St . Michael ' s re-built in 1716 ' none of these occasions of Masonic ceremonialin the recollection of the race that now
, lives , has had for its object—as was well remarked by Mr . Babingtonthe rearing of a temple for the worship of the Great Architect of the Universe . At an early hour the several Lodges from the country , whose attendance had been solicited by the Depute Grand Master , arrived , and about two o ' clock , the several Lodges processed , with music playing VOL . ir . 2 L