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Article COLLECTANEA. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Collectanea.
speaking , save the narrow limits of my own feeble powers ; and glad should I be if" I knew how to say half which might truly and accurately be stated , in addition to a vast deal which has been so well said this evening , in honourable testimony of his private and public character . Whenever and wherever our ancient and magnificent Cathedrals shall become the theme of discussion and admiration , there Mr . Britton ' s useful and beautiful publications will have their meed of praise ; the man who had a mind sufficientl
y compre hensive to conceive a project so great as that which he entered on , and who , with untiring energies , assiduously exerted through half a century , was enabled to achieve his task , deserves the approbation and esteem of all lovers of architecture and literature ; and I feel assured that his name will descend to distant ages in connection with those venerable structures which he has so ably and effectively elucidated . It is true that all these wondrous buildings must fall to ruin by the lapse of time , yet the records which he has caused to be made of them will still be preserved in the well-stored library .
His publications will be found to represent them in all their picturesque and varied beauty , as well as in all their minute and elaborate details , so that , if either from extreme age or from any other cause , the country were bereft of them , those works will enable some future generation to reconstruct their facsimiles Mr . Britton has done this great work for the country , to the honour of our age , and to the honour of the Freemasons who constructed these monuments ; and in so doing he has inscribed his own name on the very buildings themselves , and while doing that which will
serve to illustrate aud perpetuate the history and character of such numerous , vast , and important edifices , he has unintentionally , but inevitably , made them the monuments of his own important and arduous achievements . " ( Applause . )
ON THE SYMBOLICAL CHARACTER OP ALEPH AND TAU , OR THAU . * —In the generality of phonetic , or alphabetical systems , aleph ( J ^) is the first letter , and frequently tau (_" . ) the last . From the extreme position of these letters appears to have arisen their somewhat hieroglyphical significancy . They are considered emblematical , not only of the beginning and the end , but also of the total or sum of a system . The Rabbins denoted primordial matter by a term compounded of aleph and tau ( Dfc . ) . Moreoverthey say that Adam sinnedfrom aleph to tau
, , ( J . " 13 ? _ KD ) , i- e . against the whole law . The names of these letters are also characteristic of their position , and seem to countenance their figurative application . In the Phoenician , and some other tongues , the word aleph signifies taurus , or bos . Also , generally , a chief , or leader . The word tau imports a terminus , limit , or boundary ; and from a cognate verb it denotes a mark , or sign . Hence the tau is placed appropriately as the final symbol of the elementary sounds . There it stands
, at once a glyphic and a phonic character . In the alphabets of Greece and Rome , tau ( though not the final letter ) is the last simple consonant ; for the letters succeeding it are vowels , or double consonants , the elements of which precede the tau . In figurative application , however , the Greek is in symbolism with the Hebrew , & c . Its Ara ( I breathe ) is expressive of vitality , and may remind us of Hui who is tbe alpha and omega—of HIM " in whom we live and move and have our being . "
Aleph and tau , alpha and omega , being the leaders and termini of thenrespective systems , were deemed of old symbolical of the whole compass of language . Bounding and including all their intermediates , they stood as representing them , and were deemed expressive of universality
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Collectanea.
speaking , save the narrow limits of my own feeble powers ; and glad should I be if" I knew how to say half which might truly and accurately be stated , in addition to a vast deal which has been so well said this evening , in honourable testimony of his private and public character . Whenever and wherever our ancient and magnificent Cathedrals shall become the theme of discussion and admiration , there Mr . Britton ' s useful and beautiful publications will have their meed of praise ; the man who had a mind sufficientl
y compre hensive to conceive a project so great as that which he entered on , and who , with untiring energies , assiduously exerted through half a century , was enabled to achieve his task , deserves the approbation and esteem of all lovers of architecture and literature ; and I feel assured that his name will descend to distant ages in connection with those venerable structures which he has so ably and effectively elucidated . It is true that all these wondrous buildings must fall to ruin by the lapse of time , yet the records which he has caused to be made of them will still be preserved in the well-stored library .
His publications will be found to represent them in all their picturesque and varied beauty , as well as in all their minute and elaborate details , so that , if either from extreme age or from any other cause , the country were bereft of them , those works will enable some future generation to reconstruct their facsimiles Mr . Britton has done this great work for the country , to the honour of our age , and to the honour of the Freemasons who constructed these monuments ; and in so doing he has inscribed his own name on the very buildings themselves , and while doing that which will
serve to illustrate aud perpetuate the history and character of such numerous , vast , and important edifices , he has unintentionally , but inevitably , made them the monuments of his own important and arduous achievements . " ( Applause . )
ON THE SYMBOLICAL CHARACTER OP ALEPH AND TAU , OR THAU . * —In the generality of phonetic , or alphabetical systems , aleph ( J ^) is the first letter , and frequently tau (_" . ) the last . From the extreme position of these letters appears to have arisen their somewhat hieroglyphical significancy . They are considered emblematical , not only of the beginning and the end , but also of the total or sum of a system . The Rabbins denoted primordial matter by a term compounded of aleph and tau ( Dfc . ) . Moreoverthey say that Adam sinnedfrom aleph to tau
, , ( J . " 13 ? _ KD ) , i- e . against the whole law . The names of these letters are also characteristic of their position , and seem to countenance their figurative application . In the Phoenician , and some other tongues , the word aleph signifies taurus , or bos . Also , generally , a chief , or leader . The word tau imports a terminus , limit , or boundary ; and from a cognate verb it denotes a mark , or sign . Hence the tau is placed appropriately as the final symbol of the elementary sounds . There it stands
, at once a glyphic and a phonic character . In the alphabets of Greece and Rome , tau ( though not the final letter ) is the last simple consonant ; for the letters succeeding it are vowels , or double consonants , the elements of which precede the tau . In figurative application , however , the Greek is in symbolism with the Hebrew , & c . Its Ara ( I breathe ) is expressive of vitality , and may remind us of Hui who is tbe alpha and omega—of HIM " in whom we live and move and have our being . "
Aleph and tau , alpha and omega , being the leaders and termini of thenrespective systems , were deemed of old symbolical of the whole compass of language . Bounding and including all their intermediates , they stood as representing them , and were deemed expressive of universality