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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 8 of 24 →
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Provincial.
taught in the Lodges to hew , square , mould stone , lay a level , or raise a perpendicular . Hoxv , then , can they be rightly said to he Masons ? In xvhat part of this science can they be skilled ? Is a drawer a Mason , because he keeps his reckoning square ? or a linker , because he rings his kettle by rule ? Ifalaxvyer can compass his cause , or a bookseller erect monumental volumes ; if a porter stand strong as a Colossus , and an apothecary can temper his eleetuarial mortars and cements , to a nexv frame , and , as it xvere , rebuild our animal edifices , yet cannot I perceix'e the least tincture of Vitruvianisms , Euclidism , or Burlingtonism , in any of these .
This is very funny , no doubt ; hut geometrical symbols have always , ex'en in savage nations , formed a favourite means of illustrating qualities and attributes . An upright line was as familiar an illustration of honesty ancl straightforxvardness , as a crooked one was of the reverse . A circle , from its completeness of form , ancl possibly from its affinity to the shape of the heavenly bodies , as xdewed by us , became an emblem of perfection and of eternity ; while the sphere , from its stUl
greater completeness and uniformity , xvas regarded as the fitting form for the soul after death . Thus Plutarch , in his book " On the late punishments of the guilty by the Deity , " describes the so ids of men as encased in a bright luminous bubble . Again ; Pythagoras considered the cube an excellent representative of a perfect man , and his " man of four angles" has been repeated hPlatoJulianHieroclesand other writers . I may as well observe
y , , , , that the Oxford term , " a brick , " although doubtless highly expressive of every xdrtue , from preaching down to riding a steeple-chase , can scarcely be regarded as a translation of the language of Pythagoras - Unfortunately , bricks are oblong , not cubical . A " smooth , round" man is an expression used by Horace in a like sense , not however denoting one polished in the sense of the
Greek word rplppa , which is an Aristophanic equivalent for the English "scamp" or "pettifogger . " But if we come to metaphors derived from the various parts of a budding , examples would be infinite . Need I set forth the beautiful analogy so often drawn betxveen " the house we live in , " and the habitations which we rear as a further protection for that wondrous structure ?
The fbUowing lines , from a Masonic poem , by E . C . Mudge , published at Weymouth , in 1819 , are so full of iUustrations of this application of architectural metaphors , and so generaU y instructive , that I trust the prolixity of the quotation wih be excused . Sublime the stately fabric xvill appear , Whilst all the Glorious Architect revere ; The cornice , xvith its ornamented x * ase ,
The noble temple , on its solid base ; Tlie xvell-constructed arch , the fluted pile , The massy column , or the vaulted aisle ; Delighted see the lofty toxver ' s height , Its acme soars beyond the reach of sight ; The ladder ' s mystic shade , immensely long ; The fretted roof , in native vigour strong ; Combining beauties , in each order chaste , Display the xvorkman ' s skill and polish'd taste .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
taught in the Lodges to hew , square , mould stone , lay a level , or raise a perpendicular . Hoxv , then , can they be rightly said to he Masons ? In xvhat part of this science can they be skilled ? Is a drawer a Mason , because he keeps his reckoning square ? or a linker , because he rings his kettle by rule ? Ifalaxvyer can compass his cause , or a bookseller erect monumental volumes ; if a porter stand strong as a Colossus , and an apothecary can temper his eleetuarial mortars and cements , to a nexv frame , and , as it xvere , rebuild our animal edifices , yet cannot I perceix'e the least tincture of Vitruvianisms , Euclidism , or Burlingtonism , in any of these .
This is very funny , no doubt ; hut geometrical symbols have always , ex'en in savage nations , formed a favourite means of illustrating qualities and attributes . An upright line was as familiar an illustration of honesty ancl straightforxvardness , as a crooked one was of the reverse . A circle , from its completeness of form , ancl possibly from its affinity to the shape of the heavenly bodies , as xdewed by us , became an emblem of perfection and of eternity ; while the sphere , from its stUl
greater completeness and uniformity , xvas regarded as the fitting form for the soul after death . Thus Plutarch , in his book " On the late punishments of the guilty by the Deity , " describes the so ids of men as encased in a bright luminous bubble . Again ; Pythagoras considered the cube an excellent representative of a perfect man , and his " man of four angles" has been repeated hPlatoJulianHieroclesand other writers . I may as well observe
y , , , , that the Oxford term , " a brick , " although doubtless highly expressive of every xdrtue , from preaching down to riding a steeple-chase , can scarcely be regarded as a translation of the language of Pythagoras - Unfortunately , bricks are oblong , not cubical . A " smooth , round" man is an expression used by Horace in a like sense , not however denoting one polished in the sense of the
Greek word rplppa , which is an Aristophanic equivalent for the English "scamp" or "pettifogger . " But if we come to metaphors derived from the various parts of a budding , examples would be infinite . Need I set forth the beautiful analogy so often drawn betxveen " the house we live in , " and the habitations which we rear as a further protection for that wondrous structure ?
The fbUowing lines , from a Masonic poem , by E . C . Mudge , published at Weymouth , in 1819 , are so full of iUustrations of this application of architectural metaphors , and so generaU y instructive , that I trust the prolixity of the quotation wih be excused . Sublime the stately fabric xvill appear , Whilst all the Glorious Architect revere ; The cornice , xvith its ornamented x * ase ,
The noble temple , on its solid base ; Tlie xvell-constructed arch , the fluted pile , The massy column , or the vaulted aisle ; Delighted see the lofty toxver ' s height , Its acme soars beyond the reach of sight ; The ladder ' s mystic shade , immensely long ; The fretted roof , in native vigour strong ; Combining beauties , in each order chaste , Display the xvorkman ' s skill and polish'd taste .