Freemasonry In England.

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND .

( Continued from page 417 . ) D URING the building of Saint Paul ' s Cathedral as a national undertaking , Masonry was also greatly employed in restoring other public and domestic buildings . The vast number of workmen employed and the thorough freedom of all classes of labourers at this period , serfdom having entirely

disappeared during the reign of Queen Elizabeth , rendered the protection afforded by a society whose object was to secure the perfect freedom of its members against the attacks of the higher classes—who were but too prone to compel the lower orders to labour for their aggrandisement almost unnecessary . Although the great call for skilled craftsmen during the rebuilding of London and its public edifices in a great measure kept the

Lodges together , still the necessity for combination did not exist as in bygone days , when the greatest potentates in the world found it necessary to protect them—and an extraordinary skill in architectural design was often a means of promotion from comparatively humble origin to the highest offices in church and state . Amidst the general restoration of halls , gates , and other buildings , the hospital for the reception of lunatics claims our first attention . The foundation of that called the Bethlehem hospital , was laid in April , 1675 .

It was a building of considerable magnificence , 540 feet long , and 40 feet broad , beside the wings , which were not added till several years after . The middle and ends which projected , were adorned with pilasters , entablatures , foliages , and other ornaments ; and rising above the other parts of the building had each a fiat roof , with a handsome balustrade of stone , adorned with a clock and a gilt ball and vane . The wings , which

were set apart for incurables , were not inferior to the rest of the building . The whole was of brick and stone , and inclosed by a handsome wall 680 feet long of the same materials . In the centre of the wall , which receded with a circular sweep , were a large pair of iron gates—and on the piers by which they were supported , were two images in a reclining posture , the one representing raving , and the other melancholy madness .

The expression of these figures , the work of Br . Cibber , who also carved the emblematical figures on the Monument , are spoken of in terms oi great praise . Where the fire stopped at Temple Bar , the citizens erected the Eoman gate now standing , with the statues of Queen Elizabeth and King James I . on the east side , and Charles I . and Charles II . on the west . This , instead of being as in the present time considered a nuisance , as an impediment to thoroughfare , was much admired as a work of art .

The College of Physicians at the north-east part of Warwick Lane , though from its local disadvantages , but little known , has been esteemed by good judges as a building of great merit . The entrance is through an octangular porch or theatre , crowned with a dome which finishes with a cone , very capacious for admitting carriages , and well lighted . This was built by Br . Wren , but being in a narrow lane it is almost hid from c c 2