Freemasonry.*

last , and under him " speculative" and " operative" masonry appear to hai'e been still in intimate association . Mr . Woodford mentions that " the maul and troAvel used at the Liying of the stone of St . Paul ' s , " AA'ith a pair of carved mahogany candlesticks presented by Sir Christopher Wren , are still iu the possession of the " Lodge of Antiquity . " Iu a rather rare folio entitled " Pareutalia ; or , Memoirs of the Family of the Wrens , " compiled by Christopher Wren , the son of Sir Christopher Wren , and pubbshed by

Stephen Wren , his grandson , in 1750 , it is stated that the first stone of St . Paul's was laid in 1675 , ancl that in 1710 " the highest or last stone on the top of the lantern Avas laid by the hands of the surveyor ' s son , Christopher Wren , deputed by his father , in the presence of that excellent artificer , Mr . Strong , and other free and accepted masons chiefly employed in the execution of the Avork . " Some pages further on it is said that Sir Christopher Wren " Avas of opinion that AA'hat Ai'e noAV vulgarly call the Gothick ought properly and truly to be named the Saracenick architecture refined by the Christians , Avhich first of all began in the East after the fall of the Greek Empire . " And the Avriter , still citing his father ' s theory , continues : "The Holy War gave the

Christians who had been there an idea of the Saracen works , which were afterAvards by them imitated in the West , and they refined upon it every day as they proceeded build ing churches . The Italians ( among Avhich AA'ere 3 et some Greek refugees ) , ancl AA'ith them French , Germans , and Flemings , joined into a fraternity of architects , procuring Papal Bulls for their encouragement and particular privdeges . They styled themseh'es Free-Masons , and ranged from one nation to another , as they found churches to be

built , for very many in those ages Avere everywhere in building through piety or emulation . Their government U'as regular , and AA'hen they fixed near the building in hand they made a camp of huts . A ' surveyor' governed in chief : eA'ery tenth man Avas called a ' Avarden , ' and overlooked each nine ; the gentlemen of the neighbourhood , either out of charity or commutation of penance , gai'e the materials and carriage . Those who haA'e seen the exact accounts in records of the charge of the fabrics of some of our old

cathedrals—near 400 years old—cannot but have a great esteem of their economy , and admire hoAV soon they erected such lofty structures . " Their mode of Avorking is then described , ancl much more is added which Ave have no space to notice . Mr . Woodford does not seem to be acquainted Avith Wren ' s "Pareutalia ; " at any rate , Ave do not find that he refers to it in his " Cyclopaedia . "

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

BY BRO . GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL . Author of "Shakspere , his Times and Contemporaries" " The Bards ancl Authors of Cleveland ancl South Durham '' " The People ' s History of Cleveland and its Vicinage , " " The Visitor ' s Handbook to liedear , Coatham , and Saltburn b y the Sea , " " The History of the Stockton ancl Darlington Railway''' etc ., etc .

TTEE Birmingham Dail y Gazette , in noticing the Conversazione of the Midland Union ^ - of Natural History Societies , remarks : " A fine copy of the Stratford portrait of Shakspere was rejected on the ground that ' it AVOUIC ! be too prominent a feature , ' and that' there Avere too many things else to be looked at . ' The peculiarity of the picture , AA'hich is painted in a masterly manner by an eminent artist , is that it is copied from the liewly-discoA'ered portraitafter the removal of the beard and whiskersetc .

, , , Avhich had doubtless been painted on in Puritanic times to disguise it , and before the ' restoration' of the picture by Mr . Collins , of London . Accompanying it Avas also a large photograph showing the lines of the portrait before the' restoration' ancl repainting , and another of equal size , taken afterevards , showing how and Avhere the ' restored'