Gothic Architecture And Operative Freemasonry.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND OPERATIVE FREEMASONRY .

By Bro . W . P . BTJCHAN . ( Continued from page 362 ) . "At a time when writing was almost unknown among the laity , and not one mason in a thousand could either read or write , it is evident that some

expedient must bo hit upon by which a mason travelling to his work might claim the assistance and hospitality of his brother masons on the road , * and by means of which he might take his rank at once , on reaching the lodge , without going through

tedious examinations or giving practical proof of his skill . For this purpose a set of secret signs was invented , which enabled all masons to recognize one another as such , aud by winch fdso each man could make known his grade to those of the

same rank without further trouble than a manual sign or the utterance of some recognized password . " Other trades had something of the same sort , but it never was necessary for them to carry it

either to the same extent , nor to practice it so often as the Masons , being for the most part resident in the same place and knowing each other personally .-f The Masons , thus from

circumstances organised more completely than other trades , * were men skilled in the arts of hewing and setting- stones , acquainted with all recent inventions and improvements connected with their profession , though always under the guidance of

some superior personage , whether he was a bishop or abbot , or an accomplished layman . f In the time of which we are speaking , which was the great age of Gothic art , there is no instance of a Mason of any grade being called upon to furnish

the design as well as to execute the work . J " It may appear strange to ns in the nineteenth century , among whom the great majority really do not know what true art means , that six centuries ago eminent men , not specially educated to the profession of architecture , ancl qualified

only by talent ancl good taste , should have been capable of such vast and excellent designs ; but a little reflection will show how easy it is to design when art is in the right path . " If , for instance , we take a cathedral , any one

of a series—let us say Paris—when it was completed , or nearly so , it was easy to see that , though an improvement on those which preceded it , there were many things which might be better . The side aisles were too low , the gallery too large , the

clerestory not sufficiently spacious for the display of the painted glass , and so on , Let us next suppose the Bishop of Amiens at that period determined in the erection of his cathedral . It was easy for him or his Master Mason to make these criticisms , and also to see how to avoid these mis-