Freemasonry And The Press.

different is the opinion we form of the abilities of the writers . The one full of false assertions , the other taking just so much for granted as the work before him reveals . As we before said , Bro . Donald Campbell has brought this upon us ; but we can endure it , for Freemasonry will flourish ages after Mr . Ilepworth Dixon and The

Atliencsum will rank with the Curlls , Mists , Foggs , and the other ribalds of the last century , and become as clean forgotten as any of those antiquated Grub-street authors who , with The Athenccum and its puritanical editor , will be remembered only hy the book-worm to show how low had been the standard of morality , and " to point a moral and adorn a tale" for posterity .

Stray Thoughts On The Origin And Progress Of The Fine Arts.

STRAY THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE FINE ARTS .

BY DIACOBAS . No . IX .

The first step in the erection of a hut would doubtless be , the enclosure of a space in the form of a square or parallelogram , by placing a number of posts vertically in the ground ; compare these with the columns of a stone edifice . On the tops of the posts would be laid a horizontal beam , along each of the four sides , corresponding to which we see the architrave or episiylium .

Over these would be p laced horizontal beams , parallel to one of the sides of the building , in order to support the roof , and their ends , appearing over the face of the architrave at equal distances from each other , are represented in stone temples by the rectangular divisions called iriyh / phs . Smaller beams might yet have been

required for the support of the bed of the roof ; the projecting ends of these beams we find represented by the ¦ modillio . is , aud the extremities of another upper course called dentils . The ivhole system of horizontal beams , comprehending architraves , triglyphs , and the spaces between them called metopes , is called by the

general name of entablature . But if trunks of trees are found to have given the idea of the columns which supported the edifice , from whence was derived the p linth , or chief part of the base of the column ? In

the wooden hut , the main supports , if resting exclusively on the ground , ivould be liable to sink beneath the surface , and to rot or decay , owing to the humidity of the soil : an effort would likely be made to prevent these evils , by placing a tile , or flat stone , beneath the post , to prevent it from sinking , but , from the wei ght

above , the bottom of the post woidd be liable to split ; a band surrounding it would prevent this , from which the idea of the ornaments above the plinth were derived ; so that the base of the columns in the wooden hut might have afforded the model for those of a more magnificent edifice . The spiral curvesor voluteswhich

, , adorn some columns , have been supposed , as before remarked , to be in imitation of the curls of hair on a woman ' s head , or of the horns of animals slain in sacrifice ; the capitals of other columns are adorned with double rows of leaves , arising , as I have stated , from the casual observation of such foliage round a

bell-shaped vessel at Corinth . The shaft of a column , when fluted , is ascribed to a wish to imitate the folds of a woman ' s dress ; or , as has been ingeniously suggested , as a resting-place for spears , when warriors were entering the temple . It is impossible , however , to account

for all the varieties of mouldings which occur m tire columns and entablature of an edifice , recognised by the terms astragal , torus , echinus , cymatia , cacetto , and the bird's-heaJc moulding . All these are capable of being much improved and embellished , and we accordingly find them displaying the scul ptor ' s skill and taste in beautiful

imitations of leaves , flowers , fruit , & c . Such , then , according to Yitruvius , is the orig in of the orders of architecture amongst the Greeks ; it may or may not be true . I will not presume to decide ivhether it is true or false ; whether the Greeks derived their ideas of architecture from Egypt , and improved upon the cumbrous

models of that country , or not ; but shall now proceed to lay before the reader a slight sketch of the principal characteristics of the various orders . A g lossary of some of the technical terms used in architecture may be suitable here—an order in architecture is that proportional disposition of materials which is peculiar to itself , and distinguished by two principal features , the JESTABLAXUEE and the c ' oLrin ? . The former consists of the

cornice , tho frieze , and the architrave ; the latter , of the capital , the shaft , and the base . The architrave , called by the Greeks tiie epistyle , is that part which is in immediate contact with , or rests upon , the columns , and represents the main-beam of the primitive wooden hut . The frieze is the central division which rests on the architraveand is generallornamented ; the Eomans

, y called it phryyium—that is , embroidery-work—and the Greeks zoophorus , because they carved figures of animals upon it . The cornice , from the Latin coronis , is the upper part which supports the roof ; it projects considerably beyond the rest , to protect the lower parts . The capital is the crown of the column ; on this the architrave rests ,

and is ornamented in a manner peculiar to the order to which it belongs . The shaft is that part of the column included between thc capital and the base . The base is the lower termination of the column , resting on the flooring , or on a pedestal ; it is composed of projecting mouldings aud a p linth , in number and form according

to the order . The word p lintli is from the Greek , and implies a- square tile . The proportions of all the parts of an architectural structure are regulated by the lower diameter of the shaft , ivhieh is divided into sixty parts or lines ; this is the module , or architectural scale . The facade , or front of a building is its most finished part ,

and is usually ornamented with a portico , surmounted by a pediment . The pediment is that part of the portico which rises above its entablature , to cover the end ofthe roof . The space between the columns is called an intercolumniation . Any particular order may be easily recognised by attending to a few simple points of difference , which are these . In the Doric order there is no

base or moulding at the bottom of tne column ; tne plain capital consists merely of the ecldnes , or convex moulding , ancl the abacus , or square stone : there is also a triglyp hed or three-channeled frieze . The Ionic , or Corinthian , is recognised by the voluted or the foiiaged capital ; the principal difference between these two orders being confined to the italas there is no

precap , cise difference between thc columns or entablatures of either order , except the modillions , which are certain regularly recurring ornaments in the Corinthian . With respect to the shaft , the flutes in thc Doric order are broad and shallow , forming sharp ridges on the circumference of the shaftbut in the other two orders the

; flutes are narrower and deeper , and are separated from each other by spaces left between the flirtings on the surface of the shaft . The architrave of the Doric consists of a p lain face surmounted by the taenia , or band ; but in the other two orders the architraves are generally divided into three faces , projecting somewhat one above