Archæology.

ARCH ? OLOGY .

WILTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETT . A HIGHLY interesting discover ! - - of Eoman buildings has just been made in the parish of North * Wraxall , "Wilts . The workmen have alread y cleared the foundation walls of one entire building , measuring about one hundred ancl thirty feet by thirty-six feet , and containing more than sixteen separate rooms " , or courts , ancl traced out several other walls extending over au area of two or

three acres . In one of the hypocaust chambers—that which has been called the Tepidarium—three entire jars of black earthenware were found resting against the wall ' , each having a cover upon it , and conveying the impression that they contained a portion of the last meal prepared by the inhabitants of the house before its final desertion . Among other articles met with were numerous iron cramps , a large iron key with complicated wards , '

several iron chisels , a spear head , two styli , one of iron , the other of bronze , a very neat small bronze fibula , of which the pin retains all its elasticity , two small bracelets , two bronze spoons , some beads , bone pins , ' and fifteen bronze coins ; one of these is a very tine large brass of Trajan ; the rest small brass ofthe Lower Empire , Constantine , Constantins , & c . Mr . Poulett Scrope , who is superintending the excavationswill ive full particulars of the

, g discovery in the next number of the journal of the Wilts Archaeological Society . North Wraxallis ou the "Fosseway , " or " Acmanstreet , " between Bath and Cirencester . A curious ancient cellar has heen discovered this week under tivo houses in High-street , Swindon . It appears to be of Saxon architecture , and excites much interest in the town .

HAWICK ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY . On Tuesday , 7 th February , Jlr . Alexander Michie , president , took the chair at the monthly meeting of this society . A considerable number of donations was announced , and among others a fine collection of objects , some of which more closely appertain to the stud y of natural history than of archaeology , ivhieh hacl been presented h y the Hon . AValter Elliot , of AA olftee , member of council ofthe Madras government , and R . Kennedy , Esq ., executive engineer , H . E . I . C . S ., Madras . ' A paper was tead by tho latter , " On Hawick in the Olden Time . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

OJ . IGIX OF TTtfi i-Cjyp Ol . UKXEVOMXClv . WHEX and by whom was the Fund of Benevolence established ? —E . L . —[ In 1724- thc idea ivas ori ginated hy the immediate M . W . G . M . the Duke of Bnccleugh , and supported hy Lord Paisley , Dr . Desaguliers , Colonel Houghton , and others . For further particulars see Preston's Illustrations . 1 . 1 th edition , nase 204 , note . ] '

HATH LODC . ES . In your Magazine for December 17 th , 1859 , page 407 , there is an inquiry about a Lodge , No . 243 , at Bath . I cannot give any information about this Lodge , hut I write to inquire if the number is quite correct , fori can answer the question asked if the number should be 240 , so far as between the years 1800 and 1818 . — T . P . A ., P . M . No . 48 . —[ Perhaps the brother who asked thc

question will state ivhether the number is correct ] . OPERATIVE IIASOXS' LODGES : I have recently seen a letter to a respectable master builder , demanding an increase of wages , which , though it bore no signature , purported to be " Signed on behalf of the Bury Lodge . " Is it now the common custom of the operative Masons to call thentrade

societies "Lodges" ? And are any of their officers designated by titles now in use in Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons ;? The general terms of Secretary and Treasurer , of course , we 111113 ' expect . In short , are there any other points of resemblance to speculative Masonry in these unions of operative Masons?—GKOI . M . TWEDDEIX . VREEJIASOXS AND CHURCH BUILDERS .

Seeing that you admit occasional notes ivhieh are to be met with m a course of desultory or other reading , I am induced to send the following extract , not that I subscribe to its dictum , but merel y as an instance of one of the many scraps that appear respecting our Order . In the second series of Tha Retrospective Jjeview , 8 vo ., Lond ., 1827 , vol . i ., p . 168 , is a paragraph headed—Anti quarian Discoveries , " which proceeds as follows : —¦ 'I * may be known to a few persons , that a Iliilorg of Glastonbury Abbey , yyas published about a year siiice , hy the Eev . Eichard Warner , ot-tha singular sagacity of its reverend author a por . 'osp / jndent of tho

last number of The Gentleman ' s Magazine has given a memorable ex ample , which wc notice because it serves as a parallel story to that c >' Aiken Brum ' s Lang Ladle in Thc Antiquary . It appears that Mr "Warner took it into his head that the greater part , if not all conventual , cathedral , and parochial churches , ' were literally and strictly built by Freemasons ; ' and in corroboration of his extraordinary hypothesis , ho added the following note : —

'" Something like a confirmation of the truth of this notion is seen in the emblems of Freemasonry which decorate the northern and southern entrances into the ancient church of Banwell , in the inside , particularly the bust of a man over the latter portal , supported by these symbols , with a book open before him , as if he wero studying the rules of his art . ' Jlr . Urbau ' s correspondent says that , in the years 1812 and 1813 , the church underwent some repairs , when one of the workmen , who happened to be a Freemasonamused himself' berasing two antique corbal

, y heads from the doorway ofthe South entrance , and carved upon the faces of the blocks those very symbols of Masonry wliich Mr . Warner alludes to , and which now appear there . ' The bust which that gentleman describes as the ' bust of a man , ' his corrector informs us is the bust of an angel , with an open book certainly ; but the back or covers thereof are placed against the breast of the figure , and the open part or leaves towards the spectator : so that if he is' studying' he holds the

book in a most extraordinary position for such a purpose . On the open leaves of this book the same person has also engraved the emblems of Masonry . That a layman should be a better judge than a clergyman of the heads of' angels , ' is sufficiently astonishing ; but that a man , who has written a huge quarto , should consider a person to be ' studying' the volume wliich he holds with its back towards him , is a specimen of discernment perhaps unequalled in the history of topographers . Besides these lendid proofs of MrWarner ' s of observationhis

corsp . accuracy , rector , who has evinced his own sagacity by calling the book containing these blunders ' a very valuable work , ' also states , that this ' bust of a man' docs not stand " over the southern entrance , as the author has asserted , but over the northern ; a slight mistake in the knowledge of the points of the compass , which any ploughboy would have corrected . "We believe , that immediately after thc appearance of the Eislvrg of Glastonbury , its author was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries ; to be

but whether as a matter of course , because he wished so , or as a special reward for the research he displayed iu finding such indisputable evidence of his Freemason theory , we are not informed . '" I should like to know two things , viz ., was , or is , the Eev . Mr . Warner , so acidly assailed above , a brother ? And secondly , what is , and has been from its commencement , the peculiar anbrms which causes 27 ie Gentleman ' s Magazine to sneer at Masons and Masonry on every occasion?—J . A . JN .

KNIGHTS UOSl'ITAIAERS . Are there any documents extant showing the possessions of the Knights Hospitallers , ancl ivhether they were sharers in the plunder of the Templars' estates ?—Sin KXT . SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES . What are the proper scriptural passages to be pointed out in the three degrees?—X . A . V . —[ The question is very obscure , but it

" X . A . V . " means those at which the Holy Bible is opened in the ceremonies appertaining to the three degrees , he must address himself to a personal acquaintance among the brethren , and then , no doubt , his question will be solved if he proves himself a brother ; but as persons who are not initiated do us the honour to ask questions and send answers to this department of the Freemasons Magazine , we do not feel justified in replying , except to some well known brother . For these reasons we decline to furnish the information sought . ]

BEN . TAMIX 1 'RASKUS . "We often see the name of the celebrated Benjamin Franklin quoted as a brother Mason . In what Lodge was he made ?—F . E . D . —[ This question we are not prepared to answer , but we will offer our correspondent a quotation that proves Franklin was a Mason . In Davis ' s Freemasons Monitor , p . " 288 , it is stated : — " owes its introduction in Pennsylvania to Benjamin

Freemasonry Franklin . On the 24 th of June , 1734 , a warrant was granted b y the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , for holding a Lodge m Philadelphia , and appointing him the first Master . He cultivated Masonry with great zeal , ancl his partiality suffered no diminution during his long and illustrious life . " ]

GRAND POXTlFl ' . This degree , the nineteenth of the Scotch rite , has but two officers , as I am told . Is it worked in England , Scotland , 01 Ireland?—C . E . T . HIGH DEGREES AXD THEIR 1 VOU 1 UXG . Granting there are many degrees , of wliich we scarcely know the names , ivould it not be an interesting matter to print a list of all the degrees that are worked in England , and to state thenstyles , when worked , and where , and what brethren are eligible to attend- them ?—C . E . T .,