Eikon Eaeyoepia.

burnished with gold , and at a cost which only devout kings could endure . But here , on this spot , were fought the fiercest battles of differing sectaries . The great jn-ecept of Christianity recommending brotherhood was for a time abandoned for personal pride or inconsiderate zeal , and the bases of the marble temples were washed with blood for a period of two centuries .

But in eastern , as in western Europe , there were found men who were superior to the temptations of reli gious strife . The pointed dome assumed a more definite form , and became associated with a new order of architecture . Tho form of the cross was , for the most part , retained as tlie ground plan of the Christian church . Pious men now bethought them of studying the outlines of noble structuresor the combinations

, which the aspect of the grand and beautiful in nature mi ght suggest . In process of time a brotherhood was formed . This spirit reached ifcs hei ght about the period of the Crusades . It became an act of deA ^ otion to erect votive

chapels , to endoAv monasteries , to enrich shrines—and was thought a graceful act of knighthood . The priest was frequently the architect , and the consequence was , a greater diversity from the established forms . We read at this period of octagonal churches , scxagonal churches , and others . Octagonal within a square , octagons

within octagons , and polygons within polygons . But all these were peculiar to the east . That the form adopted when Christian architecture became a regular profession , and the main features of the IIOAV arfc became established by authority , was a combination of the square and the circle there cannot be any question . The same feeling wliich

added transepts to the Roman basilica would , by the quadrature of the oriental rotunda , aud by extending the intersecting ^ naves beyond the circumference , cfiect the desirable object . There arc several specimens of the Byzantine round church extant , the most perfect being that of St . George of Salomon , built about the end ofthe fourth century , and which measures one hundred and twenty-four feet in diameter , surmounted also by a dome of ei ghty feet in diameter .

The Byzantine churches do not appear to have at any time approached the oblong rectangle . The church of the Holy Apostles , which is described as comprising everything which is most varied and elegant of this school iu the seventh century , is a square surmounted by a double narthex and five domes . The church of Santa Sophia exhibits a Greek surmounted

cross by a cupola , thirty-three feet iu diameter . But in no part of the world did architecture have to encounter so many disturbing causes as in the capital of the loAver empire . The Greek church , or that division of the primitive church included within the limits of the old Greek territory and the neiv Eoman capital , should have been the oldest christian

communit y . Athens was first amongst the christian cities , and had heard the words of Paul preached in the very hearing of its gods , if we may so speak of the marble effigies by which they were represented . The gospels of Matthew and Mark , written in Attic Greek , were read in the gardens of Academe where once were heard the magnificent rhapsodies of heathen philosophy—where Plato harangued , and Socrates questioned .

But whatever may have been the design favoured at a later period by the architects of Byzantium , the outlines of the western Gothic , so far at least as the arrangement of the ground is concerned , are coincident and referable to the same motive . What Byzantine reli gious architecture might have become had peace been suffered to exist long in this beautiful

region , it were noiv profitless to speculate . But the corruption of the pure faith soon overlaid the principles of the art that sprung from it ; and the faith and ifcs product at length went doAvn into ruin together . Such a result has overtaken kingly pnde and prelatie arrogance from . tlie be « Uwin * of £ inie down fo the present moment . p °

Dining And Drinking Toasts.

DINING AND DRINKING TOASTS .

UPON the kindred subjects of after dinner speechmakinoand hearty toast drinking , Ereemasons are certainly not the least qualified to give an opinion ; and we believe that most of the brethren will agree that both of these institutions aro pleasant ones , and productive of good feeling , and indeed of a certain amount of even intellectual gratification . The custom is not confined to our bodybut is a truly national one ;

, its merits have been perceived by appreciative foreigners , and weak imitations of British festivity have been found prominent among the latest developments of German and French civilization . The latter gay nation have indeed not only adopted the toast as a political and social medium of opinion , bufc have actually incorporated the very word itself into

thenmuch vaunted language , where ifc holds an honourable brevet rank in company with its congeners "le sport" "boitle-dogue , " u jockey" " groom , " "lebocce , " " reding ote , " " un grogs" and others . But though the present emperor himself has—with a just conception ofthe truly valuable in English manners ( of which , as of the truly worthless , he has had sufficient opportunities of judging in his time)—availed himself of this great institution on some occasions which have become historical—to

" porter un toast has never been a successful effort on the part of a true-born Frenchman , and has generally resulted in the substitution of a speech for a sentiment , or has disgusted the British observer by the cloudy way in which the proposer lias endeavoured to elicit the enthusiasm of his audience . The most successful efforts ever made in this way by our " faithful allies " were assuredlthose which were produced

y in the joint campaigns in the Crimea , where John Bull's jollity under difficulties seemed to give an impulse to his more mercurial brothers in arms , and to impart a feeling of good fellowship and joviality not by any means innate in the Gallic character .

Frequent repeated'failures in this line at home in France , have ended in ridicule ; and the wonder of untravelled Frenchmen , which might have been fostered to admiration as well as imitation , has culminated in some instances in disgust . True it is that this is in most cases to be attributed to the prejudice and conceit which form part of tlie national character ; but constant breakdowns have had something considerable to do with it . Upon this subject we perceive some amusing and sensible remarks in the columns of a daily contemporary

:--" At a dinner of the Agricultural Society of Blaye ( Gironde ) a feiv days hack , the Marquis cle la Grange thus expressed himself— 'I ivill not propose a toast ! Toasts , with their accompanying addresses , are an importation from England ; they are stiff and starched , are indistinct like foggy Albion herself , are intoxicating like porter , heavy like beer . I prefer the good old fashioned custom of our forefatherssimpldrinking healths without a

, y remark . They did not speechify—they drank ; they did not enter into historical disquisitions , often erroneous , did not pronounce eulogiums AA'hich are too generally silly , or false—tiiey expressed their sentiments by acclamation ' s . Down , then , ivith English toasts and imitations ! Instead of changing this joyous table into a ¦ parliamentary tribune , let us be faithful to the past and to the traditions of France '

" He then proceeded in terms of fulsome adulation , to propose the Emperor ' s health . Quelle mouchc cons ti done pique , Monsieur h Murqnhl Why go out of your way to fall foul of manners and customs of Aihicli you are profoundly ignorant ? Why , at least , not practise what you preach , and propose the emperor ' s health Avithout comment V Instead of this you raise a convivial question of no inconsiderable interest ; you make a speech over the

mahogany against all after dinner speechifying , and Avhen you have said your offeiisiA'e say against a neighbouring nation , you expect no dog to bark after you , Sir Oracle , and fancy 3-011 hai'e put . doAvn postprandial oratory for ever ! You talk of the joyousness ot a French dinner table . Never was a less appropriate remark—understanding it in the sense used by you , as applicable to public dinners

. " A French dinner party in a private house or in the salon of the Trois Freres may be a very joyous thing if it he composed of good fellows , although they may all talk at once instead of . listening to one another as foggy Englishmen prefer doing , and