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Article GRAND LODGE. ← Page 2 of 2 Article MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. Page 1 of 3 →
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Grand Lodge.
to be given through the Grand Secretary ' s office . The Craft havo shown themselves to be not illiberal paymasters to those who serve them ; and we maintain they havo a rig ht sometimes to a little attention from the Grand Secretary , and that all papers to whicli attention lias been called by the reports of the Boards , or which have been laid before Grand
Lodge , should be open for the inspection of every member of Grand Lodge during business hours ; and that it is an unjustifiable stretch of authority on the part of the Grand Secretary to inquire whether he is or is not connected with this or any other Magazine . Other papers than those we have indicated of course no brother can have the ri ght to demand ; ancl indeed it is difficult to conceive , excepting in extreme cases , how he should know there are any in existence .
Tlie report from the Royal Benevolent Institution for Aged Masons having been received , and the new law proposing to give the holders of proxy papers filled up in the name of a deceased candidate , power to alter them in favour of another candidate , negatived , the principal question of the evening was brought under consideration—the motion of Bro . Stebbing , relative to limiting the occupancy of the position
of Grand Master , whenever the noble earl , who now so ably fills thc chair shall retire , to three years . Prior to the discussion being proceeded with , the noble earl stated that he could only take the resolution in some degree as personal to himself ] and in order to leave Grand Lodge perfectly free in the discussionhe would at once leave the Lodge .
, We regret that the Grand Master took the view of the resolution whicli ho did , for though our opinion as to the desirability of more frequent changes in the office of Grand Master is well known , we should be sorry to do anything ivhich ivould give one moment ' s pain to the estimable nobleman who now occupies and has so long filled the chair with
the approbation of the Craft at large . Bro . Stebbing felt the difficulty iu which he was placed by the opinion of the Grand Master , and placed his case most forcibly before Grand Lodge with great good taste , cautiously avoiding one word ot offence to any brother . After a rather lengthened discussion , ivhich it must be admitted was all on one side , that of
leaving the law as it at present stands—( it is not the law that is objected to)—Bro . Mclntyre met the motion by a vote of confidence in the Grand Master , whicli was carried with onl y four dissentients in a Lodge containing nearly two hundred brethren ; and here we are bound to state , cm behalf of those dissentients , that their votes were intended not to record
their want of confidence in the Graucl Master—for that confidence they have rej . eatedly expressed—but their desire to be allowed to show their opinions upon the main question brought before them . It is but fair to add the whole of the debate was marked by extreme good temper , and when the brethren differed , it was only as brethren may fairl y do .
THE JAPANESE ox TIIEIU . TRAVELS . —An American correspondent writes : — " The Japanese ambassadors have at last arrived in AVashington . The newspapers will furnish you with full and detailed accounts of their reception , for which both houses of congress adjourned . It seems that the . emperor has caused both parties to be represented in the embassy , and that each industriously take notes upon all they see , in order that they may , on their return , make up their mind what to do with the ' barbarians . ' They carry ink and pens at their belts , as well as
materials fur sketching ; and anything they see , as well as all they hear , is put down for future use . After transacting their business at AA ' asbington , they are to come northward to New York , and possibly to Boston . Our Milesian city authorities are to give them a graud civic ' pow-wow . ' A whole floor of the Metropolitan Hotel has been secured , and is to be decorated as nearly in Japanese style as the pockets of the treasurer and the resources of the decorators will allow , so that our guests can , if their fancies are oriental and lively , imagine themselves in bowersThe whole affair is intended to be
their native . as grand as anything over done in New York ; but how they are to beat Mr . Field ' s telegraph celebration , when they ended by burning down the city hull , I do not exactly know , ' . .. .
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGKAJ-D . JIOXtLUENTS 01 ' ' PALMYI . A . —CONTINUED . I TRUST that I may be now permitted to repeat here the description which was given to me hy the traveller Cassas , on his return from Palmyra : it has remained since engraved on my memory , and is as follows :
" My companions went before . me : I followed them with my eyes and caught a glimpse of the ruins of Palmyra . I remained for a long time amazed , and fancied myself transported into an enchanted region : I was so in reality . I got down from my camel to contemplate at leisure a scene at once the most extraordinary , the most poetical and thc most picturesque that Nature can present to thc eye , mind , and imagination of men . I
despaired of ever being able to give the effect of the picture that enchanted me , ancl since I have taken all the pains to reproduce it in a great number of drawings , I am only tlie more convinced of this , how impotent is art when nature is sublime . "Where the mountains separate on thc right hand and on the left , from that elevated point above the plain , I caught all of a sudden a view of those superb ruins , ivhich appeared to me to he all of white marble ( and , indeed , they are all of a very fine
stone , which receives the polish of marble and approaches it in its whiteness ) , innumerable remains of colonnades and temples , several of which are still in a good state of preservation : palaces , triumphal arches , and other magnificent edifices , are there observed . The great Temple of the Sun towers majestically in the centre , and seemed to me to raise itself up as ive had just seen the star of day rise above the level of the earth . Antiquity
offers no remains more precious ; the ground that is occupied by so many ruins is sublimed by them . In the space of more than a league in circumference are seen nothing but capitals scattered in the dust , bits of columns , scraps of entablatures , architraves richly ornamented and mouldings delicately chiselled . Beyond , what a contrast ! An ocean of burning sands ivhich , at the horizon , produce the effect and assume the hue of the sea , their
beds swaying to and fro , imitating the rolling of its impetuous waves when the burning wind from the south blows over these vast solitudes , it brings death wherever it extends ; the horizon which it embraces is darkened by the whirlwinds of those moving sands which are carried along by its currents . They cover all Arabia ; they engulf whole caravans . The terrible jSTotus has blown , they are no more : a few dried skeletons alone attest that they have past . "
I shall not carry this description further , nor make any more general observations on the architecture of Palmyra , but pass on to particular descriptions of some of -its monuments . The Great Temple of the Sun , situated at the extremity of the Great Colonnadeancl as it ivas before the restoration by
, Aurelian . —This temple is of thc kind of those which Vitruvius , iu the second chapter of his third book calls psendodiptera , or spurious diptera , the invention of which he attributes to Hermogenes of Alabmicla , one of the most celebrated architects of antiquity , who built , according to this account of himthe Temple of Dianain the city of
Mag-, , nesia . The Temple of Apollo , erected by Muestes , was of the same form , remarkable for its elegance and lightness . What constituted the character of these temples was the suppression of a row of columns , or a portico which surrounded the walls of thc cella or body of llie temple ; so that there reigned around a great space convenient for the
circulation of air , without the richness of it appearing diminished , tho row of exterior columns sufficing for its decoration , and presenting the effect of the diptera witli a much greater convenience for walking under the portico . Tlie allegorical genius ofthe ancients is sufficiently known for nobody to be astonished at meeting in a temple , dedicated
to thc sun , some relation between tlie number of the columns and thc division of time as regulated by that star . I ivould not , however , venture to assert that they had iu view the number of the days of the year and those of the week , when they formed their colonnade of enclosure three hundred and sixty-four columns , entire and . isolated , ivhich
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge.
to be given through the Grand Secretary ' s office . The Craft havo shown themselves to be not illiberal paymasters to those who serve them ; and we maintain they havo a rig ht sometimes to a little attention from the Grand Secretary , and that all papers to whicli attention lias been called by the reports of the Boards , or which have been laid before Grand
Lodge , should be open for the inspection of every member of Grand Lodge during business hours ; and that it is an unjustifiable stretch of authority on the part of the Grand Secretary to inquire whether he is or is not connected with this or any other Magazine . Other papers than those we have indicated of course no brother can have the ri ght to demand ; ancl indeed it is difficult to conceive , excepting in extreme cases , how he should know there are any in existence .
Tlie report from the Royal Benevolent Institution for Aged Masons having been received , and the new law proposing to give the holders of proxy papers filled up in the name of a deceased candidate , power to alter them in favour of another candidate , negatived , the principal question of the evening was brought under consideration—the motion of Bro . Stebbing , relative to limiting the occupancy of the position
of Grand Master , whenever the noble earl , who now so ably fills thc chair shall retire , to three years . Prior to the discussion being proceeded with , the noble earl stated that he could only take the resolution in some degree as personal to himself ] and in order to leave Grand Lodge perfectly free in the discussionhe would at once leave the Lodge .
, We regret that the Grand Master took the view of the resolution whicli ho did , for though our opinion as to the desirability of more frequent changes in the office of Grand Master is well known , we should be sorry to do anything ivhich ivould give one moment ' s pain to the estimable nobleman who now occupies and has so long filled the chair with
the approbation of the Craft at large . Bro . Stebbing felt the difficulty iu which he was placed by the opinion of the Grand Master , and placed his case most forcibly before Grand Lodge with great good taste , cautiously avoiding one word ot offence to any brother . After a rather lengthened discussion , ivhich it must be admitted was all on one side , that of
leaving the law as it at present stands—( it is not the law that is objected to)—Bro . Mclntyre met the motion by a vote of confidence in the Grand Master , whicli was carried with onl y four dissentients in a Lodge containing nearly two hundred brethren ; and here we are bound to state , cm behalf of those dissentients , that their votes were intended not to record
their want of confidence in the Graucl Master—for that confidence they have rej . eatedly expressed—but their desire to be allowed to show their opinions upon the main question brought before them . It is but fair to add the whole of the debate was marked by extreme good temper , and when the brethren differed , it was only as brethren may fairl y do .
THE JAPANESE ox TIIEIU . TRAVELS . —An American correspondent writes : — " The Japanese ambassadors have at last arrived in AVashington . The newspapers will furnish you with full and detailed accounts of their reception , for which both houses of congress adjourned . It seems that the . emperor has caused both parties to be represented in the embassy , and that each industriously take notes upon all they see , in order that they may , on their return , make up their mind what to do with the ' barbarians . ' They carry ink and pens at their belts , as well as
materials fur sketching ; and anything they see , as well as all they hear , is put down for future use . After transacting their business at AA ' asbington , they are to come northward to New York , and possibly to Boston . Our Milesian city authorities are to give them a graud civic ' pow-wow . ' A whole floor of the Metropolitan Hotel has been secured , and is to be decorated as nearly in Japanese style as the pockets of the treasurer and the resources of the decorators will allow , so that our guests can , if their fancies are oriental and lively , imagine themselves in bowersThe whole affair is intended to be
their native . as grand as anything over done in New York ; but how they are to beat Mr . Field ' s telegraph celebration , when they ended by burning down the city hull , I do not exactly know , ' . .. .
Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.
MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGKAJ-D . JIOXtLUENTS 01 ' ' PALMYI . A . —CONTINUED . I TRUST that I may be now permitted to repeat here the description which was given to me hy the traveller Cassas , on his return from Palmyra : it has remained since engraved on my memory , and is as follows :
" My companions went before . me : I followed them with my eyes and caught a glimpse of the ruins of Palmyra . I remained for a long time amazed , and fancied myself transported into an enchanted region : I was so in reality . I got down from my camel to contemplate at leisure a scene at once the most extraordinary , the most poetical and thc most picturesque that Nature can present to thc eye , mind , and imagination of men . I
despaired of ever being able to give the effect of the picture that enchanted me , ancl since I have taken all the pains to reproduce it in a great number of drawings , I am only tlie more convinced of this , how impotent is art when nature is sublime . "Where the mountains separate on thc right hand and on the left , from that elevated point above the plain , I caught all of a sudden a view of those superb ruins , ivhich appeared to me to he all of white marble ( and , indeed , they are all of a very fine
stone , which receives the polish of marble and approaches it in its whiteness ) , innumerable remains of colonnades and temples , several of which are still in a good state of preservation : palaces , triumphal arches , and other magnificent edifices , are there observed . The great Temple of the Sun towers majestically in the centre , and seemed to me to raise itself up as ive had just seen the star of day rise above the level of the earth . Antiquity
offers no remains more precious ; the ground that is occupied by so many ruins is sublimed by them . In the space of more than a league in circumference are seen nothing but capitals scattered in the dust , bits of columns , scraps of entablatures , architraves richly ornamented and mouldings delicately chiselled . Beyond , what a contrast ! An ocean of burning sands ivhich , at the horizon , produce the effect and assume the hue of the sea , their
beds swaying to and fro , imitating the rolling of its impetuous waves when the burning wind from the south blows over these vast solitudes , it brings death wherever it extends ; the horizon which it embraces is darkened by the whirlwinds of those moving sands which are carried along by its currents . They cover all Arabia ; they engulf whole caravans . The terrible jSTotus has blown , they are no more : a few dried skeletons alone attest that they have past . "
I shall not carry this description further , nor make any more general observations on the architecture of Palmyra , but pass on to particular descriptions of some of -its monuments . The Great Temple of the Sun , situated at the extremity of the Great Colonnadeancl as it ivas before the restoration by
, Aurelian . —This temple is of thc kind of those which Vitruvius , iu the second chapter of his third book calls psendodiptera , or spurious diptera , the invention of which he attributes to Hermogenes of Alabmicla , one of the most celebrated architects of antiquity , who built , according to this account of himthe Temple of Dianain the city of
Mag-, , nesia . The Temple of Apollo , erected by Muestes , was of the same form , remarkable for its elegance and lightness . What constituted the character of these temples was the suppression of a row of columns , or a portico which surrounded the walls of thc cella or body of llie temple ; so that there reigned around a great space convenient for the
circulation of air , without the richness of it appearing diminished , tho row of exterior columns sufficing for its decoration , and presenting the effect of the diptera witli a much greater convenience for walking under the portico . Tlie allegorical genius ofthe ancients is sufficiently known for nobody to be astonished at meeting in a temple , dedicated
to thc sun , some relation between tlie number of the columns and thc division of time as regulated by that star . I ivould not , however , venture to assert that they had iu view the number of the days of the year and those of the week , when they formed their colonnade of enclosure three hundred and sixty-four columns , entire and . isolated , ivhich