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CITY OF LONDON MASONIC HALL.

A numerous and respectable meeting of Brethren (convened by private circular) was held in Carpenters' Hall on Friday evening, March 12, 1847, for the purpose of considering the propriety of taking premises adapted for conversion into a City Masonic Hall.

Brother S. H. LEE having been unanimously called to the Chair, briefly adverted to the object of the meeting. He stated that the questions for consideration were two-first, whether a Hall was necessary?—and secondly, what premises were eligible for that purpose?

Brother PRYER said, in allusion to the first question, he had great satisfaction in moving-" That it is essential for the welfare of Freemasonry that a Masonic Hall should be established in the City of London for the accommodation of the Fraternity." Bro. Pryer observed that he felt convinced no argument would be necessary to demonstrate the propriety of this proposition. The presence of the assembled Brethren was sufficiently indicative of their opinion. For himself, he considered the practice of meeting in hotels and taverns entirely inconsistent with the true principles of Freemasonry. The Lodge should be held on its own consecrated ground. The connection between the Lodge and the Tavern was a most unholy alliance, which he trusted, for the credit of the Order, would be speedily dissolved. The provincial Brethren were erecting halls in every principal town, and he considered it a great reflection upon the London Brethren that they were not similarly engaged. He trusted, however, that very shortly this desirable object would be accomplished.

Brother RULE warmly seconded the motion. The construction of a Hall was absolutely necessary to redeem the character of the Fraternity, and to show to the initiated that they assembled for other purposes than those of mere conviviality. In Scotland the Lodges meet in halls and private houses. When he considered the London Lodges— the large amount paid for subscriptions, and the small portion appropriated for charitable purposes- the Order became here a great tavernkeeper's Benefit Club, rather than a Society for the dissemination of those great moral and benevolent principles upon which Freemasonry was based.

The motion was then put, and carried unanimously.

Brothers J. R. Lloyd, Elliott, Canstatt, Firth, and Vallance addressed the meeting in furtherance of the objects in view.

A Committee consisting of the following Brethren, viz., Brothers Lee, Lloyd, Lazarus, Canstatt, Pryer, Rule, Alport, Patten, and Goodchap, were then appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the eligibility of premises for the proposed hall; and the Committee were to report the result to a general meeting, to be convened after the necessary inquiries had been made.

A share list of five pound shares, for the purpose of forming a fund, was then opened, and many shares subscribed for in the course of the evening.

Bro. Lazarus was appointed Hon. Secretary to the Committee.

After some discussion as to the best means of carrying out the objects of the meeting, the business of the evening was concluded by a vote of thanks to Bro. Lee for his kindness in taking the Chair.

The meeting then adjourned.

The Committee have since entered actively into the discharge of their duties, and will be prepared to make a report on the 30th instant.

ON THE STUDY OF MASONIC ANTIQUITIES.

BY BRO. THOMAS PRYER, W. M. OF THE OAK LODGE, S. G. I. G. 33o.

CHAPTER III.

THE SUBJECT DIVIDED INTO SPECULATIVE AND OPERATIVE- COMMENCEMENT OF THE SPECULATIVE PORTION-ANCIENT EGYPT-MODE OF REDUCING THE HIEROGLYPHICS-ORIGIN OF HEBREW EMBLEMS.

In the preceding chapter I offered some general remarks as to the nature and meaning of the ancient mysteries, their common origin, the relation which they bore to the universal system of Freemasonry, their original purity, and the causes which led to their subsequent perversion, and eventual decline.

The various subjects embraced in those remarks are necessary to be carefully examined, and perfectly understood, before any profitable investigation into the history and progress of the mysteries in any particular nation of antiquity can be entered into. A correct general view must first be formed before the student can be qualified to examine details. It is thus only he can be enabled to compare and understand the symbols and emblems, rites and usages, disclosed in each particular system, and comprehend the different forms under which the same elementary principles are variously presented.

It does not fall within the scope of my present intention to give a full explanation of the machinery of the mysteries, or the various rites observed by the different nations by whom they were practised. It will, however, be necessary to enter into such details relative to this subject, as will serve (as before observed) to direct the Masonic student in his researches into the antiquities of our Order; and for more minute particulars I would refer to the very erudite works of our learned Brother, Dr. Oliver, and particularly his "History of Initiation."

As many of the mysteries were practised cotemporaneously in different nations, a mere chronological account of them would be somewhat confused, and give but an indistinct idea of their entire meaning. I consider, therefore, that the object I have in view will be best answered by dividing the future observations into two parts, corresponding with the general division of Freemasonry, viz., SPECULATIVE and OPERATIVE. The propriety and convenience of this arrangement will, it is apprehended, be sufficiently obvious. It seems calculated to avoid much of the apparent incongruity which, in the absence of such clear division, is frequently perceptible in our most learned treatises, and renders the whole subject under consideration more perspicuous and intelligible.

I propose, therefore, under the speculative portion of the subject, to give some account of those countries where the principal mysteries were celebrated, with an outline or some general notice of the ceremonies observed by each, and such observations as may occasionally be deemed necessary for the more complete elucidation of the subject; and under

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the operative portion, to give some description of the Dionysians of Asia Minor, the colleges of architects of Ancient Rome, and the various fraternities of builders, by whom the most magnificent monuments of antiquity were erected, with an account of the Freemasons of the middle ages, our more immediate predecessors, who travelling in Lodges, and patronized by kings and nobles, filled Christendom with those splendid cathedrals and ecclesiastical structures, which still stand unrivalled monuments of architectural beauty, symmetry, and skill, and contrast most strikingly with the debased and unmeaning style adopted after our ancient Brethren had closed their Lodges, and ceased to work as operative Masons.

And first, then, as to the speculative portion of our subject.-As LIGHT, both physical and intellectual, springs from the east, we naturally refer to that bright region to trace the dawn of intellect, the source of the arts, and as the spot where the first practical development was given to the beneficent and comprehensive principles of Freemasonry. I have before observed that the mysteries were unquestionably pure in origin, in fact, they comprehended in their institution the simple rites and pure principles of a patriarchal form of worship, with the interposition of such guards as were gradually found necessary to preserve them from profanation. They were instituted in the infancy of the post-diluvian world, when the waters of the deluge had subsided, and Noah and his family descended from mount Ararat to occupy and replenish a purified earth. It would seen more in order, therefore, to commence this part of the subject with some description of the mysteries of India, probably the most ancient; but at present a cloud of darkness hangs over the early history of that portion of our globe. There empires have perished, of which we do not even know the name-they may have been ruled over by dynasties, but they are forgotten-they may have possessed records, but they have been destroyed-patriots and poets may have flourished and sung, but their literature is lost-their history is a blank. And what remains of Nineveh the mighty, and Babylon the proud? The city, with its hundred brazen gates, its stately walls, its hanging gardens, its temples, palaces, and towers, has been swept from the plains of Shinarits very site unknown.

We therefore propose to leave the valley of the Euphrates and turn, in the first instance, to the valley of the Nile.

In Egypt we find vestiges of the most remote antiquity, monuments of grandeur, and works so stupendous as to seem almost superhuman, and these, moreover, wrought in a material apparently imperishable; for though four thousand years have rolled over them, they still preserve their pristine freshness, the mark of the workman's chisel is still clear and distinct, and in the mystic characters they bear, events are recorded which occurred contemporaneously with their erection.

In the valley of the Nile we thus have a most interesting field for investigation, and I will commence the speculative portion of my subject with some account of

ANCIENT EGYPT.

For nearly two thousand years thick darkness laid upon the history of the land of the Pharaohs, and all attempts to disperse it failed. Vague surmises, wild imaginings, and absurd hypotheses, were all that the world beheld in the vain but laborious attempts of the learned "to uplift the veil of Isis;" but the persevering efforts of modern hierologists, directed

by the clear intellect of Champollion, have succeeded in penetrating the circumambient gloom, and throwing a ray of light upon the history of ancient Egypt, her manners and customs, conquests and dominions, arts, religion, and laws, and in deciphering those long-hidden records of Pharaonic glory, which were to the Romans "a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks, foolishness."

The Masonic student is earnestly recommended to make himself acquainted with the results of these splendid discoveries, a knowledge of them will constitute a stepping stone to the study of Masonic antiquities. Mysteries heretofore deemed incomprehensible are solved, and we are enabled to trace those fountains of light, philosophy, and knowledge, which more than one thousand years afterwards diffused their influence over Greece and Rome; and ages before Athens was founded, or the city of Romulus had a name, we are enabled to discover every art and science of civilized life in active operation in the valley of the Nile. Indeed, as a learned writer on ancient Egypt observes-"The pure resilitions of Egyptian philosophical doctrines start, in spite of their Grecian chrysalis, from all the pages we possess of Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle; and evince that in philosophy, as in everything else, the Greeks borrowed from the Egyptians, who are not, however, amenable for errors that originate in the vanity, volatility, and misapprehension of the Hellenes, and which invest the profound and practical wisdom of the teachers with the puerilities of the pupils. The touchstone of hieroglyphical analysis now enables us to cull the Nilotic pearls from the mound, and return them with honour to their proprietors, leaving the remainder to the Greeks as their exclusive copyright." The importance, therefore, of the investigation recommended cannot fail to be manifestly obvious. Many histories, notices of Nilotic paleography, biblical commentaries, ponderous disquisitions, and evanescent papers, have and continue to be issued from the press upon the subject of Egyptian history, but without a full knowledge of all that has been accomplished by the Champollion school, such works are utterly valueless as far as the history of ancient Egypt is concerned.

"*

But this knowledge is not only indispensable in conducting our present investigation, it is interesting to all, and the writer I have before quoted asks " Are not, however, Egyptian studies, and the mythology, philosophy, and doctrines of that misrepresented race, interesting to the divine who attests the unity of the Godhead and the Holy Trinity? Can the theologian derive no light from the pure primeval faith, that glimmers from Egyptian hieroglyphics, to illustrate the immortality of the soul and a final resurrection? Will not the historian deign to notice the prior origin of every art and science in Egypt, a thousand years before the Pelasgians studded the isles and capes of the Archipelago with their forts and temples? and long before Etruscan civilization had smiled under Italian skies?"

In fact, philologists, astronomers, chemists, painters, architects, and physicians, must return to Egypt, to learn the origin of writing-a know

*From "Ancient Egypt," by George R. Gliddon, Esq., late United States Consul at Cairo, This clever work, from which I have derived material assistance in the present chapter, was published at New York, and imported into this country by Bro. Madden, the Oriental publisher. Mr. Gliddon having resided the greater part of his life in Egypt, and being actuated by an untiring zeal in the prosecution of his researches, is well qualified to treat on the subject of Egyptian antiquities.

ledge of the calendar and solar motion-of the art of cutting granite with a copper chisel, and of giving elasticity to a copper sword-of making glass of the variegated hues of the rainbow-of moving single blocks of polished syenite, nine hundred tons in weight, for any distance by land or water-of building arches round and pointed, with masonic precision unsurpassed at the present day, and antecedent by two thousand years to the Cloaca Magna of Rome-of sculpturing a Doric column, one thousand years before the Dorians are known in history-of fresco painting in imperishable colours-and of practical knowledge in Masonry.

And it is no less clear that every craftsman can behold, in Egyptian monuments, the progress of his art four thousand years ago, and whether it be a wheelwright building a chariot—a shoemaker drawing his twine -a leather-cutter, using that self-same form of knife which is considered the best form now-a weaver throwing the same hand-shuttle—a whitesmith using that identical form of blow-pipe, but lately recognized to be the most efficient-the seal-engraver cutting in hieroglyphics such names as SHOOPO's four thousand three hundred years ago—or even the poulterer removing the pip from geese-all these, and numerous other astounding evidences of Egyptian priority in every art and science, usage and custom of civilized life, now require but a glance at the plates of Wilkinson and Rossellini.

These considerations enable us to form some conception of what in reality was the wisdom of the Egyptians.

As the discovery of the art of deciphering the hieroglyphics has led to the important results before detailed, it will not, I trust, be uninteresting to the general reader; and my Masonic friends will not, I hope, consider that I am 66 travelling out of the record," or indulging in unnecessary prolixity, if I extend this portion of my observations by giving some explanation of the manner in which this is effected.

It must, as a preliminary observation, be borne in mind, that hieroglyphics are both symbolic and phonetic, that is to say, they sometimes stand as emblems of material objects, or as exemplifying a particular action; and at other times are used to designate a particular sound, forming part of a letter or word. As Mr. Gliddon has put the latter point very clearly in his work before alluded to, I shall here again, as well as in the subsequent observations, avail myself of the valuable information his pages contain.

"It is a law of phonetic hieroglyphics, that the picture of a physical object shall give the sign of the sound, with which its name begins in the Egyptian tongue. Thus, a lion, whose Egyptian name was ' LABO,' stood for the letter L in hieroglyphics, as it might stand in our language, to represent the initial letter of the designatory title of that animal, whose name with us is Lion. Now the same principle is distinctly discernable in the Hebrew, Arabic, Samaritan, Phœnician, and other Semitic tongues! The ancient Hebrew letter Li or L was the initial letter of their name for Lion, ‘LABI,' while, in shape, it is only an abbreviation of the figure of a recumbent lion, a pure Egyptian hieroglyph. The B, in Hebrew, is the initial letter of the word Beth,' meaning a house,' which is its name; and there is even a resemblance to be traced between the form of the letter' Beth,' and the outline of an oriental house with a flat roof! I will exemplify this fact by the name of the letter AD in the ancient Hebrew, which, besides, being probably the first articulate sound uttered by Adam, signifies 'A MAN,' as also 'red earth,' out of

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