The "Edinburgh Review" And Freemasonry.

THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW" AND FREEMASONRY .

AYILLIAJl JAMES HUGHAN . j Ix the " Edinburgh Review , " some time ! ago , appeared an able critique of Norman Architecture , dec ., by Henry Gaily Knight , M . P . We clo not purpose following the article in its treatment of the subject as affecting the claims of the Norman School of Architecture , but desire simply to consider the statements made therein Avith

respect to Freemasonry . We are told that , " As the substratum and foundation of any consistent theory for the history of art in the middle ages , Ave must advert to the fact , that in the earlier eras of society , all handicrafts ( save and except those upon which slaves Avere employed )

Avere carried on by societies Avhich the Romans termed . ' colleges ;'—receiving in the middle ages the appellation of' guilds , ' * mysteries , ' - zunften , ' or other analogous denominations Furthermore , these colleges adopted as a leading or

fundamental principle , that they conferred an hereditary privilege or duty . The son succeeded to tlie occupation of the father ; just as in the companies and guilds , the son became a freeman by birthright . His trade Avas his best estate—his inheritance . . . . Aniuiigst the Roman ' colleges ' the company of hereditary architects held

a conspicuous place But the Masonic square , the level , the trowel , and the mallet , all carefully represented upon the memorial of the Roman architect , display how important a feature the mechanical practice of the art was consideredin estimating tbe calling to which

, the maotnr belonged . Now it is to the societies representing ancl continuing these Roman colleges , in those cities of Gaul which , during the middle ages , and indeed , until the great political revolutions of our own times , retained the unbroken

succession of their municipal government from the imperial age—as Avas peculiarly exemplified iu Nismes ancl Cologne—that Ave would attribute the structures Avbieb Ave have designated as the Romanesqueimperial , and described as always exhibiting a decided , and often a successful endeavour to assert tbe relationshi p to the prototype . . , , After the extinction

or dissolution of the bodies deriving their succession from tbe colleges , the art would only be practised by insulated workmen . " The foregoing we take to favour the " guild theory" in connection with Freemasonry , -which Bro . the ReA ' . A . F . A .

Woodford , and ourselves , have for some time endeavoured to support as the only reasonable VJCAV of tbe ori g in of modern Freemasoniy , and surely such a paternity should be thought sufficiently ancient to satisfy the most exacting , Avhilst its

harmony with history must ever secure for it the acceptance of all thoughtful masonic students . We read again a ; follows : — "We adopt , hoAvever , with more certainty , the opinion long since suggested by Wren , that the Societies of Freemasons became the means

of spreading the knowledge , as Avell as the practice , of Gothic architecture throughout the middle ages . Whether any of their ori g inal lodges are , as they themselves assert , founded upon the Roman Colleges , or whether they were affiliated upon similar institutions in the middle agesis open to

, much conjecture ; yet we cannot deny but that their symbol ? retain the impress of high authority . Many of them can be traced in the Roman sepulchre , or the quarter gem ; and although it may be hard to admit that tbe craftsmen of York

are the unbroken successors of the architects sent to Britain by Claudius , yet tbey mig ht , perhaps , more truly assert , that tbey derived their reorganization from members of the brotherhood , travelling into this island at more recent periods , from Germany or Gaul . "

' Confused , ignorant , ancl even absurd , in the traditional ' Charges' * Avhich unfolded to the Masonic aspirant , the incipient lodgenna ; tbe dignity of his art , the connection assumed between Masonry ancl the severe sciences , bear a remarkable resemblance to the canons of Vitruvius ; ancl the astral hieroglyphics , so conspicuous in various portions of the mediaeval structures ,