"Ars Quatuor Coronatorum."

They thought no maAvmetys for to make , For no good that they mygth take , To levyn on that mawmefcys for here God , They nolde * do so , thawg he were AVOC ! ; f For they nolde not forsake here tnv fay , ! And byleve on hys falsso lay . The emperouv let take hem sone anone ,

And putte hem ynto a dep presone ; The sarre § he penest || hem yn that place The more yoye Aves to hem of Cristus grace ; Thenne AA'hen he sye * j [ no nothei- won , To dethe he lette hem thenne gon ; Whose wol of here lyf yet more kuoive , By the bok he may hyt schoive , In the legend of sanctorum , The names of quatuor coronatorum ; Here fesfc ** wol be , withoute nay , After Alle Haliven + f the eyght clay . '

The allusion here to the " quatuor coronatorum , " or " holy martyres foAvre . " is one of tbe most conclusive proofs of tbe connection which existed between the Freemasons of England ancl the "Steinmetzeu" or Stone-cutters of Germany ; ancl shows that tbey both formed part of the same fraternity , and sprang from one common source . In England , as Avell as in Germany , the four holy crowned martyrs were esteemed as patron saints of tbe fraternity of Masons . Heidelofftbe German architecttells ns in his " Baubiitte des Mittelalters "

, , that man } ' of tbe altars erected by the medireval masons were dedicated to their patron saints , the four holy croAvned martyrs ( Die heiligen Vier Gekronten ) , whose names were Severus , iSeverianus , Carpophorus , and Victorinus , —all of Avhom were Christian Masons and Martyrs , Avho , haA'ing refused to build a pagan temple , ivere , by command of tbe emperor Diocletian , or , as some say , Tiberius , cast into the river Tiber , where they perished .

Several of tbe Stone-masons' regulations of Germany conclude with the words , "All these articles have been framed from the text of the ancient Constitutions which were made by tbe holy crowned martyrs , named Claudius , Christerius , and Significanus , to the praise and glory of the Holy Trinity ancl of Mary , the Queen of Heaven . " The names and number of the holy martyrs A'ary much in different

documents : sometimes , as above , but three are mentioned ; at other times we find four , and eA'en five individuals alluded to , but always as the "Vier Gekronten . " - The statutes of the Stonemasons of Strasburg of 1459 commence with the folloAving formula : " In the name of tbe Father , Son , and Holy Ghost , and of the worthy mother Mary , and to the everlasting memory of her blessed

servants the holy four croAvned martyrs , " etc . The regulations Of 1462 begin as follows : " In the name of the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost , in tbe name of the blessed Virgin Mary , and to the honour of the four crowned martyrs , we , masters of the work of the Stonemasons , " etc . In Wattenbacb ' s "Pnssio Sanctorum quatuor Coronatorum , " Vienna , 1853 , which is taken from a MS . in tbe Ducal Library at Coburg , it is related that

these four Christian sculptors preferred to suffer martyrdom rather than defile their mallets and chisels by carving a statue of Asclopins , the heathen Lord and Saidonr . At Antwerp there formerly existed a "Society of the Four Crowned Martyrs" ( Claudius , Nycostratus . Symphorianus , and Castorius ) , Avhich consisted of masons , slate-quarriers , paviers , and stuccoers , or plasterers , an account of Avhich will be found in the "Aurea Legenda , " ed . Griisse , p . 739 , ancl in the "Archives Philol ., " Lonvain , vol . i ., p . 351 , and A'ol . ii ., p . 63 .