The Old Master Masons.

" excerpta" mig ht , be made out of the old chronicles , which would throw much light on the whole subject . The following extract from Sir Gilbert Scott's " Gleanings from Westminster Abbey , " 1854 , touches upon another point which bears closely on the subject we are treating : —

The point of the necessity of gangs of skilled workmen accustomed to work together for the production of the great works of mediaeval art , has not been sufficiently attended to . The fables of the Freemasons have produced a natural reaction , and the degree of truth which there is in these traditions has consequently been overlooked . We know that each of our great cathedrals had a gang of workmen attached to it in regular pay , almost as part of the foundation , for the fabric fund could not be lawfully diverted to any other purpose , and these workmen became by long practice very skilful , more especially the Masons , or workers in and carvers of freestone , as distinct from the labourers , who merely

laid the rubble work for the foundations and rough parts of the fabric . Prom various indications it would appear that there was also a royal gang- of workmen in the King's pay , by whom the great walls ordered and perhaps designed by the king himself , were constructed . The wills of Henry VI . aud Heury VII . seems to show that these monarcha were to some extent architects themselves . They gave the most minute directions for the works to be done , just as any architect would have done . St . George's Chapel , Windsor , King ' s College Chapel , Cambridge , and Henry the Seventh's Chapel were probably all executed by the royal gang of workmen . * ## *** # It

seems probable that the office held by William of Wykeham , aud at a later time by Sir Reginald Bray , was in fact that of chief of the royal Masons , and it may be in this manner that Sir Beginald Bray has long had the credit of giving the designs of Henry the Seventh ' s Chapel , although there is no evidence that he even gave the idea of it . He died soon after the foundations were laid .

This is a point always then to be borne in mind in our investigation . The following may be taken , on Bro . E . W . Shaw ' s original lines , as an imperfect attempt to arrange a list of old Master Masons . But ou the face of it , it is necessarily incomplete and partial . Any additions to it will be gratefully received by us . For obvious reasons Bro . Shaw has selected the eleventh century as his initial century , though many names previously , especially in the first 500 years of the Christian era , are known to students , and

some few previously . Eleventh Century . —Godefride , Whitby ; Wimbolde , Beauvais . Twelfth- Century . —Arnold , Croyland Abbey ; William Anglus , Canterbury ; Boileviis , Provence ; Walter de Coventry , Chichester ; Christian , Durham ; Blyas , Westminster ; Albert de Everolde , St . Alban ' s ; Hugo de Golclcliffe , St . Alban ' s ; Alduin Malverne , Hereford ; Odo , Prior , Croyland ; Richard the Ingeniator , Norham Castle ; William of Sens , Canterbury ; Nicholas Walred , Gloucester .

Thirteenth Century . —Alberictts , Westminster Abbey ; John de Bello , Northampton ; Helias de Berham , Salisbury ; Robert de Beverley , Westminster Abbey ; Etieime de Bonneuil , Upsala ; Michael de Canterbury , St . 'Stephen ' s ; Roger de Crundale , Waltham Cross ; Thomas de Cormont , Regnault de Cormont , Amiens ; John de Chelles , Paris ; Richard de Crundale , Charing Cross ; Michael de Crundale , Westcbeap Cross ; John de Champs , Clermont ; Walter de DixiBerneville ; Henry de ElretonCarnarvon Castle ; Adam de

, , Glapham , Carnarvon Castle ; John of Gloucester , Westminter ; Magister Gerhard , Cologne ; William de Hoo , London ; Walter de Hereford , Carnarvon ; Isenbert , Rochelle ; James the German , Assisi ; Robert de Lusarche , Amiens ; Michel le Libergier , Reims ; Dymengede Legeri , Waltham Cross ; Philip Montereau , Paris ; Walter de Meulan , Bee ; Eudes Montrieul , Nantes ; Godfrey de NoieresLincoln ; Edward Fitz OdoWestminster ; Michel le Papelhart

, , , Chalons ; John de Pakenham ; Robert , Salisbury ; Gilbert de Sisseveme , St . Alban ' s ; Erwin de Steinbach ; Robert de Ulmo Ingeniator , London , 1299 ; John de Waverley , Westminster . Fourteenth Century . —Henry Arley , Milan ; Jean de Botitelier , Paris ; John de Brampton , Whitb y Abbey ; William de Bok yngham , Whitby ; Wil-H 2