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In that part of the Cathedral of Cordoba, erectedby the Arabs over the entrance where the Koran waskept, and over the place near the pulpit, whence theMufti explained the law, allotted to the kings, there
in Covcnt Garden, which support merely a wooden vault, andfrom part of the vaulting of Lincoln’s Inn Chapel, it may bepresumed that the builder of “ the handsomest barn in England”was no great adept in the mystery of vaulting.
Nicholas Stone destroyed many valuable manuscripts belongingto the Society of Free Masons. Perhaps his master , Inigo Jones ,thought that the new mode, though dependent on taste, indepen-dent of science, and, like the Caliph Omar , held what wasagreeable to the new faith useless, and what was not, ought tobe destroyed.
The contracts for the erection of the vaulting of King’s College Chapel , Cambridge , are in an account of the Chapel by Maldon;and in the Anec. of Paint, by Walpole, Vol. 1. Append, third edit.In Dugdale’s Monast. Vol. III. p. 162. is an agreement betweenthe Commissioners of Richard Duke of York and William Har-wood, Free Mason , for the rebuilding of the chapel in the Collegeof Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire . And in Ashmole ’s Hist.Gart. p. 136, is an agreement with Hylmer and Vertue, Free Masons , for the building the choir of St. George’s chapel,Windsor.
In Maldon’s account of King’s College Chapel , Cambridge ,Dr. Henry’s History, and a Treatise on Masonry by WilliamPreston, 1792, some account of the Free Masons , as relating tothe subject.of building, maybe found. They appear to have beenknown in England about the’beginning of the seventh century.They are said to have introduced the art of building in stone, andthat the art of constructing walls to resist the thrust of a stone vaultwas their original mystery. It is more reasonable to suppose,that the art of building stone walls is as old as stone quarries,than that this society is as ancient as Solomon’s Temple.About the beginning of the seventeenth century, the art “ dela coupe des pierres” was still held a seci'et, and the possessorsol this mystery, were called the “ Cotterie.” Maturin Joussecalled his treatise, from this -circumstance, “ Secret d’Archi-tecture.”