It seems proper that we should here pause to consider

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES.

Freemasonry encourages to the utmost the improvement of all the arts, and the cultivation of all the sciences. But in old times the liberal arts and sciences, as they were taught in colleges, were seven in number,-Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. To these the whole teaching of schools and colleges. was confined. The first three constituted what was called the trivium, the other four the quadrivium (from the Latin tres, three; quatuor, four, and via, a way). The student was first instructed in the trivium, beginning with Grammar, and proceeding to Rhetoric and Logic; then, if desirous of great attainments, he went through the quadrivium, and with this his college education was complete. This system of instruction dates from about the eighth century, and embraced the whole circle of the sciences as then known and cultivated. The preservation of these arts and sciences is enjoined in the lessons of the Fellow-Craft's Degree, and they therefore deserve our special regard.

The seven liberal arts and sciences, according to the ancient enumeration of them, still preserved in Freemasonry, are the following:-GRAMMAR, RHETORIC, and LOGIC, these three forming the trivium;-ARITHMETIC, GEOMETRY, MUSIC, and ASTRONOMY; these four forming the quadrivium. In looking at this list, we cannot but be struck with the relative positions assigned to some of them, quite contrary to our modern notions of education. For example, we find rhetoric and logic placed before arithmetic, and it evidently appears that they were regarded as more essential than arithmetic to a good education. Every one who has heard of the three R's, knows how contrary to all modern notions this is. We are also apt to be surprised at the place assigned to music, but on reflection, we may be apt to think that in this our forefathers were wiser than we. We have begun again to introduce music into our schools, even the most elementary schools, and with great evident advantage.

In former times, it was an essential part of a liberal education, because of its use in the service of the Church, for which most of those who were educated in colleges were intended. We use it now as helpful to the cultivation and refinement of the mind, as serving to prepare a youth for high and pure enjoyments, and also for taking part in that worship of God which is not the peculiar service of the clergy, but eommon to all the members of the Church.

We must take some notice of the seven liberal arts and sciences in their order. The first of them is

GRAMMAR.

This teaches the proper arrangement of words, and their relations to each other. Its first object is to fit a man for speaking correctly the language of his own country; a thing most important for a Mason, even in any ordinary speech in the Lodge; but still more if called to discharge the duties of a high office, particularly that of the Master of a Lodge. That a speech may be impressive, or that it may well serve the purpose for which it is intended, it is necessary that the words should be well arranged, so as to bring out the meaning clearly in every part; that there should be no faults such as might provoke laughter or contempt, no blundering use of one part of speech for another, or stumbling into misassociations of what might seem the natural and ready words. All these things may very naturally happen from the nervousness of an unaccustomed speaker, but they will happen far more readily if there has been no previous cultivation of the art of speaking, and particularly if no attention has been paid to grammar. Faults in grammar are, indeed, deemed the most inexcusable in a speaker, and they are those for which he is most sure to be laughed at. Solecisms and barbarous expressions are also contrary to the rules of grammar, and will be avoided by the well-trained student; although, on the other hand, there is a pedantry of extremely accurate expression, which it is well to avoid. Slang phrases may be reckoned among solecisms, and no one, who properly

knows what he is doing, will use them in a serious speech. In their familiar use they are unworthy of employment by any one who desires to hold the respectable position which ought to belong to all members of the Masonic Order.

It does not belong to our present purpose to enter at all into the subject of grammar. It is enough to say what it is, and what its uses are. We must observe, however, that grammar has to do not merely with the parts of speech, the inflections, and the syntax of any particular language, but with general rules applicable to all languages, so that it appears that language is one thing for all mankind, and the Scripture is confirmed which ascribes a common origin to the whole human race. The general rules of universal grammar are more important than the particular rules of any language or dialect. They extend to every language and every dialect.

RHETORIC.

The second of the liberal arts and sciences is Rhetoric. It has for its object to teach us to speak not merely accurately, according to the rules of grammar, but fluently and eloquently. In order to do this, there must be a natural gift which some men possess in a much higher degree than others, although there are almost none who do not possess it in some degree, and in all who possess it, it is capable of improvement by cultivation. Public speaking is often marred by the nervousness of the speaker, who therefore forgets what he has to say, or gets into confusion, and cannot arrange his thoughts nor order his words aright. It does not properly belong to the art of rhetoric to overcome this, but to effort and practice on the part of the man himself. However, he who has studied that art has a great advantage for the overcoming of it, in the consciousness of his own power, a consciousness which is utterly wanting in the untrained and unpractised speaker. It belongs to the art of rhetoric to arrange arguments properly, and to bring them forward in due order, to preface a speech with a proper introduction, and to wind it up with a suitable peroration, accommodating all

to the circumstances and capacities of those to whom it is addressed, and to the purpose for which it is spoken.

The greatest possible simplicity of style is generally the best for every purpose of the orator. It belongs, indeed, to the art of rhetoric to adorn and embellish style. But it seems now to be generally admitted that, on many important occasions, ornature and embellishment are inappropriate. A figure or metaphor, aptly introduced, has a happy effect, but it must be appropriate and evidently suitable to its purpose. In the last century and even more recently, the speeches in the British Parliament were often elaborate and ornate-finished productions of the art of rhetoric according to the view then taken of its perfection. Such speeches would now hardly be listened Speaking in Parliament and out of Parliament, is more in what may be called a business style,-a speaking simply to the purpose, as of a man desirous of convincing others by fair argument. The change in this respect is very notable, and it is a change which it is almost impossible not to approve.

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The art of rhetoric cannot be used to good purpose by any one not possessing a good general education. The public speaker must possess a knowledge not only of the particular subject on which he intends to speak, but of other subjects from which he may derive arguments and illustrations. The more abundant his resources of general knowledge, the more powerful and impressive his speech is likely to be; for, although any parade of learning or knowledge would only make him ridiculous, the proper use of it is always likely to add to the effectiveness of his speech. And to this proper use-as well as the avoidance of the parade which is worse than unnecessary-his study of the art of rhetoric ought to guide him.

The greater the amount of general knowledge which a speaker has acquired, the better for him. He can draw his illustrations-to say nothing of his arguments-more felicitously, from a greater variety of sources, and the effect of a speech often depends very much on the felicity of the

illustrations introduced. They bring the argument more clearly before the mind of the hearer, and they please him, which is not of little consequence. But an illustration, to be of any use, must be felicitous; it must be simple, natural, and evidently to the purpose. A laborious effort at illustration-the illustrations far-fetched, and not at once commending themselves to the minds of the hearers as apposite is one of the greatest faults of rhetoric. So is the incessant effort of adornment of speech by figures and metaphors, in which some speakers indulge, so that the whole style seems to glow and glitter with them, like a dress covered with bugles and spangles. The hearer or reader soon wearies of it. A simple style is better, and a figure or metaphor, when brought in appropriately, is appreciated, and has a good effect.

LOGIC.

Logic (from the Greek logos, a word or reason) is the art of Reasoning. It guides us to the accurate knowledge of things, and directs our inquiries after truth. It exhibits to us the course of argument, and shows how one step follows necessarily upon another. When this was originally ranked among the seven liberal arts, nothing but the Aristotelian logic was known. The Baconian or inductive logic is of much more recent date, owing its origin to Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, whose name is one of the greatest of the great men of the seventeenth century. In the Aristotelian logic the chief place is assigned to the syllogism, by which we reason from given premises to a conclusion. All reasoning from premises to conclusion must be in the syllogistic form. We cannot frame it otherwise, and it is good for us to know exactly how syllogisms may be framed, and what are the rules of their validity. The Baconian or inductive logic is very different. It does not set aside the syllogistic form of reasoning, which, indeed, can never be set aside; but it leads us to the inference of truth from observations such as those which we make in natural history, from a multitude

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