BOMAIN V. CALCAREOUS. 



habitations. Even calcareous sandstone can 

 scarcely be called a freestone, as it often re- 

 quires to be placed in the original direction of 

 its layers in the quarry, else it will moulder in 

 the air; which is also the case with some lime- 

 stones employed in the public buildings at Ox- 

 ford, and which therefore can scarcely be called 

 freestones. 



The freemasons of the middle ages, who ap- 

 pear to have been the successors of the Knights 

 Templars, from their allusions to the temple, 

 the military tinge of their mysterious rites* 

 which formerly excited the jealousy and revenge 

 of monarchs, and other circumstances,- appear 

 to have applied the name freestone from a yet 

 more delicate and appropriate circumstance* 

 namely, that it might be wrought into orna- 

 ments of the most minute description, such as 

 are observable in the cathedrals and other public 

 buildings, not to mention the crosses, tombs, and 

 other monuments, of the middle ages, which 

 could never be imitated in any sandstone. The 

 little fleurets, and other miniatures, which we 

 admire in the tombs and buildings of that period, 

 are sculptured on a stone of the finest grain, 

 and at the same time of a softness most easily 

 obedient to the chisel; qualities which, if found 

 in any sandstone, it would soon moulder, and 



