1845.] On tlie Buddhist Emblem of Architecture. 627 



that he truly was, as he declares himself to have been, ap^ireKrwv 

 " a master mason ;" for that he alludes, as far as he was enabled by his 

 obligations to do, to certain appearances in that grade, which can be ap- 

 preciated only by the initiated. 



Having then thus premised that the ornamental parts of a building 

 were aptly emblematic of perfection, it is only in connection with the 

 idea of objects of perfection, that we must endeavour to search for a 

 resolution of their meaning. 



The Triglyph, (" a." fig. 2.) 



The earliest edifices having been of wood, and the more antient 

 type of stone buildings conforming in a great measure in their simplicity 

 to what we might consider the early wooden buildings must have 

 been, most practical masons endeavour to account for the origin of 

 the Triglyph, by viewing it, as a representation in stone, of three 

 props, which were stuck up between the architrave, and that part of 

 the cornice in which the ends of the beams that support the roof, pro- 

 ject. And this view seems at first sight plausible, as they invariably 

 occur immediately under the mutules, which last have very much the 

 appearance of the ends of projecting beams. But if the construction of 

 the Triglyph be examined, this will be at once shewn not to be the 

 case ; independent of which it is much more probable that the primitive 

 builders put a solid oblong block, to support this most important part 

 of the edifice, instead of leaving it to the strength of three slim sticks, 

 or bits of planks. In fact, it was a solid block which, from the impor- 

 tant functions it had to perform, viz. to support in the first instance the 

 whole weight of the roof, and in the second to keep it clear of the 

 architrave, was happily impressed with the most sacred of all emblems, 

 in all ages, among all nations, the Triglyph. 



This quadrangular block was the prototype of that hewn and 

 " cubic stone," which plays so important a role, in modern masonry. It 

 was, according to Duteil, emblematic of legal, as the unhewn stone was 

 of natural, justice ; and was consequently employed in early ages as the 

 seat of judges, and is, he says, the Qecrrog \iOog placed by Homer, in 

 the third Odyssey, before the portals of Nestor. It is likewise an em- 

 blem found on Boodhist coins, and has by some been taken for an 

 altar. It will be remarked by examining the Triglyph of Architecture 

 (fig, 3,) that it is so constructed as to leave no dispute of its meaning ; 



