THE STONE MASON.

This business of a Stone-mason, consists in the art of hewing or squaring stone and marble; in catting them for the purposes of bnilding, and in being able to fix them in the walls of buildings with mortar.

This is one of the most ancient arts which effects in the world. The Pyramids of Egypt will ever remain monuments of the power, industry, and genius of man : although much has been written upon the construction of these massive piles, it is hot known with certainty by whom or when they were erected : nor for what purpose they were designed. it is, we believe, pretty generally agreed, that they are at least three thousand years old.

If we look to Greece, and to Rome, before the Christian aera, we shall find that the art of the stone-mason had arrived at such perfection that, at the present day, we seem to have little more to do than to become humble imitators of those grand and elegant remains of genius and of knowledge.

The tools principally used by masons, are the square, the level, the plumb-line, the bevel, the compass, the hammer, the chisel, the
mallet, the saw, and the trowel ; besides these, used by the hand, the master mason ought to posses a powerful machines for raising or rearing large stones, or other great burdens, as levers, pullies, the wheel and axis, crane, &c.

When the stones are large, the business of hewing and cutting them belongs to the stone cutter, but these are frequently ranked with
the masons, and so also are those who fashion the ornaments of sculpture, though they are properly, carvers and sculptors in stone.

When masons or bricklayers speak of a bevel angle, they mean one which is neither forty five nor ninety degrees.

The stone-mason's saw is different from those used by other mechanics ; it has no teeth ; and being moved backwards and
forwards by a single man, it cuts the stone by its own weight, and the friction occasioned by the motion. In the winter time, and in rainy or very sultry weather, the sawyer sits in a wooden box, not unlike a watchman's box, but without a front to it. These boxes are moveable, so that the workman may secure himself from the piercing blasts of winter, and the scorching sun-beam in summer.

.Both marble and stone are dug out of quarries : the grain of marble is so .fine as readily to take a beautiful polish. It is of course
much used in ornaments of building, as columns, statues, altars, tombs, chimney- pieces, tables, &c.

There are an indefinite number of different kinds of marbles ; and they take their name either from their colour, their age, their country, their degree of hardness, or their defects. Some are of one colour only, as black or white, others are streaked or variegated with stains, clouds, and veins ; but almost all are opake, excepting white, which, when cut into very thin slices and polished, becomes transparent.

Marble is polished by being first rubbed with free-stone, afterwards with pumice-stone, and lastly with emery or calcined tin. Artificial marble is real marble pulverized, and mixed with plaster ; and from this composition are made statues, busts, basso-relievos, and other ornaments of architecture.

Few natural substances are less understood than marble ; the people who are accustomed to work it know, from experience, and at first sight, that one sort will receive a high polish, that another is easily wrought, and a third refuses the tools. And men of science know little more.

Masons make use of several kinds of stone, but Portland stone is the principal : of this there are vast quarries in the island of Portland, in Dorsetshire, from whence it is brought in large quantities to London. It is used for building in general ; for copings at the tops of houses, and as supports for iron rails ; for window-sills ; for stone balusters ; for steps and paving, where great neatness is required.

This stone is very soft when it comes out of the quarry ; it works easily, and becomes hard by length of time. The piers aod arches
of Westminster bridge are built with it; and go is the Miagnificent Cathedral of St. PauL

Purbeck-stone comes from an island of that same, also in Dorsetshire ; it is chiefly used in paving, making steps, and other rough work, Yorkshire stone is also used for paving, steps, coping, and other purposes, in which strength and durability are required. There is also a stone which, when cut into slabs, is used for hearths, called Ryegate stone.

Stope-masons make use of mortar, plaster of Paris, and tarrass, for cementing.or joining their works. The two former are used for
dry work, and the latter for bridges and buildings exposed to the water.

Mortar is made of lime and sand, in about equal proportions, and after beiag sifted to a proper degree of fineness, is mixed with sufficient water to reduce them to a paste of the necessary consistence for use. The use of. the sand is to supply the lime with the carbonic acid which it lost by being burnt, and thus be again converted into stone.

Plaster of Paris is made by exposing alabaster to a certain degree of heat, either in an oven, or in a common boiler, in order to discharge all the water which it contains: it being, for convenience, first reduced, to a powder.

Tarras is a coarse sort of plaster, or mortar, durable in wet: it is chiefly used to line basons, cisterns, wells, and other reservoirs of
water. That which is called Dutch tarrass, is made of a soft rock-stone, found near Cologne on the Rhine : it is burnt like lime, and
reduced to powder by mills, and then carried to Holland, by which means it has acquired the name of Dutch tarrass. It is very dear,
on account of the great demand there is for it in aquatic works.

An artificial tarrass is formed of two parts of lime, and one of plaster of Paris; and another consists of one part of lime, and two
parts of well-sifted coal ashes. These are all used occasionally by the mason and bricklayer.

Stone masons measure and charge for their work either by the superficial or cubic foot. They have extra charges for iron cramps, which fasten two or more stones together ; for cutting holes in which iron rails are fixed, and for various other things.

A journeyman mason obtains usually about 4s.or 4s.6d. per day, and the labourer has from 2s 6d. to 3s. per day ; but others who
work by the piece, or who are employed in carving or other fine work, will earn more than double that sum.