THE CORNER-STONE.

The Board of State Building Commissioners was directed by the Legislature to procure a suitable Corner-Stone, and to cause the following inscriptions to be carved thereon, with raised letters in sunk panels, viz.: On the east face "A. D. 1872" (being the year in which work upon the Capitol was commenced), and upon the north face "A. D," and the year in which the building shall be completed. From a number of specimens of granite, from various localities, submitted for their examination, the Commissioners made choice of that from Concord, New Hampshire, as being the most beautiful and appropriate for the use required. A design for the Stone was prepared by E. E. MYERS, Esq., the architect of the Capitol, and a contract for preparing it awarded to Messrs. STRUTHERS & SONS, of Philadelphia.

ANTIQUITY OF THE CUSTOM.

The importance attached to the corner-stone is of very great antiquity. In the Book of Job, believed to be the oldest literary production extant, the Great Architect and Builder of the Universe is thus reported to have addressed the patriarch:

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof ?"-Job, c. 38.

The importance of the corner-stone is further acknowledged by the figurative and symbolical use for which it is often employed.

It is recorded in the Book of Isaiah:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation."

In the 118th Psalm:

"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone in the corner."

The custom of laying the corner-stone with public demonstrations of great pomp and ceremony, is of very early origin.

The corner-stone of Westminster Abbey was laid on the 24th of June, 1502, by a lodge of Master Masons, at which KING HENRY VII. presided in person as Grand Master, JOHN ISLIP, Abbot of Westminster, and Sir REGINALD BRAY, Knight of the Garter, acting for the occasion as his Wardens.*

In the year 1607, the corner-stone of the Palace of Whitehall was laid "by KING JAMES I., in presence of Grand Master JONES, and his Wardens, WILLIAM HERBERT, Earl of Pembroke, and NICHOLAS STONE, Esq., Master Mason of England, who were attended by many brethren, clothed in form, and other eminent persons, who had been invited on the occasion. The ceremony was conducted with great pomp and splendor."*

In 1673 the corner-stone of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, designed by Deputy WREN, was laid in solemn form by King GEORGE I., attended by Grand Master RIVERS, his architects and craftsmen, in presence of the nobility and gentry, the lord mayor and aldermen, the bishops and clergy, etc.*

*Preston's Illustrations of Masonry.

The custom of making deposits in corner-stones is of more recent origin, though in very early times coins, medals, and metallic plates, bearing appropriate inscriptions, and profiles of reigning sovereigns and other dignitaries, were placed in the mortar, under the corner-stone; and the stone generally bore an inscription, showing the date and purpose for which the building was erected.

In the corner-stone of the Exchange Building in Edinburgh, which was laid September 13th, 1753, three medals were deposited in "cavities" in the corner-stone, made for the purpose. The stone also bore a Latin inscription on the side upon which it was laid.

The custom now extends to the depositing not only of coins. and medals, but of historical records and various memoranda pertaining to the object for which the building is erected, and showing the condition of the country, the State, and the particular locality of the structure, at the time of its erection.

The corner-stone of the original edifice of the National Capitol at Washington, was laid by GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States, on the eighteenth of September, 1793. The building was first occupied by the Government in 1800, during which year the public archives were removed from Philadelphia. The Capitol, together with the National Library, was fired by the British, under General Ross, on the twenty-fourth of August, 1814, and entirely destroyed. On the anniversary of that day, four years later, the corner-stone of the central building of the present Capitol was laid, and the building was completed in the year 1827.

13

THE STATE SEAL.

The Great Seal of the State of Michigan was presented by the Hon. LEWIS CASS to the Convention which framed the first Constitution for the State, in session at the city of Detroit, on the 2d day of June, 1835, and on the 22d day of the same month, the Convention adopted the following resolution, offered by the Hon. Ross WILKINS:

"Resolved, That the president of this Convention tender to the Hon. LEWIS CASS, the thanks of this Convention, representing the people of Michigan, for the handsome State seal presented by him to the forthcoming State.”

The Latin motto on the seal, Si quæris peninsulam amonam, circumspice,-"If you wish to see a beautiful peninsula, look around you,”—was doubtless suggested by the inscription upon a tablet in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, to the memory of Sir CHRISTOPHER WREN, its renowned architect, Si quæris monumentam amœnam circumspice,-"If you wish to sec a beautiful monument, look among you,"-referring to the great master-piece of architecture, by him designed, as the most fitting tribute to his memory.