y one lamp remained alight, making a bright spark in the
darkness that extended over Europe:

/#[4,66]
It was from the _Magistri Comacini_. Their respective names
are unknown, their individual works unspecialized, but the
breadth of their spirit might be felt all through those
centuries, and their name collectively is legion. We may
safely say that of all the works of art between A.D. 800 and
1000, the greater and better part are due to that
brotherhood--always faithful and often secret--of the
_Magistri Comacini_. The authority and judgment of learned
men justify the assertion.[77]
#/

Among the learned men who agree with this judgment are Kugler of
Germany, Ramee of France, and Selvatico of Italy, as well as Quatremal
de Quincy, in his _Dictionary of Architecture_, who, in the article on
the Comacine, remarks that "to these men, who were both designers and
executors, architects, sculptors, and mosaicists, may be attributed
the renaissance of art, and its propagation in the southern countries,
where it marched with Christianity. Certain it is that we owe it to
them, that the heritage of antique ages was not entirely lost, and it
is only by their tradition and imitation that the art of building was
kept alive, producing works which we still admire, and which become
surprising when we think of the utter ignorance of all science in
those dark ages." The English writer, Hope, goes further and credits
the Comacine order with being the cradle of the associations of
Free-masons, who were, he adds, "the first after Roman times to enrich
architecture with a complete and well-ordinated system, which
dominated wherever the Latin Church extended its influence."[78] So
then, even if the early records of old Craft-masonry in England are
confused, and often confusing, we are not left to grope our way from
one dim tradition to another, having the history and monuments of this
great order which _spans the whole period_, and links the fraternity
of Free-masons with one of the noblest chapters in the annals of art.

Almost without exception the _Old Charges_ begin their account of
Masonry in England at the time of Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred
the Great; that is, between 925 and 940. Of this prince, or knight,
they record that he was a wise and pacific ruler; that "he brought the
land to rest and peace, and built many great buildings of castles and
abbeys, for he loved Masons well." He is also