ANNEX 
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 CORNELL 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A 
 COLLECTION MADE BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 1854-1919 
 
 AND BEQUEATHED TO 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HS403 .G69 1904 
 
 A concise history of freemasonry / 
 
 3 1924 030 281 459 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030281459 
 
A CONCISE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 
 
The curious subject of Freemasonry has unfortunately been treated only by 
 panegyrists or caluminators both mendacious. — Henry Hallam. 
 
 History, to be above evasion or dispute, must stand on documents, not 
 on opinions. — Lord Actom. 
 
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A CONCISE HISTORY 
 
 :• OF 
 
 FREEMASONRY. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT FREKE GOULD, 
 
 PAST SENIOR GRAND DEACON OF ENGI^AND, 
 
 Author of ''The History of Freemasonry," ''A Commentary on the Regius MS., 
 ''Military Lodges,^' Etc., Etc. 
 
 AUTHOR'S EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, N. Y., U. S. A. 
 
 Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co., (Inc.) 
 
 LONDON: 
 GALE & POLDEN, LTD., 
 1904. 
 
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 ENTERED AT STATIONERS HAI,!,, 
 LONDON. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 SOLD ONLY BY BUB9CR1PTION. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 I must here claim your attention the more, because before you I freely 
 express my opinion as the best. My difficulty here is in each case to 
 place the things before you in their right light, or in that light of which I 
 am convinced it is the true one ; but I hope I shall succeed, if you will give 
 me your undivided attention. 
 
 — B. G. NiEBUHR. — Lectures on Ancient History. 
 
 Since the publication of my original History of Freemasonry, the first 
 half-volume of which appeared in 1882, and the last in 1887, there has been 
 a demand for an abridged edition, or for a History of the Society, con- 
 ducted on the same lines, but in a more compendious form. 
 
 In the meantime, moreover, the boundaries of the historic domain em- 
 braced in my own Work have been greatly enlarged, by the successful 
 investigations of many distinguished contemporaries, and by the or- 
 ganized labors of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. 
 
 Learned books have been written on English, Irish, Scottish, German, 
 American and Canadian Freemasonry; and valuable monographs on the 
 Manuscript Constitutions or written traditions of the Society, the old 
 and new degrees of the Fraternity, the customs of the German "Stein- 
 metzen' ' and the French ' ' Companions,' ' the Masons' Company of London, 
 Masons' Marks, the Religion of Freemasonry and the Engraved, Printed 
 and Manuscript Lists of the English Lodges. 
 
 The Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge are a perennial fount 
 of information, and among the Essays of enduring value to be found there, 
 may be named the highly instructive papers on Masons' Marks, Masters' 
 Lodges, The Proper Names of Masonic Tradition (a Philological Study), 
 and The Campanionage — by the late Professor Hayter Lewis and Mr. 
 John Lane, the Rev.C. J. Ball, and Mr. W. H. Rylands, respectively — all 
 of which may be said to have at once become the leading authorities on the 
 subjects to which they relate. Nor can I leave unnoticed the interesting 
 contributions of Mr. W. J. Hughan and Dr. W. Begemann, who have fully 
 maintained their pre-eminence as expositors of the Old Scrolls of the 
 Fraternity. 
 
 In the preparation of the present volume, therefore, my object has been 
 to reconsider those portions of the original Work which have been crit- 
 
Vm PREFACE. 
 
 icised by careful writers since its pubUcation, to illustrate and elucidate 
 some passages which were imperfectly or obscurely treated, to incor- 
 porate the results of the latest discoveries, and to acknowledge with candor 
 my own mistakes. 
 
 In the execution of this design the whole subject-matter has been entirely 
 re-cast, re-written, and brought up to date. 
 
 To use the words of Professor S. E. Thorold Rogers (in the preface to 
 his Historical Gleanings), "I have not undergirded my pages with a single 
 note," ' but evidential references to authorities cited ^or the first time will 
 be found within parentheses in the text. For a large number of the au- 
 thorities, however, on which I have relied, the reader is referred to my 
 original History of Freemasonry, which contains fuller particulars of the 
 progress of the Craft in the various coimtries of the world than are to be 
 met with in any other work; while in the present volume will be found a 
 succinct account of Masonry in all its stages, together with the fruits of the 
 most recent research. 
 
 The first Chapter contains the leading theories with regard to the origin 
 of Freemasonry. In each of the four succeeding Chapters will be found 
 a sketch, more or less connected with the immediate subject-matter, of the 
 history of British Freemasonry during the period preceding the era of 
 Grand Lodges. 
 
 The second Chapter (which has been twice re-written) embraces a 
 subject which has always had a particular interest for architectural 
 writers, whether members or not of our own Society. In its prepara- 
 tion I derived much assistance from the late Mr. WyaTT Papworth, who 
 was not a Freemason, and the fuller draft from which the present sketch 
 is abridged, received the cordial approval of the late Professor Hayter 
 Lewis, my fellow Past Master in the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. I 
 am greatly indebted, moreover, to the Masonic collection of the former 
 friend, kindly presented to me by Mrs. Wyatt Papworth, which ranges 
 over a long series of years, and embraces almost every topic connected 
 either nearly or remotely with the Masons' Art. 
 
 In the third Chapter, there are some new speculations with respect to the 
 problem of the Masonic Assembly; and in connection therewith, I must 
 not omit to record the obligation I am under to Mr. John Bilson for tracings 
 of the Yorkshire Forests, as existing in the time of Edward I. The fourth 
 Chapter embodies several recent discoveries, including noteworthy entries 
 in the records of the Masons' Company of London, and in the Paston 
 Letters, together with the account of a Speech delivered at Dublin in 1688 
 which attests the existence of a system of Speculative Masonry at the 
 Irish capitol during and prior to that year. In the fifth Chapter Dr. 
 BegEmann rendered me an essential service, which is elsewhere ac- 
 knowledged, and I have also to thank Mr. W. H. Rylands, who kindly 
 figured for me the plates of Masons' Marks. A sufficiently exhaustive 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 Stu4y of the written traditions of the Society having been given in this 
 Chapter, the idea I had entertained (p. 223) of presenting a further classi- 
 fication of the Masonic Constitutions has been abandoned. 
 
 Chapter six contains a Digression on the early Symbolism of the Craft 
 for which a foundation was laid in the fourth half-volume of my History 
 of Freemasonry — published in 1885 — where I show that two degrees and 
 not three were referred to by Dr. Anderson as existing in 1723. Of Old 
 Regulation XIII., in the Constitutions of that year, it may be remarked 
 that the number of degrees to which it points as being practised at the time, 
 was as little understood in those days as (at any date prior to 1885) in our 
 own, and to the general ignorance on this subject by the Craft at large 
 was probably due the evolution of an additional degree, in order to con- 
 form with an imaginary tri-gradal system which was supposed to be recog- 
 nized by the Grand Lodge. Of this there is collateral evidence in the fa- 
 mous Speech of Francis Drake, Junior Grand Warden, at York, delivered 
 after the publication of Anderson's Constitutions. He mentions, in 1726, 
 three degrees, which, however, were certainly unknown (or not practised,) 
 at York, in that year and much later, as we learn from the records of his 
 Grand Lodge. In this Chapter, indeed, as well as in the next one (VII.), 
 many points are discussed in which my views are not in harmony with 
 those of other writers. But, to adopt the words of Mr, Frederic Harri- 
 son, in his lecture on The Meaning of History, "if opposite opinions are not 
 noticed they have still been weighed. If I have spoken of many still 
 debated topics almost as though they were decided, it is only because in 
 such a plan as this any sort of controversy is out of place, not that I for- 
 get or slight all that has been urged on the other side. But discussion, 
 like research, must have an end somewhere, and the great need now is 
 not to increase, but to use, our stores of historical learning. After all, 
 the only real answer to any theory of history, professing to be com- 
 plete and not manifestly inconsistent, is the production of a counter 
 theory at once more complete and consistent." 
 
 For the particulars relating to the "Ulster Schism" in Irish Masonry 
 I am indebted to Dr. Chatwode Crawley. 
 
 In the preparation of Chapter eight I was greatly assisted by Dr. W. 
 BegEmann (Sweden — Norway — Denmark); Carl WiEbe, Grand Master 
 of Hamburg (Germany — France) ; Ladislas A. dE Malczovich (Austria — 
 Himgary); and the late J. P. VailianT (Holland). 
 
 Chapter ten covers a wide field. The commentary, however, of the 
 Nestor of American Masonry, Past Grand Master Josiah H. Drum- 
 mond, of Maine, on my own history of the Craft in the United States, 
 has smoothed many difficulties from my path; and the historiographer 
 of the Grand Lodge of Canada, Past Grand Master John Ross Robert- 
 son, has kindly furnished me with a precis of the progress of Masonry 
 in the 'Dominion.' 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 The subject of Lodges in Regiments and Ships of War has been very 
 fully treated by me in a separate Work — Military Lodges, or Freemasonry 
 under Arms (Gale and Polden, Ltd., 1899). 
 
 Throughout the entire volume, it is essential to add, I have received 
 the invaluable assistance of my friend, Mr. William James Hughan, to 
 whom also I am greatly indebted (as on the previous occasion when the 
 larger "History' ' was passing through the press), for his kindness in read- 
 ing the proofs. I must likewise acknowledge the unvarying courtesy of 
 Mr. Henry Sadler, Sub-Librarian of the Grand Lodge of England, when- 
 ever I have had occasion to consult the printed and manuscript volumes 
 of which he is the custodian. 
 
 Many speculations, both curious and entertaining, have been advanced 
 by contemporary Masonic writers, but their consideration lies far outside 
 the scope of the present Work. For example (to borrow from the ex- 
 cellent manual of MM Langlois and Seignobos), "we meet with declar- 
 ations like the following: ' I have been long familiar with the documents of 
 this period and this class. I have an impression that such and such con- 
 clusions, which I cannot prove, are true.' Of two things, one: either the 
 author can give the reasons for his impression, and then we can judge them 
 or he cannot give them, and we may assume that he has none of serious 
 value" {Introd. to the Study of History, tr. by G. G. Berry). 
 
 "And this, gentle reader, I hartelie protest. 
 Where erroure hath happened, I wisshe it redrest." 
 
 Woking, Jan. 15, 1904. R. F. GOULD. 
 
 ADDITIONAL PREFACE BY THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS. 
 
 The student will be greatly interested in the various ways of spell- 
 ing, mannerisms and expressions, quoted from the manuscripts and 
 records of different people, at different parts and ages of the world. 
 
 He will also recognize the origin of many landmarks, while observing 
 the gradual development of Masonry from its crude practical, operative 
 conditions, to its present system of speculative teachings, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Introductory — The Ancient Mysteries — The Essenes — The Ro- 
 man Colleges— The Culdees— The Vehm-Gerichte— The Stein- 
 metzen — The French Corps D'Etat— The Companionage— The 
 rosicrucians 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Medley AL Operative Masonary 129 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The English Laws op the Middle Ages and the Free-Masons 179 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Story of the Guild 223 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Legend of the Craft — The Qdatuor Coronati, or Four 
 Crowned Martyrs — Masons' Marks 254 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Early Scottish Craft — Grand Lodges — The Epoch of Tran- 
 sition — A Digression on Degrees — Free-masonry in the Brit- 
 ish Isles 324 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Great Schism in English Masonry — The Later Histories of 
 THE Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland 430 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Freemasonry in Europe 449 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Asia — The East India Islands — The Far East — Asia Minor — 
 Africa — The West Indies — Central and South America 492 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The United States of America — Canada and Newfoundland — 
 Australasia — Oceania 511 
 
 INDEX 
 Index 537 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FOR THE ENGLISH EDITION. 
 
 The picture of the "Les Compagnons" is taken from Clavel's Histoire 
 Pittoresque de la Franche Maconnerie. 
 
 For the plates,"The Steinmetzen " and "Frederick the Great," ac- 
 knowledgments are due to Grand Master C. C. Wiebe and the Grand 
 Lodge of Hambtirg, and for the Plates of "EUas Ashmole," "TheQua- 
 tuor, " and "PhilUp, Duke of Wharton," to W. H. Rylands, Secretary 
 of Quatuor Coronati Lodge. 
 
 FOR THE AMERICAN EDITION: 
 
 The PubUshers have added a greatly extended Ust of illustrations of 
 Architecture, Places of Interest and Portraits of Prominent Persons in 
 connection with the Fraternity, and although many of these are not men- 
 tioned in the text, they will be of special interest to otir American Readers. 
 
 HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 R. F. Gould ^ 
 
 The Iron Worker and King Solomon 6i 
 
 The Tabernacle in the Wilderness 16i 
 
 The Two St. Johns 32^ 
 
 Strasburg Cathedral 48^ 
 
 The Steinmetzen of Germany 64J 
 
 Lbs Compagnons Du Tour De France 72} 
 
 Model OF King Solomon's Temple 80} 
 
 Cologne Cathedral 96} 
 
 Cathedr.<.l at Frankfort 112} 
 
 York Minster 128} 
 
 Dumfries 144} 
 
 The Apprentice Pillar 160} 
 
 A Record Certificate 176} 
 
 Milan 192} 
 
 Westminster Abbey 208} 
 
 Elias Ashmole 216} 
 
 The Quatuor Coronati 224} 
 
 Hon. Mrs. Aldworth 240} 
 
 D. Murray Lyon 328} 
 
 Phillip, Duke of Wharton 376} 
 
 Geo. Oliver, D. D 392} 
 
 Albert Pike 408} 
 
 Frederick The Great 432} 
 
UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XIII 
 
 King Edward, VII 444J 
 
 Modern Bayreuth or Bayrout 448J 
 
 JosiAH H. Drummond 464i 
 
 Daniel Coxe, First Provincial Grand Master in America, 1730 . . . 472 J 
 
 George Washington 480J 
 
 Masonic Temple, Philadelphia, Pa 488 J 
 
 Masonic Hall, New York 512 J 
 
 Jesse B. Anthony 520J 
 
 Masonic Home, Utica, N. Y 528^ 
 
 Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids, Ia 536^ 
 
 LINE CUT ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 The Indian Mason 19 
 
 Restoration of the Tabernacle by Zerubbabel 20 
 
 Candidate passing through the Ancient Egyptian Ceremony 23 
 
 Reflection on Death 24 
 
 Initiation 25 
 
 Ancient Architects at Work 29 
 
 The Two St. Johns 31 
 
 The Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid 33 
 
 Grand Triumphal Arch of Titus at Rome 35 
 
 The Forum at Rome 37 
 
 Approach of the Roman Army to Jerusalem 39 
 
 Different Grades of Workmen 44 
 
 Mark and Recognition 49 
 
 Jachin and Boaz, Pomegranates 57 
 
 Porch of the Temple and Winding Stairs 58 
 
 Columns at the ' ' Gate Beautiful, ' ' King Solomon's Temple 60 
 
 Ruins of the Palace of Nero, at Rome 63 
 
 Rheims Cathedral, France 65 
 
 Funeral Service 76 
 
 Modern Lodge of Sorrow 77 
 
 Map of the Roman Empire 79 
 
 Building the Temple 80 
 
 Assassination of the Master Builder 83 
 
 Modern Tyre 87 
 
 Neophyte passing through the Greater Egyptian Mysteries 89 
 
 Tracing Board of a Philosophical Degree 96 
 
 Rosy Cross OR Rose Croix Emblems 101, 104 
 
 Rose Croix and Masonic Symbols 108 
 
 Learned Man of Egypt 117 
 
 Mystic Symbol and Solomon's Seal 122 
 
XrV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 View of Edfou. (Egypt) 125 
 
 Gothic Architecture ^30 
 
 Master, Warden and Apprentice 131 
 
 Pope Urbane II. Preaching the first Crusade 132 
 
 Peter the Hermit 133 
 
 Godfrey DeBouillon 133 
 
 Map of Palestine 134 
 
 Crusaders 135 
 
 First View of Jerusalem by the Crusaders 137 
 
 The City of Jerusalem 139 
 
 Terrific Encounter of the Christians and Saracens 141 
 
 Antioch 142 
 
 City of Acre 143 
 
 Masons Tools and Marks 144 
 
 Initiation of a Novice to the Vows of the Temple 145 
 
 Godfrey DeBouillon First King of Jerusalem 146 
 
 Tomb of Godfrey DeBouillon 147 
 
 Ancient and Modern Costumes op Knights Templar 149 
 
 C^SAREA, AN Important Military Station 150 
 
 Kerot.Castle of the Crusaders 151 
 
 Richard Cceur De Leon at Acre 154 
 
 Coat of Arms and Modern Badge 157 
 
 Ancient Templar Equipments 159 
 
 The Templar's Faith and Emblem 161 
 
 The Five Orders of Architecture 163 
 
 Fragment of Egyptian Papyrus 175 
 
 Ancient Writing Materials and Implements 180 
 
 Ancient Egyptian Temple. 183 
 
 Ancient Egyptian Palace 186 
 
 Roman Soldiers 190 
 
 Decisive Battle between Constantine and Maxentius 192 
 
 The Parthenon, as it was 197 
 
 Ruins, showing Composite Architecture 203 
 
 View of the Ancient City of Corinth 217 
 
 The Modern City of Corinth, as viewed from the Bay 244 
 
 Ruins of the Temple, and Preparation for its Rebuilding 255 
 
 Council for the Rebuilding of the Temple 256 
 
 Ground Plan of the Temple 258 
 
 Inspectors of Materials for the Temple 261 
 
 Rebuilding the Temple 263 
 
 Grand Masters, Workmen, etc 264 
 
 Progress of the Work 266 
 
 Ruins of B ab\xon 268 
 
 Arts and Sciences 270 
 
 Quarrying Stone 271 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.. XV 
 
 Cutting Cedar of Lebanon for the Temple 272 
 
 JOPPA, THE Principal Landing Place 275 
 
 SuccoTH 278 
 
 Acacia — Sprig and Tree 280 
 
 Tomb of Hiram Abiff 282 
 
 Jerusalem, from Mount Olives 284 
 
 Returning with the Ark to the Temple 286 
 
 Fire consuming the Offering 287 
 
 Mosaic Pavement, Tessellated Border and Blazing Star 289 
 
 Mosque of Omar-El Aksa, on Temple Grounds 291 
 
 Interior View of Mosque Omar-El Aksa 293 
 
 Hills and Walls of Jerusalem 295 
 
 Valley of Jehoshaphat, Brook Kedron and Ancient Tombs 297 
 
 Mount ZiON 299 
 
 City of Nazareth 301 
 
 Egyptian Architecture, Caravan and View among the Pyramids . . 304 
 
 Egyptian Column 307 
 
 Ruins OF Sebaste — Ancient Samaria 311 
 
 Masons' Marks 314 
 
 John Theophilus Desaguliers 345 
 
 Defense of Fort Saint Elmo, Malta, 350 
 
 Institution of the Order of St. John 353 
 
 Modern Hospice St. John 355 
 
 Royal Arch 358 
 
 Placing the Keystone. 360 
 
 The Ancient Building in London, Goose and C^ridiron 361 
 
 Anthony Sayer. First Grand Master 363 
 
 The Constitutions 73657366 
 
 Benjamin Franklin 383 
 
 Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft an? Master Mason Lodges .... 404 
 
 Banners 407 
 
 Ancient Accepted Scottish RitEt^Modern 409 
 
 Secret Master— A. A. S. R 413 
 
 Perfect Master — A. A. S. R 415 
 
 Knight Elect OF Nine — A. A. S. R 419 
 
 Grand Elect Mason — A. A. S. R 422 
 
 The Camp or Tracing Board — A. A. S. R 424 
 
 Grand Insignia of the Order — A. A. S. R 427 
 
 King Edward 1 437 
 
 Ancient B ayreuth 463 
 
 City of Valetta 494 
 
 The understanding of the Occult 502 
 
 Masonic Hall, Broadway, New York, Destroyed by Fire 506 
 
 Medal-Masonic Hall, Twenty-third Street, New York 508 
 
 Henry Price 512 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Oi-d Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, First Lodge in America 514 
 
 Masonic Parade, Reviewed by Washington 518 
 
 Brothers Washington and Lafayette 520 
 
 Apron presented to Washington, by Madam Lafayette 522 
 
 Burial of Washington 523 
 
 Thomas S. Webb, Father of Masonic Ritual in America 525 
 
 Albert G. Mackey 526 
 
 Denver Masonic Hall, 1860, and Temple, 1890 528 
 
 Masonic Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio 530 
 

 
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a concise 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 What signifies it, for instance, that we attribute let- 
 ters to Cadmus, or trace to oracles Zoroaster, or the 
 Cabala to Moses, the Eleusinian Mysteries to Orpheus, 
 or Freemasonry to Noah; whilst we are profoundly 
 ignorant of the nature and true beginning of any one 
 of these things? Anon. 
 
 Who the early Freemasons really were, and whence 
 they came, may afford a tempting theme for inquiry to 
 the speculative antiquary. But it is enveloped in 
 obscurity, and lies far outside the domain of authentic 
 history. In proceeding retrogressively, and attempting 
 to trace the origin of the Society, when we reach the 
 fourteenth century, the genealogical proofs are ex- 
 hausted. Still, from the documentary evidence which 
 has carried us thus far, we shall at least be justified in 
 assuming that the Masonry practised in the Lodges of 
 that period was of no recent institution. Beyond this 
 conclusion, nothing further can be confidently laid down 
 with regard to the more remote past of the sodality. 
 Certain possibilities are, indeed, suggested by the evidence, 
 and to these attention will again be directed ; but as my 
 own inferences may be found to differ in some materia] 
 
i8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 respects from those of other writers, it will be best if a 
 short summary is first proceeded with of the leading 
 theories of Masonic origin that have seemed tenable to 
 our literati. 
 
 A few explanatory words may, however, place the 
 method of treatment, I am about to adopt, in a clearer 
 light before the reader. 
 
 Freemasonry has exercised a remarkable influence 
 over all other oath-bound societies for a long period. 
 What that period is, cannot be absolutely, though it may 
 be approximately, determined. The second quarter of 
 the eighteenth century constitutes a sort of zone that 
 will illustrate my meaning. About the year 1725, Free- 
 masonry was beginning to be widely known, and about 
 the year 1750 it had become thoroughly so. If, there- 
 fore, we can trace the customs of any other oath-bound 
 societies as they existed, let us say before 1725, there is 
 strong probability, amounting almost to certainty, that 
 such were in no way influenced or affected by Free 
 masonry. But directly that line is passed, and we are 
 introduced to usages which prevailed at any later date, 
 the suspicion will arise that the influence of our own 
 Craft may have made itself felt, and it will resolve itself 
 into a mere question of degree, becoming extensive or 
 the reverse, according to the evidence dating earlier or 
 later in that century. As we pass, moreover, from the 
 eighteenth to the nineteenth century, what was pre- 
 viously suspicion will merge into strong probability or 
 more. Evidence of customs now existing, by no means 
 proves that they are of very old standing. If the cere- 
 monial of the Craft to a certain extent finds a parallel 
 in the present observances of the Druses and the An- 
 sariyeh — that is to say, if the writers, by whom we are 
 so informed, have not been misled by resemblances 
 more or less fanciful and imaginary — then I believe 
 that these secretaries of Mount Lebanon adopted some 
 of the practices of the Freemasons. The same may 
 
20 
 
 History of Fraemasonry. 
 
 be said with respect to the rites of many other secret 
 societies of current date, for example, the Begtaschi of 
 Turkey, and the Yesidis of Armenia and Asia Minor. 
 Though I must not pass over in silence an alternative 
 supposition, namely, what has been called "the doctrine 
 of chance coincidences," which may possibly be held to 
 apply in some of the cases I have already cited, and 
 which certainly appear to myself to fully account for the 
 great bulk of stories that are related of so-called ' ' Masonic 
 signs" having been exchanged by travellers with Arabs, 
 Abyssinians, Dervishes, North American Indians, Aus- 
 tralian natives, and the various tribes of Africa. 
 
 Examples of older types of such associations may be 
 found in the Soofees of Persia; in the Komoso of Japan 
 (now extinct), who challenged one another by signs; and 
 very possibly in the leading secret societies of China, 
 which claim to have existed for several centuries, and 
 admit their members with ceremonies approximating 
 more or less closely to our own. 
 
 The late Sir Chaloner Alabaster, who was not only one 
 of our most respected sinologues, but also an indefati- 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE TABERNACLE BY ZERUBBABEE AND HIS 
 COMPANIONS. 
 
Introductory. ai 
 
 gable student of Freemasonry, tells us: — "Going then 
 to the records we possess of the earliest historic times in 
 China, I find clear evidence of the existence of a mystic 
 faith expressed in allegorical form, and illustrated, as 
 with us, by symbols. The secrets of this faith were 
 orally transmitted, the chiefs alone pretending to have 
 full knowledge of them. I find, moreover, that in these 
 earliest ages this faith took a Masonic form, the secrets 
 being recorded in symbol buildings like the Tabernacle 
 Moses put up in the desert, and the Temple his successor, 
 Solomon, built in Jerusalem; that the various offices in 
 the hierarchy of this religion were distinguished by the 
 symbolic jewels held by them during their term of office, 
 and that, as with us, at the rites of their religion, they wore 
 leather aprons, such as have come down to us, marked 
 with the insignia of their rank. I find in the earliest 
 works that have come down to us * * * the compasses 
 and square used as the symbol of right conduct. The 
 man who had the compasses and square, and regulated 
 his life thereby, being then, as now, considered to possess 
 the secrets and to carry out the principles of true pro- 
 priety. Finally, I find one of the most ancient names 
 by which the Deity is spoken of in China, is that of 
 the First Builder, or, as Masons say, the Great Arch- 
 itect of the Universe." 
 
 According to the same authority, " the Mysteries of this 
 ancient Faith have now become lost, or at best obscured, 
 though attempts at a revival may be traced in the pro- 
 ceedings of existing brotherhoods, whose various rituals 
 and signs are supposed to be in some measure founded 
 on ancient rites and symbols which have been handed 
 down from the earliest ages." 
 
 The extracts from the oldest of the Chinese classics 
 which refer to the symbolism of the mason's art might 
 be greatly multiplied, but a sufficiency has been adduced 
 to warrant the assumption that among a very ancient 
 people, and long prior to the Christian era, there was a 
 
22 History of Freemasonry 
 
 moralization of the implements of the mason's trade, 
 together with a symboHcal teaching which in course of 
 time became lost or obscured. 
 
 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 
 
 There is nothing definite which points to the country 
 wherein the Mysteries were first introduced. The most 
 ancient, indeed, are generally supposed to have been those 
 of Isis and Osiris, in Egypt, and the most widely diffused 
 the Orphic, the Bacchic or Dionysiac, the Eleusinian, 
 the Samothracian, the Cabiric, and the Mithraic. The 
 Eleusinian, which enjoyed a pre-eminence in Greece, were 
 celebrated annually at the festival of Ceres, at Eleusis. 
 Initiates were first of all admitted into the lesser Eleu- 
 sinia, after which they bore the title of Mystse, and, having 
 served a probation of twelve months, a second oath of 
 secrecy was imposed upon them, and they were led into 
 the innermost sanctuary of the temple, where they were 
 allowed to see what it was not proper for any but the 
 Epoptae to behold. 
 
 Of the Mysteries, indeed, as existing in different coun- 
 tries, it may be said that they were distinguished by 
 varying forms, while it is equally certain that there was 
 a great similarity between them all. The ceremonies of 
 initiation were invariably funereal in their character. 
 They celebrated the death and the resurrection of some 
 cherished being, either the object of esteem as a hero, or 
 of devotion as a god. 
 
 The conformity between death and initiation is strik- 
 ingly exemplified in a passage preserved by Stobaeus 
 from an ancient record, and runs thus: — "The mind is 
 affected and agitated in death, just as it is in initia- 
 tion into the Great Mysteries; the first stage is 
 nothing but errors and uncertainties, laborings, wander- 
 ings, and darkness. And now, arrived on the verge of 
 death and initiation, everything wears a dreadful aspect; 
 
CANDIDATE PASSING THROUGH THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN 
 CEREMONY OF INITIATION. 
 
24 
 
 History uf Freemasonry. 
 
 
 :fe= z^-tS^^^E-S"" 
 
 REFLECTION ON DEATH. 
 
 it is all horror, trembling, and affrightment. But this 
 scene once over, a miraculous and divine light displays 
 itself * * * perfect and initiated, they are free, and 
 crowned and triumphant, they walk up and down in the 
 regions of the blessed." 
 
 "The light exhibited in the Eleusinian ilysteries, i.e., 
 in the true initiations, as is plainly to be gathered from 
 the sense of the Ancients, was the Light of Life which 
 these could kindle and fortify, and the total drama was 
 divine. ' ' 
 
 Thy piercing sight 
 
 Beholds in paths oblique a sacred light, 
 Whose plenteous rays in darkness most j>rojoimd, 
 
 Thy steps directed and illumined round. 
 While from 3'our eyes you shake the gloom of night, 
 
 The glorious prospect bursts upon your sight. 
 
 As recently summed up, the result of modern researches 
 appears to be that the worship of the One God was the 
 
The Ancient Mysteries. 
 
 25 
 
 basis on which the vast amount of Pagan Mythology 
 was ultimately formed, and that the splendor of the 
 beams of the Sun rising in the East, was idealized as 
 the visible representation of the Deity; whilst the West, 
 in which its glory disappeared, was considered as an 
 emblem of the regions of death. 
 
 It is doubtless true that the later, or corrupted, 
 Mysteries became greatly contaminated and debased, 
 but this ought not to lessen our esteem for the original 
 institution, to which the subsequent orgies were dia- 
 metrically opposed. It is sufficiently clear that those 
 initiated into the earlier or pure Mysteries, were taught 
 to believe, not only in Providence, but in a future state. 
 
 INITIATION. 
 
26 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 There was undoubtedly a secret hanging about these 
 celebrations, both Ethnic and Christian, which no record 
 has entirely di\iilged. It would also seem that, as time 
 went on, new elements were added to the Mysteries 
 which were originally foreign to them. The develop- 
 ment of philosophy, and more especially the intercourse 
 with Egypt and the East, appear to have exercised a 
 considerable influence on their character. 
 
 The Greeks borrowed extensively from the Egyptians 
 and Persians, whose temples were visited by nearly 
 every philosopher of note. 
 
 The Egyptian or Hermetic Art, was by the Greeks 
 called Theurgy, and it was practised to a great extent at 
 Eleusis, and more or less in all the temples of their gods. 
 
 Philosophy, according to Strabo, was the object of 
 the Eleusinian rites, and without the initiations of 
 Bacchus and Ceres, he considers the most important 
 branch of human knowledge would never have been 
 attained. 
 
 In all forms of Ancient Mysteries, signs of recog- 
 nition were communicated to the initiated. Thus, ia 
 describing the action of one of the votaries of the 
 Mysteries of Isis, Apuleius {Metamorph.) says: "He 
 walked gently with a hesitating step, the ankle of the left 
 foot being a little bent, in order that he might afford 
 me some sign by which I might recognize him. ' ' And 
 in another work (Apologia) by the same writer, there is 
 an almost identical allusion to the practice of initiates 
 communicating with one another by means of signs — a 
 custom of which a further illustration is given by Plautus 
 in his Miles Gloriosus, where the words occur: — 
 
 "Give me the sign, if you are one of these votaries." 
 
 Chironomia, or the art of gesticulating, or talking 
 with the hands and by gestures, with or without the 
 assistance of the voice, is, however, of very great an- 
 tiquity. It is laid do-rni by Dr. Warburton in his famous 
 Divine Legation, that "in the first ages of the world mu- 
 
The Ancient Mysteries. 27 
 
 tual converse was upheld by a mixed discourse of words 
 and ACTIONS : hence came the Eastern phrase of The VoiCB 
 OF THE Sign' ' (Exodus iv., 8), and innumerable instances 
 are afforded in the sacred writings, of the prophets of old, 
 by certain actions, instructing the people in the will of 
 God, and conversing with them in signs. 
 
 As speech became more cultivated, this rude manner 
 of speaking of action was smoothed or polished into an 
 apologue or fable. We have a fine example of this form 
 of instruction in the speech of Jotham to the men of 
 Shechem, in which he upbraids their folly, and foretells 
 their ruin, in choosing Abimelech for their King. This 
 is not only the oldest, but, according to Warburton, the 
 most beautiful apologue of antiquity, and the same 
 writer then proceeds to show how nearly the apologue 
 and instruction by action are related, which he does 
 by instancing the account of Jeremiah's adventure with 
 the Rechabites — an instruction partaking of the joint 
 nature of action and apologue. 
 
 But, as I have already shown, it is not only in Biblical 
 history that we meet with the mode of speaking by action. 
 "Profane antiquity," says Warburton, "is full of these 
 examples," and he cites the practice of the early oracles 
 as related by Heraclitus — "That the King, whose oracle 
 is at Delphi, neither speaks nor keeps silent, but reveals by 
 signs. ' ' 
 
 None of the Ancient Mysteries afford a more interesting 
 subject for Masonic research than those of Mithras — the 
 Sun-god or Persian Apollo — who is generally represented 
 as a beautiful youth dressed in Phrygian attire, pressing 
 with his knee upon an ox, into whose neck he plunges a 
 knife. 
 
 From the Mithraic monuments in the collections at the 
 l/ouvre and the British Museum, it may reasonably be 
 concluded that the immortality of the soul was one of the 
 doctrines taught by the worshippers of the Sun-god. 
 The neophyte, at one part of the ceremony, was made 
 
28 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 to personate a corpse, whose restoration to life dramati- 
 cally represented the resurrection. 
 
 Sir Charles Warren, in his review of my Military Lodges, 
 wishing to point out that, in the Army, Masonry banishes 
 class and even rank distinctions, without in the least 
 endangering discipline, quotes instances where subal- 
 terns, and even non-commissioned officers, have con- 
 trolled Ivodges in which superior officers were sitting 
 as ordinary members. 
 
 Is it not strange, says Count Goblet D 'Alviella (after 
 citing the above), that there are cases exactly parallel 
 in the Mithraic Mysteries under the Old Romans? It is 
 a well-known fact that these Mysteries offer striking 
 analogies with much that is found in Freemasonry; 
 their celebration in grottoes or covered halls, which 
 symbolized the Universe, and which in dimensions, dis- 
 position, and decoration, presented a strict counterpart 
 to our Lodges; their division m seven degrees conferred 
 by initiatory rites wonderfully like our own ; their method 
 of teaching, through the same astronomic symbolism, 
 the highest truths then known in Philosophy and Morals; 
 their mystic bond of secrecy, toleration, equality and 
 brotherly love. 
 
 Professor Franz Cumont, having devoted the last ten 
 years to the study of this worship, has just published a 
 most trustworthy and powerful book {Textes et Doc. 
 rel. aux Mysteres de Mi t lira). Not only does he con- 
 firm the alleged similarities, but he also presents new 
 ones. For instance, he shows that it was not uncommon 
 for a non-commissioned officer, or even a simple soldier, 
 to preside over ceremonies where legates and clarissimi 
 played a subordinate part, in accordance with their 
 respective degrees in the Mysteries. 
 
 Their discipline established not only a strict equality 
 among their members, in spite of all outside social dis- 
 tinctions, but also a bond of real brotherhood and of 
 mutual help. Their successive initiations favored emu- 
 
The Essenes. 
 
 29 
 
 lation, gave the neophytes something to look for, and 
 also flattered the vanity of those who were fond of high- 
 sounding titles. Finally, their prospect of revelations, 
 deeper and deeper at every stage fostered a hope to reach 
 a supreme goal — ^the absolute wisdom whose secret was 
 supposed to have been brought from the East. 
 
 How came it then to pass, that this sudden rise was 
 followed by a still more rapid fall? Our author explains 
 that by excluding the women from their worship they 
 parted with an element of propagandism which the 
 
 ANCIENT ARCHITECTS AT WORK. 
 
 Christian faith knew how to utilize. Thus the Mysteries 
 of Mithras were doomed to disappear before the Mys- 
 teries of Christ. But their doctrine was not entirely 
 lost; it survived among the Manicha;ans and other here- 
 tics who strove, until the close of the Middle Ages, to 
 reconcile Zoroastrianism with Christianity. 
 
 THE ESSENES. 
 The three chief Jewish sects appear to have been the 
 Hellenists, the Maccabeans, and the Chassidim. The 
 
30 History of Freemasonry, 
 
 last-named were the Puritans among the post-Baby- 
 lonian Jews, but in process of time, their principles 
 becoming too narrow, they split up into two divisions, 
 the Essenes, who strictly adhered to the old customs 
 and devoted themselves to a retired life, while the less 
 austere party (to which the Pharisees belonged) retained 
 the title of Chassidim. 
 
 The references to the Essenes by ancient authors are 
 brief and unsatisfactory. We learn, however, that before 
 the acceptance of a candidate, a solemn obligation was 
 entered into by him that he would suffer death rather than 
 reveal the secrets of the brotherhood ; that two members 
 of this singular sect, on meeting for the first time, at once 
 recognized each other by means of signs ; and that it was 
 the general practice of the fraternity to philosophize on 
 most things in symbols. 
 
 From a remark of Josephus, who compared their 
 manner of life with that of the Pythagoreans, it has been 
 believed by many writers that the Essenes were an off- 
 shoot of the school of Crotona. This view has been 
 forcibly.^ urged by Zeller in his History of Philosophy. 
 A kindred attempt to identify Freemasonry with the 
 system of Pythagoras was made in the last century by 
 Mr. Clinch (Anthologia Hibernica), who cites no less 
 than fifteen particular features or points of resemblance, 
 which are to be found, he says, in both the ancient and 
 modem institutions. 
 
 These two theories will have prepared the way for a 
 third, which is, that " the remarkable coincidence between 
 the chief features of the Masonic and Essenian Fraterni- 
 ties can be accounted for only by referring them to the 
 same origin." Sir David Brewster (1804), from whom 
 I quote, also speaks of the Essenes as having been de- 
 scended from the Kasideans, an association of architects, 
 who were connected with the building of Solomon's 
 temple. This opinion I do not share, but supported, as 
 it is, by numerous authorities of weight and reputation, 
 
The Essenes. 
 
 31 
 
 it will at least justify the sketch I am proceeding with. 
 The Essenes are first mentioned as a distinct sect in the 
 time of Jonathan the Maccabean, about 160 years before 
 Christ. Our Saviour has been supposed, by many writers, 
 to have been an Essene, because, while repeatedly de- 
 nouncing the errors of the other sects, he has nowhere 
 uttered a word of censure against the Essenes. John 
 
 THE TWO ST. JOHNS. 
 
 the Baptist was described by our Lord as having attained 
 the highest degree of Essene purity {Matt, xi., 14), and 
 much of the Sermon on the Mount is expressed in the 
 phraseology of the sect. 
 
 They had a common treasury, and from this the wants 
 of the whole community were supplied, so that they had 
 
32 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 all things in common. There were no distinctions among- 
 them. The only gradation of rank that existed was 
 derived from the degrees of orders into which the members 
 were divided, and this depended on holiness alone. They 
 got up before sunrise, and, before entering upon the 
 business of the day, prayed together with their faces 
 turned towards the East. At the fifth hour the morning 
 labor terminated, and, in solemn silence, the brethren 
 partook of a common meal. 
 
 As the majority lived in celibacy, the ranks of the 
 brotherhood were only kept up by the admission of 
 proselytes from the other sects. The candidate, or 
 aspirant, was required to pass through a novitiate of 
 two stages, the first of which lasted for a year. After 
 this probation he passed into the second stage, and was 
 called an approacher. Two years were then allowed to 
 elapse, and the aspirant, if his conduct met with approv- 
 al, became an associate (or full member of the brother- 
 hood), and was allowed to partake of the common meal. 
 
 There was a third rank or degree, called disciple or 
 companion, in which there was a still closer union. Those 
 who were admitted into this highest grade received a 
 threefold rule for the conduct of their life — Tove of God, 
 of Virtue, and of Mankind — and they were bound by a 
 solemn oath to practice charity, maintain truth, and to 
 conceal the secrets of the society. 
 
 It is reasonable to assume that the principal doctrines 
 and practices of the Essenes must have assimilated many 
 foreign elements, and the opinion that they borrowed 
 largely from the "old Oriental, Parsee, and Chaldean 
 notions," may be said to have been very commonly 
 accepted. 
 
 In a remarkable book — The Three Oldest Documents 
 of the Freemasons, which, notwithstanding its errors, is 
 one of the most learned works ever written on the early 
 history of our Society — Dr. Krause argues that the 
 customs and doctrines of the Craft were inherited from 
 
THE TWO ST. JOHNS. 
 Eminent Patrons of Masonry. 
 
The Essenes. 
 
 33 
 
 the Culdees, and in the usage of the latter he finds numer- 
 ous points of agreement with those of the Essenes and 
 the Roman Collegia. 
 
 A still bolder hypothesis has been advanced by Mr. 
 Herbert, in his Briiannia after the Romans. According: 
 to this writer, when the Essenes were driven from what 
 he imagines to have been their ancient coenobium at 
 Engaddi by Zoar, England became the new Engaddi, 
 and the seat of the chief Essene Lodge. 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 / 2S 
 
 24 
 
 T 
 
 . 25 
 
 16 
 
 17' 
 
 IS 
 
 19 
 
 '■.ill 
 
 11 
 
 ,■12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 is 
 
 6/ 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10, 
 
 ,n 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 8x3- 9 
 
 4<4— 16 
 6x5-25 
 
 BO 
 
 THE FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM OF EUCLID. 
 
 Passing over this fanciful supposition, we shall hardly 
 err if we attribute what similarity there may be found to 
 exist between the customs of the Essenes, the School 
 of Pythagoras, and the Freemasons, to the spirit of 
 brotherhood which has prevailed in all ages through out 
 the civilized world. The characteristics of any fraternity 
 — all of whose members are engaged in the same pursuit 
 and votaries of the same creed — will, on a close view, 
 3 
 
34 History of Freemasonry 
 
 appear to be brotherly love, charity, and thatTsecrecy 
 which gives them their exclusiveness. Hence, between 
 all societies, ancient or modem, which are united by a 
 fraternal tie, these "remarkable coincidences" will be 
 found to exist. 
 
 THE ROMAN COLLEGES. 
 
 Many learned works and a variety of existing inscrip- 
 tions furnish conclusive evidence of the sur\'ival of the 
 Collegia until the " Decline and Fall" of Imperial Rome. 
 To each of the Roman legions there was attached a 
 college or corporation of artificers, which served with 
 it throughout its campaigns, and whose mission it often 
 was to plant on foreign soil the seeds of Roman civilization 
 and to teach the principles of Roman art. 
 
 ^\^len Britain was subdued by the Romans, the legions 
 that went there took with them, of course, their colleges 
 of artificers. After a time, however, owing to the decay 
 of the Empire, Britain was abandoned, and the natives, 
 together with the Romans who had settled among them, 
 were left to defend the country from the attacks of the 
 barbarians. 
 
 The Roman colonists also possessed their colleges. 
 Mr. Coote observes, "No sooner was the Roman conquest 
 of Britain begun, and a modicum of territory was obtained 
 than we find a collegium in our own civitas Regnorum 
 — a collegium fabrorum" {The Romans of Britain). This 
 statement rests on the authority of a tablet which was 
 discovered at Chichester (or Regnum) in 1823, recording 
 the erection of a temple to Neptune and Minerva. There 
 is other sculptured evidence of the existence of this 
 corporation, which probably embraced the masons, car- 
 penters, and the professors of many other arts and trades. 
 But the Chichester inscription is the most famous, because ' 
 of its recital that this temple, to two purely Italian 
 Deities, was erected by the order of a British Prince, 
 Tiberius Claudis Cogidubnus, who appears to have ac- 
 
The Roman Colleges. 
 
 35 
 
 cepted the dignity of a legatus while continuing to assert 
 his own title of rex. That many points of resemblance 
 will be found between what is actually known of the 
 Collegia and the customs of the building corporations of 
 
 GRAND TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF TITUS AT ROMB. 
 
 later date, is free from doubt. Indeed, the opinion has 
 been advanced, that the coincidences which exist cannot 
 be attributed to imitation or mere copying, but fully 
 demonstrate the absolute identity of the guild of England 
 with the collegium of Rome and of Roman Britain. 
 
 The craft guilds do not come into notice before the 
 Norman Conquest, yet, on the other hand, they show 
 
36 History of Freemasonry- 
 
 themselves very shortly afterwards, and there seems no 
 good reason for denying them any previous existence. 
 The actual derivation of any of the three forms of guild, 
 can only, however, be regarded as a pure matter of con- 
 jecture. From one point of view the guild bears a strong 
 likeness to tlie family tie of the Germans; from another, it 
 assumes the appearance of a sort of bail; while from the 
 third it closely resembles the association of which a sketch 
 is now being presented, i. e., the collegium (or corpus) oi 
 the Romans. 
 
 These associations sometimes consisted of religious 
 bodies, and at others of official persons, of corporations 
 the members of which followed a common occupation, and 
 of sodalities which closely resemble our modern clubs. 
 Among the general features of which the colleges were 
 distinguished we find : — under the Empire and before it, 
 they were corporations composed of men voluntarily 
 bound together for a common lawful purpose. 
 
 The number of the sodalcs or coUegae who composed the 
 college could not be less than three, and it might be any 
 larger number. 
 
 Each college had its appropriate officers, a Master, 
 decuriones (in whom may be traced a certain similarity 
 to the wardens of a Lodge), a secretary, and treasurer. 
 The collegae (or companions) had a common chest, and 
 a curia (or meeting house) where the whole sodality 
 assembled at their general meetings and to feast. This 
 habit of dining together must also have necessarily in- 
 volved the custom of a free interchange of thought. 
 Free thought, therefore, found in the colleges a refuge 
 and a home. However the law might restrict the meet- 
 ings, and attempt to regulate the formal conferences of 
 the members, it never aft'ected (any more than the "Con- 
 stitutions" of the Freemasons) to interfere with what 
 occurred at the social board. 
 
 Candidates were required to take a solemn obligation 
 prior to their admission, and the sodalcs supported their 
 poor brethren. 
 
The Roman Colleges. 
 
 37 
 
 It is, indeed, asserted by authorities of weight, that 
 the members did not, Uke the Freemasons, exchange the 
 title of "Brother," but if we beheve Mr. Coote, "the 
 sodales called and regarded themselves as fratres, ' ' a point 
 which he seems to have made perfectly clear in the work 
 to which I have previously referred. 
 
 THE FORUM AT ROME. 
 
 It is stated — though only by Masonic writers — that the 
 colleges held secret meetings, in which the business 
 transacted was the initiation of neophytes into the Frater- 
 nity, and of mystical and esoteric instructions to their 
 apprentices and journeymen. We also learn, through 
 the same channel, that the colleges of workmen made a 
 
38 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 symbolic use of the implements of their art or profession. 
 
 On various grounds, therefore, the speculation has 
 been advanced that in the form, the organization, the 
 method of government, and the customs of the Roman 
 colleges, there is an analogy between these ancient cor- 
 porations and the modern Masonic Lodges which is evi- 
 dently more than accidental. 
 
 But there is a total absence of historical proof to 
 warrant the conviction that the one is a direct con- 
 tinuation of the other. A long period of darkness and 
 uncertainty intervenes between the Roman influence 
 and the earliest trace of the Masonic Lodge. Moreover, 
 if we rightly regard the symbolism of Freemasonry as 
 being chiefly directed to one point — the great doctrine 
 of the immortality of the soul, and the teaching of two 
 lives, the present and the future — we must go beyond 
 the colleges of Rome, which were only operative as- 
 sociations, to that older type to be found in the Ancient 
 Mysteries, where precisely the same doctrine was taught 
 in precisely the same way. 
 
 THE CULDEES. 
 
 When St. Augustine came to Britain in the sixth 
 century, for the purpose of converting the natives to 
 Christianity, he found the country alread}^ occupied by a 
 body of priests and their disciples, who were distinguished 
 for the pure and simple apostolical religion which they 
 professed. These were the Culdees, and though the 
 actual name does not appear until the eighth century, 
 so long as the monks of the Celtic Church were the only 
 clergy in the country, it is plain that no special epithet 
 was needed to point them out. 
 
 They were virtually merged in the Roman Church after 
 the close of the twelfth century, though traces of their 
 existence are to be found at a much later date. Their 
 origin is lost in obscurity. It has been supposed by some 
 authorities that they came from Phoenicia, while by others 
 
The Ciddees. 
 
 39 
 
 it has been asserted that they accompanied the Roman 
 legions to Britain. Their chief seat appears to have 
 been at lona, where (according to a third conjecture) 
 St. Columba, the founder of the sect, proceeding from 
 Ireland with twelve brethren — a. d. 563 — established 
 their principal monastery. 
 
 It is quite clear, indeed, that lona was not the original 
 
 APPROACH OF THE ROMAN ARMY TO JERUSALEM. 
 
 any more than it was the only seat of the Culdees. There 
 were ministers of religion called by that name in North 
 and South Britain, in Ireland and in Wales. 
 
 The Culdees were the officiating clergy of the Cathe- 
 dral Church of St. Peter's at York, in 936, and their 
 prayers were invoked by King Athelstan, in that year, 
 on behalf of himself and his expedition against the Scotch. 
 
40 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Returning victorious from his campaign, the king publicly- 
 offered up thanks in St. Peter's church, and he granted 
 the Colidei and their successors a thrave of corn from 
 every plough-land in the diocese of York, in order that 
 they might be able for ah time to extend relief to the poor, 
 to exercise the duties of hospitality, and to continue 
 to perform the works of piety so well discharged by them 
 in the past. 
 
 According to the "Legend of the Craft," the mightiest 
 warrior who ever sat upon the throne of Saxon England, 
 like the Saviour of Christendom, Charles Martel, and 
 other military patrons of the Craft of earlier date, loved 
 Masons well; but his son, Edwin, loved them better still, 
 and procured for them from the king, his father, a charter, 
 or commission, to hold every year an Assembly, and 
 Edwin himself held an Assembly at York. 
 
 Athelstan, indeed, had no son, at least in the royal 
 line, but the Manuscript Constitutions of our Society 
 are very strikingly in accord with regard to Edwin being 
 a patron and York the traditional centre of early British 
 Freemasonry. 
 
 Anachronisms, however, are plentiful in all legendary 
 narratives, and that the Edwin of Masonic tradition was 
 the first Christian king of Northumbria is a suggestion 
 which has much to recommend it. 
 
 The Minster Church of St. Peter's, at York, was begun 
 under the direction of the great Bretwalder, a.d. 627, and 
 the ministers of the same ecclesiastical edifice received 
 an endowment at the hands of Athelstan about the year 
 936. 
 
 The written traditions of the Freemasons will be con- 
 sidered in a later chapter, but, in passing from the sub- 
 ject, the thought may be expressed that the name and 
 fame of each of those great soldiers, St. Edwin, King and 
 Martyr, and our "Glorious Athelstan," continue to be 
 preserved in the "Legend of the Craft." 
 
 It has been maintained that a connection existed 
 
The Vehm-Gerichte. 41 
 
 between the Roman Collegia and the Culdees, and the 
 latter are said to have organized, as a part of their system, 
 corporations of builders, while, on the other hand, it has 
 been contended that they rarely, if ever, figured as 
 architects or constructors, but were chiefly occupied in 
 educating mankind by imparting a knowledge of those 
 pure principles which they taught in their Lodges. 
 
 Whoever wishes to learn more of the remarkable 
 tenets and peculiar customs' which have been attributed 
 to the Culdees, would do well to peruse the Celtic Druids 
 and Anacalypsis of Godfrey Higgins, and a series of 
 articles by Algernon Herbert which appeared in the 
 British Magazine (vol. xxvi.), where, if he does not find 
 arguments solid enough to command his assent, he may 
 confidently rely upon meeting with reasoning sufficiently 
 plausible to amuse his fancy. The subject, however, 
 has been discussed with more critical acumen in Collier's 
 Ecclesiastical History (vol. ii.), where the following 
 appears : — 
 
 "The History of the Culdees has ever been a mystery, 
 and ever will be so. It is by no means easy to determine 
 how far they were a theological sect connected with the 
 Church, or a theosophic sect connected with Lodges of 
 Initiation." 
 
 THE VEHM-GERICHTE, OR FEHM-GERICHTE. 
 
 The Vehmic tribunals were the secret criminal courts 
 of Westphalia in the Middle Ages. The reception of the 
 chiefs and free judges was of a most imposing character, 
 and, for many reasons, these courts have been considered 
 to possess many points common to Freemasonry. There 
 were curious forms of initiation, a system of enigmatical 
 phrases, and a use of signs and symbols of recognition. 
 The Emperor was the head of the institution, and next 
 to him came the free counts, after whom were the free 
 judges and the assessors or counsellors. 
 
 Initiation could take place only on the "red earth," 
 
42 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 i.e., within the Hmits of the ancient Duchy of West- 
 phalia. The candidate appeared bare-headed, and 
 took a solemn oath. He then received the password, 
 together with the modes of recognition, whereby he would 
 be able to discover his fellow members. The sign is 
 described to have been made by placing, when at table, 
 the points of the knives in their own direction, and the 
 hafts away from them. Three separate degrees or 
 mystic receptions are mentioned in one of the Vehmic 
 Codes. The punishment of a member who betrayed any 
 of the secrets of the association was very severe. His 
 tongue was torn out by the roots, and he was hung on a 
 tree seven feet higher than any felon. 
 
 The courts were opened by a colloquy between the 
 officials, and if any stranger was found to be present his 
 life paid forfeit for his temerity. 
 
 During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the 
 power of the Vehm-Gerichte was at its height ; after this 
 its influence rapidly waned, and while secret meetings 
 continued to be held, they were shorn of any real au- 
 thority. The institution is said to have lingered, at least 
 in name, until finally suppressed by decree of Jerome 
 Bonaparte in 1811. 
 
 THE STONEM.'\SONS (STEINMETZEN) OF GERMANY. 
 
 From the sixth to the twelfth century, by which latter 
 date most of the monasteries were completed; they 
 may be regarded as the earliest school of Masonry, 
 and the cradle of architecture in Germany. They 
 did not, however, contribute in any way towards the or- 
 ganization of the stonemasons. For the origin of this 
 sodality we must look to the trade guilds, which, be- 
 ginning in the towns in the tenth century, or earlier, 
 gradually increased in number and importance, until, 
 in the twelfth, they had extended throughout the greater 
 part of Germany. The charter of the twenty-three fishers, 
 in Worms, was sanctioned by Bishop Adelbert, a.d. 1106. 
 
The Stonemasons of Gcrniauy. 43 
 
 Another was granted by the Emperor Lothaire II. to the 
 clothmakers of Otiedlimburg in 11 34. But there can be 
 no doubt that, as in England, guilds were frequently in 
 existence for long periods before it was considered neces- 
 sary to obtain any written authority for their proceedings. 
 
 The power wielded by these associations went on in- 
 creasing, but at the Diet of Worms in 1231 it experienced 
 a check, as so many complaints were made of the trade 
 guilds of the towns that King Henry summarily dis- 
 solved all such societies, without any exception, then 
 existing in the German cities — which decree was con- 
 firmed by the Emperor in 1232. This decree, however, 
 was never carried into effect, although again confirmed 
 by the Emperor Rudolf of Hapsburg, in 1275, and the 
 guilds were shortly afterwards fully reinstated — by the 
 same monarch — to their former privileges. 
 
 In the German towns of the Middle Ages there were 
 two classes. One, the patrician class, represented by 
 the burghers' guild; the other, and lower class, by the 
 craft guild. But, about the close of the fourteenth 
 century, the latter had everywhere either seized the 
 government of the towns from the hands of the former, or 
 at least obtained a share in it by the side of the burghers' 
 guild. 
 
 The next movement was initiated by the masters, who 
 gradually excluded the workmen from their meetings. 
 This took place in all guilds, the stonemasons alone 
 forming an exception, but not a lasting one, as the same 
 custom, though probably not until the end of the seven- 
 teenth century, eventually became a feature of their 
 system. The workmen (journeymen), therefore, founded 
 guilds or fraternities of their own, sometimes electing 
 officers of their own body, at others from among the 
 masters. The works written about these societies are 
 very numerous, and in many instances the accounts 
 given of them will assist us in forming an opinion of the 
 usages of the stonemasons, which, though closely akin 
 
44 
 
 History of Freeinasonry. 
 
 to those of the other craft guilds, nevertheless, in par- 
 ticular matters, differed from them all. 
 
 It is possible that somewhere about the twelfth cen- 
 tury, the skilled masons of the monasteries amalgamated 
 with the craft builders in the towns, and together formed 
 the society afterw^ards kno\\Ti throughout Germany as the 
 Steinmetzen. 
 
 By German \witers the exodus from the convents is 
 placed at about this date, but as they ordinarily attribute 
 the origin of the trade association to the cloister builders, 
 any previously existing guilds of stonemasons are able 
 to be dispensed with altogether. But in the twelfth 
 
 DIFFERr.XT GR.ADnS OF WORKMIiX. 
 
 century the stonemasons are certainly met with as a 
 distinct fraternity, and the evidence points in the direc- 
 tion of their having had their origin neither in the cities 
 nor the convents exclusively, but, with greater pro- 
 bability, in both concurrently. 
 
 All trades were inclined to sub-divide themselves, and 
 this custom was adopted by the Spinnewetter, which 
 originally comprised all the building trades; a branch 
 of this corporation — the Masons — further split up into 
 minor ramifications, and we find these offshoots taking 
 the names of Steinmetzen (stonemasons), Steinhauer 
 (stonecutters), and Maurer (masons, rough masons, 
 bricklayers, etc. ). It is with the first-named of these, the 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 45 
 
 stonemasons, that we are now concerned, and whose late 
 history, as revealed by their own records, will next be 
 proceeded with. 
 
 At this point it will be convenient if three dates are 
 borne in mind — the years 1459, 1462, and 1563, in each 
 of which a Code (or set) of Statutes was enacted, and 
 these, examined collectively, will carry us a good way 
 toward a full comprehension of the inner life and or- 
 ganization of the Steinmetzen. 
 
 The Statutes referred to might with equal propriety 
 be described as Laws or Regulations, but to avoid am- 
 biguity they will be separately classified as the Stras- 
 burg Constitutions of 1459, the Torgau Ordinances of 
 1462, and the Brother Book of 1563. 
 
 The Constitutions of 1459 recite that, the Masters and 
 Fellows having held meetings at Speyer, Strasburg, and 
 Ratisbon, Jost Dotzinger, of Worms, Master of the build- 
 ings at Strasburg Cathedral — and his successors forever 
 — was acknowledged as chief judge (oberster Rychter) 
 of the fraternity. But in the next clause — enacted at 
 Ratisbon in 1459, and at Speyer in 1463 — the Masters of 
 Work at Cologne and Vienna were each recognized as 
 occupying a similar position in his own district. Lower 
 down still, a fourth chief judge is named as wielding 
 authority — over the entire Swiss Confederation — at Bern. 
 Then follow the names of six persons who agreed to these 
 laws on April 9th, 1464, and of twenty-one others by 
 whom they were subscribed "four weeks after Easter," 
 in 1459. 
 
 These Constitutions present a very good picture of the 
 stonemasons at that stage of their career, and of the 
 association, in its general aspect, as it must have existed 
 for a century or more before. After this period all dis- 
 putes were rendered less probable by the formation of 
 a general guild or fraternity, and four Chief Lodges to 
 which all differences were to be referred. Of these Head 
 Lodges, that at Strasburg was unquestionably the chief. 
 
46 History of Frccmasoiuy. 
 
 The Code of 1459, with probably some sHght alter- 
 ations in particular regulations, continued in force until 
 1563. In the latter year a revision took place at two 
 meetings, held at Bale and Strasburg respectively. Ac- 
 cording to the later Code, Thuringia, Saxony, and Frank- 
 fort disappear from the rule of Strasburg. These terri- 
 tories, it is believed, had been constituted into a separate 
 province, under a fifth Head Lodge at Dresden. As will 
 presently appear, the stonemasons of the new province 
 held an assembly of their own and passed a set of Ordi- 
 nances in 1462. 
 
 The Brother Book of 1563 is the latest Code of Laws 
 relating to the German stonemasons that has come down 
 to us. It was printed in folio form and a copy sent to 
 every Lodge of importance, the master of which was 
 wiUing to join the fraternity. "We may assume that 
 it continued to regulate the trade until quite recent times, 
 leaving out of sight for the present the supremacy of the 
 Strasburg Chief Lodge, which came to an end, at least 
 nominally, with the cession to France of Alsace-Lorraine. 
 But something is still required, in the nature of doc- 
 umentary' evidence, to enable us to survey the inner life 
 of the German mediaeval Lodges, and this we fortunately 
 meet with in the Torgau Ordinances, enacted in 1462. 
 From the preamble it may be gathered that the Strasburg 
 masters had sent a copy of their Constitutions (1459) to 
 the Lodges in North Germany. The signatures to the 
 Code of 1459 show that these were not represented at 
 Ratisbon and Strasburg, although the territory in which 
 they were comprised was placed in subjection to the lat- 
 ter city. The North German masters, however, j'ielded 
 submission to the Code (or Constitutions) of 1459, and 
 put their seal on the work by the issue of Ordinances for 
 the use of their own Lodges, which they expressly declare 
 to be merely explanatory of the Strasburg Code, and to be 
 based on ancient landmarks instituted by the "Holy 
 CrowTied Martyrs, to the honor and praise of the Holy 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 47 
 
 Trinity and Mary, the Queen of Heaven." The Con- 
 stitutions of 1459 also contain a devout invocation of the 
 names of the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; of our 
 gracious Mother Mary; and of her blessed servants, the 
 Holy Four Crowned Martyrs of everlasting memory." 
 (Ouatuor Coronati. ) 
 
 Viewed as mere trade regulations, all these Statutes or 
 Regulations — 1459, 1462, and 1563 — were probably only 
 confirmations of previously existing customs; but the 
 fraternity was quite a new departure, the preamble of the 
 1459 Code expressly stating that the " Masters and Fellows 
 at Speyer, Strasburg, and Ratisbon, renewed and revised 
 these ancient usages, and kindly and affably agreed upon 
 these Statutes and fraternity." Of this, additional proof 
 could be afforded, and from the wording of the "Con- 
 stitutions" of 1563 it may be inferred that even after 
 the lapse of more than a century there were masters who 
 had not joined the fraternity. 
 
 The stonemasons, like all other crafts, were divided 
 into three classes — masters, fellows, and apprentices, 
 the last named not being admitted to the brotherhood. 
 Of this, however, the master remained a member, and 
 owed his position in it, as presiding judge, to the fact of 
 his also being the master of work. In other crafts the 
 masters and journeymen each formed fraternities of their 
 own. The journeymen associations were presided over 
 in some cases by a master of the locality, and in others by 
 one (or more) of the journeymen themselves, who then 
 took the title of A It-gesell (old-fellow) . In both instances, 
 however, the president was elected by vote, and in the 
 former the master was admitted rather as a represen- 
 tative of his class than as an officer, the proceedings 
 always being conducted by the Alt-gesell, with whom the 
 master sat as a kind of assessor. 
 
 It must not be assumed that this distinction was in- 
 tentional, and that the stonemasons deliberately set up 
 a custom of their own, differing from the ordinary practice 
 
48 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of the other craft guilds. In none of the towns could 
 there have been any great scarcity of rough masons, but 
 the stonemason masters in many of them must have 
 been few; possibly only two, one at the head of the Cathe- 
 dral building staff, and the other in the permanent service 
 of the municipality. Each would employ a number of 
 "fellows," but the total would be insufficient for the 
 formation of two fraternities. Masters and workmen 
 were therefore obliged to remain together, and each mas- 
 ter would naturally preside over the proceedings of his 
 own workshop or Lodge. His office, therefore, never be- 
 came elective, and probably the stonemason fraternities 
 are scarcely to be distinguished from those of other 
 crafts except by this characteristic. 
 
 An apprentice was indentured for five years, but, as a 
 necessar}' preliminary, he was required to prove that he 
 was of legitimate birth. The contract with his master 
 was executed and cancelled in the presence of the entire 
 Lodge. The period of five years, though rigorously in- 
 sisted upon in the Ordinances of 1462, was neither before 
 nor after that date universal in its operation. 
 
 A doubtful point occurs in the Statutes of 1563, where 
 a distinction is drawn between a rough and an art ap- 
 prentice, and the latter expression {Kunst Diener) appears 
 in several of the clauses. The explanation, however, 
 I am unable to supply. 
 
 Having duly served his time, the passed apprentice 
 was declared free of the craft, and acquired the title of 
 "fellow" (Gesell). His admission into the craft took 
 place in the Lodge, and some of the formalities which 
 attended his reception may be pointed out. 
 
 A serious promise was required that he would be true 
 to the craft, that he would not vary his distinctive mark, 
 and that he would not improperly disclose the secrets 
 that were about to be revealed to him. The methods of 
 gTeetingiGruss), and it maybe, of hand-clasping {Schenck) 
 ivere then entrusted to his keeping. But the evidence 
 
STRASBURG CATHEDRAL. 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 49 
 
 is far from being conclusive that the stonemasons were in 
 possession of a grip. Except in a solitary (and doubtful) 
 instance, the word Schenck, which is constantly met with 
 in the Statutes, invariably refers to the pledge feast, at 
 which, in apparently all trades, toasts were drunk (or 
 pledged) with much ceremony and precision. Still, as 
 the most trusted German authorities assure us that a 
 grip is used by Steinmetzen of the present day, it is pos- 
 sible that one may also have existed in a period of time 
 more or less remote from our own. 
 
 MARK AND RECOGNITION. 
 
 The method of greeting is given in full in the Torgau 
 Ordinances, where also we meet with the speech to be 
 used by the traveling mason when claiming assistance, as 
 well as the formula to be observed by him when tender- 
 ing his thanks for the same. 
 
 At a first view it may appear an odd circumstance that 
 what was to be so jealously guarded from the outer world 
 should be explained in a written document. Yet, when 
 we bear in mind that copies of the Torgau Ordinances 
 were never multiplied by the printer's art, and presumably 
 only circulated among masters of credit and reputation; 
 also, how necessary it was that on all occasions the greeting 
 should be of one universal type, in order that the bond 
 fide craftsman might be distinguished from the imposter, 
 there will be no longer room for surprise that the Saxon 
 4 
 
50 History oj Freemasonry. 
 
 masters should have taken adequate steps to ensure its 
 accurate transmission. It may indeed be asked, if the 
 same reasoning is employed, why similar precautions were 
 not adopted to safeguard a correct preservation of the 
 grip? To which I reply, because it was of so simple a 
 character, that, once communicated, it could not be either 
 metamorphosed or forgotten. 
 
 On being declared free of his trade, the passed appren- 
 tice became a journeyman, and was ready to enter upon 
 his travels, the extent and duration of which varied in the 
 different trades. 
 
 The advantages accruing from these peregrinations 
 may be briefly enumerated. They prevented too rapid an 
 extension of the number of masters, they brought the 
 separate sections of a trade into a closer union, and they 
 assisted in developing the improvements which, in any 
 portion of the route traversed by the wandering crafts- 
 men, had taken place in the specialities of a handicraft. 
 But to enable a journeyman — so called from the French, 
 journec, a day, because he received daily wages — to 
 proceed on his travels, special facilities were requisite. 
 Originally, on reaching a strange town, he applied to a 
 shop of his trade, and was either given work for a certain 
 number of days, or accommodated with food and lodging, 
 and supplied on the following morning with a small sum 
 to carry him to the next town. Subsequently, par- 
 ticular taverns became the houses of call (or labor bu- 
 reaus) for special trades, where the wants both of masters 
 and journeymen could be attended to. The landlord 
 of such a tavern was styled ' ' father, ' ' his wife ' ' mother, ' ' 
 and the remainder of the household, according to their 
 sex, "brothers" and "sisters." Afterwards, when the 
 traveling workmen formed fraternities of their own, 
 these taverns served the same purpose as under the 
 previous system, and a representative of the masters 
 (or journeymen) attended daily, at a prescribed hour, 
 in order to hail the wayfarers, and, if possible, to provide 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 51 
 
 them with employment. Board and lodging were pro- 
 vided by the fraternity, and each traveler for whom work 
 could not be found received a small donation (Geschenk) 
 to help him on his journey. This gift, however, being 
 restricted to members of the fraternity, no time was lost 
 in applying for admission, and at their reception, can- 
 didates were instructed in the formal greeting, or method 
 of salutation, to which I have previously referred. It 
 was by a faithful rendering of this greeting, together with 
 a capacity to take part in a dialogue, " according to a set 
 form," that the claim of any one to be a member of the 
 brotherhood was established. 
 
 Whether there was anything in the nature of what we 
 are now in the habit of calling a "ceremony" at the 
 admission (or affiliation) of new members, is uncertain. 
 Nothing is said of one in any existing records of the 
 stonemasons, but this is by no means decisive of the point 
 at issue, as such ceremonies were undoubtedly in vogue 
 among the journeymen fraternities of other trades. 
 
 Usually the president called the meeting to order by 
 a blow of his hammer, and silence was enforced. The 
 method of opening and closing the proceedings was in 
 dialogue form. Subscriptions were paid, and other 
 business transacted. 
 
 Three formal inquiries were made (by the locksmiths) 
 before a meeting was closed. 
 
 In many of the crafts, the candidate went through a 
 ceremony of a more or less symbolical character. A 
 journeyman joiner, at his reception, was called "rough 
 wood," and after it "smooth wood." The proceedings 
 terminated with a lecture. In the case of the locksmiths, 
 a key was turned round three times in the mouth of the 
 candidate. 
 
 That a ceremony of some kind was practiced by the 
 Steinmetzen is highly probable, though no proof is forth- 
 coming; while, on the other hand, it is quite open to 
 conjecture that the signature of a stonemason in the 
 
52 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Brother Book, together with payment of dues, com- 
 pleted the formulary of his affiliation. 
 
 There was no sign, and greater importance was at- 
 tached to the proper delivery of the ceremonious for- 
 mula of salutation, or greeting, than to the communica- 
 tion of either grip or word. The last named is only re- 
 ferred to in the Ordinances of the Masons of Halberstadt, 
 as laid before their reigning prince in 1693; — "A master 
 shall enjoin a workman whom he has passed according 
 to the custom of the craft, that he shall keep enclosed in 
 his heart, on peril of his soul's salvation, that which has 
 been entrusted to him 'of words' {an worten), and by no 
 means make the same known to anybody but an honest 
 Mason, under pain of losing his handicraft." 
 
 There is no other evidence which tends to show that 
 the German stonemasons were in possession of a word, and 
 the fact of their being so in 1693, still leaves it problem- 
 atical whether anything of the kind had sprung into 
 existence when the earlier Ordinances of 1459, or those 
 of 1462 and 1563, were drawn up. 
 
 But whatever amount of uncertainty may exist with 
 respect to the proceedings which took place at the admis- 
 sion of a brother, there is none at all in regard to what 
 happened at their close. The new member's health was 
 always drunk with great solemnity and punctilio, and 
 there will be room for conjecture, whether the conven- 
 tional mode of recognition (if such existed) may not have 
 simply been the prescribed manner of raising the cup 
 to the lips, as "toasting the pledge" was always carried 
 out in a very ceremonious fashion by all the German crafts. 
 
 The free craftsman then commenced his travels, but 
 settled down generally in about two years, and imder 
 certain circumstances began his preparation for the 
 mastership, though it is not to be supposed that many 
 of them succeeded in advancing to this step. The pro- 
 duction of a masterpiece was essential; it was a custom 
 of very ancient date, and existed in all trades. 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 53 
 
 Even, however, if he attained the higher rank, it must 
 not be too hastily concluded that he forthwith proceeded 
 to act as a master in his trade. Some, no doubt, did so, 
 but many continued to work as journeymen until a chance 
 occurred of their obtaining employment at the head of a 
 building-staff. 
 
 There were two other offices for which the young 
 workman was eligible; those of treasurer and warden. 
 The former office existed in all guilds, but the latter 
 apparently not. In the Lodge (which also comprised 
 the fraternity) of the stonemasons, the warden was for- 
 mally installed by the master, and in his absence suc- 
 ceeded to the chief authority. 
 
 The Torgau Ordinances direct that "The master shall 
 knock with three blows, the warden with two consecu- 
 tively, and one for announcements at morning, noon 
 and eve, as is the old usage of the land ' ' (§28). It would 
 appear that warden, parlierer, and pallirer, were merely 
 different names for the same office. 
 
 Returning to the "Constitutions" of 1459 — the tie of 
 brotherhood, upon which I have already enlarged, was 
 created in that year. The Lodges were independent of 
 each other, but groups of them owed fealty to a District 
 Lodge. A number of the latter were, in turn, subordinate 
 to a Provincial Lodge, and the whole system reached an 
 apex in the supremacy of the Chief Lodge at Strasburg. 
 
 Every individual Lodge was a distinct court of justice, 
 and above the Lodges came the courts of the districts, at 
 the head of which were masters to whose care copies of 
 the Brother Book had been committed. These were 
 the masters at the head of permanent building works, 
 and, conjointly with their fellow masters of like degree, 
 they were enjoined to rule and govern the craft, and, if 
 necessary, to convoke a general assembly of the neigh- 
 borhood. There were annual courts, and only when the 
 business could not be decided by these tribunals were 
 appeals allowed. The Brother Book could not be either 
 
54 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 copied or lent, but was read every year to the fellows in 
 the Lodge. From the District courts there was (under 
 certain conditions) a right of appeal to the Provincial 
 masters at Strasburg, Cologne, Vienna, Zurich, and 
 (apparently) Dresden. The highest tribunal of all, and 
 the supreme court of judicature for the entire union 
 (or system), was at Strasburg. 
 
 By a singular rule which prevailed throughout the 
 fraternity, we find that the principal officials were not 
 eleetcd to their positions by their fellows, as in other crafts, 
 but appointed by persons or bodies outside the pale of 
 their society, who, in the erection of their buildings, se- 
 lected from among the Steinmetzen, such masters as they 
 believed would reflect the most credit on their choice. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that in their forma- 
 tion of a union, or even of a Chief Dodge, the stonemasons 
 of Germany differed in any material respect from what, 
 both before and after, were the usages of other trades. 
 In 1 36 1, a single guild was established by the tailors of 
 twenty-six towns in Silesia. Similar leagues or fed- 
 erations also existed in the fourteenth century among the 
 cutlers and bakers, and at a later period among the lock- 
 smiths, file cutters, and many other crafts. 
 
 The "mysteries" of the mason's trade, which it was 
 the object of the various "Ordinances," enacted from 
 time to time, to strictly safeguard, were, without doubt, 
 the elaborate carving of stone, and the preparation of 
 plans and designs, in neither of which class of work 
 was the skilled craftsman allowed to instruct anyone, 
 unless he had joined the association through the only 
 lawful channel. 
 
 We are told by German writers that on all the monu- 
 mental buildings erected by the Steinmetzen may be 
 found intimations of their secret brotherhood, and of their 
 religious views, which were entirely opposed to the 
 corrupt morality of the clergy, and the doctrines of the 
 Church. Of these Wahrzeichen (or signs of a Mason), 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 55 
 
 however, the following explanation is given by Horace 
 Walpole: — "The friars, frhes, or brothers, united priest- 
 hood with monachism; but while the monks were chiefly 
 confined to their respective houses, the friars were wander- 
 ing about as preachers and confessors. This gave great 
 offence to the secular clergy, who were thus deprived of 
 profits and inheritances. Hence the satyric and impure 
 figures of friars and nuns in our old churches. ' ' 
 
 The elder Disraeli, in his Curtosiiies of Literature, 
 also informs us : — "A people denied the freedom of speech 
 or of writing have usually left some memorials of their 
 feelings in that silent language which addresses itself 
 to the eye. The voluminous grievances which they 
 could not trust to the voice or the pen they have carved 
 in wood or sculptured on stone; and have sometimes even 
 facetiously concealed their satire among the playful 
 ornaments designed to amuse those of whom they so 
 fruitlessly complained. Before the discovery of the art 
 which multiplies with such facility libels or panegyrics, 
 when the people could not speak freely against those ra- 
 pacious clergy who sheared the fleece and cared not for the 
 sheep, many a secret of popular indignation was confided, 
 not to books (for they could not read), but to pictures and 
 sculptures, which are books that the people can always 
 read. The sculptors and illuminators of those times no 
 doubt shared in common the popular feelings, and boldly 
 trusted to the paintings or the carvings which met the 
 eyes of their luxurious and indolent masters their sat- 
 irical inventions. As far back as in 1300, we find in 
 Wolfius the description of a picture of this kind, in a 
 MS. of Jisop's Fables, found in the Abbey of Fulda, 
 among other emblems of the corrupt lives of the church- 
 men. Such exJiibitions were often introduced into 
 articles of furniture. 
 
 The carved seats and stalls in our own cathedrals 
 exhibit subjects not only strange and satirical, but even 
 indecent. 
 
56 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 At the time they built churches they satirized the 
 ministers; a curious instance of how the feelings of 
 the people struggled to find a vent. It is conjectured that 
 the rival orders satirized each other, and that some of the 
 carvings are caricatures of certain monks. The margins 
 of illuminated manuscripts frequently contain ingenious 
 caricatures, or satirical allegories. In a magnificent 
 chronicle of Froissart, I observed several. A pope some- 
 times appears to be thrust by devils into a cauldron; and 
 cardinals are seen roasting on spits. These ornaments 
 must have been generally executed by the monks them- 
 selves. Geyler, 'The herald of the Reformation,' pre- 
 ceding Luther by twelve years, had a stone chair or 
 pulpit in the Cathedral at Strasburg, from which he 
 delivered his lectures, or rather rolled the thunders of 
 his anathemas against the monks. This stone pulpit was 
 constructed under his own superintendence, and is covered 
 with very indecent figures of monks and nuns, expressly 
 designed by him to expose their profligate manners. 
 We see Geyler doing what for centimes had been done!' ' 
 
 Stieglitz, in his Early German Architecture, gives an 
 illustration of two pillars — Jachin and Boaz — as they 
 now exist in the Cathedral of Wiirzburg, one of the oldest 
 cities in Germany, and formerly the capital of Franconia. 
 They were originally situated, like the brazen columns 
 of King Solomon's Temple, on either side of the porch, 
 Jachin on the right, and Boaz on the left, but at the 
 present time their relative positions are reversed, and 
 they stand in the body of the Cathedral. Their shafts 
 are not of the ordinary cylindrical form, but are com- 
 posed of clustered pillars, curiously interlaced. Stieg- 
 litz says that they were intended to bear a symbolic 
 reference to the fraternity, which is revealed to the 
 initiated in their peculiar proportions, in the ingenious 
 construction and combination of the shafts and capitals, 
 as well as by the names (Jachin and Boaz) sculptured on 
 the abacus. 
 
The SLonemasons of Germany. 
 
 57 
 
 In addition to their trade customs, it has been con- 
 tended that the German stonemasons received from the 
 monastic builders, a secret architectural doctrine and 
 mystical science of numbers, which they employed in their 
 art and afterwards developed to a greater extent. It is 
 also stated that their most expressive and peculiar sym- 
 bols, the compasses, square, stone-hammer or gavel, 
 and foot-rule, had a moral signification in their lodges. 
 
 But in support of these positions no proof whatever has 
 been afforded, and the conclusion is irresistible that 
 stonemasonry in Germany never attained the level of a 
 
 JACHIN AND BOAZ. 
 
 POMEGRANATES. 
 
 speculative science, though it undoubtedly took high 
 rank as an operative art. 
 
 Up to this point the history of the Steinmetzen has been 
 derived from the evidence supplied by their own docu- 
 ments. On turning to other sources of information, 
 however, it will at once appear that the three Codes of 
 1459, 1462, and 1563, by no means represent machinery 
 actually at work, but what it was sought to bring into 
 play, in order to arrest the further decay of a system 
 which was being graduahy but surely undermined by 
 
58 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the growth and increasing power of the municipalities. 
 An assembly or general corporation of the various 
 
 PORCH OF THE TEMPLE AND WINDING STAIRS. 
 
 trades ■\\as established at Cologne in 1396, and from an 
 Ordinance of this guild, which was confirmed in 1478, 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 59 
 
 there is distinct evidence to show that for some time 
 prior to that date, the regulations of the stonemasons 
 were only operative to the extent that they did not clash 
 with those of the assembly. 
 
 Two years before the Strasburg Code (or Brother-book) 
 of 1563, in a charter granted by the town council to the 
 stonemasons and carpenters of Cologne, there were 
 clauses which completely nullify some of the Ordi- 
 nances of 1459 and 1563. 
 
 It is true that the Codes of Regulations enacted by the 
 stonemasons were frequently confirmed by the Em- 
 perors, but the free cities of Germany were too powerful 
 to be thus coerced in a matter affecting their trade in- 
 terests. Moreover, there is evidence from which we 
 may infer that the "Confirmations" of the Emperors 
 were only intended by them to relate to certain pious 
 articles in the Ordinances, and that they were wholly 
 unaware of the existence of other clauses, by the opera- 
 tion of which a system of trade compulsion was to be 
 carried out. 
 
 From various causes, among which may be enumerated 
 the completion of the principal Cathedrals, the Reforma- 
 tion, and the Thirty Years' War, a decline had set in, 
 and the stonemasons' fraternity by slow degrees parted 
 with its distinctive character, and in process of time 
 differed in no material respect, if at all, from the other 
 craft guilds. 
 
 There was a lower depth still. Ultimately the Stein- 
 metzeyi amalgamated with other crafts, and about this 
 time must have arisen the distinction between Salute- 
 Masons (Grussmaurer) and Letter-Masons {Brief maurer). 
 The former, who even yet when on their travels make 
 use of a formal greeting, being, with hardly a doubt, the 
 modern representatives of the ancient stonemasons; while 
 the latter, who at the present moment personify, and 
 probably are the direct descendants of, the rough ma- 
 sons of media-val tin:es proclaim their identity by means 
 
60 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of documentary evidence, or, in other words, by the 
 production of a diploma or certificate. 
 
 In 1681, Strasburg was captured by the French, and, 
 
 
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 in I 707, by a decree of the Imperial Diet, the supremacy 
 of the head lodge over the German stonemasons in that 
 
The Stonemasons of Germany. 6i 
 
 city was finally abolished. A further edict, of 1731, 
 made illegal all ceremonies of reception, greetings, dis- 
 tinctions between Salute and Letter Masons, fraternities 
 of journeymen, and oaths of secrecy. This law was 
 confirmed in 1772. Nevertheless, the association con- 
 tinued to exist, though m comparative secrecy, retaining 
 the distinction between the Salute and Letter Mason, 
 the (partial) control of its own members, and its alle- 
 giance to the head lodge. This is still the case in many 
 parts of Germany, and the stonemasons of Saxony even 
 now regard the Strasburg Hiitte as their chief lodge. 
 
 In Germany, as in England, a tradition prevailed from 
 early times that the Masons were granted very excep- 
 tional privileges by the Popes; but whether in either 
 instance it rested on any foundation of fact, is yet to be 
 decided. The English tradition is indeed described by 
 Kloss as being "based on the Papal confirmations really 
 granted to the German stonemasons in 1502 and 151 7." 
 But with all deference to this high authority, there is no 
 tangible evidence to sustain the belief that Papal Bulls 
 were received from Alexander VI. and Leo X. in those 
 years. 
 
 The foundation stone of the Steinmetz origin of Free- 
 masonry was laid by a French writer, the Abbe Grandi- 
 dier, in 1779. The theory attracted no attention for 
 many years, but ultimately found favor in Germany, 
 and its general acceptance at one time, both in this 
 countr}^ and America, may be attributed to the English 
 translation of Findel's "History of our Society." The 
 delusion, I believe, has long ceased to exist, and in part- 
 ing with the subject, it may be remarked, that while there 
 was a great outward similarity between the usages of the 
 Steinmetzen and the Freemasons, no sort of connection 
 between the two associations was ever setup as an arti 
 cle of belief until 1 779. At that date the Freemasonry of 
 England had found a home in Germany for nearly half a 
 century, and there would be a great initial difficulty in 
 
62 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 our crediting that the two institutions had flourished side 
 by side for all that long period without intermingling, 
 even were it possible for us to believe that the mar- 
 velous stories related of the Steinmetzen by Schneider, 
 HeidlofT, Fallou, and other German writers, rested on 
 any basis of well attested fact. 
 
 The Craft Guilds (Corps D'Etat) of France. 
 
 The design of the present and the following sections is 
 to present the reader with an outline of the rise and fall 
 of the craft guilds of France, and to weave into a con- 
 nected narrative, from the fragments of evidence I have 
 been able to collect, a brief account of their remarkable 
 off-shoot, the Companionage. 
 
 Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy, in the 
 year 486 began his career of victory, at Soissons, by 
 defeating Siagrius, the ruler of what then remained of 
 Roman Gaul. Thus ended the Imperial authority, but not 
 of necessity the Imperial civilization. Rome was a power 
 pre-eminently military; yet what is her history but the 
 most remarkable instance of a political development 
 and progress? More than any power, she was able to 
 accommodate and expand her institutions according to 
 the circumstances of successive ages, extending her 
 municipal privileges to the conquered cities, yielding 
 herself to the literature of Greece, and admitting into 
 her bosom the rites of Egypt and Phrygia. 
 
 In the cities there seems to have been at once formed, 
 on the departure of the legions, a sort of municipal gov- 
 ernment. The elected officers of the various trades, to- 
 gether with the superior clergy, constituted a council. 
 It is certain that down to the death of Pepin, the first 
 of the Carlovingian dynasty in 768, the French cities 
 were virtual republics, and that the existence of craft 
 guilds may be dated back to a very remote period. 
 
 The literature on this subject is of a very extensive 
 
The Craft Guilds of France. 
 
 63 
 
 character, but the generality of French authorities are of 
 opinion that the weight of evidence is in favor of the 
 guilds and communes of mediseval Prance having been 
 the direct descendants of the Roman corporations. 
 Under the Carlovingian kings there was centralization, 
 
 RUINS OF THIi PALACE OF NERO, AT ROME. 
 
 and with the rise of the feudal system the municipalities 
 lost much of their independence; but in the thirteenth 
 century they had recovered most of their privileges 
 though obliged to exercise them in strict subordination 
 to the royal authority. 
 
64 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 It must be carefully borne in mind, however, that until 
 comparatively recent times France never was a hom- 
 ogeneous state; consequently, no general sketch of the 
 rise and progress of craft guilds can be expected to 
 portray more than the leading features of these institu- 
 tions, or by any means to exhibit the modifications which 
 might be looked for in the north, where the German in- 
 fluence was predominant, or perhaps with even greater 
 reason in Normandy, which at a later period than in other 
 districts was over-run by the barbarians. 
 
 In Paris, the officials of a single (though enormous) 
 guild, the Hanse, controlled the entire municipality. 
 This association we first meet with under the title of 
 Marchands de I'eau de Paris, and to a great extent it 
 enjoyed a monopoly of the commerce of the Seine. The 
 duties of mayor of the city were performed by its leading 
 official, who was styled Provost of the Merchants, until 
 late in the thirteenth century. There is evidence to 
 show that this guild was in existence prior to 1 1 2 1 , and 
 particular privileges granted to it in that year by the 
 reigning monarch were confirmed by his successors in 
 1 170 and 1 192, 
 
 Subsequently it took the name of the Marchands or 
 Six Corps de Paris, but the building and other trades of 
 the metro])olis, not included among these six bodies, 
 must have gradually sprung into existence very much in 
 the same way as those of the provincial cities. 
 
 Under Touis IX., in 1258, Etienne Boileau became 
 the Provost of Paris, and the municipal government of 
 the city, together with the supervsion of the trade and 
 craft guilds, passed into his hands. The Provost, how- 
 ever, of the Marchands still retained his jurisdiction over 
 the Six Corps de Paris (goldsmiths, cloth-workers, 
 furriers, grocers, hatters and mercers), and, to some 
 extent, over the commerce of the Seine. These powers, 
 indeed, were taken away from him in 1383, and vested 
 in the Provost of Paris; an attempt being also made at 
 
The Craft Guilds of France. 
 
 65 
 
 the same time to suppress the trade fraternities and even 
 the municipality itself. But the efforts of Charles VI. 
 in this direction were unsuccessful. The guilds continued 
 to exist, and the municipality again met with legal re- 
 cognition in 141 1. Eventually the office of Provost of 
 Merchants Was revived, and the whole of his former 
 
 RHEIMS CATHEDRAL, FRANCE. 
 
 jurisdiction restored to him; the Provost of Paris dis- 
 appeared from the scene, and the authority of the Six 
 Corps continued in force until the closing years of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 In the year 1258, Etienne Boileau, the Provost of 
 
66 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Paris, collected the rules and regulations affecting the 
 various trades of that city, and digested them into 
 manuscript form under the title of " Reglements sur Les 
 Arts et Metiers de Paris," and by royal authority they 
 were ordained to be the law to which all guilds or me- 
 chancal occupations in Paris should be thenceforth 
 subjected. The usages of a hundred craft guilds were 
 tabulated in this book. The exercise of any trade or 
 craft was restricted to those who had served as appren- 
 tices, and had been received as masters. Anciently, and 
 in particular trades, the apprentice passed at once to the 
 status of master on being duly qualified. But the 
 Lhre dcs Metiers, while it permits the master to have as 
 many assistants as he desires, expressly stipulates that 
 the secrets of the trade must not be communicated to 
 them; and also that the apprentice who had duly served 
 his time should be sworn on the holy writings not to 
 reveal them. 
 
 The necessity must have at length arisen for the insti- 
 tution of a new grade, intermediate between those of 
 apprentice and master, and that of journeyman was 
 established. 
 
 Into this position the apprentice who had attained his 
 freedom then passed, and was indifferently styled com- 
 pagnon, aide, valet, varlet or gargon. Traveling was not 
 strictly enjoined; but the journeyman usually became 
 a wayfarer for a time, and worked his way as he proceeded 
 on his "Tour of France." Out of this custom must 
 have originated the Companionage, a singular institu- 
 tion, of \vhich a description will be given in the next 
 section. 
 
 A necessary preliminary to the attainment of a master- 
 ship was the achievement of a masterpiece, the nature 
 of which was in all cases decided by a committee of the 
 masters. The test selected was usually such as to involve 
 great labor and expense, but without successfully passing 
 through the ordeal the voung workman could not fully 
 
The Crajt Guilds of France. 67 
 
 exercise his trade. There was, indeed, a "lesser master- 
 piece," with respect to which the conditions were much 
 relaxed; but when these were surmounted the aspirant 
 only became what was called "a perpetual companion," 
 a rank (or status) of which I can elsewhere find no trace, 
 and, while permitted to work without the intervention of 
 a master, in his own apartment, he was debarred from 
 either keeping a shop or engaging assistance in his business. 
 These restrictions did not, however, apply to the relatives 
 of masters, who were not required to pass through the 
 grades of apprentice and journeyman, and the execution 
 of a masterpiece by whom was dispensed with. In cer- 
 tain trades the masterpiece was distinctly patrimonial, 
 but jealously restricted to candidates in the male line of 
 succession. 
 
 The forms of reception at the admission of new masters 
 were of a varied character. In the generality of instances 
 they appear to have been received with something in the 
 nature of a ceremony, and the proceedings were enlivened 
 by good-humored merriment, and occasionally by bur- 
 lesque. For example, at the reception of a millstone- 
 maker, a feast was prepared, and while the masters were 
 carousing below, the candidate was led to an attic above, 
 his conductor being the latest accepted master, who was 
 armed with a broomstick. There then followed a suc- 
 cession of loud and long-continued screams, just as if 
 someone was being beaten to death. 
 
 By the Livre des Metiers the stonemasons, masons, 
 plasterers, and mortarers are placed under the banner of 
 St. Blaise. There are other writings which disclose the 
 fact that ranged under the same banner were the mill- 
 stonemakers, tylers, and quarry workers. 
 
 Moving on parallel lines with, and often intersecting 
 the craft guilds, were the fraternities, which appear under 
 many names, chiefly as variants of the term confrerie 
 (confraternity), and sometimes (in each particular in- 
 stance) as k cierge ("the candle") or la caritat (the 
 
68 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 "charity"). The guild and the fraternity were separate 
 institutions, although frequently composed of the same 
 members. Sometimes also a plurality of fraternities was 
 to be found in a single craft, while at others several crafts 
 were associated in one fraternity. Like the social guilds 
 of England, the leading objects of the fraternities were 
 the assembly of the members on fixed occasions, devo- 
 tional exercises, conviviality, charity and relief to poor 
 or distressed brethren and their families. Apprentices 
 and journeymen were ineligible for membership, though 
 required to contribute to the treasury of the societv. 
 The latter, however, were assisted from the funds of 
 these institutions when on their travels through France. 
 The talisman of the crafts was a banner, and that of 
 the fraternities a wax candle. 
 
 In France, as in Germany, the principal object of the 
 craft guilds was to secure their members in the indepen- 
 dent, unimpaired and regular earning of their daily 
 bread. But when in the former country these bodies, 
 like the earlier English guilds for the maintenance of 
 justice (of which a good illustration is afforded by the 
 Judicia Chntatis Liindoniae, reduced to writing in the 
 time of King Athelstan), were legally recognized as 
 special associations for the regulation of their trades, a 
 new characteristic, namely, their function as a police 
 authority, was added to those by which they had pre- 
 viously been distinguished. 
 
 The French masters, at fixed periods, elected from 
 their own number certain persons who, under various 
 names, of which prud'bommes ma)' be cited as a frequent 
 type, presided at all meetings of the craft, possessed 
 many powers of petty justice, and were expected to bring 
 any infraction of the rules of a trade to the cognizance 
 of their provost or head. To these assessors (wardens 
 or inspectors) was entrusted the common seal of the 
 craft. But with hardly an exception everv workman 
 possessed his private mark, which he was obliged to 
 place upon his work. 
 
The Crajl Guilds of France. 69 
 
 A chapter of the Boileau code {Livre des Metiers) 
 contains the law relating to the masons, stonemasons, 
 plasterers and mortarers, and is the earliest written 
 record concerning the operative masons, and stonecutters 
 of the Middle Ages. The fourth article declares that the 
 King had granted the Mastership of the masons to Master 
 WiUiam of St. Patu; upon which I have only to remark, 
 that the theory of his being a "Grand Master" in the 
 modern sense of that term is an utter delusion, as the 
 masters of other trades, all of whom ruled their crafts in 
 the name of the King, were appointed in the same way. 
 
 I,ater clauses refer to the duty of the night watch, in 
 which all the trades took part, with an exception to 
 be presently noticed. 
 
 The code says, "The masons and plasterers owe the 
 watch duty," and in the next article, i.e., XXII., "The 
 mortarers are free of watch duty, and all stonemasons 
 since the time of Charles Martel, as the wardens (preud- 
 omes) have heard say from father to son." 
 
 It is evident from the foregoing, that so far back as 
 the thirteenth century there was a traditional belief that 
 certain exceptional privileges had been granted by 
 Charles Martel to the stonemasons. The circumstance, 
 therefore, should be accorded its due weight, as in the 
 Legend of the British Craft the "Saviour of Christendom' ' 
 is also described as a great patron of operative masonry. 
 
 This community of tradition, which pervaded the 
 minds of the mediaeval masons in Gaul and Britain, is a 
 remarkable fact, and the influence it suggests wiU be 
 further considered in my account of the Companionage. 
 
 At Montpellier, the words fai la piera (does stonework) 
 follow the name of a workman in a document of 1201, and 
 maistre de piera, that of a" Master Mason," in a manu- 
 script of 1244. "About the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century," says Samuel Ware in th^ Archnvlogia (xvii., 38), 
 "the art dela coupedes pierres was still held a secret, and 
 the possessors of this mystery were called the Cotterie." 
 
70 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 As "will appear in the next section, the term seems to 
 have been regarded with much favor by the stonemasons. 
 
 Efforts to suppress the confreries were made by Simon, 
 Count de Montfort, in 121 2, and by Phihppe le Bel, in 
 1308. A series of more stringent enactments, corres- 
 ponding in great measure with our ov.n "Statutes of 
 Laborers," and arising from the same cause — the 
 raAages of the "Black Death," which affect' d every 
 class of artisan — were issued by royal authority in 1350. 
 
 The guilds and fraternities were afterwards the subject 
 of minute and harassing legislation, but they still sur- 
 vived, and apparently with their privileges unimpaired, 
 as the prohibitions contained in one edict were as often 
 as not cancelled in the next. I pass, therefore, to the 
 Statute of Francis I. in 1539, by virtue of which, ac- 
 cording to loose and inaccurate writers, "all guilds of 
 workmen were abolished, and thus (in France) perished 
 Freemasonry, according to the old signification of the 
 word." But the true facts of the case are, that while in 
 the Statute of 1539, another vain attempt was made 
 to stamp out fraternities, the main object of the 
 Ordinance was to effect by new laws, more in consonance 
 with the spirit of the times, a thorough reformation of 
 the guilds. The allusion to Freemasonry may be dis- 
 missed with the remark, that if in any shape or form it 
 then existed in France, it certainly did not "perish" 
 with the craft guilds, in 1539. 
 
 By the Ordinance of that year all fraternities were 
 abolished, wardens (gardes) were directed to pass as 
 masters all candidates on the proper completion of a 
 masterpiece, and banquets or even convivialities (convis) 
 on such occasions were forbidden. Finally, the masters, 
 journeymen, and apprentices in all trades were restrained 
 from meeting in "congregations" or "assemblies," a 
 form of words which is strikingly in accord with that of 
 the English Statute, 3 Henry VL, c. I, (1425), upon 
 which I shall have much to say in a later chapter. The 
 
The Compatiionagc. 71 
 
 societies, however, continued to exist, and without any 
 perceptible alteration in tlieir customs, until the year 
 1776, when (with a few exceptions, which did not extend 
 to the building trades) guilds and fraternities were once 
 more abolished, and all, or nearly all, the crafts and 
 trades thrown open to all comers. But the whole of the 
 corporations were re-established in a slightly different 
 form in 1778. After this came the French Revolution. 
 The trade guilds were finally suppressed by the National 
 Assembly of 1793, and, perhaps (if we leave out of sight, 
 for the moment, the Compauionage), that ancient institu- 
 tion, the pnid'lionimcs, which still exists, may be re- 
 garded as the only distinct survival of the subsidiary 
 associations comprised in the system of the French 
 Corps D'Kiat. 
 
 THE COMPANION AGE, OR LES COMPAGNOXS DU TOUR 
 DE FRANCE. 
 
 The " Companionage" (Compagnonnage) is a compre- 
 hensive term, and comprises the three fellowships formed 
 by the French journeymen (or apprentices who had 
 ser^-ed their time) for the purpose of affording them 
 assistance while making what was called the "Tour of 
 France. ' ' 
 
 The Companions (Compagnons) recognize three prin- 
 cipal founders, Solomon, Maitre Jacques, and Maitre (or 
 Pere) Soubise, and each of these legendary patrons is 
 alleged to ha\-e left behind him a devoir [i.e., a Rule, like 
 St. Benedict's; a Code; or the constituents of a Rite, 
 for Sodality) or the guidance of his disciples. The 
 companionage is, therefore, composed of three distinct 
 associations, the Sons (enfants) of Solomon, of Maitre 
 Jacques, and of Maitre (or Pere) Soubise. The first two 
 were originally (or anciently) composed of stonemasons, 
 and the last-named of carpenters only. But at some 
 unknown date the Sons of Solomon admitted the joiners 
 and locksmiths into their fraternity; the Sons of Maitre 
 
72 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Jacques followed their example, and this society even- 
 tually comprised the members of nearly all trades, while 
 the ranks of the Sons of Maitre Soubise were strengthened 
 by the adhesion of the plasterers and tylers. It may be 
 added that at a recent period some of the carpenters 
 seceded from the system of Soubise, and claimed to form 
 a fourth corps under the banner of Solomon, but they are 
 not recognized as such Ijy the other three. 
 
 The dates of origin of the three divisions of the 
 companionage are generally supposed to agree with the 
 order in which they have been described above, and 
 it is freely conceded by the companions of the remaining 
 sub-divisions, that in point of antiquity the stonemasons 
 of the Sons of Solomon are entitled to take the highest 
 rank of all. The masons (to be carefully distinguished 
 from the stonemasons) and a few other crafts have never 
 been included in the companionage. 
 
 Journeymen of all religious persuasions are freely 
 admitted into the system of Solomon, but a profession 
 of Roman Catholicism is required from candidates in 
 those of Jacques and Soubise. 
 
 In every French to-wn with which a devoir was as- 
 sociated, the travelling journeymen found a house of 
 call. These villes du devoir, or towns of the Tour of 
 France, are situated for the most part in the South. In 
 other centres of population, called "bastard towns," 
 where there was no devoir, the companion also met with 
 assistance, though on a reduced scale. 
 
 It has been alreadj- mentioned that some of the trades 
 owned a divided fealty, the stonemasons, joiners, and 
 locksmiths being arrayed under the banners of Solomon 
 and Jacques, tlie carpenters under those of Solomon 
 and Soubise, and the remaining trades which form a 
 part of the companionage, being comprised within 
 the system of Maitre Jacques. Each craft, however, 
 in the three families, constitutes a separate and in- 
 dependent fraternity, and is often at open ^'ariance 
 
W 
 
 Q 
 
 o 
 
 en 
 
 O 
 ?^ 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 cr; 
 
The Compamonage. 73 
 
 with one or more of the remaining corps under the same 
 banner. But they all present a united front to a com- 
 mon enemy ; for example, the societies of one devoir are in 
 a chronic state of discord with those of the other two. 
 Sometimes, also, there is a difference on a larger scale, 
 and if all of the three families are drawn into it, the Sons 
 of Solomon find themselves confronted by a union of the 
 various corps under the combined banners of Jacques and 
 Soubise. 
 
 Among the joiners — enfants de Salomon — as we learn 
 from Agricol Perdiguier in his Livre du Compagnonnage, 
 the Ordinances were first of all read to the candidate, 
 after which he attained his first step, that of affiliation. 
 The remaining "steps" were those of "accepted," 
 "finished," and "initiated" companion. From the 
 circumstance that newly-admitted members were en- 
 joined to "keep secret the forms of initiation and the 
 methods of recognition," it may be inferred that each of 
 these "steps" or degrees was attended with a ceremony. 
 
 Of the stonemasons {enjants de Salomon), the infor- 
 mation forthcoming is very scanty; it is known, however, 
 that the affiliates were styled "young men," and that 
 the rank of companion was attained at a single step. 
 
 The titles of aspirants and upper companions were 
 peculiar to the system of Maitre Jacques, and com- 
 panions and foxes to that of Maitre Soubise. Among 
 all the fraternities there was a belief in an alleged con- 
 nection of the stonemasons with Hiram, and white gloves 
 were always worn, in certain of the corps, by way of 
 disclaiming the complicity of their members with regard 
 to the circumstances of his decease. 
 
 Canes, long or short, and generally metal-tipped, were 
 carried by all companions, who likewise wore the colors 
 of their particular societies, consisting of silk ribbons of 
 varying hue. These staves and ribbons often changed 
 owners, as after one of their desperate encounters the 
 conquering companion bore tliem off as trophies of the 
 
y4 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 fra)'. The square and compasses were emblems in 
 general use. 
 
 There were regular officers of each fraternity, and every 
 sub-division (or degree) of it, in all the towns composing 
 the Tour of France. 
 
 As with the Steimnetzen, each French craft had its 
 own house of call, and the inmates were accosted in the 
 same way — father, mother, brother, sister — but the 
 house itself was styled, in France, La mere (the mother). 
 We are told that in the journeymen fraternities of both 
 Germany and France, "there were the same ceremonies 
 on entering the inn, and that a neglect of these formali- 
 ties was severely punished." 
 
 A sobriquet was selected by every companion on his 
 admission (or initiation), by means of which it would be 
 indicated to what corps he belonged. 
 
 The title of Compagnons du devoir was common to all 
 afliliated journeymen, but that of Compagnons du devoir 
 de lihcrir (or, shortly, Compagnons de liberie) was 
 specially assumed by the Sons of Solomon. In the 
 most ancient corps of each family, or system, there were 
 further distinctions. For example, the stonemasons of 
 Solomon take the name of "Foreign Companions," on 
 the ground that there were strangers in Judea; while the 
 stonemasons of Jacques and the carpenters of Soubise 
 assume that of "Passing Companions," for the reason 
 that they ncA'cr contemplated being other than tem- 
 porary sojourners -ivlien at Jerusalem. 
 
 It may be added, with respect to the same corps, that 
 among themselves the stonemasons of Solomon are 
 known as "Wolves," those of Maitre Jacques as "Were- 
 wolves," and the carpenters (S. of S.) as " Good Fellows' ' 
 (Bons Drilles). 
 
 The term gavots, denoting the natives of a mountainous 
 country, is applied to the joiners and locksmiths {en- 
 jants de Salomon). In the systems of Jacques and Soubise, 
 the members of all corps, except that of the stonemasons, 
 
The Compa)tionage. 75 
 
 are called chiens and dcvorants, the former expression 
 arising out of a sincjular tradition which ascribes the 
 discovery of Hiram's reniainsato the instinct of some 
 dogs. The latter, apparently, is a corruption of devoi- 
 rants, meaning the members of a devoir. 
 
 The custom of howling, which, as Brand tells us in his 
 Popular Aniiquiiies, has been in general use at funerals 
 from very early times, is practised extensively, and in 
 other cases than at the interment of one of their own 
 number, by the companions. 
 
 It is stated that on these occasions particular words 
 are muttered in such a way as to be intelligible only 
 to members of the corps. The habit, however, has not 
 found favor with the stonemasons. 
 
 In addressing each other, the terms used are coterie 
 by the stonemasons, and pays by the other crafts, with 
 the addition in either case of the companion's nickname 
 (when known) in the place of his lawful patronymic. 
 
 When two companions met on their travels, one ad- 
 dressed the other with the iopage, or challenge, being a 
 formula of words, the con\'eiitional reply to which would 
 indicate that the other was a member of the same devoir. 
 If such was the case, friendly greetings ensued; but if 
 from the colloquy it was evident that they belonged to 
 rival associations, a war of words, commonly ending in 
 a stand-up frght, was the result. 
 
 The death of one of the combatants was a frequent 
 occurrence, and these encounters were often conducted 
 on a much larger scale, with hosts of companions on 
 either side. 
 
 The iopage, as a general practice, only finds acceptance 
 in the systems of Jacques and Soubise, but the stone- 
 masons of Solomon, sometimes, though rarely, "tope" 
 with the members of their own trade in the other divis- 
 ion of the companionage. 
 
 The causes of feud were infinite, and though a hollow 
 peace was preserved, in the main, between the stone- 
 
76 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 masons of the two devoirs at Paris, they continued to be 
 open enemies in the provinces. 
 
 The benefits derived by the traveling journeyman 
 were of a very substantial character. He was lodged, 
 fed, and obtained either work or credit. 
 
 The journeyman, on resuming his Tour of France, was 
 escorted beyond the limits of the town, and to speed him 
 on his way, songs were sung by the other companions, 
 who marched in procession ; before the final leave-taking 
 occurred, there was usually a "ceremony," but the exact 
 nature of it has not been disclosed. 
 
 Annually, each craft has its grand assembly, which 
 takes place on the day of its tutelar^' saint, who is pre- 
 sumed, of course, to have been a worthy member of the 
 
 FTNERAL SERVICE, 
 
 same trade. The stonemasons, indeed, form an ex- 
 ception to the general rule, as they commemorate the 
 Ascension Day. 
 
 At the death of a companion his funeral i- conducted 
 with much solemnity A circle is formed round the 
 grave, the mourners kneel on one knee, a prayer is 
 offered up, the coffin is lowered, and then follows the 
 guilbrcite. 
 
 The ceremony of the accolade or guilbretie is thus per- 
 formed. Two of the companions step on to the four 
 quarters of a pair of crossed staves, each clasps the other 
 by the right hand, they whisper in one another's ear, 
 remain folded for a moment in each other's arms, and 
 
o 
 a; 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 O 
 
 7. 
 
 « 
 
 D 
 O 
 
78 History of Fieemasoiiry. 
 
 retire. Tliis is done by all the companions in turn, after 
 which they again kneel, say a further prayer, and with 
 three motions sprinkle earth on the grave. 
 
 In certain instances a covering is placed over the 
 grave, and from a companion who descends beneath it 
 are heard sounds of lamentation and regret. At this 
 particular moment something takes place at the funeral 
 of a carpenter of Soubise, which, as we learn from 
 Perdiguier, he was not allowed to reveal. 
 
 It is possible that this veiled rite comprised some 
 modifications of the guilbrette, and the opportunity seems 
 a fitting one to remark, that unless the method of joining 
 hands in this embrace {accolade) was performed in any 
 special manner, there is no evidence that will justify our 
 belief in the existence of a grip. 
 
 It has been shown that the stonemasons and three 
 other crafts (the joiners, locksmiths, and carpenters) 
 paid a dual fealty; but in towns where the influence of 
 one of the three systems had long been firmly established, 
 any invasion of territory by the members of rival devoirs 
 larely took place. This monopoly, how^ever, was some- 
 times acquired by success in a trial of skill between the 
 champions of opposing families. The victory was 
 decided by a comparison of the two masterpieces, and the 
 winning side obtained an exclusive occupation of the 
 city. 
 
 A contest of this kind took place between the two corps 
 of stonemasons, at Lyons, in 1726. The losers, follow- 
 ers of Jacques, accordingly left the city, but a century 
 later they returned, and a sanguinary encounter occurred 
 in wdiich the Sons of Solomon were the victors. Yet 
 this did not end the matter. The winners strove to drive 
 the enemy still farther back, and another bloody battle 
 was the result. 
 
 The most remarkable of all these conflicts occurred in 
 1730, the scene of action being the plains of La Crau, in 
 Provence. 
 
The Companionagc 
 
 79 
 
 The belligerents were the Enjants de Salovion on the 
 one side, and the allied forces of Maifres Jacques and 
 Soubise on the other. Fire-arms were freely used, and 
 victory hung for a long time in the balance. The number 
 of combatants "killed in action" and mortally wounded 
 was very great, and the active intervention of the 
 military power alone brought this pitched battle to a close, 
 
 It is customary, except among the Sons of Solomon, for 
 members on attaining the status of master, to retire 
 from the companionagc. 
 
 The legendary history of the companionagc begins 
 with the Temple of Solomon. The stonemasons (S, 
 of S.), called Compagnons /lirangers, and Loups, together 
 with the joiners and locksmiths of the Devoir dc Liberie, 
 called Gavois, say that the Wise King gave them a devoir, 
 
8o History of Freemasonry. 
 
 and united them fraternally in the precincts of the 
 Temple, the work of their hands. 
 
 The stonemasons (S. of J.), called Loups-Garous, 
 with the joiners and locksmiths du Devoir, called Devo- 
 
 BUILDING THE TEMPLE. 
 
 rants, also assert that they issued from the Temple, 
 and that Maitre Jacques — an overseer under King Sol- 
 omon — founded them. The carpenters, Compagnons 
 
w 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
The Companio)iage. 8i 
 
 Passant or Boris Drilles, claim a similar connection with 
 the Temple, as the last group; and also that Maitre 
 (or Pere) Soubise — famous in carpentry — was their 
 founder. 
 
 The legend of the Sons of Solomon is of a very frag- 
 mentary character, although the stonemasons of that 
 division are generally recognized as the most ancient of 
 the companions 
 
 After the Enjants de Solomon, the next in order of 
 precedence are the followers of Maitre Jacques, the 
 most prominent figure in the legendary history, and the 
 fable of whose career was probably the only written 
 tradition of the society which Perdiguier had before him 
 when compiling the first edition (1839) of his Lime du 
 C ompagnonnage . 
 
 From the fullest and most complete story of this 
 traditionary founder of the companionage, as presented 
 for the first time by Mr. W. H. Rylands in the English 
 tongue (1888), I extract the following: — 
 
 Maitre Jacques, a stone-cutter, at the age of fifteen, 
 left the South of France and traveled into Greece, 
 where he became famous as a sculptor and architect. His 
 steps were next directed to Egypt, and afterwards to 
 Jerusalem, where he became one of the chief masters for 
 King Solomon, and a colleague of Hiram. After the 
 completion of the Temple, Maitre Jacques and Maitre 
 Soubise set out on their return to Gaul. They had 
 vowed to remain together, but jealousy impelled the 
 latter to leave his friend, and to form a separate band of 
 disciples. Jacques disembarked at Marseilles and Sou- 
 bise at Bordeaux. 
 
 An attempt to assassinate Maitre Jacques was made by 
 the rival faction, but he took refuge in a marsh, the reeds 
 of which protected him from his assailants. He then 
 retired to St. Beaume, and shortly afterwards one of his 
 disciples betrayed him with a kiss. Five ruffians fell 
 upon him and inflicted five deadly wounds. His dis- 
 6 
 
82 History of Freemasonry 
 
 ciples arrived in time to receive his last adieiix. He 
 gave them the kiss of peace, which he charged them to 
 pass on to future companions as coming from their 
 father. His death occurred in his fort y-s event Ii year, 
 and with his last breath he forgave his assassins. On 
 his person was found a little reed (jonc), which he carried 
 about him in memory of his adventure in the marsh, 
 and it has since been adopted as an emblem by the 
 companions. 
 
 Whether Soubise was privy to the murder is unknown. 
 He shed tears on the tomb, and ordered a pursuit of the 
 assassins, which removed a portion of the suspicion 
 which attached to him. 
 
 As for the betrayer, in the agony of his remorse he 
 cast himself into a well, which the companions filled up 
 with stones. 
 
 The schism in the society is said by one writer to 
 have taken place at Aries, a.d. 800. There is also a 
 tradition which makes the Companionage du Devoir take 
 birth at Orleans, and that of the Devoir de Liberie at 
 Chartres, the theory being advanced that, in the 13th 
 or 14th century, between the workmen of these towns — 
 engaged on the cathedrals — an enmit}^ arose, which led 
 to their forming two societies under Maftres or con- 
 ductors. 
 
 A variation of the Orleans legend states that "those 
 dissenting from the original foundation of the two as- 
 sociations were taken under the protection of Jacques 
 de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars; that the 
 Templars introduced mystic forms into France, Solomon 
 and his temple figuring in their ceremonies; and that 
 Jacques de Molay summoned the dissentient companions 
 and formed them into three new associations." 
 
 In 1S03 delegates assembled in conference from every 
 town of the Tour de France. It was felt that many of 
 the old customs were unsuitable to the age, and that the 
 association itself required to be remodelled in various 
 

 
 
 i»kI l 
 
 Mf 
 
 H '•''»■« 
 
 ASSASSIXATION (JK THE MASTER Bl'ILDER. 
 
84 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ways. One of the delegates was a Freemason, and his 
 proposal, that a superior class — the iroisieme ordre — of 
 inihes should be introduced, was adopted. 
 
 This new degree — iniiies, or iroisieme ordrc — though 
 abolished in 1S43, did not at once disappear, and for forty 
 }-ears exercised quite an influence over the companionage, 
 which, within that period — if not before — must haA'e 
 received a distinct tinge from Freemasonry. 
 
 It will doubtless have been observed, that many of 
 my remarks are expressed in the past tense, but the 
 picture I have drawn of the companionage must be 
 understood to date in the main from about the year 
 1 840, and there cannot be a doubt that with the extension 
 of railways, much of the raison d'etre for the existence of 
 such an association has disappeared. 
 
 Any real insight into the ceremonies peculiar to the 
 systems of Solomon and Soubise is withheld from us, but 
 a glimpse has been afforded of those practised by certain 
 of the corps under the banner of Maitre Jacques. 
 
 Some of the customs at the reception of new members 
 were revealed in 1651, and others at a slightly later date, 
 the trades among which they were in vogue being the 
 saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, cutlers, and hatters. The 
 forms varied slightly, but the leading tj^pes were a mock 
 baptism, the bestowal of a new name, and the communica- 
 tion of a watch-word (mot de guerre), which was to be 
 kept secret. The "Story of the First Three Companions' ' 
 was related at the admission of a journeyman tailor. 
 ' It also appeared on record that many of the usages 
 which are met with in more recent times were practised 
 in one (and doubtless all) of the chief divisions of the 
 companionage. For example, the custom of calling the 
 tavern (or house of call) the "Mother"; and the habit 
 of "forming everywhere an offensive league against the 
 young men of their trade who are not of their cabal; 
 beating, maltreating, and soliciting them to enter into 
 their societ^•.' ' 
 
The Companionagc. 85 
 
 A long string of questions on the above practices was 
 addressed to the Doctors of the Sorbonne, and they were 
 adjudged by them to "combine the sins of sacrilege, 
 impurity, and blasphemy against tlie mysteries of our 
 religion. ' ' 
 
 From some "Observations" on the "impieties" of 
 the companions, and the "Resolutions" of the learned 
 doctors "of the Sacred Faculty of Theology at Paris," I 
 extract the following: — "What more enormous sacrilege 
 than to counterfeit the ceremonies of baptism, than to 
 abuse the sacred w^ords." 
 
 The document under contribution (1651) is a lengthy 
 one, and, in parting from it, I shall only remark that the 
 last count of the indictment may possibly have referred 
 to the use of scriptural names, as passwords, by the com- 
 panions. 
 
 It nowhere appears when the masters, as a class, 
 ceased to be members of the companionage. They 
 belonged to it in 1651, and their retirement probably 
 took place soon after the practices of the companions 
 were forbidden, under pain of excommunication, by the 
 Archbishop of Toulouse in that year. 
 
 The existence of at least two great divisions of the 
 association — those of Solomon and Jacques — is carried 
 back by lapidary evidence to 1640; and that there was 
 also a third, at the same (and a far earlier) date, may be 
 inferred, not alone from the legend of the "First Three 
 Companions," wliich figures in the revelatons of 1651, 
 but also on other grounds. 
 
 For example, we sliould do well to bear in mind the 
 use of obsolete and long-forgotten words by the com- 
 panions, such as Gavots, Gavolagcs, Gabords, Bons- 
 Drilles, Topagc, Tope, Giiilhrette, all of which indicate 
 a far-stretching and unknown history. 
 
 The precise extent to which the legends of the com- 
 panionage, as existing in 1840, received a coloring from 
 
86 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the Freemasonry of an antecedent period, cannot, of 
 course, be even approximately determined. 
 
 But the question must be examined as a whole. And 
 conceding to the fullest the conclusions that may be 
 drawn with regard to the combined influence of Free- 
 masonry and other causes upon the companionage of 
 1840, let us go back for a couple of centuries and care- 
 full)- scrutinize the evidence which has already been 
 presented under that date. 
 
 A companion tailor, at his admission, was taught the 
 History of the First Three Companions, relating, there 
 cannot be a doubt, to the lives or actions of some three 
 supposed originals or founders. If these were not 
 Solomon, Jacques, and Soubise, there must have been 
 three previous leaders or head-men, who acted as their 
 precursors, and have since dropped out of the story — a 
 supposition wholly unworthy of serious refutation. 
 
 It would be a less exercise of faith, and not improbably 
 a truer guess, were we to assume that as "all legends 
 require a home", or to put it in another way, as they 
 constantly become more or less localized by modification 
 of time and place, so the First Three Companions may 
 have outlived fin a legendary sense), not only their 
 original history, but also many subsequent versions of it. 
 
 Thus, instead of hcw names being fitted to old legends 
 the balance of probability would seem to' incline in the 
 contrary direction — although the evolutionary process, 
 the variations of allegory and myth by which the various 
 fables have been successively overlaid, can only at 
 present be looked for (if at all) in the dim region of 
 conjecture. 
 
 It has been noticed that the re\'elations of the seven- 
 teenth century were confined to the followers of Maitre 
 Jacques. Also, that no disclosure of their secrets was 
 made by the stonemasons {Compagnons Passant, or 
 Lonps-Garoiis) of that family. From the revelations, 
 however, of the saddlers, tailors, cutlers and hatters it 
 
MfJliERN T^KK 
 
88 History of Freemasonry 
 
 is evident that the form of reception was not of a uniform 
 character, and the infsrence will be permiesible, that a 
 further diversity would be apparent, if the practice of 
 the stonemasons (du Devoir) on such occasions had been 
 similarly laid bare. 
 
 So with the mysteries peculiar to the followers — at 
 that time — of Solomon and Soubise, and from the stone- 
 masons of Jacques to those of Solomon (Compagnons 
 Etrangers or Loiips), will be my next step. The latter 
 (Compagnons de Liberie) are recognized by the other 
 divisions as being certainly the oldest branch, if not the 
 parent stem, of the companionage. This traditional 
 acceptance of their priority of origin will carry great 
 weight, and the more so when found to agree, as it does, 
 with the dictates of common sense, that a society able 
 to take Solomon as a founder, must rank first. That 
 no legend of Solomon, corresponding in length with 
 that of Maitre Jacques, has been preserved, or rather 
 revealed, is to be regretted. But we may assume with 
 confidence that in the " History of the First Three Com- 
 panions" (1648-55), the leading figure of all must have 
 been the chief founder of the companionage. How 
 long before the year 1840 the legend of Hiram (or Adon- 
 hiram) had obtained currency among the stonemasons of 
 the division (Compagnons de Liberie) must remain 
 matter for speculation. Not, indeed, that I wish to blot 
 out the words of Perdiguier (Livre dti C, ii., 80), who 
 observes; — "As to this history of Hiram's, I look upon 
 it in the light of a Masonic invention, introduced into 
 the companionage by persons initiated into both of these 
 secret societies." But however this may be, and it 
 should be borne in mind that Perdiguier was neither 
 a Freemason nor a stonemason of Solomon, the fact 
 confronts us that the legend he refers to was current 
 among the Compagnons de Liberie in 1839-41; and as it 
 is improbable, not to sa}" impossible, that this corps was 
 wholly without a legend at tlie beginning of the present 
 

 H 
 
 
 IK 
 
 X 
 
90 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 century, I find a difficulty in believing that it was sud- 
 denly discarded — to make room for the Hiramic m}i;h — 
 at the instance of some companions who also happened 
 to be Freemasons. 
 
 Perdiguier, indeed, elsewhere (i.,6i) informs us, "that 
 the joiners of Maitre Jacques wear white gloves, because, 
 as they say, they did not steep their hands in the blood of 
 Hiram." Also, apropos of chicn, a title bestowed on all 
 the Companions du Devoir, he says, "it is believed by 
 some to be derived from the fact that it was a dog which 
 discovered the place where the body of Hiram, architect 
 of the Temple, lay under the rubbish, after which all 
 the companions who separated from the murderers of 
 Hiram were called chiens or dogs." 
 
 If we read with the above, from the same writer 
 (i., 45), "That the name etrangcrs came from the fact 
 that almost all the stonemasons employed at the Temple 
 were not of Judea, but of Tyre and the neighboring 
 countries, and that the society consisted of these alone 
 in ancient times," then we find in the legend of the 
 murder of Hiram, the blame resting, according to the 
 followers of Jacques and Soubise, with the Enjants 
 dc Salomon ; the actual crime, moreover, being laid at the 
 door of the particular section who were strangers, and 
 had come from the country where Solomon obtained 
 the services of Hiram, who lost his life, therefore, at the 
 hands of his own countrymen. Thus the filiation of the 
 legend is traced from the most ancient segment of the 
 companionage, the stonemasons of Solomon, otherwise 
 called Companions Etrangcrs, or de Liberie and Loups. 
 
 It is probable in the main, that when the companion - 
 age was condemned by the Church, greater prominence 
 or possibly an entirely new rSle, was given to Maitre 
 Jacques in the legendary history, with the object of 
 silencing the imputation of blasphemy, to which some 
 of the companions had rendered themselves liable. 
 
The Companionate. gr 
 
 Soubise has been described as a Benedictine monk, but 
 the name is evidently French, having been borne by a 
 well-known and noble family. There was a Charles de 
 Rohan, Prince of Soubise, whose brother, the Cardinal 
 of that name, really was a Pere Soubise. 
 
 A collection of the various legends existing in the 
 different devoirs is still among the desiderata of Masonic 
 literature. Several of them are traceable only in very 
 scattered references, and it is a task of much nicety to 
 hit upon even a plausible conjecture with respect to their 
 complete forms. 
 
 The texts of the Maitre Jacques and Orleans legends 
 would seem to be of undeniably late origin. Portions 
 of the story in either case may be (and apparently are) 
 old, but the legends themselves have come down to us in 
 new vehicles of transmission. 
 
 Of the Hiramic legend there is no text whatever, merely 
 ■'scattered references," and whether, in 1839-41, it was 
 of ancient or comparatively modern date, is a point on 
 which opinion may possibly be divided. 
 
 But because the evidence is slender and inconclusive, 
 it by no means follows that it ought to be suppressed. 
 The literature of the companionage that has sprung into 
 existence since 1839 seems to me remarkable in itself, 
 and when taken with the illusions to the society 0/ much 
 older date, a problem is presented — its possible derivation 
 from the same sources of origin as our own Freemasonry, 
 which, though doomed to slumber in the present, will 
 yet (I both hope and believe) be partly, if not wholly, 
 solved in the future. 
 
 The expression of my own views with regard to the 
 subject in hand terminates at this point, and with the 
 following speculations, which I have gathered from many 
 sources, the present section will be brought to a close. 
 
 The Mysteries of Egypt and Greece — in a form more or 
 less resembling their originals — were practised by the 
 Romans in Gaul; Roman institutions survived in Gaul 
 
92 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 after the departure of the Romans; Roman corporations 
 and colleges gradually developed into French corps d'etat, 
 trade guilds, etc., these last were the parents of the com- 
 panionage. The debased (or corrupted) Mysteries con- 
 tinued to exist in Gaul long after the departure of the 
 Romans and the introduction of Christianity; our knowl- 
 edge of these, or of the ceremonies of the companions, 
 is not extensive, but it is sufficient to prove that between 
 them there are points of resemblance. 
 
 THE ROSICRUCIANS. 
 
 "The true origin of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, ' says 
 Mr. Waite, "has been food for incessant conjecture. Ro- 
 mance, which accredited its adepts with all the super- 
 human attributes, which have ever been imagined by al- 
 chemist, kabbalist, and retailer of magical traditions, has 
 been at work on this problem, and has variously inter- 
 preted the mystery. Persons of excessive credulity, and 
 addicted to the largest views, have represented it as an 
 order of preternatural antiquity, and its principles as the 
 origin of every theological system. They are seen in the 
 solar-mjlhologies and in phallic worship; their symbolism 
 has permeated East and West alike; it is in Hindustan 
 to-da}' as it was in Egj^pt, Greece, and Scandinavia at 
 various epochs of the past." (The Occult Sciences, 207). 
 The same writer tells us fin a subsequent work) that 
 "the Rosicrucian theorists may be broadly divided into 
 tliree bands : I. Those who believe that the history of 
 Christian Rosenkreuz is true in fact, and that the society 
 originated in the manner recounted in the 'Fama Frater- 
 nitatis'; IF Those who regard both the society and its 
 founder as purely mythical, and consider with Leibnitz 
 'que tout ce que Von a d-it des Freres dc la Croir de la Rose, 
 est une pure invention de quelqiie personne ingeniense' ; 
 III. Those who, without accepting the historical truth of 
 the story of Rosenkreut/, believe in the existence cf the 
 Ro'^icrucians as a secret society, which drew attention to 
 
llic Rosicrua'aiis. 
 
 9^ 
 
 the fact of its existence by a singular and attractive 
 fiction. ' ' (Real History of the Rosicrucians, 217.) 
 
 It has been laid down by Vaughan (whom I quote, 
 though unable to entirely agree with him) that "Mysti- 
 cism has no genealogy. The same round of notions, 
 occurring to minds of similar make, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, is common to mystics in ancient India 
 and in modern Christendom." (Hours with the Mystics, 
 i., 60.) Nevertheless, in the opinion of some very 
 learned men, the later Rosicrucians, or Fraternity of 
 the Ros}- Cross, inherited a secret philosophy, perpetu- 
 ated from primeval times. 
 
 The history, real or assumed, of this " Fraternity' ' will 
 presently be related, but I shall premise that a view 
 is widely held that the mystical knowledge or symbolism 
 of the Masonic craft was introduced into the Lodges by 
 the Hermetical philosophers or Rosicrucian adepts, 
 whose studies appear to have embraced the same objects, 
 and between whom the only difference seems to have 
 been one of title ; the former appellation being the earlier 
 of the two, but the latter (owing to the alleged existence 
 of a Society or Fraternity of Rosicrucians, with which, 
 however, the other Rosicrucians must not be confounded ) 
 ultimately becoming the more common term by which 
 those votaries of the "Chymical Art," or "Sons of the 
 Fire," were alluded to. 
 
 To the tenets which are ascribed on more or less 
 authority to the Cabalists, the Hermetical (or Occult) 
 Philosophers, and the Rosicrucians, I shall allude on a 
 later page; but it may be at once conceded that if either 
 the mediaeval or the later Freemasons were indoctrinated 
 with the peculiar wisdom of any separate sect, society, 
 or set of men, it must have been to one or more of the 
 classes of mystics to which I have just referred. 
 
 The existence, or rather the establishment, at Sleswig, 
 in Denmark, of a fraternity of the Rosicrucians, in the 
 year 1484, has been certified on what purports to be good 
 
94 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 authority (Fortuyn, De Guildarum Historia, 54). If 
 the date be authentic, it is very old, and without doubt 
 the most ancient proof yet produced of the venerable 
 lineage of this singular brotherhood. But though the 
 writer refers to Terpager's Ripae Cimbricae, p. 438, I 
 have been unable, after an examination of that work 
 to trace the authority indicated in his foot-note. While 
 therefore, giving the statement for what it is worth, 
 I shall at the same time record the opinion of Mr. Waite — 
 who, of all living English students, is most entitled to 
 our confidence on the question in hand — that, "so far 
 as history is concerned, the name Rosicrucian was un- 
 known previously to the year 1598." 
 
 After that date, however, we find the nam^es "Rosi- 
 crucian" and " Rosicrucianism" used some times in a 
 general sense, and at others as restricted to the members 
 of a particular fraternity. The question then arises: 
 "Can a correspondence be established between the mean- 
 ing of the Rose and Cross, as they are used by the ancient 
 hierogrammatists, and that of the Rose-Cross, as it is 
 used by the Rosicrucian Fraternity i^ This is the point 
 to be ascertained. If a connection there be, then in 
 some way, we may not know what, the secret has been 
 handed down from generation to generation, and the 
 mysterious brotherhood which manifested its existence 
 spontaneously at the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century, is affiliated with the hierophants of Eg3^pt and 
 India, who, almost in the night of time, devised their 
 allegories and emblems for the blind veneration of the 
 vulgar, and as lights to those who knew.' ' {Real History 
 of the Rosicrncians, 22.) 
 
 I have elsewhere sought to show that all ancient 
 learning. Oriental, Jewish, Pythagorean, Platonic, Aris- 
 totelian, combined with that of Egypt, was strangely 
 compounded into one, which gave birth to the Cabala 
 and the Arabian philosophy. {History of Freemasonry, 
 ii., 60-71.) For conciseness, however, I must in the 
 
The Rosicrucians. 95 
 
 present work state my own belief more summarily. 
 
 The name of cabalists, originally applied to the Jewish 
 doctors who stood up for the authority of tradition, has 
 been extended to all the Asiatic and European the- 
 osophists who have at different times maintained the 
 same doctrines and pursued the same system of what are 
 called the Occult Sciences. 
 
 Of that great branch of cabalistic lore, properly and 
 exclusively called alchemy, the best proof that it was in 
 vogue from time immemorial among the Jews, is found 
 in the fact that the most ancient Oriental and classical 
 writers, who have expressly noticed the science, say that 
 Syria and Chaldea were its original cradles, and that in 
 ages of the remotest antiquity it spread among the sur- 
 rounding nations. 
 
 The Jewish and Syrian theosophists, among whom we 
 find the first dawnings of alchemy or alchemical initia- 
 tions (as practised among the Essenes) were all fire 
 philosophers, properly so called. They considered fire 
 as the first great physical emblem of the Deity, the first 
 great element in universal nature, and the first great 
 agent in universal motion. In fact, they regarded it as 
 "soul of the world," and, like the Sabians, Persians, 
 Indians, Arabians, and Phcenicians, they paid the element 
 of fire the most unbounded reverence. 
 
 The Jewish cabalists declare that the fire of which 
 they write, the hermetic or philosophual fire, which they 
 so continually and universally extol, is the invisible 
 thaumaturgist and wonder worker of all the complicated 
 metamorphoses of the physical universe. This philo- 
 sophical fire, so universaUy present, and yet so undis- 
 cernible, so latent in all bodies, and so difficult to evoke, 
 was a kind of Proteus, or first cause, among the ancient 
 theosophists, which all were desirous of grasping, but 
 none were capable of retaining. 
 
 The conjecture has been advanced that under the 
 name of fire, the most ancient philosophers of Asia and 
 
96 
 
 Histor\ of Freemasonry. 
 
 Europe described the element of electricity, and it is 
 further contended that this fire was expressly called 
 " electricitv,' ' in the most venerable schools of initiation, 
 for centuries before the Christian era. 
 
 These assertions will appear paradoxical to those who 
 imagine the name and nature of electricity to be mere 
 modern discoveries. But authorities are extensively 
 
 TRACING BOARD OF A PHILOSOPHICAI. DEGKHi;. 
 
 cited in support of the position that electricity was as 
 well known to the ancients as to ourselves. ' "What, 
 indeed," asks the framer of the hypothesis, "can this 
 strange jargon of the ancient alchemists mean, if it does 
 not mean electricity^ Surely, this is the only element 
 which at all answers to these descriptions." It may be 
 
COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. 
 
The Rosicrucians. 97 
 
 taken, therefore, he considers, as an acknowledged prob- 
 ability, that electricity was the hermetic fire of the 
 alchemists from time immemorial, whereby they at- 
 tempted to effect the transmutation of metals, and 
 to produce the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone. 
 
 Let us recollect, moreover, that Plato cites the records 
 of the Mysteries, to witness that there are many more 
 Thyrsus bearers than Bacchic souls; which is to say, 
 that many had the fire indeed, and were able even to 
 perceive it, who were without the power to discover 
 and draw it forth to manifestation. And, in the Thyrsus, 
 Prometheus is fabled to have concealed the fire he stole 
 from heaven. 
 
 If we may rely on the writings of the most eminent 
 authorities among the Alchemistical Philosophers, it was 
 not until about the eignth century of the Christian era 
 that the theosophists (under a variety of names) came in 
 great multitudes from the East, and, filling Europe with 
 her best philosophy, science, and architecture, took upon 
 themselves to institute a separate class of initiations for 
 the express cultivation of hermetic and alchemical 
 researches. 
 
 This great revival of alchemy, as a separate and inde- 
 pendent science, was in great measure owing to the 
 writings of the cabalistic Jews, and of Geber, an Arabian 
 philosopher in the eighth century. This worthy was 
 regarded as an oracle by the chemists of the Middle Ages, 
 and is said to have written five hundred treatises on his 
 art. From his peculiar and mysterious style of writing 
 we derive the word "Gibberish," which, however, has 
 led to the remark, "that our modern illuminati are not in 
 possession of even a solitary ray of the antique intellect 
 they deride ; that the words of old GebBR, though closely 
 sealed, are calculated, nevertheless, to awaken rational 
 curiosity, and lend a helping hand to those who have 
 already entered on the right road; but to deceive in 
 practice only the most credulous and inept." 
 7 
 
98 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Arabian doctors then brought the reputed works 
 of Hermes Trismegistus, or the Thrice Great, into 
 extensive circulation. 
 
 Early in the eighth century — a. d. 712 — Roderick, 
 "the last of the Goths", was routed and slain at Xeres, 
 and Spain passed under the dominion of the Moors. 
 Universities were founded in the more important cities 
 of the Peninsula, libraries were collected, and pupils 
 repaired from many parts of Europe to the famous 
 schools of Cordova and Toledo. It is not a little re- 
 markable that what is justly known as the " Dark Ages' ' 
 in the rest of Europe was a period of intellectual light 
 and splendor in Arabian Spain. Thus it was that lovers 
 of learning like GerberT (afterwards Pope Sylvester 11.) 
 stole away into Spain, and purchased at the risk of all 
 kinds of imputations, the key of knowledge from the 
 Infidel Moor. 
 
 After Coi'dova (1236) and Seville (1247) were regained 
 by the Christians, Andalusia became the last place of re- 
 fuge for the Mahometan population, and Granada attained 
 the zenith of its fame as the point of concentration for 
 Moorish power and colonization in Spain. It exercised 
 considerable influence on Western Europe, and was 
 distinguished — until ceasing to be an independent king- 
 dom in 1 492 — as the seat of a brilliant court and a school 
 of arts and sciences. 
 
 If, indeed, the legends of the Freemasons are of the 
 late mediaeval origin to which they have been ascribed, 
 it may, with some show of reason, be contended that we 
 are indebted for at least one of them to the Moors 
 (Saracens or Arabians) of Granada. 
 
 About twenty years ago, an Arabic MS. came under 
 the notice of Professor Marks, one of our most profound 
 Hebrew scholars. This work referred to a sign or pass- 
 word known to the Masonic brotherhood, each letter 
 being the initial of a separate word, which would make 
 up the sentence: — "We have found our Lord Hiram." 
 
The Rosicrucians - - ^^ 
 
 The title of the MS., Dr. Marks says, has passed out of 
 his memory, but he believes it was an introduction or 
 preface to the Sunnah, and the date he assigns to it is 
 that of the fourteenth century. The book was found bA" 
 him (to the best of his recollection) in the Bodleian 
 Library, and he adds, "I made out its meaning readily, 
 inasmuch as the passage referred to Masonry, which, 
 by-the-by, it traced up to the Patriarchs, if not to Adam 
 himself. ' ' 
 
 In the tenth century — which gave birth to Avicbnna, 
 the prince of Arabian philosophers, who (among others) 
 "sought the Philosophic Stone" — the Hermetic art was 
 greatly fostered in Spain by the Moors, and soon spread 
 over Europe. 
 
 Many other great lights shone through the darkness 
 of the Middle Ages. Among them may be named: — 
 Albertus Magnus, who, according to Michael Maier 
 (to be hereafter cited as an apologist for the Rosicrucians, ) 
 received from the disciples of St. Dominic the secret of 
 the Philosophic Stone, which he communicated in turn 
 to his favorite pupil, St. Thomas Aquinas, from one of 
 whose treatises it is quite clear that the angelic doctor 
 firmly believed that gold could be made by alchemy: 
 
 Roger Bacon, an undoubted beHever in judicial 
 astrology, and in the Philosophic Stone, with whom 
 the application of alchemy to the extension of life was 
 another subject of study: 
 
 Raymond Lully, now chiefly remembered as the 
 inventor of a scheme by which all ideas were made 
 capable of formal arrangement, and reasoning could be 
 carried on by a mechanical process ; but who was also a 
 learned chemist and a skillful dialectician: 
 
 Basil Valentine, in whose writings we meet with 
 suggestive, if impenetrable allegories, and curious cab- 
 alistic emblems, which impart the obvious truth that 
 the symbols of antiquity were not used to reveal, but to 
 conceal: 
 
lOO History of Freemasonry 
 
 Picus DE MiRAXDOLA, a prodigv of learning, who, in 
 his treatise De Auro, states that he had been convinced, 
 by the evidence of his own eyes, that the art of trans- 
 mutation was no fiction, and that one of his friends had 
 made gold and silver over sixt}^ times in his presence: 
 and 
 
 Henry Cornelius Agrippa, celebrated as a writer 
 and physician, and also as one of the greatest of the 
 occult philosophers. In the vear 1510 he came to 
 London, and, as appears from his correspondence 
 (Opuscula, ii. — 1073), founded a secret society for al- 
 chemical purposes, similar to one which he had pre- 
 viously instituted at Paris. The members of these 
 societies are said to have agreed upon private signs of 
 recognition, and to have founded in various parts of 
 Europe corresponding associations for the prosecution 
 of the occult sciences. 
 
 The list of remarkable men who have distinguished 
 themselves as exponents of the hermetic philosophy 
 might be greatly extended, but the present series will be 
 brought to a close with the name of Paracelsus (1493- 
 1541), who, "of all orthodox alchemists, magicians, 
 and professors of hidden knowledge, is a grand hiero- 
 phant second only to the traditional Hermes Tris. 
 MEGISTUS. ' ' 
 
 Towards the close of the sixteenth century, cabalism, 
 theosophy and alchemy had spread over the whole of 
 Western Europe, and more especially Germany. This 
 result had been brought about mainly by the writings of 
 Paracelsus (whose works had secured him a vast popu- 
 lar audience), and among the things that excited deep 
 interest was a prophecy of his to the effect that soon 
 after the death of the Emperor Rudolph IL — who was 
 himself deeply infected with the prevailing mania — there 
 would be found three treasures which had never been 
 revealed before. Accordingly, shortly after his decease, 
 
The Rosicrucians. 
 
 lOI 
 
 about 1612 — 14, occasion was taken to publish three 
 whimsical pieces or bagatelles. 
 
 The first was the Universal Reformation of the Whole 
 Wide World, a tale not altogether devoid of humor, 
 which appears to have been borrowed, if indeed not 
 translated verbatim, from the Italian of Boccalini. The 
 second was the Fania Fraternitatis; or, a Discovery of 
 the Fraternity of the Most Meritorious Order of the Rosy 
 
 ROSY CROSS OR ROSE CROIX EMBLEMS. 
 
 Cross; and the third, its supplement, the Confess 10; or, 
 the Confession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, addressed to 
 the Learned in Europe. 
 
 Whatever success the first of these jeux d'esprits may 
 have had in its day, has long been forgotten, and it is 
 now only interesting as having been a precursor of the far 
 more celebrated Fa )»o, from which I abridge the following ; 
 
J02 History of Freemasonry 
 
 In the fourteenth century, Christian Rosenkreuz, a 
 German noble, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 
 From Damascus he proceeded to Damcar, where he was 
 welcomed by the Wise Men, who instructed him in the 
 occult sciences. After three years he departed for 
 Eg3T3t, and thence proceeded to Fez, where he tarried 
 two years, and under the tuition of new masters, became 
 familiar with the secrets of the Invisible World. His 
 reception in Spain, whither he next repaired, was not a 
 favorable one, and the same neglect awaited him in 
 other countries. Returning to Germany, he pondered 
 over many things, particularly his knowledge of the 
 great art of transmutation, and of the method of pro- 
 longing life. These and other marvels he considered 
 ought not to be lost, and at the expiration of five years 
 he sent to the cloister where he was brought up, for three 
 brethren, with whose aid was begun the Fraternity of 
 the Rosie Cross. 
 
 The four members invented a magical language and 
 writing, a large dictionary replete with sublime wisdom, 
 and also the first part of the Book M. But their labors 
 increasing, together with the number of their sick, and 
 a new building, the House of the Holy Spirit, being 
 finished, the society was enlarged, making the total 
 number eight, all of vowed virginity; and by their joint 
 efforts was collected a book (or volume) of all that which 
 man can desire, wish, or hope for. It was then agreed 
 to separate, but six rules were first of all enacted — that 
 the members should cure the sick, practise gratuitously, 
 and follow no other calling; that they should wear no 
 distinctive dress; that they should meet annually at the 
 House of the Fraternity, or explain the cause of absence; 
 that each brother should select some worthy person to be 
 his successor; that the letters R. C. were to be their seal, 
 mark, and character; and that the fraternity should 
 remain secret for one hundred years. 
 
The Rosicrucians kj^ 
 
 Only five, however, went away at once, two always 
 remaining with Father Christian Rosenkreuz, who, 
 after many years, having finished his labors, gave up 
 his initiated spirit to God; not that his strength failed 
 him, but because he was tired of life. The place of his 
 interment remained unknown for the space of one hun- 
 dred and twenty years, but a great and profitable 
 discovery was made by the adepts of the third genera- 
 tion. This was a secret door, upon v/hich was written 
 in great letters — 
 
 "Post Cxx annos parebo." 
 
 {After one hundred and twenty years I shall appear.) 
 The door guarded the entrance to a heptagonal vault 
 (constructed somewhat after the fashion of the Mithraic 
 Cave), lighted by an artifical sun, and in various re- 
 positories were found the secrets of the fraternity, to- 
 gether with many curious inscriptions and magical 
 instruments. On removing the altar and a brass plate 
 beneath it, there came to view the body of the founder 
 in a perfect state of preservation. 
 
 The Fama Fraternitatis concluded by inviting the 
 scholars of Europe to test the pretensions, and join 
 ihe ranks of a fraternity, that was in possession of a 
 thousand secrets, of which the art of gold-making was 
 the least. 
 
 This pamphlet caused a great excitement, which was 
 heightened, after the lapse of a twelvemonth, by the 
 publication of the Confessio, which again appealed to 
 the learned in Europe, offering them the privilege of 
 initiation, and gradual instruction in the weighty secrets 
 of the Society. 
 
 A fourth treatise, The Chymical Marriage of Christ- 
 ian Rosenkreuz, must be briefly referred to. It was first 
 published in 1616, but is alleged (on very slender au- 
 thority) to have existed in manuscript as early as 1601. 
 The author was Johann Valentine Andrea, a learned 
 theologian, in whose undoubtedl}- authentic writings 
 
]04 
 
 History of Freemasonry 
 
 and in the Rosicrucian Manifestoes of 1614-15, there is, 
 says Arnold, in his History of the Church, such an identity 
 of hterary style as to make it quite clear that the Fama 
 Fraternitatis, the Confessio, and the Chymical Marriage 
 must have been the offspring of a single mind. 
 
 Grave doubt, however, has recently been cast upon 
 the Andrean theory by Air. ^A'aite; but, as he rightly 
 says, the chief point, i.e., the argument from the identity 
 of literary style, can only be adequately treated by a 
 C7erman. The votaries of Rosicrucian literature, there- 
 fore, will be glad to know that the series will shortlv be 
 enriched by a ^"olume from the pen of Dr. Begemann, in 
 
 which he hopes to show to the satisfaction of his readers, 
 that no other than Joh,\xx \'.\lentine Andrea could 
 possibly have been the author of the Fama and 'Coh- 
 fessio. The armorial bearings of Andrea's family^were 
 a St. Andrew's Cross and four Roses, and this has^ also 
 lent color to the theory which associates the issue of the 
 Rosicrucian Manifestoes of 161 4 and 161 5 with his name. 
 But the interpretation of the Rose Cross Symbol is as 
 difficult of solution as that of the actual historvof the 
 "Brethren" who bore it as their badge. 
 
The Rosicrucians lo^ 
 
 According to some authorities, the name is composed 
 of ros, dew, and crux, a cross; crux is supposed mystically 
 to represent Lvx, or light, because the figure of a cross 
 exhibits the three letters of that word; and light, in the 
 opinion of the Rosicrucians, produces gold; whilst dew, 
 ros, with the (modern) alchemists, was a powerful solvent. 
 Others have considered the rose as an emblem of secrecy 
 — hence Jit6 rosd — and the cross as signifying the solemn- 
 ity of the oath by which the vow of secrecy was ratifitd. 
 A purely religious explanation of the symbol is given by 
 Robert Fludd, who asserts it to mean "the cross 
 sprinkled with the rosy blood of Christ." 
 
 The whole subject of the Rosicrucian etymology is, 
 indeed, involved in confusion, yet we shall hardly err if 
 we accept at least the words rosa and crux as explanatory 
 of the name of Rosicrucian, and the term Fratres R. C. 
 as meaning Brethren of the Rosy Cross. 
 
 A curious sect with which the Rosicrucians has been 
 compared, was the Miliha Crucifera Evangelica, which 
 was founded by Simon Studion, a singular mystic and 
 alchemist, at Nuremberg, in 1598. Both associations 
 adopted as their characteristic symbols the mystic Rose 
 and Cross, and fin the opinion of Mr. Waite) the Rosi- 
 crucian Fraternity was a transfiguration or develop- 
 ment of the obscure sect established in 1598. 
 
 Other secret societies of theosophical mystics un- 
 doubtedly existed at a much earlier date, though to none 
 of them, at least so far as I am aware, can be distinctly 
 traced the symbolism of the Rose and Cross. There 
 was an association of physicians and alchemists in the 
 fourteenth century, wliose object it was to attain the 
 discovery of the I-*hilosophic Stone. This, according 
 to Benedictus Figulus, was merged in the Rosicrucian 
 Order about the year 1607; and at the end of the six- 
 teenth century, a certain secret society was asserted, 
 on evidence which would seem to have been deemed 
 
io6 History of Freemasonry 
 
 satisfactory by the same careful writer, to have existed 
 for upwards of two thousand years. 
 
 There was also a small fraternity, called the Friends 
 of God, which was founded by one Nicolas, of Basle, 
 who is referred to by the famous Dominican, Johann 
 TaulER (1294 — 1 361), as the "Master" by whom he was 
 instructed in mystic religion. 
 
 The followers of Nicolas had a common house, where 
 the Master spent the closing period of his life, and after 
 his death they continued to reside there, in a similar 
 silence, paucity of numbers, and retirement, as 
 the disciples of Father Rosenkreuz. Messengers 
 from Nicolas were perpetually travelling about (dur- 
 ing his lifetime,) and brought him letters from the 
 Friends of God, so that he kept up a constant commun- 
 ication, not only with those in the neighboring regions, 
 but also with the "Brethren' ' on the Rhine, in Lorraine, in 
 Italy, and in Hungary. These messengers had certain 
 secret signs by which they recognized each other. 
 
 It has been suggested that the story of the "Master'' 
 was adapted for the Fama, which may have been the 
 case; but the point on which I am most desirous of 
 dwelling, is the possession of secret methods of recog- 
 nition by the followers of Master Nicolas, who, in 
 this respect, like the initiated disciples of Cornelius 
 Agrippa, were, so far as direct (or positive) evidence is 
 forthcoming, far in advance of the Freemasons. 
 
 That "signs and tokens" were used by the mediaeval 
 builders, ma}-, I think, be reasonably deduced as the 
 result of legitimate inference or conjectiure, but they are 
 nowhere referred to in any print or manuscript of earlier 
 date than the Rosicrucian manifestoes of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 Returning to the Fama and Confessio, whether the 
 fraternity which is mentioned in these two works ever 
 had any real tangible existence as an organized society, 
 is a question that will again claim our attention ; but there 
 
The Rosicrucians J07 
 
 is no doubt that the ideas advanced by the author of the 
 Fama, under the cloak of his still famous apologue, took 
 firm root, and gave rise to the philosophic sect of the 
 Rosicrucians, many of whom were to be found, during 
 the seventeenth century, in Germany, France and 
 Britain. Among their number were such men as Michael 
 Maier, Robert Fludd and Euas Ashmole. 
 
 The sensation produced in Germany by the appear- 
 ance of the two books was immense. Letters poured 
 in on all sides from persons offering themselves as men.- 
 bers, and many of them having been addressed to 
 the University of Gottingen, there, in the library of that 
 institution, they still remain. 
 
 One of the leading supporters of the invisible fra- 
 ternity was Michael Maier (i 568-1 622), the most 
 voluminous alchemical writer of his period, whose 
 Silentium post Clamor es (161 7) declares that what is 
 contained in the Fama and Conjessio is true, and defends 
 the absence of any replies (on behalf of the Mystical 
 Society) to the letters and pamphlets of persons seeking 
 for initiation. His most curious work of all is Atalanta 
 Fugiens, and from this it may be deduced that the 
 Rosicrucians had a large number of symbols, some 
 of which they used in common with the Freemasons, 
 while others were peculiar to themselves. The principal 
 of these were the globe, the circle, the compasses, the 
 square, the triangle, the level and the plummet. Maier 
 is supposed by certain writers to have established a 
 brotherhood of his own, but, according to Mr. Waite, 
 there is better ground for believing that he was initiated, 
 towards the close of liis life, into the genuine fraternity. 
 'i We learn, on the same authority, that on the death 
 of Michael Maier (1622) tlie Rosicrucians disappear 
 from the literary horizon of Germany until 1710; but 
 so early as the year 161 8, Henricus Neuhusius testi- 
 fied in a Latin pamphlet fwhich is but little known) 
 that the "high Rosicrucian adepts" migrated to India; 
 
io8 
 
 History of Freemasonry 
 
 and it is believed by certain persons at the present day 
 that they inhabit the table-lands of Thibet {Occult 
 Sciences, 210). Their supposed Oriental pilgrimage — if 
 we accept the testimony that will presently be adduced 
 — mav be traced as far eastward as the Island of Mauritius. 
 The Rosicrucian Manifestoes, however, found an 
 immediate defender in an English physician, Robert 
 Fludd (1574-1637), whose first published work appeared 
 in 1616, about which time he was visited bv Michaei, 
 
 ROSE CRUIX AND MASONIC SYMBOLS. 
 
 Maier. Besides his own name, he wrote under the 
 pseudonyms of " RoBERTus DE Fluctibus," " Ai.i- 
 TOPHiLUS," and "Joachim Frizius." 
 
 Of this remarkable man, Mr. Waite observes, "The 
 central figure of Rosicrucian literature, is Robertus de 
 Fluctibus, the great English philosopher of the seven- 
 teenth century; a man of immense erudition, of exalted 
 mind and, to judge by his writings, of extreme personal 
 sanctity. ' ' Fludd 's works were extensivelv read throu<^h- 
 
The Rosicnicians 109 
 
 out Europe, and one of the profoundesl scholars of our 
 own country, (England), the illustrious Selden, highly 
 appreciated the volumes and their author. 
 
 A Manifesto, of which there are at least four different 
 versions, was affixed to the walls of Paris in 1623. It 
 professed to emanate from the deputies of the Brethren 
 of the Rosy Cross, who, sojourning, visible and invisible, 
 in that city, taught every science. 
 
 An equally mysterious announcement was made in 
 London in 1626, in the form of an offer from the Am- 
 bassador of the "President of the Society of the Rosv 
 Cross," that, if Charles I. would follow his advice, the 
 royal coffers should be enriclied to the extent of three 
 millions sterling, and the King himself instructed how 
 to suppress the Pope, to advance his own religion over 
 all Christendom, and to convert the Jews and Turks 
 to the Christian faith. 
 
 A little later (1638), Henry Adamson, a Master of Arts, 
 and a citizen of Perth, published his Muses Threnodie, 
 a well-known metrical account of the "Fair City" 
 and its neighborhood. In the third muse he gaily sings : — 
 
 For we are Brethren of the Rosie Cross, 
 We have the Mason word and second sight. 
 
 From which may be inferred, not only that the light of 
 Masonry was burning brightly in Perth at that time, 
 but also that among the "brethren" of the craft there 
 were some at least who claimed to be members of a 
 brotherhood of Rosicrucians. 
 
 Elias Ashmole, "the eminent philosopher, chemist, 
 and antiquary,' ' as he is styled by his fullest biographer, 
 was made a Freemason in 1646. Among his Hermetic 
 works is the Way to Bliss (1658), a treatise in prose on 
 the Philosopher's Stone, and it is a popular theory that 
 he was a connecting link between Freemasonry and the 
 votaries of Alchemy and Astrology. 
 
 I shall next proceed to the year 1652, at which date 
 was published the first English translation of the 
 
iio History of Freemasonry 
 
 '' Fama" and " Conjessio Fraternitaiis." The transla- 
 tor was Thomas Vaughan, of whom Wood says, in his 
 Athenae Oxoniensis: — "He was a great chymist, a noted 
 son of the fire, an experimental philosopher, and a 
 zealous brother of the Rosie-Crucian fraternity- ' ' 
 
 Vaughan was greatly assisted in the prosecution of his 
 chemical studies by Sir Robert Moray, the first pres- 
 ident of the Royal Society. Of the latter, Wood tells 
 us: — "He was a single man, an abhorrer of women, a 
 most renowned chymist, a great patron of the Rosie- 
 Crucians, and an excellent mathematician. ' ' Sir RorErt 
 Moray was also a Freemason, and the somewhat sin- 
 gular circumstances under which he was initiated will 
 be related in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The author of the Athenae Oxoniensis also informs us 
 that in 1659, PETER Sthael, of Strasburg, "the noted 
 chemist and Rosicrucian, who was a Lutheran and a 
 great hater of women," began a series of lectures at 
 Oxford, and that among his pupils were John Locke, 
 the distinguished philosopher, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) 
 Christopher Wren. 
 
 It will be recollected that the original followers of 
 Christian Rosenkreuz were "all of vowed virginity," 
 and the abhorrence which Sir Robert Moray and 
 Peter Sthael are said to have entertained for the beau 
 sexe must be regarded as an unfortunate result arising 
 out of their studies as alchemistical philosophers. The 
 Rosicrucians were hardly less distinguished than the 
 ancient theosophists for their transcendental spiritualism, 
 and Manes himself might have been charmed to hear 
 their high panegyrics on celibacy and virginity. They, 
 in consequence, stirred up the bitter animosity of the 
 whole female sex against them, and a conjecture has 
 been advanced, which, perhaps, may not be entirely 
 without some foundation in fact, that to the machinations 
 of the women, rather than to any other cause, their over- 
 throw must be imputed. 
 
The Rosicrucians i 1 1 
 
 The slender thread by means of which I am endeavor- 
 ing to trace the history (real or supposed) of the Rosi- 
 crucians, now brings me to 1709, in which year "a set of 
 People who assume the Name of Pretty Fellows, get 
 new Names, have their Signs and Tokens like Freemasons, 
 rail at Womankind," etc., are mentioned in one of Steele's 
 essays in the Tatler. 
 
 The final words of the quotation, would seem to 
 indicate that the class of persons whom the writer had in 
 his mind, must have shared the peculiar sensibility of 
 the Rosicrucians with regard to the gentler sex, and 
 the evidence — such as it is — also points in the direction 
 of there having been at that date "a set of people" 
 distinct from, yet possessing signs and tokens like the 
 Freemasons. 
 
 In 1 7 10, a writer calling himself SiNCERUS Renatus, 
 but whose true name was Sigmund Richter, published 
 "A Perfect and True PreparaUonoj the Philosophical Stone , 
 according to the Secret Methods of the Brotherhoods of the 
 Golden and Rosy Cross." To this were annexed the 
 "Rules of the Rosicrucian Fraternity for the Initiation 
 of New Members," from which I extract the following: — 
 
 "XI. When the brethren meet they shall salute each 
 other in the followng manner, the first shall say, Ave, 
 Prater \ the second shall answer, Rosae ei Aureae. Where- 
 upon the first shall conclude with Crucis. After they 
 have thus discovered their position, they shall say one 
 to another, Benedictus Dominus Deus nosier qui dedit 
 nobis signum, and shall also uncover their seals, because 
 if the name can be falsified the seal cannot." (Real Hist, 
 of the Ros., 276.) 
 
 These rules, in the view of Mr. Waite, are not only 
 equivalent to a proof of the society's existence at the 
 period in question, but they establish the important 
 fact that it still held its meetings at Nuremberg, where 
 the Militia Crucifera Evangelica was originally estab- 
 lished by Simon Studion, in 1598. 
 
112 History of Freemasonry 
 
 It has been nowhere alleged that the Rosicrucians 
 had amiihing to do with the formation of the earliest of 
 Masonic Grand Lodges, in 1717, but an Hermetic in- 
 fluence during the decade commencing in 1720 has been 
 detected by many writers of the craft, which they con- 
 sider to be apparent in the ritual and terminology of 
 Freemasonry after 1730. 
 
 The eA'idence upon which they principally rely is, to 
 begin with, the Preface or " Dedication" to Long Livers, 
 (1722), a translation of a xer^- curious book reviewing 
 the entire subject of the Elixir of Life, the Grand Palin- 
 genisis, the Universal Medicine, and the rare secret of 
 Rejuvenescency, published at Paris in 171 5. The trans- 
 lator was Robert Samber (writing under the pseu- 
 donym of EuGENius PhilalETHES, F.R.S.). Long Livers 
 is dedicated "To the Cxrand Master, Masters, Wardens, 
 and Brethren of the most Ancient and most Honorable 
 Fraternity of the Free-Masons of Great Britain and 
 Ireland." From the introductory pages fby Samber) 
 which abound with mystical and Hermetic jargon, I 
 extract the following: — 
 
 "And now, mv Brethren, vou of the higher Class, 
 permit me a few Words, since you are but few; and 
 these few Words I shall speak to you in Riddles, because 
 to you it is given to know those Mysteries which are 
 hidden from the LTnworthy. 
 
 "Thieves and Robbers who never entred into the 
 Sheepfold by the Door" are also mentioned, and the 
 writer says of them: "Let these be ever excluded the 
 Congregation of the Faithful; let their Names be razed 
 for ever out of the Book M., and be buried in eternal 
 Oblivion." 
 
 It will be recollected that the "Book M," is alluded 
 to in the Fama F rater nitatis, and, in the opinion of the 
 best authorities, the expression is nowhere to be met with 
 before 1722, in any Hermetic or Alchemical work uncon- 
 nected with the Rosicrucians. 
 
CATHEDRAL AT FRANKFORT. 
 
The Rosicrucians 113 
 
 In the Preface to The Secret History of the Freemasons, 
 a printed version of the old Manuscript Constitutions 
 pubhshed in 1724, "the Rosy-Crucians and Adepts" 
 are stated to be " Brothers of the same Fraternity or 
 Order. ' ' 
 
 Four years later (1728), a "Speech" was delivered 
 before a London lodge of Freemasons, by Edward 
 Oakley, in which are to be found copious extracts from 
 the " Dedication" to Long Livers, including the reference 
 to the "Thieves and Robbers," whose names were to be 
 razed for ever "out of the Book M." 
 
 After this, in the Daily Journal, of September 5th, 
 1730, there appeared: — "It must be confessed that there 
 is a Society abroad, from whom the English Free-Masons 
 (asham'd of their true Origin) have copied a few Cere- 
 monies, and take great Pains to persuade the World 
 that they are derived from them and are the same with 
 them. These are called Rosicrucians, from their Prime 
 Officers (such as our Brethren call Grand Master, Ward- 
 ens, etc.) being distinguished on their High Days with 
 Red Crosses. * * * On this Society have our Mod- 
 erns endeavor 'd to ingraft themselves, tho' they know 
 nothing of their most material Constitutions, and are 
 acquainted only with some of their Signs of Probation 
 and Entrance, inasmuch that 'tis but of late years (being 
 better inform'd by some kind Rosicrucian) that they 
 knew John the Evangelist to be their right Patron, hav- 
 ing before kept for his Day that dedicated to John the 
 Baptist." 
 
 "In 1785," says Mr. Waite, "the publication of the 
 Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the Sixteenth and 
 Seventeenth Centuries took place at Altona. showing that 
 the mysterious brotherhood was still active. This was 
 their last Manifesto; it established the true nature of 
 the Rose Cross symbolism, and fitly closed the memorials 
 of the Fraternitv. " 
 
114 ' Historv of Freemasonry 
 
 According to the same authority, however, a very 
 curious and seemingly genuine manuscript has lately been 
 brought to light, which relates how the CompTE dE Chazal, 
 having accomplished the performance called the magnum 
 opus, or great work, proceeded to initiate Dr. Sigismund 
 Bacstrom into the mysteries of the Rose Cross Order, 
 exacting many extraordinary conditions and many solemn 
 promises. This proceeding is said to have taken place 
 at the Island of Mauritius, on September 12th, 1794, and 
 to be the last known act of any member of the Society, 
 real or supposed. {Oce. Sc, 209.) 
 
 The manuscript recites, that the Society of the Rosa 
 Croix, "more than two centuries and a half ago (i. c, in 
 1490), did separate themselves from the Free-Masons, 
 but were again united in one spirit among themselves 
 under the denomination of Fraires Rosae Crucis — Breth- 
 ren of the Rosy Cross. " 
 
 The real History of the Rosicrucians, from which I have 
 taken the above, is "founded on their own Manifestoes, 
 and on facts and documents collected from the writings 
 of initiated Brethren. " Whether, indeed, there ever was 
 a Rosicrucian Society, or Fraternity, at all, is a question 
 which has been largely debated ; but the onl}' way in which 
 we can attempt to solve it, is by a patient examination of 
 the documentary evidence which has been left behind 
 them by persons who claimed, or were reputed to be, 
 either Adepts or Alchemistical Philosophers. 
 
 This has been done by Mr. Waite, who — with regard 
 to the inquiry. Was there ever at any time a genuine Ros- 
 icrucian Society? — is of opinion that there was. 
 
 It seems, indeed, to myself, that whatever the actual 
 origin of the Rosicrucians may have been, or from what 
 source the}'- received their name, the real existence of this 
 alchemical association is not to be disputed. We meet 
 with the fact, that half the learned men in Europe dis- 
 tinctly called themselves Rosicrucians— meeting each 
 other and writing books under that name. If this does 
 
The Rosicrucians ■ i\ ^ 
 
 not prove the reality of an association of men, it is difificult 
 to say wliat would. At the same time, it must be admit- 
 ted that many false reports were circulated respecting- 
 their principles and practices, and perhaps the time has 
 not fully arrived when it is possible to decide wliether tlie 
 members of this mystical brotherhood were the greatest 
 philosophers or the greatest visionaries on earth. 
 
 Thus it is claimed, on the one hand, that in the writings 
 of the alchemists we are constantly being told of regions 
 of achievement, which nothing in the pages of the adepts 
 proves them to have actually explored. Nor are their 
 detractors loath to accuse them of every kind of roguery 
 and imposture. For example, it is related by Fonten- 
 ELLE that Leibnitz, one of the greatest of German 
 thinkers, after graduating as Lly.D., repaired to Nurem- 
 berg, where he heard of a secret set of chemists, or, what 
 was then the same thing, of searchers for the Philosopher's 
 Stone. Desiring to obtain an insight into their pursuits, 
 he procured some books on chemistry, a subject he had 
 never studied, and picking out the phrases which seemed 
 the hardest, he wrote a letter altogetlier unintelligible to 
 himself, and forwarded it as liis certificate of qualification. 
 He was admitted with great honor, and even offered the 
 post of Secretary with a salary. (Eloges des Academic- 
 iens.) 
 
 At a later period of his life, however, a remark has been 
 put into his mouth, which will be found on an earlier page, 
 and in 1696 he is reported to have said: — " Fratres Rosae 
 Crucis fictitios esse suspicor; quod et Hchnontius mihi con- 
 firmavit. ' ' 
 
 It is quite true that many usurped the title of Adepts 
 who had no knowledge even of the preliminaries of the 
 Art; sometimes deceiving, at others being themselves 
 deceived. 
 
 But the subject must be viewed from another aspect. 
 If there were manv learned men who derided the pre- 
 
ii6 History of Freemasonry 
 
 tensions of the Rosicrucians, there were at least an equal 
 number who became their vindicators and apologists. 
 
 " Every matter hath two handles, " said the wise Epic- 
 TETUS. It has been held sufficient in numerous instances 
 to refer only to the mystical brotherhood as visionaries 
 and romancers; but if we listen to the evidence on the 
 other side, it wall be impossible to reject the conclusion, 
 that the so-called Rosicrucians comprised among their 
 number man)^ persons of a very practical turn of mind, 
 and included in their ranks many learned men of world- 
 wide reputation as philosophers. 
 
 To the question, whether the elder alchemists, astro- 
 logers, mystics, theosophists and philosophers, had any- 
 thing whatever to do with the Manifestoes of the Rosi- 
 crucian Fraternity (or unknown source of the Famaand 
 Conjcssio Fratcrnitatis) there can, of course, be no definite 
 reply; but in the ideas which are to be found in the Man- 
 ifestoes of the Fraternity, we may certainly discern the 
 objects sought for by the disciples of Paracelsus, after 
 the principles of their master and by the light of experi- 
 mental research. 
 
 According to Mr. Waite (quoting from the Hennetical 
 Triumph), there is a great difference between the Stone 
 of the Philosophers and the Philosophic Stone, and I find 
 in my own notes a reference to the Rabbi Saadias Gaon, 
 who (circa 927 a. d. ) wrote a work entitled the Phil- 
 osopher's Stone, which is not, as might be expected, al- 
 chemical, but cabalistic. But the fact must not be lost 
 sight of, that Paracelsus, who without doubt created 
 a new school of alchemy, in his general writings (like 
 Reuchlin, Picus de Mirandola, and other philosophers 
 who preceded him), drew inspiration largely from the 
 cabala, as well as from the hermetic art. 
 
 Neither should we forget that the later Rosicrucians 
 always maintained that whatever learning they possessed 
 was derived from Greek, Arabian, Chaldean, Hebrew and 
 Egyptian sources, and was not, therefore, any new thing. 
 
The Rosicrucians 
 
 '7 
 
 Indeed, the words of Carlyle, with respect to the early 
 history and mj'thology of the Scandinavians, may, per- 
 haps, be held to apply with at least equal force to the prin- 
 ciples or philosophy of the Rosicrucians, as being "not one 
 coherent system, but properly the summation of several 
 successivesystems of Old Thought." 
 
 ^ - »-■' - -rc'rass-*^/ . 
 
 F^iaav 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 LEARNED MAN OF EGYPT. 
 
 A universal practice of the sect — without distinction 
 of philosophers and Fraternity — was a search for the sub- 
 stance which is at the base of the vulgar metals. That 
 their efforts were, in particular instances, crowned witii 
 success, I shall not pretend to determine, but if we may 
 
Ti8 ' Histoiy of Freemasonry 
 
 credit their writings, all doubt upon the subject will dis- 
 appear. Many things have in like manner been con- 
 sidered impossible which increasing knowledge has proved 
 true, and let us remember that certain experiments were 
 instituted by Lord Bacon with a view to the discovery 
 of the Philosopher's Stone, and in the AdTanceynent of 
 Learning he fully recognizes the possibility of such a dis- 
 covery being effected, A similar belief is expressed by 
 Sir Isaac Newton in his works. Nor did either of these 
 ^eat men, though they were practically unsuccessful 
 themselves, condemn the ancient tradition or deny its 
 validity. 
 
 It will be recollected that the Rosicrucians claimed the 
 possession of a thousand secrets, of which gold-making 
 was the least. Their most critical biographer says of 
 them: — " I have found it superfluous to keep guard over 
 the secrets of the Rosicrucians, or to veil their mysteries 
 in inviolai)Ie silence, and this is for a simple reason, 
 namely, that they have never revealed any." "Their 
 secrets, " he goes on to say, " are, of course, enveloped in 
 darkness, and, in common with other students of esoteric 
 lore, I am inclined to consider that this darkness does 
 cover a real and, possibly, a recoverable knowledge." 
 (Rl. Hisi. of ihc Ros., 432.) 
 
 To cite (without adopting) the words of the same tal- 
 ented writer: — " The existing connection of Masonrv with 
 the science of the mystics is now confined to its emblems, 
 but the fraternity originated in magic, and among al- 
 chemists and magicians." This he deems to be well 
 established by the fact, that during the ^vhole of the 
 eighteentli century, the European history of magic and 
 hermeticisni is coincident with that of Freemasonrv; and 
 he considers the conclusion inevitable, that SA'mbolic 
 Masonry originated in m}'sticism, and was to a large ex- 
 tent promulgated by magicians anrl alchemists. (Occ- 
 Sc, 225.) 
 
The Rosicrucians 119 
 
 It will be an easy transition if I next pass to the widely 
 spread belief that, in some shape or form, the Rosi- 
 crucians — including in this term the Fraternity, strictly 
 so-called, together with all votaries of the hermetic art 
 (or alchemistical philosophers) — have aided in the devel- 
 opment or evolution of Freemasonry. 
 
 To begin with the Rosicrucian Fraternity: in 1782, 
 Christoph Fraedrich Nicolai, a learned bookseller of 
 Berlin, advanced a singular hypothesis, viz., that English 
 Freemasonry had its origin in the New Atalantis, of Lord 
 Bacon, who himself was much influenced by the writings 
 of Andrea, the founder of the Rosicrucian sect, and of 
 Fludd, his English disciple. The "Baconian" apologue 
 bore fruit in the shape of the Royal Society, and of an 
 Hermetical and Rosicrucian fraternity, consisting of 
 AsHMOiyE and others, who sought to arrive at truth by 
 the study of alchemy and astrology. The latter was 
 established at Warrington in 1646, and afterwards, in 
 order to conceal their mysterious designs, the members 
 were admitted into the Mason's Company, with the re- 
 sult that, as freemen of London, tliey took the name of 
 Freemasons and adopted as symbols the implements of 
 the Mason's craft. 
 
 Another German writer, Professor Johann Gottlieb 
 BuHLE, attempted to prove, first of all in Latin, (1803) 
 and subsequently in his native language (1804), that the 
 Rosicrucian Fraternity was founded really quite accident- 
 ally by Andrea — that Fludd, becoming enamoured of 
 its doctrines, took it up in earnest, and in consequence 
 the sect, which never assumed any definite form abroad, 
 became organized in England under the new name of 
 Freemasonry. Accordingly, the first formal and solemn 
 Lodge of Freemasons — the name (or title) itself being 
 then publicly made known — was held in Masons' Hall, 
 London, in 1646. It was into this Lodge that Aslimore 
 was admitted. 
 
120 Hisfoiy of Fyccmasoiii')' 
 
 The theories of Nicolai and Buhle are dead, and I am 
 not going to raise their melancholy ghosts, but the pages 
 of the latter, who was a professor at Gottingen University, 
 where so many letters were addressed after the publica- 
 tion of the Fa7ua and Confessio, afford even yet the only 
 information, at first hand, which is available with re- 
 spect to much of the earliest written history of the Rosi- 
 crucians. An abridgment of his essay was published by 
 De Ouincey in the London Magazine (vol. ix.) and re- 
 printed in the collected works of that writer (vol. xvi., 
 Suspiria de Profundis). 
 
 The entries in AshmolE's Diary, recording his having 
 been " made a Free Mason at Warrington, " in 1646 and 
 his subsequent attendance at a Lodge in "Masons' Hall, 
 London," in 1682, will be referred to with some fullnes, 
 in a later chapter; but before entirel}' parting with the 
 subject in the present one, there remain to be considered 
 the speculations of one of the most learned Freemasons 
 that ever existed — the late Albert Pike — from whose 
 letters to myself I extract the following : — 
 
 " AsHMOLE had some inducement that led him to seek 
 admission into Masonry — some object to attain, some pur- 
 pose to carrjr out. Even his utter silence as to the objects, 
 nature, customs and work of the Institution is significant. 
 There was something in the Institution that made it seem 
 to him worth his while to join it, and what was in it then 
 may have been in it centuries before. He is even more reti- 
 cent about it than Herodotus was about the Mj'steries 
 of the Egyptian Priests. 
 
 " I have been for some time collecting the old Hermetic 
 and Alchemical works in order to find out what Masonry 
 came into possession of from them. I have ascertained 
 with certainty that the square and compasses, the tri- 
 angle, the oblong square, the three Grand Masters, the 
 idea embodied in the substitute word, the Sun, Moon 
 and Master of the Lodge, and others [were included in 
 the nimiber]. 
 
The Rosicrucians i 2 1 
 
 " The symbols that I have spoken of as Hermetic may 
 have been borrowed by Flermeticism, but all the same it 
 had them, and I do not know where they were used, out- 
 side of Hermiticism, until they appeared in Masonry. 
 
 " I think that the Philosophers, becoming Free-Masons, 
 introduced into Masonry its symbolism — secret, except 
 among themselves — in the Middle Ages, and not after the 
 decline of operative Masonry began. 
 
 "Whoever endowed Masonry with these particular 
 symbols, they were Hermetic symbols; and I know what 
 they meant to the Hermetic writers, French, German and 
 English. I should think it most likely that AshmolE 
 became a Mason because others who were Hermeticists 
 had become Masons before him. " 
 
 The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, whose recent loss we 
 have also had occasion to deplore, was similarly of opinion 
 — "That the importance of Hermeticism, in respect of a 
 true History of Freemasonry, is very great. ' ' In the view 
 of this writer, the primeval and religious lore, which, 
 according to our inclinations, we may describe as the- 
 osophy or philosophy, mysticism or ineffable science, was 
 preserved originally in the Mysteries and found an out- 
 come in alchemy, astrology, the mysterious learning, the 
 apporreta of the East, which is repeated in the Hebraic 
 Cabala. 
 
 His general conclusions are : — 
 
 "Hermeticism is probably a channel in which the re- . 
 mains of archaic mysteries and mystical knowledge 
 lingered through successive ages. 
 
 "Freemasonry, in all probability, has received a por- 
 tion of its newer symbolical formulae and emblematic 
 types from the societies of Hermeticism. 
 
 "At various points of contact, Freemasonry and Her- 
 meticism have aided, sheltered, and protected each other, 
 and it is not at all unlikely that the true secret of the pre- 
 servation of a system of Masonic initiation, and ceremon- 
 ial, and teaching, and mysterious life through so many 
 
12: 
 
 History of Freemasonry 
 
 centuries, is to be attributed to the twofold influence of 
 the legends of the ancient guilds, and the influence of a 
 contemporary Hermeticism. 
 
 It will be seen that both Woodford and Pike agree in 
 claiming for the hermetic philosophers a prior possession 
 of much of the symbolism which is now the property of 
 the Freemasons. Some of the emblems have been already 
 mentioned, which are relied upon as connecting Masonry 
 with the science of the mystics, and to those named by 
 Pike I shall add the following, which were cited by Wood- 
 
 mystic SYMBOL AND SOLOMON S SEAL. 
 
 FORD in the final lecture — Frccmaso)iry a)ui Hermeticism — 
 that preceded his untimely decease; — "The rule and 
 plumb-rule, the perfect ashlar, the two pillars, the circle 
 within the parallel lines, the point within a circle, and the 
 sacred delta. The Pentalpha, or five-pointed star, which 
 Pj'thagoras is asserted to have taken from EgV'pt to Cro- 
 tona and adopted as the mystic symbol of his fraternity. 
 Lastly, tliere is the Hexapha, or Hexalpha, otherwise 
 called Solomon's Seal or the Shield of David; this was 
 the great symbol of Hermeticism, and besides being a high 
 Masonic emblem, was also a Alasonic mark, used all over 
 
The Rosicrucians 123 
 
 the East in mediaeval times, as well as a mystical, tribal 
 and religious mark." 
 
 It is certainly true that many symbols now in the posses- 
 sion of the Freemasons are proved to have been extensive- 
 ly used by the Hermetic Philosophers, but whether the 
 former body derived them from the latter, and, if so, at 
 what period, are points which, in the absence of positive 
 evidence, it is impossible to decide. 
 
 Here, however, let me revert to the words of Albert 
 Pike, who says of Ashmole, that there must have been 
 something in Masonry which induced him to join the In- 
 stitution, "and what was in it then may have been in 
 it centuries before. ' ' 
 
 The Autobiography of a later antiquary, the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Stukeley, M.D., records that in January, 1721 — 
 " His curiosity led him to be initiated into the mysteries 
 of Masonry, suspecting it to be the remains of the mys- 
 teries of the ancients, " It is possible, and indeed highly 
 probable, that AshmolE was influenced by very similar 
 feelings, which he satisfied in the same way. 
 
 Stukeley 's admission into the Craft occurred shortly 
 after the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, the 
 earliest of governing Masonic bodies, in 171 7, and a slight 
 pause will now be made before I resume and conclude 
 my account of the Rosicrucians. 
 
 Before, however, proceeding with some brief remarks 
 on the era of Grand Lodges, let me, in order to be better 
 understood, make use of a comparison. Unlike that of 
 other nations, the civilization of Egypt presents a con- 
 tinuous deterioration from the earliest ages to the latest. 
 The further we go back the more consummate is the art, 
 the more complete the command of mechanical processes 
 and appliances. In other words, the civilization of Egypt 
 must have culminated before the very earliest dawn of its 
 recorded history. If Egypt is not altogether exceptional 
 and abnormal, the use of the mechanical methods em- 
 ployed by the Pyramid builders points to an antecedent 
 
124 History oj Freeviasonry 
 
 civilization of which the extent in time becomes literall,v 
 incalculable, while it seems to become more and more in- 
 explicable the more its real character is investigated and 
 brought to light. 
 
 In the same way, there cannot be a doubt that the sym- 
 bolism of Masonry, to a considerable portion of which, 
 even at this day, no meaning can be assigned which is en- 
 tirely satisfactory to an intelligent mind, must "have cul- 
 minated before the earliest dawn of its recorded history. 
 Also, that it underwent a gradual process of decay, whicli 
 was arrested, but only at the point we now have it, by 
 passing under the control of the Grand I<odge of England 
 in 1717. 
 
 In other words, the meaning of a great part of our 
 Masonic svmbolism has been forgotten, and it may be 
 laid down with confidence that this partial obliteration of 
 its import must have taken place before the era of Grand 
 Lodges. The grounds on which this conclusion is based 
 will form the subject of a separate study, but if we assume 
 the symbolism (or ceremonial) of Masonrj' to be older than 
 the year 171 7, there is practically no limit whatever of 
 age that can be assigned to it. After the formation of a 
 Grand Lodge there was centralization ; before it there was 
 none. Each Lodge then met by inherent right, and even 
 if we go so far as to admit the possibility of new and 
 strange practices being introduced into any one of them, 
 there was no higher body by whose authority these inno- 
 vations could have been imposed on the other Lodges. 
 
 It is, therefore, verj' far from being an arbitrary hypo- 
 thesis, that the symbolism we possess has come down to 
 us, in all its main features, from very early times, and that 
 it originated during the splendor of Mediaeval Operative 
 Masonry, and not in its decline. I am, therefore, of opin- 
 ion that if Freemasonry is in any way indebted to her- 
 meticism for its symbolism, the period in which the Sara- 
 cenic learning found its way into England is the epoch 
 wherein we must look for its occurrence. 
 

 o 
 
 Q 
 W 
 
 to 
 O 
 
 w 
 
126 History of Freemasonry 
 
 I shall next present a striking passage from an anony- 
 mous work, entitled A Suggestive Inquiry concerning the 
 Hermetic Mystery, which appeared in 1850, but was short- 
 ly afterwards withdrawn from circulation for reasons that 
 remain unknown: — 
 
 "Modern Science has hitherto thrown no light on the 
 Wisdom of Antiquity * * * the ancients were 
 not enlightened on the a priori ground alone, but the 
 same power of Wisdom was confirmed in many surpass- 
 ing effects of spiritual chemistry, and in the asserted 
 miracle of the Philosopher's Stone. With this theosophic 
 doctrine of ^^'isdom the tradition of Alchemy runs hand in 
 hand. It was this which inspired AlberTus Magnus, 
 Aquinas, Roger Bacon, the fiery Lully, Ficinus, 
 Picus DE Mirandola, Spinoza, Reuchlin, Cornelius 
 Agrippa, and all the subsequent Paracelsian school. It 
 was this w-hich, under another title, Plato celebrates as 
 the most efficacious of all arts, calling it Theurgy and the 
 worship of the gods; this Pythagoras practised in his, 
 school, and the Chaldaic Oracles openly proclaim, an- 
 nouncing the efficacy of material rites in procuring divine 
 assimilation: these the Alexandrian Platonists continu- 
 ously pursued in their Mysteries, which Proclus, Plo- 
 Tinus, Jamblicus and Synesius have explained in their 
 records, tracing the same to the most remote antiquity 
 in Egypt, as being the prime source and sanctuary of the 
 Hermetic Art. " 
 
 It is possible that some of the " Old Thought" of suc- 
 cessive ages, dating back to the remote antiquity of 
 Zoroaster and the Jewish Cabala, and preserved in the 
 enigmas and fables of the Egyptians, the Orphic and 
 Eleusinian Mysteries, the Symbols of Pythagoras, the 
 teachings of the Alexandrian school, and the Philoso- 
 phy of the Media?val Mystics, may have descended to 
 the Freemasons : — 
 
 "I cannot make this matter plain, 
 But I would shoot, howe'er in vain, 
 A random arrow from the brain." 
 
Th e Rosicruciai is 127 
 
 There is a curious figurative account given in a letter 
 circulated under the name of the Brethren of the Rosy 
 Cross, which appears to have reference to the initiatory 
 progress in the Ancient Mysteries. It may he epitomised 
 as follows : — 
 
 There is a mountain situated in the midst of the earth 
 or centre of the world, which is both small and great. It 
 is far off and near at hand, but invisible. To this moun- 
 tain you shall go in a certain night, when it comes most 
 long and dark; and see that you prepare yourselves by 
 prayer. Your guide will bring you to the mountain at 
 midnight, when all things are silent and dark. The first 
 miracle will be a very great wind, the second an earth- 
 quake, and the third a fire that will consume the earthly 
 rubbish and discover the treasure; but as yet you cannot 
 see it. After all these things, and near daybreak, there 
 shall be a great calm, and you shall see the day-star arise, 
 and the darkness will disappear; you will conceive a great 
 treasure; the chiefest thing, and the most perfect, is a 
 certain exalted tincture with which the world, if it served 
 God and were worthy of such gifts, might be tinged and 
 turned into most pure gold. 
 
 This apologue, with whicli should be compared what 
 we read of the prophet Elijah, when lie stood in the cave 
 on the slope of Mount Horeb (I. Kings, xix, 11, 12), is 
 more than suggestive of the trials of the aspirants in the 
 Mysteries, and without doubt, by the "great treasure," 
 is meant the Philosopher's Stone. Were the Brethren 
 of the Rosy Cross, or their immediate precursors, the Her- 
 metic Philosophers, the last link in an invisible chain 
 connecting early Freemasonry with some of the now al- 
 most forgotten learning of antiquity? Many of our fore- 
 most students in the craft were, and are, of opinion that 
 this question admits of an affirmative reply. If their sur- 
 mise be a correct one, then — "The initiated person sees 
 that light which is the true astrum solis, the mineral 
 spiritual Sun, which is the Perpetual Motion of the Wise, 
 
128 History of Freemasonry 
 
 and that Saturnian Salt, which, developed to intellect 
 and made erect, subdues all nature to His will. It is 
 the Midnight Sun of ApulEius, the Ignited Stone of Ax- 
 AXAGORAS, the Triumphal Chariot of .Antimony, the 
 Armed Magnet of Helvetius, the Fier}^ Chariot of Mer- 
 CABA, and the Stone with the new name written on it 
 which is promised to him that overcometh by the in- 
 itiating Saviour of mankind. " 
 
 — Nothing stands alone, 
 The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 . MEDI.-EVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. 
 
 Some have ascribed the principal ecclesiastical 
 structures to the fraternity of Freemasons — deposi- 
 taries of a concealed and traditionary science. There 
 is probably some ground for this opinion; and the 
 earlier archives of that mysterious association, if 
 they existed, might illustrate the progress of Gothic 
 architecture, and perhaps reveal its origin. 
 
 Henry Haleam. 
 
 Upon no subject of antiquity have so many discordant 
 opinions been maintained, as upon the origin of what 
 is called Gothic Architecture. John Evelyn appears to 
 have brought the term Gothic into use in this country 
 (1697), and he was followed by Sir Christopher Wren 
 whose authority gave currency to the phrase, and led to 
 its employment by the majority of those who wrote on 
 the subject during the eighteenth century. But Wren, 
 though he used the word Gothic, did not consider it as 
 expressive of the origin of the mode of building which 
 it designated ; for he ascribes the invention to the 
 Saracens, from whom, as he conceived, it was adopted 
 by the Crusaders of the West. 
 
 According to the editors of the Parentalia or Memoirs 
 of the Family of the Wrens: — 
 
 "He [Sir Christopher] was of opinion that what we 
 now call Gothick ought properly and truly to be named 
 the Saracenick Architecture refined by the Christians. The 
 Holy War gave the Christians who had been there an idea 
 of the Saracen Works, which were afterwards imitated by 
 them in the West. The Italians (among which were yet 
 some Greek Refugees), and with them French, German 
 and Flemings, joined into a Fraternity of Architects, 
 
I30 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 procuring Papal Bulls for their Encouragement and 
 particular Privileges ; they styled themselves Freemasons, 
 and ranged from one Nation to another, as they found 
 Churches to be built (for very many in those Ages were 
 everywhere in Building, through Piety or Emulation). 
 Their Government was regular, and where they fixed 
 near the Building in Hand, they made a Camp of Huts. 
 A Surveyor govern 'd in chief; ever}- tenth man was 
 called a AVarden, and overlooked each nine." Hence 
 has arisen the familiar storv of a Fraternity of Architects, 
 traveling \vith Papal Bulls, and stvling themselves 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Freemasons, which for upwards of a century held pos- 
 session of our encyclopaedias. Yet, even if we go so 
 far as to believe that \\'ren really said aU that has been 
 put into his mouth by the editors of the Parentalia — 
 a point on which I shall again touch — it will be well to 
 bear in mind, that this legend or tradition derived its 
 chief authority from the popular delusion that the great 
 architect had been for many years the "Grand Master" 
 of our Society. 
 
 The curious statement that Papal Bulls were granted 
 to the early Freemasons will be more fuUv examined at 
 
MedicBval Operative Masonry. 
 
 ^3' 
 
 a later stage. The influence of the "Monks," who were 
 only a portion of the clergy, has, I think, been greatly 
 exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was a prevalent theory 
 that the nations of Western Europe were thrown into a 
 stupor towards the end of the tenth century, believing 
 the end of the world to be at hand. That when the 
 dreaded year looo a.d. came and went harmlessly, and 
 the world was still intact, the nations awakened from 
 their stupor, and, animated by the most fervent piety, 
 everywhere commenced building Churches, Abbeys, 
 and Cathedrals, under the guidance of the monks, who, 
 
 MASTER, WARDEN AND APPRENTICE. 
 
 being a cosmopolitan body, were under one head and 
 worked with one aim in every country; that these monks 
 trained a body of men, a kind of lay brethren, to build 
 for them, called Freemasons; and that these, like their 
 masters (or superior brethren), were also cosmopolitan, 
 and hence that the churches and other ecclesiastical 
 structures were everywhere erected with a wonderful 
 similarity of design. 
 
 In the first place, however, it is absurd to suppose that 
 the superstition with respect to the approaching end of 
 the world, can have had the effect ascribed to it, especially 
 
POPE URBAN 11. PREACHIXi; THI*. FIRST ^KL.>,^I)E. 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 
 
 133 
 
 for any long period. The real causes of the then state 
 of Europe must he sought in the renewal to a great 
 extent of the anarchy and barbarism, occasioned by the 
 breakhig up of the Carlovingian Empire, and the de- 
 vastations of the Normans by sea, and the Hungarians 
 by land. About the beginning of the eleventh century 
 things had again begun to right themselves, as we see, 
 among other instances, by the rise of freedom in the 
 towns. This freedom, at first the independence of a 
 burgher aristocracy, gradually reached the bulk of the 
 
 PETER THE HERMIT. GODFREY DE BOUILLON. 
 
 A Zealous Preacher of the First Crusade, Fauious in the Re-capture of Jerusalem. 
 
 people, through the means and in the form of guilds, 
 which may (or may not) have been derived from Italy, 
 as stated by the learned Heineccius. The ravages and 
 internal feuds had doubtless destroyed many existing 
 churches, while the return of prosperity increased the 
 population, and hence, coupled with the greater stability 
 of the different nations, arose the demand for more 
 numerous and more splendid edifices. But to suppose 
 that the nations of Western Europe were all animated 
 by one universal spirit of fer-/ent and romantic piety. 
 
MedicBval Operative Masonry. 135 
 
 would be equivalent to supposing that the crazy reveries 
 of the Knight of La Mancha had ever any foundation 
 in historic fact. The Church had to contend not only 
 with an immense amount of fraud and violence, but also 
 with, what is generally but little suspected, a very con- 
 siderable aggregate of latent infidelity and socialism, and 
 it required all the centralized despotism and energy of 
 Rome to prevent it from sinking into utter degradation. 
 It may be doubted also whether any great art was ever 
 practised by roving bodies of workmen; and though on 
 
 CRUSADERS. 
 
 this point a great deal of vague speculation has arisen, 
 the Masons of the Middle Ages must have wandered 
 much less than has been supposed, nor could their travels 
 have often landed them on foreign shores. Exceptions 
 there doubtless were — and I am by no means forgetting 
 the much-debated point of the influence exercised on the 
 art of Western Europe by the Crusades — but we may 
 safely assume that in those early days it would have 
 been a matter of the greatest possible difficulty to transfer 
 large bodies of skilled workmen from one country to 
 another. 
 
136 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The influence of the Crusades upon the architecture 
 both of the East and West, has been carefully summed 
 up by my late friend and fellow Past-Master in the 
 "Quatuor Coronati" Lodge, Professor T. Hayter Lewis, 
 in the following words, which, with his sanction and 
 full appi-oval, are reproduced in the present work: — 
 
 "The Norman and Anglo-Saxon style appears to have 
 been perfected, and to have had its head-quarters, in the 
 North of France; and, although Romanesque archi- 
 tecture on the Rhine has many features in common with 
 the Norman, the latter stands out clearly and distinctly 
 from it." 
 
 " At or about the middle of the twelfth century, signs of 
 a change became apparent in the general forms of the 
 style, giving to them lighter proportions, less pro- 
 nounced Norman details, and, above all, a rapid change 
 from the round to the pointed arch; these changes taking 
 place not only in France, but also in England and other 
 countries, the name of the style, thus altered, being 
 well-known as Transitional. At that time Palestine 
 was in the hands of the Crusaders (who came chiefly 
 from the various provinces of France), who entered 
 Jerusalem in 1099, and were not expelled from it until 
 1 187. This period embraces the greater part of that of 
 the Normans and the Transition in Britain." 
 
 ' ' The Crusaders were in possession of Jerusalem for 
 little more than three-quarters of a century, but the 
 amount of work which they did in that time all over 
 Palestine was enormous, and the influence which that 
 work received from Eastern civilization was great and 
 lasting. Every part of the country bears witness to the 
 gigantic energy of the Western nations, great forts, 
 churches, and hostelries being built as if to last for ever. 
 Palestine must have been as thickh^ covered with 
 churches as England is now— so mighty was the living 
 force of the Western world 700 years ago. I feel no 
 doubt that trained architects, masters of the works, and 
 
FIRST VIEW OF JERUSALEM BY THE CRUSADERS. 
 
138 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 leading Masons were sent from the great religious orders 
 in Europe. But the actual manual labor must have 
 devolved, to a large extent, upon the native population — 
 part Christian, part Moslem — accustomed to work under 
 the influence of the Persians, whose capital, Bagdad, 
 was the centre of Eastern art from the ninth to the 
 thirteenth century. " 
 
 "These native workmen must have been, at first, 
 altogether in subjection to the Crusaders; but many of 
 them would, in course of time, rise higher on the scale 
 of work, and so gradually influence, in various ways, 
 the Western art of their masters. That they actually did 
 so influence it I fully believe, more especially in the 
 important use of the Pointed arch, which, owing to the 
 same Eastern influence, had been already introduced in 
 Southern France." 
 
 " Towards the end of the twelfth century the Crusaders' 
 hold on Palestine became very insecure. In 1187, 
 Jerusalem was captured by Saladin, and the Christians 
 were soon after expelled from nearly the whole of Pales- 
 tine, though Antioch was not taken until 1268, nor Acre 
 until 1291. This expulsion was not a merely nominal 
 one, but applied to every Christian who would not turn 
 Mussulman or remain a captive. Thus there must have 
 been forced into Germany, France, and Britain,thousands 
 of skilled men accustomed to work under the guidance of 
 the monastic orders, and under vows or oaths, more or 
 less strict." 
 
 "After the expulsion from Jerusalem, a great change 
 occurred in the architecture of Europe. Up to that 
 time, France and England had gone fairly hand in hand 
 in architecture, but soon afterwards they went somewhat 
 different ways. In our own country (England) we see 
 the rise of our beautiful Early English Style — one as 
 peculiar in its ornamental details as was the Later 
 Perpendicular." 
 
Is lit 
 
 I 1 
 
 **^*' ft 
 
 S -. iff ^i 
 
 
 *(? -It"' 
 
 ■a" V« 
 
 i' 4 
 
 ■0- r 
 
 '^ 
 
140 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The same high authority, however, carefully states: — 
 
 "I have not the slightest wish to suggest that our 
 beautiful Early English work wqs the result of Easterii 
 influence, for in none of the Crusaders' work in Pales- 
 tine which I have seen can I find definite traces of our 
 lovely ornamentation or other details. All that I suggest 
 IS, that by that influence the Norman Style was gradually 
 lightened in detail, its round arches raised to the Pointed 
 form, and its Masons' Marks and tooling obtained." 
 
 "I absolutely refuse to believe," continues Professor 
 Hayter Lewis, "that so great a change as that from the 
 Norman to the Pointed Style, made in so short a time, 
 was the result of gradual development ; nor can I believe 
 that it was the result of any partnership of minds, be they 
 monks or laics, monasteries or guilds. No great work 
 in the world was ever done which had not some great 
 mind to start it. Whether the seclusion of the Cloister 
 or the Guild shall ever surrender this identity to us, one 
 may fairly doubt. But I do believe that a study of the 
 marks which the Masons of old have left us — a study so 
 much in its infancy that it owes its origin only to the late 
 George Godwin — may ultimately lead us to the know- 
 ledge of the place from which came the influence of the 
 master mind." 
 
 Mr. Fergusson, however, tells us, "No individual has, 
 so far as we know, ever invented a new style in any part 
 of the world. No one can even be named who, during 
 the prevalence of a true style of art, materially advanced 
 its progress, or by his individual exertion did much to 
 help it forward. * * * In Architecture, the merit of 
 one admirable building, or of a high state of national 
 art, is not due to one or to a few master minds, but to the 
 aggregation of experience, the mass of intellectual 
 exertion, which alone can achieve any practically great 
 result. WHienever we see any work of man truly worthy 
 of admiration, we may be quite sure that the credit of it 
 is not due to an individual, but to thousands working 
 

 
 
142 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 together through a long series of years." (Hisf. oj 
 Arch., I. 44; II. 128.) 
 
 The subject of Masons' marks will again claim our 
 attention, and before passing away from Palestine and the 
 East, I shall merely remark that Gothic architecture 
 was not properly naturalized in the Golden period of the 
 Crusades; and that there is an essential difference be- 
 
 ANTIOCH. 
 
 tween the Gothic and the Saracenic Styles, as shown 
 (among other things) by the absence of domes in the 
 former, and of heights in the latter. There can be no 
 doubt, however, that through the influence of the Cru- 
 sades a new fervor of study sprang up in the West from 
 its contact with the more civilized East. Travelers, like 
 Athelard, of Bath, brought back the first rudiments 
 of physical and mathematical science from the schools 
 of Bagdad or Cordova; and if "Masonry" was formerly 
 
PWPIF""^^^^ 
 
 O 
 < 
 
 o 
 > 
 
144 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 caUed" Geometry, "as we are told in the Manuscript 
 Constitutions (or written traditions) of our Society, then 
 
 MASONS' TOOI.S AND MARKS. 
 
 the merit of having introduced it into England must be 
 assigned to the scholar and phUosopher of Bath. 
 
s 
 
 5 
 
 to 
 S 
 
 a 
 

 INITIATION OF A NOVICE TO THE VOWS OK THE TEMPLE. 
 
146 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 One reason why the true Gothic sprang up almost 
 simultaneously in France and England was, that at that 
 time the frontiers of the two kingdoms were almost con- 
 terminous from one end of France to the other. 
 
 GODFREY DE BOUILLON ELECTED AND PROCLAIMED FIRST KING 
 
 OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 The Earl)- Pointed Style is simple and severe in its 
 proportions, and the period of its duration, roundly 
 speaking, was from the end of the twelfth to the end of 
 
MedicBval Operative Masonry. 
 
 147 
 
 the fourteaith century. The Pointed Style of England 
 was formed in a peculiar and independent manner. The 
 Single Pointed Style of the earliest period was known by 
 the name of Early English, of which the finest specimens 
 are the west front and nave of Wells Cathedral, built by 
 Joscelin Trotman, the bishop of that See. 
 
 The Middle or Perfect Pointed, known in England as 
 the Decorated Style, is considered as that in which 
 Gothic architecture attained its climax. Among its 
 chefs-d'ceuvre are the Presb)d:ery of Lincoln, with which 
 it is said no fault has ever been found; Lichfield Cathe- 
 dral (chiefly within this period), the only church in this 
 
 y^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 TOMB OF GODFREY DE BOUILLON, FIRST KING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 country possessing three spires, and the only genuine 
 example of an English apse; the choirs of Bristol and 
 Carlisle; the larger portion of York Minster; and what 
 is, perhaps, the most beautiful feature in the whole 
 range of Gothic architecture, the famous octagon of 
 Alan de Walsingham, at Ely. 
 
 It may be here observed, as showing to how great an 
 extent our mediaeval churches display local peculiarities 
 of style, and what little ground there is for believing in 
 one universal consensus, that almost every county in 
 
148 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 England has its distinct architectural features. ,^ The 
 northern and the eastern shires are each a class apart. 
 The existence of local schools may be plainly traced in 
 Devon, Somerset, Cornwall, and Northamptonshire, 
 while in Gloucestershire there would appear to have been 
 a kind of architectural college, in which theory was very 
 properly blended with practice. Of the churches, indeed, 
 of the early Middle Ages, it was observed by Mr. G. E. 
 Street: — " I could have told you how they may be classi- 
 fied into groups, speaking to us of the skill and genius 
 of individual architects, each in his own district or 
 diocese. " It is probable that every cathedral possessed 
 its own Lodge of Masons, and to quote from Sir Gilbert 
 Scott: — "The point of the necessity of gangs of skillful 
 workmen accustomed to work together has not been 
 sufficiently attended to. The fables of the Freemasons 
 have produced a natural re-action, and the degree of 
 truth which there is in these traditions has consequently 
 been overlooked. Each of our great cathedrals had a 
 gang of workmen attached to it in regular pay. ' ' 
 
 The last phase of Gothic architecture is constituted by 
 the English Perpendicular Style, and the Flamboyant 
 Style of the Continent. It lasted from the end of the 
 fourteenth to the middle of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Fan Tracery, a beautiful form of vaulting, which is 
 found only in England, is said to constitute the veritable 
 "swan-song" of Gothic architecture. It is a leading 
 characteristic of the Perpendicular for Tudor) Style, and 
 appears to have been invented by a local school of 
 masons at Gloucester. 
 
 In the earliest examples, such as the cloisters at 
 Gloucester Cathedral, these great fans, with their wide- 
 stretching circular outline, spring apparently from a 
 narrow pier shaft on each side, and meet in the centre. 
 At Peterborough the size of the fans is increased, but at 
 King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and the later St. 
 
I50 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 George's at Windsor, there was a return to the arrange- 
 ment at Gloucester, although the shape of the fans was 
 altered. 
 
 But mediaeval architecture had long been decaying. 
 The Reformation struck its death blow, and when the 
 Royal Chapel of St. George's, Windsor; King's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge; Henry the Seventh's, Westminster; 
 and other exquisite fan-roofed buildings were completed, 
 the true Gothic of England passed away "in a blaze of 
 glory" under the Tudors. 
 
 CvESAREA, AN IMPORTANT MILITARY STATION DURING 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 But it never quite died out, although its traditions (to 
 which I shall hereafter more particularly refer), together 
 with its constructive principles and processes, were well 
 nigh forgotten. Traces of the old style may yet be dis- 
 tinguished in the long series of buildings which are 
 intermediate in date between the decline of Gothic 
 architecture at the close of the Perpendicular period, and 
 the dawn of the revival under Batty Langley and Horace 
 Walpole. 
 
Mediaval Operative Masonry. 
 
 151 
 
 The architecture of Scotland has a style which is 
 peculiarly its own. Except Melrose, there is nothing at 
 all resembling the English Perpendicular, but there are 
 frequent traces of Flamboyant, which is explained by the 
 long connection with France. Deeply interesting are 
 the ruins of the Abbeys of Kelso (11 28), Melrose (1136), 
 and Kilwinning (1140), but the fable which makes the 
 last named the cradle of Scottish Freemasonry must be 
 
 -*- J- r 
 
 
 T r-*J^ 
 
 
 
 
 KBROT, CASTLE OF THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 reserved for separate treatment. Roslin, the gem of the 
 whole Scottish series, is unlike any other structure in 
 either North or South Britain. The designer was evi- 
 dently a foreign architect, and it appears on record 
 that masons and other workmen were collected by Sir 
 William St. Clair from all parts. In the chapel there is 
 a fine fluted column, to which a legend is attached. 
 The master mason is said to have gone to Rome, and 
 
152 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 finding on his return that he had been surpassed by his 
 apprentice, slew him with a hammer. The story has 
 been associated with an early and unhistorical phase of 
 Freemasonrv, of which art or science in Scotland the 
 hereditary Grand Mastership was traditionally vested 
 in the St. Clair family. A similar legend is current at 
 Strasburg and Rouen, and possibly in all three cases 
 it had an origin in fact. 
 
 At the present day, the idea of there having been, in 
 the early part of the thirteenth century, Colleges of Masons 
 in everv countr\- of Europe, which received the blessing 
 of the Holy See, under an injunction of dedicating their 
 skill to the erection of ecclesiastical buildings, may be 
 dismissed as chimerical. Though I must not forget that, 
 according to the well known and highly imaginative 
 Historical Essay on Architecture (1835) of Mr. Hope — 
 who greatly expands the meaning of two passages in the 
 works of Muratori — a body of travelling architects, who 
 wandered over Europe during the Middle Ages, received 
 the appellation of Magisiri Comacini, or Masters of 
 Coma, a title which became generic to all those of the pro- 
 fession. The idea has been revived by a recent writer, 
 who believes that these Magistri Comacini were a sur- 
 vival of the Roman Collegia, that they settled in Co mo, 
 and were afterwards employed b}' the Lombard Kings, 
 under whose patronage they developed into a powerful 
 and highly organized guild, with a dominant influence on 
 the whole architecture of the ]\Iiddle Ages (The Cathedral 
 Builders). But, even if such a theory had any pro- 
 bability, it -would be far from clearing up certain ob- 
 scurities in the history of mediaeval architecture, as the 
 author suggests would be the case. Interchanges of 
 influence were not uncommon, but the works of local 
 schools present far too marked an individuality to render 
 it possible that they could owe much (if an^-thing) to the 
 influence of any central guild. The question therefore 
 
Mediwval Operative Masonry. 153 
 
 arises, who were the men by whom the stately buildings 
 of the Middle Ages were erected? 
 
 The Fabric Rolls of York Minster show that "Orders 
 for the Masons and Workmen" were issued in 1352: — 
 
 "The first and second masons, who are called masters 
 of the same, and the carpenters, shall make oath that 
 they cause the ancient customs underwritten to be faith- 
 fully observed. In summer they are to begin to work 
 immediately after sunrise until the ringing of the bell of 
 the Virgin Mary; then to breakfast in the fabric lodge 
 (logium fabricae), then one of the masters shall knock 
 upon the door of the lodge, and forthwith all are to 
 return to work until noon. Between April and August, 
 after dinner, they shall sleep in the lodge, then work 
 until the first bell for vespers; then sit to drink till the 
 end of the third bell, and return to work so long as they 
 can see by daylight. In winter, they are to begin work 
 at daybreak, and continue as before till noon, dine, and 
 return to work till daylight is over. On Vigils and on 
 Saturdays they are to work until noon." 
 
 These rules continued in force until 1370, when they 
 were superseded by others of a like character, but ex- 
 pressed in the vernacular idiom. The duties to be per- 
 formed in the " loge" remained very much the same 
 as before, and the regulations conclude: — "Ande, alswa, 
 it es ordayned yt na masoun sail be receavyde atte 
 wyrke, to ye werk of ye forsayde Kyrke, but he be firste 
 provede a weke or mare opon his well wyrking; and, 
 aftyr yt he es foundyn souffissant of his werke, be re- 
 ceavyde of ye commune assente of ye mayster and ye 
 kepers of ye werk, ande of ye maystyr masoun and 
 swere upon ye boke yt he sail trewly ande bysyli at his 
 power, for oute any maner gylyry, fayntys, outher, 
 desayte, hald and kepe haly all ye poyntes of yis forsaye 
 ordinance." 
 
 We learn from the same Fabric Rolls, that there was 
 a duly appointed pledge-day (pleghdai), when the work- 
 
154 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 men swore to observe the orders which the Chapter had 
 ordained for their management. This they were re- 
 quired to do at least once a year. It was usual to find 
 tunics (gowns), aprons, gloves, and clogs, and to give 
 occasional potations and remuneration for extra work. 
 Gloves were given to the carpenters in 1371, and to 
 the setters in 1403. The last named workmen received 
 both aprons and gloves {naprons et cirotecis) in 1404. 
 
 RICHARD CCEUR DE LEON, AT ACRB. 
 
 The Lodge (workshop or residence) is probably referred 
 to under the words tabulatum domicialem, as the shed in 
 front of the Abbey Church, St. Alban's, was called in 1200. 
 If not, the entry in 1321 of 2s. 6d. for straw to cover the 
 masons' lodging at Caernarvon, may perhaps be accepted. 
 In 1330, a man at St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, 
 had, among other duties, to clean out the lodge. The City 
 (of London) Records show that in 1337 certain stones 
 were removed to the Guildhall from the lodge in the 
 
MedicBval Operative Masonry. 155 
 
 garden. The York Fabric Rolls refer to the lodge in 1352 
 and 1370 (as already shown); also in 1399, when a list is 
 given of "the stores in the lodge in the cemetery." In 
 1395, at Westminster Abbey, 15s. 6d. was paid to the 
 "dauber" in respect of the lodge for the masons. 
 
 The Manuscript Constitutions (or written traditions) 
 of the Freemasons will form the subject of a separate 
 study, but the earliest writing in which the "Legend 
 of the Craft" has been preserved may be referred to. 
 This, which reflects the charges and customs of the 
 masons' trade as prevailing at the close of the fourteenth 
 century, enjoins in Articulus quartus that no bondsman 
 should be made a "prentys," lest he might be reclaimed 
 by his lord, and if taken in the "logge," it would cause 
 trouble; and in Tcrcius punctus, that the "prentes," 
 
 " Hys ma3^stur conwsel he kepe and close, 
 "And hys felows by hys goode purpose; 
 "The prevetyse of the chamber telle he no mon, 
 " Ny yn the logge whatsever they done; 
 " Whatsever thou heryst, or syste hem do, 
 "Telle hyt no mon, wheresever thou go." 
 
 —Regius, M.S. 
 
 This plainly refers to the concealment of trade mys- 
 teries, and an entry of 1405-6, "One runnyng bar for 
 the door of the lodge, 5d.," which is supplied from Exeter, 
 may possibly have a similar meaning. The masons 
 at Catterick Church, in 1421, were to be provided with 
 a "luge" of four rooms; and those engaged to build 
 Walberswick Steeple, 1426, with a "hows" to work, 
 eat, drink, and lay in. A "loygye lathamorum" was 
 attached to Christchurch, Canterbury, in 1429. A 
 "loge" was erected in the cemetery garth at Durham in 
 1432; and a "warden of the lodge of masons" at York 
 Cathedral is mentioned in 1470. 
 
 The "tylying of iiii. lodgys for the fremasons and 
 for the brycke-hewers" is met with under 1553, and 
 
156 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 lastly, as regards England, in 1542-3. the freemasons 
 employed to build the Coventry Cross were, at their own 
 charge, to procure, find, and make "an house or lodge 
 for masons to work in' ' during the process of its erection. 
 
 In Scotland, the earliest use of the word is associated 
 with the burgh of Aberdeen, where, in 1483, we find 
 enumerated the fines payable by the " masownys of the 
 luge," from which they were to be entirely excluded 
 after a third offence. The "work" and " recreatioun " 
 to take place "in the commoun luge," are specified in a 
 statu; e for the " Maister Masoun of the College Kirk of 
 St. Giles, Edinburgh, 1491." The Indenture, however, 
 "betwix Dunde and its Masoun, a.d. 1536," is particu- 
 larly interesting, as containing the earliest authentic 
 instance of a Scottish lodge adopting the name of a 
 saint, namely, "Our Lady [i.e., the Virgin Mary's] luge 
 of Dunde." The "masoun craft" falling within the 
 purview of the above statute probably re-appear as the 
 " Ludge of Dundie," which was a party to the St. Clair 
 Charter of 1628. 
 
 The origin of masonic guilds is wrapped in much 
 obscurity. One — the present Masons' Company of the 
 City of London — certainly existed in 1375, and in- 
 fer entially at a far earlier date. A fuller account, how- 
 ever, of this body will be given in another place. Two 
 curious coincidences have been connected with the above 
 year (1375). The first, that the earliest copy of the 
 manuscript constitutions (Regius MS.) refers to the 
 customs of that period; the second, that the formation 
 of a wonderful society, occasioned by a combination of 
 masons undertaking not to work without an advance of 
 wages, when summoned from several counties by writs 
 of Edward III., to rebuild and enlarge Windsor Castle, 
 under the direction of William of Wykeham, has been 
 placed at the same date. It is said also that these masons 
 agreed on certain signs and tokens by which they might 
 know one another, and render mutual assistance against 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 
 
 157 
 
 impressment ; and further agreed not to work unless ^ree, 
 and on their own terms. Hence they called themselves 
 Free-Masons. In the opinion of Mr. Wyatt Pap worth, 
 " there is probability about much of this, but fhe believes) 
 no authority." The same writer adds — "The earliest of 
 such writs of impress in my notes is dated 1333, and one 
 exceptional document is worth mentioning, of about the 
 date 1353, it being a special protection given to the work- 
 men — ten masons, ten carpenters, and their servants — 
 
 COAT OF ARMS AND MODERN B.ADGE. 
 
 engaged upon the erection of the church at Stratford-on- 
 Avon, until the edifice should be comipleted." 
 
 At Canterbury, in 1429, under Archbishop Chichely, 
 Wm. Molash, the Prior of Christchurch, shows in his 
 accounts that a livery of murray cloth was given to the 
 magister, custos, sixteen lathami, and three apprentices 
 "de la loygye Lathamorum." This may, indeed, have 
 been a guild of masons, but the indications appear to 
 me more consistent with the idea that it was merely a 
 permanent staff of workmen attached to the priory in 
 
1 58 History of Freemasonry- 
 
 regular pav. "It is certain," says Mr. Papworth, 
 "that there were fellowships, or guilds of masons, before 
 the middle of the fourteenth century, but whether the 
 one in London had any communication with other guilds 
 then existing in the other corporate towns, or whether 
 there was a supreme guild, which led to a systematic 
 working, is still without elucidation (1887). All the 
 documents have led me to believe that there was not 
 any supreme guild in England, however probable the 
 existence of such a body may appear. Thus the 'orders,' 
 supplied to the masons at work in York Cathedral in 1352, 
 give but a poor notion of there being then in that city 
 anything like a guild or fellowship claiming authority in 
 virtue of a charter, supposed to have been given to it 
 by Athelstan in 926, not only over that city but over all 
 England." 
 
 The ?tIasons' Conipan}- of London was represented on 
 the Court of Common Council in 1375, and it is also re- 
 corded that Regulations for the Trade of Masons were 
 ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of London 
 so earl)' as 1356. On the latter date, twelve of the :nost 
 experienced members were supposed to inform the IMayor 
 and his assessors as to the customs of the trade, but it is 
 very improbable that the masons should themselves 
 propose that if a mason failed to fulfil his contract certain 
 men of his trade who acted as his sureties should be 
 bound to fulfil his task; or that the masons and carpenters 
 (on a different occasion) should have volunteered to take 
 oath before the Mayor and Aldermen of London that thev 
 would do their duty in their trade (Lib. Ciis. 100). 
 
 That there was a guild of masons at Norwich in 13S9 
 may, I think, be safely inferred from certain passages 
 in Mr. Smith's collection (Eng. Gilds 39, 41). 
 
 The gathering together of artisans in the various craft 
 guilds and fraternities was not always a matter of free will. 
 If the masons of London had alreadv possessed a guild 
 or company in 1356, it is scarcely likely that regulations 
 
Medicpval Operative Masonry. 
 
 159 
 
 for the trade would only have been enacted in that year. 
 Hence I am unable to agree with Mr. Papworth that the 
 existence of masonic s:uilds before the middle of the 
 
 ANCIENT TEMPLAR EOUIPMENTS. 
 
 fourteenth century is not open to dispute, though I am 
 entirely with him in the belief, that not only is there an 
 absence of proof with respect to a supreme guild, but 
 
i6o History of Freemasonry. 
 
 that all the evidence we possess points in quite an oppo- 
 site direction. 
 
 As to the secrets (apart from any possible symbolism) 
 possessed by the operative masons of the Middle Ages, 
 all trades even of the present day have their own, and 
 the very word "mystery," so often used, indicates the 
 jealousy with which each craft guarded the arcana of its 
 trade. A high authority tells us — "I am disposed to 
 believe that just as when one sense is extinguished in 
 any person the rest are stimulated to preternatural 
 acuteness, so in the ages with which we are concerned, 
 when literature was so scanty and the means of occupa- 
 tion was sounnvaried, the single art which was developed 
 in any notable degree was studied with such intensity and 
 concentration as to bring about results which we, in our 
 wider means of thought, study, and application, find it 
 difficult if not impossible to rival. ' ' There was a double 
 motive with the medieval masons for not disclosing their 
 trade secrets, for besides the mystery which mankind is 
 so prone to effect, they really had something both to 
 learn and conceal; and the principles on which their 
 style of building was founded, were unknown to the 
 greatest professors of architecture that appeared after 
 the Reformation. 
 
 It has been maintained that the knowledge of the 
 "master law" was not communicated to all workmen 
 even in the Middle Ages, but was strictly guarded as a 
 profound secret possessed only by the most eminent of 
 their number, who were honored as chief masters. In- 
 deed, Professor Kugler informs us, in his History of Art, 
 that a Bishop was murdered at Utrecht by a master 
 mason, because the son of the latter had communicated 
 to him the architectural master secret. The incident is 
 also recorded by a native historian, who places the date 
 at 1099, and states that the prelate had extracted from 
 the young man the mystery {arcanum magisterium) of 
 
THE APPRENTICE PILLAR, 
 Roslin ChapeL 
 
MelicEval Operative Masonry. 
 
 i6i 
 
 laying the foundation of a church. (Beka, Episcop. Ul- 
 iraject). 
 
 With the IFa/nzeic/zew of the Steinmetzen may be com- 
 pared the grotesques of the early British masons. These 
 symbols or caricatures, though common to scvdpture, 
 
 
 
 THE TEMPLARS FAITH AND EMBUEM. 
 
 painting, and carving, are, perhaps, most usual in the 
 carved misereres in conventual churches. The satire 
 which some of them embody is chiefly to be referred to 
 the jealousies of the secular and regular clergy one against 
 the other, and of both against the mendicant friars. The 
 symbols occur in all ages, and in all works of art. 
 
1 62 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 A fox seems to have been a verj^ common device for 
 a friar, who is often represented preaching to geese, thus 
 including the stupidity of those that Usten to him in the 
 same device with the craft of the obnoxious friar. 
 
 The superintendents of Enghsh buildings in the Middle 
 Ages are referred to under numerous designations. Of 
 the term Architect there was apparently no use, and it 
 seems to have only been introduced into English books 
 about the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In a 
 writ, dated 1199, EHas de Derham is styled Ingeniator, 
 and allowed ten marcs for repairs of the King's Houses at 
 Westminster. This word, though translated "Architect," 
 may be properly regarded as signifying "Engineer." 
 Elias was a canon of Salisbury, a prima fundatione rector 
 juit novae jahricae per 2^ annos; et Robertus cementarius 
 rexit per 23 an)ios. The connection between the two men, 
 one of whom was rector and the other rexit, is, how- 
 ever, difficult to comprehend, unless, indeed, the canon 
 was succeeded by the cementarius. 
 
 A term in use for several years after the Conquest was 
 Supervisor, which has generally been translated Sur- 
 veyor or Overseer. But the ofihce, though changed 
 to surveyor in later times, was never equivalent to that 
 of surveyor at the present day; nor had a large number 
 of the ecclesiastics and noblemen who held it any just 
 claim to be considered as the architects of the buildings 
 which were erected under their supervision. In 1356, 
 William of Wykeham was appointed "Supervisor of 
 the King's Works at Windsor," and the next year his 
 salary was enlarged to two shillings a day, "until he 
 should obtain ecclesiastical preferment." Wykeham 
 was empowered by his first patent to impress all sorts of 
 artificers, and to provide stone, timber, and all other 
 materials and carriages. The second patent extended 
 his authority, as, beside the appointment and disposition 
 of all workmen, he was to provide carpenters, masons, 
 and other artificers, stone, timber, etc. ; also to hold leet 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 
 
 163 
 
 ana other courts, pleas of trespass and misdemeanors, 
 and to inquire of the King's liberties, rights, and all 
 things appertaining thereto. 
 
 From the foregoing it has been suggested that the real 
 meaning of the term vSupervisor, as used in these and 
 other old records, would be best conveyed to us by the 
 
 a^P~'^fe=r'*i^£J3^J!Li 
 
 THE FIVE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 word "Steward," and the authority of Shakspeare has 
 been cited in support of this contention. It may also 
 be remarked that the Court Lector View of Frankpledge, 
 where every person at the age of twelve years had to 
 swear obedience to the King, was held before the Steward 
 of the Leet. The due observance of this custom by the 
 
164 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 masons is enjoined in their Manuscript Constitutions, 
 where also we meet with the tradition that "St. Alban 
 was a worthy Knight and Steward of the King's house- 
 hold, and had government of his realm, and also of making 
 the Town Walls, and loved masons well." 
 
 At Croyland, the Magister Operum was the first of 
 the six greater officers. The S.^cristan (or sometimes 
 the treasurer) held this post. 
 
 Besides the oifice of Master of the Work, those of 
 Keeper of the Fabric and Keeper of the Work are 
 occasionally met with in conjunction with it. In Scot- 
 land, Sir William Bruce of Balcaskie is mentioned as " His 
 Majesty's Surveyor," and also as "Master of the King's 
 AVorks," 1670-9. The terms " masoun wrycht" (car- 
 penter) and " maister of wark" occur in the Acts of the 
 Parliaments of Scotland. 
 
 A very rare title, that of Director or Master, was 
 held by Elias de Derham, the King's Ingeniator, already' 
 referred to. 
 
 In the King's household there was an office for carrying 
 out royal works, and with three exceptions the desig- 
 nation of Clericus Operationum does not appear 
 to have been used by any person in another employment. 
 The earliest Clerk of the \A'orks was appointed in 1241, 
 after which there is a long list of these officers, and on the 
 1 2th of July, 1389, Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet, was nomi- 
 nated to the post. About the title of Devizor there is 
 some confusion, but this officer had the same remunera- 
 tion as a Clerk of the Works. 
 
 In the opinion of Wyatt Papworth, "the Master 
 Masons were generally the architects during the mediaeval 
 period in England. The Master of the A\^orks may have 
 been so, and probably the Clerk of the Works was also 
 in the latest times." 
 
 It is a very noteworthy fact that the master mason, 
 though obtained occasionally on the spot, appears to 
 have been sought for in some distant locality, similarly 
 
MeduTval Operative Masonry. 165 
 
 to the architects of the present day. Among other 
 instances of this practice, a cementarius, named Durandus, 
 employed from 12 14 to 1251 upon Rouen Cathedral, is 
 known to have been sent for Sy, and to have obeyed 
 the summons of, the Abbot of Beaulieu, in Hampshire. 
 
 Many of the master masons appear to have amassed 
 wealth, and to have had lands at their disposal. They 
 seem to have insisted upon having comfortable habita- 
 tions while at work, to say nothing of a gown, furred 
 or otherwise, a practice recorded as early as 1321, and 
 which is known to have been common claim or reward 
 in the Middle Ages to household retainers. Tunics, 
 aprons, gloves, and clogs, or shoes, were found for the 
 operatives of the secondary and lower classes. 
 
 More ought to be known of William Suthis — "by art 
 in masonry exquesit" — master mason of Windsor Castle, 
 citizen and goldsmith of London, who died October 5th, 
 1 625. This is taken from his epitaph in Lambeth Church. 
 He was succeeded at Windsor by Nicholas Stone, master 
 mason to the King, 1620. 
 
 In the eleventh century, Robertus, cementarius, was 
 employed at St. Albans, and is said to have been the 
 most skillful mason of his time, 1077. In the twelfth 
 century, Arnold, a lay brother of Croyland, under Odo 
 the Prior, 11 13, is styled "of the art of masonry arti- 
 ficiossisimus magister." "Artifices" were summoned 
 to Canterbury for a consultation, from which William 
 of Sens (a layman) came out the "Magister", 1173, a 
 term also applied to his successor, William the English- 
 man (possibly a monk), supposed to be identical with 
 William for Walter) of Coventry, who is said to have 
 designed the cathedral of that name, 1187-99. It is 
 not clear whether "master of the work" or "master 
 mason' ' should be applied to these two men. The present 
 choir of Lincoln Cathedral is ascribed to Gaufridus de 
 Noiers, also mentioned as "nobilis fabricse constructori," 
 in connection with a chapel in the same edifice, 1 1 89-1 200. 
 
1 66 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 At the commencement of the thirteenth century the 
 Abbot of St. Alban's assembled a "number of chosen 
 cementarii, of whom M. [M agister or Master] Hugo de 
 Goldcliff was the chief." The London Assize, 121 2, 
 besides "cementarii," has " sculptores lapidum liberorum' ' 
 — words of very exceptional use. Robertus, cementarius 
 {ante 112,) ruled {rexit) the works at Salisbury Cathe- 
 dral for twenty-five years from 1 2 1 7. John of Gloucester, 
 the King's Mason, 1257-60, was rew^arded by Henrj^ III. 
 with his freedom for life from all tollage and tolls through- 
 out the realm. There are notices of seven cementarii 
 between 1277 and 1300, including M. Michael of Canter- 
 bury, who prepared the foundations of the Royal Chapel 
 at Westminster in 1292, M. Richard de Crundale, and 
 Richard de Gaynisburgh, of Lincoln Cathedral. At 
 the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century, the terms "magister cementarii," with 
 his "sociis" or fellows, are met with. Also " mar- 
 morarius," and a new word "latomus" (used in an in 
 scription at Paris as early as 1257), which afterwards 
 occurs in all manner of spellings. A "masoune," in old 
 French, is to erect a house "de pere fraunche;" and at 
 somewhat later dates, a " mestre mason de franche pere' ' 
 (1350), and a mason " de fraunche pere ou de grosse 
 pere" (1360), are referred to in the statutes. 
 
 Druing the fourteenth century, Henricus [oh. 13 19), 
 surnamed latomus from his trade, was largely employed 
 at Evesham, and is said to have been Sacrist of the abbey 
 there. Lathomus (or idem sonans) is constantly found, 
 and seems to have been alike applied to the superin- 
 tendents of buildings, the men who executed cutwork, 
 the lesser operatives required for rougher work, and even 
 to those who labored at the quarry. Of this period are 
 the well-known works at Ely Cathedral, carried out under 
 the direction of John de Wisbeach and Alan de Walsing- 
 ham, both monks. At SaHsbury, in 1334, an agreement 
 with Richard de Farleigh, lathomus and cementarius. 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 167 
 
 stipulates that he shall be entrusted with the custody 
 of the fabric, and superintend, direct, and appoint useful 
 and faithful masons and plaisterers, thus proving him 
 to have been both the master mason and the designer. 
 The chief mason at the Tower of London, 1336, and chief 
 overseer of King Edward III.'s works in all his castles 
 south of the Trent, had a robe yearly, and i^ per day. 
 Regulations for the trade of masons were ordained at a 
 congregation of the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of 
 London in 1356. John Gibbon (ancestor of the historian) 
 was the marmorarius or architect of Edward III., and 
 left the strong and stately castle of Queenborough, which 
 guarded the entrance to the Medway, as a monument of 
 his skill. In 1376, the masons composing the London 
 company of that name were also known as the "ffree- 
 masons." Will. Humbervyle, styled Magister Operis 
 and a "free master mason," was engaged by Merton 
 College, Oxford, in 1377. A "mason free" is named in 
 the accounts of Pershore (Wore.) in 1381. Henry de 
 Yeveley — present as a member of the mason's trade at 
 the "congregation" in 1356 — was director of the King's 
 works at the Palace, and master mason of the Abbey 
 of Westminster, 1388-95. He is described by Stow 
 (1598) as "Freemason to Edwarde the thirde, Richarde 
 the second, and Henry the fourth, who deceased 1400." 
 Yeveley and Stephen Lote, "Citiens et Magons de Ix)n- 
 dre," executed the tomb of Anne of Bohemia, wife of 
 Richard II., in 1395. Of the following year, June 14th, 
 1396, is the passage, Viginti et quatuor lathomus vocatos 
 fjre Maceons, et viginti et quatuor lathomus vocatos ligiers, 
 signifying (in the opinion of Wyatt Papworth) "masons 
 called free (stone) masons, and masons called layers or 
 setters. ' ' 
 
 In the fifteenth century, the master mason at the build- 
 ing of the last portion of the nave of Westminster Abbey 
 was M. WilHam Colchester, 1400-15, when he was sent 
 in a similar capacity to York Cathedral — "assigned to 
 
1 68 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 that fabric by letters patent from the King. " In a writ 
 of 1 41 5 are the words, "petras vocatas ragge calces et 
 liberas petras" — here, as fraunche pere or free stone, is 
 commonly supposed to mean stone that cut freely, the 
 substitution of liber for fraunche (unless merely a literal 
 translation), may be held to indicate some connection 
 between the freemason and the freedom of a trade. 
 Thomas Hyneley, cementarius, contracted for a portion 
 of the cloisters at Durham, 141 6. There is a notice of a 
 guild cementarii in 1422. In 142 1 M. John Long was 
 master mason at York, and in 1423 William Waddeswyk 
 was the guardian (warden) or second master mason. 
 The Fabric Rolls of Exeter Cathedral, under the year 
 1426, show the following: — 
 
 " Johi Harry fremason opanti ibim p septiam 3s. 
 
 " Johi Umfray fremason p hanc septiam nl. q. 
 
 hie recessit." 
 
 In 1427, John Wolston (clerk of the works) and John 
 Harry, freemasons, were sent from Exeter to Beere to 
 purchase stone. At St. Albans a tombstone records the 
 death, 1430, of a " Latomus in arte," who was also 
 esquire to Richard II. John Wode, masoun, 1435, con- 
 tracted to build the tower of the Abbey Church of St. 
 Edmundsbury, "in all mannere of thinges that longe 
 to free masounry;" and, in the same year, William Hor- 
 wode, freemason, contracted to build Fotheringay Church, 
 "by oversight of masters of the same craft," and "by 
 oversight of master masons of the country.' ' The wages 
 of a "frank mason" are specified in a Statute of 1444-5 
 (28, Hen. VI., c. xii.). A " Serjeaunt of the King's 
 Masonrye" within the realm of England, is exempted in 
 an A^t of Resumption, 1464. John Stowell, " ffreemason," 
 1470, contracted for the frontal of an altar at Wells. It 
 was customary at York for the person next in rank to the 
 master mason to receive that office when it became 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 169 
 
 vacant, and M. William Colchester above named, an 
 outsider, was assaulted and nearly killed by the "stone 
 cutters" who had been placed under his direction. 
 William Hyndeley, however, warden of the Lodge of 
 Masons in 1472, became master mason in due course. 
 In 1485-88, a freemason made a cross in the churchyard 
 at Wigloft in Lincolnshire. The Statutes of Wells 
 Cathedral record, Oct. 23, 1490, the appointment, with 
 a salary, of " W. Atwodde, ffremason, pro suo bono et 
 diligenti servicio in arte sua de ffremasonry. " In 1494, 
 William Este, a freemason of Oxford, was engaged on 
 works at Wodestock Hall. In the following year, 1495, 
 a free mason, master carpenter, and rough mason were 
 to take per day 4d. with diet, between Easter and Mich- 
 aelmas; while master masons and master carpenters, 
 taking charge of work, and having under them six men, 
 were to receive ^d. (i i. Hen. VII., c. xxii.) The actual 
 word "freemason" here appears for the first time in the 
 Statutes of the Realm, and whether conveying the same 
 meaning as mason "de franche pcro" in the Acts of 1350 
 and 1360, or as "frank mason" in the Statute of 1444-5, 
 or partaking of the signification of both terms, cannot be 
 positively determined. 
 
 In the sixteenth centvry, the term freemason becomes 
 more common. John Hylmer and William Vertue, 
 freemasons, 1507, contracted to execute the groined 
 vaulting to the choir of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 
 for £700; and afterwards, 151 2, Vertue assisted William 
 Este to build Corpus Christi College, Oxford. About 
 1509, Robert Jenyns, Robert Vertue, and John Lobins 
 are called "Ye King's Mr. Masons," when estimating 
 for a tomb for Henry VII. During the erection of Christ 
 Church College, Oxford, 1512-17, the master and over- 
 seer of the works were priests; John x\dams was free- 
 mason, and Thomas Watlington, warden of the car- 
 penters. At King's College Chapel, Cambridge, about 
 1 513, John Wast ell, the master mason, with Henry 
 
I 70 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Semesk, one of the wardens of the work, contracted for 
 some of the vaulting. By an indenture of the same date 
 it was stipulated that the former should "kepe contin- 
 ually 60 fre-masons workyng." " Rec. of the good man 
 Stefford, ffremason, for the holle stepyll wt Tymbr, Iron, 
 and Glas, xxxviij/," occurs in the records of a London 
 parish, under 1535. John Multon, freemason, had granted 
 to him in 1536, by the prior and convent of Bath, the 
 "office of master of all their works commonl}^ called 
 fremasonry, when it should be vacant." While the 
 Great Hall at Hampton Court was in course of erection, 
 1 53 1, Multon was master mason at is, per day; Wm. 
 Reynolds, warden, at 55.; the setters at 33-. 6d.; and the 
 lodgeman (a curious expression) at 33-. 4c?. per week. 
 In 1537 the existing Masons' Company of London is 
 described as "The Company of ffree Masons," a title 
 it retained until 1656. Thomas Phillips, of Bristol, 
 freemason (and another), contracted, 1543, to rebuild 
 the Coventry Cross for £187 6s. Sd. A distinction is 
 drawn in the building accounts of Corpus Christi College, 
 Cambridge, 1578, between the "rough" and the "free" 
 masons. 
 
 Mason is the word generally used in the Privy Purse 
 expenses of Henry VII. and his successor; also master 
 mason at Windsor, and freemason for making images. 
 The latter term, as above noticed, will be found in a 
 statute of 1495. It also occurs in these of 1515 (7, Hen. 
 VIII., c. v.) and 1548 (2 and 3, Edw. VI., c. xv.). Though 
 in the later Act of 1562-3 (5, EH?., c. iv.) all classes of 
 workmen in the mason's trade are included under 
 "artificers" and "labourers." Thereafter, mason and 
 freemason are terms in constant use down to the present 
 time, whicli will render unnecessary my doing more than 
 sub join a few of the later examples that occur in my notes. 
 
 A transcript of the certificate of "John Wincester, 
 Ma'-ter frie mason, 1581," is given in the Melrose MS. 
 of 1674. But the earliest existing copy of the Legend 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 171 
 
 of the Craft (or Manuscript Constitutions of the masonic 
 body) which contains the word Freemason, is the York 
 roll of (about) the year i6oo. In older transcripts, or 
 readings, the term used is true (or trew) mason. The 
 grant of incorporation of the Company of Free Masons, 
 Carpenters, Joiners, and Slaters of the City of Oxford, is 
 dated October 31, 1604. In 1610, by an order of the 
 Justices of the Peace, "a free mason which can draw his 
 plot, work, and set accordingly, having charge over 
 others," was considered worth i2d. a day before Michael- 
 mas, and lod. after it; while "a rough mason which 
 can take charge over others," was worth lod. and Sd. 
 during those seasons respectively. The "frie mesones" 
 — meaning, no doubt, the free-men masons — "of Ednr." 
 are referred to in the minutes of the I/)dge of Edinburgh, 
 December 27, 1636. The Lodge of Scoon is described 
 in its Charter as " ane frie Lodge," December 24, 1658. 
 "Lodge" and "Freemasonry" are mentioned in the 
 final "Charge" of Sloane MvS. 3,323 (a.d. 1659). Harleian 
 MS. 2,054, of (about) 1660, is headed "The ffree Masons 
 Orders and Constitutions"; while in the same writing, 
 and apparently of the same date, we meet with a form 
 of oath relating to the "words & signes of a free mason." 
 In the Melrose MS. of 1674 (already cited), "frie mason" 
 — which occurs very frequently — is clearly used as 
 synonymous with freeman-mason; and "frie-men" as an 
 equivalent for frie-masons. 
 
 It will be seen that the word "freestone," or its 
 equivalent in French or Latin, was employed from the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century (121 2), and the con- 
 clusion has been drawn that the term "freemason" itself 
 is clearly derived from the mason who worked freestone, 
 in contradistinction to the mason who was occupied in 
 rough work. But it has been shown that the earliest use 
 of the English word "freemason" (at present known to 
 us) is associated with the freedom of a London Company 
 (1376), and it is from a similar (or in part identical) class 
 
172 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of persons, and not from the masons who worked free- 
 stone, that I imagine the existing term "freemason" to 
 have been inherited. 
 
 Two terms of trade, magisier lapicida, and liberi mura- 
 tores, though very freely used by wTiters of former years, 
 were nowhere met with by Wyatt Papworth in docu- 
 ments relating to England. 
 
 The Fabric Rolls of several cathedrals still exist in 
 manuscript form, and it is possible that many parchments 
 relating to the abbeys lie hidden in the recesses of our 
 great national repositories. The yiotanda I have suc- 
 ceeded in collecting, therefore, only amount to a minute 
 fraction of the vast number that would probably be 
 available if these documents were published or inves- 
 tigated. 
 
 There are also extant numerous covenants with masons, 
 who are all styled (it would seem) indifferently, Cemen- 
 tarii, Latomi, Masounes, and, from the closing years of 
 the fourteenth century, Fte?maso (.> — possibly at first 
 merely a new term, but in later use as designating men 
 who belonged to a new for previously unheard of) organ- 
 ization. 
 
 The clergy are well represented in mediaeval archi- 
 tecture by Derham, Wvkeham, and Walsingham, more 
 especially the last named, as the record of his work is so 
 complete. 
 
 At York, and doubtless in other cathedrals, theie was 
 a permanent staff of workmen, which in case of necessity 
 could be strengthened by temporarily engaging masons 
 of the town. 
 
 Three distinct methods, therefore, must be ascribed to 
 the English builders of the Middle Ages. The first, 
 where the designer was the Cementarins, or Latomus, and 
 in still later times Freemason ; the second, where the 
 architect, or superintendent, was an ecclesiastic; and 
 the third, where there was a sort of dual control, in which 
 the clergy (or certain representatives of that bodv). 
 
Mediceval Operative Masonry. 173 
 
 together with their master masons, designed and worked 
 out the plans between them. 
 
 With respect to continental Europe, there is in the lirst 
 place the theory of \'iollet le Due, who considers Clugny 
 to have been the centre and even the controller of civiliza- 
 tion in the eleventh century. Other writers of eminence 
 are of similar opinion, and believe that the original 
 design of the great buildings constructed during the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries emanated from the 
 Abbey of Clugny, or from men trained in that monastery. 
 Professor Hayter Lewis observes ; — ' ' Clugny was 
 founded in 910, and to show its enormous influence, it 
 had in the middle of the twelfth century 2,000 houses, 
 mostly French. The Cistercian Order was founded in 
 1098, and soon had extensive possessions in England, 
 from their great abbeys in Yorkshire down to the beau- 
 tiful Tintern, and one can see, therefore, at once, that 
 both these great Orders, together with that of the Carth- 
 usians, which was founded in 1084, must liave had an 
 immense power wherever exercised.'' 
 
 Passing, however, for the present, from the influence 
 of the monastic orders, to which, as well as to the learned 
 and interesting remarks of my friend, Professor Hayter 
 Lewis, on the same topic, I shall return in the "study" 
 of masons' marks, let me, as before, present my own 
 version of the facts connected with foreign builders, so 
 far as I have been able to discover them. 
 
 The usual term in France was " Master of the Works," 
 and is often found on tombs. The figures of the maitres 
 des oeuvres {magistri operum, etc.) are frequently repre- 
 sented, and always in lay habits, with square and com- 
 passes. The tombs of " Maitre" Alexandre de Ber- 
 neval (St. Ouen), and "Maitre" Hues Libergier (Rheims) 
 a''e very beautiful. 
 
 The same expression was used in Italy, but out of a long 
 list {127) of Spanish architects (i.e., builders or con- 
 
I 74 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 tractors) collected by Street, he only finds three who were 
 ecclesiastics. 
 
 In Germany, as we learn from the Strasburg "Constitu- 
 tions" of 1459: — "If any master accepts a work in con- 
 tract, and makes a design for the same * * * he shall 
 execute it * * * so that nothing be altered." 
 
 But the "design" contemplated may, indeed, have 
 only amounted to a specification. 
 
 It is, however, suificientlj- clear that while in many 
 instances the architects of the great ecclesiastical build- 
 ings on the Continent may have been numbered among 
 the clergy, the majority were laymen. 
 
 In Italy, after the invasion of the Goths, architecture 
 continued in a depressed state nearly eight hundred 
 years, until, at the close of the fourteenth century an 
 academy was founded at Florence, which produced many 
 great and noble men of genius who once more restored 
 the art. 
 
 The Italian architects certainly existed as a pro- 
 fessional class, and the list of the great masters of the art, 
 most of whose names have been preserved, may, perhaps, 
 be said to close with Bernini, who fiourislied in the se\-en- 
 teenth century. 
 
 Comacenus is given as the (late) Latin term for a native 
 or inhabitant of Como, and two laws in the Lombardic 
 code of Rothar mention the Magisiri Comacini {ante 105) 
 as the builders of that period. 
 
 The late Mr. Fergusson, in his History of Architecture, 
 remarks : — " At a time when writing was unknown among 
 the laity, and not one mason in a thousand could either 
 read or write, it was evidently essential that some ex- 
 pedient should be hit upon, by which a mason traveling 
 to his work might claim the assistance and hospitality 
 of his brother masons on the road, and by means of which 
 he might take his rank at once, on reaching the lodge, 
 without going through tedious examinations or giving 
 practical proof of his skill. For this purpose a set of 
 
MedicBval Operative Masonry. 175 
 
 secret signs was invented, which enabled all masons to 
 recognize one another as such, and by which also each 
 man could make known his grade to those of similar 
 
 
 FRAGMKNT OH ECVPTIAN I'APVRl'S. 
 
 rank, without further trouble than a manual sign, or the 
 utterance of some recognized password. Other trades 
 had something of the same sort .-. .-. the truth of the 
 
I 76 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 matter is, that the very pre-eminence of the great masonic 
 lodges in Germany in the fourteenth century destroyed 
 the art. When Freemasonry became so powerful as to 
 usurp to itself the designing as well as the execution of 
 churches and other buildings, there was an end of true 
 art, though accompanied by the production of some of the 
 most wonderful specimens of stone-cutting and of con- 
 structive skill that were ever produced. 
 
 Here we find it laid dowTi by an architectural historian 
 of the first rank — (a) that the necessities of their handi- 
 craft imposed on the mediaeval masons the invention ot 
 signs and passwords ; (b) that the other trades had some- 
 what similar customs; and (c) that the Masonry of 
 Germany in the fourteenth century was also Freemasonry, 
 and the German masons of such period were Freemasons. 
 
 To which may be replied — (c) the use of signs and 
 passwords by the English masons of the Middle Ages 
 is pure matter of conjecture, and becomes probable or 
 the reverse, in accordance with our belief or disbelief in 
 the customs of the existing Freemasons having been 
 inherited from those ancient times. But that they were 
 invented under the pressure of necessity, either for the pur- 
 poses last stated above, or by a combination of masons 
 in the time of Edward III., there is no evidence to sup- 
 port; (b) that there were other trades (in Britain) 
 practising similar customs is open to much doubt; and 
 (c) the non-identity of British Freemasonry with German 
 and French (or other Continental) masonry, admits of no 
 doubt at all. That the mediaeval artisans, however, in 
 some foreign countries had peculiar methods of recogniz- 
 ing each other when traveling in search of work, is indis- 
 putable. Such a custom stiil exists in the Companionage, 
 and prevailed until quite lately (if, indeed, it is altogether 
 extinct) among the Steinmetzen. Yet it cannot be too 
 strongly or too often insisted upon, that the pure and 
 ancient Freemasonry of Britain is sui generis, and pos- 
 sesses few points of affinity with the old Masonic customs 
 
A RECORD CERTIFICATE, 
 From Steel Print, 22x28 by Macoy Co., Copyrighted 
 
Mcdirrral Operative A'lasoni]'. 177 
 
 of France or Germany — so far at least as any knowledge 
 of these has come down to us. 
 
 But the period assigned b}' Fergusson as that of the 
 decline of true art may be confidently accepted. "After 
 the fourteenth century" (to employ the words of Viollet 
 le Due), "the architect lost his importance. Every kind 
 of tradesman was called in to do his share, without one 
 controlling head, and deterioration followed as a matter 
 of course.' ' Architecture yielded to the spirit of the age. 
 Men could no more build the old cathedrals than they 
 could paint the old pictures, or carve the old statues. 
 The hand of the English sculptor had grown stiff, and the 
 forms from his chisel no longer vied in grace with the 
 productions of the Italian artist. During the French 
 wars and the Wars of the Roses, England went back in 
 many ways from the refinement of the fourteenth century. 
 The population dwindled, and the arts lost their vigor 
 and beauty. 
 
 In North Britain the deterioration of the arts was even 
 greater. The battle of Bannockburn drove from Scot- 
 land the very elements of its growing civilization. The 
 artisans, who at that time were mainly English, either 
 retired from or were driven out of the country. No 
 cathedral was built after the death of David I. in 1153, 
 and almost every monastery w^as founded before the 
 death of Alexander III. in 1286. 
 
 After the Reformation there was no yearning for new 
 churches. The builders almost died out, and with them 
 (to a great extent) died the skill in arch and vault con- 
 struction, which was, perhaps, the leading characteristic 
 of the superior craftsmen of the Middle Ages. The 
 Gothic Style, however, never quite died out, and Inigo 
 Jones himself required a second visit to Italy before he 
 could thoroughly abandon the use of the Pointed Arch. 
 But the days of the style were numbered, although it 
 still lingered in remote country districts until the revived 
 
lyS - History of Freemasonry. 
 
 feeling for niedia'\'al art which sprang up in the time of 
 Horace Walpole and Batty Langley. 
 
 There is also good ground for belief — though the sub- 
 ject will be pursued under other topics of inquiry, and 
 can only be hinted at within m}' present limits — that 
 masonry as a speculative science, declined pari passu 
 with masonry as an operative art. The meaning of a 
 great part of the symbolism of our present Freemasonry 
 has been forgotten. But the vital spark of tradition has 
 been transmitted without being extinguished. "Like 
 the electric fire, transmitted through the living chain, 
 hand grasping hand, there has been no break, the trans- 
 mission has gone on." From North and South Britain 
 speculative masonry radiated to all parts; and while in 
 the one instance — Scotland — the ancient symbolism of 
 the craft had probablv descended to the level of the 
 ordinary artisan; in the other instance — England — 
 more of the old framework seems to have been preserved. 
 Upon the whole, therefore, we shall, I think, be safely 
 warranted in assuming that the symbolism we now 
 possess as Freemasons has come down to us in all its 
 main features, from ver\r early times, and that it origi- 
 nated during the splendor of ?tIedi:eA"al Operative 
 Masonry, and not in its decline. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ENGLISH EAWS OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE FREE- 
 MASONS. 
 
 At first sight these long rows 0} statutes and ordinances 
 seetn the coldest things in the world, the most devoid of 
 life. They are not even mummies or skeletons, they 
 look as if they were nothing more than the dust of old 
 bones. But we soon grow accustomed to their language, 
 and, under the apparently cold dust, we end by finding 
 sparks of life. — JussERAND. 
 
 Although the Story of the Guild and Legend of the 
 Craft will be related in the two following chapters, I 
 must so far anticipate as to treat of both these subjects 
 within the limits of the present one. 
 
 The oldest Masonic writing we possess — the Regius 
 MS. — a poem dating from about the first quarter of the 
 gfteenth century, contains allusions to an assembly fre- 
 quented by great lords, the sheriff of the county, the 
 mayor of the city, knights, squires and aldermen. At- 
 tendance was incumbent on the masons, who were re- 
 quired to swear allegiance to the King, and to answer for 
 their defaults, the authority of the sheriff being held in 
 reserve to punish them if found contumacious. 
 
 Similar injunctions are met with in later manuscripts 
 of the Society, and have in either instance been very 
 fancifully interpreted by enthusiastic Freemasons — un- 
 learned in the law. Indeed, so much so, as to recall the 
 somewhat parallel cases of Tertullian and Justin Martyr, 
 who, possessed of equal self-confidence, entered into con- 
 troversy with the Jews, and assumed to come to right 
 conclusions, albeit they were ignorant not only of the 
 language of the Jews, but of their learning and history, 
 
 179 
 
z 
 
 3 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. i8i 
 
 For the question that most naturally arises — and the 
 solution of which is not to be attained by mere random 
 conjecture, but requires a very patient study of the legal 
 and judicial procedure of the Middle Ages — is whether 
 there was anything in the laws of the land, as then (or at 
 any previous time) existing, which would form some 
 foundation in fact for the references that are made in the 
 masonic poem and the Manuscript Constitutions to this 
 "Assembly." A glance at the system of Frankpledge, 
 a remarkable feature of the Anglo-Saxon polity — con- 
 tinued and perhaps enlarged by the Norman Kings — 
 which attained its highest development under the Ange- 
 vin dynasty, may, perhaps, afford a reply. 
 
 The Frankpledge or Frith bark (lit. peace pledge), an 
 institution peculiar to England, was created for the pur- 
 pose of preserving the public peace, and in order to en- 
 force the obedience of the people to the provisions of the 
 law. 
 
 The Frankpledge has been regarded by some as a 
 species of guild, and by others as a substitute for, or de- 
 velopment of, the principle of accountability of the kin- 
 dred for wergild. On the former point, the Germans — 
 the principal writers on guilds — are not agreed, but in 
 the affirmative view which is taken by Waitz, he is sup- 
 ported by Brentano. The arguments on both points 
 have been well summed up by Pike in his History of Crime. 
 If we follow the writers who are in agreement on these 
 two points, the Frith borh, or Peace pledge, arose from 
 the family feud which, in the case of homicide, constantly 
 took place between the relatives of the slayer and the 
 relatives of the slain. A species of artificial family bond 
 was enforced, which completed the circle of mutual liabil- 
 ity. Certain sections of the population were joined to- 
 gether in guilds, which aided the homicide who had no 
 kin to pay his penalty, and which received a portion of 
 the fine when one of their own body was the victim. 
 These were the Frith (or Peace) Guilds — afterwards 
 
1 82 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 referred to under the name of tithings — in which all free- 
 men below a certain rank, whether in town or country, 
 were compelled to be numbered. 
 
 In proceeding, therefore, with a short study of this 
 ancient system of police, it will be best if we begin by 
 following the indications afforded by those laws through 
 which alone A\e deri\-e our first acquaintance with its 
 existence. 
 
 No attempt, indeed, can be made to investigate the 
 constitutional history of the Anglo-Saxons without the 
 inquirer being involved in perplexity. Some of the 
 most technical terms are nearly unintelligible, and have 
 received the most contrary interpretations. Positive 
 proof cannot be obtained of the commencement of any 
 institution, because the first written law relating to it 
 may possibly be merely confirmatory or declaratory; 
 neither can the non-existence of any institution be in- 
 ferred from the absence of direct evidence. Written 
 laws were modified and controlled b)^ customs of which 
 no trace can be discovered, until after the lapse of cen- 
 turies, although those usages must ha\-e been in con- 
 stant vigor during the long interval of silence. 
 
 It is possible, therefore, and indeed highly probable, 
 that customs which we onl}^ hear of distinctly through 
 the charters of later Kings, may have been practised by 
 the gegUdan (or guild members) of whom we read in 
 the laws of Ina and Alfred the Great. Still, in the view 
 of many writers who hold that in the history of the 
 Frankpledge there may be traced something of a gradual 
 progression, this institution was created by Athelstan, 
 enlarged by Edgar and Canute, and made to assume 
 the form in which it afterwards existed under the Nor- 
 mans, by Edward the Confessor. The earliest trace of 
 the Frankpledge, however, would seem to be discoverable 
 in a Kentish law of a.d. cir. 6So. No man could leave the 
 shire to which he belonged without the permission of its 
 alderman (leg. Alfredi). The relations of an accused 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 183 
 
 man were called upon to become sureties for payment of 
 the composition and other fines to which he was liable 
 {leg. Edw. Sen.). The next stage, which occurred under 
 Athelstan (or it may be better to say is first disclosed in 
 the laws of his reign), was to make persons already con- 
 victed, or of suspicious repute, give sureties for their 
 
 ^;>l^^ft?-7'| 
 
 
 .VNXIKXT i;r,VPTIAX TlCMPI.n. 
 
 future behavior — "If a rec\'e aare not warrant any of 
 his lord's men, the suspected man must find twelve 
 pledges among his kindred, who shall stand in security 
 for him." (Cone. Cant. ) 
 
 The Judicia Ctvitahs I .imdomae (kg. Athelstani) 
 will be noticed at a later stage, and I pass to the reign of 
 Edgar, when we meet with the first general law which 
 
184 History 0} Freeniasony. 
 
 compels every man to find a surety who shall be respon- 
 sible for his appearance when judicially summoned. 
 The hundred-gemot was to be held monthly, the burh- 
 gemot three times a year, and the shire-gemot half- 
 yearly. 
 
 The laws of Canute (Secular Dooms) enact: — "And 
 we will that every free man [ceorl or villein] be brought 
 into a hundred and a tithing. And that every one be 
 brought into a hundred and in borh" (c. 20). 
 
 "And we will that every man above xii. years make 
 oath that he will neither be a thief nor cognizant of 
 theft" (c. 21). 
 
 This oath, imposed by Canute on every person above 
 the age of twelve, which has a counterpart in the Masonic 
 Constitutions of later date, runs back through the com- 
 mon form of Edmund's oath of allegiance, and finds 
 parallels in the earliest legislation of Charles the Great. 
 
 The laws of Edward the Confessor (as recorded by the 
 wise men of the shires under William, and edited by 
 Glanvill in tlie next century) say: — "The greatest 
 security for the public order is that every man must bind 
 himself to one of those societies to which the name of 
 frith-borh is given by the English in general, and tliat 
 of tenmannc tale bj'the peopleof Yorkshire (Eboracenses)." 
 This may be described as the responsibility of ten men, 
 each for the other, throughout every village in the king- 
 dom; so that if one of the ten committed any fault, the 
 nine should produce him in justice. If he fled from 
 justice a mode was provided, according to which the 
 tithing (i.e., the coUection of ten,) might clear themselves 
 from participation in his crime or escape. Each associa- 
 tion had a head man, a "capital pledge" (borhs-ealdor 
 or frith-borgc-head) , to manage the business of the ten, 
 who are also called a tithing, and the "capital pledge" 
 the tithing-man. 
 
 The names of the hundred and the tithing first emerge 
 in these ordinances, but that there were subdivisions 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 185 
 
 of the shire from very early times is unquestionable. 
 The tithing, the unit of local administration, was a 
 fractional part of a hundred. It is quite possible that 
 both were relics of the same ancient system, and the 
 terms themselves may have imported in either instance 
 a personal as well as a territorial division. 
 
 It has been suggested that the original name of the sub- 
 division immediately above the township was schir, or 
 shire, which merely means a part or share of a larger 
 whole. In Cornwall, in the twelfth century, the subdi- 
 visions were not called hundreds, but shires. The City 
 of York is described in Domesday as possessing seven 
 shires, but the local customs varied greatly, as in the 
 same survey Canterbury, Norwich, and other towns 
 appear as hundreds, the basis of the latter system being 
 no doubt, the cluster of townships which had grown up 
 into the city organization 
 
 But the shires or divisions forming the subject of 
 legislation in the Anglo-Saxon ordinances may be divided 
 into two groups or classes. The former, in their origin, 
 were Kingdoms or independent States, or were formed 
 out of British States or Principalities gradually won by 
 the Anglo-Saxons ; while the latter were dismemberments 
 of the larger kingdoms — for example, Yorkshire was thus 
 taken out of Deira. The powers of the shire-moots in 
 some of the under kingdoms composing the first class, were 
 greater than those in the secondary shires, as, until the 
 shire system was far developed, the witenagemots of the 
 mediatized but undivided kingdoms continued to exist. 
 "In the smaller kingdoms, such as Kent," to use the 
 words of vSir F. Palgrave, "the ' Witenagemot,' the 
 Assembly or Council of the Wise, did not probably differ 
 materially in composition from the shire-moot." 
 
 Of the national organism from the seventh to the 
 eleventh century. Dr. Stubbs says: — "The shire-moot 
 is the most complete organization under the system: it 
 
i86 
 
 History oj Freemasonry. 
 
 is the Folkmoot; not the witenagemot of the shire, but 
 the assembly of the people." 
 
 The ancient popular courts were always held in the 
 open air, and were summoned in general by the delivery 
 of a token, Hke the "fiery cross," which was passed 
 from hand to hand. "A ponderous weapon, nearly like 
 
 .\NCIENT EGYPTI.VN P.\L.\CE. 
 
 that which is called the 'morning star,' often gi\en to 
 giants in old paintings, was the warrant which con^•ened 
 some of the English Hundreds. Scribes or Registrars 
 were not required to attend the meeting of the Hundred 
 or the Shire. The memorials of the Court were en- 
 trusted to the recollections of the 'Witan,' the Judges 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 1 87 
 
 by whom the decrees were pronounced. On rare occas- 
 ions, the verdicts of the Hundred or the Shire might be 
 written in the blank leaves of the Missal belonging to 
 some neighboring Minster; but it could not be pleaded, 
 and the strict and proper mode of legal proof was by 
 appealing to living testimony." (Palgrave, Eng. Com.) 
 
 In the Shire (or under kingdom) of Sussex the hun- 
 dreds are arranged in Rapes, and in that of Kent in 
 Lathes or Lests. According to certain leading authori- 
 ties, Lesta, Lath, Leth, and Leet axe but one word, which 
 was sometimes used as an equivalent to a hundred, 
 and in its original signification implied a tribe or an as- 
 sembly of the people. But although the hundred was 
 governed in an assembly or moot, which, in the language 
 of the later lawyers, was called the Sheriff's Leet or Tburn 
 neither of these terms occur among the titles of the courts 
 which are met with in any documents of earlier date than 
 the Norman Conquest. 
 
 But although the docum.entary history of the court- 
 leet belongs to a later age, the origin of these courts 
 may safely be put to the sac and soc of the older juris- 
 dictions, otherwise there would have been some evidence 
 of their creation after the Conquest, whereas instead of 
 this being the case, the language in which they are 
 mentioned in documents of the Norman period is dis- 
 tinctly borrowed from the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 As we have already seen, the hundred-gemot was to 
 be held monthly, the shire-gemot half-yearly, and the 
 burh-gemot three times a year. It has been deemed 
 probable that the townships which made up the burh 
 had their weekly courts also, in which case the weekly 
 market day may have ser\'ed as a general gathering for 
 the whole. 
 
 Burh-gemot (bergmoth, or bcrghmoot) is said to come 
 from the Saxon berg, a mountain; and mote, or gemot, 
 conventions, i.e., the court held upon a hill. It is well 
 known that in ancient times natural hills, or artificial 
 
i88 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 tumuli, upon whose summit the judges might debate, 
 visible to the surrounding multitude, yet separated from 
 the throng, were appropriated to the popular assemblies. 
 Such was the Mons Placiti or Moot-hill of Scone, and 
 such still is the Tinwald-hill of Man. 
 
 Moreover, if we may credit the Father of Masonic 
 History — "According to the Tradition of the old Scots 
 Masons, particularly of those in the antient Lodge of 
 Killwinning, Sterling and Aberdeen, the Fraternity of 
 old, in fair Weather, met early in the Morning on the 
 Tops of Hills," especially in the (winter) Festival of St. 
 John. 
 
 Of the laws of Athelstan a good example is afforded 
 in the Judicia Civitatis Lundoniae, the statutes of the 
 London guilds which were reduced to writing during his 
 reign. These were set forth under royal authority, by 
 the bishops and reeves (Gerefas) of the city. The guilds 
 in and about London appear to have united into one 
 guild, and this united guild governed the town. All 
 who took part in this league were to be as the members 
 of one guild, in one friendship and one enmity, and every 
 insult was to be avenged as a common one. Each 
 member paid fourpence for common purposes, towards 
 a sort of insurance fund , and a shilling towards the pursuit 
 of the thief. The members were arranged in groups of 
 ten, one being the head man, who met monthly at a 
 common table where there was "bytt-fylling" {Lat. 
 bucellorum impletio, the filling of butts or vats) and a 
 refection. These groups were again classed in tens 
 under a common leader who, with the other head men, 
 acted as treasurer and adviser of the hundred members. 
 
 This statute, in its provisions for the repression of 
 theft and maintenance of the public peace, has been 
 described by Thorpe as closely akin to the later institu- 
 tion of the Frithborh, or Frankpledge {Dipl. Angl.). 
 But in the opinion of the learned author of the Saxons 
 in England (whose words I adopt) — "It seems to furnish 
 
Eitgl-isli Laws of the Middle Ai^cs and Ficeniasous. i 89 
 
 important confirmation of the conclusion that the gegyl- 
 dan of Ina and Alfred, the members of the London 
 tithings or frithgylds of ten, and the York tenman tale 
 are in truth identical. And it is further in favor of this 
 view, that the citizens called the members of such gild- 
 ships, gegyldan." 
 
 It is evident, therefore, to follow the same authority, 
 that though the tithing and the hundred under the later 
 Anglo-Saxon law appear as local and territorial, not as 
 numerical divisions, so late as the tenth century, in a 
 part of England where men and not acres became neces- 
 sarily the subjects of calculation —i.e., in the city of 
 London — we find the citizens distributing themselves 
 into Frith guilds or associations for the maintenance of 
 the peace, each consisting of ten men; while ten such 
 guilds were gathered into a hundred. Every one of the 
 smaller guilds had its monthly symposium or feast with 
 butt-filling, which may be translated as copious libations, 
 a trait which is not yet extinct in the civic, the national, 
 nor even in the (traditional) Masonic character. The 
 guild brothers met, it has been suggested, in order that 
 they might better identify each other, as well as to 
 ascertain whether anA- man was absent on unlawful 
 business. 
 
 "Athelstan's laws," says Mr. C. H. Pearson, "exhibit 
 in a fuller degree the same tendencies that prevailed under 
 Alfred. The Frank Pledge or Frith Guild system had 
 been vigorously enforced under Edward; its laws are 
 codified under Athelstan ; and every freeman is now 
 obliged to belong to some guild or to some lord." (Eng. 
 in Early and Middle Ages i., 190.) 
 
 Domesday Book does not notice the hundred court or 
 the county court, probably for the reason that it was 
 deemed unnecessary to inform the King or his justiciaries 
 of the existence of tribunals which were in constant 
 action throughout all the realm. But there is no room 
 for doubt that the Anglo-vSaxon laws subsisted without 
 
igo 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 material alteration from the Conquest to the time of 
 Henry II. 
 
 The laws that bear the name of William the Conqueror 
 are very little more than a re-issue of the code of Canute. 
 
 Under William Rufus the shire administration was 
 continued, but abuses must have crept in, as the working 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS. 
 
 of the local courts was restored to its pro})er footing by a 
 law of Henry I., ordaining that the shire court and its 
 lesser division, the court of the hundred, shall sit at the 
 same time and place as in King Edward's day, and that 
 all in the shire shall attend these courts. 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 191 
 
 The shire court, for View of Frankpledge, was held 
 twice, and the hundred court twelve times in the year. 
 
 Twice a year the sheriff makes a progress through the 
 hundreds, visiting each of them in its turn. In course 
 of time these half-yearly meetings acquire the name of 
 the sheriff's ''turn" (or tourn). Twice a year the viha- 
 gers, bond and free, had to report themselves. 
 
 The twenty years that followed the death of Henry L, 
 known as the reign of Stephen, were a period of anarchy. 
 The courts ceased to meet, and England, under this King, 
 is compared b}^ John of Salisbury to Jerusalem when 
 besieged by Titus. 
 
 The old popular courts were restored in the reign of 
 Henry II., the fabric of whose judicial legislation com- 
 mences with the Assize of Clarendon — a.d. 1166 — the 
 farst object of wdiich was to provide for the order of the 
 realm by reviving the old English system of mutual 
 security, or Frankpledge. By this Assize Englishmen 
 were still to be tried in their ancient courts. Justice was 
 to be maintained by the old Anglo-Saxon machinery of 
 shire-moot and hundred-moot. The shire-moot became 
 the King's court, in so far as its president was a King's 
 judge and its procedure regulated by the King's decree; 
 but it still remained the court of the people. 
 
 Although the system of Frankpledge existed before 
 the era of Henry II., the procedure of the presentment 
 of criminals for trial by a jury of the neighborhood was 
 introduced by him, and it has not unnaturally been con- 
 jectured that the easiest method was to use the already- 
 existing machinery for this latter purpose. Thus the 
 duty of producing one's neighbor to answer accusations 
 (a duty of the Frankpledge) could well be converted 
 into the duty of telling tales against him. 
 
 By the Assize of Clarendon it was specially ordained 
 (I9) that no franchise was to exclude the sheriff from en- 
 forcing the Frankpledge. This indicates that the author- 
 ity of that functionary (at all events in theory) extended 
 

English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 193 
 
 over the whole shire ; or, in other words, that the manorial 
 or municipal jurisdictions, which were springing into 
 existence, had not yet established a legal right to hold 
 their own Views of Frankpledge, and thereby to divert 
 any portion of the able-bodied population from their 
 attendance at the sheriff's "progress" or "turn". The 
 completion of the organization of both the Curia Regis 
 and the itinerant tribunals took place in this reign. " The 
 visits of the itinerant justices," says Dr. Stubbs, "form 
 the link between the Curia Regis and the Shire- moot, 
 between royal and popular justice, between the old system 
 and the new. The courts in which they preside are the 
 ancient county courts, under new conditions, but sub- 
 stantially identical with those of the Anglo-Saxon 
 times." (Constit. Hist., i., 605.) 
 
 After the Assize of Northampton (1170) the sheriffs 
 are said to have figured rather as the servants than the 
 colleagues of the itinerant judges; but at the expiration 
 of no great interval, the former would seem to have re- 
 covered much of their old authority, and a long period 
 had yet to elapse before the abolition of the View 
 Frankpledge in connection with the sheriff's "turn." 
 
 The supreme jurisdiction of the King over all woods 
 and forests was resuscitated by Henry II, early in his 
 reign, but the earliest existing code concerning them is 
 the Assize of Woodstock, enacted in a.d. 1184 at his 
 hunting palace of that name. By these regulations the 
 forest jurisdiction was extended over the whole popula- 
 tion of the shires at the summons of the Master Forester, 
 and an exact analogy established between the courts of the 
 shire and the forest, of which a pertinent illustration is 
 afforded by the article that requires an oath from every 
 person of twelve years old and upwards. Richard I. 
 went further, for he ordered that the whole population 
 should come as a matter of course before the itinerant 
 justices of the forest. (Medley, Eng. Const. Hist., 333.) 
 13 
 
194 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 From the best information that can be obtained, it 
 would appear that considerably more than one-third of 
 England was, before the signing of Magna Charta, subject 
 to the Forest Law, and under the jurisdiction of the Chief 
 Justice of the Forest. There was hardly a county in 
 England where some forest or chase did not exist, and 
 the entire Covmties of Cornwall, Devon, Essex, Rutland, 
 Leicester, Northampton, Huntingdon and Lancaster 
 were then subject to Forest Law. A vast tract of forest 
 land stretched from Stafford to Worcester, and from the 
 Wrekin to the Trent, including woods in the Counties of 
 Stafford, Worcester, and Salop. (Inderwick, The K-ing's 
 Peace, 137.) Yorkshire is known to have contained 
 numerous forests, and though many of these are un- 
 traceable, from a list of amercements collected by Madox, 
 it appears that in the 22nd year of Henry H., the fines 
 levied in respect of forest offences were larger in this than 
 in any other county, both in number and amount. (Hist, 
 of the Exchequer, /., 541.) The chief royal forest in 
 Yorkshire was the forest of Galtres, which lav to the 
 immediate north of York City, and is said to have com- 
 prised almost the whole Wapentake of Bulmer, including 
 about sixty townships and nearly 100,000 acres of land. 
 
 The law was applied by a set of courts which were 
 parallel to those of the hundred and shire. 
 
 L The lowest was the Court of Attachment or ]\'ood- 
 niote, held every forty days by the Verderers. 
 
 n. The next was the Court of Suvinmote, held thrice 
 a year. This court convicted or acquitted on local 
 knowledge; but judgment was reserved for — 
 
 in. The court of Justice Seat, a supreme court of civil 
 and criminal jurisdiction, held every three years, or when 
 the King issued a commission for the purpose. 
 
 Thus the officials of the forests formed a regular 
 hierarchy, and at the head came a [Master Forester (or 
 Chief Justice), independent even of the Justiciar himself. 
 Forty days' notice was given of the holding of the Chief 
 
English Laws of the Middle At^^es and Freemasons. 195 
 
 Justice's Court, and the sheriff of the county duly sum- 
 moned all archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons, knights 
 and free men who had holdings within the limits of the 
 forest. 
 
 The attendance of the same magnates, it may be 
 observed, was required at the county court in its full 
 session. The ^vrits of summons were of two kinds. 
 There was a special summons addressed to particular 
 individuals, and a general summons addressed to the 
 several counties through their sheriffs to bring together 
 the shiremoot to meet the itinerant justices, or the 
 officers of the forest, or to hold the View of Frankpledge 
 in one of the hundreds in its appointed "turn". 
 
 The status of the shire court had reached its fullest 
 activity in the reign of Richard I., by which King a 
 document of great interest was issued in 1195. It was a 
 proclamation of an oath of the peace, which was to be 
 taken by all persons over the age of fifteen. They swore, 
 according to the old law of Canute, not to be thieves or 
 robbers, or receivers of such. In this edict we probably 
 find the origin of the oflfice of Conservator of the Peace. 
 
 By the Magna Carta of John many parts of the country 
 were disforested, and the people of the shires in which 
 the forests lay were relieved from a compulsory atten- 
 dance at the forest courts. Another significant article 
 pledges the King to confer certain judicial offices of the 
 local courts, including those of sheriff and steward (of a 
 court-leet,) only upon persons learned in the law. 
 
 The Frankpledge is not referred to in any way, but 
 in the second confirmation of the Great Charter by Henry 
 III. (12 1 7) a new article (t42) determines the times of 
 meeting of the local courts. The shiremoot is henceforth 
 to be held monthly; the sheriff's tourn (or turn) twice a 
 year, after Easter and after Michaelmas; and View of 
 Frankpledge is to be taken at the Michaelmas tourn. It 
 is to the thirteenth century, therefore, that the ancient 
 
196 Historv of Freemasonry. 
 
 machinery of the county and hundred courts owes its 
 final form. 
 
 On the occasion of the second confirmation of Magna 
 Carta (12 1 7) the clauses relating to the forests were taken 
 out and embodied in the Carto de Forcsia. Of these regu- 
 lations Dr. Stubbs says; — "The heavy burden of attend- 
 ing the Forest Courts is remitted, as it had been in the 
 Great Charter, and thus the exact analogy established 
 between the Courts of the Shire and those of the Forest is 
 abolished." (Sel. Chart. 348.) 
 
 The attendance of the magnates {barones) of the county 
 at the sherift"'s tourn, except in the districts in which 
 they might reside, was dispensed with by the Provisions 
 of Westminster in 1259; and that of all persons above 
 the rank of Knight, except when specially summoned, by 
 the Statute of Marlborough in 1267. 
 
 "Amidst the many judicial reforms of Henry IIL 
 or Edward L," observes Mr. Green, "the Shire Court 
 remained unchanged. The haunted mound or the im- 
 memorial oak round which the assembly gathered (for 
 the Court was often held in the open air) were the relics 
 of a time before the free Kingdom had sunk into a Shire, 
 and its Meetings of the Wise into a County Court. But 
 save that the King's reeve had taken the place of the 
 King, and that the Norman legislation had displaced 
 the Bishop, the gathering of the freeholders remained 
 much as of old. The local knighthood, the yeomanry, 
 the husbandmen of the county, were all represented in 
 the crowd that gathered round the sheriff, as, guarded 
 by his liveried followers, he published the King's writs, 
 received the presentment of criminals and the inquests 
 of the local jurors, assessed the taxation of each district, 
 or listened solemnly to appeals for justice, civil and 
 criminal, from all who held themselves oppressed in the 
 lesser courts of the hundred and the soke." (Short 
 Hist, of the Fve,. People, 169,) 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons, igj 
 
 When, however, the county court met in full session, 
 that is, either to receive the itinerant justices on their 
 visitation or for extraordinary business, it contained the 
 archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and 
 others who were freed from the obligation of attendance 
 at the ordinary meetings. For the holding of a full 
 county court, therefore, a special summons was in all 
 cases issued. "This was still the folkmoot, the general 
 assembly of the people, and it contained all the elements 
 of a local parliament." (Dr. Stubbs.) 
 
 THE PARTHENON, AS IT WAS. 
 
 Even in after times, the resemblance between the old 
 county courts and the courts held by the King's judges 
 was so great, that the chief men of the counties con- 
 sidered they were entitled to sit in the latter tribunals, 
 and not until the reign of Richard II. was this prohibited, 
 when it was ordained that no lord or other in the county, 
 little or great, shall sit upon the Bench with the justices to 
 take assizes in the counties of England. (20, Rich. II.) 
 Under Henry III. and for years after the accession of 
 Edward I. (as already observed), the sheriff's or county 
 court remained unchanged, both in the extent of its 
 
igS Histoiy oj Frtimasourr. 
 
 jurisdiction and the cliaracter of the sheriff as a royal 
 officer. But a change that told greatly on its powers 
 sprang almost accidentalh" from the operation of the 
 Statute of Winchester 112S5), which provided for the 
 peace of the realm. 
 
 With the decay of the sheriff's power fell the system 
 of police of which he had been the centre. The official 
 who ultimateh' succeeded to his place was the Justice of 
 the Peace. 
 
 The origin of this office must be looked for in the 
 Proclamation of Richard L 11 195), and in order to carrj- 
 out the Statute of A\'inchester {\2't>^^ . Conscr'i.atorcs pads 
 were elected in the shire courts. Their power was 
 gradually extended, and in the next century they acquire 
 a new name, that of Justices of the Peace. 
 
 From the provisions of the Statute of 12S3. "it may 
 be inferred," says Mr. Hallam, "that the ancient law of 
 Frankpledge, though retained longer in form, had lost 
 its efticiencv. 
 
 The following extracts are taken from the Miner of 
 Justices, which, in the opinion of the best authorities, 
 was written after 12S5 and before 1290; — 
 
 CHAP. XVI. OF TURNS. 
 
 The Sheriffs by ancient ordinance hold general as- 
 semblies {assembles generales) twice a vear in each hun- 
 dred, whither all fee tenants within the hundred are 
 obliged to come by service of their fees, etc. 
 
 CH.\P. XVII. OF THE VIE\\' OF FRANK FLEDGE. 
 
 By these first assemblies it was ordained that each 
 hundredor should assemble together {chacun hundredor 
 feit eomuii assemble'^ once a year, not onlv the fee tenants 
 but all the men of his hundred, strangers as well as deni- 
 zens of twelve years and above, except archbishops, 
 bishops, abbots, priors, and all men of religion, all clerks, 
 earl-;, liaron<, knights, married women, deaf miUtes, sick 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 199 
 
 folks, idiots and lepers. {Selden Soc. Publ., vii., lib. 2.) 
 
 The reputed author of the Mirror of Justices is Andrew 
 Home, a native of Gloucester, In the opinion of Lord 
 Coke the greater part of it was written previously to 
 the Conquest, but he considered that Home added many 
 things to it in the reign of Edward the First. By existing 
 authorities, however, the date of the work has been 
 assigned to the period mentioned above (1286-89), for 
 which reason (as closely following the Statute of Win- 
 chester), I have used it, and not from any predilection 
 for its text. 
 
 The long reign of the third Edv/ard is full of interest 
 to the students of our antiquities, but before passing 
 from the thirteenth century, the attention of the reader 
 may be invited to a great drain on the population of the 
 country, that must have beer to no slight extent a fore- 
 runner of the "Hundred Years War" and the "Black 
 Death" in throwing out of gear the machinery of those 
 local courts which, with so little variety of procedure, 
 had survived from Anglo-Saxon times. From the last 
 year of the eleventh century until the Christians were 
 finally driven out of Syria, in 1291, there had scarcely 
 been a break in the continual Crusade. " WTiole dis- 
 tricts of cornland and pasture lapsed into moss and marsh. 
 Whole county-sides were thinned of their hale and active 
 men." (M. F. Robinson, End of the Middle ^ge^.) 
 
 Edward III., the year after his accession to the throne 
 (1328), on the death of Charles the Fair, laid claim to the 
 sovereignty of the whole realm of France, and thus 
 gave the first challenge to an international duel whicli 
 lasted, with intervals of breathing time, for a hundred 
 years. 
 
 In 1338 Edward took up arms, and the "fatal war" 
 began, "which" (to use the words of Mr. J. R. Green) 
 "for more than a Imndred years drained the strength of 
 the English people. 
 
200 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The opening phases of the great contest, called by 
 French historians "The Hundred Years War," were 
 followed in 1348 by the Black Death, the central fact of 
 the fourteenth century. Among its consequences, as 
 will presently appear, was a "strike" of fifty years 
 duration. 
 
 The dreadful pestilence called the Black Death was the 
 same disease that was afterwards known as the Plague. 
 It arrived in England in August, 1348, and lasted until 
 Michaelmas, 1349. Of the three or four millions who 
 then formed the population of England, one half were 
 swept away, and England was not so populous again 
 until the reign of Elizabeth. For two years Parliament 
 and the law courts ceased. The corn rotted in the fields. 
 Nearly all the artisans and laborers perished, for a pesti- 
 lence always falls most fiercely on the poor. The whole 
 organization of labor was thrown out of gear. All exist- 
 ing relations threatened to become dissolved. 
 
 Immediately after the Black Death, the power of 
 regulating the trades and crafts seems to have been com- 
 pletely in the hands of the municipalities; but before 
 passing to the second half of the fourteenth century, 
 some further details relating to the system of Frank- 
 pledge, from its revival under tlie Norman Kings, will 
 be laid before the reader. 
 
 The aim of its whole arrangement was to ensure the 
 maintenance of peace, and therefore everybody was 
 bound, on entering the tithing, to swear, not only that he 
 would keep the peace, but that he would conceal nothing 
 which might concern the peace. But although Henry II. 
 in the Assize of Clarendon (11 66) had decreed that this 
 business was to be in the sheriff's hands, we find in the 
 thirteenth century that there are large masses of men 
 who never go near the Sheriff's Turn. These are the 
 men of lords, who held courts of their own. Sometimes 
 they allow the sheriff to be present ; very often thev 
 exclude him altogether. The seignorial jurisdiction 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 201 
 
 comprised not merely the right to execute the law of 
 Frankpledge and take the profits thence arising, but 
 also the right to hold twice a year a court co-ordinate 
 with the Sheriff's Turn, a police court, a court for the 
 punishment of offences, and the punishment of offences 
 that fell short of felony. Towards the end of the thir- 
 teenth century the word leet (leta) — which seems to 
 have spread outwards from the East Anglian counties — 
 was becoming a common name for such a court, but to 
 the last, visus franciplegii remained the most formal and 
 correct of titles. (Pollock and Maitland, Hist. Eng. 
 Law i, 580.) 
 
 According to Dr. Stubbs, those manors whose lords 
 had, under the Anglo-Saxon laws, possessed sac and soc, 
 or who since the Conquest had received grants in which 
 those terms were used, had also a court leet, or criminal 
 jurisdiction, cut out as it were from the criminal juris- 
 diction of the hundred, and excusing the suitors who at- 
 tended it from going to the court leet of the hundred. 
 (Constit. Hist., i., 399.) 
 
 For a glance at the practical working of the various 
 tribunals of the shire, under the Norman Sovereigns and 
 their successors, I shall next quote from the pages of Wil- 
 liam Lambard, a famous legal writer, who tells us in his 
 Archeion (edit. 1635): — "The Court of the whole 5/»tre 
 was of two sorts; whereof the first, then called Scyrege- 
 mote, that is, the Assemblie of the Shire (and now termed 
 the Sherifjes-turne), was then (as now also) holden twice 
 a year. And this Court was of like lurisdiction to the 
 Court of the Leet, or of the Burroughs or Tythings, as it 
 was then called. " 
 
 According to Sir William Dugdale: — "The Shireeves 
 Turn * * * was anciently called Scyre mote {id est, the 
 meeting of the Inhabitants of the Shire), and was held 
 twice in the year, long before the Norman Conquest, but 
 since that, the Shireeves Turne, from the French word 
 
202 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 tour, id est vice, and in English Turne." {Orig. Jurid., 
 edit. 1 67 1, c. xiii.) 
 
 Before, however, proceeding to formulate the con- 
 clusions which seem to me deducible from the testimony 
 of these sages of the law, I shall indulge in one further 
 quotation from the same source of authority, by which 
 the salient features of the tourn and leet will be presented 
 in a clearer or more popular form, and thus lessen, I trust, 
 to some degree, the fatigue of the reader in following the 
 observations I shall afterwards make upon the procedure 
 of these ancient (and now obsolete) courts. 
 
 Serjeant Stephen informs us: — "The Sheriff's Tourn, 
 or rotation., is a court appointed to be held twice every 
 year, within a month after Easter and Michaelmas, be- 
 fore the Sheriff in different parts of the country; being, 
 indeed, only the turn of the Sheriff to keep a court leet 
 in each respective hundred. This, therefore, is the great 
 court leet of the county, as the common law county 
 court is the court baron; for out of this, for the ease of 
 the Sheriff, was taken — 
 
 The Court Leet, or View of Frank Pledge, which is a 
 court appointed to be held once in the year, and not 
 oftener, within a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, 
 before the steward of the leet. The court leet and the 
 Sheriff's tourn had exactly the same jurisdiction; one 
 being only a larger species of the other, extending over 
 more territory, but not over more causes. It was ancient- 
 ly the custom to summon all the King's subjects, as they 
 respectively grew to years of discretion and strength, to 
 come to the court leet, and there take the oath of allegiance 
 to the King. The other general business of the leet and 
 tourn was to present by jury all crimes that happened 
 within their jurisdiction ; and not only to present, but also 
 to punish, all trivial misdemeanors. But both the tourn 
 and leet fell by degrees into a declining way, a circum- 
 stance owing in part to the discharge granted by the 
 Statute of Marlbridge ("52 Henry III,, c. x.), to all pre- 
 
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 D 
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 O 
 
 w 
 
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 en 
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 o 
 
 o 
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204 Hisiory of Freemasonry. 
 
 lates, peers and clergymen from their attendance upon 
 these courts, which occasioned them to grow into disre- 
 pute. " {Commentaries on the Laws of Eng., iv., 408.) 
 
 So early as in 121 6, however, the most advanced among 
 the English towns had succeeded in obtaining, by their 
 respective charters and with local differences, the right 
 of holding their own courts and electing their own bailiffs 
 — the existence of which class of functionary implies the 
 existence of a court leet; and, as Professor Maitland has 
 pointed out, to hold a leet meant originally no more than 
 to hold the "View of Frank Pledge." {Selden Soc, ii., 
 Ixxiii.) 
 
 Nottingham had a municipal organization in 1284, and 
 the mayor, from at least 1308, held a court called "Mag- 
 num Turnuni, " or " Mickletorn, " at which presentments 
 were made. (Records, i., 67.) 
 
 The Sheriff's "Turn" (or "Tourn") was described as 
 his Law Day, and that the same expression was used to 
 denote the "Leet" we learn not only from legal wTiters, 
 but are further told so by Dr. Johnson in his dictionary. 
 At Worcester there are two volumes of ancient records, 
 and in both of them the leet is often called the "Law 
 Day." The manner of holding the Lawe Day, or View 
 of Frankpledge, by the mayor, sheriff, and bailiff of 
 Bristol, is set out at length in the records of that city. 
 A charter of 1255 (39 Henry IIL) has the words " de visu 
 plegii et law dayorum. " 
 
 Among the misdemeanors presented at the Norwich 
 Leets, were offences both against the common law of the 
 land and also against the customs of the city. It was also 
 an offence "not coming to the Leet." A parallel with 
 this is found in the "Articles of Inquiry" that came be- 
 fore the Sheriff's Tourn. (Fleta, ii., c. 52.) 
 
 A further delinquency, on the part of artificers, work- 
 men, or laborers, was the "enterprising or taking upon 
 themselves to finish wliat anoth.er has begun" fPowell 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 205 
 
 Anc. Cts. of Leet), a practice which we find to be also 
 forbidden in the "Constitutions or Regulations of the 
 Masonic Body." 
 
 The soul of the Frankpledge system consisted in the 
 universal obligation of every member of a tithing (that 
 is, in theory, every adult male) to disclose and bring to 
 punishment every breach of the laws and customs by 
 which the community was bound. But from, at least, 
 the thirteenth century onwards, other ways of effecting 
 the same object had gradually been coming into opera- 
 tion. In Norwich the private guilds for a long time en- 
 deavored to obtain control over the individual crafts. 
 The trade practices formed the subject of an inquiry. 
 Twenty-four citizens were authorized by charter, in 
 1374, to assist the bailiffs in the general administration 
 of affairs, and, finally, the crown was set to the com- 
 plete revolution, both of the civil and judicial organi- 
 zation of the city, by the establishment of a Municipal 
 Assembly. {Selden Soc, v., Ixxv.) 
 
 It has been already mentioned that to carry out the 
 Statute of Winchester (1285) Conservatores pads were 
 elected in the shire courts. Under Edward III. the sys- 
 tem was finally established. In 1327 the Conservators 
 of the Peace were again assigned or nominated by the 
 Crown, thus definitely becoming royal commissioners and 
 losing all connection with the shire court. Hitherto these 
 officials, though possessing executive power, were little 
 more than constables on a large scale. But in 1328 they 
 were for the first time entrusted with judicial functions. 
 
 In 1344 these officials were made a permanent staff of 
 royal custodes pacis, ready to be appointed, "with others 
 wise and learned in the law, " to judicial functions should 
 need arise. Finally, in 1360, by a statute that will be 
 again referred to (34, Edw. III., c. i ), " a lord and three or 
 four of the most worthy, together with some learned in 
 the law, were authorized to seize, examine and punish by 
 common or statute law, or according to their best judg- 
 
2o6 History of Fyeemasonry. 
 
 ment, all disturljers of the peace; on complaint, in the 
 King's name to hear and determine felonies; or on sus- 
 picion to arrest and imprison all dangerous persons or 
 to take surety for their good behaviour, " 
 
 There were now two bodies existing side by side, the 
 shire courts and the justices, and during the next century 
 the powers of the former were gradually transferred to the 
 newer organization. We have seen that all the better 
 members of the shire court had gained exemption from 
 attendance, and that the sheriff's judicial powers had been 
 made over to the itinerant justices. The shire court re- 
 mained for the election of coroners, verderers, and knights 
 of the shire; but to the justices sitting in quarter sessions 
 were transferred not only all the criminal jurisdiction 
 which remained to the shire court in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, but even the right to hear and determine the Pleas 
 of the Crown, those graver offences, the cognizance over 
 which the sheriff" and all other local officers had by Magna 
 Carta been depri\'ed of. A further development in muni- 
 cipal government next calls for remark, namely, the con- 
 stitution of some of the largest towns as counties, with 
 sheriffs and a shire jurisdiction of their own. This in- 
 volved the final banishment of the sheriff of the shire 
 from interference with their concerns. (D. J. Medley, 
 Eng. Constit. Hist., 2,^2, 383.) 
 
 I began tliis chapter with an allusion to the Legend of 
 the Craft, and the stage has now been reached when the 
 question can be proceeded with : Whether anything can 
 be found in the fabric of Enghsh medi£e^'aI law, which will 
 form some foundation in fact, for the references that are 
 made in the Regius and Cooke codices, and the Manuscript 
 Constitutions of the Society, to an "Assembly?" 
 
 All classes of these venerable documents contain a leg- 
 endary narrative, and taken as a whole, among the in- 
 junctions or ' ' general charges ' ' with which they ordinarily 
 conclude will be found the following: — That every mason 
 nmst attend the annual assembly provided he resides 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 207 
 
 within a certain distance (usually computed at fifty miles) 
 and has received due warning. Also that any brother 
 who has trespassed against the craft must abide the 
 award of the master and fellows. 
 
 In the "Roberts" group, or family, of the manuscript 
 Constitutions, we meet, however, with some "New 
 Articles, " and by one of these (No. 31 ) it is ordained that 
 the "Society, Company and ffraternity of ffree Masons 
 shall be governed by one Master and Wardens," to be 
 chosen "att every yearely general assembly." (G. 
 Lodge MS., No. 2.) 
 
 But in the New Book of Constitutions, compiled for 
 the Grand Lodge of England by Dr. James Anderson in 
 1738, this "Article" was made to read: — "That the said 
 Fraternity of Free Masons shall be govern 'd by one Grand 
 Master and as many Wardens as the said Society shall 
 think fit to appoint at every Annual General Assembly. " 
 
 A belief consequently sprang up that prior to the for- 
 mation of a grand lodge there was a General Assembly 
 which met once a year and was presided over by a Grand 
 Master. 
 
 The influence exercised by the writings of Dr. Anderson 
 is on the wane, but it has not wholly disappeared. Free- 
 masons believe no longer in his mythical Grand Masters, 
 but they cannot abandon their faith in his equally myth- 
 ical Assemblies. 
 
 The point, then, we have to consider, is whether there 
 existed, at any time. General Assemblies of the masons, 
 armed with exceptional powers, such as were granted to 
 the members of no other trade, or whether the theory 
 of a " Masonic Parliament " is to be regarded as a strange 
 and prodigious hypothesis, for which there is no manner 
 of foundation either in history or probability. 
 
 There was, indeed, a legal (or lawful) assembly, which 
 all laborers and artificers were bound to attend, in order 
 {inter alia) to take the oath of allegiance to the King; 
 but that there was another assembly, convoked specially 
 
2o8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 for the masons, and graced by the presence of great lords, 
 the sheriff, mayor, knights, squires, and aldermen, where 
 the same formalities were gone through for a second time, 
 is one of those suppositions which are alike foreign to my 
 opinions and incredible to my conceptions. 
 
 The masons, as we learn from their "Constitutions," 
 were only obliged to go up to the assembly when they 
 received any warning. But from whom was this warning 
 to proceed? The meeting, if it took place at all, must 
 have been convened by some person or persons, and who 
 could they have been? In other words, there must have 
 existed a sort of official machinery somewhat resembling 
 that of a modern trades union. Yet we are asked to be- 
 lieve, not only in the reality of so remarkable an organ- 
 ization, but also to carry our faith to the extreme point 
 of supposing that the legal writers, commentators, anna- 
 lists and antiquarians, from Chief Justiciar GlanvUl down- 
 wards, together with the vast array of ancient records, 
 have passed over in utter silence the extraordinary priv- 
 ilege thus enjoyed by the masons (and posessed by no 
 other trade), which must have been common knowledge 
 while the custom lasted. 
 
 It has, indeed, been suggested that instead of there 
 having been one General Assembly of masons for the 
 whole kingdom, there were several, but this conjecture 
 would appear to be by a long way the less tenable of the 
 two. It seems to me quite incredible that one such 
 assembly could have been held yearly (or triennially) 
 without some trustworthy record of the circumstance 
 descending to us, and therefore the holding of a score of 
 them (let us say) in different parts of the country would 
 have been, in my judgment, preciselj' twenty times as 
 miraculous (if the expression may be allowed to pass), 
 as the alleged custom of meeting in a single body, which 
 I have criticised at greater length. 
 
 What the assembly really was, which we find so uni- 
 versally referred to in the written traditions of the Free- 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 209 
 
 masons, is a question that will admit of more than one 
 highly plausible conjecture. The unions of the trades 
 and crafts in the towns met in what were styled "Gen- 
 eral," or "Common Assemblies," and both these terms 
 occur in the Manuscript Constitutions, though the words 
 "Common Assembly " are very unusual, and we only meet 
 with them in what are known as the " Hope " and "York 
 No. 4" MSS. The suggestion might, therefore, be ad- 
 vanced, that the assemblies of which we read in the 
 masonic codes were really those of the associated trades 
 in the town. 
 
 But there is another, and, as it seems to me, a preferable 
 hypothesis, for the consideration of which I hope to have 
 paved the way in some slight degree, by a short study of 
 the legal and judicial procedure in England during a por- 
 tion of the Middle Ages. 
 
 The earliest masonic writings we possess, the " Regius " 
 and ' ' Cooke ' ' MSS. , date from the first half of the fifteenth 
 century. In both documents there are allusions to the 
 "Assembly, " and in each case the contents of the manu- 
 script have been copied (either in whole or part) from 
 some earlier work. From this alone a higher antiquity 
 than the actual dates of transcription of the two writings 
 may be claimed for their several readings or texts. But 
 whatever may have been present in the mind of the scribe 
 who first committed to writing the alleged injunction of 
 the craft with respect to the assembly, that the period of 
 time to which it should be carried back must be far older 
 than the first half of the fifteenth century, there cannot 
 be a doubt. In the second half of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury (passing over the effect of the Statute of Laborers, 
 upon which I have already enlarged), the actual super- 
 vision of trade fell into the hands of the craft guilds, and 
 in the first half there was the great pestilence and the 
 beginning of the Hundred Years War. The constant de- 
 population of the country must have seriously damaged 
 the efficiency of the old local courts, and still ascending 
 
2IO History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the ladder of time, we meet with the influence of the Cru- 
 sades and the circumstance that the authority of the 
 sheriff, even in the early years of the thirteenth century, 
 was being gradually excluded owing to the purchase of 
 privileges by the towns. 
 
 Assuming, however, that the "gathering ' ' of tne masons 
 was in reality some assembly of the shire, the latest pos- 
 sible date at which it could have occurred would seem to 
 be the opening period of the reign of Edward I., or, let us 
 say, before the passing of the Statute of Winchester in 
 1285. 
 
 Down to the time of Edward I. there remained some 
 points in which the sheriff and the county court still re- 
 viewed the jurisdiction of the towns. These, however, 
 completely organized, could not exclude the itinerant 
 justices, whose court, being the shiremoot, involved the 
 recognition of the sheriff. A description of the county 
 court in full session has been already given (ante 143), 
 and in the magnates who attended on such occasions may 
 be found a parallel to the "great lords, knights, squires 
 and aldermen ' ' who are cited as supporting the sheriff of 
 the county and the mayor of the city in the Regius MS. 
 Indeed, if we are not to understand that the latter were 
 giving their attendance at an assembly of the people, 
 lawfully summoned under authority from the Crown, it 
 will be difficult for any one — except a masonic visionary, 
 who prefers dreaming in his study to acquiring whole- 
 some practical knowledge — to believe in the alternative 
 hypothesis of their being present at a meeting of a mys- 
 terious trades union, convened in some unknowa manner, 
 for the purpose of enabling a particular section of the 
 building trades to settle differences connected with their 
 handicraft. 
 
 "The county court in full session," says Dr. Stubbs, 
 "contained all the elements of a local parliament." 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 2 1 r 
 
 Similar powers were possessed by the " Semble, " of which 
 we read in the masonic poem or Regius MS. — 
 
 "Suche ordynance as they maken there, 
 
 Tliey schul maynt(5 hyt hoi y-fere" (II. 415, 16). 
 
 In the same ancient manuscript we are also told — 
 
 "They ordent ther a semble to be y-holde 
 
 Every yer, whersever they wolde, 
 
 To amende the defautes, yef any where fonde 
 
 .\monge the craft withynne the londe, 
 
 Uche yer or thrydde yer hyt schuld be holde" {II. 471, 75). 
 
 At this meeting — 
 
 "Ther they schullen ben alle y-swore, 
 That longuth to thys craftes lore, 
 To kepe these statutes everychon. 
 That ben y-ordeynt by Kynge Alderston" (//. 483, 86). 
 
 I shall next glean from the Cooke MS., which informs 
 us that "In the tyme of kynge adhelstone, bi his coun- 
 selle and othere grete lordys, for grete defaute y founde 
 amonge masons, thei ordejmed a certayne reule a mongys 
 horn on tyme of the yere or in iij. yere, as nede were 
 to the kynge . . . congregacions scholde be made bi 
 maisters of alle maisters Masons and felaus in the 
 forsayde art" (//., 694 — 711). 
 
 From the two manuscripts may be gathered that once 
 a year or every three years, as the King thought fit, assem- 
 blies (or congregations) of the masons were to be held. 
 
 To the host of commentators on the Regius and Cooke 
 MSS., the reference to triennial meetings of the masons' 
 craft has always proved a stumbling block, and whether 
 my own efforts to remove it will be successful now re- 
 mains to be ascertained. 
 
 I shall depend, however, solely on the laws of the land, 
 as, for the reasons already expressed, I cannot bring my 
 mind round to the belief that there was anything ex- 
 clusively masonic in the traditionary assembHes, at which 
 (in the Middle Ages) the attendance of all the operative 
 craftsmen was recjuired. 
 
212 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 It will be recollected that the Court of Justice Seat, the 
 chief court under the Forest Laws, was held every three 
 years, or when the King thought fit; that an exact analogy 
 had been established between the courts of the forest and 
 the shire; and that a special summons (or "warning") 
 was issued by the sheriffs of counties to bring together 
 the shiremoot to meet the itinerant justices or the officers 
 of the forest. 
 
 A vast majority of the Manuscript Constitutions, and 
 the whisper of tradition, unitedly assure us that — through- 
 out Britain — York was long regarded as the earliest centre 
 of the building art. In that ancient city all lines of way 
 seem to converge, and it was there (as we learn from the 
 old "Constitutions") that permission was obtained from 
 King Athelstan to hold the first annual assemblies of 
 the craft. 
 
 If, therefore, the passages in the Regius and Cooke 
 MSS. really point to the holding of the court of Justice 
 Seat, the coincidence is not a little remarkable that the 
 legendary home (and birth-place) of the masonic assem- 
 bly, should have been situated in the immediate ad- 
 jacency of an extensive area (or zone) within the limits 
 of its jurisdiction. 
 
 The period during which a portion of Yorkshire re- 
 mained subject to the forest laws, I am unable to deter- 
 mine. Royal forests continued to exist in no fewer than 
 twenty-four counties until 1301, in which year the Great 
 Charter and Forest Charter of Henry III. were finally 
 confirmed by Edward I. The result seems to have been 
 that large tracts were disforested or withdrawn from the 
 peculiar and stringent jurisdiction of the forest laws. 
 
 In the same year (1301), before a full Parliament, an 
 historical narrative showing the supremacy of the Eng- 
 lish King over Scotland was drawn up. In this appears 
 the familiar story of Athelstan 's expedition to the North 
 {ante 17), and among other evidences of the divine right 
 inherent in the English Crown, a marvellous sword stroke 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 2 1 3 
 
 is brought forward, with which Athelstan, by favor of 
 St. John of Beverley, had hewn a gap in a rock near 
 Dunbar. 
 
 Upon the possibiUty of this fabulous exploit having 
 been present to the minds of those persons by whom the 
 laws, as well as the Legend of the Craft, were first sung 
 or recited, I have elsewhere expressed myself at some 
 length {Commentary on the Regius MS. ) . It is also worthy 
 of reflection, whether the placing by William the Lion, 
 King of Scotland, in 1175, of his spear and shield on the 
 altar of St. Peter's at York, as symbols of his submission 
 to the English King, may not have given the idea or sug- 
 gestion underlying the alleged miracle a strong local 
 coloring which, together with Edwin's foundation of the 
 Minster and the various incidents connected with Athel- 
 stan 's famous march against the Scots have combined 
 to render the old capital of the Deirii the traditionary 
 centre of the latest items of masonic history recited in the 
 (prose) Legend of the Craft. 
 
 The circumstance, however, should be accorded its due 
 weight, that triennial assemblies are only referred to in 
 the Regius and Cooke MSS. In all the other "forms" 
 or versions of the Craft Legend and Regulations, the gen- 
 eral meeting which the masons were required to attend 
 was an annual one. This suggests the possibility of there 
 having been yet another type of assembly in actual fact, 
 out of which the prevalent delusion of the existence, at 
 some distant and unknown date, of a Parliament com- 
 posed entirely of members of the masons' trade has been 
 evolved. The real assembly to which such a large fringe 
 of legend has become attached may have been the sheriff's 
 "Turn," and, in considering the hypothesis, it will be 
 best to do so at a period when the authority of that 
 functionary was at its height. 
 
 This will take us back to the Assize of Clarendon 
 (1166), when the jurisdiction of the sheriff, or, in other 
 words, his "law-day" or View of Frankpledge, extended 
 
214 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 over the towns ; and before the rise of the manorial and 
 municipal jurisdictions which afterwards intercepted 
 certain classes of persons who had previously flocked to 
 his progress or "Turn." The "General Assembly" of 
 the sheriff was held in each hundred of a county by 
 rotation, and every male above the age of twelve years 
 was under an obligation to attend. 
 
 I strongly incline to the opinion that the actual or 
 living "Assembly" referred to in certain passages of 
 the masonic poem or Regius MS., and in the great major- 
 ity of the Manuscript Constitutions, was the sheriff's 
 "Turn." Every mason, according to the old writings 
 of the craft, had to attend the "Assembly," if within a 
 certain distance and he received any warning. 
 
 A general summons was a positive necessity in the case 
 of all whose presence was obligatory at the "Turn. " Nor 
 could it have been at any time an easy task, in a large 
 county containing numerous hundreds, to notify every 
 town, village and hamlet in all of them, when and where 
 the assembly of the shire would be held. These con- 
 siderations may help in some degree to explain a singular 
 feature of the Manuscript Constitutions, to which atten- 
 tion has already been directed, namely, the radius with- 
 in which attention was obligatory at the assembly. 
 
 The "Articles of Inquiry, " which came regularly before 
 every sheriff's Turn, are given in Fleta, and may be use- 
 fully compared with sundry injunctions in the Regius 
 (/. 441) and Cooke (I. 931) MSS. Among the "In- 
 quiries" to be made is — "Whether all on the Roll have 
 come up to the Folk-mote}" 
 
 It is possible, and in my own judgment highly probable, 
 that the apparent discrepancy between the language of 
 the two manuscripts last cited, and that of the later 
 "Constitutions" with respect to the assembly, may be 
 capable of rational explanation. 
 
 The Regius and Cooke MSvS., as written documents, 
 date from about the year 1425, and after an interval of 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 2 1 5 
 
 more than a century and a half we meet with the " Man- 
 uscript Constitutions ' ' — properly so called — of which the 
 earliest dated form is the "Grand Lodge" MvS. of 1583. 
 
 Both classes of documents evidently reflect the pro- 
 ceedings of traditionary assemblies of much earlier dates 
 than those of their own actual transcription. Hence, as 
 it appears to myself, the wording of the Regius and Cooke 
 MSS. may (and probably does) point to a condition of 
 affairs when every artisan — according to the particular 
 code of laws affecting his vicinage — was compelled to 
 attend either the court of the Forest, or that of the Shire. 
 
 In the "Grand Lodge" (1583) and later MSS., the ref- 
 erence to annual, though not to triennial gatherings of the 
 craft, continues to find a place, and from this I think may 
 be deduced, that the proceedings are reflected of lawful 
 assemblies (affecting every laborer and artisan) held after 
 the jurisdiction of the Forest Courts (to quote from a 
 treatise of 1578, which is the standard work in that de- 
 partment of the law) had gone "clean out of knowledge, 
 and before that of the ancient courts of the shire had 
 similarly become obsolete and forgotten. 
 
 With a few closing words I shall now pass away from 
 the problem of the assembly. It is possible, of course, 
 that a Legend of the Craft had been handed down from 
 a period ante dating the Norman Conquest. The laws 
 of the Frith guild or (in the opinion of many authorities) 
 Frankpledge system were codified by Athelstan.who was 
 moreover, a great giver of charters. " No period of Anglo- 
 Saxon history was more glorious, or is less known, than 
 the reign of Athelstan ; a few simple notices in the Saxon 
 Chronicle, and the old poem which Malmesbury some- 
 what contemptuously follows, alone remaining, with the 
 exception of the Great King's Laws, to throw a scanty 
 light upon the events of this epoch. " (Robertson, Scot- 
 land Under Early Kings, ii., 397.) The belief, however, 
 will be permissible, tliat tlie name of .\thelstan, by virtue 
 
21 6 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of his laws and charters, became a favorite one as a leg- 
 endary guild patron. 
 
 No English prince before his time had ever possessed 
 so much influence abroad, or so much power at home. 
 The title of "Emperor (Imperator and Basileus) of 
 Britain' ' he was the first to adopt, and of the witenagemot 
 of Wessex during his reign. Sir F. Palgrave observes: 
 "We may suppose that the assembly convened by the 
 Basileus was a Shire Court for the District in which it was 
 held; a Land-gemot for the particular Kingdom; and an 
 Imperial W itenage7not for the whole Empire. In such a 
 case there would be three assemblies appearing, at this 
 distance of time, as resolved into one; but which would 
 be perfectly distinguishable by a contemporary. ' ' In 
 this connection we shall, perhaps, do well to recollect 
 that (according to Dr. Stubbs), until the shire system was 
 made uniform, it is quite possible that the witenagemots 
 of the heptarchic kingdoms may have continued to exist. 
 
 Other examples of a plurality of assemblies which, 
 under a certain aspect, were "resolved into one,'' 
 have l)een given in the present chapter {ante 135); 
 and to this a parallel may, perhaps, be discerned 
 in the traditional "Gathering" of the masons, which, 
 as described from the conflicting points of view of 
 individual transcribers of the old "Constitutions," has 
 been handed down to us in a somewhat Protean form. 
 Indeed, the custom (or pratice) of distinct bodies as- 
 sembling jointly, as wel] as sev^erally, may have lingered 
 until much later times. The head meeting day of many 
 guilds and crafts may have often coincided with the law 
 day or leet, at which the annual A'iew of Frankpledge was 
 held. This, however, could only have occurred in the 
 towns, and after the minor court leet of the steward (or 
 bailiff) had been carved out of the sheriff's Turn. The 
 tradition, therefore, of a masonic assembly, as it seems to 
 me, must have had its origin at a much earlier date, and 
 
ELIAS ASHMOLE, 
 Antiquary, Chemist, and Hermetic Philosopher. 
 Made a Freemason at Warrinj^ton, Octoljer i6th, 1646. 
 
Vli;\V OF THK ANCIENT CITY (JV CORINTH. 
 
2i8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 probably not later than the period at which the authority 
 of the sheriff was at its height. 
 
 But although there would seem to be no rational founda- 
 tion for the belief, that the English masons of the Middle 
 Ages met in legal (or lawful) assemblies for the transac- 
 tion of business connected with their handicraft, there is 
 evidence to show that they were in the habit of meeting 
 in illegal (or unlawful) assemblies (congregations or 
 conventicles) for the purpose of defeating the course of 
 legislation, which it \^i\\ become my next task to review. 
 
 On the hopeful prospect which existed before the Black 
 Death, that great pestilence fell like a season of blight, 
 but worse than the pestilence was the Statute of La- 
 borers. "The pestilence," says Dr. Stubbs, "notwith- 
 standing its present miseries, made labor scarce and 
 held out the prospect of better wages, the Statute offered 
 the laborer wages that it was worse than slavery to 
 accept.'' (Constit. Hist., ii., 454.) 
 
 At the very beginning of the trouble the attempt made 
 by the government to fix the rate of wages produced 
 disaffection, which smouldered until, after many 
 threat enings, it broke into flame in 1381. 
 
 The Statutes of Laborers, from which I shall next 
 quote, will be found collected in mv History of Free- 
 masonry (ch. VII.). In 1349 the wages of "masons 
 (cementarii) and all other artificers and workmen," and 
 the price of provisions, were regulated. But this or- 
 dinance proving ineffectual, it was made more stringent 
 and enacted as a statute in 1350. The wages of a " mas- 
 ter freestone mason (mestre mason de franche pere)" 
 were fixed at fourpence a day, which sum was not likely 
 to secure a high standard of artistic skill, and while the 
 statute must to some extent have remained a dead 
 letter, so far as it had any effect at all, it operated to 
 drive the artificer out of the countrv. "It certainly is 
 significant," remarks an architectural writer, "that Per- 
 pendicrku- forms, wliicli of all that are included under 
 
English Laws of the Middle Ages and Freemasons. 219 
 
 the name of Gothic make the slightest demand on the 
 invention, should have come into vogue at the very 
 moment when the craftsmen of original talent (at no 
 time a numerous class) had almost disappeared." 
 
 Wages were again regulated in 1360, and "all alliances 
 and covines of masons and carpenters, and congregations, 
 chapters, ordinances (tote alliances et Covignes des Ma- 
 ceons et Carpenters, et Congregacions, Chapitres, Ordi- 
 nances), and oaths betwixt them made, or to be made, 
 shall be from henceforth void and wholly annulled." 
 This statute (34 Edward III., c. ix.) shows that the 
 masons had acted in opposition to the law, and contrary 
 to the tenor of their own rules or "Constitutions." 
 
 The poll tax of 1380 gave occasion for the revolutionary 
 rising of 138 1. A mystery pervades the organization of 
 the rebellion, but among the leading factors in the 
 problem were the associations formed for the purpose of 
 defeating the Statutes of Laborers, and the existence 
 throughout the land of numbers of mechanics thrown 
 out of employment by the war. But before the 20th of 
 June, 1 38 1, the result had ceased to be dangerous, and 
 on the 23d the King (Richard II.) issued a proclamation 
 forbidding unauthorized gatherings. A similar decree, 
 prohibiting "conventicula, congregationes seulevationes" 
 (secret assemblies, unlawful associations or raisings of th 
 populace), was issued on the 3rd of July. 
 
 The Statutes of Laborers were frequently confirmed 
 and augmented, of which a notable instance occurred 
 under Henry IV., in the seventh year of whose reign it 
 was enacted "that in every Leet, once in the year, all 
 the Laborers and Artificers dwelling in the same shall 
 be sworn to serve and take for their service after the 
 form of the Statutes." 
 
 The same course of legislation was further extended 
 in 1414, 1423 and 1423, the last-named year bringing us 
 to a remarkable statute — 3, Henry VI., c. i. — with which 
 should be compared the earlier law of 1360, and th 
 
220 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Royal Proclamation of 1381. All three of these man- 
 dates or prohibitions were directed against combina- 
 tions, congregations and chapters of workmen, and the 
 two statutes fof 1360 and 1425) against workmen in the 
 building trades only. 
 
 3 IIEXR^' VI., c. I., .\.D. 1425. 
 
 " "Whereas by the yearly Congregations and Confedera- 
 cies made by the Masons in their general Chapiters 
 assembled {Generalx Chapitrcs Assemblez), the good 
 course and effect of the Statutes of Laborers be openly 
 violated and broken, in subversion of the law, and to the 
 great damage of all the Commons: our said Lord the 
 King willing in this case to provide Remedy, by the 
 advice and assent aforesaid, and at the special Request 
 of the said Commons, hath ordained and established 
 that such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be here- 
 after holden; and if any such be made, that they cause 
 such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and 
 holden, if they thereof be convict, shall be judged for 
 Felons; and that all the other Masons that come to such 
 Chapiters and Congregations be punished by Imprison- 
 ment of their Bodies, and make Fine and Ransom at the 
 King's Will." 
 
 The terms of this Act were first disinterred from the 
 Statute-book by Dr. Plot, in his "Account of the Free- 
 masons" (1686), and have since been regarded as con- 
 firming the "Legend of the Craft" — that there was an 
 annual assemblage of the fraternity or, in other words, 
 a periodical meeting of a governing bodv (or Grand 
 Lodge) of the entire brotherhood. Indeed, by the less 
 credulous school of modern writers, it is relied upon as 
 presenting the oie indisputable fact which alone pre- 
 vents the old Craft Legend from being consigned to the 
 region of fable and romance. 
 
 Almost identical language, however, with that which 
 occurs in the law of 1425 (3 Hen. VI., c. i. 1 will be found 
 (as already pointed out) in the earlier statute of 1360 (34 
 
Epglish Laws of the Middle Ages and Freewasons. 221 
 
 Edw. III., c. IX.). Nor is it credible for an instant that 
 the workmen, whose unlawful conventions it was the 
 object of these statutes to repress, met in precisely the 
 same kind of "general assemblies" as those undoubtedly 
 authorized gatherings which are adumbrated in the 
 written traditions (or Manuscript Constitutions) of the 
 masonic craft. 
 
 Other links in the chain of statutes relating to com- 
 binations, confederacies, and the making of unreasonable 
 ordinances to enhance the wages of labor, were formed 
 in the years 1437, 1503, 1530 and 1536. These Acts, 
 indeed, refer by implication to every class of artisan, 
 but the building trades are not specifically mentioned, 
 and the object of the legislation may, perhaps, be des- 
 cribed as a series of efforts to check the increasing abuses 
 of the craft guilds. Moreover, the statutes are too late 
 in point of date to render any assistance in an attempt 
 to "rationalize" the traditionary account of the "As 
 sembly" at which the attendance of all members of 
 the masons' trade was required. 
 
 The law passed in the third year of Henry VI. {1425) 
 has derived a factitious importance from the statement 
 that the King himself was subsequently admitted into the 
 Society. Of any actual connection, however, between 
 this imbecile monarch and the Freemasons there is no 
 trace, except in one of the texts or versions of the Legend 
 of the Craft — similar, apparently, to that seen by Dr. 
 Plot — and in a singular catechism which first appeared in 
 the Gentleman s Magazine of 1753, though it purports to 
 be a reprint of a pamphlet published at Frankfort in 1 748. 
 The latter — which contains "Certayne Ouestyons, with 
 Awnsweres to the same, concernynge the Mystery of 
 Maconrye; wryttenne by the hande of Kynge Henrye, 
 the Sixth of the Name," — was at one time generally 
 accepted as an authentic document of the craft. But the 
 view is not shared by modern writers, who regard it as a 
 
222 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 palpable fraud and wholly unworthy of the critical 
 acumen which has been lavished on its contents. 
 
 The word freemason is first met with in the statutes 
 under the year 1495, though the same term is possibly 
 signified by frank-mason, which occurs in an earlier Act 
 of 1444-5. 
 
 The "gevying and recey vying of signees and tokens 
 unlaufully," are also referred to in the law of 1495 
 (11 Hen. VII., c. iii.V These "signs and tokens" were 
 noi, however, methods of masonic recognition, as con- 
 tended by German commentators on the statute, but 
 badges and cognizances. 
 
 Upon the uncritical spirit in which the masonic tradi- 
 tions were adopted by successive copyists of the old 
 "Constitutions" as ascertained facts I have dwelt at 
 some length. But we are now able, in some degree, to 
 take the measure of their credulity and to apply severer 
 canons of criticism to the facts themselves which they 
 believed and recorded. "If, therefore, we endeavor to 
 destroy the credit of traditions which have long existed, 
 it is only to put something in their place, inconsistent 
 with them, but of more value. To reduce them to what 
 they really are, lest their authority should render the 
 truth more obscure, and its pursuit more difficult than is 
 necessary; but to use them wherever they seem capable 
 of guiding our researches, and are not irreconcilable 
 with our other conclusions." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE GUILD. 
 
 As regards Guilds, I certainly think that they haze 
 been much too confidently attributed to a relatively 
 modern origin. The trading guilds which survive 
 in our own country have undergone every sort of trans- 
 mutation which can disguise their parentage. They 
 have long since relinquished the occupations which 
 gave them a name. Yet ajiybody who, with a know- 
 ledge of primitive law and history, examines the in- 
 ternal mechanism and proceedings of a London Com- 
 pany, will see in many parts of them, plain traces of 
 the ancient brotherhood of kinsmen, "joint in food, 
 worship and estate." — SiR Henry S. Maine. 
 
 English guilds (we are told by the late Mr. Toulmin 
 Smith) are older than any Kings of England. As popu- 
 lation increased, guilds multiplied; and tT:ius, while the 
 beginnings of the older guilds are lost in the far dimness 
 of time, and remain quite unknown, the beginnings of 
 the later ones took place in methods and with accom- 
 panying forms that have been recorded. (Old Crown 
 House, 28.) 
 
 Whether, indeed, the peace (frith), the social, or the 
 trading guild was the first in origin, cannot be positively 
 determined. The trading guild appears in more forms 
 than one — as the guild-merchant, which it is difficult to 
 distinguish from the town corporation, and as the guild 
 of craftsmen. An antiquity, extending at least as far 
 back as the reign of Ethelwolf (856), has been satis- 
 factorily established for the guild-merchant. The craft 
 guild has a remoteness of origin less assured, but comes 
 prominently into notice about the middle of the twelfth 
 
 223 
 
224 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 century. The peace guilds {jrith borh) can bv; traced 
 with certainty to the reign of Athelstan, and with reason- 
 able probability to a far earlier date. 
 
 The oldest records we possess of the English social 
 (or religious) guilds, consist of three statutes, which were 
 apparently drawn up in the beginning of the eleventh 
 century. The title by which these fraternities are 
 ordinarily described is, however, somewhat misleading, 
 as in numerous instances their assumed character of 
 social (or religious) associations was merely a thin dis- 
 guise for a craft guild. 
 
 The sooner a town became chiefly a commercial place, 
 the sooner did the guild there take the form of a mer- 
 chant guild. These gildae mercator-iae, as they were 
 termed, had also the general control of the various 
 classes of artisans, as at first the craft guilds stood in a 
 filial relation to the merchant guild. 
 
 Where, however, there was no ancient merchant 
 guild, or its existence had- been forgotten, the admission 
 of free men to a share in the duties and privileges of 
 burghership was a part of the business of the leet. 
 
 Ultimately, when in either instance the merchant 
 guild had acquired jurisdiction or merged its existence 
 in the communa (or corporation), the guild hall became 
 the common hall of the city, and the court of the guild 
 became the judicial assembly of the free men and identi- 
 cal with the leet. 
 
 These meetings are sometimes referred to as "General" 
 and at others as "Common Assemblies." Their privi- 
 leges are perhaps best defined in the customs of Hereford, 
 drawn up in 1383, but which doubtless embody customs 
 of older times. Thus we learn that at the great meetings 
 held at Michaelmas and Easter, to which the whole 
 people were gathered for View of Frankpledge (in other 
 words at the court leet), the bailiff and steward may 
 command that all those who are not of the liberty should 
 depart from the court, and may afterwards "notice if 
 
THE QUATUOR CORONATI, 
 
 The Four Crowned Martyrs 
 
 In the Church of Or S. Michele, Florence. 
 
The Story of the Gtiild. 225 
 
 there are any secrets or business whicli may concern the 
 state of the city or the citizens thereof." (Archaeol. 
 Jrl., xxvii., 464.) 
 
 According to Mrs. J. R. Green, from about a.d. 1300 
 "ah independent trade jurisdictions in the towns came 
 to an end, and the crafts were presently forced to con- 
 ciliate the local powers according to their measure 
 of art or cunning." {Town Life in the i^th Century, ii., 
 143.) "Congregations and confederacies" were jeal- 
 ously watched and forbidden. No craft fraternity could 
 be formed without the leave of the municipality, and 
 every warden took his oath of office before the mayor, at 
 whose bidding, and subject to whose approval, he had 
 been elected. The rules made by any trade for its 
 government had no force until approved by the corpora- 
 tion. Men who offended against the rules of the trade 
 were brought before the town officers for punishment. 
 Carpenters, masons, plasterers, daubers, tilers and 
 paviors had to take whatever wages the law decreed 
 and to accept the supervision of the municipal rulers, 
 and their regulations were framed according to the 
 convenience of the borough (Ibid., 148, 152). For 
 example, after the great storm of 1362, in London it 
 was forbidden to raise the prices for repairing the 
 citizens' roofs (Riley, Mem. Lond., 308), and the "Or- 
 dinances of Worcester" (1467), in their regulations 
 for the tilers, enjoin that they must "sett no parliament 
 anionge them, to make eny of them to be as a maister, and 
 alle other tylers to be as his seruant and at his com- 
 maundement, but that euery tyler be ffree to come and 
 go to worche w' euery man and citezen, frely, as thej' 
 may accorde." (Eng. Guilds, 399.) 
 
 This is the only reference I have met with in any 
 ancient document to a "parliament" of the building 
 trades, and had the words italicized been used in a good 
 instead of in a bad sense, they would have been de- 
 structive of much (or all) of the criticism which I have 
 
226 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ventured to pass on the popular theory of a masonic 
 legislature having long existed in the guise of a lawful 
 "Assembly." But, as will be plainly seen, they refer 
 with the utmost clearness to the class of unauthorized 
 gatherings, which were otherwise known as congre- 
 gations, confederacies, conventicles and unlawfvl " As- 
 semblies." 
 
 I shall next proceed with the remark, that no evidence 
 is forthcoming from the Statutes of the Realm, nor has 
 any proof as yet been adduced from any authentic 
 record of this country, that the Freemasons, as a fra- 
 ternity or gtiild, at any period possessed, or held by 
 patent, any exclusive privileges whatsoever; also, that 
 all we are able to collect from either written or printed 
 sources, of undoubted authority, is of a contrary ten- 
 dency. 
 
 At this point it \\ill be convenient if I attempt to 
 penetrate the forest gloom of mediaeval antiquity, by 
 taking up the story of the traveling bodies of Free- 
 masons, fraught with Papal Bulls, by whom all the great 
 buildings of Europe are said to have been erected. The 
 earliest mention of them was penned by John Aubrey, 
 at some time after 1656, in his Natural History of Wilt- 
 shire, which was printed for the first time in 1847. Of 
 the manuscript work, however, there are two copies; 
 and the latest in point of date (from which I quote) has 
 the following: — 
 
 "Sir William Dugdale told me many yeares since, 
 that about Henry the Third's time, the Pope gave a 
 bull or patent to a company of Italian Freemasons, to 
 travell up and down all Europe to build churches. From 
 those are derived the Fraternity of adopted masons. 
 They are known to one another by certain signes and 
 watch words; it continues to this day. They have 
 severall lodges in sevcrall counties for their reception , 
 and when any of them fall into decay, the brotherhood 
 
The Story of the Guild. 227 
 
 is to relievt him. The manner of their adoption is very 
 formall and with an oath of secrecy." 
 
 WTiat we may suppose to have been an amplilication 
 of the above, was pubUshed in Ashmole's posthumous 
 work, the Antiquities of Berkshire, which, together witli 
 "a short account of the author," saw the Hght in 1719- 
 We learn from the Athenae Oxonienses of Anthony Wood 
 (iv., 363), that the editor of the work and the writer 
 of the biography was Dr. Richard Rawhnson, who, in 
 referring to Freemasonry, copies very closely from John 
 Aubrey, expanding, however, the authority granted by 
 the Pope into "a Bull, Patent or Diploma," and the 
 various names by which the "Fraternity" was known, 
 into "Adopted Masons, Accepted Masons, or Free Ma- 
 sons.' ' 
 
 In the memoir of Elias Ashmole, which is given in the 
 Biographia Britannica (1747), we are told by Dr. Kiiipe: 
 
 "What from Mr. Ashmole's collection I could gather 
 was, that the report of our Society taking rise from a Bull 
 granted by the Pope in the reign of Henry III. to some 
 Italian architects, to travel over all Europe to erect 
 chapels, was ill-founded. vSuch a Bull there was, and 
 those architects were masons. But this Bull, in the 
 opinion of the learned Mr. Ashmole, was confirmative 
 only, and did not by any means create our fraternity, 
 or even establish them in this kingdom." 
 
 With these three extracts should be compared the 
 citation I have previously given from the Parentalia 
 (ante, 96). It is almost certain that the four statements 
 may be traced to a single source. Moreover, if we look 
 closely into the matter, it becomes apparent that not 
 even in a solitary instance has the story of the Bulls 
 been handed down to us in the form of evidence that 
 would satisfy the requirements of a court of law. 
 
 The original version — in the hand-writing of John 
 Aubrey — is prefaced with the remark, " vSir William 
 Dugdale told me." It is, perhaps, scarcely open to 
 
2 28 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 doubt either that Dr. Rawlinson prepared the AniT- 
 quities of Berkshire (1719) for publication, or that he 
 copied freelv from the manuscript of John Aubrey, in 
 his allusions to the Freemasons. But the memou of 
 the deceased author is followed by no signature, nor 
 does the name of any editor appear on the title page of 
 the posthumous work. Dr. Knipe (Biog. Brit.) says, 
 "What from Mr. Ashmole's collection I could gather 
 was;" and lastly, b}- way of prelude to the belief which 
 has been ascribed to the great architect of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral bv the editors of the Parentalia, we meet with 
 the words — "He [Wren] was of opinion." 
 
 The story, neyertheless, for a long time had its yogue, 
 on the faith of such respectable (though shadowy) 
 authoiities, but no other eyidence of any kind whatso- 
 eyer has been adduced in its support. 
 
 Aft(r the death of Sir Christopher, it was promulgated 
 to the world by Dr. James .Anderson, in his Ncu' Booh of 
 Constitutions (1738), that the great architect had been 
 not only a prominent craftsman, but also one of the 
 (pre-historic ) Grand Masters of the Society. There is, 
 indeed, an entire absence of proof that Wren was a 
 Freemason at all, and with regard to his alleged Grand- 
 Mastership, it will be sufficient at the present day to 
 remark, that he could not well haye held, in the seyen- 
 teenth century, an office which at that time did not exist. 
 
 The fable, howeyer, was receiyed with acclamation by 
 successiye generations of masonic antiquaries and arch- 
 aeologists, whose enthusiasm seems to haye been con- 
 tagious; of which we ha^'e possible examples in the 
 pages of the Parentalia and the Biographia Britannica, 
 and unequiyocal illustrations in many learned works 
 written by members of the architectural profession and 
 others, who were in no way connected with the fra- 
 ternit}-. 
 
 The climax was reached in the fascinating essa}' of 
 Mr. Thomas Hope [ante, 105), who, building on the 
 
The Story of the Guild. 
 
 229 
 
 old (or assumed) foundations laid by Dugdale, Ashmole 
 and Wren, completed the superstructure of error by 
 bringing in the Magistri Comacini as the original masonic 
 corporations and depositaries of the Papal Bulls, and 
 thus adding (as it were) an upper story to a pre-existing 
 castle in the air. 
 
 "The universal promulgation of the principles, rules 
 and practice of the Gothic architecture," observes Dr. 
 
 SIEGE OF CdRIXTH. 
 
 Milman (1854), " has been accounted for by the existence 
 of a vast guild of Freemasons, or of architects. It is said 
 the centre, the quickening, and governing power was 
 in Rome. Certainly, of all developments of the Papal 
 influence and wisdom, none could be more extraordinary 
 than this summoning into being, this conception, this 
 completion of these marvellous buildings in every part 
 of Latin Christendom. But it is fatal to this theory that 
 Rome is the citv in which Gothic Architecture has never 
 
230 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 found a place; even in Italy it has at no time been more 
 than a half-naturalized stranger. It must be supposed 
 that while the Papacy was thus planting the world with 
 Gothic Cathedrals this was but a sort of lofty concession 
 to Trans-Alpine barbarism, while itself adhered to the 
 ancient, venerable, more true and majestic style of an- 
 cient Rome. This guild, too, was so secret as to elude 
 all discovery. History, documentary evidence, main- 
 tain rigid, inexplicable silence. The theory is not less 
 unnecessary than without support. Each nation, indeed, 
 seems to have worked out its own Gothic with certain gen- 
 eral peculiarities. All seem to aim at certain effects, all 
 recognize certain broad principles, but the application of 
 these principles varies infinitely. Sometimes a single 
 building, and sometimes the buildings within a certain 
 district, have their peculiarities. Under a guild, if there 
 had been full freedom for invention, originality, boldness 
 of design, there had been more rigid uniformity, more 
 close adherence to rule in the scientifical and technical 
 parts." {Hist, of Lat. Christianity, vi. 587.) 
 
 The names of other and greater (architectural) authori- 
 ties have since been arrayed on the same side as that of 
 the learned Dean of St. Paul's; for example, those of the 
 late George Edmund Street (1865) and Wyatt Pap worth 
 (1876), the former of whom states: — "The common 
 belief in ubiquitous bodies of Freemasons seems to me 
 to be altogether erroneous;" and the latter, "some will 
 expect from me an account of those traveling bodies 
 of Freemasons who are said to have erected all the great 
 buildings of Europe; nothing more, however, will be said 
 than that I believe they never existed." 
 
 With the above, I am fully in accord, though, instead 
 of contenting myself with an expression of my individual 
 opinion on the question of the "Bulls," it has seemed 
 nmch better to give the reader such necessary informa- 
 tion as may enable him (by the aid of further investiga- 
 tion) to form one of his own. 
 
The Story of the Guild. 231 
 
 In passing out of the wilderness of conjecture into the 
 region of ascertained fact, it is, liowever, important to 
 recollect, that while there is a total absence of proof (or, 
 indeed, of probability) that during " Henry the Third's 
 time" the "Colleges of Masons" in every country of 
 Europe received the blessing of the Holy See, it is un- 
 doubtedly true that the Papal authority stood at its 
 highest when that feeble monarch succeeded to the 
 throne. Nor was any country so intolerably treated by 
 Gregory IX. and his successors as England throughout 
 the ignominious reign of Henry III. 
 
 The great age of monasteries in England is stated bv 
 Hallam to have been the reigns of Henry I., Stephen, 
 and Henry II. {Middle Ages, ii., 145). But the period 
 when the activity of the church builders was in its zenith, 
 appears to have been "about the time of Henry the 
 Third," or, at all events, during the thirteenth century, 
 when we find — and it gives us some idea of their numbers 
 — that no less than ten cathedrals were in progress 
 simultaneously (Dibdin's Tour). 
 
 "The master-masons and their brotherhood," observes 
 the Rev. J. Dallaway, "could have been scarcely ever 
 void of employment, as their labours were not always 
 confined to ecclesiastical buildings. They were em- 
 ployed not only in raising castles, but in inventing mili- 
 tary stratagem.s in their formation, and making engines 
 of war: such had the peculiar name of Ingeniatores {ante, 
 112), For completing castellated or grand domestic 
 mansions, they were no less in requisition. A very early 
 instance occurs in the reign of Henry III. of Paul le 
 Peverer, in his house at Todington in Bedfordshire, and 
 of the numerous artificers whom he had employed." 
 {Discourses upon Arch., 420.) 
 
 At the time referred to, for other than the textile arts, 
 the smith was a recognized institution in every village. 
 For the building of a church or castle, liowever, masons 
 
2:^2 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 and carpenters were imported from a distance, like the 
 stone and shingles and lead with which they worked. 
 (Social Eng., i., 465.) 
 
 In the course of the thirteenth century the great major- 
 ity of towns obtained rights of self-government. Two 
 master-masons were reconciled before the mayor of Lon- 
 don in 1298. Craft guilds existed, but at Norwich they 
 were specially prohibited by a charter of the 40th year of 
 Henry III. The most ancient of these associations ap- 
 pear to have been those of the weavers, guilds of which 
 trade are referred to as existing at Oxford, Huntingdon, 
 and Lincoln in the Pipe Roll of 31, Henry I. The next 
 in point of date were the goldsmiths, the fullers, the 
 bakers, the loriners and the cordwainers, all of which 
 were in high repute. But the mediaeval masons were a 
 body of men scattered over the whole country, who 
 traveled hither and thither as journeymen builders do 
 now, in search of work. Hence they were long unable to 
 establish similar associations to those set up by the other 
 trades. It has been suggested that about the time they 
 borrowed the pointed arch, they also became acquainted 
 with the Gnostics and Manichaeans (Quart. Rev., xxv., 
 146), from which it has been further deduced that, owing 
 to their necessarily wandering habits — for wander they 
 did, though not by any means to the extent which is gen- 
 erally supposed — they may have been chosen as emis- 
 saries for these sects or societies. But the statutes, the 
 traditions and the legends of (or relating to) the masons 
 of the Middle Ages, in their last stage of existence, are be- 
 fore us, and, whatever may have been loosely asserted, 
 there is no ground for suspecting them to have been more 
 than ordinary mediteval guilds, differing, indeed, from 
 those of the other trades, but only from the circumstance 
 that while the usual trades were local, and the exercise 
 of them confined to the locality where the tradesman re- 
 sided, the builders were, on the contrary, forced to go 
 wherever any great work was to be executed. (Fer- 
 
The Story of the Guild. 2.33 
 
 guson, Hist. 0} Arch., i., 477.) Impregnated, indeed, 
 many of the masons of old doubtless were with the pecu- 
 liar doctrines of the ages in which they lived and worked, 
 but (with all due respect for the learned credulity by 
 which a contrary opinion is upheld) they were in no way 
 an integral part of some great secret society which had 
 existed from the beginning of the world. 
 
 In the following century, architecture continued to be 
 the great art of the age, and we have further proof that 
 the services of the higher class of "master masons," to- 
 gether with those of their "brotherhoods," were cer- 
 tainly not an exclusive monopoly of the Church. Mon- 
 asteries and abbeys, indeed, were no longer built, for the 
 taste of the times had changed; but manors, hospitals, 
 castles, schools and colleges were then erected which 
 modern architects can only feebly imitate. (W. War- 
 burton, Edward III., 247.) 
 
 The fourteenth century witnessed the triumph of the 
 craft over the merchant guilds, and in London the former 
 were in full possession of the mastery in the reign of Ed- 
 ward III. Charters were freely granted by this monarch, 
 and the craft guilds thus incorporated became better 
 known as companies, a designation under which they still 
 exist. 
 
 The foundation of the Masons' Company of London, 
 in the opinion of Mr. Edward Conder, may be placed at 
 about the year 1220 (The Hole Crafte and Fellowship of 
 Masons, 54), and the "Regulations for the Trade of 
 Masons," enacted by the municipal authorities in 1356 
 (Riley, Mem. Land., 280), are relied on by the same ex- 
 cellent authority as affording the earliest documentary 
 evidence of the existence of the guild. The first dis- 
 tinct (or unequivocal) notice of the masons of London 
 as a guild or sodality cannot, however, be traced farther 
 back than 1376, of which date there is (among the City 
 records) a list of the companies entitled to send repre- 
 sentatives to the Court of Common Council. From the 
 
234 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 original record we learn that the Masons' Company (at 
 that time represented by four of its members) was other- 
 wise described as the Company of Freemasons. The ex- 
 istence of a guild of masons at Norwich in 1375 has been 
 referred to on a previous page. 
 
 Eventually the towns began to look upon the craft 
 guilds with as much favor as they had formerly shown 
 distrust, and proceeded to multiply their numbers both 
 by creating new fraternities and reorganizing the old 
 ones. Nor was the drawing together of artisans into the 
 later craft fraternities at all times a matter of free will 
 {ante, no). If the trades did not voluntarily associate 
 they were ultimately forced to do so, and at the close of 
 the fifteenth century we find the towns everywhere issu- 
 ing orders that crafts which had hitherto escaped should 
 be compelled to group themselves into companies. 
 (Green, Town Life, ii., 155.) 
 
 The Gildae Mercatoriae began to decline in the thirteenth 
 century, and in the two following centuries they had 
 practically ceased to exist. Sometimes the old merchant 
 guild became indistinguishably blended with the town, 
 and gave its name to the whole community. Elsewhere 
 its title was in some vague way transferred to the aggre- 
 gate of the craft guilds, and, indeed, according to Dr. 
 Gross, all guilds of merchants formed after the decline of 
 the Gildae Mercatoriae in the thirteenth century must be 
 considered as being merely craft unions of the ordinary 
 kind (Gild Merch., i., 129). The fifteenth century, if we 
 are to believe the host of commentators on the Statute 3, 
 Henry VI., Chapter i. (1425), witnessed the downfall 
 of the Freemasons, but the true meaning of that enact- 
 ment has already been considered with all the fulness at 
 my command. Then came the famous Wars of the Roses, 
 during which period social improvement was suspended. 
 The high and the low suffered alike. Whole families of 
 the great were swept away, massive castles were thrown 
 down, and villages were by hundreds laid in ashes (ante. 
 
The Story of the Guild. 235 
 
 126.) The Pasion Letters (1422-1509') may be com- 
 mended as a mirror of the times, and among them is one 
 which may throw a possible gleam of light on the spec- 
 ulative masonry of an era at once so obscure and so re- 
 mote. 
 
 A missive, which is anonymous and bears no date, but 
 is supposed to have been written in 1464, runs: — 
 
 " To my ryght worshipfutl maister and brother, John 
 Pasion, this letter be taken. 
 
 Ryght worshipfull and reverend mayster and brother, 
 with alle my service I recommaunde me on to yow. 
 Please hit onto your grete wysedom to have yn your des- 
 crete remembrauns the streite ordre on which we ben pro- 
 fessid, and on which ze er bownden to kepe your residens, 
 and specially on this tyme of Crystmas amonggis your con- 
 frerys of this holy Ordre, the Temple of Syon ; for ynlesse 
 than ze kepe dewly the poynts of your holy Religion, owr 
 Maister Thomas Babyngton, maister and soverayn of 
 owr Order of th 'assent of his brythryn ben avysed to 
 awarde azenste yow ryght sharp and hasty proces to do 
 calle yow to do your obcervauns, and to obeye the poynts 
 of your Religion, whice wer on to me grete hevynesse.'. 
 hit drawith fast on to Cristmas, on which tyme every 
 trewe Crysten man sholde be merry, jocunde, and glad. 
 And sethnys ther is no place which by lyklyhod of reason 
 ze shulde fynde yn your hert to be so gladde and yocunde 
 yn as ye sholde be yn the place of your profession 
 amounggis your holy brytheryn ; yn which place yn this 
 ceson of the yer hit ys a custumyd to be alle maner of 
 desport, lyke as hit is nat unknowe to your wisse descres- 
 cion .-. of whos comyng alle your saide bretheryn wolde 
 be glade and fayn, and yn especial I, your servaunt and 
 brother .'. 
 
 Wrytten yn the Temple of Syon, iij"^ day of December, 
 yn grete hast. 
 
 By your Servaunt and brother. ^^JT^^ 
 
 % 
 
236 History of Freemason ry. 
 
 "It is diflicult," observes Mr. Gairdner, the latest 
 editor of the Pai'/ofi Letters, "to assign with confidence 
 either a date or a meaning to this strangely worded 
 epistle. The signature itself is a mystery. The Order 
 of the Temple of Sion is unknown to archaeologists, and 
 the place from which the letter is dated cannot be iden- 
 tified. From the peculiar device used as a signature, re- 
 sembling what in heraldry represents a fountain, Fenn 
 [a previous editor] threw out a suggestion that Fountaine 
 was the writer's name. For my part, I am inclined to 
 think it was a mocking letter addressed to John Paston by 
 one of the prisoners in the Fleet, where Paston had him- 
 self been confined in 1464. The name of Thomas Bab- 
 ington occurs in Dugdale's Origines Jiiridiciales, p. 63, 
 as having been elected a reader in the Inner Temple in 22, 
 Hen. VII., when he seems to have been an old man. " 
 
 The same writer further suggests that some of Paston 's 
 "late fellow-prisoners, probably members of the Inner 
 or Middle Temple like himself, who had formed them 
 selves into a fancy 'Order of the Temple of Sion,' amused 
 themselves by speculating on the probability that he was 
 not yet clear of the toils of the law, and that he would 
 be obliged to come back and spend Christmas in gaol 
 among the jolly companions whom he had recently de- 
 serted." (Paston Letters, ii. , 1 70. ) It mav be so, but the ex- 
 planation is one which is wholly unsatisfactory to my own 
 mind, nor do I see any possible clue to a solution of the 
 mystery, unless it is to be found in the more general exist- 
 ence than has commonly been supposed, of a system of 
 speculative masonry in the twilight of the Middle Ages. 
 
 It is also a curious circumstance, and whether or not 
 pointing in the same direction deserves at least to be 
 recorded, that by the will of Margaret, "late the wiff of 
 John Paston, Squier, doughter andheireto John Mauteby, 
 Squier" (dated February 4th, 1482), it was enjoined that 
 a form of words corresponding very closely with the 
 motto of the Masons and Freemasons (in later years) 
 
The Story of the Guild. 237 
 
 should be inscribed upon her tomb. A stone of marble, 
 with "scochens sett at the iiij corners," was to be placed 
 on the grave, "and in myddys of the seid stoon," says 
 the testatrix, "I wull have a scochen sett of Mawtebys 
 armes [Mauteby's arms] allone, and under the same thise 
 wordes wretyn, — 
 
 In God is my trust." (Ibid., Hi., 281.) 
 
 The Masons' Company of London is described as the 
 "Hole Crafte and felowship of Masons" in the grant of 
 arms, which it was one of the very first guilds to obtain, 
 in 1472. The latter title, however, was exchanged in 
 1537 (and possibly at an earlier date) for that of the 
 "Company of ffree Masons," a designation which was 
 retained until 1656. (Conder, Hole Crafte, 104.) 
 
 In the sixteenth century the guild system was evi- 
 dently in danger of breaking down, and it was necessary 
 to bolster it up by Acts of Parliament, while, at the same 
 time, preventing it from putting excessive hindrances 
 in the way of competition and individual enterprise 
 (Soc. Eng., Hi., 121). Upon the statutes which were 
 passed in furtherance of this design it is not, however, 
 my purpose to enlarge. It has, indeed, been suggested 
 that, together with other laws of the previous century, 
 they were enacted to put down the annual assemblies of 
 some companies or guilds, including those of the Free- 
 masons. But, as I have endeavored to show in the last 
 chapter, the origin of the Legend of the Craft, with its 
 traditionary "Assembly" — supposing it to have had 
 any foundation in actual fact — must be looked for in a 
 period far more remote. 
 
 The guilds were suppressed by the Statutes of 37, 
 Henry VIII., c. 4, and i, Edward VI., c. 14, but virtually 
 their raison d'etre was restored by that of 5, Eliz , c. 4, 
 commonly called the Statute of Apprentices. 
 
 London, indeed, saved her guilds because she was 
 powerful enough to have made a revolution, even 
 
238 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 against the most absolute Tudor, and would have cer- 
 tainly made it had her great livery companies been swept 
 away. A few other guilds survived, though for the most 
 part, as at Preston, in a condition of picturesque decay. 
 In the church of St. Helen, Bishopsgate (London), 
 there is a handsome tomb, and on the south side there 
 is the following inscription: — 
 
 Here lyeth the Bodie of Willliji Kerwin op this CittiE of Lon- 
 don Free Mason whoe Departed this lyfe the 2(jth Daye of De- 
 cember A.N'o 1.594. 
 
 On the west end are sculptured the arms of the " Hole 
 Crafte and felowship of Masons" (of which Kerwin was 
 a member), as granted in 1472. On a chevron engrailed, 
 between tliree square castles, a pair of compasses ex- 
 tended; as a crest, the square castle; also (for the first 
 time) a motto, "God is ovr Gvide" (W. H. Rylands). 
 
 The words, "In the Lord is all our Trust," observes 
 Mr. Conder, are never found before the year 1600, and as 
 a change in the arms of the Masons' Company took place 
 about this date, there is little doubt that with it was 
 associated the later form of the old guild motto. 
 
 As we have seen, however a devout invocation of the 
 Deity, closely resembling the guild motto in its later 
 (known) form, and which may, or may not, have 
 possessed a masonic significance, was inscribed on the 
 tomb of Margaret Paston in 1482. 
 
 Masonry in the sixteenth century had passed its mer- 
 idian, but continued to remain the shadow of itself until 
 the end of the seventeenth. The fluctuations of com- 
 merce and population led to the existence of new towns 
 and the decay of some of the old ones, thus tending to 
 break up the ancient guilds (or trade and mechanical 
 fraternities) which had survived the great cataclysm 
 of the Reformation. Moreover, there were great aumbers 
 of foreign workmen who settled in England before and 
 during the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth 
 centuries, bringing with them the trade traditions and 
 
The Story of the Guild. 239 
 
 usages of the French, German, Flemish and Dutch 
 artisans, "who, perhaps, joining some of the societies 
 or lodges they found existing in England," may, it has 
 been suggested (but on no other foundation than mere 
 conjecture), have left their mark on the speculative 
 masonry which has descended to our own time. 
 
 Evidence, indeed, if not entirely wanting, is neverthe- 
 less wholly insufficient to supply more than an occasional 
 glimpse of the way in which the old system of masonry 
 was gradually succeeded, and ultimately supplanted, by 
 the new. The earliest authentic record of a non-oper- 
 ative being a member of a masonic lodge, occurs in 
 a minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh, under the date of 
 June the 8th, 1600. John Boswell, the Laird of Auchin- 
 leck, was present at the meeting, and, like his operative 
 brethren, he attested the minute by his mark. But 
 that speculative or symbolic flourished side by side with 
 operative masonry, at a much earlier period, may be 
 safely inferred from the solemn declaration of a Pres- 
 byterian synod in 1652, that ministers of that persuasion 
 had been Freemasons " in the purest tymes of the Kirke, ' ' 
 the reference almost certainly being to the years immedi- 
 ately following the Reformation of 1560, and without 
 doubt considerably ante-dating the introduction of Epis- 
 copacy in 1 6 10. 
 
 In the South of Britain, however, it is not until much 
 later that any distinct proof of the existence of what I 
 shall venture to characterise as an actual or living Fret- 
 masonry is afforded us, and this we meet with in con- 
 nection with the "Company of ffreemasons" {now the 
 Masons' Company) of London, in the early part of the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
 Most of the records of the Company are missing, but 
 from an old book of accounts which has been preserved, 
 it is made clear that previously to 1620, and inferentially 
 from a remote past, certain brethren who were members 
 of the Company, in conjunction, it is supposed, with 
 
240 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 others who were not , met in lodge at Masons' Hall, London, 
 and were known to the Company as the Accepted Masons. 
 
 Seven persons were received into the " Accepcon " 
 (i.e., the Acception) or Lodge in 1620-21, all of whom 
 were already members of the Company, which is suf- 
 ficient to prove that the two bodies were distinct asso- 
 ciations, though of this there is a still more conspicuous 
 illustration in the case of Nicholas Stone, the King's 
 master mason, who, though master of the Company in 
 1633, and again in 1634, was not enrolled among the 
 "Accepted Masons" of the Lodge, until 1639. 
 
 " LTnfortunately," observes the historian of the Com- 
 pany, "no books connected with this Acception — i.e., 
 the Lodge, have been preserved. We can, therefore, 
 only form our ideas of its working from a few entries 
 scattered through the accounts. From these it is found 
 that members of the Company paid 20s. for coming on 
 the Acception, and strangers 40^1. Whether they paid 
 a lodge quart eridge to the Company's funds it is im- 
 possible, in the absence of the old Quarteridge Book, 
 to state. One matter, however, is quite certain from the 
 old book of accounts commencing in 161 9, that the pay- 
 ments made by newly accepted masons were paid into 
 the funds of the Company, that some or all of this was 
 spent on a banquet and the attendant expenses, and that 
 any further sum required was paid out 0} the ordinary 
 funds of the Company, proving that the Company had 
 entire control of the Lodge and its funds." 
 
 The valuable discoveries so recently made by Mr. 
 Conder, in connection with the Masons' Company, wil 
 be again laid under contribution as I proceed, l3Ut in 
 order to pursue the general narrative as nearly as possible 
 in chronological sequence, the first initiation on English 
 soil, of whicli any of the surrounding circumstances have 
 come down to us, will be next referred to. 
 
 A minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh — "At Neucastell 
 the 2oth day off May, 1641" — records the admission 
 
HON. MRS. ALDWORTH, 
 The Female Mason. 
 
The Story of the Guild. 241 
 
 of " Mr. the Right Honerabell Mr. Robert Moray, General 
 Quartermaster to the Armie of Scotlau." 
 
 From this we may conclude that there were members 
 of the lodge who accompanied the forces of the Cove- 
 nanters to Newcastle in 1641, and that it was at the 
 hands of these militant craftsmen that Sir Robert Moray 
 was made a mason. 
 
 The next evidence in point of date which relates to an 
 actual or living Freemasonry in the south, is supplied 
 by the Diary of EHas Ashmole, from which I extract the 
 following : — 
 
 " 1646 — Oct. 16, 4.30 p. m. — I was made a Free Mason 
 at Warrington, in Lancashire, with Coll. Henry Main- 
 waring, of Karincham in Cheshire." 
 
 The Diary also gives "the names of tlinse that were 
 then of the Lodge," who, as Mr. W. H. Rylands has 
 clearly shown, were all presumably men of good social 
 position, without a single operative mason belonging to 
 their number. 
 
 From the circumstance that one of the copies of the 
 Manuscript Constitutions (Sloane, 3848) was transcribed 
 by an Edward Sankey on the i6th of October, 1646, the 
 use of the document has been connected with the initi- 
 ation of Ashmole into the mysteries of the craft. A 
 Richard Sankev was present in the lodge, whose son 
 Edward — as we may infer from the monograph of Mr. 
 Rylands — a young man of four or five and twenty, was 
 apparently alive in October, 1646. (Ereemasonry in the 
 Seventeenth Century). 
 
 It is obvious that symbolical masonry must have existed 
 in Lancashire for some time before the admission of 
 Ashmole and Mainwaring, though how far the pedigree 
 of the lodge in which they were received can be carried 
 back is a point on which, in the absenceof further evidence, 
 it is impossible to offer any remark. But we shall be 
 safe in assuming that the ascendency of speculative over 
 operative masonry, must certainly have been established 
 16 
 
242 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 in London from 1619-20, and at Warrington in 1646, 
 while, inferentially, the epochs of transition (in both 
 instances) must be looked for in periods which are far 
 more remote. 
 
 In 1655-6, the "Company of ffremasons" became the 
 "Worshipful Company of Masons" of London. 
 
 The following, which I extract from a Memoir of 
 the Family of Strong, appeared on a monument at Fair_ 
 ford , Gloucestershire : — 
 
 "Here lyeth the body of Valentine Strong, 
 Free Mason. 
 He departed this life, 
 November . . . 
 A.D. 1662." 
 
 " Here's one that was an able workman long, 
 Who divers houses built, both fair and Strong; 
 Though Strong he was, a Stronger came than he, 
 .\nd robb'd him of his life and fame, we see; 
 .Moving an old house a new one for to rear, 
 Death met him by the way, and laid him here.". 
 
 The si.x sons of this Valentine Strong "were all bred 
 to the masons' trade," and the "Family" will again 
 enter into the narrative as we proceed. 
 
 EUas Ashmole accompanied Sir William Dugdale in 
 liis visitation of Staffordshire in 1663, about which date 
 it is highly probable that the two heralds and antiquaries 
 exchanged views with respect to the origin of Free- 
 masonry, the substance of which was reproduced by 
 John Aubrey in his "Story of the Bulls." The preva- 
 lence of masonic "customs" in his native county (after- 
 wards so graphically depicted by Dr. Plot) could hardly 
 have been unknown to Aslimole, nor can the supposition 
 be regarded as an entirely visionary one, that their 
 general notoriety may have had its share of influence in 
 inducing him, at a still earlier period, to join the ranks 
 of the Freemasons at Warrington in 1646. Ij 
 
 Returning to the Masons' Company of London, there 
 are two inventories of its effects, one of which was taken 
 
The Story of the Guild. 243 
 
 in 1665 and the other in 1676. Among the articles 
 enumerated in both schedules, are a copy of the Manu- 
 script Constitutions and a list of the members of the 
 lodge, the former being described as " One book of the 
 Constitutions of the Accepted Masons" (in 1676), and 
 the latter as "The names of the Accepted Masons in a 
 faire enclosed frame with a lock and key" (in 1665). 
 
 In the opinion of writers who have made the subject a 
 special study, it is highly probable that this list of Ac- 
 cepted Masons is connected in some way with the " New 
 Articles" cited by Dr. Anderson in his publication of 
 1738, and which form a distinctive feature of a group 
 or family of the Manuscript Constitutions, as classified 
 by Dr. Begemann, and lettered F in the Old Charges 
 of Mr. Hughan. I shall next refer to another form, or 
 version, of the Manuscript Constitutions, known as the 
 " Harleian 2054." It is in the handwriting of the third 
 Randle Holme (1627-90), who, like his father and grand- 
 father, was an heraldic painter, professional genea- 
 logist, and acted as Deputy Garter for Cheshire, Shrop- 
 shire, Lancashire, and North Wales. He was the prin- 
 cipal contributor to the "Holme" collection of man- 
 uscripts in 260 volumes which, after the death of the 
 fourth Randle Holme, were purchased for (or on behalf 
 of) Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford. In 1753 they 
 were sold to the British Museum, and are now numbered 
 Harleian MSS. 1920 — 2180. 
 
 The transcript referred to (Harl. 2054) was apparently 
 made about the year 1665, and of presumably the same 
 date is a rough memorandum, also penned by Randle 
 Holme, which contains the following : — 
 
 "There is seu^'all word & signes of a free Mason to be 
 revailed to y" w^*^ as y" will answ : before God at the great 
 & terrible day of ludgm* y"" keep Secret & not to revaile 
 the same to any in the heares of any pson w but to the 
 M" & fellows of the said Society of free Masons so helpe 
 me God, xt." 
 
244 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Connected with the foregoing, and in the same hand- 
 writing, are other entries, including twenty-six names 
 (and embracing that of Randle Holme himself), which 
 without a doubt, were those of members of the Chester 
 lodge. 
 
 The conditions under which Freemasonry was prac- 
 tised at Warrington in 1646, seem to have been largely 
 reproduced at Chester in 1665-75. The circumstances in 
 life of seven out of the twenty-six members have not 
 been ascertained, but of the remainder four only were of 
 
 THE MODERN CITY OF CORINTH, VIEWED FROM THE B.\Y. 
 
 the masons' trade. An equal number were aldermen 
 and two (including Holme) were gentlemen. 
 
 The third Randle Holme was the author of the 
 Academie of Armorie (1688), from which I extract the 
 following : — 
 
 "I cannot but Honor the Felloship of the Masons 
 because of its Antiquity; and the more, as being a Mem- 
 ber of that Society, called Free-Masons." 
 
 In the same book Randle Holme also states: — "A 
 Fraternity, or Society, or Brotherhood or Company are 
 such in a corporation, that are of one and the same 
 
The Story of the Guild. 245 
 
 trade and occupation who, being joyned together by oath 
 and covenant, do follow such orders and rules, as are 
 made for the good order, rule and support of such and 
 every of their occupations." 
 
 The Accepted Masons are referred to in the Account 
 and Minute Books of the Masons' Company (London) 
 for 1677, but there is no subsequent mention of them in 
 any records of the fellowship. A side light, however, 
 is thrown on the proceedings of the Acception or Lodge 
 by the Diary of EHas Ashmole, from which I shall again 
 quote: — 
 
 "March, 1682. 
 
 "10. — About 5 P.M. I rec"^: a sumons to app"" at a 
 Lodge to be held the next day, at Masons Hall, London. 
 
 "11. — Accordingly I went, & about Noone were ad- 
 mitted into the Fellowship of Free Masons, 
 
 "S'' William Wilson Knight, Capt. Rich: Brothwick. 
 M"- Will: Woodman, M'- W" Grey, M"- Samuell Taylour, 
 & M'' WiUiam Wise. 
 
 "I was the Senior Fellow among them (it being 35 
 yeares since I was admitted). There were p^'sent beside 
 my selfe the Fellowes after named. 
 
 "M'' Tho: Wise M'' of the Masons Company this 
 p^'sent yeare, M'' Thomas Shorthose, M"" Thomas Shad- 
 bolt . . . Wainsford, Esq'', M^'Nich: Young, M"' John 
 Shorthose, M"" William Hamon, M'' John Thompson, 
 & M"- Will: Stanton. 
 
 "Wee all dyned at the halfe Moone Tavern in Cheap- 
 side, at a Noble dinner prepaired at the charge of the 
 New=accepted Masons." 
 
 With the exception of Sir William Wilson, Captam 
 Richard Borthwick, and EHas Ashmole, all those whose 
 names are recorded in the Diary as having been present 
 at the lodge, were members of the Masons' Company. 
 
 Thomas Shorthose filled the Master's chair in 1664, 
 Thomas Shadbolt in 1668, Thomas Wise in 1682 
 WilHam Wise in 1703, and William Woodman in 1708. 
 
246 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 "From the initiation of Sir William Wilson and Cap- 
 tain Borthwick," observes Mr. Conder, "we have evi- 
 dence at this date that the Lodge of Freemasons held 
 at Masons' Hall continued to admit those who were not 
 members of the Company, and it was evidently still 
 possible for 'gentlemen-Masons' to become members 
 without the obligation of afterwards joining the Com- 
 pany or taking up the Freedom of the City. In fact, 
 the Lodge had now probably become a more or less 
 distinct body, and was not merely the private esoteric 
 division of the Masons' Company, as it had been in 
 earlier years." 
 
 No later evidence bearing, however remotely, on the 
 continued existence of the lodge at Masons' Hall has 
 come down to us. Whether it passed away with the 
 seventeenth century, or lived for any longer period, can 
 only form the subject of conjecture. 
 
 "The one thing certain is that, up to about 1700, the 
 Company and the Society were hand in hand, but after 
 that date the connexion appears to have ended, and there 
 is nothing to show that Speculative Masonry had a place 
 in the thoughts of the Company." (Hole Crafte, 14.) 
 
 The armorial bearings of the Company appear to have 
 served as a model for those of all later masonic corpora- 
 tions, whether speculative or operative. They are to be 
 found also on several copies of the Manuscript Constitu- 
 tions, in certain instances a^ companied by the Arms of 
 the City of London, and in ot' - by those of some illus- 
 trious family connected with a ticular lodge. 
 
 The "New Articles," a rema ble feature of the 
 "Roberts" group of the old Constitutions, have been 
 referred to in a previous chapter (III.) and of the clause 
 ("No. 31) I reproduced (ante 152), Mr. Conder says that 
 it might have been drafted direct from the existing 
 rules of the Masons' Company, and he adds: "If by 
 any chance they (the New Articles) are taken from such 
 rules as might perchance have been included in, or added 
 
The Story of the Guild. 247 
 
 to, the Constitutions of the Masons' Company at a later 
 date, then we can trace the origin of Dr. Anderson's 
 remarks in his Constitutions of 1738 concerning the 
 Grand Lodge, and conclude that, as lodges began to 
 increase in I,ondon towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century, these 'New Articles' emanated from the senior 
 lodge, i.e., that connected with the Masons' Company." 
 
 In the opinion of Mr. Hughan: "The 'additional' 
 or 'new' articles appear to have been agreed to by some 
 Company or body of Freemasons, having jurisdiction 
 in one form or other, over a number of lodges, about 
 which at the present time we are absolutely without 
 information, and which seem to have been in part of a 
 speculative character." {Old Charges, 124,) 
 
 Returning to the Masons' Company, Thomas the first, 
 and Edward, the fifth son of Valentine Strong, Free- 
 mason, were members of the London Company, and 
 successively the master masons of St. Paul's, under Sir 
 Christopher Wren. According to the Memoir of the 
 Family of Strong, Thomas Strong laid the foundation- 
 stone of St. Paul's Cathedral with his own hand. The 
 lanthorn on the dome was begun about the year 1 706, 
 and on the 25th of October, 1708, Edward Strong, 
 senior, laid the last stone upon the same. 
 
 Valentine Strong, the father of Wren's two master 
 masons, was in all probability a member of the 'Com- 
 pany of Freemasons, Carpenters, Joiners and Slaters of 
 the City of Oxford," incorporated in 1604. 
 
 In this instance, it will be observed, that while the 
 members of several trades are united in a guild, the post 
 of honor is given to the Freemasons. They are also 
 named first in a charter granted by the Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, constituting various crafts into a " Comunitie 
 ffelowshipp, and Company," in 1671. The incorporated 
 body was to "assemble" yearly on "the Feast of St. 
 John Baptist" and elect four wardens, one of whom 
 
248 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 "must allwaies be a ffree mason, and shall upon the 
 same day make jree^nen and hrethern." 
 
 It is very possible that certain external privileges 
 were possessed by the Masons' Company of London 
 and among these may have been a more or less acknow- 
 ledged suzerainty over all the guild members of that 
 trade (or Free Masons). Great and unusual powers 
 were conferred on the weavers by Henry II. In 1327, 
 Edward III. granted a charter to the grrdlers of the 
 metropolis, which took in all the girdlers of the kingdom., 
 ordered them under the same rules, and set them under 
 the mayors of whatever city they might be in. (Riley, 
 154.) By Edward IV., and later kings, charters were 
 granted to various trade communities, giving them an 
 existence independent of the town. 
 
 There were the tailors of Exeter, who, rich, powerful 
 and well drilled, cherished ambitions beyond the per- 
 fecting of the sartorial art. They were permitted by 
 Edward TV. to "augment and enlarge" their guild as 
 they chose, and forthwith took into their company 
 "divers crafts other than of themselves, and divers 
 others not inhabitants within the same city" — men, in 
 fact, of every conceivable trade and occupation, free 
 brethren who swore to be true and loving brothers of the 
 guild, never to go to law with any of the fraternity, to pay 
 their fanes duly during life to the treasure box, and leave 
 a legacy to it at their death. (Town Life, ii., 174.) 
 
 I shall next quote from the Natural History of Stafford- 
 shire (Chapt. 111.), by Dr. Robert Plot, which was pub- 
 lished in 1686: — 
 
 J85. "To these add the Customs relating to the 
 County, whereof they have one, of admitting Men into 
 the Society of Free-Masons, that in the moorelands of 
 this County seems to be of greater request, than any- 
 where else, though I find the Custom spread more or less 
 all over the Nation; for here I found persons of the most 
 crrinent quality, that did not disdain to be of this 
 
The Story of the Guild. 249 
 
 Fellowship. Nor indeed need they, were it of that 
 Antiquity and honor, that is pretended in a large parch- 
 ment volum they have amongst them, containing the 
 History and Rules of the craft of masonry. ' ' 
 
 |86. "Into which Society when any are admitted, 
 they call a meeting (or Lodg as they term it in some 
 places), which must consist at lest of 5 or 6 of the 
 Ancients of the Order, when the candidats present with 
 gloves, and so likewise to their wives, and entertain with 
 a collation according to the Custom of the place: This 
 ended, they proceed to the admission of them, which 
 chiefly consists in the communication of certain secret 
 signes, whereby they are known to one another all over 
 the Nation, by which means they have maintenance 
 whither ever they travel: for if any man appear though 
 altogether unknown that can shew any of these signes 
 to a Fellow of the Society, whom they otherwise call an 
 accepted mason, he is obliged presently to come to him, 
 from what company or place soever he be in, nay, tho' 
 from the top of a Steeple (what hazard or inconvenience 
 soever he run) to know his pleasure and assist him; viz., 
 if he want work he is bound to find him some; or if he 
 cannot doe that, to give him mony, or otherwise sup- 
 port him till work can be had; which is one of their 
 Articles.' ' 
 
 After stigmatizing the Legend of the Craft as false 
 and incoherent, the doctor goes on to say: "Yet more 
 improbable is it still, that Hen. the 6 and his Council, 
 should ever peruse or approve their charges and manners, 
 and so confirm these right Worshipfull Masters and 
 Fellows, as they are call'd in the Scrole: for in the third 
 of his reigne (when he could not be 4 years old) I find 
 an act of Parliament quite abolishing this Society." 
 
 Among the subscribers to the Natural History of 
 Staffordshire were EHas Ashmole, vSir William Dugdale, 
 and Sir Christopher Wren, by all of whom the author 
 was held in high respect and esteem. 
 
250 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Natural History of Wiltshire (from which I shall 
 next quote), Dr. Plot was asked by John Aubrey to pre- 
 pare for the Press, but, as already related, the work 
 remained in manuscript form until 1847. A rough and 
 a fair copy were made by the author. From the latter I 
 transcribe the following; — 
 
 "Memorandum. This day, May the i8th, being 
 Monday, 1691, after Rogation Sunday is a great con- 
 vention at St, Paul's Church of the Fraternity of adopted 
 masons, where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted 
 a brother, and Sir Henry Goodric of the Tower, and 
 divers others. There have been kings that have been 
 of this sodality. 
 
 In the original for rough) copy of the Aubrey MS., 
 the words italicized above (adopted masons), as first 
 written, were "Free-Masons," but "Free" is crossed 
 out, and "Accepted" (which in the fair copy becomes 
 "Adopted") takes its place. 
 
 The above is the only contemporary evidence which 
 tends in any way to connect Sir Christopher Wren with 
 the Freemasons, though after the death of the great 
 architect, we meet with a long array of fabulous state- 
 ments which declare that he was for many years the 
 Master of a private lodge, and also (though at a period 
 anterior to the existence of that title) the Grand Master 
 of the Fraternity. 
 
 The year, however, in which, as we learn from Aubrey, 
 the great convention of Free, Accepted, or Adopted 
 Masons was held, may have witnessed some important 
 meeting of the Craft, of which no record has been pre- 
 served. In the Engraved List for 1729, the senior lodge 
 is described as "No I. GoosE and Gridiron, St. Paul's 
 Churchyard. Constituted 1691." 
 
 According to Dr. James Anderson, "Particular Lodges 
 were not so frequent and mostly occasional in the South, 
 except in ot near the Places where great Works were 
 carried on. Thus Sir Robert Cla\i:on got an Occasional 
 
The Story of the Guild. 251 
 
 I/)dge of his Brother Masters to meet at St. Thomas's 
 Hospital, Southwark, a. d. 1693, and to advise the 
 Governours about the best Design of rebuilding that 
 Hospital, near which a stated Lodge continued long 
 afterwards.' ' 
 
 "Besides that and the old Lodge of St. Paul's, there 
 was another in Piccadilly over against Si. James's 
 Church, one near Westminster Abby, another near Covent- 
 Garden, one in Hnlborn, one on Tower-Hill, and some 
 more that assembled statedly." (Constitutions, a.d. 
 1738.) 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century we meet 
 with the "Orders to be observed by the Company and 
 Fellowship of Freemasons att a Lodge held at Alnwick, 
 Septr. 29, 1 701, being the Gen" Head Meeting Day." 
 
 Among these " Orders' ' are : " 5th, — Thatt noe mason 
 shall take any Apprentice [but he must] enter him and 
 give him his charge within one whole year after ' ' ; and 
 "9th, — There shall noe apprentice after he have served 
 seaven years be admitted or accepted but upon the Feast 
 of St. Michael the Archangell." 
 
 The Alnwick Lodge was an essentially operative 
 body, and of speculative or symbolical masoiu^y its 
 records do not disclose a trace, until thirty or more years 
 after the dawn of the era of Grand Lodges in 1717. 
 
 In 1704, the Festival of St. John the Evangelist be- 
 came the General Head-Meeting Day, and, as the 
 frequent entry "made Free Deer. 27th" attests, appren- 
 tices who had served their time, in conformity with 
 the ninth regulation, were admitted or accepted on that 
 date. 
 
 "The Old Lodge at York City" was in a very flourish- 
 ing condition in 1705, but, in the absence of documen- 
 tary evidence, its earlier history must remain a matter 
 of conjecture. 
 
 An offshoot of this body is probably referred to under 
 the heading of "The names of the Lodg," which is in- 
 
252 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 scribed on a roll of the MS. Constitutions (York, Xo. 4), 
 with the date of October, 1693. But the parent stem 
 doubtless rises to an equal height with that of the known 
 (or living) masonry of the south (1619-20); and it is 
 quite possible that an operative (if not a speculative) 
 ancestor of the "Old Lodge at York" may have existed 
 in the logium jabricae, of the proceedings of which we 
 obtain a glimpse in the Fabric Rolls of 1352 {ante, 306). 
 
 Tlie York Lodge, however, from at least 1705, was 
 exclu'^ively the home of speculative or symbolical ma- 
 sonry. No minutes of earlier date than 171 2 have been 
 preserved, but from that date they extend to and over- 
 lap those of the Grand Lodge of England, at London, 
 established in 1 717. The greater number of the meetings 
 are described as those of Private, while a few are re- 
 ferred to as those of General Lodges. New members 
 were " Sworne and Admitted" or "Admitted and 
 Sworne," and from these words alone can we form any 
 nation of the method of reception. The Lodge itself 
 is indifferently styled the Antient and Honorable Society 
 and Fraternity of Free Masons; the Company of Free 
 Masons, and the Society of Free and Accepted Masons. 
 
 There were Presidents and Deputy Presidents. 
 The former include Sir George Tempest, Bart., 1705; 
 Robert Benson (afterwards Lord Bingley), Lord Mayor, 
 1707; Sir William Robinson, Bart., 1708; and Sir Walter 
 Hawkesworth, Bart., 1711. Among the latter were 
 George Bowes, 17 13, and Charles Fairfax, 171 6, both of 
 whom were county magnates; also Rear-Admiral Robert 
 Fairfax (brother of the last-named), who, a month after 
 he had been " admitted and sworne into the hon^^''- Society 
 and fraternity of Freemasons" (1713), was elected as 
 Parliamentary representative and, two years later, as 
 Lord Mayor of the City of York. 
 
 A "private" Lodge was held at Scarborough on the 
 loth of July, 1705, "before William Thompson, Esq''., 
 Pr'sident & severall others, brethren ffree Masons," at 
 
The Story of the Guild. 253 
 
 which six gentlemen "were then admitted into the said 
 ffraternitv. ' ' 
 
 Between the Lodges at York and Scarborough re- 
 spectively, there was probably the relation of maternity 
 and filiation. The former, however, was not always a sta- 
 tionary body, as we are told (on the authority of original 
 records that were existing in 1778) that "there is an In- 
 stance of its being holden once (in 1 713) out of York, viz., 
 at Bradford in Yorkshire, when 18 Gentlemen of the first 
 families in that Neighbourhood were made Masons. " 
 
 In the South of England during the same period — i.e., 
 the first and second decades of the eighteenth century — 
 there must also have been a considerable amount of 
 masonic activity, although the proceedings of the lodges 
 have unfortunately not been recorded. This conclusion 
 is based on two of Steele's Essays in the Tatler, the first 
 of which appeared June 9th, 1709, and the second May 
 2nd, 1 7 10. In the former the writer alludes to a set of 
 people who ' 'have their Signs and Tokens like Free-Masons" 
 (ante, 78); and in the latter remarks (of certain "idle 
 fellows") "that one who did not know the true cause of 
 their sudden Familiarities, would think that they had 
 some secret intimation of each other like the Free-Masons. " 
 
 It is abundantly clear that, in the foregoing extracts 
 Steele refers to a well-known and long-established in- 
 stitution, and from his two statements alone (in the ab- 
 sence of any other evidence), it would be safe to assume 
 that in London, many years prior to 1709, there had ex- 
 isted a Society possessing distinct forms of recognition, 
 the members of which were commonly and generally 
 known as the Free-Masons. 
 
 As will be hereinafter shown, traces of speculative 
 masonry in the north of Britain are found in greater 
 abundance and of higher antiquity than in the south; 
 while the recent research of Dr. Chetwode Crawley has 
 clearly established, that in Irish academical circles Free- 
 masomy was weh known before the landing of William 
 of Orange at Carrickfergus in 1690. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE LEGEND OF THE CRAFT. THE QUATOR 
 
 CORONATI. masons' MARKS. 
 
 We see on our shelves, in handsome Volumes, the 
 Works of old Authors who lived and wrote before the 
 invention of printing; but how few of us ask ourselves 
 the questions: Where are the originals of which these 
 books are the copies? And what authority have we for 
 the genuineess of the text ? 
 
 WiELiM Forsyth. 
 
 The Four Crowned Martr were so called because 
 their names were not known. 
 
 Breviarium Spirense (a.d. 1478). 
 
 Science there 
 Sat musing ; a^id to those that loved the lore 
 Pointed, with mystic wand, to truths involved 
 In geometrical symbols. 
 
 Rev. William Mason. 
 
 Although manuscripts containing the legendary history 
 of the Masonic body have come down to us in great pro- 
 fusion and variety, neither the testimony of history nor 
 the voice of legend, can be relied upon, as affording any 
 distinct clue to the incunabula of the Craft mythology. 
 
 These ancient writings are described in various ways, 
 e.g., as the Manuscript (or Masonic) Constitutions, the 
 Constitution of the Craft, the History of Freemasonry, 
 the Story of the Guild, and the Legend of the Craft. 
 Ordinarily they consist of three parts: Firstly, the Intro- 
 ductory Prayer, Declaration, or Invocation; secondly, 
 the History of the Society — Story of the Guild, or Legend 
 of the Craft — which, beginning before the Flood, alludes 
 
 254 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Cotonati. 255 
 
 to Euclid, Solomon (and many other Biblical characters), 
 a "curious Mason" called Naymus Grecus, who, having 
 assisted at the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, after- 
 wards taught the Science of Masonry to Charles Martel ; 
 St. Alban the Proto-Martyr ; and generally ends with the 
 era of King Athelstan, or about a.d. 926; and, thirdly, 
 the peculiar statutes and duties, the regulations and ob- 
 
 RUINS OF THE TEMPLE, AND PREPARATION FOR ITS 
 RE-BUILDING. 
 
 servances, which the members of the Masonic trade were 
 bound carefully to uphold and inviolably to mamtam. 
 
 These documents were used at the reception of candi- 
 dates for admission. The Legend of the Craft was read 
 over to them, and they then swore on the holy writmgs 
 to faithfully observe the statutes and regulations of the 
 Society. 
 
256 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 In his well-known work, The New Book of Constitu- 
 tions, published with the "Sanction " of the Grand Lodge 
 of England, in 1738, Dr. Anderson states: — "The Free- 
 Masons had always a Book in Manuscript call'd the Book 
 of QIonBtttuttn«B (of which they have several very antient 
 Copies remaining) containing not only their Charges and 
 Regulations, but also the History of Architecture from the 
 
 \ 
 
 
 COUNCIL FiiR THE RE-BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Beginning of Time; in order to shew the Antiquity and 
 Excellency of the Craft or Art. " 
 
 Besides these compilations, of which the majority now- 
 extant are in rolls or scroll form, there are two manu- 
 scripts — ^the Regius and Cooke — of greater antiquity, 
 possessing many characteristics of the Masonic "Con- 
 stitutions" (properly so-called), and apparently derived in 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Ouatuor Coronati 257 
 
 great part from versions or readings of them now lost to 
 us, but which were evidently not used at the reception of 
 new brethren in the same way as the documents in roll 
 or scroll form; and must be classified ratlier as histories 
 of, or disquisitions upon, Geometry (or Masonry) than as 
 "Constitutions" of the Craft or Society. 
 
 Of the ordinary versions of the Masonic Constitutions, 
 tlie oldest dated form is the "Grand Ivodge" MS. No. I. 
 of the year 1583. The Readings or texts, however, of 
 these documents, as distinguished from the forms or 
 writings in which they have been preserved, exhibit many 
 discrepancies, whereby some confusion and much dis- 
 putation have arisen. In their prima facie character, in- 
 deed, the manuscripts present themselves as so many in- 
 dependent and rival texts of greater or less purity. But, 
 as a matter of fact, they are not independent; by the 
 nature of the case they are all fragments — frequently 
 casual and scattered fragments — of a genealogical tree 
 of transmission, sometimes of vast extent and intricacy. 
 
 Leaving the old "Constitutions" (properly so-called), 
 and passing to the next group of documents in the ascend- 
 ing scale, we come in the first instance to the Cooke MS., 
 and, a little higher, reach the Masonic Poem, or Regius 
 MS., after which the genealogical proofs are exhausted. 
 
 These two manuscripts, however, afford conclusive 
 evidence of there having been — at the time from which 
 they speak — pre-existing "histories" of Geometry (or 
 Masonry) of much earlier date. 
 
 This part of my subject has been anticipated in other 
 passages of the present work, but the written traditions 
 of the Freemasons will now be examined as a whole, and 
 an attempt made to judge of their nmtual relations. 
 
 A history of the discovery of ancient manuscripts has 
 been frequently mentioned as a work that would prove 
 highly interesting to the scholar and the man of taste; 
 and in such a volume Poggio Bracciolini would merit 
 every encomium whicli gratitude could supply. The 
 17 
 
PLAN OF TEMPLE 
 
 SOUTH 
 
 NORTH 
 
 OLS 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Corovait. 259 
 
 REFERENCES TO PLAN OF TEMPLE. 
 
 1. Wall around courts, with 13 openings. 
 
 2. The Chel; space between smaller wall and wall of court, 
 
 3. Shops. 
 
 4. Small Sanhedrin. Contained 3 rows of 23 men each, 
 
 5. Eastern Gate. The chief gate called "Beautiful. " (Acts, 3-2.) 
 
 6. Court of Women, with chests at the entrances for offerings. 
 
 7. Chamber of Wood, arranged for each day 's use. 
 
 8. Chamber of Nazarites, for boiling peace-offerings and burning hair, 
 
 9. Chamber of lepers, where they shaved their hair. 
 
 10. Chamber of Oil, for the candlestick and flour-offerings. 
 
 1 1 . Second Small Sanhedrin. Contained 3 rows of 23 men each, 
 
 13. Chambers of Music, under the court, for instruments and vocal practice. 
 
 13, Gate of Nicanor, approached by 15 steps. 
 
 14, Court of Israel. Length, 187 cubits; breadth, 11 cubits, 
 
 1 5 , Chambers of Vestments and Spicery. 
 
 t6. Place of Blessing. A landing of 3 steps. 
 
 17. Chambers for salt, water and skins, 
 
 1 8. Slaughter-house. 
 
 19. Tables of cleansing. 
 
 20. Altar of Burnt-ofFerinK's, 
 
 21. The Ascent to the Altar, the which it was not permitte>l to touch. 
 
 22. Court of Priests. Length, 135 cubits; breadth, ii cu'^its, 
 33. Place of Ashes, 
 
 24, The Laver and its fiedestal, 
 
 25, The Draw-well. 
 
 26, Steps to the Porch; .1, i, 3, 4, i, 11 steps to the Porch. 
 
 27, The Pillars-Jachin and Boaz. 
 
 28, The Porch. In length, 70 cubits; in breadth, 11 cubits. 
 
 29, Chambers of Broken Knives. 
 
 30, Veil at entrance of Porch, 20 by 40 cubits. 
 
 3 1 , Unoccupied space called ' ' Circumference ' ' and ' 'The Descent of Rain-water. 
 33, Chambers round Sanctuary; 3 tiers, one above the other; total, 38. 
 
 33. The Middle Chamber, but not so specially designated. Two tiers high. 
 
 34. Door of Sanctuary; n by 20 cubits, 
 
 35. Golden Altar of Incense, 
 
 36. Candlestick. 
 
 37. Golden Table of Shewbread. 
 
 38. Two golden Pedestals, on which to temp-irarily place the blood of the bullock 
 
 and goat, 
 
 39. Two Veils, within the traksin, or partition-wall, which was a cubit in width. The 
 
 Veils did not touch each other by three hand -breadths; hence the separation 
 of the Holy Place from the Holy of Hohes. 
 
 40. Holy of Holies; 20 by 20 cubits. 
 
 41. Ark, resting on Stone of Foundation, 
 
 42. Chamber of Moked (Burning), and chambers for sheep, baking, etc. 
 
 43. House of Nitzus, for the guard. 
 4.4. Gates. 
 
 45. Chambers for supply of water and wood. 
 
 46. Chamber of Hewn Stone, lor Great Sanhedrin; ^ rovv's of 23 men each. 
 
 47. Water-gate for the Altar, 
 
 48. Upper Chamber of Abtinas. A watch-chamber. 
 
26o History of Freemasonry. 
 
 whole lives of Italian scholars in the fifteenth century 
 were devoted to the recovery of manuscripts and the 
 revival of philology. The discovery of an unknown 
 manuscript, says Tiraboschi, was regarded almost as the 
 conquest of a kingdom. Poggio especially distinguished 
 himself by his persevering and successful researches in 
 continental Europe for the manuscripts of the works of 
 ancient authors ; and in our own day, for the memorable 
 resurrection of early documents of the English Craft, 
 which has so recently taken place, we are under a similar 
 weight of obligation to William James Hughan, of Tor- 
 quay. 
 
 Thirty or less years ago, not a score of the old written 
 traditions of the Freemasons were known to exist, where- 
 as at the present time some seventy copies (or forms) of 
 the Manuscript Constitutions have not only been traced 
 but transcribed, and to these must be added nine printed 
 versions (some of which are fragments of unknown orig- 
 inals), together with ten missing documents (referred to, 
 but not traced), making a grand total of eighty-nine, a 
 few being copies (or duplicates) of other existing MSS. 
 
 The labors of Mr. Hughan, in this field of research, were 
 shared at the outset by the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, and 
 in later davs by other coadjutors, among whom Dr. Wil- 
 helm Begemann easily takes the first place. 
 
 The division of the Manuscript Constitutions into 
 groups or families, was long regarded as a golden impos- 
 sibility, by the limited number of students who had alone 
 attempted to penetrate beneath the somewhat forbidding 
 husk of their actual meaning and intent. The task, how- 
 ever, has been happily performed by Dr. Begemann in a 
 manner that leaves very little to be desired, though I 
 must be careful to guard myself from being supposed to 
 admit that the other methods of classification of older 
 date are entirely superseded by the new arrangement. 
 In the second edition of Hughan 's Old Charges of 
 British Freemasons, will be found particulars of all known 
 
The Legend of the'jOraft-The Quatuor Coronati. 261 
 
 copies of these old Constitutions, arranged in families of 
 MSS. The whole subject has also been exhaustively 
 treated, in a series of most interesting articles, contributed 
 by Dr. Begemann to the Zirkelcorrespondenz (or official 
 organ), of the National Grand Lodge of German Free- 
 masons, at Berlin. 
 
 To the serious detriment, however, of English students 
 the invaluable commentaries of the latter on the ancient 
 manuscripts of the Craft, are (to the generality) either 
 
 IiXSPICCToRS oF MATERIAL FOR THE TEMPLE- 
 
 totahy lost, or at least partially veiled in the obscurity of 
 a foreign tongue. But a condensed outline (in English) 
 of his German articles has been kindly made for me by 
 the learned doctor, a sketch of whose main thesis (in 
 relation to the inquiry we are pursuing) will next be 
 laid before the reader. 
 
 I shall only premise that many of tlie views held, and 
 conclusions drawn by Dr. Begemann, are supported by 
 arguments and illustrations, for which space cannot be 
 found in this volume; also, that in the letterpress of the 
 
262 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 following sketch (for which I am solely responsible), I 
 may have occasionally failed to express my friend's exact 
 meaning with absolute precision in our vernacular idiom. 
 
 DR. BEGEMANN ON THE MANUSCRIPT CONSTITUTIONS. 
 
 I. The Regius MS., ij A. I., Brttish Museum.— This 
 document would seem to have been transcribed between 
 the years 1390 and 141 5, from an original of slightly 
 earlier date, compiled, say, between 1380 and 1400, m 
 the north of Gloucestershire or Herefordshire, or even 
 possibly in the south of Worcestershire, The manuscript, 
 which "is in metrical form, and deals with a variety of 
 topics— though at unequal length— may be divided into 
 eight leading divisions : — 
 
 I. The History of Masonry, i.e., its foundation by 
 Euclid in Egypt, and its introduction into 
 England by King Athelstan (II. i — 86); 
 II. Fifteen Articles (//. 87—260); 
 
 III. Fifteen Points (//. 261 — 470); 
 
 IV. An Ordinance {Alia ordinacio) about future 
 
 Assembhes (//. 471 — 96); 
 \, Ars Ouatuor Coronatorum ill. 492 — 534); 
 VI. and ~\la. The Tower of Babylon and King 
 Nabogodonosor— Euclyde, and the teaching 
 by him of the Seven Sciences " wondur 
 wyde" (//. 535 — 50 and 551—80); 
 VII. Rules for good behaviour at Church {II. 581 — 
 
 692) ; and 
 VIII. A series of recommendations with respect to 
 deportment and etiquette (//. 693 — 794)- 
 Of the above only I.— IV. are purely Masonic. V. and 
 VI. show a loose connection with Masonry, while VII. and 
 VIII. are not Masonic at all. I.— IV. were doubtless 
 based on some passages in old "Books of Charges," 
 written in prose, and corresponding very closely with 
 what we meet with in the latter part of the Cooke MS., 
 which appears to be a specimen of an old " Book of 
 
y 
 
 
 
 
264 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Charges. ' ' If the texts of these two early documents of 
 the British Craft are compared, it will be found that the 
 first 62 lines of the poem cover substantially the same 
 ground as 54 (//. 643 — 92) of the prose narrative. Then 
 comes a difference between the two versions. According 
 to the poem (//, 63 — 86), King Athelstan, in order to 
 amend defaults which he found existing among the 
 masons, convoked an Assembly, or kind of Parliament, 
 
 V-- — ^ ... jT ,r -I > 
 
 > * 'II 
 
 3 GRAND MASTERS. 3,30O MASTERS OF OVERSEERS. 
 80,000 FELLOW CRAFTS. 70,000 ENTERED APPRENTICES. 
 1,453 COLUMNS. 2,906 PILASTERS. 
 
 consisting of Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, Squires, 
 Great Burgesses, and others, by whom fifteen Articles 
 and fifteen Points were ordained for the governance of the 
 Craft. In the corresponding lines (698 — 720) of the 
 Cooke MS., however, we are told that (also for great de- 
 faults) King Athelstan, with his councillors and other 
 great lords, "ordeyned a certayne reule," that once a 
 year or in three j^ears, congregations should be made by 
 all masons to be examined of the Articles, and to receive 
 
The Legend of the Craft— The Ouatuor Coronati. 265 
 
 their Charge. In the old " Book of Charges, " theretore, 
 the previous existence of the Articles is implied, while 
 in the poem we are informed that not only the Articles, 
 but also the Points were enacted by Athelstan and his 
 Assembly. In the nine Articles of the former are to be 
 found, though not quite in an orderly sequence, the first 
 eight and the tenth of the latter, while the ninth of the 
 poem can be traced in lines 715 — 19 of the Cooke MS. 
 The last five of the fifteen Articles in the older manu- 
 script liave not yet been identified in any other written 
 or printed work, and whether they originated in the fer- 
 tile imagination of the poet, or were copied by him from 
 some " Book of Charges, " amplified by Articles that have 
 not come down to us in any other line of transmission, is 
 so obviously a matter of conjecture that its consideration 
 need not be proceeded with. Comparing the fifteen 
 Points of the poem with the nine of the junior codex, the 
 first eight in either document possess a common ancestrv. 
 Nos. 9 and 10 of the Regius are not to be found among 
 the Points of the Cooke MS., but they correspond to some 
 extent with the passages in the prose writing commencing 
 at lines 921 and 930 respectively. 
 
 The eleventh Point of the poem is the ninth of the junior 
 codex, and Nos. 12 to 15 of the former (like 9 and 10) 
 have their prototypes in the original writings, from which 
 the concluding portion of the latter (//. 911--51) is de- 
 rived. 
 
 As I liave elsewhere shown, the archetype of the " Book 
 of Charges" contained Articles only, hence the versifier, 
 to whom we are indebted for the Regius MS., must have 
 indulged fand not for the first or last time) in what is 
 called poetic licence, when he boldly announced that the 
 fifteen Points were already enacted by Athelstan and hi'^ 
 Assembly. 
 
 The fourth part of the poem — Alia ordinacio artis 
 geometriae — which, equally with the passage referred to 
 above in the Cooke MS. (/. 693 et seq.), is leased on an older 
 
266 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 writing, was apparently inserted at this place, m conse- 
 quence of the versifier having forgotten to do so at the 
 end of the historical part, to which it properly belongs. 
 The opening lines are : — 
 
 They ordent tlier a semble to be 3r-holde 
 
 Every yer, whersever they wolde, 
 
 To amende the defautes, yef any where fonde 
 
 Amonre the craft withynne the londe, 
 
 Uche yer or thrydde yer hyt schuld be holde, 
 
 Yn every place whersever they wolde. 
 
 From which it is evident that the Assembly hinted at 
 in the first line bv the word ther, was identical with the 
 
 PROGRESS OP THE WORK. 
 
 \ssembly (or Parliament) convoked b)' Athelstan at an 
 earlier stage of the metrical narrative (II. 63—86), and 
 that the "Ordinance" enacted at that gathering has its 
 analogue in the "certayne reule" in the Cooke MS. 
 
 The rhymist next presents us with a personal utterance 
 of King Athelstan in regard to "these statutes every- 
 (,hon"--t.e., the Articles, Points, and Alia Ordmacio — 
 which purports to be an expression of the Royal will that 
 they ought to be kept throughout the country, and should 
 be confirmed by later kings. 
 
 The fifth part of the poem has the title of Ars Quatuor 
 Coronatorum, and glorifies the Four Crowned Martyrs on 
 account of their constancy, referring for fuller particulars 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Qtiatiwr Coronati. 267 
 
 of their fate to "the legent of sanctorum," meaning, 
 no doubt, the so-called "Golden Legend" (Legenda 
 Aurea) of Jacob a Voragine, which is often cited as Leg- 
 enda Sanctorum. Neither oral tradition or any other 
 written authority are relied upon, or at least mentioned, 
 by the compiler, and it is well known that the Quatuor 
 Coronati never became the patron saints of the English, 
 as they undoubtedly were of the German masons. It may 
 be supposed, therefore, that the object of the versifier 
 \vas to place on record some early examples of Christian 
 truth and fortitude among the members of the building 
 art. 
 
 The sixth part of the poem opens with an account of 
 the tower of Babylon, erected by " Kyng Nabogodonosor " 
 in order to protect the human race from being entirely 
 destroyed by any future flood. After which, without 
 any connecting link, Euclid is brought on the scene, and 
 we learn that he commenced in the seven sciences, which 
 are next enumerated, though rather confusedly, the fault 
 — it may well have been — of the transcriber. Lastly, 
 we meet with-- 
 
 " These ben the syens seven, 
 "Whose useth hem wel, he may han heven." 
 
 According to the belief of the Middle Ages, the seven 
 sciences were virtually a similar number of steps leading 
 to virtue, and finally to Heaven. 
 
 The seventh section of the manuscript is composed of 
 excerpts from many sources, for example the 
 
 Lay Folks' Mass Book, the Book of Ctirtesye, the Merita 
 Missae, and notably from the Instructions for a Parish 
 Priest, by John Myrc. 
 
 The last-named work was probably written by the 
 author — who was a Canon of Lillieshall in Shropshire — 
 between 1350 and 1390, though the copies preserved are 
 of a later period. Shropshire — especially in its southern 
 part — is included within the area when the Western-Mid- 
 
268 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 land dialects prevailed, and between the dialect of Myrc's 
 Instructions and that of the Masonic poem there is a very 
 close similarity, the latter, however, being of rather later 
 date, and inclining a little in a south-easterly direction. 
 
 The eighth and final portion of the Regius MS. is taken 
 from another poem, entitled UrbanHatis, the original of 
 which must have existed in the fourteenth century. It 
 
 RUINS OF BABYLON. 
 
 is also traceable, as a composition, to the Western-Mid- 
 land district, where, in the fourteenth century, a great 
 many poems were compiled on matters relating to prac- 
 tical life. 
 
 In my opinion, the author of the Masonic poem (or 
 Regius MS.), who was a priest or clergyman, intended the 
 whole of it for operative Masons, of whom, perhaps, he 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 269 
 
 was an overseer, in order to give them a higher notion of 
 the excellency of their ancient craft, and at the same 
 time render them worthier of it, by fostering ideas which 
 might result in their becoming more religious and better 
 mannered. The English literature of the 14th and two 
 following centuries abounds with versified exhortations 
 and directions in regard to good behavior, and in manV 
 guild ordinances we read of fines being imposed for 
 breaches of decorum or offences against good manners. 
 Whether the Masonic poem was extensively copied and 
 circulated during the 1 5th century, there are no means of 
 determining, and possibly the only transcript made of the 
 original document exists in the solitary copjr which has 
 come down to us. 
 
 II. "Additional MS. 23, 198." British Museum. — 
 This old MS. was first printed in 1861 by Mr. Matthew 
 Cooke, and has since borne his name. The experts at 
 the Museum pronounce it to be of early 15th centur}' 
 transcription, but in my own judgment it dates from 
 about 1430, and was copied from an older original, com- 
 piled either in the last decade of the 14th or the first de- 
 cade of the 15th century. Like the Masonic poem, the 
 Cooke MS. came from the Western-Midland district, and 
 the opinion expressed (after an independent investigation) 
 with respect to its original home, meets with welcome con- 
 firmation in the Diary of Dr. Stukeley, from an entry in 
 which we learn that what must undoubtedly have been 
 the Cooke MS. was brought to London from the West of 
 England, and produced in the Grand Lodge by Grand 
 Master Payne, on St. John's Day (in summer), 1721. 
 
 The manuscript consists of two chief or leading parts, 
 the first of which is a new history of Masonry written by a 
 learned man, probably a priest, and the second, without 
 doubt, a copy of an old "Book of Charges." The en- 
 tire document extends to 959 lines, and in the First Chief 
 Part there are 642, which may be classified as follows: — 
 
270 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 I. Introductory remarks (i— 35)- H- The seven 
 liberal sciences (36—76). HI. Origin and worth of 
 Geometry, from which came Masonry (77—158). I\'. 
 The children of Lamech : Jabal found Geometry and 
 Masonry, Jubal Music, Tubal Cain Smith's Craft and 
 Noema' Weaver's Craft: Jabal wrote all the sciences on 
 two pillars to protect them from fire or water : and after 
 Noah's flood these pillars were found by Pythagoras and 
 Hermes, who taught and spread the sciences they con- 
 tained. (159—326). V. Nimrod began the tower of 
 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 Babylon, and taught his workmen, whom he loved^and 
 cherished, the Craft of Masonry ; he sent his cousin Assur 
 3,000 Masons, and gave them a Charge (327 — 417). VL 
 Abraham knew all the Seven Sciences, and taught 
 Masonry to Euclid, who gave it the name of Geometry: 
 Euclid taught the Egyptians to make walls and ditches, 
 and to divide the land into parts ; he also instructed the 
 sons of the Lords in the Craft of Masonry, and gave them 
 a Charge (418 — 538). VII. The Israelites learned the 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 27 r 
 
 Craft of Masonry in Egypt and took it to Palestine, where 
 David and Solomon favored Masons and gave them 
 Charges (539 — 75). VIII. Carolus Secundus was a 
 Mason before he was King of France; he gave the Masons 
 Charges and ordered them to meet together once a year, 
 in order to be ruled by masters and fellows of all things 
 amiss (576 — 601). IX. St. Alban, having been con- 
 verted to Christendom by St. Amphibal, gave the Eng- 
 lish Masons their first Charges and convenient pay for 
 
 QUARRYING SToNE. 
 
 their travail ; afterwards King Athelstan and his youngest 
 son loved masons well; the latter, who became a mason 
 himself, gave the masons Charges, together with reason- 
 able pav, and purchased a free patent from his father that 
 they should make an assembly when they thought fit 
 (602 — 642). The new history of Masonry, of which this 
 outline has been presented, was not compiled from oral 
 traditions existing among tlie masons, but from the Bible 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 273 
 
 and other sources. The compiler, who was evidently a 
 man of learning, besides the sacred writings, quotes from 
 the Polychronicon, Beda, Isidorus, Methodius, and the 
 "Master of Stories." The last named, however, is not 
 the Greek historian Herodotus, who is so often referred 
 to as the " Father of History, ' ' but the author of the well- 
 known Historia Scholastica, Petrus Comestor, who is 
 styled "Master of Stories" by Trevisa in his English 
 translation of Higden's Polychronicon, as well as by 
 Wycliffe in one of his disquisitions. 
 
 In many portions of his narrative the compiler is in 
 full agreement with the stream of writers of the Middle 
 Ages, while in others there are passages which cannot be 
 traced to any known source, and were probably the coin- 
 age of his own brain. For example, the statement that 
 the two pillars were made by Jabal, and subsequently 
 discovered by Pythagoras, the great clerk, and Hermes, 
 the philosopher; that Solomon's Master Mason was the 
 King's son of Tyre; and that Carolus Secundus (meanmg 
 "Charles the Bald") was not only a Mason himself, but 
 also a great patron of the Craft. The introduction of 
 Masonry into England is also embellished by the names 
 of some additional protectors — St. Amphibal, St. Alban 
 and King Athelstan's youngest son. Athelstan, indeed, 
 had no son, but his reputed offspring is said to have be- 
 come a Mason himself, and to have purchased from his 
 father a free patent for the Craft. 
 
 The Second Chief Part (lines 643 — 959) may be thus 
 sub-divided : — 
 
 I. Euclid taught the sons of great lords, in Egypt, the 
 Science of Geometry and called it Masonry; the cleverest 
 he ordered to be called masters, and those that were of 
 less ability, fellows; in this manner the art was begun in 
 Egypt, and went from country to country (643 — 93). 
 II. In the time of King Athelstan Masonry came to 
 England, and because of many defaults among Masons, 
 the King and his Council ordained a certain rule, that 
 
2 74 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 they should come together every year, or once in three 
 years, as the King thought necessary, and congregations 
 should be made from province to province of all masters 
 and fellows, and the new masters should be examined 
 of the Articles of Masonry, and they should receive their 
 charge to serve well the lords from whom they took their 
 pay (694 — 727). III. Nine Articles for the Masters 
 (728 — 826). IV. Nine Points for the Fellows (827 — 
 900). V. Various mandates, concerning the congre- 
 gation, the charging of new men, the inquiry as to 
 breaches of the Articles, and the punishment of rebels 
 against the Statutes (901 — 59). 
 
 On a variety of grounds, which are considered at length 
 in my German essays on the Manuscript Constitutions, 
 it is possible to affirm that the compiler of the Cooke MS. 
 and ' ' author ' ' of the First Chief Part, simply made use of 
 an existing " Book of Charges, " which he added, without 
 alteration of any kind, to his own "history." The div- 
 isions into which the Second Chief Part naturally falls 
 are five, as given above. The fourth section, containing 
 the nine Points, in my judgment could not have formed 
 an integral portion of the very earliest " Book of Charges, ' ' 
 but must have been interpolated at some later (and un- 
 known date). 
 
 III. The William Watson MS. {"Plot" Family). — 
 The Masons' Arms, with the motto "In the Lord is Al 
 our Trust," form an appropriate heading for this roll, 
 which is a connecting link between the Cooke codex and 
 the later (or ordinary) versions of the Manuscript Con- 
 stitutions. 
 
 : The W. W. follows the Cooke MS. very closely down 
 to line 601 , after which the text is slightly amplified in the 
 junior document {II. 602 — 42); while the "Book of 
 Charges," contained in the second or concluding portion 
 of the Cooke, gives place in the W. W. to a new set of 
 eight "Generall" and 23 "Singular" Charges. 
 
t 
 
 A' 
 
 
 
 
 a, 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 :3 
 
 w 
 
 a. 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 •J 
 
 
 z 
 
 s 
 
 CL, 
 0< 
 
276 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 In the new and enlarged part of the history, which takes 
 the place of lines 602 — 42 in the Cooke MS., we meet with 
 St. Amphabell, who, laden with Masonic Charges, came 
 from France to England, where he brought St. Albaninto 
 Christendom and made him a Christian man. St. Alban 
 was the King's steward, pay-master and governor of his 
 works. He loved Masons well, and gave them charges 
 "as St . Amphabell had taught him, and they doe but a 
 little differ from ye charges yt be used now at this time. " 
 
 For these embellishments of the " History of the Craft ' ' 
 the author was indebted, not to oral traditions, but as 
 he expressly tells us, to "Old Charges" of St. Alban and 
 King Athelstan, and "Stories of England," referring no 
 doubt to the various legends in circulation respecting the 
 British Proto martj^r, from which it can be shown that he 
 copied freely, possibly from Latin or French originals, 
 but with greater probability from the English translation 
 made by Lydgate in 1439. 
 
 Athelstan next enters into the narrative and is followed 
 by Edwin, who takes the place of the former's hitherto 
 unnamed "youngest son. " The writer apparently knew 
 very little about the historical periods in which these 
 valiant soldiers had flourished. He found, however, in 
 the manuscript he copied from, that Athelstan had a 
 youngest son, so he further embellished the history of 
 Masonry by providing him with a name. He had prob- 
 ably read in Beda's Historia Ecclesiasiica of Edwin of 
 Northumbria, who erected a church of wood in 627, and 
 began to build one of stone. Nor should the anachronism 
 in making Athelstan and Edwin contemporaries surprise 
 us, as such confusion was very common at the time. 
 Without looking beyond the Craft legend, it will be suffic- 
 ient to refer to Abraham and Euclid, who are made to 
 figure as teacher and scholar, whereas the former lived 
 about 2,000 years before and the latter about 300 years 
 after Christ. That the Edwin of the junior MS. was the 
 King of Northumbria may also be inferred from the cir- 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quaiuor Coronati. 277 
 
 cumstance that, in addition to purchasing a free patent 
 from his father (as set down to the credit of Athelstan's 
 "youngest son" in the older legendary narrative), he 
 orders the Masons to assemble together at York, where he 
 was himself. He also commanded them to bring all the 
 old books of the Craft, out of which were "contrived" 
 the charges of the wisest Masons, and that they might 
 be kept and holden, he ordain ~d that such congregation 
 should be cahed an Assembly ,;.nd "thus was the Craft of 
 Masonry there grounded and confirmed." 
 
 It is quite possible that the compiler had read of the 
 Parliament which was actually held by the Edwin or 
 Saxon history, near York, in 627. But from whatever 
 sources the additions in his narrative were obtained, it is 
 noteworthy that the three new features, the name of Ed- 
 win, the Assembly at York, and the making of new charges 
 from the old books of the Craft, which distinguish the docu- 
 ment under review, are preserved in all subsequent ver- 
 sions (or texts) of the Manuscript Constitutions. 
 
 The next passage of importance recites that the charges 
 transcribed in the MS. had been perused and allowed 
 by our late Sovereign, King Henry VI. and his Council, 
 which I think must be accepted as a fact, and that it 
 occurred after 1437, when a statute was passed (15, Hen. 
 VI., c. vi.) forbidding the passing of new ordinances by 
 guilds and fraternities without the sanction of the public 
 authorities. 
 
 The 8 " Generall" Charges comprise some of the Points, 
 and the 23 "Singular" Charges certain of the Articles 
 and Points, which are given in the Regius and Cooke MSS. 
 
 IV. The T. W. Tew M5.— This roll, which is of the 
 17th century and perhaps older than 1680, bears the title 
 of THE BOOK OF MASONS, and forms a link between the 
 Plot P'amily (of which the William Watson MS. is the 
 leading exemplar) and the bulk of the ordinary versions 
 of the Constitutions. 
 
278 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The final recension must have taken place before the 
 Reformation (1534). A great part of the text follows 
 that of the W. Watson, but many of the particulars 
 given in the last-named manuscript, which the redacteur 
 (or digester) thought could be dispensed with, are omitted 
 in the Tew, though, by way of compensation, he adds 
 
 SUCCOTH. 
 
 a goodly number that seemed to him essential to render 
 the narrative more coherent. 
 
 The leading characteristics of this scroll are — I., the 
 statement that Cain killed his brother Abel with an arrow 
 — a legend, the filiation of which may be traced through 
 the Atcheson-Haven MS., to the "Master of Stories," 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 279 
 
 Petrus Comestor, who relates in his notes on Genesis 
 (chap, iv.), that Lamech, who had been an archer, ac- 
 cidentally killed Cain (who, therefore, was not the slayer, 
 but the slain) in a chase; II. Following the W. Watson 
 text, the two pillars are discovered by Pythagoras and 
 Hermes — a passage which is totally corrupted in later 
 readings. For example, in the oldest dated form, the 
 Grand Lodge, No. 1, of 1583, Pythagoras no longer 
 figiires in the story, and Hermarines, "aft 'ward called 
 Hermes, ' ' finds one of the two pillars of stone, from which 
 it is clear that the bulk of the younger versions — i.e., 
 later readings or texts — go back, or in other words, 
 are derived from a later form, in which Hermarines had 
 taken the place of P\'tliagoras, and been blended with 
 Hermes; III. 
 
 The King of Tyre first obtains the name of Hiram, and 
 also the "King's son" (as described in the Cooke and 
 W. Watson) is provided with a name. We now learn 
 that the former "had a son who was called Hyman [i.e., 
 Hiram or Hyram], and he was Master of Geometry and 
 Chief Master of all Masons, and Governor of all his 
 Carved and Graven Works, and of all Masonry that be- 
 longed to the Temple." This Hiram's name appears 
 under a great diversity of spellings, in the various copies 
 of the Constitutions, but it is evident that Hiram was 
 the chosen name in the manuscript of origin; IV. We 
 are introduced to " a curious Mason that had been at the 
 Making of Solomon's Temple, and came into France, and 
 taught the Craft of Masonry to men of France," who is 
 styled Mammongretus and Memongretus. But the / has 
 plainly been misread for c, and that Grecus (which we 
 find in the Grand Lodge and Sloane families, or groups), 
 was the concluding portion of the name, as originally 
 written, may be confidently assumed. The precise 
 form, however, of the first two syllables of the word, can- 
 not be restored. It almost certainly began with an M 
 as we may infer from the spelling of the name in other 
 
2 8o 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 MSS. more closely connected with the Tew version {May- 
 mus, Marcus, Mamus, Minus, etc.), and possibly the 
 person whom the scribe had in his mind was Maimonides — 
 i.e., Moses ben Maimon, also called Maimuni — who died 
 in 1204, and had written about the Temple at Jerusalem, 
 the compiler mistaking him for a Greek?; V. For Carolus 
 Secundus fin the Cooke and W.W. ) we have Carolus and 
 
 ^-"_:- - 
 
 i^j— ^ JBf~- ^ ' S^ 
 
 ^ -j^- -==a-:- i 
 
 ^="~-__-_ - -■= 
 
 ^^^p^S!^^^^-^-^ 
 
 ^^^^- -"=1=^- ^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 
 -^^-^ ^ 
 
 5^^^^- ^^~ ~ 
 
 L " ^""^^M 
 
 
 ^^te-"j 
 
 ^^^^^ 9j^^^^ 
 
 
 ^^^^~Ssz f 
 
 S^^^^^^^lc^ -nj^^^S 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^jE^~ =t 
 
 ^^fcr^H 
 
 
 ^^B 
 
 K^^ 
 
 
 ^» 
 
 ^^^^^^ 
 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 ^^^^^ 
 
 ^^s^^fe^^^^ 
 
 ^^H 
 
 ^^^^K 
 
 E^^^ffli 
 
 ^^p- 
 
 ^^^^M 
 
 
 ^^M 
 
 ^^^s 
 
 
 ^^fc 
 
 ^^^^^^B 
 
 ^^^K 
 
 ACACIA TREE AND SPRIG. 
 
 Charles Martih; VI. The old books of the Craft brought 
 to the Assembly at York, are now stated to have been 
 written, some in French, some in Enghsh and some in 
 other languages. 
 
 V. The Ordinary Vcisions. — While it is abundantly 
 clear that the Tew represents an intermediate form be- 
 tween the Plot Family (as represented in the W. Watson 
 MS.), and the later readings (or versions), it is equally 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronaii. 281 
 
 evident that there must have been some more connecting 
 links. It is impossible that all the subsequent versions 
 could have derived their origin from the Tew MS. itself. 
 There must have been one or two revised Tew forms in 
 order to account for the points of agreement, as well as of 
 non-agreement, which are to be met vath in the texts of 
 the later families. The genealogy of the Manuscript 
 Constitutions may be illustrated by the foUoAving dia- 
 gram: — 
 
 Cooke MS. 
 
 I 
 William Watson form 
 
 ! 
 
 Original Tew form. 
 
 Tew MS. Revised Tew Form 
 
 \_ 
 
 I I ''\ " \ 
 
 Atcheson-Haven Buchanan Rol arts Final 
 
 MS and Family. Revision, 
 
 Beaumont I 
 
 MSS. \ 
 
 1 ^1 
 
 Sloane Grand Lodge 
 
 F'amily. Family. 
 
 I 
 Spencer 
 Family. 
 
 According to the above table, the Cooke of about 
 1 400- 1 4 10, is the original form of all the Manuscript Con- 
 stitutions now extant, with the solitary exception of the 
 Masonic Poem (or Regius MS.) which is sui generis, or in 
 other words an errant form peculiar to itself, without 
 any known descendants. From the Cooke came the Plot 
 (or W. Watson) text. Then followed an original Tew 
 version of about 1510-20, of which the existing Tew MS. 
 is a very late transcript. From the former sprang a 
 " Revised Tew," the prototype of some Branches or 
 Families, of which the Atcheson-Haven, the Buchanan 
 and Beaumont MSS., and the Roberts Family are three 
 distinct examples. Furthermore, there was a second or 
 
282 
 
 History of Freemasonry 
 
 Final Revision of the Tew form, which became the 
 prototype of the Grand Lodge and Sloane (the two chief) 
 Families. Lastly, a somewhat modified wording of the 
 Grand Lodge Branch (as represented by the Cama form), 
 was used as a model for the Spencer— quite a new Family. 
 It consists of two wTitten and two printed forms. The 
 
 TOMB oF HIRAM ABlFF. 
 
 Manuscripts are the Spencer of a.d. 1726; and the Inigo 
 Jones, which, though bearing the date of 1607, must really 
 have been compiled about 1723-25- The Prints are the 
 Cole and Dodd, of 1729 and i739 respectively. The 
 text peculiar to this Family is evidently a modern com- 
 pilation, dating, it may be supposed, from about the year 
 1724. The Spencer is the best representative of the 
 
The Legend of the Craft— The Quatuor Coronati. 283 
 
 group, for though the Inigo Jones is based on an older 
 original, the reading it presents departs very widely from 
 what we may assume to have been the normal text, and 
 doubtless owes its existence very largely to the imagi- 
 nation of the transcriber. 
 
 Among the noteworthy features of this Family 
 are — I. The use of chronological figures, which are 
 never met with in any of the really old manuscripts of 
 the seventeenth century; II. The modern term of Free 
 and Accepted Masons, which is first found in the Roberts 
 Print of 1722, and afterwards in Dr. Anderson's "Con- 
 stitutions" of the following year. This is an irrefutable 
 proof that neither the version peculiar to this Family, 
 nor the Inigo Jones MS. itself, could possibly have been 
 "compiled" at any earlier period; III. The name 
 Hiram Abif, which occurs in this Family only, and appears 
 to have been first embodied in the Legend of the Craft 
 by Dr. Anderson, in his "Book of Constitutions," 1723, 
 where, however, he justifies its insertion by a long and 
 argumentative foot note. It is true that in some English 
 Bibles of the sixteenth century — 1535 to 1551 — we meet 
 with Hiram Abif and Hiram Abi, but these names had 
 dropped out of use, and to the masons of the seventeenth 
 century were unknown. Of this there can be no reason- 
 able doubt, and if Hiram Abif had either figured in the 
 ceremonial or the traditions of the Craft at a period 
 anterior to the eighteenth century, the Manuscript Con- 
 stitutions of corresponding date would not maintain, 
 as they do, such a uniform and unbroken silence with 
 respect to the existence (legendary or otherwise) of such 
 a leading character in the later history and symbolism 
 of the Craft. 
 
 In my opinion, the lost original of the Spencer version 
 was not compiled before 1723 or 1724, and I also think 
 that the author of the embellished text was familiar with 
 the writings of Doctors Robert Plot and James Anderson, 
 the Roberts Print, a translation of Josephus, and other 
 

 
 i * If 
 
 'I 
 I 
 
 '/ "1 i . } 
 
 " If 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Ouatuor Coronati. 28,5 
 
 comparatively modern works. The genealogy of this 
 Family — premising that its prototype may, with good 
 reason, be assumed to have been, not actually the Cama 
 MS., but an older copy (and variant) of the same original 
 — was probably as follows : — 
 
 Original. 
 
 I 
 
 . I"" ' "''\' 1 
 
 iranscnj)! .\. Cole Print. Transcript B. 
 
 I I Inigo Jones MS. 
 
 Spencer MS. Dodd Print. 
 
 Finally, it may be observed, that in the Spencer family 
 there are numerous variations of the ordinary text, and 
 many new historical characters are substituted for the 
 old ones. Maimon (or Naymus) Grecus, together with 
 Charles Martel, drop entirely out of the narrative, while 
 we learn for the first time that the Emperor Claudius 
 came over with an army, when Aururiagus was King of 
 Britain; also, that the "sumptuous Art of Geometry was 
 professed by Emperors, Kings, Popes, Cardinals and 
 Princes innumerable, who have all of them left us the 
 permanent Monuments of it in the several Places of their 
 Dominions." We are further told that the science of 
 Masonry (in England) was much decayed until the reign 
 of Ethelbert, who — with two other English Kings, Sibert 
 and Sigebert — has hitherto escaped notice in the written 
 traditions of the Craft. 
 
 VI. The Roberts' Family. — Something has still to be 
 said with respect to a remarkable group of the old "Con- 
 stitutions." at present consisting of five documents, the 
 Roberts' Print and the Harleian, 1942, Grand Eodge, 
 No. 2, Macnab and Rawlinson MSS. The framework 
 of the history corresponds with that which is met with 
 in the ordinary version, but the phraseology is peculiar 
 to itself, though possessing points of affinity with the Tew, 
 Atcheson-Haven Buchanan and Beaumont texts. The 
 Acrsion under examination was evidently a digest or 
 
286 
 
 History of Freemason) y. 
 
 reconstruction of a second or revised Tew form, as out- 
 lined above. The Charges are numbered in all of the 
 five copies, the "Generall" and the "Singular" Charges 
 (on the higher plane) being united, and forming a total 
 of 26 in the Roberts' Print, and of 25 (by the omission 
 of No. 15) in the Grand Lodge, Macnab and Harleian 
 MSS., while in the Rawlinson the whole are condensed 
 into 24. 
 
 A striking peculiarity of this family is the appearance 
 ©f a group of new Charges — seven in number. These, in 
 
 RETURNING WITH THE ARK TO THE TEMPLE. 
 
 the Roberts' pedicle, are styled "Additional Orders," and 
 in the Harleian, " New Articles" — the latter omitting one 
 and numbering the rest from 26 to 31. In the Macnab 
 they are prefaced by the words, "These articles following 
 were added here unto since by ye best Mrs. & fellowes," 
 and numbered from one to six, three and four having 
 been blended together by a negligent scribe. In the 
 Grand Lodge MS. No. 2, which contains 33 general 
 articles (or Charges), they consist of the last seven (27 to 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quaiuor Coronati. 287 
 
 33), and simply follow on, without any note or heading, 
 after the first 26. In the Rawlinson they are not to be 
 
 FIRE CONSUMING THU OFFERING. 
 
 found, and whether the omission was occasioned by their 
 absence from the manuscript of origin, or due to the 
 caprice of the transcriber, it is impossible to say. 
 
288 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Seven rules are ascribed to the year 1663 in the 
 Roberts Print, and there is nothing to prevent our be- 
 lieving that this date was really found in the original 
 document from which the Print was taken. The Articles 
 are headed, "Additional Orders and Constitutions made 
 
 and agreed upon at a General Assembly held at 
 
 , on the Eighth Day of December, 1663." 
 
 If this date be accepted as that of the first making 
 of the new rules, then the Grand Lodge and Harleian 
 MSS. will not be older than about the same period — say 
 1665-7. The Macnab, it maybe observed, is a copy of 
 1722. The new Charges (which I take from the Rob- 
 erts' Print) bear a somewhat modern stamp: — 
 
 " I. That no person of what degree soever be ac- 
 cepted a free mason, unless he shall have a Lodge of 
 five free Masons at the least, whereof one to be a Master 
 or Warden of that Limit or Division, wherein such 
 Lodge shall be kept, and another to be a workman of 
 the Trade of free Masonry. 
 
 •'2. That no person hereafter shall be accepted a free 
 Mason but such as are of able body, honest parentage, 
 good reputation and observer of the Laws of the Land. 
 
 " 3. That no person hereafter, which shall be accepted 
 a free Mason, shall be admitted into any Lodge or As- 
 sembly, until he hath brought a Certificate of the time 
 and place of his acception froin the Lodge that accepted 
 him, unto the Master of that Limit and Division, where 
 such Lodge was kept, which said Master shall enroll the 
 same on parchment in a roll to be kept for that purpose 
 and give an account of all such acceptions at every 
 general Assembly. 
 
 "4. That every person who is now a free Mason shall 
 bring to the Master a note of the time of his acception, 
 to the end the same may be enrolled in such prioirty 
 of place as the person deserves, and to the end the whole 
 company and fellows may the better know each other. 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 289 
 
 "5. That for the future the said Society, Company 
 and Fraternity of free Masons shall be regulated and 
 governed by one Master and Assembly and as many 
 Wardens as the said Company shall think fit to choose 
 at every yearly General Assembly. 
 
 "6. That no person shall be accepted a free Mason 
 unless he be one and twenty years old or more. 
 
 "7. That no person hereafter be accepted a free 
 Mason or know the secrets of the said Societv until 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 S^^^^^'^^r^-s^ 
 
 ^^^hI 
 
 ^^3 
 
 dt^S^^^S^-^MMi^^fia^'lSW. 
 
 Wt^ 
 
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 t^^i 
 
 i^[^j-^ 
 
 wk 
 
 
 W^^^^ 
 
 i^#^ 
 
 ^^11 
 
 MOSAIC PAVEMENT, TESSELLATED BORDER AND BLAZING STAR. 
 
 he shall have first taken the Oath of Secrecy hereafter 
 following." 
 
 In succession to these "Additional Orders" (or "New 
 Articles"), the Harleian, Grand Lodge, and Maciiab 
 MSS. have 10 Charges for Apprentices, but those in the 
 Roberts' Print are inserted between the usual Charges 
 and the "Additional Orders." They are missing from 
 the Rawlinson MS. The "Apprentice Charges" are 
 
 19 
 
290 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 found in other groups or divisions of the old Constitu- 
 tions, but as given in the Roberts Family they are 
 more original and complete. 
 
 So far Dr. Begemann, whose remarkable analysis of 
 the old documents of the Craft I here bring to a close. 
 The special features of the Grand Lodge and Sloane — 
 the two chief Families — I was unable to include in the 
 above sketch, but these are carefully enumerated in the 
 Old Charges of Mr. Hughan, to which the reader is 
 referred. For easy reference, however, a nominal roll 
 of all known copies of the Masonic Constitutions, as 
 tabulated and classified by Dr. Begemann, is given with 
 the present chapter. Many essays of enduring value on 
 particular manuscripts are also to be found among the 
 Transactions (and other publications) of the Quatuor 
 Coronati Lodge {Ars Quatuor Coronatorum). 
 
 It is not, indeed, within the scope of a Concise History, 
 meant essentially for general readers, to enter into the 
 details and merits of special controversies. I can only 
 endeavor to present, in the briefest and clearest possible 
 form, such conclusions as maybe conirdently relied upon, 
 and such as appear most probable, and likely to be con- 
 firmed in the course of further study, as being supported 
 by the greatest amount of intrinsic and circumstantial 
 evidence. 
 
 The written traditions of the Freemasons are now 
 very numerous, but their texts exhibit so much disagree- 
 ment that it is a difficult matter to avoid confusion in an 
 attempt to arrive at their true value as historical muni- 
 ments of the Craft. 
 
 It will give more arrangement to our ideas, and at the 
 same time illustrate the variations that occur in these 
 documents, if we consider them as divided into thiet 
 clusters or constellations, connected indeed very closely 
 with one another, yet each having its own centre of at- 
 traction and its own boundaries. 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 291 
 
 The first of these we may suppose formed of the Regius 
 and Cooke Codices, which were compiled upwards of four 
 centuries and a half ago, when every book or record was 
 a written one. In the second class we may place all the 
 known versions of the Manuscript Constitutions (properly 
 so-called) with the exception of a particular group. A 
 final cluster will comprehend the whole of the documents 
 
 MOSQUE OF OMAR — EL AKSA, ON TEMPLE GROUNDS. 
 
 belonging to the Roberts Family, as arranged and classi- 
 fied by Dr. Begemann. 
 
 These three divisions will exhibit the written traditions 
 of the Freemasons in what I shall venture to describe as 
 their first, second and third manners respectively. The 
 texts of the two earliest manuscripts evidently refer to a 
 period when the forest law existed side by side with the 
 ordinary law of the land. The documents in the second 
 
292 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 class (leaving out of sight for the moment the Spencer 
 Family) point with equal clearness to an era coinciding 
 with a later stage of English mediaeval law. I^astly, in 
 the " New Articles," which are only found in the Roberts 
 Family, we meet with ordinances that belong to the class 
 of novellae. Their great importance is now unchallenged, 
 but whether they were to be regarded as resting on any 
 basis of actual fact, or as representing a past that nevei 
 was in any sense a present, was, in less critical days, a 
 moot point, on which the opinions of commentators were 
 divided. 
 
 With regard to the cluster of documents, comprising 
 the Regius and Cooke MSvS., I shall first of all quote from 
 a review of Dr. Begemann's German commentary on the 
 older writing, by the late Mr. Speth. "The care," he 
 observes, "with which Begemann has studied the Poem 
 is showTi bv the fact that he is enabled to point out where 
 the scribe has begun his day's work with a fresh pen, and 
 where, towards the conclusion of each period, the pen 
 becomes blunted by use, and the writer careless from 
 fatigue. The most interesting part of his study is the 
 determination of the particular district in which the 
 document was compiled. A highly instructive essay on 
 the dialects of England in the fourteenth century is the 
 result, and a splendid description of the differences be- 
 tween the Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western, and 
 Southern dialects of that period, and of the mixed dia- 
 lects current in the portions bordering on each other with 
 the influence one exercised over the other. Here, of 
 course, he acknowledges his indebtedness to our English 
 philologist, and, though the subject is an intricate one, 
 it is a pleasure to state that our Brother makes it fairly 
 comprehensible to any one who will take a little trouble 
 to master it. But I am quite unable to give the im- 
 pression made upon my mind of the magnitude of the 
 task the doctor must have devoted vears to. Neither 
 do I feel myself competent to criticise his conclusions, as 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quatuor Coronati. 293 
 
 only a critic well versed in the study of our language 
 could profitably do so." {A. Q. C. \ii., 34.) 
 
 The diligence and acumen of Dr. Begemann are not, 
 indeed, likely to be seriously impeached, and the highly 
 important results attained by his critical and scientific 
 
 '% *" _ 
 
 -^ ' 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 EpffflTT"—, 
 
 L",ii w 
 
 
 ^ iMrfSr ■*. Jirf 
 
 INTERIOR VIEW OE MOSQUE OF OMAR — EL AKSA. 
 
 methods have been welcomed and appreciated by all 
 students in the same branch of research. 
 
 The Regius MS. has been described by an expert in 
 manuscript literature, "as nothing more than a metrical 
 version of the rules of an ordinary mediaeval guild, or. 
 
294 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 perhaps, a very superior and exemplary sort of trades 
 union, together with a number of pieces of advice for 
 behavior at church and at table, or in the presence of 
 superiors, tacked on at the end." 
 
 The last hundred lines are taken from " Urbanitatis," 
 a poem which Mr. F. J. Furnivall tells us he "was glad 
 to find, because of the mention of the booke of urbanitie 
 in Edward the Fourth's 'Liber Niger,' as we thus know 
 what the Duke of Norfolk, of 'Flodden Field,' was 
 taught in his youth as to his demeanings, how mannerly 
 he should eat and drink, and as to his commimication, 
 and other forms of court. He was not to spit nor snite 
 before his Lord the King, or wipe his nose on the 
 tablecloth." {Early Eng. Text. Sec, Ixviii.) 
 
 The passage referred to will be found in ' ' Urbanitatis ' ' 
 {II. 53, 54), and is thus given in the Regius MS. {II. 743 
 —46) :— 
 
 " Kepe thyn hondes, fayr and wel, 
 From fowle smogynge of thy towel ; 
 Thereon thou schalt not thy nese snyte, 
 Ny at the mete thy tothe thou pj'ke." 
 
 [ The following lines also appear in both poems : — 
 
 Yn chamber, amonge the ladyes brj'ght, 
 ' Hold thy tonge, and spend thy sygt. 
 
 These rules of decorum read very curiously in the 
 present age, but their inapplicability to the circumstan- 
 ces of the purely operative masons in the fourteenth or 
 fifteenth century will be at once apparent. They were 
 intended for gentlemen of those days, and the instruc- 
 tions for behavior in the presence of a lord, at table, and 
 in the society of ladies, would all have been equally 
 out of place in a code of manners drawn up for use of 
 a guild or craft of artisans. 
 
 A similar sense of the incongruity of the text of the 
 Regius MS. with what we feel must have been the actual 
 customs of the building trades, cannot but steal over us 
 
296 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 when perusing Articulus Quartus (II. 143-46'), where we 
 meet with — 
 
 By olde tyme wryten y fynde, 
 
 That the prentes schulde be of gentyl kynde ; 
 
 And so sumtytne grete lordys blod 
 
 Toke this gemetry, that ys Jul good. 
 
 Upon the foregoing, Mr. Furnivall remarks, and the 
 wish to which he gives expression, will I am sure, be 
 echoed by most readers of the poem — "I should like to 
 see the evidence of a lord's son having become a work- 
 ing mason, and dwelling seven years with his master 
 
 ' Hys crafte to lurne," (E. E. T. S., xxii.) 
 
 The conclusion, therefore, as it seems to me, to which 
 we are directed by the evidence, is that the persons to 
 whom the Masonic poem was sung or recited, were a 
 guild or fraternity from whom all but the memory or 
 tradition of its ancient trade had departed. From 
 some cause or other then, upon which, in the absence 
 of further evidence, we can only speculate without ar- 
 riving at any definite conclusion, it would appear that 
 at the date from which the Regius MS. speaks, there was 
 a guild or fraternity which commemorated the science, 
 but without practising the art, of Masonry. 
 
 ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM. 
 
 A distinctive feature of the poem is an invocation of 
 the "Holy Martyres Fowre," the tutelary saints of the 
 building trades, an outline of whose story (though the 
 legend concerning them has descended in many channels 
 of transmission) may be given in a few words. 
 
 During the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, five 
 Masons, or stone-squarers (mirificos in arte quadratand), 
 refused to execute the statue of a pagan god, and in 
 consequence were put to death. On the return of the 
 Emperor to Rome, he commanded that all the soldiers in 
 that city should march past and throw incense over 
 the altar of ^Esculapius. Four officers, however, who 
 
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298 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 were cornicularii, having embraced the Christian faith, 
 declined, and they also suffered death. The martyrdom 
 of the Five is supposed to have taken place on the 8th of 
 November, a. d. 298, and of the Four on the same day 
 in A. D. 300. 
 
 The Nine were eventually interred in the same spot, 
 a single festival, November 8th, being set apart for the 
 five whose names had been preserved, and for the Four 
 who were only known (until their names were miracu- 
 lously revealed in the ninth century) by their military 
 rank. Upon the latter. Pope Melchiades — a. d. 310 — be- 
 stowed the title of Quatuor Coronati, or Four Crowned 
 ones, by which they are described in the more ancient 
 missals and other formularies of public devotions, though 
 in conjunction with the Five, who are referred to by 
 name, and as Holy Martyrs. 
 
 In the seventh century, Pope Honorius I. erected a 
 handsome church, in the form of a basilica, to the 
 memory of the Four, out of the ruins of a temple of 
 Diana on the Coelian Hill. Into this the church, of the 
 Quatuor Coronati, were removed, a. d. 848, the remains 
 of the Nine Martyrs. Hence has arisen a certain amount 
 of confusion and the Four Officers instead of the Five 
 Masons have become the patron saints of the building 
 trades, while the occupation of the Five has survived 
 under the name of the Four. 
 
 The church, which — after having been many times 
 rebuilt— still exists, now bears the name of the Ouattro 
 Incoronati; according to some authorities Incoronati, in 
 modern Italian, being identical with the Coronati of 
 mediaeval Latin; while by others the word is supposed 
 to be a corrupt form of the military term Cornicularii, 
 which has been brought back into the Latin from the 
 Italian as Coronati. 
 
 It has also been suggested that as there were two 
 classes of decorated soldiers in the Roman Arni}^, the 
 higher being known as Coronati, and the lower as 
 
The Legend of the Craft — The Quartuor Coronati 299 
 
 Cornicularii, so it may very probably have happened 
 that the Four received a posthumous brevet at the hands 
 of the faithful, a supposition which gains further strength 
 if we bear in mind that crowns of martyrdom are also 
 implied by the word Coronati. 
 
 From Italy the vogue of the Quatuor Coronati, as 
 patron saints spread to Germany {ante, 24) and France. 
 According to the Martyrology of Du Saussay, the 
 bodies of the Five were removed from Rome to 
 
 MOUNT ZION. 
 
 Toulouse, and the relics of one of the number— vSt. 
 Claudius— are mentioned in a papal Bull of a. d. 1049, 
 as reposing in the Church of Maynal, in the province of 
 Franche Compte. 
 
 • In many Flemish cities the name of Vier Ghecroonde 
 {Ouatuor Coronati) was given to a group of trades 
 connected with the art of building, and associated for 
 the purpose of forming an ambacht or corporation. Ac 
 
300 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 cording to Count Goblet d'Alviella, guilds of the Vier 
 Ghecroonde (including Masons, Stone-cutters, Sculptors 
 and others) existed at Antwerp and Brussels, in the 
 fifteenth century. The members were known as "Com- 
 panions of the Lodges " {Gesellen van der logen, or logien). 
 
 That the legend of the Quatuor Coronati must have 
 penetrated into Britain at a very early date is quite clear. 
 One of the chapters in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica is 
 headed, — "Bishop Mellitus, by prayer, quenches a fire 
 in his city"; and the record goes on to state, that at 
 Canterbury, where the miracle occurred, — "The church 
 of the Four Crowned Martyrs was in the place where the 
 fire raged most" {erat autem eo loci, ubi flammaruni 
 impetus maxime incumbebat, martyriuin beatorum 
 Quatuor Coronatorum). 
 
 In the opinion of Mr. Ireland, the Church of the Four 
 Martyrs at Canterbury was erected about the time of 
 St. Augustine, a. d. 597 {History of Kent i., 157); and 
 if this supposition is correct, we have the resulting 
 inference that (in all probability) the first Christian edifice 
 erected after the arrival of the "Apostle of the English" 
 was dedicated to the patron saints of the building trades. 
 
 On the other hand, however, it is powerfully argued 
 by my friend, Mr. C. Purdon Clarke, that the reason 
 why the Church of the Four M.artyrs at Canterbury 
 withstood the fire better than the other churches and 
 buildings, was in consequence of its having been built 
 in Roman times of either brick or stone, whereas the 
 rest more probably belonged to the period of wholesale 
 building of churches and monasteries which followed the 
 conversions of the Saxons in a. d. 597, and were princi- 
 pahy constructed of wood. He also savs: — "It is 
 beyond doubt that members of the Collegia Fabrorum in 
 the British towns had, for a hundred years before the 
 Saxon invasion, become Christians, and that, therefore, 
 the Church of the Quatuor Coronati, the popular Saints 
 of several trades, was more likely to have been built at a 
 
X 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 
302 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 time when Canterbury possessed a large community ot 
 Christian craftsmen, than to have been founded by St. 
 Augustine immediately after his arrival in a. d. 597." 
 " The early Christian Church, " he continues, "consisted 
 principally of members of the industrial classes, all of 
 whom were of necessity magistri or operarii of their 
 respective trade Collegia." {Vestigia Quat. Cor.) 
 
 According, indeed, to Mr. H. C. Coote, Britain was 
 abundantly furnished with churches when, in the fifth 
 century, St. Germanus visited the martyrium of St. 
 Alban at Verulamium {Romans iji Britain, 414). This 
 latter saint received the crown of martyrdom a. d. 303 
 and the persecution of Diocletian doubtless extended 
 throughout the whole of our island. The church (or 
 cathedral) at Winchester (the Venta Belgarum of the 
 Romans), traditionally ascribed to the time of Lucius, 
 the last of the British Kings, with the clergy who be- 
 longed to it, must have greatly suffered, but when the 
 happier days of Constantine came, it was either rebuilt 
 or restored, as we hear of it then as the Church of St. 
 Amphibalus, a Saint memorable as St. Alban's teacher 
 and fellow-sufferer {Historic Winchester, 4). In parting 
 with the legend of the Crowned Martyrs, I may briefly 
 state, that in my own judgment, the manner in which it 
 is referred to in the oldest document of the Craft, will 
 fairly warrant the conclusion that the "Four" were the 
 Patron Saints of the most important section of the 
 building trades, during the splendor of Mediaeval Opera- 
 tive Masonry, and until the period of its decay. 
 
 It was always contended by Dr. Begemann, even 
 when there was still missing links in the chain of proof, 
 that the Cooke MS. was the progenitor of the ordinary 
 versions of the Manuscript Constitutions. But whether 
 the Edwin of these later documents had previously 
 figured as a patron of the Masons under the designation 
 of King Athelstan's "youngest son," is a point which, in 
 the absence of positive evidence, no amount of exegetical 
 
The Legend of the Craft. 303 
 
 skill can absolutely determine. I incline, however, 
 strongly to the opinion that the Edwin of early), British 
 history, was a patron of the Craft in an early Masonic 
 fable. 
 
 Athelstan, who is referred to by name in both the 
 Regius and the Cooke MSS., was the first King of all 
 England, and from this it is perhaps not unreasonable 
 to suppose that the legendary belief in* his grant of a 
 Royal Charter to the Masons may have arisen (ante 161). 
 Further, let us recollect, that from the time of Athel- 
 stan down to the Norman Conquest, and from the Con- 
 queror to Edward I., and later, the oath of allegiance 
 was annually administered to every free man, at what 
 was called the View of Frankpledge — a distinguishing 
 feature of the system of police, originating in Anglo- 
 Saxon times, upon which I have enlarged in an earlier 
 chapter (III.). 
 
 The wording of this oath, as given in a publication of 
 1642, "You shall be true and faithful to our Soveraign 
 Lord the King," is substantially the same as that of the 
 corresponding "Charge" or inculcation which is met 
 with in the Masonic Constitutions. 
 
 The two "obligations," to use a term with which 
 some of my readers will be familiar, virtually stand on 
 the same level as regards antiquity, and, as survivals of 
 still earlier forms, their close resemblance is very sug- 
 gestive of their common origin. 
 
 King Athelstan 's youngest son, as we read in the 
 Cooke MS., " IvOvyd welle the sciens of Gemetry, and 
 ... he drewe hym to conselle and lernyd practyke of 
 that sciens to his speculatyf, ffor of speculatyfe he was a 
 master" — implying that he was amply skilled in the 
 knowledge, as well as in the practice, of the science of 
 geometry, and a proficient, so to speak, both in specu- 
 lative and operative Masonry. 
 
 In the same manuscript, and also in the Masonic poem, 
 it is stated that the craft of geometry was founded in 
 
304 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Egypt by Euclid, and given the name of Masonry; and in 
 reference thereto, the following are the observations of 
 the late Albert Pike: — "Many of the symbols of the old 
 religions of Pythagoras, and of the Hermetics of later 
 days, were geometrical figures . . . Some of these were 
 symbolic because they represented certain numbers, even 
 among the Ass^orians and Babylonians. To the know- 
 ledge of these symbols, perhaps the name 'geometry' was 
 given to avert suspicions and danger. The architects 
 
 EGYPTIAN .\RCHITECTURE, CARAVAX AND VIEW AMONG 
 THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 of churches revelled in symbolism of the most recondite 
 kind. The Pyramids are wonders of geometrical science. 
 Geometry was the handmaid of Symbolism. Sym- 
 bolism, it may be said, is speculative Geometry." 
 
 In the preceding views all indeed may not concur, but 
 the point should not escape us that in the oldest "cluster' ' 
 of documents relating to our Society, we meet with 
 disquisitions and collections which are very jar removed 
 from the mental range of the operative Masons to whom the 
 
The Legend of the Craft. 305 
 
 Manuscript Constitutions were rehearsed at a later period. 
 This will accord with the supposition that Masonry, 
 as a speculative science, declined or fell into decay, pari 
 passu, with Masonry as an operative art. 
 
 Leaving the Regius and Cooke codices, which are of 
 late fourteenth or early fifteenth century transcription, 
 let me next pass to the second "cluster" of ancient 
 Masonic writings, or in other words, to the great bulk 
 of the Manuscript Constitutions (properly so-called), of 
 which the oldest dated form is the "Grand Lodge" 
 
 MS. of A.D. 1583. 
 
 Between these periods there is a gap of more than a 
 century and a half, during which "the population dwin- 
 dled, the builders almost died out, and the arts lost their 
 vigour and beauty" {ante, 126). 
 
 The Manuscript Constitutions of the Freemasons are 
 ancient and more or less obsolete, when we first meet with 
 them in the later history of the Society. Nor does an 
 examination of more venerable texts, or of documents 
 of a like stamp known to have been in existence at periods 
 of time comparatively remote from our own, bring us any 
 nearer to a comprehension of the circumstances under 
 which they originated, the precise class of hearers for 
 whom they were designed, or the particular purpose they 
 were (in the first instance) intended to fulfil. 
 
 It is true, indeed, that from the two histories of, or 
 disquisitions upon. Masonry of older date, we are justi- 
 fied in inferring that from the fourteenth century (and 
 possibly earlier) there were associations of speculative 
 or symbolical Masons (though I must be careful to 
 state, that on this point, the judgment of some of the 
 leading authorities is opposed to my own); also, in the 
 "Constitutions" themselves it is plainly stated that at 
 the admission of new comers they were to be read over 
 or rehearsed. 
 
 It is likewise true, that with regard to the group of 
 documents which I have placed in the second class, many 
 
3o6 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 speculations, both curious and entertaining, have been 
 advanced; but these, with a sohtary exception, I must 
 decHne to pursue, as lying out of my way in the design 
 I am now upon. In a Tentative Enquiry the late Mr. G. 
 W. Speth brought forward a singular hypothesis, his con- 
 tention being that the cathedral (or church) builders of 
 the Middle Ages were a separate class from the masons 
 of the town guilds or companies; that the Manuscript 
 Constitutions belonged to, and contained the codes of 
 regulations in use among the church-building masons. 
 The foregoing is the offspring of a lively fancy, and 
 "Cathedral Builders," as an alternative title for the 
 "Freemasons of the Middle Ages," having an attractive 
 sound, has attained a certain vogue, but unfortunately 
 for the hypothesis (though advanced with great per- 
 suasive force by its gifted author), it is unaccompanied 
 by even a shadow of proof, and is opposed to the known 
 facts of history {ante, 176, 178). 
 
 Our accounts of the codes of regulations, or "Charges," 
 are, indeed, only traditionary, and there is nothing to 
 show that either in the sixteenth or fifteenth centuries, 
 or earlier, they fulfilled any more useful purpose than 
 the several versions of the Legend of the Craft, of which, 
 in all copies of the Manuscript Constitutions, they form 
 a part. We cannot trust those echoes of the past which 
 are called the written traditions of the Freemasons. 
 Unless machinery is seen at work it is not possible to judge 
 of its results. Equally hard is it to form a judgment of the 
 operation of the Masonic system of government in the 
 Middle Ages from the dry state'r.euts which successive 
 copyists of the old 'Constitutions" have preserved or 
 invented. 
 
 In a certain sense, therefore, the ancient muniments of 
 the Craft may be described as "tombs without an 
 epitaph." Some, however, of their general character- 
 istics will be briefly enumerated, and an outline pre- 
 sented of a large subject still lying much in the dark, but 
 
The Legend of the Craft. 
 
 307 
 
 upon which much recent light has been thrown by the 
 monographs of Hughan and Begemann, and to these 
 the interested reader is referred. 
 
 There is a remarkable circumstance connected with 
 the Masons' trade to which, at this point, it will be con- 
 venient for me to advert. 
 
 EGYPTIAN COtUMN. 
 
 By no other craft in Great Britain has documentary 
 evidence been furnished of its having claimed at any time 
 a legendary or traditional history. 
 
 That the Legend of the Craft was not written uno- 
 tenore will be patent to the most casual student, and the 
 same remark will apply, though in a slightly modified 
 degree, to the Charges or Codes of Regulations. In the 
 
3o8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 former, especially, the usual indications of the union of 
 different accounts, repetition, discrepancies and differ- 
 ences of language, force themselves repeatedly on our 
 notice. These afford the clearest evidence not only of 
 complexity of origin, but also of successive recensions. 
 Dr. Begemann has made it quite plain that many of the 
 recitals in the existing manuscripts have passed through 
 numerous phases before reaching their present form, 
 and I think therefore we may further assume that no 
 small part of the original contents of the various " Books 
 of Charges" (pre-dating the Regius and Cooke MSS.) 
 must have been lost in the process. 
 
 In all probability, the earliest "History of Masonry," 
 or "Legend of the Craft," was wTitten either in Latin or 
 in French. 
 
 The belief has many adherents that the mediaeval 
 Masons had a body of tradition derived from or through 
 the Ancient Mysteries, a theory to which color is lent by 
 all versions of the Manuscript Constitutions, tracing the 
 origin of Masonry in Egypt and the East. 
 
 In a book before me I find — "Egypt often fossilised 
 rather than destroyed the earlier stages of her civilization 
 and her art" (Conway, Dawn of Art in the Anc. World, 
 88), and again, "This is a small but significant example 
 of the conservatism of Egypt, whereby she progressed, 
 not by supplanting one custom by another, but by enveloping 
 the old in the new." (Ibid. 6i.) 
 
 After the same manner, I believe that many of the 
 old laws or disciplinary regulations of the earlier masons 
 became fossilized or petrified, or in other words, that 
 they passed out of use, though retaining their hold on 
 the \vritten and unwritten traditions of the Society. 
 Also, I think we may safely assume, on even stronger 
 grounds, that a parallel for the "conservatism of Egypt," 
 referred to above, may be found in the customs of our 
 own Craft, which in their descending course — as I shall 
 venture to lay down with confidence — were not sup- 
 
The Legend of the Craft. 309 
 
 planted "one by another," but the entire body of them 
 "progressed" to its uhimate goal, the purely speculative 
 Masonry of our owti times, "by enveloping the old in 
 the new." 
 
 The Manuscript Constitutions are devoid of ambiguity 
 with respect to the religion of Masonry before the era 
 of Grand Lodges, — "The first charge is this, that you 
 be true to God and Holy Church, and use no error 
 or heresy" (G. Lodge MS. No. I); and in the next sen- 
 tence of the same "Charge" there occurs, "You shall be 
 true Hegeman to the King of England," from which 
 it has become an accepted doctrine, that all copies 
 of the Craft Legend (or Charges) in either North or 
 South Britain are of English origin. 
 
 On several of the documents there are endorsements, 
 which not only point to a living Freemasonry at the date 
 from which they speak, but also to the existence of a 
 custom requiring the Legendary history and the 
 "Charges" to be read at the admission of new members 
 of the Society. 
 
 The true text of the Manuscript Constitutions has been 
 the subject of numerous theories, but the filiation of the 
 Craft Legend, as traced with such infinite pains by Dr. 
 Begemann, if we do no more, must at least be accorded 
 the title of the dominant hypothesis. Yet there are two 
 of the doctor's conclusions, from which, as lying outside 
 the range of his strictly scientific methods, I shall, with- 
 out derogating from the strength of his main position, 
 venture to record my strong dissent. There is, in the 
 first place, the recital in what has been termed the Plot 
 text (of which we have examples in the W. Watson and 
 other MSS.) that the "Charges" of the Freemasons had 
 been seen and allowed by Henry VI. and his Council, a 
 statement with regard to which, though for reasons of a 
 different (and mainly legal) character, I share the in- 
 credulity of Dr. Robert Plot (ante, 194). Secondly, there 
 are the speculations of Dr. Begemann with regard to 
 
3IO . History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Hiram Abif, whose name admittedly appears in Bibles 
 of older date than those of the Spencer Family of MSS., 
 and, therefore, whether it fell into absolute disuse, or the 
 reverse, during the interval which occurred between the 
 appearance of these publications respectively, must, 
 in either view of the case, remain a pure matter of con- 
 jecture. There is also the symbolic (though unwritten) 
 traditions which has gathered round Hiram's name, 
 and this (though to anticipate somewhat), I am of opinion, 
 has come down to us from very ancient times. I believe 
 also that the 'class of persons who, in the fourteenth 
 century, or earlier, constructed the original Craft Legend, 
 were capable of understanding, and did understand, 
 to a larger extent than ourselves, the meaning of a great 
 part of the Symbolism which has descended from Ancient 
 to Modem Masonry. Symbolism, as Albert Pike so truly 
 tells us, is the Sotd of Masonry. I am unable to com- 
 plete the metaphor by saying of what the body consists, 
 but the garments in which it is clad — our Manuscript 
 Constitutions — have come do\\Ti to us from very remote 
 times, and are the connecting links — in a corporeal sense — 
 between Ancient and Modern Freemasonry. 
 
 I now pass to the third "cluster" of documents, or, in 
 other words, to the "Roberts" Group or Family, con- 
 taining the "New Articles" which have already been 
 referred to at some length in previous passages of this 
 book. From the evidence which these supply, it has 
 been contended that the Society, re-modelled in 171 7, 
 was a Company of Freemasons, which at some previous 
 time had relinquished the occupation that gave them a 
 name. Moreover, if we follow Mr. Conder: — "The im- 
 portant fact that the Masons' Company dropped the 
 prefix of 'free' from their title in 1665 shows clearly that 
 at about that date a number of speculative masons 
 formed themselves into a London Society, and were 
 known as the Society of Freemasons, in contradistinction 
 to the Company of Masons. From this London Society 
 
The Legend of the Craft. 
 
 311 
 
 of Freemasons emanated, no doubt, several lodges of 
 speculative masons , who , early in the next century ( 1 7 1 7 ) , 
 met together and formed the nucleus of modern Free- 
 masonry." (Hole Crafte, 208.) 
 
 From one point of view indeed, the foregoing may 
 be regarded as at least a highly plausible conjecture, 
 
 RUIXS UF SEBASTE, ANCIENT SAMARIA. 
 
 since it is quite possible that the disuse of the prefix 
 'free" by the Masons' Company, in 1665, may have 
 been'^one of the consequences resulting from the "New 
 Articles" which fas alleged in the Roberts Print) were 
 passed at a "General Assembly," held in 1663. But in 
 the chain of proof that can alone substantiate the con- 
 clusion drawn by Mr. Conder, there are missing many 
 
312 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 links, and until further evidence is forthcoming we can 
 only look upon the written conditions in which I have 
 called their "third manner", as marking a period of 
 expiring influences, when the old order of things was 
 vanishing in the twilight that ushered in the new. 
 
 masons' marks. 
 
 The short study of Masons' Marks with which the 
 present chapter will be brought to a close, might have 
 found a place in earlier sections of this work, but for 
 reasons that hardly require pointing out, it has seemed 
 most desirable to proceed with it at the stage we have 
 now reached, when the subject can be taken as a whole. 
 
 The marks are described by the Rev. C. W. King as 
 "enigmatical symbols, which yet existing and in common 
 use among ourselves, and among the Hindoos in their 
 daily religious usages, can be traced backwards through 
 Gnostic employment and Gothic retention, through old 
 Greek and Etruscan art to their first source, and thus 
 attest convincingly what country gave birth to the 
 theosophy that made, in Imperial times, so large a use 
 of the same siglae" {The Gnostics and their Remains). 
 
 The same "enigmatical symbols" appear to have 
 been freely used by the Hermeticists and Rosicrucians. 
 Indeed, it has been asserted that not only the magical 
 numerals but also the curious alphabets which are given 
 by Cornelius Agrippa (ante, 69) in his Occult Philosophy, 
 may be found in their entirety among the marks of the 
 Masons. 
 
 It is very remarkable that these marks are to be found 
 in all countries — in the chambers of the Great Pyramid 
 at Gizeh, on the underground walls of Jerusalem, in 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii, on Roman walls and Grecian 
 temples, in Hindustan, Mexico, Peru, Asia Minor — as 
 well as on the great ruins of England, France, Germany 
 Scotland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. 
 
Masons' Marks. 313 
 
 Some of the foundation stones of the HaramWall of 
 Jerusalem are cut in the surface to a depth of three- 
 quarters of an inch, but most of the characters are 
 painted with a red color like vermillion. In the opinion 
 of the late Emanuel Deutsch, who inspected them in situ, 
 the signs were cut or painted when the stones were 
 laid in their present position. He believed them to be 
 Phoenician and to be partly letters, partly numerals, 
 and partly masons' or quarrymens' signs. Colonel 
 Conder, however, points out that similar characters 
 were used on coins and buildings up to Herod's time, 
 and the marks cannot therefore be held to be decisive 
 evidence as to date. Nevertheless, to use the words of 
 the late Professor Hayter Lewis, they seem to give 
 at least strong presumptive ground for the belief that 
 in these splendid foundation stones we may see the 
 actual work of the Phoenician Hiram for his great 
 master, Solomon. More recently, such stones (as at 
 Jerusalem) though worked with a different tool, have 
 been found in the old Amorite City of Lachish, and, if 
 we may assign this peculiar masonry to the Ninth 
 Century b. c, we shall have found a near approximation 
 to the date of the Wise King. 
 
 It is important however, to bear in mind during the 
 progress of our inquiry, that while marks were used by 
 masons from very early times, they were also common, 
 during the Middle ages, to the generality of the other 
 trades. Merchants' marks are well known to have 
 existed during the Mediaeval period, if indeed they have 
 yet passed out of use, and it is but rarely that a black- 
 letter book can be opened without one or two ciphers 
 belonging to the author or printer being disclosed. In 
 1398 a system of marks was instituted at Aberdeen, for 
 the different makers of bread in that town, while in 
 England, (and especially in London) by statutes of much 
 earlier and much later dates, not only the bakers but also 
 the workers in the precious metals, the weavers, brewers, 
 
314 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 I XHis^ ^:j .-. en )^ *yv3-u, V mrp^xr? s > tc^ 
 
 MASON' S MARKS. 
 
f Masons' Marks. 315 
 
 blacksmiths and the members of numerous other trades 
 — even including the tinkers — were required to use and 
 put their own mark upon their own work. 
 
 Marks were also common to the guilds. In London 
 we find them used by the Carpenters' Company down to 
 1597, by the Masons' Company until 1621, and so late 
 as 1758 the Coopers' Company issued particular marks 
 to the members of their trade. 
 
 By the Schaw Statutes, promulgated in 1598, for the 
 regulation of the then existing vScottish I/Ddges, it was 
 enjoined that the fellow craft or master shall have a 
 mark, which, however, he may have adopted on his 
 being made an entered apprentice, for the ancient rec- 
 ords of Mary's Chapel, of the Ivodge of Kilwmning 
 and of other Lodges of the seventeenth century, show 
 that the possession of these devices was common alike 
 to all apprentices and fellows, or masters, who chose 
 to pay for them. (Lyon, Hist. L of Edin., 73.) 
 
 As well summed up by Mr. W. H. Rylands: — "Each 
 Lodge in Scotland, in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries, kept an independent book, in which was 
 registered the name, generally the mark, and the pro- 
 fession or trade of every member and each newly-entered 
 apprentice." (Tr. Hist. Sac. of Lane, and Chesh., vii., 13.) 
 
 According to the late Mr. E. W. Shaw, the marks 
 were handed down from father to son, and those of the 
 various members of one family could be distinguished 
 by additional symbols. He also thought he could trace 
 not only the mark of the master mason, the fellow, and 
 the apprentice, but even what he termed "blind marks,' 
 or, in other words, the marks of those who were not 
 actually members of the Lodge. He likewise held that 
 by careful study the nationality of the workmen could 
 be distinguished from the marks, and as a proof that 
 such was the case, used to point out some of the marks 
 in Fountain's Abbey as being of French extraction, and 
 differing from those in this country. 
 
3i6 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 With regard, indeed, to the marks, as a rule, being 
 hereditary, the evidence is somewhat conflicting, but 
 the late Professor Hayter Lewis thought that they often 
 were, and that we might assume with great probability 
 that the plan still existing of the same marks being con- 
 tinued in use (with certain modifications) by members 
 of the same family, was also a characteristic of the med- 
 iseval masons. The Professor then asks: — "Was there 
 any distinct mark which would serve to distinguish the 
 members of any particular lodge, or company, or frater- 
 nity?" And in reply to his own question, observes: — 
 "I may say shortly that I can see no sign which would 
 thus define a separate group of workmen. Yet there 
 are certain cases in which one would expect to find them, 
 if, as we generally suppose, the companies were under 
 clerical guidance. ' ' He goes on to say, that while in 
 modern times and at the present day the marks are hidden 
 away out of sight in the horizontal joints, so as to pre- 
 vent the stones from being disfigured by them : this was 
 very rarely the case in former times, and generally they 
 were external and quite prominent enough to be easily 
 seen. (Joum. Arch. Assoc., xiv.) 
 
 On the modern custom of cutting the mark in such a 
 manner as not to be seen when the stone is in its place, 
 Mr. W. H. Rylands makes the following remark: — "I 
 am inclined to refer the date when it became more usual 
 to cut the mark on the bed of the stone at a little earlier 
 than the year 1600, when the Craft had lost much of its 
 former glory and power, and the marks themselves had 
 lost, to a great extent, their value and symbolism." 
 (Op. Cit., 22.) 
 
 In the opinion of the late Mr. Papworth: — "Whilst 
 such marks as were made by the ancient masons often 
 took the place of a proper sign manual to a document, 
 they then, as now, merely designated, or designate, the 
 stone which each man worked." 
 
Masons' Marks. 317 
 
 " Occasionally," he adds, "a double mark is observable, 
 one being supposed to be that of the foreman under 
 whom the mason worked, the other that of the workman 
 himself. Thus by these marks, in case of wrong or 
 defective workmanship, the mason who had to make his 
 work good could at once be known." (E?ig. Bdgs. in 
 the Middle Ages.) 
 
 The books and authorities to be consulted on the gen- 
 eral topic will be found in an excellent paper by the same 
 gifted writer. {Diet. Areh. Publ. Soc, s. v. "Marks.") 
 The whole subject, especially in connection with Free- 
 masonry, was afterwards reviewed at some length in the 
 IXth chapter of my History of Freemasonry (i. 455-66). 
 It next engaged the attention of Professor Hayter Lewis, 
 who may be said to have adopted a method of treating 
 the subject which, for the first time, offered any pros- 
 pect whatever of investing it with any real interest 
 for advanced students of the Craft. {J ml. Brit. Arch. 
 Asso., xiv., 145-54. Tr. Ouat. Cor. Lo., Hi., 65-72; v. 
 195-201.) 
 
 A further incentive to the study of Masons' Marks was 
 supplied by Mr. W. H. Rylands, the result of whose re- 
 searches was given to the world in a masterly paper — 
 covering the whole ground — which was read in 1891. 
 (Tr. Histor. Soc., Lane, and Chesh., vii., n. s. 123-208.) 
 
 From the writings of the late Professor Hayter Lewis, 
 which are referred to above, I extract the following: — 
 
 " I am afraid that at present there is nothing before the 
 fourteenth century to guide us but tradition. It is 
 scarcely to be doubted that much will, however, even- 
 tually be found, as the Regius and Cooke MSS. date from 
 the first half of the fifteenth, and clearly show that our 
 Society was then well recognized. But we have, up to 
 that time, so far as I can see, no direct link except per- 
 haps the Masonic Marks, which, I have not the slightest 
 doubt, came from the East. No doubt, owing to our 
 traffic with these countries, such marks had been known 
 
31 8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 in England before the Crusaders, but it was by the Cru- 
 saders that they were acchmatized here to the extent 
 which we find have been the case. 
 
 "Go where you wiU, in England, France, Sicily, Pales- 
 tine, you will find all through the buildings of the twelfth 
 century the same carefully worked masonry, the same 
 masons' toolmarks, the same way of making them 
 Another century comes, and all is changed. Except in 
 Scotland, where the old style continued to be used, the 
 delicate tooling disappears, and in place of it we get marks 
 made with a toothed chisel, which cover the whole sur- 
 face with small regular indentions most carefully worked 
 upright (not diagonally as before), and giving us another 
 series of Masons' Marks which are sometimes of great use 
 in regard to the origin and date of building. 
 
 "Putting together the information which we have, we 
 find:— 
 
 " ist. That certain definite methods of marking the 
 general surfaces of the stones characterized the Masonry 
 of the styles which we call Norman and that this had 
 apparently a Western origin. 
 
 " 2nd. That in the thirteenth century there was intro- 
 duced, with the Early Pointed Style, an entirely different 
 method of finishing the surface, and that the source of 
 this method was apparently from the East. 
 
 "3rd. That Masons' Marks do not appear to have 
 been commonly used in Europe until late in the twelfth 
 century. 
 
 "4th. That some of the most prominent of these 
 marks appear to have been used continuously, from very 
 early times, in Eastern countries. 
 
 "Wliat I believe as to crusading work in Palestine 
 (ante, loi, 123) is, that the general design was sent from 
 the great French Abbeys, and that the Master Masons, 
 in directing the works (which must have required the 
 aid of a great many of the skilled native workmen) 
 
Masons' Marks. 319 
 
 learned from them and adopted the pointed arch and a 
 general lightness of detail. 
 
 "I believe also that our Masons' Marks were adopted 
 in Britain in a similar way, and that they were not used 
 by the inferior workmen, but were the distinguishing 
 marks of approval used by the Master Mason and the 
 foremen under him. It is quite clear that some of these 
 marks were used in England before the Crusaders, owing 
 to the great traffic which existed with the East even as 
 early as Charlemagne, but it was not until the eleventh 
 century that their use became general." 
 
 It remains to be stated that, in the opinion of the same 
 careful writer, all the evidence seems to point to there 
 having been bands of skilled workmen attached to great 
 monasteries, cathedrals, and in later times large cities, 
 whose example and training influenced the districts 
 round. When the works ceased they were lessened in 
 number, the members dispersing here and there, and 
 leaving their marks in various places, much as our ma- 
 sons do now at the finish of some great work. But he 
 finds no distinct trace of the general employment of large 
 migratory bands of masons going from place to place 
 as a guild, or company, or brotherhood. 
 
 The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford (adopting the views of 
 Mr. E. W. Shaw) thought that Masons' Marks, thought 
 originally alphabetical and numeralistic, ultimately be- 
 came both symbolical and exoteric. That especially in the 
 Middle Ages, if not at all times in the history of the build- 
 ing sodalities, the marks were outer tokens of an inner 
 organization; that, taken from geometry, they constituted 
 asort of universal alphabet, which, with national variation, 
 was a language the craftsman could understand. (Kenn- 
 ing's Cyclop., 459.) Other writers of equal eminence 
 have expressed themselves to a similar effect, but in the 
 maze of conjecture to which we are conducted, a clue is 
 presented by Mr. W. H. Rylands, which I think we shall 
 do well to accept: — "If it be true," he tells us, "that 
 
320 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ancient Masonry contained some amount of symbolism in 
 which was embodied important secrets, it would almost 
 naturally follow that a certain amount of this symbolism 
 would find an outcome in the marks." 
 
 The same diligent antiquary, in the exhaustive essay 
 to which I have already referred, formulates a theory 
 that a large number of marks — even some of those which 
 have the appearance of being purely alphabetical — must 
 be looked for in the geometrical bases of construction. 
 Others, he considers, seem to be taken from the pro- 
 positions of Euclid, and the many forms of the triangle 
 are easily to be traced. In his interesting monograph, 
 Mr. Rylands supplies much valuable information which 
 is available in no other work. German marks are made 
 the subject of a special study, and upwards of eleven 
 hundred marks of all ages and countries are figured in the 
 series of plates with which the essay is enriched. 
 
 The difficulty in explaining the prevalence of the same 
 emblems in widely distant parts of the world, is not con- 
 fined to the student of Symbolism. It is shared by those 
 who devote themselves to comparative mythology or 
 folk-lore, and indeed by all who attempt to trace out the 
 origin of ideas in the past. The conjecture is permissible, 
 that were it possible to establish the existence of a mystic 
 brotherhood, which in times far remote from our own, had 
 roamed over most of the old world, the Sphinx-like 
 riddle might be read. But, alas for the supposition — 
 though resting on a huge basis of learned credulity, it 
 has no foundation whatever in ascertained fact. 
 
 In the very earliest epochs, three principal symbols of 
 universal occurrence have been found — the Circle, the 
 Pyramid, and the Cross. 
 
 The Cross is graven on the Temple-stones of Baalbec 
 and stamped on the tiles from the Temple of Onias — 
 occurring therefore at a period of at least a thousand 
 years before the Christian era. 
 
Masons' Marks. 321 
 
 The Tau, or Crux AnsaTa (the Cross with a handle, 
 Fig. i) Occupies a prominent place in the Egyptian 
 
 Hieroglyphics, and is one of the most ancient and 
 j widely spread of the cruciform emblems. In his 
 
 ^'« ' famous work, Sir Gardner Wilkinson calls the Tau 
 "the Sacred Sign, or the Sign of Life," It was regarded 
 as a token of supreme power, and appears to have been 
 either worshipped as the symbol of light and generation, 
 or feared as an image of death or decay. 
 
 The Croix Gammee, or Gammadion (Fig. 2), is also a 
 __ cross, but the end of each arm of the cross is bent 
 — j — I at a right angle. The name is given to it from 
 
 1 l_ each of the arms being like the Gamma, or third 
 Fig 2 letter of the Greek alphabet. The name, however, 
 
 by which it is most commonly known is a Sanscrit one, 
 which in English orthography is written Swastika. In 
 China it was called Wan, and in Northern Europe — 
 where it was the emblem of Thor — the Fylfot. It is 
 common both to the East and the West — is found 
 on pottery of the respectable date of 2000 b. c. — 
 and has been used in Masonry down to the present day. 
 According to the best authorities the symbol was as- 
 sociated with the worship of the Sun, and the Swastika 
 is in fact an abbreviated emblem of the Solar wheel with 
 spokes in it, the tire and the movement being indicated 
 by the crampons (Aynsley, Symbolism of the East and 
 West, 52). 
 
 The Pentalpha, as ancient and common as the 
 Swastika, is used by our Masons now (Fig. 3), 
 <yV/ but what it does (or did) mean remains a mystery. 
 ^^ That it was Pythagorian has been already stated 
 Fie J (ante, 89), but it was in vogue as a talisman or 
 mark for some 2000 years before that philosopher was 
 born In the opinion, however, of Mr. Rylands, it ap- 
 pears to have symbolized a very important basis of con- 
 struction. 
 
322 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Seal of Solomon, or Shield of David, likewise 
 
 called the Hexalpa or Hexalpha, is an hexa- 
 
 YY gonal figure consisting of two interlaced triangles, 
 
 \/ thus forming the outlines of a six-pointed star 
 
 Fis.f (Fig. 4). upon it was inscribed one of the sacred 
 
 names of God, from which it was supposed to derive its 
 
 talismanic powers. The spirit of the old talismanic faith 
 
 is gone, but the form remains, and is everywhere to be 
 
 found. 
 
 The Hour-Glass form, very slightly modified, has 
 been used in every age down to the present, and 
 
 Xin almost every country (Fig. 5). According to 
 some good authorities, it was a custom (at the 
 ^"-' period immediately preceeding the era of Grand 
 Lodges) to inter an Hour-Glass with the dead, as an 
 emblem of the sand of life having run out 
 
 A figure resembling the Arabic numeral 4 is a very 
 > common and universal mark. It is probably in 
 I many instances an unfinished Hour-Glass, and 
 jTjji occasionally has additional lines (Fig. 6.) 
 
 The Broad Arrow is also a mark which is every-^vhere 
 
 to be found. Mr. Rylands says he has never 
 
 ^'^ examined a building without meeting with it, and 
 
 ^«N it seems to have been in use from the very earliest 
 
 '''^^ times (Fig. 7). 
 
 The Indian Trisula, or Trident, is one of the oldest 
 and most widely-spread symbols of the past. It 
 . I . has assumed many forms, and is alike commoi> 
 I I I to the votaries of Brahminism (or Hinduism) in 
 ^"* India, and the followers of Buddha hi other parts 
 of the Hast. It was the sceptre of Poseidon. The 
 thunderbolt of 2eus was originally a Trisula. The 
 Hades of Mediaeval drawings is always represented by 
 a Trident, and on our own coinage of the present day 
 Britannia may be found with the same symbol in her 
 hand I'Fie. 8). 
 
Masons' Marks. 323 
 
 In the earliest era of operative Masonry, a geometrica] 
 
 figure, or canon, was adopted in all sacred build- 
 ings, which had an import hidden from the vulgar 
 This hieroglyphical device was styled Vesica Pis- 
 Fto cjg^ being the rough outline of a fish, formed of 
 two curves, meeting in a point at their extremities. It 
 was held in high veneration, having been invariably 
 adopted by Masons in all countries (Fig. 9). 
 
 Upon the whole we may confidently assume that most 
 of the characteristic signs now called Masons' Marks, 
 were originally developed at a very early period in the 
 East, and have been used as distinguishing emblems of 
 some kind throughout the Middle Ages in Persia, Syria, 
 Egypt, and elsewhere. From thence they passed tlurough 
 mediaeval Eturope, and these oriental types are still 
 visible on the surface of the stones forming the walls of 
 our old Abbeys and Cathedrals. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EARLY SCOTTISH CRAFT GRAND LODGES THE EPOCH 
 
 OF TRANSITION — A DIGRESSION — FREEMASONRY IN THE 
 BRITISH ISLES. 
 
 As in the transformation scene of some great Mas- 
 que, so here the waning and waxing shapes are mingled', 
 the new forms, at first shadowy and filmy, gain upon 
 the old; and now both blend; arid now the old scene 
 fades into the background; still, who shall say whether 
 the new scene be finally set up? 
 
 John Addington Symonds. 
 
 Though Scotland seems to have borrowed some of her 
 early burghal laws from England, the general develop- 
 ment of her municipal history in the Middle Ages resem- 
 bles more closely that of the Continent than of England. 
 This was probably due to the weakness of the Royal 
 authority in Scotland, and in part, perhaps, to the intimate 
 relations between that country and the Continent. After 
 the thirteenth century Scottish burghs sought municipal 
 precedents in France and Flanders rather than in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, like the same wholesale appropriation 
 of funds and property devoted to the purposes of religion 
 by the guilds, took place in Scotland at the time of the 
 Reformation, such as occurred in England. But the 
 records of the various trades in North Britain show that 
 they suffered to some extent in a similar way. 
 
 About 1430, however, Scotland became so much depop- 
 ulated by the wars with England, that it was found 
 necessary to import craftsmen from France and Flanders ; 
 and, in 1431, King James I., "to augment the common 
 well, and to cause his lieges increase in mair virteus, 
 
 324 
 
The Early Scottish Craji. 325 
 
 brocht mony nobill craftsmen out of France and Flanders, 
 and other partes — for the Scottis were exercit in con- 
 tinuell wars frae the time of King Alexander the Third to 
 thay days. Thus were all craftsmen slane be the wars." 
 James V. had also to plenish the country with craftsmen 
 from France, Holland and England. (Bain, Aberdeen 
 Guilds, 73.) 
 
 About the year 1520 it became common in the leading 
 burghs of Scotland for the magistrates to grant "Seals of 
 Cause" (or local Charters) to the different bodies of 
 craftsmen, specifying their rights and privileges. This 
 brought into use the word "Incorporation" — i.e., in- 
 corporated trades — in connection with the craft guilds, 
 when the workmen in a particular town incorporated 
 themselves together under a deacon convener, and es- 
 tablished a convener court, or convenery, to look after 
 matters that were common to all the different crafts. 
 
 It was impossible for a craftsman to carry on business 
 on his own account within the burgh until he had become 
 a free man, or free burgess, and to attain that position he 
 had to furnish satisfactory evidence of his "habilitie" 
 to exercise his trade. It was the practice, at Aberdeen, 
 for the applicant (with the assent of his fellow-craftsmen) 
 to memorialize the magistrates and Town Council to the 
 effect-" That the petitioner — having learned the art and 
 trade of a — , is desirous of being admitted a Freeman of 
 Craft of the Trade of Aberdeen." The application was 
 then remitted to the Trade (or Craft) of the petitioner, 
 who was next instructed to make an essay or maisterstick, 
 after which, if found satisfactory, he was again presented 
 to the Magistrates and Town Council, when, having 
 taken the oath of allegiance, he was "admitted and re- 
 ceived a Free Burgess of the Burgh of Aberdeen, of his 
 own craft only. ' ' Journeymen and apprentices, although 
 not members of the societies, were enrolled in the books of 
 their own crafts, while the latter were entered in the books 
 of the town, as well as in those of their craft, to enable 
 
326 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 them to claim the rights of an apprentice when they came 
 to apply for their freedom. fBain, 99, 106.) 
 
 A Seal of Cause was granted to the Masons, Wrights, 
 and Coopers, in 1532, and shortly afterwards, in the 
 opinion of Mr. Bain, "Free" or "Speculative" Masonry 
 was introduced into Aberdeen. "At the outset," he 
 considers, "Freemasonry was simpl)' an adjunct of the 
 original association of craft masons; but gradually it 
 became its leading feature, and the Incorporation of Ma- 
 son artificers became what is now known as the Aberdeen 
 Mason Lodge." 
 
 A much earlier Incorporation was that of the Wrights 
 and Masons, created by a Seal of Cause of the Provost and 
 Magistrates of Edinburgh in 1475. This, like the Lodge, 
 assembled in St. Mary's Chapel, and in consequence we 
 meet with the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, and the 
 Lodge of the same name. 
 
 The passing of fellow crafts at Edinburgh (Wrights and 
 Masons) was conducted, as at Aberdeen, by represen- 
 tatives of the united trades, and in the latest edition of his 
 famous work, the historian of the Scottish Craft expresses 
 a view in which I think all will be found to coincide: 
 "The absence from the Kilwinning and Mary's Chapel 
 archives," he remarks, "of any certification of a crafts- 
 man's ability to serve the lieges in the station of a master 
 mason, strengthens the supposition that Lodges did not, 
 in the seventeenth century, possess the power of raising 
 fellowcrafts to the position of masters in Operative 
 Masonry. The prescription of a master mason's essay 
 really lay with the 'House,' i.e., the Incorporation," and 
 whatever may have been the practice in former times, 
 the testing of a fellow-craft 's competency to undertake the 
 duties of a master mason had, in the period over which 
 the Schaw Statutes extend, been placed beyond the 
 province of Lodges and invested in the Incorporations. 
 In certain districts where no Incorporations existed, 
 Companies were formed to discharge their functions. 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 327 
 
 Thus we find that on October 26th, 1636, a convocation 
 of master tradesmen was held at Falkland, under the 
 presidency of Sir Anthony Alexander, Warden General 
 and Master of Work. The establishment of "Com- 
 panies" of not less than twenty persons, in those parts 
 of Scotland where no similar trade Society existed, was 
 recommended as a means of putting an end to the griev- 
 ances which were complained of, and rules were laid 
 down for their guidance. These Statutes were " accepted" 
 by the Lodge of Atcheson's Haven, at a meeting held in 
 January, 1637, also presided over by Sir Anthony Alex- 
 ander, whose signature is attached to the minutes; and 
 further approved at a conference held with the same 
 Lodge by Henrie Alexander, who succeeded his brother 
 as Warden General and Master of Work — in 1638. 
 (Lyon, Hist. L. of Edin., 2nd. edit. 18, 9/, 95). 
 
 The most complete picture we possess of the early 
 Masonry of Scotland is afforded by the Schaw Statutes of 
 1598 and 1599. These are Codes of Laws signed and 
 promulgated b}^ William Schaw, Master of the King's 
 Work and General Warden of the Masons, the one 
 directed to the craft in general, the other to the Lodge of 
 Kilwinning. From these two codes we learn very little 
 with regard to the entry of Apprentices — simply that in 
 each case it was booked — but on other points they are 
 more communicative. Thus a Master (or Fellow Craft, 
 which was a term importing the same meaning) was to be 
 received or admitted in the presence of six Masters and 
 two Entered Apprentices; his name and mark were also 
 to be booked, together with the names of those by whom 
 he was admitted, and of his Intenders (or instructors). 
 No one was to be admitted, according to the earlier Code, 
 without an Essay and sufficient trial of his skill and worth- 
 iness in his vocation and craft ; or, according to the later 
 one, without a sufficient Essay and proof of memory and 
 art of craft. A further regulation requires an annual 
 trial of the art of memory and science thereof, of every 
 
328 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Fellow Craft and Apprentice, according to their vo- 
 cations, under a penalty if any of them shall have lost 
 one point thereof. 
 
 Some of the Lodges held a controlling or directing 
 power over other Lodges in their districts. The second 
 of the Schaw Statutes — containing fifteen clauses, the 
 first four of which I reproduce, either wholly or in part — 
 defines these and their rank. 
 
 "xxviii., December, 1599. 
 
 "First. — It is ordanit that the warden witin the 
 bounds of Kilwynning and vther placeis subject to thair 
 ludge salbe chosin and electit zeirlie by monyest of the 
 Mrs. voitis of the said ludge vpoun the twentie day of 
 December and that wn the Kirk of Kilwynning as the 
 heid and secund ludge of Scotland and yrefter that the 
 generall warden be advertysit zeirlie quha is chosin 
 warden of the ludge, immediathe efter his electioun. 
 
 "Item. — It is thocht neidfull and expedient be my 
 lord warden generall . , . yt ye ludge of Kilwinning 
 secund ludge in Scotland sail haif thair warden [present] 
 at the election of ye wardenis wtin ye bounds of ye Nether 
 Waird of Cliddsdaill, Glasgow, Air, & bounds of Cank, 
 [with power to the warden and deacon of Kilwinning to 
 convene the remaining wardens and deacons within their 
 jurisdiction either in Kilwinning or any other part of the 
 west of vScotland.] 
 
 "Item. — It is thocht neidful & expedient be mj^ lord 
 warden generall, that Edr salbe in all tyme cuming as of 
 befoir the first and principall ludge in Scotland, and yt 
 Kilwynning be the secund ludge as of befoir is notourlie 
 manifest in our awld antient writts and that Stirueling 
 salbe the third ludge, conforme to the auld priveleges 
 thairof. 
 
 "Item. — It is thocht expedient }^ ye wardenis of everie 
 ilk ludge salbe answerabel to ye presbyteryes wtin thair 
 
D. MURRAY LYON, 
 Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge, Scotland. 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 329 
 
 schirefdomes for the maissonis subject to ye ludgeis anen 
 all offensis ony of thame sail committ." 
 
 It may be usefully noted that ah the Operative terms or 
 expressions, which were afterwards turned to Speculative 
 uses by the Freemasons of the South, namely, Master 
 Mason, Fellow Craft, Entered Apprentice, and Cowan, are 
 mentioned in the Schaw Statutes, and appear to have 
 been in common use in Scotland from the vear 1 598 down 
 to our own times. 
 
 Patrick Coipland, the Eaird of Udaucht, was granted, 
 in 1590, by James VI., the office of Warden and Justice 
 over the Art and Craft of Masonry within the counties 
 of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. This appointment, 
 however, was clearly made for purposes of a purely local 
 character, and, without a doubt, the powers granted to 
 Coipland were entirely subordinate to the paramount 
 authority of the Warden General. 
 
 A more prominent holder of a similar office to that held 
 by the Laird of Udaucht, was Sir Wihiam St. Clair of 
 Roslin, with regard to whose family and its alleged here- 
 ditary connection with the ancient Masonry of Scotland, 
 much disputation and not a little confusion have arisen. 
 There are two "St. Clair" Charters, neither of which are 
 dated, but the earlier document has been assigned on the 
 best authority to the year 1601, and the later one to 1628. 
 The parties to the first Charter were William Schaw, the 
 Warden General, and the Lodges then meeting at Edin- 
 burgh, St. Andrews, Haddington, Atcheson-Haven, and 
 Dunfermline. The second Charter bears the names of 
 the representative Lodges at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dun- 
 dee, Stirling, Dunfermline, St. Andrews and of the ma- 
 sons and other crafts at Ayr. In the first Charte, the 
 petitioners (with the sanction of William Schaw) consent 
 that their nominee. Sir William St. Clair, shall purchase 
 and obtain from the King, jurisdiction over them; and in 
 the second (William Schaw being then deceased) a re- 
 newal is sought of the previous connection, because the 
 
330 History of Freemasonry . 
 
 former "letters of protection" had been consumed by 
 fire. The connection, real or supposed, of any previous 
 member of the St. Clair family, with Scottish Masonry, 
 has been examined at considerable length by Mr. D 
 Murray Lyon in his famous "History." To bring the 
 story, however, within the scope of the present work, it 
 will suffice, at this point of the narrative, to relate, that 
 in a letter dated February 27th, 1635, Charles I. instructed 
 the Commissioners of the Exchequer to call before them 
 Sir William St. Clair of Roslin and examine him as to his 
 pretending " ane heritable charge over the Maissons of our 
 said Kingdome." They were also to order "that the 
 Maissons be examined by the Magistrates of every toun, 
 and the Sheriffs of every schyre' ' (Rogers, Memorials of 
 the Earls of Stirling, 229). It would appear from the 
 evidence that the legality of the appointment of Sir 
 Anthony Alexander (second son of the Earl of Stirling), 
 conjointly with Sir James Murray as " General Surveyors 
 and Masters of Work" in 1634, was challenged by Sir 
 William St. Clair. The dispute seems, however, to have 
 been amicably arranged in 1636, with the result that Sir 
 Anthony was sustained in his high office, and succeeded 
 in it by his brother, Henrie Alexander, in 1637. 
 
 Two of the Lodges mentioned in the Schaw Statutes 
 (1599). those of Edinburgh and Kilwinning, and with fair 
 probability that of Stirling — the "third ludge of Scot- 
 land' ' — are in existence at this day. Several Lodges also, 
 which figure in documents of only slightly later date — for 
 example, the St. Clair Charters of 1601 and 1628 — after 
 undergoing vicissitudes of good and bad fortune, still 
 live on, and are surrounded by a halo of antiquity, for 
 which a parallel will be vainly sought in any other region 
 of the globe. 
 
 With the exception of the Lodge of Edinburgh, how- 
 ever, the minutes of which body extend back to July, 
 1599, none of the existing records of the old Scottish 
 Lodges are of earlier date than the seventeenth centurv. 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 331 
 
 But the documentary evidence of that period is fairly- 
 abundant, and from the materials before me, I shall, in the 
 first instance, present the best sketch in my power of the 
 system of Masonry prevailing in Scotland during the era 
 to which I have last referred, namely, from the close of 
 the sixteenth down to the dawn of the eighteenth century . 
 The records upon which I am mainly relying are those of 
 the Lodges at Glasgow (1620), Kilwinning (1642), Scoon 
 and Perth (1658), Aberdeen (1670), Melrose (1674), 
 Dumblane (1675), and Dumfries (16S7), the figures within 
 parentheses denoting the years from which they com- 
 mence; together with the minutes of the lyOdge of Edin- 
 burgh — of unrivalled antiquity — and the other evidence 
 of old Masonic customs so lavishly supplied by my friend, 
 David Murray Lyon, in the latest edition of his monu- 
 mental work. 
 
 It is most probable that, down to the close of the six- 
 teenth century, there was only a single lyodge in each 
 town or city, which, as a matter of course, possessed all 
 the rights and privileges belonging to the mason's trade. 
 " Not the slightest vestige of authentic evidence, however," 
 as we are well reminded by Mr Lyon, "has ever been 
 adduced in support of the legends in regard to the time 
 and place of the institution of the first Scottish Masonic 
 Lodge." To which may be added, that, while the entire 
 group of really ancient Lodges in the Northern Kingdom, 
 are without any documents at all approximating to the 
 dates of their foundation, several of them have occasion 
 to deplore, not only loss of their oldest records, but also 
 the loss (in a historical sense) of any old records whatso- 
 ever. The true story, therefore, of the old Scottish Lodges, 
 could only be satisfactorily related in a series of " Lodge 
 Histories," and this, on a limited scale, was attempted in 
 my larger work {Hist, of F., ch. vin.). 
 
 The Lodge of Dundee asserts a traditional antiquity 
 of more than a thousand years. It also claims as one of 
 its former Masters David, Earl of Huntingdon — after- 
 
332 History of Freemasonry . 
 
 wards King of Scotland — to whom is ascribed the erection 
 of a fine old cathedral, which was partially destroyed by 
 fire in 1841. Apart, however, from these genealogical 
 extravaganzas, "our lady" — i.e., St. Mary's — "ludge of 
 Dundee," referred to in an indenture of 1583, is almost 
 certainly represented by one of the two old I^odges, Nos. 
 47 or 49, which (claiming the same traditional antiquity) 
 are working side by side in the mercantile capital of 
 Forfarshire at this day. 
 
 To the Lodge of Glasgow St. John, for a long time, was 
 conceded (in certain districts) a singular pre-eminence, by 
 virtue of a Charter alleged to have been granted by 
 Malcolm III., King of vScots, so far back as the year 1057. 
 But the earliest authentic record of the Lodge occurs in a 
 document bearing the date of 1620, which refers to its 
 existence in 161 3. "Ancient Stirling' ' claims a venerable 
 antiquity, as representing the body of Masons who were 
 engaged in the construction of Cambuskenneth Abbey, 
 founded by David I., 1 147. But, as previouslj^ remarked, 
 it is probably identified with the "third luge in Scot- 
 land," referred to in the Schaw Statutes of 1 599, and also 
 with "the Dudge of Stirlinge," one of the parties to the 
 St. Clair Charter of 1628. "The masowns of the luge' ' — 
 of whose successors in an unbroken line, we possibly read 
 in the existing " Lodge' ' minutes of 1670- -are mentioned, 
 under the year 1483, in the Burgh Records of Aberdeen. 
 
 According to its traditional history, the Lodge of Scone 
 (now Scoon and Perth) was erected in very ancient 
 times by those artificers who were employed to build the 
 Abbey, the Palace, and the other buildings which were 
 required in this early capital of Scotland. When, however, 
 Perth became the capital of the Kingdom, the Lodge of 
 Scone was removed to it, and remained there, when, at the 
 close of the fifteenth century, the seat of government was 
 transferred to Edinburgh. Nor can the position taken 
 up by its historian (Mr. D. Crawford Smith) be seriously 
 mpugned, that if the anliquity of the old Lodges is to be 
 
The Early Scottish Craft, 333 
 
 determined by the ages of the churches or buildings with 
 which they are specially connected, then it follows that 
 the Lodge of Scone is the oldest of the Scottish Lodges. 
 
 There was a Masonic Convention at St. Andrews, in 
 January. 1600, summoned by order of the Warden 
 General. Of its proceedings no record has.been preserved, 
 but from a minute of the Lodge of Edinburg, dated 
 November 27th, 1599, we learn that the Lodge of 
 St. Andrews was charged to attend, "and that the Mais- 
 teris of Dindie and Perth be alsua wamit to convene. ' ' 
 
 The next reference to the Lodge of Scoon and Perth 
 occurs in a parchment writing (in the archives of the 
 Lodge), which is headed — "Mutual Agreement of 1658," 
 and informs us that King James the Sixth of Scotland, by 
 his own desire, had been "entered ffrieman, meassone, 
 and fellow craft." This statement, Mr. Crawford Smith 
 (with a somewhat robust faith) thinks is entitled to our 
 confidence. The King, he tells us, made a state visit 
 to Perth on the 15th of April, 1601, and was made a 
 Burgess at the Market Cross. It would be on this oc- 
 casion, he considers, that the King, being thirty-four 
 years of age, "was entered by his own desire." 
 
 Of the same date (1658) and in the same document, is 
 a recital that — "ffrom the Temple of temples building on 
 this earth (ane vniforme communitie, and vvnione 
 throughout the whole world), ffrom which temple pro- 
 ceided one in Kilwinning, in this our nation of Scotland. 
 And from that of Kilwinning many moe within this 
 Kingdome, off which ther proceided the Abbacie and 
 
 Lodge of Scone as the second Lodge within 
 
 this nation." 
 
 No other Lodge, as we are rightly told, has such tradi- 
 tions as the Lodge of Kilwinning, and not the least 
 splendid of the series, according to the Rev. W. Lee Ker, 
 is the tradition, "believed in so far back as 1658, in which 
 the Lodge of Perth declares that the Kilwinning temple of 
 Free Masons was the temple which was first instituted in 
 
334 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Scotland, and that its foundaiion was laid about the year 
 1 190." (Mother Lodge, Kilwinning, 103). The same 
 writer assures us — "that Kilwinning Lodge is the true 
 Mother Lodge of Scotland is not a mere legend. On the 
 contrary, a fair reading of Schaw's vStatutes shows it to be 
 a solemn truth. ' ' In support of this view, it is contended 
 that in the Code of 1599, the Warden General "says 
 explicitly in his first Item, that Kilwinning was the heid 
 lodge, and in the third that for reasons of expediency 
 this was to be changed, that henceforth the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh was to be the principal, and Kilwinning was to 
 be the second lodge." In other words, from "a fair 
 reading" of the famous document of 1599, may be in- 
 ferred "that it ascribes the palm of priority and original 
 supremacy in Scotland to the Lodge of Kilwinning. ' ' 
 
 The words, however, of William Schaw, in the third 
 Item, "that Edinburgh shall be in all time coming as of 
 before, the first and principal Lodge of Scotland, ' ' are to 
 my mind decisive as to the ruling of the Warden General 
 with respect to the relative precedency of the two chief 
 Scottish Lodges, long prior to, as well as concvu-rently 
 with, the date on which it was expressed. 
 
 It is quite possible, of course, that Kilwinning may 
 have been the seat of the first Scottish Lodge, without 
 that old court of Operative Masonry being the supreme 
 Lodge in Scotland. To the curious reader, however, 
 who is desirous of considering the rival pretensions of 
 the two leading lodges of the world at greater length, 
 I commend the admirable "Histories" of Mr. D. Mur- 
 ray Lyon and the Rev. W. Lee Ker, in each of which 
 (though with conflicting results), the whole evidence is 
 carefully marshalled and summed up. 
 
 The customs of the old Scottish Lodges are of interest, 
 as being in many instances, down to a comparatively recent 
 period, survivals of usages pre-dating the era of Grand 
 Lodges. But in the notes which next follow I am more 
 desirous of depicting the Masonic practices of the seven- 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 335 
 
 teenth than of the eighteenth century. These, indeed, 
 are in numerous cases undistinguishable, as a number of 
 the customs which are first disclosed in connection with 
 the earlier, continued to exist throughout the later period, 
 and even overlapped the century which has just passed 
 away. But the usages of the Scottish Craft, so far as they 
 relate either to the system of Speculative (or Symbolical) 
 Masonry, or to the admission of non-operative members, 
 will only be dealt with in the present section, as known to 
 be existing in the seventeenth century. Almost im- 
 mediately afterwards, there are indications from which 
 a ritual of more elastic proportions might be inferred, 
 but the Masonic Symbolism of North Britain, a.s gradu- 
 ally assimilated with that of the South, will in due order 
 of time form the subject of a separate study. 
 
 There was an ancient ceremony called "fencing the 
 Todge ' ' which consisted of prayer to God, and the purging 
 by oath of the brethren from undue partiality in the 
 consideration of matters coming before them as Courts of 
 Operative Masonry. 
 
 In the great majority of the Lodges, the Festival of St. 
 John the Evangelist was kept as a day of feasting and 
 rejoicing. Wardens (except in the district of Kilwinning) 
 were chosen on that date, and in numerous instances there 
 was no other meeting in the year. At Melrose (1674) and 
 other masonic centres, neither apprentices nor fellow 
 crafts were to be received, "bot on Saint Jon's day." 
 
 Banquets, at the expense of new-comers, together with 
 the practice of exacting from them gloves (or glove 
 money), otherwise called "Clothing the Lodge", were in 
 vogue at the close of the sixteenth, and the customs lin- 
 gered until the second half of the eighteenth century. 
 
 The vSchaw Statutes tell us that Oaths were adminis- 
 tered to the masons. One, the " Great Oath," apparently 
 at their entry; and the other, "the Oath of Fidelity," at 
 intervals of a year; also, that no apprentice could be ad- 
 mitted a fellow craft, without an Essay (or masterpiece) 
 
336 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ' ' and sufficient trial of his skill and worthiness in his 
 vocation and craft." It was the duty of his Intender to 
 prepare and instruct the apprentice preparatory to pass- 
 ing. Examinations of the "last entered apprentices and 
 others," to ascertain what progress they had made under 
 their respective intenders, continued to take place in the 
 lyodge of Kelso on St. John's day, until 1741, and probably 
 later. 
 
 The same Statutes ordain that a Warden shall rule each 
 Lodge, and this regulation was carried out by the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh in 1598, though in the following year the 
 Deacon sat as president, with the Warden as Treasurer. 
 The Deacon was the chief officer at Kilwinning in 1643, 
 and at Haddington in 1697, while the Scone and Perth 
 (1658,) Aberdeen (1670). Melrose (1675), and Dunblane 
 (1696) Lodges, were in each instance ruled by the Master 
 Mason. 
 
 Versions of the old Manuscript Constitutions, trans- 
 cribed during the seventeenth century, are in the posses- 
 sion of the Lodges of Kilwinning, Stirling, Aberdeen, Mel- 
 rose and Dumfries. The Kilwinning MS. is in the hand- 
 wrintingof the Clerk of the Lodge of Edinburgh, and was 
 written about the year 1665. In the early part of the 
 eighteenth century it was a custom of the Lodge of Kil- 
 wining to sell to Lodges receiving its charters copies of 
 this document, which was termed the "old buik. " 
 Whether, indeed, the old Constitutions of the Free- 
 masons fulfilled the same purpose in North and South 
 Britain is indeterminable, but "there is no version 
 known which can fairly be described as of purely Scottish 
 origin, apart from exceptional, fanciful, and local addi- 
 tions, which do not materialy affect the legitimate text." 
 (Hughan. O.C. 55) 
 
 "That Masonic Initiation was formerly a ceremony of 
 great simplicity," observes Mr. Lyon, "may be inferred 
 from the curtness of the Warden General's 'item' on the 
 subject (1598), and also from the fact that a century after 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 337 
 
 the promulgation of the Schaw Statutes, the Mason 
 Word was wont occasionally to be imparted by individual 
 Brethren in a ceremony extemporized according to the 
 ability of the initiator. The Word is the only secret that 
 is ever alluded to in the minutes of Mary's Chapel, or in 
 those of Kilwinning, Atcheson's-Haven, or Dunblane, or 
 any other that we have examined of a date prior to the 
 erection of the Grand Lodge. Farther : — If the communi- 
 cation by Mason Lodges of secret words or signs con- 
 stituted a degree — then there was under the purely 
 Operative regime, only one known to Scottish Lodges, viz. , 
 that in which, under an oath, apprentices obtained a 
 knowledge of the Mason word, and all that was implied 
 in the expression." {Hist. L. of Edin. 22.) 
 
 According to a diarist of the seventeenth century, at the 
 sitting of the Assembly (or Synod) in 1649, "Ther was 
 something spoken anent the meason word, which was 
 recommended to the severall presbjrtries for tryall 
 thereof." {Chronicle of Fife. 9). 
 
 A little later, we meet with the case of the Rev. James 
 Ainslie, to whom, objection having been taken because he 
 was a Freemason, the presbytery of Kelso — February 24th, 
 1652 — expressed their belief "that there is neither sinne 
 nor scandale in that word, because in the purest tymes of 
 this Kirke, maisons haveing that word have been minis- 
 ters." {Ante, 184). 
 
 What the old Scottish Mason Word was, however, 
 remains a mystery, and as the historians of the craft are 
 silent on this subject, the remarks of two writers, who were 
 not of the Fraternity, may interest if they fail to convince. 
 
 Under the date of (about) 1678, the Rev. George Hie kes, 
 afterwards Dean of Worcester, writes: — "Hence I went 
 to Halbertshire. This is a strong high tower built by the 
 Laird of Roslin in King James the 5th time. The Lairds 
 of Roslin have been great architects and patrons of build- 
 ing for these many generations They are obliged to receive 
 the Mason's word, which is a secret signall masons have 
 
338 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 thro 'out the world to know one another by. They alledge 
 'tis as old as since Babel, when they could not understand 
 one another, and they conversed by signs. Others would 
 have it no older than Solomon. However it is, he that 
 hath it will bring his brother mason to him without calling 
 to him or you perceiving of the signe." (Hist. MSS. 
 Comni., xiii., 56). 
 
 I shall next quote from the Secret Commonwealth 
 ... By Mr, Robert Kirk, Minister at Aberfoill, 1691." 
 After pointing out several mysteries, the author observes 
 (p. 64): — " Besides these I have found fyve Curiosities in 
 
 Scotland, not much observ'd to be elsewhere 
 
 2. The Mason Word, which tho some make a Misterie of 
 it, I will not conceal a little of what I know. It is lyke a 
 Rabbinnical Tradition, in way of comment on Jachin and 
 Boaz, the two Pillars erected in Solomon's Temple (I. 
 Kings, 7, 21), with ane Addition of some secret signe 
 delyvered from Hand to Hand, by which they know and 
 become familiar one with another." 
 
 At Aberdeen it was ordained by the " Lawes and 
 Statutes" of 1670, that certam privileged persons were to 
 have the benefit of the Mason Word, free of all dues, save 
 for the box, the mark, the banquet, and the pint of wine. 
 Also — "We ordaine that no Lodge be holden within a 
 dwelling house where there is people living in it, but in the 
 open fields, except it be ill weather, and then let a house 
 be chosen that no peron shall heir or sie us. 
 
 "We ordaine lykewayes that all entering prentieses be 
 entered in our antient out-field Lodge, in the mearnes in 
 the Parish of Negg, at the Stonnies at the poynt of the 
 Ness." 
 
 Irregular " Makings" continued to disfigure the practice 
 of Scottish Masonry, not only during the seventeenth, but 
 until the second decade of the nineteenth century. The 
 minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh record " a great abuse" 
 committed by John Fulltoun in 1679, who is charged with 
 having taken upon himslf "to passe and enter severall 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 339 
 
 gentlemen without licence or commission from this place." 
 Initiations, nevertheless, conducted without the precincts 
 of the lyOdge, were subsequently freely ratified by "Mother 
 Kilwinning," down to the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, and by one of her daughter Lodges (conformably 
 with riiles enacted in 1765), members residing more than 
 three miles from the place "where the box is kept," were 
 permitted "to enter persons to the Lodge," a practice "in 
 the observance of which one Mason could, unaided, make 
 another, indicating," to adopt the words of Mr. Lyon — 
 "either the presence of a ritual of less elaborate propor- 
 tions than that now in use, or a total indifference to uni- 
 formity in imparting to novitiates the secrets of the 
 Craft." 
 
 The issuing by private Lodges of commissions, or, as 
 they were afterwards termed, " dispensations, "was also an 
 evil of great magnitude, and led to frequent complaints 
 with regard to the practice of brethren traversing the 
 countrv and picking up what members they could for their 
 own Lodges, to the detriment of those "locally situated." 
 
 The erection of branch Lodges by "dispensation" 
 became so popular in Ayrshire, that in 1 807, the villages of 
 Monkton and Prestwick could boast , the former of two and 
 the latter of one, each having its staff of officials apart 
 from those of the Mother Lodge. 
 
 "William Schaw," observes Mr. Lyon, "in his ordinance 
 for the reconstruction and government of the Scottish 
 Lodges, made no provision for the admission of Theoretical 
 Masons; yet in 1600, eighteen months subsequent to the 
 issuing of his famous Statutes, we find him, with one such 
 (the Laird of Auchinleck) at his elbow, engaged, like 
 himself, in investigating and giving judgment in a breach 
 of Masonic law on the part of the Warden of the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh — a circumstance which establishes the fact 
 that in the sixteenth century the membership of the 
 Mason Lodges was not exclusively Operative." {Hist. L. 
 of Edin. 85). John Boswell of Auchinleck, who was pres- 
 
340 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ent at this meeting of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's 
 Chapel), on the 8th of June, 1600, appears to have taken 
 part in its dehberations, and to have acquiesced in its 
 decision. Like the Operative members present, he at- 
 tested the minutes by his mark. 
 
 In the opinion of Mr. Lyon, "the grafting of the non- 
 professional element on to the stem of the Operative 
 system of Masonry had its commencement in Scotland 
 probably about the period of the Reformation" — a view 
 which is strikingly in accord with that of Mr. Bain, and 
 gains additional strength from the declaration of the Kelso 
 presbytery in 1652 {ante, 184, 263). 
 
 Besides the name of the Laird of Auchinleck, those of 
 many other persons of distinction were inscribed on the 
 roll of Mary's Chapel. Viscount Canada, eldest son of 
 the Earl of Stirling, was admitted into the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh, as a fellow craft of, conjointly with his 
 brother. Sir Anthony Alexander, Master of Work to the 
 King, and Sir Alexander Strachan, on the 3rd of July, 
 1634. 
 
 Henrie Alexander — third son of the first Earl of 
 Stirling — who succeeded his brother Anthony as General 
 Warden and Master of Work to the King, was admitted a 
 fellow and brother, in 1638. Two years later, Alexander 
 Hamilton, General of Artillery, was received as a Fellow 
 and "Mr." of the Mason Craft. The entries relating to 
 the admissions of those candidates of gentle birth, though 
 varying somewhat in form, were evidently intended to 
 convey the same meaning, and the actual Masonic status, 
 therefore, of General Hamilton, who was enrolled as a 
 fellow and master, differed in no respect whatsoever from 
 those of the other vSpeculative members, his seniors in the 
 Lodge, who had been received as fellows or brothers of the 
 craft. 
 
 Of fortj'-nine fellow crafts (or master masons) who 
 belonged to the Lodge of Aberdeen in 1670 — when the 
 records commence — less than aquarter wereof the Masons' 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 341 
 
 trade. Among the members were clergymen, surgeons, 
 merchants and three noblemen, one of whom — Gilbert, 
 tenth Earl of Brrol — was then an old man and presumably 
 therefore, must have joined the Society at a much earlier 
 date. , 
 
 John, Seventh EarlofCassillis, while only an apprentice, 
 was elected Deacon or head of the Lodge of Kilwinning, in 
 1672. His immediate successors in that office were Sir 
 Alexander Cunningham, and Alexander, eighth Earl of 
 Eglinton. In 1678, Lord William Cochrane (son of the 
 Earl of Dundonald) was a warden. 
 
 At Dunblane the earliest records show tliat the Opera- 
 tive Masons were in the minority. In 1696, when the 
 minutes begin, William, second Viscount Strathallan, was 
 the President (or "Master Mason"), Alexander Drum- 
 mond, of Balhaolie, the Warden, and John Cameron, of 
 Lochiel, a member of the Lodge. 
 
 A common name in use to describe the non-operatives — 
 generally persons of quality — who were admitted into 
 the Scottish Lodges during the seventeenth century, was 
 Geomatics; while the masons by trade were called 
 Domatics. The former were also known as Gentlemen 
 Masons, Theorical Masons, Architect Masons and 
 Honorary Members. (Lyon, 87.) 
 
 It should be recorded, that the membership of the 
 Lodge of Glasgow, unlike that of other pre- 1 8th century 
 Lodges, was exclusively operative, and, though doubtless 
 giving the Mason A¥ord to Entered Apprentices, none 
 were recognized as members until they had joined the 
 Incorporation, which was composed of Mason Burgesses. 
 
 Before passing away from the seventeenth century, it 
 will be convenient if I refer to a remark on an earlier page 
 (199) — "That in Irish academical circles Freemasonry 
 was well known before the landing of William of Orange 
 at Carrick Fergus in 1690." ' 
 
 Of the Freemasonry existing in Ireland before the era of 
 Grand Lodges, merely a passing glance is afforded, and 
 
342 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the glimpse we obtain of it is supplied by Dr. Chetwode 
 Crawley in an introductory chapter to a recent Masonic 
 work. He tells us that a custom prevailed during the 
 seventeenth century in certain Universities of- allowing a 
 representative of the undergraduates to make a satirical 
 speech, called a Tripos, at the annual meeting for con- 
 ferring degrees. At Trinity College, Dublin, the 
 "Tripos" (or speech) delivered, July nth, 1688, amounts, 
 in fact, to an attack on the authorities of the University, 
 by the use of illustrations drawn from the Freemasonry 
 of the day. • For example ; — 
 
 "It was lately ordered that for the honour and dignity 
 of the University there should be introduced a Society of 
 Freemasons, consisting of gentlemen, mechanics, porters, 
 parsons, tinkers, freshmen [and others], who shall bind 
 themselves by an oath never to discover their mighty no- 
 secret; and to relieve . . . distressed brethren they 
 meet with, after the example of the Fraternity of Free- 
 masons in and about Trinity College, by whom a collection 
 was lately made for a reduced brother, who received 
 [among other gifts]: 'From Sir Warren, for being Free- 
 masonized the new way, five shillings.' " 
 
 The "Speech", which after this is continued in the 
 Latin tongue, goes on to relate that the recipient of the 
 "Collection" (to quote from the translation given by Dr. 
 Crawley) then proceeded into the library of the University 
 where, anatomized and stuffed, stood the carcass of one 
 Ridley, supposed to have been an informer against the 
 Irish priests, upon whose remains he discovered the 
 Freemasons' Mark {privattcm Fratcrnitatis notavit 
 signum). 
 
 Other passages in the "Speech" are not without 
 significance to students of the Craft , but the foregoing will 
 sufficiently "demonstrate," to use the words of Dr. Craw- 
 ley, "That the Fraternity of Freemasons was so well known 
 in 1688, that a popular orator could count on his audience 
 catching up allusions to the prominent characteristics of 
 
The Early Scottish Craft. 343 
 
 the Craft. The speaker was addressing a mixed assemblage 
 of University men and well-to-do-citizens, interspersed 
 with ladies and men of fashion, who had come together to 
 witnesss the chief University function of the year. His 
 use of the theme proves that the Freemasonry known to 
 him and his audience was conspicuous for its secrecy and 
 for its benevolence. We can fairly deduce, too, that 
 membership of the Craft was not confined to Operatives,or 
 to any one class. Otherwise, the catalogue of incongru- 
 ous callings would be without point." (H. Sadler. Mas. 
 Repr. and Hist. Rev., Introd. xviii — xxv.) 
 
 The exact period of the eighteenth century, at which 
 the evidence points with precision to the existence, in 
 Scottish Masonry, of a plurality of degrees, cannot be 
 affirmed. There is no room for doubt that the more or- 
 nate ritual of the English Craft had penetrated into Scot- 
 land before the year 1730, and in the records of several 
 Lodges, there are entries from which it has been inferred 
 that an alteration in the original simplicity of the old 
 Scottish ceremonial may possibly have taken place at a 
 much earlier date. 
 
 In 1 701 an apprentice at Aberdeen was sworn "by the 
 points," and, according to the Laws of 1670, which may 
 possibly be based on English originals, at the "entering of 
 everie entered prenteise,"the " Measson Charter " — a form 
 of the Manuscript Constitutions still in the possession of 
 the Lodge of Aberdeen — was to be read to him. It is also 
 worthy of our attention, that in these Statutes of 1670, 
 there is the only allusion — ante-dating the era of Grand 
 Lodges — ^to the practice of Lodges being held, and 
 apprentices entered, in the open fields, of which an echo 
 (or survival) is to be found in the catechisms (or spurious 
 rituals) which were extensively manufactured in the third 
 decade of the eighteenth century. 
 
 In the Haughfoot minutes of 1702 we meet with the 
 following: — "Of entrie, as the apprentice did, leaving out 
 (the common judge). They then whisper the word as 
 
344 History of Freemasonry . 
 
 before, and the Master grips his hand in the ordinary 
 way." From this may be inferred that the word was 
 then accompanied by a grip, and the expressions used 
 may even justify a belief that a ceremony oi passing was 
 practised by certain Scottish Lodges at that time. On 
 St. John's day, 1708, two apprentices were admitted into 
 the Lodge at Haughfoot, and received the word "in com- 
 mon form." 
 
 The Grand Lodge of England was established in 171 7, 
 and published its first printed Book of Constitutions in 
 1723. These notable events will form the subject of a 
 separate study, but for the convenience of the reader, it 
 will be best if I first of all complete my sketch of the early 
 Masonry of Scotland which I shall bring down to the year 
 1 751, combining therewith an account of the leading 
 Masonic occurrences in the British Isles — ^those pertaining 
 to the original jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England 
 alone excepted — from the period immediately succeeding 
 the creation of a governing body of Speculative (or 
 Symbolical) Masons in 171 7, down to that at which the 
 system of " Grand Lodges," in the only countries wherein 
 Freemasonry was of native growth, may be said to have 
 become complete. 
 
 The minutes of the Lodge of Dunblane — under 
 December 27th, 1720 — record — "Compeared John Gil- 
 lespie, who was entered on the 24th instant, and after 
 examination was duely passt from the Square to the 
 Compass and from an Entered Prentice to a Fellow of 
 Craft." A copy of Dr. Anderson's Book of Constittitions 
 was presented to the Lodge in September, 1723; and on 
 December 27th, 1729, it was reported of two entered 
 apprentices from the Lodge of Kilwinning, "that they had 
 a competent knowledge of the Secrets of the Mason 
 Word." (Lyon 444). 
 
 I shall next glean from the records of the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh, where the following occurs: — 
 
The Eaily Scottish Craft. 
 
 345 
 
 "Att Maries Chapell the 24 of August 1721 years — 
 James Wattson, present deacon of the Masons of Edinr., 
 Preses. The which day Doctor John Theophilus Des- 
 
 aguliers. . . late Generall Master of the Mason Lodges 
 in England, being in town and desirous to have a con- 
 ference with the Deacon, Warden and Master Mason 
 of Edinr., which was accordingly granted, and finding him 
 
346 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 duly qualified in all points of Masonry, they received him 
 as a Brother into their Societie. Likeas, upon the 25th 
 day of the sd moneth, the Deacons . . . and other 
 members. . together with the sd Doctor Desaguliers, 
 
 haveing mett att Maries Chapell. . . . John Camp- 
 bell Esqr,, Lord Provost of Edbr., [and other] honourable 
 persons were admitted and receaved Entered Apprentices 
 and Fellow-Crafts accordingly." {Ibid, 161). 
 
 Relying on the above Mr. Lyon has no hesitation in 
 ascribing Scotland's acquaintance with, and subsequent 
 adoption of, English Symbolical Masonry to the confer- 
 ence which Dr. Desaguliers held with the Lodge of Edin- 
 burgh in August, 1 72 1. 
 
 According to Dr. Chetwode Crawley, with whom I am 
 wholly in accord, and whose words I reproduce: — "All 
 Freemasonry in existence to-day can be traced, through 
 one channel or another, to the Grand Lodge of England. 
 This general statement is particularly true of Ireland. 
 The Freemasonry of Ireland in the days immediately 
 succeeding the erection of the Grand Lodge for London 
 and Westminster, seems rather a part than a counterpart 
 of the new system. In less than eight years from the 
 foundation of the Premier Grand Lodge, the Sister Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland stands forth as the compeer of the Grand 
 Lodge of England, to which alone it owes precedence." 
 
 To the research of the same talented writer we are 
 indebted for the fact that in 1725 the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland was in existence in Dublin. On St. John's day 
 (in Harvest) of that year, the Earl of Rosse was elected 
 Grand Master, and "the Masters and Wardens of the Six 
 Lodges of Gentlemen Free Masons" took part in the 
 proceedings. "The terms in which the ceremony is 
 described," remarks Dr. Crawley, "leave little room for 
 doubt that the Grand Lodge was no sudden creation, but 
 had been then in existence long enough to develop a 
 complete organization of Grand Officers, with subordi- 
 
Grand Lodges. 347 
 
 nate Lodges under its jurisdiction." {Caementaria Hi- 
 bernica, ii.) 
 
 On December 2nd, 1725, a charter was granted by 
 the Corporation of Cork to "the Master, Wardens and 
 Society of Free Masons, according to their petition." 
 At the ensuing Festival of St. John — December 27th — 
 a Grand Master and other officers were elected by 
 the Freemasons of York; and Sir Thomas Prender- 
 gast, Senior Grand Warden of Ireland (under the Earl 
 of Rosse), was appointed Junior Grand Warden of the 
 Grand Lodge in London, on the same date. 
 
 The records of the Grand Lodge of Munster begin on 
 December 27th, 1726, a day which is also associated with 
 the remarkable " Speech" of Dr. Francis Drake (author of 
 Ehoracum) , the Junior Grand Warden of York. With 
 the proceedings of a private Lodge, those of the Grand 
 Lodge of Munster are intermixed, but it seems on the 
 whole, highly probable, that the only distinction was 
 in name, and that the membership was one and the 
 same. 
 
 From the famous "Speech" delivered at York by Dr. 
 Drake, on St. John's day (in Winter), 1726, I extract the 
 following: — "Edwin, the first Christian King of the 
 Northumbers, about the six hundredth year after Christ, 
 and who laid the foundation of our Cathedral, sat as Grand 
 Master. This is sufficient to make us dispute the 
 superiority with the Lodges at London. But as nought of 
 that kind ought to be amongst so amicable a fraternity, 
 we are content they enjoy the Title of Grand Master of 
 England; but the Totius Angliae we claim as an un- 
 doubted right." A further passage in the oration will 
 bear quotation as being of great importance in the general 
 history of Freemasonry. Drake speaks of "Ep.ff .C and 
 Hb-tSi." meaning, no doubt. Entered Apprentices, Fellow 
 Crafts, and Master Masons, and this is the earliest of all 
 known references to the degrees of these names, from 
 which mav be inferred that they were wrought with the 
 
348 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 sanction, direct or implied, of a Grand Lodge. Upon this 
 point, however, the York records down to the first period 
 of somnolency of the Grand Lodge (1730), throw no light. 
 As in earlier days, new comers continued to be "sworn and 
 admitted" {ante, 197), but of the form (or forms) of their 
 reception, we are left without a sufficiency of materials to 
 construct even a plausible conjecture. 
 
 By the General Regulations of the Grand Lodge of 
 Munster, "made at a Grand Lodge held in Corke, on St. 
 John ye Evangelist's day, 1728," it was ordained that 
 every Lodge should provide itself with a copy of Dr. 
 Anderson's "Constitutions" of 1723. 
 
 There is no list of the Officers of the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland for the years 1726-29, but the Earl of Rosse, who 
 was Grand Master in 1 725, filled the same position in 1 730. 
 In the latter year John Pennell, Grand Secretary, pub- 
 lished The Constitutions of the [Irish] Free Masons. This 
 work is almost an exact counterpart of the English 
 original, and the slight differences which exist are mainly 
 due to the compilation of John Pennell being intermediate 
 in point of date between Dr. Anderson's "Constitutions" 
 of 1723 and 1738. 
 
 In 1 731 the Grand Lodge of Munster passed under the 
 sway of James, 4th Lord Kingston (Avho had been Grand 
 Master of England in 1729), and during the same year 
 (1731) this nobleman was elected to the chair of the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland, in connection with what appears to have 
 been a re-organization of the latter body. The Cirand 
 Lodge of Munster is heard of no more, and from 1731 to 
 the present date the succession of the Cjrand Officers of the 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland is plain and distinct. The first 
 Warrant of Constitution ever issued by a Grand Lodge 
 was granted to the First Lodge of Ireland, in 1731. In 
 1732 it was ordered by the Grand Lodge that, "true and 
 perfect Warrants should be taken out by all the Irish 
 Lodges," and in the same year the first of along series of 
 ambulatory AA^arrants — to accompany Regiments on 
 
Grand Lodges. 349 
 
 their tours of service — was granted to the second battalion 
 of the ist Foot. 
 
 In resuming the thread of Scottish Masonic history, 1 
 shall do so by quoting in the first instance from an 
 anonymous tract published at the Irish capital in Decem- 
 ber, 1 73 1, which was included in the Dublin edition of 
 Dean Swift's Complete Works (1760-69), but has been 
 silently omitted from all those of subsequent date. It 
 bears the name of A Letter from the Grand Mistress of the 
 Freemasons, and, as my friend, Dr. Chetwode Crawley, 
 well observes, "it has no exact counterpart in the litera- 
 ture of the Craft." The pamphlet has many features of 
 interest, but I am here concerned with the following pas- 
 sage only, which, since the date of publication of the 
 Grand Mistress was announced in Ccementaria Hihernica 
 (iii., pref. 2), it has become quite clear, could not have 
 been inspired by, but must have been anticipatory of, 
 expressions of a similar and almost identical kind, which 
 are to be met with in the Chevalier Ramsay's "epoch- 
 marking" Oration of 1737: — 
 
 "The famous old Scottish Lodge of Kilwim ^.^ of 
 which all the Kings in Scotland have been from T n[;! to 
 Time, Grand Masters without interruption, down fro .the 
 days of Fergus, who reigned there more than 1000 fears 
 ago, long before the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or 
 the Knights of Malta, to which two Lodges I must, 
 nevertheless, allow the Honour, of having adorned the 
 antient Jewish and Pagan Masonry with many Religious 
 and Christian Rules." 
 
 Mr. Lyon tells us that "the minutes of Canongate 
 Kilwinning contain the earliest Scottish record extant of 
 the admission of a Master Mason under the modern 
 Masonic Constitution. This occurred on the 31st of 
 March, 1735." The third degree is not referred to in the 
 records of the Lodge of Kilwinning until 1736, nor in 
 those of the Lodge of Edinburgh until 1738. The his- 
 torian of Scottish Masonry is, however, of opinion, "That 
 

 Cd ^nm 
 
 3 r^n 
 
 
 it. 
 
 DEFENSE OF FORT SAINT ELMO, MALTA, AGAINST THE TURKS, IN 1565. 
 
Grand Lodges. 351 
 
 the degree in question was first practised north of the 
 Tweed by the Edinburgh Kilwinning Scots Arms. This, 
 the first purely Speculative (Scottish) Lodge, was consti- 
 tuted in 1729. Its original members were all Theoretical 
 Masons, and the Earls of Crawford, Kilmarnock, Crom- 
 arty, and Home; the Lords Colville, Erskine, and Garlics, 
 together with Sir Alexander Hope of Kerse, were on the 
 roll in 1736." (Hist. L. of Edhi., 190, 233). 
 
 On the 15th of October, 1736 a form of circular was 
 agreed upon, by four (out of the six) Lodges "in and 
 about Edinburgh," to be sent to all the Scottish Lodge?, 
 inviting their attendance either in person or by proxy, 
 for the purpose of electing a Grand Master. The election 
 took place in Mary's Chapel on Tuesday, November 30th 
 and thirty-three of the hundred or more Lodges that had 
 been invited, were found to be represented. No amend- 
 ments having been offered to the form of procedure, or 
 to the draft of the constitution of the Grand Lodge, a 
 document was tendered by the Laird of Roslin, and read 
 to the meeting. In this writing Mr. William St. Clair 
 renounced any hereditary claims he might possess "to 
 be patron, protector, judge, or master of the Masons in 
 Scotland," and so "fascinated do the brethren seem to 
 have been with the apparent magnanimity, disinterest- 
 edness, and zeal for the Order displayed in his ' Resigna- 
 tion,' that the success of the scheme for his election was 
 complete — the Deed was accepted and with a unanimity 
 that must have been grateful to the Lodge [Canongate 
 Kilwinning], at whose instance it had been drawn, the 
 abdication of an obsolete office in Operative Masonry was 
 made the ground of St. Claire being chosen to fill the post 
 of first Grand Master in the Scottish Grand Lodge of 
 Speculative Masons." (Lyon, ut supra, 188). 
 
 For a great many years, however, the Grand Lodge of 
 Scotland stood on a very anomalous footing with regard to 
 the ancient Lodges in that Kingdom. There were several 
 
352 History of Freemasonry- 
 
 Lodges which never joined the Grand Lodge at all, while 
 others did so and retired, though of the latter some re- 
 newed their allegiance. For example, the Haughfoot 
 Lodge (1702) never resigned its independence; Glasgow 
 St. John (1628) only did so in 1850; and the Lodge of 
 Melrose (1674) until so late a date as 1891, refused to 
 recognize any superior authority to its own. The Com- 
 pany oi Atchinson Haven " (i6oj -2) was struck off the roll 
 in 1737, and only re-admittcd into the field in 1814. 
 "The Ancient Lodge, Dundee " (1628), appears not to have 
 definitely joined the new organization until 1745, while 
 other Lodges accepted Charters of Confirmation in the 
 following order: — Dumfries Kilwinning (1687), 1750; 
 St. John's Kelso, (1701), 1754; St. Ninian's Brechin 
 (1714), 1756; the Lodge of Dunblane (1696), 1760; St. 
 John, Jedburgh (i 730), in 1 767. The Lodge of Scoon and 
 Perth (1658), which received a charter of Confirmation 
 in 1742, was, in 1807, "upon a memorial to that effect 
 re-admitted into the bosom of the Grand Lodge, from 
 which for some years past she had been estranged." 
 
 There were other old Lodges which seceded (for longer 
 or shorter periods) from the Grand Lodge, notably 
 "Mother Kilwinning," and the Lodge of Edinburgh 
 (Mary's Chapel), the cause of the schism being in either 
 instance the same, namely, a jealousy of the one in tha 
 other being placed at the head of the roll. 
 
 In November, 1737, it was resolved that all the Lodges 
 holding of the Grand Lodge should be enrolled according 
 to their seniority, which should be determined from the 
 authentic documents they produced, and in accordance 
 with this principle (the existence of the further documen- 
 tary evidence afterwards supplied by the earliest records 
 of the Lodge of Scoon and Perth, and the Schaw Statutes 
 of 1599, being at that time unsuspected), the first place on 
 the roll was assigned to Mary's Chapel and the second to 
 Kilwinning. 
 
Grand Lodges. 
 
 353 
 
 The brilliant oration of Andrew Michael (usually styled 
 the "Chevalier") Ramsay, a native of Ayr, near Kil- 
 winning, though probably unheard of in Scotland until 
 several years after its delivery at Paris in 1737, has been 
 commonly associated with the rise of a spurious tradition 
 awarding the palm of priority over all the other Scottish 
 Lodges to the Lodge of Kilwinning, by which all genuine 
 
 
 INSTITUTION OF THE ORDRR OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 Masonic tradition of a cognate character was swept away. 
 From the "Oration" I extract the following: — At the 
 time of the Crusades in Palestine many princes, lords and 
 citizens associated themselves. . . They agreed 
 
 upon several ancient signs and symbolic words. 
 Sometime afterwards our order formed an intimate union 
 with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. From that 
 time our Lodges took the name of Lodges of St. John. 
 23 
 
354 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 This union was made after the example set by the IsraeUtes 
 when they erected the second Temple, who, while they 
 handled the trowel and mortar with one hand, in the 
 other held the sword and buckler. 
 
 "At the time of the last Crusades many Lodges were 
 already erected in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and 
 from thence in Scotland, because of the close alliance be- 
 tween the French and the Scotch. James, Lord Steward 
 of Scotland, was Grand Master of a Lodge established at 
 Kilwinning, in the West of Scotland, MCCLXXXVL, 
 shortly after the death of Alexander III., King of France, 
 and one year before John Baliol mounted the throne. 
 This lord received as Freemasons into his Lodge the Earls 
 of Gloucester and Ulster, the one English, the other Irish." 
 
 With the foregoing should be compared the allusions to 
 "The famous old Scottish Lodge of Kilwinnin," and the 
 Knights of St. John at Jerusalem," which were printed at 
 Dublin in 1731 (ante, 274). 
 
 The two passages I have given from Ramsay's cele- 
 brated speech, and particularly the last one, have been 
 turned to strange uses by the inventors of so-called 
 "Scottish Rites" — which were and are mere excrescences 
 on the body of Pure and Ancient Masonry, as will be shown 
 at a later stage. In connection, however, with the Lodge of 
 Kilwinning, the reader (at this point) is requested to take 
 note, that in the light of the evidence supplied by the 
 Minute of 1658 (Scoon and Perth), and the pamphlet of 
 1 731 {"Letter from the Grand Mistress"), there is no 
 room for doubt that a traditionary belief in the pre- 
 eminence of " Mother Kilwinning ' ' over the other Scottish 
 Lodges, must have extensively prevailed for some time 
 before it received the imprimatur of Andrew Michael 
 Ramsay, and passed into general acceptance as a cardinal 
 feature of the remarkable " Oration" delivered by him m 
 
 '737- 
 
 A second edition of the English Book of Constitutions 
 (to be presently noticed in more detail) was published in 
 
Grand Lodges. 
 
 355 
 
 1738. From its pages I extract the following: — "The 
 old Lodge at York City, and the Lodges of Scotland, 
 Ireland, France and Italy, affecting Independency, 
 are under their own Grand Masters, though they have 
 
 M(JDERN HOSPICE ST. JOHN. 
 
 the same Conshiutions, Charges, Regulations, etc., for sub- 
 stance, with their Brethren of England." 
 
 I shall next proceed with the histories of the Grand 
 Lodges of Scotland and Ireland down to the close of the 
 first and slightly overlapping the second half of the 
 
356 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 eighteenth century. During the whole of this period 
 "The old Lodge at York City" remained in a state of 
 tranquil repose, and its temporary revival will be noticed 
 in due chronological sequence when the annals of the 
 Grand Lodge of England have been incorporated with 
 the general narrative and brought down to the year 1761. 
 
 In the Grand Lodge of Scotland, during the year 
 1740, the opening of a correspondence with the Grand 
 Lodge of England, was proposed and unanimously agreed 
 to. In 1743, at the recommendation of the Earl of 
 Kilmarnock, Grand Master, the first Military Lodge 
 (under the Grand Lodge) was erected, the petitioners all 
 belonging to "Colonel Lees' regiment," afterwards the 
 55th foot. 
 
 During the same year (1743) the Lodge at Kilwinning, 
 discontented with its secondary rank, resumed its indepen- 
 dence, and for well nigh seventy years continued to exist 
 as an independent Grand Body, dividing with the Grand 
 Lodge of Scotland the privilege of constituting Lodges in 
 North Britain, as well as in places beyond the seas. About 
 seventy " Kilwinning Charters ' ' are supposed to have been 
 issued down to the year 1803, but all traces of the greater 
 number of them have disappeared. Many of the Lodges 
 so established super-added the name of Kilwinning to that 
 of the town or place where they carried on their work, but 
 this compound title is by no means distinctive of the bodies 
 so created, as the practice was also a common one among 
 the Lodges erected by the Grand Lodge, without their 
 having any connection with the present No. O. 
 
 In 1 74.5, the Associate Synod sought to disturb the 
 peace of the fraternity, and eventually drew up a list of 
 foolish questions which they required every Kirk-session 
 to put to those under their charge. In other words, "A 
 Synod of Scotch Dissenters attempted to compel the Free 
 Masons of their congregations to give them an accoimt of 
 those mysteries and ceremonies which their avarice or fear 
 
Grand Lodges. 357 
 
 hindered them from obtaining by a regular initiation." 
 (A. Lawrie. Hist, of F. in.Scotl., 133). The Grand 
 Lodge of Scotland did not take the slightest notice of 
 these proceedings, and it is satisfactory to state, that, 
 notwithstanding persecution, and other obstacles, Free- 
 masonry has ever steadily progressed in North Britain, 
 and, as it has hitherto been, so is it justly held in the high- 
 est esteem. 
 
 Between 1745 and 1751 there is, in Scottish Masonry, 
 very little, except the succession of Grand Masters, to 
 record. The third Earl of Cromarty, who succeeded 
 William St. Clair of Roslin, ;n 1737, was foUowed at yearly 
 intervals in the chair of the Grand Lodge by eight other 
 noblemen of the same rank, the last of whom — the sixth 
 Earl of Buchan — was elected in 1745. Alexander, tenth 
 Earl of Eglinton (a former Master of the Lodge of Kil- 
 winning), was at the head of the Scottish Craft, in 1750; 
 and James, Lord Boyd (afterwards thirteenth Earl of 
 Errol), eldest son of the last Earl of Kilmarnock, in 1751. 
 
 In 1 740, under the Grand Lodge of Ireland, as the 
 Masons of that country still showed a want of alacrity in 
 applying for what may be termed "Charters of Confirma- 
 tion," the decree of 1732 was re-enacted, but in more 
 peremptory terms: — "Such Lodges as have not already 
 taken out Warrants are ordered to apply for them to John 
 Baldwin, Esq., Secretary to Grand Lodge, or they will be 
 proceeded against as Rebel Masons." t" 
 
 The next event of importance was the promulgation of 
 the Irish Regulations of 1741, which are a virtual repro- 
 duction of Dr. Anderson's second Book of Constitutions 
 published in 1738. "The obvious explanation seems to 
 be," remarks Dr. Crawley, "that the relations between the 
 two organizations was such that, when the Grand Lodge of 
 England adopted a new and expanded code, the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland held the Code to be equally binding on 
 
358 History of Freemasonry 
 
 that part of the Fraternity that happened to lie on this 
 side of the Channel." (Caem. Hib., ii., 17). 
 
 To the research of the same diligent antiquary, we are 
 indebted for the earliest known reference to the Royal 
 Arch. It occurs in a contemporary account of the pro- 
 ceedings of a Lodge at Youghall (No. 21) in 1743. The 
 members walked in procession, and preceding the Master 
 was — 
 
 ROYAL .\RCH. 
 
 "The Royal Arch carried by two Excellent Masons." 
 The next notice of the Degree in question will be found 
 in Dr. Dassigny's Serious and Impartial Enquiry into 
 the cause of the present Decay of Free-Masonry in the 
 Kingdom of Ireland, which, together with the General 
 Regulations of the Grand Lodge," Pursuant to the English 
 Constitutions, approved of on the 24th of June, 1741," 
 was printed at Dublin in 1744. 
 
Grand Lodges. 359 
 
 The Enquiry and the Regulations are not, however, two 
 separate pamphlets bound up together, but form one 
 homogeneous volume, the pagination running con- 
 tinuously throughout. 
 
 Dr. Dassigny tells us of the existence of an Assembly of 
 Royal Arch Masons at York — from which city the degree 
 was introduced into Dublin; that it was known and 
 practised in London "some small space before"; and that 
 the members thereof were " an organis'd body of men who 
 have passed the chair." 
 
 The Subscribers' Names are printed in the volume, and 
 among them are those of three women, one of which, the 
 name of the Hon. Mrs. Aldworth, following that of Lord 
 Allen, the Grand Master, occupies the second place on the 
 list. The romantic story of this lady's initiation into 
 Masonry when a girl of tender years, has passed into 
 general acceptance. Readers of history will, however, 
 remember that the author of the famous Decline and Fall 
 of the Roman Empire, lays it down as a canon of criti- 
 cism, that if a story is started long after the date of its 
 alleged occurrence, and if it had not been heard of by any 
 contemporary, it may be put down as a mere invention. 
 In the case before us, the alleged initiation of the "Lady 
 Freemason ' ' derives no proof whatever from the evidence 
 of contemporary witnesses, and the whole story hangs on 
 the credibility which should be attached to a family 
 tradition, which was not recorded until a century after 
 the event which is supposed to have given it birth. 
 
 Edward Spratt, Grand Secretary, author of the General 
 Regulations of 1741 (printed in 1744), followed up that 
 work by bringing out, in 1751, The New Book of Consti- 
 tutions, collected from the Book of Constitutions, Published 
 in England, in the year 1738. Both these compilations 
 were adapted from the English original, and were avow- 
 edlv taken from Dr. Anderson's edition of 173!^'. 
 
360 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Irish " Consitutions " of 1751 are dedicated to Lord 
 Kingsborough, and in committing the "sheets" to the 
 "Protection and Patronage" of that nobleman, Edward 
 Spratt adds: " Not in Quahty of an Author, a task I am 
 in every way unequal to, but only as a faithful Editor, and 
 Transcriber of the works of our learned and ingenious 
 brother, James Anderson, D.D., dedicated to his Royal 
 Highness, Frederick, Prince of Wales." 
 
 PLACING THH KEYSTONE. 
 
 I must now pick up the thread of English ^^Masonic 
 history, for which purpose a retrograde step in the story I 
 am laying before my readers has become essential. 
 
 The only offical account we possess of the foundation of 
 the Grand Lodge of England, and the first six years of its 
 history, is contained in the second edition of Dr. Ander- 
 son's Constitutions, published in 1738: — "After the Rebel- 
 lion was over. A. D. 1 716, the few Lodgei- at Loiicfon. 
 thought fit to cement under a Grand Master as the center of 
 Union and Harmony, viz., the Lodges that met, 
 
 I. At the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in St. Paul's 
 Church-yard. 
 
w 
 
 % 
 
 r. 
 
 o 
 a 
 y^ 
 
 o 
 ►J 
 
 e 
 a 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
362 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 2. At the Crown Ale-house in Parker' s-Lane, near 
 Drury-Lane . 
 
 3. At the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent- 
 Garden. 
 
 4. At the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Channel-Row, 
 Westminster. 
 
 They and some old Brothers met at the said Apple-Tree, 
 and having put into the Chair the oldest Master Mason 
 (now the Master of a Lodge), they constituted themselves 
 a Grand Lodge pro Tempore in Due Form, and forthwith 
 revived the Quarterly Communication of the Officers of 
 Lodges (called the 0ranO XoDge), resolv'd to hold the 
 Annual Assembly and Feast, and then to chuse a 
 Grand Master from among themselves, till they should 
 have the honour of a Noble Brother at their Head. 
 
 Accordingly 
 
 On St. John Baptist's Day, in the 3d Year of King 
 George L, A.D. 171 7, the ASSEMBLY and Feast of the 
 Free and Accepted Masons was held at the foresaid Goose 
 and Gridiron Ale-house. 
 
 Before Dinner, the oldest Master Mason (now the Master 
 of a Lodge) in the Chair, proposed a List of proper Can- 
 didates; and the Brethren by a Majority of Hands 
 elected 
 
 Mr. Anthony Sayer, Gentleman, Grand Master of 
 Masons, 
 
 who, being "] '^ 
 
 forthwith in- I Mr. /acod Lamda//, Carpenter 1 Grand 
 
 vested with \ QsiYit. Joseph Elicit \ Wardens. 
 
 the Badges J J 
 
 of Office and Power by the said oldest Master, and install 'd, 
 was duly congratulated by the Assembly who pay'd him 
 the Homage." 
 
Grand Lodges. 
 
 363 
 
 It should be carefully borne in mind, however, that this 
 revival of the "Quarterly Communication" was recorded 
 twenty-one years after the date of the occurrence to which 
 
 "•.An 
 
 ANTHONY SAYER, FIRST GRAND MASTER. 
 
 it refers; also, that no such "revival" was mentioned by 
 Dr. Anderson in the Constitutions of 1723. 
 
 Moreover, there were only annual meetings of the Grand 
 Lodge during the three years next following, which took 
 
36/ History of Freemasonry. 
 
 place on St. John's day (in Summer) in 1718, 17 19 and 
 1 720 respectively. 
 
 Anthony Sayer was succeeded by "George Payne, 
 Esqr.," during whose year of office (17 18) "several old 
 Copies of the Gothic [i.e., "Manuscript"] Constitutions 
 were produced and collated." 
 
 The third Grand Master was the Rev. John Theophilus 
 Desaguliers, LL.D. and F.R.S. (1719), by whom were 
 " reviv'd the old regular and peculiar Toasts or Healths of 
 the Free Masons." In 1 720 George Payne was elected for 
 a second term, and the leading events of the year were — 
 the burning of several Manuscripts — presumbably copies 
 of the old Masonic Constitutions — "by some scrupulous 
 Brothers, that these papers might not fall into strange 
 Hands ; ' ' the holding of a " Quarterly Communication 
 on 5/. John Evangelisfs Day (1720); and the enactment 
 of a law that the Grand Wardens should no longer be 
 elected by the Grand Lodge but be appointed, together 
 with a Deputy Grand Master, by the Grand Master 
 after his installation. 
 
 On the 24th of June, 1721 (twelve Lodges being repre- 
 sented at the Assembly and Feast), George Payne was 
 succeeded by John, Duke of Montagu — the first of a long 
 and unbroken series of noble Grand Masters — and the 
 Society rose at a single bound into notice and esteem. 
 
 September 29th, 1721. — "His Grace's Worship and the 
 Lodge finding Fault with all the Copies of the old Gothic 
 Constitutions, order 'd Brother James Anderson, A.M., to 
 digest the same in a new and better method." (16 
 Lodges). 
 
 December 27th, 1721. — "The Duke of Montagu ap- 
 pointed 14 learned (Brothers to examine Brother Ander- 
 son's Manuscript, and to make Report." (20 Lodges). 
 
 March 25th, 1722. — "The Committee of 14 reported that 
 they had perused Brother Anderson's Manuscript, viz., 
 the History, Charges, Regulations and Master's Song, and 
 
THE 
 
 CONSTITXJTIO NS 
 
 FREE-MASONS. 
 
 CONTAINING THE 
 
 OF THAT 
 
 MOST ANCIENT AND RIGHT WORSHIPFUL 
 FRATERNITY. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF THE EODGES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by William Hunter, for John Senk\ at the Globk, and 
 John Hooke at the Flo\ver-de-llce over-against St. Din.stan 
 Church, in Fleet-street. 
 
 In the Year of Masonry 5723 
 
 Anno Domini 172S 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, N. Y., U. S. A. 
 
 Masonii Publishing Company 
 
 1892. 
 
 I Title and f'jur pages of the reprint edition.) 
 
gs? 
 
 ;%■' 
 
 ssgHf:4f' 
 
 \~9 
 
 
 S'^i 
 
 >^ '■»,?: 
 
 r?'\r 
 
 ,v 
 
 5f5C-. 
 
 '! 
 
 TO 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF 
 
 MONTAGU. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Y Order of his Grace 
 the DUKE of WHAR- 
 TON, the prefent Right 
 Worfhipful Grand Mas- 
 ter of the Free-Masons ; 
 and, as his Deputy, I humbly dedicate 
 this Book of the Constitutions of our 
 
 ancient 
 
 363 
 
vi DEDICATION 
 
 ancient Fraternity to your Grace, in 
 Teftimony ot your honourable, pru- 
 dent, and vigilant difcharge of the 
 Office of our Grand-Master laft year. 
 I need not tell your Grace what 
 Pains our learned Author has taken 
 in compiling and digefting this Book 
 from the old Records, and how accu- 
 rately he has compar'd and made every 
 thing agreeable to History and Chro- 
 nology, fo as to render thefe New 
 Constitutions a jufi: and exadt Ac- 
 count of Masonry from the beginning 
 of the World to your Grace's Mas- 
 tership, ftill preferving all that was 
 trulv ancient and authentick in the 
 old ones : For every Brother will be 
 pleas'd with the Performance, that 
 knows it had your Grace's Perusal and 
 Approbation, and that it is now print- 
 ed for the Ufe of the Lodges, after it 
 
 was 
 
 367 
 
DEDICATION. vii 
 
 was approv'd by the Grand-Lodge, 
 when your Grace was Grand-Master. 
 All the Brotherhood will ever remem- 
 ber the Honour your Grace has done 
 them, and your Care for their Peace, 
 Harmony, and lafting Friend fhiu : 
 Which none is more duly fenfible of 
 than, 
 
 My LORD, 
 Your Grace's 
 
 Moft oblig'd, and 
 
 Moft obedient Servant, 
 And Faithful Brother, 
 
 J. T. Desaguliers, 
 Deputy Grand-Mafter , 
 
 3bS 
 
THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION, 
 
 OP THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL FRATERNITY OF 
 
 ACCEPTED FREE MASONS; 
 
 COLLECTED 
 
 FROM THEIR GENERAL RECORDS, AND THEIR FAITH- 
 FUL TRADITIONS OF MANY AGES. 
 
 TO BE READ 
 
 4t the Admission of a New Brother, when the Master or 
 Warden shall begin, or order some otJier Brother to read as 
 follows : 
 
 DAM, our first Parent, created after the 
 Image of God, the great Tear of 
 Architect of the Universe, the World 
 must have had the Lib- 
 eral Sciences, particularly 
 Geometry, written on his 
 Heart; for even since the Fall, we find the 
 Principles of it in the Hearts of his Offspring, and which 
 in process of time, have been drawn forth into a con- 
 venient 
 
 1. 
 
 4003. 
 before 
 Christ. 
 
 24 
 
 369 
 
370 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 after some Amendments had approved of it ; Upon which 
 the Lodge desir'd the Grand Master to order it to be 
 printed." (24 IvOdges). 
 
 "Grand Master Montagu's good government inclin'd 
 the better Sort to continue him in the chair another 
 Year; and therefore they delay 'd to prepare the Feast. 
 
 " But Philip, Duke of Wharton, lately made a Brother, 
 tho' not the Master of a Lodge, being ambitious of the 
 Chair, got a Number of Others to meet him at Stationers- 
 Hall 24 June, 1 722, and having no Grand Officers, they put 
 in the Chair the oldest Master Mason (who was not the 
 present Master of a Lodge, also irregular), and without the 
 usual decent Ceremonials, the said old Mason proclaim'd 
 aloud : — 
 
 "Philip Wharton, Duke of Wharton, Grand Master of 
 Masons. . . but his Grace appointed no Deputy, nor 
 was the Lodge opened and closed in due Form. 
 
 " Therefore the noble Brothers and all those that would 
 not countenance Irregularities, disown'd Wharton's 
 Authority, till worthy Brother Montagu heal'd the 
 Breach of Harmony, by summoning the Grand Lodge to 
 meet 1 7 January, 1 723, at the King's Arms, when the Duke 
 of Wharton promising to be True and Faithful," he was 
 "proclaim'd" Grand Master in proper form. (25 Lodges). 
 At the same meeting, " G. Warden Anderson produced 
 the new Book of Constitutions now in Print, which was 
 again approv'd." 
 
 The Duke of Wharton's successor was the Earl of 
 Dalkeith, who was elected on April 25th, and duly pro- 
 claimed {in absentia) on June 24th, 1723. 
 
 The meeting last referred to is the first of which any 
 record has been preserved in the earliest Minute book of 
 the Grand Lodge, and the account of its proceedings on 
 St. John's Day (in Summer), 1723, as recorded at the time, 
 differs very materially from that furnished by Dr. Ander- 
 son in I 73S. 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 371 
 
 There are also numerous discrepancies of subsequent 
 date between the two narratives, owing, it may be as- 
 sumed, in many instances, to the "Father of Masonic 
 History' ' vainly endeavoring to reconcile the state- 
 ments for which he was responsible in the Constitutions 
 of 1 723, with those that, in a measure he was compelled to 
 make, at the close of a long evolutionary process, or 
 period of transition, commencing after 171 7, and ter- 
 minating at some time before 1738. 
 
 Upon the only contemporary record of events, I shall, 
 therefore, mainly rely for the further story of the " Mother 
 of Grand Lodges, " the earliest Minute of which body in- 
 forms us, that on June 24th, 1723, the Duke of Wharton 
 presided as Grand Master, with Dr. Desaguliers as Deputy 
 and Joshua Timson, and "the Reverend Mr. James Ander- 
 son," as Grand "Wardens. The election of the Earl of 
 Dalkeith passed off harmoniously, but that of his Deputy, 
 Dr. Desaguliers, was opposed, and only carried by a ma- 
 jority of one vote. The Duke of Wharton then proposed 
 that the " Question should be put again in the General 
 Lodge. " Whereupon, the action of the Duke became the 
 subject of general protest, as being "unprecedented, un- 
 warrantable, and Irregular, and the late Grand Master 
 went away from the Hall without Ceremony. ' ' 
 
 At the next Quarterly Communication, held November 
 25th, it was, however, definitely settled that the Grand 
 Master had power to appoint his Deputy, and the Grand 
 Wardens. The Master "of the King's Head in Ivy Lane 
 was expelled for laying several aspersions against the 
 Deputy Grand Master, which he could not make good," 
 and it was ' \ 
 
 " Agreed, that no new Lodge, in or near London, without 
 it be Regularly Constituted, be countenanced by the 
 Grand Lodge, nor the Master or Wardens be admitted at 
 the Grand Lodge. " 
 
372 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The foregoing is given by Anderson in a mutilated form, 
 and without the words in italics, among the New Regu- 
 lations contained in his Constitutions of 1738, but by that 
 date the authority of the Grand I^odge of England had 
 vastly outgrown the expectations of its founders, by 
 whom its jurisdiction was limited to the Cities of London 
 and Westminster, or, in other words, the district or circle 
 embraced by what were called the "Bills of Mortality," 
 in the original "Constitutions" of 1723. 
 
 George Payne, John Theophilus Desaguliers, and James 
 Anderson are often mentioned in Masonic works as having 
 planned and carried out what, by a strange misuse of 
 terms, it has become the fashion to call the " Revival " of 
 a governing body, in 171 7. But there is not a scrap of 
 evidence from which it may be inferred that any one of 
 these early Grand Officers took part in the formation of 
 the Grand Lodge. All three, indeed, had a share in the 
 compilation of the first Book of Constitutions. Payne 
 drafted the Regulations, Anderson " digested " the general 
 subject matter, and Desaguliers wrote the Preface or 
 Dedication. The work contains : — 
 
 III. — "The Constitution, History. . . of the Accepted 
 Free Masons, collected from their general Records and 
 faithful traditions." In this portion of the book, the 
 highest Masonic degree that could have been present to the 
 author's mind in 1723, is very plainly revealed in a pas- 
 sage relating to the secrets of the Ancient Lodges — " But 
 neither what was conveyed, nor the Manner how, can be 
 communicated by writing; as no Man indeed can under- 
 stand it without the Kej' of a FelIvOW Craft. " 
 
 IV. — "The Charges of a Free-Mason." 
 
 First Article. — " But though in ancient Times Masons 
 were charg'd in every Country to be of the Religion of that 
 Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought 
 more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 373 
 
 which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to 
 themselves." 
 
 V. — "The General Regulations, compiled first by Mr. 
 George Payne, Anno, 1720." 
 
 Article 13 (called in the Constitutions of 1738, Old 
 Regulation XIII.) — "Apprentices must be admitted 
 Masters and Fellow-Craft only here [i.e., in the Grand 
 Lodge], unless by a dispensation." 
 
 VI. — "The manner of constituting a New Lodge." 
 
 "The Candidates, or the New Master and Wardens," 
 are described as "being yet among the Fellow-Craft." 
 
 The degrees of Speculative Masonry recognized by the 
 Grand Lodge of England in 1723 were two in number, 
 Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft or Master; the 
 former combining the degrees of E. A. and F. C, and the 
 latter being that of M. M., as we now have them. The 
 first step in those days was called the "Apprentice Part," 
 and the second, or final step, the "Master's Part." By 
 keeping this in mind, the wording of the Article I have 
 extracted from the "General Regulations" of 1720, and 
 which will be again referred to under the title of "O.R. 
 XIII.," is at once explained and reconciled with the 
 context. 
 
 That only two degrees were recognized by the Grand 
 Lodge in 1723, may, indeed, be considered to be placed 
 beyond doubt by the subsequent legislation of 1725, to be 
 cited under that year, and afterwards compared with the 
 garbled and falsified version of the same which appears in 
 the Constitutions of 1738. 
 
 The first Book of Constitutions, "for the use of the 
 Lodges in London," and the "Brethren and Fellows in 
 and about the cities of London and Westminster," was 
 approved by the Grand Officers, after whose names follow 
 those of the Masters and Wardens of twenty Lodges — i.e., 
 the Four old (or original) Lodges, together with sixteen 
 
374 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 new Lodges, constituted between 171 7 and 1723 — all of 
 which assembled in the metropolis. In 1 724, however, the 
 very next year, there were already nine Lodges in the pro- 
 vinces, the earliest of which on the roll, if we may form an 
 opinion from its position on the Engraved List, was the 
 Lodge at the Queen's Head in the City of Bath. 
 
 The Four Lodges — founders of the Grand Lodge — met 
 in 1724: 
 
 1. At the Goose and Gridiron, in St. Paul's Church- 
 yard. 
 
 2. At the Queen's Head, Turnstile, formerly the 
 Crown, in Parker's Lane. 
 
 3. At the Queen's Head, in Knave's Acre, formerly the 
 Apple Tree, in Covent Garden. 
 
 4. At the Horne, in Westminster, formerly the Rum- 
 mer and Grapes, in Channel Row. 
 
 With the exception of Anthony Sayer, the Premier 
 Grand Master, who is cited on the roll of No. 3, all the 
 eminent persons who took any leading part in the early 
 history of Freemasonry, immediately after the formation 
 of a Grand Lodge, were members of No. 4. In 1 724, No. i 
 had twenty-two members; No. 2 twenty-one; No. 3 four- 
 teen; and No. 4 seventy-one. The three senior Lodges 
 possessed among them no member of sufficient rank to 
 be described as " Esquire"; while in No. 4 there were ten 
 noblemen, three honorables, four baronets or knights, 
 two general officers, ten colonels, four officers below field 
 rank, and twenty-four esquires. Payne and Desaguliers, 
 together with the Rev. James Anderson, were members of 
 this Lodge. 
 
 Returning to the Constitutions of 1723, the book 
 introduces three striking Innovations. It discards Christ- 
 ianity as the {only) religion of Masonry, forbids the 
 working of the "Master's Part" in private Lodges, and 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 375 
 
 arbitrarily imposes on the English Craft the use of two 
 compound words — Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft 
 — which had no previous existence in its terminology 
 Against these deviations from established usage the 
 brethren rebelled, and the more earnestly, because it 
 gradually became apparent that the Grand Lodge, de- 
 signed at first as a governing body for London and West- 
 minster, was slowly but surely extending its authority 
 over the whole country. 
 
 The first of these innovations, the drawing a sponge 
 over the ancient "Charge" "to be true to God and the 
 Holy Church," was doubtless looked upon by many 
 Masons of those days, in very much the same manner as 
 we now regard the absence of any religious formulary 
 whatever in the so-called Masonry of the Grand Orient oi 
 France. 
 
 The second, as we shall presently see, was triumph- 
 antly swept away on November 27th, 1725; and the eff'ect 
 of the third will be perceptible in the course of events, 
 which it becomes my next duty to relate. 
 
 In 1724, the political state of Persia was one of great 
 confusion. The "Sophy," or head of the "Sufawi" 
 dynasty, had been deposed by an Afghan chief, son of 
 Meer Vais, who, inheriting his father's power, seems also 
 to have been called by his name in the English newspapers. 
 Prince Tahmasp (or Thaumas), the rightful heir, or 3'oung 
 "Sophy," exercised a precarious sovereignty over a small 
 number only, of the aggregate of provinces which, down to 
 1722, had constituted the Kingdom of the captive Shah, 
 his father. The situation, therefore, of the Persian Crown 
 Prince, with a usurper in possession of his capital (Is- 
 pahan), seems to have afforded the Jacobite faction in 
 England, or at all events certain of their number, who, for 
 one reason or another, were desirous of turning into 
 ridicule the proceedings of the Freemasons, with some 
 
376 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of the texture for an allegory, of which the earliest notice 
 occurs in the Daily Post. 
 
 September 3, 1724. — "Whereas the truly AntienT 
 Noble Order of the Gormogons, instituted by the . . . 
 First Emperor of China, many thousand years before 
 Adam . . . and of which . . . Confucius was QEcumenical 
 Volgee, has lately been brought into England by a Man- 
 darin, and having admitted several gentlemen into the 
 Mystery . . . they have determined to hold a Chapter at 
 the Castle Tavern in Fleet Street . . . There will be no 
 drawn Sword at the Door, nor Ladder in a dark Room, nor 
 will any Mason be receiv'd as a Member till he has re- 
 nounced his Novel Order and been properly degraded. 
 N.B. — The Grand Mogul, the Czar of Muscovy, and Prince 
 Tochmas are entere'd with this Hon. Society; but it has 
 been refused to the Rebel Merriweys, to his great Mortifi- 
 cation. The Mandarin will shortly set out for Rome." 
 The story was next taken up in the Plain Dealer: — 
 September 14, 1724 — "I will not be so partial to our 
 Worshipful Society of Free and Accepted Masons to 
 forbear reproving them . . . 'Tis my opinion that the 
 late Prostitution of our Order is in some Measure, the 
 betraying it. The weak heads of Vintners, Drawers, Wig- 
 makers, Weavers, etc., admitted into our Fraternity, have 
 not only brought contempt upon the Institution, but do 
 very mi:ch endanger it." 
 
 The editor of the Plain Dealer concludes by presenting 
 his readers with two letters, the first addressed by Hang 
 Chi (the "Mandarin") to himself, and the last written 
 from Rome, by Shin Shaw, "to the Author of the first." 
 
 But the fullest account of the Order is given in the 
 second edition of the Grand Mystery of the Freemasons 
 Discovered, published October 28th, in the same year. 
 This contains "Two Letters to a Friend — the first, con- 
 cerning the Society of Free Masons; the second, giving 
 an Account of the most Ancient Order of Gormogons." 
 
PHILIP, DUKE OF WHARTON, 
 Grand Master, 1723. 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 377 
 
 In the latter, Verus Commodus — whose signature is 
 attached to both — observes, "I cannot guess why so ex- 
 cellent and laudable a Society as this of the GORMO- 
 GONS, should think it worth their while to make it an 
 Article to exclude the Free-Masons . . . Except there 
 be any Truth in what I have heard reported . . . The 
 Report is this. That the Mandarin [Hang Chi] has de- 
 clared, that many years since, Two unhappy busy per- 
 sons who were Masons [Anderson and Desaguliers], 
 having obtruded their idle Notions [Book of Constitutions] 
 among the Vulgar Chineze, of Adam, and Solomon, and 
 Hiram . . . being Crafts-men of their Order ; and having 
 besides, deflower'd a venerable OLD Gentlewoman 
 [taken unwarrantable liberties with the Operative Charges 
 and Regulations], under the Notion of making her an 
 Ettro/jgan HIRAMITE (as they call 'd it) . . . they were 
 hang'd Back to Back, on a gibbet . . . And ever since, 
 it has been an Article among the Gormogons, to exclude 
 the Members of that Society, without they first undergo a 
 solemn Degradation .... If ever you hear from me 
 again on this subject, it will be in a few REMARKS on 
 that empty Book called The Constitutions, etc., of the 
 Free-Masons, written, as I am told, by a Presbyterian 
 Teacher, and pompously recommended by a certain 
 Orthodox, The' Mathematical Divine." 
 
 The British Journal of December 12, 1724, has the 
 following: — "We hear that a Peer of the first Rank, a 
 noted Member of the Society of Free-Masons, hath 
 suffered himself to be degraded as a member of that 
 Society, and his Leather Apron and Gloves to be burn't, 
 and thereupon enter 'd himself as a Member of the Society 
 of Gormogons." 
 
 The founders of the Gormogon Order — if there was 
 more than one — may have been, and I think were, mal- 
 content Freemasons. That there were dissensions in the 
 Craft during 1723, 1724, and later, admits of no doubt^ 
 
378 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 and I apprehend that both in religion and poHtics, the 
 brethren were arrayed in opposing camps. Of tlie Whigs 
 and Tories, or supporters respectively of the King and the 
 Pretender, very little need be said; but the religious 
 differences, we may confidently assume, were such as 
 could not fail to arise when the old creed of the Free- 
 masons, a profession of the Christian faith was blotted 
 out, and a new one, "leaving their particular opinions to 
 themselves," was substituted in its place. Other In- 
 novations (to which I have previously referred) were in- 
 troduced into English Masonry in 1723, and to all com- 
 bined, but perhaps chiefly and especially to the New 
 Charge, "Concerning God and Religion," which em- 
 bodied a latitudinarian doctrine equally obnoxious to the 
 Church of Rome and the Catholic adherents of the Pre- 
 tender, we must look, I think, for the real origin of the 
 delusive Club, or Fraternity, commonly (though er- 
 roneously) supposed to have been the only serious rivals 
 of the Freemasons. 
 
 It was in thorough harmony with the character of 
 Philip, Duke of Wharton, to have first of all cast in his 
 lot with the Masons, and afterwards — if he did not 
 directly originate — to have become an active supporter of 
 the Gormogons. That he was a prominent member of 
 the so-called "Order" there can be no doubt whatever, 
 and it is quite within the limits of possibility that it sprang 
 into existence as the creation of his lively fancy. But 
 without crossing the boundary of reasonable presumption, 
 we may fairly conclude that he became the ruling spirit of 
 the mysterious association, whose periods of activity, 
 from 1724, when Hang Chi, the Mandarin {i.e., Duke of 
 Wharton) first appears on the scene, corresponded so 
 closely with his own. 
 
 I shall next refer to Hogarth's well-kno-\\n plate, The 
 Mystery of Masonry, brought to Light by the Gormogons, 
 which it may be supposed made its original appearance 
 shortly after the publication of Shelton's English edition 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 379 
 
 of the History of Don Quixote, reproducing the "cuts" or 
 illustrations of Charles Antoine Coypel (from which 
 Hogarth borrowed freely), in 1725. The plate is a coarse 
 and very indecent attack upon the Freemasons, the 
 "Ladders, Halters, Drawn Swords and Dark Rooms," 
 mentioned in the Plain Dealer, and again in the Grand 
 Mystery of the Freemasons Discover' d, at once suggest both 
 the title of the plate, and at whose instigation it was under- 
 taken by Hogarth. 
 
 A book held out by a figure at the entrance to a tavern 
 almost certainly refers to the pamphlet last cited {Grand 
 Mystery). Closed casements and a lighted candle, are 
 meant, of course, to indicate the "Dark Rooms" within. 
 A man in the garb of an apprentice, with his head between 
 the spokes of a ladder, is evidently intended to represent 
 the Rev. James Anderson, whose position there is doubt- 
 less emblematic of a custom imputed to the Masons in a 
 scurrilous pamphlet published in 1723. "The Venerable 
 Old Gentlewoman' ' described by Verus Commodus in his 
 fable, is represented by a woman on an ass, and this 
 feature of the engraving, therefore, can have had no other 
 object than a desire to make the author of the Book of 
 Constitutions figure in as ridiculous and contemptible a 
 light as possible. 
 
 Lastly, under the disguise of the "Crazy KJnight of La 
 Mancha," it seems possible that we may identify Philip, 
 the first and last Duke of Wharton? If not, indeed, our 
 search will be vain among the other notabilities of that 
 day, for any one man whose exploits as a Freemason, Gor- 
 mogon and modern Knight Errant, could have been suffi- 
 ciently notorious to win for him the distinction of being 
 made to combine all three of these roles, by Hogarth in 
 his travesty of Coypel. 
 
 The allegory begun in the Daily Post, Plain Dealer, and 
 other publications of 1724, was continued by the Duke of 
 Wharton, through the medium of Mist's Journal, August 
 24th, 1728. In a curious apologue, the noble writer has 
 
380 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 encased his satirical remarks in the same historical frame- 
 work with which we have already become familiar from 
 the Gormogon literature of 1724. George I. and the 
 Pretender are again referred to as Meryweis and the 
 Young Sophi respectively, as in the Daily Post and Plain 
 Dealer of that year, and while the Hanoverian dynasty is 
 grossly lampooned, the head of the Stuart (royal) family 
 is described as the "greatest Character" of the age. 
 
 There are faint traces of the Gormogons down to the 
 year 1730, but the Order is no longer heard of as an 
 existing society after the death of the Duke of Wharton in 
 
 1731- 
 
 In addition, however, to the fulminations of the Gor- 
 mogons, many publications appeared after 1723, in which 
 the Book of Constitutions and its author were openly 
 derided. As a consequence, though it is possible that by 
 some persons it may be merely deemed a coincidence, we 
 find that Dr. Anderson was not present at any meeting of 
 the Grand Lodge between St. John's Day (in Summer), 
 1724, and the recurrence of that Festival in 1731. 
 
 From the numerous attacks upon him during this 
 interval, I extract the following, which appeared in An 
 Ode to the Grand Kliaibar, a publication of 1726: — 
 
 " So pleased with Dreams the /IBaSOttS seem, 
 
 To tell their Tales once more they venture; 
 And find an Author worthy them ; 
 
 From Sense and Genius a ®(S0Cnter; 
 In doggerel Lyrics worse than Prose, 
 
 Their Story he again rehearses; 
 But nothing of a Poet shows, 
 
 Excepting Fiction in his Verses, 
 
 In 1724 — November 21 — the Duke of Richmond, being 
 Grand Master, the Earl of Dalkeith proposed a scheme 
 for raising a fund of General Charity for distressed Ma- 
 sons, which was adopted. A committee, called the 
 "Committee of Charity," was appointed to manage the 
 Fund and distribute relief; it is now the "Board of Be- 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 381 
 
 nevolence. ' ' The powers of the committee were greatly 
 extended in 1730, and still more so in 1733, when it was 
 determined: — "That all such business which cannot be 
 conveniently despatched by the Quarterly Communi- 
 cation, shall be referred to the Committee of Charity;" 
 and "that all Masters of Regular Lodges, together with 
 all present, former and future Grand Officers, shall be 
 members of that committee. ' ' This estabUshed what is 
 now known as the Board of Masters — composed of the 
 same members — which still meets four times a year to 
 settle the agenda for Grand Lodge, prior to entering upon 
 its duties as the Board of Benevolence. In 1725^ 
 November 27 — at a Grand Lodge, "with former G. 
 Officers and Those of 49 Lodges' ' : — 
 
 "A Motion being made that such part of the 13th 
 Article of the Gen^ Regulations relating to the making 
 of Ma^ts only at a Quarterly Court may be repealed, and 
 that the Ma^t of Each Lodge, with the consent of his 
 Wardens and the Majority of the Brethren, being Ma^^s 
 may make Ma^*^^ at their discretion. Agreed, Nem.Con." 
 
 The Duke of Richmond was .succeeded as Grand Master 
 by Lord Paisley, after whom came the Earl of Inchiquin. 
 Under this nobleman Provincial Grand Masters were 
 appointed to office, and the Square, Level and Plumb 
 Rule, ordered to be worn by the Master, Senior and 
 Junior Wardens respectively, of every private Lodge. 
 
 The next event of importance was the regulation of the 
 precedency of the Lodges, a task which was confided to 
 the Grand Officers, namely. Lord Colerane, Grand 
 Master; Alexander Choke, the Deputy; and Nathaniel 
 Blackerly and Joseph Highmore, the Senior and Junior 
 Grand Wardens respectively. 
 
 Thev performed their task in 1728, at the close of which 
 year, James, Lord Kingston, whose name is resplendent 
 in the annals of Irish Freemasonry, was proclaimed as 
 Grand Master. 
 
382 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Engraved List of 1729 enumerates 54 Lodges, 42 
 of which are in London, 1 1 in the country, and i (founded 
 by the Duke of Wharton) at Madrid. It is described 
 as " A List of Regular Lodges according to their Seniority 
 and Constitution" — words which are here met with for 
 the first time. 
 
 It is both curious and noteworthy that the number of 
 Lodges shown in the Engraved List of 1725, namely, 
 sixty-four, should have fallen to fifty-four in 1729, and, 
 without doubt, reflects the general feeling of discontent 
 which must have pervaded the Masonic body, or, at least, 
 that section of it most closely affected by the growing 
 despotism of the newly-established Grand Lodge. An 
 incident arising out of the arrangement of ' ' the Regular 
 Lodges according to their Seniority and Constitution" is 
 worth recording: — 
 
 July II, 1729. — "The officers of the Lodge at the 
 Queen's Head in Knave's Acre, represented that their 
 Lodge was misplaced in the printed Book, whereby they 
 lost their Rank, and humbly prayed that the said mis- 
 take might be regulated. Bro. Choke, late D. G. M., 
 acquainted the Grand Lodge that the several Lodges 
 stood in the List according to the date of their Constitu- 
 tions . . . The said complaint was dismissed." {G. L. 
 Minutes). 
 
 The Lodge in question — the one from which the first 
 Grand Master, Anthony Sayer, was selected — met in 17 16 
 at the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent 
 Garden, and still survives, as the Lodge of Fortitude and 
 Old Cumberland, No 12. The three senior Lodges of 
 the original four were not represented on the Committee 
 of Precedence, otherwise the unmerited supersession of 
 original No. 3 (which will again claim our attention) 
 could not possibly have occurred. 
 
 On December 29th, 1729, it was enacted by the Grand 
 Lodge that "Every New Lodge, for the Future, shall pay 
 two guineas for their Constitution to the General Charity." 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 
 
 383 
 
 .This has reference to the Act of Constituting the Lodge, 
 and must not be confused with a Lodge Warrant, which 
 was an instrument unknown at the time. The Ceremony 
 of Constituting the Lodge was to be the personal Act of 
 the Grand Master, or his representative. When the Act 
 
 a^^^^z^2^^^iw7 
 
 was performed by the Grand Master, or his Grand Officers, 
 a certificate was given of the due Constitution of the 
 Lodge, which served the purpose of the later Warrant. 
 The other early Documents, also erroneously termed 
 Warrants, were simple Deputations, authorizing some 
 competent Brother, named therein, to constitute a regu- 
 
384 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 lar Lodge in due form. The Deputations, like the Cer- 
 tificates, fulfilled the same duty as the present Charters 
 or Warrants of the Grand Lodge. 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk was proclaimed and installed on 
 January 29th, 1730. All the former Grand Masters (with 
 the exception of the Duke of Wharton) were present, and 
 "walk'd one by one according to Juniority, viz.: Lord 
 Colerane, Earl of Inchiquin, Lord Paisley, Duke of Rich- 
 mond, Earl of Dalkeith, Duke of Montagu, Dr. Desa- 
 guliers, George Payne, Esq., and Mr. Anthony Sayer.' 
 
 In the course of the same year, however, as we learn 
 from the minutes of Grand Lodge, the first Grand Master 
 of Masons had not only fallen into poverty and decay, 
 but he had also seriously trangressed the Regulations of 
 the Society. 
 
 April 21, 1730. — "Then the Petition of Brother An- 
 thony Sayer, formerly Grand Master, was read, setting 
 forth his misfortunes and great poverty, and praying 
 Relief. The Grand Lodge took the same into their con- 
 sideration, and it was proposed that he should have £20 
 out of the money received on acc^ of the General Charity; 
 others proposed i^io, and others £15. The Question 
 being put, it was agreed that he should have £15, on 
 ace* of his having been Grand Master.' ' 
 
 August 28th, 1730. — "A paper signed by the Master 
 and Wardens of the Lodge of the Queen's Head in 
 Knave's Acre, was presented and read, complaining of 
 grea'L Irregularities having been committed by B^o- An- 
 thony Saye^, notwithstanding the great flavours he hath 
 lately received by order of the Grand Lodge." 
 
 December 15, 1730.^" B^ Sayer attended to answer 
 the complaint made against him, and after hearing both 
 parties, and some of the Brethren being of Opinion that 
 what he had done was clandestine, others that it was 
 irregular, the Question was put whether what was done 
 was clandestine, or irregular only, and the Lodge was of 
 opinion that it was irregular only — Whereupon the 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 385 
 
 Deputy Grand Master told B'"o Sayer that he was ac- 
 quitted of the charge against him, and recommended it 
 to him to do nothing so irregular for the future. ' ' 
 
 The precise offence committed by the earliest of " Grand 
 Masters" cannot, indeed, be determined with exactitude, 
 but the evidence clearly points to his having been among 
 the conspirators who sought to undermine the authority 
 of the Grand Lodge. 
 
 In the same year two spurious rituals, or catechisms, 
 made their appearance, one of which. The Mystery of 
 Free-Masonry, an anonymous publication, was printed in 
 the Daily Journal, of August 15th; and the other, "Ma- 
 sonry Dissected, by Samuel Prichard, late Member of 
 a Constituted Lodge,' ' was announced as being on sale, in 
 the issue of that paper for October 20th, 1730. 
 
 The two catechisms invite a comparison. In the older 
 one, two degrees are referred to, and in the later form, 
 three. Both texts were frequently reprinted. Masonry 
 Dissected run into four editions in less than as many weeks, 
 while the Mystery of Free-Masonry was reprinted from 
 the Daily Journal by a host of newspapers, both at home 
 and abroad. It was also published by Benjamin Frank- 
 lin in the Pennsylvania Gazette, of December 8th, 1730, 
 and we again meet with it as late as 1742, in the West- 
 minster Journal, of May 8th, in that year. 
 
 The Mystery of Free-Masonry and Masonry Dissected, 
 it will be seen, appeared within a few months of each 
 other, and I have already called attention to the fact, that 
 while the catechism of slightly later date speaks of three 
 degrees, in the earlier one only two are referred to. Other 
 discrepancies occur, as invariably happens with this class 
 of publications, but, leaving these spurious rituals for 
 what they are really worth — and it may be remarked that 
 the value set upon them has never been a high one — we 
 may occasionally, from amid a mass of otherwise unin- 
 telligible matter, pick out an item or suggestion, calcu- 
 lated to throw light on the past of Freemasonry. Of this, 
 
 25 
 
386 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the limitation of the number of degrees to two, by all the 
 catechisms which preceded Masonry Dissected, affords 
 an illustration. Many persons outside the actual pale of 
 Freemasonry would know the precise number of degrees 
 worked in the I,odges, though their knowledge of what 
 transpired when the said degrees were conferred on 
 candidates, would be, at best, pure conjecture. Hence, 
 while brushing aside as worthless all pretended reve- 
 lations of Masonic secrets, we may nevertheless accept 
 statements — to be found in these catechisms — relating 
 to matters which were not secrets at all, but were known 
 facts, at the time they were published to the world. 
 
 Masonry Dissected, as already observed, made its first 
 appearance in October, 1730, and, being in pamphlet 
 form, was so cordially welcomed by the enemies and riA-als 
 of Freemasonry, that a fourth edition was published dur- 
 ing the second week of the ensuing November. On the 
 15th of December in the same year (1730), in the Daily 
 Post, and on the i6th of December, in the Daily Journal, 
 there was the following advertisement: — 
 
 " This Day is Published, 
 
 A DEFENCE OF MASONRY, occasioned 
 
 by a Pamphlet, call'd Masonry Dissected. 
 f Ranis Scrmo illis, & 7nagna Libido Taccndi. 
 
 Juv. Sat. II. 
 Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick 
 Lane. Price is." 
 
 Of the treatise thus announced no known copy is in 
 existence, but it was reproduced in the Free Masons' 
 Pocket Companion for 1738, and the New Book of Consti- 
 tutions, published in the same year. That the writer was 
 a man of learning, a master of style, and an able polemic, 
 there was ample proof on every page of the publication. 
 But the authorship of the piece was for a long time en- 
 veloped in mystery, and all the guesses hazarded with 
 regard to it down to a comparatively recent date (1891), 
 my own not excepted, fell very wide of the mark. The 
 
'I'lic Epoch of Transition. 387 
 
 writer, however, is now known to have been "Martin 
 Clare, A.M. and F.R.S." The motive for secrecy seems 
 to have been, that the real aim of Clare, or those by whom 
 his pen was set in motion, was to convey to the world that 
 the reply to Masonry Dissected was the production of 
 some impartial critic, and in no wise merely a pamphlet 
 written to order for the Freemasons. This view is sus- 
 tained by the letter from "Euclid" (almost certainly 
 Dr. Anderson himself), which is given in the Constitutions 
 of 1738, immediately after the Defence of Masonry. In 
 this the writer observes: — "The Free Masons are much 
 obliged to the generous Intention of the unbiass'd Author 
 of the above Defence : Tho' had he been a Free Mason, he 
 had in Time perceived many valuable Things suitable to 
 his extended Views of Antiquity, which could not come to 
 the Dissectors' Knowledge; for they were not intrusted 
 with any Brothers till after due Probation." 
 
 From a variety of evidence, however, which will be 
 found collected in my Memoir of Martin Clare (A.Q.C. iv., 
 3341), we may clearly infer that the name of the real 
 author was a very open secret, at least among the class 
 of persons who may be de'^cribed as the "Masonic Author- 
 ities," both at the time of publication and for a good many 
 years afterwards. 
 
 The tract is in all respects a most remarkable produc- 
 tion, and as it has been twice re printed in the publica- 
 tions of the Ouatuor Coronaii Lodge (0. C. A., i. and vii.), 
 it will be unnecessary to do more than refer the reader to 
 the first chapter for the ostensible grounds on which it 
 was published to the world, and to the later ones for a 
 very successful attempt on the part of the writer to 
 resist the attack made on Freemasonry, by boldly and 
 resolutely carrying the war — to use a familiar figure of 
 speech — into the enemies' country. 
 
 There is only one passage in the Defence to which I 
 shall particularly allude: — "There appears to be some- 
 thing like Masonry (as the Dissector describes it) in all 
 
388 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 regular societies of whatever denomination : They are 
 All held together by a sort of Cement, by Bonds and Laws 
 that are peculiar to each of them, from the Highest to the 
 little Clubs and Nightly Meetings of a private Neighbour- 
 hood . . . There is the Degree of Entered Prentice, 
 Master of his Trade, or Fellow Craft, and Master, or the 
 Master of the Company." (chap, ii). 
 
 In the last sentence of the preceding extract, the Fellow 
 Craft is described as "Master of his Trade" — meaning 
 the highest grade, rank, title or degree (existing separate- 
 ly from the offices of the Society), as then known to, or at 
 least recognized as such by the writer of the essay. 
 
 Francis, Duke of Lorraine, the first Royal Freemason, 
 was admitted into the Craft, by virtue of a Deputation 
 from Lord Lovell, Grand Master, at the Hague, in 1731. 
 
 Other Deputations, we are told by Dr. Anderson, were 
 granted by the two next rulers of English Craft, namely, 
 by Viscount Montague, for constituting Lodges at 
 Valenciennes and Paris, in 1732; and by the Earl of 
 Strathmore, "to eleven German gentlemen, good Brothers, 
 for constituting a Lodge at Hamburg," in 1733. 
 
 In the last named year (1733), there occurs the first 
 reference to "a Master's," or " a Master Masons' Lodge," 
 a subject to which I shall again refer, in connection with 
 the Degrees of Pure and Ancient Masonry, but mention 
 in this place, as the institution of distinct Lodges for the 
 working of the "Master's Part," like the earlier evidence 
 adduced under the year 1 730, is of particular value in our 
 researches, as pointing to a date from which we may 
 infer a gradual progression in what, shortly afterwards, 
 became an accepted system of three degrees. 
 
 The Free Mason's Pocket Companion was brought out 
 by William Smith, in London and Dublin, in 1734-5. 
 Full particulars of both editions are given by Dr. Crawley 
 in his Ccementaria Hibernica {ii. ) , where also will be found 
 a reproduction of the Dublin issue. In the present 
 connection, the manuals are chiefly of mtp^^.^^ as ex- 
 
The Epoch of Transition. 389 
 
 plaining the action taken by Dr. Anderson — February 
 24th, 1735 — in requesting permission from the Grand 
 Lodge of England, to publish a second edition of "the 
 General Constitutions of Masonry, compiled by himself. ' ' 
 "He further represented that one Wilham Smith, said to 
 be a Mason, had, without his privity or consent, pyrated 
 a considerable part of the Constitutions of Masonry afore- 
 said to the prejudice of the said Br. Anderson, it being 
 his sole property. ' ' 
 
 The Minutes of Grand Lodge next inform us, under 
 March 31st, 1735,— "Then a Motion was made that Dr. 
 James Anderson should be desired to print the Names 
 (in his New Book of Constitutions) of all the Grand 
 Masters that could be collected from the beginning of 
 time, "also of the other Grand Officers, and of the Grand 
 Stewards, " Because it is Resolved, that for the future, all 
 Grand Officers (except the Grand Master) shall be selected 
 out of that Body." 
 
 Viscount Weymouth was proclaimed Grand Master in 
 April, 1735, (in succession to the Earl of Crawford) and 
 appointed "Martin Clare, A.M. and F.R.S." as his 
 Junior Grand Warden. 
 
 In the following December, at a meeting of the Grand 
 Lodge "George Payne, Esq., formerly Grand Master 
 in the Chair; Martin Clare, the G.w., acted as Dep. Or. 
 Master, and James Anderson, D.D., and Jacob Lamball 
 [the first Senior Grand Warden of Masons], Grand War- 
 dens, pro Tempore. ' ' 
 
 The Master of the recently constituted Stewards' Lodge 
 reported that the Junior Grand Warden, Martin Clare, had 
 entertained it with an excellent Discourse, which it had 
 seemed to the members and visitors was "Worthy of being 
 read before the Grand Lodge itself — which was ac- 
 cordingly done, it being received with great attention 
 and applause. ' ' 
 
 The Oration or "Discourse" of Martin Clare — Deputy 
 Grand Master in 1741 — was translated into several foreign 
 
390 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 languages, and reprints of it will be found in the Pocket 
 Covipatiion for 1754, the Masonic Institutes oi Dr. Oliver, 
 and other publications. 
 
 The sequence of "Noble Grand Master" was duly 
 preserved in 1 736 and 1 737, beyond which there is nothing 
 to record, except that in the latter year — November 5, 
 1737, at an "Occasional Lodge," held in Kew Palace, 
 under the Mastership of Dr. Desaguliers (who had simi- 
 larly presided at the Initiation of the Duke of Lorraine) 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales, was admitted a member of the 
 Society. 
 
 On the 25th of January, 1738, George Payne, and Dr. 
 Desaguliers, former Grand Masters, together with many 
 actual and other former Grand Officers, and the Officers 
 of the Stewards' and vSixty-six other Lodges, being 
 present, "the Grand Lodge approved of the New Book of 
 Constitutions, and order'd the Author, Brother Anderson, 
 to print the same." 
 
 A DIGRESSION ON DEGREES. 
 
 Scholars and antiquarians take but a languid interest — 
 there is no use in disguising it — in the History of Modern 
 Masonry. They do not believe that the system of 
 Masonry, as understood by the founders of the first Grand 
 Lodge, is capable of indefinite expansion Degrees in 
 their judgment, cannot be multiplied ad infinitum. But 
 the history and origin of Ancient Masonry are regarded 
 by them in quite a different manner. These, they are 
 not only willing, but eager, to study and investigate, yet 
 an unv/elcome doubt obtrudes itself which checks, if it 
 does not wholly dissipate, the ardor of their research. 
 
 Conjointly with the old MS. Constitutions (or written 
 traditions of the Society), which are of undoubted an- 
 tiquity, the symbolical teaching in our Lodges — though 
 possessing a remoteness of origin less assured — has a 
 peculiar fascination for all genuine votaries of archaeology. 
 
A Digression on Degrees. 391 
 
 Here, however, the doubt referred to, creeps in, and the 
 scholar or antiquary, who has a longing to trace the 
 antiquity of our symboHsm, is checked by similar reflec- 
 tions to those which occurred to Gibbon, who kept back 
 an hypothesis he had framed with regard to the real secret 
 of the Ancient Mysteries, "from an apprehension of 
 discovering what never existed ;" and to the elder Disraeli, 
 who, much in the same way, excused his imperfect specu- 
 lations with respect to the shadowy and half-mj^hical 
 Rosicrucians. But if the Symbolism of Masonry, or a 
 material part of it, can be proved with reasonable certainty 
 to ante-date the year 171 7, the doubt upon which I have 
 enlarged will disappear, and with it we may venture to 
 hope, the present disinclination on the part of really com- 
 petent investigators, to extend their researches into the 
 only field of inquiry — the domain of Ancient Masonry — 
 which offers any prospect whatever of rewarding the 
 patient student of our antiquities, by a partial revelation of 
 the origin, and by the recovery of some portion, at least, of 
 the lost learning of the fraternity. 
 
 Under the Grand Lodge of England, within the first 
 decade of its existence, there was a ceremonial, or, to vary 
 the expression, certain ritual and emblematical observ- 
 ances were wrought in the Lodges, and, whether these 
 were then new or old is, shortly stated, the main issue for 
 our determination. If the Symbolism of Masonry was in 
 existence before the era of Grand Lodges, there is practi- 
 cally no limit whatever of age that can be assigned to it 
 (ante, 91, 127) ; or, to put it in another way, if we once get 
 beyond or behind the year 171 7, i.e., into the domain of 
 Ancient Masonry, and again look back, the vista is 
 perfectly illimitable, without a speck or shadow to break 
 the continuity of view which is presented to us. 
 
 To accept, indeed, for one moment (as it has been finely 
 observed) the suggestion that so complex and curious a 
 system, embracing so many archaic remains, and such 
 skillfully adjusted ceremonies, so much connected matter, 
 
392 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 accompanied by so many striking symbols, could have 
 been the creation of a pious fraud or ingenious conviviality 
 presses heavily on our powers of belief, and oversteps even 
 the normal credulity of our species. 
 
 Dr. Stukeley tells us in his Diary, that on Januray 6th, 
 1 72 1 , he was made a Freemason, and in his Common Place 
 Book: — "I was the first person made a freemason for 
 many years. We had great difficulty to find members 
 enough to perform the ceremony. Immediately after 
 that it took a run, & ran itself out of breath thro' the 
 folly of the members." 
 
 The doctor also records in the Diary that at a meeting 
 of the Grand Lodge, held on June 24th, 1721, — "The G*^ 
 M"^ Mr. Pain . . read over a new sett of articles to 
 be observ'd." These were the famous "General Regula- 
 tions," afterwards printed in the Constitutions of 1723, 
 consequently the admission of Stukeley (in January, 1721) 
 must have taken place before the working of the ' 'Master's 
 Part ' ' was forbidden, except in the Grand Lodge, and 
 therefore while the old and orginal laws (or customs) of 
 the Society remained in foi'ce. 
 
 Of the Masonic Symbolism inherited in 1717, and 
 presumably still existing in 1721, I shall begin with the 
 remark, that the Rev. C. J. Ball (one of the first Oriental 
 scholars of our day), in a lecture delivered before the 
 Quatuor Coronati Lodge, on June 24th, 1892, The Proper 
 Names of Masonic Tradition, a Philological Study, of which 
 some fragments only, and these the least important of the 
 whole, could be printed {A.O.C., v., 136-41), seems to 
 me to settle beyond dispute, not only that what we now 
 call the Third Degree, existed before the era of Grand 
 Lodges, but that, having passed through a long decline, 
 its symbols had become corrupted, and their meaning 
 (to a great extent) forgotten, when the step itself — 
 then known as the "Master's Part," is first heard of {i.e., 
 tmequivocally referred to), in any print or manuscript to 
 which a date can be assigned (1723). 
 

 (\r 
 
 A^o ^)hxm^^h\: 
 
A Digression on Degrees. 393 
 
 To what extent the "Master's Part" was ivorked in 
 Stukeley's time there are no means of determining, 
 though it is worthy of consideration whether the difficulty 
 at his initiation, in finding " members enough to perform 
 the ceremony," may not have consisted in getting to- 
 gether a sufficient number of brethren to work both steps 
 of Masonry? The ist, or "Apprentice Part", was com- 
 municated in a very simple manner in Scotland, and the 
 practice lingered until a comparatively late period. One 
 Mason, imaided, could, and often did, make another. 
 Without, indeed, contending that there was an equal 
 simplicity of ritual in the South, the usage in the North 
 goes a long way towards proving that there could not 
 have been any very elaborate ceremony, in London, at the 
 reception of an Apprentice, in 1721. The difficulty, how- 
 ever in finding a sufficiency of brethren to constitute the 
 dramatis personac in working the Master's Part, may well 
 have been, and probably was a real one. Upon the 
 doctor's avowed reason for becoming a Freemason, I have 
 already enlarged, and to the remark on a previous page 
 that Ashmole may have been "influenced by similar 
 feelings, which he satisfied in the same way" (ante, 90), 
 I shall add, that the statement of the latter in his Diary 
 {ante, 190), that he was the "Senior Fellow" at a Lodge, 
 held in the Masons' Hall, London, in 1682, may, and I 
 think, does, mean, that he had acquired the higher step as 
 well as grade. 
 
 The Freemasons, as we are told by Aubrey, on the 
 authority of Sir William Dugdale, the close and intimate 
 friend of EHas Ashmole, "are known to one another by 
 certayn signes and watch-words. . . The manner of 
 their adoption is very formal!. " That there was a 
 plurality of "signs and words" we also find stated in 
 Harleian MS., 2054, dating from about 1665; while a 
 plurality of the former ("certain secret signe<:") is men- 
 tioned bv Dr. Plot in 1686 (ante, 172, 1S9, 194). 
 
394 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The existence of an Arabic MS. of the fourteenth 
 century, in which "a sign or pass-word known to the 
 Masonic brotherhood" is referred to, has also been af- 
 firmed by a very liigh and very trustworthy authority 
 'ante, 67) 
 
 Still, " all feet tread not in one shoe,' ' and I do not for 
 a moment contend, that what seem to myself to be per- 
 fectly legitimate inferences from the evidence before 
 us, will be regarded in a precisely similar light by other 
 students in the same branch of research. 
 
 My next proceeding will be to consider the question 
 of Masonic degrees, within a smaller compass, and to 
 establish, if I can, according to strictly legal methods, 
 that the Symbolism recognized by the Grand Lodge 
 of England in 1723, differed in no shape or form from 
 that which must have previously been in vogue among 
 the London Lodges, prior to the formation of a governing 
 Masonic body, in 171 7. 
 
 "Antiquity of time fortificth all titles, and supposeth the 
 best beginning the law can give them." 
 
 So, at least, runs an old legal maxim, and from the time 
 of Payne, Anderson and Desaguliers, down to that of 
 W^illiam Preston and Laurence Dermott, and from the 
 time of Preston and Dermott down to the generation of 
 which we ourselves form a part, the belief that a system 
 of degrees existed, and not merely a solitary degree, has 
 not been assailed. It was left for a German writer to do 
 this — J. G. Findel, the author of a History of Free- 
 masonry, the first edition of which appeared in 1862, or, 
 at least, I am so informed, but the point is not material 
 and it will answer all purposes if I say, that I am ac- 
 quainted with no earlier enunciation of the theory that, 
 to use the somewhat cumbrous phraseology of the trans- 
 lated work — "There was but one degree of Initiation in 
 the year 171 7." 
 
 Truly, no sandier foundation was ever discovered for 
 a fallacy more futile than this! The Grand Lodge of 
 
A Digression on Degrees. 395 
 
 England was established on St. John's Day (in Summer) 
 1717, Anthony Sayer being the first Grand Master. The 
 second meeting of the Grand Lodge took place on the 
 recurrence of the same Festival in 1718, and George 
 Payne was elected Grand Master. There was a third 
 meeting in June, 17 19, when Dr. Desaguliers succeeded 
 Payne; and a fourth on St. John's Day, 1720, when the 
 latter was elected Grand Master for a second time. Dur- 
 ing the year thus begun, the General Regulations of 
 the vSociety were compiled by George Payne, the Grand 
 Master, who, as we learn from Dr. Stukeley, "read over 
 a new sett of articles to be observ'd," and these were 
 afterwards printed in the first Book of Constitutions, which 
 appeared in 1723. 
 
 In the 13th "Article" of these "General Regulations" 
 there is the well-known proviso that Apprentices w^ere 
 only to be admitted Masters and Fellow Craft in the 
 Grand Lodge, unless by a dispensation. 
 
 Until a few years ago this clause was very erroneously 
 interpreted, and the fundamental principle of literary 
 criticism — the principle that an author's meaning is to be 
 read out of his words, and not into them — was totally 
 disregarded. All commentators seem to have deter- 
 mined what the author of the Book of Constitutions 
 (transcribing the "General Regulations" of George 
 Payne) ought to have said, and then they set themselves 
 to prove that he practically said it. 
 
 "Commentators doubtless have their use, but they are 
 liable to err in a sense in which documents are not. If 
 the commentators contradict the documents, there is an 
 end of them, and we may pass on" (E. A. Freeman, 
 Histor. Essays, 342). 
 
 I leave, therefore, the "General Regulations" of 1721 
 and 1723, that is to say, so far as they point (as they do 
 with the utmost clearness) to a system of two, and not of 
 three degrees, the latter being the num.ber which Dr. 
 Anderson was supposed to have had in his mind when 
 
396 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 publishing his work of 1723. The simple fact being, that 
 the titles of Fellow Craft and Master Mason, which really- 
 meant the same thing in the phraseology of Scottish 
 Operative Masons, were also used as words of indifferent 
 application by the doctor in his Book of Constitutions. 
 I/Ct us next consider the weighty authority which the 
 " General Regulations" possess. We have seen that they 
 were first compiled by George Payne, as Grand Master, in 
 1 72 1, and that Payne had previously been elected Grand 
 Master in 17 18, exactly one year after the original forma- 
 tion of the Grand Lodge. To that early date, therefore, 
 his knowledge of the existing secrets of the Society must 
 certainly be carried back, and for how much longer his 
 acquaintance with them may fall within the limits of 
 reasonable inference or conjecture, I shall ask my readers 
 to estimate for themselves. In my own judgment, how- 
 ever, it is not credible for an instant that the Symbolism 
 of Masonry was tampered with, and expanded at the only 
 meeting of the Grand Lodge — June 24th, 1717 — which took 
 place before we find Grand Master Payne in the chair 
 of that august body, precisely a twelvemonth after- 
 wards. 
 
 Unless, therefore, we disbelieve George Payne, also his 
 successor as Grand Master, Dr. Desaguliers, and Dr. 
 James Anderson, and their testimony on the subject is 
 wholly uncontradicted on any point, we are bound to 
 acquiesce in the decision, that a Masonic system of two 
 degrees was certainly inherited by the Grand Lodge of 
 Speculative Masonry at its formation in 171 7. 
 
 The earliest evidence which bears on the subject of the 
 degrees of Masonry having been communicated in three 
 distinct steps, is contained in the Transactions of the 
 Philo-Musicae et Architecturae Societas, London, which 
 begin on the i8th of February, 1725, and end on the 23rd 
 of March, 1727. The records of this Society are included 
 among the Ouatuor Coronati publications (O.C.A. IX.), 
 
I A Digression on Degrees. 397 
 
 and from the Prolegomena of the Founders, I extract the 
 following : — 
 
 "On the Eighteenth Day of February [1725] this 
 Society was Founded and Begun at The Queen's Head 
 near Temple Barr, By us the Eight Underwritten Seven 
 of which did Belong to the Lodge at the Queen's Head 
 in Hollis Street. And were made Masons There. In 
 a Just and Perfect Eodge Vizt W- Will™ Gulston and 
 Mr- Edmund Squire . . were made Masons the 15th of 
 December, 1724 [and others] were made Masons the 22d 
 of December, 1724, By . . The Duke of Richmond, 
 Grand Master, Who then Constituted the Lodge. Im- 
 mediately after which Charles Cotton, Esq'' was made a 
 Mason by the said Grand Master M'' Papillon Ball . . and 
 Seignr Francisco Xaverio Geminiani were made Masons 
 the ist of February [1725]. M'" Thomas Marshall . . . was 
 made a Mason at the George in Long Acre Sometime 
 before the said M'^ William Gulston . . and M'^ Edmund 
 Squire were Regularly Pass'd Masters in the before 
 mentioned Lodge of Hollis Street. And before We 
 Founded this Society A Lodge was held Consisting of 
 Masters Sufficient for that Purpose In Order to Pass 
 Charles Cotton . . . Papillon Ball and . . . Thomas 
 Marshall Fellow Crafts. In the Performance of which 
 M'' William Gulston Acted as Senior Warden." 
 
 The Minutes of the Society inform us : — 
 
 "The 15th Day of April, 1725 . . . M^^ James Murray 
 did attend and was made and admitted according to the 
 Fundamental Constitution and Orders." 
 
 "The 12th day of May, 1725 — 
 
 . .Brother Charles Cotton Esq^ 
 Brothi" Papillon Ball 
 
 Were regularly passed Masters 
 Brother F X" Geminiani 
 
 Was regularly passed fellow Craft & Master 
 Brother James Murray 
 
 Was regularly passed Fellow Craft." 
 
398 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 There are no other entries in the Minutes which relate 
 to a plurality of degrees, or extend beyond the statement 
 that a candidate was " made a Mason in order to qualify 
 him to be admitted a Member of the Society." The pro- 
 ceedings, therefore, as recorded under May 12th, 1725, 
 invite a careful scrutiny. Standing alone, the entries of 
 that date are not inconsistent with the supposition that 
 the ceremony of "passing" in the case of all the four 
 "Brothers" was one and the same. 
 
 Master and Fellow- Craft — at that time — were con- 
 vertible terms, according to the phraseology of the Grand 
 Lodge {ante, 287). Moreover, if a second and third 
 degree are referred to, how can it be explained why both 
 were conferred on F. X. Geminiani, and only one on 
 James Murray? Taken, however, with the allusions of 
 earlier date to Charles Cotton and Papillon Ball, the 
 entries of May 12th, 1725, relating to these "Brothers," 
 are generally held to indicate that after ha^'ing been 
 " made Masons," and before being " passed Masters," they 
 received the intermediate degree of Fellow Craft. This 
 step of Masonry, indeed, which (if the above view is a 
 correct one) we meet with for the first time under the 
 year 1725, is plainh' shown to liave been aii addition to 
 the ceremonies worked by the Lodge in Hollis Street, 
 which were two in number — and the new degree was 
 apparently communicated by members of the Society who 
 formed themselves into a Lodge for that purpose. 
 
 Thomas Marshall, it may be observed, who became a 
 Fellow Craft, together with Cotton and Ball, is not 
 referred to as haiang received any further degree, though 
 also a Founder, and until March, 1726, a Member of the 
 Society. 
 
 It seems to myself, however, not entirely free from 
 doubt, whether the step communicated to Cotton, Ball 
 and Marshall, at the same meeting, was the present second 
 or the present third degree. At that date, there could 
 have been few persons who were capable of rehearsing the 
 
Digression: on Degrees. 399 
 
 "Master's Part," and the step of February, 1725, may 
 have been again communicated — in a more correct man- 
 ner — to Cotton and Ball in the following May. But with- 
 out laboring this point, and even conceding, for the 
 moment, that three degrees are plainly referred to in the 
 "records" under examination — on the other hand, the 
 entire body of evidence from 1723 to 1730, that has come 
 down to us, is conclusive with respect to two degrees, and 
 no more, having been worked in the Regular Lodges. 
 
 The members of the Philo-Musicae Societv, were called 
 "to an account for making Masons irregularly" in 
 December, 1725, by the Duke of Richmond, who was then 
 in the chair of the Grand Lodge. But it was ordered 
 that the letter of the Grand Master "do lye on the Table," 
 and during the remainder of its short span of life, the 
 association of musical Brethren continued to qualify can- 
 didates for membership by initiating them (when re- 
 quisite) into the mysteries of the Craft. 
 
 The new method of communicating the old secrets 
 of Masonry — which originated at bome period after 1723 — 
 crept very slowly into favor, and it was not until the 
 fourth decade of the eighteenth century that the exis- 
 tence of a third degree met with any general recogni- 
 tion. This is worthy of very careful consideration, 
 because the period during which evolutionary changes 
 were in progress, has been somewhat arbitrarily restricted 
 within narrower limits than there is evidence to support. 
 The "Epoch of Transition,'' as I have elsewhere ven- 
 tured to term the space of time that intervened between 
 the formation of the first Grand Lodge and its cumulation 
 of degrees, extended not only down to, but beyonfl, the 
 year 1730, a date connected with certain events of weight 
 and importance to which I have previously referred. 
 
 The two catechisms of 1730 reflect very clearly the 
 absence of uniformity, at that time, in, the manner of 
 conferring the degrees. T//c Grand Mystery alludes to 
 two steps of Masonrv only, and informs us that "Tliere is 
 
400 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 not one Mason in a Hundred that will be at the Expence 
 to pass the Master's Part, except it be for interest." 
 
 In Masonry Dissected, which particularizes three steps, 
 there is also, under a thin veil of affected candor, what is 
 really a violent attack upon, and impeachment of, the 
 Grand Lodge, and for this reason, we may suppose, it was 
 selected l^y Martin Clare (the champion of that body), as 
 affording a very natural pretext for the publication of his 
 learned Defence, in which the denunciations levelled at 
 the Freemasons were triumphantly refuted. From a 
 passage already quoted it is quite clear that only two de- 
 grees were in the contemplation of Clare when his e^say 
 was composed. The description of "Master" or "Fellow 
 Craft " is in strict harmony with the Constitutions of i 723, 
 and all the ritualistic evidence of that or any earlier period 
 that has been handed down to us. After 1723, there were 
 three degrees or steps, but the old system died hard, and 
 (even in the absence of confirmatory evidence) it would be 
 safe to conclude that the practice of communicating the 
 Masonic secrets according to the new method, could not 
 have been officially recognized until after the Defense of 
 Masonry saw the light. Clare evidently wrote as one of 
 the older school, and the carefully chosen words in which 
 he describes the gradation of Masonic rank as existing in 
 1730, are indicative not only of his own adherence to the 
 usage of ancient times, but they also point — as I think 
 may plainly be deduced — in the direction of the author 
 of the Defence being the mouth piece of the Grand Officers. 
 
 That he was so regarded, not only in London, but like- 
 wise (to some extent ) in the provinces, we have direct proof 
 in the minutes of a I^odge formerly meeting at the Sara- 
 cen's Head, Lincoln, from which I extract the following: — 
 
 October 2nd, 1733. — Present, Sir Cecil AVray, Baronet, 
 Master, with other members, and six visitors (Esquires), 
 " AVhen Brother Clare's Discourse concerning Pritchard, as 
 also . . . our By Laws were read." 
 
Digression on Degrees. 401 
 
 August 6th, 1734. — " Brother Clare's Discourse relating 
 to P d was read." 
 
 Through Sir Cecil Wray — Deputy Grand Master in 
 1734 — who was Master of a London Lodge, with Martin 
 Clare as his Senior Warden, in 1730, the Defence of Ma- 
 sonry, by the latter, no doubt found its way to Lincoln. 
 The entry of August 6th, 1 734, is a singular one, and tends 
 to show that the fuh mention of Prichard's name was a 
 slip on the part of the scribe who recorded it, the motive 
 for secrecy being, as the other evidence {i.e., the letter 
 from "Euclid," printed with the Cofistitutions of 1738), 
 seems to point out, the desire of Martin Clare, and those 
 with whom he was acting in concert, to conceal the fact 
 that the counterblast to Masonry Dissected, was, in 
 reality, a manifesto of the Grand Lodge. It may be use- 
 fully noted in connection with the above, that the minutes 
 of the Lodge wherein the "Discourse" (or Defence of 
 Masonry) is referred to (the chair of which was filled by 
 the Deputy Grand Master in 1734), only mention two 
 degrees — ^those of apprentice and master — as being 
 worked by the Lincoln Masons of 1732 — 42. They also 
 show that the higher step was conferred in a "Lodge of 
 Masters," but not too often or too easily, as we may 
 judge from the circumstance that persons of high social 
 standing (including Sir Christopher Hales, Baronet, son- 
 in-law of Sir Cecil Wray), were members of the I,odge 
 for several years, before being adjudged "well qualifyed 
 and worthy," and thereupon admitted to the Master's 
 degree. 
 
 At this point it may be conveniently mentioned that 
 two degrees only are referred to in the "General Regula- 
 tions" given in tlie Irish Constitutions of 1730, and the 
 Pocket Companion of 173.S; also, that when the French 
 Lodge in London "a Venseignc du Due de Lorrai7ie"was 
 constituted — August 17th, 1732 — by the Earl of Strath- 
 more, the only members particularized by the Grand 
 26 
 
402 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Master, were " le Maitre, les Surveillants, les Compagnons, 
 et les Apprentifs de la Loge Franfaise." 
 
 In the same year, however — 1732 — besides the first 
 degree, those of "F.C. and M." were worked by a Lon- 
 don Lodge, No. 83 (Ejig. Rite, 23) ; but it should be care- 
 fully born in mind that this occurred after the publica- 
 tion of Prichard's pamphlet, and is the earliest known 
 example of a system of three degrees having been adopted 
 in the Regular Lodges. 
 
 From 1730 until 1738, new comers were admitted into 
 Masonry, according to the old system and the new. 
 After the latter year, indeed, the differences of procedure 
 continued to linger, but the point on which I am now 
 dwelling is the important fact, that from 1725 to 1730, 
 and from 1730 until the publication of the Constitutions of 
 1738, there is not a scrap of evidence from which we may 
 infer that three degrees of Masonry were practised with 
 the sanction (or recognition) of the earliest of Grand 
 lodges, either expressed or implied. 
 
 Wliat was Anciently called the "Master's Part,' ' and is 
 now the Third Degree, must have fallen into comparative 
 disuse, when Masonry put on its Modem attire, which 
 may be described as the period beginning about the year 
 1723 and approaching a conclusion in 1738. After 
 1725, all Lodges — new or old — were empowered "to 
 make Masters at their discretion," but many (and ap- 
 parently the great majority) of them, either could not or 
 (lid not and the few that were able to work the ' Superior" 
 degree, were known and described as Masters' Lodges. 
 This term, in the opinion of Mr. Hughan, was applied 
 to two classes of meetings. The first, where Lodges 
 worked the degree on certain days in each month; and the 
 second, where Lodges assembled as Master Masons only. 
 .\ccording to this view of the case, some of the Lodges 
 worked the Master's ceremony at stated times only, while 
 others, not caring to meet except as Ma.ster Masons, left 
 to the ordinary Lodges the task of communicating to 
 
Digression on Degtees. 403 
 
 candidates the earlier secrets of the craft. In process of 
 time, however, the Lodges in the first class, appear to 
 have set as little value on the Master's degree, as those 
 in the second class did en the previous ceremonial. 
 Thence arose the custom of looking to certain Lodges for 
 the working of the Master Mason's ritual, which bodies 
 were especially known and described as "Masters' Lodges," 
 though all Lodges existing at the time were equally en- 
 titled to work the ceremony. 
 
 Four members of a London Lodge, who had been 
 "made Masons," were "admitted Masters" (without 
 receiving any intermediate degree), on April 29th, 1727; 
 and six others were similarly "admitted" in a "Master's 
 Lodge" on March 31st, 1729 (Hughan). This is the 
 earliest known reference to a Master's Lodge. 
 
 The subject has also been dealt with in an exhaustive 
 essay by the late Mr. John Lane, to which the reader is 
 referred. (A.Q.C. i. 167 — 175.) Masters' Lodges con- 
 tinued to exist, and are described in the official lists 
 down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
 
 They appear to have been established with the object of 
 instructing generally in the Master's degree, which, there- 
 fore, was conferred in some instances as a second, and in 
 others, as a third step in Masonry. 
 
 When the Grand Lodge set its official seal on the order 
 in which the two moieties of the old "Apprentice Part" 
 should be conferred, there is no evidence to determine. 
 All we know with certainty is, that two degrees are 
 officially recognized by the Constitutions of 1723, and 
 three by the Constitutions of 1738. In the earlier work 
 the words Master and Fellow Craft are used as conver- 
 tible terms; in the later one they import different mean- 
 ings. Entered Apprentice, and Fellow Craft or Master 
 were the degrees or steps of 1723; and Entered Appren- 
 tice, Fellow Craft, and Master, were those of 1738. 
 
 For example, in the later publication (1738), Old 
 Regulation XIII., is transformed into — "Apprentice 
 
404 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 must be admitted Fellow Crafts and Masters only here;" 
 while the " New Regulation' ' at the same number, which 
 is supposed to reproduce the I^aw passed in the Grand 
 Lodge on November 27th, 1725, is headed " On 22. Nov." 
 
 ENTERED APPRENTICE LODGE. 
 
 FELLOW CRAFT LODGE. 
 
 MASTER MASON LODGE. 
 
 (of that yearj, and reads— "The Master of a Lodge, with 
 his Wardens and a competent Number of the Lodge 
 assembled in due Form, can make Masters and Fellows 
 at Discretion." (ante, 295). 
 
Digression on Degrees. 405 
 
 But, notwithstanding the order of precedence finally 
 accorded by the Gvdad Lodge to the severed moieties of 
 the "Apprentice's Part" as degrees, the evidence shows 
 that for many years after 1738, they were conferred for 
 the most part in continuing steps. In November, 1753, 
 't was enacted by the Grand Lodge, that no Lodge "be 
 permitted to make and raise the same Brother at one and 
 he same Meeting, without a dispensation from the Grand 
 Master. ' ' Only two ceremonies are especially referred to 
 in the minutes of my own Lodge — the Moira, No. 92 — 
 from the date of its formation in 1755 down to the year 
 1767, the "making" of Masons, and the "raising" of 
 Masters. These "steps," however, were not conferred on 
 "the same Brother at one Meeting," except in a solitary 
 instance : — 
 
 April 2nd, 1766. — "Br. Samuel Garnatt was made a 
 Mason in due form, and likewise Rais'd Master by desire. ' ' 
 From the examples given (which could be greatly mul- 
 tiplied) it is reasonable to conclude that no approach to 
 uniformity in the "making of a Mason" ( i.e., in the 
 method of imparting the secrets of the first two or con- 
 tinuing steps of the three degrees), could have been estab- 
 lished in the Lodges, until many years after 1 738. 
 
 It is probable that the Grand Lodge entered very re- 
 luctantly upon the task of determining which section of 
 the old "Apprentice Part" should take the position of the 
 first degree. The choice ultimately made (1738) soon 
 however, became publicly known (1742), and as will here- 
 after be more particularly referred to, it differed in toto 
 from the sequence of the degrees as published by Prichard 
 in his spurious ritual of 1730. 
 
 The Royal Arch was the first of the "additional de- 
 grees," extraneous to the system of Pure and Ancient 
 Freemasonry, and that the seed was sown, from which it 
 ultimately germinated, by the alteration of the Mason's 
 Creed in 1723, there cannot be a doubt. The degree was 
 certainly worked from about the year 1740, and presum- 
 
4o6 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ably from an earlier date. The members of the Royal 
 Arch are described by Dr. Dassigny, in 1744, as "a body 
 of men who have passed the chair" {ante, 281). At that 
 date, however, the degree of Installed (or Past) Master was 
 unknown, nor is there any evidence of its being in exis- 
 tence, until some years after the formation of the Schis- 
 matic Grand Lodge of England in 175 1. It would there- 
 fore appear that the communication of the secrets of the 
 Royal Arch was the earliest form in which any esoteric 
 teaching was specially linked with the incident of Lodge 
 Mastership, or in other words, that the degree of the Royal 
 ^\rch was the complement of the Master's grade. Out of 
 this was ultimately evolved the degree of Installed Master, 
 a ceremony not sanctioned by the Regular (or Constitu- 
 tional) Grand Lodge of England until 18 10, and of which 
 I can trace no sign among the "Schismatics" until the 
 growing practice of conferring the "Arch" upon Masons 
 not properly qualified to receive it, brought about a con- 
 structive passing through the chair, which, by qualifying 
 candidates not otherwise eligible, naturally entailed the 
 introduction of a ceremony, additional (like the "Arch" 
 itself) to the simple forms known to Payne, Anderson and 
 Desaguliers. In passing from this branch of the subject 
 it may be observed, that, while unrecognized by the le- 
 gitimate Grand Lodge of England (in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury), the "Arch" and "Chair" degrees were frequently 
 communicated in the Regular Lodges, and it is probable, 
 from quite as early dates as they were practiced by the 
 ' Ancients " or " Schismatics. ' ' 
 
 As there are no early records of the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland, and the custom of publishing the histories of 
 private Lodges, which is otherwise universal, does not 
 prevail in the sister kingdom, many details of Masonic life 
 and activity are withheld from us, which would probably 
 throw considerable light upon the interesting question of 
 "degrees." We know, however, that the English Con- 
 
Digression on Degrees. 
 
 407 
 
 stitutions and Spurious Rituals, were always reproduced 
 in Ireland, where the latter especially flourished with a 
 
 BANNERS. 
 
 luxuriant growth. From the evidence supplied by the 
 Irish Constitutions of 1730, and the Pocket Companion of 
 
4o8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 1735, it is apparent that (as in England) only two degrees 
 were then recognized by the Grand Lodge. 
 
 Their expansion, therefore, must have occurred after 
 the latter year, and, judging by such light as we possess, 
 it is reasonable to assume that in adopting a system of 
 three Masonic Steps, the Irish simply followed the ex- 
 ample set by the English Grand Lodge, in 1738. 
 
 At that date, it should be recollected, there were in 
 existence Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scot- 
 land, and consequently — if we suppose the necessity for a 
 choice to have arisen — it was equally open to them all to 
 determine the order of priority of the first two degrees. 
 The Grand Lodge of England, as I have endeavored to 
 show, struck out a path of its own, the action of the Grand 
 Lodge of Scotland is veiled in some obscurity, but the 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland, for reasons we cannot fathom, 
 instead of adopting the authorized English system of 1 738, 
 must eventually have accorded its official sanction to the 
 progression of the degrees, as given by Samuel Prichard 
 in his unauthorized publication of 1730. 
 
 As we have already seen, the only degree (of a specula- 
 tive or symbolical character) known in the early Masonry 
 of Scotland was that in which the Legend of the Craft 
 was read, and the benefit of the Mason Word conferred. 
 From the operation of causes, however, which, though 
 largely debated, have not yet passed out of the region of 
 conjecture, the greater number of the additional cere- 
 monies, adopted in many quarters as Masonic, and labelled 
 the " High Degrees, " have been described as of Scottish 
 origin. Indeed, not content with this — as St. Andrew 
 was the Patron Saint of Scotland, and of the Lodges there, 
 the new degrees manufactured in France were called not 
 alone Scottish, but St. Andrew's degrees. These Scots 
 degrees, as I have elsewhere venti^red to term them, in con- 
 tradisiinction to the ceremonies actually practiced b)^ 
 Scottish Masons, appear to have sprung up about the year 
 1740, in all parts of France. Afterwards, in Continental 
 
'**% 
 
 ALBERT PIKE. 
 
Digression on Degrees. 
 
 409 
 
 Europe, besides the legion of Scots degrees, we meet with 
 the Strict Observance, and the (so-called) Royau 
 Order of Scotland, each placing its origin in North 
 Britain. A still later example of the common practice of 
 affecting a connection with Scotland, is afforded by a well- 
 
 ANCIENT ACCEPTKD SCOTTISH RITE — MODERN. 
 FROM BOOK OF A. A. S. R. 
 
 known and highly influential body--the Ancient and 
 Accepted Scottish Rite. ■* 
 
 From the circumstance that Scots Masonry was un- 
 known before the delivery by Andrew Michael Ramsay of 
 his famous speech in 1737, and appeared shortly after- 
 
4IO History of Freemasonry. 
 
 wards, the two have been represented as cause and effect 
 — which, indeed, was almost certainly the case, but the 
 oration of the "Chevalier" and the Continental perver- 
 sions of Freemasonry that followed in its train, are sup- 
 posed by some good authorities to be themselves merely 
 links in a far-reaching chain of events, extending over a 
 long series of years. 
 
 The Scots Degrees smoothed the way for the Templar 
 movement in Masonry, called the Strict Observance, 
 and the key to the problem which confronts us in either 
 instance, it is contended, may be found in the extent to 
 which the Jesuits moulded the Stuart agitation, ending 
 with the rising of 1 745-6. 
 
 Early in the eighteenth century, when English Masonry 
 put on its modern attire, its secret organization was con- 
 tinued under a Grand Lodge, and this body was estab- 
 lished during the same period which, after the death of 
 Eouis XIV., became the signal for the Jacobite risings 
 that were suppressed in 17T6. Among those who took 
 up arms for the Pretender were many j)rominent Free- 
 masons. Some were executed, and others found refuge 
 on the Continent. Among the latter was the Earl of 
 Winton, afterwards Master of the famous "Roman 
 Eodge" (founded by Scottish Masons in Rome) at the 
 time of its suppression in 1737; and if we may believe the 
 French historians, it was by another of these exiles, Charles 
 Ratcliffe, who, after his elder brother was beheaded, 
 assumed the title of the Earl of Derwentwater, that the 
 fir.st Lodge in France was founded at Paris in 1725. 
 
 In a recent pamphlet, Mr. R. Greeven lays great stress 
 on "the struggles of the Duke of WTiarton [1724] and the 
 Society of Gormogons at first to control and afterwards to 
 counteract Freemasonry in England for Jacobite pur- 
 poses in connection with the Pretender at Rome." At a 
 much earlier date, however, the several printed notices of 
 the Gormogons formed the subject of an interesting study 
 by Dr. Kloss (1847), by whom three conjectures were 
 
Digression on Degrees. 4 1 1 
 
 advanced: — I. That the Oecumenical Volgi (or Head of 
 the Order) was no less than the Chevalier Ramsay, then 
 at Rome in attendance upon Charles Edward Stuart 
 ("the young Sophi of Persia"). II. That the move- 
 ment was a deeply-laid scheme on the part of the Jesuits 
 to attain certain ends; and III. (though without attaching 
 to it any importance), that in the Gormogons we meet 
 with the precursors of the Schismatic Masons, or "An- 
 cients" {Gesch. der Fr. England, Irland, Schottland, 90). 
 
 It is next suggested that, in his famous speech of 1737, 
 " Ramsay — connected by his hearers, with the Young 
 Pretender, both by religion and tutorship — was appealing 
 in the name of crusading tradition, to a society of which 
 the back-bone consisted of Scotchmen waiting only for 
 a favourable opportunity, eventually presented in 1745, 
 for invading England with French assistance to enthrone 
 a Romanist aspirant already seriously preparing him- 
 self for the contest." Shortly after the speech was de- 
 livered, there followed the deluge of Scots degrees, and 
 throughout the whole of them the influence of Ramsay's 
 rhetoric is apparent, in the underlying fiction that Scot- 
 tish crusaders — sword in one hand and trowel in the other 
 — discovered a lost and sacred word in the vault of the 
 Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 The numerous Scots Lodges soon assumed the powers of 
 Grand Lodges, and at an early stage began to manufac- 
 ture new degrees connecting the Scots Masons with the 
 Knights Templars. 
 
 If the statements of the Baron von Hund are to be 
 credited, there is the clearest possible evidence that in 
 1743, substantially the entire Rite or System, afterwards 
 so well known under the title of the Strict Observance, 
 was in full working order under the guidance of leading 
 Jacobites, and with the direct approval of the Young 
 Pretender. This Rite was based upon the fiction that at 
 the time of the suppression of the Templars, and tlie 
 execution of their last fliistorical ) Grand Master, his 
 
412 History of Freemasoiiry. 
 
 alleged successor, Pierre d'Aumont, with seven other 
 knights, took refuge in Scotland, and there preserved the 
 occult wisdom and the due succession of the Order. For 
 certain reasons also, these Knights were said to have 
 joined the Guilds of Masons in that Kingdom, and thus 
 to have given rise to the Society of Freemasons. 
 
 The Baron von Hund declared that he was received 
 into the Order of the Temple at Paris, by the Knight with 
 the Red Feather (or Chief Superior), in the presence of 
 the Earl of Kilmarnock, and with Lord Clifford acting as 
 Prior. A solemn pledge, he averred, prevented his 
 revealing the identity of the Knight with the Red Feather, 
 though in effect he allowed it to be inferred that the 
 presiding officer on the occasion of his being knighted as a 
 Templar, was no other than the Young Pretender him- 
 self. He stated, moreover, that he had been especially 
 presented, as u distinguished member of the Order to 
 Prince Charles Edward shortly after the ceremony 
 of 1743. The history of "Templarism in Masonry" is 
 next to be traced in the proceedings of the Chapter of 
 Clermont (1754), the Knights of the East (1756), and the 
 Emperors of the Easi and West (17,58), after which — in 
 1767 — the curtain falls on the first act of the Templar 
 drama, and the scene shifts to German)^ where the 
 princes and nobles for nearly two decades, received the 
 new Order of Chivalry with enthusiasm. Throughout 
 the Continent of Europe, Pure and Ancient Masonry 
 almost vanished, and no less than twelve reigning princes 
 — bound by vows of unquestioning obedience to Un- 
 known Superiors — were active members of the Strict 
 ObseRv.vnce, in 1774. 
 
 The oath of implicit obedience to Unknown Superiors 
 was the leading characteristic of the Order, and on taking 
 it new comers received a promise — the breach of which 
 ultimately broke up the organization — that those Su- 
 periors would impart to them an occult Wisdom, which 
 
SECRFCT MASTKR — A. A. S. R 
 
414 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 (as a matter of fact) we know that the historical Knights 
 Templars could never have possessed. 
 
 At the death of von Himd, in 1776, there was a period 
 of confusion, and his papers were searched with the object 
 of ascertaining who was the real head of the Order, but 
 nothing was discovered beyond the circumstance that 
 von Hund evidently believed Prince Charles Edward 
 Stuart to be the man. The Young Pretender was then 
 dvdy communicated with, and with the result, according 
 to one set of writers, that he not only disclaimed being 
 Grand Master of the Strict Observance, but also that 
 he was a Freemason at all; while by others, it is affirmed 
 (and with perhaps the greater show of reason) that the 
 Prince was compelled, by the altered circumstances of his 
 cause, to repudiate any relations with Freemasonry. 
 A few years later, at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, in 1782, 
 it was resolved and declared that the Freemasons were 
 not the successors of the Knights Templars. From that 
 moment the Strict Observ.\.nce, as a system, practically 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 If we adopt the conclusions of Mr. Greeven and the late 
 Dr. Kloss, the influence of '"Scots abroad," and of Scott- 
 ish legend (real or supposed), on the Masonry of the 
 Continent, ceases to be a wholly obscure enigma. If we 
 do not, however — and in the absence of further evidence 
 there will always be a conflict of opinion with regard to 
 the direction in which our judgment ought to incline — 
 then the wholesale manufacture of degrees, supposed to 
 hail from Scotland, but having no real connection with 
 that country, which spread like a pestilence throughout 
 Europe, will remain among the phenomena that baffle 
 the research of all students of Freemasonry. 
 
 [End of the Digression.^ 
 
 The merits of the Constitutions of 1738, as containing 
 the only record of certain eighteenth century facts, are 
 unquestionable; but it is much to be regretted that, in his 
 
PERFECT MASTER — A. A. S. R. 
 
4i6 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 desire to exhibit the Craft to the best advantage, Dr. 
 Anderson should have claimed as its rulers at some period 
 or other, nearly every celebrity of ancient or modern times. 
 Thus we have Noah and his sons figuring as the "Four 
 Grand Officers," and among the Ancient Grand Masters 
 are gravely enumerated the names of Nimrod, Moses 
 (with Joshua as his Deputy), Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 and Augustus Caesar. The list of Modern Grand Masters 
 is drawn up on an equally comprehensive scale, and in- 
 cludes the names of Alfred the Great, Edward the Con- 
 fessor, Cardinal Wolsey, and Sir Christopher Wren — to 
 whose "neglect of the office," shortly after 1708, is 
 attributed the decay which immediately preceded the 
 so-called "Revival" of 171 7. 
 
 Professor John Robison, the eminent Scottish matlie- 
 matician, in his now forgotten Proofs of a Conspiracy 
 (1797), comments very justly "upon the heap of rubbish 
 with which Anderson has disgraced his Constitutions of 
 Freemasonry, the basis of Masonic History. " The evil is 
 to be deplored, but may be minimized by our totally dis- 
 regarding any statements of the doctor, excepting only 
 such as relate to the early proceedings of the Grand Lodge 
 — published with the sanction and approval of the Grand 
 Officers, and others who were personal actors in the events 
 to which they refer. 
 
 In The New Book of Constitutions, "The Charge con- 
 cerning God and Religion, " is made to read — " In ancient 
 Times the Christian Masons were charged to comply with 
 the Christian Usages of each Country where they travell'd 
 or work'd, " which takes the place of — " In ancient Times 
 Masons were charg'd in every country to be of the Religion 
 of that Country or Nation, whatever it was," which ap- 
 peared in the Constituiions of 1723. 
 
 " \Miether the Grand Lodge disagreed with Dr. Ander- 
 son in reference to this particular matter," observed the 
 late Mr. H. J. Whyraper, "we do not know, but we do 
 
Freemasonry in the British Isles. 4 1 7 
 
 know there was some disagreement, and we see by the 
 1738 'Constitutions' that Dr. Anderson virtually dis- 
 avowed the 1723 statement." (Religion of F., 38). As 
 we shall presently find, at some time after 1738, two 
 parties were formed, the Grand Lodge of England (estab- 
 lished in 1 71 7) taking the Deistic, and the Masons who 
 claimed to be the representatives of Ancient Masonry 
 taking the Christian side — the latter adopting Dr. Ander- 
 son's statement of 1738, that Masons were anciently en- 
 joined to comply with Christian customs in foreign lands; 
 while the former went back to his older declaration of 
 1723, that in bygone times Masons were enjoined to be 
 of the religion of any country in which they might hap- 
 pen to reside. 
 
 A list is given of the Lodges in and about London and 
 Westminster, and among them we find three "whose 
 Constitution is immemorial," being the survivors of the 
 Four by whom the Grand Lodge was founded in 171 7, 
 namely, the Lodges at the King's Arms, removed from 
 the Goose and Gridiron, now the Lodge of Antiquity; 
 at the Horn, removed from the Rummer and Grapes, 
 now Royal Somerset House and Inverness; and at 
 the Queen's Head, removed from the Apple Tree, now 
 Fortitude and Old Cumberland. Of the last named 
 we learn that "the Members came under a new constitu- 
 tion, tho' they wanted it not," which ought to have re- 
 sulted, though it has not, in the restoration of the Lodge 
 to its rightful position on the Grand Lodge roll. The 
 Lodges enumerated form a total of 106, and after the 
 names of thirteen, there follow the words " \\Tiere there is 
 also a Master's Lodge. " 
 
 The first organized rebellion against the authority of the 
 Grand Lodge took place shortly after the promulgation 
 of the Constitutions of 1723, and the second, or a revival of 
 the old one, must have closely followed the publication of 
 the Constitutions of 1738. The discontent which ulti- 
 mately assumed the proportions of a Schism in English 
 
 27 
 
4i8 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Masonry, is commonly supposed to have originated in 
 1739, and the theory has much to recommend it, though 
 for reasons entirely differing from those which are ordi- 
 narily brought forward in its support. 
 
 The true story of the Great Schism I shall, in the next 
 chapter, endeavor to relate, and as preparatory thereto it 
 will be best if I next proceed to bring up the general 
 narrative to the point from which the memorable breach 
 in the English Craft can be examined as a whole. For 
 this purpose it will be essential to take a brief glance at the 
 progress of Masonry on the Continent. Persecutions of 
 the Freemasons occurred in Holland, 1735; in France and 
 Italy, 1737; at Vienna, 1743; and in Switzerland, 1745. 
 Moreover, in the year 1738, a formidable Bull was issued 
 by the Pope, not only against the Freemasons themselves, 
 but against all those who promoted or favored their cause. 
 
 There is evidence that the English Craft was also falling 
 into disfavor, from the series of mock processions that 
 appear to have begun by the "Scald Miserables" in 1741, 
 and continued in 1742, 1744 and 1745. A print of the 
 procession, designed and engraved by Benoist, was pub- 
 lished in 1742. The proceedings of the "Scald Miser- 
 ables, " which were intended to exhibit a mockery of the 
 public procession of the Freemasons to the Grand Feast, 
 resulted in the latter abandoning all outdoor display, and 
 confining their operations within the limits of their own 
 assembly. Money, however, must have been plentiful 
 with the organizers of the buffoonery, for the mock pro- 
 cessions could not have been otherwise than very costly 
 affairs, from which may be inferred that there were in- 
 fluential people in the background, who shared in the de- 
 sign of holding up the Freemasons to ridicule and con- 
 tempt. 
 
 In 1743 — May 4th — Horace Walpole, in a letter to Sir 
 Horace Mann, says: — "The Freemasons are in so low re- 
 pute now in England, that one has scarce heard the pro- 
 ceedings at Vienna against them mentioned. I believe 
 
KNIGHT EWiCT OF NINE — A. A. S. R. 
 
420 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 nothing but a persecution could bring them into vogue 
 here again. You know, as great as our folHes are, we even 
 grow tired of them, and are always changing." 
 
 A notable figure passed off the stage in 1 744, in the per- 
 son of Dr. Desaguliers, one of the triumvirate to whom 
 the foundation of the earliest of Grand IvOdges has loosely 
 been ascribed. The other members were Dr. James 
 Axiderson and George Payne. The Author of the original 
 Book of Constitutions died in 173Q, and the second of our 
 Grand Masters in 1757. 
 
 In 1747 Dord Byron was elected Grand Master, and 
 during his nominal presidency,which lasted for a period of 
 five years, the affairs of the Society were much neglected. 
 The same Grand Officers and Grand Stewards continued 
 in office, which is the more remarkable, because the honors 
 of the Craft were much coveted. 
 
 The first English Military Lodge was established in 
 1750, and attached to the 31st Foot. In the following 
 year (as will presently be more fully referred to) the 
 Schism (or Secession) in the English Craft had assumed 
 form and cohesion, and if technicalities are disregarded, 
 the recusant Masons may be said to have been governed at 
 that date by a Grand I/)dge, though sometimes disguised 
 under the title of a Grand Committee. 
 
 Lord Byron was succeeded by Lord Carvsfort in 1752, 
 and Dr. Thomas Manningham was appointed Deputy 
 Grand Master. 
 
 In 1755, it was " Ordered that every Certificate granted 
 to a Brother of his being a Mason shall for the future be 
 sealed with the seal of Masonry, & signed by the G.S. " 
 (Grand Secretary). A new edition of the Book of Consti- 
 tutions, in which the original version of "the Charge con- 
 cerning God and Religion " (1723) is reproduced, was pub- 
 lished in 1756. 
 
 There next await our consideration letters written by 
 Dr. Manningham in 1756 and 1757 respectively, which 
 were published a few years ago in the colunms of the 
 
The Manningham Letters. 421 
 
 Jaarboekje voor Ncdcrlandsche Vrijmeiselaren, or Dutch 
 Freemasons' Amiual. 
 
 The first letter was dated December 3rd, 1756, and 
 forwarded, by order of the Grand Master, the Marquis 
 of Carnarvon, to the Provincial Grand Ivodge of Holland. 
 It runs : — 
 
 Gentlemen & Brethren: — 
 "The Marquis of Carnarvan, Grand Master of Masons, 
 being absent in the Country, has occasion'd my Neglect in 
 not answering your Letters address'd to our late worthy 
 Grand Master, Lord Carysfort, & communicated the 
 Contents to his Lordship, as well as to the present Grand 
 Master. 
 
 "As I presume the English Tongue is understood by 
 several of our Brethren in Holland, I thought it more 
 advisable to send my Answer in English, than French. 
 
 "The Grand Master is at all times willing to oblige the 
 Craft, & is very sorry it is not in his Power to grant the 
 Request contained in your Letters : as I am not perfect 
 Master of the French Language, perhaps I may have 
 mistook & interpreted their Purport wrong; therefore I 
 now write them as I understood them, & annex the Grand 
 Master's Answer to the separate Articles. 
 
 "1st. You desire the Grand Master 's Permission to hold 
 Scotch Lodges, & institute the Brethren according to their 
 Method. 
 
 "This cannot be allow 'd, as we know no Distinction of 
 Lodges, Free Masonry being the same in all Parts of the 
 World; I am sure it ought to be so, or it could never be 
 general: Unless you are cautious, you may be misled. 
 By your kind Letter, I find the craft flourishes in Hol- 
 land, & I sincerely wish it may without Cavils and Dis- 
 sentions. 
 
 "The Methodsof I/Odges will sometimes differ a little but 
 I trust not mater-'ally, & that the ancient Land Marks 
 will alwavs continue. Of late some feitile Genius's here 
 
422 
 
 History of Freemasonry, 
 
 have attempted considerable Innovations, & their man- 
 ner of working in Lodge, they term sometimes Irish, 
 another Scotch Masonry, why, or wherefore they them- 
 selves best know; this I am certain off, all Innov^ations in 
 
 GRAND ELECT MASON — A, A. S. R. 
 
 our Society must tend to Confusion. Harmony & Union 
 in Masonry all the world over, is to be wish'd for & culti- 
 vated. I dare believe the Brethren in Holland will sub- 
 scribe to such Unanimity, & choose to be known as Free 
 
The M anningham Letters. 423, 
 
 Masons, without other appellative Distinctions, & will 
 excuse the Grand Master from saying. He caimot grant 
 your first request, w^h seems to design Innovations, ornew^ 
 Methods, if not Variation in the Signs, Tokens, & Words, 
 & thereby ruin, instead of support, the Society. . . . 
 
 The Grand Master desires his Respects to all the 
 Brethren with you, particularly the Members of your 
 Lodge, & I beg leave to add my Compliments likewise, 
 who am 
 
 Gentlemen & Brethren, 
 
 Y'' most obed' & affect*^ humble serv' 
 
 T. Manningham, D. G. M." 
 London, 
 
 3 Dec-. 1756. 
 
 The second letter — July 12th, 1757— may be appro- 
 priately introduced in the words of Mr. L. H. Hertzveld 
 to Mr. J. G. Findel, as appearing in the Freemasons' 
 Magazine of August 15th, 1858: — 
 
 "A witness whose honor and competence no one can 
 dispute, has risen from the tomb after more than one 
 hundred years' slumber, to testify to some historical facts. 
 ' By means of a happy event, there has come into my 
 hands a communication from the famous Deputy Grand 
 Master of England, Bro. Manningham, to the then Grand 
 IvOdgeof the Netherlands, dated London, 12th July, 1757, 
 which proves fl) that no higher degrees, with the only 
 exception of the three craft degrees, belong to pure 
 ancient Freemasonry; (2) That before 1717 the now exist- 
 ing rituals have been worked; (3) That the introduction 
 of the so-called high degrees took place after 1740. Dr. 
 Manningham to Bro. Sauer at the Hague, July 12th, 
 '757- 
 
 "Sr .-. & Br.-. " 
 
 "I am quite asham'd that your obliging Letter should 
 lay by me so long unanswer'd, but I hope you will excuse 
 me when I assure you it was not owing to Neglect or 
 
424 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Disrespect, but want of Opportunity to satisfye myself 
 on some Points, relating to the Variety of Masonry \vch 
 you mention under the Name of Scotch Masonry. 
 
 "I was determin'd to consult our Brethren in Scotland, 
 particularly our Brother, I/jrd Aberdour, who is Son & 
 Heir to the Earl of Morton, & an exceedingly good 
 Mason; as such He has fill'd the chair in Scotland, & his 
 
 "the camp" or tracing board — a. a. s. r. 
 
 Lordship is now elected Grand Master in England, on the 
 Marquis of Carnar van's Resignation. 
 
 "Lord Aberdour & all the Scotch Masons Cor rather 
 Scotch Gentlemen that are Masons) that I have con- 
 vers'd with, & I have made it my Business to consult 
 many, are entirely unacquainted vv'ith the Forms & Titles 
 you mention, & w<^h you justly call the charlataner}^ of 
 Masonry. Amongst some of our lowest Brethren, I have 
 
The Manningham Letters. 425 
 
 met with, & frequently heard of such Irregularities, 
 Irregularities I justly call them, because they deviate so 
 much from our usual Ceremonies, & are so full of Innova- 
 tions, that in process of Time, the antient Landmarks will 
 be destroy 'd, by the fertile genius of Brethren who will 
 improve or alter, if only to give Specimen of their Abil- 
 ities, & imaginary consequence; so that, in few Years it 
 will be as difficult to understand Masonry, as to distin- 
 guish the Points or Accents of the Hebrew or Greek 
 Language, now almost obscur'd by the Industry of 
 Criticks & Comentators. 
 
 "Three foreign Gentlemen & Masons lately visited the 
 Lodge I belong to, & were introdu'd by me to the Grand 
 Lodge & the Grand Feast; by discoursing with these 
 Gentlemen I find Germany, Holland & Switzerland m 
 some Places have Orders of Masons unknown to us, viz., 
 Knights of the Sword, of the Eagle, of the Holy Land 
 with a long train of et caetera's; surely these Points of 
 Masonry must be wonderfuU ; I am certain they are very 
 new; beside, these dignified & distinguish 'd Orders I find 
 have Signs, Tokens, &c., peculiar to their respective 
 Dignities, & adorn themselves with different colour'd 
 Ribbons. 
 
 "I shall be glad with your Assistance & the Assistance of 
 the Brethren in Holland, to settle these intricate & 
 confus'd Points, & wish to know (especially from the 
 Brethren who distinguish themselves by the Denomi- 
 nation of Scotch Masons) from whence they receiv'd their 
 constitution, the Grand Master of Scotland, who I pre- 
 sume they acknowledge Head of their Society, being 
 entirely unacquainted with their Order: To Lord Aber- 
 DOUR & several other Scotch Noblemen, & Gentlemen 
 that are good Masons, I have comnmnicated your Letter, 
 likewise the Information I receiv'd from those foreign 
 Brethren, one of w<^h ^as an Officer in the Dutch Service; 
 but from the strictest Enquiries I can make, can only say 
 
426 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 they have rack'd their genius with Endeavours to make 
 Masonry unintelhgable and useless. 
 
 "These Innovations are of very late Years, & I believe 
 the Brethren will find a Difficulty to produce a Mason 
 acquainted with any such Forms twenty, nay, ten Years. 
 Mv own Father has been a Mason these fivety Years & has 
 been at Lodges in Holland, France, and England. He 
 knows none of these ceremonies : Grand Master Payn, who 
 succeeded Sr. Christopher Wren, is a stranger to them, 
 as is likewise one old Brother of Ninet}-, who I convers'd 
 with lately; this Brother assures me He was made a 
 Mason in his youth, and has constantly frequented Lodges 
 'till rend 'red incapable by his ad vane 'd Age, & never 
 heard, or knew, any other Ceremonies or Words, than 
 those us'd in general amongst us; such Forms were de- 
 liver'd to him, & those he has retain'd; As to Knights of 
 the Sword, Eagle, &c., the knowledge of them never 
 reach'd his ears, till I inform 'd him of them. The only 
 Orders that we know are Three, Masters, Fellow-Crafts & 
 Apprentices, & none of them ever arrive at the Honour of 
 Knighthood by Masonry; & I believe you can scarcely 
 imagine, that in antient time the Dignity of Knighthood 
 flourish 'd amongst Free Masons; whose Lodges hereto- 
 fore consisted of Operative, not Speculative Masons. 
 Knights of the Eagle, Knights of the Sword, I have read in 
 Romance, the great Don Quixote himself was Knight of 
 the Brazen Helmet, when He had vanquish 'd the Barber. 
 Knights of the Holy Land, St. John of Jerusalem, Tem- 
 plars, &c., have existed, & I believe now exist in the 
 Knights of Malta, but what is that to Masonry? I never 
 heard that those Orders or Honours were obtain 'd bv skill 
 in Masonry, or that they belong'd to the Fraternity of Free 
 Masons, tho' I do not doubt they have now, & have had 
 many Free Masons worthy Members of their Order & 
 Honour, but imagine they did not think such Titles ob- 
 tain 'd bv Masonrv alone. 
 
The Manningham Letters. 
 
 427 
 
 "Universal Benevolence, Brothery Love, Friendship & 
 Truth, acting by the Square & living within Compass, are 
 or ought to be, the Tenets of Masonry, the Rule & Guide 
 of our Actions. Let us be good Masons, we may look with 
 
 GRAND INSIGNIA OF THK ORDER. 
 
 Scorn, on other Honours or Titles, it is at all Times in our 
 Power to be good Masons, & I think we ought to be con- 
 tented, & not search the aerial Fields of Romance for ad- 
 ditional Titles. Use our utmost Endeavour Dear Brother 
 to prevent a realy valuable Society, from degenerating. 
 
428 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 and being lost in Obscurity, by aiming at Titles, to which 
 the very nature of our Society cannot give us a Claim. 
 
 "The only distinction of Ribons or Jewels, that we make 
 in our Lodges, you will find in our Book of Constitutions; 
 viz., Grand Officers wear their Jewels gilt, pendant on blue 
 Ribons, & their Aprons lin'd with blue; Those Brethren 
 that have Serv'd the Office of Steward at our Grand Feast 
 (fromw'^h number all Grand Officers, except Grand Master, 
 nmst be elected) wear their Jewels of Silver on red Ribons, 
 & line their Aprons with red; all other Brethren wear 
 white Aprons and their Jewels pendant on white Ribons, 
 neither are they suffer'd to wear other Jewels than the 
 Square, Level and Plumb, the Compass belonging only 
 to the Grand Master. 
 
 "If the Master of the Lodge is absent, the past Master, or 
 the Senior warden of the Lodge supply his Place, just as 
 the private Regulations of such Lodge direct. 
 
 "Our Healths in Lodge are first, the King & the Craft, 
 wth 3, 3. 2nd The Grand Master, w-th 3, 3, the D.G.M. & 
 G. W.'s wth3,then we drink past G.M., foreign Brethren 
 of Distinction by Name as the Emperor, King of Prussia, 
 &c., after that the general Toast of the Craft. 
 
 "The Marquis of Carnarvon has resign 'd the Chair to 
 Lord Aberdour, who is now G.M., & our worthy Br. 
 Revis, D.G.M. , but I have permission to sign this Letter 
 as D.G.M., & if you favour us with a Line, take the same 
 Method as before by Mr. Hopp's secretary, who will con- 
 vey your Commands to me, & I will take care they are 
 properly honour 'd. 
 
 "The late & present G.M. desire their Respects to our 
 Brethren, please to accept likewise of the Respects of 
 Dr. Sr. & Br. 
 
 1>. most afject. Br. & obedt. humble servt., 
 
 T. Manningham, D.G.M." 
 "Jermyn Street, 
 12 July, 1757. 
 
The Manningham Letters. 429 
 
 There are only two expressions in the Manningham 
 letters which call for remark. In the first place, the doc- 
 tor tells us that Grand Master Payne, "who succeeded 
 Sir Christopher Wren, is a stranger" to the ceremonies 
 of the Continent. But Payne, who was in his grave 
 when the letters were written, certainly did not "succeed ' ' 
 Wren, even if we were to transmute the fable of the latter 's 
 Grand Mastership, into a fact. The explanation prob- 
 ably is, that the mention of Payne in the present tense was 
 purely a slip on the part of the writer, while in the al- 
 lusion to the great architect having presided over the 
 Society, an unfortunate reliance on the imaginative his- 
 tory related by Dr. Anderson is plainly to be detected. 
 Lastly, "The only Orders we know," observes Dr. Man- 
 ningham, "are three — Masters, Fellow Crafts, and Ap- 
 prentices. " There were no more and no less. But this, 
 as I have endeavored to show in the recent Digression, 
 was not always the case; although it is evident that the 
 falsification of Old Regulation XIII, by Dr. Anderson in 
 the Constitutions of 1738, was entirely unknown to the 
 Deputy Grand Master of 1757. A similar ignorance with 
 respect to the actual number of degrees recognized by the 
 Grand Todge from 171 7 until 1738, as we shall presently 
 see was displayed by the author of the Illustrations of 
 Masonry, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, 
 and by the representatives of the older of the two rival 
 Grand Lodges of England, when arranging the pre- 
 liminaries which were followed by the memorable Union 
 of these Societies, in 1813. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GREAT SCHISM IN ENGWSH MASONRY — THE I.ATBK 
 HISTORIES OF THE GRAND LODGES OF ENGLAND, 
 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 
 
 Now there was a great controversy in Babylon, which 
 had lasted fifteen hundred years, and had divided the em- 
 pire into two bigoted sects; one maintained that the tem- 
 ple of Mithras should never be entered except with the left 
 foot formost; the other held this practice in abomination, 
 and always entered with the right foot first. The rival 
 sects waited impatiently for the day on which the 
 solemn feast of the holy fire was to be held, to 
 know which side would be favoured by Zadig. All 
 had their eyes fixed on his two feet, and the whole 
 city was in agitation and suspense. Zadig leaped into 
 the temple with both his feet together, and afterwards 
 proved in an eloquent discourse, that the God of heaven 
 and earth, who is no respecter of persons, cares no 
 more for the left leg than for the right. 
 
 —Zadig, or Destiny. 
 
 The causes of the Great Schism in EngUsh Masonry 
 have been fiercely debated in the past, and the contro- 
 versy is still proceeding, but, as it seems to myself, from 
 the days of the earliest writers on the subject down to 
 those of the latest ones, every new solution of the prob- 
 lem only renders it more obscure. 
 
 The "Grand Lodge of England, according to the Old 
 Institutions," was established in 1751, though it was not 
 ruled over by a Grand Master, until 1753. Of this body, 
 an Irish Mason, Laurence Dermott, who some few years 
 previously had been a member of an English regular 
 Lodge, was elected Grand Secretary, in 1752. The 
 
 430 
 
The Great Schism. 431 
 
 Schismatics soon arrogated to themselves the title of 
 "Ancient Masons," bestowing on their rivals (under the 
 Grand Lodge of 171 7) the appellation of "Moderns," 
 and by these distinctive epithets both associations have 
 since been generally described. 
 
 Laurence Dermott published a "Book of Constitu- 
 tions" under the fanciful title of Ahiman Rezon, for the 
 use of the " Ancients' ' in 1 756, of which a second edition, 
 containing a bitter attack on the " Moderns," was printed 
 in 1764. 
 
 In the interval between these two publications, Will- 
 iam Preston, a Scotchman, was initiated in a Schismatic 
 (or so-called "Ancients") Lodge at London, which, how- 
 ever, in 1764, obtained a place on the roll of the older or 
 legitimate Grand Lodge. After a comparatively short 
 time, Preston delivered an Oration, subsequently printed 
 in the first edition of his well-known Illustrations of 
 Masonry, which appeared in 1772. 
 
 From about this date he divided with Laurence Der- 
 mott the distinction of being (reputed to be) the best 
 informed Mason of that time. The one (Preston,) a 
 journeyman printer, who, beginning as an Ancient, had 
 ended by becoming a Modern (both the words italicised 
 being used in their popular, and by no means in their 
 actual, signification); while the other (Dermott), a jour- 
 neyman painter, had shifted his allegiance in precisely a 
 contrary direction. 
 
 The delusive terms Modern and Ancient, coined by the 
 latter worthy to distinguish the earlier from the later 
 system of Masonry to which he had adhered respectively, 
 have now passed out of use, and only exist in the meniory 
 of our antiquaries. But they present in a nutshell, the 
 distortion of truth.— not to call it by a harsher name — 
 that was characteristic of their inventor whenever hf took 
 pen in hand — which was pretty often — to explain that the 
 Masons who acted with himself were walking in the only 
 true path, from which their rivals, whom, though of far 
 
432 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 older date, he contemptuously called the "Moderns," ' had 
 lamentably strayed. 
 
 The furious invective of the "journeyman painter," 
 which is conspicuous throughout the second and later 
 editions of his Ahiman Rezon, it is true, does not appear, 
 or, if at all, only very slightly disfigures a passage or two, 
 in the Illustrations of the "journeyman printer." For 
 this reason the writings of the latter were generally 
 accepted by independent writers, while those of the 
 former carried little if any weight (except among his 
 immediate following), owing to the coarse and often 
 scandalous language in which they were expressed. 
 
 Preston, however, was by a long way the greater 
 romancer of the two, or perhaps it will be better to des- 
 cribe him as a Masonic visionary who — untrammelled by 
 any laws of evidence — wrote a large amount of enthusi- 
 astic rubbish, wherein are displayed a capacity of 
 belief and capability of assertion, which are hardly 
 parallelled at the present day by the utterances of the 
 company promoter or even of the mining engineer. 
 
 The formation of a second or schismatic Grand I.odge 
 of England, in 1751, was undoubtedly preceded by a 
 period of supineness and lethargy on the part of the 
 lawful or constitutional Grand Body which it sought to 
 displace; but it was not until (about) the fourth quarter 
 of the eighteenth century that the commencement of the 
 Schism was associated with any particular year. 
 
 This seems to have been first done by William Preston, 
 in the second edition of his Illustrations, which was 
 published in 1775, where the breach in the Society is said 
 to have occurred during I/jrd Raymond's administration 
 of 1739. But in the Freemasons' Calendar of 1776, the 
 disturbances, which, we are told above, had their origin 
 in 1739, are traced back, on the same authority, to 1736. 
 The subject is again noticed in the Freemasons' Calendar 
 of 1783, among the "Remarkable Occurrences in Ma- 
 sonry," compiled by William Preston, w^hose account of 
 
FREDERICK Till', <REAT, 
 Initiateil at Brrnswick, August 14th, 173S. 
 
The Great Schism. 433 
 
 the origin of the Schism, we next meet with in the Con- 
 stitutions of 1784, pubhshed by the lawful Grand Lodge, 
 where it is given in a note extending over three pages, 
 which is appended to the proceedings of the Craft during 
 the year 1739. Ultimately the story assumed the stereo- 
 typed form in which we now possess it. Successive 
 editions of the Illustrations of Masonry inform us, that 
 in the time of the Marquis of Carnarvon (1738-9), some 
 discontented brethren, taking advantage of the breach 
 between the Grand Lodges of London and York, assumed, 
 without authority, the character of York Masons; that 
 the measures adopted to check them seemed to authorize 
 an omission of, and a variation in, the ancient ceremon- 
 ies; that the seceders immediately announced indepen- 
 dency, and assumed the appellation of Ancient Masons. 
 Also they propagated an opinion that the ancient tenets 
 and practices of Masonry were preserved by them; and 
 that the regular lodges, being composed of modern ma- 
 sons, had adopted new plans, and were not to be con- 
 sidered as acting under the old establishment. 
 
 To adopt the words of Mr. Henry Sadler, "I am fully 
 convinced that at this period the leaders of the rival 
 Grand Lodges reallv knev\' very little of each other's origin 
 and antecedents. ' ' It would, indeed, be quite possible to 
 show, from their own writings, not merely a sufficiency but 
 an affluence of proof, that neither Dermott nor Preston 
 was even superficially acquainted with the histor}' of Eng- 
 lish Freemasonry between the years i7i7and 1751. The 
 question, therefore, arises, from what repositories were 
 derived the historical revelations which are met with in 
 the Ahiman Rezon, of the one, and the Illustrations of 
 Masonry, of the other champion respectively? To this 
 may be replied, that from about the year 1760, London 
 was deluged with spurious rituals professing to communi- 
 cate the Secrets of Freemasonry "both Ancient and 
 Modern," and in which the differences in the ceremonies 
 of the rival systems, were made the subject of explanation 
 28 
 
434 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 and remark. Most of these publications are called by- 
 strange and bizarre names, and even their very titles are 
 destructive of any possible confidence in the veracity of 
 their texts. In one of the series, published in 1 766, we are 
 inform^ed that after "a pretended discovery of Free- 
 Masonry came out, called Masonry Dissected, the Fra- 
 ternity held a General Council, and the Entered Ap- 
 prentices' and Fellow Crafts' words were revers'd and 
 private Accounts transmitted to each Lodge." This 
 ridiculous story was evidently concocted by some anony- 
 mous fabulist, to serve as a plausible explanation of the 
 differences, which were known to exist, between the An- 
 cients and Moderns, in the working of the first two de- 
 grees. Its leading feature seems, however, to have 
 been accepted by Preston, and with hardly a doubt, 
 aiforded the foundation of his much quoted remark, that 
 "alterations in the established forms" had been sanc- 
 tioned by the older (or legitimate) Grand Lodge. Other 
 examples might be cited of the same writer's credulity 
 in placing reliance on the spurious rituals of the time, 
 but the foregoing will suffice, as considerations of space 
 forbid my going beyond an examination of the source 
 from which Preston derived the fable, so industriously 
 propagated during his lifetime, and afterwards copied 
 and re-copied in all histories of Masonrv down to the 
 present day. 
 
 From Preston's narrative, it is to be implied that the 
 alleged change in the method of com_municating the 
 degrees took place in 1739 — ^ date actually corresponding 
 with that in which the dissatisfaction of the English 
 Masons with the Constitutions of 1738, must have been at 
 its height. Certain "alterations in the established 
 forms" (though of a totally different character to what 
 has been commonly supposed), were undoubtedly sanc- 
 tioned by the Grand Lodge in 1738. 
 
 These, we may be sure, must have given great offence, 
 not only to many previous supporters of the Grand Lodge 
 
The Great Schism. 435 
 
 who objected to any expansion of the degrees, but also to 
 those brethren who, not content with adopting the 
 system of three Masonic steps, had walked meekly in the 
 footsteps of Samuel Prichard, with respect to the order in 
 which the first two should be imparted. 
 
 There was, therefore, just the echo of a real tradition in 
 the spurious one which has been generally accepted as 
 explaining the principal (and, indeed, the only material) 
 difference, between the ceremonies of the " Ancients' ' and 
 " Moderns' ' in the Craft degrees. The continued vitality 
 of the popular delusion that the Grand Lodge of England 
 under the older sanction — at some unknown and con- 
 stantly shifting date — altered the manner in which the 
 present first and second degrees had originally been com- 
 municated, is capable, however, of very simple ex- 
 planation. 
 
 The degrees, as existing in 1723, were long arbitrarily 
 put down as being three, and the conclusion naturally 
 followed that there was some settled order in which they 
 should be conferred. This assumption paved the way for 
 another one, which was that the sequence of the three 
 degrees as recognized b}' the Grand Lodge in 1723, was 
 indicated in Prichard 's spurious ritual of 1730. Conse- 
 quently, when the Grand Lodge, in 1738, for the first 
 time, sanctioned an expansion of the degrees, its choice of 
 the first vStep, as differing from that prescribed by the 
 author of Masonry Dissected, must have been regarded in 
 manv quarters as an "alteration of the established 
 forms, ' ' and not in its true light, namely, as the division of 
 a former degree of Masonry into two parts, with a direction 
 as to order of priority in which they should be conferred. 
 
 At the present day it is clearly established, that tivo 
 and not three degrees are mentioned in the Constittitiojis 
 of 1 723. But although of late years many alleged facts on 
 which theories have been erected — notably with regard to 
 Masonic degrees— have crumbled away, nevertheless the 
 theories linger, though the "facts" have disappeared. 
 
436 . History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The origin of the Great Schism in Enghsh Masonry has 
 been variously explained, but I see no reason to qualify 
 the opinion which I expressed in 1885, when dealing with 
 the subject in my larger work: — "It appears to me that 
 the summary erasure of I^odges at the Quarterly Com- 
 munications, and for not 'paying in their charity,' was 
 one of the leading causes of the Secession, which I think 
 must have taken place during the presidency of Lord 
 B}'ron (1747-52). In the ten years, speaking roundly, 
 commencing June 24th, 1742, and ending November 30th, 
 1752, no less than forty-five Lodges, or about a third of the 
 toial of those meeting in the Metropolis, were struck out 
 of tlie list' ' {Hist, of F., ii., 398). Some of these Lodges, 
 no doubt, continued to meet, without the leave of the 
 Grand Master, precisely in the same way as they had 
 hitherto done, before his permission for them to assemble 
 as associations of "regular" Masons had been revoked. 
 Not, indeed, that the supposition is wholly to be dis- 
 regarded, that the smouldering embers of the organized 
 rebellion against the authority of tlie Grand Lodge, which 
 took place immediately after the appearance of the Con- 
 stitutions of 1723, way have been once more fanned into 
 flame by the publication of the later edition of i 73S. 
 
 The rival claims of the "Ancients" and "Moderns" 
 have been debated with as much intensity as the vital 
 point at issue between "Big Endians and Little Endians." 
 But whatever opinions may have prevailed in less critical 
 days, there is at the present time no room for doubt, that 
 throughout the eighteenth century, the lamp of Pure and 
 Ancient Masonry burned brightly on the altar of the 
 Grand Lodge of 1717, and that the real dissenters and 
 schismatics were the Masons arrayed under the banner of 
 the Grand Lodge of 1751. 
 
 The success of the "Ancients" was largely due to the 
 energy and ability of Laurence Dermott. The " journe}'- 
 man painter" was an Irishman, and in consequence the 
 Masonry of the seceders took the tincture of his native 
 
The Great Schism. 
 
 437 
 
 soil. The Grand Secretary of the "Ancients" was ap- 
 pointed Deputy Grand Master in 1771, and, resigning 
 that office in 1777, resumed it from 1783 to 1787. His 
 last attendance at the Grand Lodge was in 1789, and his 
 death occurred in 1791. Four editions of his Ahiman 
 Rezon, or "Book of Constitutions," appeared during his 
 lifetime (in 1756, 1764, 1778, and 1787), and an equal 
 number after his decease (in 1800, 1801, 1807, and T813). 
 
 KING EDWARD I. 
 
 A Grand Master was elected by the secedcrs in 1753, 
 and a nobleman, the Earl of Blesington, was prevailed 
 upon to accept the office in 1756. 
 
 "A Strict union with the Antient Grand I.odge in 
 London" was established by the Grand Lodge of Ireland 
 in 1758. The 3rd Duke of Athoh was Grand Master of 
 the "Ancients" from 1771 to 1774; and the 4th Duke 
 from 1775 to 1 78 1, and again from 1791 to 1S13. The 
 
438 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 former was Grand Master of Scotland in 1773 — when 
 an entente cardial'', was established between the two Grand 
 Lodges under his jurisdiction — and the latter in 1778. 
 
 Towards the close of the century, in the Colonies, the 
 United vStates of America, and wherever there were 
 British garrisons, the authority of the "Ancient" or (as 
 it was often called) the " Atholl" Grand Lodge, was slowly 
 but surely extending, while that of the older Grand Lodge 
 of England was as steadily diminishing. At the close of 
 1789, forty-nine Army warrants had been granted by the 
 seceders, and upon the influence which the "Atholl" 
 and the Irish "Travelling Lodges" exercised both in the 
 Old World and the New, I have enlarged in a previous 
 work (Military Lodges, passim). 
 
 A motion in favor of a Union vvitli the "Moderns" was 
 made, but defeated, at tlie December meeting of the 
 Grand Lodge, in 1797. 
 
 Returning to the older Grand Lodge of England, or 
 let me say, in the present connection, passing from the 
 Ancients to the Moderns, we find that in 1761, during 
 the Grand Mastership of Lord Aberdour, the "Grand 
 Lodge of All England at York, ' ' awoke from a slumber 
 of uncertain duration, and held meetings for a long per- 
 iod. It seems to have warranted about ten subordinate 
 Lodges, created the Lodge of Antiquity a Grand Lodge, 
 and recognized five degrees of Masonry — the three of the 
 Craft, the Royal Arch and Knight Templar. The records 
 come to an end in 1792, but there is evidence from which 
 we may infer that the "Grand Lodge of All England" 
 lingered until the early years of the nineteenth century. 
 
 What Mr. Hughan has well described as "the per- 
 nicious fiction of the 'Ancients' being 'York Masons' " 
 may be incidentally referred to. In the Ahivian Rezon of 
 1756 the Regulations for Charity are described — 
 
 "As practised in Ireland, and by York Masons in 
 England." So there is reaUy no doubt that the "An- 
 cients" wished to be regarded as "York Masons," 
 
The Great Schism. 439 
 
 though without an atom of justification for the claim. 
 
 Lord Blayney became Grand Master of the older Grand 
 Lodge of England in 1764, and during his administration 
 the Dukes of York, Cumberland and Gloucester — sons of 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales — were admitted to the men- 
 bership of the Society. Ah the sons of George IIL, 
 except the Duke of Cambridge, it may be observed, were 
 numbered among the Royal Freemasons of later date. 
 
 It was carried by a vote of the Grand Lodge, in 1769, 
 that the Society should be incorporated, but the design 
 was abandoned in 177 1. A New Hall was opened in 
 Great Queen Street, and the building dedicated to Ma- 
 sonry, in 1776. In the following year a dispute arose 
 among the members of the Lodge of Antiquity — the Senior 
 Lodge on the roll — and the contest having been carried 
 into the Grand Lodge, the result was a minor schism, 
 which lasted for the space of ten years. William Preston 
 and ten others were expelled from the Society in 1 779, but 
 they claimed to have carried the real Lodge of Antiquity 
 with them in their retirement from the Grand Lodge. 
 Matters were adjusted, and things returned into the 
 status quo ante, in 1789, the Lodge of Antiquity, in the 
 interim, masquerading as a Grand Lodge. 
 
 The last Book of Constitutions containing the "History 
 of Masonry from the Creation," was published in 1784. 
 In 1790, Lord Rawdon, better known as the chivalrous 
 Earl of Moira, was appointed Acting Grand Master, at 
 first under the Duke of Cumberland, and subsequently 
 under the Prince of Wales, In 1799, it was enacted by 
 Parliament that all societies, the members of which were 
 required to take any oath not authorized by law, should 
 be deemed unlawful combinations, and their members 
 should be liable to a penalty. The Bill, however, owing to 
 the united efi^orts of the Duke of AthoU and Lord Moira, 
 was much modified in its passage through Committee, 
 and the Act was ultimately framed so as to embrace 
 as participants in its immunities all Lodges of Freemasons 
 
44 o History of Freemasonry. 
 
 complying with its requirements. The first definite pro- 
 posal for a Union, made in either of the rival Grand 
 Lodges, as we have already seen, took place in 1797. 
 The next attempt to effect a fusion of the two Societies 
 came from the other side, and similarly fell to the ground, 
 but it soon became evident that the divided bodies of 
 English Freemasons were bent on a complete reconci- 
 liation, which the misguided efforts of the ruling author- 
 ities on either side might retard, though only for a time. 
 
 During the pendency of the Schism, the usage pre- 
 vailed of requiring brethren who had been admitted to the 
 degrees under one system, to go through the ceremonies 
 a second time under the other. This custom, how- 
 ever, was by no means a universal one. Frequently, 
 in an "Ancient" Lodge, the "Business" was "Modem," 
 and quite as often, in a " Regular' ' Lodge, the work was 
 carried out in the "Ancient" way. Indeed, of a divided 
 allegiance, where the members of a Lodge held warrants 
 from both Grand Lodges — meeting under one or the other 
 as caprice might dictate — there are some examples. 
 
 The Royal Arch was worked under both systems — with 
 the sanction of their rulers, and as a step of lawful Ma- 
 sonry by the "Ancients." The attitude of their rivals 
 as represented by the older Grand Lodge, was one of non 
 recognition, but the leading Grand Officers were warm 
 supporters of the degree. 
 
 In the sacred cause of charity, however, all differences 
 between the two sections of the English Craft seem to 
 have vanished from the scene. Of this we possess endur- 
 ing monuments in the Royal Masonic Institution for 
 Girls, founded by the titular "Moderns" in 1788; and in 
 the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, founded in truly 
 fraternal rivalry, ten years afterwards, by the brethren in 
 the opposite camp. 
 
 After a pause in the negotiations for a Union — during 
 which there were mutual recriminations, though happily 
 
The Great Schism. 441 
 
 for the last time — it was Resolved, at a meeting of the 
 Regular Grand Lodge: — 
 
 That this Grand Lodge do agree in Opinion with the 
 Committee of Charity that it is not necessary any longer 
 to continue in Force those Measures which were resorted 
 to, in or about the year 1739, respecting irregular Masons, 
 and do therefore enjoin the several Lodges to revert to the 
 Ancient Land Marks of the Society." 
 
 This lamentable exhibition of weakness and ignorance 
 of Masonic history, was rightly regarded as foreshadowing 
 the "unconditional surrender" of the older Grand Lodge 
 at an early date. 
 
 For this the way was accordingly paved by the creation 
 of a special board, called the "Lodge of Promulgation," 
 which, according to its warrant, was "constituted for the 
 purpose of promulgating the Ancient Land Marks of 
 the Society, and instructing the Craft in all such matters 
 as might be necessary to be known by them, in con- 
 sequence of, and in obedience to, the Resolution passed 
 by Grand Lodge, April 12th, 1809." In the result, it was 
 settled (18 10) that the ceremony of Installation was a 
 Landmark, and the Masters of London Lodges were duly 
 "summoned for the purpose of being regularly Installed 
 as Rulers of the Craft." 
 
 In the actual or original degrees of Masonry, that is tlie 
 first three, with the exception of the opportunities selected 
 under the two systems for the communication of secrets, 
 there appears to have been no real difference between the 
 procedure (or ceremonial) of the rival fraternities. The 
 minutes of the Lodge of Promulgation inform us of "the 
 restoration of the proper words of each degree,' ' and the 
 virtual adoption of the method of working among the 
 "Ancients," which has been relied upon as affording 
 decisive proof of the "Moderns" having finally returned. 
 to the old ways — I regard myself from an entirely differ- 
 ent aspect, and consider that it points with certainity to 
 "an alteration" for the first and only time, "in its 
 
442 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 established forms," by the earliest of Grand Lodges. 
 
 In 1813 — May 12th — the Prince of Wales declining 
 a re-election, the Duke of Sussex was installed as his 
 successor. 
 
 In November of the same year, the Duke of AthoU 
 resigned in favor of the Duke of Kent. The latter was 
 placed in the chair of the "Ancient" Grand Lodge, 
 December ist, and on the St. John's Day following, the 
 Freemasons of England were re-united in a single Society. 
 One Grand Lodge was then constituted, and at the close 
 of the proceedings, on the motion of the Duke of Kent, 
 the Duke of Sussex was unanimously elected "Grand 
 Master of the United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free- 
 masons of England," and his Royal Highness received 
 the homage of the Fraternity. 
 
 According to the Articles of Union: — 
 
 II. — "It is declared and pronounced that pure Ancient 
 Masonry consists of three degrees, and no more; viz, those 
 of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the 
 Master Mason (including the Supreme Order of the Holy 
 Royal Arch)." 
 
 V. — For the purpose of establishing uniformity of 
 working, nine expert brethren of each Fraternity were to 
 be formed into a Lodge of Reconciliation , "for the purpose 
 of obligating, instructing, and perfecting the Masters, Past 
 Masters, Wardens, and Members' ' of the Lodges, " in both 
 the forms.' ' 
 
 A'^II. — The existing Past Masters were rendered mem- 
 bers of the Grand Lodge, but of those subsequently 
 qualified, one only was to attend from each Lodge. The 
 privilege, however, was extended to all Past Masters in 
 1818. 
 
 VIII. — "The two first Lodges under each Grand Lodge 
 to draw a lot in the first place for priority, and to which 
 of the two the lot No. I. shall fall, the other to rank as 
 No. 2; and all the other Lodges shall fall in alternately." 
 In the result, to the "Grand Masters," the Senior Lodge 
 
The United Grand Lodge of England. 443 
 
 of the "Ancients' ' was allotted the highest position on the 
 united roll, and the "Lodge of Antiquity" — one of the 
 founders of the Grand Lodge of 1717— had to content 
 itself with the second place. The other Lodges, of which 
 there were nominally 359 and 641 on the winning and 
 bsing sides respectively, "feh in ahernately" in like 
 manner. But as many Lodges, under both systems, had 
 ceased to exist, only 647 were actually carried forward at 
 the Union, exclusive of the Grand Stewards' Lodge, which 
 was continued at the head of the list without a number. 
 
 A new Book of Constitutions was published in 181 5, and 
 the "Charge Concerning God and Religion," is as follows: 
 — "Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it 
 may, he is not excluded from the Order, provided he 
 believes in the glorious architect of heaven and earth, and 
 practise the sacred duties of morality." 
 
 Very excellent service was performed by the Lodge of 
 Reconciliation, of which the last notice in the official 
 records occurs in the proceedings of September, 1816, 
 when the " Master, Officers, and Brethren' ' were thanked 
 by the Grand Lodge for their unremitting Zeal and Ex- 
 ertion in the cause of Free-Masonry." 
 
 In 181 7 the two Grand Chapters of the Royal Arch were 
 amalgamated. 
 
 An attempt was made in 1834 to establish a Charity 
 for Aged Freemasons. This resulted in what was called 
 the " Asylum Scheme. ' ' An Annuity Fund for Males was 
 subsequently formed in 1842, and extended to the widows 
 of Freemasons in 1849, which was separately administered 
 until 1850, when it effected a union with the Asylum. 
 
 The Duke of Sussex, who continued to preside over the 
 Society until his death, was succeeded by the first Earl of 
 Zetland in 1843. Four years later, the words "Free 
 Man" were substituted for "Free Born" in the Declar- 
 ation to be signed by candidates at their Initiation. 
 
 In 1856 — March 5th — at a meeting of the Grand Lodge, 
 it was Resolved Unanimouslv: — 
 
444 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 "That the Degree of Mark Mason or Mark Master is 
 not at variance with the ancient landmarks of the Order, 
 and that the Degree be an addition to and form part of 
 Craft Masonry ; and consequently may be conferred by all 
 regular Warranted Lodges, under such regulations as shall 
 be . . . sanctioned by the Grand Master. ' ' The resolu- 
 tion, however, was negatived when the minutes were 
 brought up for confirmation in the following quarter. A 
 Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons was formed in 
 London during the same year, but it has not been recog- 
 nized by the " LTnited Grand Lodge" of the Craft. We 
 find then, among the conflict of laws under the various 
 Grand Lodges, that in England the Royal Arch is re- 
 cognized, and the Mark degree is not; in Scotland, the 
 Royal Arch is not, but the Mark is; and in Ireland both 
 are recognized. The earliest known reference to the Mark 
 degree, it may be observed occurs in the Minute book of a 
 Royal Arch Chapter at Portsmouth, under the date of 
 September ist, 1769. 
 
 In 1870, Lord Zetland retired from the Grand East, and 
 was succeeded by Earl de Grey and Ripon, who, however, 
 subsequently becoming a Roman Catholic, retired from 
 Masonry in 1874. The office of Grand Master was then 
 accepted by the Prince of Wales, who had been initiated 
 by the King of Sweden in 1869, and the Heir Presumptive 
 to the throne was installed amid the plaudits of a vast 
 assemblage of British Masons in 1875. Two years later 
 the Dukes of Connaught and Albany were invested as 
 Senior and Junior Grand Wardens respectively, and in 
 1885 Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the Prince of 
 Wales, was initiated by the Grand Master in person. 
 King Edward VII., on his recent accession to the throne, 
 laid down the Grand Mastership, in which he was suc- 
 ceeded b)^ the Duke of Connaught, but graciously con- 
 sented to act as the Protector of the Craft. 
 
 The number of Lodges on the roll at the present time 
 is 2,350. Of these 512 are held in the London District, 
 
KING EDWARD VII, 
 
 Grand Master, 1S74 to 1897. 
 
The Grand Lodge of Scotland. 445 
 
 1,374 in the Provinces, and 464 (which includes three in 
 MiUtary Corps) in places beyond the seas. 
 
 In ScoTLAxND — November 30th, 1756 — Lord Aberdour 
 was again elected to the ofhce of Grand Master, which is 
 the first instance of a re-election since the institution of 
 that Grand Lodge. During this nobleman's first term 
 of office, it was resolved, "that the Grand Master for the 
 time being be affiliated and recorded as a member of every 
 Daughter Dodge of Scotland." The use, by Dodges, of 
 "Painted Floor Cloths," was forbidden in 1759, and the 
 practice of issuing diplomas (or certificates) was adopted 
 by the Grand Dodge in 1768. 
 
 The three Steps of Masonry crept very slowly into 
 general use. In the Dodge of St. Machar, at Aberdeen, 
 down to the year 177,5, while 260 members had taken the 
 first degree, only 137 had been admitted to the second and 
 third. The custom of numbering the Scottish Dodges 
 began at first unofficially, about 1790, and a renumbering, 
 after the healing of the Kilwinning Schism, took place 
 in 1 816. 
 
 In 1799 — May 26th — It was resolved by the Grand 
 Dodge, "that they sanction the Three Great Orders of 
 Masonry, and these alone, of Apprentice, Fellow Cr.'^ft 
 and Master Mason, being the ancient order of Saint 
 John.' ' 
 
 The Earl of Moira, Acting Grand Master of England, 
 and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Scotland, was 
 present at the Grand Election of 1803. " In the course of 
 the evening, the Earl, in an eloquent and impressive 
 address, related at considerable length the conduct of the 
 Crrand Dodge of England to the Ancient Masons, and 
 stated that the hearts and arms of the Grand Dodge to 
 which he was attached, had ever been open for the recep- 
 tion of their seceding Brethren, who had obstinately 
 refused to acknowledge their fault; and though the Grand 
 Dodge of England differed in a few trifling observances 
 from that of Scotland, t]ie%- hail ever eTiterlained for 
 
446 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Scottish Masons that affection and regard which it is the 
 object of Free Masonry to cherish, and the duty of Free 
 Masons to feeh" (Faurie, Hist, of F., 168). 
 
 The Prince of Wales was elected Grand Master and 
 Patron in 1805. and Ford Moira filled the position of 
 Acting (or virtual) Grand Master in 1806 and 1807. In 
 the latter vear a reconciliation was effected with the Fodge 
 of Kilwinning. The "Mutual Agreement" of the Fodge 
 of Scoon and Perth (i6,s8) was produced, but the Schaw 
 Statutes of 1599 {ante, 254) were not — probably for the 
 reason that their existence was at that time unknown. 
 Ultimately, it was agreed, that the Fodge of Kilwinning 
 should be placed at the head of the Scottish roll without 
 a number, and that her daughter Fodges should rank 
 according to the dates of their charters. This gave um- 
 brage to the Fodge of Edinburgh, whose supersession 
 by its ancient rival was not without influence in foment- 
 ing a spirit of discontent, which resulted in a new Schism, 
 and threatened at one time to lead to a multiplicity of 
 Grand Fodges. The breach, however, was not healed 
 until 1 8 1 3. Four years later the Grand Fodge of Scotland 
 renewed its former edict of 1799, respecting the degrees of 
 Masonry being restricted to three. 
 
 The laws or "Constitutions" were revised in 1S29, and 
 the Fund of the .Scottish Masonic Benevolence was estab- 
 lished in 1846. The Xew Freemasons' Hall, 98 George 
 Street, Edinburgh, was consecrated and inaugurated in 
 1859. In 1872 the Past Pilaster ceremonial of Installation 
 was recognized by the Grand Fodge, not for the purpose of 
 introducing a new degree into Freemasonry, but to 
 authorize the ritual of Installed Master as used in Eng- 
 land, and thereby remove the disqualification which pre- 
 vented Scottish Past Masters from being present at the 
 Installation of Masters in English Fodges. The number 
 of Fodges on the roll at the present time is 649, of which 
 20 are in Edinburgh, 394 in other parts of vScotland, and 
 235 in foreign stations. 
 
The Grand Lodge of Ireland. 447 
 
 New Regulations for the better government of the Free- 
 masons of Ireland were pubUshed in 1768. These 
 ordain that "Every Master and Warden at his first En- 
 trance [into the Grand Lodge] shall stand such Examina- 
 tion as the Grand Master . . . shall appoint" (IX.); 
 That, "Any Person who has been made a Mason in a 
 Clandestine Manner, contrary to the Rules of the Grand 
 Lodge, shall not ... sit in any Regular Lodge, until 
 such Lodge . . . shall have him first entered and passed 
 over the usual Courses over again, as if the same had 
 never been performed before' ' (XXV.) ; That, "No Army 
 Lodge on the Registry of this Kingdom, shall be charged 
 with . , . annual Contributions, except for the Time 
 they remain on Dublin Duty" (XXVI.); And, that "No 
 Army Lodge shall for the future make any Townsman 
 a Mason, where there is a registered Lodge held in any 
 Town where such Lodge do meet; and No Town's Lodge 
 shall make any Man in the Army a Mason, where there is 
 a warranted Lodge held in the Regiment, Troop or Com- 
 pany, or in the Quarters to which such Man belongs" 
 (XXVII. ). These Regulations eventually gave place 
 to The Constitution of FrEE-Masonry, or Ahiman Re- 
 ZON, published in 1807. Both Codes are printed by 
 Dr. Crawley in his Coementaria Hibernica (tii.). The 
 Laws passed in the interval between the two publications 
 are given in the later one, from which I extract the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 Oct. 1, 1789. — "That no Masonic transaction be inserted 
 in a newspaper by a brother, without permission from the 
 Grand Lodge. ' ' 
 
 In 1805, a schism blazed forth in the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland. It had smouldered since 1800, when Alexander 
 vSeton, an unscrupulous barrister, had been appointed 
 Deputy Grand Secretary, but without the additional 
 emoluments of Deputy Grand Treasurer, which he had 
 expected. Seton fomented local jealousies, seized the 
 Grand Lodge archives, and retained adverse possession of 
 
448 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the Grand Lodge premises. Many of the I./Ddges in the 
 North of Ireland followed his standard, and were joined 
 by others misled by his specious circulars. Driven from 
 Dublin in 1807, after a struggle, conducted with unseemly 
 virulence on his part, he organized at Dungannon a schis- 
 matic body, which he called the Grand Lodge of Ulster. 
 Worsted in a law suit, in which he sought to recover 
 damages from the Grand Lodge of Ireland for his ex- 
 pulsion, his influence rapidly waned, and the Grand 
 Officers whom he had attracted by misrepresentations, 
 repudiated the short-lived Masonic power. The final 
 blow was dealt in 18 14, when it was agreed between the 
 Grand Lodges of England and Ireland that no coun- 
 tenance should be shown to Seton's adherents. The 
 disaffected Lodges speedily returned to their obedience, 
 and the Grand Lodge of Ireland received their submission 
 with wisdom and toleration. 
 
 The roll of Irish Lodges probably reached its highest 
 figure about the year 1797, when scarcely a village in the 
 Kingdom was without its "Masonic Assembly." After- 
 wards, however, a period of dormancy set in, and out of a 
 total of 1 ,020 numbers in the calendar of 181 6, more than 
 one half are available fin accordance with the Irish 
 practice) for re-issue to New Todges. At the present 
 time of writing there are 423 Irish Lodges, of which 40 are 
 in Dublin, 333 in other parts of Ireland, 44 abroad, 
 and six in Military Corps. Of a grand total of at least 
 409 Ambulatory Lodges, which are known to have been 
 constituted by the Grand Lodges of the British Isles, it 
 may be remarked in conclusion, a much larger number 
 were warranted by the Irish than by any other Grand 
 Lodge. The influence exercised by these traveling 
 Ijodies was immense, and the general subject, though 
 lying outside the scope of the present, has been con- 
 sidered by me at some fulness, in a previous work [Mili- 
 iarv LoiUjcs). 
 
CHAPTER VIII, 
 
 FREEMASONRY IN El'ROPE. 
 
 The homely Freemasonry imported, from England 
 has been totally changed in every country in Europe, 
 either by the imposing ascendency of French brethren, 
 who are to be found everyivhere ready to instruct the 
 World, or by the importation of the doctrines, and 
 ceremonies, and ornaments of the Parisian Lodges. 
 
 — Pk(jkessor John Robison (1798). 
 
 France. 
 
 According; to the stream of Frencli v\ riters, all following 
 more or less blindly in the footsteps of Lalande, the cele- 
 brated astronomer, whose Franche-Mafonnerie appeared 
 in I 773, the first Lodge in France was founded by the Earl 
 of Derwentwater and other British Jacobites, at Paris, 
 in 1725. The last Earl of Derwentwater, it may be ob- 
 served, was James Radcliffe, executed for high treason in 
 1 7 16, but the title was assumed by his brother Charles, 
 who succeeded in escaping to France. The latter is said 
 to have been followed in the chair of "Grand Master" 
 in 1736 by Lord d'Harnouester, which is apparently a 
 corruption of " Darwentwater,' ' and, if so, will render the 
 story a little clearer by removing some of the obscurities 
 which have gathered round its text. For example, with 
 respect to the succession of Grand Masters, and if the 
 titular Earl of Darwentwater (according to the French 
 orthography) really figures in the list, he was probably 
 elected for the first time in, and is identical with the Lord 
 d'Harnouester of 1736. As .strengthening this supposi- 
 tion, though at the same time introducing a new element 
 
 29 44-'J 
 
450 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of confusion, I shall quote from a German publication of 
 1 744, which affirms that in 1 736 the Earl of Darwentwater 
 was chosen by the French Lodges to succeed James 
 Hector Maclean, a previous Grand Master. 
 
 Masonry encountered no opposition until 1737, when it 
 experienced some arbitrary treatment in Paris at the 
 hands of Herault, the Lieutenant of Police. The famous 
 Speech of the Chevalier Ramsay was delivered in the same 
 year. 
 
 The Bull of Pope Clement XII. had no effect in France, 
 but many attempts were made to ridicule Freemasonry in 
 the public journals and on the stage. 
 
 A great Masonic Festival was held at Luneville on June 
 24th, 1738, at which Lord d'Harnouester (or Derwent- 
 water) resigned his office of Grand Master, and the Due 
 d'Antin was chosen in his stead. The administration of 
 this nobleman is chiefly to be remembered in connection 
 with the profusion of so-called "Scots degrees" to which 
 I have referred in a previous chapter (VL). 
 
 The Due d'Aatin died on December 9th 1743, and on 
 December i ith Prince Louis de Bourbon, Count de 
 Clermont, was elected Grand Master. The first French 
 Code of Masonic Laws was published on the same day. 
 The Grand Lodge now assumed the title of Grande Loge 
 Anglaise de France. 
 
 Prince Louis remained at the head of the Craft until his 
 death in 1771. This period is associated with the in- 
 crease and development of the so-called Higher Degrees, 
 for example: Scottish Master, Clermont Chapter (1754), 
 Knights of the East (1756), and Emperors of the East and 
 West (1758). The last two degrees especially were pro- 
 ductive of infinite discord in the Grand Lodge, which 
 from 1755 had adopted the name of the Grande Loge dc 
 France. The "Emperors" constituted a second inde- 
 pendent Grand Lodge, and also among the " Knights of the 
 East" (who were mainly tradesmen) a schism arose, 
 resulting in the formation of a Sovereign Council, in i 762. 
 
Freemasonry in France. 451 
 
 By order of the Grand Master the Knights of the East 
 were suspended, and the suspension lasted until 1771. 
 The number of Lodges in Paris at this time was about 80. 
 There were others in the Departments, for instance, three 
 at Rouen, and several at Bordeaux. 
 
 The next period commences with the nouiinal rule of 
 the Due de Chartres, afterwards the Due d'Orleans — 
 "Citizen Egalit^" — and ends with the comi lete outward 
 extinction of Freemasonry in the stormy days of the 
 Revolution. The Due de Luxembourg was elected 
 Substitute-General. Attempts were next i; ide to amal- 
 gamate the so-called "Higher Degrees" w, h the Grand 
 Lodge, and in March, 1773, the Grande 1 'ge Naiionale 
 de France was established. After this was accomplished, 
 the Due de Chartres was installed as Grand Master, and on 
 December 27th, 1773, the Grand Loge Naii'inale became 
 the Grand Orient de France. At the same date, a com- 
 mission (which never entered upon its duli.?s) was ap- 
 pointed to report on the "Higher Degrees," and in the in- 
 terim all Lodges were directed to work ui the three 
 symbolical degrees only. Nevertheless, (he so-called 
 " Higher Degrees" continued to flourish, for example, the 
 Scots Philosophic Rite — a school of Hermeticism — at 
 Avignon; the Elus Coens; the Confrat Social; the Acad- 
 emic des Vrais Magons; the Philalethes and the Phila- 
 delphians] the Rose-Croix Chapter, at Arra: ; and finally 
 Cagliostro's Rit Egyptien. For the purpose of controlling 
 these and some other systems (or rites) the Grand Orient 
 decided to create a Chanibre des Grades (1782). 
 
 At the in.stance of A. L. Roettiers de Montaleau, the 
 leading Mason of his time, a Grande Chapitie General de 
 France was formed in 1784, which, after amalgamating 
 "vith a rival Grand Chapter, was definitely eslablished. in 
 1787, as the Chapitre Metropolitain, with the right to grant 
 the Higher Degrees. The Grand Orient had reduced these 
 Degrees to four, thereby investing with its official sanc- 
 tion the Rit Modenie, in accordance with which most 
 
452 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 of the Freach Lodges work at the present day. The 
 Chapitre Mttropolitain, it may be remarked, considered 
 an aggregate of eighty-one degrees as desirable. About 
 the end of the period under examination, the Rose- 
 Croix entered upon a new lease of life at Rouen, and 
 maintained a separate existence by the side of the Grand 
 Orient . 
 
 The troublous times of the Revolution put an end to 
 Masonic activity. The greater number of the Lodges 
 closed their doors. The Grand Master, now "Citizen 
 Egalite," publicly renounced Freemasonry in February, 
 and was guillotined in November, 1793. In the following 
 year there was hardlv a sign of Freemasonry anywhere in 
 France. 
 
 Wlien quieter times came, Roettiers de Montaleau (to 
 whom the reader has already been introduced), from the 
 remnants of the old Lodges, constructed, not as Grand 
 Master, but as Grand Venerable, a new Grand Orient, in 
 1795. This institution was sanctioned by the Police 
 authorities in 1798, and in the following year the Grand 
 Lodge, i.e , the governing body of the French Craft, prior 
 to the formation of the Grand Orient of 1773, after a 
 spasmodic revival in 7796, was virtually absorbed by its 
 latest rival, and the one and only Grand Orient (or Grand 
 Lodge) was solemnly proclaimed and installed. 
 
 By the side of the Grand Orient, however, two other 
 Masonic powers were speedily established. In 1804 — 
 September 22nd — Comte De Grasse Tilly established, 
 at Paris, a Supreme Council ^,2,° of a new body calling 
 itself the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. This, in- 
 deed, was descended in a direct line from the "Em- 
 perors" of 175S, and it is possible, from the Chapter of 
 Clermont of 1754. But the highest portion of the new 
 and imposing Masonic superstructure was undoubtedly 
 constructed at Charleston, South Carolina, in iSoi. 
 
 A Grand Scots Lodge was formed — October 22nd — bv 
 the vSupreme Council 33°, which elected Prince Louis 
 
Freemasonry in France. 453 
 
 Buonaparte as its Grand Master, But when Prince 
 Joseph Buonaparte — subsequently King of Naples- 
 was nominated as the head of the Grand Orient, the ihree 
 powers were resolved into 0!7e, by treaty of December 3rd 
 in the same year. Marshals Massena and Kellerman were 
 chiefly instrumental in bringing about this result. In 
 1805, however, the pact was dissolved, and while the 
 Grand Scots Lodge had drawn its last breath, the Grand 
 Orient and the Supreme Council of France have since 
 existed side by side. All subsequent attempts at union 
 have failed. At the request of the Emperor Napoleon 
 (whose membership of the Craft is a disputed point) 
 the Arch-Chancellor, Prince Cambac^res was appointed 
 Grand Mattre Adjoint of the Grand Orient in 1805, and 
 elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme 
 Council 33°, in 1806. Thus all strife was avoided with- 
 out a formal union of the two associations. Masonry 
 flourished exceedingly, and the calendar of 1814, in which 
 year Cambac^res resigned both positions, shows that 886 
 Lodges and 337 Chapters were then actually at work. 
 
 After 1 8 14, the office of Grand Master of the Grand 
 Orient was not again filled up, but simply Grands Maitres 
 Adjoints were appointed, until 1852. During this period 
 the distinction between the Grand Orient as a democratic, 
 and the Supreme Council as an aristrocratic institution, 
 became more and more marked. A new temple for the 
 Grand Orient was inaugurated at Paris in 1843. 
 
 The political events of 1848 led to many attacks upon 
 Freemasonry, in which, tou, the cleri'^al party joined, 
 consequently the Lodges were looked upon with suspicion 
 by the Government. For this reason the Grand Orient — 
 January 9th, 1852 — elected as Grand Master Prince 
 Lucien Murat, wlio was a very active ruler for a time, but 
 resigned in 1861. He was succeeded by Marshal Mag- 
 nan, who was appointed by the Emperor Louis Napoleon, 
 though he was not even a Mason at the time, and had to be 
 initiated before entering upon the duties of his office. 
 
454 History of Freemason) y. 
 
 Magnan died in 1865, and another soldier. Cieneral 
 Mellinet, followed him in the chair. The position of 
 Grand Master was abolished in i87i,andat theheadof the 
 Grand Orient there has since been a President de V Ordre. 
 It only remains to be added that in consequence of 
 the removal by the Grand Orient from its " Book of Con- 
 stitutions,' ' of the paragraph affirming the existence of a 
 "Great Architect of the Universe," the Grand Lodge of 
 England appointed, in December, 1877, a Special Com- 
 mittee of eleven (of which Lord Leigh and the present 
 writer are the only surviving members) to consider the 
 proper course to be pursued. Two months later, the 
 Committee, in their report, declared the "alteration" to 
 be, in their judgment, " opposed to the traditions, practice 
 and feelings of all true and genuine Masons from the 
 earliest to the present time." 
 
 Similar action was taken in other jurisdictions, and 
 wherever the English language is spoken, the Grand 
 Orient of France has long been regarded as having parted 
 with all claim to be looked upon as a Masonic body. 
 There are altogether 330 Lodges, 50 Chapters, and 19 
 Councils at work under the Grand Orient. Of the Lodges 
 62 are in Paris and its outskirts; 217 in the Departments; 
 15 in Algiers and Tunis; 13 in the French Colonies; and 23 
 in foreign countries. The membership is about : 8,000. 
 Under the auspices of the Supreme Council, there has 
 of late been established a Grande Logc de France, which 
 works in the three Craft degrees, while the Supreme 
 Council itself takes sole charge of the 4° — 33°. Tlie new- 
 Grand Lodge is desirous of putting a stop to the discussion 
 in Lodges of political and religious questions, a prictice 
 which distinguishes the Masonry of France from tliat of 
 the generality of other countries, where the consideration 
 of such questions is forbidden. The atlieistical doctrine of 
 the Grand Orient is not shared by the Supreme Couticil of 
 France. On the roll of the Grande Loge de France are 
 69 Lodges, of which 28 are in Paris and its outskirts; 25 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 453 
 
 in the Departments; 9 in the French Colonies and 7 in 
 foreign countries. 
 
 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 The first mention of Freemasonry in connection with 
 Germany, is the appointment of Fredericus du Thorn as 
 Provincial G.M. for the circle of IvOwer Saxony, by the 
 Duke of Norfolk in 1 729-30, but this appears to have been 
 a sort of honorary appointment, as Du Thom is a person 
 entirely unknown in German Masonic history. 
 
 Next, the Earl of Strathmore, 1733, is stated to have 
 granted to "eleven German Masons, good brothers," a 
 deputation to open a Lodge at Hamburg ; but the deputa- 
 tion was evidently not acted upon, as no trace of a Lodge 
 between 1733- 1737 can be found. 
 
 The first German Lodge was established at Hamburg 
 on December 6th, 1737, under Charles Sarry. It con- 
 sisted of 7 members then, and no mention is made of any 
 English Warrant. In point of fact, the W. M., Luttmann, 
 only had it registered in England in October, 1740, and he 
 was a few days later appointed Prov. G. Master. On his 
 return to Hamburg, the Lodge — in July, 1741 — took the 
 name of Absalom. 
 
 This first German Lodge had the honor of initiating at 
 Brunswick, on the 14th of August, 1738, the Crown 
 Prince of Prussia (later Fredrick the Great), who there- 
 upon opened a private Lodge of his own at his castle of 
 Rheinsberg. This is the starting point of Freema.sonry in 
 Prussia. The King's Lodge ceased, when Frederick left 
 for the first Silesian War, but with the King's permission 
 another was then — September 13th, 1740 — formed at 
 Berlin. Out of tliis Lodge originated the oldest of the 
 Prussian Grand Lodges : The Grand National Mother 
 Lodge of the Three Globes, in Berlin. 
 
456 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE GRAND NATIONAL MOTHER LODGE OF THE THREE 
 GLOBES IN BERLIN. 
 
 Thib was originally formed a\ Berlin, as a private Lodge, 
 on September 13th, 1740, under the name of " Aux Trois 
 Globes." It soon erected Lodges itself at Meiningen, 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, Breslau and Halle, after the 
 fashion of those times, and thereupon styled itself, from 
 June 24th, 1744, the Grand Royal Mother Lodge. 
 It also founded two Lodges at Berlin : EinTracht, which 
 is the oldest of the Berlin daughter Lodges (1754), and 
 Aux Trois Colombes (1760). The latter is now the 
 Grand Lodge Royal York (No. III.) After this time 
 there was a great confusion of Masonic systems at Berlin ; 
 and in August, 1766, the Rite of the Strict Observance 
 was adopted. In 1772 tlie title was altered to Grand 
 National Mother Lodge, when Prince Frederick 
 August, of Brunswick, was appointed Grand Master, who 
 remained in that position till 1799. In 1772 the Prince's 
 uncle, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, was appointed 
 Grand Master of the Strict Observance, and 
 there can be no doubt that when the Convent of 
 Wilhelmsbad was held, in 1782, the Three Globes 
 expected the centre of gravity to be shifted to Berlin. 
 But the Convent decided otherwise, Ferdinand remained 
 as nominal Grand Master of the Strict Observance, and 
 the Three Globes formally declared themselves inde- 
 pendent of that Order in 1783. 
 
 In 1797 a new system of 7 degrees was adopted, which, 
 with a few alterations, is still in force, and forms the basis 
 of the present Masonic edifice; it was revised in 1883. 
 
 In 1 798 a Royal Edict was issued granting certain privi- 
 leges to the three Prussian Grand Lodges. In 1799 the 
 present Masonic Hall was bought. In 1839 the Grand 
 Lodge joined the "Prussian Grand Master's Union," and 
 
Freemasonry iv Germany. 457 
 
 in 1873, together with the two other Prussian Grand 
 Lodges, the " Grand Lodge League of Germany. ' ' Under 
 this Grand Lodge are 134 St. John's {i.e , Craft) Lodges, 
 69 Scottish Lodges, 354 Benevolent Institutions, and 
 14,272 active members; 116 of the St. John's Lodges are 
 domiciled in Prussia proper, 16 in other German States 
 I in the Brazils, and i in China, 
 
 II. 
 
 THE GRAND N.A.TION.I1L LODGE OF GERM.VN FREEMASONS 
 
 IN BERLIN. 
 
 This Grand Lodge was founded by J.W. von Zinnendorf , 
 one of the most remarkable Masons that ever existed, on 
 December 27th, 1770. Zinnendorf was instrumental in 
 bringing about the connection between the Three 
 Globes and the Strict Observance. He was Grand 
 Master of the former, and a warm supporter of the latter, 
 but in 1766 he renounced the Strict Observance, and in 
 the following year retired altogether from the Three 
 Globes. Zinnendorf had obtained from C. F. von 
 Eckleff (1765) the Swedish Ritual, and also a warrant of 
 constitution, on the strength of which he founded — com- 
 mencing in 1768 — about twelve Lodges. These, in 1770, 
 formed a new Grand Lodge. 
 
 A compact with the Grand I^odge of England, by which 
 (Frankfort alone dissenting) all Germany was virtually 
 handed over to the Zinnendorf body, was concluded in 
 1773, and the new Grand Lodge obtained the pro- 
 tection of Frederick the Great in 1774. It also benefited 
 by the Royal Edict of 1798, already mentioned. Dis- 
 putes with the Grand Lodge of Sweden arose, but were 
 eventually settled, and a formal treaty between the two 
 Masonic powers was concluded in 181 9. A Revision of 
 the Ritual took place about 1840, but only so far as words 
 and expressions were concerned— nothing else was al- 
 
458 History of Freemasoiiiy. 
 
 tered. Since then the assertion that the Society of 
 Freemasons is directly descended from the Order of 
 the Knights Templar has been dropped, and a spiritual 
 succession is now only maintained. In 1840 Prince 
 William of Prussia (later Emperor Wilhelm I.) was 
 initiated, and in' 1853 his son (later Emperor Frederic II.) 
 joined the Society. The latter, as "Master of the Or- 
 der," presided over the Grand Lodge from i860 until 
 1874. In 1889 Prince Frederick Leopold of Prussia 
 was initiated, in 1894 ^i^ '^'^'^s appointed Protector of the 
 three Prussian Grand Lodges, and in 1895 "Master of the 
 Order' ' (or Grand Master). In this jurisdiction there are 
 7 chapters, 28 St. Andrew's Lodges, 11 1 St. John's Lodges, 
 148 Benevolent Institutious, and 11,764 active members; 
 84 of the Craft Lodges are in Prussia proper, and the 
 others in the different German States. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE GRA.N'D LODGE OF PRUSSIA, CALLED ROYAL YORK OF 
 FRIENDSHir, IxX BERLIN. 
 
 The Three Globes founded a Lodge in Berlin, " Aux 
 Trois Colombes," in 1760, which, from July 27th, 1765, 
 when Edward, Duke of York (brother of King George III.), 
 was initiated in it, took the name of RoyalE York de 
 l'Amitie. The Lodge then obtained a Warrant of 
 Constitution from England, and in 1768 severed its con- 
 nection with the Three Globes. It next founded 
 several daughter Lodges, and on June nth, 1798, divided 
 into four Lodges, who then constituted themselves a 
 Grand Lodge of Prussia, but the present name was only 
 assumed in 1 845. All matters concerning Ritual are con- 
 trolled by a committee, called the "Innermost Orient," 
 but their recommendations must be approved by the 
 Grand Lodge. When the Grand Lodge of Hanover was 
 closed in 1867 most of the Lodges in that jurisdiction 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 459 
 
 joined the Royal York, and six of these still work ac- 
 cording to their old Ritual. There are in this system 12 
 Inner Orients, 67 St. John's Lodges, 124 Benevolent 
 Institutions, and 6,300 active members; 59 Lodges are in 
 Prtissia proper and 8 in other German States. 
 
 l\. 
 
 THE GK.XND LODGE OF HAMBURG. 
 
 The oldest Cicrman Lodge was founded at Hamburg on 
 December 6th, 1737, and its Master was, on October 30th, 
 1 740, appointed Prov Grand Master of Hamburg and 
 Lower Saxony. As such, Liittmann legitimated Lodge 
 St. George, and constituted other Lodges at Brunswick, 
 Hanover, Gottingen, Celle, Copenhagen, Oldenburg, and 
 Schwerin, within about ten years. When the Strict 
 Observance spread over Germany, the then Prov. Grand 
 Master, Janisch (in 1765), joined the Order without how- 
 e\er entirely severing his connection with the Grand 
 Lodge in London. In 1774 the Lodge Emanuel, and in 
 1776 Frrdin.\nde Caroline were constituted at Ham- 
 burg. 
 
 Ferdinand of the Rock, in the same city, also 
 joined the Prov. Grand Lodge. In 1783, when the 
 Strict Observance practically ceased to exist, it was 
 thought expedient to return to the old system of Free- 
 masonry of 1737, and in July, 1786, Dr. von Exter was 
 officially installed as Prov. Grand Master. F. L. Schroe- 
 der, one of the most prominent German Masons, was then 
 elected Master of Lodge Em.xnuel, and he began his 
 great work of reformation. He built up the present 
 system, which consists of the three Craft Degrees only, a 
 Ritual, the centenary of which was celebrated on June 
 29th, 1901, and the constitution of the Grand Lodge, 
 which is nothing but a representative body of all the 
 subordinate Lodges, no other votes being allowed except 
 th? Grand Master's. In 1811, vi'hen the power of Na- 
 
460 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 poleon was at its height, and all the States on the Con- 
 tinent were subservient to his will, the Grand Lodge of 
 Hamburg declared its independence, and it has since 
 worked as a Sovereign Masonic body. It became a mem- 
 ber of the Grand Lodge League of Germany m 1873. 
 Hamburg has particularly cultivated the establishment 
 of German Lodges "beyond the seas," and from 1893, 
 when the celebrated Edict of 179S was adjudged to be 
 obsolete and out of force, Prussian territory has also been 
 opened to the missionary efforts of this Grand Lodge. 
 It rules over 43 Lodges, i Prov. Grand Lodge (at Ber- 
 lin), 60 Benevolent Institutions, and 4,000 active mem- 
 bers ; 6 of the Lodges are at Hamburg, 9 in Prussia proper, 
 20 in different German vStates, i at Copenhagen, i at 
 Constantinople, and 6 in South America. 
 
 THE GRAND X.VTIONAL LODGE OF SAXONY IN DRESDEN. 
 
 The first Lodge in Saxon territory was founded in 1738 
 by Count Rutowsky, "Aux Trois Aigles," at Dresden; 
 others soon followed, and formed a Grand Lodge, which, 
 after an existence of some years, joined the Strict 
 Observance, in 1762. Benevolence has always been a 
 special feature of Freemasonry in Saxony, and con- 
 spicuousl}' so in times of famine (1772). Another 
 characteristic is the support it has extended to the " Fre- 
 masons' Institute," a large School founded in 1773, and 
 still flourishing. Towards the close of the i8th century 
 the Government was opposed to the Craft, but the worst 
 was averted, although some of the Lodges stopped work 
 for a while. In 1 805 negotiations began for the formation 
 of a Saxon Grand Lodge, which was successfully con- 
 cluded in 181 1. Some of the Lodges were afterwards 
 compelled to forsake it when parts of the country were, 
 in 1 81 5, at the Vienna Congress, handed over to Prussia. 
 Two Lodges are still independent : Minerva and Bald- 
 win — both at Leipsic. There are 23 Lodges, 112 Benevo- 
 lent Institutions, and 4,414 active members. Some of the 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 461 
 
 Saxon Lodges are the largest in Germany (as regards 
 membership); for example, at Dresden, The Three 
 Swords, 696; and the Golden Apple, 631 ; and at Leipsic 
 the Apollo, 374 members. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE GRAND LODGE OF THE SUN IN BAYREUTH. 
 
 In 1 741, the Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg- 
 Culmbach established a Todge of his own at Bayreuth, 
 which, in 1744, took the title of Grand Lodge, and 
 founded Lodges at Erlangen and Anspach. It afterwards 
 joined the Strict Observance, and when the principality 
 was united with that of Anspach (1769) the " Directo- 
 rium' ' was shifted to the latter place. When both fell to 
 the Prussian Crown (1799) Masonry languished, but 
 again revived under a Provincial Grand Lodge, estab- 
 lished by the Royal York of Friendship. 
 
 This connection, however, was of short duration, be- 
 cause in 1 8 10 Bayreuth was given to the Crown of Bavaria, 
 and the Lodges thereupon formed first of all an indepen- 
 dent Provincial Grand Lodge, and, in 1811, assumed the 
 title of an independent Grand Lodge. Down to 1857 
 little progress was made, but since that date a number 
 of highly intellectual Grand Masters, such as Feu.stel, 
 Bluntschli, and Lowe, have done excellent work. The 
 Ritual is that of Fessler, with slight alterations and im- 
 provements. Some Lodges, indeed, work in a different 
 manner, but this is sanctioned by the Grand Lodge on the 
 condition that once a year the official Ritual is used. 
 In the Freiburg Lodge, at Baden, a Book with blank 
 leaves lies on the altar instead of the Bible. It is main- 
 tained that while a Mason is obliged to believe in the g.a. 
 O.T.U., he has the right to do so according to his own 
 fashion, and the blank leaves are intended to represent 
 that he is at libertv to inscribe his own particular belief 
 thereupon. In 1882 a Provincial Grand Lodge (which 
 
462 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 now has 5 Lodges) was established in Norway, which a1 
 the time caused some opposition, but these Lodges are 
 now fully recognized, and the Grand Lodge of Norway 
 works harmoniously with them. There are 34 Lodges, 
 52 Benevolent Institutions, and 2,842 active members. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE GRAND MOTHER LODGE OF THE ECLECTIC FREEMASONS' 
 UNION, IN FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN. 
 
 The first regularly constituted Lodge at Frankfort 
 appears to have been the Union (still existing), which was 
 formally established in 1742. It formed a Lodge at 
 Marburg- in 1745, and another at Mayence, in 1758. 
 Greater activity prevailed from 1761, and particularly 
 in 1764, when the Emperor Joseph II. was crowned. In 
 1 765 the Lodge was requested to join the Strict Observ- 
 ance, and some of the daughter Lodges did so, but 
 Frankfort held aloof, and J. P. Gogel obtained a patent 
 as Prov. Grand Master from London. When ni 1773 the 
 Grand Lodge of England concluded a Treaty with von 
 Zinnendorf, whereby all the Lodges in Germany holding 
 English warrants were handed over to his Grand Lodge, 
 Frankfort demurred, and this was the cause of a com- 
 plete rupture with London in 1782, when Gogel's suc- 
 cessor (Passavant) was not confirmed by the Grand 
 Master of England, who, in lieu thereof, referred the 
 matter to Berlin. In the same year the Convent at Wil- 
 helmsbad had taken place. The Strict Observance was 
 in extremis, and a number of Lodges which were dissatis- 
 fied with the position of affairs, issued a circular letter 
 in March, 1783, which was signed by the Prov. Cirand 
 Lodges of Frankfort and Wetzlar, recommending the 
 formation of what was at once called the Eclectic Union. 
 This arrangement continued until 1823, when the Pro- 
 vincial Grand, assumed the title of a Grand Lodge, owing, 
 it is said, to some dispute that had arisen concerning 
 
'A 
 
 J I 
 
 
 
 i- 
 
 t.' 
 Pi 
 
464 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the admission of non-Christians, and partly because the 
 Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt wanted all Lodges in 
 his Grand Duch}' to be under Darmstadt. "High De- 
 grees" are absolutely forbidden by the Constitutions. 
 Since 1814 the Oath has been recited but not taken. 
 There are 21 Lodges, of which 6 are at Frankfort, 6 in 
 Prussia, 9 in different German States, 53 Benevolent 
 Institutions, and 3,000 active members. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE GR.\ND FREEM.\SONS' LODGE OF CONCORD IN DARM- 
 STADT. 
 
 This Grand Lodge was formed in 1846 by the Lodges 
 Karl of the Dawning Light, Frankfort, St. John 
 T'.iE Evangelist, Darmstadt and Friends of Concord, 
 Mayence, former members of the Eclectic Union, who 
 were opposed to the ' 'Humanitarian' 'priniciple, which was 
 then, as it is now, a leading dogma of the Frankfort Craft. 
 Karl afterwards (1878) rejoined the Eclectic Union. 
 In 1859 the Grand Duke gave instructions that the Lodges 
 at Alzey, Giessen, Offenbach, and Worms should join the 
 Grand Lodge of Darmstadt. The two Lodges at Frei- 
 berg (1862) and Bingen {1867) were also formed under 
 the same obedience, so that all the Lodges, with 17 
 Benevolent Institutions, and 742 active members, on 
 Hessian Territory, belong to one Grand Lodge. 
 
 L\. 
 
 THE FIVE INDEPE.^^DENT LODGES OF GERMANY. 
 
 Besides the 8 Grand Lodges already alluded to, there 
 are 5 Lodges in Germany which owe allegiance to no 
 Grand Lodge, and are acknowledged as regular Masonic 
 bodies by the whole fraternity. The}' are doing good 
 Masonic work, and are not likely to give up their indepen- 
 dence, unless the Masonrv of Germanv should ever become 
 
/tov /\)T'tCa/t.'l''l/CA^^fr--t-'v--oC_^ 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 465 
 
 sufficiently consolidated to admit of the formation of a 
 United (or General) Grand Lodge. They possess an ag- 
 gregate of 69 Benevolent Institutions, and a total mem- 
 bership of 1397. 
 
 I. 
 
 MINERVA OF THE THREE PALMS, LEIPSIC. 
 
 The Lodge was founded in 1741, under the name of the 
 Three Compasses, and after sundry vicissitudes of for- 
 tune, assumed its present title, and joined the Strict 
 Observance in 1766. But, tiring of the folly, about 
 1782, it declared itself independent, and has remained so. 
 Nevertheless, a good deal of the strict discipline of the old 
 Templar regime is still to be found in its organization, 
 which consists of the three degrees, directory, inner circle, 
 and three "overmasters," one of whom is the Master of 
 the Lodge. The Ritual was originally that of the Tem- 
 plar System, but it has been repeatedly altered and mod- 
 ified, particularly in 1829. Tliere are 461 members. 
 
 II. 
 
 BALDWIN OF THE LINDEN, LEIPSIC. 
 
 Eleven Freemasons — among them some nine members 
 of Minerva — were the founders of this Lodge, which was 
 constituted in 1776 by the Grand National Lodge at 
 Berlin. In 1807 it declared its independence, but in 1809 
 accepted a new constitution from Hamburg. In 18 15 it 
 joined the Grand Lodge of Saxony, but left it in 1824, and 
 since then has maintained its independence. It has a 
 membership of 396. The three degrees only are worked. 
 
 III. 
 
 ARCHIMEDES OF THE THREE TRACING BOARDS, IN 
 ALTENBURG. 
 
 This Lodge was founded in 1742, and declared itself 
 independent in 1786. From 1788 to 1793 it joined — 
 30 
 
466 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 temporarily — the Eclectic Union. With the begiiming 
 of the 19th century a period of great activity set in; the 
 old oath was done away with, and new constitutions were 
 drawn up. The Lodge has worked in the German lan- 
 guage from the day of its constitution, and is probably the 
 oldest lyodge in existence that has done so. The member- 
 ship is 280. The Benevolent Institutions are very richly 
 endowed ; one of them was granted ^."5,000 by the town on 
 the day of the 1 50th Jubilee of the Lodge. Three degrees 
 only are worked. The brilliant Altenburg School of 
 Masonic historians and writers is inseparably connected 
 with this Lodge. 
 
 IV. 
 
 .\RCHIMEDES OF ETERNAL UNION .\T GERA. 
 
 This was a kind of branch of the Altenburg Lodge, by 
 which body it was formally constituted in 1804. Several 
 Grand Lodges, however, refused to acknowledge its 
 "regularit}', " so an English warrant was obtained in 1806 
 through the good offices of the Prov. Grand Lodge at 
 Hamburg. But when the latter, from a Provincial, 
 developed into a Grand Lodge (1811), the Grand Lodge 
 of England struck off her roll all German Lodges under the 
 former Provincial jurisdiction. The Lodge at Gera 
 thereupon became independent, and has remained so ever 
 since. The Princes of Reuss have always been members 
 and patrons of this Lodge. The present Master is Mr. 
 Robert Fischer, the well-known President of the LTnion of 
 German Freemasons. The membership is 195. 
 
 V. 
 
 KARL OF THE WREATH OF RUE, AT HILDBURGSHAUSEN. 
 
 Karl, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was a prominent 
 Freemason and Prov. Grand Master of Hanover (under 
 England). At his instance this Lodge was established 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 467 
 
 in 1786, and it received a Warrant of Constitution from 
 London in 1787. Duke Frederic of Saxe-Hildburgs- 
 hausen (son-in-law of Duke Karl) was the first Senior 
 Warden of the Lodge, and he afterwards assumed the 
 Protectorate, granting many privileges, and himself in- 
 itiating several members of the Ducal family. The con- 
 nection with England was severed during the time of the 
 Napoleonic wars, and the Lodge became independent. 
 Members, 60. 
 
 THE UNION OF GERMAN FREEMASONS. 
 
 This is not a Lodge, but rather a club or circle of Free- 
 masons associating for literary and benevolent purposes. 
 The original idea was the consideration and formation of 
 reformatory proposals to be taken up by the Lodges whose 
 members are members of the club; also to foster the idea 
 of a general union of all Lodges. All Masons in good 
 standing can become members by paying an annual sub- 
 scription of 3s. The Board of Management calls an an- 
 nual meeting at one of the towns where a Lodge is estab- 
 lished ; these meetings take place without Ritual or Mason- 
 ic forms. The members, who number about 3,000, are 
 drawn from all tlie German Systems. 
 
 THE GERMAN HIGH-DEGREES. 
 
 Out of the eight German Grand Lodges, five, viz., 
 Hamburg, Saxony, Bayreuth, Frankfort, and Darmstadt 
 (this is the order of seniority), practice none but the three 
 Craft degrees. The three Prussian Grand Lodges work 
 as follows: The Grand NaTionae Lodge (No. 11), 10 de- 
 grees; the Three Globes (No. I.), 7 degrees; and the 
 Royal York fNo. III.), 3 degrees, together with a vir- 
 tual fourth, Schottischer Meister (Innermost Orient). 
 Grand Lodge No. 11. uses the expression "Higher De- 
 grees;" the Three Globes call them "Steps of Know- 
 ledge," which is a distinction without a difi'erence, as 
 separate initiations for each of the steps take place; and 
 
468 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the Royal York practises the 4th degree as a sort of 
 " Royal Arch. " It is from the members of the 4th de- 
 gree that the " Innermost Orient " of Grand Lodge No. III. 
 is formed, a committee by which all matters concerning 
 dogma and ritual are controlled. 
 
 A peculiarity of the German High Degrees is, that they 
 form part and parcel of the organization of the Grand 
 lyodge. In England, the Grand Lodge exercises a close 
 supervision over the three Craft degrees (and the Royal 
 Arch), but everything additional to these is under the 
 exclusive control of a totally distinct organization. Thus 
 the three degrees are thoroughly independent of the 
 "higher degrees." None of the oiBcers of the Grand 
 Lodge are bound by law to have higher degrees, and the 
 higher degrees have no veto (through their representa- 
 tives) in matters decided by the Grand Lodge. In the 
 German Grand Lodges, Nos. I. and II., above mentioned, 
 the position is exactly reversed. 
 
 The System of the Grand National Lodge (No. II.) 
 consists of ID degrees. Of these i to 3 form the St. John's 
 Lodge, 4 and 5 the St. Andrew's Lodge, 6 to 9 the Chap- 
 ter. The loth degree is only given at Berlin, as a sort of 
 Honorary Degree; it is called Apprentice of Perfection; 
 its distinctive outward mark is a red cross worn round the 
 neck, and the members are st3'led "Kmights of the Red 
 Cross. " 
 
 The Grand Lodge transacts all business of the 5 degrees. 
 At the head of the Grand Lodge is the Grand Master, 
 assisted by his grand officers. The Chapter transacts all 
 business of the de.grees from No. 6 to No. 10, and all 
 matters of System and Ritual are exclusively within its 
 control. There are four kinds of Chapters — those who 
 work 6 and 7; 6, 7, 8; 6, 7, 8, 9; and the Grand Chapter 
 Indissolubilis at Berlin. At the head of the whole 
 System is the " Ordensmeistcr" (Master of the Order), who 
 at the present time is Prince Frederick Leopold of Prussia 
 
 The System of the Three Globes consists of 7 degrees 
 
Freemasonry in Germany. 469 
 
 I to 3, St. John's L,odge; 4, General Scottish Lodge; 5 to 
 7, Chapter or Inner Orient. Beyond that point the 
 Grand Lodge consists of no more than 63 and no less than 
 2,=i members, who are appointed out of the members re- 
 siding at Berlin or its immediate neighborhood. Once a 
 year all Masters of Lodges are summoned to Berlin for 
 the Session of Grand Lodge (in May ). The Grand Lodge 
 is governed by the "Union Directory," consisting of 7 
 members elected out of members of the 7th degree. At 
 the head of the "Union Directory" is the "National 
 Grand Master" and his Deputy. The " Union Directory" 
 is the Representative and Executive Power of the Grand 
 Lodge. To it are also specially confided all matters of 
 System and Ritual; it is officially styled "Keeper, Im- 
 prover, and Dispenser of Masonic Knowledge." All de- 
 cisions on the above points are subject to its veto. There 
 is also a "Legislative Assembly," which meets once a 
 year; its decisions are, however, subject to the confirma- 
 tion of the " Union Directory. " 
 
 The three Prussian Grand Lodges have come to an 
 understanding that their brethren of the higher degrees 
 can attend the respective meetings in all of the three sys- 
 tems. As a consequence of the high degrees none but 
 Christians are admitted to the membership of the Grand 
 National Lodge and the Three Globes; and as a con- 
 sequence of the understanding above alluded to, the 
 Royal York has lately issued a circular to its Lodges to 
 the effect that candidates for initiation are to be reminded 
 that none but Christians can attain the 4th degree in that 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 These so-called higli degrees, in the way they are at 
 present worked at Berlin, are a most serious obstacle in 
 the way of the unification of German Masonry, Of course 
 they are not tlie only one; there is also a certain jealousy 
 among the different Grand Lodges. It is often asserted 
 that this feeling only exists in the smaller Grand Lodges, 
 which, however, seems to be a mistake. The smaller 
 
47U History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Grand Lodges would more easily give their consent to 
 form a single "National Grand Lodge" than the three 
 larger ones, who are more tenacious of their position and 
 influence. 
 
 Thus there is no rallying point at present. But besides 
 this, the five Grand Lodges that work no high degrees 
 cannot see that they would improve their position, their 
 Masonic knowledge, and general co-operation, e".!cn if a 
 National Grand Lodge of all Craft Lodges was formed. 
 This would only be an outu'ard unification. The difficulty 
 would still remain, that the greater part of the Lodges 
 thus united would not be independent in their action and 
 decisions, but amenable, as at present under the I-'russian 
 Grand I^odges, to outside control. On the other hand, 
 the larger Grand Lodges have stated, through their most 
 prominent brethren, that they cannot do without the 
 higher degrees which they now have. The Grand 
 National Lodge (No. IL) has said: "As in the human 
 bod}^ the blood circulates through the whole body, so 
 with us the fund of knowledge circulates from the higher 
 to the lower degrees, and you cannot sever the con- 
 nections between all our degrees. You cannot cut ofi" a 
 man's head nor even his legs without mortally injuring 
 his vitality, and just as little can you cut off one of our 
 degrees." The Three Globes have made a similar 
 declaration, to the effect that they cannot do without the 
 higher degrees, that practically Masonry is an unlimited 
 field, although thay admit at the same time that the whole 
 of Masonic knowledge is contained in the degrees of En- 
 tered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason. In 
 conferring these — the St. John's or Craft — degrees, the 
 CTcrman Lodges concur in essentials, while difi'ering to a 
 considerable extent in forms and methods. Hence a 
 variety of rituals are in use. It is also wurthv of remark, 
 that the German Ma.sons, with a scrupulous fidelitv, have 
 adhered to the manner of imparting the secrets of the first 
 two degrees, as practised under the Regular Grand Lodge 
 
Freemasonry in the Austrian Empire. 471 
 
 of England, prior to its Union with the "Ancients" 
 (or Schismatics), in 1813. 
 
 AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY. 
 
 A Lodge — The Three Stars — is said to have been 
 established at Prague by Count F. A. Sporck, afterwards 
 Governor of Bohemia, on returning from his travels in 1726, 
 or at all events prior to 1729. Other Lodges were sub- 
 sequently constituted from Prague, in Galicia, Hungary, 
 Luxembourg, Styria, and Moravia. 
 
 The first Vienna Lodge — The Three Firing Glasses — 
 was established in 1742, but closed, by order of Maria 
 Theresa, in the following year. The members, however, 
 among whom was her husband, Francis of Lorraine (after- 
 wards Emperor) continued to meet in secret. A second 
 Lodge — The Three Hearts — was formed at the Austrian 
 capital, in 1754; and a third. Royal Militaire, in 1761. 
 Maria Theresa regarded Freemasonry with disfavor, but 
 the influence of her Consort was sufficiently potent to pro- 
 cure for it a certain measure of toleration, though power- 
 less to protect it from occasional outbursts of persecution. 
 
 Other Lodges were founded at Vienna, in the TjTol, 
 Lombardy, and Illyria, but Freemasonry in Austria had 
 passed under the yoke of the Strict Observance, when 
 the Empress Maria Theresa died, in 1780. 
 
 The territory of St. Stephen in the i8th century com- 
 prised the Kingdom of Hungary or "Mother Country," 
 the Principality of Transylvania, and the Kingdoms of 
 Croatia and Sclavonia. The first Lodge in the ''Mother 
 Country" — TaciturniTas — at Pressburg, is known to 
 have existed in i 766, and eight other Hungarian Lodges 
 were established between 1769 and 1771. Four Lodges 
 were also formed in Transylvania, the first in 1 750 and the 
 last (of which the name has been preserved) in 1 769. One 
 of these, bearing the curious title of St. Andrew of the 
 Three Sea-Leaves, gave birth to some daughter Lodges. 
 
472 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 The Three Dragons was established at Varasd (Croatia) 
 in 1774. In Southern Hungarj^, under the influence of the 
 two Counts, John Draskovich and Stephen Niczky, 
 Lodges were founded at Glina (1764 — 69) and Agram 
 (1771), and (also in Croatia) a "Free Carpenters' 
 Lodge" was established at Varasd (1772), w^hich was 
 soon afterwards transformed into a Masonic one, under 
 the name of Perfect Union. 
 
 Lodges were likewise formed at Eszek, the capital of 
 Sclavonia, and at Kreutz (a country centre). 
 
 These Lodges, in 1775, created a National Masonic 
 Rite, under the name of Masonry of Freedom, or 
 Province (i.e., Grand Lodge) OF Liberty, but it was 
 commonly known as "The Draskovich Observance, or 
 Rite." The new power was short lived, but did much 
 good during its brief span of life. 
 
 Under the Emperor Joseph II. — 1780 — 83 — four Lodges 
 were instituted at Vienna, and nine in other Austrian 
 States. During the same period two Lodges each were 
 constituted in Bohemia and Moravia, three in Galacia, 
 eleven in Hungary, and one in Transylvania. 
 
 K Grand Lodge — ruling over forty-five Lodges — for 
 Austria and its dependencies, was established in 1784. 
 An Imperial Edict in the following }'ear ordered that not 
 more than three Lodges should exist in any single town, 
 while those that were at work in any place which was not a 
 "Seat of Government" were summarily suppressed. 
 
 The consequences may be supposed. The newly- 
 formed Austrian Grand Lodge, together with its Pro- 
 vincial Grand Lodges, passed oft' the scene, and the gen- 
 eral discontent of the Craft betokened the beginning of 
 the end. 
 
 Then came the French Revolution. The Freemasons 
 ^vere regarded with suspicion. The Austrian Lodges 
 voluntarily closed in 1792, and those in Bohemia during 
 the following year. Masonry in Hungary had a slightlv 
 

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Freemasonry in the Austrian Empire. 473 
 
 longer life, but by an Edict of 1795 all Secret Societies in 
 the Austrian dominions were ordered to dissolve. 
 
 There was a short Masonic revival at Vienna during the 
 French occupation of 1805, and again in 1809-12. In 
 1867, after the Civil War, Masonry revived in Hungary, 
 though in Austria it continued to be forbidden, nor has 
 the prohibition yet been removed. A Lodge, Unity in 
 THE Mother Land, was founded at Buda-Pesth in 1868, 
 and this, with six daughter Lodges, formed, on January 
 30th, 1870, the St. John's Grand Lodge of Hungary. 
 The three Craft degrees only, were recognized or tolerated 
 by this governing body. 
 
 In 1869, however, a Lodge, Matthias Corvinus, estab- 
 lished under the auspices of the so-called "Ancient and 
 Accepted Scottish Rite ' ' (after a vain application to the 
 Grand Lodge of Scotland) obtained a warrant from the 
 Grand Orient of France. This likewise warranted 
 daughter Lodges, and the united body, in November, 
 1 87 1, founded the Grand Orient of Hungary. Ul- 
 timately the Grand Lodge and the Grand Orient amal- 
 gamated under the title of the Symbolic Grand Lodge 
 OF Hungary, on March 23rd, 1886. "Freedom of Con- 
 science" is acclaimed by this Grand Lodge, and the pre- 
 amble of its vStatutes follows rather closely that of the 
 Grand Orient of France. There are 46 Lodges, with 
 a total membership of 3,324. 
 
 In the Austrian States members of the Craft com- 
 monly meet in Masonic Clubs, but there are several 
 " Frontier Lodges, " for example, at Pressburg and Olden- 
 burg, the members of which are Anstrraii subjects, and at 
 the same time Hungarian Freemasons. 
 
 SWEDEN DENMARK NORWAY. 
 
 Four Grand Lodge Systems follow the Swedish Rite. 
 These are the Grand Lodges of Sweden, Denmark, and 
 Norvvav, and the so-called Grand National Lodge of 
 
474 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 German Freemasons, at Berlin. The Rite is based upon 
 an alleged Templar origin of Freemasonry ; and in imita- 
 tion of that Knightly Order, all Europe is divided by it 
 into provinces. Germanyoccupies the seventh province, 
 Denmark the eighth, Sweden the ninth, and Norway the 
 tenth. The others are allotted, but, unoccupied, because, 
 by Freemasons elsewhere, the theory of a Templar origin 
 was long ago buried in tlie grave of the Strict Observ- 
 ance. 
 
 I. SWEDEN. 
 
 Considerable light has recently been thrown on the early 
 history of Freemasonry in Sweden, by the publication 
 of official documents, taken from the archives of the Grand 
 lyodge. These cover the periods from 1735 to 1774, and 
 from the latter date to 1800, and were printed respectively 
 in 1892 and 1898. We learn that Count Axel Ericson 
 Wrede-Sparre (who was initiated at Paris in 1731) found- 
 ed a Lodge at Stockholm in 1 735, which lasted until 1 746. 
 
 The Baron (afterwards Count) C. F. Scheffer, next 
 appears on the scene. This worthy, it would appear, was 
 made a Mason in " Prince Clermont's Bodge' ' at Paris, in 
 1 737, and also obtained there "the other two St. John's," 
 as well as "two Scottish degrees, ' ' all of which incidents in 
 his career, if they ever occurred, it seems to myself, must 
 at least have been slightly antedated in the narrative I am 
 recording. At Paris, Scheffer formed the acquaintance 
 of the "Count of Darwentwater, Charles Radclyffe" — 
 Grand Master of the Freemasons of France from 1736 to 
 1738 — who granted — November 25th, 1737 — a Depu- 
 tation, authorizing the Baron to constitute Bodges in the 
 Kingdom of Sweden, to accept candidates for the first 
 three degrees, and to nominate Masters of Bodges. These 
 Bodges were to be under the jurisdiction of the French 
 Grand Master, until they elected a ruler of their own. 
 The original of this important document is stated to be 
 
Freemasonry in Northern Europe. 475 
 
 still extant at Stockholm, signed and sealed by the 
 "Count of Darwentwater, and countersigned by T. Moore, 
 Grand Secretary and Keeper of Seals." In the same 
 archives is a copy of " Rules' ' "for the Lodge constituted 
 at Stockholm by our dear and worthy Baronet of 
 Scheffer.' ' These " Rules,' ' we learn, were confirmed by 
 " Macleane, Grand Master of France," October 22nd, 
 I 735; and again, by the "Count of Darwentwater," October 
 27th, 1736. This evidence is also confusing, as apart 
 from that portion of it which bears on the vexata quaestio 
 of the early Grand Masters of France, it is difficult to be- 
 lieve that the Continental were so much in advance 
 of the British Masons, as to have possessed a well-known 
 and recognized system of three Craft degrees, in 1737. 
 
 In 1743-4 ^ Lodge was constituted at Stockholm by 
 General (later Field-Marshal) James Keith, English Pro- 
 vincial Grand Master for Russia. This was called "Gen- 
 eral Keith's Lodge." 
 
 A so-called "Guards' Lodge," also at the capital, had a 
 brief tenure of existence, in 1751. In the same year one 
 Sorbon founded a Lodge, which was called by his name, 
 but he left it in 1752, in order to become a founder and 
 Deputy Master of St. Jean Auxiliare. 
 
 This famous Lodge was constituted — January 13, 1752, 
 — by Count Knut Carlsson Posse, who had received a 
 Deputation from Prince Louis de Bourbon, Comte de 
 Clermont, Grand Master of France. Posse was elected 
 "Grand Master' ' of St. Jean Auxiliare, a title bestowed 
 on Masters of Lodges at the time in France, and, following 
 that custom, also in Sweden. At this period, seven 
 Masonic degrees were worked in Stockholm, as shown in 
 as many columns on the roll of members of the Lodge : 
 I to 3, St. John's; 4 and 5, St. Andrew's; 6, St. John's 
 Trusty Brethren's; 7, Elected Brethren's. Subsequently 
 the Lodge was described by the following titles: — 
 ''Sweden's Mother Lodge; The First Regular 
 Swedish Lodge; The Country's Grand Freemasons' 
 
476 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Society;" and "The Country's Grand I/ODGE," or 
 ''Swedish Country's Lodge." 
 
 Count Wrede-Sparre and Baron Scheffer both joined 
 St. Jean Auxiliare in 1753. Immediately afterwards 
 the latter was elected Grand Master of Sweden by the 
 "Mother Lodge," and he remained in that position until 
 1774, though, as no Grand Lodge was formed until 1760, 
 Sweden had only a Grand Master from 1753 to that year. 
 
 King Adolf Fredrik took upon himself — July 7th, 1753 
 — the " Chief mastership over all Societies of Freemasons 
 in the Kingdom, ' ' and became the first Protector of the 
 Swedish Craft. He is also said to have been the Master 
 of a Lodge bearing his own name. But there is no 
 certainty that the King was ever regularly initiated, and 
 the so-called "King's Lodge" — Adolf Fredrik — was 
 not officially recognized (as a regular Lodge) until 1762. 
 In the same year — September 7th — the King declared 
 himself Protector of the newly-constituted "LoDiE OF 
 THE Swedish Army" {Svenska Anneer.s), and was en- 
 rolled as No. I. on its list of members. The glorious 
 career of this famous " Military Lodge" was brought to a 
 close in 178S. 
 
 The Freemasons' Orphanage in vStockholm was founded 
 by the "Mother Lodge" in 1753, and a French Lodge, 
 L'Union, constituted by the same authority in 1759 
 At the close of the latter j^ear there were six regular St. 
 John's Lodges in Sweden and Finland: — St. Jean Aux- 
 iliare, St. Erik, St. Kdward, and L'Union, in Stock- 
 holm; Salomon A Trois Serrures, in Gothenburg; and 
 St, AuGusTiN, in Helsingfors. 
 
 Among the members of Lodge St. Edward was Charles 
 Frederick Eckleff, who, to sHghtly anticipate, seems to 
 have constructed a ritual, founded principally on the 
 French "High Degrees," which became the basis of the 
 present Swedish system. By virtue of a Deputation 
 received from som.e unknown authority, Eckleff first 
 of all etablished, in 1756, a new St. Andrew's Lodger, 
 
Freemasonry in Northern Europe. 477 
 
 under the name of I/InnocentR; and afterwards — 
 December 25th, 1759 — a Grand Chapter, bearing the 
 same title. In connection with the latter, he was elected 
 "Master of the Order," which empowered him to con- 
 stitute new Lodges, and accordingly — May ist, 1760 — 
 he duly founded one, called the Seventh St. John's 
 Lodge, of which he became the leading Master. 
 
 In 1760 a Swedish Grand Lodge was established, 
 comprising the seven St. John's Lodges — St. Jean 
 AuxiLiARE now losing its power of constituting other 
 Lodges, and being ranged on a level with the other six. 
 
 The St. Andrew's Lodge, L'Innocente, and the Grand 
 Chapter of the same name, were also placed on the roll, 
 but without numbers. Baron Scheffer continued to hold 
 the office of Grand Master, and Eckleff was elected his 
 Deputy, so that the latter was at one and the same time 
 Master of the Order, Deputy Grand Master, Master of the 
 St. Andrew's Lodge, L'Innocente, and Master of the 
 Seventh St. John's Lodge. 
 
 Charles Tullmann, Secretary to the British Embassy at 
 Stockholm, received an English patent as Provincial 
 Grand Master of Sweden, in 1765, and constituted 
 several Lodges. But in 1770, the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
 land recognized the Grand Lodge of Sweden as a Sover- 
 eign Masonic power, on the representation of Count 
 Scheffer, its Grand Master. In consequence, the 
 "English," or "Tullmann," Lodges soon ceased to exist. 
 
 In 1 771, King Gustavus III. and his brothers, Charles 
 and Frederick Adolf, were initiated, and the King be- 
 came Patron of the Craft. The three Royal brothers be- 
 came members of the Grand Chapter in 1773. 
 
 In 1774, Duke Charles was elected "Master of the 
 Order," and National Grand Master, in succession to 
 Eckleff and Scheffer respectively. In this year the Grand 
 Chapter was invested with the highest authority, and the 
 general title was assumed of the Swedish Grand Coun- 
 try's Lodge. 
 
478 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 In 1779, when Duke Charles was placed at the head of 
 the Vllth Province of the vStrict Observance, in Ger- 
 many, he resigned the office of National Grand Master 
 in favor of his brother, Frederick Adolf. 
 
 In 1780, King Gustavus III. erected a IXth Province 
 of the Order of the Temple, in Sweden, and Duke Charles 
 was installed Vicarius Solomonis of the same. Since 
 then the supreme chief of Swedish Freemasonry has been 
 accorded that title, and the Grand Lodge of Sweden has 
 been styled the IXth Province. 
 
 Li 1 781, Duke Charles resigned his position as head of 
 the Strict Observance in Germany, and between 1796 
 and 1800 devoted his energies to the compilation of new 
 Constitutions and new rituals for all the degrees. 
 
 The Strict Observance and the Swedish Rite 
 formed the two branches of what has been called the 
 Templar descent theory. Both systems were introduced 
 into Germany, and on the formation of the Grand 
 National Lodge in Berlin, the Swedish branch of Tem- 
 plarism (under 2innendorf^ was for some considerable 
 period the only powerful competitor of the Strict Ob- 
 servance. 
 
 The Swedish Rite has been described as a mixture of 
 English Freemasonry, of the "Scots" degrees, of the 
 French, of Templarism, and of certain ideas peculiar to 
 the Hermetic or Rosicrucian Fraternities, It is also 
 affirmed that the mystical teachings of Emmanuel Swed- 
 enborg are discernible in the doctrines of the Rite. 
 
 There are three clusters of degrees, St. John's, St. 
 Andrew's, and Chapter degrees respectively. Above or 
 beyond these is a sort of loth degree, consisting of three 
 steps of honor, and at the head of the whole system is the 
 so-called Vicar of Solomon. 
 
 On succeeding to the throne in 1809, Charles XIII. 
 resumed the office of Grand Master, but two years later 
 resigned it in favor of his adopted heir, Bernadotte 
 (Charles XIV.), retaining, however, the position of 
 
Freemasonry ui Northern Europe. 479 
 
 ViCARius SoLOMONis. The present "Master of the 
 Order," or "Vicar of Solomon," is King Oscar II., by 
 whom our own King — Edward VII. — was initiated in 
 1868. The Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway is the 
 National Grand Master, and there are in the jurisdiction 
 12 St. Andrew's and 21 St. John's Lodges, with a total 
 membership of 10,985. 
 
 II. --DENMARK. 
 
 St. Martin, the first Danish Lodge, was estabhshed 
 at Copenhagen, in 1743, by a member of tlie Three 
 Globes at Berlin; and the second, Zerubbabel, by 
 seceders from the first Lodge, in 1744. Afterwards, both 
 Lodges received English Charters, and ultimately amal- 
 gamated, under the name of Zerubbabee of the North 
 Star. 
 
 English and Scottish Provincial Grand Lodges for 
 Denmark and Norway were severally erected in 1 749 and 
 1753. In 1765, the English Prov. G. Lodge — which was 
 the'^only survivor — went over to the Strict Observance, 
 and became the Prefecture Benin. 
 
 A Lodge, which still exists — Maria of The Three 
 Hearts — was instituted at Odense in 1791. It was 
 named after the Danish Crown Princess, Maria Sophie 
 Fredericke, whose father. Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, 
 Grand Master, gave the Lodge its warrant. In 1817, 
 Prince Christian — afterwards Christia:i VIII. — and in 
 1 84 1 his son, Frederick VII., were initiated in this Lodge. 
 
 In 1792,00 the death of Ferdinand of Brunswick — the 
 conqueror at Minden — Prince Charles became the sole 
 head of the Danish Lodges. Prince Charles died in 1836, 
 and the Crown Prince, afterwards Christian VIII. , as- 
 sumed the Protectorate of the Lodges, which he held 
 during the remainder of his life. His son and successor, 
 Frederick VII., became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge 
 of Denmark, on ascending the throne in 1848. This 
 
480 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 King remodelled Danish Masonry on the Swedish system, 
 the first three degrees of which do not, however, differ 
 materially from our own in England. At the present 
 time King Christian IX. is Protector of the Craft, and 
 the Crown Prince is Vicar of Solomon, and Master of 
 the Order. There are 2 St. Andrew's, 10 St. John's, 
 and 15 "Instruction" Lodges, with a total membership 
 of 4,243. 
 
 III. NORW.^Y. 
 
 This countr)^ until 18 14, formed part of the Kingdom 
 of Denmark, which had not then adopted the Swedish 
 Rite. But in that year the Norwegian Lodges came under 
 the rule of the Grand Lodge of Sweden. The first Lodge 
 in Norway, St. Olaus, is said to have been constituted in 
 1745. Another, Christian of the Dark Helmet, was 
 established at Trondhjem, in 1780; and a third, Charles 
 OF THE Norwegian Lion, at Bergen, in 1786. That 
 there were others in the eighteenth century may be safely 
 inferred, but no record of them has come down to us. A 
 Field Lodge is stated to have been in existence at Kongs- 
 berg — the Norwegian silver mines — during the war of 
 1807—09. 
 
 The Grand Lodge (Xth Province) was formed on May 
 loth, 1891 , and consists of 2 St. Andrew's and 7 St. John's 
 Lodges, with a membership of 2,780. The King (Oscar 
 II.) and the Crown Prince of Norway and Sweden, are the 
 "Master of the Order" and the "Grand Master" respec- 
 tively, as in the sister jurisdiction. The Grand Lodge and 
 the Provincial Grand Lodge (under the Grand Lodge of 
 the Sun, at Bayreuth), work harmoniously side by side. 
 One Grand Lodge for Norway, as in England, where 
 members of the first three degrees form the Grand Lodge, 
 is, however, much to be desired. But the possibility of 
 effecting such a reformation in the Swedish system is more 
 than problematical. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 Initiated at Fredericksburg, Va., November 4th, 1752, 
 
 From 22 X 28 Print by Macoy Co. 
 
Freemasonry in Northern Europe. 481 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 The authentic history of Dutch Masonry dates from the 
 initiation of the Duke of Lorraine, afterwards the Emperor 
 Francis I., at the Hague, "by Virtue of a Deputation for a 
 Lodge there," which was presided over by the Rev. Dr. 
 DesaguUers, in 1731 {ante, 301). After this, according to 
 general report, there were permanent Lodges meeting at 
 the Hague, Du Grand Maitre des Provinces Reunis, in 
 1 734, and LE Veritable ZELE (under an English warrant) 
 in 1735. During the latter year there were also Lodges 
 in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Craft then fell 
 into disfavor with the States General, but the Lodges 
 resumed work in 1744. 
 
 In 1756 — December 27th — fourteen Lodges, several of 
 which were of English and one of Scottish origin, founded 
 the National Grand Lodge op the Netherlands. 
 
 But the Grand Lodge of England was either only dimly 
 aware of the existence of the new Masonic power, or did 
 not recognize its exclusive territorial jurisdiction, as it 
 continued to constitute Dutch Lodges. This state of 
 affairs, however, was put an end to in 1770, when the 
 Grand Lodge of England agreed not to issue further 
 charters in Holland, though stipulating that the Lodges 
 under English warrants should have full and perfect 
 liberty either to remain under the jurisdiction of the 
 English Provincial Grand Master for foreign Lodges, or to 
 join the national organization. 
 
 Prince Frederick William, second son of King William 
 L, was elected Grand Master of Holland in 181 6, of 
 Belgium in 181 7, and of a Grand Orient, with jurisdiction 
 over the Lodges in both these countries, in 1818. A little 
 later (1830) Belgium obtained its political, and shortly 
 afterwards its Masonic independence. Prince Frederick 
 remained at the head of the Dutch Craft imtil his death in 
 1881. 
 
 3f 
 
482 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 According to Dr. H. W, Dieperink, "the Order of 
 Freemasons in the Netherlands is composed of three 
 different systems, which have each their separate ad- 
 ministration, laws and finances. These are the Sym- 
 Boijc Degrees, the Higher Degrees and the Division 
 OE THE Master's Degree. The ist system is governed 
 by the Grand Orient, the 2nd by the Grand Chapter, 
 and the 3rd bv the Chamber oe Administration (for 
 that portion of the Rite)." Of the degrees of the Craft, 
 we are told by another authority, "that the words and 
 pass-words of the first two are exactly the reverse of 
 the English usage, and the battery in all three degrees is 
 entirely dift'erent." From which may be inferred that 
 the Dutch, like the German Masons, continue to impart 
 the secrets of the first two steps of Masonrj' in the manner 
 originally prescribed by the earliest of Grand Lodges. 
 
 The High Degrees of the Netherlands, also called Red 
 Masonry, acquired their name in 1803. They consist of 
 ist,ii/zt or Select Master; 2nd, the three Scots Grades; 
 3rd, Knight of the Sword, or of the East; and 4th, Sover- 
 eign Prince Rose-Croix. 
 
 The Division of the Master's Degree comprises 
 Elected Master and Sublime Elected Master, which are 
 now combined in a single degree. It is merelv an elabora- 
 tion of, perhaps it would be better to say an addition to, 
 the third degree. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Grand Orient extends over 
 93 Lodges, of wliich 23 are in South Africa, and 17 in the 
 Dutch Colonies. The membership is estimated at 4,269. 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 English Lodges were established at Alost in 1765, at 
 Ghent in 1768, and at Mons in 1770. The latest of the 
 three. La Parfaite Union, claims (though on wholly 
 insufficient evidence) to have been originally constituted 
 by the Duke of Montagu, Grand Master of England, in 
 
Freemasonry in Northern Europe. 483 
 
 1721. Under Joseph II., Masonry, in what was then the 
 Austrian Netherlands, greatly flourished, but all the 
 Lodges, with the exception of three, were closed by that 
 Emperor in 1786. Others, indeed, continued to exist, 
 but all Lodges, including the privileged three, were 
 formally prohibited from assembling, by an edict of 1787. 
 During the closing year of the eighteenth century, and 
 until 18 14, the Masonry of Belgium was conducted under 
 the aegis of the Grand Orient of France. Then followed 
 the union of the Belgian and Dutch Lodges, which has 
 already been narrated. The Grand Orient of Belgium, 
 was constituted in 1833. There are 19 Lodges under its 
 jurisdiction, with a total membership of about 3,500. 
 
 LUXEMBURG. 
 
 The central authority of the Craft in this Grand Duchy 
 is a Supreme Council (not, however, of the so-called 
 "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite"), which was estab- 
 lished in 1849. The jurisdiction is the smallest one known 
 and consists of a single Lodge, Les Enfans de la Con- 
 corde — founded in 1803 — with a membership of 71. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Freemasonry in the dominions of the Czar may be said 
 to date from 1732, in which year General James Keith 
 (brother of the last Earl Marischal) was Master of a Lodge 
 either at Moscow or St. Petersburg. This famous soldier 
 of fortune, who had entered the Russian service in 1728, 
 received an English patent as Provincial Grand Master 
 in 1740. Masonry in Russia assumed at different times 
 and concurrently, all the varying fonns under which it was 
 known in Europe, and it will be sufficient to state that 
 from 1762 to 1782, an indigenous Rite named after its 
 chief supporter. Count Melisino, flourished; that in 1765 
 the Strict Observance, and in 1771 the Swedish Rite, 
 
484 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 found a footing in the Empire. In 1772, Lieut enant- 
 General Yelaguin was appointed Provincial Grand Master 
 under England, and a large increase of Lodges was the 
 result. In 1774, however, Yelaguin, at the head of seven 
 Russian Lodges, shifted his allegiance, and became Prov. 
 G: M. under the Swedish Rite. A Provincial Grand 
 Chapter — Piicenix — was next constituted at St. Peters- 
 burg in 1778, by the same authority, with Prince Gagarin 
 as its chief. In the following year Gagarin succeeded 
 Yelaguin as Piov. G. Master, and established what was 
 nominally a National Grand Lodge, though, until 1782, 
 when it threw olT the foreign yoke, it remained in reality 
 a Swedish Provincial Grand Lodge. 
 
 In 1794, at the wish of the Empress Catherine, the 
 Lodges clos 'd their doors, but ten years later, under the 
 liberal-minded Alexander, a revival took place. 
 
 A Gran') Directoral Lodge, under Sweden, was 
 formed in 1811, of which, at the instance of the Czar, 
 Beber was elected Grand Master. In 1815, the "High 
 Degrees' ' caused dissension, and the system split into two 
 parts, the Grand Lodge Astraea — a purely Craft body — 
 and a revived Provincial Grand Lodge under the Swedish 
 Rite. In 1819, the former had twenty-four Lodges on 
 its roll, and the latter only six. Three years later (1822), 
 by a decree of the Emperor, which is still in force, Free- 
 masonry in Russia was finallv suppressed. 
 
 POLAND. 
 
 Prior to 1739 there were in existence some I/)dges at 
 Warsaw, but these were all closed in that year in conse- 
 quence of the Bull of Pope Clement XII. 
 
 A little later the Craft revived, and many Lodges sprang 
 into existence. The Three Brothers, constituted at 
 Warsaw in 1744, developed into a Grand Lodge, with 
 Count Augustus Moszynski as Grand Master, in 1769. 
 This nobleman, however, accepted the sp'^'^"-^-^"' position 
 
Freemasonry in Northern Europe. 485 
 
 of Prov. Grand Master, under England, in the following 
 year. A general dormancy of the Lodges occurred after 
 the first partition of Poland, in 1772. On their resuming 
 labor, in 1 773, there was a struggle for supremacy between 
 the Strict Observance, the Grand Orient ok France 
 and the Royal York IvODGE, at Berlin, which lasted until 
 1 78 1. In that year, Catherine of the Pole Star — 
 which had been re-constituted by the Royal York, in 
 1780 — received an English patent as a Provincial Grand 
 Lodge, and the rivalry of the Strict Observance and the 
 Grand Orient of France ceasing, was converted into 
 an independent Grand Orient of Poland, in 1784. 
 
 But again political events disturbed the tranquility of 
 the Craft. In 1792 the second partition of Poland took 
 place, and in 1794, its final dismemberment. After a 
 long period of inactivity, the former Provincial Grand 
 Lodge, Catherine of the Pole Star, and also the 
 National Grand Orient, resumed work in 18 10. Fur- 
 ther political changes occurred in 181 5, but Masonry con- 
 tinued to prosper, and in 1818 there were thirty Lodges 
 under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient. Clouds, how- 
 ever, soon afterwards appeared on the horizon, and by an 
 Imperial rescript, the practice of assembling as Free- 
 masons in what from 1 794 had been generally described as 
 the " Grand Duchy of Warsaw, " was prohibited, in 1821. 
 A year later, a similar Ukase was issued in Russia, and in 
 either instance there appears to have been ample justifica- 
 tion for the action of the Czar. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 Of the twenty-two Cantons now forming the Swiss 
 Confederacy, the first in which Masonry effected an en- 
 trance, was Geneva, where a Lodge was established in 
 1736. The next year witnessed the formation of an 
 English Provincial Grand Lodge. In 1745 there were six 
 Lodges. 
 
486 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 From nearly as early a date as at Geneva the Society 
 had obtained a footing in Vaud, BernE, Zurich, and 
 Basle. But in 1745, in consequence of a decree of the 
 Great Council of BernE, tlie Lodges closed their doors, 
 which, after an interval of about fifteen years, they re- 
 opened, but in every instance, in the then r.onjederated 
 States, under the banner of the Strict Observance. 
 
 In Geneva, the Union of Hearts (at a later period 
 the " Mother Lodge" of the Duke of Kent) was established 
 in 1768, and in the following year ten Lodges met, and 
 erected the Independent Grand Lodge of Geneva. 
 The pure and ancient Masonry of Britain was alone prac- 
 tised by the subordinates of this Grand Lodge. 
 
 During the " Reign of Terror " all Masonic work ceased. 
 
 The second period of Swiss Masonry lasted from 1795 
 to 1 8 14-16, and the allegiance of the Lodges was chiefly 
 divided between the Grand Orient of France, and the 
 Scots Directory of the Vth Province — a modified 
 form of the Strict Observance. A notable event was 
 the formation, in 1810, at Lausanne (Vaud), of the 
 National Grand Orient of French Helvetia, or, as 
 it was more commonly called, Glaire's Helvetic Rite. 
 
 The third period begins in 18 16, after the fall of Napo- 
 leon. The systems existing were the Grand Orient of 
 France, the Helvetic Rite, the Scots Directory, and 
 the Lodge of Hope at Berne, constituted by the Grand 
 Orient of France, in 1803. 
 
 The French Lodges gradually dissolved, and Hope 
 became, in 181 8, an English Provincial Grand Lodge. 
 Four years later, the Berne and Vaud Lodges (the 
 Helvetic Rite having passed off the scene) joined in 
 forming a National Grand Lodge of Switzerl.vnd, 
 recognizing three degrees only. 
 
 This left only two governing bodies, the National 
 Grand Lodge, at Berne, and the Scots Directory at 
 Basle, in the field ; and these, uniting, formed the present 
 
Freemasonry in Southern Europe. 487 
 
 Grand Lodge At.pina on July 24th, 1844. It has 32 
 Lodges under its jurisdiction, with a membership of 3,424. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 In the uncertain period of ItaUan Freemasonry, a 
 Lodge is said to have been founded at Florence by Lord 
 George Sackville, in 1733, and others are also traditionally 
 reported to ha\ e existed at Milan, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, 
 Venice, and Naples, in 1735. But the minutes are still 
 preserved of the Roman Lodge, in the States of the 
 Church, from the year 1 735 down to the time of its final 
 closure- -when the Earl of Winton was " Great Master"— 
 in 1737. Shortly afterwards (1738) the thunders of the 
 Vatican were launched against the Freemasons, and the 
 series of Bulls issued against the Society by successive 
 Pontiffs have been carefully enumerated by the last 
 Pope, from whose Encvclical Letter of April 20th, 1884, I 
 transcribe the following: — "The first warning of danger 
 was given by Clement XIL in 1 738, and his Edict was con- 
 firmed and renewed by Benedict XIV. (1751). Pius VII. 
 followed in their steps (1821); and Leo XIL, in his Apos- 
 tolic Edict, 'Ouo Graviora' (1825), embraced the acts and 
 decrees of the earlier Popes on this subject, and ordered 
 them to be ratified for ever. To the same effect, Gregory 
 XVI. (1832), and very ofte.i Pius IX. (1846, 1865, etc.), 
 have spoken. " {De Si eta Massonum.) 
 
 In the opening years of the second half of the eighteenth 
 century. Lodges under England were established in the 
 Two vSicn.iEs, Tuscany, Venetia Genoa, and Sar 
 
 DINIA. 
 
 The Strict Observance s.vept over Italy in 1777, and 
 a little later there was a general cessation of Masonic work. 
 Then came the French domination, and with it a system of 
 Grand Orients. After the fall of Napoleon, edicts of sup- 
 pression were issued by the various States, and from 182 1 
 to 1856 not a Lodge existed in any part of what is now 
 the Kingdom of Italv. 
 
^88 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 In i85q some Masons congregated in a Lodge at Turin, 
 and the example was followed at Genoa, Milan, Pisa, 
 Florence, Leghorn, and Rome. On the ist of January, 
 1862, twenty-two Lodges being represented, the Grand 
 Orient of Italy was proclaimed at Turin. This body 
 has been several times reconstructed, and absorbed the 
 Supreme Council, 33°, at Palermo, in 1873. There are 
 204 Lodges in the jurisdiction of which 38 are in foreign 
 countries (Roumania, Servia, Egypt, Barbary, North 
 Africa, South America, and China). 
 
 A new Grand Orient of Italy — at Milan — with a 
 following of 42 Lodges, is mentioned in a circular of the 
 Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina (1901), but the particulars 
 of its formation have not reached me. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 The first Lodge in Spain was founded in 1728 by the 
 Duke of Wharton at Madrid, and the second was con- 
 stituted later in the same year by the Grand Lodge of 
 England at Gibraltar. In 1740 Philip V. issued an edict 
 against the Craft, and a further decree of Ferdinand VII., 
 in 1 75 1, condemned the Freemasons to death without the 
 formality of a trial. Brighter times came, and in 1767 a 
 Grand Lodge was formed, which in 1780 became a Grand 
 Orient. In 1811 there were four governing Masonic 
 bodies, two Grand Orients, and two Supreme Councils 33°. 
 Another persecution took place in 1814, then came the 
 popular movement under the patriot Riego (1820), the 
 Jesuits were expelled, the Inquisition abolished, and the 
 old liberal constitution re-granted. For four years the 
 Craft flourished, but a new insurrection broke out, and 
 Ferdinand VII. was charged by the populace with being 
 a Freemason himself, because he had not re-established 
 the Inquisition. By the aid of French troops the old 
 prerogatives of the King were restored, and the Frater- 
 nity suppressed. Riego was shot, and in 1825, a Lodge 
 
"i^j!tJ0»:, 
 
 MASONIC TEMPLE, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
Freemasonry in Southern Europe. 489 
 
 at Granada having been forcibly entered, the seven 
 Master Masons present were hanged, and an apprentice 
 (who had just been initiated) was sent for five years to 
 the galleys. 
 
 The next period of Spanish Masonry extended to the year 
 1868, when Queen Isabella was deposed, and throughout 
 the whole of it there was darkness and uncertainity. In 
 1869 the Craft once more emerged into the light of day, 
 and in 1887 the names are mentioned of the Grand 
 Orient of Spain, the Grand National Orient, and the 
 Symbolical Grand Lodge, with a following of 247,220, 
 and 28 Lodges respectively. These numbers, if, indeed, 
 even approximately correct, have since declined, and at 
 the present time nothing can be confidently stated with 
 regard to the condition of Spanish Masonry, except that in 
 1 90 1, there existed in Madrid, a National Grand Orient 
 (or Grand Lodge), with 95 subordinate Lodges. Grand 
 Lodges are also mentioned as having their seats at Seville 
 and Barcelona, the former with twenty-six, and the latter 
 with fifteen daughter Lodges, but these particulars are 
 not contained in any calendar that can be implicitly re- 
 lied upon. 
 
 poktugai.. 
 
 An English I/Odge was established at Lisbon in 1735, 
 and the progress of the Craft was uninterrupted, until 
 suddenly arrested by a royal edict in 1743. On the 
 banishment of the Jesuits in 1761 Masonry rcA'ived, but 
 again declined on the death of Joseph II. in 1777. Lodges, 
 however, continued to exist at Lisbon, Coimbra and 
 Oporto, also in the shipping. The Lodge Regeneration 
 was constituted on board the frigate Phcenix in 1797, and 
 shortly afterwards created five other Lodges. The 
 superior authority was then confided to a committee 
 (comniissao do expedientc), consisting of six delegates, 
 under whose benign rule Masonry penetrated into every 
 
490 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 part of the Kingdom. A Grand Lodge of Portugal 
 was established in 1800 (or 1805). During the French 
 invasions the Craft languished, and there were successive 
 revivals, followed by intermittent and savage perse- 
 cutions, in 1 8 10, 1 82 1, and 18,34. ^^ 1848 there were 
 three Grand Lodges, a Grand Orient, and an Irish Prov- 
 incial Grand Lodge. 
 
 All the National organizations coalesced in 1869 and 
 formed the United Grand Orient of Lusitania. This 
 was joined by the four Irish Lodges in 1872, who there- 
 upon laid down their Provincial title, and resolved them- 
 selves into a Single Lodge, Regeneraqao IrlandEza 
 {Irish Regeneration). Eleven years later (1883) there was a 
 schism, and a new Grand Lodge was established. Still 
 more recently (1892) the Lodges RegEnERAjao Irlan- 
 deza and Obreiros do Trobalho seceded from the 
 United Grand Orient (on the ground of its having departed 
 from the fundamental principles of Freemasonry), and 
 formed the Grande Loja de Portugal. The calendars, 
 however, of current date, only mention the United 
 Grand Orient of Lusitania, which has an apparent 
 following of twent3'-five Lodges. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 Lodges were founded b}- the Grand Orient of France at 
 Corfu, in 1809 and 1810, and by the Grand Lodge of 
 England — Pythagoras, stih existing — in 1837. A Grand 
 Lodge of Greece — of which all traces have vanished — 
 is supposed to have been formed at the same island about 
 1840. On the mainland there were, in 1867, eight 
 (Italian) Lodges, which met and constituted them- 
 selves into an independent Grand Lodge. Irregular 
 Masonic centres were subsequently established, but in 
 1898 the Grand Lodge of 1867, by a combination with its 
 only surviving rival, became the sole governing body of 
 the jurisdiction, wit1i the title of the Grand Orient and 
 
Freemasonry in Southern Europe 491 
 
 Supreme Cotjncil 33° for Greece. It rules over eleven 
 Lodges, with a membersliip of about 2,000. 
 
 TURKEY. 
 
 There were Lodges at Smyrna and Aleppo in 1738, and 
 from about ten years later until the present time others 
 have been constituted at irregular intervals by many of 
 the European Grand Lodges or Grand Orients. 
 
 ROUMANIA. 
 
 Twenty Lodges (of foreign origin) united in forming the 
 National Grand Lodge of Roumania, in 1880. The 
 next year two Supreme Councils were established, one 
 of the Rite of Memphis 95°, the other of the Ancient 
 and Accepted Scottish Rite 33°. In 1882, a Grand 
 Chapter of the Royal Arch was added; and in 1883, 
 a Grand Lodge and Temple of the Swedenborgian 
 Rite. The Grand Master of all these bodies is (or was) 
 one and the same person. Statistics fail me with respect 
 to the majority of these associations, but the putative 
 "National Grand Lodge of Freemasons" has a following 
 of twenty-seven Lodges. 
 
 SERVIA. 
 
 Private Lodges, under foreign warrants, have recently 
 been established at Belgrade, but the time has apparently 
 not arrived for tlie formation of a Grand Lodge. 
 
 MALTA. 
 
 After early persecutions, caused by the Papal Bull of 
 1738, the Lodge of Secrecy and Harmony was formed 
 on the island, and in 17S9 reconstituted from England, as 
 No. 539. AH the oflicers were Knights of Malta. If 
 we may credit Besuchet, Napoleon Bonaparte was in- 
 itiated at Valetta in 1798. {Precis Hist, d" la F. A/.j 
 Since 181 5 the island has been the seat of an English 
 Provincial (or, as now termed, a District) Grand Lodge. 
 Tunis was incorporated with the Malta district in 1869. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ASIA — THE EAST INDIA ISLANDS — THE FAR EAST ASIA 
 
 MINOR — AFRICA THE WEST INDIES CENTRAL AND 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 To the popular world the necessity for secrecy seems 
 a weak point in our structure, but when examined by 
 the light of practical working in the past, and in Oriental 
 Communities where ancient systems still survive, the 
 concealment of their methods of working is shown to be 
 a necessity of the greatest importance. It was the dis- 
 covery of the uses and construction of the square, level, 
 and plumb rule, and a few powers in geometry, which, 
 gained by ages of experimental working, were regarded 
 as precious jewels of knowledge. The builders often be- 
 came the masters of the situation, and did not fail to 
 bargain for and obtain privileges, which together with 
 their mysteries they safeguarded with jealous care. 
 
 Sir C. Purdon Clarke. 
 
 persi.\ — india. 
 
 AsKERi Khan, a Prince of Persia, ambassador of the 
 Shah at Paris, was admitted a member of the Craft in that 
 city, in 1808. A similar experience befell the Mirza Abul 
 Hassan Khan — also a Persian Ambassador — who was 
 made a Mason by the Earl of Moira, in London, in 18 10. 
 During the same year Sir Gore Ousely, English Ambas- 
 sador at the Court of the Shah, was appointed Provincial 
 Grand Master for Persia, but there is no evidence to show 
 that any Lodges were ever established in that country 
 by any external authority. 
 
 The earliest Stationary Lodges in India, which nmst all 
 have partaken more or less of a militarv character, were 
 
 492 
 
Freemasonry in Asia. 493 
 
 established at Calcutta in 1730, at Madras in 1752, and at 
 Bombay in 1758. 
 
 The rivalry between the two Grand Lodges of England 
 was reflected in the Indian Lodges, but the " Brethren " of 
 Madras anticipated in a very happy manner the complete 
 " Union" of 1813, by the " Atholl" or "Ancient " Masons, 
 and the Regular Masons or titular "Moderns," who 
 amalgamated under General Home, in 1786. 
 
 In the senior Presidency, however, the animosities 
 between the Regular Masons and the Schismatics, lingered 
 until 18 1 3, when, under the benignant sway of the Earl 
 of Moira, Acting Grand Master of India, Masonry in 
 Bengal took firm root in the land, and flourished as it had 
 never done before. 
 
 In Bombay, the most brilliant era of the Craft is in- 
 separably connected with the memory of Dr. James 
 Burnes, by whom, in order to throw open the portals of 
 Freemasonry to native gentlemen, a Lodge — Rising 
 Star of Western India — was established in December, 
 1843. -^t the first regular meeting there were two in- 
 itiations, one of the candidates being a Parsee and the 
 other a Mahommedan, both ranking among the most 
 highly cultured of their own people; and, in the follow- 
 ing July, there were present in Lodge nine native brethren, 
 three of whom were followers of Zoroaster, two of Con- 
 fucius, and four of Mahomet, but all assembled with the 
 followers of Christ to worship the Masons' God. In the 
 three Presidencies — with Aden and Burma — there are at 
 the present time 139 Lodges under the English, and 44 
 under the Scottish jurisdiction. 
 
 In both Persia and India, however, there are certain 
 customs peculiar to the building trades, which possess an 
 interest for Freemasons. These are graphically described 
 by my friend. Sir C. Purdon Clarke, in an interesting essay. 
 The Tracing Board in Modern Oriental and Medieval 
 Operative Masonry, from which I extract the following: — 
 "So well concealed are the methods used by Oriental 
 
rill 
 
 h 
 
 If il 
 
 Vi 
 
 l,ll I il 
 
 
 -^-UE ? 
 
Freemasonry in Asia. 495 
 
 craftsmen to produce the work which often puzzles us by 
 its complexity, that travellers have been deceived with 
 believing that by some intuitive faculty the Eastei'n mas- 
 ter builder is able to dispense with plans, elevations and 
 sections, and start the foundations of the various parts of 
 his structure without a precise predetermination of the 
 bulk and requirements of the several parts. To all ap- 
 pearance the Persian master builder is independent of 
 the aid of plans. Actually he has first of all worked out 
 the general scheme, not as our architects do, on plain 
 paper, but on a sectional lined tracing board, every square 
 of which represents either one or four square bricks. 
 These tracing boards are the key to the mystery of their craft, 
 and masons will understand the significance of the dis- 
 covery that they represent in miniature scale the floor of 
 the master builder's work room." [A.O.C.x'i., 100) 
 The great antiquity of the Persia x tracing board and sys- 
 tem of enlargement by squaring is illustrated (among 
 other proofs), and especially with respect to the use of 
 drawn plans, by a reference to the Chaldean »Statue in the 
 Louvre of a princely builder or architect, who is repre- 
 sented as sitting with a tracing board on liis knee. 
 
 During his sojourn in India, the same close observer, 
 though unsuccessful in finding among the native methods 
 of working a connection with the squaring system of 
 Modern Persia and Ancient Egypt, was so fortunate as to 
 discover a new system of proportion, which may prove a 
 key to certain racial problems now a mystery. At Mad- 
 ura he was able to study Craft work in progress, carried on 
 by men who were conforming strictly to rules which, at the 
 least, possessed an antiquity of a thousand years. The 
 Architect C.\ste, conjointly with Surveyors, Carpenters 
 and Joiners, claim descent from Viswacarma, the 
 Heavenly Architect, and to them belong some 32 or, as 
 some reckon, 64 books of the Shastras, of which they, not 
 the priests, are the custodians . . , the consequence has 
 been, that while the practical part of the science continued 
 
496 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 to be followed up amongst themselves as a kind of inher- 
 itance from generation to generation, the theory grad- 
 ually became lost to the whole nation, if not to the whole 
 world. At the celebrated Pagoda of Cochin, in Travan- 
 core, a further discovery was made — a room specially set 
 apart for the temple architect, the walls of which were 
 covered with full-sized tracings of figures and temple fur- 
 niture of all sorts. "This concession of a special room 
 within the precincts of the temple," in the opinion of 
 Sir C. Pur don Clarke, "should be noted, as in European 
 medieval records the setting apart of a portion of a build- 
 ing in course of erection for the use of masons is frequently 
 mentioned, and the practical necessities of their craft and 
 its mysteries led," he believes, "in course of time to the 
 peculiar arrangement and ornaments of the modem 
 Lodges of Speculative Masonry. ' ' 
 
 THE EAST INDIA ISLANDS. 
 
 Lodges holding charters from European jurisdictions 
 exist at Ceylon, SuiMatra, Java, Celebes, and Borneo. 
 In the Phillippines there were, until the recent political 
 changes, four Spanish Lodges at Manilla, the capital, 
 but the activity of the Craft is gradually being re- 
 sumed under charters from the American Grand Lodges. 
 A system of corrupted Freemasonry is practised in these 
 islands by the members of the Katapunan Society. 
 This was originally a revolutionary association formed by 
 the leaders of the people during their revolt against 
 Spanish rule. 
 
 the far east. 
 
 Lodges constituted from Great Britain or Ireland exist 
 in the Straits Settlements, Siam, China and Japan, and 
 at the most important treaty-port in the Chinese Empire, 
 namely, Shanghai, there are two Lodges under other 
 foreign jurisdictions, which hold German and American 
 
Freemasonry in Asia. 497 
 
 warrants respectively. In China, moreover, there exists 
 what by many persons is regarded as a kind of indigenous 
 Masonry, which has hkewise penetrated into some of the 
 Colonies and dependencies of certain European powers, for 
 example, Sumatra, Java, the Straits Settlements, 
 and Burma. 
 
 The first of the secret Societies of China in age, dignity, 
 and importance, is called the Triad from its native name 
 of San-ho-Iiwi, or "three united,' ' the three being Heaven, 
 Earth, and Man. Another term by which it is known is 
 Thian-ti-hwi, or "Heaven and Earth Alliance" {Hung- 
 league), the explanation of both names being the same, 
 viz., that when Heaven, Earth, and Man unite in restoring 
 the Ming dynasty, the perfect triangle will be formed, and 
 universal peace will be the result. 
 
 Although a good deal was whispered about them, the 
 ways of the Society were enveloped in mystery, so long as 
 the members were confined to the "Middle Kingdom." 
 But when thev began to spread into Sumatra, Java, and 
 the Straits Settlements, their doings were made public. 
 
 Until the overthrow of the Ming dynasty (1644), the 
 Tri.\d sodality seem^s to have been a benevolent associa- 
 tion of the most exalted character — mystical, philosophic, 
 and religious — but the Manchu Conquest transformed it 
 from about the year 1674, into a band of rebels and con- 
 spirators. 
 
 The grand symbol of the Society is a triangle, which 
 appears in every ceremony; while the foot-rule, the scales, 
 and weights are laid in the sacred "bushel" upon the altar 
 before the opening of a Eodge. The altar and the seat 
 of the presiding officer are in the East. The members call 
 each other brother, worship one God, and possess a system 
 of grips and signs. On his admission, a candidate be- 
 comes dead to everyone except to members of the League, 
 and considers himself (after entering the Society) to have 
 been newly-born. The la,st ceremony is drinking blood — 
 a few drops of his own in a cupful of arrack, emphasizing 
 32 
 
498 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 the vow of secrecy. The blood sacrifice is a very ancient 
 custom, and covenants sworn to in the same manner as is 
 now done by the Triad sodaUty, viz.. by the shedding 
 of blood, are recorded as having taken place so early as the 
 period of the Chan dynasty, i.e , B.C. 1122. 
 
 Very much later, but still at a time comparatively re- 
 mote from our o\sm (1520), Fernando de Magalhaens, or, 
 as we are wont to call him, Magellan, discovered the 
 Philippine; Islands, and the King of Cebu proposed a 
 treaty, to be ratified by the ceremony of blood-brother- 
 hood, after the native custom. Magellan assented, and 
 the ceremony was performed. 
 
 As in Masonry, there are Lodges of Instruction for the 
 benefit of zealous members of the Triad Society. 
 
 On examining the ritual, a difficulty is encountered in 
 the numerous allusions to the Buddhist and Taouist 
 symbolism. Concerning the former we are fairly well 
 informed, but about the latter very little is known. 
 
 Enough has been said, perhaps, to show that the 
 analogy between this Chinese Society and Freemasonry is 
 possibly something more than a coincidence. In the view 
 of the leading authority on the history and procedure of 
 the Triad fraternity, — "For those who believe in the 
 unity of the human race, it will seem less strange that 
 there should exist a marked resemblance between both 
 societies, and they will more readily comprehend the 
 similarity of the symbols and institutions of these socie- 
 ties. If the theory of the unity of the human race be the 
 more correct one, it would be very likely that the nations, 
 when they spread themselves from the supposed cradle of 
 mankind — the plains of Middle Asia — over all the world, 
 retained the notion that they were once all brethren and 
 formed one family . . . Perhaps Masonry divided itself 
 into two branches: one passing to the West, and the 
 other directing itself to the East, and, finding a fertile 
 soil for its development in China." (Gustave Schlegel, 
 Tfnan-ti-hwi, or Heaven-Earth League, viii.) 
 
Freemasonry in Asia. 499 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Herbert A. Giles, while admit- 
 ting that, — 
 
 "From time immemorial we find the square and com- 
 passes used by Chinese writers, either together or sep- 
 arately, to symbolize precisely the same phases of moral 
 conduct as in our own system of Freemasonry, ' ' — goes 
 on to say, — 
 
 "It has ever been accepted as a physical axiom in 
 China that 'Heaven is round. Earth is square' ; and among 
 the relics of the nature-worship of old, we find the altar of 
 Heaven at Peking round, while the altar of Earth is sqiiare. 
 By the marriage of Heaven and Earth, the conjunction of 
 the circle and the square, the Chinese believe that all 
 things were produced and subsequently distributed, each 
 according to its own proper function. And such is, in my 
 opinion, the undoubted origin of the terms 'square and 
 compasses' as figuratively applied to human conduct by 
 the earliest ancestors of the Chinese people." 
 
 Mr. Giles then notices the coincidences to which Sir 
 Chaloner Alabaster had recently called attention, as 
 existing between the old religion of China and the ritual 
 and observances of our Craft {a?ite, 3) ; and after pointing 
 out that a Chinese character, relied upon by the latter, 
 had only been introduced some four hundred years after 
 Christ, when the period of the old religion of China had 
 long since passed away, expresses himself in the following 
 terms : — " The Chinese language contains many characters 
 apparently Masonic in form, but almost all these coinci- 
 dences vanish for the most part into thin air when we 
 recollect that the written symbols of China are no longer 
 what they were," (Freemasonry in China, 14, 19). 
 
 ASIA MINOR. 
 
 The Law of Dakhiel, as prevailing among the Arabs 
 of Asia Minor, forms the subject of an interesting essay 
 by Mr. S. T. Klein, who carefully considers the possible 
 
500 History of Freeynasonry. 
 
 explanation it may afford of the curious incident narrated 
 in I. Kings, xx., 31-33, as pointing to certain signs and 
 words being in use in those times for the purpose of recog- 
 nition, and to there having been a sacred bond of union 
 between Ahab, Benhadad, and the messengers. (A. 0. C. 
 ix., 89). 
 
 Besides the ncmads of the Syrian Desert, observances 
 more or less akin to those of the Freemasons, are ascribed 
 to the Yesidis — otherwise Nasrani, i.e., "Nazareans" — 
 who accept neither the Bible nor the Koran, and are 
 scattered to the number of about 300,000 over Assyria, 
 Mesopotania, the North of Syria, Koordistan, Ar- 
 menia, and Asia Minor; the Begtaschi, who belong to a 
 society founded by Bektash of Bokhara, who lived in the 
 fifteenth century, and is buried in Asia Minor; the 
 Druses; and the Ansariyeh. To all of these sects I 
 have referred in the opening chapter of this History, but to 
 the curious reader I commend a remarkable essay by the 
 Rev. Haskett Smith, who contends that the Druses are 
 none other than the original subjects of Hiram, King of 
 Tyre, and that their ancestors were the builders of Sol- 
 omon's Temple. Their signs and tokens, though not 
 their passwords, are stated by the same writer to bear a 
 close resemblance to those of the Freemasons. (A.Q.C., 
 iv., 8.) Personally, however, I adhere to the opinion al- 
 ready expressed, that if such coincidences actually do 
 exist, theti the sectaries of Mount Lebanon, must have 
 adopted some of the practices of our Society. But the 
 inclination of my own judgment, based on the writings of 
 persons long resident in the Levant, is in the direction of 
 the real bond uniting the Druses and the Ansariyeh 
 respectively, being, in the case of either sect, a mystery 
 which time has not yet revealed. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 In the North of the "Dark Continent," we find at 
 Alexandria a Grand Orient of Egypt, with a member- 
 
Freemasonry in Asia. 501 
 
 ship of about 100; and at Cairo a Grand National 
 Lodge, with a following of 19 Lodges, and a membership 
 of 200. Several European Masonic powers, including 
 England, Scotland, Italy, and France, are also repre- 
 sented in the valley of the Nile. In Algeria and Moroc- 
 co, Masonry may be said to fall exclusively within the 
 French sphere of influence, and in Tunis mainly so, 
 though in this Regency an independent Grand Lodge 
 was established in 188 1, 
 
 On the West Coast of Africa, there are several 
 Lodges under England and one under Ireland. Others 
 exist in Senegal, the Azores, and St. Helena, holding 
 French, Portuguese, and English warrants respectively. 
 
 In the Negro Republic of Liberia, there is a Grand 
 Lodge — constituted in 1867 — with 9 daughter Lodges, 
 and a membership of 600. 
 
 A remarkable essay on Secret Tribal Societies of ]Vest 
 Africa, by Mr. H. P. F. Marriot, can only be cursorily 
 referred to. These associations are religious, mystical, 
 political, and judicial. "The Science of Life and Death, ' ' 
 or, to use another expression, "The Worship of Death, " is 
 taught in the highest, and even hinted at in the inferior 
 societies. In most (or all) of the associations, there exists 
 a system of degrees or steps. A clue to the influences 
 brought to bear upon the development of the secret tribal 
 associations has been suggested. It is to this effect, — 
 "There exists in Egypt a society called SiRi, which is 
 from an Arabic word, meaning secret or magic. Forms of 
 it are in many parts of the Soudan, and Senegambia. 
 It is a Society for the study of Occult Science, and was 
 introduced into Africa by the Arabs. It still retains 
 some of the ancient Cabalistic mysteries of the Hebrews 
 in the Arabic language, as well as the science of Astrology. 
 It is a key to the understanding of the rites, ceremonies, 
 etc., of African religion, and the practices of African Secret 
 Societies." (A.O.C.xn., 66-93.) 
 
" THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE OCCULT IS THE KNOWLEDGE 
 
 OF THE EQUILIBRIUM." — SOHAR, BOOK 1., 
 
 SIPHRA DE ZENINUTHA. 
 
Freemasonry in the West Indies. 503 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 The first of a long series of Dutch Ivodges was estab- 
 lished at Cape Town in 1772, and since the final cession of 
 the Cape Settlement to Great Britain in 18 14, the Free- 
 masons owning fealty to the Grand Orient of the Nether- 
 lands, have always acted in perfect harmony with those 
 working under warrants from the Grand Lodges of the 
 British Isles. At the present time, in Cape Colony, 
 Natal, the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, Rhodesia, 
 and Mashonaland, there are 105 English, 35 Scottish, 23 
 Dutch, and 4 Irish Lodges, making a grand total of 167, 
 exclusive of some others — more or less clandestine — 
 which are not recognized by the dominant Masonic 
 Powers. 
 
 In the South African Islands, there are French 
 Lodges at Reunion (or Bourbon), and Madagascar. 
 A Portuguese Lodge exists at Mozambique. At the 
 Mauritius, there are (or were) three lodges holding 
 French charters, and until quite lately an equal number 
 under the Grand Lodges of the British Isles, but one of 
 these, Independent, No. 236 on the roll of the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland, has, at the present time of writing, 
 disappeared from the list. 
 
 THE WEST indies. 
 
 In the large group of islands lying east of Central and 
 north of South America, there are 45 British Lodges, and 
 a solitary Irish one. The districts where Masonry 
 flourishes with the greatest luxuriance, are Jamaica, 
 Barbadoes, Bermuda, and Trinidad. Lodges holding 
 French charters are (or were) existing at Martinique and 
 Guadeloupe. 
 
 A Grand Lodge of Cuba was established in the early 
 part of the last century, and after a most chequered career 
 was once more revived and re-organized in 1899. During 
 
504 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 its latest dormancy, however, a Gran Oriente Nacional 
 sprang into temporarj' existence. The Grand Lodge 
 had, in 1901, a following of 28 subordinates (which, I am 
 informed, has since been largely increased), with a total 
 membership of 1,308. 
 
 In Porto Rico, the other island in what was formerly 
 the Spanish West Indies, a Grand Lodge was formed at 
 Mayaguez in 1885. After a slumber of three years, this 
 body met in 1899, and transferred its seat to San Juan. 
 The Gran Logia Soberana de Puerto Rico, has 15 
 Lodges wathin its jurisdiction, and a membership of 396. 
 
 Hispanioea, Hayti, or San Domingo, formerly in- 
 cluded in the French WEST Indies, is now divided into 
 two Negro Republics, one of which — in the west — has 
 taken the name of Hayti, and the other — in the east — 
 that of San Domingo. In the former, there are two 
 Grand Orients, the older of which (1836), at Port-au- 
 Prince, has 40 Lodges on its roll; of the junior body (1886) 
 no particulars are forthcoming. In the district now 
 called San Domingo, there is a Grand Orient (1866) 
 with 1 1, and a Grand Lodge (1891) with 15 Lodges. 
 
 If we go back, however, to the second half of the 
 eighteenth centurj^, it will be found that what is now one 
 of the most popular and widely diffused of the vast array 
 of Rites which claim to be Masonic, was cradled in what 
 was then indifferently known as the island of Hispaniola, 
 Hayti or San Domingo. Among the French colonists 
 were four men, Stephen Morin, Germain Hacquet, the 
 Comte Alexander F. A. de Grasse Till}', and Jean Baptiste 
 Marie de la Hogue, whose names will duly figure in the 
 story I am about to relate. 
 
 In 1 761, Stephen Morin received a patent from the 
 Grand Council of the Emperors of the East and West, 
 and the Grand Lodge of France, then temporarily 
 united, power being given him to establish a symbolic 
 Lodge, also to confer the higher degrees and the rank 
 of In.spector. The " Emperors of the East and West' ' 
 
Freemasonry in the West Indies. 505 
 
 {ante 323, 356), controlled a Rite consisting of twenty- 
 five degrees, which has ordinarily been known as the 
 Rite of Perfection, or of Heredom. 
 
 In 1763, Morin went from Paris to San Domingo, which 
 he made his headquarters, or Grand Orient, for the " High 
 Degrees" in the New World. He also created a Council 
 of Princes of the Royal Secret (25°) at Kingston, 
 Jamaica, in 1770, and appointed numerous Deputy 
 Inspectors General for the purpose of propagating the 
 Rite, granting them roving commissions with powers very 
 similar to his own. Of the filiation of these powers there 
 is no complete record, but the first Deputy Inspector 
 appointed by Morin was Henry A. Francken, of Kingston, 
 Jamaica, who afterwards went to New York, and estab- 
 lished a Lodge of Perfection at Albany, in that State 
 At the outbreak of the revolution at San Domingo in 
 1 791 (thereafter nothing further is heard of Stephen 
 Morin), the French settlers were obliged to flee, and many 
 of them sought refuge in America. The Comte de Grasse 
 Tilly and his father-in-law, J. B. M. de la Hogue, were 
 created Deputy Inspectors-General at Charleston, in 1 796, 
 and a similar rank was conferred upon Germain Hac- 
 quet at Philadelphia, in 1798. 
 
 Down to the year 1 801 , the highest degree known either 
 in the West Indies or America was that of Prince ok 
 the Royal Secret, the twenty-fifth and last of the Rite 
 of Perfection. But on the 31st of May, 1801, there 
 was organized a new governing body of a new Rite, into 
 which the RiTE OF Perfection had been transformed. 
 It was named the Supreme Council of Sovereign 
 Grand Inspectors General of the Thirty-Third 
 Degree for the United States of America. It recog- 
 nized the "Constitutions" of 1762, the "Secret Constitu- 
 tions," and the "Constitutions of 1786." The last 
 named are the supreme law of the Rite, and purport to 
 have been sanctioned by Frederick the Great, as its 
 Governor and head. Whether, indeed, the "Grand 
 

 ^^W^' 
 
 
 
 MASONIC HALL, BROADWAY, NEW YORK, DESTROYED BY FIRE. 
 
 / 
 
Freemasonry in the West Indies. 507 
 
 Constitutions of 1786" more properly belong to the 
 authentic, or to the legendary history of this Rite, is a 
 question that has been fiercely debated, but by the gen- 
 erality of readers, perhaps, the words of the French pro- 
 verb will be deemed much in point. 
 
 "Pour qui ne les croit pas, il n'est pas de prodiges." 
 " There are no miracles to the man who has no faith.' ' 
 De Grasse Tilly, as his patent informs us, was a member 
 of the Supreme Council at Charleston, and Grand 
 Commander for life of the French WEST Indies, in 1802, 
 at the close of which year he returned with de la Hogue to 
 San Domingo, and founded a Supreme Council at Port- 
 au-Prince. Both men were then Sovereign Grand In- 
 spectors General (S.G.I.G.), i.e., members of the 33rd 
 degree. 
 
 In 1803, the Negroes again attained the upper hand, and 
 the Whites were once more driven out of San Domingo. 
 Hacquet arrived in Paris early in 1804, and was adroit 
 enough to induce the Grand Orient of France to 
 accept the twenty-five degrees of the RiTE OF Perfec- 
 tion. "The hand of time," said the Grand Orient, in 
 a circular of 1819, "had now ri8o4] efi"aced in France 
 the remembrance of these degrees, which had gone out 
 from its own bosom; even of some that were exclusively 
 French ; so that they were brought back there as strangers, 
 and were not re-claimed." In September, 1804, Dc 
 Grasse Tilly, aided by de la Hogue, and three other 
 S.G.I.G., who had also come from San Domingo, or- 
 ganized and established a Supreme Council for France, 
 at Paris; and in the following month a Grand Scots 
 Lodge. 
 
 The Grand Orient of France thought it advisable to 
 make a Union with these bodies, and by a concordat the 
 Grand Scots Lodge was merged in the Grand Orient, 
 and the Supreme Council became a co-ordinate branch 
 of it. But this arrangement came to an end in 1805. 
 All the Supreme Councils, of the so-called Ancient 
 
508 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 AND Accepted vScottish Rite, in the world trace their 
 descent from Charleston, De Grasse, the Supreme 
 Council, or the Grand Orient of France. 
 
 CENTRA!, AND SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 It has been shown that in 1804 the Comte de Grasse 
 introduced a new system or Rite of thirty-three degrees 
 into France, under the title of the Ancient and Ac- 
 cepted Scottish Rite. Its success in France was 
 
 MEDAL MASONIC HALL, TWENTY-THIRD STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 instantaneous and phenomenal, and it speedily became a 
 favorite with the Latin races. The Rite penetrated 
 and made its ground secure in Spain, Portugal, Mex- 
 ico, and South America, while to come to our own 
 day (with the exceptions that will be presently noticed,) 
 what Lodges there are in the Republics of Central and 
 South America, are governed either by Supremp: Coun- 
 cils, or by Grand Orients, of which Supreme Coun- 
 cils form part. 
 
Freemasonry in Central and South America. 509 
 
 Supreme Councils and Sovereign Grand Inspec- 
 tors General, 33°, were each supposed by members of 
 the Rite to possess, on the whole, powers greatly in excess 
 of those appertaining to Grand Lodges and Grand 
 Masters. Supreme Councils could confer at pleasure 
 the 33rd degree, and the persons so honored could not 
 only create Supreme Councils where none existed, and 
 add to the number of their own degree (S.G.I.G.), but it 
 was extensively believed that, like the ScoTs Masters — 
 whose assumed powers were afterwards, in some shape or 
 form, successively exercised by the Chapter of Cler- 
 mont, the Knights of the East, the Emperors of the 
 East and West, and the Strict Observance — they 
 could, at any time or place, personally impart, either 
 with or without a ceremony, the secrets of the three Craft 
 degrees. 
 
 The Grand Orient system was a French invention, 
 and has since been adopted by other Latin nations. In 
 theory, a Grand Orient is an organization consisting of 
 several sections, usually a Supreme Council, Grand 
 Chapter, and Grand Lodge, each with exclusive power 
 over its own degrees. In practiee, the Supreme Council 
 is always the predominant partner, and its Grand Com- 
 mander is the Grand Master of the united body. 
 
 In Mexico besides a Supreme Council, there are five 
 or more distinct Grand Lodges. A circular, issued — 
 June 14th, 190 1 — by one of the latter, declares: — "That 
 the Bible, the Great Light of Masonry, is to be found on 
 its altars; and that no women are admitted into the 
 Lodges," — from which an opinion may be formed of the 
 so-called "Masonrv" of the Republic, as practised under 
 the aegis of the Gran Dieta Simbolica, now happily 
 defunct. 
 
 A Grand Orient for Central America — comprising 
 the Republics of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, 
 and San Salvador, was established in Guatemala, in 
 1887. Under it are 18 Lodges, exclusive of 7 which are 
 
5IO History of Freemasonry. 
 
 ruled by the Grand IvOdge of Costa Rica — formed in 
 1899 — and 3, holding British charters, in Nicaragua. 
 
 In South America, there are in Brazil, the Grand 
 Orients of Brazil at the capital, and of the Rio Grande 
 DO Sue, at Porto Allegre, with a following of 1 11 and 30 
 Lodges respectively. Single Grand Orients exist in 
 Argentina (23), Chili (10), Columbia ( ), Paraguay 
 (8), Uraguay (33), and Venezuela (40). The figures 
 within parentheses denote the number of Lodges in the 
 several jurisdictions, so far as I have been able to secure 
 data. There is a Grand Lodge of Peru — re-organized 
 in 1852 — with a following of 33 Lodges, 5 of which are in 
 Bolivia, 3 in Chili, and 2 in Ecuador, with a total 
 membership of 550. 
 
 Besides the national organizations, Lodges under 
 various European jurisdictions exist in many of the 
 Republics, and in all of the larger capitols. England 
 is represented by 7 Lodges in Argentina, and America 
 by 3 — under charters granted from Massachusetts — in 
 the "District of Chili." 
 
 In Guiana, Lodges have been from time to time consti- 
 tuted by Holland and France within their respective 
 spheres of influence, and British Guiana, at the present 
 moment, besides having a Scottish Lodge at Demarara, 
 is itself the seat of an English Province, with a roll of 5 
 Lodges, one of which, however, is at work in Chili 
 (Valparaiso) and another in I^ruguay {Monk Video). 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — CANADA AND NEW- 
 FOUNDLAND AUSTRALASIA OCEANIA. 
 
 In a subject so comprehensive, it is necessary 
 to light our match, — as Bacon was proud 
 to say he did, — at every man's candle. 
 
 — Charles Bucke. 
 
 So, on your patience ever more attending. 
 New joy wait on you! Here our play hath ending. 
 — Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
 
 THE united states OF AMERICA. 
 
 The three oldest Lodges on the Continent of North 
 America are St. John's, at Boston, Massachusetts; 
 Solomon's at Savannah, Georgia, and (again) Solomon's 
 at Charleston, South Carolina. The first of these bodies, 
 all of which are of English origin, was established in 1733, 
 and the last two in 1735. But there was formerly in 
 existence a still older Todge at Philadelphia, with records 
 dating from 1 73 1 , and which is presumably referred to — 
 December 8th, 1730 — as "one of the several Lodges 
 erected in this Province," by Benjamin Franklin, in the 
 Pennsylvania Gazette. All the evidence points in the 
 direction of this having been an independent or non- 
 tributary Lodge, assembling by inherent right, and 
 acknowledging no higher authority than its own. It has, 
 indeed, been contended, that the Lodge was constituted by 
 Daniel Coxe, to whom a Deputation was granted — June 
 5th, 1730 — by the Duke of Norfolk, as Provincial Grand 
 Master for the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, and 
 Pennsvlvania. But all the known facts are inconsistent 
 
512 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 with the supposition that the powers conferred by this 
 Deputation were ever exercised by Coxe, and even if we 
 concede the possibility of certain official acts having been 
 performed by him, though unrecorded, the conclusion is 
 irresistible, that these could not have occurred until ajter 
 
 
 e- 
 
 the formation of the I^odge at Philadelphia, with an 
 Immemorial Constitution, and existing "records dating 
 from 1 73 1." Of this Lodge, which met sometimes as a 
 private, and sometimes as a Grand Lodge, Benjamin 
 Franklin was the Master and Grand Master, in 1734. 
 
^ 
 
 o -3 
 
 OJ 
 
The United States of A merica. 5 1 3 
 
 The first Lodge held under written authority was estab- 
 lished by Henry Price, Provincial Grand Master of New 
 England, at "The Bunch of Grapes" Tavern, in Boston, 
 on August 31st, 1733. 
 
 In 1734, Franklin published an edition of the English 
 Book of- Constitutions, and entered into a correspondence 
 with Henry Price, "whose deputation and power," he 
 understood, "had been extended over all America," ask- 
 ing the latter to confirm the Brethren of Philadelphia in 
 the privilege of holding a Grand Lodge annually in their 
 customary manner. As Price's reply has not been 
 preserved, and the collateral evidence is in the highest 
 degree confusing, what he actually did in response to the 
 application from Franklin, must remain, to a large extent, 
 the subject of conjecture. But there seems no room for 
 doubt that the Lodge (and Grand Lodge) never, until 1749 
 worked under any sanction which was deemed superior 
 to its own. The authority actually held, as well as the 
 powers exercised by Price, have been much canvassed, but 
 it will be sufficient to state that all the action of the first 
 Provincial Grand Master of New England was recognized 
 in the Mother Country, by the Grand Lodge. 
 
 A Masters' Lodge, with Henry Price as Master, was 
 founded at Boston, in 1738. On the death of Robert 
 Tomlinson, who succeeded Price — as Prov. G.M. of New 
 England — in 1737, Thomas Oxnard — an Initiate of the 
 first Lodge at Boston — received a patent as Provincial 
 Grand Master of North America, in 1743. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin was appointed Provincial Grand 
 Master of Pennsylvania, by Oxnard, in 1749, but in the 
 following year, William Allen, Recorder of Philadelphia, 
 presented a deputation from the Grand Master of England 
 (Lord Byron), appointing him to the same office, and on 
 his authority being duly recognized, nominated Franklin 
 as his Deputy. 
 
 At the death of Oxnard, in 1754, a petition was drawn 
 up recommending Jeremy Ciridley as his successor. The 
 
 33 
 
The United States of America. 515 
 
 document states that " Mr. Henry Price, formerly Grand 
 Master, had resumed the chair pro tempore," and closes 
 with the remark, that since the establishment of Masonry 
 at Boston, in 1733, Lodges in Philadelphia, New Hamp- 
 shire, South Carolina, Antigua, Nova Scotia, Newfound- 
 land, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Connecticut, "have 
 received Constitutions from us." 
 
 By the terms of Gridley's patent, which was received in 
 I 755, his authority was restricted to those parts of North 
 America for which no Provincial Grand Master had been 
 appointed. 
 
 A self-constituted Lodge at Boston — St. Andrew's — 
 which afterwards numbered among its members some of 
 the most influential men of the city, received a Scottish 
 Avarrant — granted four years previously — in 1760. 
 
 In 1766, there were, in addition to those in Boston, 
 thirty (English) Lodges on the roll of the Province. Of 
 these three were military Lodges, four were in Massachu- 
 setts, three in Rhode Island, six in Connecticut, and one 
 each in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Maryland, 
 Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina. 
 
 In 1767 Gridley died, and in the following year John 
 Rowe was installed as his successor. Immediately after- 
 wards, steps were taken to form a Provincial Grand Lodge 
 under vScotland, and a petition to that effect was drawn 
 up and signed by the Masters and Wardens of St. An- 
 drew's Lodge, and of three Lodges attached to Regi- 
 ments in the British Army — all four Lodges having a 
 common bond in working according to what was com- 
 monly known as the "Ancient System." 
 
 The petition was granted in 1 769, and a commission was 
 issued appointing Joseph Warren, Grand Master of 
 Masons, in Boston, New P^ngland, and within one hun- 
 dred miles of the same. Two of the Regimental Lodges, 
 which had taken part in the movement, were present at 
 the inauguration of the new governing body, but they 
 
5i6 History of Fieemason>y. 
 
 were never any more than a nominal part of it, St. An- 
 drew's was really the Provincial Grand Lodge. 
 
 In the same year — August 2Sth — a section of St. 
 Andrew's, calling itself a Royal Arch Lodge, held its first 
 recorded meeting, and the minutes contain the earliest 
 account of the conferring of the degree of a Knight 
 Templar that has yet been discovered either in manuscript 
 or print. 
 
 By a further Scottish patent — dated March 3rd, 1772 — 
 Warren was appointed Grand Master for the Continent 
 of America. The body over which he presided began to 
 issue charters in 1770, and at a later period (1782) adopted 
 the title of the " ]\I \ssachusetts Grand Lodge, "its 
 rival, under John Rowe, retaining the appellation of "St. 
 John's." 
 
 Returning to Pennsylvania, in 175S the .so-called 
 Ancients gained a foothold in Philadelphia, and from 
 that date the Lodges under the older sanction began to 
 decline. A Provincial warrant was received from the 
 Ancient or Schismatic Grand Lodge of England in 1764. 
 By the Grand Body so established many warrants were 
 granted for Lodges in other States as well as in Pennsyl- 
 \^ania. All the other Lodges formed in the Province be- 
 fore the invasion of the Ancients soon after ceased to exist. 
 
 In what is now the State of New York, no trace of any 
 Lodge, created before the administration of George 
 Harrison, has been preserved. This worthy was ap- 
 pointed Provincial Grand Master in 1753, and during the 
 eighteen years he held office granted warrants to a large 
 number of Lodges, five of which still exist, and head the 
 roll of the existing Grand Lodge of New York. One of 
 these, Mount Vernon, No. 3, was originally constituted 
 by the members of Lodge No. 74 in the Second Bat- 
 talion of the ist Foot, who, on leaving Albany, in 1759, 
 gave an exact copy of their Irish "Warrant to some 
 influential citizens, which was exchanged for a Provincial 
 Charter in 1765. 
 
The United States of America. 517 
 
 Masonry came into Virginia from several distinct sources , 
 and except perhaps in a single instance without the inter- 
 vention of Provincial Grand Masters. The earliest IvOdge 
 is said to have been founded at Norfolk by Cornelius 
 Harnett in 1 741 , and, with good show of reason, it has been 
 suggested that the Provincial commission was superseded 
 by a deputation, or "constitution," from the Grand Lodge 
 of England in 1753. To Port Royal Kilwinning 
 Cross Lodge — whose name indicates its source of origin 
 — has been assigned the date of 1755. Other charters 
 were issued from Scotland — by the Grand Lodge — in 1756 
 and 1758, to Lodges at Blandford and Fredericksburg. 
 The latter had previously existed as an independent 
 Lodge, but for what period is uncertain. Washington was 
 initiated in this Lodge on November 4th, 1752, and in the 
 following year — December 22nd, 1753 — we find among its 
 records the earliest known minute referring to the actual 
 working of the Royal Arch degree. 
 
 In what were then the other colonies of British North 
 America, Lodges gradually sprang into existence, either 
 under direct or delegated authority from the Mother 
 Country. The introduction, however, of Masonry into 
 Florida has some distinctive features, with which I shall 
 bring this portion of the narrative to a close. 
 
 A charter for holding a Lodge " by the stile and title of 
 Grant's East Florida Lodge," was issued by the Grand 
 Lodge of Scotland in 1768. But this, after the fashion of 
 the "Ancients" (whose influence was shortly to become 
 paramount in the New World), appears to have been 
 regarded as an instrument authorizing the meetings of a 
 Provincial Grand Lodge. Accordingly, on May 3rd, 1 77 1 , 
 this "Grant's Lodge," acting as a Grand Lodge, issued a 
 charter to ten persons at Pensacola, who, "for some time 
 past had been members of Lodge No. 108 of the Register 
 of Scotland, held in his Majesty's Thirty-First Regiment 
 of Foot, as the said Regiment was about to leave the 
 Province." The new Lodge — St. Andrew's, No. i. West 
 
5 If 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Florida — continued to work at Pensacola until the cession 
 of Florida to the Spaniards, when it was removed to 
 Charleston, South Carolina. It will be seen that the 
 founders of the first Stationary (though in the light of 
 subsequent events it may be more appropriate to say 
 Civil) Lodge in Florida, were all members of an Army or 
 
 MASONIC PARADE REVIEWED BY WASHINGTON. 
 
 "Traveling" Lodge, attached to a British Regiment. 
 It is also not a little remarkable that one and the same 
 Military Lodge, should have been in the first instance 
 "Modern" (1750), next Scottish (1761), then "Ancient" 
 (1802), and finally "Scottish" once more (1805), without 
 any break of continuity in its existence. I shall be ex- 
 
The United States of America. 519 
 
 cused for adding that this feature of its Masonic history 
 had entirely faded out of recollection in the 31st Foot, 
 when a new English Lodge was established in that corps 
 at Gibraltar, with myself as the first Master, in 1858. 
 
 During the Revolution, communication with the Mother 
 Grand Lodges in North and South Britain was largely 
 interrupted, and in most cases wholly ceased. When 
 hostilities commenced, there were Provincial Grand 
 Lodges, in real or nominal existence, in Massachusetts 
 (for New England), New York, Virginia, South Carolina, 
 North Carolina and Georgia, under the Regular Grand 
 Lodge of England; in Pennsylvania under the "Ancients' ' 
 {ante, chap, vii.) ; and in Massachusetts (for the Continent 
 of North America), under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance, and deserves to be re- 
 corded, that in most of the Provinces the members of the 
 "Ancient" Lodges evinced a greater disposition to 
 espouse the cause of the Colonies, while the "Moderns" 
 were more generally inclined to side with the Crown. 
 
 The first man of distinction to lay down his life in the 
 cause of American Independence was Joseph Warren, the 
 Scottish Provincial Grand Master, and leader of the 
 "Ancients" in Massachusetts, who was killed at the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, where, though commissioned as a 
 Major-General, he fought as a Volunteer. Among the 
 Provincial Grand Masters of the "Moderns", whose 
 sympathies were enlisted in the opposite direction, were 
 John Rowe, whose action paralyzed the ST. John's Grand 
 Lodge at Boston; William Allen, of Pennsylvania, who 
 attempted to raise a regiment for the British Army ; Sir 
 Egerton Leigh, of South Carolina, who, foreseeing the 
 approaching storm, left for England in 1774; and vSir 
 John (son of the more famous Sir William) Johnson, of 
 New York, who cast in his lot with the Royalists at the 
 commencement of the war. 
 
 The death of Joseph Warren raised a constitutional 
 question of much complexity. What was the status of the 
 
520 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Grand Lodge after the death of the Grand Master? It 
 was disposed of by the election of Joseph Webb to the 
 position of "Grand Master of Antient Masonry" in the 
 State of Massachusetts. This, if we leave out of consider- 
 ation the Lodge (and Grand Lodge) at Pennsylvania in 
 1 73 1, was the first sovereign and independent Grand 
 Lodge in America, and the second was the Grand Lodge 
 of Virginia, which was established in the following year. 
 Many Military Lodges were in active existence during 
 the war, the most renowned being American Union, 
 
 BROTHERS WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE. 
 
 which received a charter from John Rowe (of Boston), and 
 was attached to the "Connecticut line." On December 
 27th, 1779, at Morristown, New Jersey, the Lodge cele- 
 brated the Festival of St. John. There were present a 
 large number of members and visitors — among the latter 
 being General Washington. A form of petition to the 
 several Provincial Grand Masters, to be signed on ?jehalf 
 of the Army Lodges and the Masons in each military line, 
 for the appointment of a Grand Master for the United 
 
The United States of Avierica. 521 
 
 States of America, was approved. Accordingly, at "a 
 convention Lodge from the different lines of the Army 
 and the departments, held in due form under the authority 
 of American Union Lodge, at Morristown, the sixth 
 day of March, in the year of Salvation, 1780," a duly 
 appointed committee presented their report. Washing- 
 ton was naturally designated for the office of Grand Mas- 
 ter, and it would seem that the representatives of the 
 Army Lodges hoped that the movement, if successfully 
 carried out, would obliterate all distinction between 
 "Ancient" and "Modern" Masons. Their idea also 
 appears to have been to have a National Grand Master 
 and Grand Lodge, with Deputy Grand Lodges, similar to 
 the previously existing Provincial Grand Lodges in the 
 several States. The project, however, of a national 
 governing organization was finally abandoned, and, 
 though revived on many subsequent occasions, has never 
 been regarded with more than a languid interest by the 
 vast majority of Grand Lodges in the United States. 
 
 In New York, prior to the Revolutionary war. Masonry 
 was a monopoly of the "Moderns," but when the 
 British Arm}' occupied New York City, with it came 
 "Ancient" Masonry. A Provincial Grand L^dge was 
 organized in 1782 by three stationary and six Army 
 Lodges. Of the latter, one was Scottish and one Irish, 
 but the remaining seven were "Ancient" Lodges 
 
 Within seven years after the close of the War of the 
 Revolution, the system of Grand Lodges with Territorial 
 jurisdiction was firmly established. It becam.e an accepted 
 doctrine, that the Lodges in an independent State had 
 a right to organize a Grand Lodge; that a Grand Lodge so 
 created possessed exclusive jurisdiction within the State: 
 and that it might constitute Lodges in another State in 
 which no Grand Lodge existed, and maintain them until 
 a Grand Lodge should be established in such State. 
 
 The following independent Grand Lodges, created in 
 accordance with these principles, existed in i7qo: — In 
 
522 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Massachusetts (two, St. John's and Massachusetts), 
 New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York (Ancient), 
 Pennsylvania {Ancient), New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina (two, Ancient and Mod- 
 ern) and Georgia. 
 
 APRON PRESENTED TO GENERAL WASHINGTON BY MAD.WI 
 LAFAYETTE. 
 
 For some time after the Revolutionary period, there 
 were two methods of working, as there had been before, 
 but as the " Ancients" and " Moderns' ' assimilated in each 
 jurisdiction,onemodewas adopted, which embracedmoreor 
 less the peculiarities of both systems. Gradually, in States 
 
The United States of America. 
 
 523 
 
 where there were two Grand Lodges, they amalgamated. 
 A union of the rival bodies at Boston was effected in 1 792. 
 In the two other leading jurisdictions, all opposition to the 
 " Ancients" had simply melted away. The Grand Lodges 
 established by the Schismatic Grand Lodge of England in 
 
 BURIAL OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Pennsylvania and New York simply declared their inde- 
 pendence, the former in 1786 and the latter in the follow- 
 ing year. In Pennsylvania there were no "Moderns" 
 left to either conciliate or coerce, but in New York the 
 Lodges under the older English sanction (which survived 
 the period of the Revolution) one by one fell into line and 
 
524 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 became component parts of the Grand Lodge, which at 
 the present time, as regards the number of its Lodges, its 
 total membership, and the extent of its jurisdiction, takes 
 the lead of all the other Grand Lodges in the United 
 States. 
 
 The battle-ground of the fiercest contest between the 
 "Ancients" and the "Moderns" was in South Carolina. 
 For nearly twenty years each party had a Grand Lodge in 
 active operation, and the contest was maintained for 
 many vears after it had ceased elsewhere in America, and 
 nfter the Union had taken place in England. 
 
 In 1800, there were in the L'nited States, 11 Grand 
 Lodges, having 347 subordinate Lodges, and a member- 
 'ih.ip of 16,000. 
 
 During the first quarter of the nineteenth century tlie 
 liistory of the American Craft was quiet and uneventful, 
 but a storm then arose that well-nigh swept the great 
 Fraternity from the land. AA^illiam Morgan, a mechanic 
 of Batavia, New York, who was reported to be about to 
 publish a volume disclosing the secrets of the Freemasons, 
 was kidnapped and carried off. WTiat his fate was has 
 never been ascertained. Whether his abductors nmr- 
 dered him, whether he died from exhaustion and fright, 
 and they were compelled to conceal his body, or whether 
 he was supplied with the means for removing to another 
 country, a most searching investigation, extending over 
 a period of six years, utterl}^ failed to disclose. 
 
 An Anti-Masonic party was thereupon formed in New 
 York, and the excitement gradually spread into other 
 States. With the full belief that it would sweep the old 
 political divisions out of existence, a candidate for the 
 Presidency was nominated in 1832. The other candidate 
 (of the two recognized parties), Andrew^ Jackson and 
 Henry Clay, were Masons and Past Grand Masters. In 
 the result, the former was elected by an overwhelming 
 majority, the Anti-^Iasons only carrying the State of 
 A^ermont. This was a death-blow to political Anti- 
 
The United States of America. 525 
 
 Masonry, but it continued to struggle feebly for a few 
 years longer before realizing that it was actually dead. 
 
 In the United States there have been many fierce and 
 embittered contests, but no other has approached in 
 intensity that which was carried on for several years by 
 the Anti-Masons. 
 
 No society, civil, military, or religious, escaped its 
 influence. No relation of family or friends was a barrier 
 to it. The hatred of Masonry was carried everywhere, 
 and there was no retreat so sacred that it did not enter. 
 
 ^iC 
 
 GRA.S'D MASTER Op RHODE ISLAND (1813-14), AND FATHER OI' MASOMC 
 RITUAL IN AMERICA. 
 
 This, of course, was disastrous to the growth and progress 
 of the Institution. Masonic work almost entirely ceased, 
 most of the Lodges suspended their meetings, and many of 
 them surrendered their charters. 
 
 Eventually, however, the tide of popular feeling began 
 to turn. Dormant Lodges were revived. Surrendered 
 charters were restored. The alarm at the outer door 
 was again heard, as the best men in the community sought 
 admission into the Society. 
 
526 
 
 History of Freemasonry- 
 
 The most important of the National Conventions which 
 have been summoned from time to time in order to consider 
 
 x/ 
 
 '/ 7^' 
 
 '^^c^i^ 
 
 THE WELU KNOWN MASOXie AUTHOR ANlJ JURIST. 
 
 matters common to, or affecting the whole of the jurisdi"- 
 tions, appears to ha\'e been that held at Baltimore, on Ma}- 
 
The United States of America. 527 
 
 8th, 1843. Fifteen Grand Lodges were represented. It 
 was in session for ten days. With great unanimity a 
 system of work and lectures was adopted. It was settled 
 at this meeting, and the usage has since prevailed, that 
 the business of the Lodges should be conducted in the 
 third degree. The issuing of Grand Lodge certificates 
 and a plan for a National Masonic Convention to meet 
 once in three years, were recommended to the Grand 
 Lodges. 
 
 The scheme, however, of a National Convention, meet- 
 ing triennially, has never been carried into effect. 
 
 Brigham Young, with about 1,500 other Mormons, was 
 expelled from Masonry by the Grand Lodge of Illinois, in 
 1 844. Six years later — at the close of the first half of the 
 century just expired — there were, in the United States, 28 
 Grand Lodges, having 1,835 subordinate Lodges, with a 
 membership of 66,142; but the extraordinary growth of 
 Masonry which has since taken place, altogether precludes 
 my doing more than record in a tabular statement, the 
 statistics relating to the dates of formation of the fift}' 
 existing Grand Lodges of the Republic, together with the 
 respective totals of their Lodges and members, as given by 
 Past Grand Master Jesse B. Anthony, of New York. 
 
 During the Civil War more than a hundred Military 
 Lodges were chartered by the Grand Lodges of the North 
 and South, but the experience gained during that great 
 conflict was decidedly opposed to their utility. 
 
 What is commonly known and described as the 
 American Rite, consists of ten degrees, viz; — i — 3, 
 Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, 
 which are given in Lodges, and under the control of 
 Grand Lodges; 4 — 7, Mark Master, Past Master, Most 
 Excellent Master, and Royal Arch, which are given in 
 Chapters, and under the control of Grand Chapters ; 8 — 10, 
 Royal Master, Select Master, and Super Excellent 
 Master, which are given in Councils and under the 
 control of Grand Councils. To these, perhaps, should 
 
DENVER MAS(JNIC HALL, 1860, AND TEMPLE, 1SV)0. 
 
<#' 
 
The United Stales of America. 529 
 
 be added three more degrees, namely, Knight of the 
 Red Cross, Knight Templar and Knight of Malta, which 
 are given in Commanderies, and are under the control 
 of Grand Commanderies. 
 
 There are also the degrees of the so-called Ancient and 
 Accepted Scottish Rite, which attract the most influential 
 section of the Craft, and the degree of Sovereign Grand 
 Inspector General (33°) may be described as the innermost 
 sanctuary of the Masons of the United States. 
 
 The three degrees of the Craft are commonly but 
 erroneously referred to in America as the York Rite, an 
 expression for which the origin must be sought in the 
 assumption of the term, "York Masons" by the "An- 
 cients" in the year 1756 (ante, 344). 
 
 There is, or may be, a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, 
 Grand Council, and Grand Commandery in each State, 
 whose jurisdiction is distinct and sovereign within its own 
 territory. There is no General Grand Lodge, or Grand 
 Lodge of the United States ; but there is a General Grand 
 Chapter, General Grand Council and Grand Encamp- 
 ment, to which the Grand Chapters, Grand Councils, 
 and Grand Commanderies of some, but not all, of the 
 States are subject. 
 
 There is no uniform usage as to the membership of 
 Grand Lodge, or the mode of appointment of Grand 
 Officers. 
 
 The utmost freedom is accorded to visiting brethren. 
 While any member of a Lodge possesses the right to 
 object to, and thereby exclude, any visitor, this right is 
 very rarely exercised. The result is that often there are 
 as many visitors present in an American Lodge as there 
 are members. 
 
 The fifty independent jurisdictions of the United States 
 are in every respect a happy family, conforming in their 
 boundaries to plainly marked political lines; and while 
 thev may differ in minor methods of administration, all 
 follow the broad lines plainly marked out by the usages. 
 
 34 
 
,S30 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 customs, and landmarks of the universal Craft. Almost 
 every Grand Lodge possesses a Charity Fund. Another 
 most efficient means of aiding the distressed is the agency 
 of Masonic Homes for Freemasons, their widows and 
 
 M.\SOXIC TEMPLE, CIXCIXX.\TI, OHIO. 
 
 orphans, A number of these organizatiojis are now in 
 successful operation in many of tlie States. 
 
 Each of the Grand Lodges, Chapters, Councils and 
 Commanderies, publishes an annual volume of its Pro- 
 ceedings, and with the greater number there appears a 
 Report on Correspondence. The v,riters of these Re- 
 
The United States of America. 
 Statistics. 
 
 531 
 
 Grand Lodges. 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Arizona 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 California 
 
 Colorado 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Dela^vare 
 
 Dist. of Columbia. 
 
 Florida 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Idaho 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Indian Territory. . 
 
 Iowa 
 
 Kansas 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Maine 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Michigan 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 Missouri 
 
 Montana 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 Nevada 
 
 New Hampshire . . 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 New York 
 
 North Carolina. . . 
 North Dakota .... 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Oklahoma 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 South Carolina. . . 
 South Dakota .... 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Texas 
 
 Utah 
 
 Vermont 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Washington 
 
 West Virginia .... 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 Date of 
 Formation 
 
 1882 
 1832 
 1850 
 1861 
 1789 
 1806 
 1810 
 1830 
 1786 
 1867 
 1840 
 1818 
 1874 
 
 1844 
 1S50 
 1800 
 1812 
 1820 
 1787 
 1777 
 1844 
 
 1853 
 1818 
 1821 
 1866 
 
 1857 
 1865 
 1789 
 1786 
 1877 
 1787 
 1771 
 1889 
 1808 
 1892 
 1851 
 1786 
 1791 
 1787 
 
 1875 
 1813 
 
 1837 
 1872 
 
 1794 
 1777 
 1858 
 1865 
 
 1843 
 1874 
 
 Number ot 
 Lodges. 
 
 3S7 
 
 17 
 
 445 
 
 278 
 
 lOI 
 
 1 10 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 144 
 
 447 
 32 
 724 
 ,Sii 
 104 
 505 
 364 
 47.5 
 144 
 1 98 
 104 
 236 
 
 389 
 228 
 291 
 565 
 
 49 
 236 
 
 21 
 
 79 
 1 7 I 
 
 20 
 
 7.=i5 
 3-4 
 
 06 
 499 
 
 78 
 
 lOI 
 
 436 
 
 37 
 245 
 
 99 
 430 
 675 
 
 10 
 102 
 276 
 1 12 
 120 
 246 
 
 19 
 
 Number gf 
 Membcfb. 
 
 13.494 
 
 939 
 
 11,386 
 
 24.735 
 9.432 
 
 17.730 
 2.433 
 6,257 
 4,623 
 
 21,138 
 1.532 
 
 63,034 
 
 35,107 
 
 4,549 
 31,693 
 22,388 
 21,819 
 
 6,361 
 23,234 
 
 8,278 
 42,090 
 
 45,304 
 
 17,528 
 
 10,676 
 
 36,138 
 
 3,325 
 
 13,115 
 
 904 
 
 9,480 
 
 19,150 
 
 1.079 
 
 111,365 
 
 12,012 ■ 
 
 3,998 
 
 51,374 
 
 3.291 
 
 5,959 
 
 S7,266 
 
 5.685 
 
 6,532 
 
 5,125 
 
 17,770 
 
 31,568 
 
 982 
 
 10,674 
 
 13.444 
 6,205 
 7,421 
 
 18,795 
 1,308 
 
 Totals: — 50 Grand Lodges, 12,052 Lodges, and 899,715 Members. 
 
53^ History of Freemasonyy. 
 
 ports, in a geneial survey of the progress of the Societ}* in 
 all parts of the globe, have gradually added to the bare 
 narrations of facts their comments on Masonic law, and 
 their criticisms on the decisions made in other jurisdic- 
 tions. The Reports, of course, vary in interest according 
 to the experience and literary ability of the writers by 
 whom they are compiled, but owing to a well-established 
 law of natural selection, the best men eventually come 
 to the front, and those who have made their mark in the 
 minor role of Reporter to a Grand Chapter, Council, or 
 Commandery, are transferred to a higher sphere of use- 
 fulness, and become the critics and reviewers of the 
 practice and procedure of the Family of Grand Lodges. 
 In twenty-three (or more ) of the States there are Negro 
 Grand Lodges, but the Colored are not recognized by the 
 other (fifty) Grand Lodges. 
 
 C.\X,\DA AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 Tradition marks the year 1 738 as the date of the consti- 
 tution of the first Masonic Lodge, in what is now "the 
 Donnnion of Canada. This Lodge was warranted at 
 Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia, by Erasmus J. Phillips, 
 Fort Major of the pioneer fortress, under the authority of 
 Henry Price, the Prov. Cr.M. of St. John's Grand Lodge 
 at Boston, Massachusetts. Phillips was initiated in "the 
 first Lodge in Boston" in 1737, while on a visit to that 
 town. On his return to Annapolis he opened the Lodge, 
 tlms sowing the first seeds of Craft fellowship in the 
 ]\Iaritime Provinces. The position given him by Price 
 was that of Deputy Grand Master — but within a short 
 period he became Provincial G.M. — and by his authority 
 the first Lodge at Halifax was warranted in 1749-50, with 
 Brigadier-General Edward Cornwallis as Master. 
 
 A Grand Lodge was formed by a minoritA- of the 
 Lodges, in 1866, but it was shortly afterwards merged in 
 
Canada and Newfoundland. 533 
 
 the existing Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, which was 
 regularly organized in 1869. 
 
 The first Province West of the Maritime Provinces to 
 constitute Lodges was Quebec, in 1759-60. These 
 Lodges were military and civil — military for a short time 
 after the conquest — and civil from 1761-2. They were 
 governed by a Provincial Grand Lodge ("Moderns"). 
 This body had an active existence until 1791, when the 
 "Ancients" warranted a Provincial Grand Lodge under 
 Prince Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent, who was in 
 command of the forces at Quebec. Both these organ- 
 izations did good work, but that of the Moderns was not 
 an active factor after 1800. In 181 3, when the rival 
 Grand Lodges of England joined hands, a Provincial 
 Grand Lodge, under the present United Grand Lodge of 
 England, took charge of the jurisdiction of Quebec. In 
 1 791 the Province of Canada (Quebec) had been divided 
 into Upper and lower Canada, under William Jarvis and 
 Prince Edward, as Provincial Grand Masters respectively. 
 Both these appointments were made by the Ancients 
 In 1822-3 the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lower Canada 
 was divided for Masonic purposes into two districts. one- 
 Quebec and Three Rivers, the other — Montreal and Wil- 
 liam Henry. The two Provinces had separate Legisla- 
 tures until 1 841, when for civil purposes they were united. 
 Lower Canada being afterwards known as Canada East 
 and Upper Canada as Canada West. The dividing line 
 between these Provinces from 1791 was the Ottawa 
 River, and no change was made when they were united 
 in 1 841. 
 
 In 1855, a secession took place from the Provincial 
 Grand Lodge of Upper Canada, and an independent 
 Grand Lodge was established. Two years later, the 
 Provincial Grand Lodge (dating from 1792), formed 
 "The Ancient Grand Lodge of C.^NADA." In 1858 
 these two bodies united under the title of the Grand 
 
534 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Lodge of Canada, by which organization Lodges were 
 formed, not only in Canada West, but also in Canada East. 
 
 The Grand Lodge of Quebec was formed in 1869, and 
 exercises Masonic jurisdiction over the Province of 
 Quebec, formerly Canada East. But three of the Lodges 
 in Montreal still retain their English warrants, and have 
 hitherto declined to afifiliate with the Colonial Grand 
 Lodge. 
 
 At a later period, in recognition of the position attained 
 by the Grand Lodge of Quebec (Canada East), the words 
 " In the Province of Ontario' ' (Canada West) were added 
 by the Grand Lodge of Canada to its title. 
 
 There are seven Provinces in the Dominion of Canada, 
 and seven Grand Lodges : — 
 
 Grand Lcidges. 
 
 British Columbia 
 
 Canada (Ontario) 
 
 Manitoba 
 
 New Brunswick 
 
 Nova Scotia 
 
 Prince Edward Island. 
 Quebec 
 
 Date of 
 
 Number ot 
 
 Number of 
 
 Formation 
 
 Lodges. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1871 
 
 ^,6 
 
 
 iS^S 
 
 376 
 
 28,421 
 
 1875 
 
 73 
 
 3.486 
 
 1867 
 
 34 
 
 I.SS4 
 
 i860 
 
 63 
 
 3,720 
 
 1875 
 
 13 
 
 374 
 
 IS69 
 
 57 
 
 4.033 
 
 Totals:-7 Grand Lodges, 652 Lodges, and 44,473 Meniliers. 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 There are seven English and two Scottish Lodges in 
 this Island, which has not yet thrown in its lot with the 
 Dominion. ar" 
 
 OCEANICA. ■ 4 ■ 
 
 The leading group of Islands which fall within the 
 limits of the present section are called by geographers 
 AusTR.\LASiA, and all of the colonies in:o which thev are 
 now divided were originally dependencies of New South 
 Wales. In Victoria, Western Ai-stralia, South 
 
Canada — Newfoundland — Oceanica. 535 
 
 Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and New Zea- 
 land, there are now independent Governments, but the 
 "Mother City" of Australasian Masonry, as misht 
 naturally be expected, is Sydney, the capital of the parent 
 colony. Regimental, in the first instance, paved the way 
 for Stationary Lodges, and the earliest of the latter — 
 Australian Social — was established by warrant of the 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland, in 1820. Many Lodges were 
 afterwards formed in all parts of Australasia by the 
 three jurisdictions of the British Isles, and after some 
 hasty declarations of independence by unruly minorities, 
 Grand Lodges, with the solitary exception of Queens- 
 land, have now been established, in strict accordance with 
 Masonic usage, in all of the Colonies: — 
 
 ^ 1 T ^ Date '-'i , Number ot Number of 
 
 Lrran.l fudges.. Formation Lodges. -Members. 
 
 South Australia. . . 
 New South Wales. 
 
 Victoria 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 Tasmania 
 
 Western Australia. 
 
 IS84 \ 
 
 43 
 
 2,498 
 
 1 888 ; 
 
 187 
 
 S,i86 
 
 1889 
 
 170 
 
 10,210 
 
 1890 
 
 125 
 
 6,100 
 
 IS90 
 
 24 
 
 I.SOO 
 
 1900 
 
 49 
 
 2,584 
 
 Totals: — 6 Grand Lodges, 5 s Lodges, and 31,07.8 Members. 
 
 In Queensland, where there i^ as } et 1:0 Grand Lodge, 
 there are Enghsh, Scottish, and Irish District ("or Pro- 
 vincial) Grand Lodges, with a following of 54, 58, and 23 
 Lodges respectively, forming a total of 135. 
 
 Western Australia is also the seat of a Scottish 
 Masonic Province, with 34 Lodges, and there is a solitary 
 representative (in each case) of the English and Irish 
 jurisdictions, making an aggregate of 36 in addition to 
 those on the roll of the Grand Lodge. 
 
 Apart from the above, England still retains control 
 over two Lodges — one in Kew South W'.vlEs and the 
 other in Victoria — and Irel.\nd over one, in South 
 Australia. 
 
536 
 
 History of Freemasonry. 
 
 Tasmania has no Lodges under the authority of other 
 Masonic powers, working side by side with those on the 
 roll of its own Grand Lodge. In New Zealand, how- 
 ever, matters have not yet shaped themselves so har- 
 moniously, as five English, and four Scottish "District" 
 Grand Lodges, and a solitary Irish "Provincial" Grand 
 Lodge (having a grand total of 64 subordinates) continue 
 to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the Colonial Grand 
 Lodge. 
 
 There are four Lodges holding British warrants in the 
 Fiji Archipelago; two, one English and the other French, 
 in New Caledonia ; and one Scottish and two (or more) 
 American Lodges, in the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 A. 
 Aberdour, Lord. 424, 4,38, 445. 
 Accepted Masons, the. 227, 240, 243. 
 
 245, 249, 250, 251, 32S. 
 Acception (or Lodge), the, 240, 245. 
 Act of Constitutin';; a Lodge, the, 
 
 383- 
 
 Additonal Degrees, the Royal Arch, 
 and Installed Master's, 405, 408. 
 440, 442. Foreign novelties, 
 421-S, 430, 462, 467, 4S3, 484, 
 ,S05, 527-9, See Degrees, Knights 
 Templar, ilark and Rites. 
 
 Adepts, the Rosicrucian, 114, 115 
 
 Adopted Masons, the, 226, 227, 250. 
 
 Africa, North and West Coast of, 
 Lodges and Secret Tribal So- 
 cieties, 500. South of, British, 
 Dutch, and Irish Lodges, South 
 African Islands, 303. 
 
 Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, one of 
 the greatest of the Occult Phil- 
 osophers, 100, 106,126, 312. 
 
 Ahiman Rezon. tlie Book of Con- 
 stitutions of the Schismatic Grand 
 Lodge of En,gland. 431. 433, 437, 
 
 447- 
 Ainslie, Rev. James, olijection taken 
 
 to in 1652 on account of his being 
 
 a Freemason, 337. 
 Alabaster, Sir C, on the Early 
 
 Symbolism of China, 20, 498-9. 
 Albertus Magnus, Bishop, Mystic, 
 
 and reputed Magician, 99, 126. 
 Alchemistical Philosophers, the, 97, 
 
 114. 
 Alchemy, 95, 97, 99. 
 Aldworth, Mrs., the alleged Lady 
 
 Freemason, 359. 
 Alexander, Sir Anthony, ^^^arden 
 
 General, 327, 330. 340. 
 Alexander, Henrie, Warden General 
 
 327, 330, 340. 
 Algeria, 501. 
 
 Allen, WilUam, Prov. G. M., Penn- 
 sylvania , 419, 513. 319' 
 Alnwick Records, the, 231. 
 
 America, Central and South, in- 
 vaded by the Ancient and Ac- 
 cepted Scottish Rite, Supreme 
 Councils, and S. G. I. G., 33°, 
 Grand Orients, 508-9., Mexico, 
 Women in Lodges, Masonry in 
 Central and South America, 509. 
 Lodges chartered by foreign 
 jurisdictions, 510. 
 
 America, United States of. Free- 
 masonry in, the oldest Lodges, 
 511. Daniel Coxe, Benjamin 
 Franklin, HenrN' Price, 512-3. 
 Provincial Grand Lodge for North 
 America, 513 The " Ancients, " 
 515. Washington's Mother 
 Lodge, 517. The War of Inde- 
 pendence, 519. The Ancients 
 sided with the Colonist, the Mo- 
 derns with the Crown 519 Con- 
 vention of the Army Lodges, 521. 
 Fusion of Modems with Ancients, 
 522. Abduction of William 
 
 Morgan, pohtical Anti-Masonry, 
 524. National Conventions, 526 
 The American Rite, 530. Ma- 
 sonic Customs, 527. Statistics, 
 
 531 
 Ancient and Accepted Scottish 
 Rite, the, 40S, 452, 473, 491, 50S, 
 
 5-9- 
 
 Ancients, or Schismatic English 
 Masons, the, 430,-43, 446, 493, 
 515, 517-21, 527-9- 
 
 Anderson, Dr. James, ordered to 
 digest the old Gothic Constitu- 
 tions, 364. His Book approved, 
 370. A member of the Horn Lodge, 
 374. Attacks on, 377-So. Au- 
 thor of a Letter from Euclid, 186. 
 Second edition of his Book of 
 Constitutions sanctioned, 388-90. 
 His death, 420. Cited or quoted, 
 207, 22S, 243, 250, 256, 2S3, 359, 
 395, 397, 407. His First Book of 
 Constitutions, 344, 348, 363, 370, 
 372, 373, 380, 395, 403, 417, 429. 
 
 538 
 
INDEX. 
 
 539 
 
 His Second Book of Constitutions, 
 
 34S, 354, 357, 359, 373, 386, 3^9, 
 390, 401, 403, 416, 417, 434. 
 
 Andrea, Johann Valentine, the 
 reputed founder of the Rosicru- 
 cian Fraternity, 103, 119. 
 
 Ansariyeh of Syria, the, 18, 500. 
 
 Anthony, Jesse B., 527. 
 
 Antiquity, Lodge of, 33S, 417, See 
 Lodges, English, the Four Old. 
 
 Anti-Masonry in America, 524. 
 
 Apprentice, the French passed, 
 called Compagnon, Aide, \'alet, 
 Varlet, and Gar(;on, 66. 
 
 Apprentice Part, the, 337, 375, 393, 
 403, 405. 
 
 Apprentice Pillar, Legend of the, 
 '51 
 
 Aprons, worn by the Mediaeval 
 Masons, i6,s. 
 
 Arabic MS. of i.;th Century refer- 
 ring to Masonic Symliolism, dis- 
 covered by Dr. Marks, 99, 394. 
 
 Architects, a term of modern En- 
 glish use, 162. Indian Caste of, 
 495. 
 
 Architecture, Monasteries the 
 cradle of, in Germany, 42. Pass- 
 es under the control of the Lay 
 Guilds, 43. Receives a stimulus 
 from the East, 97. Gothic and 
 Saracenic, 129. Early and Mid- 
 dle Pointed and Perpendicular 
 Styles, 146, 1 48. Scottish, 151 
 Decline of, 177. Gothic, a Stran- 
 ger in Italy, 229. In 14th Cen- 
 tury, the great art of the age, 233. 
 Tracin.g Board in, 405. 
 
 Argentina, 510. 
 
 Arms of the Masons and Free- 
 masons, 246. 
 
 Ashmole, Elias, philosopher, chem- 
 ist, and antic|uary, made a Free 
 Mason at Warrington in 1646, 
 241. Attended a Lodge at Ma- 
 sons' Hall, London, in 1682, 24,=;, 
 Cited, 107, log, 119, 121, 123, 
 227, 242, 249, 393. 
 
 Asia, Freemasonry in, 492. 
 
 Asia Minor, the Law of Dakhiel, 
 the, Yesidis, Begtaschi, Druses 
 and Ansariyeh, 500. 
 
 Assemblies, in F'rance, 7 i . 
 
 Assembly, 179, 201, 207, 209, 2ri, 
 237, 262. Annual, 40, 211, 214, 
 
 209, 
 
 215, 
 226. 
 204, 
 221, 
 
 215, 264, 274. Common, 
 213. General, 207, 213, 
 220, 224. Lawful, 218, 
 Triennial, 211, 213, 21,5, 
 274. L'nlawful, 218, 219, 
 226. 
 
 Athelard, ,Scholar and Philos(jpher 
 of Bath, Geometry introduced 
 into England by, 142. 
 
 Athelstan, the first King of All Eng- 
 land, invokes the prayers of the 
 Culdees af York, A.D. 936. 
 Grants a Charter to the Masons, 
 39. His name preserved in the 
 Legend of the Craft, 40. Laws 
 of, 182, 188. Cited, 183, 189, 
 212, 215, 25.T, 262, 265, 271, 276, 
 303. 
 
 Atholl, the Dukes of, Grand Masters 
 of the Ancients, 437, 439. 
 
 Aubrey, John, Author of the 
 'Natural History of Wiltshire," 
 his account of churches erected 
 all over Europe, by traveling 
 Freemasons armed with Papal 
 Bulls, 226, 242, 393. 
 
 Australasia, Freemasonry in, Aus- 
 tralia, New Zealand, Tasmania, 
 
 535-6- 
 Austrian Empire, Freemasonry in, 
 the Craft persecuted, 418. Early 
 Lodges, Francis of Lorraine, 
 Maria Theresa, 471. Free Car- 
 penter's Lodge, a Grand Lod.ge, 
 cessation of Masonic Work, 472, 
 Revival in Hungary, Symbolic 
 Grand Lodge, Frontier Lodges, 
 
 473- 
 Avicenna, Arabian Philosopher and 
 
 Physician, 99. 
 Azores, the, 500. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babvngton, Thomas, cited in the 
 "Paston Letters," 1464, as Mas- 
 ter and Sovereign of the Order 
 of the Temple of Syon, 235. 
 
 Baton, Francis, Lord Verulam, 1 18, 
 119. 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 99, 126. 
 
 Bacstrom, Dr. Sigisnnmd, said to 
 have been the latest Rosicrucian 
 Initiate, 1 14. 
 
 Ball, Papillon, 397, 
 
 Ball, Rev. C. J., learned Orientalist, 
 "The proper Names of Masonic 
 
540 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tradition:" a Pliilological Study 
 by, 392. 
 
 Baltimore, National Convention at, 
 526. 
 
 Banquets, 335. 
 
 Basil, \'alentine, Mystical \\'riter, 99. 
 
 Bejjemann, Dr. W., on the Manu- 
 script Constitutions, 262-89 
 Cited 104, 260, 290, 291, 293, 
 302, 307, 308, 309. 
 
 Begtaschi, the, 20, 500. 
 
 Belgium, Grand Orient of, 482. 
 
 Benedictus Figulus, on Secret So- 
 cieties of Ancient Times, 105. 
 
 Benhadad, King of Syria, 500. 
 
 Bernadotte, Marshal, 477. 
 
 Black Death, the, 70, 199, 218. 
 
 Blayney, Lord, English Grand Mas- 
 ter, 439. 
 
 Blesington, Earl of, English Grand 
 Master. 437. 
 
 Blood Brotherhood, 49S. 
 
 Boileau, Etienne, Provost of Paris, 
 compiler of the "Livr:> dcs Me- 
 tiers," 64, 66. 
 
 Bolivia, 510. 
 
 Book M., the, 102, 112. 
 
 Borneo, 496. 
 
 BosAvell, John, Laird of Auchinleck, 
 present at the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh, in 1600, 239, 339. 
 
 Boyd, Lord, Scottish Grand Mas- 
 ter, 357. 
 
 Branch Lodges, 339. 
 
 Brazil, 510. 
 
 British Columbia, 534. 
 
 Broad Arrow, the, a Mason's Mark, 
 322. 
 
 Brother Book of 1563, 45, 52, 53, 59. 
 
 Bruce, Sir W., of Balcaskie, Mas- 
 ter of the King's Works, 164. 
 
 Brunswick, Duke Eerdinand, and 
 Prince Frederick of, 456. 
 
 Buhle, J. G., his theory that the 
 Rosicrucians developed into the 
 Freemasons, 119. 
 
 Bulls, Papal, 61, 130, 226, 242, 418, 
 449, 484. Modern series of, 488. 
 
 Buonaparte, Joseph, 453. Louis, 
 452. Napoleon, IIL, 453. Na- 
 poleon L, 491. 
 
 Burh-gemot, the, 187. 
 
 Burnes, Dr. James, 493. 
 
 Byron, Lord, Enghsh Grand Mas- 
 ter, 420, 436. 
 
 Cabala, the, i 26. 
 
 Cabalists, the, 93, 95-97. 
 
 Cambaceres, Prince J. J. R., Grand 
 Maitre Adjoint of the Grand 
 Orient of France, 453. 
 
 Cameron, John, of Lochiel, 341. 
 
 Canada, early Lodges in, 532. -Pro- 
 vincial Grand Lodges, [^33-4. 
 Grand Lodges and Statistics, 434. 
 
 Canada, ^'iscount, admitted a fel- 
 low of Craft in the Lodge of 
 Edinburgh, 1634, 340. 
 
 Carnarvon, Marquis of, English 
 Grand Master, 421. 
 
 Carysfort, Lord, English Grand 
 Master, 420. 
 
 Cassilis, John, seventh Earl of Dea- 
 con of the Lodge of Kilwinning, 
 1672, 341. 
 
 Cathedral builders, 306. 
 
 Celebes, 496. 
 
 Cementarius, 16S, 172. 
 
 Certificates, 420, 445. 
 
 Ceylon, 496. 
 
 Chance Coincidences, the doctrine 
 of, may explain the assumed ex- 
 change of Masonic signs by trav- 
 elers with aboriginal natives, 20. 
 
 Charge, the Apprentice, to he given, 
 251. 
 
 Charges, the Book of, 262, 263, 271, 
 274. 
 
 Charity, Committee of, 380. 
 
 Charles Martel, allusion to in the 
 Legend of the Craft, 40. A tra- 
 ditionary patron of the French 
 Stonemasons, 69. Cited, 255, 
 2S0, 285. 
 
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, Clerk of the 
 Works, 1389, 164. 
 
 Chazal, Comte de, the last known 
 act of any member of the Rosi- 
 crucian Society, said to have been 
 performed by, 114. 
 
 Chichester inscription, relied upon 
 as proving the existence in Bri- 
 tain of a collegium fabroruni, 34. 
 
 ChiH, 510. 
 
 China, in early days a mystic faith 
 took a Masonic form, 21. Lodg- 
 es in, 496. Triad Society, its 
 past and present aims, 497. 
 Blood Brotherhood, Buddhist and 
 
INDEX. 
 
 541 
 
 Taouist Symbolism, possible 
 antiquity of Masonry in the East, 
 4gS. Square and compasses fig- 
 uratively applied to human con- 
 duct, 499. 
 
 Chironomia, the science of expres- 
 sion by gesture, 26. 
 
 Church, supposed influence of the, 
 A T>. 1000, 131. 
 
 Circle, the, 320. 
 
 Clare, Martin, author of .4 Defence 
 0} Masonry, 387, Oration of, as 
 Junior Grand Warden, 389. His 
 "description of the two degrees 
 recognized in 1730, 400. 
 
 Clark, Sir C. Purdon, 300, 493, 496. 
 
 Clay, Henry, American statesman, 
 and Grand Master, 524. 
 
 Clermont, Louis Comte de, French 
 Grand Master, 450. 
 
 Chfford, Lord, 412. 
 
 Clothing the Lodge, 335. 
 
 Clugny, the Abbey of, 173. 
 
 Cochin, the Pagoda of, 496. 
 
 Coipland, Patrick, Warden of Ma- 
 sonry,329. 
 
 Colerane, Lord, English Grand 
 Master, 381, 384. 
 
 Colleges, the Roman, accompanied 
 the Legions to Britain, 34. 
 Compared with Guilds, 35. Gen- 
 eral features of, 36. Specula- 
 tions with regard to, 38. Alleg- 
 ed connection with the Culdees, 
 40. The Craft Guilds of France, 
 63. The Companionage, 92. The 
 JIagistri Comacini, 152. In Bri- 
 tain, 302. 
 
 Columbia, 510. 
 
 Comacenus, the late Latin term for 
 a native or inhabitant of Como, 
 
 174- 
 
 Commissions or Dispensations, 339. 
 
 Como, Masters of, see Magistri Co- 
 macini. 
 
 Compagnons de Liberte, 74, 88. 
 
 Compagnons du Devoir, 74, 88. 
 
 Companies, the London, 233. The 
 Scottish, 327. 
 
 Companionage, the, 62, 66. Com- 
 posed of three divisions, 7 1 . The 
 Sons (Enfants) of Solomon, Mai- 
 tre Jacques and Maitre (or P^re) 
 Soubise, 72. Tour of France, 
 Customs, 72. Titles and Em- 
 
 blems, Houses of Call, 74. Nick- 
 names, Howling, the Topage, 75. 
 Annual Assemblies, 76. The Ac- 
 colade or Guilbrette, 76. Con- 
 tests and Battles, 79. Legendary 
 History, 81. Schisms, Masonic 
 Influence, 82. Secret Cere- 
 monial, A, D. 165 1, Story of the 
 First Three Companions, 84. An- 
 tiquity of the Three Families, 85, 
 New Legends fitted to old Names, 
 86. Hiramic Legend, 88. Other 
 Legends, 91. Eiliation of the 
 Society, 92. Methods of recog- 
 nition, 176. 
 
 Companions (in Frai_c , Foreign, 
 Passing, 74. Storv o» the First 
 Three, 84, 86, 88. 
 
 Concord, Grand Lodge of, at Darm- 
 stadt, 464. Conder, Edward, 
 Historian of the Mason's Com- 
 pany of London, 233, 240, 
 
 245. 3'0- 
 Confessio, Fraternitatis, the, 10 1, 
 
 1 10, 1 16, 120, 
 Confreries, the French, 68, 70. 
 Congregations, in England, 218, 
 
 219, 220, 225, 265. In France, 
 
 Constitutions, Ancient and Accep- 
 ted Scottish Rite, 508-9. 
 English, 433, 439. See also An- 
 derson, Dermott, and Manuscript. 
 French, 450, 454. German, 45, 
 48, 52, 55, 57-9. See Brother 
 Book, Strasburg, and Torgau. 
 Irish, 348, 357, 360, 401, 408 
 447, Scottish, 447. 
 
 Conventicles, 218, 219. 
 
 Cooke, Matthew, 269. 
 
 Coote, H. C, author of The Kuniaiis 
 of Britain, 34, 37. 
 
 Cornwallis, Brig.-Gen. Edward, 
 532. 
 
 Costa Rica, 509. 
 
 Coterie, or Cotterie, a term used by 
 the French Stonemasons, 69, 75. 
 
 Cotton, Charles, 397. 
 
 Cowan, a Scottish operative term, 
 
 329- 
 
 Coxe, Daniel, 512. 
 
 Crawley, Dr. W. J. Clietwode, 233, 
 342, 346, 349, 357, 447. 
 
 Cromarty, Earl of, the second Scot- 
 tish Grand Master, 357. 
 
542 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cross, the, 3:?!. 
 
 Crusaders, Influence of the, on Wes- 
 tern Art, 129, 136, 199, 210, 318, 
 
 354- 
 
 Crux Ansata, the, 321. 
 
 Culdees, the, in Britain lief ore St. Au- 
 gustine, 3S. Officiating Clergy 
 at York, and their prayers in- 
 voked by King Athelstan, A.D. 
 9.1'^^. 39. Supposed connection 
 with the Roman Colleges, 41. 
 Their history a mystery, 41. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dakhiel, the Law of, as prevailing 
 among the Arabs of Asia Minor, 
 300. 
 
 Dalkeith, Earl of, Enghsh Grand 
 Master, 370, 3S0, 3S4. 
 
 Dallaway, Rev. j., 231. 
 
 d'Alviella, ConiteG., 2.S. 
 
 d'Harnouester, Lord. See Der- 
 ^ventwater. 
 
 d'Aumont, Pierre, Templar Grand 
 Master, 412. 
 
 Dassigny, Dr. F., reference Ijv, in 
 1744, to the Royal Arch, 35S, 
 406. 
 
 d'Antin, Due, French Grand Mas- 
 ter, 450. 
 
 David I. of Scotland, 177, 331. 
 
 David, Shield of, 322. 
 
 De Grasse Tilly, Comte A. F. A., 
 452, 504-7. 
 
 De la Hogue, J. B. !\L, 504-7. 
 
 De Gray and Ripon, Earl of, Eng- 
 lish Grand Master, 444. 
 
 De Jlolay, Jacques, Grand Master 
 of the Templars, .S2. 
 
 Defence of Masonry, A, by Martin 
 Clare, 386, 400. 
 
 Degrees, General Progression of the, 
 one only in early Scottish Mason- 
 ry, 336. The Mason Word, 337. 
 Introduced into Scotland from 
 England, 343. The first purely 
 speculative Scottish Lodge, 351. 
 Two Steps recognized by the 
 Grand Lodge of England in 1723, 
 the Apprentice Part and the 
 Master's Part, 373. Three men- 
 tioned in 1726 by the lunior 
 Grand AA'arden of York, but not 
 practised in that city,347, 348. 
 Privilege of making Masters re- 
 stored to the Lodges, 38 1. Spu- 
 
 rious Rituals, 3S5. Two Steps 
 referred to by Martin Clare, in 
 1730, 388. Master's Lodges, 388. 
 A Digression on Degrees, 390-414 
 Dr. Stukeley, on, 392. Their 
 meaning obscured, 392. ^lethod 
 of communication very formal, 
 393. A plurality of, 395. Two 
 only in 1723, 395. Earliest men- 
 tion of, three, 396. New System 
 discouraged by the Premier Grand 
 Lodge, 400. Not practised until 
 after 1730 in the regular Lodges, 
 402. Official recognition, 403. 
 Royal Arch and Past Master, 405. 
 Irish System, 407. So-called 
 Scots Degrees, on the Continent, 
 409-15, 422, 424. Three Orders 
 only in Britain, 426, 445. Alter- 
 ations in the established forms, 
 433-6, 442. Two degrees added at 
 the L^nion of 1813, 442. The 
 JIark, 444. Scottish Ceremonial, 
 445, 446. Foreign Svstcius, Af- 
 rican, 501. American, 527. Aus- 
 trian, 473. Dutch, 452. French, 
 450-2, 474, 475, 507, German, 
 456-7, 459, 464, 465, 467. Rus- 
 sian, 467, 474. Swedish, 474-5, 
 Swiss, 480, 487, 4S6. See Addi- 
 tional Degrees Knights Templar, 
 Mark and Rites. 
 
 Denmark, Freemasonr\' in, 374. 
 I )f German Origin, but re-model- 
 led, or the Swedish system, 480. 
 
 De]nitations, 383-4, 388. 
 
 Derham, Elias de, Ingeniator, 162, 
 1 72. 
 
 Dermot, Laurence, 394. Crrand 
 vSecretary of the Ancients, or 
 Schismatic EngUsh Masons, 430. 
 His Aliimaii Rczov, or Book of 
 Constitutions, 431. Cited, 432-8. 
 
 Derwentwater, Earl of. Grand Mas- 
 ter of France, 410, 449, 475. 
 
 Desaguliers, Dr. J. T., the learned 
 natural philosopher, his visit to 
 the Lodge of Edinburgh, 345. 
 The third of the historic Grand 
 Masters, 364. The first Roval 
 Freemasons, initiated bv, 388, 
 390. His death, 420. Cited, 
 371, 372, 374, 377, 384, 394, 396, 
 406, 481. 
 
 Devisor, 164. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 543 
 
 Devoir, in the Companionage, a 
 Rule or Code, Villes du, 72. 
 
 Dierperink, Dr. H. W., 482. 
 
 Digression on Degrees, 390-414. 
 
 Director or Master, 164. 
 
 Dispensations or Commissions, 339. 
 
 Disraeli, Isaac, ,S5, 391. 
 
 d'Orleans, Due, afterwards Citizen 
 Egalite, French Grand Master, 
 
 451- 
 
 Dotzinger, Jost, Chief Judge of the 
 Steinmetzen Fraternity, 45. 
 
 Drake, Dr. F., his Speech as Junior 
 Grand Warden of York, 347. 
 
 Druses, the, 18, 500. 
 
 Dugdale, Sir\V.,hisStory of Church- 
 es erected by traveling Free- 
 masons, armed with Papal Bulls, 
 226, 242, 249, 393. 
 
 Dundee, "Our Lady luge of," 156, 
 332. 
 
 E. 
 
 East India Islands, 496. 
 
 Eckleff, C. F. von, 390, 476. 
 
 Eclectic Union, Grand Lodge of the, 
 at Frankfort, 462. 
 
 Ecuador, 510. 
 
 Edward VII., King, Past Grand 
 Master of Freemasons, 444. 
 
 Edwin of Northumbria, held an as- 
 sembly, and began the erection 
 of the Minster Church at York; 
 his name and fame preserved in 
 the Legend of the Craft, 40, 41. 
 Cited, 276, 302. 
 
 EgUnton, the eighth Earl of. Deacon 
 of tlie Lodge of Kilwinning, 340. 
 
 Egypt, the supposed home of the 
 earliest Mysteries, 22. Squaring 
 System of, 495. Magical Society 
 in, ,501. 
 
 Egyptian, or Hermetic Art, the, 
 called Theurgy, 26. 
 
 Electricity, the Philosophical Fire, 
 
 9.5- 
 
 Elixir of Life, the, 97, 112. 
 
 Elliot, Captain Joseph, first Junior 
 Grand Warden, 362. 
 
 Engineer, 162. 
 
 England, Grand Lodge of, estab- 
 lished by four London Lodges, 
 360-2. Anthony Sayer, George 
 Payne, John Theophilus, Desagu- 
 liers, 362-4. Noble Grand Mas- 
 ters, the Dukes of Montagu and 
 
 Wharton, 364-70. First Book of 
 Constitutions, 371. vSummary of 
 
 372. Recognizes two Degrees, 
 
 373. Founders of, 374. Inno- 
 vations, 375. The Gormogons, 
 376. Hogarth's Plate, 378. At- 
 tacks on the Freemasons, 380. 
 Repeal of O. R. XIII. forbidding 
 the making of Masters by private 
 Lodges, 381. Precedency of the 
 Lodges, 3S2. Act of Constitut- 
 ing a Lodge, 383. Irregularities 
 Spurious Rituals, 384. Counter- 
 blast by Martin Clare, 386. The 
 first Royal Freemason, 388. The 
 Freemason's Pocket Companion, 
 388. Oration of Martin Clare, 
 Initiation of Frederick, Prince of 
 Wales, New Edition of Book of 
 Constitutions, 389-90. A Digres- 
 sion on Degrees, 390-414. Al- 
 terations in the Constitutions, 
 
 416. Organized Rebellion against 
 the authority of the Grand Lodge 
 
 417. The Craft falls into disfa- 
 vor, 418. The first English Mil- 
 itary Lodge, the Manningham 
 Letters, 420. The trreat Schism, 
 430. Ancients and Moderns, Lau- 
 rence Dermott, and WiUiam Pres- 
 ton, 431. Imaginative Origin of 
 the Schism, 432. True Story, 
 
 433, 436. Echo of a real tradi- 
 tion in the spurious one, 435. 
 Constitutions of the Ancients, a 
 proposal to amalgamate with the 
 Moderns defeated, 437-8. An- 
 cients assume the title of York 
 Masons, Royal Freemasons among 
 the Moderns, 438. Unsuccessful 
 attempt at a fusion with the An- 
 cients, 440. Neg(jtiations resum- 
 ed, 440-1. Articles of LTnion, 
 Recognition of the Royal Arch 
 and Past Master's Degrees, 44.1-2 
 United Grand Lodge, 444. Prince 
 of Wales, Grand Master, and suc- 
 ceeded by the Duke of Connaught 
 444. Action of the Grand Lodge 
 with respect to the rejection of a 
 beUef in the Deity by the G. 
 Orient of F'rance, 4,54. 
 
 Entered Apprentice, 327, 329, 336, 
 344, 347, 373. 37,5. 37«, .395. 403. 
 
 434. 442. 
 
544 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Epoch of Transition, the, 399. 
 Errol, the tenth Earl of, a member 
 of the Lodge of Aberdeen in 1670, 
 
 34°- 
 
 Essay, or Masterpiece, 325-7, 336. 
 
 Essenes, origin and customs of the, 
 29. Their alleged descent from 
 the Kasideans, 30. Other theo- 
 ries with regard to, 32. 
 
 Euclid, 262, 270, 27 V Letter from, 
 276. 
 
 Europe, alleged Scots Degrees 
 spread like a pestilence through- 
 out, 414. Freemasonry on the 
 Continent of, 449-91. 
 
 Evelyn, John, the term Gothic Ar- 
 chitecture introduced by, 129. 
 
 Exter, Dr. ]. G. von, 459. 
 
 F- 
 
 Fama Fraternitatis, tlie, loi, no, \ 
 112, 116, 120. 
 
 Fan Tracery, 14S. 
 
 Far East, the Java, the Straits Set- 
 tlements, Siam, China, and Japan, 
 347. The Triad Society, 496, 497. 
 
 Fellow Craft, 327, 329, 336, 347, 
 372, 375. 38*^. 393. 397. 403. 434, 
 44^- 
 
 Fencing the Lodge, 333. 
 
 Fergusson, James, 140, 174, 
 
 Fiji Archipelago, the, 536. 
 
 Findel, J. G., 394, 423. 
 
 Fire, the Hermetical and Philoso- 
 phical, 95. 
 
 Fire Philosophers, 95. 
 
 Fischer, Robert, 466. 
 
 Fludd, Robert, philoso])her and 
 physician, the central figure of 
 Rosicrucian literature, 105, 108, 
 119. 
 
 Folkmoot, the, 1S6, 197, 214. 
 
 Forest Law, the, 194, 196, 212, 214. 
 
 Fortitude and Old Cumberland 
 Lodges, 417. See Lodges, Eng- 
 lish, the Four Old. 
 
 Four Crowned Martyrs, the, 46. See 
 Quatuor Coronati. 
 
 France, 173, English Lodges consti- 
 tuted in, 3S8. Traditional Ma- 
 sonrj- of, 410. Persecutions, 41S. 
 Early Grand Masters, 449. Mul- 
 tiplication of degrees, 450. Grand 
 Lcidge and Grand Orient, 451, 
 Ancient and Accepted .Scottish 
 
 Rite, 452, 507. The Buonapar- 
 tes, 453. Belief in a Deity ex- 
 punged from Constitutions, 454. 
 See also Companionage andGuilds 
 Francis L of France, his Statute of, 
 
 1539. 70. 
 
 Francken, H. A., 505, 
 
 Frank Mason, 168. 
 
 Frankhn, Benjamin, 385, 51 1-15. 
 
 Frankpledge, the system of, 181 
 188, 195, 198, 201, 213, 215, 216, 
 224. Pledge day, 153. View of, 
 163, 182. 
 
 Frederick II K'ng of Prussia, made 
 a Freema-ijn, 455. Protector of 
 the Cralt 457 Alleged founder 
 of the .Ancient and Accepted 
 Scottish Rite, 505. 
 
 Frederick II., German Emperor, 
 45S. 
 
 Frederick Leopold, Prince, Protec- 
 tor of the three Prussian Grand 
 Lodges, 468. 
 
 Free Carpenters, Lodge of, 472. 
 
 Freemasonry, origin of, genealogi- 
 cal proofs extend to 1 4th century, 
 I. Whether influenced by the 
 customs of the Druses, Ansari- 
 yeh, Begtaschi, and A'esidis, 
 20. Soofees of Persia, 20. 
 Symbolism of the mason's art in 
 China, 21. Theories of Origin, 
 the Ancient Mysteries, 22. The 
 Essenes, 29. The Roman Col- 
 leges, 34. The Culdees, 38. The 
 Vehm-Gerichte, 41. The Stein- 
 metzen, 42. The Craft Guilds of 
 France, 62. The Companionage, 
 71. The Rosicrucians, 92. Fra- 
 ternity of Architects, 129. Ma- 
 sonr\' formerly Geometry, 144. 
 Mediteval Masons, agree not to 
 work unless Free, 137. Order of 
 the Temple of Sion, 236. Did 
 Masonry pursue two paths, one 
 to the East, the other to the 
 West, 498. 
 
 Freemasonry, Continental perver- 
 sions of, 410. 
 
 Freemasons, the early use of term, 
 167-72, 222, 238, 239, 242, 244, 
 248, 250, 253, 283, 28S. Their 
 alleged connection with the mys- 
 tics, 93. Possibly indebted to 
 the Moors for a legend nf Hiram 
 
INDEX. 
 
 545 
 
 98. Oxford Company of, 171. 
 London Company of, 237. Se- 
 cret History of, 113, Of Staf- 
 fordshire, Dr. Plot on, 248. 
 Travelling, 226. 
 
 Free Master Mason, 167. 
 
 Free Stone, 168, 171, 
 
 French Operative Terms, 70. 
 
 Friends of God, the, 107. 
 
 Fylfot, or Swastika, 321. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gagarian, Prince, 484. 
 
 Geber, Arabian Philosopher and 
 Chemist, 97. 
 
 Geminiani, F. X., 397. 
 
 General Head Meeting day, at Aln- 
 wick, 1 701, 251. 
 
 General Regulations, the, of 1720, 
 compiled by Grand Master Payne, 
 
 373. 392, 395- 
 
 Gerbert, afterwards Pope Sylvester 
 n., reputed Magician, 98. 
 
 Germany, 174, 261, 412, -i Frederick 
 the Great initiated in the first 
 German Lodge, 455. Grand 
 Lodges, the Three Globes, 456. 
 The Grand National, 457. Royal 
 York, 458. Hamburg, ( 459. 
 Saxony, 460. The Sun, Bay- 
 reuth, 461. The Eclectic Union, 
 Frankfort, 462. Concord, Darm- 
 stadt, 464. Independent Lodg- 
 es, 465-7. Union of German 
 Freemasons, the High Degrees, 
 467. The St. John's Degrees, 
 470. See Constitutions, Degrees, 
 and Steinmetzen. 
 
 Giles, Herbert A., on Chinese Sym- 
 bolism, 498-9. 
 
 Girdlers of London, the extensive 
 powers of, 248. 
 
 Gloves, the custom of giving, 154, 
 165, 335- 
 
 Gnostics, the, 132, 312. 
 
 Godwin, George, 140. 
 
 Gogel, J. P., 462. 
 
 Goodric, Sir H., 250. 
 
 Gormogons, Ancient Order of the, 
 376-380, 410. 
 
 Grandidier, the Abbe, 61. 
 
 Grand Orient System, a French in- 
 vention, 509. In theory and in 
 practice, 509. 
 
 Greece, Freemasonry in, of French 
 
 35 
 
 origin. Grand Orient and Su- 
 preme Council, 490. 
 
 Greeting, the, of the Steinmetzen, 
 48-9, 50-51 
 
 Greeven, R., 410, 411. 
 
 Gridley, Jeremy, 515. 
 
 Grips, cited in connection with the 
 Steinmetzen, 49, 52. The Com- 
 panionage, 78. The Freemasons, 
 338, 344. The Triad Society, 497. 
 
 Grotesques of the British Masons, 
 162. See Wahrzeichen. 
 
 Guatemala, 509. 
 
 Guiana, 510. 
 
 Guilbrette or Accolade, the, 76-8. 
 
 Guilds, compared with the Roman 
 Colleges, 34. The German, 42. 
 The French Craft, at the close 
 of the Imperial rule, 62. Guilds 
 succeeded the Roman Colleges, 
 
 63. Attempt to suppress them, 
 
 64. Usages of, tabulated, by Eti- 
 enne Boileau, 1258; the "Tour of 
 France" — Germ of the Compan- 
 ionage, 66. The greater and les- 
 ser masterpiece; Ceremonial at 
 the Reception of Masters; the 
 "Fraternities," 67. Prud'hom- 
 mes, 68. Charles Martel and the 
 Stonemasons, 69. Statutes affect- 
 ing the Guilds, 70. French Guild 
 suppressed in 1793, 71. Conti- 
 nental Guilds, 133. Masonic, 
 156. Supreme Guild, 158, 248. 
 Frith Guilds, 181, 189, 216, 223, 
 Social, Merchant, Craft, 224. 
 Traveling, 226. Weavers', 231. 
 Medieval, 232. Of London, 233. 
 Become Companies, 234. Sup- 
 pression of, 237. Company of 
 Freemasons, 239. Masons' Com- 
 pany, 242. Girdlers, Tailors, 248. 
 Alnwick Company, 251. Cathe- 
 dral Builders, not a separate or- 
 ganization, 306. Marks com- 
 mon to, 315. In Scotland, 
 form Incorporations, 235. 
 
 Gulston, W., 397. 
 
 H. 
 Hacquet, Germain, 504-7. 
 Halberstadt, the Ordinances of, in 
 
 1693, refer to a word, 52. 
 Hamburg, the first German Lodge 
 
 established at, 388. Grand 
 
 Lodge of, 459. 
 
546 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hamilton, Gen Alexander, 340. 
 
 Harnett, C, 517. 
 
 Harrison, George, 516. 
 
 Head Lodges in Germany, 46, 54, 
 60-61. In Scotland, 328, 334-5. 
 
 Healths in Lodge, 428. 
 
 Henry HL, the time of, assigned as 
 the date when Papal Bulls were 
 given to traveling Freemasons. 
 226, 231. 
 
 Henry YL, a legendary patron of 
 the Masons, 221, 249, 277, 309. 
 
 Herbert, Algernon, 41. 
 
 Hermes Trismegistus, 98, 100, 279. 
 
 Hermetic (or Egyptian) Art, the, 
 called Theurgy, 26. 
 
 Hermetical Philosophers, the, 93, 
 312. 
 
 Hermetic Mvstery, the, 126. 
 
 Hertzveld, L. H.,'423. 
 
 Hexapla or He.xalpha, the, 122, 322. 
 
 Higgins, Godfrey, 41. 
 
 High Degrees. See Additional De- 
 grees and Rites. 
 
 Hills, the Masons of old met on, 
 188. 
 
 Hiram Abif, 73, 88, go, 283, 310. 
 
 Hiram, King of Tyre, 279. 
 
 Hogarth, ^^'illiam, his plate "The 
 M^'sterj- of Masonry brought to 
 light by the Gormogons," 378. 
 
 Holland, the Craft persecuted in, 
 41 S. High Degrees, 421-S. Ear- 
 ly Lodges, a Grand Lodge, 
 united with Belgium in a Grand 
 Orient, 481 Red Masonry, Divi- 
 sion of the Master's degree, 482. 
 
 Plolme, Randal, herald and anti- 
 quary, 243. 
 
 Honduras, 509. 
 
 Hour Glass Form, the, 322. 
 
 House of Call, its use to the French 
 Companions, 74, 84. 
 
 Howling, the custom of, 75. 
 
 Hughan, W J , 243, 247, 260, 290, 
 336, 402, 438. 
 
 Hund. the Baron von, a leading 
 figure in the Strict Observance, 
 411. 
 Hungary, 471. 
 
 L 
 
 Illustrations of Masonry, William 
 
 Preston's, 429, 431, 433. 
 Incor])orations, 325, 326. 
 
 India, early Lodges in. Ancients and 
 Moderns, Lodge for Native Gen- 
 tlemen, 493. Architect Caste, 
 495. Indian Customs re-appear 
 in Masonic Lodges, 496. East 
 India Islands, 496. 
 
 Ingeniator, 162, 231. 
 
 Innovations, in 1723 three striking, 
 374. Continental, 425. 
 
 Installed Master, degree of, 406, 
 441, 446. 
 
 Institutions, the three English Be- 
 nevolent, 441, 443. 
 
 Intender, 336. 
 
 Ireland, early Freemasonry in, 253, 
 341. Grand Lodge of Ireland, 
 1725, of Munster, 1726. 347-S, 
 Constitutions, 1730, merger of the- 
 two Grand Lodges, 1731, 348. 
 Letter from the Grand Mistress 
 of the Freemasons, 349. First 
 Military Lodge, 34S. Regula- 
 tions ot 1 741, Royal Arch, 1743, 
 357. Constitutions, 1751, the al- 
 leged Lady Freemason, 359. The 
 Pocket Companion, 1735, 388 
 401. Three Steps of Masonrv 
 408. New Regulations, 1768. 
 447. Schismatic Grand Lodge of 
 Ulster, 448. 
 
 In-egular Makings, 338. 
 
 Italy, Architects of, 173. The 
 Craft persecuted, 418. Lord 
 George Sackville, the Roman 
 Lodge, Papal Bulls, 487. Grand 
 Orient, 488. 
 
 J. 
 Jackson, Gen. Andrew, 524. 
 Jacoliites, the, their influence on 
 
 Masonry, 375, 410, 449, 475. 
 Jacques, Maitre, 71. Sons of, 71. 
 James VI., of Scotland, 333. 
 Janisch, J. G., 459. 
 Japan, 496. 
 Java, 496. 
 Jesuits, supposed influence of the, 
 
 4TI. 
 
 Jewels of the Craft, the method ot 
 
 wearing, 4281 
 Johnson, Sir John, 519. 
 Jones, Inigo, 177. 
 Journeyman, the, traveling in 
 
 France, 66. In Germany, 50. 
 JudiciaCivitatis Lundoniae, 68, 188 
 justice Seat, the Court of , 195, 212" 
 
INDEX. 
 
 547 
 
 K 
 
 Keith, Gen. James, 475, 48,5. 
 
 Kellerman, Marshal, 453. 
 
 Kent, Duke of, 442, 4S6. 
 
 Ker, Rev. W. L., .333. 
 
 Kerwin, William, Free Mason, 1594, 
 
 238. 
 Kilmarnock, the Earl of, 356, 412. 
 Kingston, James, the fourth Lord, 
 
 349, 3S2." 
 Klein, S. T., 500. 
 Kloss, Dr. G., 410, 414. 
 Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 
 
 349, 353- Templar, 82", 41 1, 457, 
 
 516. See Rites. 
 Knipe, Dr., 227. 
 Komoso, the, of Japan, challenged 
 
 by Signs, 20. 
 Krause, Dr., K.C.F., 32 
 
 L. 
 
 Lalande, J. J. de, 449. 
 
 Lamball, Jacob, first Senior Grand 
 Warden, 362, 389. 
 
 Lane, John, 403. 
 
 Langley, Batty, 17S. 
 
 Latomus, 166, 16S, 172. 
 
 Law Day, the, 204, 216. 
 
 Laws (English) of the Middle Ages, 
 and the Freemasons, 179. Frank- 
 pledge or Frith Borh, 181. Un- 
 der Saxon Kings, 181. Ancient 
 popular Courts, 1S6. Judicia 
 Ciritalis Lundoniae, 188 The 
 Sheriff's Turn, 191. View of 
 Frankpledge, 193. Forest Law, 
 194. Court of Justice Seat, 194. 
 Magna Carta, 195. The Folk- 
 moot, 197. Mirror oj Justices, 198. 
 Hundred Years' War — Black 
 Death 199. Shire Courts, 201. 
 Leet, or Law Day, 202. Conserva- 
 torsof the Peace, 205. The Assem- 
 bly, 206. Referred to in the 
 Regius ■ and Cooke MSS., 209. 
 Held every year or third year, 
 211. Assembly at York, 212. 
 Annual Assembly and Sheriff's 
 Turn, 214. Traditionary Assem- 
 blies, 215. Athelstan, a Guild 
 Patron 215; Unlawful Assem- 
 bUes, 218. Statutes of Laborers, 
 218-18. Henry VI., c.i., 220. 
 The Mystery of Macgonrye, 222. 
 Signs and tokens, 221. 
 
 Leet, the Court, 162, 1S7, 201, 202, 
 218, 222, 224, 
 
 Legends, of the Craft, 40, 155, 179,, 
 207, 220, 249, 254, 306, 309, 408! 
 The Companionage, 79, 86, 90. 
 Hiramic, 91, 98, 283. The Guild, 
 223. The Quatuor Coronati, 296. 
 The Scottish Lodges, 329. The 
 Irish Lady Freemason, 359. Pre- 
 historic Grand Masters, 416. 
 
 Leibnitz, G. W., the Baron von, 93, 
 115- 
 
 Leigh, Sir Egerton, 519. 
 
 Letter Masons, 59. 
 
 Lewis, Professor T Hayter, 136 
 140, 173, 313. 317- 
 
 Liberia, ,soi. 
 
 Livre de Metiers, 66, 69. 
 
 Lodge, early References to the, 
 153-7. 
 
 Lodges, the principal cited, Ameri- 
 can, 511, 513-20. Australian, 
 534. Austrian, 471. Free Car- 
 penters, 472. English, Alnwick, 
 491. Bradford, 493. The 
 "Four Old," founders of the 
 first Grand Lodge, 250, 360, 374, 
 382, 384, 416, 439, 442. Masons' 
 Company's 244, 245. Promulga- 
 tion, 441. Quatuor Coronati, 
 3S7, Reconciliation, 442. 
 
 Stewards, 390, 443. York, 251. 
 French, 449, 4.SI. German, the- 
 first three, 445. The five Inde- 
 pendent, 464. hidian, 39S. 
 Irish, Cork, Dublin, 346. Italian- 
 447. Portuguese, 489. Scottish,, 
 Aberdeen, 326, 331, 336, 339, 340;. 
 343, 445. Atcheson's Haven, 
 327, 328, 337, 352. ^ Brechin,, 
 352. Canongate Kilwinning, 
 349. Dumfries, 331, 336, 352. 
 Dunblane, 331, 337, 341, 344, 
 352. Dundee, 329, 332, 333, 352. 
 Dunfermline, 329. Edinburgh 
 (Mary's Chapel), 239, 241, 315, 
 326, "328-32, 334, 337, 338-40, 
 345, 351, 352. 446. Glasgow, 
 329, 331, 341, 352. Haddington, 
 329, 336. Haughfoot, 344, 352. 
 Jedburg, 352. Kelso, 336, 352. 
 Kilwinning,3i5, 326, 328, 330, 331, 
 
 333, 335, 337, 3,39, 34i, 344, 35i. 
 352-56, 446. Melrose, 331, 335, 
 336, 352. St. Andrew's, 329, 
 
548 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 333. Scoon and Perth 171, 331, 
 333. 336, 352, 446. StirUng, 
 328-30, 332, 336. Swedish, St. 
 Jean Auxiliare, 475. Lodge of 
 the Swedish Army, 476, 
 
 Lorraine, Francis of, the first Royal 
 Freemason, 338, 471, 481. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, the Emperor, 453. 
 
 Lovell, Lord, 388. 
 
 Lully, Raymond, Chemist and Dia- 
 lectician, 99, 126. 
 
 LUttmann, M. A., Provincial Grand 
 Master of Hamburg and Lower 
 Saxony, 459. 
 
 Luxembourg, the Due de, 45 1 . 
 
 Luxemburg, the Grand Duchy of, 
 
 483. 
 Lyon, David Murray, 327, 330, 336. 
 
 340,346,351- 
 
 M. 
 Maclean, J. H., traditional Grand 
 
 Master of France, 450, 475. 
 Magonrye, the Mystery of, said to 
 
 have been written by Henry VI., 
 
 221. 
 Madagascar, 503. 
 Magellan, Ferdinand de, ratifies a 
 
 treaty in the Philippines by blood 
 
 brotherhood, 498. 
 Magistri, Comacini, or Masters of 
 
 Como, the, 152, 165, 173, 229. 
 Magnan, Marshal, 453. 
 Maier, Michael, defender of the 
 
 Rosicrucian Fraternity, 99, 107. 
 Mainwaring, Colonel H., 241. 
 Maisterstick, 325. 
 Maistre de Pierra, 69. 
 Malta, Knights of, 449, 529. Lodge 
 
 in. Napoleon Bonaparte, said to 
 
 have been initiated in the island 
 
 493- 
 
 Manichaeans, the, 223. 
 
 Manitoba, 534. 
 
 Manningham, Dr. T., Deputy Grand 
 Master, 1752-56, Letters of, in 
 regard to the "Scots degrees" 
 manufactured on the Continent, 
 421-8. 
 
 Manuscript Constitutions of the 
 British Freemasons, the, 144, 155, 
 164, 171. Variously described, 
 254. The two earhest, 256. The 
 oldest dated form, 257. Divided 
 into groups or famiUes, 260. Dr. 
 Begemann on, 262-89. Regius 
 
 MS., 262. Cooke, 269. T. W. 
 Tew, 277. Ordinary versions, 
 
 280. Roberts' family, 285. The 
 New Articles, 288. MSS. divis- 
 ible into three clusters, 290, 304. 
 The "booke of urbanitie," 294. 
 Quatuor Coronati, legend of the, 
 296. Patrons of the building 
 trades, 298. Church of the Four 
 at Canterbury, 430. Edwin and 
 Athelstan in Masonic fable, 303. 
 Geometry the handmaid of Sym- 
 bohsm, 304. Speculative Ma- 
 soiu-y in the 14th century, 305. 
 The Constitutions not a monop- 
 oly of the Church builders, 306. 
 Written traditions possessed in 
 Britain by the Masons' Craft 
 only, 307-8. The Masons' Creed, 
 309. Dr. Begemann's conclu- 
 sions examined, 309. Scottish 
 versions, 336. Enghsh copies of, 
 burned by scrupulous brothers, 
 364. Gothic Constitutions, the, 
 James Anderson ordered to di- 
 gest, 364. His Book approved, 
 370. Versions or FamiUes of the, 
 cited, Aberdeen, 336. Atcheson 
 Haven, 278, 281, 285, 289, 337. 
 Buchanan, 281, 285. Beaumont, 
 
 281. 285. Cama, 282. Cole, 
 
 282. Cooke, 206, 209, 211, 213, 
 
 214, 256, 264, 266, 269, 279, 291, 
 302, 317. Dodd, 282. Dum- 
 fries, 336. Grand Lodge, 207, 
 
 215, 256, 279, 282, 285, 289, 290, 
 309. Harleian, 171, 243, 286, 
 289. Hope, 209. Inigo Jones, 
 282. Kilwinning, 336. Melrose, 
 
 170, 336. Masons' Company, 
 242. Macnab, 286, 289. Plot, 
 
 281. Regius, 155, 179, 206, 209, 
 211, 214, 256, 262, 281, 291, 305, 
 317. Roberts, 207, 243, 281, 286, 
 309. RawUnson, 286. Sloane, 
 
 171, 241, 279, 281, 290. Spencer 
 
 282. StirUng, 336. T. W. Tew, 
 277, 281, 286. WilUam Watson, 
 274, 279, 309. York, 171, 209, 
 252. 
 
 Maria Theresa, the Empress, 471. 
 Mark Degree, the, 444, 527. See 
 
 Rites. 
 Marks, Dr., 99. See Legends. 
 Marmorarius, 166, 167. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 549 
 
 Marriot, H. P. F., on the Secret 
 Societies of West Africa, 501 . 
 
 Marshall, Thomas, 397. 
 
 Masonry, as a Speculative Science, 
 declined into an Operative Art 
 
 304- 
 Mason Word, the, 337-8, 341-3, 
 
 344, 408. 
 Masonic Homes, 530. 
 Masonic Signs. See Signs 
 Masons' Company of London, the, 
 
 156, 167, 170, 234, 237-48, 310, 
 
 3'5- 
 
 Masons' Creed, the, in ancient times, 
 309. Under the Grand Lodge of 
 England, 373, 375, 378, 406, 417, 
 420, 443. Negation of, in France, 
 454. Scope of , in Germany, 46 1 . 
 In Hungary, 473. In India, 493. 
 
 Masons' Marks, their resemblance to 
 the Symbols of the Gnostics, 
 Hermeticists, Rosicrucians, and 
 Phoenicians, 122, 312-13. May 
 reveal the origin of the Pointed 
 Style, 142. Similar emblems 
 used by other trades, also by 
 Guilds and Lodges, 239, 315. Said 
 to be hereditary, 316. Opinions 
 of eminent authorities upon, 
 317-19. Principal types, 321. 
 Originally developed in the East, 
 
 323- 
 
 Masons, Trade Secrets of the, 1 60. 
 
 Massena, Marshal, 453. 
 
 Master, or Fellow Craft, 327, 372, 
 395, 396, 398, 399-400, 402, 404. 
 
 Master Law, the, 160. 
 
 Master Mason, 167, 168, 232, 233, 
 240, 247, 329, 347, 370, 373, 388, 
 396,402,442. 
 
 Master Masons, the, services of, not 
 confined to ecclesiastical build- 
 ings, 231, 233. 
 
 Master of Work, 164, 327,330,340. 
 
 Masterpiece, 66, 70, 78, 335. See 
 Essay. 
 
 Master William of St. Patu, not a 
 Grand Master, 69. 
 
 Masters' Lodges, 388, 402, 417, 513. 
 
 Master's Part, the, 373, 374, 381, 
 388, 392, 398, 402, 405. 
 
 Mauritius, 503. 
 
 Mediaeval Operative Masonry, 129. 
 Gothic Architecture, 129. Fra- 
 ternity of Architects, Papal Bulls, 
 
 130. Eleventh Century, De- 
 mand for more Churches, 131. 
 Influence of the Crusaders, 136. 
 Masons' Marks, 142. English 
 Gothic, 146. Scottish Style, 151. 
 Magistri Comacini, 152. York 
 Fabric Rolls, 153. The Lodge, 
 154. Masonic Guilds, 157-9. 
 Secrets of the Trade, 160. Gro- 
 tesques, 161. Superintendents of 
 English Buildings in the Middle 
 Ages, how described, 162. Ma- 
 sons, titles of, from the nth to 
 the i6th Centuries, 165-70. Ref- 
 erences to, in the Manuscript 
 Constitutions, and Lodge Rec- 
 ords, 171. Freemason, earliest 
 use of term, 171. Mediaeval 
 Builders, three distinct methods 
 of, 172. Continental Builders, 
 their titles, 173. Signs and Pass- 
 words, 175. Dechne of true art, 
 177. SymboUsm of Operative 
 preserved in. Speculative Ma- 
 sonry, 178. The Tracing Board 
 
 in, 493- 
 
 MeUinet, Gen., the last Grand Mas- 
 ter of France, 454. 
 
 Mexico, Women admitted into 
 Masonry in, 509. 
 
 MiHtary Lodges, 356, 420, 438,445 
 476, 480, 520-7, 533, 535. 
 
 Militia Crucifera Evangelica, the, 
 105, III. 
 
 Millstone Makers, the French, their 
 singular method of admitting a 
 Master, 67. 
 
 Moderns, or Regular EngUsh Ma- 
 sons, the, 431-43, 493, 519-22. 
 
 Moira, Earl of, 439, 445, 492, 493. 
 
 Montagu, Duke of the first noble 
 Grand Master, 364, 384. 
 
 Montague, Viscount, 388. 
 
 Montford, Simon Comte de, 70. 
 
 Montaleau, A. L. R. de, 451-2. 
 
 Moray, Sir R., no, 261. 
 
 Morgan, William, abduction of, 524. 
 
 Morocco, 501. 
 
 Morin, Stephen, 504. 
 
 Moszynski, Count A., 484 
 
 Motto of the Masons and Free- 
 masons, 236, 23S. 
 
 Mozambique, 503. 
 
 Munster, G. Lodge of, 347-8. 
 
 Murat,. Prince Lucien, 453. 
 
550 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 IMurray. James, 397. 
 
 Myrc, Tolm, Canon of LiUieshall, 
 '208. " 
 
 Jlysteries, the Ancient. Earliest, 22. 
 Most widely diffused, Eleusinian- 
 Conformity between death and 
 initiation, 22. Common features, 
 the Hermetic .\r-t, 26. Philoso- 
 phy, signs of recognition, 26. 
 Mithras, the Sun-God, 27. Mith- 
 raic Mysteries under the Romans, 
 2S. Sur^4ved in Gaul, 91. Re- 
 ferred to by Plato, 97. By Rosi- 
 crucians, 126. The JIasons said 
 to have derived a body of tradi- 
 tion from, 30S. 
 
 \, 
 
 Naymus Grecus, 255, 279, 2S5. ' 
 
 NegraGrand Lodges, 432. „' '^ 
 
 New Articles, the, 243, 246, 2S5, 
 
 I 292, 310. 
 
 New Brunswick, 534, 
 
 New Caledonia, 535. 
 
 Newfoundland, 534. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 1 1$. 
 
 New Zealand, 535. 
 
 Nicaragua, 510. 
 
 Nicolai, C. F., 119. 
 
 Noiers, Gaufridus de, 165. 
 
 Non-Operative JIasons, Scottish 
 terms for, 340-1. 
 
 Norfolk, the Duke of, :>S4, 311. 
 
 Norway, 462. 474. Ad'option of the 
 Swedish Rite, a National Grand 
 Lodge and a German Pro\-incial 
 Grand Lodge work harmoniously 
 side by side, 4S0. 
 
 Nova Scotia, 533, 334. 
 
 0. 
 Oakley, Edward, Speech of, 113. 
 Oaths, iS, 30, 36, 61, 73, S4,"i7i, 
 
 1S4, 193, 195, 200, 202, 2iq, 227! 
 
 -45. 252, 2S9, 303, 335, 343. 347, 
 
 412,439,464,498. 
 Oceania, 534, 535. 
 Oecumenical Volgi, the, 376, 411. 
 Officers of Lodges, the Scottish, -, -,6 
 Old Regulation XIII., 37-,, -,q^^ ^g-^ 
 
 403, 4:^9. 
 Old Thought, 1 17, 126. 
 Orders, the Tliree of Masonry, K.A , 
 
 F.C., andM.M., 426, 445. 
 Outfield Lodge, 33S, 34 v 
 Oxnard, Thomas, SM. ' 
 
 P. 
 
 Paisley Lord, 3S1. 3v~>4- 
 
 Palgrave, SirF., 21(1. 
 
 Papworth. Wyatt, isS-o, 164, 167, 
 316. 
 
 Paracelsus. Theosophist, Physician 
 and Chemist, 100, 116. 
 
 Paraguay, 510. 
 
 Parentalia, or Memoirs of the Fam- 
 ily of A\'ren, 129, 22S. 
 
 Passed Masters, 308. 
 
 Pass Words, See \\'ords. 
 
 Paston, John, 235. Margaret, 236. 
 Letters, 235. 
 
 Payne, George, the Second Grand 
 Master, 269. 364, 372-4, 384, 3S9, 
 39^, 394-6. 406, 420, 426. 
 
 Pays, a term used in the Compan- 
 ionage, 75. 
 
 Peace, the, 195, ig8, 203. 
 
 Pennell, John, 348. 
 
 Pentalpha, the, 321. 
 
 Perdiguier, Agricol, author of Liire 
 dit Comhagnoiuiijge, 73, 88. 
 
 Persecutions, Masonic, 41 8. 
 
 Persia, natives of, made Masons, 
 492. Master builders in, tracing 
 boards, 493. 
 
 Peru, 510. 
 
 PhiUppine Islands, the. Lodges in, 
 the Katapunan Society, 496 
 Blood Brotherhood, 49S. 
 
 Philippe le Bel, 70. 
 
 Phillips, Erasmus J., 332. 
 
 Philosopher's Stone, the, 97, 109, 
 116, 1 18, 127. 
 
 Philosophers, the Hermetic, 122. 
 
 Philosophic Stone, the, 99, 105, 116. 
 
 Philo-Musicae et Architecturae So- 
 cietas, London, 306. 
 
 Picus de Mirandola, Scholar and 
 Philosopher, 100, 126. 
 
 Pike, Albert, 120, 123, 304. 
 
 Plot, Dr. R., his account of the Free- 
 masons, 248. Cited, 219, 221, 
 283, 309, 393. 
 
 Pocket Companion, the, 3S6, 3SS, 
 390, 401, 407. 
 
 Poggio Bracciohni, 237. 
 
 Poland, Freemasonrv' in, early 
 Lodges, a Grand Lodge, dor- 
 mancy, 403. A'arious Rites, 
 L'kase closing the Lodges, 485. 
 
 Portugal, early Lodges in, the 
 Craft persecuted on land seeks 
 
INDEX. 
 
 551 
 
 refuge in the shipping, 4S9. United 
 Grand Orient of Lusitania, 490. 
 A. and A.S.R., 50S. 
 
 Posse, Count K. C, 475. 
 
 Preston, William, Author of the 
 Illustrations of Masonrv, 394-429, 
 431-8. 
 
 Price, Henr)', Prov. G.M. New Eng- 
 land, 513, 532. 
 
 Prichard, Samuel, 400, 405, 408, 
 
 435. 
 Prince Edward Island, 534. 
 Promulgation, the Lodge of, 441. 
 Prussia, Grand Lodges of, 456-S. 
 Pyramid, the 320. 
 Pythagoras, 30, 122, 126, 273, 279. 
 
 Q. 
 
 <2uatuor Coronati, or Four Crowned 
 Martyrs, mentioned in the Consti- 
 tutions of the Steinmetzen, 47. In 
 the Regius MS., 266. Legend of 
 the, 296. Their vogue in Ger- 
 many and France, 299. Holland 
 and Britain, 300. Patron Saints 
 of the Building Trades, 300. 
 Lodge of the, 136, 290, 387, 396. 
 
 Quebec, 533-4. 
 
 R. 
 
 Radcliffe, James and Charles, 410. 
 
 449. 474- 
 Ramsay, the Chevalier, 349. His 
 
 famous Oration, 353, 354, 409, 
 
 411,450. 
 Rawlinson, Dr. R., 227. 
 Reconciliation, the Lodge of, 442. 
 Reunion (or Bourbon), 503. 
 Ribbons worn by Freemasons, 428. 
 Richmond, Duke of, 381, 384, 397, 
 
 399- 
 
 Riego, Rafael de, 48S. 
 
 Rites, Orders, and Side Degrees, 
 Academie des vrais Masons, Con- 
 trat Social, Elus Coens, Philadel- 
 phians, Philalethes, Rit Egyptien 
 Rit Moderne, Rose-Croix, Scots 
 Philosophic, 451. American, 529, 
 Ancient and Accepted Scottish 
 iq.v.). Draskovich, 472. Cler- 
 mont, Emperors of the East and 
 West, 412, 450, 452, 504, 505. 
 Helvetic, 486. Knights of the 
 East, 412, 450; Eagle, Holy Land, 
 424; Malta, 426, 529; Red Cross, 
 468, 529; St. John of Jerusalem, 
 426; Sword, 425, 482, Templars 
 
 iq.v.). Mark iq.v.). Mclisino, 
 483. Memphis, 491. Perfection 
 or Heredom, Princes of the Royal 
 Secret, 505. Red Masonry, 4S2. 
 Royal Arch (q.v.). Royal Order 
 of Scotland, 409. St Andrew's 
 (q.v.). Scots' Degrees (q.v.). 
 Scottish Master, 450. Strict Ob- 
 servance {q.v.). Swedenborgian 
 491. Swedish, 457, 473, 478, 483. 
 Temple of vSyon, 235. York Rite, 
 529. See Additional Degrees, 
 and Digression. 
 
 Roderick, the last of the Goths, 98. 
 
 Rose and Cross, 94, loi, 105. 
 
 Rosenkreuz, Christian, 92, 102, 103. 
 
 Roses, Wars of the, 234. 
 
 Rosicrucians, the, origin of, 92. 
 Their Symbolism and its influ- 
 ence on Masonry, 92. Existence 
 of in Denmark, a.d. 1484, 93-4. 
 Cabalists, Theosophists, and Fire 
 Philosophers, 95. Elixir of Life 
 and Philosopher's Stone, 97. 
 Alchemy — Geber — Hermes Tris- 
 megistus, 98. Legend of Hiram 
 in Arabic MS., 98. Great Lights 
 of the Middle Ages, 99. Prophesy 
 of Paracelsus, 100. The Fama 
 Fraternitatis, loi. J. V. Andrea, 
 103. Symbolism of the Rose and 
 Cross, 105. The Friends of God, 
 106. Michael Maier, 107, 108. 
 Robert Fludd, loS. Supporters 
 of the Sect, of vowed virginity, 
 no. Animosity of the Female 
 Sex, III. Initiation of New 
 Members, in. The Book M., 
 112. The last known Act of the 
 Society, 114. The Association a 
 real one, 115. The Evidence ex- 
 amined, 116. Old Thought, 117. 
 A Thousand Secrets, of which 
 Gold-making was the least, 11 8. 
 vSupposed Influence on Masonry, 
 
 119. Opinions of Albert Pike, 
 
 120. Of Woodford, 121. Egypt 
 the Cradle of the Hermetic Art, 
 126. Were the "Brethren" of 
 the Rosy Cross the precursors of 
 the F^reemasons, 127. Marks or 
 Symbols of the, 312. The Study 
 of Occult Science taught Ijy the 
 Siri Society of Egypt, and preva- 
 lent in West Africa, 501 
 
552 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Roslin, the Laird of, and the 
 Mason Word, 337. 
 
 Rosse, Earl of, the first Irish Grand 
 Master, 346, 348. 
 
 Roumania, Profusion of Rites in, 
 492. 
 
 Rowe, John, 358, 406, 515-16, 520. 
 
 Royal Arch, the, 438, 440, 442, 443, 
 468, 491, 516, 527. 
 
 Royal Freemasons, the First, Fran- 
 cis of Lorraine, 388, 390. Danish, 
 480. Dutch, \?>i. English, Fred- 
 erick, Prince of Wales, 390. His 
 sons, 439. George, Prince of 
 Wales, 439. Dukes of Kent and 
 Sussex, 442. Edward, Prince of 
 Wales, the Dukes of Albany and 
 Connaught, Prince Albert Victor, 
 444. French, Comte de Cler- 
 mont, 450. Due d'Orleans, 451. 
 The Buonapartes, Prince Lucien 
 Murat, 453. German, Frederick 
 the Great, 457. Other Princes, 
 458, 462, 466. Scottish, James 
 VL, 333- Swedish, 359-64. 
 
 Royal Somerset House and Inver- 
 ness Lodge, 417. See Lodges, 
 English, the Four Old. 
 
 Russia, Freemasonry in, Melisino, 
 Strict Obseri-ance, and Swedish 
 Rites, 483. Grand Lodges, the 
 Craft Suppressed, 484. 
 
 Rutowski, Count, 460. 
 
 Rylands, W. H., 23S, 241, 316, 319. 
 
 S. 
 Sacrist, 164, 166. 
 Sadler, Henry, 433. 
 Salute Masons, the, 59. 
 Samber, Robert, Translator of Long 
 
 Livers, 1 13. 
 Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, 536. 
 San Salvador, 509. 
 Sankey, Edward and Richard, 241. 
 Sarry, Charles, Master of the first 
 
 German Lodge, 455. 
 Satirical and Impure Figures in 
 
 Chvirches, 55, i6i. 
 Saxony, Grand Lodge of, 460. 
 Sayer, Anthony, the first Grand 
 
 Master of Masons, 362, 374, 3S2. 
 
 384. 395- 
 St. Alban, the Proto-Martyr, 255, 
 
 271, 276, ,302. 
 St. Amphibal, 271, 276, 302. 
 St. Amphibalus, 302. 
 
 St. Andrew's Degrees, 408, 468, 475. 
 St. Andrew's Lodges, 458, 468, 471. 
 
 476, 479. 480. 
 St. Blaise, the Banner of, 67. 
 St. Clair Charters, 1 56. 
 St. Clair, Sir WilUam, 151, 329-30. 
 
 William, of Roslin, 349, 357. 
 St. Helena, Island of, 500. 
 St. John, the Ancient Order of, 445. 
 St. John the Baptist, day of, 362, 
 
 370, 395- 
 St. John the Evangelist, Festival of, 
 
 251, 335. 
 St. John of Jerusalem. See Knights. 
 St. John's Lodges, 353, 445, 457, 
 
 459, 468, 470, 474, 475, 477, 480. 
 Scald Miserables, the, 418. 
 Schaw, WilUam, General Warden, 
 
 327. 329. 334. 337, 339- 
 
 Schaw Statutes, the, 315, 327, 332, 
 334.337.339.352. 
 
 Scheffer, Count C. F., first Grand 
 Master of Sweden, 474, 476. 
 
 Schisms (Masonic), the Great Eng- 
 lish, 418, 420, 430-42. Kilwin- 
 ning, 354, 445, 446. Edinburgh, 
 446. Ulster, 448. 
 
 Schlegel, Gustave, author of Thian- 
 ti-hu'i, or Heaven-Earth League, 
 498. 
 
 Schroeder, F. L., 459. 
 
 Scotland, early Masonry of, 324. 
 Incorporations, 325. Companies, 
 326. Schaw Statutes, 327. Head 
 Lodges, 328. St. Clair Charters, 
 329. Old Records, 330. Ancient 
 Lodges, 331. Masonic Conven- 
 tion at St. Andrew's, 333. King 
 James VI. reputed a Freemason, 
 333. Customs, 335. Fencing the 
 Lodge, Festival of St. John, Ban- 
 quets, Oaths, Essays, 335. Initia- 
 tion, a simple Ceremony, 336. 
 The Mason Word, 337. Irregu- 
 lar Makings, 338. Commissions 
 or Dispensations, 339. Specula- 
 tive Masons, 340. Geomatics and 
 Domatics, 341. Degrees, 343. A 
 PluraUty of, 344. Earliest Min- 
 ute of Third Degree, 449. Grand 
 Lodge formed, 1736, 351. Mary's 
 Chapel given the first place on the 
 Roll, 352. Ramsay's Oration, 
 353. Secession of "Mother Kil- 
 winning," 354. So-called Scots 
 
INDEX. 
 
 553 
 
 Degrees on Continent, 409, 422, 
 424. Diplomas issued, 445. 
 Lodge of Kilwinning rejoins the 
 Grand Lodge, 446. Past Master 
 Ceremonial recognized, 446. 
 
 Scots Degrees, 409-14, 422-5, 450, 
 457, 474, 486. See Rites. 
 
 Scots Grand Lodge, 452. 
 
 Secret Tribal Societies of West 
 Africa, 499. 
 
 Senegal, 499. 
 
 Servia, Lodges in, 49 1 . 
 
 Seton, Alexander, 447. 
 
 Siam, 496. 
 
 Signs, exchanged by travelers with 
 native tribes, used by Komos6 of 
 Japan, 20. By initiates in the 
 Ancient Mysteries, 26. The early 
 Oracles, 27. The Essenes, 29. 
 The Vehm-Gerichte, 41. The 
 Arabians, 98, 349. The Occult 
 Philosophers, 100. Friends of 
 God, 106. Mediaeval builders, 
 106. Pretty Fellows, 1 1 1 . Rosi- 
 crucians, 112. Mediaeval Masons, 
 156, 176. Signs and tokens, 
 named in Stat. 11, Henry VII., 
 222; otherwise cited, 106, in, 
 156, 253, 423, 425, 500. By Au- 
 brey and Dugdale, 227. Randle 
 Holme, 244. Dr. Plot, 249. By 
 Sir Richard Steele, 253. Asso- 
 ciated with the Mason Word, 337. 
 Named in Ramsay's Oration, 353. 
 By Dr. Manningham, 423-4. 
 Continental, 425. Used by the 
 Secret Societies of China, 497. 
 
 Siri Society of Egypt, the, formed 
 for the study of Occult Science, 
 and flourishes in the Soudan and 
 Senegambia, 501. A Key to the 
 African religion, and the practices 
 of the Secret Societies of Africa, 
 501. 
 
 Smith, Rev. Haskett, on the Druses 
 of Mount Lebanon, 500. 
 
 Smith, D. Crawford, 332. 
 
 Society of Freemasons, 243, 248. 
 
 Solomon, a founder of the Compan- 
 ionage, 7 1 . The Sons of, 71. The 
 Wise King, 313, 337, 416. The 
 Seal of, 122, 322. 
 
 Soofees of Persia, the, 20. 
 
 Soubise, Maitre (or Pfere), 71. The 
 Sons of, 7 1 
 
 Spain, Lodge founded by the Duke 
 of Wharton at Madrid, 382. Per- 
 secutions of the Craft, the patriot 
 Riego, 488. Grand Orients and 
 Grand Lodges, 489. A. and A.S. 
 R., 508. 
 
 Speculative (or Symbolic) Masonry^ 
 236, 239, 241, 244, 245, 248, 252, 
 253. 296, 326. 335, 338, 340, 346, 
 348, 351. The Ornaments of, de- 
 rived from the customs of Orien- 
 tal builders, 496. 
 
 Speth, G. W., 292,306. 
 
 Spratt, Edward, Irish G. Secretary,. 
 360. 
 
 Spurious Rituals, 385-7, 399, 402, 
 406-8, 433-5- 
 
 Squire, Edmund, 397. 
 
 Statutes, the EngUsh, 168-70, 205^ 
 219-22, 237. Jud. Civ. Lund., 68, 
 188. Of Laborers, 70, 209, 218. 3, 
 Hen. VI., 70, 220, 234, 249. 15, 
 Hen. VI., c. vi., 277. 
 
 Steinmetzen, origin of the, 42. 
 Formed about the 12th Century^ 
 44. Statutes of 1459, 1462, and 
 1563,45. Four Head Lodges, 45. 
 Afraternity estabUshed, 47. Dif- 
 fered from other Crafts in not 
 having journeymen associations 
 47 . Admission of passed appren- 
 tice — method of greeting, 48. 
 TraveUng journeymen — houses 
 of call, 50. Methods of recogni- 
 tion, 50. A word but no sign, 5 1 . 
 Masterpiece, 52. Chief Lodge at 
 Strasburg, 54. Mysteries of the 
 trade — Wahrzeichen (or signs of a 
 Mason), 54. Absence of Symbol- 
 ism, 57. Decay of Society, 59. 
 Salute Masons and Letter Masons 
 — Papal Bulls, 61. German 
 
 writers, errors of, with regard to, 
 62. Compared with the French 
 Companions, 74. With the Free 
 masons, 176. 
 
 Stewards, the Grand, 420, 428, 443. 
 
 Stonemasons, the French, 71. See 
 Steinmetzen. 
 
 Stone, Nicholas, the King's Master 
 Mason, 165, 240. 
 
 Story of the Guild, 223, 254. 
 
 Sthael, Peter, Rosicrucian, no. 
 
 Straits Settlements, the, 496. 
 
554 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Strasburg Constitutiuns of 1459, 45, 
 
 47,52,53,59- 
 Strathallan, Viscount, President of 
 
 the L. of Dunblane, 1696, 341. 
 Strathmore, the Earl of, 38S, 401, 
 
 45 5- 
 Strict Observance, the, 409-14, 456, 
 
 457, 459-6:^, 4f>5. 47i, 474, 47S, 
 483,485-7- 
 
 Strong, the Family of, 242, 247. 
 
 Stuart, Charles Edward, the Young 
 Pretender, 41 1-14 
 
 Stubbs, Dr. W., 1S5, 193. 197, 201, 
 218. 
 
 Studion, Simon, Mystic and Chem- 
 ist, 105, III. 
 
 Stukeley, Dr. A\'., 123, 269, 392, 395. 
 
 Sumatra, 496. 
 
 Sun, Grand Lod,ge of the, at Bay- 
 reuth, 461. 
 
 Superintendents of EngUsh Build- 
 ings in the Middle Ages, 162-74. 
 
 Supervisor, 163. 
 
 Supreme Councils, 33^, all trace 
 their descent directly or indirectly 
 from Charleston, S. C, members 
 of (S.G.I.G.) their supposed pow- 
 ers, 508. Relation towards Grand 
 Orients, 509-10. 
 
 Sussex, Duke of, 442, 443. 
 
 Swastika or Fylfot, 321. 
 
 Sweden, Freemasonry in, of French 
 Origin, 474. St. Jean Auxiliare, 
 Sweden's Mother Lodge, 475. 
 King Adolf Fredrik, Protector of 
 the Craft, the Lodge of the Swed- 
 ish Army, the Swedish Rite, 476. 
 A Grand Lodge, Royal Free- 
 masons, 477. Templarism, its 
 two branches, the Strict Observ- 
 ance and the Swedish Rite, 47S. 
 
 Switzerland, 41 8. Early Lodges, an 
 EngUsh Prov. G. Lodge, 485. 
 Strict Observance, Helvetic Rite, 
 Grand Lodge Alpina, 486. 
 
 Symbolism, of the Mason's Art, re- 
 ferred to in the earliest of the 
 Chinese Classics, 21. Of the 
 Ancient Mysteries, 26. Of the 
 Essenes, 29. Of the Collegia, 36. 
 Of the \'ehm-Gerichte, 41. Of 
 the Steinmetzen, 49, ,51. Of the 
 French Craft Guilds, 67. Of the 
 Companionage, 78, 84. Of the 
 Rosicrucians, 100, 122. The 
 
 Freemasons, 123. Pythagoras, 
 126. Mediaeval Artisans, 176. 
 C)f the Mason's Art, became for- 
 gotten, 178, 392. Originated 
 during the splendor of Medieval 
 Operative Masonry and not in its 
 decay, 17S. Remarks of Sir W. 
 Dugdale, Randle Holme, and Dr. 
 Plot, 227, 244, 249. Of Sir Rich- 
 ard Steele, 253. Of Dr. Bege- 
 mann, 2S3. Of Albert Pike, 304, 
 310. Communicated with the 
 Mason Word, 33S. Adopted by 
 the Crusaders, 354. Digression 
 on, 390. Inherited by the ist 
 Grand Lodge, 396. Figuratively 
 apphed to human conduct by the 
 earliest Ancestors of the Chinese 
 people, 498. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tailors of Exeter, the, extensive 
 powers of, 248. 
 
 Tasmania, 535. 
 
 Tau, the, 321. 
 
 Tauler, Johann, the celebrated Ger- 
 man Mystic, 106. 
 
 Templarism in Masonry, 4H-14, 
 465,473,47s. 
 
 Temple of Sion, Order of the, 236. 
 
 Theosophists, the 94, 97. 
 
 Tilers, Parliament of the, forbidden, 
 
 225- 
 Tokens. See Signs. 
 Tomhnson, R., 513. 
 Topage, or Challenge, the, 75. 
 Torgau, Ordinances of, 1462, 45, 49, 
 
 52,53,59- 
 
 Tour of France, the, 66, 71, 73, 74, 
 76. 
 
 Tracing Board, the, in Modem, Ori- 
 ental and Medieval Operative 
 Masonry, 493. 
 
 Tradition, Community of, between 
 the JIasons of Britain and France, 
 
 Traveling Journeymen, of France, 
 
 66. Of Germany, ~,o. 
 Triad Society, or Heaven and Earth 
 
 AlUance, Symbols and Customs, 
 
 497. Blood Sacrifice, Ritual, 498. 
 
 Architectural vSymbolism, 499. 
 Trisula, or Trident, 322. 
 True Mason, 171. 
 TuUman, Charles, 477. 
 Tunis, 501. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 555 
 
 Turkey, Lodges formed in, by for- 
 eign Masonic Powers, 491. 
 
 Turn, or Tourn, the Sheriff's, 178, 
 T91, 196, loS, 200, 201, 213, 216. 
 
 U. 
 
 Union, Articles of (1S13) between 
 the two Grand Lodges of Eng- 
 land, 441-2. 
 
 Uruguay, 510. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vaughan, R. A., 93. Thomas, no. 
 
 Vehm-Gerichte, the. Customs and 
 History, 41. Suppression of, 42. 
 
 Venezuela, 510. 
 
 Vesica Piscis, 323. 
 
 Viollet le Due, 171, 177. 
 
 Viswacarma, the Heavenly Archi- 
 tect, 495. 
 
 Voice of the Sign, 27. 
 
 W 
 Wahrzeichen, or Signs of a Mason, 
 
 54, 161 ■ 
 Waite, A. E.,92,94,104,111,114,116. 
 Wales, Princes of, made Masons, 
 
 390, 444. 
 Walpole, Horace, 55, 178, 418. 
 Walsingham, Alan de, 166, 172. 
 Wardens General, 327, 329, 334, 
 
 336. 341- 
 
 Ware, Samuel, 69. 
 
 Warrant, or Charter, the first, 348; 
 not to be confused with a Deputa- 
 tion, 383. 
 
 Warren, General Sir Charles, 28. 
 General Joseph, 515, 519. 
 
 Washington, General George, 520. 
 
 Watch duty, 69. 
 
 Webb, Joseph, 520. 
 
 West Indies, the, Barbadoes, Ber- 
 muda, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Ja- 
 maica. Trinidad, Martinique, 
 503. Porto Rico, 504. Hispan- 
 iola, Hayti, or San Domingo, the 
 Cradle of the Ancient and Ac- 
 cepted Scottish Rite, 504. Trans- 
 formation of the Rite of Perfec- 
 tion into a System of 33 Degrees, 
 505. Constitutions of the new 
 Rite, Supreme Councils formed 
 at Port-au-Prince, and Paris, 507. 
 
 Weymouth, Viscount, 389. 
 
 Wharton, Philhp Duke of, 370-1, 
 377-80, 382, 410, 488. 
 
 Whymper, H. J., 416. 
 
 WilhelmslKid, Conventi(jn of, 414, 
 
 4,S<J- 
 
 William I., German Emjieror, 45S. 
 
 Winton, Earl of, 410, 4S7. 
 
 Women in Masonry, 359, 509. 
 
 Words (or Passwords) Secret, re- 
 ferred to, 42, 52, 75, 78, 84, 85, 
 98, III, 170, 175, ^^6, 244, 337-8, 
 343, 344, 354, 394, 408, 423, 426, 
 434, 442, 457, 4^2, 500, See 
 Mason Word. 
 
 Works, Clerk of the, 164. Master of 
 the, 164, 167, 173. 
 
 Woodford, Rev. A. F. A., 121, 260. 
 
 Wray, Sir Cecil, D. G. M., 400. 
 
 Wrede-Sparre, Count A. E., 474, 
 476. 
 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, 120, 129, 
 130, 228, 247, 249, 416, 426, 429. 
 
 Wurzburg, Cathedral, two famous 
 pillars in, 56. 
 
 Wykeham, William of, 162, 172. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yelaguin, General, 484. 
 
 Yesidis of Armenia, the, 20, 500. 
 
 Yeveley, Henry de, 167. 
 
 York, the Culdees of, King Athel- 
 stan, Prince Edwin, the Assem- 
 bly, 39. Minster Church of, 
 begun by Edwin, endowed by 
 Athelstan, 40. Fabric Rolls, 153, 
 155. Lodge Warden, 156. Mas- 
 ter Mason, 167. Staff of Work- 
 men, 172. Tenmanne Tale, 184, 
 189. Forest Law, 194, 212, 
 Lodge at A.D. 1705, 251. Presi- 
 dents and Deputy Presidents, 
 252. King Edwin, 276, 347. 
 Grand Lodge of All England at, 
 Speech of the Junior Grand War- 
 den, 347. Reference to in the 
 Constitutions of 1738, 354. Royal 
 Arch in, 358-9. Title of York 
 Masons assumed by the 
 "Ancients," 432, 438. Grand 
 Lodge of, recognized five Degrees, 
 438-9. York Rite, 529. 
 
 York, Edward, Duke of, 558 
 
 Young, Brigham, expelled from 
 Masonry, 527. 
 
 Z. 
 Zetland, Earl of, 444. 
 Zinnendorf, J. W. von, German 
 Grand Master, 457, 462. 
 
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 557 
 
BOOKS, ETC. 
 
 Masonic Jurisprudence. Mackey 2. SO" 
 
 Masonic Parliamentary Law. Monkey 2.00 
 
 Masonic Law and Practice. Lockwood 1 .00 
 
 Masonic Poetry Robert Morris 2.75, 3.50 
 
 Masonic Sl<etch Boole. E. du Laurans 2.00 
 
 Masonic Trials, A Treatise upon the Law. Look 1.50 
 
 Masonic Token. Anderson 2 . 25 
 
 Morals and Dogma, Scottish Rite. Albert Pike 5.25 
 
 Morgan History, about 400 pages. Paper, 1.75. Cloth 2.50 
 
 Mysteries of Masonry. Reynolds. Paper, 1.75. Cloth 2.50 
 
 Mystic Masonrj'. Buck 1 . 50 
 
 New Light from the Great Pyramids 4.00 
 
 Obelisk and Freemasonry. Weisse 1 .50, 2.00 
 
 Pronouncing Dictionary, Masonic 50, 1 . 00 
 
 Put Through. Comic .25 
 
 Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx. Le Plongeon 6.00 
 
 Scarlet Book of Freemasonry 3.00, 4.00 
 
 Signet of King Solomon, or Freemason's Daughter 1 . 50 
 
 Signs and Symbols. Oliver 1 . 50 
 
 Spirit of Freemasonry. Oliver 1 . 50 
 
 Swedenborg Rite. Beswick 1 .00' 
 
 Symbol of Glory. Oliver. New edition 1 . 50 
 
 Symbolism of Freemasonry. Oliver 2 . 25 
 
 The Man of Mount Moriah 1.30 2.00 
 
 Traditions, Origin and Early History. Pierson 2.50 
 
 Washington and his Masonic Compeers. Anderson 2.50 
 
 32° K. P. or Ninety in the Shade. Comic 25 
 
 Engravings, Certificates, Diplomas, etc. 
 
 Iron Worker and King Solomon, steel print on card, 24x32 5.00 
 
 Masonic Register, steel print. 22x28, " 3.00 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " Tinted .... 3.25 
 
 Masonic Register, " " Parchment Bond 3 00 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " Tinted 3.25 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " in case 4.00 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " " " Tinted 4 25 
 
 Masonic Register, Im. 22x28, on card 1 .50 
 
 Masonic Register, " " Tinted 1.75 
 
 Masonic Register, " " Bond 1 . 50 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " Tinted 1.75 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " in case 2.00 
 
 Masonic Register, " " " " " Tinted 2.25 
 
 Washington closing the Lodge, 22x28 1 .25 
 
 Washington as a Mason, 19x24 1 . 00 
 
 Washington opening the Lodge, 19x24 1 .00 
 
 Washington as a Mason, steel, 12x14 75 
 
 Darkness to Light, 22x28. ." '2.00 
 
 Masonic Tie, 22x28 2.00 
 
 Jacobs Vision, plain or in colors, 19x28 50, .75 
 
 Masonic Record, 22x28 1 . 25 
 
 Lords Prayer, Masonic emblems, 22x28 1 . 25 
 
 Light and' Truth, steel, 24x30 ' 3 00 
 
 O. E. S. Certificate, 16x20.. .75. Colors 1.00 
 
 O. E. S. Signet, in Colors, 16x20 1 . 00 
 
 Robert Morris, Portrait, steel, 9x11 -50^ 
 
 558 
 
CIRCULATING LIBRARY. 
 
 (free reading. ) (home reading). 
 
 For our many customers, who, having no room for a collection of 
 books on Masonry, yet, wish to be conversant with its origin and 
 history, as well as proficient in all matters pertaining to the Lodge 
 and its welfare, we have set aside several well filled cases of rare 
 old and out of print works — Constitutions, Histories, Proceedings 
 etc., also a fine lot of up-to-date Monitors, Manuals, Jurisprudence 
 Worshipful Master's Assistant and others. (See list on preceding page.) 
 
 We invite you to consult them freely at the office, without charge, 
 or to use them at your homes at the rate of ten per cent of their 
 value for the first thirty days, and an additional five per cent for 
 each month thereafter — which will cover the expense of wear, tear 
 wrapping, book-keeping, etc. — Thus, for a comparatively small 
 item of cost you can add to your store of knowledge, for greater 
 usefulness and personal enjoyment. 
 
 As time and carfare is an important item, you can order the books 
 to be sent through the mail or express, by enclosing stamps or money 
 order equaling their value, which will be refunded, less the percentage, 
 when the books are returned. 
 
 Readers in any part of the United States can take advantage~of 
 the mail rates — Books — J lb. for one cent, — which we advance by 
 prepaying them to your express or post office, and deduct the'same 
 when refunding balance. 
 
 Trusting you will find it convenient to make use of the books at 
 the office or try a selection from the list for your evenings at home. 
 
 We are, yours fraternally, 
 
 Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., 
 
 .34 Park Row, New York City, N. Y. 
 
 559