Did Ashmole Ever Own A Masonic Manuscript?

manuscrip ts is older than Preston . Yes , it may be truly called '' an ancient landmark" for Masonic historians . Thus , the very oldest Masonic MS . we have , begins with

" Whose wold bothe lede and loke , He may fynd wryte yn old boke . " What boke ? The author of the Cooke MS . refers to old chronicles , and Anderson was not a whit better than the above worthies . Indeed , in one way or another ,

Masonic writers indulged in that kind of trickery , and even now that class of Masonic luminaries , if they do not appeal to old records or MSS ., appeal to traditions of their own invention . Dr . Oliver , however , was not only the most unscrupulous ( that is , if there was any choice

between them ) of all the older English manufacturers of Masonic history , but as he has written twenty times as many books as either of his predecessors , he wrote twenty times as many falsehoods as either of them ; add to which , his having been a D . D . caused him to be looked " up

to by tho pious ones ( or the pretended pious ones ) as a Masonic oracle , and his admirers lauded up his writings ( especially in America ) as " Gospel truth . " I think , therefore , that of all the sinning English falsifiers of Masonic history Dr . Oliver was not only the greatest , but

the most mischievous ; he not only deceived his unwary readers , but he set a pernicious example to others , which they did not fail to follow . Bro . Gould , in a footnote on the above named page , gives a specimen of an American Masonic luminary lauding up Dr . Oliver ' s merits . Bro .

Gould , vAth evident contempt says , that Oliver was " styled , by Mackey in his Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry , ( as ) the most learned Mason , and most indefatigable and copious

Masonic author of his age . " But Charles W . Moore put it on thicker : in his dedication of his 1844 Magazine to Dr . Oliver , after lauding his Christian teaching to the skies , he goes on to say : —

"The Freemason whose vigorous intellect has penetrated the arcana of Masonry 5 brought forth the invaluable treasures , and restored the Holy Vessels ; whose enlarged mind has shed brighter rays around the Masonic altar , and is beaming with invigorating power over this Western Hemisphere , enlightening with that wisdom which leadeth to the Holy of Holies . "

After such praising up of Dr . Oliver ' s Masonic importance by the two greatest American luminaries , it is no wonder that all the American lesser lights blazed away after the same fashion , that every St . John ' s Day orator , every

pious Grand Master , or Magazine writer , or Monitor writer , or history writer , never failed to show up his learning and piety without proving his theories from the writings of " the learned Dr . Oliver . "

Oliver ' s "History of Masonic Persecution" is by no means free from its author ' s peculiarities , and I firmly believe that the alleged old MS . was no more in possession" of Elias Ashmole than it was in possession

or Jbather Adam ; fpr in tho first place I never heard of such an MS . ever having been owned by Ashmole . I searched through Bro . Gould's " History of Freemasonry , " and Bro . D . M . Lyon ' s History too , bat could find no allusion to an Ashmole Masonic MS .

Again , Oliver gave , or rather say he pretended to give , but part of the MS ., for he began it in tho middle of a sentence , and from the words "that though " to tho end of the MS . it is placed between quotation marks , implying that it is a verbatim copy of the original , but its wording and

spelling show that it was written in the nineteenth and not m the seventeenth century . And still again . Oliver very well knew , what Dr . Plot pointed out in his History of Staffordshire , in 1686 , that Prince Edwin was not ( as our old Masonic MSS . assert ) a

g on of Athelatan , but his brother . The so-called Ashmole ¦ MS . making Edwin both sou and brother may have teen a mistake of the transcriber or printer , who in a hurry wrote 6 ' " » instead of brother , but the phrases of Grand Master , and of Grand Lodge , cannot very well bo ascribed to

mistakes of either the transcriber or the printer . Be it urther remembered , that when Oliver wrote his " History ° f Masonic Persecutions " in 1847 , no one then doubted the antiqnit y of Masons' Grand Masters or Grand Lodges , bence Oliver had no idea that the words Grand Master and

<* rand Lodi je would ever lead any one to doubt the genuineness of his MS . Now , however , with few exceptions , it is generally admitted that Grand Masters and Grand Lodges were unknown to pre-1717 Masons , and if the latter are correct , that MS . could not have existed in the days of Ashmole . And still again , "Wh y did not Dr . Oliver stale where he

Did Ashmole Ever Own A Masonic Manuscript?

lound that Mb ., or who owned it iu 1847 , wheu he wrote his " History of Masonic Persecutions " ? When , adding to the above reasons , the undeniable fact of

Oliver s habit of asserting , perverting and manufacturing of history , I must come to the conclusion , that the so-called Ashmole Masonic MS . was manufactured by Dr . Oliver himself .

But , on the other hand , notwithstanding the above reasons , Dr . Oliver may after all have told the truth about the said . MS . His statement that the said MS . was in possession of Elias Ashmole is improbable , but I cannot say that it is impossible . If therefore , after due inquiry , Oliver ' s

statement should prove correct , it would conclusively prove that Grand Masters and Grand Lodges were known to Ashmole to have existed since A . D . 926 . This , if proved , would destroy "the 1717 theory , " much more so than all that has been printed in the Quatuor Goronati Lodae

Transactions about " Tho Ark of the Covenant , " " Joseph's Bones , " " Masons' Marks , " the old " Roman Villa at Morton , " and " Urbanitatis " in the bargain . The argn ments and reasonings based upon the above topics I always regarded chimerical and imaginary , but the Ashmole MS .,

if it was owned by Ashmole , would not only prove , as above stated , the knowledge to Ashmole that the Craft was governed at one time by Grand Lodges and Grand Masters , but it might further be the means of restoring the old

belief , that from the day of St . Austin down to Sir Christopher Wren , the English Craft was not without Grand Masters . And if this is proved , it will not be difficult to prove the Grand Mastership of King Solomon , and of old Father Adam too .

Well , now , I have done ray duty by calling attention to the said MS ., which , if proved to be O . K ., its value cannot be over-estimated , for it will wipe out in a trice all the

pretencious theories promulgated by the sceptical Masonic school . And it now remains for the conservative , orthodox , or Masonic antiquity believing scholars to do their duty , by demonstrating , if they can , the genuineness of the said MS . BOSTON , U . S ., 13 th June 1890 .

Opening Of The Bury St. Edmund's Masonic Hall.

OPENING OF THE BURY ST . EDMUND'S MASONIC HALL .

ON Monday evening , the 14 th nit ., the St . Edmund s Bury Masonic Hall was opened . It was formerly the Six Bells Hotel , and facea the Norman Tower and Chequer Square . What were originally six rooms have now been converted into one large hall , of symmetrical proportions and artistic appearance . Overlooking Chequer Square , it is lighted by five windows , each of which is draped by heavy curtains of deep blue , in unison with the prevailing colour of the room .

The ceiling is bordered by a prettily moulded cornice , and the walla are painted in an agreeable blue of light tint , relieved by a stringcourse of white , a colour which has been adopted also for the doors . A dado of darker blue than the above is strikingly picked out with gold , and brings into marked contrast the crimson bordering of tho carpet , which is of tessclated pavement design , in black and white .

Tho Worshipful Master ' s chair , handsomely carved and adorned with the emblems of St . Edmund and of tho Fraternity , stands at the end of the room next the Norman Tower , while hung above it is a framed portrait of tho Grand Master , the Prince of Wales . Opposite are the chair and pedestal of the Senior Warden , the Junior Warden ' s chair being opposite the entrance . Tho old tracing boards of the

Lodge , presented by Bro . M . T . Cocksedge , a former Master of the Royal St . Edmund Lodge , are hung upon the wall near the Senior Warden ' s chair , while in other parts of the room are several old escutcheons of former Bury Lodges . The hall is adequately lighted . The alterations have been effected by the St . Edmund ' s Bury Mnaonio Club Company , Limited , under whom the members of the Royal

St . Edmund Lodge are tenants , but so far only as concerns the templo and supper noom ; the rooms upon the ground floor , forming the club proper , being open by subscription to those who are qualified as members of the Masonic Fraternity . The brethren assembled at half-past five , and the Lodge was opened at six . Bro . John G . Oliver

P . M . 1008 and P . P . G . S . W . presided , in the absence of the Deputy Provincial Grand Muster the Rev . C . J . Mariyn . The Senior Warden ' s chair was occupied by Bro . C . D . Leech W . M . 1008 , Brother James Roach W . M . 1592 being in the Junior Warden's chair . Brother J . G . Oliver formally declared the hall open , and later in the evening presided at a banquet .

A stained glass window , from the studio of Mr . Taylor , of Berners Street , has been erected in the Church of Plympton St . Maurice , Devon ( the gift of the family ) , in memory of 2 nd Lieut . Henry Maxwell Bnller Tritton , 14 th the King ' s Hussars .

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FUNERALS properly carried out and personally attended , in London and Country , by Bro . G-. A . HUTTON " , 17 Newcastle Street , Strand , W . C . Monuments erected . Valuations made .