Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Beview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 23 Great Queen Street , W . C . The History of Freemasonry in the District of Malta , from tho year 1800 to the present time . By W . Bro . A . M . Broadley , of Lincoln ' s Inn , Bamster . afc-Law ; P . M . 1717 ; W . M . 1835 ; P . D . D . G . M . Malta :
WE heartily welcome this latest addition to tho history of our Society . The chief interest it will exoite will , of necessity , be local in its character , bnt every Freemason will find it a labour of love to diligontly study tho clear and comprehensive narrative of Bro . Broadley . Had the materials at his disposal been ampler Bro . Broadley wonld , of course , have been enabled to write still more
comprehensively ; but the samo obscurity would seem to prevail in Malta , as in other Provinces and Districts , as to tho earlier doings of our Lodges . For instance , somo five pages suffice for a sketch of " all that is known of Masonry in Malta prior to 1815 , " though a Lodge " called St . John ' s Lodge of Secrecy and Harmony , was constituted 30 th March 1789 , being then numbered 539 . " So writes our worthy Brother
quoting as his authority , Bro . Gould , and , continuing the quotation , he adds , " at tho alteration of numbers in 1792 it became No 448 , and was not carried forward on the Union Roll 1813 . " There are no other details about this Lodge to be found in the archives of Grand Lodge . Indeed , ifc would be very surprising if the said archives were able to throw any light ou the early history of Masonry in these parts ,
seeing we are told in another note that neither this nor a Lodge No . 717 , which was chartered in 1819 , and died out about five years later , ever made any returns to Grand Lodge . However , Bro . Broadley has made the best possible use of the materials obtainable , and has wisely avoided the fault , which too many of our historic writers have committed , of supplying the lack of trustworthy detail out of the exuberant
wealth of their own fertile imaginations . Chapter I . is very brief , and as we have said already , five pages suffice for the sketch of Masonry in Malta prior to 1815 . " Preston , " says Bro . Broadley , " would have us believe that the Order of Malta became at a comparatively remote period the active protector of tbe Order of Masons , " and that ifc rose again into esteem " under the
patronage of the Masters and Fellows of the Order of St . John of Rhodes ( now Malta ) , who assembled their Grand Lodge in 1500 , and cbose Henry "" — that is our Henry VII . —" their protector . " Our author , however , very properly points out that all the Knights of St . John as a corporation ever did before the Eighteenth Century was " to largely avail themselves of the operative
Masonic guilds of the past in tbe erection and embellishment of their religions and civil buildings . " When , however , in the early part of last century , the Modern or Speculative system of Masonry , was erected " ou the remains , customs , and traditions" of those operative associations , tho Knights Hospitaller of St . John showed a marked predilection for it . Boldly and precisely he lays it down
that " there is really no actual connecting link between the ' Chivalric Order of St . John' and tho ' Religious , Military , and Masonic Orders of the Hospital . ' As the mediaeval guilds of the past are related to the speculative Lodges of to-day , so is the Order of Malta ( which to all intents and purposes ended in 1799 ) connected with the now-existing degree of Christian
Masonry whioh bears its name , —the one a physical prototype ; the other a moral adaptation . Craft Masonry has symbolised the practice and observance of working guilds , while the modern Masonic Orders of the Temple and the Hospital perpetuate in a similar manner the teachings and the tenets , the aim and the purpose , the actions and the achievements of the two most powerful
celebrated religious confraternities which the world has ever seen . " This is the view we have always taken as to the true character of the antiquity of Masonry . Freemasonry as a morality , with its peculiar symbolism and its special organisation , is of modern origin , erected on " the remains , customs , and traditions " of the operative guilds . But those guilds were the repositories of the scientific knowledge , as the
monks were of the literary knowledge , which survived through the dark ages from the early centuries of the Christian ' era , and through them from the old-world civilization . In those dark ages the guilds and the monks worked harmoniously together in continuing the beneficent work of civilisation—that ; is , in perpetuating the teachings of religion and morality . Those teachings were necessarily , and—speaking
literally in this instance— " a 3 old as the hills . " Thus , while the organi - sation of Masonry is purely modern , its principles are coeval with Time itself . They have taken different forms at different epochs . They were the " mysteries " of Egypt and the East generally , the " philosophies " of Greoce and Rome , the " ethics" of every school that at one time or another has been founded for tho purpose of
teaching men their duty to God and each other : to attempt to establish more than this is to involve ns all in ridicule . To proceed , however , with our task of considering the narrative of Bro . Broadley . There were Masons in Malta before the date—1789—of the constitution of the first regular Masonic Lodge . Thus , the influence of the Papacy in the island was so great in the
early half of last century , that " in 1740 the Grand Master of the Order "—of the Knights of Malta—" caused the Bull of Clement XII . to be published in that island , and forbade the meetings of the Freemasons . On this occasion several Knights and many citizens left the island , and in 1741 the Inquisition pursued tbe Freemasons afc Malta . The Grand Master prescribed thoir assemblies tinder severe penalties , and six Knights
P . G . M . M . M . for Tunis and Malta ; P . G . M . of tho Cryptic and Allied Masonio Degrees for Tunis and Malta ; D . Intendant-Gcneval of the Red Cross for Malta and Tunis ; P . G . C . and G . P . and V . Y . Prelate and Chancellor K . T . and K . M . for the Mediterranean ; and P . M . W . S . 18 ° . Published for the benefit of tho District Benevolent Fund London : George Kenning , " Freemason" Office , 198 Fleet-street , E . C . 1880 .
Reviews.
were banished from the island in perpetuity for having assisted at a meeting . " Papal anathemas , however , were powerless to oppose successfully the progress of our Society , and Bro . Broadley quotes tho following from a MS . by tho late Right Worshipful Bro . W . Rodwell Wright P . G . M . of Malta 1815-26 : — " I have reason to beli ° ve that for a very considerable time after the settlement by the
Knights of St . John iu the island , they continued to patronise the system of Freemasonry , which being , like all other sciences at that period , chiefly indebted to ecclesiastics , was looked upon with much favour , and perhaps I might add , held in high estimation by the most distinguished characters of the Roman Catholic Church . I do not consider that the Order of Malta was necessarily connected with
Freemasonry , nor , indeed , had any further connection with it than what was common to all the orders of chivalry , which , in their gradations and principles of union , bore such a striking resemblance to our institutions as , combined with the Oriental origin of those institutions , may fairly induce us to presume that they sprang originally from thia root . I have no reason to believe that Masonry , either publicly or
privately , formed any part of the initiation of the Knights of Malta . " This is in accord with what we have said already as to the harmony that prevailed formerly between the guilds and tbe Church , while the further fact whioh the late Bro . Rodwell Wright mentions , that Grand Master Emmanuel di Rohan , who died in 1797 , was a Mason , though not a member of a Lodge , shows what progress our Sooiety
must have made in the island in the teeth of Papal denunciations . The first regular Lodge received its Warrant of Constitution from H . R . H . the Duke of Cumberland , Grand Master , and is described by the late Bro . Wright as having been " a very numerous and respect , able Lodge , almost exclusively confined to the Knights of the Order , who appear , however , to have adhered chiefly to the French ritual ,
and whose Lectures were delivered in that language . " We are also informed on the same authority that " subsequently to the occupation of Malta by tho English , a Lodge was established " there " by the French prisoners of war , in correspondence with the Grand Orient of Marseilles . " Ultimately the few remaining members of this Lodge sought and received—in 1819—a Warrant of Constitution from the
Grand Lodge of England as " Les Amis en Captivite , " No . 717 . It ceased working in 1824 . It is these two Lodges which never made any returns to Grand Lodge . Of the latter of them , fortunately , some parchment certificates have been preserved . From one dated 25 th October 1812 , in the French language , ifc appears the Lodge was then described as " the respectable Lodge of St . John , bearing the
distinctive name of Les Amis en Captivite and worked at Cifcta Vecchia . " Ifc attests that Bro . Ignatius Vidal had taken the third degree , and also that at the time " Bro . H . Aubin was Hon . W . M ., Bro . Vardier W . M ., Bro . Danesmil S . W ., and Bro . Lombard J . W . It was signed by sixteen brethren , and two of the signatures are followed by Masonic marks . " On the back of this , says Bro . Broadley ,
" is a certificate engrossed on the 20 th December 1812 , to the effect that " the Soveriega Princes of the Valley of Toulon had conferred on the same Brother the 18 th degree of the Scottish Rite . " Thia is signed by Bros . P . Pensa and H . Aubin . " The second certificate , dated 16 th March 1814 , was issued by Lodge Parfaite Union , and attests that a Bro . Nicholas Ataglioti " had been perfected a S . P . R . C .
and Knight of St . Andrew , the M . S . W . being Pietro Pensa ; but whether this was " a separate Masonic body or the Chapter attached to the Lodge Amis en Captivite is not certain . " The third certificate , dated 11 th May 1816 , and like the two preceding , in the French language , attests that the third degree had been conferred on the same Nicholas Ataglioti . This emanates from the Lodge Les Amis
en Captivite , and is described as being " surrounded by an elaborate drawing in water-colours of the columns of the temple , surmounted by the sun , moon , and stars . The seal is circular , attached by a blue ribbon , and inscribed ' L . Amis en Captivite Or . He de Malthe , 36 Deg . de Lat . ' In the centre is a triangle , having the Ark of the Covenant in the middle surmounted by the All-Seeing Eye , with a
square and compass extended beneath its base . The triangle 13 surrounded by a circle , from which seven points , forming a star , extend towards the circumference of the seal . Between each of these points is a five-pointed star . " The Officers named on this are Bros . L . Nani W . M ., Jean Andre Roediger S . W ., and J . A . Hockkoffcer J . W . The fourth certificate , dated 2 * th December 1820 , is to the effect ;
" that Bro . Ignatius Andre Vidal had fulfilled , with honour to himself , the posts of D . of C . and J . W ., " in the Lodge . This is surrounded by a border of Acacia , the seal being attached by a red ribbon , edged with green , and covered with green stars . " In the centre of the upper portion is the All-Seeing Eye with a wreath of lilies on one side and of acacias on the other . " The endorsement gives the
number of the Lodge as 716 . " The W . M . at the time was a Bro . R . Stevens , and of the thirteen officers signing ifc "four described themselves as ' Knights of the Templar aid Malta . ' " The number " 716 " is also given in the minute books of the Lodge of St . John and St . Paul — the oldest existing Lodge in the District , when certain members of the now defunct Lodge visited it .
No history of Freemasonry in Malta would be acceptable which did not contain a tolerably full sketch of tho late Bro . Walter Rodwell Wright , and accordingly Bro . Broadley devotes his second chapter to so much of that brother's career as preceded his arival in Malta . From this , we gather that Bro . Wright joined the Prince of Wales Lodge , then No . 412 , on the 18 th December 1801 ; bat whether this
was his first introduction into the Society or not does nofc appear . Three years later he was elected Grand Master of the Order of the Red Cross in England , being described afc the time as " a most distinguished Mason , and a personal friend of the Dukes of Kent and Sussex . In 1 ' 07 , the former Royal Duke having executed a Warrant for the revival of " The Knights of the exalted Religious and Military
Orders of the Temple and Holy Sepulchre of St . John of Jerusalem , " Bro . Wright was elected Grand Master on the 12 fch April . This post he continued to hold till 6 th August 1812 , when he resigned in favour of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex . He was present on the memorable 27 th of January 1813 , when the Earl of Moira Pro G . M ,, who was under orders to leave
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended for Beview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 23 Great Queen Street , W . C . The History of Freemasonry in the District of Malta , from tho year 1800 to the present time . By W . Bro . A . M . Broadley , of Lincoln ' s Inn , Bamster . afc-Law ; P . M . 1717 ; W . M . 1835 ; P . D . D . G . M . Malta :
WE heartily welcome this latest addition to tho history of our Society . The chief interest it will exoite will , of necessity , be local in its character , bnt every Freemason will find it a labour of love to diligontly study tho clear and comprehensive narrative of Bro . Broadley . Had the materials at his disposal been ampler Bro . Broadley wonld , of course , have been enabled to write still more
comprehensively ; but the samo obscurity would seem to prevail in Malta , as in other Provinces and Districts , as to tho earlier doings of our Lodges . For instance , somo five pages suffice for a sketch of " all that is known of Masonry in Malta prior to 1815 , " though a Lodge " called St . John ' s Lodge of Secrecy and Harmony , was constituted 30 th March 1789 , being then numbered 539 . " So writes our worthy Brother
quoting as his authority , Bro . Gould , and , continuing the quotation , he adds , " at tho alteration of numbers in 1792 it became No 448 , and was not carried forward on the Union Roll 1813 . " There are no other details about this Lodge to be found in the archives of Grand Lodge . Indeed , ifc would be very surprising if the said archives were able to throw any light ou the early history of Masonry in these parts ,
seeing we are told in another note that neither this nor a Lodge No . 717 , which was chartered in 1819 , and died out about five years later , ever made any returns to Grand Lodge . However , Bro . Broadley has made the best possible use of the materials obtainable , and has wisely avoided the fault , which too many of our historic writers have committed , of supplying the lack of trustworthy detail out of the exuberant
wealth of their own fertile imaginations . Chapter I . is very brief , and as we have said already , five pages suffice for the sketch of Masonry in Malta prior to 1815 . " Preston , " says Bro . Broadley , " would have us believe that the Order of Malta became at a comparatively remote period the active protector of tbe Order of Masons , " and that ifc rose again into esteem " under the
patronage of the Masters and Fellows of the Order of St . John of Rhodes ( now Malta ) , who assembled their Grand Lodge in 1500 , and cbose Henry "" — that is our Henry VII . —" their protector . " Our author , however , very properly points out that all the Knights of St . John as a corporation ever did before the Eighteenth Century was " to largely avail themselves of the operative
Masonic guilds of the past in tbe erection and embellishment of their religions and civil buildings . " When , however , in the early part of last century , the Modern or Speculative system of Masonry , was erected " ou the remains , customs , and traditions" of those operative associations , tho Knights Hospitaller of St . John showed a marked predilection for it . Boldly and precisely he lays it down
that " there is really no actual connecting link between the ' Chivalric Order of St . John' and tho ' Religious , Military , and Masonic Orders of the Hospital . ' As the mediaeval guilds of the past are related to the speculative Lodges of to-day , so is the Order of Malta ( which to all intents and purposes ended in 1799 ) connected with the now-existing degree of Christian
Masonry whioh bears its name , —the one a physical prototype ; the other a moral adaptation . Craft Masonry has symbolised the practice and observance of working guilds , while the modern Masonic Orders of the Temple and the Hospital perpetuate in a similar manner the teachings and the tenets , the aim and the purpose , the actions and the achievements of the two most powerful
celebrated religious confraternities which the world has ever seen . " This is the view we have always taken as to the true character of the antiquity of Masonry . Freemasonry as a morality , with its peculiar symbolism and its special organisation , is of modern origin , erected on " the remains , customs , and traditions " of the operative guilds . But those guilds were the repositories of the scientific knowledge , as the
monks were of the literary knowledge , which survived through the dark ages from the early centuries of the Christian ' era , and through them from the old-world civilization . In those dark ages the guilds and the monks worked harmoniously together in continuing the beneficent work of civilisation—that ; is , in perpetuating the teachings of religion and morality . Those teachings were necessarily , and—speaking
literally in this instance— " a 3 old as the hills . " Thus , while the organi - sation of Masonry is purely modern , its principles are coeval with Time itself . They have taken different forms at different epochs . They were the " mysteries " of Egypt and the East generally , the " philosophies " of Greoce and Rome , the " ethics" of every school that at one time or another has been founded for tho purpose of
teaching men their duty to God and each other : to attempt to establish more than this is to involve ns all in ridicule . To proceed , however , with our task of considering the narrative of Bro . Broadley . There were Masons in Malta before the date—1789—of the constitution of the first regular Masonic Lodge . Thus , the influence of the Papacy in the island was so great in the
early half of last century , that " in 1740 the Grand Master of the Order "—of the Knights of Malta—" caused the Bull of Clement XII . to be published in that island , and forbade the meetings of the Freemasons . On this occasion several Knights and many citizens left the island , and in 1741 the Inquisition pursued tbe Freemasons afc Malta . The Grand Master prescribed thoir assemblies tinder severe penalties , and six Knights
P . G . M . M . M . for Tunis and Malta ; P . G . M . of tho Cryptic and Allied Masonio Degrees for Tunis and Malta ; D . Intendant-Gcneval of the Red Cross for Malta and Tunis ; P . G . C . and G . P . and V . Y . Prelate and Chancellor K . T . and K . M . for the Mediterranean ; and P . M . W . S . 18 ° . Published for the benefit of tho District Benevolent Fund London : George Kenning , " Freemason" Office , 198 Fleet-street , E . C . 1880 .
Reviews.
were banished from the island in perpetuity for having assisted at a meeting . " Papal anathemas , however , were powerless to oppose successfully the progress of our Society , and Bro . Broadley quotes tho following from a MS . by tho late Right Worshipful Bro . W . Rodwell Wright P . G . M . of Malta 1815-26 : — " I have reason to beli ° ve that for a very considerable time after the settlement by the
Knights of St . John iu the island , they continued to patronise the system of Freemasonry , which being , like all other sciences at that period , chiefly indebted to ecclesiastics , was looked upon with much favour , and perhaps I might add , held in high estimation by the most distinguished characters of the Roman Catholic Church . I do not consider that the Order of Malta was necessarily connected with
Freemasonry , nor , indeed , had any further connection with it than what was common to all the orders of chivalry , which , in their gradations and principles of union , bore such a striking resemblance to our institutions as , combined with the Oriental origin of those institutions , may fairly induce us to presume that they sprang originally from thia root . I have no reason to believe that Masonry , either publicly or
privately , formed any part of the initiation of the Knights of Malta . " This is in accord with what we have said already as to the harmony that prevailed formerly between the guilds and tbe Church , while the further fact whioh the late Bro . Rodwell Wright mentions , that Grand Master Emmanuel di Rohan , who died in 1797 , was a Mason , though not a member of a Lodge , shows what progress our Sooiety
must have made in the island in the teeth of Papal denunciations . The first regular Lodge received its Warrant of Constitution from H . R . H . the Duke of Cumberland , Grand Master , and is described by the late Bro . Wright as having been " a very numerous and respect , able Lodge , almost exclusively confined to the Knights of the Order , who appear , however , to have adhered chiefly to the French ritual ,
and whose Lectures were delivered in that language . " We are also informed on the same authority that " subsequently to the occupation of Malta by tho English , a Lodge was established " there " by the French prisoners of war , in correspondence with the Grand Orient of Marseilles . " Ultimately the few remaining members of this Lodge sought and received—in 1819—a Warrant of Constitution from the
Grand Lodge of England as " Les Amis en Captivite , " No . 717 . It ceased working in 1824 . It is these two Lodges which never made any returns to Grand Lodge . Of the latter of them , fortunately , some parchment certificates have been preserved . From one dated 25 th October 1812 , in the French language , ifc appears the Lodge was then described as " the respectable Lodge of St . John , bearing the
distinctive name of Les Amis en Captivite and worked at Cifcta Vecchia . " Ifc attests that Bro . Ignatius Vidal had taken the third degree , and also that at the time " Bro . H . Aubin was Hon . W . M ., Bro . Vardier W . M ., Bro . Danesmil S . W ., and Bro . Lombard J . W . It was signed by sixteen brethren , and two of the signatures are followed by Masonic marks . " On the back of this , says Bro . Broadley ,
" is a certificate engrossed on the 20 th December 1812 , to the effect that " the Soveriega Princes of the Valley of Toulon had conferred on the same Brother the 18 th degree of the Scottish Rite . " Thia is signed by Bros . P . Pensa and H . Aubin . " The second certificate , dated 16 th March 1814 , was issued by Lodge Parfaite Union , and attests that a Bro . Nicholas Ataglioti " had been perfected a S . P . R . C .
and Knight of St . Andrew , the M . S . W . being Pietro Pensa ; but whether this was " a separate Masonic body or the Chapter attached to the Lodge Amis en Captivite is not certain . " The third certificate , dated 11 th May 1816 , and like the two preceding , in the French language , attests that the third degree had been conferred on the same Nicholas Ataglioti . This emanates from the Lodge Les Amis
en Captivite , and is described as being " surrounded by an elaborate drawing in water-colours of the columns of the temple , surmounted by the sun , moon , and stars . The seal is circular , attached by a blue ribbon , and inscribed ' L . Amis en Captivite Or . He de Malthe , 36 Deg . de Lat . ' In the centre is a triangle , having the Ark of the Covenant in the middle surmounted by the All-Seeing Eye , with a
square and compass extended beneath its base . The triangle 13 surrounded by a circle , from which seven points , forming a star , extend towards the circumference of the seal . Between each of these points is a five-pointed star . " The Officers named on this are Bros . L . Nani W . M ., Jean Andre Roediger S . W ., and J . A . Hockkoffcer J . W . The fourth certificate , dated 2 * th December 1820 , is to the effect ;
" that Bro . Ignatius Andre Vidal had fulfilled , with honour to himself , the posts of D . of C . and J . W ., " in the Lodge . This is surrounded by a border of Acacia , the seal being attached by a red ribbon , edged with green , and covered with green stars . " In the centre of the upper portion is the All-Seeing Eye with a wreath of lilies on one side and of acacias on the other . " The endorsement gives the
number of the Lodge as 716 . " The W . M . at the time was a Bro . R . Stevens , and of the thirteen officers signing ifc "four described themselves as ' Knights of the Templar aid Malta . ' " The number " 716 " is also given in the minute books of the Lodge of St . John and St . Paul — the oldest existing Lodge in the District , when certain members of the now defunct Lodge visited it .
No history of Freemasonry in Malta would be acceptable which did not contain a tolerably full sketch of tho late Bro . Walter Rodwell Wright , and accordingly Bro . Broadley devotes his second chapter to so much of that brother's career as preceded his arival in Malta . From this , we gather that Bro . Wright joined the Prince of Wales Lodge , then No . 412 , on the 18 th December 1801 ; bat whether this
was his first introduction into the Society or not does nofc appear . Three years later he was elected Grand Master of the Order of the Red Cross in England , being described afc the time as " a most distinguished Mason , and a personal friend of the Dukes of Kent and Sussex . In 1 ' 07 , the former Royal Duke having executed a Warrant for the revival of " The Knights of the exalted Religious and Military
Orders of the Temple and Holy Sepulchre of St . John of Jerusalem , " Bro . Wright was elected Grand Master on the 12 fch April . This post he continued to hold till 6 th August 1812 , when he resigned in favour of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex . He was present on the memorable 27 th of January 1813 , when the Earl of Moira Pro G . M ,, who was under orders to leave