The " Speculative " New Departure.

THE " SPECULATIVE " NEW DEPARTURE .

Br BKO . JACOP . NORTON . I HAVE just fallen on an extract I copied from Slovfs Survey , Thomas ' s edition , 1842 , p G 8 , from which , I think , that a debating club genius could provo tho

existence of Speculative Tailory , lime out o ) mind , just as easily as our very learned brethren of the Q . C . Lodgo provo tho existence of Speculative Masonry iu tho 14 th or loth century . Here is the extract : —

"The Merchant Tailors' Hall , pertaining to the guild and fraternity of St . John the Baptist , ( 1 ) time out of miud called tailors aid linen drapers of London . I find that Edward I ., in the 28 th year of his reign , confirmed this guild by the name of Tailors and linen armorers , ( 2 ) and also gave to the brethren thereof ( 3 )

authority every year at Midsummer to hold a feast and chooao unto them a Rovernonr , or musttr ui'h wardens , ( 4 ) whereupon the same year , 1300 , on the festive day of tho nativity of St . John the Baptist , tbey chrse Houry do Byall to their pilgrimaje , ( 5 ) for the master of this mystery , ( 6 ) as one that travelled for the whole

company ( 7 ) was then called . * * * "In the 2 lst of Edward IV ., Homes , alias C'larencialulx , King at Arms for the South part of England , granted by his patent to the fraternity and guild of St . John the Baptist , of tailors and linen armorers , to bear in a shield of silver a pavillion , between

two mantels imperial purple , in chief azure , and a holy Lamb set within a sun , & c . ( 8 ) . '' In the second of Henry IV . tho company received a new confirmatory charter , by the name of the Scissors ( 9 ) and fraternity of

St . John the Baptist in London . * * * Henry VII ., a brothor ol the fraternity of the Tailors , in the 18 th year of his reign , 1503 , reincorporated the same by the name of Masters and Wardens of the Merchant Tailors of the fraternity of St . John the Baptist , in the City of London . "

I have not been trained to the profession which requires or demands ability to prove That day means night , That wrong means right , That dark means light , That standing means flight , That Jove means alight .

Or , vice versa , 0 " , in other words , I cannot argue equally well on both sides of a question . I cannot for such a parpose spin a long yarn , and varnish it with relatively learned subjects for the purpose of diverting the reader ' s or listener ' s attention from my actual paucity of knowledge upon

the question at issue that I claim to be in my possession ; or , in other words , I cannot throw dust into my reader ' s eyes by a display of profound learning about the Gothic Arch , tho Pointed Arch , or some other hind of Arch . 1 shall therefore , with a mere outline of hints , show how

much a Merchant Tailor lawyer could , with the sophistical line of reasoning peculiar to his ( and I may add to the clerical ) profession , prove that Tailory was what it ivas

not . I will , however , do my best in representing to the imagination of my readers a Merchant Lawyer Tailor addressing a Masonic assembly , thus : My friends ,

I shall proceed to prove , from Stowe ' s Survey of London , that the fraternity of Tailors is more ancient than that of Masons . In the first place , there can be no doubt that the art of making some kind of covering for the human body antedates the art of building , for a tradition has been

preserved that before the first pair of the human race left Paradise Mother Eve made herself some kind of a covering from fig leaves , from which period the tailor art may be Baid to date its origin , but building did not begin before the time of Lamach . How many years intervened between the

beginning of the said arts , your Rev . Chaplain will doubtless inform you to a day . But anyhow , the tailor ' s art and tailor ' s traditions antedate those of the Masons . Again . You claim a monopoly to the patronage of tho Saints John ; you call your mysteries " St . John ' s

Masonry "—and why ? Surely , your poet of the 15 th century had never heard about the Masons' connection with the St . Johns , nor did the author of the Matthew Cooke MS . know it , nor did the writers of the pre-1717 Masonic Rituals know it . I mean those which

Bro . B . nghan'd 2 ibbed "Ancient Charges , " & c . The Edinburgh Lodge , in 1475 , was the first Lodge which adopted the Saints John as Patron Saints , while , as far back as the year 1300 , the Baptist was our Patron Saint time out of

mind ; hence , we have a better right to talk about St . John ' s Tailory than you have to talk about St . John ' s Masonry . [ See the part indicated by tho mark ( 1 )] . Again . Somo of you decorate yourselves with cocked

The " Speculative " New Departure.

hats , and swear up and down of having ceremonies which came down from the Knights Templar ? . Now this Knighthood Masonic brag was unknown before 1735 . But our Tailors have preserved , in their title , which ante-dates tho year 1 C 00 , an expression which proves somo kind of a

connection with Knighthood , viz .: we were linen Armourers . [ See mark ( 2 )] . This title by itself might not be received as evidence in a Court of Justice , but we add to it other hint ? , marked ( 5 ) and ( 7 ) , wo find " pilgrimage " and " travelled for the whole company , "

stated , doubtless , in an allegorical sense . Now this pilgrimage and this travelled must necessarily refer to our Brother Tailors former pilgrimages to tho Holy Land , hence , there seems to have been formerly a body of Tailors in Jerusalem who wore linen armour , and were , of course , linked to the Sir Knights Templars .

Again , the part marked ( 4 ) proves that our brethren had a Master and Wardens , and the part marked ( 6 ) proves that tho tailors had a mystery , meaning a secret ceremony of initiation , and must , of course , havo been able to make themselves known by secret signs , grips , & c .

Farther on wo find , that they adopted tho Scissors as their symbol , seo ( 9 ) . And by adding to the above what is given in ( 8 ) , that the linen armourers possessed a " Silver Shield , a pavillion , between two mantels imperial in chief

azure , and a Holy Lamb set between a sun . Who can now doubt that our ancient Tailoric brethren possessed a peculiar symbology of their own , and that they had Speculative Tailors too .

And now , I will just review my accumulated evidence , and exhibit Tailory just as it was . 1 st . It is hundreds of years older than Masonry , as the Bible shows . 2 nd . St . John ' s Tailory existed centuries before St . John ' s Masonry . 3 rd . Tailors were armourers long before the year 1300 .

4 th . They called each other brethren a long while before Masons did so . 5 th . Tailors had Masters and Wardens before Masons were an organised body . 6 th . The signifi . cant references to pilgrimages and travelling are decidedly symbolic ; add to which they undoubtedly had a mystery ,

and several other Tailoric symbols , including tho Scissors . If , then , all this does not prove Speculative Tailory , then it is time to stop your luminaries from bragging about the antiquity of Speculative Masonry . But I am not done

with you yet . You brag of a " Regius Poem , with an unknown name for its author . The Tailors also had a poet . His name -was Anthony Mnndy , and on St . John ' s Day 1 G 05 he recited tho following lines in presence of his Majesty James I ., The English Solomon Mundy said : —

" I find recorded in my register , Seven Kings have honoured this [ Tailorio } Sooiety . Fourteen great dukes did willingly prefer Their love and kindnoss to this company . Three score eight lords deolared their amity ,

Terming themselves brethren of this band , The very worthiest Lords in all the land . Three dukes , three earls , four lords of noble name , All in one year did join our Brotherhood .

I find , besides , great lords from France there came , To hold league , and to do them any good , Yet no imbasing their height in blood . Of bishops and deans , to those before , My record could afford as many more . *

In 160 / , King James again visited the Tailors , so did Henry Prince of Wales , and a numerous suite . The Prince " and a crowd of courtiers " then joined the Tailor brotherhood . King James declined to join them , because he was a Brother Oordioainer , meaning a Shoemaker . You

see now that in those days they had , not only Speculative Tailors , but Speculative Shoemakers too . ( Here the lecturer was interrupted with a shout— " Pshaw" !) Pshaw ! ( repeated the lecturer ) you do not say pshaw when Ashmole is called by your Masonic luminaries a

Speculative Mason , nor do you say pshaw to Bro . Gould a imaginary Speculative Masons of the 15 th century . Why , then , do you discredit the Speculativeness of Brother Tailors and Brother Shoemakers in the days of James I . ? The evidence in favour of the Speculative Tailors and

Specidahve Shoemakers is equal at least , if not superior , to the evidence Bro . Gould furnishes in favour of his Speculative Masons . If my non-operative Tailors and non-operative Shoemakers were not Speculative Tailors and Speculative Shoemakers , what proof have yon that