Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gossip About Freemasonry; Its History And Traditions.
year , at some private Lodges , several very valuable MSS ., for they had nothing yet in print concerning tbe Fraternity , their Lodges , regulations , charges , secrets and usages , —particularly one wi-th >; i by Mr . Stone , the Warden of Inigo Jones , —were too hastily burned by some scrupulous
brothers that these papers might not fall into strange hands . " Tho why and tho wherefore this dread arose subsequent proceedings cans <> to be one of the inexplicable mysteries of Freemasonry . V ; i -vi' 1 tt . itieo that this act of Vandalism took place in 1720 ; iu 1717 , the Masonic
art having experienced a temporary neglect , a revival took place , and in that year a Grand Lodge was established in Loudon . In 1718 , tho lo Mt-ionn of Musonin documents were ascertained , und a number of them , and probably others equally valuable , destroyed ; but , strange to say , tbat
figuratively before their ashes were scattered by the winds , a Dr . Anderson , a brother of good reputation as a genealogist , received from Grand Lodge the commission , " You aro to order aud arrange tbe 'ancient Gothic
Constitutions upon n new and better system . " This course Grand Lodge justified , ns follows : " Whereas by the confusion occasioned in the Saxon , Danish and Norman wars , tho records of Masons have been much vitiated . The
Freemasons of England twice thought it necessary to correct their constitutions , charges and regulations ; in the reign of King Athelstan the Saxon , and long after , in the reign of Edward the Norman ; and whereas tho Old Constitutions in England have been much interpolated , neglected
and miserably corrupted , not only with false spelling , but even with many false facts and errors in History and Chronology . " I cannot but think that it would have been more creditable had the then Grand Lodge made these statements , important as they are in tbe matter of Masonic
history , before the means of proof and comparison had been destroyed . If such documents as aro here alluded to were ever in existence , and from this manifesto we must believe they were , what a cruel wrong was done to Masonic posterity by this unjustifiable and miserably
illadvised action . The arrangement for book making , after so much of the material that would have aided the making the book had heeorao unavailable ; this destruction of writings , to prevent the possibility of their being read by
the uninitiated , and then almost immediately afterwards publishing a book that was certain to become the property of the general public , is a problem I must confess I am unable to solve .
Anderson ' s work appears to have been completed , to tbe satisfaction of Grand Lodge , as it issued a mark of its approbation , stating , " All the old records have been retained . " ( Another unsolved enigma—how could all have been retained when so much havoc had been
accomplished ?) " Tho errors in History and Chronology corrected , " ( readers of Dr . Anderson smile not ) , "the false facts , and the improper words omitted , and tbe whole digested in a new and better method . " How far the production merited these encomiums may be judged from this extract :
" Adam , our first parent , created after tbe image of God , the Great Architect of the Universe , must have had the liberal sciences , particularly geometry , written on his heart . No donbt Adam taught his sons geometry and the
use of it in the several arts and crafts convenient , at least for these early times . " The learned Doctor has been termed the father of English Masonic History . I have little doubt but that he was the parent of much of it .
A clever satirist , such as Laurence Dermott often proved himself , was hardly likely to let Anderson ' s work pass without some notice . Accordingly , in the Gth edition of his " Ahiman Rezon" we find him assuming the character of a Masonic historian , and as such writing ,
" My next stop was to furnish myself with pens , ink , and paper . This being done , I immediately fancied myself an historian , and intended to trace Adam to his sylvan abode in Paradise , aud to give an account of the Craft even before tbe creation . Having tried my pen , I began to flourish
away in a most admirable manner , and in a few days wrote tho firsfc volume of the 'History of Masonry , ' wherein was an account of tho firsfc Grand Lodge , particularly thc excluding the unruly members , as related by
Milton ; and as I intended to give the world a history of Masonry for several years before the creation , I made no manner of doubt but my work should live , at least 2000 years after the general conflagration of the world . "
If it may be said Dermott shook the Masonic world at this period , it would have seemed the Masonic world required some shaking .
Gossip About Freemasonry; Its History And Traditions.
I have endeavoured to show the importance given to geometry in connection witb Freemasonry by tbe old Masonic writers , and we can therefore understand its being considered a most important necessity as a portion of Masonic instruction , and in later times , under the
Mastership of such celebrities as Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren , ifc is more than probable that many practical Masons were enrolled in its ranks . We have some evidence of this in " Eutick ' s History of London 1756 , " wherein , respecting tbe armoury of the Tower , he remarks ,
" It was began by King James II ., and by that princo built to tho first floor , but finished by King William , who erected that magnificent room called tho new or small
armoury , in which ho , wifch Queen Mary his consort , dined in great form , having all the warrant workmen and labourers to attend them , dressed in white gloves and aprons , the usual badges of the order of Freemasonry . "
Notwithstanding the prominence thus given to the Order , it would appear that after Wren retired from , or as ifc was stated , " neglected " the Order , the operative
section of its members gradually dropped off , apparently taking with them the taste for geometry in connection with Masonic study , and that even prior to tbe formation of Grand Lodge in 1717 ifc had all but passed away .
It has been said of Cervantes that "he laughed Spain ' s chivalry away . " I think it may be applied to Laurence Dermott tbat what , if any , remained of Masonio geometry , ho satirised it ( witb the exception of some fewJ shreds ) out of Masonic practice . One or two extracts from
his letters may not be wholly uninteresting , even if but as specimens of the " missiles " used during the warfare of those days between tbe then so-called Ancient and Modern Masons . The first portion is a slight but clever satire on the formation of the " Grand Lodge of the
Moderns , " and the " Constitutions of Dr . Anderson . " Her ' says , " About tbe year 1717 some joyous companions , who had passed the degree of Fellow Craffc , though very rusfcy , resolved to form a Lodge for themselves , in order , by conversation , to recollect what had formerly been dictated to
them ; or , if that should be found to be impracticable , to substitute something new which might for the future pass for Masonry among themselves . At this meeting the question was asked whether any person in tbe assembly knew the Master ' s part , and being answered in tbe
negative , ifc was resolved that the deficiency should be made up with a new composition , and what fragments of the old order remained should be immediately reformed and made more pliable to the humours of the people . It was also thought expedient to abolish tbe old enstom of studying
geometry in the Lodge , and some of the younger brethren made it appear that a good knife and fork , in the hands of a dexterous brother , over proper materials , would give greater satisfaction , and add more to the rotundity of the Lodges than the best scales and compasses in Europe ; and
furthermore added , that a line , a square , a parallelogram , a rhombus , a triangle , a trapezium , a circle , a semi-circle , a quadrant , a parabole , a cube , a parallel-opipadon , a prism ,- a pyramid , a cylinder , a cone , a prismoid , a cylindroid , a sphere , a spheroid , a parabolic , a frustum
segment , polygon , ellipse , and irregular figures , of all sorts , might be drawn and represented upon bread , beef , mutton , fowls , & c , as well as upon slates or sheets oi paper and that the use of the globes might be taught and explained as clearly and briefly upon two bottles as upon Mr . Senex ' s
globes of 28 inches . There was another old custom that gave umbrage to the younger architects , which was the wearing of aprons , which made gentlemen look like so many mechanics . Therefore it was proposed that no
brother for the future should wear an apron . The proposal was objected to by the old members , who declared that the aprons were the only signs of Masonry remaining amongst them , and for thafc reason they should keep and wear them . I have now done with the connection between
Freemasonry and Geometry , and proceed to state , though wifch no small degree of diffidence , that which I take to be the origin and progress of our Order , though with the necessarily limited time at my disposal I shall be unable on this occasion to proceed far on my course . John Locke , in bis
great work "On tbe Human Understanding , says , " There is nothing more ordinary than children receiving things into their minds from their parents , nurses or thoso
about them , which being fostered by degrees , at last equally , whether true or false , become rivetted there by long custom and education , beyond all possibility ofbeing pulled out again . " I agree with this remark of the philo-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gossip About Freemasonry; Its History And Traditions.
year , at some private Lodges , several very valuable MSS ., for they had nothing yet in print concerning tbe Fraternity , their Lodges , regulations , charges , secrets and usages , —particularly one wi-th >; i by Mr . Stone , the Warden of Inigo Jones , —were too hastily burned by some scrupulous
brothers that these papers might not fall into strange hands . " Tho why and tho wherefore this dread arose subsequent proceedings cans <> to be one of the inexplicable mysteries of Freemasonry . V ; i -vi' 1 tt . itieo that this act of Vandalism took place in 1720 ; iu 1717 , the Masonic
art having experienced a temporary neglect , a revival took place , and in that year a Grand Lodge was established in Loudon . In 1718 , tho lo Mt-ionn of Musonin documents were ascertained , und a number of them , and probably others equally valuable , destroyed ; but , strange to say , tbat
figuratively before their ashes were scattered by the winds , a Dr . Anderson , a brother of good reputation as a genealogist , received from Grand Lodge the commission , " You aro to order aud arrange tbe 'ancient Gothic
Constitutions upon n new and better system . " This course Grand Lodge justified , ns follows : " Whereas by the confusion occasioned in the Saxon , Danish and Norman wars , tho records of Masons have been much vitiated . The
Freemasons of England twice thought it necessary to correct their constitutions , charges and regulations ; in the reign of King Athelstan the Saxon , and long after , in the reign of Edward the Norman ; and whereas tho Old Constitutions in England have been much interpolated , neglected
and miserably corrupted , not only with false spelling , but even with many false facts and errors in History and Chronology . " I cannot but think that it would have been more creditable had the then Grand Lodge made these statements , important as they are in tbe matter of Masonic
history , before the means of proof and comparison had been destroyed . If such documents as aro here alluded to were ever in existence , and from this manifesto we must believe they were , what a cruel wrong was done to Masonic posterity by this unjustifiable and miserably
illadvised action . The arrangement for book making , after so much of the material that would have aided the making the book had heeorao unavailable ; this destruction of writings , to prevent the possibility of their being read by
the uninitiated , and then almost immediately afterwards publishing a book that was certain to become the property of the general public , is a problem I must confess I am unable to solve .
Anderson ' s work appears to have been completed , to tbe satisfaction of Grand Lodge , as it issued a mark of its approbation , stating , " All the old records have been retained . " ( Another unsolved enigma—how could all have been retained when so much havoc had been
accomplished ?) " Tho errors in History and Chronology corrected , " ( readers of Dr . Anderson smile not ) , "the false facts , and the improper words omitted , and tbe whole digested in a new and better method . " How far the production merited these encomiums may be judged from this extract :
" Adam , our first parent , created after tbe image of God , the Great Architect of the Universe , must have had the liberal sciences , particularly geometry , written on his heart . No donbt Adam taught his sons geometry and the
use of it in the several arts and crafts convenient , at least for these early times . " The learned Doctor has been termed the father of English Masonic History . I have little doubt but that he was the parent of much of it .
A clever satirist , such as Laurence Dermott often proved himself , was hardly likely to let Anderson ' s work pass without some notice . Accordingly , in the Gth edition of his " Ahiman Rezon" we find him assuming the character of a Masonic historian , and as such writing ,
" My next stop was to furnish myself with pens , ink , and paper . This being done , I immediately fancied myself an historian , and intended to trace Adam to his sylvan abode in Paradise , aud to give an account of the Craft even before tbe creation . Having tried my pen , I began to flourish
away in a most admirable manner , and in a few days wrote tho firsfc volume of the 'History of Masonry , ' wherein was an account of tho firsfc Grand Lodge , particularly thc excluding the unruly members , as related by
Milton ; and as I intended to give the world a history of Masonry for several years before the creation , I made no manner of doubt but my work should live , at least 2000 years after the general conflagration of the world . "
If it may be said Dermott shook the Masonic world at this period , it would have seemed the Masonic world required some shaking .
Gossip About Freemasonry; Its History And Traditions.
I have endeavoured to show the importance given to geometry in connection witb Freemasonry by tbe old Masonic writers , and we can therefore understand its being considered a most important necessity as a portion of Masonic instruction , and in later times , under the
Mastership of such celebrities as Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren , ifc is more than probable that many practical Masons were enrolled in its ranks . We have some evidence of this in " Eutick ' s History of London 1756 , " wherein , respecting tbe armoury of the Tower , he remarks ,
" It was began by King James II ., and by that princo built to tho first floor , but finished by King William , who erected that magnificent room called tho new or small
armoury , in which ho , wifch Queen Mary his consort , dined in great form , having all the warrant workmen and labourers to attend them , dressed in white gloves and aprons , the usual badges of the order of Freemasonry . "
Notwithstanding the prominence thus given to the Order , it would appear that after Wren retired from , or as ifc was stated , " neglected " the Order , the operative
section of its members gradually dropped off , apparently taking with them the taste for geometry in connection with Masonic study , and that even prior to tbe formation of Grand Lodge in 1717 ifc had all but passed away .
It has been said of Cervantes that "he laughed Spain ' s chivalry away . " I think it may be applied to Laurence Dermott tbat what , if any , remained of Masonio geometry , ho satirised it ( witb the exception of some fewJ shreds ) out of Masonic practice . One or two extracts from
his letters may not be wholly uninteresting , even if but as specimens of the " missiles " used during the warfare of those days between tbe then so-called Ancient and Modern Masons . The first portion is a slight but clever satire on the formation of the " Grand Lodge of the
Moderns , " and the " Constitutions of Dr . Anderson . " Her ' says , " About tbe year 1717 some joyous companions , who had passed the degree of Fellow Craffc , though very rusfcy , resolved to form a Lodge for themselves , in order , by conversation , to recollect what had formerly been dictated to
them ; or , if that should be found to be impracticable , to substitute something new which might for the future pass for Masonry among themselves . At this meeting the question was asked whether any person in tbe assembly knew the Master ' s part , and being answered in tbe
negative , ifc was resolved that the deficiency should be made up with a new composition , and what fragments of the old order remained should be immediately reformed and made more pliable to the humours of the people . It was also thought expedient to abolish tbe old enstom of studying
geometry in the Lodge , and some of the younger brethren made it appear that a good knife and fork , in the hands of a dexterous brother , over proper materials , would give greater satisfaction , and add more to the rotundity of the Lodges than the best scales and compasses in Europe ; and
furthermore added , that a line , a square , a parallelogram , a rhombus , a triangle , a trapezium , a circle , a semi-circle , a quadrant , a parabole , a cube , a parallel-opipadon , a prism ,- a pyramid , a cylinder , a cone , a prismoid , a cylindroid , a sphere , a spheroid , a parabolic , a frustum
segment , polygon , ellipse , and irregular figures , of all sorts , might be drawn and represented upon bread , beef , mutton , fowls , & c , as well as upon slates or sheets oi paper and that the use of the globes might be taught and explained as clearly and briefly upon two bottles as upon Mr . Senex ' s
globes of 28 inches . There was another old custom that gave umbrage to the younger architects , which was the wearing of aprons , which made gentlemen look like so many mechanics . Therefore it was proposed that no
brother for the future should wear an apron . The proposal was objected to by the old members , who declared that the aprons were the only signs of Masonry remaining amongst them , and for thafc reason they should keep and wear them . I have now done with the connection between
Freemasonry and Geometry , and proceed to state , though wifch no small degree of diffidence , that which I take to be the origin and progress of our Order , though with the necessarily limited time at my disposal I shall be unable on this occasion to proceed far on my course . John Locke , in bis
great work "On tbe Human Understanding , says , " There is nothing more ordinary than children receiving things into their minds from their parents , nurses or thoso
about them , which being fostered by degrees , at last equally , whether true or false , become rivetted there by long custom and education , beyond all possibility ofbeing pulled out again . " I agree with this remark of the philo-