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Article THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 Article THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 →
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The History Of Freemasonry.
THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .
( Continued from page 50 . ) H AVING fully considered all the circumstances connected with the Lodge at Warrington , in which Ashmole and Colonel Mainwaring were admitted into the brotherhood of Freemasons , Brother Gould , k propos of Ashmole ' s visit to a Lodge in London
in 1682 , turns his attention to the Masons' Company , the archives of which he has had the rare privilege of studying . We do not feel that there is any necessity for our dwelling upon this portion of the
volnme further than to point out that the author conclusively establishes that the Mnsons' Company aud the Society of Freemasons of London were separate ancl distinct bodies . It will doubtless be in the recollection of our
readers that the MS . Constitutions in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity has appended to it the names of " Robert Padgett , Clerke to the Worshipf nil Society of the Free Masons of the City of London , " and " William Bray , Freeman of London and Free Mason . " The date of this
MS . is 1686 , and the question in doubt has been as to whether this " Robert Padgett" may not have been the Clerk of the Masons' Company . This point is now set at rest . To quote Bro . Gould ' s own words , " The records reveal that in 1678 ' Henry Padgett Citizen & Mason , ' had
an apprentice bound to him . Also that in 1709 James Paget was the Renter ' s Warden . But the clerk , not being a member of the Company , his name was vainly searched for by Mr . Hunter in the records postdating the Great Fire . The minutes of 1686 and 1687 frequently mention
' the clerk , ' and the payments made to him , but give no name . The old ' Accompte Book , ' however , already mentioned , has an entry under the year 1687 , viz ., ' Mr . Stampe , Cleark , ' which , being in the same handwriting as a similar one in 1686 , also referring to the clerk , but
without specifying him by name , establishes the fact that ' the Worshipful Society of the Free Masons of the City of London , ' whose clerk transcribed the ' Constitutions' in the possession of our oldest English Lodge , and the ' Oompany of Masons' in the same city , were distinct and separate bodies . "
Passing over as much as relates to the meaning to be attached to the word " Freemason" as used in books , epitaphs , & c , of early date , Dr . Plot , Dr . Rawlinson , Chester Freemasonry as illustrated by the discoveries of ¦ Bro Rylands , not because the views set forth by Bro .
would are by any means unreasonable—they are the reverse of that , and should be carefully studied—but because we have extended onr remarks beyond what the narrow limits of our space will justify , we enter upon a consideration of Chapter XV . —the last in the present volume—in which
* he subject of Early British Freemasonry as regards ^ England is still pursued . The opening portion of this is devoted to an elaborate study of the relative values of the uld Charges , as enumerated in Chapter II , ancl , as a consequence , of the traditions to be found in them . Here
a s ; ain , but for the difficulty just referred to , nothing would give us greater pleasure than to act as guide to our readers * respect of this portion of the volume . It is desirable ,
owever , we should devote some space to what concerns the Legend of the Craft , and the period to which it is ^ aoeable . On this point Bro . Gould remarks , " The precise Measure of antiquity our Masonic traditions are entitled to ,
The History Of Freemasonry.
over and above that which is attested by documentary evidence , is so obviously a matter of conjecture , that is to say , from the elevated plan afforded by the Masonic writings ( MSS . 1 and 2 ) , which , speaking soundly , carry the Graft Legend a century and a half higher than the Lansdowne
( 3 ) and later documents , it will be possible , if we confine our speculations within reasonable limits , to establish some well-grounded conclusions . These , if they do not lead us far , will at least wan-ant the conviction that though , when the Halliwell poem has been produced in evidence , the
genealogical proofs are exhausted , the Masonic traditions may , with fair probability , be held to antedate the period represented by the age of the MS . ( 1 ) in which we first find them , by as many years as separate the latter from the Lansdowne ( 3 ) and Grand Lodge ( 4 ) documents . " He
then proceeds : "The Legend of the Craft will , m this ease , be carried back to ' the time of Harry III ., ' beyond which , in our present state of knowledge , it is impossible to penetrate , though it must not be understood that I believe the ancestors of the Society to be coeval with that reign .
The tradition of the ' Bulls , m my judgment , favours the supposition of its going back at least as far as the period of English history referred to , but the silence of the ' Old Charges ' with regard to ' Papal Writings ' of any kind having been received by the Masons , not to speak of this
theory of Masonic origin directly conflicting with the introduction of Masonry into England in St . Alban ' stime , appears to deprive the oral fable or tradition of any further historical weight . " Having noted Fort ' s opinion and compared certain passages in the Halliwell poem and Cooko MS ., to
the remarkable similarity of the excerpts from which latter he draws attention , he remarks , " It does not seem possible tbat the ' Book of Chargys' cited at lines 534 and 641 of the Cooke MS ., and which I assume to have been identical with the ' olde boke' named in the poem ,
can have been the ' Elements of Geometry . The junior document ( 2 ) "—that is the Cooke MS . —has : " ' Elders that were before us , of Masons , had these Charges written to them as we have now our Charges of the story of Euclid , ( and ) as we have seen them written in Latin and in
French both . ' This points with clearness , as it seems to me , to an uninterrupted line of tradition , carrying back at least the familiar Legend of the Craft to a more remote period than is now * attested by extant documents . It has been forcibly observed that ' in all the legends of
Freemasonry the line of ascent leads with unerring accuracy through Grecian corporations back to the Orient , ' which , though correct , if we confine our legendary history given
in the manuscript Constitutions , is not so if we enlarge our horizon , and look beyond the ' records of the Craft' to the further documentary evidence , which adds to their authority by extending the antiquity of their text . "
What follows relates to the Egyptian mysteries and cognate matters , the Holy Vehme , & c , & c , and the ancient Gothic customs described by Fort . As regards the last , Bro . Gould alludes to three , " the formal opening of a court of justice with a colloquy ; the Frisian oath— 'I swear the
secrets to conceal ( lielen ) , hold , and not reveal ; ' and the ' gait' or procession about their realms made by the Northern Kings at their accession , initiated in the Scandinavian laws , under which , at the sale of land , the
procession was incomplete until a circuit had been made around the property . " As regards the last of the three , Fort is quoted as instituting the following parallel : " During the installation ceremonies of the Master of a Masonic Lodge ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The History Of Freemasonry.
THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .
( Continued from page 50 . ) H AVING fully considered all the circumstances connected with the Lodge at Warrington , in which Ashmole and Colonel Mainwaring were admitted into the brotherhood of Freemasons , Brother Gould , k propos of Ashmole ' s visit to a Lodge in London
in 1682 , turns his attention to the Masons' Company , the archives of which he has had the rare privilege of studying . We do not feel that there is any necessity for our dwelling upon this portion of the
volnme further than to point out that the author conclusively establishes that the Mnsons' Company aud the Society of Freemasons of London were separate ancl distinct bodies . It will doubtless be in the recollection of our
readers that the MS . Constitutions in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity has appended to it the names of " Robert Padgett , Clerke to the Worshipf nil Society of the Free Masons of the City of London , " and " William Bray , Freeman of London and Free Mason . " The date of this
MS . is 1686 , and the question in doubt has been as to whether this " Robert Padgett" may not have been the Clerk of the Masons' Company . This point is now set at rest . To quote Bro . Gould ' s own words , " The records reveal that in 1678 ' Henry Padgett Citizen & Mason , ' had
an apprentice bound to him . Also that in 1709 James Paget was the Renter ' s Warden . But the clerk , not being a member of the Company , his name was vainly searched for by Mr . Hunter in the records postdating the Great Fire . The minutes of 1686 and 1687 frequently mention
' the clerk , ' and the payments made to him , but give no name . The old ' Accompte Book , ' however , already mentioned , has an entry under the year 1687 , viz ., ' Mr . Stampe , Cleark , ' which , being in the same handwriting as a similar one in 1686 , also referring to the clerk , but
without specifying him by name , establishes the fact that ' the Worshipful Society of the Free Masons of the City of London , ' whose clerk transcribed the ' Constitutions' in the possession of our oldest English Lodge , and the ' Oompany of Masons' in the same city , were distinct and separate bodies . "
Passing over as much as relates to the meaning to be attached to the word " Freemason" as used in books , epitaphs , & c , of early date , Dr . Plot , Dr . Rawlinson , Chester Freemasonry as illustrated by the discoveries of ¦ Bro Rylands , not because the views set forth by Bro .
would are by any means unreasonable—they are the reverse of that , and should be carefully studied—but because we have extended onr remarks beyond what the narrow limits of our space will justify , we enter upon a consideration of Chapter XV . —the last in the present volume—in which
* he subject of Early British Freemasonry as regards ^ England is still pursued . The opening portion of this is devoted to an elaborate study of the relative values of the uld Charges , as enumerated in Chapter II , ancl , as a consequence , of the traditions to be found in them . Here
a s ; ain , but for the difficulty just referred to , nothing would give us greater pleasure than to act as guide to our readers * respect of this portion of the volume . It is desirable ,
owever , we should devote some space to what concerns the Legend of the Craft , and the period to which it is ^ aoeable . On this point Bro . Gould remarks , " The precise Measure of antiquity our Masonic traditions are entitled to ,
The History Of Freemasonry.
over and above that which is attested by documentary evidence , is so obviously a matter of conjecture , that is to say , from the elevated plan afforded by the Masonic writings ( MSS . 1 and 2 ) , which , speaking soundly , carry the Graft Legend a century and a half higher than the Lansdowne
( 3 ) and later documents , it will be possible , if we confine our speculations within reasonable limits , to establish some well-grounded conclusions . These , if they do not lead us far , will at least wan-ant the conviction that though , when the Halliwell poem has been produced in evidence , the
genealogical proofs are exhausted , the Masonic traditions may , with fair probability , be held to antedate the period represented by the age of the MS . ( 1 ) in which we first find them , by as many years as separate the latter from the Lansdowne ( 3 ) and Grand Lodge ( 4 ) documents . " He
then proceeds : "The Legend of the Craft will , m this ease , be carried back to ' the time of Harry III ., ' beyond which , in our present state of knowledge , it is impossible to penetrate , though it must not be understood that I believe the ancestors of the Society to be coeval with that reign .
The tradition of the ' Bulls , m my judgment , favours the supposition of its going back at least as far as the period of English history referred to , but the silence of the ' Old Charges ' with regard to ' Papal Writings ' of any kind having been received by the Masons , not to speak of this
theory of Masonic origin directly conflicting with the introduction of Masonry into England in St . Alban ' stime , appears to deprive the oral fable or tradition of any further historical weight . " Having noted Fort ' s opinion and compared certain passages in the Halliwell poem and Cooko MS ., to
the remarkable similarity of the excerpts from which latter he draws attention , he remarks , " It does not seem possible tbat the ' Book of Chargys' cited at lines 534 and 641 of the Cooke MS ., and which I assume to have been identical with the ' olde boke' named in the poem ,
can have been the ' Elements of Geometry . The junior document ( 2 ) "—that is the Cooke MS . —has : " ' Elders that were before us , of Masons , had these Charges written to them as we have now our Charges of the story of Euclid , ( and ) as we have seen them written in Latin and in
French both . ' This points with clearness , as it seems to me , to an uninterrupted line of tradition , carrying back at least the familiar Legend of the Craft to a more remote period than is now * attested by extant documents . It has been forcibly observed that ' in all the legends of
Freemasonry the line of ascent leads with unerring accuracy through Grecian corporations back to the Orient , ' which , though correct , if we confine our legendary history given
in the manuscript Constitutions , is not so if we enlarge our horizon , and look beyond the ' records of the Craft' to the further documentary evidence , which adds to their authority by extending the antiquity of their text . "
What follows relates to the Egyptian mysteries and cognate matters , the Holy Vehme , & c , & c , and the ancient Gothic customs described by Fort . As regards the last , Bro . Gould alludes to three , " the formal opening of a court of justice with a colloquy ; the Frisian oath— 'I swear the
secrets to conceal ( lielen ) , hold , and not reveal ; ' and the ' gait' or procession about their realms made by the Northern Kings at their accession , initiated in the Scandinavian laws , under which , at the sale of land , the
procession was incomplete until a circuit had been made around the property . " As regards the last of the three , Fort is quoted as instituting the following parallel : " During the installation ceremonies of the Master of a Masonic Lodge ,