How Masonic History Is Taught.

HOW MASONIC HISTORY IS TAUGHT .

( Concluded from page 307 ) . IN dealing with the third branch of Bro . Tarker ' s lecture , namely , " the cause of the amalgamation of the two systems and the periods of its occurrence : constituting in effect the derivation and descent of Freemasonry as we

now have it , " we shall endeavour to observe the same principles of tenderness which influenced ns in our treatment of the first and second branches . But the difficulties

which face us are incomparably more serious , and should it unfortunatel y happen that , in our criticisms , we overstep the limits we have marked out , not ours the fault , say we , bnt Bro . Yarker ' s .

We have drawn attention to the marvellous fertility of imagination heretofore exhibited by the lecturer in his gentle treatment of operative Masonry , and his remrks on the High Grades and their immense antiquity . It will be seen that this fertility of imagination plays a far more

conspicuous part m the portion of the lecture we are now about to examine . It must be conceded that Bro . Tarker begins well as an exponent of Masonic history : "As various branches of Craft Masons in olden times , " says he , " were instituted by various High Caste or professedly Theosophic

systems , so they possessed more or less of their One learning . " It will be seen that this statement is made unreservedl y , as though he knew his audience were so well acquainted with the proofs in support of it as to require no arguments in its favour . A little further on we are told

that , " in England , as early as the year 1663 , " the system df the operative Masons "had become nearly extinct as a trade system , and lost , its operative character by the admission of Rosicrucians , Geometricians , Alchemists , Theosophists , Knights of Malta , and other learned men and gentlemen

of position . These , naturally , in their Lodge attendance , brought into Craft Masonry the various dogmas and ceremonies with which they were acquainted ( Rosicrucianism and Templary ) , out of which—by uniting , adapting , and amending—about the year 1686 , sprang the Rite called

Ancient Masonry , of seven degrees : virtually , three Craft degrees and three High degrees . " We admit this reads prettily enough , and that the several clauses have been so blended together as to apparently produce towards the close of the Seventeenth century a so-called system of

Masonry which had no existence in fact till one-half of the Eighteenth century had passed away . We further learn that " at this time the leading spirit both in Craft Masonry and in Rosicrucianism was Elias Ashmole , and he kept a diary , from which we gather that Father Backhouse

was his teacher , and that both societies fell into decay together , and both revived together in 1682 . " As a matter of fact , we learn from Ashmole ' s diary—at least as regards Masonry—that he was received a member of a Lodge of Freemasons at Warrington in

1646 , and that five and thirty years later he attended a Masonic Lodge in London , when several gentlemen were admitted as members . As to the alleged decay and subsequent revival of the Society in 1682 , we shall but too gladly welcome any evidence which Bro . Tarker may be able to adduce .

How Masonic History Is Taught.

Tho statement which next claims our attention is tho following : "It can be proved that there was ( sic ) ia existence , in 1717 , certain Craft Lodges which had no participation in the formation of tho Grand Lodge of London , and even the Grand Master was prohibited from visiting

these Lodges ; and in 1738 the two systems—one of which recognised three degrees , called Modern Masonry , and the other seven degrees , called Ancient Masonry—came to wordy quarrels , leading to the establishment of a second London Grand Lodge . " Leon Hyneman is quoted as the

authority for the existence of the other Lodges which had no part in the establishment of the 1717 Grand Lodge , and which " even the Grand Macter was prohibited from visiting ; " but we have yet to learn that Hyneman ' s authority is more than a kind of peg on which Bro . Yarker

finds it convenient to hang his pet theory of the exemplary character and presumed antiquity of the A . and P . Rite . If we search the pages of the most trustworthy Masonic historians , we shall look in vain for the Lodges which are said to have held aloof when the Grand Lodge of London

was established , and many years afterwards to have set up the rival Grand Lodge of so-called "Ancient " Masons . As far as our knowledge goes , the founders of this latter Grand Lodge were seceders fron the Grand Lodge of 1717 , while the terms " Ancients " and " Moderns " are misnomers , the

true " Moderns " being the secessionists , and the true " Ancients " those from whom they seceded . Unfortunately , we labour under the very serious disadvantage of not being able to expand our knowledge by the aid of the inventive faculty which is so marked a characteristic of Bro . Yarker .

The very next sentence to the one we have just quoted is eminently calculated to excite the interest of the curious . It reads thus : " The Grand Lodge of All England , at York , took the part of the Ancients , and themselves practised the seven degree system ; and there is a printed work

of 1744 mentioning this fact . " We have read in Pindel that the York Grand Lodge was more than once in friendly correspondence with the London Graud Lodge , and on the first occasion before the so-called " Ancient" Grand Lodge was dreamt of . We have read also that when

Preston and other members of the Lodge of Antiquity seceded from the original G . Lodge , London , they applied to the York Grand Lodge for , and obtained , its sanction

for the establishment of a fourth G . Lodge of England , which assumed the style and title of " the Grand Lodge of England South of the Trent . " This , we believe , is pretty well all that is known of the relations between the York

and London Grand Lodges , while as to the rite practised by the former , we are in the position of most other people who have heard of the so-called York Rite of Masonry , but

never learned its character , we are in the profoundest ignorance and must so remain until we can see with the eyes of Bro . Yarker and read history as he is in the habit of reading it .

What shall we say of the following : — In 1743 , there existed in London a body claiming to date from time immemorial as a chapter of Heredom—Rosy Cross or Templar . It had three grades : Arch , or Knight of the East , Rose Cross , and Mystic Point . The same degrees are minuted in 1746 as being practised in Durham . " And again : —

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