Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
years , the Lodge increased in numbers , and improved in its finances , That he might obtain a complete knowledge of the state of the Society under the English Constitution , he became an active member of the Grand Lodge , was admitted a member of the Hall Committee , and , during the secretarj ^ ship of Mr . Thomas French , under the auspices of the Duke of Beaufort , then Grand Master , had become an useful assistant in
arranging the Genera ! Regulations of the Society , and reviving the foreign and country correspondence . Having been appointed to the office of Deputy Grand Secretary , under James Heseitine , Esq , he compiled , for the benefit of the charity , the History cf Remarkable Occurrences inserted in the two first publications of the Freemasons' Calendarprepared for the press an Appendix to the
, Book of Constitutions , and attended so much to the correspondence with the different Lodges ' , as to merit the approbation of his patron . This enabled him , from the various memoranda he had made , to form the History of Masonry , which was afterwards printed in his " ILLUSTRATIONS . " The office of Deputy Grand Secretary he soon after voluntarily resigned .
An unfortunate dispute having arisen in the Society in 1779 , between the Grand Lodge and the Lodge of Antiquity , in which Mr . Preston took the part of the Lodge and his private friends , his name was ordered to be erased from the Hall Committee , and he was afterwards , with a number of Gentlemen , members of that Lodge , expelled the Society .
The treatment he and his friends received at that . time was circumstantially narrated in a well-written pamphlet , printed by Mr . Preston at his own expence , and circulated among his friends * , entitled , " A State of Facts , " & c . & c . and the leading circumstances were recorded in some of the latter editions of the "
Illustrations of Masonry . " Ten years afterwards , however , on a re-investigation of the subject in dispute , the Grand Lodge was pleased to reinstate Mr . Preston , with all the other members of the Lodge of Antiquity , and that in the most handsome manner , at the Grand Feast in 1790 , to the general satisfaction of the PYatemity . During Mr . Preston ' s exclusion , he seldom or never attended any of the Lodgesthough he was actuallan enrolled member of
, y n great number at home and abroad , all of which he politely resigned at the time of his suspension ; and directed his attention to his other literary pursuits , which may fairly be supposed to have contributed more to the advantage of his fortune . To the Lodge of Antiquity , however , he continued warmly attachedand at present fills a very respectable office in that Lodge . It
, has been matter of deep regret with many of the best friends of the Institution , that so active and zealous a Brother should at any time have had occasion to desert a Society to which he had proved so diligent and useful a friend .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
years , the Lodge increased in numbers , and improved in its finances , That he might obtain a complete knowledge of the state of the Society under the English Constitution , he became an active member of the Grand Lodge , was admitted a member of the Hall Committee , and , during the secretarj ^ ship of Mr . Thomas French , under the auspices of the Duke of Beaufort , then Grand Master , had become an useful assistant in
arranging the Genera ! Regulations of the Society , and reviving the foreign and country correspondence . Having been appointed to the office of Deputy Grand Secretary , under James Heseitine , Esq , he compiled , for the benefit of the charity , the History cf Remarkable Occurrences inserted in the two first publications of the Freemasons' Calendarprepared for the press an Appendix to the
, Book of Constitutions , and attended so much to the correspondence with the different Lodges ' , as to merit the approbation of his patron . This enabled him , from the various memoranda he had made , to form the History of Masonry , which was afterwards printed in his " ILLUSTRATIONS . " The office of Deputy Grand Secretary he soon after voluntarily resigned .
An unfortunate dispute having arisen in the Society in 1779 , between the Grand Lodge and the Lodge of Antiquity , in which Mr . Preston took the part of the Lodge and his private friends , his name was ordered to be erased from the Hall Committee , and he was afterwards , with a number of Gentlemen , members of that Lodge , expelled the Society .
The treatment he and his friends received at that . time was circumstantially narrated in a well-written pamphlet , printed by Mr . Preston at his own expence , and circulated among his friends * , entitled , " A State of Facts , " & c . & c . and the leading circumstances were recorded in some of the latter editions of the "
Illustrations of Masonry . " Ten years afterwards , however , on a re-investigation of the subject in dispute , the Grand Lodge was pleased to reinstate Mr . Preston , with all the other members of the Lodge of Antiquity , and that in the most handsome manner , at the Grand Feast in 1790 , to the general satisfaction of the PYatemity . During Mr . Preston ' s exclusion , he seldom or never attended any of the Lodgesthough he was actuallan enrolled member of
, y n great number at home and abroad , all of which he politely resigned at the time of his suspension ; and directed his attention to his other literary pursuits , which may fairly be supposed to have contributed more to the advantage of his fortune . To the Lodge of Antiquity , however , he continued warmly attachedand at present fills a very respectable office in that Lodge . It
, has been matter of deep regret with many of the best friends of the Institution , that so active and zealous a Brother should at any time have had occasion to desert a Society to which he had proved so diligent and useful a friend .