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Article THE SONGS OF MASONRY. ← Page 2 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Songs Of Masonry.
" It is sublimed—it ' s calcinate ; 'Tis rectified—precipitate ; It is Androgena—Sol's wife ; It is the mercury of life ; It is the quintessence of malt , And they that drink it want no salt . "It healsit hurtsit curesit kills ;
, , , Men ' s heads with proclamations fills ; It makes some dumb , and others speak , Strong vessels hold , ancl cracked ones leak . It makes some rich , and others poor , It makes , and yet mars many a score . "
Here is a recommendation of the British beverage in terms of Alchymy ; and the song was undoubtedly popular in its day , because it is composed of phrases whicli were understood by the peopie of England as being attached to that science . An idea of the possibility of transmuting metals had long been prevalent ; and Rymer furnishes a licence which was granted by King Edward IV . to Richard Carter , for enabling him to practise the art ; but at the time when the above song
was written , the good sense of the people had returned , and the quackery of Alchymical pursuits had become evident ; and hence the satire which it contains would be hig hly acceptable to the boon companions to whom it was addressed . Drinking songs however were not of very common occurrence before the eighteenth century ; and then toasts arid " healths , " with all their trains of consequences were introduced ; inebriety became fashionable ;
hard-headed drinkers were deemed the only desirable society ; and a three-bottle man , if he were also a good singer , was certain of as many invitations as his time and constitution would allow him to accept . And yet with these acknowledged propensities to excess in drinking , I question whether actual vice of any grosser kind prevailed so extensively as at present . And there is some truth in a satirical observation of
Horace" / Etas parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nei'iliorcs , mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorcm . Our jovial progenitors may appear somewhat less refined in their manners than we may esteem ourselves , but they possessed sterling merit ; they were hospitable and free—bountiful to the poor—kind to their neig hbours—but what am I doing ? Attempting to describe old manwritten in the rei of
ners , when it is so well done by a song , gn Queen Anne , with which , by the bye , a modern author has taken certain liberties . I subjoin a few verses of the original from a copy iu my own possession . " Here is an old song , made by an old ancient pate , Of an old worshipful gentleman who had a great estate ;
Who kept an old house at a bountiful rate , And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate , Like an old courtier of thc queen ' s , And the queen ' s old courtier .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Songs Of Masonry.
" It is sublimed—it ' s calcinate ; 'Tis rectified—precipitate ; It is Androgena—Sol's wife ; It is the mercury of life ; It is the quintessence of malt , And they that drink it want no salt . "It healsit hurtsit curesit kills ;
, , , Men ' s heads with proclamations fills ; It makes some dumb , and others speak , Strong vessels hold , ancl cracked ones leak . It makes some rich , and others poor , It makes , and yet mars many a score . "
Here is a recommendation of the British beverage in terms of Alchymy ; and the song was undoubtedly popular in its day , because it is composed of phrases whicli were understood by the peopie of England as being attached to that science . An idea of the possibility of transmuting metals had long been prevalent ; and Rymer furnishes a licence which was granted by King Edward IV . to Richard Carter , for enabling him to practise the art ; but at the time when the above song
was written , the good sense of the people had returned , and the quackery of Alchymical pursuits had become evident ; and hence the satire which it contains would be hig hly acceptable to the boon companions to whom it was addressed . Drinking songs however were not of very common occurrence before the eighteenth century ; and then toasts arid " healths , " with all their trains of consequences were introduced ; inebriety became fashionable ;
hard-headed drinkers were deemed the only desirable society ; and a three-bottle man , if he were also a good singer , was certain of as many invitations as his time and constitution would allow him to accept . And yet with these acknowledged propensities to excess in drinking , I question whether actual vice of any grosser kind prevailed so extensively as at present . And there is some truth in a satirical observation of
Horace" / Etas parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nei'iliorcs , mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorcm . Our jovial progenitors may appear somewhat less refined in their manners than we may esteem ourselves , but they possessed sterling merit ; they were hospitable and free—bountiful to the poor—kind to their neig hbours—but what am I doing ? Attempting to describe old manwritten in the rei of
ners , when it is so well done by a song , gn Queen Anne , with which , by the bye , a modern author has taken certain liberties . I subjoin a few verses of the original from a copy iu my own possession . " Here is an old song , made by an old ancient pate , Of an old worshipful gentleman who had a great estate ;
Who kept an old house at a bountiful rate , And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate , Like an old courtier of thc queen ' s , And the queen ' s old courtier .