Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE F REEMASONRY IN ENGLAND 421 MASONIC CURIOSITIES . —IV 421 & 422 THE MARK DEGREE 422

LETTER FROM A BROTHER IN E NGLAND TO A BROTHER IN SCOTLAND 4226 : 423 AID TO THE SICK AND WOUNDED IN WAR ... 423 GRAND LODGE OF CANADA 423 & 424 MASONRY IN

AMERICASemi-Centennial of Olive Branch Lodge , Leroy , New York 424 01 * 425 THE CRAFT 425 MARK MASONRY 425 ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY 425

BIRTHS , * MARRIAGES , DEATHS 426 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 426 PENALTIES OF GREATNESS 426 MULTUM IN PARVO 427 & 42 S ORIGINAL

CORRESPONDENCEMasonic Universality ... ... 428 Masonry in Jersey ... ... ... ... 429 Scotch v . English Freemasonry .. ... 429 Grand Lodge of Scotland ... 429

Templar Commanderies . —Errors in Precedence 429 The Rhodocanakis Controversy 430 THE RED CROSS OF ROMI : AND CONSTANTINE 430 CONSECRATION OF THE ANDREW R . A . CHAPTER ,

No . 834 430 POETRY 431 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 431

Freemasonry In England.

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND .

BY THE SON OF SALATHIEL . ( Continued from page 361 . ) THE SCHISM . There can be little doubt that to certain

jealousies whicli unfortunately arose among the brethren who formed the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 , maybe attributed , in a great measure , the subsequent secession from its ranks .

The superior abilities of Dr . Desagu liers , both in a literary and administra tive sense , were viewed with some suspi

cion by many of his colleagues , and a strong proof of their sentiments towards him was evinced at the Grand Lodge which was held on the 24 th Tunc , 1723 .

At this meeting the Earl of Dalkeith , having been elected Grand Master , nominated Desaguliers as his Deputy ; but some of the brethren objecting to the appointment , it was put to thc vote , when

43 members supported the selection , and 42 voted against it—a sufficient indication that even at that early period there was a strong party in Grand Lodge opposed to the learned Frenchman . It is also evident

that the opposition party was mainly composed of Operative Masons , who regarded with distrust and uneasiness the transformation of thc ancient handicraft society into an association for the cultivation of

speculative science . Examples of this distrust had been shown previously when the members of the old Lodge of St . Paul ' s burnt their manuscript Constitutions and Charges to prevent their being published hy Grand Master Payne .

The " domatic or working Masons resolved , therefore , to make a stand against Desaguliers , whose influence was rapidly becoming supreme by the influx into thc Order of men of birth and education who

shared his expansive ideas of establishing an universal brotherhood upon thc basis of Operative Masonry . A simple benefit society would have better suited thc views

of the discontented craftsmen than the splendid edifice of Cosmopolitan Fraternity which Desaguliers strove to erect ; and so wc find that , upon thc failure of their attempts to deprive him of power and posi-

Freemasonry In England.

tion , some few of the malcontents withdrew from the Grand Lodge , and continued their meetings as Masons without recognising the central authority which they had themselves assisted to create . It is also evident that

these irregular assemblies were held at a much earlier period than is generally knovvn , inasmuch as at a meeting of the Grand Lodge on the 15 th September , 1730 , Bro . Anthony Sayer , Past Grand Master

was publicly admonished—and it was even a question whether he should not be expelled—for taking part in the proceedings of one of these clandestine lodges . At the same Quarterly Communication , it is worthy

of note that a petition for relief was presented by a Bro . Pritchard , who had been thirty years a Freemason . This incident appears to afford positive proof that , in 1 7 00 , men were made Masons , and it is to

be inferred that their reception took place with very little variation from the ceremonies which prevailed in 1730 , and up to a later period . The irregular lodges met with scanty success for some years , and it

was not until oneof their members hit upon the notable scheme of inventing the Royal Arch degree that their progress began to excite the curiosity of the public , and the

jealous watchfulness of the Grand Lodge itself . The precise origin of this degree is a vcxata qucestio , and has never been satisfactorily traced .

It is clear , however , that the innovations in the ancient system which were countenanced by the Grand Lodge , and more especially the ill-advised transposition of

certain words in the first and second degrees , first caused the seceders to declare that they alone were the depositaries of true Masonry , and encouraged them to multiply the variations which had thus arisen

between the two rituals by amplifying and extending their own rites . The Royal Arch degree , when first introduced , differed essentially from the imposing ceremonial practised under the same name at the

present day . It was founded upon an antediluvian tradition , which is still preserved in one of the degrees of the Ancient and

Accepted Rite ; but the main feature of the legend — namely , the discovery of the Sacred Word—was effected in a somewhat similar dramatic manner .

After a careful consideration of thc subject , I have arrived at the conclusion that the Royal Arch was first worked as a separate section of Freemasonry in 1738 . In the first place , it was in this year that thc title of " Ancient York Masons" was

assumed by the seceding brethren , who were reinforced about that time by many others who were dissatisfied with the encroachments on the original system . To have advanced this opinion , however , some years

ago , would have been deemed thc height of presumption , as nearly all writers on the subject agreed in referring thc commencement of the degree to a much more recent date . Dr . Oliver is nearest thc mark , as he

assigns its origin to the year 1740 . Tlie truth is that the degree was conferred before 1739 , because in that year formal complaints were made against thc so-called " Ancients , " or schismatics , that they were

giving another version of thc " Master ' s part . " Thc fortunate discovery by the well-known Masonic writer , Bro . Hughan , of a copy of Dr . D'Assigney ' s work , which was published in 1 744 , and which refers to

thc Royal Arch as an established degree , also demonstrates unmistakcably that it was known as a branch of Freemasonry long before tlie "Ancients " arrived at tho dignity of being a Grand Lodge . ( To be continued . )

Masonic Curiosities.-Iv.

MASONIC CURIOSITIES .- IV .

BY WILLIAM J AMES HUGHAN . P . M . 131 , Prov . Grand Secretary Cornwall , &* c . We have before us just now a copy of the programme issued on May 13 th , I 779 > f ° the festival on "The Anniversary Day , " & c , as follows : — The ANNIVERSARY

OF THE DEDICATION of FREE-MASONS ' -HALL , On Thursday , May 13 , 1779 . ACT 1 . Overture , Stamitz . Duetto for a Violin and Tenor , Messrs . Stamitz & Cramer .

Song , Signor Tenducci . Solo on the Violoncello , Mr . Crasdill . Song , Signora Prudom .

ACT II . Overture , Arnold . Song , Signor Tenducci . Concerto on the Violin , Mr . Cramer . Song , Signora Prudom . Concerto on the Hautboy , Mr . Fischer . To begin at Seven o ' clock .

N . B . —After the Concert will be a Ball .

Tickets ios . 6 d . each , to be had of the Treasurer and Secretary ; at Free-Masons' -Hall , Great Queen-street ; at the Thatch'd-House Tavern , St . James's-street ; at the London Tavern , Bishopsgate-street ; and at the London

Coffee-house , Ludgate-street . N . B . —This Entertainment is not confined to Free and Accepted Masons , yet those Noblemen and Gentlemen who are such are requested to come properly clothed . ( The musical part was under the direction of Dr . Arnold . )

As a companion to the certificates we have reproduced lately we present the following as curiosities in their way , and all tending to throw some little light on the customs ofthe period to which they refer : —

Holy Royal Arch Chapter . We , the three Chiefs , whose names arc hereunto subscribed , do certify—That in a Chapter of the Holy Royal Arch , convened and held under the sanction and authority of the Warrant of the Worshipful Lodge , No . 267 , our beloved Brothers having delivered to us their

certificates , and proved themselves by due examination to be well qualified in all the three degrees of Apprentice , Fellow Craft , and Master Mason , ' were by us admitted to the Supreme Degree of Royal Arch Masons . Given under our Hands and Masonic Mark in Chapter , this —— day of in thc Year of Masonry , and in the Year of our Lord . ( Chiefs .

Scribe . ¦ ) This certificate was issued by the Royal , Arch Chapter , in connection with No . 267 , " Old Globe Lodge , " Scarborough . The first lodge held in this town was granted

by the Grand Lodge of England ( London ) , after which another was constituted by the same body , on the former lodge ceasing to work . The secondlod gesubscquently appears to have joined the " Ancients , " was struck

off from the list of "Moderns" A . D . 1799 , and is No . 267 on the roll in " Ahiman Rezon" A . D . 1807 . The certificate was in all probability issued during the latter part ofthe eighteenth century , and the Royal

Arch was worked without a separate warrant by the " Old Globe Lodge . " This town is noteworthy , Masonically , from the fact that the " Grand Lodge of All

England held at York , constituted a lodge there . The history of this extinct Grand Lodge I am now writing , and it will appear in the " Masonic Annual , " to be published shortly .

Thc next certificate was printed from thc plate formerly used by the Chapter called " Volubiam , " held at Falmouth . The lodge was warranted under the " Moderns " A . D . 1751 , and the Chapter itself was constituted

many years ago . Tlie certificate is surrounded by two columns , supporting an Arch with thc Keystone laid back to admit the " Rays" from the "All-seeing eye , " and rests

on four steps ; square pavement on which are laid the pickaxe , shovel , and crow-bar , and the altar with S . R . I ., H . R . T ., and H . A . B ., thereon . On the altar rests thc