Archæological Progress No. Iv.

son or the bold statements of Oliver . They based on the ancient legends of the Craft , and Tev but put into readable English , without any loubt or critical analysis what the old conslitut ' ons jn verse and prose so continuously repeat . tLf n'her views have been propounded as to the

arlv origin of Freemasonry , i , —There are those for instance , who look to Egypt as the cradle 0 f our accepted brotherhood . 2 , —There are some who find its origin in the mysteries . —3 . And once more there are many who like to , „ ' back Freemasonry to the Dionysian

Artificers , and thence to the building colleges at Rome , aadthe Craft Guilds ofthe Anglo Saxons , gut these enquiries and researches necessarily lead on to others , and the farther we dig down into the dust-heap of ages , the more arduous bpromes our undertaking , the more uncertain

is the lig ht of actual history , much more of simp le tradition . Let us face the difficulty boldly , and see what it is we are seeking to discover . So far as we can yet speak positively on such a subject , we think it may be said that we have distinct traces of Roman sodalities with

much resemblance to our organization previous to the fall of Rome , and that we have in France and Germany , and England , indigenous instit utions , which , like our Anglo-Saxon Craft Guilds , equally point to a Roman origin . If we assume for the moment that our present speculative Order is the lineal descendant of the operative

sodalities , we have this one fact to explain , how do we account for its Hebrew colouring ? It is a question in itself of very great importance , True it is that in early and mediaeval times the guilds were essentially Christian , but yet the Masonic mark was all but identically the same ,

allowing for natural development or local usages , in lands whether Christian or non-Christian . Now , it has been said that we may trace Freemasonry back to Egypt , that the occult system of Egypt was preserved by the Jews under Moses , and that there is no difficulty in

understanding the existence of . a confraternity in the time of King Solomon . Others , mindful of the real difficulties of the case , have , like our lamented Bro . S . Barton Wilson , disassociated the Egyptian system from the Jews , and made Freemasonry a secret system , which had

adapted itself to various nations and successive ages , but took its rise in Egypt . A class of writers have also tried to make the mysteries the prototypes of Freemasonry , but Oliver , who saw " where the shoe pinched , " to use a familiar proverb , was forced to have recourse to the

serious alternative of true and spurious mysteries . A third class has found in the Dionysiacs the precursors of Freemasonry , and have taken Freemasonry from Egypt and Greece and the Holy Land to Rome , and thence to ourselves . Now a good deal may be said for all these theories ,

but the truth , we fancy , lies in the midst of them all . Egypt had a secret system , and the artificers had a secret organization . The mysteries preserved primaeval truth if overlaid with superstitious fables and disgraced by unpardonable excesses , and the Dionysiacs had a secret order .

and admitted among themselves speculative Masons , that is , men of rank and wealth . But from not one of these sources in particular did Freemasonry spring it was a compound of all . The Egyptians , and the Tyrians , and the Etruscans , and to some extent the Greeks , wero the

great builders of antiquity , and the marks of their buildings were originally almost the same , and constituted a sort of technical language , which the initiated knew everywhere . The Jews received the knowledge of the arts from Egypt , and worked side by side with the Tyrians even

in the building of the temple of the one true God ; and , as far as we know , indeed we believe there is no doubt on the subject , the marks they all use are very neatly the same . Some writers seem to wish to discard the building guilds altogether , and work out a sort of occult society , which has existed for long centuries substantially

the same . Such a view of Masonic working we believe to be a " chimera of chimeras , " and that nothing is left for us , on the strict grounds of cause and effect , of historical truth and evidential certainty , but the simpler and perhaps less palatable reality of a handicraft fraternity , bound together by a secret system of teaching , and of symbols , and of recognition .

Masonic Exaggeration.

MASONIC EXAGGERATION .

Freemasonry , though admittedly a great institution , is yet mortal , and Freemasons , however excellent , per se , are not exempt from the foibles of humanity . Somebody has said that man is a " swaggering animal , " and the delight of being

thought greater " swells" than others , * is not confined to the young or the underbred . Indeed we fear that there is a tendency , a growing * tendency , amongst Freemasons , to go in , as they say across the Atlantic , for " high falutin , " and for a " considerable amount of Bunkum . "

As regards Freemasonry , whether it be-, in nsw theories or strange assertions , whetHer it be' in some very recondite teaching or" * # bridrptis mysteries , whether it be in the startling appearance of some new , if unpronounceable degree , there is at this moment amongst us a great deal

of " tall talk , " and not a little amount of rubbish . We say nothing now of the supposed infallible teaching of Masonic history , which some seem to like to claim for themselves ; we can afford to be very tolerant of all dabblers in Masonic Archaeology and antiquarian researches ,

neither do we even complain of those who refuse to hear two sides of a question , and resolute in their own happy absence of critical synopsis , look on themselves as alone right and on anybody else as wrong , utterly , irremediably svrong . To none of these things do we object , as they

have existed and always will exist among men and Masons . Such are the idiosyncracies of our limited intellect . But what we do deprecate , and what we do distinctly disavow is , the assumption not only that " non vixere fortes ante Agamemnona , " but that this person or that

person , this coterie or that set of associates , are all together not only the " virtuousest . the discreetest , the truest , and the best , " but that they are far above the " canaille " of Freemasonry . To hear some of our brethren talk " ore rotundo , " to read their lucubrations , or-to be bored by their

vapid allocutions , is to believe that they have a " patent" for all that Masonic knowledge can impart , orthatMasonic literature can disseminate . Until they threw light on the dark and intricate maze of Masonic History-or Archaeology , nothing was known , nothing had been elucidated worthy

of the name of Masonic science , or fitting to be termed Masonic exposition . But at their appearance on the scene , all is clear and easy . The knotty points of olden controversy , the debateable question of ancient warfare , the legends , the

anachronisms , the doubts of the past , all vanish and yield to the dogmas of unhesitating assertion , and to the elaborate announcements of pretentious pomposity . The truth is , that , like many' *' novi homines " here and there , in this good world of ours , this modern school is but imitating the

practice of their mundane prototypes , in successive ages of the world . Other men have laboured , and they have entered into their labours , they calmly appropriate , without even the expression of thanks , what has been carefully worked out for them and for Freemasons , by a little band of

modest students , whoselabours are unappreciated , and whose names are scarcely known . Like some other ingenious " citizens of the world , " they have a very imperfect sense of the difference existing between " meum and tuum , " and so they " crib , " without hesitation , the

thoughts , the theories , the imaginations , the facts of others , and announce them , and treat them as original discoveries of their own . To read their essays , to wade through their laboured sentences , we should be disposed to imagine that they had made some special

discoveries in the subject on which they treat , or that they referred for the first time to matters on which no one had written ever before . Now we all know how very easy it is to get up a little second-hand information , and yet profess and appear to be original . The German and American

enclyclopasdia will furnish much available matter , while the forgotten contributions of other days , and the curious pamphlets of a bygone generation , will soonsupply a ready amount of seemingly original " padding , " in the hands of the skilful

manipulator . But we should always remember that much of the " pabulum lathomicum , " now reproduced with an air of intense importance , has long since been repudiated by our modern critical Masonic school . We do not want the

Masonic Exaggeration.

history of Freemasonry to be again dished up to us in all the flowery language and doubtful illustrations which pleased our forefathers . The enveloping of the plain facts of simple Masonic history , in all the hyperbole of oriental myth , in the untenable assumptions of unhistorical

assertion , in obsolete theories , and in hopeless anachronisms , will not serve the cause of Masonic truth , but rather will discredit our Order in the eyes of the careful , the critical , and the intelligent . Let us beware then againstthat" Sciolism , " which appears to be raising its head amongst

us again . Let us at once reject any authority whatever which does not rest either on evidential accuracy , or incontestable documents , or . is based at any rate on the perpetuated testimony of ancient traditions , common to our Order . It would indeed be a " reductio ad absurdum , " a

very trying dilemma for the Masonic student , a very ungrateful return for the patient labours of a few zealous Masonic archaeologists , if there were to arise amongst us a school without any pretention , either to independent research or original collation of documents , but which yet

by the loudness of its assertions , the dogmatism of its statement , and the " exaggeration " of its verbose lectures , should seek to give us instead of the careful result of actual analysis and laborious investigation , the exploded fallacies of a defunct school of Masonic teaching , and a most unreliable system of Masonic archaeology .

American Freemasonry.

AMERICAN FREEMASONRY .

We have read with much pleasure the following interesting paragraph , in our valued contemporary , Th < s Philadelphia Keystone , of February 3 rd : — "Bro . William Baird has just made a magnificent gift to Frankfort Lodge , No . 29 a , of this city , in the shape of a fine building

for a Masonic Hall . It is situated on Greenstreet , near Frankfort-road , and cost 35 , 000 dollars . Here is a noble example , worth following . " And we have noted this passage of our transalantic friends , because it represents well one among many noteworthy features of the

onward career of American Freemasonry . Indeed , we fancy that the real condition of the brotherhood in the United States is very little known , aud certainly not realised by our English Craft . We have seen from time to time statements , arising either from recklessness

or ignorance , very unfair to the American brotherhood , and not to say the truth , very Masonic either in the letter or in the spirit . There appears to be a sort of idea prevalent , especially amongst those whose acquaintance with American Freemasonry is only " skin-deep" as we sav , that

the confraternity in the United States is given up to pomp and parade , to show and festival . We quote , however , the paragraph from the Keystone to demonstrate how wisely our brethren far away are imitating and developing our home movement for the Masonic hall and dedicated

lodge-room . If this were all they did , they would no doubt be blameable , but we must observe that the amount spent by the American Freemason in fraternal charity is little known by some of us , or the earnestness and thoroughness

of their Masonic benevolence fully understood . California is a young Grand Lodge , but if her work be a sample , and we think it may be , then , taking the thirty-six or thirty-seven Grand Lodges in America , which are said to exist there , we shall find that the " tottle " of

American Masonic benevolence is very great . The California Grand Lodge expended fifteen thousand pounds in sixteen years , and if the other American Grand Lodges have given anything like that amount on the average , we shall have a sum not far short of half-a-mitlion at

the least , distributed by Freemasons in America in sixteen years . And when we add to this , the orphanages and Masonic homes rising rapidly in all parts of America , under the various Grand Lodges and the sums raised for national disasters , we have a condition

of affairs and a reality of work of which we Freemasons may well feel proud . The Craft in America is a very self-supporting , independent body of men , and everything we read of them day by day convinces us how much in earnest they are , and how , for the great part , they