Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
in their several districts in England . " But the fact is , the Grand Lodge of England was utterly unconscious of Price or his pretensions , until 1768 . He further said : — " No evidence has
been adduced to prove the accusation , but the claim is made that because the absolute manual proof of the present existence of Price ' s deputation is not forthcoming . " Now , the truth is ,
that none of the original deputations of the Boston Grand Masters are in existence , but 1 never doubted their appointments , and have never doubted Price ' s legitimacy on that
account . Tomlinson , Oxnard , Gridley , Rowe , and Joseph Warren , are found recorded in England or Scotland , while Price ' s two deputations , most singularly , were never heard of in England till
1768 . Bro . Gardner also appealed to the prejudices of his audience . Price , said he , was a Christian—as if a professed Christian was never gnilty of forgery . Again , Price , when living in
Boston , attended an Episcopal Church , but when he lived in Townsend , he owned pews in Puritan Churches . Price also sympathised with the American Revolution , because he dated a legal
document from the time of the declaration of American independence . But the question is , •does the espousing the politics of a majority , or conforming to the popular religion , prove either
honesty or sincerity ? With such method of argument , our Bro . Gardner succeeded in convincing the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . Be it further remembered , that probably not a
half dozen of its members had ever read a word on the question at issue . It is , therefore , not surprising , that there was an exclaiming of " Price is vindicated , " & c . As for poor Bro .
C . W . Moore , he was almost frantic with delight . The only thing that probably marred his happiness was , that Price ' s slanderer is not held to account before somebody for unmasonic
conduct . The first proof of Price ' s honesty , offered by Bro . Gardner , is the portrait of Price . In addition to the portrait , the lecturer informed his
audience that Price wore a wig , with a queue , straight-buttoned coat , &* c . In short , Price appeared dressed for the character of Sir Peter Teazle , in the " School for Scandal . " Beside
which , Bro . G . eloquently and pathetically dilated on the beauty of his hero ' s forehead , eyes , & c , and concluded with a citation from
Price s epitaph , viz ., " An honest man the noblest work of God . " But as the poet said : —
"When all is done , on the tomb is seen . Not what he was , but what he should have been . "
And as the most successful impostors can , when sitting for a portrait , put on innocent looks , the portrait and tombstone can neither prove Price ' s honest y or dishonest }' .
The next testimony brought forward was the epitaph on the tombstone , from which it appears that Price was born " about 16 9 6 , " that he came to Boston " about 1723 , " that he received a
deputation appointing him G . M . of Masons in New England ( with no date ) , " and in the year I 73 . 3 > was appointed a cornet in the Governor ' s
Troop of Guards with the rank of major , " and "these statements , " says Bro . G ., " must be taken as true j" because "inscriptions on tomb-
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
stones are admitted as original evidence in legal tribunals . If they have been publicly exhibited , and were well known to the family , the publicity of them supplies the defect of proof . " But the
question is , were these facts well known to the family ? Was the information , conveyed by the epitaph known to the family , or was it merely obtained by them from hearsay ?
In r / 62 , Price removed to Townsend , situated about lift } 'miles from Boston . He came there wifeless and childless . In 1771 , he married a widow , probably not more than half his own
age . He died in 1780 , and was buried 111 Townsend . Now , what evidence can Bro . Gardner adduce , that the Townsend widow had any personal knowledge about Price ' s early life .
The tombstone , it is true , was publicly exhibited , but where ? not in Boston , but in a remote corner of the State , where , probably , not a solitary acquaintance of Price had ever been to ,
to confirm , or to disprove , the statements of the epitaph . Bro . Gardner glibly tells us , that Price was known as a major since 1733 ; but by his own showing , it appears that he was never so
designated in Boston among his associates , and it was only in 176 4 and 1765 , when Price served on a committee as representative of Townsend in the Provincial Legislature , that the clerk of
the committee dubbed him Major Price . Even among the list or roll of members of the legislature , he was merely designated as " Henri-Price , Esquire , " not as major . It is rather
singular that his majorship was as much known in Boston , till 1764 , as his Grand Mastership was known in London before 1768 . If Price had been known as a major in 1733 , Franklin would
have addressed his letter in 17 . 34 not to Mr ., but to Major Price . Besides which , Price joined a charitable society in 1750 . He was married twice before he removed to Townsend . His
name has been traced on deeds , buying and selling landed property . He has also had law suits , and he was variously designated as " Henry Price , Taylor , " as Mr . Price , as Henry Price
gentleman , and as H . P ., Esq . ; but in no solitary instance , either in the Masonic record , or elsewhere , could Bro . Gardner discover Price designated as major before 176 4 or 1765 . And
now , what did his widow know about the rest of the epitaph ? " He came to Boston about 1723 , was born about the year 16 97 , and received a deputation for G . M . of New England , " & c . Now , if Price ' s widow or executors had found anions :
Price s papers the deputations , is it not reasonable to suppose that the tombstone would not only have furnished the date of his deputation for New England ? but it would also have informed
us , when he was made G . M . of all America ; but as we have neither the one nor the other , it is evident that his survivors had no positive knowledge , or positive evidence , regarding Price ' s
Masonry ; and the epitaph is , therefore , worthless as testimony . The next argument of Bro . Gardner was , "how is it possible ? " How was it possible for the
Grand Lodge of England to have remained ignorant of Price ' s imposture for so many years ? antl how was it possible for Price to deceive the
Bostomans for so many years . lo sustain his supposed impossibility of such an event , he informs us that Tomlinson visited the Grand Lodge of
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
England in January , 17 . 39 , where , he enumerates there were present the Earl of Loudoun , Thomas Batson , John Rev is , George Payne , and Dr . Desaguliers , upon which facts the lecturer was
pleased to indulge himself with imaginings . That Tomlinson must have been catechised ant lionised , that all the dignitaries present must have questioned him , and that he must have told
all lie knew about Price , and to suppose that he concealed the truth is equal to an " accusation of complicity with Price . " The fact , however , is , we know very little about the character of
Tomlinson , but I do know that he was not over scrupulous in performing his masonic duties . Thus his deputation enjoined him to hold quarterly communications , to make an animal report
to-Grand Lodge of England , to pay two guineas for every lodge constituted by him , and it confined his jurisdiction to New England and its territories , but Tomlinson held no quarterly meetings ,,
he made no annual returns , he constituted a lodge in Portsmouth , New Hampshire , in 1738 , and never made the fact known to the Grand Lodge of England , and when he was at Antigua , in the
West Indies , he went to work and made Masons there ( so says the record ) . Now it is true that Tomlinson did visit the Grand Lodge as above stated , but the question is , with a consciousness
of his masonic shortcomings , is it not likely that he avoided being questioned , besides which , Bro . G . did not appear to know that among the dignitaries present at that meeting was also Dr .
Anderson . If Tomlinson had felt desirous of being interrogated by the leading men present , Dr . Anderson would have been foremost in his thoughts to make acquaintance of .
Dr . Anderson was not only the author of the Masonic Constitution , but at that very meeting of the Grand Lodge it was decided to adopt Dr . Anderson ' s improved Constitution , which was
printed in the month of June ensuing , and it is scarcely necessary to say that had Tomlinson been introduced to Anderson , and had he informed him about Price , that Anderson would
have made a note on the very MS ., which he must have then had in his possession , and Price would have appeared in the second edition of Anderson ' s Constitution , instead of which
Anderson not only did not allude to Price , but he even did not allude to Tomlinson ' s presence at that meeting , and as Bro . Gardner has not the slightest proof to offer that Tomlinson was interrogated , etc ., his mere imaginings are no evidence whatever . ( To be curl tinned . )
BREAKFAST . —EIM-S ' COCOA . —GRATEFUL AND COM FORTING . — " By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition , and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected
cocoa , Mr . Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills . " - — Cicil Service . Gazelle . Made simply with Boiling Water or Milk . Each packet is labelled"J AMES EPPS & Co ., Homoeopathic Chemists , London . "
I had been anleeted nine years with rheumatism and griping pain all over my body , so as to be , most of the time , unable to do any work , and had been confined to my bed several weeks , when I heard of your fain Killer , and got a bottle . 1 began using it at once , and within twelve hours was free from pain , and able to walk . —O . lli-vvson , Warrington , Aug . 1807 . —To lY-ny Davis & Sim , London , W . C . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
in their several districts in England . " But the fact is , the Grand Lodge of England was utterly unconscious of Price or his pretensions , until 1768 . He further said : — " No evidence has
been adduced to prove the accusation , but the claim is made that because the absolute manual proof of the present existence of Price ' s deputation is not forthcoming . " Now , the truth is ,
that none of the original deputations of the Boston Grand Masters are in existence , but 1 never doubted their appointments , and have never doubted Price ' s legitimacy on that
account . Tomlinson , Oxnard , Gridley , Rowe , and Joseph Warren , are found recorded in England or Scotland , while Price ' s two deputations , most singularly , were never heard of in England till
1768 . Bro . Gardner also appealed to the prejudices of his audience . Price , said he , was a Christian—as if a professed Christian was never gnilty of forgery . Again , Price , when living in
Boston , attended an Episcopal Church , but when he lived in Townsend , he owned pews in Puritan Churches . Price also sympathised with the American Revolution , because he dated a legal
document from the time of the declaration of American independence . But the question is , •does the espousing the politics of a majority , or conforming to the popular religion , prove either
honesty or sincerity ? With such method of argument , our Bro . Gardner succeeded in convincing the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . Be it further remembered , that probably not a
half dozen of its members had ever read a word on the question at issue . It is , therefore , not surprising , that there was an exclaiming of " Price is vindicated , " & c . As for poor Bro .
C . W . Moore , he was almost frantic with delight . The only thing that probably marred his happiness was , that Price ' s slanderer is not held to account before somebody for unmasonic
conduct . The first proof of Price ' s honesty , offered by Bro . Gardner , is the portrait of Price . In addition to the portrait , the lecturer informed his
audience that Price wore a wig , with a queue , straight-buttoned coat , &* c . In short , Price appeared dressed for the character of Sir Peter Teazle , in the " School for Scandal . " Beside
which , Bro . G . eloquently and pathetically dilated on the beauty of his hero ' s forehead , eyes , & c , and concluded with a citation from
Price s epitaph , viz ., " An honest man the noblest work of God . " But as the poet said : —
"When all is done , on the tomb is seen . Not what he was , but what he should have been . "
And as the most successful impostors can , when sitting for a portrait , put on innocent looks , the portrait and tombstone can neither prove Price ' s honest y or dishonest }' .
The next testimony brought forward was the epitaph on the tombstone , from which it appears that Price was born " about 16 9 6 , " that he came to Boston " about 1723 , " that he received a
deputation appointing him G . M . of Masons in New England ( with no date ) , " and in the year I 73 . 3 > was appointed a cornet in the Governor ' s
Troop of Guards with the rank of major , " and "these statements , " says Bro . G ., " must be taken as true j" because "inscriptions on tomb-
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
stones are admitted as original evidence in legal tribunals . If they have been publicly exhibited , and were well known to the family , the publicity of them supplies the defect of proof . " But the
question is , were these facts well known to the family ? Was the information , conveyed by the epitaph known to the family , or was it merely obtained by them from hearsay ?
In r / 62 , Price removed to Townsend , situated about lift } 'miles from Boston . He came there wifeless and childless . In 1771 , he married a widow , probably not more than half his own
age . He died in 1780 , and was buried 111 Townsend . Now , what evidence can Bro . Gardner adduce , that the Townsend widow had any personal knowledge about Price ' s early life .
The tombstone , it is true , was publicly exhibited , but where ? not in Boston , but in a remote corner of the State , where , probably , not a solitary acquaintance of Price had ever been to ,
to confirm , or to disprove , the statements of the epitaph . Bro . Gardner glibly tells us , that Price was known as a major since 1733 ; but by his own showing , it appears that he was never so
designated in Boston among his associates , and it was only in 176 4 and 1765 , when Price served on a committee as representative of Townsend in the Provincial Legislature , that the clerk of
the committee dubbed him Major Price . Even among the list or roll of members of the legislature , he was merely designated as " Henri-Price , Esquire , " not as major . It is rather
singular that his majorship was as much known in Boston , till 1764 , as his Grand Mastership was known in London before 1768 . If Price had been known as a major in 1733 , Franklin would
have addressed his letter in 17 . 34 not to Mr ., but to Major Price . Besides which , Price joined a charitable society in 1750 . He was married twice before he removed to Townsend . His
name has been traced on deeds , buying and selling landed property . He has also had law suits , and he was variously designated as " Henry Price , Taylor , " as Mr . Price , as Henry Price
gentleman , and as H . P ., Esq . ; but in no solitary instance , either in the Masonic record , or elsewhere , could Bro . Gardner discover Price designated as major before 176 4 or 1765 . And
now , what did his widow know about the rest of the epitaph ? " He came to Boston about 1723 , was born about the year 16 97 , and received a deputation for G . M . of New England , " & c . Now , if Price ' s widow or executors had found anions :
Price s papers the deputations , is it not reasonable to suppose that the tombstone would not only have furnished the date of his deputation for New England ? but it would also have informed
us , when he was made G . M . of all America ; but as we have neither the one nor the other , it is evident that his survivors had no positive knowledge , or positive evidence , regarding Price ' s
Masonry ; and the epitaph is , therefore , worthless as testimony . The next argument of Bro . Gardner was , "how is it possible ? " How was it possible for the
Grand Lodge of England to have remained ignorant of Price ' s imposture for so many years ? antl how was it possible for Price to deceive the
Bostomans for so many years . lo sustain his supposed impossibility of such an event , he informs us that Tomlinson visited the Grand Lodge of
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
England in January , 17 . 39 , where , he enumerates there were present the Earl of Loudoun , Thomas Batson , John Rev is , George Payne , and Dr . Desaguliers , upon which facts the lecturer was
pleased to indulge himself with imaginings . That Tomlinson must have been catechised ant lionised , that all the dignitaries present must have questioned him , and that he must have told
all lie knew about Price , and to suppose that he concealed the truth is equal to an " accusation of complicity with Price . " The fact , however , is , we know very little about the character of
Tomlinson , but I do know that he was not over scrupulous in performing his masonic duties . Thus his deputation enjoined him to hold quarterly communications , to make an animal report
to-Grand Lodge of England , to pay two guineas for every lodge constituted by him , and it confined his jurisdiction to New England and its territories , but Tomlinson held no quarterly meetings ,,
he made no annual returns , he constituted a lodge in Portsmouth , New Hampshire , in 1738 , and never made the fact known to the Grand Lodge of England , and when he was at Antigua , in the
West Indies , he went to work and made Masons there ( so says the record ) . Now it is true that Tomlinson did visit the Grand Lodge as above stated , but the question is , with a consciousness
of his masonic shortcomings , is it not likely that he avoided being questioned , besides which , Bro . G . did not appear to know that among the dignitaries present at that meeting was also Dr .
Anderson . If Tomlinson had felt desirous of being interrogated by the leading men present , Dr . Anderson would have been foremost in his thoughts to make acquaintance of .
Dr . Anderson was not only the author of the Masonic Constitution , but at that very meeting of the Grand Lodge it was decided to adopt Dr . Anderson ' s improved Constitution , which was
printed in the month of June ensuing , and it is scarcely necessary to say that had Tomlinson been introduced to Anderson , and had he informed him about Price , that Anderson would
have made a note on the very MS ., which he must have then had in his possession , and Price would have appeared in the second edition of Anderson ' s Constitution , instead of which
Anderson not only did not allude to Price , but he even did not allude to Tomlinson ' s presence at that meeting , and as Bro . Gardner has not the slightest proof to offer that Tomlinson was interrogated , etc ., his mere imaginings are no evidence whatever . ( To be curl tinned . )
BREAKFAST . —EIM-S ' COCOA . —GRATEFUL AND COM FORTING . — " By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition , and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected
cocoa , Mr . Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills . " - — Cicil Service . Gazelle . Made simply with Boiling Water or Milk . Each packet is labelled"J AMES EPPS & Co ., Homoeopathic Chemists , London . "
I had been anleeted nine years with rheumatism and griping pain all over my body , so as to be , most of the time , unable to do any work , and had been confined to my bed several weeks , when I heard of your fain Killer , and got a bottle . 1 began using it at once , and within twelve hours was free from pain , and able to walk . —O . lli-vvson , Warrington , Aug . 1807 . —To lY-ny Davis & Sim , London , W . C . "