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Manners And Morals.
ful episodes are carefully and eagerly conned over by large numbers of old and young amongst us . Is it not a melancholy picture , is it not an unwholesome fact , which that distinguished judge , Sir James Hannen , shows and states so clearly and effectually , that a
large proportion of those who apply for a divorce only want to marry some one else ? We think so , and no doubt in so far it is a most melancholy reality in itself , look at it as you will , regard it as you may . We wish we could hope that the leaning we fear of most of us to what
is sensational and dubious just now , both in manners and morals , might in any way be checked or diverted , but at this moment we are , as it were , in mid stream , and the current is very strong , and we ourselves are eagerly running along at a good pace . Let us trust that healthier views and a better literature may lead many
of us to turn away from reading that which is hurtful , from sensationalism which is morbid , and from a representation of manners and morals which is humiliating to us all , and which seems to portend grave evils alike to the future happiness of all classes , whether in personal , domestic , or national life .
Original Correspondence.
Original Correspondence .
[\ V- do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of , the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in . spivit of Fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]
THF . BOYS' SCHOOL . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — A more disingenuous answer could scarcely have been made to a plain and simple question than that given by Bro . Moutrie in answer to Bro . R . B . Webster at thc last General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution
for Boys . Bro . Webster asked " whether it was true that the House Committee had refused to accept Sir H . A . Hunt , C . B ., as aibitrator in the dispute between them and Bro . S . B . Wilson , and if it was true , what was the reason of such refusal . " Bro . Mouttie replied '' that it did not appear upon thc minutes which had becn read that any
such proposition as that referred to had been refused . " Now , it can hardly be conceived that Bro . Moutrie , bei . ig a member of thc House Committee , could be ignorant of the fact that my proposition' to refer the matter to Sir H . A . Hunt had been declined , as the following Utter , sent by Bro . Binckes to my solicitor ;? , clearly shows : —
" Royal Masonic Institution for Boys . "Oflice : 6 , Freemasons' Hall , "Great Queen-street , W . C , " 19 th July , 1879 . " Messrs . Baylis and Pearce , " Dear Sirs , —
•' Re Mr . S . B . Wilson . " Yours of the jOth June was submitted to ami considered by the House Committee at their meeting yesterday . " The Committee decline to accept Sir H . A . Hunt as reft ree . " I am instructed to refer you further in this matter to
Mr . J . Stanley , solicitor , 22 a , Austin Friars , with whom I hope to communicate personally on Monday . " 1 am , dear Sirs , yours faithfully , "FHEUK . BINCKES , " Secretary . " I am very much mistaken if the great majority of the General Committee will allow the matter to be treated in
this hole and corner fashion . I am at a loss to imagine why the House Committee are acting to me in a spirit of hostility , as I can hardly suppose lhat my refusal to support the penny wise and pound foolish ideas that some of the members entertain for the sustintation of tbe buildings and grounds of tbe Institution can influence them , and it must be apparent to
any unpnjudiced person who looks over my account against the Institution that the charges I have made are fair and reasonable , in which opinion I am supported by t . o eminent architects of large practice , who gave me independent valuations of the proper charges fur the work lhat I have done , and who will both give evidence to this effect should the House Committee diive the case to trial . I am , dear Sir and Biother , yours faithfully ,
S . B . WILSON . 27 , Walbrook , E . G ., 9 th August , 18 79 . TROTH . To the Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I think you have taken the right line , ( excuse me for saying it ) , as regards two most sensational articles in that truth-loving paper Truth , andthenfore I do not propose to take up much of the space of your columnsto be
, filled with much better matter , with any comment on all this " rubbish . " But I do wish to point out , that if , as this great authority tells us , Masons " by making either their arms , legs , feet , hands , or fingers assume a position in which a perpendicular line rests as a horizontal line ( bow veiy fine ) , make themselves known to each other , " ne clearl y omits that most important sign of all , vulgarly sailed " taking a sight ) " which he ought to know , if he
Original Correspondence.
knows anything , is always a Masonic sign , especially to cowans and donkeys . Yours fraternally and sisterly , SAPPHIRA JONES .
MASONS' MARKS IN INDIA . . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — The Alhenmum of the 9 th inst . contains the following paragraph , under the head "Fine Ait Gossip " : — " Mr . H . Rivett-Carnac has sent us a copy of his essay 'On Masons' Marks from Old Buildings in the
Northwest Provinces of India , ' reprinted from the Indian Antiquary . General Cunningham recommended that the stones of these edifices should be examined for such marks , but he did not give any of them in his accounts of the ruins of Sarnath or the Bhilsa Topes . Mr . Carnac has , to a certain extent , supplied these omissions in the plate of fifty-six marks from Sarnath and from Jaunpur , which
accompanies this essay , selected from many thousands of similar examples , most ot which are hidden , and all of which were orig in- lly concealed by the outer facing , now removed from thc former structure . This subject is extremely curious and obscure , and hardly yet studied , even with regard to European buildings . No one has done
more for" * it than Mr . Street , who , in his Gothic Architecture in Spain , reproduced a considerable number of Spanish examples . " Can any reader of the Freemason inform me how a copy of Mr . Carnac ' s essay can be obtained ? I am anxious to procure one for the library at the Freemasons' Hall in this
town . Yours fraternally , WILLIAM KELLY , F . S . A ., P . Prov . G . M . Leicesteishire and Rutland . Leicester , August 13 th , 1879 .
A DAY IN THE COUNTRY . —THE LONDON COTTAGE MISSION . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir , — Your readers can well imagine the boon a day in the country is to poor children who live in the crowded streets of East London , and , as many of them have assisted the London Cottage Mission in giving for seventeen
weeks during the winter Irish stew dinners to poor children , we are hopeful that through your valuable columns tluy will assist us in providing a trip for our children , who ( despite the wit weather ) are looking forward with the greatest anxiety for this unspeakable pleasure . The smallest gift will be thankfully received and acknowledged by Miss F . Napton , 304 , Burdett-road , Limehouse , E ., or by , Ycur obedient Servant , WALTER AUSTIN . 14 , Finsbury Circus , E . C . August 6 th , 1879 .
THE PONTE SISTO FOUNTAIN AT ROME . To the Editor of the Times . Sir , —I see with satisfaction that your Correspondent in Rome has expressed something of the bitter regnt which all who know and love Rome fee ' , at the destruction of the Ponte Sisto fountain . To destroy this beautiful and most uncommon ornament of the Rome of the Renaissance is
but one of the many execrable outrages on art and history which have marked the "Liberal" occupation of the capital of the world . I sketched , painted , and wrote of the fountain , which is , as your Coi respondent says , the centre of the whole story of my "Ariadne , " until I regarded it , perhaps , with an affection that haidly any one else can share . But in the pain and the disgust with
which the wholesale injuries now done and doing on the architecture of this city fills me , I am but one among a multitude of , alas I impotent artists and scholars who , day after day , see monuments effaced that nothing can restore , and landmarks levelled that the archaeologist of the future will mourn for in vain . A writer in Blackwood last month ( whose noble love of art makes it easy for all who know
him to recognise his pen ) sptaks of the frightful destruction of the Farnesina gardens in the questionable works now in progress on the Tiber ; of the levelling of avences 300 years old , and the impending ruin of the great Raffaelle fiesroes , to say nothing of the destruction for ever of that exquisite view from the Ponte Sisto , which was a joy never to be forgotten bj those who gazed at it
in the golcen lustre of the sunset hour . I write these lines now in hope that the utterances of the English Press may excite some shame in the breasts of Italians , who work more havoc on their own country than any horde of Gauls or Goths ever worketl in olden days . For the hand of the invader is hot and heavy , but only lies on a land for a season ; the ruin wrought by national ignorance and
cupidity is a blight that never passes , and , like the worm , revels in corruption and putrefaction . It is this blight which now is destroying Italy . Her people , singularly enough , have lost all sense of the beautiful and all reverence for art . In the main terribly ignorant , they have altogether lost that instinct towards the arts which one would have imagined would have been bred in their bone .
Oblivious of all that in the past made them famous , they seem only now ambitious of imitating the follies of greater nations , as boys imitate the vices and vanities of men . As their youths in high life are mere bad , exaggerated copies of the Paris gommcux , so every petty civic council aspires to be a Lilliputian Haussmann . The result is that the
country is overrun with jobbers and intriguers of every kind j that contracts are sold and resold until no one save a few unscrupulous speculators benefit ; and that the most venerable relics and noblest beauties of art and architecture perish that concessionnaires may pillage and attorneys gorge . Against such a state of things has not Europe
Original Correspondence.
the right to protest , since Italy is not merely the slave of any petty municipality of the moment or ephemeral Government of the hour , but is the treasure-house of history , the sanctuary of the Muses , and the heritage of all mankind ?
Yours obedientl y , OUIDA . August 2 nd . [ We publish gladly this eloquent appeal , which appears in our contemporary , from the gifted pen of " Ouida , " as quite homogeneous with Masonic sympathies , and a noble protest against Italic Vandalism . —ED . F . M . ]
Reviews.
Reviews .
THE EARLY HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY . By Bro . Geo . Fort . G . Kenning , 198 , Fleet-street . We are pleased to sec the fourth edition of this very valuable work , for it is a recognition , both by the Craft and public , of its striking merit and its intrinsic value .
Just now Masonic toleration is at a discount , and as some ignoramuses and party writers like to say that Freemasonry has " no literature , " we are glad to call attention to a work which , at any rate , is a striking rebuff to that ignorance and that malevolence which seem to find in Freemasonry , ( though why we know not ) , an object for meaningless sarcasm or mendacious bathos .
ARTS , INDUSTRIES , AND INVENTIONS , with 11-lustrations . By Percy Russell . Wyman & Sons , 81 , Great Queen-street . This cheap and useful little " handbook" deserves notice , and merits perusal . It is clear and concise ,
and gives an effective explanation of matters of which many are ignorant , and of details which are important for those whose business or interests lie in the direction oi the technicalities of arts and industry , and scientific inventions and discoveiies . It is a most readable little book .
BUDA PESTH . This is the official organ of Johannite Grand Lodge of Hungary , and though we are not privileged to lead , much less understand , Hungarian , we are glad to recognize a contemporary well-printed , and which , no doubt , is of deep interest to all its Masonic compatriots .
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
MASONS , COMPANY OF . —Is one of the Livery Companies of London , but not one of the twelve great ones . In the reign of Edward III ., however , it was represented in the Council . The Company had a coat of arms granted them by Wm . Hawkeslowe , Clarenceux King of Arms , in the fourth of Edward IV ., 1464 , confirmed by Thomas Benett , alias Clarenceux Kyrg of Armes of the South , in
the twelfth year of King Henry VIII ., 1521 , and entered by Henry St . JGeorge Richmond , 1634 . See Arms of Freemasonry . It is doubtful , somewhat , when this Company was actually incorporated by Royal Charter . It has been said , not until the reign of Charles II . Ashmole mentions a meeting in the hall in Basinghall-street , in 1684 ; but the minutes of the Company do not refer to it .
and Ashmole was not a member of the Company . It was , in our opinion , entirely distinct from the " Society of Freemasons , " though many of the Freemasons mentioned by Ashmole as present at the meeting in Basinghallstreet were members of the Masons' Company . Indeed , the fact that they were members of the Masons' Company , and yet admitted into the " Fellowship " in Masons '
Hall , Basinghall-street , is a proof to our mind that the two Associations were entirely distinct . No record of such meeting exists in the books of the Company , and the Masons' Company did not dine that day or that year at the " Half-Moon , Cheapside . " Indeed , when we come to look into Ashmole's words critically , it is plain , we think , that at that memorable meeting two events took place , —ist ,
that he himself , as he says , was admitted into the Fellowship of Freemasonry ; and 2 ndly , that several other persons were admitted into Freemasonry , In what Ashmole's admission consisted , we are not told . He calls himself the " Senior Fellow " among them ( his terminology being neither very critical nor correct ) . He probably means no more than this : that he was the oldest Freemason
actually amongst those present . Whether Ashmole was admitted to what we call the Second Degree , or Third Degree , is impossible , we apprehend , to say j though , following the advice of the Scottish Minute Books as far as they are decisive on the subject , as we have so far no available English evidence of that date , we should be inclined to say Fellow of Craft . The " Fellows " appears to
be indifferently used . The accepted " Fellows " seem to have been nine in number . The allusion to William Wise , Master of the Company in 1684 , which is historically correct , proves that there was an essential difference between the two associations—the One being the Masons ' or Freemasons' Company , the other the " Society of Freemasons , " to which " Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the City of London" Robert Padgett Clerk
belonged who transcribed the Antiquity MS . in 1686 , and who , we are assured by competent authority , did not belong to , nor is his name to be found in the books of , the Masons' Company . We then come to the conclusion that the Masons' Company was one thing , the Society of Freemasons , like those lodges mentioned by Dr . Plot as existing in Staffordshire in 1786 , quite separate and sui generis . ZKRUBBADEL . —Dr . Mackey has devoted considerable space in his Masonic Encyclopedia to a sketch of the " Prince of Judah , " and has also embodied in the article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Manners And Morals.
ful episodes are carefully and eagerly conned over by large numbers of old and young amongst us . Is it not a melancholy picture , is it not an unwholesome fact , which that distinguished judge , Sir James Hannen , shows and states so clearly and effectually , that a
large proportion of those who apply for a divorce only want to marry some one else ? We think so , and no doubt in so far it is a most melancholy reality in itself , look at it as you will , regard it as you may . We wish we could hope that the leaning we fear of most of us to what
is sensational and dubious just now , both in manners and morals , might in any way be checked or diverted , but at this moment we are , as it were , in mid stream , and the current is very strong , and we ourselves are eagerly running along at a good pace . Let us trust that healthier views and a better literature may lead many
of us to turn away from reading that which is hurtful , from sensationalism which is morbid , and from a representation of manners and morals which is humiliating to us all , and which seems to portend grave evils alike to the future happiness of all classes , whether in personal , domestic , or national life .
Original Correspondence.
Original Correspondence .
[\ V- do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of , the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in . spivit of Fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]
THF . BOYS' SCHOOL . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — A more disingenuous answer could scarcely have been made to a plain and simple question than that given by Bro . Moutrie in answer to Bro . R . B . Webster at thc last General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution
for Boys . Bro . Webster asked " whether it was true that the House Committee had refused to accept Sir H . A . Hunt , C . B ., as aibitrator in the dispute between them and Bro . S . B . Wilson , and if it was true , what was the reason of such refusal . " Bro . Mouttie replied '' that it did not appear upon thc minutes which had becn read that any
such proposition as that referred to had been refused . " Now , it can hardly be conceived that Bro . Moutrie , bei . ig a member of thc House Committee , could be ignorant of the fact that my proposition' to refer the matter to Sir H . A . Hunt had been declined , as the following Utter , sent by Bro . Binckes to my solicitor ;? , clearly shows : —
" Royal Masonic Institution for Boys . "Oflice : 6 , Freemasons' Hall , "Great Queen-street , W . C , " 19 th July , 1879 . " Messrs . Baylis and Pearce , " Dear Sirs , —
•' Re Mr . S . B . Wilson . " Yours of the jOth June was submitted to ami considered by the House Committee at their meeting yesterday . " The Committee decline to accept Sir H . A . Hunt as reft ree . " I am instructed to refer you further in this matter to
Mr . J . Stanley , solicitor , 22 a , Austin Friars , with whom I hope to communicate personally on Monday . " 1 am , dear Sirs , yours faithfully , "FHEUK . BINCKES , " Secretary . " I am very much mistaken if the great majority of the General Committee will allow the matter to be treated in
this hole and corner fashion . I am at a loss to imagine why the House Committee are acting to me in a spirit of hostility , as I can hardly suppose lhat my refusal to support the penny wise and pound foolish ideas that some of the members entertain for the sustintation of tbe buildings and grounds of tbe Institution can influence them , and it must be apparent to
any unpnjudiced person who looks over my account against the Institution that the charges I have made are fair and reasonable , in which opinion I am supported by t . o eminent architects of large practice , who gave me independent valuations of the proper charges fur the work lhat I have done , and who will both give evidence to this effect should the House Committee diive the case to trial . I am , dear Sir and Biother , yours faithfully ,
S . B . WILSON . 27 , Walbrook , E . G ., 9 th August , 18 79 . TROTH . To the Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I think you have taken the right line , ( excuse me for saying it ) , as regards two most sensational articles in that truth-loving paper Truth , andthenfore I do not propose to take up much of the space of your columnsto be
, filled with much better matter , with any comment on all this " rubbish . " But I do wish to point out , that if , as this great authority tells us , Masons " by making either their arms , legs , feet , hands , or fingers assume a position in which a perpendicular line rests as a horizontal line ( bow veiy fine ) , make themselves known to each other , " ne clearl y omits that most important sign of all , vulgarly sailed " taking a sight ) " which he ought to know , if he
Original Correspondence.
knows anything , is always a Masonic sign , especially to cowans and donkeys . Yours fraternally and sisterly , SAPPHIRA JONES .
MASONS' MARKS IN INDIA . . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — The Alhenmum of the 9 th inst . contains the following paragraph , under the head "Fine Ait Gossip " : — " Mr . H . Rivett-Carnac has sent us a copy of his essay 'On Masons' Marks from Old Buildings in the
Northwest Provinces of India , ' reprinted from the Indian Antiquary . General Cunningham recommended that the stones of these edifices should be examined for such marks , but he did not give any of them in his accounts of the ruins of Sarnath or the Bhilsa Topes . Mr . Carnac has , to a certain extent , supplied these omissions in the plate of fifty-six marks from Sarnath and from Jaunpur , which
accompanies this essay , selected from many thousands of similar examples , most ot which are hidden , and all of which were orig in- lly concealed by the outer facing , now removed from thc former structure . This subject is extremely curious and obscure , and hardly yet studied , even with regard to European buildings . No one has done
more for" * it than Mr . Street , who , in his Gothic Architecture in Spain , reproduced a considerable number of Spanish examples . " Can any reader of the Freemason inform me how a copy of Mr . Carnac ' s essay can be obtained ? I am anxious to procure one for the library at the Freemasons' Hall in this
town . Yours fraternally , WILLIAM KELLY , F . S . A ., P . Prov . G . M . Leicesteishire and Rutland . Leicester , August 13 th , 1879 .
A DAY IN THE COUNTRY . —THE LONDON COTTAGE MISSION . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir , — Your readers can well imagine the boon a day in the country is to poor children who live in the crowded streets of East London , and , as many of them have assisted the London Cottage Mission in giving for seventeen
weeks during the winter Irish stew dinners to poor children , we are hopeful that through your valuable columns tluy will assist us in providing a trip for our children , who ( despite the wit weather ) are looking forward with the greatest anxiety for this unspeakable pleasure . The smallest gift will be thankfully received and acknowledged by Miss F . Napton , 304 , Burdett-road , Limehouse , E ., or by , Ycur obedient Servant , WALTER AUSTIN . 14 , Finsbury Circus , E . C . August 6 th , 1879 .
THE PONTE SISTO FOUNTAIN AT ROME . To the Editor of the Times . Sir , —I see with satisfaction that your Correspondent in Rome has expressed something of the bitter regnt which all who know and love Rome fee ' , at the destruction of the Ponte Sisto fountain . To destroy this beautiful and most uncommon ornament of the Rome of the Renaissance is
but one of the many execrable outrages on art and history which have marked the "Liberal" occupation of the capital of the world . I sketched , painted , and wrote of the fountain , which is , as your Coi respondent says , the centre of the whole story of my "Ariadne , " until I regarded it , perhaps , with an affection that haidly any one else can share . But in the pain and the disgust with
which the wholesale injuries now done and doing on the architecture of this city fills me , I am but one among a multitude of , alas I impotent artists and scholars who , day after day , see monuments effaced that nothing can restore , and landmarks levelled that the archaeologist of the future will mourn for in vain . A writer in Blackwood last month ( whose noble love of art makes it easy for all who know
him to recognise his pen ) sptaks of the frightful destruction of the Farnesina gardens in the questionable works now in progress on the Tiber ; of the levelling of avences 300 years old , and the impending ruin of the great Raffaelle fiesroes , to say nothing of the destruction for ever of that exquisite view from the Ponte Sisto , which was a joy never to be forgotten bj those who gazed at it
in the golcen lustre of the sunset hour . I write these lines now in hope that the utterances of the English Press may excite some shame in the breasts of Italians , who work more havoc on their own country than any horde of Gauls or Goths ever worketl in olden days . For the hand of the invader is hot and heavy , but only lies on a land for a season ; the ruin wrought by national ignorance and
cupidity is a blight that never passes , and , like the worm , revels in corruption and putrefaction . It is this blight which now is destroying Italy . Her people , singularly enough , have lost all sense of the beautiful and all reverence for art . In the main terribly ignorant , they have altogether lost that instinct towards the arts which one would have imagined would have been bred in their bone .
Oblivious of all that in the past made them famous , they seem only now ambitious of imitating the follies of greater nations , as boys imitate the vices and vanities of men . As their youths in high life are mere bad , exaggerated copies of the Paris gommcux , so every petty civic council aspires to be a Lilliputian Haussmann . The result is that the
country is overrun with jobbers and intriguers of every kind j that contracts are sold and resold until no one save a few unscrupulous speculators benefit ; and that the most venerable relics and noblest beauties of art and architecture perish that concessionnaires may pillage and attorneys gorge . Against such a state of things has not Europe
Original Correspondence.
the right to protest , since Italy is not merely the slave of any petty municipality of the moment or ephemeral Government of the hour , but is the treasure-house of history , the sanctuary of the Muses , and the heritage of all mankind ?
Yours obedientl y , OUIDA . August 2 nd . [ We publish gladly this eloquent appeal , which appears in our contemporary , from the gifted pen of " Ouida , " as quite homogeneous with Masonic sympathies , and a noble protest against Italic Vandalism . —ED . F . M . ]
Reviews.
Reviews .
THE EARLY HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY . By Bro . Geo . Fort . G . Kenning , 198 , Fleet-street . We are pleased to sec the fourth edition of this very valuable work , for it is a recognition , both by the Craft and public , of its striking merit and its intrinsic value .
Just now Masonic toleration is at a discount , and as some ignoramuses and party writers like to say that Freemasonry has " no literature , " we are glad to call attention to a work which , at any rate , is a striking rebuff to that ignorance and that malevolence which seem to find in Freemasonry , ( though why we know not ) , an object for meaningless sarcasm or mendacious bathos .
ARTS , INDUSTRIES , AND INVENTIONS , with 11-lustrations . By Percy Russell . Wyman & Sons , 81 , Great Queen-street . This cheap and useful little " handbook" deserves notice , and merits perusal . It is clear and concise ,
and gives an effective explanation of matters of which many are ignorant , and of details which are important for those whose business or interests lie in the direction oi the technicalities of arts and industry , and scientific inventions and discoveiies . It is a most readable little book .
BUDA PESTH . This is the official organ of Johannite Grand Lodge of Hungary , and though we are not privileged to lead , much less understand , Hungarian , we are glad to recognize a contemporary well-printed , and which , no doubt , is of deep interest to all its Masonic compatriots .
Masonic Notes And Queries.
Masonic Notes and Queries .
MASONS , COMPANY OF . —Is one of the Livery Companies of London , but not one of the twelve great ones . In the reign of Edward III ., however , it was represented in the Council . The Company had a coat of arms granted them by Wm . Hawkeslowe , Clarenceux King of Arms , in the fourth of Edward IV ., 1464 , confirmed by Thomas Benett , alias Clarenceux Kyrg of Armes of the South , in
the twelfth year of King Henry VIII ., 1521 , and entered by Henry St . JGeorge Richmond , 1634 . See Arms of Freemasonry . It is doubtful , somewhat , when this Company was actually incorporated by Royal Charter . It has been said , not until the reign of Charles II . Ashmole mentions a meeting in the hall in Basinghall-street , in 1684 ; but the minutes of the Company do not refer to it .
and Ashmole was not a member of the Company . It was , in our opinion , entirely distinct from the " Society of Freemasons , " though many of the Freemasons mentioned by Ashmole as present at the meeting in Basinghallstreet were members of the Masons' Company . Indeed , the fact that they were members of the Masons' Company , and yet admitted into the " Fellowship " in Masons '
Hall , Basinghall-street , is a proof to our mind that the two Associations were entirely distinct . No record of such meeting exists in the books of the Company , and the Masons' Company did not dine that day or that year at the " Half-Moon , Cheapside . " Indeed , when we come to look into Ashmole's words critically , it is plain , we think , that at that memorable meeting two events took place , —ist ,
that he himself , as he says , was admitted into the Fellowship of Freemasonry ; and 2 ndly , that several other persons were admitted into Freemasonry , In what Ashmole's admission consisted , we are not told . He calls himself the " Senior Fellow " among them ( his terminology being neither very critical nor correct ) . He probably means no more than this : that he was the oldest Freemason
actually amongst those present . Whether Ashmole was admitted to what we call the Second Degree , or Third Degree , is impossible , we apprehend , to say j though , following the advice of the Scottish Minute Books as far as they are decisive on the subject , as we have so far no available English evidence of that date , we should be inclined to say Fellow of Craft . The " Fellows " appears to
be indifferently used . The accepted " Fellows " seem to have been nine in number . The allusion to William Wise , Master of the Company in 1684 , which is historically correct , proves that there was an essential difference between the two associations—the One being the Masons ' or Freemasons' Company , the other the " Society of Freemasons , " to which " Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the City of London" Robert Padgett Clerk
belonged who transcribed the Antiquity MS . in 1686 , and who , we are assured by competent authority , did not belong to , nor is his name to be found in the books of , the Masons' Company . We then come to the conclusion that the Masons' Company was one thing , the Society of Freemasons , like those lodges mentioned by Dr . Plot as existing in Staffordshire in 1786 , quite separate and sui generis . ZKRUBBADEL . —Dr . Mackey has devoted considerable space in his Masonic Encyclopedia to a sketch of the " Prince of Judah , " and has also embodied in the article