The Alnwicke Ms. & Records Of The Alnwicke Lodge.

being that a Sermon be provided and preached on that day at the Parish church of Alnwicke by some clergyman at their appointment : when the lodge shall all appear with their approns on and common squares as aforesaid , and that the Master and Wardens neglecting their duty in providing a clergyman to preach as aforesaid shall forfiet the

sume of Tenn Shillings . The severall forhetures to be disposed of as the then Lodge shall direct , and all persons offending shall upon refusall of paying the severall mulcts above mensoned shall be excluded the said Lodge . Witnesse our hands the said Twentieth Day of } any . 1708 . J EMES MiLLES , Master of the aforesaid Lodge .

THOS . DAVIDSON ) Wardens of the said J CHARLTON J Lodge , ( and eleven others . ) The next minute is dated Alnwick , 27 th December , 1748 , and

"Is to certify that we whose names are hereunder subscribed are made Free Bros , of the said Lodge holden at the House of Mr . Thos . Harrison , Jr ., Alnwick . The Lodge erected as follows r Roger Robson in Thropton , chosen Master ; George Snowdon and Richd . Atkinson , Wardens ; Cuthbt . Yeuns , Robt . Snowdon , and Wm . Anderson , Bros , to the assistance of the said lodge . "

The minute is also signed by twelve other brethren . It appears as if several leaves had been removed , and in fact in some places the remains of a few pages are distinctly visible . The proceedings sometimes are well recorded , but generally speaking the minutes are not well written . The MS .

Constitutions , however , and the orders of A . D . I 70 i , are good specimens of caligraphy . That the lodge continued true to its operative origin even in later years is evident from the fact that all thc business transacted at the meetings had reference simply to Operative Masonry in one form or other . On Saturday , 31 st December , 1748 ,

" It was ordered that all apprentices that shall offer to be admitted into this Lodge , after serving due apprenticeship , shall pay for such admittance Ten shillings . Also that all other persons and strangers ( not serving a due apprenticeship ) that

shall apply to be admitted into said Lodge , shall pay for such admittance thc sum of Seventeen shillings . The meeting days for said Society tobethe 24 th day of June and the 27 th day of Deer , in every year . "

Certain fines are then agreed on , and officers chosen . It was " Ordered that none shall be admitted into the said Lodge under the age of 21 or above 40 . Also

that in case of any of the said members of the said Society shall fail in the world , Its ordered that there shall be paid weekly out of thc said Lodge 4 s . Producing proper certificates of the same , and when able , the said sum to be withdrawn . "

On the 24 th June , 1 749 , provision was made for the relief of the wives and children of deceased members to the extent of half a crown weekly . It was also " Ordered that there shall be paid out of the said Lodge Dan . Cuthbertson musicians the sum of Ten shillings yearly ( to wit ) 5 s . at Christmas and 5 s . at Midsummer . "

The same sum was also agreed to be paid to Mr . Nich . Brown , as Clerk to the Society , and in like manner . At this lodge ( 24 th June , 1 749 ) there was left " in the Box or Lodge " £ 3 4 s . On the 27 th December in the same year the amount was raised to

£ j 5 s . iod . The largest sum recorded was at the lodge held June 24 th , 1756 , when a net balance was declared of £ 51 16 s . iod . The following entry is made : — "Inrollmentsof Apprentices—James Swan bound

apprentice to Patrick Mills , November , 1751 ; Edward Robinson bound apprentice to Michael Robinson , Aprill , 1752 . " We find that these two Master Masons were members of the lodge .

The minutes conclude with a statement of account dated " June ye 24 th , I 757 , " and mentiones that two shillings were " paid for Travelling Brother . " Whether any but operative masons were admitted we cannot determine from the volume of records . It is probable other than masons were accepted

The Alnwicke Ms. & Records Of The Alnwicke Lodge.

as members , which , after all , would be nothingunusual , for gentlemen were received into operative lodges in the seventeenth century . Mainly , however , if not ivliolly , the Alnwicke Lodge was an operative one , and was for the protection of the Craft and the benefit of the Craftsmen .

Encyclopedia Metropolitana.

ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA .

BY BRO . C . G . FORSYTH . ( Continued from page 10 . ) In the proper course of my extracts , the next one in succession should be that respecting the Knight Templars : hut as it has already been

given in No . go , page 608 , and is of but little consequence to the present essay , I shall pass it over , merely saying that the justice or injustice of their dissolution has been long and eagerly discussed , and among the many works that it

produced we may take notice of one by tlie celebrated Orientalist , Hammer , who , in his work entitled " Mysterium Bophomete Rivalatum , " vol . r , part 1 , Vienna , 181 S , attacks the Templars in no measured terms . He accuses them

of infidelity and Gnosticism , and from tlie monuments in their churches , he taxes them with the commission of those crimes charged against them by their enemies at the time of their persecution . He gives several representations of the

figure Bophomet , which , he contends , is typical of the secret doctrines ; but Reynouard in the "Journal de Savans " for March and April , iS 19 , in a review of the above treatise , endeavours to prove that the above figure was Mahomet , and

apparently with success refutes the imputations cast by Hammer . In some of the churches formerly belonging to the Templars strictly Masonic emblems are found , as at Erfurt , Schcengraben , and Prague—especially in tlie last ,

of which Hammer gives several specimens , including among them the square , the level , the triangle , the compasses , the compasses with quadrant , the maul , the interlaced triangle , the flaming star ( ctoile flamboyant of French

Masonry ) , the truncated cross , & c . ( several Masonic emblems may he seen in the church of Calais , but this is of more recent date ) . Hammer wishes to derive the Freemasons from the Ismailites who originated in the sEdcs

Sapientice founded at Cairo in tlie eleventh century , where philosophy and the sciences were taught and various degrees given . It is possible that some of the travelling Masons may have visited England at an early age of

Christianity , as St . Alban , the proto-martyr of England , is represented to have been the great patron of the art , and to have increased the emoluments of its professors ; but this report stands principally on the traditions of the Society . The

earliest authentic account of their introduction into this country is in the year 674 , when Wilfred , Archbishop of York , built the church at Hexham and Benedict Biscop the abbey at Weymouth The latter personage went to

France to collect a number of Masons to build his church of stone after the Roman manner , as it was then called . At thc same time he procured some glassmakers , their art being unknown at that time in England . Before that

time the churches had , with little exception , been built of wood , the Anglo-Saxon term for building being Getymbrian , to make of wood ; for , although Bishop Ninias is stated by Bede to have built a church of stone near Wigan in 432 ,

yet the stone churches built before the eighth century were probably on a small scale . The first Christian church in Northumberland was built by Paulinus in 627 , of wood . When Alfred , in the ninth century , formed the design

of rebuilding his ruined churches and monasteries , the greater part of tlie new buildings were of wood , He was also obliged to send abroad for artificers to assist his own people . In the middle of the tenth , Edgar the Peaceable , after

his accession , complained that tlie monasteries of England were in a ruined state ancl consisted of rotten boards only . The introduction of these masons in the seventh century by Benedict Biscop improved by degrees the architecture of

Encyclopedia Metropolitana.

the country , though at first they were principally confined to the northern counties . Alfred subsequently brought over some more , as above stated ; others , perhaps , occasionally joined their comrades . The Society would thus soon obtain

a permanent establishment , keeping themselves a distinct body from other artificers , and preserving their scientific knowledge secret from those not admitted ' into the order , by means of their peculiar signs and tokens . According to

the traditions of the Society , the first Grand Lodge of England was formed at York in the time of King Athelstan , A . D . , where Prince Edwin presided as Grand Master , having obtained a charter for it . At the same time he

collected all the writings connected with Masonry , " and there was some in French and some in Greek , and some in English and some in other languages . " Whatever credit may be due to the Grand Mastership of Prince Edwin ,

it appears certain that York was considered the principal seat of Freemasonry , until the division which took place in the Craft in the beginning of the eighteenth century . The members of the Society were not strictly confined to the masons

themselves , though the exceptions were in general kings , princes , and men of rank and wealth , who patronised and fostered the science and protected the inferior brethren in a great measure from the evils incident to a state of

vassalage . Great improvements took place in architecture in the twelfth century . The clergy , many of whom were architects themselves , increased the ardour for building churches and other religious edifices by offering pardons and

indulgences to those who expended their property in such pious uses . Yet the first English architect of whom we have any positive account is one William , who was employed about Canterbury Cathedral from 1178 to 1184 . In the

thirteenth , the science still improving and the demand for builders being great , the Popes , in order to encourage them , granted many indulgences by means of their bulls and charters , of which one is stated to have recited in its

preamble the precedence of the chief builder of King Solomon ' s Temple having incorporated a body of architects with the power ( among others ) of regulating the prices of their labour . This recital was afterwards taken as the record of a

fact , as if the Society had existed uninterrupted from the time of King Solomon . Among the privileges thus granted them by the Popes were those of settling their own prices , of taking apprentices , and admitting and accepting of approved masons into their corporations . ( To be continued . )

Reports Of Masonic Meetings.

Reports of Masonic Meetings .

? THE CRAFT . METROPOLITAN . Grand Ste ; oards' Lodge . —This Lodge met at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday last , when Bro . Jabez Tepper was installed by Uro . Henry Norman , P . M ., into the Master ' s chair , who thereupon appointed his working officers in rotation , according to their seniority in thc lodge , as follows : Bros . Frederick Binckes , S . W . ; J . T .

Swainslon , I . \ V . ; Charles II . Waters , S . D . ; John S . Banning , J . D . ; and John M . Stedwell , I . G . Bro . R . Spencer , P . M ., was re-invested as Treasurer , and Bro . W . Watson , P . M ., re-appointed Secretary . Bro . Noyes was unanimously elected a member . Thc lodge was duly closed , after which the hrethren , accompanied by several distinguished visitors adjourned lo the banquet at the Tavern , and spent a happy evening .

Grand blaster ' s lodge , No . 1 . —This lodge met on Monday , January 161 I 1 . Tlie W . M ., Uro . K . K . Bailey , installed Bro . W . S . Gover Master of the lodge for the ensuing year , who appointed the following brethren to ihe different offices , viz ., Bros . \ V . Trego , S . W . ; \ V . II . Wilkin , J . W . ; W . A . Colls , S . D . ; George Payne , f . D . ; R . Ilerve Giraud , P . G . D ., Treas . ; and E . II .

fallen , I ' . G . S . B ., Sec . After the lodge was closed , the hrethren partook of an excellent banquet , when a testimonial , consisting of a silver tea service , value twenty-five guineas , bearing the following inscription : " Presented to Bro . Edward Henry Patten , P . G . S . B ., in recognition of his valuable services as Acting Sccrelary in ihe lodge

during the past ten years , and for tlie courteous and kindly feelings which havcendeared him lo every member —16 th January , 1 S 71 , " waspresented to Bro . li . II . Patten . There were about thirty brethren present , including Bros . John Hervey , G . Sec . ; John Savage , l' . G . D . ; Joseph Smith , P . G . P . ; and Col . Hogg ( Chairman Metropolitan Board of Works ) .