The London And Middlesex Archæological Society.

the history of the Clockmakers' Company , and the early art of clock and watchmaking , and described the charter , grant of arms , & c , belonging to the company . Bro . G . Lambert , F . S . A ., read a paper upon the several methods used by the ancients for measuring time .

Mr . Deputy Atkins pointed out some of the most curious specimens exhibited by the Clockmakers' Company . A vote of thanks was passed to the Clockmakers' Company , to Bro . Sir John Bennett , and the several gentlemen who had contributed to the interest of the meetinsr .

A speciai vote of thanks was passed to the honorary director ( Mr . J . E . Price , F . S . A . ) , for the continued interest taken b y him to make these meetings not only successful , but instructive , and , at the same time , entertaining .

Anderson's Book Of Conttitutions.

ANDERSON'S BOOK OF CONTTITUTIONS .

BY BRO . LEON HYNEMAN . AVe deem it a most unfortunate omission in Bro . James Anderson , not giving to the world , in his 1723 Book of Constitutions , some information in regard to the formation ofthe London

Grand Lodge , 111 1717 . His omission to do so , may cause many persons to doubt the brief , incomplete and insufficient statement , published in 17 , 38 . It has , to say at least , a suspicious look , as if the whole story was fabricated , and that no such

organization took place in 1717 . There is not a word said in relation to it in the 1723 publication , no reference to it whatever , no allusion to any such body having been formed in any sense , and yet six years had passed from that time ,

according to his statement in 1738 , when the ^ 23 Book Constitutions was published . It is reasonable to believe that if such an event had taken place , and in which he must have been a prominent actor , that Anderson would not have mentioned

it 111 his 1723 Book of Constitutions . In our opinion , the story told in 1738 is a made-up tale , and an imperfectly told one , considering it took twenty-one years to manufacture it . The 1717 organization is and has beeu universally received by the Masonic Fraternity , and we do not

remember ever having seen it questioned , although Anderson is the only authority , no other writer of that period , so far as we know , has noticed such an event as having taken place , and Anderson , only , as we have stated , twenty-one years afterwards .

An event so important as the inauguration of a new Grand Lodge on the revival of the fraternity , as it is asserted , and all the lodge ' s except four had died out , ought certainly to have been mentioned by Anderson in this first book he

published six years afterwards , especiall y as he was one of the originators , was a member ofthe Grand Lodge , reports himself as Master of a Lodge , and author of the Book of Constitutions . The story of the formation of the new Grand

Lodge is briefl y told , and remarkable for its brevity : In the Convention , if it may be so called , "the oldest Master Mason " was put in the chair . He was Master of a Lodge . Anderson does not give his name , and hence , the world

of Masons must ever remain in darkness in regard to the name of that mythical person , the oldest Master Mason . At the head of the list of the twenty Lodges whose Masters and AVardens signed their names to the "Approbation "

to the Book of Constitutions , 1723 edition , is the name of Thomas Morris , senior Master . If he was that oldest Master Mason ( now the Master of a Lodge ) why did he not give his name , particularly as in his brief report in 1738 he reports the above quotations twice in the

same way , parentheses included . Anderson could not have forgotten the name in the interval between the two publications . But it is only an inference that he may have been that oldest Master Mason . That oldest Master Mason may have died in the interim between 1717 and 1723 . In that pretended organization of a Grand

Anderson's Book Of Conttitutions.

Lodge , Anderson not only puts him ill the chair in the Convention , but at the constituting of the Grand Lodge , which took place "before dinner , " and , after he had " proposed a list of proper candidates , " "Mr . Anthony Sayer , Gentleman , " was elected "Grand Master of Masons , who being

forthwith invested with the Badges of office and power by the said Oldest Master , and installed , was duly congratulated by the assembly , who payed him the Homage . " It would seem that a person occupying such an important position , on such a momentous occasion , and beinsr the

chief actor throughout , that his name ought to have been given to the world as a matter of public and Masonic history . To leave posterity in doubt as to who that prominent individual was , and to publish the name of the person elected Grand Master , who was only a gentleman , does

not speak well for Bro . Anderson s Masonic taste nor for his literary reputation . If that dinner was eaten at the "Goose and Gridiron Alehouse . " where the Assembly held its meeting , and the aforesaid transactions took place , it might be inferred that the Rev . Brother had imbibed to

freely , or the exhalations from the malt , or more potent liquid , had rendered his senses oblivious as to the transactions before dinner , and Rip Van AVinkle like , his memory faintly came back to him twenty-one years afterwards , and he could only recollect partly the events of that important

and august occasion ; but the name of that oldest Master Mason , the life and soul of that whole assembly , had gone out of his memory altogether , never to be recalled . AVere there no records to refer to . No minutes kept in which the name of that important personage , the most

prominent actor throughout those interesting events , appeared ? We make these inquiries to ascertain if there are any records existing of that doubtful movement j because , in all our readings we have not seen any mention of the name of the distinguished Brother who occupied the chair , and

invested the Gentleman , elected Grand Master of Masons , with the badges of office and installed him into the chair of King Solomon . AVe have carefully examined the two Books of Constitutions , the 1723 and 17 . 3 8 editions , of which the Rev . James Anderson claimed to he

the author , and we unhesitatingly assert , notwithstanding the universal credence of the Masonic fraternity and faith in Anderson ' s Books of Constitutions as of the hi ghest Masonic authority , that no more contradictory and unreliable books of authority were ever published by any

institution . AVe include in our statement , not only the history , which few Masons , read but the ancient charges , which are the accepted gospels of the Masonic Fraternity in all lands where Freemasons are found It has been frequently saitl that Freemasons generally are credulous , and accept as true

all the my ths , traditionary stories , symbol s and their illustrations , as veritable truths , and this not only applies to the great masses who seldom read and less seldom think ofthe import of Masonic teachings , and whose Masonry is only and best displayed at the festive board , but applies equally to a great

number who do read and claim to be intelligent , as well as teachers , and many authors of books on Freemasonry . AVe have yet to see a Masonic book written in the United States , that is not in the main , a mere compilation of the thoughts of previous writers with their fabulous myths and

traditions incorporated , as if these were beyond question or criticism . Anderson , Webb , Cross and Oliver , have furnished generally the matter out of which recent writers make books on Masonry , but all are written in the same train of thought , without manifesting any independence of mind

or ori ginal conceptions . A searching investigation as to the truth of any past statement is very seldom entered upon . Investigation , comparison , analysis , seem to be out of the province of Masonic study , and yet "false facts , " as Anderson , the great falsifier has it , anachronisms and errors

of every kind , intentional to mislead , abound in all of the past and recent works on Masonry . Freemasonry needs earnest , close and critical investigators , such as Bro . Hughan , of England , Findel of Leipzig , and a few others , to establish

a Masonic Literature to comport with our pretensions as an institution of science , and to conform and correspond to the truly excellent and humanizing principles upon which Freemasonry is founded . —Voice of Masonry .

The Graces Of The Craft.

THE GRACES OF THE CRAFT .

My muse shall sing no sanguin'd warrior ' s name;—Shall praise no red field ' s melancholy fame ;—Bloodless the victories shall be—I sing ,

Tales of good deeds shall wake my tuneful string . No gloomy dirge;—but my brig ht theme shall be The glory of the Ancient Craft' —Freemasonry 1

O Brotherhood of Love—of faithful trust—Lock that will hold fast hearts , and never rust ; Hands that shall never fail the weak to guard , And hearts unto the woe-worn never hard

;—Ever the drooping one to raise and cheer , Or weeping stand beside his solemn bier;—With ear awake to sorrow ' s feeblest cry , And feet that never pass the fallen by .

Of old , Three Graces had the highest praise , Among the scions of the old world ' s race ;—To-day the Craft herself with triple crown Of Charities is graced—to her renown . One day , where bosky dells gem Surrey ' s glades ,

AVhere trees ancestral fling their cool ing shades—I passed along—and , as I passed beheld The Home which Masonry hath built for eld ; When tottering age may gently dwell in peace ,

Till death from all Earth ' s sorrows gives release . Never may AVaMt unto his threshold come ; But easeful rest for ever glads his home : He softly g lides adown life ' s later way , And feels no ill , save nature ' s calm decay .

A second time I journey d , anear the city ' s towers , And saw a band of maidens fair , at play among the flowers , Each gaily clad in garments bright , of heaven ' s own spotless hue ,

And in the little darlings' eyes—the height of joy shone through . These were the tender orphans of our brothers who have gone , From the Earth unto the presence of the Great and M ighty one ; Ancl each of these sweet children—in the Order

of her Sire Finds home , and friends , and every joy , that mortal can desire ; In comfort dwells—neath anxious care—with those who train the mind , Amid the paths of learning , the best delights to find .

The third Grace ofthe ancient Craft , the Boys ' School then I found , Northward by green and pleasant lanes , where flowery meads abound . AAlthjoy and with an honest pride , may swell the Mason ' s heart ;

As he looks upon the lofty pile—that gem of builder ' s art ! And higher yet his pride may grow , when by love it was , he knows , That for orphan sons of Brothers gone , the noble fabric rose .

These children of the Brotherhood , throughout each happy day—In meet proportion give the hours , to work or healthful play ; On Virgil ' s stately steps they pore , or Schiller ' s

sounding song , AVith earnest zeal they triumph o ' er old Euclid hated long : Or where the sports are held , they strive , in many a sturdy game ,

The muscle and the limb to train , and nerve the supple frame ; That when to age mature they come , their , health y minds may be , In healthy bodies fitly framed , from puny weakness free .

I could prolong my song for aye—my heart is bound to speak , E ' en though my tongue be feeble , and although my words be weak ; For Brother ' s love—the Mason ' s Crown—is

heav ' n ' s best gift to man , The g ift that more than all can cheer this life ' s fast fleeting span . So let the Good Craft flourish , with its love and

truth sublime , As long as our own land endures—unto the end of time . J . B .