A Short History Of The Lodge Of Emulation, No. 21.

and distinction they agreed to accept of a Constitution , for which in those clays no payment was required , in order to be placed on the official list of regular lodges . At the period of the enrolment on the Grand Loclge

Register of the lodge which subsequently adopted the distinctive appellation of " The Mourning Bush , " Warrants in their present form were unknown , or , at all events , were

not used by the Grand Lodge of England until about 30 years

THK SKXlOl ! WAUDKX'S CHAII ! AXI 1 HON OF IVORY MALLETS . 1 ' ,-cteiileil hi ) C-uirlet Willi ,, l ' . M . later . The method of constituting a lodge in the metropolis was for the Grand Officers to appear in person at the intended meeting-place of the new loclge , and having

performed the usual ceremonies of Constitution and Installation , to sign a declaration to that effect On the first page of the Lodge Minute Book . For lodges in the provinces and abroad an official document known as a " Deputation " was issued by the

Grand Master to some brother of more or less eminence , generally residing in the district , authorizing him to act as his Deputy in the performance of the necessary functions . In many , I might safely say a majority of cases , the first and most serious difficulty encountered by the historian of a

private loclge is the absence of the lodge records for some period of its history , generally at the most interesting stagethe beginning—when , had they been available , probably much light might be thrown upon the doings of our early speculative ancestors generally , as well as upon the affairs of

the loclge concerned . I regret to state that " The Mourning Bush Loclge" is not an exception , for the earliest minute book now in possession of the loclge was begun on the 24 th December , 1756 , leaving us almost in the dark as to its proceedings prior to that date .

Fortunately a Treasurer ' s Book commencing in 1742 has been preserved . These books will be dealt with in due course at a later stage , but before so doing , I purpose placing

on record every scrap of information appertaining to the lodge which I have been able to glean from a careful investigation of the archives of the Grand Loclge and other available sources . There seems to have been some uncertainty as to the precise date of the constitution of the loclge whose history I

am endeavouring to trace , but had the usual practice in the formation of ;/« c > lodges been followed , there should have been no difficulty in getting the information either by a reference to the first loclge book , or to the Grand Loclge records if the latter existed . Hence I am inclined to think

that this was not an entirely new loclge when it was placed on the Grand Loclge Register and acknowledged as Regular , but that it was originally working after the time-honoured custom of the Operatives , and also of the early speculative Masons , by inherent right . We know that several such lodges existed

long after the foundation of the Grand Loclge . On the 25 th of November , 1723 , thei following motion was agreed to in Grand Lodge and recorded in the Minutes— " That no new loclge in or near London without it be regularly constituted be countenanced by the Grand Loclge , nor

the Master or Wardens admitted at the Grand Loclge . " It will be observed that no reference is made in this resolution to the mode of receiving old lodges into the official fold , I am , therefore , of opinion that in such cases there was at first no ceremony- whatever , but that they were simply placed on the list of lodges at the request of their representatives .

THK JUNIOR WARDKX'S CHAIR AND A QUAINT OLD BALLOT BOX . At that period lodges were only distinguished by the names of the taverns at which they were held , and it was not until five or six years after this loclge was enrolled that it was deemed advisable that the lodges should bear distinctive

numbers . The engraving of the lists of lodges previously mentioned , was the first mode of communicating to the fraternity at large , the number of lodges on the register and their places