Letter Of Bro. W. J. Hughan, Of England, To The Grand Lodge Uf Ohio.

1701 , and Avhich is to be found in the Voice of Masonry , Chicago , and the Freemason , London ) , never joined the Grand Lodge , ancl finally collapsed , while others accepted warrants and still exist , of which some of the following extracts furnish

examples . Then again there is the history of the old lodge at York to be considered , with records or MS . constitutions from the

sixteenth and seventeenth centurieS j and which constituted itself a Grand Lodge in 1725 , but died out about 1790 , not before , hoAvever , forming other lodges in England ( but nowhere else ) , Avhich children , IIOAVever , also expired during the last century , no representative UOAV being alive .

All these instances prove tbat Freemasonry was worked in lodges before the period of Grand Lodges ; that they were mainly for operative purposes , though not always , for the Aberdeen Lodge in 1670 had more speculative or non-operative

members than operatives , ancl an old lodge at Haughfoot , Scotland ( extinct ) , Avas , so far as Ave knoAV , not operative at all when there were no Grand Lodges , and also afterward . The following extracts also serve to

shoAV the spread of Freemasonry through the medium of the Grand Lodge of England , which really gave the impetus to the progress of the Craft throughout the world .

and the towns and cities mentioned generally saw the light of Modern Masonry for the first time as narrated : St . James Evening Post , September 7 , 1734 . — " We hear from Paris that a lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was lately

held there at Her Grace the Duchess of Portsmouth ' s house , where His Grace the Duke of Richmond , assisted by another English nobleman of distinction there , President Montesquieu , Brigadier Churchill , Ed . YongeEsq . Registrar of the Most

, , Honourable Order of the Bath , ancl Walter Strickland , Esq ., admitted several persons of distinction into that most Ancient and Honourable Society . " September 2 Q , 1735 . —" They write from Paris that His Grace the Duke of

Richmond and the Rev . Dr . Desaguliers , formerl y Grand Master of the Ancient and Honourable Society of Free aud Accepted Masons , ancl noAv authorized by the present Grand Master ( under his hand and seal

ancl the seal of the Order ) , having called a lodge at the Hotel Bussy , in the Rue Bnssy , His Excellency the Earl of Waldegrave , His Majesty ' s ambassador to the French King , the Right Honourable the President Montesquieu , the Marquis do

Lomurea , Lord Dursley , son to the Earl of Berkley , the Hon . Mr . Fitz-Williams , Messieurs Knight , father and son , Dr . Hickman , and several other persons , both French and English Avere present , and the folloAving noblemen ancl gentlemen Avere

admitted to the Order ; namely , His Grace the Duke of Kingston , the Honourable the Count de St . Florentin , Secretary of State to his Most Christian Majesty , the Right Honourable the Lord CheAV ton , son to Earl Waldegrave , Mr . PelhamMr .

, Armiger , Mr . Colton , and Mr . Clement , after Avhich the new brethren gave a handsome entertainment to all the company . " The origin of Freemasonry in France has yet to be Avritten . The statements current for years that a lodge ancl

Provincial Grand Lodge Avere started in Paris under authority of the Grand Lodge of England requires to be authenticated , and so far we have evidence only of the

constitution of a lodge iu that city , noted m tlie foregoing , Avhich , according to the constitution of 1738 , occurred under the Grand Mastership of Viscount Montagu . The list of lodges by Pine , published A . D . 1734 , states that the lodge held at " an Louis d'Argentdans laRue cleBoucherie a Paris , "

, was warranted 3 d April , 1732 . This is the earliest lodge that is mentioned in any authorized publication of tlie Grand Lodge of England . In the list of " Deputations beyond the sea , " inserted in the Constitutions 173 Sprior to the Parisian Lodge ,

, , Ave find the following : Gibraltar , 172 G—7 Madrid , 1727—28 ; East Indies , 1728—9 , Lower Saxony and New Jersey , America , 1729—30 ; The Hague and Russia , 1732 . Doubtless , Freemasonry in France will yet receive the attention it deserves , and as a

contribution toward the accumulation of historical facts we continue the extracts from old neAvspapers . May 12 , 1737 . — "By a private letter from Paris AVO are assured that the Order of Freemasonsestablished long since in

, England , has become lately so much in vogue in Paris , there being great striving to be admitted even at the expemo of ten 2 D 2