"Eradication Of Error."

modern . " AVe quoted the foregoing fact to prove that non-operatives Avere accepted as Masons as earl y as 1600 , according to existing records , and by so doing , considered that Freemasons Avere not wholly operative iu 1600 , but partly speculative . AVe said nothing about the mark degree in such a connection , because there is no evidence of its existence for more

than a century later , though there Avas a charge made in the Mother Lodge Kilwinning " on choosing the mark , " about the middle of the seventeenth century , and the promoters of the degree in question are evidently preserving an important custom in their ceremonies , Avhich has been

neglected in most craft lodges . But Bro . Norton objects to our terming the admission of the gentleman aforesaid a " speculative Mason , " and also declares that a nonoperative holding office in a Scotch lodge , a long string of gentlemen and noblemen

being enrolled as members , and the initiation of Elias Ashmole and others during the seventeenth century , " do not prove that they were speculative Masons ! " But Ave knoAv that they Avere not operative Masonsand thereforebeing Masonsthey

, , , Avere speculative , for they must have been either one or the other , if Masons at all . " Non-operative " is only another name for speculative , and it is , therefore , idle to cavil about the use of synonymous terms . The question of wages is foreignAve

appre-, hend , to the inquiry , and Avhether Masons got less or got more than other crafts in early days , does not in any Avay determine the speculative and operative aud solely speculative periods of the craft . It AVOUICI be as reasonable to ask the colour of

Bro . Norton s hair , if Ave desired to know if he is in Loudon just UOAV ( as he really is ) , as to expect to decide the speculative character of Freemasonry by reference to the ivages of the crafts . Those gentlemen who were admitted into the company of carpenters in the sixteenth centuryAvere

, certainly speculative carpenters , i . e ., they were not operative , and so Avere speculative or nou-o perative , provided their admission made them virtually carpenters , if not actually , by the communication to them of the esoteric portions of the ceremony of

reception ; but unfortunately , we have not been able to discover any accounts of any such admissions , except in connection with Freemasonry . AVe knoAV that in Masonic

lodges gentlemen were made Masons , and had certain signs , a Avord or words , etc ., etc ., communicated to them ; but we are not aAvare of anything of the kind being clone at the assemblies of the carpenters , tailors or the fishmongers , etc . If there

Avere such esoteric ceremonies in connection with the latter—and there may have been ; Ave only say we know not—then the gentlemen admitted Avere as much speculative tailors , carpenters and shoemakers , as those made Masons in Edinburgh andKihvinning

and Aberdeen were speculative Masons ; so Ave accept such a result as flowing from our adoption of the term speculative , and hence Avhat Bro . Norton thinks is an impediment to the reception of our beliefj is to us its confirmation . AVe should be especially glad to be informed of any documentary proof of our

friend Lyons statement about the " secret modes of recognition among other than Masonic craftsmen being traceable'through several generations . " AVe ivrote Bro . Lyon , on the appearance of his invaluable History of the Lodge of Edinburgh—Avithout Avhich the best library would be

incomplete , and which every Lodge should . procure for the examination of its members —and drew his attention to the statement about the " Squaremen" and their esoteric ceremonies in the seventeenth century , asking for verbatim et literatim transcripts of

the minutes , but he informed us he kneAV of hone , and that his information was derived from some of the present members ! Bro . Norton next tells us that the " rise of Masonic popularity dates with the admission of Wren in 1691 . " This is news

to us , and , Ave think , to all Masonic students who prefer fact to fiction . Sir Christopher AVren , so far as we can tell , neA'er took any part in the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England , 1717 , and there is not a line of MS . which exhibits his connection with the revival of

Freemasonry ; neither is there a scrap of evidence that Freemasonry Avas popular from 1691 , because of Sir Christopher Wren ' s admission into the fraternity , or , in fact , that the fraternity Avas at all popular from 1691 to 1720 !

So much for fancy ; UOAV for fact . Bro . Norton declares that" We have no evidence that purely non-operative lodges , or even lodges wherein the non-operative element