Difficulty Of Ascertaining The Age Of Undated Old Masonic Mss.

only have mentioned it , but he would also have informed us about the signs and ceremonies ; he would not have contented himself with merely mentioning the repast , gloA r es , and " certain

secret signs , " hut AA ould have described them together with the ceremonies of the three degrees . These ludicrous ceremonies as described in the said MS . ATOUICI have furnished him with the

very materials which . vould have delighted him to criticise and to ridicule . His utter silence upon those topics proves conclusively that he had no kind of knowledge of the nature of the signs and ceremonies of the Craft . All that he did possess , was a ritual like that of the Dowland MS . The

information about the repast , gloves , and church steeple sign , he probably ferretted out of some Mason . The church steeple story was probably a joke of his informant . This steeple story was in 1724 improved by the author of the

Briscoe pamphlet ( reprinted in the Masonic Magazine ) . Thus , page 192 of said Magazine we find as follows : "A member to touch the right leg as he goes along the streets , brings a member ( if he sees him ) from his work on the

top of a steeple . " This pamphlet , though a catch-penny , Avas cleverly spiced , and well written , and two editions of it Avere disposed of . The sharper who imposed the trash on the wifcer of the Sloane MS ., improved the church

steeple , sign , with a crooked pin aad a piece of paper cut into a square . ™ hen the owner of all those secrets found that the Briscoe pamphlet was a success , he bethought himself of Waking a penny out of the information which he purchased , but our would-be author lacked the talent in the art- of

spicing , and ccr . — . u ,..,,, } . „ 0 oull . u ami ^ publisher to risk an investment in Publishing his tasteless rubbish , hence Attained in MS . Sir Hans Sloane » nc > died in 1753 , some-how got hold J it , and placed it among his curiosities . lu s is a mere supposition ; but whether

correct or otherwise , no one can deny the fact , that Plot never saw the said MS ., or anything kindred to it . We IIOAV come to the consideration of the older MS ., viz ., those of HalliAvell and Mathew Cooke . Of the former ,

Mr . HalliAvell says , that it was Avritten not later than the latter part of the 14 fch century . Mr . Eel . A . Bond , keeper of MSS ., and Egerton , librarian in the British Museum , dates that MS . not earlier that the middle of the 15 th

century . Dr . Kloss considers it Avas Avritten betAveen 1427 and 1445 ( Hughan's unpublished records of the Craft ) , and our worthy Bro . Woodford says , that it dates back " unquestionably to A . D . 1390 . " Now , with all due

respect to Bro . Woodford , Ave should like to haA r e his reason for fixing fust that date . Our Brother also expressed an opinion , that the poem is composed of two legends , the first ending with the four hundred and ninety sixth line

, and the second beginning with " Pray Ave UOAV to God almyght , " and he intimates that these IAVO parts AA ere originally written by two distinct persons , and these were joined together in 1390 by the person who wrote the

Museum copy . It seems to us , however , that his reasons for that conjecture are not quite satisfactory . True , there is an apparent break in the poem , and with a little more skill the author might have bridged it over . But yet there is throughout an evident unity of design , so as to leave no doubt that it is the

composition of one and the same individual . That priests used to be attached in olden times to the operative fraternities , and that the author of the poem Avas a Roman Catholic priest , Ave need not demonstrate . Equally certain

it is , that previous to the reputed date " . Jl . ¦¦ ¦ ' ¦ - ^ . vi-itv . a m i ^ tjglaud rhyming chroniclers , and rhyming chronicles , Now , our author , attached to a Lodge as its chaplain , and possessing the gift of rhymingthought proper to

, please himself and the fraternity , by putting into rhyme , the laws and ritual of the Craft ; the former he prefaced v 2