Old Undated Masonic Mss.

MSS . give another reason also , viz , on account of llkiclid ' s pupils AVIIO Avere of oentle blood . That Euclid legend , however , was a discovery of a later date ; the Masons who were first forced to adopt the free-born law , kneAv nothing about Euclid's Masonryand that law must have been

, forced on the Mason by the 1385 statute , when the lord Avas empoAvered to take his bondman " as he well may ; " the poem , therefore , could not have been written before 1385 ; but that is not all , for the same further says : —

" The tAvelfth point is of great royalty , There as the assembly holden shall be , There shall be Masons and fellows also , And other great lords many more . There shall be the sheriff of that county , And also the mayor of that city ; Knig hts and squires there shall be , And other aldermen as you shall see . Such ordinances as they make there , They shall maintain it Avhole together . "

The laws of labourers , artizaus , etc ., enacted during the reign of Edward III ., and his successors , must satisfy any man that neither kings , nobles , or other " great men , " temporal or spiritual , would hcTve patronised in those days the Masonic brotherhood by mixing ancl taking part

with them in their deliberations in Masonic assemblies , but on the contrary , the Avhole tenour ancl spirit of those laws demonstrate that the then great men abhored the Avorking men ' s associations as not better than nests of rebellion . The assembl

y above referred to could not therefore have consisted of titled dignitaries , who have learned how to ride the goat , or to squat upon a gridiron ; but it simply refers to the annual assembly of the toAvn or count y officersin accordance Avith the law enacted

, in 1389 . They met for the purpose of fixing the price of labour for the ensuing year , consequently our poem could not liave been written before 1389 . And that is not all , for our MS . further says :

Hie fourteenth point is full of good law ¦ Co him that Avould be under awe , A good ancl true oath he must there swear . * * * # And all these points here before lo them thou must need be sworn , And all shall swear the same oath u * Masons , be they Avilling , be they loth .

The fifteenth point is full of good lore , For them that shall be sworn there , Such ordinance at th' assembly was layd , Of great lords and masters before said . Having already demonstrated that the poem does not allude to a Masonic

assembly ; the oath it administered could , therefore , not have been for Masonic purposes , ancl it must refer to the statute of the 6 th year of Henry IV . requiring labourers and artizans to swear annually to keep the ordinanceand to charge and receive no

, more wages that the assembly ordained . The oath they took there Avas not of their OAvn free will ancl accord , but , " be they Avilling , or be they loth . " As the said statute was not ordained before 1405 , the poem could not have been Avritten before

that year . But CA'en that is not all , for the fifteen articles and fifteen points must haA'e been copied ( exce 2 At the allusions to the Euclid and Athelstan legends ) by tbe poet from an old prose constitution , the age and

history of Avhich was already forgotten and unknown . We knoAv IIOAV that the said constitution Avas Avritten after 1405 , but constant handling for a number of years probably made it look , older than it was . The time intervenincr between the

comp ilation of the original constitution , and the composition of the poem must have been sufficiently long to have obliterated all knowledge of the origin of tiie former , and to have enabled a then Masonic luminary to palm off on the brotherhood its Athelstan oriin . That such was the

g belief of the author of the poem is evident from the following lines : Fifteen articles there they sought , And fifteen points there they Avrought . NOAV , assuming that the said constitution , with fifteen articlesetc ., was compiled in

, 1405 , and that thirty or forty years was sufficient to obliterate all knoAvledge of its origin , so that the Athelstan legend could become crystalized among the brethren ; the poem then could not have been written before 1435 or 1445 .

Bro . Closs dated the poem between 1427 and 1445 , by what method of reasoning he arrived at that conclusion 1 know not . If Bro . Findel is in possession of Bro . Closs ' reason for tbe same , he Avould confer a great favour , by submitting those reasons through the pages of the " Ma ° onic Magazine . "