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Article "THE ALBURY MS."AN ANALYSIS. ← Page 2 of 5 →
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"The Albury Ms."An Analysis.
notes . Finding them , on examination , to be of a purely archaeological and historical nature , and judging they might be not only interesting but instructive , and calculated to rectify many misconceptions and extravagaut mythical ideas , with which view they were doubtless prepared—it would
appear as the basis of some more extended work—he has printed them , suppressing , for obvious reasons , some few but immaterial expressions , so that it might be indifferent into whose hands they might fall . " From internal evidence it is quite clear that the
essay was written within the last ten years , so that to say the least the title is a most misleading one—as one would naturally expect from its name to see some old account of the Masons , instead of a very modern production .
The author declares in his preface that " the great mistake into which writers on this subject ( i . e ., Freemasonry ) have fallen , lies principally in their ignorance of history , and still more in taking vulgar error for fact , and worse still , in pandering to that which they know their readers wish to believe . They allege that symbolical Masonry , as we now have it , existed before
the historic period , whereas the question really is , at what period Freemasonry ceased to be operative , aud became purely symbolical and speculative ?" After this peculiar deliverance we should anticipate the writer would be most anxious
to avoid accepting fiction for fact , and be well versed in Masonic as well as in general history . Accepting the basis of the inquiry as he places it , we have failed to see any light thrown on the subject in the so-called "Albury MS . ; " and the
absence of any allusion to the works of late years , and the numerous discoveries of MSS . and important facts verified during this century , all go clearly to show the author has attempted a task much beyond his knowledge and capabilities . What he
states " as new is not true , and what is true is not new "—so that for all practical purposes it would have been as well unwritten and uirprinted . The introduction deals with " Solomon ' s Policy and Temple" and retails another
, hash of the Biblical account of his times and acts , which formerly prefaced all old Masonic works . Then th e reader is referred to the Guilds : " At a time far anterior to
Solomon the system of castes existed in India , and still exists , and trades descend from father to son in the ensnafs of the Indian population—the country whence the Jewish tribes derived their origin ; it is therefore presumable that Solomon did
little more than improve the organization he found in existence by a quasi military system , and on a large scale . The bodies of men we call Lodges were presided over by master-workers ; the Lodges themselves consisted of journeymenand perhaps aud
, probably , also apprentices . " We should gather from the following extract from the pamphlet , and another to which reference will be made subsequentl y , as to the prefix " Masonic " to the Knights Templars of England , that the " Albury
MS . " lias been written in the interest of those who favour the recent unpopular alterations , three of the chief of which are , to substitute Preceptor for Commander , Preceptory for Encampment , and to abolish the prefix Masonic—formerly a portion of the title .
" The great employers of labour in the middle ages were the territorial nobilit y , who , by their tenure , belonged exclusivel y to the profession of arms , the ecclesiastics , who held territorial possessions , and , in the cities , the mercantile class . To the former
two categories belonged the two chivalric orders of the Temple and Hospital , who , noble by birth or profession , and as lay monks—quasi ecclesiastical—partook of the characteristics of both , and rapidly increasing in territorial wealth , necessarily
employed large numbers of skilled workmen and artisans for the construction and repair of the various farm and other buildings of their estates , and the erection of chapels and conventual buildings —termed preceptory houses—in which were laced
p veterans , or persons possessed of commercial knowledge , for the management of the estates and collection of the revenues —as implied by the term preceptor . " [ Prwceptor , receiver—percervoir les revenus . ] After mentioning that in the
forty-ninth year of Edward , the franchise , or right to elect city deputaries and members of Parliament , was transferred from the ward aldermen to the masters of the city companies , ... " Subsequently ( we are told ) , the elective franchise was extended to all liverymen , and some of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"The Albury Ms."An Analysis.
notes . Finding them , on examination , to be of a purely archaeological and historical nature , and judging they might be not only interesting but instructive , and calculated to rectify many misconceptions and extravagaut mythical ideas , with which view they were doubtless prepared—it would
appear as the basis of some more extended work—he has printed them , suppressing , for obvious reasons , some few but immaterial expressions , so that it might be indifferent into whose hands they might fall . " From internal evidence it is quite clear that the
essay was written within the last ten years , so that to say the least the title is a most misleading one—as one would naturally expect from its name to see some old account of the Masons , instead of a very modern production .
The author declares in his preface that " the great mistake into which writers on this subject ( i . e ., Freemasonry ) have fallen , lies principally in their ignorance of history , and still more in taking vulgar error for fact , and worse still , in pandering to that which they know their readers wish to believe . They allege that symbolical Masonry , as we now have it , existed before
the historic period , whereas the question really is , at what period Freemasonry ceased to be operative , aud became purely symbolical and speculative ?" After this peculiar deliverance we should anticipate the writer would be most anxious
to avoid accepting fiction for fact , and be well versed in Masonic as well as in general history . Accepting the basis of the inquiry as he places it , we have failed to see any light thrown on the subject in the so-called "Albury MS . ; " and the
absence of any allusion to the works of late years , and the numerous discoveries of MSS . and important facts verified during this century , all go clearly to show the author has attempted a task much beyond his knowledge and capabilities . What he
states " as new is not true , and what is true is not new "—so that for all practical purposes it would have been as well unwritten and uirprinted . The introduction deals with " Solomon ' s Policy and Temple" and retails another
, hash of the Biblical account of his times and acts , which formerly prefaced all old Masonic works . Then th e reader is referred to the Guilds : " At a time far anterior to
Solomon the system of castes existed in India , and still exists , and trades descend from father to son in the ensnafs of the Indian population—the country whence the Jewish tribes derived their origin ; it is therefore presumable that Solomon did
little more than improve the organization he found in existence by a quasi military system , and on a large scale . The bodies of men we call Lodges were presided over by master-workers ; the Lodges themselves consisted of journeymenand perhaps aud
, probably , also apprentices . " We should gather from the following extract from the pamphlet , and another to which reference will be made subsequentl y , as to the prefix " Masonic " to the Knights Templars of England , that the " Albury
MS . " lias been written in the interest of those who favour the recent unpopular alterations , three of the chief of which are , to substitute Preceptor for Commander , Preceptory for Encampment , and to abolish the prefix Masonic—formerly a portion of the title .
" The great employers of labour in the middle ages were the territorial nobilit y , who , by their tenure , belonged exclusivel y to the profession of arms , the ecclesiastics , who held territorial possessions , and , in the cities , the mercantile class . To the former
two categories belonged the two chivalric orders of the Temple and Hospital , who , noble by birth or profession , and as lay monks—quasi ecclesiastical—partook of the characteristics of both , and rapidly increasing in territorial wealth , necessarily
employed large numbers of skilled workmen and artisans for the construction and repair of the various farm and other buildings of their estates , and the erection of chapels and conventual buildings —termed preceptory houses—in which were laced
p veterans , or persons possessed of commercial knowledge , for the management of the estates and collection of the revenues —as implied by the term preceptor . " [ Prwceptor , receiver—percervoir les revenus . ] After mentioning that in the
forty-ninth year of Edward , the franchise , or right to elect city deputaries and members of Parliament , was transferred from the ward aldermen to the masters of the city companies , ... " Subsequently ( we are told ) , the elective franchise was extended to all liverymen , and some of the