" Origin Of Masonry."

( Masonic ) Fraternity , " but that is not true . In a work of Edinburgh I have , it shews the arms of the Wright s as " Az ., a Square and Compass or , " and the Masons have " Az ., on a cheveron betwixt three towers embattled sab ., a Compass or . " So

that we here see the Wrights carrying the square and compasses proper . " The united companies of Wrig hts and Masons , commonly known by the name of the United Incorporation of Mary's Chapei , was so erected by a

Seal of Cause , from the Town Council of Edinburgh , dated October 15 th , 1475 ; it sends a double representative to the Town Council , namely , one

deacons for the Wrights , and another for the Masons . " The above engraving of their arms shews the shield of the Wrights to the dexter , and the Masons to the sinister : so that it is the Wrights

which is here placed first . Ergo , how does that agree with Masonic pretensions ? There is also another point here to which I wish to draw particular attention , viz . As above stated , the Edinburgh Masons Only formed part of the

" United Incorporation of Mary ' s Chapel , " consequently the query rises in my mind , what effect would that have upon the minutes of the Edinburgh Masons' " lodge ? " These minutes go back to 1598 , but the minutes of the Glasgow

Incorporaof Masons go back to 1600 ( only two years between them ) , and as the Glasgow Masons , after 1600 , were an incorporation without the Wrights , I would like to know what particular differences or resemblances exist between the minutes of the

Edinburgh Masons' Lodge , and the Glasgow Masons Incorporation , during the seventeenth century ?

In studying the relative status which the Masons held with other Crafts in the community , we ought to examine properly what effect the Reformation had upon them , specially so as to understand whether or not it lowered their standing army ? If

it did not do so in any essential degree , then all the pretentious stories we have heard what the standing and abilities of the old Operative Masons are pure myths . As to the power of the old Operative Smiths see page clvi- of the

introduction to Toulmin Smith ' s " English Gilds . " At pages 156 and 158 a very fanciful and farfetched comparison is drawn between Solomon ' s

Temple and a Gothic Cathedral . The author should know that there is a great similarit y in the description of much of Solomon ' s work , and the style of the Assyrian architecture of the period . From a perusal of the description of the lately

discovered Assyrian palaces , as per Layard ' s Nineveh , & c , we can discover many points of resemblance . Solomon's Temple was finished about 2 , 000 years before our pointed Gothic style arose , and

even at the best , as a specimen of architecture , it was but a paltry erection after all , with a good deal of a'irjo-ei' -bread work about it . O O The Jews were not a nation of builders , henceall that was done in Solomon ' s time was a bit of

copying , and that too by the help of foreigners . There was nothing new in the style of Solomon ' s little Temple , and certainly if its great architectural features consisted in the two brass pillars which stood in front of it , there

is hardly much left to boast of in the way of " Masonry . " Besides , among the surrounding nations there were many temples and palaces [ a