Masons Of England And Their Works.

Probably some Avill also have expected an account of those " travelling bodies of freemasons , " who are said to haA-e erected all the great buddings of Europe , nothing more , hoAvever , is to be here noted than that I believe they never existed . The earliest mention of them appears to have been pronmlgated by Aubry , at

least before 1686 , Avho cited Sir William Dugdale as haAdng told him " many years since , that about Henry the Third ' s time , ( 1216-72 ) the Pope gave a bull or or patents to a company of Italian Ereemasons to travel up and down all OA er Europe to build churches . Erom those are derived the Eraternity of Adopted

masons . " This statement has been "adopted" by many writers on the faith of those two respectable authorities , but no other evidence adduced in support of it . On the contrary , General PoAvnall has himself recorded that Avith the best assistance he searched for some such papal rescript or document in the Vatican

Library Avithout success ; this was a few years before 1788 , the date of his communication to the Society of Antiquaries . The account relating to these personages , as given in the " Parentalia , " and generally attributed to Sir Christopher Wren , though they are prefixed with the words "he was of opinion , " is to

the same purport , though somewhat enlarged ; and it may be presumed he obtained it from the same source . The careful historian of Scotland , Patrick Eraser Tytler , on the contray has Avritten . " I have in vain looked for the original authorities upon which Sir C . Wren and Governor PoAvnall have founded this description of the travelling corporations of Eoman architects . " It will not be a matter of . further surprise at the Avant of success of both PoAvnall and

Tytler , AA'hen it is stated , that from a comparison of circumstances , Dugdale ' s information most probably referred to the "Letters of Indulgence" of Pope rJicholas III . in 1278 , and to others by his successors as late as the fourteenth centiury , granted to the lodge of masons working at Strasbourg Cathedral . If this be correctit clears up a long debated pointanclI

, , , fear , does away Avith some more of the romance attached to this interesting subject . These remarks may now be closed by observing that nothing has been met , in the long course of reading devoted to these papers , to connect the chartered guilds of masons and freemasons noticed in the

statutes of 1360 and 1425 , and the " artificers , handicraftsmen , and labourers , " of 1514 , with the companies or lodges of Ereemasons mentioned by Ashmole in 1646 and 16 S 2 ; by Dr . Plot in 1686 ; a general assembl y held , someAvhere , in 1663 ; the one into which Sir Christopher Wren was elected in 1691 ; or the

four lodges which formed the G-rand "Lodge at the commencement of the last century , since which period the Society of Eree and Accepted Masons has attained its position and devolpment . Allowing that the fluctuations of population ancl of commerce led to the existence of new towns and the decay of some of the old

ones , thus tending to break up , if not actually breaking up , the ancient guilds or trade and mechanical fraternities ; ancl bearing in mind the very great numbers of foreign workmen who settled in this country before and during the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries , bringing with them the trade traditions and usages of the German , -clemish , and Dutch provinces ; we may think that these workmen joining some of the friendly societies

Masons Of England And Their Works.

they found existing , have probably formed the foundation for the above recorded meetings . Eortunatel y all this is beyond the period included in this paper , and therefore enough may now have been said on the subject of these later times . Throughout this somewhat lengthy paper , I have

preferred giving bare statements of facts placed in chronological order , the greater portion of Avhich have been carefully stated from the best authorities at my command , with slight passing comments for . others to enlarge upon , and there is much more to be done , rather than to propound some fancifultheory of

my own by generalising the matter thus put before you . [ Neither Avould that course have enabled the Institute to place some dependence upon the result of these researches , which may be closed Avith the expression of a hope , that should I have apparently again interfered with what may possibly be prejudices in

the minds of some among my audience , I may at least , without the presumption of thinking that all my views have been established , —be credited with having somewhat cleared the way for any future investigator upon one or more of the various points , to which the Institute has given , on these two occasions , its flattering indulgence and attention . *

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

MASONKT AMOS-GST THE AMERICAN INDIANS . On what information does the statement rest that tbe red men of tbe forest are , in certain instances , brethren , Avithout being initiated in a Avhite man ' s lodgeF—T . B— [ The Eev . Leander Kerr , Grand Chaplain of tbe Grand Lodge of Kansas , in one of his reports on Foreign Correspondence , states that he Avas informed

" by a worthy brother mason , a minister of tbe Methodist church , who had been for many years a missionary among the Chippeway Indians , that he found Masons among the Chippeways , and was himself in their lodges ; and that their signs , grips , and passwords wero the same as ours , ancl that they could not tell lvhen or by whom Masonry Avas introduced among them , but ib was beyond the

memory of their fathers . " On this the Committee of Missouri remark : " It is a subject Avorthy of thought , whence came the Masonry of the Indians ? Certainly not from the white man , because their traditions run back far beyond the discovery by Columbus . May it not be that the learned Dr . Robinson was right in ascribing to the Indian a JeAvish oriinand that the rites of

Mag , sonry , like the mounds , are left as marks of a race whose history has passed into oblivion ? " ] THE MASONIC rEESS . In England we often hear the toast of tho Masonic Press . At a meeting of the Ancient and Accepted Eite in Cincinnatti , Ohio , it was given as follows : —The

Masonic Press—Neither constitution , landmark , nor usage , yet an essential instrumentality in the exposition of all three : Avhile it evolves light by its oivn action , it bears that light on rosy wings to the periphery of our mystic circle . —Ex . Ex . MASONIC SONGS . The earliest compilation of Masonic Songs I have hitherto met with , is "William Riley ' s Fraternal Melodies , 8 vo ., 1735 . Does anyone know of a previous collection ? —* . MATTHEW COOKE , 30 °