Inaugural Address To The Masonic Archæological Institute, Upon Friday, 29th January, 1869.

-and shnll be i-. \ -p : >; cd lo ihe raw attempts of unskilful writers at theorising on the history of Masonry , giving us a small amount of facts , not even analysing or testing these , admitting every falsification of history , each forged charter , each scrap of exploded erudition , and overlaying the whole with theoretical

dissertations commenting on the undigested mass . The last century was peculiarly fertile in literary forgery and imposture , anel Masonry did not escape its influence . It is sufficient to cite Macpherson ' s Ossianic epics , Chatterton ' s Rowley poems , and Ireland ' s Shakspeare forgeries , or , to extend the circle , George

T ' salmanazar ' s Formosan language , the Abbe Vella ' s -sham Arabic MSS . in Sicily ( II . W . Freeland ' s Lectures ) , and the arch charlatan , Cagliostro . This spirit is not yet extinct in this day . Witness Klaproth ' s imposition on the English and Russian Governments of a fabricated geography of High Asia , the Greek

MSS . of Simon ides , and the Book of Mormon . In -the hist century forgery was rife , and the narrow field for critical inquiry gave it considerable scope . It was only by chance , and after a time , that the criminal was laid hold of in the open literary world ; but in Masonry he had the sanctuary of its mysteries to protect him , and each wonderful record and impossible charter was received without contradiction and with

applause . It is strange that some of these sham MSS . are less -ancient than the real records discovered by J . 0 . Halliwell and Matthew Cooke ; but the difference is that in the latter case we get evidence which can bo used safely and in extension of our knowledge ; but with spurious datawe only accumulate unsafe

mate-, rial . One piece of work for this Institute will be tho ¦ examination , from time to time , of alleged ancient records , and the removal of those that are proved to be false .

The history of the ceremonies within the historical period of a century and a half has to be examined and ascertained , so that we may know what is old and now within that period , and what arc the remains of the really ancient . This can only safely be done in a society like this . Hence we arrive at a double form of outlabours , one common to us with the learned world

at large , and which we can safely publish in "transactions , " and one which can only be pursued among ourselves and not published . The great mass of our proceedings will , however , be accessible to Masons in general and the world at large , but yet , among ourselves , we shall have restrictions . There will be only the simple degrees which we can discuss in common , one degree beyond , and common propriety dictates that the consideration must be restricted to those who have

participated in the ceremonies of the degree . These -cases , however , will be rare in comparison with the general subjects , which form the scope of such an institution , and indeed they will not furnish the matter o f ordinary , but of extraordinary , meetings . On the other hand , the whole historical matter of these degrees aud rites is open to us as to the rest of

the world . The formation of the Grand Lodge of England and the reconstitution of Freemasonry , wliich was its consequence , are fertile in topics of enquiry . At that period there was a mania for societies of pretentious antiquity and mystery—the Gormagons , the Gregorians ,

and others—the annals of which have not been investigated , nor has any attention been given to the circumstances that encouraged their production . It is by no means impossible that some of these societies may have been Hanoverian or Jacobite , that is , political ; as Freemasonry is said to have been in England during the Civil Wars , and as it is said to have been

afterwards under the first Grand Lodge in France . This observation may be made , which is not undeserving of being followed up , that the chiefs of the English Freemasons were men favourable and acceptable to the reigning government of the House of Hanover , and it may have been this fact which led to the

encouragement of the revived society by political persons high placed , and , consequently , to its rapid development . We want , therefore , in this case likewise , more of the personal history of the leaders of the Freemasons and the contemporaneous societies . A society like that of Freemasonry , which inculcated

loyalty and obedience , was very acceptable to a government by no means firm . It is deserving of investigation how far Jacobites could and did comply with , the ancient charges . The whole history of the revival and of the Lodges anterior to the Grand Lodge may yet be susceptible of further elucidation . Whether the founders of the

Grand Lodge took up or inherited a system of working , yet in the main it was one of Craft Lo-Jges , as the former Lodges are seen to have been Craft Lodges . There could have been very little comparatively of the essential parts of the ceremony or organisation invented by the founders of Grand Lodge , although they and their followers developed it , but the elements

of the system existed in England and Germany in craft guilds . Although there are so many points of resemblance between Freemasonry and the London Company of Freemasons , yet this company cannot well have afforded the exemplar , because the difference in its organisation in some degree differs , and it

cannot have preserved the ceremonies of the working man , from whom its ruling body was practically dissevered . Nevertheless , the records of the Masons ' Company may yet throw light on some general and personal details . It is , however , in some provincial guild of Masons we shall most likely find the

examples followed in the seventeenth century . The whole of mediteval Masonry , with its guilds , customs , and masons' marks , affords good scope for exertion . The influences which led to the adoption of craft forms for organisations of philosophic speculators have yet to be investigated . These may possibly be found

in the necessities for political organisation , but it is much more likely that they were fostered among us by the spirit for such associations long developed among students on the Continent . Of these , the Rosicrucians are an example , and the initiations of ariists in Italy another - , but research will display to us many

instances of such societies . Every possible clue will be traced as investigations proceed , and facts accumulate , enabling us to appl y a sounder criticism to the examination of old and new

facts , and hence we may in time obtain more satisfactory theories . The ardour of some to advance their own special studies will promote the work . Hence we shall have votaries of the Templars , of Mussulmans , of Gnosticism , and eastern initiations and mysteries ,