The Archives Of The York Union Lodge.

THE ARCHIVES OF THE YORK UNION LODGE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 10 , 1861 .

BY BEO . THE REV . A . P . A . WOODFORD , GEAND CHAPLAIN . As I venture to believe that the subject matter of the present letter will not be without interest to some of your readers , I am induced to trouble

you with its contents , in order that other brethren may follow my humble example , and supply Like information as regards other collections , happily still in the possession of lodges in this country and elsewhere . In company with my friend and

brother , E . W . Shaw , who has devoted so much time and talent to the study of Masonic archaeology and is now Senior Warden of the Pental pha Lodge , Bradford , I had , on Friday week , the great privilege of going through for several hours the

various documents still carefull y preserved by the Union Lodge at York . We had to thank the W . M . and brethren for

their kind and ready permission granted in the first instance , and we have further sincerely to acknowledge the great personal courtesy of Bros . Cowling and Marsh , P . M . 's , of Bro . Davison , Sec , and of Bros . Monkhouse and Ward , who were

unfailing in their offers of civility and assistance . I propose now to give you a short resume of the Masonic documents which passed under our notice .

There are , then , in the possession of the lodge three rolls , two on paper and one on parchment , more or less imperfect , of the ancient constitutions or legendary history of our Order . The oldest , on paper , was written , as copied from an

older form , on the 23 rd day of October , 1693 , by Mark Typling , "the names of the lod g" then being , " William Simpson , Christopher Thompson , Anthony Worsman , Christopher Gill , Mr . Isaac Brent . —Lodg Ward . "

The commencement is much decayed , and , unfortunately , imperfect , but what still is legible runs thus : —

" The might of . . . Father . . . Heaven and wisdom . . . thro' the goodness of the . . . be ¦ with us . . . , at our beginning , and give . . . . to governe our lives that we may .... eternal joyes . "

The rest of the roll is perfectly legible and could easily be copied . The second roll , on parchment , was written

and copied the 9 th day of September , 1704 , but it is not said by whom . Both the indorsements are in Latin . The beginning of the second oldest roll , is as follows : — " The might of the Father of Heaven ,

with the wisdom of the blessed Son , thro' the grace of God , and the goodness of the Holy Ghost , that be three persons in one Godhead , be with us at our beginning and give us grace so to governe us here in this life , that we may come

to His blessing , that never shall have ending . " I have given you these two headings in full , because it is a very curious and interesting question how many of these rolls , which still exist in so many of our lodges , are independent and

separate evidences , or are copies and transcripts of one and the same common older form . I should esteem it a great personal favour , if any brother would favour me with the beginning and conclusion of any such like roll , in his own

possession or in that of another lodge . It will be seen that these two forms at York , though very nearly the same , with a slight change of expression , differ entirely from the beginning of the additional MS ., published by Bro . Matthew

Cooke , that they vary somewhat from the Lansdowne , while they almost entirely agree with the two Harleian and the two Sloane MSS ., as well as with the copy published in the " Gentleman ' s Magazine . "

There is a third roll at . York , but much mutilated , and clearly of very modern date . We perused also with the deepest interest , the books and papers relating to the old York Grand Lod ge and the York Masons , which still are carefully

preserved by the Union Lodge . There is a most interesting parchment roll , containing the records of private lodge meetings from 1712 to 1730 . So far no records of earlier meetings have been

found , except the fact of the existence of a lodge in 1693 , as mentioned above . All the lodge meetings mentioned in this roll , which is probably unique of its kind , were held at the various residences of the brethren , seemingly

in rotation , and we have the autographs of the brethren then initiated . Thus the autograph of Francis Drake , the eminent historian and antiquary of York , is found at a private lodge meeting , September 6 th , 1725 , with that of five others . From May 4 th , 1720 , till March 17 th , 1761 , there is a long hiatus , with the exception of a roll