The Stuarts And Freemasonry.

members of which , it is alleged , attached a Chapter of St . John and the Temple immediately on the death of David Seaton , the last landless Grand Prior . Viscount Dundee was Grand Master , and wore the Grand Cross of the Order when he fell at Killieeranlrie

in 16 SQ ( so we are informed on the authority of Dom Calmet ) . He was succeeded by Earl Mar , on whose demission , through the troubles of 1715 , the Order fell into abeyance , until the Duke of Athol , as Regent , assembled ten kni ghts at Holyrood House , September , 1745 , and admitted Prince Charles Edward , who was at once elected Grand Master . But no absolute proof

has been given that to this time the order was Masonic , though the Stirling Chapter show some very old copper-plate engravings , hut state that the minutes prior to 1743 , have been lost or carried away in 1745 . Last century the ancient Masons had a Templar degree of priests , which they dated from 1686 as the era of

its establishment , and they alleged that the founders of the modern Grand Lodge of 1717 , having only attained a low grade , were imperfectly informed . However that may be , the modern Grand Master visited Scotland in 1722 , when the annual General Assembly ( if ever held there ) must have fallen into

abeyance , and in 1736 a Grand Lodge on the modern system was established in Edinburgh . The Royal Order of Scotland , Heredom and Rosy Crossclaiming to have been substituted by Bruce for the Templar Order—was placed under separate government . This Order is supposed to have ori ginated the high grades of the French rite , which some allege were established b y the Stuarts prior to the assembly of the French Urdre-du-Templein 1705 under Philip of

, Orleans . However that may be , the badge or jewel of the degree of Rose Croix , is identical with the standard James III . used in 1716 ; and Mr . Matthew Cook informs me _ that he has seen a Rose Croix warrant , granted h y James III . from France in 1721 , together with letters of Charles I . alluding to Freemasonry , in

the hands of Dr . Leeson . Not only does the charter of the French non-Masonic Order of the Temple ( the signatures of the Duke de Duras in 1681 , and of Phili p of Orleans in 1705 , having been pronounced genuine ) anathematise the Scotch Templars and their brethren of St . John of Jerusalembut it admits the

, alteration of the signs and words , to some " unknown to and out of the reach of the false brethren , " which system of signs and words it seems scarcely likely the Order would have had until after its connection with Freemasonry ; the historian of the modern Masons asserting , in 1738 , that the military fraternities had

borrowed many solemn usages from this more ancient institution existing from the beginning . Prince Charles also granted a Rose Croix warrant to the Arras Chapter April 10 , 1747 ; and Baron Hunde , a member of J : hc Clermont Chapter , established a theory , in 1754 that the Templars were connected with the

, Scotch lodges in 1314 . I pledge myself to no particular views in the foregoing , and do not intend to be led into any discussion of difficult or doubtful points .

JOHN YAEKEB . jun . " P-S . —The ceremonial of tho French Masonic Bite connects James I . and tho Templars with Freemasonry , but the Templar in Britain has always included the Order of St . John . The jewel of the French Ordredn-Tcivph is a white Maltese cross , charged with a red

The Stuarts And Freemasonry.

cross patee ; but this is possibly not older than the time of Grand Master Palaprat ( 1804-38 ) . "The first question is , whether one of the alleged facts is authenticated . At all events , many of the alleged cases of the intervention of the Young Pretender in

English and Continental Masonic proceedings are mythical . So assertion of the kind should be received without the document is produced and the signature authenticated . What is true is this , that Masonry in France was chiefly propagated in the early part of the last century by Jacobites , but the Grand Lodge of England was promoted by Hanoverians . Now comes the question , "What did the

Jacobites do ? Did they have secret alliances with the opposition societies—the Gregorians , & c . ? and was the-York Grand Lodge movement ultimately supported by the Jacobite Masons ? I have called attention to these broad facts , and suggested that the political leanings of the various personages publicly connected with Freemasonry between 1730 and 1750 , as Grand Masters , & a . should be examined

. " With regard to Mr . Yarker ' s proposition about Philip of Orleans holding a general assembly of French Templars in 1705 , I also doubt there being any authentic record of that , or that there is any validity in the claim of the Masonic branch of St . John and the Temple prior to 1 G 86 . All these are matters to be decided by historic evidence . "HYDE CIAKKE , " ( To be . Continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

SPECULATIVE EEEEITASOK - ( page 29 ) . Speculative Masonry was manufactured by non" ' operatives , who only made a tool of the operative Masons , in so far as served their purposes . —W . P . B . TIIE LODGE OF GLASGOW ST . JOLOT . I hope Bro . Buehanin his interesting sketch of the

, above lodge , will favour the readers of the Freemasons ' Magazine with an account of the troubles that the lodge had respecting the working of the Mark degree ,,, and which , after all , ended so completely in confirming the rights of the members to work that part of Freemasonry which is now under the authority of two

Grand bodies in Scotland . The Mark degree in Scotland seems to have been much esteemed in years goneby , and the regard for its ceremonies does not decline even now , amidst so much anxiety to incorporate into the ancient system what has no real claim to antiquity .. —W .. J . HUGHAN .

3 IAS 0 NIC EEFOKir . Unless the word of the third degree , as also the ceremonies belonging theieto , which were worked and acknowledged before , say , 1740 , were again placed in the Master Mason ' s degree ( and thus now taken from the Royal Arch ) , I cannot see the wisdom of

separating the Royal Arch from Craft Masonry , as it is evidently , under the present arrangement , the completion of the third . In some parts of Germany the word communicated to the Master Mason corresponds with that of the Royal Arch degree . In that case , " Fiat Lux" would be rihtbut in England his

sugg , gestion would be impolitic and wrong . His views of " reform" favour the Scotch system . It has many advantages , but certainly as a Grand Lodge in its fruits , England makes all others pale . —RES NOH VEEBA .