An Analysis Of Ancient And Modern Freemasonry.

of facts until after 1720 . We presume there are no minute books of any antiquity to mention in England , as there are to be found in Scotland , or euck would have been produced long ere this . The records of the lodges Mother Kilwinning , St .

Mary ' s Chapel , and others such , are most interesting and instructive , and in the absence of such documents in England we must accept them , as collateral proof of the nature of the operative Masonic Fraternity in England before the

eighteenth century ( see vol . xvii . ) Masonic historians generally refer to the " Revival , " although their statements are very conflicting , and some apparently are written at random . Freemasonry

has unfortunately suffered from the over anxiety of its votaries to prove its ancient origin , when such has never been doubted , hence in searching for veal documentary evidence in support of many of its records , we are disappointed in finding

they are unknown , and zealots , to avoid the exposure of these weak points in our defence , immediately refer us to the fact that "valuable M . S . S . were burnt by scrupulous brethren A . D . 1720 , " and no doubt the evidence sought , perished in this

general conflagration . However , as we have valuable transactions and manuscripts longanterior to this burning of M . S . S ., we fail eutirely to appreciate the effect said to have resulted from this unfortunate catastrophe .

We will just note a few of the many opinions expressed on the modern Masonic era . In the first edition of the Book of Constitutions , published A . D . 1723 ( compiled originally by George Payne , A . D . 1720 , and subsequently compared with and reduced to the aucient records and immemorial

usages of the Fraternity ) , by the Rev . James Anderson , D . D ., we read ( p . 47 ) , that the "Freebora British Nations , disentangledfrom foreign and civil wars , and enjoying the good fruits of peace aud liberty , have of late much indulged their

happy genius for Masonry of every sort , and ¦ revived the drooping lodges of London this fair metropolis flourisheth as well as other parts , with several worthy particular lodges that have a quarterly communication and an annual Grand

Assembly , wherein the forms and usages of the most ancient and Worshipful fraternity are wisely propagated . " In the second edition A . D . 1738 , the four lodges who really formed the Grand Lodge are named , and in the same work it is mentioned that about A . D . 1694 there were then some six lodges in existence in London , " as also

some more that assembled statedly . " ( These statements are repeated in the subsequent editions up to A . D . 1784 ) . In "the manifesto of the R . W . Lodge of Antiquity , 1778 , " it is recorded that about A . D . 1693 , the Lodge of Antiquity , or , as it

was then called , the Old Lodge of St . Paul , with a few others of small note , continued to meet under the patronage of Sir Christopher Wren , and assisted him in rearing that superb structure from which this respectable lodge derived its title . But

on completing this edifice in l 7 l 0 , and Sir Christopher Wren's retiring into the country , the few remaining lodges , in London and its suburbs , continued , without any nominal patron , in a declining state for about the space of seven years . "

Bro . Dermofct , Grand Secretary of the Ancients , does not allude to the subject in the 1 st edition of Ahiman Reizon , 1756 , but in the 2 nd ,

published A . D . 1764 ( xxix . ) he gives his version of the affair . "About the year 1717 some joyous companions , vvho had passed the degree of a Craft ( though very rusty ) resolved to form a lodge for themselves , in order ( by conversation ) to

recollect what had been formerly dictated to them . . . At this meeting * the question was asked , whether any person in the assembly knew the Master ' s part , and being answered in the negative , it was resolved nam . con . that the deficiency should

be made up with a new composition . " "The lodges in the country , particularly in Scotland and at York , kept up their ancient formalities , customs , and usages , without alteration , adding or diminishing to this hour , from whence they may justly be

called the most ancient . Eight persons whose names were Desaguliers , Gofton , King , Calvert , Lumley , Madden , De Noyer , and Vraden were the ceniuses to whom the world is indebted for

the invention of modem Masonry . " The reasons that led Bro . Dermott to throw discredit on this humble origin , are too well known to require notice here . Whatever he might say to the contrary the first name mentioned was sufficient to

give great eclat to the revival . Dr . Desaguliers was a Fellow of the Royal Society , corresponding ' member Royal Academy , Paris , Chaplain to H . R . H . Frederick Prince of Wales , and the author of several papers of a scientific nature ,

several of which were printed in the proceedings of the Royal Society . His influence soon drew around the promoters , a number of highly educated men , such as the Eev . James Anderson , D . D ., a noted Scotch