A Retrospect Of The Past, By One Of The Craft.

gar ken , in the deep recesses of the oak forests with which the country Avas then covered . This bastard Masonry prevailed throughout England and Wales almost up to the time of the Avithclrawal of the Roman garrisons , until Christianity , every

day waxing stronger and stronger , finally stamped it out ; and here it is to bo obseived that it is to St . Albau , the first British martyr iu the cause of Christianity , wo are indebted for the re-introduction of genuine Freemasonry into England . This distinguished character Avas a native of

the ancient Yerulam , a town which now bears his name . In his youth ho visited Rome , where be had an excellent opportunity of studying architecture , as at the date of his visit the Baths of Diocletian , and se \ eral other magnificent works of art , were in course of erection . Returainsr home

lie and his companions brought Avith them a full knowledge of Masonry , acquired in the Roman lodges , aud immediately began to put in practice in this country the great principles they had learned abroad , and the good man occupied himself in

throwing a wall around Verulam , and in building a magnificent palace there for a native Prince , Coeransius , Avhere he Avas afterwards beheaded by the soldiers of Diocletian , for having sheltered a persecuted monk of Chester .

The state of the country during the two hundred years Avhich foIioAved the martyrdom of St . Alban was not very friendly to human progress ; but , as beautiful lichens find root iu the most occult clefts , and add beauty and grace to the most rugged

quarry , so the Christianity introduced by Pelagius and the Masonry introduced by St . Albau kept their hold upon the people through years of persecution and of warfare , until the arrival of St . Augustine gave fresh vigour to each .

under St . Augustine as Grand Master seA ^ eral of the finest of our ancient cathedrals were erected , aud it is an extraordinary fact that the earliest annals of the Craft in this country show that it was thou eminently patronised by the Church and

by churchmen scarcely less renowned than his Eminence Cardinal Cullen . Indeed the only ecclesiastic who ever made an attack upon the Order was Cardinal Beaufort , a prelate Avho Avas certainly no ornament to the Church . The lodges

established by Augustine AA'ere replenished Avith fresh brethren from Franco , and passed under the rule of Bouuot , Abbot of Wirral , who Avas , to use a modern phrase , Chief Commissioner of Works under Kenred , King of Mercia , Under the

Heptarchy , hoAvever , Masonry , as a rule , did not flourish ; but Avhen St . Swithin , of Winchester , received the instructions of King Ethel wolf to repair some pious houses Avhich were falling into ruins it received a fresh stimulus , and continued to floui'ish until the

reign of Alfred , Avho Avas a most munificent patron of the Order , as Avere all his successors , doAvn to Athelstane , AA'hose reign forms a grand epoch in the history of English Freemasonry . It Avas in his reign that the Grand Lodge for the general

government of the Craft was organised at York , which continued to be the head-quarters of the brothers down to the time of the Hanoverian succession . The most illustrious of the Grand Masters

prior to the conquest , Avere St . Dunstan , Avho was also a distinguished goldsnith , and Leofric , Earl of Coventiy , who superintended the Masons employed by Edward the confessor , in the building of Westminster Abbey , a structure which abounds with those symbols , a knoAvledge of the true interpretation of which is confined to Freemasons .

Following Leofric came Guudnlph , Bishop of Rochester , and Roger de Montgomery , Earl of Shrewsbury , and under their rule the ToAver and Westminster Hall Avere completed , and to the latter structure Gilbert de Clare , Marquis of Pembroke , added St .

Stephens Chapel . During the Crusades the Oi'der of Knights' Templar took upon themselves the special care of the Masonic Order , a patronage Avhich proved rather hurtful to the Craft , as it gave origin to a quasi degree , which is in no

one essential Masonic . In the reign of King John Ave find Peter de Colechui-ch engaged in building Loudon Bridge of stone , a Avork which was finished by William Alemain . Passing over the Masonic reigns of Peter de Rupibus , Geoffrey

hitz-Peter , Walter Giffard , Archbisho ]} of York ; Gilbert de Clare , Earl of Gloucester ; aud Ralph , Lord Mount Hermer ; Ave come to Walter Stapleton , Bishop of Exeter , the architect and founder of Exeter College , Oxford . Oriel College , ia the

same university , was built under his superintendence . Tho next Grand Master Avas King Edward III ., but as the business of the State Avas more than sufficient to occupy the whole of his time he committed the rule of the brethren to five

deputies , John de SpouKe , William of Wykeham , Robert of Barnham , Henry Yeucle , called iu the old records the King's Free Mason , and Lemon Laugham , Abbot of Westminster . Of each of these it may be Avritten , as it has been of their i llustrious successor , Sir Christopher Wren , "Si