Masonic Facts.

MASONIC FACTS .

LOUDON , SATURDAY , MARCH 29 , 1862 .

( Gontimied from page 226 . ) 160 . It is accorded iu the 11 th of Edward 3 rd , 1336-7 , that no man or woman , except the King . Queen , and their children , the Prelates , Earls , Barons , Knights , and Ladies , and People of Holy Church , which may expend hy year an C li . of their Benefices

at the least to the very value , shall wear no fur in his clothes , that shall he bought after the said Feast of Saint Michael , upon the forfeiture of the said fur , and further to be punished at the King ' s will . It was enacted by 23 Edward 3 , c . " o ( 1349 ) , that masons and other artificers , shall not take for their

labour and workmanship above the sum that was wont to be paid to such persons in the said twentieth year , and other common years next before , as afore is said , in the place where they shall happen to work ; under pain of being committed to next gaol . Freemasons , first mentioned as such in Act of Parliment , A . D . 1350-1 , 25 Edw . 3 , stat . 21 , c . 3 . Item . That carpenters , masons , and tilers , ancl other

workmen of houses , shall not take by the day for their work , but in manner as they were wont , that is to say , a master carpenter iiic ? . and another iid . A master ( Freemason ) , iiiic ? . and other masons Hid . and their servant id . ob . Mestre mason de tranche pur iiijc ? . and autre iijc ? ., and lour svantz jd . ob .

Tylers iiic ? . ancl their knaves ( garceons ) , id . ob ., and other coverers of fern and straw Hid ., and their knaves id . ob . Plasterers and other workers of mudwalls , and their knaves , by the same manner , without meat or drink , i . s . from Easter to Saint Michael ; and from that time lessaccording to the rate and discretion of the

, justices , which should be thereto assigned . C . 5 . —Enacted that excess of wages received to be refunded , and delivered to the collectors of the quinzime , in alleviation of the towns where such excesses were taken .

C . 9 . —34 Edw . 3 , enacted that labourers shall not be punished by fine under the statue 25 Edw . 3 , stat . 2 , ch . 5 , but only by imprisonment . A penalty was fixed for bailing them . C . 9 . —Also enacted . And that as well carpenters and masons be comprised in this ordinance as all other labourersservantsand artificersand that the

car-, , , penters and masons take from henceforth wages by the day , and not by the week , nor in other manner , and that the chief masters of carpenters and masons take fourpenee by the clay , and the other threepence or twopence according as they may be worth ; and that all alliances and covines of masons and carpenters ,

and congregations , chapters , ordinances and oaths betwixt them made , or to be made , shall be from henceforth void and wholly annulled , so that every mason and carpenter , of what condition that he be , shall be compelled b y his master to whom he serveth , to do every work that to him pertaineth to do ,

or of freestone , or of rough stone , and also every carpenter in his degree , but it shall be lawful to every Lord or other , to make bargain or covenant of their work in gross , with such labourers and artificers when please them , so that they perform such works well and lawfull y according to the bargain or covenant with them thereof made .

C . 10 . —Enacted that labourers and artificers that absent them out of their services in another town or another county , that the party shall have the suit before the Justices , and that- the Sheriff take him at the first clay , as is contained in the statute , if he be found , and do of him execution as afore is said ; and if he returnthat he is not foundhe shall have an

, , Exigend at the first clay , and the same pursue till he be outlawed , and after the outlawry a writ of the same Justices shall be sent to every Sheriff of England , that the party will sue to take him and to send him to the Sheriff of the county where he is outlawed ; and when he shall be there brought he shall have

there imprisonment till he will justify himself , and have made gru to the party ; and nevertheless for the falsity he shall be burnt in the forehead with an iron made and formed to this letter F in token of falsity , if the party grieved the same will sue ; but this pain of burning shall be put in respite till Saint

Michael next ensuing , and then not executed unless it be by the advice of the Justices ; and the iron shall abide in the custody of the Sheriff . And the Sheriff ( and some Bailiff of the ) franchise be attending the plaintiff to put this ordinance in execution , upon the pain aforesaid . And that no labourer nor artificer

shall take no manner of wages the festival days . The following enactments were made by Parliament in the 37 th Edw . 3 ( 1363 . ) _ C . 6 . —Ordained that artificers , handicraft people hold them every one to one mystery , which he will choose betwixt this and the said Feast of Candlemas ;

and two of every Craft shall be chosen to survey , that none use other Craft than the same which he hath chosen . C . 7 . —Master Goldsmiths shall have a mark b y himself , and the same mark shall be known hy them which shall be assigned by the King to survey their work and alloy .

C . 8 . —For the outrageous and excessive apparel of divers people , against their estate and degree to the great destruction and impoverishment of all the land , it is ordained that grooms , as well as servants * of lords , as they of mysteries and artificers , shall be served to eat and drink once a-day of flesh or of fish

, and the remnant of other victuals , as of milk , butter , and cheese , and such other victuals , according to their estate ; and that they have clothes for their * vesture or hosing , whereof the whole cloth shall not exceed two marks , * and that they wear no cloth of higher price of their buyingnor otherwisenor

no-, , thing of gold nor of silver embroidered , dimeted , nor of silk , nor nothing pertaining to the said things ; and their wives , daughters , and children of the same condition in their clothing and apparel , and they shall wear no veils passing xiicT . a veil . 0 . 9 . —That people of handicraft and yeomen shall

take nor wear cloth of an higher price for their vesture or hosing , than within forty shillings the whole cloth , by way of buying , or otherwise ; nor stone , nor cloth of silk , nor of silver nor girdle , knife , button , ring , garter , nor owche , ribband chains , & c . C . 11 . Merchants , citizens , artificers , people of handicraft , which have clearly goods and chattels to the value of ve . pounds , and their wives and children .