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Article EARLY HAUNTS OF FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
taken and occupied by the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations . We have also seen elsewhere that among other of the principal inhabitants were included the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Lauderdale , two members of the Cabal Ministry ; Waller the poet , and Colonel Titus , author of the pamphlet "Killing no Murder ;"
while from the fact that even before this time a proclamation , dated " 12 th February , 1648 , " was issued from Queen-street by the famous Parliamentary General , Sir Thomas Fairfax , it is no more than a reasonable inference that he resided in one of the houses . Moreover , Leigh Hunt speaks of its having been , in the time of the Stuarts , one
of the most fashionable parts of the town . No doubt a somewhat similar story might be told of nearly every part of our huge metropolis , of every part , that is to say , which is old enough to have anything of a history . Class distinctions were , perhaps , more rigidly observed in former days , and yet the classes themselves mingled more
freely ; and men of rank and fashion Avere to be found living in the same neighbourhood Avith tradesmen and merchants . We have no difficulty , therefore , in realising that , at the epoch referred to , and for some years afterAvards , the noblemen and gentlemen we have mentioned , Avith Lord Herbert of Cherbury , who died there in 1648 , Lord Chancellor Finch , the Conway and Paulet families , the Earl of
Rochford ( temp . 1733 ) , and others , dwelt in Great Queen-street . Its ancient external splendour has passed aAvay just as the green fields have given place to shops and dwelling-houses , and nothing more remains to us than the memory of its aristocratic associations , save , perhaps , what we have called the air of substantiality there is about it .
As our readers are aware , there is in the street a Wesleyan chapel , and , not to speak irreverently of a place of Divine worship , thereby hangs a curious tale , Avhich is told in the pages of Strype . Of course , there were no Wesleyans in his day , and when erected it was used in connection with the Church of England , but this connection was of a
most irregular character , and elicited from the then Bishop of London a very strong letter of denunciation . The man by whose means it was erected was a certain William Bagulej 7 , who pretended to be a minister of the Church of England , and personally conducted the services of that Church and preached its doctrines . HoAvever , he was
nothing of the kind , and on the 22 nd December , 1706 , a declaration , signed " Henry , London , " was published to the effect that , though he had been repeatedly invited by the Bishop to show his credentials as a minister , he had not responded to the invitation , and people were cautioned against having anything to do with or in any way countenancing Mr . Baguley in his ministerial capacity . This was supported by a declaration , dated 21 st December , 1706 , and signed " Rich .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
taken and occupied by the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations . We have also seen elsewhere that among other of the principal inhabitants were included the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Lauderdale , two members of the Cabal Ministry ; Waller the poet , and Colonel Titus , author of the pamphlet "Killing no Murder ;"
while from the fact that even before this time a proclamation , dated " 12 th February , 1648 , " was issued from Queen-street by the famous Parliamentary General , Sir Thomas Fairfax , it is no more than a reasonable inference that he resided in one of the houses . Moreover , Leigh Hunt speaks of its having been , in the time of the Stuarts , one
of the most fashionable parts of the town . No doubt a somewhat similar story might be told of nearly every part of our huge metropolis , of every part , that is to say , which is old enough to have anything of a history . Class distinctions were , perhaps , more rigidly observed in former days , and yet the classes themselves mingled more
freely ; and men of rank and fashion Avere to be found living in the same neighbourhood Avith tradesmen and merchants . We have no difficulty , therefore , in realising that , at the epoch referred to , and for some years afterAvards , the noblemen and gentlemen we have mentioned , Avith Lord Herbert of Cherbury , who died there in 1648 , Lord Chancellor Finch , the Conway and Paulet families , the Earl of
Rochford ( temp . 1733 ) , and others , dwelt in Great Queen-street . Its ancient external splendour has passed aAvay just as the green fields have given place to shops and dwelling-houses , and nothing more remains to us than the memory of its aristocratic associations , save , perhaps , what we have called the air of substantiality there is about it .
As our readers are aware , there is in the street a Wesleyan chapel , and , not to speak irreverently of a place of Divine worship , thereby hangs a curious tale , Avhich is told in the pages of Strype . Of course , there were no Wesleyans in his day , and when erected it was used in connection with the Church of England , but this connection was of a
most irregular character , and elicited from the then Bishop of London a very strong letter of denunciation . The man by whose means it was erected was a certain William Bagulej 7 , who pretended to be a minister of the Church of England , and personally conducted the services of that Church and preached its doctrines . HoAvever , he was
nothing of the kind , and on the 22 nd December , 1706 , a declaration , signed " Henry , London , " was published to the effect that , though he had been repeatedly invited by the Bishop to show his credentials as a minister , he had not responded to the invitation , and people were cautioned against having anything to do with or in any way countenancing Mr . Baguley in his ministerial capacity . This was supported by a declaration , dated 21 st December , 1706 , and signed " Rich .