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Article EARLY HAUNTS OF FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
Ancient Coins . " A copy of this he was requested and promised to give to the society , but , for some reason , the promise does not appear to have been fulfilled . In the same year , however , his " Observations on the Trajan and Antonine Pillars at Rome , " were read in the society , and afterwards published in the first volume of their
" Archseologia ; " and about the same time he communicated to them " A Table of English Gold Coins , from the 18 th of Edward III ., when gold was first coined in England , to the present time , Avith their weights and intrinsic values . " The latter , at their express desire , he printed in quarto , and again with additions in 1745 , while the society
repi'oduced it in a far more complete form , in two volumes , in 1763 . In 1742 he was chosen to succeed Dr . Halley , as a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences , at Paris ; and in 1746 had the honorary distinction of LL . D . conferred upon him by the University of Oxford , a similar honour folloAving from that of Cambridge at a subsequent
date . Of his Masonic career we can say no more than that he was Deputy Grand Master in 1724-5 , when the Duke of Richmond was Grand Master . According to " Kenning ' s Cyelopsedia , " an addpess was delivered by him in 1724 or 1725 , but nothing is known of it , nor can traces be obtained of a medal said to have been struck in his honour somewhere in Italy , most probably Rome .
Though it is in our poAver to say so little of Bro . Ffolkes as a craftsman , it is undeniable that the membership of so distinguished a man of science is an honour not lightly to be passed over . But greater interest undoubtedly attaches to another Freemason of the earlier half of last century , who though not exactl y an
Englishman by birth , having been born in Boston , Mass . in January 1706 , was of English parentage , his father having emigrated to New England about 1685 . This is no other than Benjamin Franklin , to whose newspaper , the Pennsylvania Gazette , we are indebted for much information as to the early history of Freemasonry in that State ; who
was himself a Warden of the lodge meeting in Philadelphia in 1732 ; Avho subsequently became W . M . or G . M ., and who was the first to publish an edition of a Masonic work— " The Constitutions , "—in the States , Avhich he did in 1734 . Having the fear of Bro . Jacob Norton before our eyes , it is not our intention to say that which by any
possibility can be made matter for controversy . These papers are meant to be descriptive of the localities in which Freemasonry made for itself homes in the earlier portion of its career ; in fact , the Masonic particulars they furnish are only of a secondary consideration . Nor is it our purpose to give even a modest sketch of Bro . Benjamin
Franklin , printer , publisher , statesman . That distinguished personage figures in this part of the narrative , because , during some part of his N
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Early Haunts Of Freemasonry.
Ancient Coins . " A copy of this he was requested and promised to give to the society , but , for some reason , the promise does not appear to have been fulfilled . In the same year , however , his " Observations on the Trajan and Antonine Pillars at Rome , " were read in the society , and afterwards published in the first volume of their
" Archseologia ; " and about the same time he communicated to them " A Table of English Gold Coins , from the 18 th of Edward III ., when gold was first coined in England , to the present time , Avith their weights and intrinsic values . " The latter , at their express desire , he printed in quarto , and again with additions in 1745 , while the society
repi'oduced it in a far more complete form , in two volumes , in 1763 . In 1742 he was chosen to succeed Dr . Halley , as a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences , at Paris ; and in 1746 had the honorary distinction of LL . D . conferred upon him by the University of Oxford , a similar honour folloAving from that of Cambridge at a subsequent
date . Of his Masonic career we can say no more than that he was Deputy Grand Master in 1724-5 , when the Duke of Richmond was Grand Master . According to " Kenning ' s Cyelopsedia , " an addpess was delivered by him in 1724 or 1725 , but nothing is known of it , nor can traces be obtained of a medal said to have been struck in his honour somewhere in Italy , most probably Rome .
Though it is in our poAver to say so little of Bro . Ffolkes as a craftsman , it is undeniable that the membership of so distinguished a man of science is an honour not lightly to be passed over . But greater interest undoubtedly attaches to another Freemason of the earlier half of last century , who though not exactl y an
Englishman by birth , having been born in Boston , Mass . in January 1706 , was of English parentage , his father having emigrated to New England about 1685 . This is no other than Benjamin Franklin , to whose newspaper , the Pennsylvania Gazette , we are indebted for much information as to the early history of Freemasonry in that State ; who
was himself a Warden of the lodge meeting in Philadelphia in 1732 ; Avho subsequently became W . M . or G . M ., and who was the first to publish an edition of a Masonic work— " The Constitutions , "—in the States , Avhich he did in 1734 . Having the fear of Bro . Jacob Norton before our eyes , it is not our intention to say that which by any
possibility can be made matter for controversy . These papers are meant to be descriptive of the localities in which Freemasonry made for itself homes in the earlier portion of its career ; in fact , the Masonic particulars they furnish are only of a secondary consideration . Nor is it our purpose to give even a modest sketch of Bro . Benjamin
Franklin , printer , publisher , statesman . That distinguished personage figures in this part of the narrative , because , during some part of his N