Gould's History of Freemasonry Throughout the World

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GOULD’S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

VOLUME 1

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS NEW YORK

REVISED BY DUDLEY WRIGHT

EDITOR OF THE MASONIC NEWS

THIS EDITION IN SIX VOLUMES EMBRACES NOT ONLY AN INVESTIGATION OF RECORDS OF THE ORGANIZATIONS OF THE FRATERNITY IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, THE BRITISH COLONIES, EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA, BUT INCLUDES ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ESPECIALLY PREPARED ON EUROPE, ASIA, AND AFRICA, ALSO CONTRIBUTIONS BY DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF THE FRATERNITY COVERING EACH OF THE FORTY‑EIGHT STATES, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND THE POSSESSIONS OF THE

UNITED STATES

THE PROVINCES OF CANADA AND THE

COUNTRIES OF LATIN AMERICA

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

MELVIN M. JOHNSON

Past Grand Muter of Masons in Massachusetts, and M \ P\ Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, 33° for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States

AND

J. EDWARD ALLEN

Foreign Correspondent and Reviewer Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, Grand Council, Grand Commandery of North Carolina and the Grand Encampment K. T. of the United States

ILLUSTRATED

FOREWORD

GOULD was the Thucydides of Masonic history. The Masonic histories before his day belong on the shelves with books of mythology and fairy tales. Gould also inspired real historical research and study. Vast stores of information have been uncovered since his time which correct some errors made by Gould, and add tremendously to the real story of the past of Freemasonry. Moreover, much has transpired since then. All this requires the present revision.

Outside of its own membership, Freemasonry is to‑day little understood and much misunderstood. At the outset, let us get a clear idea of what Freemasonry is, of its purposes, and a few of its major accomplishments.

Freemasonry is a charitable, benevolent, educational, and religious secret society, adhering to its own peculiar Ancient Landmarks. Its methods of recognition and of symbolic instruction are secret and thereby a test of membership is provided, though a Brother be travelling in foreign countries and among those who would otherwise be strangers.

It is religious in that it teaches monotheism, the Volume of the Sacred Law is open upon its Altars whenever a Lodge is in Session, worship of God is ever a part of its ceremonial, and to its neophytes and Brethren alike are constantly addressed lessons of morality; yet it is not theological nor does it attempt to displace or rival the church. Masonry is not a religion; it is the handmaid of religion.

It is educational in that it teaches a perfect system of morality, based upon the Sacred Law, by a prescribed ceremonial; and it also provides libraries and opportunities for study therein.

It is benevolent in that it teaches relief of the poor and distressed as a duty and exemplifies that duty by relief of sick and distressed Brethren, by caring for the widows and orphans of the Brethren, by maintaining homes for aged and distressed Brethren and their dependents, and by many other altruistic endeavours.

It is charitable in that none of its income inures to the benefit of any individual, but all is devoted to the improvement and promotion of the happiness of mankind.

It is a social organisation only so far as it furnishes additional inducement that men may forgather in numbers, thereby providing more material for its primary work of training, of worship, and of charity.

The sole dogma (i.e., arbitrary dictum) of Freemasonry is the Landmark of Belief in God. No neophyte ever has been or ever will be permitted participation in the mysteries of legitimate and recognized Freemasonry until he has vii viii FOREWORD solemnly asserted his trust in God. Beyond that, we inquire and require nothing of sectarianism or religious belief.

Freemasonry's idea of God is universal. Each may interpret that idea in the terms of his own creed. The requirement is solely a belief in one Supreme Being whom we sometimes call the Great Architect of the Universe. Upon this, the enlightened religious of all ages have been able to agree. It is proclaimed not only in the New Testament of the Christian, but in the Pentateuch of the Hebrew, in the Koran of the Islamite, in the Avesta of the Magians of Persia, in the Book of Kings of the Chinese, in the Sutras of the Buddhist, and even in the Vedas of the Hindu.

"Father of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!" Freemasonry has probably been the greatest single influence toward establishing the doctrine of liberty of conscience. In the midst of sectarian antagonism, our Fraternity's first Grand Lodge was organised in 1717, by four Lodges then existing within the "Bills of Mortality" of London, England. It almost immediately reached out, planting new Lodges and successfully establishing systematised Grand Lodge control over all Lodges, including those which had theretofore met "according to the old customs"; that is to say, without Charter or Warrant but by the authority inherent in members of the Craft who, finding themselves together in a locality, met and Worked.

In 1723, the Constitutions of this Mother Grand Lodge of the World were published. These declared "Concerning God and religion.. Though in ancient Times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves." These Constitutions further declared "No private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, we being only, as Masons, of the Catholick Religion above‑mention'd; we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds, and Languages, and are resolv'd against all Politicks, as what never yet conduc'd to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will." Proselyting has its place in the world, but not in the halls of Masonry. Sectarian missionary spirit and its exercise have been of incalculable value to the human race. However much we should give it our support as individuals or as members of other societies, it has no place within this Fraternity. In our Lodge Rooms, upon the single bond of belief in Deity, we may thus "conciliate true friendship" among men of every country, sect and opinion.

No authoritative spokesman of legitimate and recognised Freemasonry has FOREWORD ix ever engaged in a campaign against or antagonised any religion. (Distinguish, here, between religion and a church in politics.) Freemasonry never has been, is not now, and never will be a party to the reviling of any faith, creed, theology, or method of worship.

The Bull of Pope Clement XII in 1738, and other later Papal Bulls and Edicts, one as recent as 1884, have scathingly denounced Freemasons and Freemasonry. Of the reasons assigned, two are based on fact; one, that Freemasonry is tolerant of all religious creeds; the other, that oaths of secrecy are demanded. All other reasons given are incorrect; so wrong, indeed, that we of the Craft wonder how it was possible that any one could have been persuaded to proclaim or even believe them.

Many members of the Roman Catholic Church have held Masonic membership and office. Until they were ordered out of our Fraternity, one‑half of the Masons in Ireland were of that faith. A Papal Nuncio, as a Freemason, laid the corner‑stone of the great altar of the Parisian Church of St. Sulpice (1733). Some eminent Catholics have held the highest possible office in the gift of the Craft, that of Most Worshipful Grand Master (e.g. the Duke of Norfolk, 1730 31; Anthony Brown, Viscount Montacute, 1732‑33; Benedict Barnewall, Viscount Kingsland, Ireland 1733‑34; Robert Edward, Lord Petre, 1772‑77). If that Church sees fit to bar its members from belonging to our Fraternity, it has a perfect right to do so. It is the sole judge of the qualifications of its own members. Freemasonry, however, does not bar an applicant for its Degrees because he is a member of that or of any other church. Whether or not he can be true both to his Church and to the Fraternity is a question the applicant's conscience must determine. Belief in his sincerity and fitness will be determined by the ballot box.

No discussion of the creed of any Church is permitted within the tiled Lodge Room, and the attitude of Freemasonry toward any and all sects and denominations, toward any form of the honest worship of God, is not one of antagonism but of respect.

If within the power of Freemasons to prevent it, no sect, atheistic, agnostic or supremely religious, will be permitted to dominate, dictate or control civil government. Freemasonry has never attempted to do this, and would not if it had the power.

Our Fraternity asks no man to carry Freemasonry as an institution into his civic life, to vote as a Mason either in the ballot box or in legislative halls, to perform executive duties as a Mason, or to adjudicate as a Mason. Freemasonry has no fear of the practises, policies or acts of any man whose character is sound. Its ambition is to aid in implanting and nurturing ideals of equality, charity, justice, morality, liberty, and fraternity in the hearts and minds of men. It concerns itself with principles and not with policies. It builds character, not faction. Freemasonry will join hands not only with its friends but with its enemies‑though no God‑fearing, liberty‑loving man should be its enemy‑to establish and perpetuate in all nations where it has a foothold l FOREWORD the spirit of this ringing message of our Bro. George Washington, " I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience. " When no Roman Catholic in England was allowed civil or military rights, or even to worship according to the ceremonies of his own religion, Freemasonry joined hands with the Catholic Committee in persuading England to grant them the rights of citizenship and to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences. One of the greatest leaders in this movement was the Seventh Lord Petre, Grand Master of Masons in England and the leading member of the Catholic Committee.

In Colonial America, Freemasonry was the most important inter‑colonial network‑indeed, almost the only thing which the Colonies had in common, save hatred, not of the British people but of the British Crown of that day. Freemasonry exercised a greater influence upon the establishment and development of the fundamental principles of this land of ours than any other single institution.

Neither general historians nor the members of our Fraternity have realised how much that civilisation of which we are a part owes to Freemasonry. Its intangible accomplishments can never be measured. The dollars which it has spent in charity are tangible, as is its numerical strength; but numbers and dollars are not the criteria by which to estimate the value or accomplishments of Freemasonry.

It is the inculcation in the hearts and minds of men of those basic and immutable principles of human conduct, upon which all social compacts rest and a departure from which inevitably brings chaos, that organised Masonry seeks accomplishment. Worship of God cannot be measured in volts, morality in gallons, friendship in pounds, love in dollars, or altruism in inches; yet these are vastly more essential to the peace and happiness of man than material things which have three dimensions, or than energy and motion capable of statistical tabulation. Indeed, the preservation of civilisation depends upon a true reflection of these qualities of mind and soul. No statistician can possibly measure the results of such endeavour. It is through these good works that Freemasonry desires to be known rather than by compilations and formulas.

Down through the years, not only here but in many other lands, Freemasonry has been instilling and cultivating ideals‑ideals of worship of God, of liberty of conscience, of truth, equality, charity, liberty, justice, morality, and fraternity, in the hearts and minds of men.

Based always upon the sure foundation of the worship of God, the greatest of these in its effects upon human contacts is fraternity ‑ call it brotherly love, the second great commandment or the Golden Rule, if you will.

Our charitable, benevolent, educational, and religious Fraternity has for its main purpose to‑day the propagation of this one and only cement or bond FOREWORD xi of human society which is local, national and international. Without it, the centrifugal forces of disorder, destruction, iconoclasm, hate, jealousy, and envy, ever active, would send our whirling civilisation flying into atoms.

Love, as the basis of national and international relations, has never yet been tried. Power, might, and authority, physical and financial and even ecclesiastical, have been tried and have failed. Here, then, is the great secret of Freemasonry‑a secret only because the world will not heed it. Striving onward, day by day, in the midst of what sometimes seems to threaten a return to chaos, our Fraternity persists in cultivating and disseminating these ideals, these landmarks of civilisation, and in reaching forward to that millennial day when love shall rule the world.

Then shall there be no more need of Declarations of Independence. Rather, shall there be Declarations of Dependence of man upon his fellowmen, of city upon its contacting communities, of State upon its neighbour States, of nation upon its sister nations. To preserve and broaden such ideals, Freemasonry at the end of centuries, confidently looks forward into the centuries which are to come. Our backs are to the past; our faces to the future. Ahead lies our duty ‑our opportunity.

These are the ideals and an indication of the accomplishments of the greatest Fraternity the world has ever known. Such a Fraternity should have its history recorded in order that its own members, as well as the profane, may know the part which it has played, is playing, and should play in a world which more than ever needs its wholesome influence. This is my purpose in sharing in the compilation of this history.

MELVIN M. JOHNSON.

CONTENTS

VOLUME I

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION ‑ THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES ‑ THE ESSENES ‑ THE ROMAN

COLLEGIA ‑ THE CULDEES

CHAPTER TWO

THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS

CHAPTER THREE

THE STONEMASONS (STEINMETZEN) OF GERMANY 64

CHAPTER FOUR

THE CRAFT GUILDS CORPS D'ETAT) OF FRANCE

CHAPTER FIVE

THE COMPANIONAGE, OR LES COMPAGNONS DU TOUR DE FRANCE

CHAPTER SIX

MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY 120

CHAPTER SEVEN

MASONS' MARKS 142

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS

CHAPTER NINE

APOCRYPHAL MANUSCRIPTS 202

CHAPTER TEN

THE QUATUOR CORONATI 221 xlll 24 86 99 154 xiv

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE MASONS' COMPANY, LONDON

CHAPTER TWELVE

EARLY BRITISH FREEMASONRY ‑ ENGLAND, I PAGE 24I 159

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EARLY BRITISH FREEMASONRY ‑ ENGLAND, II 307

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME I

George Washington as Master of Alexandria Lodge, No. 22 ‑ (Colour) Frontispiece PACING PAGE Seals and Tokens of Continental Guilds, I 68 Seals and Tokens of Continental Guilds, II 78 Arms of Masons, Carpenters, etc., I 86 (Compagnons.) A Procession of the Fellow Craft ioo A Series of Fifteen English and French Freemasonry Prints of 1745‑1757 1809‑1812‑ inserted between pages‑ 12‑o and 12.1 Masons' Marks, I 146 Masons' Marks, II 148 Masons' Marks, III 150 Arms of Masons, Carpenters, etc., II 2‑44 Frontispiece to Anderson's Book of Constitutions, 1723 2.62 A Masonic Sesqui‑centenary Celebrated by Loyal Lodge at Barnstaple, North Devon, September 24, 1933 310 An Interior View of the Guildhall, During the Masonic Sesqui‑centenary Celebration at Barnstaple, North Devon, September 24, 1933 32.0 Presidents of the United States, Members of the Masonic Fraternity George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt At end of volume The Iron Worker and King Solomon 8 I 1 GOULD'S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOLUME I i A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOL. I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION‑THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES‑THE ESSENES‑THE ROMAN COLLEGIA‑THE CULDEES

UP to a comparatively recent period, the History and Antiquities of Freemasonry were involved in a cloud of darkness and uncertainty. Treated as a rule with a thinly veiled contempt by men of letters, the subject was, in a great measure, abandoned to writers with whom enthusiasm supplied the place of learning, whose principal qualification for their task was membership of the Fraternity. On the other hand, however, it must fairly be stated that the few literati who wrote upon this uncongenial theme evinced an amount of credulity which, to say the least, was commensurate with their learning and, by laying their imaginations under contribution for the facts which were essential to the theories they advanced, confirmed the pre‑existing belief that all Masonic history is untrue. Thus Hallam, in his Middle Ages (18 5 6, vol. iii, p. 3 5 9), wrote: "The curious subject of Freemasonry has been treated of only by panegyrists or calumniators, both equally mendacious." The vagaries of this latter class have been pleasantly characterized as "the sprightly and vivacious accounts of the modern Masonic annalists, who display in their histories a haughty independence of facts, and make up for the scarcity of evidence by a surprising fecundity of invention. `Speculative Masonry,' as they call it, seems to have favoured them with a large portion of her airy materials and with ladders, scaffolding and bricks of air, they have run up their historical structures with wonderful ease." Thus wrote Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Armstrong, of Grahamstown, in The Christian Kemembrancer, July 1 847. The critical reader is indeed apt to lament that leaders of the creationist school have not followed the example of Aristotle, whose " wisdom and integrity " Lord Bacon in The Advancement of Learning commends, in having " cast all prodigious narrations which he thought worthy the recording into one book, that such whereupon observation and rule was to be built, should not be mingled or weakened with matter of doubtful credit." In this connexion may be cited Pitt Taylor's original edition of Professor Greenleaf's Law of Evidence. The various American Law Reports quoted therein are lettered A, B, C, D, in accordance with the relative estimation in which they were held by the profession. Some classification of this kind would be of great assistance to the student of Masonic antiquities.

I z

THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY

A new and more critical school has, however, at length arisen, which, while doing much to place the subject on a sound historical basis, has yet left something to be desired.

The publication of a General History of Freemasonry, by J. G. Findel (of Leipsic) in 1861 (Geschichte der Freimaurerei), marks a distinct era in the progress of Masonic literature. No universal history of the Masonic Craft (at all worthy of the name) had previously been compiled and the dictum of the Chevalier de Bonneville was generally acquiesced in, " That the span of ten men's lives was too short a period for the execution of so formidable an undertaking." The second (and revised) English edition of this work was published by Kenning in 1869.

Findel's work is a highly meritorious compilation and reflects great credit upon his industry. The writings of all previous Masonic authors appear to have been consulted, but the value of his history would have been much enhanced by a more frequent reference to authorities. He seems, indeed, to labour under a complete incapacity to distinguish between the relative degrees of value of the authorities he is attempting to analyse; but, putting all demerits on one side, his History of Freemasonry forms a very solid contribution to our stock of Masonic facts and, from his faculty of lucid condensation, has brought, for the first time within popular comprehension, the entire subject to the elucidation of which its scope is directed. Prehistoric Masonry is dealt with very briefly, but this branch of archaeological research has been taken up by G. F. Fort (Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, 1876), who, in an interesting volume of 481 pages, devoted entirely to the "Antiquities" of the Society, discusses very ably and clearly the legendary or traditionary history of the Fraternity.

The design of the present work is to embody in a single publication the legendary and the authentic histories of the Craft. The introductory portion will cover the ground already occupied by Fort and then will be traversed the field of research over which Findel has travelled. The differences from these writers will be material, both as regards the facts they accept and the inferences they have drawn and the record of occurrences will necessarily vary somewhat from theirs, whilst the general conclusions will be as novel as it is hoped they may prove to be well founded.

At the outset it may be remarked that the actual History of Freemasonry can only, in strictness, be deemed to commence from the period when the chaos of mythical traditions is succeeded by the era of Lodge records. This epoch cannot be very readily determined. The circumstances of the Lodges, even in North and South Britain, were dissimilar. In Scotland the veritable proceedings of Lodges for the year 15 99, as entered at the time in their minute‑books, are still extant. In England there are no Lodge minutes ranging back even into the seventeenth century and the records of but a single Lodge (Alnwick) between 1700 and the date of formation of the first Grand Lodge (1717). For the sake of convenience, therefore, the mythico‑historical period of Freemasonry will be held to have extended to 1717 and the special circumstances which distinguish the early Masonry of Scotland THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY 3 from that of its sister kingdom will, to the extent that may be requisite, be further considered when the histories of the British Grand Lodges are separately treated.

The period, therefore, antedating the era of Grand Lodges (1717), will be examined in the introductory part of this work.

In dealing with what Fort has happily styled the "Antiquities of Freemasonry," whilst discussing, at some point or other, all or nearly all the subjects this writer has so dexterously handled, the method of treatment adopted will, nevertheless, vary very much from the system he has followed.

In the progress of the inquiry it will be necessary to examine the leading theories with regard to the origin of Freemasonry that have seemed tenable to the learned. These will be subdivided into two classes, the one being properly introductory to the general bulk of evidence that will be adduced in the chapters which next follow ; and the other, claiming attention at a later stage, just before we part company with the " Antiquities " and emerge from the cloud‑land of legend and tradition into the domain of authentic history.

The sources to which the mysteries of Freemasonry have been ascribed by individual theorists are too numerous to be particularized, although some of the more curious will be briefly reviewed.

Two theories or hypotheses stand out in bold relief‑the conjectural origin of Freemasonry as disclosed in the pages of the Parentalia (or Memoirs of the Family of the Wrens, 1750, p. 306) and its more recent derivation from the customs of the German Steinmetzen (Fallon, Winzer, Findel, Steinbrenner and Fort). Each of these speculations has had its day. From 1750 until the publication of Findel's History (1861), the theory of "travelling Masons " ‑ ascribed to Wren‑held possession of our encyclopxdias. The German supposition has since prevailed, but an attempt will be made to show that it rests upon no more solid foundation of fact than the hypothesis it displaced.

In successive chapters will be discussed the various matters or subjects germane to the general inquiry whilst, in a final examination, the relation of one topic to another, with the conclusions that may rightly be drawn from the scope and tenor of the entire evidence, will be duly presented.

It has been well said, "that we must despair of ever being able to reach the fountain‑head of streams which have been running and increasing from the beginning of time. All that we can aspire to do is only to trace their course backward, as far as possible, on these charts that now remain of the distant countries whence they were first perceived to flow" (Brand's Popular Antiquities, 1849, vol. i, p. ix). It has also to be borne in mind that as all trustworthy history must necessarily be a work of compilation, the imagination of the writer must be held in subjection. He can but use and shape his materials and these unavoidably will take a somewhat fragmentary form.

Past events leave relics behind them more certainly than future events cast shadows before them. From the records that have come down to us, an endeavour will be made to present, as far as possible, the leading features of the real Antiquities 4 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY of Freemasonry, that every reader may test the soundness of the general conclusions by an examination of the evidence upon which they are based. It must ever be recollected that " a large proportion of the general opinions of mankind are derived merely from authority and are entertained without any distinct understanding of the evidence on which they rest, or the argumentative grounds by which they are supported" (Sir G. C. Lewis : On the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion, p. 7). Lord Arundell of Wardour says (Tradition, principally with reference to Mythology and the Lazy of Nations, 1872, p. 13 9) : " Knowledge in many departments is becoming more and more the traditions of experts and must be taken by the outside world on faith." From this reproach, it will not be contended that the Freemasons of our own day merit an exemption, but the stigma, if such it be, under which they rest must assuredly be deemed to attach with even greater force to the inaccurate historians by whom they have been misled. It is true, no doubt, that the historian has no rules as to exclusion of evidence or incompetency of witnesses. In his court every document may be read, every statement may be heard. But, in proportion as he admits all evidence indiscriminately, he must exercise discrimination in judging of its effect. (See Lewis : Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics, vol. i, p. 196.) There is, indeed, no doubt that long habit, combined with a happy talent, may enable a person to discern the truth where it is invisible to ordinary minds possessing no special advantages. In order, however, that the truth so perceived should recommend itself to the convictions of others, it is a necessary condition that it should admit of proof which they can understand. (See Lewis: An Inquiry into the Credibility of the Early Roman History, vol. i, p. 14.) Much of the early history of Freemasonry is so interspersed with fable and romance that, however anxious we may be to deal tenderly with long‑cherished legends and traditions, some, at least, of these familiar superstitions‑unless we choose to violate every canon of historical criticism‑must be allowed to pass quietly into oblivion. The following mode of determining the authenticity of the Legends of the Saints, without dishonouring the authority of the Church or disturbng the faith of her children, suggests indeed one way out of the difficulty : " Les legendes sont dans 1'ordre historique ce que les reliques des saints sont dans le culte. 11 y a des reliques authentiques et des legendes certaines, des reliques evidemment fausses et des legendes evidemment fabuleuses, enfin des reliques douteuses et des legendes seulement probables et vraisemblables. Pour les legendes comme pour les reliques l'Eglise consacre ce qui est certain, proscrit le fableux et permet le douteux sans le consacrer " (Cours. d'Hist. Eccl., par l'Abbe Blanc, P. 5 52). In dealing with this subject, it is difficult‑indeed, almost impossible‑to lay down any fixed rules for our guidance. All the authorities seem hopelessly at variance. Gibbon states, " the Germans, in the days of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters. . . . Without that artificial help, the human memory ever dissipates or corrupts the ideas entrusted to her charge." " To this," says Lord Arundell (op. cit., pp. 120, 12 i), " I reply, that, although records are valuable for the attesta‑ THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY 5 tion, they are not guarantees for the fidelity of tradition. When mankind trusts mainly to tradition, the faculties by which it is sustained will be more strongly developed and the adaptation of societyfor its transmission more exactly conformed." Yet, if we turn to one of the greatest masters of historical criticism, the comforting assurance of Lord Arundell is seriously assailed. " A tradition," says Sir George Lewis, " should be proved by authentic evidence to be not of subsequent growth, but to be founded on a contemporary recollection of the fact recorded. A historical event may be handed down by oral tradition, as well as by a contemporary written record ; but, in that case, satisfactory proof must be given that the tradition is derived from contemporary witnesses " (On the Influence of Authority, etc., p. go).

The principle just enunciated is, however, demurred to by another high authority, whose words have a special bearing upon the point under consideration. The learned author of The Language and Literature of Ancient Greece observes : " We have without hesitation repudiated the hypercritical doctrine of a modern school of classical antiquaries that, in no case whatever, is the reality of any event or person to be admitted unless it can be authenticated by contemporaneous written evidence. If this dogmatical rule be valid at all, it must be valid to the extent of a condemnation of nearly the whole primitive annals of Greece down to the first rise of authentic history about the epoch of the Persian War. The more rational principle of research is, that the historical critic is entitled to test the truth or falsehood of national tradition by the standard of speculative historical probability. The general grounds of such speculative argument in favour of an element of truth in oral tradition admit of being ranged under the following heads First, The comparative recency of the age in which the event transmitted is supposed to have taken place and the proportionally limited number of stages through which the tradition has passed. Secondly, The inherent probability of the event and, more especially, the existence of any such close connexion in the ratio of cause and effect between it and some other more recent and better attested event, as might warrant the inference, even apart from the tradition on the subject, that the one was the consequence of the other. Thirdly, The presumption that, although the event itself may not have enjoyed the benefit of written transmission, the art of writing was, at the period from which the tradition dates, sufficiently prevalent to check, in regard to the more prominent vicissitudes of national history, the licence in which the popular organs of tradition in a totally illiterate age are apt to indulge " (W. Mute, A Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece, 1853, vol. iv, pp. 317, 318).

The principle to be observed in inquiries of this character appears, indeed, up to a certain point, to have been best laid down by Dr. Isaac Taylor, who says " A notion may weigh against a notion, or one hypothesis may be left to contend with another ; but an hypothesis can never be permitted, even in the slightest degree, to counterbalance either actual facts, or direct inferences from such facts. This preference of facts and of direct inductions to hypotheses, however ingenious or specious they may be, is the great law of modern science, which none but dreamers attempt to violate. Now, the rules of criticism and the laws of historical evidence 6 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY are as much matters of science as any other rules or laws derived by careful induction from a mass of facts " (The Process of Historical Proof, 18z8, p.3). In another part of this work (p. z62) the author says : " Our part is to scrutinize as carefully as we can the validity of the proofs ; not to weigh the probability of the factsa task to which we can scarcely ever be competent." The last branch of this definition carries us a little farther than we can safely go.

In the main, however, whilst carefully discarding the plainly fabulous narrations with which the Masonic system is encumbered, the view to which Schlegel has given expression is, perhaps, the one it would be well to adopt. He says : " I have laid it down as an invariable maxim to follow historical tradition and to hold fast by that clue, even when many things in the testimony and declarations of tradition appear strange and almost inexplicable, or at least enigmatical ; for as soon as, in the investigations of ancient history, we let slip that thread of Ariadne, we can find no outlet from the labyrinth of fanciful theories and the chaos of clashing opinions " (Philosophy of History, 183 S, vol. i, p. 29).

"The origin and source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry," says Dr. Mackey, " has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among Masonic scholars than any other topic in the literature of the institution." Indeed, were the books collected in which separate theories have been advanced, the dimensions of an ordinary library would be insufficient for their reception. For the most part, it may be stated that each commentator (as observed by Horace Walpole in the case of Stonehenge) has attributed to his theme that kind of antiquity of which he himself was most fond. Of Stonehenge it has been asserted " that nearly every prominent historical personage from the Devil to the Druids have at one time or another been credited with its erection‑the latter, however, enjoying the suffrages of the archeologists." Both the Devil and the Druids have had a large share ascribed to them in the institution of Freemasonry. In India, even at the present day, the Masonic Hall, or other place of meeting for the Lodges, is familiarly known as the "Shaitan" Bungalow, or Devil's house, whilst the Druidical theory of Masonic ancestry, although long since abandoned as untenable, was devoutly believed in by a large number of Masonic writers, whose works are even yet in demand.

The most fanciful representative of this school appears to have been Cleland, though Godfrey Higgins treads closely at his heels. The former, writing in 1766, presents a singular argument, which slightly abridged is as follows : "Considering that the May (May‑pole) was eminently the great sign of Druidism, as the Cross was of Christianity, is there anything forced or far‑fetched in the conjecture that the adherents to Druidism should take the name of Men of the May or Mays‑sons ? " This is by no means an unfair specimen of the conjectural etymology which has been lavishly resorted to in searching for the derivation of the word Mason. Dr. Mackey, after citing many derivations of this word, proceeds : " But all of these fanciful etymologies, which would have terrified Bopp, Grimm, Muller, or any other student of linguistic relations, forcibly remind us of the French epigrammist, THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY 7 who admitted that alphina came from equus, but that in so coming it had very considerably changed its route " (Encyclopadia of Freemasonry, p. 489). All known languages appear to have been consulted, with the natural result of enveloping the whole matter in confusion, the speculations of the learned (amongst whom figures Lessing, one of the first literary characters of his age) being honourably distinguished by their greater freedom of exposition. It is generally assumed that, in the ancient oriental tongues, the few primitive words must needs bear many different significations and the numerous derivatives be infinitely equivocal. Hence anything may be made of names, by turning them to oriental sounds, so as to suit every system past, present, and to come. "And when anyone is at a loss," says Warburton, " in this game of crambo, which can never happen but by being duller than ordinary, the kindred dialects of the Chaldee and Arabic lie always ready to make up their deficiencies " (Divine Legation, vol. ii, p. zzo, where he also says: "I have heard of an old humorist and a great dealer in etymologies, who boasted that he not only knew whence words came, but whither they were going ").

The connexion of the Druids with the Freemasons has, like many other learned hypotheses, both history and antiquity obstinately bent against it; but not more so, however, than its supporters are against history and antiquity, as from the researches of recent writers may be readily demonstrated. The whole question has been thoroughly discussed in Dudley Wright's Druidism, The Ancient Faith of Britain, where a full bibliography will also be found. Clinch, with a great parade of learning, has endeavoured to identify Freemasonry with the system of Pythagoras and, for the purpose of comparison, cites no fewer than fifteen particular features or points of resemblance which are to be found, he says, in the ancient and in the modern institutions. "Let the Freemasons," he continues, " if they please, call Hiram, King of Tyre, an architect, and tell each other, in bad rhymes, that they are the descendants of those who constructed the temple of Solomon. To me, however, the opinion which seems decisive is, that the sect has penetrated into Europe by means of the gypsies." See "Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry " in Anthologia Hibernica, vol. iii, pp. 34,178, 279, and 421. W. Simson, in his History of the Gypsies, 1865, pp. 456,457, says : "Not only have they had a language peculiar to themselves, but signs as exclusively theirs as are those of the Freemasons. The distinction consists in this people having blood, language, a cast of mind and signs, peculiar to itself." The learned author of Ernst and Falk and Nathan der W>eise, Gottfried Ephraim Lessing, was of opinion that the Masonic institution had its origin in a secret association of Templars, long existent in London, which was shaped into its present form by Sir Christopher Wren. That the society is, in some way or other, a continuation of that of the Templars has been widely credited. The Abbe Barruel supported this theory in Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, translated by the Hon. Robert Clifford (2d edit., 1798). Edmund Burke wrote to Barruel, May 1, 1797, on the publication of his first volume, expressing an admiration of the work which posterity has failed to ratify. He says: "The whole of the wonderful 8 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY narrative is supported by documents and proofs (?) with the most juridical regularity and exactness." This theory has endured to the present day (see Frost's Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1876, vol. i, p. 22) and, more recently, found an eloquent exponent in E. T. Carson, of Cincinnati, U.S.A. Notwithstanding the entire absence of historical corroboration, it has been adopted by many writers of ability and has exercised no inconsiderable influence in the fabrication of what are termed "High Degrees" and in the invention of Continental Rites. The subject will be discussed more fully in a later chapter of the present work.

Nicholai, a learned bookseller of Berlin, advanced, in 1782, a singular hypothesis in I>ersuch fiber die Beschuldigungen. French and English translations respectively of the appendix to this work (which contains Nicholai's Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry) will be found in Thory's Acta Latomorum and in the Freemasons' Quarterly Review, 1853, p. 649. His belief was that Lord Bacon, influenced by the writings of Andrea, the alleged founder of the Rosicrucians and of his English disciple, Robert Fludd, gave to the world his New Atlantis, a beautiful apologue in which are to be found many ideas of a Masonic character. John Valentine Andrea was born in 1586 and died in 16 S4. The most important of his works (or of those ascribed to his pen) are the Fama Fraternitatis and the Chemical Marriage (Chemische Hockeit), published circa 1614 and 1616 respectively. It has been stated " that Fludd must be considered as the immediate father of Freemasonry, as Andrea was its remote father ! " (Freemasons' Magazine, April 18 5 8).

A ship which had been detained at Peru for one whole year, sails for China and Japan by the South Sea. In stress of weather the weary mariners gladly make the haven of a port of a fair city, which they find inhabited by Christians. They are brought to the strangers' house, the revenue of which is abundant; thirty‑seven years having elapsed since the arrival of similar visitors. The governor informs them "of the erection and institution, 1900 years ago, of an order or society by King Solamena, the noblest foundation that ever was upon the earth and the lanthorn of the kingdom." It was dedicated to the study of the works and creatures of God and appears to have been indifferently described as "Solomon's House," or "The College of the Six Days' Works." During the stay of the visitors at this city (in the Island of Bensalem), one of the fathers of "Solomon's House " came there and the historiographer of the party had the honour of an interview, to whom the patriarch, in the Spanish tongue, gave a full relation of the state of the " College." " Firstly," he said, " I will set forth unto you the end of our foundation ; secondly, the preparation or instruments we have for our works ; thirdly, the several employments and functions whereto our fellows are assigned ; and fourthly, the ordinances and rites which we observe." The society was formed of fellows or brethren ; and novices or apprentices. All took an oath of secrecy, " for the concealing of those things which we think fit to keep secret ; though some of those we do reveal sometimes to the State and some not." The narrative breaks off abruptly with the words, " The rest was not perfected." THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY 9 According to the latest of Baconian commentators, Spedding, " the story of Solomon's House is nothing more than a vision of the practical results which Lord Bacon anticipated from the study of natural history, diligently and systematically carried on through successive generations." See "The New Atlantis" in Spedding's Bacon, vol. iii, p. 129. The work seems to have been written in 1624 and was first published in 1627.

It will be seen from the foregoing abstract, in which every detail that can possibly interest the Masonic reader has been included, that the theory advanced by Nicholai rests upon a very slender, not to say forced, analogy. A better argument, if, indeed, one inconclusive chain of reasoning can be termed better or worse than another, whose links are alike defective, might be fashioned on the same lines, in favour of a Templar origin of Freemasonry.

The view about to be presented seems to have escaped the research of Dr. Mackey, whose admirable Encyclopa,dia seems to contain the substance of nearly everything of a Masonic character that has yet been printed. For this reason and, also, because it has been favourably regarded by Dr. Armstrong, who, otherwise, has a very poor opinion of all possible claims that can be urged in support of Masonic antiquity, the hypothesis will fit in very well with the observations that have preceded it and it will terminate the " short studies " on the origin of our society.

Dr. Armstrong says : " The order of the Temple was called `the knighthood of the Temple of Solomon,' not in allusion to the first temple built by Solomon, but to their hospital or residence at Jerusalem, which was so called to distinguish it from the temple erected on the site of that destroyed by Titus. Now, when we find a body said to be derived from the Templars, leaving, amongst the plumage with which the modern society has clumsily adorned itself, so much mention of the Temple of Solomon, there seems some sort of a ground for believing in the supposed connexion ! The Hospitallers of St. John, once the rivals, became the successors of the Templars and absorbed a large portion of their revenues at the time of their suppression. This would account for the connexion between the Freemasons and the order of St. John." See The Christian Remembrancer, July .1847, pp. I5‑.17. The authorities mainly relied upon by Dr. Armstrong are William of Tyre and James of Vitry (Bishop of Acre) : " Est prxterea," says the latter, " Hierosolymis Templum aliud immensx quantitatis et amplitudinis, a quo fratres militia, Templi, Templarii nominantur, quod Templum Salomonis nuncupatur, forsitan ad distinctionem alterius quod specialiter Templum Domini appellatur " (cited in Addison's History of the Knights Templar, 1842, p. 1o).

Passing from the fanciful speculations which, at different times, have exercised the minds of individual theorists, or have long since been given up as untenable, we may examine those derivations which have been accepted by our more trustworthy Masonic teachers and, by their long‑sustained vitality, claim at least our respectful consideration. By this, however, is not implied that those beliefs which have retained the greatest number of adherents are necessarily the most worthy of acceptance. In historical inquiry finality can have no place, and there is no greater i 10 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY error than to conclude " that of former opinions, after variety and examination, the best hath still prevailed and suppressed the rest." " As if the multitude," says Lord Bacon, " or the wisest for the multitude's sake, were not ready to give passage rather to that which is popular and superficial than to that which is substantial and profound ; for the truth is, that time seemeth to be of the nature of a river or stream, which carrieth down to us that which is light and blown up and sinketh and drowneth that which is weighty and solid" (Advancement of Learning). This idea seems to have been happily paraphrased by Elias Ashmole in his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652, Proleg.).

Before, however, commencing an analysis a few general observations will not be out of place. Krause, in Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden, writes When we find in any nation or age social efforts resembling in aim and organiza tion those of the Freemasons, we are by no means justified in tracing any closer connexion between them than such as human nature everywhere and in all ages, is known to have in common, unless it can be historically proved that an actual relationship exists.

Likewise, Von Humboldt, in his Researches (1844, vol. i, p. ii), says A small number of nations far distant from each other, the Etruscans, the Egyptians, the people of Thibet and the Aztecs, exhibit striking analogies in their buildings, their religious institutions, their division of time, their cycles of regenera tion and their mystic notions. It is the duty of the historian to point out these analogies, which are as difficult to explain as the relations that exist between the Sanscrit, the Persian, the Greek and the languages of German origin ; but, in attempting to generalize ideas, we should learn to stop at the point where precise data are wanting.

The explanation, however, which Von Humboldt withheld, had long previously been suggested by Warburton (Divine Legation, 1837, vol. ii, pp. 203, 221), who dwells with characteristic force upon " the old inveterate error that a similitude of customs and manners amongst the various tribes of mankind most remote from one another, must needs arise from some communication, whereas human nature, without any other help, will, in the same circumstances, always exhibit the same appearance " ; and, in another passage of his famous work, he speaks " of the general conformity which is commonly ascribed to imitation, when, in truth, its source is in our own common nature and the similar circumstances in which the partakers of it are generally found." Even in cases where an historical connexion is capable of demonstration, we must bear in mind that it may assume a Protean form. It is one thing when an institution flourishes through being constantly renewed by the addition of new members, its sphere of action and regulations undergoing, at the same time, repeated changes ; and another thing when, from a pre‑existing institution, an entirely new one takes its rise. It is also different when a newly formed institution takes for its model the views, sphere of action and the social forms of one which has long since come to an end.

I2 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES having been the model of all later imitations. If, then, Freemasonry in its existing form is regarded as a mere assimilation of the Mysteries, attention should be directed chiefly to the bewitching dreams of the Grecian mythologists which, enhanced by the attractions of poetry and romance, would, naturally, influence the minds of those " men of letters " who, it is asserted, " in the year 1646 " rearranged the forms for the reception of Masonic candidates,‑in preference to the degenerate or corrupted mysteries of a subsequent era. This is a deduction arising from the admission into a Warrington Lodge in 1645 of Elias Ashmole and Colonel Mainwaring, of which Lodge wealthy landowners in the neighbourhood were also members. See England's Masonic Pioneers, by Dudley Wright, pp. 12‑47; and Sandy's Short View of the History of Freemasonry (1829), p. 5 2.

On the other hand, if Freemasonry is regarded as the direct descendant, or as a survival of the Mysteries, the peculiarities of the Mithraic worship‑the latest form of paganism which lingered amidst the disjecta membra of the old Roman Empire‑will mainly claim notice. It is almost certain, therefore, that if a set of philosophers in the seventeenth century ransacked antiquity in order to discover a model for their newly‑born Freemasonry, the " Mysteries properly so called" furnished them with the object of their search. Also, that if, without break of continuity, the forms of the Mysteries are now possessed by Freemasons, their origin must be looked for in the rites of Mithraism.

The first and original Mysteries appear to have been those of Isis and Osiris in Egypt and it has been conjectured that they were established in Greece somewhere about 1400 B.c., during the sovereignty of Erectheus. The allegorical history of Osiris the Egyptians deemed the most solemn mystery of their religion. Herodotus always mentions it with great caution. It was the record of the misfortunes which had happened to one whose name he never ventures to utter ; and his cautious behaviour with regard to everything connected with Osiris shows that he had been initiated into the mysteries and was fearful of divulging any of the secrets he had solemnly bound himself to keep. Of the ceremonies performed at the initiation into the Egyptian mysteries, we must ever remain ignorant, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson expressly states " that our only means of forming any opinions respecting them are to be derived from our imperfect acquaintance with those of Greece, which were doubtless imitative of the rites practised in Egypt." See Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 1878, vol. iii, pp. 3 8o, 3 87 ; Herodotus, vol. ii, p. 171.

The most celebrated of the Ancient Mysteries were the Orphic, the Bacchic, or Dionysiac, the Eleusinian, the Samothracian, the Cabiric and the Mithraic. The Mysteries were known in Greece as mysteria, teletai and orgia. The last term originally signified sacrifices only, accompanied, of course, by certain ceremonies, but it was afterwards applied especially to the ceremonies observed in the worship of Dionysius and, at a still later period, to Mysteries in general.

The Eleusinian were probably a part of the old Pelasgian religion, also those of the Cabiri, celebrated more especially in Thrace. All nations of antiquity THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 13 appear to have been desirous of concealing some parts of their religious worship from the multitude, in order to render them the more venerated and, in the present case, an additional motive was to veil its celebration from the gaze of their Hellenic conquerors, as the Walpurgis Nights were adopted by the Saxons in Germany, in order to hide their pagan ceremonies from their Christian masters.

This practice of concealing rites and ceremonies from the uninitiated was a feature of the worship of the Early Church and it has persisted, to the present day, in some Oriental forms of Christian worship.

The Eleusinian were the holiest in Greece and, throughout every particular of those forms in which its Mysteries were concealed, may be discerned the evidences that they were the emblems or, rather, the machinery, of a great system‑a system at once mystical, philosophical and ethical. They were supposed to have been founded by Demeter, Eumolpus, Musxus, or Erectheus, the last named of whom is said to have brought them from Egypt. The story of Demeter is related by Diodorus Siculus and is also referred to by Isocrates. This version of their foundation was the one generally accepted by the ancients. All accounts, however, concur in stating that they originated when Athens was beginning to make progress in agriculture. When Eleusis was conquered by Athens, the inhabitants of the former district surrendered everything but the privilege of conducting the Mysteries. Ample details of the ceremonies observed at Eleusis will be found in The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Dudley Wright.

The Mysteries, by the name of whatever god they might be called, were invariably of a mixed nature, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy. They sometimes described the allegorical death and subsequent revivification of the Deity, in whose honour they were celebrated ; whilst, at others, they represented the wanderings of a person in great distress on account of the loss, either of a husband, a lover, a son, or a daughter. It admits of very little doubt that the Mysteries, by whatever name they were called, were all in substance the same.

We are informed by Julius Firmicus that, in the nocturnal celebration of the Bacchic rites, a statue was laid out upon a couch as if dead and bewailed with the bitterest lamentations. When a sufficient space of time had been consumed in all the mock solemnity of woe, lights were introduced and the hierophant, having anointed the aspirants, slowly chanted the following distich Courage, ye Mystx, lo, our God is safe, And all our troubles speedily shall end.

And the epoptce now passed from the darkness of Tartarus to the divine splendour of Elysium.

Lucius, describing his initiation into the Mysteries of Isis, says : " Perhaps, inquisitive reader, you will very anxiously ask me what was then said and done ? I would tell you if it could be lawfully told. I approached to the confines of death and, having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, at midnight I saw the sun shining with a splendid light." He then goes on to say, " that his head was decorously 14 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES encircled with a crown, the shining leaves of the palm tree projecting from it like rays of light, and that he celebrated the most joyful day of his initiation by delightful, pleasant and facetious banquets." In all the Mysteries there were Degrees or grades. Similar gradations occurred among the Pythagoreans. It was an old maxim of this sect, that everything was not to be told to everybody. It is said that they had common meals, resembling the Spartan syssitia, at which they met in companies of ten and, by some authorities, they were divided into three classes, Acustici, Mathematici, and Physici. It also appears that they had some secret conventional symbols, by which members of the Fraternity could recognize each other, even if they had never met before. See under " Pythagoras " in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.

That, in all the Mysteries, the initiated possessed secret signs of recognition, is free from doubt. In the Golden Ass of Apuleius, Lucius, the hero of the story, after many vicissitudes, regains his human shape and is initiated into the Mysteries of Isis ; he finds, however, that it is expected of him to be also instructed in those " of the great God and supreme father of the gods, the invincible Osiris." In a dream he perceives one of the officiating priests, of whom he thus speaks : " He also walked gently with a limping step, the ankle bone of his left foot being a little bent, in order that he might afford me some sign by which I might know him " (Taylor's ed., bk. xi, p. 287). In another work (Apologia) the author of the Metamorphosis says : " If any one happens to be present who has been initiated into the same rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care." Plautus, too, alludes to this custom in one of his plays (Miles Gloriosus, iv. z), when he says Cedo Signum, harunc si es Baccharum.

It has been alleged, but on very insufficient authority, that the Dionysian architects, also said to have been a fraternity of priest and lay architects of Dionysus or Bacchus, present in their internal as well as external procedure the most perfect resemblance to the Society of Freemasons (see Lawrie, History of Freemasonry, 1804, p. 31 ; and Robison's Proofs of a Conspiracy, 1797, p. zo). They seem, says Woodford (in Kenning's Cyclopaedia, p. 163), to have granted honorary membership and admitted speculative members, as we term them ; and it has been asserted that they had grades and secret signs of recognition. The chief interest in their history, however, arises from the claim that has been advanced for their having employed in their ceremonial observances many of the implements which are now used by Freemasons for a similar purpose. In the oldest of the Chinese classics, which embraces a period reaching from the twenty‑fourth to the seventh century before Christ, we meet with distinct allusions to the symbolism of the mason's art. But " even if we begin," says H. A. Giles (Freemasonry in China, p. 4), " where the `Book of History' ends, we find curious Masonic expressions to have been in use ‑at any rate in the written language‑more than seven hundred years before the Christian era ; that is to say, only about a couple of hundred years after the death THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 15 of King Solomon himself. But, inasmuch as there are no grounds whatever for impugning the authentic character of that work, as connected with periods much more remote, this would give to speculative Masonry a far higher antiquity than has ever yet been claimed." In a famous canonical work, called The Great Learning, which Dr. Legge (The Chinese Classics, vol. i, Proleg., p. 27) says may safely be referred to the fifth century before our era, we read that a man should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should do unto him ; " and this," adds the writer, " is called the principle of acting on the square." Giles also quotes from Confucius, 481 B.c. and from his great follower, Mencius, who flourished nearly two hundred years later. In the writings of the last‑named philosopher, it is taught that men should apply the square and compasses figuratively to their lives and the level and the marking‑line besides, if they would walk in the straight and even paths of wisdom and keep themselves within the bounds of honour and virtue. In Book VI of his philosophy we find these words A master mason, in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the compasses and the square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of wisdom must also make use of the compasses and the square.

The origin, rites and meaning of the worship of Mithras are extremely obscure. The authorities differ as to the exact period of its introduction into Rome ; Von Hammer (Mithraica, 1833, p. 21), placing it at 68 B.c., whilst, by other historians, a later date has been assigned. It speedily, however, became so popular as, with the earlier‑imported Serapis worship, to have entirely usurped the place of the ancient Hellenic and Italian deities. In fact, during the second and third centuries of the Empire, Serapis and Mithras may be said to have become the sole objects of worship, even in the remotest corners of the Roman world. " There is very good reason to believe," says King (The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 47), " that, as in the East, the worship of Serapis was, at first, combined with Christianity and gradually merged into it with an entire change of name, not substance, carrying with it many of its ancient notions and rites ; so, in the West, a similar influence was exerted by the Mithraic religion. There is no record of their final overthrow and many have supposed that the faith in " Median Mithras " survived into comparatively modern times in heretical and semi‑pagan forms of Gnosticism ; although, as Elton points out (Origins of English History, p. 3 S 1), we must assume that its authority was destroyed or confined to the country districts when the pagan worships were finally forbidden by law.

By authors who attempt to prove that all secret fraternities form but the successive links of one unbroken chain, it is alleged that the esoteric doctrines which in Egypt, in Persia, and in Greece preserved the speculations of the wise from the ears and tongues of illiterate multitude, passed, with slight modifications, into the possession of the early Christian heretics ; from the Gnostic schools of Syria and Egypt to their successors the Manichxans ; and that from these through 16 THE ESSENES the Paulicians, Albigenses and Templars, they have been bequeathed to the modern Freemasons.

According to Mackey, an instance of the transmutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic symbols, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Rosicrucianism and medixval architecture, is afforded by a plate in the A.Zoth Philosophorum of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic philosopher, who flourished in the seventeenth century. This plate, which is hermetic in its design, but is full of Masonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle within a square and on it reposes a dragon. On the latter stands a human figure of two hands and two heads, surrounded by the sun, the moon and five stars, representing the seven planets. One of the heads is that of a male, the other of a female. The hand attached to the male part of the figure holds the compasses, that to the female a square. The square and compasses thus distributed appear to have convinced Dr. Mackey (see his Encyclopaedia, under article " Talisman ") that originally a phallic meaning was attached to these symbols, as there was to the point within the circle, which in this plate also appears in the centre of the globe. " The compasses held by the male figure would represent the male generative principle and the square held by the female, the female productive principle. The subsequent interpretation given to the combined square and compasses was the transmutation from the hermetic talisman to the Masonic symbol." II. THE ESSENES " The problem of the Essenes," says De Quincey (Essay on Secret Societies), " is the most important and, from its mysteriousness, the most interesting, but the most difficult of all known historic problems." The current information upon this remarkable sect, to be found in ecclesiastical histories and encyclopxdias, is derived from the short notices of Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry, Eusebius and Epiphanius. Of these seven witnesses, the first and third were Jewish philosophers ; the second, fourth, and fifth, heathen writers ; and the last two, Christian church historians. The Masonic student is referred to C. D. Ginsburg's The Essenes : their History and Doctrines, 18 64, also to the series of articles which appeared in vols. lxi and lxii of The Freemason, i9zi and 1922.

According to Creuzer (Symbolik, vol. iv, p. 433), the Colleges of Essenes and Megabyzx at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace and the Curetes of Crete are all branches of one antique and common religion ; and that originally Asiatic. King (The Gnostics and their Remains, pp. i‑3, 17 z) says, " the priests of the Ephesian Diana were called Essenes, or Hessenes‑from the Arabic Hassan, pure‑in virtue of the strict chastity they were sworn to observe during the twelvemonth they held that office. Such ascetism is entirely an Indian institution, was developed fully in the sect flourishing under the same name around the Dead Sea and springing from the same root as the mysterious religion at Ephesus." Krause (Dei drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden, bk. i, pt. i, p. i 17) finds in the THE ESSENES 17 earliest Masonic ritual, which he dates at A.D. 926 (from being mentioned in the York Constitutions of that year), evidence of customs " obviously taken from the usages of the Roman Colleges and other sources, that individually agree with the customs and doctrines of the Essenes, Stoics and the Soofees of Persia." This writer draws especial attention to the " agreement of the brotherhood of the Essenes with the chief doctrines which the Culdees associated with the three great lights of the Lodge (ibid., p. I I7). He then observes " that though coincidences, without any actual connexion, are of little value, yet, if it can be historically proved that the one society knew of the other, the case is altered." Having, then, clearly established (at least to his own satisfaction) that the Culdees were the authors of the 926 Constitutions, he next argues that they knew of and copied in many respects the Essenes and Therapeutx ; after which he cites Philo in order to establish that the three fundamental doctrines of the Essenes were Love of God, Love of Virtue and Love of Mankind.

These he compares with the phases of moral conduct, symbolized in Masonic Lodges by the Bible, square and compasses ; and, as he assumes that the " Three Great Lights " have always been the same and argues all through his book that Freemasonry has inherited its tenets or philosophy from the Culdees, the doctrinal parallel which he has drawn of the two religious systems becomes, from his point of view, of the highest interest. Connecting in turn the Essenes with the Soofees of Persia, Krause still further lengthens the Masonic pedigree.

Although the Soofee tenets are involved in mystery, they had secrets and mysteries for every gradation, which were never revealed to the profane. (See Malcolm's History of Persia, 1829, vol. ii, p. 281.) But there seems reason to believe that their doctrine " involved the grand idea of one universal creed, which could be secretly held under any profession of an outward faith ; and, in fact, took virtually the same view of religious systems as that in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such matters " (King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 185).

" Traces of the Soofee doctrine," says Sir John Malcolm, " exist, in some shape or other, in every region of the world. It is to be found in the most splendid theories of the ancient schools of Greece and of the modern philosophers of Europe. It is the dream of the most ignorant and of the most learned " (op. Cit., vol. ii, p. 267) It remains to be noticed that, by one writer, the introduction of Essenism into Britain has been actually described and the argumentative grounds on which this speculation is based afford, perhaps, not an unfair specimen of the ordinary reasoning which has linked the principles of this ancient sect with those of more modern institutions. Algernon Herbert (Britannia after the Romans, 1836, vol. i, pp. 120‑5 ; vol. ii, pp. 75‑92) contends that St. Germanus, on his visits to England, for the purpose of extirpating the Pelagian heresy, found that the doctrines which Pelagius had imbibed from the Origenists were, as far as they went, agreeable to those Britons among whom the notions of Druidism still lingered, or were beginning to revive ; but they had been framed by him in the form and character of a Christian sect and did not include the heathenish portion of Origenism, though I 18 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA the latter was so far identical with Druidism, that both were modifications of Pythagorism.

The description of the Essenes given in Lawrie's History of Freemasonry, 1804 (PP‑ 33‑9) has been followed for the most part in later Masonic works. It was based mainly on Basnage's History of the Jews, bk. ii. Of this last writer Dr. Ginsburg says, he mistook the character of the Essenes and confounds the brotherhood with the Therapeut e, hence asserting that " they borrowed several superstitions from the Egyptians, among whom they retired " (p. 66).

III. THE ROMAN COLLEGIA The leading authorities for this section are Heineccius, De Collegiis et Corporibvs Opificvm, Opera omnia, Geneva, 1766, vol. ii, pp. 368‑418 ; J. F. Massman, Libellus Aurarius, Leipsic, 1840, pp. 74‑85 ; Smith, Diet. of Antiquities, titles, " Collegium," " Societas," " Universitas " ; H. C. Coote, The Romans of Britain, 1878, pp. 383‑413. The precision observed by Massman is very remarkable‑no fewer than forty‑five footnotes appearing on a single page (78).

The Roman " colleges " were designated by the name either of collegium or corpus, between which there was no legal distinction and corporations were as frequently described by one title as by the other. A classification of these bodies will the better enable us in any subsequent investigation to consider the features which they possessed in common. They may be grouped in four leading divisions (a) Religious bodies, such as the College of Priests and the Vestal Virgins.

(b) Associations of official persons, such as those who were employed in administration, e.g. the body of Scribce, who were employed in all branches of administration.

(c) Corporations for trade and commerce, as Fabri (workmen in iron or other hard materials), Pistores (bakers), Navicularii, etc., the members of which had a common profession, trade, or craft upon which their union was based, although every man worked on his own account.

(d) Associations, called Sodalitates, Sodalitia, Collegia Sodalitia, which resembled modern clubs. In their origin they were friendly leagues or unions for feasting together, but, in course of time, many of them became political associations ; but from this it must not be concluded that their true nature really varied. They were associations not included in any other class that has been enumerated ; and they differed in their character according to the times. In periods of commotion they became the central points of political factions. Sometimes the public places were crowded by the Sodalitia and Decuriati and the Senate was at last compelled to propose a lex which should subject to the penalties of Vis (see Smith's Dictionary, p. 1 zoo, tit. " Vis ") those who would not disperse. This was followed by a general dissolution of collegia, according to some writers, but the dissolution only extended to mischievous associations.

THE ROMAN COLLEGIA z9 There were also in the Imperial period the Collegia tenuiorum, or associations of poor people, but they were allowed to meet only once a month and they paid monthly contributions. A man could only belong to one of them. Slaves could belong to such a collegium, with the permission of their masters.

The following were their general characteristics i. The collegium (or societas), which corresponded with the hetaria of the Greeks, was composed of collega or sodales (companions). The term originally expressed the notion of several persons being voluntarily bound together for some common office or purpose, but ultimately came to signify a body of persons and the tie uniting them.

z. A lawfully constituted " college" was legitimum‑an unlawful one, illicitum. The distinction is not clearly laid down. Some of these institutions were established by especial laws and others, no doubt, were formed by the voluntary association of individuals under the provisions of some general legal authority.

3. No college could consist of fewer than three members. So indispensable was this rule that the expression tres faciunt collegium‑" three make a college"became a maxim of the civil law.

4. In its constitution the college was divided into decurice and centuricz‑bodies of ten and a hundred men ; and it was presided over by a magister and by decuriones ‑a master and wardens.

S . Amongst other officers there were a treasurer, sub‑treasurer, secretary and archivist.

6. In their corporate capacity the sodales could hold property. They had a common chest, a common cult, a meeting‑house and a common table.

7. To each candidate, on his admission, was administered an oath peculiar to the college. Palgrave, in Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, says that peculiar religious rites were also practised, perhaps with a veil of secrecy ; and those forms of worship constituted an additional bond of union. When a new member was received, he was said‑co‑optari and the old members were said, with respect to him, recipere in collegium.

8. Dues and subscriptions were imposed to meet the expenses of the college.

9. The sodales supported their poor and buried their deceased brethren. The latter were publicly interred in a common sepulchre or columbarium, all the survivors being present. Members were not liable for the debts of their college, but the property of the college itself could be seized. They could sue or be sued by their syndicus or actor.