ten for a party purpose, his testimony is to be distrusted. It is evident that there was, in ancient times, a master's degree;29 and Dermott accordingly asserts that it was exclusively retained and perpetuated by the Athol Masons. Yet notwithstanding Dermott's unqualified assertion that "they differed exceedingly in makings, ceremonies, knowledge, masonic language, and installation," it was found at the union in 1811, that the two systems assimilated in every important particular, which is a proof that no material innovation had been made in either. This constitutes a sufficient authority for the existence of the master's ceremonial in the 17th century.

It should appear, however, that great irregularities existed amongst Masons at this period. Men who had been expelled the society for misdemeanours, opened

be immediately reformed, and made more pliable to the humours of the people." It will be observed that by "the master's part," was meant the catechism of the third degree.

29 There is one insulated fact which affords a presumptive evidence that the legend of the third degree was used by the masons who built our cathedral and collegiate churches in the 11th and 12th centuries. In almost all these magnificent specimens of architectural taste, is a mutilated tradition, which is thus retailed by the cicerone in Lincoln Cathedral. It will be observed that at each end of the great transept, is a splendid rose window. One of them, it is said, was executed by the master mason himself, and that he exercised the utmost ingenuity upon it, that it might remain an immortal monument of his superior taste and genius. When it was completed, he was called away to a distant part of the country; and during his absence, one of the apprentices filled up the corresponding window with the fragments of the broken glass which his master had cast aside; and he disposed them with such admirable effect, that when the master returned, and saw that the superior talent of the apprentice had eclipsed his own performance, and neutralized his claim to superior excellence; in despair he cast himself from the scaffold, and was dashed in pieces on the stones below. This destruction of the master by the apprentice, may have a reference to some secret legend existing amongst the masons who constructed these edifices; for it could have no relation to facts; because the same occurrence could scarcely have happened in every cathedral that was built in this or any other country, which retains a similar tradition. In the present instance, history is at variance with the fact, for Richard de Stow was the master mason at the building of the great transept, and he died a natural death. The tradition must therefore be sought elsewhere; and it is not improbable but it may be traced to the legend of the third degree, which was indicated by a word which signified, "the builder is smitten."

lodges without authority, and initiated persons into the Order for small and unworthy considerations, which brought Masonry into disrepute. In 1740, three of the Grand Stewards were admonished for being present and assisting at these irregular meetings.30 And it was determined in Grand Lodge, on the motion of Lord Crauford, G. M., "That no extraneous brother, that is, not regularly made, but clandestinely, nor any assisting at such irregular makings, shall be ever qualified to partake of the Masons' general charity." This clearly shows that the Grand Lodge as it was then constituted, was unable to suppress these illegal practices, or they would have adopted more stringent measures to prevent them.

If I am not prepared to defend the extreme antiquity of our present arrangement of the three degrees, much less

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30 Several lodges were struck out of the list for not attending the quarterly communications. Between the years 1742 and 1748, upwards of forty were thus expunged.

31 Even the Athol Masons, against whom the above censures and disqualifications were partly directed, complain of the same irregularities. The Ahiman Rezon has the following observation on this practice:-"Men excluded from their lodges for transgressing the general laws; who, being deemed unworthy of so noble a society, endeavour to make the rest of mankind believe that they are good and true, and have full power and authority to make Freemasons, when and where they please. These traders, though but few in number, associate together, and, for any mean consideration, admit any person to what little they know of the Craft. Some of these excluded men can neither read nor write; and surely a person who cannot write his name, can have no pretence to suppose himself qualified to become a member of our Order." (Edit. 1813, p. 24.) 32 There is an old Masonic tradition which, if correct, proves the existence of Speculative Masonry in the 16th century :-" -"Queen Elizabeth hearing the Masons had certain secrets that could not be revealed to her, (for that she could not be Grand Master,) and being jealous of all secret assemblies, &c., she sent an armed force to break up their annual Grand Lodge at York, on St. John's Day, the 27th of December, 1561. Sir Thomas Sackville, then Grand Master, instead of being dismayed at such an unexpected visit, gallantly told the officers that nothing could give him greater pleasure than seeing them in the Grand Lodge, as it would give him an opportunity of convincing them that Freemasonry was the most useful system that was ever founded on divine and moral laws. The consequence of his arguments were, that he made the chief men Freemasons; who, on their return, made an honourable report to the Queen, so that she never more attempted to dislodge or disturb them, but esteemed them as a peculiar sort of men, that cultivated peace and friendship, arts and sciences, without meddling in the affairs of church and state."

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can I undertake to trace the origin of those subsidiary degrees known by the names of Ark, Mark, Link, Wrestle, Babylonish Pass, Intendant, Noachites, Sublime Scotch Masonry, Excellents, Prussian Blue, the various Elected, Architectural, Priestly, and Crucial degrees, red, white, and black, the Knightly Orders, and Mediterranean Pass, the Kadosh, Provost and Judge, Black Mark, Order of Death, Perfection, and innumerable others, which have been constructed in comparatively recent times, for the purpose, probably, of forming a chain of connection which may gradually transmit Freemasonry from its commencement amongst the patriarchs and Jews to its perfect completion in the person of Jesus Christ, and the establishment of his religion.s

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33 The Athol Masons had a regulation to the following effect:"That a general uniformity of the practice and ceremonies of the ancient Craft may be preserved and handed down unchanged to posterity, the lodges in London and Westminster shall be required to recommend a brother from each lodge, who must be a Master or Past Master, and otherwise well skilled in the Craft, to be put in nomination at the Grand Chapter, in October of each year, to be elected one of the nine Excellent Masters, who are allowed to visit the lodges; and, should occasion require, they are to report thereon to the Grand Chapter, or the right worshipful Deputy Grand Master, who will act as he shall deem necessary."

What connection the Hurlothrumbians, Ubiquarians, Hiccubites, Gormagons, and others mentioned in a previous page, might have with Masonry, I am not prepared to state. Pritchard, an expelled member, who wrote in 1730, says, "From the Accepted Masons sprang the real Masons; from both sprang the Gormagons, whose Grand Master, the Volgi, deduces his original from the Chinese; whose writings, if to be credited, maintained the hypothesis of the Pre-Adamites, and consequently must be more antique than Masonry. The most free and open society is that of the Grand Kaiheber, which consists of a select company of responsible people, whose chief discourse is concerning trade and business, and promoting mutual friendship."

35 It is probable that many of the subsidiary degrees were instituted in France about the latter end of the 17th, or the beginning of the 18th century; because at this time Freemasonry assumed, amongst our continental neighbours, a very remarkable form. "The attachment of that people," says Laurie, "to innovation and external finery, produced the most unwarrantable alterations upon the principles and ceremonies of the Order. A number of new degrees were created, and the office-bearers of the Craft were arrayed in the most splendid and costly attire." The French Grand Lodge consisted of the following officers, who were all of the nobility, and their dresses and decorations are described as being extremely magnificent and rich.

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The above degrees were little known at the time when our author flourished, if the printed works of the period are any criterion on which a correct opinion may be formed. These publications were intended for the information of the Craft; and as the authors have made no secret of a certain series of moral disquisitions, founded on the rites and symbols of the Order, and have copiously illustrated their subject, it may be fairly conjectured that those points which have been left untouched formed no part of the system as it then existed.

The lectures of Masonry contain a series of moral aphorisms and illustrative remarks, in which beauty and usefulness are judiciously combined. They are easy of attainment, and a very little attention to their delivery will suffice to make every intelligent brother acquainted with them. The catechetical form has been adopted for this very purpose; and the consecutive points have been made to introduce each other in a natural and graceful order. It is to be presumed, therefore, that as the above writers could not be ignorant of any part of the lectures, they have honestly illustrated every portion of them which were rehearsed at the ordinary lodge meetings.

The intelligent brother will discover and regret the omission, in the following work, of many subjects connected with the Craft; and especially those sublime particulars in the third lecture, which explain the tabernacle of Moses and its furniture. There is no reference to the cherubim, the ark, and mercy-seat, masonic num

Grand master, administrator-general, grand conservator, representative of the grand master, senior grand warden, junior grand warden, grand orator, grand secretary, grand treasurer, senior grand expert, junior grand expert, grand seal keeper, grand record keeper, grand architect, grand master of the ceremonies, grand introductor, grand hospitaller, and grand almoner.

36 Great innovations were attempted in Germany about the middle of this century, by the introduction of principles and conceits quite new in Masonry. The propagators of these novelties first appeared at the conclusion of the war, and most of them being necessitous persons, they, in a manner, subsisted upon the spoils of their deluded adherents. They pretended to a superior knowledge in the science of Masonry, and took upon themselves the appellation of "The Reform of the North," under which name the assembled for some time; but at last their principles were inquired into by the brethren, and as they were found to be inconsistent with true and good Masonry, they fell to the ground.

ber and other important matters, which form a part of the ritual that hath been delivered to us, in what are called, "The Old York Lectures ;" and their omission by our intelligent author, makes it doubtful whether they be not recent additions.

It is also surprising that the author has omitted all reference to the two great masonic transactions in the life of Abraham, which are so prominently recorded in our lectures, particularly as they form indispensable land-marks to the whole system. I mean his festival, by which we illustrate the difference between bond and free; and his grand offering, the latter forming an essential part of his own system, which very properly assimilates Freemasonry with Christianity; and the offering of Isaac being one of the most striking types of the Crucifixion which the sacred writings contain.$7

The work before us contains scarcely any vestige of a reference to the Royal Arch. This is rather remarkable, because in a general work on Masonry, a judicious explanation of certain particulars in this degree, is essential to

37 I may also here express my regret that the clause in the first section of the E. A. P. Lecture, which contains an explanation of the origin of bond and free amongst us, although most important to Freemasonry, has been entirely suppressed in the last revision of the lectures by Dr. Hemming. But happily the masters of lodges are at liberty to pursue their own sytem of lecturing, provided the ancient land-marks are preserved (see the quarterly communication for December, 1819); and therefore, I hope still to see so much of the system restored as may serve to render our illustrations perfect and complete. To show the value of this clause, it may not be unimportant to remark, that it instructs us in the requisites to form the character of a Mason-the historical fact is recorded which conferred on the order the honourable title of "Free and Accepted;"-the universal bond of brotherhood is illustrated and explained;-the principal links in the masonic chain are specified, including the grades of rank by which civil society is cemented and held together; kings, senators, wise and skilful artists, men of inferior talents and attainments, in the humbler classes of society. And it truly asserts, that all are equally brothers while they continue virtuous, because virtue is true nobility, &c. And thus it is that all Masons are equal, not merely by their creation, as children of a common parent, but more particularly by the strength of their obligation. The clause also includes another historical fact, of great importance, to demonstrate and explain why it is necessary that a candidate for Masonry should be able to declare that he is the son of a free-woman. This privilege, as Masons, as Christians, as subjects of a State whose institutions are free and beneficent, we may at all times refer to with honest pride and perfect satisfaction.