THE TESSERA HOSPITALIS.

193

but the former seek to connect it by illustrations with the Tessera Hospitalis of the ancient Romans, but without logical argument, as with the ancients the practice was the breaking a die in two parts, a totally different matter to each selecting a peculiar and distinguishing mark of his own, and as we well know, originated when the capability of writing their names was confined to the few, we may say to the learned clerks. There is abundant evidence of the use of the Mason's mark in ecclesiastical structures all over the world, and especially those erected during the middle ages and after the Crusades. More than thirty different marks were found on the various buildings in Malta, some of which are in the alphabet character; among the ruined structures in Syria a traveller copied as many; and further, of a building called the Old Khan, he says, 'This is a large and imposing quadrangular building, constructed of square blocks of limestone, each marked with a Mason's monogram.'

The use of the mark was general in Great Britain, and those who entered the higher degrees always accompanied their signature of attendance with their Mason's mark. On the Bible which Robert Burns gave to his Highland Mary at their last parting is his Mason's mark.

Thus it must be conceded that the Mark was the operative part of Craft Masonry, for in early times the architects were generally ecclesiastics, and especially high dignitaries, as our celebrated countryman, William of Wykeham, and were often the Master Masons. The skilled artisan or workman was not slighted or neglected, and the record of his labours was preserved in his mark on the stone. In those days the architect and the workman laboured with one heart and one mind, not as in these latter times in distinct classes; and by this unity and brotherhood it was that the glorious structures to God and His service, that cover our own and other lands, were constructed.

Mr. Ainsworth, in his notice of the city of Al Hadha, in Mesopotamia, whose walls are covered with Masonic Marks, in reference to its plan of construction, says, 'A

square within a circle, and in its exact centre, certainly points out that a system was observed in its construction.'

Mr. Godwin, in a paper read before the Society of Antiquarians, referring to this subject, says, 'that these marks are to be found in great abundance on all the ancient buildings of England and France, and that, in his opinion, these marks, if collected and compared, might assist in connecting the various bands of operatives, who, under the protection of the Church, mystically united, spread themselves over Europe during the Middle Ages, and are known as Freemasons.' He observes also that, in conversation in September, 1844, with a Mason at work on the Cathedral of Canterbury, he found that many masons, who were all Freemasons, had their mystic marks handed down from generation to generation; this man had his mark from his father, and he received it from his grandfather.

Mr. E. Deutsch, in 1869, deciphered the inscriptions on the great stones of the platform of the Temple of Jerusalem, and finds them to be Phoenician Masons' marks. They are of the age of Solomon, and probably those of the craftsmen of Hiram, King of Tyre.

It has been asserted that, by the evidence of the Cubical Stone, Astrology formed part of, or was connected with, the Mark Degree. The practice of this science, which is now confined to the impostors who pretend to reveal the future, found universal belief among all the nations of antiquity except the Greeks, and prevailed through the whole world during the Middle Ages. This science is based upon the supposition that the heavenly bodies are the instruments by which the Creator regulates the course of events in this world, giving them different powers according to their different positions.

ASTRONOMY and ASTROLOGY seem to have been used by the Greeks in the same sense, and Cicero uses the word Astrologia to express astronomical knowledge. Astrology may properly be taken to mean the science of the stars, and Astronomy their order and arrangement. These sciences were studied in unison by the learned

mathematicians of bygone times, as the books of the Rosicrucians show. There was doubtless in Astronomical and Masonic symbols much in common, and the two sciences were practised by the same men. In the ritual of the present day, Astronomy is alluded to as the 'mirrored study, wherein you are enabled to contemplate the intellectual faculties, and trace them from their development through the paths of heavenly science, even to the throne of God Himself.'

The Jewel of the Mark Degree is a Key-stone, with initials of a sentence forming a circle, within which the brother's mark ought to be engraved.

Although, for the sake of perspicuity, the degrees of Mark Man and Mark Master have been considered in two chapters, it will be found that mainly they have a common origin and history-and should never be worked as separate degrees.

CHAPTER XVII.

MARK MASTER.

'Blessed is the man whose God is good; who, initiated in divine ceremonies, hallows his life by rule.'-Euripides.

In England the Mark is altogether a distinct institution, the only qualification being, that the candidate should be a duly certified Master Mason. It is to be regretted that the brethren who revived the degree did not at first take both the Mark Man as well as Mark Master; for the first we conceive to be a necessary prelude to the latter, as is to a certain extent shown by the legend of the Mark Man being given in the shape of a lecture in a Mark Master's Lodge.

In Scotland considerable importance is attached to the Mark Master in connexion with the Royal Arch.

Our transatlantic brethren also view the Mark with much favour. The Mark Master is designated the first degree of American Capitular Masonry. The ritual would appear, from the erudite Brother Mackay, to be much more elaborate than our own.

Some think the Mark Master was not required in England, its place being supplied by the Installed Master, which, when the Mark was in practice, did not exist. The Mark never can be restored to English Masonry by the Grand Lodge. But inasmuch as the degree is viewed with considerable favour by an influential body of Masons, several Lodges have been formed, and a Grand Lodge of Mark Masters is constituted. It is now very prosperous indeed, and its position has lately been very clearly defined by Bro. Hughan, the Masonic author, as follows:

POSITION OF THE MARK DEGREE.

197

1. The Mark Grand Lodge of England was formed in June, 1856, and comprises several Lodges which have worked the Mark Degree for about a century; some 13,000 members having been advanced in its 250 Lodges.

2. The Grand Lodge of England favoured Mark Masonry March, 1856, but failed to confirm its support at the Assembly in June, 1856, because the Articles of Union' virtually prohibit the recognition of any degrees other than the Three' and the R.A.

3. The Grand Lodge of England recognizes none of the 'Higher Degrees,' but does not prohibit its members belonging to them.

4. The Grand Lodge of Scotland recognizes the Mark Degree as a part of Ancient Freemasonry, and allows it to be conferred in a Craft Lodge on Master Masons.

5. Many Lodges in Scotland have their Mark books, several dating back to the seventeenth century, one being 1670.

6. Until recently the Mark Master's degree was given only to Master Masons, that of the Mark Man' being conferred on Fellow-Crafts ; the latter circumstance doubtless giving rise to the belief that the former properly belongs to the second degree.'

6

7. The Mark degree is recognized by every Grand Royal Arch Chapter in the world, save in England, the latter declining to do so (as with the other degrees), because of the pledge given in December, 1813, which is clearly binding for all time. (Vide No. 2.)

8. The Mark Grand Lodge is recognized by the Grand R.A. Chapters of Scotland and Ireland, the General Grand R.A. Chapter of the United States (comprising the Grand Chapters of thirty-six States), the Grand Chapters of Pennsylvania, Iowa, Canada, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Illinois, Quebec, Maine, Texas, and North Carolina.

9. The Mark degree in England is mainly the same as given abroad, and the certificates of the Mark Grand Lodge render it unnecessary for R.A. Companions from England to be advanced prior to membership in a foreign