made to raise a subscription to supply the Grand Lodge with furniture, but without success. The plan of The Duke of Beaufort succeeded Lord BlaIncorporation. ney, April 27, 1767, and Preston remarks that Masonry flourished under his Grace's patronage. In the beginning of the following year, the Grand Lodge of France seemed desirous of opening a correspondence which met with a favourable hearing, and towards the end of the year a plan was brought forward for the incorporation of the Fraternity of Freemasons by Royal charter. Bro. Dillon, deputy Grand Master, gave notice that the Grand Master Beaufort wished it, should it meet with the approbation of the Grand Lodge: he showed the advantages that would result from such a measure, and a plan for that purpose was submitted to the consideration of the Brethren, who cheerfully agreed to it. He likewise informed them that he had submitted to the Committee of Charity a plan for raising a fund to build a hall and purchase jewels, furniture, &c., for the Grand Lodge, independent of the General Fund of Charity; the carrying of which into excecution would be a proper prelude to an act of incorporation. His motion, consisting of seven articles, was accepted, and his plan for the "raising of a fund to build a hall" was printed and transmitted to all the Lodges on record. From the return of the different Lodges it appeared that one hundred and sixty-eight had voted for incorporation, and only forty-three against it, and the majority carried the day. In 1771, a Bill was brought into Parliament by the Deputy Grand Master Charles Dillon, for incorporating the Society by Act of Parliament; but on the second reading of the Bill, it being opposed by Mr. Onslow at the desire of several of the Brethren themselves who had petitioned the House against it, Mr. Dillon moved to postpone the consideration of it sine die; and thus the grand design of an incorporation fell to the ground. Br. E. G. Müller, Master of the Caledonian Lodge, a contemporary of Dillon's, speaks of him in the following terms. He is writing to Br. Gogel in Frankfort: "We are wofully plagued with Jesuits. Dillon, who abjured his religion a short time ago, that he might get elected into Parliament, and his father confessor de Vignoles, have unlimited power in the Grand Lodge, which they maintain by innumerable intrigues and an excessive abuse of the influence which Dillon's position of Dep. Grand Master affords him." "He wearies the patience of many upright Masons who oppose him, disgusts others, employs force to expel those who will not suffer themselves either to be wearied out or disgusted when the welfare of Masonry is at stake and blinds the rest," &c. Freemasons Hall. Lord Petre was chosen Grand Master in 1772, when several regulations were made for the better security of the property belonging to the Society, and a committee appointed for the purpose of building a Hall. Preston received the sanction of the Grand Lodge for the publication of his book, "Illustrations of Freemasonry", which favour had only been vouchsafed to the Book of Constitutions. It was proposed and agreed to that a correspondence should be opened with the Grand Lodge of Germany at Berlin (1773); the book of Constitutions had the new laws and regulations added to it in an Appendix (1775), and the publication of a Freemasons' Calendar was determined on in 1776. Previous to this (in 1774) that spurious degree of Masonry called Royal-Arch had found its way into England. Meanwhile the foundation stone of the Hall was laid in solemn form, May 1, 1775. The building was proceeded with so rapidly that on May, 23, 1776, the Hall was in the presence of the Grand Master Petre and a brilliant assemblage of the Brethren, dedicated in masonic form to Masonry, Virtue, and Universal Charity and Benevolence. "It is to be regretted", remarks Preston, "that the finances of the Society will not admit of its being solely restricted to masonic purposes". - The Lodge of The activity of the so-called Ancient Masons, Antiquity. who assembled under the patronage of the Duke of Athol, again drew upon themselves the attention of the Grand Lodge, and on April 7, 1777, it was determined, that "they were not to be countenanced or acknowledged by any regular Lodge or Mason working under the sanction. of our authority". G. Montagu, Duke of Manchester, soon became Grand Master. During his administration, the tranquility of the Society was much interrupted by private animosities and discussions, arising among the members of the Lodge of Antiquity (No. 1), on account of some of the proceedings of the Brethren of that Lodge who, as it would seem, wished to come to an open rupture with the authority to whom they owed allegiance and who without previous permission of the Grand Lodge had marched in full masonic costume to St. Dunstan's Church, and back again to the Mitre Tavern an act which was justly regarded by the Committee of Charity as a violation of the regulations passed in 1754. The Lodge of Antiquity, which had now for more than sixty years been a participator in the resolutions passed in the Grand Lodge, and like the four ancient Lodges had renounced all claim to former privileges, suddenly appealed to these immemorial privileges, setting them in opposition "to the supposed uncontrollable authority of the Grand Lodge." The spirit of party became so violent, that the original cause of dispute was totally forgotten, and a new subject of controversy was only too gladly seized upon. It arose thus. The Lodge of Antiquity had expelled some of its members for irregular proceedings, and the Grand Lodge ordered them to be again received into the Lodge, which the Brethren most determinedly refused to do, declaring every Lodge to be competent to direct its own members and to punish for the infringement of its laws. After matters had been agitated to the extreme, the Lodge decided that through the proceedings of the Grand Lodge an encroachment had been made on the ancient constitutions of their Lodge, and it was determined to withdraw its sanction from the Grand Lodge, and to discontinue the attendance of its Master and Wardens as representatives at the Committees of Charity and Quarterly Communications. The Lodge then assumed that authority which in the course of time it had voluntarily resigned, published a Manifesto in its own vindication, and avowed an alliance with the Lodge of York. This state of things continued till the Grand Festival in 1790, “when unity was restored, effected by means of our well known principles, and by a real friend of genuine Masonry, the Past Master William Birch." The Lodge of Antiquity had never been very closely allied with the so-called "Ancient Masons." The Royal Henry Frederick, Duke of Cnmberland, was Arch Degree. nominated Grand Master, May 1, 1782, but in his absence, the Earl of Effingham was appointed acting Grand Master. During his administration a new Edition of the Book of Constitutions was prepared for the press (1784), and what is somewhat remarkable (most likely private motives were the cause), when Br. G. Smith applied for sanction to publish his work on the "Uses and Abuses of Masonry", it was refused him, though, as has been already mentioned, Preston, and Hutchinson too, (for his book the "Spirit of Masonry"), had both had it accorded to them. The latter, it is true, owed this favour to his having disseminated amongst the English Masons those mystical tendencies introduced by means of the Royal Arch Degree. Since the introduction of this degree in England (for example in the Constitution book of Northouck), the expression "Order" became generally used, instead of the former customary ones of "Society" or "Brotherhood". The Royal Arch Degree, now the fourth degree in England, is in its essential elements decidedly French in its origin, but received a somewhat different form in England, with additions from the higher degrees then flour ishing on the continent (Knights of the Burning Bush, Red Cross, &c.), and adopted by the schismatic "Ancient Masons", adherents of Dermott, who himself testifies that this degree was first introduced into England by the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Masons. Ramsay calls the French Royale Arche the Non plus ultra of Masonry, and these "Ancient Masons" boasted of their bungling composition as the "summit and perfection of Ancient Masonry". But they are quite in the wrong; for in truth this degree of the Royal Arch, having but little genius in it, and still less good taste, was fabricated from a confused medley of passages from the Bible, drawn from the Old Testament, from history and fable, from religious dogmas and masonic tradition. The unprejudiced observer cannot here discover the true principles of Freemasonry, either in their primitive purity or comprehensive fulness, nor is there any improvement in the outward form or ceremonial, but only a falling off from the substantial groundwork of Masonry as it once stood. Br. G. Kloss fixes the date of the introduction of the Royal Arch into England in the year 1744, and is of opinion that the English first became acquainted with it during the Austrian War of Succession, between the years 1741 and 1742. From Br. Fifield D'Assigny we learn, that intinerant Masons propagated1 this degree in Ireland before 1744 and he deplores, that "some have been led away with ridiculous innovations, an example of which I shall prove by a certain propagator of a false system some years ago in this city (Dublin), who imposed upon several very worthy men under a pretence of being Master of the Royal Arch, which he asserted he had brought with him from the city of York; and that the beauties of the Craft did principally consist in the knowledge of this valuable piece of Masonry." In the year 1766, the Grand 1 See the Note, Page 164 and Br. W. J. Hughan's "Sketches of Notable Masonic Work" in the Freemason's Magazine. |