Past Master of Williamsburgh Lodge was unanimously chosen Grand Master.

New York. There is very little certain intelligence concerning the early history of Freemasonry in the state of NewYork. It appears that before the establishment of the Provincial Grand Lodge in 1782, most of the Lodges there were military or field Lodges. It is true that even as early as 1737 the English Grand Master, Lord Darnley, had authorised the constitution of a Provincial Grand Lodge in New York, but this permission was not taken advantage of. Afterwards, constitutions were conferred, partly by the same Grand Lodge and partly by the Irish, by the Grand Lodge of the so-styled Ancient Masons in England, and the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, (Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons), for the founding of Lodges in the province of New York; but during the Revolution most of their meetings were suspended, with the exception of those of some military Lodges..

In 1781, many of the brethren applied to England for a warrant for the erection of a Grand Lodge - that application being made to the Grand Lodge of the sectarians. By what means the brethren became possessed of this Original Constitution will long remain a mystery, for the searching and meritorious inquiries of Br. F. Gust. Fincke in Brooklyn have proved almost to a certainty that it was a forged one. This close, critical investigation has made thus much pretty evident, that the person represented as having drawn up the patent, viz: John, third Duke of Athole, was not Grand Master at the time cited, and still less likely to have brought it about "in the seventh year of his Grand Mastership". Neither does this charter con

1 See Röhr's Amerikanisch - Deutsche Jahrb. 1856. Page 191, &c and the history of Freemasonry in New York by Bro. Dr. R. Barthelmess in "Reform" vol. II. Nr. 3, &c.

2 The early History of the Original Charter of the Grand Lodge of New York. Critically examined by Br. F. G. Fincke. New York, 1856. B. G. Teubner.

tain, as is customary, the signature of the Grand Master, but of the Grand Secretary, and in the minutes of the London Grand Lodge of the so styled Ancient Masons there is no mention of the bestowal of a constitution for the founding of a Provincial Grand Lodge of New York.

In virtue of this very equivocal Constitution, dated Sept. 5, 1781, nine Lodges assembled Dec. 5, 1782, three town and six military Lodges in one Grand Lodge. The brethren of the Lodge of the regiment "Seybothen" (Ansbach-Bayreuth) were Germans, and at their head was their chairman, Max von Streit. Soon after the declaration of the Independence of the United States, this Provincial Grand Lodge released herself from her state of dependence, and declared herself independent (1787).

The High Degrees. Until the year 1762, the American brethren knew only the three St. John's degrees of genuine Masonry; but about this period Stephen Morin, an Israelitish Brother from Paris, arrived with a cargo of ribands and stars, and the new Rite of the "Sovereign Masonic Princes", and sowed the weeds of the High Degrees, which grew up luxuriously and wildly exuberant, and were destined to retard and choke the growth of all good Masonic seed. Before his departure in 1761, Morin had been appointed Grand Deputy Inspector by the Parisian "Conseil des Empereurs d'Orient et d'Occident", and had been charged especially by this Conseil to spread the knowledge of the twenty-five recognized High Degrees on the other side of the ocean. His adherents and followers afterwards increased the number of his degrees to 33. This spurious Order of Masonry received the name of "Ancient and Accepted Rite", or "Scottish Rite". In the "Extrait du livre d'or du Suprême Conseil du 33me degré en France (Paris, 1808)" it was asserted that Frederick II. of Prussia had, in 1786, had the higher degrees and the Masonic constitutions of the Ancient Rite revised, and to the twenty-five recognised degrees had caused eight new ones to be added, and appointed a Superior Council of

the Thirty-Three Degrees. This fabrication has been since, and is still, echoed by the credulous believers in this Rite, although any one at all conversant with the subject knows that Frederick the Great did not then, nor indeed during the last fifteen years of his life, take any active interest in the Lodges. (See Appendix.)

MASONIC LITERATURE.

(From 1723-1783.)

The literature of the doctrines, customs, regulations, and history of Freemasonry, especially of more modern times, is as important and interesting, as it is most undeniable that it has worked both favourably and unfavourably in the development of Freemasonry. We see from it not only how "since the existence of the Association many of the best, most efficient, and intelligent men have been urged to push forward in their course, and indeed its opponents themselves, numerous as they have been, have only helped to promote the dissemination of this cosmopolitan Brotherhood", but we may also perceive what sort of a spirit has animated the Brotherhood at different times, and what steps in advance, or in a retrograde direction have been taken in their intellectual struggles. It is true that the literature of the period treated of is neither very wide in its range nor of much intrinsic worth. We shall here, therefore, only confine ourselves to a few select works, and to a mere hasty and general glance at their contents.

The first work of any consideration which appeared in print, and therefore may in some degree be regarded as breaking the ice for Masonic literature in general, is Anderson's Book of Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England; the first edition of which appeared in 1723. This and the following edition contain the most important and

the ornaments worn by the Masons, the Temple at Jerusalem, the charitable gifts, &c.; in another part he endeavours to oppose the idea that the origin of the Fraternity was to be found in the confederacies of working masons, and represents Masonry as a Christian institution. Indeed, so far does he go on this point, that he confines the delights and privileges of Freemasonry only to such Christians as believe in the doctrine of the holy Trinity. This direction which he takes completely contradicts the spirit of genuine Freemasonry, so that Fessler could say with justice that one must read Hutchinson's Spirit of Masonry to know what had been made of Freemasonry by an immense number of men who did not know what use to make of it. Even an English non-Mason, an author, calls Hutchinson "a Mystic among Mystics", and an “arrant heretic in the Order, who broaches new opinions for the sake of letting in dissensions among the Brethren." As has been already said, this book was employed by the spurious Masonic High Degree "Royal Arch", which then was gaining ground every day. The Grand Lodge of England, if she intended to remain true to her principles, ought not to have given her sanction to this work, written in such a partial spirit.

Of Preston's Illustrations of Masonry the first edition appeared in 1775, which was soon translated into German by J. H. Chr. Meyer ("Erläuterungen der Freimaurerei"; Stendal, 1776). The book then only consisted of a few sheets, and its contents1 were not of any great worth. The latter editions, which followed the first in quick succession, were much amplified and greatly enlarged, so that the book as it now is is a rich fountain whence to draw masonic information. The first section contains an exposition of the excellency of Freemasonry; the second a description of the ancient ceremonies, a report upon certain legal

1 See the criticism of the 2nd German Edition in "Fr Mr-Bibliothek" 2nd Section. P. 127, &c.

provisions, instructive lectures, &c.; the third, the so-called "Trial", remarks upon Pythagoras, &c.; the fourth, the most circumstantial and important, is a history of Freemasonry in England; a collection of odes, anthems, and songs conclude the whole. This work was not only recommended as a guide by the Lodge of Antiquity, in which the author was chairman, but has been adopted in nearly all English Lodges as a most indispensable Masonic compendium.

William Preston was born July 28. 1742 in Edin-. burgh, of wealthy parents, and received in that town his first instruction. His love of ancient literature attracted the notice of Th. Ruddiman, the celebrated philologist, so that upon the death of Preston's father he made him his Secretary, while at the same time he was entered apprentice to the printing business of his brother, Walter Ruddiman. When, however, Th. Ruddiman lost his sight, the effect of too persevering study, he employed young Preston to read aloud to him and copy his works, which while it prevented his progressing in the art of printing, yet enabled him considerably to augment his general knowledge. In 1760 he went to W. Strahan, a printer in London, in whose service he worked for thirty years, latterly as a corrector of the press, carrying on at the same time his own scientific works.

He was initiated as a Mason in the Lodge "the White Stag" (under the Grand Lodge of the Ancients), and between 1764-67 was joint-founder of the Caledonian Lodge No. 180 (under the Grand Lodge of England, as in the mean while Preston had become aware of the irregularity of the Ancients). From this epoch in his existence, he spared neither cost nor labour to increase his masonic erudition, and having a very extensive acquaintance with Masons in his own and foreign countries, and being like

1 See Fessler's collected writings, &c. III. p. 215, &c. and Lenning's Encycl. III. p. 123, as well as the Preface to Preston's Illustrations.