Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/786

750 FREEMASONRY men builders, but Queen Mary restored the jurisdiction from the trade visitors to the deacons, and confirmed their ancient right of self-regulation. In 1598-9 we have the celebrated statutes and ordinances to be observed " by all master masons, set down by William Shaw, master of work to his majesty, and general warden of the craft." These documents, one of which was preserved in the charter chest of the Eglinton family, are printed in Mr Murray Lyon s learned History of Freemasonry in Scotland, Edin., 1873. They are confined to trade regulation, and do not deal with benefits. They fix the number of apprentices, the examina tion on entrance, the subscription to the box, the election of officers, provision for the safety of craftsmen, <fec. The " Old Buik " of the Kilwinning Lodge was not really a Scotch document. It was a version of the English masonic legend and charges. The ceremony of initiation was at this time very simple; but the speaking plack, the dinner, and the pitcher of ale were exacted. The system of de grees was not developed. There was probably a pass-word, such as the squaremen word used in the " brithering " of the wrights and slaters. The individual "marks" chosen by entrants were carefully registered, but they did not in dicate status. The mark degree, revived in 1869, and made the subject of a conference in 1871, was not known before 1789. In fact, the apprentices were originally present at and concurred in most of the business of the lodge. This word " lodge " occurs for the first time in a " statute anent the government of the master mason of the College Kirk of St Giles," 1491, which is to be found in the burgh records of Edinburgh. It would appear that the deacon of the civil trade incorporation was often ex ojflcio head of the lodge. The quarter-master and the intender or instructor were also officers in the old lodge. Cowans, i.e., strangers, were stringently provided for in Shaw s Statutes. The traces of female membership are explained by the custom of the widows and daughters of freemen being admitted, at least to finish the contracts of the deceased. The Hay MSS. in the Advocates Library contain two charters or letters of jurisdiction, dated in 1601 and 1628, by the freemen masons and hammermen in favour of the St Clairs of Rosslyn, in virtue of which the head of that family for a long time acted as the patron, protector, and judge of the early masonic lodges. This has sometimes been inaccurately re presented as a heritable conveyance of a grand mastership. As in England, there are traces of amateurs or non-operative members being gradually admitted to full privileges even in the 17th century, though such persons were charged higher entrance fees. This was called the theoric or geomatic as opposed to the domatic or operative element. Boswell of Auchinleck was a member so early as 1600. The first years of the 18th century were marked by movements of insubordination among the journeymen, who considered themselves entitled to a larger share of control over the common purse. The original theory of the lodge was that only masters, and not fellowcrafts or apprentices, were members. In 1721 the enthusiastic Desaguliers appeared in Edinburgh; and on November 30, 1736, the first gen eral assembly of symbolical masons was held, and a grand lodge for Scotland formed. The representative of the St Clair family then resigned his hereditary office and was elected first grand master. St Andrew s day was substituted for the day of St John the Baptist. Provincial grand masters were soon added, and there was a general adhesion of Scotch lodges to the new organization. The subsequent history of the brotherhood is not eventful. In Scotland they have been more remarkable for conviviality, or " re freshment," as it is technically called, than for comprehen sive charity. Their gloves, aprons, sashes, and jewels are well known in festival or funeral processions. Their poli tical relations have been peaceful. In 1757 the Associate Synod excommunicated all persons taking the secret oath, but this was only a part of the general defiance which Oameronianism gives to civil duty. In 1800, when inter course with some Irish regiments had introduced the tem plar degrees to some of the Ayrshire lodges, an attempt was made by the law officers of the crown to convict certain templars at Maybole of sedition and the administration of unlawful oaths. The case only resulted in the disclosure of the extremely absurd ceremonies connected with the two degrees of this royal order, viz., Heredom of Kilwinning and Rosy Cross. One of them consisted in drinking porter out of a human skull. Again, when political feeling ran high at the beginning of the present century, the authority of the grand lodge was seriously shaken by the revolt of the asso ciated lodges headed by Canongate Kilwinning. The Court of Session, Lawson v. Gordon, July 7, 1810, F. C., refused to recognize a masonic lodge as a corporation, and in another case they rejected the argument that lodges certified by the grand lodge were alone entitled to the protection of the ex cepting clause in the Act of 1799. The quarrel was speedily arranged. In 1811 a supreme grand royal arch chapter of Scotland was founded at Edinburgh, but its degrees were denounced and have never been recognized by the grand lodge. Scotland has altogether 400 lodges. 1 France. The astronomer Lalande, in his article on this subject in the Encyclopedic, says that the first masonic lodge in France was founded by Lord Derwentwater at Hurre s Tavern, Paris, in 1725. The movement was at first largely patronized by the nobility. Louis XV. attempted to suppress it in 1737, and next year Clement XII. issued the bull In Eminenti, which denounces the liberi muratori and all secret societies, as the council of Trent had done before (xxv. c. 20). It is amusing to trace through the later bulls the inflated phrase of papal indignation, Providas issued by Benedict XIV. in 1751, which, oblivious for the moment of the Society of Jesus, says, " honesta semper publica gaud- ent;" Ecclesia a Jem, by Pius VII. in 1814, which refers especially to the Carbonari ; Quo Graviora, by Leo XII. in 1826, which mourns over the corruption of the universities ; and Quanta Cura by Pius IX. in 1864, which says, briefly but emphatically, damnantur clandestine societatts. In France the tone of masonry was low. Admissions were sold at a fixed price without inquiry as to character. Sale" invented a Freemason s dance for six. The order of La Felicite was disorderly ; and the Mopses was invented to evade the papal prohibition. The Chevalier Ramsay in his Relation Apologique introduced the nonsensical hauts grades, with novices, profes, and j9a?/atYs, which he said were derived from the knights St John of Malta, and had been preserved by " Mother Kilwinning." All this was probably a Jacobite propaganda. The nine high degrees, including Irish architect and Scotch apprentice, though discounten anced by the Grande Loge Anglaise de France in 1743, be came very popular. The Parfait Macon was published in 1 744, and next year the Maconnerie Adonhiramique Devoilee disclosed the intricacies of the "strict observance." There is a tradition that Prince Charles Edward himself founded the Chapitre Primordial de Rosecroix at Arras. The Clermont ritual, which was elaborated under Jesuit influence, added three French degrees, which were founded on the story of the templars having taken refuge from the persecution of Philip IV. in the island of Mull. One of these degrees was Chevalier de VAigle Elu, In 1766, under the auspices of a new Grande Loge Nationale of France, afterwards called the Grand Orient, a representative system was at last ad opted in which the " Souverain Conseil " was merged, and 1 An insight into the practical -working of Freemasonry in Britain may be got from Oliver s Institutes of Masonic Jurisprudence, London, 1859, and from the other works of that prolific author. The Free masons Magazine and Masonic Mirror is published weekly.