JOSEPH GRESWELL Section . iiO^- . • 1 fiKIGHAM 1""E UrrRARY '■'X-. VGtJi-;G UN/VEKSITY ^HOVO, UTAH d'- 2-C 1 1 ' tUlll'fe [""list Seiudr ("iiMuil rJ(.^af(Ui of K ii !_;lan(l , cHli I AlllUdl' ( ij' 'I'lu' llislnrv 111" IViM 'niasi II I . I r\ , ^ ,^^^ ,^etie be Xiighv ,^^ ^h. Derived from Official Recoras througiiout the World ® ]lldistra[^^ ® ujifh PORTRAITS OF MASONIC CELEBRITIES SUPERBLY ENGRAVED • Expressly for rhts oiorK. • \ • Also ENGRAVINGS of * John Q YoI^sToN Ci Cp-, P^biijhers. 1 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Brigham Young University http://www.archive.org/details/historyoffreemas01goul THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY ITS SSSnliquiHps, ^gm&ols, (JonsfKuHons, (Josfoms, ETC. DeriTei frDi Olcial Soirees tlroilioit tie Worli. BY ROBERT FREKE GOULD, Past Senior Grand Deacon of England. TV. J. HUtfHAN, - Past Senior Grand Deacon of the Grand Lodge of England, and Masonic Historian. REY. A. F. A. WOODFORD, Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England.^ and Masonic Historian. DAVID MURRAY LYON, Grand Secretary of the Grattd Lodge^ and Masonic Historiographer of Scotland . ENOCH T. CARSON, Deputy of Nortliern Supreme Council 2,7,° for Ohio, and Past Grand Com.-.K:. T.-.of Ohio. JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND, P.-. G:. M.-. of Maine, a^td P:. G:. Com.-. Northern Supreme Council of the U. S. T. S. PARYIN, - p.-. G.-. M.-. of lojva, and Grattd Recorder, G.-. E.-. K.-. T.-. of the United States. AND OXHERS. VOIvUMK I, JOHN C. YORSTON & CO., PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, and CHICAGO. 1 THE LILHAHY '^ BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 4. PROVO, LT.H TABLE OF CONTENTS. VOLUME I CHAPTER. PAQB. I. The Antiquities of Freemasonry, The Ancient Mysteries, The EssENEs, The Roman Collegia, The Culdees, 1 II. The Old Charges of British Freemasons, .... 56 III. The Stonemasons (Steinmetzen) of Germany, . . . 109 IV. The Craft Guilds (Corps d'Etat) of France, .... 179 V. The Companionage, or Les Compagnons Du Tour De France, 212 VI. Mediaeval Operative Masonry, ....... 253 VII. The Statutes Relating to the Freemasons, .... 327 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOLUME I. Portrait of Robert Freke Gould, Past Senior Grand Deacon of England, and Author of The History of Freemasonry, . . . Frontispiece. Masonic Emblematic Title Page in Colors, ... To face do. Portrait of Enoch T. Carson, 33° Past Grand Commander of Ohio, Deputy Inspector-General of Ohio, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, etc., ............ 8 Engraving of Lux e Tenebris (Light from Darkness), from the Rare Original Allegorical Picture of the Religions of the World, by Moreau, Paris, 1790, 22 IV ILLUSTRATIONS. Engraving of The Religions of the World, from the Rare Allegorical Engraving, by Bernard Picart, Paris, 1727, ..... 30 j Portrait of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, K. G., Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, . . . . 48 Fac-simile of a Portion of the Edinburgh Kilwinning MS. Charges, 1675-78, from the Original in the Lodge of Edinburgh, Scotland, . 64 Fac-simile Pages from the Original MS. of the Ancient Constitutions of Free and Accepted Masons, A.. D., 1726, in the possession of Enoch T. Carson, of Cincinnati, 0., 72 Fac-simile Pages from the Original MS. of the Ancient Constitutions of Free and Accepted Masons, A. D., 1726, in the possession of Enoch T. Carson, of Cincinnati, O., 78 Portrait of Right Honorable the Earl of Carnarvon, Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, ...... 96 Portrait of His Excellency, General George Washington, Initiated an Entered Apprentice, Nov. 4, 1752; Passed to Fellow Craft, March 3, 1753; Raised to Master Mason, August 4, 1753, in Fredericksburg Lodge, Va., 104 Portrait of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, initiated a Freemason at Brunswick, August 14, 1738, 144 Engraving of Cologne Cathedral, begun in 1248 and finished in 1828- 1884; Mediaeval Architecture in Germany, ..... 172 Engraving of Strasburg Cathedral; Mediaeval Architecture in Germany. (For tradition connected with this building, and of interest to all Master Masons, see Appendix to this work), ..... 176 Portrait of General R. E. Withers, of Wytheville, Va., Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, 200 Portrait of Sir Michael R. Shaw-Stewart, Baronet, R. W. Past Grand Master Mason of Scotland, ......... 224 Portrait of General Albert Pike, of Washington, D. C, Grand Com- mander Supreme Council of 33°, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, 244 Engraving of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna; Mediaeval Architecture of Eastern Europe, , . . ....... 254 Engraving of Rheims Cathedral ; Mediaeval Architecture in France, . 266 Engraving of the Cathedral, Baptistry and Leaning Tower of Pisa; Italian Gothic Architecture, 1266-1435, 268 Engraving of York Cathedral; Mediaeval Cathedral Architecture in England, . . .......... 278 Engraving of Notre Dame Cathedral; Mediaeval Cathedral Architecture in France, ............ 318 Engraving of Milan Cathedral, begun in 1385, finished about 1800; Italian Gothic Architecture of Advanced Period, . . . . 322 Portrait of Hon. Josiah H. Drummond, of Portland, Me., Past Grand Commander Supreme Council of 33°, Northern Jurisdiction of the United States, .••••..«.. 344 THE IIisToriY AND Antiquities or Freemasoim. CHAPTER I. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES— THE ESSENES— THE ROMAN COLLEGIA— THE CULDEES. UP to a comparatively recent period, the History and Antiquities of Freemasonry have been involved in a cloud of darkness and uncertainty. Treated as a rule with a thinly veiled contempt by men of letters, the subject has been, for the most part, abandoned to writers with whom enthusiasm has supplied the place of learn- ing, and whose sole qualification for their task has been membership of the fraternity. On the other hand, however, it must be fairly stated that the few literati who have taken up tliis uncongenial theme, evince an amount of credulity which, to say the least, is com- mensurate Avitli their learning, and by laying their imaginations under contribution for the facts which are essen'tial to the theories they advance, have confirmed the pre-existing belief that all Masonic history is untrue. ' The vagaries of this latter class have been pleas- antly characterized as "the sprightly and vivacious accounts of the modern Masonic annal- ists, who display in their histories a haughty independence of facts, and make up for the scarcity of evidence by a surprising fecundity of invention. ' Speculative Masonry,^ as they call it, seems to have favored them with a large portion of her airy materials, and with ladders, scRfl'olding, and bricks of air, they have run up their historical structures with wond'eriul case." ^ The critical reader is indeed apt to lament that leaders of the creationist school have not followed the example of Aristotle, whose " Avisdom and integrity " Lord Bacon commends, in having " cast all prodigious narrations which he thought worthy the lecording into one book, that such whereupon observation and rule was to be built, sliould not be mingled or weakened with matter of doubtful credit. " ^ ' " The curious subject of Freemasonry has unfortunately been treated of only Tsy panegyrists or calumniators, both eqvxally mendacious" (Hallam's Middle Ages, 1856, vol. iii, p. 31)9). '^Dr. Armstrong (afterward Bishop of Grahamstown) in the Christian Remembrancer, No. \xi\.. July, 1847, p. 18. ^The Advancement of Learning (Spedding's Bacon, 1857), vol. iii., p. 288. In this connection a unique feature of the late Mr. Pitt Taylor's original edition of Professor ufreeniears Law oi' Evidence may be cited. The various Law Reports (U.S.A.) quoted in this work are lettered A, B, C, D, ac- coi'ding to the relative estimation in which they wore held by the profession. Some classificatico. of tliis kind would be a great assistance to the student of Masoaic antiquities. 2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. -^ A new and more critical school has, however, at length arisen, which, while dohig ' much to place the subject on a sound historical. basis, has yet left something to be desired. The publication of a General History of Freemasonry, by Herr Findel (of Leipsic) in 1861, marks a distinct era in the progress of Masonic literature. No universal history of the Masonic craft (at all worthy of the name) had previously been compiled, and the dictum of the Chevalier de Bonneville was generally acquiesced in, " That the span of ten men's lives was too short a period for the execution of so formidable an undertaking." ' Findel's work is a highly meritorious compilation, and reflects great credit upon his industry. The writings of all previous Masonic authors appear to have been consulted, but the value of his history would have been much enhanced by a more frequent reference to authorities. He seems, indeed, to labor under a complete incapacity to distinguish between the relative degrees of value of the authorities he is attempting to analyze;' but putting all demerits on one side, his " History of Freemasonry" forms a very solid contribution to our stock of Masonic facts, and from his faculty of lucid condensation, has brought, for the first time within popular comprehension, the entire subject to the elucidation of which its scope is directed. Prehistoric Masonry is dealt with very briefly, but this branch of archgeological research has been taken up by Mr. G. F. Fort, who, in an interesting volume of 481 pages, devoted entirely to the "Antiquities" of the society, discusses very ably and clearly the legendary or traditionary history of the fraternity. ' The design of the present work is to embody in a single publication the legendary and the authentic histories of the craft. The introductory portion will cover the ground already occupied by Fort, and I shall then proceed to traverse the field of research over which Findel has preceded me. Dissenting as I do very materially from these writers, both as regard the facts they accept and the inferences they have drawn, my record of occur- rences will necessarily vary somewhat from theirs, whilst my general conclusions will be as novel as I trust they may prove to be well founded. At the outset I may remark that the actual History of Freemasonry can only, in strict- ness, be deemed to commence from the period when the chaos of mythical traditions is succeeded by the era of lodge records. This epoch cannot be very readily determined. The circumstances of the lodges, even in North and South Britain, were dissimilar. In Scotland the veritable proceedings of lodges for the year 1599, as entered at the time in their minute-books, are still extant. In England we have no lodge minutes ranging back even into the seventeenth century, and the records of but a single lodge (Alnwick) between 1700 and the date of formation of the first Grand Lodge (1717). For the sake of con- venience, therefore, the mythico historical period of Freemasonry will be held to have extended to 1717, and the special circumstances which distinguish the early Masonry of Scotland from that of its sister kingdom will, to the extent that may be requisite, be further considered when the histories of our Britis-h Grand Lodges are separately treated. The period therefore, antedating the era of Grand Lodges (1717), will be examined in the introductory part of this work. In dealing with what Fort has happily styled "Antiquities of Freemasonry," whilst difu cussing, at some point or other, all or nearly all the subjects this writer has so dexterously ' J. G. Findel, Geschichte der Freimaurerei, Leipsic, 1861, Preface to 1st edition. Future quota, tions from this work will be made from tlie 3d Englisii edition, London, 1869. ^ Tlie justiHeation of tliis remark will appear in Chapter iii. « G. F. Fort, Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, 1876. THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. 3 handled, tlie method of treatment I shall adopt will nevertheless vary very much from the system he has followed. In the progress of our inquiry it will be necessary to examine the leading theories with regard to the origin of Freemasonry that have seemed tenable to the learned. These I shall subdivide into two classes, the one being properly introductory to the general bulk of evidence that will be adduced in the chapters which next follow; and the other claiming attention at a later stage, just before we part company with the "Antiquities," and emerge from the cloud-land of legend and tradition into the domain of authentic history. The sources to which the mysteries of Freemasonry have been ascribed by individual theorists are too numerous to be particularized, although some of the more curious will be briefly reviewed. Two theories or hypotheses stand out in bold relief — the conjectural origin of Free- masonry as disclosed in the pages of the " Parentalia," ' and its more recent derivation from the customs of the German Steinmetzen.' Each of these speculations has had its day. From 1750 until the publication of Findel's history (18G1), the theory of "travelling Masons" — ascribed to Wren — held possession of our encyclopaedias. The German suppo- sifion has since prevailed, but I shall attempt to show that it rests upon no more solid foundation of fact than the hypothesis it displaced. In successive chapters, I shall separately discuss the various matters or subjects germane to the general inquiry, whilst in a final examination the relation of one topic to another, and the conclusions that, in my opinion, we may rightly draw from the scope and tenor of the entire evidence, will be duly presented. It has been well said, " that we must despair of ever being able to reach the fountain- head of streams which have been running and increasing from the beginning of time. All that we can aspire to do is only to trace their course backward, as far as possible, on these charts that now remain of the distant countries whence they were first perceived to flow. " ' It has also to be borne in mind that as all trustworthy history must necessarily be a work of compilation, the imagination of the writer must be held in subjection. He can but use and shape his materials, and these unavoidably will take a somewhat fragmentary form. Past events leave relics behind them more certainly than future events cast shadows before them. From the records that have come down to us, it will be my endeavor to present, as far as possible, the leading features of the real Antiquities of Freemasonry, that every reader may test the soundness of my general conclusions by an examination of the evidence upon ^diich they are based. It must be ever recollected that "a large pro- portion of the general opinions of mankind are derived merely from authority, and are entertained without any distinct understanding of the evidence on which they rest, or the argumentative grounds by which they are supported. " * From this reproach, it will not bo contended that the Freemasons of our own day merit an exemption, but the stigma, if such it be, under which they rest, must assuredly be deemed to attach with even greater 1 Parentalia; or, Memoirs of the Family of the Wrens (1750), p. 306. "^ Fallou, Winzer, Findel, Steinbrenner, and Foi't. The works of these authors are minutely criticised in Cliapter iii. ' Brand's Popular Antiquities, edit. 1849, vol. i. , p. ix. * On the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion (Sir G. C. Lewis,) p. 7. Lord Arundell of Wardour says: "Indeed, knowledge in many departments is becoming more and moi'c tlie traditions of experts, and must be taken by the outside world on faith " (Tradition, principally witli reference to Mythology and the Law of Nations, 1872, p. 139). 4 THE ANTIQ U I TIES OF FREEMA SONR Y. ^ force to the inaccurate historians by whom they have been misled. It is true, no doubt, that the historian has no rules as to exclusion of evidence or incompetency of witnesses. Tn his court every document may be read, every statement may be heard. But m pro- portion as he admits all evidence indiscriminately, he must exercise discrimination m judg- inc- of its effect.' There is, indeed, no doubt that long habit, combined with a happy taknt, may enable a person to discern the truth where it is invisible to ordinary minds, possessing no special advantages. In order, however, that the truth so perceived should recommend itself to the convictions of others, it is a necessary condition that it should admit of proof which they can understand.' Much of the early history of Freemasonry is so interspersed with fable and romance, that however anxious we may be to deal with long-cherished legends and traditions, some at least of these familiar superstitions— unless we choose to violate every canon of historical criticism— must be allowed to pass quietly into oblivion. = In dealing with this subject, it is difficult— indeed, I might almost say impossible- to lay down any fixed rules for our guidance. All the authorities seem hopelessly at variance. Gibbon states, " the Germans, in the days of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters. . . . Without that artificial help, the human memory ever dissipates or corrupts the ideas entrusted to her charge "* " To this," says Lord Arundell, " I reply, that although records are valuable for the attestation, they are not guarantees for the fidelity of tradition. When mankind trust mainly to tradition, the faculties by which it is sustained will be more strongly de- veloped, and the adaptation of society for its transmission more exactly conformed. " ^ Yet if we turn to one of the greatest masters of historical criticism, the comforting assurance of Lord Arundell is seriously assailed. . "A tradition," says Sir George Lewis, " should be proved by authentic evidence to be not of subsequent growth, but to be founded on a con- temporary recollection of the fact recorded. A historical event may be handed down by oral tradition, as well as by a contemporary written record; but in that case satisfactory proof must be given that the tradition is derived from contemporary witnesses." The principle just enunciated is, however, demurred to by another high authority, whose words have a special bearing upon the point under consideration. The learned author of " The Language and Literature of Ancient Greece " observes: "We have without hesitation repudiated the hvpercritical doctrine of a modern school of classical antiquaries, that in no case whatever is the reality of any event or person to be admitted unless it can be authenticated by contemporaneous written evidence. If this dogmatical rule be valid at all, it must be valid to the extent of a condemnation of nearly the whole primitive annals > Lewis, Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics, vol. i., p. 196. 2 Lewis, An Inquiry into the Credibility of the Early Roman History, vol. i. , p. 14 3 Tlie foUowing mode of determimiig the authenticity of the Legends of the Saints, without dis- honoviag the authority of the Chm-ch or disturbing the faith of her children, suggests indeed one way out of tlie difficulty: " Les legendes sont dans I'ordre historique ce que les rehqnes des samts sont dans le culle. II y a des reliques authentiques et des legendes certaines, des reliques evidem- ment fausses et des legendes evidemment fabuleuses, enfin des reliques douteuses et des legendes seulement probables et vraisemblables. Pour les legendes connne pour les reliques 1 Egbse consacre ce qui est certain, proscrit le fableux et permet le douteux sans le consacrer Cours. dHist. EccL, 1' AKKo Pti.,nn n ^T>-| " Gibbou, Decline and Fall, vol. i., p. 3a3. par 1 Abbe iilanc, p. 00^;. , ,, t c -kt i- ic-'o v^r^ B ArundeU, Tradition, principally with reference to Mythology and the Law of Nations, 18... pp. 120, 121. « Lewis, On the Inlluence of Authority in Matters of Opnuon, p. 90. / THE A XTIQ U I TIES OE EREEAEl SOXR V. 5 of Greece down to the first rise of authentic history about the epoch of the Persian AVar. The more rational principle of research is, that the historical critic is entitled to test the truth or falsehood of national tradition by the standard of speculative historical probability. The general gi'ounds of such speculative argument in favor of an element of truth in oral tradition admit of being ranged under the folloAving heads: First, The comparative recency of the age in which the event transmitted is supposed to have taken place, and the propor- tionally limited number of stages through which the tradition has passed. Secondly, The inherent probability of the event, and, more especially, the existence of any such close connection in the ratio of cause and effect between it and some other more recent and better attested event, as might warrant the inference, even apart from the tradition on the subject, that the one A\?as the consequence of the other. Tldrdly, The presumption that, although the event itself may not have enjoyed the benefit of written transmission, the art of writing was, at the period from which the tradition dates, sufficiently prevalent to check, in regard to the more prominent vicissitudes of national history, that license in which the popular organs of tradition in a totally illiterate age are apt to indulge." ' The principle to be observed in inquiries of this character appears, indeed, up to a cer- tain point, to have been best laid down by Dr. Taylor, who says: "A notion may weigh against a notion, or one hypothesis maybe left to contend with another; but an hypothesis can never be permitted, even in the slightest degree, to counterbalance either actual facts, or direct inferences from such facts. This preference of facts and of direct inductions to hypotheses, however ingenious or specious they may be, is the great law of modern science, which none but dreamers attempt to violate. Now, the rules of criticism and the laws of historical evidence are as much matters of science as any other rules or laws derived by careful induction from a mass of facts. " ^ In the main, however, whilst carefully discarding the plainly fabulous narrations with which our Masonic system is encumbered, I am of opinion that the view to which Schlegel has given expression is the one that we shall do well to adopt. He says: "I have laid it down as an invariable maxim to follow historical tradition, and to hold fast by that clue, even when many things in the testimony and declarations of tradition appear strange and almost inexplicable, or at least enigmatical; for as soon as, in the investigations of ancient history, we let slip that thread of Ariadne, we can find no outlet from the labyrinth of fanciful theories and the chaos of clashing opinions. " ^ " The origin and source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry," says Dr. Mackey, " has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among Masonic scholars than- any other topic in the literature of the institution." Indeed, were the books collected in which sejoarate theories have been advanced, the dimensions of an ordinary library would be insufficient for their reception. For the most part, it may be stated that each commentator (as observed by Horace Walpole in the case of Stonehenge) has attri- buted to his theme that kind of antiquity of which he himself was most fond. Of Stone- henge it has been asserted "that nearly every prominent historical personage from the ' W. Mure, A Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece, 1853, vol. iv. pp. 317, 318. 2 Isaac Taylor, The Process of Historical Proof, 1838, p. 3. In another part of this work (p. 262) the author says: "Our part is to scrutinize as carefully as we can the validity of the proofs; not to weigh the probahility of the facts — a task to which we can scarcely ever be competent." The last branch of this definition carries us a little farther than we can safely go. ^F. von Schlegel, Philosophy of History (tr. by J. B. Robertson, 1835), vol i., p. 29, 1 6 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. Devil to the Druids have at one time or another been credited with its erection — the latter, however, enjoying the suffrages of the archteologists. " Both the Devil and the Druids have had a large share ascribed to them in the institution of Freemasonry. In India, even at the present day, the Masonic Hall, or other place of meeting for the lodges, is familiarly known as the '"Shaitan" Bungalow, or Devil's house, whilst the Druidical theory of Masonic ancestry, although long since abandoned as untenable, was devoutly believed iu by a large number of Masonic writers, whose works are even yet in demand. ' The most fanciful representative of this school appears to have been Cleland, though Godfrey Higgins treads closely at his heels. The former, writing in 1766, presents a sin- gular argument, which slightly abridged is as follows: " Considering that the May (May- pole) was eminently the great sign of Druidism, as the Cross was of Christianity, is there anything forced or far-fetched in the conjecture that the adherents to Druidism should take the name of Men of the May or May's-sons ?" ^ This is by no means an unfair specimen of the conjectural etymology which has been lavishly resorted to in searching for the derivation of the word Mason.^ All known lan- guages appear to have been consulted, with the natural result of enveloping the whole matter in confusion, the speculations of the learned (amongst whom figures Lessing, one of the first literary characters of his age) being honorably distinguished by their greater freedom of exposition. It is generally assumed that in the ancient oriental tongiies the Iqw primitive words must needs bear many different significations, and the numerous deriva- tives be infinitely equivocal. Hence an3^thing may be made of names, by turning them to oriental sounds, so as to suit every system past, present, and to come. "And when any one is at a loss," says Warburton, " in this game of crambo, which can never happen but by being duller than ordinary, the kindred dialects of the Chaldee and Arabic lie always ready to make up their deficiencies." ^ The connection of the Druids with the Freemasons has, like many other learned hypothe- ses, both history and antiquity obstinately bent against it; but not more so, however, than its supporters are against history and antiquity, as from the researches of recent writers may be readily demonstrated. Although the literature of Druidism is of an extensive character, we really know very little of this obscure subject. It has been lately pointed out that our traditions of the Scottish and Irish Druids are evidently derived from a time when Christianity had long oeen established. ^ "'The Roman writers have left us little definite information on the subject : they seem to have felt a natural contempt for the superstitions of their barbarous • See Hutchinson, Spirit of Masonry (1775); Smith, Use and Abuse; Borlase, Antiquities of Corn- wall, pp. 53-146; Godfrey Higgins, Analalypsis, pp. 715-718; Higgins, The Celtic Druids, passim; and Fort, p. 296. ^ Cleland, Essay on the Real Secret of the Freemasons, 1766, p. 120. Both the Maypole and the German Christbaum have a Pagan origin, the type of each being the ash, Yggdrasill (Mallet, Northern Antiquities, p. 493). ^Dr. Mackey, after citing many derivations of this word, proceeds: "But all of these fanciful etymologies, which would have terrified Bopp, Grimm, or Miiller, or any otlier student of linguistic relations, forcibly remind us of the French epigrammist, who admitted that ali^Mna came from equus, but tliat in so coming it had very considerably changed its route " (Encyclopaedia of Free- masom-y, p. 489). ■•Divine Legation, vol. ii., p. 220. "I have heard of an old humorist, and a great dealer in ety- mologies, who boasted that he not only knew whence words came, hut whither they were going'' {Ibid.). 6 C. Elton, the Origins of English History, 1882, Chapltt' x. y THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. 7 neighbors. Cicero, for example, was a friend of the Druid Divitiacus, yet he did not think it necessary to record the result of their curious discussions. Julius Caesar was himself a pontiff, and published a book upon divination, but he noticed the foreign religions only so far as they were connected with public policy, and does not mention the British religion at all."' "The history of the Celtic religions," says Mr. Elton, " has been obscured by many false theories, which need not be discussed in detail. The traces of revealed religion were discovered by the Benedictine historians in the doctrines attributed to the Druids: if the Gauls adored the oak-tree, it could only be a remembrance of the plains of Mamre; if they slew a prisoner on a block of unhewn stone, it must have been in deference to a precept of Moses. A school pretending to a deeper philosophy invented for the Druids the mission of preserving monotheism in the west. In the teaching of another school the Druids are credited with the learning of Phoenicia and Egypt. The mysteries of the 'Thrice-great Hermes' were transplanted to the northern oak -forests, and every difficulty was solved as it rose by a reference to Baal or Moloch. Yet the insular Druids, to which our traditions refer, are represented as being little better than conjurors, with their dignity (at the period when we first acquire any positive information respecting them) as much diminished as the power of the king is exaggerated. These Druids are sorcerers and rain-doctors, who pretend to call down the storms and the snow, and frighten the people with ' the fluttering wisp ' and other childish charms. They are like the Red Indian medicine-men, or the 'Angekoks' of the Eskimo, dressed up in bull's-hide coats and bird-caps with waving wings. The chief Druid of Tara is shown to us as a leaping juggler, with ear-clasps of gold and a speckled cloak; he tosses swords and balls in the air, 'and like the buzzing of bees on a beautiful day is the motion of each passing the other.' " ^ "Their doctrine seems to have belonged to that common class of superstitions in which the magician pretends to have secret communication with the spirits; and in such cases it is almost inevitable that the mediator should Judge and rule the nation." In times of disaster and pestilence, and on all occasions of trouble or anxiety, it was their custom to propitiate the gods with a human victim. A survival of this practice is related in the memorials of St. Columba. In the fabulous story of the building of the church at lona, the saint addresses his followers in words which obviously point to a human sacrifice; "It is good for us that our roots should go under earth here: it is permitted that one of you should go under the clay of this island to hallow it." Odran rises and offers himself to his master. "If thou shouldst take me," he said, "I am ready." The saint readily accepted the offer, and we are told that thereupon " Odran went to heaven." ' The story of this burial is, however, somewhat difierently related in Pennant's "Voyage to the Hebrides."' We are there informed that St. Oran (who I assume to have been identical with St. Odran) was a friend and follower of St. Columba, and was buried in Icolmkill (lona). According to the legend, he consented to be buried alive in order to propitiate certain demons of the soil who obstructed the attempts of St. Columba to build a chapel. After three days had elapsed, Columba had the curiosity to take a farewell look at his old friend, and caused the earth to be removed. To the surprise of all beholders, Oran started up, and began to reveal the secrets of his prison-house, and particularly declared that all that had been said of hell was a mere joke. This dangerous impiety so shocked Columba, that, with great polici/, he instantly ordered the earth to be flung in > See, however, Caesar, de Bello Gallico, bk. vi. , ch. xiii. * Elton, p. 268, citing O'Curry, Lectures, 9, 10; Cormac's Glossary, 94; Revue Celtique, i., 261; Skene. Celtic Scotland, ii.. Hi = Elton, p. 271. * Tour in Scotland, vol. ii., p. 337. 1 8 THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. again, cr3''ing, "Earth! earth! on the mouth of Oran, that he may hlah no more." These words have passed into a proverb against blabbers. It is not essential to inquire minutely into the secrets of the Druidical doctrine, '^ The laws which they administered are forgotten; their boasted knowledge of ethics only provokes a smile. We are told that they concerned themselves with astronomy, the nature of the world and its proportion to the rest of the universe, and the attributes and powers of the gods. ". ' The doctrine of metempsychosis, or the b-ansmigration of souls, was engrafted somewhat late on the Druidical system. "One would have laughed," said a Roman, "at these long-trousered philosophers, if we had not found their doctrine under the cloak of Pythagoras." "^ Druidism seems to have gradually gone out of fashion. " The servants of Belenus might call themselves Druids to their Gaulish congregation, but in the view of the State they were ordinary priests of Apollo." "After the conversion of Ireland," says Mr. Elton, "the Druids disappear from history." Mr. Clinch, with a great j^arade of learning, has endeavored to identify Freemasonry with the system of Pythagoras, and for the purpose of comparison, cites no less than fifteen particular features or points of resemblance which are to be found, he says, in the ancient and in the modern institutions. "Let the Freemasons," he continues, "if they please, call Hiram, King of Tyre, an architect, and tell each other, in bad rhymes, that they are the descendants of those who constructed the temple of Solomon. To me, however, the opinion which seems decisive is, that the sect has penetrated into Europe by means of the gypsies." ' The learned author of " Ernst und Falk " and " Nathan der Weise," Gottfried Ephraim Lessing, Avas of opinion that the Masonic institution had its origin in a secret association of Templars, long existent in London, and which was shaped into its present form by Sir Christopher Wren. That the society is in some way or other a continuation of that of the Templars has been widely credited. The Abbe Barruel supported this theory,'' which has endured to the present day,^ and very recently found an eloquent exponent in Mr. E. T. Carson, of Cincinnati, U.S.A. Notwithstanding the entire absence of historical corrobo- ration, it has been adopted by many writers of ability, and has exercised no inconsiderable influence in the fabrication of what are termed "High Degrees," and in the invention of Continental Eites.^ ' Elton, p. 274. ^ Ihid. , p. 375, citing Valerius Maximus (ii. , c. 6), ^ Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry, Anthologia Hibernica, vol. iii., pp. 34, 178, 279, and 421. "But what proves beyond all doubt tliat the gypsies have been tlie original propagators of this doc- trine in the west is this, that Freemasonry has been reformed in Germany, in France, and in Prussia, by a man confessedly a gypsy " (Ibid. , p. 281). Mr. Clinch here refers to Joseph Balsamo, better known perhaps as Count Cagiiostro, the remarkable Masonic charlatan of the eighteenth century. Mr. "W. Simson, in his History of tiie Gypsies, 1865, pp. 456, 457, says: "Not only have they had a language pecuhar to themselves, but signs as exclusively theirs as are those of tlie Freemasons. Tlie distinc- tion consists in this people having blood, language, a cast of mind, and signs, peculiar to itself." ■* Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by the Abbe Barruel, translated by the Hon. Robert Cliflord, 2d edit., 1798. Edmund Burke wrote to Barruel, May 1, 1797, on the publication of his first volume, expressing an admiration of the work which posterity has failed to ratify. He says: "The whole of the wonderful narrative is supported by docunjents and proof s {?) with the most jui'idical regularity and exactness." ^ Frost, Secret Societies of the Eiu'opean Eevolution, 1876, vol. i., p. 22. « Although the Knights Templars are several times referred to in this chapter, my examination of the theory which connects them with the Freemasons will be reserved for a later part of this woi'k. l/rttL f<^'/^d&moJly p^,^^^ '/ vy f ardM>if. S^ " Pasl Ciiiiid (■(nui:i;iii(U'r of Ohio, Dcpuh' Iiis[)crl()r-( ; oiicinl oC nim; Ancient aiui .\ ccoittcd Srottisli Kile, dc. 1 / / THE ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY. g Nicliolai, a learned bookseller of Berlin, advanced, in 1782, a singular hypothesis. ' His belief was, that Lord Bacon, influenced by the writings of Andrea, ' the alleged- founder of the Eosicrucians, and of his English disciple, Eobert Fludd, gave to the world his "New Atlantis," a beautiful apologue in which are to be found many ideas of a Masonic char- acter. A ship which had been detained at Peru for one whole year, sails for China and Japan by the South Sea. In stress of weather the weary mariners gladly make the haven of a port of a fair city, which they find inhabited by Christians. They are brought to the strangers' house, the revenue of which is abundant; thirty-seven years having elapsed since the arrival of similar visitors. The governor informs them "of the erection and institution, 1900 years ago, of an order or society by King Solamena, the noblest foundation that ever was upon the earth, and the lanthorn of the kingdom." It was dedicated to the study of the works and creatures of God, and appears to have been indifferently de- scribed as "Solomon's House," or "The College of the Six Days' Works." During the stay of the visitors at this city (in the Island of Bensalem), one of the fathers of " Solomon's House" came there, and the historiographer of the party had the honor of an interview, to whom the patriarch, in the Spanish tongue, gave a full relation of the state of the "College." " Firstly," he said, " I will set forth unto you the end of our foundation; secondly, the preparation or instruments we have for our works; thirdly, the several employments and functions whereto our fellows are assigned; and fourthly, the ordinances and rites which Ave observe. " The society was formed of fellows or brethren, and novices or apprentices. All took an oath of secrecy, "for the concealing of those things which we think fit to keep secret; though some of those we do reveal sometimes to the State, and some not. " ' The narrative breaks off abruptly with the words, "The rest was not perfected." According to the latest of Baconian commentators, Mr. Spedding, " The story of Solo- mon's House is nothing more than a vision of the practical results, which Lord Bacon anti- cipated from the study of natural history, diligently and systematically carried on through successive generations. " It will be seen from the foregoing abstract, in which I have included every detail that can possibly interest the Masonic reader, that the theory advanced by Nicholai rests upon a very slender, not to say forced, analogy. A better argument, if, indeed, one inconclu- sive chain of reasoning can be termed better or worse than another whose links are alike defective, might be fashioned on the same lines, in favor of a Templar origin of Free- masonry. The view I am about to present seems to have escaped the research of Dr. Mackey, ■ Versuch iiber die Besschuldigungen. French and English translations respectively of the ap- pendix to this work (which contains Nicholai's Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry) will be found in Thory's Acta Latomorum, and in the Fi-eemasons' Quarterly Review, 1858, p. 649. ^ John Valentine Andrea, born 1586, died 1654. The most important of his works (or of those ascribed to his pen) are the "Fama Fraternitatis " and the "Chemical Marriage," (Chemische Hocli- zeit), published circa 1614 and 1616 respectively. It has been stated " that Fludd must be considered as the immediate father of Freemasonry, as Andrea was its remote father!" (Freemasons' Maga- zine, April, 1858). 2 The New Atlantis (Spedding's Bacon), vol. iii., p. 129. The New Atlantis seems to have been written in 1624, and was first pubUshed in 1627 (Preface, p. 121). 10 THE A NTIQ U I TIES OF FREE AT A SONR V. whose admirable Encyclopjedia^ so far as I can form an opinion, contains tlie substance of 1 nearly everything of a Masonic character that has yet been printed. For this reason, and also because it has been favorably regarded by Dr. Armstrong, who otherwise has a very poor opinion of all possible claims that can be urged in support of Masonic antiquity, the hypothesis will fit in very well with the observations that have preceded it, and with it I shall terminate the "short studies" on the origin of our society, into which I have digressed. I will now give the theory in the Bishop's own words, which are always inter- esting, if at times a little uncomplimentary. Dr. Armstrong says, "The order of the Temple was called 'the knighthood of the Temple of Solomon/ not in allusion to the first temple built by Solomon, but to their hospital or residence at Jerusalem, which was so called to distinguish it from the temple erected on the site of that destroyed by Titus. Now, when we find a body said to be derived from the Templars, leaving amongst the plumage with which the modern society has clumsily adorned itself, so much mention of the Temple of Solomon, there seems S07ne sort of a ground for believing in the supposed connection! The Hospitallers of St. John, once the rivals, became the successors of the Templars, and absorbed a large portion of their reve- nues at the time of their suppression. This would account for the connection between the Freemasons and the order of St. John. " ' Passing from the fanciful speculations which at different times have exercised the minds of individual theorists, or have long since been given up as untenable, I shall proceed to examine those derivations which have been accepted by our more trustworthy Masonic teachers, and by their long-sustained vitality, claim at least our respectful con- sideration. By this, however, I do not wish to imply that those beliefs which have retained the greatest number of adherents are necessarily the most worthy of acceptance. In historical inquiry finality can have no place, and there is no greater error than to con- clude "that of former opinions, after variety and examination, the best hath still prevailed and suppressed the rest." "As if the multitude," says Lord Bacon, "or the wisest for the multitude's sake, were not ready to give passage rather to that which is popular and super- ficial than to that which is substantial and profound; for the truth is, that time seemeth to be of the nature of a river or stream, which carrieth down to us that which is light and blown up, and sinketh and drowneth that which is weighty and solid. " ^ Before, however, commencing my analysis, a few general observations will not be out of place. "When we find in any nation or age social efforts resembling in aim and organization those of the Freemasons, we are by no means justified in tracing any closer connection between them than such as human nature everywhere, and in all ages, is known to have in common, unless it can be historically proved that an actual relationship exists. " ' "A small number of nations far distant from each other," says Yon^ Humboldt, "the ' The Christian Remembrancer, No. Ivii., (July 1847), pp. 15-17. The authorities mainly relied upon by Dr. Armsti'ong are William of Tyre, and James of Vitry (Bishop of Acre): "Est pragterea,'' says the latter, " Hierosolymis Tempkmi aliud immensaj quantitatis, et amplitudinis a guo /raires vuliticc Templi, Templarii nominantur, quod Templum Salomonis nuncupator, forsitan ad distinc- tionem alterius quod specialiter Templum Domini appellatur" (cited in Addison's History of the Knights Templars, 1843, p. 10). ^ Advancement of Learning. This idea seems to have been liappily paraphrased by Elias Ash- mole in hij "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum," 1653, (Proleg.). * Krause, Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden. /' THE A NTIQ U I TIES OF ERE EM A SONR V. 1 1 Etruscans, the Egyptians, the people of Thibet, and the Aztecs, exhibit striking analogies in their buildings, their religious institutions, their division of time, their cycles of regen- eration, and their mystic notions. It is the duty of the historian to point out these analo- gies, which are as difficult to explain as the relations that exist between the Sanscrit, the Persian, the Greek, and the languages of German origin; but in attempting to generalize ideas, we should learn to stop at the point where precise data are wanting. " ' The explanation, however, which Von Humboldt withheld, had long previously been suggested by Warburton, who dwells with characteristic force upon "the old inveterate error that a similitude of customs and manners amongst the various tribes of mankind most remote from one another, must needs arise from some communication, whereas human nature, without any other help, will, in the same circumstances, always exhibit the same appearance;" and in another passage of his famous work, he speaks "of the general con- formity which is commonly ascribed to imitation, when, in truth, its source is in our own common nature, and the similar circumstances in which the partakers of it are generally found. "^ Even in cases where an historical connection is capable of demonstration, we must bear in mind that it may assume a Protean form. It is one thing when an institution flourishes through being constantly renewed by the addition of new members, its sphere of action and regulations undergoing at the same time repeated changes; and another thing vrhen, from a pre-existing institution, an entirely new one takes its rise. It is also different when a newly-formed institution takes for its model the views, sphere of action, and the social forms of one which has long since come to an end. "The difference," says Krause, "between these three kinds of historical connection must everywhere be most clearly defined. In the history of Freemasonry the third is of chief importance, as it is generally to be found, although to those unversed in the subject, it appears as if there actually existed historical connection of the first and second kinds. " ' That contemporary and successive secret societies, must have had some influence on each other can hardly be doubted. The ceremonies of probation and initiation would be, in most cases, mere imitations of older originals, and the forms of expression perhaps identical. Still it would be wrong to assume " that, because certain fraternities, existing at different epochs, have made use of similar or cognate metaphors in order to describe their secret proceedings, that therefore these proceedings are identical." Similar circum- stances are constantly producing similar results; and " as all secret fraternities are, in respect of their secrecy, in the same situation, they are all obliged to express in their sym- bolical language that relation of contrast to the uninitiated on which their constitution de- pends. To denote this contrast metaphorical analogies will be employed, and these analo- gies will be sought in the contrasts of outward nature, as in the opposition of light to dark- ness, warmth to cold, life to death. The operations of the ordinary passions of our nature will also require the occasional use of metaphors; and as the prominent objects of the material universe are always at hand, the same comparisons may sometimes be employed by persons who have never dreamt of initiatory rites and secret associations. " * Each of the following systems or sects has been regarded as a lineal ancestor of the Masonic fraternity: ' Humboldt, Researches (London, 1844), vol. i., p. 11. * Divine Legation (edit. 1837), vol. ii., pp. 203, 221. ^ Krause, Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden, * A. P. Marras, The Secret Fraternities of the Middle Ages (Arnold Prize Essay), pp. 8, 9. 1 12 7'N£ ANCIENT MYSJERIES. I. The Anciext Mysteries ; II. The Essenes ; IIL The Roman Collegia \ and IV. The Culdees. These I shall now consider in their order, reserving for separate treatment at the con- clusion of the evidence (to be presented in the chapters "which next follow), those theories or derivations which have their origin in a period of time less remote from our own. It fortunately happens that we possess Masonic constitutions and regulations of un- doubted authority, ranging back in the case of Britain and Germany to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries respectively, whilst of French documents referring to the Mason's craft, some are yet extant of a still earlier period. The best mode of procedure will therefore be, in the first instance, to summarize in a brief compass what is actually known of the systems or sects above enumerated, in order that, by a careful comparison with the authentic records of the Mediaeval Masons, we may determine how nearly or how remotely the usages and customs of the "Ancient " and the " Modern " organizations correspond, and ascertain what grounds exist for attributing to the Masonic institution any higher antiquity than is attested by its own documents; for however flattering to our pride may be the assumption of a long pedigree, it by no means follows that it will bear the test of a strict genealogical investigation. I. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. To adequately discuss, within the limit of a few pages, the vast subject of the Ancient Mythology, would be a task hardly less difficult than that of carving upon the surface of a cherry-stone the Avliole of the intricate designs of the shield of Achilles. The actual evi- dence from which alone any certain information is derivable, lies scattered over the whole surface of classic literature. For a combination of these disjointed passages, I have dili- gently searched the works of recent commentators who have attempted any general descriiDtion of the Mysteries; and being therefore under the necessity of condensing into a small space the matter of many bulky volumes, must refer any reader who is desirous of examining the subject at greater length, to the original works, where will be found more than enough to satisfy the most ardent curiosit3^ In the following remarks those features only of the Ancient Mysteries will be noticed which may tend to cast light upon the history of Freemasonry. It will be evident that the main point of the inquiry we are about to pursue is not how a mythological system may be explained, but in what manner it was actually explained or understood by the most enlight- ened of the community professing to believe in its doctrines. For the purposes of our investigation the Mysteries must be vicAved in a double aspect. 1st, The Mysteries properly so called, that is, those in which no one was allowed to partake unless he had undergone formal initiation, as distinguished from the mystic ceremonies of certain festivals, the performance of which, though confined to particular classes of persons, or to a particular sex, yet did not require a regular initiation. 2d, The later or corrupted Mysteries, which continued until the fourth or fifth centuries of the Christian era. As regards all secret societies of the Middle Ages, the mysteries of the ancient world are important, as presenting the first examples of such associations, and from having been the model of all later imitations. If, then, we regard Freemasonry (in its existing form) as a mere assimilation of the Mysteries, our attention should be chiefly directed to the bewitching dreams of the Grecian mythologists, which, enhanced by the attractions of THE A NCIENT M YS TERIES. 1 3 poetry and romance, would naturally influence the minds of those " men of letters," ' who, it is asserted, " in the year 1G4G '' rearranged the forms for the reception of Masonic candi- dates, in preference to the degenerate or corrupted mysteries of a subsequent era. On the other hand, if Masonry is regarded as the direct descendant, or as a survival of the mysteries, the peculiarities of the Mithraic worship — the latest form of paganism which lingered amidst the disjecta membra of the old Eoman Empire — will mainly claim our notice. It is almost certain, therefore, that if a set of philosophers in the seventeenth century ransacked antiquity in order to discover a model for their newly-born Freemasonry, the "Mysteries ^jroj?cr/'_y so called" furnished them with the object of their search. Also, that if without break of continuity the forms of the Mysteries are now possessed by the Free- masons, their origin must be looked for in the rites of Mithraism. The first and original mysteries appear to have been those of Isis and Osiris in Egypt, and it has been conjectured that they were established in Greece somewhere about 1400 B. c. , during the sovereignty of Erectheus. The allegorical history of Osiris the Egyptians deemed the most solemn mystery of their religion. Herodotus always mentions it with great caution. It Avas the record of the misfortunes which had happened to one whose name he never ventures to utter; and his cautious behavior with regard to everything connected with Osiris shows that he had been initiated into the mysteries, and was fearful of divulging any of the secrets he had solemnly bound himself to keep. Of the ceremonies performed at the initiation into the Egyptian mysteries, we must ever remain ignorant, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson expressly states " that our only means of forming any opinions respecting them are to be derived from our imperfect acquaintance with those of Greece, which were doubtless imitative of the rites practised in Egypt." ^ The most celebrated were the Orjihic, the Bacchic or Dionysiac, the Eleusinian, the Samothracian, the Cabiric, and the Mithraic.^ The names by which they were designated in Greece are i^ivffTrfpia, TsXerai, and opyia. The name opyta (from e'opya) originally signified sacrifices only, accompanied by certain ceremonies; but it was afterward applied especially to the ceremonies observed in the worship of Dionysius, and at a still later period, to mysteries in general. * The Eleusinian were probably a part of the old Pelasgian religion, and also those of the Cabiri, celebrated more especially in Thrace. All nations of antiquity appear to have been desirous of concealing some parts of their religious worship * from the multitude, in order to render them the more venerated, and in the present case an additional motive was, to veil its celebration from the gaze of their Hellenic conquerors, as the Walpurgis Nights were adopted by the Saxons in Germany in order to hide their pagan ceremonies from their Christian masters. Subsequently new elements were introduced from Egypt and the East. The Eleusinian were the holiest in Greece, and throughout every particular of those forms in which its mysteries were concealed, may be discerned the evidences that they were ' This belief has arisen from the admittance into a lodge at Warrington in 1646 of Elias Aslimole and Colonel Mainwaring. See Sandy's Shoi't View of the History of Freemasonry, 1829, p. 53. '■^ Wilkinson, Manners and Cvistoms of the Ancient Egyptians, 1878, vol. iii., p. 380, 387 ; Herodo- tus, ii., 171. "In all the legends of Freemasonry the line of ascent leads with unerring accui'acy through Grecian corporations, back to the Orient" (Fort, Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 183) ; vide Article vii. of the Buchanan MS., No. 15 of the "Old Ciiarges," in Chapter H., jjo.sf. ' The Orphic and Dionysiac Mysteries seem to have designed a reformation of tlie popular religion. *C. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, tome i., p. 305. 'Porphyry de Abst., lib. v.. c. 5. 14 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. the emblems, or rather the machinery, of a great system — a system at Once mystical, phil- osophical, and ethical. They were supposed to have been founded by Demeter, Euraol- pus, Musaeus, or Erectheus, the last named of whom is said to have brought them from Eg3^pt. The story of Demeter is related by Diodorus Siculus, and is also referred to by Isocrates. This version of their foundation was the one generally accepted by the ancients. All accounts, however, concur in stating that they originated when Athens was beginning to make progress in agriculture. When Eleusis was conquered by Athens, the inhabitants of the former district surrendered everything but the privilege of conducting the Mysteries. The lesser -Eleusinia were a prior step to the greater Mysteries of the same name, and were held every year in the month of Anthesterion (according to some accounts) in honor of Persephone alone. Those who were initiated in them bore the name of Mystae [ixvffrai), and had to wait at least another year before they could be admitted to the great Mysteries. The Mystge had also to take an oath of secrecy, which was administered to them by the Mystagogue, also called lepoqjavtrjs ox 7tpoq)}]ri]S', they received some kind of preparatory instruction, which enabled them afterward to understand the mysteries which were revealed to them in the great Eleusinia; they were not admitted into the sanc- tuary of Demeter, but remained during the solemnities in the vestibule. The greater mysteries, commonly termed " The Mysteries," simply, occupied nine days in celebration: they commenced on the 15th of Boedromion or September, and terminated on the 23d inclusively. On the evening of the sixth day the mystse who had served the probationary period of twelve months were initiated into the last mysteries (sTTOTrTsla). Those who were neither epoptse nor mystas were dismissed by a herald. Before the ceremonies were permitted to begin, the labor of selection was entered upon by the officers appointed for that duty. Those alone were allowed to advance within the holier precincts who were properly qualified, and in the case of the mystse, having twelve months previously/, assisted at the Lesser Mysteries performed at Agrse, a village situated on the borders of the Illissus. This im- portant examination of the credentials of the different applicants appears to have been conducted by four curators, or Epimeletai, presided over by one of the nine Archons, royally entitled Basileus. The mystae now repeated the oath of secrecy, and holy mysteries were read to them out of a sacred book called petroma, because it consisted of two stones closely joined together. Then the priest who initiated them (hierophant), proposed certain questions to which they returned answers in a set form,. This part of the ceremony having been duly observed, the Aspirants were admitted into the mystic 0i]x6s or Enclosure, where they underwent a new purification, and were further prepared by partaking of a cup *' craftily qualified," being an imitation of the celebrated " Miscellaneous Potion " giten to Demeter on her visit to Eleusis. They were then led by the mystagogue in the darkness of night into the interior of the lighted sanctuary (cpGOTayooyia), and were allowed to see (avToipia) what none but the epoptae ever beheld. ' Theautopsia^Sisa kind of beatific vision, of which we have no clear account, and which seems to have been accompanied by a prescribed discourse (ritual) from the hierophant, ' Ampler details of the ceremonies observed at Eleusis, will be found collected in, A Glimpse into the Eleusinian Mysteries (Blackwood's Magazine, February, 1853) ; R. Brown, The Great Dj^onisiat Myth, vol. i., pp. 292-298 ; T. Taylor, A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, Pam- phleteer, vol. viii., p. 467 ; Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Eleusinia). y THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 15 and then the assembly was dismissed with the mystic formula, KOy^, ofxna^,^ repeated by the audience. A well known Masonic writer, now gone to his rest/ in a careful examination of the analogies between the Ancient Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry, dwells with much force upon the identity of design and method in the two systems, as illustrated by the division— into steps, classes, or degrees — to which both were subjected, viz., lustration (purification or preparation), initiation, and perfection. At the conclusion of his essay he asks — " Is Freemasonry a lineal and uninterrupted successor of the Ancient Mysteries — the succession handed down through the Mysteries of Mithras, which existed in the fifth and sixth centuries, or is the fact of these analogies to be attributed to the coincidence of a natural process of human thought, common to all human minds, and showing its outgrowth in symbolic forms ? " It will be well to keep this question in mind during the process of our inquiry, which will embrace a brief examination of the doctrines or principles, the rites or ceremonies, and the emblems or symbols, usual in the Mysteries, and will conclu.de with an outline of Mithraism. As to the real object of the Mysteries, nothing certain is known. Of the discrepant theories that have been advanced, one of the most rational is, that these scenic represen- tations were the remains of a worship which preceded the rise of the Hellenic mythology and its attendant rites, and that they were grounded on a view of nature less fanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken philosophical thought and religious feeling. ' Of the instruction communicated in the inner mysteries, no record whatever has come down to us. That the ancient philosophers, deriving, it may be assumed, their ideas from Egypt and the East, had some notion, more or less vague and ill defined, of one supreme Deity, and even of a Trinity, is, I think, abundantly proved (whatever we may think of some of his arguments and conclusions), by Oudworth, in his great work, the " Intellectual System," wherein all the learning on this subject is set forth at length. There are also scattered passages in the writings of the fathers of the Church, e.g., Clemens Alexandrinus, which point to the same conclusion. Assuming, then, these opinions to have existed, the question is, how far they were taught in the Mysteries. The writers who speak of them, and who were apparently initiated, are always very reticent, and merely refer to such and such things which are known to the initiated, but of course are not revealed. If, then, no contemporary work on Freemasonry by an uninitiated writer is of any value, as will be generally admitted, how can we expect to understand the arcana of a similar, or somewhat similar, institution, which perished nearly 2000 years ago ? " How little is really known of the secret teachings of the Mysteries will readily appear by the following resume. Selden^ believed that they taught the unity of God, Eschenbachius" that the Eleusinian Mysteries disclosed the nature and origin of human life, as well as the means of preserving it, and foreshadowed also the hopes and fears of the life to come. The famous "Divine ' Captain Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches, 1798, vol. v., p. 300, says, "that the real words are Cdnschd Om Pacsha ; that they are pure Sanscrit ; and are used to this day by the Brahmens at the conclusion of their religious rites." Lobeck, however, in his Aglaophamus (p. 775) denies, not only that such words were used in the Eleusinian Mysteries, but the very existence of the words them- selves. '^ Dr. Mackey, Voice of Masonry, U. S. A. , Nov. , 1876. ^Dr. Thirwall, History of Greece, vol. ii., p. 140. * It is almost unnecessary to say that tlie Mysteries of Greece are specially referred to. ^ Opera Omnia, 1726, vol. ii., pt. ii. (De Diis Syris). « De Scribis Veterum Eomanorum. 1 6 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. Legation" of Warbnrton is characterized by all his learning, hardihood, and love of para- dox. According to him, Moses was the only great legislator who did not proclaim the future state, and that this alone is a proof of his inspiration. Following this up, he states that the (Greek) Mysteries, in which the true religion was disclosed, was an invention of the Egyptian priests for their own ends, though why, if fonnd efficacious, they confined its teaching to a select few, he does not explain. Nothing daunts him, he speaks of the ancient legislators as if they were personal acquaintances, gives at length the sermon de- livered to the initiated and the hymn which they sang, the sermon being the celebrated fragment attributed to Sanchoniatho, or rather to Philo, and the hymii, the Orphic canticle, attributed to the Jew Aristobulus. He even understands, with Le Clerc, the famous part- ing benediction uoyB,, o)X7ta^, which, according to him, means " Watch, and abstain from evil." The worship of the phallus, which, we are told by Eissner, formed the essence of the Mysteries, is stated by Warburton to have been only its corruption. ' Warburton was attacked first of all in England by Leland, but his ablest antagonist was Villoison.' The entire contest, however, only proves the utter futility of all such specu- lations, for while Warburton maintains that the system disclosed by the Mysteries Avas Deism, Villoison liolds it to have been Pantheism. Warburton asserts that they taught the doctrine of retribution in the life to come — Villoison that of palingenesis, or new birth — and both agree only in making them the direct opposite of the popular faiths. Villoison gives the programme of the studies or lectures pursued at Eleusis, consisting of theology, cosmogony, theogony, cosmology, physiology, anthropology, and metaphysics, a statement which would doubtless have afforded much amusement to the worthy hierophants if they could only have seen it. Creuzer' believed that the Egyptian priests transplanted their theology into Hellas, which the Greeks varnished over with the fictions of their own poets, and that finally, when Christianity menaced Paganism with ruin, the then philosophers determined to un- lock the secrets of their religion, and in Neo-platonism to lay it bare to mankind, as a rival source of religion, showing plainly what had long been hidden under the cloak of the Mysteries of Eleusis and Samothrace. Baur " declares that the fundamental principle is that of a Deity who sufl'ers and dies, and who afterward triumphs over death, and has a glorious resurrection. The Mysteries, according to this writer, were schools of virtue and philanthropy. Schelling ' thought that the doctrine taught in them was in the directest opposition to the public religion, that this doctrine included a pure monotheism, and that Christianity is only the publication of their secret! IMitford considers that the Mysteries had their origin in the efforts of the Egjqitian nobles who had migrated into Greece to maintain their pre-eminence; and that, to attract certain sections of the people to their fortunes, they initiated them into rites having for ' De Quincey {more suo) says : " None but a man of extraordinary talents can write first-rate non- sense ; perhaps the prince of all men ever formed by nature and education for writing superior non- sense was Warburton " (Secret Societies, edit. 1863, p. 259). But altliougli many of Warburton's conchisions will not stand the test of nineteenth century criticism, the scattered passages in classic literature relating to the Ancient Mysteries, collected in his famous work, are a noble memorial of his learning and industry. '•* De Triplia Theologia Mysteriisque Commentatio. 3 Symbolik und Mythologie. ^Synibolik uad Myth., tome iii., p. 159. "Philosophic uud Rehgion, p. 75. / THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 17 their object tlie teaching of the unity of God.' Chandler '" and De Pauw treat the subject rather irreverently, the latter considering the Eleusinian Mysteries as a kind of prototype of the Papal traffic in indulgences. Bernhardy ^ contents himself with saying that the Samothracian MysterieH, if really made known to us, would not come up to our expec- tations ! Lastly come Loheck and Limburg-Brouwer/ whose conclusions very nearly coincide, as they also do with common sense. They consider that the Mysteries could not have originated either with savages or with a people in an advanced state of civilization, and that they must therefore have taken their rise in the intermediate state in which we may picture the Pelasgi to have been, and their raison d'etre was the desire to augment the respect due to religion. There is scarcely any ancient people in which some sanctuary might not be found either occasionally or wholly closed to the multitude, nor any among whom some secret and nocturnal rites were not celebrated. ^ It will be observed that the various theories presented above are of a very contradic- tory character, which may be explained by the natural inference, "that they have their origin in the imagined necessity of finding something worthy in modern conception, of concealment in the Ancient Mysteries, and derive their support and plausibility from an uncritical confusion of times and authorities. " ° Still it is tolerably clear, that however much the Mysteries may have degenerated in the course of time, or have become obscured by popular tradition or fanciful allegory, they were established in very early and semi-civilized times, and that they contained the germs of those great moral truths — possibly, indeed, the relics of a primitive religion — but which we find implanted in the heart of man (except in a state of savagery) in all ages and coun- tries. They seem to have been mimic representations of mythological incidents, joined with the giving of amulets as preservatives against future danger, but as all ancient and all false religions are corruptions of one great idea inherent in the human race, and possibly forming originally one primitive creed, in these ceremonies men must have seen or have thought they saw, traces of the teachings of a higher, purer, and more ancient faith. According to Clemens Alexandrinus, the verbal explanations had reference to the myths represented, and this verbal instruction was an obvious moral deduction from the mytho- logical and allegorical stories represented, e.g., those of Eleusis showed the benefits derived from agriculture, and this was further explained in words, the verbal expositions, no doubt, varying from time to time. Yet we should do well to remember that whatever the phil- osophers may have made of the popular divinities, the priests' and hierophants' idea of them must have always remained, to a certain extent at least, the same. Hence, a good many of the opinions and explanations of the classic writers ought to be received with a modicum of caution. Something, however, was clearly taught or implied, for Plutarch, writing to his wife, says, " That men retain the sense of pain and pleasure after death," ' and we are fur- ther told, '* That the Mystagogues menaced the wicked with eternal punishment." * Upon * History of Greece, 1784, chapter i. * Travels in Greece. * Grundriss der Greichischen Literatur. * Aglaophamus ; and Hist, de la Civilisation Mor. et Relig. des Grecs. * These high authorities differ, however, on one important point. Lobeck (Aglaophamus, tome 1., Elusin, p. 228) insists that the relicjious ceremonies performed at Eleusis were of native origin; whilst Limburg-Brouwer (Hist, de la Civilisation, etc., tome ii., p. 298) says positively, "Je crois q'au moins pour les ceremonies d'Eleusis il faut en revcnir a I'Egypte." 'Consol ad Uxorem. ^Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleusinia). *Celsus apud Originem, viii., 48. 1 8 THE A NCI EN T M YS TERIES. the whole, it seems fairly certain that the Mysteries tended to open up a comforting pros- pect in the life to come, but the question then arises, was this to be effected by means of a holier and purer religion, or were the Mysteries mere ceremonies, giving an introduction to the society of the gods, that is, conferring, as it were, the right of entree into a higher sphere. All we know of Pagan religions generally, and of that of the Greeks in particular, seems to favor the latter supposition. Taken as a whole, the effect was probably good, as awakening and keeping alive a sense of reverence and immortality, yet the Mysteries were not without their unfavorable points, for example, in substituting a ceremonial for that moral probation, the utility of which was inculcated by all philosophers worthy of the name, whilst the miscellaneous assemblies of both sexes in secrecy and darkness could not fail to have had a prejudicial effect. Even the assemblage of one sex alone was mischiev- ous, for all experience proves that, within proper bounds, the presence of one acts as a restraint upon the other, and so notorious a debauchee as Clodius would scarcely have chosen the festival of the Bona Dea to compass his object, had he not felt pretty certain that the occasion would lend itself to facilitate his purpose. The rites and ceremonies will now be considered. An outline of those observed at Eleusis has been already given, and I shall proceed to supplement that sketch by some general remarks. The leading feature of initiation was the dramatic symbolism which described the revivification of the earth after the death of winter. This symbolism assumed forms which would explain their meaning even to the uninitiated. But the revival of na- ture would be inseparably associated with the thought of the life into which a human soul passes through the gateway of death; and in a festival where everything was dramatic, the one truth or fact would be expressed by signs not less than the other. The Eleusinian legend represented Dionysus or Bacchus as the son of Demeter, and in the great Diony- siac festival at Athens the phallus was solemnly carried in procession, as in like state the veiled ship or boat of ^^/iewe was borne to the Acropolis. — This ship or boat was represented by the mystic cists or chests, carried by the pilgrims to Eleusis, and answers to the yoni, as the phallus corresponds to the linyam of the Hindu. ' The Mysteries, indeed, by the name of whatever god they might be called, were inva- riably of a mixed nature, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy. They sometimes de- scribed the allegorical death and subsequent revivification of the Deity in whose honor they were celebrated, whilst at others they represented the wanderings of a person in gi-eat distress on account of the loss either of a husband, a lover, a son, or a daughter.'^ It admits of very little doubt that the Mysteries, by whatever name they were called, were all in substance the same. We are informed by Julius Firmicus,^ that in the nocturnal celebration of the Bacchic ' Encyclopsedia Britannica (1878, Eleusinia, Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, Bart.). There is no reason for supposing that the Eleusinian Mysteries involved any more than this symbolical teaching which centres in the two ideas of death and reproduction. There is no valid groimd for supposing that it involved less {Ibid.). 2 Faber, Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. ii., p. 337. Mr. Faber says : "As the Egyptian Osiris was primarily Noah, and secondarily the sun, such also was the case with Adonis, Dionysus or Bacchus, Attis, Horus, Vulcan, Pan, Serapis, Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, Belus or Baal, Mercury, Thammuz, Apis, Anubis, Zoroaster, Esculapius, Hercules, Mithras, Apollo, Buddha, Budsdo, Fohi, Odin, Hermes,'' etc., etc., vol. i., p. 154. ^ De Errore Profan. Relig., p. 20. Faber, Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. ii., pp. 853-356. -A. curious Greek MS. of Psellus, on " Dasmons," quoted by Mr. Taylor, records a slight variation in tue macam- THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 19 rites a statue was laid out upon a couch, as if dead, and bewailed with the bitterest lam- entations. When a sufficient space of time had been consumed in all the mock solemnity of woe, lights were introduced, and the hierophant having anointed the aspirants, slowly chanted the following distich: ©appeite jxvarai tov deov GBGooa^^vov 'Efftai yap rjixiv an novoov Gooxtipia. Courage, ye Mystse, lo, our God is safe, And all our troubles speedily shall end. And the epoptcB now passed from the darkness of Tartarus to the divine splendor of Elysium. ' Lucius, describing his initiation into the Mysteries of Isis, says: — "Perhaps, inquisitive reader, you will very anxiously ask me what was then said and done ? I would tell you if it could be lawfully told. I approached to the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, at midnigld I saw tlie sun sliining with a splendid liglit." He then goes on to say, "that his head was decorously encircled with a crown, the shining leaves of the palm tree projecting from it like raj^s of light, and that he celebrated the most joyful day of his initiation by delightful, pleasant, and facetious banquets. " ^ In the Samothracian mysteries the initiated received a purple ribbon, which was intended to guarantee them against perils by sea. From numerous passages of ancient writers, we may infer that immunity from shipwreck was the leading benefit held out by this religious system, and its votaries were probably taught certain prayers, and received amulets, much in the same fashion as we now find images of the saints given away in the more superstitious of Eoman Catholic countries. The purifications were also formal, and, so to speak, mechanical purifications, that is, from some imaginary defilement such as touching impure persons or things, and not the true purification and elevation of the soul. The Scholiast on Aristophanes, says, "They appear to be righteous.'" The periods of probation between the successive ceremonies, as well as the number and development of the latter, are not very clearly defined. Warburton says — ^'Four years was the usual time of probation for the greater mysteries in which the secrets were de- posited," but, as we have already seen, one year was considered sufficient at Eleusis. Of the gradation of the Mysteries, Taylor informs us that "The whole business of initi- ation was distributed into five parts,"* but this system may have corresponded with the nine days' programme of the Eleusinians. Yet if Nonnus may be relied on, the proba- tionary labors to be undergone in the Mithraic rites far transcended those of all rival systems. "There were eighty degrees," he says, "of these labors, from less to greater," ery of the Eleusinian Mysteries. According to this writer, "those who are initiated sing, 'I have ate out of the drum, I have drank out of the cymbal, I have borne the mystic cup, I have entered into the bed ' " (Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, Pamphleteer, vol. viii. , p. 484). ' Divine Legation, vol. i., p. 315. ^ Taylor, Apuleius, pp. 283, 384. The custom of '-crowning" the initiates was common to all the Mysteries. In those of Dionysus or Bacchus, the mystse, at the celebration of the Anthesteria, wore myrtle wreaths, instead of ivy, Avhich was used in the '-Dionysia," strictly so called. This practice, along with the banquets, may have descended from them to our city companies? See Herbert, Com- panies of London, vol. i., p. 84 ; vol. ii., p. 591. «Pax., 1. 276. ■'Pamphleteer, vol. viii., p. 52. ^Divine Legation, vol. i., p. 272. Even in the lowest types of mankind there exist degrees or 20 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. and Avhen the aspirant has gone tlirough them all, he is initiated. These labors are -to pass through fire, to endure cold, hunger, and thirst, to undergo much journeyings, and, in a word, every toil of this nature." Amongst tlie Pythagoreans there were similar gra.dations. It was an old maxim of this sect, that everything was not to be told to everybod3^ It is said that they had common meals, resembling the Spartan syssitia, at which they met in companies of ten, and by some authorities they were divided into three classes, "Aciistici, Mathematici, andPhysici." It also appears that they had some secret conventional symbols, by which members of the fraternity could recognize each other, even if they had never met before. ' That, in all the Mysteries, the initiated possessed secret signs of recognition, is free from doubt. In the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, Lucius, the hero of the story, after many vicissitudes, regains his human shape, and is initiated into the Mysteries of Isis; he finds, however, that it is expected of him to be also instructed in those "of the great God, and supreme father of the gods, the invincible Osiris." In a dream he perceives one of the officiating priests, of whom he thus speaks: "He also walked gently with a limping step, the ankle bone of his left foot being a little bent, in order that he might afford me some sign by which I might knoAv liim."^ In another work {Apologia) the author of the "Metamorphosis" says: "If any one happens to be present who has been initiated into the same rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care." Plautus, too, alludes to this custom in one of his plays {Miles Gloriosus, iv. 2), when he says: " Cedo Signum, harunc si es Baccharum." ^ Signs, however, must always, from the nature of things, ha,ve been a common feature of all secret associations. It was, moreover, the general custom of antiquity, in personal conferences, to instruct by actiofis instead of words; a custom begun out of necessity, but continued out of choice, from the superior advantages it enjoys in making an impres- sion.'' "Motion," says Warburton, "naturallg significative, which enters at the eye, hath a much stronger effect than articulate sound, only arbitrarily significative, which enters at the ear. Language, as appears from the records of history, and from the remains of the most ancient languages yet remaining, was at first extremely rude, narrow, and equivo- cal; so that men would be perpetually at a loss, on any new conception, or uncommon acci- dent, to explain themselves intelligibly to one another. The art of enlarging language by a scientific analogy being a late invention, this would necessarily set them upon supplying the deficiencies of speech by apt and significant signs. ^ Accordingly, in the first ages of probations. Sir J. Lubboclc says: "Amongst the Aborigines of Australia, in the South Adelaide district, according to Mr. Moorhouse, there are five distinct stages of initiation before the native is admitted to all the privileges of a man " (Prehistoric Times, 3d ed. , 1873, p. 447). ' Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography (Pythagoras). s Taylor, Apuleius, 1822, book xi., p. 287. * Give me the sign, if you are one of these votaries ; literally one of the Bacchse or votaries of Bacchus. These had a sign or password — symbolum or memoraculum — by which they recognized each other. * Divine Legation, vol. ii. , p. 476. ^ Thus the Jesuit, Lafitau, describing the Iroquois tribe of North American Indians, observes : "lis padent autant du geste que de la voix, et ils representent les choses si naturallement, qu'ellea semblent se passer sous Ics yeux dcs Auditeurs" (Mueursdes Sauvages, 1724, tome i., p. 482). THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 21 the world, mutual converse was uj^hold by a mixed discourse of words and actions: hence came the eastern phrase of the voice of the sign; and use and custom, as in most otlier affairs of life, improving what had arisen out of necessity into ornament, this practice subsisted long after the necessity was over." ' It is evident that in the cultivation of this system of pantomimic gesture it would become necessary to intermix with the gestures naturally significative, otlier gestures made significative by institution, that is, brought by arbitrary use, to have as determined and positive a meaning as the others. Of this mode of spmTcing hy action the writings of the Ancients afford numerous examples. The early oracles in particular frequently employed it, as we learn from an old saying of Ileraclitus, "That the king, whose oracle is at Delphi, neither speaks nor keeps silent, hut reveals by signs. " '■' Emblems, symbols, types, all have this in common; they are the representatives of something else for which they stand. ^ "The first learning of the world," says Dr. Stuke- ley, "consisted chiefly of symbols. The wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Jews, of Zoroaster, Sanchoniatho, Pherecydes, Syrus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, of all the Ancients that is come to our hand, is symbolic. " Of this truth, the twenty-eighth of the Pythagorean symbols affords a familiar illustration — "Offer not your right hand easily to every one" — which is thus explained by lamblicus: "The meaning of this symbol is, do not draw up, nor endeavor to raise, by extending your right hand, the unadopted and uninitiated. It also signifies that the right hand is not to be given easily even to those who have for a long time proved themselves worthy of it, through disciplines, and doctrines, and the participation of continence, the quinquennial silence,* and other probationary trials." ^ It has been maintained, that the intermediaries in passing on the "Masonic Grip" from the Ancients to the Moderns, were the followers of the Gnosis, amongst whom symbols and tokens for mutual recognition were well known. At least, so we are informed by Epiphanius, whose early experiences as a Manichean (before his elevation to the episco- pate), specially qualify him to enlighten us on this point. On the arrival of any stranger, he says, belonging to the same belief, they have a sign given by the man to the woman, and vice versa. In holding out the hand, under pretence of saluting each other, they feel it and tickle it in a particular manner underneath the palm, and so discover if the new comer belongs to the same sect.' The preferable opinion, however, would seem to be that recognition or salutation by means of a "grip" or "hand-shaking" is a common feature of many religious and social systems, and is especially prevalent amongst the Eastern people. To this day the Parsees of Western India, after prayers on Pappati or New Year's Day, visit their friends and relations, when the Hamma-i-Jour or "Joining of hands" is per- formed.' A symbolic language appears to have existed in the old monasteries, the signs not being optional, but transmitted from antiquity, and taught like the alphabet.^ A ' Divine Legation, vol. ii., p. 34. * Cited by Warburton in his Divine Legation, vol. ii., p. 36. <32)r. Barlo^v, Symbolism in Reference to Art ; Proceedings Royal Instit. Brit. Arch., vol. ii. (Ses- sion 1859-60), p. 97. *This alludes to the silence of five years imposed by Pythagoras on a gi'eat part of his auditors. 5 W. Bridgrnan, The Pythagorean Symbols, with the Explanation of lamblicus, 1804, p. 106. * King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 121. "A pair of clasped hands — symbols of concord —were usually sent from one nation or army to another " {Ibid. ). ■"Dosabhoy Framjee, The Parsees ; their History, Manners, Customs, and Religion, 1858, p. 60. *T. D. Fosbroke, British Monachism, 1802, vol. ii., p. 5. " Signa scire studeant omnes necessa- ria" (Let us all endeavor to learn the necessary signs), ibid, citing Matthew Paris, 403. 22 777^ ANCIENT MYSTERIES. similar custom prerailed in the great religious orders. "Louis XIV. of France, the Royal Jesuit, received," says the Due de St. Simon, "the vows and sacred signs at his initiation, and the proper formulary of prayers and absolution, on giving the almost imperceptible sign of the order, from the hands of Le Tellier." * It has been alleged, but on very insufficient authority, that the Dionysian architects, also said to have been a fraternity of priests and lay architects of Dionysus or Bacchus, present in their internal as well as external procedure the most perfect resemblance to the Society of Freemasons.^ They seem, says Woodford, to have granted honorary member- ship, and admitted speculative members, as we term them; and it has been asserted that they had grades and secret signs of recognition. ' Our chief interest in their history, how- ever, arises from the claim that has been advanced for their having employed in their ceremonial observances many of the implements which are now used by the Freemasons for a similar purpose. But it would test the learning even of Cardinal Mezzofanti himself, were that great linguist still alive, and fully conversant with the literature belonging to each of the languages he spoke so fluently — to identify any period or place illumined by the faintest glimmer of philosophic science — with the invention of architectural symbolism. In support of this position, I will merely adduce the philosophical teaching of om ancient people, but it will suffice, I think, to establish its correctness. In the oldest of the Chinese classics, which embraces a period reaching from the twenty-fourth to the seventh century before Christ, we meet with distinct allusions to the symbolism of the mason's art. " But "even if we begin," says Mr. Giles, "where the 'Book of History' ends, we find curious masonic expressions to have been in use — at any rate in the written language — more than seven hundred years before the Christian era; that is to say, only about a couple of hundred years after the death of King Solomon himself. But inasmuch as there are no grounds whatever for impugning the authentic character of that work as connected with periods much more remote, this would give to speculative Masonry a far higher antiquity than has ever yet been claimed." In a famous canonical work, called the "Great Leaeni^tg," which Dr. Legge says may be safely referred to the fifth century before our era, " we read that a man should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should do unto him; "and this," adds the writer, "is called the principle of acting on the square. "° Mr. Giles also quotes from Confucius, B.C. 481, and from his great follower, Mencius, who flourished nearly two hundred years later. In the writings of the last-named philosopher, it is taught that men should apply the square and compasses figuratively to their lives, and the level and the marking-line besides, if they would walk in Ihe straight and even paths of wisdom, and keep themselves within the bounds of honor and virtue. In Book VI. of his philosophy we find these words: ' Memoires du M. le Due de St. Simon (Supplement, tome i. , p. 8). ^ Lawrie, History of Freemasonry, 1804, p. 31 ; Prof. Robison, Proofs of a Conspii-acy, 1797, p. 30. ^ Kenning's Cyclopasdia, p. 163. See also H. J. da Costa, The Dionysian Artificers, 1820, p. 46. * " Ye officers of Government, apply the compasses " (Book of History). H. A. Giles, Freema- sonry in China, p. 4. So far as I am aware, Mr. (now Sir Walter) Medhurst first drew Masonic atten- tion to the Chinese terms for " compasses" and " square," representing " order, regularity, and pro- priety." An interesting letter, which he addressed to the "Northern Lodge of China,'" was sent by me from Shanghai to the Freemason's Magazine, and published in that journal. June 6. 1863, p. 454. *The Chinese Classics, vol. i., Proleg., p. 27.' ' Giles, Freemasonry in China, p. 8. Legge, Chinese Classics, vol. i. (The Great Learning, pp. 219-245). X J ^u.00 e ^e^'nc^Z'i^. FROM THE RARE AND ORIGINAL ALLEGORICAL PICTURE OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD, BY MOREAU, PARIS, 1790. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. , 23 " A master mason, in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the compasses and the square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of wisdom must also make use of tlie compasses and the square." ' The worsliip of Mithras, its origin, rites, and meaning, are extremely obscure. The authorities differ as to the exact period of its introduction into Rome, Von Hammer placing it at B.C. 68,"'' whilst by other historians a later date has been assigned. It speedily, how- ever, became so popular as, with the earlier-imported Serapis worship, to have entirely usurped the place of the ancient Hellenic and Italian deities. In fact, during the second and third centuries of the Empire, Serapis and Mithras may be said to have become the sole objects of worship, even in the remotest corners of the Roman world.' "There is very good reason to believe," says Mr. King, ''that as in the East the worship of Serapis was at first combined with Christianity, and gradually merged into it with an entire change of name, not substance, carrying with it many of its ancient notions and rites; so in the West a similar influence was exerted by the Mithraic religion. * There is no record of their final overthrow, and many have supposed that the faith in "Median Mithras" survived into comparatively modern times in heretical and semi-pagan forms of Gnosticism; although, as Mr. Elton points out, we must assume that its authority was destroyed or confined to the country districts when the pagan worships were finally forbidden by law. ^ The cult of Mithras, says Von Hammer, ought to be considered at two different epochs — 1st, at its origin in the time of the ancient Persian monarchy; and next, with the modi- fications that it assumed in the first four centuries of the Christian era. " The Mithraism of the Zend-Avesta, or of the sacred writings of the Persians, attributed to Zoroaster, the great reformer of the Persian religion, and that of the period to which the Roman Mithraic monuments belong, seems to have had more of a mythological than of an astronomical character; relating to the origin of evil, the two principles, and to the generation, the spiritual renovation, and the future destiny of man. ' In the Zend-Avesta, Mithras is the chief of the Izeds, under Ormuzd, who is his creator, and in whose wars against Ahriman he is the presiding agent. Subsequently, however, on the Mithraic religion spreading from Persia into Asia Minor, and thence to Alexandria and Rome, the original Persian idea was altered. Mithras was confounded with the sun and the supreme Deity, and practices were adopted quite inconsistent with the Persian worship, including some of the ideas connected with other religious systems, such as those of the Alexandrian Serapis,^ the Syrian Baal, and the Greek Apollo. The god is generally represented as a handsome youth, wearing the Phrygian cap and attire, and kneeling (or sitting) on a bull, which he is pressing down, or into which he is plunging the sacrificial knife. The bull is at the same time attacked by a dog, a serpent, and a scorpion. Nothing is certain concerning the significance of this scene. ' Giles, Freemasonry in China, p. 6. Dr. Legge says : " The year of Mencius's birth was probably the fourth of the Emperor Lee, B.C. 371. He lived to the age of eighty-four, dying in the year B.C. 288. The first twenty-three years of his life thus synchronized with the last twenty- three of Plato. Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, Demosthenes, and other great men of the West, were also his contempo- raries" (Chinese Classics, vol. ii., Proleg., p. 17). ' C. Wellbeloved, Eburacum, 1842, p. 82. "^ Von Hammer, Mithraica, 1833, p. 21. ^ King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 47. * Ihid., p. 48. ^Origins of English History, p. 351. ^ Von Hammer, Mithraica, p. 57. * An Egyptian divinity, the worship of which was introduced into Greece in the time of the Ptol- emies. ApoUodorus states that Serapis was the name given to Apis, after his death and deification. Hume records, as among the best attested miracles in all profane history, the cure of blind and lame men by Vesp.nsian in obedience to a vision of Serapis (Essays, 1777, vol. ii., p. 130). 24 THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. The fundamental dogma of the Mithraic doctrine, was the transmigration of souls under the influence of the seven planets, over whose operations Mithras presided. The initiated were divided into seven ' classes or grades, which were named successively, soldiers, hons, hyjenas, etc., after animals sacred to Mithras. After passing victoriously through the several ordeals, the neophyte was presented with an engraved stone or amulet, as a token of his admission into the brotherhood, and with the object of suj)plying a means of recog- nition by its members. He was also offered a crown, which, hoAvever, he was instructed to refuse, saying, "My only crown is Mithras.^" ^ The followers of Mithras, differing from the initiated of other systems, never wore Avreaths; and when "tried and proved" as to their having been duly admitted to a participation in this mystery, threw down the offered wreath, saying, "My crown is in my God." The candidate, moreover, on the successful conclusion of his probation, was marked in some indelible manner, the exact nature of which cannot now be ascertained. Mr. King is of opinion that this mark was not burned in, but incised or tatooed, but he need hardly have suggested that the members of a secret society did not receive the mark of membership on any conspicuous part of the body.' AVe learn from sculptured tablets and from inscriptions and symbols on tombs, that Mithraism prevailed extensively in this country ■* as well as in Germany and Gaul, ^ in each case, no doubt, having been introduced by the Eoman Legions. By those authors who attempt to prove that all secret fraternities form but the succes- sive links of one unbroken chain, it is alleged that the esoteric doctrines which in Egypt, in Persia, and in Greece, preserved the speculations of the wise from the ears and tongues of an illiterate multitude, passed with slight modifications into the possession of the early Christian heretics; from the Gnostic schools of Syi'ia and Egypt to their successors the Manicheans; and that from these through the Paulicians, Albigenses, and Templars, they have been bequeathed to the modern Freemasons. ° Into the abyss of Gnosticism it is not my intention to j)lunge, but the following sum- mary may be of assistance in our general inquiry. Gnosticism was the earliest attempt to construct a philosophical system of faith. It was a speculative system, and exercised little influence upon the masses of the people. ' ' Von Hammer, Mithraica, p. 50. Suidas says tioelve, and Nonnus eighty. The exact number, however, is immaterial. That these Mj^steries were regarded as involving a greater trial of a can- didate's fortitude than any of the others is indisputable. Von Hammer says that, the first founder of secret societies in the heart of Islam, Abdollah Maimun, established seven degrees, for which reason, as well as their opinions concerning the seven Imams, his disciples obtained the name of Seveners. This appellation was afterward transferred to the Assassins, whose founder, Hassan, not only re- stored the grades to their original number, seven, but also added a particular line of conduct, consist- ing of seven points (History of the Assassins, p. 59). The original of the Mithraic system must, how- ever, be looked for in the Bi-ahminical doctrine of the seven lower and seven upper worlds, or in the seven gates and the descent into Hades, which were features of the Egyptian Mysteries. - Von Hammer, Mithraica, p. 59. 3 King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 62. Mr. King cites this practice as evidencing that "the origin of all such sectarian personal marks must be placed in India, the true fovint, either directly or indirectly, of all the ideas and practices of Gnosticism" {Jbid.). By Godfrey Higgins the "char- acteristic mark" of the initiated in all Mysteries, is declared to have been circumcision (Aiiacalypsis, vol. 1., p. 304). •* Elton, Origins of English History, p. 351 ; Wellbeloved, Ebm-acum, pp. 79-8(3. ^Creuzer, Symbolik und Myth, Bd. i., p. 277. ^ Marras, Secret Fraternities of the Middle Ages, p. 8. ' M. Jacques Matter says, " That the Gnostics communicated by means of emblems and symbols, THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. 25 The Gnostics were imperceptibly divided into more than fifty particular sects, of wliom the most celebrated appear to have been the Basilideans, the A^alentinians, the Marcionites, and in a still later period the Manicheans. ' All the minor theories of the purpose and motives of Gnosticism can be comprehended in the three principal theories enunciated by Baur, Neander, and Mohler respectively. Baur treats it as a philosophy of religion, resulting from the comparison of various religious systems; Neander, as a fusion of Chris- tian ideas and Oriental theosophy, caused by the prevalence of sensuous ideas within the Church; and Mohler, as an intense and exaggerated Christian zeal, seeking some practical solution of the problems of sin and evil.'^ These agree in the general definition, that Gnosticism was an attemjit to solve the great problems of theology by combining the ele- ments of pagan mysticism with the Jewish and Christian traditions. From the fact that many genuine Gnostic symbols have come down to us, or reappear in speculative Masonry, it has been contended, that whereas the Gnosis, in its last and greatest manifestation^, the composite religion of Manes,' absorbed within itself the relics of the Mithraic faith, so in turn the Manichean talismans and amulets have kept an un- broken existence through the Sectaries of the Lebanon, the Soofees^ of Persia, the Tem- plars, and the Brethren of the Rosy Cross. '" Von Hammer lends the weight of his authority in support of the Templar link; which, however, he believes to have been forged at a very early period of the Gnostic heresy," and that it connected the Soldiers of the Cross with the Ophites, and not the Manicheans, their far later successors. "The prevalence of Gnostic symbols,^' says Dr. Mackey — "such as lions, serpents, and the like — in the decorations of churches of the Middle Ages, have led some writers to con- clude that the Knights Templars exercised an influence over the architects, and that by them the Gnostic and Ophite symbols were introduced into Europe."' But Stieglitz denies the correctness of this conclusion, and, whilst admitting that many Gnostic tenets, together with its Oriental and Platonic philosophy, were ultimately absorbed by Christi- anity, thinks that whatever Gnostic doctrines were accepted by the builders or architects, derived their sanction from the love of mysticism so predominant in the earlier periods of the Middle Ages. But he considers we should go too far were we to deduce a connection between the Templars and the Freemasons, on the ground that the former were Gnostics — an assumption which he pronounces to be as unwarranted as the alleged connection is untrue. ' and that they imitated the rites and the ordeals (epreuves) of the Mysteries of Eleusis" (Hist. Critique du Gnosticisme, 1843, vol. ii., p. 369). ' Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. ii., p. 163. "^ Baur, Die Christliche Gnosis, oder die Christliche Eeligions-Philosophie in ihrer Geschichtliehen Entwickelung (Tubingen), 1835 ; Neander, Genetische Entwickelung der Vornehmsten Gnostischen Systeme (Berlin), 1818 ; Mohler, Ursprung des Gnosticismus (Tubingen), 1835. 3 Manes, or Manichajus, but whose original name St. Epiphanius states to have been Cubricus, was a native of Persia, the birthplace of Mithraism. The "ethical vagaries" (as they have been tei-med) of the Manicheans appear to have been merely the revival of the dreams of the Greek mythologists; and the views of Manichaeus were identical with those long before propounded by the congenial fancy of Aristocles. * Sir John Malcolm, History of Persia, 1829, vol. ii., pp. 267-300; Disquisition on the Essenes, posf. 5 King, The Gnostics and their remains, p. 191. "Some traces of Gnosticism probably yet survive amongst the mysterious sects of Mount Lebanon, the Druses, and the Ansayreh" {Ibid., p. 120). It is somewhat singular that, without attributing to these sects a Gnostic origin, their possession of a secret mode of recognition, and a secret religion, has been constantly referred to by travellers. « Von Hammer, Mines d'Orient exploitees, vol. vi. ; Mysteries of Baphomet Revealed. ' Mackey, Encyclopaedia, p. 746. » C. L. Stieglitz, Geschichte der Baukunst, 1827, pp. 334, 335. \ 26 THL ESSEXES. According to Mackey, an instance of tlie transmutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic symbols^, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Eosicrucianism, and mediae- val architecture, is afforded by a plate in the Azoth Pliilosoplwrnm of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic philosopher, who flourished in the seventeenth century. This plate, which is hermetic in its design, but is full of Masonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle within a square, and on it reposes a dragon. On the latter stands a human figure of two hands and two heads surrounded by the sun, the moon, and five stars, rep- resenting the seven planets. One of the heads is that of a male, the other of a female. The hand attached to the male part of the figure holds the compasses, that to the female a square. The square and compasses thus distributed appear to have convinced Dr. Mackey that originally a phallic meaning was attached to these symbols, as there was to the point within the circle, which in this plate also appears in the centre of the globe. "The com- passes held by the male figure would represent the male generative principle, and the square held by the female, the female productive principle. The subsequent interpretation given to the combined square and compasses was the transmutation from the hermetic talisman to the Masonic symbol. " ' II. THE ESSENES. "The problem of the Essenes," says De Quincey, "is the most important, and, from its mysteriousness, the most interesting, but the most difficult of all known historic problems. " ^ The current information upon this remarkable sect, to be found in ecclesiastical his- tories and Encyclopaedias, is derived from the short notices of Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Epiphanius. Of these seven witnesses, the first and third were Jewish philosophers; the second, fourth and fifth, heathen writers; and the last two, Christian church historians.' The cardinal doctrines and practices of the sect were as follows: They regarded the inspired Law of God with the utmost veneration. The highest aim of their life was to become the temples of the Holy Ghost, when they could prophesy, perform miraculous cures, and, like Elias, be the forerunners of the Messiah. This they regarded as the last stage of perfection, which could only be reached by gradual growth in holiness through strict observance of the law. They abstained from using oaths, because they regarded the invocation, in swearing, of anything which represents Gods glory, as a desecration. According to tradition/ there were four degrees of purity: 1. The ordinary purity required of every worshiper in the temple; 2. The higher degree of purity necessary for eating of the heave-offering; 3. The still higher degree requisite for partaking of the sacrifices; and 4. The degree of purity required of those who sprinkle the water absolving ' Mackey, Encyclopaedia (Talisman). * De Quincey, Essays (Secret Societies, and others), edit. 1863, Preface, p. 1. ^ C. D. Ginsburg, The Essenes: their History and Doctrines. 1864. In this Essay, of which the pre- liminary outline given in the text is a little more than an abridgment, the author not only presents the entire evidence, which is scattered over the works of tlie seven "stereotyped" witnesses, enumerated above, but also summarizes in chronological order the modern literature on Essenism; the works of twenty-one modern writers being carefully reviewed, from De Eossi, 1513-77, down to Milman, 1862. ^ I.e., Jewish tradition. Dr. Ginsburg takes the identity of the Essenes with the Chassidim as proved, and explains the classification of the former accordingly. THE ESSENES. 27 from sin. The first degree was obligatory upon every one — the other giades were volun- tary/ The strictness of their ceremonial law, thus rendered still more rigid by traditional explanations, ultimately led to their forming a separate community. They practised celi- bacy, although "weak brethren" were allowed to take wives, ^ which, however, debarred them from advancement to the highest orders of the brotherhood. There were no distinctions amongst them, and they had all things in common. They were governed by a president, who was elected by the whole body. Trials were conducted by juries, composed of at least a hundred memb(3rs, who had to be unanimous in their verdict. They always got up before the sun rose, and never talked about any Avorldly matters until they had assembled and prayed together with their faces turned toward the sun.^ Some occupied themselves with healing the sick, some in instructing the young; but all of them devoted certain hours to studying the mysteries of nature and revelation, and of the celestial hierarchy. At the fifth hour (or eleven o'clock a.m.) the labor of the forenoon terminated, and they partook of their common meal, each member taking his seat according to age. In the interval between labor and refreshment, they all assembled together, had a baptism in cold water, put on their white garments, the symbol of purity, and then made their way to the refectory, which they entered with as much solemnity as if it were the temple. During the meal a mysterious silence was observed, and at its close the members resumed their working clothes and their several employments until supper-time. Although everything was done under the directions of overseers, and the Essenes had even to receive their presents through the stewards, yet they might relieve the distressed, though they were not of the brotherhood, with as much money as they thought proper. The Sabbath was rigorously observed. Ten persons constituted a complete and legal number for divine worship; and in the presence of such an assembly an Essene would never spit, nor would he at any time spit to his right hand. They had no ordained min- isters, and the distinctive ordinances of the brotherhood, as well as the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the angelic worlds, were the prominent topics of Sabbatic instruction. Celibacy being the rule of Essenism, recruits were obtained from the Jewish commu- nity at large. Every grown-up candidate had to pass through a novitiate of two stages, which extended over three years, before he could be finally accepted. In the first, which lasted twelve months, he had to cast all his possessions into the common treasury, and ' Hirschfeld, in his work on the Hagadic Exegesis (1847) affirms that " some Neo-Platonic, Pytha- gorean, and Persian ideas found their way among the Essenes, and brought with them some prac- tices and institutions which this brotherhood mixed up with the Jewisli views of rehgion, and amongst which are to be classed their extension of the laws of purification" (Ginsburg, p. 81). * This statement rests on the authority of Josephus, wlio, in his Jewish War (Book ii, chap, viii., § 13), says, that one set of Essenes allowed marriage, "trying their spouses for three years before marrying them." But as in another work (Antiquities, Book xvii., chap. 1., § 5) he observes, "they never marry wives," his evidence is hardly to be relied on, especially since all the other ancient writers who discuss the subject (Eusebius, Pliny, and Solinus) pronounce the Essenes to have been a cehbate brotherhood. 3 " There seems to have been grounded in this theosophy .(of the Essenes; a certain veneration for the sun, which we have to explain from the intermingling of Parsee rather than of Platonic doc- trines" (Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Clmrch— Trans, by J. Torrey— 1851-58, vol. i., p. 58). 28 THE ESSEN ES. received a copy of the ordinances, as well as a spade, ^ an apron, used at tlie lustrations, and a white robe, to put on at meals, being the symbols of purity. After this probation, he was admitted into the second stage, which lasted tAvo years, and was called an approaclier. During this period he was admitted to a closer fellowship, and shared in the lustral rites, but could not hold any office or sit down at the common table. On passing through the second stage of probation, tlte approaclier became an associate, or a full member of the society, when he was received into the brotherhood, and partook of the common meal. Before, however, he was made a homitetes, or finally admitted into close fellowship, he had to bind himself by a most solemn oath (this being the only occasion on which the Essenes used an oath), to observe three things: 1. Love to God; 2. Merciful justice toward all men — to be faithful to every man, and especially to rulers; ^ and 3. Purity of cliaracter, which implied inter alia strict secresy toward outsiders, so as not to divulge the secret doctrines' {lAVffrj/pia) to any one, and perfect openness with the members of the order. The three sections, consisting of candidate, approacher, and associate, were subdivided into four orders, distinguished from each other by superior holiness. From the beginning of the novitiate to the achievement of the highest spiritual state, there were eight different stages which marked the gradual growth in holiness. At the sixth of these the aspirant became the temple of the Holy Spirit, and could prophesy. Thence, again, he advanced (seven) to that stage in which he was enabled to perform miraculous cures and raise the dead. And finally, he attained (eight) to the position of Elias, the forerunner of the Messiah. It may fairly be questioned wdiether any religious system has ever produced such a community of saints; and it is therefore no wonder that Jews (of different sects), Greeks and Romans, Christian Church historians, and heathen writers have been alike constrained to lavish the most unqualified praise on this holy brotherhood. The assertion of Josephus that they "live the same kind of life as do those whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans," * has led some writers to believe that Essenism is the offspring of Pythagorism. This view has been ably presented by Zeller in his celebrated "History of Philosophy," but the points of resemblance he adduces are disposed of seriatim by Dr. Ginsburg, who proves that some did not exist, or, at least, rest upon very doubtful author- ity, e.g., that the Essenes worshipped the sun, believed in intermediate beings between the Deity and the world, and devoted themselves to magic arts (outside the boundaries of their miraculous cures); whilst others, such as the community of goods, the secresy about their institutions,^ the symbolic representation of their doctrines, and allegorical interpretation of 'SeeDeut. xxiii., 12-14. ^ Neander lays gi-eat stress on this inculcation, saying ' ' they were particularly distinguished on account of tlieir fidelity, so different from tlie seditious spii'it of tlie Jews, in rendering fidelity to the magistrates" (General History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. i., p. 62). ^ " Their whole secret lore can hardly be imagined to have consisted simply of ethical elements, bvit we are liere forced to the supposition of a peculiar theosophy and pneumatology " (Neander, Genei'al History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. i., p. 64). * Antiquities of the Jews, Book xv. , cliap. x. , § 4. ^ We fm'ther learn from Josephus, that amongst the Essenes, before final acceptance and con- sequent admission to tlie common meal, a candidate was required to swear to forfeit his life rather than disclose the secrets of the brotherhood (Jewish "War, Book ii., chap, viii., § 7); from Porphyry, that, ' ' thougli meeting for the first time, tlie members of this sect at once salute each other as in- timate friends;" and from Philo, "that they philosophize on most things in symbols" (Essay, E very- Virtuous Man is Free). THE ESSENES. 29 ancient traditions, lie argues, were the natural result of their manner of life, and such as will naturally develop themselves among any number of enlightened men who devote themselves almost exclusively to a contemplative religious life. Dr. Ginsburg then proceeds to enumerate ten vital differences between the two brother- hoods, of which I give a few specimens. 1. The Pythagoreans were essentially polytheists; the Essenes were monotheistic Jews. 2. The Pythagoreans believed in the doctrine of metempsychosis — Pythagoras is said to have interceded in behalf of a dog that was being beaten, because he recognized in its cries the voice of a departed friend — the Essenes believed in no such thing. 3. Pythagorism taught that man can control his fortune; Essenism maintained that fate governs all things. ' 4. The Pythagoreans were an aristocratic and exclusive club, and excited an amount of jealousy and hatred which led to its destruction; the Essenes were meek and lowly, and so much beloved by those belonging to other sects that all Joined in bestowing the liighest praise upon them. In doctrine, as well as practice, the Essenes and the Pharisees were nearly alike. In both systems there were /owr classes of Levitical purity, a novitiate of twelve months, an apron was bestowed in the first year, and the mysteries of the cosmogony and cosmology were only revealed to members of the society. Stewards supplied the needy strangers of either order with clothing and food. Both regarded office as coming from God, and their meal as a sacrament. Both bathed before meals, and wore symbolic garments on the lower part of the body whilst so doing. Each meal began and ended with prayer. Both regarded ten persons as constituting a complete number for Divine Avorship, and none would spit to the right hand in the presence of such an assembly. Oaths were forbidden in both sects, though it is true that the Essenes alone uniformly observed the injunction as a sacred principle. The points of difference were the following: — The Essenes formed an isolated order, were celibates, did not frequent the temple or offer sacrifices, and, though believing in the immortality of the soul, they did not believe in the resurrection of the bodv. The identity of many of the precepts and practices of Essenism and Christianity is pointed out by Dr. Ginsburg, which, after all, we might naturally expect would be the case, when it is remembered that the former was founded on the Divine law of the Old Testament; but when he goes on to argue from the fact that Christ, with the exception of once, was not heard of in public till his thirtieth year; and though he frequently rebuked the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes — that he lived in seclusion as a member of this fraternity, — the inference he draws is one which the actual facts do not substantiate. Our Saviour remained with His parents, and was obedient in all things, until His public ministration.^ The precise date when this order of Judaism first developed itself has not yet been ascertained, nor from the nature of things is it likely that it ever will. In looking through the accounts of this sect, which are given by ancient writers, three only, says Dr. Ginsburg, are independent ones, namely— Philo's, Josephus's, and Pliny's. This is no ' Here again the evidence of Josephus is very contradictory. He says, in his Antiquities, Book xiii., chap, v.: " The sect of the Essenes affirm that fate governs all things T and in Book xviii., chap, i.: " The doctrine of the Essenes is thm— that all things are best ascribed to God." ^ Graetz maintains that Jesus simply appropriated to himself the essential features of Essenism, and that primitive Christianity was nothing hut an offshoot from Essenism (Geschichte der Juden, 1863, vol. iii., pp. 310-253). 30 THE ESSENES. doubt correct as regards the appearance of the Essenes on the field of history, but not, as I shall show later on, with respect to their disappearance. To deal first of all with their antiquity; according to Philo, the "fellowship" was insti- tuted by Moses; but we need concern ourselves very little with this estimate, since, in the first place, the treatise from which it is quoted (''Apology for the Jews"), as Graetz has shown, is evidently one of the many apocryphal writings fathered upon the Jewish- Alexan- drian philosopher; ' and in the second, it would seem that the tracing of this brotherhood to the Jewish lawgiver, is in accordance with the practice among the Jews, of ascribing the origin of every laAV, mystical doctrine or system, which ever came into vogue, either to Ezra, Moses, Noah, or Adam/ Pliny informs us — "Toward the west (of the Dead Sea) are the^ssenes. They are a hermitical society, marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth. They live without any women, without money, and in the company of palm trees. Their ranks are daily made up by multitudes of new comers who resort to them, and who, being weary of life, and driven by the surges of ill-fortune, adopt their manner of life. ' Thus it is that, through thousands of ages (^per sceculorum millia), incredible to relate, this people prolongs its existence without any one being born among them, so fruitful to them are the weary lives of others. " * Josephus expresses himself in very general terms, saying that they existed "ever since the ancient time of the fathers," ^ although, as he claims to have been himself successively a Pharisee, Sadducee, and Essene, more precise information might have been expected ■from him.° It will be seen that all the preceding statements conform to the universal custom of ascribing a time-honored antiquity to every religious or philosophical system. Their actual existence, however, under the name of Essenes, is sufficiently attested by Josephus ' (if his testimony can be relied on) as to render it quite clear that they were in ' Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, 1863, p. 464 '^ Ginsburg, The Essenes: their History and Doctrines, p. 36. The Carmelites, who were really founded in the beginning of the thirteenth century, on Moimt Carmel, claim, however, to have originated with Ehjah, and to have continued, through the Sons of tlie Prophets, Eechabites, and the Essenes, to the present time. Together witli the extravagant pretensions of many other sects, this has been effectually demolished by Papebrochius. * Much of Pliny's description would apply, mutatis mutandis, to a noted secret society in Japan, now extinct or in abeyance, viz. , tliat of the Komoso. This fraternity served as a refuge to any per- son wlio had committed a deed of bloodshed, or otherwise ofi'ended, so as to render it necessary for Jiini to leave his own district. After due examination, if it appeared that this crime was not of a disgraceful nature (adultery, burglary, or theft), he was received into the society, and bound by oath not to reveal its rites and ceremonies. No women were admitted, and travelling Komoso challenged one another by signs. (From an article in the Japan Weekly Mail, August 30, 1879, by Mr. T. M. M'Latchie.) '' Natural History, Book v. , chap. xvii. * Antiquities, Book xviii, chap. i. , § 2. « " Wlien I was about sixteen years old I had a mind to make trial of the several sects that were amongst us. Tliese sects are three — the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes; for I tliought that by this means I might choose the best, if I were once acquainted with them all; so I contented myself with hard fare, and underwent great difficulties, and went through them all" (Autobiography, Whiston's Joseph vis, p. i.). ' Antiquities, Book xiii., chaps, v., viii., xi., § 2; Jewish War, Book i., chap, iii., § 5. Apart from the contradictions into which he stumbles with regard to the Essenes, can any reader lay down the FROM THE RARE ALLEGORICAL ENGRAVING, BY BERNARD PICART, PARIS, 1727. THE ESSEN ES. 31 being at least two centuries before the Christian era, and that they at first lived amongst the Jewish community at large. Their residence at Jerusalem is also evident from the fact that there was a gate named after them. "When they ultimately withdrew/' says Dr. Ginsburg, "from the rest of the Jewish nation, a majority of them settled on the north- west shore of the Dead Sea, and the rest lived in scattered communities throughout Palestine and Sjnria. Both Philo and Josephus estimated their number at above four thousand. This must have been exclusive of women and children. We hear very little of them after this period {i..e., 40 a.d.); ' and there can hardly be any doubt that, owing to the great similarity which existed between their precepts and practices and those of the primitive Christians, tlie Essenes, as a body, must have embraced GUristianity f " The derivation of the name, Essenes, was not known to Philo and Josephus, and there is hardly an expression the etymology of which has evoked such a diversity of opinion. The Greek and the Hebrew, the Syriac and the Chaldee, names of persons and names of places, have successively been tortured to confess the secret connected with this appella- tion. Twenty different explanations of it are quoted by Dr. Ginsburg, from which I extract the following: Epiphanius calls the sect Ossenes, the stout or strong race; Jesseans; and Simseans, probably from the Hebrew Shemesh, Sun, i.e.. Sun-worshippers. By De Eossi, Herzfeld, and Bellarman, they are considered identical with the Baithusians. Salmasius derives the name from Essa, a town beyond the Jordan. A very large number of writers adopt the description of the contemplative Essenes or Therapeutce, ascribed to Philo, which, however, has nothing whatever to do with the real Palestinian Essenes. The breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest {Essen) is suggested by others as having fur- aished the etym^on availed of by Josephus. But the difficulty which perplexed Christian writers, arising from the fact that the Essenes are not mentioned in the New Testament, did not affect Jewish scholars. Assum- ing this appellation to be a corruption of an Aramaic word, they searched the Talmud and Midrashim, chiefly written in Aramaic. Rappaport, styled by Dr. Ginsburg the "Cory- pheus of Jewish critics," readily discovered that what Philo and Josephus describe as peculiarities of the Essenes, tallies with what the Mishna, the Talmud, and the Midrashim record of the Chassidim, and that they are most probably the so-called old believers, who are also described in the Talmud as the holy community in Jerusalem.^ This idea was followed up in 1846 by Frankel, who contends that the Essenes are frequently mentioned in the Mishna, Talmud, and Midrashim as the original Assideans, i.e., Chassidim, the associates, those who have enfeebled their bodies through much study, the retired ones, the holy congregation in Jerusalem, and hemerobaptists. ^ The Chassidim constituted one of the three chief Jewish sects, of which the other two works of Josepfins without being painfully reminded by the concluding sentence of his " Wars of the Jews" of a similar asseveration of veracity, by the famous Baron Muncjiausen? ' This and the next following statement are hardly characterized by Dr. Ginsburg's usual accu- racy. The historian Josephus, upon whom he chiefly relies, was not born until 37 a.d. His books of the Jewish War were published about a.d. 75, and the Antiquities about eighteen years later — viz. , A.D. 93. The ultimate dispersion of the Essenes will be presently discussed, though it may be here stated that they still existed as a sect in the days of Epiphanius, who died a.d. 403. ^ Hebrew Annual {Bikure Ha-Ittim), Vienna, 1829, vol. x., p. 118; Ginsburg, The Essenes: their History and Doctrines, p. 70. * Frankel, Zeitschrift fiir die religioseri Interessen des Judenthums, vol. viii., pp. 441-461. 32 THE ESSENES. were the Hellenists and Maccaheans. Jewish writers' have concluded that when the multitude grew lax in the observance of the law, and when the religion of their fathers was in imminent danger, it was natural that those who feared the Lord should separate themselves more visibly from their Hellenizing brethren, unite together by special ties to keep the ordinances, and hedge themselves in more securely by the voluntary imposition of works of supererogation, thus becoming an organized sect characterized by the special name Chassidiin, in a peculiar and sectarian sense. That this old sect should first come before us so late as the time of Judas Maccabseus, and unite themselves with him, they consider is owing to the fact that they found in him an earnest defender of the ancient faith. In process of time their principles became too narrow, and they split up into two divi- sions, the Essenes"' who insisted upon the rigid observance of the old laws and customs, and devoted themselves to a contemplative life, whilst the moderate party retained the name of CJiassidim. Having proceeded so far, mainly under the guidance of Dr. Ginsburg, three leading points appear worthy of our further examination. 1. The first appearance of the Essenes on the field of history. 2. Their disappearance. And 3. Their origin or derivation. These will be considered in their order. z 1. Philo, Pliny, and Josephus all agree in ascribing to the sect what by Masonic writers would be termed a "time-immemorial" antiquity, and its ancestry, therefore, will only be subject to historic curtailment, in the event of satisfactory proof being forthcoming, of its identity with the Chassidiin. This question we shall approach a little later, and I shall now proceed with some general remarks bearing upon the distinctive usages of the brotherhood. According to Creuzer, The Colleges of Essenes and Megabyzge at Ephesus, the Orphics of Thrace, and the Curetes of Crete are all branches of one antique and common religion, and that originally Asiatic' Mr. King says, "the priests of the Ephesian Diana were called Essenes, or Hessenes — from the Arabic Hassan, pure — in virtue of the strict chastity they were sworn to observe during the twelvemonth they held that office. Such asceticism is entirely an Indian institution, and was developed fully in the sect flourishing under the same name around the Dead Sea, and springing from the same root as the mysterious reli- gion at Ephesus. " * This writer discerns the evidence of Buddhistic origin in the doctrines of the "Ophites," or serpent worshippers, a Cnostic sect which assumed a definite existence about the middle of the second century. The promulgation of these Indian tenets from a source so remote — an apparently insurmountable objection — is thus explained: "The Essenes, or Hessenes, Buddhist monks in every particular, were established on the shores of the Dead Sea ' for thousands of ages' before Pliny's times." '^ Mr. King then cites the habits of the priests of ' Kitto, Cjxlopjcdia of Biblical Literature, 3d edit., 1862, p. 475 (C. L. Ginsburg). "^ The distinction is thus alluded to in tlie Babylonian Tahiiud: "He who gives away all his prop- erty to benevolent purposes, and thereby reduces himself to beggary, is a foolish Cliasid" (Ibid.). ^ 3 Symbolik, vol iv., p. 433. Matter concurs in this view except as to the Asiatic origin of tiie doctrine (Hist. Grit. Du Gnost., vol i., p. 134). ^King, The Gnostics and their Eemains, pp. 1-3, 171. * King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 22. Against this view may be brouglit forward the greater autliority of Neander, wlio says: "It would lead to the greatest mistakes if, from the resem- blance of religious phenomena where relationsliip can be traced to the common ground of origin in the essence of the human mind itself, we should be ready to infer their outwui-d derivation one from THE ESSENES. 33 Diana, who " were forbidden to enter the baths/' and observes, " that in all religions ema- nating from the East, personal dirtiness has ever been the recognized outward and visible sign of inward purity; fully exemplified in fakirs, dervises, and mediaeval saints." ' Although bathing was a leading feature of Jewish Essenism, in some other respects the habits of members of this sect, if we may credit Josephus and Porphyry, conformed very strictly with the condition of body common to the Oriental religionists. The former of these writers assures us, and the latter copies him, " that they change neither garments nor shoes till they are worn out, or made unfit by time. " "^ Leaving undecided the question of origin, it may, however, be fairly assumed that Essenism having once made its appearance, received into itself many foreign elements, and the opinion of Neander, " that it adopted the old Oriental, Parsee, and Chaldean notions," has been very generally accepted. ' 2. What ultimately became of the Essenes is pure matter of conjecture, and in the attempted solution of this problem the speculations which connect them with other and later systems have their source. They are to be traced down to about a. d. 400, after which they fade away into obscurity. Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia and metropolitan of Cyprus, who was born in Palestine early in the fourth century and died a. d. 402, alludes several times to them in his celebrated work, '^ Against the Heretics." The first notice is as follows: "The Essenes continue in their first position, and have not altered at all. According to them there have been some dissensions among the Gor- thenes, in consequence of some difference of opinion which has taken place among them — I mean among the Sebuens, Essenes, apd Gortlienes.* Epiphanius again speaks of therx> under the title, against tlie Ossenes, viz. : ''Next follow the Essenes, who were Cwsely connected with the former sect. They, too, are Jews, hypocrites in their demeanor, and peculiar people in their conceits. They originated, according to the traditions which I received, in the regions of Nabatea, Itruria, Moabitis, and Antilis. The name Ossenes, according to its etymology, signifies the stout race. A certain person named Elxai joined them at the time of the Emperor Trajan, who was a false prophet. He had a brother named Jeeus who . . . did not live according to the Mosaic law, but introduced quite different things, and misled his own sect. . . . He joined the sect of the Ossenes, of which some remnants are still to be found in the same regions of Nabatea and Perea, toward Moabitis. These people are now called Simseans. " In a foot-note. Dr. Ginsburg explains that " this name (Simseans) may be derived from the Hebrew Shemesh (sun), and was most probably given to the Essenes because of the erroneous notion that they ivorshippied the Sun." * the other. How much that is alike may not be found in comparing the phenomena of Brahminism and of Buddhism, with those of the sect of Baghards, in the Middle Ages, when the impossibiUty of any such derivation is apparent to everybody " (Neander, General History of the Christian Rehgion and Church, vol. i., p. 59). • King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 24. ' Josephus, Jewish War, Book ii., chap, viii., § 4. It is possible that the purifications of the Es- senes were to a considerable extent mechanical ? ^ Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. i., p. 58. ■•Epiphanii, Opera Omnia (Colon), 1863, vol. i., ord. x., p. 28, and ord. xix., p. 39; Ginsburg, The Essenes: their Historj^ and Doctrines, pp. 56-58. * This suggestion— virtually accepting the fact deposed to by Epiphanius— is quite irreconcilable with his previous observation, implying that shortly after 400 a.d. the Essenes must have embraced Christianity. 34 THE ESSENES. 3. Conjectural et5^mology rarely attains to actual demonstration. In the present instance the very learned and sagacious derivations which Eappaport and Frenkel have supplied, although supported by internal evidence of a weighty character, are, nevertheless, suffi- ciently dependent upon so large an array of etymons, liomomjms, and synonyms, as to excite our admiration at their skilful arrangement, without entirely satisfying our judgment that, in investigating backward through the corruptions of many thousand years, the primary forms have been discerned which lay buried beneath them. ' Our doubts gain strength when we consider that, in Eastern countries, the perfection of language outstripped the refinement of manners; and that "the speech of Arabia could diversify the fourscore names of honey, the two hundred of a serpent, the five hundred of a lion, the thousand of a sword, at a time when this copious dictionary was entrusted to the memory of an illiterate people." ^ Krause finds m the earliest Masonic ritual, which he dates at a.t>. 926 (from being mentioned in the "York Constitutions"^ of that year), evidence of customs "obviously taken from the usages of the Roman Colleges and other sources, that individually agree with the customs and doctrines of theEssenes, Stoics, and the Soofees of Persia." ' This writer draws especial attention to the "agreement of the brotherhood of the Essenes, with the chief doctrines which the Culdees associated with the three great lights of the Lodge." ^ He then observes ' ' that though coincidences, without any actual connection, are of little A'alue, yet, if it can be historically proved that the one society knew of the other, the case is altered. " Having, then, clearly established (at least to his own satisfaction) that the Culdees were the authors of the 926 constitutions, he next argues that they knew of and copied in many respects the Essenes and Therapeutge; after which he cites Philo in order to establish that the three fundamental doctrines of the Essenes were Love of God, Love of Virtue, and Love of Mankind. These he compares with the phases of moral conduct, symbolized in our lodges by the Bible, square, and compasses; and, as he assumes that the "Three Great Lights" have always been the same, and argues all through his book that Freemasonry has inherited its tenets or philosophy from the Culdees, the doctrinal parallel which he has drawn of the two religious systems becomes, from his point of view, of the highest interest. Connecting in turn the Essenes with the Soofees of Persia, Krause still further lengthens the Masonic pedigree. Although the Soofee tenets are involved in mystery, they had secrets and mysteries for every gradation, which were never revealed to the profane. " But there seems reason to believe that their doctrine "involved the grand idea of one universal creed which could be secretly held under any profession of an outward faith; and, in fact, took virtually the same view of religious systems as that in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such matters."' ' As a complete knowledge of Rabbinical Hebrew is possessed by comparatively few, the conclu- sions of Rappapoi't and Frenkel must be regarded as "the traditions of experts, to be taken by the outside world on faith," unless we go to the other extreme, and accept the dictum of Professor Seeley (Histoiy and Politics, Macmillan's Magazine, August 1879), that, in the study of liistory, "we should hold very cheap these conjectural combinations, and steadfastly bear in mind that we are concerned with facts, and not with possibilities." ^ Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. ix., p. 240. ^Krause, Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden, Book i., part i., p. 117. ■'See next chapter (No. 51). ^ Ihid., Book i., part ii., p. 358. «Malcolm, History of Persia, 1829, vol. ii., p. 281. 'King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 185. "In our day the admission of an universal THE ESSEN ES. 35 "Traces of the Soofee doctrine," says Sir John Malcolm, "exist, in some shape or other, Jn every region of the world. It is to be found in the most splendid theories of the ancient schools of Greece, and of the modern philosophers of Europe. It is the dream of the most ignorant and of the most learned, " ' It remains to be noticed that, by one writer, the introduction of Essenism into Britain has been actually described, and the argumentative grounds on which this speculation is based, afford, perhaps, not an unfair specimen of the ordinary reasoning which has linked the principles of this ancient sect with those of more modern institutions. Mr. Herbert contends,^ that St. Germanus, on his visits to England, for the purpose of extirpating the Pelagian heresy, found that the doctrines which Pelagius had imbibed from the Origenists, were, as far as they went, agreeable to those Britons among whom the iiotions of Druidism still lingered, or were beginning to revive; but they had been framed by him in the form and character of a Christian sect, and did not include the heathenish portion of Origenism, though the latter were so far identical with Druidism, that both were modifications of Py thagorism. ' Germanus reproved the "Pelagians, and prevailed upon them to give an apparent assent to principles, which, equally with themselves, he had opposed. While, by a secret organi- zation, he enabled them to carry to its ultimate conclusion a system of which mere exoteric Pelagianism had barely uttered the first preluding notes. By a fusion of the various heathen mysteries, with the language, names, and forms of Christianity, one great mundane empire, Romano-Scythic, might be constructed politically, and animated morally. Thus Britain became the capital seat and centre of this great '' crasis " or " syncretismus," of the great union, of the great secret of secrets; and through the channels of secret knowledge, became known to the very ends of the earth as such. In this attempted " crasis," Judaism was an important ingredient. Those Jews, whose Propliets joined with Julian in Pagan rites, could only be the Essenes. The jealous perse- cution which Valens carried on in Syria against all the mystics and magicians whom Julian had patronized, must probably have ruined the affairs of that sect, and dislodged them from their ancient ccenobium at Engaddi * by Zoar. The knowledge of their subsequent movements, Mr. Herbert frankly admits to be a desideratum, but goes on to say that Attila, who he identifies with King Arthur of Britain, ' in his kingly style, after enumera- religion by the Freemasons, expressed by their requisition from the candidate of nothing more than an acknowledgment of the behef in one God, is regarded with pious horror by the bigots of every variety in the Christian scheme" (Ibid.). ' Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. ii., p. 267. ''Algernon Herbert, Britannia after the Romans, 1836, vol. i., pp. 120-125; vol. ii., pp. 75-92. •" The description of the Essenes given in Laurie's History of Freemasonry, 1804 (pp. 33-39), has been followed for the most part in later Masonic works. It was based mainly on Basnage's History of the Jews, Book ii. Of this last writer Dr. Ginsburg says, he mistook the character of the Essenes, and confounds the brotherhood with the Therapeutse, hence asserting that, "they borrowed several superstitions from the Egyptians, among whom they retired" (p. 66). " Pliny states, "Below this people (the Essenes), was formerly the town of Engadda (Engedi)."— Natural History, Book v., chap. xvii. ^"Is it credible that two miraculous sword-bearers should have thought, or even feigned, to spring up, conquer Europe, successively assail and shake the Roman Empire, return home, and perish, under circumstances so similar, and with so close a synchronism?" (Herbert, Britannia after the Romans, vol. i., p. 120). Mr. Herbert adds: "I do not believe that two beings so similar and consistent as the Hunn and the pretended Briton were thus brought into juxtaposition without the idea of identifying them" (Ibid., p. 135). 36 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. ting various nations over whom lie reigned, averred himself to be " descended from Nimrod the Great, and nursed in Engaddi/' As his original nurture had been among people exceeding the other barbarians in rude- ness and ferocity, equally unacquainted with the huntsman King of Babel, and with the Pythagoreans of Palestine, the only possible meaning his words can bear is, according to Mr. Herbert, " that he was instructed in the mysteries of the Essenians, and valued them upon a par with his highest titles of sovereignty. When the Arthurian, that is Attilane, island received the crown and sceptre of David, the magic wand of Moses, etc., we are clearly to understand that it became the new Engaddi, and the residence of the chief Essene lodge. " ' III. THE EOMAN COLLEGIA.^ The question as to how far the laws and institutions of medigeval Europe have been founded upon and modified by those of Imperial Eome, is a subject which has been long debated with vast learning and ability, but which has never yet been satisfactorily deter- mined, nor, from the nature of things, is it probable that it ever will. It will be sufficient in this place to observe that for several hundred years before the Teutonic invasion of the Empire, the territorial area overspread by the barbarians was, to a great extent, conter- minous with the imperial frontiers. The line of demarcation separating the two races was of the most shadowy character. Of necessity there was much intercourse between them, and it is therefore fairly deducible that as the Goths and other neighboring peoples gradually acquired some of the characteristics of civilization, Roman laws and customs must, in some qualified form, have been introduced among them. Consequently, when they appeared on Roman soil as conquerors, they possessed many institutions which, though apparently original, were in reality only modified and imperfect reproductions of the old usages of the Empire. To this it must be added, that the Roman influence over Germany was much more extensive than has been generally supposed. The defeat of Varus by Arminius by no means excluded the Romans from thcright bank of the Rhine; and dur- ing the most flourishing period of the Empire, its dominion extended not only over the greater part of what is now the Austrian realm, but reached with more or less vigor and perfection from the Rhine to the Elbe,^ and, in point of fact, comprehended nearly the whole of Germany proper." 'Mr. Herbert observes: "The result proved is, that the Neo-Druids, or 'Appolinares Mystici,' sought the alliance of the great barbarian, during the life and nominal reig-n of Gwrtheym; secretly acknowledged the mysteries of his dtemon sword; and beheld in him a re-incarnation of Hen-Valen, or Belenusthe Ancient, of Mithras the robber and Huntsman, the spirit of the sun" (Britannia after the Romans, vol. i., p. 124). ^ The leading authorities upon whom I have relied in the following sketch are: Heineccius, De CoUegiis et Corporibvs Opificvm, Opera omnia, Geneva, 1766, vol. ii., pp. 368-418; J. F. Massman, Libellus Aurarius, Leipsic, 1840, pp. 74-85; Smith. Diet, of Antiquities, titles, " Collegium," "So- cietas," " Universitas;" H. C. Coote, Tlie Romans of Britain, 1878, pp. 383-413. The precision ob- served by Massman is very remarkable — no less than forty-five foot-notes appearing on a single page (78). ^Frederick the Great in his " Histoire de Mon Temps," vol. i., mentions numerous Roman coins having been found near Berlin, and concludes that the site where these were discovered must have formed an advanced post of the Roman forces stationed west of the Elbe. * "At the end of the foui'th century, the Roman Empire still kept, in name at least, its old position. THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. 37 It admits, indeed, of no doubt that throughout Italy, Spain, and France the invaders gradually adopted the language and the religion of the conquered, and that they respected the laws and arts of Rome. ' But it has been alleged that the Roman occupation of Britain was very superficial, and had not brought about so complete a Romanization of the country as had taken place in Gaul and Spain. '■' Yet this point is of minor importance if we believe, with Mr. Freeman, that the barbarians made a tabula rasa of Roman Britain, leaving therein neither the Romans nor their coloni. This, until lately, has been, with but slight variation, the concurrent opinion of our antiquaries. Dr. Lingard says, — "By the conquest of the Saxons the island was plunged into that state of barbarism from which it had been extricated by the Romans." ' Hallam expresses himself in almost identical terms, viz., " Ko one travelling through England would discover that any people had ever inhabited it before the Saxons, save so far as mighty Rome has left traces of her empire in some enduring walls. " " By a recent writer, however, it has been ably contended that the " Romans of Britain survived all the barbarian conquests, and that they retained their own law, with its pro- cedure and police; their own lands, with the tenures and obligations appertaining to them; their own cities and municipal government; their Christianity and private Colleges."^ " All Roman cities," says Mr. Coote, "were the foster-mothers of those especially Roman institutions — the Colleges. The Anglo-Saxons found these institutions in full play when they came over here; and, with the cities in which they flourished, they left them to the Romans to make such use of them as they pleased; possibly ignoring them, certainly not interfering in their practice, nor controlling their principles. These Colleges were very dear to the Romans. They were native to the great mother city. They were nearly as old as municipality itself, and it was as easy to imagine a Roman without a city as to conceive his existence without a college. The two made up that part of his disengaged life which was not claimed by home and the domestic avocations. No sooner was the Roman conquest of Britain begun, and a modicum of territory was obtained, than we find a collegium in our own civitas Regnorum — a collegium fahrorum.^ And this was while Claudius was still emperor. The colleges of course multiplied and spread throughout . . . Egypt was a Eoman province at one end; Britain was a Roman province at the other "(E. A. Freeman in Macmillan's Magazine, April 1870). ' Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, 1867, vol. i., p. 11. ^ Ibid., p. 19. ^ Dr. J. Lingard, History of England, 1849, vol. i. , p. 84. * Hallam, Europe in the Middle Ages, 1856, vol. ii., p. 370. Lappenberg, however, speaking of the Roman corporations, says, — "This form of social unions, as well as the hereditary obligation under which the trades were conducted, was propagated in Britain, and was the original germ of those gviilds which became so influential in Europe some centuries after the cessation of the Roman dominion." — History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings (trans, by B. Thorpe, 1845), vol. i. p. 36. ^ H. C. Coote, The Romans of Bi-itain, 1878, p. 440. Mr. Coote's theory, amplified in the v/ork just cited, was first published in the Transactions of the London and Middlesex Arcbseological Society, vol. iv. (Jan. 1871), p. 31. ^ Coote, The Romans of Britain, 1878, pp. 383, 396. According to Dallaway, " the first notice that occurs of an associated body of artificers, Romans, who had established themselves in Britain, is a votive inscription, in which the college of Masons dedicate a temple to Neptune and Minerva, and the safety of the family of Claudius Caesar" (Historical Account of Master and Freemason, 1833, p. 401). See, however, Horsfield, History of Sussex, vol. i., p. 41, which gives the inscription in its existing state; Horsley, Britannia Romana, p. 333, for the restoration by Roger Gale, which has been adopted by Dallaway; Coote, p. 396, note 1; and pp. 41 (note 8) ante, and 44, post. 38 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. our island, remaining during the whole of the imperial rule, and surviving, with our provincial ancestors, the various barbarian conquests." ''When these conquests were completed, the Anglo-Saxons, who, unlike their brethren of Germany, did not interfere with the habits of the vanquished, left their new subjects to the possession and enjoyment of this most powerful means of self-protection As the German conquerors of Gaul and Italy, who feared and hated the colleges, proUUted their very existence under the harshest penalties, because they knew them to he seminaries of free Roman thought,^ we must suppose that this leniency of the Anglo-Saxon arose either out of Ignorance of their tendency, or contempt of their effect. But whatever was the ground of this toleration, it is quite clear that the colleges, though under another name, con- tmued to exist and maintain themselves. "They are masqued, it is true, under the barbarous name of gild when our historic notices begin to tell us of them. This trivial word, due to the contributions upon which the colleges had from all time subsisted, betrays their constitution; and we find them also where we ought to expect them— in the Roman cities of Britain." ' The view just presented-characterized by the learned author of the " Norman Conquest of England " as " very ingenious but very fallacious " =-has been further examined by Mr Freeman m some slighter historical sketches published in 1870.^ Contrasting the Enalish settlement m Britain with the Teutonic settlements which took place in the continental provinces of Rome; " elsewhere," he says, "the conquerors and the conquered mingled- the fabric of Roman society was not wholly overthrown; the laws, the speech, the religion of the elder time went on, modified, doubtless, but never utterly destroyed. In Britain a great gulf divides us from everything before our own coming. Our laws and language have m later times been greatly modified, but they were modified, not at the hands of the con- quered Britons, but at the hands of the conquering Normans. Elsewhere, in a word, the old heritage, the old traditions of Rome, still survive; here they are things of the dead past, objects only of antiquarian curiosity." " Any opinion expressed by so renowned a historian as Mr. Freeman must carry with it great weight, yet, if we disregard authority and content ourselves with an examination of the arguments by which this writer and Mr. Coote have supported their respective posi- tions, many unsatisfied doubts will obtrude themselves, as we incline to the reception of either one or the other of the theories which these champions have advanced. The conclusions at which Mr. Coote arrives are, indeed, to some extent at least, sup- ported by the authority of Mr. Toulmin Smith and Dr. Brentano, who have placed on record their belief that "English gilds are of English origin," = although it must be admitted that by neither of these writers has the origin of guilds been traced to the Romano-Britons. Still, it is difficult to believe that institutions so closely resembling the later associations as did the colleges of the empire, exercised no influence whatever upon the laws and civilization of our Saxon or English conquerors. ' ' It will be observed that this argument is designed to prove the greater probability of a direct descent from coUeges to guilds— in Britain than elsewhere. « Coote, the Eomans in Britain, pp. 396, 397. 3 Vol. v., p. 887. 4 Freeman, The Origin of the Enghsh Nation, Macmillan's Magazine, 1870, vol. xxi., pp. 415 509 ^/ftzU, p. 536. « English Gilds, p. 25; History and Development of Gilds, 1870 (additional notes), p. ix. 'Coote, p. 411; B. Thorpe, Diplomatarium Anglicum, 1865, Preface, p. xvi.; and J. M. Kemble* The Saxons in England. 1849. vol. i., p. 238 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. 39 From one point of view, indeed, it is immaterial whether if the guilds are a continu- ation of the colleges, they came to us direct or were imported from Germany or Gaul. By the majority of translators or commentators we find the Eoman associations described as guilds or companies, and the former appellation is used in marginal notes by both Sir F. Palgrave and Mr. Spence in connection with disquisitions on the collegia appearing in the texts of their respective works. ' Yet before passing from the special to the general subject, a few remarks on the early civilization of Britain appear necessary. It has been argued that the laws, customs, and institutions of this country, whose similarity with those of Rome prior to the Norman Conquest has hardly been denied, were resemblances only; and however much they had cost the Eoman mind in a long and painful exercise, they were in this instance, and so far as England is concerned, the philosophical outcome, the unaided development of a few generations of outer barbarians, who, from the absolute non-intercourse between the empire and themselves, could only have imported into Britain Germanic usages, for they had nothing else to bring with them. ^ This theory has derived its main support from the belief (already referred to) that the Eomano-Britons were entirely destroyed or exterminated by the bands of pirates which, in the fifth and sixth centuries, came hither from the North Sea and the Baltic; that all forms of government, all laws and customs, all arts and civilization, traceable in this country subsequently to these invasions, were the direct importation of the invaders, or were developed out of such importation. ^ I shall hardly be expected to debate the whole problem of the origin of guilds, but it is nevertheless desirable to further consider whether this popular belief is one to which we should be justified in giving in our adhesion." Mr. Coote thinks that "the populations of the eastern and middle parts of Britain were Teu- tonic at the epoch of the imperial conquests, and that after the barbarian invasions, the public and private law,' the usages and civilization of the lost empire, sheltered in the ark of the cities,* preserved their vital and active forces." Upon the point we are now considering, Mr. Pike has established a good claim to be accepted as an authority. By this conscientious historian, it has been observed, "that the priority of any of the three forms of guild becomes a mere matter of conjecture, and the source of the whole system must necessarily remain doubtful. Regarded from one point of view, the guild has a strong resemblance to the family tie of the Teutonic and other barbarous tribes; regarded from another, it is a species of bail, which involves a prin- ciple too universally applied to be considered characteristic of any one people; regarded from a third, it is strikingly like that institution of colleges or companies which was always familiar to the Romans, and which we know from inscriptions to have existed in Britain 'F. Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol. i., p. 331; G. Spence, An [nquiry into the Origin of the Laws and Political Institutions of Modern Europe, 1826, p. 21. ■^ Coote, The Eomans in Britain, pp. 441, 447. ^Ihid, p. 2. * See The Romans in Britain, passim. ^ Selden, one of the most profound writers on the history of mediaeval law, says, however, that Ihe Roman Law disappeared from England, until re-introduced in the twelfth century by the influ- ence of the School of Bologna (Dissertatio ad Fletam, c. 7). « Kemble says,—" In the third century, Marcianus reckons, imfortunately without naming them, ■fifty-nine celebrated cities in Britain " (The Saxons in England, vol. ii., p. 268). Cf. Gildas, Nennius and Beda. 40 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. during the Roman occupation, both in the form of the religious guild and in the form of the craft guild. " "It would be possible, indeed, to elaborate a very plausible argument for the develop- ment of the whole guild system out of Eoman institutions rather than out of the family tie of the Germans. This, indeed, might have come to pass by two wholly distinct processes — either through a tradition handed down by the ancient Roman townsmen, or through a new introduction at the time when Roman missionaries came to restore Christianity in that part of Britain which had become pagan England. The second process would fully account for the existence of guilds in parts of Germany never conquered by the Romans. Human nature, however, whether civilized or barbarous — Greek, or Roman, or Teutonic — has every- where some kind of social instinct; and the common historical blunder of attributing to a race, or a country, or a language, that which belongs to humanity, shall, in this place at least, not be repeated. The truth is, that the guild system existed before and after the Norman Conquest, but that there is no historical evidence of its beginning. It is, hoAv- ever, a fact of too much importance to be forgotten, that the guilds afterward became, for a time, in one form at least, the vital principle of the towns. " "There is, however, one point upon which those who regard the Teutonic wave as a deluge may agree with those who regard it as a wave and nothing more. Even if it be supposed that the invaders, after putting the inhabitants to death, left not one stone upon another in any town which they found in the island, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that the towns were sooner or later rebuilt. One of three possible cases must be accepted as fact: new towns were built with the ancient name on or near the ancient site; or new inhabitants occupied the towns, of which the former possessors were slaughtered, wholly or in part; or the original possessors retained their hold after the new comers had settled round about them. These are the limits of conjecture; history gives but one fact to aid it — towns bearing their Roman names existed when Bede, the first historian, began to write, nearly three hundred years after the date which has commonly been assigned to the mythical voyage of Hengist and Horsa. Every one may imagine the events of the inter- vening period according to his own wishes or prejudices, for it may be shown that the his- tory of our towns begins at the same point, whether we accept the Roman or the Teuton as the founder." ' In now proceeding with the inquiry into the early history of the Collegia, it will suffice, I think, as regards their extreme antiquity, to state that, whilst their institution has been commonly ascribed to Numa, this figure of speech is most probably only another way of expressing that their existence was coeval with that of Rome itself. It will be convenient to consider: I. The diversified form in which the Collegia appear according to the ancient writers; II. Their general or common features; and III. Their character when disseminated throughout the empire. I. The Roman "colleges" were designated by the name either of collegium or corpus, between which there was no legal distinction, and corporations were as frequently described by one title as by the other. A classification of these bodies will the better enable us in our subsequent investigation to consider the features which they possessed in common. They may be grouped in four leading divisions: A. Religions bodies, such as the Colleges of Priests, and of the Vestal Virgins. ' L. O. Pike, History of Crime, 1873, vol. i., pp. 65, 69, 70. Compare, however, Kemble, Saxons in England, vol. i., p. 329, and vol. ii., pp. 309-311. THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. 41 B. Associations of oflficial persons, such as those who were employed in administration, e.g., the body of Scribm,^ who were employed in all branches of administration. C. Corporations for trade and commerce, as Fabri,"^ Pistores (bakers), Navicularii, etc., the members of which had a common profession, trade, or craft upon which their union was based, although every man worked on his own account. D. Associations, called Sodalitates, Sodalitia, Collegia Sodalitia, which resembled modern clubs. In their origin they were friendly leagues or unions for feasting together, but in course of time many of them became political associations; but from this we must not conclude that their true nature really varied. They were associations not included in any other class that has been enumerated, and they differed in their character according to the times. In periods of commotion they became the central points of political fac- tions. Sometimes the public places were crowded by the Sodalitia and Decuriati, and the Senate was at last compelled to propose a lex which should subject to the penalties of Vis^ those who would not disperse. This was followed by a general dissolution of collegia, according to some writers, but the dissolution only extended to mischievous associations. There were also in the Imperial period the Collegia tenuiorum, or associations of poor, people, but they were allowed to meet only once a month, and they paid monthly contri- butions. A man could only belong to one of them. Slaves could belong to such a colle- gium, with the permission of their masters. " Sometimes colleges were constituted for burial and parentation only, — 'funerum causa,' as it was said. These colleges, having no professional character to sustain, no aims in trade to promote, called themselves only worshippers of some god or goddess whom they had selected out of the well-stocked Pantheon of Europe and Asia. In such a case they designated themselves Cultores Jovis, Cultores Herculis, and the like."* There was no special connection between the deity selected and the "cultores" themselves. The vicinity of a temple determined the choice. At Lambesis, in Numidia, the veterans of the third legion formed a college, under the style of " Cultores Jovis optimi maximi." In the list of its members are two flamens. * II. The following were their general characteristics: 1.° The collegium (or societas), which corresponded with the iraipia,'' of the Greeks, ' Scriba, a scribe, secretary, a town-clerk; Scriba Publicus, a public notary (Cicero in Vertem, 3, 79). ^ Workmen, properly in iron or other hard materials. The term clearly includes blacksmiths, carpenters, and coppersmiths, but from no passage in tlie works of ancient writers can we identify its being unequivocally employed in connection with the masons. See, however, pp. 38, ante, and 44, 2yost. 3 The penalties of this lex were the loss of a third part of the offender's property ; and he was also declared to be incapable of being a senator or decurio, or a judex. By aSenatus ConsuUum, the name of which is not given, he was incapacitated from enjoying any honour, qua^ infamis (Smitii, Diet., p. 1209, tit. Vis). * Coote, Tiie Romans in Britain, p. 384. See M. Boissier, Etudes sur quelques Colleges funeraires Remains; Les "Cultores Deorum," Revue Archeologique, vol. xxiii., N. S., p. 81. ^ Coote, p. 385 ; Renier, Inscriptions de I'Algerie, 100. According to Heineccius, soldiers could not hold collegia in camp, although they might be members of such associations ; nor could any individual belong to more than one college, that is to say, a dual membership was regarded with disfavor by the Roman Law. In early times, English Freemasons were restricted to one lodge, and this is still the rule in Germany and in the United States of America. ' Numbered for facility of reference. ■' The Jurisconsult Gains says : Associates (Sodales) are those who belong to the same college. 42 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. was composed of collegce or sodales (companions). The term originally expressed the notion of several j^ersons being voluntarily bound together for some common ofi&ce or purpose, but ultimately came to signify a body of persons and the tie uniting them. 2. A lawfully constituted "college" was legitinvum, — an unlawful one, illiclhim. The distinction is not clearly laid down. Some of these institutions were established by especial laws, and others, no doubt, were formed by the voluntary association of individuals under the provisions of some general legal authority. 3. No college could consist of less than three members. So indispensable was this rule that the exjiressiontresfaciunt collegium — "three make a college" — became a maxim of the civil law. 4. In its constitution the college was divided into decuricB and centuries — bodies of ten and a hundred men; and it was presided over by a magister and by decuriones — a master and wardens. 5. Amongst other officers there were a treasurer, sub-treasurer, secretary, and archivist. 6. In their corporate capacity the sodales could hold property. They had a common chest, a common cult, a meeting-house, and a common table. 7. To each candidate on his admission was administered an oath " peculiar to the col- lege. When a new member was received, he was said — co-ojjtari, and the old members were said, with respect to him, recipere in collegium. ^ 8. Dues and subscriptions were imposed to meet the expenses of the college. 9. The sodales supported their poor, and buried their deceased brethren. The latter were publicly interred in a common sepulchre or columharium, all the survivors being present. Members were not liable for the debts of their college, but the pro|)erty of the college itself could be seized. They could sue or be sued by their syndicus or actor. 10. Each college celebrated its natal day — a day called carm cognationis — and two other days, called severally dies violanim and dies rosce. ' 11. The sodales called and regarded themselves os, fratres." "For amongst them," says Mr. Coote, "existed the dear bond of relationship Avhich, though artificial, was that close alliance which a common sentiment can make. This it was which, in defiance of blood, which in Greek is called eraipia. The law gives to them the power of making- a pact with one another, provided that they do nothing contrarj' to pubhc policy. But this seems to be a law of Solon's" (Dig. 47, tit. 22). ' Peculiar religious rites were also practised, perhaps with a veU of secrecy ; and those forms of worshipping constituted an additional bond of union (Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol i., p. 832). 2 The fanciful ingenuity of Masonic etymologists has connected these expressions with Greek eTT&KTaL or initiated. 3 "On these two days of charming nomenclature, the sodales met at the sepcJchres of their departed brethren to commemorate their loss, and to deck their tombs with violets and roses — an offering (if not a sacrifice) pleasing to the spirit of the manes" (Coote, The Romans in Britain, p. 338). * Coote, The Romans in Britain, p. 389. The fratres Arvales, upon whose existence Mr. Coote bases his contention that the sodales called themselves brothers, formed a college of twelve persons, deriving their name from offering sacrifices for the fertility of the fields, the victim (hostia amhar- valis) that was slain on the occasion being led three times round the cornfield before the sickle was put to the corn. This ceremony was also called a lustratio or purification. Krause says, "that altiiough the collegce did not especially call one another ' brother,' yet the appellation does occur, and that the college was formed on the model of a famDy " (Die drei Kunsturkunden der Freimaurer- Vuderschaft, vol. ii., part 2, p. 166). THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. ' 43 they called cara cognatio."^ This bond of connection the civil law ratified and ex- tended; for, allowing the assumption of kinship, it imposed on the sodales another duty in addition to those already taken, by compelling any one of them to accept the guardian- ship of the child of a deceased colleague. " Although no rules are extant of any of the trade colleges of the Eomans, some of those in use among the colleges Cultorum Dei have descended to us. Of one of these last- mentioned corporations the rules or by-laws are given by Mr. Coote, who next cites corre- sponding regulations of three guilds (or, as he prefers to style them. Colleges) established in London, Cambridge, and Exeter respectively, composed of gentlemen or persons un- connected with trade; and having carefully compared the rules of the British guilds with those of the college of cultores del already quoted, their resemblances are placed in formal juxtaposition, and he adds, " These coincidences, which cannot be attributed to imitation or mere copying, demonstrate the absolute identity of the gild of England with the collegium of Rome and of Romaii Britain. " ^ III. Before considering the various forms which the colleges assumed on their dis- semination throughout the vast area of the Roman empire, it will be convenient to state that, by the ancient writers, their institution has been ascribed to Numa, although, as Sir Francis Palgrave has well said, the tradition which links these associations with the name of the second king of Rome, is perhaps only one way of asserting their immemorial antiquity. They were abolished by the Senate A. U. C. 685, re-established by Clodius seven years later, but again abolished, except those of ancient foundation, by Julius Caesar. The spurious or unlawful colleges, however, again revived, and were once more suppressed by Augustus; whilst Lampridius specially notices certain colleges created by Alexander Severus, and states that all the corporations of artificers were created by this emperor. This assertion, however, can only refer to additional privileges which he may have granted to these bodies, or to their restoration. ' In the time of Theodosius there were in almost every city and considerable town, com- panies of plebeians similar to those which existed at Rome, who either voluntarily or by com- pulsion exercised some particular trade or occupation, for the safety, benefit, or amusement of their fellow-citizens. These companies were erected from time to time, as the general good of the community appeared to require, by especial order of the emperor, obtained at the requisition of the pro-consul or governor, or at the request of a delegate sent from the assembly of the city or province. " The artificers in the several cities, who held an ambiguous station between slavery and freedom, but more especially in the East, of whom thirty-five different descriptions are enumerated, were exempted by Constantino from all personal duties.^ Amongst them both the Architecti" and the Collegia Fabrorum, or col- leges of workmen, are frequently mentioned, but though /a5r^ ferrarii (blacksmiths), lig- narii and tignarii (carpenters), materiarii (timber-workers), (erarii (coppersmiths), and ' Coote, The Romans in Britain, p. 388 ; Massman, p. 83, § 189. ■^ Coote, The Romans in Britain, pp. 390-413. 3 Plutarch in Numa ; Phn., Hist. Nat., hb. xxxiv., c. 50, lib. xxxvi., c. 12. ; Suetonius in Julius Caesar, c. 43, in Aug. , c. 32 ; Lampridius, Alex. Sev. , c. 83. * Cod. Theod., viii., 1, 6, 9, and 15 ; Spence, An Inquiry into the Origin of the Laws, etc., of Modern Europe, 1826, p. 21. * Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, 1883, vol. i., 331 ; Spence, p. 23. * Amongst the Roman Colleges, the company of hei'editaiy architects held a conspicuous place (Palgrave, in Edinburgh Review. April 1839, p. 87L 44 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. other crafts are constantly named by the ancient writers, there is no distinct reference to the fahri laindarli or masons. That companies or colleges of stone-cutters then existed there can be little doubt, although no record of their actual being has oome down to us in in- scriptions and classical allusions. It is also highly probable that the collegia fahrorum^ served the purpose of associating in a company or guild the workmen of various crafts. This indeed is almost placed beyond doubt by a letter of the younger Pliny, when pro- consul of Asia Minor, to the Emperor Trajan, in which he informs him of a most destruc- tive fire at Nicomedia, and requests permission to establish a collegmm fahrorum for the rebuilding of that city.^ The leading feature of these provincial colleges was their connection with the religion of the people. Furthermore, these bodies adopted as a fundamental principle, that they con- ferred an hereditary privilege or duty. The son succeeded to the occupation of his father, Just as in the later companies and guilds the son became a freeman by birthright. His trade was his best estate and inheritance. Under certain conditions, however, the civil law permitted the aggregation of strangers; and in some cases the trade was a service ap- pendant to the possession of edifices or land. An analogous system appears to have pre- vailed in Egypt, and the appropriation of trades and callings amongst the lower classes of Hindostan is governed by the same principles. ^ "It is evident," says Sir F. Palgrave, " that the colleges were not of a uniform consti- tution. Some were entirely grounded on personal obligations; others, if we may borrow from our legal nomenclature, savored of the realty; and the supposition that the Koman jurists, either willingly or inadvertently, forgot or confounded the primitive distinction, may partly account for the perplexed organization which the colleges assumed. " * Amongst the handicrafts pursued by these operative communities, must be included architecture, sculpture, and painting. The qualifications, indeed, required by Vitruvius for the profession he himself adorned, would seem to have demanded an amount of la- borious study and sedulous application, almost incompatible with the daily toil of an ordinary artisan; yet " the Masonic square, the level, and the mallet, all carefully displayed upon the memorial of the Roman architect, display how important a feature the mechanical practice of the art was considered, in estimating the calling to which the master belonged.'" It has been generally believed, and the common impression has been formulated by a recent Masonic writer with equal clearness and ability, " That from Constantinople, as the centre of mechanical skill, radiated to distant countries a knowledge of art. Corporations of builders, according to Miiller, " of Grecian birth, were permitted outside the limits of the Byzantine empire to live and exercise a judicial government among themselves, ac- cording to the laws of the country to which they owed allegiance. This principle, or ' " Several sorts of workmen were included under the name of Fahri, particularly those that were concerned in any kind of building" (Horsley, Britannia Romana, 1732, p. 334). See also Mass- mann, p. 77, § 181. 2 Plinii Epistolae, lib. x., epist. xlii. See pp. 38, 41, ante. 3 The custom of applying lands as the recompense for various laborious or menial duties, prac- tised amongst the Celts, still flourishes in Hindoostan, and the Eoman usage appears to have been founded upon an ancient traditional system, greatly modified by more recent law (Palgrave, Rise and Progress of the British Commonwealth, vol. i., p. 334). •* Ibid, vol. i., p. 334. ^ Edinburgh Review, April 1839 (Palgrave), citing Gruter, vol. i., p. 644. * Archajologie der Kunst, p. 224 THE ROMAN COLLEGIA. 45 doctrine, of personal right to declare under what law a citizen would elect to live, was publicly recognized in all the legal codes of Europe from the fall of Eome until late in the thirteenth century. " ' "This was denominated \\\% profession oflmv. Therefore, the corporations of artists, in retaining their connection with Byzantium, no doubt carried with them such privileges of Grecian citizenship, and when in Italy or other foreign lands, lived and governed them- selves in accordance with the well-established principles of Roman law; one of which privi- leges was, at the time such associations of builders Avere introduced into Southern Europe, during the reigns of Theoderich and Theodosius, the undoubted right of a corporate recognition. Consequently, wherever their labor was demanded throughout Europe, they were recognized as a distinct and privileged class of workmen, who, differing from the less skilled artists of other countries, necessarily formed a separate society apart from that in which they temporarily resided." ^ Stieglitz, in his " History of Architecture," divides the influence of the early colleges or corporations upon British and Continental Masonry respectively. In England, he thinks it possible that the colleges may have influenced the brotherhood in their external devel- opment, but he records a tradition that at the time the Lombards were in possession of Northern Italy, from the sixth to the seventh century, the Byzantine builders formed themselves into guilds and associations, and that on account of having received from the Popes the privilege of living according to their own laws and ordinances, they were called Freemasons. ' This assumption, which has derived much support from the highly imaginative essay of the late Mr. Hope, will be hereafter examined. At present I shall content myself with summarizing the further remarks to which Mr. Fort has given expression with regard to the Byzantine builders. This writer agrees with Mr. Hope, that the associations of Free- masons were first formed in Lombardy, although he considers that their inception should be dated back to the period of Gothic rule. " It may be safely asserted," continues this writer, " that the junction of Byzantine corporations with Teutonic guilds afforded the substantial basis of subsequent lodge appointments and ritualism, such as have descended to modern Freemasonry. " * Toward the object, indeed, of the present inquiry, the learned speculations of Mr. Hope and his followers will bring us no nearer, yet having been accepted as historical facts by nearly all writers on Freemasonry, the above extract from the work of his latest and most ' Savigny, Geschichte des Romischen Rechts, Theil I., cap. iii., § 41. Dr. Henry says, — "It was a remarkable singularity in the jurisprudence of the Middle Ages, that when a person removed from one kingdom to another, he did not change his law, but his life and limbs continued to be valued at the same rate they had formerly been. This gave those persons who removed from a rich country into a poor one much greater, and those who removed fronl a poor country into a rich one much less, security for their lives, limbs, and properties. The nose of a Spaniard, for example, was per- fectly safe in England, because it was valued at thirteen marks ; but the nose of an Englishman ran a great risk in Spain, because it was only valued at twelve shillings. An Englishman might have broken a Welshman's head for a mere trifle, but few Welshmen could afford to return the compli- ment!" (History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 278.) 5 Fort, Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, pp. 30, 31. ' Stieglitz, Geschichte der Baukunst, 1837, pp. 433, 424. See Hope, Historical Essay on Archi- tecture, 1835, pp. 239-237. * Fort, Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, pp. 377, 378. See also pp. 33, 41, 343, 36G, 376, 406. . , 46 THE CULDEES. brilliant disciple, will strengthen our knowledge of Avhat lias been believed by Masonic enthusiasts, and may thereby, perhaps, fortify our jadgraent in estimating the proper value of the actual evidence that has come down to us. It will be evident, that as "by degrees customs alter in the very same country, con- formably to the quality and education of the inhabitants," ' so in the widely diversified regions over which the system of Colleges was extended by imperial Eome, the usages, the requirements, and the purposes of these institutions, must have gradually varied from those of their original types, and have assumed features dictated by the circumstances of each locality, and the exigencies of its external relations. If, indeed, any direct continuation of the Colleges can be shown, it must be through the guilds or fraternities of Britain, or of Southern France. Those of our own country have already received all the examination which the limits of this disquisition permit, and the cognate associations of Gaul, to be hereafter discussed,' I may here briefly state, are deemed by many authorities to have preserved the only un- broken succession of the Collegiate system throughout the Middle Ages down to our own times. In the history of Southern France, if at all in continental Europe, this continuation must be looked for.^ There the Eoman law remained in forco throughout all vicissitudes of government, and at the Revolution it consolidated its authority by superseding the Feudal law of the North, or Pays Coutumier. IV. THE CULDEES. A learned writer has declared that " if ever subjects plain and easy in themselves have been distorted, misrepresented, and corrupted through ignorance and religious prejudice, the [Culdee] question merits a distinguished place among them."^ Yet, although the simplicity of the inquiry in its original bearings, when unweighted with "the obstructions of ingenious theory, professional prejudice, and ecclesiastical predilections," has also been deposed to by the highest living authority among Irish antiquaries,^ the labors of over fifty writers who have taken up the subject, including those of Dr. Reeves himself, attest by their many points of divergence the substantial difficulties of the investigation. For the purposes of this sketch it will be convenient to at once define the persons to whom the appellation of Culdees will be applied. The use of the word by the mediaeval writers does not authorize us to confine its appli- cation to the disciples of Columba; still less does it entitle us to agree with the Bollandist, Van Hecke,° who cannot believe that there was any relatio2iship between the Columban monks and the Culdees. The traces of their presence found at so many different places, in all of which we know that Celtic Christianity was once dominant, and in some of which the Saint of lona had a foundation, and at others none, is of itself more than suggestive ' M. Misson, Travels over England (Trans, by Ozell, 1719, p. 66. '^ Chaps, iv. and v., post. ^ J. Schauberg, Vergleichendes Handbuch der Symbolik der Freimaurerei, 1863, vol. iii., pp. 223, 266. Heineccius says, however, — "If the Germans adopted in any form the ancient Roman institutions, it must be looked for in the establisliment of their colleges and corporate bodies of workmen" (De Collegiis, etc., chap, ii., § 1). * Dr. J. Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, 1822, vol iv., p. 295. ^ Dr. W. Reeves, of Armagh, author of " The Culdees of the Bi'itish Islands as they appear in History " (Dublin, 1864). * Acta Sancton Octob., tome viii., p. 166a. THE CULDEES. 47 of the fact that there is nothing exclusive in the term, but that it represents the monks and clerics of the Celtic Church, without limitation, as well as those understood to be their successors and representatives. ' Great stress has been laid by Dr. Eeeves on the " national error "of supposing the Cul- dees to have been a peculiar order, who derived their origin from St. Columba; or, in other words, that they were " Columbites," in the same sense that we speak of " Benedic- tines," and he contends that, though after the lapse of centuries Culdees were found in churches which St. Columba or his disciples founded; still their name was in no way distinctive, being, in the first instance, an epithet of asceticism, and afterward that of irregularity.'' It is true that not till after the expulsion of the Columban monks from the kingdom of the Picts, in the beginning of the eighth century, does the name of Culdee appear, and also that to Adamnan and Bede it was quite unknown; yet a distinguished living writer goes much too far in his assertion that " in the whole range of ecclesiastical history there is nothing more entirely destitute of authority than the application of this term to the Columban monks of the sixth and seventh centuries. " ^ But to hold simply that the ancient Columbites were in many instances the direct predecessors of the Culdees, and that the rule of the former differed no otherwise, in most respects, from that of the latter, than a system in its original purity differs from the same system in its corruption, is not repugnant to authentic historical testimony, but rather receives confirmation from it. " It would be a gross mistake to assert that there were no Culdees before a. d. 800, on the ground that the name does not occur till then. Things usually exist before names. So long as the Celtic monks were the only monks in the country no special epithet was needed to point them out. ' The derivation of the term " Culdees " has given rise to nearly as many conjectures as the nature of their ecclesiastical opinions and practices; and Mr. Grubb suggests, that, '^ being sufficiently significant both in the Latin and in the Celtic tongue, it is needless to pursue an investigation which can lead to no certain result." The name in its modern form can be traced back to a.d. 1526, when we find the expres- sion Culchus or Culdee, used by Hector Boece,^ but its derivation is far from being satisfac- torily determined, nor are scholars yet agreed as to whether it is of Celtic or of Latin origin. According to Bishop Lloyd it was a usual thing about the thirteenth century to find out Latin derivations for words of which the origin was not known; whence Culdees were said to be Colidei, or "the worshippers of God."' Upon this. Dr. M'Lauchlan observes: " As all Christians were Cultores Dei, the word could have no special meaning as applied to this class of missionaries; but in 'Cuil dich,' or men of seclusion, we have a descriptive name, and the description borne out by what we know of the history of the men." ^ The last-named writer here adopts, at least in part, the theory of James Macpherson, of " Fingal " 1 The Culdees and their Later History (British Quarterly Eeview, No. cxlix., January, 1882). ^ Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands as they Appear in History, p. 31. 3 W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, 1877, vol. ii., p. 226. The latest and ablest supporter of the view that the Columban monks were the Culdees is Ebrard, in his Culdeishe Kirche. * G. Grubb, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, 1861, vol. 1, p. 228. ^ British Quai-terly Review, No. cxlix. •* Scotorum Histor., lib. 6, fol. 92&. ■" Historical Account of Church Government, 1684, chap. vii. Compare T. Innes, A critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland, 1729, p. 444. 8 Dr. T. M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, 1865, p. 176. " Cuil tick is still in use among the Gael ; of Ceile De or Gille De they know nothing " {Ibid., p. 431). 48 THE CULDEES. celebrity, wliicli it was supposed had been effectually demolished by Mr. E. O'Keilly in 1829, who contended that from his etymology of the name " Culdees," Macpherson would be incapable of translating the genuine poems of Ossian if he had them before him. ' Those who assign the name a Celtic original are nearly all of opinion that it is a com- pound of the words Cele and Be, "God;" but they differ as to whether Cele should be understood in its primary sense of " husband" or " companion," or in its secondary sense of " servant." On the other side, writers, such as Giraldus, Hector Boece, George Buchanan, John Colgan, in his " Trias Thaumaturga," and, more recently, Mr. Skene, agree in assigning to the term a Latin derivation. According to these authorities it is merely an abbreviated form of coli-dei, from the Latin coIo; they understand it as the equivalent of the words Deicolte or Ccelicolce, and take it to mean " worshippers of God." ^ Dr. Keeves accepts the interpretation of the term Cele-De proposed by O'Donovan and some lexicographers, and refers its origin to the prevalence, through Latin Christianity, of the expression Servus Dei, in its limited and technical sense; whilst by Toland, O'Eeilly, and Curry the Celtic term has been understood in its more obvious and general sense of *' spouse." But Dr. Reeves considers there is an incongruity in the expression " spouse of God," and does not think that the nature of the compound word requires such an inter- pretation. ^ The conclusion thus arrived at by one eminent antiquary has been minutely criticised by another. The learned author of " Celtic Scotland,"^ observes that, in his adoption of the second- ary meaning of the Celtic term, and taking it to be merely the Irish equivalent of Servus Dei, the ordinary expression for a monk. Dr. Reeves " starts with the assumption that the Ceile De were simply monks. This rendering appears objectionable — first, because no example can be produced in which the term Servus Dei appears translated by Ceile De,' secondly, that the term Ceile De is applied to a distinct class, who were not very numerous in Ireland, while the term Servvis Dei is a general expression, applicable to religions of all classes, and included the secular canons as well as the monks. These Ceile De, however, show precisely the same characteristics which belonged to the Dei Coles of the Continent. Like the Dei Colm, they were Anchorites, for we find that when the name of Cele De appears as a personal title, it is borne by one who had lived as a solitary in a desert, or who is termed an Anchorite. Thus Angus the Hagiologist, who founded a desert called after his name Disert Aengus, now Disert Enos, is well known as Aengus Cele De." " 1 Transactions Eoyal Irish Academy, vol xvi. * Tlie Avord Culdee has been traced (infer a ?m) to the following sources : Gaelic— " gille De," servant of God; "culla," a coivl, whence " Culdee," the black monk; "ceile De," separated, or espoused to Ood (or, according to O'Brien, Lanigan, and Reeves, servant of God); "cuil dich," men of seclusion; "Ivj'ldees," from "cylle," a cell, whence by the addition of "tee" or "dee," a house, "kj'ldee," a house of cells; "ceile," together, and "dae," a man. whence "ceile-Dae," a man living in community. Latin— " cultores Dei," "Deicolae," or " coelicolEe," ivorshippers of God; " cella," a cell, or the interior of a temple (vadq, ff;?/c(5f),' whence with an Irish inflexion, "ceile." The most amusing derivation of all is given by Bishop Bramhall (1635), who says the name is a compound of " Gallus" and "Deus," and, citing the " CoUdeans," adds, " or, as the Irish call them, ' Gallideans,' or God's cockes, in Armagh." * Skene, Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., pp. 251-254. ^ Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History, pp. 1, 2. ^ Twenty-four years before the foundation of Tamlacht, in which church Aengus succeeded St. Gvaiid Vh'slci- or Ihc I'lulcd Criind [.odo',. of FiniilaiKl THE CULDEES. 49 "After A.D. 666 wo find tlie nomenclature of the Continental anchorites begins to appear in an Irish form, attached to the eremitical class in the Irish Church. In lieu of the term DeicolcB, we find these Irish anchorites having the term of Ceile De applied to them. These terms, though not etymologically equivalent, may be considered as correla- tive, and intended to represent the same class; and as Christicola becomes in Irish Cele- christ, so Deicola ' assumes in Irish the form of Ceile Be." As we have already seen, Northern Britain was not the original, any more than it was the only seat of the Culdees; there were ecclesiastics so named in England, in Wales, and in Ireland. The canons of York were styled Culdees in the reign of Athelstan, and the secular clergy of the cathedrals seem generally to have been distinguished by the same title. ^ Giraldus Cambrensis says that there were Culdees in the island of Bardsey — the holy island of Wales — unmarried, and living a most religious life. In Ireland the Culdees had numerous establishments, and retained their name at Armagh down to the time of Archbishop Usher. ^ The history of the Culdees begins only when far advanced in their decline, and is of a very fragmentary character. All we can do is, by aid of extracts gathered from musty char- ters and annals, and ecclesiastical records, to survey them at different places between the eighth century and the sixteenth, and mark how they are engaged. From the time when, in the eighth century, they conformed to the Koman practices as to order and ritual, their individuality was virtually at an end, and their usefulness as well." That the class of persons denoted by the term Cele De were not supposed by the Irish to be peculiar to their own island; we learn, not only from a passage in Tirechan's Life of St. Patrick, a work written in the first half of the eighth century, '' but also from two very curious entries in the ' Annals of the Four Masters,' though the source whence they were derived is uncertain." "At A.D. 806, which is 811 of the common era, they relate that — 'in this year the Ceile-de came across the sea with dry feet, without a vessel.' Again, in the year 919, they state that ' Maenach, a Cele-de came across the sea westward to establish laws in Ireland.'"^ Maelniain, an order of canons, Fratres Dominici, afterward Canonici, was founded by Chrodegang at Metz. ■ An intermediate class, between monks and secular priests, having the discipline without the vows of the former, and discharging the oiiice of ministers in churches (Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in history, p. 9). 'Mr. Herbert says: "Of the word [CuldeeJ, Keledeus imitates the sound, and Colideus, besides imitating the sound (for else it would be deicola) gives a sense or interpretation. The word of which the sound is closely followed in the former, and the sense in the latter, is ceile-De, 'servant of God.' To suppose that these words are formed from cuil-deach, ' having a sequestered habitation,' is a speculation not unworthy of etymologists, being false in sound, and also false in sense" (British Maga- zine, 1844, vol. xx\n., p. 2). 2 Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. i., p. 229. Dr. Lingard, after quoting a charter of Ethelred H., says: "In the charter the prebendaries are termed Cultores clerici, a singular expres- sion, which seems to intimate that the collegiate clergy were even then styled Culdees — cultores Dei — in the south as well as the north of England" (History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1845, vol. ii., p. 294). * Usher, British Ecclesiastical Antiquities, 1639, vol. vi., p. 174; Sir J. Ware, The Histoiy and Antiquities of Ireland (translated by W. Harris), 1764, vol. ii., p. 236; Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. i., p. 230. « British Quarterly Eeview, No. cxlix. ^ Reeves, Tlie Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History, p. 6. 4 so THE CULDEES. " The close of the eighth century," says Dr. Reeves, " if we may credit certain Irish records, presents to us the term Cele-de in a definite sense, and in local connection with a religious class or institution. St. Maelruain, founder, abbot, and bishop of the church of Tamhlacht, now Tallaght, near Dublin, gathered round him a fraternity. A religious rule, ascribed to him, is preserved in manuscript in the Leabhar Breac, entitled " the Rule of the Cele-nde, from the poem which Maelruain composed."' St. Maelruain died a. d. 793, and was succeeded by Aengus, who obtained great celeb- rity by his writings, especially his metrical calendar or Felire, and is generally referred to as " Aengus the Culdee." The Colidei or Cele-de remained in Armagh, as a capitular body, down to at least a. d. 1628, in which year a deed was executed by the " prior of the cathedral church, on behalf of the vicars choral and Colideans of the same, and this corporation and their endowments existed, though under another name, until the Disestablishment Act."'^ At Devenish, an island on Loch Erne, they are heard of so late as 1630. Passing over to Scotland, whither the term had been imported with the language and institutions of the Scotic immigrants,^ we learn from documentary evidence that Brude, son of Dergard, the last king of the Picts, gave Loch Leven to God and St. Serf, and the Culdee hermits there." The date of the original entry cannot be determined. It was, doubtless, much posterior to the grant itself, but the Gaelic record, in which it was con- tained, was evidently of unknown antiquity when the- Augustinian priory was formed in the twelfth century. Another document, preserved among the archives of the same priory, mentions that Constantine, son of Aodh, when he resigned the kingdom, became abbot of the Culdees of St. Andrews.* The writers of these passages may possibly have anticipated the use of the name in be- stowing on the monks of Loch Leven and St. Andrews the appellation which was familiar to themselves in their own day, but it is more probable that the Culdees were really known in Scotland by that title from the ninth century. ° In Joceline's life of Kentigern (or St. Mungo), written in the twelfth century — but which describes the miracles of a man who lived in the sixth — we find what Dr. Reeves calls the earliest Scottish record of the name and the discipline of the Cele-de or Calledei. In this biography, Joceline tells us that he derived his information from an ancient life of the saint, existing in the cathedral church of Glasgow, of which he states that it was written in a barbarous language, and that on the face of it were statements adverse to sound doctrine, and opposed to the Catholic faith. " Here we find another testimony to the fact, so generally detailed by mediaeval writers, that the early Church differed in point of doctrine from the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. Joceline undertakes in his work to improve the style of his predecessor, and to improve his doctrine too!"'' ' The copy of this monastic rule still existing is laiown, from its spelling and grammatical struct- ure, to have been penned in the twelfth century, but Dr. Reeves considers it may be fairly regarded as a modernized version of a much earlier document. ^ Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History, p. 18. ^Ibid., p. 2. ""Regist. Prioral. S. Andrea;, p. 113; Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. i., p. 239. ^ Innes, Critical Essay, p. 803. According to Dr. M'Lauchlan, " in the case of Loch Leven we have the clearest insight into the real character of tlie ancient Culdees " (Tlie Early Scottish Churcli, p. 436). ^Reeves, the Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in History, p. 53; Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. i., p. 229. ' M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, p. 107. THE CULDEES. 51 The disciples of this saint were very numerous, and we are further informed by Joce- line that, " after the manner of the primitive church, possessing nothing, they hved piously and soberly apart in small dwellings {casuUs) of their own, and there, like Kentigern him- self, matured wisdom, whence they were called single clergy {clerici singulares), and in common speech {vulgo) Culdees (Calledei)." But our chief interest in Scottish Caldeism arises from its alleged origin in lona. This belief was first attacked by Dr. Lanigan in 1822, who says, " that in the whole history of the monastery of Hy (lona) and of its dependencies, the name of Culdees, or any name tantamount to it, never once occurs.' Dr. Beeves (18G4) shows that the Culdees are men- tioned in ancient records which allude to lona, but in such a manner, he argues, as both to disconnect them from the Columbites, and to establish their comparatively recent origin. By a still later writer, however, the facts upon which these conclusions are based have been subjected to a further analysis, from which it would appear that they may be interpreted in precisely an opposite sense to that which has been generally accepted on the deservedly high authority of Dr. Keeves.^ The Annals of Ulster relate, at the year 11C4, that a deputation of the chiefs of the family of la, consisting of Augustine the archpriest, Dub- sidhe the lecturer, MacGilladuff the recluse, MacForcellaigh, head of the Ceile-nde, and such as were of eminence in the island, waited on the Abbot of Derry, and invited him to accept the abbacy of their church.^ "' From this we learn," says Dr. Reeves, " that the Celi-de of Hy were only a section of the community whose superior was styled a ' head,^ not ' prior,' and took a low rank among the notables of the place." On the other hand, however, Dr. M'Lauchlan points out that the parties who formed the deputation were the great priest Augustine, no doubt the leading minister in that part of Scotland, the " disertach" or hermit Mac gilla duibh, the head of the Culdees MacForcellaig, etc. It is obvious that these, along with the Fear leighinn,^ were the leading men in the church in the absence of the abbot. There was a priest, a hermit, and the head of the Culdees. If, as Dr. Lanigan and Dr. Reeves say, the Culdees had no connection with the Columban order, then the lona brethren were not represented at all in this election — an arrangement altogether improbable. The head of the Culdees in this extract can only be understood as having been the principal man amongst the brethren in. the absence of the abbot. According to Mr. Skene the Culdees originally sprang from that ascetic order who adopted a solitary service of God in an isolated cell as the highest form of religious life, and who were denominated Deicolce; thev then became associated in communities of ancho- rites of hermits; they were clerics, and might be called monks, but only in the sense in which anchorites were monks; they made their appearance in the eastern districts of Scot- land at the same time as the secular clergy were introduced, and succeeded the Columban monks who had been driven across the great mountain range of Drumalban, the western ' Lanigan, Ecclesiastical Historj' of Ireland, vol. iv., p. 296. 2 M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, p. 435. 2 Reeves, Tlie Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in Historj', p. 50; M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, p. 435. * Dubhside, the reader (or lecturer). According- to Colgan certain men in the Church, called scribnidh, or scribneoir, that is, scribes or writers, till the middle of the ninth century, were charged with the duty of public reading, of elucidating the history of their own ecclesiastical society, and of writing their annals. They were afterward styled Fear-leighinn, which means prcelector or scholasticus (Trias. Thavmatvrga, MDCXLVII., pp. G31, 633. Sec M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, p. 437; and Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, voL iv., p. 17b). 52 THE CULDEES. frontier of the Pictish kingdom; and were finally brought under the canonical rule along with the secular clergy, retaining, however, to some extent, the nomenclature of the mon- astery, until at length the name of Keledeus, or Culdee, became almost synonymous with that of secular canon. ' After ir82 ° both name and office in Scotland entirely disappear. That th3 Scottish use of an ecclesiastical term should run parallel with its employment in Ireland might naturally be expected, considering the relation of the two countries as regarded both their church and language. But that we should find in the heart of Saxon Northumbria such a term as CoUdeus lingering ages after the Irish impress on the religion, of that province had been obliterated, is, as Dr. Beeves observes, " very remarkable." There existed at York, until the dissolution of these associations, a hospital called St. Leonards, the chartulary of which, a beautifully-written volume, engrossed in the reign of Henry V., passed into the Cotton collection, where it is now preserved in that section of the British Museum Library. From this book Dugdale has printed in his " Monasticon" an abstract, which furnishes the following particulars: — When King Athelstan was on his march* against the Scotch in 936,' he halted at York, and there besought of the ministers of St. Peter's church, who were then called Colidei, to offer up their prayers on behalf of himself and his expedition, promising them that, if he returned victorious, he would confer suitable honor upon the church and its ministers. Accordingly, after a successful campaign, he revisited this church, and publicly returned thanks for the favor which Heaven had vouchsafed to him. And observing in the same church men of holy life and honest conversation, then styled Colidei, who maintained a number of poor people, and withal had but little whereon to live, he granted to them and their successors for ever, for the better enabling them to support the poor who resorted thither, to exercise hospitality and perform other works of piety, a thrave of corn from every ploughland in the diocese of York — a donation which continued to be enjoyed until a late period under the name of Petercorn. The record goes on to state that these Colidei continued to receive fresh accessions to their endowments, and especially from Thomas, whom William the Conqueror advanced to the see of York in 10G9. The Colidei soon after erected or founded in the same .city, on a site which had belonged to the crown, a hos- pital or halting-place for the poor who flocked thither; to which were transferred the endowments which the said Colidei or clerics had hitherto received. William Eufus re- moved the hospital to another part of the city; and King Stephen, when further augmenting its resources, changed its name from St. Peter's to St. Leonard's hospital. It contained a master or warden and 13 brethren, 4 secular priests, 8 sisters, 30 choristers, 2 schoolmasters, 206 beadsmen, and 6 servitors.* It would appear that these Colidei were the officiating clergy of the cathedral church of ' Skene, Celtic Scotland, vol. ii. , p. 277. ^ In this year they were prohibited at St. Andrews from taking part in the election to the bishopric (Reeves, The Culdees of the British Island?, as they appear in History, p. 40). 3 It is highly probable that the legend which connects English Masonry with a charter granted by Athelstan at York, a. d. 926, has been derived from the incident narrated above. The form of the legend, as given by Dr. Anderson in the constitutions of 1723, varies slightly from that in the edition of 1738. In the former, he places the date of the occurrence at about 930; in the latter, at 926; in the former he styles the congregation at York a General Lodge; in the latter, a Grand Lodge (Constitutions, 1723, p. 32; 1738, p. 64). * Dugdale, Monasticon, 1846, vol. vL, part ii., p. 607; Drake, Eboracum,,p. 332. THE CULDEES. 53 St. Peter's at York in 93G, and that they discharged the double function of divine service and eleemosynary entertainment; thus combining the two leading characteristics of the old conventual system which was common to the Irish and Benedictine rules. But when things assumed a new complexion, and a Norman archbishop was appointed, the Colidei, or old order of officiating clergy, were superseded, and were removed to another quarter of the city, whither they took their endowments with them, and thus continued through several centuries, under an altered economy and title, till all memory of their origin had perished, save what was recorded in the preamble of their charter-book. ' The existence of the name CoUdei at York in the beginning of the tenth century indi- cates some surviving traces of the Celtic school of ecclesiastical discipline. For the name is undoubtedly technical, and, if we follow Dr. Eeeves, a form^of Celi-de suited to the ears of a people who were ignorant of Celtic but were familiar with Latin; and as the etymology of Colideus was in such harmony with the profession of the Celi-de, the adaptation which the ear suggested was sanctioned by an apparent fitness.'^ It is uncertain when the Christian faith first found its way into Britain. Neander says " That the peculiarity of the British Church is evidence against its origin from Eome, for in many ritual matters it departed from the usage of the Roman Church, and agreed much more nearly with the churches of Asia Minor." ^ The tin of Cornwall, from a very early period, had penetrated to the Levant, and the bond of connection must thus have been drawn close and firm. A messenger from Syria would have been more readily received than one from Eome. This is held by some to account for the Oriental character of early British Christianity; the missionaries who conveyed it may have come from the East." There is also to be considered the class of persons unto whom the new doctrine was disclosed. The Druidism of our ancestors must have been powerfully influenced by the Paganism of the Empire, at the period when Christianity dawned on Britain. It would also appear that colleges funerum causa were as much cherished by the Christians as they had been by the Pagans, and at least as reasonable a supposition to account for the name by which the clerics of the early British Church were distinguished, as any other that has been suggested, is the probability of the " Cultores Deorum," tlie worshippers of the Gods, gradually merging into " Cultores Dei," worshippers of the true God.^ Many learned men have believed that there was some connection between the Culdees and the Eoman masonic colleges, or the esoteric teaching of Phoenician or Eastern confra- ternities." This belief, indeed, has mainly arisen from the profound speculations of Krause, whose conclusions have been too hastily adopted by many German writers of dis- tinction, whence they have in turn penetrated to this country.'' ' Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in history, pp. 59, 60. ^Ibid., p. 60. Compare, however, the etymologies given by Mr. Skene and Dr. Lingard, ante, pp. 48 and 49 {note 3). ^Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. i., p. 117. * M'Lauchlan, The Early Scottish Church, p. 44. *Coote, Tlie Romans of Britain, p. 386; Revue Archeologiqvie, vol. xiii., N.S., p. 295. See also Etudes sur quelques Colleges Funeraires Romains (Gaston Boissier), ibid., vol. xxiii., pp. 81-87; Ki-ause, Kunsturkunden, book L, part ii., p. 358; and ante, pp. 47 and 49 {note 3). "Kenning, Cyclopasdia, p. 142. 'Krause, Kunsturkunden, book i., partii., p. 358; book ii., parti., p. 468; Stieglitz, Geschichte der Baukunst, p. 427. The first-named writer relies on the so-called "York Constitutions" of A. D. 926. See next chapter (No. 51). 54 THE CULDEES. In Ill's labored " Inquiry into the origin of all languages, nations, and religions/' the industrious author of the " Anacalypsis " finds room for many allusions to Freemasonry. According to his view, the Essenes, the Druids, and the Culdees were all I'reemasons in progressive stages of development. Mr. Higgins says, " I request my reader to think upon the Culidei or Culdees in the crypt of the Cathedral of York, and at Eipon, and in Scot- land and Ireland — that these Culdees or Chaldeans were Masons, mathematici, builders of the Temple of Solomon; and that the country where Mr. Ellis found access to the temple in South India ' was called Colida and Uria; that the religion of Abraham's descendants was that of Ras; that Masonry in that country is called Raj or Mystery; that we have also, found the Colida and most other of these matters on the Ju.mna, a thousand miles distant in North India, — and when he has considered all these matters, as it is clear that one must have borrowed from the other, let him determine the question, — Did York and Scotland borrow from the Jumna and Carnatic, or the Jumna and Carnatic from them ? " " The most remarkable, however, of all theories connecting the Culdees with the Free- masons was advanced by the Honorable Algernon Herbert in 1844, and has been charac- terized by Dr. Eeeves "as a strange combination of originality and learning, joined to wild thecry and sweeping assertion."^ According to this writer, under the shell of orthodoxy, Caldeism contained a heterodox kernel, which consisted of secret rites and the practice of human sacrifice. "Taking the question," he says, "as against the Culdees to be whether or not they had secret mysteries inconsistent with the orthodoxy of their outward profession, we may approach it in two ways — the external, or testimony directly bearing on the fact of their having such secrets; and the internal, or indications of specific evils appearing in the course of their history. The first mode resolves itself into this question: Are they charged with having secrets ? They are, both by ancients and moderns, although the fact of their being so is neither notorious nor prominent." We are next informed that, "they made their appearance in the Continent under Colman or Columban^ in a.d. 589. Whilst in Burgundy, the courtiers of the king in- flamed him against the man of God, and urged him to go. and examine into his religion. The king accordingly went to the monastery of Luxeuil, and demanded of the holy abbot why he departed from the manners of the rest of the province, and why access within the ?no)'e secret enclosures was not permitted to cell Christians f He also went on to say that if Columban wished the royal support, all persons must be admitted into all places. The man of God replied, if you come hither for the purpose of destroying the coenobia of the servants of God, and casting a stain on the regular discipline, know that your kingdom will en- tirely fall and perish." "From this statement it appears that the early Culdees excluded strangers from their ' Referring to the statement that this member of the Madras Civil Service, in the capacity of a Master Mason, had actually passed himself into the sacred part, or adytum, of one of the Indian temples (Anacalypsis, 1836, vol. i., p. 767). 2 Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 769. In another work Mr. Higgins says: "The Culdees were the last remains of the Druids, wlio had been converted to Christianity before the Roman Church got any foot- ing in Britain. Tliey were Pythagoreans, Druidical monks, probably Essenes, and this accounts for theireasily embracing Christianity; for the Essenes were as nearly Christians as possible" (The Celtic Druids, the Priests of the Nations who Emigrated from India, 1829, p. 205). 3 British Magazine, vol. xxvi. (On the peculiarities of Culdeism, pp. 1-13). * Columbanus. THE CULDEES. S5 septa secretioria in such a manner as was unknown in Burgundy and dissonant from the mores comprovinciales, and sufficing to raise up doubts of their religion, and '' cast a stain upon their rule;" and that Calumban neither denied, nor explained, nor in any way modi- fied the circumstances complained of. He might have denied the peculiarity of his system, and shown that the Gallican or comjjrovincial usages permitted it; or he might have main- tained its general expediency, whilst inviting the most searching investigation of his secret places, things, and practices, by a commission of holy bishops, or other suitable persons: he might, in some way, have sought his own compurgation, and exposed his calumniators, but he did not. All this amounts to the substance of the proposition sought for — viz., that their system was actually censured of old, not for this or that evil, but for the secrecy which may (if abused) cloak any evil whatsoever." In the view of the same writer, " the most remarkable incident to Culdeism is the idea of human sacrifice;" and the legend of St. Oran is subjected to minute criticism. " Poor Oran," he says, "was overwhelmed, and an end for ever put to his prating.' Hence we learn that the mysteries of early Culdeism, as known to those who had penetrated into the septa secretioria, contained an acknowledgment of the falsehood of the Christian religion as outwardly taught by the Culdees. The founder suppressed those dangerous avowals. But on what grounds ? Solely because the blabbing of secrets, so manifestly true^ as Oran's resurrection might seem to make them, was impolitic. Double doctrine, maintained by organic secrecy (and that secrecy vindicated by murder), is as clearly set forth in the tra- ditions of Columba as any sovereign Prince of Heredom ^ could ever have desired it to be in the mysteries framed ' first at Icolmkill. ' " Mr. Herbert further contends that the stories and proverbs he has adduced, show that some such ideas were once connected with Culdeism. But if subsequently to Adamnan and Bede, no such opinions prevailed either in books or in vulgar estimation, these legends must date from anterior times, and from the very beginning. " When general charo-es exist against a body, and are believed by many, any given tale to their prejudice may be false and of recent invention. But if no such general opinion prevails, or hath prevailed at any known time, specific tales or proverbs involving that opinion must flow from the fountain head. This latter proposition is the more certain when the things said of the parties are not said against them. But the legend of St. Oran was evidently not com- memorated to their prejudice. No inferences were drawn from it, the consequences which it involves were not evolved, and the reputation which it tends to fix upon them did not adhere to them." ' "Uir! Uir! air beal Grain ma'n labhair & tuile comh—'radh"—" Earth! Earth! on the mouth of Oran, that he may not blab more" (Donald Mackintosh, A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs, 1785, p. 66). See Dr. J. Jamieson, Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of lona, 1811, p. 20; and ante, p. 8. 2 Mr. Herbert here relies on some passages in Tirechan's annotations on the life of St. Patrick, preserved in the ancient MS. called the "Book of Armagh," and considers that St. Gran's denial of a future judgment may rest upon the idea that Ireland and the Hebrides were to be destroyed by a deluge of water seven years before the day of judgment, and that lona alone was to be unsubmerged. To this island the chosen saints from all parts might have been destined to repair, there to taste the glories of a temporal day of judgment British Magazine, vol. xxvi., p. 249 . 3 Mr. Herbert cites a French Masonic work, in which, what is spoken of as the: eighteenth degree, is declared to have been established "first at Icolmkill," and afterward at Kilwinning (British Magazine, 1844, vol. xxvi., p. 12). c6 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. CHAPTEE II. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS, I^HE ancient documents handed down from the operative masons in Great Britain and Germany respectively — all generically described under the misleading title of Constitutions — require to be carefully examined, and separately described. The so-called " Constitutions," peculiar to England and Scotland, contain legends or traditional history, which are not to be found in the regulations or working statutes of the latter country, nor do they appear in the Ordinances of the craft in either France or Germany. The only point of identity ' between the English and German constitutions in the shape of legend or tradition is the reference to the " Four Holy Crowned Martyrs," but as they are only men- tioned in one of the English versions, and then merely in that portion of the MS. devoted to religious duties, the thread that connects them is a very slender one indeed. It will be found that, as a general rule, early documents of the guilds or crafts commence with an. invocation of saintly patronage, and the "Holy Martyrs" were not monopolized in this respect by the masons of Germany, as they were the assumed patrons of numerous other fraternities. Nor can it be maintained, with any show of reason, that the slender thread of union already cited, at all warrants the conclusion that the English masons derived the legend of the " Quatuor Coronati " from their German brethren. The British Constitutions, or " Old Charges," have indeed neither predecessors nor rivals, and their peculiar characteristics will be found, in truth, to amply warrant the detailed examination which I shall now pro- ceed with. By no other craft in Great Britain has documentary evidence been furnished of its hav- ing claimed at any time a legendary or traditional history. Oral testimony of any real antiquity is also wanting when it is sought to maintain that the British Freemasons are not singular in the preservation of their old legends. The amusing pretensions of certain benefit societies do not affect the claim, for no "traditions" of these associations can be traced historically to a period sufficiently remote to prove their independent origin; the probability being that they are all modern adaptations of Masonic traditions and customs. In saying " no other craft," I exclude from consideration the French Compagnons, who were members (latterly), of all crafts, though in the first instance the association was confined to the masons and carpenters. Not that the "Compagnons" were without legendary histories, but they now possess no early writings with which we can compare the " Old Charges of British Freemasons," as the " Constitutions" under examination have ' The Legends are i-eferred to, not the Regulations. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 57 been aptly termed by the Masonic author whose labors have been the longest sustained in this branch of arcliEeological research. ' The legends peculiar to the Compagnonage have been very lightly passed over by Masonic and other historians. This is in a great measure to be accounted for, no doubt, by the absence of any literature bearing on the subject until a comparatively recent date. Authors of repute have merely alluded to this obscure subject in the most casual way, and virtually the customs and legends of this association were quite unknown to the outer world, until the appearance of a small work in 1841, by Agricol Perdiguier, entitled " Le Livre du Compagnonage." Perdiguier, who was a " Compagnon," writes of the organization as a Freemason would of Freemasonry, i.e., without disclosing aught of an esoteric character; but the legends and customs are carefully described.'' The analogies between distinctive portions of the English and French legends occur too frequently, and are too strongly marked to be acci- dental. If, then, we may assume — and I apprehend we may do so safely — that certain legends were afloat in early days of the Compagnonage, anterior to the date of our earliest British " Constitution" — The " Halliwell," circa, 1390 — the following is the result: In the fourteenth century there is, on the one hand, an organization (the Compagnons) in full activity, though without manuscript constitutions, or legends, which has endured to this day. On the other hand, there is documentary evidence satisfactorily proving that the legendary history of the English masons was not only enshrined in tradition, but was embalmed in their records. Yet we have little or no evidence of the activity of English masons in their lodges at so early a period,' beyond what is inferentially supplied by the testimony of these Old Charges or Constitutions, which form the subject of our present investigation. On the whole, it may be reasonably concluded that the Compagnons of the Middle Ages preserved legends of their own which were not derived from the Freemasons (or masons) ; and the latter, doubtless, assembled in lodges, although Acts of Parliament and other his- torical records are provokingly silent upon the point. But if the legends of the Compagnonage were not derivative, can the same be said of those which have been preserved by the masons ? The points of similarity are so varied and distinct, that if it he conceded that the present legends of the two bodies, have been faithfully transmitted from their ancestors of the Middle Ages, the inference is irresistible, either that the Masons borrowed from the Compagnons, or that the traditions of both associations are inherited from a common original." At no previous period have equal facilities been afforded for a study of these " Old Charges of British Freemasons," either as respects their particular character, or their rela- tions to the Compagnonage and other organizations, masonic or otherwise. Within ' Mr. WiUiam James Hughan, of Truro. 2 The leading features of the Compagnonage are given by Dr. Mackey in his "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry," pp. 179-181 (Philadelphia, 1874). The subject is also discussed, though at less length, by Messrs. Woodford and Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, in the excellent Cyclopaedias for which they are i-esponsible. 3 1 have not lost sight of the Fabric EoUs of York Minster, dating' from the fourteenth centuiy, and others, which contain distinct references to the "loge," and its essentially private character; but as to the internal management of lodges by the early Freemasons we literally find nothing until a much later period. 3 The subject of the Compagnonage will be fully considered in Chapter V. 58 THE OLD CHARGES OE BRITISH EREEMASOXS. living memory barely ten copies were known to be in existence, but since 18G0, and par- ticularly during the last decade (chiefly through the zeal of Mr. Hughan, who published the result of his labors in 1872, and the patient and discriminative research of the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford) ' more than double thiit number have been brought to light. Many extracts from manuscripts, which were missing, have now been noted, and all references to such documents, for the last two hundred years, have been duly arranged, and their precise nature estimated. Without an exception, all these " Old Charges" have been carefully collated, and their points of agreement and divergence as far as possible extracted, in order that their value as ancient Masonic chronicles may be accurately gauged.^ One at least of these MSS. and possibly two, date before the introduction of the printing press. Of the remainder, some twenty were in circulation amongst the Masonic lodges prior to the last century, the majority being over two hundred years old, and all being copies of still older documents. No two of the MSS. are exactly alike,' though there is a substantial agreement between them all, and evidently they had a common origin, just as they were designed to serve a common purpose. As it is probable that each lodge, prior to the last century, had one of these " Old Charges" amongst its effects, which was read to an apprentice on his introduc- tion to the craft, it is almost certain that additional scrolls still await discovery, the only wonder being, that considering how numerous the lodges must have been, so few have yet been traced. Possibly, however, the "several very valuable manuscripts concerning the fraternity (particularly one written by Mr. Nicholas Stone, the warden of Inigo Jones), too hastily burned by some scrupulous brothers," * mainly consisted of forms of the " Old Charges." When and how the first of these documents was compiled, or by whom, it is impossible now to decide, for we possess no autographic versions of the Masonic constitutions. It will be desirable to furnish something like a detailed account of the copies extant, and in order to do so I have consulted Hughan's " Old Charges" (which, singular to state, contains the only collection ever published of these ancient Constitutions); also the re- markable preface to that work, by the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford. Since the issue of this volume in 1872, additional MSS. have been discovered; so, for the sake of perspicuity and general convenience, I shall consider them all seriatim, according to their actual or supposed ao-e, each being indicated by a number for facility of reference, which number has been prefixed to their popular titles. An alphabetical classification was adopted by Hughan, but these transcripts are now so numerous, that no single alphabet would suffice for the purpose. As many of these old MSS. are undated, their age is partly a matter of conjecture; but it may be assumed that the periods of origin herein assigned, approximate closely to the actual dates. I have generally preferred the testimony of such independent paleographical authorities as Mr. Edward A. Bond (the principal librarian of the British Museum), and other non-Masonic " experts," to the possibly interested opinions of those connected with the fraternity, and have carefully abstained from overstating the antiqviity of these or any ' W. J. Hughan, "The Old Charges of British Fi-eemasons ;" with a preface by the Rev. A. F. A. Woodfoi-d (London, 1872). ^ Unless otherwise stated, the original, or a certified transcript, of each MS. cited in this chapterj has been collated by Mr. Hvighan or myself. * Except Nos. 6 and 7 (duplicates). * Dr. Anderson (Constit, 1738, p. Ill) is responsible for this statement. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 59 other documents relating to Freemasonry. Whilst anxious, however, to disconnect such ancient writings from modern adaptations and erroneous interpretations, I yield to none in my appreciation of their importance and value, as the repertories of our time-honored traditions and regulations. Even regarded in this light alone, these old legends and tra- ditions, these bygone usages and regulations of the operative guilds, thus happily preserved, have, and always must have for all thoughtful Freemasons, the deepest value and the most lasting interest. ' The classification adopted consists of three divisions, which will include all the ver- sions, viz., (A) originals; (B) late transcripts; (C) printed copies, extracts, or references. (A) MS. VERSIONS OF THE "OLD CHARGES." 1. " Halliwell." * 14th Century. British Museum (Bib. Reg., 17 A I.). " Early History of Freemasonry in England," by J. 0. Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S., London, 1840 and 1844; Dr. C. W. Asher, Hamburg, 1842, and other reprints. "Masonic Maga- ine," London, 1874, etc. (modernized). A small MS. on vellum, about 5 inches by 4 iclies, bound in russia, having thereon G. R. IL, 1757, and the royal arms. It formerly "longed to Charles Theyer, a noted collector of the seventeenth century, and -is No. 146 in his catalogue, as described in Bernard's " Manuscriptorum Anglise" (p. 200, col. 2). Soon afterward it was placed in the "Old Royal Library," founded by King Henry VII,, for the princes of the blood royal, comprising nearly 12,000 volumes, the munificent gift of His Majesty George II. to the nation, a.d. 1757. In "A Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King's Library," (London, 1734), by David Casley (deputy-librarian of the Cotto- nian Library), the MS. is erroneously entitled, " A Poem of Moral Duties," and it Avas not until 18th April 1839, that its chief contents were made known in a most suggestive paper by Mr. Halliwell (Phillips), " On the Introduction of Freemasonry into England," read before the Society of Antiquaries, which will be found in the proceedings of that body, session 1838-9.^ Casley, who was considered a most accurate judge of the age of MSS., ascribed it to the fourteenth century, and the learned editor of the poem considers it was written not later than the latter part of that century.' Mr. E. A. Bond places it at the middle of the fifteenth century, and Dr. Kloss between 1427 and 1445. Mr. Halliwell believes he is right in stating " that this is the earliest document yet brought to light con- nected with the progress of freemasonry in Great Britain," and, apart from " Fabric Rolls," and similar records, he is doubtless justified in making the claim. ^ 2. "Cooke." *15th Century. British Museum (Addl. MSS. 23,198). Published by Mr. R. Spencer, London, 1861, and edited by Mr. Matthew Cooke, hence its title." It was purchased from a Mrs. Caroline Baker, 14th October, 1859, for the * An asterisk * throughout the remainder of this chapter indicates that the date is an approxima- tion. ' Woodford's preface to the " Old Charges." '^ Archasologia, vol. xxviii., p. 444. ^ Early History of Freemasonry, 3d ed., 1844, p. 11. ^The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford says: — "The poem is of high antiquity. . . . If ever Pars Oculi turns up, an old poem, now missing, from which John Myre borrowed his poem, a jiortion of whicii is found in the Masonic poem (and Mja-e wrote in 1420), we shall probably find that it is Noi'- man-French, or Latin originally " (Freemason, 8th November 1879). ^Mr. T. B. Whytehead, in an article on "Our Earliest Craft Lodges" (Freemason, July 31, 1880) qviotes from the diary of Dr. Stukeley, June 24, 1721: — "The Grand Master, Pain, produced an old MS. of the Constitutions, which he got in the West of England, five hundred years ago." I fear, however, that old and respected as George Payne may have been, his priority in age over tlie 6o THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. National Collection, and its original cover of wood remains, with the rough twine connect- ing the vellum sheets, apparently as sewn some four hundred years ago. In size it re- sembles its senior (MS. 1); the reproduction by Spencer, excepting the fac-simile at the beginning being an amplification of the original. Mr. Bond's estimate is, " Early 15th Century," and I see no reason to differ from him, although some authorities have sought to refer it to the latter part of that century, because there are several references in the MS. to the " Policronicon." It has been too hastily assumed that Caxton's celebrated work of a.d. 1482 is the one thus alluded to,' the fact being lost sight of that whilst the first typographical edition was not issued until that year, the compilation itself, from certain old Latin chronicles, is supposed to have been arranged by Roger, a Benedictine monk of St. Werburgh's Abbey, in Chester, early in the previous century. It was soon afterward enlarged by Eanulph Higden of the same monastery, styled a " Polycronicon," or Universal History, ^nd was brought down to his own time. He died about a.d. 13G0. The earliest edition is believed to have been issued in 1342, and numerous Latin transcripts were in circulation, as well as a translation in English prose, by John de Trevisa (chaplain to the Earl of Berkeley) during the same century. I shall have occasion to refer to these later on, but desire to draw especial attention to the fact that there is no evidence whatever of any printed work being alluded to in this quaint chronicle (MS. 2). Findel terms it the " Cooke-Baker document," simply on the ground that Dr. Eawlinson, about 1730, spoke of a MS. being in the possession of a Mr. Baker, but the latter was in the form of a Roll, whereas the " Cooke MS." never was; and hence such a title is both misleading and improper. 3. ''Lansdowne." *16th Century. British Museum (No. 98, Art. 48). Published in " Freemasons' Magazine," ^ and Hughan's " Old Charges " (p. 31), but not in the " Freemasons' Magazine," 1794, as stated by Mr. M. Cooke and other Avriters, neither is it dated 1560 as Fort asserts. Mr. Bond sets it down at about 1600, and by all authorities it is considered to be of a very early date, probably of the middle or latter half of the sixteenth century, as these " Free Masons Orders and Constitutions" are believed to have been part of the collection made by Lord Burghley (Secretary of State, temj). Edward VI., and Lord High Treasurer, teynp. Elizabeth), who died a.d. 1598. The MS. is contained on the inner sides of three sheets and a half of stout paper, 1 1 inches by 15, making in all seven folios, many of the principal words being in large letters of an ornamental character.^ Mr. Sims (MS. Department of the British Museum) does not consider these " Orders" ever formed a Roll, though there are indications of the sheets having been stitched together at the top, and paper or vellum was used for additional protection. It has evidently " seen service," and is entitled to the third place in order of actual transcription. The catalogue of the Lansdowne MSS.,* a.d. 1812, fol. 190, has the following note on the contents of this document — " No. 48. A very foolish legendary account of the original of the order of Freemasonry," in the handwriting, it is said, of Sir Henry Ellis. versifier of Halliwell's MS. would not be any easier to substantiate than the installation of Moses as Grand Master of the Freemasons. Dr. Stukeley, as the researches of the Rev. W. C. Lukis have proved, had a tracing of the vellum MS. which was exhibited by Grand Master Payne at this meet- ing, which was clearly taken from MS. 2 (Freemason, April 17 and Jidy 31, 1880). ' Findel makes this erroneous statement, and others copy from him (History of Freemasonry, p. 81, London, 1869). February 24, 1858, p. 348. ^ Hughan's Masonic Sketches, Part 2. p. 21. *So called in honor of the Marquis of Lansdowne. On his Lordship's death, the MSS. consisting of 1245 volumes, were purchased in 1807 by a Parliamentary gi'ant of £4,925. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 6i 4. " Geand Lodge." a. d. 1583. Grand Lodge of England. First published by Huglian in his "Old Charges." This roll of parchment (9 feet in length and 5 inches in breadth) was purchased by the " Board of General Purposes/' for the Library and Museum, in 1839, for the sum of £25, from Miss Siddall, the grand- daughter of Mr. Thomas Dunckerley's second wife. At the time of purchase it was de- clared to be " dated 25th December 1183, in the twenty-ninth year of Henry II.; and that this date is nearly correct may be inferred from the writing, which is the court hand of that time." After describing its character, the same writer asserts that it contains "the ancient Charges as agreed on at the Grand Lodge, held at York a.d. (about) 926." This appears to have been too much even for the Rev. Dr. Oliver to accept, for on the Roll being shown to him he placed it as late as the time of Elizabeth, in this respect differing from the writer of the article. ' A careful examination of the manuscript itself, however, reveals the fact that the date is " Scriptum anno domini 1583, Die Decembris 25°." ^ In early days, figures were not always traced with mathematical precision, and the mistake in reading five for one may be accounted for in many ways. On the reverse of the scroll occurs the first verse of the 1st chapter of John (" Whose sacred and universal law I will endeavour to observe, so help me God"), in Dunckerley's handwriting (it is said), so that it may be easily surmised what use he made of the Roll as an ardent Royal Arch Mason. 5. " York, No. 1." * 17th Century. The " York " Lodge, No. 23G, York. Published in Hughan's " Old Charges," and " Masonic Magazine" (August 1873). In an inventory of the effects of the " Grand Lodge of all England" (extinct), held at York, six copies of the " Old Charges" were catalogued, five of which are now carefully treasured by the " York " Lodge. They were numbered one to six without respect to their relative antiquity, for though the first is certainly the oldest, the second is the Junior of the series. The senior is thus described in the Inventory of A.D. 1779 — "No 1. A parchment roll in three slips, containing the constitutions of Masonry, and by an endorsement appears to have been found in Pontefract Castle at the demolition, and given to the Grand Lodge by Brother Drake " (173G). It was used as a roll, measuring about 7 feet in length and 5 inches in width. Francis Drake, F. R. S. , was a native of Pontefract, of which place both his father and grandfather had been in turn the vicar. His great-grandfather, prior to his ordination, was a Royalist officer, and his diary of the siege has lately been published by the " Surtees Society." The history of this MS. and that of the last on the inventory, after the Grand Lodge at Yorlc died out, has been a singular one. They had been lost sight of by the York brethren for several years. Hughan, whose sight is preter naturally keen when Masonic MSS. are being searched for, at last identified the " wanderers " at Free- masons' Hall, London, through their description in the inventory, and having announced his discovery to the members of the " York" Lodge, who had become possessed of the bulk of the archives formerly appertaining to the Grand Lodge of that city, they made applica- tion to the then Grand Master, the Earl of Zetland, for the two Rolls. His Lordship willingly acceded to the petition, and they were restored to the custody of their rightful owners in 1877. During its absence from York this MS. was transcribed {circa 1830), and a second copy afterward made by Mr. Robert Lemon, Deputy-Keeper of State Papers (in consequence of some imperfection in the first one), which was presented to H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, the then Grand Master. When the rolls were examined by Hughan the two transcripts were tied up with them, also a letter from Mr. Lemon, dated September 9, ' Freemason's Quarterly Review, 1842, p. 149. ' By inadvertence the year is given as 1132 in Hughan's " Old Charges" (p. 46), and is declared to stand for 1632 instead of 1583 ; although, as the learned compiler informs me, he was aware of the correct date of the MS., having transcribed its entire contents. 62 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 1830, suggesting a collation of the original Eoll with the one owned by the lodge of "Antiquity." The date of the MS. is partly determined from internal evidence, and partly from a consideration of the date when Pontefract Castle surrendered to the Parlia- mentary Forces (March 25, 1649). The demolition began during the following month.' The Roll seems to have formed the text for at least three of the other York MS8. 6 & 7. " Wilson, Nos. 1 & 2." * 17th Century. Thirlestane House, Cheltenham. Published in " Masonic Magazine," 1876, and m Kennings' " Archaeological Library," 1879. The earliest known reference to this MS. occurs in the " Manifesto of the Right Worshipful Lodge of Antiquity, 1778," as follows: "0, MS. in the hands of Mr. Wilson, of Broomhead, near Sheffield, Yorkshire, written in the reign of K. Henry VIII."* Until, however, quite recently, all attempts to trace the actual MS. resulted in failure. A clue being at length obtained, the Rev. A. F. A. AVoodford (and others assisting) ultimately succeeded in obtaining an exact transcript. The search elicited the fact that there existed ^' & duplicate co^j. Both seem about the same age, and are verbatim et literatim."^ They were sold to Sir Thomas Pliillips (a great collector of MSS.) by Mr. Wilson, and are now in the possession of his son-in-law, the Rev. J. E. A. Fenwick, of Cheltenham, who kindly permitted a transcript to be made. The MSS. are written on vellum, and certain words are rubricated. By some authorities, their origin is placed early in the seventeenth century, although Mr. Woodford, whose opinion is entitled to great weight, considers that the sixteenth century would be a more correct estimate. As it is " better to err on the safe side," I have bracketed them virtually with the " York MS. No. 1," and the two valuable documents which next follow. 8. "ImGO Jones." a.d. 1607. The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, London. Published only in the " Masonic Magazine," July 1881. Its right to the above title is based upon the claim made in the document itself, which was sold 12th November 1879 by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson. The cataloguer described it as " The ancient Constitu- tions of the Free and Accepted Masons. A very curious folio manuscript, ornamented title and drawing by Inigo Jones, old red morocco, gilt leaves, dated 1607." Mr. Woodford subsequently became its fortunate possessor, and, as usual with him, lost no time in making the craft acquainted Avith its contents. He mentions that " it is a curious and valuable MS. per se, not only on account of its special verbiage, but because it possesses a frontis- piece of masons at work, with the words 'Inigo Jones dclin' ' at the bottom. It is also liighly ornamented throughout, both in the capital letters, and with 'finials.' It is, we apprehend, pretty certain that it did belong to Inigo Jones. It is of date 1607." Mr. Woodford also states that he considers " it a peculiarly interesting MS. in that it differs from all known transcripts in many points, and agrees with no one copy extant." The validity of these claims is open to remark, but the subject Avill be again referred to later on. Its importance has been rather under than overstated; for this, one of the latest " discoveries," is certainly to be classed amongst the most valuable of existing versions of our manuscript " Constitutions." 1 Hargrove, in his History of York, vol ii. (1818), mentions this MS., as being in possession of "the Lodge . . . presented by Mr. Drake," etc. 2 The Manifesto is printed in extenso in Hughan's "Masonic Sketches," pp. 103-108. O. MS. stands for Original Manuscript. 2 Freemason (London), July 26, 1879. * Not " Inigo Jones fecit" as incorrectly printed in the Masonic Magazine (London), July 1881. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 63 9. ''Wood." a.d. 1610. The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, London. Published only in the " Masonic Magazine," June 1881. For the acquisition of this scroll in 1879, the craft has again to thank the fortunate owner and discoverer of the " Inigo Jones " MS. Mr. Wood, from whom it was obtained, is unable to furnish particulars of its history, beyond that the MS. had been in his possession for about twenty years. "It belonged to a family who died out many years ago, and is of great age." ' In editing the manuscript, Mr. Woodford informs us that it is "written on parchment (or vellum), with partially illuminated letters here and there. . . . The 'Finis de Tabula,' at the end of the Index (for it has also an index), is, according to some authorities, most archaic, and may refer to an original two hundred years older. It therefore deserves careful noting and perusal." It is entitled " The Constitution of Masonrye. Wherein is briefly declared the first foundation of divers Sciences, and principally the Science of Masonrye. With divers good Rules, Orders, and Precepts, necessary to be observed of all Masons." Then follow the first verse of Psalm cxxvii., and the declaration " Newlye Translated by J. White- stones for John Sargensonne, 1610." If, as Mr. Woodford suggests. No. 9 was copied from another MS. of the fifteenth century, which is not at all unlikely, the term " Translated" may be simply an equivalent for modernized, 10. "York, No. 3." a.d.1630. At York a.d. 1779. The MS. third in order on the " Inventory" at York of a.d. 1779 (already alluded to), has not been traced of late years. We know that it was a version of the " Constitutions " by the description "No. 3. A parchment Roll of Charges on Masonry, 1630;" and it is just possible that No. 41 may have been this document. At all events, it is not No. 15, though some plausible reasons have been advanced in favor of this view, because that roll bears no date, and apparently was not transcribed until fifty years later than No. 10. 11. "Harleian, 1942." *17th Century. British Museum. An incomplete copy was published in the "Freemasons' Quarterly Review" of 1836 (p. 288), by Mr. Henry Phillips (of the Moira Lodge, now No. 92). Another transcript was printed in Hughan's "Old Charges." Mr. Bond,Mn reply to Mr. AV. P. Buchan (of Glasgow), respecting the ages of the Masonic MSS. in the British JMuseum, stated that " he could speak without any hesitation as to the general period of their date, " and he ascribed the present MS. to the " beginning of the seventeenth century;" the document next following in this series, being, he considered, half a century later in point of time. There cannot, however, be much difference between them as to the dates of transcription, but it is probable that No. 12 was copied from a much older text. There are only two versions of the " Old Charges" in the vast collection ' made toward the end of the seventeenth century by Mr. Robert Harley (afterAvard Earl of Oxford and Mortimer), viz., in vols. 1942 and 2054. No. 11 ' contains " The New Articles " (26 to 31), which are not in any other known MS., 1 Freemason, February 2, 1880. 2 Freemasons' Magazine, July 10, 1869. 3 The collection consisted of some 10,000 vols, of MSS., and more than 16,000 original rolls, charters, etc. Un the Catalogue " Bibliothecae Harleianas " of a. p. 1808, the number 1943 is thus de- scribed : " A very thin book in 4to, wherein I find— 1. The harangue to be made at the admittance of a new member into the Society or Fellowship of the Freemasons ; 2. The articles to be observed by the several members of that Society ; 3. The new articles and form of the oath to be taken at admission. Whether this be a copie of that old book mentioned by Dr. Plot in his 'Stafford- shire ' I cannot say." 64 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. also tlie "Apprentice Charge, " peculiar to a few versions only (tlie latter being entirely- omitted by Mr. Phillips in his transcript of the MS.). These two specialties, and partic- ularly the clauses 26 to 31, constitute a text of great importance, and will be again referred to. Although disposed to place both of the Harleian MSS. slightly after the "Sloane" versions, or at all events about the same period, in this respect following Hughan, I shall not, however, run counter to the computation of Mr. Bond, m which he gives priority by some years to the Harleiau MS., 1942, No. 11 of this series. 12. "Harleian, 2054." * 17th Century. British Museum. Published in Hughan's " Masonic Sketches" and "Masonic Magazine," 1873. The official catalogue describes vol. 2054 as " A Book in folio consisting of many Tracts and loose papers by the second Eandle Holme and others. . . . and the third Eandle Holme's account of the Principal Matters contained in this Book." In it are " Charters of the joyners, carvers, and turners; weavers, bakers, wrights, carpenters, slaters, and sawj^ers; beer brewers, mercers, and ironmongers; saddlers, drapers," being various guilds or com- panies of Chester. There is no original record of these in the British Museum, but the MSS. were transcribed by the second and third Eandle Holme, sometimes dated, and at other times not, from records, for the most part written, it is supposed, before 1600. The Holmes of Chester were evidently enthusiastic students of heraldry, and three gen- erations were represented in the persons of the grandfather, father, and son — all bearing the Christian name of " Eandle " — at the Herald's Office, as deputy to the College of Arms for Cheshire and other counties. The first Eandle Holme died 1654-5, the second in 1649, and the third in 1699-1700 (born 1627). The second Holme is stated to have died A.D. 1659, but, according to Mr. W. H. Eylands,' his death occurred in 1649 (1 Charles II., i.e., computing the reign from the death of Charles I.). Now, if No. 12 is in the hand- writing of the third Eandle Holme, clearly a.d. 1650 is quite early enough for the tran- scription, as it is believed to have been copied by that diligent antiquary. The original, however, from which it Avas taken, was evidently much older; but having classified the MSS. according to the periods of their transcription, rather than the presumed age of their original texts, in strictness this document should be numbered a/ifer No. 13, though, for the sake of convenience, I have coupled the "Harleian" (Hand 12) with the "Sloane" MSS. (13 and 14). No. 12 is written on four leaves of paper, containing six and a half pages of close writing in a very cramped hand. The " water-mark " is indistinct and undated. After the recital of the "Old Charges," entitled the "Freemasons' Orders and Constitutions," is a copy of a remarkable obligation to " keep secret " certain " words and signes of a free mason," etc., and likewise a register of the fees paid (varying from five shillings to twenty) "for to be a free mason," by twenty-seven persons whose names appear. We have here the earliest known mention of worch and signes,'^ a circumstance to which I shall again call attention. As Hughan states, they are apparently not connected with the " Old Charges," as forming an integral part of this version, though they were most probably used by one and the same body. 13. "Sloake, 3848," A.D. 1646. British Museum. Published in the "Old Charges " (also "Masonic Magazine," 1873), and named by Hughan as the probable text 12 and 14. This may have been the case as regards the ' Masonic Magazine, January 1883. 2 Masonic Sketches, part 3, p. 46 ; Freemasonry in the Seventeenth Century, Chester, 1650-1700 (\V. H. Rylands), Masonic Magazine, January and February 1883. '^eo^ fG"^ rad^ ^ vXcaAt ' (J 1/ Sac-Sivwit* of ci xottiovi ol tA» 8i>iwfci*Tg^ dCttvuvMttvna f)Tt, S. (2fiat script, written or copied by one Bramhall, of Canterbury, in the reign of King Henry the Seventh, which was presented to Br. Dermott (in 1748) by one of the descendants of the Writer. On perusal, it proved ta contain the whole matter in the fore-mentioned parchment, as well as other matters ncH in that parchment." It may be fairly assumed that these ^wo Rolls are rightly placed in the present series, being in all probability coyji'es of the "Old Charges." Laurence Dermott was the Grand Secretary alluded to, his predecessor being JohJ>. Morgan. The documents still await dis- covery. 39. "DowLAND." •"" i 7th Century. Published in " Gentleman's Magazine," 1815, and Hughan's " Old Charges." The ori. ginal of this copy is also missing; and though in 1872 Hughan expressed the hope " that after careful comparison, it will be traced to one of the MSS. extant," the expectation has not yet been realized. Mr. James Dowland, who forwarded it to the editor of the " Gentleman's Magazine" for publication in 1815, thus described the document, " For the gratification of your readers, I send you a curious address respecting Freemasonry, which not long since came into my possession. It is Avritten on a long roll of parchment, in a very clear hand, apparently early in the seventeenth century, and very probably is copied from a MS. of earlier date."^ AVoodford styles it "that most ancient form of the Con- stitutions," and places it at " about 1500," or rather as representing a MS. of that period.' Of course Mr. Dowland's estimate may have been an erroneous one, as wo really know nothing as to his paleographical qualifications; still, under present circumstances, we can but accept the period assigned by him, because of whatever date the original or auto- graphic version may have been, the Dowland Scroll and the other " Old Charges " (properly so termed) that have come down to us, are but later copies of tyj)es differing more or less from those circulated in the first instance.* I do not quite agree with Woodford, that " the , ' The Junior or Schismatic G. Lodge of England. 2 Gentleman's Magazine, March 31, 1815, p. 489. ^ Preface to the " Old Charges," p. xi. ''The estimate furnished by Findel is of a very unsatisfactory cliaracter, viz: "With this document most of the manuscripts loiown to us agree, excepting only in a few unessential and unimportant particulars, as, for example, a scroll of the Lodge of Hope, at Bradford; also one in Yorlv, of the year 1704 ; the Lansdowne Manuscript ; one of Laurie's," etc. (History of Freemasonry, pp. 33, 83). As Dowland's text is of the ordinary kind, it wiU be readily seen that the differences are neither few nor important. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 75 Harleian 2054 is nearly a verbatim copy of Dowland's form," or that "it is really a copy of Dowland's itself, though made about ten years later," because the differences in the two versions are not explainable by the suggestion of errors in transcription, or of vexa- tious clerical alterations, e.g., the difference in the pages, the customary Latin sentences being in the one instance before the " Ordinary Charges," and in the other at the conclu- sion of the Roll; still it is not a matter that we can be quite certain about at the present time, and Mr. Woodford's opinion on this or any other point relating to Masonic antiquities, is entitled to very respectful consideration. At any rate we are bound to coincide with him as to ISTo. 39 being a transcript of probably the oldest original of any MS., except Nos. 1 and 2 of this series. 40. " De. Plot." * iTth Century. Published in "Natural History of Staffordshire,"' 1686. Dr. Robert Plot, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in rather a sarcastic manner, examines the claims of the " Society of Freemasons" to antiquity in his noted " Natural History " of a.d. 1686, ard particularly alludes to the "large parchment volwn they have amongst them, containing the History and Rules of the craft of masonry. Which there is deduced, not only from sacred writ, but profane story, particularly that it was brought into England by St Amphi- hal, and first communicated to St. Alhan, who set down the Charges of masonry, and was made paymaster and Governor of the Kincfs works, and gave them charges and manners as St. Amphihal had taught him. Which were after confirmed by King Athelstan, whose youngest son Edwyn loved well masonry, took upon him the charges, and learned the manners, and obtained for them of his t'dther a, free- Charter. Whereupon he caused them to assemble at York, and to bring all the old Books of their craft, and out of them ordained such charges and manners, as they then thought fit; which charges on the said Schrole or Parchnent volum, are in part declared; and thus was the craft of masonry grounded and confirmed in England. It is also there declared that these charges and manners were after perused and approved by King Hen. 6. and his council, both as to Masters and Fellows of this right Worshipful craft." It is impossible to decide as to the date of the " Schrole of parchment," so I have inserted the latest estimate that can be fixed, and simply remark at present that no existing MS. agrees exactly with these references or extracts from the " parchment volum." 41. " Haegeove." * 17th Century. The extract from a MS. not now known, and which was said to be at York a.d. 1818, in Hargrove's History of that city,^ does not agree with any existing MS., either at York or elsewhere, for which reason Hughan, in his " Old Charges," gives a portion of the quo- tation, the remainder being, " And when this Assembly was gathered together, they made a cry, that all Masons, both old and young, that had any writeinge or understanding of the charges that were before in the land, or in any other land that they should bring them forth; and when they were secured and examined, there was found some in French, some in Greek, some in English, and some in other languages, and he commanded a booke thereof to be made, and that it should be read and told when any Mason should be made and to give his charge; and from that time to this, Masons have kept and observed this form." The only living member of the extinct Grand Lodge, when this work was written, was Mr Blanchard, proprietor of the "York Chronicle." The author (Hargrove) states: — *' About the year 1787, the meetings of this (Grand) Lodge were discontinued, and the only member now remaining is Mr. Blanchard, to Avhom tlio writer is indebted for infor- I Chapter viii., pp. 316-318. 'Hargrove's History of the Ancient City of York, 1818, vol. ii. pp. 475-480. 76 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. mation on the subject. He was a member many years, and being ' Grand Secretary,' all the books and papers which belonged to the Lodge are still in his possession. " ' In the extract the " Royal Edwin" is spoken of as " a Great Protector" for the craft, and it is also recorded that "When the ancient Mysterie of Masonrie had been depressed in Eng- land by reason of great warrs, through diverse nations, then Athelston, our worthye king, did bring the land to rest and peace. " In some respects the language of the extract agrees more nearly with the quotation from an old MS. noted in Dr. Anderson's " Constitutions," than with any of the existing texts. 42. ^ee Ante. No. 38. 43. "Masons' Co." * 17th Century. In the " Edinburgh Review," 1839,^ is an interesting article by Sir Francis Palgrave, wherein mention is made of an inventory of the contents of the chest of the London (Masons') Company, "which not very long since contained (/.e., shortly before 1839), a Book wrote on parchment, and bound or sticlit in parchment, containing an 113 annals of the antiquity, rise, and progress of the art and mystery of Masonry." 44. (MS. 11) " Roberts." * 17th Century. The library of the late Mr. Richard Spencer contained several rare masonic works, some being unique copies. No. 240 at the " Spencer-Sale " was published in 1722 at the moder- ate price of sixpence.' How many the edition consisted of (hundreds or thousands) I cannot say, but in the catalogue it is described as " unique, the public museums have been searched in vain." It was republished in Mr. Spencer's edition of the " Old Constitutions," 1871, and also separately by that indefatigable Masonic collector and student. Its title, ("Printed and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick-Lane, mdccxii.") is "THE OLD CON- STITUTIONS Belonging to the Ancient and Honourable SOCIETY of Free and ac- cepted MASONS Taken from a Manuscript wrote above Five Hundred Years Since." The claim for its great antiquity was scarcely commensurate with the modest price asked for a copy of the publication in 1722, and I need hardly say, was not justified. As the first printed pamphlet for general sale on Freemasonry, and typographically one of the best issued, it has a special value quite apart from its alleged age, and particu- larly as it preceded the first " Book of Constitutions" of the premier Grand Lodge by one year. The preface is chiefly an apology for the existence of the Society of Freemasons, in which it is stated that " none of the Persons of Honour who have lately grac'd the Society with, their Presence, have yet seen any Reason to be asham'd of them, or to withdraw their Protection from them," therefore it seems probable that the tract was edited by some one who was at least well acquainted with, if not a member of, the fraternity. The conclusion also suggests the aim of the publisher, viz., "It has yet seen the World but in Fragments, but is now put together as a Thing of too much Significancy to pass our Observation, and ^lbid.,Y>. 476 (see No. 15). ^Vol. Ixix., April 1839, p. 103. Sir F. Palgrave adds:- "But this document is now not to be found." 3 The only copy known was purchased at this sale on behalf of Mr. E. F. Bower, of Keolaik, Iowa, who has one of the finest Masonic libraries in the world, consisting of some thousands of volumes of books, pamphlets, MSS., and medals. The price paid for it was £8, 10s. The valuable works and MSS. at the sale were mainly divided by competition between him and his friend Mr. Carson, the eminent Masonic bibliographer. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 77 whicli will effectually vindicate the Ancient Society of Freemasons from all that has or can he said against them." The writer does not inform us of what the "fragments" consisted, unless, indeed, he refers to a portion of the legendary history not peculiar to the society. I have no hesitation in terming the " Roberts " version a reproduction, or a counterpart, of No. 11, not only from the fact that there is not another MS. which so resembles it, but also because the differences are so trivial in the text, and the additions so evidently of an editorial character, that the proofs of such an origin are irrefragable. Woodford and Hughan both concur in this view. The 13th rule of No. 11 is omitted (apparently a clerical error), but is supplied in No. 44 ' (it is, however, common to most MSS. , and will be generally recognizable in No. 15, Clause 2, of the Special Charges). The 21st rule of the one is divided into two in the other, and after the 26th (the whole of the rules being numbered consecutively from the first), the obligation is inserted in No. 44, as well as at the end, the latter only being in No. 11. Then, again, the ten separate rules entitled "This Charge belongeth to Apprentices,"'^ which immediately follow in the former, come after " The New Articles" in the latter, but it only denotes a variation in the order, and does not affect the contents. The " New Articles," which are undated and undescribed in No. 11, are in No. 44 entitled " Additional Orders and Constitutions made and agreed upon at a General Assembly held at . . . , on the Eighth Day of December 1663." Had he been placed in a "witness box" I am afraid the editor of the "Roberts MS." would have found a difficulty in producing authority for his statement, that the original document was written " more than five hundred years since;" indeed, he himself dates a portion of it in the seventeenth century. However, he understood how to please his readers at the period in question, even if he failed to furnish evidence in support of the claim to such high antiquity. So far as I can judge, he added a clause to the " New Articles," which is not only absent from all known MSS., but is manifestly a modern innovation. "VI. That no person shall be accepted a Freemason, unless he be one and twenty years old, or more." The " Constitutions of 1722 " are said to have contained allu- sions to several " High degrees of Freemasonry," but the statement is wholly incorrect, as Hughan holds a letter from the owner -of this pamphlet, and publisher of the first repro- duction (Mr. Richard Spencer of London), explicitly denying the assertion. 45. (MS. 12) "Bkiscoe." * 17th Century. " Sam. Briscoe, at the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill," was the publisher of another version, the editor of which was less pretentious in his claim than his immediate prede- » cessor; for in 1724 he only assumed the original to be " of near 300 years Translation into the English." Mr. R. F. Bower of Keokuk, U.S. A., 'has one of the pamphlets, and other copies have been mentioned. The first and second editions (1724-25) are represented in the British Museum. "A Masonic Student"^ (whose nom de plume is not sufficient to hide his identity), says he "does not attach much value to such works as Briscoe's pam- phlet . . . many of the observances are purely imaginary, meant, in fact, as a ' skit ' upon the order, resembling Dean Swift's more humorous, but equally idle, attack on Freemasonry." These well -deserved strictures are fulminated against the compilation under review, wherein is narrated, in a somewhat facetious manner, " An Accidental Discovery of the Ceremonies made use of in the several Lodges, upon the admittance of a Brother . as a Free and Accepted Mason. " I have, however, to deal simply with the printed copy of the " Old Charges," and I am persuaded that substantially it is founded on No. 12 ; the reasons for this view are conclusive to my mind, and have been partially ' In Roberts' MS. it is No. 13, his No. 13 being No. 12 in the Harleian MS., 1942. *No. 5 is omitted in No. 11, but supplied in No. 44 : "V. You shall not maintain any disobedient argument with your Master, Dame, or any Free-Mason." ^ Freemason, March 29, 1873. 78 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. given by Hughan. ' It does not appear to have been again reprinted in full, until October 1873, in the " Masonic Magazine/' and in the " Freemason's Chronicle/' 1876. 46, "Baker." * 17th Century. As it is well to register all references to the " Old Charges/' I have inserted this one in the enumeration. It occurs in a foot-note by Dr. Eawlinson, in the copy of his MS. in expla- nation of the legend of King Athelstan having caused " a Eoll or Book to be made, which declared how this Science was first invented; . . . which Eoll or Book he Commanded to be read and plainly recited when a man was to be made a Free Mason, that he might fully understand what Articles, Eules, and Orders he laid himself under, well and truly keep and observe to the utmost of his power," '^ as follows: " One of these Eolls I have seen in the possession of Mr. Baker, a carpenter in Moor fields." I am anxious to note this reference to a " Eoll," because of the error previously alluded to in confounding it with No. 2. 47. (MSS. 8 & 32) " Cole." *17th Century. As I think it probable that ISTo. 32, the original of Benjamin Cole's engraved editions of 1728-29 and 1731, was derived from No. 8, it is but fair to class the present number as a representative at least of a seventeenth century version; and of all reproductions, it was the finest issued in the last century. The whole of the interesting little book Avas printed from engraved plates, dedicated in 1728-29 to the Eight Hon. the Lord Kingston, Grand Master, and though not dated, the dedication is sufficient to fix the period of its advent. ^ Ordinary editions were published in 1751, etc. ; but it was not until 1869 that a fac-simile of the engraved series was issued, when Hughan made it an attractive feature of his first literary venture — the " Constitutions of the Freemasons." Dr. Kloss is incorrect in class- ing this version with No. 45.* 48. (MSS. 8 & 32) "DoDD." *17th Century. Mr. Spencer ^ thinks that from one or two differences " and minor alterations in por- tions of the text, tlie printer, or editor, had never seen Cole's book;" but Hughan is of opinion that the one is a reproduction of the other, with simply a few fanciful changes, for which an example had been set by Masonic historians of the period. Mr. Carson, for whom it was purchased at the " Spencer-Sale," concurs in this view, and adds — " therefore ► it appears to me that Cole's Editions, 1728-31-51, etc., and the Spencer manuscript now in my collection, and the present reprint, are substantially, though not identically, one and the same Constitutions." ' Two copies are known to be in the United States, viz., the one herein described, and another owned by Mr. E. F. Bower. Mr. Spencer knew of three in all. It has been faithfully reproduced by Mr. E. T. Carson (1876) for the first time, the original being a small quarto of twenty pages. The title is " The Beginning and first Foun- . dation of the most worthy Craft of Masonry, with the Charges thereunto belonging," and it is said to be " By a Deceas'd Brother, for the Benefit of his Widow" ! It M-as " Printed for Mrs. Dodd, at the Peacock without Temple Bar, mdccxxxix (Price Six-pence)." No statement is made as to its origin or age, but as already expressed, I have no doubt of its ' Freemason, April 5, 1873 ' Masonic Magazine, 1S7G, p. 103. 3 The second edition was dedicated in 1731 to Lord Lovel, the Grand Master. Benjamin Cole was the engraver of the Grand Lodge Lists, 1745-1766 {vide Four Old-Lodges, p. 16). * Bibiiographie der Freimam-er, p. 125. As previously noticed, 't is this MS. that was prmted in the Freemasons' Magazine for 1794 ; not No. 3. ' The Publisher to the Subscribers of the Old Constitutions, p. xxv. « Introduction to " tlie.third reprint by the Masonic Archajological Society of Cincinnati." 1876, r) if h^^ to 53 53 2 s z z u u O z" O tn ■< U « o s z 53 w • h O o U3 © o s H 2: 0 ^ r! S J THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASO.VS. 79 being a copy of ISTos. 8 or 32, or a reprint of No. 47, engrayed edition, the original of tlie two last being a seventeenth century version. 49. Harris. The ''Bedford" Lodge, London. From the minutes of the " Bedford" Lodge, No. 157, we learn that in January 1809, its then secretary, " Bro. Harris," was thanked "for his present of ancient manuscripts, in parchment, containing the original Cliargcs and part of the lectures on Craft Masonry." ' 50. " Batty Langley." ISth Century. Published in the "Builder's Compleat Assistant," 3rd edition, 1738. Batty Langley, a prolific writer, published his " Practical Geometry" in 1726, which he dedicated to Lord Paisley, as " the Head of a most Ancient and Honourable Society," and subscribed himself "your most devoted servant." In 1736 appeared his "Ancient Masonry, Both in the Theory and Practice," dedicated to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, and forty British noblemen; also "to all others the Eight Hon. and Eight Worshipful Masters of Masonry, by their humble servant and affectionate brother, B. Langley." I cite these words, in order to es- tablish the fact that the " Builder's Compleat Assistant," of which only the third edition is available in the library of the British Museum, must have originally appeared after 1726, when Langley. was not a freemason, and to found an inference that it was published some few years at least before the second edition of the "Book of Constitutions." The Masonic legend, which is given with some fulness, is called " The Introduction of Geometry," and amongst famous "Geometers" are named " Kimrod, Abraham, Euclid, Hiram, Grecus," etc. The sources of information open to Langley at the time of writing, were MSS. 44, 45, and 47 in this series, and Anderson's Constitutions of a.d. 1723. As Edwin is styled the son of Athelstan, No. 47, which calls him brother, could not have been referred to. No. 44 recites the Edwin legend, but leaves out his name; whilst No. 45 uses the word son, but spells the name in such a manner as to defy identification. On the whole, it is fairly clear that Langley must have followed Dr. Anderson (1723), who plainly designates Edwin as the son of Athelstan. It may be added, that the two legends are in general agree- ment. Without being of any special value, per se, the fact of the legendary history of the craft being given at such length by a practical architect and builder, taken into considera- tion with the dedication of his work on "Ancient Masonry " to a number of " Freemasons" of exalted rank, afford additional evidence, if such be required, of the close and intimate connection which continued to exist between operative and speculative Masonry for many years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England. . 51. "Krause." * 18th Century. The so-called "York MS. of a.d. 926" has been invested with much more importance and antiquity than it deserves, for it is quite possible that even the eighteenth century is too early a date to assign for its compilation. It first saw the light, that is to say, it was first announced in 1808, through a German version having been issued by Herr Schneider, of Altenburg, from a Latin translation said to be certified by " Stonehouse, York, January 4, 1806" (of whom no trace can be found); and in 1810 this German re-translation was printed by Dr. Krause in " Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden der Freimaurer Briiders- schaft." An English version was presented to Ilughan by Woodford for insertion in the "Old Charges of British Freemasons;" but neither of these "experts" believe it to be of any real antiquity. Dr. George Kloss denied its genuineness, "and contended that the Latin translation, which was certified by Stonehouse, had been prepared before 1806, and ' Rosicrucian, London, January, 1876, 8o THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. that in prej)aring it an ancient manuscript had been remodelled on the same basis as the 1738 edition of Anderson's Constitutions, because the term 'Noachida' is employed in both, but is found no-where else." Findel visited England, by desire of the "German Union of Freemasons," to thoroughly investigate the matter; the historian, however, failed to find aught to confirm its claims to antiquity, and returned to Germany with a stronger belief than ever as to its being neither a York Charter, nor of the year 926; and, in fact, he " brings it down to a much more modern date. " ' The character and history of this MS. will be considered in a separate chapter. I omit from the foregoing list mere partial reprints of any one of the MSS. There are many of these, acknowledged or otherwise, and each takes its text from one or more of the versions herein described. Then, again, there are numerous regulations of the craft, from an early date, which in many respects, contain points of agreement with the MS. Constitutions, particularly those of Scottish origin. These will be duly considered in their regular order, but as the "Legend of the Guild" does not appear, they cannot fairly be classed with the "Old Charges," though one document of the year 1658 "^ very nearly reaches the necessary crite- rion, giving, as it does, a historical preamble, and a curious recital of the "Kilwinning Legend." I do not believe, however, that this remarkable declaration and agreement, or mutual contract, ever superseded the copy of the " Old Charges," which was most prob- ably used by the " Maisters, Freemen, and fellow crafts, measones resident within the Burgh ofE Perth," and as the same may be said of the " Schaw Statutes" of 1598-99, and others, I must reserve their examination for a later chapter. Strictly speaking, the two seniors in the foregoing series are not forms of the " Old Charges," although they doubtless represent a certain class of Masonic documents circu- lating in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of which we have otherwise no contem- porary record whatsoever. The first was in part a Roman Catholic manual of devotion,' the versifier, who was almost certainly a priest,* having had access to documents in " olde tyme wry ten," respecting " Thys onest craft of good masonry;" and the second distinctly gives, as a personal narra- tive, what the chronicler found " write and taught in ye boke of our charges," and often alludes to "the olde bokys of masonry "as the source of his statements. His member- ship, honorary or otherwise, may be assumed from scattered references, such as, ' 'Elders yt wer bi for us of masons had these Charges wryten to hem as ^oe have now in owr chargys. ' It is well to keep this fact in mind, because some writers have woven very fine-spun theo- ries, based upon the absence of certain passages from these two versions, whereas the only safe method to pursue, under the circumstances, is to deal with what they actually make known. At all events, the legends of the craft were accepted as ancient, at the period of ' History of Freemasonry, p. 89. ' By-Laws of the Scone and Perth Lodge (Perth, 1866) ; also Masonic Magazine, October 1878. ^ " Besides being brotherhoods for the care of the temporal welfare of the members, the craft guilds were, like the rest of the guilds, at the same time religious fraternities. ... In this respect the craft guilds of all countries are alike ; and in reading their statutes one might fancy sometimes that the old craftsmen cared only for tlie well-being of their souls. All had particular saints for patrons, after whom the society was frequently called " (Lujo Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 69 ; Smitli's Guilds, p. cxxxiii). Fees were paid by the guild mem- bei-s to their chaplains, and many are the quaint provisions made for their religious welfare, and their rites of burial, etc. * "And when the Gospel me rede schal " (line 629). See also Halliwell, p. 41. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 8i the compilation of these two documents, which thereby confers a very respectable antiquity, to say the least, on the Masonic traditions, and proves, that whether authentic or apocryphal, the Old Charges of the British Freemasons cannot be characterized as modern inventions. As my chief object is to examine closely the several versions or forms of these Old Writings, and as far as possible to determine their relative value and character, I shall have to classify them according to their general or special texts, the variations in their legends, peculiarities in the ordinjinces, and other points which will naturally claim our considera- tion. The task before me is a sufficiently onerous one, so many manuscript "constitu- tions " having been recently discovered. Happily, indeed, in number they do not quite equal the traditions of the Mohammedan oral law, when the latter were first arranged and codified. According to Gibbon,' " At the end of two hundred years the Sonna or oral law was fixed and consecrated by the labours of Al Bochari, who discriminated seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five genuine traditions, from a mass of three hundred thousand reports of a more doubtful or spurious character!" After this feat, the present examina- tion ought not to be regarded as in any sense laborious. That in some degree the details may appear dry and uninteresting I fear is quite possible, although there is authority for the belief that the scrutiny of old documents is regarded by many persons as a pleasurable occupation. Indeed, a writer in the " Spectator" asserts: "I have heard one of the great- est geniuses this age has produced, who had been trained up in all the polite studies of Antiquity, assure me, upon his being obliged to search into several rolls and records, that, notwithstanding such an employment was at first very dry and irksome to him, he at last took an incredible pleasure in it, and preferred it even to the reading of Virgil or Cicero."' I cannot flatter myself that such a result will follow from a perusal of these pages, but I can at least avow an increasing love for the inquiry, and a growing interest in the details as they are successively brought forward for analysis. If we now group the "Old Charges" according to their texts (their several dates of compilation having been already considered), we shall find that some five divisions will be all the classification that is requisite. (D) "HALLIWELL" MS. (No. 1). As this ]^S. dates shortly after the order of Richard II. ' for returns from the guilds (1st November 1388), and also those of the crafts (or " Mysteries ") I am strongly of opinion, not that it was, perhaps, copied frona a return made in obedience to such an ordinance (as I once thought probable),^ but that as the charters and letters patent were required to be produced before the king and his council, by all in possession of such documents, under the penalty of their being disannulled if not so exhibited; a thorough examination had to be made of the effects of the various guilds, crafts, and brotherhoods, and thus a quantity of material was brought to light in the form of returns and miscellaneous records, which, in the instance of the masons, were utilized by this priest-poet,^ who, in the exercise of his ' Decline and Fall, vol. ix., p. 272. « Spectator, No. 447. 2 Vide Copy of Writs, English Guilds, 1870, pp. 127-130. * " The Four Old Lodges," p. 25. *Goguet, Origine des Lois, vol. i., p. 29, says : " The first laws of all nations were composed in verse, and sung." Aldheim, Bishop of Sherborne, could find no mode of commanding the attention of his townsmen so efficacious as that of standing on the bridge and singing a ballad which he had composed. " The harp was handed round at their festivals ; and he who could not join in the glee 6 82 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. spiritual functions, added sundry instructions for the guidance of the fraternity in their religious observances and general behavior. As to its exact age, the point is immaterial, as ten, twenty, or a few more years after 1388 will accord with the judgments passed upon its caligraphy; whilst, even if we accept the estimate of Dr. Kloss (1427-35), it will still remain the oldest representative of the " Charges" peculiar to the Freemasons.' The jjfose constitutions we can well understand being read to, and subscribed by, those desiring admission into the fellowship or mystery, but our single metrical version presents diflficulties, viewed by the light of its more prosaic brethren, which must have rendered it unsuitable for the purposes of initiation. It displays rather the features of an epic poem than of a simple ethical code adapted to the genius and requirements of illiterate builders, and when we reflect that in ail probability the recital of these old legends and rules, to- gether with the communication of the " Mason Word and Sign," constituted the entire ceremony of admission into the fraternity, it is all the more evident that the form of the historical introduction and the arrangement of the laws must not be looked for in the Halliwell MS. , but rather in the style or manner of its less pretentious juniors. Again, I greatly question if the knowledge and general intelligence of the operatives of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were such as to qualify them to be in any way in- structed or edified by the oral communication of such a poem as the one under considera- tion. Fort styles this unique composition "a gossiping poem." This is fairly correct, but I think the writer " gossips " to much purpose, for he evidently had access to old Ma- sonic documents, the contents of which his quaint verses have partially rescued from oblivion. In allowing his lucubrations to assume a rhythmical form, the priestly versifier was doubtless influenced by considerations closely analogous to those so quaintly expressed by Elias Ashmole: " Nor did the Ancients wrap up their Chief est Mysteries, any where else, then in the Parabolical and Allusive part of Poetry, as the most Sacred, and Venerable in their Esteeme, and. the Securest from Prophane and Vulgar Wits."" It is also reasonable to suppose that the compiler omitted from his poem portions of the old documents he was familiar with, but which, from his point of view, were objectionable, such, for instance, as the allusions to " Charles Martel " and others, and the legend of the preservation of the history of the craft, in the two stones which withstood the ravages of the Flood. The ab- sence of any allusion to Charles Martel, as I pointed out some years ago in the " Free- mason," ' may be accounted for by the fact of his extreme unpopularity with the clergy, and, as we have seen, the Halliwell MS. was the production of one of that order. " It might have been expected," says Gibbon, "that the Saviour of Christendom would have been canonized, or at least applauded, by the gratitude of the clergy, who are indebted to was considered as unfit for respectable company" (Palgrave's History of the Anglo-Saxons, ed. 1867, p, 128). ' Those who are anxious to have an earlier date ascribed to this MS. should consult a lecture delivered by the Rev. Dr. Georg-e OUver in tlie Witliam Lodge, Lincoln, in 1863. Tliat voluminous Masonic author declares that it was "drawn up in the tenth century, and attaclied to tlie York Constitution. It was translated from the Saxon for the use of the York Grand Lodge, and the MS. of that date is now in the British Museum.'" Also that it was the means, "800 years ago, of establishing a series of landmarks." It was not convenient apparently at the time to produce any authority for such startling assertions, and neither has it been so since ! The criticism of Kloss on the age of this MS. will be examined when the Englisli Statutes pass under review. *Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652), Proleg, p. 3. ^ November 15, 1879. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 83 his sword for their present existence. But in the public distress, the Mayor of the Palace had been compelled to apply the riches, or at least the revenues, of the bishops and abbots to the relief of the State and the reward of the soldiers. His merits were forgotten, his sacri- lege alone was remembered, and, in an epistle to a Carlovingian prince, a Gallic synod pre- sumes to declare that his ancestor was damned; that on the opening of his tomb the spectators were affrighted by a smell of lire and the aspect of a horrid dragon; and that a saint of the times was indulged with a pleasant vision of the soul and body of Charles Martel burning to all eternity in the abyss of hell!" ' The author of what we now know as the Halliwell MS. or poem, would naturally give prominence to those events which were the best calculated to advance the ends he had in view, by the compilation of his history, whilst on the other hand he would as naturally reject whatever might tend to unduly exalt the memory of any patron of the masons, how- ever illustrious, whose conduct had been regarded with disfavor by the highest authorities of the Church. It cannot, therefore, be maintained that the legendary history preserved by the Freemasons of the sixteenth century and later, contained many statements not to be found in those of an earlier period, simply on the ground of their omission in the HalliwelP and Cooke MSS. Not that I deprecate criticism of these two MSS., but I think it has been shown that our attention should be principally directed to what is, rather than what is not said, the more especially since it is quite evident that, although what I venture to term the " Old Charges" projjer — i.e., the forms of which the " Buchanan" (15) pre- sents a typical illustration — are of more modern transcription, they represent, in the opinion of experts, originals of higher antiquity than can be claimed for either of the two senior versions or adaptations of the Masonic constitutions. The poem begins without an invo- cation to the Deity, though, as already stated, it is not deficient in religious sentiment. It commences the legendary history with an account of Euclid's notable expedient for the utilization of a superabundant population, and then by a rapid transition, declares " Thys craft com ynto Englond . . . Yn tyme of good Kynge Adelstonus day," ^ who " loved thys craft ful wel," and sought to correct divers faults by holding an assembly of dukes, earls, barons, knights, squires, etc., " alle yn here degre,"- but it is far from being as complete in its traditions as the " Constitutions" of a later period. Of King Athelstan we are told that — ' ' He sende aboute ynto the londe After alle the masonus of the crafte, A semble thenne he cowthe* let make Of dyvers lordis, yn here state, Dukys, erlj's, and barnes also, Knychthys, sqwyers, and mony mo, And the grete burges of that syte, They were ther alle yn here degre ; 'Decline and Fall, vol. x., p. 27. 2 It is the " Halliwell " MS., and not tlie Harleian, as cited by Fort (p. 170), which contains tlie instructions now accepted as a groundwork for the title "Worshipful" as applied to Masters (lines 45, 46), and it also acknowledges tlie grade or rank of Master-Mason (Mayster Mason). ^ " Geometiy is found in the Anglo-Saxon lists of sciences. . . . Tradition, in after times, • gave to the reign of King Athelstan tiie honour of the first introduction of Euclid's Elements "(Essay on tlic State of Literature and Learning under the Anglo-Saxons, by Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A., p. 83, London, 1S39). *Cowthc, could, was able. 84 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. Fyftene artyculus they ther sowchton, Andfyftene poyntys ther they wrochton." After the recital of these thirty rules comes the " Ars quatnor coronatorum," and the injunction, " Pray we now to God almyght, and to hys moder Mary bryght;" a departure from the ordinary invocations which introduces one of the specialties of this MS. " That we niowe keep these artyculus here, And these poynts wel al y-fere, As dede these holy martyres fowre, That yn thys craft were of great honoure." > On concluding the history of these holy martyrs, the compiler again returns to the exor- dium which is found substantially in all the " Old Charges/' and alludes to " Noees flood," the "tower of Babloyne," under the care of " Kyng Nabogodonosor/' and the valuable services of " the good clerk Euclyde," who " Throchgh hye grace of Crist yn heven, He comniensed yn the syens'^ seven." The instructions are very precise (many being most amusing in their simplicity and exactitude) as to attendance at the church, the use of " holy water," kneeling on both knees, keeping the " commandementes ten," and refraining from the " synnes seven. " The priest exhibits his pastoral care over his flock by condescending even to notice possible substitutes for the toothpick and the pocket-handkerchief, and the poem, which combines the features of a Masonic history, of a code of morals, and of a manual of etiquette, comes to an end with the words — "Amen! Amen! so mot hy the! Say we so alle per chary te." The following epitome of the various articles and points will serve to illustrate the stamp of laws in operation during the fourteenth century. Their general similarity to those of later periods cannot fail to strike the most casual reader. Fifteen Articles for the "Mayster Mason." 1. He must be " stedefast, trusty, and trwe," and upright as a judge. 2. "Most ben at the generale congregacyon," to know where it " schal be holds." 3. Take apprentices for seven years " Hys craft to lurne, that ys prof y table." 4. " No bondemon prentys make . . . Chef yn the logge Mie were y-take." 5. "The prentes be of lawful blod," and "have hys lymes hole." 6. "To take of the Lord for hyse prentyse, also muche as hys felows." 7. "Schal no thef " accept, " lest hyt wolde turne the craft to schame." 8. " Any mon of crafte, be not also perfyt, he may hym change." 9. " No werke he undurtake, but he conne bothe hyt ende and make." 10. " Ther schal no mayster supplante other, but be as systm- and brother." 11. He ought to be " bothe fayr and fre," and " techyt by hys mychth." ' The legend of the " Holy Martyres Foure " will be fully given in a later portion of this work. ' Sciences. ^Mr. Halliwell says: " It is curious to observe that the same term lodge is still in universal use among the Masons " (History of Freemasonry in England, 1844, p. 17). THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 85 12. " Schal not hys felows werk deprave," but " hyt amende." 13. His apprentyce "he hym teche," in all the requisite particulars. 14. So " that he, withynne hys terme, of hym dyvers poyntes may lurne." 15. Finally, do nothing that " wolde turne the craft to schame." ' Fifteen Points for the Craftsmen. 1. " Most love wel God, and holy churche, and his mayster and felows." 2. Work truly for " hujTes apon werk and halydays." 3. Apprentices to keep " their mayster conwsel" in chamber and " yn logge. 4. "No mon to hys craft be false,'' and apprentices to " have the same lawe." 5. Masons to accept their pay meekly from the master, and not to strive, 6. But to seek in all ways " that they stond wel yn Goddes lawe." 7. Respect the chastity of his master's wife, and "his felows concubyne." 8. Be a true mediator ' ' To his mayster and felows f re, and act fairly to all. 9. As steward to pay well, and truly " To mon or to wommon, whether he be." 10. Disobedient masons dealt with by the Assembly, the Law, and forswear the craft. 11. Masons to help one another by instructing those deficient in knowledge and skill. 12. The decisions of the Assembly to be respected, or imprisonment may follow. 13. " He schal swere never to be no thef," and never to succour any of " fals craft." 14. Be true "to hys lyge Lord the Kynge," and be sworn to keep all these points.* 15. And obey the Assembly on pain of having to forsake the craft, and be imprisoned. There is no mention whatever of the City of York; the place for the holding of the assemblies being evidently left to the decision of the members in attendance at the annual meetings, one reason given why " every Mayster, most ben at the generale congregacyon," being that he may know where the next "sembla schal be holde." Prominence is given to the power of the Sheriff to "putte yn duppe prison," contumacious members, and "take here goodes and here cattelle;" that officer for the county, also "the Meyr of that syte, where the assembly is convened, and knights, squires, and other aldermen," having the privilege to attend, as well as the master and fellows more immediately concerned. (E) "COOKE" MS. (No. 2). The expression of thankfulness to " God our Glorious Fader," which introduces the historical narration in No. 2, differs somewhat from the extract which is given by Halli- well, as Mr. Norton' has pointed out, so much so, indeed, as to lead some readers to sup- ' Many of these articles or points were not confined to the Masons, and would naturally be com- mon to all the inysteries or trades whose members were as desirous as the Masonic craftsmen to pro- vide for the term of apprenticeship, the employment of lawful journeymen, the avoidance of unfair interference with the rights of workmen, and particularly the objection to labor in company with " cowans." Some of these customs and practices prevail even at the present day. Such ordinances or by-laws were anciently called Pointz (Herbert's Companies of London, vol. i., p. 45). * " And alle schul swei-e the same ogth Of the Masonus, ben they luf, ben they loght, To alle these poyntes hyr byfore, That hath ben ordeynt by ful good lore." -Lines 437-440. ^ " 'God alone is gracious and powerful ! Thanks be to our gracious God, Father of heaven and of earth, and of all things that in them are, that he has vouclisafed to give power unto men.' . . . So commences one of the ancient constitutions of Masonry " (Halliwell, p. 7 ; vide Free- mason, May 21, 1881). 86 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. pose that tne excerpt was taken from an entirely distinct MS. As the phraseology of No. 2, however, more closely resembles it than that of any other existing version, and as it is scarcely possible that any MS. Constitution has " disappeared " since the publication of the first edition of Mr. Halliwell's work in 1840, we may fairly assume that the quotation is given by that well-known antiquary without the exercise of his usual care and exactitude. We shall see as we proceed that No. 3 is much more like the ordinary MSS. than its senior, and hence will be found' to contain nearly all the legend of the usual " Charges," as in No. 15, though not always in quite such an orderly fashion, for at line 644 the historical introduction is begun anew respecting Euclid and other celebrities,^ The MS. begins, as already observed, with an Invocation^ to " God our Glorious Fadir" (but not to the Trinity as in the ordinary forms, neither is its tone of so intensely religious a character as that of No. 1), and then proceeds to narrate the main features of the usual versions, "the whiche thingis" (to use the^compiler's words) " if I scholde reherse him hit were to longe to telle and to wryte." First of all comes the science of geometry and how it was founded, a claim being set up of its being ' ' the causer of all " the other sciences enumerated (as in No. 15), the reasons urged in support of this distinction being so numer- ous, that we shall do well to take them for granted and to admit that, " Crafte Masonry hath the moste notabilite and moste p'te of ye sciens, Gemetry as hit is noti'd and seyd in storiall." Adam, Noah, Lamech, and their children are all brought into requi- sition, and for the first time, the legend of the preservation of the science from the ravages of the Flood, is given in a Masonic MS. The " two stones" were subsequently discovered by Pythagoras and Hermes. We are then informed of the " makyng of the toure of babi- lon," the strength of Nembrothe (who taught his workmen the craft of masonry), also of his interest in the craft, and his charge to the masons; of the wisdom of Abraham, his masonic instructions to his clerk, Euclid, and to the Egyptians; at which period masonry was first named Geometry. This " worthi clerke Euclide " taught "hem to make gret ' " This copy seems also to be written by an ecclesiastic, or rather transcribed by some learned member of the order, from an older MS." (Woodford's Preface to the " Old Charges"). ^ According to tlie Rev. A. F. A. Woodford : "In tlie second legend the name Engletis found, but who clearly is not the EucUd of the first legend, but answers more nearly to the personage named Mamus Grcecus " (Freemason, November 8, 1879). On this point I cannot agree vrith Mr. Woodford, and am clearly of opinion that what he styles tlie second legend is simply a recapitula- tion of the first. ^ Considering that the chaplains had so much influence in the early guilds, it would have been strange had the ordinances commenced without the recognition of Divine aid in the dedicatory introduction, and so we find that otlier crafts and guilds were like those of the Masons in their Invocations to the Deity, preparatory to a recital of the laws— e.gr., the ordinances of the "Fraternyte of Crafte of Taylorys of the Cyte of Exceter" (fourteenth century) commence:— " To the worship of God, and of oure Lady Seynte Marye, and of Seynt John the Baptyste, and of Alle Halowys" (Smith's Guilds, p. 312). "Ye Gylde of ye Seynt Clement" (Cambridge, 1431) begins :— " In ye worchippe and reuerence of ye blyssful trinite, fadir and sone and Holy Goste, and of ye glorious pope aud martyr seynt Clement, and of all ye holy companye yt is in heuene" (Ibid., p. 274). Another, of the " Bretherhode of Barbres," is dedicated to " ye worscliip of God and ys moder and Seynt Jolian the Babtis" (City of Norwich); and the Guild of Carpenters of 1375 is somewhat similar to the ordinary Masonic MSS. as respects its Invocation, " In ye name of ye fader and sone and holy gost, and of oure Ladi seinte marie cristes moder ;" but as none of our Masonic Charges, except the "HaUiwell," are tinged with Mariolatry, and that version being exceptional in many ways, the " Constitutions " proper attest the influence exerted by " Protestant" principles on the laws and regulations of the operative masons. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 87 vallys and diches " to counteract the overflowing of the Nile, also to provide for an abnor- mal increase of population by teaching their children the science of masonry, for which purpose certain charges were agreed to, and by which means " cities and tounys, castelis, and templis, and lordis placies were wrought. " King Solomon's Temple is mentioned in due course, and the important services of that monarch, as well as those of his father, are duly chronicled, but not as entitled to any special prominence, whilst the " Kyngis' sono of Tyry " is scarcely noticed. Coming down to more modern times, we are introduced to " Carolus S'cdus yt ys to sey Charlys ye secunde " ' of France (of whom " sume men sey y* he was elite by fortune") who was "of ye Kynges blode Royal," and was not only a mason, but also " louyd and cherschid " other masons. He also gave them charges, or- dained an annual assembly to regulate the trade, "and sone aftyr come Seynt Ad habell in to England and he con'tyd Seynt Albon to Cristendane. " This is the only reference to St. Amphibalus in the MS. " Constitutions," although Dr. Plot in 1686, glancing at the subject, after a perusal of the " parchment volum " referred to in his work,'^ suggests that Ampliihalus was thought rather to be the cloak than the master of St. Alban. According to Woodford, " Amphibalus " is mentioned in the Dowland MS.,' but I have been unable to trace this reference. It seems, however, clear that the craft legend of St. Alban must be relegated to the region of fable and romance. All accounts concur in representing St. Amphibalus as a priest or missionary from Rome, who, arriving at Verulamium during the Diocletian persecution, was generously sheltered by St. Alban, then a pagan, a man of Roman origin and of high rank, and that the almost immediate conversion of Alban by his guest was followed by equally rapid detection and the martyrdom of the two saints, along with numerous other Christians and " new proselytes." To suppose that St. Amphibalus was merely the cloak of St. Alban, though the latter certainly did try to conceal him by covering him with his own rich official garment, is the ridiculous assumption of self-opinionated critics. Such individuals quite forget that the habit of applying nicknames was one for which the Romans were notorious, and that hardly a great name in their history can be cited which does not fall within this description. For ex- ample, Caius Ca?sar is always called "Caligula" (a shoe), and Antoninus Bassianus, " Caracalla" (a short Gaulish cloak). Literally translated, "Amphibalus" would sio-nifv a long, ample garment, such as a pilgrim might naturally carry with him. The first men- tion of these saints — Alban and Amphibalus — occurs in the life of St. Germanus of Auxerre by his friend and companion Constantius, who relates how the former, after having con- futed the Pelagians, and vanquished the Picts at Maes-garmon (the " Halleluia victory"), held a solemn assembly at the spot where the two saints lay buried, and which he seems to have selected for that purpose from the sanctity in which it was held. This was about 120 years after the martyrdom. They are next alluded to by Gildas,' circa a.d. 570, and later by Bede, but we find nothing beyond a reference to the story already given, and there is no hint or suggestion of anything at all resembling the Masonic tradition. No trace of the familiar legend appears in the life of Alban given by the Bollandists, which is said to liave been translated, by order of the Abbot Simon, from a Saxon (or British ?) 'Whether by this is meant the "Charles Martel" of the later Constitutions wiU be duly examined further on. ^Natural History of Staffordshire, chap, viii., p. 316. ^Freemason, Novembers, 1879. •• Epistola de Excidio Britanniae. 88 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. original written a.d. 590,' The saints are not even mentioned by Jacob a Voragine in his " Golden Legend/' We -find no corroboration of the narrative of the " Old Charges" in the writings of Capgrave, an indiscriminate collector of legends, or in the rhyming life of " St. Albon/' by John Lydgate, the monk-poet of Bury. As Capgrave and Lydgate wrote at about the time when the legend first comes into notice, their silence respecting it is the more remarkable. The tradition experienced a similar neglect at the hands of Harps- field, Archdeacon of Canterbury,'' of Alford the Jesuit, whose learned history of the Church of England (from the Eoman Catholic point of view) appeared in the seventeenth century, and who, for his elaborate notice of St. Alban, has drawn upon the stores of every other available chronicler. Nor do we find it in Usher, ^ whose learning, albeit cumbrous and ill-digested, evinces a greater knowledge of English MSS. than that of perhaps any other writer, I will not, however, be so rash as to affirm that some such story does not lie hidden in the eighty- three MSS. relating to St. Alban, enumerated by Sir T. D, Hardy in his catalogue; but as those in print are all in accord, and as such narratives are ordi- narily copied (more or less) one from another, the preservation of a legend, analogous to that of the Freemasons, in a manuscript form, is highly improbable. It is possible that the Abbey Church, having been built in early Norman times, almost entirely with Eoman bricks from Verulamium, plastered over, and bearing, as may be seen at the present day, in the plain round arches, square columns, and flat pilasters, a very curious resemblance to the old Eoman style of architecture, certain mediasval writers may have concluded that St. Alban actually built the existing church, and that he was therefore a great mason or patron of masons. By a similar course of reasoning the erection of the White Tower was attributed to Julius Caesar, He had been in England; Londinium was a colony, and the Eomans had a ms^eZ/wwi on or near the site of the Tower! There were, however, two other St, Albans, with whose histories that of the British proto-martyr may have become en- tangled, A St, Alban of Mentz founded a monastery there a, d. 804, and Papebrochius * informs us of another, whose relics were honorably buried at Burano near Venice. The latter being an Italian, and connected (it is said) with Burano, now, and from time imme- morial reputed for the excellence of its church mosaic, may have been prominently associ- ated with church building and architecture, but I am not aware of anything being known of either, beyond what I have already stated. The " Edwin legend" is not very clearly presented, as it is mixed up with the account of " Kyng Athelstane and his yongest sone," the latter not being distinguished by a name. However, this son, whoever he may have been, " lernyd practyke of y' sciens to his specu- lat}^. For of speculatyfe he was a mast, and he lovyd well masonry and masons, ' And he became a mason hymselfe. And ye yaf hem chargis and names as hit is now usyd in Englond," The congregations of the masons were to be held annually or triennially " as uede were," for the examination of masters respecting their knowledge of the art, and their obedience to the laws. The articles and points are in each case numbered from one to nine, many being almost verbally identical with those of the earlier version. Following these are additional regulations and the declaration — ' If this be true, it may have been a translation of a biography, compiled on the occasion of the foixnclation of the monastery by King Offa, from still earlier sources. -Author of " Histoi'ia Anglicana Ecclesiastica," and other works. It is said "that his zeal for Popery depinved him of all his preferments,' ^ British Ecclesiastical Antiquities. ■^ Acta Sanctorum, Die 31 Junii, vol. iv., p. 92 (MDCCvn.). THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 89 ** Whan the mast and y® felawes be for warned ben y come to such co'gregacons if nede be y« schereffe of y® countre or the Mayer of y^ Cyte or Alderman of y® towne in wyche the co'gregacons ys holde scliall be felaw ana sociat to y® Mast, of the co'gregacion in helpe of h'y ayenst rebelles and upberyng- y*^ rygt of tlie reme." The numerous instructions for " new men," who had not been " charged " before, to some extent complete the code of laws to be found in later versions, which are not in the eighteen clauses herein noted, and provision is made for the jurisdiction of the sheriff over malcontents, so that " the lowist as the hiest schuld be well and trewely y seruyd in his art biforesayd thorowowt all the kyngdom of Englond. Amen so mote hit be." In confirmation of the statements respecting the origin and progress of masonry, abun- dant testimony is offered, such as "y® bybill and in otliur stories," in the "stories y* is named Beda and Isodor,"' and especially the " Policronico, a cronycle p'nyd" (penned). It is desirable to look closely into this legend of the " two stones," which is ordinarily to be met with in the MSS. following No. 2. The "Polychronicon " was one of the most popular histories during the fourteenth and the two following centuries.' Both Latin and English versions were widely circulated long prior to the first printed edition by the father of English typography in 1482 (" eraprynted and sette in form by me William Caxton and a lytel embelyshed "). This work is very scarce, few perfect copies being known. It will be evident, therefore, that the mere reference to the " Policronico," as the chief source from which some of the particulars were obtained by the writer of No. 2, is no proof that Caxton's edition was the one quoted from, seeing that there were many manuscript versions of a far earlier date. Tre visa's translation of 1387 reads — " closede hem in tweie greet pileres i-made of marbyl and of brend tyle. In a piler of marbyl for water, and in a pyler of tyle for fuyre." ^ Another translation says: " did write artes whom thei hade geten by labore in ij pillers of diverse ston, that hit scholde not peresche from memory, oon ston was of marbole, agenye the floenge of water, that other was of tyle ston, ageyne the brennenge of fyre." ' The "Cooke" MS. gives a still more elaborate account, and states that " ii man of ston of suche wtu y* y^ one wolde newbreune and y*" ston^ is callyd marbyll, and y' oy ston** y' well not synke in wat, y* stone is namyd lacus " ^ {later, a brick). The edition of Caxton' styles the two stones " marbel and brent tile," so it will be seen that, ' Isidore, a Spanish Christian of the seventh century, who wrote a manual of science under the title of " De Naturis Rerum ; " also a larger work, " Etymologic," or " Oi'igines." * To well-informed readers of the fourteenth aud fifteenth centuries Higden's " Polychronicon " was the standard work on genei*al History (Introduction to Babington's Higden, p. xlii.). Mr. Babington considers that the first edition, or version, of the " Polychronicon " appeared a.d. 1342. 2 Babington's Higden, vol. ii., p. 333. '' Harleiiin MS., 2261, fol. 84. This ti-anslation is '• different from that made by John de Trevisa, and continued to the year 1401." * Josephus also alludes to the legend : " The world was to be destroyed at one time by force of fire, and at anotiier time by the violence and quantity of water ; they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone ; they insci-ibed their discoveries on them both," etc. (Antiquities, 1841, Book I, chap. ii.). Dr. James Anderson selects this account in the 1723 edition of the Constitutions, and acknowledges its sour'ce in that of 1738. In its description of the second stone (with which those of the later MSS. in this series are in general agreement), No. 2 differs, it will be seen, materially from the other authorities cited in the text. •^ At the Caxton Exhibit ion, 1877, there wei-e four copies of the "Polychronicon" exhibited, one of wliich, lent by St. John's College, Cambridge, has the autograph of "Tho. Baker, Col. Jo. Socius ejectus," and the suggestive statement, " So scarce and dear that it cost me what I am ashamed to own" (Official Catalogue, d. 14), 90 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. on this point, No. 2 is not in exact agreement with any one of the translations. ' At first sight still another test might be applied to settle the period of composition of this MS., viz., the reference to "ye derthe of Korne and vytayl in ye contry," but as there were several famines from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, it is not possible to decide which is cited, e.g., one in 1315, " so dreadful that the people devoured the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and vermin," and others in 1335 and 1353, as well as many later, especially one in the year 1438.^ However, not to waste time by further criticising the antiquity of this ancient document, we may dismiss the point by adopting the estimate of Sir Francis Pal grave, who says: " From the language of these Charges, they are, in the existing texts, at least as old as the early part of the fifteenth century,'' ' which opinion was evidently formed prior to the publication (or discovery) of the two oldest MSS. which we now possess (Nos. 1 and 2). (F) MSS. 11, 19, 20, 25, 30, & 37. The " Harleian 1942 " (11 in this series) might well claim a separate examination, con- taining, as it does, the " N"ew Articles," in the possession of which it stands alone; but in order to avoid a numerous classification, six MSS. are now selected for criticism, which present, as a common feature, what is known as the "Apprentice Charges," or additional rules for the apprentices, not in the ordinary clauses, as set out in No. 15. The "New Articles" are undated, and run as follows: "Harleian MS.," No. 1942 (11).* 26. " Noe person (of what degree soever) bee accepted a free mason, unless hee shall have a lodge of five free masons; at least, whereof one to bee a master, or warden, of that limitt, or de vision, wherein such Lodge shalbee kept, and another of the trade of Free Masonry. " 27. " That no p'son shal bee accepted a Free Mason, but such as are of able body, honest parentage, good reputacon, and observers of the Laws of the Land. " 28. " That noe p'son hereafter bee accepted free mason, nor shalbee admitted into any Lodge or assembly untill hee hath brought a certificate of the time of adoption from the Lodge y* accepted him, unto the Master of that Limit, and devision, where such Lodge was kept, which sayd Master shall enrole the same in parchm't in a role to bee kept for that purpose, to give an ace* of all such acceptions at every General Assembly." ^ 29. " That every person whoe now is Free Mason, shall bring to the Mastej a note of the time of his acception to the end the same may bee enroll'd in such priority of place of the p'son shall deserve, and to y® end the whole company and fellows may the better know each other." 30. " That for the future the sayd Society, Company, and fraternity of Free Masons, ' Cronica Randulphi (the book named " Proloconyson ")• W. Caxton's, anno 1482, reads: ' ' Therf or bookes that they had made by greet trauayl and studye he closed hem in two grete pilers made of marble and of brente tile. In a pyler of marble, for water, and in a pyler of tyle for fyre. For it shold be saued by that maner to helpe of mankynde, me seth that the piler of stone escaped the flode and yet is in Siria " (Liber Secundus, cap. v. , line 65). ■^ Haydn's Dates, 1873, p. 258. » Edinburgh Review, April 1839. * Figures within brackets refer to the numbers prefixed to the titles of the MSS. "Tiie nearest approach to the term "Grand Lodge" which is to be met with in the old MSS. Ordinarily the assembly is referred to without the adjective being prefixed. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 91 shalbee regulated and governed by one Master, and Assembly, and Wardens, as y'' said Company shall think fit to chose, at every yearely generall assembly." 31. "That noe p'son shalbee accepted a Free Mason, or know the secrets of the said Society, untill hee hath first taken the oath of secrecy hereafter following: ' I, A. B., Doe in the presence of Almighty God, and my Fellowes, and Brethren here present, promise and declare, that I will not at any time hereafter, by any Act or circumstance whatsoever. Directly or Indirectly, publish, discover, reveale, or make knowne any of the secrets, privi- ledges, or Counsells, of the Fraternity or Fellowship of Free Masonry, which at this time, or anytime hereafter, shalbee made knowne unto mee soe lielpe mee God, and the holy contents of this booke.' " The additional regulations already noted are variously entitled the "Apprentices' Orders" (30), the " Future Charges" (37), and the " Apprentice Charge" (20 and 25), but are not distinguished by any title in No. 11, simply succeeding the " New Articles," and are numbered 1 to 10, the fifth rule being absent. I have selected the text of the " York No. 4" (25) to contribute this section of the laws. " The Apprentice Charge " (25). 1. ' " That he shall be true to God and the holy Church, the prince his M'' and dame wliome he shall serve." 2. "And that he shall not steale nor peke away his M"" or dames goods, nor absent himselfe from their service, nor goe from them about his own pleasure by day or by night without their Licence." 3. " And that he do not commit adultry or fornication in his Master's house with his wife, daughter, or servant, or any other." 4. "And that he shall keepe councell in all things spoken in Lodg or Chamber by any Masons, fellows, or fremasons." 5. "And that he shall not hold any disobedient argument against any fremason, nor disclose any secret whereby any difference may arise amongst any Masons, or fellowes, or apprentices, but Eeverently to behave himselfe to all fremasons being sworne brethren to his M'-." 6. "And not to use any carding, diceing, or any other unlawfull games." 7. " Nor haunt Taverns or alehouses there to waste any mans goods, without Licence of his said M"" or some other fremason." 8. "And that he shall not commit adultry in any mans house where he shall worke or be tabled." 9. "And that he shall not purloyn nor steale the goods of any p'son, nor willingly suffer harme or shame or consent thereto, during his said apprentissh3rp either to his M"' or dame, or any other fremason. But to withstand the same to the utmost of his power, and thereof to inf orme his said M'' or some other fremason, with all convenient speed that may bee."^ The extra rules of the following MS. differ so materially from those we ordinarily find in documents of a like class, that a brief summary of these regulations becomes essential. "Melrose MS." (19). 1. A " Frie Masone " not to take more than three apprentices in his lifetime. ^ Not numbered in the original. "^ The 9th of MS. 11 is, " You shall not man-y or contract yourself e to any woeman during youre apprenticeshipp. 9^ THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 2. To obtain consent of " ye set Lodge," of "all his masters and Fellows." 3. Apprentices (" lawfully taken "), after serving their time, " ought not to be named losses," but "to be named frie men, if they have their M'"^ Discharge." 4. "All others not lawfully taken are to be namit loses." 5. Apprentices to furnish essays to prove their skill, before being made " frie masons." ' G. Masters and Fellows only to engage " Losses" when regular Masons cannot be had. 7. Xot to let "Losses" know " ye priviledge of y*^ compass, square, levell, and ye plumb rule."'' 8. " Plumming " to be set " Losses," and " let them work between ym w' a lyne." 9. " Frie Masons" on coming to labour ought to displace such " Losses" (or coivans). 10. If lawful members cannot be given work, they must be furnished with money. 11. If apprentices " doe run away and are found," their lawful M'' must be informed. 12. "We do swear, so God us helpe, and holy dome, and by the contents of this book," etc. This MS. (19) is the oldest, virtually, of the foicr Scottish versions (16 to 19 inclusive), of which all but the "Atcheson Haven" (17) contain the important clause "treu to ye King of England," as in the second of the " General Charges " of our English copies. This is the more noticeable, if we bear in mind that the Melrose version is clearly a transcript of one of A.D. 1581, or earlier; also that No. 17, whilst it omits "England," has still the clause "true to the king," the addendum either being purposely omitted, or simply left out through non-existence in the text copied from, some even of the English versions not containing the complete sentence. It would not, I think, be possible to have more con- vincing proof of the English origin of these Scottish versions of our " Old Charges." ' The historian of the Lodge of Edinburgh, D. Murray Lyon, commenting upon the " Kilwin- ning "MS. (IG), says emphatically, "that it was a production of the sister kingdom is evident from its containing a charge in which ' every man that is a Mason,' is taken bound to be 'liedgeman to the king of England,' and also from that part of the legend which refers to the introduction and spread of Masonry in Britain being confined to the rehearsal of the patronage extended to the craft by English kings." * It may, indeed, be positively affirmed that every form or version of the Masonic documents, which it is the design of this chapter to classify and describe, had its origin in South Britain. Another peculiarity of the "Melrose" text is its addition to the third of the special charges, viz., "Also that no M'" nor fellow supplant on other of his mark," which clause ' The Regulations of the old Scottish Lodges generally provide for such Essays being exhibited as tests of skill, to be submitted to a committee appointed by the members, prior to being passed as fellow crafts. " In England also masterpieces were sometimes required; see, for instance, the by- laws of the Company of Framework Knitters" (Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xxvi., pp. 790-794; Smith's Guilds, p. cU.). 2 In a paper read before the Eboracum Lodge, No. 1611, York, by Mr. W. W. "Whytehead, the author observes: "It has often been a matter of speculation among Masonic students as to what were the real secrets of the medieval masons. ... I am inclined to submit that the science rediscovered by Monge, and called by him descriptive geometry, constituted the real secret of our ancient brethren, and that it was this Imowledge which they so carefully concealed from the profane" (Masonic Magazine, August 1881). 2 Still another illustration of English influence is seen in the attestation of 1581, during the minority of James VI., to the Melrose MS. : "I, John Wincester, his Master frie mason, have subscrib it my name and sett my mark in the Year of our Lord 1581, and in" the raing of our most Soveraing Lady Elizabeth the (22) Year." ■•History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 108. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 93 is not to be found elsewhere (though quite in accordance with the ''Schaw Statutes" of A.D. 1598), and as I have already intimated, it varies so much from the other Scottish forms, that as a version it should not be classed with them, save as respects locality and common features of agreement. In Scotland it is as notably sui generis as No. 8 (includ- ing 32 and copies) is in England, both being curious examples of departure from what might fairly be termed the accepted text. I have noticed the androgynous clause in the " York No. 4 " (25), and will now proceed with its further examination. The oldest of the York MSS. (No. 5 of this series) reads " teneat Librum ut ille veil illi," etc., but in No. 25 a translation is given of the customary Latin instructions, in which " ille veil illi" appears as *' liee or sliee; " illi (they), having through error or design been set aside for ilia (she). Taking the testimony of all the other MSS., the translation should read he or tliey, but as a matter of fact, in No. 25 it reads he or she. Mackey, Hughan, and Lyon, believe the latter is a faulty translation, and nothing more; but there are others (including the Eev. A. F. A. Woodford) who accept this document as evidence of the admission of females into Masonic fellowship, especially as so many of the old guilds were composed of women as well as men. ' Not one out of a hundred but recruited their ranks from both sexes; and even in guilds under the man- agement of priests, such as the Brotherhood of " Corpus Christi " of York, begun 1408, lay members were allowed (of some honest craft), without regard to sex, if "of good fame and conversation," the payments and privileges being the same for the "bretheren and sis- teren."^ Women "were sworne upon a book" in the same manner as the men. Li 1348 the general assembly of the Grocers' Company,- held at " Einged Hall," Thames Street, agreed to certain " new points," one being in favour of the admission of female members.^ It may, indeed, be suggested, that women were admitted into ci'aft guilds in cases where such membership was not obviously unfit or unsuitable; but the masons' handicraft, being so ill-adapted for female exercise, the balance of probability leans strongly against their ever having been admitted to full membership in the masonic body. To this it maybe replied, that the trade of a carpenter was not more favorable to the employment of women than that of a mason. Yet in the carpenters' guild of Norwich, founded a.d. 1375, " In the name of y® fader and sone and holi gost, and of oure ladi seinte marie, cristes moder, and al y® holi cumpayne of heuene " the ordinances were agreed to for " y^ bretherin and sistrin."* The charter of the Carpenters' Company of London describes the company to consist of "the brethren and sisters of freemen of the said mystery," and the records of this fraternity attest that "on the 5th August 1G79, Rebecca Gyles, spinster, sometime servant to Rebecca Cooper, a free servant of the company, was admitted to the freedome, haveing served her said Mistres faithfully a terme of seaven years. "^ The "Gild of the Peltyers" (Furriers), of a.d. 1376, also made provision for female membership, and the ' Introduction to Smith's Guilds, p. xxx. ' Rules and Regulations for the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity of St. Michael's, Helston 1517, " Yn ye name of God, Amen," provide for the management of " The Fraternyte of the trynyte," consisting of qualified "Bryderyn and Systyrn.'" This was a Shoemakers' Guild, " yn ye Church of St. Michael." ^ Herbert's Companies of London, vol. i.. p. 306. " Amongst the ordinances of the Drapers' Com- pany, 1505, is recognized the right of Sisters, freed in the fellowship, to take apprentices, and the fee specified" (Ibid., p. 423). In the Fishmoncrers' Company the Sisters wore liveries, and walked in the election procession (Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 44, 682). " Smith's Guilds, p. 37. * E. B. Jupp, History of the Carpenters' Company, 1848, p. 161. 94 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. records of craft guilds in numerous cities might be cited in corroboration of this usage. Still, there is no direct testimony as to the admission of females into masonic lodges or as- semblies at any time, though they were sometimes allowed to partially reap the benefit, as widows, of a deceased husband's business, if they had a Freemason to help them. The records of " Mary's Chapel " Lodge, under date of 17th April 1683, furnish an instance of the legality of a female occupying the position of " dame, " or " mistress, " in a masonic sense, but from the minute of the lodge it will be observed that it was only to a very limited extent that the widows of master masons could benefit by the privilege. ' On this point Mr. Lyon observes: "In the case of female members of Scottish Incorporations, 'the freedom of craft' carried with it no right to a voice in the administration of affairs. '■' Neither was their presence required at enrolment, although their entry-money was double that of members' sons. " I quite think with Mr. Lyon that the reference in certain clauses of the MS. of 1693 ' (25) " to an entered apprentice's obligation to protect the interests of his 'master or dame,' i.e., mistress, clearly indicates that at that time it was lawful for females, in the capacity of employers, to execute mason-work." On the whole, I suppose we must accept the clause in question, either as an error orfancy of the translator or copyist; but it is certainly very singular that there is no record of females having belonged to masonic guilds or companies, though they were connected with those of other crafts, such as the saddlers and spurriers, carpenters, peltyers (furriers), calendrers, and tailors. (G) "INIGO JONES" & "SPENCER" (8 & 32. Also Reproductions). I have already expressed my opinion of the value of this text, not only from internal evidence, but because it obviously formed the basis, in part, of Dr. Anderson's " Constitu- tions," of which more anon. Its chief importance is derived from the additional claiises in the legendary history, rather than from any changes in the language of that part which is to be found in the ordinary versions. Mere arbitrary alterations of the copyist only demand our notice as possible means of identification in tracing families of MSS. ' Of these many examples are found in copies not otherwise of any importance whatever, whilst some are so plainly errors of transcription, that any arguments based upon them are of little, if indeed of any value, e.g., in No. 8, the conclusion runs, "So Help you God, and the ' Lyon's History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 123. '■* The city of Litchfield was anciently governed by a Guild and Guild-Master. King Heni-y II. and Anne his Queen, Henry VH. and his queen, and many other illustrious names, were enrolled as membere, the Guild comprising brothers and sisters, but the rules provided for the Brothers only, choosing the Master and Wardens annually (Rev. T. Harwood, F.S.A., History of Litclifield, 1806, p. 319. ^ "I confess that the earliest form, to my mind, of all the MS. Constitutions (not excppting any but the Masonic poem) is the York MS. of 1693 — that is to say, that it represents in its traditions a veiy old form indeed, probably even anterior to 1490, and coeval with the Guild of Masons mentioned in the York Fabric Rolls. I allude to tliat peculiar passage in it wliich recognizes female member- ship" (Woodford's Preface to the " Old Charges," p. xiii.). •* Among the merely nominal departures from the usual text, that of the tliird clause in the "General Charges" may be cited (wliich has been already pointed out by the possessor of this MS.), iustead of mentioning the paragraph respecting the king, as in Rule 2 of No. 15, No. 8 reads — "That yea be not disloyall; nor confederates in treasonable plotts; But if yea hear of any treachery against the Government, you ouglit to discover it, if yea cannot otherwise prevent it." Nos. 1 and 2 of these rules in the Inigo Jones' MS. are united in No. 15, and appear as one clause only. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 95 Itallidom," for "your holy-dome." ' Fort has some interesting observations upon the usual finale of the " Old Charges," and thinks that the word " holy-dome" is evidently derived from the old form of administering an oath ujion the shrine in which the sacred 'relics of some martyred saint were enclosed, the receptacle of the bones being ordinarily constructed in the form of a house (domus), so that the elision was easy from " holi-domus" to " holy- dome." ' Without impugning the correctness of this view in reference to a very early period of guild life, its applicability to the " Old Charges" from the fifteenth century must be strongly contested, for the form in which the concluding charge is generally given, suggests only the solemnity of the obligation about to be taken, " So healpe you God and your halydome, and by this booke in yo"" hands unto yr. power " (4). On the admission of the masonic apprentices, according to the direct or indirect testimony of the several versions, and of the prevailing custom in later times, they were " sworn" on the Bible, not " on the holidom," as were those of the Tailors' Guild of Norwich (fourteenth century), and there is nothing resembling the ordinance of the " Smiths" of Chesterfield (of the same era) in the Masonic Constitutions, the former requiring all the brethren to be bound " by touch of relics" as a pledge of their fidelity/ That a change was effected in the manner of administering the obligation, may be inferred from a reference to " The Oaths to be Taken," by the " Fraternyte of Synt John the Babtyste of Taylors" (Exeter), for the words " holy dome, and by this boke," have been crossed out by a later hand, and the " holy contentes of this boke," substituted, which corre- sponds with MS. 11 and others.* It is in the text of No. 8,^ the prototype of No. 32 and its reproductions, that Prince Edwin is spoken of as " Brother to King Althelstane," all the other forms either describing him as a son, or maintaining a discreet silence as to the relationship. The historical narrative is also chronologically arranged, and the years of many of the events are inserted, which is unusual in these documents. The omission of the name of Charles Martel is notcAvorthy, also that of " Naymus Grecus," but otherwise the text, as I have -said, is more remarkable for the additions to, rather than the deviations from, the ordinary versions. Under these circumstances I cordially endorse the opinion of the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford as to its "special verbiage" and peculiarly interesting character. '(H) ORDINARY VERSIONS." Under this description may be ranged all the MSS. not included in the four divisions preceding (D to G), excepting only such as are merely reproductions, which naturally belong ' " Halidom [Sax., i. e., holy judgment], whence In old times By my Halidom was a solemn oath among country people " (Bailey). ' Antiquities of Freemasonry, pp. 171, 292, 404. » Smith's Guilds, p. 170 * Curious as they are, i-oom is not available to present even a summary of these oaths of the "Crafte of Talors" (Exeter), their officers, and others. The first occupies more than a page of Smith's Guilds (p. 316-318); and there are also the oblig'ations taken by "the Master of the occupacion;" that of the " Free Brotherys;" the oath of the new members to the Master and Wardens; and, finally, that of the Beadle to the Master and Company, who had to promise — "Such counceile as shalbe disclosed before you ye shall kepe in secrete, and not disclose to any man," etc. 'St. Alban is styled the " Proto-Martyr " in Nos. 8, 11, and 31. * This classification leaves out of consideration tlie value of MSS. on the grounds of their antiquity, or of being transcripts of important versions, now unhappily missing, such as the Dowland MS. (39) and othei-s; but I appi-ehend the chief point to aim at is, what they really say, rather than to waste time in the mere study of their antiquity, which can only interest paleographers. 96 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. to the same class as their originals, Avhether or not the connection has been noted. This division inclndes a majority of the transcripts, which are thns grouped together, because whilst ejjch MS. contains some peculiarity of its own, there is a substantial agreement between them all. The recital of the legend is, generally speaking, similar; also the various " Charges,'^ whilst the differences being nominal are virtually referable to the transform- ing influences of time and circumstances. In all, the "Apprentice Charge "and the " N"ew Articles "are wanting, whilst they contain none of those clauses which, in the previous division (G), confer a special value on the text for purposes of comparison with the early editions of the Grand Lodge Constitutions. Attention hoving been already directed to the special differences in the MSS. of other types (D to G), the reproduction of an " ordi- nary version " will give the general reader a fair conception of the prevailing characteristics of the different " Old Charges." For this purpose I have selected tje text of the follow- ing Roll, with the consent of Mr. Buchanan, as previously stated. The prose Constitution, which will now be given in its entirety, is ? fair specimen of the others; all these scrolls being much alike, and, indeed, differing only in minor details. In making a selection for purposes of illustration and reference, I have chosen a document of the seventeenth century, which combines the chief points of agreement between the " Old Charges," and has not hitherto been printed.' THE "BUCHANAN MS." (15). I. — 0 Lord God Father of Heaven with the wisdom of the glorious Sonn through the grace and goodness of the Holy Ghost three persons in one Godhead Bee with us att our begining And give us grace soe to governe us in our Lives here that wee may come to his heavenly bliss that never shall have ending Amen. II. Good Brethren and Fellowes our purppose is to tell you how and in what manner this worthy craft of Masonry was begun And afterwards how it was upholden maynetained by many worthy Kings and Princes and other worthy men And also to them that bee here we shall declare the charges that belongeth to every Free Mason to Keppe for it is a science that is worthy to be kept for a worthy craft and vertuous science for it is one of the seven Liberall Sciences: And these be the' names of them. The First is Grammar: that teacheth a man to speake truly and to write truly: The Second is Ehethorick and that teacheth a man to speake faire and in subtill termes: The third is Dialectica that teacheth a man to decerne and know truth from falsehood: The fourth is Arrithmetike And it teacheth a man to reckon and count all numbers: The fifth is Geometrye and it teacheth a man to mete and measure the Earth and all other things of which is masonry: The sixth is musicke and it teacheth the Crafte of Songe and voice of tongue orggann harpe and Trumpett. The Seventh is Astronomye and teacheth a man to know the course of the Sunne Moone and Stars: These be the seven sciences which are all found by one science which is Geometrye. III. Thus may you prove that all the sciences of the world were found by this science of geometrye and grounded thereon for it teacheth mete and measure ponderation and ' The Buchanan MS. No. 15. This Constitution has been transcribed by Mr. W. J. Hughan, from Mr. Buchanan's copy, and I iiave also collated the text with the original, in the library of Grand Lodge. To facilitate reference, this sample of the "Old Charges" is divided into thirty-four pai-ar graphs, with a marginal numeration. RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARNARVON. PRO GRAND MASTER OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 97 weight of all manner of kind of tlie earth for there is noe man that worketh in any craft but hee worketh by some mete or measure nor any man that buyetli or selleth but he may use mete measure or weight and belongeth to Geometrye and these Marchants and Craft of Geometrye doe find all other of the six sciences Especially the plowemen and tiller of the ground for all maner of corne and grayne vynes plants and setters of other fruits For Gram- mar nor Musicke neither Astronomye nor any of the other six sciences can find mete, measure or weight without Geometrye wherefore that science may well be called the most worthyest of all sciences which findeth mete and measure to all the Rest: IV. If you aske how this Science began I shall you tell: before the flood of Noah there was a man called Lamech: as you may find in the fourth Chapter of Genisis, whoe had two wives, the name of the one was Adah: and the name of the other was Zillah: by his first wife Adah hee had two sonnes the name of the Elder was Jaball: and the other was called Juball: and by his other wife Zillah hee had a sonne callad Tuball and a daughter called Naamah: These foure children found the begining of all the Crafts in the world: And the eldest sonne Jaball found the Craft of Geometrye and hee parted flocks of sheepe and lands in the field and first built a house of stoone and timber as is noted in the Chapter aforesaid: and his brother Juball found the Craft of Musicke songe of tongue harpe organn and Trumpett: And the third brother Tuball found the Smith's Craft to worke in Gold Silver Brasse Copper Iron and Steele and the Daughter Naamah found the Craft of Weaveing: and these children knew that God, would take vengance for sinns either by fire, «vater, wherefore they did write the sciences they had found in two pillars of stone that they might be found after God had taken vengance for sine the one was Marble and would not burne with fire: the other was Laterus and it would not droune in water. V. There rcsteth more to tell you how the stones were found that the Sciences were written in after tlie said flood the great Hermarynes that was Tusses his Sonne the which was the sonne of Sem the sonne of Noah the same Hermarynes was afterwards called Hermes the father of wise men: he found one of the two pillars of stone and hee found the sciences written therin and he taught them to other men. VI. And at the makeing of the Tower of Babilon there masonryo was much made of: the Kinge of Babilon that height N"emorth and Nemorth himself was a Mason: and loved well the Craft as is said with Masters of Histories and when the Citie of Neneve and other Cities of the East Asia should bee made this Nemorth Kinge of Babilon sent thither GO Masons att the desire of the Kinge of Neneve his cousin and when they went forth hee gave them a charge in this manner that they should be true each cf them to other and that they should love truly together soe that hee might have worshipp for his sending of them to his cousin the Kinge of Neneve And further hee gave them two charges as con- cerning their science And they were the first charge that ever any Mason had of his worke or Crafte. VIL Moreover when Abraham and Sarah his wife went into Egypt hee taught the seven sciences to the Egyptians And hee had a worthy scholler whose name was Euclid which learned very well and became Master of all the seven sciences And in his Dais it befell that Lords and Great men of those quarters and Dominions had soe many^onnes some by their wives and some by other women for those Countries beeliott of Generation and they had not competent goods and hands to maintayno their children which mada 98 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. much care And the Kinge of that Land considering theire poverty called his counsell together and caused a Parliment to be houlden the greatest of his intent was to know how they should maintayne theire children and they could not find any way unlesse it were by cunning and good science whereupon he let a proclamation bee made through his Realme if there were any that could teach and informe them in any good Cuning art or science hee should (;ome unto them and bee very well contented for his paynes and travell: after this proclamation made came this worthy Clarke Eclid and said unto the Kinge and his Nobles if you will betake your children unto my government I will teach the seven Liberall Sciences whereby they may live honestly and like gentlemen upon this condition that you will grant mee a Comisson to have rule and power over them according as science ought to be ruled and upon this Covenant I shall take care and charge of them: the Kinge and his counsel granted the same and sealled the Comisson and then this worthy Docter tooke to him those Lordes sonnes and taught them the science of Geometric in practise for to worke all manner of worthy workes that should bellong to building of Temples Churches Castles mannors Towers houses and all manner of buildings And he gave them a charge. VIII. The First was that they should bee true to the Kinge and Lords they served. IX. And that they should love well together And be true each one to other. X. And to call each other his fellowe or else his brother And not servant nor knave nor any other foule name. XI. And that they should deserve theire pay of the Lord or Master they should serve: XII. And that they should ordaine the wisest of them to bee the Master of theire Lords worke And that neither Lord nor man of Great Linage or Eiches or for favour should make and ordaine such a one to beare Rule and be governour of theire worke that hath but small knowledge or understanding in the science whereby the owner of the worke should bee evill served and you ashamed of your worke-manshipp. XIII. And alsoe that they should call tlie governour of the worke master whilest they wrought with him. XIV. And many other charges that are to long to tell: and to all the charges hee made them to sweare the . . . great oath which men used in that time: XV. And hee ordered for them reasonable wages that they might live with honesty. XVI. And alsoe that they should come and assemble themselves together once every yeare That they might take advice and councell together how they might worke best to serve theire Lord and Master for his proffitt an theire owne creditt and honestie And to Correct amongst themselves him or them that erred and trespassed And thus was the Craft or science of Geometric grounded there: XVII. And this worthy Master gave it the name of Geometric And now it is called Masonrie. XVIII. Sith the time when the children of Israeh were come into the land of behest that is now called amongst us the land of Canuaan the countrie of Jerusalem^ Kinge David THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 99 began tlie Temple which is called Templum Dorainum and is now called with us the Tem- ple of Jerusalem and the same Kinge David loved Masons well and cherished them and gave good paiement unto them and gave them charges in manner as hee had in Egipt by Euclid and other charges more as you shall heare afterwards And after the Decease of Kinge David Solomon sonne unto the said King finnished the Temple that his father had begunn and hee sent after Masons of divers towns and countries and gathered them together Boe that he had 24,000 Masons and 1000 of them were ordayned Masters and governours of his worke. XIX. And there was another Kinge of another Land which was called Huram and hee loved Kinge Solomon well and hee gave him timber for his worke and hee had a sonn named Aymon and hee was master of Geometric and the chiefest master of all his masons and Governour of all his graven and carved worke and of all manner of other masonrie that belonge unto the Temple and all this witnesseth the Fourth booke of the Kings in the Bible: XX. And this same Kinge Solomon confirmed both charges and manners that his father had given to reasons and soe was this worthy craft or science of Masonrie confirmed in the Countrie of Jerusalem and in many other Countries and Kingdoms glorious Craftsmen about full wide into divers countries some because of learning more knowledge and skill in the Craft and some to teach others and soe it befell that there was a curious mason whose name was Mamon \_Naymus] ' Grecus that had been att the building of Solomon's Temple And hee came into France and there he taught the Craft of Masonrie to men in France. XXI. And there was a man in France named Carolus Martill came to this Mamon Grecus aforesaid and learned of him the craft of Masonrie well hee tooke upon the charges And afterwards by the grace of God hee was elected Kinge of France and where hee was in his estate hee tooke many Masons and helpe to make men masons that were none before an sett them on worke and gave them good wages and confirmed to them a Charter to liould tlieire Assemblie from yeare to yeare where the would and cherished the much and thus came the Craft of Masonrie into France. XXII. England stood att that time void from any charge of Masonrie untill the time of Saint Albons and in his time the Kinge of England being a pajan walled the Towne about that is now called Saint Albons and Saint Albons was a worthy Knight and chiefe steward with the King and the governance of the Eealme and alsoe of the making of the Towne walls and hee loved Masons well and cherrished them right much and hee made theire pay right good standing as the Eealme did then for he gave them two shillings and sixpence a weeke and three-pence for thiere nonesynches and before that time throughout this Laud A Mason took but a pennie a day and his meate until Saint Albons did amend it and hee gave to them a charter which hee obtained of the Kinge and his Councill for to hold a general councell and hee gave it the name of an Assemblie And hee being a Mason himself thereat hee was hee helped to make Masons and gave to them the charges as you shall heare Afterwards. XXIII. Right soone after the decease of Saint Albons tliere came men of divers nations ' Nayraics Grecus (4, 5, and 9); Grecus (6, 7, and 16). Variations occur in Nos. 17, 19, 20, 25, 29, and 31. loo THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. to warr against the Eealme of England see that the Rule of good Masonrie was destroyed nntill the Time of King Athelston in his dayes hee was a worthy Kinge in England and brought this Land to rest and peace and builded many great buildings of Abbey's and castles and divers other great buildings And hee loved masons well. . XXIV. And hee had a sonn named Edwin and hee loved masons much more then his father did and he was a great practizer in Geometric and came himselfe to comune and talke much with masons and to learn of them the Craft and afterwards for the love hee had to Masons and to the craft hee was made a mason himselfe. XXV. And hee obtained of his father the Kinge a Charter and a Comission to hould every year once an Assembly where they would within the Realme of England that they might correct faults errors and trespasses if that any there were comitted and done con- cerning the craft of Masonrie. XXVI. And hee with other Masons held an Assemblie at Yorke and there hee made Masons and gave them a Charge and comanded that rule to be houlden and kept ever after and hee made an ordinance, that it should be renewed from Kinge to Kinge. XXVII. And when the assemblie^ were gathered together hee caused a crie to be made after this manner that all old Masons and younge that had any writeings or understandings of the charges and manners that were made before in this Land or in any other that they should show them forth and there were found some in Greeke some in Latine and some in French and some in English and some in other Languages and the meaning of them were all one. XXVIII. And hee caused a booke to be made thereof: And how the Craft was found and hee comanded that it should be read or told when any free mason should bee made for to give him his charge. And from that day untill this time Masonrie hath bene much made on and kept and that from time to time as well as men might governe it. XXIX. And furthermore att divers Assemblies there hath bene put and ordained cer- taine charges by the best advised Masters and Eellowes. XXX. The manner of taking an oath att the making of free Masons Tunc unus ex Seniorebus teneat librum ut illi vel ille ponant vel ponat manus supra librum tunc precepta debeant legi. XXXI. Every man that is a Mason take heed right wisely to these charges if you find yourselves guiltie of any of these that you may amend of your errors against god and principally they that be charged for it is a great perrill to forsweare themselves upon a booke. {General Charges.y XXXII. (1.)' The charges are that you shall bee true men to God and his holy church: that you use noe heresie nor errors in your understanding to distract mens teacheings. (2.) And Alsoe that you bee true men to the Kinge without any treason or falshood and that you shall know noe treason or falshood but you shall amend it or else give notice thereof to the Kinge and Councell or other officers thereof. 1 Title added. 2 xhe figui-es— 1 to 9— refer to this MS. only. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. loi (3.) And alsoe you shall be true each one to other that is to say to every Master and Fellow of the Craft of Masonrie that be free masons allowed and doe you to them as you would that they should doe to you. (4.) And Alsoe that every free Mason Keepe councill truly of the secret and of the Craft and all other Councell that ought to bee Kept by way of Masonrie. (5.) And Alsoe that noe Mason shall be a Theife or accesary to a theife as farr forth as you shall know. (6.) And Alsoe you shall be true men to the Lord and Master you serve and truly see to his profitt and advantage. (7.) And Alsoe you shall call Masons your fellowes or brethren and noe other foule name nor take your fellowes wife violently nor desire his daughter ungodly nor his ser- vant in villanie. (8.) And Alsoe that you truly pay for your table and for your meate and drinke where you goe to table. (9.) And Alsoe you shall doe noe villanie in the house in which you table whereby you may be ashamed. These are the Charges in generall that belong to all free masons to keepe both Masters and Fellows. XXXIII. These bee the Charges singular for every Master and Feliowe as followeth: {Special Charges.) ' (1.) "^ First that noe Mason take upon him noe Lord's worke nor other mens worke unlesse hee know himselfe able and skilfull to performe it soe as the Craft have noe slander nor disworshipp but that the Lord and owner of the worke may bee well and truly served. (2.) And Alsoe that noe Master nor Fellow take noe worke but that hee take it rea- sonably soe that the Lord may bee truly served with his owne goods and the Master may live honestly and pay his fellowes truly as manners aske of the Craft. (3.) And Alsoe that noe Master. nor Fellow shall suplant any other man of his worke that is to say if hee have taken of a Lord or Master that you put him not out unlesse hee bee unable in knowledge to finish that worke. (4.) And Alsoe that noe Master nor Fellow take any Apprentice to bee allow^ed to bee his Apprentice any longer then seven years and the apprentice to bee able of birth and limbs as hee ought to bee: (5.) And Alsoe that noe Master nor Fellow shall take any allowance to bee allowed to make any Free Mason without the consent of Sixe or Five att the least of his Fellowes and that they bee free borne and of Good Kindred and not a bondman and that hee have his right limbs as a man ought to have. (G.) And Alsoe that noe Master nor Fellow put any Lordes woke to taske that is wont to goe Journey. (7.) And Alsoe that noe Master shall give noe pay to his Fellowes but as hee may deserve soe as they may not bee Deceived by false workmen. (8.) And Alsoe that noe Fellow slander another behind his backe whereby hee may loose his good name and his worldly goods. ' Title added. = The figures— 1 to 18— refer to tliis MS. only. I02 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. (9.) And Alsoe that iioe fellow within the Lodge or without the Lodge missweare one another ungodly without any just cause. (10.) And Alsoe that every one reverence his fellow elder and put him to worshipp. (11.) And Alsoe that noe Mason play att Cards or Dice or any other game whereby they should be slandered. (12.) And Alsoe noe Mason shall bee a Comon Eibald in Lechary to make the Craft slandered. (13.) And Alsoe that noe fellow shall goe into the towne in the night thereas is a Lodge of Fellowes Avithout some Fellowes that may beare him Avitnesse that hee was in a honest place. (14.) And Alsoe that every Master and Fellow shall come to the Assembly if it be within seven miles about him if hee have warning or else to stand to the award of Master and Fellowes. (15.) And Alsoe every Master and Fellow if hee have trespassed shall stand att the award of the Masters and Fellowes to make the accord if hee may, and if hee may not accord then to goe to the Comon n Law. (IG.) And Alsoe that noe mason make mould nor square nor noe Eule to any Iyer within the Lodge nor Avithout the Lodge hoAV to mould stones Avithout noe mould of his OAvn making. (17.) And Alsoe that every Mason shall receive and cherrish every strange Mason when they come to theire Country and set them to Avorke as the manner is that is to say if hee have mould stones in the place he shall sett them or him a fornight at least on worke and give him his pay and if hee have noe stones for him hee shall refresh him Avith money to the next Lodge. (18.) And Alsoe you shall every mason serve truly the Lord for his pay and truly finish his Avorke bee it Taske or Journey if you may have your pay as you ought to have. XXXIV. These charges that you have received you shall well and truly keepe not dis- closeing the secresy of our Lodge to man woman nor child : Sticke nor stone : thing move- able nor immovable soe God you helpe and his holy Doome, Amen. . . . Finis. The Introductory Prayer or Invocation ' of the " Buchanan MS." differs from the gen- erality of these supplications, but is after the manner of No, 17, although in other respects the MSS. are not identical. It is curious, however, that as regards the radius Avithin which attendance at the assembly Avas obligatory, this is the only version Avhich specifies "seven miles," three others having five (12, 20, and 29), tAvo having ten (11 and 31), one alone forty (19), and the remainder fifty miles." The distinctive feature of N"o. 15 is its ohligation, Avhich, if a fair representation of the pledge given by the ncAvly admitted 'The "Invocations" or "Dedications" of the Masonic MSS. do not partake of the character of those in many of the Gviild Cliarters, as shoAvn to us by Mr. Toulmin Smith. In spealcing of one similar to the ordinary Masonic "Charges," he says: " The form of Avhat may be called tlie dedica- tion of this Guild differs very strilvingly from that of most other Guilds. In almost every otlier case God the Fatlier Almiglity would seem to have been forgotten. No doubt what must strike every reader as so strange an oversiglit Avas not intentionally so, but greAV out of tlie habit and form of prayers of intercession " (Guilds, p. 172,\ ' Excepting the Aberdeen MS. (18), which is silent on the subject of distance. THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 103 brethren, is certainly destructive of any theories in favor of female membership, whicli are based upon No. 25. There are many copies of the oaths imposed by craft guilds, but few of those in use among the masons are of an entirely trustworthy character. Assuming those appended to the " Old Charges" to be fairly correct, there would seem to have been no particular set form for the purpose, the three samples extant not agreeing with one another as to the verbiage, albeit the intention is clear enough throughout the whole. ' The titles of the MSS. vary, some being very suggestive, e.g., "The Freemasons Orders and Constitutions" (12); "Here Begineththe True Order of Masonrie " (3) ; "A discourse: hade : before : A : meeting : of Meassones" (18); "The Booke of Constitutions" (6), — besides others already recorded. It would be difficult to decide what wages were paid to the craftsmen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, if those fixed in the " Old Charges " on the authority of St. Alban were accepted as the standard, for they vary con- siderably; there are, however, a majority in favor of 2s. 6d. a week, and " three pence to their cheer," though some have 3s. 6d. for the same period, and others much less; whilst not a few contain " iijs vjd. to there double wages," an expression which 'I record, without venturing to explain. The "Wood MS." has "three shillings and five pence a weeke for their duable wages. " ^ The " Antiquity " Roll is responsible for the statement that ' ' Ed wine was made Mason at AVinsoeur," so that the prominence enjoyed by York as the first city wherein the assemblies of King Athelstan were held, should be shared by the " Eoyal Town " in which Edwin was initiated; for if York was the premier city of the annual assemblies, Windsor was also highly privileged as being the town where that Prince was " accepted," who, according to the old traditions, obtained from the King authority to hold the annual assemblies of the craft. The claim, however, of Windsor to any Masonic importance has hitherto been neglected, whilst that of York has been unduly magnified. Other omissions or differences in the ordinary MSS. are more easily pointed out than in- terpreted, such as the silence observed as to the "Wardens," save in No. 14,^ and the uniform reticence of all the versions excepting the two earliest (1 and 2), in regard to the authority of the Law in the settlement of disputes. This refreshing "touch of nature" is amusing, and, as I have said, the supremacy of the Law is never alluded to respectfully by these MSS., any possible difficulties beyond the power of the master and felloAvs to adjust being dismissed by the brief sentence " goe to the common law " (39). The resort to aid from external sources was obviously (then as now) viewed with extreme displeasure by the craft, neither did the masons of those days care to threaten possible malcontents " with imprisonment as by Law provided." The distinctly religious or Christian character of all the MSS. is indicated in many ' Compare the Obligation of MS. 11 with No. 12 (Additional Folios) and 15, ^ No. 9 has some additions peculiar to itself, but not sufficient for a distinct classification. It mentions the " 11 specall Charges, or Rules, or Orders which every Mason ouglit justly and truly to observe, performe, fulfill, and keepe; " and then, "Here foUoweth Divers other Charges, Rules, or Orders, to be observed, performed, fulfilled, and kept by the Masters, Governors, and Apprentices of the Science of Masomy " (Masonic Magazine, June 1881). 3 " That no fellow shall take upon him to call a lodge to make any fellow or fellows wt^out the consent of master or wardens, if they be wtii in fifteen miles "—Rule 18, Sloane MS., 3323 (14); Hughan's Masonic Sketches, part ii., p. 49. Mr. Toulmin Smith, in his "English Gilds," gives a long list of titles borne by the chief officers of those social and craft organizations— e. g. , the Rector, Alderman, Stewards, Dean and Clerk, the Master Rector and Stewards, an Elder Father, Graceman. and Wardens; Ferthingmen, Master, and Wardens, Dean of the Guild, and Chaplain, etc., etc. I04 cation "„ prayer befo/: the r^'' ^TZ ^'"'^ '^^ "^"-^ mother st„es the I.^ Hoy Senpt„,.e,»on whieh the new JeLiC Jr "" """^ "«S. state it was '> to be oblio-atpf] iMr <«ri^j ^^^uiueis were sworn wliilcf ^+t ^ "i'tociLca Dy ^ods pfrace '' nr '^ ™,,; ' "iiiist others were plnro-ori ^H»^ on the h„„': ::r::r ;; ^triVn'n-' ?•' " ^-- - ■- ™:; ten,shed matter for diversity of treatment "Th °"*'-"' ^™"'^^ ^''M-t tlat ha the ravage, of the flood. JdonbtTJirthe lord i,:;" f ^ ''"'" ^'°-' ""^-^ - i-d tack), but t].e orthographical diffle^l wh 1 ft '» ''' *™'-"l'e- common were hold benig so groat, that whether thev w„ ^ ' ^^ feneration in which these junujr as an organisation, '"^'^^ ^«'=- °f England, in all probabiWy it! ;n f^-n^::^::; S;;iX ™^^^^^ ^ '- '-e gmdanee of the craft . ■ Tl.e Melrose MS. (19) describes the , f . '^ "^'^'^ ^' '' ^'^^ born " tianmen." ^ '^ "^^^"^^ess of geometry to " /ir., 7 . ^'MrMCook • h- ^''^'^«'^^^«'^^«^^o^/.er CArz,.. CoDstitutious seem in t;r+ +.1 , '^''^''^ l^^"oP""nded by the Rev A V a T.r , ^^' nave a common origin. Inill.ltcd Xdv'l.'.'.'IT.IL'; I'lissc.l \l:ii,'h :','.'.l I?.".",: i; nisr,! I, , \l ;isU T \ 1: is, n I \ 1 1 ; ; '. ■ I '.'.' I'/.i. i . i 1 1 I Vi'( IcricKshni '• I ml" c \ ;i . THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 105 and have their " limbs whole " were no more absolute and unalterable than were those which required an apprentice to serve seven years, which rendered attendance at annual assemblies compulsory, if within a certain number of miles, or which secured a monopoly of the trade to freemasons. The distinction must be drawn, as I have said, between the ethical and the legislative portions of these old Rolls, and then it will be palpable that whereas the former never "grows old with time," and is always to be followed, the latter is now preserved as a mere " survival " of the rules prevailing in periods wholly different to the present, which to follow strictly in the nineteenth century would be as great a folly as the acceptance of many of the absurd notions still rife as to the antiquity of the society. Having now fully considered (though not more so than has been requisite) both the character and divergencies of the " Old Charges," we will proceed with an examination of the remarks and extracts by Dr. Anderson and others, referring to our manuscript Consti- tutions, with a view to determining the sources whence these were derived. The earliest known extracts or references to the " Old Charges" are to be found in Dr. Plot's " History of Staffordshire," a.d. 1G86 (40), and " The Constitutions of the Freemasons," by the Eev. James Anderson, M.A. (afterward D.D.), of a.d. 1723. The first complete typographical reproduction of a copy of these "Old Charges" was " Printed and sold by J. Eoberts in Warwick Lane, muccxxii." (44). This handsome little tract was evidently edited by one who Avas either a Freemason or favorably disposed toward the society, as the preface is laudatory of the aims of the fraternity, and is the first distinctly Masonic work known that was issued for general sale. The pamphlet (which was never authorized) appeared one year earlier than the premier "Book of Constitutions." The resolution to empower " Bro. James Anderson, A.M., to digest the old Gothic Constitutions, in a new and better method," was agreed to by the Grand Lodge, held 29th September 1721, and on the 27th December following " 14 learned Brothers " were appointed to examine the manuscript, who reported favorably on 25th March 1722, when the Grand Master was desired "to order it to be printed."' The "New Book of Constitutions" was submitted in print to the members, 17tli January 1723 (|), and again approved, with the addition of "the ancient manner of Constituting a Lodge," from which we may infer that the work could not have appeared before 1723 (the year stated on the title-page) as the additional matter is to be found in the copies extant, paged consecutively with the former portion, and fol- lowed by some twenty more pages. ^ I have already expressed my belief that the " Eoberts'" version (44) was based upon the text of No. 11, so that if the latter was not known to Dr. Anderson, early last century, he was doubtless familiar with the former, but whether before or after the preparation of his work cannot now be determined. The first extract is said to be made from " a cer- tain Eecord of Freemasons written in the Eeign of King Edward IV." (about a.d. 1475), and is in exact conformity with no MS. extant,^ though in some respects it resembles the ' FFom the 2d edition (1738), pp. 113-115. * The " General Regulations" inserted in this work were first compiled by Mr. George Payne m 1720, and approved in 1721. They were also subjected to revision by Di". Anderson, but I apprehend it was the historical introduction and the arrangement of the " Charges of a Freemason," for which the latter was mainly responsible. ^ Although Preston wrote so much later than Anderson, he quotes from this edition of the Con- stitutions (1723) in preference to those of 1738 and 1756, and faithfully follows the extract relative to the legend of King Atholstan and Prince Edwin. He gives a different version of its origin, never- theless, ascribing it to "a record of the Society, . . . said to have been in the possession of the io6 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. quotation (previously noted) of Hargrove (41) and others, as it alludes to King Atliolstan and his youngest son, Prince Edwin; so far, many MSS. confirm this excerpt. None, however, sanction the statement that the Prince summoned the masons at York in ''a General Lodge of which he was Grand j\hister " (p. 33), neither do they recite aught about the " Laws of the Freemasons having been seen and perused by our late sovereign King Henry VI." Possibly the latter information was obtained from Dr. Plot (chap. VIII.), but the former is well known to have been an unwarrantable and pernicious interpolation. The second extract is almost word for word with the concluding sentences of No. 2, except that the verbiage is modernized, and as we know that such a version was exhibited to the Grand Lodge in 1721, by Grand Master Payne, there need be no hesitation in accepting the " Cooke " MS. as the document from which Dr. Anderson quoted. ' It is not so easy to de- cide as to the first excerpt, especially as far as it seems to be actually taken from some old MS., for such particulars are to be found in the majority of the scrolls. Passing, however, to the second edition of the " Constitutions" (1738), which has been denominated by many writers " the basis of 3Iasonic History," I must ask my readers to follow me a little farther before relieving the learned doctor and his Masonic history from our criticism. The subject was new to Dr. Anderson in 1721-3, but in 1738 there were many sources available from which a rational history and resume of the ancient Eegulations might have been compiled, and he had special facilities for acquiring the fads upon which such a history ought to have been founded. The result of Dr. Anderson's researches, as seen in the 1738 edition, is very far from satisfactory, and tests the credulity of his readers even more than the previous one of 1723. Since the publication of the latter, various reproductions of MS. Constitu- tions had appeared, and, including the one before alluded to (which may not have been known to Dr. Anderson before 1723), there were in circulation the following: " Roberts" (44), " Briscoe " (45), and " Cole " (47),^ virtually representing the text of Nos. 11, 12, and 8 in this series respectively. It is quite clear to me that Dr. Anderson had more MSS. before him in the preparation of the 1738, than he had for that of the 1723 edition, and there is so much to confirm this view that it only requires examination to be adopted. The historical introduction is much fuller in the former, and varies considerably from the earlier issue; e.g., the " Edwin legend " is altered, and reads that he was the King's brother (not son), a variation only to be found in what I term the " Inigo Jones" text (8), and which was engraved in the " Cole MS." (47). His imagination developing (1738), the word general was altered before Lodge for "Grand" by the Rev. Editor, an(>the year added, which has led the so-called " York Constitution " to be dated a. d. 92G.^ The concluding paragraph of famous Elias Ashmole, founder of the Museum at Oxford, and unfortunately destroyed, with other papers on the subject of masonry, at the Revolution" (Illustrations of Masonry, edit. 1788, p. 182). Though the original was destroyed, it seems that a copy was made in good time, otherwise it would be difficult to vinderstand how Preston became acquainted with its contents. 'Preston gives this extract exactly as the text of the 1723 "Constitutions;" only he adds: " The following particulars are also contained in a very old MS., of which a copy is said to have been in the possession of the late George Payne, Esq., Grand Master in 1718," edit. 1788, p. 193. Other editions of Preston's work (from 1775) contain these quotations; but tliat of 1788 is selected, as the most comprehensive of the series. '■* No. 48 of the present series was not published until the year after the issue of the 2d Constitu- tions (viz., 1739); but if it had appeared before 1738, the conclusion drawn would not be affected, as it follows either the " Spencer " or the " Cole " MSS. (32 and 47). 3 "Prince Edwin . . . form'd tlie Grand Lodge, under him as their Grand Master, a.d. 926" (Constitutions, 1738, p. 64), the text of No. 8 liaving " Anno Domini, 932." 'rHE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. 107 • the 1723 edition is separated from the " Edwin legend " in the 1738 issue, and, after a few minor changes, is added to the second extract already noticed, which we know was from quite a distinct MS., as Dr. Anderson himself declares, accompanied at page 71 by the declara- tion— "The Constitutions were now meliorated, for an old record imports, 'that in the glorious reign of King Edward III.,'" etc., about which the first publication is silent. Moreover, the reproduction of this second extract is but partial, as a portion is omitted, and other sentences are so altered as to make them read like modern Constitutions, the title "Grand Master " being interpolated, and the qiialification, " if a brother," inserted respecting the attendance " of the Sheriff, or the Mayor, or the Alderman," also the word ^^Congrega- tion" is turned into ^' Cliapter " ! Two extracts are printed, which are not in the earlier publi- cation; the one preceding, and the other following, those before mentioned. The first agrees with the " Cole MS. "and recites the St. Alban legend, both terming that Saint " the Proto- Mart}^," only the value of the quotation is seriously diminished by Dr. Anderson again adding the modern title of ''Crand " Master. ' The last citation from the old MSS. is to be found at p. 101, and is based upon IN'o. 11, or its typographical representative the " Eoberts MS." (44). The " Additional Orders "are those selected for insertion in the second edition of the Grand Lodge Constitutions (1738), which are undated in the original text (11); but are said in No. 44 to have been agreed to " at a General Assembly, held at . . . on the Eighth Day of December 1663." Dr. Anderson was evidently not so careful in his statements as " Eoberts," for he supplies the names of the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and Grand Wardens, present on the occasion {offices, hy tlie way, tlien unhnoimi), and alters the day to the Feast of St. John the Evangelist 1663, doubtless to bring it into conformity with modern usage. The text of No. 11 should be consulted at page 56 and compared with that supplied by Dr. Anderson, when it will be readily seen that the learned Divine has changed the 5th Rule (No. 30 in MS. 11) so as to read " one Grand Master," in lieu of ''one Master," and has appropriated the 6th Rule of the "Roberts MS." {not in No. 11), though he has discreetly omitted the 7th, and the Obligation, Preston follows in Anderson's footsteps, and is therefore entitled to no greater credence than the authority upon whom he relies. As many may be aware, a modern arrangement entitled " The CHARGES of a FREE- MASON, extracted from the ancient RECORDS of LODGES beyond sea, and of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the use of the Lodges in London: To he read at the making of NEW BRETHREN, or when the MASTER shall order it," prefaces " The General Regulations," printed a.d. 1723. Although Dr. Anderson presented an "im- proved" (?) version in 1738, it was not liked, and in subsequent editions that of 1723 waa reverted to, and indeed is substantially the same as those " Charges" which have been cir- .lated with the " Regulations for the Government of the Craft" of the "United Grand Lodge of England," from 1815 to the present date. Additional confirmation of the " Inigo Jones" text having been adopted in part by Dr. Anderson, or at least that of the " Cole" MS. (which is virtually the same), will be found by comparing the 1738 Constitutions with either of those MSS., so far as respects " The History of Masonry from the Creation throughout the Known Earth." Of what has been ' Preston's quotation is much more accurate — in fact, almost verbatim et literatim with No. 8, — it states that the particulars were taken from "an old MS., which was destroyed with many othei's in 1730, said to have been in possession of Nicholas Stone, a curious sculptor under Inigo Jones " (edit. 1788, p. 174). If we believe this statement, and if No. 8 actually belonged to Inigo Jones, the MS. of the workman may have been copied from that of the architect > io8 THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS. termed in late years " learned credulity," the labors of Dr. Anderson afford an excellent illus- tration. Of tlie creationist school of Masonic historians/ he is the facile pri^iceps, and if imitation may be regarded as the sincerest form of flattery, the late Dr. George Oliver has been, beyond all comparison, his most appreciative disciple. The subject of the " Old Charges," in relation to Freemasonry at York, will be dealt with in another chapter, and I think that the evidence I shall adduce will demonstrate the utter groundlessness of the statement "that Grand Lodges had been regularly held in York, and 07ily in that City, from the year 926 until the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These meetings of the Craft were dignified by the title of ' Assembles,' which were, to all intents and purposes, ' Grand Lodges,' and there is every reason to believe that they were held in York long antecedent to their being held in London." ° My reasons for questioning the validity of this claim will be expressed in due course, when I shall attempt to show that all the proofs tend to precisely an opposite conclusion, and fortify the position I take up, viz., that Grand Lodges are modern institutions, and that the several versions of the " Old Charges " supply no evidence from which we can reasonably infer that more than one " Assembly" was ever held in the city of York; unless, indeed, the reckless assertions of Masonic historians of an older school are to pass unchallenged. That Dr. Bell's statement rests on autliority of a certain kind may be freely admitted. Also that many names may be cited in support of the view he has advanced. Yet an opinion may be held by a large number of persons, who have all been misled by some erroneous autliority, and have all mechanically followed the same blind guide; so that their number has, in fact, no weight, and they are no more entitled to reckon as independent voices, '' than the successive compilers who transcribe an historical error are entitled to reckon as independent wit- nesses."' Supple MENTAEY Note. 49. "Harris." Ante, p. 45. Whilst these pages were passing through the press, the above MS. was published in the " Freemasons' Chronicle," * through the good offices of Mr. John Constable (London). I have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be the junior of the " MS. versions of the Old Charges:" its proper,place, therefore, on the roll of documents examined in this chapter would be 31a. I do not consider the text of any value, because it contains so many modern interpolations (possibly designed to render it more serviceable in the " Bedford Lodge," prior to its join- ing the Grand Lodge of England a.d. 1766). The transcription was probably made after 1738, though undoubtedly from an old MS., as we know that the lodge was active' from the year 1739, and several clauses of the " Prince Edwin's Charge" cannot well be assigned an earlier date. The peculiar headings to the twenty-five paragraphs into which it has been divided by the scribe constitute its only distinctive feature. Wide Halliwell, 3d edit, p. 48. ° Speech by Dr. John P. Bell, Deputy Provincial Grand Master, North and East Yorksliire (Report by Mr. T. B. Whytehead, Reception at York to Masonic Members of the British Association, 5th September 1881). 3 Sir G. C. Lewis, On the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion (p. 170). Woodford (in his excellent preface to the " Old Charges," which merits the careful study of all students of free- masonry) observes: " Tradition sometimes gets confused after the lapse of time, but I believe the tradition is in itself true, which links niasonrj^ to the chui'ch building at York by the operative brotherhood under Edwin in 627, and to a guild chai'ter under Athelstan in 927." * Freemason's Chronicle, April 22 and 29, 1882. ^ Rosicrucian, 1876, p. 35. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 109 CHAPTEE III. THE STOxXEMASONS (STEINMETZEN) OF GERMANY. T"^IIE ceaseless progress of the building art, throughout the strife and turmoil of the Middle Ages, is a remarkable phenomenon which at once arrests our attention, and challenges our research. Prince and Bishop, Kaiser and Free City, wage their eternal feuds; nations rise, fall, amalgamate, or dissolve. All Europe is in a ferment; and yet throughout the greater part of it the mason quietly and unceasingly plies his trade. By the margin of the peaceful lake, in the gloom of the primeval forest, arise the monastery and the convent; on the summit of each lofty crag is reared the castle of the feudal chief- tain; by the rushing tide of every noble stream and on the primitive highways of com- merce spring into existence countless walled cities; and within their safe enclosure, with never-tiring perseverance, the busy masons pile stone on stone, till the majestic tower or graceful steeple of the cathedral almost scales the skies. A bare list of the monuments of architecture erected from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries would cover many pages; and in no country is this movement more emphatically marked than throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Scarcely had the Teutonic hordes obtained the mastery over the fast decaying Eoman Empire, and the wandering tribes become somewhat fixed in their newly acquired territories, than the work began. Devout men from the British Isles, chiefly from Ireland, crossed over to the mainland, and penetrating into the depths of the German forests, carried the pure doctrines of primitive Christianity to the German tribes. Wherever they came, they raised churches and dwellings for their priests, cleared the forests, tilled the virgin soil, and instructed the heathen in the first principles of civiliza- tion. Fallou ' gives a long list of convents and churches erected by these and other holy men from the sixth to the ninth centuries. Then came Charlemagne and taught the Ger- man tribes to build cities and palaces (Aix-la-Chapelle, Ingelsheim). Each city soon became the seat of a Roman Bishop; hence arose the cathedrals; and in many other cases the bishop's seat gave rise to the town. Later on the cities prospered and grew rich, and the necessity for sumptuous town halls arose, and thus by degrees the face of the land became dotted with those monuments of architectural skill, the very ruins of which testify to the cunning of the builders. And who were these builders ? What manner of men were they? Whence came they? They were the Steinmetzen. They were a class of simple workmen, bound together by strong ties of brotherhood, but containing in their midst master builders whose minds were stored with all the mathematical knowledge of those days, and who contentedly *F. A. Fallou, Mysterien der Freimaurer, 3d edit., p. 177. no THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. worked for a lifetime at au edifice, satisfied to know that althougli they might never see its completion, their successors would carry on the work to a glorious conclusion, and raise one more temple to the worship of the Most High. Before proceeding to inquire into their origin, it may be as well to form a clear idea of the significance of their name. Stein undoubtedly means stone; and it has very generally been assumed that metzen is derived from the same Teutonic root as Messer, a knife, and Meitzel, a chisel; hence Steinbrenner, p. 46, calls them, and Fort constantly refers to them as stonecutters. ' The probable root of the word is, however, messen, to measure; hence the literal English translation would be stone-measurers — identical in all points with our own term stonemason. As to their origin, this is a question which will always be most difficult to satisfactorily determine. The German writers are many who have written of the craft guilds of the Middle Ages, and have therefore necsssarily touched on the German stonemasons; but they have been content with describing them as revealed by their own and contemporary^ documents, without instituting any inquiry into their origin. They take up their history when they were already in the high tide of their prosperity, and therefore afford us little information to the point. The writers on architecture and art incidentally mention them, but always in the same manner, and have mainly derived the few particulars with which they favor us from the preceding class. Early Masonic writers have merely compared their institutions with those of the English Freemasons (Vogel, Krause, Kloss, Heldmann, etc.), and the first of this class to attempt to unravel their early history is Fallou, in his " Mysterien der Freimaurer" (1848).^ In many points this author is untrustworthy, as he has sacrificed every other consideration to his grand aim of proving that our present system of Freemasonry is directly attributable to the German stonemasons. In hardly any one case of importance is his testimony strengthened by a reference to an authority, and many of his statements are, to say the least, so staxtling, that without such reference they must be very charily used. Winzer ^ has walked in his footsteps with even greater hardihood of assertion; and Findel, Steinbrenner, and Fort, have more or less placidly followed their lead without any attempt at verification. Never- theless, to Fallou must be assigned the credit of having first shown where the Steinmefzen probably originated, and in- what m.anncr they developed, although some of his deductions are undoubtedly wrong. That the first seeds of architecture in Germany were planted by the Christian mission- aries is indisputable. We need not assume that the German tribes in their wanderings had purposely destroyed every sign of Roman civilization, including their massive stone edifices. They would hardly have taken the trouble to pull down Roman masonry, but j)robably what the fire had spared, the hand of neglect and time finally ruined; and the tribes being a distinctively warlike race, not given to the arts of peace, it is very doubtful whether in the sixth century even the dwellings of their chiefs were more than rude huts, decorated with the spoils of combat. But the first missionaries, whether British or Roman, were acquainted with the rudiments of architecture; they had examples in their own countries to guide them; and were accustomed to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. On establishing a mission in a German forest, we may be sure that their first care after con- verting a few heathen, was to establish some kind of a church, however humble. This ' G. F. Fort, The early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 145. 5 The first edition of tliis worlc appeared in 1848, but all quotations are made from that of 1859. * J. Winzer, Die Deutschen Bruderschaften. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. in would be, in the first instance, a mere log hut, composed of the trees of the surrounding forest. The ground thus cleared was afterward tilled and cultivated; the natives were taught to assist in the labor; a storehouse became- necessary for the produce of the soil, and so another log hut was erected; perhaps afterward a shelter for the monks and their converts; more natives were attracted to the spot, and the desire arose to enlarge the church. This time, perhaps, it was placed on stone foundations, and the first principles of the mason's art were acquired. In process of time the wooden structure fell a prey to the flames, and the inhabitants ^vould consequently undertake the task of erecting a stone edifice; rude no doubt, but still requiring a further advance in the art of stone-working. By the repetition of this process in many isolated spots, we can easily understand how the workmen gradually advanced in technical skill, and that little by little the first missions became convents and monasteries of no slight pretensions. The larger and more famous the convent grew, the more necessary would it be to keep constantly at hand a body of experienced masons, as it is scarcely jjrobable that the monks themselves would suffice for the work. We may therefore conclude, that although at first monk and layman turned their hands indiscriminately to any toil that came uppermost, either building or agriculture, yet in course of time those who showed themselves most expert at any particular work devoted themselves exclusively thereto, and that a class of builders by profession arose amongst the laity in the neighborhood of the monastery, the direction of whom was probably entrusted to some more than usually skilful monk. For those in the south of Germany means were at hand in Northern Italy to improve their art by communication wdth the artists there resident. Their cousins the Longobards, a tribe first mentioned in history as living to the east of the Elbe adjoining the coasts of the Baltic, had overrun Italy and established themselves there as early as a.d. 568, and in course of time advanced to a comparatively high state of civilization. We need not inquire with Fort, whether after a.d. G92 the Byzantine artists took refuge in Lombardy; nor is it even necessary to admit that the Longobards were masters of an advanced style of architecture. The anciej;t monuments in Italy were quite sufficient to furnish models for the German monks on their travels; so that we are not thrown upon the necessity of supposing that these Byzantine artists migrated to Germany to teach the builders their art. But if they did join the German convent builders, which is quite possible, we have no warrant whatever for con- cluding that on their arrival in Southern Europe they were "quickly" affiliated with the corporations of builders, as stated by Fort, ' for it is scarcely conceivable that at that time the peasants Avho helped the German monks were already incorporated. The competition of trade, the oppression of the feudal lords, were yet in the future; and as the trades had therefore no necessity for incorporation it is highly improbable that it existed. Dr. Jos. Schauberg "^ maintains that the monks directing these operations owed much of their success to the remnants of the Roman colleges, which were never thoroughly sup- pressed in Gaul, and, passing through Britain and Scandinavia,'* ultimately laid the foun- dations of the craft guild system in Germany. But I am quite unable to agree with him, for the simple reason that at the time of these early convent builders we have no sign of tlie least approach to a craft guild in Germany; nor indeed can we imagine such an insti- tution until the cities had made considerable progress toward opulence. Whatever con- ' Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 40. *Dr. Jos. Schauberg, Vergleicliendes Handbuch dcr Symbolik der Freimaurerei, vol. iii.. p. 223. "Schauberg, Vergleichendes Handbucli der Symbolik der Freimaurerei, vol. iii., p. 249. 1 1 2 THE S TON EM A SONS OF GERMANY. nection may possibly be traceable between the Roman colleges and the formation of craft guilds can have had no influence on the earliest builders in the forests and by the streams of Germany. Their gradual perfection in the art of masonry must be considered as self- evolved, and the result of constant practice, and endeavors to excel. Or if it be absolutely necessary to presuppose a higher knowledge of art and architecture in their leaders, we need go no further than the British monks. Britain at that time, although distracted by war, and invasions innumerable, was by no means destitute of architectural productions. It would be difficult to decide Avhat pretensions to art the celebrated monasteries of the Culdees in Mona, lona, and Bangor possessed; but we have Anglo-Saxon churches still in existence, or at least parts of them — such as Tickencote, near Stamford, in Lincolnshire; part of St. Peter's, at Oxford; part of St. Alban's Abbey; the southern porch at Shireburn Minster; the towers of Earl's Barton church, Northamptonshire; and of Sompting, in Sussex; and numerous others.' Our earliest cathedrals were also begun in the seventh centurv, although in many cases no part of the original structure now remains; for instance, Can- terbury a. d. 600, Eochester C02, St. Paul's 601, AVestminster 605. The influx of British monks, both papal and non-papal, continued until a very late period; and we are told that ho, the most learned Englishman of the ninth century, lived in the convent at St. Gall.* St. Columbanns, who in a.d. 602 crossed over to Burgundy and Germany, and founded several convents,' either by himself or by his disciples, Avas renowned throughout Europe as the most accomplished man of his time; and St. Boniface in the reign of King Pepin built a monastery at Fulda." Indeed Heideloff, a Gennan architect, writing in 1844, does not scruple to declare, " during the time of the Anglo-Saxons building operations continued, and the monuments of architecture in England are the finest examples of the state of building during those ages. They also introduced the science into Germany, as the greater number of the German apostles were British and understood building, erecting everywhere convents. " ^ Nor is it to be supposed that the Eomish missionaries of a some- what later date were less skilled in architecture ; on the contrary, the Benedictines wherever they appeared were noted for the magnificence of their monasteries; and many of the later British missionaries to Germany were of the order of St. Benedict. Fallou ascribes the whole origin of the stonemasons as they subsequently existed to the Benedictine Monks, and chiefly to their abbot Wilhelm of Hirschau. The first intimation of the importance of this Abbot Wilhelm I find in Heideloff's often quoted work, page 6, where he says, " It was Abbot William who introduced the institution of lay brothers into Germany," and on the same page he says, " lie Avas formerly at the head of the lodge {BauliiUte) of St. Emmeran at Regeiisburg " (Ratisbon). Fallou " asserts that in the eleventh century the monks in Germany first copied their brethren in Gaul by instituting lay brotherhoods attached to the convent, and that the Abbot Marquardt of Corvey made use of this institution to procure builders for his new convent. Schauberg, however, refers to Springer ('' De Artificibus Monachis," Bonn, 1861) as proving that throughout the Middle Ages the chief artificers were laymen — not ' AV. H. S. Aubrey, History of England, vol. i., p. 79. 2 Carl Heideloff, Die Bauhtitte des Mittelalters, p. 4. The scholarship of this worthy appears to have been unknown in the land of his birth. The reference, however, clearly points to a native of the British Isles. 2 Fallou, Mysterien der Freimaurer, p. 175. ^ * Aubrey, Histoiy of England, p. 97. ^ Heideloff, Die Bauhijtte des Mittelalters, p. 10. * Fallou, Mysterien der Freimaurer, p. 157. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 113 lay brothers of che convent^ — and that even at Corvey the great majority of the artists were laymen. ' I can, indeed, see no proof that these lay brotherhoods were builders; on the contrar}', they more probably consisted of nobles, knights, and rich burghers, as is clearly pointed out by a further assertion of Fallou's, on the same page, that in the year 1140 the Cistercians of Walkenried (in Brunswick, at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, on the Wieda) instituted such a fraternity, and boasted that they could travel thence to Rome, and dine each day with one lay brother, and sup and sleep with another. This most cer- tainly discloses the nature of these fraternities, and it is impossible to connect them in any way with the building craft: they were not lay brothers in the ordinary sense, and evidently did not reside in the convent. On page 198, however, he is inclined to attribute the insti- tution of a lay brotherhood to a still earlier date — say a.d. 1080 — when William, Count Pala- tine of Scheuren, was elected Abbot of Hirschau (on the Nagold, in the Black Forest, Wur- temberg), and of whom it was reported that he was so famous that crowds flocked to his convent, praying for admission. These petitioners were all admitted as lay brothers, and speedily taught the various manipulations of masonry, etc. ; so that in 1082 he was enabled to undertake the reconstruction of the monastery. At that time no fevver than three hundred monks and laymen dwelt in the convent under his orders. He instituted a rule for them, partitioned out their hours of labor, rest, worship, and refreshment, inculcated above all things brotherly love, and enjoined strict silence at work, unless desirous of com- municating with the master. His school of art rapidly acquired such extended fame that he was overwhelmed by entreaties from all parts of Europe to furnish architects and artists for building operations. Nevertheless, in spite of his best workmen being constantly drafted off elsewhere^ he was enabled to see his convent completed before his death, a. d. 1091. Thus far Fallou. As he unfortunately omits to quote his authorities, we can only assume that he has drawn his facts from some monkish chronicle. That Abbot Wilhelm was a great man in his day is indisputable. St. Anselm, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, visited him in 1084; ^ and the ruins of his splendid monastery are still in evidence. But the above account scarcely justifies the deduction that he was the originator of the craft of stonemasons. It is perfectly evident — (1.) That the lapse of time was totally insufficient to create a large class of skilled artificers; and (2.) We have no k'ace here of divisions into grades, such as apprentice, fellow, and master. As regards the first point. In 1080 he succeeded to his post, and in 1082 he was enabled to commence reconstruct] 071. It is therefore evident that many of the laymen who are reported to have joined him were already skilled masons (two years being wholly insufficient for the instruction of such a large body of men) ; nor would the ensuing nine years have sufficed to raise such a superstruc- ture by means of only half-trained workmen. In fact, a passage further on in Fallou ' distinctly states that according to the chronicle of Walkenried, Abbot Henry III. admitted into his convent "21 skilled laymen, chiefly stonemasons " as lay brothers. It is important to distinguish between a laym«7i and a lay brother — that is, between a citizen of the world and a semi-member of the Church. Fallou would almost seem to have purposely con- founded them. I have shown that a large amount of skill must have been already acquired under the monks during the preceding five centuries; and shall show further on, that by this time (eleventh century) many experienced workmen must have been resident in the ' Schauberg, Vergleichendes Handbuch der Symbolik der Freimaurerei, p. 274. ^ Heidelotf , Die Bauhiitte des Mittelalters, p. 5. ? Fallou, Mysterien der Freimaurer, p. 201. 1 1 4 THE S TON EM A SONS OF GERM A N Y. fast-growing cities. As to any organization of the workmen, the idea is untenable. If any such existed, it was doubtless amongst the free artisans of the town, who may have entered into the pay of the monks; but the lay brothers in all cases became the servants of the convent, dependent on them for food, lodging, and raiment; and the necessity for a term of apprenticeship is entirely absent. The title of magister, or master, was doubtless in use, and may have denoted the monk directing the operations. The distinctive feature of ap- prenticeship, is the obligation to serve a certain master for a fixed time at a reduced rate of payment or even gratis, as the case may be. But a lay brother of a monastery would be under the same rule as the monk himself — allowed to possess no private property — and hence could receive no pay beyond his sustenance; so that if grades of workmen existed at the building of these monasteries, they were either craft masons in the pay of the abbot, or something totally dissimilar to any association subsequently known to us. Speaking of Fallon's assertions as above, Winzer ' says: " But these fraternities cannot interest us, being organizations of serfs;" and probably he is right — the workmen, or laborers, with the exception of a certain proportion of craft masons, being most likely the serfs, vassals, and villeins of the convent. Fort,^ however, distinctly maintains that the Freemasons at a very early age appropriated the several degrees then existing in the monasteries. On page 46 we find his reasons for this statement, which are wholly unsatisfactory: " Lacroix asserts, in a chronicle of the time of Dagobert (a.d. 628-9) that Saint Eloi reorganized the jewellers, whom he selected from different monasteries, into a society comprising three degrees of laborers— masters, fellows, and apprentices." We have no proof that these monks were clerics; in the early ages monks could enter or leave a monastery as they chose; vows of chastity, etc., were unknown; in fact the life of a monk was a purely voluntary one; and in the quotation we are told that they left their different monasteries, and Avere organized into a society. Lacroix himself says: " Already was the jeweller's trade organ- ized into a corps d'etat, ^^ ^ i.e., a trade association, — which is far from proving Fort's asser- tion; and, indeed, more naturally suggests the usual features of an ordinary craft guild. It should be added, that Fallou had previously maintained the same theory, and even went further, in endeavoring to show that the ceremonies of the Steinmetzen were an adajDtation of those used at the reception of a Benedictine novice, thereby implying that Freemasonry, as (according to this author) we now have it, was directly due to the inspira- tion or influence of the Abbot Wilhelm. Unfortunately for this theory, the Benedict ine ceremonies, relied upon by Fallou, appear to have had no existence outside the pages of his work, and, indeed, his statements on this head are positively contradicted b}' more than one writer of authority." *^ We thus see that from the sixth (perhaps fifth) century onward up to the twelfth, when most of the monasteries were completed, they afforded the means of acquiring skill in the manipulation of building materials, and may thus be looked upon in Germany as the earliest school of masonry and the cradle of architecture, furnishing large numbers of cunning artificers and experienced master builders, but not contributing in any way toward the organization of the stonemasons. For the origin of this sodality we must look to the trade guilds; which, beginning in the towns as early as the tenth century, or even eai^Iicr, ' Winzer, Die Deutschen Bruderschaften, p. 47. ^ Fort, The Early Histoiy and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 73. ^ Laeroix, Les Arts au ^loyen ago, p. 160. ■•Guiiitt, Gesehiclite des Beuedictiiier Ordcns; and Aubrey, History of England, vol. i. , p. 98. THE S TON EM A SONS OF GERM A NY. 115 had meanwhile been acquiring increasing importance and extent; until, in the twelfth, we find them fully developed throughout Germany. A very short sketch of the rise of the craft guilds will be sufficient for our purpose. When the German tribes first appear on the pages of history, we find them consisting of perfectly free and independent members only; subject in matters of external policy and war to a chief of their own election, who is described generally as their king, but whose office was not hereditary — those cases in which the dignity descended from father to son, arising solely from the superiority of the son to the other members of the tribe. Even the great Attila's kingdom fell to pieces on his death. The great bond of society was the patriarchal; every member of a family owed allegiance and support to its head, and assistance to every other member of the family. In course of time as the families grew larger and extended over a wider territory, their bond of union was loosened, and voluntary associations of neighbors, having a community of in- terests, took its place. When Charlemagne established his supremacy in the ninth century he introduced the feudal system, and from this time we find German society divided into feudal lords — feudal retainers — smaller freeholders and serfs. About this time, also, cities first began to arise, probably from various causes. In some cases fortified places were necessary for protection against the still savage and predatory tribes of the North, or of Hungary. Charlemagne was himself the founder of a city, by establishing a court there, as at Aix-la-Chapelle. In others, the increasing population round a bishop's seat frequently developed into a town. In the earlier ages every man manufactured for his own use what he required. As civilization progressed it is probable that a system of mutual exchange arose. Later on still, the freemen scorned any and every occupation but that of the chase or the combat, whilst the richer classes caused their dependants and serfs to provide all their requirements; but still we have no sign of any one prosecuting manual labor on his own account and for a remuneration in coin. Not until the cities had attained a certain development could this take place. The original inhabitants of the towns consisted of three classes — the Bishop, Burgrave, or other Lord paramount; the small freeholders of the neighborhood, some perhaps absolutely free, others free but feudatories of the lord; and the lord's serfs and villeins, also possibly some villeins of the smaller freeholders. Some of these freeholders we may imagine to have dissipated their patrimony, which was acquired by the others; and in many cases the family would so increase that the original possession could no longer supply their wants. Hence would arise two classes of freemen, some rich, some poor. To secure themselves against the ever-increasing power of the bishops, association became necessary, and we see the old guilds for mutual protection and support taking a new form, and appearing as Burgher Guilds; and ultimately wresting one privilege after another from the bishop until the entire government of the city remains in their hands. The original qualification for membership was, no doubt, territorial possession.' Many of the members may have carried on trade; some of the poorer, perhaps, were handicraftsmen.^ Mean- while, the unf ree or bond population would continually increase, both by natural propagation, by refugees from neighboring tyrants, claiming the protection of the Church, and by grants of serfs from feudal chieftains to the bishops.^ Those serfs who exercised handi- crafts would then obtain permission to devote their surplus time to their own profit, and ' Lujo Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 29. '^ Ihid. 'Many instances of the latter may be found amongst tiie copies of documents in the first volume of Lacomblet, Urkundenbruch. ii6 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. obtain a shadow of independence. Freemen also would be attracted to the growing towns from one cause or another, and devote themselves to trades and crafts. Not the least amongst the causes which governed the rapid increase in the populations of the towns, may have been the fact that a serf or bondsman taking refuge in a town, and remaining unclaimed for a year and a day, became a /ree-man. This custom became ac- knowledged law in the course of the twelfth century,' and may have been copied from England, where this law was ordained in the eleventh century by William the Conqueror.' These, however, were not admissible to the burgher guilds, not being possessed of the ter- ritorial qualification. They would naturally band themselves into trade guilds for mutual defence. Following their example, the serfs would obtain from \ heir lord the permission to form guilds for the regulation of their trades. If one trade were not numerous enough several would form one guild. In course of time they would wrest or purchase one privi- lege after another from their superior, until at last they were wholly beyond his authority, and then would be acknowledged by the other free guilds as one of themselves. As labor became more and more subdivided, the number of different guilds in a town would increase. Examples are numerous of all these facts. For instance, on the 14th November 1260, Bishop Berchtold of Bale, in a document under his hand, recites, " Inasmuch as almost every class of men in this our town who carry on a mechanical pursuit, by our grace and by that of our predecessors do possess brotherhoods, commonly called guilds, the tailors alone excepted," — and ho then permits the tailors to enjoy equal privileges, including that of choosing their own master, and grants them a constitution, defining their right and duties, and fixing the amount of fines for offences.^ This not only proves that other guilds previously existed which had been formed '' of tlie grace of the bishop," showing that they were, therefore, not freemen (who required no such permission), but also that the tailors at once gained a large amount of freedom, inas- much as they were allowed to elect their own officers. This was not always the case; for in a charter to the butchers of Bale, 4th June 1248, Bishop Lutold II., he reserves to himself the right of appointing a master.^ And, again, the same restriction occurs in the grant to the guild of Sjjinnewetters. This is an instaiice, also, of several small crafts uniting to form one guild. This guild comprehended the masons, plasterers, carpenters, coopers, and cartmakers. ^ It is, there- fore, evident that serfs or bondsmen could and did form craft guilds, ° and it is not con- sistent with truth when German masonic writers claim that none but the freeborn could join a guild of any sort, and more especially the stonemasons. That later on, such a rule ex- isted and was rigidly enforced will presently appear, as well as many other restrictions; but it did not primarily exist, as the above instance of the Sjjinnewetters, which included the building trades, is alone sufficient to substantiate. The above charter to the butcher, a. d. 1248, is the eleventh charter in Bale, showing that ten others already existed, ' When the earliest craft guild in Germany was formed is of course difficult to ascertain; but there were others nearly two centuries earlier, of ' Dr. W. Arnold, Das Aufkommen des Handwerkers, p. 23. '^Aubrey Histoiy of England, vol. i., p. 183; Glanville, lib. v., c. 5. ^H. A. Berlepsch, Clironik der Gewerbe, vol. ii., pp. 18, 19. 4 Ibid., vol. v., pp. 17, 18. '^Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. v., pp. 18, 19. •^Arnold, Das Aufkommen des Handwerkers, p. 28. ■' Beilepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. i., p. 50. 777^ STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 117 which we have certain information. The earliest of these charters (in Germany) is that of the twenty-three fishers in Worms, sanctioned by Bisliop Adelbert 1106.' And we hear of another to the clothmakers of Quedlimbnrg by King Lothair 1134/^ b^it it is highly probable that many guilds existed de facto before they considered it necessary to obtaiii a legal sanction to their constitution; and that this was only sought for when they desired to impose their rules and regulations upon recalcitrant members or new-comers, and there- fore required a valid authority for their proceedings. But although these appear to be the earliest charters that have come down to us, we have evidence much earlier of the existence of these guilds, or at least of a particular trade acting in unison, whence we may infer that a guild existed. For instance, the weavers are mentioned in Mayence as early as 1099, and it is then stated that the Church of St. Stephen had been built chiefly by their sub- scriptions. ^ Of the standing of the Avool-weavers in Worms a document of Henry V. , a. d. 1114, bears witness;^ and the charter of the Cologne weavers, confirmed in 1149, speaks of their having existed for a long time. ^ Berlepsch thinks that we may take the thirteenth century as the period when the movement of creating craft guilds had fully developed throughout Germany; " and Bretano,' basing himself upon Arnold, says — "The time of the origin of the craft guilds in general may be said to extend from the beginning of the eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century." That already in the beginning of the thirteenth century the crafts had obtained great power and extension, may be deduced from the fact that, at the Diet of Worms 1231, so many complaints were made, chiefly by the bishops, against the trade guilds of the towns and their masters, that King Henry found himself under the necessity of totally dissolving all guilds, without any exception, then existing in the German cities; and this decree was confirmed by the Emperor Frederick 11. in April 1232. The principal passage of this decree runs, — " And equally do we dissolve and declare suppressed all and every craft, brotherhood, or guild, whatsoever name it may bear."' The guilds were, however, far too strong to be thus summarily suppressed, and the decree never had any success, although again confirmed by the Emperor Rudolf of Habs- burg in 1275. Shortly afterward he reinstated all guilds in their former privileges.' We thus find in the German towns of the Middle Ages, two distinct classes. First, the original freeholders, in whom resided the whole government of the town, represented by the burghers' guild. This guild underwent various denominations in the different cities: it was called the old guild, the high guild, the guild, the patrician guild, etc. In some cases, where it monopolized the chief trade (not craft), it was otherwise styled — for instance, the weavers' guild. But under whatever denomination, it had grown exclusive; it no longer admitted all free burghers, not even, if they possessed the territorial qualification; demanding, in all cases, that the claimant to the honor should have forsworn his craft for a year and a day; and that none " with dirty hands," or "with blue nails," or who " hawked his wares in the street," should be admitted.'" Thus a distinct class had been formed — the patrician class, the rights and emoluments of which were hereditary, and acquired with 'Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. i., p. 50. ^ Ihid. ^Arnold, Verfassungs Geschichte, vol. i., p. 254. ^ Ibid., p. 255. ?76id.,p. 253. * Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. i., p. 50. ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 54. * Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. i., p. 71. 'Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. i., p. 73. '" Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 43. ii8 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. great difficulty by strangers; and whose members reserved to those among themselves who were not thoroughly independent of all labor, the most lucrative and considerable trades, such as the goldsmiths, the bankers, the general merchants, etc. They had also grown proud, domineering, and aggressive; so that no sooner did the second class, the craft guilds, feel themselves strong on their legs, than in one city after another bloody feuds ensued; the final result of which was the dethronement of the patricians from their supremacy, and in some cases the breaking-up of the high guild. Generally, however, the conquerors, with rare magnanimity, still allowed the patrician guild to contribute its delegates to the municipal council, and in some cases even granted them a casting vote in consideration of their past services. \ Brentano ^ fixes the time of the final victory of the craft guilds as toward the end of the fourteenth century, although in some cities the consummation had been arrived at much earlier. The craft guilds having thus acquired a high position, we now find another movement initiated by the masters — who in their turn became proud — viz. , that of gradually exclud- ing the workmen from their meetings. This took place in all guilds, the stonemasons only excepted, as will presently appear; and even with it, the same evolution must have occurred, only much later — probably not till the end of the seventeenth century. The workmen (journeymen) therefore formed guilds or fraternities of their own; in some cases electing officers of their own body; in others, from amongst the masters. The literature treating of these societies is extensive, and in many cases their customs and usages may enable us to form some idea of the customs of the stonemasons, who were a craft guild resembling in many things the other craft guilds, and in some matters, wherever the exi- gencies of their trade required it, differing from all. This fraternity of builders, whose first authentic charter is the one already quoted of the thirteenth century, had doubtless been in existence much earlier, as a contract has been preserved to us made in 1133 between the Bishop of Wurzburg, Embricho, and the lay master mason Enzelin;' and to them must we look for the organization of the society, which, as I have shown, was not to be found amongst the convent builders. It is probable that in the twelfth century or there- abouts, the skilled masons of the convent builders left the employ of their masters, the monks, now grown opulent, fat, lazy, and vicious, and unable to provide them with further work, and amalgamated with the craft builders in the towns, and that the two together formed the society afterward known throughout Germany as the Steinmetzen. Many other causes may also have contributed to this end — such as the munificence of the prince bishops, desirous of surpassing in their cathedrals the sumptuous edifices of the abbots and priors; also the increasing importance and wealth of the towns, rendering work more certain and pay more liberal; the feasibility, in such places, of the workman becoming an inde- pendent master, and acquiring a competence; and possibly the disgust felt by the indus- trious workman at the vices of the degenerate monks, although I am inclined to think that undue stress has been laid on this reason by German authors. All German writers place the exodus from the convents at about this date, but they generally ascribe the trade organization also to the convent builders, and therefore are able to dispense with any previously existing stonemasons' guilds, quietly ignoring them altogether. Passing this by, in the twelfth century we certainly do hear of the stone- masons as a distinct fraternity, occupied in the construction of large edifices, chiefly ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 47. * Ihid, 2 Di\ Ang-. Reicliensperger, Die Bauhiitte des Mittelalters, p. 12. Cologne, 1879. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 119 cathedrals and churches; and they must have had their origin cither in the convents or the cities, and as I have attempted to show, probably in both simultaneously. And precisely as we find all trades inclined to subdivide themselves, so did the iSphme- wetter, who at first included all the building trades, resolve themselves into component parts; but the particular branch of this union, denominated masons, further divided itself into other ramifications; and we find these subdivisions taking the names of Steinmetzen (stonemasons), Steinliauer (stonehewers), and Maurer (masons, rough masons, bricklayers, etc.). It is with the first of these, the stonemasons, that we have principally to deal, and whose subsequent history, as elucidated by their documents, it will next be our business to investigate. All documents anterior to a.d. 1459 relating to the Stonemasons of Germany, which have hitherto been made known, throw very little light upon the subject, being either charters similar to the one previously quoted, or contracts for quarrying stone,' erecting buildings, etc. We have also one of 1257, being the grant of a plot of building land by the dean and chapter of Cologne Cathedral to the Master Steinmetz Gerard, for the erection of a dwelling-house for himself . '^ But none of these are capable of disclosing the inner life and organization of the fraternity. Heldmann, however, anxious to trace a code of Steinmetz laws of which he had heard, and which is still religiously preserved under triple lock at Strassburg, ^ made fruitless endeavors to inspect it in 1817, but was fortunate enough later on to find a true copy in the possession of Herr Osterrieth, which he first published to the world in 1819,' in the original old German dialect. These laws or ordi- nances are commonly distinguished as the " Constitutions " (or code) of 1459. Having been so frequently reprinted, it will be unnecessary to include them with the series of ordinances which illustrate this chapter — those of 15G3 and 14C2 — as the interested reader can readily refer to them in one of the several publications below noted. ° In the introduction we are informed, that for the greater advantage of their employers, as also of their own members, and to avoid disputes, the ma-sters and fellows had held meetings (literally chapters, in German Xapitteh-weise) at Speyer, Strassburg, and Eatisbon (Regensburg), and had agreed and sworn to, the following rules and regulations. These ordinances conclude by stating, that at Eatisbon in the year of our Lord 1459, on the festival of St. Mark, Jost Dotzinger of Worms, Master of the buildings at Strassburg Cathedral (and his successors for ever), was acknowledged as chief judge (oberster Rychter) of the fraternity; which regulation had been previously made at Speyer and Strassburg, and was once more confirmed at Speyer in the year 1464, on the 9th April. The very next paragraph, however, somewhat places the whole matter once more in confusion, as it states that at Eatisbon in 1459, and at Speyer in 14G3, the workmasters of Strassburg, Cologne, and Vienna were acknowledged as being chief judges — " These three are the highest judges and lodges of the craft; these shall not be displaced without just cause." Apart from the confusion thus created, it is therefore evident that Heldmann's cojDy is not a transcript of the 1459 code, but of one whose earliest date is 1464; but the fact remains that a set of laws was drawn up in 1459, and was doubtless identical with the present; and we have Osterrieth's affidavit" that it is a ' Lacomblet, Urkunden fiir Geschichte der Nieder Rheins, vol. ii., p. 381. 'Uhid., vol. ii., p. 242. *F. Heldmann, Die drei Aeltesten Geschichtlichen Denkmale, p. 201 *Ibid., p. 203. ^Findel, p. 660; Steinbrenner, p. 84; Masonic Eclectic (New York, 1865), vol. i., p. 35; and Ken- ning's Cyclopaedia, p. 529 (Ordnungen der Steinmetzen). « Heldmann, Die drei Aeltesten Geschichtlichen Denkmale, p. 241. I20 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. true copy of the MS. wliich he saw in the lodge at Strassburg during the revokition. Following this appointment of three chief lodges, we have a definition of the province attaching to each; and a fourth province inserted, namely, that of Bern, comprising the whole of the Swiss Confederation. Next come a few more regulations, and a paragraph stating that on the 9th April 1464, it was agreed that the Master of the Strassburg Lodge, Jost Dotzinger, should call a meeting "after the manner of a chapter," and take to himself three or four masters, and whatever should be decided by the majority of those then assembled in chapter, either to render the articles more severe or more mild, that should be held of all the craft; and the day of such meeting was then fixed to be St. George's Day 14C9. So far as we know, the meeting was never held; at least we have no record of it. Then follow the names of those who agreed to these laws on the 9th April 1464, succeeded by those who signed " four weeks after Easter " 1459. The number is not large, being six in the first case and twenty-one in the second. Additions are afterward made of fresh names as late as the year of our Lord " 1472, on the Sunday before the 12th day of Christmas." The above code of laws or ordinances gives us a very good idea of the organization of the stonemasons as they then existed, and as they had probably existed for some centuries previously; the introduction expressly stating that they are drawn up according to ancient custom, and lays down in broad outline a comprehensive j)icture of their trade usages and customs. But we find one new feature that doubtless dates from 1459, — that of the bond embracing all Germany and Switzerland, — that is, the inner fraternity and the supreme authority. We can have no doubt, that previous and constant intercommunication had reduced the various guilds of stonemasons scattered throughout Germany to one general uniformity, except in some small matters (the length of apprenticeship, for instance), and that, like all other trades, a Journeyman free to work in one place was acceptable in another. Yet differences, tending to positive strife, were by no means impossible under such cir- cumstances; but in 1459 we find this rendered excessively difficult by the institution of a universal guild or fraternity, and four chief lodges, to which all disputes must be referred. Of the latter, in spite of some obscurity in the wording, the lodge at Strassburg was the supreme head. It is even more than likely that this assembly in 1459,. and the rules then laid down, were the direct result of some quarrel which had threatened to become preju- dicial to the trade; or they may have taken their rise from a feeling in the craft that the days of their highest prosperity and power were slipping away from them, and that some mighty effort was necessary to consolidate their associations and combine their interests; or they may, on the other hand, have been simply the outcome of a desire to obtain royal authority for their future proceedings, as we find that immediately afterward these statute& were laid before the Emperor for confirmation. These Ordinances apparently remained in full force till 1563, with possibly some slight alterations of individual sections; a proceeding perfectly allowable according to the laws themselves. Heldmann indeed supposes that such did take place, at the assemblies held (as he avers) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries at Strassburg, Cologne, Bale, and other places, although he does not cite his authority for this statement. ' It is, however, quite obvious that the Ordinances of 1459 are given in a very confused manner, without any attempt at natural sequence or order; and for this, as well possibly as for other reasons, it became highly desirable that they should undergo a general revision, which accordingly ' Heldmann, Die drei Aeltesten Geschichtlichen Denkmale, p. 52. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 121 took place in 1563 at two meetings, held respectively on the festivals of St. Bartholomew and St. Michael. These revised laws were printed in folio, and a copy distributed to every lodge of importance, the master of which was willing to join the fraternity; and the follow- ing is a translation, in which will be presented as literal a rendering as possible, of the antiquated, rugged German, at the sacrifice of all pretension to elegance of diction.' In the numeration I have followed Kloss, and Eoman figures are used, in order to distinguish the separate articles from those of the 1462 code (to be given hereafter), to which attention will be called by ordinary figures. THE BROTHER-BOOK OF 1563. The Ordinances and Articles of the Fraternity of Stonemasons renewed at the Chief Lodge at Strasshurg on St. Michael's Dag MDLXIII. His imperial Roman Majesty, our most gracious Lord, having in this one thousand five hundred and sixty-third year most graciously renewed, confirmed, and approved to the general fellowship and brotherhood of the Stonemasons in German Lands their regu- lations and duties; and whereas for some time past many irregularities and bad habits have arisen and obtained in the craft of Masonry, therefore have many masters and fellows of aforesaid craft and fraternity, as they are named hereafter, met together in the aforesaid sixty-third year at Bale on St. Bartholomew's, and at Strassburg on St. Michael's Day, in order to elucidate and better aforesaid Ordinances and Articles of the Craft and Brother- hood, and the aforesaid have elucidated and bettered said Ordinances, and settled that they shall be held as hereafter follows; and no one who is of this guild shall do or act contrary thereto. The first Article of these Ordinances. I. That if any Article in this book be too hard or heavy, or any be too light, then may those who are of our guild, being in a majority, alter, lessen, or increase such Articles, according to the times, the necessities of the land, and the course of affairs. And when there is a general summons they shall meet together in chapter form, according to the con- tents of this book; and that [their resolutions] shall be kept on the oath which each one has taken. Of the Duties of those who are of this Guild. II. Whoso comes into this guild of his own good will, as hereafter stands written in this book, he shall promise to keep every point and article if he be of our craft of Masonry. Those shall be masters who can erect costly edifices and such like work, for the which they are authorized, and serve no other craft unless they choose so to do. And be it masters or fellows they shall and must conduct themselves honorably, and none shall be wronged by them; therefore have we taken power in these Ordinances to punish them on the occasion of every such act. Such works as are journey worTc shall be alloived to so remain. III. Whatever regular buildings are now under journey work, such as Strassburg, Cologne, ' No English translation of these ordinances has hitherto appeared. They were first published as the Secret Book (Oeheimbuch) of the Stonemasons, in folio, with imprint 1563, and the imperial eagle on the title-page, and from this copy were republished by Heldmann, Krause. and HeidelofT. 122 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. Vienna, and such like works, and in the lodges thereto belonging, as according to cnstom have hitherto been completed by journey work, such buildings and work shall remain under journey work, and in no wise shall a contract be made, in order that the work, so far as possible, be not cut short by reason of the contract. Wlio may aspire to a building. IV. If any craftsman who has a regular work should die, then any craftsman or master who understands masonry, and is sufficient and able for the work, may well aspire to and apply for the work, so that the Lords who have such work in hand and direct it may again be supplied according to the necessities of masonry. So likewise may any fellow who understands masonry. Work sliall he given in journey worTc. V. Whatever master it may behove, beyond his own work, to undertake a work abroad, or any other master whom it may behove, though he have no such aforesaid work in hand, such master shall, as he best can or may, in good faith set and continue such work or building by journey pay, so that there be no danger of the work being cut short, according to the right and usages of masonry. And if a master do not make use of this [method of pay- ment, understood'] for the persons who cause the work to be done, and it be found out on t'";.::-!; worthy information, then shall the said master be taken to task of the craft, corrected and punished after it be proved against him. But . if the Lords will not do it so, then may he act according to the Lord's desire. When a Master dies during a Building. VI. If a master who has possessed and had such a work and building in hand should die, and another master come and find hewn stonework, be it set or unset, such master shall not pull down the set stonework, nor shall he in any way cast away the unset hewn stonework, without the counsel or agreement of other craftsmen, so that the Lords and other honorable persons who caused such building to be raised be not put to unjust expense, and that the master who left such work after his death be not defamed. But if the Lords wish such work to be removed, then may he allow it to be done, provided he seek no dis- honest advantage thereby. How Stoneliewing and Building is to be conducted. VII. And every master who has practised masonry his five years with a stonemason, shall be permitted and have power to hew stones and build by contract or journey work, without fear if it so please him, nevertheless without trespassing against the articles written Jierebefore, or hereafter. When a Master gives a Plan for a WorTc. VIII. If any one contracts for a work, and gives a plan for it how it shall be; the work shall not be cut short of anything in the design, but he shall execute it according to the plan which he has shown to the Lords, cities, or people, so that nothing be altered on the building. Unless it be that the Lords will it so, then may he alter it according to the Lords' wishes, but without seeking undue advantage. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 123 What sort of Work two Masters may have in common. IX. And no two masters shall have one building or work in common, unless it be a small building that may be brought to an end in the space of one year; such may he well have in common with him who is a fellow-citizen. If a Work require Masons.^ X. A master may grant employment as follows: — Should it be that masons are required, say for foundations, or to build a wall, for which they are capable, the master may well give them employment, that the Lords be not de- laj^ed on their works; and they that are employed shall not be subject to these Ordinances- but they shall not be further set to hew stones, because they have not served according to our Ordinances. Who thrusts another from out a Work. XI. "Whoever it be, either master or fellow, who shall oust from his work another master who is of this guild of craftsmen, or shall apply, be it in secret or openly, without his knowledge and consent, for the work that he possesses, be it large or small, the same shall be brought to task; and no master or fellow shall have any communion with him. And no fellow who is of this guild shall enter into his employ so long as he possesses the work which he has dishonorably obtained; nor until he shall have made restitution and given satisfaction to him who v/as thus dispossessed of the work; and also until he shall have been punished by the masters who are enjoined so to do by the guild. Who shall accept Carved or Planned Stonework. XII. Should there be one who would undertake carved or designed stonework, not knowing how to execute it from the ground plan, not having served his time to a craftsman or been employed in a lodge, he shall in no wise undertake the work. But should he so venture, then shall no fellow stand by him, or enter his employment, in order that the Lords be not put to unseemly expense by such a foolish master. Who may he taught to execute Work from the Ground Plan or other Carved Work. XIII. And no craftsman, warden, or fellow shall teach any one, whoever he be, that is not of our craft, to make extracts from the ground plan or other usages of masonry, who has not practised masonry in his day, or not served long enough with a stonemason accord- ing to our craft, customs, and ordinances. No Master shall teach a Fellow anything for Money. XIV. And no craftsman or master shall take money from a fellow for showing or teaching him anything touching masonry. In like manner no warden or fellow shall show or instruct any one for money in carving as aforesaid. Should, however, one wish to in- struct or teach another, he may well do it, one piece for the other, or for fellowship sake, or to serve their master thereby. How many Apprentices a Master may have. XV. A master who has only one building or work may have three apprentices, two ' Wall builders, or rough masons. 124 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. rough and one art apprentice, that he may also emjoloy fellows in the same lodge, that is, if his superiors permit. If he haye more than one building he shall not have more than two apprentices on the first works and buildings, so that he have not more than five ajDprentices on all his buildings. Nevertheless, so that each may serve his five years on that building and work on which he serves. Wlio openly lives in Concubinage. XVI. No craftsman or master of masonry shall live openly in adultery. If, however, such a one will not desist therefrom, no travelling fellow nor stonemason shall stand in his employ, or have communion with him. Wlio lives not as a Christian, and goes not yearly to the Holy Sacrament. XVII. No craftsman or master shall be received into the guild who goes not yearly to Holy Sacrament, or keeps not Christian discipline, and squanders his substance in play. But should any one be inadvertently accepted into the guild who does these things as afore- said, no master shall keep company with him, nor shall any fellow stand by him until he shall have ceased so to do, and been punished by those of this guild. If a fellow work for a Master who has not been advanced in this Guild. XVIII. If a fellow take work of a master who has not been advanced in this guild of craftsmen, he shall not be punished therefor. In like manner, if a fellow go to a city master, and there obtain employment, that may he well do, so that every fellow may find work. But nevertheless, the fellow shall keep the Ordinances as hereinbefore and hereafter written. And what it behoves him to give to the guild that shall be done by him, although he stand not in one of the guild lodges, or with his fellow brothers. But if a fellow would take unto himself a lawful wife, and not being employed in a lodge would establish himself in a city, he shall on every Ember-week pay four pennies, so long as he be not employed in one of the lodges. Hoio Complaints are to he heard, judged, and conducted. XIX. And if a master have a complaint against another master for having violated the regulations of the craftsmen, or in the same way a master against a fellow, or a fellow against another fellow, whatever master or fellow is concerned therein shall give notice thereof to the masters who hold these books of the regulations. And the masters who are informed thereof shall hear both parties, and set a day when they will hear the cause. And meanwhile, before the fixed or appointed day no fellow shall avoid the master, nor master the fellow, but render services mutually until the hour when the master is to be heard and settled. And this shall all be done according to the judgment of the crafts- men, and what is adjudged shall be observed accordingly. And, moreover, where the case arose there shall it be tried, by the nearest masters who hold the book of these regulations, and in whose district it occurred. Concerning driving away. XX. It is also further decided as regards the driving away: if it happen that anything be reported of a Master or Fellow, a matter of hearsay, repeated from one to the other, so long as it not certain, and the aforesaid not righteously convicted thereof, he shall be THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 125 avoided of or driven away by no one, but pursue his work until such time as it shall really be brought home to him, and he be righteously convicted. Unless it be that he will not yield obedience to the laws of the craft, such a one shall go idle according to our aforesaid Ordinances. Not to Appeal. XXI. It is also decided, where a matter begins and takes its rise, there shall it be settled, or in the nearest lodge where a book lies. And neither party shall appeal until plaint and answer take place and are heard, nor carry the matter further than aforesaid, unless it be rejected there. What Master lias power to hear Complaints. XXII. Every workmaster who has employment in his lodge, and to whom this writing of the Ordinances and power shall be entrusted, shall have power and might in that district to hear and to punish all complaints and causes that affect masonry. And all masters, wardens, and fellows shall be obedient unto him herein. Every Master shall conduct himself, and be guided hy these Ordinances. XXIII. On the day at Strassburg anno 15G3 is also decided: that every Master who has in hand a building that is permanent and not momentary, be it in princedoms, lands, cities, institutes, or cloisters, shall hold and judge according to our ordinances; for thereby their advantage shall be greatly advanced, who have to build, and harm avoided. Therefore each one shall have a book, and be acknowledged as superior of his circuit and district by all the masters and fellows of that province. He shall also have perfect power, which is given to each at this assembly, and enjoined upon him, conjointly with his fellow masters, by virtue of their superiority, to firmly rule this craft, to punish his subjects, accept brothers, help the sick, to call a general assembly of his neighborhood, nevertheless in such wise that nothing be cut short of the Ordinances. Where a Book is, there shall be the Collectio7i for the Poor and Sick Brothers. XXIV. And all those to whom books of the ordinances are given, shall faithfully collect the weekly penny from the fellows; and if a fellow become sick, shall assist him. Likewise, where such a superior has a master under him, having employment and fellows, he shall order him to collect the weekly pennies in a box, and give him a box for that purpose, which box shall be emptied by and accounted for to each superior of a district every year, and be employed for the assistance of the poor and sick of our craft who are under him. And every master who has a box, and has received account every year of his neighbors of their boxes, shall send a bohemian' every year at Michaelmas to the chief lodge at Strassburg, with a ticket whence it comes, as a sign of obedience and brotherly love; that it may be known that all things as aforesaid have been carried out. The Places which, having Books, are subject to the Chief Lodge at Strassburg. XXV. Speyer, Zurich, Augspurg, Franckfurt, Ulm, Heilbrunn, Blassenburg, Dressden, Nuremberg, Saltzburg, Mentz, Stutgarten, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Basel, Hagnaw, Sclilet- etatt, Regenspurg, Meysenheim, Miinchen, Anspach, Costenz. 'A coin of very trifling value. 126 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. Of a Fellow wlio wishes to serve a Master for a time. XXVI. If a fellow has travelled and served the craft, and is also previously of this guild, and wishes to serve a craftsman for a time, the said master and workman shall not accept each other for less than one year or thereabouts. Of a Master or Fellow who should disobey these Ordinances. XXVII. All those, be they master or fellows, Avho are of this guild, shall hold in obedi- ence all points and articles, as stand both before and hereafter written. But if any one should perchance break one of the points and become punishable, if afterward he be obe- dient to the regulations by sufficing to that which he has been ordered as amends, he shall have done sufficient, and be released from his vow as regards the article wherefor he has been punished. How the Masters of this Guild shall preserve the Boole. XXVIII. The master who has charge of the book shall, on his oath to the guild, have a care that the same be not copied either by himself, or by any other person, or lent; so that the books remain in full force, as resolved by the craftsmen. But should any one be in need of one or two articles more or less, that may any master give him in writing. And every master shall cause these Ordinances to be read every year to the fellows in the lodge. Concerning Punishments that may entail expulsion from the Craft. XXIX. If a complaint be laid before a master, such as would entail the greater punish- ment; for instance, if any one is to be forbidden the craft, that shall the master of a dis- trict not hear or judge of alone, but call to his aid the two nearest masters, who also possess a book and power according to these ordinances, that there may be three of them, and also the fellows that are in the employ where the complaint arose, and that which these three, 'together with the fellows, unanimously or by a majority, shall then decide on their oath and to the best of their judgment, that shall thereafter be maintained by the whole body of craftsmen. When Quarrels arise, not concerning Masonry. XXX. Should it be that two or more masters who are of this guild be at variance or discord about matters which do not concern masonry, they shall not on account of this difference summon one another anywhere but before the craft and brotherhood; and they shall judge and reconcile them to the best of their ability, but so that the matter be settled without prejudice to the rights of those Lords or cities where the matter arose. What each Master or Fellow shall Contribute to this Guild. XXXI. Now in order that these ordinances may the more honestly be kept with service to God and other necessary and seemly things, every master who has lodge employment, and practises masonry, and belongs to this guild, shall first, on his admission, pay one florin, and every year thereafter two bohemians or blapperts into the craft box, and a fellow five bohemians, and an apprentice also the like amount when he has served his time. Of what Masters shall have Boxes, and what is to be given thereto. XXXII. All masters and craftsmen who are of this guild, and have lodge employment, shall each possess a box, and every fellow shall pay thereto every week one penny, and every master shall faithfully collect such n.oney and Avhatcver else may be due, and THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 127 annually account for it to the guild where the nearest book lies, that the poor may be relieved, and the necessities of our guild provided for. When a Master does not do his duty to a Fellow who is an Art Apprentice. XXXIII. Should an apprentice consider that his master does not, in whatsoever respect it be, perform his full duty toward him, as he has engaged to do, the apprentice may bring the matter before the craftsmen and masters, who are resident in the neighborhood, in order that his instruction may be completed, and his travels take place according to cir- cumstance. Should any he sick in this Brotherhood, what is then to he done. XXXIV. Should a master or fellow fall sick, or a fellow of this guild who has in his time lived uprightly in masonry, and lay so long sick that it fail him in sustenance and the necessities of existence, the master who has the box of the guild in his charge shall help and assist him with a loan from the box, if he otherwise can, until he recover from his sickness; and he shall vow and promise to restitute the money lent into the box. But if he die in his days of sickness, then shall so much be retained from what he leaves after death, be it clothing or otherwise, till that is again made good which had been lent him, if so much there be. Should any one defray a7iything on account of the Brotherhood. XXXV. Should it be that a master or fellow be put to expense, or defray anything on account of the guild, and notice be given how the same occurred, such expenses, be they large or small, shall be returned to such master or fellow out of the guild box. And also if any one come to grief with Justice or other things touching this guild, then shall every one, be he master or fellow, be helpful to the other, and lend him assistance on his oath to the guild. Nevertheless, no one shall of his own accord, without the advice of other masters and fellows, put the Brotherhood to any expense. Hoio a disohedient one shall he punished. XXXVI. Whatever master, warden, or apprentice shall offend against these or the hereafter-written points and articles, and not keep them, either collectively or any one in particular, and it be discovered on honorable information, he or they shall be for such offence called before the craft, and questioned thereon. And the punishment and penalty that may be adjudged to them, that shall they be obedient to, on the oath and vows that each one has taken to the guild. But should any one slight the punishment or summons without righteous cause, and appear not, whatever shall be then adjudged to him as a pun- ishment for his disobedience that shall he give, although he be not present. And if he will not do it, then shall he be allowed to go idle, and no stonemason shall stand by him till he become obedient. Y^ho shall he superior Judges in this Craft. XXXVII. Marx Schan, workmaster of the high foundation of our dear Lady at Strass- burg, and all his successors. This district helongs to Strasshtirg. XXXVIII. All the country above the Moselle, and Franconia as far as the Thuringian Forest, and Babenberg as far as the Bishopric of Eichstatten, and from Eichstatten to 128 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. Ulm, from Ulm to Augsburg including Augsburg, from Augsburg to the Adclberg, and as far as Italy, the Lands of Misnia, Hesse, and Swabia, these shall be obedient to these Ordinances. This district belongs to Vienna. XXXIX. To the workmaster of the building of St. Stephen at Vienna belongs — Lampach, Styria, Werkhausen, Hungary, and the Danube downward. This district belongs to Cologne. XL. To the workmaster of the foundation at Cologne and to all his successors, to him shall be obedient in a like manner and belong — the remaining territory downward, what- ever work and lodges there be in it, who are of this guild, or may hereafter join it. This district belongs to Zurich. XLL Bern, Bale, Lucern, Schaffiiausen, St. Gall, etc., and all work at this time in the Confederacy, or hereafter to arise, shall be obedient to the master at Zurich. Ordinances of the Wardens and Fellows of the Stonemastons' Craft. XLII. Every warden shall hold his master in honor, be willing and obedient unto him, according to the rule of masonry, and obey him with undivided fidelity, as is meet and of ancient usage. And a fellow shall also do likewise. i/" a7ig wish to travel, how he shall take his leave. XLIII. And when it behoves a fellow to travel farther, he shall part from his master lodge and hostelrie in such wise as to remain indebted to no one, and that no man have any grievance against him, as is meet. • How tlie Fellows shall be obedient unto the Masters and Wardens. XLIV. A travelling fellow, in whatever lodge he may be employed, shall be obedient to his master and warden, according to the rule and ancient usage of masonry, and shall also keep all the regulations and privileges which are of ancient usage in the said lodge. No Felloiv shall revile his Master's Work. XLV. And a fellow shall not revile his master's work, either secretly or openly, in any wise; unless it be that the master infringe or act contrary to these Ordinances; that may any one say of another. No Fellow to be employed who lives in adultery.- XLVI. No master or craftsman shall employ any fellow who consorts with a woman in adultery, or who openly lives a dishonorable life with women, or who goes not to the holy communion according to Christian discipline, or one who is so foolish as to game away his clothing. If a Fellow wantonly takes leave. XLVII. If any fellow should wantonly take leave from a head lodge, or from any other lodge, the master and fellows of the said lodge shall not let him depart unpunished. Not to discharge exce^jt on a pay evening. XLVIII. Should it be that a craftsman or workmaster have a travelling fellow in his THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 12-5 employment, and wish to discharge him, he shall not discharge him except of a Saturday or pay evening, that he may know how to travel on the morrow; unless he have given cause of offence. The same shall also be done by a fellow, if he demand his discharge. To ask none f 07' employment except the Master or 'Warden. XLIX. And no fellow shall ask any one else in the lodge for employment, except the master on the work or the warden: neither secretly nor openly, without their consent. To make no Leagxie. L. Likewise the fellows shall in the future make no more mutinies or conspiracies to leave any employ collectively, and thus delay a building; for up to the present the profits of our brotherhood have come from the Lords and cities almost entirely; but should a master behave otherwise than right in any case, he shall be summoned before the craft, and submit to its judgment. And in case of a pending judgment no such master shall be avoided of his fellows until the matter be adjudged, unless it be that such a one be dis- obedient to the judgment; in that case he may well be left to go idle. Not to leave the Lodge without permission. LI. No fellow shall go out from the lodge without leave, or if he go to his broth or any other meal, remain out without leave; nor shall any make Holy Monday. If any one do so, he shall stand to punishment by the master and fellows, and the master shall have power to discharge him in the week when he will. No more Beatings. LII. And in future, in no lodge, no matter for what cause, shall any one be beaten without the knowledge and consent of the workmaster. And there shall not in any em- ployment or elsewhere, anything be judged or heard by either masters or fellows, without the superior workmaster's knowledge and consent in the judgment of the penalty. Not to run together in the Lodge. LIII. And in the future the fellows shall wait in the lodge at their piece of stone, and no longer run together to chatter, so that the Lords be not hindered in their work. * What an Apprentice shall vow to the Craft when he has served his time and is declared free. LIV. In the first place, every apprentice when he has served his time, and is declared free, shall promise the craft, on his truth and honor, in lieu of oath, under pain of losing his right to practise masonry, that he will disclose or communicate tho mason's greeting and grip to no one, except to him to whom he may justly communicate it; and also that he will write nothing thereof. Secondly, He shall promise as aforesaid, to be obedient to the craft of masonry, in all things concerning the craft, and if he should be sentenced by the craft he shall conform wholly to such sentence, and yield obedience thereto. Thirdly, He shall promise not to weaken but to strengthen the craft, so far as his means may extend. Fourthly, No one shall stand by another to hew stones who is not honestly of the craft; and no master shall employ any one to hew stones who is not a true stonemason, unless it be previously permitted to him of a whole craft. ' ' This curicois expression probably means, " Of all the members of the craft in his neighborhood." I30 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. L V. And no one shall alter of his own Avill and power his mark which has been granted and lent him by a craft;' but if he ever desire to alter it he shall only do it with the knowl- edge, will, and approval of a whole craft. LVI. And every master, having aforesaid apprentices, shall earnestly enjoin and invite each one when he has thus completed the above-written five years to become a brother, by the oath which each one has taken to the craft and is offered to each. No Apprentice to he made a Warden. LVII. No craftsman or master shall appoint as warden any one of his apprentices whom he has taken from his rough state, who is still in his years of apprenticeship. LVIII. And no craftsman or master shall appoint as warden any apprentice whom he has taken from his rough state to apprentice, even if he have served his years of appren- ticeship, unless he have also travelled for one year. Ordinances of the Apprentices. LIX. Whosoever, henceforth, shall accept an apprentice, shall not accept him for a less security than twenty florins, and he shall lodge at least such security with one who is a resident of such placg, in order that if the master die before the apprentice has served his time,- the apprentice may serve the craft with some other true master, and complete the full term of five years. But if he complete them not he shall forfeit the twenty florins to a craft for the craft's expenses and loss, in the same manner as he would be indebted to the master if he left him without cause during his apprenticeship; in order that the apprentices may the more readily remain and become true stonemasons. LX. And no craftsman shall knowingly accept an apprentice of illegitimate birth, but shall have made earnest inquiries before accepting him, and shall ask the apprentice on his truth whether his father and mother have lived together in wedlock. LXI. And it is also decreed that no craftsman shall accept an apprentice in the rough otherwise than for five years, and henceforth none shall pay any money for the time which he has not served, but shall completely serve his five years. Nevertheless, what has here- tofore been done, that shall so remain, but in the future it shall only be done as aforesaid. LXII. And a father, being himself a mason, shall have power to bind one or more of his sons for five years and to complete their instruction, but only in the presence of other stonemasons; and such an apprentice shall not be under fourteen years of age. LXIII. If any one has served for any time a mason who is not a stonemason, that time shall not count, or be deducted from any apprentice's five years; but for five years shall he serve a stonemason, as aforesaid. LXIV. And henceforth no master shall accept a rough apprentice or declare him free, except in the presence of a craft, and the fellows who are at that time employed in the lodge, in order that if variances arise they may the more easily be arranged. LXV. And every apprentice shall promise the craft, on his truth and honor, to hold his master, during the five years that he is bound to him, in all due obedience, leal service, ' Tliis evidently means by a meeting- of the craft THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 131 truth, and faith, to further his advantage and avert his loss, so far as he may or can, without any exception or reservation. LXVI. And the master, on his part, shall give his apprentice, during said five years, according to ancient usage and custom of the craft, ten florins, namely, every year two florins, as his Avages, besides his keep and maintenance. LXVII. He shall also promise to be true and obedient to a worthy craft in all things concerning the craft, and if he should fall into variance or discord with his master or any other stonemason, or craft apprentice, to lay all matters connected therewith before a craft to be adjudged and reconciled, that in all things, for good or ill, he may obtain justice and judgment according to craft usage, and not to appeal against the sentence thus pro- nounced, but to strictly submit himself thereto. LXVIII. Furthermore, nothing shall be withheld from any one w^ho has been accepted and pronounced free, but whatever ought to be told or read to him, that shall he be told and communicated, in order that none may excuse himself, or complain that, had he pre- viously known thereof, he would not have joined the craft. LXIX. And in every case two carved tickets [a system of " tally "] of a like import shall be prepared, of which one shall be deposited with the lodge, the other with the security, in order that each side may know how to demean himself. LXX. And every master who accepts an apprentice shall pay to the craft not more than five bohemians or blapperts. In like manner, an apprentice, when he has been declared [literally "knocked"] free, shall be indebted to the craft one florin, and shall not be re- quired to give more. And that may be expended [literally consumed, " spent in drink," etc. ], in witness thereof, by those who are present at the giving of the freedom. LXXI. And no master shall extend the [preliminary] trial of a rough apprentice, who is old enough according to the articles, for a longer space than fourteen days, unless he be his son, or the master have a righteous cause for delay, on account of the security, for in- stance, and seek nothing wrong thereby. Wlien any one leaves during his Apprenticesliip. LXXII. And should it happen that an apprentice leave his master during his years of apprenticeship, without righteous cause, and serve him not his full time, no master shall employ such apprentice. And none shall stand by him, or have fellowship with him in any wise, until he shall have served his years honorably with the master whom he left, and have made full atonement, and bring information thereof from his master as is aforesaid. And no apprentice shall ransom himself from his master unless he enter into wedlock with his master's consent, or have other righteous cause that compels him or his master thereto, and it shall take place with the knowledge of the brotherhood, according to the judgment of the stonemasons. Not to entice away an Apprentice. LXXIII. And no master or fellow, whatever his name, shall entice or lead away any apprentice from him who has bound him, or received him from elsewhere into his employ- ment, unless ba \the appreniice] have previously complied with hie master's wish, in order 132 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. that he may leave him without any complaint. But should such occur, he shall be sum- moned before the craft and punished. Tliese are the Names of the Masters and Fellows who, at Strasshurg and Basle, unani- mously helped to Establish, Order, Reneio, and Confirm, the aforewritten Ordi- nances and Articles. Marx Schan, workmaster of the High Foundation, Strassburg; Hans Frewler, city workmaster of the same place; Jacob Noggi, city master at Zurich; Georg Luthener, city master at Spiers; Hans Lorner, city master at Frankfort; Simon Zwiezel, city master at Augs- burg; Nicholas of Lindau, on the part of Frederick, city master at TJlm; Conrad Herman, city master at Leipzig; Master Stephen Ziegler, master builder at Schletstatt; Hans ITl- berger, city master at Schletstatt; Balthasar Wolff, workmaster at Heilbronn; Wolffs gang Loscher, city master at Niirnberg; Gilg Grassenberger, city master at Eegensburg; Hans Bernhart, city master at Colmar; Nicolas Stattner, city master at Heidelberg; George Kanpff, city master on the foundation at Freyburg; Hans Lacher, city master at Basle; Peter Hildebraudt, city master at Lind?u; Blesy Berwart, workmaster at Stuttgart; Master Martin Berwart of Brackenheim; Master Jacob Dieter of Landau; Master Conrad Heckner of ^yeissenburg; Master Lorenz Klein of Hanau; Master Werner Branner of Sennen; Master Michael Ulrich of Colmar; Master Mathew Gasser of Werde; Master Mathew Gerber of Basle; Master Sebastian Keiilfer of Stuttgart; Hans Han of Brunnenfclz, delegate from Mayence; AVolff Biseneck, delegate from Blassenburg; Master Christopher Stromeyer of Saarbriicken; Master Eudolph Knatscher of Frankfort; Master Hans Meyer of Berne; Master Frederic Kessler of Weilburg; Pangratz Seyle of Landau; Thomas Fideler of Dresden, from Weyer; Master Caspar Erles, atEtlingen; Master Nicholas Hensslerof Stein; Master Wolff Vogle of St. Gall; Master Jacob Alther of Eoschach; Master Hans Weyss- kopff of Merseburg; Master Hans Ortlin of Zell; Master Melchior Schertzinger of Schaff- hausen; Master George Maurer of Constance; Master Michael AVummen of Biel; Master Veltin Gessler of Basle; Master Albrecht Geyss of Bruck; Master Hans Euch of Freiburg; Master Hans Schwerter of Zurich; Master Mathew Lang of AVeltkirch; Master Hans Zipfle; Master Laurence Degen; Master Daniel Heintz; Master Hans Dagsperger; Master Henry Eutzberger; Conrad Giirtler; Jacob of Andhiu; Hans of Piitengen; 'Lux Kienheim; AVolff Wildermeier; Hans Hertz; Wolff of Ipffhoffen; '^ Claus Nasser; 'Lux Furnkom: Henry of Heidelburg; Hans Beck of Mayence; Adam Zwick; Hans of Ingolstadt; Han-s Kien; Hans Biichs of Hanau; Conrad Krauss. The Fellows. Andrew of Biirn; Wolff Geiger of Schaffhausen; Nicholas of Biseneck; Heinricli oi Cassel; George of Sinssen; George Suterof Langenargen; Jacob Werckwiler of Offenbnrg; Hans Eudolff of Eotenburg; Lenhart Frumm of Halle, in Suabia; Peter Liitzel of Siburg [p)'obabl}/ Siegenburg in Bavaria]; Balthasar Koller of Grossen Bodmen; Lawrence Stein- berger of Neuburg; Peter Brack of Geneva; Jost Hussler of Landau; Mathew Muss of Hanau; Hans Isenman of Bressmiel; Eoland Miinch of Sesserich; Jacob of Burn; Nicholas Uiissler ' Lux, probably Lucas or Luke. ' Clans, short for Nicholas. The Christian names are mainly represented above by their English equivalents; hut Hans, short for Johan (John), is so characteristically German that it has been left untranslated. Jacob may either mean James or Jacob, as in Germany they have only one name for our two. The names of towns have been as far as possible modei'nized. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 133 of Arlen; George of Landsperg; Jiicob liiltebrancl of Eotenburg; Jacob of Rappoldsweiler; Velten Donnecker of Strassburg; Hans Decker of Netzerbolchen; Frederick Baltz of Wachenheim; Michael of Bisantz; Michael Extlin of Strassburg; Thomas Weybel of Strassburg; Hans Blum of Strassburg; Claude Jackome of Lausanne. At the request of Mr. Heldmann of Berlin, I testify that, as far as I can judge, after an examination of the statutes of the stonemason brotherhood at Strassburg of the year 15G3, placed before me by Professor Heldmann, this copy is a literal transcript of the printed book presented to me. Gth March 1819. {^Sigmdl Eggimaist, Notary, Member of Lodge zur Hoffnung, in Berne. These Statutes and Ordinances are in a great measure a repetition of those of 1459:; dijffering merely in orthography, as might be expected, from the interval of time that sepa- rates the two codes, and here and there in some slight shade of expression. They are, however, arranged with a greater regard to order, and omit all references to religious ob- servances of a denominational character, merely insisting on a due observance of Christian discipline. The Reformation will naturally account for this. The paragraphs I. to XIX., XXIL, XXVL to XXXV., XXXVIL to XLIX., LVIIL, LX., LXL, LXIIL, LXXIL are all to be found in the 1459 code at various places. Of these, however, VII, and VIII. allow the master rather more latitude than the original; and the concluding sentence of X. is a new proviso. Nos. XII., XIII. , XIV. are identical in both codes, but have hitherto been wrongly translated, and misunderstood, even by German writers, as will be shown further on. In XXVI. the term of engagement has been reduced from two years to one year. In XXXI. the masters' contribution has been reduced from four to two blapparts, but that of the fellows raised from four to five blapparts. In No. XXXV. the concluding sentence is new. In XXXVI. the penalty for persistent contumacy is deprivation of work; but in the code of 1459 it is provided, " that he may be brought before the ecclesiastical or civil courts." In paragraph XXXVIII. of the new code, the district belonging to Strassburg no longer includes Thuringia, Saxony, Frankfort; whence we may probably infer that these lands constituted a fifth district under a new chief lodge, possibly Dresden, although the fact is nowhere noted; but as will appear later on, precisely these districts held a meet- ing on their own account in 1462. In XLI. we find the Swiss chief lodge transferred from Berne to Zurich. In XL VII. the penalty for non-compliance was originally "not to seek employment in the said lodge for a year to come;" in 1563 the masons content themselves with providing that " he shall not depart unpunished." In the original of LXL we merely find it decreed that the term of apprenticeship shall be five years; but from the law being made non-retrospective, it is evident that meauAvhile it had been violated. In the original of LXIIL it was provided that a youth who had learned of a common mason, might acquire the rights of a stonemason by serving an extra three years only. As this concession is withdrawn in 1563 it is probable that it had acted unfavorably to the trade interests of the stonemasons. Paragraphs XX., XXL, XXIIL, XXIV., XXV., XXXVL, L. to LVIL, LTX., LXIL are all new in 1563. Also from LXIV. to the end, with the exception of LXXIL We also find that a few paragraphs of the 1459 Ordinances are totally omitted in 1563. 134 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. These principally provide for divine worship, the singing of masses for the departed, and the return of the hook and box to Strassburg, shoiild a master's building be completed, and he have no further employment for his fellows. One of the omitted Ordinances is, however, curious; and to render our review complete I now insert it here: — " Item. Whoever desires to enter this fraternity shall promise ever to keep steadfastly all these articles hereinbefore and hereafter Avritten in this book; except our gracious lord the Emperor or the king, princes, lords, or any other nobles, by force or right should be opposed to his belonging to the fraternity; that shall be a sufficient excuse; so that there be no harm therein. But for what he is indebted to the fraternity, he shall come to an agreement thereon with the craftsmen who are in the fraternity.^' This is rather suggestive of a practice not uncommon at the present day — of masters preferring to employ non-union men. The 15G3 code of Ordinances is the latest relating to the German stonemasons that has come to light; it was supplied in printed folio form to all large works, and denominated Brother-book. AVe may fairly presume that it continued to regu- late their trade until quite recent times, with the exception of the supremacy of the Strassburg lodge; of which more anon. It hardly, however, suffices to fill up the details in the picture of the Steinmetzen which it is our purpose to draw; a careful study will show that it only treats of the subject in broad outline. We still require something in -the nature of a copy of by-laws, in order to penetrate into the mysteries of mediaeval lodge life, and this we happily find in a code of Ordinances drawn up in 14C2. Stieglitz' discovered this code in manuscript form, in the stonemasons' lodge at Eochlitz (in Saxony, on the Mulde), and published it in 1829. It has since been republished in German as an appendix to Fort's work, but no English translation has yet appeared. The invocation to the Trin- ity and the four crowned martyrs, in the introduction, resembles the 1459 Ordinances, and we gather from the preamble, that the Strassburg masters had sent a copy of their Statutes to the masons' lodges in North Germany, in view of confirmation. The list of signatures in 1459, shows that these were not represented at Ratisbon and Strassburg, although their territory was made directly dependent on Strassburg. The North German masters expressly declare their adhesion to this code, and complete the work by enlarging on the various paragraphs in a separate document, for the use of their separate lodges, in order that the original book may remain intact and well preserved. And they expressly declare that these articles (wliich are not new or in opposition to the 1459 Ordinances, but merely elucidatory thereof) are drawn up from the ancient landmarks attributable to the holy martyrs. How, therefore. Fort could have fallen into the error of calling the masters and fellows, who met at Torgau (in Saxony, on the Elbe), dissenters and protesters, is perfectly incompre- hensible, lie not only does so, but implies that the 1459 Ordinances departed from the old landmarks, and states that the masters at Torgau indignantly protested, and even cites passages of the preamble in confirmation; which, however, prove quite the contrary.^ Indeed we have documentary proof ' that as late as 1725 the lodge at Eochlitz acknowledged the supremacy of the Strassburg lodge (although this was contrary to the laws of the realm), by paying a trifling yearly tribute, and received from Strassburg a copy of the Brother-book * C. L. Stieglitz, Tiber die Kirche der Heiligen Kunigunde zvi Rochlitz. ^ Fort, The Early Histoi-y and Antiquities of Freemasonry, pp. 147-177. Fallou first launches this theory, p. 210, and Steinbi^enner follows him, p. G6. ^ StiegUtz, Uber die Kirche der Heiligen Kunigunde zu Rochlitz, pp. 20, 2.S, 24 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 135 (1563). It is true — between Eochlitz and Strassburg — there was an intermediate cliief lodge, that of Dresden — ^but this does not affect the question. As already remarked, the articles of the 1462 code, in which Stieglitz's plan of numeration has been adopted, will be referred to under the ordinary figures, in contradistinction to those of the 1563 code which are distinguished by Eoman numerals. THE TORGAU ORDINAISTCES OF 1462. Concerning the loorsliipful Masters of Stonemasons of the Craft, the Wardens and the Fellows of the Craft. All Articles and Statutes as they are written in the Book; how each and every one in his conduct and station in the craft shall demean himself, both here in Zwdckau and else- v-'here in all lands; as in the Book, so stands hereafter written, each article separately. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, in the name of the blessed Virgin Mary, and in honor of the four crowned martp's, we workmasters of the stonemasons make known: To all princes and lords, cities and burgers, and also peasants, of whatsoever rank they be, of the Church or of the world, that the several workmasters in the Oberland have assembled on two days at Eegenspurgk and at Strasburgk, and have beheld such great evil and disorders in the work, and failings done in all lands of master, wardens, and fellows, therefore have they carefully sent into this land a book of the Ordi- nances and rules, and do exhort us therein, by the holy oath which we have sworn unto ma- sonry, to accept and confirm these Ordinances in this land according to usage, as this Book clearly points out. This have we done, workmasters in all these lands of Meydeburgk and Halberstat, Hildeszheim and Mullburgk and Merseburgk, and at Meihssen, Voitlandt, Dur- ingen, Hartzlandt, the majority of us being present together, or our wardens on our part having full power, on the two days of St. Bartholomew and St. Michael at Torgau; as is usually written, after the birth of our dear Lord Christ, and in the one thousand four hundred and sixty-second year, have we confirmed the regulations of the Book and the contents thereof, and are at one therewith, and thereto have sworn by the saints. These Articles are to be maintained in all lands, far and wide, be they of the Church or of the world, and we have enjoined upon all judges and overmasters to rule by such and to hold it in high esteem according to the usages and necessities of the land, and to keep watch over all that concerns masonry and buildings, and concerns not states nor cities; and to adjudge penalties in all matters relating to masonry; and it shall be done with consent of the lords who are the inheritors of the land, and to help the right. Therefore have we drawn up divers articles from the Book for the general good, and the Book shall remain in high honor in such places as we shall deposit it every year; and there will we hear once a year if any offence have been committed against master builders or fellows, that such be adjudged and atoned, and also if the lords of states, be' they spiritual or temporal, have an / cause of complaint as regards their buildings; and they shall submit them to such crafts- men as are chosen to be chief masters [literally Overinaster] in writing or by speech, and they shall be heard according to builders' usage. Therefore shall the overmasters that arc there, and have taken the oath and have summoned them on the yearly day, whenever it be, give them hearing as is customary, for the sake of the building; and if the lords suffer any loss, make good such loss according to the judgment of the masters; but if he come 136 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. not and answer not for himself, so shall he be proscribed and lay down all rule over his fellows, and none shall esteem or hold him true, nor shall he be true man. And we before-mentioned masters, wardens, and fellows have taken and drawn up from the Book for brevity, divers Ordinances that are obligatory on all workmasters in authority and fellows; that the real Book remain intact, and be only read there when we hold our yearly assembly. And when the lords will not have it so, then shall it not be so; and what the lords will not have, that shall be left undone of all such articles as are not of necessity, and the masters in such lands are not bound to enforce, according to their oath, such articles as contents of the Book of the craft; to declare Avhat shall be done for the service of God, and also for sustenance, this is not of necessity to write now; every master knows this well who has formerly heard it. And all these articles have been drawn up from the letter of the ancient lodge rights, that were instituted by the holy worthy crowned martyrs, by name Claudius, and Chris- torius, and Significamus, to the honor and praise of the Holy Trinity and Mary the Queen of Heaven. 1. Therefore have we made divers rules and statutes with the help of God. And every master shall on all acknowledged fasts cause four masses to be said. And on St. Peter's Day, when he was raised at Antioch, shall he also cause four masses to be said. And the first mass of the Holy Trinity, the other of our dear Lady, the third of the four crowned martyrs, the fourth for all who have died in the guild, and for all who help our craft and labor therein. 2. And the other masters shall also cause four masses to be said every feast of our Lady, one for each of the aforesaid souls, and the money wherewith he pays for the mass, the same money shall he take from the box, and the remainder shall he give to the craft box. And for God's service shall every master of a work, be it great or small, give on each fast of our Lady one old groat. And every fellow shall give every week to the box one penny for God's service. 3. And furthermore, no master shall undertake a work unless he have proved himself such to the craft, that the craftsmen be protected. 4. And should there appear a master that has not previously worked as master, then shall he have twain proven masters to speak for him, that he may be placed at, the head of the work, and thus shall he be accepted. 5. And where it is intended to raise new and stately buildings, then shall the lords of the work choose them a master whomsoever they will, and are enjoined to take two or four workmasters, and shall inquire of them on their oath which they have sworn to the guild whether the master be truly able to undertake the work. 6. For, if lords or cities appoint one who has not formerly undertaken such work, for stately buildings and take not craftsmen, and loss occur thereby, thereof shall nor master nor fellows judge, neither punish. 7. And no master shall undertake a work unless he be able to accomplish it; and should it be that he fail herein, it is for the lords of the work to restrain him, and also for us craftsmen. And that must he rue with one and twenty pounds of wax, and to the lord must he make good the loss. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 137 8. And every one shall keep liis time according to the ancient traditionary nsages of the land; if he do that he is free, and even if he do it not with counsel, according to the usages of the land and the craft. 9. And no master shall diminish or reduce the pay. 10. And every master shall be upright in all things. He shall incite neither warden nor fellow nor apprentice to evil, nor to aught whence harm may arise. 11. And every master shall keep his lodge free of all strife, yea, his lodge shall he keep pure as the seat of justice. 12. And no master shall bear false witness in his lodge, neither shall he defile it in any manner. 13. Therefore shall no master allow a harlot to enter his lodge, but if any one have aught to commune with her he shall depart from the place of labor so far as one may cast a gavel. 14. If other masters learn thereof, they shall fine him for each offence in five pounds of wax. 15. Natheless, it is not for the fellows to fine any master, but they are to withdraw from him and forbid other craftsmen his lodge, so that none consort with him, until he shall have been fined. 16. Whatsoever master shall rob any place, or take aught from any place of labor whereby any one suffer loss, or if he be murderer or outlaw, him shall ye altogether thrust from out the guild of the craft and suffer him in naught. 17. Whatsoever master shall summon another master before the law, or suffer him to be so done by, or do him evil or speak ill of him, he is empty of all honor, and fit for neither fellow nor master. 18. A master shall appoint his warden, master and warden being both present; and he shall appoint no warden unless he be able thereto, so that the craftsmen and he be supplied. He shall impress him with the wardenship, and receive his oath to the saints on square and gauge to prevent harm to the building or the master. 19. So shall neither master nor his wardens be illegally set over the fellows. 20. When a master has set a warden, the fellows shall swear to be obedient unto him as unto the master, and the warden shall pledge master and fellows 21. And no master shall accept any fee from a warden or fellow on account of his re- quirements, nor any offering; for if he be not able to earn his wages then shall he be dis- charged on the Saturday. 22. No master shall out of goodwill accept any apprentice before he have served his time and won his right; that is not in the master's power to the extent of one week. 23. And the master shall appoint each week a treasurer, who shall make all payments, and account each week to the new treasurer, and shall be answerable to him \the master'] for the contents of the box. 24. And the master has power, if h6 so will, to rest in the lodge at vesper tide. 25. And if a master or fellow come free of the craft or trade, and demand a mark of a workmaster, to him shall he grant his wish, and he shall give for the service of God that Avhich shall be adjudged of master and fellows. And to master and fellows shall he pledge the mark doubly. 26. No master shall withhold his mark from his apprentice for a further space than xiiij. 138 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. days, unless it be that the apprentice has wasted his master's time, lie shall then first do his behest before that and the feast. 27. And no master shall show any reluctance to pledge his apprentice's mark, and the several clericals whom he may bid thereto, with a penny wheaten bread of xv. gr., a loaf of XV. gr., meat, and two stoups of wine; and the apprentice shall not bid more than x. fellows, and if he bid more then shall he buy more, that the master suffer not thereby. 28. The master shall knock with three blows, the warden with two consecutively, and one for announcements at morning, noon, and eve, as is the old usage of the land. 29. The master may appoint an apprentice who serves for knowledge to the office of warden, if he be able to maintain it, in order that the building suffer not. 30. The master may lend his apprentice a mark to travel during his apprenticeship, if the master have no employment, and must let him travel. 31. No master shall allow his apprentice to pledge liis mark, unless he have served .his time. 32. No master shall lay snares for another and entice away his apprentice, so reads the letter. 33. No master shall employ any one who has brought himself to shame or dishonor either by word or deed; he is worse than a hound; him shall the master set down as void of honor, likewise also the fellows. 34. And no master or warden shall be held of good report who borrows and remains owing and is unwilling to pay. If this be brought home to him, he shall be warned and told to make it good by a certain time, and if he do this not, and do it not with the ap- proval of him to whom he is indebted, then shall he be debarred from aU employment until he comply with the wish of his creditor. 35. Also no master shall defraud or beslander the other, nor compete for his work unless it be that he have deserted it, or given it up, or permitted or prayed him so to do; so may he do it without fear. But should he do as aforesaid, the other masters shall cast him out. 36. Shame or dishonor one master the other by word or deed, and bring it not home to him, he shall be cast from out the craft. 37. Whatsoever master shall slight another's work, and is himself not able thereto, him shall ye proscribe. 38. And no master shall employ any fellow who has slandered another or doeth evil, and consorts with public women, and who in the hostelries or houses where they work, speaketh unchastely with maids or matrons, or is incontinent therein, who goeth not to confession oi doeth that which is wrong; he shall be proscribed and held an evil-doer. 39. And a master may hold a general court in his lodge over his own fellows, and he shall judge righteously by his oath, and not of hatred, or of friendship, or of enmity. 40. And furthermore, no master shall judge alone of that which touches honor or good repute; but there shall be together three masters who shall then judge such matters. 41. And further, every master shall inquire of his fellows every quarter, on their oath, if any hatred or envy be amongst them that might disadvantage the building; such shall he judge and put aside, and whatsoever fellow fail to comply herein, him shall he discharge, that no strife be found amongst them; and even though it please not the lords or the master builder, yet shall the master do right and avoid wrong, that he may keep his oath. 42. And he shall every quarter-day hold a hearing of lords and craftsmen, whether any offence were, whether they have wasted their time, lived riotously, gamed or otherwise THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 139 acted disorderly, whence harm might come to wardens or master, that shall they make known to the master that he may punish therefor as is meet; and if the lords declare it not to the master and forgive it the fellows, then shall the master not punish on account thereof; and if a lord of the building know thereof and the master punish not, then doth he not fulfil his oath. 43. Is aught to be judged amongst masters concerning good report, or which might drive away work, or cause a false state of affairs, whence injury might arise, concerning year work, or large buildings, that shall be judged where the Book of Ordinances is de- posited, and the masters assemble every year on the day as is aforesaid; then shall the masters elect them an over-judge, and the wardens and fellows shall elect sheriffs to the judge, and they shall judge by plaint and answer on the oath as administered; and if they in anything disagree, they shall take to themselves arbiters, and take counsel together that justice be done to all men. 44. And masters and fellows shall punish each other amongst themselves, righteously for the best, that the lords may not interfere through their perjury. 45. Should the masters have one amongst them, be he master or fellow, and will not be in obedience, and set. himself up against these ordinances, we pray all lords that none take his part or defend him on his petition; should he nevertheless, against all usage, be de- fended against us, we know well, according to the Ordinances, how we shall then demean ourselves. 46. Should there be a master or fellow who would defend himself contrary to usage, ye are to call upon all cities and lords, and lay the matter before them, and enjoin them to help us maintain our right; for to him who shall help us to our right will we also be obedient when they require our services. 47. And thus shall be the wardens, and maintain thus the old traditionary lodge rights, according to ancient usage and the Book, and the Ordinances of the oath. 48. Every warden shall preserve his lodge, and all that he has sworn to, and all that is entrusted to him of the place of work, that shall he keep and maintain for the good of the building. 49. The warden shall show goodwill to the fellows, and show them, without anger and of goodwill, what they shall ask of him. He shall use no more than right with any fellow or apprentice, he shall always prove level and plumb-rule, and all that pertains thereto, that no faults be therein, and if the master himself prove not or prepare such, then is it the warden's part; and should the master at any time learn thereof that he have neglected these articles, he thereby incurs a penalty of xij. kr. to the master. 50. The warden shall willingly choose and mark out stones for the fellows and appren- tices, and inspect and see that they be well and truly made of the fellows; and if he do not so, and the master discover errors that anything be untrue, then shall he forfeit to the master viij. kr. and the fellow vj. kr. 51. And if a warden mark a stone because it is of no use, then shall he \llie workman\ lose his wages that he had otherwise earned on that stone, unless it be made of use. 52. AVhatsoever warden shall levy a fine on account of negligence, or other offence, and shall not acknowledge and announce the same, he shall forfeit twice the fine that has been incurred. 53. No warden shall deprive his master of his building by word or deed; he shall not mjure him behind his back with false words; as oft as he so does, shall he be declared worth- 140 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. less and of bad report, and shall no master, neither the fellows, suffer him, but whosoever shall stand by him shall like him be worthless. 54. A warden shall knock at the right time, and shall delay it on no one's account. 55. Is a master not on the works, or absent therefrom, then has the warden full power to do or leave undone that which is right in the master's absence. 56. And the warden shall mark the under side of the stones of fellows and apprentices, should the fellows and apprentices fail to answer the knocks, and not appear to the right time at breakfast; and if he take not the fines so shall he pay them himself. 57. The warden shall not quarrel himself, or incite any thereto, either at meals or at work; he shall always comport himself right amicably and justly; he shall keep the fellows to their stones or work, be it what it may, that no harm may ensue to buildings or masters; and the master shall decide the fine, according to the loss he suffers thereby. 58. And no warden shall allow meals in the lodge during working hours, but only at the vesper rest. 59. Nor shall he suffer that more be spent at the vesper meal, but only one penny, unless there be a pledge feast, or that a travelling fellow be arrived; then is the warden empowered to cease work one hour earlier. 60. A warden has power to further a travelling fellow to the nearest work, also power to discharge on the pay-evening, even if he be not a builder or master. 61. He has power to allow every fellow or apprentice a reasonable time without loss. 62. And every warden shall be the first in the lodge of a morning, and after dinner at the opening; and the last to leave, be it at noon or at eventide, that all fellows may follow his example, and come to labor all the sooner. Should he fail herein, and the master come to hear thereof, whatsoever loss is thereby incurred, such loss shall the warden pay. 63. The warden shall help preserve all privileges of the lodges and places of labor. 64. And the warden shall make no overcharge on workshop fines, but according to the traditionary usages of the pay shall he levy them; and if he do otherwise, so is he unworthy. 65. And he shall maintain all things appertaining to the place of labor, and keep them to use, even as the master. Of the Ordinances of the Fellows, hotv they shall comport themselves. 66. Whatsoever fellow shall offer his services to another master before he shall have taken his discharge from the master with whom he serves, such fellow shall forfeit one pound of wax and be discharged. 67. Whatsoever fellow shall carry tales or create scandal between the master or other craftsmen, he shall forfeit one-half his week's wages. 68. Whoever takes another's tools without leave shall forfeit ij. kr. 69. Whatsoever fellow shall falsely apply his templet, or put it by before he have proved his work, and that without leave or before the master or warden shall have inspected his work, or shall leave his square hanging on the stone, or allow the level to lie about and not hang it up though it be furnished with a hole thereto, or lets his stone fall from the bench, or forces the pick iron from off the handle, or leaves his gauge otherwise than in the place appointed therefor, or closes not the window near his bench, — whoever shall do anything of the aforementioned articles, he shall forfeit iij. kr. for every such offence. 70. Whatsoever fellow shall speak the other ill, or call him liar in ill-will or earnest, or is foul-mouthed in the place of labor, he shall pay xij. kr. to forfeit. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 141 71 '1. Whatsoever fellow shall laugh another to scorn, or jeer at him, or call him by a nickname, he shall pay 15 kr. to forfeit.. 72. Whatsoever fellow shall not offer assistance to turn his stone this way or that, to fetch it or to turn it over when necessary, or places his mark thereon as if it were truly made, and that before it shall have been proven, so that it be passed unprovea to the store, or improperly finishes his work, he shall stand to forfeit one half pound of wax. 73. Whatsoever fellow shall drink or eat to excess, so that it become known, he shall forfeit one week's wages and j. pound of wax. 74. Whatsoever fellow shall use force in places of labor or of refreshment, or shall consort with or treat notorious females in the presence of godly women, he shall be dis- charged, and the week's pay that he has earned that same week shall be retained and given to the box. 75. Whatsoever fellow shall squander lodge moneys, or pilfer, or murder, or steal, or commit any other crime, or disports himself in the land- with ungodly women, and goeth not to confession and doeth not God's will, he shall be cast out from the craft and pro- scribed for ever. 76. Whosoever shall slander another and spread evil report of him, and justifieth it not, he shall make atonement to the satisfaction of masters and fellows. 77. Who shall accuse another and bring it not home to him, him shall ye severely punish, that he be careful of his speech another time; but if he prove it to the satisfaction of the fellows, according as the offence is shall ye judge, and no fellow shall ye judge out of malice. 78. And no fellow shall lord it over an apprentice, but he shall lay his plaint before the master, wherein the apprentice have offended him, and he shall punish him therefor. 79. And no warden, nor fellow, nor apprentice shall be his own judge, for if they do that, which of right belongs to the master, then are they deserving of a fine; and the master shall be judge and none other. 80. And the fellows shall not fine each other without the knowledge of masters and wardens. 81. And no fellow shall hew stones with a proscribed fellow, unless it be that he have made amends on that day of the year, when the masters do assemble. 82. And no fellow shall lead a woman of evil report into the lodges or places of labor, neither shall he take her where masters are together; who so doeth shall pay iiij. pounds of wax. 83. Whatsoever fellow shall make unto himself holy days in the week when he should be at labor, they are not holy, and he shall not be instructed. 84. And whatsoever fellow is absent when he should be at work, even after the break- fast is eaten, he shall not be paid for his time till noon; and if he remain absent all day and come to supper, then shall he not be paid for the whole day. 85. Whatsoever fellow shall not, for his master's honor, accompany him to church on Sundays and the greater fasts at high mass, but remains without, and without leave, he shall pay iiij. kr. to God's service. 86. Whatsoever warden or fellow be not with his master at the stroke of one on the Monday afternoon, and keep with him the vesper rest, and hear what he shall do on tliat Monday, he shall pay the supper bill; if he set himself up against this he shall be discharged 142 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. that Monday for disobedience, but if- lie pray excuse at his entrance, so shall he pay nothing and is free. 87. And every master may discharge a fellow from the building without causing anger, if it seem right to him. 88. And every fellow may take his discharge any pay evening if it please him, for none is bound to the other. 89. Whatsoever fellow takes service of a master for the winter, he shall be with him till St. John's Day, when the crown is hung up; unless it be that the fellow have aught serious against the master, whereby the work may sustain injury, then may he justly leave him. And if the fellow know aught to the master's dishonor, and keep silent, and hold his peace winter and summer, and denies it, that fellow keepeth not good faith, and is meet for no fellow. 90. And no fellow shall give master or warden any offering for the sake of work; with him shall no fellow work until he have been fined. 91. And no fellow shall do another's work for money, but he shall do one piece for another, or do it for him to his honor. 92. ISTo fellow shall speak against either warden or master. 93. And no fellow shall carry about with him any knife or other weapon other than one knife of half an ell in length, be it at work or refreshment; if it be longer, then shall he pay vij. kr. as fine, and also lay it aside. 94. If a fellow have not served his time, or have bought his mark and not honestly earned it, or if a hired servant or help establishes himself and teaches to work in stone, with him shall no man take service. 95. And no fellow shall speak ill of his master or warden unless he wish to make it known to those who stand in that master's service. 96. And no fellow shall fleece or maltreat the master builders, but they shall willingly do as the master builders instruct them if the master or warden be not on the works; but if they be there, so shall they tell the master or warden what is necessary to be said. 97. And no fellow shall complain of another fellow to the master builder, but to the workmaster. 98. And no master builder shall correct any strife amongst the fellows unless he be de- sired to do so of the master. 99. And no fellow shall take service with those who employ a master builder without the master's consent. 100. Whatsoever fellow shall be treated by the master builder, with him shall no fellow f^onsort. 101. Whatsoever offence the master builder commit, either against warden or fellow, that shall they lay before the master, and have strife with none. 102. And no warden or fellow shall secretly take pay without the master's knowledge; and though the master builder should wish to punish, it is for the master only to decide how he will arrange with his fellows. 103. And no fellow shall go with another to the closet, but one after the other, that the place of labor stand not empty; or one shall bear the other into the lodge, or pay ij. kr. 104. And no fellow shall do aught, or take stone for aught, or go out from the lodge, without the master's leave; and the master shall decide what he shall pay. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 143 105. And when a fellow travels, then when he comes to a new lodge shall he leave his master in friendship, and not in anger. 106. And if a travelling fellow come before work is knocked off, he shall earn his day's wages. And every travelling fellow, when he has received the donation, shall go from one to the other and shall thank him therefor, 107. And this is the greeting wherewith every fellow shall greet; when he first goeth into the lodge, thus shall he say: " God greet ye, God guide ye, God reward ye, ye honorable overmaster, warden, and trusty fellows;" and the master or warden shall thank him, that he may know who is the superior in the lodge. Then shall the fellow address himself to the same, and say: "The master" (naming him) " bids me greet you worthily;" and he shall go to the fellows from one to the other and greet each in a friendly manner, even as he greeted the superior. And then shall they all, master, and wardens, and fellows, pledge him as is the custom, and as is already written of the greeting and pledge; but not to him whom they hold for no true man, he shall be fined one pound of wax, xxiiij. kr. 108. And every fellow when he returns thanks, if he wish for employment, shall ask of the master, and the master shall employ him till the next pay day, and deny him not, that the fellow may earn his living; and should the master have no more work than he can perform alone, the master shall help him find work. 109. And every travelling fellow shall ask first for a pick, thereafter for a piece of stone, and furthermore for tools, and that shall be lent to him of goodwill. 110. And every fellow shall pray the other fellows, and they shall not turn a deaf ear; they shall all help; "help me that God may help ye;" and when they have helped him he shall doff his hat, and shall say, " God thank the master, and warden, and worthy fellows." 111. And if any fellow be in need on account of sickness, and have not wherewithal to live because he lieth sick, he shall be assisted from the box, and if he recover he shall pay it. 112. And if any fellow shall make a journey for the guild in that that concerns the craft his expenses also shall be paid him out of the box. A careful comparison of these documents will clearly demonstrate that in one small particular onl}^, do they clash'. The Ordinances of 1459 and 1563 provide (Art. LVIII.) that an apprentice shall not be appointed warden; whereas those of 1462 (Art. 29) permit the master to appoint an apprentice to the office of warden, " if he be able to maintain it;" that is, if he be sufficiently instructed and capable, in order that no harm may thereby ensue. In all other points, the Torgau Ordinances are merely complemental to those of 1459. As far as regards mere trade regulations, all these Ordinances are probably only con- firmations of previously existing customs, the preamble of 1459 stating clearly enough that the " masters and fellows at Spires, Strassburg, and Ratisbon renewed and revised these ancient usages;" but the fraternity was quite a new departure, which is plainly expressed by the words "kindly and affably agreed upon these statutes &nd fraternity." ^ The " fraternity " was agreed upon as something new; the usages, being ancient, were confirmed. Further proof is afforded in Art. XVIL, "No craftsman or master shall be received into the guild," which was renewed in 1563; so that we may presume that, even after more than ' See translation in Steinbrenner, Origin and Early History, etc., p. 86. 144 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. a century, not every master had joined the fraternity; which is further confirmed by the first clause of Art. XVIII., also by Art. XXVII., and others. Again, we find that the Torgau masters drew up a special code, containing divers Ordi- nances that were obligatory on all workmasters and fellows; that is, even such as were not of the fraternity. And in effect, throughout the 1462 Ordinances, the brotherhood or fraternity is not once mentioned or taken into account, and the word " guild " is only men- tioned in the very last paragraph, the word " craft " being always substituted. Kloss ' very cogently insists on the previous absence of this fraternity, and strengthens his proofs by quotations from the correspondence carried on in 1518-1521 between Annaberg and Strass- burg; from which, it is undeniably evident, that the Saxon masters had not then all joined the fraternity, and were only induced to do so after strong persuasion on the part of Strassburg. Why subsequent writers have chosen to ignore Kloss's very logical proofs it is not our purpose to inquire, although their reasons are perhaps not far to seek. The stonemasons Avere divided, like all other crafts whatsoever, into three classes, — ■ masters, fellows, and apprentices. The apprentices, however, though of the craft, were not admitted to the brotherhood; in this respect an analogy existing with the other craft guilds. But with the stonemasons, as their laws reveal, the master remained a member of the brotherhood, and owed his position in the fraternity as presiding judge, solely to his qualification of workmaster; whereas in other crafts the masters had formed fraternities of their own, and the journeymen also; and the journeymen fraternities were presided over in some instances, by one of the masters of the locality, and in others by one or more of the journeymen themselves, who then took the title of " Old-fellow " (Alt-gesell). In both cases, however, the officer was elected by the votes of the members; and in the former the master was admitted more as a representative of the masters than as a president, the pro- ceedings being always conducted by the " Old-fellow," the master sitting as a sort of co- adjutor. ^ But if we assume that this distinction was intentional, and that the stonemasons consciously differed in this resjoect from other craft guilds, we shall commit an error of judgment. A very little reflection will show that in each case the known result was natural, nay, almost unavoidable. In a large town there would be many master bakers, master weavers, master butchers, etc., and each one would have one or more journeymen in his employ; but in very few cases would the number in any one workshop be sufficient to form a separate fraternity, or the efforts of one establishment of any avail in influencing the policy of the trade. All the shops of one class, in one city or district, would conse- quently form one guild, at first including both masters and men. But as the masters grew richer, more refined, and of more influence in the government of the city, — and the more their interests clashed Avth those of the workmen, the greater would be the tendency of the two classes to separate, — the workmen formed their own fraternity, either entirely exclud- ing the masters, or allowing one or more of them to hold elective office; and the masters would refuse the fellows admittance to their guild meetings. And thus we arrive, on the one hand, at the trade guild practically consisting of the masters only, but nominally of the workmen also, — a fact which the municipality did not forget when it came to the ne- cessity of ranging their military forces (that is, all citizens and burgers) under their respec- ' G. Kloss, Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung, pp. 240-250. 'Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe. See vol. i. for general observations covering the above statements. INITIATED A FREEMASON AT BRUNSWICK, AUGUST 14, 1 738. This portrait is from the original by Menzel. and considered the finest likeness of him extant THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 145 tive banners; and, on the other hand, the workmen fraternities, who very soon, on account of their greater numbers, ruled the trade, and by means of constant intercommunication, through travelling journeymen, acquired a great uniformity of system in all parts of Ger- many. The guilds of masters interests us but little, but the journeymen fraternities may materially help us to fill up any blanks in our account of the stonemasons. With these the matter was quite different. In any one town there might easily be many rough masons, and these would follow the example of the other trades, but there would be comparatively few stonemason masters. In all probability only two, one at the head of the cathedral building operations, and one permanently engaged by the municipality to look after their town halls and other sumptuous edifices. They would each employ a large staff of fellows, which would be insufficient for the formation of two bodies, even if we admit that one or tAvo small masters also worked independently in the cities, furnishing any stone carved work that the richer citizens might require for the embellishment of their houses. There may also have been one or two fellow crafts in each city, working on small jobs at their special trade for a like purpose, in the employ of non-craft masters, for we see by Art. XVIII. that this was quite permissible. Master and workmen would therefore be forced to remain together, and each master would naturally preside over the proceedings of his own workshop or lodge. His office, therefore, never became elective; but uniformity of usage was also, in this case, soon acquired by the intercommunication of lodges, and prob- ably the fraternities of the stonemasons are barely to be distinguished from the other craft fraternities except by this test. We shall soon convince ourselves that all their regulations and institutions were very similar. The first condition, preliminary to binding an apprentice, was that he should prove his legitimate birth (Art. LX.). In addition to this, all German writers have insisted on the further qualification of honorable birth. Honorable, in this sense, would embrace many requisites; for instance, that his progenitors had been freemen for at least two generations, and that they had not followed any trade which was, in the eyes of this particular trade, degrading. It may be well to state that there is not an atom of proof that such qualifica- tion was deemed necessary, and I am unwilling to assert it as an undoubted fact; but as we do find this requirement exacted by other craft guilds, it is quite open to us to assume its being demanded by the stonemasons. Stipulations of this kind controlled the influx of workmen, and in many cases were very whimsical. Trades which were usually considered dishonorable by the others were those of * bath attendant, barber, gravedigger, trumpeter, herdsman, watchman, headsman, etc., and in some cities the weavers were thus classed; although in others they formed the most honorable craft. In the cities of pure German origin, lads of Slav nationality were considered dishonorable.'' One of the most curious restrictions is to be found in the constitution of the Bremen shoemakers, a.d. 1300 — "No one shall instruct in this craft the sons of weavers, porters, or of such women as are wont to harbor vermin." ^ The term of indenture was five years, and to ensure the apprentice completing his time he was required to deposit a guarantee of twenty florins (Art. LIX.), which possibly became the master's at the expiration thereof. The master did not receive the money at once, but it was deposited with a citizen, in order that if the master died the premium might be transferred with the apprentice to some other master. The master, on his part, was bound to perform his duty (Art. XXXIII.), and to ensure due accomplishment, 'Berlcpsch, Chronik der Gewerbc, vol. i., p. 60. "^ Ihid. ^ Ihid., vol. iv., p. 33. 146 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. a contract in duplicate carved on wood was entered into and deposited In a safe place (Art. LXIX.); and further to obviate all disputes the apprentices' inden- tures were entered into and cancelled in the presence of the whole lodge as witnesses (Art. LXIV.). The apprentice received two florins yearly as pocket money (Art. LXVI.), and was required to promise truth, obedience, and loyalty to his master (Art. LXV.), as well as submission to the craft and its decisions (Art. LXVII.). The apprentice was required to complete his full term, or he was debarred from ex- ercising the craft (Art. LXXIL), besides forfeiting the deposited twenty florins (Art. LXIV.), unless, indeed, he wished to enter into wedlock, when he might compromise matters with his master (Art. LXXII.). In Art. 22 this is most emphatically laid down — " Not to the extent of one week " could any one shorten the five years of servitude. This term of five years, however, was not previously, nor subsequently, universal; in some districts four years appear to have been sufficient. We find an acknowledgment of this in the confirmation of the 1563 Statutes by the Emperor Ferdinand II., 16th September 1621, in which, summarizing the principal Ordinances of the Brother-book, he confirms the term of five years, but also provides that one who has only served about four years shall not be received into the Brotherhood, unless he pays two florins to God's service, in lieu of the one year. ' In the sixteenth century also, there arose a lively quarrel between the lodges of Strassburg and Annaberg (in Saxony), owing to the persistence of the latter in receiving apprentices for four years. ^ And, finally, all this is implied in Art. LXI., and curiously enough, although past offences are condoned, yet the Ordinances distinctly forbid in 1563, wliat is as distinctly permitted by the Emperor in 1621. One point in the Ordinances is somewhat misty. A distinction is made in Art. XV. between a rough and an art ap- prentice, and the curious term " art apprentice" {Kunst dlener) is more than once made use of, but what the distinction was it is impossible to say. Even writers " who scornfully assume the air of knowing and understanding all things better than any one else," ' have passed this over in silence, and I can only point to the distinction without professing to explain it. Another problem occurs in Art. 30, where provision is made, under certain circu^mstances, for the apprentice commencing his travels before the expiry of five years, instead of completing his term under another master, as already directed (Art. LIX.). The care with which every point, even the most minute, is considered, appears in Art. LXXI., whence it is evident that before binding an apprentice the master was allowed to test his capabilities and fitness, but was not to extend this trial over a fortnight. And, again, in Art. LXII., where the usual safeguards are insisted on, even between a master and his own sons. Having completed his apprenticeship a new life now awaits the young workman. He is declared free of the craft and obtains rank as a fellow craft (gesell) ; but does not neces- sarily thereby enter the fraternity. This act is solemnly performed before the assembled lodge (Art. LXIV.), and was doubtless accompanied by some formalities, of which the leading features are pointed out. We know that he had to take a solemn obligation " on his truth and honor in lieu of oath," under the penalty of being expelled the craft, that he would be a true, loyal, and obedient mason, that he would maintain the craft as far as in him lay, that he would not of his own initiative alter or change his distinctive mark, and ' Heideloff, Die Bauhiitte des Mittelalters, p. 91. Ubid., p. 21, ^This cutting expression is applied by W. Keller (Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Deutschland.. p. 46) to Fallou, and some later writei-s whom he does not name. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 147 that lie would not disclose the greeting {gruss) or grip {^chenck) to any non-mason; and even that he would not commit any part thereof to writing (Arts. LIV. and LVI.). These methods of recognition were then imparted to him, and the ceremony concluded with a jovial feast, which was partly at the master's expense (Art, 26), and partly at his own (Art. LXX.). To this feast sundry guests were invited, probably the clergy attached to the building then in course of erection; and even the bill of fare is provided for (Art. 26). The master is strictly enjoined not to delay this action for a longer period then fourteen days, except on good and valid grounds (Art. 26); and it is expressly stipulated that hence- forth nothing shall be unjustly withheld, in order that no excuse may be pleaded in after- times (Art. LXVIIL); hence we may assume that amongst other masters the Ordinances were read to him. This was called pledging his mark, toasting it, or drinking good luck to it; and so important was the occasion considered, that the stipulated rules of frugality were suspended, and the warden was empowered to cease work one hour sooner (Art. 59). This mark henceforth became his distinctive property, and was used by him as a species of signature; and he was required to engrave it oji all his work upon completion, and severely punished if he did so before the work had been proved and passed (Art. 72). What the grip was we are not told; but at the beginning of this century, Herr Osterrieth, an archi- tect, who had been professionally educated at Strassburg, where he joined a survival of the Stonemasons, on being admitted to Freemasonry by Heldmann at Aarau (in the province of Aargau, Switzerland), expressed his astonishment at recognizing in the entered appren- tice grip the token of the Strassburg Stonemasons. ' Unless we think fit to doubt this as- sertion, the masonic reader will know what the Stonemasons' grip was; and if we believe it, the curious question remains, is the resemblance a mere coincidence, or a proof of a connecting link between the German and English Stonemasons of the Middle Ages ? On Osterrieth's own showing, he must have violated his promise of secrecy to his Strassburg brethren, and therefore cannot be regarded as a witness of scrupulous veracity. He places himself in the awkward dilemma, either of having deceived the Freemasons of Aarau by a falsehood, or of having perjured himself, so that we shall be justified in receiving his dis- closure with caution. It is also to be noted, that although all writers claim a grip for the stonemasons, the only evidence by which this claim can be supported, is the one word quoted in Art. LIV., viz., Schenck. This word is derived from scliencken, to give; hence handscliencken, to give or shake hands; and in this case we must suppose that the word Hand is omitted and understood, as Schenck alone would not import the fuller meaning. The word schenck occurs very frequently in the Ordinances, and in other clauses always refers to the pledge feast; ausscliencken or verschencken is to pour out, a libation, a toast, pledge, etc., and as these toasts were always drunk in other handicrafts, with a prescribed movement of hand and cup, accompanied by a fixed form of words, it may be assumed that the stonemasons also had their pledge-ritual. It is therefore just possible that in Art. LIV., the word alludes to the pledge, and that the article forbids the fellow craft to divulge to the non-mason this peculiar ceremonial. Inasmuch, however, as all German writers agree in attributing the possession of a certain grip to the present descendants of the stonemasons, and taking into consideration that the word is used conjointly with " greeting " (Gruss), it may reasonably be concluded, that the existence of a grip has been fairly demonstrated. Heldmann also states (p. 250) that the Steinmefzen had a series of prescribed steps, ' Heldmann, Die drei Aeltesten Geschichtlichen Denkmale, p. 250. 148 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. identical with those of the Freemasons, but he cites no authority, not even his friend Os- terrieth; so that it remains more than questionable whether the former has not given a very- loose rein to his imagination. Fallon more than once describes these steps, asserting, but always without authority, that they were usual on various specified occasions; and Winzer (p. G7) copies him. According to Heinsch, they reappeared amongst the Stone-lieivers, and are described as three equal steps forward and backward, in which, however, there is noth- ing suggestive of Masonic identity. But the new craftsman was also charged not to reveal the greeting. Findle, Fort, Steinbrenner, and others, translate this word by " salute," a term I avoid as conveying a sense which I am inclined to think is unauthorized. A salute combines the idea of a greeting by word of mouth and a greeting by action; in fact, a sign and a speech. Now I am unable to find any mention in an authentic document of a sign. Fallou writes throughout, in such a manner as to leave the impression, that the salute was accompanied by a sign; and Fort (p. 215) expressly declares that a wandering journeyman on entering a lodge "advanced by three upright measured steps, and gave the salute, Gruss, or hailing sign." It is impossible to restrain a feeling of impatience, when writers, whose works would be otherwise valuable, destroy the confidence of a critical reader by such baseless assertions. In no trade of the Middle Ages, not even amongst the Stelnmetzen, is it possible to find the slightest trace of a sign or of anything approaching thereto. If such indications exist, they have escaped my researches, and neither Fallou nor Fort give the least authority for their statements. It would not, however, be fair to leave unnoticed the remark, that sculptured images may still be seen in existing mediaeval churches, whose attitudes bear a close resemblance to certain of our masonic positions. Indeed, Fort positively asserts, " that in one of the churches at Florence there are life-size figures in masonic attitudes. '' ' The idea thus suggested, is further supported by a pictorial representation of the entrance to the cathedral in the same city, which he gives as a frontispiece to his well-known work. In this sketch we find portrayed (exclusive of minor figures) the forms of five ecclesiastics in reverential attitudes. The postures they assume, will remind those conversant with the services of the Roman Church, of the attitude of the ofiiciating priest, and beyond the strong family likeness which must always exist, between supplicatory and reverential posi- tions of all kinds and in all countries, assumed in invocation of Divine aid, I do not see that there is anything to merit our attention in the similitude upon which Fort has laid ,30 much stress. It may be added, that to what has been happily termed by Mr. Hyde Clarke, " the doctrine of chance coincidences," are due all the " traveller's tales " of later years, wherein as a common feature, appear either the manifestation or the recognition of masonic signs, by Arabs of the desert, native Australians, Bushmen, Afghans, etc., etc. Upon the whole, I think, we may safely infer that whatever resemblances may appear to exist between the masonic ceremonial and the attitudes to which Fort has alluded, are as much the product of chance as the "supposititious masonry" of our own times, which has evoked the excellent definition of Mr. Clarke.^ As for the greeting itself, we are distinctly told what it was in Art. 107, also the words in which a fellow was to claim assistance (Art. 110), and how he was to return thanks for the help tendered. It may seem strange, that what was considered a secret should have been committed to writing; and in fact, Fallou asserts ^ that it was never in use, and that ' Fort, The Early History und Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 89. ' Freemason's Magazine, Nov, 26, 1864. » Fallon, Mysterien der Freimaurei', p. 353. THE STONEMASONS OF GER.\EINY. 149 the Torgau Ordinances were of no authority, being merely a private sketch of a proposed new ordinance and rule; and he elsewhere states that they never received confirmation. The latter statement is correct, and, moreover, they were never meant to he confirmed, being entirely subsidiary to, and elucidatory of, the 1459 Ordinances; but as to the former, it is so palpably erroneous, as shown in another place, and by the preamble itself, that Ave need waste no words about it here. Fallou prefers to this documentary evidence, the statements of a Stemmetz of the present day; the greeting, however, as told by him is so similar, that it may well have arisen from the old original — all except the three upright steps, against which I have already protested. When we take into account, however, the fact that the Torgau Ordinances were never printed, or intended to be, and were probably only entrusted to well-known masters, as may be presumed from the fact that up to the present time only one copy has come to light; when we consider how important it was that this greeting should be given with great exactitude, in order to distinguish a hond fide craftsman, we can no longer wonder at the Saxon masters ensuring its accurate preserva- tion. But if so, why was not the grip similarly preserved ? Because it was so simple in its very nature, that once learned, it could not be forgotten or perverted. AVe have thus been able to trace many of the events in the career of a "^prentice" stonemason, more so than is possible in any other craft guild. The reason is obvious, if we bear in mind, that the craft guilds consisted of two distinct fraternities, that of the masters and that of the journeymen, neither of whom have thought it worth while to lay down in writing any rules for their conduct in respect to apprentices. We know, however, that all trades insisted on an apprenticeship, varying in its terms; that certain stipulations, as already noticed, were in force respecting their birth; and we further know that at the completion of his time the apprentice was presented by his master at a " Master's Meeting," where it was certified that he had completed the specified term and given satisfaction. He was then declared by the board free of his trade, and became ipso facto a journeyman. We find no trace of greeting and grip at this simple ceremony, but we shall at least find the former of these appearing at another stage. In some trades the apprentice was required to substantiate his knowledge of the craft, failing which he was placed under another master, in order to complete his education before being declared free. ' As regards the mark, although we have no evidence that this custom was a general one, and indeed in many trades its observance would have been well nigh impo sible, yet in a few the members were required to chose a mark, and place it on all their work; for instance, the cutlers of Nuremberg^ and the joiners.^ We thus find the mark appearing in shops where the number of Avorkmen employed was considerable, and where it might become necessary to distinguish one man's work from another's; and we can easily understand that with the or- dinary tradesman, such as the baker, butcher, shoemaker, it was not necessary, and therefore not in use. The mason's mark thus loses (in Germany) much of the recondite symbolism which enthusiasic writers have attributed to it, and becomes reduced to a mere trade regu- lation arising out of the exigencies of the handicraft. Whether or not it afterward received any mystic interpretation, need not now be discussed, as it is fully treated of elsewhere. Our young journeyman is now ready to commence his travels, which, in different trades, extended over a longer or shorter space, as the case might be. The rationale of this 'Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. iv., p. 65. ^Ihid., vol. vii., p. 123. ^ Stock, Grundziige der V erf assung, p. 28. I50 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. pilgrimage is readily explained. It kept down the number of masters by prolonging the novitiate, it served to bring all the different and independent guilds of a trade into a close harmony of usage, and it helped to propagate the improvements, which, in any particular locality, had been engrafted on the specialties of a handicraft. This, in an age of slow locomotion and gradual dispersion of news, was highly beneficial; but above all, it served to widen each craftsman's ideas and judgment, to complete his trade education, and to rub off any local prejudices. But in order that a journeyman ' might be able to travel, especial institutions were necessary. In the earliest times, the craftsman, on entering a new town, applied at the first shop of his trade that he came to, for work for eight or fourteen days, and if the master was able to employ him he did so, if not he recommended him to another master. Failing to find work in any shop, the craftsman received a night's lodging, supper, and breakfast, in the house of the master whose turn it was to receive, and at his departure next morning a small sum of money sufficient to carry him to the next town. Later on, the masters arranged with some tavern keeper to afford the necessary board at their expense. This tavern was then the house of call for a particular trade, where the journeyman could at once obtain information if work were procurable, and where the masters could leave notice if they required any extra assistance. The landlord and his wife were styled father and mother, their children and domestics,, male and female, brothers and sisters. Later on still, wdien the journeymen established their own frater- nities, these houses became their places of meeting, and some one, either a journeyman or a master, was deputed to call there every day at noon, in order to welcome, and provide work for, new arrivals, or if such was not possible, to attend to their bodily comfort by partaking loitli them of a stoup of liquor. The supper and bed were furnished at the ex- pense of the fraternity, to whose treasury, however, the masters also contributed. The new comer, unless work were found for him, usually received a small sum of money to carry him forward. This was called the Gesclioik — the donation or present. We thus see that a journeyman could travel from one end of Germany to the other, without exercising fore- thought as to his expenses, and yet without feeling that he was in any way subsisting on charity. But in order to avail himself of this jorivilege, it was required that he should be a member of t\ie fraternity, which he therefore joined at the place of his apprenticeship; and in the body of this fraternity he found that ceremonious greeting which, as we have already seen, the stonemason received from his craft on being admitted to its freedom. These greetings appear to have been distinguished by a strong family likeness. The fol- lowing may be taken as a common formula: " The Worshipful Master X and the trusty fellows of the craft of . . . at Y city, bid me greet the worshipful master, trusty fellows, and craft at Z city." The other then returns thanks, much in the same way, and next follows a species of dialogue between the two, the exact rendering of which substan- tiated the fact that the applicant was a true brother.^ I can scarcely think it possible, that in the very early times any craft furnished its members with a certificate or diploma; although this appears to have been the case in some few trades later on (and is now almost universal), as we find all German writers making a distinction between Grussmaurer (salute- 1 It is scarcely necessary to explain, that the term " journeyman" is not derived from the " trav- elling," but from the French word jowrne'e, a day; because he was paid by the day. ■■' For examples of these and the other points stated above, compare Berlepsch, Chronik der G«j- werbe; and Stock, Grundzuge der Verfassung. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 151 mason) and Briefmaurer (letter-musou), the former of whom legitimized himself by tLe greeting, and the latter by documentary evidence. We shall, however, again touch this point at a later period. Now, although the stonemason was free to exercise his craft without entering the fra- ternity, as is abundantly evident from the statutes already quoted, and was provided with the means of travelling, inasmuch as he possessed the greeting and grip, yet it is quite clear that his interest lay in joining the brotherhood. Of course no one could he forced to join a society composed of free-men, exercising their free v/ill; but a little reflection will show, that indirect pressure could easily be brought to bear; and that future comfort was greatly dependent on absorption within the fraternity ; just as at the present time, many a workman is compelled against his will to join a trade-union. It has been already men- tioned, that this "fraternity" existed amongst the stonemasons, and that it differed only from those of other crafts in comprising the masters amongst its members. Throughout the 15G3 Ordinances the guild ov fraternity, and the craft, are distinguished; the German for the guild being in all cases Ordniing, and for the craft or trade, Steinwerck, Iland- werck. ' One great advantage that the non-afhliated mason would miss is shown in Art. XXXIV., which provides for the sustenance of a sick brother of the guild, but makes no provision for one of the craft only. Every master is expressly enjoined (Art. LVI.), upon the oath which he has taken to the craft (viz., that he will strengthen and maintain it), to use his influence to induce his former apprentices to join the hrotlicrliood. We may, therefore, fairly assume that every "fellow," before commencing his travels, did join the fraternity; and it may also be reasonably concluded that in course of time his affiliation took place with a ceremony of some kind. And this brings us to the most difficult point of our research; and the one upon which the most loose and unfounded assertions have been made. To begin with, Winzer ^ states justly enough, that before joining he was only a free stonemason (free of his craft,) and that after joining he became a brother also. But he is quite itnjustified in deducing the conclusion that he was thenceforth a " free and ac- cepted mason" {freier und angenommener Maurer), as such a term a,', "accepted brother" {angenommener Bruder) occurs nowhere in German documents prior to 1717, and even " free " {frei) is never applied to the completed apprentice, who was always called losgesagt or losgesclilagen, i.e., declared or "knocked" loose. It is evident that Winzer, in his zeal to prove that our present masonic system is of German origin, has adopted a now current phrase, although he ascribes its derivation to a German source. But the greatest perverter of history in this respect is Fallou. A careful glance at the Ordinances will convince us that no single clue of the remotest kind is afforded as to the nature of the affiliation cere- mony; we are not even told that a ceremony existed, nor is it probable that it did in 1459, although one may have become usual in after years. We are not informed that there were any secrets to be communicated, or mysteries to be concealed, or any further instruction to be acquired; nay, we are directly assured that there were none; because, as already pointed out, the perfect apprentice was no longer to have aught concealed from him (Art. LXVIII.) ; that is to say, that everything necessary to the due prosecution of his profession became ids by right, whether or not he joined the fraternity. Fort,'' in his description (which is ' The 1462 Ordinances never mention the fraternity. 2 Winzer, Die Deutschen Bruderschaften, p. 65. * Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 211. 152 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. chiefly copied from Fallon), evidently confuses the distinct occasions of passing to the journeyman's degree and of entering the fraternity, which mistake, however, Fallou has avoided. Findel ' also, following the same lead, has not only fallen into a similar error, but contrives to entangle with both these incidents some of the preliminaries of indenture. Steinbrenner ^ has gone even further astray, placing the conferring of the mark last of all. Their great authority Fallou^ presents a graphic description of this ceremony, but it will be sufficient in this place to glance at its leading features. He avers that the candidate was blindfolded, half unclothed, slipshod, deprived of weapons and metals (a cord about his neck), led three times round the lodge; that he then advanced by three upright steps to the master, undertook an obligation on the Scriptures, square, amd compasses, was restored to sight, shown the three great lights, invested with a white apron and gloves, etc., etc. Now, I think it may be positively affirmed, that if Fallou could have fortified these asser- tions by the merest color of authority, he would have done so; also that if subsequent writers had been able to discover any confirmatory evidence, they would have given it. My endeavors to trace any foundation of authority have proved lamentable failures, and com- bining this experience with the above considerations, I do not scruple to pronounce that the entire ceremony has been invented by Fallou. The account is in itself improbable. Why should the fellow craft be blindfolded ? There was no concealed light to be revealed to him as far as operative masonry was concerned, and of a speculative science there is no trace in the annals of the Steinmetzen. It should be recollected, moreover, that Fallou places before us the details of an affiliation, and not of an initiation. Beyond a doubt, the novice would be " deprived of weapons;" these were never at any time allowed in lodge (Art. 93); and possibly he may have been partially unclothed in token of humility, and to remind him of his distressed brethren. But Avherefore the cord " about his neck " and the rest of the ceremony? The whole account is palpably absurd. It may at once be frankly avowed that no record exists of the ceremony of affiliation amongst the stone- masons, and even, according to Fallou, their present descendants have preserved none of any kind. It is therefore in tlie highest degree improbable that we shall ever know whether one existed ; but we have means at hand, if we concede its possible existence, of forming an imperfect idea of its nature, in the recorded ceremonies of other journeyman fraternities. Some of these usages certainly survived until the early part of this century, and may perhaps even now be more or less practiced. We find, then, that the first thing necessary to render a meeting of the fraternities legal was the opened chest of the society. This contained their documents, minute-books, regis- ters, and treasury, and was usually secured by three locks and keys, which keys were in pos- session of three different officials; hence their joint presence must also have been necessary. The presiding officer then knocked with some symbol of authority (usually a staff" or ham- mer), to procure silence. The periodical contributions of the members were then collected. Complaints were next heard and strife adjusted. The locksmiths* (and possibly other crafts) closed their meetings by three formal inquiries, whether anything for the good of the craft or of the fraternity offered itself All ceremonial operations were conducted in ^Findel, History of Freemasonry, p. 65. ^Steinbrenner, Origin and Early History of Freemasonry, p. 71. ^Fallou Mysterien der Freimaurer, p. 241. ^Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. vii., pp. 173-17G; also Stock (p. 87), from whom he has probably copied. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 153 the form of a dialogue between the officials. Now let us note the ceremony of affiliating a journeyman joiner. ' He was ushered into the assembly, and placed before the president in an upi-ight position, his heels joined, and his feet at right angles, which was insured by the square being placed between them. His posture was proved by the level, and he was required to stand erect, elbows on his hips, and hands spread out sideways, so as to repre- sent an equilateral triangle, of which his head was the apex. He was denominated through- out "rough wood." He was then directed to listen to a lecture. The first part of this lecture treats of the origin of the joiner's art, and includes remarks on architecture in general, couched in rude verse, the phraseology of which (according to Stock) denotes an early eighteenth century origin, and much of it is based upon Vitruvius. In the generality of crafts he underwent a rude symbolical ceremony called lidnsehi,'' that is, handling or manipulation. In the case of the joiners this consisted of being stretched on a bench, and rather roughly planed and shaped with various tools, in fact treated as rough wood under the joiner's hands. The locksmiths turned a key round three times in the mouth of the candidate.^ After this ceremony the joiner was called in future " smooth wood," and the proceedings being ended was once more placed under the level. We then are treated to a reminiscence of knightly installations; for the master having asked his name and received for aH answer, say " Martin," exhorts him thus — "Until now you were Martin under the bench, now you are Martin above the bench;" he then slaps his face, and continues, " Suffer this, this once from me, henceforth from no man."^ The joiners' ceremony has been selected for quotation, being the most symbolic that I have met with, and therefore the least inimical to the theory of there being at this period any species of speculative masonry; and because, as might be expected from their intimacy with the masons, it shows traces of a connection with architecture. Stock does not give the lecture in full, but as a good example of the " oration" common on such occasions, I now transcribe that of the smiths,^ also formerly in close union with the masons, as would naturally occur. It con- tains excellent rules for conduct, and some lessons in morality (to which occasional at- tention will be directed in parentheses). Although couched in rude language, it is brim- mino- over with the rather ponderous wit of our German cousins. Berlepsch admits that some of the allusions point to a rather recent date, but, on the other hand, states that many are undoubtedly of very ancient derivation. The lecture also conveys a very complete idea of the usages and customs of a travelling smith, the various ceremonial greetings and set speeches being repeated at several places. THE SMITH'S LECTURE. My son,' — I am to tell you much about craft usages, and even though you have for- gotten more than I can tell, yet will I tell you what I know. I will tell you that it is pleasant to wander, between Easter and Whitsuntide, when it is nice and warm, when the purse is well filled, and the hose well darned, and the hair sticks up through the crown of the hat, then is it pleasant to wander. My son, if to-day or to-morrow you wish to wander, take a fine farewell of your master on Sunday afternoon, after meals and prayer, and not 'Stock, Grundziige der Verfassung-, p. 24. 'Berlepsch, vol. iv., p. G6; vol. vi., p. 118. 2 Stock, Grundziige der Verfassung, p. 29. *Ibid., p. 28. ' Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. vii. , pp. 50-61. " Literally godson. 154 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. of a week day, for it is not craft usage to cease work du-ring the week. . And if you have served your time with him, speak tlnis: " I give you thanks for having helped me to an honorable craft; it stands to be repaid at the disposal of any of yours." Say not, your disposal; for who has once been master is not accustomed willingly to resume his wander- ings. But if you have only served him for weekly pay, then say: " Master, I thank you tliat 3^ou have been pleased to employ me so long; it stands to be repaid to any of yours to- day or to-morrow." Then go to your mistress and say: " Mistress, I thank you that you have kept me in washing so long; it stands to be repaid at the disposal of any of yours to-day or to-morrow. " If you do not wish to carry your bundle to the tavern (house of call), but desire to leave it at your master's house, then speak to the master, and say thus: " Master, I wish to beg you to harbor my bundle for one night more." My son, if to-day or to-morrow you wish to travel, go not alone out of the gates, but ac- quire a good name with the fellows; first stand a can of beer or wine; you may also ask the pipers and several fellows to accompany you beyond the gates to give you good convoy , and being come out before the gates, take three feathers in your right hand and blow them from you, one will fly to the right, the other to the left, the third straight ahead. Which one will you follow ? If 3'ou follow the one to the right, it will perhaps fly over the wall back into the town, because you have a sweetheart there. But some masons are bad fellows, they do not fasten the stones well, you might perchance fall down, aiid perhaps break your neck, and thus you would lose your young life, we our godson, and your father and mother their son — that would be bad for all three of us. ISTo, my son! do not so. The other feather on the left will fly over a large sheet of water: if you follow it you may find prob- ably a bohemian cheese, or, as we say in German, a millstone; roll that into the water, if it swims across you can also follow, but if it falls to the bottom stay you behind, for it is, perchance, deep, and you might fall in and be drowned; and thus you would lose your young life, we our godson, and your parents their son, and that would be bad for all three of us. Therefore, my son, do not this also. The third feather will fly straight ahead, so fine and crisp, follow you that {a lesson in iirudence. and i^er severance). Thus you will arrive at a pond, and sitting around it you will see a crowd of green men, who will cry, " Croak, croak, croak," But you will say, " why should I croak? I have not had much to croak over in my apprentice years;" therefore bother yourself not about it but proceed straight on {courage and perseverance). You will then come to a mill, it will repeat always, "turn again, turn again." But you will reflect. Shall I turn again? Why, I have only Just set out! Do that not, but go right into the mill, and you will see the mill wife. Speak thus to her : " Good? .lay, dame mother, how goes your cow, has the calf fodder? How is your dog, and is the cat still well ? How go your hens, do they still lay fine eggs ? How are your daughters, have they still many swains ?" Then the mill wife will consider, that is a polite son; he asks after all my small cattle, what will he not do for the great? Then she will come quickly and fetch a ladder and mount to the j)antry shelf and reach you down a sausage. But let her not mount herself, but you mount for her and hand her down a string of them. But be not so rude as to seize the largest and cram it into your pocket, but wait till she give it you. Having received one, thank her kindly and proceed bravely on your way. A mill axe might be lying about, and you might be tempted to ex- amine it and think, if only I could also make such an axe; but the miller might be led to think you wished to steal it; therefore, do it not, and look not long about thee, for some millers are loose cards, and have, perhaps, behind the door an earwig, that is, a balance THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 155 beam J and miglit.lay it about your back. Therefore be careful and go straight forward {a lesson in politeness and to avoid imjjertinent ctiriositi/). You will then come to a field, and the shepherd will watch the sheep, and the young ones will spring round about the old ones. Ah, you will think, if I were "with my mother I would also spring about; but ponder not thereon, only keep straight ahead, and you will come to a high hill, and you will think : Almighty Lord, how shall I get my bundle up to the top of so high a hill. But be not afraid, and help yourself. You will probably have a string or piece of whipcord about you; the smiths have ever been fond of carrying a piece of whipcord, take it and tie it to your bundle, and drag it behind you to the top. But let it not be too long, for in such high mountains there may be robbers who might perhaps cut the bundle off, and you would thus lose your bundle. Having come to the top, you will not know how to get down the other side. Dear Lord, you will say, up it is, if it were only down again; and you may perhaps take your bundle and roll it down the hill. But do that not, for there might be some one there to take the bundle, and you would lose your things. Better keep it between your shoulders, and then no one can take it up hill or down hill. Having got to the bottom of the hill you will be thirsty, and you will come to a spring and wish to drink; lay your bundle down and keep it not on your back, for the bundle might take a swing and carry you with it, and you would fall in and be drowned, and thus you would lose your young life, we our godson, and your parents their son, and that were bad for all three of us. That do not, but put your bundle down before you drink, yet place it not too far off lest one come and take it, and you thus lose your bundle (prudence, foretlioiiglit). Having drunk your fill behave honorably; post no sentinel in the neighborhood, lest some honest man come to the same place and wish to drink; he would say, what a common fellow has been here and left his true sign ( Wahrzeichen) everywhere. Do it not {decency of helia- vior), but having drunk go straight on and you will come to a green wood, where the birds sing, young and old, and your young heart will be pleased, and you will also commence to sing. And probably a rich merchant in a scarlet velvet cloak will come riding past and say, " Good luck to ye! why so Jolly, youngster ?" Then say, " And why should I not be jolly ? I have all my father's goods with me. " He will then think you have a few thousand ducats on you, and propose an exchange, his red fox fur against your tattered coat. But exchange not at once, hesitate a little, and he will once more offer you the exchange. But do it not yet; but if he offer it a third time exchange with him, but not too fast, nor give him your coat first, but let him first give you his fox skin. For if you give him yours first he might up and away, for he has four legs and you only two, so you could not follow him. But if he gives you his red fox skin throw him your tattered coat, and make yourself scarce with the fox fur, nor look about you too much, for when he shall have searched the torn coat and found no ducats, he might come back, take back his furs, and cut your neck in two (a lesson in worldly prudence, at the expense of strict moralitij). Having proceeded some distance further you will see a gallows tree. Will you be pleased cr sorry at the sight ? My son, you shall not be pleased thereat, neither shall you mourn as though you were fated to hang on it, but you shall rejoice, inasmuch as you are then in the neighborhood of a town. For if you go further you will see it, and hear the hammers clang and the smiths sing, and your heart will rejoice that you are able to earn your bread. And it is customary that before some cities sentinels are placed, and when you are come unto the town and the sentry cries, " whence come you," do not give him the name of a place forty or fifty miles off, but the next town or the village where you passed the night. 155 THE STONEMASONS OE GERMANY. And they will ask you what craft you are of, and you may answer that you ?re a smith. They will then say, that you are to bring a sign from a master in the town, and if you wish to enter the town say, " Sirs, I pray you, keep my bundle for me, whilst I fetch a token from a master in the city. " And you will be obliged to leave your bundle in the gate; give it to a sub-officer. And when you go into the city, go into the first smith's shop that you see, and pass no master by, and say, " Good day, and good luck; God honor the craft, master and fellows;" and they will thank you and say, ''Welcome, smith." And some- times it is an old fellow who stands by the bellows and a young master by the hearth. Go you to him who stands by the bellows, and say, " By your leave, let me ask, is that the master who stands by the hearth," and he will put you right. After that speak to the master, " Master, I would beg you to give me a token, that I may pass my bundle through the gates." And the father {i.e., master) will give you a token — a hammer, or a horseshoe, or a ring. Take the token and go to the gates, and show it and say " Will that do?" and they will say, " Give it here;" but give it not, as they might plague you to give them a drink. But speak thus — " I would willingly stand you something, but have nothing my- self. " So take your bundle and go straight back to the master, and you may perhaps meet a small white animal, with a fine bushy tail — I call it a dog; and you will think, what a fine feather that would make for my hat, and you might take the token and throw it at the dog; but do not, for in these large towns are many deep wells and cellars; the token might fall into one, and the master say, " Who shall lend you a token if you bring it not back?" Therefore go to the house and say, " By leave, that I may enter; good day and good luck; God honor the craft, master and fellows. Master, I would speak to you in the name of the craft, if you would let me lay my bundle down here, that I may go further with honor and God;" that is, if you do not wish to spend the night there. But if you desire to rest there the night, then say, " Master, I would speak to you in the name of the craft, if you would harbor me and my bundle, that I may go further with God and honor;" and he will say, " Put it down," And you will already have the bundle hanging on one shoulder only; but carry it not into the room and hang it on the wall where the peasants hang their baskets, or the other lads may think you have many pence therein; and they may chaff you and say, "Smith, you must have lots of bread and bacon in your bundle that you are afraid to put it down on the ground." But place it readily under the bellows or the hammer bench {humility and confidence) ; if the father loses not his hammer, you will not lose your bundle. Having laid it down, if the brothers are at work, strike once or twice with them and say, " By your leave, smith, let me ask, what is the custom here; do you go round in search of work, or do you go on the donation?" And if he says, "It is usage here to go round in search of work," then go to the master and say, " Master, I would speak to you in the name of the craft, if you would be pleased to let your man go with me in search of work;" and he will say, " Yes." Then go to the fellow and say, " By your leave, smith, I would speak to you in the name of the craft, whether you will search me out work for eight or fourteen days according to craft usage." But if it be the custom to go on the donation, then go between eight and eleven and from one till four o'clock, and when you go for the donation, go not at once into the first shop, but go first to the farthest, and when you enter say, " Good day, and good luck; God honor the craft, master and fellows." And they will thank you, and ask, "' From what part of the country, smith, by your leave, that I may ask ?" And you shall say, " Leave sufficient! from there and there," where you spent the night, the nearest town or village, and do not name a place forty or 777^ STONEMASONS OF GERMANY, 157 fifty miles off, otherwise they may laugh at you and say, " Smith, you have certainly flown here on a cloak. " . And if you are on the donation, and a piece of work lie about the house, be careful and tread not on it or spit thereon, or the smiths may say, " Ah! who knows whether he himself could make it half as well." Meanwhile they may perhaps send out and invite you to drink; but you ask him to drink first who stands at the forge. And if they have a heat, take a hammer and strike also; and having drunk twice, thank them and say, " With your leave, lads, I return thanks for your pledge; if to-day or to-morrow one or the other come to me, where I am at work, I will pledge them in turn, in a can of beer or wine, as far as my means will allow, according to craft custom and usage. " If the master is in the shop, say, " Master, I thank you for your goodwill; it remains at your dis- posal to be returned to you and yours to-day or to-morrow. " Then return to the house, and when you get there the other fellows will ask you, " Have they pledged you bravely?" and you will answer, '' Yes," even if you have not tasted a single drop; and meanwhile they will also send out, and perhaps you may also have a piece left in order to stand a can of beer. And then it will be soon evening, when they go to sup. And be you ready and seat yourself at the door of the room. And if the father say, " Smith, come hither and partake," go not at once. But if he say again, " Smith, come hither and partake," then go in and eat with them; but take not your seat directly at the top of the board, but seat yourself beside the stroke master, ' and when they begin, cut yourself a lump of bread, so that they can hardly see you behind it; and having eaten that, cut small pieces at a time, so that you may have finished at the same time as the others; for if the others were satis- fied, and you had still a large piece of bread before you, the master would say, '' Where have you learnt that; with the boors?" But if you are satisfied, put not up your knife before the others have finished, or they might say, " That is a small-eating smith; evidently wishes to shame us by eating so little." And if the father drink to you, you may also drink. If there is much in the cup you may drink deeply, but if there be only little you must drink very little. But if you have much coin you may drink it all up and say, " Can one have a messenger? I wish to pay for a can of beer." And having eaten they will go to rest; but say not to the dame mother or maid sister,^ " Where shall I sleep?" but wait, and she Avill surely conduct you to your chamber. Then untie one shoestring and retie the other; and if she go not then from thee take a wisp of straw and point to the door; and if she Avill not even then, why, take her to thee, cast her on the bed before thee, and kiss her twenty-fourfold.' And when morning breaks and the other fellows rise, do not you rise first, nor even with them, for they might think you wished to put them to shame, but remain in bed for another half -hour; but not too long, for if the master come intending to give thee work, and you Avere yet asleep, he might say, " That must be a lazy smith, he likes to sleep late. I can do that myself, and need no smith to help me." And being risen, go not at once to the kitchen and chat with the cook, but go first to the workshop and wash yourself, and take up a hammer and work bravely with the others. And if no hammer be there, take an axe; and if no axe, seize the crowbar and work away, and the master will ' The smith who, with a small hammer, directs the other smiths where to plant their blows. * Not necessarily a daughter, jjossibly a maid servant (?). ^ A glance at the Ordinances of 1462 and 1563 will show that the masons did not enjoin strict and consistent chastity; they merely proliibited open and public indecency, and strove to protect modest women from unseemly conduct. We find this also in the above case; if the maiden will not talce the hint, which is broad enough, the journeyman recovers his liberty of action. 158 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. think, " that is snrely a trusty smith, him will I give work." And it will then be break- fast time, and they will take you with them. Therefore go in and partake; and having eaten, go to the master and return thanks, and say, " Master, I thank you that you have harbored me and my bundle, and for your food, and drink, and goodwill; it remains owing to be repaid to any of yours to-day or to-morrow." Say not " To you," for who has once been master does not willingly resume his wanderings. Afterward go to the lads and say, " By leave, my lads, I thank you for your donation and pledge; if to-day or to-morrow one or other comes to me where I am at work, I will pledge him in a can of beer or wine, as may be within my means, according to craft custom and usage." Then resume your journey. If the sentinel ask you, " Whither away ?" answer him, " Who knows where the wind may carry me when I get outside." Therefore peg ahead and run a hole into the world, so large that a haystack would not fill it. In the preceding ceremonies and lectures, there appears a certain measure of rude and witty allegory, and a large amount of crude symbolism, which ultimately degenerated into such rough horse-play as to call for the interference of the State. From these materials let us endeavor to construct a probable ceremony for the stonemasons, and one more in accordance with the usages and culture of the age than the '' Masonic fiction " with which Fallou has presented us. But let it be distinctly understood that it is by no means certain that a ceremony existed, and that it is quite possible that a mason's signature to the Brother-book, and his weekly subscription, were all-sufficient. We will suppose that the day's work is over, the lodge (or workshop) cleaned and tidied, the brethren assembled, in the east the master, facing him his warden, in the south the treasurer (see Art. 23). The master and warden are each armed with a gavel, as symbols of their authority. A short dialogue ensues between these two, and the master declares the lodge open, in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and the four crowned martyrs. He then gives three blows with his gavel (Art. 28), and the warden answers with two. The treasurer then gives an account of his stewardship, and a fresh treasurer is appointed (Art. 23). Sub- scriptions are next collected (Art. XXXII.), and the warden hands over all fines levied during the preceding week. All causes of complaint are judicially settled by the master, with the assistance of the fellows, and cases of a grave nature are reserved for a higher court. The candidate is then announced. He is introduced by a friend, and led before the master, having been beforehand partly denuded as a token of humility, and perhaps deprived of his small store of money, in order to remind him of his poorer brethren. He then listens to a lecture, which recites the traditionary origin of the masonic handicraft, and the innate nobility of labor. He is impressed with the necessity of rendering him- self an honor to the craft and fraternity, and is admonished to forswear the errors of his immature youth. He is probably addressed throughout as "rough ashlar;" and now, sud- denly seized and manipulated, one brother figuratively applies the pick, another the gavel and chisel, and a third the rule. If he is slightly hurt, so much the better. At last he is once more placed before the master; the warden applies a square to his feet, a level to his arms, a plumb-rule to his body, and he is declared a true and perfect ashlar. The master then continues his discourse, inculcating steady and moral conduct, in much the same strain as the lecture of the smiths previously quoted, and the ceremony ends by his being formally hailed as a brother. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 159 The question naturally arises, was this all ? Did he receive no token by which he could prove himself a brother ? In the very nature of things we might expect that he did, — a sign, a word, a grip. But not the faintest trace of these exists. The Statutes do not even enjoin secrecy, but merely that "he shall keep every point and article" (Art. II.). And I am by no means inclined to think that any token of recognition was devised; the mere greeting, grip, and mark would prove him a fellow craft, although not always, as in certain cases an apprentice might be in possession of them (Art. 30).^ And his fellows would only be too anxious to acknowledge him as a brother, if he stated that he was one and kept up his subscriptions. The meeting was then probably once more called to order, whilst the master or warden made three several inquiries as to whether anything remained to be done, and a short dia- logue, no doubt, closed the proceedings. The tables were next produced, also the beer, bread, and wine, and the fellows spent a jovial evening. The health of the new brother was drunk with all formality, and it is just possible that the secret means of recognition (if secret signs there were) consisted in the proper manner of drinking the pledge, as we know that this was always a peculiar ceremony with all crafts. Winzer, as if determined to cap all Fallou's wonderful statements, asserts that at this banquet the master addressed a series of questions to the fellows, which they answered in rotation, thus gradually in- structing the new brother in the mysteries.'^ With equal truth he might at once have stated that they worked the fifteen sections, and completed the entire curriculum sanctioned by the respectable authority of the "Emulation" or the "Stability" Lodges of Instruction! ' Our young craftsman now pursues his travels, on which we need not further remark, than to state that Arts. XLIIL, XLIV., XLVIIL, XLIX., 105 to 110, all directly refer to a "fellow" on his journeyings. Having completed his travels, generally fixed by German writers at two years, he is now at liberty to take up a permanent residence where he will; and it is provided he shall no longer accept work for a few days or weeks, but for a year, or thereabouts (Art. XXVI.). In the Torgau Ordinances (Art. 89) this is somewhat differently expressed. He now enters on his preparation for the mastership; but it is not to be presumed that the majority, or even any large number of the fellows, ever attained this rank. It required an extended acquaintance with the sciences of mathematics and construction,'' as understood in those days; and it is hardly possible that many "fellows" were endowed with the capacity to attain this knowledge. The rank, we may conjecture, was only attainable by the pro- duction of a masterpiece, consisting, in all likelihood, of plans and models for a church, or of its component parts. When the institution of a masterpiece first arose in this craft is very problematical; it is not directly mentioned in the Ordinances, but may be inferred from their general wording. Heideloff possessed some manuscripts, found in the lodge at Nuremberg, making mention of masterpieces, the earliest entry referring to them, quoted by him, being — "24tli July 1585, Hans von Nordlingen's masterpiece has been shown."' ' But he ultimately had to pay for this unusual privilege. In Art. 25 it is enacted, "that if a fellow come free of the trade and demand a mark " — this can only refer to an apprentice who has completed his term by traveling under a borrowed mark and now claims one of his own. He re- ceives it on certain conditions, one of which is, that he treat the lodge to a pledge feast of double the usual cost. 2 Winzer, Die Deutschen Bruderschaften, p. 68. 'The oldest and most famous of our metropolitan "Lodges of Instruction." ^Heideloff, Die Bauhiitte des Mittel alters, p. 33. i6o THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that a masterpiece was requisite at a very early date; and we find it in all trades, without exception. In fact, as the number and the opu- lence of the masters in a town increased, eiforts were constantly directed to keep the admissions as few as possible, and the preliminaries were rendered more onerous. But the difficulty then lay less in the execution of the masterpiece than in the expense, which often became prohibitive to the poor craftsman; so that ultimately a mastership could only be attained by excessive patience and outlay, except for a master's son, in whose case his father's position and wealth were of material assistance. A short cut for a few favored craftsmen, however, was open to them, by marrying a deceased master's widow or his daughter, ' To such an extent did this evil grow, that in the seventeenth century the State issued an edict to suppress it. "^ It is possible that the admission to master's rank amongst the stonemasons was attended by some ceremony, of which, however, we have not the least hint; but it is almost certain that it was followed by a pledge feast. The alacrity with which the Steinmelzen of old availed themselves of any pretext for a convivial assem- bly, is very evident. Some reference to the mastership will be found in the Ordinances. Art, II. recites, "those only shall be masters who can erect costly edifices, for the which they are authorized" (see also Art. IV.). Again, in Art. XXXI. , we are told that, on his admission to the mastership, he shall pay an entrance fee of one florin to the craft; prov- ing that there was an admission, and that his mastership did not arise from the mere fact of his receiving a building order. In Art. 3 we have still stronger confirmation of a previous proof tendered ; and from Art. 4 it becomes apparent that such proof must have been submitted to a board of at least two masters, so that they may thenceforth be able to certify to his possession of the necessary qualifications. If he had already, however, worked as a master, the fact was patent, and he required no sponsors. Ko restraint is used as toward the employers; they may contract with any one, but the whole responsi- bility is thenceforth thrown on their shoulders (Arts. 5 to 7), although the craft is ready to grant them the necessary advice, and even urges them to make use of it. From the above, it is probable that no secrets attached to the master's degree as a means of recogni- tion; he was simply vouched for by those who knew him, and had passed his masterpiece. And this accords in the main with what we know of other crafts, excepting that we have no information of any abuse of the institution. Indeed, in spite of the assertions of Fallou (p. 125), even the privileges of a master's son did not exist among the stonemasons, as will appear from Art. LXII. In Art. LXXI. the master's son is even put at a slight disad- vantage (for further proof vide Art. 22). Nowhere does there occur any hint that he experienced any exceptional treatment. Having attained his master's degree, or more correctly rank, it by no means follows that the craftsman immediately received an order, or sought to obtain one. Some few may have retired to the smaller towns, and undertaken job work on their own account; whilst others, with wider views, continued to work under a master as journeymen, until a favorable opportunity arose for being placed at the head of a large building. This appears to be confirmed by Art. 2, where (the masters having been previously alluded to in Art, 1) it says, "and other masters," But the Torgau Ordi- nances also speak of a third class of masters. The two former are denominated master (ineister) and workmaster {werckmeister); that is, one at the head of a lodge. There was also a master builder {haumeister), who appears to have occupied much the same position ' Lujo Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 87; also Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. ii., p. 239. Uhid. 777^ STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. i6i as an architect ' of the present time. This may have been usual in large edifices only, and suggests the possibility of there being several lodges at every such building, each presided over by its own master, and all obeying the instructions of the master builder. However this may have been, the statutes attest the Jealousy which was evoked by any interference on the part of the master builder with lodge work or conduct; in all cases the workmaster remained the chief authority and supreme judge of the matters relating to his own lodge (Arts. 96 to 102). We have now traced the youthful workman from his indentures up to the summit of his ambition — the post of master builder; but there were two other offices open to him — those of treasurer, and warden. Of the treasurer (Art. 23) I have already spoken, and will merely add that the office in some form or other existed in all guilds. The warden's office, however, so far as we know, does not appear in other guilds; nevertheless, it may have existed in workshops where a large body of men were employed; in others it was unneces- sary. The reason why we know nothing of it is evident. The warden is the prototype of the overseer of our days, and as such, necessarily appointed directly by each master. But in all other trades, the association of which we know the most was the journeymen's fra- ternity, and of course we must not expect to find a warden there, the offices being elective. With the stonemasons the lodge and the fraternity were one and the same thing, and we consequently find very full information as regards the warden and his duties. In his in- stallation we find traces of another solemn ceremony. He was to be personally appointed, and not by a message or a third party, master and warden being both present (Art. 18), and no doubt the whole lodge; the master then addressed him on the importance of his office and its duties (" he shall impress him with the wardenship "), and the warden made oath to the saints (the four crowned martyrs), on the square and gauge, to perform his duties to the best of his ability. The fellows then hailed him as warden, and swore obedi- ence to him as the master's representative (Art. 20), the whole of course conclviding with a feast at the warden's expense (Art. 20). As to his duties, they were manifold. The 15G3 Ordinances merely state generally, that he is to be true, trusty, and obedient (Art. XLII), but those of Torgau are much more minute. We are told that his signal was two knocks, but whenever an announcement was made, such as to begin or to cease work, command attention, etc., one knock only (Art. 28). He was to preserve the order, the privileges, the tools and appliances of the lodge (Arts. 48, 63, and 65), and to see that all instruments of precision, square, gauge, etc., were maintained in full accuracy (Art. 49). He was to act as general instructor to the fellows and apprentices (Arts. 49 and 50), and prepare, prove, and pass their work for them, to reject spoilt work (Art. 51), and to levy all fines for negligence or otherwise (Art. 62). He was to call the bretli- ]-en to labor at the proper time, without fear or favor (Art. 54), and to fine those who did not make their appearance (Art. 56); in this latter respect his attention being forcibly directed to the influence of a good example (Art. 62). AYhilst true and faithful to his master, and ever on the alert to safeguard his interests, he was to be con- ciliatory and kind to the fellows (Art. 49), and ever ready to help them, of a peaceable dis- position, to avoid giving cause of strife (Art. 57), and on no account to act with greater severity than the usages of the craft permitted (Art. 64). He was to preside at their or- dinary vesper meal, and to enforce a becoming frugality (Art. 59); he had power to assist a traveller, and to engage and dismiss workmen (Art. 60), and in the master's absence ' The German for architect is to tliis day the same word, baumeister, 11 1 62 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. succeeded to all his authority (Art. 55), even to the extent of reducing the hours of labor (Art. 59), His name is differently given. The Strassburg Ordinances always call him parlierer. According to Fallou and others this word would signify "the speaker/' from the French parler, to speak; and in fact, he was undoubtedly, to a certain extent, the mouthpiece of the master. But a glance at the original language of the Statutes will show that no other word there used indicates a French origin, and the custom, since so prevalent with a certain class of German writers and speakers, of Teu- tonizing French words, to the great detriment of their fine old mother tongue, had not yet arisen. Fort gives a far more probable derivation.' The Torgau Ordinances spell the word pallirer; and he states that, in former times amongst the Germans, all places of worship, justice, etc., were fenced around with a row of stakes, in modern German jis/c/i/, formerly joaZ/ the guardian or warden of the enclosure would thence take his name, pfahlirer or pallirer, and when the real meaning of the word was forgotten, and the present office of the holder only remembered, it might easily have become corrupted into parlierer. If we accept this derivation, the conclusion is inevitable, that warden, parlierer, and pallirer are identical in their signification. We have thus a clear picture of the lodge as it existed in the fifteenth century, and probably for many centuries previously, consisting of appren- tices, resident fellows, travelling fellows, warden, perhaps journeyman masters, and the master. Let us now inquire into the nature of the bond which united the individual lodges into one comprehensive system, which bond was first forged in 1459. It may be described as a system of jurisdictions, independent of each other, but subordinate to a district lodge; sev- eral district lodges owing obedience to a provincial lodge, and all culminating in the chief lodge of Strassburg; the whole being united by the tie of brotherhood. The court of first instance, as it were, was that of the master of every lodge. In Art. 11 the lodge is recog- nized as the seat of justice, and ordered to be kept pure accordingly; and Art. 39 expressly grants the master power to hold a general court over his own fellows; and it is evident from the whole tenor of the Statutes, over them only. These courts were probably held whenever required, but it is stipulated that one shall be held at least every three months (Art. 42). His jurisdiction is also limited as to extent, for if the offence be serious he is to call to his aid two other masters of the neighborhood (Art. 40). From this and Arts. 41 and 42, we may conclude that he exercised summary justice in all matters of lodge discipline, bad work, quarrels and bickerings amongst his workmen, and that as far as he was able he settled all differences between employers and workmen, and only when he did not succeed in so doing was the case reserved for a higher court. The master, in cases, which merely entailed a pecuniary loss upon himself, appears to have been a competent judge, and decided the amount of the fine on his own responsibility (Arts. 57, 62, and 104). For offences that were self-evident and required no proof, and the fine for which Avas legally fixed this would appear to have been also the case (Arts. 50, 51, 69 to 72, 85, and 93). In the latter instance it may be supposed that no formalities were observed, but that the fine was levied then and there, and to a great extent the warden would appear to have exercised the privileges of the master (Arts. 51, 52, 56, and 64). But whenever a disputed case arose, it is quite clear, that although the master presided and proclaimed the verdict, yet he was assisted in his deliberations by the whole body of fellows; a custom which was so inherent in the German nationalities that we cannot expect to find it absent ' Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 267. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 163 here; and indeed, it is very fairly indicated in Arts. 43, 44, 7G, and 77. But under no circumstance could punishment be inflicted, except with the concurrence of the master; not even by mutual consent amongst the fellows (Arts. 78 to 80). Nor were they allowed to punish the master in any way; this was reserved for a higher court, but they might leave his employment — in fact — strike (Art. 15); and even this was not permissible until after the master had been convicted (Art. XIX.). Besides the master's jurisdiction over his fellows, he was also the treasurer of the craft funds. lie was the keeper of a box in which the fellows placed their weekly contributions, and such other fines as were not levied for the use of their particular lodge, or of the master, but for the benefit of the guild. He was, however, in no sense the almoner of the guild; this duty was reserved for his immediate superior (Art. XXXII.), to whom he had to account annually. It is, nevertheless, perfectly evident that he had power to disburse some part of these funds in furthering a travelling brother to the next works. • Ascending in rank, we find the district court presided over by a master to whom was entrusted a Brother-book. Art. XXIII. defines those who are entitled to "a book;" they are the masters at the head of any large building likely to be many years in progress, such as a cathedral. They were to be the presiding judges in their districts, and in conjunction with neighboring masters were to rule and govern the craft in their immediate neighbor- hoods (See also Arts. XXI. and XXII.). All offences involving a limitation of the right to exercise the craft, variously described as reviling, casting out, proscribing, holding for no true man, etc., could only be tried before this master and two others of a like degree; that is to say, three book masters (Art. XXIX.); and any complaint against a master was also to be tried in the district court. Courts were held annually on an appointed day; the presence of the fellows, or their representatives, was evidently necessary to complete the tribunal; and in case of disagreement provision is made for the election of an arbitrator (Art. 43). Even if the cause of dispute between two craftsmen did not affect masonry, they were still enjoined to refer it to this court, before appealing to the tribunals of the state (Art. XXX.). Only when differences could not be adjusted by the high court were appeals allowed (Art. XXL). Complaints of the civil authorities against the craft were also to be heard by a chief master (preamble to the 14C2 code). The book-master dispensed the charities of the guild, and administered relief to the sick and distressed (Art. XXIV.). To him the lower masters handed their boxes annually and rendered their accounts. This arrangement was a salutary one. If the individual masters had been allowed to afford relief, a class of professional mendicants might have arisen, as one master would have been ignorant of the doings of the others. But the district master could exercise greater caution and control; and as the districts Avere not very large, no special hardship was inflicted on the really needy and deserving in requiring them to travel a short distance in order to communicate their wants. The Brother-book thus became a symbol of higher authority. It was carefully and jealously guarded and preserved from harm, and the contents rehearsed once a year (Art. XXVIII.). Of the functions of the provincial masters there is no record. Appeals were doubtless made from the decisions of the district masters. Who they were, we learn from the Statutes. They were the masters of the cathedrals of Strass- burg, Cologne, Vienna, and Zurich, whose jurisdictions are defined in Arts. XXXVIII. to XLI. To these, as I have already shown, must probably be added Dresden. The highest court of appeal, and the head of the whole union, was Strassburg (Art. XXXVII.). Thus, throughout the entire organization of the stonemasons, we find a curious rule ex- i64 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. tending, which is, that all the officers and superiors owed their positions in the fraternity, not to the suffrages of their fellows as in other handicrafts, not to the principles of birth and inheritance as in some guilds and associations, hut to the appointment of those who were strangers to their body, viz., the employers of architectural labor, who placed their buildings under the direction of masters of their own choice. This was the necessary consequence of the craft never having split up into two separate fraternities; and in this particular only, as I have attempted to show, did it differ from other craft guilds. Not even in their union, extending throughout Germany, or in their creation of a chief ledge did the Steinmetzen strike out for themselves a new path; they were neither the first nor the last to avail themselves of these institutions. For instance, as early as 1361 — a whole century before the Eatisbon meeting of stonemasons — the tailors' guilds of twenty-six towns in Silesia had formed one huge guild. ' Toward the middle of the fourteenth century there existed in the Holy Roman Empire four brotherhoods who judicially determined all disputes in the cutlers' guilds, and whose authority was unimpeachable. These fraternities were at Augsburg, Munich, Heidelberg, and Bale.^ The bakers of Brunswick, Hildes- heim, Goslar, and Helmstadt had also formed a union in the fourteenth century. ' We find the same tie amongst the locksmiths, sword-cutlers, combmakers, filecutters, brush- makers, coppersmiths, etc., and in many of the unions the central society, or, as it were, the chief lodge, was situated at Nuremberg, although the branches extended as far as Cour- land and Livonia." And the Im.perial Edict of 1731 recites that, " Whereas it has become general in many trades to erect a so-called extra guild, similar to the chief lodge of the masons," etc. - Masonic writers all combine in placing vividly before us the importance and the dig- nity of the chief master at Strassburg; and scarcely one of them omits to mention that ho was invested with a sword, and sat enthi'oned under a canopy of baldachin. If, however, this assertion is carefully traced from one authority to another up to the fountain-head, we find that it originates in the work of a non-mason, viz.. Stock (p. 85), who says he has been informed "that such was the case." It, therefore, rests simply on hearsay.^ With- out being a matter of importance either way, it affords, nevertheless, a good example of the manner in which masonic history has been written. But without importing into the case any extravagant conclusions, no doubt need be entertained that the overjudge at Strassburg Avielded an immense influence," although, looking at the whole spirit of the Ordinances before us, it is hardly conceivable that his judicial decisions were promulgated on his own sole and undivided authority. Like the district masters, he had probably to avail himself of the assistance of neighboring, or perhaps provincial masters, and of the fellows of the craft in general. Eeverting once more to the Ordinances, we become powerfully impressed with the high tone of their morality; the prohibition of open adultery, gambling, intemperance, unseemly conduct of all kinds, and opprobrious language is constant; also the evidence of a scrupu- lous regard for the interests of the employers. Not that such regulations are wanting in ' Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. ii., p. 230. ^Ibid., vol. vii., p. 123. ^Ibid., vol. vi., p. 125. ''Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 71. ^ Fallou (p. 72) ascribes the origin of this report to Grandidier, but questions his accuracy. * In 1461 the Town Council of Strassburg formally made over to him the adjudication of all dis- putes amongst the citizens relating to their buildings, and he was provided with an assistant versea in the law. But as he misused tiiis power, it was withdrawn in 1620. See "Alsatia Illustrata," by Shopflin, quoted by Krause, 2d edit., vol. ii., part iv., p. 245. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 165 other trades; no Ordinance or charter omits to provide for the maintenance of good morals in the guild or fraternity; and even the respective clauses of the different charters bear a strong resemblance. Even their rules of personal etiquette were minute. The slioemakers considered as a liigh offence to take off their shoes in the presence of the landlord or land- lad}'; to pass three houses in the street without shoes^ collar, or hat; to eat in the open air. They also prohibited obscene swearing, blasphemy, larceny, open profligacy, gaming, dicing, etc' The articles against bribery are noteworthy (XLIX., 21, 90, 100, and 102); also some others, which point to evils not unknown to workmen of the present day, namely, unpunc- tuality (Art. 56 and 8G), rattening (Art. 68), Blue Monday (Arts. 83, 84, and LI.), and, finally, strikes (Arts. XX. and L.). The question has been often asked — what was the particular handicraft of which the stonemasons claimed a monopoly, and to forbid a participation therein by others their Ordi- nances were compiled ? The answer has always been — aslilar — that is, squared stonework. When we, however, reflect that tliis was requisite in buildings without pretension to archi- tectural merit, and that it is a Avork which could not demand a live years' apprenticesliip to learn, the answer is unsatisfactory. It was work which the stonehewer {Steinliauer, as distinguished from Steimnetz) was allowed to practice, although, of course, the stonemason did the same, just as he considered himself entitled to build with rough ashlar, or brick, for his sodality was the head of the building trade, and he deemed himself empowered to pursue all its branches. The correct and sensible answer is given in Arts. XII. and XIII., but these clauses in the antiquated German dialect have always been wrongly construed. The original German is " Masswerk oder Auszuge aus dem Grand." Heldmann, unable to com- l^rehend it, jumped to the conclusion that Masswerk meant work in large masses, and that, therefore, Ausztige must be work in detail, and every writer without exception has fol- lowed his lead, wholly regardless of the fact, that, massen in such a sense, is not German but French, and (even viewing this as immaterial) the interpretation can be only made to apply by omitting as senseless the qualification "aus dem Grund" in both articles, and by suppressing Masswerk entirely in Art. XIV. For many reasons it might well have been conjectured that the terms were purely technical, which on close examination they prove to be. A reference to a technical dictionary at once disclosed that Massioerk in architectural phraseology denotes carving, carved work, tracery, or literally, " proportioned work," from messen to measure; and finally, after persistent researches, it became manifest that "Ein Ausszug aus dem Grunde nelimen" means, to take or extract an elevation or design from a given ground-plan {Grundriss). The signification now becomes clear. The stonemason's s])ecial handicraft was the elaborate carving of stone; and this peculiar knowledge was the >\ preparation of the plans, designs, etc., for such work, in fact the principles of archi- tectural drawing; and this is the art which he was forbidden to communicate (Art. XIII.) except to a properly indentured stonemason's apprentice; or to put in practice (Art. XII.) unless free of the craft; but which he was required to impart gratuitously to every properly qualified stonemason (Art. XIV.).'' 'Berlepsch, Chronik der Gevverbe, vol. iv., pp. 67-72. 2 German students will find indications ol' this meaning in the confirmation of the Emperor Ferdinand, 16th September, 1621, where he speaks of " Aus dem Grund ausgezogcn Steinwerckh" — "oder maszen," given by Heideloff, in his " Bauhiitte des Mittelaters," p. 91; and confirmation strong in the interesting reprint at the end of the work of an old German manual of operative geometry, the concluding chapters of wliich give instructions for drawing- the ground-plan and elevation of a finial i66 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. One more article (LII. ) and we may leave the Ordinances. " No more beatings " has been presented as a heading, but hriitchen in the original German is not easily translated. The modern form Pritsche signifies a wand, something like a harlequin's sword, a flat lath, a bat, etc. ; and Heldmann ' gives a description of the remarkable and humorous ceremony, which it was the object of this article to suppress. If a fellow or apprentice had utterly spoilt and ren- dered unfit for use a piece of stone, it was hoisted on a litter, and carried in solemn procession to the refuse heap, called the Beinliaus, i.e., bonehouse, charnel house, ossuary. As cliief mourner followed the unlucky workman, and behind him all his comrades. The ceremony over, the procession returned to the lodge, and the delinquent was thoroughly birched with the flat plumb-rules.'^ Here again we meet with the humorous symbolism of the mediaeval craftsmen, and any number of illustrations might be given of their ability to bring into play the full resources of metaphor and allegory. The glassmakers were required to abstain from working under a non-guild master; they were to " avoid him as far as they could see a white horse in a field. " ^ In all trades the journeymen fraternities affected an appearance of poverty, so that although the traveller was well received and hospitably pledged, yet when the receiving brother placed the pledge cup before him, he was wont comically to borrow this expression from the cloister — " The convent is poor, the brothers are many, and the abbot himself is fond of a drink " * — as an excuse for any possible short- comings. Not even in the presence of their superiors could the craftsmen restrain their jovial mood. The proper official of the fraternity having found work for a traveller, intro- duced him to his future master, in many trades, with some such formula as the following: " Now, master, behold your journeyman; he likes to sleep late, sup early, work short hours, receive higli pay; I wish you joy of your industrious man ! " * The stonemasons have left ample evidence of their grim humor carved in the imperishable stone of the sacred edifices which they helped to rear. We find portrayed — a nun in the embraces of a monk, a pope descending to hell at the last judgment, a fox in priest's robes preaching to a congregation of geese, an ass performing high mass, etc. Almost every writer on the subject has given numerous examples, and by the Germans they are styled Wahr- zeiclien, true signs of a mason, and are quoted as indicative of the high morality, non-papal tendencies, and indignant protests of the stonemasons against the abuses of the clergy. It seems, however, quite clear that had such been the case, this pictorial imagery would not have been allowed in the first instance, and all surreptitious manifestations of the idea would have been long since effaced. The Church was far too powerful to be thus bearded in its own den. These signs are always found in some secluded spot, behind an ornament, beneath the hinged seat of a stall, etc., and merely afford additional evidence of the jocularity of showing all the various stages, and finally presenting us with a complete ground-plan and elevation side by side, and it concludes with the words, "Darnach so haist dj figur ain rechte fiale aus gezogn ausz dem grunt Des ain exempel zu negst neben der geschrift stet d. grut un der auszug." The finial in those days was not only the small cluiiter at the top of a pyramidal formation, but the whole pyramid itself (Ogilvie's " Dictionary "), as shown in the drawings mentioned; so that the impor- tance to the Craftsmen of this knowledge is apparent, more especially when we consider tlxe peculiarities of the Gothic style of architecture. ' Heldmann, Die drei Aeltesten Geschichtlichen Denkmale, p. 280, note. ^ I fancy something of a similar nature, called " goosing," is not unknown amongst our modern tailors? ^ Ch. L. Stock, Grundziige der Verfassung, p. 11. * Stock, Grundziige der Verfassvmg, p. 48. * Stock, Grundzuge der Verfassung, p. 69. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 167 the early craftsmen, winked at because not too glaringly obtruded, and also, because the reverend fathers were quite in harmony with the jovial artists. A striking corroboration of this view has been recently afforded. On the 4th December, 1881, at the sale of a portion of the great Sunderland Library, Mr. Quaritch became the possessor of a manuscript, " Eomaii duEoi Artus,"etc., beautifully illuminated. T Ms manuscript dates back to the fourteenth .century, and is therefore a monkish composition. On the first leaf is a richly illuminated border, and tliis border contains a veritable Wahrzeichen, viz., a nun suckling an ape. ' Here we have, therefore, a cleric indulging in the same comic vein as the stonemasons, and on tliis rock, any attempt to elevate the German stonemasons above the level of their sur- roundings, must infallibly suffer shipwreck. We have thus seen that the Journeymen of all trades were highly poetical, and that their feeling found vent in grim satire, rough horseplay, and coarse allegory. They were of the people, and the people in all ages and climes have been possessed of a rude poetic temperament, which even our present civilization has been unable to subdue. Any one even partially acquainted with the language of our lower orders must have observed this. Even the chaff of a London costermonger or cabdriver is, in spite of its coarseness, redolent of humor. ^ But have we any sign of something higher amongst the stonemasons ? Any traces of a speculative science ? In spite of the assertions of German writers, I am afraid not. If Fallon's initiation ceremony were capable of being made even probable, then we might infer that the heathen mysteries had descended to the stonemasons of Germany; but I have already shown that his statements are unworthy of belief. That they symbol- ized their tools to a certain extent is probable, nay, almost certain; but this proves nothing. The soldier and sailor made their flag the emblem of victory and obedience; the knight took the oath on his sword; the clergy on the cross; the mason's warden on the square and gauge. The Highland clans assembled at the sign of the fiery cross; in like manner the smiths sent a hammer or a nail from one shop to another before holding their meetings,' and the shoemakers the key of their treasury. * In all this we find no trace of mysticism or of philosophy, and I will now mention the only remaining evidence from which the existence of a speculative science, at this remote era, has been inferred. In the Cathedral of Wurzburg two pillars stand within the building, which at some period formed a part of the original porch. They are of peculiar construction. Their names, Jachin and Boaz, suggest a derivation from the celebrated pillars at the entrance of King Solomon's Temple, with which, however, their architectural form in no way cor- responds. Jachin is composed of two series of eight columns; the eight springing from the capital extend to the centre, and are there curved and joined two and two, go as to form in reality only four U-shaped columns; the same applies to the four whose eight open ends rest on the base. At the bends of the opposing U's, the pillar is completed by an inter- laced fillet or band. Boaz consists of two U's at the top and two at the base, and these are joined by two O's of equal length, so that this pillar consists of apparently three series of four columns each. The names are engraved on the capitals. A sketch of these will be found in Steinbrenner, p. 76. A counterpart of Jachin is to be found in Bamberg Cathe- dral, and one of Boaz in the New Market Church of Merseburg; and various ornamental forms in other buildings resemble these columns in one or more respects." It is obvious > Daily Telegrajjh, December 5, 1881. 2 Compare the Slang Dictionary (Chatto & Windus). 8 Stock, Grundziige der Verfassung, p. 8. ^ Ibid. * Steinbrenner, Origin and Early History of Freemasonry, p. 79. 1 68 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. that these curious monuments are suggestive of many mystical interpretations; they may be intended to represent man (body and soul), the Trinity (three in one), or, in fact, almost anything — a little ingenuity will discover numberless hidden meanings — or they may simply be the result of the inventive fancy of some skilful workman. Their names merely prove that the masons were acquainted with that part of the Old Testament most interesting to them as architects, which in itself may have suggested the idea of constructing something unusual. Of Church symbolism, Stieglitz observes, *' and because the Apostles were con- sidered the pillars of the Church, the columns at the side of the porch were referred to them; although the pillars in front of King Solomon's Temple were thereby more espe- cially brought to mind." ' But admitting that the ancient builders attached a hidden sym- bolical meaning to these pillars, the fact is insufficient to sustain the theory that a specu- lative system of philosophy or of theology was nurtured in the masons' lodges. One point, however, demands attention before we pass from this subject. According to Schauberg,'^ on each side of the Meister tafel (master's tablet) at Bdle is a sculptured representation of one of the four martyrs, with the addition of a couplet in rude rhyme. Identical verses, in slightly modernized phraseology, are also engraved on the treasury chest of the Hamburg lodge of masons, which reverted to Vienna, together with the Brother- book, after the death of the last Steinmetz, Wittgrefl. These verses run as follows: I. " The square possesses science enough, But use it always with propriety. n. " The level teaches the true faith; Therefore is it to be treasured. m. " Justice and the compass' science — It boots naught to establish them. IV. " The gauge is fine and scientific, And is used by great and small." The versifiers, in the second and third rhymes more especially, clearly show us that they grasped the idea of an ethical symbolization of the implements of their handicraft; yet the question arises, whether this ought not rather to be taken as a proof of philosophical reflection on the part of some individual members, than as indicative of a system of speculative philosophy having been co-existent with mediaeval stonemasonry ? ^ If such a system existed, why has it not survived ? and why are there no traces of it in the still existing lodges of the stonemasons ? Why, when Freemasonry was introduced from Eng- land, did no recognition take place of its previous existence in Germany? The reason is obvious. Stonemasonry, purely operative, had existed in Germany — Freemasonry, that is, ' Stieglitz, Geschichte der Baukunst, p. 448. ^ Schauberg, Vergleichendes Handbuch der Symbolik der Freimaurerei, vol. ii. , p. 533. ^ It has been already shown that the masons enjoyed no monopoly of the symbolism of their trade. Mr. H. A. Giles (Freemasonry in China, p. 3) observes: "From time immemorial we find the square and compass used by Chinese writers to symbolize exactly the same phases of moral conduct as in our own system of Freemasonry." THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 169 a speculative science — never ! The Steinmetzen may have claimed a few thoughtful, speculative members, and so, for that matter, might a society of coalheavers; but it never concealed within the bosom of its operative fraternity any society which consciously and systematically practiced a speculative science. In view of the assertions so often made, that the stonemasons were in the habit of admitting into their fraternity the most learned men of the age, it is somewhat surprising to find no provision for this contingency in the Ordinances. Albertus Argentinus and Albertus Magnus are both claimed as masons. To the former is attributed the design for the towers of Strassburg Cathedral, and to the latter the plan of Cologne Cathedral, although some writers are inclined to consider them as one and the same person. This is the opinion of, amongst others, Heideloff, who says, "the masons' traditions connect Albertus Argen- tinus with the Cathedral of Strassburg, but he is probably Albertus Magnus, born 1193 or 1206, living in 1230 as a Benedictine monk in Strassburg, teacher of theology, philosophy, physics, and metaphysics." ' If he really designed the plan of Cologne Cathedral, we can scarcely wonder at the masons desiring to claim him as a brother, but proof is, in such a case, of course, hardly to be expected. The Emperor, Frederick III. (1440-1492), is said to have been admitted to the fraternity, as shown in his WelsJcunig.'^ All this is not impossible, but there is nowhere any proof of, nor provision made for it. Nevertheless, we know that other crafts admitted honorary members; indeed, Avhen the town government was divided amongst the craft guilds, it became necessary that every citizen should belong pro forma to one of them, and provision is very early made for this. In the charter, granted in 12G0 by the Bishop of Bale to the tailors as already mentioned, we find this clause: " The same conditions shall be submitted to by those who are not of this craft, and wish to join the society or brotherhood." ^ "We have thus examined Ihe history of the stonemasons as revealed by their own docu- ments. We have learned what they desired to be, what they claimed as their exclusive rights and privileges. We have seen that amongst other matters they asserted the right to vest in their own body the settlement of all disputes concerning Masonry, and evidently strove to render themselves totally independent of the laws of the realm or of the muni- cipalities where they resided. They intended, in fact, to fonn an imperkim in imperio. But did they succeed ? Emphatically No ! In troublous times they may have approached more or less closely to their ideal, but no sooner did the municipalities develop a strong executive government than they had to conform to the laws which affected the whole body of citizens. It may, however, be safely laid down that the actual status of the Steinmetzen has not yet been subjected to the test of historical criticism. Every v/riter up to the present time has been satisfied with the perusal of their own documents, and has sought no further. It is evident that the Ordinances already quoted treat only of the duties of the mason as a member of the fraternity. If high morality is enjoined, it is only because it was conducive to their well-being; the State is not considered except in its power of aiding their purposes, and in Art. 45 it is very palpably threatened. But the mason was a dual personage — he was a stonemason, but he was also a citizen; and Avhat does the State say of or to him ? The archives of the city of Cologne supply us with an answer. In 18G2 was ' Heideloff, Die Bauhiitte des Mittelalters, p. 15. ^Ibid., p. 22. I have not been able to verify Ibis, but Kloss (Die Freimaurerei in ihrer vvahren Bedeutung, p. 250) admits that the passages may bear this construction, although they do not prove it. ^Berlepsch, Chronik der Gewerbe, vol. ii., pp. 18. 19. I/O THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. published to the world ' an account of a series of manuscripts relating to the Steinmetzen, dating from 139G to the seventeenth century. In 1396, the patrician guild of Cologne was finally vanquished by the trade guilds, who then erected a complete municipality consist- ing of their own delegates/ This was fully a hundred years later than in most cities.^ Tho resident stonemasons of course formed part of this municipality; but we find them clubbed together into one guild with the carpenters, tilers, boxmakers, crossbow-makers, and others. But we must not conclude from this that these crafts or fraternities amalgamated. It was only in their political aspect that they formed one guild. The twenty-two guilds chose thirty-six common councilmen, of which four belonged to the weavers, two each to the next eleven guilds, one of which was the Steimneizen, and to the remaining ten one each. Already the municipality, i.e., the patricians, had fixed" their rate of wages and levied fines upon them; and from henceforth although a part of the municipality, we find they were obliged to submit many of their proceedings to the judgment of the council. What, then, becomes of their boasted independence of all control ? a fact on which Fallou, Winzer, and others rely to such a wearisome extent. For instance, an undated Ordinance, which waa confirmed on 6tli July 1478, and, therefore, must have been drawn up still earlier, after forbidding certain offences, orders that in case of their being committed the mason should make good the fault at his own cost, spend fourteen days in one of the town towers (prisons), and be fined eighteen marks, one-third of which went to the common council, one-third to the treasurer of the exchequer, and one-third to the Judge. Later on, the fine was divided into four parts and the master of the guild (not lodge) obtained his share. * But, in or before 1483, their subjection to the municipality becomes still more glaringly evident; they are forbidden to erect any buildings for the clergy except with the consent of the coun- cil. ^ They are, therefore, no longer even at liberty to choose their own employers. And the document concludes, " And that shall be sworn to every half-year, or at such other time as they take their oaths, equally with the other points of their oath." On the 9th March 1491, it was agreed " that the masons should keep to their craft and the painters to theirs, and neither encroach on the other, but it shall be allowed to be free of both crafts. " " This is against the whole spirit of the Ordinances, and could only legally take place, according to stonemason's law, if the individual had served his apprenticeship to both crafts, which would be taking a good slice out of his life. It is a most remarkable fact that throughout this roll of documents, no mention is made of the four martyrs, but that the guild of stonemasons and carpenters, who were always cited together, is repeatedly called the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist. This arose from their having originally held their headquarters at the Chapel of St. John in the cathedral square; but it also points to the possibility of their having only formed one fraternity. In 1561 (two years before the Strassburg Ordinances of 1563), the burgomaster and council of Cologne issued a charter of constitution to the stonemasons and carpenters, con- taining eighteen clauses, some of which were in direct conflict with the 1459 and 1563 Ordinances. Even if we admit that the craft first drew up the Ordinances and the council then confirmed them, as was probably the case, the importance of these contradictions is ' Latomia, Quarterly Magazine (Leipsic, 1862), p. 193, etc. ^ Ibid., p. 196. The original charter constituting this municipality, with the seals of the guilds attached, may be seen in the Britisli Museum. It is enclosed in a glass frame, and hangs On the inner wall of the King's Library. ^Ihid., p. 195 * Ibid., p. 203. '" Latomia, Quarterly Magazine (Leipsic, 1862), p. 203. ^Ibid., p. 207. THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. 171 none tlie less. Either way, it implies that the municipality was able to impose terms on the masons within its walls, subversive of the formally recognized Ordinances of the craft, which ordinances had even been approved and confirmed by the Emperor. Art. 1 fixes fourteen years as the age at which an apprentice may be bound, and he is to serve four years. The Ordinances require five. It also fixes his rate of pay, which tlie master is to charge to the employer. If he charges more, the master loses his " Brother- hood " but many recover it by a fine of 2 florins, half to the municipality, half to the mas- ter of the guild. So that the municipality even asserts its right to exclude a craftsman and to forbid him his craft. Art. 2 forbids a master to keep more than one apprentice, but at the expiration of half his term he may bind a second. The Ordinances allow three or five, as the case may be. Art. 4 provides for the exhibition of the masterpiece. Art. 5 and G determine the hours of labor and the rate of pay, diifering in winter and summer, and also according to whether the fellow is working at his employer's board or at his own. Art. 12 provides a fine for every day that the master is absent from his work, half to the craft, half to the municipality. The Ordinances, on the contrary, clearly enjoin that the employers shall cause him to be Judged before the district master, and recognize the councirs authority in no way. From Art. 13, it is clear that strange masters and fellows were only to be employed when no citizens were to be had. This is a terrible blow at the universality of the fra- ternity ! Art. 14, besides placing great hindrances in the way of a craftsman who had learned his trade elsewhere and wished to exercise it at Cologne, makes the curious provision that no mason shall use oil color, which is to be left for the painters to employ. Art. 15 provides that if a master or fellow execute a work in such a manner as to raise discord amongst the workmen, he shall sit in the tower for one month, eat bread and water, and be heavily fined. According to the Ordinances, such a case ought to be tried and punished by the craft, and would be almost important enough to be carried to Strassburg itself; they certainly do not contemplate having it decided by the Town Council. Art. 16 is very strong. If the Town Council require to erect a building, and summon thereto any master or fellows, they are at once to comply, " because we, the council, are the chief authority which grants all trade charters, and we shall even be allowed, if we think fit, to employ strange masters and fellows " (that is, non-citizens — a privilege which was not granted to a resident master). And, finally. Art. 18 provides that the masters shall swear to observe this code once a year before the burgomaster and council, and to cause it to be read to and observed by their craftsmen. On the 12th September 1608, these Articles were confirmed, but the rate of pay of masters, fellows, and apprentices was raised. The perfect apprentice was also required to remain with his former master as journeyman for two years, unless he wished to travel. This code of rules was in force till at the least 1760; it having been cited as late as that year in the various magisterial proceedings. ' It was therefore drawn up between the first Ordinances of 1459 and the latter of 1563, and regulated the trade of the stonemasons, carpenters, etc., up to a very recent period. ' Latomia, Quarterly Magazine (Leipsic, 1862), p. 219. i;2 THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY. What conclusion is to be drawn from these conflicting laws? It is evident that in Cologne, at least as early as 1478, the regulations of the craft were subordinate to those of the council; and we may assume that this was the case even earlier in other cities, as Coloo-ne was one of the latest to wrest its complete independence from the patrician guild. The stonemasons themselves acknowledge their limited power in the preamble of the 1462 Ordi< nances—" And when the Lords will not have it so, then shall it not be so; " and in Art. I. (1563),—" Then may those who are of our craft, being in a majority, alter such Articles according to the times and the necessities of the land, and the course of affairs.'' The Ordinances therefore assume a new form to our eyes; they are no longer the picture of what was universal, but of what to the stonemasons was desirable. They already felt their power, importance, and independence as a corporation slipping away from them, with the increase of order and civilization, and strove to prop the edifice by forging extra bonds of union; and in the hope of success obtained confirmations of their Ordinances from the Emperors, thus opposing the imperial to the local authority. But the free towns of Ger- many, although willing enough to support the Emperor against the clergy or nobility, were too strong to be overawed by any imperial edict, where it clashed with their own interests. These confirmations were numerous. The first, apparently, was that of Frederick III. at Eatisbon, a.d. 1459; reconfirmed by all his successors. Maximilian I., . Charles V., Eerdinand L, . Maximilian II., . Eudolpli II., Matthew, Ferdinand II., . Ferdinand III., Leopold, . Joseph, Charles VI., The confirmation of Freder Strassburg, Barcelona, Innspruck, Prague, . Pressburg, Eatisbon, Vienna, . Ebersdorf, Pressburg, Vienna, . Vienna, . 3d October 1498. 15th April 1538. 15th March 1563. 18th April 1570. 3d March 1578, 1613. 16th September 1621. 30th July 1644. 1st September 1662. 12th October 1708. 13th October 1713.' ick III. in 1459 I have been unable to verify, but Heidelofl and other writers give either the full text or extracts from many of the others. They bear a strong family likeness, and generally recite that having been requested by the masters and fellows of the stonemasons to confirm their Ordinances, and having perused the Brother- book, which provides as follows, . •. . '. " we do confirm," etc. But the curious fact is, that the recital of the Brother-book contained in the confirmations does not agree with the Brother-book itself, inasmuch as only the articles referring to the service of God, and a few referring to trade, are quoted; those showing an intention of exerting a trade union coercion, or which attempt to replace the laws of the land by the tribunal of the masters, are omitted. And this is the support upon which the stonemasons relied, and which they obtained. Kloss, indeed, who points this out,'' does not scruple to declare that the Emperor Maximilian confirmed something quite different to what was written in the Brother-book, and that he was probably under an impression that the fraternity was only formed for pious purposes, and certainly not for the exercise of a system of trade compulsion. ' This list is from Heideloff, Die Bauhtitte des Mittelaltcrs, p. 21. * Kloss, Die Freimaurerei in ihi-er wahren Bedeutung, p. 250, etc '^^gafe=B=::=s:-g -^0:5laV,iLt lUd., p. 153. ' Lacroix et Sere, loc. cit. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 183 " In sixty-five years Treves was sacked five times, and from 447 to 752 Orleans was be- sieged eight times." * " A last will and testament exists in Paris (Testamentum Erminethendis) date c"^ 700, drawn up according to the pure Roman law."' " The title of Patrician existed in Burgundy till the close of the first dynasty (752)." ^ "A capitulary of Charlemagne decrees that the corporation of bakers shall be main- tained in full efficiency in the provinces, and an edict of 864 mentions the guild of gold- smiths."* " Under the two Frank dynasties, Roman life and barbarian life, distinct, but on the same soil, exist side by side, and so to speak, merge into each other." * "In the ninth century a distinction was habitually made between the districts where judgment was given according to the Roman law and the districts where a cause was judged by some other law." ° " A legal distinction existed till the tenth century between the Franks and the Romans." ' " The inhabitants of Rheims preserved in the twelfth century the recollection of the Roman origin of their municipal council. The citizens of Metz prided themselves on hav- ing exercised civil rights before the duchy of Lorraine existed; they used to say, 'Lor- raine is young and Metz old.' At Lyons, Bourges and Boulogne the citizens maintained that tliere had existed for those cities a right of free justice and administration before France became a kingdom. Aries, Marseilles, Perigeux, Angouleme, and even smaller cities in the south that had been mere castles under the Roman Empire, believed their semi-republican organization to be anterior to the Frankish conquest, and to all the feudal holdings of the Middle Ages. Toulouse gave itself a capital after the model of Rome."' " In the fourteenth century Charles the Bald decreed that false coiners should be pun- ished according to the Roman law in all such places where this law was still in force."" " The Gallo-Roman cities had preserved their municipal government under the domi- nation of the barbarians." " " The working classes owe to the Roman institutions not only their development, but, so to speak, their very existence." " " The true origin of the corporation is found in the social life of the Romans, and amongst the vanquished Gauls, who always formed the principal population in the cities, and faithfully preserved under their new masters the remembrance and traces of their ancient organization." '^ " In the majority of cities the organization of the craft guilds preceded that of the commune: the proof of it is, that in almost all the communes the political sj^stem and the election of magistrates were based on the division of the citizens into trade corporations." " " In the south the trade guilds followed the same development as the communes; although only recognized feudally in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they existed from time immemorial. Survivals of the old Roman organization, the corporations sought ' Levasseur, vol. i., p. 108. 2 A. Thierry, p. 310. ^Ihid., p. 318- ^ Chs. Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations d'Arts et Metiers, p. 3. * A. Thierry, Eecits des Merovingiens, p. 313. ^Ihid., p. 334. ' J&«d., p. 95. «76id.,p. 11. 'Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i., p. 133. '"A. Thierry, p. 19. "Levasseur, vol. i., p. 95. "ibiU, p. 104. i^ibM., p. 193. i«4 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. refuge in the church, and attained to public life and independence at that period when order commenced to be established in the relations between the commune, the feudal lord, and the Church." ' " Roman civil architecture, industry, art — in one word, the whole Roman tradition — was perpetuated in France till the tenth century. Even the German conquerors, whilst preserving their own national laws, customs, and usages, accepted the Gallic industry much as they found it." ' " The Middle Ages invented nothing, but they gathered together from the preceding Civilization its traditions, of which they carefully preserved the memory; and in the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries the industries still flourished which had created the opu- lence of Roman Gaul, generally in the very districts which had given them birth."' " It would be possible to find traces of the goldsmiths' guild amongst the Gauls ever since the Roman occupation. " " The above quotations, taken from independent sources, may fairly be described as rep- resenting the general opinion of all French writers who have devoted any special attention to this subject; but entirely apart from the weight of their authority, the facts they adduce must go far to show the great probability of a virtual and direct descent from the Roman colleges and municipalities to the French trades guilds and communes of the early Middle Ages. ' In corroboration of this view it may be mentioned, that in France many Roman edifices still exist in a complete state of preservation; not, as elsewhere, mere ruins; showing that, in spite of the incursions and conquests of the Gothic hordes, some cities were never de- stroyed, or even deserted for a sufficient length of time to entail their decay. At Rheims a triple arch of Roman construction is still used as one of the city gates, the Porte-de- Mars; Aries, under Constantino the metropolis of Gaul, possesses, besides the ruins of the amphitheatre and two temples, a Roman triumphal arch in excellent preservation, and at Nimes the far-famed maison carree, 76 feet in length, 39 in height and breadth, with twenty-six columns, each standing 27 feet from the ground, is in almost as good a condition as when erected in honor of Caius and Lucius Caesar, the grandsons of Augustus. Fur- thermore the town has an amphitheatre nearly as large as that of Rome itself, and in far better conservation." It is unnecessary to multiply evidence, but the illustrations given could easily be supplemented. Under the first dynasty, we thus find the Roman cities of France resolved into little republics, the internal government of which was based upon that of the trade corporations. There is no direct proof obtainable that these corporations were the descendants, in un- broken continuity, of the Roman colleges, though the balance of probability seems to affirm it. But with the second, or Carlovingian dynasty, of which the redoubtable Pepin the Little was the founder, came a new order of things. This masterful race immediately began to reduce the country to a more perfect unity and dependence on the central authority — a 'J. Renouvier et Ad. Ricard, Des Maitres de Pierre, etc., de Montpelier, p. 16. *Monteil, Histoire de I'lndustrie Frangaise, Preface by C. Louandre, p. 76. ^Ihid., p. 76. ■•Lacroix et Sere, Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, vol. iii.. Article "Ferd. Sere, I'Orfevrerie," p. 30. * Aug. Thierry, in chapter v. of his work " Recits des Merovingiens," traces the gradual trans- formation of the Roman corporations into the municipalities of the Middle Ages. He gives a vei-y complete picture, but much too elaborate for quotation. It is probably the best summary of the sub- ject that has yet appeared. * FuUarton's Gazetteer of tlie World. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 185 process which was fully realized under Charlemagne. The towns were obliged, equally with the chieftains of the barbarians, to submit to the supreme control ; and although they preserved their internal organization and still exercised the municipal authority, it Avas only in subordination to the royal lieutenants and governors, to whom was entru.sted the dispensation of all the highest functions of government and justice. The trade guilds retained the greater part of their previous importance, and were deftly woven into the new fabric. But Charlemagne, with the appointment of lieutenants throughout his empire, had laid the foundations of the Feudal system; it only needed a weak hand at tho rudder for these officers to arrogate to themselves the functions which they had previously exercised in the king's name; and this really occurred on the death of Louis the Debonnaire, 840. Under his feeble successors, the feudal system sprang into existence with wonderful celerity; and, as under this system a feudal lord was everywhere necessary, we find the cities subject either to the bishop or the lord paramount. Gradually a series of struggles began on the part of the municipalities to recover their former independence — struggles in which the citi- zens were sometimes aided by the clergy against their lord paramount, sometimes by a neighboring potentate against their bishops, and sometimes by the royal power against both. Philippe le Bel (1285-1314) notoriously made use of the communes to check the power of the nobility, and with such success, that in the thirteenth century we find the cities everywhere possessed of their privileges — self-governing, self-taxing, but subservient to the royal authority, represented by the king's lieutenants. The craft guilds also about this time are able to produce documents confirming and settling their ancient privileges, and the various fees and fines which had previously ac- crued to the feudal lords are now payable to the king. Levasseur places the " beginning of the end" of these struggles in the eleventh century. ' But as I have already pointed out, this general sketch of the rise of the municipalities, and therefore of the craft guilds, would probably not apply to every city of the empire. In the north especially, where the German element was strongest, many modifications might be expected; and still more so in Normandy, which, in the ninth century, was ex- posed to all the incidents of a fresh invasion of the barbarians. In these districts it is possible that the German spirit of association for mutual support — the guild system— may have much influenced the development of the handicrafts and municipalities; but whether this spirit had Roman traditions or not to build upon, the ultimate effect was the same. The craft guilds of the north are not to be distinguished in the thirteenth century from those of the south, hut differ in many important respects from those of Germany — the institution of ' craft ' consuls, provosts, and prud'hommes being one of the most striking. All these oflRcers appear in Germany to have been replaced by one sole master, who was elected annually, and tlieir functions and duties bear little or no resemblance to his. Amongst the cities in the north which, at an early date, achieved a virtual independence, may be mentioned Le Mans, 1072; Cambrai, 107G; and Beauvais, 1099.^ This complete agreement in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries between the institutions of the north and south (except in minor and unimportant matters), in spite of the differences of nation- ality and even of language, can only be accounted for by a continuous and gradual reaction of one district on the other ; and render the words of Aug. Thierry most apposite, — ■ '* The corporations arose equally with the communes from an application of the guild 'Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i. p. 192. Ibid., p. 180. 1 86 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. system to something pre-existing — to the corporations or colleges of workmen of Roman origin." ' In Paris the rise of the mnnicipality is cnaracterized by a singnlar featnre — the goT- ernment of the city being Tested not in the delegates of all the guilds, but in the officers of one huge guild only, that of the Parisian Hanse. It is, however, well to bear in mind that the Hanse was not only the chief source of the opulence and prosperity of the capital, but also in course of time came to include all the well-to-do citizens. At the period when history first affords us any definite picture of this association, we meet with it under the name of the Marcliands de Vecm de Paris, and later simply as Ifarchands de I'eau, and it possessed a monopoly of the commerce of the Seine within cer- tain limits above and below the city. No ship could enter this territory without taking into partnership, and sailing under the protection of, one of the members of the company; otherwise all its cargo was confiscated. In return for lending his name, the Paris mer- chant had the option either of taking over half the freight at cost price, or of selling such goods as were intended for Paris under his own auspices, and halving the net profits. Furthermore, no goods were allowed to proceed beyond Paris, if the Paris merchants thought them suitable, and required in that city. Such an arrangement appears abso- lutely impossible to our present ideas; no wonder the Paris merchants grew rich ! They were enabled to secure all the profits of extensive trading without the risk attending it, their own capital not being called into requisition. The head of this association was called the provost of the merchants, and he very early assumed all the functions of a mayor of the city, even collecting the taxes until the reign of Louis IX. (122G-1270). Por this guild the French writers also claim a Roman origin, and all agree in considering it the direct successor of the Nautse Parisiaci. The only grounds, apparently, for this belief being its great antiquity, many acts mentioning " that man's memory runneth not to the contrary" (f/u'il n'esi memoire dii contraire);"^ and the fact that a corporation of Nautse did exist under the Romans, also that in the reign of Tiberius Caesar they erected an altar to Jupiter, which was found, in the eighteenth century, on the spot now occupied by the Hotel de Yille. It bears the following inscription: ^ " TIB . C^SARE . AVG . lOVI OPTVM MAXSVMO . . . . M NAVTiE PARISIACI PVBLICE , POSIERV . TN " The earliest document in which this company is legally recognized bears date A. D. 1121, wherein Louis VI. grants certain privileges which had previously vested in him, and in which it is treated as an already ancient institution." These privileges were confirmed in 1170 by Louis VII., and once more in 1192 by Philippe Auguste.^ This society appears shortly afterwards under another name, whilst still retaining its ancient fluvial jurisdiction ' Lacroix et Sere, Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, Article ' ' Monteil, Corporations de Metiers," p.5. ^ Introduction by G. C. Lavergne (1879) to Memoire a Consulter sur TExistence des Six Corps, etc., by Delacroix (1776). ^Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i., p. 83. *Ibid., p. 193. '' Lavergne, Introduction to Deiaci'oix, Memoire a Consulter sur I'Existence des Six Corps, p. 7. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 187 —viz., that of tlie Marchands, or Six Corps, de Paris. These six bodies were tlie cloth- workers (drapiers), grocers (epiciers), mercers {merciers), hatters {bonnetiers), furriers (peUetier.s), and goldsmiths (orfevres). These six corps then constituted the municipality; each corps elected biennially its master and wardens (gardes); each of these masters became successively /w^'e, consul, and finally Eclievin de la ville de Paris. They were regarded as the most distinguished citizens, and became ijjso facto ennobled, taking the title of esquire {ecuyer); their provost assuming that of c/ie?w//er.' Levasseur (p. 483) is of opinion that these guilds were not descended from the Hanse, but he gives no reasons, and is directly opposed by all other writers. All the remaining trades and crafts of Paris seem to have arisen much in the same manner as those of the other cities of the kingdom, and of some, very ancient records are still in existence. The jewellers were organized as early as the time of Dagobert (C28, 629) by St. Eloi,° recognized by a royal charter (traditional) in 7C8, and their privileges con- firmed in a capitulary of Charles the Bald (84C).' The Dictionnarius of Jean de Garlande — in the second half of the eleventh century — enumerates four classes of workers in gold {cmrifabrorum industria) — viz., the coiners (nmnimilarii), enamellers {firmacularii), gobletinakers {cipharii), and the goldsmiths properly so called (anrifabri).* In lOGl, Philippe I. granted privileges to the candlemakers,^ and in 1160 Louis VII. conceded no less than five trades in fief to the wife of Yves Laccohre. ^ The ancient customs of the butchers are mentioned in 1162, and confirmed by Philippe Augustus in 1182.^ In 1182 the furriers and clothworkers were also the objects of his benevolence. ^ Of the butchers, Levasseur ° says that already at the beginning of the twelfth century the date of their ori- gin was unknown, and a charter of 1134 speaks of their old-established stalls. In course of time these stalls were limited to a fixed number and became hereditary (like the Roman corporation of butchers),' forming a most thorough monopoly. So strong was the guild of butchers, that on several occasions, when neighboring landowners wished to erect mar- kets on their own property, the king was induced by the monopolists to forbid their erec-> tion, or to confine the number of new stalls within a very small limit. But this excessive power of the trades guilds naturally gave rise to various abuses, and it seems that after the reign of Philippe Auguste even the provost became venal, and in consequence the collection of the taxes was taken out of his hands by Louis IX., who, iu 1258, appointed Etienne Boileau provo?t of Paris." Under this new arrangement the vari- ous craft guilds and general administration of the city came under the supervision of the provost of Paris; but the governance of the six corps and the fluvial jurisdiction still remained with the provost of the merchants. In spite of this, in 1305 the six corps were so strong, that under their provost. Marcel, they were enabled to dictate to the young regent of France the impeachment of his ministers, the liberation of the King of Navarre, and the appoint- ment of a council of four bishops, twelve knights, and twelve bourgeois to assist the Dau^ pliin." This victory must have rankled in the minds of the sovereigns of France; for in ' Lavergne, Introduction to Delacroix, Memoire a Consulter sur I'Existence des Six Corps, p. 7. "^ Aiite, p. 112. Eloi at the time he organized this craft was himself a goldsmith, and Master ot the Mint. It was not till some years afterwards that he was created a bishop; nor did he even take orders until after the latter appointment. * Lacroix et Sere, Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, Article " Monteil, Corporations de Metiers,"p.31. *Ihid., p. 32. ^ Ibid., p. 4. "^ Levassem*, Histoire des Classes Ouvi-ieres en France, vol. i., p. 193. 'G. B. Depping, Livre des Metiers d'Etienne Boileau, Introduction, p. 44. * Ibid., p. 81. 'Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i., p. 400. 1 88 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 1383 Charles VI., believing himself to be irresistible after his defeat of the Flemish at Roosebeck, abolished the municipality altogether; suppressed the j[;reyo^e of the merchants, transferring the remnant of its jurisdiction to the prevot de Paris; interdicted all trade fra- ternities, and forbade the craftsmen in general to have any other chiefs than those appointed by himself. He had, however, overestimated his power: the guilds did not disband; the butchers were the first to be legally reinstated in 1387; the others followed suit; and in 1411 the municipality itself was restored.' Ultimately the provost of Paris was suppressed, and the provost of the merchants recovered the whole of his former authority, which, in spite of many temporary reverses, continued in full force until the great revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. * The restrictive privileges of the Hanse were not destined to so prolonged an existence. Other cities on the Seine and its tributaries established similar organizations as a counter- poise; this led to constant bickerings, reprisals, and law-suits, so that in 14G1 the privi- leges of all Hanse societies were annulled, and in 1GT2 the fraternity itself was abolished.* As we know that the six corps existed for upward of two centuries subsequently, this would tend to bear out Levasseur's assertion that the Hanse and the six corps were separate bodies; but on the other hand, they may have been one and the same body with two dis- tinctive functions, of which one only was suppressed. A lasting memento of the Hanse is preserved in the escutcheon of the city of Paris, which carries a ship under full sail in chief. Under what title the earliest trade guilds exercised their authority it is now impossible to accurately determine. It may have been the inherent right in any body of men to settle their own line of conduct, provided such conduct obtained the general approbation of their fellow citizens. Subsequently, in the feudal ages, the consent of the lord paramount was absolutely essential to the validity of their statutes;^ whilst, in the fourteenth century, the trade guilds could not legally exist without the king's express approval of their rules and regulations. ^ The first serious attempt to introduce order and uniformity into these cor- porations was made in the latter half of the thirteenth century by Etienne Boileau, provost of Paris, during the reign of St. Louis, In his Libix ties Metiers he has tabulated the usages of a hundred craft guilds of Paris. Many important guilds are missing, such as the butchers, the tanners, glaziers, and others. Still it affords a comprehensive view of the internal economy of these bodies. But it is evident that, although this code treats solely of the royal do- mains, the king's authority was not even yet necessary to the letter of the statutes; he appointed a general master over each craft or group of crafts, who ruled in his name: but the statutes themselves, as given by Boileau, are merely affidavits of the workmen as to their usages and customs. From internal evidence it is abundantly clear (as pointed out by Depping in his introduction) that Boileau's method was to call before him representa- tive men of each craft, who stated what had been usual and customary, which testimony was then recorded, and became the standard for future reference. In some cases the very statutes contain such words as, " Master X., of such a craft, stated that the customs had 'Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvineres en France, vol. i., pp. 409-411. '^ Depping, Livre des Metiers d'Etienne Boileau, Introduction, p. 86. ^Levasseur, vol. i., p. 296. ^ Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations d'Arts et Metiei'S, p. 5. ^ Lacroix et Sere, Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, Article "Monteil, Corporations de Metiers,'' p. 13. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. " 189 always been as follows." The code contains no certified approval by tlie king, or even by Boileau. ' The statutes of various trades in other cities, which ho.ve been handed down to us, are chiefly of later date, and are all stamped with the approval of some higher authority. In their general tenor they resemble those of Boileau. As in all trade unions the primary intention of the craftsmen seems to have been a laudable one, viz., to insure good workmen, by insisting on a previous apprenticeship; able masters, by providing for a masterpiece as a test of skill; good work, by appointing a certain number of officers to make periodical and unexpected visits to the workshops, and by forbidding these shops to be otherwise thaii open to the street, or the work to be carried on by candle-light. That these institutions de- teriorated in course of time, and became the frame-work of a system of trade monopoly, is only the natural consequence of the perversity of our human nature. Before summarizing the principal regulations of these guilds, it will be well to once more call attention to my previous statement, viz., that in a country so diversified as France in its internal relations, no absolute uniformity existed or could be expected to exist. The following description must therefore only be accepted as a general guide. No man could exercise any craft or calling unless he had been apprenticed to it and received as master. The apprentice was required to be of legitimate birth and a Catholic; and in certain dis- tricts he had to prove his identity, that he was of good and honest conduct, and that he had never been under any judicial sentence. The apprenticeship usually commenced at an age varying from twelve to eighteen years; it lasted from two to twelve years, and seven years was a very general term. The master was at liberty to receive him with or without premium, as he chose. In some codes it is quaintly put that he may take him for pay — if he can get it {si avoir le 2}eut). In most trades the master was only allowed to receive one apprentice at a time, the avowed reason being, that the instruction of the youth thus became better assured; but it is obvious that this regulation tended to limit the number of admissions to the craft, and to secure an easier monopoly for the families of those who were already masters. Of a similar nature Avas a proviso that a master's sons, nephews, and even the sons of his wife born in lawful marriage, did not count; of these he might receive as many as he liked. In some in- stances he was allowed to take a second apprentice btefore the first had quite completed his term. In very early times, and in some trades, an apprentice who had served his full time ap- parently became master at once, provided he could prove his efficiency. In Boileau's code of the masons, plasterers, etc., it is provided that the master might have as many assistants and servants as he pleased, provided he instructed them in no part of the mystery; i.e., in no trade usages and secrets: and the apprentice who had served his time was brought before the master of the craft and sworn on the saints to keep the craft and all points thereof. But it is evident that, under such circumstances, the assistants were only fit to undertake very common and non-technical work, and that the state of things thus pictured could only last '- In the Livre des Metiers, Boileau's name is written Boiliaue. By other writers of different dates, it is given as Boyleas, Boiliaue, Stephanus Boileue, Stephan. Bibensaquam, and Steph. Boit- leaue. The authorities of the British Museum have struck out a line for themselves, unauthorized by any work I have met with: they make it Boyleau. I90 ■ THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. so long as the master and his apprentice sufficed of themselves for all the finer work. As soon as trade in general developed, the need of skilled assistants must have made itself felt; hence we find a new grade instituted — that of the journeyman. This further tended to the ■ monopoly of the masters, as it lengthened the term of probation. The apprentice being free became a journeyman; variously called aide, compagnon, valet, varlet, gar^on, etc. It does not appear to have been absolutely prescribed that in this stage he should travel the country, the statutes usually confining themselves to insisting upon his working for a certain number of years in the pay of other masters. As a matter of fact, hoAvever, the journeyman did take advantage of this portion of his career to see the world, working for short periods with the various masters in the towns Avhicli he visited; making, as he called it, " his tour of France." To assist liim in this object, and for other reasons that will be commented upon in the next chapter, the very curious organization of the Companionage was instituted. Before attaining to the master's privileges the workman or compagnon was required to achieve a masterpiece. And here, again, we meet with a singular institution, of wliicli there is no sign elsewhere. As we shall soon see, there may have been many reasons which rendered it difficult for the workman to undergo this ordeal. In that case he was allowed to make a less onerous masterpiece, and received the title of pjerpetual companion. With this qualification he was allowed to work in his OAvn chamber for his own account, but was prohibited from opening a shop or emplo3dng other workmen. ' The achievement of the masterpiece was the crowning point of the workman's career: and the precautions to obviate fraud were very severe. The nature of the test Avas decided by the authorities of the craft, and sometimes the execution entailed months of labor. The workman had to perform every operation under the immediate surveillance of the judges in a locked chamber; and no friends or acquaintances were allowed to approach him lest they might assist him with advice. If he failed to satisfy his superiors, he was debarred from trying again for a certain period, sometimes for ever; and until he had passed the necessary examination, he could not exercise the trade on his own account. Laudable in its incep'tion as this institution appears, it soon became the most powerful buttress of the masters' monopoly. The tests were so chosen as to entail an enormous expense, although perhaps little skill, in their execution; whilst the workman was further hampered by the necessity of paying high fees to the craft court, and providing extravagant banquets for the masters of the trade. If the poor journeyman was not ruined in his endeavor to pass the ordeal; if, in spite of all hindrances, he rose to the position of master, the other masters had at least the satisfaction of knowing that, in consequence of the heavy strain on his resources, he must begin business in a very small way indeed. The relations of masters were exempt from these vexatious regulations. No apprenticeship, journey work, or masterpiece was required of them, and their fees were incomparably lighter. Louandre ° must be my sole authority for the almost incredible fact that masters have been known to procure the mastership for their sons at the age of four years ! Apart from the fees payable to the guild, the judges, and the master or provost of the craft, Avhether elected by the craftsmen or appointed by the king, there were further sums due to the municipality. The greater portion of the revenues of certain towns arose from ' Monteil, Histoire de I'lndustrie Frangaise, Preface by Louandre, p. 22. «Z"&td., p. 21. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 191 the fines inflicted on the trades. " Nor was the unlucky candidate yet free to pursue his calling. In the feudal domains the lord of the manor stepped in and claimed Ms fees; in the royal domains the king received Ms share; and in some cases he was under an obliga- tion to pay a certain yearly subsidy to his feudal lord. Under the feudal regime it was con- sidered that the lord was the master of the crafts, and none had a right to exercise their calling except under his authority and during liis pleasure.^ There were also some trades — Monteil says a great number' — in which no journeyman could obtain the mastership, not even by marrying the daughter of a master; but in which the mastersliip was rigorously hereditary in the male line. The butchers of Paris were of tliis class. In others, although the widow of a master could exercise the handicraft during her widowhood, yet, if she married a member of a different craft, her privileges were forfeited. * In the royal domains the king had the right, on his accession, to appoint one new mas- ter in every trade of each district, without any special qualification being required. This right was sometimes arrogated on other occasions, such as liis marriage, etc. In most feudal territories the lord claimed and exercised the same right, and in some cities the bishops also. Tliis, although excessively vexatious to the masters who had gone tlu'ough all the various formalities, was not of much use to the poor and skilful journeyman, yet it was perhaps an advantage to the ignorant but well-to-do workman, as the appointments were virtually put up to the highest bidder, and formed no inconsiderable source of revenue to the aristocracy. This prerogative was often farmed out; sometimes to an enterprising member of the partic- ular craft; at others to a nobleman or favorite. The masters of the various trades '' who ruled the craft in the name of the king," with whom we meet in all Boileau's statutes, were probably representatives of this class. Some were, at the same time, members of the royal household; thus the king's panoietier (baker) ruled the Paris bakers; the grand bottler, the wine merchants; the grand chamberlain, the tailors, and so on. In course of time these offices were held by high nobles, who certainly did not perform any duties at all corresponding with their titles, and thus the posts became snug sinecures for royal favorites. Of all the masterpieces tliat of the cooks and restaurant-keepers must have been the least harassing. The test consisted in cooking a prescribed repast, so that the proof of the pudding was literally in the eating ! There are occasional traces of curious ceremonies in connection with the reception of new masters. Whether they were usual in all trades it is difficult to decide, as upon this point historical records leave us very much in the dark. With the bakers of Paris the modus ojjerandi is thus described: " On the day agreed upon the candidate leaves his house followed by all the bakers of the city, and coming to the master of the bakers, presents to him a new jar full of nuts, saying, 'Master, I have done and accomplished my four years; behold my pot full of nuts.' Then the master of the bakers turning to the secretary (dere ecrivain) of the craft, demands to know if that is truly so. Upon receiving a reply in the affirmative, the master of the bakers returns the jar to the candidate, who smashes it ' Monteil, Histoire des Frangais des Divers ]Ktats, 4th edit., vol. ii., p. 161. " Depping, Preface to Boileau, Le Livre des Metiers, p. 79. * Monteil, Histoire des Frangais des Divers Etats, 4th edit, vol. i., p. 151. ^Ihid., vol. ii., p. 163. 192 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. against the wall, and — behold him master !" ' Tliis ceremony appears to partake of the nature of some feudal tenures; but if, as may be surmised, on the same occasion the aspi- rant took the oath which was required of all masters at their reception, it bears a striking likeness to the attestations of the Chinese, with perhaps a similar idea underlying it, equiv- alent to "May I be broken as this pot if I break my oath." Another ceremony which will interest us more (as taking place at the reception of the millstone makers, who were classed in the same category as the stonemasons), is the following: A banqueting hall was prepared, and above that a loft, whither, whilst the masters were partaking of good cheer below, the youngest accepted master, with a broomstick stuck into his belt in lieu of a sword, conducted the candidate. Shortly after, there issued there- from cries which never ceased, as though he were being cudgelled to death. ^ Great, and what would be called to-day vexatious, restrictions were placed on the control of a master's business. His workshop must be open to the street, that all passers-by might judge of the genuineness of his methods of work; he must carefully abstain from working after certain hours of the day, under the specious pretext that good work could only be produced by day-light; he must keep holy not only the Sabbath day, but many other days appointed by the church. The statutes of the tylers of Rouen in 1399^ gives a very quaint reason why they should be especially careful in this matter. " Masters and fellows (varlets) climbing often very high, put their bodies in great peril of life and limb, and for this reason owe to the laws of God and the Church a greater respect than all other crafts." The workman was required to be very careful not to infringe on the prerogative of an allied craft. If he was a bootmaker he must not mend old boots like the cobbler, and woe to the cobbler who made a pair of new shoes. If he was a savetier (a perambulating cobbler), he must on no acoount even open a stall, but work on the premises of his employers. The quarrels in Paris between the purveyors of roast geese and the restaurant-keepers were chronic, because the geese- venders continually and surreptitiously added other dishes to the savory bird which constituted theix piece de resistance. For analogous reasons the cooks and the hotel proprietors were constantly at war. Nevertheless there were some exceptions. For instance, the undertakers were allowed to work at night. Any contravention of these minute regulations was visited by a heavy fine; and the fines were apportioned in fixed ratios between the guilds, the wardens or judges of the craft, the municipality, and the lord paramount. The distinguishing feature between the French and the German guilds was the police of the former. The masters, by a majority, elected at stated intervals from two to six or more of their class, who took, at different times and in different districts, various names, such as jures, jurands, cotisuls, gardes, prud'hommes, echevins, etc. , and at their head was the master or pi'ovost. These inspectors, wardens, or assessors (for they united all these functions), were empowered to enter any master's shop at any hour and inspect his goods; they were expected to make periodical and unlooked-for calls, and to bring before the provost any infraction of the rules. They presided at the meetings of the craft, and decided, with the majority of masters present, upon the nature of the masterpiece to be required of a candidate for the ' Monteil, Histoire des Frangais des Divers Etats, 4th edit., 1853, vol. i., p. 294. ^Ibid., vol. ii., p. 130. 2 Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporation?, etc., 1850, p. 243. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 193 mastership. It was under their eyes alone that the work was executed, and they alone were judges of its merits. Certain fees were due to them for these duties; and it has been insinuated that their integrity was not always above suspicion. In all this it would appear the fellow crafts or compagnons had no voice; nevertheless one instance to the contrary has been handed down to us. In the register of consuls of the city of Montpellier for the year 1460, appears amongst the consuls of the stonemasons one Johan Valopelier, compaignon. ' This is probably the exception which proves the general rule. Amongst the police regula- tions of the crafts, considerable importance was attached to the mark which almost every artisan was required to place on his work. Levasseur says, "goldsmiths, cloth- workers, potters, coopers, and nearly every class of artisan, possessed their stamp or private mark. The assessors were also the depositaries of the common seal of the craft, and they placed it on all articles inspected by them." ^ In case of overt opposition or persistent contumacy to the rulers of the craft, these were empowered (at least in Paris), to seize the workman's tools, and if force became necessary, to call in the assistance of the provost of Paris. ' We thvis see that the rattening of recal- citrant workmen ordered by the secret committees of the trade unions of to-day, was in France an acknowledged institution of the thirteenth century. Organized strikes can be traced back almost as far, but this subject will be more conveniently treated in the next chapter. Amongst other duties which devolved upon the trade guilds was that of the night watch. For this purpose the different crafts were divided into classes. The principal posts in Paris were those of the two Chalets or prisons and the Sainte Chapelle. * Even the large ecclesi- astical corporations were obliged to take part in this duty, though when their watchmen sallied out on patrol they carried their weapons in a sack. ^ The number of classes into which the trades were divided was usually seven, corresponding to the days of the week. Exemptions from watch duty were rare, except in the case of a craftsman whose wife was in childbed. In all the Paris crafts of Boileau's time this excuse is admitted. The peculiar cause for the exemption of the stonemasons will be noticed at a later period. As a general rule, each craft possessed its own banners, and in some cases its own mu- sicians. In 1367 the painter Le Tengart de Constance was commissioned to paint pennants for the trumpeters and pipers of the Stonemasons of Montepellier, representing as their armorial insignia their gavel {Marteau des pegriers).'^ In 1467 Louis XI. organized the crafts into a species of militia or garde national. The various trades were ranged under sixty-one banners. The king granted them a distinguish- ing banner bearing a white cross in chief, and below, the private blazon of the craft. These banners were only produced on special occasions, and in the king's service, and not on the ordinary festivals of the crafts. They were confided to the chiefs of each trade, and kept in a chest under triple lock, one key of which was retained by the king or his officers.' The first occasion on which these corps assembled they numbered 80,000 men, and ' Renouvier et Ad. Ricard, Des Maitres de Pierre, etc., de Montpelier, 1844, p. 48. * Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, 1859, vol. i., p. 519. ^Boileau, Le Livre des Metiers; Statutes of the Masons, Plasterers, etc. Cf. Brentano, p. 63, and Herbert, vol. i., pp. 18, 191. ••Monteil, Histoire des Frangais des Divers Etats, 4th edit., vol. i., p. 21. ^ Ibid. * Renouvier et Ad. Ricard, Des Maitres de Pierre, etc., de Montpelier, p. 21. ' Migne, Nouvelle Encyclopedic Theologique, Diet, des Confreries et Corporations, p. 75. 194 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. were reviewed by Louis XL, Cardinal de la Ballue, and others. The leading banners were those of the six corps of merchants; the thirty-second being that of St. Blaise, comprising the masons, quarrymen, stonemasons, etc' This organization was afterward extended throughout the kingdom. ' The trade guilds not only possessed their distinguishing banners, but also assumed coats of arms and mottoes. That of the six corps in Paris was, " Vincit concordia fratrum;" of the apothecaries, "Avec nous securite et confiance;" and of the locksmiths, ^'Fidelite et secret." (The locksmiths were not allowed to make a key without having the lock in hand; in order, probably, to prevent a key from being produced without the knowledge of the master of the house.) The guilds also rejoiced in a war-cry. In the south it was Allot; in Burgundy, Aboc, at Commines (near Lille) Ablot.^ I have been unable to ascertain the significance of these words. An institution closely allied with the craft guilds was that of the fraternity {confrairie, conplirairie, frairie, confrerie, le cierge, la caritat, etc.). Every craft guild belonged, aa a body, to some fraternity, maintained an altar in some neighboring church, and decorated it with candles, to supply which it levied on its members fines and fees to be paid in wax. From this wax candle the fraternity was sometimes spoken of simply as /e cier(/e, "the candle." La caritat is the Proven9al form of la cliarite "the charity." The other syno- nyms given above are archaic forms of confrerie, "confraternity." The society was com- posed of the same members as the craft, and is, in many cases, dijfficult to distinguish from it on that account; nevertheless, it was always a distinct entity, and was often legislated for separately. It provided for the assembly of the brethren at stated periods, for religious exercises and social pleasures; those of the table occupying a large share. The newly- received master was expected to provide the members of the fraternity with a banquet, and it was the excess to which the feasting was carried which eventually formed one of the great hindrances to becoming a master. Provision was made for a due attendance of members at the nuptials or obsequies of one of their number, and it afforded a convenient meeting-place for secret political purposes, and for maturing further restrictions in favor of the existing masters. Yet like all human institutions, however laudable in themselves, it contained the germs of abuse, and these, instead of being rigidly kept under, were ap- parently carefully nurtured, until the tares choked the good seed. To this latter develop- ment must be ascribed the constant endeavor on the part of French rulers to suppress the fraternities; but inasmuch as no power can prevent the voluntary association of individuals animated by a common purpose, these efforts never attained any lasting success; and the fraternities carried on their work in secret until they could once more do so openly. Their most useful sphere of action was the sustenance and relief of aged and poor masters, their widows, and children, the assistance rendered to members in cases of illness, and to com- panions on their travels. The members appear to have belonged solely to the body of masters, although apprentices entering on their indentures, and companions working in the city, were required to contribute to the funds. In return, they were assisted from the treasury and shared the benefit of the religious services. Louandre says, " Entirely distinct from the corporation, although composed of the same elements, the fraternity was placed under the invocation of some saint reputed to have exercised the profession of the members. The symbol of the craft was a banner, that of the fraternity a wax taper. " * It is a delicate ' Migne, Nouvelle Encyclopedie Theologique, Diet, des Confreries et Corporations, p. 78. ^I6^■cZ., p. 79. ^IUd.,^.^ih. * Louandre, Introduction to Monteil, Histoire de I'lndustrie Francaise, 1862, p. 54. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 195 matter to differ from so erudite a writer, yet I venture to think that in this case Louandre is mistaken. The craft guilds were dedicated to particular saints; e.g., the cordwainers of all kinds to St. Crispin, the carpenters to St. Joseph, the goldsmiths to St. Eloi, and so on; but i\iQ fraternities appear to have been generally dedicated to the patron saints of the churches or chapels in which their altars were raised. At Rouen in 1610 the masons had a fraternity under the patronage of Saints Simon and Jude;' who, so far as I am aware, were never even traditionally connected with the building trades. That the fellow-crafts were not admitted seems very probable from the fact that, as early as November 1394, the fellow-craft furriers {gar^ons pellet iers) were permitted by royal ordinance to form their own fraternity.^ But although the craft and the fraternity may usually be described as two names for one body, this was not always the case. There were sometimes several frater- nities in one craft; at other times several crafts united to form one fraternity.' In Mont- pellier the glassmakers united with the mercers, because in the first-mentioned craft there was only one resident master, who did not suffice to form a fraternity. The reason is so quaintly put in the old Southern idiom, that I am tempted to reproduce it — "Attendut que en I'offici de veyries non y avia mays una persona et per se non podia non far caritat."* We hear of an early fraternity of Stonemasons in 1365, the statutes of which have been pre- served {Confrerie de peyriers de Montpelier).^ One of the earliest decrees against the fra- ternities, whether of citizens (and at that time we may take it that citizens were always tradesmen), or of nobles, or others has more than antiquity to recommend it, inasmuch as it was promulgated by the father of one who played a great part in the history of our own country, viz., Simon, Count de Montfort, whose son was the celebrated Simon de Mont- fort, Earl of Leicester. It is dated a.d. 1212, and runs as follows: — "No baron, bour- geois, or peasant shall dare in any way to pledge obedience by way of oath or good faith in any conjuration whatsoever, even under pretext of fraternity or other good thing, the which is often mendacious (mensonger), unless it be with the consent and pleasure of the said lord {seigneur); and if any are convicted of having so taken oath against him, they shall be held, body and chattels, at his pleasure. But if it be not against the said lord, then the members of the fraternity (conjurateurs) shall only pay, if barons, 10 livres, if knights, 100 sols, if citizens, 60 sols, and if peasants, 20 sols."" Of the 100 crafts registered by Boileau only a very few make any mention of a chapel,'' from which we might infer an existing fraternity, but this is accounted for by the fact that the two corporations were, as a rule, kept distinct. It can hardly be doubted that the fra- ternities had already become general, and that they had probably existed long before any definite code of rules was drawn up. The earliest craft fraternities (not guilds) respecting which we have documentary evi- dence are those of the Hanse, 1170, the cloth-workers of Paris, 1188, the barber-surgeons, 1270, and the notaries, 1300. « In 1308 the number of these fraternities was so great as to provoke the fear of Philippe le Bel, who interdicted them; and this was more especially the case in the south of France, ' Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations, p. 238. ' Levvasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, p. 497. * Ibid. p. 470, * Renouvier et Ad. Ricard, Des Maitres de Pierre, etc. , de Montpelier, p. 65. ^Ibid., p. 20. * Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations, p. 423. ''Ibid., p. 468. * Louandre, Introduction to Monteil, Histoire de I'lndustrie Frangaise, p. 54. 196 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. under the name of La Caritat. ' Of these bodies — so numerous as to be considered dan- gerous by the State — but few records have come down to us. so that the absence of any statutes of a prior date to a.d. 1170 by no means implies that such fraternities had not pre- viously existed. The following code is preserved in the archives of the city of Amiens. It is dated 15th June 1407, and styled the " Statutes regulating the Fraternity {cierge, candle) of the masons' trade {du mestier de Maclionnerie) of Amiens."^ ° " Know all men who may see or read these presents, that it has been and is ordained by the Mayor and Eclievlns of the city of Amiens, for the common wellbeing and profit, at the request of the men of the craft of masonry in the said city, and Avith their consent, or that of the major and more sane part of them, assembled before the said mayor and eclievins or their commissioners, as follows: — " Firstly. It is ordained that the masters of the said craft are and be required to attend at the honors funereal, and nuptials of those who are of this craft, if they be in the city of Amiens, and have no sufficient excuse, which excuse they are required to make known to the sergeant or clerk of the " candle" of the said craft, and if any one fail to do so he shall be liable each time to a fine of xii pence, to be applied to the profit of said candle. " 2. Item. It is ordained that all such sums as shall be presented for libations to those of the craft on their return from the funereal honors of any of this craft, the one half of the said donation, whether large or small, shall be placed and converted to the profit of said " candle/' and the other half to be expended in drink amongst them, as may seem good to them. " 3. Item. When any apprentice shall be first received into the said craft he shall be required to give one pound of wax as soon as he commences to earn money in the said craft, to be applied to the profit of the said " candle." " 4. Item. If any of the said craft work for the first time in the said city of Amiens, as soon as he shall have worked there xv days, he shall be required to pay to the profit of the said " candle " one pound of wax, and as long as he remain there be quit of paying it any more, excepting the first time only." " 5. Item. It is ordained that all those of the said craft who do earn money here, liv- ing in the city of Amiens, shall be required to belong to the said " candle," to enter into it, and shall be constrained to pay, observe, and accomplish the matters above said, and each single clause hereof: the wliich constraint shall be exercised by the sergeant or clerk of the said " candle," who shall also constrain each one of the said craft, who in this place earns money, to pay his part and portion of the said " candle: " and for so doing he shall have for wages every year xii sols of Paris, a hood of the livery of those of the said craft, and ii sols for each funeral or wedding wliich he shall summon, such ii sols to be levied on him, or them who gave the order. " The above ordinances were made, ordained, and established in the eclievinage of ' Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i., p. 468. ^ A. Thierrj', Recueil des Monuments inedits de I'Histoire du Tiers Etat, vol. ii., p. 26. 3 Exactness rather than elegance is sought to be attained in all translations appearing in this work. '' Tliis evidently applies to the travelling journeyman; the next clause, applying to the residents only, would hardly aflfect the journeymen who were always on the move. They only really became residents after achieving the gTeater or lesser masterpiece. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 197 Amiens, with the assent of the said mayor and cchevins, by Sire Fremin Piedeleu, Mayor of Amiens, Jacque Clabaut, Jehan Plantehaie, Jacque de Gard, Pierre Waignet, Jehan Liesse, Thumas de Henault, Jehan Lecomcte, Jacque de Cocqnerel et Thnmas de Cour- chelles, echevins the xv day of June in the year one thousand four hundi'ed and seven." The above statutes may be advantageously supplemented by two articles from those of the masons of Kheims; one of which exhibits a curious regulation touching their religious services, whilst the other indicates that the constant endeavors of tbe authorities to put down the abuse of the banquets had not been entirely fruitless, inasmuch as the statutes outwardly conform to the royal commands. We must not forget, however, that the statutes of this date, thougli drawn up in all cases for the perusal of the king or his ministers, the royal approval being necessary to render them valid, still it by no means follows that they were not systematically evaded by a private understanding amongst the masters. The statutes referred to are dated 26th July 1G25, and the clauses are as follows:' *' XVI. The masters of the said craft shall be required every year, at the procession of the Holy Sacrament of the altar, according to their invariable custom, to carry four torches of the weight of ten pounds each one, which torches shall be borne by the four junior masters of the craft. " XXI. And we forbid the said wardens (jurez) to accept any banquet from those who shall achieve their masterpiece, under penalty of arbitrary fine; and the said companions to offer any such penalty of being deprived of the masterpiece [i.e., not allowed to benefit by its successful completion], and without the faculty of being admitted under three years ensuing.^' Of all the French handicrafts, the building trade of the Middle Ages naturally possesses for us the most interest. Without pausing here to touch on the disputed point as to the country in which the Gothic style of architecture originated, we may safely assert that as regards boldness of conception and dexterity of execution, the French artists were not behind their contemporaries in other parts of Europe. The churches, cathedrals, town- halls, and other monuments scattered throughout France, testify to their skill. It should be noticed that the familiar tradition of bands of builders wandering from one country to another has also obtained credence in France, and even misled so careful a writer as Ouin- Lacroix. He says, — " The corporation of masons offers a proof of its early regular organi- zation as far back as the twelfth century, in the grand manifestation of zeal which it dis- played about 1145 in proceeding to Chartres to take part in the construction of the cathedral there, which has since become so famous. There were to be seen, as wrote Archbishop Hugues of Rouen to Theodoric of Amiens, immense IN'orman companies organized in vast corporations under the conduct of a chief named Prince, emigrating in a crowd to the Chartres country. On their return, according to Haimon, Abbot of St. Pierre-sur-Dive, these same companies built and repaired a great number of churches in Eouen and that province. " ^ Levasseur has not allowed himself to be led astray, but gives us the true interpretation 'Collection de Documents inedito sur I'Histoire de France, Section "Pien-e Varin, Archives Legislatives de la Ville de Eeims," part ii., vol. ii., p. 483. '^ Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations, etc., p. 227. 198 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. >• of these letters/ portions of which he appends in a footnote. The " immense companies consisted of amateurs — lords and ladies, knights, priests, and peasants — who harnessed themselves to the cars, and helped to drag along their destined route the huge stones of which the cathedral is built. Miracles are even reported of the rising tide being stayed in order to suit the convenience of some parties of these devotees, who might otherwise have been placed in a very awkward fix. The members of these associations performed the useful functions of common laborers and beasts of burden, but nothing tends to show that they were in any sense masons. It was a grand and remarkable demonstration of the all- consuming religious zeal of the Middle Ages — a manifestation of the same spirit which un- derlay the pilgrimages and the Crusades. Very early notices of building trades are to be found; but the oldest code which has been preserved is probably that of Boileau (about 1260). In it we find them already sub- divided into many branches, which of itself presupposes a much earlier existence, as the division of labor always marks a considerable development of a trade. This code unites under the Banner of St. Blaise, the masons, stonemasons, plasterers (both makers and users), and the mortarers (both makers and users of mortar). From other sources we know that the quarry-workers and the tylers (but not tyle-makers) owed allegiance to the same banner, and also the millstone-makers. In this code the Stonemasons are not particularly mentioned, although towards the end a decided distinction is drawn between the members of this craft and the masons. It is probable that they are classed throughout with the ordinary masons, and that only in the special instance alluded to did any difference exist. The code contains twenty-four articles, but as some of these relate solely to the plasterers and mortarers, those only are given which are of interest in the present inquiry. or THE MASONS, THE STONEMASONS, THE PLASTEREES, AND THE MORTARERS. I. He may be mason in Paris who wishes, provided always that he knows the handi- craft, and that he works after the usages and customs of the craft; and they are these: II. None may have in his employ but j apprentice; and if he have an apprentice, he may not accept him for less than vj years' service, but for longer service may he well accept him, and also for pay if he be able to obtain it. And if he accept him for less than vj years, then is he cast in a fine of xx sols, to be paid to the Chapel of St. Blaise, unless they be his own sons born only in honorable wedlock. III. And the mason may take to himself one other apprentice so soon as the first shall have served v years, for whatsoever time he may have taken the first. IV. And the king who is at this time, and to whom God grant long life, has granted the mastership of the masons to Master William of Saint Patu, for so long as it shall please him. Which Master William took oath in Paris, within the precincts of the palace afore- said, that he would the aforesaid craft well and loyally keep to the best of his power, as 'Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvi-ieres en France, vol. i., p. 326. The letters quoted by Levasseur are those of Hugues (as above), to be found in the Annales de I'Ordre de St. Benoit, vol. vi., booklxxvii., ch. 66; and of Haimon to the Monks of Tutteberg, preserved in the succeeding chapter of the same collection. The former are also referred to by Ouin-Lacroix. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 199 well for poor as rich, for weak as strong, for so long as it shall please the king that he keep the said craft; and afterwards the said Master AVilliam did take the form of oath aforesaid before the Provost of Paris at the Chastelet. VII. The masons, the mortarers, and the plasterers may have as many assistants and workmen in their service as they please, provided always that they instruct them not in any point of their handicraft. VIII. And every mason, and every mortarer, and every plasterer, shall swear by the saints that he will keep the craft aforesaid well and truly, each one in his place: and if they know that any one do ill in anything, and act not according to the usages and customs of the craft aforesaid, that they will lay the same before the master whensoever they shall know thereof, and on their oath. IX. The master whose apprentice shall have served and completed his time shall appear before the master of the craft, and bear witness that his apprentice has served his time well and truly: and then the master who keeps the craft shall cause the apprentice to swear by the saints that he will conform to the usages and customs of the craft well and truly. X. And no one shall work at his craft aforesaid after the stroke of none (3 p. m.) at Notre Dame during flesh time; and of a Saturday in Lent, after vespers shall have been chanted at Notre Dame; unless it be to close an arch or a stairway, or to close a door frame placed on the street. And if any one work beyond the hours aforesaid, unless it be of necessity in the works aforesaid, he shall pay iiij pence as fine to the master who keeps the craft, and the master may seize the tools of him who shall be recast in the fine. XVII. The master of the craft has cognizance of the petty justice and fines of the masons, the plasterers, and the mortarers, and of their workmen and apprentices, as long as it shall please the king, as also of deprivation of their craft, and of bloodless beatings, and of clameur de proprete. XVIII. And if any of the aforesaid craftsmen be summoned before the master who keeps the craft, if he absent himself he shall pay a fine of iiij pence to the master, and if he appear at the time and acknowledge [his fault] he shall forfeit, and if he pay not before night he shall be fined iiij pence to the master, and if he deny and be found to have done wrong he shall pay iiij pence to the master. XIX. The master who rules the craft can not levy but one fine for each offence; and if he who has been fined is so stiffnecked and so false that he will not obey the master or pay his fine, the master may forbid him his craft. XX. If any one of the aforementioned crafts whose craft shall have been forbidden him by the master shall nevertheless use his craft the master may seize his tools and keep them until he have paid the fine; and if he forcibly resist, the master shall make it known to the Provost of Paris, and the Provost of Paris shall compel him. XXI. The masons and the plasterers owe the watch duty, and the tax and the other dues which the other citizens of Paris owe the kinff. XXII. The mortarers are free of watch duty, and all stonemasons since the time of Charles Martel, as the wardens (preudomes) have heard tell from father to son. XXIII. The master wlio keeps the craft in the name of the king is free of the watch duty for the service he renders in keeping the craft. XXIV. He who is over Ix years of age, and he whose wife is in cliildbed, so long as she 200 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. lies abed, are free of watch duty; but lie shall make it known to him who keeps the watch by order of the king. ' A few of the articles of the above code call for further observation. Art. T. is probably meant to throw open the trade of masonry to all properly passed masons without reference to their birthplace; some cities were very exclusive in this respect, and rendered it very diffi- cult for a stranger to acquire any local privileges. If otherwise construed it would have allowed a clever amateur to practise in Paris, which Avas certainly never intended. Arti- cles II. and III. have already been commented on. On Art. IV. Fort has built up two erroneous conclusions which need correction. The least important one, is making a nobleman out of plain Master William de Sahit Patu. This has probably arisen from the prefix de, though the plebeian title of msstre should have warned him that it only signified that St. Patu was some district or hamlet where Master William was born. At a time when the commonalty were only just beginning to assume surnames, this was the usual mode of distinguishing one William from another. In one of the various manuscript copies of these statutes the article has been made to read, " The King . . . has granted the mastership of the masons to his master-mason;"^ and in fact the king's master of the works officiated in this capacity till the last century, and the seat of jurisdiction for the Paris masons' craft continued to be within the precincts of the Chatelet till the French Eevolution. '^ The names of two successors of Master William are known to us, for another hand has written at the foot of the code, " In the year of grace one thousand ccc and xvij on the Tuesday following Christmas was apjoointed warden {jure) of this craft, P. de Pointoise [probably Pontoise, 23 miles north of Versailles] by order of the King in lieu of Master Eenaut the Breton. " ^ It is somewhat remarkable that no more additions were made, because these statutes regulated the craft till the dissolution of all guilds at the Eevolution: no further ordinances were ever made for the Paris masons. " The other mistake into which Fort has stumbled, is of more consequence, as he manages to open a " lodge " within the palace. This would imply that the Paris masons called their workshops " lodges " — a form of expression they never used, and with which French artisans have not even yet become familiarized; and as a lodge in the palace could merely exist for the purposes of government, it would very closely resemble our present Freemasons' lodges. The word loge, which he has thus contrived to mistranslate, signifies an enclosure or space partitioned off, and survives in the loge du theatre, or box at a theatre. Es loges du pales, or, in more modern form, JEJn les loges du jjalais simply means, in the enclosures of the palace, i. e. , within its precincts. ^ ' These statutes were published in the original French as an appendix by G. F. Fort, The Early- History and Antiqviities of Freemasonry. A translation, with notes, appeared in Moore's Freema- sons' Monthly Magazine, Boston, U. S. A., May, 1863, vol. xxii., p. 201. ^ Depping's Introduction to Boileau, Le Livre des Metiers, p. 108. Ubid., p. 113. . ^Ibid., p. 108. ^I subjoin the original French article, and Fort's commentary, which will be found on p. IOC of his work: — " Li Roy qui ore est, cul Deux donist bone vie, a done la mestrise des magons a Mestre Guille de Saint Patu tant come il li plaira. Lequel Mestre GuilP jura a Paris es loges du Pales pardevant dis que il le mestier desus dit gai-deroit bien et loiaument a son povir ausi pour le poure come pour le riche et pour le foible come pour le fort, tant come il plairoit au Roy que il gardast le mestier devant dit, et ^^^ -g^/ •;,,/ /., ' ^^-^L^?.^ Vw>\ (ir;iii(l \rnsh'r lit' the ('ri-;iii(l K iic;imi|iiii(MiI oI Klil,L!,lils Tciuphiv III' till- riiilcd Sl;lt(^'-:. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 201 The Chaste! d or Chatelet was a xoytA palace and fortress. In those days Paris consisted only of the small island on the Seine which now constitutes the city proper {Ja cite). It was connected with both shores by a bridge. Guarding this bridge on the north was the Chas- telet. Here resided the Provost of Paris, and it was the seat of his tribunal; and, as we have already observed, remained the special seat of the masonic tribunals till the French Kevo- lution. The Chatelet has been destroyed, but the place du Chatelet still exists. VII. to X. require no further comment than they have already incidentally received. XVII. defines the extent of the master's jurisdiction, both as regards the persons over whom he claims authority and the nature of the punishments which he is entitled to award. The latter, owing to the ancient law terms and their antiquated construction, are very diffi- cult to understand. An interesting translation of this code has appeared, ' though the trans- lator seems to have converted the punishments into offences of which the master might take cognizance. Being, however, quite unable to follow his rendering, I must content myself with presenting it, without in any way vouching for its correctness. " The master of the misterie has the subordinate jurisdiction, and the fines of the plasterers and mortar-makers, and of their assistants, and of their apprentices, as long as it shall so please the King; and the decision of all offences against the mysterie, and of those who fight without shedding blood, and of all demands excepting demands concerning property." This is very clear and reasonable, but, unfortunately does not convey either the sense or the meaning of the French original. The two paragraphs which claim our greatest attention are XXI. and XXII. We here find that the plasterers and masons are liable to the watch duty, but the mortarers and stonemasons are not. The masons and stonemasons are therefore not quite identical, although this is the first separate mention of the stonemasons in the code. The reason for the ex- emption of the mortarers is not given; that of the stonemasons is. The prucVhommes inform Boileau that it has been traditional from father to son that they have been exempt ever since the time of Charles Martel (715-740). We thus see that, as early as the thirteenth cent- ury, a tradition was current in France that Charles Martel had conferred special favors upon the stonemasons, and that this tradition was sufficiently well established to ensure very valuable privileges to the craftsmen claiming under it. With but one exception, all the Old Charges of British Freemasons also pointedly allude to the same distinguished soldier as a great patron of and protector of masonry .° This community of tradition, which pervaded the minds of the mediseval masons in Gaul and Britain, is a remarkable /ac^, upon which I shall offer a few remarks. If the English legend arose spontaneously in this country, the coincidence would be simply marvellous. By some writers it has been supposed that the adoption of Charles Martel as a patron by the English masons is due to the significance of his surname: the hammer being such an important tool to the stone-cutter. But is it less important to the carpenter, the gold and silver beater, the shipwright, wheelwright, the numerous metal- workers, such as plumbers, tin and copper smiths, and, above all, the thousand and one puis celui Mestre Guill*' fist la forme du serement devant clit pardevantle prevost de Paris en Chastelet." Upon this Fort remarks: — "It was furthermore enacted tliat Master William should exercise the mas- tership of the masons and stonecutters within a lodge to be opened inside the palace enclosure, where all matters pertaining to Masonic jurisdiction should be considered and determined by this noble- man." ' Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine, vol. xxii. ' See Chap. 11., ante, remorks on MSS. Nos. 1 (Haliiwell) and 15 (Buchanan), § 23. Compare also Fort, p. 283. 202 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. varieties of iron smiths and forge workers ? Yet we nowhere find — in Germany, France, or England — that any of these hammer- wielders have claimed a legendary protector in Charles Martel. AVhilst the French and English masons, who, in truth, never use a ham- mer, but a gavel or maul, which instruments, although answering the same purpose, are totally distinct, agree in claiming this valiant soldier as their patron. As there can scarcely be a better proof of identity of origin than common traditions, the agreement between the French and English legends may justify the deduction that they are derived from the same source, unless, having regard to the close intercourse which subsisted between the craftsmen of Gaul and Britain — we go a step further, and concede the possibility of the traditionary history, recorded in our English manuscript constitutions having received a French impress, Avhich time itself has failed wholly to obliterate. The latter seems the more probable inference of the two, and the further question arises, Did the French workmen introduce anything else of importance ? The next chapter (on the Companionage) will show the possibility of this question being answered in the affirm- ative. The French masons have also claimed {pace M. Capefigue), as one of the chiefs of their craft, the Emperor Charlemagne himself; whilst his gallant comrades in arms, such as Gerard de Rousillon, Eoland, etc., were fellowcraf tsmen ' {Compagnons travailleurs). I have, however, failed to meet with any further traces of or allusions to this tradition; if, indeed, it ever existed. Additional proof of the corporate existence at an early age of the bviilding trades may present some interest. At Amiens the masons {maclions) appear to have taken part in the municipal elections, for the first time, in 1348.'' In 1347 the municipality had a city architect (maitre des ouvrages, master of the works). The archives of Montpellier supply the following references'. ° 1201. Bertrandus: fai la jjeira (does stone work). * 1244. Paul Olivier: maistre de peira (master-mason). ^ 1334. Peri Daspanhayc: maistre que liohra al pont de Castlennu (master who works at the bridge of Castlenau) The statutes of the prohes liomes of Avignon regulate, in 1243, the pay of the stone- masons. " In 1493, Peyre Borgonhon, master-mason, reports to the consuls of Montpellier that he could no longer find masons to work at the fortifications under 4 sous per diem; and these, "after taking information respecting the prices elsewhere, and considering also that the days in the month of April were amongst the longest in the year, resigned themselves to pay the price asked." ' This is one of the earliest strikes in the building trade. In 1208, Ingelram was architect of Eouen Cathedral; in 1280, Jehan Davi constructed the south porch.' In 1389, Jehan de Boyeaux was appointed master-mason of the city of Eouen. His title was " master of the works of masonry," his salary 10 livres a year: he had a seat at the municipal board and wore a distinctive dress almost like that of the echevms of the 1 Simon, Etude Historique et Morale sur le Compagnonag-e, 1853, p. 43. ^ Aug. Thierry, Recueil des Monuments inedits de I'Histoire du Tiers Etat, p. 540. ^Renouvier et Ricard, Des Maiti-es de Pierre, etc., de Montpelier, p. 23. ^Ibid. oibid.,'p.2Q. « J&id., p. 20. 'Ibid., p. 50. * Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations de la Canitale de la Normandie, p. 339. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 203 city. The salary, however, rapidly increased. In 1562, Pierre de Marromme received 75 livres, and in 1692 Nicolas de Carpentier 1500 livres, besides other emoluments.' This title and office of master of the works still existed in 1777, Fontaine being then the architect. ^ Guillaume de Saint Leonard, mayor, revised the statutes of the plasterers of Kouen in 1289.^ They must, therefore, have been previously drawn up. The statutes of the tylers of Kouen, in 1399, prove that already their slates were in use.* In 1507, Jehan Gougeon is styled " tailleur de pierre et Masson," ^ affording another proof that the masons and stonemasons were virtually one craft, although we have seen that in certain cases distinctions were made. These notices of the French builders may be fittingly closed by a translation of one of their charters, preserved in a volume of manuscripts in the library of the Bishop of Mire- poix.° It is dated a.d. 1586. STATUTES OF THE MASONS AND AECHITEOTS OF MONTPELLIER. Henry, by the grace of God King of France and Poland, to all now and to come, greet- ing. Whereas the master-masons {maistres massons) and architects of our city of Mont- pellier have shown to us in our council that of old their craft of mason architect {mapon arcliitede) was of the number of the sworn [incorporated] trades of that city, as it is of the other cities of this kingdom, and that for the ordering of the police of the city they possessed their statutes authorized by our predecessor kings, by a strict observance whereof the faults and abuses which might arise in the said handicraft were prevented; whereas during the past troublous times this good order has been perverted, and their said statutes burnt and lost, so that at this present time many ignorant men have intruded, and usurped the ex- ercise of masonry and architecture in the said city, to the great disadvantage of the entire public on account of the abuses, which thereby have arisen. The which being perceived by the petitioners, they have, in order to apply a remedy and re-establish the good order which was accustomed to be observed in the said masonry and architecture, caused to be again drawn up in writing these articles and statutes which they have presented to our officers in Montpellier; who have ordained that these statutes, as is reasonable, should be observed and maintained subject to our good will, under the condition of obtaining from us letters of confirmation thereof, the which letters the said petitioners have very humbly supplicated of us to grant them. We hereby make known, after having caused to be produced to our council the said statutes, together with the said judgment rendered by the governor of the said city of Montpellier, with the consent of our procureur for the observance thereof, the whole being attached hereto under the seal of our chancellerie, that by the advice of those present we have deemed good and confirmed, ratified and approved, do deem good and confirm, ratify and approve of our special grace by these presents the said statutes, and we will and please that now and for the future they be inviolably kept and observed by the petitioners and their successors, masons and architects, of the said city, without being, or a possibility of their being, contravened in any manner and that the said observance be im- posed upon all whoin it may concern by all due and reasonable ways and means, notwith- standing any opposition or appeal whatsoever. And we do hereby command the governor ' Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations de la Capitale de la Normandie, p. 236. ^Ibid., p. 238. ' Ibid., p. 238. " Ibid., p. 242. ^ Ibid., p. 244. *Renouvier et Ricard, Des Maitres de Pierre, etc., dc Montpelier, p. 120. 204 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. of the said town of Montpellier or his Heutenant, and all our other judges and officers whom it may concern, that they cause these our present ratifications, wishes, and inten- tions, to be registered, kept, and observed fully, peacefully, and perpetually, ceasing, and causing to cease, all troubles and hindrances to the contrary, for such is our pleasure; and in order that this may be fixed and established for ever, we have caused our seal to be placed on these presents, saving in all things our rights and that of others. Given at Paris in the month of May in the year of grace one thousand five hundred four score and six, and in the twelfth of our reign. By the king in council: signed Gourdon, Vissa, Contentor, Bernard. STATUTES AND OEDINANCES MADE BY THE MASTERS-MASON ARCHITECTS OF THE CITY OF MONTPELLIER, According to their ancient privileges, which have been lost and destroyed during the troubles and wars which have been in this country, and now re-enacted under the good pleasure of our Sire the King, and of court of Monsieur the governor of the said city. 1. In the first place, because the said city is sworn from time immemorial to have good workmen for the sumptuous edifices which are therein, and because at the present time, through the ignorance of some who presume to work, being uninstructed in architecture and the art of building well, and thereby cause great harm to the public weal, and because of the inconveniences which thereby arise daily, the work not being done according to the order of architecture and erudition suitable, through the negligence of masters who have not provided therefor since the mislaying and loss of their said privileges; therefore the said masters, being desirous of applying a remedy thereto, in order that the office of archi- tect may be properly exercised in all sorts of discijoline, as well as for the amplitude and greatness of the cause; that every man may attempt to arrive at the sublimity of his art if it be possible or within his means, and because all the other crafts of this town are sworn, and in order that henceforth the order and jurisdiction of their said craft and architecture be maintained, and as is usual to do in other good sworn towns of tliis kingdom; — none shall now or in future be able to say, or pretend to be master in tliis town, without having pre- viously made his masterpiece and experience \sic\ and being found sufficiently capable to be received into the said mastership. 2. Item. All the said master-masons who are at present in Montpellier may work and labor as masters, to wit: Blaize Viguier, Pierre Bonnassier, Bonnet Monfla, Jean Cliirac, Jean Bandouin, Pierre Vincens, Anthoyne Laurens, Vidal Meyronne, Jean Picliot, Andre Mondon, Jean Carriere, Jacques Bonnassier, Jean Rognier, Pierre Pages, Anthoyne Dupin, Gillie Moynier, Jean Sanson, Jean Muget, Nicholas Ychenbar, Nicholas Talabert, Anthoyne N. Laurens, Pierre Ychiembert, Bringon Roux, Andre Cornilhe, Guilhaumes Brugier, Jean Dupin, Jacques Bonnassier the elder, Jean Vassio, Michel Larcliier, Jean Jacques, Francois Jannes, and the other masons domiciled and inhabiting at present the said city, and, they shall be received, held in repute, and ajjproved true sworn masters of the said craft during their life, without being required to execute any masterpiece, inasmuch as they have for many years been held masters, working openly in the said city; neither shall they pay any masters' fees. 3. Item. The fellow [compagnon) who shall desire to present himself for the said mastership shall have served previously and accomplished his thi'ee years of apprenticeship; THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 205 ■which he shall cause to be sufficiently made apparent, and also that after his said appren- ticesliip he has served the masters of the said city or elsewhere for three or four years. 4. Item. The consuls and provosts shall be required to prescribe to the aspirants the masterpiece, wliich they will inspect; designs, models, or some other matter of architecture or learning of the said craft. Three days after the said presentation at latest, the consuls and provosts shall, for this purpose, cause to assemble before them, by their beadle, the masters of the craft, within the said three days, in order to deliberate together on the said masterpiece, the which shall be prescribed according to the greater voice and opinion. 5. Item, The said masterjDiece having been prescribed, the aspirant shall be required to make it in presence of one of the said provosts or masters, who shall be thereto appointed, in order that no abiise or deceit may arise. G. Item. The beforesaid masterpiece being achieved and presented to the said consuls, provosts, and four of the most ancient masters, who will examine the said masterpiece and the aspirant on the erudition of architecture and the art of building well, and having deemed him capable and sufficient, the said consuls and provosts shall be required to present him to the said governor or his lieutenant, at the offices of the domain, in order to certify to his sufficiency, take and receive the oath required in such case, and likeunto the other sworn crafts of the city; and until he shall have taken the said oath and received the act and letters of the said mastership he shall not work or undertake work in the said city as master, under penalty of a fine of four crowns, which shall be paid and applied, half to the king and half to the chest of said trade. And he shall pay for his master's right twenty sols to the king, and twenty sols to the craft chest, to sustain the poor masters fallen into necessity and the poor companions passing, or who are ill, and for their assistance under the said neces- sities; and he shall be put to no further expense, nor banquets which are forbidden by the royal ordinances. And if he be not found competent they shall prescribe him a time to form himself and learn, in order to afterwards re-present himself. 7. Item. Every year, on the first Sunday of the month of November, shall be elected and appointed two consuls and provosts of the craft, who shall keep the box and collect the pence, ordained as well to sustain and assist poor masters and suffering companions, as for defraying the cost which it may be proper to incur for the maintenance of the guild. And to take charge of a key of the case, they shall also elect one of the oldest masters, who will keep it, together with the first provost, during the said year; and the provost shall keep account of the pence which they distribute to the poor masters or suffering fellows, or other expenses which they may legitimately incur, in order that they may, at the end of their year, remit into the hands of the new provosts their accounts of receipts and expenses, with the said privileges or other papers concerning the guild. 8. Item. Every Saturday or Sunday each master shall be required to place in the box each week, to be employed for the benefit of poor masters and fellows, widows and orphans of the said masters, ten pence of Tours,' and the fellows working for hire, tliree pence of Tours. 9. Item. Every apprentice shall be required to place in the box, immediately on his entering upon his apprenticeship, fifteen sols of Tours, to be employed as already said; which fifteen sols the master who has received the said apprentice shall himself place in the said box, whether or no he be reimbursed by the said apprentice: and the said master shall ' The coinage of Tours was only four-fifths of the value of that of Paris (vide Larousse, Diet.: " toiirnois"). 2o6 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. i)e required to inform thereof the said apprentice, or he wlio undertakes for him the pay- ment of the said fifteen sols. 10. Item. When any master or his wife shall die, the other masters shall be required to accompany the body to the burial, and to this purpose the beadle shall be required to inform all the masters and fellows. 11. Item. And he who is elected beadle shall not be required to make a masterpiece, or to pay any fees, excepting those attending the taking of the oath, and the patent which he will be required to take out equally with the other masters: and they shall suffice him during his life. 12. Item. The sons of masters having made their masterpiece shall be exempt from all fees to the king and to the chest, excepting those of their reception and patent, which they will be required to take out. 13. Item. One day every week, and on the day that all the masters shall agree, the provosts shall be required to transport themselves throughout the city and inspect the masonry and work in course of erection; whether it be well and duly made according to the art of architecture; and if they find the work to be not duly made, and that danger might ensue, they are required to advise the masters of the works thereof, in order that they may remedy it as prescribed; and the master who shall have made the fault shall be condemned to piit in a good state, according to the art of architecture and masonry, at his own expense, the work which he had done and undertaken, and fined one crown to the king, and twenty sols to the chest. 14. Item. Masons are inhibited and forbidden to undertake any work to the prejudice of the public, and against the ordinances of the king, under pain of ten crowns fine, appli- cable as above, half to the king and half to the chest of the guild, 15. Item. No mason who is not a sworn master may undertake a new edifice in ashlar work, from the foundations upward, the sworn masters of other sworn towns of this king- dom excepted: nevertheless, proprietors may employ fellows if it so please them, to make any repairs to the damages which have accrued to their edifices, to change and remove doors, windows, bars, bolts, privies, etc. , re-tile houses, and make all other reparations in pierre ressiere,^ provided it be not carved work, and the master- masons shall not dispute therefor with the fellows working at such repairs. 16. Item. And no servant or fellow who shall have been hired by a master shall leave him unless he have completed the time for the which he was hired, and promised to serve, unless it be for a legitimate reason. 17. Item. No master shall entice, suborn, or debauch any servant or fellow of another master, nor receive him into his house, nor find him work, unless it appear that he has taken his leave by writing, or otherwise that the first master declare it to the other master who wishes to receive him, under pain of one crown fine, payable and applicable as aforesaid. 18. Item. Should any difference arise between the masters and the fellows on account of the craft, the provosts shall endeavor, by all means in their power, to bring them into accord and peace: and if it happen that any one should attempt to undertake their handi- craft and privileges, the provosts are required to prosecute him before the governor or his ' The glossary at end of Eenouvier's work explains this expression by the word Moellon. Ac- cording to the best French dictionaries tiiis may either mean rubble, or the soft stone found near Pai-is, some ten or twelve feet thick, above the hard freestone. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 207 lieutenant, at tlip office of the domains, inasmuch as the said court is the protector of the privileges of the sworn crafts of the said city. 19. Item. Should any servant or fellow of the said craft have committed a theft, or any villany, deceit, or forfeiture in the house of one of the masters, against him, his wife, family, chambermaid, or other, it shall not be permitted to the other masters to give him employment nor work u.ntil he shall have made condign reparation; and should any master employ him, he shall be put to one crown fine, applicable as aforesaid; and the masters are required to prosecute the reparation in the aforesaid court. 20. Item. And in order that the sworn masters may not pretend ignorance of the present statutes and ordinances, and that they may be kept inviolably by them, they shall cause them to be read once a year on the day of their assembly and election of consuls and provosts; on the Avliich day the masters shall be required to be there, except under legiti- mate excuse; and whoso shall contravene shall be fined twenty sols of Tours, applicable half to the king, half to the chest. 21. Item. And if two fellows present themselves for the mastership, the provosts may delay the presentation of the second until the masterpiece of the first shall have been achieved, and he received master; and this within the fortnight. After application made by the fellows to be received to the mastership, the provosts and the said applicants shall appear before the notary of the domain, in order to prepare and receive the act of the said application and masterpiece which they shall prescribe to be made by him, in a time to be agreed on by them, and to make which the said applicant shall be bound over in due form. 22. Item. And because there might be sundry master joiners, carpenters of the city who might adventure to place beams, joists, and other pieces of wood in the walls, and make holes therein without knowing the danger which this might cause, as well to the wall in which they place them as to the interests of the neighbors, and pierce the said walls, the which are more often megancih-es,^ it shall be proliibited to them to do this, or to make any holes or other work concerning masonry, unless it be done by a master-mason, after calling on the consuls and provosts to inspect the said work and holes, and see if there be any danger to the house or wall. " Drawn up in this my house of Theodore Degan, notary and tahellion royal, controller registrar of the Eoyal Domain in the said city and government of Montpellier, on the requisi- tion of the said masons, in presence of Bernard Besson, merchant, and Jean Assazat, clerk, inhabitants of said city, and of me, notary and registrar undersigned. {Signed) Eoche- maure, lieutenant [ctnd lower down], Degan, registrar.^' "Vised at the council of the office of the Eoyal Domain, in the court of the govern- ment of the city of Montpellier, the regulations containing statutes and in twenty-one ' articles, made and agreed by the master-masons working at the art of masonry and archi- tecture in the said city, to pass and make masterpieces of their craft like unto the other masters of the other arts and trades of the said city, and conformably to what they used to do of old times previous to the loss of their privileges and statutes which have become mislaid and lost during the wars and troubles which have been in this country; also the request made by them for the authorization of the said privileges under the good pleasure ' I am unable to explain this term, and no clue to its meaning is afforded by Littre, Larousse or the Dictionaiy of the Academy. ^ The numbers prefixed to the above articles are my own. Rochemaure probably omitted to count Firstly, which would reconcile the discrepancy. 2o8 THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. of the king; also the conclusions of the lung's procureur; also the regulations and privileo-es of the confraternity of their said guild in tlie church of St. Guillen and the suburbs of the said Montpellier authorized in our said court, 8th February 1508, and signed Durant, chief judge, and Duranty, notary and registrar, written on five leaves of parchment; and having weighed and considered everything according to the advice and deliberations of the said council, we have said and ordained, do say and ordain that the said statutes and regu- lations, saving the pleasure of his majesty, are received, and Ave have published the same and authorized them, to be kept and observed inviolably by the said master-masons and their successors, whom we have enjoined and do enjoin to observe and maintain the same; and ordered that they be registered in the register of the said court and office of the domain; the whole provisionally, and until the said master-masons shall have obtained from his said Majesty letters patent in form of charter of the said privileges, the which they shall do within one year next; and our present ordinance shall be intimated and signified to all whom it may concern, in order that they pretend not ignorance. (Signed) Eochemaure, lieutenant rapportehr, de Clerc, Calvet, deSollas, Massillan, Feines, J. Danches, treasurer." " Pronounced in presence of the said lieutenant principal, at the morning council, petitioner Master Chirac, mason, and in presence of the advocate of the King, the twenty- second of June one thousand five hundred four score and five." From articles S, 9, 10, and 11 of the preceding, it is apparent that the craft as a guild, recognized many of the duties of the same body as a fraternity; indeed, a hasty perusal might almost warrant the conclusion that in this case at least the codes of the two cor- porations (the craft and the candle) were fused. That such was not the case is evidenced by the enumeration of the documents vised by the king's Lieutenant, Rochemaure, one of which is "the regulations and privileges of the fraternity of the said guild in the church of St. Guillen," date " 8 Febry. 1508." It would be a tedious task, and of little assistance in our present inquiry, to detail the various laws that have been passed in France by its princes and rulers — permitting, en- couraging, controlling, curtailing, and suppressing in turn both the trade guilds and the trade fraternities, as well as all other fraternities whatsoever. What was done one year was undone the next; a permission granted to-day was revoked to-morrow; sometimes the guilds were established, but the fraternities forbidden; then came special exemptions, till in a year or two everything was once more on the old footing. In a word, the estate, although often aware in a fitful manner of the gross monopoly exercised by the craft guilds, and sustained by their allies the fraternities, was really quite unable to cope with them; and what the artisans could not accomplish by stolid resistance was always ceded to them (for a consideration) when the treasury required replenishing, or the king felt the necessity of support in his struggles with the nobility. The edicts of 1212 and 1308 against the Confreries have already been mentioned. The law of 1350 demands more careful consideration. After the plague of 1348, which deci- mated whole towns and villages, the scale of wages naturally rose in response to the rise in price of provisions and the scarcity of labor. This caused considerable embarrassment to employers of labor and others, and the evils of an extensive system of monopoly momen- tarily forced themselves upon the attention of the authorities. King John, therefore, issued an ordinance in February 1350,' which, in no less than 252 articles, endeavored to regulate ' This ordinance bears a curious resemblance in date, purport, and actuating cause to the EngHsli Statutes of Laborers, 23 Edward III., c. 1-5 (1849); and 25 Edward HI., c. 3-5 (1350-51). THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 209 everything, even attempting to force those to work who felt otherwise inclined, both men and women. It regulated the future pay of nearly every class of artisan, and, to remedy the monopoly exercised by the guilds, permitted a master to take as many apprentices as he liked," and opened the mastership free of all restrictions to every one who knew the trade (meaning, of course, who had served liis time), provided always he produced good and loyal work. Titre XXXVIII. treats of the masons and tylers. " Masons and tylers {recouvreurs de inais07is) shall neither take nor have between St. Martin in winter and Easter more than 26 pence a day, and their journeymen (aides) 16 pence and not more, and from Easter to Martinmas no more than 32 pence. And likewise stonemasons and carpenters and their iourneymen also not more. And if they take more they shall be fined," etc. Titre LIT., in general terms forbids any one to take more than one-tliird beyond the money he re- ceived before " the mortality and epidemic." In 1356, Charles Y. confirmed the preceding, and in so doing he employed words which show unusual enlightenment at that remote period. " Eules which have been made rather for the profit of the tradesman {des personnes du mestier) than for the common good." " Therefore during the last ten years many ordinances have been made which modify them, and which contain, amongst other matters, that all those who can produce good work may exercise their craft in the city of Paris. " * We have already seen that, in 1383, Charles VI. abolished everything, as far as Paris was concerned, even to the very municipality, — how four years later the butchers were formally reinstated; and in a short time all the trades found themselves in possession of their old privileges: so much so, that on the 1st November 1394, an ordinance conceded even to the journeymen permission to erect a confraternity. Under Charles VII. , from 1437 to 1461, charters were granted to all trades, the rule of the king making itself more immediately felt by a series of fines and penalties.'' In 1498, the parliament prohibited all banquets and confreriee, and at the same time en- acted laws to regulate the guilds; which measures proving inoperative, led to further legis- lation in 1500. In 1501, however, the parliament had to content itself with forbidding the formation of new associations. In 1535, the prohibition was renewed; but meanwhile, in 1529 and 1534, fresh laws regulating the guilds were passed.^ This constant see-saw brings us to the statute of Francis I. of the 1st August, 1539. French Masonic writers have signally failed to understand this enactment, from which they have drawn the most absurd conclusions; but non-masonic authors have escaped these errors, Levasseur, Louan- dre, Heckethorn, and others, all seeing it in its true light. Thory broadly states that it abolished all trade guilds. Eebold says, — " The Masonic corporations were in a large meas- ure dispersed and dissolved in France at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when their scattered fragments were absorbed by the city guilds." (Here he evidently alludes to the bodies of travelling masons, with special papal privileges, whose very existence in this sense is problematical.) " At length, in 1539, Francis I. abolished all guilds of workmen, and, in France, thus perished Freemasonry, according to the old signification of the word. " * The inaccuracy of this historian is still more glaringly evident in a later work. — " The number of these fraternities diminished by degrees in almost all countries, and in France •' Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres ea France, vol. i., p. 397. '^Ihid., p. 435. Ihid., vol. ii., pp. 113-117. •• Em' Rebold, Histoire generale de la FrancmaQonnerie (1851), p. 76. The statement in the text is quoted approvingly by Findel, History of Freemasonry, p. 71. 2IO THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. they were dissolved in 1539, by edict of Francis I., for having persisted in the revindication of their ancient privileges, but particularly for having given umbrage to the clergy by the purity of their religious ideas and secret reunions." ' The gravamen of the charges against the fraternities was the had not the good use they made of their secret meetings, in con- spiring against the supremacy in trade matters of the State, and in buttressing the perni- cious monopolies of the masters; and when a hundred and twenty years later some of these came into collision with the clergy, it was not on account of the purity of their religious ideas, but was entirely due to the travesties of religion exhibited in their rites and ceremo- nies." These writers, instead of following blind guides, would have done infinitely better had they turned to the French statutes, and drawn from the fountainhead. The truth of the matter simply is, that Francis I. attempted (though unsuccessfully) to suppress the fraternities, but he never sought to abolish the guilds; on the contrary, the same law acknowl- edges their legality by regulating them. Both the guilds and the fraternities survived him for two centuries and more. A translation of a few of the most important paragraphs of the ordinance will show its real character. " (185.) All fraternities (confraifies) of craftsmen and artisans shall be abolished, inter- dicted, and forbidden throughout our kingdom, according to the ancient ordinances and edicts of our sovereign courts. " (18G.) "We ordain that all matters formerly tried before the fraternities shall in future be carried before the ordinary justices of those places. " (188.) And in order to pass the mastership of said crafts {mestiers), there shall be no dinners, banquets, nor convivialities (disnees, ha7iquets, ni convis), nor any other expenses whatsoever, even should it be done voluntarily, under penalty of a fine of 100 sols of Paris, to be levied on each one who shall have assisted at said banquet. " (189.) The wardens (gardes) shall pass the masters as soon as they shall truly have achieved their masterpiece. " (191.) We forbid all the said masters, together with their journeymen and apprentices {compagnons et serviteurs) in all trades, to make any congregations or assemblies (congre- gations ou assembUes) , be they large or small, and for whatever cause or occasion whatsoever, nor to erect any monopolies, nor to have or take any council together concerning their craft, under penalty of confiscation of body and goods." ' The workmen were forbidden to bind themselves by oaths, to elect a chief, to assemble in greater numbers than five in front of a workshop, to wear swords or sticks, to attempt any seditious movement [strike], etc. But the effect of this sweeping enactment was simply nil. The societies were for a time carried on in secret, then one was excepted as a partic- ular favor, then another, and so on, till none remained to claim exemption. As late as 1673 new crafts were incorporated into guilds, but there is no occasion to pursue the inquiry. Laws more or less severe were enacted one year, to be modified or reversed the next, and this vacillating policy continued, until in 177G a vigorous attempt was made to reconstruct the whole system, and to establish absolute free trade. In the reign of Louis XVI., and under the ministry of Turgot, it was perceived that the guilds exercised an evil influence on the industry of the country by limiting competition, checking progress and invention, and J Rebold, Origine de la Francma§onnerie (1859), p. 13. '' This subject will be fully discussed in tiie next chapter. ''The whole tenor of this clause strikingly agrees with that of our 3 Henry VI., c. i. (1425). The verv words used, "congregations" and "assemblies," are identical. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE. 211 confining the stalwart limbs of the eighteenth century giant in the swaddling clothes so appropriate and serviceable to the fifth century babe. That astute minister threw open the crafts and trades to all comers, suppressed and abolished all guilds and fraternities, except- ing only the goldsmiths, chemists {pliarmaciens), publishers and printers, and the maitres harhiers-perrtiquiers-etiivistes — compound craftsmen who united the functions of barber, wigmaker, and bath-keeper. The preamble of this edict, delivered at Versailles 12th March 1776, will serve to show the state of the country at that date. " In almost all the towns of our kingdom the exercise of the different arts and trades is concentrated in the hands of a small number of masters united in communities, who alone, to the exclusion of all other citizens, are empowered to manufacture or sell the particular objects of commerce of which they hold the exclusive privilege, so that those of our subjects who of inclination or necessity are destined for the exercise of these arts and trades, can only succeed thereto by acquiring the mastership, to which they are not admitted except by proofs as long and vexatious as they are superfiuous, and by submitting to multitudinous fees and exactions, by which means a portion of the funds which they need for the estab- lishment of their business or workshop, or even for their sustenance, is consumed to their great loss, etc." . . . " Amongst the unreasonable and infinitely diversified clauses of these statutes, always dictated in the interest of the masters of each community, there are some which exclude entirely all others except the sons of masters or those who marry the widows of masters; others reject all those whom they call strangers, that is, those who are born in some other town, etc." We thus see that from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, matters had not under- gone any perceptible alteration. But this edict, coupled with reforms of other flagrant abuses, cost Turgot his position, and the ordinance did not long survive him. His successor Necker reconstituted all the corporations in a slightly modified form in 1778. It required the terribly clean sweeping broom of the French Kevolution to annihilate all these dusty cobwebs, the growth of cent- uries of privilege and abuse. The trades guilds had served their turn as the nurseries of ) art and industry, their fraternal bonds had been excellent institutions in the '' good old i times " when might was right, but for ages they had ceased to be anything else but irritat- ing fetters on the extension of commerce. The National Assembly of 1793 at once and for- . ever abolished them, and the Chambers of Commerce, the masters' unions, and the trades unions of to-day — possibly their lineal descendants — liave taken their place. The ancient institution of the priid'hommes, however, still exists as an authority acknowledged by the State. In every town of France the council of prud'hommes is elected by the masters and workmen; they possess powers of summons and seizure, can inflict imprisonment for three days, and have summary jurisdiction to the extent of 100 francs. If the amount in dis- pute exceeds this sum, an appeal lies to the Tribunal of Commerce. Their sittings are held in the evening, after the hours of labor, and lawyers are not allowed to plead in these courts. Appeals are very unusual, and reversals of the judgments even still more so. In Lyons alone the cases decided annually affect the title to many thousands of francs. As they were first reconstituted in Lyons by Napoleon I. on the 18th of March 1806, only thir- teen years after the decree of the National Assembly in 1793, they may very fairly be looked upon as a distinct survival of the most beneficial of the institutions which owed their rise ♦^0 the French coup d'etat. 212 THE COMPANIONAGE. CHAPTEE V. THE COMPANIONAGE, OR LES COMPAGNONS DU TOUR DE FRANCE. THE " Companionage '" ( Com^M^/wowwrr^c) lias been frequently referred to in preceding chapters. Broadly stated, it means the associations formed by the journeymen of France for mutual support and assistance during their travels. In many regulations of this association it may compare with those of the German fraternities,'' but in others the difference is strongly marked. For example, it was divided into three great divisions; to one of these each trade belonged, whilst in three handicrafts some members belonged to one division and some to another; and these three divisions were extended throughout France: whereas we have seen that in Germany each craft was a separate entity; and in many cases the members of a trade in one town had no bond of union connecting them with a similar Bruderscliaft of another town, beyond the ordinary results following the exercise of a common employment. Another great point of difference was, that the French fraternities practised a veritable initiation — a mystic reception — and treasured venerable legends; wliilst, as we have already seen, the affiliation of the German craftsmen was simply a burlesque ceremony, enriched by a certain amount of symbolism. With Freemasonry it had (or I should say lias, for it still exists) not only the above points in common, but also others: its existence was patent to all, and readily acknowledged; with its works of charity and festivals the public were familiar; but its legends, its ceremonies, its signs and tokens, were shrouded in mystery, and even a bare allusion to them was considered highly culpable. Although latterly, by enlightened members of this fraternity it has not been considered im- proper to partially unveil its legendary lore, yet to this day no revelation of its more im- portant secrets has been made. Not the least wonderful fact relating to the Companionage is, that apparently its very existence was only generally known from the bloody battles arising out of the enmity be- tween the various corps. If two bodies of workmen met and fought, the survivors were con- demned to the galleys, and the public journals announced another fatal affray between inimical artisans; but no one (previously to 1841) ever thought it worth while to inquire into the cause of the ever-recurring feuds between rival fraternities, or sought to obtain any information as to their usages and customs. By the public in general the Companions ap- ' See p. 178, ante, note 3. ' Chap. III., ante. THE COMPANIONAGE. 213 pear to have been regarded with the same indifference which has been manifested by the Masonic writers of a subsequent era. A light was, however, suddenly shed on this obscure subject. Wearied by their perni- cious and insensate strife, Agricol Perdiguier, a workman of superior intelligence, undertook the apparently hopeless task of reconciling the various factions. In 1841 he published his " Livre du Compagnonnage," giving as accurate an account of their history and traditions as the nature of his oath would permit, followed by very sensible reflections and an earnest appeal to all parties to cease their fratricidal quarrels and unite for the general good. Pre- vious attempts had been made in a like direction, but without having recourse to the printing-press. This writer was replied to by another workman, Moreau,* whose intentions were equally enlightened, but who objected to the means employed by Perdiguier. Perdi- guier's work, however, seems to have startled the world (in France, of course). The late George Sand invited the author to visit her, and was so impressed by his philanthropic aims, that, as related by Perdiguier himself, she furnished him with funds to undertake afresh the tour of France, and to preach liis new gospel to his fellows. The same year the talented authoress published her novel, " Le Compagnon du Tour de France " (1841); and attention being thus forcibly called to the Companionage, within the next few years the subject was further dealt with by other writers,^ many of whom were themselves companions. It will be seen that a new spirit was already infused into the society, inasmuch as but a few years previously such proceedings would have been looked upon with horror. In 1834, when Perdiguier was about to publish a volume of simple songs for the use of his fellows at their festive re-unions, and by means of a preparatory circular canvassed for subscribers, he was indignantly informed that " such a thing never had been and never ought to be done." ' Such was the scrupulous secrecy observed by the Companions. But although the society objected to the publicity of the press, it by no means follows that all their instruc- tion was purely oral, for we shall easily convince ourselves that much of an important nature was committed to writing, and carefully preserved from the ken of the profane. Surprise has already been expressed that the Companionage has been so lightly passed over by Masonic writers. Its ceremonies and legends are so interesting of themselves, its resemblance to our present system of Freemasonry so obvious, that no history of the " Ma- sonic craft " would be complete without a searching examination of the whole subject. We may arrive at the conclusion that the two institutions are perfectly distinct, that one is derived from the other, or that, starting separately, one has influenced the other; or Ave may hesitate to form any decided opinion at all, pending further research: but to reso- lutely close our eyes, and to put the question from us as of no possible importance, is not consistent with a laudable desire of arriving at the truth. Schauberg * knew of the Com- panionage in 18G1, and gives its salient features, as detailed by the GarUnlauhe.^ Subse- ' Moreau, Un mot sur le Compagnonnage (1841), and De la Reforme des Abus du Compagnonnage (1843). I have not been able to obtain these two works, but references to them by other writers, and by Perdiguier himself, have disclosed tlieir purport. '■^ Capus, Conseils d'un Vieux Compagnon (1844); Giravid, Reflexions sur le Compagnonnage (1847); Sciandro, Le Compagnonnage (1850); C. G. Simon, Etude Historique et Morale sur le Compagnon- nage (1853); and many more. ^ Agricol Perdiguier, Le Livre du Compagnonnage, p. 4. ^J. Schauberg, Vergleichendes Hand!)ucli der Symbolik, vol. i., p. 504. ^ Tlie Gartenlaube is an illustrated German montlily for family reading of an exceptionally high class and extended circulation. 214 THE COMPANIONAGE, quent German writers have studied and quoted Schauberg — and it is needless to state that almost every German reads the Gartenlaube — yet not one of them has had the candor to even mention the French Companions. Are we to conclude that they might have been formidable rivals of the Steinmetzen ? In dealing with the Companionage it will be well to make its acquaintance in its full development as it existed within the memory of the present generation (say previously to the Revolution of 1848), and then to trace it as far back as possible into the mists of an- tiquity. As the following description refers more particularly to the year 1841 (the date of Perdiguier's publication), the past tense will naturally be used; but we must not consider the institution as extinct. Railway travelling has done much to modify it; the journeyman no longer tramps from one town to another, nor does he usually live so absolutely from hand to mouth; many of its regulations have consequently fallen into disuse: its old en- mities and feuds are especially out of date, but in one form or another it still exists. The Companionage was composed of three great divisions, each of which revered and claimed origin from a traditionary chief, the hero of a legend, who was supposed to have conferred a charge {devoir, i.e., duty) on his followers. The Companions called themselves the sons {enfants, children) of this chief: hence the three classes were denominated the Sons of Solomon, the Sons of Maitre Jacques, and the Sons of Maitre Soubise. All the various handicrafts concur in conceding the earliest existence to the stonemasons. Sons of Solomon, who admitted to a participation of their charge {devoir) the joiners and the locksmiths. Seceders from the carpenters {enfants de M. Souvise) have lately claimed to form a fourth corps under the same banner, but are not acknowledged by the other three. Next in date of origin come the stonemasons. Sons of Maitre Jacques, who also admitted the joiners and the locksmiths, and still later, the members of nearly all crafts. The third in order of precedence are the Sons of Maitre Soubise, originally composed of the carpenters only, who have since admitted the plasterers and tylers. ^ The Sons of Solomon and Soubise thus comprise very few trades (three each, all belonging to the building crafts); but the Sons of Jacques comprehended most of the known handicrafts. The joiners began by con- ferring their charge on the turners and glaziers, and one by one every trade has either been admitted, or has managed to acquire possession of a charge, and to enforce acknowledg- ment of its claims. Without the possession of a charge no claim can hold good. A few crafts have never belonged to the Companionage. Amongst these may be cited the masons ' (not to be confounded with the stonemasons), the apothecaries, clothworkers, furriers, printers, watchmakers, goldsmiths, wigmakers, bookbinders, and perfumers." To enume- rate those that have joined Maitre Jacques would be a wearisome task, and could serve no useful purpose; it will be sufficient to remark, that this division is by far the strongest of the three. " In whatever town of France a charge was deposited, there the craftsman found a house ' As the following description is chiefly condensed from A. Perdiguier, Le Livre des Compagnon- nage, references to authorities will only be given in exceptional cases. All references to Perdiguier are from the second edition, 2 vols. 12mo, Paris, 1841. 2 This is the order followed by Perdiguier and the Companions; but, for reasons which will pres- ently appear, I am inclined to place Soubise before Jacques, and possibly before Solomon. 3 Perdiguier, Le Livre du Compagnonnage, vol. ii., p. 96. ^Monteil, Histoire des Frangais des Divers Etats, 4th edit., vol. v., p. 131. ' The accompanying table will show this organization at a glance, and materially assist future explanations. CO P5 I— I O Ph o o I— I o W H <1 I— I H I— I X! P^ cc <1 i o Cb w EH O CZ2 I— ( O CO. to Bi S C CO 2o S w OS;-) O o s 3 Pi g 3 . CD aj S « CO ■ t« .11 ^ H O 01 cc 14 u u CO a S3 H/1 O"^ i^ K r ., «! tiO--' C3 fl > "3 r iS O U K^ ^ jS u TO -M ftlj Ol O U s> g 1) cS 1 55 8 Q, 'X re i; _a O J-" 'X t- y ^ 0) O > * 13 o.o5 M gSg>>3 ,„ > sin 0, !> O oj a cB o ^ ^ +j Eh S M aa o-a S > a;T3 3 a, S320 P & ii '-' ^ " s hS? EJ a c8 !- ? O cj o o a o ^ bC'fi-^ i ^ in D a-a 2 t-o" uot. es > CD a«3 O 3 a ■- til)' a^ " M OJ b ^ f- — 3 4J a a ■'^ o 0 eg i, ^ ^a 'E^ a; O m S a S g JJ « o r" f3- a =s oj a II2 S£o as -^ ,a * a — x'r |'^-§ c a'§ 3°.SP Hag' o o a .00 § cj o3 !»> ^, 0) ti a^T3 o ^o2--S .g 3^ . 1^ a =^ s. 5 0^ c3 K ^ 2 03 a a " fl-l rr. 1 oS ^a Di3 * C , a fi

. 03 0) 1 oW o o 3 o A "3 ■ a; as M op •73 « 3 OJ Ji S- a o ^- o-c 3 G-a --a q •"i; o<§ o li §p:^ 2^&^a.2'S<">-- o 3 •"■- o o-g a o o .-s tu w 0 03 »i H a aj an; a a> . ^* o S a 1, OS c/1-3 aj oj (U 0) ./ « O l-Jfl •- o o !r S - S i« o *i ■" oi a w'S -a -'2o3*^a»S^ «1 3 » a ,, t£ 3 o f? ^s= ■aa o3 M Hj ^ a ^ *- ^ 3^ b="1sf^sH aw o^.ti a, Sj3j:j= \2 a bii 1^ 2 r^ B o3^ ^^w d ^ 13 ±3 -t; K •:;!=" 1) oj 2 iJ r- 03 ^ fl 5 i a — ,-a " aj S-a P °* „ o tie ?= ■J^"^ t- S H .25 a; a '3 13 a 05 ; 2 :5 >> ft 3 .a '3 0-9 -M 03 $''% *j 3 'S O a ^ ?S ^ 5P 5 Sis o£5sS 0; O31 S , o •d o s o O ^ 0) 0) a S S a '2 o< a a o a 60 03 a a o o 1) u CM 3 03 a a o M 03 a a o O a a tj 01 im 03 2 a aj *;." k o a •'^ o a h-TS tSxi 03 "^ ^ ,3 iSiS. 2*^ S °S fe .2 ? o >^'2'a) fc 5? o o o o a bX) 03 a a o o o a s a a . aj a a. .2 i2 73T3 73 a a 0. 03 2 '" a 0 1 3 oi nl a t« a a 0 r/l 0 «J P a a> a aj ■J3 «-3 03 o a ceo a> |P o 33 <1 jr> 3 a 05 a «0 0 4-) n s! -s 5 3 0 0 tkH 0) 0 rr a) 3 0 a; rr 03 7^ fc >■ fli 3 V 0 M s aj a j:ti H u 3 01 &2 a aj 0 ;^ i. 3 !; 71 t.-3 0 n ^ d -J K n CS 0) ^ &H .3 0 a ,3 > 0/ a ■c 3 •u CS eo ai in c S «^ 3 0 0 ^ oj a 4-* a 0 0 0 a 0) H a 1 a M w 03 0 i^ 3 .3 2i6 THE COMPANIONAGE. of call devoted to his purposes, and a branch of the society. In those towns where no charge was lodged he was still able to profit by the society in a minor degree, provided he continued his subscription to the nearest branch. These latter were called bastard towns; the former, towns of the Tour of France. A. few writers have derived the epithet " Companions of the Tour de France " from some imaginary building called the Tower of France. Unfortunately for their theory — and for their knowledge of French — tour (tower) is feminine, whereas the word actually used is masculine, viz., " le tour de France." The Companions made the tour of France as our grandfathers completed their education, by making the "grand tour." The villes du devoir, or du tour de France, were Lyons, Avignon, Marseilles, Nimes, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, and Paris. To these Simon adds Auxerres, Chalons-sur-Saone, Clermont-Ferram, Beziers, La Rochelle, Angouleme, Angers, Saumur, Tours, Orleans, and later, Algiers. ' We may here pause to note a coincidence which is not perhaps without its significance, viz., that these towns are chiefly in the south, where the Roman traditions were longest preserved, and that many very important towns of the north are not included — such as Lille, Dunkirk, Calais, Am ens, Soissons, Rheims, Rouen, Dieppe, Havre, Caen, etc. j — in fact, no single town north of Paris. The word devoir has been translated " charge," and as this naturally recalls our ancient Masonic Charges, it is incumbent to show that the translation is Justified, in order that no suspicion may be raised of unduly influencing the reader. To begin with, the word devpir is usually translated "duty," but a duty and a charge are in some cases synonymous. Secondly, our British Charges are a written code of rules of conduct, prefaced by a tradi- tional history of the craft; and this description exactly corresponds with that of the French devoir. "Every European state has its constitution; every Comj^agnonnage has also its own, called devoir."'^ Each of the three divisions relates that its traditionary head gave them a devoir to keep — that is, a charge or duty. " The devoir is a code — the entirety of the laws and regulations which govern a society."' That this code was in MS. is proved by Perdiguier and others writing of it as being deposited in particular places; as being bought, stolen, or otherwise fraudulently obtained, and by the conferring of a code by one of the original societies, being necessary before a new craft could be admitted into the Companionage. That the legends were also in writing may be inferred from Perdiguier's remarks; " and, although there is no direct proof that the legends and the code always formed parts of one document, the most natural conclusion is that they did, and nothing but proof of this connection is wanting to establish a complete resemblance between the British Charge and the French devoir.^ As regards the position of Solomon toward the Companions, Perdiguier is very reticent, though perhaps he had little to communicate, beyond a biographical record of the wise king which he has admittedly taken from the Holy Writings. He adds, " The Sons of Solomon claim that this king gave them a charge, and incorporated them fraternally within the precincts of the Temple." He also says, " The stonemasons" [of this fraternity, S. of S.] ' Simon, Etude Historique et Morale sur le Compag-nonnage, p. 158. ^Monteil, Histoire des FranQais des Divers Etats, 4tli edit, vol. v., p. 130. ^ Perdiguier, Le Livre du Companonnage, p. 38. * To be quoted hereafter. ^ As these devoirs, or some of them, must still be in existence, it is to be regretted that no efforts have been made by French historians to secure a copy for publication. THE COMPANIONAGE. 217 "are accounted the most ancient of the Companions. An ancient fable has obtained currency amongst them relating, according to some, to Hiram, according to others, to A.donhiram; wherein are represented crimes and punishments; but I leave this fable for what it is worth. " ' It is unfortunate that Perdiguier should have been so reserved on this subject (he was himself a Son of Solomon), but it is also quite possible that beyond the Hiramic legend there was nothing of a traditionarv nature to impart, and being aware that many versions of this myth had been published in works professedly masonic, he thought it would present little interest, especially as its main features are reproduced in the legend of Maitre Jacques. In introducing the tradition concerning this master he says, " Maitre Jacques is a per- sonage about whom very little is known, and each of the societies has invented a more or less probable story concerning him; nevertheless there is one which enjoys an extended ac- ceptance with very many Companions dn Devoir; — it is from this that I extract, witliout changing a single word, the following details." From the language employed, I think it must be conceded that my previous contention as to the existence of manuscript copies of these traditions, is fully justified.^ THE LEGEND OF MAITRE JACQUES. " Maitre Jacques, one of the first masters of Solomon, and a colleague of Hiram, vras born in a small town called Carte, now St. Romili,^ in the south of Gaul; he was the son of Jacquin,^ a celebrated architect, and devoted himself to stone-cutting. At the age of fifteen he left his family and travelled into Greece, then the center of the fine arts, where he entered into close alliance with * * * ,^a philosopher of the highest genius, who taught him sculpture and architecture. He soon became celebrated in both these arts." "Hearing that Solomon had summoned to himself all famous men, he passed into Egypt, and thence to Jerusalem. He did not at first gain much distinction amongst the workmen; but at last, having received an order from the chief master to construct two columns, he sculptured them with such art and taste that he was accepted a master." [Perdiguier then ceases to quote verbally from the legend, but remarks], — " Hereafter follows a long catalogue of all his works at the temple, and the history is thus continued:" ° " Maitre Jacques arrived in Jerusalem at the age of twenty-six years; he remained there only for a short time after the construction of the temple, and many masters wishing to return to their country took leave of Solomon loaded with benefits. " ' The weight of these words is much modified by the further explanations of Perdiguier, to which attention will be hereafter directed. Having all the facts, usages, and traditions clearly before us, we shall then be better able to discuss and compare them. ^The italics are mine. The legend which follows is fragmentary, and I think it not improbable that the portions omitted would, if supplied, furnish a clue to the secret ceremonies and other undis- closed features of the institution. It must not be forgotten that Perdiguier was far too honorable to divulge anything of vital importance. He wrote for his fellows and for the public; the former would be able to supply every hiatus; the latter would only learn what was considered sufficient for their enlightenment. He wrote as a conscientious Freemason would discuss Freemasonry; nevertheless, it is possible that a Freemason can read more easily between his lines than any one else besides a Compagnon. ^ This town would appear to be as purely traditionary as the master himself. * Possibly Jachin? * It is possible that these stars repi-esent Pythagoras. * The absence of this catalogue is probably of no importance, and only attributable to a desire for brevitv. 2i8 THE COMPANIONAGE. " Maitre Jacques and Maitre Soubise made thsir ^?ay back to Gaul. They had sworn never to part; but before long M, Soubise, a man of violent character, becoming jealovis of the ascendency which M. Jacques had acquired over their disciples, and of the love which they bore him, separated from his friend and chose other disciples. M. Jacques landed ' at Marseilles, and M. Soubise at Bordeaux. Before commencing his travels M. Jacques chose thirteen Companions S^Compagnons^ and forty disciples; being deserted by one of them he chose another. He travelled for three years, leaving everywhere the memory of his talents and virtues. One day, being at some distance from his disciples, he was assailed by ten of the followers of M. Soubise, who attempted to assassinate him. In order to save himself he plunged into a swamp, the canes \or reeds, in French "joncs"} of which not only sup- ported him, but afforded a refuge from the blows of his assailants. Whilst these cowards were seeking some means of reaching him, his disciples arrived and effected his rescue." "He withdrew to St. Beaume. One of his disciples, called by some Jeron, and by others Jamais, betrayed him to the disciples of M. Soubise. One day, before sunrise, M. Jacques being alone and engaged in prayer in his accustomed spot, the traitor arrived ac- companied by the executioners, and gave as usual the kiss of peace, which was the precon- certed death signal. Five villains at once fell upon and killed him with five dagger wounds. " " His disciples arrived too late, but yet in time to receive his last farewell. ' I die,' said he, ' for God has so willed it; I forgive my assassins, and forbid you to follow them; they are already miserable enough; some day they will repent. I deliver my soul to God, my Creator; and you, my friends, receive from me the kiss of peace. When I shall have re- joined the Supreme Being, I shall still watch over you. I desire that the last kiss which I give you be imparted always to the Companions whom you may make, as coming from their Father; they will transmit it to those whom they make; I will watch over them as over you; tell them I shall follow them everywhere so long as they remain faithful to God and to their charge [devoir~\ and never forget . . . .' ^ He pronounced a few more words which they were unable to understand, and crossing his arms over his breast, expired in his forty-seventh year, four years and nine days after leaving Jerusalem, and 989 years before Christ.'' " The Companions, having disrobed him, found a small piece of cane, which he wore in memory of the canes that had saved his life when he fell into the swamp." " Since then the Companions have adopted the cane. It was not known whether Maitre Soubise was the instigator of his death; the tears which he shed over his tomb, and the pursuit of the assassins which he ordered, contributed to weaken in a great measure the suspicions that were entertained. As for the traitor, he very soon repented of his crime, and, driven to despair by his poignant regrets, he threw himself into a pit, which the Companions filled up with stones." " M. Jacques' career being thus closed, the Companions constructed a bier, and carried him into the desert of Cabra, now called St. Magdalen." [Perdiguier once more ceases to quote verbally, and summarizes as follows:] '"' Here follows the embalming of M. Jacques and the funeral ceremonies, which lasted three days; the procession encountered a terrible storm, crossed forests and mountains, ' This hiatus is possibly of the utmost importance to Companions. ' Probably these ceremonies, if revealed at greater length, might have entailed on Perdiguier a violation of his oath. THE COMPANIONAGE. 219 made stations in a place now called Caver ne St. Evreux, and by others named Saint Maxi- min, Cahane St. Zozime, etc. The procession at length arrived at the final resting-place." " [At this point Perdiguier once more gives the legend in full. ] " Before lowering the body into the tomb, the elder gave it the kiss of peace; every one followed his example, after which, having removed the pilgrim's staff, the body was re- placed in the bier and lowered into the grave. The elder descended beside it, the Com- panions covering both with the pall, and after the former had given the Guilbrette,^ he caused them to hand him some bread, wine, and meat, which he deposited in the grave, and then returned to the surface. The Companions covered the grave with large stones, and sealed it with heavy bars of iron; after which they made a great fire, and threw into it their torches and all that had been used during the obsequies of their master." " His raiment was preserved in a chest. At the destruction of the temples,'' the sons of M. Jacques separated and divided amongst them liis clothing, which was thus distributed. " His hat to the hatters. His tunic to the stonemasons. His sandals to the locksmiths. His cloak to the joiners. His belt to the carpenters. His staff (bourdon) to the wagonmakers. " Perdiguier then concludes as follows: *' After the division of the articles belonging to M. Jacques, the act of faith was found which was pronounced by him on the day of his reception [as master, probably] before Solomon, Hiram, the high priest, and all the masters. This act of faith, or rather this prayer, is very beautiful." In respect to Maitre Soubise, we are afforded even less information than in the case of Solomon. Perdiguier remarks that he has been unable to find any documeyit ' relating to him, and that we must be content with the particulars furnished by the legend of Maitre Jacques. Judging by the legends of Hiram and Maitre Jacques, we might expect to have some record of the tragic ending of Soubise, but if such existed, Perdiguier failed apparently in finding it. As already stated, each of these masters, Solomon, Jacques, and Soubise, has been se- lected by the different crafts as chief patron, three of the trades — the stone-masons. Joiners, and locksmiths — being divided in their allegiance between Solomon and Jacques, and the carpenters between Solomon and Soubise. Under one of these three banners each craft forms its own fraternity, entirely independent of all other crafts, and sometimes at open enmity with its sister societies of the same Devoir. This, however, is only a family quarrel, and gives way to firm alliance when a question arises as between the various divisions. For instance, in the family of Jacques we find the joiners friendly with the stonemasons, but enemies of their friends the farriers; yet, they all unite as one man against the common ' This curious terra will be hereafter explained, when the funeral ceremonies of the Companions are described. •^ This expi-ession may refer either to the fate of the Knights Templars, or to the final overthrow of the old religion of the Empire. As will presently appear, a connection between the Companion- age and the Collegia is not beyond the pale of credibility. The Templar theory will be duly exam- ined at a later stage. ^ The use of the word document strengthens the conclusion I have already advanced. 220 THE COMPANIONAGE. foe, the Sons of Solomon. As a general rule, the families of Jacques and Soubise are at variance; but although they love each other little, they hate Solomon more. The fraternities which are thus formed are only open to journeymen, that is, appren- tices who have served their time. Perdiguier — who was a joiner of Solomon — has not given us any hint of the ceremonies used at their reception; probably with the exception of his own society, these would remain a secret even to himself, whilst his oath would forbid any revelation. In his own handicraft we find the following customs and arrangements prevail- ing:— A young workman presents himself and requests to be made a member of the society. His sentiments are inquired into, and if the replies are satisfactory he is emhauclie. ' At the next " General Assembly " he is brought into an upper room ( fait monter en cliamhre) when in the presence of all the companions and affilies questions are put to him to ascertain that he has made no mistake, that it is into this particular society and not in some other that he wishes to enter; and he is informed that there are many distinct societies, and that he is quite free in his choice. The ordinances (rSglements) to which all companions and affilies are obliged to conform, are then read to him, and he is asked whether he can and will conform thereto. Should he answer ''No," he is at liberty to retire; if he replies " Yes," he is affiliated and conducted to his proper place in the room. If ho is honest and intelligent, he obtains is due course all the degrees (ordres) of the Companionage, and succeeds to the various offices of the society. The candidate is affiliated, — but in what manner we are not informed, — and thus attains the first step. In this particular society there are three further steps — accepted companion {compag7ion repi), finished companion {com^mgnon fini), and initated com- panion {compagnon initie). All these degrees were probably attended with a ceremony, but Perdiguier is silent on the subject. That the ceremonies of the Companionage com- prised a rehearsal of some tragic scene similar to that recounted in the career of Maitre Jacques or of Hiram, will be hardly doubted when we proceed to discuss the revelations made in the seventeenth century. Thory, Avriting (a generation earlier than Perdiguier) of the Companions, says, " their initiations are accompanied by secret forms, and their unions existed from time immemorial.'"^ J. C. Besuchet, who evidently knew nothing of M. Jacques and Hiram, says the New Testament furnished them with the chief part of their mystic ordeals {epreicves mysterieuses).^ Clavel maintains that in the superior grades of the Companionage the " funereal catastrophes" of the legend were acted, ^ but as he gives no authority, and wrote two years after the publication of Perdiguier's work, it is possible that he only arrived at this conclusion on the ground of its inherent probability. Undue weight must not, therefore be attached to his opinion. Whether the several grades held separate meetings is indeterminable, though with the Enfants de Salomon, even the "affiliates" assisted at the General Assemblies.^ The degrees of the locksmiths were identical with those of the joiners as above specified; indeed, these societies often amalgamated, but the stonemasons of Solomon slightly differed from ' This word is used in a very peculiar sense by the Compagnons. Ordinarily it meansenlisted; here it is rather used as signifying that he is informed of the next meeting, and recommended to appear. 2 Thory, Acta Latamorum (1815), p. 301. 2 Besuchet, Precis Historique de I'Ordre de la Franc-Magonnerie (1829). ' ■*T. B. Clavel, Histoire pittoresque de la F. M. et des Societes Secretes Anciennes et Modernes, 3d edit. (1843), p. 367. *Is it or is it not a mere coincidence that Perdiguier always uses the precise term " assembUes generales?" THE COMPANIONAGE. 221 the cognate crafts in styling their affiliates "young men" {jeunes liommes), and they did not subdivide the degree of Companion. In the system of Maitre Jacques all the members were included in two grades, the lower being termed Aspirants, and the upper Companions. The sons of Maitre Soubise were divided into Companions and foxes {renar els).' These two families allowed the younger class no participation in their ceremonies, assemblies, or festivals, and the members of the upper class sometimes assumed nicknames descriptive of their scorn for the novices, such as " the scourge of the foxes," " the terror of the aspirants," etc. To all the societies the connection of the stonemasons with Hiram appears to have been known, and in some the members habitually wore white gloves, giving as a reason that they did so in order to testify to their innocence in his death.* In matters of costume other distinctions were made. Some societies carried long canes, others short ones, usually iron-tipped. The use of these canes is attributed to the recol- lection of the canes which saved the life of Maitre Jacques; but inasmuch as the canes are common to the Sons of both Solomon and Soubise, this explanation would not meet all cases. Each society boasted its own colors, which took the form of long silk ribbons of distinctive hues, attached, as the case might be, either to the hat, collar, or some specified button-hole. Both ribbons and canes were held in high esteem, and to carry off one or the other from an enemy in personal combat was considered a most gallant action. The canes were used as walking sticks on journeys, but as murderous weapons in the fray. As personal badges, the square and compasses were the common property of all crafts and societies, and earrings formed of the same implements and also of other tools were not un- usual. But in no fraternities were the members of the first degree allowed any distinctions or colors — the stonemasons of Solomon alone excepted. These wore white and green ribbons attached to the right breast. In every town of the tour of France each fraternity and every division thereof had its officers, consisting of president, elders, and secretary. These were elected twice a year, and amongst the Sons of Solomon the members of the lowest class participated in the ballot; in the other divisions they were not only denied a voice in the election, but were obliged to receive as president of their degree a member of the upper class. The president took the name of first Companion, first young man, first aspirant, or first fox, according to the degree over which he presided. The joiners and locksmiths of Solomon, however, differed. Their four degrees formed only one society, and the president might belong to cither the initiated or the finished Companions. In the former case he was called Digni- tary, and wore over the right shoulder and under the left arm a blue scarf fringed with gold lace, and the square and compasses interlaced on his breast. In the latter he simply took the title of First Companion, and added a gold fringe to his colored ribbons. Perdi- guier, speaking of this, his own fraternity, takes care to point out the republican equality of its members. He says: " We see that a hierarchy was established in this society, which nevertheless does not exclude a perfect equality of all its members. The Companions and the affiliates are intermixed in the workshop and at table, and are gathered together in the ' Curiously enough the associations of students at the German universities also make use of the term " fox" to distinguish an affiliate who has not yet given his proof, i,e., fought the requisite num- ber of duels, and learned to drink and smoke immoderately. ''It is probable that the Hiramic legend peculiar to the Stonemasons of "Solomon," gave rise to the charge of complicity in Hiram's murder brouglit against them by the members of other systems. 222 THE COMPANIONAGE. same assemblies. A Companion has not more power over an affiliate than the latter over a Companion." Some of these crafts are not satisfied with one or two ribbons. The shoemakers obtain two on their initiation, a red and a blue, but add one at every town of the " tour" through which they pass. These ribbons are a fruitful source of strife. A gendarme, who had been a Companion harnessmaker, sold at Angouleme his devoir to a shoemaker named Carcasson le Turc, who communicated it to his fellows. The shoemakers had belonged to the Companionage in the seventeenth century, but forswore the association (as we shall presently see). Their present status dates from about 1810. This fraternity soon became very strong, but partly because they had become unfairly possessed of a charge, and partly because they wore their colors in a way displeasing to the harnessmakers, great enmity subsisted between these two societies. For eight days they waged a frightful battle, re- sulting in a formidable list of killed and wounded. One of the leaders of the cordwainers, bearing the paradoxical name of Mouton Coeur de Lion (sheep of the lion's heart), was sent to the galleys at Kochefort, where he died. A Companionage song in great vogue has still the following refrain: — Provencal Tin vincible Bordelais I'intrepide Mouton Coeur de Lion Nous ont fait Compagnons (made us Companions). The smiths legitimated the wagonmakers on the condition of their wearing their colors in a lower button-hole. As this promise was quickly broken, members of the two crafts fight whenever they meet. The tanners persist in wearing their colors at the same height as the carpenters, hence perpetual quarrels. Perdiguier gives many more examples, but these will suffice. As a rule, the higher the colors are carried, the nobler the society; the stonemasons wear theirs attached to the hat, but as already stated, all crafts concur in as- signing priority to them. Some of these crafts are (or were in 1841) very conservative in their dress; so that this may almost be looked upon as a distinction. The nailmakers re- tained the costume of a bygone age at all formal meetings, wearing cocked hats, knee- breeches, and their hair in queues. If a member dies, they walk bareheaded, with their long hair unplaited and in disorder, and their faces covered. The blacksmiths also retained the kneebreeches and cocked hat. Like the German fraternities, each craft had its special house of call, the proprietors and inmates of which were also designated by the titles of Father, Mother, Sister, and Brother. But whereas the Germans called this tavern Herherg (Inn), the French never used the equivalent in their language {Auberge), but styled the house itself La mere, " the mother. " After initiation, each Companion chose a soubriquet which was henceforth always tacked on to his own name. A well-instructed Companion could tell from this nickname to what corps a stranger belonged; as these names, although referring to the province or natal city of the recipient, and to a fancied virtue or attribute, were differently formed — in some cases the birthplace came first, in others the attribute; sometimes they were joined by the definite article, at others by the preposition de (of) ; at others the birthplace is turned into an adjective, and in certain societies the attribute is replaced by the Christian name. The following examples will make this clearer:- THE COMPANIONAGE. 223 A Stonemason of Solomon. La Fleiir de Bagnolet. A Stonemason of Jacqnes. L'esperance le Berichon. A Joiner or Locksmith of Solomon. Languedoc la Prudence. A Joiner or Locksmith of Jacques. Hyppolyte le Nantais. The other crafts of Jacques. Bordelais I'intrepide. It is perhaps a legitimate conclusion that these nicknames are a proof of the high an- tiquity of the Companionage, as indicative of an epoch when the lower classes had not yet assumed surnames and some nickname was necessary to distinguish one Peter or Paul from another. This would take us back to the twelfth century or thereabouts. The designation by which Agricol Perdiguier was known in the Companionage was Avignonais la Vertu. Beyond these pseudonyms each family had one or more distinctive titles. The members of all three divisions were called Compagnons du devoir; but the Sons of Solomon made an addition and called themselves Compagnons du devoir de liherU, or more generally still Compagnons de liberte, by omitting the term devoir, which was understood. No writer ap- pears to have solved the problem of accounting for this designation of Free Companions or Companions of Freedom, nor am I able to offer any suggestion which may tend to elucidate its derivation. A point, indeed, of some importance might be established could we ascertain on good authority whether it was assumed, a distinctive epithet after the formation of the other divisions, or whether it originally belonged to them for some siifficient but inscrutable cause, which was, however, inoperative as concerned the other branches of the association. If we now direct our attention to the oldest craft of each family, a further diversity becomes apparent. The stonemasons of Solomon call themselves Compagnons Strangers Le., foreign Companions, giving as a reason that in the land of Judea they were foreigners. The Stonemasons of Jacques and the carpenters of Soubise take the name of Compagnons passants, or passing Companions, assigning as an explanation that when at Jerusalem they never intended to make a prolonged stay or to settle in the country. These three societies further distinguish themselves by other nicknames. The Stonemasons of Solomon call themselves Wolves, those of Jacques Were -Wolves,' the carpenters i)n7/es or Bondrilles, a word now seldom used in French, and signifying '' good fellows." The joiners and locksmiths of Solomon are termed gavots. This word is also obsolete, and signifies the inhabitants of a hilly region — highlanders. The reason assigned is, that on their arrival in France they assembled on the heights of St. Beaume, in Provence, from whence they spread over the face of the land, and that the natives, seeing them descending from the hill, called out that the gavots were coming. The Sons of Soubise and of Jacques, with the exception of the Stonemasons, and all the different crafts since admitted by them, call themselves dogs and devorants. As far as the designation " dogs " is concerned, we may suppose that they have felt themselves bound to imitate their predecessors in point of an- tiquity, by also taking the name of an animal, and as the dog is the natural enemy of their rivals the wolves, the choice is very apposite. The alleged cause is, however, a different one; they maintain that they have assumed the name because the discovery of Hiram's body was made by some dogs.^ We have already seen that they hold themselves innocent ' The "Were-wolf was a superstition of the Middle Ages not yet wholly eradicated in the moun- tains of France and Germany. It was supposed that certain sorcerers and witches had the power of transforming themselves at will into wolves of the corresponding sex, during the continuation of which metamorphosis they possessed both the shape and the nature of the animal whose form they assumed. See S. Baring-Gould, The Were-Wolves (1865). ' Although the Hiiamic legend has been infinitely diversified by the innumerable writers who 224 THE COMPANIONAGE. of his blood, in commemoration of wliicli tliey wear white gloves. The word devorant is a curious one. Literally it means one who devours, so that connecting it with the carnivorous animals to which the Companions liken themselves, the term would seem appropriate enough. But it is more than probable that this is an afterthoiight, and that, as Perdiguier suggests, the word was orginally devoirants, i.e., members of a devoir or charge. The Sons of Soubise also rejoiced in the name of devorants, but they have gone a step beyond all the others in animal nomenclature. With them the apprentice who is bullied till he becomes an abject slave, takes the significant title of rabbit {lapin); the aspirant is slightly dignified by being termed a fox {renard), something more valorous than a rabbit, but still of a sneaking, cowardly disposition. His superior, the Companion, becomes a dog, and a master in the craft, an ape {singe), alluding, of course, to his extended knowledge and cunning, but also combining with this homage a large amount of the contempt which is apt to be engendered in rude minds when wisdom takes the place of force. ' Consistent in a measure with their assumed types in the animal kingdom, is the habit which has obtained in some crafts of howling. This howling would appear to form, in many instances, a part of their ceremonies, and to consist of an inarticulate and prolonged noise. Perdiguier says they also call it chanting, because they thus pronounce certain words in such a manner that they themselves only can understand them. We shall prob- ably not go far astray if we assume that these words formed one of their secret modes of recognition. Of the primitive corps, the carpenters alone give way to this absurd habit; the stonemasons and their immediate successors the joiners and locksmiths, do not practice it. But all the comparatively new corps — that is, those admitted by the building crafts of Jacques and Soubise, howl without exception. It is possible that the same idea underlies this custom as that which produced the corruption of devoirant into devorant, though it may be a survival of an ancient observance which will be presently noticed. Another peculiarity is, that the Companions, like the Freemasons, abjure the use of the prefix " Mr." They do not, however, style each other " Brother," although in everything except the bare name they are a veritable fraternity; but substitute the curious terms coterie or pays (country), adding by preference the Companion's nickname instead of his legal ap- pellation. The stonemasons of both families use the former, all other crafts the latter. Thus a stonemason, in addressing a fellow, would say, " Coterie La Fleur de Bagnoletf a joiner of Maitre Jacques, "Pays Pierre le Mar seillais." If the Companion does not know his fellow's name, coterie or pays is used alone. One of the most curious, and certainly the most pernicious and unreasonable, of all their customs, was the top)age. The original of the word top>e, toper, has been left unde- cided by historians of the Companionage, but Larousse, in his admirable Dictionary, suc^^ests that it is akin to the Spanish Topar,^ and he is no doubt correct. In the French of to-day the verb top)er is seldom or never used; formerly it meant to accept, receive, profess to record it, I do not remember to have met with the particular narrative alluded to in the text. I "Ape" is a common expression of dislike in the Latin countries. The epithets vieux singe and mono viejo, i.e., "old ape," represent, in France and Spain, the equivalent of the term " old fool" as employed in England. 2Edw. E. Bensley's Span.-Eng. Die. : Topar— to run or strike against; to meet with by chance; to butt or strike with the head; to accept a bet at cards. The latter is the only French acceptation of the word; but the three former are quite reconcilable with the Companionage use, affording another proof of the southern origin of this peculiar institution. SIR MICHAEL R. S H AAV - STEWART. BARONET. r^ W PAST GRAND MASTER MASON OF SCOTLAND. THE COMPANIONAGE. 225 acquire. Almost its sole use at the present time is to signify acceptance of a wager or propo- sition ; thus je tope is equivalent to our '' done." But the Companions use the word as a chal- lenge to mortal combat, and the custom of challenging takes the name of topage. All the different crafts " tope," with the exception of the Sons of Solomon, and even the stonemasons of this division occasionally tope with those of Jacques, but with none other. We win suppose two journeymen meeting on the highroad, and armed as usual with their long canes. As soon as they are within a few 3^ards of each other they halt, take up a firm and defiant attitude, and the following colloquy ensues: ''Tope!" ''Tope!" "Ell! lepays! Compagnonf" "Yes; lepays. And you?" " Companion also. What vocation ? " " Carpenter, le pays. And you ?" "Cordwainer! clear the road, stinking beast!" {p)asse au large, sale puant !) "You're another!" {puant toi-meme!) They then fall to with hearty good will, and continue the combat till one or the other IS powerless to impede the triumphal progress of his rival, who carries off his cane as a trophy of victory. When we consider with what formidable weapons they are armed, it is not surprising that these encounters often terminated fatally. These fights sometimes assume the proportions of pitched battles, inasmuch as large numbers are occasionally ranged on each side by mutual agreement. If the challenge should result in the two travellers declaring themselves of the same or of friendly crafts, they would then rush into each other's arms, although they had never previously met, as if they were brothers long separated, giving reciprocally the guilbrette,^ and otherwise expressing unbounded joy at the meeting. One would then turn back and accompany the other to the nearest tavern, and several hours would probably be consumed, and much liquor also. Some of the various causes of feud have already been noticed. The shoemakers especially were at enmity with all crafts, possibly on account of the lingering memory of their apostasy in 1645. The bakers also were not considered worthy of bearing the square and compasses. The stonemasons of the two devoirs were sworn foes — if they, by accident, worked at the same bridge, it was necessary to confine them to opposite sides of the river, which did not prevent their fighting as soon as they could join hands, unless one corps was withdrawn before the bridge was completed. In Paris, however, they con- trive to agree tolerably well. The carpenters who seceded from Soubise, and now claim to belong to Solomon, work in Paris solely on the left bank of the Seine, and their former brothers on the right. The weavers date only from 1775. Unable to obtain a charge, they ultimately found a joiner who had quarrelled with his society, and who, under the influence of good wine, sold them his devoir. ' Therefore, weavers and joiners are at open enmity. The silk weavers formed themselves into a Comj)anionage in 1832, but without a properly conferred charge from any established society. They claim to belong to the sons of Maitre Jacques, but, of course, unsuccessfully, and to their great personal discom- fort whenever they happen to be in a minority. Several other crafts also live in a complete state of isolation. It was the evil of the Companionage that Perdiguier tried to combat in his remarkable ' A peculiar embi-ace, which will be explained further on. 15 226 THE COMPANIONAGE. book, by showing the folly of these eternal feuds, and by substituting for the revolting and bloodthirsty songs then in vogue, others of a higher and purer tendency. A previous effort in the same direction, but on different lines, had already been attempted. In 1823, at Bordeaux, some aspirants of the joiners and locksmiths,' being disgusted at the tyranny to which they were subject, revolted, and instituted a new society, which should only con- sist of one degree, admit members of all crafts indiscriminately, and thus do away with all jealousies. They called it the Societe cfunion, or " Independents," and, as others joined it, they were not without a certain influence. Perdiguier, whilst admitting their good intentions, nevertheless manifests the not unnatural regret of an old " Companion" at the obliteration of the ancient landmarks or customs. He says, ''they have no m3?stery, no initiation, no distinctions." The houses of resort for the Companions were also their quarters on their travels. The Avhole society was to a certain extent responsible to the Mere for the expenses of any par- ticular member. It was here that the new comer received his welcome, and applied for work; it was here that on his departure he took a solemn yet jovial farewell of his fellows; it was here that he first was admitted to join the society; here that he entered into the serious questions of trade policy, or joined in the excitement of an annual dance. General assemblies of the craft were usually held on the first Sunday of every month; and other assemblies, as occasion might require, such as the departure of a brother.'' At the banquets each member paid an equal sum, irrespective of the amount of his own con- sumption. The advantages to which a member was entitled were manifold. Upon his arrival in a city he was directed where to find employment. If destitute of funds, he obtained credit at his "mother's." If important matters called him away, and he had no money, the society would help him from town to town, until he arrived at his own village or destina- tion. In the event of sickness, each member would take it in turn to visit him, and to provide for his wants. In some societies, he is granted a sum of 10 sous per diem during the time he is in hospital, which amount is presented in a lump sum on his leaving. If he should be cast into prison for any offence not entailing disgrace, he is assisted in every possible way, and if he dies the society pays for his funeral, and honors his memory by a special service a year afterwards. If a branch society falls into financial difficulties, the sister societies of neighboring cities assist it. In every society a fresh Eouleur is appointed every week. The duties of this official are very generous. He welcomes the new arrivals, finds them work, and on their desiring to leave the town, sees that all their old scores are cleared off, and accompanies them to the gates of the town. He also convokes the assemblies. AVith the Sons of Solomon, the embancliage or manner of providing them with work is as follows: — The Rouleur introduces the journeyman to his new master, who advances 5 francs toward his future wages. This sum the Rouleur retains, expressing a hope that the journeyman will be careful to earn it. The master remains ignorant whether his work- man is a Companion or an aspirant. When several have been thus engaged, the Eouleur calls a meeting of the new arrivals, returns the money to each, with which they pay for a banquet, the Rouleur's share being divided amongst them. If he prefers it, instead of one grand banquet, he may exact a light repast from each in turn. ' Of the system of Maitre Jacques. ' This word is occasionally used by Perdiguier. THE COMPANIONAGE. 227 With tlie Sons of Maitres Jacques and Soubise, the proceedings are somewhat different. The master advances 5 francs on the wages of a Companion, but only 3 on those of an aspirant. If the new arrival is a Companion, the Roideur places 1 franc in the craft box; if an aspirant, he hands this franc back to him, as the aspirants have no share in the pecuni- ary benefits of the society. The remaining 4 francs are employed as above. Some crafts require an aspirant to pay 6 francs to the box the first time he is emhauche in any town, but nothing on any future occasion. In these societies the aspirant also pays a monthly sub- scription to the fraternity, and he then becomes entitled to relief, although he is still debarred from Joining the assemblies of the Companions. The Rouleur is bound to be present at all partings between master and man, and to take care that their accounts are adjusted. He then calls a special meeting, when the accounts between the society and the Journeyman are likewise settled, also any obligations towards his fellow-workmen. On arriving at a fresh town, the society there always inquires of the branch at the last city in which he worked, whether the member had cleared off all scores. A master must not employ in one shop the members of two different societies. If he desires extra help, he applies to the premier Compagnon, who instructs his officer, the Rou- leur, to procure him the number of workmen required. ' If he is dissatisfied with the members of one great division, he may discharge them all, and send in his request to the chiefs of another family. This, of course, can only apply to those trades in which allegiance is divided, viz., the stonemasons, Joiners, locksmiths, and carpenters; and even then the master's option is very much reduced by the fact that if a society is once firmly established in a town, its rivals usually leave it a clear field, and refrain from setting up a fraternity of their own. If a master seriously offends the society, his shop is placed under interdict until he renders satisfaction; if his fellow masters support him, the whole town is banned. It is scarcely necessary to add that the Journeymen usually carry the day. The earliest strikes I have met with are those of the bakers in 1579, for a rise in wages," and of the linen weavers of Eouen in 1691, against a reduction.' A still earlier one of the masons of Mont- pellier in 1493 has been mentioned in the preceding chapter. A Companion about to leave a city to resume his travels was honored with a convoy beyond the gates. The leave-taking with his master was usually on a Saturday afternoon. The special assembly took place in the evening. On Sunday morning he treated his friends, and the convoy then started. All the members who are anxious to assist, decorate them- selves in full Companionage colors, and a band, or at least a fiddler, is commonly engaged. First starts the Rouleur, carrying the knapsack or bundle of the traveller, then the premier Companion and the departing brother arm in arm, the others follow two and two, all of course armed with their long canes. Thus they pass through the gates, singing their Com- panionage songs, and having arrived at some distance from the town in a wood or other quiet place, " a ceremony takes place, which differs according to the society." Perdiguier is far too conscientious to describe this ceremony, but he adds, " they howl or not, as the case may be, but in all cases they drink ! " ' In some London trades this system is still in force; for instance, with the matmakei-s. If a master is dissatisfied with a workman, he discharges him and applies to the Matmaker's Union for a fresh hand, which they at once send him. If the discharged workman, however, can show his Union that he has been badly used, the master must trust to chance for fresh labor, as he will not receive any assistance from the society. *Lacroix et Sere, Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance (1848-50), vol. iii.. Article, " Monteil, Corpo- rations de Metiers," p. 20. ** Ouin-Lacroix, Histoire des Anciennes Corporations, etc., p. 15. 228 THE COMPANIONAGE. This is the regular convoy or Conduite ew regie, but it sometimes gives rise to a false convoy {fausse conduite). A hostile society, hearing that a convoy is about to take place, organizes a fictitious one. Following their antagonists, they so arrange as to meet them beyond the city on their return. A regular topage then ensues, and the subsequent pro- ceedings become somewhat lively. This way of spending a Sunday afternoon cannot be very highly commended. The Grenoble convoy {Conduite de Grenoble) is called into requisition when a Com- panion has disgraced himself or his society. In full assembly he is forced on his knees, the fellows standing round and drinking to his "eternal damnation "in flowing cups. Meanwhile he is compelled to drink water until nature rebels and he is unable to imbibe any more, when it is poured over him in torrents. The glass which he uses is broken into fragments, his colors are torn from him and burned; the Rouleur then leads him by the hand round the room, each Companion bestowing a buffet, less to hurt him than as a sign of contempt, and the door being opened, he is finally led towards it. The concluding scene can only be decorously hinted at by comparing it with a verse of the " Lay of St. Nicholas-, " '— " And out of the doorway he flew like a shot, For a foot flew up with a terrible thwack, And caught the foul demon about the spot Where his tail joins on to the small of his back." Once a year each craft holds high festival. The proceedings commence with a special Mass, after which there is a grand assembly. Officers are elected for the ensuing year, and the whole concludes with a banquet, followed by a dance, to which the Companions invite their sweethearts and friends. The members of friendly crafts are also invited. But the same distinctions are made as on ordinary occasions. The Companions hold their festivities apart, and suffer no intrusion from the aspirants. The aspirants have their own jollifica- tion, but are unable to exclude the Companions if any are inclined to take joart. With the Sons of Solomon, however, the case is different. We have already seen that they only form one fraternity and hold joint meetings. Each society has its festival on the day of its patron saint, who is always supposed to have exercised that particular craft. Thus the carpenters celebrate St. Joseph, the joiners St. Anne, the locksmiths St. Peter, tlie farriers the summer festival of St. Eloy, the smiths the winter St. Eloy, and the shoe- makers St. Crispin. The Stonemasons seem to form an exception, as they celebrated the iVscension. On the day following, a second dance is usually given, to which the masters and their families are invited. Their funeral ceremonies are peculiar. If a Companion dies his society undertakes all the expenses of his interment. The deceased is carried by four or six of his fellows, who change from time to time. On the coffin are placed two canes crossed, a square and com- passes interlaced, and the colors of the society. Each Companion wears a black crepe on his left arm and on his cane, and sports his colors. They march to the church, and thence to the cemetery in two lines, place the coffin on the edge of the grave, and form around it the " living circle." One of the Companions next addresses the mourners; all then kneel on one knee and offer a prayer to the Supreme Being. The coffin is lowered, and the accolade or guilbrette follows. 1 The Ingoldsby Legends. THE COMPANIONAGE. 229 The accolade or yuilhrdte consists of the following ceremony: — Two canes are placed on the ground near the grave so as to form a cross. Two Companions take their places, each within one of the quarters so formed, turn half round on the left foot, carrying the right foot forward so as to face each other, and occupy with their feet all four quarters of the cross, then taking each other by the right hand, they whisper in one another's ear and embrace. ' All perform the guilbrette in turn, kneel once more on the edge of the grave, offer up a prayer, throw three pellets of earth on the coffin, and retire. In a fcAv crafts the concluding portion of the ceremony is slightly varied. The address to the mourners is di- versified by lamentable cries of which the public can understand nothing. This is evidently a further instance of " howling." Perdiguier does not clearly indicate whether the accolade takes place or not. When the coffin has been lowered, a Companion descends and places liimself beside it; a cloth is stretched over the mouth of the grave, and lamentations arise from below, to which the Companions above reply. If this ceremony takes place for a Companion carpenter of Soubise, "something occurs at this moment, of which I am not permitted to speak." I am inclined, to think that Perdiguier has here forgotten his usual caution and says too much: there can be little doubt that the concealed Companion gives the guilbrette, or some modification thereof, to the deceased. Scarcely anything further relating to their ceremonies remains to be gleaned from Perdiguier, although one or two very curious customs demand notice. Amongst these nothing strikes us as more peculiar and enlightened for their age than the remarkable fact, that in every town of the Tour de France technical schools were established and maintained by the stonemasons, joiners, and locksmiths. The other crafts do not appear to have shared in this highly beneficial institution. In these schools, which were open in the evening, the workman was taught architectural and lineal drawing, designing, model- ling, carving, and the elements of all sciences connected with his profession. Perdiguier gives us no data by which we may judge of the age of this institution, but he speaks of it as already old in 1841. This illustration of provident thought in a body of simple journey- men is as astonishing in one sense as their idiotic feuds are in another. We have seen that four crafts — the stonemasons, locksmiths, joiners, and carpenters — owed a divided allegiance, and that, when one family was well established in a city, the rival fraternity refrained, as a rule, from intruding. But this supremacy was sometimes, nay, often, obtained in a remarkable manner, viz., by a contest of skill (concotn's). A specified object being named, each society selected its champion, who was locked in a room with the necessary aj^pliances, and strictly guarded by his rivals until the end of the ap- pointed time. The two masterpieces were then compared, and their respective merits pro- nounced. To the victors accrued a high glory, to the vanquished a deep mortification and lasting shame, and an obligation to quit the city. The masterpiece was thenceforth held in great honor, jealously preserved, and on festivals drawn or carried through the town in solemn yet joyful procession. These contests were sometimes entered upon for less important stakes, such as a chal- lenge of skill for a sum of money. In 1726 the city of Lyons was thus contested between the rival stonemasons. The Sons of Jacques lost the day, and retired from the town for one hundred years. At the end of this period they deemed themselves entitled to return, but the Sons of Solomon thought otherwise. In the battle that ensued the new-comers were worsted and retired to Tournus, ' The Companions do not merely kiss, but remain for a moment clasped in each other's arms. 230 THE COMPANIONAGE. the quarries near Lyons. But the Sons of Solomon were not content with this partial victory, and endeavored to drive their competitors still further away. Another great battle was fought, resulting in a large number of killed and wounded. This was only fifteen years before Perdiguier wrote, but, curiously enough, he omits to mention who were the victors in the second encounter. In 1808 the locksmiths contested Marseilles. The Sons of Jacques placed their cause in the hands of a Dcmpliine; those of Solomon entrusted their reputation to a Lyonnais. They were locked up as usual in separate rooms, guarded by their rivals, who passed them nothing but food and necessary materials, but allowed of no counsel or advice. The understanding always was that each champion " should have all his talent in his head, and his execution at his fingers' ends." After many months the competitors were released, and their work carried before the judges. The Dauphine's lock was beautiful, the key still more so. The unlucky Lyonnais had given all his time and labor to complete the beautiful tools which were to assist him in fashioning a most complicated lock. Each tool was in itself a masterpiece, but the lock was not even commenced. His indignant and crestfallen fellows accused him of base treachery; he left the town and has never since been heard of. The most memorable of all battles appears to have been that of 1730, on the plains of La Crau, between Aries and Salon, in Provence. The combatants were the Sons of Solo- mon on the one part, and those of Jacques and Soubise on the other. The provocation is unknown, but the original parties to the quarrel were the stonemasons, joiners and lock- smiths only. These exchanged a formal cartel, and appointed a rendezvous. Volunteers from all the different corps affiliated to Jacques and Soubise, joined their fellows against the common foe, and the Sons of Solomon trooped in from all the towns in the neighbor- hood. The weapons even comprised fire-arms, and the battle was most determined and sanguinary. The list of killed was very large, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the military were able to restore order. I must not forget to mention that the enfants de Salomon admit workmen of all religious denominations to the Companionage, whilst those of Jacques and Soubise restrict their membership to Roman Catholics. Pew workmen on their tour forget to make a pilgrimage to the grotto of St. Beaume, in Provence. Mention has already been made of this hill as the starting-point of the original Companions. Tradition records that the Magdalene retired here to end her days after the death of our Saviour; and in the neighborhood is a wood in which, accordmg to popular belief, no living being is ever seen (excepting of course the Companion who visits it). The pilgrims here purchase relics in the shape of silk ribbons, etc., as mementoes of their visit to the sacred spot. A workman having completed his tour, on settling down as master, generally thanks his society and resigns his Companionage. A general assembly is usually held for the purpose, at which he is granted a demit pass, or certificate of honorable conduct during his membership. Although severed from his society, he seldom ceases to take an especial interest in it, and to prefer as workmen its Companions to that of any other society. The Sons of Solomon, however, differ, inasmuch as they never resign their membership. If, as most writers maintain, the Sons of Solomon are the descendants of the ecclesiastical as opposed to the secular masons, this habit would agree perfectly with that of the German stonemasons, in which bo,dy the masters remained an integral part of the fraternity, in con- tradistinction to the usage of other crafts. Such was the Companionage in 1841 as de- THE COMPANIONAGE. 231 scribed by Perdigiiier, then in the prime of its existence, and showing no signs of decay. On the contrary, he remarks, " Some corps have ceased to exist; others are now forming." It might be interesting to determine what effect the Ecvolution of 1848, and the introduc- tion of railways have had on the organization; but it would not serve any useful purpose with regard to the elucidation of Freemasonry. Our task lies in the opposite direction, viz., to trace it backward as far as our scanty materials will allow. Between 1841 and 1G51 our knowledge of the Companions appears to be restricted to the criminal prosecutions entailed by their perpetual quarrels. Between 1648 and 1651, however, we obtain a further insight into their secrets, and are enabled to form some idea of the ceremonies of the societies of Maitre Jacques, through the apostasy of the shoe- makers. It Avill be seen that the leading idea is still that of a betrayal, death, and resurrec- tion, although the hero is not a semi-fictitious personage like Hiram, but no one less than our Saviour Himself. That much of an indefensible nature took place cannot be denied, but it is possible that the information afforded is prejudiced and one-sided. A Companion shoemaker of a highly religious turn of mind seems to have been the first to take offence at the questionable practices of his fellows, and to have abjured them. He even went further: he instituted a body of lay brothers composed of journeyman shoemakers, adopted a peculiar dress, and established a rule enjoining them to enter the various shops of the craft, and, by instruction and good example, to reform the manners of their fellows. They took the name of Brothers of St. Crispin, and obtained ecclesiastical authority for their proceedings. In consequence of these measures and the revelations made by him, and those of his way of thinking, the municipality of Paris interdicted the assemblies in 1648. The societies of the Companionage took refuge in the Temple, which was under a separate jurisdiction. The clergy also took the alarm, and used all the terrors of the ecclesiastical law to forbid the ceremonies and institutions. Some of their Mysteries were printed and revealed in 1651, and in consequence of renewed thunders from the pulpit, more revelations succeeded. At length the Companions were foolish enough to cause a riot in the precincts of the Temple, the Bailli was worked upon by the bishops, and eventually the Companions were sentenced and expelled by him on the 11th September 1651.' The cordwainers (shoemakers) were the first to disclose their secret ceremonies, 23d March 1651, and on the 16th May following, together with their masters, solemnly forswore them; but many of the societies refused to follow their example, and continued to meet. Others, however, also divulged their secrets, and ad- dressed a string of questions to the doctors of the Sorbonne respecting their practices." But from the very wording of these questions and revelations, it is abundantly evident that they were drawn up by a prejudiced and probably priestly hand, so as to make the replies a foregone conclusion. The greater part of these proceedings, ceremonies, and the views of the Church on the question, are very succinctly told in three documents attached to an agreement made the 21st September 1571 between the shoemakers and cobblers of Eheims." These documents are of course of much more recent date than the agreement. Of the long tirade against the Companionage contained in the third document, I have only given a portion. It will be observed with some amusement, that not the least crime of the Companions, in the ' Thory, Annales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis (1813), pp. 329, 330. ' Ibid., p. 331. ^Collection de Documents inedits sur I'Histoire de France; Archives Legislatives do la Ville de Reims, by Pierre Varin, pt. ii., tome ii., p. 249. For the date of these documents, see p. 236. 232 THE COMPANIONAGE. estimation of the theological faculty, was the fact that these ceremonies were actually practised by Roman Catholics in the presence of heretics! and vice versa. It is also curious, that although the charcoal-makers and others likewise divulged their rites/ these are not referred to in the documents of which I now present a translation. REVELATION'S, Etc. No. 1.— SUMMARY OF THE IMPIOUS, SACRILEGIOUS, AND SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES WHICH TAKE PLACE AMOIS'GST THE COMPANIONS — SaDDLEKS, SHOEMAKERS, TaILORS, Cutlers, and Hatters, when they admit one, a Companion of the Charge (du devoir) as they call it. This pretended charge of a Companion consists of three precepts — Honor to God, preser- vation of the master's welfare, and maintenance of the Companions. But, on the contrary, the Companions dishonor God greatly by profaning all the mysteries of our religion, ruin the masters by emptying their shops of assistants Avhenever any one of their cabal com- plains of having received insult {bravade), and ruin themselves by the offences against the charge which they make one another pay for — the fines being employed in procuring drink; besides which the Companionage is of no service for attaining the mastership. They have amongst themselves a jurisdiction; elect officers, a provost, a lieutenant, a secretary (greffier), and a sergeant; maintain correspondence in all towns, and possess a watchword {mot de guet), by which they recognize each other, and which they keep secret; ^ and form everywhere an offensive league against the apprentices of their trade who are not of their cabal, beating and maltreating them, and soliciting them to enter into their society. The impieties and sacrileges which they commit in passing them vary according to the different trades. They have, nevertheless, much in common: in the first place, to cause him who is about to be received to swear on the Gospels that he will not reveal to father nor mother, wife nor children, priest nor clerk, not even in confession, that which he is about to do and witness; and for this purpose they choose a tavern, which they call " The Mother," because there it is that they usually assemble as if at their common mother's, in which they choose two rooms conveniently placed for going from one into the other, one serving for their abominations, and the other for the banquet. They close carefully the doors and windows in order not to be seen or surprised by any means. Secondly, they cause the candidate to elect sponsors {un parain et une marraine^); give him a new name, such as they may decide on; baptize him derisively ( ^ar tZeVisiow) ; and perform the other accursed cere- monies of reception peculiar to the crafts, according to their diabolical traditions. ' Thory, Annales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis, p. 331. '^ Curiously enough this password is not even now revealed; and if known by the learned doctors, was deemed of too little importance for them to take any notice of it. * Literally, a godfather and godmother; but of course the godmother was not of the gentler sex. THE COMPANIONAGE. 233 The Saddlees. The Companion saddlers place three caroli, which make thirty pence, within the book of the Gospels; and after the oath has been taken bareheaded on the Gospel and the thirty pence for which our Saviour was betrayed^, three or four men enter the room, and one demands an altar, another an altar cloth, trapjnngs, curtains, a cane, a napkin, and other things to fit up an altar; an alb, belt, stole, chasuble, all the ornaments of a priest perform- ing the mass; taper, candlesticks, censer, ewers, chalice, and salt-cellar, salt, a loaf pure and simple, wine pure and simple; and having lent him a cloth (which he folds in three, rep- resenting the three altar cloths, having the border below), and a cup or glass instead of chalice, a penny loaf (jjain cVun sol), a cross of virgin wax, the book, the thirty pence, two lighted candles, and in lieu of ewers two pots or bottles, the one full of wine, the other of water, and some salt in a cellar; all these things being thus prepared, and the room Avell closed, they all kneel down bareheaded, when he who has asked for all these things neces- sary for the holy mass, kneeling, his hands Joined before this stool where are arranged all these things, declares to him or to them who are about to be received Companions, — " This l)read which you see, represents the true body of our Lord Jesus Christ who was on the tree of the cross for our sins;" and (mumbling some words) he continues, — "This wine which you see represents the pure blood of our Lord, which was shed on the cross for our sins." After which he takes a piece of bread the size of a pea, places it in the pretended chalice, and says, — " The peace of God be unto ye," places some salt in this glass, and spills from a caudle three drops of wax, saying, '•' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and quenches the candle in this pretended chalice. There- after he says to him or to them who are destined to become Companions, that they are to elect a sponsor, and, being all on their knees, he baptizes them in joke {pour raillerie), profaning the holy baptism as well as the holy mass; and gives, to all who are in the room, of the bread to eat, and of this mixed wine to drink; after which they perform another act, taking thereto a handkerchief, four glasses full of wine to signify the four Evangelists, and at the foot of each glass four small pieces of bread having also a signification, and the cloth on which they have gluttonized {soidlez) the shroud of our Lord, the table repre- senting the holy sepulchre, the four legs of the table the four doctors of the Church; and they do all these things, and many other heretical things. The Huguenots are received Companions by the Catholics, and the Catholics by the Huguenots. The Shoemakeks. The Companion shoemakers take bread, wine, salt, and water, which they call the four aliments [i.e., alimentary substances: possibly a play upon the four elements], put them upon a table, and having placed him whom they wish to receive as a companion before this, make him swear on these four things, by his faith, his hope of paradise, his God, his chrism, and his baptism; they then tell him that he must take a new name, and be baptized; and having made him say what name he wishes to take, one of the Com- panions, who is placed behind him, pours over his head a glassful of water, saying, " I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The sponsor and subsponsor {souhs-parain) then undertake to instruct him in all things apper- taininsr to the charge {devoir). 234 THE COMPANIONAGE, The Tailors. The Companion tailors prepare a table in one of the two chambers; a cloth inside out, a loaf, a salt-cellar, a cup on three feet, half full, three great king's whites, \hlancs de roy, a species of silver coin, of which there was a greater and a lesser], and three needles, and after having caused him whom they receive to swear on the gospels, and to choose a sponsor, they teach him the story of the first three Companions, which is full of impurity, and to which is referred the signification of what is in this chamber and on this table. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is also profaned several times. The Cutlees. The Companion cutlers kneel before an altar, and after having caused him who is about to be received to swear on the gospels, the sponsor takes the crumb of a loaf with a quan- tity of salt, which he mixes together, and gives it to the young journeyman to eat; who having some difficulty in swallowing it, they give him two or three glassfuls of wine, announcing that he is passed a Companion {de le 2MSser co^njjaynon). Some time after, they take him quietly to the country, and show him the rights of a passed Companion {droits du passe compagnon),^ make him take off one shoe, and all take several turns on a cloak which they have spread in circular form on the earth, in such manner that the shoe- less foot remains on the cloak and the other on the ground. They place a napkin on this cloak, with bread and wine in several different glasses, which signify the blood of our Lord, His five wounds. His cross and the nails; the bread signifies the body of Jesus; the water, baptism; the fire, the angel; the air signifies time; the heavens, the throne of God; the earth, His footstool; the wind, God's anger; the knife which is on the table represent? the sword which cut off the ear of Malchus; the napkin, the holy shroud of our Lord; the border of the napkin, the cords by which our Saviour was bound. They fold the napkin in three plaits, place three stones thereon, and say that it signifies the three wounds and nails of our Lord. The spout of the pot of wine signifies the cross; the two handles, the twe thieves; the pot itself, the tower of Babylon [probably meaning Babel]; the top and the bottom of it, heaven and earth; the twelve sticks of the wheel which serves to carry the " meule," ^ the twelve apostles; the four elements signify the four evangelists. They inter- rogate on all these points the new Companion and the others, and levy fines according to their jurisdiction. The Hattees. The hatters arrange a table in the most convenient of the two rooms, on which is rep- resented the death and passion of our Lord. There is a cross, a crown made of a napkin twisted into the shape of a crown, and placed on the cross-bars of the cross. They place on the two arms of the cross two plates, two candlesticks, and two lighted candles, which represent the sun and the moon; the three nails are represented by three knives, placed on the two arms and at the base of the cross; the lance, by a piece of wood; the scourges, ' Heckethorn (a non-Mason) translates Compagnon " Fellowcraft." The phrase would thus liter- ally read a passed fellowcraft. In technical Masonic phraseology, an apprentice is always passed to the degree of a fellowcraft. ^ This may either mean a grindstone or a haystack. As the word is used at a meeting of cutlers in the country, and the matter is not in any way led up to, I am unable to decide upon the proper interpretation. THE COMPANIONAGE. 235 by cords at the end of a piece of wood^ the sponge, by a knife and a piece of bread; the pincers, by a folded napkin; the lantern, by a glass, turned top uppermost; the pillar to which our Saviour was attached, by a salt-cellar full of salt; under this cellar they place the value of thirty pence in money, for which sum our Saviour was sold; the salt of the salt- cellar represents the holy chrism. They place at the foot of the cross a basin and ewer, together with a glass of Avine and water, to represent the blood and water which our Lord sweated in the Garden of Olives. They place on the same table two glasses, one full of vinegar and the other of gall, acock, dice; in fact, everything that was used at the passion. If there is in the said chamber a chest, it represents Noah's ark; the sideboard, Jacob's tabernacle; the bed, the manger; a chair under the mantelshelf, the baptismal font; a fagot, the sacrifice of Abraham; and the opening in the chimney marks the gulf of hell; the provost represents Pilate, who seats himself in the most conspicuous place in the room; the lieutenant represents Annas, and places himself near the provost; the secretary, Caia- ]ihas, and is placed lower down. The provost holds in his hands a cane, which represents Aaron's rod, at the end of which there are three ribbons, one white, which represents the innocence of our Lord; one red, His blood; one blue, the bruises of His body; the four legs of the table, the four evangelists; underneath the table, the holy sepulchre; the napkin, the holy shroud; the cross-bars of the windows, the cross; the two lower shutters repre- sent the Holy Virgin on one side and Saint John on the other; the two shutters above, if closed, the sun and the moon; if open, the angels' salutation, on account of the light which appeared; the joists of the floor signify the twelve apostles; the ceiling of the chamber, our Lord. They cause him whom they are about to receive to make three steps and to say at the same time — " Honor to God, honor to the table, honor to my provost;" and approach- ing the latter he kisses him and says, " God forbid that this kiss should resemble that of Judas." The provost interrogates him on all the above, and the other Companions are made to enter the room for his instruction; knocking the first time they reply, henedicite, the second dominus, and the third commmatuin est; they are asked," What seek you here ? " They reply, "God and the apostles," At length, in order to represent our Saviour, who was sent from one judge to another, he who is received apjiears with his two feet crossed {pieds croisez), his breast all uncovered (debraille), and ungartered (desjartele), before the provost, who asks him, " Whom do you represent ? " He replies, " God forbid that I should represent our Lord. " They then make him take a seat on the hearth, in a chair to rep- resent the font. The sponsors {parain et marraine) whom he chose take him each on one side by a napkin, which they tie round his neck, place in his mouth bread and salt, and, throwing water over his head, make him give three knocks against the chimney, and bur- lesquing the baptism, he takes a new name and says thereafter, " I never ate so salt a morsel nor drank so bitter a cup; thrice my sponsors make me knock the chimney, by the which I recognize that I am a good passed Companion" {bon co?npagnon passe). After which they take a loaf from the bed and carry it on to the sideboard, to represent how the devil transported our Lord to the mountain. When a Companion leaves a town the sack he carries signifies Isaac's fagot; if it be on his back, the burthen of St. Christopher; the straps of the sack, the legs of our Saviour. They place his sword crosswise over the scabbard, and call it the cross of St. Andrew; the scabbard, the skin of St. Bartholomew; the hilt signifies the protection of God;' the scabbard chape [bouiiolle), the lantern of Judas; the point, the lance. Afterwards they seek a cross road, hang a glass to represent the death of ' A play upon the words " protection " and " hilt," both being garde in French. 236 THE COMPANIONAGE. St. Stephen, and all those of the company throw one stone at the glass, excepting the Companion abont to leave, who says, " My Companions, I take leave of you as did the apostles of our Saviour when He sent them out into all lands to preach the gospel; give me your blessing, I give you mine." These Companionages entail many disorders. 1st. Many of the Companions often offend against the oath which they have taken, to keep faith with their masters, not work- ing according to their requirements, and often ruining them by their practices. 2d. They insult and cruelly persecute the poor journeymen of the craft who are not of their cabal. 3d. They employ themselves in many debauches, impurities, and drunkennesses, etc., and ruin themselves, their wives, and their children by the excessive expenses which they incur in these Companionages at various assemblies, because they prefer to spend the little they possess with their Companions rather than on their families. 4th. They profane the days consecrated to God's service, because some of them, like the tailors, meet together every Sunday and go to the tavern, where they pass a great part of the day in debaucherj^ Therefore, because the above Companions believe that their practices are good and holy, and the oath not to reveal them, righteous and obligatory, 3fessieurs the doctors are sup- plicated, for the good of the consciences of the Companions of these trades, and others who might be in a similar case, to give their opinion on the following and to sign it: — 1st. What crime do they commit in causing themselves to be received Companions in the foregoing manner ? 2d. Is the oath which they have taken not to reveal these practices even at con- fession, good and valid? 3d. Whether they are not bound in conscience to proceed and declare them to those Avho could apply a remedy, such as the judges ecclesiastic and secular ? 4. Whether they may use the watchword in order to recognize themselves as Companions ? 5. Whether those who are of this Companionage are in surety of conscience, and what they should do ? 6th. Whether the journeymen who are not yet of this Companionage may enter it without guilt ? No. II.— EESOLUTIOXS OF THE DOCTORS ON THE ABOVE QUESTIONS, We, the undersigned doctors in the sacred faculty of theology at Paris, are of opinion — 1st. That these practices combine the sins of sacrilege, impurity, and blasphemy against the mysteries of our religion. 2d. That the oath which they take not to reveal these practices, even in confession, is neither good nor valid, and is not obligatory on them; on the contrary, they are bound to accuse themselves of these crimes, and of this oath at con- fession. 3d. In case this evil continues, and they are not otherwise able to remedy it, they are bound in conscience to declare these practices to the ecclesiastical judges, and even, if need be, to the secular, who will be able to remedy it. 4th. That the Companions who cause themselves to be received in the above form may not, without mortal sin, use the watchword in order to recognize each other as Companions, and engage in the evil practices of this Companionage. 5th. That those who are of the Companionage are not in surety of conscience so long as they are desirous of continuing these bad practices which they ought to renounce. Gth. That the journeymen who are not of tlie Companionage cannot enter it without mortal sin. — Deliberated at Paris the 14th day of March 1655. Signed, I. Charton, Morel, N. Cornet, J. Quoquerel, M. Grandin, Grenet, C. Gobinet, I. Peron, Chamillard, M. Chamillard. THE COMPANIONAGE. 237 No, III.— OBSERVATIONS ON THE ABOVE PEACTICES AND RESOLUTIONS. The fearful impieties which are practiced in the crafts of the cordwainers, hatters, tailors, and saddlers, in passing the Companions of the charge, having been lately revealed by a special Providence, some zealous persons, in order to annihilate these damnable practices, and full of zeal for the glory of God and the good of their neighbors, after having assembled the doctors and taken their opinion on this subject, have believed that they could no longer defer (without an evident danger of the loss of several souls engaged in these disorders), giving to the public the knowledge of a matter so important to their well-being, in order that the confessors, pastors, masters, and all those who have power, should be on their guard. Hardly could one believe that our century, corrupt though it be, had produced monstrosities of this nature, and if the matter had not been already seen, examined into, and condemned by justice, one could not possibly persviade himself that such a thing could enter into the minds of Christians. The malign spirit, who never does his business to better advantage than in secrecy and obscurity, and who well know that to publish his practices is to decry them, had kept them hidden as long as possible; but at last God, always merciful, and who does not wish that man should perish, has willed that their wickedness should be revealed. On the 21st September 1645, the doctors of the faculty of theology at Paris, being consulted on the ceremonies which took place at the reception of the Companion cordwainers, who practised nearly the same things as the other Com- panions, as above, replied in regard to the place of meeting, the sponsors, the profanation of baptism, and concerning the oath which they took on their faith, their hopes of paradise, their chrism, and their baptism, to never reveal to any one what they did or saw done. 1. That this oath was full of irreverence against religion, and that it was not by any means obligatory on those who took it. 2. That the said Companions were not in surety of con- science if they contemplated continuing these evil practices, which they were bound to renounce. 3. That the journeymen who were not of this Companionage could not enter it after due warning without sin. These practices having oozed out, were condemned by the judgment of Monsieur I'ojficial de Paris as regards the cordAvainers on the 30th May 1048, and by another sentence of the Bailly du Temple on the 11th September 1651, and the same year forbidden under penalty of excommunication by Monseigneur the Arch- bishop of Toulouse, informed as he was of the impious practices and ceremonies of their oath by the Companions themselves, and by the declaration which they gave thereof in writing, 23d March 1651, which was signed by all the master cordwainers in formal as- sembly, 1st May 1651, under promise never to use in future similar ceremonies, as being very impious, highly sacrilegious, insulting to God, contrary to good conduct, and scanda- lous in the eyes of religion and justice. About the same time was printed a sheet showing the abominable ceremonies against the holy sacrifice of the mass practised by many of the saddlers when a journeyman is received Companion, as has already been stated above in the declaration of the doctors. What had been revealed in these two crafts has opened the eyes of sevei-al Com})anions, who have recognized that the oath which they made not to betray themselves, was only an artifice of the dumb spirit of the Gospel who closes the mouths of those whom he possesses, and have therefore made known many impieties which took place in some other crafts, as in the reception of the Companion tailors and hatters. The abominable oaths, the impious superstitions, and the sacrilegious profanations of our 238 THE COMPANIONAGE. mysteries, which are there enacted, are so horrible that it has been necessary in the pre- amble of this resolution only to mention the minor portion. But the quality of this evil is sufficiently known by the names by which the doctors qualify it when they call the practices superstitious, sacrilegious, full of impurity and blasphemy against the mysteries of our re- ligion. In effect, what more enormous sacrilege than to sport with the mysteries of religion, than to counterfeit the ceremonies of baptism, than to abuse the sacred words? ' Whence should come this unhappy imitation but from him who has always been the ape of God? Why shut the windows and the door of their chamber where they conduct their ceremonies, if not to show that it is a work of the prince of darkness? Why swear not to disclose it if the thing be good in itself ? Why not even tell it to their confessor who has his mouth closed, and who would rather endure death than reveal what he hears at the tribunal of the con- fessional? Certes — it is evident from all this that there is evil in their practices, since they so fear being surprised, perceived, or recognized, even by those most familiar with them, and since they exact a promise under such solemn oaths never to reveal it to whomsoever it be. Is it not sufficient, these taverns to which these impious men retire to conduct their superstitions as in the temples of the demon, where they sacrifice to the idol of their bellies, and reduce themselves to the condition of beasts by their drunkenness and orgies, undermining their health by their excesses,and impoverishing their families by their excessive expenses? Must there be beyond all this, public schools of indecency, as it appears the tailors openly profess? But above all, must Jesus Christ, dead once for our sins, be crucified afresh by the sacrilegious hands and execrable actions of these miserable beings who repre- sent Ilis passion in the midst of pots and pint measures? Can we persuade ourselves, that amongst Christians who ought to esteem themselves unworthy to touch anything destined to the worship of God, some actually use sacred and holy ornaments, bread, wine, etc., in order to burlesque what passes at the most holy and terrible of our mysteries? Patience with idolaters who, having no knowledge whatever of religion, turn to ridicule all that we hold most sacred. But for Christians, regenerated in Jesus Christ, by the sacrament of baptism, bought with the price of His adorable blood, and instructed in the mysteries of our holy faith to employ the most holy matters of our religion, in order to execute their accursed practices, and what is worse still, that such should be done in the presence of heretics! What a scandal! It merits no less than temporal fire whilst awaiting the fire eternal, which they shall surely not avoid if they persist in this unhappy state. . *. . *. ' Thory, in his history of the Grand Orient, reproduces the material portions of the pre- ceding revelations, and declares that his extracts are taken from old works, but without affording any clue to their identification. ' When, however, he maintains that the customs of the Companionage and of Freemasonry present no features of resemblance, we can only suppose that he must have resolutely closed his eyes to the surprising similarities which exist in the two systems. The parallelism, indeed, though claiming our attention, may of course be only fortuitous, and without further evidence will by no means establish the ' Possibly by using them as " passwords? " ^ Although this extract could be prolonged, further details would throw no additional light UDon the actual subject of our present investigation. »He has probably relied on some of the writings of Pere Pierre Lebrun (1700-1750), as these are referred to by Simon in connection with the same subject. THE COMPANIONAGE. 239 connection of one institution with the other. From the same source we derive furtlier information concerning the tailors and the ceremonies of the charcoal burners. ' As regards the tailors, Thory states that the second or banquet chamber was decorated with a painting of the gallantries of tlie first three Companion tailors, and that before the banquet a lecture was given, consisting of the explanation of these obscene adventures. The charcoal burners met in a forest, and called themselves cousins. Thory and all other writers look upon the word as signifying a cousin by blood, and maintain that Francis I. was himself admitted a Companion, and tliat he subsequently introduced the fashion amongst royal personages of calling each other "cousin," But when we remember the fondness of the Companions for the animal kingdom, and take into account that the can- didate amongst the charcoal burners was called a " wasp," is it not just possible that cousin is applied in its other meaning, viz., a gnat, which would be a most approprialf) name for these denizens of the forest. At their initiation a white cloth was spread on the ground, on which was placed a full salt-cellar, a goblet of water, a wax candle, and a cross. The candidate took the oath lying prostrate on the cloth, and with his hands, one on the salt, the other on the goblet. He was then raised, and after some "mystification" given the password, which would prove him a true and good " cousin " in all forests. The master afterwards explained the symbols; the cloth represents the shroud; the salt, the three theological virtues; the fire, our funeral torches; the water, that which will be sprinkled over our grave; the cross, that v.-hich will be borne before our coffin. The candidate was then taught that the true cross was of holly, that it had seventy-two thorns, that St. Theobald was the first charcoal burner, St. Joseph the first carpenter, St. Balthasar the first mason, etc. All writers on secret societies seem to be of opinion that the Carhonai'i were the direct offspring of this society. On this point I am unconvinced, nor is it material to our present inquiry, but any one who has travelled much in the forests of France and Germany must be aware that the secret societies of the charcoal burners still exist, and receive amongst them honorary members, principally huntsmen, gamekeepers, lumbermen, etc. Heckethorn, without quoting his authority, has given us a charcoal burner's examination, which is ab- solutely unsurpassed for pathetic resignation to a very unenviable lot.^ "Whence come you, cousin of the oak? — From the forest. — Where is your Father? — Raise your eyes to Heaven. — Where is your mother? — Cast your eyes on the earth. — What worship do you render your Father? — Homage and respect. — What do you bestow on your mother? — My care during life, and my body hereafter. — If I want help, what will you give me? — I will share with you my day's earnings and my bread of sorrow; you shall rest in my hut, and warm yourself at my fire." Between 1648 and 1400 we almost lose sight of the Companions, for the glimpse that we obtain of them during this period is a very slight one. Yet it is valuable, as showing that the shoemakers had added to the recognized legends of their patron saints an un- authorized version of the recovery of their bodies, thus bringing the legend once more into harmony with the heathen mysteries and the familiar traditions which have come to us from antiquity. The following passage is from Migne's Encyclopaedia:' ' Thory, Annales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis (1812), pp. 333-335. ^ Heckethorn, The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries (1875), vol. ii., p. 70. *Migne, Nouveile Encyclopedie Theologique, Dictionuaire des Mysteies, torn, xliii., p. 274 240 THE COMPANIONAGE. "Many manuscripts of the mystery of St. Crispin and St. Crepinian are in existence. . •. . •. One is in tlie Ai-cliives of the Empire . •. . *. publislied in print 1836, by Messieurs Chabailles & Dessales . •. . •. date, commencement of the fifteenth century [it took four days to represent]. The first three days follow the legend pretty closely; in the fourth the authors have allowed their imaginations much license. The subject thereof is the in- vention or discovery of the bodies of the two masters. .'. .'. Messieurs Chabailles & Dessales also say, the mystery of St. Crispin and St. Crepinian was singular in this respect, that instead of being acted by the brotherhood of the Passion like most of the other mysteries, it was represented by a special troop, a society of workmen who every year as- sembled to celebrate the glory of their patron saints. Such was in effect the usage of the Fraternity of Cordwainers of Paris." This is the earliest indication of the Companionage I have been able to trace, but it must not be supposed that I admit the impossibility of finding still earlier and more im- portant references, or of filling many of the blanks which my imperfect researches have unavoidably left. No study of the Compagiionnage at all worthy of the name has yet been made. Perdiguier attempted nothing of the kind; he merely stated what was usual in his own time. Simon's etude historique is not what its title implies; he is content with the in- formation supplied by Thory and Perdiguier, and the foregoing pages barely do more than touch the fringe of a vast subject. The origin of the institution cannot be determined with precision. Its antiquity, if we believe Thory, is " time immemorial," whilst, if we turn to Perdiguier, "it has existed for ages." Simon, and those who follow him, date its origin in the twelfth century, but give no reasons for their assertion. Having regard to these discrepancies, let us proceed to examine whether the facts in evidence admit of onr forming an independent opinion. We find: I. That in 1841(Perdiguier's time) the Companionage consisted solely of journeymen. II. That, according to the revelations which called forth the opinion of the doctors of the Sorbonne (14th March 1655), such was then also the case. III. That the previous revelations, and the renunciation of 1st May 1651, indicate that the masters at that date took part in the ceremonies, and therefore in the Companionage. IV. That according to A. Monteil, distinct indications of a similar ceremony are evident in the reception of a master millstone-maker,' a branch of the stonemasons, in the fifteenth century. V. We must guard ourselves from confusing in any way the religious fraternities of either the masters or the journeymen (as described in the last chapter) with the Companionge. The fraternities were acknowledged by the state, and ruled by codes of laws under govern- mental sanction: the Companionage statutes have never to this day been revealed. In France we have to do with the following distinct bodies: the craft guilds, the masters' fraternities, the journeymen's fraternities, and the Companionage, all working into each other like the cogs of a train of wheels, but all distinct pieces of mechanism. VI. We may add to the preceding, the great probability, as shown in tlie last chapter, that the French trade guilds were direct descendants of the Eoman colleges, without serious break of continuity; and VII. That no theory can be tenable which does not reconcile all the facts of the case. Upon these postulates I shall hazard some conjectures, which may or may not meet ' Ante p. 191. THE COMPANIONAGE. 241 with general acceptance, viz, : — That the trade guilds at their earliest stage preserved a modification of the ancient Mysteries, which mmj also have been previously celebrated by the Colleges. That part of these ceremonies, such as the second baptism, etc., were prac- tised at the end of a workman's apprenticeship, and the tragic portion at the reception of a new master. That when the State began to interfere with the republican liberty of the cities and trades (and possibly the Church, with the independence of any survivals of pagan- ism), these ceremonies continued to be practised in secret, the masterpiece and the ban- quet only being allowed to become known to the outside world. That after the first reve- lations and denunciation of the Mysteries by the doctors on the 21st September 1645, the judgment of the Official de Paris, 30th May 1648, of the Bailly du Temple, 11th September 1651, and the excommunication by the Archbishop of Toulouse in the same year, the mas- ters abandoned for ever any participation in the Companionage; thus following the example set by the shoemakers in 1651. That the Companions, however, who, from their wander- ing life and lack of worldly goods, had much less to fear, persevered in their ancient usages, with the exception of those whose revelations appear in the first of the three documents above cited. Perdiguier shows that some of these have only recently been readmitted, and the shoemakers were universally despised, probably on account of this very renunciation. That, finding themselves deserted by the masters, the Companions divided their class into two degrees — aspirant and companion — and apportioned between them the two ceremonies previously allotted to the companions and the masters respectively. It would be absurd to pretend that this theory is unassailable, and none tha-t we could form in our present state of knowledge would be so; but it at least possesses the merit of agreeing with the few facts that have come down to us. The age of the Companionage, there- fore depends upon the meaning which we attach to the term. If we allude to the period when Companions alone took part in the ceremony, we cannot go further back than 1655; if to the time when it first became of service to the travelling journeyman, we must fix upon the eleventh or twelfth centuries; but if to the time of the first usage of these ceremonies by the craft guilds, we must date it from the overthrow of the Eomans, and the modifica- tions which then took place. One point of absorbing interest to us is of course the age of the Hiramic Legend: did it, or did it not, exist previously to the Masonic revival of a.d. 1717? And here, on the very threshold of our inquiry, we are met with Perdiguier's assertion that it is derived di- rectly from Freemasonry. He says, in answer to a letter of Beau Desir le Gascon,' — " As to this history of Hiram's, I regard it as a mere fable, ingenious enough, but of which the consequences are horrible; for it tends to separate those who take it seriously. The Bible — the only book of any real authority concerning the constructors of Solomon's Temple — says nothing about Hiram's murder; and for my part, I do not believe it. The Compagnons etrangers and those of Liberty have no authentic details of this fable, which is quite new to them, and I fancy that the Companions of the other societies are not more advanced: I look upon it, therefore,' in the light of a masonic invention introduced into the Companionage by persons initiated into both of these secret societies. Freemasonry, according to the most zealous historians — and M. Bazot is of the number — was only introduced into France in 1715. The Companionage is indisputably anterior; nevertheless, from the day it was in- troduced into this country our Companions frequented it, and found in its bosom useful truths, but also numerous errors." ' Perdiguier, Le Livre du Compagnonnage, vol. ii., p. 80. 242 THE COMPANIONAGE. After having given suola complete credence to Perdiguier hitherto, it may be thought surprising if we now reject his evidence. But let us consider impartially Avho and what the man was. He was a sim2:)le journeyman joiner, of enlightened views and great intelligence, hut of limited education. He apologizes for his own songs by explaining that he was igno- rant of the art of versification, owing to a poor education, until, for the better carrying out of his purposes, he endeavored to obtain some slight insight into its rules. That, according to his lights, he was scrupulously exact in all his works, every word in them testifies. We may therefore blindly follow him when he describes the usages of his own day and implicitly accept, as then existent, the traditions which he hands down;' but in matters of history we must sift his evidence. It will be observed that he fixes the introduction of Freemasonry into France at 1715! The fact imbedded in the above quotation was not within liis personal knowledge, nor, to judge from his own words, was it even a tradition current amongst the Companions. It is submitted, therefore, that we are quite at liberty to reject some of his conclusions or inferences without thereby invalidating his testimony in other matters. But it may be argued, why then accept his account of the battle at Lacrau in 1730, and the contests of skill at Lyons in 1726, and Marseilles in 1808, these also being matters of history, on which important conclusions are founded ? Because they are traditions of the society, given with such minuteness, that each is doubtless based upon a substratum of fact. He gives them with equal impartiality, although one tells against his own society; and the Com- panionage songs commemorate both. On the other hand, although legendary, the traditions date from so recent a period, that if fabulous, some protest against their reception would have been recorded. I venture to suggest, therefore, that as regards the Hiramic Legend, Perdiguier has jumped at an illogical conclusion, and that the Legend of Hiram the builder is not only anterior to 1726 — the date of the introduction of Freemasonry into France — but probably coeval with the Companionage itself. The reasons are obvious. We may fairly assume that the two societies of Solomon and Jacques existed separately previously to 1726. I think this is evident from the battle of Lacrau, 1730; the contest at Lyons, 1726; and from an inscription on the top of the Tour St. Gilles in Languedoc. Perdiguier there found the following names hewn in the stone: '' Joli Cceur de Landun, 1640;" " LTnvention de Nancy, 1646; " " L'Esperance le Berichon, 1655;" " La Verdure le Picard, 1556" — the conjunctions showing that the first two are Sons of Solomon, the two latter of Jacques. Accompanying the names are carvings of masons' picks, compasses, squares, levels, and other stonemasons' tools. ^ But all the crafts and societies agree in this, that the Sons of Solomon were anterior to those of Jacques, whose legend follows the lines of the Hiramic myth. The revelations to the doctors of the Sorbonne were those of shoemakers, hatters, etc., — all crafts owing allegiance to the charge of Maitre Jacques. Earlier still, in 1400, we find the shoemakers acting a mystery: they were Sons of Jacques, as we know, yet if tradition is at all to be relied on (and I shall presently show that in this particular instance it is- supported by common sense) the shoemakers were of later origin than the Stonemasons- of Jacques, and these than the Stone- masons of Solomon. And yet we hear of the shoemakers at that early date making unau- ' " In the case of customs, and of laws dependent on usage, there is more security against alter- ation than in the repetition of a story by one person to another, because there is the agreement of many persons in its observances" (Lewis, Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics, vol. i., p. 190). ''Perdiguier, Le Livi'e du Compagnonnage, vol. ii., p. 85. THE COMPANIONAGE. 243 tliorized additions to the history of St, Crispin, which bring it into harmony with those of Jacques, of Hiram, of Isis and Osiris, of Bacchus, and of that Grand Mystery, an irreverent representation of which ultimately called down upon the Companionage the wrath of the Church. The Sons of Jacques, therefore, possessed and acted a legend from a very early date; and if the Sons of Solomon did not then cherish the Hiramic Legend, what preceded it? From the very nature of the society, some traditionary tragedy was necessary. What was it? It could not refer to Solomon; the Companions possess no legend relating to him, beyond the fact that he granted them a charge. We have no trace of any other personage — no hint of any other legend. We are driven to the conclusion that the Sons of Solomon either possessed the Hiramic myth, or none at all; and the latter supposition is hardly con- ceivable. But as we have seen that the Sons of Solomon, as opposed to the Sons of Jacques, certainly existed as early as 1640, and inferentially before a.d. 1400, 1 think we may at least safely conclude that their distinctive legend is of prior date to the introduction of modern Freemasonry into France. Another curious point of research is that of the fondness of the Companions for nick- names derived from the animal kingdom. If we assume that the Companions who formed the first corps took the name of wolves for some obscure reason, we may legitimately con- clude that the other societies adopted theirs on the same grounds, or in rivalry or emulation. Our task is, therefore, reduced to tracing the origin of the title "wolves." In connection with this word, another curious subject arises. In England, the son of a freemason is termed a Lewis. Technically, a Lewis is an instrument consisting of two side pieces of iron in the shape of a wedge, or right-angled triangle. These are placed within a dovetailed excavation in a large stone, so that the slanting sides fit the walls of the perforation, leaving space to insert, between the two wedges, a flat piece of iron which fits the two upright sides of the others, and forces them well into the corner, all three projecting above the surface of the stone. A hole exists through all three, into which a ring is passed, and we have thus inside the stone a dovetail of iron which cannot be withdrawn, and by means of which the heavier stones are raised by ropes or chains. We are told that as the Lewis supports the burden of the stone, so should the Lewis or mason's son support the burthen of his father's declining days. The analogy is completed by the fact that the mason is termed a perfect ashlar, i.e., a truly squared stone. But the Companions possess this analogy more completely still. With them the aggregate of pieces forming the Lewis is a Louve, or female wolf, and the two wedge-shaped side pieces are Louveteaux, or sucking wolves. A Companion is a wolf, all Companion's sons are called Louveteaux, or little wolves, and it is probable that the same reasoning is applied, although we are not directly told so. ' But why the title wolf at all? Are we to believe that this is a distinct relic of the Roman traditions (possibly a survival of the Bacchic Mysteries), and does it furnish another link to the chain of evidence con- necting the Companions with the Collegia ? Amongst the various symbols which served as military ensigns with the Roman armies was the Avolf . * The Lupercalia were celebrated in many of the cities of Gaul, and were not abolished tQl a.d. 496 by Pope Gelasius I.^ The reference to a wolf is frequent in the French language, and seems to be interwoven with the national life. A strong iron holdfast is called a Dent de Louve, a wolf's tooth. Even ' It is possible that our word " Lewis " is a corruption of Louve ? '^ Encyclopedie Methodique, Antiquites, vol. iii Loup. 2 Encyclopaedia Brit., 8th edit. ; Encyclo. Metropolitana (1842)— iit^^ercaha. 244 THE COMPANIONAGE. their royal palaces were called Lnpara, wolves' lairs, and later Louvres.'^ The ancient palace of the Louvre in Paris still retains the name. And within the present century a festival strongly suggesting the Lupercalia, was annually held at Jumieges. The hero was elected by his Companions, and called the Loupvert, green wolf. On the morning of the 23d of June, the eve of St. John the Baptist, he was conducted round the place in procession attended mass, etc. At a certain moment he gave, by running a-muck and striking every one with his fists, a signal for the commencement of coarse amusements, in which all the troop took part. Young men and maidens Joined in the revels, which continued through- out the ensuing day, and ended with a banquet. ^ If this was a survival of the Lupercalia, the transposition of its date from the feast of St. Valentine to that of St. John is curious and perhaps significant. Migne' also mentions the games of Saint Loup as amongst the most important and ancient of France. Saint Loup was a Burgundian saint and bishop of Sens, and took the part of the Burgundians against Clothair in the seventh century." Clavel and Heckethorn both derive the name of wolf from the mysteries of Isis. Heckethorn says: "In the mysteries of Isis the candidate was made to wear the mask of a wolf's head. Hence a wolf and a candidate in these mysteries were synonymous. Macrobius, in his ' Saturnalia,' says that the ancients perceived a relationship between the sun, the great symbol of these mys- teries, and a wolf, for, as the flocks of sheep and cattle disperse at the sight of the wolf, so the flocks of stars disappear at the approach of the sun's light. And in Greek, \vkos means both the sun and a wolf. There is a family of fellow crafts that still derive their name from that idea."* But as it is "a far cry" to Egypt, something nearer home may content us. The name alone of the Lupercal games is suggestive, but we are met with the fact that no mention of masks is found connected therewith. A French writer has, however, endeavored to get over this circumstance in the following words: "There is to be seen on a chalcedony in the collection of Stosch, a naked figure, erect, clothed with a sort of large girdle of some animal around his loins; a robust man, who having a thyrsus reclining against his shoulder, is in the act of using both hands to put on a mask. The figure doubtless rep- resents one of the Luperci, or priests of Pan, who ran naked in the streets, etc. The rites of the festivals of Pan did not differ much from those of Bacchus; these were celebrated by plays in the theatre; the festivals of Pan were perhaps also distinguished by spectacular performances, to which the mask would allude. It is true we do not read that the Luperci ran about masked, but the silence of the ancients does not render this supposition im- possible. " " But has not the Avriter made a mistake ? Does not the thyrsus prove that the figure represents an actor in the Dionysia ? All tilings considered, it is to the Bacchic mys- teries, which were derived from those of Egypt, that I am inclined to attribute the wolves, foxes and dogs of the Companions. '' This supposition derives extra force from the name of Maitre Soubise. Perdiguier can only feebly suggest that there was perhaps a Pere Soubise, a Benedictine monk, a personage I have been unable to trace, but Clavel thinks it not impossible that the name of Soubise is derived from Sabazius, one of the many ' Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universal — Louvre. * Langlois, Les Enerves de Jumieges (1838), p. 17. ^Nouvelle Encyclopedie Theologique, Dictionnaire des Mysteres, torn, xliii., p. 498. ■'Migne, Troisieme Encyclopedie Theologiqne, Dictionnaire des Legendes, torn, xiv., p. 790. » Clavel, p. 39: Heckethorn, vol. i., p. 257. Cf. smith. Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog., s.v. Isis. * Encyclopedie Methodique, Antiquites, torn. iii. — Luperces. ' Cf. Limburg-Brouwer, t. ii., pp. 392-400; and Sainte-Croix, Mysteres du Paganisme, t. ii., pp. 73-98. -^~ ''sa^ ^^ ^2'ax^_-^ y ^-^-^y^^ ^:^^C_-.^ f-i.-. ( 'oiii.. Siiprciuc ( 'cmiicil (if >''iM'-' 1 )(\l;'i'("(> SoiiIIkm'H .liirisdirlidii of I' , S THE COMPANIONAGE. 245 epithets applied to Bacchus,' If we accept tliis view, we shall perhaps be able to unravel the mystery of the " howling," something very similar having taken place at the Dionysia. "According to the mythologists, " says Mr. Brown, "whose views are noticed by Diodorus Sikelos, Sabazios was a very ancient Dionysos, son of Zeus and Persephone, whose cult Avas performed at night, and who was horned. He was also called Sabos, and Ploutarchos remarks ' that many even now call the Bakchik votaries Sabboi, and utter this word when they celebrate orgies to the god.' Sahoi was one of the sacred names shouted at the Bakchik, and Phrt/gian celebrations in honor ot Dionysos. . . . As already explained, Sabazios is the Phoenician god Sbat, the seventh planet, or Saturnus who presides over the seventh or Sabbath day. " ^ And again, have we not a reminiscence of the Bacchic legends in the obscene love adventures of the three primitive tailor Companions, as hinted at in the revelations of 1655? As regards Maitre Jacques, Perdiguier says that, in the earliest ages, the Sons of Solomon were the only society; that there arose a schism in the bosom of this fraternity, and that the seceders placed themselves under the protection of Jacques Molay, the last grand master of the Templars. In the legend we find, as if in corroboration of this, an allusion to the " de- struction of the Temples. " There is much in the legend to bear out this construction of their origin. We have the name of Jacques, the residence in the Holy Land, and the canes, which might be taken to represent the knightly lance. Soubise might figure for the pope, who was a friend and protector of the Templars previous to Molay's return to France, and the traitor would stand for the king of France. The traitor's kiss might be looked upon as the symbol of the christening when Molay stood sponsor to the king's child, prior to his arrest, and the large fire which the Companions built over his grave might be the type of Molay's awful death. But apart from the fact that all this similitude is somewhat forced, it is evident that the Legend of Maitre Jacques bears much more resemblance to the passion of our Lord. The traitor was one of Jacques' own disciples, he betrayed him with a kiss, his clothes were divided amongst his followers, his betrayer committed suicide, and the wounds inflicted by the daggers of the assassins were five in number, corresponding with the punctured hands, feet, and side of our Saviour. Again, it is almost impossible to believe that Molay ever had the opportunity of becoming the protector of such a body. A schism of this kind is not accomplished and crowned in one day. The pope's letter inviting Molay to return from Cyprus and confer with him was dated June 1306, and the Grand Master arrived in France at the commencement of 1307. On the 13th of October of the same year he was imprisoned, and never regained his liberty; and in the interval, after depositing the treasure of the order in the Temple at Paris, he had visited Poictiers to have an interview with the pope.' What time had he to place himself at the head of the dissenting Com- panions? But if we reject this theory, what shall we substitute for it? In the first place, is it absolutely certain that the masons of Jacques were seceders from those of Solomon? That they are of later formation, I think is evident, inasmuch as the Hiramic Legend shows no traces of Christianity, whereas that of the Maitre Jacques does. Let us reflect one moment upon the position of the building trade in Gaul after the expulsion of the Komans. It must have languished. The barbarians wanted no stone 1 Clavel, p. 366. ''Robert Brown, The Great Dionysiak Myth (1877-78), vol. ii., p. 31. Cf. Diod. Sic, iv., 4; Cic. de Nat. Deorum, iii., 23, De Leg., ii., 15; and Hesych, s. v. Sabazius ' C. G. Addison, The Knights Templars (1852), pp. 239-241. 246 THE COMPANIONAGE. villas or castles. But by degrees the Cliurcli would find employment for the craftsmen, and in the first few centuries we may suppose them wholly employed in erecting ecclesiastical monuments. These must have been the Children of Solomon. In course of time a less- finished and ruder masonry would be required in the cities; at first chiefly for fortifications, as the dwellings were still of wood. The builders of these wooden dwellings were probably the Sons of Soubise, and if so, we here find in all likelihood the earliest of the three societies or families. This branch may have derived an unbroken succession from the colleges or companies of the Empire— a supposition by no means improbable, and to which color is lent by the etymological parallel already drawn, between Sabazius and Soubise. But, as in Germany, where we have seen a rivalry grow up between the stonemasons and stone- hewers, so also in France we might expect that the more skillful church builders would look down upon the civic masons. The latter, however, would endeavor to imitate the former, and to construct their own Companionage. A legend becomes necessary, and they invent one. The Sons of Solomon, being in the immediate service of the Church, had probably substituted the legend of Hiram for its Bacchic counterpart. Whether they invented or borrowed it, and if the latter, from what source, it is now impossible to decide. The Hiramic myth is imperfectly known to the Sons of Jacques, and therefore imperfectly copied. The Sons of Soubise, who in spite of Perdiguier, I am inclined to think older than those of Jacques, are also introduced, and the new legend everywhere shows traces of its Christian origin. This theory is entirely unsupported by recorded facts, but seems inherently probable. If, as we have supposed, Bacchus is represented by Soubise, the legend, whatever it be, must be older than that of Jacques; and it is only natural to suppose that carpenters existed in the Frankish cities before masons. If this theory and rivalry are admitted, everything becomes tolerably clear. "We can understand how it occurs that Jacques is a Frenchman of the time of Solomon, and the son of Jachin. Such anachronisms are more characteristic of the Middle Ages than of that earlier period when the myths of Hiram and Soubise were probably invented. We understand why he constructed the two pillars of Solomon's porch in direct contradiction to the Bible, which says they were fashioned by Hiram: here the spirit of rivalry peeps out. They possibly knew something, but not much, about the murder of Hiram and the sprig of acacia, hence they falsely make the reeds emblematical of a life pre- served instead of a life sacrificed; and in the murder, turn to the passion of our Lord for a prototype. So much was this the case, that the few ceremonies which have been partially revealed seem to lose sight of Jacques entirely and to substitute our Lord, the crafts cited all belonging nevertheless to the company of Jacques. Again we find that the Sons of Jacques have welcomed all the other civic crafts, their natural neighbors if our theory is correct, whereas the Sons of Solomon and Soubise strictly confine themselves to the building trades. Or we may go a step further, and suppose that the craftsmen who ultimately became the Sons of Jacques frankly accepted, in the first instance, the mystery of the Redemption; and that Maitre Jacques was not imported into their legendary history until after the Com- panionage was condemned by the Church, when it was done with the object of evading the imputation of blasphemy, to which some of the Companions had rendered themselves liable. In this case, the legend of Jacques would be of comparatively recent origin, for which reason alone I am inclined to reject the supposition. But the theory we have been previously con- sidering overlooks one point, which is of great importance, viz., the tradition as reported by Perdiguier, that the Sons of Soubise are third in order of formation. Yet, after allowing this dictum its due weight, it seems highly improbable, if the legend of Jacques already THE COMPANIONAGE. 247 existed in whicli Soubise is denounced as a traitor, that any body of workmen would de- liberately place themselves under his protection, and incur the consequent odium. It is much more likely that the city masons made him a traitor out of sheer malevolence. The nicknames show this plainly. The Sons of Solomon and Soubise are wolves and foxes, for which we have shown a possible origin; those of Jacques appear to have had no traditionary cause for their name of were-wolves (a Teutonic, not a Roman superstition) beyond the desire to outdo their rivals. But whence the name of Jacques? If we could only settle the date of this tradition our task would be lightened. There was a Jacques Coeur, born a simple furrier's son, whose life and adventures were well calculated to arrest the attention of the journeymen of France. He became a master of the mint at Bourges under Charles VII., was wrongfully accused of fraud, and afterwards devoted himself to commerce. His affairs prospered, and he deter- mined to rival the Venetians. He visited Syria and Egypt, and opened up relations through- out the East. He had over 300 factors, some even in Babylon and Barbary; he covered the Mediterranean with his fleets, and made such a rapid fortune, that he was supposed to be possessed of the philosopher's stone. He had offices at Montpellier, Marseilles, Tours, Paris, and Bourges, and is said to have spent six million francs on his palace at the last named city. He owned more than thirty estates, one at Saint Fargeau comprising twenty-two parishes, and mines of silver, lead, and copper, in the Lyonnais. He made a noble use of his opulence, and contributed largely to the war fund against the English. Charles placed him at the head of the Paris mint, and ennobled him in 1440. Agnes Sorel was his great friend, and patroness, and appointed him her executor. His generous loans to the courtiers and nobility enabled them to maintain their extravagant outlay. But on the death of Agnes Sorel his persecutors saw their opportunity. In 1451 he was accused of poisoning her, and during his imprisonment his goods were largely confiscated. He was finally acquitted, but on being a second time falsely accused, his life was only spared at the intercession of the pope. He escaped from prison, having lost all his possessions in France, but found some honest debtors abroad, which saved him from indigence. Entering the service of the pope as captain-general of the Church, he died in command of its fleet against the Turks at the island of Chio, 1456.' Such a character, risen from the very ranks, might easily become the subject of a workman's legend, and his first prosecution and acquittal might develop into an unsuccessful attempt at assassination, his second trial and condemnation into an accomplished murder. But the date appears to me too recent; we have indications of the Sons of Jacques in the mystery of St. Crispin as early as 1400. The same reason would probably preclude our seeing any connection between Jacques and the Jacquerie or insurrection of a. d. 1358. There was also a St. Jacques, a hermit of Greek origin, who died in 8G6. He threw up the occupation of a soldier to become a m.onk, and settled in Gaul, living near Bourges and Vierzon, and finally in a hermitage, since known as the Chapelle d'Angillon.'^ In his favor there is Greek origin and residence in Gaul. St. James the Apostle, known as St. Jacques de ComiiodelU {St. Jayo de Com- posfella), also claims attention. One of his distinguishing marks is the pilgrim's staff, with- out which he is seldom represented. Other saints are also occasionally portrayed with this emblem, but not invariably, as in the case of St. James. He was reputed to be the converter ' Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel; and Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrieres en France, vol. i., p. 554. '^Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel. 24-8 THE COMPANIOVAGE. of Spain. A tale is told of a trial of strength between this saint and a sorcerer, the latter being aided by his demons. Having vanquished and convinced the sorcerer, he lent him his staff to preserve him from his own demons. He was decapitated under Herod. His dis- ciples, afraid to bury him, placed his remains on board ship. The vessel stranded in Galicia. The Countess de Lupa caused his body to be taken out and exposed on a stone, which immedi- ately closed around him and formed a sarcophagus. After many warnings, the Countess at length so far relented as to grant permission to use the wild bulls on her estate for the pur- poses of the funeral procession. These became instantly tame, and of their own accord drew tlie body into the courtyard of the palace of Lupa, the owner of which, becoming converted, built a magnificent church, etc. ' The pilgrimages to his tomb at Compostella began long before the tenth century. "^ From frescoes in the church of St. Anthony at Padua picturing all these incidents, we also glean that his disciples were cast into prison and delivered by an angel, and that their persecutors drov\^ned themselves.' Some writers transform the Countess de Lupa into Queen Louve. In favor of St. James as the prototype of Maitre Jacques, we have his pilgrimage to Spain from the East, his staff, the misadventures of the funeral rites, the curious title of wolf applied to the Queen or Countess, and the suicide of his enemies, all more or less recalling the legend of Maitre Jacques as given by Perdiguier. The date also would appear appropriate enough, for if my theory of the origin of the civic masons is accepted, the tenth century would probably be about the time of their eai'liest organization. Another question suggests itself on studying the legend of Maitre Jacques. Is the hero the " iSTaymus Grecus"^ mentioned in our English Constitutions "as having been at the building of Solomon's Temple, whence he came into France, and taught the science of masonry to Charles Martel? " We have seen in the last chapter that the Paris masons claimed Charles Martel as a brother, and if we concede that the English masons borrowed this idea from France, it is quite within the limits of possibility that the legends of the Companionage were also known. But perhaps Naymus Grecus may be M. Soubise. If Soubise is a corruption of Sabazius, we may imagine that at a very early date it more nearly approached the original pronunciation. Being a familiar term to the half Eoman Gaul, it would excite no comment; but the Anglo-Saxon workman, on first hearing the name, might naturally ask for an explanation^ and receive for reply that it was a Greek name. From '' Greek name" to " Naymus Grecus, " or " Naymus the Grecian" is no great step. Furthermore, in English masonry the name of Pythagoras has long been highly venerated. The legend of Jacques mentions a Greek philosopher, but omits his name, probably because it Avas a password or otherwise connected with the Companionage secrets. It is just possible that this name was that of Pythagoras; but of course it may have been the title of any other prominent personage of a bygone era. The legend, as given by Perdiguier, possesses many other points of interest, based rather on his omissions than upon his revelations. If we only had the text of his last words, and of "the act of faith," a full description of the, burial rites, and the words used in howling, our conclusions on the whole subject could be far more clearly drawn; but even without these details the evidence already presented shows that in the Companionage and 'Migne, Troiseme Encyclopedie Theologique, Dictionnaire des Legendes, torn, xiv., p. 663. Uhid., p. 1332. * Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel. o u ^ H -;> X U o « 5^ <; ^ CJ -M o X •T^ H -l^ O 9- o d ..y^ I-I a a MEDI^ VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR V. 269 essential parts before his death in 1444. The nave consists of four huge bays with single aisles, and the total superficies is 84,803 square feet. The octagon was originally in- tended to have been surmounted by a spire built in receding stories, rising to the height of 500 feet, and surrounded by four lesser spires, each 400 feet high. The Florentines had instructed their architect to erect a cathedral that should surpass everything that human industry or human power had conceived of the great and beautiful, and had their in- structions and his designs been carried out we should have seen what a great Gothic dome was really like. In 1390 the Bolognese determined to erect a monster cathedral, 800 feet long by 525 across the transepts; the width of the nave and transepts, with double aisles, was to have been 183 feet, and the total superficial area Avould have been no less than 212,000 feet, including a dome at the intersection, 130 feet in diameter, or only 6 feet less than that of Florence. Of this gigantic design, the nave only was completed; yet even this fragment forms one of the largest churches in the world, covering no less than 74,000 square feet. To say the least, the effect does not come up to the intention, and the great object of the architect — as, indeed, may be observed in many other Italian buildings — seems to have been to minimize the area occupied by the supports. Milan was com- menced 1385, by order of Gian Galeazo, first Duke of Milan, and was consecrated in 1418, when it was apparently finished, though the spire was completed by Brunelleschi 1440, and the faQade, commenced 1470, was only terminated at the beginning of the present century. The architect was Henry Arlez, of Gemunden, or — as the Italians prefer to call him— Da Gamodia. This wonderful building is far too well known to require any detailed account; suffice it to say, that, leaving hypercriticism aside — for the details are far from pure, — it must probably be considered as the most beautiful of all the Gothic edifices — wanting, it is true, a west front. It is not known whether a proper west front with spires was ever de- signed intended, as at Cologne; but here again, as in almost every other building of the class I have had occasion to mention, the general character is not German, although it cannot be called Italian ; so that we have no ground on which to base our conjectures. This most lovely creation is sui genei'ls, and is no less striking by its originality than by its beauty. Besides, there may be mentioned, amongst many others, the beautiful Duomo at Como, that of Ferrara, and the church of St. Francesco at Brescia. The south of Italy is almost a terra incognita to antiquaries, although, as has been said above, some specimens of Gothic are known to exist; and Sicilian Gothic, gorgeous with marble and mosaic, is a mixture of Greek, Eoman, and Saracenic. The Gothic of Spain, though in the south it may have been tinged with Moorish art, is principally an exotic coming from the south of France and Germany, with perhaps some English influence in portions of Valencia. The greater part of this province, however, with Catalonia, Aragon, and Navarre, follow^ed the architecture of Southern France. Leon and Gallicia had a style of their own, and so had the Castilles. How far the true French Gothic of the north was transplanted into Spain is doubtful. Street assigns a French origin not only to Toledo, but also to Burgos and Leon, the latter of which failed like Beauvais, but not so conspicuously. Still, numerous German artists were undoubtedly employed in Spain (coming probably through Lombardy), and notably at Burgos, where the west front is a kind of clumsy imitation of Cologne, and he certainly admits some German influence. These foreigners, however, were, I imagine, employed principally on the greater works, for Street enumerates a large number of native architects or artificers, and the style is un- doubtedly peculiar, more or less, to the country. It is the same everywhere else, even 270 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. where the imitation is palpable, and foreign assistance is positively asserted. Possibly, indeed, these aliens acted in every case as "consulting engineers/' giving the benefit of their advice, knowledge, and experience, but, perhaps necessarily, leaving the great bulk of the work to be carried out by the natives in their own way. One or two of the churches about Orvieto are said to be of the ninth century, and there may exist others in the Asturian valley. At Zamora there is a cathedral of the eleventh century, and the Templars had a round church at Segovia in 1204. During the whole of this period the round style prevailed, while the Moors were using pointed arches, but in truth, as Dr. Whewell has well observed, the actual points of resemblance between the Moorish and Gothic style is, when examined in reality, of the most trifling and superficial kind. The first Pointed cathedral is that of Leon circa 1217, which, however, is as I have said before, most probably of French origin. The three great typical cathedrals are Burgos, Seville, and Toledo. The former was begun 1221, and was finished, as far at least as the bulk of the building is concerned, in the same century. The west front was erected two centuries later by two Cologne masons (or architects) John and Simon, and is a clumsy reminiscence of the west front of that cathedral. Toledo, inferior externally to Burgos, is of greater dimensions, being 350 by 174 feet, or upward of 160,000 square feet, and 120 feet in interior height. It is chiefly remarkable, however, for the gorgeousness of its interior decoration and '^' furniture." Nowhere has the Spanish taste, severe and massive with respect to the buildings themselves, but lavish of this kind of decoration, displayed greater prodigality or more exuberant fancy, thus forming with its size an ensemble quite without parallel in any other building in Europe. Seville was built, probably by a German, on the foundations of a mosque. The famous Giralda is, as we all know, of Moorish origin. It was commenced 1401, and completed 1519. As the transepts do not project, its general plan is that of a rectangle, and the external aspect is heavy and lumpish. It is, however, remarkable for its immense size. Possessed not only of double aisles, but also of side chapels, it is 370 feet long by 270 wide, covering a space of not less than 100,000 square feet, being thus very considerably larger than Cologne or St. Maria at Florence, and ex- ceeded by Milan alone among mediaeval edifices. Portugal possesses some rather fine churches at Belem and probably elsewhere, for the interior of the country is almost un- known. There cannot, however, be many, the great earthquake, and the rage for rebuild- ing which followed the French invasion, having destroyed in all probability the greater portion. It possesses a gem, however, in Batalha, erected by John of Portugal in conse- quence of a vow made before battle in 1385, with his namesake of Spain (hence the name). Its size is small, being 2G4 feet by 72. To the right of the entrance is the tombhouse of its founder and his wife Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt; but the most beautiful portion, the sepulchre at the east end, commenced by Emmanuel the Fortunate, was, un- fortunately, left unfinished. It is, or was to have been, 65 feet in diameter. Murphy, in his scientific monograph, gives the name of the architect of the church itself as one David Ilackett, an Irishman. ' If so, he must have belonged to the Pale. The credit of having designed this structure has also been given to Stephen Stephenson, an Englishman, but in any case, the architecture is neither English, Spanish, and certainly not Irish (though a slight resemblance can be traced between the architecture of Ireland and those of the Peninsula). The other great church is that of Alcoba9a, 1148-1222, a grand simple Cis- •J. C. Murphy, Batalha. This "Hacket" (or "Stephenson") vasuy have been a consulting en- gineer as suggested above (see Dallaway, Discourses upon Architecture, p. 109). MEDIAEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. 271 tcrcian edifice, 360 feet long by 64 high. The nave comprises fourteen bays, surpassing by one any that I can 'remember elsewhere, and the whole terminates in an apse with seven chapels. The style is nearly Norman, and coincides with the period when the French ad- venturers, under one of the Bourbons, first founded the Portuguese kingdom. England I have reserved to the last. Though it has often been asserted that the Komans were peculiarly partial to architectural magnificence in Britain, and, in spite of the evidence of Eumenius, in one of his panegyrics, that Constantius, the father of Con- stantino the Great, rebuilt Autun, 276, by the aid of artificers from Britain, which was then renowned for its skilful workmen; of the words of Gibbon — who never misquoted his authorities, — to the effect that Carausius effected much in the way of architecture in the country; or even of Malmsbury and others, who speak with admiration of the Roman remains still existing in their time — and they were conversant with stately buildings, — I must be allowed to state my belief that the architectural efforts of Rome were in Britain comparatively inferior. Here, again, the buildings must be ray witnesses. Camps we have in plenty, also the remains of many walled cities and military roads; but the efforts of luxury and refinement are few and far between, although, in the solitary instance of Wood- chester, a villa has been found whose dimensions almost equalled the Laurentine one de- scribed by Pliny. Indeed, it can scarcely be supposed that the Romans would care much to make any permanent residence in so remote a dependency, and the long and desperate struggle of the emancipated colonists, against their Anglo-Saxon invaders (Britain was the only province that did struggle), shows how little hold the civilization, enervating at the end, of Rome had obtained over the country. ^ The Celts, or whatever we may choose to designate the indigenous tribes, were no builders. Their greatest efforts — Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, Maiden Castle, and the Herefordshire Beacon — supposing them to have preceded or succeeded the period of Roman domination — were but the efforts of the muscle of sheer numbers; and in Ireland, which has sometimes boasted a superior civiliza- tion— for Ireland has always arrogated to herself what no other nation has been willing on calm reflection to allow her — the utmost efforts of Celtic art, aided often by Norman skill, has been the round tower or belfry, seldom exceeding 100 feet in height, and chapels, 20, 40, and 60 feet in extreme length, which served as shrines in which the priest officiated before the multitude assembled in the open air. When magnificence was required, several chapels were congregated in one place, as at Cashel, Glendalough, and elsewhere. These chapels were remarkable for more than one peculiarity — they had solid stone roofs,^ were never more than 60 feet in length, which seems to have been lU regie among the Celts, as it was the length of the primitive church of Glastonbury, and like it they were very often made of wattle. This wicker method of building went among the older chroniclers by the name of J/as- Scotorum, Mos Britannorum (though the church of St. Niuian at Whitherne, in GalloAvay, was apparently of stone whitewashed, hence the name Candida Casa, the White House, alias Whitherne), and they never terminated in an apse, which was indeed abhorrent to the Celts, probably because adopted at that time by all the other nations — the Irish Church, like the Irish people, was always at enmity with every other, because the Irish, as the purest of the Celtic race, were, and always have been, totally at variance with ' See, however, Coote, The Romans in Britain, passim and ante, pp. 36-46 (The Roman Collegia). * A curious example of how tilings repeat themselves may be seen in Lord Digby's mortuary chapel at the cemetery of Sherborne, Dorset, which is almost an exact counterpart, save for its apsi- dal termination. 2/2 MEDI^ VAL OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. all of the succeeding waves of population. As the Celts were, so they remained — un- touched by the long domination of Kome; for Gildas, writing somewhere about the end of British independence, circa 570, says that in his time the towns and cities laid waste during former invasions of the barbarians "still lay waste." We may assume, therefore, with tolerable safety, that the Romans taught but little of their art to the provincials, that, therefore, the oft-quoted example of the Chichester inscription is little to the point, and that the collegia could not have survived the devastating wars and revolutionary changes, which, lasting during two centuries, followed the withdrawal of the legions, more especially as it has been by no means clearly proved that the Chichester inscription refers to the building trades. * The Saxons when they arrived were mere barbarians, and had, of course, no architec- ture— properly so-called — of their own. Gregory, in his letters to Augustine, recommends him indeed to make use as far as possible of the pagan temples, but he could not have known accurately what these temples werej still his letter not only displays political wisdom, but allows a wide latitude in applying it. Yet Augustine and his followers, amongst whom there may have been some knowledge of the building art, were enabled, together with certain of the natives, probably Eomano-Britons, to construct various churches, one or two of which were dignified by the name of cathedrals. St. Martin's, at Canterbury, already ex- isted (possibly, too, the church within the castle at Dover, which has a very Roman-looking chancel arch), and there was another on the site of the present St. Alphage, dedicated to the Quatuor Coronati, who, without referring to their connection with the building trades were at this time very fashionable saints, though, as usually happens with fasliion, without any particular reason. ° When Christianity and civilization had become firmly established a better class of edifices arose, especially in the North, which, in the earliest and best times, was the main seat of Anglo-Saxon genius. The founders of these churches, nota- bly Benedict Biscop and Wilfrid, drew largely on Rome. Descriptions remain of the cathedral at York in the poem by Alcuin {De Pontificihus)', of that of Winchester in the life of St. Swithin by Lantfrid.^ Descriptions of churches occur in Bede and the "Historia Ramsiensis," and in Eddius' "Life of Wilfrid," of Ripon and Hexham, which latter accounts are borne out by William of Malmsbury in his work "De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum," as well as, as regards Hexham in the description left by Richard of Hexham in the twelfth century, who describes the edifice as still standing, having curiously enough escaped the Danish ravages. Moreover, the appearance of the Saxon Canterbury is preserved in Gervasius, copying Eadmer, who wrote while the building was still standing; it was pulled down by Lanfranc. From these various descriptions we may gather that the Anglo-Saxon edifices were little if at all inferior to those then existing on the Continent, and were very similar to them; they usually had a double apse as at Can- terbury, i.e., one at each end, and where this arrangement did not exist, there was a central toAver and a single one at the west end, an arrangement not uncommon in later ' See ante, chap, i., p. 38, note 1. ^ It is not quite clear whether the church of the " Four Crowned Martyrs " was in existence at the period of Augustine's arrival in Britain (see W. H. Ireland, History of the County of Kent, 1828, vol. i., pp. 178, 179). The subject of the "Quatuor Coronati" will be hereafter considered. ^ It is gravely recorded that the bishop, watching the progress of the tower, and seeing a work- man fall from the summit, arrested his downward progress in mid-air until help arrived. It does not seem to have struck the worthy hagiographer that it would have been quite as easy, as well as much more soothing- to the poor man's nerves, to have brought him safely to earth ! MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 273 edifices. The rapid rise of Anglo-Saxon civilization, as compared with the barbarism in which Gaul was then steeped, and its close intercourse with Rome, will be a guarantee of what has been advanced, even if it were not corroborated by the magnitude of existing remains in comparatively secluded districts, such as Brixworth, a dependency of Peter- borough. But here, as abroad, magnificence was displayed rather in furniture and decora- tion, principally in the precious metals, than in architecture. Malmsbury, in his " An- tiquities of Glastonbury " ' — and Malmsbury was a monk of Glastonbury — says that Ina, of Wessex {ob. 727), built a chapel there on which he lavished no less than 2835 lbs. of silver, and 332 lbs. of gold, an almost incredible sum when we consider the purchasing power of the precious metals in those times. The chapel seems to have been literally plated with silver, weighing 2648 lbs.,'' recalling the first Temple on a small scale. This period of Anglo-Saxon prosperity lasted, however, only for a time. Already, at the termination of the Heptarchy, the Danish storm began to rise, and Alcuin, the peaceful man of letters, had scarcely time to make good his retreat to the Avealth and security of the court of Charle- magne, whence he indited consolatory epistles to his fellow countrymen, before its full fury burst on Northumbria, his native land, as being the nearest of access. A dreary period of 100 years followed, until a partial revival took place under the Great Alfred, but by this time the genius of the Anglo-Saxons had disappeared, and the country gradually decayed, awaiting the arrival of a superior race. Still the efforts of this last century are by no means to be despised either in literature or architecture, although certainly the former, and probably the latter, are more distinguished by painstaking than genius. Most of the 120 specimens — many probably conjectural — of enumerated Anglo-Saxon remains still ex- isting, belong to this period. A portion, at least, of the crypt at Hexham is supposed to be the undoubted work of Wilfred, but the recently unearthed, or rather, unsanded church, at Perranzabuloe in Cornwall (pounced upon by the Protestant section most animated in its hatred towards Rome, as a specimen of the primitive church undefiled), is clearly of the twelfth century, owing its supposed simplicity to the remoteness and poverty of the district, and the intractable nature of the material. Ordericus Vitalis says that Dunstan, Oswald, and Ethelwold, the great restorers of monastic discipline, founded together 26 monasteries out of the 100 or so existing before the Conquest, but the word monaster'ium with the Anglo-Saxons sometimes means a church with three or four priests attached to it. Alfred did all in his power, and Edgar, prompted by St. Dunstan, restored or founded 48, which, I presume, are not reckoned in the above. With this we may compare the statement of Malmsbury, who speaks of the repairs effected by Odo and Athelstane, which may be the origin of the legend of the York Freemasons, but the latter could have effected but little in his short and troubled reign. ' I may mention here a curious miracle related in all good faith by one of the three contemporary biographers of St. Ethelwold. Finding but little scope for his talents in England, he was on the point of leaving the country, when the king, to retain his services, gave him the decayed monastery of Abingdon as a sphere for his energies. He set vigorously to work, and having rebuilt and refilled his establishment, he ' De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesije. '^Witness also the gift in precious metal which Harold, who must have been comparatively a poor man, lavished on Waltham. The Anglo-Saxons were decidedly luxurious at home, much more so than the Normans, and our home comforts were probably derived from them. Something of this luxury doubtless found its way into the churches. ^See ante, chap. i. {The Culdees), p. 53, note 3; and chap, ii., pp. 81, 86, 97 (§ xxiii.), and 101. 274 MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. prepared a great feast for the consecration, to which various bishops, abbots, eaorldamen. and the king himself were invited. As the feast went on the beer ran short, whereupon the saint imitated the miracle of Cana on certain tubs of water, to such an extent that the whole party finished the entertainment in a recumbent position on the floor! The Anglo- Saxons — even the monks — were great lovers of beer, and we may compare with the above the story of the two young monks who went to see St. Guthlac, the hermit of Croyland, and who brought a jar of beer with them to refresh on the way. Having done so, they took the precaution to hide the jar in the sedge some distance from the hermitage, but, unfortunately, having approached the saint too closely during the act of confession, they were literally convicted out of their own mouths, which Felix, the friend and biographer of St. Guthlac, cites as another miracle ! As to the living hands which wrought at these edifices we have naturally not much in- formation. Wilfrid, according to Malmsbury, personally superintended his buildings,' which, considering the rudeness of the bulk of his laborers, he was probably obliged to do. The same may be seen in many other examples in these early times, and which, after all, is not so very different from what we continually read of in the missionary records of our own time. The " Historia Eamsiensis," c. xv., contains an account of Ailwyn's foundation of Ramsey, in which he was assisted by Oswald, and from which it appears that his architect was one ^dnothus, of Worcester, who is distinctly said to have been a skilful architect.'' The foundations were beaten down with the beetle and not laid on piles, owing to which slovenly and very characteristic Anglo-Saxon mode of proceeding the tower fell shortly after it was erected. The church was cruciform, and had one tower in the centre and another at the west end — a form which long suiwived. ' It appears that a large staff of workmen, builders, and others, were employed; and the same was the case at Worcester, as we learn from Eadmer,* who relates a story of a black demon who during the building of the cathe- dral came and sat on a stone, and so defied the efforts of eighty men to raise it until ex- orcised by the saint. Croyland was built of stone, and in a more painstaking and scientific manner by Ethelbald, 716 (the bright period of Saxon genius). The foundations rested on piles, which, indeed, in such a locality, was the only way that a church, unless built of wattles, would have stood at all. " At cum tarn mollis, tam lubrica, tam male constans, Fundamenta palus non feret saxea, palos Praecidit infigi quercino robore casos Leucarumque novem spatio rate fertur arena." ' There is, or was, a curious inscription on a stone in Kirkdale churchyard. West York- shire, 7 feet 5 inches by 1 foot 10 inches, built into the wall over the south porch. The inscription ran as follows: — " Orin Gamel's son bought St. Gregory's minster. Then it was all broken and fallen. Chelittle and others made it new from the ground, to Christ and St. ' De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, Lib. iii., 1171, Rolls Series, p. 225. ' Besides ^■Ednothus, ^If ric, abbot of Malmsbury, is said to have been cediflcandi gnarus (Whar- ton, AngUa Sacra, 1681, vol. ii., p. 33). Cf. Malmesbury, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, Lib. v., 253, Rolls Series, p. 405. 3 See also the poem of "Ethelwalt de Abbatius Lindisfarniensis," one of the latest productions of Northumbrian literature. * Vita S. Oswalda, "Metrical Life of St. Guthlac [Felix], quoted in Camden. The MS. is in the British Museum. MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 275 Gregory. In the days of Eadward the King (Confessor) and in the days of Earl Tosti. And Howard me wrought, and Brand the priest." This seems to show that in those primitive times there was not much distinction between callings, and that the priest often assisted, and, indeed, was obliged to assist in building his own church, which, however, from the general simplicity of construction, he had not much difficulty in doing. ' A good deal has been made of the word getymhrian, to construct with timber, being synonymous with "to build/' and it has been inferred that the majority of the Saxon buildings were made of wood, which is, I think, an unfair generalization.'' Bede speaks of coementarii, who would seem, at least at first, to have been rough masons working with coarse rubble, which was afterward plastered over. This process was very common in early times; it was adopted as late as the Norman Abbey of St. Albans, and the church and town of Whitherne, in Galloway, derived their names, as we have seen, from the same style. On the whole, we may, I think, fairly conclude that the Anglo-Saxon was but little different from that of the neighboring Continent, probably superior in the first and inferior in the latter half of the period when England suffered more from barbarian ravages than the Con- tinent, and which, as being the more remote, was naturally the last to receive the impulse of the " novum sedificandi genus," which was equally new on the Continent half a century before it became so in England. For it must not be forgotten that when the Normans took possession of England an increased magnificence in architecture, based on advancing civilization, had been everywhere prevalent for more than half a century, and it had even made its influence felt in England, where the Confessor — at least half a Norman — had erected Westminster Abbey after a design which is made tolerably clear by the rude sketch in the Bayeux Tapestry, and one of whose arches (there represented) still remains in the exterior of the south transept, and is very conspicuous from the cloisters. It was evidently the central portion of the fa9ade of that transept. A similar but later example may be seen in the magnificent Norman arch composing the main portion of the west front of Tewkes- bury, and it may be even the remote prototype of Peterborough itself. However, the impulse was vastly quickened with the arrival of the Normans, who, though doubtless with great cruelty and oppression, infused new life and vigor into the decaying Anglo-Saxon realm. They not only rebuilt the churches, but in some cases even removed the Sees. Thus, Selsey migrated to Chichester, Dorchester to Lincoln, and Thetford to Norwich. Fourteen of our cathedrals retain considerable portions of Norman architecture, and several of them — such as Norwich, Durham, and Peterborough — are principally of this date, of which, and the ensuing traditional periods, are the nave, transepts, and west front of Ely. These churches are of great size, the three mentioned above being over 400 feet in length, while Winchester, St. Albans, and the totally ruined abbey of St. Edmund's Bury exceeded 500. The latter was remarkable for the singular arrangement of a great extent of its west front. The nave aisles were flanked by two apsidal chapels, and these again by two octagon towers, the whole extending to no less than 240 feet. Heading Abbey Church, founded by King Henry I., ' "In the monasteries the monks practised the different mechanical arts. By a law published in the reign of Edgai% but probably transcribed from a more ancient reg-ulation, every priest was commanded to learn some handicraft in order to increase knowledge " (Lingard's History of England, vol. i., p. 266). ' In ^Ifric's Colloquies, a kind of school-book, written m the form of a dialogue, toward the commencement of the eleventh century, a carpenter is made to say that he makes houses and carves bowls; but tlie same may be said of many a village carpenter of the present day. 2/6 MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. was 420 feet. The greatest, however, was Old St. Paul's, with its Early Englisli onstery termination ; it extended 600 feet east and west, and 300 feet north and south in the tran- septs. The height of this nave was 102 feet, which was one or two feet higher than West- minster— our loftiest remaining example; and the spire subsequently added was the highest in the world (534 feet). The nave, choir, and transepts were 100 feet broad, so that the total superficies was 80,000 square feet, forming the largest cathedral then existing, and only subsequently surpassed by three (in the Middle Ages) — Seville, Milan, Florence; audit has sometimes been gravely stated that this cathedral covered 3^ acres, 1-| roods, and 6 perches, which comes to exactly 170,272 square feet. Similarly the choir is always said to have been 188 feet high. Any one looking at Hollar's Views, less rude than usual, in "Dugdale," will see that the line of roof was exactly level with that of the nave, but underneath the choir came the crypt or chapel of St. Faith, and the choir was approached by a double flight of steps, as shown in one of Hollar's engravings, exactly like Canterbury, the real internal height was, of course, 88, and the " l " added was a misprint, which no one has ever noticed or troubled to correct. Similarly, it is always said that Hampton Court Palace was a great deal larger before the alterations by Wren than it is now. No one has ever been at the trouble to remark that the original front — as shown by Hollar, not a very scarce engraving — is the same length as the present, and that the only place where buildings could have existed is in the small gardens between the south side of the palace, and the vinery and river, which has, as far as I know, never been asserted by any one. I mention these instances somewhat at detail, as showing how utterly unreliable statements are, as a rule, unless backed up with proofs drawn from the buildings themselves. Winchester and St. Albans were the subjects of a strange transformation. The process in the nave of the former by Edynton and Wykeham, has been most admirably described by Willis — that in the latter case being aiTested as it were midway, is more able to speak for itself. The singular resemblance in shape, and general ground plan, especially in the immense length, the somewhat peculiar east ends, the altar screens, the Norman work of the central tower, and transepts being in both cases left untouched, and even in such purely accidental coin- cidences as the deliberate destruction of the Norman facade in the case of Winchester, and the demolition of that of St. Albans with the intention of rebuilding it — an intention Avhich was never carried out — is very extraordinary, more especially as there seems no way of ac- counting for it. Gloucester nave was also transformed at a later date, but after a different fashion. Besides the above may be mentioned Battle and St. Augustines, of the churches of which there are now no trace, though the latter was certainly small. The magnificent Abbey of Malmsbury — the nave of which is still standing, the ruins of Castle Rising, one of the finest specimens of this age, the mutilated churches of St. John's, Chester, Waltham and St. Bartholomew's Priory, London, together with the Norman portions of the still perfect edifices of Eomsey, St. Cross, and Christ Church — all monastic — further attest the iictivity of this period. Parish churches, or at least the parts which are Norman, are, as in the ensviing epoch, still tolerably numerous, witness the beautiful little churches of IflBey, near Oxford, and Barfreston in Kent; the fine church, formerly a priory, of St. Germans, Cornwall, with its massive west front; and what remains — after a restoration — of Old St. Pancras, London. The Normans were very good builders — when they chose — as may be seen by the ashlar work grouted in, i.e., loose flints thrown between two walls of freestone or ashlar, and then filled in with strong liquid mortar poured on in a hot state, which walls have acquired the MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 277 consistency of rock. This mode was generally used in castles and sometimes in churches; the I'eraains of the west front of Bury, denuded as it is of its ashlar, look like natural cliffs; but very often they did not so choose, and then the walling is made of the worst rubble, merely plastered with ashlar, and with bad foundations, inasmuch as a Norman tower, at least, in the centre was rarely intended to rise much above the roof. This bad habit was continued by their successors, and has been the cause of the fall of many towers, and of several ingenious contrivances — as at Wells ^and Salisbury, in the central arches — in the Middle Ages, and of not a little anxiety in modem times. None of the Norman buildings were vaulted or were intended to be so, and all vaulting on Norman piers and walls is sub- sequent. This, as well as the badness of the masonry, which was partly its cause, must have originated in the clumsiness of the Saxon workmen they were forced to employ. Almost all the churches had apsidal terminations toward the east, but just as there were exceptions to the universal apse in France, e.g. at Laon, so there were a few in England, as at Old Sarum, Romsey, and St. Cross, Winchester. Their doorways are remarkably rich, much more so than in the subsequent period, when they became rather distinguished for their plainness; and it would almost seem as if these gorgeous portals, such as Barfreston and Malmsbury, were a reminiscence of the elaborate wooden carvings which still decorate the entrances of the churches of Norway. One reason why the true Gothic sprang up almost simultaneously in France and England was, that at that peculiar time the frontiers of the two kingdoms were almost conterminous from one end of France to the other, while the divergence of French and Germans, as distinguished from the close intercourse between France and England, will sufficiently explain why the Gothic was so tardy in traversing the geographically imperceptible Teutonic frontier. The common comparison of Amiens with Salisbury is little to the purpose. The greater size of Amiens does not necessitate a greater perfection in architecture; if it did, Amiens would in its turn have to yield to Old St. Paul's, nor does the greater elaboration of certain portions prove more. French archi- tecture was, in certain features, always more elaborate than English; in others, the case was reversed, and both these examples show the proficiency of the respective nations in their respective styles. Passing over some instances I have already alluded to, we come to the choir of Canter- bury, commenced by William of Sens as architect 1173, and continued when he was forced, 1179, to resign his post owing to injuries received in his profession, by his pupil William the Englishman, who has been supposed by some to have been the same as William of Coventry, whose praises as an architect are recorded by Malmsbury. The general idea of this portion of the cathedral has often been said to have been taken from that of Sens, as is not unlikely, and the Frenchman is also credited w^ith having been the first to introduce stone roof vaulting into this country, which may also be admitted. The Englishman, however, has much improved upon his predecessor and his example. The central mass of Lincoln, the east transept, choir, part of west transept, and the chapter-house, were the work of Hugh of Grenoble, or the Burgundian, between the years 118G-1200. This was probably one of the last churches in England built with an apse. The foundations were discovered beneath the high altar when relaying the pavement in the last century. Pro- fessor AVillis somewhere calls the architect Alex, de Noyes " a crazy Frenchman," in reality he was a member of a Norman family long settled in Lincolnshire. ' The finest of these ' M. de Lassus so far improved upon the idea as to say that he reproduced at Lincoln the church of Blois, of which he was a native. Tlie ensemble of Lincoln, coupled with its unrivalled position. 278 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. veiy Early English edifices is, however, the nave and west front of Wells, built by " Joscelin Trotman, bishop of Wells, brother of Hugh of Wells (who must not be confused with the Burgundian bishop of Lincoln, who built the west front and nave of that cathedral at the same time). The sculptures of the faQade of Wells are a truly national monument, num- bering 300 in all (the facade is 147 feet in width), of which ]40 are either life size or colossal. They were finished 1242, two years after the birth of Cimabue, who restored painting in Italy. They were in progress while Nicolo Pisano was restoring Italian sculp- ture, and were finished forty-six years before the perpetually-quoted Amiens, and thirty-six years before Orvieto was ever begun. They are English in design, and wholly different from the contemporary works executed in Edward the Confessor's chapel, Westminster, by Benvenutoand Torell — who has been supposed by some to have been an Englishman, though probably without sufficient reason. "There are many compositions of the Almighty creating Eve by Giotto, Buon Amigo, Buffalmaceo Ghiberti, and Michael Angelo, but this at Wells is certainly not inferior to any of the others." These are the words of the late Professor Cockerell in his " Iconography of Wells," and they carry not a little weight as coming from one so distinguished, not only for the purity of his taste, but for his devotion to classical and Italian forms. He says, further, that they surpass the works of John of Pisa, a contemporary, and those of even a greater man, John Flaxman. There is every evidence that the building of the nave is of the same date, and is, like the front, the work of a local school of masons whose influence can be traced to a very considerable extent in the neighboring district, Salisbury was commenced under Bishop Poore 1220, and finished, all but the tower and spire, 1258, by Bishop Giles, having cost 40,000 marks, or £6066, 13s. 4d., besides the gift of Alicia de Bruere, who gave all the stone for twelve years. The cloisters and chapter- house were built somewhat later (1263-84), and the tower and spire by Bishop Robert de Wyville 1330-75. Westminster was begun by Henry III., and completed by his son, all but the towers, which are by Wren, and which display great knowledge of the form but little of the detail of true Gothic. This is probably owing, in some manner, to the want of technical skill among the masons. Almost the whole of the church, especially the mag- nificent north transept, was refaced by Wren, as may be seen by the masons' marks on the stones as they are removed, and the whole is now in gradual process of restoration, West- minster is clearly an imitation from the French, but an imitation which bears an English impress on every line. It is inferior in height to the great French examples, it has single and not double aisles; its apse is comparatively simple, not to say clumsy, its two rose windows, though certainly fine, are inferior to many French examples; its pilasters of (formerly) polished marble are, I believe, comparatively unknown across the Channel; the great doorways, though huge and cavernous, especially those of the northern transept, as in France, have yet a character of their own, and, except in size, resemble those of the west front of Lichfield, and the Presbytery of Lincoln. I mention these points in detail, as showing the essential difference between the two styles, and how little the one could have influenced the other. Similarly, the mosaic work of the shrine of the Confessor and the tomb of the founder, though in an admirable position for setting the fashion, found no orig-nated the old proverb referring to an envious man, " He looks like the devil over Lincoln." If York be the king, Lincoln is the queen of English cathedi-als. The rose window in the south-west transept is the most beautiful in England. ' In saying " built by,"' I refer to the bishop during whose episcopate the structure was erected. MEDIEVAL CATHEDRAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. MEDLEVAL OPERA TIVE MASON AR Y. 279 imitators. Our practical ancestors knew that they seldom had sutRcient light to set oil" mosaic, and therefore adapted their building for stained glass, for which they had sun enough; we, who work by patterns and drawings, merely first put up mosaics in churches naturally too dark for them, and then proceed to darken them still more by the introduction of stained glass, to the great waste of both money and effect. Nor did the beautiful paint- ings in the Chapter House, evidently by Italian artists, result in either founding a school or in the more extended employment of Italian talent. The choir of old St. Paul's was remarkable for its east windows, the rose of which, forming the upper portion, must have equalled, if it did not excel, any foreign example, for it occupied the entire width of the central aisle, a space of 40 feet. The transepts of York, built 1215-5G, by John le Komaine, treasurer of the cathedral, are remarkable — the north for the five lancets, called the "Five Sisters," 50 feet in height, and still filled with the original stained glass, and the southern for the largest rose window in England, 27 feet in diameter. Xo date or name either of architect, mason, or benefactor has been preserved relative to the magnificent west front of Peterborough; but Britton assigns it to Abbots Acharius and Robert de Ljoidsay, 1200-22. This is a real stroke of genius, and one of tlie very finest conceptions of mediaeval architecture, consisting as it does of three huge arches 82 feet in height and 156 feet in total breadth, surmounted by two spires, four are (said to have been) intended, each 156 feet in height. This design is, I believe, unique in mediaeval architecture, and must rather be compared to the great fa9ades of the ancients. Even among them it may be said to have been without a rival, only one of the great temples, that of Diana at Ephesus, fairly surpassed it in width, 220 feet. Yet even this must have been inferior in height; while the eight columns — they were only 60 feet high — and the seven intercolumnar spaces must have produced far less effect than the three gigantic openings of Peterborough. From centre to centre of the columns of the temple of Diana was 31 feet, and the clear height to the entablature was 60 feet. From centre to centre cf the piers of Peterborough was 52 feet, and from the pavement to the crown of the arch 82 feet. The greater number of our abbeys, either whole or in ruins, not Norman, belong to this and the commencement of the succeeding period. A portion of the reconstruction of St. Albans, the great series of Yorkshire abbeys. Fountains (very Early) Byland, St. Mary's, York, Guisborough, now almost utterly destroyed, but still with sufficient remains to admit of a restoration, and boasting an east Avindow which surpassed even those of York and Gloucester, Selby, Bridlington, the earlier and chaster twins Whitby and Rievaulx, a con- siderable portion of Beverley, which proceeded ^arijija55?< with its gigantic neighbor York, and Tintern, in Monmouth, the gem of all the abbeys of England, remarkable not only for its perfect proportions, but as rivalling in comparative height the loftiest Continental examples (it is 220 feet long and 70 high). ' The vast and famous Glastonbury, Netley, Wenlock, Walsingham, Bayham, portions of Christchurch and Romsey, Southwell and Newstead, Hexham in the extreme north, and the small but exquisite chancel of Ilythe, on the Kentish coast. Also Croyland and Thorney, which, together with Peterborough, formed links in the chain of the great Fen abbeys, originally of Saxon foundation, and which lono- retained a Saxon nationality. A rude rhyme, evidently of mediseval origin, was current ■ A north country architect once said that though he had often tried to persuade himself that some of the Yorkshire series surpassed it, he could never quite succeed in accomphshing the feat. 28o MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. concerning them half a century ago m the Fens, and may be so stilly, giving the characteristics popularly supposed to belong to them: — " Ramsey, the rich of gold and of Fee, Thorney, the flower of many a fair tree, Croyland, the courteous of their meat and their drink, Spalding, the gluttons, as all men do think, Peterborough the proud, Sawtry by the Way, that old abbaye Gave more alms than they all In one day." The decorated style — usually considered as that in which Gothic architecture in England attained its climax — numbers as its chefs d'ceuvre the Presbytery of Lincoln, with which, it is said, no faiilt has ever been found, the great works of conversion at Winchester, com- menced by Bishop Edynton (1345-G6), and continued by Wykeham to 1404, comprising the whole of the nave, certainly the longest, and generally considered the finest, in England, although it is shorter than that of the original N^orman church by 60 feet, and also wants its west front, which was 100 feet in breadth, the foundations of this portion having been discovered in the last century; it is to be regretted that the original lines were not adhered to, as, although the nave would certainly have been disproportionately long, it would have avoided the " amputated" appearance common to too many of the west fronts of our cathe- drals. ' The alterations of and additions to Bishop Lucy's Early English work to the east of the centre tower, were carried out at a later date. The nave of Canterbury is of the same date, and somewhat earlier come the great works of conversion at Exeter, whereby the whole cathedral, with the exception of the towers, was transformed into a decorated edifice of extreme beauty. It was commenced under Bishop Quivil about 1280, and the same design, supposed by some to have been that of Quivil himself, was continued under Bishops Bittern and Grandison to the year 13 G9, Avhen the edifice was completed, with the exception of the screen at the west front, with its double row of statues, the work of Bishop Brantingham (1370-94). Lichfield, inferior on the whole to Wells, whose lower and eastern portions are of this date, but still one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the country, fall principally within this period, — the west front dating from 1375, the Lady Chapel from 1300, and the Presbytery from 1325. The west front, although inferior in sculptural glories to Wells, and diminutive when compared with York or Lincoln, or the solemn grandeur of Peterborough, yet ranks among the richest and most beautiful examples of the kind. Further, it is the only church in England possessing three spires, and the only genuine example of an English apse. This apse, however, without surrounding aisles, and with windows reaching almost to the ground, is more German than French, while here again, as at Westminster, the English origin of the design must immediately declare itself. The choir of Bristol is of this period, and deserves at least a passing notice, inasmuch as it differs in toto from almost every other cathedral, not only in the three aisles being of the same height — a peculiarity not uncommon in parish churches, — but also in the character of the vaulting. Unfortunately, it has been tried on too small a scale in the old choir to enable one to judge perfectly of the effect, but since I have seen it the nave has been either built or rebuilt (for it is a disputed point whether there had ever been a nave, though the ' In this instance, giving the west front the appearance of having been amputated and the wound healed over, as was really the case later at Hereford. MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 28 r space was certainly there on which it might have stood), which would give a better idea of the full effect of the plan. The choir of Carlisle deserves mention for its east window, which, though not the largest, is the most beautiful in England. The greater portion of the magnificent York Minster belongs to this period, but though of surpassing size and splendor, it offers no special points; it is, moreover, too well known to need further de- scription here. In 1322 a new presbytery was built at Ely, displaying, however, a fine series of lancet windows at the east end. A heavy leaden spire was added to the old Norman central tower at the same time, and was probably the cause of its fall. Fortunately, at that time the control of the works was under a man of real genius, Alan de Walsingham,' the sub-prior, " VenerahiUs et artificiosus f rater," as he is said to be styled in the " Historia Eliensis," and who had already in the preceding year laid the foundations of the Lady Chapel (a detached building to the north). Walsingham avoided the oft-recurring danger of the heavy central towers, and by cutting off the angles of the intersection, introduced not only a safer method of construction, but what is, perhaps, the most beautiful feature in the whole range of Gothic architecture, I allude to the famous octagon. AVords are wasted in the description, for no one who has not stood beneath its vaulted roof and surveyed the long aisles extending on every side, the whole in the highest state of perfec- tion, can have any idea of the wondrous effect of the whole. Suffice it to say, that the dome of St Paul's, of which it is the prototype, has been, though far larger, confessed to be inferior even by classical architects. There would almost seem to have been a rivalry between Ely and its neighbor, Peterborough, and that the octagon was an effort to surpass the Avest front of the latter in a different direction. Peterborough excels in severe majesty, but, as far as grace and beauty are concerned, Alan realized his most sanguine expectations — if he had them, — but scarcely so in originality, there being some approaches to the octagon in the earlier Eomanesque churches abroad, in baptisteries, chapter-houses, and the churches of the Templars. Its comparatively remote situation and the isolation which seems inherent to all things British, as far, at least, as regards the Continent, is perhaps the cause Avhy it has found no imitators, save possibly to a certain extent at Milan and Burgos. Three bays of the choir were destroyed and rebuilt at the same time, and with the presbytery, which is slightly less ornate, form a magnificent series of arcades, exhibiting also the most artistic use of the favorite English material (Purbeck marble). The Lady Chapel is the rival of the somewhat later erection of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, now destroyed. It possessed what the latter did not — a stone-vaulted roof — and the series of sculptured arcades, extending round the whole building beneath the windows, is, for richness of design, extent of surface, and delicacy of execution, unrivalled in England. The octagon was commenced 1322 and finished 1342. The Lady Chapel began 1321; was completed 1349; the north-west transept, or northern wing of the west front, fell 16G9. I may here mention that the octagon on the western tower was built 1380, and formerly — • like Lincoln, Old St. Paul's, and Malmsbury — was crowned with a very lofty wooden steeple. Most of the great parish churches (although abundant examples exist of earlier styles) were erected during this and the ensuing era. The huge church of St. Nicholas — -the patron saint of sailors — at Yarmouth, covers 3700 square feet, an area equal to that of 'Dallaway says: " The pride of ecclesiastics among practical architects was Alan de Walsing- HAM, prior of Ely. He was neither the imitator of, nor was he imitated by, any otlier arcliitect " (Discourses upon Architecture, p. 416). 282 MEDIA! VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR V. many cathedrals, Boston, whose magnificent tower, 290 feet in height, is, with the ex- ception of perhaps — and of this I am by no means sure — -the Butter Tower of Kouen Cathedral, the loftiest and finest original Gothic tower in Europe (Ulm, now being com- pleted, has up to the present been merely a fragment). This tower, ignominiously called " Boston Stump," is believed to owe its magnificent proportions to the necessity of a sea mark to guide the sailor through the intricacies of Boston deeps, much as the fine spire of Higham Ferrers owes its restoration to the necessity for a landmark being felt by enthu- siastic foxhunters. The " stump " gave rise to the following doggerel: — Oh, Boston, Boston, Thou has not to boast on But a high church with a lofty steeple, A proud, ignorant, and conceited people, And a coast where ships are wrecked on." The superb spire of St. Michael's, Coventry, 306 feet in height, the finest in England; Louth, of later date and equal altitude; Grantham, of scarcely inferior proportions but of severer majesty. The two grand churches of Lynn, the two at Bury, St. Peter's Mancroft at Norwich, the University Churches at Oxford and Cambridge, St. Mary in both cases, the collegiate churches of Howden in Yorkshire and Wolverhampton in Stafford, Heck- ington in Lincoln, Hull, Newark, Nottingham, Wrexham, with its fine tower; and the still grander tower, 200 feet high, which is all that remains of the ancient All Saints, Perby; and, perhaps, loveliest of all, the miniature cathedral of St. Mary, Kedcliffe. I may remark here, as showing how much local peculiarities have to do Avith our mediseval churches, and how little ground there is for supposing one universal consensus, that almost every district in England has its distinct architectural features. The Northern counties are a class apart; so are the Eastern counties. Northants, which boasts a very fine and complete series, from the rude Saxon of Brixworth and Barnack to the expiring Perpen- dicular of Aldwinkle; including Oundle, Thrapstone, liaunds, Warmington, Higham Ferrers, Rushden, and Irthingborough, showing a distinct school. A no less distinct school in Somerset, independent, apparently, of Wells and St. Mary's, Redcliffe, comprising Wrington, Yatton, Banwell, Cheddar, Glastonbury, and Taunton. Devonshire, again, and Cornwall, have their own peculiarities, not to mention numerous other districts, but taking only tlie most striking. Gloucestershire also had very decidedly a school of its own, leaving out of sight the fan vaulting, the results of which in the county and the neighbor- hood gave rise, according to many (probably natives), to the proverb, "As sure as God's in Gloucestershire. " Perpendicular, the last phase of English Gothic, is principally distinguished by fan vaulting — an elaborate technical or scientific contrivance which is quite peculiar to England, and seems to have originated in a school of local masons at Gloucester. The original Norman church was transformed here as at Winchester and St. Albans, but by a very dif- ferent process, which I cannot pause to explain; suffice it to say, that the result was equally if not more satisfactory. The process commenced 1329, the cloisters (which, like those of Peterborough, Canterbury, and Norwich, were originally glazed with stained glass, and probably painted and gilt') 1377-1412, the great tower 1450-14G1, and the Lady Chapel 1457-1498. The principal beauties, where all is beautiful, are the cloisters and the great ' See Sir T. Browne, Antiquities of Norwich. MEDIJE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 283 east window — the largest in the world, 79 feet in height by 35 in width, as against that of York, 76 by 32. The fan vaulting, I should say, however, is confined to the cloisters, where it appeared on a c6inj)aratively small scale, as far as mere width is concerned, as was natural in a preliminary essay. It next extended to Bath Abbey Church, one of the latest, if not the latest, Gothic buildings, having been built by Oliver King, Bishop of Wells, 1535 — the small square chapel round the apse of Peterborough, erected under the Abbot Eobert de Kirton; the Beauchamp Chapel at Coventry; the Divinity Schools, begun by Humphry, the " good " clerk of Gloucester; and the cathedral, Oxford, with their elaborate pendants, until it finally culminated with the three famous chapels — King's College, Cam- bridge; St. George's, Windsor; and Henry VII. 's, Westminster. But Perpendicular archi- tecture was not necessarily connected with fan vaulting; and a constant repetition of flat pannelling, with a tendency to squareness, was perhaps its most prevalent characteristic. The magnificent west front, Avest and central towers, and the whole of the eastern portion beyond the transept of York is of this date; and Beverley, as usual, followed suit. We have also the beautiful building called St. Winifred's Well at Holywell, in Flintshire, erected by the mother of Henry VII., and the mortuary chapel on the bridge of Wakefield; also several abbeys — notably Malvern, Cirencester, Sherborne, and Manchester — which are intact, the latter remarkable as being the only edifice in England possessing a complete set of double aisles, for the earlier example in Chichester nave is imperfect; Milton, Dorset, finer than Sherborne, but fragmentary; and Bolton, which is in ruins. Besides Bath Abbey, the three latest works of mediaeval architecture are Archbishop Lichfield's tower at Evesham; Bishop Wareham's tomb, Canterbury, 1522; and Bishop Langland's chapel, Lincoln, 1547. The Eeformation struck the death-blow to the mediaeval architecture, which had long been decaying, and might, with the monasteries, have died a natural death, had not they been both prematurely cut short. But as, in spite of repressive measures, Roman Catholicism and its priests still lingered in England, until they were once again permitted to hold up their heads, so Gothic architecture still lingered in our midst until the modern revival; and, curiously enough, the two events were almost synchronical, though I hope no reader of these pages will infer by their being here placed in juxtaposition that I seek to establish any connection between them. St. Andrew's Undershaft, Leadenhall Street, a very fine specimen, is remarkable as being the first church erected with reference to the Protestant worship; St. Giles', Cripplegate, was built 1545; Middle Temple Hall 1572. During the reigns of James and Charles I. a revival was attempted, to which we owe the staircase of the hall of Christ Church, Oxford — but whether of stone is doubtful — with its fan vaulting; Lincoln and Wadham Chapels; Lincoln's Inn Chapel, London, the work of Inigo Jones (with also, I think, a plaster vaulting) and a good deal of Lambeth Palace. A long series of churches retaining traces, more or less, of the old style may be noticed, including the tower of St. Clement Danes, in the Strand, until the dawn of the revival under Batty Langley ' and Horace Walpole. ' Langley seems to have regarded Masonry and Freemasonry as identical. The dedicatory pre- fix to his " Ancient Masonry, both in the Theory and Practice," 1736 (already noticed at p. 77, ante), thus commences: "My Lords and Brethren,— The principles and practice of Ancient Masonry being the subject of the following sheets, to whom can I so justly inscribe them as to your Most Noble, Eight Honorable, and Right Worshipful selves; not only with regard to your being Masters thereof, but to your great encouragement given, and honor done to the Art, as well as your most affectionate Respect manifested to every Brother of the Fraternity." 284 MEDLE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. In Scotland the old Celtic style, with its small oratories in place of churches, and its round towers — of which one, either original or an imitation, still exists at Brechin — pre- vailed until the time of David I., 1124-G5, who introduced the Xorman style and the Catholic discipline and organization, and who was, teste his successor James VL, a " sair saint for the crown." As the aboriginal architecture was what most aboriginal architect- ure is, of wood or the very rudest stonework, scarcely a trace remains, and even the earliest relics at lona, beyond the crosses, is the Norman chapel of St. Oran. This Norman fashion remained in vogue for upwards of a century, although we find Pointed architecture occasion- ally mixed with it, when it was superseded by a modification of Early English, which con- tinued with but little variation to the end. The arches may become in some examples wider and flatter, but there is nothing at all resembling the English Perpendicular, although we occasionally find traces of Flamboyant, which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the long connection with France. The architecture of Scotland has a style peculiarly its own. Severely archaic in its forms and small in size as are the buildings, the openings and mouldings yet display a degree of richness we should look for in vain either in England or elsewhere. The vaults, especially in the earlier examples, are singularly bold but heavy, and the whole architecture is characterized by ponderous richness. Jedburgh, a peculiarly massive edifice, is Norman as to the greater portion, but has been a good deal restored in the fourteenth century, after the war of independence; its doorways are exquisite throvighout. The same may be said of Kelso, founded 1128, and of Kilwinning, founded 1140. If it be true that the latter is the mother of Freemasonry, all that need be remarked is, that the Freemasons have most ungratefully neglected to lavish any skill upon their parent. Kirkwall, a small, but very perfect, cathedral, boasting three very fine western doorways and a stone vaulting throughout, was founded 1138, and not finished until 1540; but the remoteness of the situation precluded its being affected by the changes of fashion, and the original design has been carried out with tolerable consistency. ' The church of Leuchars is very fine Norman, especially the apse. Paisley was founded 11G3, and a considerable portion must be of that date, but it was greatly altered after having been burned by the English in 1307. It was formerly cruciform, but the nave alone remains. St. Andrews was built 1163-1378; and Dalmeny is a pure Norman apsidal church. Crossraguel Abbey, near Maybole, in Ayrshire, was built about the j^ear 1240, j^nd is curious as being half fortress, half church (of which there are several specimens in France), a not wholly unusual construction in troubled districts. With these may be reckoned Cambuskenneth, Brechin, the small church of Corstorphine, and Coldinghani, which be- longed to Durham, and was the cause of the civil war in which James III. lost his life. Dunblane boasts a very fine western doorway. Aberbrothock [Arbroath] dates from 1233, and the cathedral of Aberdeen, of which the nave and two western towers yet remain, comes between 1317-1518. As in the case of the Cornish churches, the hard unworkable nature of the granite gives a heavy appearance to the whole. Dunfermline was apparently an early structure as far as we can judge by the remains, which include those of the conventual buildings and palace. Glasgow, the largest, and fortunately the most perfect of the Scottish ecclesiastical edifices, comes next, having been built between 1233 and 1300." Its length is 300 feet, and breadth 73, covering 26,400 square feet, without including the ' Assuming tho building- would cost £20,000 at the present daj^ this would g-ive a regular annual expenditure of £50. The Orcadians were certainly poorer and possibly less devout than it is the fashion to suppose the people of the Middle Ages to have been. MEDIAEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. 285 western towers, one of which has been destroyed. The height of the spire is 219 feet. The crypt may fairly be said to be Avithout a rival in Europe, and the lancets of the east end, together with the choir bays, including the arches of the aisles, triforium, and cleres- tory, are peculiarly worthy of remark. New Abbey, Kirkcudbright, 1269, founded under the romantic name of Sweet Heart, to contain the heart of her husband John Baliol, by Devorgilla, daughter and heiress of Alan, last lord of Galloway, is imposing even in its ruins; and Pluscardyn Abbey, founded 1230, has an east end something like that of By- land, only more perfect; the chapter-house is somewhat of a curiosity, being a square or oblong chamber with a vault supported by a single pillar. Dryburgh was founded 1150, but rebuilt after 1322; and the church and tower of Dundee, the finest in Scotland, between 1377-1399. St. Giles, Edinburgh, is of the same period, and it may be mentioned that there is a contract, dated 1387, still in existence, between the Lord Provost and two masons, for the construction of five chapels to the south of the main edifice. This is one of the four churches having a spire supported on four flying buttresses, the others being St. Nicholas, Newcastle; King's College, Aberdeen, 1494, dis- tinguished also for fine woodwork of the choir; and Wren's St. Dunstan in the east. The fifteenth century opens with Fowlis church, Forfarshire, a perfect specimen of a parish church of that age, and, Avith Dalmeny and others one of the few yet remaining intact in Scotland. The remains of Dunkeld show a fine Flamboyant window, besides an episcopal tomb which is worthy to rank with most of our examples; Trinity College chapel, Edinburgh, with its beautiful vaulting and its long apsidal windows, recalling the German. The collegiate church of Crichton, 1449, and the fine abbey church of Haddington, also a very late example, not very unlike its almost contemporary the abbey church of Bath, and in a similar spirit, though with less ambition, termed the ''Lantern of the Lothians." Lincluden is somewhat Flamboyant, and it possesses a fine tomb to the memory of Margaret, Countess of Douglas. St. Monance, Fife, is a fine cross church, with good vaulting and a squat tower, ap- parently of late date. We have also the church and palace of Linlithgow, and the truly royal chapel of Holyrood, erected towards the close of this period, and now unfortunately in ruins. According to a drawing I have seen, it was perfect in the middle of the last century, even to the stalls of the knights. Possessed of aisles, and with vaulted roof, it was, although deficient in richness of decoration, in some respects more imposing from its noble simplicity than even St. Stephen's or the Sainte Chapelle. It was finished 1440. Elgin well deserves the eulogium passed upon it — "Patria decus regni gloria laus et exal- tatio laudis in regnis extraneis." ' Though not the largest it is, of all the Scottish cathedrals, the most beautiful. The western doorway, with its eight rows of columns and mouldings, is the perfection of the Scottish style, and by far the finest work of the kind anywhere to be seen. The choir is equal to Eievaulx or Whitby. The chapter-house still remains entire, and is, together with the north and south aisles, of a Scottish Flamboyant. The east end resembles that of the Ely. It was founded 1223, when the see was removed here from Spynie, but all that remains of this period is the south transept, where, although it is con- temporary with Wells and Salisbury, we see the transition between the Round and Pointed « Although by Fergusson, and I believe others, the nave has been assigned to the fourteenth century, this is only a further instance of the uncertainty of many of the dates of these early build- ings, not alone in Scotland, but elsewhere, and which, in this chapter at least, are merely represented as being approximately correct. ^Reg. Moraviense, p. 204. 2^o distinct bodies of the same trade working systematically apart, — yet that some, doubtless, adhered much more to one class of work than the other, and we can easily see that much more scientific skill was requisite for the construction of the vaulted cathedrals and abbeys than for town-halls, however beautiful, and whose interior, how gorgeous soever the exterior, was generally simplicity itself. The best work on medigeval fortification, not only in France, but for the subject generally, is the archi- tectural dictionary of M. Viollet le Due, whose work is, further, invaluable for all classes of French architecture in the Middle Ages.* Bridges, where we should most of all have expected to find civil and even military engineers, seem, oddly enough, to have been the peculiar province of the monks or priests. For these bridges, or at least many of them, may be not merely vaguely but literally ascribed to them, nor will it be an unreasonable supposition to suppose that the ecclesiastical masons were employed under their direction. ^ Although Mackey, in his " Cyclopaedia,'^ speaks of the bridge builders of the Middle Ages as a masonic association, and quotes from German and French writers the names of the Brilcken- hriider and les Frh'es Pontifes to establish his position, I shall only make a passing allusion to the brotherhood of St. Benezet. According to Mr. Wright, * "the Comte H. Gregoire, who gave up his bishopric of Blois to take part in the events of the great Rev- olution, published at Paris, in a small pamphlet of seventy-two pages (1818) the result, of somewhat extensive researches on the history of the fratres pontlficales, under the title, 'Recherches historiques sur les congregations hospitalieres des freres pontifes." This work, which is not to be met with in the library of the British Museum, I have been unable to consult, but the following allusion to its contents, by Mr. Wyatt Papworth, will be suffi- cient for our purpose: "There is yet another designation," says this excellent authority, "upon which much has been written, namely, the 'Fratres Pontis,' a brotherhood that, more especially in France, is said to have been founded for the express purpose of travelling far and wide to build bridges. Even as regards that country, I have only found a notice 1 Where the httle known Ypres is much the finest example. I have heard it said that the architect of Ypres was a man, but that whoever built Louvain was a woman, who had been dreaming of lace. '^ There is absolutely no English work worthy the name on military architecture, but there is a very good one by Hudson Turner (commonly called Parker's) on domestic buildings. ^This was not always the case. The word "supervisor" appears in a statement relative to the erection of a bridge at Hereford, November 1135, when Alduisie de Malverne held the office. It cer- tainly did not do so in later times; for we find an agTeement for building Catterich Bridge " by Thomas Ampliforde, John Garrett, and Robert Maunseil, masons {sic), 1412-2. This was to be made sufficient, and workmanly in mason craft" for 260 marks (£173, 6s., 8d.) — Proc. R. I. Brit. Arch., 2d Dec. 1861 (Wyatt Papworth). *T. Wright, Essays on Archaeological Subjects, 1861, vol. ii., pp. 137, 140. 292 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR Y. of such a troop having been formed at the building of the bridge at Avignon, and of that of St. Esprit, over the Rhone, during the twelfth and fourteenth centuries (1178-88 and 1265- 13G9). Not much svirprise will, therefore, be felt when it is stated, as regards England, that amongst the numerous references in my notes concerning bridge building especially, no intimation of any such institution appears; or that M. Gregoire, in his history of this brotherhood, could only refer to the bridge over the Dee and another over the Eden, and for those on the authority of the 'Annual Register' for 1808." ' Bridge building was always considered a charitable work. It formed part of the shadowy trinoda necessitas, and hence may have come to being considered as the peculiar province of the clergy. One of the three clerical Spanish architects enumerated by Street in his "Notes on Spain," is the monk El Parral, who restored the Roman Aqueduct at Segovia. One of the earliest passages, in which mention is made of a bridge in England, is in a charter a.d. 943, in which there is a reference to the bridge at Croyland (obviously not the one now existing), but it is not known whether it was of stone or wood. That a bridge existed there at that early period is further attested by a statue of the Saxon kings, probably Ethelbald, which has been metamorphosed by the country people into a statue of Cromwell (who came from the eastern counties) — and who, with a certain class is a kind of lay saint — holding a penny loaf. The present structure is of much later date, and is triangular, which is its chief merit, for it is very small. The stream must always have been insignificant, and the sides are so steep as to render it almost useless. It could never have been much more than a tour de force like the Pont le Pared, near Calais. St. Swithun built a stone bridge over the Itchen, which, judging from the present size of the river, must have been small, though it is quite possible that at that time the stream was con- siderably larger. As he " had necessarily to go abroad upon spiritual matters, he cared in this case, as always, for the common advantage of the townspeople, and built a bridge of stone arches at the east gate of the city, a work which will not easily decay. " " These bridges were rather a long low series of culverts or stone embankments pierced with small openings. In the same way the Romans, with all their engineering skill, were not remarkable for the boldness of their bridge openings; and their bridges were often, especially where width of span was requisite, but little more than brick or masonry piers with timber superstructures, as in the great bridge thrown over the Danube by Trajan. After the Conquest, one of the earliest examples we have any account of is the bridge built over the Lea, at Bow, by Maud, Queen of Henry I., after, to use Stowe's expression, "she had been well washed in the river," and several of her attendants drowned. This was between 1100-1118. Stowe further tells us that the "bridge of Stratford le Bow was arched like a bow, a rare piece of work, for before that the like had never been seen in England." This phrase, if it means anything, probably signifies that it was a real arched bridge, and not a mere series of culverts. It was at first well endowed, but fell into decay, until one Hugh Pratt managed by begging, or rather soliciting contributions, to keep it in repair, and his son was allowed to levy tolls, amongst which was 8d. for a dead Jew, there being a Jews' cemetery on the Essex side. This bridge existed until quite lately, and there still ' Transactions, R. I. Brit. Arch., 1861-63. ^ Unde factum est, ut necessitate exigente de spiritualibus ad forinseca exiens utilitati comniuni civium sicut semper et aliquando provideret, pontemque ad orientalem portam civitatis arcubus lapi- deis opere non leviter ruituro construeret (MS. Life of St. Swithun, Arundel MS., British Museum- probably of the eleventh century). MEDI^ VA L OPERA TI J ^E MA SONR Y. 293 remairxS a bridge of tliree fine Norman arches at Kirkby Lonsdale, over the Lune, and a very curious and ancient bridge at Prudhoe, in Northumberland. Next in chronological order comes the most celebrated and perhaps the greatest of this class of building in the Middle Ages, namely Old London Bridge, which was built by Peter, rector of St. Mary Colechurch, in the Poultry, between the years 1176-1209 — Peter having died in the interim. This was remarkable, not only for its length, in which, however, it was exceeded by several, but from the fact of its having been built in the deep bed of a tidal river, possibly with a stronger current than at present, as well as for having been, probably on this ac- count, built on a timber floor protected by piles and rubble work. This is the more noteworthy, as not only was the use of piled foundations generally ignored at that early period, but it continued to be so even down to so late a date as the construction of the first Westminster Bridge — considered a masterpiece at its time, the foundations of whose piers were not carried down below the bed of the river, where they rested on a timber floor laid on the bottom, and protected only by sheet piling, which inferior method of con- struction caused its demolition within a century of its foundation, whereas Old London Bridge stood for six hundred years. But it must not be forgotten that Old London Bridge was constantly undergoing extensive repairs, svich as rebuildings of the parts swept away occasionally by floods, while Westminster Bridge finally succumbed to the increased scour caused by the removal of its rival, which during its existence had its piers protected to such an extent by piling and starlings, as to have in process of time almost blocked up the waterway. Still the effects of the increased scour on Westminster might have been obviated had the foundations been originally laid on proper princii)les. The mode of securing those of Old London Bridge was then very rare, the usual plan having been to throAV in loose rubble, on which the piers were founded, and the same was afterwards thrown down round them, forming what is technically termed an apron. The former is an approximation to the true method of building on piles driven deep into the bed of the river, which, however, was only introduced by the engineer of Soutliwark and Waterloo Bridges. One of the finest of the mediaeval bridges was that built over the Trent, at Burton, by Abbot Bernard, having a length of 1545 feet; and next to this comes that at AVade, in Cornwall, over the river Camel, built in 1485 by the vicar of Egloshayle, who not only designed it, but actually worked on the structure with his own hands. Like Old London Bridge, it is traditionally stated to have been founded on woolpacks, which tradition arose from a tax of wool having in both cases been granted to defray the expenses of the fabric. The Ouse Bridge at York consisted of five arches, the centre being of 81 feet span and 51 feet in height; it was replaced not many years ago by the present structure; but one of 100 feet span still, I believe, exists at Durham, having outlived a modern attempt at enlargement. Sir E. Knolles, a soldier of fortune, temjy Edward III., rebuilt the bridge at Eochester, the destruction of whose piers not many years ago caused an infinity of trouble to the Eoyal Engineers from Chatham. To these may be added the Bishop Bridge, built of stone and flint, after the Norfolk fashion, at Norwich, over the Wensum; the bridge over the Taw at Umberleigh, North Devon, erected by John of Gaunt, lord of the manor there, and which has withstood the floods of the Taw for five hundred years; and the curious bridge over the Lark at Bury St. Edmonds, which is formed by the wall of the abbey enclosure being carried over the stream on arches, strengthened on the lower side by Avide buttresses reaching almost to the top of.the wall, which buttresses have doorways cut through them, so that planks, forming a foot-bridge, can be laid from the one to the other. Sometimes 294 MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. cliantries were erected on the bridges, and the money received there was often applied to the bridge maintenance. The most beautiful of these still exists at Wakefield, having been built for the celebration of massess for the souls of those slain in the battle there. The bridge itself is of nine arches, and is, I believe, the same as that described by Leland. That on London Bridge, dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket, and in which Peter of Cole- church lies buried, must also have been a specimen of remarkable beauty, and, judging from the drawings that remain, not unlike the Sainte Chapelle at Paris. At Droitwich the bridge chapel had a singular arrangement, whereby the priest was on one side and the congregation on the other. Fortified gates were not unfrequently placed in the centre of a bridge — as at Monmouth, Gloucester, the Welsh Gate at Shrewsbury, and the famous Botliwell Bridge, in Scotland, the scene of the defeat of the Covenanters. These early bridges were kept in repair by various methods. In 1489, John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, published a remission from purgatory for forty days to all who should contribute to the repair of Kochester Bridge, it having become very much broken." The parson of Egloshayle left £20 a year toward the repair of his creation at Wade. The rents of the houses on London Bridge were relied on for the maintenance of the fabric. Bow Bridge was endowed, and as these endowments, for some cause or another, proved in> sufficient, collections were made, and in other instances tolls were authorized. In Scot- land, Dumfries Bridge was built by Devorgilla, heiress of Alan, last Lord of Galloway, and who also built Sweet Heart Monastery in memory of her husband, John Baliol of Barnard Castle {ph. 1269); and at a later date, Milne, master mason of James VI., built a bridge over the Tay at Perth, which was destroyed in a sjDate, also others which proved more suc- cessful. His father was the founder of the family, and being an Aberdeen man, erected some of the principal churches and toAvers there. The family have always continued in the profession — Eobert_ Mylne,^ the lineal descendant of the founder, was the engineer of Old Blackfriars, and his grandson is in the profession at this day. The masonry and construction of the arches of these old bridges was almost always ex- tremely good. That of Old London Bridge consisted of very massive stonework, whoso stones were of great comparative size, as may be seen by the numerous and very accurate drawings made at the time of the demolition. Hence the arches themselves have generally stood; but the pitch and narrowness of the roadway, added to the obstruction they afforded to the small span of their arches to tlie current, have caused the removal of by far the greater number. Their imperfect foundations were not so great a bar to their stability as might at first be imagined, for they were seldom built over wide or deep currents, piled bridges, like the Battersea and Putney, of much later date, being generally resorted to in such cases, and sometimes ferries. Moreover, ilie very obstruction to the stream supplied a counterpoise, by causing an accumulation of stones, sand, and mud above the bridge, which acted as a kind of breakwater. Occasionally an extra flood would make a way for itself, and short work of the obstruction, by sweeping away the breakwater and part of the parent bridge together, when the latter was repaired on the old principle on the first avail- able opportunity. ' See p. 177, ante. * An article in the " Dictionary of Architecture" (Architectural Publication Society) under the title of Mylne, thus concludes: " This terminates the notices of eleven generations of a family all following the same profession, which is still continued by Robert Mylne, F.R.S." (see also Lyon, His- tory of the Lodge of Edinburgh, pp. 85, 92-95). MEDI^ VA L OPERA TI I 'E MA SONR Y. ^95 As to other engineering works, they scarcely existed; tlie Eoman dykes around the Wash and elsewhere had been allowed to fall into decay; beacons held the place of light- houses, save in one or two instances, such as St. Catherine's, Isle of Wight, which was in the charge of priests, and the Ypres Tower, Rye. The first lighthouse on the Spurn was erected by a hermit, the same class of persons who erected the chapel at Morecambe Bay; and the Abbot of Aberbrothock put up the celebrated bell on the Inchcape or Bell Eock Avhere the lighthouse now stands. I may remark that our practical ancestors considered all engineering works, being the means of saving life and improving the condition of men, as coming under the denomination of works of piety, hence probably their connection with the clergy. The only regular artificial harbor that I know of was that of Hartlepool, constructed in the time of the Plantagenets, and which, with its fortifications, was, un- fortunately, unavoidably destroyed during the improvements some years back, and even this consisted of walls surrounding the inner harbor, and jutting into the water on either side, so as partially to close the mouth. The Cobb, at Lyme, 1100 feet long and 35 wide, said by Macaulay to date from the Plantagenets, in reality dates only from the Tudors, as did the first rude works at Dover. There is no trace or record of Winchelsea, but at Bristol the ships lay in the mud till a late period, ' and even the great emporium of Bruges had DO other harbor than the natural creek of Damme, now filled up — at least the most careful search has failed to discover any trace of artificial works. I have now shown, as clearly and as concisely as I can, without the aid of drawings — and even these are not always intelligible to the untrained eye — that the idea of an universal body of men working with one imj^ulse and after one set fashion, at the instigation of a cos- mopolitan body acting under a central direction which has been very generally believed in, is a myth, and that the German origin sometimes claimed for both our medieeval masons and their works is little less so. I must now proceed to show who were the men who erected the great buildings just described; for great and wonderful they undoubtedly were, as well as the various methods by which they worked. And in doing so, we shall, I fancy, meet with further proofs of the independent and local character of the artificers, as well as of their having proceeded on very thorough business principles, which the gathering mists of anti- quity have gradually obscured and caused to become, to a certain extent, both mystical and mythical. In the first i^lace, it may be as well to dispel as far as possible the exaggerated notions current concerning the piety and devotion, or, as some would prefer to call it, the ex- travagance and superstition of the Middle Ages, and the enormous cost and sacrifices required for the erection of mediaeval ecclesiastical structures. The history of the Christian Church, at least in Western Europe, is one long series of alternate donation and spoliation. The Church acquired her property in precisely the same way that any modern hospital does — by donation, testamentary and otherwise, and by subscription. She combined the methods of instruction of both the Church of England and the Dissenting bodies; she joined, in like manner, the two methods of raising the necessary funds; like the Church of England she procured endowments which naturally took the shape of lands; and, by her first fruits and offerings, she covered the ground occupied by dissenters in their weekly and quarterly payments. ^ We have seen that the great impulse to church building in all probability owed ' This lying- on tlie mud caused tlie sides of the vessels to swell, and hence the name of " Bristol hogges," formerly applied to the merchantmen of that port. - Tithes are only a very similar toll, legalized by long prescription, yet at one time considered of inferior value to offerings. -2^6 MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. its origin to the requirements of a nascent civilization, as in our own country in our own time for an increasing population, and we shall find that much the same means were taken to provide the funds. It is quite possible that instances of exaggerated fervor, such as is occasionally related by chroniclers, of entire populations turning out to carry materials and assist in placing them, sometimes occurred, though probably even then they were highly colored, but it is equally certain that such instances were rare. Something similar may occasionally be met with in remote districts at the present day, while, however unromantic it may sound, many churches were built by quasi joint stock companies, who ran up a church in a likely neighborhood, put in a priest, a monk if possible, because he worked cheaper, and paid themselves dividends out of the offerings, for the tithes almost invariably went to the old church. The older canons and councils are full of enactments against this practice. As a rule the usual methods were adopted for raising the requisite sums. Thus the chapter at Salisbury set apart a considerable portion of their income to the building of their cathedral, besides sending round regular agents to collect subscriptions. Similarly in our day the dean and canons of Ely for some time set apart a regular pro- portion of their income for the restoration of their cathedral, besides soliciting subscriptions; and the works at Westminster Abbey are carried on by means of a fund specially devoted to that purpose. Canterbury owes doubtless a great deal to the shrine of St. Thomas; and York was principally indebted to the archbishops Walter Grey, John le Koman, Greenfield, Melton, Scrope, Thoresby, and Bowett, and the noble families of Percy, Scrope, and Vavasor, for the funds available for the use of the fabric were by no means large, and were, moreover, fluctuating, although there were one or two estates regularly set apart for the purpose, especially the tithes of Topcliffe; the income derived from them Avas inconsider- able, but it was occasionally supplemented from other sources — from the penancers and brief bearers, the mortuaries, legacies, and alms, the whole of which amounted to a considerable, e.g. — On 15th May 1368 Eich. de Richmond and the other exors. of Wm. fil.Henrici, fil.Hen- rici, rector de Eomaldkirk, paid to the chapter 80 marks, which the testator had left to the fabric; and somewhat earlier, in the commencement of the century. Sir Peter de Manley was fined 100 marks for adultery, which was given to the minster fabric. Something similar was the case of a great lady. Lady Alice Lacy, who, 1270, gave a very large sum, £3754, to Westminster Abbey, for the privilege of managing her son's estates during his minority (11 years);* and another dame gave all the stone requisite for Salisbury — i.e., I imagine, the free run of a quarry for 20 years — with what object is not stated. Indulgences were often granted to those who contributed to the work; and the magnificent south- western tower of Eouen cathedral goes, as is well known, by the name of the Butter Towe]*, from having been built with the money paid by those who desired to cat butter during Lent. Sometimes an indulgence was granted by the Pope himself where the influence was strong, is was the case with Cologne, and another and equally efficacious method was to obtain the canonization of some member of their church or other person buried within its precincts, and even where this could not be effected, the possession of the tomb of a popular character answered the purpose just as well, as was the case with the tomb of Edward II. at Gloucester, the removal of whose body from Berkeley Caste does the abbot's foresiglit and sagacity the greatest credit. ' In 1246, £2591, due from a Jew's widow to the king, was given to Westminster Abbey; also £2000, extracted with some difficulty from the citizens of London, and a fair of fifteen days was gi-anted to the Abbot about the same time, probably for the same purpose. MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. 297 Nor was the expense of these buildings so great as would at first sight appear. One of the most eminent of our engineers — one, too, who never exceeded an estimate — once amused himself towards the commencement of the present century by making an estimate for Lincoln, with which, from his constant employment on the Fen drainage works, he was well acquainted. The result of his investigations, which he carried out with some care, was, that he would take the contract (the only right way of looking at it) for about £1,000,000 present money, presuming that he had only the same means of transport and the same mechanical appliances that were available in the Middle Ages; but that, if he had those actually open to him, he would take it for considerably less. At this rate it could have been built for £7000 a year present money. York, presumably rather more costly, but which lasted much longer, would have cost less. On the other extremity of the scale we know the estimated cost of the comparatively small projected cathedral at Truro, that at Edinburgh, the nave of Bristol, the spire of Chichester, and the rebuilding of the great parish church at Doncaster, so that we can form a pretty fair estimate of the actual cost of Gothic buildings — and Ave must remember that restoration is often more expensive than actual rebuilding. While on the subject, I may mention that the famous tower of Boston did not receive at the time of its foundation more than three donations of £5 apiece, of which the parson gave one, and probably, as I have said before, owed the money necessary for its majestic proportions to the fact that those proportions served the purposes of a sea mark. I need not quote the numerous instances of the cost of various churches or portions of churches with which our books abound, neither shall I trouble my readers with any of the accounts of workmen's wages, etc., inasmuch as they really tell us but little, for we do not know the purchasing power of money, i.e., the real value. On the whole we may compute the expenditure of the 9.000 parish churches or thereabouts, existing at the Ref- ormation, at between £50,000,000 and £60,000,000 present value, taking the modern average cost of a church, and that of the cathedrals 20 in number, at from £6,000,000 to £7,000,000, — a total of about £65,000,000, spread over a period of more than 400 years. The amount (approximate, but pretty closely calculated) spent on church — not chapel — ■ building, restoration, and enlargement has, since 1818, when people first began to move in these things, amounted to £50,000,000, of which £1,000,000 has gone to cathedrals. Putting schools in the place of abbeys will allow of a still further comparison. The amount spent upon church school buildings has been £8,000,000. At the Reformation there were 645 monasteries, 90 colleges, 2374 chantries, and 110 hospitals, or without the chantries 845. Could they have been built on an average for £10,000 apiece? I think not, although the really costly and magnificent buildings were much fewer in number than are usually supposed. Their aggregate revenue, though very different estimates have been made, amounted at that time to about £150,000 a year, which, from various calculations, has been proved equal to £5,000,000 at the present day, or at least the rent roll of the estates would now amount to that sum. The income of the clergy during the past fifty years has in- creased by about £1,000,000 per annum from various sources (principally, however, the savings of the ecclesiastical commission), and the endowed charities (including schools), almost all of which owe their origin to within the last 300 years, to about as much more. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the above figures by no means represent all the sums that have been poured into the lap of the Church within the last half century. As we are here on the subject of abbeys I may as well say that they were the greab means of civilization adopted during a certain period. They did not flourish in such 298 MEDIyE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. numbers before, and towards the end of tlie period tliey decayed so that the Reformation found the numbers of monks and nuns in the several establishments much diminished, as it was in France before the Eevolution. The dissolution had been broached more than once before the Reformation, notably under Henry V. The account of their vast wealth both before the Conquest and after, as given by Knyghton and others, is evidently a ridiculous exaggeration. There were not more than 120 abbeys at the end of the Saxon domination; indeed, some authorities restrict their number to 70. The estates of the chapter of Winchester, presumably the richest, amounted to 17, GOO acres in Hants, not to speak of other places, on a moderate calculation of the size of the hide (Domesday). In the same record, the lands, generally small, of 900 parish priests are given, though Arch- deacon Churton supposes their total number to have been 4000. The total amount of the Church lands could not therefore have been anything like one-third of the kingdom. Similarly, a vast spoliation took place at the Conquest, and re-endowment, as always, began shortly after. We know what it was at its highest, i.e., just before the Reformation, and we know that the aggregate of these lands — episcopal and capitular estates, abbey lands, and parochial glebe — Avould not amount, all told, after making the proper allowances, at • the present day to much more than £6,000,000 a year, out of a total land rental of between £60,000,000 and £70,000,000. The abbeys were neither the seat of intense mental work, of coarse debauchery, or of unrestrained jollity; but they did much and good work even to the last. Amongst other things they were the poor-houses of the Middle Ages, their hospitia were the casual wards, and after their suppression the poor law had to be passed under Queen Elizabeth. That they did not entirely fail in their objects may be inferred from the desperate risings that were made in their favor, whereas I should be much sur- prised to see any rebellion in favor of boards of guardians, workhouse officials, or school boards. The abbey revenues would about pay the charges of the poor law; perhaps, properly administered, they would have sufficed for education as well. The following is a list of abbeys, etc., founded after the death of the Conqueror, taken from Grose:— William II. (13),' 27; Henry I. (35), 150; Stephen (18), 138; Henry 11. (28), 165; Richard I. (10,) 52; John (17), 81; Henry III. (56), 211; Edward 1.=* (33), 106; Edward II.= (19), 36; Edward III.^ (51), 48; Richard II. (22), 14; Henry IV. (14), 12; Henry V. ^ (9), 4; Henry VI. "^ (39), 24; Henry VII. (24), some few priories, a hospital in the Savoy, and others, and one small college; Henry VIII., 5 hospitals. — Total 978. From these, to arrive at the number existing at the Reformation, must be deducted the alien priories. Chantries are not included. The hospitals and colleges were monastic founda- tions, and not hospitals and colleges in our sense of the word. Almshouses would better express their destination and status, as in the two still existing foundations of St. Kathe- rinc's. Regent's Park, originally founded by Adela of Blois, wife of Stephen, removed to its present site when St. Katherine's Docks were built; and St. Cross, Winchester, founded by Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, Stephen's brothej". The abbeys remained, as a rule, as ihey were originally built, for they could not count on the sympathy of the diocese, ' Figures within parentheses denote the number of years each monarch reig*ned. ^ First statute of Mortmain. Chantries began to be established, whereby the seculars were somewhat benefited. ^ The Knights Templars abolished. * In this reign the alien priories were first restrained. * Alien priors seized. * Eton, and King's College, Cambridge, founded chiefly out of revenues of alien priories. MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 299 nor on the fines and other sources of income open to the cathedrals, nor were their abbots men of rank and wealth or holders of pluralities, as was the case with many of the bishops, though they might sometimes count on offerings given to certain shrines, or on vast landed property, as was the case at Glastonbury, with its large estates, galaxy of tombs, and hoar antiquity; St. Alban's, with the shrine of the protomartyr, and the possessor also of great revenues; Chester, with the shrine of St. Werburgh; Walsingham, with the miraculous image of the Virgin, and some others. Hence I cannot at present enumerate much more than a dozen which received any material addition to their buildings after the date of their first foundation. It will be seen further on that these considerations are of some im- portance. But who were the men who built these edifices? An amazing genealogy has been oc- casionally traced for them, but the only one for which any rational ground can be assumed is that of the Roman Collegia. These Collegia were certainly introduced into England, as is witnessed by the famous Chichester inscription (which, as already observed, does not refer unequivocally to builders), even if the fact had not been certain from the nature of things, and because of this, added to a few vague traditions and certain loose expressions in pane- gyrists, and other late and unsatisfactory writers, it is sought to establish a great school of masons in this country, from whom the mediaeval operative masons, and svibsequently the modern Freemasons, can trace a direct descent. But, in the first place, it is very doubtful how far the British element, which is supposed to have carried on the Collegia until they reappeared in the Saxon form of guilds, survived the Saxon Conquest. Works of great research and ingenuity have been written on the one side and on the other, with the only apparent result of proving how irremediable and hopeless is the divergence of the learned, and what little chance there is of the question ever being satisfactorily settled, ' or at least until the learned condescend to lay aside their individual crotchets, which, practically speaking, amounts to the same thing. But, even assuming a very considerable Celtic population, and great Celtic influence, so that the Collegia may be the parents of the sub- sequent guilds, we have no evidence that any such Collegia belonged to the building trades, but a good deal of negative evidence to the contrary. The Celts, wherever and whenever found, were emphatically not builders, — the native works in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland consisting either of mounds and earthworks, or subsequently of stonework of the rudest construction; their circular, beehive-shaped huts of stone, which were used also to a certain extent for religious purposes, being common to the merest savages. Gildas, speaking more than forty years after the decisive battle of Mount Badon had pretty well rid the country of the first swarms of invaders, says, that the towns still lie dreary and neglected (" adlmc deserta squalent"), and there is, I believe, no evidence of either. Silchester or Wroxeter having been restored by the Romano-Britons after its first destruction. The discovery of British churches by Augustine proves nothing. Britain was a Roman colony for nearly 100 years after the conversion of Constantino, during which period they may have been built, and, even if that were not so, the mere fact of the existence of a few small churches of rude construction is no proof of the existence of an extensive building fraternity, with reg- ular rules and corporations. Moreover, the Anglo-Saxons when they began to build were obliged to import workmen, and they also sent abroad when they commenced to restore. Benedict Biscop, who may be regarded as the first patron of architecture amongst them, ' See ante, chap, i., pp. 36-46 {Collegia). 300 MEDIAL VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR V. about G7J:,, went over to France to engage " cementarios/*' in order tliat his cliurcli at Monk Wearmouth might be built " according to the manner of the Eomans, which he had always loved; " and St. AVilfrid, of York, slightly later, brought over with him eminent builders and artists from Rome, Italy, France, and other countries." We may, therefore, feel tolerably certain that all knowledge of the art of Roman building, and with it the Roman building corporations — though they still had Roman buildings in their midst — had long been lost, and had never been handed down to the Saxons. Guilds, however, undoubtedly existed before the Conquest, as well as among the Saxon population afterwards. Brentano mentions three, and Pike, in his "History of Crime," '^ shows that the merchant guild of Dover, and the burgesses guild at Canterbury, existed at least as early as the time of the Confessor; and the various weaver guilds appear as regularly constituted, in the earliest records of the Exchequer dating not long after the compilation of "Domesday." The learned Heineccius affirms that in Germany (which, though never a province of the Roman Empire, Avas much more influenced by it than is usually supposed) the guilds appeared first in the eleventh century, and considers further, that they were an imitation of, and not descendants from, the Collegia of Rome. Hence, on the whole, considering the double uncertainty of, firstly, the descent of any guild from classic institutions; and, secondly, of the chance of the building gviilds in England at least having formed part of them, even if such descent existed, we must, however reluctantly, decide against the high antiquity of the masonic bodies in the British Islands. Nor do organized bodies of masons seem to have arisen — though on this point it should be observed that our present conclusions may be at any time invalidated by the production of further evidence — until long after the appearance of guilds among the other trades. The reason of this is obvious, the necessity of moving from place to place as work called them would long preclude their having associations by which the other trades were strengthened and controlled, and the essence of which, as was the case also with the Collegia, was a local habitation.' The early masons were probably to a certain extent under the direction of the monks and priests for whom they worked, and it is highly probable that an ecclesiastic who had some taste for, and, what is more, some practical knowledge of, architectvire, was far more common then than now, while in the more primitive countries the missionaries would have, in many cases, to assist personally in the work. This, and. the natiirally and necessarily migratory habits of the workmen, together with the occasional passing of styles, architects, and workmen from one country to another, Avill account for the myth of a cosmopolitan body working under the monks. All the legends of the Freemasons, both here and abroad, are manifestly of a late mediaeval origin; and the stories of Euclid, the one mathematician of classic times known to the Middle Ages, are involved in that charming disregard of all chronology,^ which is one of ' See W. H. Rylands, The Legend of the Introduction of Masons into England (Masonic Magazine, April and May 1882). ^ Vol. i., p. 68, et seq. ^ " Tlie guild of masons differed in no essential particulars from those of the shoemakers or liatterS; the tailors or vinters — all had their masters and past-masters, their wardens and other officers. But though their organization was the same, the nature of their pursuits forced one very essential dis- tinction upon the masons, for, inasmuch as all the usual trades were local, and the exercise of them confined to the locality where the tradesman resided, the builders were, on tlie contrarj', forced to go wliei'ever any great work was to be executed " (James Fergusson, History of Architecture in all Countries, 1865. vol. i., pp. 477, 478). Mr. Street, however, believed the masons of Spain to have been stationaiy rather than nomadic (Gothic Architecture in Spain, p. 464). * A manuscript note, penned some 125 years ago, on the margin of a copy of the 1723 Constitu- MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 30 1 their chief characteristics. There was a strange vein of imagination in the medigeval char- acter, witness tlie style of architecture, indigenous and utterly unlike anything either before or since — the institution, of chivalry, the crusades, the romances, strange tales,legends, and travesties of history. Witness the legends of St. Alban, of " Ewclyde," King Pharaoh, of Virgil as a magician, and the stories of King Lud, Brutus, Troynovant, and others, for all of which no kind of foundation, or excuse for a foundation, exists. ' Yet we should greatly err if we imagine that the building fraternities, even at that early period, were invariably under the control of their employers. Hugh de Goldcliffe, who so grievously imposed upon the ambitious but unbusinesslike Abbot of St. Albans, was evi- dently a contractor, and we may assert generally, that then as now, there were different modes of employing them. In some cases there was a regular contract, in others, the work was more or less done, all at one time, under the direction and control of the society or individuals who supplied the funds, while, in other cases, chiefly cathedrals, and perhaps some of the greater abbeys, a regular staff was kept, where employment sometimes con- tinued from generation to generation (as is the case with those employed in the great Gov- ernment powder magazines), and which bodies were increased by additional gangs or hands being taken on as occasion required. The great fundamental error, I may observe once for all, in most investigations of this nature, and which leads to countless others and to endless confusion, is too hasty a generalization from imperfect premises, and it is by care- fully avoiding this source of error that we shall be able to trace out a path for ourselves in the intricacies with which we are surrounded. The building fraternities or trades of the Middle Ages, must have been in many respects like those of the present day, or rather like those of the Companionage — which seem to be their legitimate descendants, i.e., as a trade society or union, and must have been essentially different from the guilds, although a masons' guild certainly existed, and still exists, in London. * But, at whatever period the masonic bodies first took form, the ceremonies and customs by which they were distinguished, are at least of much earlier origin than our oldest con- stitutions. The fabric rolls of York Minster, which have been published at length by Canon Kaine for the Surtees Society, show that in 1355 " Orders for the Masons and Work- men " were issued. '' The first and second masons who are called masters of the same, and the carpenters, shall make oath that they cause the ancient customs underwritten to be faithfully observed. In summer they are to begin to work immediately after sunrise until the ringing of the bell of the Virgin Mary, then to breakfast in the fabric lodge, then one of the masters shall knock upon the door of the lodge, and forthwith all are to return tions, preserved in the hbrary of the Grand Lodge of England, has the following: "Witness the story of Meron [Naymus] Grecus, who was at ye building of Solomon's Temple, in the year of the world 2933, and after came into France to Charles Martel, their king, who began to reign in the year of ye world 4660. So the man was 1727 years old !" (see ante, pp. 97, 248). ' It may be observed, however, that the ancient Irish manuscripts undoubtedly conceal ethnic traditions pointing to an Eastern origin. Cf. The Irish version of " Nennius," edited by Todd and Herbert, Irish Archaeological Society, 1848. ^ The remarks which next follow are mainly based upon papers, " On the Superintendents of English Buildings in the Middle Ages," read at the Royal Institute of British Architects, January 23, 1860, and December 2, 1861, by Mr. Wyatt Papworth, to which gentleman I am further indebted for many valuable references (Transactions Royal Institute of Bi'itish Architects, 1859-60, pp. 38-51, and 1861-62, pp. 37-60). The authorities for the statements contained in these two papers will be found in the " Dictionary of Architecture," issued by the Architectural Publication Society. 302 MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. to work until noon. Between April and August, after dinner tliey shall sleep in the lodge, then work until the first bell for vespers, then sit to drink to the end of the third bell, and return to work so long as they can see by daylight. It was usual for this church to find tunics (probably gowns), aprons, gloves, and clogs, and to give occasional potations and re- muneration for extra work. Gloves were also given to the carpenters." Strikes, boycot- ting, and rattening were, even in those remote times, not wholly unknown, for there is an account of a conspiracy ' ' that certain stonecutters or masons, being moved by a most wicked spirit of envy, wickedly conspiring for the death and ultimate destruction " — which does credit to their ingenuity — " of Magister William Colchester, assigned to us and to the fabric of our church by our most dread lord the king, by his letters patent (Colchester had been master mason of Westminster Abbey) for the government of the said fabric, and specially received under the protection of the same, treacherously assaulting the said William, did grievously wound him, and did so injure another person, his assistant, that his life is considered in serious danger." In 1433 two "setters" had £1, 6s. 8d. given to them as remuneration, also two skins for aprons, according to custom, which cost 12d,, and ten pair of gloves, given at the time of setting the stones, costing 18d. A nearly similar entry occurs in the following year. In 1472 William Hyndely, warden of the lodge of masons, was paid at the rate of 3s. 4d. a week for twenty-eight weeks, for working in the ofiice of the master of the masons, and had 13s. 4d. for a reward. He became master mason, and, two years later, was working with two apprentices and three laborers; and, five years after that, with eleven masons and two apprentices. The bridge at Catterick, 1412, was contracted for by three masons at a lump sum, with a gown to each, " according to their degree." The building of Walberswick steeple, 1426, was undertaken for 40s., with a cade of herrings and a gown ' of " lenore ones," which is not very clear — possibly Icuere once, or "livery once," each time of working. A parish in Suffolk, 1430, was to provide every Freemason with a pair of white leather gloves and a white apron during the works. So the mason, conti-actor for rebuilding the bell tower of Bury St. Edmunds, 1435, was to have £10 a year, board for himself in the convent hall as a gentleman, and for his servant as a yeoman, also two robes, one for himself of gentleman's livery, that of the servant to be a yeoman's livery. Livery at that time was not a badge of servitu.de or menial office as at present, but of subservience, and was worn by young gentlemen of high rank when in at- tendance on some great lord, which was a part of their education. " Wearing the Queen's livery " is an undoubted survival of these ideas, which I mention to show that the builders were not the masters but the employes (not exactly the servants) of those who paid them." Hence I do not wish further to encumber these pages with examples of gowns, aprons, and gloves, nor of the various accounts, rates of wages, etc., which, after all, prove but little. A " house " seems to have very commonly been part of the salary of the master mason, as in the agreement between the Prior of Durham and John Bell " latimus," 1488, and in many other and earlier instances. The said John Bell had also an apprentice for whom he ' A garment of some sort was frequently stipulated for. Thus, from an MS. cited by Sir John Fenn, in the " Paston Letters," ii., p. 16, we learn that, in 1464, a labourer covenanted to serve twelve months, with a gown and diet, for £1, 6s. 2 The first donation of a livery to the king's clerk of the works yet ascertained was in 1391. Tunics, aprons, gloves (1355), and clogs and shoes, appear to have been the necessaries found for those of the secondary and lower classes. Rymundo de Monforte de Lamos St. Lugo, 1127, stipulated for a cloak of office (see also Street, Gothic Architecture in Spain). MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 303 was to be paid by the sacristan. In 1610 "a Freemason, who can draw his plot, work, and set accordingly, having charge over others," is considered as worth 12d. a day before Michaelmas, and lOd. after it. A rough mason who can take charge over others, was, at that time, worth lOd. and 8d. according to the same seasons. I instance this as showing that the old customs subsisted, occasionally at least, until very late times. One of the earliest intimations of the "lodge"' occurs in 1200, when a tahulatum domicialem was the shed erected in front of St. Albans Abbey — by Hugh Goldcliffe afore- said, and, in 1321, is an entry of 2s. Gd. for straw to cover the masons' lodge at Carnarvon Castle. At the chapel of St. Stephen, Westminster, a man was paid, in 1320, to clean out the lodge, amongst other work. In 1399, there occurs at York a list of the stores at the "loge" in the cemetery. In 1395, at the additions to Westminster Hall, the king engaged to find "herbergage" (harborage) for the masons and their companions (journeymen); and, in the same year, is noticed the fact of two carpenters working upon the new house for the masons of Westminster Abbey, and another house in Tothill Street; and of 15s. 6d. being paid to the " dauber" for the lodge for the masons and the house in that street. The earliest of the Masonic " Constitutions" or " Charges," the Halliwell, circa 1400 {ante, p. 60), has — " If in the logge the apprentice were taken," and also — *' The prevystye of the chamber telle he no mon, Ny yn the logge whatsever they done;" which is styled by Mr. Papworth "a satisfactory instance of the attempt at concealment of trade mysteries." In 1421, at Catterick church, a "luge" of four rooms is specified as having to be made for the masons. In 1426, the masons engaged to build Walberswick steeple were to be provided with a " hows" to eat, drink, and sleep in, and to " make mete in," i.e., fitting or convenient. As I have shown, these lodges were formerly thatched, but one properly "tiled" was to be provided at the expense of some parishioners in Suffolk. In 1432, a "luge" was erected in the cemetery at Durham. And, in 1541, Thomas Phillips, freemason, and John Pettit, covenanted "to set up and fully finish"* the Coventry Cross, and, at their own charge, " to prepare, find, and make a house or lodge for masons to work in during the time of making the same cross."'' Various customs of trade are mentioned in the manuscript constitutions of later date. As regards the origin of masonic guilds there are two traditions, besides the alleged charter of Athelstan, and the familiar legend of St. Alban, namely, one making Godfrey de Lucy bishop of Winchester, who first rebuilt the eastern portion of his cathedral, the founder of a confraternity, 1202, which is accepted by Milner as the origin of the society of Freemasons; the second, that advanced by Anderson, 1738, but never authenticated, who assigns the honor to William Molart, prior of Canterbury cathedral, 1429, under the patronage of Archbishop Chichele.' ISTeither of these are really worth discussing. Even ■ Loge, Anglo-Norman; a lodge, habitation, lodging (Wright's Glossary to Chaucer's Poems), Cf. Dictionary of Architecture, s.v., where twenty -four instances of the "lodge," being referred to, between 1200 and 1523, in England, and four, between 1483 and 1537, in Scotland, are given. '■^ T. W.Whitley, The Coventry Cross, 1880, pp. 8, 9. " It has been tliought that ' Thomas Phil- lips, freemason,' was the real contractor and builder, whilst Pettit was the quarry owner, and found the stone. Of this, however, we have no real evidence" {Ibid., p. 11). *" Among the Tanner MSS., Bodleian Library, Oxford, the Register of Christ Church, Canter- bury, and of William Molash, not Molart, is extant. It contains no mention of a lodge being held under Chichely, but it states that the ' Lathomi ' received livery. . . . This is no doubt the same 304 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. supposing that such societies were founded, it is quite clear from the whole documentary evidence that they must have been short-lived, and, during that short life, never extended their influence. There was, however, undoubtedly a guild of masons in London in 1375, when the right of election to the civic dignities, including those of parlimentary representa- tives, were transferred from the wards to the trading companies. In the next year a list was drawn up in French of the number of persons chosen for common councilmen by the trades. This list comjirises 148 members, of whom the masons sent 4, and the Freemasons 2. It is believed that the latter afterward merged in the former, and this amalgamation probably occurred prior to 1421-2,' 9 Henry V., for a document in possession of the Brewers' Company of that year gives the masons as 29th on a list of 112 companies, but omits all mention of the Freemasons. Halliwell instances a single statement to the effect that "a company of under masons was formed in London, 12 Edward IV., 1473, Avhile the incorporation of the masons is sometimes referred to as having taken place in 1677 or 1678, by erroneously taking the renewal of their charter by Charles II. as the original. The date, 1411, is recorded in the usual subscription to the coat of arms. It is worth remark- ing that Stowe says that the masons were formerly called Freemasons.^ There is also a notice of a guild of ccementarii, 1422-3. Mr. Papworth considers it as a curious coincidence that the handwriting of the earliest constitutions is about contemporary with the date 1375, but that this is much too vague to support any argument or theory whatever. He further says that this date coincides with that of the supposed formation of a wonderful secret society of masons who banded themselves together to escape the oppressive measures of Edward III., who " pressed °' men to serve on his numerous buildings. As Mr. Papworth very justly observes, there is probability about much of this, but no authority. The earliest, or one of the earliest, enactments ^ regulating the price of wages, was directed more or less against trades unions in general, and not those of the building trades in particular. That the trades continued to resist these enactments was only natural, and that they did so is proved by the various statutes promulgated from time to time; from these it is clear that fellowships and guilds of the building trades existed from the middle of the fourteenth century as might have been expected, but there is no proof that any supreme guild existed, but rather the reverse. Also, it does not seem clear whether the building trades generally had any connection with the Masons' Company of London;' and I should be inclined to think that the building trades associations were mere trades union societies differing from the guilds, which partook more of a corporate character; and which, hence, more closely resembled the Collegia, if they did not actually descend from them. Speaking of this supposed descent, I may mention here, incidentally, that I should be much more inclined entry alluded to by Preston [Illustrations of Masonry], but he has founded more on it than it will bear" (Kenning's Cyclopasdia, Chichely). ' See W. Heibert, History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, 1837, vol. i., p. 33. * Seymour, Stowe, vol. ii. The company of " marblers" ajipears to have been also absorbed by that of the "masons" (Herbert, vol. i., p . 33; Strype, p. 215; and Seymour, pp. 381, 393). In 1501-3, however, the masons' company only comprised eleven members (Papworth). ^ The statutes relating to the building trades will be fully examined in a subsequent chapter. ^The following entry, however, will be found in the "Calendar State Papers," Domestic Series, vol. ccxiv., p. 408: " 1667 — Aug. 22 — The King to the Lord mayor, — There being great want of masons and bricklayers to carry on the important works at Sheerness, he is to summon the masters and wardens of those companies, and order as many able workmen to be sent as shall perfect the work before the season of the year prevents." MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 305 to look for their traces in France, especially in the south among the Confreries, not in the Companionage, Avhich is, and was, a collection of trades unions; or in Italy among the workmen fraternities of the Middle Ages, than in England or Germany. ' As regards the grips and signs attributed to the early builders, the masons' marks, the secrets, the lewd and profane symbols, and the numerous figures indicative of a dislike of and contempt for the clergy, very few words are necessary, the more especially as the '' signs and tokens," and the " masons' marks," will be referred to in subsequent chapters. That artisans of an especial trade should have peculiar modes of recognizing each other when travelling in search of work, is nothing but what might have been expected — such practices exist in the Companionage, and may in England, for all we know to the contrary — although I believe they did not arise, or at least traces of them have not been found, until comparatively recent times. Moreover, a secret society has certain political, religious, or social — some may call them anti-social — objects. These they would ill serve, by devoting their time to the practice of working stonemason ry, and would serve it still less by con- tributing to the advancement and glorification of the Church, which has always considered the repression of such societies and such aspirations as being among her chiefest duties. Furthermore, all documentary and trustworthy evidence, all the dictates of sound common sense, tend to discourage, and even ridicule, such a notion as being the mere chimera of visionaries and enthusiasts. So the marks are nothing but the ordinary marks similar to those made and chosen by each individual mason at the present day, whereby, in case of necessity, each man's work is ascertained. They are, apart from immediate trade purposes, useful and interesting to the antiquary, as showing the numbers who worked on any par- ticular building, as well as whether the same masons worked on any other edifice, and if so, where; but how any one but a theorist, who prefers dreaming in his study to acquiring wholesome practical knowledge, could imagine that — when used by the masons — they re- ferred to any esoteric doctrines, certainly surpasses my comprehension. That our medieval ancestors were superstitious and fond of alchemy, believing in certain signs, etc., is un- doubtedly true, and that workmen may have occasionally chosen such figures for their marks, partly from superstition and partly from caprice, is likely enough, but one can scarcely imagine any man foolish enough to waste his time and trouble in inscribing some mysterious secret on that side of a stone which was to be immediately covered up, there to remain for centuries, if it was ever destined to see the light at all. The only parallel that I can discover to such a proceeding is the famous classic story of the worthy, who, op- pressed by the greatness of his secret, told it to the reeds, and what that was, all knew when the wind forced the reeds to divulge it. As to their secrets, all trades have their own, important or otherwise, to the present day, and the mediaeval masons must have been more likely to have possessed theirs, when we consider the extreme height and comparative fragility of their buildings, the thinness of the walls and vaulting, and the smallness of the stone employed. Both Wren and Soufflot, the builders of St. Paul's and of St. Genevieve (Pantheon) and certainly the two most scientific architects of their respective countries, con- ceived the highest opinion of the skill of their mediaeval predecessors, and we must re- member that books in our sense of the word scarcely existed, and that the great bulk of the teaching was oral, whilst books of practical geometry did not exist at all. Out of the thousands of names of authors and their works collected by the laborious compilers of the 1 One of the best and fullest works on this subject is " Gayes Carteggio di document) inediti," from the Florentine archives. 20 2o6 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR V. ^ famous "Histoire Litteraire de la France/' I do not recollect any that treat upon tliis subject. '' It may be conceived/' says Poole, " that the great secret of the Society resided in the practical way in which many principles, after which we are now feeling in vain, and many rules of construction which each man now learns to employ by a mathematical process, were reduced to what is vulgarly, but expressively, called ' the rule of thumb/ " "Perhaps," he continues, "John "Wastell, the master mason of King's College Chapel, followed with the utmost assurance a rule of wliich he could not give a philosophical account, but which he was ready to apply again and again to works of every magnitude." ' There was a double motive with these men for keeping their trade secrets close, for besides the mystery wliich mankind are so prone to affect, they really had something both to learn and to conceal. As for the various symbols, lewd, profane, or merely caricatures, it should never be forgotten that the mediaeval nations were extreme! f coarse, and in their way extremely witty. A very slight acquaintance with mediaeval literature will cause us to feel no surprise when we meet with stone caricatures equal in strength and coarseness to those of Row- landson and Gillray, nor need we be astonished to nnd a good deal turn upon the clergy, as do a great number of those of our English draughtsmen, especially in the matter of tithe; and these, together with indecencies which are, after all, not quite unknown in more re- fined ages, were probably the amusements of carnally-minded workmen when they thought they could indulge in them witliout risk of discovery. ^ But a strong anti-religious and anti- social sub-current certainly existed throughout the Middle Ages, and these figures may possi- bly be the expressions of the feelings and opinions of individuals among the masons, though that anyjarge body of men should combine to erect a magnificent edifice for the furtherance of a diametrically opposite creed, in order to put somewhere out of sight a little figure or sym- bol indicating their own, is an absurdity that I do not suppose the secret societies .with all their inconsistencies — and they hkve committed many and striking ones — could be capable of. ^ As to the symbols found, or at least said to be found in churches connected with the Templars, these open up a new subject upon which neither time nor space will permit me to dwell, and it possesses but a very shadowy connection with our general inquiry. Lastly, — having to some degree, it is hoped, cleared away the mythical and mystical cloud that hangs around the subject, and having attempted to show that in both builders and buildings there is nothing to be discovered other than may be suggested by the dictates of reason and the light of common sense — comes the most curious, the most im- portant, and at the same time the most obscure question of all, Who were the actual archi- tects and designers of the mediaeval edifices? and were they operative masons or at least men belonging to that body? Various theories have been advanced on this most interesting 'G. A. Poole, History of Ecclesiastical Architecture in England, 1848, p. 118. Mr. R. P. Knight says: "If we ask what is meant by pure Gothic, we receive no satisfactory reply; there are no rules, no proportions, and consequently no definitions." And in another part of his work he asserts, that the Gothic ai-chitects recognized no rules, but worked merely for efiect (Analytic Inquiry into the Prin- ciples of Taste, 2d edit., pp. 162, 175). It is but right to say that the validity of Mr. Knight's conclu- eion was strongly contested by Hawkins (Gothic Architecture, p. 182) in 1813, and that a recent author (Fort, p. 199 (also scouts the idea of the " rule of thumb" adopted in the text. ''See Findel, p. 68, and ante, y>. 166. 3 The only instance at all comparable to such a feat that I know of is that of a nonconformist minister, who went to the trouble and expense of editing Hooker that he might confute him in foot- notes in the proportion of about three lines to four pages. MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 307 subject, — tlie monks, the master masons, the regular — i.e., regular according to our ideas — the modern architect, the freemason, wliile some have gone so far as to say that the reason vihj so few names are known is, that the mediaeval architects concealed their names from an excess of piety, a suggestion which is about on a par with the supposition that in British journalism the writers of leading articles are actuated by a like feeling of modesty and self-denial. Where so many different ideas have been advanced, and have been, some of them at least, so ably championed, I have a right to advance my own, which I shall do briefly and to the best of my ability, but it will be first advisable to see what are the various designations used for masons in the Middle Ages. " Caementarius, " says Mr. Papworth, "is naturally the earliest, 1077, and is the term most constantly used. ' Artifices ' were collected at Canterbury to a consultation, from which William of Sens came out the 'Magister,'a term also applied to his successor — William, the Englishman; but it is not clear whether 'master of the work' or 'master mason ' is to be applied to these two. In 1217, a popular educational writer noted the word ' cementarii,' together with the old French synonym ' maszun,' leaving little hesitation for our accepting the one for the other. The 'London Assize,' of 1212, besides 'cementarii' has 'sculptores lapidum liberorum,' words of very exceptional use. ' At the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, the terms ' magister cementarii,' with his ' sociis ' or fellows, are obtained. ' Marmorarius ' has been noted; also a new word 'latomus,' which is, after that period, found written in all manner of spellings." A ' masoune,' in old French, is to erect a house, ' de pere fraunche'; and of somewhat later date is found u ' mestre mason de franche pere; ' while still later, 1360, a mason ' de fraunche pere ou de grosse pere ' appears in the statutes. In a writ of 1415 are the words ' petras vocatas ragge calces et liberas petras. ' ' During the fourteenth century ' lathomus ' is con- stantly found, and it would aj)pear to be applied as often to the mason who was to execvitc cut-work, as to the mason who was required for rougher work, or to labor at the quarry. Under the date of 1396, the contractors for the works at Westminster Hall were ' citiens et masons de Londres;' and of the same year is the passage ' lathomos vocatosffre Maceons,' and ' lathomos vocatos Ugiers,' * or, as we should translate the words, masons called free (stone) masons, and masons (the same term is used for both) called layers or setters. " ' " Cementarius," or " Simentarius," before, and " fremason " after, 1396, are found in the Fabric Eolls of Exeter Cathedral. In the Roll for 1426 (the 5th year of Henry VI.), which is composed of parchment sheets joined continuously, about 15 feet in length, and 11 in breadth, occurs the following entry:'' — ' The cementarii above mentioned had 3d. and their food per day, or 4^. without food; the sculp- tores had 2d. and 4d. per daj-. '^ Latomus was used in an inscription in Paris as early as 1257. ^ As fraunche pere, or free stone, appears to mean stone that cut freely, the substitution of liber for fraunche (unless merely a literal translation) points to some connection between the freemason and the freedom of a trade. ■•Mr. W. H. Rylands, in " The Freemason" of November 26, 1881, and the "Masonic Magazine " of Febmary 1882, has printed the deed, dated 14th June, 19 Richard 11., or A.D. 1396, from the copy of the original docuinent preserved in the Sloane MSS. (No. 4595, p. 50). He describes the entry in Rymer's " Foedera" (vol. xvii., edit. 1717), cited by Mr. Papworth in the "Dictionary of Architecture," s.v. " Freemason," as occurring in a syllabus of manuscript Acts, not published, at the end of the volume, after the index, p. 55. ' Transactions Royal Institute of British Architects, 1861-62, pp. 37-60. * For this reference I am indebted to Mr, James Jerman, of Exeter. This gentleman and the 308 MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. Johi Harry fremason opanti ibim p septiam . . 3s. Johi Umfray fremason p lianc septiam . . . nl. q, hie recessit. As already observed " Lathomus" is appended to William de Wynneford's portrait at Winchester college; and, somewhat later, amongst the " latimi " at Durham, one is especially called a "fPremason." "Thereafter," continues Mr. Papworth, "mason and freemason are terms in constant use down to the present time.' From these details three facts are obtained, — the first, that the earliest use of the English term Freemason was in 1396, without any previous Latin word. The second is, that the word freestone, or its equivalent Latin term, had been em- ployed from the beginning of the previous century, i.e., 1212; and the third fact, if that word be permitted me, is, that the term Freemason * itself is clearly derived from a mason who worked freestone, in contradistinction to the mason who was employed in rough work. " The terms architect, ingeniator, supervisor, surveyor, overseer, keeper of the works, keeper of the fabric, director, clerk of the works, and devizor, are all of comparatively recent date, at least in their general use and application. That these mediaeval terms are not yet clearly comprehended may be gathered from an amusing quotation in the case of Eichard of Wolveston, cited as a "prudens architectus" in a register of the period of Bishop Pudsey of Durham, early in the twelfth century. In a charter relating to an ex- change of lands, this Richard is styled "ingeniator," and the translator, commenting upon the term, writes, " Dick the Snarer, then, doubtless, a title of honor; a gin is still technically called an engine or ingene;" though, as Mr. Pap worth observes, such a sobriquet would now, however applicable, be deemed the reverse of complimentary, if bestowed on the gamekeeper of a bishop. It has been urged, however, that this surname (ingeniator) was not uncommon in the North of England at the period, and was applied to any person who manifested genius in his vocation. ' Many interesting papers have been read before the Institute of British Architects, fol- lowed by discussion and debate, the object of which was to clear up the mystery attending the real architects of the great mediaeval buildings, in which three principal theories were maintained,' — one being the old popular notion that the architects were the monks them- selves; another, that they were the master masons; and the third, that there existed, as at Rev. H. Reynolds (the chapter librarian) vainly searched the Fabric Roll of 1396 for the name of " William Foundyng, freemason," mentioned by Britton in his "Exeter Cathedral," 1827, p. 96. ' Mr. Papworth cites William Horwode, Freemason, Fotheringay, 1435. John Wode, mason, who contracted to build the tower of the Abbey Church of St. Edmundsbury, "In all mannere of thinges that longe to free masonry," 1435: John Stowell, ffremason, Wells, 1470; William Este, fremason, Oxford, 1494; John Hylmer and WiUiam Vertue, freemasons, Windsor, 1507. In the sixteenth cent- ury the term freemason becomes more common. The word cementarius and latomus are repeatedly found in the two volumes of Vocabularies, dating from the tenth to the sixteenth century, edited by the late Thomas Wright, and privately printed, 1857 and 1873. Many extracts from this work were given by Mr. W. H. Ry lands, in the " Freemason" of September 3, 1881. Mr. Papworth says, "that the terms ' magister lapicida ' and ' liberi muratores ' are nowhere to be met with in documents re- lating to England, and thus there is no sufficient authority for that constant use of them observable in writers of former years." ^ The derivation of this word will again claim our attention. ^ Transactions, Royal Institute of Bi'itish Architects, 1861-63. ^See Transactions, 1856-60, pp. 38-51; 1861-62, pp. 37-60; and 1863-64, 130-146. MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 309 present, a regular order of architects who woi-ked in precisely the same way as men in tlie profession do now; but, in spite of a great deal of argument and learning, the "grand crux/' as Mr. Digby Wyatt observed at the close of one discussion, "remains unsolved." It seems to me, however, that the difficulty encountered at this point of our research arises, (1.) from the fact of different words being used at different times to signify the same thing, a fact which is too often disregarded; (2.) from not sufficiently contrasting the modes in which trades and professions were carried on at periods of time remote from our own; and (3.), from too hasty a generalization upon imperfect data, without pausing to reflect that customs and ideas have been influenced both by nationality and locality, and that because one set or description of men were numerously employed, this by no means precluded the employment on other occasions of a very different class, and that the former — although, even in this instance, often with exceptions — may have been more constantly in requisition in one time and place than in another. Let me take England first. It is, doubtless, true that missionary priests and small bands of monks, on first settling on the site of the future monastery, may have been forced to instruct the barbarous natives, and even to work with their own hands; and, in this view, it is probable that some of their number were skilled artificers, or had been so, before they took the vows, although, in such rude buildings, no great skill was required. It may be true, also, that Wilfred labored with his own hands on his churches, but this proves very little. ^ Bishop Hackett — appointed to Lichfield at the Restoration — began, the morn- ing after his arrival, to clear away the rubbish with which the fall of the great spire during the siege had encumbered the nave of the cathedral, with his own hands and with the aid of his servants and coach-horses; and Isaac Barrow, master of Trinity, after his scheme for a university library at Cambridge had been rejected by the senate, went straight back to Trinity and began to measure out the plot of ground on which the magnificent library now stands — one of the masterpieces of Wren — with the aid of his coachman and a ball of twine. Benedict Biscop brought over cementarii, not monachi, from Gaul; and Offa employed also foreign workmen. On the other hand, a monk appears to have been the actual architect of Ramsey, and a priest would seem to have had a share in the little Yorkshire church above mentioned. Omitting mere masons and artificers, whose names are legion, we begin, shortly after the Conquest, with Robertus Cementarius, who presided over the building of St. Albans, and was said to have been the most skilful mason of his time; ^ the oft-referred-to Hugh de Goldcliffe — who, about 1200 A.D., so swindled the ambitious but unbusinesslike Abbot Paul of St. Albans out of his money, and was the cause of the west front still lacking its towers, which the original Norman structure possessed — was clearly a contractor, although only a cementarius. Mr. Papworth calls him a designer, although without proof, as far as I can see, unless by the expression he means a designing man. He also was highly praised for his talent, but not for his integrity. A little before comes William of Sens at Canter- bury— who is supposed to have introduced into this country the true Gothic, as well as the practice of vaulting in stone, — then his successor, Gulielmus Anglus, or William the ' December 2, 1861. Transactions, Royal Institute of British Architects, 1861-62, p. 60. "^ St. Dunstan is reported to have been an excellent blacksmith; and Bede, in his " Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow," remarks that the Abbot of Wearmouth assisted liis monks la their agricultural labors, by guiding the plough, and by making various implements of husbandry. ^ Transactions, Royal Institute of British Architects, 1861-62. 3 1 o MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. Englishman, who is supposed to have been identical with one William of Coventry, and is, I believe, celebrated by Malmsbury, and is credited with the original Norman abbey at Gloucester. It is worthy of remark that both at St. Albans, under Abbot Paul, and at Canterbury, before the commencement of the works by William of Sens, conferences of eminent ceme^itarii were held, at which Goldcliffe and William of Sens respectively carried off the palm. Were open competitions and committees not unknown even in those early days? The same thing occurred before the commencment of Westminster, but nothing further is, I believe, known on the subject. About the same time, also, flourished Alex- ander de Noyes, of Lincoln celebrity, and here I am inclined to think that the known list of great English cementarii terminates, unless we believe that Eichard de Farleigh, 1334, Avas the architect of the tower and spire of Salisbury. He made an agreement, the story of which — but, unfortunately, not the exact words — are given in Dodsworth's history of the cathedral. The endorsement, however, is " Conventige Eichardi de Farleigh, Lathomi," and in the body he is called " Eichardi Davy de Farleigh, cementarii '^ thus — if we follow Mr. Papworth — proving him to be the master mason and designer. It stipulates that he should be entrusted with the custody of the fabric, to order and to do all necessary work in the same, and to superintend, direct, and appoint useful and faithful masons and plas- terers; with regard to himself, that he should perform useful and faithful work, and use circumspect diligence, as well as provident discretion with regard to the artificers under him, that he should repair thither and make such stay as the necessity or nature of the fabric shall require, and that, notwithstanding his prior obligations at Bath and Eeading, he should not neglect or delay the works of the church. Afterwards, when settlements ap- peared in the tower arches in consequence of these works, an agreement was made with Nicholas de Portland, mason, conceived in the same general terms as those already cited; and when further repairs were contemplated, 1415, a similar agreement was made with Eobert Wayte, mason. The above agreement with Farleigh, always supposing it to have represented the original correctly, would seem to be rather with an architect or superinten- dent of buildings, who covenants to see the thing properly done, than with a contractor, in our sense of the word, i.e., one who undertakes the cost for a consideration, although there is nothing said about the design. After this, or even from an earlier period, there exist numerous covenants with masons, some of whom were actual contractors, though ap- parently not on a large scale, i.e., taking piece work instead of working by the day, they are all called, apparently indiscriminately, cementarii, latomi, masounes, and towards the end, freemasons — whether merely a new term, or designating men belonging to a new or- ganization, I cannot determine — and they, as well as their employers, seem uncommonly well able to take care of themselves. It should be stated, that of the names that have come down to us but few betray a foreign origin, the great majority being those of persons who, apparently, v>'ere natives of the districts in which the edifices were reared, with which their names are connected. This will account, in a great measure, for the local peculiarities such as are constantly met with, and which seem to indicate the existence of local schools.' Towards the end of the time the contracts seem to become larger, as in the case of Horwood, the freemason, for the chapel of Fotheringhay; and Semark and Wastell, for the roof of 1 " Of the Churches of the early Middle Ages," Mr. G. E. Street, in a paper read before the mem- bers or St. Paul's Ecclesiological Society, May 21, 1879, says: " I could have told you how they may be Classified into groups, speaking to ns of the skill and genius of individual architects, each in his own district or diocese" (The Building News, May 30, 1879, vol. xxxvi., p. 598; see ante, p. 282). AIEDIyE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 311 King's College Chapel. I may remark, by the way, that the records of the three great perpendicular chapels are very full}' preserved, and in a great part published, and afford very full information of the modus operandi at that particular period. I now turn to the list of ecclesiastical architects, real or supposed. Gundulf will occur to all. His claim has been strenuously advocated and as strenuously denied, and that by very eminent men; and I can neither weary my readers with the argu- ments pro. and con., nor undertake to decide ex catliedrd. Flambard, the "vizier" of Eufus, is an instance, amongst many, of a man obtaining credit for what he did not do, and failing to obtain credit for that which he did. There is not, as far as I know, the slightest proof of his having had any skill in architecture; but he was a lawyer, and wrote the earliest book on English law — still in MS. Paulinus, the sacrist, built Friudsbury, in Kent, 1137, where some of the earliest pointed arches in England, exactly contemporary with those of St. Cross, Winchester, are yet to be seen. Arnold, a lay brother of Croyland, under Odo the prior, a.d. 1113, is said to have been cementaria artis artificiossisimns magister, and to have executed work there.* Will Stowe is said to have erected a new steeple to the abbey at Evesham, 1319, where there was also a tombstone with the inscription " Hoc anno (1319), obiit Henricus Latomns, qui sub Johanne Abbate de Evesham aulam abbathise artificiose composuit." "^ It is usually said of the subject of this epitaph that the fact of his having been a monk is distinctly ex- pressed, and according to Eudge he was sacrist of the abbey. ^ There were also Richard de Gainsborough and Robert de Gloucester, both called cementarms.* According to Dallaway, formerly a great authority, Hugh the Burgundian, Bishop of Lincoln, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and some others are clearly proved to have been great architects, but this statement seems destitute of any foundation in fact. Robert Tulley (afterward Bishop of St. David's) built the tower of Gloucester Cathedral, while a monk, under Abbot Sebroke; he was also patronized by Waynflete. Over the dividing arch of the nave and choir is, or was, written' — " Hoc quod digestum specularis opusque politum TuUii ex onere Sebroke abbate jubente." The author of a paper read before the Society of British Architects, April 18th, 1864, after saying that the great multitude of our churches are built by men utterly unknown, proceeds to give some exceptions to this general rule, one being in the case of Vale Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen, " where across the gable of the west front is inserted the fact — 'Adamus Abbas fecit hoc opus in pace quiescat. Amen.'" Passing from this statement, Ihe value of which I do not rate very highly, we find that — Elias de Derham, or Berham, canon of Salisbury, directed the building operations, though Leland speaks of " Robertus, cementarius," who ruled the works there for twenty- five years. There were also under him Henry of Cerne, mason, and Alan de Hereford, carpenter. Nicholas Cloos, Bishop of Lichfield, and son of a Dutchman, may possibly have had * Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland (the continuation by Peter of Blois). ' Leland's Collectanea; Dallaway, Discourses on Architecture, p. 51. * Histoi-y of Evesham, p. 28. '' Walpole's Anecdotes (Wornum), vol. i., p. 135. 'Dallaway, Ifiscourses on Architecture, p. 178. 312 MEDIyEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. something to do with the original design of King's College Chapel, which was begun shortly before his death in 1453, but which certainly became a far more elaborate and magnificent building than its founder or original designer — whoever he may have been — had ever in- tended it to be. This is the utmost extent of the much-talked-of German influence in England that I have been able to trace. William Bolton, prior of St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, is usually considered to possess the best title to the honor of having designed and built the chapel of Henry VII. at West- minster. ' I now come to the two greatest names of all. Wykeham's claims to architectural eminence have been still more fiercely disputed than even those of Gundulf. One eminent authority, whose name out of respect I will not mention, is distinctly at variance with himself, saying one thing in a discussion on one of Mr. Papworth's papers, and another in a work published at about the same time. I repeat here what I have above said about Gundulf, save that the balance of probability is a good deal in favor of Wykeham. At any rate, which is a point of importance, he had under him three eminent artificers. With regard to Alan de Walsingham, the case happily is far more explicit, and as the " Historia Eliensis" goes into considerable detail, and thereby throws a flood of light upon the architectural transactions — at least in England — during the Middle Ages, I shall now draw upon these stores, first premising that it has been constantly stated that he is there styled " vir venerabilis, et artificiosus f rater," a phrase that really occurs in Leland's " Col- lectanea.'"^ After stating that he was first of all sub-prior, and then sacrist, and having djescribed the fall of the central tower, the record continues: — " The aforesaid sacrist, Alan de Walsingham, was greatly grieved and overwhelmed by this lamentable and overpowering calamity, so that he scarcely knew which way to turn, or what to do to remedy the effects of so great a ruin. At length, trusting to the help of God, and of Mary His most holy mother, and in the merits of the virgin Ethelreda, he set vigorously to work, and, to com- mence with, had, as quickly as possible, all the stones which had fallen inside the church cleared out, and the place cleansed of the great quantity of dust which had collected; then the place in which the new campanile was to be built was, by means of architectural skill, divided into eight parts in which might be erected eight columns of stone supporting the whole superstructure, and beyond which was to be built the choir with its stalls; and these parts he caused to be dug down into, and well examined, until he arrived at a solid place where the foundations of the work might be securely laid. ' These eight places having been firmly examined, as has been stated above, and fui^ther rammed down with stones and sand, he at length began the eight columns, together with their stone superstructure, Avhich was finished as far as the upper cornice in six years, a. d. 1328. Then was imme- diately commenced, on the top of the aforesaid stonework, that scientific structure of wood, belonging to the new campanile, which is reckoned as one of the highest and most won- derful efforts of the human mind. The cost was very great and burdensome, especially ' Thoresby may have had a great deal to do with the choir of York, and OUver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is said to have designed the Abbey Church at Bath. To Bishop Quivil, Dallaway accords the credit having designed Exeter Cathedral (Discourses, etc. , pp. 53, 153). ■^Ed. 1774, ii., 604. =* The excavation for the foundations of the dome of St. Paul's, itself an imitation of Ely, is de- scribed in similar, if not ic'.entical, terms. MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. 313 for the great beams of the said building, which were naturally obliged to be of a size, and which had to be sought far and wide, and having been at length discovered and prepared with the greatest difficulty, were brought to Ely by land and water carriage, and, having been shaped and carved by able workmen {per ingeniosos artifices) were scientifically fitted together in the work itself; and thus, by the Divine aid, was obtained the glorious and much-wished-for result. The cost {costusf) of the new campanile for twenty years, under brother Alan de Walsingham, amounted to £2400, 6s. lid., of which £260, Is. came from gifts."' Walsingham had as coadjutor John de Wisbeach, and under him was John Altgryne, generally described as a bricklayer, but who must clearly have been a stonemason, inasmuch as there is not a brick in the building, I may add that portions of Walsingham's expenses were published by Governor Pownall, but they refer only to such things as the use of silicate in tempering colors, etc., the most important being omitted. These notices are all that I have been able to gather; and I am conscious that, few as they are, they are not altogether satisfactory as they stand. The fabric rolls of several cathedrals, however, still exist in MSS. ; possibly, also, many MSS, relating to abbeys lie hidden in the recesses of our great public libraries. Could these be published or investi- gated, and could some one be found who possessed a courage and a patience sufficient to enable him to go through, even with the help of the indexes, the printed chronicles and documents relating to our mediaeval England — I will not speak of the materials still existing in MSS., which amount to, I think, between two or three thousand volumes, according to Sir Thomas Hardy's catalogue — could, I say, such a man be found, he would, doubtless, clear up much which is obscure in the history of our Gothic architecture; till then all that can be done is to collect in as short a compass as possible all known facts, and then to comment upon them according to the light of reason and common sense. ^ From the above list we gather the names of seven cementarii, who evidently were more than mere workmen, or even master masons, in our sense of that term; and we have also the names of thirteen clerics, including one lay brother (Arnold, of Croyland), who are supposed, with more or less appearance of truth, to have been — and some, at least, who certainly were — architects. We should also have seen, had the space permitted, that the cementarii were of all ranks and classes, from one capable of superintending or contracting for such a building as St. Albans, or even of designing it — such as William of Sens, English William, and perhaps Farleigh at Salisbury— to the humble individual who undertook a tomb, a portion of a dormitory (as at Durham), or a village spire. These men, therefore, were not, by any means, all the mere workers raised but little above the class of journey- men that professional jealousy would sometimes have us believe. Next, we have the great clerical trio (I omit Gundulf) Derham, Wykeham, Walsingham, more especially the latter, since the account of his work is so clear and ample. It is quite evident from these three, backed and confirmed as they are by the positive accounts in the '' Historia Eliensis," that there existed, at least here and there, ecclesiastics who were quite capable of taking the superintendence, perhaps even the execution, of a building into their own hands, provided they had competent master workmen under them. There was yet a third mode of pro- ' Historia Eliensis, apud Wharton, Anglia sacra, vol. 1., 623. "^ Essex, "Wharton, and Willis, all collected materials for a general history of Gothic architecture. No one was more competent than the "admirable Willis," but what has become of those materials? It is but a few years since he died, and his nearest relatives are still, I believe, in the land of the living-. 314 MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. ceeding — that adopted at York, where, and most probably in other cathedrals, there was always maintained a competent staff of workmen, which in time of need could be augmented from without. These were in general under the treasurer or the sacrist, and John le Romaine Avas the treasurer under whom the transepts were erected. Ample details as to York may be seen in the " Fabric Rolls," edited for the Surtees Society by Canon Raine, to which I must, once for all, refer the reader. ' Gloucester seems to have been a regular school of masons — a kind of architectural college — in which theory was very properly mingled with practice, and from which, according to the best authorities, fan vaulting took its rise.'' There was also, probably, another but earlier school at Wells. Hence we have three methods or modes of procedure adopted by our English mediaeval builders: (1.) Where the work was done by the cementarius or latomus; (2.) Where the real head was a cleric; (3.) Where there was a kind of school, in which the clerics — or at least, some of them — together with their master masons, " hammered out" the designs between them. Here, as we do not generalize hastily from a few instances, and have thus arrived at this conclusion, so we shall find that by not judging of past times by our own, we shall arrive approximately at the reason why our ancestors could dispense with the class of men whom we call professional architects. In the first place, architecture was at that time a living art, and as this art found its principal expression and employment in the erection of churches, it is not surprising that the ecclesiastical profession should have produced eminent men in that line, more especially when we remember the very varied, and even out-of-the-way callings in which both priests and monks frequently distinguished themselves, and that there is, after all, a good deal of truth in the popular belief that the " monasteries " (for which read " the clerical profession generally") were the great depositories of learning.^ Next, as regards the masons them- selves. It must not be assumed because an ordinary master mason, or clerk of the works, at the present day is incapable of executing any building of architectural pretension — though I can point to one eminent architect who was originally a working stonemason — that such was always the case, or, rather, that there was in the Middle Ages any such wide and impassable gulf between what are, after all, but two ends of the same trade, as we see at present. The comparative simplicity of the Middle Ages, and all analogy drawn from their social history, forbids such a supposition. Architect and mason were all integral parts of one body, whether corporate or not; and as a proof, the same words cementarius, etc., are used to designate them, whatever work, be it great or small, is alluded to; and though it by no means follows that the working mason often attained the highest rank, or that the ' The Fabric Rolls of York Minster (vol. xxxv. of the publications of the Surtees Society). Sir Gilbert Scott says: " The point of the necessity of gangs of skilled workmen accustomed to work to- gether has not been sufficient!}' attended to. The fables of the Freemasons have produced a natural reaction, and the degree of truth which there is in these traditions has consequently been overlooked. Each of our great cathedrals had a gang of workmen attached to it in regular pay." Gleanings from Westminster Abbey, 1861). 2 Fan vaulting may have been brought to perfection at Gloucester, but it really sprang from the gradually increased width of the aisles and bays, and the flattening of the clerestory vaulting, as any one can see for himself who contemplates a Gothic vault; or it may be said that the prevail- ing form gave rise to the opportunity which the Gloucester artists— I use the word for want of a better — seized. * So that we cannot judge them by modern clerical or university standards, although some of our best theoretical books have been written by clergymen. The great services of the clergy in bridge building must not be forgotten. MEDIAE VA L OPERA TI VE MA SONR V. 315 architect often began from a much humbler position than that to which he subsequently attained, yet there was a much easier gradation between the two ranks — a gradation not the less easy because it may seldom have been climbed, like the mythical bdtoti in the French conscript's knapsack, as compared with the strongly drawn line which separates the British private from his officer. The next question that arises is. How many buildings owe their origin to each of the three divisions I have above alluded to? The cathedrals with their regular sums, though possibly small, set apart for the fabric, and the perpetual power of drawing on the purses of the ambitious, the artistic, or the pious throughout the diocese and perhaps beyond it, could always maintain a body of workmen, and in general depend upon some member of the capitular body Avho was capable of directing them. When this was not so, the building stagnated. But with the abbeys the case was different, their churches were almost all built at the foundation of the houses. ' These buildings, then, must have had in the first instance some guiding mind to whom they owe their beauties. It can scarcely be thought likely that every foundation should have had its origin a member capable of such things whether he found himself there by accident or design, and it is, therefore, most probable that the ccmentarii carried out the works in the now ruined abbeys, aided occasionally by members of the fra- ternity as in the case of Arnold of Croyland, which, by the way, was an ancient foundation, and, therefore, one where brothers may have been trained. But if this was the case with the abbeys, it must have held, in a far greater degree, with the parish churches. It cannot be possible that the vast multitude of beautiful churches which dot our landscapes can owe their design to their respective parish priests, still less that the dignified cathedral clergy should have made tours (like an archidiaconal visitation) to plan and superintend the various edifices that may have been in progress of construction. Hence, the bulk of these magnificent buildings, as many of them undoubtedly are, may be referred to the skill of the masons alone, e.g., at Wigtoft, in Lincolnshire, 1485-99 (a late example), twelvepence " earnest money " was given to a workman on condition that " he shall take no other work till we (the churchwardens) have done, without our leave and consents."* In this case the workman would almost seem to have been a designer. Hence, in England, the masonic body may very fairly be credited with a very large portion of medieval, not to say other church architecture, and must have very materially contributed to that in which the clerics had really the chief share. As regards continental Europe, let us, in the first place, examine the theory of Viollet le Due,' who considers Clugny to have been the centre and even controller of civilization in the eleventh century, quoting to that end one Ungues de Farfa, who sent one of his dis- ciples (John) to examine a report upon that famous Benedictine house, and whose MSS. is still in the Vatican." And he supposes, further, that the dependence of the opera- tives upon the monks lasted until the revolt of Vezelay, 1119, when the commune shook themselves free of the monks in the quarrel between Hugos, Count de Nevus, and the abbey, and, because they were well paid,- sided with the count. Even Thierry cannot ' So far as I am aware, there are only sixteen whose progress, Uke that of the cathedra;ls, has been gradual. ' Transactions of Royal Institute of British Architects (1861-62). In the same paper Mr. Papworth records an opinion "that it is to the master mason, as a general rule, that we may turn for the actual designer of all the well-known erections of the Middle Ages." ' Dictionnaire Raisonne de I'Architecture Frangaise. * MS. 6808. 3 1 6 MEDI^ VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. conceal this. I need only say that this very beautiful theory, which has been reproduced in English/ is worthy of a Frenchman, and has but slight foundation in fact. There is another theory that Bernward, chancellor of the Emperor Otho III., and who seems to have been a kind of aesthetic Bismarck, was the originator of the Romanesque stjde, and this, too, may be relegated of the realm of improbabilities. Passing by these theories, I will, as before, present to my readers the facts connected with foreign builders, as I have been able to discover them. We find at Toulouse, Mcclxxii., magister Aymerlcus canonicus cancellarius et opcrarius (canon, chancellor, and architect) ecclesim Tolosance, and the name of Bernard de Sacco, priest, canon, and operarius of St. Sernin, ob. 12G1.'' In France the usual term was master of the works, and is found on tombs at Chalons, 1257, St. Ouen, 1440, Amiens, and Notre Dame. The maitre de Vceavre became architect in the sixteenth century. M. Verneil notices the working drawings traced on the granite slabs of the roof of Limoges, forming exactly the lines of the great piers of the crossing.^ There is a curious document at Gerona concerning the rebuilding of the cathedral, 1312. Two Frenchmen, called operarii (obreros), Raymond de Vitorie and Arnaud de Montredon, were first employed. In 1316, Henri de Narbonne was the architect (but Street, from whom I copy, does not give the exact words), and after him came Jacques de Favarius, who was engaged to come to Gerona from Narbonne six times a year. * He also refers to Mat- thgeus, master of the work at Santiago, 1168-1188. The first Spanish architect, according to Street, whose name is preserved, is Petrus de Deo, in an inscription in San Isidore, at Leon; next comes Rymundo of Montforte do Lomos, 1127, and it may be worthy of remark that, as in England in somewhat later times, he stipulated for a cloak of office. In 1 175, a contract was entered into with one Ray- mundo, a Lambardo, for works done in the cathedral of Urgel. He was to employ four Lambardos,^ and, if necessary, ceme?itarii or wallers. Here we find a superior class, i.e., the better class of cementarrii had a distinct name from the Lombards, or rather the inhabitants of North Italy, for the kingdom and separate race of Lombards had long been extinct. These northern Italians, being more civilized, must have produced skilled masons, — a speculation which is suggestive of the Magistri Comacini, or masters of Como, whose pre-eminence as builders has been dwelt upon by Mr. Hope. In 1203 Pedro de Camba, at Lerida, was called magister et fabricator ojjeris — which seems to imply a real architect. So, in France, eg git Robert de Coucy, maistre de Notre Dame, et de St. Nicaise qui trepassa Van, 1311. Also at Rouen, Walter de St. Hilaire, cementarius and magister operis, and Alexandre de Bemevel, maistre des ceuvres de Massonerie au buillage de Rouen et de cette eglise, mccccxl. His tomb in the abbey of St. Ouen, shows a young man in a lay habit with compasses. In Italy the same expression was commonly used, as in the baptistry of Pisa, where we find Deoti Salvi magister Imjus operis. The above are taken from Street's "Notes ©n Gothic Architecture in Spain," and the ' Transactions, Eoyal Institute of British Architects. "^ His tomb, or rather its slab, is to be seen in the Museum at Toulouse. 8 Transactions, Royal Institute of British Architects (Wyatt Papwortli), January 1860. ■* It would be curious to know the exact style of architecture in tlie catliedral of Gerona, so as to compare it with any existing remains at Narbonne or tlie vicinity. ^ This term may imply either natives of Lombardy or skilled artificers ? See ante, p. 260. MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 317 conclusion that he comes to is, that there is no trace of what is usually known as free- masonry, but that the men Avhose names are mentioned above were like modern architects, except that they were occasionally employed as contractors for the buildings, besides being paid by the day or year for the superintendence of the same. But this statement, with however great respect it may deserve to be received as emanating from so high an authority, leaves two things untouched : it says nothing as to how or by whom the churches were designed, for the evidence to be deducible from the above is not conclusive, and ignores the irresistible tendency of bodies of men, employed in similar pursuits and with common in- terests, to form bodies for mutual protection and advantage. Street also denies the exist- ence of clerical architects, such as Gundulf, Flambard, and Wykeham, although in a dis- cussion on one of Mr. Papworth's papers, about the same time, he reasserts Wykeham's claims, and even denies those of Walsingham. Out of the 127 names in his list, he can find but three who were clerics. Frater Bernardus, of Tarragona, 1256; the monk El Parral, who restored the Eoman aqueduct at Segovia — we have already seen that for some unexplained reason the civil engineers of that era were usually monks or priests; and an abbot — though he hardly comes within the scope of the argument — who in the eighth or ninth century rebuilt Leon cathedral; but many of these can scarcely by any stretch be called architects — some were workers in iron, etc. Peter de Corbie, the friend of Wilars de Honcort, built several churches in Picardy. The architect of Notre Dame de Brou was Maistre Loys van Boghem, and the sculptor Meister Conrad, but this building came very late, having been built by Margaret of Austria, Eegent of the Low Countries — whence the architect — and daughter of the Emperor Max- imilian, and aunt of Charles V. The sketch-book of Wilars de Honcort has been published by MM. Lassus and Willis, and is a most interesting record of the architectural science of this period. Wilars was a native of the Cambresis, and was born in the thirteenth century. His sketch-book shows great power of drawing, both as regards figures, animals, and architecture, though examples of the latter are, unfortunately, in a minority, and these consist mostly of studies, especially from his favorite, Laon. There is scarcely anything of his own, save the very curious design for the east end of a church, inscribed, "Here is a church with a square termination, designed for the Cistercian ritual;" also another, an apse, with nine chapels radiating from it, alternately square and semi -circular, which, according to the inscription, was worked out by Wilars and his friend De Corbie in a friendly discussion. But both seem to have been ideal, or, at least, never to have been carried out. Under another is inscribed, "This shows the elevations of the chapels of the church of Eheims. Like them will be those of Cambrai, if they be built. Elsewhere he says, "I have been in many lands;" and to one of the sketches of windows at Elieims, he says, "I drew this when I was under orders to go into the land of Hungary." Libergier 'designed the very perfect church of St. Nicaise, Eheims, which was destroyed at the French Eevolution; but his tombstone was removed to the cathedral, and we learn from it that he was a layman, and married, as was Pierre de Corbie, who is known to have designed or built several churches in Picardy, and may have been the architect of the apse at Eheims. Jean de Chelles, 1257, built the gables of the transept and some of the chapels of the choir of Notre Dame at Paris. On the basement of the southern doorway the following inscription is carved in relief: — 3 1 8 MEDIAE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR V. " ANNO . DOMINI . MCCLVII. . MEUSE . FEBRUARIO . IDUS . SECUNDO . HOC . FUIT . INCEPTUM . CHRISTI . GENITKICIS . HONORE , KALLENSI . LATHOMO . VIVENTE . JOHANNE . MAGISTRO."' Etienne Bonnetiil, a Parisian, designed and built the cathedral of Upsala, Sweden, after "Notre Dame, at Paris; as any one, by a comparison of the drawings, can see for himself. Was he a designer, or rather a mere contractor, with the power of drawing, or at least of paying some one who covild? A brass plate in the floor of Amiens Cathedral, destroyed during the French Revolution, gave Eobert de Lugarches, Thomas de Cormont, and his son Eegnault as maistre de I'ceuvre. Pierre de Montereau was the builder of the Sainte Chapelle, and Jean Texier of the beau- tiful south-western steeple of Chartres, beginning of the sixteenth century. The figures of the maisters de Vmuvre {magistri operum, etc.) are often represented abroad, and always in lay habits and square and compass, e.g., the stalls at Poictiers and the bases in the vaulting at Semur in Auxerrois.'' It is said that real architects — in our present sense of that term — appear very early in the Italian records, and this claim will be presently considered. In Germany, besides the statement of a master mason having been granted a house by the chapter,' and some notices connected with quarrying, we find no satisfactory documentary evidence before 1459. In the Strassurg constitutions of that year we find: — "If any master accepts a work in contract, and makes a design for the same, how it shall be builded, then he shall not cut anything short of the design, but shall execute it according to the plan which he has shown to the lords, cities, or people, so that nothing be altered." ■* xin American translation of this code refers to the words italicised, in the following language: — "Some of these plans are still preserved in Germany, as, for example, the original plan of the cathedral of Strassburg, designed by the architect himself, Erwin von Steinbach." ' The nationality of this worthy has been questioned by Daruty, who speaks of the origin of Freemasonry having been ascribed to the architects and workmen convoked in 1275, by a French architect, Herve de Pierrefonds, " of whom the Germans have made Erwin von Steinbach; " * but this suggestion is hardly consistent with the evidence of an inscription above the grand entrance to the cathedral of Strassburg, which, after the lapse of so many centuries, can still be deciphered' — ' Viollet le Due, Dictionnaire Raisonne de I'Architecture Frangaise (Arcliitecte). '■' Cf. A miniature which appears in a "Life of King OlTa," written by Matthew Paris (Cottonian MSS., British Museum, Nero, D.i.). In this, King Offa is depicted as giving instructions to the master mason, (or architect) employed in the erection of St. Alban's Cathedral. The master mason, who by his attire is evidently a layman, has the square and compasses in his left hand. Two masons are at work knocking ofi' the superfluous corners from the stones; one is placing a stonp in its proper position; another is adjusting a perpendicular arch on its proper basis by the plumb rule; and two are hoisting up stones by a windlass. ^Lacomblet, Urkunden, etc., vol. ii., p. 242. ^ See ante, p. 117, note 5, and p. 131, art. viii. 5 Masonic Eclectic, New York, 1865, vol. i., p. 51. In Sabina, the daughter of Erwin, Fort appears to think that we must look for the earliest Freemason of the gentler sex (The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 81). * J. E. Daruty, Recherches sur le Rite ecossais ancien accepte (Paris, 1879, p. 82). ' Viollet le Due, Dictionnaire Raisonne de TArchiteeture, s. v. Architecte. MEDIAEVAL CATHEDRAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. MEDIJS VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. 319 " A^-isO . DOMINI . MCCLXXVII. . IN . DIE . BE ATI . URBANI . HOC . GLOEIOSUM . OPUS . INCOHAVIT . MAGISTER . ERVINUS . DE . STEINBACH." Yet the " design " named in the German ordinances ma}^, after all, refer to a mere specification. The only name which can with any certainty be ascribed to the architect of Cologne is Meister Johann, which seems to indicate a plebeian origin. Still, whoever he was, he imi- tated both Kheiins and Amiens, and far surpassed his originals, or rather he improved upon them; so that, after all, the old familiar legend of the devil mocking the architect, while designing, with unconsciously copying the above and other churches, may have, as is often the case, some foundation in fact. The true secret of the surpassing beauty of Cologne, over and above its size and unity, is the construction or design, the piling pyramid upon pyramid, so that, viewed from whatever quarter, the whole draws the eye up to a point or apex. After all, it would not very much surprise me to find that the architect of Cologne, if his true parentage ever came to be ascertained, were not at least half a Frenchman. The whole design is very different from the square-shouldered facade of Strassburg, which is certainly true German, The west front is not very unlike, save in size, a German adapta- tion of Eheims (if the latter had its spires) — more massive, indeed, but not therefore less graceful. Milan is true Gothic engrafted on Italian Romanesque; and this, with many other instances in Spain, and that of Hackett, at Batalha, shows that the architect or de- signer could have exercised but very little influence, beyond a general superintendence or giving a general idea, over the local school which carried out the buildings. From all that has been said above, we may feel tolerably certain that the great ecclesi- astical edifices abroad were, like those in England, the product partly of lay and partly of clerical architects; the single example of Dunes, in Belgium, which was entirely erected by the monks of that foundation (240 in number) in the first half of the thirteenth century, being obviously so great an exception as to be almost a lusiis naturce. Yet the laymen seem to predominate; whether from the fact of the art being more exclusively in the hands of laymen, or because it has merely happened that more of their names have been pre- served,— may be doubtfvil. It is, indeed, contended that the tombstones almost invariably show a man in a lay dress; but this is not conclusive, for there is nothing to prove that these men were the actual designers, or even superintendents. The attempts made to show that the magistri operum, etc., Avere a distinct class fail to meet with success, inasmuch as the word "magister"' often occurs in England, where we know that no such pre-eminence is implied; and in so obscure a subject we should be especially on our guard against forced interpretations and fanciful distinctions. It is, however, probable that the majority of them were laymen. The great cathedrals abroad, with their far loftier elevation, the width and boldness of their vaulting — invariably of stone, the complicated nature of the apses with their double rows of chapels, and the vast and scientific series of flying buttresses and counterpoises which are so highly artificial, required in all probability more scientific skill than could well be expected from any class of men not absolutely in the profession.' Indeed, this may well have been the masonic secret, if secret there were, of the mediaeval masons. All trades, even to the present day, have their secrets, and the very word ' Moreover, the great foreign churches were usually erected after one design, which was not the case in England, except as regards the Norman buildings, which required but little constructive skill. 320 MEDIyEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. " mystery," ' so often used, indicates the jealousy with which each craft guarded the arcana of its trade. This must have been still more the case with the masons, who required great scientific skill — and that skill could then only be obtained by oral teaching, actual practice, and rule of thumb. In all the names of writers and their works — some thousands — col- lected by the laborious authors of the great " Histoire Litteraire de la France," I am not aware of any treatise on practical geometry "^ or mechanics, nor do I know of any classical treatise whatever, on the subject of mathematics, having been widely known, save that of Euclid, which will account for the masonic legend concerning him. The committees of architects in Spain, on which Street lays weight, are paralleled by those of cementarii at St. Albans, Canterbury, and Westminster; and the only real proof we have, out of Italy, of anything like the modern system is the statement of Wilars de Honcort, attached to one drawing, that he sketched it before proceeding, as he was ordered, to Hungary, and the Frenchmen who were under agreement to proceed to Gerona, as given above. In Italy the case was somewhat different; we seem to know the names of almost all the builders or de- signers in that country; and " Gaye's Carteggio di documenti inediti," — being excerpts from the Florentine archives, and which contain most interesting information on the medi- aeval working classes in Italy, — shows pretty clearly that there really existed what we should call architects in that country, but, then, Italy was their native home. On the whole, I should be inclined to conclude, generally, that out of Italy and during the Middle Ages the class whom we call architects did not — save, perhaps, with very rare exceptions — exist; and that all the buildings we so much admire were the combined work of certain priests and monks educated specially for the work, in conjunction with their master mason, usually attached to the building, as at York — and more often by the master mason alone; but that, when the latter was the case, the master mason was an independent individual ; the arrange- ment last mentioned being more common abroad than in the British Islands. My reasons for this, apart from the data furnished above, I shall proceed to lay before the reader in as condensed a form as possible, only remarking, first, that the Middle Ages were as re- markable for the beauty of their sculpture as for the archaic barbarity of their pictures and coloring, as may be seen by the sculptures at Welles, the exquisite fragments preserved in the Chapter-House at Westminster, and in the engravings of M. Viollet le Due. ' Secondly, as somewhat corroborating what I have advanced above as to the "hatching up" of many of our buildings by superintending priests and their master masons, either permanently or temporarily employed, I may point to the numerous perfect and elaborate designs still existing abroad, of which I need only mention (not to speak of the very ancient plan of St. Gall, first reproduced by Mabillon)' Cologne, Malines, Ulm, Strassburg, St. 'Derived by Madox (Firma Burgi) from the French mestiere [or metier]; the original of wliich Mr. Riley finds in ministerium, " a serving to" (Memorials of London, preface, p. 1). Herbert, how- ever, observes, " The preserving of their trade secrets was a primary ordination of all the fraterni- ties, whence arose the name of mysteries and trades " (Companies of London, vol. i., pp. 44, 45, and 423). '■'Lacomblet specifies "descriptive geometry" as one of the great secrets of early Freemasonry (see ante, p. 89, note 8). 3 There were, however, two Italian sculptors in England, Pietro Cavillini and Torel, though they had nothing to do with our great chef-d'ceuvre at Wells, which was earlier. They have been claimed for England — the former under the name of Peter Cavel, which is about equivalent to the famous derivation of Garibaldi, from an Irishman, one Garret Baldwin, who settled at Genoa, and was known by the name of Garry Baldy ! Torel was found at Rome, along with Odorico, by Abbot Ware, 1260. ■* Acta Sanct. Ord. St. Bened. MEDIAEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. 321 Waiidru at Mons, and Louvaine. Of the latter there exists even a model, although I am unable to say whether it is of an early date; and Mj\L Varin and Didron found a design for the west front of a cathedral, partially effaced by a list of deceased canons, at Eheims, the last entry being 1270. This design, which is somewhat poor, would seem never to have been properly worked out, and possibly the designer may have grown out of conceit with his sketch before it was finished. In England the most careful researches have only brought to light — (1.) a Norman drawing of the conventual buildings of Canterbury, reproduced by Willis,' which, after all, is a drawing of what actually existed, and not a design; (2.) a section of the mouldings of a door at St. Stephen's, Bristol, in Will of Worcester's "Itin- erary, " which is also a drawing; (3.) an actual design for a very rich tomb for Henry VI., first published in the "Vetusta Monumenta;" and (4.) two drawings of King's College chapel' — the first of which, a view showing the elevation of the east and north sides, can scarcely be a design, inasmuch as it shows in the north-east corner a wretched little edifice, with a clock in it, which no human being would have thought of designing alone, still less of causing it to form part and parcel of a magnificent whole. The second, for a tower, must be a design, inasmuch as it was never executed. We may gather also from the wills of Henry VI., and of Eichard, Duke of York, that plans of these intended colleges had been laid before them for approbation, though the drawings themselves have either been lost or have perished. It may indeed be said that the Reformation destroyed these early drawings; but the Reformation struggles, the French Revolution, and the numerous wars to which the Continent has been a prey, must have been at least as destructive; and we may hence conclude that drawings are wanting now in England because they have always been so. That there was no special class of architects is obvious from several considerations. In the first place, no such minute subdivision existed in the trades and professions of the Middle Ages. It is easy for architects nrnv to point to working men and to say that they are incapable of producing any really good work ; though I could instance at least one very eminent architect who has risen from the ranks — but this is begging the question. Archi- tects, contractors, and stonemasons formed one corps, of which some, probably with greater facilities and a better start, reached the summit, while the greater portion, as is always the case, spent their lives laboriously toiling at the base. It is the question of the purchase system, and the supposed marshal's baton in every French soldier's knapsack, over again. I am not advocating either system; I am only pointing out the difference. It is certainly very strange that, while the names of benefactors, paymasters, treasurers, sacrists, master masons, etc., have been preserved, those of the architects should have been every- where omitted. The name of the architect appears late, according to Viollet le Due, who says it is not used to designate a builder until the sixteenth century, before which he was called maistre de Voeuvre. This may be so; but "architect," as well as the various words depending on it, are — if I may venture to differ from so high an authority — used earlier than is generally supposed, e.g., ars archiiectonica is used to describe Walsingham's work at Ely in the "Historia Eliensis;" ' but this does not by any means necessarily imply that ' Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral. 2 Brit. Mus., Cotton Collection, Aug. I., vol. i., pp. 2, 3. * " We account architects in everything more honourable than the manual labourers. — XeipoTexvuv (Architect apxirexroyv), because they understand the reason of what is done, whereas the other, as some inanimate things only do, not knowing what they do — the difference between them being only 21 3 2 2 MEDLE VA L OPERA TIVE MA SONR Y. the maistre de I'ceuvre was a personage entirely distinct, as a modern architect would be, from the rest of the building fraternity. Moreover, the actual architect in many cases went under names somewhat corresponding to the medifeval designations until a very late period. Sir C. Wren, as we all know, was surveyor-general. Until Wyatville at Windsor and Bunning in the City, their predecessors were always clerks of the works, and so to the last were the architects of the East India Company. E. W. Mylne,' master mason, can be traced in Scotland from the beginning of the fifteenth century. John Aitoun was master mason by royal patent, 1525, and was succeeded by John Brownhill. So at Dundee, a master mason was appointed 1536. But the principal master mason was a greater man than the master mason, thus showing a gradation only in the hierarchy and not a distinct class; he was appointed for life, with certain fees and payments, together with liveries. These principals were especially employed about royal residences, and were often men of rank. John Ritchie was master mason of the new Parliament House, Edinburgh, 1633; but the city accounts have the payment of £1000 {Scots?) to Sir James Murray, the king's master of the works, for drawing up a "modell." William Wallace, first master mason to Heriot's Hospital, was called Latomus, also "Carver," and this designation was frequently used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cemcntarius does not occur in the early Scotch documents. Some of the early masters were French (as might have been expected both from the poverty of the country and its connection with France) —Mogine Martyne, 1536; Nich. Kay, John Eoztell, 1556. The office of master mason under letters patent still exists. It will be observed that these Scotch examples are of comparatively modern date. Mr. Kerr in the same discussion" said that the working masons of Scotland at the present day have a sort of freemasonry among themselves, almost identical, as he was in- formed, with that of the English fraternity. They had their signs, symbols, and cere- monies, and were, in every sense of the word, "free and accepted masons" among them- selves, as working men; and the Scottish trades union thus constituted was, in everything but numbers, more formidable than that of England. The opinion has been already expressed, that the mediaeval builders and designers — whether called magistri, maestri, maistres; whether priests or laymen; or whether a com- bination of both, i.e., of the highly-cultured and more or less practical amateur and the more or less refined and enlightened master workman, were evidently of a class very different from those whom we are now accustomed to style architects — autres temps, autres mcevrs — the clergy, or at least some of that body, instead of being mere dilettanti, were earnest students and workers; the architects were very closely connected with, and, indeed, often sprang from, the ranks of their workmen. It must never be forgotten that in the Middle Ages, and more especially in the earlier portion of them, matters were not as they are now, for two things are especially characteristic of social progress — one the continued subdivision of labor, the other the increasing power of capital; hence, while at the one end of the scale, the operative was not so very different from the master, so, at the other, the architect was not so very distinct from the artificer. The fact must not be lost sight of that the primary meaning of architect is "master workman;" and it would appear that architects were formerly such in the original sense of the word, i.e., the artificers arranged their materials according to their needs, giving the this, that inanimate things act by a certain habit of nature in them, but the manual labourer by habit," (Aristotle, Ethics, lib. i., c. i.)- ' Transactions, Royal Institute of British Architects, December 2, 1861. ^ Ibid. a o (-H Pi H ft 0 w oo o < > ^ ^ Q yo o < o b ^ ■a O -v ^ w n CA (1!; nb U2 H o w H S 00 u U '^V' C « •T^ c < C" — 3 f) ^^ bx) 1) X H O O < MEDIAE VA L OPERA Til E MA SONR Y. 323 forms into wliicli they cast them such beauty, and adding such embellishments as lay in their power. Hence architects embodied as a rule the particular tendencies of their race and age. The Greek architects of the best period were sculptors, and their art was, more or less, plastic; those of the Eomans, when they were not Greek architects, in the modern and received sense of the term {rhetor icimis in stone), were, I strongly suspect, civil engi- neers; and those of the Middle Ages were probably a combination of priest or monk and mechanic, or, to speak more accurately, a partnership between the two, worked for a common end. At the Renaissance, however, Italian or modern architecture took its rise, and in Italy architects seem to have been, at least many of the greatest of their number, painters. Hence arose the school of designers, as opposed to that of constructors, i.e., men who sketch out a building on a drawing-board as they would the outline of a picture on a canvas, instead of constructing it, i.e., putting it together, piece by piece, in the most beautiful form, as necessity required. The two methods are totally different, and the latter will, I venture to say, be found very much simpler and easier, besides being very much more effective, than the former. ' One of the most eminent classical scholars in England expressed the opinion that the only way to write Latin well was to think in Latin, which is, doubtless, true; and the reason is clear. If you think in your own language, the words that flow from your pen are a translation — an excellent translation, it may be — but a trans- lation for all that, and all translations are bad. The mediaeval builders, then, thought in stone, and the result is obvious, inasmuch as most, if not all, modern buildings betray their origin, i.e., having been conceived on paper or a flat surface, and then translated into solid material. This does not necessarily imply that skill in drawing which is sup- posed to be essential to the modern architect, nor does it by any means always require pro- fessional training. Inigo Jones was an artist and a designer of Masques; I may add, en parenthese, that his works betray his scenic taste and training, especially the kind of cloister under Lincoln's Inn Chapel; Wren may be best qualified as an F.R.S., though he had certainly travelled and studied in France; Perrault, the designer of the magnificent eastern colonnade of the Louvre, was a physician; Vanburgh was at least as much a play writer as an architect; and both Lord Burlington and Aldridge, dean of Christchurch, were in the last century competent to erect beautiful buildings by their own unaided talents. To turn to the kindred profession of engineering, Rudgerd and Winstanley, the builders of the first two Eddystones, were both silk mercers; Brindley was a blacksmith; Smeaton, a watch and mathematical instrument maker; Telford, a mason; and Stephenson, as we all know, rose from the lowest ranks. To Home Tooke belongs the original credit of the great cast-iron bridge over the Wear, at Sunderland, a single span, at great height, of 238 feet. The only one of the great early engineers I am able to cite, who was an engineer from his youth up, was Rennie, and he taught himself; he certainly, as far at least as I am informed, could not draw; his son. Sir John Rennie, very little, and yet they designed the finest series of bridges ever imagined or erected; and the Victualling Yard at Plymouth, 'Many architects are equally pattern designers — e.g., Matthew Wyatt has designed carpets for an eminent firm, and one of the greatest of our modern architects, if not the greatest, used to design lace and embroidery patterns for the late Duchess of Sutherland and her daughters. But the great truth should never be forgotten, that true architecture is decorated construction, as opposed to con- structed decoration. This is the real secret and keystone of the whole matter. Mediaeval architect- ure was the first, modern architecture the second — hence the difference, and the comparative failure of the latter. 324 MEDIAEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. the combined work of Sir John and liis brother, is a building which, for simple grandeur and appropriateness, leaves far behind the works of most professional architects. Taking, again, the extreme end of the scale, we find that it is by no means necessary for a lady to be able to draw patterns and costumes, to have exquisite taste in dress, which she carries out by the aid of milliners and lady's maids, which is something like the relationship of the master mind — whether priest or layman — to his subordinates. Very often this master mind was thoroughly practical; very often, too, the best dressed ladies can make their own dresses; in which case they will, in all probability, direct their subordinates infinitely better and with infinitely better results. It has often been lamented that the names of so many of these mediseval builders should have perished; and, as before remarked, it has been asserted that they were content to merge their identity from a pious humility which forbade them to exalt their own in- dividuality, and made them content with the furtherance of the divine glory. But a moment's reflection will convince us that, for some reason or another, the names of both architects and engineers are, and always have been, doomed to popular oblivion. The Greek artists are infinitely better known by their sculptures than by their temples, though the evidences of the latter are far more manifest than those of the former. Only one Eoman architect, Vitruvius, is really famous, and he owes his celebrity to the fact that, having apparently failed in his profession, he consoled himself, like many more of his brotherhood, by writing a book. Their successors, the great architects of Italy, are, like the Greeks in sculpture, known more for their paintings than their buildings; and even Michael Angelo is more associated with the Sistine Chapel than with St. Peter's. Palladio is the only pure Italian architect Avliose "name is in everybody's mouth." So it is with France and Germany. In England, beyond Inigo Jones and AVren, Chambers and Barry are the sole popular names. Vanburgh is remembered more for his comedies than for the magnificent palaces of Blenheim and Castle Howard; while if a man can enumerate any of the works of Hawksmoor and Gibbs, of Soane, of Smirke, and of Wyatt, he passes for more than or- dinarily instructed in the history of English art. But of all the works with which ovir country is covered, how few perpetuate their designers' names, and how difficult it is to recover them, except by a search in obscure guide books and country histories! So it is with engineering. The profession has tended more than any other to make England what she is; it is her constant boast; the country teems with evidences of their skill and energy on every side; and, as a profession, it is little more than a hundred years old, yet how few names readily occur to the ordinary mind! The great Thames bridges are a kind of typical structures which will probably serve to perpetuate the names of their engineers, while the Eddystone is indissolubly connected with Smeaton; but I should think it most probable that in remote ages to come, the designer of the old structure will, in process of time, usurp the credit due to the nameless engineer of the Trinity House, from whose plans the new and larger edifice has been erected. Lord Melville will probably enjoy the distinction of having designed the Plymouth Breakwater, until some learned antiquary awards, justly as he thinks, the palm to Mr, AVhidbey, the resident engineer; while I am pretty certain that George Stephenson will be honored with the Britannia Bridge; and that the typical New Zealander on his return home, will write a critical essay, conclusively proving that Telford was his subordinate, and that, therefore, the lesser work, the Suspen- sion Bridge, has been falsely attributed to him instead of to his master. It is the same, too, with military engineering. With all the great works of the last three centuries, MEDI^ FA L OPERA Til 'E MA SONR Y. 325 the names of ouly two great men — Vauban and Coliorn, and of a few system-mongers— are known even to professionals. In truth, ordinary history troubles itself but little, if at all, with such matters, and is content with mentioning the names of illustrious patrons whenever it condescends even to so much detail. After these examples, we cannot be-sur- prised that the names of the mediaeval builders should have been so completely forgotten — it would have been far more a matter of surprise if it had been otherwise. But that they did not purposely conceal themselves is obvious from the great number of names wliich even the very imperfect search hitherto made has proved sufficient to rescue from oblivion. Still, if the theory be true that the greater part of our own buildings were devised by the master mason, in consultation with some clerical employer, it will be obviously im- possible, especially considering the wreck of monastic documents at the Eeformation, to rescue the designer's name in the vast majority of instances, for the simple and manifest reason that no regular design by an architect, in our sense of the word, was ever made. But with regard to the Continent it may be otherwise. As far as I can gather, the " upper ten, " so to speak, among the building trades gathered themselves together in more regular and elaborately constituted bodies about the close of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries in both Germany and England, and at the same time began, in the latter country, to be called Freemasons, though from what that name is derived, and how far the new name was connected with the new organization, we shall be in a better position to determine when the statutes relating to the building trades, and the circumstances immediately preceding what, in masonic annals, is termed the " Revival" (1717), have passed under review. Masons' work seems to have become more scientific, as we see from the fan vaulting in England: and Fergusson asserts that the manipulation of stone by the German Freemasons is marvellous, and he inveighs — but witli what truth I know not — against the ill effects produced upon art by the supremacy of this body, like the injurious influence which academies have been often asserted to have had upon literature. ' Mr. Digby Wyatt has expressed an opinion that working masons for- merly wandered about in search of work, depending upon the protection which their lodges, grips, and passwords afforded them, and that this custom, after having decayed, was revived again under a somewhat different form by the Freemasons in the fifteenth century; and in this Fergusson agrees with him.* The functions of the maistre de Vceuvres in the thirteenth century are difficult to define. There is no document before the fourteenth century, and here "I'architecte n'est appele que comme un homme de I'art que I'on indemnise de son travail personnel." Materials, labor, etc., were found by those at whose expense the work was done, i.e., he was not a contractor, which, in England, at least, I suspect he often was. "After the fourteenth century, " Viollet le Due continues, "the architect lost his im- portance, and every kind of tradesman was called in to do his share, without one con- trolling head; hence deterioration followed as a matter of course." 'J. Fergusson, History of Architecture in all Countries, 1865, vol. i., p. 480. ' Cf. The Companionage customs, detailed in chapter v., ante; and Viollet le Due — who says that no certain account of the personality of architects exists before the tiiirteenth century, and thinks that there must liave been schools, and pupils taught by apprenticeship (Diet. Raissonne, tit. Architccte). 326 MEDIEVAL OPERATIVE MASONRY. The mediaeval architecture fell from natural causes, like the fall of monasticism and all things mediaBval, and the one followed suit on the other. No more churches were built, and hence the builders died out; and with them, to a great extent, I believe, died the skill in arch and vault building which was, perhaps the great characteristic of the builders of the Middle Ages. I scarcely think that a single stone vault was constructed in the long period between the Reformation and Wren; those of Lincoln's Inn Chapel are plaster, and I am not sure whether the beautiful fan vaulting of the great staircase of Christchurch, Oxford, is not of the same material. The ceiling of the great gallery of Lanhydrock, near Bodmin, in Cornwall, is a plaster vault, with elaborate plaster pendants in the centre. Add to this the great influx of foreign architects, in the modern sense of the word — and, it may be, of foreign masons as well, also the possibility, as I believe, that the Reformation was a much greater revolution than people are aware of — ^and I have said enough, I trust, to account for the complete and rapid disappearance of medigeval operative masonry, at least in England. Gothic, however, never quite died out; there was an attempt at revival, tem'p James I. and Charles I., especially at Oxford, and it still lingered in remote country districts till the dawn of the revival under Walpole and Batty Langley. Besides Wren's professedly Gothic imitations at Westminster Abbey, St. Michael's, Cornhill, and St. Dunstan's in the West, there are traces of Gothic mullions in the tower windows of St. Clement Danes. It is curious that the art which fell in England with the fall of Roman Catholicism should have, after lingering with it here and there, commenced to revive almost simultaneously with the dawn of toleration, and have proceeded since fari passu — though I am not so foolish as to suppose any real connection. My review of medieval operative masonry here terminates. I have carried out to the best of my ability an examination of the whole subject by the buildings themselves, rather than by an exclusive dependence upon books, which, as the literature of Freemasonry may well remind us, is in every way unreliable. I have sought to show the fallacy of the uni- versal masonic theory; the errors — more learned and therefore, perhaps, less blameworthy though equally misleading — of the German school; and, finally, to that the operative mason had a much larger share in the construction of these buildings than is usually supposed, inasmuch as they were to a very large extent the actual designers of the edifices on which they worked, and not the mere servants of the ecclesiastics. Some isolated unions of these men, in their later development, which, from causes we cannot trace, contrived to escape the great cataclysm of the Reformation, may have survived in the " Four Old Lodges, " the parents of modern Freemasonry; and if this supposition is well founded, their descent from the mediseval builders being legitimate, their pride is equally so. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 327 CHAPTER VII. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FEEEMASONS. THE only evidence we possess of the existence of Freemasonry in England before the initiation or admission of Elias Ashmole in 1646, lies scattered in the " Old Charges," or " Constitutions," the records of the building trades, and the statutes of the realm. In preceding chapters I have examined all the manuscripts with which Freemasons have any direct concern, and have sought to trace — but with what success it is for others to determine — the actual designers of those marvels of operative masonry that have come down to us, by means of the mute yet eloquent testimony of the structures themselves, which amply attest the ingeniiity, if not in all cases the individuality, of the skilled work- men by whom they were designed. Since the year 1686, when Dr. Plot, in his "History of Staffordshire," cited the stat. 3 Henry VI., c.i., no masonic work which has appeared is without this reference. Yet there is scarcely an instance of the research having extended beyond this particular statute, even to those relating to the same subject matter. The law of 1425 was one of the long series familiarly known as the Statutes of Laborers which, originating with the Plan- tagenets, continued in operation until the present century. The great plague of 1348, and the consequent depopulation, gave origin to the Ordi- nance of Laborers, a.d. 1349, afterwards by stat. 3 Kich. II., st. I., c. viii., made an Act of Parliament or statute, and described as stat. 23 Edw. III. In the twenty-fifth year of the king, the commons complained in parliament that the above ordinance was not observed; wherefore a statute was made ordaining further reg- ulations on the subject. These two enactments will shortly be presented in detail, but before doing so, some observations upon the circumstances which induced the course of legislation it is proposed to review, are requisite. It has been asserted that the laws we are considering were passed in punishment of the contumacious masons at Windsor Castle, assembled there by Edward III. under the direc- tion of William of Wykeham, the comptroller of the royal works, who refused their wages, and withdrew from their engagements. ' The king's method of conducting the work has been referred to by an eminent writer, as a specimen of the condition of the people in that ' Dallaway, Discourses upon Architecture, p. 425. 328 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. age. ' Instead of engaging workmen by contracts and wages, he assessed every county m England to send liim a certain number of masons, tilers, and carpenters, as if he had been levying an army." There were, however, many influences combining to bring into play the full machinery of the legislation it is our purpose to examine. Between the Conquest and the reign of Edward III. there had sprung up a middle class of men, who, although they did not immediately acquire the full power of selling their labor to the best bidder, nevertheless were exempt from the imperious caprices of a master, and the unconditional services of personal bondage.' From a dialogue, written by Thynne, Lancaster herald, and dedicated to James I., in which the point is discussed, whether the king can confer knight- hood on a villein, in would appear that some few of these bondmen still continued after the reign of Queen Elizabeth." Still the process of manumission had been very general from the twelfth year of Edward III., whose long wars in France obliged him to confer freedom upon many of his villeins, in order to recruit his exhausted armies, and as we have seen, if a bondman could escj^pe the pursuit of his lord for a year, he became free for ever.^ With the liberation of the bond handicraftsmen from bondage proper, many of the companies into which they had been ranged passed gradually over into the number of free craft guilds. The freemen of rank and large possessions, who felt themselves powerful enough to secure their own protection, found, as the strong are ever wont to do, their in- terest to be more in a system of mutual feuds, that is, of free competition among them- selves, than in associations and mutual pledges. But the less powerful, the small freemen, sought, as the weak always do, protection for themselves in confederating into close unions and formed the guilds for that purpose." The struggle between the rising craft-guilds of London and the body of the citizens has been carefully narrated by Brentano, by whom the triumph of the former over the latter is stated to have been fully achieved in the reign of Edward III. ''The privileges which they had till then exei'cised only on sufferance, or on payment of their fermes (dues), were now for the first time generally confirmed to them by a charter of Edward III. The authorities of the city of London, who had in former times contended with all their might against the craft-guilds, now approved of their statutes; and in the fourteenth century a large majority of the trades appeared before the mayor and aldermen to get their ordinances enrolled. At the same time they adopted a particular livery, and were hence called Livery Companies. Edward III. himself actually became a member of one of them — that of the Linen-armorers — and his example found numerous imitators amongst his successors and the nobility of the kingdom." ' The visitation of the " Black death," a dreadful pestilence which first appeared in Asia, and from thence spread throughout the world, brought the opposition between the in- terests of the working-class and the employers for the first time on a large scale to a crisis. Of the three or four millions who then formed the population of England, more than one^ ' Hume, History of England, 1822, vol. ii., p. 472. 2 Ashmole, History of the Garter, p. 129. Riciiard HI., in 1484, issued a commission to Thomas Daniel, surveyor of his works, *' to take and seize for use within this realm as njany masons, brick- layers, and other workmen, as should be thought necessary for the hasty expedition of the king's works within the Tower of London and Palace of Westminster" (Stow's London, 1720, vol. i., p. 79). 3 Eden, State of the Poor, 1797, vol. i., p. 13. * Daines Barrington, Observations on the more Ancient Statutes, 1796, p. 309. ^Av.te, p. 114. •* Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 53. "^ Ibid., p. 58, Cf. Herbert, Companies of London, vol. i., pp. 28, 29. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. 329 half were swept away. The whole organization of labor was thrown ont of gear. There was a great rise of wages; and the farmers of the country, as well as the wealthier crafts- men of the towns, saw themselves threatened with ruin by what seemed to their age the extravagant demands of the labor class. But sterner measures were soon found to be nec- essary. Not only was the price of labor fixed by the Parliament of 1350, but the labor class was once more tied to the soil.' Even before the reign of Edward I., says Sir F. Eden, " the condition of villeins was greatly meliorated. He was indeed bound to perform certain stipulated work for his lord, generally at sowing time and harvest; but at other times of tlie year he was at liberty to exercise his industry for his own benefit. As early as the year 1257, a servile tenant, if employed before midsummer, received wages; and in Edward I.'s reign he was permitted, instead of working himself, to provide a laborer for the lord; from which it is obvious that he must have sometimes possessed the means of hiring one; and it is natural to suppose that the laborers so hired were not pure villeins, but rather tenants by villeinage, who could assist their neighbors on their spare days, or free laborers, who existed — although, perhaps, not in great numbers — long before the parliamentary notice taken of them in the Statute of Laborers, passed in 1350."^ We thus see, that already fully occupied with foreign conquest and Scottish incursions, the depopulation of the country from the ravages of the " Black death," cast upon Edward the attempted solution of many problems, at once social and political, which it is no dis- paragement to that great monarch to say that he utterly failed in comprehending. The regulation of wages has been very generally viewed as a device confessedly framed by the nobility, and if not intended, certainly tending to cramp the exertions of industry.^ Sir Fortunatus Dwarris aptly remarks — " It was easier to enact than to enforce such laws; " and he stigmatizes, in terms of much severity, " the machinery employed, to carry into effect an obnoxious, unjust, and impossible law."^ On the other hand, however, Brentano maintains, " It has become the fashion to represent these Avage-regulations as a policy con- trived for the oppression of the laborer. To give such a character to these statutes is, however, in my judgment, a complete misrepresentation of the real state of the case. These regulations of wages were but the expression of the general policy of the Middle Ages, which considered that the first duty of the State was to protect the weak against the strong, which not only knew of rights, but also of duties of the individual toward society, and condemned as usury every attempt to take unseemly advantage of the temporary distress of one's neighbor."' The Cottar ii, or Coterelli, according to Spelman, appear to have been much on the same footing with villeins regardant, being employed in the trades of smith, carpenter, and other handicraft arts necessary in the country, in which they had been histructed at the expense of their masters, and for whose benefit they pursued their several occujiations. " It is reasonable to conclude that the new system of working for hire, being more pro- fitable to the great proprietors than the labor of slaves, had, to a great extent, superseded ' J. R. Green, Histoiy of the English People, 1877, pp. 429-431. '' Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., pp. 12-15. '•' Cf. Ibid., vol. i., p. 41: Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, vol. ii., p. 27; and Hume, History of England, vol. ii., p. 479. ^Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, A Treatise on the Statutes, pp. 866, 867. * Brentano, On the History and Development of Guilds, p. 78. ■* Giossarium Archaeologicum. 330 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. the absolute clepeudence of workmen upon their employers, at about the period which fol- lowed the Great Plague. Yet it is doubted by Eden, whether the owners of the soil fully comprehended the beneficial effects of this important revolution, and he considers it not unnatural that they should have striven to preserve some affinity between the new class of laborers and the old class of villeins, by limiting their earnings, as they had before con- trolled their persons. ' Evasions of the statutes were very numerous, as indeed might be expected, for, had the wages fixed by law been adhered to, the pay of a laborer or artificer must have been the same from 1350 to 1370; yet, in the course of that period, the price of wheat per quarter varied from 2s. to £1, 6s. 8d. "In spite of fines, imprisonment, and the pillory," says Mr. Green, "the ingenuity and avarice of the laborers contrived to elude the provisions of the proclamation; during the harvest the most exorbitant wages were demanded and given."" The statutes from which I shall proceed to quote appear in the first version of these enactments, published by the authority of Parliament, of which volume I., extending to stat. 50, Edw. III., was printed in 1810. Amongst the numerous difficulties which are encountered in a study of our statute law, its prodigious and increasing development first arrests our attention. " There is such an accumulation of statutes," complains Lord Bacon, "concerning one matter, and they so cross and intricate, that the certainty is lost in the heap. " Yet when this complaint was uttered the whole of the statutes of the realm occupied less than three volumes, within which compass it would now be difficult to compress the enormous bulk of legislation which has, in the present day, collected round many special departments of our law.^ Happily, indeed, with the legislation of comparatively recent times we are only indirectly concerned, but the more ancient statutes present some peculiar features of their own, in which, though differing widely from the puzzles that confront us when we essay an interpretation of their modern counterparts, are found sources of equal difficulty and obscurity. The language in which they were enacted or proclaimed varies continually, whilst, if we turn for assist- ance to the commentaries of sages of the law, these prove for the most part to have been written on imperfect data, and before any version of the statutes was published by au- thority. Many of the old statutes do not at all express by what authority they were enacted, so that it seems as if the business of making laws was principally left in the hand of the king, unless in instances where the lords or commons felt an interest in promoting a law, or the king an advantage in procuring their concurrence; and in such cases probably it was that their assent was especially expressed." The statutes appear to have been actually made by the king, with a council of judges and others who were summoned to assist him. " The usual time for making a statute was after the end of every parliament and after the parliament roll was engrossed, except on ' Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 40. ' Green, History of the Enghsh People, p. 157. ^Knightley Howman, in Macmillan's Magazine, vol. iv., p. 30. The law relating to the Bank of England alone is spread over several hundreds of statutes, and the meretitles of these statutes fill about tivo hundred pages of the statute-book. The stamp law is in a still more hopeless state of en- tanglement, and far beyond the ordinary diligence to unravel (Ibid.). * Reeves, History of the English Law(W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 228. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 331 some extraordinary occasions. Tlie statute was drawn out of the petition and answer, and penned in the form of a law into several chapters, or articles, as they were originally termed. The statute being thus drawn up into divers heads or-articles, now called chapters, it was shown to the king; and upon his majesty's approbation thereof, it was engrossed — sometimes with a preamble to it, and a clause of 'observari volumus' at the conclusion, and sometimes without any preamble at all — and then by writs sent into every county to be proclaimed." ' It is evident from the "Mirror of Justice," ^ that laws were often made in this way; for the author of that book complains that ordinances are only made by the king and his clerks, and by aliens and others who dare not contradict the king, but study to please him.' The chapters were short, and the manner of expression very often too general and un- defined. Offenders were in general directed to be punished " at the king's pleasure, to make grievous ransom to the king, to be heavily amerced," and the like; whilst sometimes — as we shall presently see — the acts are merely admonitory or prohibitory, without affixing any penalties, or prescribing any course of process for prosecuting, hearing, and deter- mining the offences." Down to the accession of Edward I. the statutes are in Latin, but in the third year of the king they began to be in French also; and from this period to the beginning of the reign of Henry VII., are sometimes in Latin and sometimes in French. From that time the language employed has been uniformly English. Occasionally there occurs a chapter in one language, in the midst of a statute in another; and there is one instance of an article or chapter partly in French and partly in Latin. Attempts have been made by many learned persons to explain this variety of languages in the earlier periods of our legislation. Nothing, however, is known with certainty on this subject, and at the present day it is utterly impossible to account in each instance for the appearance of the statute in French or in Latin. It has been suggested that many of the Latin statutes were first made in French, and from thence translated into Latin;'' whilst by Daines Barrington, the con- tinuance of our laws in French from the third year of Edward I. has been attributed to there being a standing committee in parliament to receive petitions from the provinces of France, which formerly belonged to England; and as these petitions, therefore, were in French, and the answers likewise in the same language, a reason was afforded why all the parliamentary transactions should be in French by way of uniformity.® The same com- ' From a Treatise in tlie British Museum, intituled, " Expeditionis Billarum Antiqiiitas," at- tributed to Elsyng, Deputy-Clerk of the Parliaments, 1620, and later. '^ La Somme: Appelle Mirrori des Justices, factum per Andrean Home (of whom it is said in the preface that he wrote the book before the 17 Edw. n.), ch. v. 3 Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 227. " Many inconven- iences happened to the subject by the ancient form, in framing and publishing of the statutes — viz., sometimes no statute hath been made, though agreed on; many things have been omitted; many things have been added in the statute; a statute hath been made, to which the Commons did not assent, and even to which neither Lords nor Commons assented." See 1 Hale, P. C, 394; 3 Inst., 40, 41; 12 Rep., 57; and Introduction to the Statutes (1810), p. xxxv. "Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 228; Dwarris, A General Treatise on Statutes, 1830-31, p. 626. ' A, Luders, Essay on the Use of the French Language in our Ancient Laws and Acts of State, tract vi., 1810. * Daines Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, 1796, p. 62. " Tliis likewise seems to be the reason of a law's receiving the royal assent in French " (Ibid.). 332 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEJL4S0XS: mcntator perceives a, further cause for the statutes being in French, in the general affectation which prevailed at this time of speaking that langviage, insomuch tliat it became a proverb, " that Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French" ' But the strongest reason of all for permitting our laws to be in the French language, Mr. Barrington finds in the habit of the English and the inhabitants of the French provinces under our dominion con- sidering themselves in a great measure as the same people. In the opinion of the same authority, " the best general rule which can be given with regard to an act of parliament's being in Latin or French is, that when the interests of the clergy are particularly concerned, the statute is in Latin. "^ But, as was justly observed by one great legal writer, and adopted by another, this theory would require so many exceptions as almost to destroy the rule. ^ " Perhaps, '' says Mr. Reeves, "the legislature was governed by no general principle in choosing the languages of their statutes; both the Latin and the French were the language of the law, and probably were adopted according to the whim of the clerk or other person who drew up the statute. " * On the whole, we may perhaps safely conclude that, for a long period of time, charters, statutes, and other public instruments were drawn up indis- criminately in French or Latin, and generally translated from one of those languages into the other before the promulgation of them, which in many instances appears to have been made at the same time in both languages. ^ It is a curious circumstance that, though the ancient laws of some other European nations are indeed in the Latin language — in which there was a peculiar convenience from the frequent appeals to the Pope — there is no other instance of any country in Europe permitting their laws to be enacted in a modern European language, and that not their own." The ancient ordinances of Scotland are in Latin; those of the Saxons in the Saxon tongue; and the ancient statutes of the Irish Parliament, which began with the Statute of Kilkenny in the reign of Edward II., are in English;'' wliile those of England continued to be in French. The distinction between statutes and ordinances, which in unsettled times were fre- quently confounded, is, that the latter want the consent of some one or more of the con- stituent parts of a parliament. These are the king, lords, and commons.^ "Whatever is enacted for law by one, or by two only of the three, is no statute." But though no statute, this is the exact description of an ordinance, which, as Lord Coke expresses it, "wanteth the threefold consent, and is ordained by only one or two of them." ' According ' Tliis proverb is mentioned by Verstegan, in his "Eestitution of Decayed Intelligence in An- tiquities," 1673, p. 197. See also Hickes, Thesaurus, preface, p. xvii. '^ Daines Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, pp. 62-65. "Eeeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1809, vol. ii., p. 228; Dwarris, A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 627. •* Reeves, ibid. ^ See Statutes of the Realm, Introduction, p. xlii. * Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 60. "The Laws of Sweden and Denmark were originally in their own languages, but have within the last century been translated into Latin. The ordinances of Spain are in Spanish. The ancient laws of Sicily are in Latin; as were also those of the other Italian States " {Ihid. , p. 61). ''Curiously enough, having been subsequently adopted, the use of the French Language in statutes was preserved rather longei- in Ireland than in England. The statute-roll of the Irish Par- liament, 8 Hen. VII., is in French; in those of the 16 and 23 Hen. VIL, tiie introductory paragraphs are in Latin; after which follows an act or chapter in French; and all other Acts of the session are in English (Introduction to the Statutes, p. xlii.). ^ Dwarris, A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 3. '4 Inst., 34. 777^ STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 333 to the manuscript treatise already cited, an ordinance could not make new or permanent law, nor repeal any statvite; but temporary provisions, consistent with the law in force, might be made by way of ordinance, and one ordinance could be repealed by another with- out a statute.' It has been well observed, that when statutes were framed so long after the petition and answer, it is not to be wondered at that they did not always correspond with the wishes of the petitioners, but were modified according to some after-thought of the king's officers who had the care of penning statutes.^ The commons often complained of this. It would appear that the parliament, upon the petitions of the commons, ex- ercised two branches of authorit}'^, by one of which it legislated or made new laws; by the other, it interpreted the then existing law. It is in this way that the following words of stat. 15, Edw. III., c. vii., are to be understood: " That the petitions showed by the great men and the commons be affirmed according as they were granted b}' the king; that is to say, some by statute {les pointz adurer par estatnt), and the others by charter ox iKttent, and delivered to the knights of the shires, without paying anything.'" This clearly indicates that there was another Avay of settling the law thaji by statutes, and that way must have been by means of the cliarters and imtents mentioned in the above act. Laws of this sort had no other sanction than the parliament roll, where the answer was written; and these were probably what were called ordinances, being of equal force and validity with statutes, but less solemn and public, because they were only a declaration, aiid not an alteration of the law. * Ordinances were never proclaimed by the sheriff, as in the case of statutes, but it was sometimes recommended by the king to the commons — probably by a charter or patent — to publish them in their county. ^ A statute was an ordinance, and something more; and therefore, though statutes may sometimes be called ordinances, yet no inattention to language would excuse the converse of the proposition. Though an ordinance could be altered by a statute, yet a statute could not be altered by an ordinance. After all, perhaps, the principal mark of a statute was its being entered on the statute-roll." ' The earliest of the printed editions or collections of the statutes is supposed to have ' Expeditionis Billarum Antiquitas. See also Harleian MSS., Nos. 305, 4273, 6585. ' Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 434. In vei-y early times great irregularities prevailed. Thus, at Verneuil, 1176, a mixed assembly of English and French en- acted laws for both countries; some English barons, in all probability, being over on service with the king in France (Dwarris, A Ti'eatise on the Statutes, p. 9). 3 15 Edw. III. Stat. 3, c. vii., a.d. 1341. * Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 436. "Acts which re- ceived the royal assent, and were entered only on the parliament roll, and not on the statute roll, have been frequently termed ordinances" (Statutes of the Realm, Inti^oduction, p. xxxii.). °See Introduction to Statutes of the Realm, p. xxxii. ; Reeves, History of the English Law (W.F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 436; and Dwan*is, A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 14. According to Lord Coke, " Acts of Parliament are many times in form of charters or letters-patent;" and many such have been inserted in all editions of the statutes. Tiiis great lawyer also observes, " There are many Acts of Parliament that he in the rolls of Parliament and never yet printed'"' (3 Inst., 50). The method in which the various laws — statutes or ordinances — were proclaimed and notified will again claim our attention, in connection with some remarks by Kloss and other German writers, which latter, I shall show, are based upon a total misapprehension of the tenor and import of our Acts of Parliament. ^ Reeves, History of the English Law (W, F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 437. ■" The statements which follow in the text rest upon the authority of tlie "Introduction to the Statutes of tlie Realm." 334 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. been published before 1481; but it is believed that no complete chronological series, either in their original language, or in English, nor any translation of the statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII., appeared before the publication by Berthelet in 1543, of " the statutes in English, from the time of Henry III. to 19 Henry VII. inclusive." ' No authorized version of the statutes was published until 1810, in which year the first volume of a new edition, draAvn tip from original records and authentic manuscripts, was printed by command of George III. at the request of the House of Commons. In the introduction to this work it is stated, that prior to its appearance no complete collection had ever been printed, containing all the matters, which at different times, and by different editors, were published as statutes. The earliest editions of entire statutes were printed at the latter end of the fifteenth century. The statutes of Henry III., Edward I., and Edward II., were not printed entire until the beginning of the sixteenth century, and then in small collections by themselves in their original language. Later editions, which combine the period previous to Edward III. with that of this and sub- sequent kings, omit the original text of the statutes previous to Henry VII., of which they give translations only. Even the more modern editions — still used in private libraries, and generally consulted by non-legal writers — which, in some instances, insert the original text of the statutes previous to Kichard III., from the statute roll and ancient manuscripts, omit the translation of many parts of them; and in other instances, give a translation without the text, and also omit many acts in the period subsequent to Henry VII. In the words of the learned editors of " The Statutes of the Realm " — " Many errors and inconsistencies occur in all the translations, resulting either from misinterpretation, or from improper omissions or insertions; and there are many anticnt statutes of which no translation has ever yet been printed."^ The authorized version of the statutes, besides containing many charters not previously printed, affords, in every instance, a faithful transcript from originals or entries thereof, in characters representing the manuscript with its contractions or abbreviations,' so far indeed, as these could be accomplished by printing types. The translation in each case appears side by side with the words of the original, and all quotations from the statutes which appear in this chapter are made from the text of the authorized version. In some few instances I have ventured to question the accuracy of the translation, but in every such case my reasons for so doing are expressed. * The first enactment which will come under our notice is the law of 1349. As already observed, a great public calamity having thinned the lower class of people, servants and ' " I have put every statute in the tongue that it was first written in. For those that were lirst written in latin or in frenche dare I not presume to translate into English for tear of niisseinterpreta- cion. For many wordes and termes be there in divers statutes, both in latin and in frenche, which be very hard to translate aptly into English" (Epistle or Preface to W. Rastall's Collection, edit. 1557). 2 Authorized version, vol. i., Introductions, eh. i., sec. 1, p. xxv. It will be seen as we proceed, that each of these defects in the private or unofficial editions of the statutes has misled some of our Masonic historians. 3 In his publications of the Statutes of Labourers, 25 Edw. III., stat. ii.. Sir F. Eden regrets the absence of circumflexes and other marks of contraction, which occur in the original, and explains " that the modern letter foundries not being supplied with the necessary types to express them, they are unavoidably omitted" (State of the Poor, vol. iii., p. cxlvii.). ■•The earliest translation of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 18 Hen. VI. (made apparently in the time of Henry VI. or Edward IV.) is to be found in the Harleian MSS., 4999, British Museum. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE TREE MA SONS. 335 laborers took occasion to demand very extravagant wages; and rather than submit to work ujion reasonable terms they became vagabonds and idle beggars. Their number, it is probable, being largely augmented by the gradual emancipation of the villeins, which had been proceeding ever since the Conquest; and who, before the end of Edward III. 's reign, were sufficiently powerful to protect one another, and to withhold their ancient and ac- customed services from their lord.' It was found necessary to take some compulsory method in order to reduce the poorer classes to subordination; and an ordinance was there- fore made by the king and council, to whom it was thought properly to belong as an article of police and internal regulation, especially as the parliament were prevented from sitting by the violence of the plague.^ Having regard to the importance of the ordinance of 1349, and the statute of the fol- lowing year — comprehensively described as the " Statutes of Laborers" — each chapter or section will be noticed; two only, however, chapters 5 in the earlier and 3 in the later act, being given in their entirety. ^ I. The Oedinance of Labokeks,^ a.d. 1349. The necessity of the regulations embodied in this Ordinance is thus indicated in the preamble: — " Because a great part of the people, and especially of workman and servants, late died of the pestilence, many seeing the necessity of masters and great scarcity, will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages, and some rather willing to beg in idleness than by labor to get their living." 1. Every man and woman, free or bond, able in body and within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandize, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own whereof he may live, shall be bound to serve for the wages accustomed to be given in the twentieth year of our reign, or five or six common years before. The Lords to be preferred before other in their bondmen or land tenants, but to retain no more than may be necessary for them; and if any such man or woman will not serve, that proved by two true men before the sheriff, bailiff, lord, or constable " of the town where the same shall happen to be done, he shall be committed to the next gaol. 2. If any reaper, mower, or other workman or servant, do depart from service without reasonable cause or licence before the term agreed, he shall have pain of imprisonment, and that none under the same pain presume to receive or to retain any such in his service. 3. That no man pay, or promise to pay, any servant any more wages than was wont. 4. If the lords of the towns or manors presume to in any point to come against this Ordinance, then pursuit shall be made against them for the treble pain paid or promised by them. = Reeves, History of the EngUsh Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii, p. 272; Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 30. ' Reeves, ihid. ; Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 264. ^ Each statute, of which a summary is given in the text, will be distinguished by a number, to which subsequent reference will be made within a parenthesis. ■• 23 Edward III. (Latin). ^ Vicecomiti, ballivo, domino, aut constabulario ville. In earlier printed copies ballivo is turned into hallivis Domini Regis, and the translation is made to read " Sheriff, or the bailiffs of our sover- eign lord the king, or the constables of the town," etc. Daines Barrington says — " Tlie word domi- viis I should conceive to mean lord of the manor" (Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 265). 336 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 5, '' Item, tliat sadlers, skinners, wliitetawers, cordwainers, taylors, smiths, carpenters, masons (cemeniarii), tilers, boatmen, carters, and all other artificers and workmen, shall not take for their labor and workmanship above the same that was wont to be paid to snch per- sons the said twentieth year, and other common years next before, as afore is said, in the place where they shall happen to work; and if any man take more, he shall be committed to the next gaol, in manner as afore is said." C. Butchers, fishmongers, hostelers, brewers, bakers, pulters, and all other sellers of all manner of victual, shall be bound to sell the same for a reasonable price. 7. Because that many valiant beggars refuse to labor, none, upon the said pain of im- prisonment, shall give anything to such. The conclusion of this ordinance, styled by Barrington " the last chapter," but not numbered in the copy before me, disposes in a somewhat unusual manner of the penalties imposed by a preceding part of the law; they are not given to the informer, as in more . modern times, to enforce the execution of a statute, but in aid of dismes and quinzimes granted to the king by the commons. ' Whether the neglect of this ordinance arose from this improper distribiition of the penalty, or more probably from the severity of the law, the parliament, two years afterward, attempted to carry it into more rigorous execution, and likewise added some new regula- tions, fixing the price of not only the wages of the laborer, but almost every class of artisan.'^ II. The Statute of Laboeees,' a.d. 1350. 1. That carters, ploughmen, shepherds, swineherds, deies,* and all other servants, shall take liveries and wages accustomed in the said twentieth year, or four years before; and that they be allowed * to serve by a whole year, and not by the day; and that none pay in the time of sarcling or haymaking but a penny the day; and that such workmen bring openly in their hands to the merchant towns their instruments, and these shall be hired in a common place, and not privy. 2. That none take for the threshing of a quarter of wheat or rye over ii d. ob. ; and that the same servants be sworn two times in the year before lords, stewards, bailiff's, and constables of every town," to hold and do these ordinances; and that none of them go out of the town, where he dwelleth in the winter, to serve the summer, if he may serve in the ' Sir F. Dwarris says: — " That because it was found that people would not sue for the forfeiture against servants and workmen for taking more tlian the appointed wages, it was afterwards or- dained that such forfeiture should be assessed by the king's officers, to go in alleviation of the charges to be levied on the township " (A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 866). ■•^ Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 265. 3 25 Edw. III., stat. 2 (French). The preamble of this statute recites, that the previous ordinance has been ineffectual, and that servants require " double or treble of that they were wont to take in the said twentieth year. ■* Deijes were the lowest class of servants in husbandry. They seem to have been employed either at the diary or in tending swine. 5 " Huyred" in Harlian MSS., 4999. ^ Seigneurs, seneschals, bailifs et conestables de chescune ville. It by no means follows that be- cause Dominus in the " Ordinance" (I.), and Seigneur in the "Statute" (II.) of Labourers, are both translated lord, that the same class of persons is alluded to in each instance. According to Barring- ton, tlie French original is derived from senior, age formerly giving the only rank and precedence. The use of the word seigneur in the present statute impoits nothing further than that he sliall be a man of consequence. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 337 same town; and that those who refuse to make such oath, or to perform that they he sworn to or have taken upon them, shall be put in the stocks by the said lords, stewards, bailiffs, and constables of towns, or sent to the next gaol. 3. "Item, that carpenters, masons, and tilers, and other workmen of houses,' shall not take by the day for their work, but in such manner as they were wont; that is to say, a master carpenter iii d., and another ii d. ; master freestone mason {iinestre mason defranche pere)^ iiii, and other masons iii d., and their servants i d., ob. ; tylers iii d., and their knaves garceonsY i d., ob. ; plasterers and others workers of mud walls, and their knaves, by the same manner, without meat and drink, i s. from Easter to Saint Michael, and from that time less, according to the rate and discretion of the Justices,* which should be thereto assigned; and that they that make carriage by land or water shall take no more for such carriage to be made than they were wont the said xx year, and iiii years before. " ^ 4. That cordwainers and shoemakers shall not sell boots and shoes, nor none other thing touching their mystery, in any other manner than they were wont; that goldsmiths, sadlers, horse-smiths, sporriei-s, tanners, corriers, tawers of leather, taylors, and other work- men, artificers and laborers, and all other servants here not specified, shall be sworn before the justices, to do and use their crafts and offices in the manner they were wont to do the said XX year, and in the time before, without refusing the same because of this ordinance; and if any of the said servants, laborers, workmen, or artificers, after such oath made, come against this ordinance, he shall be punished by fine and ransom, and imprisonment, after the discretion of the justices. 5. That the said stewards, bailiffs, and constables of towns be sworn to inquire of all them that come against this ordinance, and to certify the justices of their names, so that they make fine and ransom to the king, and moreover be commanded to prison, there to remain till they have found surety to serve and do their work, and to sell things vendible in the manner aforesaid. And that the same justices have power to enquire and make due punishment of the said ministers, laborers, workmen, and other servants; and also of host- lers, harbergers, and of those that sell victual by retail, or other things here not specified. ' " Carpenters, masons, teglei's and autres coverours des mesons." ^ Master Mason of free stone, Harlian MSS. Printed translations of the Statutes (prior to 1810) convert the phrase into Freemason, which has misled Kloss and otlier German writei-s, notably Fin- del, who states (Hist, of Freemasonry, p. 79) tliat the word " Freemason " occurs for the first time in the statute under review. ^ Knave was formerly very commonly used to signify a servant, or workman's boy. It occurs in this sense in the " Regiam Majestatem," and was pi'obably the usual term for an agricultural laborer in Shakespeare's time: " A couple of Ford's knaves, his hinds." — Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iii. sc. 5. In the constitutions of the guild of Peltyers, Norwich (fourteenth century), a boy is described as a knaue chyld (Smith's Gilds, p. (30); and in the earliest known translation of the statute under ex- amination, the word garceon is rendered as hoy (Harlian MSS., 4999j. ^Even so late as the tliirty-sixth year of Charles II. (1685), the magistrates of Warwickshire set an assize for the masons as for other artisans. A Freemason was to take Is. 4d. a day without board, and 6d. with. Penalty for taking above this rate, twenty-one day's imprisonment (Archseologia, vol. xi.. p. 208). 5 Three years later (1353), the Legislature proceeded a step further, and authorized magistrates to regulate the rents of houses in towns where the wool-staple was held, 27 Edw. III., stat. ii., c. xvi., and the price of iron, 28 Edw. HI., c. v. (1354). 338 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 6. Tliat no sheriffs, constables, bailiffs and gaolers, the clerks of the justices, or of the sheriffs, nor other ministers whatsoever, take anything for the cause of their office of the same servants for fees, suit of prison, nor in other manner. 7. That the said justices make their sessions in all the counties of England at the least four times a year — that is to say, at the feast of the Annunciation of our Lady, Saint Mar- garet, Saint Michael, and Saint Nicholas; and also at all times that shall need, according to the discretion of the said justices; and if any of the said servants, laborers or artificers do flee from one county to another, the sheriffs of the county where such fugitive persons shall be found shall do them to be taken at the commandment of the justices of the counties from whence they shall flee; and that this ordinance be holden and kept, as well in the city of London as in other cities and boroughs, and other places throughout the land, as well within franchises as without.' This statute was always held to apply only to those who worked with their hands.' It is somewhat singular that a large number of the cases preserved in the year books had reference to chaplains. In an action against one of this class, it was contended that, though retained for a year to do divine service, the defendant had departed within the year, and it "was held that the writ was not maintainable by the statute, "for you cannot compel a chap- lain to sing at mass, for at one time he is disposed to sing, and another not; wherefore you cannot compel him by the statute. " ^ In another case the defendant pleaded that he was retained to collect rents, and so was not a laborer, which was held to be a good plea." The commission to execute the statute of laborers was usually directed to the same persons who were in the commission of the peace; the due ordering of such persons as were the objects of this statute being one of the most important articles in the police of the county. ^ "From the 25th of Edward the Third," says Sir F. Eden, "the laws concerning wages and other visionary regulations, which, however impracticable, were perseveringly adhered to by successive legislatures, afford us the means of tracing, with chronological exactness, the variations either of improvement or of deterioration in the condition of laborers for hire,® who may now be considered as the persons composing that class by which the works of agriculture, of handicraft trades, or of manufacture were carried on." III. In 1360 the Statute of Laborers received parliamentary confirmation, and its ob- servance was enforced under stronger penalties. Laborers were declared no longer pun- ' This chapter of the statute appears to have been disregarded, as we meet the the following new law in 1357: — " It is accorded that the statute of labourers be as well holden in the city and suburbs of London, and in the Five 'PoYi^{Cynk jportz), and all manner other franchises, as elsewhere in Eng- land," (31 Edw. m., Stat. I., c. vii.). •^Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 274. 2 Year-beek, 10 Hen. VI., fol. 8, p. 30. In 1363, Edward HI,, at the prayer of the commons, who complained that priests had become very dear (trop chiers) after the pestilence, ordained, " that if any secular man of the realm pay more than five marks to any priest yearly, he shall pay to the king fully as much as he paid to the said priest" (36 Edw. in., c. viii.). The chantry-priests were not pmch respected. ■* Year-book, 19 Hen. VI., fol. 53. 5 Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. li., p. 276 (XVH.). * Dr. George Kloss, in his exhaustive review of the statutes of labourers (Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung) deduces the erroneous conclusion, "that the Freemasons and builders in general, as also the other handicraftsmen and wage-earning classes in England, were serfs and bound to the soil." THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 339 isliable by '' fine and ransom/' and the Lords of Towns were empowered " to take and imprison them for fifteen days." ' Fugitive laborers and artificers absent either from their work or their places of abode, were "to be burnt in the forehead with the letter F in token of Falsity/"' — i.e., of having broken the oath they were compelled to take under the pre- vious statute; and magistrates were directed, in case they fled into towns, to deliver them up, under penalty of £10 to the king and £5 to the masters who should reclaim them. ^ Wages were again regulated. None whatever were to be taken on the festival days,^ and it was declared, ^ ' ' That as well carpenters and masons {Maceons) be comprised in this ordinance, as all other laborers, servants and artificers; and that the carpenters and the masons take from henceforth wages by the day, and not by the week, nor in other manner; and that the chief masters {chiefs mestres) of carpenters and masons take fourpence by the day, and the other threepence or twopence, according as they be worth; and that all alli- ances and covines of masons and carpenters, and congregations, chapters, ordinances, and oaths betwixt them made, or to be made, shall be from henceforth void and wholly annulled ; ° so that every mason and carpenter, of what condition that he be, shall be com- pelled by his master to whom he serveth to do every work that to him pertaining to do, or of free stone, or of rough stone; and also every carpenter in his degree; but it shall be lawful to every Lord or other, to make bargain or covenant of their work in gross, with such laborers and artificers when please them, so that they perform such works well and lawfully according to the bargain or covenant with them thereof made." In this statute (and not before) a standing authority to hear and determine, and to take sureties for good behavior, was given to " the keepers of the peace;" ' but it is afterward in the stat. Edw. III., stat. I., c. xii., that they are styledi justices. The last-mentioned statute enacts that in the commissions of justices of the peace, and of laborers,^ express mention should be made that they hold their sessions four times in the year; but it was expressly and properly declared in the 34 Edward III., that besides the most worthy persons in the county — {des meultz vauez) — the commission should include "some learned in the law." With the exception of Dr. George Kloss, this statute has been singularly neglected by masonic writers, and yet, as Mr. Papworth long since pointed out, it presents very instruc- tive features." The "alliances, covines, and chapters," I shall, however, pass over for the time being, as they can be more conveniently discussed in connection with the subsequent legislation of the year 1425. The object of this statute seems to have been to benefit the master, rather than the 1 34 Edw. m. {French), c. ix. 2 11,1^1^ g. x. ^Ibid., c. xi. Equivalent to £46, 10s. and £23, 5s. of our present money. To promote the exe- cution of these provisions, it was ordained, by stat. 35 Edw. III. , c. xiv. , that the fines and amercia- ments arising from the penalties inflicted upon "artificers, servants, and other labourers," instead of going into the exchequer, should be distributed among the inhabitants by the collectors. * 34 Edw. m. (French), c. x. * j^j^;, <,. ix. " " Et que totes alliances et Covignes des Maceons et Carpenters, et Congregacions Chapitres or- dinances, et sermentz entre eux faites ou affaires, soient desore anientiz et anullez de tout." '34 Edw. III., c. i. * It is probable, though the laws of this period are silent on the subject, that rates of wages, and the prices of provisions, were regulated by the magistrates very much at their discretion. In the tenth year of Richard 11. several knights were appointed to make proclamation in the county of Cambridge (and, probably in other counties), that no graziers, or sellers of cattle or horses, etc., should sell them at a higher price than usual (Blomefield, History of Norfolk, vol. iv., p. 735). "Transactions, Royal Institute of British Architects, 1861-62. 340 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. servant, by fixing a maximum for wages; and although it pointed out a mode by which its provisions might be avoided, by making it lawful " to every lord or other to make bargain or covenant of their work in gross with such laborers and artificers when please them/' it has been conceived that it was only optional in the master to adopt this mode of hiring, and that the laborer or artificer was obliged to work for the statute wages, by the day or the year, unless his employer could persuade him to work by the piece for less.' At this point, it may be conveniently observed, that in the building trades of the Middle Ages there were fewer persons who carried on the industry on their own account, and a greater number of dependent workmen than in the other trades. The ordinances of the London masons point to relations such as are still greatly abhorred by workmen of the present day; and naturally, those relations led then to the same differences between work^ men and their employers as they lead now.'' "Thus," says Brentano, "in England the royal mandate as to. the workmen who had withdrawn from the works at the Palace of AVestminster tells us of a strike amongst the workmen in the building trades; and the two laws enacted there in the Middle Ages against combinations, congregations, and chapters of workmen — the 34th Edward III., c. ix. (HI.), and 3d Henry VI., c. i. (XVI.), were directed against workmen in the building trades only." ' IV.^ EegulatioisS foe the Trade of Masoks, 30 Edward III., a.d. 1356.* " " At a congregation of mayor and aldermen, holden on the Monday next before the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (2d February), in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Edward III., etc., there being present Simon Fraunceys, the mayor, John Lovekyn, and other aldermen, the sheriffs, and John Little, Symon de Benyngtone, and William de Holbeche, commoners, certain articles were ordained touching the trade of masons, in these words, — '1. * " Whereas Simon Fraunceys, Mayor of the City of London, has been given to un- derstand that divers dissensions and disputes have been moved in the said city, between the masons who are hewers, on the one hand, and the light masons and setters on the other: because that their trade has not been regulated in due manner by the government of folks of their trade in such form as other trades are; therefore the said mayor, for main- taining the peace of our Lord the King, and for allaying such manner of dissensions and disputes, and for nurturing love among all manner of folks, in honor of the said city, and for the profit of the common people, by assent and counsel of the aldermen and sheriffs, caused all the good folks of the said trade to be summoned before him, to have from them good and due information how their trade might be best ordered and ri'led, for the profit of the common people. 2. " Whereupon the good folks of the said trade, chose from among themselves twelve of the most skilful men of their trade, to inform the mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, as to ' Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 37. Cf. the Statutes" of the London Masons, which follow in the text, and ante pp. 121 (art. viii.), 135 (paragraphs 3-7), and 318. ' Brentano, on the History and Development of Guilds, p. 81. ^Ihid.; and Riley, p. 371.- * Continued in the numeration, although not a statute of Parliament. ^ H. T. Riley, Memorials of London and London Life, in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries, 1868, pp. 280-282 {Latin and Norman-French), ^ In Latin. ^ Paragraphs not numbered in original, ^ Iii French. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASOXS. 341 the acts and articles touching their said trade, — tliat is to say, Walter de Sallynge, Richard de Sallynge, Thomas de Bredone, John de Tyryngtone, Thomas de Gloucestre, and Henry de Yeevelee,' on behalf of the masons' hewers; Richard Joye, Simon de Bartone, John de Estone, John Wylot, Thomas Hardegray, and Richard de Cornewaylle, on behalf of the light masons and setters; the which folks were sworn before the aforesaid mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs, in manner as follows, — 3. " In the first place, that every man of the trade may work at any work touching the trade, if he be perfectly skilled and knowing in the same. 4. '' Also, that good folks of the said trade shall be chosen and sworn every time that need shall be, to oversee that no one of the trade takes work to complete if he does not well and perfectly know how to perform such work, on pain of losing, to the use of the com- monality, the first time that he shall, by the persons so sworn, be convicted thereof, one mark; and the second time, two marks; and the third time, he shall forswear the trade for ever. 5. Also, that no one shall take work in gross,' if he be not of ability in a proper manner to complete such Avork; and he who wishes to undertake such work in gross, shall come to the good man of v/hom he has taken such work to do and complete, and shall bring with him six or four ancient men of his trade, sworn thereunto, if they are prepared to testify unto the good man of whom he has taken such work to do, that he is skilful and of ability to perform such work, and that if he shall fail to complete such work in due manner, or not be of ability to do the same, they themselves, whoso testify that he is skilful and of ability to finish the work, are bound to complete the same work well and properly at their own charges, in such manner as he undertook; in case the employer who owns the work shall have fully paid the workmen.^ And if the employer shall then owe him anything, let him pay it to the persons who have so undertaken for him to complete such work. G. Also, that no one shall set an apprentice or journeyman to work, except in presence of his master, before he has been perfectly instructed in his calling: and he who shall do the contrary, and by the person so sworn be convicted thereof, let him pay, the first time to the use of the commonalty, half a mark, and the second time one mark, and the third time 20 shillings; and so let him pay 30 shillings every time that he shall be convicted thereof. 7. Also, that no one of the said trade shall take an apprentice for a less time than seven years, according to the usage of the city; and he who shall do to the contrary thereof, shall be punished in the same manner. 8. Also, that the said masters so chosen, shall oversee that all those who work by the day shall take for their hire according as they are skilled, and may deserve for their work, and not outrageously. 9. Also, if any one of the said trade will not be ruled or directed in due manner by the persons of his trade sworn thereunto, such sworn persons are to make known his name unto the mayor; and the mayor, by assent of the aldermen and sheriffs, shall cause him to ' " On the east side of this Bridge Warde haue yee the fayre Parrish cliurch of S. Magnus, in the whiche church haue beene buried many men of good worship, whose monumentes are now for the most part utterly defaced. I find Henrie Yeuele, Freemason to Edvvarde the thirde, Richarde the second, and Heniy the fourth, who deceased 1400, his monumente yet remainetli " (A Svrvay of London, written in the yeare 1598, by lolin Stow, p. 167). ' Wholesale, or by contract. * Meaning the contractor. 342 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. be chastised by imprisonment and other punishment, that so other rebels may take ex- ample by him, to be ruled by the good folks of their trade. 10. Also, that no one of the said trade shall take the apprentice of another, to the prejudice or damage of his master, until his term shall have fully expired, on pain of paying, to the use of the commonalty, half a mark each time that he shall be convicted thereof." V. Eeverting to the parliamentary statutes, we find that the Legislature, having failed in controlling the wages of industry, next attempted, by statutes equally impracticable, to restrict the workman in the disposition of his slender earnings.' In the year 1363 several laws were passed for the regulation of the diet and apparel of servants, artificers, and yeomen {yome7i),^and it was enacted that merchants should deal in one sort only of merchan- dise, and that handicraftsmen should use only one trade, which they were to choose before the next Candlemas.^ " This," says Brentano, "was a legal recognition of the principle of the trade policy of the craftsmen, namely, that provision should be made to enable every one, with a small capital and his labor, to earn his daily bread in his trade freely and inde- pendently, in opposition to the principle of the rich, freedom of trade. " * VI. The Statute of Laborers was again confirmed in 1368;^ and the jealousy with which the increasing efforts of the handicraftsmen to free themselves from the restrictive fetters imposed upon them by the Legislature, was regarded, is curiously illustrated by an enact- ment of the following year, wherein, at the request of the " Black Prince," whose revenue in his principality of Guion had been diminished by a law limiting the exportation of wines into England to aliens, it was decreed "that all Englishmen, Irishmen, and Welshmen, that be not artificers, may pass freely into Gascoigne, to fetch wines there."" VII. Eichard II. was but eleven years old when he became King of England, on the death of his grandfather. The first statute of this reign recites that the villeins {villeyns) and land-tenant in villeinages had assembled riotously in considerable bodies, endeavoring, by the advice of certain evil counsellors and abettors to withdraw their services from their lords, not alone those which they owed to him by tenure of their lands, but also the services of their bodies; that they chiefly attempted to evade these services under color of certain exemplifications from Domesday- Book, with relation to the manors and towns in which they lived; and that, by false interpretation of these transcripts, they claimed to be entirely free. The statute, therefore, enacts that commissions shall issue under the Great Seal, ' Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 37. '37 Edw. in., c. viii.-x. In this statute the word garsons is rendered as groams, which again in the oldest existing translation (Harleian, No. 4999) gives place to hoies. In a note upon the word " Yomen," Mr. Riley (Memorials of London, p. 543) observes "that it.may have been intended as an abbreviation of the words *yonj man,' e:iuivalent to garcio and valettus.^' Brentano says: — "The word is identical with the German, Gesselle, Junggeselle. ' Junggeselle ' means bachelor, a term very often used for yeomen " (History and Development of Guilds, p. 82). The 20 Rich. II., (vadletz a^ypellez yomen). See also Hei-bert, Companies of London, vol. ii., p. 652; and^Josf-, i-, PP- 363, 364, 370. 3 37 Edw. m., c. v., vi. The restriction placed on the merchants was removed in the following year. •* Brentano, on the History and Development of Gilds, p. 60. 5 42 Edw. HL, c. vi. «43 Edw. m., c. ii. (13691 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASOXS. 343 upon application of any lord {seigneur), to inquire into the offences of these refractory villeins; and that they shall be immediately committed to prison, without bail or main- prize, if their lords shall so insist. With regard to the exemplifications from Domesday, it is likewise declared that the offering them in evidence shall not be of any advantage to him who shall so produce them. ' Nothing could be more severe than this law in every part of it; and we find, by different records in Eymer, that this oj)pression was in reality the occasion of the famous insurrection under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, as well as the great opposition to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; aided, it may well have been, by the poll-tax of three groats imposed in 1380 upon both sexes above the age of fifteen. This assessment was a heavy exaction upon the poor, many of whom were ill-used bondmen; and the harsh and brutal manner in which it was collected made it still more hateful.^ If we follow Barrington, the minor king had been advised, by one part of his Council, to increase the power of the lower people,^ and to lessen tliat of the barons; in consequence of this a proclamation was issued, Avhich among other things, directed, "quod nulla acra terras quae in hondagio vel servagio, tenetur, altus quam ad quatuor denarios haberetur; et si qua ad minus antea tenta fuisset, in posteriim non exaltaretur." ' John of Gaunt put himself at the head of the baron's faction, and procured a repeal of this proclamation in the year following. " The tenure of villeinage, which the insurrection of 1381 operated powerfully in diminish- ing," though extremely burdensome to the villein, was of little advantage to the master. The produce of a large estate was much more conveniently disposed of by the peasants themselves who raised it, than by the landlord or his bailiff, who were formerly accustomed to receive it. A commutation was therefore made of rents for services, and of money — rents for those in kind; and as men in a subsequent age discovered that farms were better cultivated where the farmer enjoyed a security in his possession, the practice of granting leases to the peasant began to prevail, which entirely broke the bonds of servitude, already much relaxed from the former practices.' As half the lands in England were anciently held by the tenure of villeinage, it is not more remarkable as a fact, that this tenure (and status) should have entirely passed away, ' 1 Rich, n., c. vi., 1377 {French). In 1385 a law was passed to the effect that lords should not be forebarred of their villeins through the latter fleeing into cities and suing their owners, 9 Rich. 11. , c. ii. * Many of the serfs or villeins had already been made free by becoming copj^-holders, or even by escaping from thraldom, and living a year and a day within the walls of a town; but this only served to excite the envy of the rest (Chepmell, Short Couree of History, p. 183). The city records, under date 25th April 1288, contain a claim by the Earl of Cornwall and another, upon five persons as their bondmen born, of whom they were seized until one month before the day of St. Michael (29th Sep- tember) 1287, when they ran away. Aad they ask that they be not admitted to the freedom of the city (Riley, Memorials of London, p. 24). *In the fifteenth year of this king, the barons petitioned that no villein should send his son to school; to which the king gave the proper and dignified answer: " ie roy s'aWsera " (Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 300; Dwarris. A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 878). ■•Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 800. " Rymer, Foedera, vol. iii., pt. iii., p. 124. '"'The language of Wat Tyler's followers bespeaks men not unacquainted with the essential requisites of rational liberty" (Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 53). " They required from the king a general pardon, the abolition of slavery, freedom of commerce in market-towns without toll or im- post, and a fixed rent on lands, instead of the services due by villenage " (Hume, History of England, 1822, vol. ii., p. 9). 'Hume, History of England, vol. iii., p. 295. 344 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. witliout being abolished by any statute, than that its dechne should have been so insensible, that historians and antiquaries, with the utmost diligence, can very faintly trace its declen- sion to that period when it suited the mutual convenience of the lord and the vassal to drop the servile tenure. ' These considerations are of some importance, as there can be little doubt that the earliest laws as to artificers, laborers, and vagrants, had reference to the state of villeinage or serf- dom, and the efforts of the villeins to escape from it.'' The earliest vagrants were villeins; and the villeins were constantly wandering away from their lords in order to escape the bonadge of forced laborer, which brought no profit to themselves, for even property, the result of their own labor, could be seized by their lords; and hence it was not to be won- dered at that they should in various ways try to escape so hard a thraldom, and that many of them should lapse into a state of vagrancy. Vagabondage, in short, grew out of villein- age, and these laws arose out of vagabondage. The result of it was, that the lords found their own villeins, to whose labor they had a right, constantly lost, while they were sur- rounded by numbers of vagrants, most of whom, there could be little doubt, were villeins of other lords. The process of seeking for and reclaiming the villeins was troublesome and costly; and instead of it parliament passed these acts as to laborers and others, the effect of which was to enable the lords to put vagrants to labor, as a substitute for the loss of the labor of their villeins.* The condition of the times, and the turn of manners which prevailed towards the close of the fourteenth century, made it desirable and necessary for great lords to supply the de- fection in their villeins and land-tenants " by other expedients. It accordingly had become the custom to retain persons in their service to be at call when their lord's affairs needed their support; and in order to distinguish different partisans, as well as to give a splendor to such retinue, they used to dress them in liveries, and luits ^ of a particular make or color. 'Barring ton, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 301; Dwai'ris, A Treatise on the Statutes) p. 878. See also Reeves, History of the Enghsh Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, voLiii., pp. 584, 587; Eden State of the Poor, vol. i., pp. 80, 60; and Hume, History of England, vol. ii., pp. 9, 295. "^ Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iii., p. 587. "These laws as to labourers contained in them the germ of a principle which was thence transferred to the poor laws — the principle of fixing the poor as much as possible to the soil on which they were born, and of forcibly removing them thereto if they wandered. The origin of this principle, and its transmission in the course of legislation down to our own time, afford a striking illustration of the character of our laws" (ifttd.). ^ Ibid., pp. 587, 588. The granting of a lease or a tenancy to a villein enfranchised him (Year- book, Hen. Vn., f. 11), and therefore if a man was a lessee, on the same principle he could not bo taken under the statute. The statute, it was said, was to be understood of laborers who were va- grants, and who were, therefore, to be made to work (Year-book, 10 Hen. VL, f. 8, pi. 10). And by the statutes, laborers, on the other hand, departing from their labour, could be brought back to it (47 Edw. HL, f. 14). Under these statutes, therefore, if a man was " found wandering about the coantry," he could be put to work by any one (11 Hen. IV;, f. 27). *Lit. "terre tenantz." Instead of the precarious holding at the absolute will of the lord, as originally, we find in the latter end of the last reign (Edw. III.) mention of tenants by copie of court roll, which indicates that villeinage was, in some places at least, become of a more stable nature; and villein tenants were enabled to set up a species of title against their lord (Reeves, History of tiie English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 444). ^ 1 Rich. II. , c. vii. The actual words of the statute are champerons et autre livere, literally, '• hoods and other livery;" but the term hats has crept into all translations. (UU^dix. /l t /X)/ll/li(yiyi p.-. CfyCaui.-, Suiircme rriuiK'ilof 33^ Degree Nortli.-ni .Tiinsrliciimi ,.rr.S THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEAIASONS. 345 Men openly associated themselves, under the patronage of some great baron, for their mutual defence. They wore public badges, by which their confederacy was distinguished. They supported each other in all quarrels, iniquities, extortions, murders, robberies, and other crimes. ' Besides those who were retained by great men, fraternities used to be formed of persons concurring in the same sentiments and views, who bound themselves to support each other on all occasions, and denoted their union by similarity of dress. ^ These con- federacies became a terror to the government, and were the occasion of the statutes of liveries passed in this and the following reigns. The first of these is stat. 1, Rich. II., c. vii., which ordains that no livery be given by any man for maintenance of quarrels and other confederacies upon pain of imprisonment and grievous forfeiture to the king. Some im- material alterations were made in this statute both by Richard and his successors; but in substance it remained as now enacted. The successive acts were very little enforced in this reign, or that of Henry VI., and it was reserv^ed for the stricter and sterner rule of Henry VII. really to put them into execution. For this reason, and also because the laws relating to liveries, passed in the reign of the first Tudor king (XXIII.), have been strangely mis- interpreted by our most trustworthy masonic teachers, I shall postpone my examination of this series of statutes, until the legislation of the reign of Henry VII. passes under review. VIII. In the year 1378 the commons complained that the statutes of laborers were not attended to, but that persons employed in husbandry fled into cities, and became artificers, mariners, or clerks, to the great detriment of agriculture; and in consequence of these repre- sentations, it was enacted that the statutes passed in the preceding reign should be firmly kept and put in due execution. ' IX. In 1388' these statutes were again confirmed, and it was further directed that no servant or laborer should depart at the end of his term to serve or dwell elsewhere, or under pretence of going a pilgrimage,^ without a letter patent specifying the cause of the departure and the time of his return, which might be granted at the discretion of a justice of the 'Hume, History of England, vol. iii., p. 59. ^ Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii. , p. 444. During the thir- teentli and i'oui'teenth centuries, the king's retinue was often beset and pillaged by banditti; even towns, during the time of fairs, were assaulted and ransacked; and men of rank carried off and con- fined in the castle of some lawless chieftain, till their ransom was paid (M. Paris, p. 225; Knighton (Anglicao«e Historiae Scriptores Decern), p. 2465). "2 Rich, n., stat. i., c. viii. In 1383, justices, sheriffs, mayors, etc., were enjoined to take secu- rity of vagrants for their good behavior (7 Rich. H., c. v.). M2 Rich, n., c. iii. * Mr. Ludlow considers that " tramp-money," i.e., relief to members going in search of work, is the modex'n representative of the relief to pilgrim-artificers (Fortnightly Review, N. S., vol. vi., p. 399). From the law of 1350 (II.), it appears that " artificers" were even at that date expected to " flee" from one county to another to escape its provisions. " A pilgrimage to a shrine," Mr. Lud- low argues, " would evidently be the safest color for such a migration;" but Brentano is of opinion that the 25 Edw. HI, c. vii., referred to country not town artificers, and observes, that as the exer- cise of a craft in towns depended upon apprenticeship and citizenship, a fleeing craftsmen would not therefore have been allowed to carry on his craft (Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. xii. Cf. 12 Rich. IL, c. vii.; and Smith's Gilds, pp. 157, 177, 180). The Coventiy Gild "kept a lodging-house with thirteen beds, to lodge poor folks couiing through the land on pilgrim- age, or any other work of charity " {Ibid., p. 231). 346 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. peace; and that " as well artificers and people of mystery {gentz de mistier ') as servants and apprentices, which be of no gi-eat avoyr^ {avoi}'), and of which craft or mystery a man hath no great need in harvest time, shall be compelled to serve in harvest to cut, gather, and bring in the corn." The wages of servants in husbandry were fixed by the same statute, after reciting, " that the hires of servants and laborers had not been put in certainty'^ before this time." And it was decreed that " no servant of artificer nor victualler within city shall take more than the servants and laborers above named after their estate. " * Penalties were imposed on those giving or taking higher wages; and for a third offence, treble the value of the excess given or taken, or forty days' imprisonment. ' Persons having served in husbandry until the age of twelve years were declared incapable, of " being put to any mystery or handicraft," ° and all covenants of apprenticeship to the contrary were declared void. To prevent disorders,' it was ordained that no servant, laborer, nor artificer should carry a sword, buckler, or dagger, except in time of war or when travelling with their masters; but they might have bows and arrows, and use tJiem on Sundays and liolidays. They were required to leave off playing at tennis or football, and to refrain from quoits, dice, skittles, and other such importune games. This is noticeable for being the first statute that prohibited any sort of games and diversions.* X. In the following year at the request of the Commons that the Statutes of Laborers should be enforced, it was enacted, that " forasmuch as a man cannot put the price of corn and other victuals in certain," the justices should, at Easter and Michaelmas, make procla- mation according to the dearth of victuals, how much every mason, carpenter, tiler, and other craftsmen, workmen, and other laborers should take by the day with meat and drink, or without meat and drink, between the two seasons, and " that every man obey to such proclamations from time to time as a thing done by statute. " ' Shoemakers and cordwainers were prohibited from being tanners, and vice versd;^" and artificers and others were restrained from keeping dogs or using ferrets.'' In the twelfth year of Eichard II., writs were sent to all the sheriffs in England to make proclamation for the sending up of the return from guilds and crafts, called for by the Parliament of Cambridge. The masters and wardens of " guilds and brotherhoods" were required to furnish full information "as to the manner and form of the oaths, gatherings, ' Men of Craft (Harleian MSS., 4999). * Have, or reputation (Ibid.). ^ From this expression Sir F. Eden concludes that the wages of those affected by the Statutes of Laborers " had not been regulated at any earlier period " (Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 43). "13 Rich, n., c. iv. The penalties for excessive wages restricted to the takers onty, by 4 Hen. N., Stat, ii., c. v. (1416), ° Chapter IX. of the statute of this year has the following: — " It is ordained and asserted, that the ordinances aforesaid of servants and labourers beggars and vagabonds, shall be executed as well in cities and boroughs as in other towns and places within the realm," and "the sheriffs, mayoi-s, bailiffs, and the keepei"s of gaols" are charged to receive offenders and to keep them in prison (12 Rich, n., c. ix. A.D. 1388). ^Ibid., c. v. ''Ibid., c. vi. Confirmed, and a penalty of six days imprisonment added (11 Hen. IV., c. iv.). * Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finiason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 455. MS Rich, n., stat. i., c. viii., 1389-90. '"Rich, n., stat. i., c. xii. Confirmed, 21 Rich. H., c. xvi. : repealed as to shoemakers, 4 Hen. VI., c. XXXV.; and again enacted, 2 Hen. VI., c. vii. "13 Rich. II., stat. i., c. xiii. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEA/ASONS. 347 feasts, and general meetings,' of the bretheren and sisteren;" also, as to tlieir liberties, privileges, statutes, ordinances, usages, and customs; and to lay before the king and his council their charters and letters patent, where such existed. ' The masters, wardens, and overlookers of the mysteries-and crafts, who held any charters or letters patent,^ were in like manner required to exhibit them. XI. In the fourth year of Henry IV.,* an act was passed prohibiting carpenters, masons (cemenfers), tilers, and other laborers from being hired by the week, and forbidding them to receive any wages on feast-days, or more than half a day's wages when they only worked on the eve of a festival " till the hour of None" {al heure de None.^) It is probable that in taking service by the week, and receiving wages at the rate of seven days' work, although, from the intervention of the Sabbath, and the frequency of festivals, they only worked four or five days in the week, the provision of former statutes had been effectually frustrated by the laborers. XII. Henry IV., in the seventh year of his reign 1405-6,° confirmed the Statutes of Laborers, and the law of 1388,^ which he made more stringent, by ordering that no one should put his child to serve as apprentice to any craft or other labor witliin a city or borough, unless he possessed an annual income of 20s. from land or rent. Laborers and artificers were to be sworn in their respective leets,* once in each year, "to serve and take for their service after the form of the statutes," and any refusing so to do ' " The distinction between the ' gatherings ' (congregationes) and ' general meetings' (assemhlias) is seen at a glance in most of the ordinances. The gild brethren were bound to gather together, at unfixed times, on tlie summons of the dean, for special purposes; but, besides these gatherings upon special summons, general meetings of the guilds were held on fixed days in every year, for election of officers, holding their feasts," etc. (Toulmin Smith, English Gilds, p. 138). '^ The words " si quas habent" (in original) are conclusive, as Mr. Smith observes, upon the point, " that no licence nor charter of the crown was necessary to the beginning of any of the social gilds. Any guild might, or it might not, have such charters " (Smith, English Gilds, p. 128). * " These words show^ that in the case of the guilds of crafts, as has been seen to be so in that of the social gilds, no licence nor charter of the crown was necessary to their foundation" (Ibid., p. 130). «4Hen. IV., c. xiv. (1402). ' Except by Kloss, invariably translated noon. The expression throws light upon some obscuri- ties in the "Old Charges." Nonfinch, 5, 12, and 27 (the figures refer to the numbers by which the various " constitutions " are distinguished in Chapter IL); Nonesynches, 15 and 22; Noontydes, 18; Novices, 24; Nonsyon, 28; and Nuncion, 29, — are evidently all variations of Nunchion, "a piece of victuals eaten between meals " (Johnson). " Laying by their swords and trunchions. They took their breakfasts or their nunchions." — Hudibras. Mr. Riley says: "Donations for drink to workmen are called, in 1350, ' nonechenche,' probably ' noon's quench,' whence the later ' nuncheon ' or luncheon" (Memorials of London, p. 265). The rate of pay —3s. 6. to there double wages " (ante, p. 101)— which is frequently named— 12, 13, 20, and 25— may also be explicable, on the supposition that the extra or additional sum was given in lieu of a pay- ment in kind— i.e., none-mete (XXIV.). "7 Hen. IV., c. xvii. The city of London exempted from the restriction on apprenticeship by 8 Hen. VI., c. xi. (1429). ' 12 Rich. IL, c. iii. sSee Smith's Gilds, pp. 411, 439. 348 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. were to be put in the stocks. To facilitate this it was provided that every town or seignory not having stocks should be fined a hundred shillings, XIII. Two statutes, enacted in the reign of Henry V., demand our notice. The act of 1414/ extended the authority of justices of the peace, by empowering them to send their writs to take fugitive laborers in any county. All the Statutes of Laborers were to be ex- emplified under the Great Seal; an exemplification was to be sent to every sheriff to make proclamation in full county, and deliver it to the justices of the peace named of the quorum, to remain with them for the better execution thereof. These justices were to hold their sessions four times a year, and were aiithorized to examine laborers, servants, and artificers, with their masters, upon their oaths. XIV. In 1416,^ an act was passed limiting the penalties of the 12th Eich. II., c. iv., for excessive wages to the takers only, it being somewhat humorously recited " that the givers, when they have been sworn before the justices of the peace, will in no wise present such excesses to eschew their own punishments." XV. Matters, however, were replaced on the old footing in 1423,^ and the justices once more empowered to proceed against the masters as well as the servants. They were also authorized " to call before them by attachment masons, carpenters, tilers, thatchers, daubers, and all other laborers, and to examine them; " and any of these found to have taken con- trary to the laws and ordinances were "to have imprisonment of a month." The same authorities had power to call before them in a similar manner tailors, cordwainers, tanners, bochers, fishers, hostilers, and "all other artificers and victuallers," and to assess them under penalties, " to sell and take after the discretions of the justices." This ordinance extended to cities and boroughs as well as counties, and was " to endure until the parliament next to come." The preceding chapter or article, which is of considerable importance in our inquiry, was first printed from the Statute Roll in Hawkins' edition, 1734-5, and no translation having appeared until 1816,^ it has not been noticed by the numerous commentators upon the subsequent law of 1425. " The legislature, in the reign of Henry VI.," says Mr. Reeves, " as in the time of his two predecessors, was rather employed in furthering and improving the policy of some statutes made in the preceding period, than in introducing any novelties." ^ Although legal writers are all of the same opinion as Mr. Reeves, and indeed only notice the statute of 1425, from the fact of its having added to the list of offences punishable as felony;" at the hands of masonic historians it has experienced very different treatment, and the specula- tions to which it has given rise will next claim our attention. ' 2 Hen. V., stat. i., c. iv. The preamble recites, "because servants and labourers do flee from county to county." ^ 5 Henry V., c. iv. ^2 Hen. VI., c. xviii. * Statutes of the Realm, vol. ii., p. 225. « Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason) 1869, vol. ii., p. 528. * Dwarils, A Treatise on tlie Statutes, p. 894. Daines Barrington, a contributor to vol. ix. of the Archa;logia (1788), both before and after the essay of Governor Pownall, commenting upon this law, does not even condescend to notice Cliapter I. (referring to the chapters of the masons), although his "Observations on the Statutes" contain a disquisition upon the 3 Hen. "VT., c. ii., and in the fifth edition (1796) he adds some reflections, which occurred to him "since the former editions." THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 349 Before, however, we proceed to examine the glosses of the innumerable commentators who have professed to explain this enactment, it will be convenient to consider a little more closely than we have hitherto done the circumstances of the previous reign, together with any collateral facts that may aid in illustrating the subject of our investigation. The wars of Henry V., however glorious to his arms, placed only a " fruitless crown" upon his head; and, as it has been well expressed, "the lilies of France were purchased too dearly with the harvests of England." A convincing proof of the devastation made by the sword amongst the gentry is afforded by the language of a statute passed in 1421: it states, " that at the making of the act of the 14th of Edward III. (1340), there were sufficient of proper men in each county to execute every office: but that, owing to pesti- lence and wars, there are not now a sufficiency of responsible persons to act as sheriffs, coroners and escheators. " There cannot be a doubt but that greater numbers of the lower classes perished from the operation of similar causes. Indeed, it has been advanced, that the great drain of men occasioned by Henry V.'s wars, and the subsequent bloody contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, materially contributed to render the whole nation free. ' The condition of the realm at the period of Henry VI. 's accession, himself an infant, will be best understood by a brief reference to the military operations of the previous reign. Henry V., in 1415, landed near Honileurat the head of 6000 men-at-arms and 24,000 foot, mostly archers, and, putting the casualties of war on one side, had lost half his force by disease before the memorable battle of Agincourt. Two years later he was again in France with 25,000 men, and in 1421 he levied a new army of 24,000 archers and 4000 horsemen.^ The withdrawal of so many men from the kingdom, especially when we consider the sparse- ness of the population at that period, must have rendered labor even more scarce than it had hitherto been; and the return to peaceful avocations of any of the soldiery could not have been an unmixed advantage, since the high rate of wages paid by Henry V. to his troops ^ must have for ever dissatisfied them with the paltry remuneration assessed by the justices, whose scale of payments, indeed, cannot have been one whit more acceptable to the artisans who plied their crafts unmolested by the king's levies. But the drain upon the population of England for soldiers did not cease with the life of Henry V. His brother, the Duke of Bedford, the most accomplished prince of his time, remained in France. The whole power of England Avas at his command; he was at the head of armies inured to victory, and was seconded by the most renowned generals of his age. At the battle of Verneuil there fell about 4000 of the French and 1600 of the English — a loss esteemed at that time so unusual on the side of the victors, that the Duke of Bed- ford forbade all rejoicings for his success." In the same year, 1424, further levies were drawn from England, though, much to the chagrin of the Duke of Bedford, the succors ' Eden, State of the Poor, vol. i. , p. 66. 2 Hume, History of England, 1833, vol. iii., pp. 99, 104, 111. ' " All the extraordinary supplies granted by Parliament to Henry during the course of his reign, were only about £303,000. It is easy to compute how soon this money must be exhausted by armies of 84,000 archers and 6000 horse, when each archer had sixpence a day, and each horseman two shil- lings" {Ihid., p. 118). See, however, Rymer, Foedera, vol. ix., p. 258, from which the wages of arch- ers would appear to have been much higher. ^Hume, History of England, vol. ii., p. 129. 350 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. which he expected from his native land were intercepted by his brother, the Duke of Glou- cester, and employed in Holland and Ilainault. About this period gunpowder had passed into constant use, both in the attack and defence of places. The pieces were called guns and culverins. The first threw stone balls, sometimes 26 inches in diameter; the second threw plummets or balls of lead. The pow- der was of a different sort for each. The guns were worked by a master gunner, with var- lets under him. Masons and carpenters were attached to them. ' It is noteworthy that the two laws enacted in the Middle Ages against combinations, congregations, and chapters of workmen, the 34 Edward III. , c. ix. (III. ) and the 3 Henry, VI., c. i. (XVI.), were directed against the craftsmen above named, and, as a factor at least in our final judgment upon these statutes, must be assumed the possibility of both masons and carpenters having, to some extent, acquired by military service abroad a higher opinion of the rights of labor, and of the inherent freedom of every class of artisan to barter the product of their skill or industry for its full money value. XVI. 3 Henry V., c. i., a.d. 1425. Eu primes come par les annuelx congre- gacions et confederacies faitz par les Masons en lour generalx Chapitres assemblez, le bon cours et effect des estatutz de Laborers sout publiquement violez et disrumpez en sub- version de la leye et grevouse damage of tout le commune; nostre Seigneur le Roivoillant en ceo cas purvoir de remedie, par advis et assent suisditz et a la especial request des ditz Communes ad ordinez et establiz que tieux Chapitres et Congregacions ne soient desore tenuz; et si ascuns tielx soient faitz soient ceux qi fount faire assembler et tenir iceux Chapitres et congregacions sils ent soient convictz adjuggez pur felons; et que toutz les autres Masons qi viegnent as tielx Chapitres et congregacions soient puniz par emprisonement de lour corps et facent fyn et raunceon a la volunte du Roi. FIRST, Whereas by the yearly Congre- gations and Confederacies made by the Ma- sons in their general Chapiters assembled, the good Course and Effect of the Statutes of Labourers be openly violated and broken, in Subversion of the Law, and to the great Damage of all the Commons: Our said Lord the King willing in this Case to provide Remedy, by the Advice and Assent afore- said, and at the special Request of the said Commons, hath ordained and established, that such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be hereafter holden; and if any such be made, they that cause such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and holden, if they thereof be convict, shall be judged for Felons; and that all the other Masons that come to such Chapiters and Congrega- tions, be punished by Imprisonment of their Bodies, and make Fine and Ransom at the King's Will. The first writer who associated this statute with the Freemasons was Dr. Plot, who, in his "Natural History of Staffordshire,"^ ridicules the idea of the charges of the Society having been approved by King Henry VL, observing: — "Yet more improbable is it still, that Hen. the 6 and his Council should ever peruse or approve their charges and manners, and so confirm these right Worshipfull Masters and Fellows as they are call'd in the Scrole: for in the third of his reigne (when he could not be 4 years old) I find an act oi Parliament ' Lingard, History of England, 1849, vol. iv., p. 24. ' Oxford, 1686, c. viii. See ante, p. 73. THE STATUTES RELATING TG THE FREE7JASGNS. 351 quite abolisliing this Society. Which Statute though repealed by a subsequent act in the 5 of EUz. (XXXIII.), 'tis still to be feared these Chapters of Free-3fasons do as much mis- chief as before, which, if one may estimate by the penalty, was anciently so great, that perhaps it might be usefull to examin them now." The next commentary upon the statute which I shall introduce, will be that of Dr. James Anderson, who, in 1721, "fault hiving been found with the old Gothic Constitu- tions," was ordered by the Grand Lodge " to digest the same in a new and better method." On the performance of his task, " fourteen learned brothers were appointed to examine the MS. and to make report," which proving favorable, the Grand Lodge desired the Grand ^Master to have it printed,* and, on the 17th January 1723, it is recorded that " Grand Warden Anderson produced the 7iew book of Constitutions, which was again approved."' With the book itself is bound up the printed " approbation " of the Duke of Wharton, the Grand Master, and of the Masters and Wardens of twenty Lodges; whilst in a graceful dedication to the Duke of Montagu, from the pen of Dr. Desaguliers, the learned natural philosopher, the erudition and accuracy of the compiler are especially borne witness to."' I have been thus precise, because tliis publication, the Constitutions of 1723, has been termed " the basis of Masonic history," and the statements which appear in it necessarily carry great weight. Dr. Anderson says: — " Now though in the third year of King Henry VI., while an Infant of about four years old, the Parliament made an Act, that affected only the loorking Masons, who had, contrary to the Statutes for Laborers, confederated not to work but at their own Price and Wages; and because such Agreements were suppos'd to be made at the General Lodges, call'd in the Act Chapters and Congregations of Masons, it was then thought expedient to level the said Act against the said Congregations: yet when the said King Henry VI. arriv'd to Man's Estate, the Masons laid before him and his Lords the above-mention'd ^ecor^s and Charges, who, 'tis plain, review'd them, and solemnly approv'd of them as good and reasonable to be holden: Nay, the said King and his Lords must have been incorporated with the Free- Masons, before they could make such Review of the Records; and in this Eeign, before King Henry's Troubles, Masons were much encourag'd. Nor is there any Instance of executing that Act in that, or in any other Reign since, and the Masons never neglected their Lodges for it, nor even thought it worth while to employ their nohle and eminent Brethren to have it repeal'd; because the working Masons, that are free of the Lodge, scorn to be guilty of such Combinations; and the free Masons have no con- cern in trespasses against the Statutes for Laborers."' The author, or compiler, of the Constitutions adds, in a footnote, that " by tradition it is believ'd that the Parliament- Me7i were then too much influenc'd by the illiterate clergy, who were not accepted Masons, nor understood Architecture (as the clergy of some former 'Anderson, Constitutions, 1739, pp. 112, 115, 152. ' " I need not tell your Grace what pains our learned author has taken in compiling and digest- ing this book from the old records, and how accurately he has compar'd and made everything agree- able to history and chronology (Anderson, Constitutions, 1723). ^Anderson, Constitutions, 1723, pp. 34, 35. Kloss very pertinently observes, that though at this early date Dr. Anderson endeavors to draw a distinction between "operative masons" and "Free- masons," on all other occasions he does not scruple to appropriate to the latter all documents relat- ing to the former (Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung). I am glad to say that this work is in course of translation by Mr. G. W. Speth, than whom no one is better qualified to present this masonic classic in an English guise, with due fidelity to the original. 352 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. Ages), yet thinking they had an indefeasible Eight to know all Secrets, by vertiie of auricu- lar Confession,' and the Masons never confessing anything thereof, the said Clergy were highly offended, and represented them as dangerous to the State." Dr. Anderson then gives in full the words of the statute — or rather of its translation— which he takes from Coke; ^ speaks of the '" Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their General Assemblies; " and cites the opinion of the learned Chief -Justice, that all the Statutes of Laborers were repealed by the statute of 5 Elizabeth, chapter 4. As Preston ' and all other Masonic writers, with the solitary exception of Dr. George Kloss (1848),^ have followed Anderson in their interpretation of this statute, I shall not encumber my pages with a repetition of the arguments already qiioted, but will proceed to adduce some of the conclusions which have been advanced by independent authorities, whose speculations, though equally erroneous, are less open to suspicion, as being unin- fluenced to any appreciable extent by Vv^riters of the craft. Governor Pownall says, " These Statutes of Laborers were repeatedly renewed through several reigns down to Henry VI., and as repeatedly disobeyed by the Freemasons, until in the 3d of Henry VL an ordinance was, by the advice of the Lords, on the petition of the Commons, made. This statute ascertains these facts: first, that this corporation held chapters and congregations, assuming, as to the regulating of their work and wages, to have a right to settle these matters by their own bye-laws. The statute declares this to be a subversion of the law of the land, and grievous damage to the community; secondly, it ascertains that this body of masons were a set of artists and mechanicks, the price of whose labor and work ought to be regulated by those Statutes of Laborers; thirdly, instead of dissolving this corporation, which would in effect have acknowledged it as legal prior to such dissolution, it forbids all their chapters and other congregations to be held, and de- clares all persons assembling or holding such to be felons. ■ " This statute put an end to this body, and all its illegal chapters and pretences. It should seem, however, that societies of these masons met in mere clubs, wherein continu- ing to observe and practice some of their ceremonies which once had a reference to their constitutions and to the foundation of powers which no longer existed, and were scarcely understood, they only made sport to mock themselves, and by degrees their clubs or lodges sunk into a mere foolish, harmless mummery." ' It is greatly to be regretted that the diligent antiquary, from whom I have last quoted, ' The writer, who was himself a Scotch Presbyterian minister, here indulges in a fling at the clerics of the older faitii. '^Coke, Institutes, iii. . fol. 99. ^Authoi- of the '• lUustrations of Masonry," of which twelve editions were pubUshed in his life- time—the first in 1772, the last in 1812. ■* " These chapters and congregations cannot by any possibility be thought to stand in connection with a secret doctrine, but they may, with designing under heavy oatlis of secrecy, to evade and overstep the laws of the realm " (Kloss, Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung). ° Archfeologia, vol. ix., pp. 118, 119. The view here expressed has been adopted by a recent Masonic writer, who observes; " It is in the highest degree probable that the year 1424 [1425?] is the proper date to assign for the cessation of English Freemasonry as a strictly operative association, and the epoch of its decided tendency towards a speculative science, such as we now find it. The rites and ceremonies, together with the moral instruction which had hitherto been in vogue in the lodres, were undoubtedly continued under the new regime!" (Fort, Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 131). THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 353 should hare regarded the law of 1425, so decisive of the position he took up, as to render unnecessary a publication of the historical proofs with which he avowed himself pre- pared. It has been already shown that in the opinion both of Governor Pownall and Mr. Hope, the Freemasons were a close corporation under the protection of the Pope,' and thereby claiming exemption from the Statutes of Laborers, became the subject of special legislation in the third year of Henry VI. Indeed the latter of these authorities maintains that "as soon as, in different countries, a general increase of learning, of industry, or skill, of jealousy in the native sovereigns, of the intrusion of foreigners, to the disparagement of their authority, and the detriment of their subjects, and a general corresponding diminution of the papal influence, and of the support given by it to Freemasonry, caused the bodies of Freemasons everywhere successively to dissolve, or to be expelled, until they at last ceased to exercise their original profession, and nothing remained of them but an empty name, and organization, and for- mulary, which other men laid hold of and appropriated to themselves to carry on and con- ceal other purposes; no trace or tradition of their peculiar principles or method continued to be observed."* By other writers stress has been laid on the terms " congregations, confederacies, and general chapiters," and from their employment in the statute, it has been deduced that the body of Freemasons met in one general assembly, which was convoked " after the manner of a chapter.^ Though, as a skeptical — or perhaps I should say a less uncritical — commen- tator well observes, " if the chapters or assembling of Freemasons had been injurious to the State by fomenting insurrections, it is scarcely probable that such fact would have been totally overlooked, not only by the English historians, but in the statutes. * With regard to the tenor of the series of enactments, of which the law under examina- tion is but an intermediate manifestation, I apprehend that the general meaning and in- tention of the various regulations comprehensively classed as the " Statutes of Laborers," Avill have been fairly disclosed by the summary already given. They were designed to repress extortion, to keep down the prices of provisions, and restrain the wage-earning classes from profiting unduly by the dearth of labor and the necessities of a nascent civiliza- tion. That the legislature failed in its laudable aim we can now perceive, but we should bear in mind that political economy, as at this day we understand it, has only been evolved after a long experience of legislative and economical experiments, amply illustrated in the early history of Great Britain, and which in part the statutes under review put very plainly before us. The fanciful interpretation placed upon the law of 1425 by Governor Pownall and Mr. Hope I shall pass over without further comment, but in the terminology of this statute there are a few expressions which are worthy of more detailed examination. In the first instance let us consider the phrase, en lour general chapiters assemhlez — in their general chapters assembled — which, until the authorized edition of the statutes in ' Ante, pp. 258, 260. Even the more critical Dallaway does not scruple to say: " The Freemasons were blessed by the Pope, and were first encom-aged in England by Henry III." (Discourses on Archi- tecture, p. 156). "^ Hope, Essay on Architecture, pp. 243, 244. •*Tlie expression kapittelsweise, used by the German stonemasons (ante, p. 118), Findel states, is employed by no other guild, and lie derives it from the cajpitula of the Benedictines (History of Freemasonry, p. 73). ■' Dallaway, Discourses on Architecture, p. 438. 23 354 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 1810, was almost invariably translated, '' in their general chapters and assemblies." Few commentators troubled themselves to consult the original Norman-French, and as a natural consequence — even when one did not copy directly from another, as was probably the case in the majority of instances — the commentary or annotation, was applied to a garbled or falsified version of the record it professed to explain. Doctors Plot and Anderson, Preston, Dallaway, Findel, and even Kloss, cite the statute, and in each instance the word assem- blies appears. ' 'Not to pursue this point to an unnecessary length, I Avill briefly observe that perhaps about one-half of the erroneous conclusions that have been drawn from the verbiage of this enactment, arise out of the substitution of a noun for a participle, and it has been too hastily concluded that the language of the " Old Charges" is here reproduced, and that the masons, whose illegal conventions it was the object of the statute to repress, met in precisely the same kind of "general assemblies" as those alluded to in our manu- script constitutions. Whilst, indeed, it is very possible that they did, still the enactment will not bear this construction, except inferentially, and as it has been already overweighted with the conceits of the learned, it will be best to prefer evidence to conjecture, and to content ourselves with an examination of the terms actually employed, rather than waste time in vainly speculating upon the meaning and significance of a form of expression which had its origin in the imagination of the translator. The word "chapters," which occurs in two statutes (III., XVI.), I conceive to have been used — as I pointed out some years ago ° — to describe, what in the vernacular were termed conventicles. The latter expression occurs in 1383, in a proclamation of the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of the city of London; ' again in 1415,* in an ordinance published by the same corporate body, and still later in the fifteenth century, appears in a petition to parliament against an Exeter guild in the twenty-second year of Edward IV. ^ " The commission" (of a justice), says Lambard, " gives power to enquire of Conuenti- cles. Yet unlawful Conuenticles be not all of one sort; for sometimes those are called Conuenticles wherein many do impart with others their meaning to kill a man, or to take one another's part in all things, or suchlike."" Shakespeare would appear to have had this definition present to his mind, when in Part II. of his play Henry VI., he makes Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle — on being arrested for treason in the presence of Cardinal Beaufort and other noblemen — utter the following complaint: — 1 The earliest known translation (Harleian MS., No. 4999) has assemblies. On the other side, it is perhaps right to say that Pownall, who gives the statute in the original Norman-French, prints the word correctly (assemblez). For the general use of the term, see the Statutes 17 Rich. II., c. viii. ; 13 Hen. IV., c. vii. ; 2 Hen. V., c. viii. ; and Sir H. Nicolas, Proceedings of the PriA-y Council, vol. vi. , passim. •' The Four Old Lodges, 1879, pp. 25, 82. ^ ' ' That noman make none congregaciouns, conuenticles, assembles; ne ouer more in none manere ne make alliances, confederacies, conspiracies, ne obligaciouns, forto bynde men to gidre [together]; upon peyne of enpresonement, vche [each] man that is yfounde in swych defaute, and liis bodi at the kyngges will" (Riley, Memorials of London, p. 480). Mr. Riley says : "This extract is worthy of remark, as being the earliest entry in English in the letter-books " (Ibid.). " Ibid, p. 609. The yeomen taillours restrained from meeting in assemblies and conventicles. s Smith, English Gilds, p. 311. * William Lambard, Eirenarcha; or, the Office of the Justices of the Peace, edit. 1610, p. 173. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 355 " Ay, all of you have laid your heads together. Myself had notice of your conventicles — And all to make away my guiltless life." ' The word, in the sense of an " assembly for worship," does not appear in the statutes until 1592-3, when by the 35 Elizabeth, c. i., persons above the age of sixteen were forbid- den to be present " at anye unlaufull assemblies, conventicles, or meetings, under color or pretence of any exercise of Keligion. ^ The view presented is strengthened by the language of two statutes, enacted in 1400 and 1529 respectively. The earlier of these (in Latin) is directed against the Lollards, who are charged with making unlawful conventicles (convent ictda ') and confederacies; * and the other (in English) forbids "artyficers or handycraftes men" from assembling "in any company, f elowship, congregacion, or conventycle. " ^ Kloss mentions, that by the Golden Bull of the Emperor Charles IV., promulgated in 1371, "conspirations," " convent icula," and kindred associations, were forbidden. From the evidence adduced it will, I think, become quite clear, that in 1425 there was an English word in common use — conventicle — denoting precisely the same kind of clandestine meet- ing as those which the statute was enacted to suppress, and I shall leave every reader to form his own conclusion, upon the point whether the persons," to whom the phraseology of the statute was entrusted, had in their minds the seditious assemblies of which examples have been given, or whether the term they used had reference to societies, meeting " after the manner of a chapter," which, indeed, are not otherwise mentioned in the statute-book. The interest pertaining to this statute has been heightened by the common assertion that Henry VI. was himself a Freemason. Indeed, Preston carefully records the year of his initiation,' and in nearly every masonic work may be seen a singular catechism " concern- ing the mysterie of ma9onrye, writtene by the hande of Kinge Henrye, the sixthe of the name." Of any real connection, however, between this Prince and the Freemasons, no trace exists except in the catechism alluded to, which will be presently examined. We are apt to attach an imaginary value to MSS. which have been destroyed, as we are pre- ' Act iii. , sc. 1. His apprehensions were well grounded, for in a few days he was found dead in liis bed. Beaufort, his rival, did not long survive him. According to Preston, the 3 Hen. VI., c. i. (XVI.) was passed at the instance of the cardinal, by the "Parliament of Bats " (XXII. ), and the severity of its provisions restrained by the Duke of Gloucester, who was " the protector of masons." Findel, and others who followed Preston, may derive consolation from the words which, at Beau- fort's death, Shakespeare puts in the king's mouth : " He dies, and makes no sign." — Act iii. , sc. 2. as affording negative evidence of the cardinal's inveteracy against the masons, and justifying the conclusions that if either tlie uncle or the grand-uncle of the king was a Freemason, the balance of probability inclines in favor of the former ! See the fourth note to the Stat. 3 Hen. VII., c. i. (XXII.). 'Extended by the well-known "Conventicle" Acts of 16 Chas. II., c. iv., and 22 Chas. II. c. 1. ^Not capitula, which would have been more in harmony with chapiters. *2 Hen. IV., c. xv. ^21 Hen. VHI., c. xvi. * Query — In their employment of the word chapiters had they any choice ? It is true that for conventicle there exists a modern equivalent — conciliabule — from the Latin conciliabulum, which occurs in the " Dictionaire" of Pierre Richelet, 1695 ; but I have not met with the expression in any printed work or manuscript of an earlier date. 'Illustrations of Masonry, 1792, p. 199. 356 THE STATUTES RELATLXG TO THE FREEMASONS. eluded from making a collation of the copy with the original. Most of the documents of the Freemasons are in this melancholy category, and upon the alleged destruction, by Nicholas Stone, of many valuable manuscripts belonging to the society, it has been re- marked, " perhaps his master, Inigo Jones, thought that the new mode, though dependent on taste, was independent of science; and, like the Caliph Omar, held what was agreeable to the new faith useless, and what was not ought to be destroyed ! " ' Henry's long minority, and weakness of understanding when he arrived at more mature years, made him incapable of any character whatsoever, in any relation of life. " Such a King," in the opinion of Daines Harrington, " could, possibly be of no other use than that of the Eoman Consuls, in the fall of the empire — to marh the year." ^ It has been stated that he was an adept in the science of alchemy,' and Sir John Davis says, it was conceived that he had purchased the secret from the famous Raymond Lully.* Miracles, indeed, are alleged to have been performed at the tomb of Henry VI., though Widmore says, "that the Court of Rome asked too much for his canonization, so that he never became a complete saint." ' XVII. In 1427,° the Statutes of the twelfth and thirteenth years of Richard II. (IX., X.) having been pronounced ineffectual, the former as being " too hard upon the masters," and the latter from the absence of any penalty for Avrong doing, it was ordained " that the justices of the peace in every county, the mayor of the City of London, and the mayors and bailiffs in every city, borough, or town, having such power and authority as justices of the jjeace have,' shall henceforth, have power and authority to make proclamation in their full sessions, once a 5'ear, how much every servant of husbandry shall take for the year next following, and that they make two times {deux foitz) proclamation in two ses- sions, to be holden betwixt the feasts of Easter and St. Michael, and in every borough and market town, how much every artificer and workman shall take by the day, and by the week: and that every proclamation so to be made, be holden as a thing ordained by stat- ute." Infractions of the law were declared punishable by fine or imprisonment, and the justices, mayors, and bailiffs were authorized "to hear and determine such offences, to examine by their discretion, as well such servants, artificers, and workmen, as their mas- ters," to punish offenders, to direct sheriffs to imprison them: "and that all the mayors and bailiffs which he keepers of the peace " {queux sount Gardeins du pees) in any cities, towns, or boroughs, shall have like power, correction, and execution of the [Statute], and of all Statutes of Laborers within the said towns, cities, and boroughs, as the justices of the peace have in their counties." This statute has been minutely criticised by Dr. Kloss," who considers that, from its > Archseologia, vol. xvii., p. 83 (Observations on Vaults, by Samuel Ware). 5 Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 416. ' See Rymer, Foedera, vol. ii., pt. iii., p. 24. The alchemists sometimes had writs of protection, examples of which may be seen in Eymer. * Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 416. " Antiquities of Westminster Abbey, p. 121. ^ 6 Hen. YI., c. iii. ' "Eiantztielpoairet auctorite come ount justices de la peas." In previous editions of the Statutes, translated " shall have such power and authority to make proclamation," etc ^See ante, 34 Edw. III., c. ix. (Ill), ' Kloss, Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung (Freemasonry in its true significance). THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 357 jihruseology, certain obscure passages in the Halliwell poem " acquire sense and confirma- tion." This writer observes that the justices of the peace had hitherto been the sole assessors of the rate of wages, and judges of ail offences against the respective statutes — the sheriffs, bailiffs, and their subordinates the keepers of gaols, being only mentioned as having to execute the warrants, orders, and resolutions of the justices. But by this new law, besides the justices, the mayor of the city of London, the mayors and bailiffs of every chief city, borough, or county town, all persons of position and rank, are for the first time ' empowered to participate in the settlement of the rate of wages, and to make proclamation thereof twice a year. Conjointly they are charged to hear and decide all infractions, and to issue and grant warrants of arrest, which were to be executed by the sheriff. " At last," says Kloss, " we glean why the Masons were to appear at the general assem- bly at a certain place once a year, to hear the rate of wages, on account of gret ryolte — that is, by royal command. We learn the meaning of the presence at the sessions of the grete lordes, knyglites, sqwyers, and otlior aldermen, of the meyr of tliat syte, and also of the scheref of that contre, as administrators of the law, and what is meant by suche ordy- nances as they maken there." "^ Upon the evidence of this statute, therefore, Kloss contends that the Halliwell poem could not; have been written before 1427, nor — from the testimony presented by a later en- actment, to be presently examined — after 1444-45. It is no reflection upon Kloss's learning or ability to say that he has altogether failed to grasp the true meaning of this enactment, and thereby to comprehend the intention of the legislature. The range of his inquiry could hardly be expected to extend over the whole field of English law. The rules by which the sages of the law, according to Plowden,^ have ever been guided in seeking for the intention of the legislature are maxims of sound interpretation, which have been accumulated by the experience, and ratified by the approbation, of ages. First in importance is the consideration, what was the rule at the common law ?* "To know what the common law was, before the making of a statute, whereby it may be seen whether the statute be introductory of a new law, or only affirmative of the common law, is the very lock and key to set open the windows of the statute." * The language of the enactment under review (XVII.) clearly shows that the officials associated with the justices already possessed equal powers with the latter. But who were the justices of the peace ? The peace, in the most extensive sense of the word, took in, perhaps, the whole of the criminal law; and as most offences were said to be against the peace, all those magistrates who had authority to take cognizance of such offences, might ' See the second note of this statute (XVII.). ^ Cf. Halliwell, Early History of Freemasonry in England, 1844, pp. 27, 29 30; Masonic Eclectic, 1865, vol. i., pp. 245-250; Findel, History of Freemasonry, p. 30; and pp. 60, 79 ante; and Slipost. ^Plowden, Rep., p. 205. ^According to the resolution of the barons of the Exchequer, in Heydon's case, fovir things are to be considered — I. The common law before the Act; 2. The mischief and defect against which it did not provide; 3. The remedy Parliament hath appointed; and 4. The true reason of the remedy (3 Rep., 7). ^2 Inst., 301; 3 Rep., 13; Hob., 83. "Further, as a rule of exposition, statutes are to be con- strued in reference to the princijjles of the common law. For it is not to be presumed that the Legis- lature intended to make any innovation upon the common law further than the case absolutely re- quired " (Dvvarris, A Treatise on the Statutes, p. 695). 358 THE STA TUTES RELA TING TO THE FREEMASONS. be considered as a sort of guardians of the peace ex officio: such were the king's justices, inferior judges, and ministers of justice, as sheriffs, constables, tythingmen, head boroughs, and the like. ' Others were conservators of the peace by tenure or prescription. Besides these, extraordinary ones were appointed occasionally by commission from the king. " lu the first year of Edward III. certain conservators of the peace Avere nominated by the Crown, as auxiliary to those who were such by the titles above mentioned.' So beneficial was the establishment of " keepers of the peace " considered by the people, that it became a favorite in the country, and was exalted in preference to some institutions that were more ancient.'' In conformity with many statutes and petitions, commissions were at various times framed, assigjiing certain persons to execute the powers which the statutes authorized the king to confer. "In the twenty- fifth of Edward the Third," says Mr. Eeeves, "by the statute called the statute of laborers, we find that justices were to be assigned for the exe- cution of that act. It is most probable the persons assigned justices to execute this statute were the keepers of the peace " ^ (HI.). Thus we find, that the justices and their coadjutors in the statute under review, were virtually one and the same class — that is to say, the former, eo nomine, specially assigned by the king, the latter — long since keepers, and now justices of the peace, virtute officio, being specially reminded of responsibilities, gradually increas- ing, from the natural tendency of recalcitrant laborers and workmen to seek refuge in the towns. The language of the earlier statutes fully bears out this view; and, indeed, Avere I called upon to form my own conclusions from the mere verbiage of the statutes of laborers, these, in a definite shape, would amount to this — That the repeated mention of the sheriff, the mayors, the bailiffs, constables, etc., must, by means of the numerous proc- lamations, have made the lower classes far more familiar with the names of these officials than with those of the new-fangled "justices" (I., II., IX.). The view presented is sup- ported by the absence, in the Halliwell poem, of any reference to the latter. From the fact alone I should deduce an inference the opposite of that drawn by Dr. Kloss, namely, that the presence of "great lords, mayors, and sheriffs" point to a fourteenth-century origin of the poem, as claimed for it by the antiquary who made known its existence. It seems to me that the " father " of masonic criticism has here gone wholly off the track. The Halliwell poem, we must assume, was intended for the instruction and guidance of town or of country masons. ° The entire tenor of this production, the class of persons to 'Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. ii., p. 328. ' Ihid. Lambard saj^s: " The mayors and other head officers of many cities and corporate towns be Justices of tliis kind [by grant] at this day, by grants of the king and his progenitors " (Eirenarcha or, of the Office of the Justices of the Peace, 1610, p. 26). The earliest edition of this work which I Jiave seen was publisiied in 1569, but as the subject-matter was amplified and rearranged in succes- sive publications, I have been unable to collate the passages in the two versions without a more pro- tracted search than the importance of the inquiry would at all justify. ^ 1 Edw. III., stat. ii., c. xvi. * Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason\ 1869, vol. ii., p. 330. ^ Ibid. " Keepers of the peace " were not commonly reputed and called Justices until 1360 (34 Edw. in., c. i.). ^ To render myself quite clear, let me state that by this I mean that the Halliwell code was evi- dently in use by a single guild, craft, or fraternity. Kloss's suggestion — that the Halliwell MS. may have had special reference to the metropolis — will be considered in my review of the next statute (XVIII.) in this series. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASOXS. 359 whom it was addressed — far superior in their way to the villeins, the laborers in husbandx}', and the rude artificers of the shires, the regulations for behavior at the common meal, all point, in my judgment, to its connection with some urban craft. If this view be accepted, the Statutes of Laborers have very little bearing upon the question at issue. These enact- ments were especially framed with regard to the powers and wants of the landed proprietors. ' In towns, labor was generally regulated by municipal ordinances (IV.). Thus in 1350, contemporaneously with the Parliamentary Statvite of that year, were ordained'' \)j thQ mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of London various regulations as to wages and prices in the city, " to amend and redress," in the words of the preainble, '' the damages and griev- ances which the good folks of the city, rich and poor, have suffered and received within the past year, by reason of masons, carpenters, plasterers, tilers, and all manner of laborers, ^ who take immeasurably more than they have been wont to take."'' A word is necessary as to the position of sheriff. Dr. Kloss appears to think that this official received an accession of authority by the law of 1427. Such was not the case. The fonrn, the great criminal court of the Saxons, was still presided over by each sheriff in his county; and it was not until 14G1, that from what Mr. Reeves calls "a revolution in an ancient branch of our judicial establishment," '" his jurisdiction was restrained." It is possible, indeed, that by some the opinion may be held, that the most ancient of our manuscript charges or constitutions, referred either partly or wholly to country masons. Taking their view of the case, we are, however, faced by the conclusion of an eminent authority, who believes the " artificers," whom the 25th Edward III. and later statutes " expects to flee from one co?»z/^ to another," to have been workmen employed on the coun- try manors of lords. " Each country manor," says Brentano, " had in the Middle Ages its ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds (Introduction), p. xii. ; and see ante, p. 346, note 4. The incidence of the Statutes of Laborers upon the craft guilds will be again discussed (XXV.). ' Not merely proclaimed. See also the Regulations for the Trade of Masons (IV.), art. ix. The powers of the corporation certainly stood in need of no extension. Many instances of trials before the mayor and aldermen, and of punishment by hanging, are recorded by Mr. Riley. ^Even the "laborers" of London eventually formed themselves into a companj'. In 1586 John Jerman and others, " laborers of the city of London," petitioned the council, " desiring confirmation of their incorporation, granted by King Henry VH., and confirmed by King Henry VIII." (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1581-1590, p. 376). The treatment to which this class of people was subjected is inconceivable at the present day. In 1560 a letter from Sir Heniy Nevell to Sir Thomas Parry complains of "laborers being taken up by commission, and sold at fairs for 10 groats and 2s. each !" {Ihid., Series 1547-1580, p. 155). ••Riley, Memorials of London, p. 253. "In the first place, that the masons, between the Feasts of Easter and St. Michael, shall take no more by the working day than 6d. , without victuals or drinks; and from the Feast of St. Michael to Easter, for the working day, 5d. And upon feast-days, when they do not work, they shall take nothing" {Ihid.). * Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iii., p. 5. « By Stat. Edw. IV., c. ii. Tliis act did not extend to the Sheriffs of London. The jurisdiction of the Sheriff in the tourn to take indictments or presentments for felony was transferred to tlie Jus- tices of the Peace. It was an ancient regulation of police, that every inhabitant of a county who was above the age of twelve years, should attend the Sheriff's tourn in order to hear the capitula coi-once read over, and given in charge. This, before the establishment of justices in ej're, was the only opportunity of their being instructed with regard to the Ci'own law, and it was probably sup- posed that such a charge would not only be understood by a child above that age, but make a lasting impression (Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 69). 300 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. own artificers, who supplied the common wants of their lords, whilst the latter resorted only for their more refined wants to the craftsmen of the towns." ' I cannot hring myself to believe, that the masons who plied their trade in remote vil- lages and hamlets at about the early part of the fifteenth century were, either by education or intelligence, capable of comprehending the Halliwell poem had it been rehearsed to them. But, putting conjecture wholly aside, and contenting ourselves with the actual ex- pressions to be met with in that ancient manuscript, I, for one, should have expected to find in a document of this character relating to artificers of the counties — written between 1427 and 1444 — some reference or allusion to the justices of the peace, whose authority was gradually being extended, by whom, no doubt, many regulations were made which have not survived, and who, by charters, letters patent, and ordinances of the reigning king — not entered on the Statute Roll — must have been constantly charged with the proper execution of the Statutes of Laborers in particular counties where their provisions had been evaded." XVIII. Although following a common practice, the operation of the enactment just reviewed (XVII.) was limited to the end of the next parliament, in the very next statute of this reign it was made permanent.^ This capitulary consists of twenty-nine chapters, which have little connection with each other — one only besides that already cited demands our attention.* On the complaint of the civic authorities that they had been "grievously vexed and inquieted by color of an article in the statute of 1406" (XII.), it was ordained in 1429 " that the ancient manner, form, and custom of putting and taking of apprentices, used and continued in the city of London, be from henceforth kept and observed." Upon this. Dr. Kloss observes, " it justifies the conclusion that the usages and customs of London, as the capital, were either adopted and followed by the rest of the kingdom, or that the Halliwell poem was about this period composed expressly by and for the London- ers," and adds " that the first assumption obtains increased probability by the law of 1562," ^ which definitely fixes a seven years' apprenticeship for the whole kingdom, "according to the custom and usage of the capital — London." XIX.' In 1437 the king and his parliament applied themselves still more vigorously to mitigate the growing abuses of the craft guilds; yet, in the very course adopted, we may perceive that the sweeping condemnation of the right of the craftsmen to govern their trades by regulations of their own devising (III., XVI.) had been ineffectual, as it was now sought to control a system which the legislature was powerless to siippress. Accordingly, on tbe ground that " the masters, wardens and people of many guilds, fraternities, and other compa- nies, make among themselves many unlawful and unreasonable ordinances " of things {inter alia), " which sound in confederacy {sonnent en confederacie) for their singular profit, and common damage to the people." All letters patent and charters were required to be ex- hibited to the justices in counties, or the chief governors of cities, boroughs, and towns, ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds (Introduction), p. xii. 5 The sources of authority upon which this opinion is based have been already referred to in pre- ceding notes. 3 8 Hen. VI., c. viii. ■• 8 Hen. VI., c. xi. Custom of London respecting taking of apprentices {marginal note). " 5 Eliz., c. iv. ' 15 Hen. VI., c. vi., 1436-7. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 361 without whose sanction no new ordinances were to be made or used, and by whom the same could be at any time revoked or repealed (XXV.). The cumulative elfect of these restric- tions, at a time — the middle of the fourteenth century — when the villeins were rushing in great numbers into the towns, to take up trades, must have prevented a great number — and in several trades the majority — of workmen from themselves becoming independent masters; and thus there arose a real working-class, with separate views and interests.' In England, the craft guilds gradually hardened into the same narrow-mindedness as in Ger- many and France,^ with the same favors to the sons of masters as regards the term of ap- prenticeship, entrance fees, and in some cases of masterpieces.' Mr. Ludlow, in what a high authority terms " one of the best papers ever written on trade unions," ' has well stated, that " from the moment that, to establish a given business more capital is required than a journeyman can easily accumulate within a few years, guild- mastership — the mastership of the masterpiece — becomes little more than a name. The attempt to keep up the strictness of its conditions becomes only an additional weight on the poorer members of the trade; skill alone is valueless, and is soon compelled to hire itself out to capital. " The same writer — and his commentary is the more valuable, because the masons could no more have been present to his mind's eye than any other class of workmen to which his essay refers — cites the Act of 1360 (III.), the earlier of the tivo enactments mentioning the cliapters of the masons, and observes: '' This statute is remarkable as show- ing the co-existence of the two masterships — that of skill and capital; thus, the ' chip f mas- ters ' of carpenters and masons are to receive f ourpence a day, and the others threepence or twopence, according as they be worth; but every mason and carpenter, ' of whatever condi- tion he be,' is to be compelled by ' Ids master whom he serves' to do every work that per- tains to him." " Where," continues Mr. Ludlow, "as it seems to me, the guild-masters are designated by the former expression, and the capitalist-masters by the latter. }} 6 XX. The increasing opulence of the towns, by withdrawing both workmen and laborers from the country, led to further legislation in 1444-5,^ when the wages of laborers and artificers were again assessed, those of a "free mason"' or master carpenter being limited to 4d. a day, with meat and drink, and 5d. without, and their winter wages to 3d. and 4d. respectively.' It is, however, expressed that " the same form shall he observed'' of wages of servants being with hostlers, victualers, and artificers in 'cities, burghs, and elsewhere;' '° ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 76. ^ Ante, pp. 159, 189. ^ Cf. The by-laws of the company of Framework-Knitters (Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xxvi., pp. 790-794); Lyon, History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 20; and ante, p. 89, note 2. * Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 101. * Macmillan's Magazine, vol. iii., 1861, p. 315 (Trade Societies etc., by J. M. Ludlow). * 28 Hen. VI., c. xii. The lot of country artificers appears to have been indeed a hard one. In 1440 warrants from the king wore sent to the wardens of masons and carpenters at Eton, "yevying thayme powair to take, in what place so ever hit be, almanere of werkmen, laborers, and cariage, as shal seme necessarie or behovef ul in thaire craftes to the edificacon of oure college of Eton " (Ex- cerpta Historica, 1831, p. 45). •> Frank mason. This would appear to be the earliest statutory expression which will bear the rendering in the text — i. e., free mason. * The summer wages of a master tiler or slater, a rough mason, mesne carpenter, and "other artificers concerning building," were fixed at 3d. and 4d., and those of other laborers at 2d. and Id. » " Mesme la fourme soit observez." >o En Citeez Burghs et ailloui-s esteantz. 362 THE STATUTES RELATLVG TO THE FREEMASONS. and such as deserve less shall take less, and also in places where less is used to be given, less shall be given from henceforth." The enforcement of this statute was left to the justices of the peace " in their coun- ties," ' who were to hear and determine all offences, to proclaim twice a year all unrepealed Acts of Parliament relating to laborers, artificers, etc., and to punish by fine or imprison- ment. Dr. KQoss lays great stress on the circumstance of the execution of this law being solely confided to the justices, and considers that the presence of the mayors of cities and other officials named by the Act of 1427 (XVII,), having been "silently dispensed with," we are thereby enabled to fix more accurately the period at which the Halliwell poem was written, and as the attendance of these authorities, along with the justices, would, he thinks, have been, to say the least, superfluous, it is assumed, that the words of the manu- script point to an earlier date, and that consequently it could not have been written after 1444-45. In this opinion, I cannot concur, that is, upon the evidence of the statute simpliciter; and the words italicized in my abstract of its clauses represent the grounds on which I venture to dissent from the most accurate and diligent of masonic writers (XXI.).' During the reign of Edward IV. very little notice was taken by the legislature of the laboring classes of the community, except by the statutes for regulating apparel. Serv- ants in husbandry, common laborers, and artificers, were forbidden to wear any cloth, whereof the broad yard exceeded the price of 2s." The solitary parliament which assembled at the bidding of his brother and successor, enacted that no alien should be a handicrafts- man (artifice: ou liandcraftiman) unless as a servant to the king's subjects.'' The accession of Henry VII. to the throne may be considered as the commencement of an era of internal tranquillity and indu.stry. The statutes enacted in the reigns of his immediate predecessors, sent in each county to the justices of the peace, for them to pro- claim and execute, including those against signs and liveries, routs and forcible entries, and for the regulation of the lower classes, were adequate to their intended purpose, and only required to be firmly put into excution. ^ To effect this object, Henry, feeling the futility of merely enacting that the laws should be enforced, without providing a power to compel their enforcement, began by raising the formidable power of the Star Chamber, and then proceeded to call upon the local magistracy, under terror of that power, to enforce the laws. ' The utility of this court is extolled by Lord Bacon, and although even during the age of that historian, men began to feel that so arbitrary a jurisdiction was incompatible with liberty, and as the spirit of independence still rose higher in the nation, the aversion to it increased; still it is tolerably clear that the establishment of the Star Chamber, or ' " En lour Counteez." » Cf. The Statutes of Liveries, 8 Edw. IV., c. ii. 8 3 Edw. IV., c. v., 1463. Further regulations appear in the 23 Edw. IV., c. i. n Rich. III., c. ix. ' " The Justices agreed that the statutes were sufficient, and if they were executed, the law would well have its course; hut how could they he executed ? that was the question " (Year Book, 1 Hen. vn., foi. 1). * " That," says Lord Bacon, " which was chiefly aimed at was force, and the two great supports of force, combinations of multitudes and maintenance of headships of great families " (History of Henry VIL, p. 38). THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 363 the enlargement of its power in the reign of Henry VII., might have been as prudent as the abolition of it in that of Charles I. ' The local magistracy were thus strengthened and stimulated to put the laws in execu- tion, more especially those directed against that which was the main mischief of those times, offences of force and violence, and combinations or retainers of men for unlawful purposes.* The principal of these laws were, first, the statutes against liveries and retainers, and next, those relating to forcible entry. These statutes were enacted prior to Henry's accession, and when Hume says, " there scarcely passed any session during this reign with- out some statute against engaging retainers, and giving them badges or liveries, a practice by which they were in a manner enlisted under some great lord, and were kept in readi- ness to assist him in all wars, insurrections, riots, violences, and even in bearing evidence for him in courts of justice," he apparently forgets that they were only in pursuance of older statutes passed in earlier reigns. The subject of liveries has already been noticed,' and its further examination will now be proceeded with. XXI. The stat. 1 Eich. II., c. vii., recites* — ''Because that divers people of small revenue do make great retinue of people, giving to them hats (chaperonsY and other liver- ies, of one suit by year, taking of them the value, or the double value of the same livery, by such covenant and assurance that every of them shall maintain other in all quarrels," be they reasonable or unreasonable." It confirms the statutes against maintenance, forbids under pain of imprisonment the giving of liveries for the maintenance of quarrels or other confederacies, and directs the justices of assize " to diligently enquire of all them that gather them together in fraternities (enfraterniiez) by such livery, to do maintenance; and that they which thereof shall be found guilty, shall be duly punished, every man after the quantity of his desert." ' In 1392-93 it was further enacted® that "no yeoman (yoman) nor other of lower estate than an Esquire, ° from henceforth shall use nor bear no livery called livery of company ' Hume remarks that the state of the country required great discretionary power in the sover- eign, and that the same maxims of government will not suit a rude people that may be proper in a more advanced stage of society (History of England, vol. iii., p. 388. See also Sir J. Mackintosh, History of England, 1830, vol. ii., cliap. iii.) *Eeeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iii., p. 124 ^ Ante, p. 3i5. "1377 ^ Chaperon, a hood, hat, a kind of head-dress; signe, badge; valletz, the next condition to an esquire; valles or vallez, valets; varies, servants; varlet, yeomen (R. Kelliam, A Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language, 1779). * " Que chescun de eux Mayntendra autre en toutz querelles." ' In all cases where quotations are given from statutes originally drawn up in French or Latin, I follow the wording of the authorized translation. The editors of the Statutes of the Realm, 1810, made numerous transcripts and collations of all instruments affording materials for notes and read- ings. '• The transcript which appeared to be made from the most authentic source was used as the copy of the text to be printed. All the other transcripts and collations of the same instrument, as also the printed editions, were then compared and collated with this copy, and the requisite various readings noted accordingly " (Introduction, p. xl.) s 16 Rich. U., c. iv. *Sir Thomas Smith distinguishes the English below the rank of esquire into gentlemen, yeomen, and rascals (Commonwealth of England, 1635, chap. xxi.). He also uses the word rascality in the same sense. 364 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. {livere ds comjmignie), of any lord within the reahn, if he be not continually dwelling 7.n the house of the said lord." The earliest of this series, the statute of " Liveries of Hats" (1377), was confirmed in 1396, chapter ii. of the Confirmatory Act,' ordering — "Item, that no varlets called yeo- men {vadletz ajopeUez yomen), nor none other of less estate than Esquire, shall use or bear no badge or livery,^ called livery of company of any Lord within the realm, unless he be menial or continual officer of his said Lord." In the first year of King Henry IV,,' lords of whatever estate or condition were forbid- den to " use nor give any livery of Sign of Company {Signe de Compaigne), to no Knight, Esquire, nor Yeoman,^ within the Kealm, and that no valet called yeoman {vadlet ajij^elle yoman) take nor wear any livery of the King." In the following year this statute was confirmed,^ and certain privileges were conceded to knights, esquires, and all above those ranks; and the Prince of Wales was permitted to "give his honorable livery of the Swan^ to lords and his menial gentlemen." In 1405-6 the statutes of 1377 (Livery of Hats) and 1399 were confirmed,' and a fine of £5 imposed upon any knight or person of less estate, " who gives 2i\\\eYj of Cloth or Hats," and of 40s. upon the recipient. It also forbids congregations and companies from using any such liveries, " the guilds and fraternities, and also the people of mysteries {gentz de mestere), of cities and boi'oughs within the realm " alone excepted. Liveries are once again mentioned in this reign, namely, in 1411," when the statutes passed respectively in the first and seventh years of this King and in the first of Eichard II. are confirmed. All the statutes in force are recited in a very long enactment, passed early in the reign of Henry VI. ; " further powers are given to the Justices of assize and of the peace; and persons are prohibited from wearing, even at their own cost, liveries for maintenance of quarrels. In 1468 '" the existing statutes were once more confirmed, and every person restrained from giving livery or badge {livere ou signe) to other than his menial servant, officer, or man learned in the one law or the other; and the mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, or chief officers, who in particular cities, boroughs, towns, or ports, have authority " to hear and determine pleas personal, are empowered to hear and determine, as well by examination " as by trial, all things done," and to put the ordinance in execution. By a subsequent Act of this reign,"' Edward, Prince of Wales, was empowered to give his livery and sign." '20 Rich, n., c. i., ii. ^ Signe ne liveree. In earlier translations, Sign of livery. n Hen. IV., c. vii. (1399). * Chivaler, Esquier, ne Vallet. " Borel, in his 'Glossary,' says that the word valet, or knave, follows the king and queen in a pack of cards " (Barrington, Observations on tiie More Ancient Stat- utes, p. 844). ^3 Hen. IV., c. xxi. (1400). ^ Liveree del Cigne: in earlier translations, " Liveries or sign." '' 7 Hen. IV., c. xiv. « 13 Hen. IV., c. iii. 9 Hen. VI., c. iv. (1429). '08 Edw. IV., c. ii. " Compare the observations of Kloss on the statutes of 1427 and 1444-5 (XVII. , and XX.). 12 12 Ed vv. IV., c. iv. (1472). '''The translations vary. In the Norman-French, the phrase, with slight aberrations of spelling (in the present instance, livereis et signez), is always " livere " or "liveree" and " signe," but the word signe in the earlier editions of the statutes is moi'e correctly rendered as badge. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. 365 XXII. The preamble of the act of parliament, by which Henry VII. enlarged the power of the Star Chamber, is remarkable, and presents a clear picture of the condition of the nation at that period. " The king, our sovereign lord, remembereth how by unlawful maintenances, giving of liveries, signs atid tokens, retainers by indentures, promises, oaths, Avritings, and other embraceries of his subjects, untrue demeanings of sheriffs in making panels, and untrue returns by taking money by juries, by great riots and unlawful as- semblies, the policy and good rule of this realm is almost subdued." * It will be seen that Henry, so early as the third year of his reign, fully recognized the comparatively anarchy of his kingdom. His great object was to enforce the existing laws, and put down all power of resistance to the royal authority. This object was steadily pursued throughoiit the reign.' A story of the king's severity is related by Hume, which seems to merit praise, though commonly cited as an instance of his avarice and rapacity. The Earl of Oxford, havmg splendidly entertained him at his castle of Henningham, with all his servants and retainers wearing liveries and badges, Henry thanked him for his good cheer, but said, ''I cannot allow my laws to be broken in my sight, my attorney must speak with you." ' His regard for the laws tended, in this instance — to what Blackstone holds to have been the great and immediate object of all his regulations — namely, to the emolument of the exchequer, as it is said the Earl paid a composition of 15,000 marks for his offence. XXIII. I now pass on to the statute enacted in the eleventh year of the king (1495), a veritable capitulary, consisting of sixty-five chapters or laws, ranging through sixty-eight folio pages of the " Statutes of the Realm," and in which we obtain a foretaste of the appetite for legislation which our ancestors gradually acquired with increasing free- dom. The chapter I shall first notice is No. iii.* in the series of 1495. It deals with the evils complained of in the preamble of the law of 1487, and speaks of " ge vying and receyv- yng of lyverees, signees, and tokyns, unlaufully." The preamble of the statute of 1487 (XXII.) appears to have escaped the research of masonic historians, but upon identical phraseology, which occurs in the subsequent legisla- tion of 1495, a very singular interpretation has been placed. The signs and tokens have been regarded as signs of recognition, and grips of salutation! Even Kloss falls into this error, though, as he himself does not fail to perceive, these essential features of a secret society "must in such case have been usual with many trades." He might, indeed, have gone even further, for it is quite clear that the p-^^sons who received the liveries, signs, and tokens, mentioned in the statute, were people of all classes, even the lowest; consequently, therefore, if these expressions were capable of the meaning ascribed to them, secret modes of recognition, by operation of gesture and hand-shaking, must have been common through- out England in the Middle Ages. Our English masonic writers, except of late years, when they have been content to follow the German school, even in the interpretation of their own history, much as they have erred, never got quite so far as this. In the pursuit of Masonic antiquity, possibility rather than probability was their watch- 's Hen. VIL, c. i. (1487). 'Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iii., p. 134. ^Hume, History of England, vol. iii., p. 390. ■• 11 Hen. VII., c. iii.: " An Acte agaynst \inlavvfull Assemblyes and other offences contrary to former Statutes." 366 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. word; yet there is stich a thing as proving too much, and in the present instance the identity of the sigyis and tokens of the Freemasons, with the signs and tokens which it was the object of these early statutes to repress, instead of confirming the Masonic body in the position of superiority it has arrogated to itself, would necessarily drag it down to the level of the meanest persons by whom these modes of recognition were commonly possessed. In his "History of Freemasonry," — wherein Findel may be said to have popularized Kloss, although he has lessened the authority of that eminent writer, by intermingling his remarks with those of less critical historians^ — the author says, "as in the case of the German stonemasons, so did the English masons at an early period form fraternities or as- sociations, the members of which recognized each other by secret signs and tokens. . . . In 1495, all artisans and workmen were again forbidden to use liveries, signs, and tokens." ' Of the Tudor policy against liveries, retainers, etc., it has been observed by a learned writer, "nothing indicated more clearly that the elements of society were about to be thrown into new combinations, than the perseverance with which previous statutes against giving liveries and tokens were enforced, and with which their deficiencies were made good by new enactments. All the considerable landholders still regarded themselves as chief- tains. All their inferiors in their neighborhood were their retainers, to whom they gave liveries and tokens, and who, in other words, wore their uniform, and rallied to their standard. A common gift from chief to retainer seems to have been a badge [si^w] to be worn in the cap. Thus one of the Stanleys was in the habit of giving to his followers ' the eagle's foot/ and one of the Darcies 'the buck's head.' These tokens were sometimes of silver and sometimes gilt, and were, no doubt, highly prized by those who received them." ' The badge, cognizance, or sign of company, as it was variously termed, served as a recognition and distinction of party, of feudal allegiance and dependency, to both friends and foes. It was worn on the arm or cap. The signs and tokens mentioned in the statute (XXIII.) were badges* and cognizances; badges were the master's device, crest, or arms, on a separate piece of cloth — or, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, on silver, — in the form of a shield worn on the left sleeve by domestics and retainers, and even by younger brothers, who wore the badge of the elder. This was generally continued till the time of James I., after which it was only worn by watermen and servants of persons of distinction. ^ The royal watermen still wear it. " Cognizances" were sometimes knots or devices worn in ' Of this a good illustration is afforded by the proceedings of the " Batt Pai-liament," which Fin- del, in all good faith, copies from Preston. The latter says : "On the last day of April 1425 the Par- liament met at Westminster. The servants and followers of the Peers, armed witli clubs and staves, occasioned its being named the Batt Parliament. Several laws were made, and amongst the rest the Act for abolishing the Society of Masons; at least, for preventing their assemblies and congrega- tions" (Illustrations of Masonry, 1792, p. 191). It will be sufficient to observe that the so-called " Parliament of Batts" was held at Leicester on February 18th, 1426, and the statute there enacted was the fourth, not the third, of Henry VI. (XVI.). ''Findel, History of Freemasonry, pp. 78, 80. " In the year 1495, a statute was enacted by par- liament, forbidding artisans of every description the use of ' signs and tokens ' " (Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p. 130). ^L. O. Pike History of Crime in England, vol. i., p. 7; vol. ii., p. 604 (citing the Pagfa de Secretis, pouch iii., bundle i. ; and the controlment-roU of the 15 Hen. VII.). ■• Chapter xiv. of the same statute mentions " livere, bagge [badge], token or signe" (Statutes of the Realm, vol. 11., 1816, p. 658). ^ John Rae, Introduction to the Statutes of Henry VII., pp. vii.-ix. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 367 tlie caps or on the chest; some of the royal servants wore the king's arms both on the breast and on the back. " Reteyndres" appear to have been the agreements, verbal or written, by which the retainers, sometimes called " Retinue," were engaged or retained.' XXIV. We now approach what is virtually the last in the long series of enactments' regulating with extreme precision the wages of laborers and artificers, which present any features of originality, before the successive laws on this subject were codified by the 5th Elizabeth, c. iv. The wages of artificers were again fixed, — a free mason,' master carpenter, and rough mason were to take per day 4d. with diet, and 6d. without, between Easter and Michaelmas, and during the rest of the year 3d. and 5d. respectively. Master masons and master car- penters, taking charge of work and having under them six men, were to receive 5d. with diet, and 7d. without. The penalty for taking more was 20s. ; and for giving more, 40s. During the summer half-year, each workman and laborer was to be at work before 5 a.m., to have half an hour for his breakfast, an hour and a half for his dinner, at such time as sleeping was permitted him; but at other times, then but one hour for his dinner, and half an hour for his " none meat" (XL). Bricklayers and glaziers are mentioned for the first time. From the words, that " if any of theym offende in any of theis articles, that then their def antes be marked by hym, or his deputie, that shall pay their wages. " * Kloss infers that we have here officials corresponding with our present foremen and wardens. It may be so; but whether or not any complete analogy can be established between the two sets of persons, the observation is so illustrative of the commentator's microscopic examination of these, now, happily, obsolete laws, that I have much pleasure in quoting it. " XXV. In the nineteenth year of the king, on the petition of the commons, that the stat. 15 Henry VI., c. vi. (XIX.), had expired, it was ordained that masters, wardens, and fellowships of crafts or mysteries, and the rulers of guilds and fraternities, should make or enforce no new ordinances without the approval of the chancellor, a chief justice, three judges of the land, or before both the justices of assize in their circuit. " At this point it will be convenient to cast a backward glance upon the two chief statutes aimed at the working masons, viz., the laws of 1360 and 1425 (III., XVI.), and the later ' Ibid. 2 11 Hen. VH., pp. c. xxii. (1495). ^ The word freemason occurs here for the first time in the actual statutes, altliough, as we have seen (XX.), the term was evidently signified hy fraiik mason in the act of 1444^5. * This form of words also occurs in a statute of the next reign (XXVI.), virtually re-enacting the regulations passed in 1495. *The 11 Hen. VII., c. xxii., "touching onely the wagis of artificers, labourers, and others," was repealed in 1497 by the 13 Hen. VH., c. iii., according to Sir F. Eden, owing to the high price of corn (State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 76); but Sir G. Nicolls says, " Wolsey's influence was now in the ascendant: he was a great patronizer of building and builders, and probably interested himself to procure the repeal" (A History of the English Poor Law, 1854, vol. i., p. 111). * The merchant tailors' records mention that company's ordinances to have been laid before the Lord Chancellor on the 23d of January 1612; and that that their clerk informed the Court that it was the advice of the city recorder " he should be presented with some remembrance of the better finish- ing of that business." The Court it is added, agreed thereon "to attend the recorder to intreat him to move his lordship in their suit, and at the same time to present, him with ten double sufferants (sovereigns) in gold" (Herbert, Companies of London, vol. i., p. 188.) 368 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. Act of 1437 (XIX). Throughout these there is one common fetiture— the desire of the legislature to curb the increasing independence of the craft guilds, and to restrain thejn from passing articles or regulations for their internal government, which Avere at variance with the course of policy steadily pursued from the reign of Edward III. down to that of Queen Elizabeth. A further manifestation of the general intention of the legislature appears in a statute of 1549 (XXXI.), upon which, in its proper place, I shall offer some remarks, supplementary to those in Avhicli I have just pointed out the especial thread of union connecting the legislation of 1360, 1425, and 1437, It may be convenient, however, at this stage of our inquiry, to consider a little more closely the class, or classes, of persons whose earnings and liberty of action were chiefly af- fected by the provisions of the long series of laws known as the Statutes of Laborers. I conceive that these enactments — though all launched in the furtherance of a common object, the repression of extortion— partook, nevertheless, of a mixed character. In general, I assume them to have been dictated by the wants of the country districts, whilst those specially referring to practices — the making of ordinances, the holding of conventicles, and the like — only possible in towns, or in places where many workmen were assembled, must, I think, have been evoked, either by a persistence in these forbidden customs, or by com- plaints that country artificers, fugitives from their counties, were harbored in the cities, and there admitted to the freedom of their irades. Even in London, where the rules respecting the freedom of the city were very rigid, workmen and laborers, who in 1353 had left the king's palace at Westminster without leave, were allowed to follow their occupations, and this license was only withdrawn in obedience to a peremptory mandate of the king. ' In other cities and towns, we may infer that fugi- tives were similarly received; and it is therefore in the highest degree probable that, wherever a statutory obligation is cast upon the mayors or -chief governors of towns to see the laws relating to laborers duly executed — except in the few instances to which I have already called attention" — these officials were only required to supplement the duties of the justices in coiitities, by promptly arresting fugitives, and delivering them up for punishment. In the words of a famed historian, " If there were really a decay of commerce, and in- dustry, and populousness in England, the statutes passed in the reign of Henry VIII., except by abolishing monasteries and retrenching holidays, circumstances of considerable moment, were not in other respects well calculated to remedy the evil. " ' The fixing of the rate of wages Avas attempted; * luxury in apparel was prohibited by repeated statutes; * and probably without effect. The chancellor and other ministers were empowered to fix the prices of poultry, cheese, and butter.® A statute was even passed to fix the price of beef, pork, mutton, and veal.' Beef and pork were ordered to be sold at a halfpenny a pound, mutton and veal at a halfpenny half a farthing, money of that age. ' XXVI. The first law of this reign with which we are concerned was passed in 1514,° and is a re-enactment verbatim of the Act of 1495 (XXIII. ), which we have seen was only in force one year; miners, diggers for coal, and makers of glass, alone were exempted from its provisions. ' Riley, Memorials of London, p. 271. ' Where tlae act forbids combinations, conventicles, and the making of ordinances. 3 Hume, History of England, vol. iv. , p. 243. " 6 Hen. VHI. , c. iii. 5 1 Hen. Vm., c. xiv.; 6 Hen. VIII., c. i.; 7 Hen. VHI., c. vii. «25 Hen. VHI., c. ii. '24 Hen. VUL, c. iii. » Hume, History of England, vol. iv., p. 243. " G Hen. VHI., c. iii. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 369 Sir George Nicholls says, " The twentj^ years which had since elapsed seem to have called for no change in the rate of wages then fixed, and which differed little from those prescribed in 144-4 by the 23 Henry VI. (XX.); so that, after an interval of seventy years, we find no material difference in the rates of remuneration prescribed for labor." ' XXVII. In the following year, however, " on the humble petycyon of the freemasons, rough masons, carpenters," and other artificers "wythin the Cytie of London," and in consideration of the heavy expenses to which they were subject, it was enacted that, except when employed on the king's works, the artificers, laborers, and their apprentices, working within the city or the liberty of the same might take the same wages which they had been in the habit of doing prior to the statute of 1514. By the last clause of this Act, the penalty imposed upon the give)' of excessive wages by the previous law was repealed.^ Although the remaining laws enacted in this reign, relating to journeymen, apprentices, and artificers, were rather calculated for particular trades and employments,, under par- ticular circumstances, some few were of more general import, and therefore demand our attention. XXVIII. The exaction of high fees for the admission of apprentices to their freedom was guarded against." No master was to compel his apprentice to engage by oath or bond not to open a shop; and in this as well as in the previous statute (XXVII.), the practice of guilds, crafts, and fraternities in making "actes and ordynannces," without submitting them for confirmation, is denounced and forbidden. * The laws just cited prove that the custom of travelling, or as Dr. Kloss expresses it, " the wandering years of the finished apprentice," was not usual in this country, yet we should go too far were we to assume, from the absence of this distinctive feature in the career of the young craftsmen, that with ceremonies at all resembling those of the French and German journeymen, he must have been necessarily unfamiliar. Journeymen fra- ternities sprang up in England, as in other countries, and though the evidence is not con- clusive as to the perpetuation of these societies, the balance of probability seems to affirm it. Dugdale, in his account of Coventry, obsei'ves that, in the reign of Henry V., "the young people, viz., journeymen of several trades, — observing what merry meetings and feasts their masters had by belonging to fraternities, and wanting themselves the like pleasure, did of their own accord assemble together in several places of the city, which oc- casioned the mayor and his brethren in 3 Hen. VI. (XVI.) to complain thereof to the king, alleging that the said journeymen, in these their unlawful meetings, called themselves St* George his gild, to the intent that they might maintain and abet one another in quarrels, etc. ; had made choyce of a master, etc. , to the prejudice of the other gilds. " * In London these organizations met with little favor from the authorities, and when, in 1387, three journeymen cordwainers endeavored to establish a fraternity, they were com- mitted to Newgate, having confessed " that a certain friar preacher, ' Brother William Bartone ' by name, had made an agreement with their companions, and had given security 1 A History of the English Poor Law, 1854, vol. 1. p. 110. 27" Hen. VIE., c. v. 3 22 Hen. VIII., c. iv. (1530-31). ^28 Hen. VIII., c. v. " As to apprentices, there were a score of acts, beginning with one in the last reign, either compelling masters to take apprentices, or restricting them to a certain number" (Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iv., p. 260, note d). 'Antiquities of Warwickshire, 1675, p. 130. 24 370 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. to them, that he would make suit in the court of Eome for confirmation of that fraternity by the Pope; so that, on pain of excommunication, and of still more grievous sentence afterwards to be fulminated, no man should dare to interfere with the well-being of the fraternity. For doing the which he had received a certain sum of money which had been collected among their said companions. " ' In 1396, the serving men or yotnen of the trade of saddlers were charged by the masters with having " under a certain feigned color of sanctity," influenced the journeymen among them, and formed covins with the object of raising their wages greatly in excess. Although this fraternity possessed its own livery and had existed for thirteen years, it was suppressed. " The same fate befell, in 1415, the brotherhood of yoinen faiUours, charged with holding assemblies and conventicles (XVI.), and who were forbidden " to live together in companies by themselves," or to wear an especial suit or livery without the permission of the masters and wardens of the trade. ' Two years later, however, the brotherhood was still in existence, as they then petitioned the city authorities that the " fellows of that fraternity of yomen " might be allowed to hold annual religious services for the souls of the brethren and sisters deceased, and "to do other things which theretofore they had been wont to do. " The entry in the records here abruptly ceases, so that the result of this petition does not appear, but it is probable that it was refused.* In deciding the question whether there existed special organizations of the journeymen within the crafts, an ordinance of the clothworkers' company is worthy of our considera^ tion: * •' The master, wardens, and assistants shall choose the warden of the yeomandry, they shall governe the yeomandry and journymen in such sort as in former times hath been used." Commenting upon this ordinance, Brentano observes: " Were these wardens of the yeomanry the same as the masters who, as in the German gilds, were delegated to the fra- ternities of journeymen? And may we therefrom form a conclusion as to the existence of fraternities of like nature in England? The ceremonies which were customary among the trade unions in the woollen manufacture down to the thirtieth year of the present century, show such a striking similarity to those of the German fraternities of journeymen, that the supposition suggests itself of a derivation of those trade unions from the old journeymen fraternities."' As militating, however, against this hypothesis, it is contended that in England the ' Riley, Memorials of London, p. 495. In 1412 Simon Flegge, notary, and his two clerks, for hav- ing " counterfeited divers Bulls, sealed with lead, like unto the seal of the most reverend father in Christ, and Lord, our Lord the Pope ; and divers other letters sealed with the seals of other noble persons ; and who had sold the same to divers persons for no small sum, affirming that the said let- ters and seals were genuine ; " were sentenced by the civic authorities "to be put upon the pillory on three market days, there to stand for one hour each day, each of them having in the meantime one of the Papal Bulls so falsely made and counterfeited hung about his neck" {Ibid., p. 583). From these entries in the city records we may infer that tliere must have been a strong demand for Papal seals and letters, and they suggest a very simple solution of the crux which has hitherto baffled the historians of Freemasonry. See ante, pp. 176, 258, 297. " Ibid. , p. 542. Mr. Riley says, that the title yoman first appears in the city books about this period. See the Statutes of Liveries (XXL); and ante, p. 343, note 2. 3 Riley, Memorials of London, p. 609. *Ibid., p. 653. "The Government of the Fullers, Shearmen, and Clothworkers of Loudon (circa, A.D. 1660 [re- printed 1881], Ord. xix., p. 20). •Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 95. THE STATVTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 371 ju^t-neymen were never obliged by the guild ordinances to travel for a certain number of years, whilst in Germany and France all journeymen's associations owed their origin to this system of travelling. But in the first place there is some evidence that the practice of travelling in search of work was, to say the least, not unknown in England (IX.). In 1794 there was a club among the woolcombers, and out of a hundred workmen there was not one to be found who did not belong to it. Every member had to pay contributions according to the wants of the society, and its object was to assist journeymen travelling in search of work when work was scarce, and to relieve the sick and to bury the dead members. ' " It will be seen," says Brentano, " that the objects of this club were the same as those of the German GeselUnladen and the French compagnons. If we add to this that the just quoted records of ceremonies among trade unions refer to woolcombers also, the suggestion already made seems greatly corroborated; and the fact that the modern trade unions call the assistance given to members out of work simply donation, the translation of the Geschenk of the German journeymen's fraternities, seems also worth noticing. " * Secondly, the term of apprenticeship extended over a longer period in England than in either France or Germany, and in point of duration corresponded pretty closely with the stages or gradations through which the foreign craftsman worked his way towards the common goal. Thus the English workman found his preliminary servitude in no respect abridged by the absence of any trade regulation compelling him to travel, and whilst, as we have seen (XIX., XXVIIL), the number of masters was rigorously kept down, and the obstacles to attaining freedom of the trade at least as great in the case of English as of foreign artisans,' the former, from the very circumstances of their position, that is to say, by the mere fact of a more extended probation, would be induced to form local fraternities for social and trade purposes. That they did so, is matter of history, and Stow records the rising of the London apprentices because some of their hrotlierliood had been unjustly, as they averred, cast into prison and punished." During this reign so great was the number of foreign artisans in the city, that at least fifteen thousand Flemings alone were at one time obliged to leave it, by an order of Council.' Whatever trade societies or fraternities were in general use on the Continent, I apprehend, must have passed over to this country about the period of the Reformation. It might be imagined, that the foreign artificers who settled in England were least affected by the usages of the trades, and preserved greater freedom of action between the period following the abolition of guilds, and preceding the enactment of the stat. 4 Eliz., c. v. Inasmuch, as with the exception of the London companies, who purchased exemption from the statutes ' Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xlix., pp. 333-324; Brentano, On the History and De- velopment of Gilds, p. 96 note 1. ^ Brentano, On tiie History and Development of Gilds, p. 99. Brentano adds: " There is, how- ever, one difference to be noted. The said woolcombers travelled only when work was scarce, while the ' wandering ' of the German, and the Tour de France of the French journeyman, were obliga- tory." From this, as well as the date, he regards the woolcombers' club as a trade union, for assist- ing men thrown out of work by the gig-mill, " but which may perhaps have descended from an old journeymen's fraternity." ^Brentano says: " The laws under Henry "Vlll. point to such great difficulties hindering appren- tices in all trades from becoming masters, that their exasperation led to repeated insurrections ". (On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 86). * Strype's Stow, 1720, pp. 382, 333. * Hume, History of England, vol. iv., p. 241. 372 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. of spoliation," and, morooA^er, were at all times specially legislated for (XXXII.), the ordi- nances of tlie craft-guilds — invariably directed against the competition of non-freemen — Avere inoperative. Yet such was not the case, and even in London, where the jealousy of foreign workmen was at its height, we find that, owing, no doubt, to their surpassing the English in dexterity, industry, and frugality, they were not only tolerated, biit, in spite of vexatious laws,^ attained such a pitch of prosperity as to incur the most violent animosity of their English rivals. There were serious insurrections in 1517 and 1586, and in 1641 the feeling of exasperation which had been engendered gave rise to a petition to parliament from the London apprentices, complaining of the intolerable hardships to which they were subject, " where we, by coercion, are necessarily compelled to serve seven or eight years at least before Ave can have the immunity and freedom of this city to trade in: those which are mere strangers do snatch this freedom from us, and pull the trades out of our hands, so that by these means, Avheu our times are fully expired, Ave do then begin in a manner to suffer a second apprenticeship to them, who do thus domineer over us in our own trades." ^ A remarkable circumstance of the statutes of Henry VIII. is the prodigious length to Avhich they run. " The sense," says Mr. Reeves, " involved in repetitious, is pursued Avith jmin, and almost escapes the reader; Avhile he is retarded and made giddy by a continual recurrence of the same form of Avords in the same endless period." * Happily, we are but slightly concerned Avith the further legislation of this reign, which, though of surpassing interest to the general student, bears only indirectly upon the subject of our investigation. XXIX. The " small abbeys, priories, and other religious houses of monks, canons, and nuns"Avere suppressed in 1536; and three years afterwards the dissolution of the larger abbeys and monasteries Avas decreed by the 31 Hen. VIII. , c. xiii., Avhich, as Barrington expresses it, " laid the axe to the root of popery." ^ The preamble of this statute recites a voluntary and free surrender by the ecclesiastical houses, and the enactment is in conse- quence added by the same commentator, " without hesitation, to the list of statutes which recite falsehoods. " * It is calculated that about fifty thousand persons were wont to lead an idle and useless life in the English monastic institutions, and that by the dissolution of these establish- ments, and the abrogation of clerical celibacy together, about a hundred and fifty thousand persons of both sexes heretofore withdrawn from marriage, Avere added to the force by Avhich the population is kept up.' ' Herbert, Companies of London, vol. i., p. 114. 'For instance, by the 14 and 15 Hen. VHI., c. ii., no stranger born out of the king's obedience, whether denizen or not, and using any handicraft, was to have any apprentice, nor more than two journeymen unless natural-born subjects, whilst strangers and their wares were to be subject to the inspection of the Avardens and fellowsliips of handicrafts in the city. Further restrictions Avere im- posed by tlie 21 Hen. VHI., c. xvi., and 33 Hen. VIII., c. xvi. ^The Apprentices of London's Petition to the Honourable Court of Parliament, 1641, British Museum Library; Strype's StoAv, p. 333; Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 86; Hume, History of England, vol. iv., p. 240. ^ReeA'es, History of the English LaAV (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iv., p. 438. ' Barrington, Observations on the More Ancient Statutes, p. 507. * Ihid. Barrington here goes a little further than Mr. Pike, Avho says: " The Preambles of stat- utes, however A-^aluable they may be as an indication of contemporary opinion, are of little authority as abstracts of previous history" (Pike, History of Crime in England, vol. ii,, p. 68). 'Nicholls, History of English Poor Law, vol. i., page 129. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 373 XXX. The last remains of superstitious establishments were destroyed by the first statute of the following reign. The 1 Edw. VI., c. xiv., gave to the king all chantries, colleges, and free chapels, all lands given for the finding of a priest for ever, or for the maintenance of any anniversary, obit, light or lamp in any church or chapel, or the like; &\\ fraternities, brotlierlioods, Sindi guilds (except those for mysteries and crafts), with all their lands and possessions. ' In support of the position, that the working class in England, as in Germany and France, was completely organized, and even to a certain extent governed itself under the superintendence of the masters, the following statute of this reign, passed in 1548, has been much relied on: XXX I. 2 AND 3 Edwakd VI., Chapter XV., a.d. 1548. An Acte towchinge Victuallers and Ilandycraftes men. FORASMUCHE as of late dayes diverse sellers or vittayles, not contented withe mod- erate and reasonable gayne but myndinge to have and to take for their vittayles so muche as lyste them, have conspyred and coven^'nted together to sell their vittells at unreasonable price; and lykwise Artyficers handycraftsmen and laborers have made confederacyes and pmyses [promises], and have sworn mutuall othes, not onlye that they shovilde not meddle one withe an others worke, and pforme [perform] and fynishe that an other hathe begone, but also to constitute and appoynt howe muche worke they Shoulde doe in a daye, and what howers and tymes they shall worke, contrarie to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme, to the greate hurte and ympoverishement of the Kinges Majesties Subjectes. 1. For Rcformacon thereof it is ordeyned and enacted by the Kinge our Soveraigne Jjorde the Lords & Comons in this present Parliament assembled, and by thauctoritie of "the same, that yf any Bochers, Bruers, Bakers, Poulters, Cooks, Costerd mongers, or Frew- terers shall at any tyme from and after the first daye of Marche next comynge, conspire cov- en^'nte promyse or make any othes that they shall not sell their vittelles but at certen prices; or yf any Artificers Workemen or Laborers doe conspire coven^nte or promyse together or make any othes that they shall not make or doe their workes but at a certeyne price and rate, or shall not enterprice or take upon them to fynishe that another hathe begonne, or shall doe but a certen worke in a daye, or shall not worke but at certen howers and tymes, that then everie person so conspiring covenanting swearinge or offendinge beinge laufullye convicte thereof by witnes confession or otherwise, shall forfeyte for the first offence tenne pounds to the King's Highness, and yf he have sufficient to paye the same and doe also paye the same within sixe dayes next after his conviccion, or ells shall suffer for the firste offence twentie dayes ymprisonment, and shall onely have bread and water for his sustenance; and for the seconde offence shall forfeyt twentie poundes to the Kinge, yf he have sufficient to paye the same and doe pay the same within sixe dayes next after his conviccion, or ells shall suffer for the seconde offence punyshement of the pillorye; and for the third offence shall forfeyt fourtye pounds to the Kinge, yf he have sufficient to paye the same and also doe ' " There are several exceptions in this act which have saved some of the least objectionable of these institutions (stripped, however, of their superstitions), and such as were only included in the expressions of the act, but not in its design, as tlie universities and colleges for learning and piety " (Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, yol. iv., p. 456). 374 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. paye the same within sixe dayes next after his conviccion, or ells shall sytt'on the pillorye and lose one of his eaves, and also shall at all tymes after that be taken as a man infamous and his sayinges, deposicons or othe, not to be credyted at anye tyme in any matters of judgement. And yf it fortuiie any suche conspiracye covenante or promyse to be had and made by any socyetie brotherhed or companye, of any erafte mysterie or occupacion of the vyttellers above menconed, withe the presence or consent of the more parte of them, that then ymediatly upon suche acte of conspiracy covenante or promise had or made, over and besides the particuler punyshment before by this acte appoynted for the offendor, their corporacion shalbe dissolved to all intents construccions and purposes. 2. And it is further ordeyned and enacted by the authoritie aforesaide, that all and singuler Justices of Assise Justices of Peace Maiors Bayllies and Stewards of Leets ' at all and everye their Sessions Leets and Courts, shall have full power and auctoritie to enquyre heare and deter myne all and singuler offences comytted againste this Statute, and to puny she or cause to be punyshed the offendor accordinge to the tenor of this Estatute. 3. And it is ordeyned and enacted by thauctorite aforesaid, that no pson or psonts shall at anye tyme after the firste daye of Aprill next comynge, interrupte denye lett or disturb any Fremason roughmason carpenter bricklayer playsterer joyner hardhcwer sawyer tyle/ pavyer glasyer lymeburner brickmaker tylemaker plumber or laborer, borne in this Eealme or made Denizon, to worke in anye of the saide Crafts in anye cittie Borougho or Towne corporate withe anye pson or psons that will retain him or them; albeit the sayde pson and psons so reteyned or any of them doe not inhabyte or dwell in the Cittie Boroughe or Towno corporate where he or they shall worke, nor be free of the same Cittie Boroughe or Towne; any Statute, Lawe, Ordeynaunce, or other thinge whatsoever, had or made to the contrarie in any wise notwithstandinge; and that uppon payne of forfeyture of fyve pounde for everio interrupcion or disturbaunce done contrarie to this estatute, the one moytie of everye suche forfeyture to be to the Kinge, and thother moytie therof to be to him or them that wil] sue for the same in anye of the Kings Courts of Eecorde by bill pleint accion of dett oi" informacion wherin noe wager of lawe essoyne nor protection shalbe allowed. This enactment forms the last link in the chain \,f statutes relating to combinations ' and confederacies to enhance the wages of labor, which it is my purpose to review (III., XVI., XIX., XXV.). In the opinion of Sir George Nicholls, the restrictions which the legislature endeavored to put down " were imposed on workmen by the ' At the Leet, or Law-day, by-laws for self -governance were made by the inhabitants of a city, or the tenants of a manor. Every male, of fit age, was bound to attend, and was liable to be fined if absent (Smith, English Gilds, pp. 370, 411, 439). In the practice of the assembly, or head meeting- day, of the gilds frequently corresponding with the Leet, or Law-day, may perhaps be found an ex- planation of those expressions in the Halliwell poem upon which the theory of Dr. Kloss has been enacted. This supposition is strengthened to some extent by the omission of any reference to the "Justices" in that ancient manuscript (XIL, XVIL) 5 See F. D. Longe, Sketch of the History of Legislation in England relating to Combinations of "Workmen (Reprinted in the Eeport on Trades Societies and Strikes, presented to the Association for the Promotion of National Science, 1860). THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 375 artisans themselves, prescribing who should and who should not work, the quantity of work which each man should perform, and the particular times he should be employed.'" A contrary interpretation is, however, placed on the act by Bren- tano, who contends that as all regulations forbidden in the statute recur frequently in the by-laws of companies, they originated quite as much in agreements of masters as of workmen. " Moreover," he continues, " whilst the word ' laborer' certainly does not refer to the skilled Avorkmen of the crafts, and probably to servants in husbandry only, the prohibition of confederacies of artificers and liandicrafismen is directed as much against the masters as against the workmen of the crafts. And the act forbids, in the same hreath with the confederacies of the craftsmen in general, all conspiracies of ' divers sellers of victuals' for raising prices. The act, therefore, does not refer at all to combinations similar to those of our working men of the present day, but is simply an attempt to check tlie increasing abuses of the craft gilds, and this especially in the trades providing for men's daily wants, where such abuses would be felt most keenly. " '* XXXII. The fourth clause of this statute (XXXI.) was repealed in the following year, on the ground that it bore with undue severity upon the artificers and craftsmen of the city of London, whence it has been erroneously concluded that the legislation of 1549 referred solely to the metropolis.' The stat. 3 and 4 Edw. VI., c. xx., first recites in full the par- ticular section of the earlier enactment which it is intended to repeal, and continues: " And Forasmuche as in the Cittie of London beinge the Kinges chambre and most auncyent Cittie o£ this Realme, the Artificers and Crafts men of the Artes crafts and mys- teries aforesaide are at greate costs and charges, as well in bearinge and payinge of Taxes tallages subsidyes Scott lott and other charges, as well to the Kings Majestic as to the saide Cittie, and at manye and sondrye tryumphes and other tymes for the Kings honor, and that yf forrens* sholde come and worke amongst them within the libtyes of the said Cittie contrarye to their auncyent priveleges, that the same shoulde be a great decay of conynge, and an ympoverishment and drivinge awaye of the free men being Artificers of the Crafts artes and mysteries aforesaide within the saide Cittie of London, to the great hurte or de- structyon of the saide Cittie: For reformacion whereof the Kings Majestic ys pleased and contented that it be enacted by thauctoritye of this present parliament withe the assent of the Lords Spirituall and temporall, and of the Comons of this present parliament assembled, that the saide Acte, onely touchinge the article and clause aforesaide, and all and everie sentence and braunche conteyned in the saide Acte concernynge the same Article,^ shall from ' NichoUs, History of the English Poor Law, vol. i., p. 138. ' Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 94. Brentano further compares the act with its German counterpart, " The Imperial Code of Police of 1577," title 37; and concludes, " that in any case the law of 1548 refers only to transitory combinations, and the existence of a regu- lar organization of the working class cannot be inferred from it" (Ibid.). 3 Kloss indeed remarks that it is not plainly declared whether the repeal concerned London alone, or the whole kingdom; but Findel states (and has been followed by Steinbrenner and Fort): "In 1548 all the building crafts were permitted to freely practice their art in all the kingdoms; but this license was again revoked in the following year, except so far as concerned the city of London " (His- tory of Freemasonr}', p. 80). ■• Foreign, forene, forynar — not belonging to the borough, city, or craft. '- It is quite certain, from the wording of this statute, that the whole of clause iv. of the 3 and 3 Edw. VI., c. XV., was repealed. 376 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. lienceforthe be resumed repealed adnulied revoked adnichilated and utteriye made voydo for ever; Auye thinge conteyned in the saide former Acte towchinge tlie Clawse or Article aforesaide to the contrarie notwithstandinge." A later chapter of the same statute requires every person who has three apprentices in the crafts of clothraen, weavers, tailors, and shoemakers to keep one journeyman. ' XXXIII. The Statutes of Laborers, which had been accumulating from the time of Edward III., but had been in general too oppressive to be executed, were codified by the 5 Eliz., c. iv,,^ and made applicable to all the trades then existing. It is, in fact, a selection from all the preceding enactments on the subject of labor; those provisions deemed useful being retained, others modified, and the rest repealed. ^ The persons affected by it may be divided into four classes — artificers, menial servants, laborers, and apprentices. The following is an abstract of its provisions: 3, 4.'' No one shall be retained for less than year in certain trades {Scyences, Craftes, Mysteries, or Artes)/" and every person unmarried, and every married person under thirty years of age, brought up in the said trades, or having exercised them for three years, not having lands of clear 40s. per annum, nor goods to the value of £10, and so allowed by two justices, or the mayor or head officer of the peace where he last dwelt for a year; now being retained already in husbandry, or the above trades, nor in any other; nor in service of any nobleman gentleman or other; nor having a farmwhereon to employ himself in tillage; such person sliall serve in the trade he has been brought up in, if required. 5. No person shall put away such servant, nor shall the servant depart unless for reason- able cause to be allowed before two Justices, the Mayor, or other chief officer. 12, 13. Eespecting artificers and laborers being liired for wages by the clay or week, certain orders are made about their times of work and rest; and as to those "retained in and for the building or repairing of any church, house, ship, mill, or every other piece of work taken in great, in task, or in gross, or that shall hereafter take upon him to make or finish any such thing or work, shall continue, and not depart from the same, unless it be for not paying their wages," or without licence of the master or owner of the Avork, or of the person having charge thereof, before fi.nishing, under pain of a month's imprison- ment, and forfeiture of £5. 15-19. As to the wages, whether of servants, laborers, or artificers, cither working by the year, day, or otherwise, they are to be settled yearly at the Easter sessions, by the Jus- tices of the Peace, within the limits of their several commissions, " the Sheriff of that county, if he conveniently may, and every Mayor, Bailiff, or other head officer within any city or town corporate, wherein is any Justice of the Peace" (XVII. , XX.), to be certified on '3 and 4 Edw. VI., c. xxii. Although Dr. Kloss reads this enactment as applying to the building- trades, it is not capable of such interpretation. '■^Frequently referred to as the "Statute of Apprentices; " explained and extended by the 39 Eliz., c. xii. ; 4 Eliz., c. ix. ; 1 James I., c. vi. ; and 21 James I., c. xxviii. Eepealed by the 54 Geo. m., c. 96. ''Nicholls, History of the English Poor Law, vol. 1., p. 157. * These numbers correspond with those prefixed to the various clauses of the statute. ^ Clothiers, woollen-cloth weavers, tuckers, fullers, cloth-workers, sheremen, dyers, hosiers, tay- lors, shoemakers, tanners, pewterers, bakers, brewers, glovers, cutlers, smiths, farriers, curriere, sad- dlers, spurriers, turners, cappers, hat or felt makers, bowyers, fletchers, arrowhead-makers, butchers, cooks or milleis. THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE EREEMASONS. ^77 parchment to the chancellor, and afterwards proclaimed on market-day, and fixed up in some open place. Persons giving more wages than allowed by the proclamation are to be imprisoned ten days; and those taking more, twenty-one days. 22. The Justices, and also the Constable, upon request, may compel such artificers and persons "as be meet to labor," to serye in harvest of hay or corn, in mowing and reaping; and if any refuse, he is to be put in the stocks for two days and one night. 2G. Every householder, being twenty-four years of age, living in a city or town corporate, and exercising any art, mystery, or manual occupation, may have the son of any freeman, not occupying husbandry, nor being a laborer, and living in that or some other city or town corporate, as an apprentice, after the custom of London, for seven years at least, so as the term do not expire before the apprentice shall be of the age of twenty-four years. 27. Merchants not to take apprentices, except their own sons, and those whose parents possess an estate of freehold, of the annual value of 405. 28. In market towns not corporate, any householder of twenty-four years old, exercising any art, mystery, or manual occupation, may have as apprentice the child of any other artificer, dwelling in any market town in the same shire. 30. The son of any person, though his father has no lands, may be put apprentice to a smith, wheelwright, plough- wright, mill-wright, carpenter, " roughe mason," plasterer, sawyer, lime-burner, brickmaker, tiler, slater, " healyer," ' tile-maker, linen-weaver, turner, cooper, miller, earthen-potter, woollen-weaver, fuller, burner of ore, and thatcher or shingler. 31. To encourage this kind of service, it was further enacted, that no one shall exercise any craft, mystery, or occupation, then used, or occupied within the realm of England or Wales, except he shall have been brought up therein seven years at the least as an appren- tice, not set any person on work in the same, except an apprentice, or one who, having served as an apprentice, becomes a journeyman, or is hired by the year. 33. Every cloth-maker, fuller, sheerman, weaver, tailor, or shoemaker, having three apprentices, shall retain and keep one journeyman; and for every apprentice above three, one other journeyman. 35. Any person required by a householder to become an apprentice in husbandry, or in any other kind of art, mystery, or science, may, upon refusal to serve be committed to ward till he consents, but 36. No person shall be bounden to. enter into any apprenticeship, other than such as be under the age of twenty-one years. 40. The citizens and freemen of London and Norwich may take, have, and retain, apprentices there, in such manner and form as they have previously done. The Statute of Apprentices (XXXIII. ), though requiring in very unequivocal words a seven years' apprenticesliip, in all trades then followed in England, wheresoever they should be carried on, has been held to extend only to cities and market-towns, and that a per- son may exercise as many trades as he pleases in a country village, although he has not served a seven years' apprenticeship to each;^ also that a man who had been duly appren- ' A maker of tiles for roofs. In Worcester the tillers were called hillyers (Smith, English Gilds, p. 398). •' It was also determined by the judges that he served as an apprentice who for seven years has been working as a master (2 Wils. Rep., 168). 3/8 THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. ticed, might go anywhere, and was not compelled to practice his trade only where he hap- pened to have been apprenticed.' The strict limitation of the statute to such trades as were established in England before the 5th of Elizabeth, gave rise to some singular distinctions. For example, a coachmaker could neither himself make, nor employ journeymen to make, his coach-wheels, and was compelled to buy them of a master wheelwright; the latter trade having been exercised in England before the 5th of Elizabeth. But a wheelwright, though he had never served an apprenticesliip to a coachmaker, might either himself make, or employ journeymen to make, coaches; the trade of a coachmaker not being within the statute, because not exercised in England at the time it was made. ^ So long, however, as the regulations of the Statute of Apprentices were maintained, the position of the journeymen was secure, and whilst obtaining — what they chiefly desired — regularity of employment, and in the time of plenty " a convenient proportion of wages," the hours of employment were not excessive, and the restrictions as to apprentices prevented skilled workmen from being degraded to the level of common laborers.' To the non-observance, indeed, of these regulations has been attributed the origin of trade unions, which appear to have succeeded the craft guilds, very much in the same manner as the latter were formed by the free handicraftsmen, as barriers against the ag- gressions of the more opulent guild members.'' It is highly probable that, for the earliest appearance of this new organization, we must consult the records of the building trades (III., XVI.); but the subject, though deeply in- teresting, lies beyond the scope of our present inquiry. Eeturning to the stat. 5 Eliz., c. iv., one clause, the 30th, demands our further attention. It enumerates many varieties, or branches, of a single trade, e.g., smith, wheelwright, plough-wright, mill-wright; brickmaker, bricklayer; tiler, slater, healyer, tilemaker, and shingler; yet, although in previous statutes the term Freemason occurs, we here find a solitary definition, rough-mason, representing the class either of stone workers or cutters, to whom apprentices could bo bound. The omission from the statute, of the appellation by which the superior of the two divisions of masons was commonly described, is curious and perhaps significant. It may point to the several uses of the word Freemason, becoming gradually absorbed within that one having special reference to freedom of the_ trade. On the other hand, the explanation may simply be, that cutters of /yee-stone were, com- ' Reeves, History of the English Law (W. F. Finlason), 1869, vol. iii., p. 594. 'For the same reason many of the manufacturers of Manchester, Bii'mingham, and Wolver- hampton, were not within the statute (see Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, vol. i., p. 187). Sir F. Eden remarks: " Can it be asserted that youth are more employed, or more industrious, in those places to which the Statute of Apprenticeship is confined, than in those parts of the countiy where they are at liberty to set up a trade as soon as they conceive themselves sufficiently skilful to carry it on?" (State of the Poor, vol. i., p. 483). ^Bi-entano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 104. Strangely enough, both " lawful" and " unlawful" artificers — which I understand to mean, workmen respectively /ree and not free, of their trade— desired in 1573 that " the statute touching them (XXXUI.) should be put in execution and observed" CCalendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1547-1580, vol. xciii., p. 472). * Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 131. " The possession of large capital, which became more and more a requisite for the independent exercise of a trade, would impair more and more the prospects of workmen becoming masters, and would call forth an ever-increasing an- tagonism between the interests of workmen and masters " {Ibid., p. 89). THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. 379 paratively, so limited in number as to render any notice of their craft or industry, in the statute, inexpedient or unnecessary. Yet, if the latter solution be accepted, why the wearisome changes which are rung upon the varieties of the tiler's trade, in the same clause of the Act? Mr. Brewer, quoting the stat. 6 Hen. VIII., c. iii. (XXVI.), speaks of " superior workmen, or freemasons." ' The word in the same sense is used by a high author- ity, who says: — "Every kind of artisan's work, if on an extensive scale, was superintended by a master in the craft — he is the master carpenter or the fi'eemason. " ^ Had the generic term " masoDS " been used by the framers of the statute, the inference would be plain — that it referred to both the superior and the inferior classifications of the trade; but the employment of the expression rough mason, in a code, moreover, so carefully drawn up, almost forbids the supposition that it was intended to comprise a higher class of workmen, and rather indicates that the term Freemason — as already suggested, — though, perhaps, in common or successive use, applied to denote a stonecutter, a contractor a superior workman, a passed apprentice or free journeyman, and a person enjoying the freedom of a guild or company, had then lost — if, indeed, it ever possessed — any purely operative significance, and if for no other reason was omitted from the statute, as importing a sense in which it would have been generally misunderstood. According to Brentano, "Wherever the craft gilds were legally acknowledged, we find foremost that the right to exercise their craft and sell their manufactures depended upon i\iQ freedom of the city.' A pamphlet of the year 1649, referring to the constitution of the Clothworkers' Company, as amended in the twenty-third year of Henry VII., and then existing, pre- sents an interesting picture of the classes or gradations into which this association was divided. " The first degree was Apprentices of the Craft. These were not to take wages, or work Journey-work, by their Ordinances. "The second degree was Freemen; they presented, admitted to work by Journeys, or Journey-work. These sometimes called the Yeomandry; sometimes, the Company of Batchelors. They entred Bond not to worke with any Forraigner, but with Freemen of the Craft, and this was according to their Ordinances too. " The third degree was Householders they admitted. " The fourth degree was a Livery or Cloathing, such as wore Gown and Hood. This was called the fellowship. " The fifth degree was "Warden. " All were under the government, rule, and punishment of the Lord Mayor and Alder- men for the time being. Such as rebelled were bound in recognizance to the Mayor's Court."* In bringing to a close my view of the early statutes, whilst conscious that I have un- folded very little that may tend to strengthen the opinion entertained of the high antiqviity of Freemasonry, I may claim, at least, to have dissipated some few errors, and thereby to ' Letters and Papers, etc., temp. Henry "Viil., vol. i., 1862, preface, p. cxii. « J. E. T. Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1793 (1866), voL i.,p. 502. ^Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds, p. 65. *The Government of the Fullers, Shearmen, and Clothworkers of London, p. 6. 3 So THE STATUTES RELATING TO THE FREEMASONS. liave assisted, however slightly and imperfectly, in placing the history of the Masonic craft on a rational basis. By considering the statutes as a whole, I have thought it less difficult to extract their true meaning and significance than by a mere cursory inspection of isolated enactments, scattered throughout the statute book, which — often wholly unintelligible — are ahvays mis- leading, without the aid of a context. Having brought down the evidences of Masonry in South Britain to the sixteenth century, the next subject in chronological order will be its early historj' in North Britain, wliich I shall proceed to discuss in the ensuing chapter. BND OF VOLUME I. 3 1197 004 7 2919 DATE DUE