Information Wanted About Col. Thomas Picton.

INFORMATION WANTED ABOUT COL . THOMAS PICTON .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON .

MY attention waa called , by my learned friend tho Rev . Bro . Oliver A . Boberts , at tbe Boston Masonic Temple , to a slip from the Herald of Vicksburg , headed " Origin of Masonry , " of which the following is a copy : — " English Notes and Queries . " Upon the base of the 'Cleopatra Needle , ' whioh Egypt haa given

to America , are certain mysterious characters whioh so closely re-Femblo the emblems of Freemasonry that prodigious stir has heen caused among Masons in this country as to the real oharaoter of the inscriptions . If they could be shown to be truly Masonio they would establish the great antiquity of the Order , which is so boastful of its

age and descent . Among Masonio scholars the widest differences of opinion exist as to tho age of the Institution , some dating it back to the time of Solomon , or evon remoter time , and others ascribing its genet-is to the period which comos within the range ol ' Ancient History . ' Still there seems to be a prevalent opinion that

howevor ancient the Institution may have been , and whatever traces of it can be discovered in remote times , the Masonry of to-day is a reconstructed and modernised system . An eminent Masonio authority ( Col . Thomas Pioton ) , who takes this view of it , says that the origin of modern Masonry can be attributed to Lord Bacon . In the 'Now

Atlantis' there is a description of Solomon and his house ; and it ia there said that the king sat apart different days for prosecuting the arts and sciences . Tho ' New Atlantis' was exceedingly popular among the learned men of Bacon ' s day , and they tried to establish a society , taking Solomon as nn exponent of wisdom . It was encouraged

by the court of James I . and his successor Charles I ., until the revolution broke out . Then tho royalists , after the death of Charles I ., reorganised their sooiety for religions and political motives—the religion for the re-eat ablishrnent of the Church , the politics for the restoration of the monarchy . Next they invented what is called the

Ifgend of the third degree : Hirum AbifF was the murdered monarch ; Hiram , the King of Tyre , was the King of France ; Solomon was the Church ; Hiram ' s three assassins were the three kingdoms—England , Scotland , and Ireland . The Ma-ous of that day , who were the conspirators—tho Jacobites —were necessarily a secret society .

They called themselves , as the Masons of tbe European contiuent do to the present day , the Sons of the Widow , inasmuch as the King had been beheaded and his son had not been recognised . After thn Restoration , the leading men of the movement formed the Royal Society , which exists to tho present day , and they openly continued

the work of the house of Solomon . The Jacobites in Franco continued their benevolent organization . In England , immediately after the Restoration , a number of those who had been previously affiliated conjoined with a Guild of so-called Operative Mnsons , a body of freemen of , London ,

meeting in Masons' Lane . They there bocame Free and Accepted Masons . In 1717 thore appeared to be four Lodges in London . They met at the Apple Tree Tavern , and proceeded to organise a Grand Lodge , eleoting Sir Christopher Wren Grand Master . From that body originated all the Masonio Lodges at present known to be iu existence . "

A student of history should endeavour to find out all he can about the origin and originators of fictitious historic narratives or erroneous historic theories ; he ought to ascertain where and when these historic fables first appeared , either in manuscript or in print .

Unfortunately , Masonio history is crammed with all kinds of fables , and it is only within thirty years that Masonic writers began to expose the falsity of so-called Masonic history . Now in the above extract from " English Notes and Queries" the theory that Masonry originated from

Bacon's Atlantis is ascribed to Col . Thomas Thomas Picton . Now , can any one inform me who Col . Thomas Picton was ? When he was born , and when he died , and in what book did his theory or fact first appear ? If it can be proved that either Bro . Thomas Picton or some

other man furnished the story , before 1717 , that our Masonry originated immediately after the death of Charles I ., or at least that Hiram Abiffwas then introduced info the Masonic ritual , then all tbe hankerers after the

antiquity of Masonic legends and degrees would have cause to rejoice . It would not , indeed , prove the antiquity of tho Hiramio legend , or the Solomonic origin of Masonry , but it would prove that our pre-1717 Masons knew more than some of us supposed they did . *

* We have Masonio Cyclopaedias , Masonic Traditions , Masonic Jurisprudence , and books about other kinds of Masonics . We need , however , a book on Masonic Fictions , and about the origin and originators of those fictions . Should such a work ever be undertaken by a non-partizan brother , I beg to suggest to his consideration whether the notion of a Church-loving Tory-Jacobite conspirator body of Masons having held their meetings in the London Masons ' Hall , in Masons' Lane ; also , whether the notion about Sir Christopher Wren having been elected Grand Master in 1717 ; and last , that Colonel Thomas Picton was an " eminent Masonic authority , " may not all have originated in the brain of the writer of the above quoted extraofc from " English Notes and Queries " ?

Information Wanted About Col. Thomas Picton.

And now I will call attention to something akin , if I may so call it , to the Jacobite supposed origin of Masonry , or rather to a supposed expose of something Masonio before the year 1717 . Bro . Speth came across a pre-1717 ritual ,

or what Bro . Hughan calls " Old Charges , " dated 1 C 77 . It is printed in the " Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , " Vol . I . p 128 , and on the said MS . somo wng wrote a doggerel , which begins thus :

When a Martyrs Grand Daughter , Jn ye Throne of great Brittain makes Capets Proud Son look , You'd Think * * * when yo midway & Mais * toyether In a Quill 'ff ^ p TP fl * ^ S ff when by Roasting a Priest ye Church has her wishes

ffreo Masons beware Brother [ Roger ] Bacon advises Interlopers break In & Spoil Your Divices Your Giblin & Squares are all Out of Door And Jachin & Boaz shall bee Seoretts no more .

The above is introduced as a prophecy of Rogor Bacon . Bro . Speth at first admits that tho said prophecy was not added to the manuscript until after 1724 . But before Bro . Speth finished his comments he took a new departure , or changed his mind . He said :

" It is perfectly clear to me that this couplet muBt have been written some years before the scheme [ South Sea Scheme ] became the bubble , i . e ., before 1720 . But I think we may get a closer approximation still . The prophecy could not have been composed before the Peace of Utrecht , 11 th April 1713 , to which it alludes .

But no mention is made of the Hanoverian succession , which took place on the death of Anne , 12 th August 1714 , and I unhesitatingly affirm that this prophecy was written during the sixteen months between 11 th April 1713 and 12 th August 1714 . , As a consequence we are bound to admit that previous to 1717 . . there existed an ampler ritnal than certain amongst us have been willing to concede . "

Now , with all due respect to my highly esteemed Bro . Speth , I will , for the sake of argument , concede that his reasoning is all O . K . ; that the doggerel was written in 1713 . And what then ? Surely no one denies that tho pre-1717 Masons had secret words and secret signs , and

from tho revelation made by the author of the doggerel I cannot infer that the pre-1717 Masons had " an ampler ritual than certain amongst us have been willing to conconcede . " But if Bro . Speth could prove that either Col .

Thomas Picton or some other writer made mown before 1717 that a Hiramic legend was used in the Masonic ritual in the days of Charles II . or James II ., then wo shall all havo to concede that the pre-1717 Masons possessed " an ampler ritual" than many of us supposed .

I shall only add that in Alabono s Dictionary of Authors is a Sir Thomes Picfon , a general in the English Army , who was born in 1758 , and was killed at Waterloo iu 1815 , but whether he was an eminent Masonic authority I know not . BOSTON , U . S ., 21 st January 1890 .

Why Freemasonry Exists.

WHY FREEMASONRY EXISTS .

IVrOTHING- in human nature is of higher nobility or a ! JLl more excellent gift of tbe Divine beneficence , nor does anything more clearly prove that the human soul is

not a result of material organisation , but is of divine creation , than the impulses so general , if not almost universal , which compel tho poor and the lowly , as well as the rich and the lofty , those of all faiths and callings and all states and conditions of life alike , and , as in civilised lands all see

aud know , and as every traveller among barbarians has experienced and testified , woman , in larger measure than man , to sympathise with and show kindness to , and relievo and be of service to others , in need or distress , in difficulty or danger , or in deadly sickness .

And it is especially to cherish and cultivate these generous impulses aud make them the efficient motives of constant aud habitual action that Freemasonry exists . No man can become a Mason without first giving solemn assurance that the seeking has not for its purpose tho

reaping of any personal benefit ; nor without afterward learning that Relief is one of the three principal tenets of Freemasonry . To seek to do good unto others is the highest duty of a Mason , as it is the highest and noblest prerogative of humanity .

Like every other human institution , Freemasonry has its faults , its defects , its imperfections , its inefficient methods , its inconsistencies , shortcomings and failures , its periods of inaction and sluggishness . It often has to