The History Of Freemasonry.*

should obtain all the information that is possible about " Gothic " architecture . Hence , it is quite right that Bro . Gould should have collated whatever evidence connected with the subject he could lay his hands upon ; but we fail to see how an elaborate description of the principal Gothic

buildings in different countries is calculated to facilitate our comprehension of Mediaeval Operative Masonry and its connection with the Speculative system . That it is desirable a connection between the two should be shown to exist or not to exist is undoubted , but these ornate accounts of

buildings will not help us materially . They are , no doubt , necessary to a certain extent , because Bro . Gould has made a point of appealing to the buildings themselves in evidence of his propositions , that , as there has always been " a certain similarity between the fashions and institutions of the

different nations " of "Western Europe , " to which architecture has proved no exception , " each nation , when a new fashion arose in architecture " pursued its own individuality , untrammelled by that of its neighbours "j and consequently that " as no spontaneous movement was

possible , so the over-spreading of Europe by one Germanic fashion is equally mythical . " But it strikes us that in in order to establish these propositions , a very considerable multiplication of examples was unnecessary . However , there is no denying that the different studies of architectural

works which are brought together are very interesting , though it must be a matter of opinion if , being so numerous , they afford us a much clearer insight into the question of the connection between our Freemasonry and the Operative Masonry of the Middle Ages .

Having taken us through different countries , and shown and commented on the principal structures they can severally boast , Bro . Gould proceeds to inquire who were the men who built these edifices in England , —the cathedrals , abbeys , & c , —of which we are all so proud ? The idea of the

Roman Collegia , after careful examination , he dismisses , though he acknowledges they were introduced into this country . In the first place , he says , " 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 have been written with the single result of showing how great is the divergence of the learned on the subject . Moreover , even though the Collegia " may he the parents of the subsequent Guilds , " there is no evidence

that " any snch Collegia belonged to the building trades , but a good deal of negative evidence to the contrary . " The Celts were not builders , and the Anglo-Saxons , when they began building , " were obliged to import workmen , and they also sent abroad when they commenced to restore . "

Hence the author regards it as "tolerably certain that all knowledge of the art of Roman building , and with it the Roman building corporations—although they still had Roman buildings in their midst—have long been lost , and had never been handed down to the Saxons ; " and for these

and other reasons he feels constrained to decide " against the high antiquity of the Masonic bodies in the British islands . " It is also his opinion—on the evidence we possess —that organised bodies of Masons did not arise " until long after the appearance of Guilds among other trades . "

But if it is difficult to decide when the Masonic bodies first took form , it is clearly the opinion of the author that " the ceremonies and customs by which they were distinguished are at least of much earlier ori gin than our oldest constitutions . " Thus , according to the fabric rolls

of the York Minster , " Orders for the Masons and Workmen " were issued in 1355 . From these rolls , which have been published by Canon Raine for the Surtees Society , we have the following , quoted by Bro . Gould : — " 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 to work until noon . Between April and August , after dinner they 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 remuneration for extra work . Gloves were also given to the carpenters . " Other instances are also furnished . Then as to the " Lodge ; " we are told

The History Of Freemasonry.*

that one of the earliest intimations of it occurs m 1200 , " when a tabulation domicialem was the shed erected in front of St . Albans Abbey , " and in 1321 " is an entry of 2 s 6 d for straw to cover the masons' lodge at Carnarvon Castlo . " Also , "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 additious to Westminster Hall , the king engaged to find ' herbergage' ( harbourage ) 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 15 s 6 d being paid to the

dauber' for the lodge for the masons and the house m that street . The earliest of the Masonic ' Constitutions ' or ' Charges , ' the Halliwell , circa 1400 .... has , — If in the logge the apprentice were taken , ' and also ' The prevystye of the ohamber telle he no mon , Ny yn the logge whatever 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 , work , and sleep in , and to ' make mete in , ' i . e . fitting or convenient . "

Having referred to the " origin of Masonic Guilds , ' " to the grips and signs attribtded to the early builders , " and " the symbols , lewd , profane , or merely caricatures , " Bro . Gould settles himself to consider " Who were the actual

architects and designers of the mediaeval edifices ? and were they operative Masons , or at least men belonging to that body ? " This question is , as he says , a very interesting one , and various theories respecting it have been advanced ; but before entering upon it , he considers it advisable to

note " the various designations used for Masons in the Middle Ages , " and to this end he has recourse to Mr . Papworth , to whose inquiries we are indebted for the following . "Csementarius , " he says , "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 ia 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 a ' 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 constantly found , and it would appear to be applied as often to the

Mason who was to execute cut-work , as to the Mason who was required for rougher work , or to labour 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 ' latJiomos vocatos ffre

Maceons , ' and ' lathomos vocatos ligiers , 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 . " He then proceeds to apply the terms—the above and others—in the first place to English workmen or

workmen engaged in England , with the result that from the list of those enumerated he succeeds in obtaining the names of " seven cementarii , who evidently were more than mere workmen , or even master masons , in our sense of that term , " and " 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 . " And he adda , " We should also have seen , had the space permitted , bhat the cementarii were of all ranks and classes , from one capable of superintending or contracting