The Honours Of The Purple.

inconsiderable amount of energy , industry and fact . Atal the more extended powers which it . hns been found ucr -.-ar \ to confer upon tho District Grand Master : ! in tin .- ort ' y ini ; dependencies of the rhnpire are necessarily of a still MIOIV

responsible nature . And perhaps the Provincial or DJsfne Grand Mastor never finds himself in so difficult a posi'ioi as when , once in every year , he is called uv . oii to M-VCI worth } - brethren for the honours of the purple . IY !¦¦; ; : (•' that the actual Functions devolving upon tlv- D . G . Diiir-ovs .

ontsido what may he called the ofiieo st If , \; -e int-T's . Y'alh of any great importance . Practically th"v havo vor > - li' . nindeed to do beyond going through iuihiiiniftsimal a ^ umnf of ritual twice during their year of ofiice . And vet

indirectly issues ot the greatest im ; ior :-Kco to the ( rn : i hinge upon the equitable bestowal of ihe hoiiours of ilu pnrple . One of the first duties of every . Mason in a posit ' or of nulhority is to encourage industry and reward merit . and tho principal means ho has of discha ? giiig that dniv

is to bo found in the bestowal of such honours as may !>¦ at bis disposal . Such honours are regarded aa outward and visible hall marks of merit , and consequently serve the hig hly useful purpose of enconraging others to move nhuisr the same laudable path as thoso traversed by the holder ,-

of such marks of distinction . It is thc hope of reward that at all times sweetens labour . Consequently Masonu honours should hear an accurate relationshi p lo work actually performed , aud should be so arranged as to place before every Mason an ever-present ladder of promotion .

on tho rungs of which he can only hope to rise by a steady and persevering performance of such Masonic duly as comes in Ids way . lb used to be said of the . soldiers of tin great Napoleon that every private carried in his knapsack

tho baton of a Marshal of JraDco , and similarl y an idea ! Masonic system should place before evry Knforvd Apprentice the potentiality of substituting Cor his plain white apron the compasses aud All Seeing Eye of the Grand Master . Between these two extremes thero should he a

continuous succession of stops of promotion as an incentive to persevering work . How far we arc from that idea ! every thinking Mason knows . So far ns the private Lodge is concerned tho way is tolerably clear . From Steward to W . M . tho progressive encouragement of industry and

reward of merit goes on fairly smoothly , and iho princip le of basing a man ' s claims to a higher collar on his work in a lower office is , taking all in a !! , properly recognised . But once beyond the highest honour that the Lodgo has it in its power to bestow , the links of the . chain preserve but a

very imperfect and haphazard continuity , aud the primary result is that the vast majority of Past Masters leave all their enthusiasm behind them when they doff the collar of the W . M ., and gradually drop into a condition of sus peuded animation so far as Masonry is concerned . We all

know that the number of working Past Masters in even tho best of onr Lodges in this country , and perhaps in others , bears by no means a . creditable proportion to tho roll of those actually entitled to exhibit the P ythagorean proposition ou their collars . This is in itself not ns it

should be , but a secondary evil follows m the fact that Lodges deprived of the assistance of a strong Board of Past Masters lose that great gaarauteo for stability , for accurate ritual , for good financing and for wise and

conciliatory management generally , which only experience aud acquired impartiality can give . We take it indeed that the Past Masters are the backbone aud mainstay of the Craft . —The South African Freemason .

Evolution Of The Pre-1717 Masonic Ritual.

EVOLUTION OF THE PRE-1717 MASONIC RITUAL .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . AN article of mine in the Freemason of 17 th June 1871 will show that I was then familiar with the Halliwell or Regius poem , with the Cooke MS ., and with several

later MSS ., now known as " Old Charges , " and that I then came to the conclusion that the said Old Charges were nothing more nor less than the rituals of tbe pre-1717 Masons .

The new edition of the Cooke MS ., with Bro . Spofh ' s Commentary , reached mo while I was preparing my preface to thc recently discovered "Hub MS ., " and knowing that Bro . Speth , together with Bro . Gould , started on ' the new departure , " I naturally expected to find his Com-

Evolution Of The Pre-1717 Masonic Ritual.

mentary on the Cooke MS . as ¦ nnrpasimahfo as Brother Mould ' s Commentary is ou the Regius Poem ; hence , I d . ^ no more than jest open the newly-arrived MS . and eornoared its penmanship with that of the poem . M y PV ( , happened to fall on tho word " speculatyf , " and I naturall y

' luaginerl that ho took that word as a text , and deduced htacf'vun tho antiquity of Speculative Masonry . How . ' v » M ' , ai ' ier th ' . i Hub MS . was mailed , when I took M ^ Rro . Sooth's new work , 1 was surprised and pleased | 0 ¦ erooive that Bro . Speth explained the word " speculative "

in the Co : d < e MS . as rationally as I would have advisud him to do . We sti'l , however , disagree on some points ¦ nit I must first show that he is not without the usn ; vj n-rjifotcss of commentators , who assign reasons and mean . item's which the author himself never thought of : and lun- o

is an instance . In the Cooke MS . Bro . Speth found tho Following words , viz ., " Seven sciences or crafts tha » f , . free ; " so , in a footnote , he gave the following hint , " Tin ' s (' says he ) is the only document to my knowled ge that ippiies the term free to tbo seven liberal sciences . Tf

Masnnrv was a t ' ri'O ( a . liberal ) science , wove its professors therefore Freemasons ?" Now , with all duo respect to Bro . Speth , if I felt

disposed to sophisticate , iu order to prove the origin of the word " Freemason , " I could prove ft from > m older MS . : hnn the Cooke MS ., for iu tho 12 th "Point" in tho

ne <> ius Poem I find as follows ( 1 give it in modern English ) : — Against that man , whoever he be , That belungeth t . o the Craft fair and Flee .

The truth , however , is , thc word "free" in either of these MSS . has no more connection with the origin of tho word " Freemason " than the word " speculative " in flm Cooke MS . has anv connection with our modern phrase of " Speculative Masonry . "

In my introduction to the "Hub MS . " I give an outline of tho evolution of tbe pre-1717 Masonic ritual , which 1 shall havo to repeat here , but 1 must premise that tho lirxt secret , Masonic Association was formed in 1349 : the object of the new Association was simply to obtain higher

wages ; it was what we now call " a strike , or , in other words , a "Trade Union , " and in the \ evy same year an Act of Parliament was passed that if any employe should receive higher pay than used to be paid in the 20 th ye ; ir of the King ' .- ; reign , he shall be imprisoned , & c . Part of the law reads thus : —

" Carpenters and masons , tilers and other workmen of hoiisivj , shrill tako by flay for thoir work , but in a manner na they wero wont , thnt is to sfiy , Carpenters 3 d and another 2 d . A master mason <] il and other masons 3 d , and their servants Id , tilers 3 d , and their kuiivos Id , " ite .

The above statute had no effect on tho then " Knight * of labour , " so in 13 ( 30 a law was enacted that those who wero guilty of paying higher wages than above specified should also bo imprisoned . And here is part of that enactment : —

" That all alliances of masons aud carpenters , and congregations , chapters , ordinance ? , and oaths betwixt them made , or to be made , shall bo from henceforth wholly annulled . " That the secret association of Masons continued to

meet in spite of the above laws is evident from subsequent enactments of Parliament ; Laws about labourers were successively passed in 1363 , 1378 , 140 ( 3 , 14-25 , and even as late as thc rcijrn of Elizabeth . In that reign

the master mason was to" receive , not a paltry 4 d pet ' day , but a shilling a day . The law enacted in 14-- -D , under the reign of Henry VII ., was printed in Anderson ' s Constitutions of 1723 . I shall , however , give somo extracts from it , to show that Masons were mentioned in it . The law saith : —

" Whereas , by yearly congregations and coufedraces , marie by tho Masons iu their general assemblies , tbe good course and effect ot " statutes for laborers be openly violated and broken in subversion : « i the law . ... At the especial request tho Commons [ Parliament ! hath ordained and established that sneh chapters and

ciiigrogarions shall not hereafter be hoiden ; and if any such be w « 'lo they that cause snch chapters and congregations to be assembled an < hoiden , if they thereof bo convicted , shall be judged for KEr . o . vs , ¦;'" that other masons that come to such chapters and eongreg , ltl , "l , be puni .- 'hod by imprisonment of their bodies and make liup tl "' rnnsotno t . o tho Kind ' s will . "

These Acts of Parliament prove the continuous exi *' once of a secret Masons' Society in England for a perio of seventy-six years , aud from tho laws about lanom - ' enacted during the reign of Elizabeth we may inier '' thc secret Masonic oiganisation continued till thon . o