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Article THE SONGS OF MASONRY. ← Page 6 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Songs Of Masonry.
the festival in carriages , clothed as Masons , and preceded by three bands of music . Tims speaks the key to this caricature . " Around in mournful order placed , the loving , weeping , drunken Brethren sit , in a superb open hearse , having a cloudy canopy , & c , drawn by six stately , unfledged horses , with their aprons—their gloves they had put in their pockets , & c . " Anderson thus notices the circumstance , " Some unfaithful Brethrendisappointed in their expectations in the high offices and
, honours of the Society , had joined a number of the buffoons of the day , in a scheme to exhibit a mockery of the public procession to the grand feast . This , as may well be supposed , furnished mirth to the gaping crowd , and disgust to the Fraternity ; who , wisely recollecting themselves , determined in future to confine their operations within the limits of their own assembly ; " and the public processions of the Society were discontinued ban order of the Grand Lodge .
y The circumstance of the grancl festivals being usually celebrated at the Devil Tavern , gave rise to many frivolous and absurd suggestions , not very creditable to the Order ; because the same place was notorious for the orgies of another society of profligate persons which had the appalling name of the Hell-fire Club ; ancl attracted public attention more particularly because its members were men of property ; and here ,
it is said , the celebrated John Wilkes spent his evenings in conviviality . The inconvenience of meeting at taverns appears to have been keenly felt by the Brethren of that period ; and therefore , amongst the arguments for creating a fund ( A . D . 17 GS ) to be applied to the building of a Masonic Hall for the meetings of the Grand Lodge , we find the following . " Besides , our meeting at die houses of publicans , gives us the air of a bacchanalian society , instead of that appearance of gravity and
wisdom which our Order justly requires . How properly might it be remarked on such conduct , that as almost all the companies that resort with so much formality to the city halls , have in view chiefly feasting aud jollity ; so Masons assemble with an air of festivity at taverns , to perform the serious duties of their profession under the regulations of morality and philosophy . Such a conduct in the eyes of every thinking man mirst appear , even on the first view , to be ridiculous and absurd . "
But though it is clear , from existing records , that the Brethren did not generally indulge in any excessive degree of intemperance , or carry their convivialities to an unreasonable height , yet it is no less true that the jovial song accompanied the cheerful glass ; and in too many instances this exercise formed the chief business of the meeting . From the bye-laws of the old Lodge at Lincoln already referred to , it appears that the fine for any breach of discipline was " a bottle of wine , to lie drunk by thc Brethren present ; " ancl I doubt not that this was tlie
usual custom . I knew a Lodge within the last thirty years , in which the members so far lost sig ht of their interest and duty , as to spend their whole time during Lodge hours in drinking and glee singing ; ( and capital performers they were ;) until the officers entirely forgot the current business of their station . The consequence was , that the Brethren soon forfeited their self-respect as Masons , and grew weary of an amusement which obviouslinconsistent witli their profession until at length they
was so y ; withdrew , one ' by one , from an institution which was degraded to a common catch club ; and the Lodge sank to rise no more . Of such a Lodge , the following song , which is not of very modern date , would be characteristic .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Songs Of Masonry.
the festival in carriages , clothed as Masons , and preceded by three bands of music . Tims speaks the key to this caricature . " Around in mournful order placed , the loving , weeping , drunken Brethren sit , in a superb open hearse , having a cloudy canopy , & c , drawn by six stately , unfledged horses , with their aprons—their gloves they had put in their pockets , & c . " Anderson thus notices the circumstance , " Some unfaithful Brethrendisappointed in their expectations in the high offices and
, honours of the Society , had joined a number of the buffoons of the day , in a scheme to exhibit a mockery of the public procession to the grand feast . This , as may well be supposed , furnished mirth to the gaping crowd , and disgust to the Fraternity ; who , wisely recollecting themselves , determined in future to confine their operations within the limits of their own assembly ; " and the public processions of the Society were discontinued ban order of the Grand Lodge .
y The circumstance of the grancl festivals being usually celebrated at the Devil Tavern , gave rise to many frivolous and absurd suggestions , not very creditable to the Order ; because the same place was notorious for the orgies of another society of profligate persons which had the appalling name of the Hell-fire Club ; ancl attracted public attention more particularly because its members were men of property ; and here ,
it is said , the celebrated John Wilkes spent his evenings in conviviality . The inconvenience of meeting at taverns appears to have been keenly felt by the Brethren of that period ; and therefore , amongst the arguments for creating a fund ( A . D . 17 GS ) to be applied to the building of a Masonic Hall for the meetings of the Grand Lodge , we find the following . " Besides , our meeting at die houses of publicans , gives us the air of a bacchanalian society , instead of that appearance of gravity and
wisdom which our Order justly requires . How properly might it be remarked on such conduct , that as almost all the companies that resort with so much formality to the city halls , have in view chiefly feasting aud jollity ; so Masons assemble with an air of festivity at taverns , to perform the serious duties of their profession under the regulations of morality and philosophy . Such a conduct in the eyes of every thinking man mirst appear , even on the first view , to be ridiculous and absurd . "
But though it is clear , from existing records , that the Brethren did not generally indulge in any excessive degree of intemperance , or carry their convivialities to an unreasonable height , yet it is no less true that the jovial song accompanied the cheerful glass ; and in too many instances this exercise formed the chief business of the meeting . From the bye-laws of the old Lodge at Lincoln already referred to , it appears that the fine for any breach of discipline was " a bottle of wine , to lie drunk by thc Brethren present ; " ancl I doubt not that this was tlie
usual custom . I knew a Lodge within the last thirty years , in which the members so far lost sig ht of their interest and duty , as to spend their whole time during Lodge hours in drinking and glee singing ; ( and capital performers they were ;) until the officers entirely forgot the current business of their station . The consequence was , that the Brethren soon forfeited their self-respect as Masons , and grew weary of an amusement which obviouslinconsistent witli their profession until at length they
was so y ; withdrew , one ' by one , from an institution which was degraded to a common catch club ; and the Lodge sank to rise no more . Of such a Lodge , the following song , which is not of very modern date , would be characteristic .