Masonic Celebrities: No. Vi.—The Duke Of Wharton, G.M. 1722-23*.

lislied about the year 1724 . Tbe late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . WOODFORD , editor of Kenning's " Masonic Cyclopaedia , " dismissed it very briefly , indeed , almost contemptuously , by describing it as " A secret and ridiculous society , " which was

" established about 1724 , in opposition to and ridicule of Freemasonry . " Bro . GOUI . D mentions three conjectures as having been advanced respecting it by Dr . Kl . OSS— " I . That the ( Ecumenical Vol-n was no less than the Chevalier RAMSAY , then

at Rome in attendance upon the Young Pretender ; II , That the movement was a di-eply-bvid scheme on the part of thc Jesuits to obtain certain ends ; and III . That in the Gormogons we meet with the precursors of the Schismatic Alasons or

' Ancients . ' " FlNDEL , who also assigns the foundation of the Order to the year 1724 , appears to favour a view which may be said to be compounded of the first two of these conjectures . " Brother KLOSS , " he writes , " supposes , and not wholly without

foundation , that the setting up of these Gormogones ( sic ) may have been an attempt of the Jesuits , by the help of the Freemasons' ceremonies , to win the credulous over to Catholicism , and to regain their lost dominion in England . Most likel y thc

notorious RAMSAY , the inventor of the so-called higher dgrees and an adherent of the Stewarts , had something to do with the matter . " We may , indeed , go a step further , and look upon FlNDEL as accepting all three of KLOSS'S conjectures , for in the

section of his History which is devoted to the Gormogons he suggests that it may have been against them that " most probably , until the year 1725 , many of the laws issued by the Grand Lodge were directed . " Be this as it may , Bro . Goi . 'l . D , after such a critical examination of the materials obtainable for

the purpose as characterises whatever he writes , shows clearly that the two periods of time in which the Gormogons displayed their greatest activity corresponded as regards the first with the period when , after his retirement from the Grand Mastership of

Freemasons and bis failure to prevent the choice of Dr . DESAGULIERS as Deputy to the Earl of DALKEITH , he must have been utterly disgusted with our Society ; and as regards both with his espousal and most active support of the cause of the

Pretender . Bro . G OULD ' S theory , so far as we have been able to follow him , appears to be either that the Order of the Gormogons was his creation ; or , if not , that finding it a society already organised to his band , he made use of it to inflict as

much damage and ridicule as possible upon ( he Freemasons , and at the same time to win all the support in his power for the Jacobite cause , of which from about the year 1724 till his death

in 173 1 , he was the confirmed adherent . 'I here is a great deal of plausibility about the theory , which is further strengthened b y the evidence which Bro . Goui . D is able to adduce with a view to

showing that about the years 1723 and 1724 , and again about 1730 , there were published a series of attacks upon and so-called exposures of Freemasonry . It is , indeed , a most ingenious , as well as plausible , theory , that WHARTON was , as it were , the

head-centre of Gormogonism , which he either created or utilised as an engine of warfare against Freemasonry and in support of the Jacobite Pretender . Let those who desire to learn how and by what means Bro . GOULD has put forth and supports this view

study very carefully that part of his paper about WlIARTOX which more immediately concerns the Order of the Gormogons . It is , perhaps , as wc remarked in our general review of the second part of the current volume of tbe Quatuor Coronati

Transactions , to be regretted that he should have overlaid his views with such a mass of detail , that it is quite within the bounds of probability that some of his readers may have doubts as to whether or not they have succeeded in grasping the true intent

and purpose of his meaning . I'his is undoubtedly a blemish , but it is a pardonable one in the case of such a writer as Bro . GOUI . D , who loves to demonstrate the justice of any and every proposition hc . may lay down , not merely step by step , but

at every minutest fraction of a step . It is impossible we can do otherwise than commend this caution , whicii is in such marked contrast with the titter carelessness exhibited by writers of the old school who , while they never hesitated to propound a theory

which fitted in with their particular purpose of thc moment , rarely , H ever , troubled themselves as to its being possible or even probable . There are some other points respecting which we are desirous

Masonic Celebrities: No. Vi.—The Duke Of Wharton, G.M. 1722-23*.

01 offermg a tew remarks before concluding our review . As to the pronunciation of the word " Gormogon , " we incline to the opinion of Bro . CRAWLEY rather than to that of Bro . GOULD , that the " o" in the middle syllable is short , and that the word is

pronounced as , in the interests of scansion , it must of necessit y be pronounced in the lines at foot of HOGARTH'S print and the passages quoted from CAREY and POPE . Bro . GOULD ' defence

of the long " o " in this syllable strikes us as being somewhat feeble . It is nothing to the point that " Gormogon " is a compound Chinese word consisting of " Gor , " signifying "Brother

or Friend ; " "Mo , " a " word of Eminence ; " and " Gon , " signifying " Antiquity ; " or that the province of " Mo-Gon , " in China , denotes " The Most Excellent and Most Ancient Kino *

dom . If the word is uttered syllabically , by which we mean , with a pause between each syllable , to correspond with the hyphens in the written word " Gor-mo-Gon , " as in Bro . GOULD'S paragraph at p . 154 , it will be . difficult , if not impossible , to determine

the quantity of the middle " o , " as the same degree of stress or accent will be laid on each syllable . But if the word is uttered as polysyllables ordinarily are uttered , without any

pause between the several syllables , then it seems to us to be most natural—though it is obviously not a necessity inherent in the word itself—that the " o" in "Mo" should be short as in the verses quoted .

As regards that part of the inscription on the "Gormogon " medal , ' xxx ' ixr ' - which Bro . GOULD does not attempt to explain , but respecting which Bro . RYLANDS suggests that it may be interpreted as standing for " 16 99 , " because that was the 39 th regnal

year of the Stuart dynasty , counting from the return of CHARLES II . to England in 1661 , we do not , with all deference to our wo rthy brother , consider this will hold water . The Stuarts never acknowledged any break in the continuity of the sovereignty

of their dynasty . In their estimation on the execution of CHARLES I ., his son , CHARLES II ., became King de jure ; and though he was not King de facto till some 12 years later , thc Acts of Parliament—if we remember ri ghtly—that were

passed during his reign , are severally assigned to what they hold to be the successive years of his reign as reckoned from the date of his father ' s death . Thus , to speak roughly , an Act passed i » 1664 would figure as the 15 th CHARLES II . ; in 166 9 , as the 20 th

CHARLES II ., & c , & c , & c . However , there is a suggestion which , though we have not time or the materials at hand to prosecute the investigation , may be of some slight use to those who are belter circumstanced in

these respects . JAMES II . died at St . Germains in September , 1701 , and , according to the STUART theory , his son JAMES , commonly known as the Pretender , became King of Great Britain , Ireland , France , & c , on his father ' s death . His 39 th regnal

year , therefore , would be 1740 . Bro . RYLANDS speaks of the Gormogons being a " moribund Society" in 1 742 , when thc Scald Miserables were ridiculing the Freemasons , ancl there is

no reason that we are aware of why a Gormogon medal should not have been struck off in 1 740 . At all events , there were doubtless Gormogons in that year , even though the Society as a whole may not have given any great signs of life .

The illustrations , which comprise the Duke of WllARTONS portrait , the Gormorgon medal , and HOGARTH'S Caricature of Freemasonry , add materially to the value of the Paper ; indeed , without the last-mentioned , the merit of many among the points

in Bro . GOULD'S essay would not be appreciated as it deserves . In conclusion , we endorse the opinion expressed by tl" ' brethren who took part in the discussion that followed the

reading of thc Paper in lodge , that it is one of the most valuable of the many valuable papers for which we are indebted to tin ' pen of our distinguished brother .

LADY RENAI . S , wife of the ex-Lord Mayor , Bro . Sir Joseph Renals , was presented by the Court of Common Council , on the 5 th instant , with a magnificent diamond tiara , foiming also a brooch and hair-comb , as a tribute to the courtesy and uniform kindness of her ladyship during her husband ' s mayoralty . The presentation was made in the Saloon by the Chirf Commoner , and amongst those present were Bros . Aldermen Davies , M . P ., Tn loar , Sir J . Voce Moore , and Alliston , and Bro . Sir Albert J . Altman The gift was suitably acknowledged by Bro . Sir Joseph Renals .

THE 41 ST ANNUAL MEETING and Autumnal Election of the Royal Hospital tot Incurables will be held under the presidency of Bro . Herbert John Allcroft , Treasu ' ' at the Cannon-street Hotel , E . G ., on Friday , the 29 th inst . The chair will be taken at 11 a . m ., when the Annual Report and Financial Statement will be presented a " ? . j"J sidered and the ordinary business transacted . The poll for the election of 25 candid atwill be opened at 12 noon , and closed at two p . m . precisely . There are in al 1 M candidates , of whom 20 are for election as inmates of the hospital and tt ° pensioners ,