The Study Of The Old Charges.

Cooke MS . But what does he mean by " first of all ? " Does his language not appear to assert not only that the first legendary history was " compiled" by the " author of the Cooke MS ., " but that all other versions of the history are descended

from the Cooke ? And he fixes the date of the origin at about 1410 . But we do not understand that he questions that the Regius M . S . —which contains a legendary history—is older than that . While the existing manuscript called the Regius was

doubtless transcribed near the end of the fourteenth century , I have long been satisfied that the language of the poem is of about the year 1340 . The second part of the Cooke MS ., which I believe all scholars admit to have been taken from a MS .

older than the original of the Regius , contains a considerable fragment of legendary history . Hence the conclusion seems to me unavoidable that a legendary history—used by the compilers of both the Regius and the Cooke—existed nearly a century before the date ( 1410 ) which Bro . Begemann denominates the

" first of all . But if , as I am hall inclined to believe , Bro . Begemann did not mean his " hrst of all " literally , nor mean by " Bookys of the Chargys " books which contained no legend , still I am as confident as it is prudent to be , that the ultimate verdict will be that the " ordinary versions " did not descend from the

Cooke , but from older and purer versions ; and that the Cooke was , as I have elsewhere suggested , the result of an attempt of some prehistoric James Anderson to " digest into a new and better method" the legends , already ancient in his day , which are more fairly preserved in some of the "late versions . "

In the quotation given , it is pointed out that from the Watson to the Tew , and from the Tew to the Atcheson-Haven MS ., the legend was condensed . But I think the minute stud y I have recommended will disclose that during the same period the Charges proper , instead of being condensed , were expanded ;

and will supply data for answering the curious question , how often the author of a new version of the legend appended an unchanged copy of the Charges ; and how often a revised edition of the Charges was attached to an unaltered copy of the legend . I have given some study to the question of the original

text of the Charges proper , but other demands upon my time have prevented me from yet reaching a point where I should feel justified in expressing any positive conclusion . But as illustrating the curious results which may flow from an application of the

canons of textual criticism to our MSS ., I may say that an examination of sixty versions—including all the more important ones—leads me to conclude that the original form of one of our charges was in modern orthography , substantially as followsthe punctuation being important :

That no Master nor Fellow take no Apprentice but for seven years ; and ye Apprentice to be able , of birth freeborn , and of limbs whole as a man ought to be . In course of time three principal corruptions—each in turn

productive of other errors—crept into this simple charge . First—I do not here use the word chronologically—some scribe , to make the meaning more clear , inserted the words " to be learned " after the word " Apprentice " where it first occurs . Our . ancient brethren did not observe the modern distinction

between the words " teach and " learn . This corruption occurred before the fifteenth century ; for we have " prentis for to be lernyd" in the Cooke MS ., and " Hys craft to lurne" in the Regius ; but the older and shorter form is preserved in many of the despised " ordinary versions " —for example in the

Dowland—as well as in the Schaw statutes in Scotland . The gloss " learned" was subsequently corrupted , by some copyists , into " allowed" as in the Tew MS . Second , scribes in attempting to express more clearly the idea conveyed to them by the words "but for seven years" —found in the William Watson

MS . —in some cases elaborated them ; as , into , " forlasse terme than vii yer at the lest" in the Cooke ; and in other cases entirely lost their meaning , as in the Tew , where we have " any longr than Seven Years . " Third , the last clause was read as though punctuated thus : "And ye Apprentice to be able of

birth , freeborn , and of limbs whole , " etc . ; and immediately various glosses appeared , in the vain attempt to show what was meant by " able of birth . " Thus , the Dow land MS . preserves the reading " able , of birth freeborne , " but many closely allied MSS . have " able of birth , that is to say , freeborn . " In

a somewhat similar charge , " able , of degree freeborn , " etc ., was read as though punctuated " able of degree , freeborn ;" and then followed , " able in all degrees " ( Lansdowne ) , " able in all manner of degrees" ( Phillips No . 1 ) , " abell in all maincr

of Deuties" ( Ancient Stirling ) , " able ou' all sciences" ( Sloane 3323 ) , " able over all Syers " ( Briscoe ) , " able ou all Iyers " ( Lechmere ) , " an' ena within all Sides" ( Wm . Watson ) , " etc . ; and each of these meaningless phrases is , as a rule , gravely followed by the clause , " that is to say , treeborn , " etc . Take another example . What are we to understand by the charge which reads , in the Tew-MS ., as follows :

The Study Of The Old Charges.

Also , that no Master or Fellow take no Allowance to make Masons Without six or five at the least of Fellows to give their Assent . Shall we say that the scribe of the Haddon MS . preserved the ancient language ; or that , prompted by the perplexing question , "From whom should the ' allowance' betaken , ? " he

suspected a corrupted text , and undertook to re-construct the original ? We fear the latter . He gives , " And also that no Master , nor no Fellow take nor allow any to be made Mason , "

etc . "Take nor allow any" might readily be corrupted into "Take no allowance , " but the very patness of the Haddon version awakens the suspicion of the expert . Nor is this all : The various scribes understood this charge in at least four different

ways , viz . : ( 1 ) Some understood it as in the Haddon version : while others took it . to be a restriction on taking permission ( 2 ) to make Masons ( Tew MS . ) , or ( 3 ) to be made a Mason ( Watson MS . ) , or ( 4 ) to be made a Master ( Waistell MS . ) . I think I have said enough to indicate that the Old Charges

will still bear much study , and that such study will afford pleasure to the student and profit to the Craft . And it is not a study which need be left to those bearing great names in Masonry , or for which any one man may file a caveat . The collected results ofthe work of manyunpretendingstudentsiswhatthe Craft needs .

My own slight investigations have already led me to two conclusions : first , that the book of charges was very old atthe beginning of the fifteenth century ; second , that most of the copyists were

speculative Masons only and did not understand the technical terms of the operative Craft ; for they made more errors in transcribing charges containing such terms than in any other part of their work .

WM . H . UPTON . Walla Walla , Washington , U . S . A . The Hon . W . H . Upton has sent me his interesting article on " The Study of the Old Charges " for publication in the Freemason , and I shall be glad to add a few words on the same subject .

To my mind , Bro . Upton's duties as a Judge ( in the State of Washington ) peculiarly fit him to examine into the conflicting "testimony of the numerous copies of the Old Charges , and to weigh most carefully the divergent text of these ancient and important documents of the Masonic Fraternity . "

It is most gratifying for me to hear that my last work on the "Old Charges of British Freemasons" has proved so helpful to my esteemed fellow Masonic student and other experts , that Bro . Upton considers " the time is now ripe for a more critical

examination of the text than has yet been made . " I quite believe with him that such a critical study of these "Old Charges " "is essential as a preliminary to a variorum edition" being published of these invaluable Manuscript Constitutions , and desire to add that the sooner it is made the better .

Doubtless Dr . Begemann , who has done such excellent work in this direction , will more fully explain his remarks as quoted by Bro . Upton , for I believe he shares with me the

opinion as held by other students , that the " Old Charges " were in use antecedent to the Regius MS . ; and also that " the ordinary versions did not descend from the Cooke , but older and purer versions . "

The few applications of the canons of textual criticism noted by Bro . Upton are in the right direction , and I trust he will soon favour us with more of a similar character , as I am persuaded t'hat the fringe of the subject has only yet been touched , and that the study will amply repay us all for the time thus devoted

to the inquiry . Years ago , the late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford and myself were left almost alone : now it gladdens me to welcome so many competent investigators , whose researches I eagerly peruse from time to time , and am anxiously awaiting the receipt of more . vy , T HUGHAN .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Nottinghamshire.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE .

The annual meeting of the above Provincial Grand Lodge was held at the Masonic Hall , Nottingham , on Thursday , the ioth inst ., when there were present—Bros , his Grace the Duke of St . Albans , Prov . G . M . ; Lieut .-Col . Wm . Newton , P . G . D . England , D . P . G . M . ; Thomas Salisbury , Prov . S . G . W . ; G . H . Hibbert , Prov . J . G . W . ; J . H . Bradwell , Prov . G . Treas . ; R . A . M . Webster , Prov . G . Reg . ; Arthur Stubbs , P . P . G . W ., Prov . G . Sec ; Captain W . H . Tomasson

Prov . S . G . D . ; H . E . Wilson , Prov . J . G . D . j John Howitt , Prov . G . S . of W . ; Jacob Levy , Prov . G . D . C ; H . Hallam , Prov . A . G . P . ; Parker Woodward , Prov . G . S . B . ; W . J . Lazenby and J . W . J . Barnes , Prov . G . Std . Brs . ; J . G . Carver , Prov . G . Org . ; J . P . W . Marx , P . P . G . D . C , and F . W . Fox , Prov . A . G . Sees . ; J . J . Turner , Prov . G . Tyler ; T . Mallendcr , Prov . A . G . Tyler ; J . Wilford , T . Knight , W . J . Rorke , J . Greenwood , J . Page , and J . D . Fuller , Prov . G . Stewards ; William Wilher Bramston Beach , Past Grand Warden , Piov , Grand Master