The Stuarts And Freemasonry.

adopted a brother at St . Paul ' s " and Sir Henry Grooderic of the Tower , and divers others . " Sit * Richard Steele has an article in The Taller upon a class of men called Pretty Eellows , No . 26 for Thursday , June 9 , l 709 , in which appears the following passage : —¦ " You see them accost each other with effeminate

airs ; they have their signs and tokens Mice Freemasons ; they rail at womankind , '' & c . To this Mr . Matthew Cooke , 30 ° , adds in the Freemason's Magazine" Sir Richard Steele was a Ereemason of the York riteor Ancient Masons . In a list of the ancient

, lodges , inserted in Picart's Ceremonies el Costumes reliq ieuses de tons les peuples du monde ( 7 vols , folio . Amsterdam , 1723-37 ) , Sic Richard Steele ' s portrait is g iven at the head of the sheet depicting the names and places of the ancient Masons' lodgings and meetings . "

One word on a subject upon which Mr . Buchan is indiscreet enough to call upon me for people . In the British Museum are preserved the signs of the old English Operative Masons . These have nothing in common with those" now used , or which could

answer the descrip tion of Sir Richard Steele , —the very word ? that would be used at Mr . Buchan ' s own reception . Even Mr . Buchan ' s pet proteges , Anderson aud Desaguliers , were not Operative Masons , and yet admitted prior to 1717 . Though I am unaware what reliance may he placed

-upon the following , which 1 find ( in reply to one of Mr . Buchan ' s tedious weekly ipse dixit assertions ) in the pages of the Freemason for January 22 , 1870 , signed by Horace Swete , M . D ., yet it is so much in accordance with what I should expect , that I have little doubt aa to the genuineness of the article .

" As a refutation of this statement I have now on my table a tobacco-box of evident antiq . ua manufacture , and engraving , dated 1670 , on the lid of which is engraved the Masonic working tools of the three degrees , the jewels of the Lodge , and many other Masonic devices , being nearly a copy of the tracing

boards of the three degrees , with other signs I , as a Craft Master Mason , cannot read , but which a brother who is Mark Master and Eoyal Arch Mason , easily understands . This design is certainly not that of a merely operative body , but involves the knowledge of much deep speculative thought iu our Masonic Mysteries . "

After fifteen years' study o £ the Rosicrucian works aud the various degrees of English Masonry , I state my belief unhesitatingly that the "Adopted Masons " existing in 1691 held Rosicrucian op i nions , and that the "Free and Aceepted Masons" of 1717 were a reformed branch of the " Adopted Masons" and so

, far I am in entire accord with your learned correspondent Mr . Pinkerton . A very superficial acquaintance with the works of the Rosicrucians and Ereemasons is sufficient to show the resemblance . One

of two things seems clear from the before-mentioned regulations of 1663—either the pure operative guild ¦ of Masonry had then ceased , and attempts were made to bring the association into harmony , or it ceased from that time by the enactment that for the future onlv one or at most two operatives were necessary in a lodge of five members or upwards . Of these two views the former seems most probable in the absence

The Stuarts And Freemasonry.

of documents , or the law would have been worded to abolish in place of enforcinr / a restriction as to the presence of so many operatives . The policy of Scottish Masons seems to be to persuade the ignorant that they are the only legal depositaries of Masonry in every degree , and last century all sorts of romantic fictions were propagated ; but when searchers after

truth began to publish their lodge minutes , it became evident that whilst some lodges included a much larger speculative element than others , yet that the modern system of 1717 was introduced by English Masons in 1721 ; the old lodges being operative benefit associationswithout the power of self-government as in

Eng-, land— -that , having been surrendered to an Hereditary Grand Master . The English lodges , it is stated , were used as schools of science during the reign of the Stuarts .

The mere denials of Mr . Buchan are not of that weight to counterbalance the universal testimony of English Masonic traditions , supported by the writings of James Anderson and others . He cannot certainly be considered an infallible authority in au order which has many rites and degrees of which he is not a mem . bernorin my inionis he an authority in the

de-, , op , grees of which he is a member . Although , in common with other literary men , I am equally liable to make mistakes , yet so far as I am aware , none of mine have yet been shown . If Mr . Buchan will point the same out to me , I shall be grateful to him , and on his showing proper grounds for his correction , delighted to make

tbe same . ' By inquiring in the proper Masonic quarters he will find the Stuart evidence of which he is in search . Your learned correspondent Mi ' . Pinkerton , is evidently under misapprehension as to the absence abroad of Lord Atholl in 1745 , through my using the title of Duke . That nobleman was rightful heir to

the old earldom and recent dukedom , of Athol ; but Sir Bernard Burke states in his Peeraye , that owing to his active participation in the troubles of 1715 aud 174 . 5 , his titles and family honours were settled by the Honorerian Government upon his younger brother . Jonx YAREEE .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

JEWISH GEATITUDE . "At Worms , on the Rhine , there are about 1 , 000 Jews . Their synagogue is very ancient ; it was built 800 years ago . A constantly-burning lamp hangs before the ark , with this inscription : — "Everlasting for the Two Wanderers . " Seven hundred years

Lamp ago a violent persecution of the Jewish residents took place in this city . It happened just at that time two Christian travellers were staying there , who endeavoured to protect them from the fury of the populace , and in so doing lost their lives . Their names were never known , but the Jews of Worms have kept them

in grateful remembrance to the present day by a perpetually burniug lamp . "—PICTUS . OEIGIX OIT SPECULATIVE I ? EEE 5 IAS 0 N " K 1 * . What led to the institution of our Speculative Freemasonry ? It did not come from within the lodge of operative masons , but from without . —W . P . B .