The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-17


duty of caring for their sick and infirm
being strongly impressed upon the mem
bers.
or all the guilds that of the stone masons
or Freemasons, as they are actually called
IN many an ancient document was the
most peculiar lis singular feature. aside
from distinctive initiatory ceremonies. was
that under the leadership of their masters
they migrated to all parts of Europe and
erecsed their lodges, wherever their serv-
ices were required
Between their ceremonies and The ESQ
teric work of modern Freemasonry re-
markabie comparison can be made. They
had accurately defined rank i'm pubic pro-
cession, a secret ritualsm, symbolic col
ors, ON certain occasions wore white gar
ments ana divided their members into
three degrees.
They confined themselves principally to
sacred architecture and operated under
monashc patronage In Hallam's Middle
Ages that distinguished critic makes the
curious point that the architecture of that
structures, was so far beyond the apparent
intellectual powers of the times that il
was only reasonable to presume that the
freemasons We're the actual depOsitaries
OF valuable architectural secrets In this
connection it might be said that the ex-
act composition Of the mortar used by
them is yet unknown. and in many in
stances after the sun and rain of half a
dozen centuries it is harder than the blocks
of stone it originally cemented together.
The officers of a medic val lodge bore the
same names as the Blue lodge officials of
to-day with the exception that the ward
ems in some cases were called pallirers.
The pallirer was the assistant Of the mas
ter-he paid the craft and set them to
work. Among the duties of an ancient war
den was that of testing the squares and
gauges. 1t was he who placed the block
of stone before the apprentices and fell
lows and drew the designs upon it.
There have been preserved to our day
two representations of the ancient Masons
at work. In a celebrated manuscript in
the Imperial library at Paris, designated
as the Bible des Noiales," is draw
ing of seven Masons. clothed in tunic
aprons, at work upon a wall Two are adj
justing a newly finished block of marble
two others, apparently apprentices; are
engaged upon a rough ashlar and the rest
are assisting the pallirer, who is casting
an antique plumb line There is also in the
Louvre painting by Jean Van Eyck bear
ing the date of the year 1887 and delineat-
ing the erection of a Gothic tower by the
Freemasons.
"A llule-SNdlH6u pdTCUIlGIlg pIOUdBiy
written in the fourteenth century and pre-
served in the library of the British mu-
scum, sheds much light on early British
Masonry 1t is lettered and numbered as
Royal II A. /, and derives its name from
the learned antiquarian who first discov-
cred and translated it. The museum au-
thorites vouch for its age. As to the au-
thenticity of it's contents, it is believed to
be a copy of an older and more ancient
document
1t sets forth in rude Saxon poetry that
in the year 926 A D.. Edwin, the son OF
Athelstane, called an assembly of the fra
ternity at York, and there made some
Masons." It would appear from its con-
tents that Prince Edwin officiated as
grand master of the first grand lodge of
which we have a trace He enacted sys-
TEN of charges and established certain
rules for the craft TO obey. He also
caused proclamation to be made that
every Mason having in his possession any
thing touching the history of Free Ma
sorry of documentary character should
surrender the same to him. In obedience to
this he received many parchments, and
The Hallwell MSS purport to give the gisI
of their contents.
29c.
York Rite Free Masonry takes its name
from this ancient assemly a. York.
The old chronicler of the Halliwell MSS.
| saws that Masonry was the invention OF
Euclid We quote a translation bearing on
the subject
1.-The Clerk Euclid in this wise it found,
This craft Geometry in Egypt land"
And further;
"Tn Egypt land he taught it full wide,
In divers lands on every side
Numerous copies exist of a manuscrip,
| said to have been penned originally by
Henry VI of England. but as the original
has never been produced, antiquarians
have pronounced it spurious. Waving the
| question of authorship, il seems from the
oninions of those who have given the
copies rigid scrutiny that the Oldest copy
was written by a Free Mason about the
| close of the sixteen century and contains
a summary of such secrets as were sup
nosed to have been possessed by me-
| deval lodge.
In the wear 1854 Etlnne Bolliau, who
was provost of Paris under the direction
of Louis TX, King of France, collected the
| r,1les and regulations of the various trade
ynilds Of the city of Paris and digested
| tbem into manuscript form. The forty
| siohth chapter of the Boilieu manuscript
contains the oldest unquestioned and earh-
| est authentic written record Oh the heulS'
| val Masons and alludes to them as frerC
| macons.
In 1852 the Masons of Prussia met al
Torgau. q town ON the left bank of the
| Flbe and there enacted code OF laws
tnat for centuries served for the guidance
of the German Freemasons. The origlna
manuscript is yet to be seen in the lodge
at ROchiltz.
In 1851 the Freemasons employed IN tht
erection Of Windsor Castle in England de
lined 10 accept che wages due them as
regulated by an act of Parliament and re-
used. to proceed further. In order ina
tbAv mteht be held in check, the statute
d Edward III was enacted, giving thu
.aoiisita authority to the executive of
dcers OF that day TO compel the Mason'
~ 90 TO work. The craft were admonishe(
Inv the angry monarch TO resume labor un
der the penalty of being branded!
The names of the chief architects, Of
master of work-magister operum-hav'
aor,e down 90 us in a variety Of ways
Tbe,r contracts as preserved in tn,
,ihraries Of the buildings which they de
stoned and constructed, and sometimes
-..1- carved on the crumblinp WALL