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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



tinue the existence of their fraternity any longer. 

 They had fulfilled their mission by carefully pre- 

 serving their ancient laws, traditions, and ceremo- 

 nies, and transmitting them as a heritage to the 

 Grand Lodge of England. 



" The long-contemplated separation of the Free- 

 masons from the operative guilds was now speed- 

 ily carried into eifect, and the institution made 

 rapid strides toward a complete and perfect trans- 

 formation. From the materials slowly, surely, 

 and regularly prepared far hack in the dim twi- 

 light of the middle ages, carefully cherished and 

 handed down to posterity by the old building as- 

 sociations of Germany and England, arose a new 

 and beautiful erection. Modern Freemasonry was 

 now to be taught as a spiritualizing art, and the fra- 

 ternity of operative masons was now exalted to a 

 brotherhood of symbolical builders, who, in place 

 of perishable temples, are engaged in the erection 

 of one eternal, invisible temple of human hearts 

 and minds." 



The leaders in this new movement were the 

 Rev. Dr. Theophilus Desaguliers, son of a French 

 Protestant refugee, celebrated as a mathematician 

 and natural philosopher, George Payne, a learned 

 antiquary, and the Rev. Dr. Anderson, an English 

 clergyman. 



After some preliminary negotiation, the four 

 ancient lodges in London met together, constitut- 

 ing themselves a grand lodge pro tern., and on 

 St. John's-day, 1Y17, elected Anthony Sayer 

 Grand Master. Among other resolutions car- 

 ried at this meeting was one that, " with the ex- 

 ception of these four lodges, which had met from 

 time immemorial, every lodge to be afterward 

 convened should meet only in virtue of a war- 

 rant granted by the Grand Master on petition, 

 legally authorizing the members to act as a 

 lodge." 



Formerly a sufficient number of Masons, 

 wherever and whenever they might meet, had 

 power to open a lodge, and to initiate new mem- 

 bers — a practice which, however adapted to 

 times of oppression, would in these days be evi- 

 dently open to great abuse. 



Brothers Payne and Desaguliers successively 

 occupied the chair till 1*721, when the Duke of 

 Montagu was elected Grand Master. In his time, 

 Dr. Anderson was commissioned to revise and 

 digest the old constitutions and charges, and his 

 work having been approved by all the lodges, 

 was published by authority in 1*723. 



From this time Freemasonry has continued to 

 flourish in England, and has spread thence to 

 every quarter of the globe, but its domestic his- 

 tory affords little calling for notice in this place, 



except the division of the country in 1727 into 

 provinces under provincial grand lodges ; the 

 recognition in 1772 of the Royal Arch degree, 

 which had been introduced into this country 

 from France about 1743 (and which, forming no 

 part of the ancient system, is happily the only 

 form of degenerate Masonry which has received 

 the sanction of the Grand Lodge of England) ; 

 the special exemption of Freemasonry from the 

 provisions of the act of 1799, directed against 

 secret and seditious societies ; and the amalga- 

 mation effected in 1813 between the Grand Lodge 

 of London and the Lodge of York, which had 

 for some time asserted an independent jurisdic- 

 tion in the north. 



In Scotland the new Freemasonry is, as in 

 England, of native growth, but the early history 

 of the craft is lost in obscurity. James II., in 

 1441 (or, as some think, James I. in 1430), ap- 

 pointed William St. Clair of Roslin, Earl of 

 Caithness and Orkney, Patron of the Masons of 

 Scotland, an office which was confirmed to his 

 heirs by royal patent, and held by them till 1736, 

 when William St. Clair, having no son, placed his 

 resignation in the hands of the assembled lodges, 

 and was thereupon unanimously chosen Grand 

 Master, an office which has since that day been 

 elective. 



That Freemasonry never possessed much in- 

 fluence or power in Scotland until its reconsti- 

 tution on the modern basis in 1736, is evident 

 from the facts that the supreme authority was for 

 three hundred years vested in one family by royal 

 patent, that the Wardens until the seventeenth 

 century had also been nominated by the king, 

 that it is not until that time that we find any 

 mention of "accepted," i. e., non-operative Ma- 

 sons, that even the Masters of many lodges were 

 unable to read or write, and that the office of 

 Grand Master was not instituted before 1736, St. 

 Clair, in his deed of resignation, styling himself 

 " Patron, Protector, and Judge," while one of the 

 assembled lodges, which conferred on him the 

 title of Grand Master, was still composed of jour- 

 neyman masons. 



The Scottish Grand Lodge recognizes only 

 the three ancient degrees, and holds its annual 

 festival on St. Andrew's instead of St. John's day. 



Ireland received its Masonry from England in 

 1730, btlt has fallen into the error of acknowl- 

 edging no less than fifteen degrees. 



The order was transplanted from England 

 into France in the same year, but the French 

 people soon showed how incapable they were 

 of appreciating the gift. Masons were initiated 



