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The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
May it please your Royal Highness to state whether you wish for any further information in the power of myself or coadjutors in this work of charity to give ; their anxiety I am sure is not less than my own to lay it before your Royal Highness . I am emboldened again to address your Royal Highness from the cheering result of the collection for the Girls' School , for having contributed to which my coadjutors on the present occasion and myself may honestly take some credit . Our object has been to put our shoulders forcibly to the wheel to assist , to the extent of our ability , that excellent charity , and also to evince to your Royal Highness and the brethren of the Craft that our intended charity is not to interfere with the excellent charities already existing .
May I be pardoned in stating that our anxiety to obtain your Royal Highness ' s patronage is very great ; that we feel it is under your auspices that the Charity comes properly recommended to the Craft ; that we acknowledge we ought to request that patronage only so far as our project deserves it ; that time with reference to the proposed theatrical benefit and the close of the Masonic season presses ; and that , in any way which your Royal Highness may be pleased to point out , we beg to offer the fullest information in our povyer , and humbly hope to be favoured with your Royal Highness ' s sentiments and advice as to our future proceedings .
I have the honour to remain , & o , ( Signed ) J OSEPH C . BELL . There are one or two points in connection with this letter which strike us as being worthy of a passing comment or two . In the first place , it appears not a little incongruous that Bro . Bell , having commenced by apologising most humbly in respect of the meagreness of the information he had previously furnished , should have studiously refrained from supplementing those
meagre details in the present instance . Then , having once made the admission that the information furnished was less full and explicit than his Royal Highness had most probably expected , Bro . Bell appears to have exhibited no small amount of indiscretion in pressing for his Royal Highness ' s patronage . Lastly , it would seem to have been a very questionable piece of policy on his part to refer to the contributions of himself and his coadjutors to the Festival of the Girls' School . No doubt these contributions were made
from a conscientious desire , to show that the promoters had no idea of allowing their labours in behalf of the third Charity they were desirous of establishing to in any way interfere with their support of those actually existing . Still , it does strike one as having been a most impolitic act , as though the writer were desirous of holding out to his Royal Highness—and who knows but his Royal Highness may not have been impressed with the same idea?—some sort or kind of temptation or inducement to grant the
patronage that was asked of him . We have already said that the early history of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution does not read as smoothl y as could have been wished , and we have suggested that this was due , principally no doubt , to the commission of slight acts of indiscretion on the part of sundry among the promoters who , in their anxiety to get their project carried out , were not quite as careful as they should have been in laying their plans before the chiefs of the Grand Lodge . The writing of such a letter
as the above looks like one of these acts of indiscretion , and we are the more confirmed in this view from the events which followed the inaugural meeting of the promoters on the 22 nd June . It -will be remembered that among the the resolutions adopted on that occasion was one to address a memorial to the Grand Master with a view to secure , as Bro . Bell had
already attempted to secure , the patronage of his Royal Highness on behalf of the proposed charity . Acting in accordance with that resolution Bro . Crucefix , as chairman of the meeting , forwarded , under cover to Bro . W . H . White , ( j . Secretary , the following memorial signed by himself and certain of his coadjutors . To his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex , M . W . Grand Master of Masons , & c .
Sir , —It being the fervent desire of many brethren of the Craft to establish an Asylum for a certain number of aged , destitute , and deserving Freemasons , we , having investigated the practicability of that design , beg as a first duty to be allowed to approach the Grand Master of the Order , in the hope of being permitted to lay at the foot of the Masonic Throne the accompanying statement of those circumstances which promise to the wishes of the brethren a felicitous reality ; and at the like time to pray of the condescension of the Grand Master the help of his directing wisdom and the grace and
strength of his moral support . A cursory glance at the existing Charities of the Order may not here be irrelevant ; and the undersigned advert to the following circumstances : —That the Boys' Charity , which owed its birth to the liberality of that portion of the Craft which united in 1813 under the direction of your Royal Highness , and the Girls' School , which was founded by the other branch of the Masonic Order , have by the aid of the protection of your Royal Highness not merely maintained their strength and utility , but have increased in prosperity . And although the Lodge of Benevolence has afforded innumerable instances of great casual
relief , still that relief has been but casual . The Committee are particularly desirous most respectfully to impress upon the attention of your Royal Highness that the " proposed Asylum" may not merely be viewed as the happy and unanimous result of the prosperity of the United Grand Lodge ; but they are most anxious that the Masonic Government of your Royal Highness may be commemorated in future ages by the erection of a Temple , within the sanctuary of which the future meritorious Freemason may look back , with gratitude to the Great Architect , upon the memory of one whom living we love and respect .
The purpose of the brethren being , as the undersigned submit , purely Masonic , involving in its nature one of the highest and most sacred attributes of the Order , it is anxiously hoped that the grounds on which the brethren have hitherto proceeded , and the encouraging " signs and tokens" by which they are still beckoned to proceed being fully delivered and made manifest before the Throne , that the Grand Master will by graciously consenting to become the President of the " Asylum " at once display to the Craft the strongest proof of its utility , whilst so gracious an act must afford the happiest omen of its enduring success . "
This memorial was dated 1 st July , 1835 , and to it were attached the signatures of the following brethren , namely , Bros . George Price , J . C . Bell , R . T . Crucefix , George Henekey , H . Rowe , J . Sansum , Z . Watkins , R . Field , S . Hodgkinson , Ed . Wilson , Geo . Reid , W . T . Smith , W . Brooks , J . P . Acklam , R . Cooper , R . L . Wilson , and C . Robotlom . The answer , which was somewhat lengthy , and serves excellently to give one an idea of his Royal Highness ' s views on the subject , was not long in coming . It bears date , " Freemasons' Hall , 9 th July , 1835 , " and is to the following effect :
Sir and Brother , —I am commanded by the M . W . Grand Master to acknowledge the receipt by his Royal Highness of the memorial signed by yourself and several other brothers , under date of the 1 st inst , which you forwardad , together with an account of certain proceedings and resolutions of a meeting which appears to have been holden on the 22 nd ultimo , relative to a projected Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons , and soliciting his Royal Highness ' s sanction and support of the Institution . When the subject was first introduced to the notice ol the Grand Master by Bro . J . C . Bell , his Roval Highness requested to be furnished with such particulars of the
proposed plan of the contemplated or expected means as would enable him before offering an opinion , to give the subject a full and fair consideration preparatory to an interview with that brother , so that his Royal Highness might be prepared to discuss the matter . Bro . Bell immediately forwarded a brief and hearty sketch ( probably all that the shortness of the time enabled him to offer ) not however sufficient for the purpose , and his Royal Highness consequently requested something more in detail , but no further statement was received until th « arrival of the memorial and other papers sent by you . And here his Royal Highness ' s remarks , not in the way of conveying an expression of
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
displeasure or imputing an intentional irregularity , that the convening a meeting of a number of brethren to appoint officers and make laws and regulations for the intended Institution was altogether irregular while seeking to obtain the approval of the Grand Master and ultimately the sanction of the Grand Lodge ; because , by such a proceeding , the meeting determines important preliminary point-- - , and it must be evident upon reflection that his Royal Highness cannot as Grand Master enter into communication with a body of Masons not known to the Gra nd Lo > l" -c , nor under If the brethren
acting any recognised authority . think fit to mc ^ t and carry on their plans as individuals , not seeking the countenance of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge , they certainly are at liberty so to do ; but they cannot , under such circumstances , be permitted to correspond as a body with the various lodges . His Royal Hidiness was ready , and is still willing , to receive from Bro . Bell any suggestions or information which the friends of the plan may desire to submit , to enable his Royal Highness to form a judgment on the matter , and to determine on the propriet y of bringing ' it to the notice of Grand Lodge , without the concurrence of which body a business of so much importance
and involving so many interests , ought not to be proceeded with hastily , neither could any beneficial result be expected . The M . W . Grand Master is much surprised to observe amongst the resolutions passed at the meeting on the 22 nd June one fixing an " Inaugural Dinner " for the 31 st inst ., under the direction of certain Stewards ; and still more at having just been shown a printed circular announcing the dinner , in which the brethren attending are requested to appear in Masonic clothing . Upon this latter point the Grand Master observes that the proceeding is most irregular and contrary to the laws of the Craft , and he therefore trusts that that part of the plan vvill be immediately abandoned .
His Royal Highness does not at present offer any opinion upon the expediency or eligibility of the proposed establishment , because he is not yet in possession of information or data to assist him in arriving at a conclusion or of forming a judgment whether the measure could be taken up in the Grand Lodge with a fair prospect of success . I am , & c , ( Signed ) WILLIAM H . WHITE , G . S . The W . Bro . Dr . Crucefix .
There is an unmistakable sense of dignity about this reply of the Grand Master to the memorial of the promoters . There does not seem to have been any special reason for thus urging the proposed scheme on the notice of his Royal Highness , further than that the close of the Masonic session was close at hand . Yet as the subject was pressed so vehemently , care at least should have been taken that the exact nature of the steps that had been and were being taken to promote the contemplated Asylum were fully explained .
In such case no doubt his Royal Hi ghness would have discovered for himself that the said steps were provisional in their character and were only intended to give some kind of form to labours which otherwise would run the risk of being ill-considered and ill-directed . It is clear the memorialists , by organising meetings , proposing an "inaugural dinner , " drawing up resolutions and apparently appointing officers , had taken too much upon themselves , seeing they were only a
self-constituted body of brethren , gathered together from different lodges , but having no authority to address themselves as a bod y to the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge . The exercise of a very little care 011 the part of Bro . Crucefix and those acting with him would have been sufficient to prevent a charge of unauthorised meddling with , or indifference to , lawfully constituted authority being visited upon them . Moreover , as they were so eager to obtain his Royal Highness ' s patronage and support , it was clearly possible for them to
have made an attempt between the date—27 th April—of Bro . Bell ' s first explanatory letter and that of their own memorial—1 st July—to collate information of an ampler and more detailed character . What Bro . Bell had said , as he himself admitted in a subsequent communication , was well enough as far as it went , but it was meagre in the extreme ; and what his Royal Highness was so desirous of obtaining was information of a character that would enable him to form a judgment on the expediency and eligibility of
establishing the new Charitable Institution , and also as to whether it appeared to have such prospect of success as would justify it being referred to Grand Lodge with a view to receiving the countenance of that august assembly . Yet nothing of the kind had been submitted , and the promoters instead had continued to bring upon themselves the displeasure ot the Craft as well by the measures they had adopted as a constituent body as by the circular issued by sundry of them in their capacity of festival Stewards inviting
brethren who purposed being present to attend in Masonic clothing . It is to be regretted that some men of judgment in the Craft did not intervene and set matters right between the Grand Master and the Committee , or at all events put them in a fair way of being adjusted . The Craft would have been spared some bitter differences and the assistance of Grand Lodge in promoting the welfare of the Aged and Decayed Freemasons might have been
rendered at a much earlier date . But no such kind intermediary appears to have volunteered his services and the Committee went on pursuing their labours in their own fashion , but whether with greater circumspection as regards their own mode of proceeding and greater consideration for the dignity of the members of Grand Lodge , the progress of this history will in due time disclose . ( To be continued ) .
The Revise Of The Constitutions.
THE REVISE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS .
BRO . W . J . HUGHAN . Bro . Hawkins naving taken us back to A . D . 1815 , when the first edition of the "Constitutions" for the "United Grand Lodge of England" was published , the following brief article will continue ' the list of these invaluable works back to 1723 . In 1722 an edition of the "Old Charges " vvas published by T . Roberts .
but not by the authority of the Grand Lodge of England ; neither in any sense was it the laws to govern the lod ges of that period . The pamphlet was issued at sixpence , and a copy was sold at the " Spencer sale '' for £ 8 10 s . for the noted " Bower Library , " now the property of the Grand Lodge of Iowa .
The first "Book of Constitutions" of the premier Grand Lodge of the world , established 1717 in London , made its appearance the year afterwards , viz ., 1723 , and is now hi ghly valued as a curiosity , as much as twelve guineas being sometimes asked for a copy . An excellent reprint of it is published by Bro . Kenning , edited by the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , M A . ;
another is to be found in the series of the " Old Constitutions " of Bro . W . Spencer and Co ., and facsimiles are also to be had in the United States ' . Although the Rev . Dr . James Anderson styles himself "the author of this book , " the arrangement of the Regulations was mainl y due to Bro . George Payne , in 1720 , but Dr . Anderson is entitled to rank as the compiler of the historical portion .
The Second Edition was printed in 1738 and in many respects it may be looked upon as the chief of the series , its influence being so widespread , and its authority being so universally acknowledged for many years . Bro . Gould ' s •* History of Freemasonry " should be consulted as to its merits and demerits , especially the first volume of that noble work , There being
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
May it please your Royal Highness to state whether you wish for any further information in the power of myself or coadjutors in this work of charity to give ; their anxiety I am sure is not less than my own to lay it before your Royal Highness . I am emboldened again to address your Royal Highness from the cheering result of the collection for the Girls' School , for having contributed to which my coadjutors on the present occasion and myself may honestly take some credit . Our object has been to put our shoulders forcibly to the wheel to assist , to the extent of our ability , that excellent charity , and also to evince to your Royal Highness and the brethren of the Craft that our intended charity is not to interfere with the excellent charities already existing .
May I be pardoned in stating that our anxiety to obtain your Royal Highness ' s patronage is very great ; that we feel it is under your auspices that the Charity comes properly recommended to the Craft ; that we acknowledge we ought to request that patronage only so far as our project deserves it ; that time with reference to the proposed theatrical benefit and the close of the Masonic season presses ; and that , in any way which your Royal Highness may be pleased to point out , we beg to offer the fullest information in our povyer , and humbly hope to be favoured with your Royal Highness ' s sentiments and advice as to our future proceedings .
I have the honour to remain , & o , ( Signed ) J OSEPH C . BELL . There are one or two points in connection with this letter which strike us as being worthy of a passing comment or two . In the first place , it appears not a little incongruous that Bro . Bell , having commenced by apologising most humbly in respect of the meagreness of the information he had previously furnished , should have studiously refrained from supplementing those
meagre details in the present instance . Then , having once made the admission that the information furnished was less full and explicit than his Royal Highness had most probably expected , Bro . Bell appears to have exhibited no small amount of indiscretion in pressing for his Royal Highness ' s patronage . Lastly , it would seem to have been a very questionable piece of policy on his part to refer to the contributions of himself and his coadjutors to the Festival of the Girls' School . No doubt these contributions were made
from a conscientious desire , to show that the promoters had no idea of allowing their labours in behalf of the third Charity they were desirous of establishing to in any way interfere with their support of those actually existing . Still , it does strike one as having been a most impolitic act , as though the writer were desirous of holding out to his Royal Highness—and who knows but his Royal Highness may not have been impressed with the same idea?—some sort or kind of temptation or inducement to grant the
patronage that was asked of him . We have already said that the early history of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution does not read as smoothl y as could have been wished , and we have suggested that this was due , principally no doubt , to the commission of slight acts of indiscretion on the part of sundry among the promoters who , in their anxiety to get their project carried out , were not quite as careful as they should have been in laying their plans before the chiefs of the Grand Lodge . The writing of such a letter
as the above looks like one of these acts of indiscretion , and we are the more confirmed in this view from the events which followed the inaugural meeting of the promoters on the 22 nd June . It -will be remembered that among the the resolutions adopted on that occasion was one to address a memorial to the Grand Master with a view to secure , as Bro . Bell had
already attempted to secure , the patronage of his Royal Highness on behalf of the proposed charity . Acting in accordance with that resolution Bro . Crucefix , as chairman of the meeting , forwarded , under cover to Bro . W . H . White , ( j . Secretary , the following memorial signed by himself and certain of his coadjutors . To his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex , M . W . Grand Master of Masons , & c .
Sir , —It being the fervent desire of many brethren of the Craft to establish an Asylum for a certain number of aged , destitute , and deserving Freemasons , we , having investigated the practicability of that design , beg as a first duty to be allowed to approach the Grand Master of the Order , in the hope of being permitted to lay at the foot of the Masonic Throne the accompanying statement of those circumstances which promise to the wishes of the brethren a felicitous reality ; and at the like time to pray of the condescension of the Grand Master the help of his directing wisdom and the grace and
strength of his moral support . A cursory glance at the existing Charities of the Order may not here be irrelevant ; and the undersigned advert to the following circumstances : —That the Boys' Charity , which owed its birth to the liberality of that portion of the Craft which united in 1813 under the direction of your Royal Highness , and the Girls' School , which was founded by the other branch of the Masonic Order , have by the aid of the protection of your Royal Highness not merely maintained their strength and utility , but have increased in prosperity . And although the Lodge of Benevolence has afforded innumerable instances of great casual
relief , still that relief has been but casual . The Committee are particularly desirous most respectfully to impress upon the attention of your Royal Highness that the " proposed Asylum" may not merely be viewed as the happy and unanimous result of the prosperity of the United Grand Lodge ; but they are most anxious that the Masonic Government of your Royal Highness may be commemorated in future ages by the erection of a Temple , within the sanctuary of which the future meritorious Freemason may look back , with gratitude to the Great Architect , upon the memory of one whom living we love and respect .
The purpose of the brethren being , as the undersigned submit , purely Masonic , involving in its nature one of the highest and most sacred attributes of the Order , it is anxiously hoped that the grounds on which the brethren have hitherto proceeded , and the encouraging " signs and tokens" by which they are still beckoned to proceed being fully delivered and made manifest before the Throne , that the Grand Master will by graciously consenting to become the President of the " Asylum " at once display to the Craft the strongest proof of its utility , whilst so gracious an act must afford the happiest omen of its enduring success . "
This memorial was dated 1 st July , 1835 , and to it were attached the signatures of the following brethren , namely , Bros . George Price , J . C . Bell , R . T . Crucefix , George Henekey , H . Rowe , J . Sansum , Z . Watkins , R . Field , S . Hodgkinson , Ed . Wilson , Geo . Reid , W . T . Smith , W . Brooks , J . P . Acklam , R . Cooper , R . L . Wilson , and C . Robotlom . The answer , which was somewhat lengthy , and serves excellently to give one an idea of his Royal Highness ' s views on the subject , was not long in coming . It bears date , " Freemasons' Hall , 9 th July , 1835 , " and is to the following effect :
Sir and Brother , —I am commanded by the M . W . Grand Master to acknowledge the receipt by his Royal Highness of the memorial signed by yourself and several other brothers , under date of the 1 st inst , which you forwardad , together with an account of certain proceedings and resolutions of a meeting which appears to have been holden on the 22 nd ultimo , relative to a projected Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons , and soliciting his Royal Highness ' s sanction and support of the Institution . When the subject was first introduced to the notice ol the Grand Master by Bro . J . C . Bell , his Roval Highness requested to be furnished with such particulars of the
proposed plan of the contemplated or expected means as would enable him before offering an opinion , to give the subject a full and fair consideration preparatory to an interview with that brother , so that his Royal Highness might be prepared to discuss the matter . Bro . Bell immediately forwarded a brief and hearty sketch ( probably all that the shortness of the time enabled him to offer ) not however sufficient for the purpose , and his Royal Highness consequently requested something more in detail , but no further statement was received until th « arrival of the memorial and other papers sent by you . And here his Royal Highness ' s remarks , not in the way of conveying an expression of
The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
displeasure or imputing an intentional irregularity , that the convening a meeting of a number of brethren to appoint officers and make laws and regulations for the intended Institution was altogether irregular while seeking to obtain the approval of the Grand Master and ultimately the sanction of the Grand Lodge ; because , by such a proceeding , the meeting determines important preliminary point-- - , and it must be evident upon reflection that his Royal Highness cannot as Grand Master enter into communication with a body of Masons not known to the Gra nd Lo > l" -c , nor under If the brethren
acting any recognised authority . think fit to mc ^ t and carry on their plans as individuals , not seeking the countenance of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge , they certainly are at liberty so to do ; but they cannot , under such circumstances , be permitted to correspond as a body with the various lodges . His Royal Hidiness was ready , and is still willing , to receive from Bro . Bell any suggestions or information which the friends of the plan may desire to submit , to enable his Royal Highness to form a judgment on the matter , and to determine on the propriet y of bringing ' it to the notice of Grand Lodge , without the concurrence of which body a business of so much importance
and involving so many interests , ought not to be proceeded with hastily , neither could any beneficial result be expected . The M . W . Grand Master is much surprised to observe amongst the resolutions passed at the meeting on the 22 nd June one fixing an " Inaugural Dinner " for the 31 st inst ., under the direction of certain Stewards ; and still more at having just been shown a printed circular announcing the dinner , in which the brethren attending are requested to appear in Masonic clothing . Upon this latter point the Grand Master observes that the proceeding is most irregular and contrary to the laws of the Craft , and he therefore trusts that that part of the plan vvill be immediately abandoned .
His Royal Highness does not at present offer any opinion upon the expediency or eligibility of the proposed establishment , because he is not yet in possession of information or data to assist him in arriving at a conclusion or of forming a judgment whether the measure could be taken up in the Grand Lodge with a fair prospect of success . I am , & c , ( Signed ) WILLIAM H . WHITE , G . S . The W . Bro . Dr . Crucefix .
There is an unmistakable sense of dignity about this reply of the Grand Master to the memorial of the promoters . There does not seem to have been any special reason for thus urging the proposed scheme on the notice of his Royal Highness , further than that the close of the Masonic session was close at hand . Yet as the subject was pressed so vehemently , care at least should have been taken that the exact nature of the steps that had been and were being taken to promote the contemplated Asylum were fully explained .
In such case no doubt his Royal Hi ghness would have discovered for himself that the said steps were provisional in their character and were only intended to give some kind of form to labours which otherwise would run the risk of being ill-considered and ill-directed . It is clear the memorialists , by organising meetings , proposing an "inaugural dinner , " drawing up resolutions and apparently appointing officers , had taken too much upon themselves , seeing they were only a
self-constituted body of brethren , gathered together from different lodges , but having no authority to address themselves as a bod y to the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge . The exercise of a very little care 011 the part of Bro . Crucefix and those acting with him would have been sufficient to prevent a charge of unauthorised meddling with , or indifference to , lawfully constituted authority being visited upon them . Moreover , as they were so eager to obtain his Royal Highness ' s patronage and support , it was clearly possible for them to
have made an attempt between the date—27 th April—of Bro . Bell ' s first explanatory letter and that of their own memorial—1 st July—to collate information of an ampler and more detailed character . What Bro . Bell had said , as he himself admitted in a subsequent communication , was well enough as far as it went , but it was meagre in the extreme ; and what his Royal Highness was so desirous of obtaining was information of a character that would enable him to form a judgment on the expediency and eligibility of
establishing the new Charitable Institution , and also as to whether it appeared to have such prospect of success as would justify it being referred to Grand Lodge with a view to receiving the countenance of that august assembly . Yet nothing of the kind had been submitted , and the promoters instead had continued to bring upon themselves the displeasure ot the Craft as well by the measures they had adopted as a constituent body as by the circular issued by sundry of them in their capacity of festival Stewards inviting
brethren who purposed being present to attend in Masonic clothing . It is to be regretted that some men of judgment in the Craft did not intervene and set matters right between the Grand Master and the Committee , or at all events put them in a fair way of being adjusted . The Craft would have been spared some bitter differences and the assistance of Grand Lodge in promoting the welfare of the Aged and Decayed Freemasons might have been
rendered at a much earlier date . But no such kind intermediary appears to have volunteered his services and the Committee went on pursuing their labours in their own fashion , but whether with greater circumspection as regards their own mode of proceeding and greater consideration for the dignity of the members of Grand Lodge , the progress of this history will in due time disclose . ( To be continued ) .
The Revise Of The Constitutions.
THE REVISE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS .
BRO . W . J . HUGHAN . Bro . Hawkins naving taken us back to A . D . 1815 , when the first edition of the "Constitutions" for the "United Grand Lodge of England" was published , the following brief article will continue ' the list of these invaluable works back to 1723 . In 1722 an edition of the "Old Charges " vvas published by T . Roberts .
but not by the authority of the Grand Lodge of England ; neither in any sense was it the laws to govern the lod ges of that period . The pamphlet was issued at sixpence , and a copy was sold at the " Spencer sale '' for £ 8 10 s . for the noted " Bower Library , " now the property of the Grand Lodge of Iowa .
The first "Book of Constitutions" of the premier Grand Lodge of the world , established 1717 in London , made its appearance the year afterwards , viz ., 1723 , and is now hi ghly valued as a curiosity , as much as twelve guineas being sometimes asked for a copy . An excellent reprint of it is published by Bro . Kenning , edited by the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , M A . ;
another is to be found in the series of the " Old Constitutions " of Bro . W . Spencer and Co ., and facsimiles are also to be had in the United States ' . Although the Rev . Dr . James Anderson styles himself "the author of this book , " the arrangement of the Regulations was mainl y due to Bro . George Payne , in 1720 , but Dr . Anderson is entitled to rank as the compiler of the historical portion .
The Second Edition was printed in 1738 and in many respects it may be looked upon as the chief of the series , its influence being so widespread , and its authority being so universally acknowledged for many years . Bro . Gould ' s •* History of Freemasonry " should be consulted as to its merits and demerits , especially the first volume of that noble work , There being