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Article CORRESPONDENGE. ← Page 2 of 2
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Correspondenge.
Accepted Rite is unknown ; to the same , and to a council of X- —h , under the Rite PHmitif of Namur , a series of 33 Degrees , but quite distinct from the Rite Ancien . I received these also as a Xnight Templar , and likewise as part of the Order of Mizraim ; and more lately among the , series of the 33 . ' . of the Rite Ancien . I hold myself perfectly entitled to visit and take part in the proceedings of a Chapter or council established under any of these rites ; w hether it be expedient ta do so must be left to my own decision .
The question as to Bro . Nash resolves itself into another , —viz ., whether the Bristol Encampment holds , or did hold , a warrant to confer these degrees from the Grand Encampment of England . When parties fly to the pages of your Magazine for either attack or defence , they often quite forget that the public feel no interest in the matter unless a general principle be involved , and cannot even understand the affair unless the powers of the one or privileges of the other , be specified . In the present case we are left in the dark .
It is much to be regretted that when the Rite Ancien was introduced into England and Scotland , they did not follow the example set in Ireland , and , after striking ; out about three-fourths of the degrees as useless , or already under other Supreme Power , place the few that remained along with the Order of Mizraim , under the control of a " Council of Bites . " Why , while purging the list in Ireland , the " Knights of the Sun" escaped from being permanently and totally eclipsed , I cannot conceive ; it certainly did not merit preservation . SCRUTATOR .
u FREE "—MASON . $ 0 THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir . and Brother , —In opposition to your explanation of the prefix " Free " in Freemason , will you allow me to quote the following paragraph from Mr . Knapp ' s little work on English Roots : —
"As the abbot was the head , so were the friars the brethren of the establishment , in the same way as the master and brethren of a hospital with us constitute the members of such a foundation ; the word friar being a corruption of the French word "frfyre" derived from the Latin frater , a brother . Innumerable instances might be found of the wordifrdre being used by our early writers ; but one shall suffice , from Chaucer . " The Prologue , " v . 208 : —
' jrere there was , a wanton and a inery . In our word Freemason , descriptive of the Brethen belonging to the fraternity of Masons , we preserve the original word , the prefix jfree referring not to the immunities of that body , but to their brotherhood , the word Freemason being a corruption of the French frere ( a brother ) , and macon ( a mason ) . "
Will any of your readers be at the trouble of overthrowing or supporting this statement ? It will not be sufficient to say that the equivalent term in French for Freemason is Francmacon , for the latter term may be an incorrect translation of the former , unless it can be shown that Francmacon originated prior to , or contemporaneously with , Freemason .
In your interesting article you state— We are told , by many authors , that this term was first used in the tenth century . " Can any documentary evidence be produced of this statement ? for J . 0 . Halliwell—no mean authority on such a subject—says that the term Freemason , as applied to those who practised the actual trade , is of rscent use : that is , was not
employed before the fifteenth century . And in the manuscript he has edited , and which he refers to the close of the fourteenth century , although occupying 800 lines ,, and altogether taken up with the Constitutions , & c . " of Masonry , the word Freemason and Freemasonry never once occur , —I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours , fraternally . 1 . Brook Smith , M . A .. P . M .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondenge.
Accepted Rite is unknown ; to the same , and to a council of X- —h , under the Rite PHmitif of Namur , a series of 33 Degrees , but quite distinct from the Rite Ancien . I received these also as a Xnight Templar , and likewise as part of the Order of Mizraim ; and more lately among the , series of the 33 . ' . of the Rite Ancien . I hold myself perfectly entitled to visit and take part in the proceedings of a Chapter or council established under any of these rites ; w hether it be expedient ta do so must be left to my own decision .
The question as to Bro . Nash resolves itself into another , —viz ., whether the Bristol Encampment holds , or did hold , a warrant to confer these degrees from the Grand Encampment of England . When parties fly to the pages of your Magazine for either attack or defence , they often quite forget that the public feel no interest in the matter unless a general principle be involved , and cannot even understand the affair unless the powers of the one or privileges of the other , be specified . In the present case we are left in the dark .
It is much to be regretted that when the Rite Ancien was introduced into England and Scotland , they did not follow the example set in Ireland , and , after striking ; out about three-fourths of the degrees as useless , or already under other Supreme Power , place the few that remained along with the Order of Mizraim , under the control of a " Council of Bites . " Why , while purging the list in Ireland , the " Knights of the Sun" escaped from being permanently and totally eclipsed , I cannot conceive ; it certainly did not merit preservation . SCRUTATOR .
u FREE "—MASON . $ 0 THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir . and Brother , —In opposition to your explanation of the prefix " Free " in Freemason , will you allow me to quote the following paragraph from Mr . Knapp ' s little work on English Roots : —
"As the abbot was the head , so were the friars the brethren of the establishment , in the same way as the master and brethren of a hospital with us constitute the members of such a foundation ; the word friar being a corruption of the French word "frfyre" derived from the Latin frater , a brother . Innumerable instances might be found of the wordifrdre being used by our early writers ; but one shall suffice , from Chaucer . " The Prologue , " v . 208 : —
' jrere there was , a wanton and a inery . In our word Freemason , descriptive of the Brethen belonging to the fraternity of Masons , we preserve the original word , the prefix jfree referring not to the immunities of that body , but to their brotherhood , the word Freemason being a corruption of the French frere ( a brother ) , and macon ( a mason ) . "
Will any of your readers be at the trouble of overthrowing or supporting this statement ? It will not be sufficient to say that the equivalent term in French for Freemason is Francmacon , for the latter term may be an incorrect translation of the former , unless it can be shown that Francmacon originated prior to , or contemporaneously with , Freemason .
In your interesting article you state— We are told , by many authors , that this term was first used in the tenth century . " Can any documentary evidence be produced of this statement ? for J . 0 . Halliwell—no mean authority on such a subject—says that the term Freemason , as applied to those who practised the actual trade , is of rscent use : that is , was not
employed before the fifteenth century . And in the manuscript he has edited , and which he refers to the close of the fourteenth century , although occupying 800 lines ,, and altogether taken up with the Constitutions , & c . " of Masonry , the word Freemason and Freemasonry never once occur , —I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours , fraternally . 1 . Brook Smith , M . A .. P . M .