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Article ANCIENT WRITERS AND MODERN PRACTICES ← Page 3 of 5 →
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Ancient Writers And Modern Practices
the idea that he is one of themselves , " simply because he is rather extensively got up in gold rings and fringe . " Ah , " said this individual , on one occasion , coolly joining in a conversation with seven or eight Masons partly known to him , partly strangers , for the benefit of the latter—the occasion was a Masonic rendezvous previous to a public entertainment , of which he was not going to
partake , — "Ah , " said he , " I know that that measure will be proposed ; Past Master Jones was speaking of it the other day , and means to support it , but it will meet vsrith . great opposition in Grand Lodge . '' We need not say lie does not take in any one very long ; and very little harm does he do— " his bark is worse than his bite . " " When
is the next feed ? " is another favourite question of this ' . worthy .- He imagines , like many other excellent people ( Mrs . Caudle included ) , that [ Free-Masons do nothing but eat and drink . To return , however , to De Quincey , a man of more wit and sense . He saw something more than meets the eye in such associations as the Masonic tie . " To be hidden amidst crowds , " he says , " is
sublime : "to come down hidden amongst crowds from distant senerasublime ; to come down hidden amongst crowds from distant generations is doubly sublime . " And such , indeed , is the Free-Mason ' s proud boast . Many as are the opinions on the manner of the first importation of the " gentle Craft" into England , the English Eree-Mason may indeed feel himself to be a " Lewis" of no mean birth when he can claim among his Masonic ancestors such men as
Athelstane , the third Edward , Wykeham , Waynflete , the sixth Henry , Chichell , and Wolsey . The first incident , however , which impressed De Quincey ' s youthful mind with any penchant ' for the study of the history of secret societies , was nothing connected with their antiquities or associations , but—as is often the case , as it was with ourselves—¦
an attack upon them . The Abbe Baruel and Professor liobison had both written and published a series of convincing proofs (?) that the Eree-Masons , Illuminati , and other societies , had originated a conspiracy for exterminating all the religions and governments of Europe . The latter is now before us , as we sit in a noble and celebrated but not very luxurious public library .
Before noticing it , however , we will briefly mention the work which first induced us to be initiated into the Order , viz ,, " Trevilyan on Eree-Masonry . This work , though of quite recent date—seven or eight years ago only , —is probably not very generally known . A . detailed notice of it may be found in the Freemasons' Quarterly
Magazine and lieviow , about the time of its publication ; but a short account of its origin may not be out of place . The author , Major Maurice Ceely Trevilyan , was , live-and-thirty years before he wrote the work in question , initiated into Eree-Masonry in a Lodge in Scotland . Whether from the lax or incorrect work which prevailed
at that date in Scotland , or from what cause , we do not now remember , but certain it is that lie expressed himself " disgusted , " and never took any further degree than that of Entered Apprentice , or entered a Lodge of Eree-Masons again . At the end of the period we have mentioned—viz ., thirty-five years—Eree-Masonry was dis-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Writers And Modern Practices
the idea that he is one of themselves , " simply because he is rather extensively got up in gold rings and fringe . " Ah , " said this individual , on one occasion , coolly joining in a conversation with seven or eight Masons partly known to him , partly strangers , for the benefit of the latter—the occasion was a Masonic rendezvous previous to a public entertainment , of which he was not going to
partake , — "Ah , " said he , " I know that that measure will be proposed ; Past Master Jones was speaking of it the other day , and means to support it , but it will meet vsrith . great opposition in Grand Lodge . '' We need not say lie does not take in any one very long ; and very little harm does he do— " his bark is worse than his bite . " " When
is the next feed ? " is another favourite question of this ' . worthy .- He imagines , like many other excellent people ( Mrs . Caudle included ) , that [ Free-Masons do nothing but eat and drink . To return , however , to De Quincey , a man of more wit and sense . He saw something more than meets the eye in such associations as the Masonic tie . " To be hidden amidst crowds , " he says , " is
sublime : "to come down hidden amongst crowds from distant senerasublime ; to come down hidden amongst crowds from distant generations is doubly sublime . " And such , indeed , is the Free-Mason ' s proud boast . Many as are the opinions on the manner of the first importation of the " gentle Craft" into England , the English Eree-Mason may indeed feel himself to be a " Lewis" of no mean birth when he can claim among his Masonic ancestors such men as
Athelstane , the third Edward , Wykeham , Waynflete , the sixth Henry , Chichell , and Wolsey . The first incident , however , which impressed De Quincey ' s youthful mind with any penchant ' for the study of the history of secret societies , was nothing connected with their antiquities or associations , but—as is often the case , as it was with ourselves—¦
an attack upon them . The Abbe Baruel and Professor liobison had both written and published a series of convincing proofs (?) that the Eree-Masons , Illuminati , and other societies , had originated a conspiracy for exterminating all the religions and governments of Europe . The latter is now before us , as we sit in a noble and celebrated but not very luxurious public library .
Before noticing it , however , we will briefly mention the work which first induced us to be initiated into the Order , viz ,, " Trevilyan on Eree-Masonry . This work , though of quite recent date—seven or eight years ago only , —is probably not very generally known . A . detailed notice of it may be found in the Freemasons' Quarterly
Magazine and lieviow , about the time of its publication ; but a short account of its origin may not be out of place . The author , Major Maurice Ceely Trevilyan , was , live-and-thirty years before he wrote the work in question , initiated into Eree-Masonry in a Lodge in Scotland . Whether from the lax or incorrect work which prevailed
at that date in Scotland , or from what cause , we do not now remember , but certain it is that lie expressed himself " disgusted , " and never took any further degree than that of Entered Apprentice , or entered a Lodge of Eree-Masons again . At the end of the period we have mentioned—viz ., thirty-five years—Eree-Masonry was dis-