-
Articles/Ads
Article MASONIC ANTIQUITIES Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES
{ Continued from page 260 . ) Another brief paper , containing a few more comments on the application of Samuel Prichard ' s book- on Free-Masonry to Jesuitical purposes , may not be unacceptable to our readers , the more so as some of our Brethren of the Roman Catholic persuasion , have quite recently suffered from the Order , or from those acting under
members of the Order , to which a satire upon the society of Pree-Masons was applied in 1788 , as a code of secret instructions and pass-words for the furtherance of their plans . In a letter signed " Scrutator / ' w hich appeared in our pages in January 27 th , attention was drawn to a slight typographical error in the number which appeared on January 20 th , viz ., " Preceptor . " This of course is utter nonsense , " Preceptor" having an entirely different meaning , and being moreover a singular noun , in which
case the verb could not be in the plural . The title pages of the several parts correspond with the description given by " Scrutator , " with the exception of the notice at the end of the second part , that it is sold atE / obinson ' s , Paternoster-row , and Barrois ' s , in Paris ; but in the General Catalogue of the British Museum , this note is appended to the description of the work , — " Orient de Londres [ Paris ] , 1788 . Note . Each part has a distinct title page and pagination . " The first-part of the copy in the British Museum
consists of 134 pages , the second ( including Prichard ' s " Masonry Dissected , " and the " Notes et Preuves" ) , 172—so that our correspondent ' s edition is doubtless a different one , although published in the same year . The book was at any rate in great request at one time
as is shown by the fact of its having run through as many as twenty - one editions between 1730 and 1788 ; it is just the book to be met with at a secondhand book stall , and is doubtless only so for scarce that few are acquainted with it or know where it is to be met with . It is only as a matter of interest to collectors of Masonic works that
we give these full particulars . " Scrutator" will see that we fully coincide with him as to the relative merits of Prichard ' s "Dissection" and De Bonneville ' s " Notes , " of which latter we give a few farther extracts .
Samuel Prichard could not prove that Pree-Masonry continued in an unbroken line from the days of Adam to our own : but he does not dare to contradict those who have affirmed it ; he is too generous to leave the discussion of this trait of history to the candid reader ( candid beginning with C , which stands for coadjutor ) , for that brings us into the Order of the Jesuits , and then we learn the power of that Order over Pree-Masonry . By the very words " Free-Masons ^ Samuel Prich ard mean s the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES
{ Continued from page 260 . ) Another brief paper , containing a few more comments on the application of Samuel Prichard ' s book- on Free-Masonry to Jesuitical purposes , may not be unacceptable to our readers , the more so as some of our Brethren of the Roman Catholic persuasion , have quite recently suffered from the Order , or from those acting under
members of the Order , to which a satire upon the society of Pree-Masons was applied in 1788 , as a code of secret instructions and pass-words for the furtherance of their plans . In a letter signed " Scrutator / ' w hich appeared in our pages in January 27 th , attention was drawn to a slight typographical error in the number which appeared on January 20 th , viz ., " Preceptor . " This of course is utter nonsense , " Preceptor" having an entirely different meaning , and being moreover a singular noun , in which
case the verb could not be in the plural . The title pages of the several parts correspond with the description given by " Scrutator , " with the exception of the notice at the end of the second part , that it is sold atE / obinson ' s , Paternoster-row , and Barrois ' s , in Paris ; but in the General Catalogue of the British Museum , this note is appended to the description of the work , — " Orient de Londres [ Paris ] , 1788 . Note . Each part has a distinct title page and pagination . " The first-part of the copy in the British Museum
consists of 134 pages , the second ( including Prichard ' s " Masonry Dissected , " and the " Notes et Preuves" ) , 172—so that our correspondent ' s edition is doubtless a different one , although published in the same year . The book was at any rate in great request at one time
as is shown by the fact of its having run through as many as twenty - one editions between 1730 and 1788 ; it is just the book to be met with at a secondhand book stall , and is doubtless only so for scarce that few are acquainted with it or know where it is to be met with . It is only as a matter of interest to collectors of Masonic works that
we give these full particulars . " Scrutator" will see that we fully coincide with him as to the relative merits of Prichard ' s "Dissection" and De Bonneville ' s " Notes , " of which latter we give a few farther extracts .
Samuel Prichard could not prove that Pree-Masonry continued in an unbroken line from the days of Adam to our own : but he does not dare to contradict those who have affirmed it ; he is too generous to leave the discussion of this trait of history to the candid reader ( candid beginning with C , which stands for coadjutor ) , for that brings us into the Order of the Jesuits , and then we learn the power of that Order over Pree-Masonry . By the very words " Free-Masons ^ Samuel Prich ard mean s the