And as thou were of a mayd y-bore, This manuscript is supposed to have been compiled in the time of Athelstan, and I should therefore conceive its authority to be decisive.' "In the above-mentioned year I had passed to a new Master and a new Lodge; and the first conversation I heard was on the subject of a pretended revelation of Martin Clare's revised lectures and ceremonies, in a book called 'the Testament of a Mason;'15 where it was feigned that the formula had been found amongst the papers of a deceased Brother high in office, and, consequently, might fairly be presumed to contain the real secrets of the Order. The question was asked, Who is the author? and it was subsequently traced to one of the unfaithful Brothers who had been disappointed in his expectations of being nominated to a Grand Office. "During the same year, if my memory be faithful, a Brother was introduced into our Lodge, whose name was Coustos. He was a foreigner, and not wanting in assurance. A great sensation, however, was 16 The Testament of a Freemason; ou, le Testament de Chevalier Graaf." Brussels, 1745. created, when he exhibited some scars which betokened very severe wounds, that had been inflicted, as he affirmed, by torture in the Inquisition, at Lisbon, to extort from him the secrets of Freemasonry. It appeared, by his own account, that he had resisted both persuasion and force; and that his final escape out of their hands was owing to the interposition of the British Consul. Subscriptions were entered into in order to enable the sufferer to publish his account of the whole affair, which accordingly came out in the following year, and put a considerable sum of money into his pocket. "16 16 "The sufferings of John Coustos for Freemasonry, and for refusing to turn Roman Catholic, in the Inquisition at Lisbon." London, 1746. Bode, 1779. Birmingham, 1790. Hull, 1810, London, Spencer, 1847. CHAPTER IV. THE SCHISM.-DR. MANNINGHAM. 1747-1760. "She teacheth Temperance and Prudence, Justice and Fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in their life."-SOLOMON. "Thys booke is not for every rude and unconnynge man to see, but to clerkys and very gentylmen that understands gentylnes and scyence."-CAXTON. "Conscia mens recti famæ mendacia ridet."-OVID. "I HAVE been thinking, sir," the Square continued, "how very extraordinary it is that the French Masons, as intelligence was brought over to this country from time to time, should have been so blind to the truth, or so ignorant of the legitimate principles of our divine Order, as to have instituted infidel societies in many of their chief cities, and invested them with the name of Masonry; for such were the various Elus or Elected Masons, as they styled themselves, which about this time were springing up, like noxious weeds, all over the continent of Europe. But it is still more strange that any of the English Fraternity should have been so indiscreet as to have admitted their claims to brotherhood. In the year 1747, one of our members produced in the Lodge a pamphlet which had just made its appear ance in London, as a translation from the French, professing to reveal the veritable secrets of the Order, by describing the revised lectures and ceremonies; and was, in fact, a catchpenny publication, written to pander to the morbid appetites of the curious, who are ever in search of the means of procuring illegitimate and doubtful intelligence respecting the mysteries of Freemasonry, when the end might be obtained in a more satisfactory manner by the honourable process of initiation. No notice, however, was taken of it, and I passed quietly through two or three hands, of whom I have nothing particular to say, till I was placed on the breast of Dr. Manningham, Deputy Grand Master, a London physician of great eminence; who proved a very active Master of the Lodge, and under his rule we rapidly increased in numbers and respectability. "This worthy Brother had already distinguished himself as a Mason, and established a powerful influence amongst the Fraternity; and about this time he contributed, by his able and judicious conduct, to restore harmony to the Craft, which had suffered considerably from the apathy of Lord Byron, the Grand Master, who, for four years together, had neither held a Grand Lodge nor nominated a sucThe Fraternity being thus neglected, several old Masons, with Past Grand Master Payne at their head, held a private meeting to consult on the safest and most legitimate method of proceeding in the cessor. "L'Adepte Maçon, or the true secret of the Freemasons." London, 1747. present emergency. Bro. Payne proposed that a public meeting of the Brethren should be called by advertisement to deliberate on the propriety of proceeding to the election of a new Grand Master. He admitted that it was a strong measure, but thought that the exigency of the case would justify it. Dr. Manningham, being present, observed that he was afraid it would be a breach of Masonic law; and if not, it might tend to introduce a party spirit amongst the brethren, which is always more easily evoked than subdued. He promised, however, to communicate with the Grand Master on the subject, and assured them that a Grand Lodge should be convened at the usual time of the year, and a successor elected conformably to ancient practice. With this promise G. M. Payne professed himself to be content; and thus the breach was healed by a judicious application of the laws and principles of Masonry. "Dr. Manningham was a bon vivant, as indeed all men were who had any pretensions to move in good society. He would have lost caste if he had been otherwise; for the only alternative a gentleman had in these days, at a dinner or tavern party, was to get drunk, or give mortal offence to his entertainer. On this principle, the suppers after Lodge 2 A sermon was preached by Robert Harris, of Trinity College, Oxford, dedicated to the Justices of the Peace in Oxfordshire, who were notoriously hard drinkers, in which he says, "In drinking there is art, and in the world it is become a great profession, regulated by laws and ceremonies. There is drinking E |