Famous F.M. Songs.

As this Ballad appears in the first Irish Book of Conslilii-Jions , 1 730 , it is obvious that the Theatrical Entertainment , at which it was sung , must have taken place under the auspices of the Craft in the clays that preceded the Installation of Lord Kingston as Grand Master of Ireland in 1731 . This latter event , through a misconception , or at any rate a misstatement of

Dr . Anderson ' s in his sketch of Irish Freemasonry in the Second Edition of the English Book of Constitutions has always been taken—need we say erroneously taken ?—as the date of foundation of the Grand Lodge of Ireland . It has now been established that the Grand Lodge of Ireland was in adult existence in 1725 much more like a younger

, sister than a daughter of the Grand Lodge of England . The title of the BALLAD was altered by Dr . Anderson . He had already constructed—it would be flattery to say composed —a Master ' s Song of his own , running to prodigious length , and " comprehending the History of Masonry , " as he himself puts it . It would not be consistent with human nature for an

author to oust his own poem in favour of another man ' s Ballad . So our good Bro . Anderson was driven to find another title for the Ballad , and he styled it the Deputy Grand Master ' s Song , and gave it the first place in his Vi'io Collection under the following heading : —

"The following Songs are not in the first book , but being usually sung , they are now printed . " A still greater alteration , and that hardly an improvement , was effected by the insertion of a verse by Bro . Gofton . As the stanza has no connection whatever with the original Ballad , and as it leads obliquely to the diverging paths

subsequently trodden by the rival Grand Lodges of the Antients and the Moderns , some hint of the question involved may be given here as well as anywhere else . The stanza and its heading are as follows : — "Additional Stanza by Brother Gofton , at the time when the Prince was made a Mason , and while the Princess was pregnant .

/• Again let it pass to the ROYAL lov'd NAME , Whose glorious Admission has crown'd all our Fame ; May a LEWIS be born , whom the World shall admire , Serene as his Mother , August as his SIRE . . CHORUS .

Now a LEWIS is born , whom the World shall admire , Serene as his MOTHER , August as his Sire . To our Brother Frederick , his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales . To our Brother Francis , his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany .

To the LEWIS . " This additional stanza is more remarkable for loyal than for poetical inspiration . It had a stroke of good luck in its prophetical congratulation , for a Lewis was born . Still , it is never safe to prophesy , unless one knows . The Lewis , afterwards George III ., never took the least interest in

Freemasonry . But the mention of Bro . Gofton ' s name brings us to an episode in the controversy between the Grand Lodges of the

Antients and the Moderns . Bro . Gofton , Attorney-at-Law , acted as Senior Grand Warden at the "Occasional Lodge , held at the Prince of Wales ' s Palace of Kew , near Richmond , " 5 th November , 1737 , for the purpose of initiating his Royal Highness . As has been elsewhere pointed out , this Lodge was certainly non-Regular , and possibly irregular .

Be this as it may , certain of its proceedings so struck the Brethren of the more conservative—and shall we say less courtly?—type , that Laurence Dermott , writing from hearsay forty years afterwards , gives currency to the tradition that Bro . Gofton and his associates " were the geniuses to whom the world is indebted for the invention of modern Masonry . "

Brethren who may care to follow up this interesting clue must bear in mind what most historians who have touched on the point have overlooked , namely , that Laurence Dermott , with his usual painstaking accuracy , is careful to indicate that he wrote from the hearsay testimony of others , and to specify his authority . Dermott has been speciall y unfortunate in having all manner of meanings read into his statements .

All this time the real author of the MASTER ' BALLAD lurked peril 11 , nor was his identity discovered till a year or two ago , during the course of some investigations into the history of the Grand Lodge of Ireland . The BALLAD was written by a long-forgotten poet , scholar , and divine , the Rev . James Sterling , M . A ., of Trinity College , Dublin , who abandoned a literary career for the church , and who eventuall y settled down in the United Colonies , as the United States of America were then called . In 1734 , the celebrated Dublin

Famous F.M. Songs.

printer , George Faulkner , published The Poetical Works of the Rev . yames Sterling . It is to be feared that the book did not meet with a wide circulation . Not only is the book one of the rarest on the bibliographer ' s list , but the promise of a Second Volume was not kept . It is front this rare book that we discover the secret of the authorship of the BALLAD .

We have been somewhat more fortunate in obtaining particulars of the career of Bro . James Sterling than in the parallel case of Bro . Matthew Birkhead . The Rev . James Sterling owed his education to Trinity College , Dublin , where he matriculated in 1715 , and won a scholarship in 1718 . He took his B . A . degree at the Vernal Commencements

of 1720 . On leaving the Universit y , he turned to literary pursuits , and wrote three tragedies and some metrical translations from the classics . In company with his friend , Matthew Concanen , he migrated to London , and did such work as fell to the lot of a bookseller ' s hack in the days of Grub Street .

He was in London , occupied with literary work , in 1724 , and again in 1728 . At some period before this date , he voyaged to the Colonies in America . As his visit seems to have been connected with an exposition of the Drama , he is more likely to have selected the Plantations than New England for his experiment . By 1734 he had returned

to Dublin , for he both proceeded to his M . A . degree in the University and published his Poems in Dublin that year . He is described on the Title page as in Holy Orders of the Established Church . We then lose sight of him till we catch a glimpse of him again in the American Colonies , where he had settled as a clergyman . In 1754 ne preached

" a Sermon before the Governor and both Houses of Assembl y of Maryland . " This sermon was printed in the following year at Annapolis , " by order of the Lower House of Assembly . " On the title page , the author describes himself as " Rector of St . Paul ' s Parish , Kent County , " Maryland .

Bro . James Sterling ' s translations show that he was a scholar of considerable attainments . His Tragedies were acted in London as well as in Dublin with scant success . Some of his Minor Poems show merit , and were , at least , thought worthy of being pirated by cross-channel booksellers . But the high-water mark of his poetical reputation

was attained in the MASTER MASOX ' BALLAD . Nature had denied him lyric inspiration , and the stage failed to give him dramatic insight . A quaint story is told in Gibber ' s Lives of the Pods concerning Sterling ' s first attempt at a literary career . When he and his friend , Matthew Concanen , arrived in London , they came to the conclusion that their only opening lay through the door of political pamphleteering . Accordingly , they determined that one should defend and the other attack

the Government . They decided their respective parts b y tossing up a half-penny . Concanen won , and so commended himself to the party in power that he ultimately obtained the lucrative post of Attorney-General of Jamaica . Sterling lost , and , attaching himself to the party out of office , obtained nothing . The result might have been foreseenSterling had

, been bred to the Church , and a cleric is always at a disadvantage in a game of pure chance . Now that attention has been directed to the Rev . James Sterling , it is within the bounds of possibility that his Transatlantic career may be elucidated . Maryland , the state in which he seems to have found his

final resting-place , possesses in Bro . E . T . Schultz a historian of rare attainments and still rarer judgment . Though his power of research may have been impaired of late years , owing to a physical failing , which has earned him the fullest and tenderest sympathy of his Brethren , it is not too much to hope for his aid in ascertaining the environment

of the later years of the author of THE MASTER MASOX ' BALLAD . W . J . CHETWODE CRAWLEY .

Ad02302

WISDOM , STRENGTH , & BEAUTY . This useful work , the result of years of labour and careful study of ours , deals in a masterly manner with the plans , forms , and architectural details of King Solomon ' s Temple in a pleasant and readable style never before attempted , culled from Holy Writ , the Works of Josephus , I ' errot , Chipiez , Texier , Ferguson , Warren , Condor , Lortet , Donaldson , Renan , Loftus , Daniels , Wilson , and many others . Profusely illustrated . Invaluable to the proper understanding of the lectures , a useful book of reference . Published privately by the late \ V . l ! ro . Mclntvre North , in cloth at 1 os . ud . SPENCER