Authentic Craft History In Britain.

AUTHENTIC CRAFT HISTORY IN BRITAIN .

BY THE EDITOR . WE were struck much with this heading in our contemporary the Freemason of Sydney , as we have been long looking for and desiderating an authentic history of Craft Masonry in Britain . We therefore eagerly perused

the article itself , but to our great disappointment found it was only a rearrangement of portions of Bro . Fort ' s interesting work , and which is , as we have often said , really and truly a masterly contribution to the great history of Freemasonry . We think the " compiler" ought to have said as much , as , though he cleverly paraphrases ancl condenses in turn Bro . Fort ' s language ancl arguments , yet the substance is undoubtedl y Bro . Fort's , and Bro . Fort ' s

alone . As however the compiler has woven a history of Freemasonry cleverly enough together , we propose to reprint it to-day , pointing out , as we go on , unavoidable errors and some regrettable mistakes . The two chapters read , however , very well , and it is because we think that some may be misled by a certain unhistorical treatment of facts and episodes in our history , that we have deemed it only fair ancl well in the interests alone of Masonic justice and truth to point out the source whence these chapters are derived , the mistakes which they unavoidably perpetuate , and the uncritical treatment of facts which they often endorse .

" CHAPTER I . " The earliest reliable account concerning Masons in Britain is to bs found on the walls of tho Melrose Abbey Church , establishing the fact as early as 1136 Britain depended on Master Masons imported from-abroad . John Korean ( born iu Paris ) was the master-builder employed in erecting these sacred edifices . "

The compiler is wrong here . We have authentic relations of Craft Masons long before this time working at Jarrow , York , Ripon , Beverley , Chichester , and elsewhere , ancl working "more Romano , " and the "opus Romanum . " The christian guilds came in with Augustine and carried on the work of the earlier Roman guilds during the Roman occupation , which the Collegium Fabrorum no doubt had established in Britain .

" Half a century later , William of Sens , a French Master , came to England to rebuild the decaying Cathedral of Canterbury and other Abbeys , and for many years after the Master Masons were foreigners , and incorporated by royal authority . " William of Sens had a bad accident during the work , as Professor Willis records , and was succeeded b y "William the Englishman . " Thus the argument of mere foreign work falls to the ground .

" It is generally believed that at the city of York , in year 926 , an assembly of the Craft was held , and that they received a charter as a corporation , with Edwin as Grand Master . The foundation of this tradition concerning this York convocation rests upon the assertion of Anderson—simply on a bare narrative , as he gives no authority , nor made he any search . Anderson also states that a history of this event was written in the time of Edward IV ., 1475 , and alleges that a copy of the Gothic articles had been made during the reign of Richard II . between 1367 and 1399—nearl 500 subsequent to the time assigned for

, y years this legendary assembly . The very general decline of literature and classical knowledge which ensued after the terrible devastations to which the whole of England was exposed , is the subject of a letter to Alfred the Great to a friend , lamenting the almost total extinction of learning in his kingdom ; . and that , although at the close of the eighth century , a knowledge of Greek was so universal that women wrote and spoke it fluently ; yet in his day .