Was Shakespeare A Freemason?*

Master and Wardens of the lodge , which , peradventure , might have been holden at the sign of "The Garter !" Let us pass on , however , to show how intimate must have been the acquaintance with the administration of a lodge . In Taming of the Shrew , Biondello , in a conversation with Vincentio , makes use of the expression " My old Worshipful Master- " and scattered through other lays are frequent

, p references to " Worth y Masters , "Potent Masters , " " Good Masters , " "Elder Masters of known honour , " and so on . The allusion " Warden ' s Pies " in The Winter ' s Tale is suggestive of pleasant intimacy with the Junior Warden , if not during work , at any rate in his call from labour to refreshment I " Chaplains " are rather hardldealt with in Henry VIII . as " Teachers of

y divers and dangerous opinions which are heresies . " The onl y reference to " a Treasurer " will be found in Antony and Cleopatra ; but we are given " a Master-Secretary " in Henry VIII . ; and an allusion to those " who play the Scribe " in Tikis Andronicus . Deacons , Masters of Ceremonies , ancl Organists do not appear to have earned for themselves the privilege of having their names enshrined in any

play ; perchance as officers they did not exist . If they did , we feel assured they were not only " Officers fit for the place , " but also " Officers of great worth . " We find in Pericles mention made of " A Sojourner ; " and in Henry VIII . we find " Pursuivants ; " while in Twelfth Night , King Lear , Timon of Athens , and other plays we discover " A Steward . " In this last play we find also a passage which can only refer to Inner Guards—¦

Employed to guard sure their Master . Ancl , to conclude , the office of Tyler must of a surety be meant in Othello , foi to whom but a Tyler could Montano speak when he says Guard the door without . Touching Lodge observances , etc ., it would be easy to multiply

illustrations . Let us take two or three at random . For example , what more complimentary remark could be made to a skilled Master of a lodge than You have made good work , you and your apron men ; or , again , Yon have made fair hands , you and your Crafts ; both quotations being taken from Coriolanus .

On the other hand , what can be more suggestive of an incompetent Master of a lodge than the observation of Justice Shallow iu Henry TV . — - He is not his craft ' s Master , he does not do right . In Much Ado about Nothing there is a delicious snub to those who are given to the performance or non-performance of their duties " by virtue of their office !" Are there no Dogberry ' s to be found in these latter days ? What more natural ancl pertinent inquiry from a Master , say to an unpunctual , unprepared Junior Warden , than we chance upon in Julius Ccesar .

Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? How widely different was the estimation in which Masons were held in the old days as compared with our own times may be learned from a line in Henry VI . — The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons .

Turn to The Tempest , and see how differentl y Prospero thoug ht and spoke Mark but the badge of these men , Then say if they be true . 2 E 2