The Present Position Of English Ereemasonry.

creed indeed ; but as this is so far a purely foreign view of our Order , and not hi any sense English or likely to be , we think we need hardly trouble ourselves with it further . Then again of late years , our Bro . W . P . Buchan and one or two

others have propounded what is called the " 1717 theory , " with great energy and greater devotion . But as it seems to us the 1717 theory " liiit mole sua , " as if true , it proves too much . Freemasonry would then simply appear as a deliberate

imposture , and Mr . Hallam ' s epithet of " mendacious " as applied to both Masonic " calumniators and panegyrists" might be indeed then be fairly given alike to our historians and our legends . We need hardly further discuss the 1717 theory as

except as a " sensational" theory ; it cannot we think be successfully or even seriously argued . And lastly , there is the view of our Masonic history , which is practically

the view of Anderson and Preston in England , of Laurie in Scotland , of Mackey in America , of Lenning and Krause and Schauberg in Germany , of Clavel hi France , and hi which we think we see the true solution of the many acknowledged

difficulties of our Masonic history . This theory of our Masonic history shortly stated is this : our present Freemasonry is the legitimate successor , though on an enlarged basis , and with the admitted preponderance of the speculative element

of the old operative guild assemblies and the sodalities of mediaeval and earlier Freemasons . We have inherited to-day the legends and constitutions of those ancient and handiwork Craftsmen . That

these sodalities existed in this country until their gradual decadence in the middle of the seventeenth century , in full activity and vigour , is susceptible of much and varied proof . That we can also trace them back through many generations to

the Roman Sodalities , and thence to Jewish and Tyrian Masons is , though not so easy we admit of demonstration , yet still

not altogether incapable of substantiation . If direct evidence perhaps be wanting , there is a great amount of circumstantial evidence , and even much more of inferential evidence which we can fairly press into our service , and which seems hi

itself , and as far as it goes , to be both accurate and irrefragable . But such a theory as this requires necessarily a great amount of careful consideration and

connected study , the comparison of many documents , and the collection of many MSS . Thus for some time hi this country these studies and researches have been carried on with much zeal and no little , success by some of our brethren , and there

can he but little doubt , that before very long , we shall be able to congratulate ourselves oh some appreciable results . We must especially notice that very interesting work , lately edited by Bro . J . W . Hughan ,

which has given the Craft for the first time , a collection and collation of many of the ancient Constitutions .

As long forgotten lodge collections are carefully overhauled ; as the MSS . in the Rolls' office and other public offices are indexed or transcribed ; as the fabric rolls of our Cathedrals , and the archives of our Municipalities are disentombed , so to

say , from the oblivion of centuries , no doubt not only will many fresh MS . Constitutions be discovered , but w e shall be able to collect together an amount of

existing evidence never before thought ot , much less even suspected to be extant . Take , too , one little branch of our archaeology hitherto much neglected . There are in this country , in the British Museum and elsewhere , many curious impressions

of seals which seem to have belonged to the Masonic Guilds ; while it is only quite recently that the history of the Guilds themselves , important as the part they played in the earliest trading and operative and municipal history of England , has been at all attended to , and oven now w e are only beginning to be acquainted with it .