The Old Charges Of The British Freemasons.

THE OLD CHARGES OF THE BRITISH FREEMASONS .

AVILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN . No . I . —THE SCARBOROUGH MS . T ) RO . the Eev . A . F . A . Woodford , M . A ., and I , have had many a search - » - ' after old Masonic MS . Charges , or Operative Constitutions , and by his desire , I hope from time to time to report , through the medium of the Masonic

Magazine , any additions to our treasury . The first of the present series is the " Scarborough MS ., " the name selected appearing to me the most appropriate to describe this valuable document , because an endorsement on the MS . refers to a private Lodge having been held in that toAvn as follows : — " We * * * * That att A private lodge held att Scarbrough in the county of Yorkthe tenth day of July 1705 before William ThompsonEsq .

Presi-, , , , , dent of the saicl Lodge ancl severall others , brethren Free Masons , the severall p ' sons whose names are hereunto subscribed , were then admitted into the said Fraternity . ED . THOMPSON Jo TEMPEST . ROBT JOHNSON THOS LISTER

SAMUEL W . BUCK RICHARD HUDSON " It is but fair to observe that though I have inserted the year 1705 to the foregoing transcript of the endorsement , others have claimed that it should be 1505 , but not apparently with any justice . This Masonic MS . was in the possession of the Rev . J . Wilton Kerr , of Clinton , Canada , A . D . 1860 , and was published on August 22 nd of that yearin the Mirror and

KeystonePhila-, , delphia , when under the editorship of the late Bro . Leon Hyneman . Bro . Kerr stated then that he considered the correct date was 10 th July , 1505 , but our lamented Bro . Hyneman expressed his doubt on that point , ancl then the matter dropfc , no notice being taken of the document until quite recently , Avhen Bro . Jacob Norton , of Boston , U . S . A ., drew my attention to its character and value . On enquiry , hoAvever , he found that the MS . was missing , and for a

time no clue was obtainable as to its whereabouts . Happily , however , the interest of the editor of the Craftsman and Canadian Masonic Record was enlisted , an appeal was made in the January , 1874 , number of that most useful magazine for an active search , ancl soon it was found and placed in the hands of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Canada , an exact transcri pt being issued in the following month in the Craftsmanthe editor of which

, concurs Avith most who have studied the subject , in " unhesitatingly declaring the date to be 10 th July , 1705 . " The reasons given by the editor for his decision is "that the figure has been altered , a microscopic examination showing a difference in the colour of the ink between that part of the figure which makes a good seven , ancl that part which has been added of the seven has been transformed into a five . It is a very awkward and unsymmetrical

five as it stands ; remove the part supposed to be added and a very good seven remains . " Our brother editor , to make extra sure , furnishes an extract from Higdeu ' s Polycronicon of 1493 ( printed in the same magazine in the previous month ) and a MS . in order to prove that " no competent person can doubt for a moment that the Canadian charge is the most modern of the three .

I thought it quite possible myself that , accepting the endorsement as of the year 1705 , that the name of the president mi ght be traced in the York Records , and because Bro . Woodford and I were unable to find it ( though more than one Thompson is mentioned , only not the same Christian name ) , I