The Early History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.*

weary wilderness , like the plodding Jews of old , we have to wade through , and wander through , ere we catch a glimpse of the Promised Land ! Masonic archaeology has many temptations and dangers for the student , misled by unveracious statements , crediting unauthentic chroniclers , accepting fables for truth , and legends for history . He may be lured away by some of those will-o ' -the-wisps , which have landed so many enthusiastic , but too credulous , followers in the clinging

morass of spurious authorities and deceiving myths . AVhen we consider the state of Masonic history and criticism now , as compared with what it was in Olivier ' s palmiest days , or when we ourselves began the study of Masonic antiquities , we are startled by the contrast , we must be gratified with the change . We shall hardly be doing wrong if we give to that period of Masonic literature

what the Germans have also wittily ascribed to a period of their own—the " Sturm nnd Drang " epoch—Storm and Pressure . That is to say , everything was very arbitrary , dogmatic , high-minded , ancl absolute . Contradiction was not permitted ; opposition was not allowed . Certain views were true , were correct , were what was to be believed , and the consequences of such a system were hurtful in the extreme , hurtful to Masonic literature , and menacing to all independent Masonic enquiry . AVe have only to take up Olivier ' s books to see how this fatal tendency warped his views , coloured liis theories , ruined his efforts , and has imdermined his prestige . With all his zeal , energy , knowledge , right . thinking , and good intention , much

eloquence of language , and lucid exposition of evidence , he is unf ortunately the chief of our uncritical school . To Germany we undoubtedly owe the right aim of thought , study , comment , and criticism . Bro . Findel ' s history struck so completely the right chord , that henceforth the false notes of the uncritical and unhistorical school seem to have vanished into the thin air . Stembrenner , hi America , did good services , as Hughan and D . Murray Lyon have

clone in Great Britain ; and now there comes from a young Mason across the Atlantic , a work equally commendable for its modesty ancl its accuracy , its strictly critical and distinctly historical character . Indeed , too much commendation can hardly be accorded to it in this respect . Bro . Fort , whose labours of search , verification , and collation must have been intense , marshals his statements in a way which does him infinite credit ; while he unfolds to us the contents of his valuable collocation of individual and general

authorities by a power of language , and yet simplicity of verbiage , which are alike pleasant and praiseworthy in the highest degree . Indeed , when we take up Bro . Fort ' s work we are startled by its range , the methodical use ho" has made of most important ( lata , and the numerous striking testimonies he adduces , and the argument he brings forward in favour of the existence of a Masonic Operative Fraternity or Guild . The only points on which we venture to differ somewhat from Bro . Fort are these , — -m which he leans to Bro . Findel ' s view of the mediasval practical origin of Freemasonry , if rightly we understand him , and to what is called also , though in this he is opposed to Bro . Findel , the hermetic view of Freemasonry .

The theory of a German origin of Masonry , ancl thence radiating into all lands , has always appeared to us , however fascinating to the patriotic German mind , a chimera of chimeras . In the first place , these Sodalities existed before the 13 th century , which is tiro . Findel ' s date ; ancl in the next place , the legends of the Steinmetzen are not peculiars' „ y' allcl thirdly , what are we to do with Masons' Marks ? If , for instance , the "Ars Quatuors Coronatorum" was only known to the German Steinmetzen , something ht be said isin

mig for the contention that the legend of the " Macons fottre" o « r "Saruin Missal" in the 11 th century . _ . . We have never doubted that the Anglo-Saxon Guilds were originally of Roman origin ; and that our early operative , architectural , ecclesiastic , and civil work , came from Wie Roman Operative Guilds . cliffl ^ We link 0 iu ' selves on to them is another ancl a very difficult matter , so nheult that even today it is of and probabilitthan of

- more a question supposition y , met or certaint y . 18