THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
92
(G)
"INIGO JONES" & "SPENCER"
(8
&
32.
Also Eeproductions).
have already exjiressed my opinion of the value of this text, not only from internal
"
Constitutions,"
evidence, but because it obviously formed the basis, in part, of Dr Anderson's
I
of which more anon.
Its chief
importance
is
derived from the additional clauses in the
legendary history, rather than from any changes in the language of that part which is to
be found in the ordinary versions. Mere arbitrary alterations of the copyist only demand our
notice as possible
means
of identification in tracing families of
Of
MSS.^
these
many examples
any importance whatever, whilst some are so plainly errors
of transcription, that any arguments based upon them are of little, if indeed of any value, e.g.,
"
So Help you God, and the Itallidom" for " your holy-dome." ^
in No. 8, the conclusion runs,
are found in copies not otherwise of
Fort has some interesting observations upon the usual finale of the " Old Charges," and thinks
that the word "holy-dome" is evidently derived from the old form of administering an
oath upon the shrine in which the sacred relics of some martyred saint were enclosed, the
receptacle of the bones being ordinarily constructed in the form of a house (domus), so that
the elision was easy from " holi-domus" to "holy- dome." ^ Without impugning the correctness
of this view in reference to a very early period of guild life, its applicability to the " Old
"
Charges from the fifteenth century must be strongly contested, for the form in which the
concluding charge
is
generally given, suggests only the solemnity of the ohligation about to be
"
So healpe you God and your halydome, and by this booke in yo' hands unto yr.
On the admission of the masonic apprentices, according to the direct or
power" (4).
indirect testimony of the several versions, and of the prevailing custom in later times,
taken,
they were "sworn" on the Bible, not "on the holidom," as were those of the Tailors'
Guild of Norwich (fourteenth century), and there is nothing resembling the ordinance
of the
"
Smiths
requiring
all
"
of Chesterfield (of the
the
brethren
to
be
same
bound
era) in the
"by
touch
Masonic Constitutions, the former
of
relics"
as
a
pledge of
their
*
fidehty.
That a change was effected in the manner of administering the obligation,
may be
"The Oaths to be Taken," by the "Eraternyte of Synt John
inferred from a reference to
the Babtyste of Taylors" (Exeter), for the words "holy dome, and
by this hoke," have
been crossed out by a later hand, and the " holy contentcs of this hohc" substituted, which
It is in the text of No. 8,^ the prototype of No. 32
corresponds with MS. 11 and others.^
1
Among the merely nominal departxires from the usual text, that of the 3d clause in the " General Charges " may
be cited (which has been already pointed out by the possessor of this MS