THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
loi
on the authority of St Alban were accepted as the standard, for they vary considerably there
"
three pence to their cheer," though
are, however, a majority in favour of 2s. 6d. a week, and
some have 3s. 6d. for the same period, and others much less whilst not a few contain
;
;
"
douUe wages" an expression which I record, without venturing to explain.
Wood MS." has " three shillings and five pence a weeke for their duable wages." ^ The
iijs. vjd. to there
"
The
"
Edwine was made Mason at
York as the first city wherein the assemblies of
prominence enjoyed by
"
"
King Athelstan were held, should be shared by the Eoyal Town in which Edwin was
initiated; for if York was the premier city of the annual assemblies, Windsor was also
highly privileged as being the town where that Prince was "accepted," who, according to
"Antiquity" Eoll
is
the
for
responsible
statement that
Winsoeur," so that the
the old traditions, obtained from the King authority to hold the annual assemblies of the
The
Windsor to any masonic importance has hitherto been neglected,
York has been unduly magnified. Other omissions or differences in the
ordinary MSS. are more easily pointed out than interpreted, such as the silence observed
as to the " Wardens," save in No. 14,^ and the uniform reticence of all the versions
excepting the two earliest (1 and 2), in regard to the authority of the Law in the settle"
ment of disputes.
This refreshing " to V6