THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
CHAPTER
57
11.
THE OLD CHARGES OF BEITISH FREEMASONS.
HE
ancient documents handed
—
of Constitutions
C^
to be
The
—require
operative masons in Great Britain
described under the misleading title
generically
down from the
and Germany respectively
all
so-called "Constitutions," peculiar to
which
traditional history,
and separately described.
England and Scotland, contain legends
carefully examined,
are not to be found in the regulations or
working statutes
of the latter country, nor do they appear in the Ordinances of the craft in either France
or Germany.
The only point of identity ^ between the English and German constitutions in
"
the shape of legend or tradition is the reference to the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs," but as
they are only mentioned in one of the English versions, and then merely iii that portion of the
MS. devoted
It will be
to religious duties, the thread that connects
found
that, as a general rule, early
documents
them
is
a very slender one indeed.
of the guilds or crafts
commence with
"
an invocation of saintly patronage, and the " Holy Martyrs were not monopolised in this
respect by the masons of Germany, as they were the assumed patrons of numerous other
fraternities.
union already
"
Nor can
it
cited, at all
be maintained, with any show of reason, that the slender thread of
warrants the conclusion that the English masons derived the legend
"
"
Quatuor Coronati from their German brethren. The British Constitutions, or Old
Charges," have indeed neither predecessors nor rivals, and their peculiar characteristics will be
found, in truth, to amply warrant the detailed examination which I shall now proceed with.
of the
By no
other craft in Great Britain has documentary evidence been furnished of its having
claimed at any time a legendary or traditional history.
Oral testimony of any real antiquity
also wanting when it is sought to maintain that the British Freemasons are not singular in
the preservation of their old legends. The amusing pretensions of certain benefit societies do not
"
"
affect the claim, for no
traditions
of these associations can be traced historically to a period
the probability being that they are all
sufficiently remote to prove their independent origin
is
;
modern adaptations of masonic
In saying " no other craft,"
members
(latterly) of all crafts,
traditions
and customs.
exclude from consideration the French Compagnons, who were
though in the first instance the association was confined to the
I
"
masons and carpenters. Not that the " Compagnons were without legendary histories, but
"
Old Charges of British
they now possess no early writings with which we can compare the
'
Tlic Legends are referred to, not tlie Regulations.
H