THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
6o
in
my
appreciation of
importance and value, as the repertories of onr time-honoured
tlieir
and regulations. Even regarded in this liglit alone, these old legends and traditions,
these bygone usages and regulations of the operative guilds, thus happily preserved, have,
and always must have for all thoughtful Freemasons, the deepest value and the most lasting
traditions
interest.^
The
classification
(A) originals
viz.,
;
adopted consists of three divisions, which will include
(B) late transcripts
(A)
1.
"Early
"
(C) printed copies, extracts, or references.
VEESIONS OF THE
MS.
*14th Century.
Halliwell."
History of
;
Freemasonry
the versions,
all
in England,"
by
"
British
OLD CHAEGES."
Museum
(Bib. Eeg.,
17a
I).
London, 1840 and 1844
J. 0. Halliwell, Est^., F.R.S.,
Dr.
;
A
" Masonic
Magazine," London, 1874, etc. (modernised).
Asher, Hamburg, 1842, and other reprints.
small MS. oa vellum, about 5 inches by 4 inches, bound in russia, having thereon G. R. II., 1757, and the
It formerly belonged to Charles Theyer, a noted collector of the seventeenth century, and is
royal arms.
C.
W.
"
No. 146 in his catalogue, as described in Bernard's
Manuscriptorum Anglian (p. 200, col. 2). Soon afterwards it was placed in the " Old Royal Library," founded by King Henry VII., for the princes of the blood
of His Majesty George II. to the nation, a.d. 1757.
royal, comprising nearly 12,000 volumes, the munificent gift
"
In
"A
Catalogue of
tlie
Manuscripts of the King's Library," (London, 1734), by David
librarian of the Cottonian Library), the
MS.
is
"
erroneously entitled,
A
Poem
Casley (deputy-
of Moral Duties,"
and
it
chief contents were made known in a most suggestive paper by
not until 18th April 1839, that its
Halliwell (Phillips), " On the Introduction
was
Mr
Freemasonry
England," read before the Society of
which wiU be found in the proceedings of that body, session 183S-9.2 Casley, who was considered
Antiquaries,
a most accurate judge of the age of MSS., ascribed it to the fourteenth century, and the learned editor of the
considers
poem
was written not
later
than the latter part of that century.^
middle of the fifteenth century, and Dr Kloss between 1427 and 1445.
at the
is
it
into
of
"
that this
right in stating
is
the earliest
Mr E. A. Bond places it
Mr Halliwell beheves he
document yet brought to light connected with the progress of
" Fabric
Rolls," and similar records, he is doubtless justified
freemasonry in Great Britain," and, apart from
in making the claim.*
2.
"Cooke."
*15th Century.
British
Museum
(Addl.
MSS.
23,198),
Published by Mr R. Spencer, London, 1861, and edited by Mr Matthew Cooke, hence its title.^ It was
purchased from a Mrs Caroline Baker, 14th October 1859, for the National Collection, and its original cover of
wood remains, with the rough twine connecting the vellum sheets, apparently as sewn some four hundred years
In size it resembles its senior (MS. 1)
the reproduction by Spencer, excepting the facsimile at the
ago.
;
beginning being an amplification of the original.
Mr Bond's estimate is, " Early 15th Century," and
authorities have sought to refer
to the " Policronicon."
MS.
*
'
'
^
it
It has
no reason
to
diff'er
from him, although some
been too hastily assumed that Caxton's celebrated work of a.d. 1482
An asterisk throughout the remainder of this chapter indicates that the date is an approximation.
^
Woodford's preface to the " Old Charges."
ArchtEologia, vol. xxviii.,
Early History of Freemasonry, 2d ed., 1844, p. 11.
" The
The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford says
poem is of high antiquity.
:
now
—
missing, from which John
Myre borrowed
(and Myre wrote in 1420), we shall probably find that
November
Mr
is
the
...
If ever
p. 444.
Pars Oculi turns up, an
his poem, a portion of which is found in the masonic
it is
Norman-French, or Latin originally
"
poem
(Freemason, 8th
1879).
T. B.
Whytehead, in an
article
on "Our Earliest Craft Lodges" (Freemason, July
31, 1880) quotes
from the
Dr Stukeley, June 24, 1721 :— " The Grand Master, Pain, produced an old MS. of the Constitutions, which he
the West of England, five hundred years ago." I fear, however, that old and
respected as George Payne may
diary of
got in
see
*
old poem,
^
I
to the latter part of that century, because there are several references in the