THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
64
"
beginning of the seventeenth century ; the document next following in this
There cannot, however, be much diflference
in point of time.
series, being, he considered, half a century later
between them as to the dates of transcription, but it is probable that No. 12 was copied from a much
MS.
ascribed the present
to the
"
older text.
"
" Old
in the vast collection i made towards the end of the
There are only two versions of the
Charges
seventeenth century by Mr Robert Harley (afterwards Earl of Oxford and Mortimer), viz., in vols. 1942
and 2054.
11 2 contains
No.
'^
The
New
(26 to 31),
Articles"
which are not
in
any other known MS.,
also the
latter being entirely omitted by Mr Phillips in his
Apprentice Charge," peculiar to a few versions only (the
two specialities, and particiilarly the clauses 26 to 31, constitute a text of great
These
transcript of the MS.).
"
importance, and will be again referred to. Although disposed to place both of the Harleian MSS. slightly
"
after the
Sloane " versions, or at all events about the same period, in this respect following Hughan, I shall
however, run counter to the computation of Mr Bond, in which he gives priority by some years to the
not,
Harleian MS., 1942, No. 11 of this
12.
"
series.
Harleian, 2054."
*
17th Century.
British
Museum.
The official catalogue
Tracts and loose papers by the second Eandle
and the third Randle Holme's account of the Principal Matters contained in this
Published in Hughan's "Masonic Sketches" and "Masonic Magazine," 1873.
describes vol. 2054 as
Holme and
In
Book."
others
are
it
.
"
"
.
A
.
Book
in folio consisting of
many
Charters of the joyners, carvers, and turners
;
weavers, bakers, wrights, carpenters, slaters,
and sawyers beer brewers, mercers, and ironmongers saddlers, drapers," being various guilds or companies of
There is no original record of these in the British Museum, but the MSS. were transcribed by the
Chester.
second and third Eandle Holme, sometimes dated, and at other times not, from records, for the most part
;
;
supposed, before 1600.
of Chester were evidently enthusiastic students of heraldry, and three generations were
" Randle "
all bearing the Christian name of
in the persons of the grandfather, father, and son
represented
at the Herald's Office, as deputy to the College of Arms for Cheshire and other counties. The first Randle Holme
written,
it is
The Holmes
—
—
died 1654-5, the second in 1649, and the third in 1699-1700 (born 1627). The second Holme is stated to have
died A.D. 16.59, but, according to Mr W. H. Eylands,^ his death occurred in 1649 (1 Charles II., i.e., computing the
reign from the death of Charles
No. 12
in the handwriting of the third Randle
Holme, clearly
have been copied by that diligent
antiquary. The original, however, from which it was taken, was evidently much older ; but having classified
the MSS. according to the periods of their transcription, rather than the presaimed age of their original texts, in
AD. 1650
is
quite early enough
strictness this
I.).
Now,
if
is
for the transcription, as it is believed to
document should be numbered
after
the "Harleian" (11 and 12) with the "Sloane"
No.
MSS.
13,
(13
though, for the sake of convenience,
and
I
have coupled
14).
is written on four leaves of paper, containing six and a half pages of close writing in a very
The "water-mark" is indistinct and undated.
hand.
After the recital of the "Old Charges,"
cramped
"
" Freemasons'
entitled the
Orders and Constitutions," is a copy of a remarkable obligation to " keep secret
" words and
certain
signes of a free mason," etc., and likewise a register of the fees paid (varying from five
" for to be a free
mason," by twenty-seven persons whose names appear. "We have here the
shillings to twenty)
As Hughan
earliest known mention of words and signes,* a circumstance to which I shall again call attention.
No. 12
collection consisted of some 10,000 vols, of MSS., and more than 16,000 original rolls, charters, etc.
"
In the Catalogue " Bibliothecse Harleianae of A.D. 1808, the number 1942 is thus described " A very thin book in
1, The harangue to be made at the admittance of a new member into the Society or Fellowship of
4to, wherein I find
3. The new articles and form
the Freemasons 2. The articles to be observed by the several members of that Society
'
The
"
:
—
;
of the oath to he taken at admission.
;
Whether
this he a copie of that old
book mentioned by Dr Plot in his
'
Stafford-
cannot say."
'
Masonic Magazine, Jannary 1882.
*
Masonic Sketches, part 2, p. 46; Freemasonry in the Seventeenth Century, Chester, 1650-1700 (W. H. Rylands);
Masonic Magazine, January and February 1882.
shire'
I