THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
72
(MS. 18) "Melrose No.
35.
This
is
simply a transcript of No.
18,
and
is
a.d.
3."
Old Lodge at Melrose.
1762.
" Given out this
thus referred to in the Records:
day, the old
Roll to be extracted by Nichol Bowr and Thomas Marr, and they are to
Eights of the Lodge contained in a long
i
The copy is still preserved by the lodge, and was probably in common use, the
be allowed for their trouble."
" Yorli"
similar practice now obtains in the
Lodge, where
older Roll being reserved for important occasions ?
are exhibited copies of the ancient documents— a precautionary measure which cannot be too
to ordinary visitors
satisfaction to all who have not made the subject a special study.
highly commended— and doubtless affords ample
A
"
36.
The
(MS. 13)
TuNNAH."
which resembles No.
transcript,
13,
Mr W.
*A.D. 1828.
J.
was once the property of the
Huglian, Truro.
late
Mr John Tunnah,
of Bolton, for
Mr
many years Prov. Grand Secretary of East Lancashire and, on his decease, was presented by his partner,
The water-mark in the paper is of the year 1828.
James Newton, to a fellow masonic student, Mr Hughan.
"
There are a variety of notes on the manuscript, one being, This may he a copy of the old MS. said to have
;
been in the possession of Nics Stone, a sculptor vmder Inigo Jones, which was destroyed with many others, 1720
be the original Charter of Constitution and
{vide Preston, p. 217) ;" and another, "The Parchment MS. may
sent from the Grand Lodge (or Lodge of Antiquity), when the Lodge at Bolton was constituted, a.d.
Obligation
"
varied according to circumstances of the time
,
37.
"
Ween."
a.d.
1852.
—to
all of
which we must an.swer
The Eev. A.
F. A.
—Yes
!
it
may
be !
Woodford, London.
"
Published in " Masonic Magazine," December 1879. It is endorsed Copy from an ancient parchment Roll,
written in old Norman English about the date of 1600, and said to be a true copy of the original found amongst
the papers of Sir Christopher Wren, who built St Paul's Cathedral, London. This parchment roll belonged to
the late Rev. Mr Crane, a very learned divine and most zealous Mason, and who was for many years P. G. Sec.
for the Province, when Sir Robert S. Cotton (father of the present Lord Combermere, and now R. W. P. G.
" Bro. S.
Browne, Secretary and Treasurer of
was purchased, with other papers from the latter,
Browaie leaving for North Wales, where he died and its
Master) was the Provincial Grand Master for Cheshire."
'
the
by
Cestrian,' 615, Chester
A.
L., 1852,
December
Signed
It
4th."
R. Bainbridge, of Liverpool, prior to Mr
"
has also been known as the " Browne " or " Crane
Mr W.
;
but as the endorsement
particular in
item is useful as a
mentioning its origin, I think the title selected is the preferable one, especially as every
"
means of possible identification.
The MS. begins with the concluding part of the Euclid Charges," and
numbered as if complete.^ The conclusion is in
apparently did so from the first, the folios being consecutively
" Vera
I presume the Latin sentences were inserted in the original of
Latin, signed
copia, &c., J. L. Higsom."
this MS., as in No.
abilities of the scribe— certainly not for the information of the
to exhibit the
name
26,
craftsmen, to
of our
own
whom
all
MS.
;
is
linguistic
such recitals must have been even less edifying than they would be to operative masons
day.
(C)
38.
42.
PRINTED COPIES, EXTRACTS, OE EEFEEENCES.
"
"
Dermott."
Morgan."
* 16th
Century.
G. L. Minutes (Ancients).
* 17th
Century.
G. L. Minutes (Ancients).
The only allusion I can find to versions of the " Constitutions " in the records of the "Ancients," ' occnrs in a
minute of December 6, 1752, viz. " The Grand Secretary desired to know whether there was any other books
To which several of the
or manuscripts more than had been delivered to him upon the 2d of Feb. 1752.
:
Brethren answered that they did not know of any. Others said, they knew Mr Morgan had a roll of parchment
of prodigious length which contained some historical matters relative to the ancient Craft, which parchment
they did suppose he had taken abroad with him. It was further said, that many manuscripts were lost amongst
^
Masonic Magaziuc, May 1880.
^
Freemason, March
6,
1880.
^
The Junior
or Schisiiiatk G.
Lodge of England.