THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
be " B}' a Deceas'd Brother, for the Benefit of his
77
"
It was
Printed for
"
Widow
Mrs Dodd, at the Peacock
without Temple Bar, mdccxxxix (Price Six-pence)."
No statement is made as to its origin or age, but aa
already expressed, I have no doubt of its being a copy of Nos. 8 or 32, or a reprint of No. 47, engraved edition,
the original of the two last being a seventeenth century version.
"
The
Harms.
49.
!
Bedford
From
"
Lodge, London.
we
learn that in January 1809, its then secretary,
the minutes oi the "Bedford" Lodge, No. 157,
was thanked " for his present of ancient manuscripts, in parchment, containing the original Charges
and part of the lectures on Craft Masonry." '
"
Bro. Harris,"
50.
"
Batty Langley."
IStli Century.
Published in the " Builder's Compleat Assistant," 3d edition, 1738.
Batty Langley, a prolific WTiter, published
his " Practical
"
"
Geometry in 1726, which he dedicated to Lord Paisley, as the Head of a most Ancient and
Honourable Society," and subscribed himself " your most devoted servant."
In 1736 appeared his "Ancient
Both in the Theorj' and Practice," dedicated to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, and forty British noblemen;
Masonry,
" to all others the
Right Hon. and Right Worshipful Masters of Masonry, by their humble servant and
affectionate brother, B. Langley."
I cite these words, in order to establish the fact that the " Builder's Compleat
also
which only the
Assistant," of
third edition is available in the library of the British
when Langley was
originally appeared after 1726,
and
not a freemason,
to found
Museum, must have
an inference that
it
was
"
published some few years at least before the second edition of the Book of Constitutions." The masonic
which is given ndth some fulness, is called " The Introduction of Geometry," and amongst famous
legend,
"
Geometers" are named " Nimrod, Abraham, Euclid, Hiram, Grecus," etc.
The sources of information open,
to
Langley at the time of writing, were MSS. 44, 45, and 47 in this
As Edwin is styled the son of Athelstan, No. 47, which
A.D. 1723.
series,
calls
and Anderson's Constitutions of
him
brother,
could not have been
Edwin legend, but leaves out his name whilst No. 45 uses the word son, but
On the whole, it is fairly clear that Langley must
spells the name in such a manner as to defy identification.
have followed Dr Anderson (1723), who plainly designates Edwin as the son of Athelstan.
It may be added,
No. 44
referred to.
recites the
;
that the two legends are in general agreement.
Without being of any special value, jter se, the fact of the
legendary history of the craft being given at such length by a practical architect and builder, taken into
consideration with the dedication of his work on "Ancient Masonry" to a number of "Freemasons" of exalted
rank, afford additional evidence,
exist
if
such be required, of the close and intimate connection which continued to
after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of
between operative and speculative masonry for many years
England.
51.
The
"
so-called
"
Krause."
* 18th
Century.
of a.d. 926 " has been invested with
much more importance and antiquity than it
that even the eighteenth century is too early a date to assign for its compilation.
quite possible
It first saw the light, that is to say, it was first announced in 1808, through a German version
having been
issued by Herr Schneider, of Altenburg, from a Latin translation said to be certified by " Stonehouse, York,
deserves, for
York MS.
it is
January 4, 1806" (of whom no trace can be found) and in 1810 this German re-translation was printed by Dr
Krause in "Die drei Aeltesten Kunsturkunden der Freimaurer Briiderschaft." An English version was presented
;
to
"
Hughan by Woodford
for insertion in the "
Old Charges of British Freemasons
"
;
but neither of these
" and contended that
any
genuineness,
the Latin translation, which was certified by Stonehouse, had been prepared before 1806, and that in preparing
it an ancient
manuscript had been remodelled on the same basis as the 1738 edition of Anderson's Constitutions,
"
experts
believe
because the term
"
desire of the
failed to find
it
'
to be of
Noacbida
modem
aught to confirm
date."^
'
'
is
German Union
as to its being neither a
The
Dr George Kloss denied
real antiquity.
York
employed in both, but
is
its
found nowhere
else."
Findel visited England, by
the historian, however,
;
of Freemasons," to thoroughly investigate the matter
its
claims to antiquity, and returned to
Charter, nor of the year 926
character
and history of
Rosicrucian, Loudon, January 1876.
this
;
and, in
Germany with a
fact,
MS. wiU be considered
'
he " brings
stronger belief than ever
it
down
to a
much more
in a separate chapter.
History of Freemasonry,
p. 89.