THE OLD CHARGES OF BRITISH FREEMASONS.
78
omit from
I
are
many
tlie
of tliese,
foregoing
mere
list
partial reprints
acknowledged or otherwise,
and
of
any one of the MSS.
eacli takes
its
There
text from one or
more
of the versions herein described.
Then, again, there are numerous regu lations of tlie craft, from an early date, which in
many respects, contain points of agreement .with the MS. Constitutions, particularly those
"
These will be duly considered in their regular order, but as the Legend
"
of the Guild does not appear, they cannot fairly be classed with the
Old Charges," though
^
one document of the year 1G58 very nearly reaches the necessary criterion, giving, as it does,
of Scottish origin.
"
"
a historical preamble, and a curious recital of the
Kilwinning Legend." I do not believe,
that this remarkable declaration and agreement, or mutual contract, ever superseded
however,
"
the copy of the " Old Charges," which was most probably used by the Maisters, Freemen, and
fellow crafts, measones resident within the
"
the
Schaw Statutes"
Burgh off Perth," and as the same may be said of
must reserve their examination for a later chapter.
of 1598-99, and others, I
Strictly speaking, the
two seniors
in the foregoing series are not forms of the
"
Old Charges,"
although they doubtless represent a certain class of masonic documents circulating in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, of which we have otherwise no contemporary record whatsoever.
The
was in part a Eoman Catholic manual of devotion,^ the versifier, who was almost
had access to documents in " olde tyme wryten," respecting " Tliys
"
of good masonry
and the second distinctly gives, as a personal narrative, what
first
certainly a priest,^ having
onest craft
;
the chronicler found "write and taught in ye boke of our charges," and often alludes to
"the olde bokys of masonry" as the source of his statements. His membership, honorary
or otherwise,
of
to
may be assumed from
scattered references, such as,
"
Elders yt wer bi for us
masons had these Charges wryten to hem as loe have now in owr chargys." It is weU
keep this fact in mind, because some writers have woven very fine-spun theories, based
upon the absence of certain passages from these two
to pursue,
all events,
under the circumstances,
is
to deal with
versions, whereas the only safe
method
what they actually make known.
At
the legends of the craft were accepted as ancient, at the period of the compilation
two documents, which thereby confers a very respectable antiquity, to say the least,
on the masonic traditions, and proves, that whether authentic or apocryphal, the Old Charges
of these
of the British
As my
and as
Freemasons cannot be characterised as modern inventions.
chief object
is to
far as possible to
them according
examine closely the several versions or forms of these Old Writings,
theii- relative value and character, I shall have to classify
determine
to their general or special texts, the variations in their legends, peculiarities
in the ordinances, and other
The task
points which will naturally claim our consideration.
before me is a sufficiently onerous one, so
"constitutions" having been
many manuscript
recently discovered.
Happily, indeed, in number they do not quite equal the traditions of
the Mohammedan oral law, when the latter were first
arranged and codified.
According to
1
By-Laws of the Scone and Perth Lodge (Perth, 1806) ; also Masonic Magazine, October 1S78.
" Besides
being brotherhoods for the care of the temporal welfare of the members, the craft guilds were, like the
rest of the guilds, at the same time religious fraternities.
In this respect the craft guilds of all countries are
alike
and in reading their statut es one might fancy sometimes that the old craftsmen cared only for the
of
'^
...
;
well-being
"
All had particular saints for patrons, after whom the society was
frequently called (Lujo Brentano, On
the History and Development of Guilds, p. 69 ; Smith's Guilds,
Fees were paid by the guild members to
p. cxx.xiii.).
their chaplains, and many are the quaint provisions made for their
religious welfare, and their rites of burial, etc.
their souls.
^
"
And when
the Gospel
me
rede schal
"
(line 629).
See also Halliwell,
p.
41.