The History of Freemasonry, Vol. 1

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Excerpt from The History of Freemasonry, Vol. 1: Its Antiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs, Etc., Derived From Official Sources Throughout the World A new and more critical school has, however, at length arisen, which, while doing much to place the subject on a sound historical basis, has yet left something to be desired. The publication of a General History of Freemasonry, by Herr Findel (of Leipsic) in 1861, marks a distinct era in the progress of Masonic literature. No universal history of the Masonic craft (at all worthy of the name) had previously been compiled, and the dictum of the Chevalier de Bonneville was generally acquiesced in, That the span of ten men's lives was too short a period for the execution of so formidable an undertaking. Findel's work is a highly meritorious compilation, and re¿ects great credit upon his industry. The writings of all previous Masonic authors appear to have been consulted, but the value of his history would have been much enhanced by a more frequent reference to authorities. He seems, indeed, to labor under a complete incapacity to distinguish between the relative degrees of value of the authorities he is attempting to analyze 2 but putting all demerits on one side, his History of Freemasonry forms a very solid contribution to our stock of Masonic facts, and from his faculty of lucid condensation, has brought, for the first time within popular comprehension, the entire subject to the elucidation of which its scope is directed. Prehistoric Masonry is dealt with very brie¿y, but this branch of archaeological research has been taken up by Mr. G. F. Fort, who, in an interesting volume of 481 pages, 'devoted entirely to the Antiquities of the society, discusses very ably and clearly the legendary or traditionary history of the fraternity. The design of the present work is to embody in a single publication the legendary and the authentic histories of the craft. The introductory portion will cover the ground already occupied by Fort, and I shall then proceed to traverse the field of research over which Findel has preceded me. Dissenting as I do very materially from these writers, both as regard the facts they accept and the inferences they have drawn, my record of occur renees will necessarily vary somewhat from theirs, whilst my general conclusions will be as novel as I trust they may prove to be well founded. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.