Transposed Modes of Recognition

[Tamrin]

Freemasonry had spread rapidly to France, and in Ireland and Scotland. Freemasons from these countries were drifting into England and bringing with them ideas which had grown up not on English soil, but which, nevertheless, were dear and precious to those who held them. Grand Lodge was probably very worried, somewhere about 1730, at the number of unaffiliated masons coming apparently from nowhere and claiming admission into their lodges. Every one of these unaffiliated masons was irregular from the official point of view, and to make things difficult or impossible for them the Grand Lodge decided about 1730 to take a very serious step. This was nothing less than a transposition, or inversion, of the modes of recognition in the First and Second Degrees, and was designed to act as a veritable shibboleth in preventing the admission to its lodges of any mason who, for lack of affiliation and attendance at a regular lodge, would be unaware of the change. Gould can be read in one or two places as casting doubt on whether the alteration was in fact made, but it is impossible to read masonic history to-day and refuse to give credence to the indictment.

Bernard E. Jones, 1956,
Freemasons' Guide and Compendium,
Harrap Ltd., London, p.195

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[Gaslight]

May 23, 2009 16:38:30 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

Freemasonry had spread rapidly to France, and in Ireland and Scotland. Freemasons from these countries were drifting into England and bringing with them ideas which had grown up not on English soil, but which, nevertheless, were dear and precious to those who held them. Grand Lodge was probably very worried, somewhere about 1730, at the number of unaffiliated masons coming apparently from nowhere and claiming admission into their lodges. Every one of these unaffiliated masons was irregular from the official point of view, and to make things difficult or impossible for them the Grand Lodge decided about 1730 to take a very serious step.

Bernard E. Jones, 1956,
Freemasons' Guide and Compendium,
Harrap Ltd., London, p.195

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Without going back to the books where I may or may not have found relevant information, and talking off the top of my head, I think that when Anderson made his trip up North and visited some Scottish lodges, he noted that he was warmly received and was surprised at the similarity of the workings. That would argue against the idea of unaffiliated irregular Masons drifting into England and troubling Grand Lodge.

This is another observation based on vague memories of books read years ago, but at least one of those books, by Martha Schuchard, suggests that the transition from operative to speculative occurred in Scotland, mainly because the Scottish gentry adopted architecture and the design of their own homes as a hobby, and studied it accordingly. When James came to England, he was surprised at the ignorance of English gentry regarding architecture and took steps to educate them. After reading Schuchard's Restoring the Temple of Vision, which I found very erudite and persuasive, and adding it to Stevenson's work on the Origins of Masonry, I began to suspect that Masonry took the step from operative to speculative in Scotland (where records exist of operative lodges initiating ever greater numbers of non-masons), came south of the border, and was transformed into the formalised speculative Masonry that we know today. Looking at most of the modern Scottish rituals, I think there was then a reverse flow from England to Scotland.

What I don't know anything about is Irish Masonry in this period -- why the Irish RA adopted a different story, and why some of the earliest mentions of RA come from Ireland.

Getting back to Schuchard, I think she gave a lecture at Quatuor Coronati and I'm told it was not well received. I'm embarrassed to say I have a copy of the relevant issue of AQC but haven't had time to read her paper or check the comments. My bad.

[Tamrin]

I too favour Scottish origins for the Craft, as it stood in 1717. However, I don't see these origins mitigating against the fairly well established reorganisation of the first two degrees and the establishment of the third (together with the Hiramic Legend), in the 1720's (almost certainly by or at least with the help and approbation of Desaguliers) and the subsequent transposition of the Words of the first two degrees around 1730, for whatever reason (perhaps to deter Cowens whose only familiarity was from exposures).