SECTION IX.

THE GRAND MARSHAL.
The first allusion that I find to this office is in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, where, under the date of 1730, a procession is de- scribed, which was closed by " Marshal Pyne, with
* See Dalcho's Ahiman Rezon, first edition, Charleston, 1807. f- It must be remarked that the office of Deacon in a subordinate Lodge is of a much older date than corresponding officers in a Grand Lodge.
GRAND PURSUIVANT. 487
his truncheon blew, tipt with gold," But as through- out the remainder of the book, and all the subse- quent editions, the allusion is not repeated, I am led to suppose that this was simply a temporal ap- pointment of an officer to keep order, without any reference to Masonic rank. There is no such offi- cer in the present Grand Lodge of England, and the office is unknown in several of the American jurisdictions.
The duty of the Grand Marshal in those Grand Lodges which recognize the office, is simply to ar- range the processions of the Grand Lodge, and to preserve order, according to the forms prescribed.*