CHAPTER II.

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It was stated in the preceding chapter that there was a time, in the early part of the eighteenth cen- tury, when Apprentices composed the body of the craft, and when the membership in the subordinate Lodges seldom extended, except as to the presiding officers, beyond the possessors of that degree, But it was also remarked that this statement was to be taken with some reservation, as there appears cer- tainly to have been a still earlier period in the his- tory of the Order, when Apprentices did not occupy this elevated and important position, and when the body of the membership was composed of Fellow Crafts.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at still more remote periods, the operative element constituted an important ingredient in the organiza- tion of the institution.* The divisions of the mem-
* So much was this the case that Preston informs us that, in the very be- ginning of the 18th century, it was found necessary, for the purpose of in- creasing the number of members, to adopt a proposition by which " the privileges of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative Ilasons, but extend to men of various professions, provided that they were regularly
OF FELLOW CRAFTS. 178
bers into grades at that time were necessarily assimilated to the wants of such an operative insti- tution. There were Masters to superintend the work, Fellow Crafts, or, as they were almost always called, Fellows, to perform the labor, and Appren- tices, to be instructed in the principles of the art. Hence, in all the oldest records, we find constant allusions to the Fellows, as constituting the main body of the fraternity ; and the word " Fellow," at that time, appears to have been strictly synonymous with " Freemason." Thus, Elias Ashmole, the cele- brated antiquary, says in his " Diary," that on the 16th of October, 1646, he " was made a Freemason at Warrington, Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring, of Kerthingham, in Cheshire, by Mr. Richard Penket, the Warden, and the Fellow Crafts" And again, under the date of March 10th, 1682, when speaking of another reception which took place on that day at Masons' Hall, in London, he says : " I was the Senior Fellow among them — it being thirty-five years since I was admitted. There were present, besides myself, the Fellows after named," and he proceeds to give the names of these Fellows, which it is unnecessary to quote.
approved and initiated into the Order." — Preston, p. 180. This quotation from Preston is an instance of that carelessness in the statement of facts which was the " easily besetting sin;' of our early Masonic writers, and which will prove the greatest embarrassment to him who shall undertake to write, what is yet to be written, a Philosophical History of Freemasonry. Preston must have known, if he had reflected at all on the subject, that the restric- tion against the admission of professional and literary men had been pre viously removed, or how could such men as Ashmole have been initiated?
174 OF FELLOW CEAFTS.
Throughout the whole of the Ancient Charges and Regulations, until we get to those emendations of them which were adopted in 1721 and 1722, we find no reference to the Apprentices, except as a subor- dinate and probationary class, while the Fellow Crafts assume the position of the main body of the fraternity, that position which, in the present day, is occupied by the Master Masons.
Thus, in the Old York Constitutions of 926, it is said, "No man shall be false to the craft, or enter- tain a prejudice against his Master or Fellows."'* And again : " No Mason shall debauch .... the wife .... of his Master or Fellows ;"t where clearly " Master7'' is meant to designate the presid- ing officer simply, who might or might not, for all that we know, have been in possession of a higher degree, while " Fellows" denote the whole body of members of the Lodge. But these Constitutions are still more explicit in the use of the term, when they tell us that the " General Assembly or Grand Lodge shall consist of Masters and Fellows, Lords, Knights," &c.J
* Old York Const., point 4. In the original, from Halliwell's manuscript, the law is thus expressed, and I quote it because the Apprentices are here described as a distinct class :
" Ny no pregedysse he shall not do To his mayster, ny his fellowes also ; And that the prentes be under awe, That he wolde have the same law." f Point 7. In the original thus :
" Thou schal not by thy maystres wyf ly, Ny by thy felowes." i Point 12. In the original :
" Ther as the semble y-holde schal be, Ther schal be maystrys and felowes also."
OF FELLOW CRAFTS. 175
In the " Ancient Installation Charges,"* which are of a date between 1685 and 1688, the word " Fellow" is very exactly defined as signifying a " Mason," for it is there said : " Ye shall call all Masons your Fellows, or your Brethren, and no other names." And in the " Ancient Charges at Makings," which will be found in the First Book of this volume,t we aro told that it is the duty of " the Master to live honestly, and to pay his Fellows truly." Again : that " every Master and Fellow shall come to the assembly, if it be within fifty miles of him, if he have any warning." And lastly, that " every Mason shall receive and cherish strange Fellows, when they come over the country."
During all this time, the Apprentices are seldom alluded to, and then only as if in a subordinate posi- tion, and without the possession of any important prerogatives. Thus, they are thrice spoken of only in the York Constitutions of 926, where the Master
* See them in this work, p. 49.
f On page 51. In re-publishing these Charges, on tlwpage just quoted, it was merely stated that they were contained in a MS. in the Lodge of An- tiquity in London. But it should also have been added that they are to be also found in the Library of the British Museum, among the Landsdowne MSS., which are a large collection of papers and letters that were collected by Lord Burleigh, who, in 1572, was Lord Treasurer of England, under Queen Elizabeth. These papers are known as the " Burleigh Papers ;;' and one of them, marked in the catalogue of the Landsdowne MSS. as No. 98, Article 48, is a curious legend of the origin of Freemasonry, which terminates with those Ancient Charges which I have cited on page 51. The " Ancient Charges at Makings1' are therefore certainly to be traced back as far as the middle of the sixteenth century, and it is T»-obable that they existed at a much earlier period
176 OF FELLOW CRAFTS.
is directed to take no Apprentice "for less ,/ian seven years f to take care, in the* admission of an Apprentice, " that he do his lord no prejudice f and to " instruct his Apprentice faithfully, and make him a perfect workman.77 And in the " Ancient Charges at Makings,77 it is implied that either a Master or Fellow may take an Apprentice.
These citations from the Ancient Regulations need not be extended. From them we may collect the facts, or at least the very probable suppositions, that in the very earliest history of the Order, the operative character predominating, the Fellow Crafts, under the designation of " Fellows,77 consti- tuted the main body of the fraternity, while the Masters were the superintendents of the work ; that at a later period, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, the speculative character pre- dominating, the Apprentices arose in dignity and became the body of the fraternity,"* while the Fel- low Crafts and Master Masons were intrusted with the offices ; and that still later, at some time in the course of the eighteenth century, which certainly was not very long after the year 1725, the Ap- prentices and Fellow Crafts descended into a sub- ordinate position, just such an one as the former
* Dr. Outer, in his " Dissertation on the State of Freemasonry in the Eighteenth Century," corroborates this view. He says : " Thus our brethren of the eighteenth century seldom advanced beyond the first degree. Few were passed, and still fewer were raised from their ' mossy bed.' The Mas- ter's degree appears to have been much less comprehensive than at present r and for some years after the revival of Masonry, the third degree was unap proachable to those who lived at a distance from London."
OF FELLOW CEAFTS. 177
class had originally occupied, and the Master Masons alone composed the body of the craft.
At the present day, Fellow Crafts possess no more rights and prerogatives than do Entered Ap- prentices. Preston, indeed, in his charge to a can- didate who has been passed to that degree, says that he is entitled in the meetings to express his " sentiments and opinions on such subjects as are regularly introduced in the lecture, under the super- intendence of an experienced Master, who will guard the landmark against encroachment." If this only means that in the course of instruction he may respectfully make suggestions for the purpose of eliciting further information, no one will, I pre- sume, be willing to deny such a privilege. But the traditional theory that Apprentices were not per- mitted to speak or vote, but that Fellow Crafts might exercise the former right, but not the latter, has no foundation in any positive law that I have been enabled to discover. I have never seen this prerogative of speaking assumed by a Fellow-Craft in this country, and doubt whether it would be per- mitted in any well regulated Lodge.
It was certainly the usage to permit both Appren- tices and Fellow Crafts to vote, as well as to speak, but there never was such a distinction as that al- luded to in the text. The Old Regulations of the Grand Lodge of England provided that " the Grand Master shall allow any Brother, a Fellow Craft, or Entered Prentice, to speak, directing his discourse to his worship in the chair ; or to make any motion
178 OF FELLOW CRAFTS.
for the good of the fraternity, which shall be either immediately considered; or else referred to the con- sideration of the Grand Lodge, at their next communication, stated or occasional." But this regu- lation has long since been abrogated.
Fellow Crafts formerly possessed the right of being elected Wardens of their Lodge * and even of being promoted to the elevated post of Grand Master,t although, of course — and the language of the Regulation implies the fact — a Fellow Craft who had been elected Grand Master, must, after his election, be invested with the Master's degree.
At the present day, Fellow Crafts possess no other rights than those of sitting in a Lodge of their degree, of applying for advancement, and of being tried by their peers for Masonic offences, with the necessary privilege of an appeal to the Grand Lodge. But, as in the exercise of these rights, all that has been said in the preceding chap- ter, as relating to Entered Apprentices, is equally applicable to Fellow Crafts, the discussion need not be repeated.
* " No Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellow Craft." — Charges of 1722. In the manner of constituting a new Lodge, aa practised by his Grace the Duke of Wharton, (Anderson's Const., first ed. p. 72,) it is said : " Then the Grand Master desires the new Master to enter immediately upon the exercise of his office, in chusing his Wardens ; and the new Master, calling forth two Fellow Craft, presents them to the Grand Master."
f " No Brother can be ... . Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow Craft before his election."— Charges of 1722.