CHAPTER V.

FREEMASONRY.
"Non canimua surdia respondent omnia dyvae." — Virg., Ed. x. 3. ( We aing not to dull ears ; the woods re-ecluo to each sound. )
It is very curious to find St Albans associated with the origin or first importation into England, in the third century, of Free- masonry, because, whether Bacon was a Eosicrucian or not, no Mason can read the ** New Atlantis," with its Solomon's Temple,^ College of the Six Day, and entire spirit of brotherly love, without being convinced he was a member (if no more) of the brotherhood. We cannot get over the fact, that a profound student of the origins of Freemasonry, like Nicolai, thought he was connected with the resuscitation of the Society in its modern form, which appears to have taken place about the beginning or middle of the seventeenth century. Therefore, it is a striking and extraordinary coincidence, or rather a hint for us to ponder over, that St Alban's Abbey presents, with its Protomartyrs' history, the cradle, if not the birthplace, of Masonry in England. Nay, more, the actual stones of Gorhambury House (called very curiously the Temple) were taken, together with the lime, from the ruins of the Abbey itself ! So that this house (built 1571), in which Bacon's youthful genius was nourished, to which he always returned, and which until 1603 he retained, was con- structed out of the stones which the " Hond Masons '' of King Offa erected to the memory of the good St Alban. Can ic be possible that the history of this newly built house could have been unknown to Bacon ; nay, did he not see the house growing
1 (* The origin of the Society called Freemasons is said by some to have been a certain number of persons who formed a resolation to rebuild the Temple of Solomon.'* — Oliver's *' Discrepancies."
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up under his own eyesi Bacon was bom in 1560-1561; — the new House completed in 1571.
Though bom at York Place, in the Strand, yet he was often enough at Gorhambury to realise the fact that a species of sacrilege was being perpetrated — ^the venerable Abbey robbed (although, it is true, it was quite a min) to erect his father's man- sion. The stones themselves were crying out in witness thereof — those stones (with their mysterious Mason's-marks) were round him, and it is hardly possible he could have been indifferent to their dumb history. We find the town arms of St Albans to be the cross of St Andrew, and we think it is highly probable that the English Masonry was imported first from Scotland. At any rate it will be interesting to Masons, for me to give them a few extracts, as to the early importance of St Albans, and its Abbey, from a Masonic point of view. It is our belief that Bacon was associated early in a movement to revivify or re- suscitate Freemasonry throughout Europe. Whether a Rosicru- cian or no matters littl& The Templars were the successors of the Knights of the Round Table, and the Bosicrucians appear to have been again affiliated with the Templars. The names change, the rites alter, the philosophy may be different, but the principles remain affiliating all these societies to Masonry, which is, in our judgment, the oral method of transmission of which Bacon hints in his works. We now proceed to give a few quota- tions, to establish the early associations of the Abbey with the craft, and which must have been familiar enough to the ubiquitous and profound mind of Bacon.
^* The original church built by King Offa in the eighth century was erected by him and the ' Hond Masons ' to the memory of St Alban, and that according to the Guild legends St Alban himself was intimately associated with the Masons. In these he is claimed as the patron of Freemasons. The earliest mention of St Alban in connection with masonry is to be found in the Prose Constitutions, among MSS. of the British Museum, of date 1425. There we read —
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* '' ^ And St Alban loved well Masons, and he gave them first their charges and manners first in England, and he ordained convenient times to pay for the travail.'
"This tradition is repeated and amplified in numerous other Guild legends. In the Lansdowne MS., A.D. 1560, we find « these words : —
'* ' St Alban was a worthy Knight and Steward of the King, his household, and had government of his realm, and also of the making of the walls of the said town, and he loved well masons, and cherished them much, and made their pay right good, for he gave them 8 and vid. a week and iiid. ; before that time all the land a mason took but one penny a day and his meat, till St Alban mended it^ and he gave them a charter of the King and his '' Councell," for to hold a general assembly, and gave it to name assembly.'
"In the Antiquity MS., of date 1686, is this further state-^^ ment —
" 'And he gott them a charter from the King and his " Counsell," to hold a general " Counsel!," and gave itt to name " Assemblie,'' thereat he was himself, and did help to make Masons and gave them charges as you shall heare afterwards.'
"The Prince of Wales, the Grand Master of the Order, and the Duke of Albany were among the subscribers to the pulpit, which was presented and unveiled with due ceremony on the 16th of July 1883, by the Provincial Grand Master of Hertford- shire, Brother T. F. Hakey, M.P. The sermon upon the occasion was preached by the Grand Chaplain of England, the Eev. W. Oswell Thompson, M.A., Vicar of Hemel Hempstead." (" Guide, Mason.")
The Abbey is particularly interesting to those who believe that Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare, for it is here we find the tomb of the ''Good Duke Humphrey," or Duke of Glou- cester, and it was here that the story repeated in the second part of Hmry the Sixth was inscribed.
" There was a Latin inscription to the memory of the ' Good
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Duke Humphrey/ on the east wall (now removed) of the aisle written by a master of the Grammar School in the seventeenth century. It contained an allusion to a religious fraud, practised by a man who pretended he had been miraculously restored to sight at the shrine of St Alban, and said to have been exposed by Duke Humphrey. Shakespeare describes the legend in the second part of Henry the Sixth, act the second, the scene being laid at St Albans — 'Enter a townsman of St Albans, crying, "A miraclel" * " (" Guide, Mason.")
It seems only natural that Bacon should have introduced this story in connection with the Duke in his play, but very un- natui^al for Shakespeare, a stranger, to bring in a curious episode of this sort. But there is plenty of subtle evidence of this kind.
" Enter a Townsman of St Alba7i\ crying * A miracle ! '
Glou. What means this noise ?
Fellow, what miracle dost thou proclaim ? Towns, A miracle ! a miracle I
Suf. Come to the king and tell him what miracle.
Towns. Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine,
Within this half -hour hath received his sight ;
A man that ne'er saw in his life before. King. Now, God be praised, that to believing souls
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair 1 "
How well acquainted the author is with the history of the Abbey — of its foundation, around the shrioe of St Alban, which was supposed to work miracles. How lovingly he lingers around it I
" Queen. Tell me, good fellow, earnest thou here by chance, Or of devotion, to this holy shrine ? Simp. God knows, of pure devotion : being call'd A hundred times and oftener, in my sleep By good St Alban ; who said, ' Simpcox, come. Come, offer at my shrine, and I will help thee.* "
If Shakespeare wrote the plays, he must have been very well acquainted with the Abbey and its history, and purposely have studied them from the guide books of the period. Probably he ran down from Saturday to Monday on the " Wonder " coach,
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and took notes. How familiar the author is with this Hertford- shire ! He makes Salisbury say (Henry VL, 2d part, sc. ii., act
ii)-
" Bat William of Hatfield died without an heir."
Hatfield is about five miles from St Albans. The name comes readily enough to Bacon's pen.
Alexander Lawrie (Sir George Brewer), in his "History of ^ Freemasonry" (published 1804, Edinburgh), writes : —
"It was probably about this time, also, that Freemasonry was introduced into England; but whether the English received it from the Scotch masons at Kilwinning, or from other brethren who had arrived from the Continent, there is no method of deter- mining. The fraternity in England, however, maintain that St Allan, the Proto-Martyr, was the first who brought masonry to Britain ; ^ that the brethren received a charter from King Athel- stane, and that his brother Edwin summoned all the lodges to meet at York, which formed the first Grand Lodge of England." >
With regard to Scotland, all the continental societies seem inclined to associate it with the origins of the craft. It is a trifle worthy of note that the arms of St Albans are a St Andrew's Gross.
Edward the Sixth by a charter dated the 12th of May 1553, ordained that —
" ' The late monastery of St Albans shall be called the parish church of the borough, for all the inhabitants within the late parish or chapelry of St Andrew,* and George Wetherall, clerk, was appointed first rector of the Church of St Alban, for the term of his natural life. Upon this charter being granted, a coat of arms was given to the borough — Azure, a saltire Or.
" A new charter, confirming the charter of Edward the Sixth, was granted by Queen Mary, dated the 10th of December 1553; and Queen Elizabeth, in a charter dated the 7th of February
^ About the end of the third centnry.
« A.D. 926. *• Preston's Illustration of Masonry," p. 148. Smith's "Use and Abuse of Free Masonry," p. 51. " Free Mason's Callendar," 1778.
H
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1559-60, confirmed both the former charters. On the 24th March 1569-70, the qaeen granted another charter at Gorham- bury, upon the petition of Sir Nicholas Bacon, knight, lord keeper." (" Guide, Mason.")
Curious coincidence, we find a St Andrew's Cross to be the arms of Johann Valentin, St Andreas (or St Andrew), who is supposed to be the founder of the Bosicrucians, but who, at any rate, was the putter out of the famous " Fama Fratemitatis, or Universal Eeformation addressed to the learned in Europe," 1614 ! This is what Mr Waite writes (" Real History of the Rosicrucians ") : —
" The * Chymical Marriage ' contains the following passage : — ' Hereupon I prepared myself for the way, put on my white linnen coat, girded my loyns, with a blood -red ribbon bound cross-ways over my shoulder : In my hat I stuck /our roses.* Elsewhere, he describes himself as a ' brother of the Bed-Eosie Cross,' and a * Knight of the Golden Stone ' — eques aurei lapidas.
'' Now, the armorial bearings of the family of Andreas contain a St Andrew's Cross with four roses, one in each of its angles, which interesting piece of internal evidence indicates the author- ship of this romance independently of the autobiographical state- ment, and points irresistibly, it is said, to the conclusion that the founder of the Rose-Cross Society was the man whose heraldic device was also the Rose and Cross."
From this fact De Quincey concludes that Andrea was the real author. Now, although we know the emblem of the Rosi- crucians was not a St Andrew's Cross, yet it seems possible he adopted his arms from the passage quoted above in ''The Chymical Marriage." Were the arms of Andrea and of his family always a St Andrew's Cross ? ^ Can anyone throw light upon these matters 1 It seems rather suspicious to find a native of Wirtemberg, in the early part of the seventeenth century, bearing the name Andreas or Andrew, and at the same
^ It seems to iia that these arms of St Andrew, — the cross and foar roses, — give us a profound hint as to the £nglish and Scotch origins of the Rosicrucian manifestoes.
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time St Andrew's arms — taking us to Scotland, where particularly the Templars, who were the true predecessors of Eosicrucianism and Freemasonry, are to be found so abundantly.^ But here is another suspicious fact De Quincey maintains Andreas to have been the author of the ^^ Fama^ How is it, then, that the " Universal Eef ormation " (the iSrst of the three works) " was borrowed from the *Generale Riforma delP Universo dai sette Savii della Grecia e da altri Letterati, publicata di ordine di Apollo,' which occurs in the " Raggtuigli di Famasso " of Boccalini, which was published 1612 at Venice, and in 1615 at Milan") This is the curious part: that this "Universal Reformation" is found to be published in several different countries at the same time. '^ The earliest edition of these works which I have seen is that of 1614, printed at Cassel, in octavo, which is in the Wolfenbiittel library ; but in this the ' Confessio ' is wanting. From a passage in this edition, it appears that the ' Farna Fraternitatis ' had been received in the Tyrol as early as 1610, in manuscript, as the passage alleges ; but the words seem to imply that printed copies were in existence even before 1610. In the year 1615 appeared 'Secretions Philosophise Consideratio k Philippe k Gabella, Philosophise studioso, conscripta ; et nunc primum wak cum Con- fessione Fraternitatis Eos. Grucis in lucem edita. Gassellis: excud G. Wesselius, A. 1615.' In the very same year, at Frankfurt-on-the-Mayne, was printed by John Bemer, an edition of all the three works — the * Confessio^ iu a German translation. In this year also appeared a Dutch translation of all three, a copy of which is in the Gbttingen library."
Italy is the country where, it appears to us, the inception of the borrowed idea commences, at Venice, with Boccalini's work. We here again call notice to the suspicious wanderings of Anthony Bacon upon the Continent /or deven years, not for amusement only,
1 "We are informed by the Supreme Council of Charleston, Amerioa — where high-grade Masonry was introduced in 1767 — that, '* Knight of St Andrew '* is one of the old names of the Rose Croix." — Yarker's " Mysteries of Antiquity."
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we may be sure. We find him a long time at Venice. He is later on in France, at Bourdeaux, intimate with Montaigne. Was he his brother's propagandist 1 That a movement of the extent produced by the " Universal Reformation " should have been the freak of a youthful genius, which is De Quincey's argument, is absurd ! De Quincey concludes from the passage in the " Chymical Marriage of Father Bosycross " that Andrew was the real author, because his arms are a St Andrew's Cross ! There is something curious in this coincidence, but the suspicion left is that he was not the author of the " Fama" For he denied it utterly, and terms himself a sort of spectator in a theatre.
It is Truth (dk Alethia) who is speaking: '^Planissime nihil cum hac Fraternitate (sc. Eos. Crucis) commune habeo. Nam, c&m pauUo ante lusum quendam ingeniosiorem personatus aliquis in literario foro agere vellet, — nihil mota sum libelis inter se conflictantibus ; sed velut in scena prodeuntes histriones non sine voluptate spectavi."
The fact that he published two or three pamphlets to allay the excitement, and deny the society, of which he is the supposed vehicle, is proof enough against him. The extract bears the evidence of truth. What are we to think of an author who denies his own works 1 But the vitality, width, profundity, and real nature of the Eosicrucian body is revealed in many ways. And here is a remarkable fact, which it is very good for us to ponder over again and again. It is this : Rosycrucianism begins its campaign ostensibly on the Continent, — in Italy first, then Germany, then Holland, lastly France, 1623, — but in none of these countries does it take root. The only place where it takes root is in England ; and this is, we believe, a strong proof of its origin. This De Quincey himself points out : '' And hence it has happened that, whatever numbers there may have been of indi- vidual mystics calling themselves Eosicrucians, no collective body of Eosicrucians acting in conjunction, was ever matured and actually established in Germany. In England, the case was difierent : for there, as I shall show, the order still subsists under
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another name " (" Works," vol. xvL p. 404.) So that the country >t supposed to have produced the author and founder of the society, produces no fruit. But the root and the fruit, are intimately connected — and they are both to be found in England. That Andrea was nothing but a " merry Andrew," or puppet of some others, is writ large. That the noise, stir, and final taking root of the Society, should have emanated from a man who denies and repudiates his own writings is absurd. Or that for fifteen years, a mere pamphlet, or a few manifestoes, should have at periods agitated the learned in Europe, requires no apology. The fact that it produced men like Fludd, Boehmen, and their works, answers the question as to its originality, thoroughness, depth, and reality. The present revival of interest in the subject (which we see manifested in the literature of the age), is, if we follow De Quincey's arguments, the result of a young man of genius' freaks ! As if the rooted interest in the Society, which men like Lord Lytton have shown, should be grounded on a myth!
Now, we quite agree with De Quincey, when he says, " that Free-masonry is neither more nor less than Eosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted it into England." This we think highly probable. It is as well we should reserve the term " modified," because of the existence of Masonry, under other names, or secret societies, and going back centuries, there can be no manner of question or doubt. What are better than written records, are the Masons' own records, the language of their secret marks, of their architecture, of their allegories in leaf and flower, of their own temples. Let anybody in doubt of this, visit (for example), Rosslyn Chapel, Mid-Lothian, within easy distance from Edinburgh. He will there light upon a Masonic Temple, dating from the year 1446 for its inception. Here is the cradle of Scotch Masonry, if not of something deeper still. He will behold pin- nacles in pyramid form, buttresses carved with the sunflower, he will see the rose on the keystone of the east window, the stars of Heaven on the roof of the west compartment, with the
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sun and Creator in the act of blessing. He will behold the Apprentice's pillar, with a history which repeats itself in the lodge. He will see allegories in stone of the Dance of Death, and of many medisBval legenda There are as many as twenty- three masons' signs engraved on the stones. The predominant ornaments are the Fleur-de-Lis, the Bose, and the Sanflower. Upon the roof of the aisles is the engrailed cross of the founders, the St Clairs, once hereditary Grand Masters of Scotch Masonry. It is one of the most beautiful, and exquisite temples, of Masonic, Templar, and Eosicrucian symbolism in the world, associated with wonderful legend and real romance. Beneath the flagstones, lie buried twelve barons of the Rosslyn family, laid all in their armour, as Sir Walter Scott tells us.
One of the family was Sir William St Clair, who was the warrior friend of King Robert Bruce, and Sir James Douglas, and joined the latter on his celebrated expedition to convey the King's heart to the Holy Land. So that they were Templars in the right good old fashioned way of going to their own Jeru- salem. John Eobison, in his " Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Beligions and Government of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati," &c. (1797), writes as follows : —
"When the Order of Knights Templars was abolished by Philip the Fair, and cruelly persecuted, some worthy persons escaped, and took refuge in the Highlands of Scotland, where they concealed themselves in caves. These persons possessed the true secrets of Masonry, which had always been in that Order, having been acquired by the Knights, during their services in the East, from the pilgrims whom they occasionally protected or delivered. The Chevaliers de la Rose-Croix continued to have the same duties as formerly, though robbed of their emoluments. In fine, every true Mason is a Knight Templar."
Now, what really is interesting in Bosslyn Chapel and its neighbourhood, is, that we know Ben Jonson, the friend of Bacon and Shakespeare, made a journey on foot down to Hawthomden,
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to visit the poet William Drummond, and that he stayed with him three weeks. Hawthomden is but a mile from Kosslyn Chapel. And Kilwinning, though considered the fount of Scotch Masonry, is so connected with the St Glairs of Itosslyn, as to cause us rather to look for the real origins of Masonry in Scot- land to the annals of this famous family of Eosslyn. There is no question in our own minds, that the history of Scottish Masonry circles around this centre. And as they were Templars, everything connected with them is interesting. Billings, in his *' Baronial Antiquities,'' remarks — " An authentic history of this remarkable family might throw some light upon the history of Masonry."