ced into Bohemia, and eagerly embraced by all the distinguished characters in the city of Prague. They call themselves Scotish masons, and are remarkably inquisitive into the characters of those whom they admit into the order. On this account they perform, with punctuality, those duties which they owe to their brethren of the order, as is strikingly exemplified in the following story. A Scotish gentleman, in the Prussian service, was taken prisoner at the battle of Lutzen, and was conveyed to Prague, along with four hundred of his companions in arms; as soon as it was known that he was a mason, he was released from confinement; he was invited to the tables of the most distinguished citizens; and requested to consider himself as a Free Mason, and not as a prisoner of war. About three months after the engagement, an exchange of prisoners took place, and the Scotish officer was presented, by the fraternity, with a purse of sixty ducats, to defray the expences of his journey*.

THE persecutions which Free Masonry encountered were hitherto confined to the continent. The tide of religious frenzy, however, now rolled

* Several striking and curious instances of the extensive benevolence of Free Masons may be seen in Smith's Use and Abuse of Free Masonry, pp. 374, 377, 378, &c.

rolled to the shores of Britain. In the year 1745, the Associate Synod, consisting of a few bigotted dissenters, attempted to disturb the peace of the fraternity; and had they been possessed of half the power of the church of Rome, or the council of Berne, their proceedings, prompted by equal fanaticism, would have been marked with the same severity; but, fortunately for the order, their power extended only to the spiritual concerns of those delinquents, who were of the same sect with themselves. In the beginning of the year 1745, an overture was laid before the synod of Stirling, stating, that many improper things were performed at the initiation of masons, and requesting that the synod would consider, whether or not the members of that order were entitled to partake in the ordinances of religion. The synod remitted this overture to all the kirk-sessions under their inspection, allowing them to act as they thought proper. In 1755, however, they appointed all their kirk-sessions to examine every person who was suspected to be a Free Mason, and to demand an explicit answer to any question which they might ask, concerning the administration of the mason oath. In the course of these examinations, the kirk-session discovered, (for they seem hitherto to have been ignorant of it) that men, who were not architects, were admitted into the order. On this account the synod, in the year 1757, thought it necessary to adopt stricter measures. They drew up a list of fool

ish questions, which they appointed every kirksession to put to those under their charge. These questions related to what they thought were the ceremonies of Free Masonry; and those who refused to answer them were debarred from religious ordinances. The object of these proceedings was not, certainly, as is pretended, to make the abettors of the Associate Synod more holy and upright, by detaching them from the fraternity. This could have been effected without that species of examination which they authorised. The church of Rome were contented with dispersing the fraternity, and receiving its repentant members into their communion. The council of Berne went no farther than abolishing the society, and compelling the brethren to renounce their engagements, lest these should be inconsistent with the duties of citizens. But a synod of Scotish dissenters, who cannot imitate, in these points, the church of Rome, and the council of Berne, must, forsooth, outstrip them in another. They must compel the Free Masons of their congregation to give them an account of those mysteries and ceremonies, which their avarice and fear hinder them from obtaining by regular initiation. And what, pray, becomes of those perjured men from whom such information is obtained? They are promissed admission into the ordinances of religion, as if they were now purified beings, from whom something worse than a demoniac had

been

been ejected. The criminality, may we not say, the villany of such proceedings, should be held up to the ridicule and detestation of the public *.

NOTWITHSTANDING these persecutions, Free Masonry flourished, and was in the highest estimation in Great Britain, France, Germany, and several other kingdoms of Europe. In 1743, it was exported from Scotland to Denmark; and the lodge which was then instituted is now the Grand Lodge of that kingdom. The same prosperity has attended the first lodge in Sweden, which was erected at Stockholm in 1754, under a patent from Scotland. In 1765, a splendid apartment was erected at Marseilles, for the accommodation of the brethren. It was adorned with the finest paintings, representing the most interesting scenes that occur in the history of the Old and New Testament, and calculated to remind the spectator of his various duties as a man, a subject, and a Christian. The representation of Joseph and his brethren, of the Samaritan and Jew, of Lot and the Angels, must have reminded every brother of the beauty of charity

It is remarkable that the Grand Lodge of Scotland did not deign to take the smallest notice of these proceedings. A paper, however, entitled An Impartial Examination of the Act of the Associate Synod, written with great humour, and acuteness of reasoning, appeared in the Edinburgh Magazine for 1757. The Act of the Associate Synod was published in the Scots Magazine for the same year.

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charity and forgiveness, which are the first principles of masonry, as they are the first duties of man. The picture of Peter and the Apostles paying tribute to Cæsar, must have recalled to every individual his obligations as a citizen, to revere and support the constituted authorities. And the representation of Job in his misfortunes, lifting up his hands to Heaven, must have forced upon the minds of the most inconsiderate, this important reflection-that fortitude and resignation to the will of God are the duties of all in distress, and that the Divine blessing will ultimately attend those who bear, without murmuring, the chastisements of their father, and preserve, amidst the severest trials, their patience and virtue unimpaired*. These observations, apparently trifling, are important in one respect, as they show that the French lodges had not at that time fostered in their bosom the votaries of scepticism and disloyalty. The other lodges in France were at this time numerous and magnificent. The Grand Lodge contained about twenty offices, which were all filled by noblemen of the highest rank. They had provincial Grand-Masters similar to those of Scotland, and the insignia and jewels of all those office-bearers, were as rich and splendid as the lodges where they assembled.

In the year 1767, a lodge, under an English constitution,

* For a farther account of this building, see Smith's Use and Abuse of Free Masonry, p. 165.