in treating the seal of the "Arms of Masonry" as the counter seal of the Grand Chapter, as it is distinctly stated in the inventory of 1779 to be that of the Grand Lodge. I believe we owe to Mr W. H. Rylands the correct arrangement of the seals at York.

Colonel Shadwell Clerke, Grand Secretary, has kindly placed at my disposal impressions of the seals preserved at Grand Lodge. Of these, the more important will be found engraved with those from York. In order to distinguish the seals of the two Grand Lodges of England, the title "Atholl" has been used in one case. It may be pointed out that the arms used by "The Grand Lodge of Masons," as it is styled on the seal (No. 2), are those granted to the Masons' Company, with the colours changed, the addition of beavers as supporters, and with a bird assumed to be intended for a dove, but here more nearly resembling a falcon, substituted for the original crest of a towered castle. The other Grand Lodge, called on the seal (No. 6) "of Free and Accepted Masons," bears the arms as given by Dermott in 1764, and called the "Arms of Masonry" in the York Inventory of 1779. Of the two coloured plates very little need be said, as the inscriptions, like those of the seals, sufficiently describe what they represent. They include reduced copies of the arms as given in the grants to the Masons' and Carpenters' Companies in the fifteenth century,-of the Marblers, Freemasons (the towers being in this instance gold), and the Bricklayers and Tilers, as painted upon the Gateshead Charter of 1671. The date circa 1680, of the panel in the possession of Mr Rylands, is, in the opinion of some antiquaries, the earliest to which it may be attributed; most probably the blue of the field in the first and third quarters has perished. For a careful coloured drawing of the banner already referred to, I am indebted to Mr Joseph Todd, who has most willingly placed at my disposal in this as in other matters all the information of which he is in possession. As this banner is mentioned in the Inventories of January 1, 1776, and September 15, 1779, it must have been for some little time in the possession of the Lodge at York, otherwise it could not be the same as that mentioned in the minutes. under December 27, 1779, then said to be presented by Bro. William Siddall.

The arms of the Stonemasons of Strassburg from the seal circa 1725, is coloured according to the description given by Heideloff; and in the case of those of the Nurenberg, also loosely described by the same author, Mr W. H. Rylands is of opinion that the description is perhaps to be understood,-following a usual custom in heraldry, that the arms and colours were the same as those of Strassburg, only "with this difference, it is the bend that is red," that is to say, the colours were simply reversed for distinction. The arms of the city of Cologne are given for comparison with those from the seal of the Masons of that city, found on the Charter, dated 1396. No colours are to be noticed on the original seal, which appears with others of the same class on a plate in an earlier portion of this work. In a most courteous reply to a request made by Mr Rylands for help in the matter, Dr Höhlbaum, Stadtarchivar of Cologne, although he agreed that the colours were most probably based on those in the arms of the city, was unfortunately unable to give any definite information on the subject. These colours have been followed in the plate. The three coronets on an azure field, were the arms borne by the Grand Lodge of all England-" Prince Edwin's arms". and are therefore the same as those given on the York Seals.

CHAPTER XIX.

HISTORY OF THE GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND "ACCORDING TO OLD INSTITUTIONS."

HE Minutes of that Schismatic body, commonly, but erroneously, termed the "Ancient Masons," commence in the following manner:

"TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

GRAND COMMITTEE OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONORABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.

At the Griffin Tavern in Holborn, London, Feb. 5th, 1752. Mr HAGARTY IN THE CHAIR. Also present the Officers of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, being the Representatives of all the Ancient Masons in and adjacent to London. Brother John Morgan, Grand Secretary, Informed the Committee that he being lately appointed to an office on board one of His Majesty's ships, he recd. orders to prepare for his departure, and therefore advised the Grand Committee to chose a new Secretary immediately.

Upon which Bro. John Morris, past Master of No. 5, and Bro. Laurence Dermott of Nos. 9 and 10, and past Master No. 26, in Dublin, were proposed and admitted as candidates for the office of Grand Secretary, and Grand Secretary Morgan was ordered to examine the Candidates separately, and report his opinion of their Qualifications.

After a long and minute Examination, relative to Initiation, passing, Instalations, and General Regulations, etc., Bro. Morgan declared that Bro. Laurence Dermott was duly qualified for the Office of Grand Secretary.

Whereon, the Worshipful Master in the Chair put up the Names of John Morris and Laurence Dermott, seperately, when the latter was Unanimously chosen Grand Secretary; and accordingly he was installed (in the Ancient Manner) by the Worshipful Mr James Hagarty, Master of No. 4, then presiding officer, assisted by Mr John Morgan, late Grand Secretary, and the Masters present.

After which Bro. Morgan (at the request of the president) proclaimed the new Grand Secretary thrice, according to ancient custom, upon which the new Secretary received the

1 "The above Mr James Hagarty is a painter, and lives now (1752) in Leather Lane, London " [Note in Original].

usual salutes, and then the President and late Grand Secretary, John Morgan, delivered the books, etc., into the hands of the new Secretary, Upon certain conditions which was agreed by all parties, and which conditions the said Worshipful Bro. James Hagarty can explain.1

The Grand Committee unanimously joined in wishing Bro. Morgan Health and a successful voyage, and then closed with the Greatest Harmony. Having adjourned to Wednesday, the fourth of March next."

Of Laurence Dermott, the first Grand Secretary of the Seceders, it may be said, without erring on the side of panegyric, that he was the most remarkable Mason that ever existed. "As a polemic," observes a judicious writer, "he was sarcastic, bitter, uncompromising, and not altogether sincere or veracious. But in intellectual attainments he was inferior to none of his adversaries, and in a philosophical appreciation of the character of the Masonic Institution, he was in advance of the spirit of his age."2 Yet although a very unscrupulous writer, he was a matchless administrator. In the former capacity he was the embodiment of the maxim, “de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace," but in the latter, he displayed qualities which we find united in no other member of the Craft, who came either before or after him.

As Grand Secretary, and later as Deputy Grand Master, he was simply the life and soul of the body with which he was so closely associated. He was also its historian, and to the influence of his writings, must be attributed, in a great measure, the marvellous success of the Schism.

The epithets of "Ancient" and "Modern" applied by Dermott to the usages of his own and of the older Society respectively, produced a really wonderful result. The antithesis at once caught the public ear, and what is perhaps the strangest fact connected with the whole affair, the terms soon passed into general use, among the brethren under both Grand Lodges. The senior of these bodies, it is true, occasionally protested against the employment of expressions, which implied a relative inferiority on the part of its own members, but the epithets stuck, and we constantly meet with them in the minute-books of lodges under the older system, where they were apparently used without any sense of impropriety.5

The memoirs of Laurence Dermott, for the most part inscribed by his own hand, are given us in the records of the "Ancients." By this I do not mean that we have there his autobiography, but the personality of the man was so marked, that with brief exceptions from the time the minutes commence, down to the date of his last appearance in Grand Lodge, the history of that body is very largely composed of personal incidents in the career of its Secretary and Deputy Grand Master.

Some curious anecdotes may be gleaned from these old records; and if Warburton's dictum be sound, who set more value on one material historical anecdote, than on twenty new

1 "Be it Remembered that Mr John Morgan, late Grand Secretary, had a certain claim on the Manuscripts here said to be delivered to Laurence Dermott. Which claim was acknowledged by the Gd. Committee as good and lawful, and for that and other Good Reason which cannot be committed to writing. The Worshipful Grand Committee did agree with Brother John Morgan, late Grand Secretary, that the new Secretary, Lau. Dermott, should be solemnly bound never to deliver the said Manuscript (viz., a Large folio bound in White Vellum) to any person, But him the said John Morgan or his order in writing” [Ibid.].

2 Mackey, Encyclopædia of Freemasonry, s. v.

3 Ante, p. 287, note 2.

Post, pp. 444, note 2; 462, 463; and see "The Four Old Lodges," p. 35.

Ante, pp. 397, 426.

hypotheses in Philosophy, or a hundred good criticisms-we cannot do better than trace the fortunes of Laurence Dermott, under the guidance of his own hand.

But before entering upon this task, a few preliminary words are essential. Laurence Dermott was born in Ireland, 1720; initiated into Masonry, 1740; installed as Master of No. 26,1 Dublin, June 24, 1746; and in the same year became a Royal Arch Mason. Shortly after this, he came to England; and in 1748, joined a lodge under the regular establishment, but had shifted his allegiance, and become a member of Nos. 9 and 10, on the Roll of the Schismatics, when elected Grand Secretary by the latter, February 5, 1752. This office he laid down in 1771; and on March 27, that year, was appointed Deputy Grand Master, being succeeded, at his own request, by William Dickey, December 1777. He was again "Deputy" from December 27, 1783, until the recurrence of the same festival in 1787, when-also at his own request—he was succeeded by James Perry. His last attendance at Grand Lodge occurred June 3, 1789, and he died in June 1791.2 There is no allusion to his death in the " Atholl " Records; and the only one I have met with in those of other Masonic jurisdictions, is the following: "June 4, 1792. Resolved, that in order to show the just regard and respect of this Grand Lodge for our late Bro. Laurence Dermott, the patron and founder thereof, it be recommended to every member of this Grand Lodge to appear on St John's Day next, with Aprons bordered with black or other marks of mourning." "3

Dermott-who, the Minutes of July 13, 1753, inform us, "was obliged to work twelve hours in the day, for the Master Painter who employed him"-in all probability owed his appointment as Grand Secretary to the influence of James Hagarty, in whose employment it is very possible he was at the time.

As time advanced, his circumstances in life improved, for in 1764, the officers of No. 31 offered to become his security to the amount of £1000, if he was chosen Grand Treasurer; in 1766, he was able to subscribe £5 towards the relief of a brother in Newgate; in 1767, he “made a volluntary gift of the Grand Master's Throne, compleat, which cost in the whole, £34;" and in 1768, he is described in the records as a Wine Merchant.

His attainments were of no mean order. The Minutes of the Steward's Lodge-March 21, 1764—informs us that, an “ Arabian Mason having petitioned for relief, the Grand Secretary conversed with him in the Hebrew language," after which, he was voted £1, 1s. Of Latin, he possessed at least a smattering, for when Grand Master Matthew, on being asked by him to name the text for a sermon-June 12, 1767-replied, "In principio erat sermo ille et sermo ille erat apud Deum erat que ille sermo Deus "—the Secretary at once made a bow and said, "Fungor officio meo."

Of his conscientiousness in the performance of his duties, the following affords a good illustration:

"March 19, 1766. N.B. The Grand Secretary was fined for swearing an oath, which fine he paid immediately; and was ordered to withdraw, during which time the Steward's Lodge order'd that the G. S. should be excused, and that the fine shou'd not be inserted among the

1 According to the "Pocket Companion for Freemasons," Dublin, 1735, the Lodge, No. 26, then met at "the Eagle Tavern on Cork Hill."

I derive this date from "Notes on Lau. Dermott and his Work," 1884, by W. M. Bywater, P. M. (and historian) of the "Royal Athelstan ” Lodge, No. 19, p. 57.

3 Early History and Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Pt. ii., 1878, p. 119.