Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

consistent dwindling of lodge funds caused by the failure of members to pay
entrance fees and dues. 139 Any disagreements, however, were largely internal
and seldom made public, and disputes were also quickly settled by the lodges
without interference from other masonic bodies such as the Grand Lodge of
Scotland. This was imperative, as any disruption could potentially jeopardize
lodge stability and hinder its ability to provide – in the case of operative lodges
– employment for its members.
Rules and regulations often prevented conflict and were largely
determined by lodge composition. The fact that most English lodges were
speculative and embraced Newtonianism precluded the admission of
operatives. 140 Although English freemasons “extolled the moral values
enshrined in masonic symbolism,” they usually “had little or no interest in going
slumming by actually associating with working men.” 141 In general, they were
concerned with the quest for order and harmony, social exclusivity, religious
tradition, and placed great emphasis on “decorum and civility.” 142
Societies that emphasized manners and etiquette were influential and
popular in early eighteenth-century England. In 1701, Sir Francis Grant
published A Brief Account Of The Nation, Rise, and Progress, of The Societies,
139 No. 3 Scoon & Perth Lodge Minutes, 2 June 1729:”…the Members that are absent at this
quarterly Meeting and the former on the third Day of March are to Give In their excuse next
meeting quarterly or to be liable to the Masters Determination of their fine and otherways as the
Master pleases.” The lodge also recorded that on 3 March 1740, the members “Conveend with
the Master the other members” and drew up a “Roll of the whole members of the Lodge in order
to know who are deficient in their annual payments.”
140 Jacob, Radical Enlightenment, 109. Jacob argues that “by the 1720s, the membership lists of
various London lodges were heavily bourgeois, although many lodges did include, and indeed
sought out, aristocratic leadership,” 116.
141 Stevenson, Origins, 216.
142 Ibid.
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