Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

100 BATON
BEAUSEANT
and Justice." The Congress appears to have
accomplished no practical result .
Baton . The truncheon or staff of a Grand
Marshal, and always carried by him in processions
as the ensign of his office . It is a
wooden rod about eighteen inches long . . In
the militaryuaaga of England, the baton of
the Earl Marshal was originally of wood, but
in the reign of Richard II . it was made of gold,
and delivered to him at his creation, a custom
which is still continued . In the patent or
commission granted by that monarch to the
Duke of Surrey the baton is minutely described
as "baculum aureum circa utramque
finem de nigro annulatum," a golden wand, having
black rings around each end-a description
that will very well suit for a Masonic baton .
Bats, Parliament of . The Parliament
which assembled in England in the year 1426,
during the minority of Henry VI., to settle
the disputes between the Duke of Gloucester,
the Regent, and the Bishop of Winchester,
the guardian of the young king's
person, and which was so called because the
members, being forbidden by the Duke of
Gloucester to wear swords, armed themselves
with clubs or bats . It has been stated by
Preston (Illustrations) that it was in this
Parliament that the Act forbidding Masons
to meet in Chapters or Congregations was
passed ; but this is erroneous, for that act
was passed in 1425 by the Parliament at
Westminster, while the Parliament of Bats
met at Leicester in 1426 . [E. L . H .]
(See Laborers, Statutes of.)
Battery. A given number of blows by the
gavels of the officers, or by the hands of the
Brethren, as a mark of approbation, admiration,
or reverence, and at times accompanied
by the acclamation.
Bavaria. Freemasonry was introduced
into Bavaria, from France, in 1737. The
meetings of the Lodges were suspended in
1784 by the reigning duke, Charles Theodore,
and the Act of suspension was renewed in 1799
and 1804 by Maximilian Joseph, the King of
Bavaria . The Order was subsequently revived
in 1812 and in 1817 . The Grand Lodge of
Bayreuth was constituted in 1811 under the
appellation of the "Grand Lodge zur Sonne ."
In 1868 a Masonic conference took place of
the Lodges under its jurisdiction, and a constitution
was adopted, which guarantees to
every confederated Lodge perfect freedom of
ritual and government, provided the Grand
Lodge finds these to be Masonic .
Bay-Tree. An evergreen plant, and a
symbol in Freemasonry of the immortal nature
of Truth. By the bay-tree thus referred
to in the ritual of the Companion of the Red
Cross, is meant the laurel, which, as an evergreen,
was among the ancients a symbol of
immortality. It is, therefore, properly compared
with truth, which Josephus makes Zerubbabel
say is "immortal and eternal."
Bazot, Etienne Frangols . A French Masonic
writer, born at Nievre, March 31, 1782 .
He published at Paris, in 1810, a Vocabulaire
des Francs-Masons, which was translated into
Italian, and in 1811 a Manuel du Franc-Mason
which is one of the most judicious works of
the kind published in France . He was also
the author of Morale de la Franc-Magonnerie,
and the Tuileur Expert des 33 degres, which is a
complement to his Manuel . Bazot was distinguished
for other literary writings on subjects
of general literature, such as two volumes of
Tales and Poems, A Eulogy on the Abbe de
1'Epee, and as the editor of the Biographie Nouvelle
des Contem~ poraires, in 20 volumes .
B . D . S. P . ld . G . F. In the French rituals
of the Knights of the East and West, these
letters are the initials of Beaute, Divinit6,
Sagesse, Puissance, Honneur, Gloire, Force,
which correspond to the letters of the English
rituals, B . D . W . P . H . G . S., which are the
initials of equivalent words .
Beadle. An officer in a Council of Knights
of the Holy Sepulcher, corresponding to the
Junior Deacon of a symbolic Lodge . The
beadle, bedellus (DuCange), is one, says Junius,
who proclaims and executes the will of
superior powers .
Beaton, Mrs . One of those fortunate females
who are said to have obtained possession
of the Masons' secrets. The following account
of her is given in A General History of
the County of Norfolk, published in 1829 (vol .
2, p . 1304) . Mrs. Beaton, who was a resident
of Norfolk, England, was commonly called the
Freemason, from the circumstance of her having
contrived to conceal herself, one evening,
in the wainscoting of a Lodge-room, where she
learned the secret-at the knowledge of which
thousands of her sex have in vain attempted
to arrive . She was, in many respects, a very
singular character, of which one proof adduced
is that the secret of the Freemasons died with
her . She died at St . John Maddermarket,
Norwich, July, 1802, aged eighty-five .
Beaucenifer . From Beauseant, and fero,
to carry. The officer among the old Knights
Templar whose duty it was to carry the Beauseant
in battle. The office is still retained in
some of the high degrees which are founded on
Templarism .
Beauchalne . The Chevalier Beauchaine
wasoneof the mostfanaticalof the irremovable
Masters of the Ancient Grand Lodge of
France . He had established his Lodge at the
"Golden Sun " an inn in the Rue St. Victor,
Paris, where he slept, and for six francs conferred
all the degrees of Freemasonry . On
August 17, 1747, he
organized the Order of
Fendeurs, or Woodcutters,
at Paris .
Beauseant . The
vexillum belli, or warbanner
of the ancient
Templars, which is also
used by the modern Masonic
Order . The upper
half of the banner was
black, and the lower half
white : black, to typify terror to foes, and white,
fairness to friends . It bore the pious inscription,
Non nobis, Domine non nobis, red nomini