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

FANATICISM
FELLOW-CRAFT 261
ness of so delicate a nature that it is found
necessary to exclude, during the session, the
presence of all except members. In France a
Lodge when so meeting is said to be en
famille, and the meeting is called a tenue de
famille or family session ; in Germany such
Lodges are called, sometimes, Familien-
Logen but more generally Conferenz-Logen.
(See conference Lodges .)
Fanaticism . The English interpretation
of the name of the second assassin of the G .
Master, or mankind . The frenzy that overbalances
the mind . The Gravelot or Romvel
of philosophical Masonry .
Fanor. The name given to the Syrian
Mason, who is represented in some legends
as one of the assassins . Amru and Metusael
being the other two .
Fasces. The bundle of rods borne before
the Roman magistrates as an ensign of their
authority. In French Masonry, faisceau, or
farces, is used to denote a number of speeches
or records tied up in a roll and deposited in
the archives.
Favorite of Solomon. The Seventh Degree,
3d division, of the system of the Chapter
of the High Degrees of Stockholm . (Thory,
Aeta Lat., i, 313 .)
Favorite Brother of St. Andrew. The
Ninth Degree of the Swedish Rite .
Favorite Brother of St . John . The
Eighth Degree of the Swedish Rite .
Feast . The convocation of the Craft together
at an annual feast, for the laudable
purpose of promoting social feelings, and
cementing the bonds of brotherly love by the
interchange of courtesies, is a time-honored
custom, which is unfortunately growin~ into
disuse. The "Assembly and Feast' are
words constantly conjoined in the Book of
Constitutions . At this meeting, no business
of any kind, except the installation of officers,
was transacted, and the day was passed in
innocent festivity. The election of officers
always took place at a previous meeting, in
obedience to a regulation adopted by the
Grand Lodge of England, in 1720, as follows :
"It was agreed, in order to avoid disputes on
the annual feast-day, that the new Grand
Master for the future shall be named and
proposed to the Grand Lodge some time before
the feast ." (Constitutions, 1738, p . 111 .)
Feasts of the Order . The festivals of St .
John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist,
June 24th and December 27th, are so called .
Feeling . One of the five human senses, and
esteemed by Masons above all the others . For
as Anthony Brewer, an old dramatist, says :
" Though one hear, and see, and smell, and taste,
If he wants touch, he is counted but a block."
Fees of Honor. In the Grand Lodge of
England every Grand Officer, on his election
or reelection, is required to pay a sum of
money, varying from two to twenty guineas .
The sums thus paid for honors bestowed are
technically called "fees of honor ." A similar
custom prevails in the Grand Lodges of Ireland
and Scotland ; but the usage is unknown
in America .
Feix-Feax . A word signifying School of
Thought, which is found in the First Degree
of the French Adoptive Rite .
Felicity, Order of. An androgynous
secret society, founded in 1743, at Paris, by
M . Chambonnet . It was among the first of
the pseudo-Masonic associations, or coteries,
invented by French Masons to gratify the
curiosity and to secure the support of women .
It had a ritual and a vocabulary which were
nautical in their character, and there was a
rather too free indulgence in the latitude of
gallantry . • It consisted of four degrees,
Cabin Boy, Master Commodore, and Vice
Admiral. The chic? of the order was called
Admiral, and this position was of course occupied
by M . Chambonnet, the inventer of
the system . (Clavel, Historie Pittoresque, p .
111 .)
Feld Loge. What is designated in England
and America as a Military or Traveling
Lodge is called in Germany a Feld Loge.
Sometimes, "ein ambulante Loge ."
Fellow. The Saxon word for fellow is
felaw . Spelman derives it from two words,
fe and loy, which signifies bound in mutual
trust; a plausible derivation, and not . unsuited
to the meaning of the word . But Hicks
gives a better etymology when he derives it
from the Anglo-Saxon folgian, "to follow,"
and thus a fellow would he a follower a companion,
an associate . In the Middle Ages,
the Operative Masons were divided into
Masters and Fellows . Thus in the Harleian
MS., No . 2054, it is said : "Now I will reherse
other charges in singular for Maisters &
fellowes" Those who were of greater skill
held a higher position and were designated as
Masters, while the masses of the fraternity
the commonalty, as we might say, were called
Fellows . In the Matthew Cooke MS . this
principle is very plainly laid down . There
it is written that Euclid "ordained that they
who were passing of cunning should be passing
honored, and commanded to call the cunninger
Master . . . and commanded that
they that were less of wit should not be called
servant nor subject, but Fellow, for nobility
of their gentle blood ." (Lines 675-688 .)
From this custom has originated the modern
title of Fellow-Craft, given to the Second Degree
of Speculative Masonry ; although not
long after the revival of 1717 the Fellows
ceased to constitute the main body of the
Fraternity, the Masters having taken and still
holding that position .
Fellow-Craft . The Second Degree of
Freemasonry in all the Rites is that of the
Fellow-Craft. In French it is called Compagnon;
in Spanish, Compaftero; in Italian,
Compagno; and in German, Gesell; in all of
which the radical meaning of the word is a
fellow workman, thus showing the origin of
the title from an operative institution . Like
the Degree of Apprentice, it is only preparatory
in the higher initiation of the Master ;
and yet it differs essentially from it in its symbolism
. For, as the First Degree was typical
of youth, the Second is supposed to represent