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

276 FOURTEEN
FRANCE
was erased in 1740, and "No . 3" accepted a
"New Constitution" (now No . 12) and is
known as "Fortitude and Cumberland ."
The four original Lodges, after the issue of
the "Regulations" of 1723, simply enjoyed the
advantage of being ahead of all the Warrant
Lodges, the privilege of assembling by "Time
Immemorial Constitution," and the honor of
having established the first Grand Lodge in
the universe . (See Freemasonry, Early British
.)
Fourteen. It is only necessary to remind
the well-informed Mason of the fourteen days
of burial mentioned in the legend of the Third
Degree. Now, this period of fourteen was not
in the opinion of Masonic symbologists, an
arbitrary selection, but was intended to refer
to or symbolize the fourteen days of lunary
darkness, or decreasing light, which intervene
between the full moon and its continued decrease
until the end of the lunar month. In
the Egyptian mysteries, the body of Osiris
is said to have been cut into fourteen pieces by
Typhon, and thrown into the Nile . Plutarch
speaking of this in his treatise On Isis aru
Osiris, thus explains the symbolism of the
number fourteen, which comprises the Masonic
idea : "The body of Osiris was cut," says
Plutarch, "into fourteen pieces ; that is, into
as many parts as there are days between the
full moon and the new . This circumstance
has reference to the gradual diminution of the
lunary light during the fourteen days that
follow the full moon . The moon, at the end
of fourteen days, enters Taurus, and becomes
united to the sun, from whom she collects fire
upon her disk during the fourteen days which
follow . She is then found every month in
conjunction with him in the superior parts of
the signs. The equinoctial year finishes at
the moment when the sun and moon are found
united with Orion, or the star of Orus, a constellation
placed under Taurus, which unites
itself to the Neomenia of spring. The moon
renews herself in Taurus, and a few days afterward
is seen, in the form of a crescent, in the
following sign, that is, Gemini, the home of
Mercury. Then Orion, united to the sun in
the attitude of a formidable warrior precipitates
Scorpio, his rival, into the shades of
night ; for he sets every time Orion appears
above the horizon . The day becomes lengthened,
and the germs of evil are by degrees
destroyed . It is thus that the poet Nonnus
pictures to us Typhon conquered at the end
of winter, when the sun arrives in Taurus, and
when Orion mounts into the heavens with
him! )
France. The early history of Masonry in
France is, from the want of authentic documents,
in a state of much uncertainty . Moss,
in his Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Frankreich
(vol. i ., p . 14) says, in reference to the
introduction of Freemasonry into that kingdom,
that the earliest date of any certainty is
1725 . Yet he copies the statement of the
Sgeau Rompu--a work published in 1745-
that the earliest recognized date of its introduction
is 1718 ; and the Abb6 Robin says that
nothing of it is to be found farther back than
1720 .
Lalande, the great astronomer, was the author
of the article on Freemasonry in the
Encyclopedia Methodique, and his account has
been generally recognized as authentic by
succeeding writers. According to him, Lord
Derwentwater, the Chevalier Maskeleyne,
Mr. Heguetty, and some other Englishmen
(the names being corrupted, of course, according
to French usage), founded, in 1725, the
first Lodge in Paris . It was held at the house
of an English confectioner named Hure, in the
Rue de Boucheries . In ten years the number
of Lodges in Paris had increased to six, and
there were several also in the provincial towns .
As the first Paris Lodge had been opened
by Lord Derwentwater, he was regarded as
the Grand Master of the French Masons,
without any formal recognition on the part
of the brethern, at least until 1736, when the
six Lodges of Paris formally elected Lord
Harnouester as Provincial Grand Master* ;
in 1738, he was succeeded by the Duke
d'Antin ; and on the death of the Duke, in
1743, the Count de Clermont was elected to
supply his place .
Organized Freemasonry in France dates
its existence from this latter year . In 1735
the Lodges of Paris had petitioned the Grand
Lodge of England for the establishment of a
Provincial Grand Lodge, which, on political
grounds, had been refused . In 1743, however,
it was granted, and the Provincial
Grand Lodge of France was constituted under
the name of the "Grand Loge Anglaise de
France." The Grand Master, the Count de
Clermont, was, however, an inefficient officer ;
anarchy and confusion once more invaded the
Fraternity ; the authority of the Grand Lodge
was prostrated ; and the establishment of
Mother Lodges in the provinces, with the
original intention of superintending the proceedings
of the distant provincial Lodges, instead
of restoring harmony, as was vainly expected,
widened still more the breach . For,
assuming the rank and exercising the functions
of Grand Lodges, they ceased all correspondence
with the metropolitan body, and became
in fact its rivals .
Under these circumstances, the Grand
Lodge declared itself independent of England
in 1755, and assumed the title of the "Grande
Loge de France." It recognized only the three
degrees of Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master
Mason, and was composed of the Grand
Officers to be elected out of the body of the
Fraternity, and of the Masters for life of the
Parisian Lodges ; thus formally excluding the
provincial Lodges from any participation in
the government of the Craft .
But the proceedings of this body were not
less stormy than those of its predecessor .
The Count de Clermont appointed, in suc-
* Bro . R. F. Gould, in his Concise History of
Freemasonry (p . 355), considers that the name
" Harnouester " is probably a corruption of "Derwentwater,"