Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

OF TREE MASONRY. 315
ry splendid lodge at Liege, of which the Prince Bishop, his
Trefonciers, and the chief noblesse of the state, were members.
I visited the French lodges at Valenciennes, at Brussels,
at Atx-la-Chapelle, at Berlin, and Koningsberg; and I
had picked up some printed discourses delivered by the
brother orators of the lodges. At St Petersburgh I connected
myself with the English lodge, and occasionally visited
the German and Russian lodges held there. I found
myself received with particular respect as a Scotch Mason,
and as an Elev£ of the Lodge de la Parfatie Intelligence
at Liege.* I was importuned by persons of the first rank to
pursue my masonic career through many degrees unknown
in this country. But all the splendour and elegance that I
saw, could not conceal a frivolity in every part. It appeared
a baseless fabric, and I could not think of engaging in
an occupation which would consume much time, cost me
a good deal of money, and perhaps excite in me some of
that fanaticism, or, at least, enthusiasm, that I saw in
others, and perceived to be void of any rational support. I
* In 1774, Professor Robison was invited by the magistrates of Edinburgh
to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy, in the University of
Edinburgh. In 1786, he was elected a member of the Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia, over which Mr. Jefferson long presided. In 1797, he
was elected a member of the Royal Society of Manchester. In 1799, the
University of Glasgow, where he had received his education, conferred on
him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1800, he was unanimously
elected a foreign member (of which they admit but six) of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, Russia.
14 His character in private life," says one writing from Edinburgh, " is so
well established among those who know him best, that it would be ridiculous,
here, to call in question hit veracity or abUUitt. n —E. Smith.
His work, first published in the autumn of 1797, produced a powerful
effect in Britain, and was a principal cause of the act of Parliament of 1799,
.which topped the light of Masonry in Great Britain.'
Few intelligent gentlemen have had the intercourse with the lodges of
the various capitals of Europe, which has fallen to the lot of Professor Robison*
His Masonry was his letter of introduction; and he honoured it.
Shall not such a man know its worth >