THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

finding work, "that they myght gete there lyvyngs therby." Euclid was
consulted, and recommended the "onest craft of good masonry," and the
origin of the order is found "yn Egypte lande." Then, by a quick
shift, we are landed in England "yn tyme of good Kinge Adelstonus
day," who is said to have called an assembly of Masons, when fifteen
articles and as many points were agreed upon as rules of the craft,
each point being duly described. The rules resemble the Ten
Commandments in an extended form, closing with the legend of the Four
Crowned Martyrs, as an incentive to fidelity. Then the writer takes up
again the question of origins, going back this time to the days of
Noah and the Flood, mentioning the tower of Babylon and the great
skill of Euclid, who is said to have commenced "the syens seven." The
seven sciences are then named, to-wit, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric,
Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry, and each explained. Rich
reward is held out to those who use the seven sciences aright, and the
MS proper closes with the benediction:
/P
Amen! Amen! so mote it be!
So say we all for Charity.
P/
There follows a kind of appendix, evidently added by a priest,
consisting of one hundred lines in which pious exhortation is mixed
with instruction in etiquette, such as lads and even men unaccustomed
to polite society and correct deportment would need. These lines were
in great part extracted from _Instructions for Parish Priests_, by
Mirk, a manual in use at the time. The whole poem, if so it may be
called, is imbued with the spirit of freedom, of gladness, of social
good will; so much so, that both Gould and Albert Pike think it points
to the existence of symbolic Masonry at the date from which it speaks,
and may have been recited or sung by some club commemorating the
science, but not practicing the art, of Masonry. They would find
intimation of the independent existence of speculative Masonry thus
early, in a society from whom all but the memory or tradition of its
ancient craft had departed. One hesitates to differ with writers so
able and distinguished, yet this inference seems far-fetched, if not
forced. Of the existence of symbolic Masonry at that time there is no
doubt, but of its independent existence it is not easy to find even a
hint in this old poem. Nor would the poem be suitable for a mere
social, or even a symbolic guild, whereas the spirit of genial, joyous
comradeship which breathes through it is of the very essence of
Masonry, and has ever been present when Masons meet.
Next in order of age is the _Cooke MS_, dating from the early part of
the fifteenth century, and first published in 1861. If we apply the
laws of higher-criticism to this old document a number of things
appear, as obvious as they are interesting. Not only is it a copy of
an older record, like all the MSS we have, but it is either an effort
to join two documents together, or else the first part must be
regarded as a long preamble to the manuscript which forms the second
part. For the two are quite unlike in method and style, the first
being diffuse, with copious quotations and references to
authorities,[72] while the second is simple, direct, unadorned, and
does not even allude to the Bible. Also, it is evident that the
compiler, himself a Mason, is trying to harmonize two traditions as to
the origin of the order, one tracing it through Egypt and the other