fature of Maryland for his eftate; but was refufed. Mr Harford eftimated his lofs of quit-rents, valued at 20 years purchase, and including arrears, at 259,4881. 58. (dollars at 7s. 6d.), and the value of his manors and referved lands at 327,4411. of the fame money. This state was the laft of the 13, that agreed to fign the articles of confederation, which was not done till the 1ft of March 1781. Confiderable oppofition, too, was made by the citizens to the federal conftitution; but at laft, in April 1788, it was carried by a majority of 63 against 12. MARYPORT, a fea-port town of Cumberland, at the mouth of the Elne. It has a good harbour; and has 70 or 80 fail of fhipping from 30 to 250 tons burden, principally employed in the coal trade, fome of them fail up the Baltic for timber, flax, iron, &c. They have a furnace for caft iron and a glass-house. A chapel was erected here in 1760. (1.) MARY'S RIVER, a large navigable river of the United States, which rifes from a fwamp, divides Georgia from E. Florida; and forms a part of the 6. boundary of the United States. After running 50 miles, it falls into the Atlantic, in Lat. 30. 44. N. (2.) MARY'S RIVER, ST, a branch of the Miami, which runs into Lake ERIE. (1.) MARY'S, ST, a county of Maryland, on the peninfula between the Patomac and Patuxent, 39 miles long and 50 broad; containing 8559 ciizens, and 6985 flaves, in 1795. (2.) MARY'S, Sт, a post town of Georgia, on St Mary's River, near its mouth; 129 miles S. of Savannah. (3-10.) MARY'S, ST, 3 English villages in Hampshire, Devonshire, and Norfolk; 2 in Lincolnshire; and 3 in Kent. MARY'S STRAIT, ST, a river of N. America, 40 miles long, which runs by a rapid fall from Lake Superior into Lake Huron. (1.) MARYTON, a parish of Scotland, in Angus-fhire, on the banks of the South Efk, lying W. of Montrofe; and comprehending about 2750 acres of level ground. The foil is partly ftrong clay, and partly fine loam; well cultivated and fertile; producing all the ufual crops. The population in 1793 was 529; decrease 104 fince 1755. (2.) MARYTON LAW, an artificial eminence upon a rock, on the top of a hill in the above paaith, anciently an alarm poft, It affords one of the most beautiful profpects in Scotland. MARZA, a town of Sicily, 3 miles SSW. of Noto. MARZILLA, a town of Spain, in Navarre. (1.) MAS, LEWIS DU, a natural fon to John Lewis de Montcalm lord of Candiac, by a widow of rank at Rouergue, was born at Nimes in 1676. He first ftudied law, and afterwards mathematics, philofophy, and the languages. He had a lively and fertile imagination. We are indebted to his induftry for the Typographical Bureau. This invenxion is the more ingenious, as it prefents the tedious parts of education, namely, reading, writing, and the elements of languages, to the youthful mind as a delightful entertainment, and many people in France adopted it with fuccefs. He firft aried this invention on the young Candiac, who as remarkable for his early understanding. Du Mas conducted his pupil to Paris and the prin cipal cities in France, where he was univerfall admired. This prodigy was carried off in 172 before he was 7 years of age, and his lofs ha nearly deprived Du Mas of his reafon. A dar gerous illness was the confequence, and he woul have died of want, if a gentleman had not take him from his garret, and entertained him in h own house. Du Mas afterwards retired with Ma dame de Vaujour, within 6 miles of Paris, an died in 1774, aged 68. His works are, 1. L Art de tranfpofer toutes fortes de Mufiques, fans et obligé de connoitre ni le temps ni le mode, publifhe at Paris in 4to, 1711. 2. A volume in 4to, prin ed at Paris, 1733, in 4 parts, entitled, Bibliotheq des enfans; wherein he illuftrates the fyftem an economy of his Typographical Bureau; which w brought to perfection by M. Reybert of Avigno who enriched it with many ufeful articles in ge graphy, hiftory, &c. 3. Memoires de l' Ecoffe, fous regne de Marie Stuart, by Crawford, tranflate from the English. This tranflation was found MS. in the library of the Marquis d'Aubais, th intimate friend of Du Mas. (2-6.) MAS, in geography, the name of 5 town of France, diftinguished as follows: i. MAS CABARDES, in the dep. of Aude, 9t N. of Carcaffone, and 74 NE. of Montolieu: ii. MAS D'AGENOIS, in the dep. of Lot and G ronne, on the Garonne, 6 m. SE. of Marmande iii. MAS D'AZIL, in the dep. of Arriege, miles NW. of Tarafcon, and 22 W. of Mirepois iv. MAS GARNIER, or GRENIER, in the de of Upper Garonne, 3 miles W. of Verdun: v. MAS ST PUELLE, in the dep. of Aude, miles SW. of Papoul. (7.) MAS PLANTA, a plant which produces ma flowers only. See FLOS, I. N° 2. MASÆSYLI, a people of NUMIDIA. MASAFUERO, an island of the South Se lying in Lat. 33. 45. S. Lon. 80. 46. W. It very high and mountainous, and at a diftan feems to confift of one hill. It is of a triangul form, 7 or 8 leagues in circumference. The coa abounds with coal-fifh, cavilliers, cod, halibu cray-fifh, &c. Captain Carteret's crew caught king-fither that weighed 87 lib. and was 5 fe long. The fharks are numerous and ravencu Seals are alfo very numerous. Birds abound her particularly very large hawks. Of the pintad birds, one ship caught 700 in one night. Comm dore Byron landed here with difficulty in 176 to take in wood and water, of both which found plenty. He found alfo great numbers goats. MASARGUES, a town of France, in the de of the Mouths of the Rhone; 3 miles SE. of Ma feilles. MASBATE, one of the PHILIPPINES. MASBOROUGH, a flourishing village Yorkshire, W. of Rotheram Bridge, where ve extenfive iron works are established. MASBOTHÆI, or MESBOTHAI, the nan MASBUTHÆI, of a fect, or rather of t fects; for Eufebius, or rather Hegelippus, who he cites, mentions two different fects of Mafb thæans. The firft was one of the 7 Jewish fects b fore the birth of Chrift: the other was one of t MAS (21 les that arofe out of Judaism, and proved very home to the church. The name is derived the Hebrew now Schabat, to reft or repofe, des idle, easy, indolent people. Eufebius they had been fo called from one Maftheir chief; but it is more probable that their antis Hebrew, or Chaldaic, fignifying a Sahir, or one who profeffes to keep the Sabb. Valefius makes them two diftin&t former a fect of Jews before, or at leaft porary with Chrift; and the latter a fect letics defcended from them. Rufinus difes them in their names: the Jewish fect bec Mathei; and the heretics Mabuthaani. They were a branch of the Simonians. MASCAR, a town of Algiers, anciently called TT14: 38 miles ESE, of Outan. MASCARDI, Auguftin, a distinguished person the republic of letters, born at Sarzane, in Ce in 1591. He spent the early part of his mong the Jefuits, and afterwards became amberlain to Pope Urban VIII. He was fo gent, that Urban, to exercise his talent, foundprofefforhip of rhetoric in the college de la Senza, 1628, and fettled upon him for life a pation of 500 crowns. He filled the chair with reputation; but his love of letters made eglect his private affairs; for he was always and in debt. He wrote many works in fe and profe; particularly a treatife Dell' arte ; and a Hiftory of the Confpiracy of the de Fiefque. He died at Sarzane, 1640, in 4th year. MASCARON, Julius, Bp. of Agen, a most French preacher, was born at Marseilles 2164 He inherited of his father, who was de mot celebrated advocate of the parliament dix, an uncommon talent of eloquence. He admitted a member of the congregation of ratory very young; and from his 22d year ght rhetoric at Mans. Soon after this he comced preacher with great fuccefs in St Peter's urch at Saumur. The bishop of Mans made prebendary of it. He was much admired at where he preached 5 or 6 years at court, ad was made bishop of Tulle in 1671. He was terwards tranflated to the bishopric of Agen; added of a dropfy in his cheft, Dec. 16, 1703. There is nothing of his printed, excepting A Colof Funeral Orations, to which is prefixed a bor life of him. MASCATE, a town of Arabia Felix, built by Portuguese, in 1650, but taken from them the Arabs, who maffacred the garrifon, ex18, who turned Mahometans. MASCHIL. See MACHUL. MASCLEFF, Francis, was at firft a curate in diocefe of Amiens, the place of his birth, and rwards theologian and confidant to the virtuBp. De Brou. He was appointed to the charge of a feminary of learning under that prewhich he merited both from his piety and arning. The oriental languages were as famiar to him as his native tongue. He was made Can of Amiens in 1706. But his opinions on the Janfenift controverfy were fo offenfive to Sabbater, that he was removed from the feminary nd from almost every other public office which ) MASCOUTENS, a tribe of N. American In- (1.) * MASCULINE. adj. [mafculin, French; mafculinus, Latin.] 1. Male; not female. Pray God, the prove not masculine ere long! Shak. His long beard noteth the air and fire, the two mafculine elements, exercifing their operation upon nature, being the feminine. Peacham.O! why did God, Creator wife! that peopl'd highest heav'n Milton. 2. Refembling man; virile; not foft; not effeminate.-You find fomething bold and mafculine in the air and pofture of the first figure, which is that of Virtue. Addison. 3. [In grammar.] It denotes the gender appropriated to the male kind in any word, though not always expreffing fex. (2.) MASCULINE. See MALE, $ 1, and 3. (3.) MASCULINE, in grammar, (§ 1, def. 3.) See GENDER. In Latin, Greek, French, &c. moft nouns are ranged under the mafculine or feminine This, in many cafes, is done with a genders. show of reafon; but in others is merely arbitrary, and varies according to the languages, and even according to the words introduced from one language into another. Thus the names of trees are generally feminine in Latin, and mafculine in the French. The genders of the fame word are alfo fometimes varied in the fame language. Thus alvus, according to Prifcian, was anciently mafculine, but is now feminine; and navire, a hip, in French, was anciently feminine, but is now mafculine. Our language is happily free from the fetters of genders. See LANGUAGE, Sec. V. VI. (4.) MASCULINE PLANETS. See § 6. (5) MASCULINE RHYME, in the French poetry, is that made with a word which has a strong, open, and accented pronunciation; as all words have, excepting thofe which have an e feminine in their last fyllable. For inftance, amour and jour, mort and fort, are mafculine rhymes; and pere and mere, gloire and memoire, are feminine. Hence alfo verfes ending with a mafculine rhyme, are called mafculine verfes, and thofe ending with a feminine rhyme, feminine verfes. It is now a rule established among the French poets, never to use the above two mafculine or two feminine verfes fucceffively, except in the loofer kind of poetry. Marot was the firft who introduced this mixture of mafculine and feminine verfes, and Ronfard was the first who practifed it with fuccefs. The mafculine verfes fhould always have a fyllable lefs than the feminine ones. (6) MASCULINE SIGNS. Aftrologers divide the the planets and figns into mafculine and feminine by reafon of their qualities, which are either active, and hot or cold, accounted mafculine; or, paffive, dry and moift, which are feminine. On this principle they call the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, mafculine; and the Moon and Venus feminine. Mercury, they fuppofe, partakes of the two. Among the figns, Aries, Libra, Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius, are mafculine; Cancer, Capricornus, Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pifces, are feminine. * MASCULINELY.adv. [from mafculine.] Like a man. Aurelia tells me, you have done moft mafculinely, And play the orator. Ben Jonjon. *MASCULINENESS. n. [from mafculine.] Mannifhuefs; male figure or behaviour. MASCULUS FLOS. See FLOS, § I. N° 2. (1.) MASENO, a fmall town of the Italian republic, in the ci-devant Valteline, famous for its baths; 8 miles E. of Chiavenna. (2.) MASENO, a river of Italy, which rifes in the Rhetian Alps, and runs into the Adda, 4 miles E, of Morbegne. MASERATA, a town of Italy, in the late duchy of Placentia; annexed in Oct. 1802, to France, on the death of the prince of Parma. It is 18 miles S. of Placentia. MASH. n. f. [mafche, Dutch.] 1. The fpace between the threads of a net, commonly written meh.-To defend against the ftings of bees, have a net knit with so smali mashes that a bee cannot get through. Mortimer. 2. Any thing mingled or beaten together into an undiftinguished or confuled body. [from mifchen, Dutch, to mix, or mafcher, French.] 3. Á mixture for a horfe. -Put half a peck of ground malt into a pail, then put to it as much fcalding water as will wet it well; ftir it about for half an hour till the water is very fweet, and give it the horfe lukewarm: this mash is to be given to a horse after he has taken a purge, to make it work the better, or in the time of great fickness, or after hard labour. Farrier's Dict.-When mares foal, they feed them with mashes, and other moift food. Mortimer. *To MASH. v. a. [mascher, French.] 1. To beat into a confufed mats.-The preffure would be intolerable, and they would even mash themfelves and all things elfe a-picces. More.-To break the claw of a lobster, clap it between the fides of the dining-room door: thus you can do it without mashing the meat. Swift. 2. To mix a malt and water together in brewing-What was put in the first mafning tub draw off, as alfo that liquor in the fecond mashing tub. Mortimer. (1.) MASHAM, Lady Damaris, a learned and ingenious English Lady, daughter of the celebrated Dr CUDWORTH, and wife of Sir Francis Mafham, by whom he had one fon, was born in 1658. She and Sir Francis were the intimate friends of the celebrated Mr LOCKE, whom they entertained at their feat at Oates in Effex, for many years before he died. She wrote A Dif courfe on the Love of God, 8vo. and Occafional Thoughts in reference to a virtuous and Chriftian Life; 8vo. She died in 1708, aged 50. (2.) MASHAM, a town of Yorkshire, in the Riding, on the Ure, with a market on Wedn day, 218 miles N. of London. MASIDE, a town of Spain, in Galicia. MASIGNE, a town of France in the dep. Sarte; 3 m. ENE. of Fleche, and 5 S. of Mans MASINISSA, a king of Numidia, who at f affifted the Carthaginians in their wars agai Rome; but afterwards joined the Romans, a See C became the firmeft ally they ever had. THAGE, NO I. 5, 6; and NUMIDIA. He d in his 97th year, and goth of his reign, A. A. 149. * (1.) MASK. n. f. [nicfque, French.] 1. cover to difguife the face; a vifor.-Now Lo pulled off his mosk, and thewed his face unto i and told her plainly that he was his prifon Sidney. -She did neglect her looking glafs, And threw her fun-expelling mask away. Sh -Could we fuppofe that a mask reprefented 1 ver fo naturally the general humour of a chara ter, it can never fuit with the variety of paflic that are incident to every fingle perfon in t whole course of a play. Addison. 2. Any pi tence or fubterfuge. Why doft thou ftrive the conscious shame hide, By masks of eloquence, and veils of pride. Pri 3. A feftive entertainment, in which the compa is mafked. Sha Will you prepare for this mafque to-night! 4. A revel; a piece of mummery; a wild butt They in the end agreed, That at a mafque and common revelling Dani This thought might lead me through th world's vain mask. Milt 5. A dramatick performance, written in a tragic ftyle, without attention to rules or probability.Thus I have broken the ice to invention, for th lively reprefentation of floods and rivers, nece fary for our painters and poets in their picture pcems, comedies, and masks. Peacham (2.) MASK. See MASQUE. * (3) MASK, or LOUGH MASK, a lake of Ireland in Mayo, 10 miles long, and from 1 to 3 broad. (1) To MASK. v. a. [masquer, Fr.] 1. T difguife with a mafk or vilor.-What will grow of fuch errors as go mafked under the cloke of di vine authority, impoffible it is that the wit o man fhould imagine, till time have brought fort! the fruits of them. Hooker. Stak Skak 'Tis not my blood Wherein thou fee'ft me masked. Him he knew well, and guefs'd that it was fhe But being mefked he was not fure. -The old Vatican Terence has, at the head o every fcene, the figures of all the perfons, with their particular difguifes; and I faw an antique flatue mofked, which was perhaps defigned to Gnatho in the Eunoch, for it agrees exactly with the figures he makes in the manufcript. Addifen. 2. To cover; to hide. I to your affiftance do make love, Masking the business from the common eye, For I dry weighty reafons. Ale whofe intellectual beams is do mak, no lazy teams. Crafhaw. *T MASK. v. n. 1. To revel; to play Thwn? Why, ay; come, taylor, let us Wing Stuff's here! Shak. form the vaults, and employ the ftones as delivered to him. When the ftones are large, the bufi. nefs of hewing or cutting them belongs to the ftone cutters, though thefe are frequently confounded with mafons: the ornaments of fculpture are performed by carvers in stones or sculptors. The tools or implements principally ufed by them are the fquare, level, plumb-line, bevel, compafs, hammer, chiflèl, mallet, faw, trowel, &c. See SQUARE, &c. Befides the common inftruments ule in the hand, they have likewife machines for railing great burdens and conducting large itones; the principal of which are the lever, pulley, wheel, crane, &c. See CRANE, LEVER, &c. Shal. Eg habits, and a borrow'd name, ATELYNE'S ISLANDS, a clufter of iflands, ;a mummer.— Les of France is fending over makers, Torvs it with him and his new bride. Shak. -Le mafers, that are come down from the are lome motions upon the fcene before racing down. Bacon. Tafers come late, and I think will stay, De fairies, till the cock crow them away. Donne. MISKINGIE, a river of Canada, which runs ase Michigan. *MASLIN. adj. [corrupted from mifcellane.] Ceped of various kinds; as malin bread, a of wheat and rye. MASO, or FINIGUERRA, Thomas, a goldfmith Furace, who flourished in the 15th century, adrested the art of ENGRAVING on copper. (MASON, William, a late elegant English the fon of a clergyman in Yorkshire, educa. St John's college, Cambridge, and elected ow of Pembroke hall in 1749. In 1748, he hed a poem entitled fis, which, being an on the univerfity of Oxford, produced a Paliwer from Mr Warton, entitled The phs of Ijis. In 1754, he took orders, and appointed chaplain to the king; and afterds obtained the living of Afton, and the preChip of York; which led him to compofe a O Church Mufic. He was the intimate dof Gray the poet, who appointed him one executors, and whose life and elegy he wrote. ho wrote Elfrida and Caralacus, and The Garden, a poem, both much efteemed; and slated into English verfe Du Frejnoy's Art Painting, to which Sir Joshua Reynolds added Fable notes. He was a zealous whig, and an of the French revolution, till the horrors accompanied it abated the warmth of his atat to democracy. He died April 5, 1797, confequence of a bruife by a fall from his car MASON. n. [maçon, French; machio, low A bui der with ftone. Many find a reafon wittily before the thing be true; that the mare being left rough, are more manageable in ma's hand than if they had been fmooth. -A mafon that makes a wall, meets with te that wants no cutting, and places it in his work. More. MASON is a perfon employed under the dredion of an architect, in raifing a ftone buildHis chief bufinets is to make the mortar; a the walls from the foundation to the top, wia the neceffary retreats and perpendiculars; to (4) MASONS, FREE AND ACCEPTED, a very ancient fociety; fo called, either from fome extraordinary knowledge of mafonry, which they are fuppofed to be mafters of, or because the firft founders of that fociety were perfons of that profeffion. Thefe are now very confiderable, both for number and character, being found in every country in Europe, and N. America; and confifting principally of perfons of merit and confideration. As to antiquity, they claim a ftanding of fome thousand years. What the end of their inftitution is, feems itill in fome measure a fecret; and they are faid to be admitted into the fraternity by being put in poffeffion of a great number of fecrets, called the mafon's word, which have been religiously kept from age to age. See MASONRY, $IV. 1-9. (1.) MASONRY. n. f. [maçconrie, French.] * The craft or performance of a mafon. (11.) MASONRY, in general, is a branch of ARCHITECTURE, confifting in the art of hewing or fquaring ftores, and cutting them level or perpendicular, for the ufes of building; but, in a more limited fenfe, it is the art of joining stones together with mortar. Hence arife as many different kinds of mafonry as there are different forms for laying and joining ftones. Vitruvius mentions feveral kinds of mafonry ufed among the ancients; three of hewed ftone, viz. that in form of a net, that in binding, and that called the Greek masonry: and three of unhewed ftone, viz, that of an equal courfe, that of an unequal courfe, and that filled up in the middle; and the feventh was a compofition of all the reft. Net-mafonry, called by Vitruvius reticulatum, from its refemblance to the meshes of a net, confifts of ftones fquared in their courfes, and fo difpofed as that their joints go obliquely; and their diagonals are the one perpendicular and the other level. This is the most agreeable mafonry to the eye, but is very apt to crack. See Plate XIX. fig. 1. Bound masonry, that in which the ftones were placed one over another, like tiles; the joints of their beds being level, and the mounters perpendiculars, fo that the joint that mounts and feparates two ftones always falls directly over the middle of the stone below. This is lefs beautiful than the net-work; but more folid and durable. See Plate XIX. fig. 2 and 4. Greek masonry, according to Vitruvius, is that where, after we have laid two stones, each of which makes a courfe, another is laid at the end, which makes two courfes, and the fame order is obferved throughout the building; this may be called double-binding, in regard the binding is not only his courage must be tried in a number of way Caglioftro himself fubmitted to thefe trial among which the following are mentioned in t account of his life. He was first hoisted up to t ceiling by means of a pulley, and, after fufferi confiderable pain, had his hand fcorched by candle. His eyes were then covered with a ba dage, and he received an empty piftol, with ders to charge it. This being done, he was dered to ditcharge it against his head; and up his refufing to do fo, the piftol was taken fro him with contempt, but returned after a numl, of ceremonies. This had fuch an effect upon hi that without any regard to felf-preservation, drew the trigger, and got a fmart ftroke on skull, which, however, produced no bad c fequence. At the initiation of other candidates, difcovered that the piftol was changed, an loaded one being put into the hands of the per when blind-folded, and that one of the affifta ftruck him a smart blow on the head, to m him think himself wounded. The ceremony concluded with his taking an oath of fecrecy obedience to the grand mafter. only of ftones of the fame courfe with one another, but likewife of one courfe with another courfe. See Plate CCVII. fig. 7. Mafonry by equal courfes, called by the ancients ifodomum, differs in nothing from the bound mafonry, but this, that its ftones are not hewn. See Plate XIX. fig. 3, and CCVII. fig. 8. Mafonry by unequal courfes, called pfeudifodomum, is alfo made of unhewed ftones, and laid in bound work; but then they are not of the fame thickness, nor is there any equality obferved, excepting in the feveral courfes, the courses themfelves being unequal to each other. See Plate XIX. fig. 5, and CCVII. fig. 9. Mafonry filled up in the middle, is likewife made of unhewed ftones, and by courfes; but the ftones are only fet in order as to the courfes: fee Plate CCVII. fig. 10. A, the courfes; B, the parts filled up; C, a coat of plafter. Compound masonry is of Vitruvius's propofing, fo called as being compofed of all the reft. In this the courfes are of hewed ftones and the middle being left void, is filled up with mortar and pebbles thrown in to gether after this the ftones of one courfe are bound to thofe of another courfe with iron cramps faftened with melted lead: Plate CCVII. fig. II. E, the ftones cramped: F, the cramps; G, the middle part filled up. Fig. 12. reprefents another fort of compound masonry, the middle of which is ftone, and the edges board. All the kinds of mafonry now in ufe may be reduced to these five, viz. bound masonry; that of brick work, where the bodies and projectures of the ftones inclofe fquare fpaces or pannels, &c. fet with bricks; that de moilon, or fmall work, where the courses are equal, well fquared, and their edges or bed rufticated; that where the courfes are unequal; and that filled up in the middle with little ftones and mortar. (III.) MASONRY, EGYPTIAN, a new fyftem of fpeculative masonry taught by the celebrated impoftor Count Caglioftro.-It is not known, whether this fyftem was an invention of his own, or whether any fuch thing really has an exiftence among the fuperftitious Egyptians. The fcheme was firft put in execution in London; and by means of his pretended knowledge in the myfteries of this art, the Count procured great fums of money, and attached to himself a vast number of followers. The following particulars concerning it were confeffed by him before the inquifition at Rome. The Egyptian masons are divided into feveral fects, but there are two more esteemed than the reft. The first is that of the adepts, the members of which (fay the inquifitors) profefs the most irreligious fentiments, and employ magic in their operations; but their principal object is the deftruction of the Catholic religion and of monarchy. The members of the other pretend to be occupied about the fecrets of the hermetic art, and more efpecially the philofopher's ftone. Caglioftro owned that he was affociated in London with the fecond of thefe fects; that his wife was likewife a member, and received a diploma, which coft five guineas. The lady was prefented with a ribbon, on which was embroidered the words Union, Silence, and Virtue; and fhe was defired to fleep the following night with the ribbon attached to her thigh. When a male candidate is to be admitted, (IV. 1.) MASONRY, FREE, the fystem of m teries and fecrets peculiar to the fociety of f and accepted masons. (2.) MASONRY, FREE, ANCIENT HISTORY The origin of this fociety is very ancient; but have no authentic account of the time when it first instituted, or even what was the reason fuch an affociation of people under the title Mafons, more than of any other mechanical p feflion. In a Treatife on Masonry, published in 17 by William Prefton, maiter of the Lodge of A tiquity, the origin of masonry is traced from creation. "Ever fince fymmetry began, and b mony displayed her charms (fays he), our or has had a being." By other accounts the antiq ty of mafonry is only carried up as high as building of Solomon's temple. In Dr Henr hiftory of Great Britain, we find the origin of Free Mafon Society attributed to the difficu found in former times of procuring workmen build the vaft number of churches, monafter and other religious edifices, which the fuperftit of thofe ages prompted the people to raife. He the mafons were greatly favoured by the pop and many indulgences were granted, to augm their numbers. In thofe times, it may well fuppofed, that fuch encouragement from the preme paftors of the church must have been p ductive of the moft beneficial effects to the frat nity; and hence the fociety rapidly increased. ancient author, who was well acquainted w their history and conftitution, fays, "The Italia with fome Greek refugees, and with them Fren Germans, and Flemings, joined into a fratern of architects, procuring papal bulls for their couragement; they ftyled themfelves Free maft and ranged from one nation to another, as t found churches to be built their government regular; and where they fixed near the build in band, they made a camp of huts. A furve governed in chief; every tenth man was called. warden, and furperintended the other 9. : (3.) MASONRY, FREE, ANCIENT HISTORY IN BRITAIN, TILL ITS ESTABLISHMENT UND К. Атні |