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Volume seVenty-three • number two 45

PHILALETHES

The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters

Volume 73 • No- 2

THOMAS M. SAHARSKY

Clotworthy StephensonLost Son of Virginia

JEAN-Y VES LEGOUAS

The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy Theory in France Prior to the Second World WarPart Two

WALTER BENESCH

The Importance of Music among the Arts and Sciences

W. BRUCE PRUI T T

The Joseph Warren Tavern

PHILALETHESThe Journal of Masonic Research & Lettershttp ://www.freemasonry.org

Editor Shawn Eyer, FPS 107 S. West St. #541 Alexandria,VA 22314 USA editor @ freemasonry.org

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ISSN 2151 – 139x

Copyright © 2020 The Philalethes Society Philalethes is the official publication of The Philalethes Society, founded December 1, 1928. Any article appear-ing in this publication expresses only the opinion of the writer, and does not reflect the official position of The Philalethes Society. The Society speaks only through the Executive Board attested to as official by the Executive Secretary.

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Art credits: Marianita Peaslee (cover, 85, back cover), Shawn Eyer (51),

Thomas Saharsky (57), Masons Hall 1785 charitable foundation (59),

Brian Warren (79)

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IN THIS EDITION

PHILALETHES

The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters

FEATURES 50 Clotworthy Stephenson LoSt SoN oF VirGiNiA

Thomas M. Saharsky

60 The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy Theory in France Prior to the

Second World War, Part Two Jean-Yves Legouas

69 The Importance of Music among the Arts and Sciences

Walter Benesch

IN REVIEW 84 Symbols in the Wilderness: Early

Masonic Survivals in Upstate New York by Joscelyn Godwin & Christian Goodwillie

Shawn Eyer

Volume 73, Number 2

Justice, the boundary of right, con-stitutes the cement of civil society. This virtue, in a great measure, con-stitutes real goodness, and is there-fore represented as the perpetual study of the accomplished Mason. — William Preston, c. 1780

In the words of Alexander Pope, “the proper study of man is man,” and in a sense, Masonry only involves man’s truest knowledge of himself; this explains its universality—and

COLUMNS 86 Editor’s Remarks

OTHER FEATURES

48 The Masonic Library and Museum Association

Tyler Vanice

74 The Joseph Warren Tavern A JoUrNeY throUGh PerSoNAL,

MASoNiC, ANd reVoLUtioNArY hiStorY W. Bruce Pruitt

87 Voices of the Fellows Robert I. Clegg, FPS

the hostility of partial or narrow visions of the hidden and manifest nature of mankind. — Tobias Churton, 2007

There is an endless supply of Light provided by reception of our sym-bolic degrees and regular study of our Masonic rituals, emblems, and symbols. Esteemed brothers down through the ages have devoted entire lifetimes and never drained the well of wisdom contained there. — Kirk White, MPS

48 philalethes • The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters

There are a Plethora of Mason-ic-related organizations in the world like High Twelve International Inc., National

Sojourner Inc., youth groups like the Order of DeMolay, and there are some less mainstream organizations that have niche subsets that collect specifically George Washington Masonic stamps. The Masonic Library & Museum Association (MlMa) is one these organizations. Founded in 1995, the mission of this organization is to as-sist and support, through education, facilitation of communication, coordination of effort, and other means, those individuals charged with the collection, management, and preservation of the Masonic heritage.

We take museums and libraries for granted; always expecting them to be there but are usually out of site. A large undertaking that can have tens of thousands of objects with a staff of one or two people and knowing the precise location of each item while keeping paperwork for them is not an easy skill. Many Grand Lodges and other Masonic organizations have both in some fashion, display-ing their proud history of Freemasonry found in their state but it takes resources, knowledge, and planning, which wasn’t always the case. Like many organizations, MlMa came about from a desire to not only assist oneself to have more resources but to also help others in similar situa-tions with common issues. Decades ago, people interested in Masonic libraries and museums used to attend the Northeast Conference on Masonic Education and Libraries (NeCoMelI) as this was an annual focal point for getting together with like minded individuals from across the country. In the early 1990’s, Brothers John H. Platt, Jr. (Pennsyl-vania); Paul Bessel (George Washington Masonic

G

MASONICLibrary & Museum

ASSOCIATION

Tyler Vanice, MPS, is a member of The Lodge of the Nine Muses № 1776, Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia, and the Vice President of the Masonic Library and Museum Association.


continued on page 80

National Memorial); Keith Arrington (Iowa); Ed Ralph (Ontario); Mike Kaulback (Massachusetts); along with Cynthia Alcorn (Massachusetts); Joan Kleinknecht Sansbury (Supreme Council, aaSr, S.J.) and others came together during these meet-ings, dubbed this side-group the “North American Masonic Librarians Consortium” and held their own private sessions during the conferences. These librarians and curators eventually de-cided that they wanted to hold a separate meeting that met in the fall, even though NeCoMelI met in the spring. These members, knowing that Grand Lodges would not financially support another organization with similar goals, chose to still be active with NeCoMelI as well (which was later disbanded in 2001 and their assets turned over to MlMa). The first meeting occurred in October 1992 at the House of the Temple of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, in Washington, D.C. On October 20–21, 1995, this group attended their Fall Conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hosted by Keith Arrington from the Grand Lodge of Iowa, and reorganized themselves as the Masonic Library and Museum Association, with John. H. Platt from Pennsylvania as its first President. Their idea was simple: in the beginning, the members were concerned with gathering data on its member libraries, the procedures used in their museum and library, sources they used for finding Masonic books and literature, and indexing Masonic articles in journals (how and where to acquire books was a serious issue as online retail was not nearly as prevalent as it is now). Now, the organization focuses more with bibliographic and member support, essentially helping both large and small, public and private, libraries and museums set themselves up to organize their

collections. The old Boyden cataloging system, used by many librarians, was updated by Richard Bush, so it can remain easily used. The website offers articles and other helpful information for all persons, whether they are professionals in the field or those just starting their collections. Now, the organization is thriving with mem-bers from throughout the world. One is not re-quired to be a mason to join this organization as its mission and scope allows it to be open to all who’s interested in learning and spreading knowledge. Many Grand Lodge librarians and museum staff are not in the fraternity as they chose to hire professionals in the field to care for the history of Freemasonry in their state. Proper care and preservation of our Masonic history is integral to understanding American Freemasonry and is more crucial than the title of “Brother” to the caretaker of our history. The Masonic Library and Museum Associ-ation is holding its 25th Annual Conference on September 12, 2020. We originally planned on meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the annual meeting but the Executive Committee discussed concerns over long term planning with traveling, hotel accommodations, and the overall effect of that CoVID-19 is having on the economy, it was decided to hold the conference online instead. The meeting will be open to all members. Further information will be posted at masonic-libraries.com. Normally, these conferences are a wonderful asset to everyone in attendance as there are a series of lectures with various topics that change each year but focus mostly with museums, libraries, collection care, storage, niche collecting (remem-ber those stamps?) and more. Once the business section of the meeting is complete, there would

The Masonic Library and Museum Association


Clotworthy StephensonLost Son of Virginia

Thomas M. Saharsky investigates the life of an influential artisan and Freemason

“May this stone long commemorate the goodness of God in those uncommon events which have given America a name among the nations Under this stone may jealousy and selfishness be forever buried. From this stone may a superstructure arise, whose glory, whose magnificence, whose stability, unequaled hitherto. shall astonish the world, and invite even the savage of the wilderness to take shelter under its roof.”

Bro. James Muir of Alexandria Washington Lodge No- 22 Jones Point Cornerstone Ceremony, April 15, 1791

Clotworthy StePheNSoN was an Irish-born American citizen who found oppor-tunity in the building arts. These arts are

generally considered timber framing, architec-tural carpentry, plastering, painting, masonry, fine blacksmithing, and architectural stonecarving. He was an accomplished architect, builder, carpenter, house joyner, and painter. His community con-tributions through the fraternal order of Masons, interpersonal relationships, and civil positions helped to shape the communities of Richmond in Virginia, Annapolis in Maryland, and Washing-ton City. Clotworthy Stephenson’s contribution to American architecture and work has helped to define Colonial architecture. Stephenson was one of the unsung Masters who help build the iconic cap-

itol buildings in Richmond and Washington, D.C. Stephenson was a native of Co. Antrim, his un-usual Christian name suggesting a connection of some sort with the Earls of Massereene of Antrim Castle, descendants of Sir Hugh Clotworthy, High Sheriff of Antrim (d. 1630).1 Stephenson honed his woodworking craft in or near Antrim, Ireland. The people of Ireland were renowned for their woodworking skills due to their manipulation of native materials, such as the wood of the yew tree. This tree is difficult to carve and work with. A craftsman who masters the ability to carve, cut, and “joyne” the yew will have a much easier time working with other types of woods. Stephenson was made a Freemason at a lodge in Belfast, and raised to the degree of Master Mason

Thomas M. Saharsky, MPS, is a member of Federal Lodge № 1, Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia.

oPPoSite: Clotworthy Stephenson, as depicted in George Washington Laying the Cornerstone of the United States Capitol, a monumental mural by Allyn Cox (1896–1982) at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia.


in late 1785.2 The organization, history, operation, and principles of Irish Freemasonry provided the fraternal adept with concepts that he brought to America. Accounts of the early life and times of Clot-worthy Stephenson are sparse, but a closer look at early Irish Freemasonry provides a better sense of his values and associations. Established in 1725, the Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second oldest extant institution of its kind (after the premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717). It commenced with a Masonic procession and meeting in the Great Hall of Knights Inn, Dublin.3 Throughout the eighteenth century, most Dublin lodges met at taverns and inns around the city. During Clotworthy Stephenson’s time, some Masonic lodges throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland retained a degree of connection with operative stonemasonry. The operative masons consisted of skilled masons and apprentices who were working towards mastership. A master, in the context of the trade, is one who has reached the summit of his trade and who has the right to hire apprentices and journeymen.4 A lodge mas-ter or delegate would represent the organization during one of these local civic assemblies. Mas-tership included the freedom to contract work, freedom from tolls from highways and markets, and the ability to claim funds if impoverished or ill. The masters of these organizations were taught secret signs and passwords and tokens, which could be provided as identification to the foreman of any body of masons.5 The methodol-ogy of apprenticeship to mastership can be found occurring in relationships of a parent and child, employer and employee, a friend with specialized education and a person willing to learn. Within both stonemasonry, early documents known as

the Old Charges demonstrate the title of master is rooted in the instructional role of the master craftsman. Within speculateive Freemasonry, the educational duties of the “Worshipful Master” are ritualistically emphasized.6

The apprenticeship system conveys knowl-edge in a way that is immemorial to human rela-tionships. Some modern authors, following John Locke, have tried to think about this in terms of an idea of self-ownership. The modern idea of Mas-tership is rooted in the property ownership and the unfortunate lesson of quantifying slavery and liberation. According to G.A. Cohen, a person owns himself when he has all the control over his own body that a master would have over him were he a slave.7 Now since a master was entitled to make comprehensive use of his slave for his own profit without owing any account or any contribution to anyone else, it seems to follow from the idea of self-ownership that a person must be allowed to profit equally comprehensively from the control of his own mental and bodily resources. American contract law asserts the custom of an economic value based transaction as the basis of a market economy—a concept reflected in the Unit-ed States Constitution. Free societies all around the world that employ a market-based economy and have been influenced by the U.S. Constitu-tion have benefited from the best ideas of the old world’s free societies and guilds. The operative stonemasons closely resembled a trade union, company or labor union which worked on large projects as a group or unit. The Worshipful Company of Free-masons and others such as the Merchant Taylors, Goldsmiths, Grocers, Mercers, Salters, Haberdashers, Ironmongers, Clothworkers, Vintners and Fishmongers and other Liverymen emerged in 1677 as municipal

Thomas M. Saharsky, mps


powers in London. These masons regulated build-ing materials, codes, and unified practices in a manner similar to the building permit process in place today. Their abilities as an organization to erect beautiful buildings and educate their guild members enhanced their reputation. The slow integration and consolidation of free societies led to the acceptance of nontraditional members. The effect of this influx of diverse mem-bership helped the organization to extend its in-fluence. Evidence of this movement of acceptance is found in an early manuscript located at Trinity College, Dublin, that describes the quality of char-acter and occupations as gentlemen, mechanics, parsons, thatchers, poets, doctors, butchers, and tailors.8 Similar efforts in England were brought about through a new law which allowed for the general acceptance of non-operative members other than royals or royal appointments. Over the next few decades, many community leaders, civil authorities, and wealthy individuals joined in order to acquire favor with each other as well as financial gain connected with the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666. During the rebuilding process this group would have expe-rienced the laying of cornerstones, processions, and festivals related to the building arts. This com-bination of operative and speculative members effectively brought a representative body politic to local city planning, urbanization, and building trades. Eventually, “gentleman’s” Freemasonry (later known as speculative Freemasonry) gained in popularity, eventually resulting in the formation of the premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717. Freemasonry in the United States may be per-ceived more as mimicking these early free societies rather than centralized government. These early lodges were usually a mixture of civil, merchant,

and operative leadership which promoted the gen-eral welfare and prosperity of a market economy. It is very likely that the “founding fathers” who joined Freemasonry found it beneficial to connect with a group that was able to provide insight into the inner workings of a vast array of businesses and skilled labor. Not much is known about Clotworthy Ste-phenson’s purpose for leaving Ireland, nor about his arrival in America and his professional work in Philadelphia. We do have records of his personal involvement in Freemasonry. The detailed records kept by the Grand Lodge of Philadelphia show that shortly after arriving in the new world, as a resident alien, he became a member of Lodge No- 3 in Philadelphia, a lodge aligned with the Antients.9 Stephenson regularly attended meetings, held office pro tempore and participated in the momen-tous reformation of the Grand Lodge. During this reformation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, it relinquished its foreign charter (from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England according to the Old Constitutions) and established itself as independent. Here, Stephenson witnessed formal breaks from the old English regime and the emergence of American Freemasonry. During the 1780s, Philadelphia was the cru-cible of American genius. Members of Lodge No- 3 played significant parts in the development of the Articles of Confederation and United States Con-stitution. Johnathan Bayard Smith was a member of Lodge No- 3 and the Continental Congress and a signer of the Articles of Confederation in 1781. While this document unified the states, it lacked abilities to govern certain jurisdictional interests. Stephenson left Philadelphia sometime be-tween January and March of 1787 and arrived in Richmond, Virginia. Upon arrival into the local

Clotworthy Stephenson: Lost Son of Virginia


Clotworthy Stephenson’s Masonic Timeline1785 Raised in Temple of Fame Lodge No- 491, Belfast, Ireland

1786 Application for membership, Lodge No- 3, Philadelphia (May)

Attended meeting and unanimously approved for membership, No- 3—now Solomon’s Lodge No- 3 (June); member between the years 1786 and 1787

Served as Junior Deacon, No- 3 (October)

Senior Deacon pro tempore, No- 3 (November)

1787 Last documented attendance at No- 3 (January)

Regular visitor of Richmond Lodge No- 10, Richmond, Virginia (March 1787–April 1792)

Served as Senior Deacon pro tempore, Richmond Lodge No- 10 (May)

Member of Richmond Randolph Lodge No- 19 (1792–1793)

Junior Warden pro tempore at initial meeting of Rich-mond Randolph No- 19, Richmond, Virginia (October)

Granted Dispensation as Junior Warden of the as-sembly that became Amanda Lodge No- 12, Annapo-lis—now Annapolis Lodge No- 89 (December)

1793 Charter member and Senior Warden of Federal Lodge No- 15, Washington D.C., Grand Lodge of Maryland—later No- 1 of the Grand Lodge of the District of Colum-bia (September)

Grand Marshal pro tempore of Maryland during the cornerstone leveling ceremony at the United States Capitol (September)

1794 Represented Federal Lodge No- 15 at Grand Lodge of Maryland bi-annual session; Grand Marshal (May)

Proposed and executed a Circular for a General Con-vention of Grand Lodges to coincide with the 3rd Centennial Congress, Philadelphia (May)

Senior Grand Warden pro tempore of the Grand Lodge of Maryland; signer of the Grand Constitutions of Maryland (December)

Worshipful Master of Federal Lodge No- 15 (1794)

1795 Grand Marshal of the Grand Lodge of Maryland (1795)

Worshipful Master of Federal Lodge No- 15 Presented a written recommendation for residents

of George-Town to form a Lodge (Columbia No- 19) on behalf of Federal Lodge No- 15 (October)

Founding member of the Royal Arch Encampment, Washington City (December 1795–1799)

High Priest Royal Encampment (1795)

1796 Represented Federal Lodge No- 15 at Grand Lodge of Maryland annual session and elected again to the office of Grand Marshall (1796)

1797 Represented Federal Lodge No- 15 during an extra communication of Grand Lodge of Maryland (May 1797)

Dispute for “nonpayment for raft rental” David Geddes vs. Clotworthy Stephenson, Resolved in Grand Lodge of Maryland Meeting (November)

1798 Worshipful Master of Federal Lodge (1798)

1806 Stephenson was made an Honorary Member of Fed-eral Lodge (1806)

Member Royal Arch Union Chapter, Washington District of Columbia (1809)

1811 Dispute between Clotworthy Stephenson and George Moore, Committee formed to investigate, Federal Lodge No- 1 (December)

1819 Buried with Masonic Honors, Old Presbyterian Grave Yard. The Masonic Procession from F Street home to the Grave Yard Georgetown led by Federal Lodge No- 1, November 27, 1819


fraternal community, Stephenson may have pro-vided insight to the “lay of the land” of his former city. His March 13, 1787, visit with Deputy Grand Master John Marshall could have connected him with District Grand Master and delegate Edmund Randolph.10 It would not have been uncommon for Stephenson to refer the Virginian brethren to capable and reliable members of Philadelphia’s Lodge No- 3. The delegation for Virginia formed in December of 1786 and arrived at the Philadelphia Convention in May of 1787. By September of 1787, a number of state lead-ers met to engage in an adversarial debate over the strength and sovereignty of an American nation. Their debate resulted in a concise balance of power between the people, states, and federal govern-ment known as the United States Constitution. Jacob Shallus, a member of Lodge No- 3, penned the original copy of the United States Constitution located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Masonic Lodge No- 3 grew significantly during the 1780s, and its members helped to shape the history of Pennsylvania and the United States. In Richmond, Stephenson established a thriv-ing social and professional career for a number of years. The civil recordation of the capitol campus project of Virginia provides a detailed history of woodworking and employment. Over the next six to seven years the work receipts show Ste-phenson’s versatility to work on many projects to establish his legitimate reputation and pro-fessional legacy. His personal participation in Freemasonry solidified his lifelong commitment to live an enlightened life. A close examination of the key events and correspondences provides a measurable perspective of Colonial carpentry at the state capitol which substantiates merit, con-tribution, and dedication as a “son of Virginia.”

The public building project at Richmond helped to define the new nation. The hard-earned victory over the British had forged a youthful re-public. The legislators of Virginia capitalized on the spirited new nation and developed a public building scheme. Many individuals involved in the building scheme went on to become prominent American figures. The intensive civil and private work of Edmund Randolph, John Marshall, Samuel Dobie, and Clotworthy Stephenson breathed life into a rapidly developing Richmond, Virginia. The architectural design employed by these men combined classicism and American ingenuity. A general summary of Virginia capitol project is necessary to add context and significance to Clotworthy Stephenson’s involvement. The history of the capitol amplifies the work, decisions, and people necessary to erect a multi-building civil campus—years before the United States Capitol took shape. The first session of the Virginia legislature took place in Jamestown in 1619, a year before the first Pilgrim arrived at Plymouth, Massachu-setts. The legislature met in churches, homes, a college, taverns, and statehouses in Jamestown and Williamsburg for 160 years.11 On November 11, 1776, Thomas Jefferson drafted a bill for the removal of the seat of government of Virginia to Richmond. This bill was revised and passed in 1779, making Richmond the capitol after the last day of April 1780.12 Shortly thereafter Governor Jefferson appointed nine directors of public buildings to fulfill his vision of a civil campus. They were James Buchanan, Archibald Cary, Robert Goode, Robert Carter Nicholas, Turner Southhall, Richard Adams, Samuel DuVal, and Edmund Randolph. A 1780 statute determined that the government buildings were to be built on Shockoe Hill. The initial civil



campus determined by Jefferson contained Hall of Justice, Governor’s Residence and a Capital. In 1784 Jefferson embarked as the minister plenipotentia-ry to France. Soon after Jefferson left the United States the general assembly of Richmond proposed and passed an act to consolidate the scheme of the campus. This set the stage for countless revisions of architectural plans between Jefferson and the general assembly, directors, supervisors, and con-sultants. These people were ultimately to execute the visionary ideals of Thomas Jefferson. Edmund Randolph was an active director who oversaw the construction and relayed information to the architect and general assembly. Randolph sent Jefferson’s correspondence indicating the Jeffersonian plan for the capitol was essential-ly adopted. Randolph also enclosing technical information modification made by the general assembly and a by a learned consultant named Samuel Dobie. Samuel started as a draftsman and surveyor in 1787 and eventually rose to be the superintendent of public buildings project. Edmund Randolph and the other directors must have had difficulties due to the intervention by the general assembly and natural setbacks to a project of this magnitude. Randolph’s leadership brought continuity to the project. The civil campus project design by Thomas Jef-ferson required the application of skills that most early Colonial builders did not possess. This kind of mastery was found only in the finest-construct-ed temples of the old world. Jefferson and others analyzed the classical stylings of Vitruvius, Donato Bramante, and Sebastiano Serlio who carried the Palladian movement from the Renaissance into the English and French mainstream by the 1700s. Jefferson’s design helped to define the Virginian style. The operative experience must have been

invaluable to a skilled immigrant worker like Clot-worthy Stephenson. While in France, Thomas Jefferson contacted Charles Louis Clérisseau—a draughtsman, artist, and learnèd scholar of architectural antiquity. There they discussed the Virginia capitol’s plans amid a rich environment of cultural and archi-tectural antiquity. Jefferson was self-taught as a draftsman. Approaching architecture with geo-metric and formal preconceptions fostered by his allegiance to Andrea Palladio, Jefferson worked in a manner that was calculated and mechanical—the very antithesis to free and intuitive method of men of artistic training such as Clerisseau.13 Jefferson’s studies and consultations with Clerisseau brought together real world applications of old world work-manship, resulting in detailed recommendations that were relayed to the directors, assembly, and supervisors. Two significant Labor recommenda-tions were sent to the Directors of Public Buildings August 1785. Jefferson states when choosing the laborers that “you will need one good stonecutter, and one will be enough”—because the enslaved population would be able to do the work under his direction. The second was “you will need a capitol house joyner, and a capitol one ought to be, capable of directing all the circumstances in the construction of the walls which the execution of the plan requires.”14 More simply put, one would need very qualified, versatile managers and ar-tificers in wood and stone to execute the vision. This is quite possibly the be the most significant recorded advice that Jefferson ever received and relayed as an Architect of Virginia and President Director of the development of Washington City. A team of qualified house joyners named John Hart and Clotworthy Stephenson emerged in 1786 and subsequently awarded carpentry work in 1787.



Beautiful examples of Clothworthy Stephenson’s work at the Virginia State Capitol.



Little information has been found regarding John Harts career but have indications that he was of good reputation. The work orders and records indicate a steady amount of government work and private com-missions until 1793.15 Stephenson’s painting and general maintenance of the capitol provided ad-ditional income. Records state that Stephenson or Stephenson & Hart worked on: governor’s lot & house;16 Council House;17 T. Merriweather’s office;18 Treasury building;19 Capital; Auditor’s office;20 Chancery office;21 Solicitors office;22 Registers office; Assembly Room; Land office;23 Delegates Hall; Senate Room; Council Chambers; and General Court Room.24 Work orders indicate they produced: brick making molds; scaffolding; pedestal molding; planking; architraves; cornices; molding; seats; stairs; columns; presses; plinth; circular dado; circular entablatures; niches; balus-trade; entablatures; soffits; sashes; doors; pedes-tals; shutters; chimney pieces; sash frames; seats; stairs; bookshelves; tables; and even coffins.25 The diversity of projects, forms, and architectural elements of finish wood pieces proved that Clot-worthy Stephenson and John Hart possessed a high level of skill, versatility, and mastership. Few specimens of Stephenson and Harts wood work remain today. One pair of architectural trusses from the capitol of Virginia at the Farlin Museum is attributed to Stephenson and William Hodgeon.26 Viewing the additional architectural woodworking pieces attributed to Stephenson & Hart in the capitol of Virginia requires more keen detection. Jefferson’s capitol campus today still retains some woodwork from original 1786–1793 project. Repeated remodeling and three expan-sions of the building has led to many losses of the original woodwork. Even so, there are very good

examples of Jeffersonian-era architectural wood-working in the downsized Old Senate [originally the court room], some in the Old House (along with twentieth-century infill), three excellent door treatments in the central Rotunda, and hand rails around the third floor gallery space. One is able to discern a general timeframe by means of the materials used during the building and expansion of the capitol. The woodwork of Jeffersonian times is generally of yellow pine, whereas woodwork similar in design but dating to a 1904–1906 re-modeling project is generally of tulip popular. There are cobbled examples made by many repairs and replacements of the original pieces applied under the supervision of Maximilian Godefroy between 1816 and 1818.27 Being able to deduce the timeframe from the types of materials used in the capitol project provides a deeper understanding of the structure and the men who built it. After solidifying employment with the civil authority Stephenson began to making a more permanent housing arrangement. Stephenson rented a house formerly occupied by a military officer named Andrew Dunscomb in 1788. His rental payment was made in the form of wood-working services.28 The land records of Richmond recorded the purchase in 1789 of lot No- 553 from William Reynolds and the sale sells lot No- 23 in 1792 to Samuel Paine for fifty pounds.29 These records indicate the purchase of a lot rather than a home. An advertisement in 1794 indicates there was a home owned by Stephenson in Richmond when he was renting a house and building his home in the Federal City. This property was briefly described in an advertisement to 1794 as a two-story brick property on Shockoe Hill.30 His former residence likely became an investment property by late 1792 after his move to the Washington City. Clotworthy



Stephenson had met many influential people while working in Richmond, but it was his social activi-ties in Washington City as a Freemason that would later define his legacy. Stephenson purchased property in the Federal City in 1792 and developed the land over the next decade. He built a home in 1794 and 1795 with an attached woodworking shop, providing the freedom and ease to further perfect his craft. While Clotworthy Stephenson’s professional career was thriving, his personal life was about undergo a monumental change. Approximate-ly twenty-four months after he had immersed himself in the American experiment, he became

a citizen of Virginia. He was administered the oath of fidelity which entitled him to the “rights of a citizen of the city of Richmond.” The act was witnessed by John Marshall and aldermen Robert Boyd, Foster Webb, and Alexander McRobert.31

An examination of Clotworthy Stephenson’s personal subscriptions and reading interests illu-minates his character. He subscribed to The Amer-ican Museum or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces &c. Prose and Poetical.32 The sale Stephenson’s estates furnish us with a glimpse of his personal library. The books he owned were three volumes of Goldsmith’s History; Emerson’s


Masons Hall in Richmond, Virginia, erected in 1785, remains one of the oldest dedicated Masonic buildings in North America. Built in the Colonial style, its has served as an active Masonic temple for most of its nearly 250-year history. A non-profit organization has been created for its maintenance and restoration. To learn more, please eee the website for the Masons Hall 1785 charitable foundation at http://masonshall1785.org.



ThIS artICle is the second installment of an extended profile on the history of French anti-Masonry. For Part One, see Philalethes,

volume 73, number 1, pages 6 to 19. The conclusion will be featured in the next edition of Philalethes.

Édouard DrumontEdouard Drumont (1844–1917), was a journalist and a politician. Radically opposed to the French Rev-olution, he is one of the leading figures of French anti-Semitism, and has inspired generations of activists. In 1890, he founded the Ligue nationale antisémitique de France, criticizing what he called the “cosmopolitism of the Jewish race,”1 compared to his own nationalism. In 1886, he published his infamous book La France juive, which became an immediate best seller: 113 reprints in a year, 200 in total. With an index of over 3000 names, lambast-ing the Rothschilds and others, it is nevertheless difficult today to understand the reasons of this success. It may be due to his direct style.

The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy Theory in France Prior to the Second World War, Part TwoJean-Yves Legouas on the key figures who promoted dangerous prejudices and bigotry against Freemasons and Jews in Europe

Jean-Yves Legouas, MPS, is a Past Master of Lodge Sapientia Cordis № 84 of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina, working in Geneva, Switzerland.

On the first page of the book, Drumont assured that “the only one to whom the Revolution has profited is the Jew. Everything comes from the Jew. Everything returns to the Jew.” This kind of wording was definitely agreeable to some members of the French clergy, the more so since Drumont opinioned that “The conversion of a Jew is the greatest bliss that can happen to the Church of Jesus-Christ.” Interestingly enough, Drumont saw the Jews as originators of the Reform. In his book, he not-ed that it is obvious that “every Protestant . . . is half-Jew.”2 To these supposed religious justifi-cations of his opinions, Drumont added some pseudo-scientific considerations:

The Semite is mercantile, cupid, cunning, sub-tle . . . whereas the Aryan is enthusiastic, hero-ic . . . so confident that he may sometimes be naive. The Semite is a son of the Earth . . . the Aryan is a son of Heaven . . . whereas the Semite will sell telescopes or lenses, like Spinoza, he will never discover new stars in the sky, like Leverrier.3

In his seminal book Jews and Freemasons in Europe, 1723–1939, Jacob Katz notes that


In 1886, it was impossible for any French anti-Se-mitic writer to avoid including the Freemasons in his account. From the time that Chabauty’s works appeared on the scene, this mental association had become firmly established and regularly put to use by both anti-Jewish and anti-Masonic writers. Drumont, who was predisposed to give credence to any report of Jewish complicity in ev-ery despicable act, was even more ready to believe that it was the Jewish character of the Masonic movement which was eroding the foundations of Christian society.4

In 1892, Drumont launched his newspaper La Libre Parole, with its subtitle La France aux français.5 This daily is mainly known for its denunciation of various scandals, including the Panama swindle. With the emergence of the Dreyfus affair, La Libre Parole enjoyed considerable success, becoming the principal organ of French antisemitism. At the same time, the paper advocated virulent an-ti-capitalism due to the collusion perceived by Drumont and his collaborators between Jews and money. In January 1896, in an article in La Libre Pa-role, Drumont addressed to “brave little children:” “I have the feeling that you will avenge us when you grow up, and something tells me that the punishment will be terrible.” In 1899, Drumont published a new book en-titled La Tyrannie maçonnique. There, he again rehashed the same old theories: “the dreams of Masonry are nothing else than the old dreams of Israel . . . the eternal dream of . . . universal domi-nation. Masonic politics, just like Jewish politics, have no other ambition than the realization of this plan.” For him “The Jews are the soul of Masonry.” Anti-Semitism in France temporarily declined during the 1920s, in part because so many Jews had

died fighting for France during World War I that it made it more difficult to accuse them of not being good patriots. La Libre Parole, which had once sold 300,000 copies per issue, closed in 1924.

Paul Copin AlbancelliPaul Copin Albancelli (Paul Joseph Copin, 1851–1939) was also a journalist. He was received a Mason in 1884 in the Grand Orient Lodge l’Avant-Garde maçonnique de Paris, were he reached the position of Senior Warden a few years later. In 1887, he joined a Rose-Croix Chapter named La clémente amitié, where he later became Secretary. In 1889, after parliamentary elections, he publicly accused Masonry of interference in politics, assessing that about half of the 900 representatives (Parlement and Sénat) were Masons. He resigned from his lodge in 1890. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he founded various anti-Masonic leagues which, in 1909, federated under the name of Ligue de défense nationale contre la franc-maçonnerie. Copin also began to write articles for the rISS. One of his theories was that Germany, Great Britain, and the Jews utilized Masonry against France in order to weaken it before the beginning of a coming con-flict. He surprisingly opposed the Protocoles, seeing the pamphlet as charging the Jews in order to hide other enemies, namely pangermanism. He made a distinction between anti-Semites on a religious basis, like him, and by interest, like the Germans. For Copin Albancelli, “since the tragedy of the Cal-vary, the Jewish race has persevered in its hatred of Christ.” Evicted from their country, the Jews settled in the world “like warts.” The triumph of Christianity had forced them to hide and to form secret societies. To survive as Jews they instituted

The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracy Theory in France, Part Two


an occult and supra-national Government. It thus became easy for Copin Albancelli to “demonstrate” that after a “period of incubation,” the secret Jew-ish government through Kabbalists and occultist societies would attack Catholicism. To achieve this, they created a terrible breach in Christendom, favouring the introduction of Protestantism at the end of the middle Ages. His explanation was that it is well known that Freemasonry is of English origin, a nation which, at the time of Elizabeth I, became the champion of Protestantism. In his Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France (1907, 29th reprint in 1910), Albancelli made a distinction between the actions of the Jews during the Russian revolution in 1905, where they “lead the protests of the workers on strike,”6 and during the French revolution “If the Jews did not act directly during our revolution, they had friends acting for them, and these friends are the Freemasons.”7 His book La Conjuration juive contre le monde chrétien (1909) would merely elaborate on some of the analyses made in the preceding pamphlet. In his fourth and fifth parts, Copin insisted on the “Jewish plan” for a domination of the world.‘Abel Clarin de la RiveAbel Clarin de La Rive (1855–1914) was a journal-ist. In his thirties, he developed an interest for the occult as well as for Muslim traditions, sects and brotherhoods. In 1890, he published a novel entitled Ottrida, which contained Christian, Mus-lim, and Masonic allusions. From 1893 to 1895, he contributed many articles for Catholic magazines. He was on friendly terms with the Archbishop of Reims, who was interested in Masonry and had a well-stocked library on this topic. The prel-ate was also in good relations with the editors of La Franc-maçonnerie démasquée.8 Considering

himself sufficiently knowledgeable, Clarin suc-cessively published La femme et l’enfant dans la Franc-maçonnerie universelle9 (1894) and Le Juif et la Franc-maçonnerie (1895). This novel proposed that the Jews, always wishing to dominate the world, used Masonry as a means to an end, viz. to become masters of France. In January 1896, Clarin took over from Leo Taxil the position of editor of the magazine France chrétienne antimaçonnique, which he kept until his death in 1914. In April 1897, in the magazine La Franc-Maçon-nerie démasquée, Clarin de la Rive wrote an article about Léo Taxil, after the latter had revealed his an-ti-Masonic writings to be a hoax, on April 19, 1897. Clarin had to recant much of what he had written about Freemasonry, since he had previously, as many others, used the writings and correspon-dence of Taxil as his source for official documents of the sect, in particular in his book, La femme et l’enfant dans la franc-maçonnerie universelle. In fact, Clarin, as well as Copin-Albancelli, had become very cautious about the satanic pre-sentation of Masonry, as heralded by Taxil. They wished to place their anti-Masonic attitude on a more rational and nationalistic basis. They then recruited René Guénon, possibly unaware of the reality, a Mason and a specialist of esotericism, who wrote articles under the pen name of The Sphinx until the beginning of the First World War.

Maurice BarrèsMaurice Barrès (1862–1923) was a far-right writer and politician. His books reflect traditional values as well as a narrow-minded nationalist concept. He was elected as Representative of Nancy on a programme entitled “Against foreigners” with a view to stop immigration. Violently anti-Semite, Barrès was one of the most vocal opponents to

Jean-Yves Legouas, mps


Captain Dreyfus, proffering “that Dreyfus is capa-ble of treason, I can conclude it from his race.” He never forgave Emile Zola for his spirited defense of Dreyfus, eventually accusing the famous author of being a foreigner. He chaired a number of far-right “leagues” before the First World War. Barrès was a friend of Stanislas de Guaïta (1861–1897), a French occultist and a founder of the “Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix,” and was elected a member of the Académie française in 1907. From what has just been said, it does not seem that Barrès had any specific anti-Masonic activities or opinions. In fact, mentions of Masons are very rare in his books. I have included his name here for reference, considering that he has exerted a strong influence on many of the personalities mentioned in this study. In this respect, one can say that Drumont, Barrès, and Maurras, though their books and articles may not have always been fully understood, were the mentors and the a pri-ori justification of many anti-Semites been and antimasons during the war.

Charles MaurrasCharles Maurras (1868–1952) was a journalist, an essayist, and a politician. He is known as having theorized what he called integral nationalism, a form of monarchism which he saw as “decentral-ized against the foreigner, anti-parliamentarian against the Mason, traditional against Protestant influences, hereditary against the Jewish race. Monarchy will be defined by our country’s needs.” Though he considered himself as an agnostic and dismissively wrote that the Gospels “have been written by four obscure Jews,” he nevertheless recruited many of his followers among fundamen-talist Catholics. He very early took negative posi-tions against Captain Dreyfus, whom he qualified

as “the Jewish traitor” during and after the Affair. His real literary talent gave his theoretical works a great influence among French conserva-tive circles, and its qualities of polemicist provided positive reception amongst others, such as the “Immortels” of the Académie française, to which he was elected on June 9, 1938. Maurras counted many intellectuals among his supporters. With more than ten thousand articles published be-tween 1886 and 1952, he remains the most prolific French political journalist of his century. Together with Léon Daudet10 and others, he published L’Action française, the newspaper that spearheaded the eponymous Action française, a royalist, nationalist, counter-revolutionary and undemocratic movement, which became the main intellectual and political branch of the extreme right during the Third Republic. For Maurras, the French Revolution had helped establish the reign of the foreigners and of what he called the “Anti-France,” which he defined as “The four Con-federate States, i.e. Protestants, Jews, Freemasons, and Metics.”11 Indeed, for him, Protestants, Jews and Freemasons were like “internal foreigners”, whose supposed interests as influential commu-nities did not coincide at all with those of France. About Freemasonry, he wrote in his Dictionnaire politique et critique: “If Freemasonry has once been possessed of a spirit, indeed absurd, of ideas, indeed erroneous, of a propaganda, indeed fatal, in favour of some unselfish ideas, it is only today animated and sustained by a community of gre-garious ambitions and individual greed.” However, Maurras primarily was a pure an-ti-Semite. Regarding the Masons and Protestants, he had declared: “We are opposed to their gov-ernment and tyranny, not to their very existence, which is the case for the Jews.” This declaration



somehow contradicts his repeated affirmations that he was favouring an antisemitism “of the State,” as opposed to a “biological” one. In 1925, Maurras viciously attacked the then Home Minister, Abraham Schrameck: “You are the Jew, you are the foreigner . . . . You are coming from the dregs of the police, of the lodges . . . . Your race is a degenerated race . . . . “Without hatred nor without fear will I give the order to shed your blood, the blood of a dog . . . . He specifically expressed his hatred of Léon Blum, the French Président du Conseil (Prime minister) during the Front Populaire government (1936–1938). On 15 May 1936, he wrote that: “It is as a Jew that we must see . . . fight and kill the Blum . . . . On that day, M. Blum will have to be guillotined . . . blindfolded with a black veil over his camel face.” He was sentenced to eight months of prison after this declaration. During his incar-ceration, he received support from various people, including Pope Pius XI and over a hundred sena-tors and representatives. In the years that preceded the Second World War, Maurras opposed any aggression against Germany, considering that France was not ready for a military conflict. In L’Action Française (28 Sept. 1938), he postulated that: “The French do not want to fight, either for the Jews, the Russians, or for the Freemasons of Prague.” Though he was deeply anti-German, Maurras, right after the defeat in 1940, became a staunch supporter of the Vichy regime and of Marshal Pétain.12 He was enthused by the end of the French democracy and of the Republic as well as by the early introduction of anti-Semitic legislation and, later on, by the creation of the infamous Milice, a political paramilitary organization created in 1943 by the Vichy regime (with German aid) to

fight against the French Resistance during World War II. It participated in summary executions and assassinations, helping to round up Jews and Ré-sistants in France, for deportation or immediate death. Pursuing the publication of the Action française during German occupation with the tacit consent of the Nazi forces, Maurras demanded the execution of the Résistants that he denounced as “terrorists” and “revolutionaries.” As late as 1944, he wrote “If the Anglo-Americans should win the war, this would mean that Freemasons, Jews and all these politicians eliminated in 1940 would be back.” Maurras was arrested after the Liberation of France, and condemned for intelligence with the enemy and high treason, to permanent impris-onment and national degradation, on January 28, 1945. This last verdict implied its automatic exclusion from the Académie française. Regard-ing his burning antisemitism, he declared that his menaces against the Jews had only been of a written nature, and that he was unaware that these could lead to death camps. In fact, he kept on writing articles for Aspects de la France, which had replaced L’action française, until 1952. For obvious reasons, the tone of his latter day’s contributions was much milder than in the olden days.

François CotyJoseph Marie François Spoturno (1874–1934), who later called himself François Coty, was an indus-trialist and a politician. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, he moved early to Marseilles and then to Paris, where a neighbouring pharmacist initiated him to the subtle art of perfumery. In 1904, he built his first factory in Suresnes, near Paris. He gen-erously treated his coworkers. He opened two shops in Paris posh districts, whilst also selling his



perfumes in famous stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. On the eve of the First World War, Coty was the first parfumeur in the world. He was then one of the richest men in the world, though activists like Maurras and Léon Daudet violently criticized him. He was also considered as an uneducated bore. Coty got interested in politics towards the end of the First World War. Strongly anti-Communist, he developed a deep admiration for the Italian fascism and Mussolini. In 1922, he purchased the daily Le Figaro, clearly positioning the paper to the right of the political scene. Coty also financially supported a far-right and anti-parliamentarian group named Le Faisceau, as well as Maurras’s Ac-tion Française, which received two million francs from the industrialist. In 1927, he supported the creation of the Croix-de-Feu, an extreme-right movement, mainly composed of veterans, surviving soldiers of the 1914–1918 war. The headquarters of the movement were located in the same building as Le Figaro. In 1928, he founded another newspaper named L’Ami du Peuple,13 which, intended for the poorer classes, was sold at a very affordable price. The paper was known for its xenophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic articles. Its readership reached a million in 1930. In 1928, Coty wrote a book entitled “Contre le communisme,” and in 1931, he published “Sauvons nos colonies.” In 1933, Coty published “La Réforme de l’État” and founded his own political movement, Solidarité Française. This group participated with other fascistic “Leagues” to the riots of 6 February 1934, when the French Parlement found itself un-der attack for a whole night. The economic crisis in 1929 severely crippled Coty’s businesses. When he died in 1934, his creditors already had most of his belongings sequestered.

Léon de PoncinsLéon de Poncins (1897–1975) was a Catholic journal-ist and a prolific writer whose fundamental credo stipulated that modern political and revolutionary change were triggered by secret societies opposed to Catholicism, such as the Jews, the Zionists, the Masons, the League of Nations (SDN), the Commu-nists, etc. He was close to the opinions of Mgr. Jouin and the RISS theories. He wrote for a number of publications, including Coty’s l’Ami du Peuple and Le Figaro and became the founder, in Geneva, of a short-lived magazine entitled la Contre Révolution, which was published from 1937 to 1939. In 1928, Poncins published Les Forces secrètes de la Révolution: Franc-maçonnerie et Judaïsme,14 in which he concluded that, in order to eliminate the “judeo-Masonic germ,” one had to get rid of the “mortal principles of 1789, inculcated by the Jews and the Masons . . . .” In 1931, he wrote Refusé par la Presse.15 This book was followed in 1932 by two more pamphlets Les Juifs maîtres du monde16 and La Franc-maçonnerie puissance occulte,17 and again, in 1934, by La Franc-Maçonnerie d’après ses documents secrets.18 In 1936, he wrote SDN Su-per-État maçonnique,19 and drafted his personal synthesis in La Mystérieuse internationale juive. He complained that these kinds of books were rarely acknowledged in the press, which, in his mind, was just another proof of the existence of a plot. That same year, Poncins and his friend Malynski published La Guerre occulte, subtitled « Juifs et francs-maçons à la conquête du monde ». The book was largely inspired by the Protocols. During the German Occupation, in 1941, Pon-cins published La Franc-Maçonnerie contre la France, where he concluded that if an occult international centre does exist “It is above Masonry, which is a mere weapon in its hands.” He became a collabo-



rator (in all senses of the word) to the Documents maçonniques (1941–1944). He was arrested and in-carcerated in 1945. Judged in 1949, he was declared not guilty. He returned to writing in 1960, without much success. In 1964, following the adoption by Council Vatican II of a document revising the atti-tude of the Church regarding Judaism, he drafted a pamphlet, Le Problème juif face au Concile, which was distributed to the bishops in the Vatican. As the author of the booklet, Poncins was expressing the opinion that “the Council Fathers had a deep lack of knowledge regarding the essence of Judaism.”

Barnard FaÿBernard Faÿ (1893–1978) was a French academic. He fought with bravery in Verdun during World War I, and was awarded a medal. He received his A.M. from Harvard University in 1920. He obtained his French Ph.D. in 1924 as a specialist of American literature and civilization, with a thesis titled L’es-prit Révolutionnaire en France et aux Etats-Unis à la Fin du XVIIIème Siècle.20 He lectured at Columbia University and the University of Iowa. Between the wars, he crossed over to the U.S. more than twenty times. He delivered lectures, as of 1932, at the prestigious Collège de France. In 1935, Faÿ published La Franc-maçonnerie et la Révolution In-tellectuelle du XVIIIème Siècle,21 and La Civilisation Américaine22 in 1939. Though coming from a monarchist family, he became, in the thirties, very interested in Freema-sonry and lectured on this topic, mainly in far right circles, like the Cercle Fustel de Coulanges, which was close to the Action Française, or the Affinités Françaises. In 1936–1937, he became a member of the managing Committee of the Rassemblement national pour la reconstruction de la France. He regularly wrote articles for The New York Times,

the Saturday Review, Le Figaro, La Revue de Paris, and the more extreme Le Jour. It is important here to point out that secret societies were forbidden in France after the defeat, by a decree of 13 August 1940, in the wake of a speech delivered by Pétain about “nasty winds.” On 3 October 1940, the first Statute of the Jews was promulgated. The two months gap between both legislations is sometimes explained by Pétain’s infamous declaration: “A Jew is never responsible of his origins. A Mason is always responsible of his choice.” Later on, in August 1941, a new set of regulations (in their Article 2) would define a similarity of treatment between Jews and Masons, thereby justifying, in the eyes of all Collaborateurs, the reality of a “Judeo-Masonic Plot.” Bernard Faÿ was appointed General Admin-istrator of the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library) in August 1940. His Jewish predecessor, Julien Cain, had just been fired by the Vichy gov-ernment and was later deported to Buchenwald. Faÿ reorganized the National Library as an efficient instrument of what was then called, in a slightly pompous manner, la Révolution Nationale. In November 1940, he participated in the exhibition La Franc-maçonnerie Dévoilée, at the Petit Palais, in Paris. In November 1941, he organised another exhibition, this time dedicated to the glory of Marshal Pétain. Faÿ’s antimasonic proclivities enabled him to be appointed director of the Musée des sociétés secrètes, and of the Comité anti judéo-maçon-nique,23 both located in the building of the then-de-funct Grand Orient de France, officially considered as an annex of the National Library. He plundered and looted many lodges in Occupied and non-Oc-cupied France, employing his own henchmen as well as the German police. Under the innocent



faux-nez of a Bibliothèque d’histoire de la France contemporaine, Faÿ managed to obtain and publish the names and details of 64,000 Masons. One of the consequences of this publication was the ex-pulsion from the French administration of three thousand reputed Freemasons civil servants. From October 1941 to June 1944, Faÿ published, with the help of Marquès-Rivière (see below) and Vallery-Radot, a monthly magazine titled Docu-ments Maçonniques, which intended to demon-strate the disastrous influence the “Judeo-Masonic clique” had on France and its politics. On one hand, it was a magazine which published serious studies on various Masonic topics, and as such it addressed a cultured elite. On the other hand, Documents Maçonniques, like the rISS, denounce

what it considered as subsidiaries of Judeo-Ma-sonry, including nudists!24

In August 1944, Faÿ was arrested in his office of the National Library. Temporarily sent to prison, he was convicted and sentenced to Hard Labour for life. He escaped detention in 1951 and found refuge in Fribourg, in Switzerland, where he lectured and published numerous books. In January 1959, he was pardoned by René Coty, then President of the French Republic.25 He died in Tours in 1978.

Jean Marquès-RivièreJean Marquès-Rivière (Jean-Marie-Paul Rivière) (1903–2000) was a French journalist and author. At an early age, he demonstrated a great interest for Buddhism and, more generally, for Orientalia.

The 1943 French propaganda film Forces Occultes presented Freemasonry as the real reason Europe was at war, with grotesque anti-Semitic characterizations—and quite badly performed Masonic ritual.



He became a member of the Association des Amis du Bouddhisme and of Madame Blavatski’s Société théosophique.26 Around 1925, he met a Tibetan delegation in Paris with great interest. He was initiated in Theba Lodge, belonging to the Grande Loge de France, where he met René Guénon. He also studied Sanskrit and Tibetan and published two papers, A l’ombre des monastères tibétains (1929) and Vers Bénarès (1930), without having, at the time, ever set foot in Asia. He also collabo-rated to the Voile d’Isis, a magazine dedicated to the study of esotericism and occultism, which he promptly left after having expressed differences of opinions with Guénon, who published many articles in the magazine. In the thirties, he wrote some articles for la France catholique, and launched an antimasonic magazine entitled Documents nouveaux (1933–1936). During the Occupation, he adopted a strict collaborationist policy, and published anti-Semitic and antimasonic pamphlets. It is to be noted that he benefited of a dispensation signed by Pétain (4 February 1942), specifying that, though a former Mason, he was to be completely trusted. He also became a co-editor or the Documents Maçon-niques, together with Vallery-Radot,27 under the management of Bernard Faÿ. In 1940, he was appointed as director of the exhibition La franc-maçonnerie dévoilée. When another exhibition named Le Juif et la France was opened in September 1941, at the Palais Berlitz, in Paris, he drafted some propaganda texts for the cat-alogue. Duly recommended by the Germans, Mar-quès-Rivière became the director of the Research Department of the Service des Sociétés Secrètes, created in October 1942.28 He benefited from the protection of the French Anglophobic Admiral Charles Platon, head of the antimasonic police.

Notes1 These same words will later appear in Hitler’s Mein

Kampf. 2 Edouard Drumont, La France Juive (Paris, 1886), 1:95. 3 Urbain Le Verrier (1811–1877) was a French math-

ematician who discovered the planet Neptune by calculation only.

4 Jacob Katz, Jews and Freemasons in Europe, 1723–1939 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970), 162.

5 “Free Speech: France for the French.”6 Paul Copin-Albancelli, Le Pouvoir Occulte Contre la

France: Le Drame Maçonnique (Paris: La Renaissance française, 1908), 352.

7 Copin-Albancelli, Le Pouvoir Occulte, 358.8 “Freemasonry Unmasked.”9 “Woman and Child in Universal Freemasonry” (Paris:

A.C. de la Rive, 1894).10 Léon Daudet was a French journalist, a writer, an

active monarchist, and a member of the Académie Goncourt. He was the son of the popular novelist Alphonse Daudet.

11 In Maurras’ own language, metics was a derogatory appellation indicating all foreigners.

12 He wrote about Nazism: “This racist business is pure madness.” However, for him, German espionage was “Jewish German espionage.”

13 “The Friend of the People.”14 “The secret forces of revolution: Freemasonry and

Judaism.”15 “Rejected by the press.”16 “The Jews, masters of the world.”

Marquès-Rivière did not only manage his own organisations. He also actively participated to the denunciation of Jews, notably in Rouen. Together with Paul Riche (Paul Mamy), Marquès-Rivière produced the antimasonic movie Forces Occultes, which was presented in Paris on 9 March 1943.29 After the war, he was sentenced to death penal-ty in abstentia. He found a refuge in Franco’s Spain, and obtained an academic tenure in Madrid. He was later authorised to unobtrusively come back to France, and died in Lyon, in 2000.




Early IN a MaSoN’S Career, he is taught the importance of the seven arts and scienc-es. Emphasis is placed on geometry with

some attention on arithmetic and astronomy but little or no attention to music. It is useful to explore the origins of Masonic adoption as one of the “arts and sciences” and why more attention should be placed on music. The likely origins of the concept of the arts and sciences is the Greek quadrivium. These were the four areas of study Plato proposed in The Re-public.1 The areas were Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music, in that order. The concept of the quadrivium is also found in the writings of the Pythagoreans, Aristotle, and many other Greek and Roman philosophers. It was Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (known as Boethius) (c. 480–525) a sixth-century Christian philosopher of the late Roman period who brought the quadrivium to Roman education.2 His concept of education was promoted by Magnus Aurelius (c. 485–c. 585), a Roman statesman and writer. Boethius translated most of the ancient philosophers from Greek to Latin making the quadrivium concept available to the aristocracy

of Rome. This included the importance of music. These translations became the basis of the learning of the middle ages and the foundation advocated by Aristotle. Later in the essay De Nuptiis by Martinaus Ca-pella later (fourth century) the quadrivium was ad-opted as part of a basic education.3 These became the basis of the seven liberal arts of the Middle Ages with rhetoric, grammar and logic (dialectic) add-ed creating the educational trivium. These skills were considered essential for the education of a free person (liberalis, “worthy of a free person”). A phrasing which should catch the attention of a Mason. Reviewing these philosophers including doc-umentation of current research on the quadrivi-um, not enough attention is paid to music. In fact it may be critical to many of the other arts and sciences, in particular arithmetic, grammar, and rhetoric in ways few scholars, until very recently have considered. To illustrate this idea a look at the great minds who examined music will help us understand its importance and place in human history. Pythagoras is associated with a legend, later proved false, with discovering the idea of musical tuning.4 According to the myth Pythagoras was listening to the sounds of blacksmith’s hammers. He noticed both consonance and dissonance when

The Importance of Music among the Arts and SciencesWalter Benesch on the healing and humanizing power of music

Walter Benesch, MPS, is a Past Master of LaFayette-DuPont Lodge № 19, Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia.


they were struck simultaneously. Hammer ‘A’ pro-duced consonance with hammer ‘B’ when struck together. Hammer ‘C’ produced consonance with hammer A, but B and C produced dissonant sound. Another hammer ‘D’ produced perfect consonance with hammer A. They seemed to be “singing” the same note. Hammers A and D were a ratio of the octave. Hammers B and C were a perfect fifth. Their ratios with hammer A were a perfect fourth. Although the story of the hammers proved false, Pythagorus is credited with establishing the concepts of dissonance and consonance along with the harmony and ratio. Xenocrates (fourth century BCe), said: “Pythagoras discovered that the intervals in music do not come into being apart from number; for they are an interrelation of quan-tity with quantity. He set out to investigate under what conditions concordant intervals come about, and discordant ones, and everything well-attuned and ill-tuned.”5 This led to what is now known in Western music as the octave scale. Both Plato and Aristotle perceived instru-mental music as inferior to music produced by the human voice. Yet they promoted the use of a variety of percussion instruments (similar to timpani, snare drum, tambourine and cymbals), wind instruments (such as the reeded aulos and the Pan pipes), and plucked stringed instruments (such as the psaltery, the harp, the lyre, and the kithara) in attempts to immediate the voice. Instru-ments were often associated with a particular ethos (Lyre = Apollo/enlightenment; Aulos = Dionysus/raucousness). Most Greek music was monophonic and transmitted by oral tradition leaving not re-cords. But some 50 fragmentary parchments show examples of early notation and commentary on instrumental music. This indicates a link from Greek to Roman instrumentation.

Greek musical notation is different from our modern notation The Greeks divided the octave into more than 12 pitches, with a different symbol to each possible pitch. Adopting Pythagoras’ con-cept they developed a system of consonance and dissonance focusing on octaves, fifths and fourths derived by dividing the octave into seven-pitch scales of whole-steps and half-steps. It should be noted a few twentieth-century composers at-tempted to recreate the 12 tone scale. Most notable of these was Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) who influenced many of the other 12 tone composers. Others who experimented the use of the 12-tone scale include Anton Webern (1883–1945, Alban Berg (1885–1935), the conductor and composer Pierre Boulez (1925–2016) and recently Charles Wuorinen (1938–2020). Music in the Middle Ages began as mono-phonic chant, then around 1000 A.D., new types of polyphony developed and gradually expanded in rhythm, harmony and texture until reaching an extremely complex style in the late 1300s.6 A full assessment of Medieval music is difficult because of the small amount of musical source material that has survived. What is most widely known is the liturgical Gregorian chants, although there were other forms of chanting. The secular music of the Medieval Ages was brought to the people by the troubadours and minstrels,. They were most commonly found in southern France but elsewhere too. They, who used song to portray love, politics and presented dance music for the masses. This latter form of music is delightfully displayed in Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting The Peasant Dance, c. 1569. Bruegel loved to paint the common man and has many canvasses devoted to music, dance, and customs of his era. The Renaissance saw a revitalization of learn-

Walter Benesch, mps


ing, commerce, exploration, scientific discovery, and spectacular artistic achievements. Renais-sance artists and philosophers sought to reconcile theological practice with the new spirit of scien-tific inquiry. The Protestant Reformation had a tremendous impact on Renaissance music. This religious rebellion was further solidified in 1534 when King Henry VIII of England established his own church (Anglican). In the process of reform, new churches gave rise to new types of sacred music, and with so much turmoil in the church scene, secular classical music began to revive its sacred counterpart. Henry VIII was a composer and produced some delightful pieces akin to the Minstrel dance traditions rather than the sacred. The fifteenth and sixteenth Centuries led to some of the most important revelations in compo-sition led by individuals such as: Josquin Desprez (Flanders, c. 1440–1521) who established a beau-tiful expressive sound with a constant changing of textures in his motets and songs. Giovanni da Palestrina (Italy, c. 1524–1594) who worked in the Vatican and is considered a master of sacred music and developer of counter-point. Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575–1623) and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585) two of England’s great composers who both advanced the various styles of music also were instrumen-tal (pun intended) in advancing both styles and varieties in the use of varied instruments. Tallis patented and published music with the help of William Byrd. This transformed the printed forms of music scores from the hand written sheets of early music into a slightly more recognizable form. The Baroque period of music produced more recognizable modes of music for our modern ears. The Classical and Romantic eras were enhanced with the creation of new musical instruments from the piano, to the clarinet and others which

now make up the modern orchestra.7

The modern era is subdivided into various styles from Impressionist to Contemporary. Many composers feel a need to address cultural, social and political issues. Some of the most notable include Philip Glass, and John Williams known for their film scores. Lutoslawski predicted a revolution in Poland in his cello concerto. Alan Hovhaness, whose pieces never cease to amaze me, advocated for protection the environment especially of whales in his “And God Made the Great Whales” by incorporating the sounds of a humpback whale into the actual piece. Jennifer Higdon, who premiered a composition with the National Symphony just last year, is constantly promoting women composers living and deceased. As music advanced, scientists took notice of its importance. Darwin wondered if human love of music might have ancient roots with other apes.8 He tested his idea with an orangutan in the London Zoo but with no definitive results. In his book, The Descent of Man, Darwin looked at the musical cadences in various species of animals and birds to attract females.9 He even noted that spiders can be attracted by music. Is this carried over into hu-man courtship ceremonies? The old troubadours would have thought so. Darwin wondered if the development of common speech was enhanced by the cadences and rhythms. He speculated that the basis for the development of language in our ancestors may have been the cadence and rhythms found in music. If this is the case music would en-hance the development of rhetoric and grammar in human evolution.10

Returning to the quadrivium, it can be found that music has been related to arithmetic, possible linguistic development which was a prerequisite to the development of grammar and rhetoric.



This links music to three of the other six arts and sciences. Yet Pythagoras considered the heavenly “music of the spheres” as part of the understanding of the workings of the universe and the movements of the planets, a link to astronomy. Galileo and other astronomers of the Renais-sance used arithmetic and geometry to tracking of the stars and planets in establishing the Helio-centric theory for our solar system. Pythagoras, Galileo and others saw either a direct or indirect link between music and astronomy. These theories connect music to all the other arts and science as seen in history. But modern science has carried this much further. A question can be asked: what is the value of music beyond the enjoyment of listening to it? As a former social worker with a speciality in early child-hood development, I promoted the idea of having classical, particularity Bach and Mozart (a Mason) to be played to infants. The regular patterns found in music emulate the basic structure of mathematics which are then ingrained into the developing brain. In the 1990s, cognitive research found that young test subjects performed better on spatial-temporal tasks when exposed to a Mozart sonata. Such tem-poral reasoning would aid in the development of mathematical capabilities later in life. Recent studies show music has a much greater positive impact on humans than realized before the turn of this century. For both the prenatal fetus and in neonatal intensive care units, those units which have music playing in the background helped the infants sleep better. This lowered stress and is attributed for 30% increase in greater growth compared to the control group wherein no music was played. The growth was seen in both the phys-ical body and brain development. The musically exposed infants were released before infants who

were not exposed (control group) to the music in the hospital wards.11

It has been repeatedly seen that infants re-spond to musical rhythms.12 They will clap and move in time with the beats of the music being heard. As the children grow, children exposed to music training beginning before the age of 7 show greater capability to learn and retain language.13 The rhythm of the language becomes more in-grained in the plasticity of the brain which is still in the development stage.14 This was demonstrated in my own older daughter who was exposed to clas-sical music before birth and given violin lessons before her seventh birthday. Her linguistics, math, and scientific abilities greatly exceeded those of her playmates. It is strongly felt the foundation in early music exposure resulted in her M.D. degree and as a doctor in an emergency ward in California. In a recent exchange she confirmed the use of mu-sic in her er ward helps patients relax and recover thereby increasing the chances of survival.15

Other benefits of music can be seen in with physical and mental therapy. Playing relaxing music decreased the need for anesthesia by 15% for patients going into surgery.16 The hip replacement surgery is a prime example. When the patient was exposed to the relaxing music, the amount of anesthesia needed was significantly lower than patients not exposed to music. This would improve the rate of recovery and lower the risks associated with the use of anesthesias.17 Stroke victims exposed to music in the 3rd

to 6th month (no effect prior to the 3rd month) post stroke therapy have superior cognitive and mood measures. Most importantly it decreases stress. Music was able to increase the sprouting of axons and dendrite branching on both sides of the brain of these patients. This was also found in

Walter Benesch, mps


Alzheimer’s victims and aided in the recovery of long term memory.18

Melodic intonation therapy (MIt) has proved to be more effective than speech therapy in patients suffering from aphasia and stroke. The neural plasticity is enhanced through use of music in the forms of songs.19 It facilitates the changing of the brain structure by increasing white matter structure in several regions. What is remarkable is patients who are unable to produce normal speech are able to express themselves through song. When applied to Parkinson’s, music with a beat help patients with motor disorders through rhythmic auditory stimulation.20 Both the veloc-ity and stride gate saw significant improvements when music is applied during physical therapy.21 Patients move with increased fluidly when music was played in the background. But this goes be-yond walking. Other forms of motor functions in Parkinson’s patients improve when accompanied with music. This included hand and eye coordi-nation. Of the arts and sciences the Mason learns about in our ceremonies, music is the last on the list and usually overlooked. Yet music has been considered a critical form of art from ancient times, through the Enlightenment and into the modern era. Few are aware of the real impact music can and does have on mental development and health, physical growth, and in the recovery of brain ail-ments such as stroke and Alzheimer’s. Based upon a closer examination it appears the one particular art / science which is a part of our Masonic cere-monies may have a far greater consequence than most are aware of.

Notes1 Proclus, A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Ele-

ments, xii, trans. Glenn Raymond Morrow. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 29–30.

2 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online.3 William Harris Stahl & Richard Johnson, Martianus

Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977).

4 “A Feeling for Harmony” on http://legacy.earlham.edu.

5 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at: http://plato.

stanford.edu.

6 Benjamin Hollis, “Pre-Renaissance Music: The Evolu-tion of Instruments and Theory.” https://method-be-

hind-the-music.com/history/history/.

7 To hear various examples, visit https://www.musicnotes.

com/now/news/musical-periods-the-history-of-classi-

cal-music/.8 Anivruddh Patel, Music and the Brain, The Great Courses

(DVD) (The Teaching Company, 2015).9 Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (London: J. Murray,

1871).10 Honing, H. “Structure and Interpretation of Rhythm

in Music.” The Psychology of Music, 3rd Ed. (London: Elsevier, 2013).

11 A. D. Patel, Music, Language and the Brain (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

12 S. C. Herholz & R. J. Zatorre, “Music Training as a Framework for Brain Plasticity: Behavior, Function and Structure.” Neuron 76 (2012), 486–502.

13 S. Moreno, C. Marques, A. Santos, M. Santos, S.L. Castro, & M. Besson, “Musical Training Influences Linguistic Abilities in 8 Year-Old Children: More Ev-idence for Brain Plasticity.” Cerebral Cortex 19 (2009), 712–23.

14 C.J. Steele, J. A. Bailey, R. J. Zatorre & V. B. Penhune, “Early Music Training and White-Matter Plasticity in the Corpus Callosum: Evidence for a Sensitive Period.” Journal of Neuroscience 33(2013), 1282–90.

15 P. N. Justin, “From Everyday Emotions to Aesthetic Emotions: Towards a Unified Theory of Musical Emo-tions.” Physics of Life Reviews 10 (2013), 235–66.(

16 S. Koelsch, “Brain Correlates of Music-Evoked Emo-tions.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 15 (2014), 170–80.

17 Ibid.18 A. Vanstone & L. Cuddy, “Musical Memory in Alzhei-




The Joseph Warren TavernA Journey through Personal, Masonic, and Revolutionary History

W. Bruce Pruitt shares his personal quest to connect with Masonic history

The NaMe of JoSePh warreN is very familiar to most Freemasons. The existence of an eating and drinking place dedicated

to his memory, however, is much less well known, except perhaps to those members of the craft who live in the general Boston area. We “discovered” that historic pub, The Joseph Warren Tavern during a driving tour of Boston at the end of a kind of pilgrimage to New England from California. This auto tour was conducted by a close friend and U.S. Navy companion who is a native of the area. (More about him later) We refer to it as a “pilgrim-age” because the initial purpose for the trip was for our oldest daughter, Kristina, to re-visit the area where she had spent the first 9 months or so of her life. Her interest and curiosity about the location had existed for several years. It is hoped that the reader will find interest in more than one kind of information. The first part of this report deals with some personal data. In it as well there is a bit of history about World War II and afterwards. The second part is primarily Masonic, likely the most significant subject and the main

W. Bruce Pruitt, MPS, is a Past Master of Los Altos Lodge № 712, Free and Accepted Masons of California.

reason for this narrative. It will bring us back to the Revolutionary period, and likely provide the reader with a new appreciation of Joseph Warren, of other historic characters, and the early Scottish Masons of the day. In either case, please enjoy reading.

Wickford and Quanset PointKristina was born in Rhode Island, while I was serving as an officer on an Essex class aircraft carrier, the USS Tarawa (CVS-40). The ship was home ported at Quonset Point, Rhode Island Naval Air Station. The USS Essex (CV-9) was the first of 24 carriers of its design built in World War Two. It was the backbone of the Navy for much of the war. More of that type were originally planned but were cancelled as the war progressed. A very new design in the USS Midway (CV-41) was commissioned in 1945 but it did not see combat. It did, however serve for an unprecedented 47 years before being docked in San Diego for all of us to appreciate. Incidentally, noticing the designations CVS-40 and CV-41 one can see that the Tarawa was the last Essex class launched, with Midway being the next construction. The designation (CVS) indicates that the Tarawa’s mission was changed from launching attack aircraft to supporting 2-engine propeller



types—and helicopters—for anti-submarine duty. Our trip to Rhode Island was actually planned to take place in the fall about two years in advance, even recognizing that the weather could be un-pleasant at that time of the year. On the other hand, accommodations would be more available then, plus it fit in our family schedules. Fortu-nately, the nice resort we reserved in Jamestown was excellent. As expected the cold temperatures were indeed a record. One weather advantage was, however, that it did not rain, and our warm coats did fine. We bedded in a Wyndham resort in Jamestown on the shore of Conanicut Island, the large island at the entrance of Narragansett Bay. There was a picturesque view we enjoyed, looking across the channel toward the U.S. Naval Station at Newport, with the “new bridge” to the right. The bridge between Jamestown and Newport I am calling “new” because it has been constructed since our living in Rhode Island. Our first sightseeing day was quite successful. We found the South County Hospital in which Kris-tina was born—quite a bit larger than before with a modern multi-level building. We drove around the former naval bae, now used by several large companies. The pier still exists, but now used by a ferry and other commercial traffic. There were none of the elements of an operating navy base remaining: commissary, exchange, service station, clubs (officer/chief/enlisted), Marine Corps guards, etc. A bit spooky to yours truly. A Quonset Point museum was advertised but could not be found (and was probably not open anyway). We did find the “Sea Bee” museum outside the base, contain-ing history of the WWII Construction Battalions who did so much outstanding work for the war effort. Unfortunately it was closed for the season, as expected.

Continuing the search, we were not successful in finding the first house in which my wife and I had a two-room apartment some 60-plus years ago. It had been a large old farm house with a Hamilton Avenue address. Street names have been changed, and very likely the original house has been re-placed by development. We did find the most important dwelling to us, however. Kristina was brought from the hospital back then to a duplex at 2 Saratoga Road in East Greenwich. It was a part of a housing development built during the war to accommodate the influx caused by construction of the navy base. It is still a nice area and we had fun taking pictures. We also enjoyed touring the village of Wickford, its interesting houses, and the Old Narragansett Church (1707). We purchased a chart of Narragansett Bay at Wickford that was created by a local artist and is very personally important to me since it is remi-niscent of the many cruises I experienced in and out of the bay. The ship would be steaming in the channel between Jamestown and Newport, to or from the Atlantic Ocean. My duty at that time might seem mundane but it did have a purpose. There is a list of duties to be performed on every Navy ship during getting underway or returning from sea. It is called the “special sea and anchor detail.” My job was to remain on the outer bridge in order to relay, by radio, the commands given by the pilot to the tugs. Naturally there is a local pilot in control of every major vessel at this time. Since the tugs were only needed at the pier, and the total transit in the bay would be about five hours, I was sometimes actually employed less than a half hour. In winter time the local Rhode Island pilots seemed to be very little affected by the cold weather but I certainly was. (After all I grew up in the South.)


Newport, Rhode IslandOn the second day of our trip we traveled over the bridge to the lovely city of Newport. Because of its popularity as a summer vacation site for the wealthy folks in the late 19th century, some of the most beautiful mansions in the world are found there. In addition, many “normal sized” estates in Newport are extremely well cared for and the homes could also be considered showplaces. We first stopped at the visitor center where a good selection of information was available, finding that only three of the major mansions were open at that time. That was fine, though, because that number is about all one can adequately cover in one day. This was not my first visit to Newport. I had the privilege of attending the Naval War College there for two weeks, quite a few years ago.We began at the largest and best known place called The Breakers—one of the ten sites owned and operated by the Preservation Society of New-port County. To say that that “summer cottage” is fabulous (as well as the other nine) is to state the obvious. They have been widely written about in books and brochures, all available at the various souvenir shops, so it is not my intention to try to describe a lot of detail. They are large, they are colorful, they are comfortable, and they are extremely intricate and fanciful. The first Breakers was a large wooden struc-ture purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt II but it burned in 1892. Vanderbilt determined that the second must be made of stone, and it was designed by Robert Morris Hunt, who was responsible for a number of the Newport mansions. Construction began in 1893 and finished in two years. It has 70 rooms, many of them for use by the extensive staff. Much of the material, even complete rooms,

were produced in Europe and delivered on site. To me, at the Breakers as well as the others that we visited, the most interesting and unusual items were the ceilings. The dining room one in the Breakers was adorned with various panels filled with paintings, gilt bronze, marble, and blue and white moldings. One unique part of the Breakers estate is the Children’s Play House, an attractive side building probably about 3000 – 4000 square feet. That clearly indicates how much fun the kids had when raised in those wealthy circumstances.The second mansion we visited was the The Elms built for Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Berwind. They had been living in a modest house for some years and in preparation for their mansion extended the grounds to 14 acres. Berwind was from Philadel-phia, and was the largest supplier of coal to the merchant marine industry. He later expanded into shipping, docks, and railroads. He chose a different architect from Hunt in Horace Trumberger, and the Elms is very different from the other mansions. It is described as “a model of classical symme-try—windows balance doors, paintings answer paintings, and mirrors are positioned opposite one another.” The ceiling of the drawing room of the Elms contains a painting, Dawn (1740) by Dutch Master Jacob de Witt. The 10-acre grounds are a carefully manicured park. When completed in 1901, it was introduced by a major gala and was warmly accepted by society. We were able to enjoy a tour of The Marble House before closing time, and it was my favorite. It contains 500,000 cubic feet of marble and took four years, finishing in 1892. Many of the inside walls and trim are painted to look like marble. It was designed by architect Hunt for Mrs. Wil-liam Vanderbilt. Her bedroom is huge, and so is the bed. She and William divorced in 1895. Their

W. Bruce Pruitt, mps


daughter married the 9th Duke of Marlborough after meeting at the reception given in his honor. William moved away and the house was closed for 18 years, opening again in 1908. After being owned by Frederick Prince it was acquired by the Trust in 1963. A special attraction is the Chinese Tea House on the grounds, a favorite place for a break during open season. We drove over to look at the Hunter House, an historic pre-Revolutionary place initially con-structed in 1748. It was also acquired by the Foun-dation when they were allowed to raise funds by borrowing the Breakers to show. It was occupied by a number of merchants, two governors, one ambas-sador, and the commander of French naval forces during the Revolutionary War. The merchants back then kept busy with up to 500 ships engaged in the “Triangle Trade,” specifically molasses, rum, and slaves between Newport, the West Indies, and Africa. There is historic information about another very old Newport site named ”Hazard House” which almost seems to be the same as the Hunter House. The literature is enough different, how-ever, so I will have to resolve the issue at a later date. We also thought about looking up The Old Vernon House on Clark Street, but time did not allow. It was the residence during the Revolution of General Rochambeau. We needed time to enjoy a great sea food dinner at The Black Pearl, which had been highly recommended. The building it-self was worth the trip. It was unusually long and narrow since it was formally used in the 1700’s for laying out ship’s sails. We were joined in the late evening by my long friend Fred Reis. Fred and I spent time together years ago at Moffett Field Naval Air Station in California. We were active in the Navy Intelli-

gence Reserve in those days. He is a fellow retired Captain; he lives part time in Arlington, Virginia, where he works on projects for different govern-ment agencies, and also retains his family home in Dover, Massachusetts. We always get together when I visit the D.C. area, and this time we were fortunate to have him available to act as guide for Kristina’s first look at Boston.

Boston, MassachusettsWe left early the next day, drove through Newport, and left Fred’s car at a convenience stop on highway 24. This day was filled with driving around Boston, looking at historic and Masonic sites, and includ-ing lunch at the Joseph Warren Tavern, which is a major part of this story. It is interesting that Fred Reis and Joseph Warren have significant similar-ities in background—both gentlemen graduated from both Roxbury Latin School and Harvard Col-lege. Fred is not a member of the Masonic fraternity and is less familiar with Warren’s Masonic history than with his political and government involve-ment. He did know about the tavern, though and knew where it was located. He was an excellent guide for all that area. The other major locations that we drove to in-cluding the Bunker Hill Monument, (with a statue of J. Warren) Old South Meeting House, Old North Church, and Beacon Hill (posh residential area). When checking on the Grand Lodge it happened that we were on Trowbridge Street already so we got a look at that building also. I had hoped to get a tour of Old Ironsides with my Navy retirement ID, but the gates were locked and it was dark. It is appropriate to pause at this point and review some of the important information about Joseph Warren. He was born in 1741, and died on June 17, 1775, at the Battle of Bunker Hill. As



stated above, he graduated from Roxbury Latin and Harvard, and also briefly taught at Roxbury School. One of the three statues of Joseph Warren is on the grounds of Roxbury School, and there is a Joseph Warren Club with membership recognizing contributions to the school above a certain level. He became a practicing physician and also was extremely involved in revolutionary politics with such people as John Hancock and Samuel Adams. He was appointed to the Boston Committee of Correspondence, and later President of the Mas-sachusetts Provincial Congress. He participated in the review and report on the “Boston Massacre.” A major accomplishment of his was the drafting of the Suffolk Resolves, which advocated and support-ed the resistance to the laws passed by Parliament against the colonies. Those resolves were adopted by the Continental Congress. Joseph Warren was made a Mason in St. An-drews Lodge No- 81 under the Grand Lodge of Scot-land, probably soon after its institution in 1756. Paul Revere was also a member and the two were close friends. He was recorded as Master of the Lodge on 15 May, 1769 in a Grand Lodge record. He served as both Grand Master of Scottish Free-masonry and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts when it was formed. Warren served as a major general under the Provincial Congress. It could have been that posi-tion or that of Grand Master that gave him enough authority to order Paul Revere and William Dawes to conduct the famous warning of British troop’s arrival. Warren joined the battle at Breed’s Hill but insisted that command should be under General Israel Putnam whose commission was from the Continental Congress. He took a position as a private and was killed by a shot in the head. His body was almost completely demolished by the

British and it was not recognizable when later exhumed. It was identified by a tooth that had been produced by Paul Revere. There are two other statues of Warren: one located at his final grave site at Forest Hill Cemetery, and a second within a park in the town of Warren, Pennsylania, named for him.

The Joseph Warren TavernOur luncheon at the Joseph Warren Tavern was not only tasteful and filling but exciting to me as a Mason. The building was originally built in 1780, on No- 2 Pleasant St., Charlestown, Massachusetts. It was restored in 1972 along with four other close situated buildings. The inside is homey and com-fortable, reminiscent of the kinds of meetings and fellowship that would have been present when it was frequented by Revere, Dawes, Hamilton, and Adams. I was particularly attracted to the floor. It was a rich, chocolate brown color, shining after years of polish. With the thick, wide planks, they certainly look to be part of the original construc-tion. The current ownership takes good care of the provenance involved and we are not able here to improve on the information they provide on an attractive format. The following is a copy of the story they have available for interested customers:

The Warren Tavern is thought to date c.1780. A 19th century Charlestown scholar described it as one of the finest buildings in the town to be erected after the conflagration. Its large sign which swung from a high post bore on either side a likeness of General Joseph Warren in his Masonic insignia as Grand Master of Masons. Attached to the house was a large chamber that was afterwards called Warren Hall.King Solomon’s Lodge, the first Masonic organiza-

W. Bruce Pruitt, mps


tion in Charlestown, was founded in the Warren Tavern in March 1786 when Dr. Bartlett delivered the opening address which would be the first work ever printed in Charlestown. Paul Revere, who had been a close friend of General Warren, stated more than once that the Warren Tavern was one of his favorite watering places, and as a Grand Master he presided over meetings of the Masonic Lodge there. In the autumn of 1789, when President George Washington was visiting Boston, he came over to see his old friend Major Benjamin Frothingham and while there the two of them stopped at the Warren Tavern for refreshments. After Washington’s death on 14th of Dec. 1799, a procession of mourners came to the Warren Tavern to hear a funeral oration given by the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, minister of the First Church of Charlestown. (Rev. Morse was the father of

Samuel F. B. Morse, the painter and inventor of the wireless telegraph).

As we leave the discussion of the Warren Tav-ern we should at least pay some respect to another important Masonic “watering hole,” the Green Dragon. That is, or was, depending on how you look at it, a significant part of Boston history for Freemasons. The original Green Dragon was locat-ed on Union Street in the North End of Boston. It came into existence prior to 1700. It was a popular meeting place for lodge gatherings, and was pur-chased by St. Andrews Lodge in 1766. Tradition has it that several “secret” groups used the basement, mostly involved with revolutionary discussions and planning. Some historians have called it the “Headquarters of the Revolution.” The building was demolished in 1854. There is now a modern Green




Clotworthy Stephensoncontinued from page 59

Astronomy, two volumes of The Laws of Maryland, three volumes of Martin’s Philosophy, a “Concor-dance of the Bible,” and an edition of the works of Josephus.33 These items indicate an interest in current news, history, law, astronomy, philosophy, and biblical interpretation. These interests, cou-pled with the education that Masonic lodges may have offered in the seven liberal arts and related ideas, provided a sound foundation for personal growth and enlightenment.34

Records indicate that Stephenson entered into local fraternal relations in Richmond sometime in the middle of 1787. After a number of years of attendance at Richmond Lodge No- 10 and Rich-mond Randolph No- 19, he became a member of Richmond Randolph No- 19. A paper written in 1994 by Sumpter T. Priddy III and Martha C. Vick titled The Work of Clotworthy Stephenson, William Hodgson, and Henry Ingle in Richmond, Virginia, 1787–1806, attributes two ornate wood canopies on

the third floor of Masons Hall in Richmond to Clot-worthy Stephenson and William Hodgson. These Palladian arched framed niches are formed from a variation of the windows design by Inigo Jones. Jones’ styles developed during from early Renais-sance designs of windows surrounds enhanced with Roman versions of Ionic (East Structure) and Doric (Western Structure) columns, pilasters, and entablature. The surrounding structure imbues the framed semi-domed niche or conch with the foundational elements of architecture. A visual comparison of the hand-carved woodworking elements, brick and stone work at Masons Hall and the capitol yields undeniable similarities be-tween the unified elements at Masons Hall and the separated elements from throughout the capitol building. Both places exemplify consistent colonial woodworking pieces of superior craftsmanship, utility, duration, and beauty. Edmund Randolph is the architect of Mason Hall and was “spread thin” by the public building project—by 1786 brother and friend John Marshall

be various activities planned to enjoy both at the hosting location and surrounding attractions. One of the more enjoyable curricular activities that became a tradition is assisting the hosting members in their museum and library after getting a private tour. Last year, the meeting was held at the Detroit Masonic Temple in Michigan, where the Director, Rob Moore, was kind enough to give the attendees a private tour of the largest Masonic building in the world. After the meeting, a large group got together and helped clean overstocked

rooms full of books and artifacts that were put away for storage, often upwards of two hundred years old. A few hours of help from the group of us not only made the rooms presentable and usable for storage once again, but all us working together made doing the project easy, enjoyable, and more importantly, helped progress the museum. The MlMa is always looking for future host-ing locations. We encourage anyone interested in Masonic libraries or museums, whether large or small—lodge libraries, Grand Lodges, or private collectors—to join the MlMa and help spread the knowledge and joy we share of Freemasonry and the love we have for preserving history.

The Masonic Library & Museum Associationcontinued from page 49


lent a hand in getting the Masons Hall project completed. Unfortunately, building records from the Masons Hall have not been located but oral history and private records of the Masonic lodges show regular attendance by Edmund Randolph, John Marshall, and Clotworthy Stephenson. This corroborates a higher level of lodge involvement, planning, and leadership than most others. As the chief designer of Masons Hall, Randolph presumably employed some of the workmen of the public building scheme. It is likely that work slowdowns and stoppages during the construction of the capitol led to an inconsistent paycheck. Workmen must have acquired additional projects and commissions to supplement their income. Stephenson and a portion of the civil campus con-tractors visited Richmond Lodge No- 10 between 1786 and 1791.35 These contractors likely met for social reasons, but planning the improvements to Masonic Hall or the capitol campus project would not likely have been far from their minds. The contractors who are attributed to both projects are Edward Voss (a brick maker/stone worker) and William Hodgson (a carpenter) and Clotworthy Stephenson. Masons Hall has since become an icon of colonial architecture, woodworking, and engi-neering. More information is available from the Masons’ Hall 1785, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that is raising funds for the temple’s restoration. Clotworthy Stephenson’s civil and private work associations led to opportunity experience and reputation as skillful builder and Freema-son. This Irish Masters woodworking beautified and adorned the Thomas Jefferson capitol vision, Masons Hall and the Richmond community. His commitment to becoming a citizen of the United States and his participationin the fraternal com-munity left an indelible mark of commitment

Notes1 Ann Martha Rowen, Irish Architectural Archives.2 Stephenson was made a Master Mason on May 5, 1785,

at Temple of Fame Lodge No- 491, in Belfast, Ireland.3 Dublin Weekly Journal, June 26,1725.4 Henry Campbell Black, Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed.

(St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1979), 879 (in loc., “master”).5 Edward Conder, Records of the Hole Crafte and Fellow-

ship of Masons: With a Chronicle of the History of the Worshipful Company of Masons of the City of London (London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., 1894), 29, 56.

6 Shawn Eyer, “Light and Instruction: The Educational Duties of the Worshipful Master.” Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research and Letters 72(2019): 138–46. https://scholar.harvard.edu/seyer/publica-

tions/light-and-instruction-educational-duties-wor-

shipful-master

7 G.A. Cohen, Self-ownership, Freedom and Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Secondary observations from https://seop.illc.uva.nl/

entries/property/.8 Library and Museum of the Grand Lodge of Ireland,

untitled handout, 1–2.9 Approved for membership in Lodge No- 3, Philadelphia

Pennsylvania, June 20, 1786.10 March 13,1787 visit to Richmond Lodge No- 10; minutes

of Richmond Lodge No- 10, Grand Lodge of Virginia; private archives.

11 The Virginia State Capitol [Pamphlet], A Home for

to the commonwealth. Stephenson’s civil and private participation endowed southern archi-tecture and engineering with artistic charm and beauty, enhancing the rapidly developing city-scape. And standing among the brethren of his lodge by George Washington’s side at the Masonic dedication ceremony for the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednes-day, September 18, 1793, Clotworthy Stephenson witnessed world history before his eyes. Born on the other side of the Atlantic, he truly embraced his identity as a citizen of the American republic and as a true son of Virginia.


Virginia’s General Assembly, December 2017, Rich-mond Virginia, top left section.

12 Kimball Fiske, The Capitol of Virginia: A Landmark of American Architecture (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2002), 3.

13 Kimball, The Capitol of Virginia, 19.14 Thomas Jefferson Randoph, ed. Memoirs, Correspon-

dence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late Pres-ident of the United States (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1829), 1:273.

15 Timeline of Receipts and Work Orders recorded for and by Clotworthy Stephenson, 1788–1790 (Library of Virginia archives).

16 Receipts and Work Orders recorded for and by Clot-worthy Stephenson, 1788–1790 (found in a folder of loose filings at the Library of Virginia), May 30, 1789.

17 Receipts and Work Orders, September 4, 1788.18 Receipts and Work Orders, September 4, 1788.19 Receipts and Work Orders, September 8, 1789.20 Receipts and Work Orders, December 15, 1789.21 Receipts and Work Orders, January 17, 1790.22 Receipts and Work Orders, January 11, 1790.23 Receipts and Work Orders. 1789 Maintenance receipt

for a variety of Public Buildings in Richmond.24 Receipts and Work Orders, February 4, 1790.25 Receipts and Work Orders, December 13, 179026 The Fralin Museum of Art University of Virginia

Online Exhibit; http://embark2.eservices.virginia.edu/

Art4022?sid=6&x=20799. 27 Mark Greenoug, historian and tour supervisor, Notes

on the Virginia Capitol’s interior woodworking.28 To James Madison from Andrew Dunscomb, No-

vember 24, 1784, Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/

documents/Madison/01-08-02-0078. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, 10 March 1784 – 28

March 1786, ed. Robert A. Rutland & William M. E. Rachal (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973), 148–49.]; “Maj. Andrew Dunscomb (ca. 1758–1802), a native New Yorker and Revolutionary veteran, succeeded Zephaniah Turner when in Aug. 1783 the latter resigned as the confederation commissioner appointed to settle accounts with Virginia. Later settling in Richmond, Dunscomb from 1792 to 1795 served successively as common councilman, alder-man, auditor-treasurer, and mayor (Virginia Gazette, May 8, 1782, vi: “Records of the Common Hall,” 2 MS. vols., 1:254, 273; 2:7; Madge Goodrich, “Mayors of Richmond,” typescript, 11–12; Andrew H. Christian, Jr., A Brief History of the Christian, Dunscomb, and Duval Families [Richmond, 1909]).” See also Receipts and Work Orders, September 4, 1788.

29 Receipts and Work Orders, June 15, 1789 & January 18, 1791.

30 Receipts and Work Orders, September 3, 1794. The ad Reads: “Brick House, formerly occupied by the subscriber, 36 by 26, two stories High, a good day kitchen in the cellar, with two lock rooms, a garret completed with a fire-place, and fire-place in each room in every story.”

31 August 28, 1787, “Clotworthy Stevenson, house joyner, residing from Ireland, this day declared [illegible]in Court that he intends to reside within this Com-monwealth, and also took the Oath of Fidelity to the Commonwealth in Order to entitle himself to the rights of the City.”

32 Subscription July 1789, Richmond, Virginia.33 Book listed as auctioned items so as to settlement of

his estate, Washington D.C., 1819–1820.34 Michael Hoskin, The Cambridge Concise History of

Astronomy, 74–7535 Edward Voss, Bricklayer.

The Joseph Warren Taverncontinued from page 79

Dragon located at 11 Marshall Street. Although it bears no actual connection to the first, it at least gives tribute to the fraternal and political character of the older one. Consequently there is no reason why Masons can’t go there, lift a glass, and dwell

on “how it was” in olden days of the Craft. The reference above to George Washington and Benjamin Frothingham (1734–1809) opens up another avenue for study. I think it is worth-while including a few bits of information here. A brief research revealed that Benjamin was also a member of King Solomon’s Lodge, and would


The Judeo-Masonic Conspiracycontinued from page 68

17 “The occult power of Freemasonry.”18 “Freemasonry according to its secret documents.”19 “The SDN (League of Nations) as a super-Masonic

State.”20 “French Revolutionary spirit in France and the USa

towards the end of the eighteenth century.”21 “Freemasonry and the intellectual revolution at the

end of the nineteenth century.”22 “American Civilization.”23 The Germans and the Vichy government created a

large number of institutes, committees, etc., to pro-duce as many publications and lectures as feasible on anti-Masonry and antisemitism. This conveniently provided lucrative positions to many Collaborateurs.

24 Pierre-André Taguieff, “L’Invention du «complot judéo-maçonnique».” Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah 198(2013), 135.

25 No relation with François Coty.

mer’s Disease.” Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition 17 (2009), 108–28.

19 Herholz & Zatorre, “Music Training.”20 S. McAdams, “Musical Timbre Perception.” In The

Psychology of Music, 3rd ed., 35–68 (London: Elsevier, 2013).

21 G. Schlaug, “Musicians and Music Making as a Model for the Study of Brain Plasticity.” Progress in Brain Research 217 (2015), 37–55.

The Importance of Music among the Arts and Sciencescontinued from page 73

have been a friend of Warren, Revere, etc. He was a cabinetmaker, designer and producer of fine fur-niture. Richard Frothingham (1812–1880) probably Benjamin’s grandson, wrote a book—The Life and Times of Joseph Warren—based on Warren’s diary and records. He was the managing editor of the Boston Globe newspaper and wrote several books dealing with the revolution and people involved therein. He served as Mayor of Charlestown and a member of the Massachusetts House of Repre-sentatives. A review of the descendants of both Joseph Warren and Benjamin Frothingham will find a large group of extremely capable and successful individuals, especially in the medical field. In conclusion, it is hoped that at least some part of this narrative has been of interest to the reader. My experience writing it has been an enjoyable journey through personal history and memorable activities in Freemasonry.

26 The headquarters of the Société Théosophique in Paris were requisitioned by the Germans and became the centre of an antimasonic organisation. After the war, the archives retrieved in this building revealed that 170,000 persons had been put on file, including 60,000 Masons. 6,000 persons in France had been arrested as Masons, 549 were shot or died in deporta-tion, four were decapitated (with an axe, the German way), and 989 were deported to concentration camps.

27 Vallery-Radot was an active anti-Semite. He was a close relative of the famous scientist Louis Pasteur.

28 There were no less than five antimasonic services in Paris: 1) Bernard Faÿ’s Comité anti judéo-maçon-nique, at the Grand Orient Building, rue Cadet. 2) Mar-quès-Rivière’s own service, rue Greffulhe. 3) Com-missioner Moerschel’s service, square Rapp, in the building of the Société Théosophique. 4) The Centre d’action et de documentation of Henri Coston, rue Puteaux, in the building of the Grande Loge de France, rue Puteaux. 5) The German service, avenue Foch, in the building of the former Canadian Embassy.

29 This fascist propaganda film is available and may be viewed at The Internet Archive at https://archive.org/

details/ForCeSoCCULteS.


Symbols in the Wilderness: Early Masonic Survivals in Upstate New York

Joscelyn Godwin & christian Goodwillie

Richard W. Couper Press, 2016

iSBN 978-1-937370-21-3 (paper)

181 pages, $35 US

ACaDeMIC StUDy of Freemasonry con-tinues to grow, the appearance of valu-able books on Masonic material culture

has increased. For example, As Above, So Below: Art of the American Fraternal Society, 1850–1930 by Lynne Adele and Bruce Lee Webb (published by the University of Texas Press and reviewed in Philalethes, vol. 69, pp. 39–40) presented a survey of fraternal artifacts spanning numerous orders,

In Review

with an emphasis on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century period sometimes called the “golden era” of fraternalism. Symbols in the Wilder-ness: Early Masonic Survivals in Upstate New York, is focused upon the surviving material culture of Freemasonry in a specific and crucial region of the United States—upstate New York having been the epicenter of the anti-Masonic movement, as a result of whose influence many lodges were closed and their items in some cases lost. The authors have excellent qualifications for this work. Joscelyn Godwin is professor of music at Colgate University, and a leading scholar in the ac-ademic study of esotericism. Christian Goodwillie is the Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives at Hamilton College’s Burke Library. The work was supported by grants from Colgate University. Symbols in the Wilderness is admirably produced, with photography by Marianita Peaslee, digital imagery specialist at Hamilton College, reproduced in full color throughout. The study originated when a “chance architec-tural encounter” brought Mr. Goodwillie’s atten-tion to a rural Masonic temple in Oneida County. Later, he learned that the lodge possessed a beauti-ful painting (featured on the cover of this edition) used to teach the philosophy of Freemasonry using symbols alluding to “Biblical antiquity, alchemy, Neo-Platonism and its Renaissance revival, and the Rosicrucianism of the seventeenth century. What was this elegantly executed mash-up of


western religious and occult iconography doing in a wooden building in the countryside of New York ca. 1815? Who was looking at it? What insights were they trying to gain by doing so?” Following up on this led him to partner with Prof. Godwin to develop this valuable survey. Symbols in the Wilderness commences with a concise history of the arrival of Craft Freemasonry in upstate New York, followed by a fascinating account of the identifiable meeting places of the Fraternity during its early years in the region. This is an outstanding contribution of the understand-ing of Masonic life during that area and period. The next chapter, on the symbolism of tracing boards and degree charts, wades into esoteric

territory made all the more obscure by the fact that the authors are looking, as it were, from the outside in. The section has merit, but also some defects. For example, the discussion on the sym-bolism of the Letter G (p. 41) is based too much upon secondary sources and theories. As such, the meaning of the symbol is described in a way that is disconnected from the common Masonic experience, and—most importantly—in a manner that conflicts with what would have been the ideas of the Masons of New York during the specific time period under consideration. A better method to connect with the past would be to examine primary documents and contemporary literature dealing with that symbolism. Later, in the final chapter, a

Masonic chart (ca. 1826), Pulaski, New York. This survived only by being hidden during the anti-Masonic period.

In Review


In Review

similar problem arises when an excellent discus-sion of symbolism is marred by a reliance upon Mackey’s Encyclopædia as primary source for the content of Preston’s lectures of two generations past, leading to some mistaken points about the development of the symbolism of the Pillars of the Lodge. However—by both definition and de-sign—Masonic symbolism is a thorny subject, and overall the descriptions given by the authors are insightful and communicate well the philosophical dimensions of the lodges being studied. Next are a series of detailed explorations of three Masonic lodges in Oneida, Cayuga, and On-ondaga counties. This is the most valuable part of the text, and is made vivid by the color photographs of dozens of lodge paintings, artifacts, and archi-tectural details. Extremely welcome, and given as an appendix, is a 1797 oration given on the Feast of St. John the Baptist to Western Star Lodge No- 15 by Daniel Perkins. Material like this provides a

valuable glimpse into the values and ideas of the early New York Masons. In some ways, Symbols in the Wilderness is in the vein of the five volumes on The Masonic Halls of England and Wales by Neville Barker Cryer. The ability to compare and contrast the architecture, artwork, and other items preserved by these lodges presents opportunities for future research. Stud-ies like Symbols in the Wilderness are essential to furthering our understanding of the lived experi-ence of Freemasons in different time periods, and provide essential context for the literary products that tend to attract the majority of research. By making the rich visual record of Freema-sonry in upstate New York accessible to researchers for the first time, Godwin and Goodwillie have provided a magnificent service to all scholars. Symbols in the Wilderness is highly recommended to all serious students of Masonic culture.

Reviewed by Shawn Eyer, FPS

AS we aPProaCh the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, we continue to find ourselves in challenging times, amid a worldwide

pandemic that has curtailed most in-person Masonic activity. As noted in the prior edition, Freemasons have accordingly been participating in the widespread Masonic education programs taking place online. If there was ever a silver lin-ing to an unfortunate situation, the explosion of interest in learning more about the history and traditions of Freemasonry would likely qualify. For my part, two months ago I began to offer online mentoring in early Masonic literature. The format is similar to a graduate seminar, and there

are currently five sections of this class operating. In each session, we explore an early Masonic text and discuss its meaning and connections. There may be details in the next issue of Philalethes, if space is available. To learn more, contact me at my academic account, [email protected]. As this edition went to press, we learned of the passing of a highly esteemed scholar: Brother Wallace McLeod, fPS. He was truly one of the Philalethes Society’s most prolific writers and one of Freemasonry’s greatest academics. Our next issue will carry a suitable tribute to him. Though his working tools are now laid down, his contri-butions to Masonic research belong to the ages.

Editor’s Remarks


voices of the fellows

Robert I. Clegg, FPS1866–1931

The Very word initiation, if it means anything, means education. By initiation we learn. By education we are also instructed. Initiation

indicates individual training. There is no initiation by proxy among Freemasons. We get it ourselves or we don’t get it at all. We have it conferred or communicated. We follow guides. But we are not initiated by merely seeing or hearing or feeling even if the eye, the ear, the hand, are intimately concerned with Freemasons and Freemasonry. Brain and heart are the principal elements in Masonic education. Knowledge deeply founded in the heart and wisdom exhibited by the mind are essentials to the Freemason. Without these he falters and falls in his Freemasonry, with them he soars in the spiritual realm. This Freemasonry of ours is not just another secret Order in which to claim membership and accumulate degrees. None other compares with it. The history of its progress, the caliber of its real initiates past and present, the peculiar and significant methods of its operation, and its universal exposition through the centuries in all the four corners of the globe, are abundant and convincing testimonies to its unique and surpassing worth among all human agencies for good. Next to the Church of God it stands secure. For those anxious ever to put upon us in any particular the customs and trappings of any other organization there is but one thing to say: Hands off! Initiation to the negligent may become but a dim memory, the solemn obligations feebly remembered as to substance, but may we not hope for recollection enough to maintain a fervent respect, a heartwarming love, and some pride of possession for every brother in the enjoyment of his affiliation. We all need at least to be reminded. Such is Masonic education.

robert ingham cleggThe Nature of Masonic Education

1928

Brother Clegg was an Englishman who became a U.S. citizen

in 1891. He was initiated at age 39 in Cleveland’s Tyrian Lodge

No- 370. He is best known for his revisions of Albert G. Mackey’s

works, including the Encyclopædia, Symbolism of Freemasonry and

Jurisprudence. Although he is an original Fellow of the Society, he

is not numbered with “the forty” owing to his death in 1931. His

obituary described him as “The Friend of All the World, Master of

the Veils.” Henry F. Evans fps described him as “probably the best

posted and best read member of the Fraternity in English speaking

lands. He loved the Ritual—not only for its teachings, but also for

its literary charm. I am blessed by being a personal friend of his,

as well as sitting at the feet of the Gamaliel of the Craft.”


ON THE COVERTracing Board of Western Star Lodge No- 15Although it has often been claimed that no American tracing boards existed, in reality there are many surviving examples of such boards. A recent book, Symbols in the Wilderness by Joscelyn Godwin and Christian Goodwillie, demonstrates that many of the older lodges in upstate New York indeed possessed or used to possess such items. Western Star Lodge was established in Oneida County, New York, in 1797. Addressing the lodge on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, Daniel Perkins said “Let me congratulate you, Brethren, on being formed into a regular Lodge, for the purpose of diffusing the scientific Art of Masonry . . . . [a]nd may we ever have the pleasing satisfaction, to behold our work prospering in our hands; our fabrick shining with transparent brightness—and may it be viewed with as much admiration, as the Temple of Solomon was by the Queen of Sheba.” For more information about Symbols in the Wilderness, please see the review on page 84.

The Philalethes Society2501 Highway 37Hibbing, mn 55746 usa

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Photo by Marianita Peaslee