Historic Masonry e-bog

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The original design of the present work has uniformly been to arrive at truth, and is the result of considerable labor. Often times the author has attempted to verify the quaint assertion of Masonic Chronicles with undisputed historical evidence, and in no instance are traditions resting on unsubstantial ground adduced as corroborative testimony of the line of research which, after careful examination of facts, he has adopted. It may be added that mere legends or gildic tales do not appear in this book. Frequently, isolated parcels, embodied in gossiping manuscripts, have been raised to the dignity Of specific mention on account of additional attestation furnished by unequivocal authorities. In a word, the constant and invariable tendency of the author in the ensuing pages is to bring the history of the Craft down to an undisputed historical basis and in the pursuance of this object, he was frequently compelled to abandon the usual track followed by writers on this subject, and to rely upon authorities whose testimony will be accepted without suspicion of intemperate or uncritical zeal. Finally, and upon this point the author desires to be particularly understood. This work aspires only to such reliability as is usually awarded to carefully prepared histories.