LANSDOWNE MANUSGRIPT.
This version of the Old Charges is of very early date, about the middle or latter half of the sixteenth century, as these Free Masons Orders arul Constitutions are believed to have been part of the collection made by Lord Burghley, Secretary of State in the time of Edward VI, who died 1598 A.D. Brother Gould, in his History (volume i, page 61), says:
The Manuscript is contained on the inner side of three sheets and a half of stout paper, eleven by fifteen inches, making in all seven folios, many of the principal words being in large letters of an ornamental character. Sims, Manuscript Department of the British Museum, does not consider these " Orders" ever formed a roll, though there are indications of the sheets having been stitched together at the top, and paper or vellum was used for additional protection. It has evidently "seen service." It was published in Freemasons Maaazirze, February 24, 1858, and Hughan's Old CJwaraes (page 31), and since in fasnile reproduction by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. The catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts—which consisted of twelve hundred and forty-five volumes, bought by the English Parliament, in 1807, for £4,925 (about 323,837) has the following note on the contents of this document: "No. 48. A very foolish legendary account of the origin of the Order of Freemasonry" in the handwriting, it is said, of Sir Henry Ellis.
LANTURELUS, ORDRE DES.
Instituted, according to Clavel. in 1771, by the Marquis de Croismare. Its purposes or objects are not now understood
LAPICIDA.
A word sometimes used in Masonic documents to denote a Freemason. It is derived from lapis, the Latin meaning a stone. and caedo, to cut, and is employed by Varro and Livy to signify a StoneCutter. But in the Low Latin of the medieval age it took another meaning; and Du Cange defines it in his Glossarium as "Aedeficiorum structor; Gall. Magon," that is, "A builder of edifices; in French, a Mason"; and he quotes two authorities of 1304 and 1392, where lapicidae evidently means builders. In the Vocabularium of Ugutio, Anno 1592, Lapicedius is defined As a Cutter of Stones. The Latin word now more commonly used by Masonic writers for Freemason is Latomus; but Lapicida is purer Latin (see Latomus).
LARMENIUS, JOHANNES MARCUS.
According to the tradition of the Order of the Temple the credibility of which is, however, denied by most Masonic scholars John Mark Larmenius was in 1314 appointed by James de Molay his successor as Grand Master of the Templars, which power was transmitted by Larmenius to his successors in a document known as the Charter of Transmission (see Temple, Order of the).
LA ROCHEFOUCAULT, BAYERS, LE MARQUIS DE.
Grand Master of the Rite Ecossais Philosophique in 1776. A Freemason of considerable note.
LARUDAN, ABBE.
The author of a work entitled Les Franc-Magons ecrasés. Suite du livre inlitule l'Ordre des Franc-Maçons trahi, traduit du Latin, meaning The Freemasons Crushed, a continuation of the book entitled the Order of Freemasons Betrayed, translated from the Latin. The first edition was published at Amsterdam in 1746. In calling it the sequel of L'Ordre des Franc-Masons trahi, by the Abbe Perau, Larudan has sought to attribute the authorship of his own libelous work to Perau, but without success, as the internal evidence of style and of tone sufficiently distinguishes the two works. Kloss says (Bibliographie, No. 1874) that this work is the armory from which all subsequent enemies of Freemasonry have derived their weapons. Larudan was the first to broach the theory that Oliver Cromwell was the inventor of Freemasonry.
LASALLE, TROUBAT DE.
One of the founded of the Mother Lodge of the Rite Ecossais Philosophique.
LA-TENTE, EDOUARD.
See InterrSional Buzz reau for Masonic Affairs.
LATERAN COUNCILS.
They were five in number, regarded as Ecumenical, that is of world-wide importance, and were held in the Church of Saint John Lateran in Rome, in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1512.
LATIN LANGUAGE IN LODGES.
Latin, the tongue of the ancient Roman Empire is still in the modern study of the sciences and the scholarly classics a language long favored by the universities. In the higher learning it holds tenaciously a prominent place and its international service now and formerly often finds it useful as a medium of understanding among scholars when other mean,s of communication fail. Rob Roy MacGregor, in his tales of travel, tells of illness in a monastery in Palestine where the Latin of his boyhood was profitably refreshed while he
sojourned with the monks who had with him none other common means of expression. In pharmacy it continues of evervday service and each medical prescription tells of its present usefulness. The Roman Catholic Church makes it practically a universal language employed everywhere she has a foothold. Freemasonry has also striking instances of the usefulness off Latin in the Lodge.
The Roman Eagle Lodge, No. 160, chartered in 178a, Edinburgh, Scotland, was founded by Dr. John Brown, its first Right Worshipful Master, to use the Scottish expression for the Master of the Lodge. Dr. John Brown, born 1735, died 1788, studied at the University of Edinburgh and became famous as a Latin scholar as well as in founding a system of medical treatment of the sick that was called after him the Brunonian method. He published a Latin work in 1780, his Elementa Medicinae, Elements of Medicine, maintaining that most diseases often indicated weakness, not excessive strength or excitement, and that indiscriminate bleeding of the patient was a mistake, that frequently supporting treatment was required. His system was then radical, met u ith much opposition, but slowly prevailed. Some Brethren were students in his University classes and he encouraged the Lodge to keep the Minutes and perform other duties in Latin. The mother tongue became the medium of communication in later years.
With Brother A. M. Mackav we examined in Edinburgh the old records of Sàint David's Lodge, No. 36. This is the Lodge of which the noted novelist Sir Walter Scott was a member. Readers of his Ivanhoe may recall his use of a Masonic term in writing of the tourney where the field for Ousters was laid out as an "oblong square."
However, at an emergency meeting of Saint David's Lodge, September 13, 1783, four persons were severally initiated and we read "the ceremony was performed b y the R. R. Br. John Maclure, Grand Chaplain, & translated into Latin by Br. John Brown, M.D., as none of them (the candidates) understood English." The initiates were in the service of the Polish Government, and temporarily in Scotland. On September 18, 1783, only five days later, the Master appears bv the Minutes to have informed the Lodge,
"That the four Polish Brethren had been extremely diligent in learning the apprentices' part, and as their time in this Country was to be short, they were anxious to be promoted to the higher Degrees, and for that purpose he had ordered this Masters' Lodge to be convened and hoped their request would be granted and their Entries having proved tedious, first giving it in English and then translating it into Latin, so the Most W Charles Wm. Little Esqr. Subt. G. M. of Scotland had voluntarily offered to assist Br. John Brown, M.D., and Br. Clark of Saint Andr'ws Lodge, and accordingly the Ceremony which took up above three hours was performed in very Elegant Latin."
The nest Brethren applied for certificates showing that they had been "made Masons and Members" of the Lodge, and although "this request nvas new and contrary to the practise of the Lodge, and had been refused in former eases, yet there was a distinction in this case, the Brethren being Foreigners, who never where, nor probably wou'd ever be again in Scotland and that giving such certificates might be a means not only of increasing Masonry, but also a prols ability of extending the authority of the Grand Lodge" and therefore the suggestion was unanimously agreed upon, the certificates written upon vellum nad furnished the departing Brethren who planned to set out for Poland in a few days (see our article in Builder, September, 1926).
Brother Little was Depute Master, Royal Lodge of Saint David's, No. 36 1784 6, and Right Worshipful Master, Roman Eagle Lodge, No. 160, 1787-9, and Right Worshipful Master, Lodgre Edinburgh Saint Andrews, No. 48, in 1791. His great-great-grandson Brigadier-General R. G. Gilmore, writes Brother Mackay, is Past Grand Master Mason of Scotlalld Grand Standard-Bearer, Supreme Council, Thirtv third Degree, and Past Grand Sword-Bearer, Grand Lodge, Royal Order of Scotland, a striking instance of prominent long-continued Masonic activity in one family .
LATOMIA.
This word has sometimes been used in modern Masonic documents as the Latin translation of the word Lodge, with what correctness we will see. The Greek;latomeion, from the roots laas, a stone, and temno, to cut, meant a place where stones were cut, a quarry. From this the Romans got their word latomiae, more usually spelled lautumiae, which also, in pure latinity, meant a Stone-quarry. But as slaves were confined and made to work in the quarries by way of punishment, the name was given to any prison excavated out of the living rock and below the surface of the earth, and was especially so applied to the prison excavated by Servius Tullius under the Capitoline hill at Rome, and to the state prison at Syracuse. Both xxxxxxx and lautumiae are seldom used by ancient writers in their primary sense of a stone-quarry, but both are used in the secondary sense of a prison, and therefore Latomia cannot be considered a good equivalent for Lodge.
LATOMUS.
By Masonic writers used as a translation of Freemason into Latin; thus, Thor entitles his valuable work, Acta Latomorum, meaning the Transactions of the Freemasons. This word was not used in classical Latinity. In the Slow Latin of the Middle Ages it was used as equivalent to lapmda.
Du Cange defines it, in the form of lathomus, as a cutter of stones, Caesor lapidum. He gives an example from one of the ecclesiastical Constitutions, u here we find the expression "carpentarii ac Latomi," which may mean Carpenters and Masons or Carpcnters and Stonecutters. Du Cange also gives Latomus as one of the definitions of Maçonetus, which he derives from the French Maçon. But Maçonetus and Latomus could not have had precisely the same meaning, for in one of the examples cited by Du Cange, we have "Joanne de Bareno, Magoneto, Latonio do Gratianopolis," or in English, "John de Bareno, Mason and Stone-Cutter (?) of Grenoble." Latomus is here evidently an addition to Maçonetus, showing two different kinds of occupation. Mile have abundant evidence in medieval documents that a Magonetus was a builder, and a Latomus was most probably an inferior order, what the Masonie Constitutions call a Rough Mason. The propriety of applying it to a Freemason seems doubtful. The word is sometimes found as Lathomus and Latonius.
LATOUR D'AWERGNE, LE PRINCE DE.
nonresident of the Mother Lodge of the Rite Ecossais Philosophique in 1805, and member of the Grand Orient of France in 1814.
LATRES.
This word has given much unnecessary trouble to the commentators on the old Records of Freemasonry. In the legend of the Craft contained in all the old Constitutions, we are informed that the children of Lamech "knew that God would take vengeance for sinne, either by fire or water, wherefore they did write these sciences that they had found in twoe pillars of stone, that they might be found after that God had taken vengeance; the one was of marble and would not burne, the other was Latres and would not drowne in water" (Harleian Manuscript. No. 1942). It is the Latin word later, a brick.
The legend is derived from Josephus (Jewish Antiquities I, ii), where the same story is told. Whiston properly translates the passage, "they made two pillars; the one of brick, the other of stone." The original Greek is ÷°_Sos, which has the same meaning. The word is variously corrupted in the manuscripts. Thus the Harleian Manuscript has latres, which comes nearest Who the correct Latin plural lateres; the Cooke has lacerus; the Dowland, laterns; theLansdowne, latherne; and the Sloane, No. 3848, getting furthest from the truth, has letera. It is strange that Halliwell, Early History of Freemasonny in England (second edition, page 8), should have been ignorant of the true meaning and that Henry Phillips, Freemasons Quarterly Revieto, 1836 (page 289), in commenting on the Harleian Manuscript, should have supposed that it alluded "to some floating substance." The Latin word later and the passage in Josephus ought readily to have led to an explication.
LAUREL CROWN.
A decoration used in some of the higher Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The laurel is an emblem of victory; and the corona triumphalis, or crown of victory, of the Romans, which was given to generals who had gained a triumph by their conquests, was made of laurel leaves. The laurel crown in Freemasonry is given to him who has made a conquest over his passions.
LAURENS, J. L. A
French Masonic writer, and the author of an Essai historique et critique star la Franche-Maçonnerie, meaning Historical and Critical Essay on Freemasonry, published at Paris in 1805. In this work he gives a critical examination of the principal works that have treated of the Institution. It contains also a refutation of the imputations of anti-Masonic writers. In 1808 he edited an edition of the Vocabulaire des Franc-Maçons, the first edition of which had been issued in 1805. In 1825 was published a Histoire des Initiations de l'ancienne Egypte with an essay by Laurens on the origin and aim of the Ancient Mysteries (Klaus, Bibliographie, No. 3871).
LAURIE.
See Lawrie, Ahander.
LATER, BRAZEN.
A large brazen vessel for washing placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle, where the officiating priest cleansed his hands and feet, and as well the entrails of victims. Constructed by command of Moses (Exodus XXXVIII, 8). A similar vessel was Syrnbolically used at the entrance, in the modern French and Scottish Rites, when conferring the Apprentice Degree. It has been used in many of the Degrees of the latter Rite.
LAWFUL INFORMATION.
See Information Lawful.
LAW, MORAL.
See Moral Law.
LAW, ORAL.
See Oral Law.
LAW, PARLIAMENTARY.
See Parliamentary Law.
LAWRENCE SAMUEL CROCKER.
born at Medford, Massachusetts, November 22, 1832, and died there on September 24, 1911. A graduate of Harvard University, a member of the banking firm of Bigelow and Lawrence at Chicago, then in 1858 joined his father and brother in business at Medford until 1905. Active in many important business enterprises he was also Lieutenant, 1855; Captain, 1856; Major, 1859, and Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Militia, 1861, and organized his regiment on a war footing even before the outbreak of Civil War hostilities and was severely wounded in the battle of Bull Run, 1861. First Mayor of Medford. Brought to light in Hiram Lodge at West Cambridge, novr Arlington, October 26, 1854, a charter member of Mount Hermon Lodge, Medford, vras Junior Warden, Senior Warden, and Master until 1865; in 1870 elected Grand Senior Warden, ance 1869 a Director, and Grand Master of Massachusetts in 1881-3. Exalted, Saint Paul's Chapter, June 13, 1855, and a charter member and Past High Priest, Mystic Chapter at Medford. A Companion of Boston Council, and a Knight of De Molay Commandery, Boston, 1858; becoming Eminent Commander, he was Grand Commander in 1894.
In the Scottish Rite he received the Degrees Fourth to Thirty-second in 1862, the Honorary in 1864, and became an Active on December 14, 1866. Grand Commander Barton Smith wrote of him (Proceedings, 1912, page 228): "It is to his diplomatic skill and wise and prudent judgment more than to that of any other one person, and probably more than to that of all persons, that the great Reunion of 1867 was due. When he succeeded in bringing about a friendly conference between William Sewall Gardner and Henry L. Palmer, the great seed was sown from which has grown our present Supreme Council." From May 17, 1867, to his resignation as Grand Commander at Detroit, through failing health, September 22, 1910, he loyally served as an officer of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.
LAWRIE, ALEXANDER.
He was originally a stocking-weaver, and afterward became a bookseller and stationer in Parliament Square, Edinburgh, and printer of the Edinburgh Gazette. He was appointed bookseller and stationer to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and aftervard Grand Secretary. In 1804 he published a book entitled The History of Freemasonry, drawn from authentic sources of information; with an A ccount of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, from its Institution in t7S to the present time, compiled from the Records; and an Appendix of Original Papers. Of this valuable and interesting work, Lawrie was at one time deemed the author, notwithstanding that the learning exhibited in the first part, and the numerous references to Greek and Latin authorities, furnished abundant internal evidence of his incapacity, from previous education, to have written it. The doubt which naturally arises, whether he was really the author, derives great support from the testimony of the late Dr. David Irving, Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh. A writer in the Notes and Queries (Third Series iii, 366), on May 9, 1863, stated that at the sale of the library of Doctor Irving, on Saturday, March 28, 1B62, a copy of Lawrie's History of Freemasonry was sold for £1. In that copy there was the following memorandum in the handwriting of Doctor Irving:
The history of this book is somewhat curious, and perhaps there are only two individuals now living by whom it could be divulged, The late Alexander Lawrie, "Grand Stationer," wished to recommend himself to the Freeternity by the publication of such a work. Through Doctor Anderson, he requested me to undertake its compilation and offered a suitable remuneration. As I did not relish the task, he made a similar offer to my old acquaintance David Brewster, by whom it was readily undertaken, and I can say was executed to the entire satisfaction of his employers. The title-page does not exhibit the name of the author, but the dedication bears the signature of Alexander Lawrie, and the volume is commonly described as Lawrie's History of Freemasonry
There can be no doubt of the truth of this statement. It has never been unusual for publishers to avail themselves of the labors of literary men and affix their own names to books which they have written by proxy. Besides, the familiarity with abstruse learning that this worlc exhibits, although totally irreconcilable with the attainments of the stocking-weaver, can readily be assigned to Sir David Brewster the philosopher (see Lyon's History of the
Lodge of Edinburgh page 55). Lawrie had a son. William Alexander Laurie (he had thus, tor some unknown reason, changed the spelling of his name), who was for many years the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and died in office in 1870, highly esteemed. In 1859 he publisned a nest edition of the History, with many additions, under the title of The History of Freemasonry and the Grand Lodge of Scotland, with chapters
on the Knights Templar, Knights of Saint John, Mark Masonry, and the Royal Arch Degree.
LAW, SACRED.
The Sacred Scriptures, the Holy Bible, the Great Light in Freemasonry (see also Sacred Law).
LAWS, GENERAL.
See Laws of Freemasonry.
LAWS, LOCAL.
See Laws of Freemasonry.
LAWS OF FREEMASONRY.
The Laws of Freemasonry, or those rules of action by which the Institution is governed, are very properly divided into three classes:
1. Landmarks.
2. General Laws or Regulations.
3. Local Laws or Regulations.
1. Landmarks. These are the unwritten laws of the Order, derived from those ancient and universal customs which date at so remote a period that we have no record of their origin.
2. General Laws. These are all those Regulations that have been enacted by such Bodies as had at the
time universal jurisdiction. They operate, therefore, over the Craft wheresoever dispersed; and as the
paramount Bodies which enacted them have longceased to exist, it would seem that they are unrepealable. It is generally agreed that these General or Universal Laws are to be found in the old Constitu tions and Charges, so far as thev were recognized and accepted by the Grand Lodge of England at the revival in 1717, and adopted previous to the year 1721.
3. Local Laws. These are the Regulations which, since 1721, have been and continue to be enacted by Grand Lodges. They are of force only in those Jurisdictions which have adopted them, and are repealable by the Bodies which have enacted them. They must, to be valid, be not repugnant to the Landmarks or the General Laws, which are of paramount authority.
LAWSUITS.
In the Old Charges which were approved in 1722, and published in 1723, by Ander son, in the Book of Constitutions (page 56), the regulations as to lawsuits are thus laid down:
And if any of them do you injury you must apply to your own or his Lodge, and from thence you may appeal to the Grand Lodge, at the Qunrterlv Communication and from thence to the Annual Grand Lodge as has been the ancient laudable conduct of our forefathers in everv nation; never taking a legal course but when the ease cannot be otherwise decided, and patiently listening to the honest and friendly advice of Master and Fellows when they would prevent you going to law with strangers or would excite you to put a speedy period to all lawsuits that 80 you may mind the affair of Masonry with the more alacrity and sueeess; but with respect to Brothers or Fellows at law, the Master and Brethren should kindly offer their mediation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the contending Brethren and if that subsmission is impracticable, they must, however, carry on their process or lawsuit without wrath and rancor (not in the common way), saying or doing nothing which may hinder brotherly love and good offices to be renewed and continued; that all may see the benign influence of Massonry, as all true Masons have done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of time.
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