The history of freemasonry : its legends and traditions, its chronological history . n, in the year 1723 that we must place the birth ofSpeculative Freemasonry. Operative Masonry, the mere art ofbuilding, that which was practiced by the Rough Layers of Eng-land and the wall builders or Murer of Germany, still remains andwill always remain as one of the useful arts. 1 The dismemberment of the Third degree, which is said to have subsequently takenplace to form a fourth degree, has nothing to do with this discussion.* History of the Four Old Lodges, p. 34. 1016 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY But Operativ
The history of freemasonry : its legends and traditions, its chronological history . n, in the year 1723 that we must place the birth ofSpeculative Freemasonry. Operative Masonry, the mere art ofbuilding, that which was practiced by the Rough Layers of Eng-land and the wall builders or Murer of Germany, still remains andwill always remain as one of the useful arts. 1 The dismemberment of the Third degree, which is said to have subsequently takenplace to form a fourth degree, has nothing to do with this discussion.* History of the Four Old Lodges, p. 34. 1016 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY But Operative Freemasonry, the descendant and the representa-tive of the mediaeval guilds, ceased then and forever to exist. It died, but it left its sign in the implements of the Craft whichwere still preserved in the new system, but applied to spiritual uses;in the technical terms of the art which gave rise to a symboliclanguage ; and in the ineffaceable memorials which show that thenew association of Speculative Freemasonry has been erected onthe foundations of a purely Operative CHAPTER XXXVIII INTRODUCTION OF SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY INTO FRANCE (PECULATIVE Freemasonry having been firmlyestablished in London and its environs (for itdid not immediately extend into the other partsof England), it will now be proper to direct ourattention to its progress in other countries, andin the first place into the neighboring kingdomof France. The unauthentic and unconfirmed statements of Masonic scholars,until a very recent period, had thrown a cloud of uncertainty overthe early history of Freemasonry in France, which entirely obscuredthe true era of its introduction into that country. Moreover, the accounts of the origin of Freemasonry in Francemade by different writers are of so conflicting a nature that it isutterly impossible to reconcile them with historical accuracy. Theweb of confusion thus constructed has only been recently disen-tangled by the investigations of some English write
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