The history of freemasonry : its legends and traditions, its chronological history . ssembly and feast of the Masons in1697, many noble and eminent brethren were But admitting that there was a decline, it was simply a declineof the Operative lodges. And the act of 1717 was not to revivethem, but eventually to extinguish them and to establish Specula-tive lodges in their place ; nor was it to revive Operative Freema-sonry, but to establish for it another and an entirely different insti-tution. We arrive, therefore, again at the legitimate conclusion thatthe establishment of the Grand
The history of freemasonry : its legends and traditions, its chronological history . ssembly and feast of the Masons in1697, many noble and eminent brethren were But admitting that there was a decline, it was simply a declineof the Operative lodges. And the act of 1717 was not to revivethem, but eventually to extinguish them and to establish Specula-tive lodges in their place ; nor was it to revive Operative Freema-sonry, but to establish for it another and an entirely different insti-tution. We arrive, therefore, again at the legitimate conclusion thatthe establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in June, 1717,was not a revival of the old system of Freemasonry, which soonafter became extinct, but its change into a new system. What remained of the Operative Freemasons who did go intothe new association were merged in the Masons Company, or actadthenceforward as individual craftsmen unconnected with a guild. 1 Preston, Illustrations. Anderson, Constitutions, 2d edition, p. 107. * Ibid., n. 106. * Ibid., p. 106. 4 Preston, Illustrations, p. 189. CHAPTER XXXI. THE EARLY YEARS OF SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND N the feast of St. John the Baptist, the 24th ofJune, in the year 1717, the principal members ofthe four old Operative Lodges in London, whohad previously met in February and agreed toconstitute a Grand Lodge of Free and AcceptedMasons, assembled at the Goose and GridironTavern in St. Pauls Churchyard with someother old Masons, and there and then organized the new GrandLodge. This was accomplished by electing a Grand Master and twoGrand Wardens, after which the Brethren proceeded to partake ofa dinner, a custom which has ever since been continued under thename of the Grand Feast. As the written minutes in the record book of the Grand Lodgedo not begin before November, 1723, we are indebted for all thatwe know of the transactions on that eventful day to the meageraccount contained in the 2d edition of Dr. Andersons Constitutions,with a few additiona
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