WILLIAM PRESTON
When we hear the name of William
Preston we are at once reminded of the
Preston lectures in Freemasonry, It is to Preston that we are indebted for
what was the basis of our Monitors of the present day. The story of his
literary labors in the interest of the Craft, and how they aided in making
Freemasonry one of the leading educational influences during the closing
decades of the eighteenth century, is one of absorbing interest to every
member of the Fraternity.
William Preston was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland, August 7th (old style
calendar, July 28th), 1742. His father was a "Writer to the Signet," a law
agent peculiar to Scotland and formerly eligible to the bench, therefore a
man of much educational standing. He naturally desired to give his son all
the advantages which the schools of that day afforded, and young Preston's
education was begun at an early age. He entered high school before he was
six years old.
After the death of his father Preston
withdrew from college and took
employment as secretary to Thomas Ruddiman, the celebrated linguist, whose
failing eyesight made it necessary for Preston to do much research work
required by Ruddiman in his classical and linguistic studies. At the
demise of Thomas Ruddiman, Preston became a printer in the establishment of
Walter Ruddiman, a brother of Thomas, to whom he had been formerly
apprenticed.
Evidence of Preston's literary ability
was first shown when he compiled a
catalog of Thomas Ruddiman's books. After working in the printing office
for about a year, a desire to follow his literary inclinations prevailed
and, well supplied with letters of introduction, he set out for London in
1760. One of these letters was addressed to William Stranhan, the King's
Printer, with whom Preston secured a position, remaining with Stranhan and
his son for many years.
Preston possessed an unquenchable
desire for knowledge. As was common to
the times in which he lived, "man worketh from sun to sun." The eight-hour
day, if known at all, was a rarity, and Preston supplanted his earlier
education by study after his twelve-hour working day was over. The
critical skill exercised in his daily vocation caused literary men of the
period to call upon him for assistance and advice. His close association
with the intellectual men of his time was attested by the discovery after
his death of autographed presentation copies of the works of Gibbon, Hume,
Robertson, Blair,
and others.
The exact date of Preston's initiation
is not known, but it occurred in
London in 1762 or 1763. It has been satisfactorily ascertained that his
Mother Lodge was the one meeting at the White Hart Tavern in the Strand.
This Lodge was formed by a number of Edinburgh Masons Sojourning in London,
who, after being refused an application for a Charter by the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, accepted a suggestion of the Scottish Grand Body that they apply
to the ancient Grand Lodge of London. The Ancients granted a dispensation
to these brethren on March 2nd, 1763, and it is claimed by one eighteenth
century biographer that Preston was the second person initiated under that
dispensation. The minutes of the Athol (Ancient) Grand Lodge show that
Lodge No. 111 was Constituted on or about April 20th, 1763, William Leslie,
Charles Halden and John Irwin being the Master and Wardens, and Preston's
name was listed as the twelfth among the twenty-two on the roll of
membership.
It was not uncommon in those times (and
the custom still prevails in
England, Canada, and other countries, and among several Grand Jurisdictions
in the United States) for Masons to belong to more than one Lodge, and
Preston and some other members of his Mother Lodge also became members of a
Lodge Chartered by the Moderns, which met at the Talbot Tavern in the
Strand. These brethren prevailed upon the membership of Lodge No. 111,
which in the meantime had moved its meeting place to the Half Moon Tavern,
to apply to the Modern Grand Lodge for a Charter. Lord Blayney, then Grand
Master, granted a Charter to the members of Lodge No. 111, which was
Constituted a second time, on November 15th, 1764, taking the name
Caledonian Lodge No. 325. This Lodge is still in existence, being No. 134
on the present registry of the United Grand Lodge of England.
The constitution of the new Caledonian
Lodge was a noteworthy event because
of the presence of many prominent Masons of the day. The ceremonies and
addresses on this occasion made a deep impression upon Preston, being among
the factors which induced him to make a serious study of Freemasonry.
The
desire to know more of the Fraternity, its origin and its teachings, was
intensified when he was elected Worshipful Master, for, as he said: "When I
first had the honor to be elected Master of a Lodge, I thought it proper to
inform myself fully of the general rules of the Society, that I might be
able to fulfill my own duty and officially enforce obedience in others.
The methods which I adopted, with this view, excited in some of superficial
knowledge an absolute dislike of what they considered innovations; and in
others who were better informed, a jealously of preeminence, which the
principles of Masonry ought to have checked."
Preston entered into an extensive
correspondence with Masons at home and
abroad, extending his knowledge of Craft affairs and gathering the material
which later found expression in his best known book, "Illustrations of
Masonry." He delved into the most out of the way places in search of
Masonic lore and wisdom, by which the Craft was greatly benefitted.
Preston was a frequent visitor to other
Lodges. He was asked to visit the
Lodge of Antiquity No. 1, one of the four Old Lodges which formed the Grand
Lodge of England in 1717. On that occasion, June 15, 1774, he as elected a
member of the Lodge and also Worshipful Master at the same meeting. This
unusual action is additional evidence of the regard in which he was held by
the Brethren of his day. While he had been Master of several other Lodges,
he gave of his best in time and energy to the Lodge of Antiquity, which
thrived greatly under his leadership.
He became an active member of the Grand
Lodge, serving on its Hall
Committee, a committee appointed in 1773 for the purpose of superintending
the erection of the Masonic Hall which had been projected, and he was later
appointed Deputy Grand Secretary under James Heseline. In this capacity he
revived the foreign and country correspondence of the Grand Lodge, an easy
matter for him because of his extensive personal correspondence with
Brethren outside of London.
In 1777 occurred an event which was
momentous in the Masonic affairs of the
period. On account of the mock and satirical processions formed by rival
societies the Modern Grand Lodge of England had forbidden its Lodges and
Members to appear in public processions in regalia. The Lodge of
Antiquity, on December 17th, 1777, resolved to attend church services in a
body on St. John's Day, the following 27th, selecting St. Dinstan's Church,
only a short distance across the street from where the Lodge met. Some of
the members protested, saying it was contrary to Grand Lodge regulations,
with the result that only ten attended, these donning gloves and aprons in
the church vestry, and then entering to hear the sermon. At the conclusion
of the services they returned to the Lodge without first removing their
Masonic clothing. This action was cause for debate at the next meeting of
the Lodge in which Preston expressed the opinion that the Lodge of
Antiquity had never surrendered its rivileges and prerogatives when it
participated in the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717, and held that it
could parade as it did in 1694. The Grand Lodge, however, could not afford
to overlook such an opinion, especially when expressed by the leading
Masonic Scholar of the day, and consequently Preston was expelled.
Because of this action of the Grand
Lodge of Moderns, the Lodge of
Antiquity severed its connection
with body, after dismissing from its membership three brethren who had made
the original complaint against Preston, entered in relations with the
revived Grand Lodge of All England at York, and formed what was known as
the "Grand Lodge of England South of the River Trent." The controversy
with the Grand Lodge of Moderns was settled in 1787, and Preston was
reinstated, all his honors and dignities restored, whereupon he resumed his
Masonic activities. He organized the Order of Harodim, a Society of
Masonic Scholars, in which he taught his lectures and through this medium
the lectures came to America and became the foundation for our Monitors.
To fully grasp the significance of
preston's labors we must understand the
conditions in England at the time he lived. The seventeenth century had
been one of marked differences of opinion on the subjects of government,
religion and economic conditions. The eighteenth century, following the
accession of Prince George of Hanover to the throne of England as King
George I, witnessed an era of peace and prosperity in that country. With
the exception of the wars against the French and later the Revolution in
America, England met no obstacles in her conquests of trade. The strife of
the opening
years of the century calmed down, and the people became adjusted to their
new conditions. It became a period of formalism. Literature, which
thrived under the patronage of the wealthy, partook of an ancient classical
nature, spirit being subordinated to form and style. Detailed perfection
of form was insisted upon in every activity, and undoubtedly the insistence
for a letter-perfect ritualism, still so apparent in Freemasonry, had its
origin in the closing years of the eighteenth century.
While the well-to-do classes lived in
comfort and ease, the laboring and
farming classes had not yet
entirely emerged from the adverse conditions confronting them for so many
decades. True, the cessation of wars, and the development of domestic and
foreign trade also had an influence in the circles not actively
participating in the new development. A spirit of freedom and independence
continued to express itself. Public education as we know it today,
however, did not then exist. The schools were for the children of the
wealthy only, being conducted by private interests and requiring the
payment of tuition beyond the purse of the common people. Yet, education
was eagerly sought. Knowledge was looked upon as the key which would
unlock the door to intellectual and spiritual independence.
While Preston began his schooling at an
early age, even with his excellent
start he extended his education only by diligent work and the burning of
much midnight oil. Imbued with the spirit of the day, he was anxious
to
place the available knowledge of the times before his fellow men.
Therefore, when he discovered a vast body of traditional and historical
lore in the old documents of the Craft, he naturally seized upon the
opportunity of modernizing the ritual in such a way as to make accessible a
rudimentary knowledge of the arts and sciences to the members of the
Fraternity.
From 1765 to 1772 Preston engaged in
personal research and correspondence
with Freemasons at home and abroad, endeavoring to learn all he could about
Freemasonry and the arts it encouraged. These efforts bore fruit in the
form of his first book, entitled: "Illustrations of Masonry," published in
1772. He had taken the old lectures and work of Freemasonry, revised them
and placed them in such form as to receive the approval of the leading
members of the Craft. Encouraged by their favorable reception and
sanctioned by the Grand Lodge, Preston employed, at his own expense,
lecturers to travel throughout the kingdom and place the lectures before
the lodges. New editions of his book were demanded, and up to the present
time it has gone through twenty editions in England, six in America, and
several more in various European languages.
After his death, on April 1st, 1818, it
was found that Preston had provided
a fund of three hundred pounds sterling in British Consuls (British
Government Securities, the word being abbreviated from "Consolidated
Annuities"), the interest from this fund to be set aside for the delivery
of the Preston lectures once each year. The appointment of a Lecturer was
left to the Grand Master. These lectures were abandoned about 1860,
chiefly for the reason that they had been superseded by the lectures of
Hemming in the approved work of the United Grand Lodge of England, when
that body was formed by the reunion of the Ancient and Moderns in 1813.
The Preston work still survives, however, in the United States, although
greatly modified by such American Ritualists as Webb, Cross, Barney and
others.
Had Preston not attained Masonic
eminence through his efforts in other
fields, his work in revising the lectures alone would entitle him to the
plaudits and gratitude of the Craft. Considering these old lectures in the
light of our present day knowledge, and granting that they might be
corrected and revised, it must be remembered that Preston's work was a
tremendous step forward when we consider the spirit and conditions of his
day. He was one of the first men to influence a change from the social and
convivial standards which prevailed in the old lodges, and to make them
centers for more practical and enduring efforts. His own progress in the
Craft is an illustration of its democracy, and an illustration of the
equality of opportunity existing for those who will apply themselves to the
problems confronting the Fraternity in our own times. From a position as
the youngest Entered Apprentice standing in the North East corner of his
lodge, he progressed step by step until he reached a place where he was
recognized as the foremost Masonic Scholar of his generation. While he did
not wear the purple of the Modern Grand Lodge in its highest stations, his
contemporaries who had that honor have been forgotten, while the name of
William Preston is still preeminent in the annals of Freemasonry.
Equality of opportunity, as Freemasonry
stands for it, means equality of
opportunity for service. The
honors of office are not the Masonic test of service. He who contributes
to the Mason's search for light, light that will enable the Craftsman to
more intelligently and efficiently serve his God, his Country, his
Neighbor, his Family and Himself is rendering the most enduring quality of
service. This was true in Preston's time. It is equally true in
ours.
Fortunate is the lodge that has a modern Preston in its membership, who
seeks to lead the Craft in its clearer understanding of the symbolism and
teachings of Freemasonry to the end that Freemasons of today may sustain in
the high standard of effective and unselfish service to mankind which has
characterized and distinguished the Fraternity in the generations and ages
gone.
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