It must not be supposed that Freemasonry has always enjoyed an era of public favor, or that its acts and secret meetings have escaped the attacks of those who ever seek to cast ridicule upon that to which they have not been invited or which fails to meet their approval. From its very inception, Freemasonry has been an object of persecution and many are the attempts which have been made to bring the society into disrepute, and to destroy its prestige and usefulness.

Such a condition is most natural and is to be expected. The fact that Freemasons select their membership by rejecting those whom they do not consider as possessing the necessary qualifications, and the further fact that the major portion of their transactions are conducted behind closed doors, leads to the inevitable result that there should be those who seek to embrace every opportunity to belittle the society and bring it into contempt.

One of the earliest records of sarcasm directed towards the fraternity is to be found in the London Journal of February, 1722. The editor makes it known that a rumor has been current to the effect "that a treatise is likely soon to appear abroad wherein the author undertakes to prove that the gypsies are a society of much longer standing than the Freemasons." The Evening Post, a year later, announces the publication of a neat pocket volume (for the use of the Lodges of all the Freemasons) under the title of "Ebrietatis Encomium; or, The Praise of Drunkenness," wherein is authentically, and most evidently proved, 1. The Necessity of frequently getting Drunk. 2. That the Practice of getting Drunk is most Ancient, Primitive and Catholick."

In February, 1723, an advertisement appeared in the Daily Post concerning the publication of the second edition of the Freemasons, a bombastic poem supposed to be a complete history of the society from the building of the Tower of Babel, as well as an exposure of all its laws, signs, marks, which for so long a time had been kept secret. This was followed by a complete revelation of the hidden mysteries of the fraternity which appeared in 1724 under the title of The Grand Mysteries of Freemasons discovered. In this exposure were given some of the catechisms as well as the obligations, signs and other interesting matter concerning the practices of the fraternity which were alleged to have been found in the custody of a deceased Mason.

Two years later there was published an accusation and defense of Freemasonry between a gentleman and his son, wherein the society is fully discussed with much argument for and against it. Mist's Weekly Journal published in October, 1724 contains the following item, "We hear that another Ancient Society is started up in town, of Gormogons, of much greater Antiquity and Reputation than the Freemasons: for whereas the latter can deduce their Original but from the building of Babel, the former derive theirs from thousands of years before Adam. The order was lately brought here from China by a Mandarin, who is now departed for Rome, to establish a Lodge in that City, as he has done in London. We are informed a great many eminent Free Masons have degraded themselves, and come over to this Society and several others rejected for want of qualifications."

The record of a trial which took place in the civil courts is exploited in the London Daily Post of May 18, 1783: "On Thursday, the 16th inst., at the Court of Common Pleas, came on a Trial between Abraham Barrat, Plaintiff, and Henry Pritchard, Defendant. The latter being indicted for an assault upon the former, whose Head he had broken for abusing the ancient Society of. Free Masons in a very scandalous manner, and with very . indecent expressions particularly relating to some noble persons of the Fraternity mentioned by name. The jury brought in their verdict for the Plaintiff, but considering the very great provocation given, gave only 20s., Damage."

The reader must not be surprised to learn of fistic encounters among the early Masons for the conduct of the brethren of that period was very different from what it is today. The Lodge of Antiquity, No. 178, ordained in 1786 that "if any brother curse, swear, lay or offer to lay wagers, lie is to be fined." Another curious item reads as follows: "Bro. John Taylor, being disguised in liquor, he was admonished by the Worshipful and ordered home." On May 6, 1816, "the W. M. caused a Poll, meaning a vote, through the Body for some unlawful language and defamation put upon the Body by the Landlord of this house, when there appeared for a removal from the Queen's Head eight in a majority." Two days later "Prescott Corless, the Landlord, begs pardon and the Lodge remains."

The Minutes of this same lodge record that in 1826, "The W. M. and P. M. were expelled for robbing the chest of thirteen pounds, six shillings and six pence." Here is another extract, dated March 2, 1787: "Bro. Horridge was fined six pence for sleeping in Lodge hours;" and another, "Brother Grundy was fined three pence for assaulting Bro. Horridge in his sleep." A brother of the same lodge was fined three pence for calling Bro. Aldcroft, the secretary, "Red Charles" in open lodge; this was on December 27, 1787. "The Worshipful" of the Lodge was put on discipline on January 24, 1788. The Master was fined two pence for not being "clothed;" also six pence for not appointing a deputy in his absence; and, on March 21, two pence for offering to lay a wager; and Bro. , on the sane date, was fined three pence for saying the Lodge met for no other purpose than drinking, etc. The Secretary concluded his Minutes: "Closed the Lodge at 10 o'clock, but not in as good harmony as could have been wished."

An unusual practice of the early Masons in America was the purchase of lottery tickets. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, one of the most conservative in the world at a quarterly meeting held March 20, 1779, ordered the Grand Treasurer to buy a ticket in a lottery for use of the Grand Lodge. On June 18, following, the Grand Treasurer reported the purchase of ticket 314 which drew blank. The old American Union Lodge No. 1 located at Marietta, Ohio, in 1779 voted that all money remaining in its treasury from the first day of November succeeding should be invested in tickets of the third class of the United States lottery and whatever might be drawn should remain in the Treasury for the relief of the poor. The examination of other old records shows conclusively that the fraternity considered the purchase of lottery tickets absolutely legitimate and the monies derived therefrom a lawful source of income. It is presumed that the generally poor financial condition of the lodges and the fact that their revenues were limited led them to resort to the purchase of lottery tickets in order that they might derive in an easy manner greater funds for their uses and purposes.

But all the troubles which vexed the society were not from within. Its secretive character and apparent popularity excited the envy and wrath of civil author ities. From the very beginning the Church of Rome viewed the fraternity as a menace to its control of human destiny and set out in the usual crafty manner to destroy its usefulness. The persecution of Freemasons by ecclesiastic authorities is a story which parallels that of the inquisition.

Mackey relates the persecutions which the Freemasons suffered in Holland in the year 1735. "On the 16th of October a crowd of ignorant fanatics, whose zeal had been enkindled by the denunciations of some of the clergy, broke into a house in Amsterdam, where a lodge was accustomed to be held, and destroyed all the furniture and ornaments of the Lodge. The States General, yielding to the popular excitement or rather desirous of giving no occasion for its action, prohibited the future meetings of the Lodges. One, however, continuing regardless of the edict, to meet at a private house, the members were arrested and, brought before the Court of Justice. Here in the presence of the whole city, the Masters and Wardens defended themselves with great dexterity and while acknowledging their inability to prove the innocence of their institution by a public exposure of their secret doctrines, they freely offered to receive and initiate any person in the confidence of the magistrates and who could give them information upon which they might depend relative to the true designs of the Institution. The proposal was accepted and the town clerk was chosen. He was immediately initiated and his report so pleased his superiors that all the magistrates and principal persons of the city became members and zealous patrons of the Order."

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Freemasons were the object of severe criticism, and that monarch ordered a complete investigation to be made of their activity. This investigation resulted in a report so favorable to the institution that not only was it permitted to continue, but it excited the curiosity of numerous gentlemen to the extent that they made application to the society. In Germany, the Empress Maria Theresa issued an edict decreeing that all Masons in Vienna should be apprehended if assembled in Lodges, but that edict was brought to naught because Joseph I, the Emperor, was a member of the Craft and exerted his influence in behalf of his brethren. But notwithstanding the ridicule cast upon the society of Freemasons by envious and jealous minded persons and the many obstructions which it was forced to surmount it continued to grow and prosper.

Indeed it was its early popularity which drew to its fold, one of the most unique characters of the Eighteenth Century, that of Joseph Balsamo, known as Count Cagliostro. This man was a rogue of the worst type and possessing a knowledge of chemistry and mysticism, turned his. talents into good account by duping the public and bringing money to his own exchequer. In the year 1772, he visited London where, because of his crooked practices, he was thrown into prison. In 1776 he again returned to that city and became connected with the fraternity of Freemasons. He immediately saw in the society, a chance for the further prosecution of his schemes of deception, and immediately invented what he termed Egyptian Masonry, through which he became known as the greatest Masonic trickster of all time. He combined his information on Freemasonry with his knowledge of occultism with the result that he evolved a grand system of Occult Freemasonry, which proved so attractive that it enabled him through a tremendous revenue to maintain a magnificent house in London and later in Paris. He admitted women to his Egyptian Rites and claimed that the object of his masonry was the perfecting of his disciples through moral and physical regeneration in which he used both mesmerism and necromacy. He established lodges in various European cities, his expectations being that he could build up a cult that would bring him immense revenue. He became very hold in his operations, and in 1789, proceeded to the city of Rome where under the very shadow of the Vatican, he organized one of his Egyptian Lodges. This so incensed the Pope considering the fact that for fifty years the Church had been excommunicating Freemasonry without avail, that he had Cagliostro arrested, tried by the inquisition, his books, and manuscripts burned by the public executioner, and lie himself condemned to life imprisonment After serving six years, lie fell in a fit of apoplexy and soon died.

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