Freemasonry and its Jurisprudence. By Brother Chalmers L. Paton. (Reeves
and Turner.)—This book has had the misfortune to fall into the hands of what the " brotherhood " politely call "a profane." "Pro- fanes," it is needless to say, are in the eyes of the initiated very mean and degraded creatures. It has even been discussed whether they are capable of giving testimony in a matter concerning a " brother"; and we own to a slight feeling of gratification in finding that Mr. Paton holds that they are. We are not, it seems, altogether vile. We looked into the book with some curiosity to see whether we could find anything definite about the antiquity of the Society. Of course, we found the Temple of Solomon, but we fonad little else. There is mention, indeed,
I made of "The Constitutions of York, A.D. 926," of which, as we read, "the history is given in a record written in the reign of Edward IV., the substance of which is copied by Anderson." Does the record exist, or did it exist ? where did Anderson find it? and how is the gap between 926 and 1470 filled up ? Would it not have been better to give a little More detail about the copy found by Mr. James O'Halliwell in the British Museum ? " Profanes " have a rooted belief that Masonry, at all events in its present shape, is quite modern.
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