THE PRINCE AND THE MASONS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2046, 26 July 1875, Page 2

THE PRINCE AND THE MASONS.

The Pall Mall Gazette of April 27th says :—" As long as English Freemasonry is under the special patroaage of royalty, . and reckons among it 3 chief officials noblemen, lords-lieutenants, clergymen, ..and the. Slite .of. r the licensed victuallers, totel and ta-vern-keepers, so long will it continue to exist in this country as a wide-spread, benefit society, providing, under, arista-, cratic patronage, for the necessities of its* -, poorer members, comparatively powerless for political purposes, and offering in its official lodge meetings a plausible excuse welcome to many a bourgeois husband. for an occasional social and convivial evening, when, with a comfortable sense of having done their duty, the brethren proceed from labour to .refreshment.. . Continental Freemasonry, ',_ as -. appears;:*> from a Masonic record -"'• of the - laitfl"i century, has always- been ofVyjh.J; very different character. bg«fk> fore the first Bevolutibn,;the lodge* wer»^ hot beds of socialism.'. Between 1733 and-^1 1780 German Freemasonry became enveloped in a cloud of mysticism, and ' signs' were not sufficient for them without' wonders.' Ultimately, some lodges, both in; Germany and Bavaria, were suppressed by the civil. power. With this state of things abroad, English Masons professed themselves thoroughly disgusted; while, on the ether hand, French and German brethren united in ridiculing English Masonry as a homespun affair, and as not being, in fact, Freemasonry at all. \ A question, more immediately interesting to Qntsiders than any research info. past Masonic records, is the practical one of 'What will they do when the Albert Hall is closed to the, whole world without? What are the fearful rites and ceremonies which even his Royal 4 Highness the Prince of Wales must obi serve? Will any brother. reporters b»' admitted ? And, ii so, how mucn will they be permitted to tell us ?' In answer to the last of these enquiries it may be of some interest, to the ladies at all events, to learn that the nearest approach to a reporter authorised by the Masonic brethren themselves to record their doings, is a brother holding the degree of • Intimate' Secretary, | obtained by curiosity/ This privileged individual is named Joabert, so called after an eminent lord-in-waiting at' the Court of King Soloman, and highly in favor of that sagacious but Mqrmonitical monarch, who, so goes the tradition, peeped ia the dopr of the chamber where Solomon the Wise, and Hiram, King of Tyre, were seated in Council. Joabert's inquisitive eye was seen twinkling through a chink in the door by the sharp-sighted""' Hiram, who, being a short- tempered person, was for slaying him there and then. Solomon, however interceded for his life!' and made himself responsible for the zeal and discretion of his servant Joabert • who, having thus made himself acquaife ted with so much of their Mason!§|C - secrets, was thenceforward permitted/^ to be present at their meetings in his newly created official capacity of Intimate Secretary, without a salary, it i s true, but decorc with a pretty bright red ribbon, and a beautiful sword to protect himself against any villain who should dare to surprise him into a confession of such mysteries as he might be compelled to witness. Should somebody pick Joabert's pocket of his private memorandumbook on Wednesday next, the non-Ma-some world might yet be informed *>f the secret rites performed at the installation . of the illustrious Grand Master. But for the too curious Joabert himself, his mouth is sealed by an unpleasant penalty attached to his oath of inviolable obligation, which is (to name the least among a few cheery punishments) "to have the heart torn in pieces, and the whole (of his previously,mangled remains) thrown to the wild beasts ©f the forest.' Taking tbw circumstances into consideration, we are not likely to hear much from the * Intimate Secretary,' Joabert. Had the real origU nal Joabert been a gentleman of the late Charles C. F. Greville type, the secrets of Freemasonry would long ago been published to the world at large in three: volumes; under the title of 'The-Joabert Memoirs; a journal of the reigns of King Solomon the First, and King Hiram,- of Tyre; by the late Joabert, Intimate-Secre-tary to those Sovereigns.' Mr Henry .Reeve, Eegistrar of the Privy Council, i» welcome to the idea. Perhaps he may : be able to catch the Joabert of the present day, whoever that distinguished individual ~ may be, as he quits the Masonic Council / Chamber in the Albert-Hiill." \. * ■?■