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The
Post Boy Sham Exposure of 1723
S. Brent Morris, 33°, G.C.
Then
let us laugh, since we've impos'd
On those who make a Pother,
And cry, the Secret is disclos'd
By some false-hearted Brother :
The mighty Secret gain'd, they boast,
From Post-Boy, or from Flying-Post.
With a fal, &c.
"Song
VI"
A Collection of the Songs of Masons, 1734
E very now
and then "Lady Luck" smiles upon your research. Such was
the case in November 1998 when I visited by good friend and brother,
Yasha Beresiner, Past Mater of Quatuor Coronati Lodge. He is a dealer
in rare paper items-maps, prints, etc., and his London shop is a
delight to visit. He had recently acquired the December 26-28, 1723
edition of a London newspaper, The Post Boy, which had an "exposure"
of Masonic ritual, a catechism of forty-two questions and answers.
When I first
looked at the approximately 8 1/2" X 14" single sheet,
I said, "Oh, this is 'A Mason's Examination' from The Flying-Post,
the first published Masonic catechism." A few minutes study
proved me wrong (an experience I'm all too familiar with). Yasha's
paper was The Post Boy, not The Flying Post, and it referred to
the earlier "A Mason's Examination" (so-named by R.F.
Gould in his History of Freemasonry). Yasha and I then checked Douglas
Knoop, G.P. Jones, and Douglas Hamer's The Early Masonic Catechisms
and Early Masonic Pamphlets, two books which catalog every early
major publication on freemasonry. What we found was a shock to us.
B A C K G R
O U N D
In November
1998 a Channel Island dealer in old newspapers sold Bro. Beresiner
a copy of The Post Boy, no. 5373 dated "Thursday December 26
to Saturday December 28, 1723." Halfway through the second
column and ending nearly at the end of the next on the reverse side
of the sheet is a letter addressed "To the Author of the Post-Boy"
and signed "Yours &c. A. B." The catechism that follows
is intended clearly to look like an exposure of masonic ritual to
readers who are not freemasons. The author of the letter makes reference
to the earlier and first such disclosure which had appeared in The
Flying Post in April of the same year.¤ A facsimile of the
newspaper is published with this volume of Heredom and a transcription
of the catechism follows this article. The newspaper itself is now
owned by the library of the Supreme Council 33°, S.J., Washington,
D.C.
Identification
The text of
the catechism was unknown previously and the issue no. 5373 of the
newspaper is exceedingly rare. Searches in the well-known Burney‹
and Nichols› collections, in the British Library and the Bodleian
Library respectively, in other major U.K. library collections, and
in similar repositories in the U.S.A. resulted in a complete failure
to trace a copy of this issue of The Post Boy. A search in the "Union
List of Serials" held by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington,
D.C. revealed that twelve American libraries have holdings of The
Post Boy. None had a copy of issue no. 5373.?
The Post
Boy
The Post Boy
was first published in London on September 28, 1695 under the ownership
of "A. Roper." Initially, it appeared three times a week.
The first editor was L. Beardwell who was based at Black Friars.
In 1705 the well-known and versatile Abel Boyer in Fleet Street
took over as editor. From the start, inclusive of this issue in
question, the printer was George James, based in Little Britain
and the political inclinations of the newspaper were towards the
Tory party.
The Post Boy
figures prominently in the early published references to the fraternity,
carrying the first such publication.
But within
a very few weeks of the latter advertisement appearing [for a
'Society in Hampstead' which Bro. Robbins believed was a veiled
allusion to Freemasonry], Freemasonry-seemingly of its own volition-came
for the first time into the open; and the earliest newspaper record
of any of its proceedings is the following paragraph, published
in the Post-Boy of June 24th-27th, 1721, and copied into two of
the weekly journals the following Saturday.
There was
a Meeting on Saturday last [June 24th] at Stationers Hall of
between two and three hundred of the ancient Fraternity of Free-Masons,
who had a splendid Dinner, and Musick. Several Noblemen and
Gentlemen were present at this Meeting, and his Grace the Duke
of Montague was unanimously chosen Master for the ensuing Year,
and Dr. Beale Sub-Master. The Reverend Dr. Desaguliers made
a Speech suitable to the Occasion.?
Further references
and advertisements quickly followed in The Post Boy.
[A] further
fillip was given to such talk [about Freemasonry] a very little
later, by the publication in the Post-Boy of March 25th, 1722-3,
of the announcement that
This evening
[Tuesday, March 5th] the corpse of that worthy FREE MASON, Sir
Christopher Wren, Knight, is to be interr'd under the dome of
St. Paul's Cathedral.…
The brochure
[The Free-Masons: An Hudibrastick Poem] was launched with an amount
of enterprise unusual in those days, for its advertisement is
to be found also in the Post-Boy of February 14th-16th, [1723].…
[A]n event
of high importance in our history was thus advertized in the Post-Boy
of February 26th-28th, 1722-3,
This day is publish'd
The CONSTITUTIONS of the FREE-MASONS.‡
The advertisement
for Anderson's Constitutions is headed "This day is published.…"
and thus gives an exact date for the publication of the Constitutions.
The dual year "1722-3" is given because until 1752 the
civil or legal year began on March 25 under the "Old Style"
of calendar.
*
* *
This excerpt is from Heredom, the
transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society
Volume VI, Year 1997
©1997-2002, Scottish Rite Research Society
All Rights Reserved
Scottish Rite Research Society
1733 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009-3103
202-232-3579 voice, 202-383-1847 fax
srrs@srmason-sj.org, www.srmason-sj.org
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