Excerpt from The Revelations of a Square: Exhibiting a Graphic Display of Sayings and Doings of Eminent Free and Accepted Masons, From the Revival in 1717 by Dr. Desaguliers, to the Reunion in 1813 by Their R. H. The Duke of Kent and Sussex
And, which is of still greater importance, it will make him familiar with the doctrines and practices, manners and customs of the Fraternity, and its master minds in times when its purity had undergone no change.
It will be evident to the most casual observer, that the information contained in this work could not have been acquired by the most industrious and persevering observation of a single life, even though it might be extended to an extraordinary length, because it consists principally of private anecdotes, which could only be known by personal communication with the parties. And, accordingly, it is the result of an experience extending over three successive generations.
The facts are these: My lamented father, who died a few years ago, at the advanced age of ninety-two, was made a Mason, as I have reason to believe, in the year 1784. He was very methodical in all his transactions; and, being a masonic enthusiast, he noted down in a diary, expressly devoted to that purpose, under a vivid recollection of the facts, whether they were witnessed by himself or communicated to him by others, every event or conversation that struck his fancy as being either singular, characteristic, or important in the working of the Craft.
By this process he preserved several interesting conversations of our distinguished Brethren in the eighteenth century, which would otherwise have been irrecoverably lost. Added to this, he was acquainted, in the early part of his life, with an intelligent Brother who was initiated by Dr. Manningham in 1740, and personally knew Brothers Desaguliers, Anderson, Martin Clare, Hutchinson, Calcott, Preston, and all the great lights of that period.
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