names of individual artists who worked for fame and
glory begin to appear; but up to that time the Order was supreme.
Artists from Greece and Asia Minor, driven from their homes, took
refuge with the Comacines, and Leader Scott finds in this order a
possible link, by tradition at least, with the temple of Solomon. At
any rate, all through the Dark Ages the name and fame of the Hebrew
king lived in the minds of the builders.

An inscribed stone, dating from 712, shows that the Comacine Guild
was organized as _Magistri_ and _Discipuli_, under a _Gastaldo_, or
Grand Master, the very same terms as were kept in the lodges later.
Moreover, they called their meeting places _loggia_, a long list of
which the author recites from the records of various cities, giving
names of officers, and, often, of members. They, too, had their
masters and wardens, their oaths, tokens, grips, and passwords which
formed a bond of union stronger than legal ties. They wore white
aprons and gloves, and revered the Four Crowned Martyrs of the Order.
Square, compasses, level, plumb-line, and arch appear among their
emblems. "King Solomon's Knot" was one of their symbols, and the
endless, interwoven cord, symbol of Eternity which has neither
beginning nor end, was another. Later, however, the Lion's Paw seems
to have become their chief emblem. From illustrations given by the
author they are shown in their regalia, with apron and emblems, clad
as the keepers of a great art and teaching of which they were masters.

Here, of a truth, is something more than prophecy, and those who have
any regard for facts will not again speak lightly of an order having
such ancestors as the great Comacine Masters. Had Fergusson known
their story, he would not have paused in his _History of Architecture_
to belittle the Free-masons as incapable of designing a cathedral,
while puzzling the while as to who did draw the plans for those dreams
of beauty and prayer. Hereafter, if any one asks to know who uplifted
those massive piles in which was portrayed the great drama of
mediaeval worship, he need not remain uncertain. With the decline of
Gothic architecture the order of Free-masons also suffered decline, as
we shall see, but did not cease to exist--continuing its symbolic
tradition amidst varying, and often sad, vicissitude until 1717, when
it became a fraternity teaching spiritual faith by allegory and moral
science by symbols.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] _Primitive Secret Soc