(_A. Q. C._, xii, 196). In a
fresco on the walls of the church of St. Lawrence at Rotterdam,
partially preserved, they are painted with compasses and trowel in
hand. With them, however, is another figure, clad in oriental robe,
also holding compasses, but with a royal, not a martyr's, crown. Is he
Solomon? Who else can he be? The fresco dates from 1641, and was
painted by F. Wounters (_A. Q. C._, xii, 202). Even so, those humble
workmen, faithful to their faith, became saints of the church, and
reign with Solomon! Once the fresco was whitewashed, but the coating
fell off and they stood forth with compasses and trowel as before.

[64] _History of Middle Ages_, Hallam, vol. ii, 547.

Part II--History

FREE-MASONS

/#
_The curious history of Freemasonry has unfortunately been treated
only by its panegyrists or calumniators, both equally mendacious.
I do not wish to pry into the mysteries of the craft; but it would
be interesting to know more of their history during the period
when they were literally architects. They are charged by an act of
Parliament with fixing the price of their labor in their annual
chapters, contrary to the statute of laborers, and such chapters
were consequently prohibited. This is their first persecution;
they have since undergone others, and are perhaps reserved for
still more. It is remarkable, that Masons were never legally
incorporated, like other traders; their bond of union being
stronger than any charter._

--HENRY HALLAM, _The Middle Ages_
#/

CHAPTER I

_Free-Masons_

I

From the foregoing pages it must be evident that Masonry, as we find
it in the Middle Ages, was not a novelty. Already, if we accept its
own records, it was hoary with age, having come down from a far past,
bringing with it a remarkable deposit of legendary lore. Also, it had
in its keeping the same simple, eloquent emblems which, as we have
seen, are older than the oldest living religion, which it received as
an inheritance and has transmitted as a treasure. Whatever we may
think of the legends of Masonry, as recited in its oldest documents,
its symbols, older than the order itself, link it with the earliest
thought and faith of the race. No doubt those emblems lost some of
their luster in the troublous time of transition we are about to
traverse, but their beauty never wholly faded, and they had only to be
touched to shine.

If not the actual successors