h, but after the service they walked back to the Hall wearing
their Masonic clothing. Difference of opinion arose as to the
regularity of the act, Preston holding it to be valid, if for no other
reason, by virtue of the inherent right of Antiquity Lodge itself.
Three members objected to his ruling and appealed to the Grand Lodge,
he foolishly striking their names off the Lodge roll for so doing.
Eventually the Grand Lodge took the matter up, decided against
Preston, and ordered the reinstatement of the three protesting
members. At its next meeting the Antiquity Lodge voted not to comply
with the order of the Grand Lodge, and, instead, to withdraw from that
body and form an alliance with the "Old Grand Lodge of All England at
York City," as they called it. They were received by the York Grand
Lodge, and soon thereafter obtained a constitution for a "Grand Lodge
of England South of the Trent." Although much vitality was shown at
the outset, this body only constituted two subordinate Lodges, and
ceased to exist. Having failed, in 1789 Preston and his friends
recanted their folly, apologized to the Grand Lodge, reunited with the
men whom they had expelled, and were received back into the fold; and
so the matter ended.

These divisions, while they were in some ways unhappy, really made for
the good of the order in the sequel--the activity of contending Grand
Lodges, often keen, and at times bitter, promoting the spread of its
principles to which all were alike loyal, and to the enrichment of its
Ritual[149] to which each contributed. Dermott, an able executive and
audacious antagonist, had left no stone unturned to advance the
interests of Atholl Masonry, inducing its Grand Lodge to grant
warrants to army Lodges, which bore fruit in making Masons in every
part of the world where the English army went.[150] Howbeit, when
that resourceful secretary and uncompromising fighter had gone to his
long rest, a better mood began to make itself felt, and a desire to
heal the feud and unite all the Grand Lodges--the way having been
cleared, meanwhile, by the demise of the old York Grand Lodge and the
"Grand Lodge South of the Trent." Overtures to that end were made in
1802 without avail, but by 1809 committees were meeting and reporting
on the "propriety and practicability of union." Fraternal letters were
exchanged, and at last a joint committee met, canvassed all
differences, and found a way to heal the schism.[151]

Union came at l