iod, three dozen
pairs of gloves were bought and distributed to the masons when they
commenced the buildings at the Chartreuse of Dijon.

And, lastly, in 1486 or 1487, twenty-two pair of gloves were given to the
masons and stone-cutters who were engaged in work at the city of Amiens.

It is thus evident that the builders--the operative masons--of the middle
ages wore gloves to protect their hands from the effects of their work.
It is equally evident that the speculative masons have received from their
operative predecessors the gloves as well as the apron, both of which,
being used by the latter for practical uses, have been, in the spirit of
symbolism, appropriated by the former to "a more noble and glorious
purpose."

XXI.

The Rite of Circumambulation.

The _rite of circumambulation_ will supply us with another ritualistic
symbol, in which we may again trace the identity of the origin of
Freemasonry with that of the religious and mystical ceremonies of the
ancients.

"Circumambulation" is the name given by sacred archaeologists to that
religious rite in the ancient initiations which consisted in a formal
procession around the altar, or other holy and consecrated object.

The prevalence of this rite among the ancients appears to have been
universal, and it originally (as I shall have occasion to show) alluded to
the apparent course of the sun in the firmament, which is from east to
west by the way of the south.

In ancient Greece, when the priests were engaged in the rites of
sacrifice, they and the people always walked three times around the altar
while chanting a sacred hymn or ode. Sometimes, while the people stood
around the altar, the rite of circumambulation was performed by the
priest alone, who, turning towards the right hand, went around it, and
sprinkled it with meal and holy water. In making this circumambulation, it
was considered absolutely necessary that the right side should always be
next to the altar, and consequently, that the procession should move from
the east to the south, then to the west, next to the north, and afterwards
to the east again. It was in this way that the apparent revolution was
represented.

This ceremony the Greeks called moving [Greek: ek dexia en dexia], _from
the right to the right_, which was the direction of the motion, and the
Romans applied to it the term _dextrovorsum,_ or _dextrorsum_, which
signifies the same thing. Thus Plautus makes Palinurus, a c