o the legend concerning the building of the
Temple of Solomon to co-operate with the masons, and the masons being
prepared by their partial initiation into ancient mysteries to receive
the fresh influx of Eastern tradition from the Templars.

A further indication of the Templar influence in Craft Masonry is the
system of degrees and initiations. The names of Entered Apprentice,
Fellow Craft, and Master Mason are said to have derived from
Scotland,[309] and the analogy between these and the degrees of the
Assassins has already been shown. Indeed, the resemblance between the
outer organization of Freemasonry and the system of the Ismailis is
shown by many writers. Thus Dr. Bussell observes: "No doubt together
with some knowledge of geometry regarded as an esoteric trade secret,
many symbols to-day current did pass down from very primitive times. But
a more certain model was the Grand Lodge of the Ismailis in Cairo"--that
is to say the Dar-ul-Hikmat.[310] Syed Ameer Ali also expresses the
opinion that "Makrisi's account of the different degrees of initiation
adopted in this lodge forms an invaluable record of Freemasonry. In
fact, the lodge at Cairo became the model of all the Lodges created
afterwards in Christendom."[311] Mr. Bernard Springett, a Freemason,
quoting this passage, adds: "In this last assertion I am myself greatly
in agreement."[312]

It is surely therefore legitimate to surmise that this system penetrated
to Craft Masonry through the Templars, whose connexion with the
Assassins--offshoot of the Dar-ul-Hikmat--was a matter of common
knowledge.

The question of the Templar succession in Freemasonry forms perhaps the
most controversial point in the whole history of the Roman Collegia
theory, Continental Masons more generally accepting it, and even
glorying in it.[313] Mackey, in his _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, thus sums
up the matter:

The connexion between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons has
been repeatedly asserted by the enemies of both institutions, and
has often been admitted by their friends. Lawrie, on this subject,
holds the following language: "We know that the Knights Templar not
only possessed the mysteries but performed the ceremonies and
inculcated the duties of Freemasons," and he attributes the
dissolution of the Order to the discovery of their being Freemasons
and their assembling in secret to practise the rites of the
Order.[314]

This