Anderson Manuscript

Anderson Manuscript. There is no MS. bearing this name, but it refers to the MS. or MSS. used by Anderson in preparing the Constitutions of 1723, which he was to digest in a new and better method. He undoubtedly had one or several, for it was only from them that he could have prepared his fabulous history of Masonry and converted the Ancient Charges into the speculative Charges of a Free-Mason. He states (p. 79) that those Charges were ”extracted from The ancient Records of Lodges beyond the Sea, and of those in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the Use of the Lodges in London.” It is very doubtful whether he had any from Scotland or Ireland, certainly none from beyond the seas. Had he examined the records of Aberdeen Lodge in Scotland, he would have found some excellent symbolism in Masons’ Marks, which the Grand Lodge never did discover, until they were adopted in the Mark Degrees.

At pages 61-62 of the Constitutions of 1723, Anderson refers to a MS. written in the reign of Edward IV and from it quotes part of the Athelstan-Edwin Legend and, at page 64, he refers to another more ancient. Neither of these has been identified and his estimate of age is probably excessive, for only three or four of those now heading the list of preserved MSS. are that old. There is no authority for Preston’s statement (Illustrations of Masonry, p. 182) that the Anderson MS. was in the possession of Elias Ashmole and was destroyed at the Revolution (English Revolution 1688-89).