William Preston (August 7, 1742 - April 1, 1818) was a Scottish writer, editor and lecturer, born in Edinburgh. After school and college he became the secretary of linguist Thomas Ruddiman, who became his guardian of his father's death. At Thomas's death, Preston became the printer for Walter Ruddiman, Thomas's brother. In 1760 he moved to London and began his distinguished career with printer William Strahan. He became Freemason, instituted instructional instructional system, and publishing Masonry Illustrations, which ran into several editions. It was under Preston that the Lodge of Antiquity broke away from the Modern Grand Lodge to become "The Grand Lodge of All England's South of River Trent" for ten years. He died on April 1, 1818, after a long illness, and was buried at St Paul's Cathedral.
Early life
Preston was born in Edinburgh, on August 7, 1742. His father, also William Preston, was a Writer for Signet, a form of lawyer. His second child, and the only surviving one, was encouraged in Classical lessons, entering Royal High School, Edinburgh at the age of six, where he shines in Latin, and will also learn Greek. He continued his classical studies at college, before becoming secretary to Thomas Ruddiman, a classical scholar whose blindness now needs such help. Meanwhile, Preston's health and wealth declined, due to poor investment and support of the wrong side in the rebellion of 1745. On his death, in 1751, Ruddiman became William's young guardian. He was apprenticed in printing, Walter Ruddiman, brother of Thomas, but until Thomas's death in 1757 spent most of his time reading for him, and copying and copying-editing his work.
In 1760, supplemented by a cover letter by Ruddiman, Preston arrived in London, where he worked with William Strahan, then became the King's Printer, and a former pupil from the same school as Preston. Here he will spend his professional life as an editor, earning the respect of writers such as David Hume and Edward Gibbon.
Video William Preston (Freemason)
Freemasonry
Shortly after the arrival of Preston in London, a group of Edinburgh Freemasons residing in the British capital decided to establish themselves as a hut. The Grand Lodge of Scotland feels they can not give them a constitution, as they recognize the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge Antient in the capital. They were formed as Lodge no. 111 at "White Hart" on the Strand on April 20, 1763. It was probably at this meeting that Preston became their second initiate. Unhappy with the status of the relatively new Grand Lodge that they find themselves part of, Preston and a few others start attending the lodge attached to the original British Grand Lodge, and persuade their brothers to change loyalty. Thus, on 15 November 1764, Lodge no 111 of the Antients became Caledonian Lodge no 325 (now 134), under the newly introduced constitution known as "Modern"; the cottage then held a meeting at the Great Eastern Hotel on Liverpool Street in London. Antient/Ancient and Modern refers to the rituals used by their respective constitution, not to the age of Grand Lodges. The shift of loyalty led to some great correspondence between Caledonian Lodge and their former Grand Lodge. Caledonian Lodge then became a major component in the first Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masonry.
Preston immediately began an extensive masonic research program. Interviews where he can, and into extensive correspondences with Freemasons in Britain and abroad, he built a huge warehouse of masonic knowledge, which he originally applied to explain and organize the lectures attached to three degrees of Freemasonry. He met friends once or twice a week to test and refine his presentation, and on May 21, 1772 he set the Gala at Crown and Anchor on the Strand, at considerable cost, to introduce the Grand Officers and other famous craftsmen to his system. The success of his oration on that day led to the publication, later that year, from his Masonry Illustration , which runs into twelve English editions in the author's life, and translated into other languages. In 1774 he arranged the material into a lecture class, delivered by him at Miter Tavern, Fleet Street. There are twelve lectures per degree, on one guinea per degree.
Present at Gala are two members of the Lodge of Antiquity (once, as Goose and Gridiron, founder of the Grand Lodge). John Bottomley was then Master, and John Noorthouck, a Preston colleague at Strahan's printing company. The ancients suffered declining membership, and these two men fabricated the idea of ​​reviving their hut by recruiting Preston. He was elected as a member, in absentia , on June 1, 1774. In his first presence as a member, two weeks later, he was elected master of the lodge. The Inn grew, which somehow made Bro Noorthouck unhappy. He complains that the young stone mason who is now flocking to the hut is all of Preston's creatures, allowing him to remain in the chair for three and a half years.
During this period, starting in 1769, Preston became the Assistant Grand Secretary, and "Printer to the Society". This gives him access to the material which is then used in Masonry Illustration . It also gave him a chance to try to push the wedge between Antients and Grand Lodge of Scotland, by challenging the base on which the younger Grand Lodge was formed. The attempt failed, and only served to expand the division between the two Grand Lodges.
Maps William Preston (Freemason)
Schisma from Grand Lodge
On December 27, 1777, several Lodge of Antiquity members, including Preston, returned from church using their Masonic regalia. It amounts to less than crossing the street. Some original members of Antiquity who were absent (and who included two people who had persuaded Preston to join Antiquity) chose to report the incident to the Grand Lodge as a prohibited Masonic procession. Instead of playing with the opportunity, Preston chose to defend the actions of himself and his brothers by emphasizing the seniority of his own hut. As Goose and Gridiron, Antiquity has become one of the founders of the Grand Lodge. Preston argues that his hut only subscribes to the original constitution, and the subsequent verdicts do not apply to them. After the legal process, Preston and his supporters were expelled in 1779. This ancient split. Long standing members live with the Modern people. The rest of the lodge allied with the Grand Lodge of All England in York, being their farewell period, the "Grand Lodge of All England's South of the River Trent", guarantees at least two huts in itself. In May 1789 the dispute was settled, Preston, after an apology, was welcomed back to his Masonic Honors at a dinner party, and two parts of the Antiquity Hall were reunited in 1790.
Legacy
The expulsion of Preston of the Grand Lodge signaled a major reduction in his contribution to Freemasonry. He has been absent from the cottage for a year when he resigned in 1781. His brothers persuaded him to return five years later, which stopped another period of decline. He claimed to have secured several cottages in his exile in a large hut of rebels, but only two have been verified. About the time of his confession back to Modern, he founded the Order (or Grand Chapter) of the Harodim, which was the vehicle for his own ideas about masonry as expressed in his lecture. It died in about 1800. Preston did not take part, and made no public comments, in the long process of unification of two Grand Lodges. The main Masonic legacy should be considered the Masonry Illustration , which continued into the new edition after his death, after a long illness, in 1818.
While Preston is remembered as a masonic scholar, some modern masons have read his work. The history of his freemasonry is almost the same as that of Anderson, although it began much later with Athelstan, and his lectures and explanations must be read as the work of his time, linking the Freemasonry of the late XVIII century with those of the period. in attracting Freemasonry's perception of bars and dining tables, and giving it a more cerebral appeal. Preston is also linked, with the Great Secretary James Heseltine and Thomas Dunckerley, with the Masonic Masonic movement from the tavern into a dedicated Masonic building.
References
Preston's
- Preston, William (1772). Masonry Illustrations (first edition) . J. Wilkie.
Further reading
- Dyer, Colin (1987). William Preston and His Works . Lewis Masonic. ISBNÃ, 0-85318-149-7. Davis, Robert G. (2009), "William Preston: Architect of American Handicraft Ritual", Philalethes , 62 (4): 82-89,112-114 Ã,
External links
- Masonry Illustration in Google Books
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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