Page 108 - Amo Amass A-muse is some of the fruit of a lifetimes love of Freemasonry - the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235

108 Amo Amass A-Muse - Lodge of the Nine Muses

S.W. that represents Strength. Certainly the Corinthian is the most ornate and would well
represent Beauty.
Perhaps the order given in the Ritual, without actually saying so, is in the order of
seniority of the Officers. Preston’s order in his lectures is Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and
this is the order of the Emulation Ritual in the Explanation of the 2nd T.B. So Doric
would belong to the Master again. The latest book of Emulation Ritual also includes an
Explanation of the 1st T.B. and, although not accepted as authorative, in this Ionic comes
first and the Doric second.
If seeing is believing, there are a whole collection of ancient Lodge Cer-tificates,
G.L. Certificates and 1st Deg. T.Bs to be studied. The older they are the more varied the
representation. However, it does seem that after the Union of 1813 the Ionic Order was
usually given to the Master and the Corinthian to the J.W.
Let us go back a bit. There is in the records of the Premier Grand Lodge an almost
authorative piece of information in existence when in 1791 the Premier Grand Lodge
ordered Chairs to be made foe the Grand Master and his Wardens. This specifies
“Make the Columns or Pillars of the Chairs strictly conformable to the Order and
usage of the Society, viz: the Grand Master’s to be of the Doric Order, the Senior Warden’s
the Ionic Order and the Junior Warden’s the Corinthian.”
— and these old chairs are still preserved in the G.L. Museum. Can this be relied upon
as evidence of the usage of the Society in those days?
The Lodge of the Nine Muses, now No. 235 (Moderns), in addition to their famous
candlesticks, designed by J.B. Cipriani in 1777, copied by the Lodge of Regularity, now
No. 91 (Moderns) in 1787, which in turn were copied by the Premier Grand Lodge, also
possesses a set of Chairs probably made before 1790.
The Master’s had Ionic Columns whilst both Wardens have Doric ones! What is more,
their founding Master was a regular member of the Hall Committee of the Premier Grand
Lodge, whose business it was to see such things.
Using Modern language — ‘So what’? — Make your own conclusions. To us, these
Orders are but symbols teaching great lessons and it is these that matter, not the Orders.
General References — A.Q.C. pp.34. 44, 49.

P.J.D. December 1976