Page 51 - Amo Amass A-muse is some of the fruit of a lifetimes love of Freemasonry - the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235

EARly mASONiC SONGS TO ThE muSES

URING THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of Speculative Masonry, our
WORK was done at table, much as we are sitting together at present. Makings,
DPassings and Raisings were done before sitting down to work. These were very
brief and the lectures and explanations we now give were then a part of the ‘Work’ which
we all joined in. This work was in the form of Questions and Answers intermingled with
Masonic Songs, Odes and Toasts.
Alas, except perhaps for the Initiate’s Song and that to the ‘Worshipful Master’, which
some of you may have joined in, these songs are no longer popular.
The Muses were much in evidence in several of these old songs and I am surprised
that there were not other Lodges called by that name. I thought that you might like to
hear the words of a few that I have found during the course of my studies. No, I am not
going to sing them though I have been known to sing the Initiate’s Song, failing anyone
else. This used to be a ‘must’ after the banquet when there had been an initiation, even
without accompanyment.

The first verse of a song by a H. Jackson began:-

“Begin, O ye Muses, a Free Mason’s strain
Let the Numbers be gentle and easy and plain.”

In an ‘Ode Sacred to Masonry the last verse ends,,
“Patriotic Virtue also bring,
And Loyalty who loves his King.
Sweet Peace, thy footsteps hither bend,
And Liberty, the Muses friend.”
A verse in another song says :-
”Arise gentle Muses, thy wisdom impart
To each bosom that glows with the love of our Art,
Hence Harmony springs, ‘tis the cement of Love,
Fair Freedom on earth and bright Union above.”