Page 8 - The Early History of The Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235. UGLE

8 The Early History - Lodge of the Nine Muses

However, this is not all. Since the publication of Bro. Foxley’s ‘Account’ more
information about the Lodge and its early members has been discovered. There is
the peculiar and unexplained fact that, during its early life, the Lodge provided as
many Senior Grand Wardens of the Premier Grand Lodge as any of the better known
leading London Lodges of greater antiquity.
This, together with other more particular and peculiar circumstances, indicates
that the influence of the Lodge of the Nine Muses on the development of London
Freemasonry between 1777 and 1813 has not, as yet, been fully appreciated.
On the fly-leaf at the beginning of the earliest Minute Book available, commencing
January, 1814, in addition to the names of the Muses, appears.—

“The Muses were daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. They presided over
Poetry, Dancing and all the Liberal Arts. The Palm Tree, the Laurel and all the
fountains of Pindus, Hellicon, Parnassus, &c. were sacred to the Nine.”

The last sentence had been used as a theme for the Coat of Arms achieved for the
Lodge just after its foundation.
The fact that this Minute Book starts at its meeting immediately following the
Union of 1813, is in itself indicative. The early Minutes of the Lodge, ‘perfect and
2
imperfect’ disappeared about the year 1827 but there is a short account in “The
Freemasons’ Magazine” of February, 1796. As Simon Stephenson was both Proprietor
of this magazine and the Secretary of the Lodge there seems little doubt as to its
authenticity.

2 See letter from Ruspini attached to the Minutes of 19th February, 1813,
of the Prince of Wales’s Lodge, No. 259.