working Masons of the Middle Ages were none other than the laws of
Geometry--hence the letter _G_; forgetting, it would seem, that
Geometry had mystical meanings for them long since lost to us. As well
say that the philosophy of Pythagoras was repeating the Multiplication
Table! Albert Pike held that we are "not warranted in assuming that,
among Masons generally--in the _body_ of Masonry--the symbolism of
Freemasonry is of earlier date then 1717."[105] Surely that is to err.
If we had only the Mason's Marks that have come down to us, nothing
else would be needed to prove it an error. Of course, for deeper minds
all emblems have deeper meanings, and there may have been many Masons
who did not fathom the symbolism of the order. No more do we; but the
symbolism itself, of hoar antiquity, was certainly the common
inheritance and treasure of the working Masons of the Lodges in
England and Scotland before, indeed centuries before, the year 1717.

II

Therefore it is not strange that men of note and learning, attracted
by the wealth of symbolism in Masonry, as well as by its spirit of
fraternity--perhaps, also, by its secrecy--began at an early date to
ask to be accepted as members of the order: hence _Accepted
Masons_.[106] How far back the custom of admitting such men to the
Lodges goes is not clear, but hints of it are discernible in the
oldest documents of the order; and this whether or no we accept as
historical the membership of Prince Edwin in the tenth century, of
whom the _Regius Poem_ says,

/$
Of speculatyfe he was a master.
$/

This may only mean that he was amply skilled in the knowledge, as well
as the practice, of the art, although, as Gould points out, the
_Regius MS_ contains intimations of thoughts above the heads of many
to whom it was read.[107] Similar traces of Accepted Masons are found
in the _Cooke MS_, compiled in 1400 or earlier. Hope suggests[108]
that the earliest members of this class were ecclesiastics who wished
to study to be architects and designers, so as to direct the erection
of their own churches; the more so, since the order had "so high and
sacred a destination, was so entirely exempt from all local, civil
jurisdiction," and enjoyed the sanction and protection of the Church.
Later, when the order was in disfavor with the Church, men of another
sort--scholars, mystics, and lovers of liberty--sought its degrees.

At any rate, the custom began early and continued through the