ovide no continuous
history of the Order. In 1717 for the first time Freemasonry was
established on a settled basis and in the process underwent a
fundamental change. So far it would seem to have retained an operative
element, but in the transformation that now took place this was entirely
eliminated, and the whole Order was transformed into a middle-and
upper-class speculative body. This _coup d'etat_, already suggested in
1703, took place in 1716, when four London lodges of Freemasons met
together at the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden, "and
having put into the chair the oldest Master Mason (now the Master of a
lodge), they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge, _pro tempore_, in due
form." On St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24 of the next year, the
annual assembly and banquet were held at the Goose and Gridiron in St.
Paul's Churchyard, when Mr. Antony Sayer was elected Grand Master and
invested with all the badges of office.[345]

It is evident from the above account that already in 1717 the
speculative elements must have predominated in the lodges, otherwise we
might expect to find the operative masons taking some part in these
proceedings and expressing their opinion as to whether their association
should pass under the control of men entirely unconnected with the
Craft. But no, the leaders of the new movement all appear to have
belonged to the middle class, nor from this moment do either masons or
architects seem to have played any prominent part in Freemasonry.

But the point that official history does not attempt to elucidate is
the reason for this decision. Why should the Freemasons of
London--whether they were at this date a speculative or only a
semi-speculative association--have suddenly recognized the necessity of
establishing a Grand Lodge and drawing up a ritual and "Constitution"?
It is evident, then, that some circumstances must have arisen which led
them to take this important step. I would suggest that the following may
be the solution to the problem.

Freemasonry, as we have seen, was a system that could be employed in any
cause and had now come to be used by intriguers of every kind--and not
only by intriguers, but by merely convivial bodies, "jolly Brotherhoods
of the Bottle," who modelled themselves on masonic associations.[346]
But the honest citizens of London who met and feasted at the Goose and
Gridiron were clearly not intriguers, they were neither Royalist nor
Republic