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1723
The Free Masons; An Hudibrastick Poem: Illustrating the Whole History of the Ancient Free Masons, from the Building the Tower of Babel to this Time. With their Laws, Ordinances, Signs, Marks, Messages, &c. so long kept secret, Faithfully discover'd and made known. And the Manner of their Installation Particularly Describ'd. By a Free Mason. [Motto]. London, Printed for A. Moore, near St. Paul's. 1723. (Price Sixpence.) [Bodl.]
pp. 3-24. o.c.
Hudibrastic.
This Fellowship has Lodges many,
Where when you're strip'd it is they tann ye;
They study well, but 'tis no matter,
The Secrets of their Mother Nature;
For if Philosophy they know,
It is of Nature's Charms below,
And in this ev'ry one agrees,
They know all Nature's Privities;
Each Lodge with Library is grac'd,
In which in Order neat are plac'd
Fam'd Aristotle's Master-Piece,
Who was the Midwife of Old Greece,
And all the modern Grannies down
To Ch——bl——n, D——gl——s, and B——n: . . . [pp. 14-15]
Most of the poem is concerned with the indiscriminate sexual activities of the freemasons.
Where when you're strip'd it is they tann ye;
They study well, but 'tis no matter,
The Secrets of their Mother Nature;
For if Philosophy they know,
It is of Nature's Charms below,
And in this ev'ry one agrees,
They know all Nature's Privities;
Each Lodge with Library is grac'd,
240
Fam'd Aristotle's Master-Piece,
Who was the Midwife of Old Greece,
And all the modern Grannies down
To Ch——bl——n, D——gl——s, and B——n: . . . [pp. 14-15]
Most of the poem is concerned with the indiscriminate sexual activities of the freemasons.
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