 | Love in a Forest |  |
TO THE Worshipful Society OF FREE-MASONS.
Permit me, my Brethren, most humbly to beg your Protection for the following Scenes.
Since to flatter you, and not to
speak Truth wou'd, on this Occasion, be equally
impertinent; give me Leave only to say: If
encouraging and being instructed in useful Arts,
if Humanity, Charity, Humility, in a Word,
if all these social Virtues which raise and improve
the Mind of Man are Praise-worthy,
You have taught all Nations one Idiom, which, at the same Time that it gives a mutual Understanding, inspires a mutual Benevolence, removes every Prejudice of a distant Sun and Soil, and no Man can be a Foreigner who is a Brother.
If it were not below the Dignity of the Brotherhood to boast what the Vulgar call Honours and Distinctions, you cou'd give a List of Royal Names, not only the first in Britain, but in Europe, have been proud to wear the Badge of your Order, and who have held themselves distinguished even amidst the Glories that surrounded them, by having the Honour to call the Members of your Society Brethren; and it was owing only to the Unhappiness of her Sex that a most Illustrious Princess of our own cou'd not be admitted, and if her Curiosity was piqued at not knowing a Secret, perhaps it was the only Point in her whole Reign that ever the Woman got the better of the Queen.
It must be own'd your Society hath Enemies,
as the wisest, the greatest, and most
virtuous Communities have ever had, and
I am, my Brethren,
With the greatest Respect and Duty,
Your most Obedient and devoted
Brother and Servant,
| Love in a Forest | |