[105] Letter "Touching Masonic Symbolism." [106] Some Lodges, however, would never admit such members. As late as April 24, 1786, two brothers were proposed as members of Domatic Lodge, No. 177, London, and were rejected because they were not Operative Masons (_History Lion and Lamb Lodge, 192, London_, by Abbott). [107] "On the Antiquity of Masonic Symbolism," _A. Q. C._, iii, 7. [108] _Historical Essay on Architecture_, chap. xxi. [109] Those who wish to pursue this Quixotic quest will find the literature abundant and very interesting. For example, such essays as that by F.W. Brockbank in _Manchester Association for Research_, vol. i, 1909-10; and another by A.F.A. Woodford, _A. Q. C._, i, 28. Better still is the _Real History of the Rosicrucians_, by Waite (chap. xv), and for a complete and final explosion of all such fancies we have the great chapter in Gould's _History of Masonry_ (vol. ii, chap. xiii). It seems a pity that so much time and labor and learning had to be expended on theories so fragile, but it was necessary; and no man was better fitted for the study than Gould. Perhaps the present writer is unkind, or at least impatient; if so he humbly begs forgiveness; but after reading tomes of conjecture about the alleged Rosicrucian origin of Masonry, he is weary of the wide-eyed wonder of mystery-mongers about things that never were, and which would be of no value if they had been. (Read _The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_, or _Christian Occult Science_, by Max Heindel, and be instructed in matters whereof no mortal knoweth.) [110] _The Hole Craft and Fellowship of Masons_, by Edward Conder. [111] _Ibid._, Introduction. [112] Whether Sir Christopher Wren was ever Grand Master, as tradition affirms, is open to debate, and some even doubt his membership in the order (Gould, _History of Masonry_). Unfortunately, he has left no record, and the _Parentalia_, written by his son, helps us very little, containing nothing more than his theory that the order began with Gothic architecture. Ashmole, if we may trust his friend, Dr. Knipe, had planned to write a _History of Masonry_ refuting the theory of Wren that Freemasonry took its rise from a Bull granted by the Pope, in the reign of Henry III, to some Italian architects, holding, and rightly so, that the Bull "was comfirmatory only, and did not by any means create our fraternity, or even establish it in this kingdom" (_Life of Ashmole_, by Campbell). This item makes still more absurd the idea that Ashmole himself created Masonry, whereas he was only a student of its antiquities. Wren was probably never an Operative Mason--though an architect--but he seems to have become an Accepted member of the fraternity in his last years, since his neglect of the order, due to his age, is given as a reason for the organization of the first Grand Lodge. GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND