|
| |
The
Apron and its Symbolism
"The
modern Craft is essentially speculative, and every Mason must
necessarily be to some extent speculative in his attitude to its
tenets ; but there is a widespread tendency to extend the limits
of true speculative research and to exaggerate symbolical
values."
By Bro. F.R. Worts, M.A., P.A.G.D.C.
HISTORY OF THE APRON1
 There can be no doubt
that the Masonic apron has been developed from the apron worn by
operative masons in the middle ages. The few examples surviving
show that the operative apron was fashioned from the skin of an
animal, most probably a sheep. It was large enough to cover the
wearer from chest to ankles, and its fall was held by a leathern
thong which passed round the neck. From each side a thong,
firmly stitched, enabled the mason to tie the apron round his
waist, and the tied bow tended to fall as end-strings. The use
of this rough apron continued for many centuries ; the woven
apron used by modern masons is comparatively late; it came into
use in the eighteenth century.
The earliest
representations of the Freemason’s Apron are seen on the
engraved portrait of
Antony Sayer, the first G.M. of the modern Craft. (1717),
and on the frontispiece illustration of Anderson’s first
Book of Constitutions (1723). In the former,
unfortunately, only the upper part of the apron is visible, and
what appears to be the bib or flap is raised. In the second
example a Tyler is bringing into the hall a number of aprons ;
these have long tie-strings which seem to be of leather. They
are also large, well capable of covering a man from chest to:
ankles. The method of tying-on the apron was that of operative
masons, with the bow and strings in front ; this method was
continued later, even when silk or linen strings were used.
The
leather apron died hard. Despite the use of softer materials
from possibly 1740 onwards, it survived in use until at least
1811. The evidence of this is the first official reference to
the apron found in the G.L. minutes of 17th March, 1731 :
2
Masters and Wardens of particular Lodges may line their
white leather Aprons with white silk, and may hang their
Jewels at white Ribbons about their Necks." (A.Q.C.,
x, p. 146.)
This regulation was repeated in the 1738 and in subsequent
editions of the Constitutions up to and including
Noorthouck’s edition (1784), which was the last edition before
1815.
Crowe
contended that by 1738 linen had supplanted leather, but Rylands
disagreed ; both scholars, however, thought it possible that in
the 1730’s some masons were experimenting with fabrics other
than leather for their aprons.3
We do not know when the
very long aprons went out of use. Only four of Rylands' plates
(Nos. 2, 8, 10, 23), depicting non-operative aprons, show the
apron to be long. The most interesting of these is No. 23, dated
1754. It shows a group of six Masons and only one of them is
certainly wearing a long apron. He is, presumably, the S.W. ; he
wears a level as Collar-jewel, and his apron-flap is down. The
sixth figure, probably the Tyler, with drawn sword and no
Collar-Jewel, wears his flap up.
The early fashion of
wearing the bib or flap up soon fell into disfavour. The flap
was either cut off or worn down as a fall. Rylands'
illustrations offer only two or three examples of the raised
flap (Nos. 1, 1717; 23, 1754; 42, 1784). Of his pictures Nos. 1
to 38, no less than nine, it seems, have no flap; in the
remainder the flaps are down.
It is
evident from surviving aprons and illustrations of the early
period that they were designed to be worn with the flap up and
fastened, by means of a button-hole, to a button on the coat or
waistcoat. Many of these old aprons have a button-hole in the
flap, but there seems to have been a tendency amongst Master
Masons to wear the flap down or to dispense with it altogether.
4 (See
Illustrations c and g.)
From 1731 onwards the
apron began to assume a more convenient shape, usually
kneelength. Leather gave way to softer fabrics, silk, satin,
velvet, linen, and chamois-leather. The flap, when retained, was
either cut to a triangular form or in a semi-circular line. The
latter was increasingly adopted-by M.M.’s, presumably to mark
their distinctive rank. The lower part of the apron was
sometimes squared off, but generally the corners were trimmed to
give a semi-circular line, and the leather thongs were displaced
by ribbons or strings.
According
to
Dermott (Ahiman Rezon, 1764, pp. 24-3 1), some "
Modern" Masons, objecting to the working apron of the
operatives, introduced a new mode of wearing their aprons upside
down; what was formerly the lowest part was now fastened round
the abdomen and the bib and strings hung downwards, dangling in
such a manner as might convince spectators that there was not a
working mason amongst them. Blackham states that this
"subterfuge" was introduced between 1730 and 1740, but it was
short-lived. 5
Before 1760,
elaborately-painted or embroidered aprons came into fashion and
continued to be favoured until the Union (1813). Many of these
aprons were home-made, often artistically finished and adorned
with symbolic designs. From 1760 onwards the printed and
engraved aprons appeared, many of them being subsequently
coloured by hand. (See Illustration n.)
The tendency to decorate
Masonic aprons with symbolic designs began in the 1730’s, and
between 1740 and 1790 this practice became widespread. These
efforts were mostly crude, but many surviving examples reveal
skill and taste. Indian ink, paint and embroidery were commonly
used for this ornamentation. The most popular designs usually
included the All-Seeing Eye, the Columns, and the Square and
Compasses, all evidence of the advance of Speculative Masonry in
the second half of the eighteenth century. (See Illustrations o,
p, q.)
Rylands sums up the
matter thus: —
". . . by 1784 the apron was greatly
reduced in size . . . for a long time there had been
considerable laxity . . . and no definition laid down as to
uniformity. So long as the material was white the face might
be decorated with any number of Masonic symbols or other
symbols without infringing the law, provided always that it
did not interfere with the privileges of the Grand Officers,
who used a purple edging to their aprons . . . The size had
grown smaller and smaller. (See
Illustrations a, b, l.)
. . . it was quite
within the power of each mason to invent for himself almost
any apron he pleased." 6
In the Library of the Province of Yorkshire (West Riding) is an
apron dated about 1820. It is small, hand-made, of white linen
edged with narrow light blue ribbon, and there is no other
adornment. The strings are very long and of the same blue
ribbon. The flap is down; it is cut to a semi-circular line; but
it is also cut into two halves, each half forming a semi-circle,
and the two parts being neatly edged with the blue ribbon.
Among the "Antients"
it became a common practice to draw or paint on their aprons the
coat of arms of their own Grand Lodge, but in the main the
Atholl Masons adopted the fashions of the "Moderns" ; indeed.,
they indulged their fancy even more freely than their rivals in
the choice and use of embellishments. On 2nd September, 1772,
the Atholl G.L. passed the following resolution: —
"It having been represented to the G.L. that several
Brethren have lately appeared in public, with gold lace and
fringe, together with many devices on their aprons, &c.,
which was thought inconsistent with the dignity, propriety
and ancient custom of the Craft, Resolved and Ordered That
for the future, no Brethren, Grand Officers excepted, shall
appear with gold lace, gold fringe, gold embroidery, or
anything resembling gold, on their Masonic clothing or
ornaments." (Ahiman Rezon, 1807, pp. 90-91.)
This was simply a ban on gold decoration ; there was still no
attempt to prescribe uniformity of design.
BLUE RIBBONS AND BLUE SILK
The resolution of the
Grand Lodge on March 17th, 1721, ordained that:
"None but the Grand Master, his Deputy and Wardens shall
wear their Jewels in Gold or gilt pendant to Blue Ribbons
about their Necks, and White Leather aprons with Blue Silk ;
which Sort of Aprons may also be worn by former Grand
Officers."
This was the first official mention of Blue Silk as a trimming
for aprons, and it is clear that the Blue was originally
reserved for Grand Officers. The Rawlinson MS., c. 1740,
mentions: " Two Grand Masters aprons Lined with Garter blue silk
and turned over two inches with white silk strings."
By 1745-50 Grand
Officers were beginning to edge their aprons with purple ribbon.
The light blue, gradually given up by the Grand Officers, was
soon adopted by Master Masons, and since there was no official
ruling on the subject (until 1815), blue-edged aprons became
fairly common with the rank and file of the Craft from about
1745 onwards.
Uniformity and regularity
in the material, design, form and decorations of the apron were
not officially insisted upon by the United Grand Lodge until 2nd
March, 1814. The pattern was submitted and agreed to on the 2nd
May; then the order for a general uniformity was issued. The
Constitutions (1815), p. 123, prescribed: |
 |
|
HOGARTH’S APRON
WASHINGTON’S APRON
ROBERT BURNS' APRON
THE MASTER’S APRON
APRONS: 1772 -1815
ISRAEL WOOD POWELL REGALIA
APRON c.1800
|
| |
APRONS |
|
| |
Entered Apprentice,—
A plain white lamb skin 14 to 16 inches wide, 12 to 14 inches
deep, square at bottom, and without ornament; white strings.
Fellow Craft,—
A plain white lamb skin, similar to the, entered apprentice,
with the addition only of two sky-blue rosettes at the bottom.
Master Mason,— The
same, with sky-blue lining and edging, 1 1/2 inch deep, and an
additional rosette on the fall or flap.-No other colour or
ornament shall be allowed except to officers and past officers
of the lodges, who, may have the emblems of their offices in
silver or white in the centre of the apron. |
|
| It will be seen
that little modification of the 1815 text has been necessary in
the past century-and-a-half. Today it is ruled that the apron of
the E.A. must have a "flap" ; that the two rosettes of the F.C.
must be attached "to the lower corners" of the apron; and that
the aprons of Master Masons are to be edged with ribbon of "not
more than two inches in width", that "silver tassels" must hang
over the face and that the strings must be "light blue" ; it is
also provided that the "emblems" of "offices . . . in the centre
of the apron" may be "surrounded by a double circle in which may
be inserted the name and number of the Lodge".
TASSELS
The tassels, in
rudimentary form, must have appeared at a very early date as a
natural development of the waist-strings being tied at the front
and hanging down over the apron. There are, indeed, several
surviving examples of eighteenth century aprons with broad
ribbon ties, the ends of the ties being edged, usually with gold
fringe, so that when tied at the front the fringed ends have the
appearance of a pair of tassels. (See
Illustrations g, j, m.),
It is impossible to
say when the silver tassels made their first appearance as
standard decoration for the M.M.’s apron. They were probably in
use some time before 1841, and they were officially prescribed
for the first time in the 1841 Book of Constitutions.
Neither Crowe nor Rylands
was able to date the introduction of the metal tassels, and they
are not used in all Masonic jurisdictions. Crowe wrote:
When they were introduced I cannot tell, but excepting the
Australian and Canadian Grand Lodges, which naturally copy
us, the Grand Lodges of Great Britain are, so far as my
researches have gone, the only Bodies which wear them, and
in the case of Ireland they are omitted from the aprons of
Grand Officers." (Op. cit., p. 30.)
ROSETTES
The origin of rosettes
on the F.C. and M.M. aprons is also unknown. In England they
were a comparatively late introduction, and were not prescribed
officially until 1815, when they were specifically designed to
differentiate the three grades. It is probable, however, that
their original purpose was purely ornamental. There is a German
Masonic medal or jewel, dated 1744 (or possibly 1755), which
shows an apron with three rosettes. (See
Illustrations h and k.)
Unfortunately, there is
no trace of a Grand Lodge at that period, either English or
European, which prescribed the use of rosettes, and in the
circumstances we are compelled to assume that they were purely
decorative. This does not exclude the possibility, however, that
they may have had a more practical significance in the Lodges in
which they were worn.
SQUARES OR LEVELS
There appears to be no
official name for the squares or levels which decorate the apron
of a Master or Past Master. The 1815 Constitutions
described them as "perpendicular lines upon horizontal lines,
thereby forming three several sets of (two) right angles", and
originally they were to be of inch-wide ribbon. The same
definition appears in the present Constitutions, though
nowadays the emblems are usually of silver or white metal. They
were designed only for purpose of distinction. (See Illustration
m.)
SPECULATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF THE APRON
To all students, both
young and old, a caveat must be given before this phase of our
subject is considered. The modern Craft is essentially
speculative, and every Mason must necessarily be to some extent
speculative in his attitude to its tenets ; but there is a
widespread tendency to extend the limits of true speculative
research and to exaggerate symbolical values. This tendency had
already developed strongly towards the end of the eighteenth
century, and in modern times it has become both harmful to the
Craft and to a proper understanding of its moral demands and
teachings.
Unfortunately, this
incredibly exaggerated symbolism has been taught for nearly two
centuries by many sincere and famous Freemasons, such as Oliver,
Paton, Fort Newton and Wilmshurst, who exercised much influence
in their time.
Students should,
therefore, be on their guard and bear in mind that, in the
opinion of modern Masonic scholars, such extremes of speculative
interpretation are unacceptable.
Teaching by symbols is
age-old practice, and Freemasonry shares with all the important
organisations of civilised life, e.g., the State, the
Churches, the Armed Forces, etc., the possession of appropriate
symbols, all of which have an acceptable interpretation.
The best known and most
widely accepted definition of Masonry is that it is "A peculiar
system of morality . . . illustrated by symbols", and the Craft
deals in its own way, a plain and simple way, with the symbols
in the W.Tls., the Tg. Bds. and the Lectures.
Although Grand Lodge
has never authorized any system of interpreting Masonic symbols,
it, published, in 1929, a statement of Basic Principles,
in which it claimed to have
. . . sole and undisputed authority over the Craft or
Symbolic Degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and
Master Mason) . . . (Basic Principles for Grand Lodge
Recognition, September 4th, 1929, cl. 5 ; pub. in the
Masonic Year Book.)
Before looking at the apron in the light of the above, it is
prudent to make a clear differentiation between the terms of
Symbol, Emblem and Badge.
Symbol is an idea, sign, device or object which has
within itself something else — an idea, or fact, even a
proposition — which it guards from facile scrutiny, but
which it may yield, if it be studied. Some symbols are
simple, others very complex. In Freemasonry, certain symbols
denote somewhat vaguely certain "virtues" or "facts', while
others are capable of a wide interpretation.
Emblem is
also a symbolic device, but its meaning does not have to be
discovered ; its meaning is obvious, known and accepted by
common agreement: e.g., a crown means royalty, white
means purity.
Badge is a
mark or sign by which a person or object is distinguished ;
it is a device used to make known membership of any
corporate body ; it really serves its owner to establish his
identity, as indeed his own name does.
Masonry uses all three, symbol, emblem and badge, and in some
cases symbol and emblem seem to be the same.
During the exhortation
delivered by the investing officer and the address by the
Master, after investment, in both the First and the Third
Degrees, the candidate is informed:
That the apron is the badge; it marks his membership of the
Fraternity; he must always wear it in Lodge.
That it is the
"bond of friendship". This may reveal the apron as a symbol
(if one be desired) of the fraternal virtues.
That it is the "badge
of innocence". This is difficult ; the conception probably
arises from the white colour of the lamb-skin ; but there
are aprons which have a different colour.
That it testifies
or witnesses the honourable age of the Craft. The historical
claims made at an initiate’s investment must often astonish
him ; but they are uncompromisingly made, and must be
accepted. That the apron is a symbol of age cannot be
argued, except in the general sense that Masons have always
worn aprons. At the least it seems that the apron is an
emblem of historical institutional age.
That, in the Third
Degree, it is a badge of preceptorial authority, which
justifies the M.M. in instructing masons who have not
reached his rank in the Craft.
The apron appears to have on it symbols or emblems as decorative
features, e.g., the blue edged ribbon, the rosettes, the
seven-chained tassels. Are these symbols or emblems ? Have they
any worth apart from artistic forms or embellishments?
The extremists teach
that they are symbols: indeed, they go much further and state
that the actual form of the apron, and the form of its flap, and
the position of the flap, are important in their symbolic
content. Little, if any, credence need be given to such opinions
or judgments. At the best the decorations on the apron are
possibly emblematic, but what the emblems mean it is impossible
to state accurately; e.g., it is said that the blue
ribbon edging symbolizes charity. It may, but charity is a
common virtue of the Craft, and many aprons have different
coloured edging. The three rosettes are said to represent the
Three Degrees, but no scholar knows yet what their origin was.
The symbolic origins of the tassels and their seven chains are
also shrouded in mystery. It is far better to accept the
probability that regalia-makers from 1830 onwards contrived a
symmetrical design for the apron by placing the tassels with
their ornamental chains on either side of the apron. Finally,
the extremists will even make the "hook" (the circle) and the
"clasp" (the serpent) symbols of tremendous and mystical ideas ;
no better example of "wishful thinking" could be given. That
these humble devices, so commonly used throughout the world to
serve needs of fastening attire, should be tortured to yield
such meanings is unjustified ; indeed, it may be described as
fatuous.
The Master’s exhortation
to the newly-initiated brother must be recalled. It warns him
"never to put on . . ." The apron is, therefore, in its final
value not only an official badge of membership of the antient
and honourable Society ", but a monition that a brother must
ever understand and conform to the ethic of the Craft, so that
in the Lodge, at least, a righteous, enjoyable and fruitful
peace shall prevail.
The symbolical
explanations which are virtually standardized in the modern
rituals are clear, simple and wholly satisfying. It is the
unchallenged right of every Mason to seek further afield for the
interpretations that will fulfill his spiritual needs. But he
should remember Tennyson’s line on " The falsehood of extremes
", and be slow to accept the "wider explanations" until he can
do so with full conviction.
1.In
1892 Bro. W. H. Rylands wrote his paper on the Masonic Apron
(A.Q.C., vol. v). An important essay with no less than 83
plates or drawings, illustrating the history of the Masonic
apron, it has been largely used as the basis of the historical
portion of this paper, and all Masonic students are advised to
read it.
2.Presumably,
the first official reference to Masonic clothing is in the
seventh clause of the General Regulations sanctioned by G.L. in
1721, but aprons are not mentioned specifically
VII. Every new Brother at
his making is decently to cloath the Lodge, that is, all the
Brethren present . . .
3.Rylands,
op. cit., p. 175 ; Crowe, Masonic Clothing (A.Q.C.,
v, pp. 29 et seq.).
4.In
France, F.C.’s apparently wore the flap up and buttoned to the
coat (vide L'Ordre des Francs Maçons Trahi, 1745, p. 116,
and Les Francs-Maçons Ecrasés, 1747, p. 221). In the
exposure, Solomon in All His Glory, 1766 the description
of the M M. ceremony contains the following: ". . . the master
undid the flap of my apron, which was fastened to one of my
waistcoat-buttons ; and told me that in quality of master, I was
at liberty to let it fall down . . ."
5.Blackham,
Apron Men, p. 213. Rylands, op. cit., pp. 177-8,
v. his plate No. 26, dated c. 1766, which
illustrates this mode.
6.Rylands,
op. cit., pp. 180, 172, 179. For description of some, of
these embellished aprons, see Rylands, p. 179; Crowe, op.
cit., p. 30; Blackham, op. cit. p. 30.
Reprinted with permission of
Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the Transactions of Quatuor
Coronati Lodge No. 2076, UGLE, vol. lxxiv (1961) pp. 133-37.
Minor typographical errors corrected and footnotes renumbered as
endnotes. Two pages of photographs omitted. |
|
|
![[Company Logo Image]](_borders/s&c_leaves.gif)
