THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, AND LONDON REVIEW, FOR FEBRUARY 1801. GEORGE DOWNING, ESQ. BARRISTER AT LAW, LIEUTENANT OF THE LIGHT HORSE VOLUNTEERS OF LONDON AND WESTMINSTER, AND PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER OF THE ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS FOR THE COUNTY OF ESSEX. (WITH A PORTRAIT.) The of lifed itations HE virtues of private life, and the are not lefs worthy of contemplation, and are more likely to be extensively useful as examples, than even the policy of statesmen, or the exploits of heroes. The late much-lamented fubject of this Memoir was the fon of the Rev. George Downing, Rector of Ovington, Effex, and was born in London on Christmas Day 1762. After having received a liberal education at the school then kept by Dr. Parr, at Stanmore, Mr. Downing was articled to Mr. Alfton, a Solicitor of fome eminence at Nayland, in Suffolk. At the expiration of his term he was entered of Lincoln's Inn, and in May 1794 was called to the Bar. Of his profeffion Mr. Downing was a diftinguished ornament, He foon per ceived, that talents alone, however emiment, without great application, were inadequate to attain either distinction or emolument. Under this impreffion, he devoted his time almoft wholly to ftudy, very frequently confuming the "midnight oil;" in fhort, no man, we believe, ever made himself more a flave (as it is fometimes called) to business than he did. The refult was flattering and honourable to him; for, at the time of his death, though, in fact, a young man, he was nearly at the head of his profeffion in the conveyancing line. That he had a mind highly cultivated, very foon advanced him to the honourable diftinction of Master of those refpectable bodies, of which fome of the firft men in the country are members. In 1797, the amiable manners of Mr. Downing, not lefs than his acquire ments, caufed him to be recommended to the notice of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Grand Mafter; who honoured him with the appointment of Provincial Grand Matter for the County of Efex; and he was inftalled at Chelmsford on the 15th of May in that year, in the prefence of a moft numerous and refpectable affemblage of the Brethren; whom Mr. Downing addressed in nearly the following terms: "BRETHREN, "The pleafure I derive from taking this chair receives a melancholy alloy from the confideration, that it is occafioned by the death of our late excellent Brother Dunckerley; a man who, for conviviality of difpofition, correctnefs of principles, extent of mafonic knowledge, and readinefs of commu. nication, ftood, perhaps, unrivalled and who, by the happy application of thefe enviable endowments, not only conciliated the affection, but infured the improvement of the Craft over whom he had the honour to prefide. He loved Masonry from his foul and as his attachment was not the effect of a hafty impreffion upon a lively imagination, but the refult of a long and well-directed fcrutiny into the nature and utility of the inftitution, he feldom failed to communicate a portion of his zeal to thofe with whom he converfed. In this county he may be confidered to have been the Father of the Craft; and his death has been accordingly felt with a degree of filial regret-a regret which, I am forry to think, will be increafed by a comparison between him and his fucceffor. : "I confess, Brethren, that when I contraft my own inexperience with his knowledge, and confider that I am going to build on foundations laid by fo able an architect, I feel difpirited at what I have undertaken; and find no thing to confole me but the reflection, that with the foundation he has left a defign of the fuperftructure, and a number of well-inftructed Craftsmen to affift me in carrying it on. "From my firit initiation into the myfteries of our venerable order, they have been subjects of my continual ad miration, not fo much on account of their antiquity as their moral tendency for though the former may attract the enquiry and gratify the research of the antiquarian, it is the latter which invites the cultivation, gives energy to the exertion, and infures the final perfeverance of the genuine Freemafon. Let us not, however, affect to think lightly of the venerable fanction which our myfteries have acquired by the adoption of fucceffive ages. Of their antiquity there is a fort of evidence which eclipfes tradition. The method adopted by the Craft for communicat. ing inftruction to their difciples, was in ufe before the invention of letters. All the learning of the ancient world was conveyed in fymbols, and intrenched in myfteries and furely that is not only the most ancient, but the moft impreffive vehicle of knowledge, which, by applying fenfible objects to a figurative ufe, affords amufement as well as inftruction, and renders even the playfulness of the imagination, that most ungovernable of all the human faculties, inftrumental to moral improvement. : "Thofe who have made enquiries into the rife and progrefs of fcience, have found that, in the early ages, all fpeculative knowledge was confined to a few, and by them carefully concealed from vulgar curiofity under the veil of mysteries, into which none were initi ated, till not only their intellectual capacities, but the firmnefs of their characters, had been put to a fevere teft: the refult of which determined the degree of probability that they would refift the ftratagems of curiofity and the imperious demands of authority. The most famous myfteries on record are thofe in Perfia, which were celebrated in honour of the God Mythra, and those at Eleufis, in Greece, in honour of the Goddess Ceres. Many arguments might be adduced to prove, that both thefe were corruptions of Freemasonry; and hereafter I fhall not want the inclination, if I do not want the opportunity, to difcufs them. At prefent, however, I fhall content myself with pointing out the fimilarity which fubfifts between the initiatory rites practifed by the profeffors of those myfteries and by our Brethren, both ancient and modern; more efpecially in the allegorical part of their cereinonials." Here followed an hiftorical detail of the ceremonies attending initiations in to to the Mythraic and Eleufinian myfteries, and a comparative examination of them with Freemasonry, all which we are induced to omit, for reafons that will readily occur to the Mafonic part of our readers: and at the conclufion of this account, the Provincial Grand Mafter took an opportunity of making fome remarks on the practices of different Lodges in England and France, in what is termed making Mafons, and then proceeded as follows: "I conceive it to the credit of the English Mafons in general, that they are content to make a foleran impreffion without doing violence, to the feelings of the candidate,-to ave without intimidating; and we may be bold to affirm, that by how much foever the terror of an initiation into either of the Heathen myfteries above alluded to exceeded the terror of a Masonic examination, by fo much, and more, do the moral and focial advantages of the latter inftitution exceed thofe of the former. are ftill fecrets, which, for very weighty reafons, we confine within the circle of the initiated, and fparingly communicate even to them, whatever appeared likely to increase the fock of human happiness, and feemed not dan gerous in common hands, our ancient Brethren have generously communicated to the world. "The former, fpringing from, and of courfe partaking of, the grofs and dark fuperftition of the times and countries where they were practifed, had for their object the fuppreffion of fcience, and the increafe of fuperftition. The latter, boafting ftill higher antiquity, but fortunately originating in a part of the world where the unity of the Divine Being was not obfcured by the mifts of idolatry, had for its object the increase of knowledge, the worship of one God Eternal, and the admiration of his attributes, by the contemplation of his works. With the votaries of Ceres and Mythra the poffeffion of knowledge was like lightning in the hand of a magician, dazzling indeed in its refulgence, but employed oftener to blast than to illumine with our ancient Brethren it was like the fun in the midst of the planetary fyftem, fpreading forth her genial beams, and communicating light and action to the furrounding planets. For, if credit be due either to tradition or record, the western world is indebted for much of its prefent knowledge to the liberal communications of our Brethren. In the early ages, the weaknefs and prejudices of mankind rendered it neceffary to conceal many truths, which the progrefs of civil fociety, and the confequent expanfion of the human faculties, made it prudent to reveal. And though there "For proofs of the moral tendency of Freemafonry we need only appeal to our lectures, a due attention to which cannot fail of proving highly auxiliary to the practice of religious and focial duties. In them will be found a fummary of moral conduct, which, in foundnefs of principle, and facility of application, may juftly vie with the most celebrated fyftems of ethics: the whole rendered familiar to our conceptions, amusing to our fancies, and impreffive on our memories, by eafy and appofite fymbols. By them we learn the analogy between phyfical and moral good; to judge of the wifdom of the Creator by the works of the creation: and hence we infer, that our wife Mafter builder, who has planned and completed a habitation fo fuitable to our wants, fo convenient to our enjoyments, during our temporary refidence here, has exercifed ftill more wisdom in contriving, more ftrength in fupporting and more beauty in adorning, thofe internal manfions where he has promifed to receive and reward all faithful Mafons hereafter. "Thus are our faith and hope exercifed by Mafonic ftudies: but there is a virtue which Divine authority has pronounced greater than Faith and Hope, and to this excellent virtue of Charity are our Mafonic labours more especially directed. For this is the ftudent reminded* to confider the whole race of mankind as one family, inhabitants of one planet, defcended from one common pair of ancestors, and fent into the world for the mutual aid, fupport, and protection of each other;" and that, as the pale of our 10ciety inclofes perfons of every nation, rank, and opinion, no religious, national, or party prejudices fhould dif cover themfelves at our meetings; but that, as our Brother Prefton very feelingly expreffes it, both hearts and tongues should join in promoting each other's welfare, and rejoicing in each other's prof perity." In a word, that we should not only profefs, but practise the three See Prefton's Illuftrations of Mafonry, 9th Edit. page 52. grand |