Excerpt from Sketch of Capitular Masonry: From Its Introduction Until the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Nine

The symbolism was crude and undeveloped and the philosophical teach ings scarcely more than a suggestion. The fifty years that next ensued were marked by a restless and ever increasing activity. The schism of 1738 produced a keen rivalry that soon begat competition. The Scottish lodges abandoning their operative character entered the speculative field; Ireland did the same; and soon five grand lodges struggled for su premacy in the British Islands. Then it/was that the simple legends that formed the basis of the early ceremonial were eagerly seized upon by the enthusiast, the visionary, and, not infrequently, by the schemer. Allegory and symbol pieced out the fragmentary traditions of the Ancient Craft, and imagination furnished historical evidence where the facts were wanting. Beyond the seas rites and systems arose like the exhalations of magic, and the fundamental ideas of primitive Masonry were expanded to the last stage of attenuation through the extended scale of degrees which in many cases were adopted. These years may well be called the period of the Masonic renaissance. A new impulse was imparted to the fraternity by the development and expansion of its old legends; an im pulse that in many cases was made to serve the purposes of the charlatan and trickster, but in the end was productive of the highest good, and from the confused and ill-digested mass that marked this epoch have been evolved the great rites that now dominate the Masonic world.

With the exception of the three primary degrees of the Symbolic Lodge no degree in Masonry is so well known or widely diffused as that of the Royal Arch. When, where or how it originated is not definitely known, but the favorite theory of the students is, that it was fabricated by one Lawrence Dermott at or about the time of the so - called schism of the fraternity in England. This latter event occurred in the year 1738, and the first mention of the Royal Arch, so far as known, was in the year 1743. It was employed as an adjunct by both of the rival Grand Lodges of England and by them was introduced into the American Col onies, where it continued to be practiced in connection with craft lodges, the lodge warrant serving as a full authority for its conference upon candidates.' Until the latter part of the eighteenth century its govern ment was that of the lodge, but about 1790 a separation commenced to take place. The convocations in which it was conferred were called Chap ters, and certain detached degrees as well as new fabrications were about this time added to and included in the chapter jurisdiction. This was largely accomplished through the labors of Thomas Smith Webb, who may with propriety be styled the founder of the American Masonic system. From the fact that the Royal Arch and its subsidiary degrees are con ferred in bodies called Chapters they have now come to be generally styled the Capitular Degrees.

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