the devastation of Jerusalem by Titus, when it was first introduced into
Europe; through all its struggles in the middle ages, sometimes protected
and sometimes persecuted by the church, sometimes forbidden by the law and
oftener encouraged by the monarch; until, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, it assumed its present organization. The details would
require more time for their recapitulation than the limits of the present
work will permit.

But my object is not so much to give a connected history of the progress
of Freemasonry as to present a rational view of its origin and an
examination of those important modifications which, from time to time,
were impressed upon it by external influences, so as to enable us the more
readily to appreciate the true character and design of its symbolism.

Two salient points, at least, in its subsequent history, especially invite
attention, because they have an important bearing on its organization, as
a combined speculative and operative institution.




VIII.

The Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.



The first of these points to which I refer is the establishment of a body
of architects, widely disseminated throughout Europe during the middle
ages under the avowed name of _Travelling Freemasons_. This association of