From: KENNETH MCMAHON <CIJS08@UK.AC.STRATHCLYDE.

VAXB>
Subject: MASONIC PHILOSOPHY COLLECTION AVAILABLE
Dr Charles Morison of Greenfield and the Morison Collection
by Lt. Cdr. David Currie
On 14th December 1849, the Grand Master Mason, the 6th Duke of Athole, wrote
a letter to Mrs Emily Morison, widow of Brother Dr Charles Morison of
Greenfield, in which he accepted, on behalf of Grand Lodge, her offer to
present the Doctor's coillection of books and manuscripts to the Grand Lodge.
This collection had been amassed over a period of twenty-five years and
consisted of over two thousand volumes, most of which are leather-bound,
together with a number of manuscripts.
Charles Morison was born on the estate of Greenfield, near Alloa, the son
of James and Jane Morison, on 1st January 1780. He became a Freemason on 27th
November 1797, in the Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chaper, No. 1, when he was
entered, passed and raised at the age of 17 years. In the light of current
membership regulations this may be surprising, but the records of Grand Lodge
show that in the early 1800's more than one Lodge came under Grand Lodge's
censure for initiating 12-year-old boys. Almost exactly a year later, on
26th November 1798, Morison (who was a medical student in Edinburgh) received
a string of degrees at a meeting of the Knight's Templar Encampment held under
the auspices of St Stephen's Lodge in Edinburgh. It is important to realise
that at time there was no separate ruling bodies for Royal Arch and Knight
Templar Masonry, and the Knights Templar permitted these degrees to be
awarded at Templar meetings in the Craft Lodge. One hundred years later most
of these degrees were still being worked by a body calling itself the
Early Grand Rite, governed by the Triplite Council, but this body faded into
obscurity following certain legal proceedings early in the 1900's.
It will surprise many readers to learn that the degrees received by
Morison, at 18 years of age in 1798, were :-
Past Master in the Chair
Excellent, Superexcellent, Arch and Royal Arch Mason
Knight Templar
High Templar, Knight of Malta
Knight Red Cross
Mark Mason
Ark Mason
Link Mason
Mediterranean Pass
Knight of the Royal Prussian Blue
As will be readily understood, the rituals were somewhat shorter than
they are today.
In 1802, Morison graduated as doctor of medicine and joined the army,
becoming medical officer to Prince of Wales' 10th Hussars. He served with
distinction in Spain where, in 1810, he met a French prisoner of war, the
Comte de Grasse Tilly. De Grasse Tilly was a member of the Supreme Council
of the West indies, which was then working from Paris, and he conferred
upon Morison the 32nd Degree of the Rite Ecossais (Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite). Three years later Morison received the 33rd Degree.
The workings of the Scottish Rite were rather complex, and there is no
record whatsoever of Morison holding any degree before the 32nd at this
stage of his life.
In 1814, Morison was semi-retired by the army, being placed on half-pay,
and he entered the household of the Duke of Sussex as his physician, the
Duke being Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England at the time.
During 1822 Morison took up residence in Paris, which became his permanent
home until he died in 1849. Throughout the past three hundred years there
have been many systems, or rites, of Freemasonry, together with Masonic Orders.
Some have died out, others are worked in Masonic Constitutions outwith the
British Isles and Morison was certainly involved in some of them. From those
of his diplomas held on display in the museum of Grand Lodge, it can be stated
that, apart from those rites already mentioned, he held the 90th Degree of the
Rite of Mizraim.
In 1825, being an ardent collector of books and papers, Morison began to
accumulate an excellent personal library which in 1827, became at one stroke
one of the world's finest Masonic collections.
In 1775 a group of academic French Freemasons formed what was the world's
first Masonic research group. They met as the Rite Ecossaise Philosophique
in Paris and formed the Lodge des Amis Reunis. One of the founders of this
Lodge and of the Rite was Claude Antoine Thory, one of the most learned
Freemasons in Europe and France's first Masonic historian. This group built
up a library of which, in 1788, Thory became Conservator a Vie (Curator for
Life). Sadly, the Rite Ecossais Philosophique died out in 1826, and a year
later the great Thory, who still held the group's library, passed away.
The library was purchased by Morison, who combined it with his own
collection, thus forming what is, beyond doubt, one of the world's great
libraries. In total, there are in excess of two thousand books and
pamphlets, to which Grand Lodge has been able to add from time to time.
Nineteen hundred books are in French, twelve in German, ten in Ityalian, ten
in Spanish, six in Dutch, six in Swedish, twelve in Latin and the remainder
in English.
Examination of the books never fails to produce a new excitement. It is
facinating, even to the observor who cannot understand the language, to see
some of the handwritten volumes available, and there are papers in the
collection which have been forgotten, so that when re-discovered they are
full of interest. For example, between the leaves of one book there was a
long-forgotten letter written in 1773 by William Dickey, Grand Secretary,
Grand Lodge of Antients in London, to Alexander McDougall, Grand Secretary,
Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Another volumec contained a beautifully printed invitation to a society
wedding in Paris which, by its presence in a deeply philosophical Masonic
volume, caused some speculation - until it was turned over, for on the reverse
side was a handwritten note with a distinct reference to the Rite of Mizraim.
The library is housed in the museum in Freemasons' Hall, 96 George Street,
Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 3DH; Tel: 031 225 5304.Books can be seen and examined
in the presence of the Curator. It will readily be understood that volumes
from the Morison Collection cannot be taken away from the building nor can
photocopies be issued in respect of any of the material within this collection.
It would be foolish to deny that the overwhelming majority of books would
be of interest to Masonic scholars of linguistic ability, but most of those
written in English are of some interest even to the casual reader.
Titles of some of these works are:-
Anderson's Constitutions, 1723. First edition of the first constitutions,
written for and accepted by, the Grand Lodge of England.
(a) Hiram, the Master-Key. An exposure (eighteenth century)
(b) Masonry Dissected. Samuel Pritchard's attack on the Craft.
Note: (a) and (b) are in one volume.
Rules and Orders. The bye-laws of Lodges operating under the Antients Grand
Lodge in 1771.
Letter on and against Masonry. Addressed by John Quincy Adams.
During his lifetime, Morison was often the centre of controversy on his visits
to Scotland. He erected the Supreme Council for Scotland in Edinburgh, a move
not welcomed by certain Brethren who were not included, but considered they
should have been. Charles Morison was a conscientious and sincere Freemason,
but he also enjoyed the power vested in him by his possession of the higher
degrees, and he was not one to brook opposition. If he was convinced that a
particular course of action was rightful, nothing would diussuade him from it.
Scottish Freemasonry at all levels owes much to this man, but in particular we
should be grateful that he left his widow in no doubt abouit where he wanted
his Masonic effects to come to rest.