[288.] Clavel, op. cit., p. 82.
[289.] Yarker, The Arcane Schools, p. 257.
[290.] Ibid., p. 242.
[291.] "According to Prof. Marks and Prof. Hayter Lewis, the story of Hiram Abiff is at least as old as the fourteenth century."--J.E.S. Tuckett in The Origin of Additional Degrees, A.Q.C., XXXII. Part I. p. 14. It should be noted that no Mason who took part in the discussion brought evidence to show that it dated from before this period. Cf. Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges (1923), by Wor. Bro. Lionel Vibert, I.C.S., p. 135, where it is suggested that the Hiramic legend dates from an incident in one of the French building guilds in 1401.
[292.] Yarker, op. cit., p. 348; Eckert, op. cit., II. 36.
[293.] Eckert, op. cit., II. 28.
[294.] "The Essenes, in common with other Syrian sects, possessed and adhered to the 'true principles' of Freemasonry."--Bernard H. Springett, Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon, p. 91.
[295.] "The esoteric doctrine of the Judeo-Christian mysteries evidently penetrated into the masonic guilds (ateliers) only with the entry of the Templars after the destruction of their Order."--Eckert, op. cit., II. 28.
[296.] La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, II. 185.
[297.] Ragon, Cours philosophique des Initiations, p. 34.