April 18.
Chronology.
On this day, in the year 17 , there was a solemn mock procession, according to the fashion of the times, in ridicule of freemasonry, by an assemblage of humourists and rabble, which strongly characterises the manners of the period. Without further preface, a large broadside publication, published at the time, is introduced to the reader’s attention, as an article of great rarity and singular curiosity.
The year wherein this procession took place, is not ascertainable from the broadside; but, from the mode of printing and other appearances, it seems to have been some years before that which is represented in a large two-sheet “Geometrical View of the Grand Procession of Scald Miserable Masons, designed as they were drawn up over against Somerset-house, in the Strand on the 27th of April, 1742. Invented, and engraved, by A. Benoist.”
It should be further observed, that the editor of the Every-Day Book is not a mason; but he disclaims any intention to discredit an order which appears to him to be founded on principles of good-will and kind affection. The broadside is simply introduced on account of its scarcity, and to exemplify the rudeness of former manners. It is headed by a spirited engraving on wood, of which a reduced [copy] is placed below, with the title that precedes the original print subjoined.
The Solemn and Stately Procession
OF THE SCALD MISERABLE MASONS,
As it was martiall’d, on Thursday, the 18th of this Instant, April.
The [engraving] is succeeded by a serio-comic Address, commencing thus:—
The Remonstrance of the Right Worshipful the Grand Master, &c. of the Scald Miserable Masons.