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Batty Langley and his connections to Freemasonry

It has never been established where or when Batty Langley (1696-1751) was initiated into Freemasonry but it is known that the garden designer, pattern book producer and Gothick architect possessed an intimate knowledge of Masonic lore and symbolism. This is expressed most visually in the frontispiece to The Builder’s Jewel of 1741 which contains many of the symbols associated with ancient Craft Freemasonry (the first three degrees of initiation). For example, Langley published in the Grub Street Journal under the pseudonym of ‘Hiram,’ the legendary architect of Solomon’s Temple and a key figure in Masonic ritual. (One of Langley’s children was also baptised ‘Hiram’). Other titles of Langley’s books influenced by Freemasonry included Practical Geometry (dedicated to Lord Paisley, Grand Master of the Freemasons) in 1726 and Ancient Masonry (dedicated to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, the first recognised Royal Freemason) between 1733 and 1736.

The Masonic Symbolism in the frontispiece to The Builder’s Jewel (1741)

''The Builder’s Jewel...or the Youth’s instructor, and Workman’s remembrancer. Explaining short and easy rules, made familiar to the meanest capacity, for drawing and working....etc'' was published by R.Ware in London on 26th May 1741 with an initial print run of 2000 copies. The frontispiece was designed by Batty Langley and engraved by his brother Thomas. The frontispeice is signed ‘Batty Langley Invent A L 5741’. The date refers to the Masonic calendar which dated the creation of the Earth to 4000 BC. Freemasons often dated significant events by adding 4000 years to the date, hence the date of the frontispiece of 5741. The letters ‘A’ and ‘L’ are short for the Latin words ‘Anno Lucis’ meaning ‘in the year of light’ referring to the year of creation.

The three columns illustrated on the frontispiece are in order (from left to right), the Doric, Tuscan and Corinthian. On the dado of the pedestal of these columns are inscribed the Roman numerals VII, V and III. These are three of the most important numbers in Freemasonry and together equal fifteen. In some depictions of the spiral staircase that connected the ground floor to the inner chamber of King Solomon’s Temple the staircase is shown as comprising of fifteen steps (sometimes these steps are shown divided into groups of 3, 5 and 7). This concept is also illustrated on the frontispeice to The Builder's Jewel in the form of a hill in the background with the number 15 placed on its summit. The Doric column has the letter ‘W’ placed on the plinth of its pedestal denoting it as exemplifying the virtue of ‘Wisdom’, the Tuscan order with the letter ‘S’ signifying ‘Strength’ and the Corinthian column the letter ‘B’ illustrating the virtue of ‘Beauty’. In latter Masonic depictions of the columns (particularly with the influence of Neoclassicism) the arrangements of the columns changes and reverts to the use of the original three Greek orders with ‘Wisdom’ now associated with the Ionic, ‘Strength’ with the Doric and ‘Beauty’ remaining with the Corinthian. Between the Doric and Tuscan columns is placed the letter ‘H’ and between the Tuscan and Corinthian the letter ‘G’. These letters refer to ‘Holy Ground’ as all Masonic lodges were believed to be representations of the Temple of Jerusalem and were symbolically located on consecrated ground.

Positioned towards at the centre of each column are further symbols associated with architecture and Freemasonry. On the Doric column are depictions of the three ‘Great Lights’ of Freemasonry, the set-square, compasses and Book of Sacred Law (in Batty Langley’s case the Bible). Above these symbols is a panel containing a dot, a line, a circle (or sphere) and a cube. On the Tuscan column is suspended a representation of the Masonic lodge with its characteristic chequered floor, a reference to duality (and a common feature of modern Masonic lodges). The Temple is orientated to the North where the main entrance is flanked by two pillars labelled ‘B’ and ‘I’. These are representations of the Biblical pillars Iachin (He [God] will establish) and Boaz (In Him [God] is strength) which stood on the porch to the Temple of Jerusalem. Three other, secondary entrances are located to the East, South and West. At the centre of the lodge is depicted a seven-pointed Blazing Star containing an early Masonic use of the letter ‘G’ (possibly indicating Cabalistic influence). This letter refers to God, the ‘Grand Geometrician of the Universe’ (In Freemasonry the fifth of the seven liberal arts, Geometry, is considered the most important). Located immediately above the Temple plan is a clock face with both hands pointing vertically to numerals XII, indicating ‘high 12 at Noon’. This alludes to the newly formed Hiramic legend where Hiram Abiff, the architect of Solomon’s Temple, was murdered by three Fellow-Craft masons at midday after a failed attempt to retrieve the ‘Mason’s Word’ from the slain architect.On the frieze of this column is a humanised face with wind being blown to the East and West. This is an allusion to the winds of knowledge dispersing Masonic truths. In Freemasonry the East represents the rising Sun, enlightenment and birth, and the West with the setting Sun and death. Most Masonic lodges (like churches) traditionally are orientated to face the East, the direction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon.

Adorning the trunk of the Corinthian column are the architectural implements of level, set-square and ruler. Located above is another panel containing various line drawings depicting mathematical angles with a square and rectangle.

On the abacus of the Doric column is positioned a Sun, the Tuscan column a Moon and the Corinthian column a bust in a Grecian toga. Taken together the Sun, Moon and Master Mason (indicted by the initials MM located beneath the bust) are known as the three ‘Lesser Lights’ of Freemasonry. It is possible that the identity of the bust is the Greek Polymath Pythagoras who could legitimately be associated with the Corinthian column through his theories on mathematical beauty. (Langley also baptised one of his eighteenth children ‘Euclid’). In addition, the Golden Section and Euclid’s 47th Proposition were important mathematical and practical formulas for Freemasons, as illustrated by the presence of the symbol for the 47th Proposition on the frontispiece of Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free Masons of 1723. It was often believed by a number of Renaissance architects that numbers possessed mystical characteristics and ‘number magic’ could be detected in the proportions and harmonics of many so called ‘Pythagorean Palaces’.

The final and possibly most important piece of symbolism on the frontispiece of The Builder’s Jewel is also one of the most neglected or overlooked. On the ‘brow of the hill’ in the background is discretely placed the number 15 with a sprig of spiky foliage. This is a subtle but direct reference to the newly created Hiramic legend which was first disclosed to the public in Samuel Pritchard’s Masonry Dissected in 1730. In this catechism it is described how the Master Architect Hiram Abiff was killed in the Temple at midday by three Fellow-Craft masons who sought to obtain from him through force the ‘Mason’ or ‘Masters’ word. After the absence of Hiram was noted, King Solomon ordered fifteen masons in three groups of five to look for the body of the missing architect. After fifteen days his body was discovered on a ‘brow of a hill’ (the ‘Mossy House’) and Solomon’s mason’s marked the grave with a ‘cassia’ (acacia) plant until a decision was made on how to ‘raise’ the body and where it should be buried. At his funeral fifteen masons were in attendance all dressed in white aprons and gloves before Hiram’s body was interned in the sanctum sanctorum within the Temple. In Langley’s frontispiece the number 15 is visual on the brow of a hill and accompanied by what can be interpreted as an acacia plant. This is a direct reference to this Hiramic legend which was to form the basis to the ritual of the most important Masonic degree- that of ‘Master Mason’.