Mrs. Pott's Emblem Plates Found in the British Library
Plate I.
Comments on Plate I.
1. Sphere, surmounted by star or crosses. Account books, Hague. British Museum collection. 1301.
2/3. Sphere; surmounted by star or crosses. Account books, Hague. British Museum collection. 1356, 1430. Another, 5 inches high, slightly different. Cotton MSS. Nero 127.
4. Sphere, cross, scarabeus. Jausen (in Sotheby). 1315.
5/6. Sphere, cross, scarabeus, one with water line - Holy Spirit. Jausen (in Sotheby). 1360.
7/11 Sphere, with triangle - the Trinity; ellipse – Holy Spirit. The figure 4, sacred number in “Perfect Masonry,” meaning the universe, four elements, four winds, four seasons, four dimensions, as generally conceived, length, breadth, depth, height. In Qa is a figure 4, the Egyptian hierograrn - Greek alpha and omega. The T, which frequently appears in these plates, signifies light. The double tau, a very ancient symbol of the sacred sanctuary of light and beauty, resembles H. Two I’s, with a cross between, as 9, conveys the same idea as at 10. A cross in a sphere is the Druidical silver wheel, Arianrod emblem of the Divine God, the alpha and omega of the Revelations. Chiefly from the collection, British Museum, 318c, vol. vii. No. 11 is five inches long. Circa 1400.
12. D, a mystic word expressive of the power of expanding, spreading, unfolding, laying open. 1 Di was a term for the Deity, from which we have Day (Dai), the Disposer, the Distributor. We ask God to “give us each day our daily bread.” Biblia Pauperum; Sotheby’s Principia; Cotton, Nero vi. 218, 230. 1590.
13/14. Spanish letters.
15/17. The three mounts probably Calvary or Golgotha, Moriah, and Sinai, to which Masonic traditions are attached. At Golgotha Adam was buried, who caused the ruin of mankind. Here the Saviour suffered, who came to redeem mankind. Here, too, Enoch is said to have constructed his nine-arched vault, and concealed from men the ineffable name of God. It is said that the Masons discovered this vault and brought it to Solomon. Mount Moriah was the seat of Solomon’s Temple, and a story too long for insertion relates how this mount came to be consecrated to brotherly love. 2 Mount Sinai is said to be referred to in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth degrees of the (Prince of the Tabernacle) Scottish Ancient and Accepted Rite. But Scottish Masonry is not traceable to a date earlier than 1758, and then only in Paris. Perhaps it then adopted the modern name of Free Mason. British Museum, 318c, vol. vii.
18. Five mounts (or hills of knowledge?). British Museum, 318c vii.
19. Some of many varieties of keys. Biblia Pauperum.
20. Anvil. True size, 3 inches, many patterns. Harlem account book. 1416-1421.
21. Anvil. German MS. Fifteenth century.
22. Anvil cross. Double tau. Cotton MSS. Nero vi. 163. 1603.
23. Flaming sun. Cotton MSS. Caligula E 302. 1598.
24. St. Katherine’s Wheel, or disguised sun. Ars Moriendi Hibbert.
25. Scales. Biblia Pauperum.
26. Scales. Many patterns, some within a circle. British Museum, 318c. Circa 1400.
27. Scales. British Museum, 318c.
28/29. Anchors. Eleven varieties in account books, etc. Holland. British Museum, 318c. 1416-1463. See, also, Nos. 21, 22.