(post number 7)
Having become aware of the importance of Shakespeare in the elucidating of the strategies of the Masons and their ideas of social psychology, guided by their central text, SunTzu's The Art of War, I want to take a brief look at an aspect of the English language. If we begin, once again, with the listing for "compass" (the noun) in The Oxford English Dictionary, we see that meaning number 11c. says "A round about expression, a circumlotion". If we consider also that the long established universities of Oxford (publishers of the above mentioned and highly regarded, dictionary) and Cambridge, have numerous buildings made of stone, by stonemasons, the question of whether they have tried to assert their influence in these institutions in England arises.
The adoption of the hat or cap known as the "square cap", "mortar board", or "trencher", gives us a clue. The design of the hat could be described as a close fitting cap with a thin, flat, square board on top of it, all of which is covered in black felt, and with a tassel attached to the centre, the strands of which hang over the board. The second of these three names that have, over time, been given to the hat, "mortar board", seems to be a clue to its origin. A mortar board is used by stonemasons and bricklayers to carry the mortar that is put between the stones or bricks. The Oxford Dictionary (again being used as a history source) has its first dated reference to "square cap" as 1584. Construction of the stone buildings of Oxford University was mainly done in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, (1584 being in the !6th century). This suggests that the Masons were able to put their mark on the developing culture of the English universities by introducing the square cap, which was worn by students and professors as an everyday item of dress. Through their knowledge of the symbolism of such things as the square cap, the Masons were able to connect themselves to the institutional power of the universities. The symbolism of the tassel should be noted. The tassel that runs over the edge of the board seems to symbolize mortar dripping off the edge of a Mason's mortar board, or more probably, being tipped off. The normal way for Masons to get the mortar from the mortar board onto the stone blocks or bricks is with a Mason's trowel, so that an approximate measure of the amount of mortar being put in the one spot can be made. The symbolic suggestion of an image of mortar going off the edge of the mortar board then seems to refer to a deliberate action to tip mortar from high up, onto a person down below. It appears to symbolise the willingness of the Masons to commit crimes against the rest of society.
Having seen how the agenda of the Masons influenced the creation of the works of Shakespeare, it is logical that they closely followed the development of the publishing industry and wanted to assert their influence. Dictionary meaning number 11c. for "compass" (the Oxford Dictionary), suggests that one strategy they evolved was to interfere with the English language itself. Modern day linguists say that in the 19th century, English language grammarians introduced some of the grammatical rules of the Latin language (the language of ancient Rome), into English, because of their own educational bias. For several centuries Latin had been a popular language among the English aristocracy, so such a bias may have seemed to be within the normal range of people's expectations. But one grammatical rule in particular has been a severe imposition for English speakers. That being the rule which says that you should not end a sentence with a preposition. When an English speaker or writer would naturally end a sentence with a preposition, obeying this rule would, at times, require such a drastic alteration to a sentence that students could lose confidence in their ability to learn, especially to write, the language. Such a sentence, when it obeys the Latin rule, has a style that tends toward being a "round about expression, a circumlotion" (Oxford Dictionary meaning 11c. for "compass").
Therefore, it appears to have been (in my assessment), a deliberate strategy of the Masons to introduce this grammatical rule into the English language. By accepting teachers into their ranks and bonding other teachers to them by offering "protection", the Masons were able to make themselves the arbiters of writing style, and to introduce an element of sabotage at the personal level, regarding students efforts to fully master the English language. The main aim for this action being to influence which students would become the writers of books. Some students might not have had enough polish on their writing to write a book, but teachers could push other students to put what could be thought of as too much polish on their writing. Forced to obey the Latin rule which says to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition, students who were mastering the language could be pushed in the direction of circumlotion, a tangled style of writing. This might then prevent them from writing a book that might have had a wide readership. Some of these students might have gone on to become successful and honest lawyers and judges but their political and social influence would probably have been lessened by their writing style. (Today, in 2006, it is likely that this interference in education by the Masons continues in many places. At the kindergarten, or pre-school level, it appears that teachers who are bonded to the Masons introduce activities that encourage children to respond in a noisy and agitated way, as another form of sabotage at the personal level. The aim being to increase the level of conflict in society. Children might respond by running around making noise, with their mouths wide open [which the Masons see as a Masonic sign], as a regular thing. This may be contributing to the high number of children being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Such teachers may, in the years that follow, be able to make a start at bonding children to the Masons, in operation with other school children. The other children would deliver information about "the mafia" in the playground and the teacher would confirm the information through signs, which have been identified by the other children earlier. In this way a child who is newly acquainted with the Masonic crime system might feel that there is no way out.
At the high school level, a likely tactic to bond a particular student to the Masons would be for the teacher or teachers to give high marks to the student over an extended period of time, to develop an expectation in the student and his or her parents, that the high marks will continue. Then, at some point in time, it would be made known to the student that the high marks are conditional; they must "be cool with the mafia"[this might be the way it is expressed].
In exams, students who are bonded to the Masons can embed Masonic signs in their writing style, such as dotting their "i" letters with a circle instead of a plain dot, or writing their "w" letters or "m" letters with points like the teeth of a saw and like the upper or lower edge of the symbol of the two crossed compasses, where most people put curves when writing these letters. They then hope that their exam paper is marked by a marker or markers who are bonded to the Masons.
With universities, looking again at the "square cap" hats, today, they are worn during graduation ceremonies at many universities, and it is a regular thing that it is mandatory that they be worn during those ceremonies, by those who choose to attend. The practice has widely arisen that the hats, along with a cloak, are hired to the students who attend the ceremony, for a considerable amount of money. It would be reasonable for this to be viewed as a skim, a con, or a trick, to grab a last sum of money from the students. Often, the office hiring the square caps and cloaks has a local monopoly on the hire of these items. So this, together with a requirement that they be worn during the ceremony, means the price can be high. It may then be that this experience of having been manoeuved into this expenditure, right around the time they think of as the beginning of their working lives, sets them to thinking that they will get the money back, from society, making them susceptible to participation in schemes of fraud, corruption and overcharging.)