Freemasonry was and still is a secretive fraternal order originating in the British guild system; it took root in the American colonies and was popular before and after the American Revolution. (George Washington and other founders are frequently cited as "famous Freemasons.") Its relationship to both the church and state has historically been a subject of controversy (and mystification) and it remains a perennial hobby horse among conspiracy theorists fixated on the existence of one-world governments. "Brothers" are known to use a series of symbols and hand gestures to recognize and communicate with each other in public.

Yes, Freemasonry is a secret society that still holds power, whose members still hide that they belong to it, and have conflicting allegiances.

Abraham Rayner was the Master of the lodge meeting at the Queen's Head, Devil's Acre, in 1723. This lodfge was the successor of the lodge which claimed to have met at the Apple Tree in Covent Garden and to have been one of four lodges which formed Grand Lodge in 1717

This may perhaps be James Anderson, the historian and author of the 'Constitutions of the Free Masons'.

The only lodge which was recorded as meeting at the White Swan in Old Gravel Lane was said to have been erased in 1775, seven years before this case. Is this an example of a lodge which continued to meet after its formal suppression by Grand Lodge?

Theft taking place during a lodge meeting at the Goose and Gridiron, St Paul's Churchyard. The only lodge meeting in the Goose and Gridiron in 1767 was No. 333 (serial number 612) which afterwards became the Tuscan Lodge, then the Lustitania Lodge

Charles Bearblock, innkeeper of Lombard Street, was elected Grand Secretary of tyhe Antients Grand Lodge (one of two rival Grand Lodges in London) in 1779.