Broadside ballad entitled 'Sons of Levi, A New Masonic Song'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'Come all you craftsmen that do with, / To propagate the grand design. / Come enter into this bright temple, / And learn the craft that is sublime.' A woodcut of a small, low square building has been included at the top of the sheet.

Oddly enough the tune to the 'Sons of Levi', as it is normally known, has links with the earlier Jacobite song, 'Mo Ghile Mear'. Despite this origin the song was eventually inherited, from the Freemasons, by the Orange Lodge and is still part of their repertoire. The song is a description, in biblical terms, of a new member's initiation. Today, there is much controversy surrounding the origins of the Freemasons and it is curious to note that the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers are both mentioned here.

This style of text, with its implicit political propaganda, would not only have made for compelling entertainment, but would also perhaps have stimulated political thought, reasoning and debate.

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