Expansion and Conflict
The new Grand Lodge was evidently not immediately attractive to the older "St. John's" or independent lodges, who already found much to dislike about the organisation. It had been their custom to mark the lodge out in chalk, which would be erased with a mop and bucket. This began to be replaced with tape and thin metal letters, hence an advertisement in a London newspaper in 1726 for a lecture on "Ante-Diluvian Masonry. Showing what innovations have lately been introduced by the Doctor and some other of the Moderns, with their Tape, Jacks, and Movable Letters, Blazing Stars, etc., to the great indignity of the Mop and Pail."
The second quarter of the Eighteenth century saw the London organisation flourish as the Grand Lodge of England. However, the rapidity of growth saw some lodges fail in their first year. A crop of disaffected ex-masons brought a few published exposures, the most successful being Pritchard's "Masonry Dissected", in 1730. As this contained a recognisable representation of all three degrees, with the secrets that would supposedly ensure admission to a Masonic Lodge, Grand Lodge made a few changes to their ritual and password which took them out of step with the new Grand Lodges in Ireland and Scotland. This also widened the gulf between a relatively new Grand Lodge, and many unaffiliated lodges in the country, who viewed with extreme suspicion any departure from the "Ancient Landmarks".
When, in 1721, the Grand Lodge secured John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu as their first noble Grand Master, a foot parade was staged at his installation. This became an annual event, with later processions being conducted in carriages. As every notable admission into the fraternity was heralded in print, an aura of elitism attracted scorn, and the annual processions attracted ridicule and finally, physical parody. In the 1740s, being followed down the road by the "Scald Miserable Masons" became too much, and Masonic Processions were banned by Grand Lodge in 1747.
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