13 The Grand Lodges and Modern Freemasonry
The Grand Lodge of LondonOn June 24, 1717, Saint John's Day, four London lodges with
names borrowed from the taverns where they gathered—The Goose
and Gridiron, The drown, The Apple Tree, and The Rummer and the
Grapes—formed a unified organization under the name of the Grand
Lodge.^1 Anthony Sayer, a gentleman, was elected grand master and was
given authority over all his brothers. On June 24, 1718, he was suc-
ceeded by George Payne, who ordered work begun to gather together
all the charters in England having to do with Masonry. Replaced the
following year by John Theophilus Desaguliers, Payne again assumed
the office of grand master in 1720. The Grand Lodge first became a
regulatory body in 1721 at the same time the Duke of Montaigu was
elected grand master.
The Scottish pastor James Anderson was given the charge of draft-
ing the Book of Constitutions, published in 1723 under the grand mas-
ter the Duke of Wharton and containing both the legendary history of
the fraternity and the obligations of Freemasons. Other authors have
noted that Anderson, an intellect of small scope, was almost certainly
not the true author. The better part of the material and the thought
behind it was likely supplied by Desaguliers. The son of a pastor of